MYSTERIOUS AFRICA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22198, 7 December 1946, Page 4

MYSTERIOUS AFRICA

UNCOMMON ANIMALS UNEXPLORED CONTINENT Africa is, still one of the most interesting countries in the world and much of tiie hinterland is as yet unexplored. Some of the animals and native tribes are seldom seen by Europeans, amongst these animals being the elusive okapi of the sunless Ituri forests, 'half zebra half giralfe; the lyre-horned Congo Bongo, half antelope and half zebra; the pygmy elephant; the enormous chimpanzee rarely seen in captivity; the mammoth python, 24 feet long; the swift and treacherous mamba, the most dreaded of all the reptilian assassins. All these Commander Attilio Gatti introduces as the characters in his book, “South of the Sahara,” one of the recent additions to the Turanganui Public Library. Other new books are:.. Fiction.—“ Where Are You Going?” by Ruby M. Ayres; "Curious Relations,” b.y William D’Arcey; “A Certain Dr. Thorndyke,” by IT Austin Freeman; “Clean, Bright and Slightly Oiled,” by Gerald Kersh; “Masquerader Brett,” by Richard Fisher; ”His Fight is Ours,” by Jane Lane; “A Ripe and Heady Wine,” by Beryl Moore; “Golden Autumn,” by Emmerline Morrison; ‘‘The Leaning Tower,” Katherine Anne Porter; "Bottle’s Path and Other Stories,” by T. F. Powys; ‘‘The Years Between,” by Lyle Stevenson; "The Sound of the Trumpet,” by Stephen Watts; “The Key.” by Patricia Wentworth. Non-Fiction.—“Out of Africa,” by Karen Blixen; “From the Life," Phyllis Bottome; “French Personalities and Problems,” by D. W. Brogan: “A Wanderer in Khaki,” by Major S. E. G. Ponder; “Faiths that Moved the World,” by Horace Shipp; “Safety Last,” by Rita F. Snowden: “Now Came Still Evening On,” b.y H. A. Vachell. Reviews in Brief. When, jn 1892, Edward Crawford built “Glenedra” as a new home for nis growing lamily, he built it to last. It remained solid and unperturbed through a period of rapid growth and change. To this house, whose surrounding bush and scrub were to give ground finally before the inevitable advance of growing'crowding suburbs, Edward Crawford brings his wife, four sons and five daughters. Fie is a merchant, secure and well-to-do. Before Stanley, the eldest son, leaves for England in 1897, a party is given in his honour, and after an absence of over 40 years, another party is given in the old home to welcome him back. This is the story told in “The Years Between,” by Lyle Stevenson. Miss Phyllis Bottome takes six persons not only well known to her tnrougn personal friendsmp, but also Known to tr.e public lor ineir special contributions to art, religion and science and in “From the Lire” studies their aims or general direction, thus accounting tor tneir particular fruits.

Major S. E. G. Ponder gives an honest account of his army life in peacetime, which is a vivid picture oi what ne calls "Knocking up and down the world and having a first-class time,” in "A Wanderer in Khaki. He has much of interest to say about the countries and peoples he visited, including .the Chinese. He touches on the present Indian problem and briefly gives his reasons for thinking the question almost insoluble. His accounts of the Africans and the Maltese are highly entertaining, as are nis adventures in and about Aden.