Chapter XVI: To-Day and To-Morrow (2)

The considerable element of British whose homes or occupations are in Latin America followed the varying fortunes of the war with eagerness, for the name and fame of England is dear to these exiled sons. Their hearts were broken with the Tarapacá disaster to the British squadron, but resuscitated by the great victory of the Falkland Isles. It must not be forgotten that they, in considerable number, left their homes and occupations and came to England as volunteers early in the war. They were not grouped together as a separate force, being of so scattered an origin. But the King approved a special badge for them, and England should be grateful for their noble effort--we trust she was and is!

The effect of the war upon the Latin American States--whilst it cut off supplies at first of European manufactured goods and disorganized exchange and currency--was to cause an enormous demand for their raw materials, with corresponding increase of wealth. Even the first-named condition was a benefit in disguise, causing a development of home manufacture.

German trade in South America, for the time being, was ruined--a severe blow--a result of the British blockade. British and French trade of course suffered temporarily. The trade of the United States, on the other hand, increased: American goods replaced European, and it seemed at one time that the change might be permanent; but it was found that their goods were inferior, or at any rate less acceptable, than those of the older exporters. However, new horizons--trade, banking and so forth--opened in Latin America for the United States.

It cannot be said that the two American peoples know very much of each other. The aloofness is partly from geographical, partly from racial causes. Enormous distances separate their respective principal centres of life. New York and the city of Mexico, for example, are several thousand miles apart, although linked by more than one railway system. Huge deserts intervene, those dreadful wildernesses of Northern Mexico, on whose existence, indeed, an early president of Mexico, who distrusted the northern neighbour, was wont to congratulate his country, summing up the sentiment in his aphorism of "Between weakness and strength--the Desert!" As for communication by sea, it may be recollected that Europe is more accessible to, for example, Brazil and Argentina, than is New York. On the Pacific side of the continent the greater part of a hemisphere intervenes between the large centres of population of North and South America. From San Francisco, or other great seaports, to Callao and Valparaiso the steamer voyage occupies far more time than is necessary to cross the Atlantic. The people of Peru and Chile or Ecuador, and the people of California or Oregon are little more than names to each other, inhabitants of another world. Great stretches of undeveloped territory intervene, and through communication by rail has not yet been established, as the Pan-American Railway remains still on the lap of the future.

Among those nations which in the future may be reckoned upon as likely to display a desire for closer relations with Spanish America are the Chinese and the Japanese. The Mongolians seem to have--as before remarked--some affinity with the American Indian race, possibly by reason of some very ancient kinship or common ancestry, for it is held by ethnologists that America may have been very early peopled by Mongolians. In Peru, for example, the Chinaman readily establishes himself in business in the smaller villages (and often surrounds himself with several wives or female companions from among the Indian women). The Japanese have long cast eyes upon the upper reaches of the Amazon basin, or Montaña, of Peru and Brazil, for purposes of settlement and industry, and of late a company from Nippon has acquired a large tract of land there, with such an object. These folk are not unwelcome, or not so far, by the South Americans, who are desirous of seeing these vast and sparsely inhabited regions brought to life.

This possibility of a modern Mongolian "invasion" into the heart of South America is one which may take on greater importance in the future.

In general terms, however, it must be recollected that the Pacific Ocean is vast and wide. There is, nevertheless, a school of thought arising of late which affects to believe that the Pacific Ocean is destined to become the centre of the world's commercial activity. As this centre changed, they say, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, so will it change from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They regard the "basin" of the Pacific as a sort of entity, and look for enormous developments in this respect, of fleets bearing travellers and merchandise, of great interchange of products and so forth.

Whilst this view may be well-founded, I venture to think that certain natural factors have not been sufficiently taken into account. There is, first, the condition of enormous width from the Asiatic to the American shore; second, it is not sufficiently understood that this American shore, whether in North or South America, is in the nature of a narrow strip of land greatly cut off from the interior of the continents by vast mountain ranges and deserts. In North America the Sierra Nevadas and the Great American Desert have to be crossed between California and the eastern and central part of the United States, and the Rocky Mountains in Oregon and British Columbia, whilst in Mexico the Western Sierra Madre offers a similar obstacle. In South America, as we have seen, the Andes is a perfect mountain wall, cutting off the interior absolutely from the narrow and comparatively infertile Pacific littoral. The natural outlet of the vast area of South America is to the east; it falls to the Atlantic, not to the Pacific. Where, then, are the people and the products that would give rise to so great a movement upon the Pacific Ocean?

Lastly, I am inclined to doubt (although I may be in error) whether the future of the world is to show a vast increase in overseas trade and trafficking such as would change its centre of gravity in this respect. There are factors against such--as have been discussed in the chapter dealing with trade; factors of the natural development of self-supply, as against import of commodities, factors of the huge and increasing cost of transport, scarcity of fuel and so forth. Moreover, what does Asia want from America, or America from Asia? Both continents produce the things of the temperate and the tropic zones; both are capable of manufacturing the finished goods which they require.

