BOOKS.

• - LIEUTENANT BURTON'S SCINDE.* "Tire IT-nhappY Valley " is a, great advance_ on its predecessor, " Goa and the Blue Mountains." Mr. Burton has_ acquired more confidence 'in hinfself; his manner_ has greater • freedoni, with less self-intrusion; his style more point and animation. There is still present the litterateur'e disposition to make the most of his theme whatever itmey. be ; but it is less obvious.theh for- merly. His framework is rather artificial; but it is cleverly eon. 'ived, used without abuse, and effects its object. 1,,What is more important, probably, Mr.- Burton has a -much

better subject than decayed Goa, the voyage thither, and the Elite Mountains. Soinde is a larger and more varied field. The

Unhappy Valley," it is true, according to Mr. Burton, has little more variety in nature than desert barrenness, rugged mountains, a destroying flood, and the celebrated hunting-grounds of the late Ameers ; while the people are a sad set. Howevei, the wild and terrible innature, like great reverses of fortune in life, are often pleasant to read about ; and there is considerable variety in the native character, according to race and habitat. The high- land Beloehee is a rough daring freebooter, submitting with a very ill grace to the • check which " the Devil's brother," old Charley,

had imposed upon his , vocation.. The , native

Sciiidian lacks the 'bold character of his whilom conqueror, and though he can confound mourn and tuum very well, he does it by erait- rather than handicraft, and ranks aMongst sha- fiers, not amongst thieves. The Hindoe, however, is the master rogue, and his removal,into another:clime has not improved him: In fact, the orthodox look grave upon his doings, not in the matter of money-making, but on dolnestie 'and doctrinal points; 'so much so thatexcomminueation has been:talked Of. Besides .these leading races, there are half-breeds and tribes,—the Scindian- Beloch, not improved by climate or Crossing ; the Moslem-llindoe, converted perforce,. when the 'mob and their rigors have- been piously disposed on some Friday, and hurried off the Brahmin tp circumcision andthe true faith: JeWe seem to be, scarce in Soinfli; whether owing to the skilfulness of native :professors, -.which gave- the chosen people little chance, or to the Scindians being even more persecutingly disposed towards them than the Turks or Persians. Besides these classes, there are professiona and individuals, whom birth or the chances of Oriental adventure have carried to the Unhappy Valley ; and though such inen are to be found everywhere in the East, it strikes us that there is more-raciness abont them in Scinde, or in Mr. Burton's pen. ' - The elements of the work may be said to be -‘a voyage from Bombay-to Scinde, with travels Ihrough the country and a resi- dence in various places, all undertaken at the, call of duty. Tra- Vele; however, is not the- exact form in which the book, is . pre! seated to the reader. Mr. Burton's .8einrk is,rather a succession Of sketches of places, journies, classes of people, indiiidual charaer ters, and daily-incidents-illustrative of native life or of the plea- sures of travel to those Europeans who are unfortunate enough to be sent there. Spirit; variety, and dramatic effect, are given by the - introduction of Mr. Bull; twho having, extended his Egyptian tour to the East, is supposed. to abcompany theAuthor in an excursion to Scinde. Without a good deal of judgment in the use of him, such a:personage would degenerate into • a_ Vore j but Mr. Burton has managed him with- considerableMr. -Bull is a silent- man, who says but little himself ; and the ittithor only uses him to point. out peculiarities, to indicate national` usagesmore honmired in the breach than the observance, to mark' the contrast between English and-Oriental habits, and by the ficalities- of the dramatic form in dialogue, to describe min-afire that would have enact-inhered nails-

This artificial contrivance *paid 'rather have induced flat-

nese, by tempting into overdoittg,fAtt for the knowledge and spirit with which it is done. Mr. Burton has an extensive aCquaintanee with the natives, and the country, neither of which he is disposed to overrate; and he exhibits a sustained vivaqitY and power, Which the-reader of his " Goa " would not have supposed him to posiess. Whether the form in which he has cast his matter may not occasionally tempt him to indulge in the licence of the fiction- ist, Mid:throw in effects of his own, we cannot tell. It is probable that it does; but the aceessorial. matter is appropriate, and we have no doubts about the general truth of the picture., -

There is probably a touch of fiction in the following sketch;

but it well exhibits that thoughtless, reckless, 'dare-devil spirit, Winch forms the soldier whO is to do the fight* rather than the directing part of war. The scene is 'a w -known -tank spreading into a swamp where sacred alligators are allowed to flourish ; some officers who have pleched their tent in the neigh- bouihood are out "larking," and have shot at the saintly .creatures in return for their munching, a dog:

"Again the old fakir issuing from his sandum—that white dome.-on the

rock which towers high above the stragglifig grove—finds fault with the nature Of the proceedings. This time, however, he receives a rupee and a bottle of Cognac–the respectable senior, would throttle his father or sell his mother for a little more. So he retires, in high glee, warning his generous friends that thebeasts are .very ferocious and addicted to biting.

