tices of Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, etc., in 1831, 1832, 1833, 1834, by an Officer in the United States Navy."

In 1836 John Armitage published an important historical work, that still remains as a standard book of reference, the "History of Brazil, from the period of the arrival of the Braganza family in 1808, to the abdication of Don Pedro the First in 1831, compiled from State Documents, and other Original Sources, forming a continuation to Southey's History of that Country."

Two years later John Hawkshaw added to the comparatively slender stock of literature on the Northern half of the continent by "Reminiscences of South America, from Two and a Half Years' Residence in Venezuela."

In 1838 the Hon. P. C. Scarlett published a book on a road which was now becoming fairly well trodden: "South America and the Pacific, comprising a Journey across the Pampas and the Andes, from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, Lima, and Panama.”

The following year Sir Woodbine Parish produced a work on "Buenos Aires and the Provinces of the Rio de la Plata," of considerable intrinsic merit and interest. The views, however, on the politics and development of the river Plate Provinces expressed in this have met with considerable criticism from later writers.

In 1841 Captain Allen F. Gardiner, R.N., published "A Visit to the Indians on the Frontiers of Chili," a work which deals with the possibilities of missionary effort among the Araucanian Indians of Southern Chile. It was this book, by the way, which helped toward the formation of the Patagonian Missionary Society, from which sprang the present South American Missionary Society. The closing chapter of the mission of Captain Allen Gardiner and the story of his death are given in a little book entitled "The Giants of Patagonia," produced by Captain Browne in 1853.

In 1842 was published a large and most thorough monograph: the "Description of the Skeleton of an extinct

Gigantic Sloth," by Richard Owen, F.R.S. This giant sloth was found some seven leagues to the north of the city of Buenos Aires. The work deals with it in the most important and conscientious fashion, some of the folding illustrations being of a size sufficiently immense to content the pride of the shade even of a gigantic sloth!

The following year J. P. and W. P. Robertson gave out "Letters on South America, comprising Travels on the Banks of the Paraná and Rio de la Plata."

In 1843 George Jones, M.R.S.I., F.S.V., published "The History of Ancient America . . . .. proving the identity of the aborigines with the Tyreans and Israelites; and the introduction of Christianity into the Western Hemisphere by the Apostle St. Thomas." This ambitious work has a correspondingly ambitious frontispiece, representing the bust of the author, classically carved and with shoulders draped with a classic toga. The first volume was dedicated to Frederick William the Fourth, King of Prussia, "with feelings of enthusiasm." And the author continues: "If, in the following pages, your Majesty should recognize Your own portraiture in that of Hiram the Great, it is such as truth and history have designed and coloured;-fawning flattery and false adulation have not added even a thought to embellish, where Patriotism has so nobly consolidated"!

Then came the question of the second volume!

Its dedication is on a par with the rest. From this it appears that "An Illustrious Prince" was first chosen for the distinction. But this Prince, inclined to hedge waived his right suggesting instead "some Theologian of high rank among the sacred Profession, and eminent for Learning and Piety." This person, concluded George Jones, could be no other than the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in three sentences-which occupy two pageshe lays his work at the prelate's feet.

Is it necessary to say more? George Jones was a crank, and his book is that of a crank! Yet some of its

matter has been quoted by some later authors whose work was not without weight.

In order to find a companion-volume for this last I will drag from its proper chronological place another book which I imagine-though I have not had the advantage of reading it-may be safely introduced into the crank section, if by no other virtue than that of its illuminating title, which is "Researches into the Lost Histories of America, or the Zodiac shown to be an old Terrestrial Map in which the Atlantic Isle is delineated, so that light can be thrown upon the obscure Histories of the Earthworks and Ruined Cities of America." This work, published in 1883, is, I believe, eloquent of the alleged demons of South America, and is from the pen of Mr. W. S. Blacket.

In 1846, when the power of the Argentine Dictator Rosas was at its height, Colonel J. A. King gave to the world: "Twenty-four years in the Argentine Republic, embracing the author's personal adventures with the Civil and Military History of the Country, and an account of its political Condition, before and during the Administration of Governor Rosas," etc. Let it be said of this book that it is as wild as were the times it was written in —and, in many pages, a good deal wilder! But much of the local color is undoubtedly accurate, and all that is necessary is a grain or two of salt to apply to the adventure portion of the book!

How thoroughly General Rosas understood the art of propaganda may be gathered from an inspired small book published in 1844: "Buenos Aires-Monte Video and Affairs in the River Plate." This is in the form of a letter to the Earl of Aberdeen by a Mr. Alfred Mallalieu, and constitutes a spirited defense of Rosas' methods of government and political outlook.

Three years later the American historian W. H. Prescott published his "History of the Conquest of Peru"; a famous work, and a classic, which, of course, needs no de