advantage of familiar custom and of hereditary feeling and practice; how legislation not urgently called for has often, in recent years, by multiplying the points of contact between individuals in their relations to each other and between them and the State, increased the irritations from which the people suffer; and, most important of all, how much depends on the character of the agents of Government who are in immediate contact with the people, and who are to them the Government, and how imperative it is that only men who can be trusted be selected as agents, but when selected that they be left a reasonable freedom of action, and not be rendered as powerless for good as for evil by being reduced to be mere machines worked by a controlling central bureau. The introductory chapters, which analyse and describe the elements of the problem and deduce the principles by which its solution is to be effected, deserve to be carefully studied by those who are called to take part in Indian administration, or who endeavour to influence the action of English political parties upon it. It is hardly possible to exaggerate their value to those who are tempted to apply a Western standard to peoples whose history, inherited character, and social organisation are so utterly diverse from those of the nation they themselves belong to. The particular reforms proposed have reference chiefly to Lower Bengal, which the author knows most intimately. This is not the place to discuss them, nor need it be attempted. They can be adequately appreciated and criticised only by one who has a thorough knowledge of the special circumstances and requirements of that province, which differ in very important respects from those of other provinces of the Indian Empire. But it may be said that, though specially intended only for the former, the general principles on which they are based are in a measure applicable to all. There may well be, and very probably are, practical difficulties in the way of adopting exactly any of the suggested reforms, but no one with any knowledge of the country would deny that in every department of administration there are room and need for improvement, and the spirit in which the question of reform should be approached, and the principles by which legislators and administrators should be guided, are those which the author has so well stated.

Reisebilder aus Liberia. Band II.: Die Bewohner-Thierwelt. Von J. BÜTTIKOFER, Conservator am Zoologischen Reichsmuseum in Leiden. Mit Karten, Lichtdruck- und Chromo-lithographischen Tafeln, nebst zahlreichen Textillustrationen. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1890. Pp. viii+510.

We reviewed the first volume of this work in vol. vi. p. 441. The present volume, completing the work, deals with the Liberians, the free, civilised Negroes, with the native Negroes, who still live in a condition of barbarism, and with the zoology of the republic. The first two chapters contain a sober and sensible survey of the history of the State, on the whole impartially written, though the narrative does not reflect the greatest credit upon the British Government, and especially upon men calling themselves British commercial men. Herr Büttikofer's love of truth and anxiety to do injustice to none are evident in his summary of the present state and condition of Liberia. The enthusiasm and energy which characterised the founders of the republic have in the mass of the people been supplanted by feelings of lethargy, indifference, and heedless disregard of the future. The financial position of the republic is the reverse of encouraging. The interest of a loan of £100,000, borrowed in London in 1870 for the space of fifteen years, has never been paid since 1873; on the other hand, the Liberian representatives who contracted the loan seem to have been very unjustly treated, if not indeed shamefully robbed (see note, p. 51). Very little, comparatively speaking, has been done to civilise the native races of the Interior. But again, the resources and opportunities

of the republic have been very limited, and the expectations that were formed of the colony were in the first instance pitched too high. If immigration from the United States could be stimulated anew, and if by this means or some other more energy, enterprise, and industry could be awakened, there is no reason why the republic should not get the better of her financial difficulties and start on what might be a prosperous and useful future, for she is not destitute of capable and enlightened men to carry the banner of progress, and guide her destinies with skill and wisdom. One danger there is, however, which, though not at present urgent, will in future become more threatening: the aboriginal natives are on the whole indifferent to Christianity, whilst Islam, of a kind, makes perceptible headway among the tribes of the Interior. We congratulate Herr Büttikofer on having written a most useful and interesting monograph on what ought to be, and we hope may yet be, a bright spot on the Dark Continent. The numerous illustrations, including several full-page reproductions of photographs, enhance the value of the book. By way of supplement or correction to our review of the first volume of this work, it should be added that Dr. Nachtigal's remains were removed from Cape Palmas in 1887, and reinterred in the German colony of Cameroons.

La Traite des Esclaves en Afrique. Brussels: F. Hayes, 1889-90.

A publication in two volumes of the documents collected by the recent AntiSlavery Conference in Brussels. For those who are interested in the suppression of the Slave Traffic in Africa they will be found invaluable. They contain much that can be found nowhere else in so convenient a form, and are illustrated by a large map.

The British Colonist in North America: A Guide for intending Emigrants. London Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1890. Pp. 320. Price 2s. 6d. and 3s. 6d.