When'lir` king' doeacommence, somehow or other it is very difficult to

cut its•careeishOrt. No sooner does the keeper of the lines disappear, than the truth of his caution is canvassed, and generally doubted. The chief. of the sceptics, a beardless boy about seventeen, short, thin, and cock-hosed—. in fact, the Very model of a guardsman—proposes to demonstrate by experi- ment what confounded nonsense the chap was talking.' A draw it mild, Old fellow,' fixes his intentions, • Scinde, or the Unhappy Valley. By Richard F. Burton, Lieutenant, Bombay Army; -Author of "Goa and the Blue MountainsiV ecc. Published by Bentley. "The ensign turns round to take a run at the bog, looks to see that hia shoes arc tightly tied, and charges' the place right gallantly; now planting his foot upon one.of the little tufts of rank grass which portrude'froin.the Muddy water, now lighting on an alligator's back, now sticking for a mo- ment in Ufa blaermire, now hopping dexterously off a sesquipedahan snout. He reaches the other side with a whOle skin, although his pantaloons have suffered a little-from a vicious bite : narrow escapes, as one mayimagine, he has had, but pale ale and plentiful pluck are powerful preservers. "A crowd assembles about the spot ; the exultation of success seems to turn the young gentleman's head. He proposes an alligator ride ; is again laughed to scorn ; and again runs off, with mind made up, to the tent. A -moment afterwards he reappears; carrying a huge steel fork and a shark hook, strong and -ahem, with the body of a fowl quivering on one end and a• stout cord attached bo the other. -.He lashes his line carefully round one of the petal-trees, ancteoinmences plying the water for a mugur. --" ,A. brute nearly twenty feat long, a real Saurian every inch of him, takes the bait., and finds himself in a predicament : he must either disgorge a savoury morsel, or remain a prisoner ; and for a moment or two he makes the ignoble choice. He pulls, hOwever, like a thorough=bred bull-dog, shakes his head as if he' wished to shed . and lashes his tail with the energy of itehark who is being beaten to death with capstan-bars. ••. • "-Ina moment, young Waterton is seated, like an elephant-slriver„,upon the thick neck of the reptile;: who, not being accustomed. to carry such weight,'at once sacrifices his fowl, and running off with hit; rider; makes for the morass. - On the way, at times, he slackens his zigzag wriggling course and attempts a bite; but the prongs of the steel fork, well rammed into the soft skin of his neck, muzzle him effectually enough.. And just as the steed is phinging into his own element, the jockey springs actively-up, leaps on one- side avoids a terrific lash' from the serrated tail, and again escapes

better than he deserves," .

This is a sketch of field Sports and their consequences in some parts of Sciinde.

-" Those three little 'heels [jhed, alake or pond] below us—torpid sheets of thick fluid left behind by the last inundation, with the bottom of fetid black Mud baking in the sun, where the waters have been drawn off by evapora- tion--will afford you excellent spot. AMongst the fat sedges,.tall-grasses, and matted reeds, in every state ,of vegetable existence, from the,first stage of germination to the last 'state of decay,- yoU will find mallard, 33rahminee ducks,- bitterns, snipe, and snippets : you. have only to wander into the acacia woods that line the banks, and a herd of Half-wild buffaloes will afford you a good chance of larger stuff Thr the pot; and if you stay long enough with your- feet in the water and your head in the sun, although we are getting into the heart of the cold weather, you will most probahly.be able to'proneunce evertua upon the pleasures of a Seinde ague. "Fevers, I may inform. you; in this part of Asia are of two kinds. One is a brisk, bold fellow, who does his work within the day, permitting you to breakfast, but placing; his veto upon your dining; the Other is a slow, sneaking wretch, who bungles over you for a -week or a fortnight. The former appears as a kind of small shivering, first ; then as,a sick headache, whieh,-rifter a few minutes, feels as if a cord were being tightened round your perieranium; your brain 'burns as if it were on fire ; ymir head throbs as-though - it would burst ; your skin is hot, and -hard US'S. riding-glove. Presently your senses leave you ; to delirium succeeds congestion ; you pant and puA ill Van...energies being applied to•keeping the breath in your body —you fail therein, and are buried that.evening. -.The slow fever attacks.. you much in the same Way; only it imprudently allows you leisure to send for a doctor, who pours cold water from an altitude upon .your shaven poll, ad- ministers mercury sufficient to stock an average-used barometer; and-blis- ters You, generally, with -mustard and other plasters; From the nape-of your

