Atlas. We ourselves have no hesitation in saying that the small sketch of the seat of war with Nepal, given in Mr. Toby Prinsep's "History of the Political and Military Transactions during the administration of the Marquess of Hastings," is much superior to its more ambitious successors, owing to its distinct delineation of the principal chains and rivers. Yet this work was published in 1825, and we are now in 1845, and the hills themselves have been held by the British since 1815! If thirty years of possession have failed to produce even tolerably good maps, what can we expect to see in the department of General Science?

The work by Royle, which appears the third in our list, is certainly a highly valuable one; but, we cannot help thinking that its value would have been greater if the author had attempted less, and had confined himself to the botany of the Himalaya.* The very circumstance that the writer's own knowledge of the mountain districts was but limited,-and which enhances his personal merit,-though it may not seriously affect the description of plants, is an essential disadvantage when information concerning other branches of natural history, especially geology, is conveyed through the language or reports of others. A specimen of Juniper or of Saussuria at once announces its birth in a highly elevated and snowy alpine region, and no one could impose on a botanist by placing in his Himalayan herbarium a leaf of bazaar pan. But the case is far different with rocks. A lump of quartz tells no tale by itself. A specimen of trap or granite, brought to a philosopher by a forgetful or careless traveller, may cause as much injury as would arise from the inability to discover these rocks in another ignoramus, who should attempt to describe a country without the faculty of observation, and without the necessary knowledge to qualify him for the task. These remarks, however, are only by way of illustration. When we say generally, that we wish Dr. Royle's work had been all equally complete with his admirable arrangement of the Himalayan and other Indian plants according to the natural system; particularly, that the botanical part had been more complete, and that his description of the Himalayan Cupulifera and Coniferæ especially had been fuller and better illustrated, we feel confident that he will take our slight

It may interest most of our European readers, and not a few of our Indian, to become acquainted with the etymological composition of this expressive term. Let them know, then, that Him is a Sanskrit word for cold or frost, and alaya a Sanskrit word for abode or residence. So that the two together mean the abode or residence of cold and frost," What appellation could be more applicable than this to the loftiest range of mountains on the globe-whose peaks are covered with everlasting snows?

criticism in good part, and not consider any of our previous remarks as directed at him. We are sure he will himself lament with us, that after the lapse of thirty years, we are still without a true and catholic account of the British possessions and protected states in the Northern Hills.

As stated in our first paragraph we shall not attempt a criticism of all the remaining books and papers in our list, at least on the present occasion. We must however except the case of "Pilgrim and his Wanderings;" for, this piece of authorship has been brought to light in our own days and demands some particular notice at our hands. Of the others we must be content to say,

Sunt bona, sunt quædam mediocria, sunt mala plura. We cannot help lamenting the prejudices of Fraser, which coloured his descriptions; and the veterinary education of Moorcroft, which confined his views and narrowed his observations.* In the case of Mr. Traill, we cannot but regret that, where so much has been told, so much has been left untold by one, who had immense means of obtaining information, and great personal zeal and activity. In the case of Mr. Batten we can only hope that he knows what is expected of him from his situation and that his settlement report on Gurhwal will not entirely content him. Dr. McClelland in a new edition would, we doubt not, himself make not a few corrections in his "Geology of Kumaon," and, above all, would alter its title to that of a "Sketch of the geology of some 50 miles of the Kumaon Province in the neighbourhood of the outposts at Lohooghat and Petora Ghur;" while one, now so great a benefactor to the cause of Indian science would, doubtless, extend his zoological notes, and modify his exclusive calcareous system of Goitre, if an opportunity were again afforded him. Gerrard's account of Kunawur is, geographically and statistically, excellent; and the map attached to it, though on too small a scale and deficient in the modern effect obtained from shading and embossing, is still a great help. But, Alexander Gerrard had only scientific opportunities, and his acquirements were insufficient for his position. We attach little or no value to any of the Gerrardian dissertations on the snow line, because the observations on which they were founded, belong not to the great belt of the snowy range which separates the northern mountains of

We always feel a little uncharitable displeasure against this Adventurer, notwithstanding his subsequent misfortunes-because, on account of a slight risk and casual inclemency of weather, he, with the full opportunity of settling the doubt, omitted to ascertain the real facts connected with the Affluents and Effluents of the Manusurower and Rhawun Lakes.

Hindustan from Thibet and Tartary, but, to the western offshoot or lower nivalic ridge which separates West Gurhwal and Bissahr from the intermontane region of Kunawur. The Lloyds, author and editor, are hardly original luminaries; they shine chiefly by the reflected light of Gerrard. Their narrative is not uninteresting, but, we fear many of our observations on Indian sciolism would not be altogether inapplicable in their case. There is an Indian word which especially suits this kind of production, and our oriental readers will understand us when we declare that with the exception of Royle's volumes, all the fruits of travel and research which appear on our list, are decidedly kutcha (raw.) To amend this state of things, and elicit the appearance of something pucka (mature,) we must assume the monitor for a short time and offer some advice to our friend Pilgrim, and others, whose names are not in our frontispiece.

