Wild Beasts and their Ways. By Sir SAMUEL W. BAKER, F.R.S., F.R.G.S., etc. London: Macmillan and Co., 1891. Pp. 455.

There is probably no one more qualified to discourse on the nature and habits of wild beasts in their native haunts than Sir Samuel Baker. This veteran sportsman for nearly fifty years has hunted wild game in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, not with the merciless butchery of the mere gunner who glories in indiscriminate slaughter, so long as it swells his game-list, but with all the instincts of a true sportsman and naturalist. As he tells us himself, he shot his game " with judgment and forbearance, upon the principles of fair-play, sparing the lives of all females, should the animals be harmless." When shooting in the Rocky Mountains, he came upon a herd of that much-persecuted animal the bison, and contented himself with killing one, although he might have shot thirty or forty with ease-which called forth the remark from his American attendant, “Well, if you come all the way from the Old Country to shoot, and you won't shoot when you've got the chance, you'd better go home."

In describing the habits and characters of wild animals, the author confines his remarks to those animals which have come under his personal observation, in a lifelong experience in many parts of the world. His graphic descriptions of scenery, the pleasures of the hunting-camp, the sporting adventures in plain and jungle, which go to make up this attractive volume, will be read with interest by both the hunter and naturalist. One chapter is devoted to the discussion of the best kinds of arms and ammunition, and throughout the volume the effect of the different sorts of missiles is carefully noted. The book is embellished with several capital illustrations.

Log of a Jack Tar; and Captain O'Brien's Captivity in France. Edited by Commander LOVETT CAMERON, R.N. Adventure Series." London: Fisher

Unwin, 1891. Pp. 379. Price 5s.

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The first of these is a narrative of a sailor named Choyce, who, at the age of sixteen, with the wide world for his inheritance, started off in a whaler for the southern seas. He followed his calling for thirty years, but in reality spent half of that time as a prisoner on the west coast of South America, and latterly as a prisoner of war in France. From France he made his escape, and got on board the Theseus frigate, and was present in the action in the Basque Roads, when the French fleet narrowly escaped destruction. A graphic account of this action is given in Marryat's Frank Mildmay.

Captain O'Brien was senior midshipman of the Hussar frigate, which, being wrecked near Brest, surrendered to the French admiral. O'Brien, with the rest of the crew, was sent as a prisoner to Verdun. After being there for over three years, he, with several other officers, made an attempt at escape; but after reaching Boulogne they were recaptured and sent back to Verdun. Another attempt was also unsuccessful: a party including O'Brien after passing the Rhine, Strasburg, Freiburg, and Constance, were captured at Lindau, and sent back to Bitche. O'Brien, however, managed to regain his freedom on a third attempt, and, after a long and perilous tramp, was able to cross the Austrian frontier near Salzburg.

Both narratives are full of adventures and of perilous escapes, and show the abundant wiles and resources and the indomitable pluck of the British seaman. Portugal. By H. MORSE STEPHENS, "Story of the Nations" Series. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1891. Pp. xxiv +450. Price 58.

This is a valuable and most readable addition to a useful and comprehensive series. It may at once be said that we know of no volume in the English language in

which the history of Portugal is so fully and so clearly set forth; and for this reason alone the work ought to make a place for itself, quite apart from, and above, that occupied by most of its predecessors. Moreover, it is a painstaking and exhaustive treatise on the causes that led to the rise and fall of Portugal as a Power among the nations of Europe-dealing less with striking or romantic historical episodes than has been the case in the majority of former volumes of the series, which mostly have treated of nations whose general histories were better known to the average reader than is that of Portugal. Balance has been admirably obtained, so that full justice is done to every important event, and nothing—not even the history of the Peninsular War, upon which British writers are wont to enlarge has too much space given to its consideration. The Portuguese colonial question, in its modern aspects, has less justice done to it than any other part of the work, and is touched with an exceedingly tender hand.

The illustrations are good, and their subjects judiciously chosen. The index is ample, and the map useful for reference.

