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 i8o Revjezus of Books Wied. He was the eighth son of a princely house of Rhenish Prussia, and took his part in the struggle of fatherland against Napoleon. Be- fore the wars were over, his passion for travel and for scientific explora- tion led him to South America, where he spent two years in studying the native races of Brazil and the natural history of the coimtry. About fifteen years later (July 1832) he landed in Boston and began a journey to the great West, hoping to study with care the Transmississippi region and above all to get intimate knowledge of the habits and the speech of the Indians. He was accompanied by Charles Bodmer, a young Swiss artist of talent, who devoted himself with enthusiasm and industry to sketching the red men, their dress and adornments. Plates engraved from his sketches are to form volume XXV. of this series. The editor, Mr. Thwaites, says that in some respects Bodmer was " the most com- petent draughtsman who has thus far sought to depict the North Ameri- can tribesmen ". Maximilian was two years in the United States. The account of his experiences and the description of what he saw are of very unusual in- terest. The style in translation is singularly clear and simple. No small portion of the narrative is of historical value ; considerable portions de- scribe the cities and the settlements east of the Mississippi, others throw light on the fur-trade and the early commerce of the Missouri, and the whole story is told in such a way that one is led to read for the pleasure of reading. The editing appears to have been done with exceptional full- ness and care, the notes are abundant and supplement the text with information of a scientific and historical character. Few volumes of travels have received such careful attention from the editor. The amount of information thus given on places and persons that are inci- dentally mentioned by the author is very large. Reconstruction in South Carolina, j86^-iS//. By John S. Reynolds. (Columbia, S. C, The State Company, 1905, pp. 522.) Alongside of this book should be placed Allen's Governor Chamberlain's Administration in South Carolina (New York, 1888), which covers the last two years of the same period. Neither author has penetrated beyond the mere par- tizan narrative of political events into the profounder questions of South Carolina's reconstruction history. Students should examine both books, not for the conclusions, but possii)ly for the points of view and especially for the documentary material they contain; though bolh fail in indicating where, either in print or in manuscript, the material can elsewhere be found. It is easy to make out a case of criminal wastefulness and bald cor- ruption against the ruling party; and even to show that the courts could not be relied upon to punish the guilty, to vindicate the innocent, or to avenge the wronged. But the case in favor of those charged with Ku-Klux outrages, with intimidation in the " red shirt " and " hurrah for Hampton " campaign, and with ballot-box frauds in I'.dgefield (and in r.eaufort too) is not so convincing.