1. View in the Fall Range. 2. Natural Cylinders. 3. Witchita Mountains. 4. Sand Hills on the Canadian. 5. Natural Hill. 6. A Cañon in New Mexico. 7. Inscription Rock. 8. Falls of the Colorado Chiquito. 9. Cereus giganteus. 10. William's Valley. 11. View of the Great Basin. 12. Pyramid Lake. 13. View in the Walahmette Valley. 14. Basaltic Towers. 15. American Falls of the Columbia. 16. View of the Great Salt Lake, 17. Stansbury Island. 18. View of the Upper Mississippi. 19. View of the Minnesota. 20. View of the Shining Mountains. 21. Ancient Amphitheatres. 22. Artificial Mounds. 23. Ancient Fortifications. 24. Ancient Pottery. 25. Ancient Ornaments. 26 and 27. Ancient Pipes. 28. Phallic Idols. 29. Ancient Pottery. 30. Copper and Stone Axes. 31. Arrow Heads and Obsidian Knife. 32. Indian Inscriptions. 33. Indian Hieroglyphs. 34. Comanche. 35. Zuni. 36. Navajo Chief. 37. Chinook Woman. 38. Chippeway. 39. Crow Chief. 40. Dacota Chief. 41. Iroquois. 42. Mandan Chief, 43. Mojave. 44. Osage.' 45. Pueblo Indian (Jémez). 46. Satsikaas. 47. Musical Instruments. 48. Fishing Implements. 49. Indian Woman: 50. Wampums. 51. A Pueblo. 52. Tomahawks. 53. Calumet and Pipes. 54. Canoes and Cradles. 55. Indian Costumes. THOUGH long familiar with the sublimities of Alpine scenery, Mr. Wills gives the palm for romantic beauty to a spot hitherto but little known to English tourists-the Valley of the Sixt, in the Savoy Alps, 2,350 feet above the level of the sea, two hours' journey from Chamouni, and distant from ten to twelve hours from Geneva. The " Eagle's Nest" is the name given by the author to a piece of land he has bought and a dwelling he has erected on a lofty plateau of this valley; and the object of the first portion of the present work (about two-thirds of the volume) is to describe the region, and to recount the circumstances attending its exploration and the subsequent purchase. A mournful interest is imparted to this division of the work by the extremely sudden death, while the book was at press, of Mrs. Wills, in whose company the author had visited the country, and to whose memory the volume is inscribed in an affecting dedication. The natural attractions of the valley of Sixt are evidently of the highest order; rich pastoral beauty and savage grandeur being combined in a degree very uncommon even among the Alps. It was chance that first led Mr. Wills into the valley of Sixt, but having once been there he did not know how to keep away from it, and the present volume is the result of a very intimate acquaintance with almost every detail of the scenery. A curious account is given of the difficulties with which Mr. Wills had to contend, in the preliminaries of his purchase, before he could succeed in overcoming the prejudices of a section of the inhabitants. The testimony borne to the character of the population is, however, most honourable. They would seem to have got by some process of intuition-for it is difficult to see how they could have learned it-to the very bottom of the great secret of constitutional government, the duty, namely, of the minority to give way to the majority. Every lawful engine of opposition was put in force to prevent Mr. Wills from acquiring his property, but when once the party of progress had carried the day, opponents vied with friends in welcoming the intruder, and making him feel that the opposition was the result of political prejudice and not of personal ill-feeling. One arm of the valley of Sixt is remarkable as the scene of the tragedy which closed the adventurous career of Jacques Balmat, renowned as the first ascender of Mont Blanc. Balmat's fate remained a mystery for many years; but the mystery was at last cleared up by the revelations of a person who had been well acquainted with the facts from the time of Balmat's disappearance and death in 1834, but had carefully concealed them, to the serious detriment of a man upon whom some suspicion rested. The circumstances attending this singular episode of Alpine life, especially the motives for concealing the fatal accident, as related to the author by the wellknown Auguste Balmat, the grand-nephew of Jacques, curiously illustrate the state of society at Sixt, and the nature of the objects of primary importance in the eyes of the mountain-village politicians. The valley of Sixt appears to be rich not only in insect and vegetable life, but also in objects of geological interest. One chapter is devoted to the "fossils of Moëd," Mr. Wills having spent three days at a deserted chalet in order to examine them, and disinter some striking specimens new to science. They appear to be of remarkable beauty, and to be as perfect as when the leaves and stems were first imbedded. The second portion of the work consists of some great glacier excursions, including the ascent of Mont Blanc under very trying circumstances, the