the army at first levied.[1] The Times newspaper adopts the figure 600,000, with a fighting force of 20,000. And it is understood that Dr. Stewart and other officers thoroughly conversant with the country, further diminish it to 400,000.
Colonel du Graty would make the population double in seventeen years; but this formula is also officially inspired, and is probably greatly exaggerated. The population of Buenos Aires has trebled in twenty-five years; but in her case there has been a most important influx of foreigners. Moreover, from the days of Azara, it has been believed that in Paraguay the births of the sexes are not equal. 'Un fait assez notable est la proportion plus forte des naissances du sexe féminin que celles du sexe masculin.,' (Du Graty, 265.) This peculiarity would doubtless be the effect of the hot damp climate of the lowlands affecting the procreative powers of the male, and combined with the debauchery of the people, would, to a certain extent, tend to limit multiplication. We may, I believe, safely adopt the 220,000 souls of Dr. Francia's census in 1840, and double them for 1865, thus obtaining at most 450,000 inhabitants, of whom 110,000 would be fighters between the ages of fifteen and fifty-five, and perhaps 150,000 of twelve to sixty years old. It is evident that the male population must now be almost destroyed or deported. Since early 1865, marriages have been rare, and of late they have ceased to be contracted. Paraguay will presently be left with a population of some 200,000 women and children— our 1,500,000 of inutilized women are nothing to such proportions as these. Unless she establish polygamy her history is at an end.
The Paraguayan race may be divided into four dis
- ↑ Colonel Thompson, C.E. (Chap. Y.), computes the Paraguayan army in April, 1865, at about 80,000 men.
