on the same subject, these studies are extremely interesting and able. it cannot be expected that they will meet with immediate and general assent, but they fully merit careful consideration, and we hope they will lead students to re-examine the bases on which they have hitherto rested their beliefs. Dr. Hertel is certainly justified in his complaint that hitherto the Veda and Avesta have been explained without any adequate attempt to understand the "Weltanschauung "of the Vedic and Avestic man, and there are many important points in his theories which seem to us remarkably plausible. The fundamentals of our knowledge of Veda and Avesta, to tell the truth, are still very weak, and now that Dr. Hertel comes and boldly shakes them, we must either try to strengthen them or else frankly consider how much of the new doctrines we can accept. Personally, we believe there is much in these studies of Dr. Hertel that is of permanent value.

Scenes and Characters from Indian History. As described in the works of some Old Masters. Compiled and edited with historical and explanatory notes by C. H. Payne (Oxford University Press, 1925). (Pp. viii. 251). This consists of extracts from the narratives of ten writers (who range from Plutarch to Tavernier), relating to remarkable events and personalities of Indian history, from the days of Alexander the Great to those of the Emperor Aurangzeb. Five of the authors represented wrote as eye-witnesses, and the other five based their accounts on those of eye-witnesses, and may thus be reckoned as eye-witnesses once removed. Of the former class Oxinden, whose story of his mission to Sivaji in 1674 is given, is perhaps the least well known; of the latter the author of the Portuguese Roteiro, from which is reproduced a vivid description of Vasco da Gama's visit to Calicut. Nearly all the passages are, however, taken from works which, if not of great rarity, are not available to the general reader. Mr. Payne has chosen his selections judiciously, and the full and careful notes deserve special mention. The format of the book is of that excellence which the name of the Press guarantees. "Bramha " for Brahma," and "Ormahs " for Omrahs," are the only two misprints which we have noticed among a large variety of unusual words.

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A. R. de Lens, Pratiques des Harems Marocains. Paris, 1925. By virtue of her knowledge of the language of the natives and her sympathetic understanding of their habits, Mme. de Lens has had access to the most intimate circles of family life in Morocco. She has learned from the lips of the " old wives," who there, as in most primitive societies, are the accepted experts in medicine and magic, and has recorded their secrets in the present treatise. The work should prove of much value for the study of folk-lore, presenting as it does a wealth of detail on those primitive beliefs, which resisted and have long outlived the culture of Islam in that region. Her researches are timely, since the state of civilisation there is undergoing a change, and the power which has undertaken the shaping of the destiny of the Moors will find some assistance from this work towards a clearer understanding of their mentality. Modern medical science will be the better able to deal with the virulent and widespread diseases of Morocco from the account here given of the superstitious "remedies" by which they are aggravated.

A Flying Visit to the Middle East. By the Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Hoare, Bart. Cambridge (University Press), 1925. As the territories in the Middle East-entrusted to the care of Great Britain--are specially suitable for air operations, the responsibility for their defence was transferred in 1921 from the War Office to the Air Ministry. To inspect the working of this novel system of defence, which had been under trial for nearly three years, the Secretary of State for Air, accompanied by Mr. Amery, set out last March on their journey, and this slight volume contains a record of their experiences. Having reached Egypt by train and steamer, they took wing from near the Suez Canal, flew over the Dead Sea to Jericho, and on to the aerodrome at Amman, dined there with the Emir Abdulla and resumed their flight to Baghdad (500 miles), following the furrow ploughed in the desert for the guidance of aircraft. Here a visit to King Feisal, thence to Mosul, a fortnight's desert march in 3 hours. A short visit to the ruined Parthian city of Hatra, thence to Kirkuk, and the nasty experience of a dust-storm; back to Baghdad, and from there to Basra and the Anglo-Persian oil-fields. Returning again to Baghdad, the travellers flew back to Egypt via Jerusalem, having completed in one month a journey which cost Ibn Batuta years of weary travel. Like the craft which carried him, Sir Samuel, in his pleasant and racily-written narrative, merely skins the surface of this ancient world. Truly, to understand the region and its people, we must learn of those who, like Doughty and Burton, have trudged through its sands. But the author well demonstrates how useful the aeroplane is as an engine of modern statecraft, and what high skill and devotion the men of the Air Force bring to their task of policing the Middle East. Little did the Prophet think that after fifteen hundred years the Abäbil would again hover over his deserts.

