The New York herald., 1922-08-13

The earth, where the sun never sets.
Here everything is on the scale of
prehistoric ages. Foarsome. horri-
BILE animals and reptiles abound.
Man is primitive creature fighting
for his existence. The ruling power
in Pellucidar is the race of Mahars,
whom Perry identifies as the ram
phorhynchi Of the Middle Olitic" on
a far larger scale than had ever been
identified.
Against this prehistoric back
ground, which Mr.. Burroughs re-
creates with compelling vividness,
AT the Earth's Core" unfolds
thrilling. rapid fire adventure story.
Innes and Perry attempt TO escape
from the horrible Mahars. and in
their adventures is depicted an ex-
citing battle of modern man, stripped
of modern accessories, battling for
his very existence against prehis-
toric beasts. men and conditions.
Innes. says of one of his encounters:
As I turned romance. adventures
and discovery in the abstract took
wing before the terrible embodi-
ment OF all three in concrete form
that / beheld advancing upon me.
A huge, Shiny ,amph:bian it was,
with toadlike body and the mighty
jaws of an alligator. Its immense
carcass must have weighed tons,
and yet il moved swiftly and
silently toward me. Upon one hand
was the bluff that ran from the
canon to the sea, on the other the
fearsome. swamp from which the
creature had sneaked uron me: be-
hind lay the mighty untracked sea
and before me in the center Of the
narrow way that led TO safety
stood this huge mountain Of ter
rible and menacing flesh.
A single glance at the thing was
sufficient to assure me that / was
facing one of those long extinct,
prehistoric creatures whose fos-
silized remains are found within
the outer crust as far back as the
Triassic formation, gigantic
labyrinthedon. And there ! was.
unarmed and, with the exception
of a loin cloth. as naked as | had
come into the world. | could
imagine how my first ancestor felt
that distant. prehistoric morn that
he encountered for the first time
the terrifying progenitor Of the
,ning that had me cornered now
beside the restless. mysterious sea
Throughout AT the Earth's Core"
runs the thread of the romance be-
tween David Innes and Dian the
Beautiful. a girl from one of the
Pellucidarian tribes which has
emerged from the slavery of the
and is making good its inde-
pendence in primitive mans fight
against his oppressors. After en-
many prehistoric perils,
David saves Dian from her unwel-
come caveman suitor. Jubal the Ugly
One. by killing Jubal in smashing
hand to hand battle. in which mod
ern scientific boxing outdoes cave
man strength. And David claims
Dian as his own.
David and Perry instruct Dian's
tribe and their allies in the use of
the bow and arrow-hitherto un-
known among the people of Pelluci-
in other warlike weapons
The dread Mahars get wind of this
and, with their subject races. adj
vance to do battle with David and his
men. How the Mahars are worsted
in the conflict. how David returns to
earth for supplies for Pellucidar, the
against David and Dian, and the
of David's final disappear
ance from this earth. complete this
high powered. thrilling tale of imagi-
native adventure and romance.
Mr.. Burroughs writes simply and
iorcefully. His hero. David Innes,
always retains semblance of his
present day personality in his pre-
historic surroundings. which creates
an atmosphere of reality for the
reader of the highly imaginative
pages of AT the Earth's Core" The
scene at the Mahar temple is rather
yruesome. but on the whole AT the
Earth's Core" viii appeal strongly to
Mr.. Burroughs's many readers.
JOHN l.. b WILLIAMS