BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2741, 8 April 1916, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY

SPORT IN EAST AFRICA. ( ."The He-discovered Country," (Hodtier and Stoughton, per Whitcombe and /Tombs), by : Mr. . Stewart Edward '(White, who has given us so many stories of life .in the jyestorn . wilds of. America, is •the diary of a hunting and exploring, ! expedition, which, in 1910-1911, , took ithe author, his wife, and Mr. R. J. ■Cunninghame into a country which, 'triangular in shape, lies beyond the fnorth-western border ,of what was then ithe'German East African Protectorate, i'but German no longer, .and; never, one Tnay -hope, to be German- again. Mr. [/White tells neither German nor '•Englishman had penetrated to any distance in this particular region. Situated as it is .in a very out-of-the-way part of a German protectorate, Englishmen had not'been inolined to,enter it, and as for the Germane, "the usual Teuton official or settler," as Mr. 'White says, "is rarely, in the. technical sense, a sportsman." Consequently there still remained, mirabile dicta, a country as big as the celebrated hunting grounds of British East Africa, and even better stocked with game. It was this country' that 'Mr. White penetrated, finding ievery variety of big. game most plentiful therein, .'the., lion,' hippopotamus, rhinoceros, leopard, cheetah, giraffe, ante-, lope, and buffalo, affording the hunts-men-esplorers splendid sport. Mr. White 'had'very great trouble in obtaining permission from the ; German : officials to enter what is; practically the hinterland of the German protectorate; but the 'British. acquisition of, these. territories hvill render access to them less difficult;

vThe book is hot merely a record of th'e sporting "aohieveriiehts_ of .the, expedition, but'includes many interesting descriptions of the novel and picturesque scenery and' natural history of . tho country, together with equally interesting accounts of the natives and their manners and customs. The author tells us niore than once of the "very genuine awe with'which the. Germans have succeeded in inspiring", the .savage tribes under their' control, but on; the fwhole, though it is clear that mere was overdone by the Germans, and that the British, officers are liked where the Germajis : are,feared, he gives the former credit for much intelligent and successful work. The natives on the whole were .friendly, but the devices -by which the travellers procured their; food .supplies were, sometimes very-curious. At ono place, everything was at first refused. Then tho. travellers fell back - upon .tricks familiar—some of them at least--to readers of Sir Rider Haggard's stories. Says-Mr. White: . . :• "We.;aia,,our ...time-worn; tricks ■ amid great' hat, the sword cane, ;.'inv,,the' ; :' reflex .: camera-; fitoVAlso,;* .byV ,'.a;,happy . . thoughgot out'-the'scissors and ■ cut out dolls—the sort done froni a "folded' paj^t;''jail 'holding bands. 'These weroja'gr'eat'success. . •-Each'' savage'Jiad to' - Have " a row of them! It was certainly a . ridiculous sight l —these armed, .'grown men dangling little.;papefefigures up and down. in a, ■ After these preliminaries: we got down to business. I wanted, eggs, informa- ; tion, and .fifteen men to carry loads.' ; ' The eggs were forthcoming at once, . the information (false) was immediately given'; the men would he sent for, but would surely bo hero tomorrow.'' .

The Wakamba idea .of an "engagement ring" would scarcely fit in with the New Zealand' young' ladv's conception of that .'adornment..- -Mr.. .White.writes, ori : one occasion:'. "In v .the dusk t,f evening;?.'-weird- and-ghastly prbcesgion came down past us, eight or ten girls painted. 1 white from crown to toe, and variously., 'streaked -in wa very lines. I asked Missombi. (a .boy ;of. twelve or thirteen): about them, and .he proudly .told me those 'were-his affianced' brides, arid that this 'peculiar': decoration. in tlie naturelof'.our engagement rings."

Mr. White's account ■of tis trip '.on • lake Victoria Nyanza is 'specially interesting'. . Here, of course; tlie_ travellers were in touch with. something like civilisation.. At one post he found a Seventh Day. Advoivtist mission. ' The author confirms, I Notice, what Roosevelt, the Keartons, and other writers have said as to the chastity of the Kaviroiido, a tribe the men. women, and children of which go about stark Baked. "At first," he writes, "it was hard not to Tie a little embarrassed at being surrounded by so . many fullgrown ladies without a stitch of cloth-, mg on them, but. they were all so bliss-fully-unconscious of anything out of the way that I ended by becoming so tayself!' / Those who know these people •tvell:tell ;me,they are the;most, chaste tof all the tribes"' Evidently morality is not a question of'clothes! A feature.of the book,;from which, !had I space "to spare, it would, be v easy to make a number, of interesting oxtracts; is tlio splendid-series' of illustrations; over a hundred in' all, from photographs by the author, of various animals, of the native's and of the beautiful • and. interesting scenery of ; the ground. A grievous-omission is, however, a map of the -region traversed, and the lack of an index is also to be regretted. (N.Z. price, 12s. 6d.)