As A Correct Plan Of The River Had To Be Drawn, The Steamer
Only Travelled By Day, When We Were Able To Admire The Grandeur Of
The Scenery, Which Daily Grew Wilder As The Mountains Vied With Each
Other In Lifting Their Rugged Peaks Toward Heaven.
From time to time
we passed one of the numerous islands the Paraguay is noted for.
These are clothed with such luxuriant vegetation that nothing less
than an army of men with axes could penetrate them.
The land is one
great, wild, untidy, luxuriant hot-house, "built by nature for
herself." The puma, jaguar and wildcat are here at home, besides the
anaconda and boa constrictor, which grow to enormous lengths. The
Yaci Reta, or Island of the Moon, is the ideal haunt of the jaguar,
and as we passed it a pair of those royal beasts were playing on the
shore like two enormous cats. As they caught sight of us, one leapt
into the mangrove swamp, out of sight, and the other took a plunge
into the river, only to rise a few yards distant and receive an
explosive bullet in his head. The mangrove tree, with its twisting
limbs and bright green foliage, grows in the warm water and fotid mud
of tropical countries. It is a type of death, for pestilence hangs
round it like a cloud. At early morning this cloud is a very visible
one. The peculiarity of the tree is that its hanging branches
themselves take root, and, nourished by such putrid exhalations, it
quickly spreads.
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