New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-04-16

| che had with driver ants She happened upon :
native but that was momentarify In a state OF
| er,ntion owing TO an invasion Of ants. she
gathered from the shrieks Of the family that the
baby had been left behind. I'm him far corner
for Aoor," the parents screeched. when she
asked the whereabouts Of the missing ihfan''
and into the hut she plunged TOO true, There %
I'm the corner lay the poor little thing a mere
inert black mass with hundreds Of cruel drivers
already swarming upon IT. To seize it and give
n IN the distracted mother was. as the reporter
would saw the work of an instant She gave
cry Of 10y and dropped It instantly into water
barrel where her husband held 1t down with
hoe chuckling contentedly. SILVER not my
friend at the callousness Of the Etnioplah ,na'
,bere thing wasn't an infant-lt was ham,
But we must turn from the innumerabie divert
ing anecdotes in this book for brief considera- 81"
ton Of the commercial and political conditions D
with which Miss Kingsley deals
There is a huge market waiting in Africa for re-
the European she observes, and the thing 'or Poo
England to do is to realize that il she takes over
the administration of tropical Africa II must De
for commercial reason. To missionaries and
socioogists and all other thinkers, she says
tersely: TO me the life blood OF England Is her
trade Her soul, her BRAIN is made OF oener'
things but they should not neglect or spurn the
thing that feeds them commercially more
than they should undervalue the thing that
guards them-the warrior" Her imperialism is
Of the most practical stripe. She does not BELT
tie the ideals and efforts Of missionaries or of
philosophical statesmen: she simply asks them
to reckon with facts and the facts Of West
Africa point to the necessity for the establish
ment of trade relations between that country
and Europe correct basis. West Africa
probably will never be pleasant place wherein
TO spend the winter months" she says; "a holi-
day ground that will serve TO recuperate the
jaded energies Of our poets and painters. IKE
the Alps Italy; probably likewise. It VIII
never be a place where we can ship our over
| flow population: and for the same reason-its' 10
unhealthiness-t will be of to us asslnn
military academy, for troops are none the Sesssd
ter for soaking in malaria and operating againstDg
Harmed antagonists. But West Africa sdafqa
immense to a feeding ground for our
manufacturing classes" The English manu- =.
featuring classes, she continues. doing in
West Africa what they doing everywhere
else in the world leaving it to their American
and Continental competitors to meet the black
or brown or yellow man halfway. Miss Kings
ley repeats the tale that is told over and over
again in recent books Of travel. the tale Of Brit
ish aziness and stupidity nsoently refusing to
see that in the sem-civiliZed or savage markets
of the world if you wish sell anything you
must make sure that il is what the buyer wants.
There is one African railway for which all the
rolling stock was supplied by Belgian makers.
Why? Because English locomotive builders hang
their boilers stiniy and make their engines
too heavy generally for the rough roads of the
region. The Belgians willing TO adapt them
selves to the needs of the African market and
accordingly British makers find their bids re-
jected 1t is gratifying to note that American
enterprise has built UP promising West African.
trade in pumps engines and other machinery.
With an improvement in the trading policy pf
the British in West Africa. Miss Kingsley WAITS
a political administration better fitted than the
present Crown Colony system to the special
needs Of the country. The admirable civil ser
vice of the Empire has not yet been applied as
it should be applied to the region traversed in
this book 1t paints an honest but bunging ad
ministration, directed by the powers in the
Colonial Office at home with the best will in the
world, but with neither the sagacty nor the
discretion that the peculiar conditions Of West
African trade and social development require
Into the intricate problem here raised We need
not enter 1t is sufficient to state that Miss
Kingsey's proposals for new form of govern
ment are based observations of the country
made at first hand and a store of the most
admirable common-sense. Her arguments will
doubtless have weight among thoughtful English
politicians and officials. Among all readers,
whether English American her wise shrewd
humorous and vivid narrative is sure to be found
delightful. Through her gifts as traveller and
a writer she lifts her book far above the plane
on which such studies Of little known regions OF
the earth are usually composed.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL TREASURE.