Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/402



LETTEE XX,

TO THE BRAZILIAN FRONT.

Guardia Tacuara, August 31, 1869.

My dear Z ,

I visited the front sundry times^ and tlius had an opportunity of inspecting the Brazilian forces and of conversing with the chief officers. You shall have in this letter an account of my last day.

The first thing was to reconnoitre Guardia Tacuara. Its site resembles that of Curupaity, but it is even stronger. The E/ibera, or left bank^ perpendicular above and sloping below^ is tall and curving, whilst the stream is narrower and swifter than below. The Albardon or spit on the Gran Chaco opposite is an impassable swamp, with mud to the neck. North of the eastern shelf, where it is broken by swamps and hollows, are the old guard-house, the orange clumps, and the mangrullo, without any attempt at a forti- fication. The corral is composed of single or double palm- trunks, and the entrances are barred with three or four cross-pieces mortised into bevelled holes ; these easily-made stockades are very efficient. The pise walls are tunnelled by the house wasp (Vespa Polistes of Latreille), the Lechi- guana of Dobrizhoffer, and the modern Echiguano and Lecheguana. The thatch is made of the flat stalks of the Sape cane (d, saccharum), laid close upon laths below^ and plastered outside with clay.

Beyond the bank -ridge the plain is flaky with the last year's mud, and the fine new green grass appears to be ex- cellent fodder ; it is, however, bitter and acrid, and it killed