A Brazilian Mystic. By R. B. Cunninghame-Graham. (Heinemann. 15s. net.)—Anything
that Mr. Cunninghamo- Graham writes about South America is attractive because he knows the country and likes the people. His new book is the dramatic story of Antonio Conselheiro, a strange fanatical ruffian who raised an insurrection thirty years ago at Canudos, in Northern Brazil, and, after repulsing several Brazilian expedi- tions, was at last overwhelmed by large regular forces with artillery. Conselheiro and his followers had wandered about for many years, repairing the churches and denouncing the worldli- ness of the clergy, but they were anything but Puritans or Quakers in their mode of life. The combination of mysticism and licence, which is not unusual, is well explained by the author. His narrative of the successive sieges of Canudos is an admirable piece of writing. The fanatics held out to the end, even after their prophet, worn out by prolonged fasting, had died. The Brazilian troops, like their opponents, took no prisoners, and none survived the final bombardment. It may be suspected that, if Conselheiro had not professed a vague kind of Monarchism, the new Republic—as it was in 1897—might have left him alone in his remote fastness.
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