BOOKS.

SIR SAMUEL BAKER AND THE UPPER NILE.* VICTOR HUGO, when 1 c wrote his Histoire d'un Crime, declared that it was more than urgent, it was actual. The same thing might be said of the life of Sir Samuel Baker., One of the chief questions of the day is the future of the Nile Valley, and especially its upper part. But Baker's life was virtually spent first in exploring, then in governing, and lastly in writing on and considering the Upper Nile. The book before us as it were exudes the Nile at every pore. It should be bound in the hide of the hippopotamus or the croco- dile, so all-present is the river of Egypt. In the years 1863 and 1864 Baker passed up the Nile Valley to the Great Lakes and explored the shores of the Albert Nyanza. In 1872 and 1873 he returned again from the Egyptian side to conquer and occupy the Valley of the Nile as far as the Lakes for the Khedive Ismail, whose commission Baker had temporarily accepted. But the problem that is coming for those responsible for our Colonial affairs is the problem of how to do what Baker did, reversed ; that is, how to occupy the Upper Nile downwards from the Lakes, instead of upwards from Egypt. Hence the record of Baker's achievement is, as we have said, peculiarly interesting and important at the present moment. His biographers have fully realised this fact, and they write always "with their eye on the object," and do not fail to point out the special significance of the events they set forth. And here we may point out that not only in this respect, but in all else that tends to readable biography, they have discharged a difficult task with no little success. They have let Baker speak for himself wherever possible, as was only right and proper, but they have not failed to dot the " i's " and cross the " t's " by intelligent annotations. Their notes and comments, and the excellent maps with which the volume is provided, make it a very luminous volume. We have only one serious quarrel with the making of the book. It might, without undue divergence from its legitimate theme, have contained a separate chapter on the navigability of the Nile, with a map, or rather two maps, for the different sections of the river— (1) from Lake Albert to Sobat, (2) from Sobat to Khartoum—. showing exactly when, where, and how the navigation is im- peded, and for what sized vessels the impediment exists. Such a chapter would have been an untold blessing to the political inquirer. If it were possible to put boats on the Lakes and take them to the edge of the Mahdi's country without diffi- culty, it is clear that we should have open to us an easy way of making effective our claim to hold whatever part of the Nile Valley is not covered by the claims of Egypt. Many writers, however, scout the notion of occupation by flotilla as absurd. Possibly it may be so ; but one would like to know how near it is to not being absurd, stated by such very com- petent writers as Mr. Douglas Murray and Mr. Silva White. No doubt they tell us, as it is, a very great deal about the navigability of the Nile, but then their information is scattered and disjointed, and we get no general view of the subject. If we turn for information on this subject to Mr. Keane's very useful collection of information about North Africa, the title of which stands among those at the foot of this article—the book is a veritable encyclopmdia of African information, and positively swarms with maps and useful cuts—we find the statement that the rapids at Fola (near Milli) are " the only absolutely insurmountable obstacle to the navigation of the Nile at all seasons for light craft throughout its whole course from the Mediterranean to Lake Albert Nyanza." On the other band, Mr. Keltie, in the new and revised edition of his Partition of Africa—a book which shows clearly how much the dividing of the spoil has progressed since its last issue in 1893—gives us a map of the • a.) Si,- Samuel Baker, a Memoir. By Douglas Murray, F.G.q., and A. Silva White, F.R.S.G.s. London Macmillan and Co. 1%5.---(2.) The Partition of Africa. ByJ. Scott Keltie. With 24 Maps. Second Edition. London: Edward Stanford. 195.—(3.) Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel. (New Issue.) Africa: Vol. L, North Africa By A. H. Keane, F.R.44.S. Maps and Illustrations. London; Edwa.d Stanford. l95.-4) The River Congo. By H. H Johnson. Revieed Moiti.m. London: Samp-on Low and Marton. 1S95. —15.) Madagascar of To-Day. Br the hen. W. E. Cousins. W.th a Map. London: Religious Tract Soci,ty. 1-95.

• navigable rivers of Africa, and marks as unnavigable not only the whole course of the river from Korti to Berber, but also the whole of the waterway from Gondokoro to the Albert Nyanza. Possibly he is right if his standard is a big vessel, but if Mr. Keane has gone too far in one direction, Mr. ICeitie has certainly gone too far in the other. As we have said, what we want to see worked out, is an ideal voyage from the Lakes down to Khartoum in a light but strong steamer, with the places, if any (except the Fula rapids), where the vessel would have to stop, marked clearly. It seems to us that the best plan would be to establish stations at the head and foot of each rapid, and then construct a portage. road, or still better a tramway, between the two, keeping the necessary camels or pack-donkeys at the stations. The goods carried up and down would be conveyed between the steamer kept above the rapids and the one kept below, and the portage-stations would thus act as exchanges. In this way, and perhaps by the establishment of half-a-dozen portages, the Nile might be at one and the same time patrolled and turned into a commercial highway. And here it may be remarked that if this were done it would not be necessary to trouble about the cataracts between Berber and Korth A Suakim-Berber Railway—provided, of course, that the trade jealousy of Cairo could be got over— would be the proper channel through which the Nile com- merce would reach the sea. To show that our proposal as to dividing the Nile into sections between cataracts connected by portages is no mad dream, we will quote the following letter addressed by Sir Samuel Baker to General Gordon while Gordon was Governor-General of the Soudan :—

" I think you are quite right in making use of the river, so as to form a chain of stations above the various Cataracts ; as it will be impossible to depend upon the natives as carriers by land.

