Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/381



LETTER XVIII.

RIDE ROUND THE HUMAITi. " QUADRILATERAL.'*

Humaita, August 27, 1868.

My dear Z ,

Wishing to see the contour of Humaita, we applied to General Gelly i Obes, who most courteously- lent us his own chargers, and sent with us one of his officers ; the latter had the appearance of a Bashi Buzuk Irregular, but he did not wear the sword of a private.

Our first visit was to the comercio, or camp bazar, situated immediately behind the tattered church. The flags of all nations waved over board huts, mat hovels, and canvas tents, which, foul in the extreme, formed a hollow square round a pool of filthy water. Some of them bore the ambitious names of Hotel rran9ais, de Bordeaux, and de Garibaldi. In these places you may get a bed and perhaps a bit of breakfast for the normal 1/. I may say that I saw for the first time the coinage of the Brazil in the valley of La Plata : during my three years" experience of the great Empire a gold piece was never in my possession ; silver never, except when wanted for a journey ; and the heavy copper " dump"' never whilst paper could be carried. In the unclean lines which represented streets, idle ruffians were lounging about, drunken cut- throats gave ear to guitar or accordion, and everywhere, on foot and on horseback, appeared the petticoats and the riding-habits of an unmis- takable calling. The favourite dress was bright silk, and many were robed

" In chintz, the rival of the showery bow."