BOOKS.

'DR. SCHWEINFURTH'S BOOK ON AFRICA.* [TEM NOTICE.] DR. SCHWEENFtRTH went forth in considerable state from his house to his audience with King Munza, a terrible potentate, for * The Heart of Africa: Throe Years' Travels and Adventures in the Unexplored Regions of Central Africa. From 1868 to 1871, By Dr. Georg SchweinfUrth. Translated by Ellen E. Primer. With an Introduction by Winwood Beads. London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Co.

his description of whom our late acquaintance with King Koffee will have done little towards preparing us. A black body-guard had been sent by Mohammed to escort him, and trumpeters were to announce him to the cannibal king ; three black squires bore his rifles and revolver, a fourth carried the cane chair of the traveller, who marched majestically and with the utmost gravity in front, arrayed in solemn black broadcloth, and wearing heavy Alpine boots, which produced a wholesome and pervading awe. His Nubian servants, who were exceedingly frightened, followed, clad in spotless white, and carrying the offerings intended for the King, who was assembling his courtiers and inspecting his elephant-hunters, while crowds of negroes were surging to and fro, and the wild notes of the kettle- drums added to the indescribable din. The camp of the caravan had been thronged on the previous day and night by thousands of natives, bringing an ample store of pro- visions, and all was peaceful and prosperous. The palatial hall was a vast open shed, fitted up with highly-ornamented benches, which were filled by hundreds of nobles and courtiers, decked out in their war equipments. The royal throne was a bench like the others, which stood upon a mat, with a very singu- lar object behind it,—" a large support, resting upon three legs, and furnished with projections that served as props for the back and arms of the Bitter; this support was thickly studded with copper rings and nails." Dr. Schweinftirth had ample time to observe accurately every detail of the scene, and to admire the hall, his description of which is, when we think of the terrible King and his cannibal people, one of the strangest things in the book :— "It was at least 100 feet in length, 40 feet high, and 50 feet broad. Close by was a second and more spacious hall, which in height was only surpassed by the loftiest of the surrounding oil-palms. Consider- ing the part of Africa in which these halls were found, one might truly be justified in calling them wonders of the world ; I hardly know, with all our building resources, what materials we could have employed, except it were whalebone, of sufficient strength and durability to erect struc- tures like those royal halls of Munza, capable of withstanding the tropical storms and hurricanes. The bold arch of the vaulted roof was supported on three long rows of pillars, formed from perfectly straight tree-stems, the countless spars and rafters, as well as the other parts of the building, being composed entirely of the leaf-stalks of the vine- palm. The floor was covered with a dark red clay plaster, as firm and smooth as asphalt. The sides were enclosed by a low breastwork, and the space between this and the arching roof allowed light and air to pass into the building. Near the entrance posts were driven into the ground, long poles were fastened horizontally across them ; then against this ex- temporised scaffolding were laid or supported crosswise, hundreds of ornamental lances and spears, all of pure copper, and of every form and shape. The gleam of the red metal caught the rays of the tropical noontide sun, and in tho symmetry of their arrangement the rows of dazzling lance-heads shone with the glow of flaming torches, making a magnificent background to the royal throne. The display of wealth, which, according to Central-African tradition, was incalculable, was truly regal, and surpassed anything of the kind that I had conceived possible."

Nothing more graphic can be conceived than the author's description of Munza, who strode into the ball, followed by a crowd of wives, and welcomed by the shouts of the cannibalcrowd beyond the barriers ; and no story of giant, ogre, or demon is more terrible. It makes one's heart sick to think of this savage Casar, with his undisputed power over men's lives, and his dainty dishes of human flesh, with suitable sauces and seasoning ; his fantastic dress, his copper crescent gleaming above his brow, his bedizenment of copper ornaments, his cosmetics with which his wives paint and plaster him, his hypocrisy, cruelty, and deceitful eloquence, and the marvellous dignity and self-possession at which the traveller never ceased to wonder. Here is the portrait of the African monarch, who carried the art of nil admirari to a perfection enviable by any Ea.stern potentate :— " He was about 40 years old, and of a fair height, of a slim, but powerful build, and like the rest of his countrymen, stiff and erect in figure. Although belonging to a typo by no means uncomely, his features were far from prepossessing, but had a Nero-like expression that told of satiety and ennui. Ho had small whiskers and a tolerably thick beard, and the perfectly Caucasian nose offered a remarkable con- trast to the thick and protruding negro lips. In his eyes beat the wild light of animal sensuality, and around his mouth lurked an expression that I never saw in any other Monbuttoo,—a combination of avarice, violence, and love of cruelty, that could with the extromest difficulty relax into a smile. No spark of love or affection could beam forth from such features as his."

