Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/397

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During the days of Dr. Francia, El Pilar, I have told you, was the terminus of ship navigation and the gaol of foreigners. With its 3000 souls, which travellers have exaggerated to 8000 and 9000, it ranked third amongst Para- guayan towns; Asuncion and Villa Rica taking higher rank. The solid land immediately about it grows, besides oranges, small maize, porongos or pumpkins, and excellent cotton : it might also be made to produce rice.

El Pilar was occupied on September 20, 1867, by the late Brigadier the Barao do Triumpho (Jose Joaquim de Andrade Neves) and by the Argentine General Hornos. About 200 Paraguayan defenders were killed, and two guns were cap- tured ; it is said that when the enemy entered he found some women shot. It had before been a Paraguayan hospital, and almost every house bore upon it the word " enfermeria.^^ Here, as well as at Asuncion and all other places where there was anything to plunder, the Brazilians are said to have committed outrages. This is possible ; some 2243 serviles were bought for the army between November 13, 1865, and April 20, 1868. On the other hand, it is certain that the Basque and Italian sutlers and camp-followers were the vilest of the vile, and they were still murdering one another when we passed. Our own countrymen also distinguished themselves : one walked off with a church bell ; and two others, having dressed up a life-sized image from a crucifix in blue jacket and duck pants, walked down with it arm-and-arm to the port, pre- tending that their comrade was much the worse for liquor.

At El Pilar the bank lowers, and, as usual, slopes inland. The riverward face shows a few straggling white huts, only one being an azotea, and the rest thatched or tiled roofs. The capitania is a mere bungalow, and its neighbouring tenement has come to grief, probably by a shell. Over the foreground move a few carretas, or Cape waggons, drawn by