terpiece, and implores Coritto to tell her where he may be seen. At last Coritto is complaisant, and presently-in the last mime of all-Metro pays the distinguished cobbler a visit.

Such, in brief outline, is the work of this long-forgotten poet. To have brought him once more to light is an achievement of which the British Museum may well be proud. The mimes are not statues of the fifth century, but rather exquisite terracottas, quaintly and daintily fashioned, such as prudery commonly withdraws from public exhibition, and softened by that touch of nature which makes fiction real, and renders the old new again. And it gives us good hope of the future. If Herodas be found, why not Sophron, or Menander, or the priceless Sappho herself? An unjust fate still hides the works of these artists from our gaze. But we have Herodas, and let us make the best of him. At any rate, he is worth a hundred Aristotles. CHARLES WHIBLEY.

From The National Review. FROM A SIMIAN POINT OF VIEW. "WELL, what do you think of it?" said Gerald Newton at last.

The object referred to was a skeleton or rather parts of a skeleton, for many important bones, including the skull, were missing which was stretched out on a long table. The Rev. Regius Professor of Obsolete Theologies at St. Boniface's, who prided himself upon his knowledge of anatomy, examined the bones again with an obviously professional air.

"A gorilla-I see," he said.

Newton looked at him with a curious expression upon his face. "I wish you were right," he said suddenly, with a warmth which seemed out of keeping with the nature of his subject.

"Why should you doubt it?" said the Professor. "I do not see how, speaking, of course, without mature consideration, it could possibly belong to any other of the anthropoid apes."

Newton remained silent, staring gloomily before him.

"Let us investigate this matter fully," he said at length, "before we offer any opinion. I have already noted down some rough observations upon the structural peculiarities of the specimen. Will you kindly help me to verify them? In the first place," he went on, "I narrow the inquiry, so far as I may do so with perfect

safety, by taking it for granted that the skeleton is that of a true anthropoid ape. You would, of course, assent to that?" The Professor nodded. "Of course," he said, without looking up.

"In the next place, then, we may, of course, pass by the gibbons. Apart from the question of size, the extreme relative length of hand and arm so characteristic of the gibbons (Hylobates) is too conspicuous by its absence here"-indicating the skeleton-"to make further inquiry on that head necessary. Now we come to the orang. As you are aware, the length of the entire foot of the orang, as compared with that of the backbone, is strikingly great. In the present case, please observe that, although tremendously strong, the length is not very remarkable. Again, note the hand of our specimen. You see there is no marked discrepancy in the relative lengths of thumb and fingers; the orang, on the contrary, has the absolutely longest hand and the shortest thumb, as compared with the forefingers, of all the anthropoids."

The Rev. Professor reflected for a few moments. "Yes," he said; "the creature is plainly not an orang. There is nothing now for it but the gorilla or chimpanzee.'

Newton was leaning against the table with the same grave, almost distressed, look in his face.

"Count the ribs," he said dryly.

The Professor did so. Then, in evident surprise, he looked up suddenly at Newton.

"Why," he exclaimed, "there are only twelve pairs!"

"Exactly," returned the other; "that is precisely my difficulty. Now, I need not inform so eminent a zoologist as yourself that no gorilla or chimpanzee has ever been discovered with less than thirteen. Again, count the wrist-bones. If I mistake not, there are only eight. If the skeleton were that of either a chimpanzee or a gorilla there would be nine."

The Professor remained silent, with an utterly blank expression on his face. " 'Well, I must say "- he remarked slowly, after a time "I'm quite at a loss. It would appear that there is no animal which fulfils the latter condition, with the exception of man."

"Ah!" said Newton, with something like a sigh. "So you are brought to bay at last in that far-away hypothesis. But I can't leave you in peace even there. In the first place, I may inform you that these bones are the remains of an animal which was shot by my friend the Rev. Dr.

"Well?" said the Professor.

"Well, I went to Bakelf; I stayed there some months; but I could find no trace of the mysterious ape. Did I tell you that Frankland had a daughter?"

The Professor shook his head. "After I had been at Bakelf some months I began to regard the whole thing as a myth. I had beaten the ground thoroughly without result. Now listen; every word I tell you is true. One night we were in the mission house, and Miss Frankland - Dorothy - went to the little blindless window. Suddenly, without the least warning, she fell back. Come to me,' she cried, in sudden alarm; I see something. Frankland ran to her. What is it?' he said. 'What has frightened you?' She seemed too terrified to speak, and almost instantly we heard a sound as though some one were trying to open the outer door. It was an old negress who lived at the place, Monqulamba. The woman was evidently wild with superstitious terror. She gasped out at length that she had seen a dark form pressing close to the window, and as it turned she had identified quqheena. My gun-case was in a corner of the room, and in five seconds I had thrown butt, barrels, and fore-end together. The night was not very dark; but I could see nothing of the ape in the little enclosure which answered for a garden. There was a group of trees just outside, in which it might have taken refuge, and I knew that if I could get it out it would give me a clear shot as it crossed the open. So I went in, striking my foot against the trunks as I walked along. No sign of my quarry was forthcoming. So I continued pressing through the leafy tangle, hoping every moment to hear a mighty rush. Suddenly something touched me very gently. Before I could move or cry out mighty arms, or what seemed like mighty arms, passed round my throat."