Taking all these matters into consideration, it may be doubted if the Pacific Ocean is to attain to the great importance which some have imagined for it, although doubtless its traffic will increase.

A glance now towards the future of these great lands beneath the Southern American sun, and our task will be done. What is to be their future; what part are they to play in the great scene-shifting of the developing world?

First we shall have remarked that the Latin American people are material in the making. They are not a worn-out race; they are, rather, unformed, plastic, with their life before them. Second, they inhabit perhaps the richest portion of the surface of the globe, which, so far from being exhausted, has not been heavily drawn upon in some respects. It is true that coal, that adjunct of the civilization of the industrial age, is not plentiful (except in certain districts). But the future may not be so largely dependent upon this mineral. Possibly, moreover, Nature had a purpose in the absence of coal, ordaining that at least one of the world's continents should not undergo the terrors of the factory age!

Let us turn now to certain more general conditions.

The growth of the Latin American republics might seem to offer a future for the growth and even regeneration (and some writers have said the predominance again) of the Latin races in the world generally. Here, at least, is an enormous territory, some of the richest and most fertile on the globe, at present but thinly inhabited. By the close of the present century it might be that South America would contain 250 million people. A century ago there were but 15 millions. Of course the enormous growth of the population in Europe and the United States has been a result of the machine, or industrial age--by no means an unmixed good. This has depended upon the resources of coal, iron and so forth in their soils, and statistics and forecasts show that these resources, under the present system of depletion and waste, especially in England and the United States, will tend to exhaustion in a few generations. Whether that will lead to a corresponding decline in population remains to be seen, but in this and other respects it may be said that coming events cast their shadows before. Probably the greatest reproach that can be placed upon Anglo-Saxon life to-day is that we are drawing heavily upon the exhaustible resources of the earth without establishing the basis of a permanent or adequate civilization.

It should be urged that the time has come when we should take a more comprehensive, judicious and constructive outlook upon the world--its natural resources and its folk. We are inclined to think that Nature's resources, because partly unexplored here and there, are "exhaustless." The Spanish American people are fond of speaking of their _inagotable riqueza natural_--their "inexhaustible natural resources"; but these are not inexhaustible, as I have elsewhere remarked. We need a survey, a stocktaking, of the earth's resources; we need to conserve, to economize them. It is a remarkable fact, however, that the latest pronouncement of the League of Nations contains no idea or suggestion of a fundamental policy of retrenchment, conservation, development of these potentialities. The pronouncement, which seems to be largely an echo of President Wilson's original "Fourteen Points"--which doubtless had among them certain merits at the time of their enunciation--does not get beyond advocating "increased production," the "entire removal of all economic barriers," in this respect. In brief, it is the old dreary doctrine, largely, of creating and selling, of forcing goods on communities and folk who do not necessarily need them, without any scientific outlook upon the native potentialities and requirements, or the world's natural divisions--a dreadful "internationalism" which we hoped was declining. The League of Nations, as regards its economic knowledge and spirit, is a magnificent opportunity wasted, or will be so unless it develops into something far more fundamentally intelligent. This matter of outlook by so important a body is of vital importance to the Latin American States, as to all others. The exploitation of the great remaining natural resources of these countries--as is the case with many others--cannot be successfully done under the present relations of labour and capital. Capital must have its fair reward, labour must be fairly paid; but the two things at present clash, and we shall have to find the way out before the enormous, but not fruitless, wilderness of South America and Mexico can yield up what they contain. The cream of the earth's resources has been skimmed everywhere; the remainder calls for much more scientific consideration.

Indeed, it is impossible to forecast what the future of the world--which has been shaken to its foundations by recent events--is to be. Civilization may advance or it might recede, or hang fire for centuries. That depends upon the efforts and the conscience of mankind. It may be that a quieter, less strenuous life awaits it, with less of material activity and more of moral and intellectual growth. In fact, some of us who have studied the world in its economic and political aspects, will doubt if the present type of civilization has not reached its apogee and is to enter on some other phase, a phase which we believe and hope is to be of the nature indicated.

If that be so, there is no reason why the Latin American States should not acquire growing importance. The character of their more thoughtful and educated classes is towards such a life, whilst the resources of Nature they command could afford them everything needful for their existence. The Spanish American lands have been dowered with every variety of climate and product, and by going up or down their valleys their folk can gather every known food-product or thing of the animal, vegetable and mineral world.

