514 GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 



history of several nations, as Mr Hill's pages happily show, and has given 

 origin to two of the world's significant experiments in popular govern- 

 ment. The subject of the twenty-sixth chapter is the Bahamas ; 

 then the Lesser Antilles — including of course storied Martinique, mother- 

 land of Josephine — and the Caribbees, the South American islands of 

 Trinidad and Tobago and Curacao, and last of all Barbados, are treated 

 in nine chapters. A chapter on the geological features of the West Indies 

 cannot fail to attract scientific geographers, while the final (thirty-sev- 

 enth and thirty-eighth) chapters on race problems in the West Indies 

 and on the future of this insular realm are worthy the scrutiny of states- 

 men. The scope of the book cannot better be indicated than by 

 noting that it represents the recent observations and generalizations of a 

 trained geographer, expressed in non-technical language ; that it contains 

 the best account extant of Cuba and its people ; that it embodies the latest 

 and largest accessible information concerning Puerto Rico ; that its chap- 

 ters on Jamaica form the most convenient description of that island 

 printed on this side of the Atlantic ; that its account of Santo Domingo 

 and its two republics is the only full and trustworthy one available; and 

 finally that the work, as a whole, is by far the most complete and useful 

 description of the West Indies, considered collectively, issued during 

 recent years — indeed, it is the only modern handbook of the mid-Ameri- 

 can isles, and the best source of general information concerning each of 

 them. Members of the National Geographic Society will feel a 

 direct interest in the book as the work of one of their number ; and the 

 interest will be the greater in that it took inception in addresses before 

 the Society and a widely read paper in The National Geographic Mag- 

 azine for May last. While there are a few marks of haste in putting the 

 material together — e. g., the misspelling of the name of a surgeon-general 

 in body and index — the volume conveys the impression of large personal 

 acquaintance with, and of mature thought concerning, its important sub- 

 ject. 



W J M. 



Railway Economics. B} r H. T. Newcomb. Pp.152. Philadelphia: Rail- 

 way World Publishing Company. 1898. $1.00. 

 Into this exceedingly well-printed and in every way attractive volume 

 Prof. H. T. Newcomb, whose contributions to periodical literature long 

 ago gained for him an enviable reputation as a clear, sound, and forcible 

 economic writer, especially on railroad subjects, has compressed an im- 

 mense amount of valuable information bearing upon the transportation 

 problem. The book is principally devoted to the development, classifi- 

 cation, and analysis of facts concerning railroad rates and rate-making, 

 and conclusions, except those most essential and obvious, are left to the 

 reader. It is interesting to observe that, having approached the subject 

 from the view-point of public interest, the author's examination of the 

 history and present condition of railroad transportation tends unmistak- 

 ably to justify the limitation of competition, which, as between railroads, 

 he plainly regards as costly and mischievous. 



J. H. 



