SOUTH oF me SuX.—By Russel! Owen.
'John' Day Ca,, New York. $250, The usual sirietly formal and official accounts of Arctic ind Antarctic Expeditions never let the reader into what may be termed ths secret history of the adventure, for one can deny that such expaditions are matters of high adventure It fs, therefore, with the greater plea sure that one can. glean from the pages of Mr. Owen's book a real in-Sight not only into the perils, dan= gers and difficulties encountered, the hardships cheerfully faced and overcome, but into the intimate fives of those who formed the personnel of the expedition, the history of which is recounted by him. Mz Owen. proves himself a master of Sraphle description, and it would be easy to quote extensively from his book to illustrate what is meant by hat; the only difficulty would be as to where to stop. It may be permitted, however, to give one short quotation which shows that. the author had a Keen, sense of the beauty of hal ure, "which constituted his. sur-
Went to breakfast and it lasted well into the afternoon." throwing yellow Jays {0 the ice elite on the Bay 201 that they gleamed like gold. T went fora. walk down past the cape. It was cold, forty belo Fobbed of Colour so long. 1 stood and rank itin with rapture. Tlooked at the Ice glistening before me like a golden senicent. "There s the place PWN see the' sum rises Those" who cents the place where plan may stay" on the barrier and look owns the bay ice and. the sum Ying beyond "It-for" me. the. lone shimmering plain. disappearing beyond {he premure low and the sum coming Up out of ft as If before my feet arm iand cheer me. wouta spring rom suggestive nothingness.
tact of erection' "And. ihe Spirit dea moved upon the face of the Svateres And God id. Let there be Tight and theca was light "That swish to see Teron the frat day trian Too thei, tu Sanat ame the faming symbol of hope. "No Sonder' men. wormipped. the. sri This afternoon there wes_a gorgeous Shy' to the north, flaming fede and ing wp from Tike fraying smoke. And to the north: art war a, thin crescent. of the new moony faint yellow a delicate ned quate contrast to' the. magnificent Sebarlty ofthe crimson sina. But nous of this coloured" never tired of trying. and always hing. composed only, or even mainly, of But "south of the Sun" It not eseriptions of nature, localities and feeney, ft, lea genuinely Intimate account of "intimates" and whilst Guite apparent that on there expedl= tions everything doer not always. 49 on as smoothly" as clockwork, yet Int Shows that if the right men are. got fopether and try and work together In'the right spirit, minor differences, Which are s0 apt when a compa lively Targe' number of! men" are cooped up in @ comparatively small Space on' along Journey 10 erate themselves or be exaggerated {nto disputes of mountainous proper: tions, can be. settled with. only modicum of rancour and ili-feel is. surprising, however, to. that in the case of an expedition, such as Mr, Russell Owen describes "South of the Sun," so many matfers and things, small maybe" {h themselves but looming large in the Scheme of the expedition itself, were forgotten or overlooked. Asan. stance of this, Mr. Owen says those fat home who' read only' the smooth Drogress from day to day of edition cannot realize the ingentc {ty which repairs the frst mistakes of, preparation 'We hed forgotten snow glasses unt had reached New Zealand, had not Provided wooden spoons for. the tral 'Arundsen forgot sow shovels'
"South of the Sun" is for the most part written In the form of a diary, and it [s essentially a personal story: of the everyday life of an Antarctic Expedition looking from the inside. It is no bare record of things accomplished, observations taken, and Fesults tabulated, but we are let {nto the real secrets' attendant upon the lives of members of an adventurous exploration, what "they did, what "they said, what they thought, and whilst it cannot be aid that the description is Tikely to make the average "stay-at-home" anxious to start off on an Antaretc adventure, it is easy to gauge how it might appeal to the "adventurous mind" who really doesn't care what hardships, defects, mistakes, and troubles he may Rave' to encounter as long as there is adventure. A Wonderful book, well. written and full of good matter—nrca.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.