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... much more than a " wanderer's diary." He devotes some space to a description of the country and people of Sistan, on the importance of which he insists, not merely for its great fertility, but on account of its position relatively to the surrounding countries; and bears full testimony to the influence with the people which Major Sykes has acquired by his bonhomie and tact. With respect to much of the other districts traversed, the impression conveyed by the narrative is one of dreary monotony and desolation, leading one to the conclusion that, in themselves at least, they can never afford an adequate occasion for international rivalry. Of Birjand, however, and its apparently increasing trade, a somewhat brighter picture is drawn. NEPAL. ' Durch Indien ins Verschlossene Land Nepal.' By Dr. K. Boeck. Leipzig: F. Hirt & Son. 1903. The author, who has visited India frequently in the course of the last twelve years, describes his book as a series of sketches from Ceylon to Nepal. In these literary sketches and the numerous photographs that accompany them, the first place is given to the native population and its daily life; architecture, particularly in the strange temples of the south, Madura and Seringham, is also well illustrated. Less attention has b3en paid to the better-known Mohammedan architecture of the north. Dr. Boeck was fortunate in obtaining leave, generally restricted to the Resident's guests, to visit Katmandu and its environs, and his photographs of the local architecture are numerous and interesting. From the Kakani heights, some few miles north of Katmandu, previously visited by H. Schlagintweit, he obtainel a view of the snow mountains visible to the east, amongst which he was pointed out " Gaurisankar-Everest." SYRIA AND PALESTINE. ' The Semitic Series.-The Early History of Syria and Palestine.' By Lewis Bayles Paton. London: Nimmo. 1902. The general reader is here presented with a clear outline of the history of the Western Semites from the earliest times down to the establishment of the Persian empire, so far as it can be pieced together from the narratives of the Bible and other ancient sources, and from the results of the most recent explorations both in Syria and Palestine, and in the neighbouring Eastern lands with which those countries were brought so much into contact. The story of Israel and the Phoenicians will be told more fully in other volumes of the series, but the present work gives a valuable insight into the general movements of the Semitic peoples in ancient times. AFRICA. EAST AFRICA.