As to their character for national turbulence, it has been shown in these pages that such disturbing influences are but the activities of a relatively small class. Their ideals are high, their aim is towards a high civilization. Some of the nations of the Old World that considered themselves foremost in civilization--such as Germany and Austria--have shown by their actions that they can fall lower in barbarity than any of the most backward nations. Moreover, all nations are restless, all their cultures are in the melting-pot, all are at fault. There must be regeneration and reconstruction everywhere.

The future of the world will be in the exercise of true spiritual factors, interwoven with or influencing what I have, elsewhere, ventured to term ethical-economic constructive principles.[45] From a wise consideration of these, there must emerge a "science of corporate life," or science of humanity, which will learn to build up the true "economic structure" of society, in conjunction with its intellectual and spiritual activities--a constructive human geography, which will aim at the true and final reaction of mankind from its environment. Elemental forces are at work, for good or ill, at the present time, and elemental forces must be met by fundamental principles. One nation to-day is almost as far from such a philosophy as another, although to-morrow might see the turning of a page which should disclose its beginnings. In this evolving book of life the Latin American Republics have their opportunity, as far as the possible exercise of principle goes, with all other nations.

The problem for these nations is to bring on their own culture, avoiding, if possible, the errors of Europe and the United States: that is, avoiding the factors of industrial unrest and economic waste that have accompanied progress. They could profit by example and experience gained by these other lands: to bring on the education and economic uplifting of the backward masses of their people, not by crowding them into factories or refusing them a living wage, not by drawing so heavily on their fruitful soils as to begin to exhaust these, but by methods more in accordance with those principles which alone can ensure permanence and nobility.

We have seen that the Latin American nations have been dowered by Providence with everything that could make a people prosperous and contented, if wisely disposed. In some respects their circumstances are superior to those of Europe and Asia. They have no over-powerful or rapacious neighbours, no chasms of race or religion to divide them, no insensate trade rivalries--things such as in the Old World have wrought such havoc with mankind. To the traveller who has sojourned in these lands it will always remain a matter of interest to see how their lives develop, what fortune or vicissitudes befall them. Under any circumstances, they offer a field of abiding interest--scenic, natural, antiquarian--and their folk are likely ever to retain the traits which attract us. Commerce and business will doubtless grow and expand between them and the Old World, or their neighbours of the United States, with corresponding benefits, but there are many features of the region which fortunately will never fall under the domain of business. One thing, again, which humanity needs is more intercourse, and Latin America is too remote from us. Books are useful, but there should be a greater interflow of people. Unfortunately, it is a feature of life now that travel becomes more rather than less expensive, and we do not know what the future may hold for or against the traveller in this connexion.

This circumstance, also, is one of those which await the more logical outlook and constructive ability of mankind, concerning the things by which we live and move and have our being.

* * * * *

Such, then, is the romance, reality and future of these interesting lands of the Spanish American world, as far as it has been possible to depict them in these pages.

FOOTNOTES:

[43] Chaves.

[44] Santos-Dumont.

[45] _Can We Set the World in Order: a Science of Corporate Life_ (London, 1916). Also _The Tropics: their Resources, People and Future_ (Grant Richards, Ltd.).

