Ten Years in Equatoria, and the Return with Emir, .Pasha.
By Major Gaetano Casati. 2 vols. (F. Warns and Co.)—Major Casati certainly gives us the impression of being unbiassed, and those who are waiting to hear the last word may well congratulate themselves that here is one of the actors, whose opinion, next to Emin Pasha's, is the most to be valued as to the causes, the progress, and the results of the rebellion at the Equator. Casati's introductions to Central African affairs was in this wise. Gesai Pasha wrote asking for an energetic man who could maps for the exploration of the Wells Basin. Casati heard the letter read, and eagerly seized the opportunity ; and he proved himself the right man, and possessed of all the nerve and tact indispensable to an explorer. The most interesting portion of this work is that which relates the deposition and ultimate rescue of the Governor-General of Equatoria. Casati was never pressed by events into any position prominent enough to invalidate his account of contemporary events ; hence his opportunities of judging affairs, the conduct of Emin, of the rebels, and the other personalities of the retreat are undeniable, and he has not let them slip. Emin's sense of duty, his courage, his vacillation, his lack of that firm temper necessary to control discordant elements, his tenderness, his easy-goingness, sometimes approach- ing to fatalism, are all reproduced. with photographic effect. How on earth he retained his position so long, and his life, amidst such a set of rascals, passes comprehension, if one forgets the amiable character of the man, and his nobility of purpose ; it was these, and the fear of punishment, that no doubt came between the mutineers and their head. Casati draws us a portrait upon which, we fancy, no further explanation, even from Emin, to whom belongs, of course, the last word, will improve. The events before, and on the arrival of the Relief Expedition, so minutely described, will once more explain the difficulties that awaited Stanley when he reached the Pasha, to find him a prisoner, and the province demoralised. The imperiousness of Stanley, his temper, the loss of all prestige to Emin, hurt the man's feelings immeasurably. But Emin, indeed, was only reaping his reward ; and though Casati does not say so, the arrival of some one who know exactly what he was going to do, who overbore opposition, and was possessed of an iron resolution, must have boon a relief. Casatets portrait of Stanley Bulamatari (stone-breaker), in some fifteen lines, describes the man in the most incisive words. His mistakes (according to Casati) the Italian refers to frankly, and his faults, too, are not spared; but the summing-up of the explorer's character is a just tribute to one who alone can surmount the most depressing difficulties and lead others through the most anxious moments. Major Casati, who, as Captain Camporio tolls us, is very calm for an Italian, is evidently possessed of unfailing nerve, of admirable tad, and of a considerable amount of even temper. He has the Italian love of intrigue very slightly ; but still, in his dealings with Chua, of Unyoro, he shows his subtlety and admirable nerve to perfection. His power of literary expression is not great ; he is too verbose, apt to wander, and forgets the value of historical sequence. His account, however, of some of the tribes and their chiefs, the Wambetti, the Wahuma, their industries and arts, and their Kings, of whom Chua was a typical potentate, and whose cunning renders them not such a despicable foe to even Italian diplomacy, is picturesque. He relates legends, habits, customs, and many of those trifles which his nationality would induce him to notice. The long stay he made in Unyoro, and the lengthy duel he had with the treacherous and deceitful King Chua, remind us of the account of a similar performance which the author of "Two Kings of Uganda" has related of Uganda, the sister-kingdom, with Mtesa and Mwanga. Again and again did Casati's life hang in the balance in Unyoro. Of Major Casati's journeys we have a good map, especially of the Makua and other basins ; also one of the • Welle Basin, another of the Congo and Nile wator-parting, and one showing the return from the Albert Nyanza. The volumes are lavishly illustrated, and read sometimes like a story of adven- ture, only we know that Casati's nerve will carry him through all. Interesting and undoubtedly valuable as is the account of his wanderings, it is perhaps more from the striking side-lights it throws upon Central African affairs that we must view it.
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