invariably in debt. A few religious and magical practices are mentioned. The linguistic portion of the book appears to be done in an admirable manner, and Mr. Beech has secured the help of that excellent scholar, Dr. A. A. Fokker, who has added many notes and a valuable appendix. The latter says in his Preface, "The specialists of this particular branch of linguistic science are few indeed, and the author seems to have realised this when entrusting his work to the hands of a Dutchman: Holland in fact is the only country where a doctorate in M.-P. languages (officially called 'linguarum Indicarum') is to be obtained at a University, that of Leyden." Comment is needless!
Mr. Beech is now Assistant District Commissioner in the East African Protectorate, and we hope that he will continue his linguistic studies, and at the same time give us a detailed account of the people among whom he is stationed. If he does, we may expect some very interesting matter.
In this pamphlet the author of Contes Populaires de Lorraine studies a legend attached to the name of Raden Pakou, a historical Javanese personage of the fifteenth century. According to the legend, the daughter of the king of Balambangan, in the south-east of Java, fell dangerously ill, and was cured by a Moslem saint, to whom she was afterwards wedded. After the departure of the saint, a son was born, and a violent epidemic broke out. On the advice of astrologers, the child was cast into the river in a watertight chest. A light hovering round the chest drew the attention of sailors from Gersik. Their mistress received and brought up the infant, afterwards named Raden Pakou, and later
