BOOKS.

THE PORTUGUESE EXPEDITION TO WEST AFRICA.* READERS of The King's .Rifle—Major Serpa Pinto's narrative of his own arduous and important share in the expedition sent by the Portuguese Government to Central and West Africa— will not complain that a persdnal. explanation occupies a prominent position in the record of two members of that expedition whose conduct towards him he represented in an unfavourable light. Major Serpa Pinto accuses Ivens and Capello of having abandoned him in Caconda, when he was about to explore a dangerous and hostile country ; those gentlemen assure the public and the Major that they did nothing of the kind. The documentary evidence bears out their statement, that Pinto was mistaken about the charac- ter of the country he was entering upon (and where he was unmolested), that the division into parties was wise, and, in fact, inevitable, also that it had the advantage of exploring and defining two routes, instead of one only. It is due to the Seilhors

*From llanguilla to the Territory of raoca. By H. Capello and R. Ivens, of the Royal Portuguese Navy. Translated by Alfred Elwell, Ph.D. London: Sampson Low and Co. Ivens and Capello that their having cleared themselves from an imputation of so grave a nature should be recorded in any com- ment upon their joint account of their exploits. This book does

not equal Major Serpa Pinto's iu point of personal interest. The difference of taste and temperament between the .latter writer, and these more matter-of-fact and less impulsive personages, who,. nevcrtheless, endured a good deal, and have not a little to say about it, is strongly marked; and yet we cannot remember to have read any work on African travel more distinctly and painfully impressive than this one. It is not picturesque, it is not enthusi- astic, the touches of humour in it are few and far between, but it convinces the reader of its sincerity and accuracy. And it re- veals a kind of nightmare country. It is to be hoped that the information about the Congo district, which Mr. H. M. Stanley refused to " tap " for his Parisian interviewers, but will, no doubt, speedily unfold to us, has some cheering features, some lighter shades, than this narrative of a journey through a portion of the earth on which Nature has lavished beauty, but where the human race is a painful object of contemplation.

The expedition started from " the ancient and well-known city of Benguella," the capital of a vast territory upon the west coast of Africa, in November, 1877, with the intention of making a thorough survey of the great artery—a tributary of the Congo-Zaire—which runs from south to north, between 17° and 19° oak of Greenwich, and is called the Cuango. The explorers were also to determine all the geographical bearings between the Cuango and the West Coast, and to make a comparative survey of the hydrographic basins of the Coago-Zaire and the Zambesi. This was not so high- sounding a programme as crossing the continent, but it was one which implied as much suffering, and demanded as much courage and endurance. They had to traverse 2,500 miles, making their way through the basin of the Congo—according to . Stanley, the most pestilential region in Africa—at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,200 feet, until they found it literally impossible to

go on. It is as unreasonable as it is unfeeling to expect that men will undergo the hardships and sufferings to which African

explorers are exposed, and then impose upon themselves a Spartan reticence. Surely, they of all men are entitled to their little brag and their • little growl, when they have emerged from the Dark Continent ; and the attitude of their readers ought not to be that of cold and captious critics, caring only for the facts, and wishing they would get on with their story, but rather that of listeners to a " yarn " that would lack character, if it were not rambling and personal. There is a comical naIvet6 in the authors' deprecation of the anticipated impatience of the public with their details of the many miseries of an undertaking which we, at least, have never felt inclined to under-value :—

" The man'," they say, "who has never had the miefortunO to pass entire days of hunger and thirst, with the temperature at 86° of Fahrenheit ; who has never experienced the dire sensations of intense fever, aggravated by the anguish of dysentery, the terrible itching oaused by parasites, and which the flannel vest renders almost un- bearable ; and who has never felt the excruciating suffering• caused by scorbutic wounds in the logs and foot, making the pressure of the boot a martyrdom, may consider our dwelling at such length upon these subjects both troublesome and undignified."

All this, however, they consider it proper to lay before the world, for the behoof of future explorers,—hardly, we should think, to " encourage " those " others." We do not remember

to have read, in any previous record of travel, so dismal a description of African fever as they give ; their account of the

mental agony of the diseaie, the ghastly and terrifying phantoms that crowd the imagination of the sufferer, is dreadful indeed. No doubt, that part of the malady is chiefly due to the horrid sights and sounds amidst which the traveller moves.

Following the route on the map, we find the first important stopping-place was Caconda, where the travellers met the cele- brated Portuguese naturalist Anchiota, whose loss science has recently had to deplore. Thenceforth, we have constant 'descrip- tions of beautiful coutitry, lovely birds and flowers, degraded savages, and wonderful ants. Here is one of the ant stories :—

" Daring the march, wo met upon the road an enormous column of bisondes, black ants with huge heads, shaped like those of a bulldog; which, as the natives affirmed, were returning from war. These insects fix on to their prey with such tenacity, that it is only by severing their heads from their bodies that they will let, go their bold. They are, therefore, greatly feared by the natives, who take to their heels at their approach, and find no other defence against them than fire."

The pigniy warriors, who are said even to attack elephants allowed the explorers to pass unmolested. Every horror in human nature, except cannibalism, seems to have come under

the notice of the explorers of the Cuango ; and the Sovas, or petty chiefs, proved to be adepts in dishonesty. No writers place so low an estimate upon the West-African tribes as Ivens and Capello, who give the following account of the Bih4nos, natives of one of the richest tracts of territory in the interior of . Africa, and much superior to those tribes whom they afterwards encountered :—

" The Bibbnos, who travel a great deal (they are traders with the far interior), are wonderfully furtive and grasping. The traveller must have all his wits about him, when venturing into their country. Whatever the district into which the European penetrates, he is always well received by the native chiefs ; but, unless he acts with extreme caution, he is pretty sure to be fleeced of his entire means. Not despoiled by violence, but gradually, and with much delicacy, drained of his substance, until he finds himself in the most abject

• poverty."

