322 GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 



pushing out upon an unknown sea, for which they have themselves im- 

 provised discordant charts. So it becomes them to be humble or, at least, 

 if not humble, tolerant of philology and history. Yet even Professor 

 Ripley, judicial and courteous as he usually is, descends to ejaculations 

 like this, " May the day come when philologists shall have an eye to the 

 common decencies," p. 437, and discants on " the current mouthings about 

 Aryans and pre-Aryans," p. 104, and annihilates an inference of Motley 

 with the assertion, " Nothing could be more erroneous," p. 293, 294. Chap- 

 ters XIV, XV, and XVI form the least valuable portion of the book. Here 

 sometimes the author's punctilious carefulness seems to fail him. He re- 

 fers to the Jews in a manner satisfactory to the ardent anti-Semite and 

 chips at Polish history in accommodation of a theory. He hardly appre- 

 ciates the meaning of the historic term " Osmanli." For no conceivable 

 purpose he even states, " The only name recognized by the Osmanli them- 

 selves is that of Turk," p. 415, oblivious of the fact that this name they 

 never use, but consider an insult. Most astounding is his eulogium of the 

 Circassians, " In character the Circassians are preeminent," p. 442. 



His style is in general clear, often graphic, sometimes eloquent. The 

 unique ethnical conditions of the Caucasus have never been better por- 

 trayed than in these words, " Up against such a mountain system . . . 

 have swept great currents of human life from every quarter of the Eastern 

 hemisphere. They have not blended. There has been continuous isola- 

 tion, to coin a phrase, ample in supply for all." In a splendid sentence, 

 referring to the tenacious Celts of Brittany, he speaks of that "ethnic 

 struggle, unsuspected by the statesmen who were building a nation on the 

 shifting sands of race." The concluding paragraph of chapter XVIII is 

 specially fine. Such limpid, transparent English is rare in scientific 

 treatises. Doubtless the "remorseless criticism," to which we owe the 

 delightful and chivalric reference in his preface, is in part responsible for 

 this admirable result. 



Bound separately from the major volume is a comprehensive Bibliog- 

 raphy of the Anthropology and Ethnology of Europe, containing nearly 

 two thousand titles. To remark the exceeding value of this supplement 

 of 1(30 pages would be superfluous. 



Edwin A. Grosvenor. 



Amherst College. 



Through Asia. By Sven Hedin. With nearly Three Hundred Illustra- 

 tions from Sketches and Photographs by the Author. Two vols. 

 Royal 8vo, vol. 1, pp. i-xviii + 1-649 ; vol. 2, i-xii + 650-1255 and 

 maps. New York: Harper and Bros., 1899. $10. 

 As the itinerary of one of the noteworthy explorations of recent years, 

 this sumptuous two volume work is a book of the decade. It was pre- 

 pared for the press during an interval of rest from exploration; and it is 

 reported that, before his recent redeparture for Thibet, the author pre- 

 sented to some royal dignitary (all of whom he delights to honor) half a 

 dozen copies of the book, printed in as many different languages. The 

 demand attested by this extensive reprinting gives little occasion for sur- 

 prise ; for Sven Hedin— newly graduated under the influence of Europe's 

 famous geographer Baron von Richthofen, and with one interesting Asian 