This dreadful savage treated Dr. Schweinfiirth very well, and even prohibited the overt practice of cannibalism during the stay of the caravan in camp at Monbuttoo, because he understood that the spectacle would be revolting to the white man, at whose fair flesh he gazed with wondering cariosity, and whom he vainly entreated to take off his boots. Tile latter articles puzzled the Monbuttoo immensely ; they were generally believed to be an integral portion of the white lenoe of cannibalism to a horrible extent was evident to the traveller at every step, and the daily supply of a young child to the King's own table became known to him, a circumstance which renders the story of Mohammed's borrowing Munza's biggest meat-dish that Dr. Schweinfiirth's linen might be washed in it, unpleasantly suggestive. The King gave them an entertainment at his resi- dence, where he danced horribly, in the presence of eighty of his wives, all elaborately painted for the occasion, and kept up the frantic performance long enough to enable Dr. Schweinfiirth to make an accurate drawing of the half-terrible, half-ridiculous scene. All the details respecting this redoubtable savage and his people are intensely interesting, notwithstanding their repulsive- ness, and throughout them all there runs the same strange con- tradiction between intelligence of a high order and inconceivable brutality, a contradiction which has its physical side, too, for the Monbuttoo are fair-haired. Munza made sundry promises which he did not keep, but in one very important instance he was as good as his word. Dr. Schweinfiirth had already traced the myth of the tailed men of Central Africa to the favourite article of costume among the Bongo, viz., a tail fastened on by a string tied round the middle of the body ; and now he was to solve the mystery of the pigmies, to behold the veritable antagonists of the classic cranes, the wee men of whom his Nubian servants incessantly talked, as people who lived south of the Niam-niam country, who never grew to more than three feet in height, and who wore beards that reached to their knees. Throughout the long journey, which he likens to an Odyssey, the Nubians had constantly told him stories of these men, and main- tained that they were travelling towards their country, and in all their narratives of the splendours of the Courts of the Cannibal Kings, they never omitted to mention the dwarfs who filled the office of Court buffoons. They also told how the little men ren- dered aid to the elephant-hunters by creeping, armed with strong lances, under the belly of the elephant, and dexterously killing him, managing their own movements so adroitly that they could not be reached by his trunk. The general impression that remained upon his mind from all this was that some specimens of extraordinary dwarfishness had been retained by the Kings as natural curiosities, but that there could really exist a whole series of dwarf tribes it never occurred to him to believe, until at King Munza's Court positive evidence of the fact was submitted to his eyes. For some time he could not succeed in getting a sight of Munza's dwarfs ; they were too timid to come to him, but at length Mohammed surprised and caught one of them. "I looked up, surprised at the shouting," says the traveller, "and there, sure enough, was the strange little creature, perched upon Mohammed's right shoulder, nervously hugging his head, and casting glances of alarm in every direction." The name of this pigmy was Adi- mokoo, and he was the head of a small colony which was located half a league from the royal residence. He asserted that the name of his nation was Akka, and that they inhabit large districts to the south of the Monbuttoo, between lat. 2° and 1° N. A portion of them are subject to the Monbuttoo king, who had com- pelled several families to settle in the vicinity of his Court, that he might avail himself of them to enhance its splendour. Adimokoo was sent home laden with presents, and made to understand that the white stranger would be glad to see all his people. On the following day, two of the younger men visited the camp, and the portrait of one accompanies the description of the visit. He is a hideous and deplorable-looking little object. Afterwards Dr. Schweinfiirth made some measurements of individuals among these extraordinary people, and found that of six full-grown individuals none exceeded 4 ft. 10 in. in height. In a disastrous fire, one of the most terrible incidents of the author's adventurous life, which took place some time after, all his notes and many of his drawings relating to this mysterious race were destroyed. Bing Munza gave Dr. Schweinfiirth a pigmy, in exchange for a dog. The little man's name was Neswue; he travelled about with him for a year and a half, until he returned to Nubia, where he died of over-eating, from which it was impossible to restrain him. He was an amiable and affectionate being, and also intelligent. The chapter devoted to the consideration of the Dwarf races is one of the most interesting in the book, and characteristic of the profound and thorough method of the author's treatment of his subjects. It appeals strongly to the imagination also, and gives us wonderful glimpses of the history of the succession of races in the great continent. The author believes the Akka to be a branch of that series of dwarf races which, exhibiting all the characteristics of an aboriginal stock, extend along the equator, entirely across man's body. Despite Munza's gentlemanly precaution, the preys- the continent of Africa, and with any section of which only Du

