These sartorial conditions refer to the Indian folk who, however, constitute the bulk of the nation. Upper-class people, of course, wear boots and shoes, and would indignantly refute any aspersion as to being backward in the refinements of life. There are some good buildings in Asuncion, showing the customary Spanish American ideas in civic architecture. The most prominent edifice is a bank, built originally as a palace by the younger Lopez, and there is a national college and a public library, but educational progress is slow in Paraguay. The principal streets are paved, and lighted with gas and electricity, and there are street cars and telephones. The name of Lopez brings forward one of the most dreadful periods of history in this part of South America, upon which we may well pause a space. Francisco Solano Lopez, dictator of Paraguay, and self-styled "Protector of the equilibrium of the La Plata," forced his country into war against Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, who, aggrieved, combined for the purpose of suppressing him, "until no elements of war should be left in Paraguay," as their declaration ran. The country was invaded, the war lasted five years, 1865 to 1870; a struggle involving enormous sacrifice of blood and treasure, closing only when the Paraguayans were practically annihilated. During the struggle every male Paraguayan was forced to bear arms; there were regiments of boys from twelve to fifteen years old; women were used as beasts of burden to carry ammunition and stores, and were murdered or left to die by the wayside when their strength gave out. From a population of nearly one and a half million, that of Paraguay fell as a consequence of the struggle to a quarter of a million. It is recorded that, in the retreat, Lopez ordered every town and village to be destroyed and every living animal slaughtered. Imagining a conspiracy against his life, this half-crazed dictator, it is recorded, ordered hundreds of the foremost citizens of Paraguay to be seized and executed, including his own brother and brothers-in-law, judges, cabinet ministers, officers, bishops, two hundred foreigners and several diplomatic representatives of the legations. The end of this extraordinary specimen of a Spanish American ruler was death in the river, for, having been reduced to a handful of adherents, on the northern frontier of Paraguay, he was surprised by Brazilians, and shot, as he endeavoured to swim the stream.