Asia

Abstract

MR. KEANE'S encyclopædic knowledge in matters of philology and ethnology was never put to better use than in the compilation of this account of Asia. Considerable as is the size of the book, the information it contains is compressed to the utmost; every word is pregnant with meaning, and could not be omitted without injury to the reader. The physical geography, the fauna and flora, the commerce and inhabitants of the vast continent of Asia, are all passed under review; tribes and dialects of which most of us have never even heard the names are discoursed upon familiarly, and facts and statistics bristle in every page. The latest authorities have been everywhere consulted; the geographical results of the late Afghan war, for instance, having been laid under contribution, and full use being made of the Palestine Exploration Survey, not only of Palestine itself but of the eastern side of the Jordan as well. It must not be supposed, however, that Mr. Keane's work is dry reading; his literary ability has thrown an interest over the most matter-of-fact statistics and made us realise the characteristics of the countries he describes or the towns and populations he records.

Asia.

A. H. Keane Sir R. Temple. (London: Edw. Stanford, 1882.)