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    lbs THE Ij E APE B. [No. 461, January 22...

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    it cannot be denied that it takes money ...

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    THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. Tub present valuab...

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    - Descriptive Ethnology. Descriptive Eth...

    up to the clouids , and its 10 , 000 apartments , a city of itself . There is the Grand Lama , whose very soul , from the days of Prester-John to pur own , when it has worn out one frail human body passes into a new one , and as with us " the Pope never dieS i" in that far off land that spiritual head of the people not only never dies but never even puts on the semblance of death , merely changing his lodgings with as much facility as we move from one apartment to another . What a prospect for another Barrioloolah-Gah 1 What work for the missionary What a delightfuLcountry , too ; " full of all / ' says Abulfazel , " that can delig ht those who are fond of variety or take pleasure m retirement . " Violets , roses , narcissuses , and flowers innumerable ; cascadesriversand lakes spring and autumn ,

    beau-, , tiful as Paradise ; the house-tops , converted into tulip-beds , and industry and handicraft going ^ hand in hand with pleasure and enjoyment . Fruits in abundance , melons , grapes , apples , peaches , and apricots , and what if money be scarce , there are neither thieves nor beggars ; The vines twist round the mulberry-treesj and the leaves of the latter furnish food for the silkworm . It is a land of p lenty , and the inMbitants drink wine . Mutton , delicious and wholesome , rice in profusion , and vegetables fresh and dried , and milk and butter hot to . be equalled . Handicraftsmen abound , and goods are notliawked about the country at fairs , but are . sold in regular shops . Partridges everywhere ^ and elks , and- ^ -what a poor sport is deer-stalking in comparison—they train leopards to hunt them .

    It was Gashmere whence the Mahometanism of Bultistan was propagated ; the districts in which it now predominates being petty chieftaincies or captaincies , situated either in the main stream of the Indus or its pastern feeders—the Shigar and the Shayok . They are , more or less , subordinate to Biiitistaii Proper , or Little Tibet , in the limited sense of tlie term . Far inland as Bultistan lies it is thus not so far distant from Mecca as to be whqlly beyond-the pale of the Koran , though it lies on the very verge and edge thereof . Bultistan is . the country of the Bulti , for start is the Persian for land , and . Bwfttis the Persian form of Bhot , and it is from the Persian frontier that the name has been propagated . ' ¦< _ ¦ .. ¦ ¦; ¦ ' .. '

    object has been to describe , to collect facts , to arrange into one body the scattered fragments of ethnological science , rather than to furnish a handbook of Ethnology ; The present work is one of a series , all of which , from " Hope ' s Essay" to the volumes before us , are subsidiary to the - same end , of which these latter and our author ' s " Natural History of the Varieties of Man , " are the best text books we have in English , and in both of which the matter is so lucidly placed before the reader , and so pleasantly handled , that what in . less able hands , de

    would have been nothing but dry and repulsive - tail , becomes no less interesting to the general reader than to the man of scientific inquiry : ¦—I follow the Horatian rule ( is the opening sentence of the very first chapter ) and plunge at once in medias res . I am on the Indus ; but not on the Indian portion of it . I am on the Himalayas , but not on their southern side . I am on the north-western ranges ; with Tartary . on the north , Bokhara on the west , and Hindostan on the south . I am in a neighbourhood where , three great religions meet ; Mahometanism , Buddhism , Brahminisra . I must begin somewhere , and here is my beginning .

    That these parts are my starting-point means little ; perhaps nothing . At any rate it does not mean that I hold them to be the centre of civilisation . Still less does it imply that they are the cradle of the human race . No hypothesis attaches to them . I must simply begin somewhere . But why begin here ? If I had begun elsewhere the same question might be asked ; . and the same answer would be given . My object is to describe . If a certain amount of classification accompany the description , well and good . If speculations arise , they may or . may not be . pursued . At any rate they will form no notable portion of the work . As I have alreadv said , it is simply descriptive . .

    The great charm of this Descriptive Ethnology is that it is descrip tive . The science itself is yet too much in its infancy to admit of dogmatic teaching . Facts have yet to be gathered , and seeming contradictions reconciled , and Dr . Latham has proved how perfectly he is acquainted with ; the present stale of ethnological knowledge by not attempting more than his premises warranted . He has given us a delightful book , which wilj do more to promote the study of his favourite science than would have been the case had he attempted a more erudite classification of his materials .

