Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/330



300 FROM CORRIENTES TO HUMAITA.

stone* — which in 1855 fired upon the U.S. steamship Water- witch, Captain Page. Before the war it was a neat little semi- circular brick fort mounting two to three guns en barbette, and built at the root of a promontory backed by a sandy beach. The Paraguayans armed it with two 8-inch guns, and for some forty days kept at bay the Allied army and the Brazilian fleet — eighteen steam gunboats and four ironclads. It was the key of the position^ yet it was carelessly abandoned by Marshal-President Lopez_, who had here cornered his enemy. A photograph of the place now shows a broken tower, in whose shade placidly reposes a cow.

Opposite Itapiru the Parana narrows to 1^ mile; and then flaring out into a bay, it is divided into two channels by sundry banks and islets. Of these the most important are the Banco de Toledo, the Isla Caraya, or Howling Monkeys' Island, and the Isla de Santa Ana. Almost due south of it on the Correntine shore is the village Corrales, alias the Campamiento del Paso, built in 1849. It is also called the Correntine Paso la Patria, that is to say Public Pass, where homeward travellers were ferried over in canoes. At this place the Brazilians raised heavy batteries to bombard Fort Itapiru. Under the tall barranca, or falaise, we descry a few ranchos, and a little flotilla embarking cattle. The pueblo, or village, is hidden from sight. On the northern bank, about two miles higher up, was the Paraguayan chapel- village — Paso la Patria — some five hours' steam from Cor- rientes, and seventy leagues, or eight days' journey from Asuncion. Here Marshal-President Lopez had thrown up a fine work, with redans and curtains, resting on two lagoons and impassable carrisal, and mounting thirty field guns.

hapira, a shan-van-vogh, or " weak old woman." Lt.-Col. Thompson says rock is volcanic.
 * ^ The Brazilians translate the name "pedra fraca;" and similarly Cun-
 * ' Itapiru : ita, stone ; pirii, dry ; dry stone." According to that officer the