File:The Spanish-American republics (1891) (14761123444).jpg

Identifier: gri_spanishameri00chil (find matches)
Title: The Spanish-American republics
Year: 1891 (1890s)
Authors: Child, Theodore, 1846-1892
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, Harper & brothers
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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pleasantly situated on heightsoverlooking the river, and after a halt of an hour we proceed on ourjourney amid islands covered with more or less luxuriant vegetation,and across enormous wastes of brown water, whose surface is wrinkledhere and there by sand-banks and shoals. The scenery is monoto-nous, it is true, but nevertheless has a charm; the immensity of theriver impresses one; the tree-clad expanse of low islands seems tohave no limits; there is a fascination in the very solitude of the land-scape, which, in the long intervals between the towns and colonies, israrely animated except by birds, and now and then by the tents andencampments of Italian wood-cutters and charcoal-burners pitched onthe islands. At 7 p.m. we reached Esquina, 590 miles from BuenosAyres, and in the vicinity we remark for the first time great quanti-ties of tail and dwarf palm-trees, growing in wild profusion in thethick jungle which covers the low and swampy coast, for after leaving UP THE RIVER PARANA 351
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m. A WATER-CARRIER. La Paz, the character of the landscape changes, owing to the disap-pearance of the barrancas. Esquina is about two miles inland up theCorrientes River, on which a small steamer plies in correspondencewith the Platense boats. Henceforward the country becomes wilder,and the settlements rarer and less flourishing ; on the east bank wehave the province of Corrientes, still one of the least secure in the 352 THE SPANISH-AMERICAN REPUBLICS. Republic ; and on the west bank the Gran Chaco, that famous un-explored territory of swamp and woods, which has already devouredmen and money beyond calculation, and remains still the dominion ofmosquitoes and frogs. After leaving Esquina, we steamed along without incident untilpast midnight, when, in spite of the skill and vigilance of the pilots,the Olympo ran aground in the Yaguarete Pass, one of the most diffi-cult parts of the river, owing to shoals and shifting sand-banks. Byfilling the boats astern with water, and by hauling on

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