one who can inspire courage and devotion in his followers. Well equipped by nature in the physical and mental endowments that are essential to a successful explorer, it is obvious that any fresh enterprise he may undertake will be carried through to the end, whatever that end may be, and, if success be possible, that success will be his.

It is evident that the short journey across the inland ice of Greenland could not afford sufficient material for two volumes, each of about 500 pages. But Dr. Nansen has taken a comprehensive view of his subject, and, whilst recording minutely every stage of his journey, has trusted to the interest thereby roused in the mind of his reader. He gives us several chapters that have a direct bearing on "the first crossing of Greenland," although not recording the deeds of the expedition he himself commanded. Of such, we have a chapter dealing with the Norwegian national sport of skilöbning, because it was by the use of ski that Greenland was crossed. We have also a critical account, in more than one chapter, of previous attempts to reach the East Coast and to penetrate the unknown Inland Ice: the history of exploration in Greenland is, in fact, given in a concise form, and is in itself most valuable to English readers. A popular account of Greenland and the Greenlanders is also added, and, although containing nothing fresh, except to English readers, is very suggestive and entertaining. Dr. Nansen's charm of style carries the reader's interest with him to the end; it is absolutely devoid of self-consciousness, like the man himself. In this respect a special word of praise is due to the translator; no higher commendation could be given to him than the acknowledgment that, unless informed of the contrary, the reader might reasonably have assumed Dr. Nansen's work to have been written in English in the first instance. The greatest care, too, has been given to the revision, while the maps accompanying the text are admirably and clearly reproduced. The numerous illustrations are perfect in their way, and greatly add to the value of the work.

The main incidents in Dr. Nansen's expedition are too well known to need recapitulation in this place. He himself gave an account of his journey at a meeting of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1889, and his paper was published in our Magazine (vol. v., p. 393). The scientific results are briefly discussed by Dr. Nansen in the appendices to his book. Considering the difficulties under which they were obtained, it must be confessed that his observations, and those of his companion-Lieutenant Dietrichsen-were extremely creditable. Of their general value there cannot be two opinions; but Dr. Nansen holds views of his own, not altogether orthodox. His theories in regard to glacial phenomena in Greenland require, more especially, a closer criticism than we can at present afford him; but we hope to discuss them in a special article next month.

We predict a wide popularity for this absorbing and entertaining work of travel no less than credit for its more solid properties as an invaluable medium of reference to all that concerns Greenland.

The Development of Africa. By ARTHUR SILVA WHITE, F.R.S.E., Secretary to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Illustrated with a set of 14 maps specially designed by E. G. Ravenstein, F.R.G.S. London and Liverpool : George Philip and Son, 1890. Pp. xiv +343. Price 14s.

The following abstract will indicate the scope and nature of this book, and the method of treatment adopted by the author. In effect it is a study in Applied Geography.

The earlier chapters contain a sketch of the salient geographical features of the continent, its physical structure and configuration, its river-systems and lakes. The relative value of these physical features, and the supreme importance of

