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AuGusT 7, 1858.

BOOKS.

B. BARTH'S TRAVELS Xi CENTRAL AFRICA.* kr length the great contemporary African explorer has completed the record of his labours and discoveries, in five most ample vo- lumes. The first three, published some fifteen months since,f conducted the reader from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Benuwe, or southern branch of the Niger, in about nine degrees of north latitude and twelve of East longitude. The narrative also brought the traveller back again to his head quarters at Kukawa, the capital of Bornu, and left him recovering from troubles in mind, body, and estate. His grief was caused by news of the death of his friend and companion Mr. Overweg ; his bodily sufferings by a severe attack of country fever ; his worldly annoyance by debts which, though contemptible to a London

speculator, were large for Central Africa ; the Doctor owing his friend the Vizier of Bornu 500 dollars, besides little matters to other creditors. The debts an official remittance enabled him to discharge, as well as to prepare for the exploration narrated in the two volumes before us. This extended from Kukawa in thirteen degrees of north latitude to Say, a sort of market on the Niger in nearly the same parallel ; the traveller's route running somewhat in a straight line westerly from Kukawa, allowance being made for deviations on either side of the line for natural obstacles or dan- gers in a direct road. At Say, Dr. Barth's striking discoveries really began; for the greater part of the country previously tra- versed had been visited by Denham, Clapperton, or Lander. Be- yond the Niger, and on the return journey, along the course of that mighty and mysterious river from Timbuctoo to Say, no European had travelled, or at least lived to record his travels ; though the greatest of African explorers, Mungo Park, descended the river it- self, not merely travelling, like Dr. Barth along its banks. Our author's land journey from Say to Timbuctoo was, as regards the course of the river, something like traversing the string of a bow, instead of the bow itself. At Timbuctoo, he was detained for up- wards of six months, through a variety of circumstances. A lead- ing cause according to the Doctor was the procrastinating character of his protector Sheikh El Bakay. Another was the fact that religio - political disputes ran high, and the Sheikh's opponents insisted on the Doctor's expulsion, which the Sheikh's faction resisted as a point of honour. The delay was tedious, especially as pruden- tial reasons prevented the traveller from going much about the town, while the floods limited his excursions in the neighbour- hood. There was also the terror of "war's alarms " ; though the danger, perhaps was not so great as the Doctor supposes, since no man can know better than himself that the boasts and threats of Arabs and negroes far exceed their realizatipn. At last, in March 1854, (having arrived in the previous September,) our author was allowed to quit Timbuetoo. The fact that he was accompanied by the Sheikh to Gogo on the Niger, about half-way on his return to Say, and was then dismissed with an escort to Bornu, seems to indicate that the reasons occasionally assigned for the delay at Timbuctoo had more force than the worn-out and impatient Ger- man recognized. The remainder of his journey along the river to Say, is important for the information it furnishes as to the cha- racter of the Niger and the country along its banks. His return journey to Kukawa for the most part on the route by which he advanced, and from the capital of Bornu across the great desert to Tripoli have no generic novelty. They possess of course the in- terest which arises from novel scenery, peoples, characters and manners, and the risk which ever attends such explorations if only from the climate.

In the literary scheme of the volumes necessity or design has effected some improvement. The progress of the story is not de- layed by so Many interrupting topics as in the former volumes. There were of course on this occasion no classical antiquities, or traces of Roman occupation in the Sahara to divert attention from the true subject--the incidents of the journey and the ob- servations of the traveller. The mere tribes met with during the present explorations are perhaps not so numerous as in the journey from the Mediterranean to Bornu, including the expeditions to the south-eastward of Lake Tchad and the River Benuwe. The 8 ies or varieties of the genus homo are clearly not so numerous. ere 18, therefore, less of philology, ethnology, and history. Our German Doctor, however, omits no opportunity of introducing matters that are better adapted to the pages of a special society's "Transactions," or which should be relegated to an appendix, if they must appear in a popular work. • Ilr.ands and Discoveries in North and Central Africa ; being a Journal of an r.txpeditton undertaken under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the years Byyetuy Barth, Ph.D., D.C.L., Fellow of the Royal Geographical and vegro

Sic. &c. five volumes. Volumes IV. and V. Published by an e ana %Jo.

