Abstract
MR. CARDINALL has written a pleasant, readable book, full of good spirits and tempered with good sense. The author has had many years experi ence in tropical Africa as a resident magistrate, and he writes mainly of his first journey and impressions. This method gives a clear picture of conditions which are changing rapidly, but the observations are necessarily superficial though accurate so far as they go. The book can scarcely be regarded as a contribution to anthropology, although many items of interest concerning native life, customs, and belief are mentioned, and this is to be regretted, as the author seems always to have been on excellent terms with the natives. Quite unexpected is the account of the snail industry; for the gathering, curing, and selling of snails for food by the forest peoples is so well organised as to be nothing less. The author states that no estimate has ever been made of their trade value, but that it must be ‘colossal’; a few years ago the local chiefs forbade snailcatching for three years, for fear of complete destruction of the stock. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the description of the Great North Road from Kumasie which leads to “Timbucktu, the desert, and to the unknown mysteries of Africa.” On the whole, one learns that, in spite of flies, “the land of death” is a cheery place for a sojourn so long as there is just enough work to do.
In Ashanti and Beyond.
A. W.
Cardinall
By. Pp. 288 + 16 plates. (London: Seeley, Service and Co. Ltd., 1927) 21s. net.
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In Ashanti and Beyond . Nature 120, 837 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/120837a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/120837a0