BOOK REVIEWS. 



583 



Professor Wyndham R. Dunstan, Director of the Imperial Institute, 

 and issued under the authority of the Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies. The author, Mr. Dudgeon, was until recently Inspector 

 of Agriculture for British West Africa, and has therefore first hand 

 information on the subject with which this volume deals. 



The British colonies and protectorates on the West Coast of Africa 

 comprise the Gambia and Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast and Ashanti, 

 Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria. From these countries are 

 derived such important products as cotton and other fibres, rubber, 

 oil-seeds, cocoa, copal resin and other gums, timber, &c., all of which 

 are important to the producer in the tropics as well as to the merchant 

 and manufacturer at home. 'It is with a view to making known the 

 resources of our West African possessions for the supply of such 

 commodities as those mentioned that the Imperial Institute handbooks 

 are published; but the editor expresses the hope that they will be of 

 use not only to the merchant and manufacturer, but also of interest to 

 students of Imperial and national problems, as well as a valuable aid 

 to the teaching of commercial geography. As far as possible non- 

 technical language has been employed in describing the products, and 

 references in many cases are given to other publications of the Im- 

 perial Institute, which will enable those who so desire to obtain in- 

 formation of a more scientific or technical nature than that which 

 comes within the scope of the handbook. 



The book is well produced, and clear, easily readable type has been 

 employed ; the coloured maps which accompany the descriptions of the 

 various countries are distinct in lettering and up to date. Numerous 

 reproductions of photographs illustrate the book, but as several pictures 

 are included on one page they are necessarily small and less informa- 

 tive than they would have been had they been reproduced on a larger 

 scale. A full index adds greatly to the value of the book. 



" Gravetye Manor, or Twenty Years' Work Round an Old Manor 

 House." By William Robinson. Imperial 4to., 160 pp. (Murray, 

 London, 1911.) Bound in vellum, £3 3s. net. 



It is seldom indeed that any country gentleman combines the four 

 essential requisites for the publication of such a splendid book as 

 "Gravetye Manor." Few possess (1) a property so interesting 

 as Gravetye; fewer still possess (2) the ability and knowledge to 

 write such an account of their property ; and not over many possess 

 (3) the leisure, or (4) the means, to produce so gloriously set forth a 

 volume. To begin at the outside : It is bound in old white vellum, 

 the covers being tied together with green silken strings. The paper 

 used is the finest English hand-made, with rough edges; and the type 

 is from special matrices to be found only at the Oxford University 

 Press, where it has been printed. It is illustrated with a number of 

 fine etchings and engravings. 



But when we come to the contents, what shall we say? What can 



