ndary with all the finesse and gallantry
of his nation and went his way rejoicing in his liberty. We are not told
of the future fate of the lady, of whose name we are indeed kept in
ignorance, but it is probable that some Spaniard consoled her for the
loss of her lover as readily as had that lover for the loss of her
husband.

De Lussan's experience with the women of Central America--which for
convenience is here considered as part of the southern continent--was so
typical that it has been treated at greater length than it may have
deserved. Indeed, there seems to be much light thrown on the impetuous,
passionate nature of the Spanish-American woman by her bearing toward
the pirates who ravaged the shores of her country yet to whom she
frequently gave her heart and virtue. Of course this bearing was not
invariable; Morgan, a greater pirate, but not so gallant a gentleman as
De Lussan, when he captured Panama against fearful odds, found within
its walls a Spanish lady with whom he fell violently in love, but who
resolutely refused to listen to his proposals. Finding flattery,
pleading, and bribery in vain, he showed the true brutality of his
nature by throwing her into afoul dungeon and keeping her there
half-starved, until even his rough comrades who delighted in slaughter
and made the name of England a stench in the nostrils of the civilized
world by their treatment of the Spaniards, remonstrated, and the brutal
buccaneer was compelled by motives of policy to release his captive from
her cell. She was finally ransomed and allowed to return to the ruins of
her home, and here we lose sight of her; but we can remember her as one
who was worthy of the best traditions of the Spanish ladies and whose
memory may redeem the repute of her lighter countrywomen from their
shame.

It must not be thought from what has been said as to the morality of
Spanish-American women in certain periods and places that it is designed
to charge the race in general with immorality. That were to utter a
slander which would be as baseless as it would be inexcusable. It is
unfortunately true that in the history of any country or race it is the
women most famous for immorality and wickedness who stand out most
prominently; those who were merely good were tolerably sure to be
forgotten as unnoteworthy. So it was with South America. We have the
word of a keen observer "that any impartial person who shall reside long
enough among South Americans to be