A NEW USE FOR THE " SPECTATOR." Laws of Livingstonia,
by W. P. Livingstone (Hodder and Stoughton, 15s. net), is a plain, almost prosaic, account of missionary work in Central Africa. Yet, without any attempt at sensationalism Mr. Livingstone has given us a book thoroughly worthy of that oryptic, though exacting, definition—a rattlinf,
good story. Dr. Laws' boyhood, his youth, his visits to Europe and America occupy a comparatively small space. Africa predominates, we had nearly said overshadows, every page.
In 1S75, when Dr. Laws made his first journey to Africa, the United Presbyterians, for whom he proposed to establish a mission, were by no means encouraging. The difficulties, they felt, were overwhelming. The quiet, determined way in which Dr. Laws and his companions overcame those difficulties is what makes this book so fascinating. It bristles with incident. We quote the following example, not because it is typical, but rather from family reasons, as it were. Dr. Laws had succeeded in establishing fairly satisfactory relations with a warlike tribe, the Ngoni :-
" But receiving a warning that the party might still be attacked he thought it would not be amiss to display their power. He brought out two revolvers and a page of the Spectator ; the latter he fastened to a tree some distance away, and asked Stewart, who was a first-rate shot, to display his skill. Stewart riddled the sheet. The Doctor then fired six shots in rapid succession. It was enough ; a new deference and respect appeared in the attitude of the natives. . . . ' The country is yours,' they hastily exclaimed. ' We are your children.' "
Was it, we wonder, the moral eilect of seeing a Spectator so treated that produced this desirable result ? Fifty years have seen astounding developments in the Livingstonia Mission— now in a flourishing condition. Its gradual development is extensively described by Mr. Livingstone, who throughout the biography shows admirable taste in writing of one whose life work is by no means finished.
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