4. Spectator, for 18117, page 523. MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT.] The narrative itself is still extremely slow, arising from the same cause as induced the former volumes to drag heavily, namely, a too full journalizing en route, without regard to the character of the things described. No doubt every particular connected with the Niger and the country south of it is geo- graphically important; indeed the same may be said of the whole journey ; but geographical discoveries are really best displayed by maps on a large scale with brief descriptive notes, like the two which illustrate Dr. Barth's principal journey. If fuller details were deemed necessary, the mere route should take the form of an. itinerary, confining the general narrative to incidents, characters, sketches of landscape and the like, which exhibit the life and soul, as it were, of travel and discovery. It is true that all the author's accounts are very real; still even reality may approach tedium. It is traits such as the last named that render the more important part of Dr. Barth's journey as regards discovery, also the most interesting to the general reader, from its incident, ad- venture, characters, and natural features. The country beyond Say, where our author left the Niger in his land route for 'Cim- buctoo, is not very remarkable for some four degrees of latitude, and about as many of longitude ; being thinly Inhabited, rather poor in productions, with a soil occasionally approaching the desert in character, and the whole country indeed not generally differing from other parts already traversed. The Hombort mountains give an air of singularity to the plain, from which they arise abruptly ; but the region has nothing very striking till within some sixty or seventy miles of Timbuctoo. As the Niger approaches that capital from the southward, the volume of its waters and a peculiar formation of the land creates a backwater which extends over a degree of latitude, forming a species of lake in the rainy season, and numerous intricate channels in the dry, during part of which navigation is greatly, if not wholly., inter- rupted. Still the busy air which water communication induces is visible here, though Dr. Barth embarked for Timbuctoo at the very commencement of the rainy season when the channels were just passable for a craft of the magnitude he had chartered. Elation at floating on the water of the Niger ; joy at approaching Timbuctoo the object of his expedition; the contrast which the rich and busy scene around him compared with the barrenness or stagnation of his route afforded, probably combined to colour the Doctor's picture of his voyage. Perhaps the reader of his book is animated by similar feelings--the relief is so striking from almost constant desolation or beggary.

