Another by Idriess

HAVING produced a whole series of Australian best-sellers, Mr. Ion L. Idriess went off on a lonely journey into the far west of Australia, and his friends decided that he would now take the rest that he had so well earned. But it was not to be. Idriess never rests. When St. Peter answers the Idriess ring at the Pearly Gates he will find the Australian author propped up against one of the gate posts, scribbling industriously with a pencil in one hand, while with the other hand he will be keeping his long, grey beard off his pad of dogseared writing paper. From which it may be deduced that this reviewer has seen Idriess at work.

Mr. Idriess had not been back from the north-west more than five weeks before there appeared another of his eminently readable books —“Man Tracks,’’ being a collection of stories and articles describing the work of the police who patrol that enormous area. In this book Idriess describes, in his own inimitable way, the artful cleverness of the outback police in discovering European criminals and in tracking down the blacks who transgress the white man’s law. The book is a fascinating mixture of detec tive exploits, description of wild and unknown country, adventures with un tamed blacks, and studies of native life

and customs. Its outstanding feature is its account of how black trackers work — something that is rather beyond the ken of ordinary civilised folk. The book it

self is a fine and well-deserved tribute to the police of the north-west. But, above all, it is an eminently readable Idriess book.

Mein Tracks, by Ion L. Idriess. Our copy from the publishers, Angus and Robertson Ltd., Sydney.

Price 6/-.