ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 9 (Supplement)

ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY

PEOPLE AND PLANTS IN TIBET. NEW NOVEL BY RALPH CONNOR. The chief librarian of the New Plymouth Public Library reports the following books in popular demand:— General Literature. "Himalayan Wanderer,” Brigadier-Gene-ral C. Bruce. “With the Dictators of Fleet Street,” Russell Stannard. „ “King of Air Fighters: The Biography of Major Mick Mannock, V.C., D. 5.0., M.C.,” Flight-Lieutenant Ira Jones. “Spanish Raggle-Taggle,” Walter Starkie. “Rhodesian Mosaic,” Rawdon Hoare.' “Farewell to Fifth Avenue,” Cornelius Vanderbilt Junior. Fiction. “God’s In His Heaven,” J. L. Hodson. “Mary Peters,” Mary Ellen Chase. “The Shipbuilders,” George Blake. “Three 'Englishmen,” Gilbert Frankau. “Ambition’s Harvest,” Nellie M. Scanlan. "Land of Women,” Katharina Von Dombrowski. The following books have been added to fiie library recently:— “A Plant Hunter In Tibet,’’ by F. Kingdom Ward. (Jonathan Cape.) Tibet is still a land of mystery to most Britons. The rule of a semi-sacred potentate, the elaborate monastic system, the mixture of theocratic rule, civil government and brigandage, the laborious journeys and the primitive peoples encountered have all been recorded by travellers, but few of them have wandered through the mystery land so freely and so unbound by set programme or purpose as Mr. Ward.. Not that his was a purposeless mission. He was first of all a keen botanist. Because of that he had no desire to reach a certain point on a certain day, and so his journeys brought him into a more intimate and less official touch with, the people of that little known land. Besides being a botanist Mr. Ward is an explorer. He held unorthodox views in regard to the mountain system stretching along the Indo-Tibetan boundaries across to the Pacific and his careful observations confirmed his theories and brought full recognition for the new exploration he accomplished. Tibet is not all snow and fierce mountain areas. The country, says Mr. Ward, is a plateau raised “at the end of Cretaceous times from the bottom of the great, sea known as the Tethys which stretched away to the Mediterranean. To the south lay peninsular India, which had been land almost from the beginning of geological time . . . ■During early and middle Tertiary times a series of great earth movements uplifted the bottom of the Tethys into the plateau of Tibet, ana at the same time raised the southern edge of this plateau into the greatest mountain range in the world—the Hinfalaya. Thus Tibet is, geologically speaking, a new land.” But the plateau must be divided into three parts. The one, the "Chang Tang” is the largest. It i. : mostly salty desfert where there are no woody plants and few flowering plants of any sort. The second is the “outer plateau.” Its climate is milder than that of the Chang Tang, there is an alpirie flora, but no forests, and trees are confined to the watercourses.’ The third division is the river ’ gorge country' ’where the climate varies from warm temperate to cold temperate, the upper country having a comparatively dry, cold climate, a rich alpine flora and no forest; the lower a much moister climate and densely forested mountains; ’ ■

Travel in such a country needed physical stamina courage and resourcefulness. The people do not love strangers, and they suspect the white man on sight to say nothing of the fact that a stranger’s equipment usually aroused their cupidity. Mr. Ward was lucky in his Indian servants, although there were weaknesses to overcome and authority had occasionally to make itself felt.

The Tibetan Governor of Zayul was surprised to meet Mr. Ward and his colleagues at ■ Rima,- principal town of that Tibetan province, and still more astonished to learn they had walked from Assam to Tibet. “Only beggars walk in Tibet,” he was assured, but the liking between the explorer and the Governor was mutual, and he aided Mr. Ward to the best of his ability. ’lt is difficult in a diary of travels to quote any particular passage that gives a guide to the story because nearly every page records new experiences or difficulties. The story of the trial of men suspected of murdering a mail carrier is but one of those told by the author to illustrate how recently civilisation has touched even the borders of Tibet; Mr. Ward’s friend the Governor was wrathful that the “Sahib’s” messenger should have been murdered. “All roads were closed and no one was allowed to leave the valley without 'a pass.” Suspected men were brought to Rima and put on trial. Three of them, a headman of a village, a labourer, and a priest were examined. The Governor was not satisfied, and ordered a hundred strokes each day for the witnesses until they told the truth.

The flogging of the first two suspects proceeded at once. One hundred strokes were given with raw hide thongs. After 20 strokes had Men inflicted the witness was examined again. “Another 20 strokes ana the questioning was repeated,” without success, and having received his 100 stripes the witness crawled away “to a corner' helped by a friend who poured white of egg on his wounds. The second witness was flogged until he too “crawled away a blubbering cripple.” The ordeal proceeded with two other men, one of them the suspected murderer, but the priest escaped flogging at the request of the white man. The suspect was proved to have been the murderer, and was probably executed in due course, although as the modem Tibetan government has abandoned its former barbarous practice .of mutilating criminals, it is now chary of inflicting the death penalty. Mr. Ward has written tire type of book from which the average reader can learn much more about a strange country than from any number of official maps and records. His was a fascinating journey, and he. has kept that virtue in describing it. “Torches Through The Bush,” by Ralph Connor (John Lane the Bodley Head).

Those who met the distinguished clergyman-author “Ralph Connor” on his recent visit to New Zealand would no doubt recollect his insistence that whatever reputation he had gained as a novelist was to him entirely subordinate to his more important work as a clergyman. In “Torches Through The Bush” Mr. Connor has used the place and influence of the church in a Canadian hinterland, as the most potent among the forces moulding and controlling the people of the back-block settlements he describes so well.

There is found in it the clash of temperament and character between older and younger generation, the pride in the blood, the bitter price to be paid for foolishness and debauchery which Mr. Connor’s .. .mirers have learned to expect from any of his straightforward narratives. Many have found in real life that complexities do not resolve themselves so easily as they do in Mr. Connor’s history of Canadian settlements. Nevertheless they will gladly admit that the sto is quite entertaining and that it makes invigorating reading for those who are inclined to think that the power of the Church is waning, or that the virtues of generosity and broadmindedness are being squeezed out of humanity these days of economic stress.

Admirers of Mr. Connor will agree that his latest work betrays no weakening of his power as a writer of wholesome, vigorous stories. He knows the types of men and women of whom he writes, and can give the reader of his books the feeling that he too has widened his acquaintance with the sons of men.