South American Sketches. By Robert Crawford, M.A. (Long- mans and
Co.)—Mr. Crawford's sketches of life in Uruguay are somewhat better reading than his opening chapters would lead one to suppose. For an author hardly encourages his readers to persevere when he devotes so much trouble and wearisome description to the hackneyed incidents of a very common- place journey. But, when once he is landed and settled in Uruguay, Mr. Crawford is able to gossip amusingly enough about the eccentricities and vagaries of Spanish-American life, and finds something of interest to say about the natural history, as well as about the human population, of the Uruguayan Republic. We think, however, that the picture of Uruguayan life is a little more dark than is quite justified. It is possible to lay too much stress upon the apparent lawlessness of a country, and three years' residence is not always long enough to enable a stranger to get below the disturbed surface.
Previous page
