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CONTENTS OF No. III.

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NEW EDINBURGH REVIEW.

JANUARY, 1822.

ART. I.—An Account of the Interior of Ceylon, and of its Inhabitants; with Travels in that Island. By JOHN DAVY, M.D. F.R.S. 4to. Longman and Company. Pp. 530. London, 1821.

THE chief, and, indeed, the only claims which this work prefers to the attention of the public, are, first, an account of the interior parts of the island, hitherto almost entirely inaccessible to the European traveller; and, secondly, the history of the late rebellion against the British authorities, which, as every one knows, terminated in the conquest of the whole country, and in its annexation to the crown of these kingdoms. As to the other matters usually introduced into eastern journals and narratives, such as the religion, the literature, the commerce, the agriculture, and manners, which distinguish that portion of the globe, we cannot perceive that Dr. Davy has added any thing important to the information already in the hands of the public, and to be found abundantly in the volumes of Cordiner, Percival, and Bertollacci. There are, no doubt, a few notices on the various subjects of natural history, as well as on the diseases which prevail in Ceylon, which carry with them no small interest to the professional reader, especially as coming from the pen of an author so well qualified as Dr. Davy is, to mark and discriminate, in both these departments. And, upon the whole, if we abate a little for the tediousness of his travels and the minuteness of his topography, both of which, not unnaturally, assume an importance in his own mind which cannot be communicated to that of his reader, Davy's "Account of Ceylon and its Inhabitants" must be allowed to have very fair pretensions to become a popular work.

In analyzing its contents, however, it will best answer our purpose to begin where the author ends; that is, to give, first, a précis of the historical incidents connected with the island; and then to bring forward such notices on its physical characters and capabilities, on its inhabitants, their manners, religion, and learning, as may appear the most likely to entertain and instruct.

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