Holy Himalaya. By E. Sherman Oakley. (Oliphant, Ander- son, and
Ferrier. 5s. net.)—Mr. Oakley has worked for some time as a missionary (for the London Missionary Society) in the hill provinces of Kumaon and Garwhal, near the Nepal border of the North-West Provinces. He has studied the people, their traditions, and their religion, and has written a very enlightening book on the subject of his study. He has something to say on practical matters, as, for instance, on the method of dealing with leprosy. This is a prevalent disease, but hardly, we imagine, from the use of a fish diet. The history of the country is full of interest ; for the last ninety years it has been under British rule ; it would be a very perverse theorist indeed who could maintain that it has suffered therefrom. Before the British time the Ghoorkas were masters for a while ; they came in 1791 and com- pleted their conquest hi 1803; during a quite short period they sold two hundred thousand of the natives as slaves. Yet doubtless there are those who would persuade us that the Ghoorka rule was a golden age and the British ono of iron. But the most important part of Mr. Oakley's volume is that which is concerned with Hindoo religion. To this, in its modern develop- ment, this region is a sort of Holy Land. Thus there are details of curious customs, one of the strangest being the " stone- throwing " festival, celebrated in honour of Kali, who is a Hindoo Bellona. Where it is still practised an official is present who calls "time" at the end of an hour. The people are not without humour. So, in ridicule of Brahman fastidiousness and nicety of caste custom, they have the proverb : " Eight Brahmans in Patiya and nine hearths." Mr. Oakley has given us a really valuable book.
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