12 NOVEMBER 1927, Page 52

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF . A BORDER POLICEMAN. By Lt.-Col. H. Lynn

Stevens, D.S.O. (Witherby. 16s.}-- 'Don't talk b— rot !' he said angrily," is a typical extract from an illiterate book that describes itself as an autobiography of a trooper in the Bechuanaland Border Police. The author saw two years' service in that forge and took part in the first Matabele War of 1803. His memory is such that it can record verbatim page after page of remarks like the sample quoted, but little of what it recalls is worth recalling, and the book leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.