FOUND AFRICA

Evening Star, Issue 23681, 14 September 1940, Page 4

FOUND AFRICA

There is still magic in the name of Africa. Broadly speaking, it is no longer the Hark Continent, for in the last three-quarters of a century the persistence of white men has left few of its recesses unexplored. The coming of aircraft, too, has been an important aid to exploration. Still, there is much in the lives of the tribes that inhabit Africa that is little known. ‘ I Found Africa ’ is by Van Nes Allen, who at the age of 18 left his home in the United States, on a more or less sudden impulse, and set out for Liberia. When he reached that negro republic he felt that he “ had come home.” After a brief stay at the mission station the youthful author set off for the interior, accompanied by native bearers and a guide and visited places where few white men had ever been. Ho penetrated the haunted forest of Kongbah, learned something of the dreaded Leopard Society, and was admitted a member of one of the secret societies that are so numerous in the recesses of the continent. The author gives a clear picture of the country through which he passed and of the customs and mode of life of the various tribes. Privations, the rigors of the climate, the prevalence of_ malaria, and other tropical diseases did nothing to weaken Mr Allen’s love of the country. Now, we are told, at the age of 24 he is back there again to remain indefinitely. The publishers of * I Found Africa ’ are Robert Hale, Limited, London.