"After a short delay, we set out again on our zigzag voyage, while one of our boatmen, his harpoon in hand, proceeded on a fishing expedition. From a wide open water we soon got into a narrow channel, while the grassy expanse spread out on each side to a great extent; and, making our way with great difficulty, we emerged into a wide open branch, much more considerable than the one along which our course had lain, it being the principal trunk of the westerly watercourse of Sarayamo. As soon as we had entered it, some large specimens of the alligator tribe afforded proofs of a more extensive sheet of water, while the current, which at first was run- ning against us, was so considerable that we advanced rather slowly. The whole breadth of the river or channel, forming one large unbroken sheet of water, was certainly not less than from 600 to 700 yards, while the depth in the midst of the channel, at least as far as I had an opportunity of judging from the poles of our boatmen, measured fourteen feet and a half, and at times even as much as eighteen, and probably more. The banks were en- livened by men and horses, and we passed an encampment of herdsmen with their cattle. The western shore especially was adorned with a profusion of dum-palms, besides fine tamarind trees, sarkakaya, and others of unknown species. Thus repeatedly delayed by shifting sands obstructing the channel of the river, we moved on in a tolerably direct northerly course, till we reached the village of Menesengay, situated on sandy downs about twenty feet high, beyond a deep gulf of the westerly shore. The low grassy ground on the eastern side formed the place of resort for numbers of pelicans, and the lower ground emerging at present only three feet out of the water, was enlivened by numbers of water-birds, which were looking out greedily for their prey. "Here we again changed our course, following a great many windings, but proceeding generally in an easterly direction. But now the watercourse began to exhibit more and more the character of a noble river, bordered by strongly-marked banks, clad with fine timber, chiefly tamarind and kens trees, and occasionally enlivened by cattle. Our voyage was very delight- ful, gliding, as we were, smoothly along the surface of the water, and keep- ing mostly in the middle of the noble stream, our boatmen only changing their course once to touch at the northern shore, in order to procure for a few shells the luxury of some kola nuts, of which even these poor people were by no means insensible. At length, having passe4 between the vil- lages of Haibongu on the northern and Dara-kaina on the southern shore, we again exchanged our south-easterly direction for a more northerly one, proceeding along a very broad watercourse ; but after a while the open water was broken by a broad grassy island, which left only a smell channel on the west side, while that on the east was of tolerable width. Meanwhile the evening was approaching, and we met with several delays, once in order to buy some fish, and another time on account of our boatmen having lost their harpoon, with which they occasionally endeavoured to catch some large species of fish which were swimming alongside our boat. They were vezy dexterous in diving, although it required some time for them to ascer- tain the spot where the slender instrument bud been fixed in the bottom. This harpoon was exactly similar to the double spear used by some divisions of the Batta, one of the tribes of Adamawa, such as the Begele, and ever by some of the inhabitants of Doran. " We had now entered a splendid reach of the river, which, almost free from reeds, extended in an easterly direction, and we glided pleasantly along the smooth water at a short distance from the northern bank, which was thickly clad with trees • till at length, darkness setting in, we struck right across the whole breadth of the river, which now, in the quiet of the evening, spread out its smooth unrippled surface like a beautiful mirror, and which at this .place was certainly .not less than 1000 yards broad, straight for the evening fires of the village Balmy, which was situated on the opposite bank, and we moored our vessel at the north-easterly bend of the gulf round which the town is situated. Most of our party slept on shore, while others made themselves as comfortable as possible in the boat and on the top of the matting which formed the cabins."

The journey to Timbuctoo was also distinguished by a dramatic disguise. For the latter part of the time the route lay through a district whose chief was a bigoted and fanatical liussulman. Death probably, detention or expulsion certainly, would have attended the powerless Christian who attempted to penetrate his dominions. It was suggested by an Arab guide or companion, charged by the Doctor with various frauds and conspiracies, but who preserved his secret and probably his life, that he, the Doctor, should assume the character of a Syrian sherif and pass as a saint and pilgrim. This gave rise to occurrences of a comic character, of which the following is one.

"I had scarcely returned to my quarters, when the governor, or emir, of the place LSarayamod came to pay rue a visit. This man, whose name was Othman, was a cheerful kind of person. He stands in direct subjection to the chief of Hanida-Allahi. without being dependent upon any other gover- nor; and his province comprises some other places in the neighbourhood, such as Bette, Horesena, and Kabeka. Having made strict inquiries with regard to the present state of affairs in Stambul, and having asked the news respecting the countries of the east in general, he left me, but returned again in the course of the afternoon, accompanied by the chief persons in the town, in order to solicit my aid in procuring rain. After a long conversation about the rainy season, the quantity of rain which falls in different coun- tries, and the tropical regions especially, I felt myself obliged to say before them the fat-ha,' or opening prayer of the Kuran ; and, to their great amusement and delight, concluded the Arabic prayer with a form in their own language,—' Alla hokki ndiam,'—which, although meaning originally God may give water,' has become quite a complimentary phrase, so that the original meaning has been almost lost, few people only being conscious of it. It so happened that the ensuing night a heavy thunder-storm gathered from the east, bringing a considerable quantity of rain, which even found its way into my badly thatched hut. This apparent efficacy of my prayer induced the inhabitants to return the following day, to solicit from me a repetition of my performance ; but I succeeded in evading their request by exhorting them to patience. But, on the other hand, I was obliged, in addition to a strong dose of emetic, to give the governor my blessing, as he was going to the capital, and was rather afraid of his liege lord the young prince Ahmedu, while at the same time his overbearing neighbours the 'Fawarek inspired him with a great deal of fear. In the sequel, he was very well received in the capital, and therefore could not complain of the ineffi- (Icy of my inspiration ; but nevertheless, hot having had the slightest sus- picion that I was not what I represented myself to be, he was much shocked when he afterwards learned that I was a Christian, to the great amusement of the Sheikh el Bakay, who wrote to him repeatedly to the effect that he ought to be well pleased that so wicked a person as a Christian had procured him, not only ram, but even a good reception from his superior."

