MISCELLANEOUS.

A company has been formed to construct in German East Africa A Railway from Tanga to Karagwe. It will also have power to construct other railways, forts, etc., to acquire territory, and to exploit it. The capital has been fixed provisionally at two million marks.-Revue Française et Exploration, October 1.

M. Emile Chaix has forwarded the program and report on the progress of the Bibliographie der Schweizerischen Landeskunde, which is being compiled in answer to the invitation addressed to the countries of Europe by the Geographical Congress. These are accompanied by the proof-sheets containing the literature of the surveys and a list of maps embracing the whole of Switzerland.

At the sixty-fourth meeting of German naturalists and physicians at Halle, on the 22d of September, Dr. Below gave an important address on Health in the Tropics. He came to the conclusion that the opening up of the Tropics for Europeans was practically a question of hygiene, and that, with proper sanitary precautions, the most apparently unhealthy districts may be rendered salubrious.

The King of the Belgians has offered a Prize of 25,000 francs (£1000) to be awarded in 1897 for the work giving the most satisfactory replies to the following questions:

Describe, from the sanitary point of view, the meteorological, hydrological, and geological conditions of the territories of Equatorial Africa. Deduce from the present state of our knowledge concerning these matters the hygienic principles suitable for these regions, and lay down, with observations in support of the conclusions arrived at, the best scheme of life, diet, and work, as well as the system of clothing and form of dwelling best adapted for the preservation of health and vigour. Describe the symptomatology, etiology, and pathology of the diseases which characterise the regions of Equatorial Africa, and indicate the treatment, both prophylactic and therapeutic. Define the principles to be followed in the choice and use of medicaments and in the establishment of hospitals and sanatoria. In their scientific researches, as well as in their practical conclusions, competitors should particularly take into account the conditions of existence of Europeans in the different parts of the Congo basin. The prize is open to foreigners as well as to Belgian subjects. Competitors must send in their works to the Minister of the Interior and of Public Instruction at Brussels before January 1, 1897.—British Medical Journal, September 26, 1891.

NEW BOOKS.

The Rural Economy and Agriculture of Australia and New Zealand, as seen by ROBERT WALLACE, F.L.S., F.R.S. Edin., Professor of Agriculture and Rural Economy in the University of Edinburgh, Author of India in 1887; Farm Live Stock of Great Britain; etc. With 10 Maps, 90 Full-page Plates, and 24 Illustrations in the Text. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 1891. Pp. xvi+541. Price 21s.

Professor Wallace's book is the outcome of a tour through the Australian Colonies and New Zealand in the summer of 1889—a tour made under the happiest auspices. Every facility and opportunity seem to have been afforded him by the high officials, agriculturists, and leading men of all the colonies. The result is a work full of valuable and reliable information about the agriculture of that part of

the World, and about almost everything that immediately concerns the farmer and the intending settler, and even the man of public business.

The book contains two divisions in the first (observing a just proportion-six chapters out of thirty-nine) the author describes his journey, and relates those incidents of the tour which are of a personal character; in the remaining thirtythree chapters he treats of various prominent topics connected with Australasian agriculture. The arrangement in this particular case is the best that could have been made. The principal fault is a tendency on the Professor's part to devote too much attention to the influential men who furnished him with information, or who gave him an opportunity to inspect their estates. This element, whilst it will perhaps secure for his book a warmer welcome in the Colonies, will certainly tend to detract from its permanent value. The observations on General Reid's will, whilst perhaps just in substance, are unquestionably out of place in a work of this kind; and so are such passages as those on pp. 14-16, 35-36, and 59. In the second division Professor Wallace is in all respects admirable; he is a shrewd and competent observer, knows just what to observe and what relative value to attach to what is brought under his observation; he presents his information in a most able and interesting way; is possessed of an extensive store of varied knowledge, and gives a wonderfully full account of the agricultural world of the Australasian Colonies. There are extremely interesting chapters on irrigation, on vine-growing, on the chemical analysis of soils, the different kinds and breeds of live stock, agricultural education, implements and machines, the frozen-meat trade with Europe, rabbits, sheep-shearing, the dishorning of cattle, and many other subjects. On all these topics Professor Wallace writes, as we have remarked, with adequate knowledge and sound judgment. To discuss them properly would require far more space than we are able to afford; and it would be more satisfactory, besides, for the reader to go to the book itself.

