142 
LIVINGSTONE FESTIVAL. 
[Feb. 13, 1858* 
I now therefore call on Dr. Norton Shaw, the untiring promoter 
of every movement calculated to support geographical science, to 
answer for this our parting toast. ( Cheers .) 
Dr. Shaw, in the name of his brother stewards and himself, 
having returned thanks for the compliment which had been paid 
them, the meeting separated. 
CRAWFURD’S DICTIONARY. 
A Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and adjacent Countries. 
By John Crawfurd, f.r.s., f.r.g.s., etc. 
This is a work very much in the same style as the Oesterreichische National 
Encyclopddie , in which all that relates in any important degree to the region 
to which it refers — geographical, biographical, zoological, historical, commer- 
cial, &c. — is arranged in an alphabetical manner. Thus, to instance the very 
first pages, we find Abaca, Abany, Abra, Achin, Adang, Agar-agar, Agila, 
Agno-Grande, Albay, Alboqurque, Alforas, Alligator, Ambergris, Amboyna, 
&c., names immediately or nearly succeeding each other as heads of so many 
articles. Elsewhere we find Dog, Dory Harbour, Dragon Blood, Drama, Dress 
(of the inhabitants of the Indian islands), Philippine Archipelago, Pigafetta, 
Pilgrimage, Pine-apple, Piracy, Polo (Marco), Polynesia, &c. These headings 
will sufficiently indicate the general scope of this Dictionary and its very com- 
prehensive character. It appears to embrace considerations on every subject 
connected with that vast and interesting region, which extends from the Bay of 
Bengal to the northern shores of Australia, and comprises the largest islands on 
the surface of the globe. It has often occurred to us that a “ British” National 
Encyclopaedia, on a plan similar to that of the Austrian, or to the work before 
us, relating to every portion of territory under the British crown — its geography, 
productions, history, and celebrated natives — might be invested with the highest 
interest. On the face of the earth there cannot be found a dominion comprising 
regions so varied in character or more abounding in natural wealth, rich seats 
of commerce, valuable antiquities, and a history full of remarkable events, than 
that empire under which we live, and upon which the sun never sets. 
The qualifications of Mr. Crawfurd to produce such a work as this “ Descrip- 
tive Dictionary,” &c., are undoubted. Thirty-six years ago, when (as he tells 
us in his preface) he gave to the world his “ History of the Indian Archipelago,” 
if we except Sir Stamford Raffles (under whom he filled an official appointment 
in Java), Mr. Crawfurd was nearly the only authority for most information 
concerning that previously little-known region. Since that period, Hogen- 
dorp and some other Dutch authors have made public statements respecting 
the Dutch possessions in the East ; and, particularly in recent years, the names 
of Swart, Croockewit, Schwaner, Keijser, Muller, &c., appear as authors 
of written works or maps to be found in our own library. Megen in the 
Philippines, Sir James Brooke in Borneo, and Windsor Earl in the Eastern 
and South-Eastern part of the Archipelago, together with a few other tra- 
vellers ; our own Hydrographic Office ; the Royal Institution for the Language, 
Geography, &c., of Dutch India ; the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 
