Through Five Republics on Horseback

ꃚThrough Five Republics on Horseback [with accents]

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Title: Through Five Republics on Horseback
Author: G. Whitfield Ray
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7499] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 11, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
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[Illustration: THE AUTHOR AND HIS GUIDES THREE FAITHFUL MEN]

THROUGH FIVE REPUBLICS ON HORSEBACK
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF MANY WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA
BY
G. WHITFIELD RAY, F. R. G. S. Pioneer Missionary and Government Explorer
With an Introduction by the Rev. J. G. Brown, D. D. Secretary for the Foreign Missions of the Canadian Baptist Church
TWELFTH EDITION--REVISED
EVANGELICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE C. HAUSER, Agent CLEVELAND, OHIO, U. S. A. 1915

[Illustration: SOUTH AMERICA]

PREFACE
The Missionary Review of the World has described South America as THE DARKEST LAND. That I have been able to penetrate into part of its unexplored interior, and visit tribes of people hitherto untouched and unknown, was urged as sufficient reason for the publishing of this work. In perils oft, through hunger and thirst and fever, consequent on the many wanderings in unhealthy climes herein recorded, the writer wishes publicly to record his deep thankfulness to Almighty God for His unfailing help. If the accounts are used to stimulate missionary enterprise, and if they give the reader a clearer conception of and fuller sympathy with the conditions and needs of those South American countries, those years of travel will not have been in vain.
"Of the making of books there is no end," so when one is acceptably received, and commands a ready sale, the author is satisfied that his labor is well repaid. The 4th edition was scarcely dry when the Consul-General of the Argentine Republic at Ottawa ordered a large number of copies to send to the members of his Government. Much of it has been translated into German, and I know not what other languages. Even the Catholic Register of Toronto has boosted its sale by printing much in abuse of it, at the same time telling its readers that the book "sold like hot cakes." A wiser editor would have been discreet enough not to refer to "Through Five Republics on Horseback." His readers bought it, and--had their eyes opened, for the statements made in this work, and the authorities quoted, are unanswerable.
Seeing that there is such an alarming ignorance regarding Latin America, I have, for this edition, written an Introductory
Chapter on
South America, and also a short Foreword especially relating to each of the Five Republics here treated. As my portrayal of Romanism there has caused some discussion, I have, in those pages, sought to incorporate the words of other authorities on South American life and religion.
That the following narratives, now again revised, and sent forth in new garb, may be increasingly helpful in promoting knowledge, is the earnest wish of the author.
G. W. R.
Toronto, Ont.

INTRODUCTION
"Through Five Republics on Horseback" has all the elements of a great missionary book. It is written by an author who is an eye-witness of practically all that he records, and one who by his explorations and travels has won for himself the title of the "Livingstone of South America." The scenes depicted by the writer and the glimpses into the social, political and religious conditions prevailing in the Republics in the great Southern continent are of thrilling interest to all lovers of mankind. We doubt if there is another book in print that within the compass of three hundred pages begins to give as much valuable information as is contained in Mr. Ray's volume. The writer wields a facile pen, and every page glows with the passion of a man on fire with zeal for the evangelization of the great "Neglected Continent." We are sure that no one can read this book and be indifferent to the claims of South America upon the Christian Church