Sardinia and its Resources. By Robert Tennant. (Stanford.)— Mr. Tennant
gives his readers a very full and complete account of Sardinia as it is. The historical sketch which he prefixes might be better. It is a strange notion, for instance, to suppose that some of the Canaanites, expelled by Israel, fled to Sardinia, because there are traces of the worship of Moloch, Foc. As the Canaanites were Phoenicians, and the Phcenicians were all over the Mediterranean coasts, an easier explanation is possible. But in dealing with the present, Mr. Tennant is quite at home. Agriculture, mining, com- merce, in short, quid quid agunt homines in Sardinia, form the subject of his book. There is a grim satisfaction in finding that here also there is agricultural and mining depression. Agricultural troubles Mr. Tennant is disposed to attribute, in part at least, to the constant subdivision of the land. "In many instances a farm of from 35 to 50 acres comprises between 200 and 300 different strips and pieces of land, scattered over all parts of the commune, and some of them several miles distant from the rest." Many errors are corrected by the author's superior information. He is particularly severe on the mistakes of sporting writers, and he sets himself against the general consensus which has pronounced the climate of the island to be insalubrious. Live well, but not too well ; do not overtire yourself ; stop within before sunrise and after sunset, and all will be well. But these are considerable restrictions. The book would have been im- proved by an index.
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