The Countries and Tribes of the Persian Calf. By Colonel
S. B Miles. (Harrison and Sons. 31s. 6d. net.)—The. late Colonel Miles was stationed successively at Aden as Resident, at Muscat as Consul, and at Baghdad as Consul-General between 1897 and 1881. He made good use of his opportunities for studying the history and topography of Southern and Eastern Arabia and the Persian Gulf, but blindness prevented him from finishing the book which he had planned. His widow has, however, done wisely to publish the incomplete work in these two handsome volumes—exceptionally well printed, and illustrated with a few good photographs of unfamiliar Arab towns—as it con- tains, besides much historical matter of interest, four chapters describing fully the coasts of Oman, the pearl fisheries, the Kuria Muria islands, and other places which, though under British protection, have seldom been visited or written about Now that Turkish intrigue has been eliminated from Arabia, it is possible that this region may attain a now prosperity. Colonel Miles's descriptions of the towns probably hold good ; forty years are but a day in sleepy Arabia.
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