Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/315



A WEEK AT CORIIIENTES. 285

diaticos," with gun on slioulder and big knife in belt. The Brazilians declare that they are "bugres" or savages trapped in the chase. We are made welcome by M. Bossut^ a Belgian watchmaker, who, having filled his purse, is now going home. For a very simple operation he charged me 1/., frankly declaring it his lowest charge. M. Dumanet, the photographer, determines that we shall sit, and supplies us bountifully with copies of his " Indians," and other local subjects. After a time we stimulate at the store of Mr. T. H. Mangels, Calle Rioja, a collector of botanical curiosi- ties : he kindly gave me sundry duplicates, which proved useful at home. To him Marshal -President Lopez paid $10,000 by way of indemnity for his losses during the Paraguayan occupation. We are introduced to the Town Major, Commandante Piquet, relative to the La Mothe family. He fought under the Generalissimo Caxias against the Liberals at St. Lusia, in the Brazil; and now he is en route to Humaita. We call upon D. Juan Decoud, editor of El Liberal, the most advanced paper ; he has fled his country (Paraguay), where he owes a long tale of vengeance. Of this distinguished family one was put to death by the elder Lopez, and another commands a Paraguayan brigade in the Allied service — D. Juan may look forward to be- coming Minister and even President. The other periodical is the Voz de la Patria, far too moderate to be popular.

Politics run high here, as in other parts of the Confede- ration. Difference of private interests and personal ambi- tions engender fierce feuds, that become old ingrained hates. ^^ To be deemed a man of worth is enough to be one of them ^' (your party) ; and the less scrupulous you are in their service, the more you are valued. Imagine a combination of the ready kniveing of the Highlander in the sixteenth century combined with the political feeling of the Englishman in the early portion of the nineteenth. There