No. 482] NOTES AND LITERATURE 129 



Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula ' TIh two handsonu' volumes 

 of over 1500 pages constitute unquestioiiahly the in(»t important con- 

 tribution to the knowledge of the less civilized [xoplo of -..utheastern 

 Asia. The work, according to the author. (|.. \\ \ rt M ,j. ) < laims to 

 belong to the sco|)<> of "descriptive ethnoirrapliy," l.nt iliis i> rather an 



stood in this country. It i.s "essentially a c(»inpilaiion fr many 



sources, but differs from most hooks of tliat kind, first, in heing ),ased 

 to a very large extent on materials hitherto impiihlishi'd. and accessil)le 

 only through private channels of information; and secondly, in having 

 been constructed with s])ecial knowledge of tlic .-ul.ject and in a critical 

 spirit." It is a work of "many facts, l„n few livp, ,t lice.," and should 

 be regarded not solely as a monogra])li on the trihcs de;dt with, "but 

 also as a necessary preliminary to a general scientilic survey of the races 

 of southern Indo-China and the Malay Peninsula" -which survey 

 is strongly advocated. The ohjectionahle term "})agan," used in the 

 title as a discriminative of races is jiistiHcd l)y the opinion that "the 

 point of religion (as between Mohammedan and non-Mohammedan) 

 was perhaps a better dividing line, on account of its definiteness, 

 than the vague, indefinite, and perhaps imdefinal)l(\ (piality of wild- 

 ness." The bulk of the book was written l.y Skeat. the attention of 

 Blagden being confined to languag.-. 



The contents of the two volumes, I.esi.le. preface. !)il>li.)-rapliy, and 

 introduction, are, vol. I: Racial characters and aliinhies: \oi»vs on 



in further St u.lio of the people, of the Malay Penins„h,'. wll as 

 that from the mainland further north and ih.' inlands to the s,>uth- 



