* It is, of course, to be taken into consideration that my two journeys
in Paraguay were made after the great war which terminated in 1870,
after lasting four years; but the writings of Demersay
(`Histoire du Paraguay et des E/tablissements des Je/suites',
Paris, 1862), those of Brabo, and of Azara, show the deserted state
of the district of Misiones in the period from 1767,
the date of the expulsion of the Jesuits, to the middle of
the nineteenth century.
--

The actual condition of the rich district of Misiones (Paraguay)
at the time I visited it, shortly after the conclusion of the great war
between Paraguay and Brazil in 1870, does not enable me
to speak with authority on the condition of communities,
the guiding spirits of which were expelled as far back as the year 1767.
The actual buildings of the missions, the churches in a dismantled state,
have indeed survived; in many instances the tall date-palms
the Jesuits planted still wave over them. Generally the college was occupied
by the Indian Alcalde, who came out to meet the visitor on a horse
if he possessed one, with as much silver about the bridle and stirrups
as he could afford, clothed in white, with a cloak of red baize,
a large `jipi-japa' hat, and silver spurs buckled on his naked feet.
If he had never left the mission, he talked with wonder and respect
of the times of the Jesuits, and at the `oracion' knelt down
to pray wherever the sound of the angelus might catch him.
His children before bedtime knelt all in a row to ask his blessing.
If he had been to Asuncion, he probably remarked that the people
under those accursed priests were naught but animals and slaves,
and launched into some disquisition he had heard in the solitary cafe
which Asuncion then boasted. In the latter case, after much