14 APRIL 1933, Page 26

MEN AND CREATURES IN UGANDA By Sir John Bland-Sutton, Bart.

Messrs. Hutchinson and Co. are the publishers of this voluine, and 12s. seems to be an exorbitant price to pay for a book which appeared in 1911 under the title of Man and Beast in Eastern Ethiopia. It is true that they announce that the author " continued his interest in the natives, beasts and birds of the Rift Valley and the country round the Victoria Lake," but there is no indication of such mental _activity in this production. To all intents and purposes it is a reissue under a new title : popularization is indicated by the omission of a few remarks which might possibly have a technical value, but for the most part the text remains un- changed, and all the illustrations except one haVe appeared before. The book was superfluous when it first appeared, but its comparatively early date excused the numerous errors for which there is no justification in the present issue. Even the simplest political and territorial changes have not been recognized. Not more than thirty pages are concerned with Uganda, despite its title ; and it is strange that one who has continued his interest in East Africa should not be aware of such elethentary facts as the change in the designation of what was the Uganda Railway : this spoils a naive apo- strophe in the second chapter. To reissue under a new title a book that is substantially unchanged is hardly ethical ; when the book is as bad as this one, it is also pointless.