City Of The Dead, Truly - Men
And Women And Children Who Have Passed On!
My horse nibbled the grass
growing among the broken tiles of the floor, while I, in imagination,
listened to the "passing bell" in the tower above me, and under whose
shade I sought repose.
A traveller, describing this site, says: "It
is a place of which the atmosphere is one great mass of malaria, and
the heat suffocating - where the surrounding country is an
uninterrupted marsh - where venomous insects and reptiles abound." San
Salvador as a busy mart has ceased to exist, and the nearest approach
to "the human form divine," found occasionally within its walls, is
the howling monkey. Such are the consequences of war! During the last
ten years Paraguay has been slowly recovering from the terrible
effects of this war, but a republic composed mostly of women is
severely handicapped. [Footnote: Would the suffragettes disagree with
the writer here?]
Paraguay is a poor land; the value of its paper currency, like that
of most South American countries, fluctuates almost daily. In 1899
the dollar was worth only twelve cents, and for five gold dollars I
have received in exchange as many as forty-six of theirs. Yet there
is a great future for Paraguay. It has been called the Paradise of
South America, and although the writer has visited sixteen different
countries of the world, he thinks of Paraguay with tender longing. It
is perhaps the richest land on earth naturally, and produces so much
mate that one year's production would make a cup of tea for every
man, woman and child on the globe.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 143 of 313
Words from 38105 to 38376
of 83353
