country passed through being sparsely populated and few kraals seen. The natives wander about during the summer season in search of vegetation for their cattle, and of the most favourable soil for raising crops of mealies and Kaffir corn. For the last 80 miles the coach had to be drawn by oxen, no horses or mules being procurable for the newly-established post-service, owing to the prevalence of the horse disease.

Khama's Capital.-Khama's capital, Palapye, reached on January 6, had been occupied but six months in substitution for Shoshong, from which it is 70 miles distant, the situation and watersupply being superior. The entire population, 20,000 strong, migrated en masse, carefully transporting the aged and infirm, a proceeding quite novel in South Africa, where they are generally left to shift for themselves. The town, which exclusive of outlying kraals, covers a space six miles long by two broad, occupies a fine position 4000 feet above the sea, and commanding a grand view of sloping veldt and wooded hills. The people are fairly well housed in circular huts of sun-dried bricks, each group surrounded by its own trees and gardens, as Khama would not allow fine trees to be cut down. This prince is the most enlightened native ruler in Africa. A sincere Christian, originally converted by the Wesleyan missionaries, he has no thought save the good of his people, and allows no strong liquor to be sold or made in his dominions, even the brewing of Kaffir beer being heavily punished. No traders are allowed within his borders, except the employés of the Bechuanaland Exploration Company, as he wishes to keep his country for his people. The Company's store does a brisk trade, the people selling their cattle to invest in European garments, clad in which they present a motley spectacle. The less opulent have to eke out their foreign garb with native skins, and the very poorest can afford but a scanty covering of the latter. Mealies and Kaffir corn are the only crops raised, though most semi-tropical products could be reared with culture. Khama has a fighting force 7000 to 8000 strong, with 300 mounted men.

Lobengula's Kraal.-A further journey of 90 miles across a fertile rolling country, as yet uninhabited, brought the party to Tati, where auriferous reefs, believed to be promising, are worked by the Tati Gold Mining Company. Thence three and a half days' hard trekking, over a very bad road, through deep spruits with nearly precipitous banks, landed them at Lobengula's capital, seven miles from which the royal kraal was situated. This potentate, who, the writer says, might be styled "The Waggon Chief of South Africa," was suffering from the gout, and seated consequently, not on his favourite throne, the waggon-box, but in a bath-chair in his cattle kraal, robed in a coloured blanket, with dirty flannels swathing his feet. "He has been [says the correspondent] a very powerful man, but is now extremely fat; his age is probably about fifty-five. His headdress consisted of an old naval cap, with a large blue ostrich feather round the peak. As he sat in the midst of dirt and

discomfort, skulls of slaughtered bullocks, and mangy dogs, he looked the picture of the African savage.'

His greeting was friendly, and after the royal missive had been read, the presents, a handsome revolver and field glass, knives and blankets, were presented, the uniform of the Blues coming in for a large share of admiration. A feast, consisting of excellently steamed brisket of beef, eaten without knives, forks or plates, was served in the inner enclosure, where thick grass formed the carpet, and the repast concluded with the appearance of two beer girls, who presented on bended knees large pailfuls of the royal beverage, the brewing of which is their sole duty. Lobengula leads a nomad life travelling from one kraal to another, but never moving far from his capital. He rules over 200,000 square miles of country, believed to be among the most fertile in Africa, and known to be rich in the precious metals.

Impressions of Morocco.-Mr. Joseph Thomson described for the benefit of the Manchester Geographical Society ("Journal," April-June, 1889) his experiences in his recent journey through Morocco. Starting from Tangier on April 5, 1888, he landed at Casablanca, and with a friend, a servant, and a soldier-guide, continued his journey overland. A breezy grassy expanse, with only an occasional group of Arab huts to give an appearance of habitation, was first entered, while the floral display was what chiefly attracted

attention.

The whole country [he said] seems a glorious natural flower garden. Nowhere, in field or conservatory, can anything more rich or profuse and withal so extensive be seen as the exhibition of flowers on these fertile undulating plains in spring. Poppy, marguerite, and marigold, with fifty other familiar and unfamiliar flowers vie in glory of bloom, producing exquisite kaleidoscopic combinations of rich colours on the greensward. Acres of bright yellow marigold contrast with the crimson-flushed poppy. More commonly they are intermingled and sprinkled with the added hues of white and pink and blue, revealing in their gorgeous and striking combinations the sources from which the Moorish artist in wool derives the ideas expressed in his brilliantly coloured carpets.

