REVIEW.

Evening Star, Issue 3239, 8 July 1873, Page 2

REVIEW.

All Round the World, an illustrated record of voyages, travels, and adventures in all parts of the globe, with two hundred illustrations. First and second series. William Collins, Sons and Co., London and Glasgow. William Hay, Princes street, Dunedin. These elegant works form a new feature in literature, and are calculated not only to create a love of the beautiful in art, but to be moat useful in an educational point of view. Nothing so completely throws light upon the tendency of modern education as the production of works like those now under our eye. Elegant in binding, they form a moat attractive object for a drawingroom table ; but the outside is far excelled by the contents: the paper, the type, the style are all in exquisite taste, and the illustrations are beautiful specimens ef artistic skill, whether considered as drawings after nature or as engravings. It could not be otherwise when the list of artists comprises Paul Huet, Gustave Dord, Lancelot, Eugene Lavielle, liadamnond, De Berard, Therond, and a number of others who have achieved world-wide reputations. Such a work was required. It is impossible now-a-days to keep pace with the rapid strides that knowledge in every department is taking, by the slow process of wading through every narrative of travels and adventures published. We do not, as a rule, care much for selections ; but our objection mainly applies to literary cullings, from which, not uncommonly, through the idiosyncrasy of the compiler, the very finest passages are excluded. But this does not apply to facts, and in these works we have facts—facts in narrative and facts in art. We have often sympathised with youth of both sexes in their hard, dry studies at school, of geography. The memory is only assisted by an outline or surface map, on which a city is represented by a minute circle, a river by a waring line, and a mountain by a shaded hnmp. One city, one river, or one mountain is exactly like another. There is nothing to associate with them—no event calculated to excite emotion 'nor to stamp the whereabout! on the memory. Names of towns, rivers, and capes, with interminable latitudes and longitudes, are the abstractions which young people find so dreadfully dreary and dry, and so difficult to remember. Some, peculiarly gifted, may associate with them ideas of form or little corners of the earth that present some fantastic outline on a map; or they may have spent hours in drawing maps, and thus * by patient labor have had the boundaries- of countries lixed in their minds. But when all this labor has been gone through, St. Betej-sburg is remembered as a little circle at the head of the Gulf of Finland, and London as a little circle on the banks of the Thames. There is nothing to indicate the difference between the size, wealth, or commerce of one or the other—no pleasant anecdotes, no pictures of rare or elegant buildings or works of art, no neighboring scenery to suggest whether the land is one abounding in picturesque spots, inhabited by civilised races, or whether all beyond the little circle is still a wilderness, trodden mainly by the savage,

i ■ ■ ■■■■»"« 11 i——— It is surprising that the idea of making geographical studies pleasant has not been acted npon to a far greater extent. Every nook of the desolate island of Pobinsoa Crusoe is remembered ; and when lads have been fortunate enough to have read illustrated editions, the figure of the man, clothed in his goat skins, with his muskets, his umbrella, and his pet goats can be recalled without an effort. The eye and the imagination form mutual aids to memory. This is the principle that Messrs Collins have pressed into their service. They say with truth that existing geographical maps are becoming useless, for they cannot be, or at least are not altered so rapidly as to keep pace with modern discovery. Late explorations have shown that, although nearly four hundred years have elapsed since Diaz doubled the Cape of Good Hope, the interior of Africa is only now becoming known to Europeans. The maps still record the Great Desert of Sahara in Central Africa, and have not yet been altered so as to point out the rich and fertile countries with their lakes and rivers that occupy the greater portion of that supposed arid land. The object sought to be secured by Messrs Collins is “to set before the stay-at-home traveller an exact image and representation of the world in which he lives,” and to open to him the great Books of Geography, of Science, and ©f Nature. We think they have succeeded. The two volumes are last year’s works, so that the information is brought down to the latest possible dates. The maps are numerous, and contain all the information included in the best atlasses. We should like to have given extensive quotations showing the pleasant way in which the varied information is conveyed ; but our space will not permit. We may say, however, that whenever a legend is connected with a remarkable scene, it is told. This, we are inclined to think, through interesting the feelings, is likely to connect the two together in the same way that the leading events of some of Sir W. Scott’s novels or Shakespeare’s plays are interwoven with history. We have no doubt whatever that the character of Henry V. is far more impressed upon those who connect him with the frolics of “ rare Sir John Falstaff,” than upon those who have not had such advantages ; and in the same manner, where a Chinese, an African, or a North American lake or rock has some adventure or storv connected with it, the recollection of it will not easily fade away. Through similar mental processes, the ceremonious Chinese will be more thoroughly understood through the report given of a conversation between “an English gentleman, who has never seen his Chinese host before,” and that personage. The conversation was carried on through an interpreter— Interpreter : His Excellency has long looked forwaid to this day. Chinese Dignitary : I meet him now as an old friend, and request to know his honorable age. Int. : His Excellency has profitlcssly passed—years. Chin. Dig.: The ears of his Excellency are long, and betoken great ability. Int.: Ah! oh I he is unworthy of the compliment. Chin. Dig. : You have had an arduous journey. Int. : We deserved it. Chin. Dig.: I trust your honorable health is good. Int.: Eelying on your happy auspices, his Excellency’s health is still robust. Int.: The Great Emperor of your honorable nation, is he well ? Chin. Dio ; He is well. The Great Sovereign of your honorable nation, is she well ?

Int. : She is well. Do the troublesome pests (rebels) still infest the country ? Cnitf. Dig. : The insects are being speedily exterminated. After a round of such civilities, in which fortunately the interpreters are prompters, business is proceeded with and bargains made. The Atlantic to the Pacific will be impressed on the memory by beautifully executed pictures illustrative of the adventures of Baron de Wogan, who was in peril in the desert from difficulties by the way, through encounters with wild beasts and through Indian ingratitude and treachery. Much of the romance of early narrators is dispelled, only to be replaced by stories of truer but not less exciting adventures, illustrative of the different countries, their flora and fauna, their products, their capabilities, and the character of their inhabitants. We commend these valuable works to the notice of every family. *