Three Weeks in Majorca. By William Dodd, A.M. (Chapman and
Hall.) —The knowledge possessed by the mass of the British public respecting the Balearic Islands is, we imagine. sufficiently wanting in detail to give Mr. Dodd's book a better chance than usual of attracting notice by the mere novelty of its subject. The islands are, he tells U3, very easy of access, there being regular weekly communication by steamboats between them and both Valencia and Barcelona. Majorca is, Mr. Dodd tells us, the only one of them worth visiting; and it is, at any rate, the only one he visited. From his account it appears to be not deficient in fine scenery, and to be blessed with a remarkably pleasant and equable climate. It possesses two special lions—one, an antiquarian musonm at a villa called Alqueria, not far from the metropolis ; and the other a range of natural caves in the neighbourhood of Arta. The inhabitants have all the national peculiarities of the Spanish race. They speak a kind of patois, into which the Catalan tongue enters largely ; but, as there is a law compelling Castilian to be taught in schools, a traveller who knows Spanish has no difficulty in making himself understood. Altogether, Mr. Dodd was so pleased with Majorca that he actually recommends it as an eligible place of residence, especially for invalids. We are scarcely prepared to follow him quite to this length ; but we can, at any rate, conscientiously thank him for having conveyed to us a good deal of novel information in a pleasant, sensible, and straightforward manner.
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