The Portland daily press., 1875-03-13

value 10 the h story Of the state as well as Of
much Local Interest Tie bio-r"Phica sKet'hes
of nrominept men end old settlers in The two
towns which are appended, add materially 20
this interest Wells aud Ken aebunk are for
tunate in having found such al historian.
The book IS attractveiy bound, and clearly
and handsomely printed. 1t is embellished
with a portrait of the author and with several
wood cuts. An excellent index adds greatly
to its value. Only four hundred copies have
been struck off, and ii is not unlikely that the
edition will be speedily exhausted. Hoyt,
Fogg & Donham are the sole agents for the
sale OF the publication. Its price is put at
$3.50 copy.
The STRAITS OF MALAGA, INDo CHINA, AND
CHINA, or Ten Years Travels, Adventures and
Residence Abroad. By j. Thompson. f. X. G. $.
New York: Harpers. From Loring, Short & Har-
5i6 pp,, octave, Illustrated with 60 wood en-
cravings from the authors own sketches and Pho
tographs.
Thompson is Scotchman, and travels and
writes in the old fashioned style like STEPHENS
and Vambery, SO that his narrative gives
sketcny and rather disconnected view OF large
extent of territory, but its simplicity and evi
dent truthfulness give it much interest, aud af-
ford food for reflection.
In his account of Siam he accuses Mrs Lee
ouowens the English Governess' Of using his
Photographs to illustrate her works, and of
stealing her information in regard to Cambo-
dian ruins from NJ. Mouhots narrative.
Ia describing the Chinese settlers in the is.
land of Penang he touches upon the evils to
which we may be subjected by Chinese imm-
grafton. Their organizations of guilds 60 with
them, and when they get strong enough they
defy local laws, and hire fighting men to exc
cute their society DEGREES. The imperial gov
eminent is often unable to control the clan
fighting at home, and in Penang, Thompson
saw a village which had been burned and
sacked by them.
His picture of the Flowery Kingdom, shows
us a civilization ten centuries behind our own
The description of their cities reminds one OF
the old accounts of London. with its narrow
Streets its novels and its filth. Their guilds
their ignorance, their superstition, their intol-
GRANGE, were all to be found in England in the
middle ages, while their ingenuity and capacity
show the possibility that, thousand years
hence when China with her almost untouched
coal and mineral deposit shall become the cen
be the foremost people ia civilization and re-
fnement. Even Punch and Judy is OF Chinese
origin and delights the hearts of .he people of
Picking to-day; but the English have not yet
outgrown it.
There are numberess interesting points in
the book which are worthy of notice, but we
must leave the reader to ponder over them for
himself
THE MAID OF KILLEENA: And other Stories BY
William Black Harper 81 Brothers. From Lor-
ing, Snort s. Harmon.
To those of us who had grown impatient Of
meandering aimlessly ever the weary waste OF
words which stretch through the magazine
stories of the month the quaint beauty OF the
"Maid of Kieena'' and the charm Of little
Queen Tita came stealing over US like the
''sweet south breathing DER bank Of violets."
The story itself is pathetically simple and
sweet In concise and expressive pictures. the
different characters are defined as if from life,
and the bold and beautiful Scotch scenery
forms background which is never lost sight
of. -.r -.-
Then follow Queen Tita's W ,gsr," with his
lordly banter and her delightfully."- illogical reas-
onings-with her sweet tyranny and bis forced
SUBMISSION.
Then in order comes-"A Fight for Wife,
ssThe true Legend of the Billiard Club" and "A
Sequel 'to that-in all of which the important
little parsonage, Queen Tita, appears here and
there through the main story, conducting the
revels, introducing little matchmaking where
ever third party is necessary, and, better than
ALL managing refractory husbands.
''The Man who looked like Shakespeare" is
good, but not as natural or Interesting as the
others; but altogether they are capital stories
to read al oud after weary day.
THE BIBBLE MEMOIRS. New York; A. Denham s.
Co.
The Bibble memoirs are intended for burles-
que on the Greville Memoirs. The book con-
tains some funny things and some stupid ones,
after the fashion of all burlesques. The author
seems however, to have totally Inexperienced
the spirit of the work he is parodyipg, and
aims thrusts at toadyism which does not ex-
ist in those volumes. His "reminiscences OF
Thackeray as so vivid as to affect his originate