New-York tribune., 1909-12-18
Literary .Nesa,s and Criticism

allowed to stand between us and any food
that had been available. The man who
starves In city is weakened, hopeless'
We could not Joke about food, in the way
that is possible for the man VINO is hungry
in the ordinary sense. we thougnt apovnt v,
we used to talk about 1t. but always IN
the most serious manner possible; we
used TO plan out the enormous m lledls t, ti'4o a.
we proposed TO have when we got DacK 10
the ship and, later, TO SlNlllzanph, !.
We used to tell each other wit with ,sT Perfecs eSe
had Thought Of and If the dish met with
general approval there would be chorus
of 'Ah, That's good!' / rememher MAI
nosaI for a thick roll of suet pudding, wtth
plenty of Jam all over IT. ana theIe arose
quite heated argumenth % en- hs as an 10 Invention or
Hrbatber II was not the jam roll ALREADY
known TO the housewives of civilization
DELIGHTFULLY."- British. too. is the cosey
home atmosphere of the authors de-
scr,ntion Of the winter quarters of the
exnedition. the neatest, best Installed
c,b,cIe in the hut becoming known i'm
noediatelv as mo. l Park Lane" And,
finally. there is the interest taken IN
the Siberian ponies and the pack OF
dogs Their individualities. bad and
good traits and mischievous or annoy
ing peculiarities are noted down with all
an Englishman's love OF his four-footed
conpanions, and with all his ability to
derive entertainment from their doings.
The pups rounded up the ponies when
they strayed. and one dog, which had
been a sheepdog in New Zealand. true
ito its profession, rounded up the pups
One of the ponies would scatter It's
nourishing and abundant rations on
the snow, preferring diet of nose-bag,
harness leather, creosoted rope and an
occasional bite out Of its companions
tails All the ponies ultimately went to
feed the expedition. with the exception
of one. which disappeared in a crevasse.
They all were hardy, willing. efficient
workers, and their masters loved them
for it and respected them.
Reference should be made here to Mr..
James Murray's admirable paper on the
penguin in the biological appendix. 1t
is a model of popular scientific writing,
worthy of Thompson-Seton himself
One thinks that this member of the ex-
pedition. If he can resist the lure Of the
Antarctic. has found his vocation.
The illustrations from photographs.
over three hundred in number, are nota-
bly, clear. Among them will be found
several of special interest of the crater
of Mt Erebus. The twelve color plates
call forth the following note by the
author on a well known Antarctic phe-
nomenon:
Natures color schemes in the Antarctic
are remarkably crude, though often Won
drously beautiful. Bright blues and greens
are found in violent contrast with brilliant
reds. and an accurate record of the colors
displayed in a sunset, as seen over broken
ice, would suggest TO many people an i'm
pressionistic poster of the kind seen in the
London streets. Words fail one in an at
tempt 10 describe the widely bizarre eff
fects observed on days when the sky was
fiery red and pale green, merging into a
deep blue overhead. and the snoWftelds
and rocks showed violet, green and white
under the light of the moon.
Numerous passages marked for quota
ton by the reviewer must be omitted
here for lack of space; in fact, the whole
work is quotable. Be it repeated, there
fore. for the benefit Of those in search Of
several evenings of reading that is really
worth while, that Lieutenant Shackle
toms book is one of the most interesting
records of exploration in the language.