Industrial Ireland: A German View of the Irish Question. By J. B. KELLER. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1891. Pp. 48.

As special correspondent of Die Post, an influential Berlin newspaper, the author of this pamphlet recently visited Ireland in order to see things there with impartial eyes. From what he saw, he considers that "Ireland is less capable than any country of great self-help, and must therefore depend upon State assistance." This German critic's remedies for Ireland are at once sweeping and onerous. He thinks Government should, 1st, expropriate all farmlands which are cultivated by tenants ; 2nd, take possession of all waste lands; 3rd, establish an agricultural department; 4th, open schools of practical agriculture; 5th, establish factories for the preparation of butter and cheese; 6th, expropriate, or at least reform, Irish railways; and 7th, improve the waterways and export-harbours of Ireland. Pointing out that Ireland chiefly depends on agriculture, the author states that the agricultural interest suffers most from the effects of free trade," American imports driving Irish products out of even Irish markets. With regard to the mass of the people of the remote south and west, he remarks that their mode of living "is not only not human, but is the existence of a dog, an existence such as in the poorest parts even of Wallachia or Italy would seem almost impossible."

A Lady's Letters from Central Africa: A Journey from Mandala, Shiré Highlands, to Ujiji, Lake Tanganyika, and back. By JANE F. MOIR. With an Introduction by Rev. T. M. LINDSAY, D.D. Glasgow: J. MacLehose and Sons, 1891. Pp. 91.

The letters of Mrs. F. Moir to members of her family were not written with any idea of publication, but they are perhaps on that very account all the more interesting in their simple, unconstrained, and vivid descriptiveness. Mrs. Moir is the first European lady to have made the journey from Mandala on the Shiré to Ujiji, and it was not accomplished without hard marching, and dangers both from storm on the Lake and a sharp attack by the fierce Attongwe. On Lake Tanganyika Mr. and Mrs. Moir visited Karema, a station of Lavigerie's "White Fathers," or French Mission. Here is Mrs. Moir's account (p. 38) :—“There are five of these men on each station, and a bishop over them, who sails about Tanganyika and visits each of the three stations in turn. The missionaries guarantee to protect the people, but not to go out and fight. So their stations are built like forts, and are very strong, and loopholed all round. A Colonel or Captain Yubert, a soldier in

the Papal army (P.S. an agent of the Congo Free State), has come out to do the fighting department. He is not a missionary, and lives by himself with his native troops, and his work is to defend the mission stations if they are in danger. These White Fathers are dressed in long white (when clean) flannel, white and black rosaries, and great big helmets, and are very nice men. When they are sent here they come for life; they leave only when they die! One of the Fathers at Karema has been twelve years on Tanganyika; he looks very weak and ill, but is able for work. Their plan of operations is, to buy from Arabs, chiefs, parents, or relatives, several hundred small boys and girls, from three to five years old. These children live in houses round the court of the monastery or fort, and gradually grow up. Every child is taught to work, and each hoes his little bit of garden, and they are brought up strictly as Roman Catholics. I forgot to say, the Fathers plant their stations in districts where there are no villages, but lots of ground for cultivating. As these children grow, the big boys are sent to live in a village by themselves near the convent, and the big girls ditto. Then when a boy wants to marry he gets a girl, and they live together in another village further off, and are pure Roman Catholics, knowing no other religion or superstition. As each person cultivates his garden, the mission is practically self-supporting, and the only heavy expense is the buying the children year by year. The priests do not teach many of them to read, but rather encourage them in industrial occupations. . . . The weak point is the buying of the children, as it encourages slavery; but, otherwise, it seems to me, they show great wisdom, and their natives turn out satisfactory."

Manica: Being a Report addressed to the Minister of the Marine and the Colonies of Portugal. By J. PAIVA DE ANDRADA, Colonel of Artillery. With a Sketch-Map by E. G. Ravenstein. London: George Philip and Son, 1891. Pp. 63. Price 18.

