The Cactus Eaters (Witherby, los. 6d.) should, to justify its
title, be about a race of people whose diet consists mainly of cactus. Actually it deals with a race of South American Indians who eat cactus-fruit, amongst other things. This would only be news if they ate the skin —which they don't. However, under this catch-penny title, Mr. Weston has written an extremely interesting account of a people of whom practically nothing has been written in English—the Goajira Indians of Colombia. Accompanied by a friend, he made several journeys into the Goajira desert and sabana land, which occupy about 5,000 square miles in the north-east of Colombia. The origin of the Goajiras is still a subject of specula- tion, for their social customs differ from those of adjacent races and they have no religion, no art, no legends, and no relics of their past to assist the historian and anthropologist. Mr. Weston de- scribes their simple nomadic life in some detail without attempting to make his book anything more than a popular account of a little-known people.
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