On a Surf - Bound Coast. By A. P. Crouch. (Sampson Low
and Co.)—This is an account of a cable-laying expedition on the West African Coast, which, starting from Bathurst, ended at St. Paul de Loanda ; the writer's narrative, however, closes at Accra. The only incidents of interest are such as occur at the intermediate stations. The Gold Coast did not prove so interesting as Grand Bassain, a French settlement, which, we believe, has not been occu- pied by the French since 1871. Here the husband enjoys the right of life and death over his wife. Mr. Crouch does not give Admiral Fleuriot's story, that a chief casually informed him "that he was in mourning for his wife, whom he had had put to death " ! Life on board the • Thracia ' seems to have been very dull. The element of health, as we might suppose, entered largely into their daily cares and precautions, and the important matter, what to eat, and especially what to drink, formed no inconsiderable part of the ex- pedition's anxieties ; and the question of drinks was threshed out by one of his companions, if we are to believe Mr. Crouch, with an ingenious perseverance which deserved a reward. The average Englishman does not seem to grasp the fact that, if he intends to run Equatorial Africa and brandy-and-soda at one and the same time, he might, to save others trouble, prepare his own grave as well. The party kept their health fairly well, though it does not appear that this was owing to any rigid abstemiousness, but rather to the fact that they had generally something to do. Those who are going to visit this portion of the Tropics will gain a very fair idea of what manner of life they may have to lead.
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