THE SURREY HILLS. 
115 
The author ought to know that it is as unfair to use figures without saying 
whether they are borrowed, as it is to make unacknowledged quotations. The 
illustrations, moreover, have not improved by being quoted. No 8 is said 
to be the “ Glacier of Zermatt,” and is referred to in the index as “ Zermatt 
Glacier,” but it certainly is not ; it may be a bad view of the Findelen Glacier, 
but it is not the Zermatt Glacier. Fig. 39 is said to be “ a sea in which nothing 
can live,” an unnecessarily incorrect statement ; fig. 65 is said to be of the 
Albert Lake — probably the Albert Nyanza is intended, and not the Albert Lake, 
which is in Australia. 
The text consists very largely of quotations, from the most diverse sources ; 
the most up to date is a reference to a musical composition of the Emperor of 
Germany (p. 213). The part supplied by the author is full of blunders ; he says 
that temperature of the water is the cause of ocean currents (p. 100) ; that the 
bottom waters of the Mediterranean are not cold (p. 99) ; that Nansen is pre- 
paring an expedition to the Pole ; that the cool summers of England are due to 
the Gulf stream ; that the word island etymologically means “ water-land ; ” he 
twice goes out of his way to say that the Calliope has “ io,cxx> horse-powers ” 
(as he calls it), whereas it should be 3,000. He tells us that Lake Geneva is 
troubled by “ subaqueous winds ; ” that the reputation of the Droitwich springs 
is two thousand years old ; that the channels into atolls are sometimes 1,000 feet 
deep, while he regards a polypidom as the same thing as a reef. In the interest 
of physiography students we would suggest that for the present index should 
be substituted one to the illustrations and extracts, and that the hook then be 
re-issued as a dictionary of miscellaneous quotations. 
J. W. G. 
THE SURREY HILLS.- 
The bare announcement of the publication of another of Mr. Walker Miles’s 
practical little handbooks will be enough to make those who delight to follow in 
the well-planted footsteps of the master of recreative pedestrianism, hasten to 
buy a copy, fully confident of the excellent value they will get for their money. 
But to the unititiated who are not numbered among Mr. Miles’s disciples it will 
be necessary to give some particulars of the service which that author has rendered 
to all who are willing to accept it, by his selection and clear description of a 
series of walks in the most beautiful district in the neighbourhood of London. 
The Surrey Hills series is the republication in one cover, with much important 
supplementary matter, of four separate parts, three of which have already been 
noticed (Nature Notes, 1894, pp. 112, 193), while the fourth appeared about 
a month ago. The last contains 112 pages and an excellent route map extend- 
ing over an area of some 70 square miles of the picturesque country which sur- 
rounds Guildford. Suffice it to add that it reaches that high level of perfection 
which has characterized all Mr. Miles’s previous contributions. 
The skilfulness with which these little guidebooks have been compiled is 
surprising. They are quite the best thing of the kind that has ever been done 
— in fact the author’s method is one which could not well be improved. In dealing 
with a given district he evidently begins by making himself acquainted with 
every possible path and road ; and then, rejecting the dusty highways, and indeed 
all roads as far as he can, he joins together the most attractive and unfrequented 
paths into walks of convenient length which may be broken off at railway stations 
lying on or near the route, or combined into longer stretches, or varied ad lib. by 
means of the alternatives given in the footnotes. He contrives to take you to all 
the finest points of view (for he has a keen eye for panoramic scenery), and by 
calling attention to every visible spot of interest, gives you an excellent notion of 
* Field-Path Rambles amongst the Surrey Hills, by Walker Miles. (R. E. 
Taylor & Son, 19, Old Street, E.C. Price 4s. 6d., pp. 347 ; 5 maps.) 