These flower-tracts alternated with bush, where arbutus, myrtle and palmetto grew side by side, but for 150 miles no full grown tree was seen, and no stream crossed, though the rich black loam bore in places splendid crops of grain. No running water, in fact, exists, and the uncertainty of the rainfall produces frequent famines. Mr. Thomson confirms everything that previous travellers have said as to the cruelty and corruption of the government, which seems to exist only for purposes of oppression. The city of Morocco was visited, but its general aspect proved disappointing, though gems of Moorish architecture were to be found among the dilapidated modern dwellings.

Mohammedanism among the Moors.-The fact that the most religious nation on the face of the earth is also the most immoral, was forced upon the traveller by his daily experience. "In no sect [he says] is faith so absolutely paramount, so unweakened by any

strain of scepticism, as among the Mohammedans of Morocco. Among no people are prayers so commonly heard or religious duties more rigidly attended." Yet, side by side with this ceremonial practice is found universal indulgence in the most degraded vices. "From the Sultan down to the loathsome, half-starved beggar, from the most learned to the most illiterate, from the man who enjoys the reputation of utmost sanctity to his openly infamous opposite, all are alike morally rotten. Punctilions performance of ceremonial duties, acknowledged acceptance of orthodox tenets, these are everything in Moorish religion. Moral conduct counts as next to nothing." While Mohammedanism has the power to raise a degraded people to a higher level of civilisation, it does so at the expense of their better tendencies, resulting in what the author calls "the dissociation of religion and morality, the petrifaction of the one, and the rapid decadence of the other." Christianity alone proves its divine origin, if in no other way, by its power of maintaining a moral standard.

Floods in the Mississippi Valley.-The rise of the Mississippi in the second week of March is memorable as the greatest on record. The river, which runs in its lower course for a thousand miles principally in an artificially raised bed banked up above the level of the surrounding country, overtopped or burst through its dykes, or levées as they are called, submerging great tracts of the adjoining lowlands. At Memphis, near the northern border of Arkansas, it formed a lake forty miles wide, nearly filling the basin of its tributary, the St. Francis, 4500 square miles in area. Above Vicksburg again, it breached the rampart for a space of 400 yards, and pouring through the gap in a roaring flood, ten feet deep, submerged to a distance of ten miles, the rich cotton plantations of Northern Louisiana. affluents were equally unruly, and the Arkansas, swollen by a tremendous freshet drawn from the melted snows of the giant peaks of Colorado, carried away 250 feet of embankment, flooding and islanding Arkansas City, twenty miles above the junction with the Mississippi. The farmers from the drowned out lands, drove their cattle to the mountains, and the citizens worked night and day at strengthening the levées with sandbags piled on by gangs of men in boats. The same work was carried on energetically at all threatened points, the contest resolving itself into a time race between man and the uncurbed element. The two great outlets described had, however, the effect of easing the strain on the banks lower down, and thus obviating further disasters. New Orleans, with the great quay frontage which concentrates its commercial life, saw itself indeed seriously threatened, the water rising half a foot higher than the highest previous flood level, and pouring over the levées into some of the low-lying streets. The damage done here was, however, comparatively trifling. The aggregate injury to property was, on the other hand, enormous, but was not accompanied, as in other inundations, by loss of life.

