PIGMIES AND BLIZZARDS.* f' The houses people, traffic seemed Thin

fading dreams by day ; Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, They had stolen my heart away I"

W. J. TURNER.

PROBABLY the ordinary reader, when he sits down to a fat book of travels, has—though he may conceal it from himself—always something of the feeling of the child who embarks on a fairy tale. He demands, in Dr. Johnson's words, "to be invigorated by a giant and a dwarf," and will gladly sacrifice a little subtlety to obtain the thrills he wants. Who can doubt but that Herodotus with his race who, in repose, habitually shaded their faces with their large feet, met a definite demand in his public ? Prester John, too, and the Grand Chant, be sure they were true sellers of books whatever they may have been as potentates.

Perhaps in reading travels more than in perusing any other type of literature does the reader unconsciously identify himself with. the hero and adventurer. He feels a back draught of the blizzard which so nearly froze the adventurous one as he crossed the pass. He, too, shudders at the outlandish screamings of the gorillas in the steamy, dark heart of the noonday jungle, or shivers alarmed, at the "haggard scenes" of savage rites

• (1) Gypsying Through Central America. By Eugene Cunningham. London: T. Fisher Unwin. [21s.]—(2) Silent Highways of the Jungle. By G. M. Dyott., F.E.G.B. London : Chapman and Dodd. [25s.]—(3) The Wonderland of the Eastern Congo. By T, Alexander Dame, London: 0, IP, Putsam's Sono, L31 04.]

which are witnessed for him. Something even of the self- righteous satisfaction of that early start and that long trek, that disregard of hardship, communicates itself to him. After a alippered evening in an armchair with such a book there is something resolute about our feet on the stairs up to bed. That Is what makes such books so delightful ; that is why we are quite willing to put up, in their case, with a good deal of literary and scientific inaccuracy. Indeed, we should not wonder if occasional lapses were not really prized by readers as bringing

the writer of the travels nearer to our own capabilities. That is why, except to those of an exceptionally inquiring mind, such a book as Argonauts of the Western Pacific, by Dr. Bronislaw

Malinowski, will probably not seem at first sight quite so attrac- tive as a genuine "pigmy and blizzard" book in spite of its really much greater interest. To this remarkable book (which has a preface by Sir James (1 Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S.) we shall return on another occasion, and will concern ourselves here only with three books of grown-up fairy tales.

The least considerable of them is Gypsying Through Central Amerioa,1 an account of the rambles of a youngAmerican through Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The travellers kept to the less

known districts and unfrequented ways. The book is full of agreeable prattle and pleasant photographs, but we are concerned only with exaggerated tourist pleasures and discomforts, not with the true joys and sorrows of the pioneer.

Much more interesting is the record of a journey undertaken by Mr. Dyott, F.R.G.S.,2 across Peru to the Amazon. This solitary journey had for its object the discovery of possible air

routes across the Andes and into the interior. Mr. Dyott appears to be possessed of comparatively little scientific learning, either entomological or anthropological. His outlook on the primitive races with whom he came into contact is almost eighteenth century in its complacent briskness.

"In encounters with tribes who see little if anything of the whites, I was surprised to find them naturally happy and cheer- ful, just like children, always ready to join in a hunt through the forest or go fishing in the river, and many a good laugh I have had in their company. To see these people it is necessary to get still further away from the beaten track than Baradero. Two or three days on foot through the woods either side of the Paranapura and the traveller would soon find himself in places which have only been trodden by the bare feet of savages. It requires a peculiar temperament and an understanding of human nature not possessed by the average man to be successful in one's dealings with such people."

But this natural rather than soientifie outlook in the traveller in some ways makes his last and culminating adventure all the

more exciting to read of. He was deserted in the jungle by his canoe men, and was then half rescued, half carried off, by a tribe of extremely primitive Indians. For several weeks he lived exactly their life, slept in their huts, "paying his way" with his remaining stores, consisting of small objects of barter, such as parts of a broken camera, buttons and bits of cloth. There in a flea-infested hut and in the steaming gloom of the jungle he lived for weeks : "Including babies, there were forty- eight of us in all, and we had to accommodate ourselves on eight sleeping racks for the night, so there was not much room for me." He learned to speak their language and even to blow poisoned arrows through a blow-gun. The primitive intellects of his com- panions began to prey on Mn Dyott's mind, and he clung to the

one remnant of civilization which remained to him, of all things, a Spanish translation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. But the whole account of this sojourn is fascinating, the parts of mission- ary and savage tribe being here, as Mr. Dyott himself points out,

reversed, he being the learner and the under-dog.

