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DR . EARTH'S TRAVELS AND DISCOVERIES . m ,. pU and Discoveries in North and Central Africa : htlnt j a Journal of an Expedi-T tio n in the Years 1840-1855 . By Henry Barth , Ph . D ., D . C . L . In 5 vols . Vols . I . II . and III . Longman and Co . D B vkth as an African explorer , -was norther the rival nor the colleague of Tlr I Win "stone . Between the-two pilgrims of science , as they -wandered mon" barbarous nations , lay the immense region from Zanzibar to the ^ ths of the Niger , embracing- the middle continent of Africa . Dr . TW ^ nfStone ' s farthest point north was Loanda , in the ninth degree of south tt tude Dr . Barth ' s farthest point south was at Yola , in the ninth degree f north ' latitude . While Dr . Livingstone was tracing the rivers and ridges 1 'ond the Kalahari Desert , and from Quilimane on the east to Congo on + 1 e we * t Dr . Barth was sojourning in the strange kingdoms between Triuoli and Bornu , Timbuktu , and Darfur . It may remain for one of these adventurous o-eo"rap hers to penetrate the labyrinths that divide those vast
rountries—perhaps to follow the course of some stream from Nganu to the sources of the Nile , or some highway from Dr . Earth ' s Adamawa to Dr . Livingstone's Dilolo . Without , however , anticipating the enterprises of the future we will point to the gerrnan companion of Richardson and Overweg as worthy to stand in history in association with the most distinguished of African travellers . His researches extended over the ruin-sprinkled Hammada beyond Tripoli , Fezzan , the kingdoms of Bornu , Baghirmi , Adamawa Bambara , Songhay , and Gando , and the savage Sokoto Empire . Pie was everywhere exposed to fatigue , and often to danger ; his personal adventures were of the most striking character ; but his chief claim to notice is , of course , that he contributes largely to our knowledge of Africa , and lets in a European light upon large spaces of populous territory hitherto only dimly visible through the medium of faintly-drawn sketches and obscure
The three solid volumes now published , out of five which are to complete the narrative , contain such a plenitude of information on the natural -and social aspects of interior Africa , that no analysis , however elaborate , could do iustice to their contents . Every chapter presents matter of more original interest than an ordinary volume of travels . This is high praise , bufit is due to the intelligence and zeal of Dr . Barth , who pursued his adventure with unflinching courage , neglected no opportunities , and added to his written journal a considerable number of illustrations which are now reproduced , some as woodcuts , others as tinted lithographs , creditable to the artist , the engraver , and the colourisfc . We can only hope , therefore to indicate the scope of this great traveller ' s explorations ; the educated reader will find himself tempted to share the interest of a daily record of life in the depths of the African interior , the excitement of discovery , the pleasant pulsation that accompanies the recital of past adventures . Dr . Barth havin o- made the Mediterranean coasts familiar to his eye , spent a Ion" - period among the Arabs of Barbary , and acquainted himself minutely <¦ with that state of human society where the camel is man ' s daily companion ,
and the culture of the date-tree his chief occupation . _ He journeyed into the desert tracts , round the Great Syrtis , and through the Cyrenaica towards Egypt ; he wandered for more than a month in the wild valleys between Aswan and Koser , and pursued his way overland through Syria and Asia Minor to Constantinople . Thus indurated in travef he looked wistfully at the unknown or little known expanse of Central Africa , and yearned to tread the soil farther than Carthagenian feet had ventured . " Please God , you shall see Kano , " said a Hansa slave to him at Kaf , in the regency of Tunis . Now Kano is a Sokoto city , and we can sympathize with the thrill that vibrated to the travellers heart when he thought of piercing the immensity of dangerous distance that stretched between him and Kano . When Mr . Richardson was appointed
