Five Thousand Miles Around the Southern Cross. A Popular Review of Life and Customs in Cuba, Jamaica, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Ancient Yucatan with a Survey of the Great Panama Canal

Camden, New Jersey: The Long Photographic Art Studios, 1912. Very good. Inscribed by the author on the ffep. 12¼" x 9½". Blue cloth, gilt. pp. 43 + eight interspersed plates containing a map, a chart and six original photographs. Very good: light wear that is stronger at spine tips and corners, a few minor stains.

This is a finely produced travelogue documenting the sites and peoples of several different Latin American countries. According to the book's forward, the author created it because,

"The Panama Canal . . . should be the means of drawing this entire Western Hemisphere into closer bonds of commercial and social intercourse. Our neighbors . . . regret that their brothers of the United States do not understand them as they deserve to be understood . . . Let us not forget that they number nearly one hundred million strong and they and their respective countries are rapidly forging to the front ranks of modern nations. The opening of the Panama should be a day of rejoicing for the peoples of the Three Americas."

Per the title, over three months, Long traveled to the listed countries and recorded detailed descriptions of each town or city he visited; he also provided brief histories of each country. In Cuba, he spent time in Matanzas and Santiago as well as providing this description of Havana,

"visitors seem transported as they note the carefree throngs that eat, drink and make merry in the brilliant cafes and places of amusement along the broad and handsome Prado . . . streets in the old section are exceedingly narrow . . . The metropolis contains several modern office buildings, which appear like skyscrapers from the alleyways below, and the mansions of the wealthy, especially along the Malecon, are homes of splendor. On the other hand, the one-story dwellings of the working classes are devoid of ornamentation, the iron barred windows giving them the appearance of penal institutions."

From Cuba Long went to Jamaica where in Montego Bay, "women display far more animation than men, driving carts, wheeling barrows, hawking long ropes of tobacco and smoking big black cigars with the sang froid of a veteran." Next was Columbia, with a first stop in Barranquilla, with this lyrical description of the end of siesta, "at the stroke of six the sunset gun sends forth its booming notes, and with an hour the Zocala fills [with people] . . . Along the plaza they stroll and chat the señors emitting great clouds of the noxious weed, the demoiselles flashing glances of Andalusian hue. They are of every rank and every class . . ." He also spent several pages describing Bogota.

In Costa Rica he was impressed by San Jose, "it is not hyperbole to say that there are but few cities of the same size that display more animation or progressiveness we find in San Jose." He briefly discussed Punta Arenas before heading to Mexico where he spent a couple of pages on Mexico City and Cuernavaca, respectively, while also providing much detail on rail travel in the country. There are short passages on Jalapa, Orizaba and the last several pages are devoted to descriptions of Mayan ruins in the Yucatan peninsula.

Also of note are the eight plates which include six original black and white photographs as well as a map of the Isthmus of Panama with the completed canal. The photos include a Cuban tobacco field, a view of the canal from the Gatun Dam, a giant Aztec calendar and ruins at Uxmal in the Yucatan.

OCLC locates four copies over two entries; one has 17 plates, the other has 15. With ours a third variant, we imagine Long issued these books based on the number of photos or maps he had on hand. A rare travelogue documenting the sights and peoples of several Latin American countries and embellished with original photographs.