HINTS TO TRAVELERS

Best Visiting Time.-May to September is the most comfortable season in which to visit Paraguay, since the heat is less oppressive during these months. Cold weather may be experienced, and it is advisable to bring reasonably heavy clothing and a light overcoat at this period. During the summer months (November through March), the lightest white clothing is generally used, although medium-weight suits should be included, against sudden changes in temperature.

Care should be taken, in visiting Paraguay, against typhoid fever, dysentery, and other intestinal diseases which are widespread, even in the capital. There is no modern sanitation in Asunción; private wells and cesspools constitute the only water and sewage disposal systems. The native attitude toward the most simple problems of public hygiene is quite primitive.

Visitors should be vaccinated against smallpox and inoculated against typhoid and paratyphoid.

Medical and surgical treatment is satisfactory, though not up to American standards. Dental work can also be done if necessary, but likewise does not compare with such services in the United States. Ordinary medical prescriptions can be made up in Asunción, and most of the common proprietary medicines are available. Prices are high, however, and it is well to bring a sufficient supply of customary American products.

Hotels.-Hotels in Asunción charge up to $4 a day, American plan. Prices and accommodations in inland towns are correspondingly inferior. There are no first-class restaurants in Paraguay.

Holidays. The Roman Catholic religion prevails in Paraguay, and many church holidays are observed. Business shuts down on these days, as well as on the following legal holidays: January 1, New Years' Day; February 3, San Blas, Patron of Paraguay; March 1, Day of the Defender (death of Marshal López); May 14, Independence Day; August 15, Founding of Asunción; October 12, Discovery of America; November 25, Constitution Day; December 8, Our Lady of Caacupé; December 25, Christmas Day.

Business Hours.-Business hours in Asunción are from 8 to 11 a. m. and 2 to 7 p. m. Banking hours are from 7 to 11 a. m.; Saturdays, from 7 to 10 a. m.

CURRENCY

The unit of value in Paraguay is the gold peso, based on the Argentine gold peso. No gold or silver is in circulation, and transactions are made in paper currency, issued in bills of 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 pesos. A few nickel coins of 0.50, 1, and 2 pesos also circulate. At the official Paraguayan conversion rate, 79.5454 Paraguayan paper pesos equal 1 gold peso.

At the middle of 1938, 1 Argentine paper peso was worth about 70 Paraguayan paper pesos. Argentine paper currency circulates freely and is accepted in commercial dealing.

COMMERCIAL CENTERS

ASUNCIÓN, capital of the Republic and seat of the government; one of the oldest cities in South America; population, 95,000. Located on the east bank of the Paraguay River, 1,200 miles (1,932 km) from the ocean; 938 miles (1,510 km) from Buenos Aires, by rail; 132 miles (212 km) from Concepción: and 93 miles (149 km) from Villarrica. Industries: maté, flour, rice, and textile mills; cotton gins; tanneries; distilleries; shoe, furniture, match, and cigarette factories; other minor industries. American Minister and Consul.

How Reached. From Buenos Aires, by airplane, river boat, or railroad, via Encarnación and Villarrica.

Banks. Bank of London & South America, Ltd. (British capital); Banco Germánico de la América del Sud (German capital); Banco de la República (Government bank); Banco Agrícola del Paraguay (Government institution to promote agriculture'. Hotels. Gran Hotel del Paraguay; Hamburgo; Argentina; Colonial; Parque. The Gran Hotel is desirable in summer be cause of its location on an elevation slightly outside the business center. The Hamburgo and Colonial are centrally located and are very satisfactory.

Note.-Asunción, chief port and center of the commercial life of the country, is the only important city in Paraguay. It is the logical place to establish an agency for Paraguay, and is much to be preferred to Buenos Aires or Montevideo if any trade is to be expected; since there is a growing tendency for Asunción firms to import direct.

VILLARRICA, second city of the Republic (population estimated at around 30,000) is situated east of Asunción on the main line of the Paraguay Central Railroad. An agricultural center, its chief products are maté, tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, and hides.

Note. While Villarrica is important from the Paraguayan standpoint, it is hardly a sufficient market to warrant special study, since most of the trade is done through Asunción.

ENCARNACION, on the Paraná River opposite the Argentine town of Posadas, has a population around 15,000. It is the terminus of the Paraguay Central Railroad, a port of some importance to Paraná trade, and an agricultural center. Chief products: Maté, timber, cattle hides. Largely dependent on Asunción, despite its far location.

CONCEPCIÓN, on the east bank of the Paraguay River, 132 miles north of Asunción, is the center of the cattle-raising industry both in Paraguay proper and in the Chaco. Principal products: Hides, maté, and timber. Dependent largely on Asunción for imported products.

URUGUAY

AREA, TOPOGRAPHY, AND CLIMATE

Area. Uruguay is the smallest of the South American Republics. Its area of 72,152 square miles slightly exceeds that of the State of North Dakota. (See map facing p. 4.)

Topography. The country is level to undulating in the south, and rises gradually to the northward to elevations of 600 to more than 1,500 feet, in the form of tablelands and bold hills: Grass covers the lowlands, except along the streams, which in some places are bordered by woodlands.

