New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-06-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A BOOK OF TRAVEL.

INCIDENTS OF A COLLECTORS RAMDLEs IN AVS
TRAlIA, NEw-zEALANp, AND MEW-GU nns ~
BY sherman F; Denton With b lnostrsuIIh s,
the Author. 12mo. PIP. 212. bos'oh' LOO "
shepard
The rlost conspicuous fact about this book is the
mrpeness of the author. That no Is very young
man Is apparent on every rage ana also u'a ~, n,'
worldly experience has been vt 'hc narE""es'' IN
fortunately for himself no does not permit 10 to
remain doubtful tina, :hc "sw:ess which lie m's'o'"
for patriotism must frequently have cohVeSo' s"'
thing but a aatering impression OF the American
character to the foreigners among whom ne uaNeneu
Apart from this there are far TOO many proofs Oh %"
taste in his pages, while he is fatgnHy addicted 10
rotnt,ess stories and may be suspected OF an ncli
ns,oh to brss The destructive ins'inct Is evidently
very strong IN him. witness his unnecessarily whole
sale slaughter OF the beautiful and Interesting Aus
trslIan Tyre birds OF whose song he gives the foiiow
tnp strfhs q account He and his brother were walk
ing along the road. shouting and singing. 1--WE werc
iust I'm the middle OF Tramp, tramp when long.
clear whistle. with crack like a pstolshot at tho
end, stopped us short. Sitting down on Tie roaosioe
we listened, and the whistle began again; then
followed the most exquisite mimicIy OF many OF the
songsters OF the wood, varied by sounds resembling
the clear tones Of distant bell the rattle OF
rtckety wagon, raspngs and gralings that made tho
cold chills run down Ono's back, whispers. means,
cries and laughter clearly distinguished the coarse
laugh Of the giant knSashcr, the cooling OF the doVe
the call OF the black and white shke the song Of tao
usty kod thrush the scream OF the hawk and the
hosrse screeching OF the cockatoo. Sometimes the
song with q volume like large organ was loud and
sweet, and IL seemed as II the musicians must %
within stones throw; then again It died away TO
tho fantcst whisper. There was a mellow richness
I'm parts that reminded of the liquid notes OF inc
c,arionet. We sat spebound till the song had coasc
I have heard most of our American songstcrS' ana
some of thom are very fine. with voices rich and
mellow; but the mocktng bird himself cannot conn.,
vi this prince
bird"
After having sat spellbound" while this =" prince
Of songsters" singing. Mr. Denton recovered sum
GENTLY TO try TO kill the poor bird, and thchceior
ward records with enthusiasm unlikely TO be shared
by the reader the frequent slaughter Of those melodi
Gus creatures. To all but collectors. indeed the
shooting OF birds is apt to appear something less
than UNSUITABLE but the passion for collecting seems TO
doaden at least OF the higher sentiments and It's
influence IS liable become bralizng-and the morc
perhaps because the cloak OF science IS thrown about
the occupation Mr.. Denton's wanderings TOOK him
to several parts OF Australia and New Zealand. where
his father the late Professor Denton. was on lee
turing tour There is little OF novelty in the authors
adventures here and no discoveries scientific or other
WISE are recorded. Tho most Interesting Journey Is
that to Newt unea WHORE Mr. Denton and his brother
appear 10 have passed some time on IN" DicaSantest
terms with the Papuans whose hospitality. frtendli
ness and simplicity stand out conspicuouSly Here
OF trees seventy eighty feet from the ground-no
doubt for greater security from their foes. Others
resort TO lake and marine dwellings like those Of
archaic Switzerland. Many OF the Pabuan women
arc said be handsome, and the men are athletic AMI
~arlike NeighborhOOd Quarrcls. eliminating In
night raids and dts perac spear and arrow combais.
arc frequent ard the author ran considerable risk IN
one OF these through n"gl"ctng the timely warning
of the natives. who knew their village was about 10
be attached.
Mr.. Denton. on first seeing the PapuanS.
struck with their remarkable resemblance TO Amcrt
.an Indians They were BY far the finest looking
sayaces had ever seem This is not very lllumina
ing observation though II shows that the author
knows very little about the American Indians. To
sav that the Papuans arr like American Indians IS
no moro descriptive indicative than to say that
they are like human beings. for there are many kinds
Of American Indians and these kinds do not resemble
one another at all. The difference betwced an Indian
OF one Of the tribes Of the plains and Northern In
dian is as great as that between an Esquimau and
q Patagonan. Tho fact Is that Will" the Papnan
physique may resemble that Of the Plains indians
there is no physiognomical likeness between tho two
Those Papuans, however good sort OF savage.
being stout hunters, cultivating tho soil. living
patsrchal life in villages, and being addicted to but
one practice held Objectionable by outsiders They
buy thoir wives that IS say but they court them
IN the orthodox manner IN the first place. and they
appear TO 30 monogamists or course ~hoh the
European and American traders and /" beschcomoers'
ret fairly 70 work these simple folk will lose all their
manhood and primitive virtues and sink into the dirty
drunken degraded condition which tho contact OF
Western "cvillzstion" inevitably entails upon the
victims of It. We could wish Mr. Denton had told
ns moro about NcwGunea and considerably less
,hout Australia and NewZcaland. The illustrations
70 the book by his pencil, are not very good.