The author of this useful little handbook states that he has "no personal interests whatever to serve" in writing it. He strongly advises the "British emigrant who is not infected with republicanism" to give weight to the "superior social advantages the Dominion of Canada offers" as compared with the United States. "In comparing the advantages of the Dominion," he says, with those of the United States, education, in the former, in rural districts, is much superior." As regards farming, he maintains that "the average English tenant farmer is a king to his American cousin, both in the style of living and the comfort and neatness of his surroundings." Again, he holds that the American (i.e. United States) farmer is "considerably worse off than the English or Canadian farmer." The protection tariff, the exactions of monopolies, trusts, and middlemen, the reckless and exhausting system of farming so long pursued, leaving vast areas of once fruitful lands in a state of depletion, an aggregate production in excess of the home and foreign demands, extravagance in machinery, farming with insufficient capital, and general mismanagement and improvidence-all these have, in the author's opinion, tended to cripple the farmers of the United States, and thrown them hopelessly into the hands of money-lenders. The money-lenders," he states, "are now the landlords of America." Whilst the author takes this gloomy view of the United States, he seems to forget that land, both in Great Britain and Canada, has been and still is largely mortgaged, and yet, from his own showing, British and Canadian farmers are in a comparatively flourishing condition. Carefully written articles follow on British Columbia, Manitoba, Washington State, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Texas, and North Carolina. The book is totally devoid of those glowing accounts by which so many British emigrants have been misled.

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Dictionary of the Language of the Micmac Indians. By Rev. SILAS TERTIUS RAND, D.D., LL.D. Pp. viii × 286. Halifax, N.S.: Nova Scotia Printing

Company.

Dr. Rand, who died near the end of 1889, laboured for many years among the Micmacs, an Algonquin tribe inhabiting the maritime provinces of the Dominion of Canada. He was the first to commit their language to writing, and this-the English-Micmac-portion of the dictionary compiled by him has been published with the assistance of a grant from the Dominion Parliament. The Micmacs, who were the first Indians with whom the English came in contact, still number some 3000 or 4000 souls, and their vocabulary has many features of interest. Professor Skeat has already found in it the original of toboggan, a word which more recently has come into general use.

French Treaty Rights in Newfoundland: the Case for the Colony, stated by the People's Delegates, Sir J. S. WINTER, K.C.M.G., Q.C., P. J. SCOTT, Q.C., and A. B. MORINE, M.L.A. London: P. S. King and Son, 1890. The title fairly describes the scope of this interesting pamphlet, which contains extracts from the treaties with France, a very full examination of the French rights and claims, a summary of the "lobster question," and a statement of the existing arrangements as to bounties and bait. A useful map accompanies the pamphlet.

Mountaineering in Colorado. By FREDERICK H. CHAPIN. Second Edition. London: Sampson Low and Co., 1890.

The devotees of mountaineering, having no new worlds to conquer in Switzerland, have now gone in quest of fresh snows to the Rocky Mountains, which have hitherto been but happy hunting-grounds for the lovers of sport. The principal summits of this vast range considerably outsoar the loftiest pinnacles of the Alps, and may stand comparison with them, whether for the exquisite beauty or the dread magnificence of their scenery. The group of peaks which the author of this work ascended, and has graphically described in its pages, is situated in Northern Colorado, and the centre from which he made his excursions was the picturesque valley of Estes Park, which has an elevation of about 7000 feet above the sea, and lies at no great distance from the Wyoming line of railway, and some seventy miles north-west from Denver. The chief member of the group is Long's Peak, which towers to a height 14,271 feet, and dwarfs with its huge mass all the mountains near it. The other great summits are Mount Hallett, Table Mountain, Mummy Mountain, Ypsilon Peak, Hague's Peak, and Stone's Peak, all of which were ascended. These mountains, rising abruptly from the plains in the North of Colorado, form part of what is called its Front Range, a series which includes towards its southern extremity Pike's Peak, now well known from its being, like our own Ben Nevis, the site of a weather Observatory. Mr. Chapin's pages abound with glowing descriptions of the grandeur of the scenery that opened on his view as he made his toilsome and often perilous way over the precipices and snowfields of these great mountains. He tells us that he carried with him, even to their highest ledges, his camera and plates, and that he was thus able to photograph all the most striking views. Many of these are beautifully reproduced in his work, and add greatly to its interest and value. He has noted one or two points in which he found the Colorado Mountains to differ from those he had ascended in Switzerland. There is always, he says, some easy way of access to the high crest of the Rocky Mountains, though they have generally an inaccessible side, but it is otherwise with some of the difficult Swiss peaks. In another place he remarks that in Switzerland the great precipices are seldom so nearly vertical as they are taken to be.

