are 1676 with the former year. There
is not anything like a parity of advance between the two centuries. The
traveller and sailor was as much of a hero in 1776 as was the captain of
the Vittoria, the last ship of Magellan's fleet when he sailed into
Cadiz in 1522, having been round the earth and lost a day in the
operation; just as Mr. Phileas Fogg, of later fame, gained one by going
in the opposite direction. Men who have been to China and India,
Australia and New Zealand, are too plentiful to-day to excite notice;
and when it comes to writing books about their adventures, it is
necessary to be cautious to avoid treading in old tracks and wearying
the reader. The man who describes a voyage round the world to-day must
be a character of interest in himself, or he will not interest his
audience. The writer of the book now before us[17] possesses the
qualifications for the task seldom possessed by the professional
traveller, who is apt to bore one with long stories. He has the eye of a
newspaper correspondent, the quick intuition as to what is or is not
interesting _per se_, and has actually succeeded in making an
interesting and readable book of three hundred pages out of a subject
nearly worn out. Mr. Vincent started from New York in a clipper ship,
went round the Horn to San Francisco, thence to Hawaii, where he
remained some weeks, thence to New Zealand and Australia, finally to
Calcutta, and thence home to New York, after a prolonged tour through
India, Siam, and China. The incidents of the latter tour formed the
basis of his first book, the "Land of the White Elephant," the success
of which encouraged him to this, his second venture. The chief
characteristic of Mr. Vincent's second work is its freshness and
interest. He seems to be profoundly impressed with the truth of the
saying of Thales of Miletus, that "the half is sometimes more than the
whole." The taste and judgment of the author are shown by what he leaves
out as much as by what he leaves in. There is hardly a dull page in the
book, and in each place he only notes what is curious, leaving out of
the question all that is commonplace. More could not be asked of him.

* * * * *

We have received the first number of the "Archives of the National
Museum at Rio de Janeiro."[18] This is a scientific institution, and
from the number of officers named it appears to be prepared for
inaugurating thorough work in archaeology, geology, bot