Das Buch vom Wilden Kaiser, by Fritz Schmitt. 328 pages, with 24 illustrations. Salzburg: Verlag “Das Bergland Buch,” 1953. Price, $4.00.

As an example of what a regional book for mountaineers should be, this can scarcely be excelled. These peaks, between Kufstein and Kitzbühel, form a rocky wonderland well known to American climbers. One begins with the prehistory; of a cave on the western slope where the bones and implements of bronze-age men were found, together with one perfect shell from the Mediterranean, to show that they were Illyrians of 4000 B. C. We hear the legend of the peasant who trapped chamois by putting grease on the rocks, only to have the protecting dwarf direct the miscreant’s own cattle over the precipice, which is now known as the Fleischbank. This is but preliminary to detailed description of the climbing, most of it of the greatest difficulty, as adequately evidenced by the illustrations.

J. M. T.