Revised and enlarged edition. With illustrations and maps. 8vo, $3.50 _net_. Postpaid.
Mr. Hamilton has found a new historical field in the region, originally the stronghold of the greatest tribes of Indians, then explored by the Spaniards and settled by the French, and long a debatable ground between the Latins on the Gulf and the Anglo-Saxons on the Atlantic. The Alabama-Tombigbee Basin, the original Louisiana, of which Mobile was the metropolis, shifted from one side to the other in the contest until even Edward A. Freeman declared it an historical puzzle.
Opportunity is taken in this revised and enlarged edition to emphasize the American rather than the local features. There is a new study not only of the early explorers like De Soto, and of the Southern Indians and of colonial systems, but of the interaction of Latin and British institutions whose fusion resulted in a new type of American. Previous writers have contented themselves with the Latin or the British element; this is the first study of their conflict as seen from the centre of the field. In its department the book has become a standard.
Among the new material of this edition may be mentioned much light on De Soto, Pardo, and De Luna, on the Spiritu Santo question, on French and Spanish institutions. We find the first presentation of the British legislation, Indian policy and boundary, and American territorial and social evolution in the South-west. In the appendix are for the first time made available the Pardo Narratives of exploration and rare biography. The new illustrations, too, are a distinct feature. Many are of unpublished maps from European archives, and show the gradual emergence of the states at the expense of the Indian nations, and places and relics pictured are of general interest.
THE RUSSIAN ROAD TO CHINA By Lindon Bates, Jr.
Not long after the Russian railroad across Siberia was opened, Mr. Bates traveled along it to Irkutsk, and thence by sledge along the old post road to Urga in Mongolia. His readable and entertaining narrative of his experiences, adventures, and impressions of the country and people constitutes a firsthand account of Siberia of unique interest and value; while the new light that the book throws upon some of the most important questions involved in the reconstruction of the Far East makes it one that must be considered by all serious students of this field. It is fully illustrated from interesting photographs by the author.