2oo The National Geographic Magazine 



The Story of the Kongo Free State. 



By Henry Wellington Wack. 8vo. 

 Pp. 15 -J- 634. Illustrated. New 

 York and London : G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons. 1905. 



This is a history of the Kongo State, 

 drawn largely from documents in the 

 possession of the Belgian government, 

 and is intended as a defense of the ad- 

 ministration of the state against the 

 attacks of the English press. What- 

 ever be the merits of the controversy, 

 the book is of great interest and value 

 as a summary of the history of this 

 most remarkable experiment in empire- 

 building. Certain it is that with the 

 restriction of liquor dealing and the 

 abolition of the slave trade, both of 

 which are due to the government of the 

 Kongo Free State, the condition of the 

 native races is immeasurably improved. 

 Add to these the start which has been 

 made in educating them and in training 

 them to habits of industry, and the ex- 

 istence of the state is amply justified. 



H. G. 



Breaking the Wilderness* By F. S. 



Dellenbaugh. 8vo. Pp. 23 + 360. 



Illustrated. New York and London: 



G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1905. 



The purpose of this book is stated by 

 the author in the preface to be " to pre- 

 sent a review in chronological order of 

 the important events which contributed 

 to breaking the wilderness that so long 

 lay untamed west of the Mississippi." 

 Some fifty pages are devoted to the 

 beaver and the buffalo on the plea that 

 they induced exploration and settle- 

 ment. There is nothing said,, however, 

 of mines of the precious metals, which 

 of all attractions were far the most po- 

 tent. Fifty more pages are devoted to 

 the Indians, though why they should 

 appear in this connection, except inci- 

 dentally, is not apparent. 



The remainder of the book is occu- 

 pied with accounts of certain exploring 

 expeditions, beginning with the lies of 

 Cabeza de Vaca and including Coro- 

 nado's expedition and other early Span- 

 ish explorations. Of those of more re- 



cent time accounts are given of the 

 Lewis and Clarke, Pike, the Astor ex- 

 peditions, Bonneville, Long, Fremont, 

 and numerous hunters and trappers, 

 finally closing with the well-known nar r 

 rative of Powell's exploration of the 

 Colorado. There is in the book scarcely 

 an allusion to the numerous exploring 

 expeditions carried on by the army since 

 1850. Even that magnificent series of 

 explorations known as the Pacific Rail- 

 road surveys, from which our first map 

 of the West was built up, is conspicuous 

 by its absence. In later years the Sur- 

 vey of the Fortieth Parallel, the Hay- 

 den Survey, and the Wheeler Survey, 

 which were contemporaneous with the 

 Powell exploration of the Colorado, and 

 certainly as fruitful in results, are not 

 mentioned. The history of exploration 

 of the West is yet to be written. 



This book is printed on heavy paper, 

 and is finely illustrated with half-tones, 

 but the pictures should, if the book 

 reaches a second edition, be redistrib- 

 uted. At present they bear no relation 

 to the adjacent text, but have appar- 

 ently been thrown in haphazard. 



H. G. 



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 



POPULAR MEETINGS 

 National Rifles' Armory, 920 G street, 8 p. m. 



April 14. — " Fighting the Boll 

 Weevil/' Dr L. O. Howard, Chief of 

 the Bureau of Entomology. Illustrated. 



April 28.—" N lagara Falls. " Dr G. 

 K. Gilbert, of the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey. Illustrated. 



May 5.— "The Philippines." The 

 Secretary of War, Hon. Wm. H. Taft. 



May 13. — The Annual Long Distance 

 Excursion of the Washington members 

 of the National Geographic Society, 

 probably to Indian Head. 



SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS 

 Hubbard Memorial Hall, 8 p. m. 

 April 7* — "Forestry." Messrs Gif- 

 ford Pinchot, Overton W. Price, and 

 members of the Bureau of Forestry. 



April 21. — "Along the Labrador 

 Coast." Wilfred T. Grenfell. 



