BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3860, 6 March 1928, Page 74

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

THE STORY OF ANTS. “ The Ant People.” By Haus Heinz Ewers. Translated from the German . by Clifton Hanby Levy. (Cloth, 8s 6d net.) London: John Lane (the Bodley Head, Ltd. Per Angus and Robertson, Sydney.

Dr Ewers is a well-known German writer, and his book on the ants will come as a revelation even to the large number of people interested in the subject. Like Maeterlinck in his “ Life of the Bee,” he indulges in fantasy rather than cold facts, and, though from the scientific point of view he loses strength thereby, from that of the reading public his work is enhanced in value in that it is alive and full of human interest. So few people know anything about ants which, as Dr Ewers says, are neither good to eat nor beautiful to look at, nor even funny or useful, that any work calculated to stimulate interest in them is worth while.

The book begins with the wedding of the ants, and proceeds with their life story. The males soon die or are devoured ; th e females strip themselves of their wings and begin the work of rearing a family. If they succeed .in producing offspring, they rest in their labours, for their children administer unto their mother and give her the food and attention she has, till now, had to find for herself. Indeed, the self-sacrifice and travail attendant on the rearing of her first family have been enormous. To be queen of a colony, a mother ant has to fight with similar mothers, the queen representing the survival of the fittest. The evolution of ants may be traced from the primitive and warlike races like the bull-ants of Australia which represent hunters, through the pastoral races which keep a herd of leaf-lice and other animals for milking purposes, and the agriculturists which till the soil and harvest their crops, up to the tradespeople and artisans. “ Only among men and ants,” says the author. “ do we find a complete series of artistic powers. In antdom we have spinners, carpenters, paper makers, roofers, hunters, farmers, bakers, miners, herds, coopers, plasterers, mushroom growers, tapestry makers, gardeners, cutlers, nurses, governesses, sick nurses, soldiers, scouts, guards ; there are professional slave holders, thieves, robbers, loafers. Of course, mankind has some others, but among the ants there are callings not known to man ; for instance, the profession of the living door among the carpenter ants, or the living cask among the honey ants, both quite as strange to man as the compulsory regicide. ‘ °

Hie honey ants, which live in countries where drought is frequent, are specially prepared and then made to hang on to the roof of their homes while their companions take from their enormously distended stomach whatever they need of honey nourishment. Only death releases these living casks from 'the act of service to the community. lhe method of feeding on predigested food is common among ants—indeed, it is the general way of obtaining a meal. “ The ant gathers considerable food, but needs very little for its own requirements; so little, that it is always hungry. Its national consciousness is so strong that it reckons itself in terms of the community. Only a portion of the people go in search of food, while the others, wiui duties highly specialised, attend to the housework. When one of the workers comes home, another ant approaches her, touches her with her feelers, strokes her with her front legs, and licks her. They lay tongue to tongue and accompany this friendly intercourse with tender strokes of feelers and legs. The feeder that comes home with a full crop is not content with feeding one, but passes from one to the other, distributing her gifts with a free hand. And even the others, which have been so tenderly fed, do not retain these gifts for themselves alone. They run to other hungry sisters and pour forth what they can spare in kisses.” Ants are very much like humans in their life. Diet,- sport, and games are part of their knowledge, and in their methods they show an almost uncanny wisdom. “ I have often observed wounded or ill ants,” says our author, “ nursed back to health by their sisters. These ministrations may last for months. It is true that severely wounded individuals are seldom nursed ; those whose death is imminent are cast out of the nest. Just so the Spai-tans exposed their sickly children.” Playing with grains of wheat or seeds, taking them away from one another, letting them roll, bringing them back, etc., are games of strength indulged in for the sunshine and air they provide to sueh workers as have been inside the nest too lone.

“ What is the real purpose of the great assemblages of th e ant people ? ” he next asks. For they do assemble both out in the open and in the artificial nest. They gather together suddenly, then sit still and quiet for many hours at a time. They do not talk to one. another, they do not touch one another with their feelers. They move the hinder body slightly, as a dog wags his tail ; they wave their feelers hither and thither/ very slowly. It is very striking, if you come to think of it, that there is no animal that works so continuously, with slight intervals for play, as the ant. What, then, are the workers about now—what is the purpose of the assembly ? Are they consulting about something important to the State ? Are they praying, as men do in their churches? Are they thanking their Creator that he made them the crown of the insect world ? ” Other human characteristics displayed by ants are revealed in their sins. They love strong drink. When the fringed beetle arrives with her golden hair moistened with its fragrant liquid, the anf s seem to go mad with thirst and desire. They neglect the mother queen and their own

children, and spend their days in fawning on the vampire and their nights in drunkenness. The beetle larva,, cherished by the ants with a loving fondness, feed on the food which should go to the ant babies until the colony, doomed by drink, grows weaker and ’weaker. Defeat by intoxication is one of the chief sins of ants.

