18 APRIL 1868, Page 21

Lake Victoria; a Narrative of Explorations in Search of the

Source of the Nile, compiled from the Memoirs of Captains Speke and Grant. By George C. Swayne. (Blackwood.)—We presume that Mr. Swayne's object in compiling this work has been to popularize the books of Cap- tains Speke and Grant, and to introduce them to the general reader. Such an object is praiseworthy, and the compilation itself is, as was to be expected, interesting. The style, however, is not always either elegant or grammatical, and the confusion of personal pronouns makes us wonder at a difficult journey being performed by fleas, and at Speke having had a chance of saving his life in consequence of some one else being murdered. There are many similar instances of awk- ward expression in Mr. Swayne's book, and his descriptions are by no means clear or life-like. Occasionally, too, he goes out of his way in order to bring in opinions of an extreme character, and to insult those who differ from him. But, as a general rule, be sticks to his text, and the story he has to tell makes amends for the faults of the narrator.