Near the heart of South America, the region called the Chaco is interpolated between the region of great forests and the sabanas and pampas — the last being poor in vegetation while the first is in the same respect almost beyond belief richly endowed: since in that vast Amazonian valley the vegetable kingdom long ago fairly conquered the animal kingdom by expelling or subordinating the most important terrestrial mammals. (Consult Putnam's Maga zine, Vol. VII, pp. 194-199, New York, Oct. 1909-April 1910). Of course it is still impos sible to say what addition will be made to rec ognized lists of plants by these equatorial South American forests,: they have never been more than partially explored; a civilizing reconquest of the fertile areas they usurp has never been attempted systematically. Taken all together they make the Great Forest of the world, shar ing primacy in the list of this world's natural features with the Andes, the greatest of moun tain masses, and with the Amazon's wholly in comparable torrents. We mention here only a few of the best-known natives of widely sepa rated parts of Latin America: Cinchona, mate (Ilex paraguayensis), coca, various rubber-pro ducing forest growths, victoria regia, maize and Agave americana (both presumably Mexican), tobacco (a product of the islands of the West Indies), and potato, claimed as a native by both Chile and Peru. A very early association esp.
fisted with the flora of the Eastern Hemisphere; a much more recent connection was established with the North American flora. (See above). Botanic geography will, we think, establish the facts that Latin America's most distinctive and distinguishing possession is its flora and that in this respect, even more much more— than in respect to its fauna, its claims will re ward our attention; and although this is "by far the most interesting region* to the botanist as well as to the zoologist, we shall find both botanists and zoologists as one in asserting that the primitive geologic union of the South American continent with Africa and Australia explains many phenomena which could not be understood otherwise. Briefly, then, Latin American flora and fauna, both of surpassing interest, have indeed enjoyed independent de velopment, yet in most ancient times they un doubtedly influenced and in turn were influ enced by the flora and fauna of equatorial, tropical and sub-tropical regions of the East ern Hemisphere.
Languages.— Interesting variations are ob served in the Spanish, spoken and written, which, as we have said, is the language of the ruling classes in 18 of the republics. Thus, in Mexico its characteristics are those of the tongue of southern Spain, but in Costa Rica those of northern regions in the mother coun try; in distant Chile the Castilian linguistic standards are flouted (the substitution of j in place of q being a single example of literary and popular revolt), while Cuba has held fast to the good old Spanish linguistic traditions through all the years of political insurrections and armed rebellion. Ecuador, Colombia and Peru deserve their fame as, in this respect, con servative centres of an inherited culture, where the best usages are appreciated by writers and speakers. The literature of that great country,
Brazil, in which Portuguese is spoken, seems to all loyal Brazilians a priceless treasure, even as the manuscript of the seemed to Cameies: they cherish their language in cor responding degree — somewhat too exclusively.
Governments of Latin The Latin American countries are constitutionally either federal states, resembling most nearly in this respect the United States of America, or are unitary and centralized. The United States of Brazil, the United States of Mexico and the United States of Venezuela more obviously stand in the class first mentioned; Argentina's governmental plan embraces some of the features characterizing each class; the other countries (Republic of Boliyia, Republic of Colombia, etc.) in the main illustrate by their organization the growing unitarian or centraliz ing tendency: °Republic of Colombia* was formerly "United States of Colombia"; the variations are, however, so complex that we convey only an approximately correct idea of them when we say that the federal form of government in Latin America resembles that of the United States and the centralized that of France. The readers who wish to study this subject closely will find in on govern ment and constitution n the articles devoted to these countries separately, with careful bibliographic reference to such special works as are available. Frequent constitutional changes are there recorded; but these must not be regarded as indications of weak vacillation. It is only fair to say that they are to a some what greater extent than we commonly realize paralleled in our own experience, particularly in the matter of State governments (consult Holcombe, A. N., 'State Government in the United States,' pp. 119-120, New York 1916) ; that by the middle of the 19th century "the constitutions of most of the States of the United States had been revised or were in process of revision)); and that, °beginning in 1870, the constitutions of most of the leading States in the north outside of New England [and in the South after the overthrow of negro domination) were revised, the culmination of the movement being reached in New York in 1894.° Some of the most interesting constitu tional changes in South America (for example, in Paraguay) were designed simply — and wisely — to prevent the recurrence of dictator ships and so to safeguard orderly development in the future. The dangers in that quarter have often been bravely met and will surely be over come; their magnitude, and the importance of these phenomena in every study of this branch of our subject must be admitted.
But the people who possess the splendid central and southern regions in the New World have determined that whatever im pedes true progress or conflicts with the stabil ity of republican institutions shall have no place in the third great period of national develop ment, which is at hand.