It always struck me that, eventually, when vessels shall be numerous, it might be possible, after much trouble and patience, to keep certain nuggars above each Cataract, in order to traffic permanently upon each navigable channel above the obstructions ; so as to ascend or descend the steps, by simply transporting the cargo by land from ship to ship at the various impediments. [This was the method adapted by the African Lakes Company between Kiliman and Lake Nyasa.] Ivory is so valuable and so easily carried, that it could bear the expense; and the natives would not object to the short journeys from above to

below a Cataract If you can establish your line of vessels above each Cataract to the navigable river beyond Jebel Kuku [west of the Asua junction] you will certainly have achieved an immense success. I cannot tell you how thankful I am that you are my successor; as I was always afraid that no one would take the same enthusiastic interest in the work which I have felt. When a steamer shall be on the Albert Nyanza, there will be a grand development ; and if your health remains, I feel quite confident in your ultimate success : as I am sure the river is free from cataracts between Afuddo and the Lake. [This we now know to be the case : that is to say, above the Fola rapids."]

Apparently, this refers chiefly to the river above Gondokoro, but it might be said with equal force of the obstacles lower down. Lest, however, we should appear to be giving too roseate a view of the Nile navigation, let us quote what is said by Sir Samuel Baker's biographers as to the obstruction offered by the Sudd,—floating masses of vegetation :—

"It would be tedious to follow Baker step by step in his voyage to the south, or to describe the countless difficulties that ob- structed it. His chief obstacle was that curious formation in the bed of the river, called the Sudd. The Nile up to the Sobat junction is a noble stream, offering few physical barriers to navigation ; but in ascending the river above this confluence, one enters 'a region of immense flats and boundless marshes, through which the river winds in a labyrinth-like course for about 750 miles to Gondokoro.' This is the country, or rather one region of the Upper Nile, where the dreaded Sudd bars the way to the free navigation of the river : that is to say, it did when Baker arrived there, on his outward journey, and continued to do so until his return, when measures had been taken to open-up the main channels of communication. The navigator who attempts to take his vessel or vessels through this ever-changing chaotic mass of floating vegetation is confronted by much the same obatacles and dangers as those which are found in the ice- packs of the North Polar regions :—'The fabulous Styx,' says Baker, must be a sweet rippling brook compared to this horrible creation. A violent wind, acting upon the high-waving plain of sugar-cane grass, may suddenly create a change ; sometimes islands are detached by the gambols of a herd of hippopotami, whose rude rambles during the night break narrow lanes through the floating plains of water-grass, and separate large masses from the main body. The water, being pent-up by enormous dams of vegetation mixed with mud and half-decayed matter, forms a chain of lakes of slightly-varying levels. The sudden breaking of one dam would thus cause an impetuous rush of stream that might tear away miles of country, and entirely change the equilibrium of the floating masses. In short, the entire country under the regime of the Budd resembles the bed of

a desiccated lake, the drainage-waters of which are constantly finding fresh channels of effluence, and therefore cannot be depended on, except for light-draught vessels at the time of the highest floods. That time, unhappily, owing to delays, first at Cairo and afterwards at Khartum, had passed, when Baker attempted the passage of the Budd through the channel of the Bahr Ez Zeraf (not of the main stream, which was choked), between the Sobat junction and Shambeh."

Fortunately, however, Baker found means of keeping the Sudd in order, and when he got a twin screw-steamer in-

stead of a paddle-boat, he found that she was able to slip through the high grass without much difficulty.

It would be unfair to deal with the book before us, and say nothing about Sir Samuel Baker's personality. He was clearly a magnetic man. The natives greatly admired his pluck and resource. He never missed his aim, they noticed, and. "when he shakes you, your teeth fall out." He was a born leader of men,—a natural chieftain, and yet at the same time a man keenly alive to the movements of the age. He had an opinion, and generally a very shrewd opinion, ready on every con- ceivable subject, for all the world as if he were a professional leader-writer. Here is a part of what his biographers say in memory of his character :—

" Baker was a typical Englishman. He possessed in a marked degree the manly characteristics of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers grafted upon a mental vigour and receptiveness in complete. harmony with the times in which he lived. He was inspired by the Past, but convinced by the Present. His character was cast in a heroic mould—a mould that, from its rarity, may be said, scarcely to exist; and the circumstances of his life enabled him to perform the work for which he was most fitted, though they may not have developed his utmost capacities. His extraordinary versatility, amounting almost to genius, would have fitted him for othsr occupations than those in which he actually engaged : andlt was greatly to be regretted that, having finished his active work by the time he reached the meridian, the latter half of his life should have been passed in comparative seclusion, though, as our' readers will have noticed, not without benefit to the counsels of the nation."

We wish we had space to say more of Sir Samuel Baker's- life, but this much must suffice.

One word as to the two last-named books in the list at the foot of this article. They may be usefully read in con junction.

with the three first, by those who want to understand the

African problem. The first, Mr. H. H. Johnson's The River Congo, will show them what a remarkable position is held in

Africa by that anomaly in international law, the Congo State.

The other will enable them to realise how great are the opportunities for Colonial development obtained by France in Madagascar. She gets, since we have given her a free hand an island continent unencumbered by a single boundary squabble, or chance of a boundary squabble, with any European Power.