HOW I HELPED TO GOVERN INDIA.
A Fly on the Wheel; or, How I Helped to Govern India. By Lieut.-Col. Thomas H. Lewin. (Constable and Co. 6s. net.)— We are glad to welcome a second edition (after thirty years) of this interesting book. Colonel Lewin says that he has not altered it, as he feels that he could not now touch his "young work with- out marring it." Recollections, beginning with the Mutiny and ending with a frontier war, could hardly be anything but exciting, and the author's charming and cultivated personality lends an added interest even to such subjects. His well-balanced sympathies and his sense of humour carried him through many difficult and dangerous situations, not only to his own credit, but to that of England, and, though his services seem to have received but little recognition at the time, they must have left a mark on the history of the wild tribes whose leaders learnt to trust him. The hard work of fighting and governing was lightened by his love of the hill country, in which much of his time was spent, and his descriptions of the mountains, rivers, and forests help the reader to realize their wonderful beauty and grandeur. He also tells many good stories. Here is a mail carrier's account of a conversation with a tiger in a jungle.
"So I said, ' My Lord Tiger, here are the Government letters, the letters of the Honble. Kumpny Bahadnr (the Honourable East India Company), and it is necessary for me to go on with them.' The tiger never ceased looking at me, and when I had done speaking he growled, but he never offered to get out of the way. On this I was much more afraid, so I kneeled down and made obeisance to him ; but he did not take any more notice of that either, so at last I told him that I should report the matter to the Sahib and I threw down the letters in front of him and ran here as feat as I was able. Sahib, I now ask for your justice against that tiger."
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