As for the selection of India as the seat of the story, Verne himself explained that his purpose was to cover, one by one, each of the countries of the globe, more especially those little known, so as to make of his completed works a sort of universal geography. Traveling under his guidance, he meant that we should travel everywhere. The mechanical invention of the steam house itself is in no way impossible. Such a construction was rather beyond the skill of thirty years ago when the book was written; but almost any good engineering firm to-day would contract to build you such a steam-house if you cared to aford the expense. In fact our automobiles have already quite out done this somewhat clumsy giant steam-engine, both in power and in speed. Mainly then The Steam House, and more especially its second book, Tigers and Traitors, will be remembered as a thrilling hunting story. Big game incidents of the most exciting yet most natural character, such as the in vasian of the naturalist's kraal, throng its busy pages.