TWO BOOKS OF AFRICAN TRA.VEL.*

THERE is in modern books of travel a want of the fascination attaching to the records of older explorers, which we cannot well explain. Perhaps it is that the modern traveller confines himself to telling the truth, a custom in itself highly com- mendable, but not calculated to enhance the interest of literature. Perhaps it is that we all know too much nowadays, or rather, that we get too quickly and easily familiarised with things that seemed incredible a short time ago. It was a wonder when Lieutenant Cameron crossed the continent of Africa less than twenty years ago, but to hear of Major von Wissmann doing it now seems little more remarkable than if he had crossed by steamer from Calais to Dover. No doubt each new traveller may make remarkable discoveries, but these are seldom sufficiently strange to excite much interest in the ordinary reader. Mr. Stanley made a great hit with his pigmies, as every one could comprehend the singularity of a whole race of people averaging 4 ft. in height; but it is difficult to get up much enthusiasm about the discovery of a new species of guinea-fowl, or the true course of the Welle-Makua. There is also a certain sense of futility attaching to most of these arduous enterprises, however great the objects to which the travellers have addressed themselves. If one of these seemed more thoroughly purpose-like than the others, it was the expedition concluded by Mr. Stanley for the relief of Emin Pasha, the fate of which kept all Europe in breathless anxiety two years ago ; but as soon as we had done cheering his gallant deliverers, we found that the rescued man's sole object in life was to get back to the place that he was rescued from. Little more than a year ago, it was our duty to com- ment on the record of the labours of one of the most devoted and single-hearted of African missionaries, Mackay of Uganda, and to quote the satisfaction with which he felt that at his death he left Uganda a Christian kingdom ; yet when we sur- vey the present condition of the scene of his labours it seems as if all the toil and self-sacrifice of the missionaries were only part of a sort of gigantic practical joke,—when we have seen -Mackay!s Protestant followers -engaged in civil war against the Catholic converts of the Algerian mission with a ferocity never surpassed in the most barbarous heathen days. It is iortunate, at least, that he has been spared the sight og the final undoing of the work in which he . spent his life, through the proposed evacuation of Uganda.

Something of this feeling of discouragemcnt is to be obserTed, in thf. writings of _the.late Dr. Junier, the, esecond and.third +41.3 Travels Ai/ilea-during tks Years 1879. !RS. and '48924W. Vahlt ITAillAited' from the. 'Osfilnen. by it H.' Kearie,-ROYAIZS. 10191f0a9bitivainiabla,tar91419..-L.-144),Mg.fiemr1.:Jewrn4 throe 01,Egtokr tonal Africa. By Hermann von Wissmann. Translated from the German by Mtn= J. A. Bergmann. London : Ohatto and Windus. 1891.

volumes of whose travels now lie before us. Dr. Junker was a traveller of a somewhat uncommon kind, more resembling the type of Emin Pasha, perhaps, than of any other contem- porary we can think of. The spirit of adventure seems to have had little to do with his undertaking the most difficult and dangerous voyages ; the desire of profit, direct or indirect,

or-even of fame, yet less. An enthusiast in natural science, the hope of enriching his zoological collection with specimens

as yet unknown to the world, might lead him through his first two or three expeditions, but he soon became an absolute victim to that African fever which seems to seize all explorers to a certain degree. But it was not merely the charm of the solitary wandering into unknown regions that tempted him. Dr. Junker was one of those who had felt the curious attraction of sympathy tothe great little Negro race, with all its absurdities and contradictions, its strange, childish ways of thought, and the hopeless impracticableness which stops the way like a brick wall to any one who is trying to introduce a higher civilisation among them. There seems to be something of the same fascination that some men feel in teaching backward boys, especially of the kind who can learn and will not learn, on the off-chance that, after many rebuffs, some way will be opened at last by which a little progress may be made. Things often go smoothly for a while, till the traveller, who is con- vinced that his pet native chieftain is being thoroughly educated up to the European standard, is, of a sudden, rudely awakened from his dreams by some act of atrocious barbarity or idiotically degrading superstition on the part of his in- teresting pupil. But it is pleasant to fall back into the dream again, and to hope that it may one day grow into reality. Yet Dr. Junker had obviously, at the time of which this volume treats, fallen into a condition of great discouragement as to any genuine improvement in the Negro race. The indolence and absolute nnreliableness of the people he seems to have con- sidered permanent and ineradicable obstacles to any real pro- gress,—the latter especially. Treachery would be too strong a word to use. There are, of course, bad cases of treachery to be met with here, as elsewhere ; but it is more the almost physical incapacity of the Negro to make up his mind to keep a promise when the time arrives to do so that is put most vividly before us. Much of this, however, is probably due to the demoralisation of the natives through the terror inspired by the savage raids of unprincipled Arab traders. It is not very remarkable if they cannot yet dis- tinguish friends from enemies ; and till their confidence can be secured, they can hardly be expected to prove reliable themselves. For their almost incurable laziness, Dr. Junker

