Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/79

 PARAGUAY 69 day, formed a provisional government com- posed of Argentine citizens, and declared the provinces of Corrientes and Entre Eios to be annexed to the republic of Paraguay. On the 18th a mutual declaration of war was made by the two republics ; and on May 1 an offensive and defensive alliance was secretly entered into by the Argentine Republic, Brazil, and Uru- guay, these powers " solemnly binding them- selves not to lay down arms until the exist- ing government of Paraguay should be over- thrown, nor to treat with Lopez, unless by common consent ; providing for the guarantee of Paraguayan independence ; fixing on that republic the responsibility for the expenses of the war; and agreeing that no arms or ele- ments of war should be left to it." The sud- den aggressions upon Brazil and the Argentine Republic, for which neither of those countries was prepared, and which led to the declaration of war, might easily have been followed by triumphs far above the expectations of Lopez, had his energy equalled his ambition; for he had at his command a well disciplined army 80,000 strong. In June hostilities began ; the Paraguayan fleet was defeated on the llth by the Brazilians on the Parana ; and the Para- guayan troops were compelled to evacuate the Argentine territory on Nov. 3, the town of Uruguayana on the Uruguay having in the mean time surrendered to the allies. During the remainder of 1865, and in the course of 1866 and 1867, numerous battles occurred both by land and on the river Paraguay, with vary- ing success, and with considerable loss to the allied ranks ; but the Paraguayan troops, who suffered equally in the field, were also con- siderably reduced by disease and privations. Thus, in spite of the undoubted courage of his soldiers, Lopez lost in quick succession his principal strongholds, and his capital was oc- cupied by the invaders on Feb. 21, 1868. In June Humaita, his best fortress, commanding the junction of the rivers Paraguay and Pa- rana, was bombarded and demolished. From that time Lopez, who had taken refuge in the mountain fastnesses of the interior, vainly persisted in a struggle which terminated only when he fell at Aquidaban on March 1, 1870. A provisional treaty, drawn up at Asuncion on June 20, declared peace to be restored between the belligerents, and the rivers Paraguay and Parana to be reopened to the merchant and military navies of the allies, free of all obsta- cles. A new constitution was adopted, and promulgated on Nov. 25, providing for the free exercise of all religions, the encourage- ment of immigration and protection of immi- grants, and the summary punishment of such persons as should in future attempt to assume the dictatorship. A provisional government, with C. A. Rivarola as president, was super- seded in December, 1871, by Salvador Jove- llanos, in the course of the first year of whose administration the peace was disturbed by three revolutions, the government being shut up in Asuncion by the insurgents. In April, 1874, aided by the Brazilian troops, which still oc- cupy Paraguay, the government was enabled to suppress the rebel movements ; but the country is virtually under a Brazilian protec- torate. In October, 1874, Jovellanos was suc- ceeded by Juan Bautista Gill. See Essai sur Vhistoire naturelle des quadrupedes du Para- guay, by Felix de Azara (Paris, 1801) ; " La Plata, the Argentine Confederation, and Par- aguay," by Thomas J. Page (New York, 1859) ; Histoire physique, economique et politique du Paraguay et des etablissements des Jesuites, by Dr. Alfred Demersay (Paris, 1860-'65); "The War in Paraguay," by George Thompson (Lon- don, 1869); "La Plata, Brazil, and Paraguay," by A. J. Kennedy (London, 1869); "Seven eventful Years in Paraguay," by G. F. Master- man (London, 1869) ; " Letters from the Bat- tle Fields of Paraguay," by Capt. R. F. Burton (London, 1870) ; and " History of Paraguay," by Charles A. Washburn (Boston, 1871). PARAGUAY, a river of South America, whose head waters descend from one of the seven lakes on the low swelling plateau commonly called the Serra Diamantina, in the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso, 160 m. N. of the city of Cuyaba, lat. 13 20' S., Ion. 55 50' W. The uppermost branch is the Rio Diamantino, and next are the Preto or Negro, the Sipotu- ba, and other smaller streams from the west, before the confluence of the Jauru, which doubles the volume of the Paraguay, in lat. 16 23'. About 120 m. further S. it collects from the east the waters of the navigable river Sao Lourenco, a branch of which passes Cuy- aba. Here the Paraguay has a width of 600 yards, which it retains, with a mean depth of 15 ft., to Asuncion, the capital of the republic of Paraguay. Below the junction of the Sao Lourenco it traverses the marshy region of Xareyes or Xarayes, draining the lakes of Oberava, Gahiba, and Mandior6, and receiving the large river Taquary, the Rio Blanco (for- merly claimed by Paraguay as the northern boundary with Brazil), the Apa or Corrientes, the Ypane and the San Pedro from the east, and several from the west. In the remaining 150 m. of its course, from Asuncion to its junction with the Parana from the east at Tres Bocas, lat. 27 13', it receives its most im- portant affluents, the Pilcomayo and the Ber- mejo, both from Bolivia. At Tres Bocas the main stream, after a course of over 1,000 m., exclusive of its numerous sinuosities, takes the name of the affluent ; for such the Parana evi- dently is, inasmuch as the direction and all the geological characteristics of the river, down to the confluence of the Uruguay, are those of the Paraguay. From Asuncion to Tres Bocas the general width is half a mile, though in some parts it narrows to a quarter of a mile ; the minimum average depth being 20 ft., and the maximum depth 72 ft. The ordinary velocity of the current is 2 m. an hour. Vessels draw- ing 16 ft. can generally ascend the Paraguay