The above title sufficiently describes the scope of this pamphlet. The translation is good, and has been well edited. It should be read by those who are interested in the present Anglo-Portuguese dispute. Incidentally, it contains some geographical information; and the map, though small, is very serviceable.

Matabeleland and Mashonaland. Being a Special Number of South Africa. London at the Offices of South Africa, 1891. Pp. 146. Price 2s.

A vast amount of general information on an interesting part of South Africa, which only recently has become known to the public, is here collected in a con. venient form for reference. Many writers have been laid under contribution, in as far as the present republication of their writings is concerned. There are numerous illustrations, and a good serviceable map, showing political boundaries. Without reference to its special pleading, we can conscientiously recommend this publication as valuable to all who take an interest in the progress of South Africa.

The Bermuda Islands: A Contribution to the Physical History and Zoology of the Somers Archipelago, with an examination of the Structure of the Coral Reefs. By ANGELO HEILPRIN, F.G.S.A., etc. etc. Published by the Author. Philadelphia, 1889.

The author, in company with a class of students from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, visited the Bermudas in the summer of 1888, to study the structure and physiognomy of coral reefs, supplemented with some work on the zoology of these islands. The coral reef problem is fully discussed, and the

recent literature on that subject is analysed with considerable ability. The notes on the zoology of the Bermudas are based on personal observations and collections made during the visit to the islands. Reference is made to the paucity of animal forms, characteristic of insular faunas, and also the relationship to neighbouring faunas. There are some good illustrations in the book, evidently taken from photographs.

Wanderings in South America, etc. By CHARLES WATERTON.

Illustrations

and Index. Pp. xxxix +367. Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1891. Price 4s. This is a reprint of a classical book of travel. It is nicely got up, contains a number of illustrations, and is prefaced by Sydney Smith's review, written in 1826. It should find many new readers in this form, and certainly many old ones, for Waterton's Wanderings is always worth going back upon.

The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature. By ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE. London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1890. Pp. xvii + 515.

A work of such world-wide fame requires no introduction to the general reader. It was first published twenty-one years ago, and the great interest it then excited has in no degree diminished, and has warranted the issue of a tenth edition. Some slight alterations have been made, and a few foot-notes added; but it remains substantially the same, which shows with what accuracy and care the first edition was compiled. It is profusely illustrated, and contains several excellent maps.

The Opening of the Arctic Sea. By H. A. N. DEMSFORD, C.E.
London Ridgway, 1890.

This is a small pamphlet of 24 pages, in which the author, with the help of a map, endeavours to demonstrate the passage of the waters of the Gulf Stream into the Pacific Ocean, and of those of the Japan Current into the Atlantic-under the Polar ice, and the practicability of assisting this process by cutting through the ice-sheet on the north of Siberia.

The Cruise of the Dunottar Castle. By W. SCOTT DALGLEISH, M.A. Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable, 1890. Pp. 94. Illustrated.

To the guests of Sir Donald Currie, who, on the occasion of the trial-trip of the Cape and Natal royal mail steamer Dunottar Castle, voyaged round Scotland from the Clyde to the Forth, this sympathetic and pleasing record will be valued as a permanent memorial. But Mr. Dalgleish discourses so interestingly on the scenery and historical associations of the unrivalled Scottish coasts, that his work will appeal to a wider public, and will be appreciated by many who would gladly follow in his wake, if, perchance, such a delightful tour as that round Scotland were established by a steamship company. This beautifully printed volume derives exceptional attraction from the fact that it is adorned with a wealth of illustrations. The artists are to be complimented on their spirited sketches, which have been admirably reproduced.

"Thorough Guide Series."-Surrey and Sussex (including Tunbridge Wells). By C. S. WARD, M.A.

Thorough Guide Series."-Yorkshire, Part I. (East Coast, York, etc., with Durham Cathedral and Castle). Part 11. (West and part of North Riding, with Barnard Castle). By M. T. B. BADDELEY, B.A. London: Dulau and Co. The editors of the "Thorough Guide Series" deserve well at the hands of the