Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/488



458 AT AND ABOUT ASUNCION.

an " asa^o " for breakfast. He returned after three hours, swearing that the coin had slipped out of his pocket. Even a negro would hardly have done this.

Thence we walked northwards to the house of the Seiiora Dona Macedonia, a niece of General Berges, aged eighteen, and a great favourite with foreigners. As she was absent we entered the pulperia, or drinking-shop, upon the ground- floor, and failed to buy a tin of sardines, because the house had no change for a gold piece. All about were pretty ^' villas /' and the roads, which were adorned with the noble palma real, so much admired at Rio de Janeiro, showed signs of careful hedging.

We also visited the finca of Madame Lynch, which was said to grow some two hundred arrobas of coffee. The bun- galow was neat, and fronted by a lawn through which brick conduits led to a plunge-bath in a grassy hollow. The Mocha was not forthcoming, but there was a vinery which, trained to arbours, as are all in these regions, must have produced a quantity of grapes. The aged stems lay help- less upon the ground, and all was desolation ; the only inhabitants were a few Paraguayan peasants, who were eat- ing their chipas, or coarse brioches and chocolo, the " buta^^ of Hindostan, young maize roasted or boiled.

Our excursions about Asuncion were always short. The climate, to strangers at least, is exceedingly enervating; and very few miles in deep sand suffice for the best-girt walker. Adieu.

My dear Z-