Excerpt from Men, Manners Morals in South AmericaHaving regard to the present parlous price Of paper and to the patience of much-suffering readers, the perpetration of yet another book on South America might appear at the outset to call for some explanation, if not for apology. The list of books published under this heading in recent years is indeed so formidable that the world may well be weary Of it. From the library catalogue point Of View, the subject might well seem to have been exhausted, every part Of the continent having been ransacked and described, all its words and works recorded. Yet, how few there be amongst all these works (as some Of us know to our cost) that properly and worthily inculcate the profitable exercise Of travel, or that appeal to and justify the wandering instinct Of rational man! Say what you will, the great majority of them are so dreadfully infected with stodgy commercialism, so monumentally useful, that their general effect upon the mind (unless it be the mind of a bagman) can only be compared to a surfeit Of suet pudding. Here and there only, rarz' names, amidst all these dreary volumes, will you find the sort Of company for which the Lord of Montaigne looked (alas, how oft in vain in all his journeyings - that rare chance and seld-seene fortune, but Of exceeding solace and inestimable worth, to wit.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.