In the Cordillera, where Masterman describes the scenery as most
beautiful, the cacti grow, bristling with spines, and loaded with
delicate white flowers; as also the wild pineapple, which covers the
ground,--its serrated leaves, of a bright scarlet in the centre, and
barred, all straggling from the root. Its fibre is used by the natives
for making fishing-nets and lines, and a coarse strong cloth. Paper
also has been manufactured from it; and as it can be produced in great
quantities, it may become of much commercial importance.
Game abounds throughout the territory. Herds of deer roam in the open
glades; droves of pigs are found in the forest somewhat similar to those
of England; and a bird, the ynambu guazu, as large as a pheasant; while
quails are seen in flocks in the esteros,--with snipe, wild pigeons, and
other birds.
High up the River Parana is found the magnificent waterfall, El Salto de
Guira, rivalling in splendour Niagara itself. Other fine waterfalls are
found on different rivers.
Here, too, the ant-eater reaches an enormous size. The capybara is also
found. It is obliged to triturate its food--grass, and herbaceous
plants--for a long time, in consequence of the contracted size of the
oesophagus, which will hardly admit a goose-quill, although the animal
is sometimes so large that it weighs more than two hundred pounds. Its
destiny seems to be to feed jaguars, for they live principally on the
creatures.
The chinchilla, another rodent, is very common in the fields and
esteros. There is a large heron, called in Guarani the _tuyuaju_--that
is, one which walks in the mud--nearly as tall as a man, with a bill
more than a foot in length. The puma ranges throughout the country, as
he does much further south; while the jaguar also appears amid the
forests and plains.