Abstract
FORTY years ago Barth was invited to join a mission which the British Government was about to despatch to Central Africa. He accepted the invitation, and was absent from Europe nearly six years, in the course of which he travelled from Tripoli to Bórnu, and from Bórnu to Timbúktu. The account of his explorations, published in 1857 in German and English, was immediately recognized as one of the most important and fascinating of modern books of travel; and even now, after so long an interval, it has lost but little of its interest. In the present volume, which belongs to the Minerva Library, the first half of the great traveller's elaborate work is reproduced with many of the original illustrations. The books of travel by Darwin and Wallace, which have been reissued in the same series, differ considerably from that of Barth, who was not a naturalist; but, as Mr. Bettany, the editor, says, “to make up for this he is extremely rich in topographical, historical, and anthropological details.” Mr. Bettany contributes to the volume a short introduction, in which he brings together some of the leading facts relating ta Earth's career.
Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa.
By Henry Barth. (London: Ward, Lock, and Co., 1890.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 42, 368 (1890). https://doi.org/10.1038/042368b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/042368b0