482 
A nalyses of Books. 
[August, 
extremely poisonous.” The “ musical boom ” of the Rhea , or 
American ostrich (species not named), is said to be strikingly 
characteristic, even when heard at the distance of half 
a mile. A species of caCtus ( Tricomaria usilla) has spines a 
foot in length. It seems, indeed, as if the vegetation of the 
southern hemisphere, alike in Australia, South Africa, and La 
Plata is pre-eminently given to the development of thorns. 
In speaking of the now decayed town of Rioja, the author 
makes the following remark, which is capable of much wider 
extension : “ Politics have been the bane of Rioja, as of most 
other Argentine towns, especially capitals.” Where agitation 
thrives, not merely discovery and invention, but manufactures 
and commerce, languish, as we have had ample opportunity of 
witnessing of late years nearer home. 
The following instances of skill, if they occurred in a ‘‘dumb” 
animal, would be pronounced marvellous instinCts, and might 
become the theme of much eloquent sophistry : “ These men ” 
— the Rastreadores of Rioja — “ will enter a field in the middle 
of a pitch dark night, and out of a troop of strange loose mules, 
unerringly lasso their own and march them off, distinguishing 
those that occupy their several places in the team. Although I 
have had considerable experience, I never could deteCt by what 
sense they were guided.” 
The people of Rioja, we are told, “have a great horror of bees, 
and allow no hives within leagues of the city, affirming that they 
destroy both fruit and flowers, especially of the grapes and 
oranges.” The author calls this an “ ordinance based upon 
ignorance,” and so, according to our knowledge, it seems. But 
we should like to know the origin of this strange notion, and 
upon what faCts, or supposed faCts, it has been built. 
On the way to Chilecito, Mr. White mentions the humming- 
birds, “one gifted with song, and others with a distinCl whistle.” 
It is to be regretted that he has not mentioned the species, most 
of the family, as he remarks, uttering merely a shrill chirp. The 
indigenous ferns of this district he pronounces very similar to 
those of Europe. The silver mines of Chilecito, if worked with 
capital and skill, would be unequalled in the world. “ Innumer- 
able lodes in the schist yield every form in which that precious 
metal occurs ; fine specimens of native, ruby, and horn silver 
continually occur, and the rotten quartz, so easily worked, is the 
teeming matrix of gold.” In the Famatina range “lies a traCt 
of about 200 square miles containing hundreds of mines yielding 
gold, silver, copper, tin, and bismuth, and it is a curious fadthat 
those of gold are always found beneath, and the copper at the 
top.” In these mining districts, bleak and bare, Mr. White saw 
abundance of mountain doves in pairs, of the exaCt colour of the 
rocks, and many very rich and rare humming-birds, which, as he 
had no fowling-piece with him, he was unable to capture and 
determine. Near Catamarca is the southern limit of the fire-tail 
