The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-30 00:00:00

LI 7 ERA 7 U RE.

The Ganges and the seine. By Sidney Laman
Blanchard. 2 vols. Chapman and Hall.
Under this title Mr. Blanchard gives us a series
of essays and tales illustrative of various phases of
Indian and Parisian life, the former of which are
now published for the first time, whilst most of the
latter have appeared in the pages of Household
Words and All the Year Round. A few miscel-
laneous papers are also added ; the whole forming
a work which, for the lovers of light reading, will
possess considerable attraction. Some of the pliers,
moreover, touch on topics of no small importance,
such for instance as that styled " India and Cotton."
" Nature," says the writer, " has given us every
advantage in India that soil and climate can fur-
nish ; but although she has done so much for us, we
have done so little for ourselves that the work may
be considered barely commences. There are immense
cotton fields, it is true ; but neither capital, skill, en-
terprise, nor even honesty, are employed in raising
the plant; which is, therefore, an inferior article,
fetching an inferior price. The natives, to whom the
cultivation is almost entirely confined, have very
little power to improve the state of things, and
what power they have they do not care to employ.
Each man has a little patch of ground which he
cultivates for himself. He is responsible to no other
person for looking after his own interests, except,
indeed, to the native usurer, from whom he has
received advances for the purchase of the seed, and
who faithfully sells him up if he neglects to pay
them back. The first mistake which he makes is in
the matter of this same seed. The seed prodUced
from his own district is sown over and over again,
year after year, and has been allowed to reproduce
itself in this manner for centuries past. The usual
fate of a very old family which has been too ex-
clusive in its alliances, of course attends it. The
plan becomes weak and imbecile, and, coming
from an exhausted stock, suffers the additional dis-
advantage of having its education entirely neglected.
It never could be an aristocrat, and the ryot (or
cultivator) effectually prevents it from taking even
a respectable middle-class rank. The seed having
been sown, the ryot is happy for a time in throw-
ing the responsibility upon nature, under whose
auspices it usually grows up in due time.
The period for gathering depends less upon
the ripeness of the cotton than the private conveni-
ence of the ryot—a marriage or death in his family,
or the occurrence of some native fe:tival—so that
the process is either performed too soon or too late.
The other preparations which it• has to undergo are
made upon the same lax principle ; and the delay
of transport being added to the other delays, the
cottoh most likely catches the rainy season on its
way to the coast, where it arrives damaged, if not
utterly spoiled. The purchaser, indeed, may con-
sider himself fortunate if he receives the article only
dirty and ill-prepared; for I have heard of such
things as straw being packed by mistake in the
bales, not to mention the carcases of animals and
other little matters of the kind." Any quantity of
cotton, the writer says, may be produced in India
if the Lancashire millowuers will only bestir them-
selves. This, at present, they seem little inclined
to do, for reasons which Mr. Blanchard takes
some trouble to explain. His analysis of the
notorious " Nil Darpan " gives an amusing idea
of the constituents of a Hindoo drama. In "The
City of Akhbar Kahn" we have an excellent
description of that wondrous specinarn of Hindoo
or Saracenic architecture, the Taj Mahal ; but
the part of the work which we think least happy
is that termed " The Simpkins in India."

A Sailor Boy's Logbook, from Portsmouth. to the
Peiho. Edited by Walter White. 1 vol. Chap-

man and Hall.

This is an unpretending little volume, written
evidently with perfect good faith, and giving " a
plain unvarnished tale" of the experiences of a
youth who, smitten with a love of the sea, entered
the naval service for the term of ten years, but left
it with dislike at the end of five ; having, during
that period, visited China and Japan, and assisted
at the disastrous attack on the Taku Forts. As a
picture of ordinary seafaring life, drawn by a youth
of more than ordinary education and intelligence
for that station, the work possesses peculiar value,
and we strongly recommend its perusal to lads
wh3 may wish to follow in his footsteps. As a
specimen of the style, we give an account of the
attack on the forts :

"No sooner did the Chinese see our boats approaching
than they opened a tremendous fire from every available
position, tearing up the boats and killing many a brave
fellow before we could land. Thus was our hilarity turned
into rage, pain, and disappointment, by the want of good
judgment; as we thought, somewhere. The nearer
we came to the landing place the nastier it
looked. However, as soon as our boat touched the
ground, we jumped out and found ourselves up to the
waist in water and slime ; and, what was worse, our am-
munition was rendered useless by the soaking it got. Some
poor fellows lost their footing, and went down so deep into
the mud that they were drowned by the jump from the boat.
Others seemed petrified, and crouched into the very bottom
of the boats, so terrible appeared the iron storm that we had
to face.

" We were wader the charge of an old petty-officer. He
was addressing an order to one of our party, when a shot
struck him and he fell dead. We moved on : might as
well advance as to stand there to be killed, especially as the
forts were pouring on us a murder( us fire of grape-shot and
all other conceivable missiles. The sight was sickening to
see so manyfalling around,andyet no one able to stretch out
a helping hand to save. All at once I felt a sudden numbness
in my head, and my cap was knocked off. I instinctively
put up my hand, but felt no blood, and fortunately kept
my footing. My impression was that I had been acci-
dentally hit by a Frenchman behind me who was firing at
the forts. Dreadful was our struggle through that greasy
mud. At length we reached the outermost trench, where
one-half of our number, having spoiled their ammunition,
could not molest the enemy; so we halted unde
looking on, and wishing the Chinese, the forts, ande
officer who selected the landing place, at the devil;
any-
where but in the place they happened to he.

----
2he Birds of Song. By H. G. Adams. Hogg and

Sons.
of the
We have here the first of three volumes in which
it is purposed to give
`` a
feathered families of Britcomplete account
ain," the birds of song
appropriately taking the lead. The volume i 8
adorned with upwards of 50 illustrations by wm
Harvey, Luke Clennel, and W. S. Coleman
contains, interspersed with the descriptions,
n'umaned:
rous anecdotes, and quotations from the poets.
the end, too, are full directioanys, for keeping birds in
At
cages, a custom, by the way,
more honoured in the breach which we think
auce." than in the observ-

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Undiscovered Crimes. By Waters. Ward and
Lock.
Mysterious murders :orm the staple of these nar-
ratives. They are interesting of their kind, and
will no doubt be appreciated by the admirers of this
o,yle of literature.