June 23. 19 10] 



NATURE 



491 



represented by lava sheets of basalt and hornblende- I 

 andesite. : 



The author indicates many points in the geology of i 

 Korea on which conflicting opinions have been main- 

 tained by different authors, and it is evident that 

 much work remains to be done in the country before 

 -ome of these problems can be regarded as settled. 

 But, in the meanwhile, this work mav be accepted as 

 giving a first sketch, clear and accurate, of what is 

 known on the subject, with full references to the 

 works of other authors. 



The plates accompanying this memoir are bv no 

 means the least valuable part of the production. : 

 From Dr. Koto's own photographs a hundred small | 

 but admirably executed views of Korean scenerv have } 

 been prepared, two of which are here reproduced. 



J. w. J. I 



— — — . I 



7.V THE TORRID SUDANA 1 



/^NE feature about this and all other recent books 

 ^^ dealing with the Egyptian Sudan which arrests 

 the attention is the singular lack of picturesque 

 scenery characteristic of this vast ' 



region away from the frontiers of 

 Abyssinia or the temples and rocks 

 of Dongola. Apparently one has to 

 reach almost to the verge of the 

 Congo Basin on the south-west, or 

 to enter the Uganda Protectorate on 

 the south, before the eye is gratified 

 by remarkable landscapes. Even 

 the river-courses outside desert in- 

 fluence are poor and unimpressive 

 in their vegetation as compared with 

 Equatorial, West, and South Cen- 

 tral Africa. The branching dum 

 palms, with their half-circle fronds, 

 an occasional monstrous baobab or 

 banyan-like fig-tree — perchance a 

 clump of tall acacias in the gracious 

 aspect of the rainy season — alone 

 relieve the monotony of grassy plain 

 and stony, sun-smitten wastes ; 

 while, of course, a considerable por- 

 tion of the area of the Anglo- 

 Egyptian Sudan is swamp, and 

 swamp which is singularly unpre- 

 possessing, for it offers an unbroken 

 horizon of dull bluish-green, un- 

 marked by a single palm-tree or 

 other noteworthy object. 



The swamps of Central and Western Africa provide 

 some of the most striking pictures to be obtained by 

 the painter or the photographer in all Africa; im- 

 mense Raphia palms, tall and exquisitely beautiful 

 •Phoenix palms, and grigantic trees two hundred feet 

 in height rise above the stagnant water and the 

 masses of papyrus, arums, terrestrial orchids, and 

 amarantaceous plants. Mr. Tangle is conscious him- 

 self of the lack of picturesqueness in the Eastern 

 Sudan (as compared with other parts of Africa). '"The 

 countr}-, as a rule, is either too dr\- during a great 

 portion of the year, or, farther south in the great 

 swampy regions, too wet. It is annually devastated 

 by destructive grass fires, which scorch and stunt the 

 trees, leaving the deep-seated grass-roots unharmed 

 and manured by the salts of the burnt ash." The 

 trees are •" small, straggly specimens " of acacias for 

 the most part, with a few Borassus and Hvphaene 

 palms. 



As to these palms, it is interesting to learn that 

 the elephants apparently feed on the fruit of the 



' "In the Torrid Sudan." By H. Lincoln Tangye. Pp. xii + 300. 

 (London : J. Murray, 1910.) Price 12s. net. 



Borassus (afterwards ejecting its stone). This fact 

 was mentioned by the writer of this review some 

 years ago, but w-as denied by other "Africans," who 

 alleged that it was only on Hyphaene fruits that the 

 elephant regaled himself. 



The author has some interesting remarks to 

 make on pp. 56 and 57 as to the "painted forests" of 

 acacia, the appearance being due to the irregular 

 peeling of the bark, together with the exudations of 

 red gum. In these acacia woods the guinea-fowl are 

 present in thousands. 



There are interesting notes on the baboons (p. 78) 

 and on the giraffe (pp. 79-80). The manners and 

 customs of elephants are well described, together with 

 their apparent, if often misplaced, sense of humour 

 (they will pass through native villages demolishing 

 the huts, but refraining from injuring the people; 

 they will also come and stamp out native gardens, or 

 in attacking native caravans will merely scatter their 

 luggage right and left). 



There is a good deal of information about the 

 Nilotic negroes, much of which is original. The 

 author mentions that an average of height taken by 



Fig. I. — Xuer Paddling Canoe From "'In the Torrid Sudan. 



the late Dr. Pirrie gave 5 ft. 11 in. for the men, 

 while heights of more than 6 ft. were quite common. 

 He also directs attention to certain points of similarit\- 

 between the Nilotic negroes and the Melanesians which 

 are not unworthy of notice, considering that they are 

 here and there backed up by evidence of physiological 

 affinity, though, of course, the gap between these 

 two manifestations of the negro t}pe is enormous both 

 in millenniums and miles. Quite recently Dr. A. Keith 

 has pointed out the craniological affinities between 

 certain tribes of the Congo Basin and the Anda- 

 manese. The present writer has noted also certain 

 similarities in weapons and body adornments between 

 the Australoids and the people living on the north- 

 eastern verge of the Congo Basin. 



The awful ravages of the bush-fires in the Sudan 

 have been already alluded to. This, no doubt, is the 

 principal cause of ancient and modern deforestation, 

 which has done so much to affect the surface and 

 climate of this part of Africa. 



A determined effort out of somewhat needless con- 

 cern for the feelings of the French (who had nothing 

 to be ashamed about over Marchand's marvellous 



NO. 2 12 I, VOL. 83] 