INDEX

Abattoirs, 165

"ABC" Powers, 288

Acré, 96, 106

Aeroplanes, 267

Alcohol, 208, _see_ Rum

Alligators and crocodiles, 34, 40, 48, 87, 162, 213

Aluminium, 54

Amazon, 26, 51, 74-110, 208

"Amazons" 82

Amenities, civic, 257

Americans, 237, 273, 275, 284

Amerigo Vespucci, 30, 113

Andes, 20, 34, 74

Architecture, Colonial, 259, 261

Argentina, 158, 202, 235, 276

Artigas, 168, 199

Asuncion, 160, 162, 211, 216

Aviation, 267

Ayacucho, 174

Balata, 64

Bananas, 19, _see_ Fruits

Baranquilla, 14

Barbosa Ruy, 289

_Beagle_, 233

Belem, 105

Bello Horizonte, 122

Beni, 95

Beresford, General, 202

Birds, 35, 44-8, 71, 87, 162

Blow-pipe, 71

Bogota, 14

Bolivar, 13, 29

Bolshevism, 274

Borburema, 117

Brazil, 106, 111-57, 276

Brazil nuts, 85

British, 17, 19, 33, 54, 156, 237, 273

British Guiana, 56

British Legion, 17, 285

Buenos Ayres, 161, 165, 202, 209

Butterflies, 49

Cabot, 160

Cali, 22

California, 208, 280

_Campo_, the, 178, 185

Canoes, 36, 59, 93

Caracas, 27

Caribbean, 11-50

Cartagena, 11

Carthage, 12

Casiquiare, 26, 36, 51

Castro, President, 40, 52

Cattle, 24, 37, 107, 155, 195, 205, 220

Cauca Valley, 20, 22

Cayenne, 57, 60

Ceará, 105

Chaco, the, 162, 207, 213, 216

Chaves, airman, 268

Chibchas, 18

Chicago, 165

Chile, 133, 274

Chimborazo, 76

Chinese, 65, 68, 280

Chocolate, _see_ Cocoa

Church, the, 108

Church architecture, 261

Churrigueresque style, 263

Cinnabar, 19

Cinnamon trees, 77

Ciudad Bolivar, 34

Cleveland, President, 52

Climate, 21, 99

Coal, 19, 156, 283

Cocoa, 19, 29, 98, 107

Coconuts, 19

Coffee, 19, 23, 29, 137, 139

Colombia, 11-25

Colonists, 140

Columbus, 34, 53

Commercial traveller, 237

Constitutions, 255

Coolies, _see_ East Indians

Copper, 19

Cordillera, _see_ Andes

Corrientes, 213

Cortes, 264

Cotopaxi, 76

Cotton, 19, 29, 219

Country life, 128

Courtesy in business, 238

_Couvade_, 43

Cow tree, 85

Creoles, 62

Dairying, 24

Darien, Gulf of, 11

Darwin, 233

Demerara, 58

Doctorate, abolition of, 133

Drake, 11

Dutch, 56

Dyewoods, 114

East Indians, 65

Ecuador, 26

Education, 256

El Dorado, 27, 54, 75

Elizabeth, Queen, 54

Emeralds, 18

Entre Rios, 210

Essequibo, 58

Estancias, 206

"Factory Age," 283

Falkland Isles, 235

Farming, 24

Fauna, 44

_Fazendas_, 128, 140

Fevers, _see_ Malaria

Fishes, 49

Flora, 37, 84, 97, 187, 212

Forests, 37, 56, 77, 115-27, 234

Fray Bentos, 194

French, 56, 61, 238, 276, 286

Fritz, Padre, 108

Fruits, 24, 219

Future, the, 285

Gauchos, 154, 189

Germans, 19, 33, 132, 237

Gold, 19, 53, 64, 68, 107, 156, 269

Gomez, 200

Government, 255, 277

Guaranís, 160, 221

Guiana, 50-73

Hammocks, 41

Hemp, 219

Heredia, 12

Hides, 29

Holy Alliance, 277

Honda, 15

Horses, 37, 204

Houses, Spanish American, 25, 260

Humaita, 216

Humboldt, 39

Immigration, 131, 140-52, 206, 270

Incas, 74, 88

Indians, 25, 29, 36, 41, 70, 76, 89, 109, 190

Inquisition, 12

Investments, British, 251, 271

Iquitos, 107

Iron, 19, 156

Irrigation, 208

Italians, 33, 131, 149, 238, 270

Iturbide Hotel, 265

Ivory nuts, 19

Jaguar, 72, 87

Japanese, 238, 280

Jesuits, 221, 108

Juyjuy, 209

Labour, 30, 53, 60, 208, 274

La Guayra, 27

La Plata, 167

Las Casas, 108

Lasso, 155, 170

Law, William, 220

Lead, 19

Lemco, 191

Lepidoptera, 49, 71

_Llanos_, 25, 37

Loans, default of, 33

Locusts, 204, 207

Lopez, 218

Madeira-Mamoré, 91

Madre de Dios River, 95

Magdalena River, 14, 20

Maize, 206

Malaria, 12, 29, 60, 83, 100

Malaysia, 103

Mamelucos, 232

Manaos, 91, 104

Manati, 86

Mangroves, 56

Manioc, 42, 135

Maracaibo, 29

Meal packing, 191, 220

Medellin, 15

Mediterranean, 12

Mendoza, 161, 208

Mesa de Herveo, 18

Mexican public buildings, 263

Mexico, 262, 276

Mining, 19, 156, 269, 271

Missions, Jesuit, 201, 221

Mississippi, 207

Monazite, 156

Monkeys, 37, 44, 71, 86

Monoculture, 134

Monroe Doctrine, 277, 281

Montaña, 77

Montevideo, 164, 166, 177, 180

Mosquitoes, 49, 83, 98, 213

Motor-cars, 249

Muzo mines, 18

Napo, 78

Native arts, 242

Navigation, river, 14, 35, 37, 57, 59, 64, 90, 92-6, 191, 211

Negroes, 61, 152

Negro River, 26

New Amsterdam, 56

"New Australia," 220

New Granada, 11

New York, 56

Oranges, 219

Orchids, 19

Orellana, 80

Orinoco, 25, 33-57

Pacific Ocean, 281

Painting of houses, 266