upon an exploring expedition to pentral Africa , Dr . Barth and Dr . Overweg volunteered to accompany him , and their offer Avas accepted . Mr . Richardson ' s travels have already been narrated in two admirable volumes , written as with a literary pencil colouring and animating the entire story but even to this Dr . Barth has been enabled to add . His stay in A'gades opened a deeper view of the life , the history , and the geography of those regions , and brought him into contact with Timbuktu . \\ e beg that such of our readers as are doubtful whether they will send lor these three volumes , to note the details in the following extract from Dr . Barth ' s preface , which is admirable for its modesty , its lucid concisenessas Gibbon might phrase it , its ' copious brevity : ' — Extending over a tract of country of twenty-four degrees from north to south , and twenty degrees from oast to west , in the broudeat part of the continent of Afncii , my travels necessarily comprise subjects of great interest and diversity . moat barren soiland of the most
After having traversed vast doaerta of the , scenes frightful desolation , I met with fertile lunds irrigated by largo navigable rivers and extensive central lakes , ornamented with the finest timber , and producing various species of grain , rice , sosamum , ground-nuts in unlimited abundance , thu sugar-cam ; , &c , together with cotton and indigo , the most valuable commodities of trade . 1 ho wholo of Central Africa , from liagfrmi to the oust as fur as Timbuktu to tho west ( us will be seen in my narrative ) , abounds in these products . Tho natives of these regions not only weave their own cotton , but dye their home-made shirts with their own indigo . Tho rivor , tho far-famed Niger , which gives access to these regions by Jiieuns of its eastern branch tho JJcjiuwo , which 1 discovered , ullbrds an uninterrupted navigable sheet of water for more than six hundred miles into tho vory heart of tho country . Ita western branch is obstructed by rapids at tho disUneo of about three hundred and ufty miles from the coast ; but oven at thut point it is probably not impassablo iu tho preaont Btuto of navigation , while , higher up , tho river opens an immense highroad for nearly one thousand miles into tho vory heart of Western Africaso rich iu ovory kind of produce .
, Tho aamo diversity of soil and produce which tho regions traversed by mo exhibit la also observed with respect to man . Starting from Tripoli in tho north , wo proceed from , tho settlements of tho Arab and tho JJcrbor , tho poor remnants of tho vast empires of tho middlo ages , into a country dotted with splendid ruins from tho period of tho Woman dominion , through tho wild roving hordes of tho Tuwurek , to tho tfugro and half-Negro tribes , and to the very border of tho South Afrioun nations . In tho regions of Central Africa there oxiatu not ono and tho same stock , as iu South Africa ; but tho greatest diversity of tribos , or rather nations , prevails , with idioms entirely distinct .
Observe the significant import of this passage . Dr . Barth Benuwe ; he lnafks a succession of fertile and populous territories in the heart of Africa , a double line of river navigation extending six hundred miles in one direction and a thousand miles in another ; he finds a soil yielding the most valuable produce in abundance , and a people carrying on an expensive systeraof agriculture and manufactures . His discoveries , in fact , are parallel with those of Dr . Livingstone in the north . We confess that such a relation has for us an intense interest ; we are sure that no serious reader will be disappointed in the narrative of Dr . Barth , which , sprinkled with anecdotes , varied by glittering descriptions of landscapes and manners , written with vigour and simplicity , and disclosing amid the gloom of Africa the secrets of centuries , is a rich repertory of knowledge , and deserves to take its place among the classics of travel .
