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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



January 19, 1840, is only separated from 

 Shackleton's discovery by about 250 

 miles. 



The ends of the globe are as far apart 

 in character as in distance. General 

 Greely, in his "Hand-book of Polar Dis- 

 coveries," gives the following interesting 

 comparison of the polar areas : 



The lands within the Arctic Circle are 

 not alone contiguous to powerful and en- 

 terprising nations, but are also so favored 

 by climate and soil as to present suitable 

 conditions for animal and plant life. In- 

 deed, Arctic Europe, Asia, and America 

 present large habitable districts, where 

 human activities afford life environments 

 wit r .^Ifcwfctfier harsh or unattractive. In 

 addition the northern seas, filled with 

 abundant life, furnish subsistence and 

 wealth to thousands of daring men who 

 yearly seek their accessible waters. 



At the other Pole of the world we find 

 the Antarctic region to be the true land 

 of desolation — forbidding, inaccessible, 

 and uninhabitable. Its northern confines 

 and surroundings are largely oceanic, so 

 that freezing temperatures, fierce snow- 

 blizzards, and other winter conditions are 

 not unusual in midsummer. While in 

 high latitude near the South Pole there 

 are extended lands and doubtless a con- 

 tinent, yet these are sterile areas, over- 

 laid with ice-coverings of vast extent and 

 enormous thickness. 



It is doubtful if one per centum of 

 Antarctic lands is ever ice-free, so that 

 ordinary forms of land-life are absolutely 

 wanting. Not only are human inhab- 

 itants unknown south of Cape Horn, 

 more than 2,300 miles from the Pole, 

 but, except sea forms, within the circle 

 animal life and vegetable life are prac- 

 tically absent save a few low forms of 

 hardy lichens and mosses. No plant life 

 gladdens the eye, and even the hum of 

 insects is unheard, the terrestrial fauna 

 consisting of wingless insects. Sea life 

 is more abundant than in any other ocean, 

 the higher forms being whales, seals, and 

 birds — skuas, penguins, and petrels — but 

 owing to distance and danger their pur- 

 suit and capture are no longer remuner- 

 ative. 



On the Canal Zone. By Thomas Graham 

 Grier. With illustrations and map. 6x9 

 inches. Chicago : Wagner & Hanson. $1.00. 

 The author, a well-known electrical engineer 

 of Chicago, has brought back from Panama a 

 quantity of interesting information and photo- 

 graphs and compiled them into an attractive 

 book. The trip to the Isthmus is in the form 

 of a diary, and the rest of the book is divided 

 into chapters, giving accounts of the cities of 

 the zone, the canal, the locks, and the labor 

 question. Much interesting data regarding the 

 commissary, sanitation, amusements, etc., is 

 given, and Mr Grier has warm words of praise 

 for the way the work of the canal is being 

 pushed forward and the improvements that 

 have come about since the American occupa- 

 tion of the zone, and concludes with the fol- 

 lowing strong endorsement : "The force at 

 work is efficient and energetic, having behind 

 it the spirit and the brains of men who are able 

 and intelligent." 



Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Fron- 

 tiers. By T. L. Pennell, M. D. Pp. 324, 

 6y 2 x g]/ 2 inches. Illustrated. Maps and 

 glossary. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott 

 Company. $3.50 net. 



This book is an unpretending record of six- 

 teen years' good work by an officer — a medical 

 missionary — in charge of a medical station at 

 Bannu, on the northwest frontier of India. 

 The author throws many interesting side-lights 

 on the domestic and social, as well as on the 

 moral and religious aspects of the lives and 

 characters of the tribesmen. Throughout Dr 

 Pennell writes with great simplicity and sin- 

 cerity ; he is careful to confine himself mainly 

 to what he has himself heard and seen; and, 

 above all, he shows that he possesses, in a 

 quite exceptional degree, that insight into the 

 minds of the natives which is the first quali- 

 fication of any real power of helping and bene- 

 fiting them. It is altogether a work of singular 

 charm and value, particularly to all those who 

 are interested in the present and future well- 

 being of the native races. 



A British Officer in the Balkans. By Major 

 Percy Henderson. Pp. 304; 6^x9^ inches. 

 Illustrated. Maps and index. Philadelphia : 

 J. B. Lippincott Company. $3.50 net. 

 Major Percy Henderson has written an in- 

 teresting record of a lengthy tour through Dal- 

 matia, Montenegro, and Turkey; in Austria, 

 Magyrland, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. The 

 author's account is not that of a hurried 

 traveler, but is the evident result of careful and 

 appreciative observation. He tells of a part of 

 eastern Europe as yet unspoiled by tips or 

 exorbitant hotel charges ; of a land possessing 

 all the variety of scenery of Norway, the col- 

 oring of Italy, with the added glamour of the 

 Orient. The book is illustrated with many 

 excellent photographs, which were taken by 

 Mrs. Henderson. J. O. L. 