Once housed at Timbuctoo Dr. Barth threw off the character of a Mahometan and became a Christian again. For reasons already mentioned, his original information respecting this mysterious city, is not so full as might have been wished ; but this could not be helped. A man whose appearance in the streets might lead to his murder, does quite right to keep the house. He has collected particulars as to the general commerce of this African emporium, (whose trade does not seem to be much,) as well as with reference to the nature and extent of the river inundation, which is very considerable. The prices of provisions he learned by experiment and found them cheap, in comparison with parts of Negroland. This was his style of living.

"The course of my material existence went on very uniformly, with only alight variations. My daily food, when I was in the town, consisted of some milk and bread in the morning, a little kuskus, which the sheikh used to send, about two in the afternoon, and a dish of negro millet, containing a little meat, or seasoned with the sauce of the kobewa, or eueurbita melo- pepo, after sunset. The meat of Timbuktu, at least during the cold season, agreed with me infinitely better than that of any other part of Negroland ; but this was not the ease with the melopepo, although it is an excellent and palatable vegetable. In the beginning of my stay I had consumed a great many young pigeons, which form a favourite dainty in this city. They are sold at the almost incredibly cheap rate of ten shells each, or at the rate of three hundred for a dollar but the poor little things were used for culinary purposes so soon after breaking the shell as to be almost tasteless. A very rare dainty was formed by an ostrich egg, which was one day brought to me. This article is more easily to be obtained in the desert than in the towns, and such strong food, moreover, is not well adapted to the stomach of a resident. The sheikh used also to send use a dish late at night, some- times long after midnight ; but, on account of the late hour, I never touched it, and left it to my servants."

The principal incidents at Timbuctoo sprung out of the diplomatic contest respecting Dr. Barth's departure : if indeed they ought to be called incidents, min that action bore no sort of proportion to talk and protocols ; for both Arabs and Negroes can rival any European diplomatist in saying much and settling nothing. At first, the meetings, and discussions, and reports, and stipulations, have an interest ; but frequent repetition renders them as tedious to the reader as they were terrible to Dr. Barth. 'the pictures of social and domestic life, as seen through the friendship of his protector, El Bakay, are attractive. Upon the whole, they, represent the inhabitants of Timbuctoo in a fair and creditable aspect ; though there were bad and bigotted men in the place, and the mass might readily be stirred to fanaticism. The Sheik, whose eminence as a holy man gave him power in Timbuctoo, and influence, as well as celebrity, through a large part of Africa, was possessed of great liberality. Arguments were frequently held with him and others on religious subjects, people being anxious, to convert our traveller; but the German Doctor of Philosophy and Laws was a match for the Mahometan casuists, though at times he adopted odd lines of argument. ' Meanwhile Sidi Mohammed had made a serious attack upon mi. gion and called me always a Kafir. But I told him that I was a real hi lim;the pure Islam, the true worship of the one God, dating from the 1117-e of Adam, and not from the time of Mohammed ; and that thus, while ad. hering to the principle of the unity, and the most spiritual and sublime na- ture, of the Divine Being, I was a Moidim, professing the real Liam although not adopting the worldly statutes of Mohammed, who, in every' thing that contained a general truth, only followed the principles esti: blished long before his time. I likewise added, that even they themselves regarded Plato and Aristotle as Moslemin, and that thus I myself was to be regarded as a Moslim, in a much stricter sense than these two Papua philo- sophers. I concluded by stating that the greater part of those who called themselves Moslemin did not deserve that name at all, but ought rather to be called Mohammedan, such as we named them, because they had raised their prophet above the-Deity itself. "Being rather irritated and exasperated by the frequent attacks of Sidi Mohammed and Alawate, I delivered my speech with great fervour and animation ; and when I had concluded, t3icii Mohammed, who could not deny that the Kuran itself states that Islam dates from the creation of man- kind, was not able to say a word in his defence. As for El Bakay, he was greatly delighted at this clear exposition of my religious principles, but his younger brother, who certainly possessed a considerable degree of knowledge in religious matters, dated, in opposition to my argument, that the Caliphs El Harun and Mamun who had the books of Plato and Aristotle translated into Arabic, were Met:sae, that is to say, heretics, and not true Moslemiu; but this assertion of course I did not admit, although much might be said in favour of my opponent."

