Page:Book Notices - Some Cities and San Francisco and Resurgam.djvu/1

504 '''Elephant and Seladang Hunting in the Federated Malay States. By Theodore R. Hubback.''' xv and 288 pp., and 17 Illustrations from Photographs. Rowland Ward, London, 1905. (Price, 10s. 6d .)

Parts of the Malay peninsula are still very little known, and, in fact, this small region has been the scene, within the past three years, of pioneer explorations, which the has recorded. The author's wanderings in this territory have therefore a taste of novelty, and his excellent pictures of Sakais and characteristic landscapes are very acceptable. He keeps, however, so closely in touch with his hunting exploits that little geography is to be extracted from the volume. The evidence he gives that the elephant and seladang (wild buffalo) are as dangerous and formidable game as sportsmen can be asked to encounter is quite convincing.

'''Some Cities and San Francisco and Resurgam. By Hubert Howe Bancroft'''. 64 pp. The Bancroft Company, New York, 1907. (Price, 50c.)

A brief treatment of many cities, showing especially how great fires have tended to bring about improvement in their rebuilding and adornment and have often been blessings in disguise. After the Great Fire of 1666 London was rebuilt better than before, in three and a half years. But for purifying fires Constantinople would still have only narrow, filthy streets. Glasgow is practically modern, having been several times renovated by fire. Mr. Bancroft sketches the beginning of San Francisco, "which a merciful Providence has five times burned, the original shacks and their successors, the last time thoroughly, giving the inhabitants the opportunity to build something better." The author presents his views at length as to what the new-risen San Francisco should be, now that the ground has been cleared from obstructions.

'''The Lower Niger and its Tribes. By Major Arthur Glyn Leonard.''' xiii and 559 pp., Index and Map. MacMillan & Co., London, 1906. (Price, 12S. 6d:)

This book is the outcome of ten years of study of languages and peoples, chiefly in the British colony of Southern Nigeria. The Cambridge ethnologist, Prof. A. C. Haddon, who supplies the preface, says that Major Leonard for a decade patiently studied native life and thought and never lost a chance of getting into touch with the natives, even though he sometimes risked his life, for some of the tribes were not yet under British influence. The book deals chiefly with the natural religions and the philosophy of the various tribes. It is soundly based upon anthropogeography and is infused with scientific spirit and also with warm sympathy for the Negro races. It was by getting into close touch with them that the author acquired the knack of seeing things from their point of view; and the more deeply he studied them, the more certain he felt that the white man had not understood the negro. The volume he has written is his interpretation of negro thought and expression.

He fully recognizes the influence of geographical environment upon human development, and gives a good description of Southern Nigeria, with its network of waterways and the painful monotony of its mangrove swamps, because he believes it will help the reader to understand more clearly the ordinary characteristics as well as the idiosyncrasies of peoples who live amid such surroundings.

The author also emphasizes the close relation that exists between the social condition of the people and their religion. At the head of the family stands the