Among the Selkirk Glaciers. By William Spottiswood Green. (Macmillan and
Co.)—This book is a disappointment. The account of Mr. Green's almost-ascent of Mount Cook and his ex- ploration of the New Zealand Alps, was as good a piece of moun- taineering description as any that has been produced by Mr. Whymper or other Alpine writers. The present work, relating the author's travels in the Selkirks, in British Columbia, is dull. There were no adventures or exploits to relate. The ice, &c., was subordinated to the theodolite and the camera, with the result that the exploration of the Selkirks became a surveying rather than a mountaineering expedition. As Mr. Green has not the skill of pen that gilds the commonplace and makes a good story out of every-day incidents, the book is a failure. Oddly enough, too, the only mountain that sounds really attractive to the traveller is not in the Selkirks at all, but is Mount Lefroy, in the Rocky Mountains. Its picture, with Lake Louise at the foot of its glaciers, is enough to make the Alp-lover's mouth water.
Previous page