    " It is fortunate , " says our author , " for the ethnographer that our knowledge of the imperfectly explored countries of the Himalaya is dependent upon the value rather than the number of observers ¦ who have visited and described them . " It is surprising how closely the names of the classical geographers reappear in our more recent descriptions . The Bvltee , the Cesi , the Akhassa regio , the Dabasce of Pliny and others , all come out with Turpnderful closeness in the still existing names of Buffi , Kie-ckha , and D-Bm .. Neither does the marvellous story of Herodotus respecting the gold of the Iessdones , which was dug out of the ground by ants as large as foxes , fail in finding a plausible

    explanation in the two languages of Tibet and India , combined with certain facts jn their zoology . That in more than one district on the drainage of the Indus , an animal of the marmot family does the work of the gold-seeker , though he does it unconsciously , is attested by several independent authorities . E [ e burrows in the auriferous clefts and eands , and gold is found in the earth at the entrance of his holes . This is collected by the natives of the district and traded in . Now the Bhot name for this marmot is phyipa , whilst the . Indian name for . ant is pipilaki , JMegaathenea relates that he never saw the animals themselves , bat that he had seen some skins of them . But who talks of the skina of

    ants ? The skin of the marmot is one of the commonest articles in the petty trade of India and Tibet , But the akin of an apt ? The names seem to have been confused ; not , however , by the Greeks , but by the Indians ; The people who dwell under the pleasant shade of the Kichakavenus , and along the Sailoda river , brought to Tudhiathira lumps of gold , of the aort called paippilika , or ant-gold , which was so called , because it was oxfodiated by the pipilaba , or common large ant . Subtract from paippiliha the last two syllables , and the Bhot name remains with scarcely the alteration of a single letter . The true Xiadak physiognomy is found in its most uniruiuita wuui

    typical lorm in me u . j ; y « . n > o u * uu . The Bhot of Ladak is strong , hardy , short , and square , with a decidedly Mongol physiognomyflat fftoe , broad cheek , depressed noso , oblique and narrow eye , curtained at the corners , —with blaok hair , and of low stature . Tine ears of tho Ladakis are inordinately large ,, one ludf lacgor thau those of Europeans , ' . The volumes before us are full of interest , illustrating as they do niinutelyrthe face of the country , the natural productions and climate of each district ., th , e language , tho religion and habits of all the tribes desonbed , together with their physical peculiarities , and mental acquirement , The author's

    Lbs The Ij E Ape B. [No. 461, January 22...

    lbs THE Ij E APE B . [ No . 461 , January 22 , 1859 .

    It Cannot Be Denied That It Takes Money ...

    it cannot be denied that it takes money from them to hand it over to the national creditors , nine-tenths at least of whom are members of the community and tax-payers themselves . Prior to the existence of the debt the whole produce of industry . was mainly divided into two portions , rent and wages , the latter went to the labouring classes who were fed as serfs or slaves—had just enough to preserve life and no more ^ -and all the rest wen t to the landowner and the titheowner . The capitalist only got profit as he got some of their share , he could get nothing from

    the labourer who had , and continues to have as the rule , a bare subsistence . What the national creditor got was rather taken from the landowner and the titiieowner than from the labourer , and transferred to the capitalist . With the national debt the power of the moneyed classes increased , and the power of the landowners and titheowners diminished . It transferred a portion of the ever-increasing surplus , after feeding the labourer , into the hands of capitalists , who used it better , for ulterior production than the other two classes . Looking at the other

    continental states , which have made a progress pari passu with England , we cannot deem this au evil . It gradually eat away a large proportion relatively of the material sustenance of the Church , and prevented it being so engrossing and commanding here as the Church has been abroad . By diminishing , too , the share of the landowner , it made the members of their families enter into the professions and render themselves useful . By making a different distribution of the produce of industry , the debt has diffused it wider . The number of claimants on industry was increased , but

    they were opposed to each other , and their rivalry served to moderate their demands . The labourer , in consequence , was here niore speedily and more effectually relieved from serfdom than in any part of the Continent . At the same time tlie appropriation of the fruits of industry became settled by laic , and industry was unable to obtain a larger share than it had before possessed of its own produce . Hence , our labourers , in spite of wonderful increase in productive power , liave remained relatively-poor . The national debt has brought go od as well as evil in its train , and evil as well as good would result from extinguishing it . While we think less favourably of the plan for paying off the debt than Mr . tli

