2 48 



NA TUA'E 



[July 15, 1904 



A STORY OF THE PHILIPPINES.' 



MOST people, after reading- the latest work of th.-it 

 Indefatigable traveller Mr. Savage Landor, will 

 be disposed to question the appropriateness of his title 

 " fiems of the East." Beyond the attraction of re- 

 inolcni'ss (which nlwnys possessed a fascination for the 



-Wom:in carrying Water in a Bamboo Cyiind> 



explorer), and the interest which still lingers round 

 the records of the .American occupation of those 

 islands, there does not appear to be much in the humid, 

 swamp-ridden' plains, or in the 

 volcanic hills of the Philippines 

 to justify the suggestion of en- 

 trancing glitter and brightness ; 

 even if it justifies the productiun 

 of two volumes of statistical de- 

 tail about them. 



In some respects this latest 

 of iVIr. Landor's works differs 

 essentially from its predecessors. 

 There is far less effort to main- 

 tain the interest of the reader by 

 a narrative of perilous adventures 

 and hairbreadth escapes, and 

 much more appeal to the student 

 of science generally, and of 

 anthropology in particular — in 

 which branch, indeed, Mr. 

 Landor shows himself to be an 

 expert. .So far, perhaps, the 

 author is to be congratulated, for 

 there must certainly be amongst 

 his assortment of observations on 

 subjects geological, botanical and 

 ethnographical, or purely anthro- 

 pological, many which are new 

 to science, and therefore valuable. 

 Nor are the incidents of adventure 

 by any means wanting. There 

 is room in the book for new 

 records of perils by land and sea 

 climbing, rough and ready 



.American troops, coast exploration, collisions with 

 cannibals and head hunters, &c. — which recall the 

 exploits of the Savage Landor of Tibet and Balu- 

 chistan ; but they are no longer the mainstav and 

 objective of the work. 



The present book contains far more of patient and 

 honest scientific research than of those fantastic per- 

 formances as an explorer which 

 have made Mr. Landor famous. 

 His manner of writing is familiar 

 and colloquial, occasionallv almost 

 ungrammatical. Taking the reader 

 by the arm (metaphoricallv, for he 

 is careful to explain that he always 

 travels alone), he leads him gentlv 

 to the outermost verge of civilised 

 existence, and there introduces him 

 to a race cff people scattered in in- 

 numerable tribes through the 

 islands of the Philippine group, 

 who are so little understood, even 

 by their American administrators, 

 as to be amongst the most interest- 

 ing of those aborigines of humanity 

 who are still left struggling against 

 the world-swamping waves of 

 civilisation. They will doubtless 

 " go under " — absorbed by the 

 spread of those growing and ex- 

 panding nations who will finally 

 reduce the ethnographical con- 

 ditions of the world to one dead 

 level of uninteresting development, 

 judging from Mr. Landor's de- 

 scription of the countries which 

 they occupy, and of the advance of 

 .\merican institutions amongst 

 them, it will probably be long yet ere the Philippines 

 assume a social condition analogous to that of Cape 

 Colony or of India ; but the process is none the less 



-adventurous 

 campaigning 



rock- 

 with 



1 " Gems n! the E.isf.' 



Henry Sa 



Pp., Vol. i.. 

 Ltd., 1904.) 



NO. 1811, VOL. 70] 



sure because it is slow. Mr. Landor is naturally 

 charmed with the .Americans whom he met in the 

 Philippines, and some of the best chapters in his book 

 are those which recount the familiar story of 

 administrative difficulties and of tribal resistance. 



