988 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



December 1, 1913. 



THE DARK CONTINENT. 



Major Percival writes in " The Geo- 

 graphical Journal " on "Tropical Africa, 

 or the Border Line of Mohammedan Civi- 

 lisation," and gives many interesting de- 

 tails of that famous slave-dealer, 

 Zobeir Pasha, whose " name will be pre- 

 served to us as much from the fact of 

 his connection with Gordon Pasha, as 

 from the fact that the site of his stock- 

 ade has given the name of Dem Zubeir 

 to the map of Africa. Although Zobier 

 Pasha and his following were routed by 

 Gessi so long ago as the year 1872, it 

 may be of interest to know that the burnt 

 stumps of his stockade and the mud 

 walls of his houses continue to witness 

 to his greatness in those far distant 

 forests up to the present day." 



African Gods. 



The writer made many inquiries as to 



the remains of ancient civilisation, and 



refers to the beliefs of the present races. 



He says : ~— 



It may be news to many to hear that not 

 only does this sphinx or mythical lion still 

 live in the minds of people, though in a 

 slig^htly altered form, but it is still wor- 

 shipped in the eastern district of the Bahr- 

 el-Ghazal by the Koreish-Aja tribe of w'hich 

 the Sheikh Miriki, an ex-bazinga of Zobeir 

 Pasha, is the head. Strange as it may 

 sound, it is a fact that in the year 1Q08 I 

 was present in these villages during the 

 rains ; the River Boro came down in spate, 

 and the villagers sacrificed a white cock to 

 propitiate the river-god. 



Further interesting facts were given to me 

 about the river-god: "The god was a lion, 

 Dud, in the common Arabic of this part ; 

 it lived entirely in the water, and was of 

 immense strength, so that it was impossible 

 to release anyone whom it seized except 

 through the medium of sacrifice." In order 

 to avoid this, two sacrifices were made yearly 

 by the villagers, one at the commencement 

 of the rains at the time w"hen the river first 

 came down in flood, and the second at the 

 time when the river commenced its final 

 fall. An instance was given of one of the 

 Government police, who, previous to his en- 

 listment, was seized in mid-stream by the 

 god and held there until the necessary sacri- 

 fice had been made. This man was with me 

 for some years, and appeared none the w-orse 

 for his adventure. 



LAKE CHAD. 



Commandant Tilho reports to " The 

 Geographical Journal " the results of his 

 recent observations in the region of Lake 

 Chad: — 



The level of the lake, as recorded by 

 the gauge at Bol, reached its maximum 

 for the year in November, 191 2, when the 

 water had re-occupied the whole of the 

 basin, and the northern portion pre- 

 sented the same appearance as in 1 904. 

 Navigation was still difficult, however, 

 in this northern part, and a barrier of 

 vegetation still separated it from the 

 south part of the lake. In the south 

 the swell raised by the easterly winds 

 formed the only serious difficulty. XVith 

 a view to throwing light on the under- 

 ground circulation, observations had 

 been made of the water-level, both in the 

 well at Mao, and of various swampy 

 expanses, which had maintained their 

 level, and even risen, during a com- 

 pletely dry period. In one case the 

 maximum was reached on February 20th, 

 three months after the highest stage had 

 been reached in the main lake. A study 

 of the depressions to the east and north- 

 east of Chad had been made by Cap- 

 tain Vignon, who had proved the con- 

 tinuity of the Bahr-el-Ghazal channel 

 to a point north of Endi, and native 

 information had been obtained to the 

 effect that it is prolonged far to the east, 

 making a circuit of the Endi massif, 

 and receiving tributaries. Commandant 

 Tilho hopes in time to explore this 

 region, with a view to solving the ques- 

 tion of a possible former connection 

 between Lake Chad and the Nile. At- 

 tempts at longitude determination by 

 picking up the Eifel Tower signals had 

 not so far met with success, a disturbing 

 element being the nightly hum of mos- 

 quitqes. 



• FETISH LAND. 



"United Empire," the Journal of the 

 Royal Colonial Institute, publishes the 

 text of an interesting address, recently 

 delivered before the Institute on " The 

 Northern Territories of the Gold Coast," 

 by Captain C. H. Armitage, who, speak- 

 ing of the little understood native faiths, 

 said : — 



The religion of the natives of Ashanti 

 and the Northern Territories must be 

 described as animism — in the former of 

 a higher, and in the latter of a cruder, 

 form. Both believe in a deity who is 



