0, and again in 1882. The results of these journeys and
observations are herein set down in a compact volume of three hundred
pages. With the exception of a valuable paper on Labrador in the
"Encyclopedia Britannica," little of a modern and useful character has
been written giving anything like a fair description of the country and
its resources. Mr. Stearns book supplies the omission, and is cordially
to be commended. It ought to pave the way for a good many excursion
parties.

[Footnote 4: The Congo and the Founding of Its Free State. By Henry M.
Stanley, 2 vols. Maps and illustrations. New York; Harper & Bros. Price,
$10.00.]

[Footnote 5: How We are Governed. By Anna Laurens Dawes. Boston: D.
Lothrop & Co.]

[Footnote 6: The Hunter's Handbook, containing a description of all
articles required in camp, with hints on provisions and stores, and
receipts for camp cooking. By "An Old Hunter." Boston: Lee & Shepard.
Price, 50 cents.]

[Footnote 7: A History of the People of the United States, from the
Revolution to the Civil War. By John Bach McMaster. Vol. II. New York:
D. Appleton & Co. Price, $2.50.]

[Footnote 8: The Island of Nantucket: What it was and what it is.
Compiled by Edward K. Godfrey. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Price, paper, 50
cents.]

[Footnote 9: Wanderings of a Naturalist in the Eastern Archipelago. By
H.O. Forbes. Illustrated. New York: Harper & Bros. Price, $5.00.]

[Footnote 10: Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis; In the Land of the
Lapps and Kvaens. By Sophus Tromholt. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.]

[Footnote 11: Labrador: a Sketch of its People, Industries, and Natural
History. By W.A. Stearns. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Price, $1.75.]

* * * * *

MEMORANDA FOR THE MONTH.

The reduction of letter postage from two cents per half-ounce to two
cents per ounce, which took effect July 1st, suggests a few words in
regard to postal matters in general. The collection of news by
post-carriers is said to have originated in the regular couriers
established by Cyrus in his Persian kingdom about 550 B.C. Charlemagne
employed couriers for similar purposes in his time. The first
post-houses in Europe were instituted by Louis XI. of France.
Post-chaises were invented in the same country. In England in the reign
of Edward IV., 1784, riders on post-horses went stages of the distance
of twenty miles from each other in order to convey to the king the
earliest int