through the forests of Gran Chaco to Bolivia and Peru. Three were
caught, brought back and tortured, while the others, of whom no tidings
were ever received afterward, probably perished of hunger or were killed
by the Indians or jaguars. All that now remains of this ill-starred
enterprise is a few half-decayed palm-tree posts symmetrically planted
in the ground on the site of the unfortunate colony of New Bordeaux.

Villa Occidental is at present merely a village of eight hundred or one
thousand inhabitants. Its greatness, if it is ever to be great, lies in
the future. General Vedia, having ample room at his command for a
metropolitan experiment, has laid it out in long avenues seventy-five
feet wide, with a view to its future magnificence when it shall have
become the outlet of the northern regions of the Argentine Confederation
and the emporium of the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso.

[Illustration: A STREET IN ASCUNCION.]

At Villa Occidental, M. Forgues meets a fellow-countryman, who belongs
to the class of adventurers who flourish in the wake of great wars. His
name is Auriguau, and he was once a soldier in the Franco-Spanish free
corps which fought against Lopez in the campaign of 1870. His head is
filled with sublime ideas, and his pocket is empty. He has come to
Villa Occidental to propose to General Vedia the formation of a
military corps, of which he shall be chief, composed of his old
companions-in-arms, to serve against the Indians of Gran Chaco. He
explains his plan with much enthusiasm, and then begs our traveler to
present him with his gun, his revolver, his money, his hat, and even his
boots.

M. Forgues is of course General Vedia's guest for the night. As he is
about to dismiss the soldier who has conducted him to his chamber, which
is on the ground-floor of the house, an unexpected visitor glides into
the room through the open door. This visitor is a snake three feet long.
The soldier kills him, turns him on his back, and calmly remarks that he
is one of the most dangerous specimens of his kind in the neighborhood.
M. Forgues's curiosity is aroused. "Are there many like this in the
houses here?" he asks. "Sometimes yes, sometimes no," replies the
soldier philosophically, retiring from the presence. M. Forgues goes to
sleep to dream of a snake for a bedfellow, and to be bitten by
mosquitoes of a peculiarly virulent kind through the cords of his
hammock.

[Illustration: AN EARLY LESSON IN SMOKIN