Article April 26, 1930 Issue

From the Field

Peter V. Ross

[From report by Peter V. Ross of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship to The Christian Science Board of Directors on his lectures in South America in 1929]

As one glances at the map, he is surprised to see that South America lies not only to the south but to the east of North America. A line from New York City drawn due south runs near Valparaiso on the west coast of Chile. Pernambuco, the easternmost port of Brazil, is as far east as Iceland. On my tour, I sailed first to Brazil, where the population is chiefly of mixed Portuguese, native, and negro descent; then, again by boat, to Uruguay, where the people are essentially Spanish and more homogeneous than in any other South American country. Across the river from Uruguay lies Argentina, with its capital, Buenos Aires, the third largest city in the western hemisphere. Buenos Aires is really no longer distinctly Spanish or South American; it is more a city of southern Europe, seething with the energy of the new world. Christian Science has been in operation here for twenty years or more. From here, I went by rail across the continent to Chile. Like the Uruguayans, the Chileans are essentially Spanish, and have mixed but little with other European nationalities, although they have mixed to some small extent with the Indians. From Chile, I traveled homeward by sea and air, touching at points in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

Christian Science services are held regularly in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil; Montevideo, Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina (where we have two churches); and Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile. I delivered lectures at all of these places. Three lectures were given in Buenos Aires. They were well attended by from three to five hundred people at each lecture. The public was in a receptive mood, and the atmosphere could not have been better. At the lectures in the other cities the attendance was smaller, but was entirely satisfactory. On my return journey I was able to visit little groups of Christian Scientists at Callao, Peru, and at Guayaquil, Ecuador.

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