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254 FROM ROZARIO TO CORRIENTES.

regular cliff of reddisli clay shows three distinct distances of parallel bluff in long perspective — the nearest fines to a point which projects far out to meet the lowland on the other side. North and south of it are swampy grounds, and it forms the apex of the larger delta^ beyond which the stream is one. A sail to starboard apparently going across country shows us the eastern branch, the Rio Paranan- cito, upper waters of the Ibicuy. Where the brown silt scarp is disposed in a gentler talus, there is thick, furze-like monte, leafless now, but dark green in the right season, whilst a rich fringe of ever-verdant willow bends over the water. A Puerto for canoes is connected with a ribbon of path which winds round the bulge of mud precipice, often double and parted by wild vegetation, and which slopes up the grassy dorsum leading to the line of white houses and plantations that comprise the little settlement. It is by far the best building site that we have seen yet v higher and more open than that of Rozario. The sole disadvantage is its one league distance from the river. The choice of place dates from the days of the Payagua water- thieves, and suggests a valley on the Upper Congo River. Houses mostly with sloping roofs, "tejos^^ opposed to ^^azoteas,'^ and with walls of tapia — the taipa of the Brazil and the pise of Brittany, not unknown to the country parts of England — are crowded about the white chapel. The cemetery is about a league from the settlement, a good plan here generally adopted. About the village are corrals or cattle pens, and " ramadas,^^ poles supporting shady roofs of thatch, which must be renewed every year. The peach plantations already showing pink, and patches of dark-leaved oranges set in rows, from afar resemble coffee. Black cattle wander amongst the taillis, and the bouquets de bois rabougris, chiefly the Nandubay, the tala, and the mimosa. Animals breed here better than in the Brazil north of the Parana province, where artificial