"But did you see nothing?" said the Professor.

"Nothing whatever. I remember something just touching my cheek; then some. thing passed round my throat; and then -why, if one of the palm-trees had leaped from the earth and coiled itself round my neck, the sense of awful resistless weight could not have been greater.

"When I came to myself I was lying on the grass, in what appeared to be the recesses of the forest. My brow and hair were wet as though they had been bathed. At my side was a rude cup formed from a husk, containing fresh water. It was not yet daylight, and it took me some time to

disentangle the objects around me from the nightmare-like forms in my brain. Then I saw something which sent the blood to my heart. Close to me, within three paces, crouched a huge monstera creature so unearthly in its vast girth and length of limb, that to see it behind the strong bars of a cage would have been an unnerving sight. As I saw it, it might, without moving a yard, have stretched out one great hairy hand and seized me where I lay. Yet it showed no disposition to attack me. I watched it intently; then, for the first time, I noted that it held a bunch of bananas and dates, freshly torn from the palm. Something in the crea ture's expression interested, perplexed, yet, somehow, failed to alarm me. For the first time the meaning of an old Fantee saying — always dark before became less obscure: He who kills quqheena kills a soul.'

6

"I moved uneasily. Are you in pain?' it said gently. I heard the tones clearly, low, cultured, distinct- and the amazing thing was I felt little or no surprise. What are you?' I said. (I tried to speak as calmly as I could, but my voice trembled.) That is rather an abrupt way of asking for an introduction,' the thing replied. And its tones were so smooth and easy that I felt guilty of an unpardonable rudeness. But I brought you here with the fixed intention of enlightening you,' it added. We decided, unanimously, the other night, that it was absurd for the two highest mammalian forms to remain longer strangers.""

The Professor again wiped his spectacles, in order to obtain a clearer view of the speaker.

"But tell me, first, what are you?' I exclaimed involuntarily. It smiled slightly. Do you want Darwin's definition or our own?' it said. However, neither would be unbiassed; so we will let that pass. For the purposes of this interview, let us say that you and I represent the two highest branches of a common family tree. I wish to be perfectly frank with you,' it continued; so I'll come to the point at once. The history of man is a wheel, constantly revolving, and in that sense repeating itself. But it is travelling onwards as well. Curiously enough, our wheel revolves also; but it never advances. It is this essential difference which I should like to discuss with you.'

"I consented readily. The hairy paw with which this strange creature gently accentuated its sentences could have crushed me like a fly.

"Immeasurably inferior as you may be, compared with ourselves,' it went on (I do not wish to appear disrespectful; but I have a reason for speaking plainly), you possess something, as a race, which we lack.'

"I moved a little farther from the emphasizing paw. Pardon me,' I said; but if this is in the nature of a diplomatic conference, I must, in behalf of civilized humanity, protest against such preliminary assumption of superiority.'

"The ape appeared much surprised. 'But really, you must see it for yourself. It seems to me so obvious. To take the first tangible illustration. If I stretched out my arm, your fragile frame would be crushed like an egg-shell. I might go on to your submerged tenth; but I don't wish to press the point.'

"It raised its arm gently as it spoke, and I saw it was not necessary, for the purposes of our argument, to carry the matter farther.

"We have never failed,' it proceeded, 'to keep in view what I understand you call your civilization. It interests, yet at the same time amazes, us. Some of the humbler members of our community who have visited London and Paris, attached to barrel-organs, and who have succeeded in returning, find little to admire in your mode of life. Travellers' tales are proverbially unreliable; but many of these bear the stamp of truth. For example, in the dim mists of antiquity, our race addressed themselves to the solution of the problem of happiness. How to be constantly happy seemed to them a question of such paramount importance that they refused to deal with any other until it was satisfactorily settled. It blocked the way, so to speak. Our European travellers tell us that this is still a moot point with you.'

"I admitted it. With that mighty paw waving so near, I felt that it was still a moot point with me. 'But you must find life dull in these solitudes,' I said. The ape seemed puzzled.

