354 



NA TURE 



[August 8, 1901 



historical outline, thus giving us, a grandes rasgos, the 

 dala sought by any one who desires, in a limited space, 

 to acquire a general +:nottledge of the country. 



Regarding X'enezuela, " it is still mainly mhabited by 

 scattered rural communities and nomad tribes, with 

 scarcely any large industrial or commercial centres." 

 As to the Orinoco River system, " these magnificent inland 

 waters are at present utilised in a regular way only by a 

 single steamer, plying once a fortnight between Trinidad 

 and Ciudad Bolivar," which is the only town of any import- 

 ance on the Orinoco. To this river Mr. Keane gives a 

 fall of about nine inches to the mile in a distance of 

 1300 miles, counting from the Cassiquiare Canal, that 

 remarkable connecting link between the waters of the 

 Orinoco and the Amazon. It is doubtful if the average 

 slope is more than three inches to the mile, the mistake 

 arising from the elevation of 920 feet above sea-level, 

 which Mr. Keane assigns to the Cassiquiare, which prob- 

 ably does not exceed 335 feet elevation. This is one of the 

 most important elevations in the interiorof South America, 



country belongs to a few absentee owners, whose estates 

 are often of boundless extent." He is right in part, 

 but the religious institutions should have been included 

 among the proprietors of the country a/id i/s people. It 

 would also have been well to add that the interior of 

 Ecuador, since the Spanish conquest, has had contact 

 with the outer world by only two mule-tracks, both in- 

 transitable during the rainy season, and that, behind the 

 coast Cordillera, the priest has, for more than three cen- 

 turies, had undisturbed opportunity to try his theories of 

 progress. The result has been disastrous to the morals 

 and advancement of the people, who are sunk in 

 intellectual and physical degradation. 



Peru, Bolivia, Chile, the Argentine Republic, Paraguay 

 and Uruguay are treated according to their relative 

 importance ; but sometimes the reader craves greater 

 detail upon many interesting points, probably unwillingly 

 withheld and retained in the abundant stores of informa- 

 tion apparently in possession of the author. 



In general, the maps which accompany the work are. 



el-huapi 



n Patagon 



and, since remote times, it has largely governed its 

 hydrographic conditions. There is no part of the world 

 where there is greater confusion in altitudes and dis- 

 tances, and the writer on the geographical features of 

 South America often finds his patience sadly taxed by 

 the disagreement between travellers and explorers re- 

 garding measurements. 



The States of Colombia and Ecuador form interesting 

 chapters of the work under consideration. The former, 

 which is just terminating a most bloody and disastrous 

 politico-religious war, aggravated by the influx of a 

 swarm of Philippine friars, is a land where nature seems 

 to have overlooked no favours within her power to bestow, 

 and Mr. Keane pictures them with graphic pen. .As to 

 Ecuador, the most dormant of all the South American 

 States, he says : — "The backward state of the agricultural 

 interests is no doubt partly due to the constant political 

 ferment which drives off capital, but also in great 

 measure to the feudal system of land tenure. The whole 



NO. 1658, VOL. 64] 



unworthy of the text ; old geographical errors are repro- 

 duced, and the maps are in no sense up to date, except 

 those of Chile and the Argentine Republic, -w/ikh are 

 mere thaii up to date ; for the question of limits between 

 these countries, which is now under arbitration by the 

 English Government, is apparently decided entirely in 

 favour of Chile, although upon what grounds does not 

 appear, as Mr. Keane and the editor. Sir Clements 

 Markham, have wisely avoided any expression of opinion 

 on the subject. One must therefore attribute to the 

 publisher the glaring inconsistencies between his maps 

 and the text of the work, it being evident that the author 

 is not responsible for them. The boundary, as laid down 

 between Chile and Argentina, is only of value in one 

 sense— it shows the extent to which Chile hopes 

 the English umpires will allow her to push her claims. 

 The line could not have been better traced by 

 the Chilian Foreign Office. To Chile alone it is 

 useful ; but the public expect that a map publisher of 



