ADVENTURES OF A NAVAL OFFICER.
The Adventures of a Naval Officer. By Charles Hunter. (Digby, Long, and Co. 6s.)—The author of this book of adventures, the authenticity of which is vouched for by Sir Spenser St. John, indicates its character as well as its origins when he tells in his preface how, when he was staying in a country house during a week of continued rain, "somehow or other a group of young people gathered round me of an evening to listen to the narrative of the adventures which happened to mo in my younger days." It is a yarn of the adventures in the Malay Archipelago of Captain Hunter when he was a boy. He deserted from the man- of-war which first took him to the Archipelago, being unable to stand the tyranny of her brutal and stingy captain, and the bulk of the book is devoted to an account of the adventures of the deserter with the Malays, in whose company he delighted. These included treasure-hunting and the killing of a man-eating alligator; the interest of the latter is enhanced by a note telling of the experiences of the editor. The true hero of the book is not so much Captain Hunter himself as his friend and associate, Musa, a really admirable specimen of the Malay headman. Of course the narrator gets reinstated in the Naval Service, and is happy, successful, and respected ever after. There is not a dreary page in the book, and whoever wishes to master the condition of the Malay Archipelago during the period that is dealt with should certainly read it with care.
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