Thus, the east face of the Matterhorn, which, as seen from Zermatt, appears to be all but vertical, has for its angle one of scarcely more than 40°. On the other hand, the stupendous precipice on Long's Peak, called the Tower, is as vertical in reality as it is in appearance. Another point of difference is, that the Colorado Mountains, notwithstanding their great height, are not covered with perpetual snow, while in Switzerland the perpetual snow-line descends as low as some 8000 or 9000 feet. The hot sun and clear dry air of Colorado sufficiently account for the difference. Mr. Chapin has carefully described the routes by which the various crests he ascended are easiest of access. His work will thus serve as a guide-book to the tourist who may wish to visit the scenes which his pen and camera have so vividly depicted. In an appendix he gives a partial list of the plants growing in Estes Park. The work is altogether an excellent addition to the literature of mountaineering, which is now growing apace.

Mexico. By SUSAN HALL. "Story of the Nations" Series. London: T. Fisher Unwin. Pp. xx+428. Price 5s.

The story of Mexico is an exceedingly interesting one, but correspondingly difficult to do full justice to-at least in its earlier epochs. So much fiction mingles on every hand with fact, so much is shadowy and unreal, that it requires not only more than common care to pick out what is authentic, but, to do full justice to what may be held as worth retaining and enlarging upon, much space and no little erudition are necessary. In the narrow compass of a work of this kind too much must not be expected, and, bearing in mind that what we are presented with is a sketch and not a detailed history, the work may be welcomed as a contribution of some value to the story of a region as rich in romance as in natural products. The plan followed has been to represent scenes from the history of Mexico-in short, sharply-defined sketches resembling the successions of pictures cast upon a screen by a magic-lantern. This method has the advantage of strongly appealing to the imagination, leaving a vivid impression upon the mind. When the period of authentic history is reached we are treated to greater detail, but not to such an extent as to show any undue want of balance in the narrative. The illustrations are neither so good nor so delicate as were those in some of the former volumes of the series, but the map is a distinct advance on those formerly produced, and is quite in keeping with the general excellent get-up of the book. There is a full and accurate index. Although it cannot be said that this is the best volume of the series, it is above the average and a very welcome addition.

Le Canal de Panama: Étude Rétrospective, Historique et Technique. Solution Rationnelle pour l'Achèvement Graduel de l'Euvre sans Augmenter la Dette. Par FÉLIX PAPONOT, Ingénieur, Membre de la Société des Ingénieurs Civils de France. Paris: Baudry et Cie., 1890. Pp. xv+69.

M. Paponot urges the shareholders of the Panama Canal Company to stick to their script, and propounds a scheme by which the gigantic undertaking may, he conceives, be some day completed. In the first place the railway from Colon to Panama should be finished and furnished with double lines of rails, the works at the two ports named should be completed, and extensive quays be built at each. Once facilities exist for unloading goods on the one side and reloading them on the other, and for transporting them across, rapidly, such as would be secured by the works suggested, the stream of commerce would begin to flow across the isthmus by rail, the value of the canal (when finished) would become all the more obvious, and the desire for it all the keener, the shares would go up, and it would be possible to resort to loans again, which would then, under a more promising future, be readily subscribed.

NEW MAPS.

AFRICA.

NORTHERN ZAMBESIA, etc. 1:1,023,970, 16, 16 miles to 1 inch. NYASSALAND, A Map of 1: 1,023,970, 16, 16 miles to 1 inch. These three sheets, which embrace the large area recently occupied by the British South Africa Company, can be joined together, and are constructed on the same scale as Stanford's Map of the Transvaal. All the maps are clearly drawn and brought up to date. But we looked in vain for the new Livingstonia Mission Stations, such as Livlezi Valley and Gowa south of Lake Nyassa, Nindi on Lake Nyassa, Mwera, Chinyera, Ninya, Mombera, and Ekwendeni west of the same lake. OST-AFRICA, Vorläufige Uebersicht von Dr. Karl Peters Reise in Massstab, 1 : 4,000,000. Verhandhungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde, Berlin, 1890. SÜD-AFRIKA, Klimatische Uebersicht über Von W. Krebs. Massstab, 1:12,360,000. Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik, XII., Heft 11. Wien: A. Hartleben's Verlag.

Compiled for George Cawston, Esq. Scale, 1 sheet. London: Edward Stanford.

Compiled for George Cawston, Esq. Scale, 2 sheets. London: Edward Stanford.

1889-90.

TOGO-GEBIET, Skizze der vom Pr. Lieut. Kling zurückgelegten Wege zwischen den Orten Pereü, Tzirai und Dipongo (Umgegend von Station Bismarckburg). Massstab, 1:60,000.

Mitt. von Forschungsreisenden und Gelehrten aus den Deutschen Schutzgebieten, Jahrgang 1890, Tafel 3. Berlin: A. Ascher and Co. TOGO-GEBIET, Forschungsreisen von Hauptmann Kling in dem Gebiete nordwestlich von der Station Bismarckburg, 1889-90. Massstab, 1:525,000. Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1890, Band xv11. No. 7. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.