the climatic conditions, especially in so far as they influence Europeans, are duly dwelt upon. An outline of the prevailing ethnographical relations of the continent forms an introduction to the politico-geographical chapters that constitute the latter half of the book. The ultimate or fundamental principle underlying the work may be expressed thus: The development of Africa must follow strictly on natural lines--the lines that are determined by the permanent geographical, climatic, and ethnographical characteristics of the continent, read in conjunction with the unalterable facts of the historic past. Working from and with these premises and fixed conditions, the author arrives at the subjoined conclusions. Political settlement in Africa is confined to the oceanic drainage-basins. Europeans were at first restricted to the coast regions, being checked in their attempts to penetrate inland by the cataracts and rapids that hinder navigation where, at short distances from the coast, the great rivers break through the outer rim of the inland plateau : for European enterprise naturally sought to utilise the rivers as the most direct means for penetrating into the Interior. But on the coast the climate is inimical, often fatal, to Europeans; hence another, and more formidable, deterrent to the extension of their settlements inland. A third class of obstacles fencing in the interior of Africa is the deserts-the Nubian, Libyan, and Saharan deserts, and the barren steppe regions of the East, West, and Southwest coasts. Eventually, however, as explorers and travellers traced out the great fluvial highways-Niger, Nile, Zambezi, Congo-these obstacles have been rapidly overcome. The principal inland routes are plainly indicated. The Sahara caravan-route, for example, is less feasible than that by the Niger; the Lower Nile route is less serviceable than those from the Red Sea or the East Coast; the Zambezi and Great Lakes route is preferable to that by the Congo; whilst the best route of all is that which starts from Cape Colony and joins the Great Lakes. But though Europeans cannot, without taking unusual and long continued precautions, establish themselves permanently on the Tropical coasts, they can live in the high-plateau regions of the Interior, especially in the south of Africa. It is in those regions, inhabited by impressionable Bantu races, that Europeans have obtained the surest footing; the northern parts of the continent having fallen under the dominion of Mohammedan races. The methods of conquest employed by the Arabs have not materially differed in their action from those employed by Europeans. As the former are associated by us with the Slave Trade, the latter are associated in the native mind with the traffic in spirits. The causes which have favoured the success of Islam and counteracted the progress of Christianity have been chiefly these: Islam has been in the field so long that it is virtually an indigenous force; it is more easily understood by the native populations, and possesses the power of assimilating them through its institutions; whereas Christianity puts before them conceptions and standards of conduct which are too high for them, and the practices of irresponsible traders have been contradictory of, and diametrically opposed to, the teaching of Christian missionaries. Nevertheless the Christian faith has made some progress among Bantu tribes, and, were it not for the rivalries of the different European nations, that progress would have been more marked. The chief support of Christian missions is the presence of a strong and effective European Government. The great Powers of Europe who take an interest in the Dark Continent are therefore appealed to earnestly to put a stop to the iniquitous traffic in cheap poisonous spirits. The Slave Trade can be best suppressed by encouraging legitimate commerce, for by itself it does not pay; it is only when worked in conjunction with the ivory traffic-as being the leading commercial product-that it can be made to pay. All slave-routes are coincident with well-established trade-routes. Commerce,

therefore, is the ruling factor in African politics, and the extension of commercelegitimate commerce-will be the most potent instrument for opening up the continent, developing it, and effecting its civilisation. All those regions of Africa which possess mineral resources or abundant supplies of leading commodities like ivory can be profitably developed, and will at once yield a good return for any capital invested. The best agency for pioneer efforts is the chartered company; it effects its mission through the instrumentality of commerce, and it can advance in a way, and by methods, it would not be expedient for a European government, whatever its nationality, to have recourse to. But all chartered companies should be under the control of their respective governments. A separate chapter is devoted to the history of exploration in Africa, and it is pointed out how the British, Germans, French, Portuguese, and Italians have been instrumental in searching out the hidden parts of the continent, the British more especially, and in the regions south of the Equator more particularly; how the great rivers have been traced out, not by following them up from their mouths, but by tracing them from their sources; how the territories that lie along the main axis of the continent (roughly, south-west to north-east) are dominated by Britain, Germany, and Italy, and how the civilisation of Europe may be expected to advance along the same line. Another chapter sets forth the history of the partition of Africa among the chief nations of Europe, which has been accomplished by various treaties since 1885. Finally, it is urged that systematic plans should be pursued-plans suggested by the natural and obvious conditions and needs of the continent-by the European nations which have assumed the responsibility of civilising the Negro and his African contemporaries. Things should no longer be left to chance; haphazard methods should be discarded, and if possible concerted action, based upon a common, systematic programme, should be taken by the Powers concerned. As things now stand, the northern half of the continent is on the whole Mohammedan, and is subject to Arab influence. (The Mediterranean seaboard was demonstrated early in the work not to belong, strictly speaking, politically to Africa.) The best fields for European enterprise are to be found therefore in the southern portion of the continent, inhabited by the Bantu peoples.

