We have had previous occasion to mention the excellent :quality
of the travel-books published by Messrs. Seeley, Service, and The Isles of King Solomon (21s.), which describes Mr. -1-lopkins's experiences during twenty-five years spent in those
• islands, is, if anything, rather above the already high standard of the series. The book is no flashy account of so-called adventures and comicalities of native life, nor does it rhap- • sodize, but gives a searching and scientific description of rative habits, customs, and beliefs-a description which interests because of its obvious truth and at the same time - holds the reader by reason of the strong and quiet quality of the writing. The author notes that cannibalism is prac- ' tically extinct, but that native life is still largely controlled by witchcraft, the ultimate sanction of which is murder. He commends, too, the marriage-laws which have a real eugenic value, for exogamy, though it will permit a man to marry two sisters, sternly forbids him to wed his cousin. The chapters on tapus and labour are especially valuable. Now that the coming of the white man is rapidly weakening or wiping out native custom and belief, the necessity for such books as ' these, which record them, is the more obvious.
* * * *
Previous page
