19 MAY 1923, Page 24

Matahari. By H. 0. Morgenthaler. (Allen and Unwire. 7s. 6d.)

This is hardly a travel-book of the ordinary kind, but a volume of impressions of the Siamese-Malayan jungle. The writer, a Swiss mountaineer and geologist, was attached to a mining company, and his duty was to follow up any rumours of untapped wealth, a duty that led him into long excursions through the jungle. A rather sensuous sentimentalist with a partiality for picturesque attitudes and fine writing, he seems to have enjoyed himself hugely, and he succeeds in com- municating a little of this enjoyment to his readers, except perhaps when he overstresses his account of his east of Suez amorous episodes. The native drawings and decorations reproduced in the volume are excellent. '