In Bamboo Lands. By Katharine Schuyler Baxter. (Merriam Company, New
York.)—" Bamboo Lands" is a paraphrase of "Japan." Mrs. Baxter started from Montreal, travelled by the Canadian Pacific to Vancouver, where she embarked on the Empress of India,' bound for Yokohama. The first chapter, of thirty-odd pages, is given to a pleasant description of the journey by land and sea ; the rest of the volume is devoted to Japan. The country and its people seem to have exercised the same fascinating influence which makes itself felt by.all strangers. Mrs. Baxter recognises the fact that " a few months spent there had enabled her but to stumble over the threshold." There is a seamy side to things Japanese, as to all others. The earthquakes that from time to time desolate it are a symbol of forces that do not make for peace. But the charm of the people, the consummate finish of their art, and the smoothness with which life seems to run, make a delightful impression. This is a pleasant book to read, and it is well illustrated, though some of the photographs are not wholly successful.
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