Of slave owners, cattle keepers, murderous queens, and Amazonian armies, we havg not room to tell. All we can say is that the tiny world of which we have been given a view is a terrible little place on account of its startling similarity with the larger world of our own. Dr Ewers, who has travelled in all parts of the globe, is abl e to give first-hand knowledge, and, being faithful to facts, presents a book which is satisfying and interesting from beginning ro end. AN UNCONVENTIONAL TRAVEL BOOK. ‘ By Devious Ways.” By Halford Ross. With illustrations by the author. (Cloth, 7s Gd net.) London: John Murray.

A great story-teller is Dr Ross, knowing how to present his facts in a way which is always attractive, and having sufficient material to work on, to make his output worth while. “By Devious Ways ” is an entrancing book, and even the most jaded travel-reader will respond to its appeals. It tells of how the doctor and his wife go from London to Port Said, South Africa, and India, investigate the conditions of life there, to examine working conditions, and to deal with mosquitoes and malaria. By the end of the book the reader not only feels that he has accompanied the author step by step on his journey, sharing his impressions and seeing with his eyes, but is possessed as never before with a knowledge of the inner life of the countries visited. Port Said attracted the author’s attention because of the disease and iniquity flourishing there. The health of the inhabitants of this “ Gateway of the East ” was in shocking state owing to insanitation, and everybody was always ill or ailing. The amount necessary to combat this was £l2OO per annum. But the Egyptian Government refused to find so much. Eventually, by soliciting the aid of the Suez Canal Company-, Dr Ross obtained the necessary 7 sum, and at once began operations.

In six weeks mosquitoes disappeared from the town, and immediately the health of the people improved. The evil houses for which the place was notorious were done away with, and Jibboom street became clean, both physically and morally. But so excellently was the work done that tourists began to complain and demand the return of the sights which had made the Port so interesting! So back they came—with a difference. Thus •(to quote the author), with the coming of amusements of a harmless varietv, Port Said was twisted from a town of shame into a town of sham.

Johannesburg was visited to investigate the state of the natives working in the gold mines there. On the first day Dr Ross descended 6000 ft, and found conditions extremely depressing; on the second he went to 7400 ft below the surface, where the heat was terrific and natives were constantly being prostrated with heat-stroke. The question of cooling the mine at these levels is a serious one, for, although with the addition of water, tuberculosis is prevented, heat stroke is more prevalent, human beings being able to stand high dry temperatures better than high moist ones. It would be impracticable to pump cold air down such a great distance underground. The way 7 out is to cool it in the tunnels. But how? The question is not yet satisfactorily answered, although Dr Ross discusses it with great interest before he leaves it.

India was the place of social life, mosquitoes, and stubbornness. How to make the white people in Assam cease bothering about their petty little conventions—dress, ritual, caste, etc.—and give their attention to clearing the place of malaria so baffled Dr Ross that eventually 7 he left them in disgust, gaining what help he needed from the natives. The descriptions of India, and especially of the work of draining the swamps and freeing the land from mosquitoes, are perhaps the most interesting in the book, and certainly are among the most lively. The word-picture of the white man s dream on page 265 is humorous to a degree.

“By Devious Ways” is remarkable because it is true, human, and humorous. One will want to read it over again after a fiist perusal.

DEFYING PROHIBITION. “ The Confessions of a Rum-Runner.” By James Barbican. (Cloth, Overr.eas Edition). London and Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, Ltd.)

A “ rum-runner ” is a man on a ship which, loaded with whisky, lies anchored oatside American prohibition areas to supply the-country surreptitiously with his goods. He is also the owner of the small boat which goes out to the ship in all weathers to run in a load of contraband, he and his mate playing a lone hand against storms, fogs, revenue cutters, prohibition agents, police, and hijackers. “ Bootleggers ”, are the retail merchants who sell by the case, or even by the bottle, and among them are some pretty slippery gentlemen-

“ Operators ” are the big wholesalers who organise and finance the business, and who often put through deals involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, and always by word of mouth, as it is not safe to put anything in writing. “ Hijackers ” are the desperadoes who prey on the rum-runners, robbing them at the point of the revolver; they are often closely connected with tb/s legitL mate operators, and usually sell to them the booty they have wrested from others,' Also, they are usually unsuccessful rumrunners whom misfortune has rendered desperate.

The above definitions as given by Janies Barbican in his book of confess sions will give the reader some idea of the general tone of the volume. Presumably a gentleman, and an Englishman at that, the author, being at a “loose end,” decided to employ himself as one of the" recognised quarries of the American Government for the following reasons, given in “ Notes ” at the end of the book:

