Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/234



204 UP THE URUGUAY RIVER, AND

campaign, her southern provinces would become re- publican.

Never leaving home, and being visited by strangers from all quarters, General Urquiza has a right to hold himself a man of note ; his family naturally think him the first in the vrorld ; and his flatterers declare that but for the fault of Marshal-President Lopez, he would have lassoed at Uruguyana the Imperial leader of the Brazilian army. When speechifying, they will opine that the crown of the Empire of the Southern Cross should be transferred from the brow of D. Pedro II. to that of General Urquiza, and the latter sits listening the while in a cold, abstracted silence, deep and impressive.

We played billiards â€” the old French pin game â€” till dinner was announced at 8 p.m. Then appeared Madame Urquiza, the daughter of an Italian, still in early middle age, black haired, broad browed, straight featured, strong framed, and looking fit to be the mother of men. Two girls compose the last family, the elder being about seven- teen and very handsome. They have a French governess ; they know a little English, but will not speak it; and a German professor teaches them music. Here the sex pre- serves the old uncourteous custom noticed by Sir Francis Head, of not rising from their chairs to strangers. In the evening a dance was evidently wanted, but no one would propose it.

Next morning saw us betimes in carriages. Dr. Gibbings tooling as only an old Irishman can do. We visited the Escuela Pastoril de la Republica Argentina, a model dairy under the direction of an Italian. The general has given him a hundred cows for experiments, and a few boys loung- ing about in uniform represented the scholars. The two rooms suggested a curiosity shop, old and new, for D. Pablo (Signer Paolo) Cataldi is everything between a poet, writing