Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/470



440 ASUNCION,

of common painted wood. The chapels are not recessed, and the sacristy looks poor and humble. The only remnants of antiquity are the gilt pulpit and the high altar, now a mass of tinsel. The river bank opposite the cathedral is here thirteen metres high; and the stranger who lingers there, delighted with the view, would not suppose that he is stand- ing upon the arched, oven-shaped dungeons where captivity was more deadly than in the cells of Harar. They were probably under some barrack, which has long disappeared. The discovery created much excitement amongst the Bra- zilians, but now, I supppose, the holes have been filled up.

At right angles with the cathedral is the palace of the elder Lopez and of La Seiiora, Madame Mere, as the Sora Presidenta, his wife, was always called. Fantastic and Para- guayan, its upper story is supported by fifteen pink pillars, with quaint Egyptian-like capitals, forming the normal deep verandah. A green-painted balcony, a back wall of pierced bricks, and a flying roof, distinguish the Paraguayan " "White House." The lower story, tinted to resemble marble, has two doors and twelve windows, looking over the square upon the beautiful river. The palace is connected, as usual, by long walls, with a substantial two-storied building in the rear, the property of General Barrios. Most of these houses having adobe walls are tiled down the weather side to prevent washing away. All have aljibes or tanks to col- lect the rain and to breed mosquitoes : here the cistern sup- plies the best drink ; well-water being hardened by saltpetre. The rest of the Cathedral square is occupied by four ground- floor bungalows, like that of Dr. Francia ; the south-western whitewashed building is the old theatre; the rest were in- habited by the Ministers and other dignitaries.

A few paces beyond the cathedral lead us to the Hotel de la Minute. The house once belonged to a Paraguayan of importance. It fronts a new theatre of ambitious size, said