Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/569

 Rh which determined the migration from Spain were not such as to induce a physical divergence between the two branches. In other words, those who departed did not differ in bodily appearance from those who remained.

They differed greatly in mental propensities. When, under the reign of Charles I., marvelous stories concerning the strange and beautiful lands discovered by Columbus, Cortez and Pizarro were circulated in Spain, excitement prevailed all over the peninsula. The practical, matter-of-fact people smiled with incredulity, but the imaginative, the chivalrous, the restless, sold all and sailed. Here is the main fact which is to borne in mind when the present nature and tendencies of the Spanish Americans are considered. Restless, alas! they are and somewhat restless they may remain, yet they are neither dull nor obstinate; they see their worst defect as clearly as others see it and try to overcome it. If strifes are still frequent among them, on the other hand, the first international treaty of permanent arbitration was the work of two Spanish American countries, and that treaty was by far more comprehensive, and thereby more efficient, than any of the similar treaties recently made in the northern hemisphere.

Restless and not practical, but also warm hearted, impulsive and generous, in olden times, many Spanish noblemen sailed because they felt sure to find in the American Eldorado the fountain which confers perpetual youth on all who bathe in it. They went through many vicissitudes, became old and died far away from the land of their fathers without having realized their dream, but it seems to-day as if some of the marvelous waters were present in all the rivers which run down from the Andes, for the defects of the Spanish American, as well as his qualities, are but those of youth. .