Abstract
Deeply hidden in the heart of South America, and inhabited largely by savage Indians and wild animals, lies the low alluvial plain known as El Gran Chaco. That portion of the region which lies in the angle of the Pilcomayo and Paraguay Rivers and which separates the undisputed territories of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina, is called the Chaco Boreal; it is here that Bolivia and Paraguay waged their desperate conflict for supremacy. The territory itself, though twice the size of England, consists mostly of fever infested swamps and jungles with excessive seasonal rainfalls, and few white men have ever penetrated the interior. The general conditions have been succinctly described by John Foster Frazer, the English journalist, who once remarked, "When our ancestors invented hell they had no knowledge of the Chaco."