NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 349 



this section, which ends on page 153, we seem to have been 

 reading ancient history, for Oswell's career takes us back fifty 

 years to the days of muzzle-loaders, and we miss here the want 

 of a chapter on modern South African hunting such as Mr. Selous 

 could have admirably supplied. This, however, we do not get, 

 for the next page carries us into East Africa under the guidance 

 of Mr. F. J. Jackson. A better guide under the circumstances one 

 could hardly desire, but having read what he has to tell us, we 

 cannot help feeling that the enjoyment of a hunter's life such as 

 he depicts is only to be realized by a very few, namely, by those 

 to whom money is no object, and who can afford to carry with 

 them into African deserts no small share of the comforts of 

 civilization. It seems to us that he recommends the transport 

 of too large a " battery," and too many luxuries. Two good 

 rifles and a shot gun ought to suffice for any man. To carry 

 more, means an additional quantity of different sized cartridges, 

 and additional weight, for which bearers must be provided. 

 Moreover, we have it on the best authority that it is far better 

 to get accustomed to one good rifle, upon which you can depend 

 in case of emergency, than to be constantly changing from a 

 large bore to a small bore, from a light weight to a heavy weight, 

 and vice versa. Again, the sportsman who is roughing it in 

 East Africa may surely dispense with a bedstead, a bath, and a 

 bath-tent, and be content with a mattress upon the ground, and 

 a bucket of water. 



But our concern is not so much with the sportsman's outfit 

 and stores, as with the natural history of the country explored, 

 and the haunts and habits of the animals hunted. 



From the naturalist's point of view, the chapter on Antelopes 

 deals too briefly with the different species, many of which are 

 still very imperfectly known, and concerning which one would 

 like to have more information from a writer who has seen and 

 stalked them in their natural haunts. 



The South African Lion has a chapter to himself, by Mr. 

 Selous, and a very good chapter too ; but the South African 

 Antelopes, strange to say, are passed over in silence. Perhaps 

 the Editor considered that having given Mr. Jackson's list of the 

 East- African species, it would be superfluous to say more about 

 them. But there are species in East Africa which are un- 

 known in the south and vice versa, and the present distribution 



