7 8 



The National Geographic Magazine 



of the World, the volumes on "North 

 America," "South America," "Europe," 

 ""Asia," "Australia, Our Colonies, and 

 other Islands of the Sea" having preceded 

 this one. The readers are designed for 

 young people. They are written in simple 

 and interesting language and the facts 

 are in the main correct. Their popular- 

 ity is attested by the statement that more 

 than one million copies of the volumes 

 have been sold. 



Far East (The). By Archibald Little. 



Illustrated. Pp. 342. Oxford : The 



Clarendon Press. 1905. 



This is a description of the Chinese 

 Empire and its neighbors, from Manchu- 

 ria to Siam, and from Turkestan to Ja- 

 pan. Despite its literary defects, it is a 

 welcome handbook, its value being en- 

 hanced by charts and maps, especially 

 those on railways, population, ethnog- 

 raphy, orographic features, and vegeta- 

 tion. The chapters on Siam, Tibet, 

 Turkestan, and Japan are inferior to those 

 on the central kingdom — China. 



The account of the middle basin, the 

 Yangste, is comprehensive and interest- 

 ing, the author speaking largely from 

 personal stud)'', evidently not like a writer 

 he describes, who "labored under the dis- 

 advantage of never having lived in the 

 country." 



He forcibly presents the relative size 

 and importance of China and other coun- 

 tries, and gives much needed information 

 as to local geography, geology, and cli- 

 mate. 



Most instructive is the irrigation dis- 

 trict in Szechuan province, 2,800 square 

 miles, as "the most highly productive and 

 thickly populated piece of land of its size 

 on the face of the globe." Its skillful and 

 continued maintenance "is due to the 

 absolute dependence of the five millions 

 of people on the Chengtun Plateau upon 

 the minute organization of their irriga- 

 tion system." 



The unreliability of statistics as to 

 population is well illustrated by two esti- 



mates as to the population of Annam, 

 Tongking, and Laos, 6,200,000 by Ber- 

 nard (1901) and 15,400,000 by Beauclerc 

 (1900). 



Americans may well take to heart Mr 

 Little's opinion, the outgrowth of long 

 experience and reflection, that considera- 

 tion and fair dealing in all commercial 

 and economical matters are essential to 

 successful relations with the Chinese. 



A. W. G. 



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 

 Popular Meetings 



National Rifles Armory, 920 G street, 



N. W., 8 p.m. 



Friday, March 2 — "Our Immigrants: Where 

 They Come from, What They Are, and 

 What They do After They Get Here." Illus- 

 trated. Hon. F. P. Sargent, Commissioner 

 General of Immigration. 



Thursday, March 15 — "Castro and Venezu- 

 ela." By James F. T. Archibald, of Collier's 

 Weekly. 



Friday, March 23 — "Oriental Markets and 

 Market Places." By Hon. O. P. Austin, Chief 

 U. S. Bureau of Statistics. Illustrated. 



Friday, March 30 — "United States Eclipse 

 Expedition, 1905." By Rear Admiral Colby M. 

 Chester, U. S. N. 



Tuesday, April 13 — It is hoped that official 

 business will permit the Secretary of the 

 Navy, Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte, to 

 address the Society on "The American 



Navy." 



Scientific Meetings 



Hubbard Memorial Hall, 8 p. m. 



Friday, March 9 — "The United States 

 Bureau of the Census." By Hon. S. N. D. 

 North, Director, Bureau of the Census. 



Saturday, March 24 — "The Death Valley." 

 By Mr Robert H. Chapman, U. S. Geological 



Survey. 



Friday, April 6 — "Hunting with the 

 Camera." By Hon. George Shiras, Member 

 of Congress from the third district of Penn- 

 sylvania. 



Friday, April 20 — "The Protection of the 

 United States Against Invasion by Disease." 

 By Dr Walter Wyman, Surgeon General 

 Marine Hospital Service. 



