Fete Re er Ee ee ape eds kite pt ese cote” oh 
Recent Literature. 361 
1876.] 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
Anperson’s MANDALAY To Momren.!— Mandalay is the capital of 
Burma, and Momien an important town in the province of Yunnan, 
Western China. The two British expeditions of which Dr. Anderson 
gives a narrative was for the purpose of establishing commercial relations 
between the British in Burma and the rich provinces of Western China. 
Both missions were repulsed and entirely unsuccessful, but much informa- 
tion concerning these remote regions was collected by Dr. Anderson, and 
has been given to the public in this handsome volume. The population 
is a motley one, the Burmese intermingling with the Chinese, though 
both live in different quarters of the same towns, and both are confined 
closely to their walls and fortifications by the fierce hill tribes on the 
border, 
Few notes on the natural history of the country have been recorded, 
though “a full and illustrated report is in active preparation.” The 
famous tame fish of “ the little rocky island of Theehadaw, which boasts 
the only stone pagoda in Burma, and is resorted to by numbers of pil- 
_ grims at the great Buddhist festival in March,” are briefly mentioned in 
the following words : “ Having supplied ourselves with rice and plantains, 
the boatmen called ‘ Tit-tit-tit’ Soon the fish appeared, about fifty yards 
off, and after repeated cries they were alongside, greedily devouring the 
offering of food. In their eagerness they showed their uncouth heads 
and great part of their backs, to which patches of gold leaf, laid on by 
recent devotees, still adhered. So tame were they that they suffered 
themselves to be stroked, and seemed to relish having their long feelers 
pulled. One fellow, to whom a plantain skin was thrown, indignantly 
rejected it, and dived in disgust.” 
ile Burma is rich in ruined temples and towns, the prehistoric 
remains are also abundant. Stone celts are often turned up by the 
plow in Yunnan as with us. “A large number of those purchased 
are small, beautifully cut forms, with few or no signs of use, and made 
of some variety of jade; but there is no reason to doubt the authenticity 
of the larger forms which were brought to us. Bronze celts are also 
found, but are valued at their weight in gold; we managed, however, to 
Purchase one at Manwyne on the return journey. It belongs to the 
socketed type of celts without wings. The composition of the bronze is 
oe as that of the celts found in northern Europe: tin, 10; copper, 
The narrative has been prepared with evident care, and will be useful 
" comparison with the relations of the recent French expedition to 
i : Mandalay to Momien. A Narrative of the Two Expeditions to Western China of 
868 and 1875, under Col. E. B. Sladen and Col. Horace Browne. By Joun Ax- 
oN M, D., etc. With Maps and Illustrations. London. 1876. 8vo, pp. 479. 
7.50. 
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fo 
Macmillan & Co. 
