Xow as to the book itself, which may be confidently recommended to all who are not loth to widen the limits of their restricted knowledge of the Chinese people amongst whom they live, it will be sufficient to give some faint indication of the judicious and masterly manner in which the student is taken in hand from the very outset. He is first showa the physical features of the land, its waterways and other numerous means of communication, a lucid explanation is given him of that world-renewed phenomenon, the Hangchow Bore, and an illuminate ing idea of that vast alluvial plain which occupies such large parts of the provinces of Chekiang, Kiangs Anhui, Honan, Shantung and Chil the great eastern part of China in fact, for any real knowledge of the creat western area of the country hids fair for some time to come to be in the sole possession of the geographer and the rare traveller. The agricultural aspect, the rotation of the crops (in itself a study) the postal service, marvellous in the difficulties it overcomes, are then touched upon by a light but instructive hand. A second chapter deals with the climate, the natural pr duets, the flora an! fauna, porcelain and pottery in which China excels, music, ete., the legends concerning the origin of the people: the early history of the country, its primitive civilization, and the shortcomings of the various dynasties which led to the revolution from whose throes China has not yet entirely escaped.
Chapters V to-IX are given to the consideration of thi questions which the zealous missionary student will in due course make his own. religious practices, literature and education, Christianity in China, all questions of absorbing interer, which can only be satisfactorily handled by a master hand, and therefore may be well left for review by some leading light amongst the many good men and true who are ploughing deeply, and with success, in the furrows of China's great mission field. The consideration of these all-important anestions requires that intimate and life-long knowledge which puts them beyond the province of the ordinary layman.
Powers Temporal & Soiritual.
The fine] chanter, X. genes deeply and thonahtfully into China's relations with foreign Powers, thrashes out the enam question. tells the The book closes with the author's plea for unity, for the union of Chinese Church independent of for-olga ministrations and control indeed, but not independent of the command of the Church's head—unive. Not a new Church, not a new conception of the one faith, not one more just Eastern or Western school will benefit China, but the granting freedom of union with the Church Catholic in the faith and order once delivered to the saints."
This simply is a plea for unity and a suggestion, not a command, and would seem to be the most hopeful basis of reunion.
A view of Dr. Moule's book has appeared in a local magazine that has a large circulation amongst mi sionaries, which seems scarcely warranted after a close examination into the facts.
For instance, disappointment is expressed that Dr. Moule had not iven to his re ders a new "Middle "dom, or brought Doolittle's valuable Vocabulary and Handbook up to date, or improved upon Dyer Ball's "Things Chinese." In the minds of many there can be no doubt but that Dr, Moule's book is more up to date than any of these ter volumes.
The reviewer complains that the volume consists of merely ten disconnveted chapters, but perusal will show that procedure is natural from the physical features of the land (Chapter I) up to China's relation with Foreign Powers (Chapter X.)
Again, what the magazine asks for is the story of "the origin of the Chinese, the value of their traditional history, the formative forces which moulded their civilization, the unifying principles which made the nation what it is, the religions ideas which lie behind the earliest ritual and worship. These are questions on which the light of fresh research, unprejudiced scholarship, and careful thought is sadly needed, We fear that the student will not receive from this handbook the il-
Iumination which its title led him to expect.""
These are a few amongst other criticisms which a careful perusal of Dr Moule's book will probably fail to suprost, and therefore it is that they are briefly mentioned here.
The serious student who has made the contents of this matured work his own, who has assimilated the facts and the opinions, collected with great diligence and discriminarerooted story of the Taiping Rehetlion, and furnishes a statesmanlike consideration of the anestion of the Revolution; for all opinions as to the outcome of the great uption from every authoritative source and here pliced before him in euch profusion, will enter upon the field of the great duties which lie ahead equipped in a manner undreamed of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.