Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/403



TO THE BRAZILIAN FRONT. 373

off the horses of the Brazilian cavalry. In some cases the bellies clove to the backs, as if the animals were starved ; in others the stomachs were enormously distended. As a rule, any sudden change of Querencia* (place of birth or habitual pasturage) is dangerous to animals : here it is deadly. More- over, it abounds in poisonous plants, locally known as Ro- marillo, Chucho, and Mio-mio. Many Brazilian officers of cavalry assured me that such was the case; yet M. Ben- jamin Poucel (Le Paraguay Moderne, Marseille, 1867), re- marking upon the assertion of an English newspaper, " The very grass of Paraguay is, I am told, poisonous,^^ refers, in derision, ce monsieur the author, to the " first Gaucho venu,^^ and pathetically laments the manifold evils arising from " I am told/'

The common capim is undoubtedly deadly ; the " capim peludo â– â– ' being the only grass used for forage. This is, how- ever, rare ; and the Brazilians found it necessary to import up stream from Buenos Aires, Rozario, and other ports, countless cargoes of pressed alfalfa {medicago sativa). In favourable places down the river three crops a year are produced. The article was cheap, but it soon rose to 8/. per ton. It was terribly wasted by exposure to wind and weather, and in places I have seen it used to bridge swamps. This unexpected obstacle added prodigiously to the diffi- culties and to the expenses of the invader.

I passed an estancia, deserted since the war began — a long, low barn like that of the Guardia. Attached to it was an extensive potrero or paddock, made of palm-trunks: the term is sometimes applied to natural clearings in a forest. The potrero is larger than the corral, and it is a familiar feature in a land whose main industry is breeding. Here the camp-

grounds.
 * Hence, aquerenciado is said of cattle confined to particular grazing