The BilAnos are very intelligent,•capital raconteurs, but they are, like all Central Africans, "distinguishable for an indifference, both moral and physical, of which it is difficult to convey an idea." They live in a beautiful country, where there is nothing ugly but mankind, in a delicious climate, so that they need not guard against either heat or cold, on a soil so fertile that they need never dread want; and—these writers tell.us—the pigment of an African negro is a perfect protection against the electrical influences which disturb the European in those climes. The writers confidently assert that the Bilidnos have no notion of the existence of a, Creator, and no idea of a future life ; their fetishism has no relation to such ideas, but is merely concerned with the present. They are ready, handy, and business-like. The women do almost all the field work ; the men exercise certain mechanical arts, work in iron, and even manufacture steel. The usual routine of difficulties about porterage, desertions, loss of bales in fording rivers, thefts, quarrels,fntervals of illness, dis- gusting spectacles, hideous dances, exquisite sceuery, beautiful skies, and wonderful vegetation makes up the travellers' narrative.

The Luimbe people, with wonderful head-dresses, inhabit a wilderness of monkeys, where " huge leguminous plants, whose fruit measures fourteen inches in length, with thick foliage, the

trunk covered with a layer of cork, and long, pendent, vermilion flowers, constitute the superior flora." The Sovas are rather monotonous, being invariably dirty, cruel, and mean; but N'Dumba Tembo, of Cangombe, is a pleasant variety. He came to the audience granted to the travellers mounted on the shoulders of one of his vassals, a stalwart and nimble negro, who, curvetting and prancing, bore him into the open space, severely testing his Majesty's powers of horsemanship. All the " assistance " danced and bawled an accompaniment to the drums, and the Soya's nephew, in command of the advance- guard, from time to time rested the palms of his hands upon the ground and threw his heels up. into the air, like Dickens's Tom Scott. N'Dumba Tembo is decidedly the most interest- ing and original personage to whom this book introduces us, and very far from being the cruel tyrant he had been re- presented by the Bihdnos. The Bee country is the subject of a very interesting chapter, which includes a description of a hunter's camp, some curious facts about the animals of the district, and an animated description of the whole region, as one peculiarly suited to habitation by Europeans. " Standing upon a granite plateau, I'chiboco may properly be described as the Mother of the African Waters, a hydrographic centre whence issue, through gullies, the streams that flow to the two great oceans by the channels of the Congo-Zaire, the Cuanza, and the Zambesi." As they approached the Cuango, the travellers'. difficulties increased. They met with an unfriendly Soya, and their people were scared by stories of cannibalism. The latter

were false, but it was considered wise to spread a report that • the flesh of white men was poisonous. There is a savage but fine description of a great hunt at Cha Calumbo, of which the writers say that it was one of the most extraordinary scenes they ever witnessed ; this will be found at p. 244 of Vol. I. This is succeeded by a description of the suffering produced by hunger in that climate, which is a match for the sketch of African fever;

and the combined effect renews the state of mind usually produced by the perusal of African travel,—profound wonder that anybody can ever be induced to undertake such a task. Ivens and Capello cheered themselves up under the most unpropitious circumstances with visions of future railways and telegraphs, cafés, newspapers, in fact, all the appliances of civilisation, in the far-in centre of the Dark Continent,—surely, an admirable form of "altruism." The beautiful scenery helped them, and we can well imagine the regret with which they found themselves obliged to set fire to a noble wood, in order to make their way to • water. The natives, of course, revelled the destruction from which the white men shrank " with a sensation of terror, not unmixed with shame and remorse," rur.- rdog from place to place, and tossing burning brands on to patches that had escaped the flames. Some horrible examples of cruelty and hideous 'superstition came under the observation of the travellers. They succeeded very fairly in the objects of their expedition, and the scientific details, which form a large portion of the second volume, are full and important. They did not reach the capital of Lunde., a vast empire, lying near the Zambesi, which can only be compared with that of Uganda. Its' inhabitants are styled Ba-lunda, while the tributaries bear special names, and its ruler, a wealthy and powerful chief, is the Mwata, Yanvo. The explorers give a picture of him, compiled from the descriptions they obtained ; and also one of a female potentate called Lucoquessa, the mother of the first Mwata Yanvo, who wields great authority. The account they give of this groat African kingdom, its monarch, and its laws, is very remarkable and interesting. Dr. Buchner's forthcoming work wilt probably, contain full details, as he was the guest of the Mwata Yanvo for some time in 1880. The meeting between the German and the Portuguese explorers is pleasantly told ; it was almost a repetition of the. celebrated,—" Dr. Livingstone, I presume t though not quite so stagey.

In the " Conclusion,' the writers give the results of their experience, and briefly and clearly state their views. The latter may be defined thus :—Africa, under European guid- ance, should show a prosperity in the future that will not yield the palm even to America ; but the territory must be rendered. salubrious—they explain how—and the interior, not the coast, must be made the centre of operations, of which the control and direction of the waters of the continent are the most imperative and urgent. " It may be objected," say the authors, "that so vast a problem can only be solved in the course of thousands of years, and that the best course to pursue is to be satisfied with things as they are. But to this we will reply that, though the- hints we have thrown out never contemplated a speedy solution, they represent ideas which might be at once initiated, by way of showing the direction that the herculean labour should taker . more especially in regard to roads and the establishment of colonies." No doubt, if Europe is to take Africa from the- Africans, the method indicated will be the way to do it.