_Palabra de Ingles_, 247, 275

Pampas, 158, 203

Panama, 283

Panama hats, 243

Pan-Americanism, 283, 291, 293

Pan-American Railway, 280

Para, 91, 106

Paraguay, 159, 167, 211

_Paramos_, 19

Paraná, 160, 209

Pasto, 22

Patagonia, 203, 233

Paysandu, 164, 191, 197

Peccaries, 87

Peru, 26, 208

Petroleum, 19, 30, 234

Pilcomayo, 168

Pilgrim Fathers, 56

Pinzon, 113

Pizarro, 75

Plate, River, 158

Platinum, 19

Poles, 152

Popayan, 22

Pope, decrees of, 109

Population, 113, 270

Portuguese, 69

Protective tariffs, 135

Putumayo, 26, 89, 103

_Quebracho_, 209, 216

Quesada, 18

Quicksilver, _see_ Cinnabar

Quindio, 21

Quinine, 19

Quito, 22

Rafts, 93

Railways, 15, 27, 267, 276

Rainfall, 95

Raleigh, 27, 53, 54

Religion, 256, _see_ Church

Riberalta, 95

Rice, 19

Rio de Janeiro, 111

Rivers, _see_ Navigation

Roads, 267

Rosario, 162, 207, 209, 211

Rubber, 27, 75, 86, 89, 92-110

Rum, native, 137

_Sabana_ of Bogota, 24

St. John del Rey, 156

Salta, 164, 208

Salto, 191

San Paolo, 130-49, 225

Santa Fé, 210

Santa Marta, 19

Santos-Dumont, 268

"Science of Life," 290

_Serra_, 117

Settlers, opportunities for, 271

Shiris, 75

Silver, 19, 158

Slavery, 128

Snakes, 48, 87

Socialism, 220, 274, 278

Solis, 159

Spaniards, 238, 247

Sugar, 19, 23, 29, 53, 120, 139, 208, 216, 219

Supreme Deity, 90

Surinam, 56, 60

_Tagua_, 19

Tapir, 216

Texiera, 82

Textiles, 240, 242

Tierra del Fuego, 223

Timber, 19, _see_ Forests

Tobacco, 19, 53, 216, 219

Tortoises, 38

Town-planning, 256

Trade, 236

Transandine railway, 209

Travel, conditions of, 14, 20, 35, 37, 209, 301

_Treinta y Tres_, 173

Trinidad, 50

Tucuman, 208

Ucayali, 89

United States, 72, 275

Urubamba, 89

Uruguay, 164, 167, 191, 277

Venezuela, 27

Vernon, Admiral, 12

Vineyards, 141, 208

War, the Great, 283

Wheat, 206

Wilson, President, 284

Wine, 208

"Wireless telegraphy," native, 89

Women, status of, 43, 65, 129, 143, 154, 171, 238, 180, 217

Yapura, 26

Yerba _maté_, 150, 219

Zea, 131

* * * * *

_Printed in Great Britain by_

UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED

WOKING AND LONDON

* * * * *

ZANZIBAR: The Island Metropolis of Eastern Africa. By Major FRANCIS B. PEARCE, C.M.G. (British Resident in Zanzibar). With a Map and 32 pages Illustrations. Super Royal 8vo, cloth. 30s. net. [Second Impression.

This important work deals with the past and present history of Zanzibar. From the earliest times this island, owing to its commanding position off the coast of Africa, controlled the great trade-routes which traversed the Continent from the Indian to the Atlantic Oceans, and it has remained to the present day the Metropolis of the East African Region. It has known many over-lords, and the author, who is His Majesty's Representative in Zanzibar, traces the story of this romantic island-kingdom down the centuries. The close association of this African island with ancient and mediæval Arabia is demonstrated, and the advent of the old Persian colonists to its shores explained. Coming to later times such names as Vasco da Gama and Sir James Lancaster, that famous Elizabethan sea-captain, are met with; until leaving beaten tracks, the author introduces the reader to the hoary kingdom of Oman, whence come those princes of the Arabian desert who subdued to their sway the rich spice-island of Zanzibar and the adjacent territories of Central Africa. Modern Zanzibar is fully dealt with, and the enlightened Prince who occupies the throne of Zanzibar to-day is introduced to the reader in a personal interview. The latter portion of the work is devoted to descriptions of the ruined Arab and Persian stone-built towns--the very names of which are now forgotten--which, until cleared by the author, lay mouldering in the forests of Zanzibar and Pemba. The text is elucidated by a series of beautiful photographs, and by specially prepared maps. This volume must be regarded as the standard work on the Sultanate of Zanzibar.

* * * * *

MODERN JAPAN: Its Political, Military, and Industrial Organization. By WILLIAM MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN, Ph.D., M.R.A.S., F.R.A.I., etc., Lecturer on Japanese, School of Oriental Studies (Univ. of Lond.), Priest of the Nishi Hongwanji Kyoto, Japan. 15s. net.

