June 24, 1897] 



NA TURE 



J71 



Woburn and Thorney as material for a discussion of the 

 land question. To review it adequately here is impossible, 

 since it would lead one straij,'htway into political dis- 

 cussion. The returns from the Beds, Bucks and Thorney 

 estates, as set forth in the appendix, show the following 

 financial results. " On Thorney the expenditure, from 

 1816 to 1895, amounted to 1,598,353/., and on VVoburn, 

 from 1816 to 1895, it was 2,632,186/. After spending 

 nearly four and a quarter millons sterling since 1816 on 

 some 51,643 acres of land, a large proportion of which is 

 some of the best wheat land in England, and after ex- 

 cluding all expenditure on Woburn Abbey, its park and 

 farm, it will be seen that at the present time an annual 

 loss of more than 7000/. a year is entailed on their owner." 

 Elsewhere we read : " As to the pleasures to be derived 

 from the ownership of an estate like Thorney, if the 

 reader conjures up a beautiful mansion and park with 

 endless game preserves he is mistaken. They do not 

 exist. The only pleasure which I and my forebears can 

 have derived from Thorney is the kindly feeling which 

 has existed," &c. It would be a fatal mistake to suppose 

 that the Duke has compiled these tables of statistics, and 

 written this most interesting book to demonstrate the 

 philanthropic principles of his ancestors, or to justify his 

 own position as a landlord — " such pride is hardly wrong," 

 as Mr. Gilbert sings— but rather to enable him to have a 

 fling at John Stuart Mill, and to justify all landlords. 

 Without entering on politics, one may point to the weak 

 spot in his argument. He innocently fancies all or most 

 landlords to be as the Russells. If they were, the land 

 agitator would carry on his operations with a plough. 



George Murray. 



AN ISLAND OF THE EASTERN 

 ARCHIPELAGO. 

 With the Dutch in the East. By Captain W. Cool (Dutch 

 Engineers). Translated by E. J. Taylor. Pp. viii -I- 365. 

 (London : Lurac and Co., 1897.) 



THE past few years have been marked in a peculiar 

 degree bydisturbances in the various colonial depend- 

 encies of Europ>ean nations. Not only in Central Africa 

 — where the recent forward movement for the opening up 

 of the continent has naturally led to collisions with native 

 races — but in many of the older colonies in other parts of 

 the world, it has been necessary for the paramount power 

 to maintain its supremacy by force of arms. The re- 

 cently translated work of Captain W. Cool gives a detailed 

 narrative of one such war, undertaken by the Dutch in 

 1894 to deliver the subject population of the island of 

 Lombok from the oppression of their Balinese rulers. 

 The author tells the story of the expedition in a somewhat 

 dramatic style, giving it almost the complexion of a 

 national epic. In fact, accustomed as we are in this 

 country to such small colonial wars, we might be inclined 

 to think that he has attempted to raise it to a level un- 

 warranted by the facts of the case. But the expedition 

 had an importance beyond what might appear at first 

 sight. It may even be said to have formed in some way a 

 turning-point in Dutch colonial history. The difficulties 

 encountered during the Achin war, and the unfortunate 

 experiences of the Flores expedition had seriously 

 threatened the Dutch prestige in the archipelago, and 

 NO. 1443, VOL. 56] 



failure or only partial succ^s at Lombok might have 

 been regarded as indicating that Holland was now un- 

 equal to the task of maintaining her hold on her extensive 

 colonies in the East. In spite of some reverses, which 

 necessitated the dispatch of considerable reinforcements, 

 the general result of the war was fortunately most suc- 

 cessful, and will, it may be hoped, have conferred a lasting 

 benefit on the island in the form of good and settled 

 government for the future. 



English literature on the subject of the Eastern Archi- 

 pelago is so scanty, and the works of Dutch writers — 

 naturally by far the most numerous— are so little known 

 in this country, that any addition to our knowledge of 

 that part of the world is welcome. With regard to 

 Lombok, we believe that almost the only information — 

 obtained at first hand — to be found in English works, is 

 that contributed by Dr. A. R. Wallace, who, in 1856, 

 crossed from side to side of the island ; and in his 

 " Malay Archipelago " devotes two interesting chapters 

 to the manners and customs of the people. Apart from 

 the story of the military operations, Captain Cool gives, 

 in his third and fourth chapters, a useful summary of all 

 that is known of the island and its inhabitants, with a 

 sketch (considerably shortened in the English transla- 

 tion) of the connection of the Dutch with it from the time 

 of their first voyages to the Far East. Being confined 

 to the neighbourhood of the west coast, the expedition 

 did not, unfortunately, add much to our knowledge of 

 Lombok, which, though small compared with other 

 islands of the archipelago, is still little known apart from 

 a narrow strip across the centre. Captain Cool's infor- 

 mation is therefore necessarily compiled in great part 

 from previously published works, those of Zollinger and 

 Jacobs in particular being largely drawn upon. He 

 gives a most unpleasant picture of the state of morals in 

 the island, the Brahminical Balinese rulers being de- 

 cidedly worse in this respect than the subject Moham- 

 medan Sassaks. The oppression and tyranny of the 

 former is likewise painted in strong colours, although 

 Wallace thought the Sassaks in his time reconciled to 

 their then new rulers. The island has undoubtedly 

 everything to gain from being brought more closely 

 under the influence of the Dutch authorities. 



The author's style is one which hardly lends itself 

 well to exact reproduction in English, and might perhaps 

 with advantage have been somewhat modified by the 

 translator. The short paragraphs, constant use of ques- 

 tion and answer, and of the note of admiration, are apt 

 to be worrying. The book contains a sketch map of 

 Lombok, and some good illustrations, both of scenery 

 and people, and is provided with a full and well- 

 arranged index. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Die elektrodynamischen Grundgesetze und das eigentliche 

 Elementargesetz. \'on Franz Kerntler. 8vo. Pp. 68. 

 (Budapest : Buchdruckerei der Pester LIoyd-Gesell- 

 schaft, 1897.) 

 Those who take up the present book with the expect- 

 ation of finding in it a full and comprehensive sketch 

 of the principles of electro-magnetism will be disappointed. 

 Dr. Kerntler's work might, perhaps, be best described 

 as an essay on " Ampere's Law and Allied Theories," 



