inch of the ground covered by these thirty-eight charts, I naturally look back with wistful interest to my travels and native surroundings of twenty years ago, and regard every rock, rapid, eddy, or sand-bank as an old acquaintance. Père Chevalier being both a Chinese scholar and an astronomer of European distinction, it of course follows that his present labours entirely supersede from a scientific point of view those of Blakiston and the British Admiralty, undertaken at times and under conditions less favourable to perfect accuracy; armed with these charts alone, a lightdraught steamer or gunboat could "go anywhere and do anything." The splendid miscellaneous work done by the Jesuit Fathers at Shanghai during the past ten years has been frequently commented upon with gratitude and admiration, and these most recent labours of Père Chevalier are a fitting sequel to the invaluable researches of such noble collaborators as Descheverens, Heude, David, Zottoli, Boucher, and many others, whose illustrious names now stand out quite on a par with those of their distinguished colleagues of 200 years ago, such as Schaal, Verbiest, Gerbillon, Visdelou, Ricci, Premare, etc. It is inconceivable that any British naval officer should be allowed to take his vessel higher than Ichang without being provided with Père Chevalier's charts, which may be procured from Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai; if he is, then Lord Charles Beresford should be at once started on the hue and cry. There are yet due the second parts of the narrative and the mapping, which will take us from Chungking to P'ing-shan on the Yün Nan frontier; it is to be devoutly hoped that the author will be vouchsafed health and strength to bring them to a speedy completion.

C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED; LONDON.

21. Siberia and Central Asia, by JOHN W. BOOKWALTER. Second edition, with a map. This handsome and exceedingly well-got-up volume is the outcome of a trip by the author through Siberia and Central Asia. He undertook the journey to see and judge for himself with respect to the various questions involved in what is called the "Eastern Question." Exceptional privileges having been granted to him, his observations are minute and important, not only to the politician, but also to the commercial and travelling public. The 500 pages of letterpress are adorned with nearly 300 well-executed illustrations from photographs taken by the author himself. There is also a very copious index, and a clear and distinct map, not overcrowded by names of towns, villages, rivers, and mountains, showing the present vast extent of Russia in Asia and adjacent countries. author considers that by-and-by a trip from Moscow to Vladivostock may be made with the greatest comfort in eight or nine days, and that it is not improbable within the next ten years a continuous trip may be effected from Paris to Pekin, a distance of over 8,000 miles; and if the route does not prove to be the most comfortable and interesting in the world, it will not be the fault of the Russian Government.

The

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND CO., LIMITED, LONDON; BOSTON : SMALL, MAYNARD AND CO., 1899.

22. America in Hawaii: a History of United States Influence in the Hawaiian Islands, by EDMUND JANES CARPENTER. This is a history of the Archipelago from the time of its discovery by Captain Cook in January, 1778, down to August, 1898, when the American flag was raised at Honolulu by Admiral Miller, and the sovereignty of the United States proclaimed. The author has succeeded in tracing the growth of American influence and sentiment in these islands from their origin to their culmination in annexation. He acknowledges his indebtedness to the "History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands," by James Jackson Jarves (Boston, 1843); "A Brief History of the Hawaiian People," by Professor W. D. Alexander, of Honolulu. Among other very interesting information there are chapters on the Primitive State of the Inhabitants, the Arrival of the Missionaries, Foreign Aggressions, and the Sugar Industry. The concluding chapters deal with the diplomatic and political phases of the Hawaiian Question, derived from official and other authentic sources.

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND Co.; LONDON.

23. Glimpses of Old Bombay and Western India, by JAMES DOUGLAS, J.P., late Sheriff of Bombay. The author has rendered great service by publishing in a permanent form, in a very handsome volume, his researches on the social aspects of Bombay during a century back; the banks and its merchants; its clubs; its ancient and historical places, fast disappearing by improvements and otherwise. He has contrived in a pleasant manner to place it on record far more endurable than stone and lime, liable to be removed by the voracious appetite and taste of the builder. Mr. Douglas's work will be read with much interest, and we anticipate that his investigations will encourage the rising generation to follow up his researches, which to him have been a labour of love for many years; at all events, his stories of olden time will both refresh the memories of old Indians and add much to the historical knowledge of Bombay and Western India.