The usefulness of the book is greatly enhanced by the numerous well-executed full-page illustrations, nearly one hundred in number, and by a handsome get-up, a good index, complete analytic table of contents, and a device-which the Professor admits to be an innovation and defends on the ground of utility-by which the catchwords in each paragraph are printed in heavier black type. His plea of utility and his defence of the device may stand approved; nevertheless we think the thing has been overdone. With such a good index and such complete analytic tables of contents as this book has, it was not surely necessary to emphasise half-adozen catchwords on each page; one, or at most two, would have sufficed amply.

The History of Commerce in Europe. By H. de B. GIBBINS, M.A., Author of The Industrial History of England, and Oxford University Prizeman in Political Economy. With Maps. London: Macmillan and Co., 1891. Pp. viii+233. Price 38. 6d.

This present work shows a great advance on Mr. Gibbins' previous book, which we reviewed some months ago (see p. 45 above). The improvement is most marked in composition, in lucidity of arrangement, and in good taste. The idea and purpose of the book are both commendable-to give a succinct survey of the history of the commerce of the chief European nations. This indeed would be a more correct and appropriate title than the one chosen; for Mr. Gibbins carries his readers often a long way beyond the limits implied in the words "in Europe." The information is grouped under three headings-"Ancient and Classical Commerce," "Mediaeval Commerce," and "Modern Commerce;" and besides this there is a valuable equipment of notes, maps, tables, appendices. In fact, there is rather too much information, too many hard facts, crowded into the little book.

Herein we discern what is one of its chief faults, namely a tendency to heap up dates, bare facts, and minute details in over-profusion. The narrative would read all the better if a number of the summaries of merely political events were also cut out. A certain amount of political "orientation" is of course indispensable, but the measure of utility has, we cannot help thinking, been frequently exceeded in this book. It also bears too many marks of haste, and even carelessness, in the writing, which, of course, must impair its usefulness as a text-book, and so far make it untrustworthy. In justice to Mr. Gibbins we ought, however, to say that a number of the things we take exception to are grounded on an unfortunate infelicity of diction. We have space to point out only a few samples of the more glaring kind of blunders :-On p. 11 we read "At the end of the 5th century B.C. (397 B.C.)"; on p. 53 "the Bank of Venice was probably the first established (1871)"; but on p. 167 the date is given as "either 1157 or 1171." Sargon, king of Assyria, is called a Tartar (p. 9)! The identity of Ophir is, to say the least, still undecided, though the best authorities put it in Arabia or Africa. The sentence "The Lombards, coming from Jutland" (p. 31) is doubly unhappy. The people alluded to are first known to us as Longobardi ; Lombards" is a much later name. When we first read of them in history, they are already settled on the Elbe, a long way south of Jutland. Pisa, an ancient Etruscan city, could hardly have been founded by Sardinian fugitives (p. 45) fleeing before the Saracens. Nijni-Novgorod fair does not begin on the 1st, but on the 15th July; and its trade is valued, not at 7 or 8 million pounds, but at close upon 19 million pounds (e.g. in 1889). Then, again, there are several celebrated fairs not mentioned in the list given on p. 82, as Irbit, Hurdwar, Glasgow, Donnybrook, etc. Middleburg (148) should be Middelburg; Trankebar (162) would look better spelled Tranquebar, and Kerson (164) as Kherson. Lepanto (166) was by no means a victory won by Venice alone; she had powerful assistance from other states. Debrezin (82) is usually written Debreczin. Schonen (64), the southern province of medieval Sweden, would be more familiar as Scania. The Portuguese king and government emigrated to Brazil in 1810 according to p. 127, but in 1808 according to p. 180; authentic history gives yet a third date. The spelling "Phenicians" can have no authority except some French source. The account of Phoenician enterprise in navigating the seas must be read with great caution; it contains more than one rash or unprovable statement. The Russian serfs were emancipated in 1861, not in 1857 (p. 203). The reasons given on p. 154 for the outbreak of the Peasants' War in Germany are very inadequate, and even misleading, and not in accord with the best German authorities. Amongst the more obvious omissions-nothing is said of the great Anatolian road, or the trade-routes down the Vistula and the Dnieper, across the Balkan Peninsula, through the Khyber Pass, over the passes of the Himalayas, and down the rivers of Burma. The important commercial position and activity of Ragusa are not mentioned; and in later times the very valuable trade with China and Japan is not discussed. The account of the ancient trade of the Orient might well have been supplemented by a brief allusion to the traffic carried on by the Sabæans, then by the people of Petra, and later still by those of Palmyra. The index, too, requires careful revision.

