680 NOTICES OF BOOKS.

We must not omit to mention one other valuable feature

in the addition of a literal Latin translation for the con-
venience of theologians who ought to—but generally do
not—read the " mother of versions " in the original tongue.
S. A. 0.

MUHAMMAD AND HIS POWER. By P. DE LACY JOHNSTONE,

M.A., M.R.A.S. (Edinburgh, 1901.)
Muhammad is the only representative of the Semitic race
of olden times to figure among the " World's Epoch-makers,"
and in the account which Mr. Johnstone has written for this
popular series of handbooks, both the inclusion of this great
figure and the editor's choice of a writer are amply justified.
So much has been written upon the subject that the small
book before us could have been easily doubled or trebled in
size, but Mr. Johnstone has carefully sifted the great mass
of material at his disposal, and this concise account of his
should have the effect of awakening in his readers an interest
in Oriental history and thought. He has paid sufficient
attention to every point of importance, and he has not failed
to indicate here and there a few of the problematical questions
upon which the last word has not yet by any means been
said. In the opening chapters the writer has given us an
all too short sketch of the land and people of Arabia before
Islam, a particularly fascinating subject, a popular account
of which for English readers is still a thing of the future.
Not the least valuable feature of this portion of the book
is the inclusion of extracts from Sir Charles Lyall's'Ancient
Arabian Poetry. On the other hand, it is to be regretted
that the writer has failed at least to mention Robertson
Smith among the authorities " easily accessible in our own
language" (p. viii). He is one of the few scholars who
have investigated at first-hand the environment of Islam,
a knowledge of which is indispensable to the understanding
of Mohammedanism, and is at the same time highly
suggestive to students of other early Semitic literature. In
conclusion, we venture to express the conviction that there
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 THE HISTORY OF HTJMAYUN. 681

is need—great need—for popular yet scholarly handbooks

such as the one before us. This country's ignorance of and
indifference to Eastern life and thought are, comparatively
speaking, inversely proportionate to the immense political
issues at stake.
S. A. C.
THE HISTORY OF HUMAYUN (HUMAYUN-NAMA). BY GUL
BADAN BEGUM. Translated by ANNETTE S. BEVERIDGE,
M.R.A.S. pp. 331. (London : Eoyal Asiatic Society,
1902.)
These memoirs of her own times by a Princess of the royal
house of Tinrar possess an interest of a peculiar kind. As
a daughter of Babar, a sister of Humayun, and an aunt of
the great Akbar, the Princess was in a position to throw
a vivid light on the events of the troublous times in which
she lived. The monotonous seclusion of the harem was not
so rigidly enforced in those days as in later times. The
ladies of the royal family, dragged about from one place
to another, at one moment honoured and feted, at another
subject to indignities, imprisonments, and dangers, were far
from being passive spectators of current events. They held
interviews with the males of their family, and the principal
nobles and men of mark—veiled probably, but not hidden
behind the curtains of the zenana. They formed shrewd
judgments on men and events, and on many occasions
exercised considerable influence. They were very numerous,
these spirited and strong-minded Turk and Mughal women,
and took the keenest interest in everything that happened.
The Princess Gulbadan in particular shows herself a remorse-
less critic and an outspoken recorder of the actions of her
relatives. It is this that gives her memoirs such a lively
and piquant interest. Her narrative supplies those intimate
details of private life which are wanted to clothe and make
real the dry bones of official history. Her style, too, is
simple and natural, a refreshing contrast to the turgid,
pompous verbosity of courtly writers like the unendurable
Abul Fazl and his fellows.
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