NOTABLE BOOKS. 



J.T7 



sionary. His devoted work is so well 

 known in the neighbouring Govern- 

 ments that he has been given the title 

 of " Pacificator of the Indians." 



Mr. Morrey Jones has edited this book 

 from information given him by Mr. 

 Grubb during his last furlough, supple- 

 mented by knowledge which he had 

 himself gained during a few years' 

 residence in the Chaco. It is not pos- 

 sible in our short space to give a full 

 account of this Robinson Crusoe inhabi- 

 tant ; for as Mr. Grubb was the first 

 person to adventure himself alone 

 amongst a people who were said to be 

 cannibals, to hate foreigners, and to 

 kill with torment, and as he succeeded 

 in dominating them and bringing them 

 into obedience by force of character 

 alone, it is like reading the adventures 

 of a man on a desert island. It is 

 astonishing how entirely the author has 

 confined himself to his task of interest- 

 ing us in this singular people. 



Mr. Grubb's work as a missionary is 

 rarelv obtruded — a remarkable fact in 

 the life of a man whose courage and 

 endurance in fulfilling his missionary 

 work is beyond praise. The special 

 tribe with which he was most connected 

 are called " Lengua," and the book is 

 enriched with many illustrations of the 

 people. Here is his description of the 

 more rare forest parts of the country : 

 " In the early morning, when the air is 

 crisp and clear and not a breath of 

 wind stirs, and the tips of the palm 

 leaves are bathed in golden sunlight, 

 the scene is one of fairy-like beauty. 

 But in the depth of winter, when the 

 grass has been consumed by Indian 

 fires, when the sky is covered with 



leaden clouds, and a biting South-East 

 wind causes the dry and withered palm 

 leaves to rustle mournfully, then the 

 scene is one of bleak and inhospitable 

 melancholy." 



And the people! One must go to 

 the book to learn more of them, for Mr. 

 Grubb lived with them ; even on one 

 occasion when his hut and its contents 

 were burnt, he had to dress like them 

 —that is, in a blanket and without 

 shoes — until some skins were sewn up 

 for him, for leg coverings are a great 

 necessity in a place where insect life is 

 so abundant that it is quite useless to 

 try to keep one's sugar or tea or food 

 free from them, the only way being to 

 let these pests simmer in any liquid, 

 skimming them off from the top. 



The religious opinions of the Lengua 

 are somewhat complex. They believe 

 in a Great Creator, are certain that the 

 soul lives after death ; but believing in 

 ghosts fear them so much that the 

 moment a death occurs they set fire 

 to their dwellings and abandon the 

 camp. It is absolutely necessary that 

 a funeral shall take place before sunset, 

 but it is not equally necessary that the 

 patient should die beforehand, and in 

 the case of a mother her little baby, if 

 under two, is, put under ground with 

 her. 



There were several plots to kill Mr. 

 Grubb before he became well known to 

 the Lengua, but after his practical 

 adoption by them he was for a long 

 time left unmolested, until his murder 

 was attempted by a man whom he had 

 taken as a servant, but the tribe were 

 so indignant with this traitor that they 

 tried and finally exe< uted him. 



A TERRIBLE INDICTMENT. 



Social Environment and Moral Progress. 

 By Alfred Russell Wallace. (CasseLI.) 



This volume of the veteran Socialist 

 was originally intended to be one o! a 

 series of small books on "Race and 

 Sex." Dr. Wallace says that all our 

 social reforms, must lie in the ver) 

 opposite direction to those hitherto 

 adopted, for in this way only can we 

 hope to change our existing immoral 



environment into a moral one, and 

 initiate a new era ot moral progress He 

 starts hi-- book by showing that the 

 great teachers of early times, such as 

 Socrates, Confucius, Buddha, etc, give 

 indications that the intellectual ami 

 moral character ot their own period 

 was quite equal to our own; for by 

 morals we mean right conduct, not only 

 in our immediate social relations, but 



