[330] (no puede por menos), trans., (without a doubt).
[331] “soñar e imaginar con desaliño”, “to dream and give free rein to the imagination”.
[332] El camino a vapor, The railroad.
[333] el Valdivia, el Hernán Cortés, el Pizarro, names of Spanish conquistadores; the first conquered Chile and died in combat against the Araucanian Indians; the second conquered Mexico, despite the opposition of his own countrymen under Narváez, who had been sent to capture Cortés for disobeying orders; Pizarro conquered Peru. Cf. 2, 6.
[334] en manos de los misioneros. Reference to the missionaries who always accompanied Spanish expeditions. One of the hard things in history is to reconcile the cruelty of the conquistadores and the gentle, patient endeavor of the missionaries to convert the Indians to Christianity.
[335] elementos antiguos, allusion to belief in the elements, air, fire, earth, water, by the ancient philosophers of Greece.
[336] está llamada. The subject is la ciencia de la mecánica, 141, 6.
[337] Anfiones. Amphion, a Theban prince, was reputed to have built Thebes by charming the stones into their places with his lyre.
[338] el fiat, the will.
[339] La América. The definite article may be used in Spanish before the name of a continent or country for personification.