ascent of Monte Rosa, and the passage of the Col d'Erin. Mr. Wills and Dr. Tyndall ascended Mont Blanc together, and were assailed at the summit by fearful cold and wind, as well as by a driving mist. The object of the expedition was to bury a self registering thermometer at the summit, and in so doing Balmat all but lost both hands by frost-bite. The party had contumaciously ascended without the regulation number of guides, and the chief guide, in revenge, took proceedings against the whole party of guides and porters. The result was a great triumph to the party of progress, and had no small effect in bringing about the alterations which have since been made in the Chamouni regulations. The interest of this volume is much enhanced by a series of twelve views, drawn on stone and printed in two tints by N. Hanhart, from sketches taken by Mrs. Wills, and photographs by Mr. Wills; depicting all the most strikingly picturesque scenery of the valley of Sixt. There are also two maps of the valley and the surrounding country, as well as one or two woodcuts. A list of the twelve illustrations in chromo-lithography is subjoined :— 1. View of the Plateau des Fonds and the Eagle's Nest. 2. Cascade of the "Nant Dant." 3. The Pic de Tinneverges. 4. The Fer à Cheval. 5. Sixt and the Giétà. 6. The Pointe de Salles. 7. View from the Eagle's Nest, looking towards the Buet. 8. View from the Eagle's Nest, looking down the Valley. 9. The Aiguilles Rouges. 10. From the Bridge above the Cascade Bérard. 11. View from Champéry. 12. Monte Rosa. The Old Glaciers of North Wales and Switzerland. By A. C. RAMSAY, F.R.S. and G.S. Local Director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, and Professor of Geology in the Government School of Mines. Pp. 124; with Map and 14 Woodcuts. Fep. 8vo. price 4s. 6d cloth. [June 14, 1860. THE present work may be regarded as a chapter of the physical geography of the Earth as it ex isted in the age immediately preceding the chronolo gical period of its history. Its object is to describe from personal observation and with scientific acbut in popular language, some of the more curacy, striking geological phenomena connected with the Upper and Lower Glaciers of the Aar in SwITZERLAND, and with the Snowdon range in NORTH WALES; and to show the relation of both with the erratic Drift that now covers the lowlands of both countries. These two papers originally appeared as a chapter of Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers, by the members of the Alpine Club; which accounts for one or two brief passages not strictly essential to the scientific bearing of the subject. A sketch map is appended, shewing the course of the Glaciers of Snowdon and its neighbourhood, marking in colour the striæ on the rocks, the lakes and streams, the moraines, moraine matter, and blocs perchés. The illustrations comprise two views of the Pass of Llanberis; a diagram of the roches moutonnées by the gorge of the Aar; the glacier of the Aar filling the hollow beyond the Kirchet; the plain above the Kirchet as a Lake, with Icebergs; the bloc perché near Derlwyn, and certain other blocs perchés and roches moutonnées, in the Pass of Llanberis; views of similar formations, with moraines and moraine-mound at the mouth of Cwmglas and by Llyn Llydaw; Cwmgraianog, a stony valley, north of Llyn Idwal; a section across the Moraines of Llyn Idwal; a view of the Maen-bras, west of Snowdon; and an episode in the glacial history of the Pass of Llanberis-explained by the Author's belief that the immense blocks of stone were originally scattered over the great Welsh pass by icebergs broken from a glacier descending into the lake, like the cliff of ice which the explorer of the Aletsch Glacier finds actually overhanging the Märjelen-see. In the form of a separate treatise it is hoped that this small volume may prove useful not only to the geologist specially interested in the study of British glacial phenomena, but also in some degree to the less scientific tourist who explores the mountains and valleys of North Wales. Two Months in the Highlands, Orcadia, and Skye. By C. R. WELD, Barrister-at Law, Author of The Pyrenees, West and East, &c. Pp. 436; with 4 Illustrations in Chromolithography and 4 Woodcuts from Sketches by Mr. George Barnard and the Author. Post 8vo. price 12s. 6d. cloth. [July 9, 1860. THE author of this work has for several years been in the habit of spending his holidays in travelling. On former occasions he wandered over and described the "Pyrenees," "The United States and Canada," and "Ireland." Last year his footsteps were directed, by an invitation from a hospitable Scottish Laird, to a remote part of Scotland, where there was ample scope for observation in various fields of scenery, industry, and science. After giving an account of some of the least frequented districts of