point of his journey in this direction, he describes the river as being 300 yards wide, and as containing from three to four fathoms of water in mid channel. From this spot to the sea, a distance of not less than 300 miles, he affirms that, with the one break of the Samba Nagoshi Falls, steamboat navigation is practicable the whole year round.

The importance of these discoveries towards the removal of the darkness which still hangs over the geography of Central Africa can scarcely be exaggerated. The gigantic height of N'Koumou Nabouali may almost justify the hypothesis of equatorial snowy mountains, as they appeared to the sight of the missionaries Krapff and Rebmann; and their existence may yet leave open for discussion the alternative of melted snows or the saturation of tropical rains through swamps and morasses as the origin of the Nile inundations, even while it must be admitted that the theory of snow seems insufficient to account for all the phenomena. As far as M. Du Chaillu penetrated (and this was beyond the fourteenth degree of longitude east) along this equatorial range, the country was no parched and barren desert. His progress was stopped not by scorched and desolate wastes, but by an impenetrable overgrowth of forest which had hitherto shut out even the wandering native tribes. Yet the accounts of his guides attested the existence of several tribes yet further to the east, on both sides of the great mountain chain.

Here also the idea of total isolation between the tribes is shown to be fallacious. Altogether behind the organised system of caravan trading in Central Africa north of the equator, a species of trade exists, which in spite of wars and forays connects the several tribes. These tribes vary also in their degree of civilisation or barbarism. Mostly nomadic, or practically rendered so by the working of the superstition of witchcraft, they have no idea of property in land, while property in trees is acknowledged by the Apingi tribe alone, which seems to rise in many ways above the other branches of the negro race. With little notion of tillage, they struggle on, not unfrequently half-starved, in a country rich in manifold resources, and loving rather to snatch a precarious plenty by hunting the strange creatures with which their land abounds. In the marvellous fauna of this region M. Du Chaillu found his most exciting pursuit, and amongst them he achieved his most congenial triumphs. While he has acquainted himself with the habits of animals scarcely known before, except through vague

* See Edinburgh Review,' No. ccxxviii., for October, 1860, p. 324.

negro legends, he claims to have added more than twenty new species to those with which naturalists were already acquainted.

M. Du Chaillu's volume is indeed rich with adventures, as wonderful as they are perilous, by flood and field, amongst mountains and torrents, with snakes and beasts and men. He journeys through a land of strange sights and strange doings, where, as in the picture drawn by Herodotus of the old Egyptians, every thing follows some custom or law of which the civilised world, as we term it, knows nothing. If among these strange tribes kings are held in high honour, their election is preceded, or rather announced, by saturnalia of which probably no other country has ever seen the like. The throne of the Mpongwe tribe was vacant: and a friend of M. du Chaillu's was chosen to fill it. As this man was walking on the seashore, ignorant, it would seem, of the honours which awaited him,

'he was suddenly set upon by the entire populace, who proceeded to a ceremony which is preliminary to the crowning, and which must deter any but the most ambitious men from aspiring to the crown. They surrounded him in a dense crowd, and then began to heap upon him every manner of abuse that the worst of mobs could imagine. Some spit in his face, some beat him with their fists, some kicked him, others threw disgusting objects at him, while those unlucky ones who stood on the outside and could reach the poor fellow only with their voices, assiduously cursed him, his father, his mother, his sisters and brothers, and all his ancestors to the remotest generation. A stranger would not have given a cent for the life of him who was presently to be crowned.

'Amid all the noise and struggle I caught the words which explained all this to me: for every few minutes some fellow, administering an especially severe blow or kick, would shout out, "You are not our king yet: for a little while we will do what we please with you; by and by, we shall have to do your will."' (P. 19.)

It requires some little faith to give credit to this singular demonstration of loyalty, which presupposes a readiness to forgive and forget, certainly never afterwards exhibited by these strangely elected rulers. But it is gratifying to learn that the negro rule is more flexible than the law of the Medes and Persians, when in his turn M. Du Chaillu ascended the throne as King of the Apingi tribe, and that at his request the disagreeable ceremony was dispensed with when he

'was formally invested with the Kendo, which is here also the insignia of the head man or chief ruler. Remandji put the Kendo over my shoulder, which gave me like power with himself. It was done in the presence of an immense crowd, who shouted out their approval, and promised to obey me. Remandji said, "You are the

spirit whom we have never seen before. We are but poor people when we see you. You are of those whom we have often heard of, who come from nobody knows where, and whom we never hoped to see. You are our king and ruler. Stay with us always. We love you and will do what you wish." Whereupon ensued shouts and rejoicings. Palm wine was introduced, and a general jollification took place in the orthodox fashion at coronations. From this day therefore I may call myself Du Chaillu the First, King of the Apingi.' (P. 443.)

He had indeed already received more than regal honours from another tribe. The weather had been hot, and

as my hair was too long for comfort, I told Makondai to cut it for me, giving him a pair of scissors I had in my kit. He did not do it very artistically: but in the interior of Africa one comes to care little for looks or fashions. When he had done, he gathered up the cut hair and threw it out into the street. I was not attending to what was going on, and was surprised presently at a noise of scuffling and fighting in front of my house.

'I looked out and beheld a most laughable scene. The men were busily picking up the scattered hairs; and those who could not get at them were disputing possession with their luckier neighbours. Even the old king Olenda was in the midst, eager for a share. As each got what he could, he would tie them up carefully in the corner of his ndengui and walk off very contentedly.

