15 APRIL 1916, Page 20

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

[Sodas in this column dyes not necessarily prat:dub tu5seysant reviele.1 A History of South Africa. By W. C. Scully. (Longmans and Co. 3s. 6d.)—Mr. Scully has written a very useful little history of South Africa from the days of Prince Henry the Navigator to the creation of the self-governing Union in 1910. The tangle of British, Dutch, and native struggles is described as clearly as can be hoped. The author puts forward charitable judgments upon nearly all the leading figures of the modern history. Though he professes to write for the general reader as well as the student, his concise paragraphs make rather a dry record which is not engrossing as a connected story. It is fully illustrated : near the end the portraits of Generals Botha and Smuts face one another. Future historians will, we believe, point to few finer Imperial reputations than those of these two soldier-statesmen.— Mr. Scully acknowledges his debt to Dr. Theal's History of South Africa, 1795-1812, of which a handsome revised and enlarged edition is now appearing (Allen and-Unwin, 7s. 6d. net each voL). The first two out of five projected volumes are now published.