The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-01-01
A GREAT WORK.

California is truly a wonderful land. First,
when we may say she was rediscovered by
Yankees, she astonished the world with the pro-
duct sf her gold mines then, after the lapse of a
few years, she moves the markets Of Europe with
her gram harvests and now, contrary to the
generally received opinion that her people are
universally devoted to material interests alone.
her literary men are coming to the front. and
attracting worldwide attention: Apart from the
poets and story tcllers, with their lighter works,
foremost among the literati of California to-day,
stands Hubert III. Bancroft, of San Francisco
author Of an elaborate work which has appeared
during the past year, entitled, The Native
Races OF the Pacific States. = This gentleman
who was head Of the largest publishing and book
selling house Of the Coast, began, some fifteen
years ago, collecting old books, manuscripts,
maps, &c, relating to the western half of North
America that il, the territories west of the
Rocky Mountains from Alaska to Panama, in
Guiding the whole Of Mexico and Central America,
which territory he has denominated the Pacific
States. He was possessed of strong literary
tastes, and became so absorbed in his labors that,
in 1869, he turned over the entire management
of the business Of Bancroft & Co. to his brother,
and devoted himself entirely to making available
to the world the treasures he had accumulated.
-Four volumes have appeared, handsomely printed,
making 1905 pages, with numerous illustrations
and maps, and another volume, the fifth and last,
is to come during the present month. Vol. l.
treats OF Wild Tribes their Manners and Gus
toms. Vol. IL, Mexican and Central American
Civilization. Vol. Ill, Myths and Languages.
Vol. ~, Antiquities. Vol. v, Primitive His
tory. The whole is a monument Of conscientious
labor in collecting and skill in arrangement of a
vast body of material. Says the Overland
Monthly:
4" If Dir. Bancroft had done no more than TO form this collec-
ton Of books, and exhaustively list them in a descriptive
lasting value. The work he is writing, however, and which
will be encyclopedia in its comprehensiveness, will much en-
world, and can hardly fail to take rank as the prime authority
on all matters relating to the western shore of North America
"a region Of varied and unique interest, destined to be, at no
distant day the seat Of a vast population; but Tor the lavish
this subject, much Of the best material for a thorough account
Of the Pacific States, their antiquities, and the origin Of their
modern condition, would have been, if not lost, too widely
scattered ever to be available to the student. lie has done
more than any public society would have done for fifty
later periods"
Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, Emerson
Holmes, Higgfnson, Phillips, Warner, Adams
and others Of the Atlantic l~iterati, have heartily
congratulated Mr.. Bancroft on his great under
taking and successful accomplishment. Says
Oliver Wendell Holmes There never was a
book, l feel inclined to say, fuller of the most
curious and interesting facts. Robinson Crusoe
never had a more interested reader among the
boys, than 1 have been in following you through
your heroic labor" The London Times gives
the work a very handsome compliment and the
British. Quarterly says of it 'As instructive, as
from the charm of novelty which it bears, it will
be entertaining" An important feature of the
work will be an index of the whole five volumes,
which will fill some hundreds Of pages at the
fclose.
Mr.. Il. G. Thrum is agent for the work in
these islands.