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Melon GIBBONS is one of the many adventurous English• men over whom Cecil Rhodes threw the spell of his dreams. The glamour of the North, that mysterious point of the compass which draws the hearts of all who happen to spend any time south of the Zambesi, has taken him four times to Africa. His latest and most important expedition was undertaken mainly with the purpose of furnishing Mr. Rhodes with information about the best route for the Cape-to-Cairo Railway beyond the Victoria Falls, of mapping and exploring Lewanika's territory of Marotseland (which most people call Barotseland), of studying the navi- gable possibilities of the Zambesi, and of finding the source of that great stream. The expedition was successful in most of its aims, and we have the results in this admirable narrative of its leader. But in a sense it was a tragically fated little party who accompanied Major Gibbons. Captain Quicke, after making an almost incredible journey to the western coast at Benguella, joined his regiment in South Africa, and was shot near Harrismith. Mr. Muller died of dysentery on his return at Tete. Captain Stevenson-Hamilton as soon as he reached the East Coast went straight to the front and fought for three years, greatly distinguishing himself in the field. Major Gibbons himself apologises thus for the delay in giving the results of his travels to the world :—" The war was still in progress at the time the results of the expe- dition had been worked out and placed in the hands of those especially interested. I deemed it my duty to offer my services. They were accepted,—hence the delay." Any one who knows the toil of a tropical expedition, and the intense longing it engenders for civilisation and rest, will realise what it meant to go straight from a remarkably arduous journey to the rigours of a campaign. We can only say that Major Gibbons tells the tale of his experiences in a manner worthy of so gallant a company. Modest, sensible, patient, he has all the optimism of the school of Rhodes combined with a sanity of outlook and sobriety of statement which are rare enough at all times. His management of his " boys"—natives of the Zambesi Valley, and not the easiest people to deal with—seems to us admirable ; and his comments on native habits and methods of administration are clear-sighted and convincing. We could wish that Britain were always repre- sented by men of his type in the remote places of the globe.
In his long voyage up the Zambesi he covered ground that was fairly well known, but in much of his Marotseland work he was a true pioneer. Six months were occupied in reaching the Victoria Falls from the sea, and the broken landscape of the Middle Zambesi makes it doubtful whether the river can ever be a great highway of traffic like the Nile, or, in a lesser degree, the Congo and the Niger. Of the strip of land which Germany received by the Heligoland Treaty, and which she hoped would give her access to the Upper Zambesi, he reports in the dismallest terms. It is cut off by hundreds of miles of rapids from the navigable reaches, and " is partly composed of flats which are as dry as a bone in winter, and huge, mosquito-infested swamps in summer, and partly of small-tree forest, in which water cannot be fouind summer or winter." The pastoral uplands of Maroteeland, on the other hand, are a most desirable possession. White sandy hills covered with trees are varied by shallow green valleys, where the rivers, unlike South Africa, flow all the year round. There is no need to drive the herds of cattle to the bushveld, for there is abundance of winter pasture. In the lower elevations there is plenty of wild rubber, which Major Gibbons thinks may in time become a great industry. The Sovereign of the country, Lewanika, is one of the most enlightened and humane of the African chiefs under our protection. He rules a territory three times as large as Great Britain, and, like Moshesh, he has ruled always by statecraft and toleration rather than by violence. In a small way he has learned our own Imperial lesson. "An uncom- promising despot supported by a subservient aristocracy can control one people, as does the well-meaning, highly praise- worthy, but intolerant chief, Khama; but in dealing with a cluster of tribes, many of them larger than his own, and • Africa from South to North through Marotseland. By Major A. St. H. Gibbons, F.R.G.S., R.C.I. 2 vols. London : John Lane. [32s. net.]
scattered over an immense country, a certain amount of tact is indispensable. The idiosyncrasies of the different com- munities must be taken into account, and the special circum- stances governing each tribe must be considered." Major Gibbons gives an account of a trial at which he was present, when justice was administered with a fairness and patience very unlike the summary jurisdiction of most native potentates.