Mr. E. G. Ravenstein contributes a unique and most valuable series of fourteen maps, illustrating the physical and political geography of Africa and specially designed to accord with the treatment in the text. In an appendix at the end of the volume Mr. Ravenstein discusses the data upon which the maps have been constructed, a great deal of hitherto unpublished material having been utilised. The book is handsomely produced, and there is a full index.

The Industrial History of England. By H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A., sometime Scholar of Wadham College, Oxford, and University (Cobden) Prizeman in Political Economy. With Maps. London: Methuen and Co. 1890. Pp. viii and 232.

This is the pioneer volume of a new series "on historical, literary, and economic subjects, suitable for extension students and home-reading circles." The series is to be edited by Professor Symes, Principal of University College, Nottingham. We cannot, speaking frankly, congratulate the editor on his choice of an author for the first book of the projected series. We have no fault to find with the subject: it is in all respects a commendable one, and one we ourselves desire to see studied throughout the country; nor do we find fault with Mr. Gibbins' conception of the importance of this particular branch of politico-economic inquiry. Our quarrel is solely with the author's execution of his task; and upon that ground we must

quarrel with him seriously. To begin with, he says (p. 118), "It is not the business of an historian to make charges against a class, but to put facts in their due perspective." Now Mr. Gibbins does not put facts in their due perspective, and he does, most decisively, make what are tantamount to charges against a class; consequently Mr. Gibbins, on his own showing, not ours, is no historian. How can we substantiate this grave charge? He speaks of the ancient kings and nobles of England in contemptuous phrases, gibing at their love of war, carping at "the follies and cruelties of that sordid age of so-called knightly chivalry, which has been idealised and gilded by romancers and history-mongers," taunting them with engaging in "foolish crusades," describing in disparaging terms historic events in which they took part, and then dealing in like manner with their economic successors, the owners of the soil. He introduces at a far too early stage the peculiarly modern conceptions of capitalist and working man (e.g. pp. 71, 72), and seldom speaks of the representatives of the former class without using some epithet that implies dispraise or condemnation. Yet he uses no such epithets when he comes to speak of the buccaneer seamen of Elizabeth's reign; because they, forsooth, were pioneers in the development of commerce, the glory of modern days in the eyes of those whose faith is pinned to industrial, that is, plutocratic, supremacy. Now this is not only a violation of the historic spirit: it is, as Mr. Gibbins knows well enough, bad economics: capitalists and working men belong to the last two centuries. The truth is, the author writes from the particular standpoint of the doctrinaire advocate of the working man. If he had simply done that, however, we should have had no grounds for finding fault with him; but he has allowed his predilections to bias him, to warp his historical judgment, and destroy much of his historical sympathy. But perhaps, after all, a good deal of the bias may only be due to careless writing, for on this score again Mr. Gibbins is a grievous offender. Let the following instances suffice to show the degree of his carelessness and his lack of precision-we cannot say in style-but in composition: "people met at notoriously convenient places" (p. 4); “held a lot of manors" (p. 12); "the villeins had certain rights which had to be recognised" (p. 13); "the countries of western Europe" (p. 48), when only one, France, can be meant; "provincial towns only held a market on one or two days of the year" (p. 60),-surely "week" is intended; "the mighty traders of the Hanse towns" (p. 63); "manufactures were transferred to remote villages . . . for the purposes of trade and profit throughout the kingdom" (p. 66); “among the effects of the Great Plague was the spirit of independence which it [the Great Plague] helped to raise in the breasts of the villeins and labourers" (p. 75); "oxen were still preferred to horses" (p. 110)--for what purpose?"the shrewdness of the queen . . . foresaw" (p. 121); "the other great old sea-captains" (p. 121); "but at the very end of her reign England had” (p. 121); "the struggle would have had to have been fought" (p. 124); "English merchants did business. . . in the Baltic with Holland" (p. 124); the French began by driving out English settlers . . . the English retorted" (p. 128); and so forth. This, however, is not all; the facts are in some cases manifestly erroneous, or only half stated, or put in a distorted way. A few instances may suffice by way of example. The social and economic tyranny which the merchant and craft guilds came to exercise over their members is not sufficiently dwelt upon. The sources from which the Edwards got the money for their wars are incorrectly stated; Mr. Gibbins even contradicts himself in the sentence "the Black Prince paid for his expenses in the French wars by the produce of his mines." Did not these kings extort large sums from the Jews and repudiate large debts which they owed to the Frescobaldi, Bardi, and other Italian banker-merchants? The connection between fairs as gatherings for religious observance and gatherings for trade is not alluded to. The author

