Page:Nation v71 no1832.djvu/15

 Aug. 9, 1900]

The Nation.

115

‘eles de Hecalante's story of the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680, Joaquin Miller's lines on Com Paul's birthday, and the capitally 1l- ustrated papers on Southern California birds, by no means exhaust the rich store of this volume.

Tt seems like a myth to read that there are nearly three hundred women quietly studying at the University of Berlin. This 1s certainly the beginning of the end, and the fow colleges of the Eastern seaboard of the Urited States which still hold out against the pressure of the times will surely not be able to do so long. Clark University, with the large now endowment which will without doubt be secured to it by the liberality of the people of Worcester, will enter upon a bellliant career free from middle-age anachronisms, and Princeton and the Johns Hopkins will thea stand in an unenviable isolation Which they will surely hasten to bring to an end, No one can make head against the feeling of his age when he is without any well-grounded reason for his {atosynerasy.

‘The seventh International Congress of Navigation was held at Brussels in July, 1898, and the report of Elmer L. Corth delegate of the United States, has recently been published as a Congressional docu- ment. It describes the organization of the Congress, the first at which both inland and maritime navigation was discussed, and gives abstracts of the reports present- e€. The first of theso are on canalized rivers, and treat of questions relating to the raising of existing weirs, the consoll- dation of welr foundations, the utilization of the fall of water at weirs as a motivo force, and the resistance to the movement of boats. Problems concerning modes of ‘mechanical traction, single-lock gates, means of securing the Impermeability of the bottom and sides of a canal, and the ‘mechanical ratsing from reach to reach of the water supplying © canal are discussed im connection with the general subject of inland canals. Ine third group of papers on tidal rivers and sbip-canals, are describ- 4 formule of the characteristics of a tidal river, modes of estimating the cube of tidal Yolumes, means of consolidation of ship- canal banks, and dredging. Finally, ques- tions in regard to seaports, warchouses, free ports, and single-lock gates, maritime tolls and the unification of the gauging sys- tem of inland boats are considered. One hundred and fifteen folded plates accom- pany this volume.

—Horper's, Uke Scribner's, 1s a “Fiction ‘Number’—to some an invitation, to others @ warning. George Bird Grinnell, in “Tho Punishment of the Stingy” (illustrated by E,W. Deming), begins a serles of Indian Jegenda. Mrs. Humphry Ward, in “Bleanor” (illustrated by Albert H. Sterner), keeps Alive the tradition of the Hnglish novel. In “English and American Elections” (1llus- trated by Clifford Carleton) Sydney Brooks ‘goes over ground often covered before, but dds something of bis own. He points out that the English Parliamentary candidate ‘stands in an altogether different position from the American Congressional candidat Decause he comes frankly before the whole constituency, and asks for thelr suffrages, ‘While his American congener ts put forward and “nm” by a party machine, such as Derely yet oxists in England. The latter, if

‘Republican, appears only before audiences

Presumably Republican, if « Democrat be- fore audiences presumably Democratic; the former solicits the votes of friends and ‘enemies, appearing before audiences of a be- torogeneous character. Hence the audiences of one are almost invariably sympathetic, and critics and persons who come to inter- Tupt are immediately turned out by the po- ce, while in England an important part of ‘a canvass is the interruption, questioning, and “heckling” of a candidate by members of ‘his audience. But this is connected also, in Mr. Brooks's opinion, with class distinctions. “A certain class feeling 1s often at the bot- tom of such heckling and interruptions as occur.” This is the one opportunity of the voter to reverse the ordinary relation be- tween himself and the candidate. To the lat- ter, every other day in the year, he dofts Lis cap. On this occasion, it is he who ts the master; bis superior is suppliant for his favor. It ts not in human nature not to make the most of the occasion. Besides, this “heckling” illustrates what Englishmen call tho national ““doggedness,” though “others might find a different word.” “Americans are sald to be an unreverentlal people, but they dearly worship a majority. In a com- pany of six people you have only to show an American that five are against him to convince him that he is wrong.” This is Just when an Englishman “‘becomes finally certain he is the only sane person in the room.” The “heckler”’ gets part of his sat- istaction from generally being in the minor!- ty. Mr. Brooks instances a candidate, now a member of Lord Salisbury's Govern- ‘ment, who was unfortunate enough to men- tion the year 1792. A member of the au- tence at once insisted on knowing who was King or queen at that time, The speaker, obviously uncertain as to whether it was George III. or George IV., refused to answer. ‘The inquirer insisted upon his right to be answered, and announced his intention to “stand there” till it was “time to vote.” ‘The meeting was for five minutes in an up- Foar, and in this case the police had to be called in, The remarks of Mr. Brooks, who has lived in the United States for three years, on some of our peculiar electioneer- tng devices are well worth reading.