This was the north wind of the fable. The sun of the Sheikh El Bakay, was more influential, and touched the Doctor through aesthetic principles. "On the 21st December, we again went in the afternoon to the tents. For the first time since my arrival in this town I rode my own stately charger, which, having remained so many months in the stable, feeding upon the nutritive grass of the byrgu, had so completely recruited his strength that in my desperately weak state I was scarcely able to manage him. The desert presented a highly interesting spectacle. A considerable stream, formed by the river, poured its waters with great force into the val- leys and depressions of this sandy region, and gave an appearance of truth to the fabulous statement of thirtv-mx rivers flowing through this tram. After a few hours' repose, I was able to keep up a long conversation with the sheikh in the evening about Paradise and the divine character of the Buren. This time our stay at the tents afforded more opportunity than usual for interesting conversation, and bore altogether a more religious chi- racier, my protector being anxious to convince his friends and followers of the depth of the faith of the Christians ; and I really lamented that circum- stances did not allow me to enter so freely into the details of the creed of these people, and to make myself acquainted with all its characteristics, as I should have liked.

"Part of the day the sheikh read and recited to his pupils chapters from the hadith of Bokhari, while his young son repeated his lesson aloud from the Huran, and in the evening several surat or chapters of the holy boot were beautifully chanted by the pupils till a late hour of the night. There was nothing more charming to me than to hear these beautiful verses chanted by sonorous voices in this open desert country, round the evening fire, with nothing to disturb the sound, which softly reverberated from the slope of the sandy downs opposite. A Christian must have been a witness to such scenes in order to treat with justice the Mohammedans and their creed."

"Cast thy bread upon the waters and though shalt find it after many days." It is somewhat similar with books. Here are two strange instances of English publications travelling through the centre of Africa, though the life of Bruce was not found at Timbuctoo, but well down the Niger on the homeward journey.

"At other times again, [El Bakay] taking out of his small library the Arabic version of Hippocrates, which he valued extremely, he was very anxious for information as to the identity of the plants mentioned by the Arab authors. This volume of Hippocrates had been a present fremCap- tain Clapperton to Sultan Bello of Sokoto, from whom my friend had re- ceived it among other articles as an acknowledgment of his learning. I may assert, with full confidence, that those few books taken by the gallant Scotch Captain into Central Africa, have had a greater effect in reconciling the men of authority in Africa to the character of Europeans, than the most costly present ever made to them ; and I hope, therefore, that gifts like these may not be looked upon grudgingly by people who would crier- wise object to do anything which might seem to favour Mohammedanism.

• •

"I even, to my great astonishment, found here with one of the gel e' Suk, the life of Bruce, published by Murray in1895, and which most probably had been the property. of Davidson, the Kel e' Suk having brought it from Azawad, where it had been taken by Hamma, a younger brother of El Bakay, who, about the time of Davidson's journey, had paid a visit to Tawat and the country of the Arib. It was almost complete, only ten leaves being wanting, and I bought it for three benaig, or strips of indigo-died cotton. It had been used as a talisman, an Arabic charm having been added to it."

