BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3154, 4 August 1917, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

"A Doctor's Diary in Dainaraland." Sβ far not many books dealing with JSothas expedition to German Southwest Africa have been published. By for the best which has yet appeared i's A Doctors Diary in Daniaraland," by b l j Mr.?' £ ) Vniker (late ca P taln > R.A.M.C.), (London, Edward Arnold). Early m. 1915 Dr. Walker offered his services to General Botha, and was appointed to one of the Mounted Birgade Eield Ambulances. Hβ sailed from Cane lowu on Ma-rci U, and after a short fcfcay at Walfiseh Bay arrived on March •22 at Swatupmuad, where he spent five disagreeable but instructive weeks. Ho then etaited Maud, and struggled thTougii wift liis unit, or so much of- it asi could be got alougr, to the old capital, OtjunbiHgwc. There for some time he conducted a hospital, under grave difficulties, complicated by serious apprehension with regard to the continuance of the food supply. Finally he was taken ■on to Windhuk, and at tho close of the war-returned by a not uneventful railway journey to Luderitzbncht, whence, in Sue course, he returned to Cape 3. own. The author is, evidently a gentleman of exceptional powers of observation, and Ins account of the military side of the •expedition is diversified by many interesting passages descriptive of the auna and flora of the wild but picwesque- country through which the troops passed, and of the German colonists and the natives. Tho success of the expedition was, he says, very argely due to the wonderful energy of the men, tho Boers proving themselves invaluable in their capacity to cover ong distances under trying conditions as to transport assistance. Frequently the ■enemy was taken completely by surprise. After referring to the excellence of the clothing of the German prisoners, tho author say's: : Their uniforms, hoots, aud hats, are quite sew, clean, and untorn. Therein is found a cue to their ill-success in this campaign; for, unless they were compelled to do so, they never left the railways or Mads, and never moved without ample Tanspart and food. Whenever t v ey attacked us -they came down the line or along, the road. They prepared fertiSEd Positions, and built light railways l> to them, and whenever we captured them they had transnort, and food and arm* in abundance. General Uotha's men raa qmte different ideas about figotintr. without transport and vithout sufficient food or clpthing; they, crossed deserts and mountains, irresnec?hZs, ? nd thD last thil >S they m fifh* <> f was <o make a frontal attack <ir ngnt when the Germans expected them u> .«o' so. *; Wa&er gives an interesting ao-' count of the German settlements at wakupniund, Windhuk, and Lnderitzmoht. Stupendous sums of money have teen wasted on -useless harbours iiid ™ S l Ji nt offickl buildings, and judging by the accounts here given of German colonial methods, extravagance" has 2en so rife that we need not wonder wM t •? - s upon the s ye tei a 'under »»L w l *!, ,8 tte y were wont-to Par?Ti« % by tiie Sooialist J- am iu the Reichstag. • Judging by the number of breweries hSt b fV a iT s t0 h&tomi at W?nd! and other places, iu- f erm an colonist seems to be a very "Ursty individual; indeed, empty bot- , «es appear to be quite a prominent feature in the German African landscape. J-he male, colonists the author considers a lazy, drunken lot, but of the women he speaks very differently.

I am very much imnressed (he savs) bv the German colonial woman, in spite of her somewhat flat feet, loose, rotund taure, and cold, blue eyes, she is I ve?y lenant. in the absence of the men, many farmers' wives and daughters are manaeing estates, ridiiw about among the naprote,!t p d onl y by their own rifle or " v .fe M »'?. hostess aiid spy with a sang-froid which compels admiration. Her father, husband, brothers, and sons, arc fugitives or nrisoners; her larder and nurse almost empty; but pride and determination alone are written on her countenance.. She rears a goodly number of white-haired sturdy little squarc-hcade. whom she will bivo to the Emperor without ciualm or regret. Fortunately for us, and for civilisation, her mate is rarclv her equal. Past middle life he is de-hauched-lookine. flabby, and dypsnoeio- a ijandsturm raised in /Windhuk would be very small beer. ' The author has much to say of tho Herrw'o natives, so foully ill-treated by the Germans. The Huns used to chain nvo.native prisoners together—legs, arms and necks—in such a way that if one wanted to move it disturbed the others. j if ls oi Photographs of executions and floggings, "all very barbarous," and Natives are eenerally hanged to trees with their arms free, bo that tney linger a lone timcpreventinu suflocation by holdlas on to the reins with their hands. Around may be seen a group of German soldiers, apparently enjoying the proceedings, on one occasion our troops found some bodies hanging from a branch by, means of barbed wire round their necks. Bodies, too, were found fastened together, in graves; with every indication of having been buried alive. German soldiers and others had regular harems of iterroro women, who, when they happened to have a child, were given it few goats and. cruelly turned adrift. There is'little doubt that the Germans used the so-called Herroro "rebellion" as an excuse for accumulating huge stacks of war material. At Windhuk, tor instance, tho expedition found an enormous quantity of horse-shoes, "sufficient to shoe all the horses in South A-tnca for four years," as one man put it. Everywhere the author found evidence of the "bitter and unrelenting German nature." One feels one is at grips with a madman, a madman stimulated by egpism and hate. It is most uncanny livinn amons them. So sure arc,they of their superiority, their omnipotence, their Divine riffht almost, that at times one is almost persuaded and doubts ouc'b own sanity. . . . Intelligence without wisdom, streugth without restraint, nurpose without pity, egoism naked and unabashed-these arc the forces civilisation is up against. It is the subconscious realisation of the cardinal danger which, as nothing else, hag united the white, the yellow, and the black to destroy tho ogre in their midst. Dr. Walker's book, which contains a number of interesting illustrations from photographs by officers of the expedition, is an exceptionally interesting and valuable contribution to the history of the war, and should find a place in every public library. (N.Z. price, 10s.)