The actual business of travel is told with much spirit and humour, and with a quick eye for the salient points of land- scape. Round the well-head of the Zambesi there seems to be one of those patches of English scenery which surprise the African traveller,—English raspberries, thickets like hazel, and English bracken. There is an amusing picture of his expedition "worming its way over what was probably the most remote region of the continent, and in very reduced circumstances—four boys and five donkeys." Thus accom- panied, he fell in with a smart Continental scientific expedition, the " Mission Scientifique de Katanga," who were naturally astonished to meet the wandering Englishman with tattered Clothes, bare legs and arms, and the minimum of equip- ment :-
"I have never seen the Belgian, the Frenchman, the German, or the Portuguese," says Major Gibbons, "who did not adopt the more luxurious methods of travel. They walk not, if they have bearer or beast to carry them. The firearm to them is merely a weapon of defence or offence. Headgear and clothes are specially designed to defeat the most modest of the sun's rays. One seldom sees the foreigner in Africa with a bronzed face or the English- man with a pale, pasty complexion. Far be it from me to sneer at the more comfortable ways of others but I do think that too luxurious a caravan, a large armed following, and ex- cessive coddling are not conducive to much work, good work, desirable relations with the native inhabitants, or the full vigour of health."
The return journey, by the Great Lakes and the Nile, was a good performance; but the thing has been done before by Mr. Grogan and others, and the reader is more familiar with the ground. Major Gibbons touches, however, upon one point of great interest. He had a full view of the Ruwenzori range.
"The most striking feature of the whole picture before me was the great height from the snow-line to the higher summits." The equatorial snow-line he puts at 13,000 ft., and arguing from the height of his view-ground, he reaches 22,000 ft. as the extreme altitude of the mountains. In this he confirms Si Harry Johnston's view, as against that of travellers like Mr. Moore, who put it at little more than 16,000 ft. He may be right ; but we should have thought that 13,000 ft. was an underestimate of the snow-limit. There is no permanent snow on mountains, such as Mont aux Sources, which reach that height and are much further distant from the Equator.
Both in the valuable appendices, and in scattered passages throughout the volumes where he touches on political questions, Major Gibbons is always shrewd, sensible, and tolerant. Unlike some travellers, he has no vulgar sneers at mis- sionaries, but points out with much truth that many are apt to begin at the wrong end of the stick, paying too much attention to theoretical education and too little to practical civilisation. The locus classic= of this most reasonable view is to be found in,. Lord Cromer's educational Reports. Marotseland is a signal instance of the practical good which the best type of missionary can accomplish, for no one can deny that M. Francois Coillard, whose recent death was a loss not only to his Church but to the Empire, did more than
any other white man to lead the Marotsi into civilised paths. One of Major Gibbons's most interesting studies deals with
the proper type of administration for tropical Africa. While pointing out obvious faults in our existing methods, he con- siders that the general British system of ruling primitive peoples by their ancestral customs has a greater civilising effect, and is simpler in the working, than any other. The defect of the German method he finds in its officialism, which is out of all sympathy with the trading and industrial com- munity. We would especially recommend his criticism on the Congo Free State to all who are interested in the future of Africa. He does not scream or vapour. He admits the "restless energy" which has been shown in opening up communication by means of railways, steamers, and tele- graphs; he has some pleasant pictures of Congo officials ; and he credits the headquarters authorities with a real desire to check abuses. But Belgium has undertaken a huge task, and she has not the men to do it with. The local sub-officer has to be found somehow or other, and these is no really com- petent and civilised class from which he can be provided. As the country is eight hundred thousand square miles in extent, he must be isolated and trusted, and in the present state of affairs he abuses his trust. There can be no solution on present lines. Some radical change of administration is necessary, under which the responsibility which is expected of the higher official ranks will be demanded from the lower.
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