976 Recent Literature. [ October, 
Mr. Forbes’ notes and conclusions as to the origin of coral 
reefs are of interest, as the subject is now under fresh discussion, 
Visiting the Keeling atoll nearly fifty years after Darwin, he found 
that the encroachments of the sea on the land “ had not increased 
at all; on the contrary, it struck me that the land was gaining on 
the lagoon.” Between Direction island and Workhouse island 
he observed what seemed to him signs of recent elevation. His 
conclusions are in the following words: “I incline to believe, 
therefore, that the Keeling-reef foundation has arisen as Murray, 
Semper and Agassiz have suggested ; but that its islets have been 
the result of the combined action of storms and the slow eleva- 
tion of the volcanically-upheaved ocean floor on which the reef 
is built.” 
Among the notes on mammals is an explanation, new to us, of 
the use of the upturned and hooked teeth of the hog-deer (Babi- 
rusa). They are used, he was told by the natives, “to hold to 
the bottom of ponds by, when hard pressed by hunters.” 
The author’s journey by raft, or rakiting, down the Musi river 
to Palemberg was remarkably interesting, and the following ex- 
tract will convey an idea of our author’s powers of description 
when at his best, for at times his style is slovenly and ungainly: 
o recall the magnificent flora of the upper reaches of the 
river almost makes me retract the statement that the tropics pre- 
sent few flowers; for so blossom-spangled a road it would be 
difficult to match anywhere ;—it is only in the beginning of the 
wet season, however, and along the steep banks of some such 
river, wide enough to let in the sunlight and the free breath of 
heaven, that one must look for, or indeed expect to be able to 
see such a display. The singular trackless streets, roads and 
paths of water by which I rambled among the forest avenues are 
never-to-be-forgotten reminiscences; nor lower down the slow 
majesty of the widening river between its level banks fronted 
with tall reeds, dark-foliaged figs, and groves of Eriodendron 
trees, with their stiff trifid arms; and at last the broad expanse 
of its united affluents, by whose sources I had for so many 
months encamped, drawing towards itself the atoms of produce 
of two degrees of latitude, and concentrating them into a hot 
nucleus of commercial life and activity. Intermingled with all 
ble vignettes; minia- 
noonday sun, in 
e solemn silence 
‘in the intervals of 
