Life in Java. By William Barrington D'Almeida. Two vols. (Hurst
and Blackett.)—We know so little of Java that it would be captions indeed to quarrel with what Mr. D'Almeida gives ns, a very agreeable description of what he and his wife saw. They seem to have journeyed pretty well over the whole island, and to have turned their attention to anything which was uppermost—scenery, antiquities, manners, or natural history. The book is in fact a very amusing, lively traveller's diary, but Mx. D'Abneida does not seem to have taken enough with him to the island to be able, according to the old saying, to bring very much away. Of the relations of the natives with the Dutch we learn very little, and what he does flay would lead to the con- clusion that the former are much better governed than has been com- monly supposed. If there is any discontent, Mr. D'Almeida seems to have seen nothing of it. As for Sir Stamford Raffles, his rule has apparently left not a trace of itself, at all events it has left none in this book. And they who want to understand the constitution, govern- ment, or statistics of the island must look elsewhere. Bat a book is not to be blamed for not doing what it does not attempt. A map would have added greatly to the reader's enjoyment.
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