World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), Saturday 15 May 1920, page 29


The Ancient Allan (H. Rider Haggard).

The framework of this story is a sort of sequel to "The Ivory Child," in which Allan Quatermain assists in the deliverance of an English lady who is kept by an African tribe on the grounds that she is an incarnation of Isis. Her husband is by this time dead, and she discovers that Allan is back in England, and invites him to come to her and assist in trying the effect of inhaling some wonderful smoke. He does this, and lives over again several previous incarnations, one of them in detail, in which he is an Egyptian prince, and, as he is later, a mighty hunter, while she is a priestess of Isis. The Allan of that time has adventures similar to those of this generation, and they are experienced in Per-sia, Ethiopia, and Egypt. It is no disparage-

ment of the author's ability to say that the proclaimed unreality of the doings spoils some of the effects of the thrilling situations. When

the reader knows what we all do of Allan's later career, he is not worried at His being condemned to death by a tyrant, and when the man himself is telling the tale he feels sure that the rash experiment is not going to be fatal at all events. The tale is, of course, told with all the writer's proved ability, and

will be enjoyed by most of his admirers. Pub-

lished by Cassell and Co., London and Mel-

bourne, and sent us from Dymock's Select Cir-culating Library, Sydney.