Minor Notices 173 interest and makes no special appeal to the specialist, the student, or the general reader. The reviews and addresses, on the whole well adapted for their purposes, do not inake an indispensable volume for the library. Coleccion de Libros y Docuincntos rcfcrcntcs a la Hisloria dc America. Volumes 5 and 6. ' Rclacion de los Naufragios y Comcntarios dc Alvar Nunes Cabeza de Vaca. Edited by M. Serrano y Sanz. (Madrid, Vic- toriano Suarez, 1906, pp. xxx, 388; xii, 428.) This edition of Cabeza de Vaca's writings and deeds first makes easily accessible the language in which they were written, for so scarce are the original editions of 1542 (the Naufragios alone) and 1555 (the Naufragios and Comcntarios) that but few have had access to them. The importance and interest of these narratives are evidenced by the translations and adaptations (most of them faulty in one or more particulars) that have appeared, in whole or in part, in English and other languages, since almost the first appear- ance of the works until the present day. The accompanying unpublished documents, which are found in volume 6. relate entirely to the Comcn- tarios, i. e., to Cabeza de Vaca's life in the ancient Spanish South Amer- ican province of Rio de la Plata. These documents are as follows : Gen- eral relation by Cabeza de Vaca of his deeds in the province of Rio de la Plata, presented to the council of the Indies ; two documents contain- ing evidence in regard to the trial of Cabeza de Vaca held in Spain upon his recall from Rio de la Plata; an investigation made at the request of Cabeza de Vaca for the same trial ; a relation written by Pero Her- nandez in 1545 in regard to the events of Rio de la Plata (this Pero Hernandez being the same one who wrote the Comcntarios, probably at Cabeza de Vaca's direction) — published in volume H. of Pcqucna Bib- liotcca Historica (Asuncion del Paraguay, 1895) ; a relation by Domingo Martinez de Yrala (the great opponent of Cabeza de 'aca). 1541 ; and a letter by the same of 1545. The text of the Naufragios and Comcn- tarios is a reprint of the 1555 edition; in the preparation of the same, the editor has corrected many typographical errors, and inserted punctua- tion and capitalization not in the original. It is to be regretted that he did not reprint the former work from the edition of 1542, with perhaps readings from the edition of 1555 where the two editions differ (a serious variant being the date when Cabeza de 'aca left the Spanish port for the American continent). The Naufragios is naturally of the greatest interest to North Americans, and no documents are given in illustration of it (except extracts in the preface to volume 5), the Spanish editor seeming to consider rather a Spanish and South Amer- ican than a North American audience. The reprint appears trustworthy. The bibliographical notes are inadequate, and serve rather for sugges- tions than for thorough knowledge. The books are edited with scarcely a note other than the bibliographical, and there are no maps or other illustrations. There is an apparent lack of true historical criticism, in which Spanish historical workers are often wanting. Volume 6 con-
