Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/462



432 ASUNCION,

stone cliflP, which, scarped in case of attack,, commands the river. The old brick outwork, however, is open behind, and is raised so high that its plunging fire is little to be feared. On the east of it is a redoubt, with platforms for four guns, of which only two had been mounted : it shares all the defects of its larger neighbour, and both, at the time of my visit, were thoroughly dismantled. Here, I suppose, are the two casern ated batteries which the older charts caused to front the mouth of the Pilcomayo. In imme- diate rear of the guns stood ruins of the usual powder- magazines, not sloped as they should have been. Behind the works the green ground is made swampy by an unclean rivulet draining to the east ; and about 200 yards further are tattered sheds on the principle of the Humaita bar- racks.

The most striking object is the unfinished palace of the Marshal- President : it might have been built to great advantage upon higher ground, but it is evidently intended to attract the first glance of the arriver, and to be the last upon which the departing eye dwells. It is an extravagant construction — a kind of Buckingham Palace, built upon the abrupt slope of the river, from which only a narrow terrace divides it ; consequently, the inland fa9ade is not nearly so tall as that which looks riverwards. An utter absurdity, considering the size of the town, it consists of a body and two wings projecting southwards into a small square, provided with a fountain. The centre is capped by a substantial square tower, one of whose four pinnacles has been knocked away by the Brazilian ironclads : a little damage has also been done to the west flank. A fine broad staircase, boldly planned, enters the middle of the fa9ade, and abuts upon a terrace evidently intended to command the square, for the purposes of speechifying and of sight-seeing. Here are some wondrous attempts at art, emblematical sculptures,