Mr. Skeen, as we have already observed, has ransacked all the authorities, ancient and modern, that could throw light on his subject, and it is no small praise to state, that he has added to a great power of research an admirable talent for condensation, while his own narrative of personal investigation and exploration, written in flowing easy language, often rising to the height of poetry, presents the gorgeous scenes which he describes in an animated tableau that brings within one focus, the cloud-capped mountains, the roaring torrents and the arid plains, through which lies the course of the pilgrims. It is hardly possible to imagine, looking at the heads of chapters in the table of contents, how Mr. Skeen could manage to reduce the heterogeneous mass of subjects indicated into one harmonious whole, but the reader has only to take up the narrative, and he scarcely perceives the transition from one to another. We have great pleasure in recommending the Book to the Public. It is even worthy to stand by the best that has been written of Ceylon, and its value as a very readable book is enhanced by the use to which it may be put as a work of reference, not only with regard to the Peak itself, but also, to the History of the Island generally. The book is illustrated with a map of the Peak range, and ten well-executed woodcuts illustrative of the Peak and its accessories; and, with a copious and well-arranged Index, it is admirably calculated to serve as a guide to those whom Mr. Skeen’s Book may inspire with the desire of exploring the mountain region which has continued to attract to its sacred pinnacle the Traveller, the Historian, and the Pilgrim, from the days when Sindbad the Sailor “made a pilgrimage to the place where ADAM was confined after his banishment from Paradise.”--_Colombo Examiner._ * * * * * “THE author of ‘ADAM’S PEAK,’ has accomplished a most difficult task uncommonly well.”