6 AUGUST 1864, Page 22

Colonial Essays. Translated from the Dutch. (Sampson Low, Son, and

Marston.)—If it were only as a specimen of modern Dutch literature, with which most of us are entirely unacquainted, these essays would be in- teresting. They are, however, of considerable intrinsic value. In the first Mr. Robide Van Der Aa classifies the several kinds of colonies now in existence in a very complete and philosophical fashion. We must also mention the essays on rice and coffee culture in Java, which give a most entertaining and exact account of these branches of tropical agri- culture. The work has evidently been printed abroad, and there are therefore a few solecisms in spelling. The translation might be a little polished in places, but if, as we suspect, it is the work of a foreigner, it is wonderfully good.