Snioland ; or, Iceland, its Jokulls and Fjalls. By William
Lord Watts. (Longman.)—This little volume does not claim to be either a treatise on Iceland or, indeed, anything more than a simple narrative of the travels of the Rev. J. W— and the author during last year. As such, it will interest those who have already visited Iceland, and it may be recommended to those who entertain the idea of doing so. In fact, it is more of a guide-book in the form of a diary than anything else. Mr. Watts is accustomed to the incidents of travel, including the more trying ones, full of energy and resource, and possessed of unflagging good-humour. His book is written in a plain, straightforward, busi- ness-like style, and with an absence of pretension which, in these days of " vamped-up travels," is really refreshing. All informa- tion as to the manners and customs of the people, their religion, trades, &c., is compressed into an appendix of some twenty pages at the end, and is necessarily imperfect. We cannot congratulate our author on his photographs, which, indeed, disfigure the volume, and certainly repel us from visiting the scenes they represent. Mr. Watts did not meet with many adventures, or if he did, he does not record them. We had marked for extract an account of a narrow escape from drown- ing that happened to him, but we prefer to send our readers to the book itself, in which they will find a good deal of scientific interest, and the company of an intelligent observer.
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