780 
REVIEW. 
The Edge of the Jungle. By William Beebe, (Witherby). 12«. 6cZ. 
The ‘Edge of the Jungle ’is a series of essays on observations of Natural 
History in Guiana. 
The author Mr. William Beebe has travelled widely as a scientific naturalist : 
he is apparently mainly a biologist setting up a laboratory wherever he goes in 
the jungles, but he is also a very close and careful observer of Nature, and his 
record of the daily routine of a nest of Army Ants watched at the risk of extreme 
discomfort is of the greatest interest. 
Unfortunately Mr. Beebe has gained a reputation for language “ holding all 
I the charm of an essay by R. L. Stevenson” {vide, wrapper), and he laboriously and 
' self-consciously upholds that reputation by giving us fifteen annas of fine 
^ %vriting to every anna of information, which is not, by the way, the method of 
R. L. S. The result is that in this book we find many tantalising allusions to 
]Mr. Beebe’s experiences in Borneo, Egypt, China and the “ Queen’s Golden 
Monastery in Northern Burma within storm sound of Tibet ” and almost the 
only thing we learn about the Natural History of Guiana is that the mongoose 
(described of course a la R.L.S. as “ that furry fiend Rikki tikki”) has been 
introduced into the country, and is ‘ having a rather hard time of it.’ 
We in India perhaps hardly realise what a literature of Natural History and 
Sport has been built up for us by plain men teUing us what we want to know in 
plain language. 
The model of all books on the wanderings of a Naturalist, though we cannot 
claim it for India, is Wallace’s Eastern Archipelago. But in India we have 
writers like the “Old Forest Ranger,” Simson, Hume,Marshall, Eha, Stuart Baker 
to take only the first names that occur : and all of these tell their stories in a way 
that appeals at once and directly to anyone who has ever taken a bird’s egg or 
held a gun. 
Mr. Beebe does not succeed in making the same appeal nor does he probably 
desire to do so. He is Avriting for a public which you may call more cultured 
or more sentimental as suits your fancy, and he has no doubt a very wide and 
enthusiastic circle of admirers, and he very justifiably from his own point of view 
considers us lacking in the finer sense of taste, in that we should have preferred 
to find in his book rather less vivid word painting and a good deal more about 
the Natural History of a fascinating country. 
