1896. SOME NEW BOOKS. 57 



more powerful agents of erosion, and would cut back into the region 

 draining to the west. 



Dr. Gregory touches on more than one question bearing upon the 

 distribution of life, but into these, whether they relate to plants, to 

 animals, or to races of men, space does not permit us to enter. South 

 Africa, hke other countries, has its Alpine flora, which sets in upon 

 the mountains at about 11,500 feet. He inclines to explain this by 

 assuming an elevation of the land rather than a general lowering of 

 the temperature in former days, but the question, as yet, can hardly 

 be regarded as closed. His observations on Mt. Kenya show that at 

 any rate its glaciers once terminated some 5,000 feet below their 

 present limit. Incidentally, also, in speaking of the extermination 

 of the larger mammals, he offers a solution of one of the puzzles in 

 Pleistocene geology — namely, the not unfrequent occurrence of 

 large accumulations of bones belonging to animals of different 

 species and different habits. These, by many geologists in the past, 

 by Sir H. Howorth in the present, are regarded as the effects of 

 a deluge. But Dr. Gregory points out that it is more probably 

 the result of a defect, not an excess of water. He crossed a district 

 •called Laikipia, which had been described to him as one of the 

 richest gamefields of Africa. " Here and there around a water- 

 hole we found acres of ground white with the bones of rhinoceros and 

 zebra, gazelle and antelope, jackal and hyena, and among them we 

 once observed the remains of a lion. All the bones of the skeletons 

 were there, and they were fresh and ungnawed. The explanation is 

 simple. The year before there had been a drought, which had 

 cleared both game and people from the district. Those which did 

 not migrate crowded round the dwindling pools and fought for the last 

 drop of water. These accumulations of bones were therefore due to a 

 drought, and not to a deluge." In Central Africa, we presume, the bones 

 would generally crumble away, but in some lowland regions drought 

 might be succeeded by floods and the skeletons speedily entombed. 

 Possibly, in such a country as Siberia, frost of exceptional severity 

 might produce the same consequence as a drought in tropical climates. 



Did our space allow, we would gladly dwell upon Dr. Gregory's 

 exploration of the glaciers of Mount Kenya, where he pitched his 

 camp for a few days at a height of some 15,000 feet, ascending on one 

 occasion to about 17,200 feet, when he was turned back by difficulties 

 which no solitary traveller would have been justified in encountering. 

 Like Mawenzi on Kihma-Njaro, Kenya is a ruined volcano, the 

 actual peak terminating in five pyramids, the highest of which is 

 about 19,500 feet above the level of the sea. It is steep and 

 precipitous, so that apparently it will not be ascended without some 

 difficulty. We trust that when the Masai have been taught to behave 

 themselves, some members of the English Alpine Club will find a way 

 to the summit. Among Dr. Gregory's notes on natural history, 

 some on protective resemblance and on the dispersion of plants are 

 extremely interesting. The frontispiece shows that insects can rival 

 the serpent in guile. His remarks also upon the capabihties of 

 British Central Africa and upon the slavery question are worthy of 

 careful consideration. As regards the latter, he emphatically affirms 

 — what, as a nation, we are too prone to forget — that the moral and 

 intellectual character of a race is not suddenly changed for the better 

 by emancipation, so that the incautious gift of freedom may be for a 

 time a curse instead of a blessing. But we must conclude— the book 

 is one that will well repay study, and it shows that Dr. Gregory can 

 write almost as well as he can explore. T. G. Bonney. 



