Excerpt from Asuncion: Paraguay's Interesting Capital

Of the Incas in Peru appears to have been one of the incentives that spurred early Spanish explorers up the practically un known waters of the Plata, the Parana, and the Paraguay sectional names of the great stream which affords to-day, as in past ages, a fluvial artery to the very heart of South America. Sebastian Cabot, not content with answering the call of the wild in North America, plunged deeper into the unknown in South America, and with his little band of wanderers touched the borders of the country we know to-day as Paraguay about 1526 - 27, or several years before Pizarro reached Peru: Cabot is therefore credited with the honor of being the first European to see Paraguay, although it appears that he never ascended the river as far as the site of Asuncion. Subsequently Juan de Ayolas and Domingo Irala and their fellow explorers sailed up the Paraguay to a point where the eastern shore of the great river changes, froin lowlan'ds to rolling hills and verdure covered cliffs; where nature provided then, as at present, a vast lagoon or bay extending eastward from the main stream. Here the explorers halted and began to plant the seeds of civilization; here they met the Guaranis, who, in their primitiveness, offered compara tively little resistance, although it is related that the fiercer natives on the opposite side of the river proved to be more resentful. Whence came the original inhabitants, the Guaranis, to the land of Paraguay is a question that has not been definitely settled. Like many other primitive peoples, tradition plays a prominent role as to their origin. To' many the oft-told story of Tupi and Guarani is familiar and fascinating; traditionally they were brothers somewhere in Brazil and they quarreled; Guarani finally led his people far to the southward through the wilderness to a country known at present as Paraguay. There they prospered and multiplied; and, if imagina tive, we may draw a mental picture of the meeting of the descendants of these people and the imposing Spaniards on the slopes of Lambare near the still waters of the bay where picturesque Asuncion now stands. The Province of Paraguay during the era of early exploration embraced the vast area east of the Andes and south of Brazil; but in.

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