"En Tierra De Los Ciegos, El Tuerto
Es Rey" (In The Blind Country The One-Eyed Are Kings).
The native is
most guileless and ignorant, as can well be understood when his
language is an unwritten one.
Paraguay is essentially a land of fruit, 200 oranges may be bought
for the equivalent of six cents. Small mountains of oranges may
always be seen piled up on the banks ready to be shipped down the
river. Women are employed to load the vessels with this fruit, which
they carry in baskets on their heads. Everything is carried on their
heads, even to a glass bottle. My laundress, Cunacarai [Footnote: The
Guarani idiom can boast of but few words, and Mr., Mrs. and Miss are
simply rendered "carai" (man), "cuna-carai" (woman) and "cunatai"
(young woman); "mita cuna" is girl, "mita cuimbai" is boy, and "mita
mishi" - baby.] Jesus, although an old woman, could bear almost
incredible weights on her hard skull.
As the climate is hot, a favorite occupation for men and women is to
sit half-submerged in the river, smoking vigorously "The Paraguayans
are an amphibious race, neither wholly seamen nor wholly landsmen,
but partaking of both." All sleep in cotton hammocks, - beds are
almost unknown. The hammocks are slung on the verandah of the house
in the hotter season and all sleep outside, taking off their garments
with real sang froid. In the cooler season the visitor is invited
to hang his hammock along with the rest inside the house, and in the
early morning naked little children bring mate to each one.
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