Rivers and Lakes.-Uruguay has over 700 miles of navigable rivers, of which the principal ones are the Plata and the Uruguay, the latter forming the boundary between Uruguay and Argentina on the west. Ocean-going craft ascend the Plata and the Uruguay as far as Paysandú. The only lake of importance is Lake Merim, on the Brazilian border, on which is maintained a line of small steamers.

Climate.—The climate of Uruguay, though damp and extremely windy, is temperate. The temperature, seldom falling below the freezing point or rising above 100° F., is suitable for persons accustomed to the climate of the United States. Rainfall averages about 40 inches and is well distributed throughout the year. Health conditions are satisfactory. Although respiratory affections are common, contagious diseases are not widespread, and extended epidemics are rare. Fresh water and milk may be drunk and fresh vegetables eaten without boiling. Many travelers, however, take the precaution of being inoculated against typhoid fever and vaccinated against smallpox before coming to Uruguay. Clothing suitable for Washington, D. C., is recommended for Uruguay, depending on the season. It should be remembered that Uruguay is south of the Equator and that its seasons are opposite to the corresponding seasons in the United States.

POPULATION AND PURCHASING POWER

Population. The population of Uruguay was officially estimated in December 1936 at 2,065,986, or 28.63 per square mile. The city of Montevideo has an estimated population of 680,000, or 34 percent of the total for the entire country; while the three Departments of Montevideo, Canelones (which is adjacent to Montevideo on the north), and Colonia (whose chief city, Colonia, is opposite to Buenos Aires, across the Plata River) have an estimated population of 975,000, or 48 percent of the population of the country, with a density of 227.64 per square mile. Not including the three Departments named above, the

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density of population is 16.20 per square mile. Except for Montevideo, no city claims a population of more than 50,000. The people of Uruguay are predominantly of Spanish descent, Italy being the second largest contributor. The population is almost entirely white.

Income. The national income of Uruguay was estimated in 1936 at 356,944,000 pesos, or 178 pesos per capita. The equiva lent in United States money amounts to $89, if the conversion is made at the average free market rate, and to $142.40, when converted at the official rate. This is the highest per capita income of all the South American countries except Argentins and possibly Venezuela.

CHIEF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

Agriculture.-Livestock constitutes the most important source of Uruguay's national income. Cattle raising and sheep herding are particularly profitable. Wool, hides, skins, jerked beef, refrigerated meats, meat extracts, canned meats, and animal byproducts are exported. Two of the large American meat packers have packing houses in Uruguay. Wheat, corn, linseed, oats, and barley are the chief crops. Other products of the soil are beans, alfalfa, potatoes, and tobacco. Cotton planting has also been begun.

Uruguayan foreign trade constitutes an exchange of agricul tural and animal products for manufactured articles of almost every description. In the order of value, the following were the most important exports in 1936-wool, hides and skins, canned meat, linseed, wheat, chilled beef, and frozen beef. Minor exports are sand, stone, and ostrich feathers. The principal imports in 1936, in order of value, were gasoline, refined sugar, coal, rayon and mixed silk fabrics, fuel oil, yerba maté, kerosene, potatoes, iron bars, olive oil, automobile tires, and newsprint paper.

Manufacturing. The leading manufacturing industries are such as are derived from stock raising and agriculture. Foremost among them is meat packing, represented by four large freezing establishments and a number of smaller concerns turning out jerked beef, canned meats, and other animal products. Other important industries are tanning, manufacturing of shoes leather goods, and woolen textiles. Uruguay also has flour mills; breweries; a sugar refinery; a cement plant; paper mills and knitting mills; match, soap and candle, glass, enamelware, candy, furni ture, rubber-goods, and cigarette factories. There are, in addition, a number of minor industries depending on imports for their raw materials.

Local industry is being stimulated, through increased customs duties and preferential exchange bounties, to manufacture articles heretofore imported, among which the most important are automobile tires, industrial chemicals, medicines, paper, and textiles. Oil refining has just been undertaken by a Government enterprise.

Tourist Trade.-As a result of its relatively pleasant climate, Montevideo and the Uruguayan coastal resorts to the east have become the leading summer resorts not only for Uruguayans but for Argentines and Brazilians as well. It is estimated that over 100,000 tourists come to Uruguay each summer, appreciably stimulating local business.

Mining.-Deposits of various minerals, including gold, copper, lead, and manganese, have been found, but mining is little developed. Deposits of excellent marble, agate, granite, onyx, and slate abound, and are being exploited to a degree. Common stone and sand are quarried in large quantities for both the domestic and the foreign markets.

All mines in Uruguay are the property of the State. The present Government is interested in stimulating the mining industry of the country, and to this end has acquired, through the U. T. E. (independent State light, electric power, and telephone plant) the gold mines at Cuñapirú, where the plant and equipment have been modernized and enlarged, So far, it is understood that little actual gold has been extracted.

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION

TRANSPORTATION

STEAMSHIP SERVICE.-Direct steamship service connects the principal United States ports and Monetvideo, as shown below. These lines all continue on to Buenos Aires. are minimum and are subject to change.

The rates given