A Summer Cruise on the Coast of New England. By
Robert Carter. (Alex. Gardner.)—Mr. Carter, whose biography is briefly given by a friend as an introduction to this volume, was an American journalist, a man of wide reading and singularly varied knowledge. He seems, however, to have left little behind him, beyond the ephemeral work to which he gave the best of his literary power. This is, in fact, his principal book; and this, pleasant read- ing as it is, is nothing more than the story of some weeks spent in sea-fishing on the New England coast. Those whom sea-fishing fascinates—for various reasons, not a numerous class—will enjoy it greatly; all readers should find some pleasure in it, with its touches of quiet humour, and its vigorous little sketches of men and Nature. The date of the cruise is left unfixed ; it was in "18— ;" but things must have changed for the worse since then, so far as the fish-supply of the coast is concerned. Nothing could exceed the abundance which Mr. Carter and his friends found there. Now the New England fishermen have to prowl about in Canadian waters, and threaten to set England and the States at loggerheads because their own waters are exhausted. But not very long ago, an observer records that he saw potato-fields which had no other dressing than "fresh flounders, which were used with a lavish hand."
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