Chaillu, except himself, has come in contact. He prefaces a close and convincing analysis of resemblance between these tribes and the Bushmen thus :—

" The resemblance of the Bushmen to the equatorial Pygmies is in many points very striking. Gustav Fritsch, the author of a standard work upon the natives of South Africa, first drew my attention to the marked similarity between my portraits of the Akka, and the general type of the Bushmen, and so satisfied did I become in my own mind,. that I feel quite justified (in my observations upon the Akka) in endeavouring to prove that all the tribes of Africa, whose proper char-

acteristic is an abnormally low stature, belong to one and the self-same race."

Munza supplied all the Akka settled near him (and who are not cannibals) with the best of diet ; and the author claims the- gratitude of all students of ethnology as due to the Monbuttoo king, who has been instrumental in preserving this remnant of a. declining race until the time has come for the very heart of Africa- to be laid open.

After a sojourn of three weeks the caravan had to prepare to- depart from the residence of King Munza, and Dr. Schweinfiirtla

had to endure the disappointment of his dearest hopes. He was,

within 450 miles of the limit which had been reached by Living- stone ; could he have traversed that comparatively short distance,.

his great scheme of exploration would have been complete, the two travellers would have divided Africa between them, Dr.. Schweinfiirth having reached the sources of the three great rivers- of the west,—the Benbe, the Ogavai, and the Congo. He fondly, imagined that he could discern from Munza's residence a path clearly open towards the south-west, that would conduct him to the Congo and to the States of the mighty Mwata Yanbo ; it ap-

peared to him to be a path that, once explored, "would solve the problems of the heart of Africa as decidedly as the- sword of Alexander severed the Gordian knot. Just when there-

was only one more district to be traversed, and that not larger- than what we had already passed since leaving the Gazelle, to be- obliged to abandon farther progress, and to leave the mysterious. secrets still unravelled, was a hardship to which it was impossible- patiently to submit." But Dr. Schweinftirth was forced to yield. Nothing could induce Munza to permit the caravan to go farther south, as he considered that such a permission would be damaging to his own trade, and though his indirect influence might have sufficed to secure the safety of a small band of travellers (provided they were lean, fat would have been fatal,) so far to the south as lat. 2° north, his sanction would have had to be purchased at an enormous price in copper.

The narrative of the return journey to Nubia is quite as inter- resting as the foregoing portions of the work, while it is, in many instances, more adventurous. The author's account of the state of the Darfoor, and the horrors of Egyptian slavery there, is full of painful interest. The personal narrative and the results of the journey in the traveller's special domain of botany are highly im- portant; but we can go with him no farther, and here bid hin.

farewell, feeling that we have but feebly and inadequately indicated the value and the charm of this wonderful revelation of the heart. of Africa.