392 
CATALOGUE RAISONNE. 
Flora Jave necnon Insularum Adjacentium. Auctore CaroLo 
Luvovico Buumse, Med. et Phil. Doct. Equite Ordinis Leenis 
Belgici, &c. &c. Adjutore Joanne Baprista FiscuEer, Med. et 
Chir. Doct. cum tabulis Hrique incisis. Fascic. 17 et 18. J. Frank. 
Brussels, 1829. 
However much we may be inclined to advocate the adoption of the natural 
system of plants, in general or particular botanical works, we must ac- 
knowledge that in illustrating fasciculi it has the disadvantage of pre- 
senting too much uniformity, criginating in the close similarity which 
plants of the same family bear to one another in their external ap- 
pearance, as well as in their more minute structure. This prevents 
the admission of a great diversity of striking plants adapted to catch the 
eye, but it cannot at all affect the opinions of the botanist; and after 
looking carefully through the illustrations of Blume’s work, we can give 
our unbiassed opinion of their great merit. The drawings are good, and 
the delineations accurate. Much attention has been paid both in pre- 
serving the character of the species, and in exhibiting, when possible, 
the plant in its different stages of inflorescence and of fructification. The 
colouring is that of the school of Redouté, soft and natural, generally 
preserving with constancy and truth the minute variations in tint which 
are presented by the vegetable world. 
Occasionally the brown tint of the leaves, and slight corrugation of the pe- 
tals, would lead one to think that they were drawn from dried speci- 
mens; but this can but be of secondary importance. ‘The phytological 
plates are not coloured, but are of great utility ; and the few taults which 
the work presents, are fully compensated by the care and judgment with 
which the whole is conducted. Having thus given a tribute ef praise, 
due to a work which must cost its editor much labour and expense, and 
which belongs to that class of productions that reflect credit on the go- 
vernment or public under whose patronage they appear, we can only 
add that the present two fasciculi contain the families of the Myriceex, 
(RicHaRD,) of the Balsamiflue, and the Juglandee. The first two fa- 
milies only present one species each, the myrtle of Java, and the gigan- 
tic Liquidambar altingia. Among the Juglandez there are two new spe- 
cies of Engelhardtia, E. rigida, a beautiful tree found in the mountain 
of Salak, about 2560 feet above the level of the sea, and E. serrata, from 
Western Java, where it attains a height of from sixty to a hundred feet. 
_ Observations on the Ancient Roads of the Peruvians. By Joun 
GituiEes, M.D. M.W:S. &c.—Edin. New. Phil..Journ. No. XV, 
Jan. 1830. 
These roads, usually known by the name of Cameno del Inga, or Road of - 
the Incas, were visited by Dr. Gillies, in the valley of the Uspallata, in 
January 1825. They were in good preservation, and one which Dr. G. 
measured was 15 feet in breadth. Its surface consisted principally of 
the soil, gravel, and small stones of the district. No shrubs had made 
their appearance, although very probably they have been rarely trodden 
since the discovery and conquest of these countries by the Spaniards, 
now more than 800 years ago. This renders the line of road particular- 
ly evident, and it may be traced as far as the eye can reach, in one con- 
tinued line, proceeding in the direction by compass of north by west. 
Dr. Gillies thinks that the Uspallata branch must have been originally 
formed for the purpose of communicating with the Araucanian Indians, 
and the other nations inhabiting Chili, and tribes which inhabit the 
country along the eastern side of the southern cordillera of the Andes, 
and from thence to the Southern Atlantic Ocean and Cape Horn, all of 
whom are of quite a different race, and speak a language very different 
from the Quichoa, or language of the Peruvian Indians. 
