4 September 2004 See This World Before the Next:  Cruising with CPR Ships in the Twenties and Thirties Book Review - Those truly were the days. In 1928, Canadian Pacific offered "those who cannot spare the time for a full-length world cruise" a 100-day cruise around South America and Africa that ended with three days in a London hotel. Or - for just $270 - you could take a four-week Caribbean cruise from Montreal.   CP was a pioneer in the idea of cruising as a vacation, rather than as a way to get from one port to another. The company's fleet began as part of a strategy to create a transportation network that brought settlers - who would become railway customers - to the vast plains its rails crossed, and to carry freight to and from Asia and Europe. This book traces the line's heyday.   David Laurence Jones, a public-affairs manager for CPR and the author of a book on the company's rail lore, was able to get unique access to CP archives, as well as private collections to gather the anecdotes, photos and gorgeous art-deco travel posters that make this book a visual delight.   The line's early ships were slow, prone to rolling and cramped by today's standards, but the photos prove that there were ample diversions, such as jousting on a greased pole, wheelbarrow races or "chalking the pig's eye", a form of pin the tail on the tourist. And each new ship the company added became more posh and passenger-friendly, culminating in the second Empress of Britain, the largest ship of its day in 1930 that boasted an Olympic-sized indoor pool.   The average reader may find out a bit more than they want to know about engines and naval architecture, but it's impossible to avoid the travel bug after flipping through the lavishly illustrated pages. Whether you're looking for a history book or a coffee-table book documenting an elegant age, this book will inspire adventurous dreams.   By David Laurence Jones, Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd., 208 pages, $29.95.