NEW BOOKS REVIEWED.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15894, 19 January 1924, Page 11 (Supplement)

NEW BOOKS REVIEWED.

CURRENT LITERATURE "Aassie." Tho January number of "Aussie" makes' splendid holiday reading. The N.Z. section, now permanently enlarged, is representative of the work of N.Z. writers and artists. This department of the paper is gradually taking on a distinctive atmosphere, and compares very favourably with the work of the Australian writers and artists who appear in the magazine proper. "The Doctor," by Isabel Cameron Angus and Robertson, Sydney).

This is a most appealing book, and it holds the interest of the reader its opening to its close. "The Doctor," was a loveable character, and Mrs Cameron's pourtrayal is masterly. It tolls cf simple things in simple words, but beneath the simplicity there is depth of feeling and a world •of tenderness. We visit the sick and reprove the ungodly and the flippant in the Doctor's company; with him we speed the dying on his long last road, wo comfort the fatherless and the widowed, and rejoice over the repentcnt prodigal and the happy bride." It is a joyful book.

"The Waikato War," by John Featon. This work, which was originally published as a serial by an Auckland journal, has now been published in book form, having been revised byCaptain Gilbert Matr. The statement put forth by the publishers that the work will be welcomed by a new generation as an account of a campaign in which their fathers and grandfathers participated will be generally endorsed for it sets forth in a most Interesting way tho events- of those stirring days when the Waikalo was the battle ground of two brave races. It is history in a compact form. A. section of .the work is devoted to the story, of To Kooti, told by Captain Gilbert Mair and G. A. Preece, who participated in the expeditions fitted out against that notorious outlaw. The book shooid be widely welcomed. "Reminiscences and Maori Stories," by Captain Gilbert Mair. , This is a collection of Maori legends and reminiscences of old New Zeahnel told by one who had been fin close association with the Maoris throughout his life. He was born at Tawa- Tawhiti, Whangarel in 1543. and from his earliest boyhood he had close association with the natives. He lived amongst fhem and he loved them. And the stories he sets down preserve pictures of a life that wo will see no more, and they impart viv.'d of the real old Maori, his peculiar menial processes and his ways in peace and war. They should irresistibly appeal to all New Zcalandcrs. Antique Trade Secrets. To be taken behind the scenes in the antique trade as Mr Reginald G'lossop promises in his new hook, "The Jewess of Hull" se.unds exciting, though when we gel Ihere we find that most of the "seercts" are fairly familiar by now. ■ In marrying Ruth, the "Jewess of Hull," Eric Beverley acquired a partner who was an hereditary expert at the trade. The young couple make amazing bargains. Embarrassed dukes dispose of priceless stuff in the old castle aud the "firm", replace it with artful reproductions before the duchess comes back. It all goes with a swing. Is Ihere more in some butlers than meets the eye? Do they really "work" with antique dealers, as Mr Glossop suggests, and take a commission en any old "pieces" that their employers may be induced to part With?

Books on Big Game Hunting. Three books on big game shooting in India have recently 'been published, and, as was only to be expected, the shooting of tigers bulks largely in their pages. In "Wild Animals in Central India" Mr A. A. Dunhar-Brander gives a great deal of out-of-the-way information about the life and habits of tigers, and adds to that many valuable hints for the sportsman. Tigers grow until they are five years old, and for many years after this they continue to put on muscle and fill out—as a man does after growth has ceased. The age-to which tigers live is not known, ■bul I believe it to he much greater than is generally supposed. I once killed a well-recognised tiger of marked characteristics which had been known t) be in the same jungle for fifteen years. He must have been some age, at least five, before attention was drawn to him, and thus not less than twenty years' old when I shot him. He then appeared to be in his prime, with perfect teeth, and without any signs of decay. In "Days and Nights with Indian Big Game" Major-General A. E. Wardrop and Mr C. W. G. Morris have so many stories lo tell of their encounters "with, tigers that it becomes almost monotonous.

This is how Mr Morris describes his "first" tiger:—"The foot of the bill was almost reached when suddenly the clear, loud bell of a sam-b-hur (a species of deer) rang out on our right; a few seconds later, another bell only a few hundred yards off; and we crept towards the. spot, but had not moved far when our steps were arrested by a crashing among the bamboos, followed by a third cry from the sambhur, hut not a bell this time; it. was a hoarse, long-drawn roar of pain and fear. 'Something has seized it,' whispered the leading tracker, and then they both muttered, 'A tiger!' ... On reaching the clump the tracker Kanni-Madha peered round, and then instantly crouched back, saying, 'Sir, sir, look at the tiger!' . . . There in a little glade stood a grand tigress, quietly surveying the body of the stag sambhur 'she had just killed. As I raised my rifle I noticed that her sides were heaving: she was panting from the exertions of the struggle." The late Colonel L. L. Kenton, whose book, "The Rifle in India," has been produced under the direction of his widow, also recounts various tigershooting experiences, but his book — as. indeed, that of the two former sportsmen —is largely concerned with the other big game of India.