Unlike the book of casual impressions by the tourist or globe-trotter, or a tedious work of reference for the library, Mr. McGovern's book on "Modern Japan" gives for the average educated man an interesting description of the evolution of Japan as a modern world Power, and describes the gradual triumphs over innumerable obstacles which she accomplished. The book relates how the Restoration of 1867 was carried out by a small coterie of ex-Samurai, in whose hands, or in that of their successors, political power has ever since remained. We see portrayed the perfecting of the Bureaucratic machine, the general, political and institutional history, the stimulation of militarism and Imperialism and centralized industry. It is a vivid account of the real Japan of to-day, and of the process by which it has become so. Though comprehensible to the non-technical reader, yet the more careful student of Far Eastern affairs will find much of value in the acute analysis of the Japanese nation. The author is one who has resided for years in Japan, was largely educated there, who was in the Japanese Government service, and who, by his fluent knowledge of the language, was in intimate contact with all the leading statesmen of to-day. Furthermore, his position as priest of the great Buddhist Temple of Kyoto brought him in touch with phases of Japanese life most unusual for a European. While neither pro- nor anti-Japanese, he has delineated the extraordinary efficiency of the machine of State (so largely modelled on Germany), while, at the same time, he has pointed out certain dangers inherent in its autocratic bureaucracy.

* * * * *

_New Volume in 'The Story of the Nations'_

BELGIUM: From the Roman Invasion to the Present Day. By EMILE CAMMAERTS. With several Maps and many Illustrations. Large crown 8vo., cloth. 7s. 6d. net.

A complete history of the Belgian nation from its origins to its present situation has not yet been published in this country. Up till now Belgian history has only been treated as a side issue in works concerned with Belgian art, Belgian literature or social conditions. Besides, there has been some doubt with regard to the date at which such a history ought to begin, and a good many writers have limited themselves to the modern history of Belgium because they did not see in olden times sufficient evidence of Belgian unity. According to the modern school of Belgian historians, however, this unity, founded on common traditions and common interests, has asserted itself again and again through the various periods of history in spite of invasion, foreign domination and the various trials experienced by the country. The history of the Belgian nation appears to the modern mind as a slow development of one nationality constituted by two races speaking two different languages, but bound together by geographical, economic and cultural conditions. In view of the recent proof Belgium has given of her patriotism during the world-war, this impartial inquiry into her origins may prove interesting to British readers. Every opportunity has been taken to insist on the frequent relationships between the Belgian provinces and Great Britain from the early Middle Ages to the present time and to show the way in which both countries were affected by them. Written by one of the most distinguished Belgian writers, who has made a speciality of his subject, this work will be one of the most brilliant and informing contributions in "The Story of the Nations" (now numbering sixty-seven volumes), a series which has achieved a world-wide reputation.

* * * * *

THE ADVANCE _of_ SOUTH AMERICA

_A few notes on some interesting books dealing with the past history, present and future possibilities of the great Continent._

When in 1906 Mr. Fisher Unwin commissioned the late Major Martin Hume to prepare a series of volumes by experts on the South American Republics, but little interest had been taken in the country as a possible field for commercial development. The chief reasons for this were ignorance as to the trade conditions and the varied resources of the country, and the general unrest and unstability of most of the governments. With the coming of the South American Series of handbooks the financial world began to realize the importance of the country, and, with more settled conditions, began in earnest to develop the remarkable natural resources which awaited outside enterprise. Undoubtedly the most informative books on the various Republics are those included in THE SOUTH AMERICAN SERIES, each of which is the work of a recognized authority on his subject.

"The output of books upon Latin America has in recent years been very
large, a proof doubtless of the increasing interest that is felt
in the subject. Of these the 'South American Series' is the most
noteworthy." _The Times._

"When the 'South American Series' is completed, those who take
interest in Latin-American affairs will have an invaluable
encyclopædia at their disposal." _Westminster Gazette._

"Mr. Unwin's 'South American Series' of books are of special interest
and value to the capitalist and trader."--_The Chamber of Commerce
Journal._

Full particulars of the volumes in the "South American Series," also of other interesting books on South America, will be found in the pages following.

* * * * *

THE SOUTH AMERICAN SERIES

CHILE. By G. F. SCOTT ELLIOTT, M.A., F.R.G.S. With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a Map and 39 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Fifth Impression.

"An exhaustive, interesting account, not only of the turbulent
history of this country, but of the present conditions and seeming
prospects."--_Westminster Gazette._

PERU. By C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S. With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a Map and 64 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Fourth Impression.

"An important work.... The writer possesses a quick eye and a keen
intelligence; is many-sided in his interests, and on certain subjects
speaks as an expert. The volume deals fully with the development of
the country." _The Times._

MEXICO. By C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S. With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a Map and 64 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Fifth Impression.