Bedouin Justice. By Austin Kennett, Cambridge (University Press). 1925. This is one of the best books on Bedouin life that have appeared. It sums up the experience of seven years spent in the various deserts of Egypt and Sinai by an administrative officer endowed with unusual insight and sympathy. He describes the Bedawi, not as he appears to the globe-trotter or to the Cairo resident, but as he pleads his case in law suits, where emerges the real character of the tent-dweller with all its faults and virtues. Unlike penal law in civilised countries, which seeks to punish the guilt of the individual for benefit and warning to his fellow citizens, Bedouin law rests on the tribal idea, and deals only with retribution and restitution. “If an eye is knocked out, Bedouin law demands that another eye shall be knocked out in return, or that the first one shall be paid for, there being no hint or suggestion of inflicting punishment to prevent similar occurrences in the future." Owing to the great difference between town and desert life, the Penal Code of Egypt is often quite inapplicable to Bedouin cases, and an unhappy delinquent may sometimes have to bear the brunt of the desert law after having expiated his offence under the other authority. It is obvious, therefore, that our administrators in those wilds, where habits, customs and ideas of justice are as old as the book of Exodus, must have as much knowledge of the tribesman's heart as of legal theory. Mr. Kennett possesses both in a remarkable degree, as this book bears witness. His chapters on evidence, blood-money, land disputes, inheritance, trial by ordeal, wounds and damages, and laws relating to women are packed full of legal detail, but so illuminated by human incident, graphically told, that they are a joy to read.

Bibliography of Indian Art. In connection with the Catalogue of Indian Art, of which pt. I., Introduction, pt. II., Sculpture, and pt. IV., Jaina Paintings and Manuscripts, have already appeared, a comprehensive Bibliography by Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy has just been published containing lists of the most important books and articles on Indian Art, classified under the divisions of Sculpture, Painting (Buddhist, Jaina, Hindu and Mughal), Textiles, and Minor Arts.

For the study of Indian Art this Bibliography of books selected by an authority on the subject is invaluable. The attention of scholars in Europe and America has only been turned seriously toward India in comparatively recent years, and the wealth of artistic and historical material now opened up has created great interest in the distinctive character and traditions of Indian Art.

Studier tilegnede Professor Dr. Phil. and Theol. Frants Buhl i anledning af hans 75 aars fodselsdag den 6 september 1925 af fagfaeller eg elever. Redigeret af Johannes Jacobsen. V. Pios boghandel : Poul Branner : Norregade, Kobenhavn, 1925, pp. 265. This Festchrift was published with the support of the Rask-Orsted Fund, which means that a very well qualified body has tested its value and approved it. There remains to chronicle its contents. The main subject of the articles is the text and interpretation of single words or passages or books in the Bible, mostly Old Testament. Thus we find studies of Psalm 27, of the beginning of the Gospel of St. Mark and the use of the word Apostle in St. Paul. There is an article on the Icelandic version of the Bible. The rest range over a wide field. Thus we find studies in Palestinian folk-lore, Pehlevi novel literature, and Christian legends in the Arabic writer, Tabari. In addition, there are articles in the field of Assyriology and kindred subjects.

One of the most important parts of the book is the account of the late Prof. Almkvist's Arabic researches by K. V. Zettersteen, who gives specimens of the notes on the actual spoken language. The names of a few contributors may be given-Arthur Christensen, H. O. Lange, S. Mowinckel, J. Ostrup.

