21 NOVEMBER 1891, Page 9

Barerock ; or, the Island of Pearls. By Henry Nash.

(E. Arnold.)—This is a story of the " Robinson Crusoe" kind. Two boys are shipwrecked, and thrown on a rocky islet somewhere in the South Atlantic. Here they make themselves fairly comfort- able, thanks to the ingenuity of the better educated of the two. They distil water, they store up food, they plant wheat and maize. Even when their habitation is wrecked by a tornado, they contrive not only to survive the disaster, but to get some advantage out of it. Finally, they store up for themselves future wealth by fishing for pearl-oysters. When this part of the plot has been sufficiently worked, a party of savages appear on the scene, and the lads are captured ; hut, thanks to the hypnotic power which one of them exercises on the priest who is his chief enemy, and to a judicious use of the dynamite which had been one of the pair's possessions on the island, they contrive to preserve their lives. Finally, of course, they escape, taking their treasure with them, with a girl, the daughter of an Englishwoman, who is the priestess of the tribe. This is a good story, with some ingenious varieties introduced into the stock materials.