The Sentimental Traveller and Some Others
Motor Tramp. By Jolm Hoygate. (Cape. 88. 6d,) Secrets of Tibet. By H. E. Giuseppe Tucci and Captain Gliersi.
(Blackie. 15s.)
Life Among the Lapps. By Sven Haglund. (Archer. 12s. 6d.) Ilium are seven books of travel, of which only one takes us over well-worn ground, illustrating between them half a dozen methods of locomotion, and as many ways of telling a story.
Mr. John Heygate bought a motor-ear ; and thought mass- produced it Was no ordinary car : it had a personality of its own. Every driver, of course, believes that his own car is different from everyone else's, but Mr. Heygate, being different; from every other motorist, makes us believe it. Together they went to Germany, before, and again after, the Nazi revolution, Austria, Italy and Czechoslovakia. Mr. HeYgate has now written an account of their travels. From the title of the book we gather that the journey is the thing, and that; we are to be entertained----ortnot—Ity the casual adventures of a motorist, rather than instructed by hiS observation of the European scene. As Mr. Heygate *rites with ease, taste, 'and wit we are vastly entertained, whether he is discuSSing Austrian minorities in Italy or sparking plugs. He spins along joyfully, listens sympathetically to Storm Troopers hi Munich, goes ski-ing with art Austrian customs' °liver, and swine-feasting with the family of a Prague bar-tender ; all with the same Intelligent understanding and cultured zest of the true sentimental traveller. This book has the quality of good conversation : it makes no pretence of saying some- thing new or important, but when we have finished it we possess a clearer and more intimate picture of the working of Eascism titan after many a heavier book. Travellers in general, and motorists in particular, would do well to read Mr. Heygate's delightful book and learn how to adorn their tales.
Mr. Bernard Newman's vehicle is the bicycle, and his style and outlook reflect the rather self-conscious aggressiveness developed by long-distance pedalling. - He set out from Danzig and made an outer circle tour of Poland, with trips to the interior and excursions across the frontiers into Russia, Lithuania and East Prussia. He talked to everybody w Ito would talk to him, and has something of point to say about Poland's many problems. But lie is not such a pleasant travelling companion as Mr. Heygate, for though he tries hard to lighten his material with descriptions and anecdotes, the going is somewhat heavy, and one is forced to admit that it is pleasanter to journey in the comfort of Mr. Heygate car than on the hack-step of Mr. Newman's bicycle. 'ThitOiliiiii04441W:Ii.:p41.0404:-,stritightforward accounts of travel in the remoter parts of the globe by travellers who make no pretence of being writers. Their books stand or fall then by the quality of the adventure rather than of the writing. A maximum of fact and a minimum of style are Mr. J. G.
Bides' equipment for telling the story of two patrols which he led into the interior of Papua in search of native murderers.
If there is anyone who still thinks that the punitive expedition is. the only way to pacify savages he should be made to read Through Wildest Papua.
;Here the quality of the adventure is high, as it is in Mr. Douglas Carruthers' story of his hunt for the oryx—the Arabian unicorn, and in Mrs. Lindbergh's record of the flight of her huSband and herself in 1931 from New York to Tokyo by the Great Circle Route (which corresponds to the once much- sought North-West Passage).
Arabia has always been happy in those who have written about her. Mr. Carruthers, famous hunter of rare plants and animals, twenty-five years ago sought and found specimens of the legendary oryx in the Nafud desert-30,000 square miles of wind-blown sand, which he was the first European to pene- trate. He has at last written down the story and his book, excellently illustrated and with good maps, is a notable addition to the literature of Arabian exploration. • Mrs. Lindbergh writes in a Home-Page woman-to-woman style, but the facts of this important survey flight are here. The complete lists she gives of equipment should be useful to all would-be long-distance flyers.
Secrets of Tibet gives an account of a journey in search of the treasures of Tibetan art, known to exist in the chapels and libraries of monasteries. The authors are distinguished Tibetan scholars, and the photographs of wall-paintings and reliefs alone make this an important contribution to a little- known subject.
Finally, we may read about the Lapps (there are only 7,000 left) who wander forever in the tracks of their herds of reindeer between northern Sweden and Norway. They are a dying race, and Mr. Haglund has done well to make this careful study of their everyday lives. In many ways this is the most interesting book of the batch.
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