An Asiens Küsten und Fürstenhöfen. VON LEOPOLD VON JEDINA.

Wien Eduard Hölzel, 1891. Pp. 732.

This is a narrative of exceptional interest. It records the cruise of the Fasana, a corvette of 2000 tons displacement, belonging to the Austrian Navy, round the southern coasts of Asia and the outlying islands. Most of the well-known places

of interest were visited, and in addition several that are not usually described in such works of travel. The author, one of the lieutenants on board, knows well what subjects to select and how to describe them. From the fact that the Archduke Leopold was serving as a cadet on the Fasana, the cruise partook occasionally of the character of a royal progress. Whilst we have nothing but praise to bestow on the author for his admirable and interesting letterpress, we may be permitted to call attention to the illustrations as forming not the least attraction of the book; they are without doubt almost unrivalled as a series of views on the coasts of Southern Asia, being beautifully reproduced from photographs. A clear and good route chart accompanies the volume. We can most cordially recommend this work as reflecting the highest credit on author and publishers alike.

Rulers of India: Clyde and Strathnairn. By Major-General Sir OWEN TUDOR BURNE, K.C.S.I. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891. Pp. 194. Price 2s. 6d.

In a clear narrative style Sir Owen Tudor Burne groups round the lives of the two chief military authorities in the war of the Indian Mutiny the principal incidents of a critical period in the history of British power in India. Difficult to perform as such a task is in so small compass, the author has not, on that account, unduly narrowed his range of vision, but has given us a view of the causes leading up to the outbreak and the most salient features in the reconstruction—especially military—which followed its suppression. Simple yet not bald in style, moderate in tone, generally accurate in fact and in the interpretation of fact, this book may be recommended as a reliable and readable record of a momentous undertaking.

Sir Colin Campbell was sixty-five years old when, on July 12, 1857, he left London at twenty-four hours' notice (by his own choice) to assume the chief command in India. In his youth he had seen service in the Peninsular and American (1814) wars, and, in his manhood, in the China war of 1842, the Sikh war of 1848-9, and, with great distinction and success, in the Crimean war, when he commanded the Highland Brigade. The new Commander-in-Chief entered on his post in India on August 17th. He stayed, however, over two months in Calcutta (a delay which has been severely criticised), and thus by the fall of Delhi (20th September 1857) the first real step towards the suppression of the Mutiny was taken as Sir O. T. Burne is perhaps too careful to point out-“unaided by the presence or assistance of the Commander-in-Chief." Those subsequent operations in which he did take part are well described, the second relief of Lucknow (November 1857), its complete occupation in March 1858, the re-occupation of Bareilly, and, in November 1858, the operations in Oudh. Whether the Commander-in-Chief's plans were the best need hardly be considered here: the author attributes to him too much dependence on large forces, where guerilla warfare was so much engaged in by the enemy, and a lack of vigour and dread of risk. Yet be it remembered that the Commander-in-Chief had peculiar responsibilities, and that the defeat of an English force would have been detrimental to English prestige. Sir Colin Campbell was raised to the peerage for his services, and died as Field-Marshal Lord Clyde on August 14, 1863.