    Capps , we think very favourably ot his account , e best we liave ever met with , of how it was contracted . It is a permanent appropriation , to a great extent , of the future annual product of industry ; and the reckless , prodigal , ignorant manner with which this was done by the Government , sometimes for noble , sometimes for flagitious purposes—at one time by the Ministers of William or of Anne for the defence of political and religious liberty , at another by Lord North and Mr . Pitt for the suppression both of political and religious liberty at home and abroad , as narrated by Mr . Capps- —is really

    one of the most instructive pages ni the history of political society . By the produce of industry we all live . It embraces all subsistence , and all the means of living , To appropriate the product of industry is therefore synonymous with appropriating life , and actually determines the existence , and the mode of existence , of the people . Next to life , no subject is , of equal importance . While we wonder , admire , and lament at the various consequences of inordinate taxation , national debts , and appropriation of individual property , we shudder at the ignorance and recklessness with which this great subject has been , and is continually , treated by statesmen .

    THE NATIONAL DEBT . The National Debt Financially Considered . A Prize Essay . By Edward Capps . G . roombridge and Sons . In IS 57 , Henry Johnstofte , Esq ., appropriated 200 guineas as a reward for the best " Essay on the present financial condition of the country as affected by recent eyents , in which the principle of a sinking fund should be discussed , and also an investigation made as to the best mode of gradually liquidating the national debt ; and that reward was , by the three judges appointed to examine the essays sent in , unanimously adjudged to the essay now

    published . They decided well , and we can recom mend the essay to the perusal of such readers as desire to obtain an accurate knowledge of this dry and distasteful subject , Mr , Capps gives a concise history of the rise And progress of the debt , when it was contracted , what it was contracted for , and the mode of contracting it . His chief suggestion for gradually liquidating is to make grants of all colonial lands , as far as they can be granted , to those who subscribe 100 / . and upwards towards the redemption of the debt , giving them at the same time an annuity equal , at first , to the dividend

    on the stock they subscribe for , but diminishing & per cent , every five years until the annuity bo extinguished . Some of Mr . Capps ' a figures wo doubt , some of his principles we dissent from , but it would bo a waste of our spaco and our readers ' time to animadvert on them , as there is not the slightest chance at present of any competent authority attempting to give effect to his plan . Nor are we sure that the debt is so injurious , or that the extinction of it would , be so advantageous as to

    make it worth the while of the publio to give themselves much trouble to got rid of it . It is a . restraint on profligate expenditure . Tho particular circumstance which has made it continually disappoint those who tiavo prognosticated national ruin from its increase is , that it is not a destruction of property , but mcroly a transfer from one class of the community to another . It may make tlie nation neither richer nor poorer , as M > , Capps remarks , for , on tho one hand , it employs persons in collecting the taxes and paying the dividends who might be otherwise on > ployed in productive labour , and on the other it stimulates taxpayers into additional exertions , but

    The Edinburgh Review. Tub Present Valuab...

    THE EDINBURGH REVIEW . Tub present valuable number opens with a literary review of "Mr . Helpa ' s Spanish Conquest of Amcrioa . " This is followed by an able and impartial paper on " Life Assurance , " counselling vigilance against agents , prospeotuses , oflioials , ana directors , and indicating some pf tho prevailing tendencies to error j while , at tho same tune , tho oharactor of tho actuarial body is sufficiently admitted . llio oauae of tho Hudson ' s Bay Company is ploadea somewhat lato in tho day in a review article ot various papers relative to that sooioty ' s affairs , ana of recent books of Columbian travel . The soientiuc essay of the number , " Life and Orgahisation , takes for its text " Rympr Jones ' s Animal Kingdom and Comparative Anatomy , " and " Owen ' s Parlhonogonesis . " Tho treasures of tho British Museum library are still a . mine to tho reviewer , for its never-ending , ami-beginning oataloguoa hare turuished a " light literary" article . But we need

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 22, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22011859/page/12/