PARAGUAY, pitea-gwfi or inland republic of South America, bounded on the north by Bolivia and Brazil, on the west and south by Argentina, and on the east by Argentina and Brazil. It is bisected by the Tropic of Capricorn. It has an area of 98,000 square miles, being about as large as Italy ex cluding Sicily. The Parana River forms a large part of the eastern boundary. The country is di vided by the Paraguay River into two sections: ( 1 ) Eastern Paraguay ( Paraguay proper), between the Paraguay and Paranfi rivers, which has at tained considerable development; (2) west of the Paraguay, that part of the Gran Chaco belonging to the Republic. Few enterprises of the white race have yet been carried into the latter region. , TOPMEAPIIY. Eastern' Paraguay is a plateau of no great elevation surmounted by low ridges and hills and subsiding in the west and south west to grassy tracts. morasses, and lagoons, which scarcely rise above the fluvial level. The
plateau has an average altitude of less than 300 feet above sea level, and the hills and ridges rarely exceed 1600 feet in height. The name of mountains can hardly be assigned to these hills. Slightly undulating plains skirt the east hank of the Paraguay, but away from the river the hills soon become numerous and higher. Chains of low heights extend north and south through the country, and are hyperbolically called Sierras and Cordilleras, though hunters and mate-gatherers easily pass from one slope to the other. The fact that much of the in terior is still little knot•n is due not to these low ridges, but to the dense tangle of vegetation covering their slopes. The Gran Chaco west of the Paraguay River is mainly an ifamense level plain with a very slight slope toward the river, and with large areas subject to frequent inunda tions.