Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/339



LETTEE XIV.

TO HUMAITA.

Humaita, August 23, 1868.

From Curupaity we have still two leagues, which others lengthen to nine miles, between us and the now historical Humaita. The dark sandstone which sup- ports the crumbling bank, and which we first remarked one day below Corrientes, explains the name " black stone." On the proper right bank is Port Elizario, once a camp of 10,000 men. This was the terminus of the railway, which ran some three and a half miles, through swamp and lagoon, to the northern side of the Albardon fronting Humaita. Thus it became easy to provision the ironclads, instead of exposing the squadron to severe damage by passing and repassing the batteries. The contractor was Sr Sabino Reyes, and the Opposition was severe upon the so-called " job /^ yet it was even more useful than the Balaklava Railway.

At the Riacho {alias Boca) de Oro, the Paraguay begins its great sweep to the south-east, forming the approach to Humaita. Ofi" the mouth are islets, which vary in number according to the flood. At present we find one large and two small. The former, unnamed in our chart, is known as the Isla de Humaita. It forms a tolerably regular triangle, with the apex pointing southward ; and.

Kio Una (Blackwater River) ; and ita, a stone. Lt. Col. Thompson gives " Hu (nasal), black ; ma, now j ita, stone. The stone is now black."
 * Huma (with the aspirated h), black ; in the Tupi dialect una, e.g.