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LONDONERS AT EASE . The Niqht Side of London . By J . Ewing Ritchie , Author of " The London Pulpit . " Tweedie . It is Mr . Ritchie's misfortune that his intellect has been gagged by a fanatical idea . His lips move , but his mind does not speak . Plainly , he writes from thnt pillar hung with chains , a special point of view , and pitches his voice to follow the lead ' of those who revile in language often as impure as the water they praise— 'the hellish potion of the drunkard . ' _ The intemperate advocacy of temperance has been the means of causing a clever writer to spoil a well-intentioned book . Mr . Ritchie seems to live in the abhorrence of g in ; consequently , his sketches reek of stale tobacco and poisoned spirits , as such vehemently abstinent sketches usually do . But a still worse effect is produced by this monomania . It seduces him into positive injustice . Were his volume of more importance than it is , we should be inclined to question its morality , not because it treats of the Traviata world but because it deals in dishonest insinuations . Mr . Ritchie writes
with all the bitterness of insincerity ; at least , only two classes of menarc ever so addicted to the use of words so hard with reference to such topics ; those who remember the malignant results of repented excesses , and those who buy cant in the cheapest market to sell it in the dearest . Of course we are not to suppose that the Night Side of London is the confession of a sinner ; it savours strongly , however , of business-like vituperation . Mr . Ritchie first o-lances at the miserable aspects of London ; but his tendency is towards those which he calls the wicked . He considers our metropolis no better than Paris , Hamburg , or Vienna . Perhaps it is not ; but Mr . Ritchie does not prove his case . He attacks things , places , and classes that are respectable , borrows a title for his work from Mrs . Crowe , and appeals intensely and exclusively to such readers as are disposed to improve every occasion by thinking evil of their fellows . This is not his design , of course ; perhaps he would not believe that his chapters are susceptible of such an interpretation ; but between an author ' s performance and his meaning there iq often a wide difference . We will object to none of Mi * . Ritchie ' s
ejaculations against the punishment of death , as carried out in public ; his picture is vivid " and , as he phrases it , suggests the idea of a ghastly dream . But what good does he propose to himself , or to civilization , by his notice of Catherine - street ? It tells no one anything — unless a stray countryvisitor in search of life should imbibe its inspirations . Bals Masques , we all know , are the revels of idiots , buffoons , and profligates ; but with what object does Mi \ Ritchie point up the Havmurket ? " Canterbury Hall , " he says , is , " compared with many of the places frequented by both sexes , a respectable place ; " but he has an eye of horror for the glasses and his worst of the Jud and Clubs
tankards . He is welcome to say ge J ury , although he advertises those dens of debauchei-y to the extent of his circulation , liut his accounts of the Discussion Clubs and Sunday Music Halls and Gardens are distorted by a weak fanaticism . We do not see why such a volume should be published or read . Its only influence will be exerted upon young people in search of a finger-post to point the way to scenes forbidden by Paterfamilias and to circles in which Mr . Ritchie , by his own account , seems to have figured largely . He brings up the rear of a , phalanx , some leaders of which , no doubt , have come to grief without the aid of joyin-the-heart-of-man-inspiring purple wine , gift of the great Bacchus . Hero
is a sample of his reasoning : — Could wo not do without lunatic asylums , if society gave up ita drinking customs ? Not exactly ; but their number might bo very much decreased . Two-thirds of our lunatics become so through drink . " They are very bad at first , sir , " said one of my informants to me , " but after a little while thoy get quieter , and perhaps they arc cured in two or throo months . " And yet 1 find all these lunatics arc supplied with beer . " They has two half-pints a day , sir , and when they work thoy gets two halfpints more , and very good boer it is , sir , " continued my informant , " as strong as any man need drink . " Now is not this preposterous ? Men who drink till they becomo lunatics should bo taught to do without it ; but they are allowed their beor oven in tho asylum , and when they go out they begin drinking again , and of course rolapso . Thus wo keep feeding our lunatic asylums at tho very time wo profess to euro lunatics . I admit these places aro in many rospocts well managed—that tho buildings are commodious—that tho attention is good —that tho governors aro humane , and tho medical officers vigilant ; but which is the truor humanity , to tako caro of tho man when in a lunatic asylum , or to keep him out of it altogether ?
We , quite as much as Mr . Ritchie , abhor the beery fulminations of spouters who nightly crude their own throats , and their listeners' ears , in the parlours of licensed forums , whoso efforts are called brilliant , but who to tho common eye of tUc world are for ever as dim as the lost pUsind of antiquity . The orator becomes husky and his audience are muddled , and thus tlio nfiiiir begins and ends . But why all this virtuous indignation ? Why attempt to popularise folly under the pretuneo of inveighing against intoxicating liquors ? What secret esoteric diilorcuco is there in the moral nature ) of two men , of whom one will write , This year tho must shall foam Round tho white foot of laughing girls » Whoso sires have marched to Homo , or , O for a beaker full of the warm south , Full of tha true , tho blushful Hippocrone ,
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EE discovered the Mat 16 , _ lg 57 . ]___^^^__ gjI ^_ AJgEJ ^_— — f ! l ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 16, 1857, page 475, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2193/page/19/
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