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[Illustration: THE AUTHOR AND HIS GUIDES THREE FAITHFUL MEN]
G. WHITFIELD RAY, F. R. G. S. Pioneer Missionary and Government Explorer
With an Introduction by the Rev. J. G. Brown, D. D. Secretary for the
Foreign Missions of the Canadian Baptist Church
EVANGELICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE C. HAUSER, Agent CLEVELAND, OHIO, U. S. A.1915
[Illustration: SOUTH AMERICA]
The Missionary Review of the World has described South America as THEDARKEST LAND. That I have been able to penetrate into part of itsunexplored interior, and visit tribes of people hitherto untouched andunknown, was urged as sufficient reason for the publishing of thiswork. In perils oft, through hunger and thirst and fever, consequent onthe many wanderings in unhealthy climes herein recorded, the writerwishes publicly to record his deep thankfulness to Almighty God for Hisunfailing help. If the accounts are used to stimulate missionaryenterprise, and if they give the reader a clearer conception of andfuller sympathy with the conditions and needs of those South Americancountries, those years of travel will not have been in vain.
"Of the making of books there is no end," so when one is acceptablyreceived, and commands a ready sale, the author is satisfied that hislabor is well repaid. The 4th edition was scarcely dry when theConsul-General of the Argentine Republic at Ottawa ordered a largenumber of copies to send to the members of his Government. Much of ithas been translated into German, and I know not what other languages.Even the Catholic Register of Toronto has boosted its sale byprinting much in abuse of it, at the same time telling its readers thatthe book "sold like hot cakes." A wiser editor would have been discreetenough not to refer to "Through Five Republics on Horseback." Hisreaders bought it, and—had their eyes opened, for the statements madein this work, and the authorities quoted, are unanswerable.
Seeing that there is such an alarming ignorance regarding LatinAmerica, I have, for this edition, written an Introductory Chapter onSouth America, and also a short Foreword especially relating to each ofthe Five Republics here treated. As my portrayal of Romanism there hascaused some discussion, I have, in those pages, sought to incorporatethe words of other authorities on South American life and religion.
That the following narratives, now again revised, and sent forth in newgarb, may be increasingly helpful in promoting knowledge, is theearnest wish of the author.
Toronto, Ont.
"Through Five Republics on Horseback" has all the elements of a greatmissionary book. It is written by an author who is an eye-witness ofpractically all that he records, and one who by his explorations andtravels has won for himself the title of the "Livingstone of SouthAmerica." The scenes depicted by the writer and the glimpses into thesocial, political and religious conditions prevailing in the Republicsin the great Southern continent are of thrilling interest to all loversof mankind. We doubt if there is another book in print