In the Geographical Journal tor July the British Resident of Baram, Sarawak, Mr. Charles Hose, describes = journey into hitherto unexplored part of his district tor the purpose of bringing peace to communl- tles whose normal condition was one of mu- tual hostility. Graphic are his accounts of the scenery of “the heart of Borneo,” the mode of travelling, the customs of a race in its natural state, not yet vulgarized by contact with western civilisation, and espe- clally of the ceremonies at the conclusion of peace between two powerful tribes. At the feast which followed this there were “some very good speeches made, thelr for- ‘mer troubles and differences being explained ‘and discussed in the most open manner. Rach cblet spoke in turn, and concluded by offering a drink to another, and singing a few lines of eulogy—the whole assembly folning in a very impressive chorus at the end of each line, and ending up with a tre- ‘mendous roar as the bamboo cup was emp- tied.” The next day the Madangs paid thelr first tribute, two dollars’ worth of rubber per family, which was counted as follows: “Some one mentions the names of the heads of the families in each house, and, as he

docs so, a man tells each name off on his toes; when five have been counted, another ‘man catches hold of the counted foot, and told off, when another man is used, and thie continues until all the names are mentioned, when they halt to see how many men have been used, and where the last one ended. ‘The people whose business It {8 10 hold the feet and hands, cling on to them In the moet determined manner until the total number ‘has been checked; and as all concerned take the matter most seriously, it {8 rather a comical sight when they have to count forty or fifty.” The great value of the paper, however, and of the debate which followed Its reading before the Society, lies in its testimony to the success of Sir James Brooke's system of government for Sarawak, founded on the principle of alming “at the development of native countries through native agency.” It ld not take the vari- ous races long to discover “that the main object of the State's sollcitude was, not the commercial exploitation of the country or the amassing of colossal revenues, but the preservation and well-being of the people themeelves.””
 * 1) 0 on until his feet and hands have all been

Professor Haddon of the Cambridge An- thropological expedition, who visited Bor- Reo last year, says that Mr. Hose with an ‘assistant, the only white men in Baram, and & police force of twenty or thirty Dayak fortmen, govern a district 10,000 equare miles in extent. The only things which are put down are murder and head-hunting and theft. When any of the interlor tribes do 4 little head-hunting, he immediately starts for the place, and ‘‘when he reaches the peo- ple he simply talks to them. They usually sive themselves up or pay thelr fines—$100 to $500 for a life taken.” So great is his in- fluence that “the people who in the past were Inclined to give the greatest trouble, fare at the present day the stanchest up- holders of the Government," and tribes in the neighboring kingdom of Brune! and in Dutch Borneo, seeing how the people of ‘Baram can live in peace and safety, are ask- ing to be put under the administration of ‘Mr. Hose. Another method by which he Teaches bis people is by having promising young men stay with him in bis house for weeks at a time, and in this way they learn ‘what a white man fs like. “Thus Mr. Hose's residence is a sort of university, whither the pupils come from all parts of his dis- trict to learn a little as to the meaning of government.” Dr. B. Sharpe of the British Museum bore testimony to Mr. Hose’s of- forts to advance science, shown also by the ‘admirable map which accompanies the paper. Not only “he has crowded into our museum enormous series of mammals, birds, insects, shells, and everykind of animal, . . . but there 1s not leading museum In the whole ‘world that has not received collections from this indefatigable young man.” It may be added that the value of the total trade of the ‘country bas increased from four millions to a Mttle over nine millions of dollars since 1888, while the revenue In 1898 was $638,188, with @ surplus over expenditures of $94,682.

—The international anti-slavery congress 14 this week in Paris is the occasion of fan article in the Reove des Deus Mondes for July 1, by M. G. Bonet-Maury, om the part which France has taken in the anti- slavery “crusade” of the past century. He

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