rried it away during the war. Two discharges of cannon from the deck
of the Republica announce the arrival, and in due time the steamer,
which draws too much water to approach the quay, is anchored two hundred
yards from the shore, having happily concluded her voyage of a thousand
miles, which has consumed nearly seven days.

The view from deck is a most picturesque one. In a little while a
flotilla of small boats, headed by the armed tender of the port-captain,
puts out from the quay and swarms around the steamer. Some of the boats
contain citizens who are expecting the arrival of friends, and in others
are hucksters, who jabber and gesticulate in frantic recommendation of
their fruits and small wares. Immediately in front is the custom-house
with its colonnade of white pillars, resembling a cloister. To the left
Lopez's palace rears its shattered tower, and on the right hand is the
arsenal, which serves as the barracks for the three or four thousand
troops composing the Brazilian army of occupation. Near it is the
horse-car station, connected by the street-cars with the station of the
Asuncion and Paraguari railroad, a line about twenty-five leagues in
length. Carts drawn by horses move slowly to and fro on the quay. Here
and there along the shore, with the look of skeletons about them, are
frames of unfinished ships: one of them is an iron vessel which was in
process of construction, under the orders of Lopez, at the breaking out
of the war in 1865. The Brazilian conquerors have left these vessels in
the condition in which they found them.

[Illustration: LANDING PLACE FOR CATTLE, PARANA RIVER.]

When the war supervened, Asuncion and all Paraguay, under the despotic
but intelligent sway of Lopez, were moving rapidly in the path of
progress. In fact, twelve years ago no country in La Plata was blessed
with so flourishing and perfected a system of industry as Paraguay. But
the war came, waged by the allies expressly to destroy for ever the
dictatorial authority wielded by Lopez; Paraguay was invaded and
overrun; and the fierce and destructive character of the contest has
left shattered walls in the capital, and in the interior the blackened
ruins of ranchos. These traces of the terrible conflict give a
melancholy aspect to the city, and its future is further shadowed by the
hopelessness of the people, who seem to have no heart to repair the
damage done to the houses.

[Illustration: THE HILL OF LAMBARE.]

In comin