170 
NATURE 
[Fune 25, 1885 
Dasa, recalls in a remarkable manner the word Dzo, 
applied both to the Lushais and their speech.” 
On the whole the Lowlanders appear to be closely re- 
lated to the Arakanese, and consequently to the Burmese, 
and are characterised by distinctly Mongolic features. 
They may, in fact, be regarded as a Mongoloid people, 
intermediate between the true Mongols of Northern and 
Central Asia and the Malays of Malacca and the Eastern 
Archipelago. 
This section of the subject is illustrated by very com- 
plete tables of measurements, and by as many as 
twenty-six photographs of Lushais, Pankhos, Maghs, 
Chakmas, Tipperahs, and other highland and lowland 
tribes. 
Dr. Riebeck’s account of his experiences amongst these 
children of nature is extremely graphic, and all the more 
entertaining that the arrangement with his collaborateurs 
enables him to eliminate all dry technicalities and strictly 
scientific matter. At the time of his visit a famine pre- 
vailed amongst the border tribes in the upper Karnaphuli 
basin, causing an irruption of Lushais and others into 
British territory. Thanks to this circumstance he was 
enabled to procure many valuable articles from the half- 
famished people in exchange for a little rice and spirits. 
The circumstances connected with these transactions are 
related with a frankness which almost savours of excessive 
candour. “The brandy I concocted myself,” he tells us, 
“by diluting spirits of wine with water, and colouring it 
with burnt sugar, thereby producing a still more alluring 
drink for their uneducated palate. In return, they not 
only parted with a large quantity of their implements, but 
also allowed me to take bodily measurements and sub- 
mitted to be photographed by my fellow-traveller Rosset- 
If for brandy I had substituted money, this would have 
soon found its way into the pockets of the Bengali dealers, 
who cozened and plundered the natives to the utmost. I 
may therefore be pardoned if I :preferred to tickle the 
palate of the Lushais with fire-water rather than play into 
the hands of the blood-sucking usurers.” 
A tropical thunderstorm, by which he was overtaken in 
the Ruma district, is described in exceedingly vivid 
language. “The spectacle which now presented itself 
was one of the most stupendous imaginable. In a few 
seconds the firmament became completely overcast ; then 
the welkin towered up, looking in the gleam of the electric 
flashes like mighty sheaves of flame. The weird effect 
was heightened by the neighbouring woodlands, which 
were now all ablaze. For the natives had fired the sur- 
rounding bamboo-clad hills in order to clear the land for 
paddy-fields, and sow their rice in the ashes. Thus 
was mingled the crackling of the burning and crash- 
ing bamboo canes with the roaring thunder aloft, the 
whole producing a din like that of a neighbouring battle- 
field.” 
These passages may also serve as specimens of Prof. 
Keane’s very admirable, faithful, and idiomatic trans- 
lation. It may be mentioned that the German and 
English editions, both in folio size and splendidly 
printed, were issued simultaneously by Messrs. Asher, 
of Berlin and London. The work forms a sumptuous 
volume which should find a place in every well-appointed 
library. 
THE METEOROLOGY OF BOMBAY 
Magnetical and Meteorological Observations made at the 
Government Observatory, Bombay, 1883, under the 
Superintendence of Charles Chambers, F.R.S., Rev. 
Fr. Drechman, S.F., Ninayek Narayen Nene, and 
Frederick Chambers. (Bombay, 1884.) 
F the series of volumes entitled “Bombay Mag- 
netical and Meteorological Observations,” the 
present one of forty pages folio is the twenty-fourth. 
The observations were begun in 1841, and whether we 
consider the high class character of the observations 
themselves, the fulness with which they were made from 
hour to hour, or the long period over which they extend, 
hey must be regarded as among the very best meteoro- 
logical records we possess. In the discussion of many of 
the larger questions of Indian meteorology, such as are 
from time to time dealt with by the meteorologists of 
India with so much ability and success, the Bombay ob- 
servations are simply invaluable ; and they are at least of 
equal importance in the wider questions of the science, 
and particularly in those cosmical inquiries which have 
largely engaged the attention of physicists in recent years. 
In this report a very satisfactory account is given by 
Mr. Chambers of the observatory, its position, and sur- 
roundings, the instruments in use, and the duties of the 
various members of the observing staff, all showing that 
a trustworthiness and an accuracy is secured for the 
observations which leaves nothing to be desired. Five 
eye-observations are made every day without exception, 
at 6 and 1oa.m., and 2,4, and 1op.m. In addition to 
these, continuous registrations are obtained by means of 
automatic recording instruments, consisting of the mag- 
netographs, the barograph, thermograph, pluviograph, 
and anemograph, the first four registering photographi- 
cally and the last mechanically. ; 
From these observations and registrations hourly read- 
ings of the various instruments are obtained, and from 
them the daily means are deduced. These daily means, 
together with the monthly means, are published ina 
series of tables appended to the Report. The daily re- 
sults of the wind observations are given with more than 
usual fulness,—-these consisting of the mean velocity in 
miles per hour without regard to the direction from which 
it blew ; the aggregate and mean velocities and relative 
frequency of different winds ; and the mean daily veloci- 
ties of the north or south and east or west components 
of the winds which blew each day, in miles per hour. 
At Bombay the greatest mean daily velocity in miles 
per hour was 31°8 on June 11, and the least 5'2 on 
October 4; whilst the mean hourly velocity from June 
to August was 16°2 miles, and from September to May 
it was only 10°9 miles. 
Underground observations are made at depths of 1, 9, 
20, 60, and 132 inches below the surface, the first two 
depths being observed five times daily and the last three 
once a day, inasmuch as at these depths no diurnal varia- 
tion is shown. At depths of 1 and 9 inches the monthly 
maximum and minimum temperatures occurred in De- 
cember and May, but at the depth of 132 inches these 
annual phases were delayed till March and July. The 
| mean annual temperature of the air during 1883 was 78°'8, 
