24 AUGUST 1867, Page 24

At Home in the Wilderness. By " The Wanderer." (Hardwieke.) —

The real name of the Wanderer is John Keast Lord, F.Z.S., and if any of our readers wish to settle in a region where there is no tax-gatherer, no houses, and nothing ready to hand, where tents have to answer for dwelling-places, and large game for companions, they should road Mr. Lord's book and secure him as a guide. We confess that we do not know how mules ought to be laden, and, therefore, we praise Mr. Lord's descriptions with some reserve from the want of a critical test of accuracy. We were never so covered with mosquito bites that we had to get an Indian squaw to paint all the knobs vermilion ; but though we cannot judge how far that process affords comfort and ease, we can imagine that the effect is rather comical. Yet, setting aside all pretence of criticizing Mr. Lord, we can recommend his book. It may be appreciated all the more that the difficulties described in it have not to be surmounted. The English reader may enter into an account of a buffalo chase, without wishing to be charged by a wounded animal. Ho may admire the cleverness of such old stagers as Mr. Lord, and the way in which they bridge torrents, or lay down roads over morasses, without attempting to compete with them, and to display his own inferiority. There is so much that is new in Mr. Lord's book, so many obstacles are overcome, and so many hints are given which, though the result of long and hard experience, will be useful in more civilized countries than those in which it was acquired, that almost every chapter has some point of interest, and the whole story is told with spirit.