Through South Africa. By Henry M. Stanley, M.P. (Sampson Low
and Co.)—This volume belongs to the class which Charles Lamb denounced as " books that are no books ; " it is a more reprint of letters written by Mr. Stanley to the paper, South Africa, during his recent visit to Rhodesia, and the reader's eyes are affronted by large " head-lines " in the middle of the chapters. Mr. Stanley might have made a real book of considerable value out of the undigested raw material which these letters contain. As it is, the impressions formed on a first visit to South Africa by an experienced writer and traveller who has such a thorough knowledge of Central Africa, possess much interest, and Mr. Stanley speaks out his mind without fear or favour, or—we must add—ordinary politeness. He has formed a very hopeful opinion on the future of Rhodesia, and on such a subject his verdict deserves attention. But it is at least doubtful whether any good purpose is secured by the publication of an abusive chapter on President Kruger. As to the political situation in the Transvaal, Mr. Stanley's remarks on the views of the Outlanders will come as a surprise to most English readers, while any one who knows South Africa must recognise their truth. The Outlanders, as he points out, do not know what they want ; they spend their lives declaiming (with good reason) against the Pretoria Government, and at the same time reproaching Downing Street for doing nothing to help them. And yet these very men would resent bitterly any forcible intervention in the Transvaal on the part of the Home Government. As Mr. Stanley says, the people of Johannesburg must really make up their minds whether they are to be Republicans or Imperialists. At present they are both, and the result is that Pretoria scouts them and Downing Street cannot help them. The most valuable portion of the book, from a practical point of view, is to be found in the emphasis which the writer lays on the two great material needs of South Africa, —immigration (but the immigration of good farmers, not of broken-down clerks) and irrigation. While colonists are rushing to the North, there are enormous tracts of Cape Colony which a proper system of irrigation would convert into one of the best agricultural countries of the world, and which are now given over to ostrich-farms. The book is illustrated with many photographs, and contains an excellent map.
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