The Kingdom of the Barotsi. By Alfred Bertrand. Translated by
A. B. Miall. (T. Fisher Unwin. 162.)—Captain Bertrand started with two companions, Captain Gibbons and Mr. Percy Reid. After a while they separated, dividing the region to be explored between them. The special task that fell to Captain Bertrand was a portion of Barotsiland towards the North-West, the extreme point reached being Lealuigi, the abode of King Lewanika. Here M. Coillard, who may fairly rank as next after Mr. Moffat in the roll of honour of African missionaries, has fixed his station. Lewanika is not a Christian—the polygamy question hinders him—but he is an attendant at the missionary services, and looks up to M. Coillard as his most trusted counsellor. Captain Bertrand is, we gather, a native of French Switzerland. His book certainly affords an agree- able contrast to sundry volumes of travel which have lately appeared in French. There is no Anglophobia, none of the frantic suspicion and jealousy which seem the normal condition of French explorers in Africa, and a very hearty appreciation of the service done to the native races by missionary work. There is also a con- spicuous absence of phrase-making. The traveller tells his story in the simplest fashion, without the least approach to boasting and self- advertisement. His experiences of travel are interesting because he traversed a region where the presence of Europeans is rare. Big game is still abundant there, especially the giraffe, the flesh of which was often a welcome change in the traveller's fare. The book is remarkably well illustrated with photographs and drawings from specimens brought home by Captain Bertrand.
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