Peeblesshire, the author, having arrived at Wick, in Sutherlandshire, in the height of the great herring fishery, describes the various operations connected with this fishery in detail. An account of the shooting and fishing of Caithness, from the author's experience, is then given; followed by an excursion through that county to John-o'-Groat's House and the Stacks of Duncansby, near the north-east extremity of Scotland. From this, the author proceeded to Thurso, and crossed the Pentland Firth to the Orkneys. The grand precipitous cliff's of Hoy, Stromness, the curious and extensive druidical remains at Stennis, the antiquities of Kirkwall, and the scenery of the Orkneys, are described; and returning to Thurso, the author proceeded along the Sutherlandshire coast, visiting on his way the most interesting localites, to Cape Wrath. This noble Cape, its scenery, and geology are described, and the author then walked down the coast to Ross-shire, and crossed the country to Golspie. Having visited Dunrobin Castle, he crossed the Moray Firth to Burgh Head, the geology of which is described. From thence he went to Elgin and Inverness, and descending the Caledonian Canal embarked at Oban for Skye. He made the tour of this very interesting island, ascended one of the most remarkable mountains of the Cuchullin group, the physical features of which, and their geology, are described in considerable detail. Crossing to Scotland, Mr. Weld ascended Loch Duich, and passed through one of the inland districts in Ross-shire to Inverary. He then proceeded from Bannanie, through the Pass of Glencce to Loch Lomond. The greater part of this journey, which carried the author through the wildest part of Caithness, Sutherland, and Skye, was performed on foot. The ILLUSTRATIONS comprise picturesque views of Loch Coruisk (2), the Stacks of Duncansby (a remarkable group of rocks off the coast), and Glen Sligachan; with woodcuts of the Interior of a Caithness Hovel, the Old Man of Hoy, the Circle of Stones at Brogar, believed to mark Scandinavian Sepulchres, and a Glen on the River Shiel. Reminiscences of an Old Sportsman. By Col. J. P. HAMILTON, K.H., Au hor of Travels in the Interior of Columbia. Pp. 630; with 6 Illustrations engraved on Wood. 2 vols. post 8vo. price 18s. cloth. COLON [July 16, 1860. LONEL HAMILTON has suffered the affliction of loss of sight for the last twenty years; but that his memory has been true to him is shown by the vivid and minute details into which he enters in describing the plumage and habits of the various birds and quadrupeds which have come under his notice as a sportsman. Having spent a considerable time in the island of Sardinia, the author describes the country, its resources both in agriculture and manufactures, its field sports, and its resources in game. Before entering upon his experiences, Col. Hamilton gives a short sketch of the game laws of ancient times, and remarks upon the severity of the Norman laws relating to venery, which enacted that whomsoever was found killing game without the consent of the king should have his eyes put out; but a murderer might reconcile himself with justice by the payment of a fine; and he points out the fact that in countries where a despotic Government has been continually maintained the laws relating to game are the most stringent. The following selection from the chapter headings indicates the variety of topics interesting to sportsmen and naturalists, on which practical information will be found in the present work:-Partridge Shooting; Pheasant Shooting; Grouse Shooting; The Ptarmigan; The Blackcock; the Capercailzie; the Hare; the Rabbit; Woodcock Shooting in Ireland, Wales, and the Isle of Terceira; Snipe Shooting in Canada and India; Quail Shooting; the Bustard; the Ortolan; Wild Swans; the Bittern; the Wild Duck; the Plover; the Curlew; the Magpie; the Raven; the Owl; the Eagle; the Fox; the Steat; the Badger; Boars killed at Amboise; Wild Fowl Shooting in Spain; Rearing Pheasants and Partridges Duties of a Gamekeeper; Hints from an Old Sportsman; Sporting Dogs; the Bloodhound; the Newfoundland Dog; the Instinct of Dogs; Deer Stalking. The author never misses an opportunity of communicating useful information or of enlivening his personal reminiscences with anecdotes. After describing most of the birds to be found in Europe, giving instructions to young sportsmen, and deprecating the modern practice of battue shooting in well-stocked covers, with servants to load the second guns, the author brings his reminiscences to a conclusion with four chapters on the history and practice of falconry or hawking, a pastime of our forefathers, which he hopes will be revived. This part of the work includes a full account of the natural history and habits of the falcon tribe. The ILLUSTRATIONS Comprise 1. A Wild-Boar Hunt in the plains of the Island of