Mr. G. E. Harvey's History of Burma is distinctly the best work on the subject that has yet appeared. True, Mr. Harvey has found the ground occupied by a few claimants; apart from Phayre's work (a remarkably fine performance considering the limited materials at its author's disposal, but quite inadequate for present-day needs), and the recent books by Sir Herbert T. White and Sir George Scott, both of them good in their way, but nevertheless, rather lacking in solidity, there was nothing in existence that could be termed a history of that fascinating and richly-storied land. Now Mr. Harvey has given us a history worthy of the name and the theme, describing with profound sympathy and scholarly knowledge the course of events from the misty beginnings of things to the fateful Tenth of March, 1824, when the British transports arrived at Rangoon and the course of British conquest began. An enormous quantity of material has been explored for the purpose of the work-native chronicles and historical inscriptions, Chinese and Siamese histories, State papers in the India Office, and many other records. Research of this thoroughgoing sort often engenders unread

able historiography, but it is not so with Mr. Harvey. He has a singularly vigorous and trenchant style, together with a wide historical vision, a lively imagination (in the best sense of the word), and a ready sympathy with the finer ideals of the East. Many a time, in reviewing the fate of a dynasty or the greatness of a man, his style rises to classic stateliness of phrase and pregnancy of thought. It is a narrative that is alive, vigorously and picturesquely alive. And it is withal a gloomy story for the most part that he has to tell, a story of treachery, foulest murder, holocausts of slaughter, only brightened now and then by gleams of light from the gentle teaching of Buddhism. It would be well if all politicians were compeled to pass a searching examination in the history of their country, and particularly well in India and Burma, where "distance lends enchantment to the view" and the past is regarded as a Golden Age; Mr. Harvey's book would be of immense educational value to the Burmans, if they could be induced to read it. A word of recognition is due also to the foreword contributed by Sir Richard Carnac Temple, a veteran scholar and administrator, who, as he tells us, made his first acquaintance with Burma more than fifty years ago. There is little in the book to which the critic can take exception, save perhaps such minor points as the slight inconsistency and the total absence of diacritic marks in the transliteration of Burmese names and the misspelling of Nikitin's name as "Nitikin."

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Kogoshui. Gleanings from Ancient Stories," translated by Genchi Kato and Hikoshirô Hoshins, 2nd and revised edition. Tokyo. 1925.

This short tractate, dating from the beginning of the 9th century, is full of interest to the student of mythology and comparative religion. It is, like so much of the Old Testament, essentially a protest by one sacerdotal family against the privileges accorded to other clans and cults. The very full notes, bibliography and index make this English edition a most valuable work. It is a pity that the dates of the Chinese books quoted are seldom given. To what period, for example, does the Ti Wang Wu Yun Li Nien Chi (quoted on pp. 91) belong?. Such points are of great importance to the investigator of a particular myth; for example, the Chinese Creation Myth, which is the one here concerned.

NEW ORIENTAL BOOKS

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Beyer (Dr. Hermann Wolfgang)-Der syrische Kirchenbau; mit 105 Abbildungen and 3 tafeln. 8vo. sewn, pp. VIII. 183. Bn., 1925. LI IOS.

Budge (Sir E. A. Wallis)—The Mummy, a handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology. Second edition, revised and greatly enlarged, with 33 plates. Roy. 8vo. cloth, pp. XXIV. 513. L., 1925. £25s.

Creswell (K. A. C.)—The Great Salients of the Mosque of al-Hakim at Cairo. (From the J.R.A.S., 1923). With 5 plates and 2 plans. 8vo. sewn, pp. 12. L., 1925 2s. 6d.

Creswell (K. A. C.)-Two Khans at Khan Tuman. (Extrait de la Revue Syria, 1923). With 3 plates. 4to. sewn, pp. 7. 1923. 2s. 6d. Gravures prehistoriques trouvées sur des rochers de l'Afrique du Nord. Avec 55 pl. en coul. et 105 pl. en noir et 2 cartes. P. 500fr.

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