SANDS AND Co.; LONDON.

24. Picturesque Kashmir, by ARTHUR NEVE. The author of this interesting work presents his readers with a mass of miscellaneous information which he gathered during an eighteen years' residence in Kashmir, as medical missionary of the Church Missionary Society, and in which capacity he was brought into contact with all classes, from His Highness the Maharajah downwards. The theme of the book, however, is concerned rather with the wild grandeur of nature than with the description of the people.

The traveller nowadays has no difficulty in getting from India to Kashmir, for he dashes through the deep valley of the Jhelam in a tonga

(hill-cart) at the rate of eight miles an hour, and thus does in two days. what his predecessors required a fortnight to do. The rapidity of the transition may perhaps make the scenery appear in a general way more striking, but there is no leisure to linger over the details of its beauty. The author, with his keen appreciation of the beauties of nature, makes the book abound with picturesque descriptions. We quote from page 8 : "It is not yet sunrise, and the distant peaks look pale blue against the lemon-yellow eastern sky; the nearer hills are deep indigo, with here and there lighter tints, where wreaths of smoke rise from the numerous hamlets hidden away in the jungle; in the plain are fields of ripe corn partly cut. Swiftly ascending the low hills, one soon reaches a different atmosphere; the stately Pinus longifolius covers the slopes, and maidenhair ferns cling to the rocks. Before noon the traveller is at Murree, and he may be enveloped in clouds, and feel the damp chill of the mists which roll through the dark forests of oak, horse-chestnut, deodar, and cypress. From the ridge one gets a glimpse of the plains far below, where toilers are sweltering in the sultry noon, and then in front comes the expected view of the mountain ranges. The snowy line of the Pir Panjal stands up like a wall far away to the east, overlooking the billow-like masses of the outer hills. In early summer snow covers the summits as well as the hollows, where a few small glaciers linger. The range is remarkably even in height, none of the peaks exceeding 16,000 feet, while few are below 14,000 feet. At intervals there are great rock masses which stand out on the Punch side like huge bastions."

Srinagar, the "City of Sun," he calls one of the most picturesque cities. of the world. Situated on the banks of a broad river, and dominated by the Takht-i-Suleiman Hill, its situation is certainly most striking.

The author tells us all about Kashmir's beautiful lakes with floating gardens, its limpid springs adorned with marble tanks, its lovely pleasure gardens, such as the Nishat Bagh with its park of splendid planes; Shalimar and its fine summer-houses, where Jehangir and Nur Jahan are said to have gone for rest from the cares of State; and the Nasim Bagh sloping to the water edge of the Dhal Lake, and of which Jehangir declared that "the beauty of the reflections and the colouring of the water by reason of the flowers and water-lilies exceeded anything he had read of in the descrip. tions of paradise." Thence the famous saying: "Agar Firdus ba-ru-i-zamin ast, hamin ast u hamin ast!"

We read about the specimens of ancient architecture to be found in Kashmir-the temples of Martand, Payech, etc.-dating as early as 220 B.C.; the beautiful plateaus of Sonamarg and Gulmarg = " Meadow of Roses"; the sacred cave of Amarnath, over 13,000 feet above the sea, to which great pilgrimages take place every year, when thousands of Jogis and Sadus congregate from all parts of India. The great Himalayan god is represented by a block of ice projecting from the back of the cave. The author also describes the land of the Lamas. But we must commend our readers to peruse for themselves this fascinating book, and to admire its beautiful illustrations in platinographs by Mr. G. W. Millais.

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL AND Co.; LONDON.

(Printed at the M.D.C.S.P.C.K. Press, Madras.)

25. Judaism and Islám, by ABRAHAM GEIGER. This work is a translation of a prize essay originally written by the learned Geiger, a Rabbi of Wiesbaden, and first published in 1833. It was translated from the German of Geiger by a member of the Ladies' League in aid of the Delhi Mission of the Gospel Propagation Society. The translation was undertaken by Miss F. M. Young, of Bangalore, at the request of the Rev. G. A. Lefroy of the Cambridge Mission in Delhi, who thought that an English translation of Geiger's work would be of use in connexion with missionary work among Muḥammadans. The effect of the work is to prove what has so often been proved before-that the author of the Qur'ân was indebted for much of his information to the Scriptures of the Jews. The result is a handy little volume of about 170 pages of good print. Throughout the work there is a great deal of Hebrew and Arabic at the foot of the pages. The Qur'ân is very largely quoted, and the translation of the quotations into English forms the main portion of the work. The whole of the subject-matter is so arranged as to prove the point which Dr. Geiger set out to prove, and in the result we have what will be found to be a very helpful work to English and American missionaries all over the world whose sphere of labour is among the followers of the Prophet of Arabia.-B.

