The Western World

________________________________________________________________________ This rather long book is not a novel: it is a fun-level introduction to the natural history of the Americas, seen from a late nineteenth century perspective. Quadrupeds, birds, plants, trees, and the indigenous races are covered, always in an interesting and readable style. There are almost 200 engravings, many of them quite excellent, done by a variety of high-quality artists. Unfortunately all this adds up to additional size, such that the PDF of the book is close to 100 megabytes, when an average novel is from 12 to 20 megabytes.

You could not use this book as a full guide to all the natural history of the Americas, but instead it is intended to be read through in order to gain an introductory view of it. The book is divided into five parts of which the first, of nine chapters, covers North America; the second, of three chapters, covers Central America; the third, fourth, and fifth, amounting to twenty-five chapters, covers South America.

It is a well-written and absorbing book.

________________________________________________________________________ THE WESTERN WORLD, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.

PREFACE.

In the following pages I have endeavoured to give, in a series of picturesque sketches, a general view of the natural history as well as of the physical appearance of North and South America.

I have first described the features of the country; then its vegetation; and next the wild men and the brute creatures which inhabit it. However, I have not been bound by any strict rule in that respect, as my object has been to produce a work calculated to interest the family circle rather than one of scientific pretensions. I have endeavoured to impart, in an attractive manner, information about its physical geography, mineral riches, vegetable productions, and the appearance and customs of the human beings inhabiting it. But the chief portion of the work is devoted to accounts of the brute creation, from the huge stag and buffalo to the minute humming-bird and persevering termites,-- introduced not in a formal way, but as they appear to the naturalist-explorer, to the traveller in search of adventures, or to the sportsman; with descriptions of their mode of life, and of how they are found, hunted, or trapped. I have described in the same way some of the most remarkable trees and plants; and from the accounts I have given I trust that a knowledge may be obtained of the way they are cultivated, and how their produce is prepared and employed. Thus I hope that, with the aid of the numerous illustrations in the work, a correct idea will be gained of the wilder and more romantic portions of the great Western World.