"The book is most comprehensive; the history, politics, topography,
industries, resources and possibilities being most ably
discussed."--_The Financial News._

ARGENTINA. By W. A. HIRST. With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a Map and 64 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Fifth Impression.

"The best and most comprehensive of recent works on the greatest and
most progressive of the Republics of South America."--_Manchester
Guardian._

GUIANA. British, French and Dutch. By JAMES RODWAY. With a Map and 32 Illusts. Cloth, 15/- net.

"Mr. Rodway's work is a storehouse of information, historical,
economical and sociological."--_The Times._

BRAZIL. By PIERRE DENIS. Translated, and with an Historical Chapter by BERNARD MIALL. With a Supplementary Chapter by DAWSON A. VINDIN, a Map and 36 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Third Impression.

"Altogether the book is full of information, which shows the author
to have made a most careful study of the country."--_Westminster
Gazette._

URUGUAY. By W. H. KOEBEL. With a Map and 55 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Third Impression.

"Mr. Koebel has given us an expert's diagnosis of the present
condition of Uruguay. Glossing over nothing, exaggerating nothing, he
has prepared a document of the deepest interest."--_Evening Standard._

COLOMBIA. By PHANOR JAMES EDER, A.B., LL.B. With 2 Maps and 40 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Fourth Impression.

"Mr. Eder's valuable work should do much to encourage investment,
travel and trade in one of the least-known and most promising of the
countries of the New World."--_Manchester Guardian._

ECUADOR. By C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S. With 2 Maps and 37 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Second Impression.

"Mr. Enock's very thorough and exhaustive volume should help British
investors to take their part in promoting its development. He has
studied and described the country in all its aspects."--_Manchester
Guardian._

VENEZUELA. By LEONARD V. DALTON, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. With a Map and 45 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Third Impression.

"An exhaustive and valuable survey of its geography, geology,
history, botany, zoology and anthropology, and of its commercial
possibilities in the near future." _Manchester Guardian._

LATIN AMERICA: Its Rise and Progress. By F. GARCIA-CALDERON. With a Preface by RAYMOND POINCARÉ, President of the French Republic. With a Map and 34 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Fifth Impression.

President Poincaré in a striking preface to this book, says: "Here is
a book that should be read and digested by every one interested in
the future of the Latin genius."

BOLIVIA. By PAUL WALLE. With 4 Maps and 59 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net.

Bolivia is a veritable El Dorado, requiring only capital and
enterprise to become one of the wealthiest States of America. This
volume is the result of a careful investigation made on behalf of the
French Ministry of Commerce.

PARAGUAY. By W. H. KOEBEL. With a Map and 32 Illustrations. Cloth, 15/- net. [Second Impression.

"Gives a great deal of serious and useful information about the
possibilities of the country for the emigrant, the investor and
the tourist, concurrently with a vivid and literary account of its
history."--_Economist._

CENTRAL AMERICA: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama and Salvador. By W. H. KOEBEL. With a Map and 25 Illus. [Second Imp.

"We strongly recommend this volume, not only to merchants looking
ahead for new openings for trade, but also to all who wish
for an accurate and interesting account of an almost unknown
world."--_Saturday Rev._

* * * * *

_OTHER BOOKS ON SOUTH AMERICA_

SPANISH AMERICA: Its Romance, Reality and Future. By C. R. ENOCK, Author of "The Andes and the Amazon," "Peru," "Mexico," "Ecuador." Illustrated and with a Map. 2 vols. Cl., 30/- net the set.

Starting with the various States of Central America, Mr. Enock
then describes ancient and modern Mexico, then takes the reader
successively along the Pacific Coast, the Cordillera of the Andes,
enters the land of the Spanish Main, conducts the reader along the
Amazon Valley, gives a special chapter to Brazil and another to the
River Plate and Pampas. Thus all the States of Central and South
America are covered. The work is topographical, descriptive and
historical; it describes the people and the cities, the flora and
fauna, the varied resources of South America, its trade, railways,
its characteristics generally.

SOUTH AMERICA: An Industrial and Commercial Field. By W. H. KOEBEL. Illustrated. Cloth, 18/- net. [Second Impression.

"The book considers such questions as South American commerce,
British interests in the various Republics, international relations
and trade, communications, the tendency of enterprise, industries,
etc. Two chapters devoted to the needs of the continent will be of
especial interest to manufacturers and merchants, giving as they do
valuable hints as to the various goods required, while the chapter
on merchandise and commercial travellers affords some sound and
practical advice."--_Chamber of Commerce Journal._

VAGABONDING DOWN THE ANDES. By HARRY A. FRANCK, author of "A Vagabond Journey Round the World," etc. With a Map and 176 Illustrations. Cloth, 25/- net. [Second Impression.

