Cross River Natives. By Charles Partridge. (Hutchinson and Co. 12s.
6d.)—The Cross River natives are the primitive pagans of Obubura Hill District in Southern Nigeria, of which the author of this book has for some time been Assistant District Commis- sioner. Mr. Partridge, who is a clear and interesting writer, and hardly required to apologise for the haste with which this volume has been produced, gives a full account of the district of which he had charge on the upper reaches of the Cross River, which flows south into the Gulf of Guinea by the Calabar Estuary. He dwells especially and enthusiastically on the Obubura Hill District, which he considers to have a future before it. What with its forests, which include ebony and mahogany, its products, such as kola and cotton, its fruit, its possibilities in the way of big game, and its scenery, it may do very well indeed in the future, although intending settlers must lay their accounts with various embarrassments, including tornadoes. The strength of Mr. Partridge's book, however, lies in his analysis of the characteristics of the natives of the Obubura Hill District as these present themselves to a visitor. It is full and careful, and would seem to prove that the Cross River native, even if his development in most things which we call civilisation is not very far advanced, has in him great potentialities, and will yet be a credit to the British Empire.
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