National Exhibition in Japan.-On April 1 was to be opened, according to the official programme, the third National Exhibition

in Japan. The two previous ones, held respectively in 1877 and 1881, were, however, on a comparatively small scale, while the present one, located in the beautiful grounds of Uyeno Park, near Tokio, in buildings covering about 8 acres, and erected at a cost of half a million of dollars, is the result of five years' preparation. The groves of flowering cherry trees, for which the park is famous, will be in full blossom at the end of April, and will be not the least attractive of the sights on view. The exhibition will mark the restoration of Japanese art to its old traditions, from which it had lamentably swerved of late years. The causes of its decadence were twofold: first, the overthrow of the feudal nobility, depriving the artistic artisans of the wealthy patrons by whom they were maintained in the leisured pursuit of art for art's sake; and secondly, the enormous demand for Japanese wares in the European markets, encouraging the unlimited production of what are known in western phraseology as "pot boilers." The reaction against these degrading tendencies in Japan itself dates from 1881, and the efforts since made by official and influential personages, have, to a great extent, been successful in restoring the national standards. The present show will be largely representative of native industry, as space for 160,000 exhibits had been applied for before the end of January, and specimens of the beautiful porcelain, lacquer, silk, brocade, embroidery, ivory carving, enamels, and painting, so characteristic of the country, will rejoice the lovers of art and bric-a-brac. More interesting still will be the collection of ancient art-objects, in which the choicest of the Imperial treasures, as well as those of private collectors, will have a place. The opening of a new and comfortable hotel in Tokio will, for the first time, enable foreigners to stay in the capital, instead of at Yokohama, 20 miles

away.

Noies on Hobels.

The Bondman: a New Saga. By HALL CAINE. 3 vols. London : William Heinemann.

1890.

R. HALL CAINE, in the "Deemster," showed that he could

MR. make romance out of the Isle of Man. The present tale is an

attempt to do the same thing, but with Iceland brought in to assist. The time is about 1800; but the author ingenuously confesses that his characters are most of them of an older stamp than the beginning of the present century. The story is very full of moving incident, and very violent. There is an attempt made to invest most of the characters with the heroic stature of the period vaguely known as VOL. XXIII.—NO. II. [Third Series.]

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the olden time. Two or three of them have the marvellous strength of the hero of " Lorna Doone; " their yellow hair, fair faces, unconventional clothes, and boiling passions take us back to the days of the Baresarks. This effect is evidently intended by Mr. Caine, for when the strongest and most tempestuous of them all is about to die, he casually mentions these heroes, and admits that he is not unlike one of them-an idea that can only have come from his creator, for he had probably never heard of them himself. There is no religious tone about the book. The writer evidently wants us to think these Icelanders and Manxmen splendid fellows, with their reverence for ancient law, their magnanimity, their strong passions, and their utter heathenism. Christianity in 1800 must have died out of Iceland and the Isle of Man. We have a "good old" Bishop John, and one or two married parsons, but most of the parsons drink desperately, and the good ones are so decrepit that they hobble, shuffle, pant, and gasp throughout the three volumes, and never seem to influence any one, whether for good or for evil. In the Isle of Man there are two or three howling and ranting Methodists, full of all guile. The story is wild and improbable. An Icelander of tremendous size and strength has two sons, half-brothers, one of whom, for various reasons, vows to kill the other, and ends by laying down his life for him. In the working out of this saga, love, politics, revolution, and volcanic eruptions all take part. We have a good-hearted but terribly prosy old Governor; we have another Governor-in Iceland this time-who is the unredeemed villain of the story; we have six brothers, who always appear in the several situations all at once, as if they were a sort of body corporate; we have, it is needless to say, a lovely young woman, who is the sister of the six brothers and the object of the affections of both the half-brothers. Then we have Iceland in summer, Iceland in winter, Iceland at sunrise, at midnight, and between the two; the sea, the sulphur mines, the hotsprings, and a volcanic disturbance of the most appalling kind. There is plenty of interest in the story. It is written in a condensed and rapid style; yet not infrequently the writer uses too many words about the feelings and emotions of the different people; and the flight of Jason with Michael Sunlocks from the sulphur mines is far too long drawn out. With all drawbacks, however, it is a remarkable story, and will amply reward the reader.

Lal. By LORIN LATHROP and ANNIE WAKEMAN. Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith.

THE

THE story of a little maiden of ten, strangely orphaned, and still more strangely adopted, is here prettily told in a single volume. The almost simultaneous deaths of both her parents in a gambling saloon in San Francisco leaves her to the incongruous, though kindly, guardianship of a young man of one-and-twenty, the most charitable of the witnesses of the tragedy. With the assistance of his lady