New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-21

-, o,s,,or Olive Schreiner has been consld-
cred more than unconventional 'hihKei e'''
since she published The story OF an Ai''"'
Farm" and the Christianity when she "'e''
:, "Trooner Peter Halket" Is not Of the conVen-
tonal order. But who shall say that IL Is ho'
the true Christianity nevertheless!
II is in a somewhat paradoxica way, p'e's-
,,ro y, turn from, Olive Schreiner's pathetic mar
,,,a 10 tho stout volume on West Africa when
Miss Mary Kingsley has just puphsh@o' -
seems impossible that there c0uld DC Hu'" '''
IN an account of fever ridden. ill-smcling' al
together outrageous region OF the "oriu' ~
Kingsley was warned before she weh' ~ ''
French Congo. to Calabar and the Ca'"e' ''''
that she would undoubtedly die wheh she ho'
,boro Rut she did not die SO long as she con-
times to write books about South Africa VIC
shoud 90 on reading them. though the country
were revotingly desolate ana wretcheo' N
Kingsley Is n scientist She is also humoris''
She went to the Coast in order to explore the
waterways and get what fish she cc"id that
mich, increase the worlds ichthvological lore.
Che attained some important AID interesting
snecimens But what is all her science 10 her
faculty. for compau!ons,ip? What does i! hidt-
for that she tells us about fetish and other pro-
foundry important things when she can describe
90 wildly and as gayly she does her advent
ures I'm padding her own canoe, nteraHS' oi ''
rat her capricious OgOwe? She got tangi"d III al
kinds of currents and her friends on the "aHN
trembled for her life. "A group or naive ia''eS'
who had followed my proceedings WIN "uc' III
terest shouted observations which oei'eVe ~
have been Come back come back; YOU II I've
drowned 'Goodby. Susannah, don't you weep
for me- | courteously retorted, ana new past
them and the factory beaches and thhss Ill
general keenly watching for my chance i rlii
my canoe UP a siding, as II were OH the cuii e'.
main line I got it at last--a projecting SPIT WI
land from the island, with rocks projecting ou'
Of the water in front of IL, bothered the current
and after wild turn round or So ana d ''e'i
call from my terrified canoe trying 10 cliiho up
y rock / got into slack water ana TOOK I'auSe
i'm Iifes pleasures for few minutes
It is not unfair TO Miss Kingsley to illustrate
,. stvlo bv A citation like this. Her scientific
ardor is exhilarating and she has put great
de,I Of valuable description into this book. Her
,icrottc Of a family OF gorlas whom she sur
,isod in the forest her sketches of the lazy,
roodratured natives and the Englisnmen,
Ercrchmcn Standards and Portuguese whom sne
moi from Cape Coast Castle to Corisco, are all
usefl and worthy of serious attention. but II
is a fearfully and wonderfully made productloh'
the material having been dumped INTO the pages
with no more system than in waste pdshe''
There is no waste here. there Is hardly passage
which we would eliminate. but by the Tune the
-Oo naces have been read there is nothing left
in the mind but a wild riot of facts connected
with West African life-nOthing but this ana the
sense of Miss Kngsleys imperturbaoie humor'
She has tossed her numerous ana ATTRACTIVE
illustrations into the book haphazard' many ol
them are not traceable in the text at all, ana
dizzy
one also. it must be remembered. a great deal
of amusement. Miss Kingsley is one of the mer-
REST OF travellers and takers. And she Is cour-
ageous travelling fearlessy among the blacks
indulging in experiences which would quench
the spirit Of most women We may close WIN
an admirable specimen of her exploits and her
way of describing lhem She is encamped on
the shores of a lake and after midnight steals
noiselessly past her sleeping followers to her
canoe padding out into the dark:
IL was a wonderfully lovely night, with no
light save that from the stars. One immense
planet shone pre-eminent in the purple shy;
throwing a golden path down on 10 the sun
waters Quantities OF big fish sprung out or the
water. their gstening silver-white scales ilasn-
ing so that they look like slashns swords Some
bird was making long. low boom-Dooming
sound away the forest shore padoeu
leisurely across the lake TO the shore on the
right and seeing crawling on the ground some
large glowworms, drove the canoe on to the
bank among some hippo grass, and got out 10
get them. , ,
While engaged on this hunt I felt the earth
culver under my feet and heard soft. Dig
soughing sound, and looking around | saw |
had dropped in on hippo banquet made out
five of the immense brutes around me so soity
returned to the canoe and showed off, stealing
along the bank, padding under water untli
deemed II safe to run out across the lake ior
my island | reached the other end or II 10
that on which the village is situated. and ind
ing a miniature rocky bay with SOFT patch or
sand and no hippo grass the incidents or the
Fan hut suggested the ACCESSIBILITY of a path.
Moreover there was no china collection in thai
hut and 1t would be long time before L got
another chance, so | go ashore again ana, care
fully investigating the neighborhood to make
certain there was human habtation near.
| then INDUCED in n wash in peace. Drying
ones self on ones cummerbund is not pure JOY.
but il can be done when you put your MIND
to IT, While | was finishing my toilet l saw
strange thing happen. Down through the for
est on the lake bank opposite came violet ball
the size of a small orange. When II reached
the sand beach it lowered along 1t to and FRO
close to the ground In a few minutes another
ball of similarly colored light came toward 1t
from behind one of the islets. and the two Wayer
TO and fro over the beach, sometimes circling
around each other | made of toward them IN
the canoe thinking-as | still do-they were
some brand new kind Of luminous insect. when
| got on 10 their beach one Of them went off
into the bushes and the other away over the
water. | followed in the canoe. for the water
here is very deep and when l almost thought |
had got IT, II went down into the water, and
| could see Il glowing it sunk till ii vanished
in the depths | made my way back hastily.
fearing my abse,.ce with the canoe might give
rise II discovered, to trouble and by $3.50
was back In the hut safe, but not so comfort
able as I had been on the lake. little before
:, my men are stirring and | get my tea. do
not state my escapade to them, but ask what
those lights were. Axiom" said the Fan. End
pointing to the shore of the lake where | had
been during the night before they said, They
came there; 1t was an 'Aku' Or devil bush.
More than ever did | regret not having secured
one of those sort Of two phenomena. What
Joy a real devil appropriately put up In raw
THE MARQUIS or MONTROSE.