Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/292



262 FROM ROZARIO TO CORRIENTES-

repeatedly declaring a velleite for shooting him, as he was evidently a malignant and an ill-wisher to the holy cause of Marshal-President Lopez.

Beyond the Rincon is an historic site, the Bateria de Cueva, the name of a fighting old Portuguese estanciero, sometimes erroneously written Cuevas, Cuevo, and Cuevos.^ As will afterwards appear, it is the typical Paraguayan position of defence. Here the Chaco shore is low, while the high left or eastern bank is a little sloped; a well- wuoded gap or dwarf glen cuts the barranca, and up it winds a green path. Evidently the guns should here have been placed a fleur d'eau, and they would have done great execution, as the river unusually narrows to about 150 yards. But routine carried the day against common sense ; the Paraguayans placed their artillery upon the high ground, where their plunging fire did the least damage.

The lively little episode is as follows. After their victory at Riachuelo (June 11, 1865) the Brazilian squadron again proceeded up stream and attempted to pass Corrientes, then in the hands of the enemy. General Bruguez, the Paraguayan leader, made the usual plan to capture or destroy it. Marching suddenly from Bella Vista with several thousand men and guns, variously stated to be thirty-five or fifty, he commanded the enemy's fleet off* Bella Vista. The invader ran the gauntlet about six miles down stream, when Bruguez, by another forced march, again placed his flying batteries on the lower river. On August 12, five days before their decisive victory of Yatay on the Uruguay, the Brazilians rushed out of the trap down- stream with closed hatches. The Paraguayan infantry lying on their bellies delivered from the bank volleys of musketry, whilst the gunners poured fire upon the Vice-Admiral Barrozo.


 * Lt.-Col. Thompson (chap, vii.) calls the site Cuevas,