Ihe Keview of Reviews. 



THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC. 



The Story of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907=1909. 



A RLCORD OF BRITISH PLUCK AND ACHlLVtMhlNT. ^ 



Hv 1-^. H. Shackleton, C.V.O. 



^ \^ HERE is no need to tell who Lieutenant 

 -^ Shackleton is or what his book describes. His 

 marvellous (lash for the South Pole has thrilled the 

 world, and lie himself, modest, retiring, a typical 

 Briton, is now being lionised in an almost unpre- 

 cedented way. We all know what the book is about, 

 but. with the exception of a handful of privileged 

 persons, no one yet knows whether the wonderfvd 

 storv i.s told in a way to i;rip the attention of the 

 reader or whether it is befogged with technical mat- 

 ter and overloaded with insignificant details, a forest 

 of achievements which cannec be properlv discerned 

 because of the trees of minor events and experiences. 



snow blindness, dysentery, and bruLses innumerable! 

 .staggering along on the last day, starving, half-frozen, 

 gasping for breath in the raiefied atmosphere of the 

 gigantic plateau KI.UOO feet high, on which they were 

 the only living things, but indomitable and deter- 

 mined to place the Union Jack nearest the Pole 

 These men are our countrymen. Britons every one 

 Who dare say that our race is decliuin>,' when it pro- 

 diKi's men like these?" 



Further description of the way in which the sub- 

 ject is treated is unnecessary. The work is in two 

 volumes. 7\ x 10. the first having 269 pages of text, 

 the .second 238. and 18(1 pages of appendices, eontri- 



i 



Fortunately we have before us the opinion of a 

 great critic who has read the proofs of the book. He 

 eavs, " T have seldom read so human a document. 

 Every line throbs with the straightforward earnests 

 ness of one who has been universally hailed, as above 

 everything el.se, as ' a man.' The book grips the 

 reader from the first paragraph to the last. Its 

 charm lies in its .simple .st.vU' and lack of t<"chnical 

 details. If it wer& not for the splendid appendices 

 the book would have little scientific value, tint as it 

 is it staiKls easily first amongst books on the Polar 

 regions. The iilain. iiuvarnished diary kept from day 

 to day by Lieutenant Shackleton of his prodigious 

 journey of within ninety-seven miles of the I'ole will 

 take its place as the epic of Polar exploration. No 

 one could read through the record of the stiper- 

 bninan efforts against the arraye<l forces of nature 

 without a choking in the throat, and a feeling of in- 

 tense pride in these four men who risked their lives 

 crossing ghastly crevasses, struggling forward often 

 at the rate of only a few hundred .yards an hour, 

 neainst a howling bliz/ard. on quarter rations, with- 

 out a full meal in over three months, suffering from 



buted by the scientific members of the exploration, 

 dealing with the scientific results obtained. 



Nine cameras were taken by the " Nirarod," and 

 some of the explorers mlr^t have been adepts in their 

 u,se, for the photographs are magnificent. 



To the MANAGER "Review of Reviews," 

 T. & Q. Life Building, 



Swanston Sireet, Melbourne. 



Date. 



Please, send me. carriage paid, the two rolumet of 

 T.ieiit. Sharhleton's Bank. " T/ic IJe<irt of the Antarr- 

 tic," for which I enclose dSj^ln (Victorian orderi). 

 £SI6IS (Interstate and N.Z. orders.) 



.V(5 me 



Address. 



(I'leasf write cleatlu 



