Cartagena and the Banks of the Sinu. By R. B.
Cunninghame Graham. (Heinemann. 15s. net.)—During the war, the author was sent to report on the cattle industry of Colombia. The mission gave him the opportunity of writing a most attractive book on that little known Republic, which remains much as it was in the sixteenth century. The exploits of Don Pedro de Heredia, the resolute Spaniard who founded Cartagena and extracted masses of gold from Indian graves in the Sinu valley, are narrated in several chapters. Cartagena itself, better known to the buc- caneers and to Vernon than to our generation, is admirably described. Philip IL built the famous walls. Ho was once observed to be gazing westward earnestly. " So long he gazed that the Duke of Alba asked him, ' What is it that your majesty is looking for ? ' The answer was, ' I am looking for the walls of Cartagena. They coat so much, they must be visible from here.' " In the later chapters the author records a long journey in the interior, from one cattle ranch to another. It is pleasant to read of a country where men live happily, keeping to the old placid ways. Mr. Cunninghame Graham is fonder than ever of annotating his narrative with satirical gibes at modern European civilization, but ho writes so well that his pungent digressions season the dish.
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