FORTUNE MY FOE By J. P. R. Wallis This is
the life (Cape, Los. 6d.) of a strong and attractive personality, Charles John Andersson, explorer of South-West Africa. His mother was Swedish, and he came to England at the age of 23 to seek his fortune, sufficiently a foreigner to be aghast at the sale by a farmer of " 20,000 Swedes." Naturally hardy, an observer of wild life and especially birds, he was delighted when Galton, " the father of Eugenics," offered to take him to Africa to explore Lake Ngami. Until his premature death in 1867, due to the undermining of his constitution by fever and bad food, Andersson led a life of incredible hardship, struggle and adventure, surrounded by warring Damaras and Hottentots under un- reliable chiefs, his finances always pre- carious owing to cattle-raids and sickness, and owing all his achievements to his own strength and determination. The extracts from his Journals have the same courage, trust in God-and -moving simplicity that Defoe gives to Crusoe. It is a pity that more is not told in the explorer's own words, for though his biographer is well-meaning and objec- tive, he has little command of language (though a Professor of English), and obscures character and event in -a loose jungle of verbiage without focus or perspective. Apart from discrepancies of spelling in native names, and a sadly incomplete map and index, the historical background is but vaguely indicated and the chief natives and fellow- explorers appear and disappear without explanation. . But 'Andersson's story well worth reading, even though his own works are long since out of print.
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