The Wonderland of the Eastern Congos takes us to another

continent and to a more sophisticated author. Mr. Barns's book has an introduction by Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G., who bears witness to the scientific value of Mr. and Mrs. Barns's long entomological expedition. Though not much of the country was new to white men,

"the whole journey was made full of novelty by the actions of the author and his wife. They have probably discovered many new species and even genera of insects through their industry In collecting and preserving ; they have thrown considerable light on the sub-species of elephant inhabiting the eastern half of the Belgian Congo right up to the vicinity of Lake Albert ; and they have obtained a fine specimen of the largest known species of gorilla."

Some of the most interesting chapters in the book are those concerned with the capture of this gorilla, but all the more than two hundred pages are full of good stories and thrilling adven- tures. All sorts of curious 'problems are presented to us. For instance : How is the jungle balance of power kept in the case of lions ? Nothing preys upon them, and a lioness gives birth to from two to four cubs at a time. Why do they not overrun Africa ?

He has something to say of the Brontosaurus which is reported to exist in the secret depths of the Congo forest lakes. He gives the story of a trained naturalist named Defries, who in a small lake near Lake Chaa had seen a massive animal lying or floating on the water. Ho disposes of the various other theories which might account for this phenomenon, and comes to the conclusion

that if not a Brontosaurus the creature was some other huge unknown water animal.

Mr. Barns tells a somewhat reassuring tale of Belgian Congo administration, speaking with liking and admiration of most of the Belgian officials with whom he and his wife came into contact. They are very hardworked. One man often admin- isters single-handed a district as large as two English counties, carrying on every conceivable task from that of drill-sergeant to maternity doctor :—

" A story is told about a certain Belgian Chef de Porte who happened to have lost an eye and was accustomed to wear a glass one in its place. This man was in sole command of a big district and his work of tax-collecting took him away from home. In his absence his house and effects were of course left in charge of his native servants, with the usual result in such cases that a considerable amount of petty thieving went on in his absence. For a time he was at a loss to know how to stop this, but realising the superstitious nature of the savage, it occurred to him one day when he was about to leave the station that he would travel without his glass eye, and instead he would place it in a prominent position within his house. This he accordingly did and after telling his black dependents that noiv, if any more pilfering went on, his watchful glass eye would tell him who the culprit was, he left on his rounds through the district. It is said that on his return not only had nothing been taken from his house but no one had dared venture near the place to sweep it, and the white ants were thoroughly enjoyfig an undisturbed feed on his best boots. This was a truly African ending to such an experiment, for, at the end, Aftioa holds the last card ! "

We recommend also to imaginative readers the only half-told tale of the American prospector ; the account of the heather fire on the Ruwenzori Mountains ; the description of elephants at play ; and the story of the mother lioness's revenge.

We wish that space allowed us here to relate more fully the history of the large African elephant which Londoners may see

in the South Kensington Museum, a beast which was shot by Mr. Barns. Here are a few facts from the story. Mr. Barns went out to Africa more or less pledged to the Museum to find an African elephant eleven feet high and to bring the entire skin back in a state suitable for stuffing. Only a few of the finest male African elephants reach this height, and the author had an exciting time in search of the immense creature which ho at last shot. He killed several other elephants first only to find

on measuring them that they did not quite come up to the required size. After the elephant was finally secured, he found that the spot at which the kill had happened was no less than five miles from water, and he had to arrange with a local chief that every day twenty-five women should each bring him a

large earthenware-pot filled with water. When news of the kill got abroad several hundred natives collected, all clamouring for

elephant meat. When the skin was off at last, it took two relays of twenty men to carry it When it was finally mounted, the doors of the South Kensington MUBC11111 had to be altered for it to be got in.

The book will be a joy to boys and girls and to all those who have not completely forgotten romance and adventure. Tho scientific inquirer will find a great deal to interest him in the appendix and tables, which give a summary of the new insects

and rare beasts that the expedition brought to light.