OBITUARY.

DEATH has removed more than one familiar name from our list of notables during the last quarter. Sir RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON, K.C.M.G., died on October 20th, 1890, at Trieste, where he held the post of Consul. He was

born in 1821, and joined the Bombay army in 1842. He showed a remarkable aptitude for languages, and not only mastered all Eastern tongues within his reach, but also the religious beliefs and practices of both Hindus and Muhammadans; and in 1853, disguised as a Pathan, he carried out a pilgrimage to Mecca, the account of which he published in 1855. In 1854 Burton undertook to penetrate the Somali country by way of Harrar and Gananah to Zanzibar. Lieutenants Herne, Stroyan, and Speke were associated with him. Burton assumed the character of an Arab merchant, and reached Harrar on the 4th of January, 1855. On his return to Aden he arranged for a new expedition to the Upper Nile via Harrar, and he landed at Berbera on the 7th of April; but on the 29th his camp was attacked by Somalis, and Lieut. Stroyan was killed and Burton and Speke were severely wounded.

The idea of penetrating farther was then abandoned, and the expedition returned to Aden. After this, Burton offered his services in the Crimean War, and joined the irregular cavalry under Beatson. On his return to England he put himself into communication with the Royal Geographical Society; and as African exploration was at that time attracting much attention, he proposed to organize an expedition for the purpose of ascertaining the limits of the sea of Ujiji or Unyamwesi Lake, and also to determine the exportable produce of the interior and the ethnography of its tribes. The proposal was entertained, and the Government made a grant of £1,000 towards the expenses.

Burton got two years' leave of absence from the East India Company, and, accompanied again by Speke, he started from Bombay in December, 1856, and from Zanzibar about six months later; and, after much difficulty and privation, they sighted the first of the great African lakes, Tanganyika, on the 13th of February, 1858.

Both Burton and Speke had suffered much from illness, but at this time the former was nearly blind, and so he sent Speke to reconnoitre the north end of the lake. After staying some time at Ujiji they returned to Tabara, where Burton, almost prostrate, remained to write up his observations, and Speke went on to the north and discovered the Victoria Nyanza, which somewhat affected the relations between the two companions that unhappily had become strained. Burton's official report appeared in the twenty-ninth volume of the Geographical Society's Journal, and in the same year, 1859, he published his book, "The Lake Region of Equatorial Africa."

In 1861 he visited Utah, and published his "City of the Saints." In the beginning of the same year he married; and Lady Burton (Isabel Arundell) threw herself heart and soul into all that her accomplished husband undertook. He could not have chosen better. In the autumn of 1861 he was appointed consul at Fernando Po; and, true to his exploring instincts, he visited Abeokuta, and crossed to the Cameroons, which gave another subject to his indefatigable pen; and two years after he published "Abeokuta and the Cameroon Mountains." In 1863 he went on a mission to Dahomey, and then gave his experiences to the public in two volumes, "A Mission to Gelelé, King of Dahomey." Then a journey up the Congo produced "Gorilla-land; or, The Cataracts of the Congo," which, however, did not appear till 1873, and the "Lands of Cazembe" was published by the Royal Geographical Society in the same year. Before this he had been appointed to a consular post in Brazil, and wrote a book on the highlands of that country in 1867. In 1868 he was appointed consul at

Damascus, and two more volumes appeared on "Unexplored Syria" in collaboration with another. In 1872 he visited Iceland, and wrote "Ultima Thule." He produced in turn "The Gold Mines of Midian," 1878; "The Land of Midian Revisited," 1879; "To the Gold Coast for Gold," 1883. His great work, "The Arabian Nights," was brought out in 1885-6; but he had besides written many other volumes and numberless papers to various scientific societies. As a consummate linguist, versatile writer, keen observer, and an untiring explorer, he was a man who stood by himself. He was not popular with some; but no one will deny him his place as one of the foremost of our national pioneers, if not the very foremost. He received but scanty honour from his country, and was tardily made a K.C.M.G. in 1887; and it was only on the 20th of last October that England was startled with a thrill of regret at the news that "Mecca Burton" had passed away in a foreign land on the verge of the time. allotted to the days of man. He looked forward to settling down in England, and to taking an active part in the Statutory International Congress of Orientalists of this year, the Vice-presidency of which he had accepted.

CHARLES MARVIN, a well known prolific writer, has been called away at an early age. His works on Central Asia, and the questions arising in connection with Russian designs thereon, attracted a good deal of attention both in this country and in Russia, where he had imbibed views which, as he himself explained to the writer of this notice, will excuse the manner in which he first brought himself into public notoriety.

M. PIERRE DE TCHIHATCHEF, born 1812, died on the 13th October. A scion of a noble Russian family, he was for some years in the diplomatic service of his country, and, like many of his countrymen, was an accomplished linguist, but, above all, a man of superior scientific attainments.

He

made several exhaustive explorations of Asia Minor at his own expense, and contributed largely to scientific journals, besides producing some eight or nine separate volumes. His greatest work was his " Asie Mineure," in eight volumes, with an atlas. He resided for some time in England, and married a Scotch lady, a Ramsay of the Dalhousie family. For some years however he had been domiciled in Florence, where the writer had the privilege of his friendship; and the blank he has left in a numerous circle of acquaintances there will not be easily filled up.

R. A. S.

REVIEWS.

Life in an Indian Village. By T. Ramakrishna, B.A. (London: T. Fisher Unwin.)

We have read with great pleasure the book, “Life in an Indian Village," as it deals with an interesting and not at all unimportant subject in a plain and unpretending way. Simplicity has a powerful charm of its own; and we recommend the book to all whose heart can still be touched by inartificial descriptions of idyllic, gently flowing, country life. He who does not assume the tone of, "India, what can it teach us?" but cares to profit by teaching, will learn a great deal even from these simple village tales.

The introduction to the book is written by Sir M. E. Grant Duff, who gives a short outline of the work, corroborates much from his own experience, and seasons the whole with a little light criticism and with a few words of deserved praise.

The theme of Mr. Ramakrishna's simple lay, is a village rejoicing in the euphonious name of "Kélambakam," situated on the Palar, between Conjeeveram and Mahabalipuram, not far from the spot known to Europeans as the "Seven Pagodas," made famous by Southey's "Curse of Kehama." Whether Kélambakam is a real or fictitious name, the fact remains that there are some fifty-five thousand similar villages scattered over the Madras presidency, a territory, by the way, considerably larger than the British Isles. Mr. Ramakrishna in his first chapter describes the head-man or "munsiff," the accountant, and the watchman. The first, named Kothundarama Mudelly, is in his liberality worthy of his ancestors, who built and endowed the temple of the village; he is "beloved by all its men," and is "the arbiter of all their petty strifes." The accountant is shrewd, but withal a thoroughly good man; and, the watchman's very appearance bears witness to his honesty and bodily strength.