In Unknown China. By S. Pollard. (Seeley, Service. 25s. net.)—Mr.
Pollard'" interesting book is concerned with the Nosu tribes, inhabiting the hill country north of the Upper Yangtse in Szechuan. These wild people—known to Europeans as Lobos, which is, it appears, a Chinese term of contempt— are on bad terms with the Chinese and have never been subdued. They have a written language, with characters unlike the Chinese, but the books seen by Mr. Pollard dealt mainly with spiritualism and magic. Mr. Pollard, with a fellow-missionary, made a long stay among the Nosu, whose feudal system and habits of raiding remind one of the Highlands in the Middle Ages. He was well received on the whole, though on his return journey tome tribesmen were suborned by a Chinaman to murder him. Ito thinks that, if the Chinese officials would deal honestly with them, the Nom hillmen, who are good fighters, might be a valuable addition to the defensive forces of China. If peace Were established in Nosu-land, Christian missions might, he suggests, penetrate into Tibet, which is still hermetically sealed. The book is well illustrated.
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