THE LAND OF WALES By Eiluned and Peter Lewis
The photographs alone would make this book (Batsford, 7s. 6d.) worth buying. They are numerous, excellently reproduced, and well chosen, and anyone who knows Wales at all must delight in them. They preserve a proper balance between the mountain scenery which makes Wales a tourist's paradise and the less spectacular landscapes which make her beautiful - the most attractive photograph of all is perhaps the view of Yr Eifl from Nevin, in Lleyn. The painting of Arenig Fawr reproduced on the frontispiece is a
disaster but of no importance. This cannot be said of the deficiencies of the text, which is, however, readable and informative ; the best chapters are on " Sport," " The Country Back- ground," and " Some Travellers in Wales," in which perhaps the authors find their most sympathetic material. The worst are on The Industrial Areas " and " The Spirit of Wales " ; admirable pages on hunting hardly make up for the omission of any account of the South Wales Miners' Federation, or any adequate appreciation of the Welsh language and literature. To this perhai3s is due the weakness of the authors' account of life as it is in Wales today, and their tendency to keep alive many popular errors about Wales, as, for instance, that the Welsh live on a high spiritual plane. The result is that much of the book reads more like, the account of an enthusiastic visitor than that of one who knows Wales and Welslunen well ; and it is a pity that this impression should mar much that is agreeable and interesting in the book.
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