Januaey 17, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



101 



maps, which are inserted in the text of each 

 chapter which is devoted to the description of a 

 portion of the journey. 



The book may be divided for practical pur- 

 poses into two parts — the descriptive and the 

 generalizing portions. His descriptions of men 

 and things, are pleasant reading, and show us a 

 man, wide awake to the meaning of the scenes 

 through which he passed. Sjjace does not per- 

 mit of a detailed account of these, though many 

 are of great interest and value. Some of the 

 character sketches are very well done. The 

 chapters which are devoted to his generaliza- 

 tions are by all means the best part of his work. 

 They are scattered through the book and bear 

 upon many subjects ; geology, botany, natural 

 history and anthropology all come in for a 

 share, and while we may not agree with his 

 conclusions, particularly upon some ethical 

 questions, we cannot but agree that his clear 

 statements of facts and conditions are well 

 worthy of close attention. Some of each of 

 these parts of the work will be referred to in 

 this review. 



He was almost uniformly successful in his 

 diplomatic relations with the native chiefs with 

 whom he came in contact. Sometimes under 

 the most trying circumstances he carried his 

 point. His French temperament seems to have 

 been under splendid control, as it only comes to 

 the surface when the pressure of affairs is re- 

 moved and he feels free to express himself. 

 This is greatly to his credit, and much of what 

 might be called ' good fortune ' by some is un- 

 doubtedly to be attributed to this fact. 



His first treaty was made at San on January 

 14, 1891. Shortly after this he meets Capt. 

 Quiquanodon and Dr. Crozat at Kinian. They 

 reinforce his party most opportunely with both 

 men and animals. On March 1 he reached 

 Diasa. Here he received his last letters from 

 France, bearing date of December 18, 1890. 

 From this time until he reached Beni-Oulid, on 

 December 6, 1892, he was virtually lost as far 

 as hearing from the outside world was con- 

 cerned. 



An interesting description is given of Bobo- 

 Dioulasso, where the houses are built upon high 

 platforms, where ' s'habiller est avoir quelque 

 diftbrmite a cacher,' and where the children 



are carried u.nder a ' carapace ' of rods. At 

 Souro he has his first real encounter with fetich- 

 ism, and a good idea is given of its wide ramifi- 

 cations and its eflFects upon the life and habits of 

 the natives, as well as the consequences which 

 hang over the innocent traveler's head who ig- 

 norantly invades the ' sacred limits ' which are 

 spread around him like so many snares. 



His account of the ' whistle system ' of tel- 

 egraphy, as employed in the Bobo covmtry (p. 

 107), is curious reading. Imagine the swarthy 

 native taking a siesta at sunset, and carrying on 

 a conversation by this means — arranging for a 

 hunting party in the morning ; conducting some 

 piece of business ; lovers intoning their pure 

 love ditties ; enemies challenging one another, 

 etc., etc., for of such is the 400 of Bobo. 



The Mossi country is described on pp. 121 

 et seq. This region on the bend of the Niger, 

 is occupied by a well organized people whose 

 traditions carry them back to the beginning of 

 the world, without exactly fixing the date of 

 this event. Naba, the first of the race, had 333 

 sons, and divided his kingdom among them at 

 his death. Wagodogho is the seat of the main 

 head of the whole kingdom, and the Naba of 

 this place is the Naba of the Nabas. He wears 

 as an emblem of his proud preeminence, a 

 special head dress which is a species of three 

 decked turban ; but this with his very numerous 

 harem, seems to be the limit of his preroga- 

 tives. 



He reached Wagodogho on April 28, only to 

 be ordered out of town. Protests that he was 

 the envoy of the king of France were of no 

 avail. Eventually, a music box, a Persian 

 saddle and a sword, did the business for him, 

 and he was received as a man and brother. He 

 reached Dori on May 22d, and it was high time 

 that he did so, for this was one of the very low 

 points in his curvilinear career. Things were 

 at a very low ebb with him at this point. 



While resting at Dori, on what might be 

 called the boarder line between the civilized 

 and the uncivilized nations of central Africa, he 

 gives us a sketch of the relations of Mohammed- 

 anism to progress in this part of the world. It 

 seems strange to find him favoring polygamy 

 and slavery, and expressing the opinion that 

 the religion of Islam is so adjusted to the con- 



