A. Hyatt Verrill

In this sequel to “The Trail of the Cloven Foot”, the two boys, Fred and Rob must find Señor Cabral to complete a business transaction. In the travels from Panama to Columbia their ship starts to leak from a grounding and they are forced to hunt ashore for food while the ship is hauled up and patched. The adventures start, involving the ‘Huns’, the war, and the native Indians; this story is action packed.

THE CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION JOURNAL review from May 1938 Foods America Gave the World. A. H. Verrill. 289 pp., $3.00. L. G. Page, Boston, .1938. How interesting a thing is food! Its sources, its variety, its history—all make up an absorbing picture, and the author of the book has made the most of his splendid subject. He concerns himself only with native American food plants, but that is a large "only". Not the least interesting point brought out is that our modern methods of curing and treating such food stuffs as cocoa, or vanilla, or of preparing various dishes from such a food as maize, were all thoroughly understood by the ancient American Indians. One admires also the little clearcut drawings of vessels and cooking implements in the shapes of various fruits and vegetables, such as the pineapple, corn, chocolate, beans, etc., all dating thousands of years back. A good point is made of the fact that many tropical and subtropical fruits and vegetables are really of great value as being extremely good to eat, and yet are not brought to more northerly countries as much as they should be. Some of course are too delicate and can only be enjoyed in the tropics, but there are still a good many which should be more popular. The avocado pear for example is delicious and nutritious, but its introduction into Canada and the Northern States is slow. Incidentally, the author is a little hard on the genip which does not receive the praise it should as a delicious fruit. The book is well written and is full of an extraordinary amount of material, all well presented.

Ancient Americas, their highly developed civilizations and their achievements.

‘The Radio Detectives’ series was written by A. Hyatt Verrill and published in 1922. The quadrilogy included the following books(stories), in order: The radio detectives The radio detectives under the sea The radio detectives southward bound The radio detectives under the sea The tales begin with two lads from New York City, Tom and Frank, who are beginning to experiment and learn about radio about 1920. The boys happen to intercept messages from a mysterious source. The transmissions and the criminals creating them are a part of a greater problem facing the American people. As the tales in these books unfold, Tom, Franks and others resolve these crimes and uncover the scoundrels by going ‘under the sea’ ‘southward bound’ finally completing the story ‘in the jungle’ of South America.

Provides an overview of the geography, history, and culture of the small North American country that touches two oceans and links two continents.