10 SEPTEMBER 1898, Page 25

Maori Art. By A. Hamilton. (Published by the New Zealand

Institute, Wellington, N.Z. 7s. 6d.)—This first instalment deals with canoes ; their mythology, design, and decoration. The work is one of great detail and the plates numerous. These raise the problem by which we are confronted when studying savage art. How was it these people, endowed with the exquisite sense of pattern and design they manifest, could tolerate the ghastly hideousness they produced when they attempted the human form Those who have delighted in Mr. Punch's Animal Land weekly will be glad to have these drawings in book form. (Bradbury, Agnew, 10s. 6d.) The artist, Mr. Reed, is always at his best when most removed from actual fact. Many of these drawings have real humour.