THE HOME OF AN EASTERN CLAN. By Mrs. Leslie Milne.
(Clarendon Press. 16s.) For some years Mrs. Leslie Milne made her home among the Palaungs of the Shan States with a view to studying their habits and customs. She learned their language and lived as far as a European could on terms of intimacy with them. Nothing was too obscure for her notice ; the minutely detailed record of her researches is the result of personal observation and of conversation with the people in their own tongue. We are taken step by step through the life of a Palaung from the cradle to the grave -with praiseworthy diligence. Though Mrs.. Milne writes little of the character of her adopted children we are left to infer that they are an amiable folk, like most hill tribes of a childlike simplicity, and though officially Buddhists they are in reality spirit-worshippers. For many of their customs there are parallels, at any rate in the large, but they seem to be peculiar in their special inculcation of good manners and courtesy, which include not merely the usual Asiatic reverence for elders but chivalry towards women. The book is packed with information, and should be invaluable to anthropologists ; the impression is left of an absolute sincerity and of great sympathy with these primitive people.
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