Peru : Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land
of the Incas. (Macmillan.)—Mr. Squier has already a great reputation as an explorer of American antiquities, and it will be still further increased by the complete and elaborate work which is now before us. He was sent as Commissioner of the *United States to Peru, to assist in the settlement of some conflicting claims. On completing this duty, he commenced hie explorations, and he carried them on for the space of eighteen months. The extent of country traversed was very largo, some of it almost en- tirely new to travellers. The great lake of Titiaea, the native region of the Incas, Mr. Squier claims to have been the first thoroughly to ex- plore. The account of this strange body of water is remarkably in- teresting, quite apart from any consideration of the monuments of antiquity which are found on its sand-islands. It is as large as an inland sea, measuring 120 miles in length, and nearly half as much in breadth, and it stands at a height of more than 12,000 foot above the sea-level, and its depth is in places more than a hundred fathoms. It is navigated by boats made of bundles of reeds, which have probably the distinction of being the most inconvenient and unsafe in the world. Titiaoa is only one of the many localities visited and described by Mr. Squier. We can only wish that the results of his labours could be embodied in a form every way worthy of his industry and learning.
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