He felt that, in spite of America’s apparently plucky efforts to cope with one of the greatest of present-day evils, prohibition is a farce, being used by hundreds of thousands of her citizens for enriching themselves. As America, as a nation, is determined to have “ hard liquor,” and substitutes poisonous brews when she is unable to procure rhe real thing, he felt he was justified in joining in a game which provided her with good liquor instead of bad, and himself with adventure and profit. Perhaps so. It is not our nlace to criticise, although the blatant way in which James Barbican, as an Englishman, put himself into a positions which' to everybody, especially Americans, was quite outside the pale, is distasteful, to put it mildly. The adventure which besought was there in abundance, and the profit for which he was working apparently so forthcoming that he says with reference to the question of prohibition being enforced in England : “ If prohibition were brought in, who would be better pleased than I? In six months I would be living in Park lane (or Portland).” The confessions are true, the publishers having gone into the matter with some care and satisfied themselves as to the good faith of the author. IMPRISONED IN GERMANY. “I Escape!” By Captain J. L. Hardt', D. 5.0., M.C. (late of the Connaught Rangers). With an introduction by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (Cloth, 7s Gd net.) London: John Lane (the Bodley Head) “ There are some wild birds which settle down in captivity. There are others which alternate between brooding on their perch and dashing themselves against the bars. Of the latter breed is Captain Hardy, once of the Connaught Rangers. Many times he dashed himself against the bars, and then at last on one glorious day he slipped between them and was free once more. I can say of him what he would be the last to say for himself, that a mo: e gallant and chivali ous gentleman never stepped. One would have thought that in the drab life of a German prison his one yearning would be for the joys of London or the peace of home. Not a bit of it. His dream of dreams was to be back in a front trench once more and at close grips with the men who had held him in bondage. He fulfilled his dream, escaping in company with a splendid officer, Captain Willie Loder-Symonds. Both men on their return at once volunteered for the front. Loder-Symonds was killed in an aeroplane smash. Hardy got back to his job, was twice wounded, got his promotion, his D. 5.0., and his Military Cross with bar. The second wound involved the loss of his leg, and he is now on the retired list, but a man with such inventive power and desperate energy will surely make his mark in peace as well as in war.”

In this way does Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduce the author of this thrilling book, which grips one from start to finish. The story of the numerous attempts Captain Hardy made at escape, almost achieving his object, almost freeing himself, and then being recaptured and brought back to prison again, makes one’s spirits sink lower and lower. How could any man possible have the heart to try again after so many exasperating failures ? But Hardy was made of better stuff, and the courage, forethought, and skill used to affect his last escape from Sehweidnitz to Belgium prove what a man he was. One’s feelings go up with a bound, and so splendidly is suspense retained, so subtly is one left in doubt as to whether this, too, is to be a fiasco, that when the hero is safe at last, on friendly territory, one wants to throw one’s cap into the air and cry “ Hurrah!” The book is useful, apart from the interest its narrative arouses. It gives a humane picture of Germany; it disabuses one’s mind of many unjust ideas one might have had with regard to the German treatment of war prisoners, and it is written in a pure style which makes it leave the ranks of usual “ escape ” books to join that of literature. Five illustrations and a map add to its historical value.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM? “ Strange Disappearances.” By Elliott O’Donnell. (Cloth, 8s (id net.) . London: John Lane (the Bodley Z'?ad).

In compiling the above volume of disappearances care was taken that the selection should dnclude only those that were authentic, and in most of the cases

selected the source of their authenticity is given. Consequently one is able to read with a quickened zest, because, as always, the knowledge that what one is interested in really happened, supplies added spice to one’s interest. There are about 20 disappearances recorded—all thrilling and baffling. We shall describe the first one: One of the most attractive women at the Court of Louis XIV during the regime of Madame de Montespan was Madame de Bethune, who figured in endless scandals until age made her lose her looks. At this juncture Madame de Montespan ceased to appear at Court, her place being taken by Madame de Maintenon, who was of so religious a nature that she prevailed Louis to follow her example, and turn the Court into her rootsteps too. Madame de Bethune was one of the new con-erts, and when she died she bequeathed her entire fortune, together with her only child Rosalie, to the Benedictine Convent of St. Rosalie. At 19 Rosalie, much to the surprise of e-erybody, including Madame de Maintenon, refused to be a nun, saying she wished to live a gay life. The reason, as was discovered by espionage, was that she was in love with a certain Count d’Ambois; so, with threats of dire punish: ent, Madame de Maintenon managed to make the count flee away, leaving Rosalie deserted. The count’s mother, to ingratiate herself with roadame, presented a jewelled crucifix to the convent of Ct. Rosalie. Rosalie still would not take the veil until one day a mysterious monk talked to her, after which she readily consented to enter the convent. Here, tales of miracles performed by her. aroused the interest, of the people, who brought such gifts to the place that it soon became the richest in the land. At the zenith of its prosperity, however, the convent was burned down, nor could a ■ estige of its treasures be found in the ruins.

Years later, at a masked ball, where the Count d’Ambois went attired as a monk, a lady dressed as a masked sultana, and obviously of great wealth, led him aside into a private room, r.e was discovered here, hours later, with a dagger driven into his chest, its hil'. being the very crucifix which his moth had given to the ill-fated Convent de St. Rosalie. Obviously the masked lady had not killed the count for money, and only Rosalie de Bethune would have killed him thv- fr • vengeance. Hence, perhaps, the identity of one of the two travellers who were seen leaving the convent 0,1 the night it was destroyed is solved; but who was the other? With this and other mysteries Mr O’Donnell makes a breathtaking book.