'I called Olenda and asked what was the use of this hair. He replied, "O Spirit, these hairs are very precious. We shall make mondas (fetiches) of them, and they will bring other white men to us, and bring us great good luck and riches. Since you have come to us, O Spirit, we have wished to have some of your hair: but did not dare to ask for it, not knowing whether it could be cut." I was happy that it had not occurred to them to appropriate violently my whole head, hair and all; and was glad enough to let the old king walk off with his precious lock of a white man's hair.' (P. 428.)

It is not a little curious that the childish gaiety of the negro race should exist side by side with the most gloomy and ferocious superstitions. From laughter and feasting, from tricks of trade or utter inactivity, from tears and sorrow, they pass instantaneously to the most horrible and disgusting cruelties at the beck and call of their witch doctors, of whom we have an inviting picture in the case of one

'who looked literally like the devil. I never saw a more ghastly object. He had on a high head-dress of black feathers. His eyelids were painted red; and a red stripe from the nose upward divided his forehead in two parts. Another red stripe passed round his head. The face was painted white, and on each side of the mouth were two round red spots. About his neck hung a necklace of grass, and also

a cord which held a box against his breast. This little box is sacred and contains spirits. A number of strips of leopard and other skins crossed his breast, and were exposed about his person; and all these were charmed and had charms attached to them. From each shoulder down to his hands was a white stripe; and one hand was painted quite white. To complete this horrible array, he wore a string of little bells round his body.' (P. 241.)

With the horrors of the system which is upheld by these loathsome fanatics and execrable knaves, it is difficult to imagine that anything like merriment could be found anywhere. But the working of their superstitions is not always horrible. In a little village called Npopo, M. Du Chaillu found everything 'open and exposed to thieves: chickens and goats were walking about, and I wondered to see such carelessness in the village; but in the centre, looking down on everything, stood the mbuiti, or God of Npopo, a copper-eyed divinity, who, I was informed, safely guarded everything. It seemed absurd, but I was assured that no one dared steal, and no one did steal, with the eyes of this mbuiti upon him.

"This uncommonly useful divinity was a rudely-shaped piece of ebony, about two feet high, with a man's face, the nose and eyes of copper, and the body covered with grass.' (P. 279.)

To the advantages arising from extended political connexions these tribes are keenly alive: but their diplomacy sometimes assumes strange forms.

'For instance, two tribes are anxious for a fight; but one needs more force. This weakling sends one of its men secretly to kill a man or woman of some village living near, but having no share in the quarrel. The consequence is, not, as would seem most reasonable, that this last village takes its revenge on the murderer, but, strangely enough, that the murderer's people give them to understand that this is done because another tribe has insulted them; whereupon, according to African custom, the two villages join and together march upon the enemy. In effect, to gain a village to a certain side in a quarrel, that side murders one of its men or women with the purpose of retaliation on somebody else.' (P. 51.)

But, whatever may be the wonders of other regions, they are all surpassed by the marvels of the Fan country and people. These men are cannibals, eating prisoners taken in war together with those who are condemned to death for crimes, and thus far only like the Feejeans and others who exalt cannibalism into a regulated system, yet, unlike them, in the readiness with which they will feast on bodies of persons who have died from any disease, or even on corpses which they disinter from the reeking burying ground of an African barracoon. A diet so strange cannot diminish our wonder that these Fans are taller

and hardier, more gracefully formed, and more gifted with mental power and moral force, with less of cruelty and treachery, than any other negro tribe. In M. Du Chaillu's eyes they appear to be the most promising people in Western Africa; and, as a climax to their physical differences from most other negroes, they exhibit the peculiarity of beard and of hair long enough to be plaited into queues which hang as low down as their waist.

Thus then, without taking into account his achievements as a hunter with gorillas and leopards, with venomous snakes sometimes thirteen feet long, with alligators and buffaloes, there is enough in the subjects to which we have already referred, to excite the deepest interest and amazement. The value of his book must depend on its general truthfulness; and this unfortunately has been called in question. It may be a hard recompense for years of arduous toil and determined resistance to difficulties and dangers almost overwhelming, that discoveries of the greatest moment in geographical and physical science should be received coldly or with suspicion by those who have never faced the same perils or undergone the same labours. Such a return, in spite of much general favour, it has been M. Du Chaillu's misfortune to experience. He has called forth severe, but not unjust, criticisms from some of the first naturalists in this country, whose motives are above suspicion; his new species have been rejected, or identified with others previously known; his engravings of animals have been pronounced unfaithful or deceptive; and his account of their habits disputed as untrue. From these alleged defects or inconsistencies a general inference has been drawn, which shakes the credibility of his whole narrative, and questions his personal acquaintance with the countries which he professes to describe.

On the purely scientific question involved in this charge we need say but little. M. Du Chaillu has brought to this country certain stuffed specimens, which he asserts that he shot or procured in the course of his several journeys. The question of the novelty of species is therefore simply one of fact, which naturalists must determine from the evidence before them. It would be very difficult to prove from the mere condition of the specimens, whether they were shot by M. Du Chaillu in the interior or obtained by him on the coast. A skin stuffed with the same appliances a hundred miles inland can scareely differ much from a skin stuffed on the sea-shore; but the question of transport in the case of large animals, stuffed out to their full size, presents a very grave difficulty in a land of crags, and torrents, and impenetrable forests.