26. The Transvaal Boers: a Historical Sketch, by AFRICANUS. Second edition, revised and enlarged, with map of South Africa. We are pleased to observe that a second edition of this concise and admirable sketch has been called for. It contains an excellent introduction, in which the author truly says: "The average reader who has not had occasion to specialize will not, I think, be able to find a summary of Transvaal history in any one book, and I hope this publication will fill a gap." "The changes of Ministry in England, the ignorance or carelessness of home politicians, and the apathy of the home electorate, have from time to time thrown South African affairs into a crucible. The Liberal record is rather worse than the Conservative, and to say that is to say a good deal; but I have no party object in writing this book." "There are some signs that this state of things is coming to an end, and that we intend to keep our word in future." "I am quite certain that the average British citizen has not the least idea of the effect produced on our colonies and elsewhere by the oscillation of our electoral machinery." The author writes with personal knowledge of South Africa and its people, and the public can find no better sketch than this impartial and concise historical record.

SWAN SONNENSCHEIN AND Co.; LONDON.

27. The Moorish Empire: a Historical Epitome, by BUDGETT MEAKIN, some years editor of the Times of Morocco, author of "The Moors," "The Land of the Moors," etc., with 115 illustrations. This work, consisting of more than 570 pages, with well-executed illustrations of subjects ancient and modern, with copious index, chart, and maps, is an exhaustive history

of the Moorish Empire in its various phases, from the earliest historic times to the present day. The author has divided his book into three parts the first treating of internal development; the second, external relations of the empire; and the third literature, reviewing shortly the numerous works that have appeared both in history and in fiction, its journalism, such as it is, works recommended to be read, and an appendix of the classical authorities on Morocco. In short, the author has spared no labour and research to produce a standard work upon a region of the world comparatively little known, even in these days of expeditions and explorations. The spirit in which the author has performed his task is evinced by his concluding remarks. He says: "To trace the threads of the existing Moorish fabric back into the staple of the past; to notice the converging gossamers which in due time united, forming the weft and woof of the nation; to observe the strengthening strands of racial tendencies extended on the loom of the Moroccan hills and plains; to mark the interlacing of those strands as to and fro the shuttle plied-of outside influences, foreign interests, and the desire for mutual protection; to mark with admiration how each tender filament, so fine as sometimes to be imperceptible without the aid of science, went to form the pattern which the great Creator had designed-all this was full of interest: the very labour of the task repaid itself."

The author considers that the political future and development of Morocco depends, like Tunis, Tripoli, and Egypt, not upon "native movements, but upon foreign interests." In Morocco he considers that, "notwithstanding actual independence, the present state of affairs has induced a condition practically analogous. The fate of the Moorish Empire depends on the fate of Europe as truly as if it were reduced already to a provincial level . . . the factors which control its future are to be sought outside the country, not in it. So long as Morocco is left alone, its people will murmur and seethe; but they will neither destroy themselves, nor willingly submit to others."

The chapter on Foreign Rights and Privileges, the outcome of treaties, is of great importance, as they bear upon security of person and liberty in transactions; jurisdiction and irresponsibility of consuls; rights to places of business, churches, and graveyards; individual responsibility; admission of strangers under an allied flag; transportation of stores and merchandise; the exportation of unsold goods; and various other subjects affecting the merchant, traveller, or foreign resident. We most cordially and strongly invite the attention of our readers to this most interesting, valuable, and important work.

28. The Origin and Growth of Village Communities in India, by B. H. BADEN-POWELL, M.A., C.I.E. This is a praiseworthy and on the whole successful attempt to lay before English readers a succinct account of the origin and growth of village communities in India, as well, in order to render these intelligible, as a description of the very varied tenures under which the villages and estates under their control and management are held, with their relations to the State. To enter fully into the details of