oo 
84 LA TOO Fz [ NOVEMBER 26, 1903 
hyena, a distinct form, but one nearly related to the is yet on the verge of extinction to the Game Laws, 
striped, also ranges, as a very scarce animal, from | which have been in existence now for something like 
Natal in the south ‘to equatorial East Africa in the 
north, and may possibly be found here and_ there 
within the limits of the British Central Africa Protec- 
torate. The black and white monkey to which the 
author refers is obviously the Colobus, and not the 
Mangabey, which ape is nowhere found within the 
limits 0° British Central Africa, but is a form confined 
to the West African fauna, though it reaches as far 
as the western limits of the Uganda Protectorate. 
The author gives a charming and accurate descrip- 
tion of one of the Galago lemurs which are so common 
in this part of Africa. The writer of this review is 
convinced that the intelligence—the almost Simian 
intelligence—of most of the lemurs has been greatly 
underrated, as also their human characteristics, such 
as their ability (specially marked in the Galagos) of 
running on the hind feet and using the hands to box 
with. \ Galago surprised and at bay puts his large 
fists almost into the positions of a human boxer. Of 
this interesting animal the author writes :— 
““This lemur is a charming little thing to look at, 
with its soft bluish-grey fur, Rand large, solemn, per- 
fectly circular eyes. It also makes a most engaging 
pet. I knew one which used to live half wild in the 
roof of a verandah at Zomba, coming and going with- 
out let or hindrance. In disposition he was on the 
whole very sociable, but inclined at the same time to 
be somewhat overburdened with a sense of his own 
dignity. At any rate, it was very easy to offend him; 
and when this happened he would retire to his coign 
of vantage in the roof, which nothing would then in- 
duce him to quit. At other times he would come out 
readily when called by his native name of ‘t Changa. 
Five-o’clock tea was his favourite meal, and he rarely 
missed it, being accustomed about that time to refresh 
himself with a saucer of mill, which he drank with 
elaborate daintiness. His curiosity was infinite, and 
sometimes overcame his natural good breeding; but 
lapses of this kind often brought their punishment, 
as once, when he thrust his head unbidden into a 
small coffee cup and could not withdraw it. The sight 
of him thus unexpectedly bonneted I remember to this 
day. Though a certain sedateness marked his normal 
bearing, he possessed a truly wonderful reserve fund 
of activity, and could climb anything and jump any- 
where when the humour took him. Moreover, he had 
a knack of alighting after the most prodigious leap 
almost as gently as a bird. I have known him to 
drop suddenly from a high curtain pole on to the edge 
of a tea tray without upsetting a single cup; but then 
of course he was a very small animal. smaller in fact 
than he looked, owing to his thick, fluffy coat.” 
Selherevare interesting notes on pp- 85, 86, on the 
fish of Lake Nyasa, in which justice is done to the 
wonderful colours of the ‘‘ blue perch.”’ 
On p. 124 an excellent description is given of the 
weird noises in the African bush at night time. The 
author also is wise enough to illustrate the monotony 
and stillness of the African landscape in day time and 
under normal conditions. He = discourses on the 
singular beauties of the flora and the marvellous 
interest in the fauna, but brings home to his readers 
that every aspect in all seasons and under all con- 
ditions of Central Africa is not wonderful or beautiful 
or terrifying. Rather, perhaps, have many of these 
beauties and wonders to be sought for; they are not 
immediately patent to the eye of the untrained 
observer. 
He still considers that as a game country Nyasa- 
land may almost vie with any other part of tropical 
Africa where game is varied and abundant, and attri- 
butes the fact that no species in the splendid fauna 
NO. 1778, VOL. 69] 
eight years, and which the Foreign Office has steadily 
enforced. 
His chapters on the native races are admirable. He 
has evidently made himself well acquainted with the 
Chinyanja tongue, and through the medium of this 
widespread language has been able to get into touch 
with the natives of the Protectorate, thus collecting 
much new and valuable information regarding the 
manners, customs, traditions, beliefs, &c. To their 
amiable qualities he is fully alive, as also to their 
weaknesses and simple vices. 
The remarks of the author regarding the labour 
question are well worthy of attention, but are not 
suited for discussion in the pages of this Journal. The 
same remark applies to his excellent chapter on the 
work of the missionaries, which is critical but 
appreciative. 
THE CANADIAN ROCKY MOUNTAINS.) 
HIS attractive volume is more than a record of 
mountain climbing. It gives the reader a very 
good idea of a considerable area of the Great Lone 
Land, its fine scenery and physical characteristics, 
introducing him to not a few ‘“‘ untrodden peaks and 
unfrequented valleys.’’ Between the eastern base of 
the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the Pacific shore 
the earth’s crust has been crumpled into a zone of 
parallel folds more than 500 miles in breadth, which 
have been deeply sculptured by meteoric agencies. 
South of the American border these mountains are 
distinguishable into the Rockies proper and the Sierra 
Nevada, parted one from another by the broad plateau 
of Utah, t the latter chain being flanked on the west by 
the Coast Range. In Canada the three are practically 
fused together, the pealks running in successive ranges, 
almost like waves of the sea. Messrs. Stutfield and 
Collie selected as their field of work the region on 
both sides and immediately west of the continental 
watershed to the north of Hector Pass—that traversed 
by the Canadian Pacific Railway. This region, so far 
as they saw, consists entirely of sedimentary rocks— 
limestone, sometimes dolomitic, with shales or slates. 
It is, as mountaineers will see from the illustration 
which we reproduce, not unlike the Western Oberland, 
between the Blumlis Alp and the Diablerets, greatly 
enlarged laterally but not vertically, the higher - peaks 
ranging commonly from about 10,500 to rather under 
12,000 feet. The mountains, in fact, were less lofty 
than the authors had anticipated. One of their few 
predecessors had, indeed, reported the existence, some 
dozen leagues north of the railway, 0! two Alpine 
giants, Mount Brown and Mount Hooker, rising on 
either side of a pass, the one to an elevation of 16,000 
feet, the other only 300 feet lower, and asserted that 
he had sealed the former. As, however, this indicated 
an ascent of about gooo feet in little more than half 
an early summer’s day, experts were sceptical; the 
more so when Prof. Coleman, of Toronto, ten years 
ago founda mountain only just more than go0oo feet 
high where Mount Brown should be. These giants, 
in the course of the explorers’ four journeys, were 
proved to be as great impostors as the Mont Iseran 
and Aiguille de la Vanoise of the Graian Alps some 
half-century ago. 
Travel in the Canadian Rockies is anything but 
easy work. Wood and water are the only necessaries 
which the country can be trusted to supply. Indians 
are few, and game is generally scarce, so that a loss 
1 “*Climbs and Fxplorations in the Canadian Rockies.’’ By Hugh E. M. 
Stutfield and J. Norman Collie, F R.S. Pp. xii+343% with maps and 
illustrations. (London : Longmans, Green and Co., 1903.) Price 12s. 6d. 
net 
