The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-17 00:00:00

474

almost as conspicuous figures in this memoir
as Montgomery himself, We have rarely met
with four volumes of a biographical character
containing so little solid matter as these. Some
remarks on Montgomery's genius we propose
to reserve until the conclusion of the work is
before us.

Lake Argami ; or, Explorations and Discoveries
during Four Years' Wanderings in the Wilds

of South-Western Africa. By Charles John

Andersson. London : Hurst and Blackett.
THANKS to the narratives of Gordon Cumming
and M. Gerard, we are tolerably familiar with
Sporting adventures in Atrica—with the
" knocking over " of lions and " bagging " of
elephants ; but this handsome volume has
some special claims to attention. The
author penetrated to Lake Ngami, first dis-
covered by Messrs. Oswell, Livingstone, and
Murray, in 1849. He surveyed the shores and
ascertained the extent of this fine fresh-water
lake, situated in about the 21st parallel of lati-
tude, and almost midway between the east
and west shores of the African continent. He
ascended for some distance the river Teoge,
which falls into the lake; and after ascertain-
ing more concerning this region than any
previous traveller, and after performing
journeys unsurpassed for their length and
fatigue, he returned in safety, with an abun-
dant store of sporting spoils.
Mr. Andersson is a Swede by birth, but
partly an Englishman by parentage. He came to
England thinking of a voyage to Iceland ; but,
fortunately meeting with Mr. Galton, then in-
tent on an exploring expedition in South
Africa, he joyfully joined this gentleman, and
sailed with him for the Cape. When there,
they were advised that their best course would
be to take ship for Walfisch Bay, on the west
coast of Africa, some seven hundred miles
north of the Cape, and commence their
journey from that point. They complied with
this advice, and had every reason to be grati-
fied with their decision. As Mr. Galton has
published an account of his travels, this book
is in some measure supplementary to it. The
author remained in Africa two years longer
than Mr. Galton, and penetrated much further
into the interior. After he had reached Lake
Ngami, where ho had collected his ivory,
specimens of natural history, curiosities, &c.,
he found that it would be necessary to retrace
his steps to Narnaqua-land, and there procure
a waggon for the transport of his goods. This
journey occupied him four months. It must
ave been a wonderful effort :

During the four months that I was absent from my men
I travelled either alone or accompanied by a single native,
sometimes on foot and at others on horseback, or ox-back,
over upwards of a thousand miles of country, parts of it
emulating the Sahara in scarcity of water and general in-
hospitality. Tongue is too feeble to express what I suf-
fered at times. To say nothing of narrow escapes from
lions and other dangerous beasts, I was constantly en-
during the cravings of hunger and the agonies of thirst.
Occasionally I was as much as two days without tasting
fo and it not unfrequently happened that in the course
of the twenty-four hours I could only once or twice moisten
mv parched lips. Sometimes I was so overcome by these
causes, coupled with bodily fatigue, that I fainted. Once
both my steed and myself dropped down in the midst of a.
sand-plain, where we remained a long time in a state bor
daring on unconsciousness, and exposed to all the injurious
effects of a tropical sun. I would at times pursue my
course with a pained and listless step, scarcely knowing
what i was about, and staggering like a drunken man.

The part of this volume which will excite
most attention is that which relates to Lake
Ngami, and the fauna and sylva of the sur-
rounding region. The author was disappointed
in the size of the lake, it having been repre-
sented as much larger than it is in reality :
It is however, indisputably, a fine sheet of water ; but in
size is somewhat over-rated, the estimation of its length
alone being at one time considered no less than one hun-
dred mile+, and the width about fifteen or sixteen.... The
whole circumference is probably about sixty or seventy
geographical miles, its average breadth seven miles, and
not exceeding nine at its widest parts. Its shape, more-
over, as I have represented it in the map, is narrow in the
middle and bulging out at the two ends ; and I may add,
that the first reports received many years ago from •he
natives about the lake, and which concurred in repre-
senting it of the shape of a pair of spectacles, are correct.
...At its eastern extremity the Ngami finds an ou•let
(the only one) in the fine and stately Rouge. The vegeta-
tion all along its course is varied and luxuriant, and in
some places the scenery is quite charming, the banks of
the river being often to the water's edge covered with ma-
jestic trees of beautiful and dense follage....A great