"Dull?' it murmured. 'But ah! -I see. You are, of course, unable to appreciate the effect of innumerable successions of absolute tranquillity. Still, you have your theories of heredity; but, I remember now, you only use them in connection with crime, insanity, and so forth. Dear me, how very curious! I ought not to smile, I know,' it went on, 'because, after all, it is a serious matter for you. Bred on telegraphs, nurtured on express trains and telephones, maturing beneath

electric lights, and constantly haunted by a weird desire to discover something still quicker, stronger, and more dazzling, your condition grows sadder every day. To demonstrate this, allow me to suggest a simple experiment. Take any tall-batted gentleman haphazard from Charing Cross or Lombard Street. Place him here alone for one single week. Surely no hard fate, for the trees and grasses are green and the winds are warm. Whence comes the strange weariness the shadow like the fear of death-which creeps to his soul? We don't feel it. Ask the birds and butterflies, and they would be simply unable to understand you. Yet the explanation is simplicity itself. When one stands at the corner of the Mansion House, and watches the hurrying crowds, it might be imagined they are merely bent on ordinary business- buying, selling, cornering markets, floating bogus mines, and so on. A busy broker would probably be annoyed if you stopped him at the door of the House, and seriously warned him against following the example of Frankenstein. Yet the monster he is creating is a terrible one. It may be able only to worry and vex him if he has to wait ten minutes for a train; but it would become a really dangerous adversary if it caught him alone in a wood.'

"I pointed out that it is impossible to institute a comparison between a civilized man and a mere animal. I said that the cases were not parallel. The ape smiled again with a blandness which irritated me. They are not at all parallel. I hope I may say, without conceit, that they are widely different. For example, we know what we want. Can you honestly say the same? If I climb up that tree for a bunch of bananas, I know that I want them to eat. Will you tell me what your millionaires want more gold for? Not necessarily for their descendants. Carnegie pointed out quite recently what a bad thing unlimited money is for descendants, and yet they toil up harder trees than any in this forest to obtain it. As you say, the cases are not parallel.'

Mr.

"It is difficult,' I said, to explain clearly to an ape- I don't use the term disrespectfully the complex nature of man as compared with the lower and simpler organization of the brute.'

"The ape reflected for a few moments. 'But, pardon me,' it said, 'what has complexity to do with it? Why should not a man you will acquit me of any desire to use the term offensively-aspire to be upon a level with apes in this respect?

"If by contentment you mean lack of power to picture and desire to attain a higher life, we are not contented. We are perfectly aware there is no state so hopeless as that of having every hope fulfilled. Surely we may be happy without abandoning hope?'

"When a monkey takes up a position of this kind it is difficult to argue with it. relapsed into silence.

I

"The ape soon resumed the attack: 'What amazes us so out here,' it went on, 'is that you don't see the simplicity of this problem of life. A child might solve it. In fact, children do solve it, every day. Watch them as they play, before your Board Schools absorb them. They are happy happy as the bird in the air, as the despised monkey in the tree. Then, stroll on to any great social function, an "at home," or the dance of a society queen. The estimable people whom you see wish to be happy. They surround themselves with costly accessories flowers and so on-for that object; but the bird in the hedge beats them still. They strain science to its limits; they descend to the most unmeaning trivialities; yet still the child leaves them hopelessly behind. And the ludicrous part of it all is that they can't tell why. If it were not so intensely sad,' the ape continued, 'nothing would amuse me more than to spend a week in London, and note carefully all your frantic attempts at being happy. The amount of wealth, toil, and toilsomely acquired knowledge which you devote to this object is simply astounding to a monkey. Let us take such a tour in imagination. So this fine building is your Stock Exchange? And what is this ingenious little machine that ticks? The record of all the very latest prices. Marvellous! The cleverest monkey in all Africa could never have invented such a remarkable piece of mechanism. One moment; I wish to note the radiant delight on the countenances of the possessors of this last boon of civilization. Thanks; I'm quite ready to go now. Your Houses of Parliament, you say? The concentrated wisdom of the nation. The concentrated wisdom seems rather hot and excited and angry to-night. Let

you mind showing me happiness? Ah! I beg your pardon-I see. That dingy little hedge-sparrow, rejoicing from the depths of its heart in the bright green leaves of summer. Another thing strikes us. You always set so much store upon what you call "high principle." Why upon "high principle"? It is obviously a most dangerous weapon in any but an unerring hand. This term "high principle" has led you astray from the beginning. It was this which made you try to teach some of the most beautiful Christian lessons with a thumbscrew. Why not keep to love? That has never led you wrong, from Christ to Father Damien.'

"But since you despise us so bitterly, why do you seek communion with us?' I asked.

"The ape looked at me with strange, wistful eyes.

"I cannot tell. Something faintly moving in our hearts calls out to you. Our wheel is turning peacefully; but it is still in the green forest. Yours revolves roughly, and it jars as it goes along. But, standing here, afar off, we see what you cannot see. It is ascending the mountainside; it is getting nearer to the stars.'

"That is all," said Newton, after a pause. "I suppose I was more roughly shaken than I knew, for when Frankland's people found me, they say, I was insensible and alone.

"Dear me," thought the Regius Professor of Obsolete Theologies as he wended his way home; "what a sad thing it will be if poor Newton has really gone wrong in the head."

H. KNIGHT HORSFIELD.

From The Asiatic Quarterly Review. A MARCH THROUGH THE GREAT PERSIAN DESERT.

BY C. E. BIDDULPH.

IT is strange to observe the vague fears and superstitions which, in the minds of the more settled population in the neighborhood, surround the vast extent of barren and, as far as Europeans are concerned, almost unexplored country, known as the