Abstract
THE author of this book explains that he does not offer it as “one of travel over unknown ground” or “as one of dangerous adventures and hardships.” His aim simply is to bring before his readers a description of an Englishman's life in “the most interesting but deadly colony of Sierra Leone.” He has done his work well, and the book will be cordially welcomed by all who have any special reason for wishing to obtain clear and accurate information about this part of the West African coast. The volume consists chiefly of letters written while Mr. Banbury was at Sierra Leone, and has therefore a freshness and vividness which it would have been hard for him to match in a more elaborate and formal work. The most valuable chapters are those in which he sets forth the impressions produced upon him by the natives, in whose ideas and customs, as here depicted, there is an odd mixture of Christianity and the lowest forms of paganism. Mr. Banbury has a strong belief in the power of education to improve the character of the native population, and he urges that more strenuous efforts should be made for the establishment of proper schools. It is tolerably certain that if permanent good cannot be done to the colony by this means there is no other way in which real progress can be secured, for, as Mr. Banbury points out, the un-healthiness of the climate prevents any large increase of the number of European settlers.
Sierra Leone; or, the White Man's Grave.
By G. A. Lethbridge Banbury. (London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co., 1888.)
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Our Book Shelf . Nature 38, 244 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038244a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038244a0