Introduces the geography, history, religion, government, economy, and culture of a Pacific-island country first populated by the Maori, to whom it was the "Land of the Long White Cloud."

The only plan for Christopher Somerville's walk across Crete was to begin in the East at Easter and finish at Whitsun in the extreme West, at the Monastery of the Golden Step. During the three hundred-mile walk he tackled four mountain ranges and the numerous gorges of the West. Speaking only basic Greek and following a poorly marked path, he relied on his instincts to guide him through shepherding country where villages are few and each night's

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"Twain's firsthand portrait of the steamboat age and the science of riverboat piloting recalls the history of the Mississippi River, from its discovery by Europeans to the writer's own time." *** "Mark Twain's famous account of life on the Mississippi in the old steamboat days and his own experiences as a pilot. Its historical sketches, its frequent passages of vivid description, and its humorous episodes combine to make [this] a masterpiece of the...

The author tells of her cold and dangerous journey from Alaska to the Arctic of northern Canada with her team of eight sled dogs.