New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-11-09
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TALES OF OLD TRAVEL.

u
continuous toll and filing with hunger Tor
change-for wider scope Of vision, and greater free
dom Of existence. Human nature, in all ages mas
felt the influence of this prOpensity-a moving spiV
of unrest which is the germ Of much social Tragedy
and many political revolutions. Like most o'nVi
impulses however, this one is benenceh' "eii
guided and sometimes in itself 1t IS blessing oo'n
TO those who feel IT, and TO their fellow-men' in's
is notably the case when il takes the lOih VI Io'0 VI
adventure and stimulates Columbus 10 discover "
Now World or a Sir John Franklin to dare the penis
and probe the secrets of Polar Sea- Great travellers
becoming thus by choice, are the results OF TINS pro
nens,tv-wouderingo over oceans and up and down the
earth making known, to all the denlzens OF the
world its and its wonders ITS condiuonsanu
its laws bringing men into closer communion anu
TINS opening the way for the march of civilization
These persons, surely, are, in wide sense OF the
word benefactors TO the human race, and therefore
worthy Of honor. Many of them, we need not say
have spoken Tor themselves. and some
Of them have spoken exceedingly well. Books OF
travel constitute an extensive branch of literature
and a very amusing and useful one. So numerous,
however are the men whom FESTIVE intolerance of
the tyranny of the common place has driven into
travel and adventure and so vOlumnOus are the sur
viving records of their wanderings, that good epit
ones OF the tales of travellers are becoming a posi-
tive necessity TO the reading public. An excellent
book of this kind epitOmzing the narratives OF some
fourteen famous travellers, has been written by the
novelist Henry Kingsley IL is called Tales of Old
Travel and has been published, in particularly
handsome dress by Messrs. Macmillan g. Co. Eight
wood engravings garnish the volume, and suitably
Illustrate salient points in the stories The latter are
told in an Of-hand style, the hOmely sincerity OF
which suits the topics that treated, and shows
that they discussed in perfectly intelligent ana
capable spirit This, in other words is not DOCK OF
padding based on cram and dashed of in reck-
less haste; but it is judicious, earnest,
and authentic re-statement, cleverly made
in lrlef of some remarkable adventures experienced
and described by memorable travellers. The result
is that the reader of these sos pages gets in one book
the cream of many. Mr. Kingsley begins with Marco
Polo, who, in the thirteenth century, in company
with his father and his uncle, penetrated into the
country of the Tartar and lived at the court of that
Kublai Khan whom single stanZa by COeridge has
gone far TO immOTtalize and who was, beyond a
doubt, the most gorgeous of Oriental mOnarchs
Glimpses of a magnificent civilization, rather bar
barrie in its quality, though not the less imposing, are
the staple charm Of this sketch, One forms, in read
ing it, very lustrOus ideal of the wonderful Khan,
who conquered all China off-hand and governed 1t
afterward, who could handle an army Of 100000 men
as easily as he could fly hawk, whose huntingdon
was lined with sable and ermine, and whose regular
retinue of falconers when he followed his fayorte
pursuit consisted Of 10000 men. Things were done
OIL o large scale by Kublai Khan. lie regned for
IS years, died at the age of =, and did not leave
his peer. Mr. Kingsley's sketch contains par
ticuary striking passage descriptive Of the tribe
of the ATsacides-40OO0 of whom were destroyed, in
Syria, by the MamelukcS, in 1880 This sect we
read sprang mp about the year l0O in the mountains
near Teheran. Its high priest had established IN
fortified valley, a sort of MOh"c.mmedan heaven.
Youths between the ages of p and 90 were drugged
anu 'ne ,aKen privately into this paradise, where, on
~awaking they found themselves surrounded byeYery
sensual pleasure. After a few days they were again
dragged, and taken out of the valey-tO regain
which was ever afterward their passionate desire.
1t is a wonder that Mr.. Swinburne has not treated
this subj ct in his peculiar vein The flowers, the
spenGor aud the mad delights ready made here,
and only need the verse. When the Polo party, in
1886 came back Venice, told their identity
was disputed. and they had to give a grand supper
party to numerous Venetian gentlemen, whom they
efectualy dazzled by their barbaTic wealth and
gold and 10y whom they were thereupOn immedi-
ately Endorsed. The world has not changed much in
800 years mans reception is still according to his
coat as the Russian proverb declares. Mr. Kingsley
notes 10y the way that the Polo Brothers helped the
Tartar monarch to batter down a contumacous
Chinese city with catapults which fact
shows the error of an often repeated state
ment, that the Chinese were &C luainted with the
Hsc Of suupQwdcr three thousand years before
II became known 20 tho western nations If
they indeed possessed that terrible Instrument Of
warfare. they would have used it against Kublai
KlfN and catap9Lts would have been i'm vain-like
the physicians M the old song. The sketch of Mr.
KfUgslcy's upOn which have TINS commented,
may serve as "a specimen of the plan and manner of
thus very agreeable book. Thirteen other sketches
follow IT, in no particular sequence of time but in
such arrangement as affords much variety of cbapc-
ter and lngid0.t to the compilation. In the story of
tht shipwreck OF Pclsart lind our way TO the
Australian coast and follow the hardy mariner along
his Loaf voyage OF 800 miles, from that remote
re,,ioY 70 Bltavia in the island of Java In 1928,
when Pelsart met with this adventure, Australia
had for only dozen years been known 10 be IN ex-
istencc Ofits discovery, its settlement its growth
and it's vast riches and exceeding beauty. Mr.. Hinge,
Lev, treats elsewhere in this same book. IL n chaper
on 'Thc Foundation of an EGipfr6" The subject
has long been n favonte one with this writer
-asfeaders of "Fhe Ilillyars and the BurtOns' will
call TO nlind-aui he treats il with great yigor and
eloouence and very thorough information. To show
how newly the British Empire in Australia has been
founded, he mentions that his grandfather. who
was the intimate friend of Lord Rodney. and knew
Gibbon was also intimate with Governor Phillip the
maker and first ruler OF the Botany Bay settlement
Some curious particulars in reference 10 cannnibal-
ism are given in a sketch of the wanderngs of Peter
CaIder. in Patagonia and other South American
eountnes in 1915 This British sailor nine years
in strange parts and, among other experiences took
awalk of 800 miles. When he reached England
again. be bad audience Of Queen Elizabeth, and told
his story 10 that sovereign, who gave him both
ffasri t.filo ttta. liz