A Wide Dominion. By Harold Bindloss. (T. Fisher Unwin, 2s.)—Mr.
Bindloss's experiences give a much truer impression of the hardships of the Canadian settler than will be found in most descriptions of Canada. The grim reality of farming in Mani- toba—the sinking of every available dollar of capital, and the hailstorm that wipes out crops and cattle—is put before the reader in a few short chapters. The story is then transferred to the British Columbia coast, and the various shifts to which the wandering friends are put are typical cases for the intending emigrant to ponder over. (Possibly the Emigration Department may not thank the author.) How they worked in "logging" camps, tried to dry salmon for sale, the sack of the hated foreman's shack, and the hardships of the bush trails, are all graphically described in vivid and terse language, though there is an occasional tendency to word-painting. The remark that salmon do not take the spoon in fresh water is wrong. Our author writes honestly; for though no one realises better, apparently, the fascination of the bush frontier life, he does not avoid the roughness and unsatisfactoriness of much of it. It is one, of the very few books out of the many that really tell the truth about the Dominion of Canada.
Previous page
