Tom Burnaby: a Story of the Great Congo Forest. By
Herbert Strang. (Blackie and Son. 5s.)—The hero of this Congo romance hears that his uncle is to command a punitive expedition in Central Africa, and incontinently throws up his engineering work and suddenly appears at the elder Burnaby's elbow. He is sent about his business, but accidentally hearing of a plot to ambush the expedition, sets out to overtake it with his man Friday. His further adventures are enough to satisfy the hungriest reader of African travel, for he gets separated from the force, is taken prisoner, and then escapes, to undergo a fearful march in the Great Congo Forest. A Bahima chief rescues him, and Tom repays the kindness by enabling his friends to break up the last sremnants of the Tippu Tib gang. Mr. Strang describes the Central African bush with graphic detail, and handles his natives and Arabs with considerable knowledge of their character. It is a hang story, but he keeps us going through it all. The fierce struggles between the Bahima and the Arabs, with their Manyema allies, are told with a vigour and enthusiasm that will stir the heart of any boy. We have even plans to illustrate them. But to us the great excellence of Mr. Strang's narrative is his evident determination to bring out all the best in the natives ; he has either studied them at first hand, or made good use of his materials. He renders their rhetorical flourishes and imaginative diction with great success. M'Butu, Tom's henchman; Barega, the Bahima chief; the katikiro, and even the villainous Arabs are only less interesting than young Burnaby himself. When we add that Mr. Strang gives us a really graphic and thrilling impression of travel in the forests of Africa, and an almost living acquaintance with Arab and negro, it is scarcely necessary to recommend it to boys as a delightful story of African adventure.
Previous page
