Abstract
THE good use which Mr. Warington Smyth has made of his five years in Siam is already familiar to geographical readers from several papers published by the Royal Geographical Society, and a wider public will welcome the two volumes which tell in greater detail, and in a more ambitious literary style, of his journeys in that interesting country. Although to a reader unversed in the classical languages the occasional Greek and Latin quotations seem to savour of pedantry, no one can help being attracted by the manly and modest way in which Mr. Smyth recounts his adventures. He disclaims anything in the way of original exploration, and the fulness with which he renders their due to every previous traveller and to all his companions and his assistants, may perhaps lead careless readers to imagine that there is little new or original in the book. Perusal of the chapters will soon dissipate such an idea. Very few travellers have brought to their task more individual energy and enthusiasm, and some have made for themselves a reputation for vast acuteness and reckless daring with less solid basis than that which Mr. Smyth leaves his readers to discover.
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MILL, H. Mr. Warington Smyth on Siam1. Nature 58, 322–323 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/058322a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/058322a0