...

66

forgets that herrings and wax counted amongst the chief products dealt in by the Hanseatic merchants. The spirit of independence which grew up among the people after the Great Plague had other causes, deeper seated and more widely spread, than that great calamity. Nor were Henry VIII.'s extravagances, and his ennobling of his courtiers, the sole causes that promoted the rise of a new nobility after the Wars of the Roses. The rise of Boston and Hull on the east coast in the sixteenth century (cf. p. 98) is an utterly misleading statement. Both ranked as early as John's reign amongst the first six ports of the kingdom, and the Hanseatic merchants established a steel-yard in the former town in 1259. Guicciardini is called Ludovico on p. 95, and Luigi on p. 102; this is, to say the least, confusing. Surat became the seat of an English agency, not in 1624, but in 1612. The London Company did not acquire possession of Virginia until 1609; in 1607 it was granted to Sir T. Gates' Company. Mr. Gibbins will find it hard to persuade connoisseurs of ceramic ware that "the Dutch had been the first artistic potters in Europe."

Yet, in spite of these adverse remarks, there is no reason why Mr. Gibbins should not do good work, when he learns to write with care and accuracy, to express himself less crudely, and to put bias away from him. This book shows he can do better; his account of the manorial system is careful and clear, and the later chapters of his Period Iv. are well written. The maps are a useful feature.

The Life of Ferdinand Magellan, and the First Circumnavigation of the Globe, 1480-1521. By F. H. H. GUILLEMARD, M.A., M.D. London and Liverpool: George Philip and Son, 1890. (Explorers Series.) Maps and Illustrations. Pp. 353. Price 4s. 6d.

Not only is this the only complete life of Magellan in the English language, but it is also the only one in any other language, if we except that by Señ. Diego de Barros Arana, which, however, does not enter into any great detail. It is, therefore, doubly welcome.

The theme is certainly an inviting one to any geographer, and, in the hands of the accomplished author of The Cruise of the Marchesa, who thus has the undisputed honour of being Magellan's biographer, it has met with the most sympathetic and scholarly treatment.

The expedition which Magellan planned, equipped, and led forth on its voyage round the world returned home without its commander, who fell a victim to his own impetuosity, in the attack on Mactan, an islet in the Philippines. But the imperishable honour of discovering the Pacific, and the Western route through the strait that bears his name, and of having conceived and initiated the plan of circumnavigation is his. He was born in the golden age of discovery, and was the contemporary of the three great pioneer voyagers: Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco da Gama, and Columbus. It was natural that to a man of his spirit and determination, to whom the world was open, the romance of discovery should have appealed with irresistible force. And he accomplished his life-work with a singleness of purpose and a generosity of spirit that were rare in the troubled times in which he lived.

Dr. Guillemard traces with a master hand the various enterprises upon which Magellan entered-in India, Morocco, and, finally, his last voyage-and, by comparing their geographical value with those of his contemporaries, has given us a standard by which Magellan's services may be judged. What rank, then, does Magellan take as an explorer? "In the history of geographical discovery," says Dr. Guillemard (p. 258), "there are two great successes, and two only, so much do