Sardinia; 2. A Sardinian farmer on horseback taking a wild boar to market; 3. Snipe-shooting in the Cambridge Fens; 4. Jessy, an excellent sporting dog, formerly the property of the author; 5. Neptune, a Newfoundland dog watching his master's grave in the churchyard at Stockholm; 6. Moustache, the celebrated poodle, having his wound dressed by a drummer. This dog accompanied the French army to Italy; distinguished himself by barking in defence of the colours at Marengo; again gallantly defended the colours at Austerlitz after their bearer mortally wounded had wrapped them about his body to save them from capture; and was killed by a cannon ball at the siege of Badajoz. Salmon-Fishing in Canada. By a RESIDENT. Edited by Colonel Sir J. E. ALEXANDER, Knt., K.C.L.S., Author of "Explorations in America, Africa," &c. Pp. 364, with Map of the Salmon Rivers of Canada and 40 Illustrations engraved on Wood. Crown 8vo. price 10s. 6d. cloth. [June 23, 1860. THE knowledge possessed by Englishmen of the wild and exciting rural sports of America seems incomplete without an account of the excellent fishing which is to be had in the noble American rivers. Such information it is the object of the present work on salmon fishing in Canada to supply, in a clear and comprehensive account of the occupation awaiting generations of Waltonians in thousands of miles of river of broad expanse and easy of access from England, but whose inexhaustible supplies of the finest fish are all but unknown beyond the boundaries of our North American Colonies. The work, which aims at combining amusement with instruction, embodies the actual adventures of several colonial excursionists in the Saguenay and its tributaries, the Esquemain, the Petite Romaine, the Sault de Mouton, Port Neuf, the Bersimits, &c., with directions how fishing is to be successfully practised in these and the various other Canadian waters. Piscatory narratives and anecdotes of angling are freely interspersed, including a chapter on whale fishing in the St. Lawrence, and stories about whales. An APPENDIX contains among other matter, new and interesting facts relating to the natural history and habits of the salmon and salmon fry in our North American provinces generally, from the pens of several renowned fishermen of the West, gentlemen of great intelligence, amongst others Dr. W. AGAR ADAMSON, Dr. HENRY, and Mr. PEARLEY. A copy of this work has been graciously accepted by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, who is expected to try his fortune with the rod in the streams and pools of the Goodbout, a rapid and picturesque river abounding in salmon and flowing into the great St. Lawrence. History of France. By EYRE EVANS CROWE. (In Five Volumes.) VOL. II. 8vo. pp. 666, price 15s. cloth. [June 23, 1860. THE second volume of Mr. Crowe's History of France commences in 1380, and enters upon the great struggle between the Houses of Orleans and Burgundy, which soon became blended and lost in the still greater one between Henry the Fifth of England and the French. The author has taken considerable pains in defining and elucidating the causes, first of English military superiority and then of the decline and loss of that superiority. The chief cause lay in the existence and excellence of the English yeomanry, a class not found in France, where the corresponding ranks of the army were recruited by townsmen only when roused by the pressure of war to take active part in the conflict. Mr. Crowe attributes to this, far more than to any miraculous intervention of the Maid of Orleans, the later reverses of the English. French historians have of late spent much learning and disquisition upon Jeanne D'Arc. The author enters sufficiently into the controversy to shew how needless is the supposition of her possessing supernatural powers. The reign of Louis XI. follows, forming a sort of neutral ground between ancient and modern history. It was in that period, the latter half of the fifteenth century, that France gradually turned away her rivalry and ambition from England, to direct them against Italy. In connexion with this policy, the very capital of the monarchy was removed from the banks of the Seine to those of the Loire. And though Louis the Eleventh held aloof from this ambition, his son and successor flung themselves into it. And France, Spain, England, and Germany, all coming to struggle and compete upon Italian ground, led to that close connexion and intertanglement of interests and policy, which constitutes modern history. Down to the reign of Louis the Eleventh, Mr. Crowe had confined the materials of his history chiefly to published chronicles and collections. Previously to that period the perusal of MSS. forms an exclusive and difficult science. But from Louis the Eleventh not only do MSS. collections increase, but their character is easily deciphered