The principal object of these letters is to tell a new tale of modern Paraguay, to place before the public simple, unvarnished sketches and studies of what presented itself to one visiting the seat of a campaign which has, in this our day, brought death and desolation into the fair valleys of the Paraguay and the Uruguay Rivers. In no case, let me say, has distance better displayed its effects upon the European mind. Returning home, the author found blankness of face whenever the word Paraguay (which they pronounced Pargay) was named, and a general confession of utter ignorance and hopeless lack of interest.