Our general admonition is merely a repetition of what has been previously urged.-Let every one who has opportunities of observation in these magnificent regions learn as much as he can, and when he begins to record his observations, let him measure the extent of his learning by the standard of European acquirements. A volume of Humboldt or Cuvier will always be a very good test. He will then know how much to state positively, and how much to furnish for the decision of others. He will know that there is nothing disgraceful in catering for the masters of science, and that as the provider of the feast, he will always hold an honourable place at the board, a far more honourable one indeed than that to which those who unworthily take the highest seat are consigned after they have been detected. Perhaps, our traveller may have acquired his knowledge of minerals in India, and, on the same principle that a Lempriere's Dictionary on his book-shelf constitutes the newest ensign of a corps a classical authority at his mess, he may have been dubbed a geologist, because he can distinguish hornblende from mica, and can perform the grand experiment of making limestone effervesce in acids. He must not however on this account, and on the strength of having Lyell's Elements in his library, declare that the fossils which he has picked up or purchased belong to the Oolitic series, nor must Old Red Sandstone be a household word in his mouth. He will allow us to read to him the following extract from the letter of an eminent English geologist (with a copy of which we have been favoured) teaching the lesson that even where previous education somewhat entitles a man to make comparisons and to assign affinities between material phenomena

Y

displayed in different countries, great caution must be observed in announcing facts: "I agree with you as to the importance of working out each country upon its own peculiar evidence. I 'would even recommend any young geologist to forget or keep in the back ground all the series of European types and only to bring them forward as terms of comparison, after he has reached sound definite conclusions. The contrary plan has done much mischief, led to rash conclusions, and prevented 'observers from sifting the evidence before them." It is not always, however, that such a lesson is required. Sometimes ignorance is avowed with delightful naivetè. The following words are actually printed in a "Journal of a Tour”—we will not be more particular: "We are again among granite and gneiss rocks, and the white soil of the valley is neither calcareous nor-cretaceous!" no indeed, and the writer might have added, it did not appear to be cream cheese! Perhaps a wanderer may appear who has hitherto been an oracle among his assistants, one profoundly versed in horticulture, whose cabbages win an annual prize-in the Mufussil' we always see the same names as winners at races, flower shows, and the like-and whose gorgeous dahlias are the theme of all admirers. Let such a genius remember that flower garden botany is easily acquired and that even boarding school misses are great adepts in discovering the sexes of plants. If his foot be on the Himalaya, he must beware of talking of Scotch firs as the monarchs of the coniferous tribe, of the English (robur) oak as the only true oak, thus bastardizing the whole race of Himalayan quercees,of daisies being abundant on every hill-or of British heather clothing the cold and rugged bases of the snowy peaks.

If the visitor be a Governor-General he must not exhibit his ignorance of Political Geography. For instance, he must not say to a Kumaon functionary "Well, Sir, and are the Goorkha Chiefs becoming reconciled to our rule?"* Gentlemen, also, who wish to be understood, must not in any paper professing to be intended for scientific readers, use the Jonesian mode of expressing native words in one-half of their discourse, and the Gilchristian mode in the other half: nor, must they permit themselves to speak of the Himalayan ranges and the Landour and Simla ranges as one and the same thing. When mentioning, too, the snowy mountains par excellence, it would be as well to use one term, either the Sanskrit, or the Hindi, and not to confuse the mind by the mention of the Himalaya, the Hemala, and the Himachul range within a dozen pages. Thibet Proper,

* A fact is here alluded to.

too, or the country immediately subject to Lhassa, should not be confounded with Tartary, Chinese Tartary, &c., and in mentioning the Trans-Himalayan regions, the names of the several divisions, such as Ladakh, Bultee, Heoondes, &c. should be given separately in the languages of the inhabitants themselves, the Chinese, the Nepalese, the hill people, and the English. We may here add that the latter are quite as singular in their use of the word Thibet (unknown to the Native tribes, at least west of Lhassa) as they are in that of the word, Yak. Above all things, great caution is necessary in the adoption of casual native names of plants, animals and even places. The coniferus trees of the Himalaya are most terribly nicknamed by some of our best authors. Chill, Kyl,-Deodar, Kelon,-Rao, Ragha, Raësulla,-Khutrow, Chibrow, Pindrow, Oonum, Moorin, Moorinda,-these and many other names represent four or at the utmost five trees of the Pinus and Abies family! As an instance of confusion arising from native names of animals, we content ourselves with the following: The Surrow' of the Western Hills and the Thar' of Nepal and of the hills even far less easterly, is one and the same deer, the " Antelope Ther" of zoology. But in the Western Hills the wild goat, (a regular capra) is indiscriminately called Ther and Thar. Hence if an Eastern gentleman talk of Thars, the Western gentleman goes out to shoot goats, much to the astonishment of his friend, and vice versa. In regard to places, it is ludicrous to behold the care with which, some parties of travellers note down in their tablets the number of minutes occupied in each ascent and descent, while others are exactly recording the names of the neighbouring hills and glens as set forth by different grinning mountaineers around them. These natives are very quick at catching traits of character, and as they know that no Englishman will be content without some name or other, they give him the first which occurs to them; if a mountain, generally the name of the highest village in sight; if a stream or valley, that of the uppermost or the lowest or the central hamlet, generally their own, in its course. Sometimes they give fancy names of their own manufacture just to quiet the Sahib.' Hence arise the multiplicity of names assigned to the several Dandas and Dhars, Gudhs, and Garhs of the mountain districts.

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With respect to geography itself, we fear that many of our Calcutta friends have rather hazy notions concerning the locality of the several Hill Stations; but, it is still more. singular to observe how few residents at the Sanataria are themselves quite aware of their local habitation. They