The Backbone of Africa. By Sir Alfred Sharpe. (Witherby. 16s.
net.)—The former Governor of Nyasaland describes conoisely three journeys which he made before and during the war through Nyasaland, the country east and west of Tanganyika, and the Eastern Congo between Tanganyika and Lake Albert. He visited the Kilo goldfields in the north-eastern part of the Belgian colony, which are best reached by way of the Sudan through Rejaf. He makes suggestions for the rearrangement of our East African territories ; he would place them under one administration with a uniform policy and with an expert Board or Council to represent them in London. He would build more railways, especially from Nyasaland into ax-German territory and from Kenya (East Africa) westward to Uganda and the Congo, but he declares that there is no need for a through railway from the Cape to Cairo, as trade must always take the shortest route to the sea. He touches lightly on the difficult land and labour questions. He has a good deal to say about big game, and adduces evidence to show that it is wrong to connect the dreaded tsetse fly with the presence of the larger wild animals. The book is well illustrated with photographs and has three almost illegible maps.
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