Book Description

Excerpt from Under the Southern Cross in South America Until comparatively recent times - only a few years back - South America was regarded by the great majority outside its confines as the least known and, therefore, least understood part of the world; and North Americans looked upon it as the part from which least might be expected as far as their own interests were concerned. Journalists and newspaper men were accustomed to picture it as a mysterious land whose chief productions were deadly fevers and frequent insurrections. Indeed, in most cases, when the press mentioned it the purpose was only to chronicle some sanguinary revolution or outburst of border warfare. Several reasons contributed to keep South America in the background and leave it an unappreciated and neglected continent. In the first place its situation was against its becoming more familiar to northern lands. It stretches to the Far South, entirely away from the usual lines of travel and the beaten paths of the ordinary tourist. Few Americans have inclination or time to make personal acquaintance with the peoples and countries below the northern rim of the earth, where the Southern Cross shimmers overhead and where Christmas comes in the heat of summer and July the Fourth occurs in the middle of winter. In the next place our Monroe Doctrine kept foreign hands off this section of the Western Hemisphere; it prevented the European Powers from making it a battle-ground for the acquisition of new territory; hence, no diplomatic problems presented themselves for solution to bring the country to public attention, - it was kept isolated, as it were, from foreign entanglements, a good thing in one way, but harmful in another, as relegating it to its own obscurity. In the third place the ephemeral revolutions did not jeopardize in general the lives or property of foreigners, and consequently, our State Department was not called upon to interfere in the settlement of domestic or foreign claims; it is only very lately that its aid has been invoked in this respect. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.