May I, 1879] 



NATURE 



ever our author builds upon his basis would seem to have 

 an unstable foundation. 



We have just mentioned the excellent bibliography of 

 the swallow-question given by Dr. Coues, but this is by 

 no means the only one contained in his work. By way 

 of appendix we have a " List of Faunal Publications re- 

 lating to North American Ornithology," with a most use- 

 ful double index (of authors and localities) thereto, the 

 whole extending over more than 200 pages. The like of 

 this we know not elsewhere, and we cannot sufficiently 

 thank him for it. It makes us forget and forgive the 

 single escapade which we so much regret having had to 

 notice. One remarkable merit it possesses is that except 

 in specified cases — and these, it is easy to see, are very 

 few in number — no title has been taken at second-hand. 

 More than this, we are told that the present batch of 

 titles is but an instalment of a Universal Bibliography of 

 Ornithology which the author has in hand, and towards 

 which he has already collected about 1 8,000 titles ! We 

 are sure our readers will agree with us in hoping that 

 Dr. Coues will be able to complete his laborious task, as 

 well as in considering that its completion will redound 

 to the already great credit of the department over which 

 Dr. Hayden presides, and also to the medical staff of 

 the United States army, which numbers Dr. Coues 

 among its members. 



BRITISH BURMA 



British Burma and its People. By Capt. C. J. F. S. 

 Forbes, F.R.G.S., M.R.A.S., &c. (London : John 

 Murray, 1878.) 



THIS book is offered as the result of thirteen years' 

 experience derived from close intercourse, both 

 officially and privately, with the people of Burma during 

 that period. Such works are frequently contributed by the 

 pro-consuls of the British empire, and afford, apart from 

 their scientific value, good material to judge of the men 

 and methods of our colonial government. Their merits 

 are naturally unequal. The volumes of Raffles and Ten- 

 nent, become classical, supply the corner-stones of future 

 compilations, and are the exciting causes of a more 

 ephemeral literature. It is, however, seldom that we see 

 combined with the administrative capacities of our 

 governors and commissioners a thorough knowledge of 

 the ethnology, biology, and physical characteristics of the 

 regions over which they preside. When such a man ap- 

 pears, and further possesses the quality of observation, 

 his work marks an epoch, and English rule receives a new 

 significance. It is in no adverse spirit that we say thus 

 early that Capt. Forbes' work will not rank in this cate- 

 gory, and we desire rather to commend it for what it does 

 possess than to criticise it for the information which it 



I does not supply. 



Omitting the long narrow strip of mountainous country 

 and sea-coast which forms the Tenasserim province be- 

 low Maulmain, British Burma may, roughly speaking, be 



I said to consist of three broad mountain ranges, having 

 outside them on the west the sea-board province of 

 Arracan, embracing between them the two great valleys 

 of the Irrawaddy and the Sittoung, which forms, south of 

 Rangoon, one vast plain, the centre range of the three 

 mountain chains being shorter than are the other two. 



Its physical geography is interesting and peculiar, and in 

 its pluvial character most characteristic and remarkable. 

 The wet season lasts from about May to October, and 

 during these five months of almost constant rain the 

 average rainfall amounts to 184 inches at Maulmain, — in 

 one exceptional year to 228 inches. During this period 

 the great Irrawaddy rises 40 feet above its summer level 

 and floods the surrounding lowlands, whilst its main cur- 

 rent travels with a velocity of fire miles an hour. Many 

 proposals have been made to found sanatoriums for 

 Europeans on the high mountain ranges of Burma, but 

 however pleasant in summer, they would, says Capt. 

 Forbes, " have to be abandoned to the jungle beasts and 

 the elements during the rains, for not even natives could 

 remain to take care of the buildings ; and so incredibly 

 rapid and luxurious is vegetation there, that the very next 

 year a forest would have to be cleared away to find the 

 houses again." December, January, and February are 

 the cold months, whilst the hot weather lasts from Feb- 

 ruary till the rains commence again. The climate, how- 

 ever, is excellent ; the registration returns show that the 

 deaths of children under five years of age are in the pro- 

 portion of 27"85 cf the total death rate; the percentage 

 of children under twelve years of age is 35 '8 of the whole 

 population. 



The chapter on the physical geography of the region is 

 evidently compiled from careful authorities. The author 

 appears to have undertaken no original investigations, nor 

 to have added any original information on the subject ; 

 the biological effects of these annual inundations, in such 

 a region teeming with animal life, excite the profoundest 

 interest, but await the chronicle of a qualified observer. 

 The principal part of the volume is occupied with an ac- 

 count of the people of British Burma, which the sociologist 

 may find a storehouse of useful facts, and which must prove 

 of the greatest value as an introduction to the ethnology 

 of the region to all such as are approaching that subject. 

 The statistical tables of the Census Report for British 

 Burma, 1872, "give eighteen divisions of the indigenous 

 races of so-called Mongolian origin." According to 

 Capt. Forbes four great races occupy the Burman penin- 

 sula — the Mon, the Karen, the Burman, and the Tai, or 

 Shan, of which the Mons form the majority of the in- 

 habitants of British Burma. As regards the author's 

 endeavour to give " a probable account of the route and 

 order by which they arrived in their present localities," 

 we must refer the reader to his arguments, and, without 

 expressing an opinion thereon, will merely remark that 

 even in science, when the rigour of induction is at all re- 

 laxed, a sentence written by Mr. Leslie Stephen is very 

 applicable — " one clever man's guess is as good as another, 

 whatever the period at which he lived." The chapters 

 devoted to "social life and manners," &c., are very 

 valuable to the comparative ethnologist. Some of these 

 facts have been related before, but collected thus in a 

 compendious form, and enriched with the results of a long 

 official experience, they form material to supply links in 

 that chain of generalisations which during the last few 

 years in the hands of Tylor and Lubbock have created a 

 new branch of anthropology. 



Among the hill tribes the Karens are now divided be. 

 tween "those who have permanently settled in the plains 

 and betaken themselves to a regular system of agriculture 



