Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/246



216 UP THE URUGUAY RIVER.

to find that here and elsewhere the blood is allowed to waste. Passed through a sieve,, dried in vacuum pans^ powdered and bottledj it would supply the red globules, which in ten- grain doses have been found so beneficial in Germany and elsewhere.

I saw but little of native society at Paysandu^ and common report did not induce me to see more. The Girl of the Period at home would marvel at the life which her sister is contented to lead in these latitudes of the '^'^dol drums. ^"^ The Sandusera^ who perhaps is pretty, rises and dons her morning wrapper at 8 a.m., when she indulges in a little ablution, but no toilette. She drinks mate, puffs a secret cigarette, and bestares the street till breakfast time â€” 11 a.m. or noon. The siesta relieves her of her ennui till 3 p.m., after which mate again acts as an eye-opener. Then com- mences the serious business of the toilette ; its object is to stroll about the streets and to pay long visits, where more mate is consumed. The only talk is of dress, flowers, and the private affairs of friends, acquaintances, and the town. A man who does not deliver himself of a compliment like a pistol shot a brule pourpoint at every second sentence is not a ^^ Caballero,^^ at any rate he is a bore. Dinner at dark, more ridiculous conversation, perhaps tobacco with a dif- fusible stimulant, and bed about midnight.

I also visited some of the estancias south of Paysandii â€” first, the Rincon del Cangue, belonging to the late Mr. Plowes, and managed by Dr. Gibbings. The house is com- fortable, but bald of wood, wanting the garden-ground and the monte that surround the country houses of the Buenos Aires province. Thence we rode over to La Paz, the estate of D. Ricardo Hughes : the tenement is far more picturesque than usual, the Eucalyptus gum flourishes, and the Passion- flower creeper clothes the walls. The host had resided for some years in Paraguay before the war, and had sketched