can only suggest the rigid enforcement of the-corvee, formerly required by the Egyptian Government, as at least a healthful

discipline :—

"The efficient administration of a Negro province," he says, "requires increased labour on the part of the native, and this labour he will not submit to freely, for, after all, he is mainly indolent and indisposed to work. The prosperity of the land and of the individual, the so-called Negro culture,' is impossible without the compulsory labour of the Negro himself. According to European notions, this may seem an infringement on personal freedom, and be cried down by sham philanthropy, as only a lighter, but still admissible form of slavery ; nevertheless, for generations to come, enforced labour must remain a primary condition of all successful attempts to improve the condition of the African."

We have been quoting Dr. Junker's views for their abstract

value ; their enforcement at present would, of course, be im- possible, as he is writing of the provinces which have been torn from Egypt by the Mandist rebels, and which are pro- bably doomed to many years more of anarchy and oppression by the mingled negligence and sentimentality of European statesmen. How hard the lot of the natives of those unhappy provinces now is, it is better that we should not know, as we should not send succour to them in any case. Dr. Junker gives us in his earlier volume an account of one of the most sincere and earnest efforts to ameliorate their condition when Gessi Pasha was in power. Romolo Geed, next to Gordon one of the noblest champions that have given their lives for the regenera- tion of Africa, brave in battle and wise in council, had driven the Arab slave-dealers under Soliman, son of the notorious Zebehr, out of the province of Bahr-el-Ghazal, and had been appointed its governor by the Egyptian authorities. The Negro chiefs looked up to him as their deliverer, and were eager in making him all kinds of proffers of service. But he believed too readily in the loyalty and honest inten- tions of the latter, regarding the Arabs as the sole troublers of Israel, and even allowed the native chiefs to collect ivory for him, which made a nice little pretext for raids on private enemies in distant parts of the province. Gessi's private influence kept things more or less in order during his time ; but his friend, Dr. Junker, is inclined to lay some of the blame of the disorders that broke out under his- successor, Lupton.Bey, to Gessi's excessive indulgence to the native tribes. It is remarkable that our author considers a. Negro raid even more terrible than those of the Arabs. The Negroes, he tells us, are "more ruthless than the Arabs, and recognise no law, except that of the strongest." It is not the first book of African travel in which we have found this opinion.

The third and concluding volume of Dr. Junker's travels- contains much interesting information concerning his stay with Emin Pasha at Lado during the early part of the Mandist rising, from the days when there was only some wonder, hardly mingled with anxiety, that no steamer arrived. from Khartoum, and it seemed incomprehensible that Lupton Bey should announce his incapacity to secure the safe journey of another traveller, Herr Bohndorff. The overthrow of Slatin Bey in Darfour was a calamity ; the total rout of the Egyptian army under Hicks and Allah-ed-Din made matters so much worse that it "seemed beyond doubt that Egypt alone would be unable to quell this rebellion." But " thought Europe must now see that her honour is at stake ; the work of a hundred years of civilisation must not be lost. Even an international crusade seemed not too much to hope for." Poor Dr. Junker ! He had not yet learned to value at its true price that very inexpensive article, the philanthropy of gentlemen who sit at home at ease. Later, came the lose, of the Bahr-el-Ghazal; Lupton Bey had determined to defend, it to the last, but, finding that half his soldiers would not fight for him, wisely resolved not to throw away in vain resistance the lives of the other half. After his surrender, Emin received a formal summons in the name of the Emir Abdallah (Lupton's Arabic name), reciting the successes of the "Prophet Priest," and calling on him to surrender likewise. "We have counselled thee," was the grandi- loquent ending ; "if thou bearest, it is well ; if not, we have to warn thee, and thou must know what thou haat to do, for thou art above us in all things." Appended are three lines in English, touching in their sad sim- plicity, from Lupton himself :—" What is written above I believe all true, but, as you are older and wiser than I am, shall not attempt to advise you what to do.—F. LUPTON." A former orderly of Lupton's afterwards reported that his, master had discharged him with the words : "The world has come to an end, go whither thou wilt."

Strangely enough, as it appears now, the first decision of Emin and his officers was to surrender, and the Governor him- self proposed to go to the Bahr-el-Ghazal and give himself up, but, as it seems, chiefly through Junker's opposition, this project was given up, and a temporising letter sent to the Madhi's Lieutenant, which, however, implicitly an- nounced the surrender of Equatoria. After this followed a long period of waiting for the advance of the Mahdists, now in a timorous, and again in a combative spirit. Dr. Junker set off by himself to see if the road was clear for a retreat to the coast rid Uganda. During his absence, Emin's letters show a curious vacillation, which he himself acknowledges and apologises for. On April 1st, 1885, he writes that "there can be no longer any question of my going to the south." His men would not hear of retreat that way ; Wadelai and the stations to the south were to be aban- doned, and Makamka and the other northern posts fortified and held. On April 24th, he had decided, with the support of all his officers except Captain Casati, who thought retreat a dereliction of duty, and two Egyptians, to make for Wadelai and evacuate the north of the province. This, as every one knows, was the course he finally adopted, and it was from Wadelai that he was brought away later by Mr. Stanley's ex- pedition. The picture given of Dr. Emin by our author is an interesting, and, on the whole, a favourable one, though it is evident that the latter could by no means always approve of his friend's system of government. We hear, for instance, of the fate of the chief Mambanga, who was secretly shot by the Governor's order, after apparently having been received and dismissed with great favour by him. This story Dr. Junker

