Having attentively perused “Adam’s Peak,” it remains for us to pass upon it our carefully formed opinion. In a former notice we said that the author had “accomplished a most difficult task uncommonly well,” and we reiterate our statement. To have compressed so much useful knowledge into so small a compass can only be the result of deep research and hard and persevering study. Mr. Skeen has collected a number of local traditions, legends, and facts, which he has elaborately arranged, and by a pleasant account of incidents connected with his three pilgrimages to the holy mountain, unites the whole in a pleasing and sightly form. The book abounds in quotations which are generally apt and appropriate. The foot notes and copious appendix form by no means the least valuable part of the work.”--_Ceylon Times._ * * * * * “In a careful perusal of the above production [ADAM’S PEAK] we have been most favorably impressed with its general character and ability; the labour that produced it must have been most painstaking, and involving great research. Nearly a hundred authors are quoted or referred to for confirmation or illustration of the text, which, with well executed engravings, a large and interesting Appendix, and an excellent Index for facility of reference, becomes a most useful addition to Eastern literature. Besides the direct textual matter of the book concerning the Peak, its history, and the pilgrimages made to it, we have a large amount of very interesting particulars respecting the Geology, Botany, and History of the Island, and the religions, manners and customs of the people, with much legendary and traditional lore, which, if not always reliable, is not without either interest or importance, in the assistance it affords to a fuller knowledge of the country and its inhabitants. Indeed the book is almost of encyclopedic utility concerning Ceylon. For a knowledge of the route, viâ Ratnapura, and of its many interests and attractions of scenery, &c., and also for the many delights of the Peak itself, as given by our author, we recommend a careful perusal of his most interesting and able work.”--_Colombo Friend._ MOUNTAIN LIFE AND COFFEE CULTIVATION IN CEYLON;--A POEM ON THE KNUCKLES RANGE, with other Poems. By WILLIAM SKEEN. 1870. _Foolscap 4to. 182 pp._ EDWARD STANFORD, Charing Cross, London. * * * * * “Adam’s Peak,” and “Mountain Life and Coffee Cultivation in Ceylon,”--two companion volumes devoted to one of our most interesting though least known Eastern possessions ... abound in local colour and afford life-like glimpses into the industry of the society of an island which the Anglo-Cingalese not unpardonably regard as the centre of the earth.”--_Daily Telegraph._ * * * * *