neck-down to the soles of your feet. - •

" I never saw a patient recover from this • necessary mode of treatment without. entering into the feeling* of the poor decrepit Hindu, who Cursed the meddling hand which clawed the holy hind out of his mouth as he was comfortably dying upon the banks of the Ganges, and by means of a draught of fire `water,' sent hilt back to the world of .matter, a baser;bit of hu-

nanity than he was before."' • • •'• • • • . •

One of the persons *Ito are visited by the author and Mr. is a eertain Ibrahim Shan,—a:stput, jovial, pleasant chief, though a. terrible tyrant and extortioner to his people, and accused- o'f murdering_ his brother :in the melee at Meanee.- The Allan, how- eyer,.has an Oriental conscience on-such peccadilloeS, and doewnot refrain from giving a.-curious Oriental account of the battle where his brother fell.

"Such are the vellections which naturally oacur.during the silent-quarter' of an hour devoted -by ,our society tolmiolsing themselves 'acrewed4 At the end. the the host motions swig, his .pipe, and prepares himself, to con- verse and hor hor 1. with renewed v3gorix.

,...""Were you at Nasir Khan's fight ?':'-•so the battle of Meanee is ealled by the•Seindians, as opposed to Sher Mokanimed's fight, the battle of DMbeh. "We reply in the negative, and suspebt thatrat are in for one of °mum- ble hosts stock stories. ' •

. Hor ! hor I :that was an affair., 0 Allah ! Allah-Akbar wee; ever-the. like of it before !' „ . " 'Then you were. present, Meer Sahib ?' ndeed I was. I went out with all the .vassals of my poor bro- ther, (a broad grin,) whom you killed. Look at his son, my nephew, there (pointing to the lean scowler sitting, by his side). Weld,. you • killed his poor father. And hor ! hor ! you: would have killed me,' pursues Ibra-, him,-highly- amused by the idea, but -I was a little too sharp even for the Frank.'

"We stimulate him by an inquiry. •

" 'How ?' he vociferates ; Why, when went out of the tent to attack you, we started to hunt the deer. 'Some carried swords; others spears, and Many sticks, because we wanted-to thrash you -soundly for your impudence— net to kill you poor things. My brother—now,-„Allah illumine his grave ! —.was a simple-Minded man, who said, ' What can the iron of the Angreez domgainitlhe steel of the Beloeh ?' " We drew up in a heap- eager for the onslaught. Presently some guns of yours appeared ; they unhnibered ; they began to fire. So did ours ; jug somehow or other we shot over you, you shot into us: I was on the other part of the field, so of course "I did'nt care much fpr that. But, a few-mi-

nutes afterwards, what did we see long red line, with flashing spikes,

Come sweeping over the plain towards ns, ike a simoon. - " 'Allah ! Allah! what are these dogs doing ? They are not running away ?'

, All my poor brother's men put the same Tiestiom • .

" Then Zang went the great guns; phit-the little guns ; the Franks pray ed aloud to the Shaitan, with a loud, horrible voice—we, to Allah. Whit a . mosque -full of mullahs it was to be sure-! • Who -.could fight ? • We howled defiance avainst them. Still they came on. We stood and looked at them. Still they came on. :We rushed and Blasted at them like- Rustams. Still they came on, the White fiends! And, by Allah, when we ran away, stilt they came after us. It was'useless to encounter-this kind- of Magic ; the head magician sitting all the time on the back of a little bay.'

horse, waving his hat in circles, and using words which those that heard them said sounded like the language of deiils. I waited till my poor brother fell dead. -Then I cried to the vassals—' Ye base-born, Will you see your chieftain perish. uilavanged, ?' and,'• having done_my best to fight like soldier, I thought I had right:to run like one—hor ! hor ! ' " • ,

The following is 'a sketch a holy place, and the personages there assembled; illustrating the Western proverb about "the

nearer the church." •

" SehWan the luckless is likely to fall still -lower. -Formerly it was a place of, some military as well as religious importance, commanding the pas- sage of the Indus : now the river, its second great .sMnd-hy, is gradually deserting it. The climate is celebrated as the most deleterious and deadly of this miasmatic land : one glance at the hapless population is proof palppaable of its effects upon the body and mind of man. And, as is the case, Itelieve; in all sacred'places and holy cities, from Rome to Mecca, the inhabitants are

a very disreputable race. * * " On our way to the tomb you will easily remark on the principal peculiar- ities of the town.