Notwithstanding the Milk of Dr. Barth's book, he is not reall- to be considered as an author or even a narrator ; but as a tra yeller and discoverer. In the first character he is entitled to the very highest praise for his patient firmness and resolute perse, verance under the numerous forms of difficulty which even now beset the African explorer. From the constant danger of wanton murder which attended the earlier adventurers he might be free. The English influence at Tripoli—the fame of EuroRean power and prowess operating across the desert have renderea the chiefs of Central Africa fearful of offending they know not what, and dis- posed them to furnish such protection as they can; but the risk of ignorant or fanatical violence still remains. The suffe • from climate and its diseases no power can guard against; h ships, fatigue poor and scanty fare, with the want of all stimu- lants and often of all condiments, even to salt, as well as the de- pressing sense of solitude and isolation that come over the lonely traveller, will have to be submitted to till philanthrophy has lized Central Africa. All these things were borne by Dr. Baath, not so much bravely or unrepiningly, but as things of war- 4rms arie in suffering all that suffers nothing." We hear Of heat, or hunger, or thirst, as facts ; we are told he is stricken down by fever, but we have no lamentations over his pains. If his patience gfiref way with ignorance, weakness of purpose, loss of time where tho value of time is utterly unknown, it is towards the close of his journey, when one of his great objects was accomplished, and he was naturally chafed by petty impediments to his return. As a discoverer Dr. Barth is rather to be ranked as an elucida- tor of what was already conjectured than a finder-out of the un- known. The general course of the Niger between Timbuctoo and Rabbah (9° 13' of north latitude 4°58' of east longitude), to which 3,faegregor Laird's Expedition ascended nearly five and twenty rears ago, was pretty correctly inferred, though it could not be 1 down with the accuracy of our present knowledge. The existence of the great southern branch of the Niger—the Tchada, shary, Benuwe, or whatever name you call it was well known. Lander had struck it ; Macgregor Laird ascended it ; what Dr. Barth did was to ascertain its course more accurately; though much still remains to be done in settling the nature of the African waters between the 8th and 12th degrees of north latitude. Dr. Barth's most original discoveries extend to the south and east of Lake Tchad ; but his mode of travel (with a slave-hunting force) necessarily rendered his observations general if not vague. We do not entertain so favourable an opinion of the practical re- sults to commerce and African civilization that are to spring from these discoveries as Dr. Barth and many people. The ca- pacity of a country to produce, and the actual extent of its productions, are two very different things. The last depends upon habits of labour, steady industry, some skill and some capital. All these are very deficient along the region of the Niger, and more or less so in Central Negroland. What is worse' there is neither peace, or security for property and life, or even the pros- pect of them. Forty years ago Tanbuctoo seems to have been under a government, irregular and tyrannical, but still a govern- ment. About the same time Denham and Clapperton found the two great kingdoms of Bornu and Sakato under powerful rulers, who maintained a sort of order and justice whence sprung a certain degree of prosperity. Now all has vanished. Timbue- too has no ruler ; two chiefs of feeble character and shorn power nominally represent the Sultans of Sakato and Bornu ; but dis- tricts have coolly withdrawn their allegiance, or are in open re- volt ; while every man with influence to raise a following sets out on a marauding or slave-hunting expedition. In fact it is the regular resource for a "gentleman in diffs." A friend of Dr. Barth's—an excellent man, was compelled to plan a slave-hunt to pay his just debts. In such a state commerce has declined or dwindled away, poverty and often misery extensively in- creased. - We are not opposed to another attempt to ascend the Niger as a matter of geographical exploration, and with a view to open up further trade ; but any large results in this last direction will be we fear of slow growth.

The present like the former volumes contains plates which by form and colour at all events convey to the eye an idea of some of the more striking scenery that the traveller met with. Maps ex- hibit Dr. Barth 's discoveries in detail, as well as the region of Africa in which his explorations were carried on. An appendix to each volume contains a variety of special subjects including an Arabic poem of the author's protector, Sheikh TEl Bokay, uttered in his defence when he was threatened by the Fulan of Masina, and a translation.