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Up to the clouds , and its 10 , u 00 apartments , a city of itself . There is the Grand Lama , whose very soul i from the days of Prest err John to our own , when it has worn out one frail human body passes into a new one , and as with us " the Pope never dies , " 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 auother . What a prospect for another Barrioioolah-Gah ! What work for the missionary ! What a delightful coxintry , too ; "full of all , " says Abulfazel , " that can delight those who are fond of variety or take pleasure in retirement . " Violets , roses , narcissuses , and flowers innumerable ; cascades , rivers , and . lakes ; spring and autumn ,
beautiful 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-trees , and the leaves of the latter furnish food for the silkworm . It is a land of plenty , and the inhabitants drink wine . Mutton , delicious and wholesome , rice in profusion , and vegetables fresh and dried , and milk and butter not toJbe equalled . Handicraftsmen abound , and goods ar £ not hawked 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 Cashmere whence the Mahometanism of Bul r tistan 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 eastern feeders—^ the Shigar and the Shayok . They are , more or less , subordinate to Bultistan Proper , or Little Tibet , in the limited sense ¦• of the term . Far inland as Bultistan lies it is thus riot so far distant from Mecca as to be wholly beyond the pale of the Koran , though it lies on the very verge and edge thereof . Bultistan is the country of the Bulti , for stem is the Persian for land , and Bulti is the Fersian form of Bhot , and it is from the Persian frontier that the name has been propagated .. ¦ ¦ . ¦ ... „ for the
"It is fortunate , " says our author , " ethnographer that our knowledge of the imperfectly explored countries of the Himalaya is dependent upon the value rather than the number of observers wnp have visited and described them . " It is surprising how closely the names of the classical geographers reappear in our more recent descriptions . The JBylia , the Cesi , the Akhassa regio ' , the Dabasa of Pliny and others , all come out with wonderful closeness in the still existing names of Bulti , Kie-chha , and D-JSus , 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 in , 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 . He burrows in the auriferous cleft ' s and sands , and gold is found .. yi 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 jpht / ipa , whilst the Indian name for ant ia pipilafci . Megasthenes relates that he never saw the animals themselves , bat that he had seen
anma slrina nf tTiAlri ' But' who . talks of the SkinS Of some ekins pf them . But who . talks of the skins of ants ? The skin of the marmot is pne of the commonest articles in the petty trade of thdia and Tibet . But the ekin of an ant ? The names Beem 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 Yudiisfchira lumps of gold , of the sort called paippiliha , or ant-gold , which was so called because it was exfqdiated by the pipilaka , or common large ant . Subtract from paijopilika the last two syllables , and the Bhot name remains with scarcely the alteration of a single letter . ia found in its most
Tine true Ladak physiognomy typical form in the central parts of the Bhot area . The Bhot of Ladak is strong , hardy , short , ana square , with a decidedly Mongol physiognomy--flat face , broad cheek , depressed nose , oblique and narrow eye , curtained at the corners , —with olaok hair , and pf low stature . The ears of tho Ladakis are inordinately large , one half larger than those of Europeans . . . The volumes before us are full of interest , illustrating as they do minutely , the face of the country , the , natural productions and climate of each district ,, the language , the religion and habits of all the tribes desonbed , together with their phraioal peculiarities , and mental acquirements . The authors
object has been to describe , to collect facts , to arrange iiito one body the scattered fragments of ethnological science * rather- than to furnish a handbook pf Ethnology . The present work is one of a series , all of which , from " Hope ' sEssay" to the volumes before USj 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 , Brahminism . I must begin somewhere , and here is my beginning .
That these parts are my starting-point nieans 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 sarnie 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
already said , it is simply descriptive . The great charm of this Descriptive Ethnology is that it is descri p 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 perfectl y he is acquainted with the present state of ethnological knowledge by not attempting more than his premises warranted . He has given us a delightful book , which will 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 .
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THE NATIONAL DEBT . The National Debt Financially Considered . A Prize Essay . By Edward Capps . Groombridge and Sons . In 1 S 57 , Henry Johnstone , Esq :, appropriated 200 guineas as a reward for the best " Essay on the Eresent financial condition of the country as affected y recent events , 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 , bv the three iuderes 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 . Oapps 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 pf all colonial lands , as far as they can be granted , to these who subscribe 100 / . and upwards towards the redemption of the debt , giving them at the M * . ~« A i !> MA A » A'MWkllii » SI **!* A , l t \ 4- (\ MClf 4 " / % 4 " \\ /» / 1 I \ t 1 / I t % tt / I AlJm Mvuu
ttttlJlC I / AU 4 V **** * W 1 JU 14 * 1 # J 121 £ UMJI ; > U ; IV WMV * MM « on the stock they subscribe for , but diminishing ^ per cent , every five years until the annuity bo extinguished . Some of Mr . Oapps ' s figures we doubt , some of his principles we dissent from , but it would be a waste of our space 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 tliat tho extinction of it would bo so advantageous as to make it worth the while of the public to give
themselves much trouble to get rid of it . It is a restraint on profligate expenditure . The particular circumstance which has made it continually disappoint those whohaye prognosticated national rum from its inorcase is that it is not . a destruction of property , but merely a transfer from one / class of tho community to another . It may make the nation neither richer nor poorer , as Mr . Oapps remarks , for , on the one hand , it employs persons in collecting the taxes and paying tho dividends who might be otherwise employed in productive labour , and on the other it stimulates tax-payers into a dditional exertions , but
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 went 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 fronl the landowner and the titheowner 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 panpassw with England , we cannot deem this an
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 more speedil y and more effectually relieved from serfdom than in any part
of the Continent . At the same time the appropriation of the fruits of industry became settled by . law , and industry was unable to obtain a larger share than it had before possessed of its own produce . Heiice i our labourers , in spite of wonderful increase in productive power , have remained relatively poor The national debt has brought good 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 . Capps , we think very favourably of his account , the best we have 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 in the history of political society . By the produce of industry we all live . It embraces all subsistence , and all the means of livmg , To appropriate the product of industry is therefore synonymous with appropriating life , and actually determines tho 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 ^ wo shudder at the ignorance and , recklessness with which this g ™** subject hag been , and is continually , treated by statesmen .
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THE EDINBURGH REVIEW . Tim present valuable number opens with a literary roviow of " Mr , Holps ' s Spanish Conquest of Amcrioa . " This is followed by an able and impartial paper on " Life Assurance , " counselling vigilance against agents , prospeotusos , officials , and directors , and indicating some of tho prevailing tendencies to error i while , at tho same time , tho character of tho actuarial body is sufficiently admitted . The oause of tho Hudson ' s Bay Company is ploadod
somewhat late in the day in a roviow article ot various papers relativo to that sooioty ' B affairs , and of rooont books of Columbian travel . Tho scientific essay of ' the number , " Life and Organisation , " takes for its text "llymor Jones ' s Animal Kingdom and Comparative Anatomy , " and " Owen ' s Parthenogenesis . " The treasures of the British Museum library are still a mine to the reviewer , for its novor-onding , atiU-boginning catalogues have furnished a " light literary" article . But wo need
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IQg THE IiEADER , [ No . 461 , January 22 , 185 ^ .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 22, 1859, page 108, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2278/page/12/
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