Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/135

This page needs to be proofread.

Pigafetla : MagclUi)i s Wiyage 125 and less anal3-sis. The salient occurrences in Irish history he rather takes for granted than tells. Closely connected with this fact is his disregard of secondary works. It is certainly a good fault to rely too much on primary sources, but it is a fault, and we should be glad to have seen the few good modern works on Irish history more utilized and also listed in some kind of bibliography. A historian should not only tell his own story but acknowledge those who have preceded and assist those who are to follow him. It is also noticeable that English sources and English control of Irish policy are largely neglected. We have not found a reference to the Acts of the English Privy Council, though that body was much occupied with Irish affairs, and we are told much more fully how a policy worked out in Ireland than why it was adopted. The author is rather prone to make comparisons be- tween conditions in Ireland and those in South Africa or India ; it is somewhat curious that he sees no occasion for comparison between the contemporary problems of English colonization and the efforts toward their solution in Ireland and in America. But all these are matters in which the author has a right to use his own judgment, and there is no doubt that this book is one of first-rate importance in the largely neglected field in which it lies.' Edward P. Cheyney. Magellan's Voyage around the JVorld. By Antonio Pig.fetta. Original text, with translation, notes and bibliography by James Alexander Robertson. (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark Com- pany. 1906. Two volumes, and index-volume. Pp. 273; 313; 88.) This is a separate print, in a limited edition, of the Pigafetta rela- tion as presented in volumes XXXIII. and XXXI'. of the Philippine historical series now being issued from the same Cleveland press. That work also being limited, a separate issue of this first complete version of Pigafetta in English was well justified, while the thorough and painstaking labor of Mr. Robertson as translator and editor have made a place for it in all good historical collections. The Italian adventurer and cavalier Antonio Pigafetta set out in one of the five ships of Magellan in August, 1519, and was one of the handful of men who survived all the vicissitudes of this the most eventful voyage of history and reached Spain again in the little I'ictoria in Sep- tember, 1522. His relation of the voyage is by far the best and most authoritative document upon the subject, and was very early recognized as such. Not the same reliance may invariably be placed upon his ac- counts of native customs in the islands visited, particularly the Philip- pine Islands; for it seems evident that Pigafetta has mixed with his ' We understand that a part of the book has been translated into English and published under the title Modern Ireland and her Agrarian Problem (London, Murray, 1906. pp. 172).