ALL THE BEST IN THE CARIBBEAN
bySydney A. Clark '12. Dodd, Mead & Cos.,1948. Pp. 251. $3.50.
The travelling public is indebted to Mr. Clark for his many popular travel guides. Before the war his "fifty dollar" series was most popular and was used extensively both by English as well as American tourists. This present book is bound to be popular and valuable. No guide of the Caribbean has been published for some time. The advent of airlines in the last few years all throughout this region has changed the picture a great deal. Because of the author's All the Best in Cuba that island is bypassed in the present volume. As many of the West Indies' cruises call at Venezuela and Colombia these republics are included. Panama, likewise a port of call for many cruises, is treated in the author's volume All the Best in Central America.
The first 110 pages of the book are devoted to practical general information about the islands, airplane service, customs irregularities, money exchange, passport regulations, etc. One learns, for instance, that the finest hotel in the region covered is probably the Jaragua in Ci-udad Trujillo, Dominican Republic. This the author calls "a veritable palace for travellers." Haiti to the author and likewise to the reviewer is the most unique spot in the Caribbean, and the chapter on this Republic is one of the most interesting. The chapter on Jamaica, "the Paradise Center," with its description of the practically unknown Cayman Islands—"white" islands famous for turtle steaks "as succulent a table delicacy as exists on any of the six continents" —is likewise intriguing.
Other chapters are devoted to "The Dominican Republic Where Columbus rests," with its spectacularly clean capital, "Puerto Rico and the Three Virgins," "Antillean Crescent to Trinidad," "Venezuela on the Spanish Main," "Curacao, a Dutch Treat," "Colombia's Capital and Coast."
Perhaps some day the author will write a book giving more information about some of the smaller intriguing islands of the Caribbean like Martinique and Dominica with their lush vegetation of tree ferns and orchids, paradises for the botanist. This book, packed full of valuable information, is sure to find a ready sale. Many copies will find their way into tourist bags to the Caribbean.
