The  face  of  the  country  between  the  Sierra  of  Piraju  and  the  River  Aguay  is  gen-
erally low,  aud,  though  interseced  by  the  considerable  stream  of  the  Piribeby  and
some  small  tributaries  of  it  and  the  Aguay,  is  not  sufficiently  well  drained  to  prevent
its  being  wet  and  sometimes  marshy,  except  about  the  occasional  wooded  knolls
which  rise  from  50  to  75  feet  above  the  general  level.  The  villages  of  Atira  and
Tobaty,  situated  on  the  slope  of  the  Sierra  of  Piraju,  are  but  small  collections  of  in-
different Indian  huts,  standing  around  their  little  churches  and  inhabited  by  rem-
nants of  the  once  numerous  Guarani  tribe.
The  town  of  Caraguatay  contains  120  houses,  and  upon  our  entering  it  on  the
morning  of  the  9th  the  people  were  celebrating  a  "fiesta,"  in  honor  of  the  re-elec-
tion to  the  Presidency  of  his  Excellency  Don  Carlos  Antonio  Lopez,  and  I  estimat-
ed the  number  in  the  place  at  one  thousand.  So  many  of  these  crowded  around
the  tents  as  to  prevent  me  from  using  the  instruments  or  doing  any  thing  else  than
gratify  their  curiosity,  and  to  force  me  to  surrender  at  discretion  and  await  a  better
time.  By  meridian  of  the  12th  I  found  but  three  families  in  it.  The  "  fiesta"-  was
over,  and  they  all  had  returned  to  their  usual  residences  in  the  neighboring  country.
The  River  Aguay  was  only  about  thirty  yards  wide,  and,  like  most  of  the  other


APPENDIX  E.  585

streams  of  this  low  section  of  the  country,  has  but  little  current,  though  the  depth
was  such  as  to  make  it  necessary  to  swim  our  horses  and  pass  the  luggage  in  canoes.
