THE BOOKSHELF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20560, 10 May 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF.

TALES OF WILD BEASTS.

STRANGER THAN FICTION

To those initiated into (ho excellences of the best of all outdoor magazines, it will only be necessary to say that it is a typical Blackwood production, for " Tho Jungle Tide," by John Still, to bo sought after and enjoyed. It is tho most interesting book about wild animals that has conio under notice. Mr. Still knows the Ceylon jungle and its inhabitants as few other white men can. Ho kept every kind of animal, except crocodiles, as domestic pets. It is a relief to find, having regard to one's credulity, that crocodiles would have none of him.

A snake charmer himself, Mr. Still became the friend of the nativo charmers, who let him into their secrets and amiable | deceptions. Ho holds.J.hat anyone can 'charm snakes, it being all a matter of bodily position. Ono episode reads like pure Hollywood. Ho used to send out two bears, two leopards, and a jackal for a run every morning, in chargo of a small boy. Ono's sympathies aro with tho pilgrims who met this cavalcade and incontinently took to flight. The animals thought it was a gamo, and joined in. Between the barking of bears, tho yelling of pilgrims, and tho miscellaneous noises of leopards, jackal and small boy, it must have been like Bedlam let loose. Mr. Still loves animals too well to bo a typical " sportsman." " Afterwards I took to hotter .things, ..and with tho same trackers used tO', go out to see, but not to kill, and found it more .interesting, quite as dangerous, and productivo of a feeling of virtue." After hunting a buffalo bull for throe days ho felt ho knew him so well that he rejoiced at tho final escape of a • friend .from poril. Ho soberly records ono queer method of stalking wild animals by hanging on to the tail of a trained buffalo, and being dragged through tho forest behind it. Tho wild beasts, . then, either failed to see tho man or regarded him as a natural • glorification of tho tail and ignored him utterly. One reaches for the salt, but Mr. Still has all the air of truth. Ho has some wonderful tales of-animals, perhaps tho most remarkable being about an elephant which fell into a pool, and could not get out again. As Mr. Still's literary style matches his matter, it would bo a queer person who would ', not find this book engrossing.

"Tho Jungle Tide." by John Still. (Blackwoods.)

DONN BYRNE'S FAME. THIRD POSTHUMOUS NOVEL, " Tho Goldon Goat" h the third novel drawn from tho posthumous supply of Donn Byrne, tho Irish novelist. Ho won recognition first of all ivi America, where ho arrived as a young man, eager to try his fortune. After several false starts ho was successful with magazino stories, and rapidly becamo one of the highestpaid short story writers in America. His living assured, he soon aspired ;to something better than tho mechanical stories lie was writing, and memories of his childhood in County Armagh recalled to him the folk story of Marco Polo. Thus his first and best-known book was written, and tho charm of Donn Byrne, the Irish novelist, became known throughout the world. As a successful writer ho travelled, seeking new backgrounds for his stories. The two thousard pounds won in a night's play at the Cannes Casino ho used to help purchase a beautiful castlo in Southern Ireland. A day after his return to tho land of his birth, within sight of his castle, ho was tragically killed in a motor accident.

" Tho Golden Goat" is a story written round tho baccarat room of a French casino. Its heroine is an American, girl, who, enthralled by the gambling spirit, hots and loses more than sho can afford. Tlithomo is entirely conventional, and lacks originality. It will add nothing to Donn Byrne's reputation; nevertheless it is written with that careless and lavish charm which graces all his writing and makes even the least of his work eminently readable.

" Tho Golden Goat," by John Byrne (Sampson Low. )

MYSTERY IN WEST INDIES.

ART OF SUSPENSE AND THRILL,

" Clues of the Caribbees" is, one feels, the outcome of Mr. Stribling's recent travels in the West "Indies. It is a collection of five stories, all of them of the approved murder mystery type, and all five lightly strung together by tho personality of Professor Henry Poggioli, an American psychologist, on holiday. Those stories give him an opportunity to display his talents as an unraveller of mystery.

.Mr. Stribling, as the author of " Fomliombo" and " Birthright," has proved himself master of tho gentlo art of suspense and thrill, yet it is his descriptive powers that give hi 3 books their standing. Theso latest stories aro by no means in his best manner. Tho plots in all cases aro extremely thin, but his backgrounds are as vivid and telling as ever, and give the reader genuine pleasure. " Clues of tho Cnribbces," by T. S. Stribling. (Heinemnnn.)

LITERARY BEGINNINGS.

AUSTRALIAN RECOLLECTIONS,

Mr. J. Lo Gay Brereton, who holds the chair of English literature at, Sydney University, and who is recognised as the leading authority in Australia on Elizabethan toxts, has collected some of his writings into a book 'with the graceless but typically Australian title, " Knocking Around." The book suffers through having no connecting thread, and too diverse methods of treatment of the various subjects. It is obvious that their assembly in book form was merely an afterthought. 'Moit interest centres in the account ot early literary strivings, which embraces the formation and history of various literary groups in Australia. Mr. Brereton was Mio friend of Kendall, Lawson, Dovvoll O'Reilly, l'aterson, Brennan, and his association with tho university brought him in contact with all flie young poets and writers of Sydney. It is easy to accept the admission that Lawson preferred Dead wood Dick's ad'ventures to any other form of literature; and his ycense of rhythm comes in for some damaging admissions by his friend There is a purple patch about Bohemianism : —" The Bohemian is atrociously con ventional, and for tho sake of strict uniformity lie may even find inebriety forced on him by his conscience, and may regard frowsiness as a virtue. Victor Daloy was fastidious, and ho shrank from such a rigid code of morals." Mr. Brereton'sfr writing suffers at times from a conscious casualness, but lie is to be congratulated for avoiding that, chopped-off, colloquial method which some other writers so often attempt to foist on its public as typically Australian. " Knocking Around," by J. Lo Gay Brereton. (Au&uu and Robertson.)