The Rebel Chiqf. By Hume Nisbet. (F. V. White and
Co.)— This story of Maori life has some vivid scenes of tribal custom and warfare, and some gruesome descriptions of fights and cannibal feasts. It is not a work of art, and it falls rather below the standard of Colonial and aboriginal fiction which we expect from Mr. Nisbet, but it is a readable story and stirring in parts, and really presents a true and not too picturesque an idea of the Maori. The Chinaman and the half-caste and the Welshman are somewhat farcical characters, inserted, we suppose, for youth- ful readers; on the other hand, the tone of the book scarcely accords with this idea. We cannot give The Rebel Chiff un- reserved commendation. We wish Mr. Nisbet would either write a regular fiction or else make a regular study of " beach-combers" and treat it as such.
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