Dec. 1 6, 1875] 



NATURE 



123 



Sagitta = Arrowworm. 



Tunicata = Sea-sacs, including sea-squirts {Phal- 



lusia), and sea-barrels {Salpa). 

 Chitonidas = Beetle-snails. 



Tetrabranchiata = Chamber-poulps. 

 Pycnogonida = Nobody-crabs. 



Arthropoda = Insects. 



Insecta = Flies. 



Phocidae = Sea-dogs. 



Sirenia ■= Sea-cows. (This order is allowed to 



remain in unnatural alliance with 



Cetacea. ) 



We have noticed a few verbal errors, such as '" cetae " 

 for " cete," " coecum " for " caecum," two misprints on 

 p. 308, and an unlucky form of the name of an African 

 tribe on p. 330. 



The plates are excellently reproduced, and the print, 

 paper and index show the care with which these two 

 volumes have been prepared. P. H. P. S. 



BURTON'S GORILLA LAND AND THE CONGO 

 Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the 



Congo. By Richard F. Burton. Two vols. (London : 



Sampson Low and Co., 1876.) 



THE journeys here recorded were made so long ago as 

 1862 and 1863. Since that time Capt. Burton has 

 not been idle ; between exploring and publishing the 

 results of his explorations he has sufficient excuse for 

 having kept from the public for so long the narrative of 

 his trips to the Gaboon and the Congo. Moreover, as he 

 says himself, Africa moves so slowly, that ten years 

 makes scarcely any appreciable change on a locality. 

 The publication of the work at the present time is oppor- 

 tune, as public attention is being directed to the region 

 with which it is concerned ; the German African Society 

 have taken up the Congo district as Zl point dc depart for 

 the interior, and although the expedition sent out has not 

 been so successful as might be wished, still Dr. Pogge 

 and Dr. Lasaulx, according to the latest news, are en- 

 deavouring to push inwards from Loanda, There have 

 been several explorers on the same ground since CapL 

 Burton visited it twelve years ago, and there have been 

 many previous explorers — the stretch of coast included in 

 the two narratives contains some of the earliest Portuguese 

 settlements ; but as was shown in his recently-published 

 book on Iceland, this widely experienced traveller and 

 keen observer can shed new and unexpected light 

 even on the most frequently trodden paths. The present 

 work will be found a substantial contribution to our 

 knowledge of the Gaboon and Congo districts, especially 

 in the matters of geography, topography, and people. 



Capt. Burton's visit to the Gaboon extended over only a 

 few weeks in March and April 1862, but during'that time, 

 his first volume shows, he managed to see and to leam 

 much. He is nothing if not unflinchingly true to his 

 opinions, and these, as usual, he expresses freely and 

 without respect of persons throughout the two volumes. 

 He gives rather an unpleasant picture of the character 

 and condition of the French trading establishments on 

 the Gaboon, and indeed has not much praise to bestow 

 on any of the establishments, French, Portuguese, or 

 English, which he has occasion to mention in his work. 

 Capt. Burton's chief object in visiting the Gaboon was to 

 obtain <;ome specimens of Gorilla, and, if possible, get a 



young one alive. He did not, however, get a shot at one 

 during all the time of his visit ; but a fine specimen was 

 sent him by a native before he left, which, in a sadly 

 deteriorated condition, now rests in the British Museum. 



The traveller made a trip in pursuit of " our big 

 brother," as he calls the animal, to the south side of the 

 river, and gives some very graphic pictures of the de- 

 graded natives who inhabit the many villages oi the 

 district. His remarks on the customs of the people, the 

 Mpongwe, as they are called, especially their marriage 

 and religious customs, are extremely interesting. This 

 chapter is interspersed with many shrewd philosophical 

 remarks, in Capt. Burton's well-known style, on human 

 customs generally, and shows extensive knowledge de- 

 rived both from reading and experience. What he says 

 upon the curious resemblance between certain customs 

 among the Mpongwe and other West-Coast tribes, and 

 the religious rites of the Jews, seems to us of real value- 

 He also refers to what has been done to obtain a know- 

 ledge of the language of these people. His lively 

 description of the troubles he had with the slippery and 

 lazy natives in seeking the Gorilla will be found very 

 amusing. With reference to the habits of the Gorilla, 

 Burton substantially confirms the statements of Du Chaillu, 

 though in some few points the matter-of-fact Englishman 

 shows that the Frenchman had given way to exaggera- 

 tion ; e.o., in the matter of the elaborately-constructed 

 canopied nest or hut, Capt. Burton thinks Du Chaillu must 

 have been deceived by some vagary of nature. The 

 natives ridiculed the idea, ar.d all that Capt. Burton savr 

 were heaps of dried sticks built in forks of trees, and 

 which a schoolboy might have taken for birds' nests. 

 One entire chapter is devoted to " Mr., Mrs., and Master 

 Gorilla," in which are discussed the results of his own and 

 of other observations. It includes a historical account of 

 references to the Gorilla, from Hanno the Carthaginian, 

 downwards ; the geographical limits of the animal art 

 pointed out, as well as the modifications which ought to 

 be made in Du Chaillu's account. 



Capt. Burton made a trip down the coast for a few 

 miles and another up the river to the Fan (Fa« he 

 spells it, to indicate that the n is strongly nasalized 

 cannibals ; but the existence of cannibalism, in the 

 ordinary sense of the term, seems doubtful. They do 

 roast and eat portions of their enemies slain in battle, 

 but this evidently is regarded as a quasi-religious rite. 

 As might be expected, Capt. Burton indulges in a brief 

 dissertation on anthropophagy in general, bringing to 

 bear upon it much knowledge of the customs of peoples 

 in various parts of the world. With regard to the Fans, 

 Du Chaillu's account led him to expect to see " a large- 

 hmbed, black- skinned, ferocious-looking race, with huge 

 mustachios and plaited beards. A finely-made, light- 

 coloured people, of regular features and decidedly mild 

 aspect, met my sight" On the whole, the Fans seem to be 

 a very fair specimen of savage man. Capt Burton gives 

 details concerning the various tribes at the head and to 

 the east of the Gaboon, about whom little or nothing is 

 as yet known, and points out the suitability of the river as 

 a point de depart for ex-ploration in Inner Africa. One 

 chapter is devoted to the geography of the Gaboon region. 

 On the voyage back Capt. Burton visited Corisco Island in 

 the bay of that name, about which and the missionaries 



