Abstract
IN this volume Mr. Crouch presents a record of the impressions made upon him by the land and people of certain portions of West Africa, which he visited in connection with the laying of a cable to put various places, principally French and Portuguese, in telegraphic communication with Europe. A large part of the book is devoted to an account of what he saw during his passage from Accra, on the Gold Coast, to the Portuguese island of St. Thomé. Afterwards we have a full description of St. Thomé and St. Paul de Loanda, and in several concluding chapters the author sums up the incidents of his voyage homewards. Mr. Crouch is so good an observer, and has so frank and lively a style, that his narrative, taken as a whole, is fresh and interesting, although his subject is often, apart from his treatment of it, dreary enough. He is particularly successful in those passages in which he seeks to give his readers glimpses of native customs and superstitions. It is worthy of note that he has formed a very unfavourable judgment as to the intellectual and moral qualities of the Negro race; but on this question, with regard to which he differs widely from Mr. Stanley, he perhaps speaks rather more positively than the extent of his experience warrants.
Glimpses of Feverland: or, A Cruise in West Africa Waters.
By Archer P. Crouch B. A. Oxon. (London: Sampson Low, 1889.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Glimpses of Feverland: or, A Cruise in West Africa Waters. Nature 40, 53 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/040053a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/040053a0