Glimpses of Life in, Bermuda and the Tropics. By Margaret
Newton. (Digby, Long, and Co.)—Women as a rule write in- finitely better books of travel than men, because they prepare them with the easy carelessness with which they write letters to bosom friends. The author of this pleasant and honest book may not wield the pen of a Marianne North or a Mrs. Bishop, but her enthusiasm over "the regions of unending summer" is quite catching. One feels that she is telling the literal—not the literary—truth when she says of life in Trinidad, "The exquisite sea-bathing in a spot remote from fashion's eye, where the warm sea-water and the balmy air refresh and soothe one after city life, seems to exhilarate and satisfy one's being. Such a sea for bathing, such perfection of water, salt, but not briny enough to make one's eyes smart. One could float upon it with scarcely a ripple on its surface and see the lovely mountains bounding the horizon and a few soft clouds flitting over the soft blue sky, and perhaps wheeling aloft before he plunged to catch his prey, a strong- billed pelican, with wings wide spread ready to swoop down suddenly upon the unwary fish with deadly aim." It is in a similar spirit that the author writes of the West Indies generally, of Bermuda and Demerara, the Barbadoes and Jamaica. She admits that sanitation is not considered as it ought to be in these islands, and that snakes and unpleasant insects are to be reckoned with. But she also shows that progress is being made in various ways, and testifies in the heartiest possible fashion to the loyalty of the inhabitants. There is perhaps a little too much rose-water in this book; that is to say, Miss Newton is determined to see good and beauty in everything connected with what she evidently regards as her constituency. On the other hand, there is not a dull page in her book. Her illustrations are perhaps rather too suggestive of "primitive art," but they are effective and lifelike.
Previous page
