THE SOURCES OF THE BLUE NILE.
The Sources of the Blue Nile. By Arthur J. Hayes. (Smith, Elder, and Co. 108. 6d.)—There are rather too many quotations in this book, the author of which accompanied the surveying party that was sent from Khartoum to the sources of the Blue Nile to take steps for gauging its rise. One would have preferred to have had a volume which was less of a handbook and more a monograph based on personal exploration. Here is, however, the author's description of the lonely reservoir of the Nile :—" Those who love regions beyond the outposts of civilisation where the tourist ceases from troubling, could not seek isolation amid sweeter surround- ings than this sunlit lake, these tropical mountains, and the quaint quiet hamlets of a primitive people who as yet, thank heaven, have not been infected with Yankee hustle." Dr. Hayes's account of the progress of the expedition is rather dry, and runs in this fashion :—" On March 15 we arrived at the River (lash just outside Kassala. Its course here lies in a flat sandy bed, which was quite dry. During the journey—eighteen and a half miles—we saw eight ostriches." Dr. Hayes, however, gives an interesting and full account of the manners and customs of the Abyssinians, and there is a valuable etymological appendix from the pen of Professor Pennon.
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