West African Stories. By Major A. B. Ellis. (Chapman and
Hall.)—Some of these stories have an interest which belongs only to marvellous tales which are yet true. Echoes of the days of the Portuguese and the pirates, most of them- are, and con- sequently of a somewhat thrilling and harrowing nature. Hakluyt, and the traditions and records of the coast, are the originals, and Major Ellis has clothed the by no means dry bones with skill. From the first to the last, they are full of that unhealthy life and sombreness peculiar to the West Coast. One cannot imagine more fascinating reading than the stories of Snelgrave's captivity in the hands of the pirates, Robert Baker's misadventures, Aloisio de Cada Mosto's first voyage, and the Ahboassi Mine, which, indeed, are little known, though matters of history. The last chapter but one in the volume is a most circumstantial account of the career of a successful and dishonest trader, and the knowledge that such men have unlimited opportunities for rascality lends an unpleasant reality to the tale.
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