Lack of vigour was no weakness of Sir Hugh Rose, director, with pronounced success, of the operations in Central India. By rapid marches, strategy marked by simplicity and adaptability, and an indomitable energy, Sir Hugh Rose and the Central India Force, of which he was himself the head and soul, traversed over 1000 miles, took about 150 pieces of artillery, two fortified camps and two fortresses, fought sixteen actions and captured twenty forts, all without a reverse, in five months. The author's account of these operations could hardly be improved on

in the space at his disposal. Sir Hugh Rose succeeded Sir Colin Campbell as Commander-in-Chief, held the command for five years (1860-1865), and on his return to England became Baron Strathnairn of Strathnairn and Jhánsí (the capture of Jhánsí, April 1858, being one of his most noted successes), and subsequently Field-Marshal. He died in October 1885, at the age of 84.

The author's designation of the Mutiny as "primarily a military rising" requires more modification than he allows. The complete occupation of Lucknow is dated 20th March 1858 on page 42 (in a very convenient tabular analysis of the war), and as 21st March on page 82. "Joan of Arc" (footnote, page 145) is time-honoured, but no longer quite authoritative for the Maid of Orleans, Joan Darc. "Interregnum" appears to be used on page 42 to denote cessation of hostilities. In place of a general map of India, one specially designed to illustrate the operations would have been preferable. There are two excellent portraits. A pleasing feature of the work is the generous, yet discriminative, praise of many individual heroes of the Mutiny war.

The Races of the Old Testament. By A. N. SAYCE, LL.D. Religious Tract

Society, 1891. Pp. 180. Price 3s.

The oldest geographical document in the world is the tenth chapter of the Book of Genesis, the truth of which all recent critical research is elucidating. Using the results of such research, and especially the materials of "that prince of living excavators and practical archeologists, Mr. Flinders Petrie," Dr. Sayce, himself in the front rank of experts, works out the ethnology of the tenth chapter through what can no longer be termed the prehistoric peoples. The marvellously lucid details he sums up in a Table of the Races of the Old Testament, which may be accepted as a working basis for students, to be corrected and amplified by the many discoveries which archæology and Biblical criticism will yet make year by year. The book, which is most creditable to the Society that publishes it in its admirable series, "By-Paths of Bible Knowledge," has a fine frontispiece, the "Ancient Races as portrayed on the Egyptian monuments 3000 years since," besides numerous other pictures of heads.

A la Conquête du Chad. By Harry Alis. Paris: Hachette & Cie., 1891. Pp. 296. The author of this volume has closely interested himself in the expeditions of M. Crampel and Lieut. Mizon, and in the other French expeditions taking part in the so-called "race to Lake Tsad." His book gives a very good summary, not only of the progress of these expeditions, but also of French aspirations in that part of Africa. The prospect of founding a great French African Empire is to him a patriotic vision; but we fear he describes it only too accurately when he exclaims, "Quel rêve manifique!" The obliquity of vision which more or less afflicts" patriots" is conspicuous in his case. It is amusing to read his special pleading for a continuous zone of French territory-which of necessity must shut off the other European Powers from the Interior-based on the Hinterland principle. The French have in this way throttled more than one European Possession in North-West Africa-notably the British colony on the Gambia— and are now indignant because obstacles are thrown in their way to the indefinite expansion of their Congo Territories northwards to Lake Tsad. As to the real value of the possession of these lands in the Central Sudan, this has been sufficiently shown by the pacific diplomatic expedition recently despatched by the Royal Niger Company to Bornu. The expedition was courteously received, but sent "empty away": the Sultan distinctly told them that no European Power should