270 Bevieivs — Banca and its Tin Stream-works. 



Part fifth, FiEE, treats of volcanos and earthquakes ; the account 

 of the distribution of the latter in space and time being chiefly taken 

 from Mr. Mallet's report to the British Association, " On the Facts 

 and Theory of Earthquake movements," as stated in a foot-note. 



In the last part, called Life, a connection is sought to be established 

 between organic existence and physical geography, through that 

 which exists between matter and motion, vital energy being taken to 

 be a form of force. This is considerably the largest sub-division of 

 the work ; and however slight or profound the reasons may be con- 

 sidered which connect it with the subject of the book, the part is, 

 in itself, a comprehensive treatise upon the distribution of plants and 

 animals in different countries, and in time, with a concluding chapter 

 on the effects of human agency upon inanimate nature. 



The length of this notice of a book in which so many important 

 subjects find places, has left little room for further comment. Its 

 teachings ^vill serve to introduce the student to a wide field of 

 research ; and while it so well deserves a place in every library, no 

 one who reads at all should be ignorant of the various and numerous 

 interesting facts affecting the physical geography of our globe, 

 which are placed before him by Professor Ansted in so readable a 

 form. 



II. — Banca and its Tin Stkeam-wokks. By P. van Diest, Mining 



Engineer. Translated from the Dutch, with the Author's per- 

 mission, by 0. Le Neve Foster, B.A., D. Sc, etc. With Two 

 Geological Maps and Two Woodcuts in the text. 8vo. 85 pages. 

 Truro : Heard and Sons. 



AS it is possible that the name Banca will not be familiar to all 

 our readers, we will begin by saying that Banca is an island 

 between Sumatra and Borneo. It belongs to Holland, and for a long 

 period has been an important tin-producing country. The average 

 annual production of metal during the last fifteen years has been 

 more than 5000 tons, and consequently Cornwall has found Banca a 

 formidable rival in the tin trade. This has naturally caused a strong 

 desire in the county of Cornwall to know what the resources of 

 Banca are ; how long Banca can go on producing tin at a sufficiently 

 low price to compete with England ; indeed, it has been seriously 

 proposed to send out a commission to investigate the resources of the 

 island. While much discussion was going on, Dr. Le Neve Foster 

 ascertained that Mr. P. van Diest, a mining engineer in the employ 

 of the Dutch Government, had written an account of his seven years' 

 stay in Banca, and it is a translation of this work which forms the 

 subject of the present review. 



The first two chapters are beyond our province, as, to quote from 

 the preface, they " make us familiar with the country, the inhabi- 

 tants, and the mode of working the stream-tin." The remainder of 

 the work is largely devoted to a description of the geology of the 

 island, and as the work is accompanied by a chromo-lithographed 

 geological map of the northern half of the island (scale one inch to 

 eight miles) there is no difficulty in following the author's descrip- 



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