South of Panama

Front matter

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY

Natural bridge, "Puente del Inca," on the Transandine Railw

Chapter I Page

Buenaventura and the Choco — Over into the Cauca Valley — Cali the Sleepy — Life in a patio — Character of the Caucans — Americans in exile — The Biblical Antioquians — Down the coast to Guayaquil — Yellow Jack and plague — The climb to Quito — The gold legend of Latacunga — Climatic contrasts — Degradation of the natives— Indians of the Sierra — The future of the Ecuadorans — Why no immigrants.

Chapter II

PERU, THE ROOF OF THE CONTINENT ..... 33 Why the coast is rainless — Rivers that empty into the air — Cargo-collecting — The spell of Peru — Make-up of the Peruvian people — White and mestizo — Lima, " the city of the Kings " — ' Up to Cerro de Pasco — The highest American colony in the world — The upland natives — Horrible diseases — Arequipa — Life on the Plateau — The highest cultivation on the globe.

Chapter III

Cuzco as a goal of pilgrimage — Enthusiasm for American archeology — Remains of Incaic architecture — Megalithic mysteries — Victims of prehistoric ferocity — Traces of strange diseases — An Inca country seat — The attitude of the natives — The Sacred Valley — Amazing agriculture — Kechua life — Lake Titicaca and Bolivia — La Paz — Rudeness of the Aymaras — The future of the native races — The Oriental Peril.

Chapter IV

Physique of the country — Reversal of the seasons — Valparaiso — Santiago — The Central Valley — Horses and highways — Araueania — A mission to the Mapuches — The Germans in southern Chile — A Switzerland among the Andes — Origins of the Chileans — Gothic inheritance — The welding of fighting breeds — Why the Chilean gentry remained vigorous — Traits of the rotos.

CONTENTS

Chapter V

Through the spine of the Continent — Hot-house Mendoza — Appearance of the pampa — Argentine highways — The splendor of Buenos Aires — Physique of the Argentines — The North Italian flood — Comely children — The reblooming of the Latins — Life on the up-curve — Immigration — Land monopoly — Latifundia — The slow subdivision of the soil — The exploitation of the cultivators — A tenant revolt — The spirit of Argentina — Its development parallel to ours.

CHAPTER VI Preference for town life — Large estates and absenteeism

— Rural decay in Chile — The German genius for agriculture — The labor system — Types of colonization — Latifundia and peonage — Feudalism in inner Peru — The hooker and the hook — The pongos of Bolivia — The inquilinos of Chile — Argentine peons — Disdain of labor

— Demand for menial service — The aristocratic temper.

Chapter VII

Strong masculinism of South American society — Indian men and women — Guarded girls — Courting under surveillance — Male predaciousness — The mariage de convenance — Why upper-class women are cleverer than their men — Mental " fuzziness " — Why women show more character than men — Unfathered children — Lax home discipline — The coleron — Neglect of housekeeping — Women's sphere — Size of families — Terrible infant mortality — Mixed marriages — The clan-family — Women outside the home — Man-made laws — Evidences of androcentrism.

Chapter VIII

Courtesy of the South Americans — Amiability and geniality — Kindness to friends — Want of altruism — Unneighborliness — Property sense — Chilean fatalism and ferocity — Evil influence of the bull-fight — Alcoholism — Ravages in Chile — Anti-social policy of the great vine-growers — The sex obsession — Prevalence of venereal diseases — Incontinence of the male — Effect of the vertical sun — Contamination from servants — The extraordinary volume of illegitimacy — Innocent motives for avoiding wedlock — Weakness of the institution of marriage.

CONTENTS

Chapter IX Page

Inability to organize — Mutual distrust as a hindrance to association — Excess of pride as a barrier to cooperation— Why the people are poor losers — One root of revolutionism — Self-indulgence and indolence — Horror of bodily exertion — Why the Indians lack incentive — Chilean hustle — Argentine character — Want of persistence — Easy "quitters" — Kechua and Aymara

— Is race crossing responsible for want of character ?

— Defects of nurture — Can the tropical South Americans be saved?

CHAPTER X The old regime unsympathetic with popular education

— Backwardness of elementary education — Multitudes of children growing up in darkness — Caste in Chile's school system — Democracy in that of Argentina — School buildings — Teachers — Normal Schools — The blight of politics — Educational methods — The Latin mind — Centralization — Secondary education — The liceos are fitting schools for the University — Folly of the subsidy system — The Universities — No student life

— Public libraries — Intellectual activity of the elite

— Conditions of literary production.

Chapter XI

Privileged place of the Church in the South American constitutions — Reminders of the Middle Ages — Saints' haciendas — Wonder-working shrines — Irreverent use of religious names — The retailing of religious services — Old fashioned charity — The revolving cradles — Relation of Church and State — The patronato — The Church as universal trustee of benevolent donations — The marriage question — The Church and education — Religious instruction in public schools — Parish schools in Chile

— Character of the clergy — "Grasping curas of the Sierra

— Why the state of religion is low — The weakening hold of religion on the men — Protestant missions — Reaction upon Catholicism.

Chapter XII

Why good government is difficult in tropical South America — The separation of races — Inherited bad economic conditions — Want of a middle class — Superficiality of progress — The progressives but a handful — Suffrage and elections — Soldiers at the polls — Vote-

CONTENTS

PAGE

buying in Chile — Parties organized from the top down — Caudillismo — Nationalism vs. states' rights in Argentina — Centralization — No local self-government — Overgrown capitals — Stunted provincial towns — The spoils system — Political virtue and corruption — Instances of graft and bribery.