would not believe "till it was confirmed from Dr.

Emin's own month." Another chief, Loran, who was sus- pected of treachery, was recommended by Emin Pasha to the overseer of the district in the significant words : "Thou knowest thy work." "This formula sufficed, and one day Loron was simply assassinated. The Government," Dr. Junker adds, drily, "gained a considerable number of cattle by this means." The latter, however, credits Emin with the best intentions, and bears personal testimony to his unselfish generosity. The account of the naturalist Governor sitting at work in his divan, alternately revising State papers and classifying his specimens, is certainly curious, and by no means unpleasing.

Dr. Junker's experiences are, on the whole, of considerable interest, and contain much valuable information and several amusing anecdotes on zoological as well as ethnological sub- jects. The work is sufficiently well translated ; the illustra- tions are not generally of very high merit, those of natural history specimens being the best. The head of a Zandeh dog, from a drawing by Dr. Schweinfurth, is a capital piece of work. Major von Wissmann is a traveller of quite another de- scription, a keen, practical man, with an eye to the main chance. Not that we suppose any special personal profit accrues to himself from the expeditions he undertakes, except as a

soldier is paid by the Power in whose service he is. Major von Wissmann was, at the time when the expeditions men- tioned in the book before us were made, in the employment of the Congo Free State, the little-known south-eastern extremity a which he was deputed to explore, especially with the object

of opposing the slave-hunters of Central Africa. This, how- ever, was by no means all the work which he had to do, a most interesting account being given us, among other things, of the manner in which the country round the Ltiluaburg Station was pacified, and power deputed by gradations of rank from the central authority to the native chieftains. The greatest interest, perhaps, in a work which is not invariably enter- taining, attaches to the passages which deal with the ravages of the Arab slave-dealers, of whom our author speaks with the virulent personal hatred which can only be aroused in the man who has seen the traces they leave behind them. It is terrible to read the account of the country previously known to this explorer as one of the most thickly populated districts belonging to the numerous and powerful tribe of the Benecki, which he found on his second visit merely "a waste, depopu- lated by murder and conflagration." The whole nation, with

its populous villages, and prosperous, well-ordered farms, had been swept off the face of the earth ; and, where formerly "thousands and thousands of the industrious people" were to be found, only "here and there a burnt pole, a bleached skull, and broken crockery were reminiscences of the existence of our former friends." Mr. Stanley's friend, Tibbu Tibb, had had business in those parts. It is, however, only fair to the latter, as well as of general interest, to quote the impartial opinion expressed on the subject by Major von Wissmann, who himself had some difficulties about this time with Tibbu's

lieutenant, Said,—a young gentleman of amiable manners, who worked hard at revolver practice, with his prisoners for targets, subsequently handing over the bodies to his native allies for culinary purposes —

"Knowing the Arab flamed bin Mohammed, called Tibbn Tibb, from former times. I am convinced that had he come here himself, the consequences of the expedition would not have been so terrible as they were ; he, however, only sent his subordinates as commanders. Though, his religion permitting it, the Arab is regardless of the natives who are trying to defend their goods and chattels and their liberty with their weapons, yet in general he is not capable of such designing wickedness as those slaves of his, the half-blood brutes from the coast, who, besides the tribute which they have to pay to their master, provide for themselves by stealing slaves wherever they can. They dare not intercept ivory, but they manage to hide slaves, and as long as their master is satisfied with the booty of the expedition, he little cares how his people look after themselves."

The old simile of being between the devil and the deep sea would seem to offer a choice of two very trifling evils to the inhabitants of Central Africa if all this is true, as we have no reason to doubt. Major von Wissmann has not been lucky in his translator, who seems to be more familiar with the German than the English language. We have no special objection to such little idiosyncrasies as calling the author's dog a terrier, when from the pictures it was obviously a dachshund, but we think that most readers will be apt to stumble over such sentences as that in which each chieftain joining in the Congo State's federation under the command of the central chief, Kalamba, is described as "quite ready to be a staff in the alliance of lictors that Kalamba was now to command as a life-guardsman of the new state." We our- selves have, after much study, struggled on to a compre- hension of this dark saying, but we leave it as an interesting puzzle for our readers.