Pilgrims to the Isles of Penance. By Mrs. Talbot Clifton.
(John Long. 12s. ad. not.)—The "Isles of Penance" are the Andaman Islands, where the Indian Empire has its convict settlements. Mrs. Clifton gives a more vivid and minute description of this very curious place than we remember to have seen before. Here and elsewhere she writes with vigour, and has considerable powers of observation and the art of describing what she sees. Nor is she without good sense. The drawback to the value of her book is that now and then she shows a deplorable want of good taste. Here is her "Address to the Reader," purporting to show why she did not call hor book "The Orchid Pilgrimage." "I know that whilst ho would probably not care for a book the title of which breathed of flowers he would undoubtedly favour it did the title savour of sin."
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