Reviews — Silver's Test- Case. 381 



taken place in tlie Irawadf area, and the proofs of a general elevation 

 are sufficiently clear and undeniable. To a consideration of these 

 Mr. Theobald devotes some space. 



In conclusion, he points out the economic value of the two groups. 

 It is on the newer alluvium that the finest indigo is grown, and in- 

 digo and silk (mulberry) may be said to be the two main staples of 

 the Zillahs in Bengal. The newer alluvium will, moreover, he adds, 

 produce any crop required of it, either rice, sugar, opium, oil seeds, 

 etc., and hence the fertility for which Bengal is noted. In the 

 Irawadf valley, in place of this fertile deposit, is the older alluvial 

 clay, which though in some places it is capable of producing valuable 

 crops of various descriptions, is generally fit to sustain nothing so 

 well as rice crops ; and hence the inability of the delta of the Ira- 

 wadi to compare in richness with that of the Ganges, 



laE^VIE^WS. 



I. — The Explorer's Test-Case ; with the Key to Fortune ik 

 New Lands. S. W. Silver and Co., 66, and 67 Cornhill, E.C. 



ONE of the great hindrances to the successful development of the 

 natural productions of new countries, lies undoubtedly in the 

 fact of the want of knowledge of the more simple means of recog- 

 nizing the common, and therefore often the more important of the 

 metals and minerals used so abundantly in the arts and manufactures. 

 The settler's first thought is naturally to provide for his immediate 

 necessities, and the cultivation of the soil becomes his first considera- 

 tion. Erom day to day and year to year this work is carried on, 

 and the mineral products around him, whether in the soil or the beds 

 of neighbouring streams, or contiguous rocks, are unheeded ; and 

 even gold, a metal which it seems almost incredible should not be 

 recognized at first sight, was overlooked for many years, both in 

 California and Australia. 



Writing on the " Gold-fields of Victoria" Mr. Brough Smyth says : 

 — " Eeefs of White Quartz, standing 20 feet above the surrounding 

 surface, every foot of which contained gold, visible to the naked eye, 

 excited neither curiosity nor inquiry ; and the careless shepherd, 

 whose earnings amounted to no more than 10s. or 15s. a week, every 

 day drew water from the creek beneath whose bed lay nuggets and 

 grains of gold, far exceeding in value the fee-simple of the run on 

 which he was a labourer." (p. 4). 



Not alone does this ignorance retard the search for minerals, but 

 it also leads to ruinous blunders, which, whether perpetrated by 

 individuals or by governments are equally to be regretted. Who 

 will forget the unfortunate possessor of a beautiful stone said to be a 

 diamond, who made a voyage to England from Australia for the pur- 

 pose of disposing of it to better advantage — he having had already a 

 considerable sum offered for it — only to find upon his arrival that 

 it was a quartz crystal, value a few shillings. Or the story of the 



VOL. TII. — NO. LXXIV. 25 