"'We are surrounded as soon as sighted by a host of pauper cripples, the Young and old of both sexes : at every turn a knot Of beggars, obstructing our' ay, adds a few units to the throng: every one is a mendicant, it would appear; the very babies look impatient to begin begging. This gentleman deserves your special notice. He is a lialandar—a Calendar, as.those•dear old Frenchified Arabian Nights do so delightfully confuse the word—and an excellent specimen of his clasi is he. His long matted filthy locks are crumpled up under a greasy felt thing, formed like a Western fool's cap; his neck, arms, and legs, are bare; and a woollen cloth, pepper and salt, pur- posely fashioned like a shroud to show how •dead the scoundrel is to the romps, vanities, et enters; covers his gaunt angular carcase. In one hand he carries a rosary, whose every bead is the size of a boy's `taw' • in the other the cup of dried gourd; from which he pours forthlibations to Racchius and in which he receives the alms of the charitable : under his arm is a huge black wood bludgeon; not a bad instrument for furnishing the long wide gabri, or wallet, which loads his broad back. If the costume be remarkable the wearer in point of countenance and demeanour is a real curiosity..: k never saw even amongst the horrid-looking devotees of India a face in which the man, the baboon, and the fiend, are so fearfully and so wonderfu4 blended together. As for the individual's manners, you will soon, see enough. of them.

" He is aware that we are approaching : though he neither moves from his seat nor opens his half-closed eyes, he shows consciousness by stringing his scapulary over his wrist, and by drawing forth the horn of a wild goat, through which he begini to too-too with lugubrious perseverance. He then stretches out his cup, expecting alms. - " Give to me, men, give to me, d'ye hear me !' "I will make 'him show off his politeness. " Take this bounty, 0 fakir !--a rupee—and let us have the benefit of thy prayers in return for. it'. " The fellow receives the coin in his gourd, rises slowly from the ground, and retreats a step or two, keeping his fiery red eyes shifting between the present and our _oountenances. • He is direly offended. " Bounty 1—May Allah preserve you (with desperate irony). Bounty! it is my rightiny due—my daily bread--my.God's gift, not yours ! One ra- pee ; 0 ye brothers of Hatim !—one rupee ! Time was when men gave me a thousand. You wear Moslem garments—ye crows dressed in parrot's feathers !—corpses and eaters of corpses !—whose faces are blacker than yours ? There, go your ways. A bad road and a curse to you.'

" When visiting holy places, Mr. Bull, I always make up my mind to eat dirt. We might order our servants, who, in spite of the sanctity of Rabin- darhood; look eagerly for the job, to instruct the fellow in the bienseances. But he 'would certainly use his staff; the dagger might then appear, and the consequence would be a serious fray. It will be better to leave him a Roland for his Oliver, and to get through our pilgrimage as quickly as possible.

" Abubekr, Omar, and Usman—be confounded ! Go thy ways, 0 follower of an infamous patron saint!' " We leave him speechless with fury.

"'0 my father ! 0 my father !' cries a lady of flaunty dress and jaunty demeanour, standing and staring at us as if she had been a promenader-0F Fleet Street: What men are these ? Are ye going to pass throughBehwan,' fellows, without, engaging me for a rianteh ? Infidel Franks 1 Ye blight& upon the land! You ruling instead of Ameers—ye locusts !' That mouth it, will be impossible to close. Our only way to save. our ears from the cudgel of her tongue,' is to'get beyond its range as speedily as we can. I will not, however, `neglect to leave behind a few such counter- checks quarrelsome' as Thy locks be shaved ! dame of all the dogs

May thy, nose drop off, eater of the pig r May the jackass that carries.

thee (Ue. in procession through the basan) be a big ass May sweepers deposit their burdens upon thy corpse, 0, widow woman 0 thy mother, 0

thy sister, female'fiaid !!

„" We leave the lady blowing off her wrath in a long howl, varied and 11.10r dilated by patting the Paler of her hand-against the circular orifice formect by her lips ; the Indian and Soindian way of dormwhat Mrs. B. would effect by springing a rattle,,or shrieks of "' murder'—raising the neighbOurhood."'