Handbook of Alaska. By Major-General A. W. Greely. (T. Fisher
Unwin. 8s. 68. net.)—It is quite true that, as General Greely puts it, Alaska is a terra incognita to most people, even more than to the American public which has a special interest in the country. The name suggests Dawson City as it was pictured to us in some highly coloured accounts a few years ago, a Vanity Fair in an Arctic wilderness. But Dawson City is now but a commonplace town. Its gold yield rose from £60,000 in 1896 to £5,500,000 in 1900—that was when the demi-monde of Europe flocked into it—and is now at a quiet average of £1,000,000. In this volume we leave romance behind and are in the presence of facts, facts about exports and imports, mines, forests, fisheries, climate,—General Greely has something to say for this and other matters. All these things concern Arnerican readers in the first place, but they are not without interest for others.
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