27 JUNE 1896, Page 10

Silent Gods and Sun - Steeped Lands. By R. W. Frazer. (T.

Fisher Unwin.)—Mr. Frazer has embodied in some rather grandiloquent writing a few traditions and tales of the religions of Southern India. He has fully entered into the secretiveness and intricacy of the Brahmin character and the clinging of the tribes to their ancient beliefs. " The Tailless Tiger" relates a current belief in India, and " The Last Human Sacrifice and the Abbe Lerorix" is a story of the Khonds and their determination not to forego a terrible rite which had long been banished. "The Cloud Messenger" is a prose rendering of a celebrated Sanskrit poem by Kdlidava. " The Dream of Life" embodies some of the higher aspirations and sentiments of the Brahmin philosophers.