.Suitan to Sultan : Adventures among the Masai and other
Tribes of East Africa. By M. French-Sheldon, " Bele6 Bwana." (Saxon and Co.)—Few women have had the courage and commanding determination of Mrs. French-Sheldon, and none have done quite what she managed to do. We know now what expeditions of this sort require,—constant watchfulness, never-failing decision and nerve. Our traveller, except on one or two momentous occa- sions, followed her own counsel, interviewed various potentates, and carried off everything with a high hand. She met with great consideration, on the whole, and this, too, from chiefs who would scarcely have been so amenable to the tact of a White man. She seems to have collected an enormous number of gifts, and never to have let the exchanging of presents stray far away from her thoughts. But she never forgot her promises to those who entreated for some of the White man's inventions. It is with some pride that she tells us how the most avaricious Sultan in all Africa was obliged to strip, and present her with a complete dress. Certainly, Mrs. French-Sheldon had the most amiable side of African aristocracy presented to her, and she seems to have obtained much insight and many confidences from these men, who were much moved at the idea of a woman travelling at the head of a caravan. She was well served, having one particularly trustworthy servant, the headman Hamidi. Finally, she suffered much, and hurried, almost dying, to the coast, and reached Naples and her husband, alive. Sultan to Sultan is full in parts of a most vivid interest, and native habits and fresh details of tribal life are often preserved for us. There is a certain egotism about the style and the narrative, natural, we suppose, to travellers of great determination ; but in the case of our authoress, the explana- tion of this is that she was the only White of her party. As to the illustrations, some of the photographs are not very clear; but the numerous drawings of arms, implements, and ornaments are really excellent, and add greatly to the value of the book.
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