"The book is a brilliant record of adventurous travel among
strange scenes and with even more strange companions, and vividly
illustrates, by its graphic text and its admirable photographs,
the real conditions of life in the backwood regions of South
America."--_Manchester Guardian._

"Mr. Franck is to be congratulated on having produced a readable and
even fascinating book. His journey lay over countries in which an
increasing interest is being felt. Practically speaking, he may be
said to have started from Panama, wandered through Colombia, spending
some time at Bogota, and then going on to Ecuador, of which Quito is
the centre. Next he traversed the fascinating country of the Incas,
from the borders of which he entered Bolivia, going right across that
country till he approached Brazil. He passed through Paraguay, cut
through a corner of the Argentine to Uruguay, and so to the River
Plata and the now well-known town of Buenos Ayres."--_Country Life._

IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA: Six Years of Exploration in Colombia, Venezuela, British Guiana, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. By LEO E. MILLER, of the American Museum of Natural History. With 48 Full-page Illustrations and with Maps. Cloth, 21/- net.

This volume represents a series of almost continuous explorations
hardly ever paralleled in the huge areas traversed. The author is a
distinguished field naturalist--one of those who accompanied Colonel
Roosevelt on his famous South American expedition--and his first
object in his wanderings over 150,000 miles of territory was the
observation of wild life; but hardly second was that of exploration.
The result is a wonderfully informative, impressive and often
thrilling narrative in which savage peoples and all but unknown
animals largely figure, which forms an infinitely readable book and
one of rare value for geographers, naturalists and other scientific
men.

THE PUTUMAYO: THE DEVIL'S PARADISE. Travels in the Peruvian Amazon Region and an Account of the Atrocities committed upon the Indians therein. By E. W. HARDENBURG, C.E. Edited and with an Introduction by C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S. With a Map and 16 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, Cloth, 10/6 net. [Second Impression.

"The author gives us one of the most terrible pages in the history of
trade."--_Daily Chronicle._

TRAMPING THROUGH MEXICO, GUATEMALA AND HONDURAS. By HARRY A. FRANCK. With a Map and 88 Illustrations. Cloth, 7/6 net.

MEXICO (STORY OF THE NATIONS). By SUSAN HALE. With Maps and 47 Illustrations. Cloth, 7/6 net. [Third Impression.

"This is an attractive book. There is a fascination about
Mexico which is all but irresistible.... The authoress writes
with considerable descriptive power, and all through the
stirring narrative never permits us to lose sight of natural
surroundings."--_Dublin Review._

THINGS AS THEY ARE IN PANAMA. By HARRY A. FRANCK. With 50 Illus. Cloth, 7/6 net.

THE SPELL OF THE TROPICS. POEMS. By RANDOLPH H. ATKIN. Cloth, 4/6 net.

What Kipling is to India, and Robert W. Service to Canada, Randolph
H. Atkin is to South America. Read his remarkable volume of poems,
descriptive of life in Central and South America.

BAEDEKER GUIDE TO THE UNITED STATES. With Excursions to Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico and Alaska. With 33 Maps and 49 Plans. Fourth Edition, 1909. Cloth, 15/- net.

* * * * *

IMPORTANT. _Travellers to the Republics of South America will find WESSELY'S ENGLISH-SPANISH and SPANISH-ENGLISH DICTIONARY and WESSELY'S LATIN-ENGLISH and ENGLISH-LATIN DICTIONARY invaluable books. Bound in cloth, pocket size, price 4/- net each. Ask for Wessely's Edition, published by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin._

T. FISHER UNWIN LD., 1 ADELPHI TERRACE, LONDON, W.C. 2

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Footnotes have been moved to the end of each chapter and relabeled consecutively through the document.

Illustrations have been moved to paragraph breaks near where they are discussed.

Punctuation has been made consistent.

Chapters XIII and XIV have identical titles.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except as noted below.

Changes have been made as follows:

p. 20: "profuison" changed to "profusion" (wild profusion, is)

p. 45: "cock-of-the rock" changed to "cock-of-the-rock" (allied cock-of-the-rock is)

p. 57: "eixst" changed to "exist" (only exist because)

p. 65: "tho" changed to "the" (bucra--the well-to-do)

p. 66: "notwtihstanding" changed to "notwithstanding" (race, notwithstanding the)

p. 109: "aboriginies" changed to "aborigines" (the aborigines, the)

p. 116: "devasting" changed to "devastating" (These devastating forces)

p. 167: "Amercia" changed to "America" (South America, ethnographical)

p. 178: "MONTEVIDEO; THE PLAZA: AND THE HARBOUR." changed to "MONTEVIDEO: THE PLAZA AND THE HARBOUR."

p. 225: "adadmitted" changed to "admitted" (be admitted, to)

p. 286: "Dominician" changed to "Dominican" (the Dominican Republic)

p. 289: "motived" changed to "motivated" (largely motivated by)