by the historical reader. Monsieur Legrand's manuscript history of Louis the Eleventh, with the twenty odd volumes of documents to illustrate it, preserved in the Bibliothèque Impériale of Paris, have furnished valuable materials for the author. For Charles the Eighth's reign, likewise, he has found an abundance of new and important manuscript materials. Louis the Twelfth's reign opens another era not only for history but historians; when statesmanship, previously confined to Italy, became extended to France and to England. A French Prime Minister arose in Cardinal D'Amboise. Henry the Eighth advanced a Wolsey, and Charles the Fifth employed the Granvelles and others, who all wrote, and a great number of whose letters are still extant, either in manuscript or in print. Much of this diplomatic correspondence has been given to the world. The Granvelle papers, the correspondence of the House of Hapsburg, of Charles the Fifth, published by Lanz, of Philip the Second, by Gachard, have thrown a light upon history, which almost supersedes the labours of many an historian of repute. In addition to these, Mr. Crowe has consulted the immense collection of the original letters of the period, preserved in the MSS. of Fontanieu, Bethune, Dupuy, and Gagnières. Robertson, Watson, Coxe, and other writers, however able and diligent, may almost be said to have written in the dark, for they had not had at their disposal one-tenth of the authentic materials which have subsequently come to light. Even in legal and parliamentary documents there was much to reveal. Thus, notwithstanding the immense research of Augustin Thierry, Mr. Crowe has discovered an assembly of estates or notables by Duprat, the Chancellor of Francis the First, an event of considerable historical importance, hitherto unknown. Mr. Crowe relates this event in a note (page 458), from a manuscript of the time, known by the title of Régistre. He has also consulted the Chronique de François Premier, numbered as 288. MS. Gagnières, in the Bibliothèque Impériale. In a history exclusively devoted to France, it is impossible, without exceeding its proper limits, to make digressions into the field of English or German history; but in the account given in this volume of the commencement of the Reformation, new light is thrown on some contested points in our own annals, such, for instance, as the approval of Henry the Eighth's divorce by the University of Paris, and Francis the First's conduct on that occasion. The untrustworthiness of Lingard's account of the events of this period is incidentally exposed, as well as that writer's manifest and natural partiality both to the Pope and to Spain. The great characteristic of Mr. Crowe's history is, however, the absence of partisanship of every kind. He is Protestant, to be sure, and sometimes warmly Protestant, but without bigotry or acrimony. If he is not a partisan of peculiar views, still less is he one of persons. Mr. Crowe is no hero-worshipper. And though doing more justice to Francis the First than Sismondi, he by no means worships the autocracy of either Henry the Eighth or of Charles the Fifth; and though he may not deny many good impulses in both, he is far from admitting either their immaculate worth or their superior wisdom. The present volume terminates in 1559, upon the eve of the great religious war. It ushers in, without entering upon, that most interesting portion of French history, during which the fate of the Reformation in France was decided, and during which its adventurous spirit survived the St. Bartholomew massacre, to be betrayed later by the very sovereign and the very champion it had chosen. There exists in history no cause which, so truly as that of French Protestantism, could exclaim,-"Save me from my friends, I am quite able to overcome my enemies." A Critical History of the Language and Literature of Antient Greece. By WILLIAM MURE, of Caldwell. VOL. IV. Second Edition. 8vo. pp. 580, with Map, price 158. cloth. [June 25, 1860. THE fourth volume of Colonel Mure's wellknown work on the language and literature of ancient Greece is chiefly devoted to the historical prose-writers of the Attic period, viz. two hundred and thirty-seven years, between B.C. 560, the date of the usurpation of Pisistratus, and the death of Alexander the Great, B.C. 323. This volume, first published in 1853, having been out of print a year, was thoroughly revised and seen through the press by Colonel Mure previously to his death in April last. The first chapter discusses the general characteristics of the Attic period, including its historical vicissitudes, the state of education, libraries, the patrons of literature, and the book-trade in that remote age. The second chapter traces the early history of Greek prose composition from its origin in the codes of the lawgivers through the several stages |