Evening star., 1938-08-14
Bv Marv.Carter Roberts.

SdpO 1AASAAAAS A0SAA'
q. P. Putnam's Sons.
Ut HAS long been q matter OF as
tonishment to the reviewer that,
in q world constantly advertised
i IS too wise and weary, there
should be so many places where one
may 20 and find oneself the "nrst
white man" to have arrived. What
adventures, indeed, lurk around our
troubled periphery while Japan fights
China and England has a cabinet
crisis Fascism grows apace and Presi-
dent Roosevelt devalues the American
dollar!
For there are reaches in Thibet
where q dozen expeditions 60 every
wear and return each with the tri-
umphant account that its members
will henceforth be the first white
men" in the local Thibetan history.
There are lonely islands in the Pacific
where a beautiful and innocent people
is constantly being astonished by the
debarkation OF first white men" in
its idyllic harbors. There are dark
jungles in Haiti where voodoo doctors
are impatiently waiting to induct a
FIRST" white man or two into the
mysteries of their religion. And there
Is the Amazon.
What a wonder it is that anybody
remains inside the narrow muddled
boundaries Of civilization at all! Why
do we not all depart for these delight
ful backward regions and set ourselves
up as first whites" in peace? That
IS q question which will certainly oc-
cur to any one who reads the full pro-
cession of explorers works-as does
your credulous reviewer.
And yet-what q fascination there
Is in these records OF strange worlds,
to be sure, repetitious though they do
become. In this present book there
is 4 story Of exploring in the 'unex-
plored" regions Of Ecuador, and. while
most readers can locate Ecuador easily
on the map, and even perhaps recite
a few facts concerning its history and
leading cities, few will suspect that
that small republic contains within
its borders vast wasteland where
human life is constantly in danger
and where there is no convenience for
mans existence beyond that which
he can make with his bare hands as
he goes along. But such is the case,
according to Capt. Loeb, and shame
fully diverting reading it makes for
the armchair. too.
ieciN oI hu
the Museum Of the American Indian
to 20 into that Ecuadorian waste and
find out. if that might be. what eth
nological facts have been concealed
from science by reason Of the retiring
habits of the ISABELLA Indians For
these people were, it seems, still wait
ing their first white manor there
abouts, and had a most uncomfor-
table habit of greeting seekers for the
honor with sudden death.
Capt. Loeb set out with native guides
and the like, and went intrepidly into
the ISABELLA country. He found the
usual swollen streams which swept
his supplies away. he encountered
spiders that there 6 inches across, he
melted in jungle heat and drowned
in jungle downpours, he climbed
through eternal SHOWS, he was at
tackled by vampire bats. and his ma
tives finally forsook him. And then,
bye and bye, he discovered that old
treasure of the lost Incas-or anyway,
he discovered likely-looking traces Of
mines which that old treasure of the
lost 1ncas might perhaps have been
taken. But the ethnology of the
Ssabellas remains q mystery, for he
never caught up with that evanescent
people. They just vanished away as
he approached them and the best he
could do was to photograph single
tribesman-the only tribesman ever
to have been photographed so far.
Still, the impression which one gathers
from his book is that a grand time
was had by all and that Capt. Loeb is
. capital fellow.
A reader, of course, may be par
doned for suspecting that the treas
ure Of the lost 1ncas is no nearer being
found than 1t has ever been. But
those who have been skeptical Of its
existence may be chastened somewhat
by this narrative, for there seems no
reason to doubt that Capt. Loeb did
find gold deposits and ancient gold
workings. More Importantly here, he
has also written fascinating book.
THE SUMNER SOLDIER. BY Leane
Zugsmith. New York: Random
House.
THE name OF this novel is taken
from Tom Paine's THE Crisis"
In which the titular words appear as
description of certain shallow holders
OF loyalties. Miss zugsmith has here
applied them to the modern tribe of
professional idealists and particularly
to those whose idealism takes the form
Of criticism of the present social
structure to the end that the doc
trines Of Marx shall prevail. She Ger
tainly has good theme, If you can
grant (as the reviewer cannot) that
the novel is ever the place for SER
mon on any specific set of time
governed conditions.
Unfortunately, however. she does
not seem to be able to make up her
mind as to the degree Of realism which
she wants to employ. We find her saw
agely exact, that is to say. in por-
traying the characters and motives Of
. group of these same professional
reformers but wildly fanciful in her
description of the conditions which
the reformers are trying to reform.
1t makes puzzling performance, and
readers are apt to wonder whether
Miss Zugsmith-most evidently q
professional idealist herself-is more
interested in discrediting the whole
tribe Of so-called liberals on grounds
Of their own ineptitude and insin-
cerity or in asserting that democracy
has already failed and the time for
that revolution is now at hand.
The story is concerned with the
Journey into Southern industrial
community Of q committee of pro-
fessional idealists who have it for
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