$18.

The latest offering from Mr. Raine is okay as far as it goes -- it just doesn't go nearly far enough.

Asking $18 for what amounts to little more than 12 pages of copy and 70 pages of black and white illustrations of old Bermuda is a piece of sharp business on a par with the chaps who swore loyalty to the Crown during the US War of Independence -- and sold the rebels gunpowder.

What is particularly annoying is that the basic idea is a good one -- impressions of Bermuda through the eyes of 19th century visitors, backed up by illustrations of the day culled from a variety of sources, including newspapers.

And the opinions come from as diverse a group as naturalists, officers from the British Army and the Royal Navy, an aristocratic gentlewoman and English author Anthony Trollope.

But -- to be honest -- there isn't nearly enough meat on the bones of the line drawings.

What there is has some interest. Lieutenant Whittingham, for example, who arrived in Bermuda with Her Majesty's 26th Regiment for a two-year stint of duty.

He bemoaned the lack of decent horses on the Island -- and, oddly, the lack of birdlife.

And, as Mr. Raine says, he didn't seem to have much time for Bermudians either. He said "the poverty of the place is due to the general absence of enterprise among Mudians, both black and white.'' Which is not a charge that could be levelled against Mr. Raine.

But Lt. Whittingham -- speaking no doubt from the personal experience of those from chillier climes before and since -- ascribed at least some of the Islander's apathy to the hot and humid climate.

And, as Mr. Raine points out, the Lieutenant gave an insight into the conditions of the average squaddie of the day when he also blames the weather for not being able to keep salt meat for more than a year.

But perhaps the, I assume young, soldier wasn't the brightest-ever to take the Queen's Shilling. He was rather proud of the low desertion rate in Bermuda -- as if brassed-off squaddies had anywhere to go.

Trollope -- keen observer of the delicate social warfare of the English middle classes -- arrived in Bermuda apparently rather grumpy from a rough sea voyage from the West Indies.

He said: "The sleepiness of the people appeared to me to be the main characteristic of the place....a poor country where the people seemed to be contented with her poverty.'' But he admitted the "Isles of Rest'' got to him as well, saying: "I must confess that I myself was overtaken by the same sort of lassitude. I could not walk a mile without fatigue and was always anxious to be lying down whenever I could find a sofa.'' Naturalist H.N. Moseley found, however, an abundance of greenery and wildlife to keep him entertained.

And Lady Anne Brassey, a yachtswoman and travel writer, enthused about the beauty of the Island and the "creamy surf'' "sapphire blue'' sea.

Unlike Trollope, who took an interest in the convict hulks housing slave labour from the UK, Lady Brassey confined her socialising to Admirals and Governors.

And her notes on the living conditions of the officers' quarters at Dockyard provide a nice contrast to others writing on the life of the average soldier and convict.

The dearth of words is partly made up for by the quantity of illustrations, many relating directly to the text. But the same or similar can be found elswhere -- usually with some more text attached.

RAYMOND HAINEY THEATRE REVIEW REV