Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys. By Amelia B. Edwards. (Routledge.)—We
are very glad to see a second, en- larged, and handsome edition of the delightful book which, when criginally published in 1873, virtually made known to a large section of the public that portion of the South-Eastern Tyrol which lies between Botzen, Brunecken, Innichen, and Bellow), and which includes the interesting limestone mountains known as the Dolomites. As the authoress said, "in South Tyrol, within seventy-two hours of London, there may be found a large number of yet ' untrodden peaks,' and a network of valleys so literally unfrequented,' that we journeyed sometimes for days together without meeting a single traveller either in the inns or on the roads, and encountering only three parties of English during the whole time between entering the country on the Conegliano side and leaving it at Botzen." In other words, she holds a special brief for the Dolomites, which in her opinion offer a playground far more attractive than the Alps. But this fact, and the enthusiasm which it has naturally generated, give the book a " go " and "thoroughness" which it would not have otherwise pos- sessed. It is written carefully but naturally, and with such touches of feminine comic horror as, "'Tis as ghostly, echoing, suicidal a place to sleep in as ever I saw in my life ! " ; or, "Here is Atzwang ; here is the railway; here is the hot, dusty, busy, dead-level World of Commonplace again !" It may be said with safety that had the second edition of this book been simply a reproduction of the first, it would have had all the charm of novelty for a large constituency of readers. As, however, various changes—for which the name of reforms may fairly be claimed—have been effected in the Dolomite country, such as the substitution of good new inns for bad old ones, the supersession of rough bridle-paths by roads worthy of the name, and the laying down of new lines of railway, the work has been modernised, without having the bloom in any way taken off it.
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