NE 30, I9IOJ 



NATURE 



52, 



w ith materials from which he may form his own 



lonclusions. In two of the four, the intervals between 



'he contour lines are differently tinted, both above 



below water; in the other two, this is done only 



iie latter. Sections show the relation of depth 



gth, not only on an exaggerated scale, but also 



ii is of great value) on a true one. Most of the 



h lakes occupy actual rock basins, but this fact 



-elf is not conclusive evidence of their origin. 



tarns in mountain districts are probably due to 



rosive action of ice, but no one would attribute 



)ead Sea to the "rooting" of a Lebanon glacier, 



e Central African lakes to ice-sheets from the 



tains of the Moon. Earth movements are among 



oossible causes of rock basins, and to which 



y should the Scotch lochs be attributed? In- 



:d erosion, due either to a confluence of glaciers 



a sudden diminution of slope in the valley floor, 



nay account for the smaller, but difficulties present 



hemselves in applying this explanation to some of the 



arger. For instance, : wje should expect that if the 



asin of Loch Maree had been excavated by ice, it 



■rould be a fairly uniform trough, descending from 



Far from the least valuable part of the text is Sir 

 John Murray's chief contribution — a clear and concise 

 account of the various lakes known to exist on the 

 surface of the globe. No abstract could do justice to 

 this, so replete is it with interesting facts, the collection 

 of which inust have entailed great labour, for, as the 

 bibliography shows us, they are disi>ersed among 

 numerous publications. For many years to come 

 this section will be invaluable to all students of 

 limnology, in the widest sense of the term. 



But we must conclude our notice of this encyclo- 

 paedic work. We have to thank Sir John Murray, 

 Mr. L. PuUar, and their able coadjutors for an admir- 

 able and sumptuous monograph, which, owing to the 

 complete organisation, tells us more of the lochs of 

 Scotland than Dr. H. R. Mill could ascertain about 

 our English lakeland or Dr. T. J. Jehu about the Uyns 

 of Wales. W'e now know at least as much about them, 

 and in some cases more, as Delebecaue has been 

 able to ascertain about the lakes of France, Forel and 

 his coadjutors about those of Switzerland, the inves- 

 tigators of other European nations about the lakes of 

 their own countries, or has yet been accomplished by 

 energetic .\merican surveyors on their 

 7] own continent. We heartily congratu- 

 ! late Sir J. Murray and Mr. L. Pullar 

 on this splendid and successful result 

 of their labours. T. G. Bonnev. 



I-IG. 2. — Loch Knockie, looking Xonh-east. From '" Bathymetrical Survey of the Scottish 

 Fresh-water Lochs." 



ilher end towards the middle, perhaps deepening and 

 Toadening a little near the mouth of any important 

 flHuent. Instead of this, it is nearly blocked in that 

 •art (where it is more than double its general 

 •readth) by low islands (Fig. i), rising from 

 submerged plateau, and besides this, the 

 greatest depths, about 300 feet on the western 

 ind 350 feet on the eastern side, do not corre- 

 •pond with any marked topographical features. The 

 act also that south of the islands is a narrow water- 

 •asin, irregular in outline, and reaching a maximum 

 lepth of 230 feet, is difficult to explain on any hypo- 

 hesis. Loch Xess, which is almost the longest of the 

 >cotch lakes (for. with Loch Dochfour, it exceeds 

 wenty-four miles), might seem, because of its depth — 

 he maximum being 754 feet, fully 700 feet below sea- 

 evel — and of its uniform slopes, to support the hypo- 

 hesis of ice-erosion ; but some evidence might have 

 >een given that its division into two basins was due 

 »nly to the deposits of the Foyers river, for the delta 

 »f the Moriston river on the northern side is more 

 uggestive of a submerged valley. 



NO. 2122, VOL. 83] 



THE WHITE MAN'S RULE."^ 

 'T^O the great majority of people 

 -■■ in this country' the name Sierra 

 Leone is nothing more than the vague 

 geographical expression of a colony 

 situated somewhere in Tropical 

 Africa, once more familiarl)' known as 

 the "white man's grave," and long 

 regarded as the last resort of the 

 hopelessly incompetent or the incur- 

 ably vicious. That such a term of 

 reproach is no longer applicable is 

 shown in "A Transformed Colony," 

 by Mr. Alldridge, whose personal 

 knowledge dates so far back as 187 1. 

 In a clear and attractive manner 

 the author gives a description of the 

 mar\'ellous changes which have taken 

 place as a result of the white man's 

 rule. Situated amidst beautiful 

 scener}-, some little distance up the 

 Rokell river, Freetown, the first 

 settlement, now the capital and port of the colony, was 

 originally the dumping ground for the liberated slaves 

 drawn from all parts of West Africa ; and from this 

 collection of motley races has grown up a curious 

 mongrel population, bound by no family or tribal 

 ties, speaking no language of its own, and con- 

 nected onlv by the common bond of a quaint English 

 patois, and a paternal system of English government. 

 To this has of recent years been added the Hinter- 

 land, peopled by numerous aboriginal tribes, each 

 speaking its own language, preserving its own 

 customs, and living under a more or less well-defined 

 feudal svstem. As a result of the former condi- 

 tions the Freetown creole has developed, a semi- 

 civilised beinp- with a superficial veneer of civilisa- 

 tion, an overwhelming mass of self-conceit, and a 

 ludicrous capacity for imitating the less desirable 

 qualities of the European. Never is he more happy 



1 " A Transformed Colony ; Sierra Leone as it was and as it is, its Pro- 

 gress, Peoples, Native Customs, and Undeveloped Wealth." By T. J. 

 Alldridge. Pp. xvi — 368. (London : Seeley and Co., Ltd., 1910^) Price 



