Log - Leaves and Sailing Orders. Edited by Alfred H. Miles. (Hutchinson
and Co.)—This is a volume not of fiction but of fact. It contains some twenty sketches of actual experiences of life at sea, of shipwreck and battle, and the ordinary risks which the sailor has to meet day by day. What a world of adventure there must be at the disposal of any one who will take the pains to look for the raw material where it is to be found. Not only are there printed narratives of incidents, fortunate or disastrous, without end, and many, doubtless, that are still in manuscript ; but the Record Office contains the log-books of whole fleets of ships. Of course these are but dry bones, but it would not be difficult to clothe them with flesh, and even to give them life. Here Mr. Miles has given us a very promising instalment of good things. There is a story from Navarino, another of the unlucky war with the States, but of a kind more agreeable to British pride than usual. There is the story of the wreck of the Cumberland' off the coast of Nova Scotia, and a description of the bombardment of Algiers.—Another volume of true tales which sufficiently describes itself is Stories of Alpine Adventure, by Frank Mundell (S.S.U.)
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