This is a fortunate continuation of the "Swiss Family Robinson," a book which has had great and deserved popularity. The careers of the four sons of that family are faithfully detailed, as well as the fortunes of others who come upon the scene, including Willis the Pilot, a weather-beaten sailor, whose saying and doings make him a person of such prominence as to give his name to the book. The scenes are in the South Seas; and the narrative treats of the geography, inhabitants, and productions of little-known regions. The difficulties and dangers of founding a new colony are faithfully related; and it is shown how by intelligent labor and perseverance they may be overcome.
The Young Crusoe: The Adventures of a Shipwrecked Boy.
By Dr. Harley.
The variations upon the original theme of a shipwrecked mariner have been many. In this case the hero is a young French boy, who was abandoned by his comrades on a sinking ship not far from an island, and who by swimming, in company with a large dog, got to shore, and lived there many years. His dog was a faithful friend. He caught and reared goats, and provided himself with food and other necessaries. Potatoes were plenty, as were rice and other grain. It is a very pleasing story. Of the visitors who afterward came to the island it is best not to speak, for fear of revealing too much of the secret of the story in advance.
Cast Away in the Cold: An Old Man's Story of a Young Man's Adventures.
By Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, the famous Arctic explorer, author of "An Arctic Boat Journey," etc.
The narrative is supposed to be told by an ancient mariner, Captain John Hardy, of his early experiences in an Arctic voyage.
It opens with a vivid description of the ice-floes, first seen as the vessel sailed northward; and of the seal-catching by the sailors upon the floating ice. Then came thrilling and fatal adventures with icebergs, a shipwreck, and the prospect of death by cold or starvation. The various expedients to get food,—seals, ducks, and other birds,—and the long and finally successful efforts to procure fire for warmth and for cooking, make some most interesting chapters. The meeting with the Esquimaux gave a ray of hope, and at last deliverance came. The author, as every one knows, was a famous explorer, and his book is a most trustworthy account of the Frozen North.
Adrift in the Ice-Fields.
By Captain Charles W. Hall.
This book chronicles the adventures and mishaps of a party of English gentlemen in the early spring while shooting sea-fowl on the sea-ice by day, together with the stories with which they while away the long evenings.
Later in the season the breaking up of the ice carries four hunters into involuntary wandering amid the vast ice-pack which in winter fills the great Gulf of St. Lawrence. Their perils, the shifts to which they are driven to procure shelter, food, fire, medicine, and other necessaries, together with their devious drift, and final rescue by a sealer, are used to give interest to a reliable description of the ice-fields of the Gulf, the habits of the seal, and life on board of a sealing steamer.