LITERATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3518, 16 August 1921, Page 54

LITERATURE.

150 OK NOTICES. “Sun, Sand, and Somals. i .eaves from tlie Notebook of a District ( omniis- j sinner in British Somaliland.’ 1 By : Major H. Rayne, M.8.K.. M.C. j London : H. F. and U. V. itherby. This book, which is forwarded by tlie firm of Hebblethwaite, Ferhani, and Co., Reeds, is a -vvell-got-up and breezily written account of experiences of tlie writer as district commissioner m tlie arid region of Somaliland, where meet of the time he was stationed at the port of Zeila. Boidering the gulf of Aden and bounded south-westward by the arid pla- j teatis and mountains of Abyssinia, British | Somaliland is one of the most barren and : uninviting of British dependencies. Many tribes besides the Somali inhabit the region j between the coast and Abvssiira, all wild , and warlike. The Komali. “stoutest of j Mussulmans, ’’ seems to have plenty of j enterprise. “You will til id huvi,” says | Major Rayne, “as deck hand, fireman, or steward, on ail the great liners trading to the East. I know of a komali j tobacconist in Cardiff, a Somali mechanic in New York, and a ,Somali trader in Bombay. the latter of whom speaks ; French, English, and Italian tluently. ! The Somali considers that British magistrates are appointed to diis country solely j to relieve the montonv of his life, and j he pesters theirs with all kinds of eases, i both petty and intricate." Major Rayne j gives some highly-amusing reports of the j cases he was called on to decide in his j capacity of magistrate. Ke «notes Bur- J ton’s description of the Somals of Zeila district. “In character they are childish and docile, cunning and deficient in judgment, kind, and fickle, good-humoured and irascible, warm-hearted and infamous for cruelty and treachery.” To the average European and to nearly all other African tribes the name of Somal is anathema. The European powers, Britain, France, and Italy, who control territory inhabited by ,Somals wisely pursue the policy of interfering as little as possible with them I and their ways. But some individuals | are of a much higher type, and of such was j Mahomed Fara, the faithful servant for j many years of Major Rayne, a true man, j and, despite the wild strain in him,a gentle- j man at heart. "Although he is black j and 1 am white I am proud to call him j friend.” One chapter gives a picture of j Zeila during Ramathan—the Mahomedan j month of fasting and prayer. The fast j is a much more serious matter than the j Lenten fast prescribed by the Catholic j Church. It entails complete absention J during the day time, not only from food, i but from even a sup of water, the latter j rule particularly trying when Ramathan j falls, as in Zeiia of the major's picture, j in the long, scorching days of midsummer. All who can sleep through the day and divide the night between praying and feasting. V\ hen work must be done it naturally is done languidly and ineffectually, and European households are uncomfortable during* the fast. In 1920 Major Rayne took part in the operations which put an end to tlie career of “the Mad Mullah,” who for years had been j terrorising eastern Somaliland, looting villages and murdering their inhabitants. I “How the Mullah had put to the sword j the men, women, and children of one j whole section of a tribe because, while I being shown over a fort in the course j of construction by their heal man, a I wooden beam had fallen and broken his j arm, was related to me a few days before j she died by a poor woman, one of the few survivors.” Pearl-fishing is a promi- ! uent native industry. The pearling Jhows ! carry a crew of from five to 12 men, and | the diver’s equipment is very primitive— | a small canoe, a paraffin tin cut in half | with a pane of glass soldered in the | bottom, and a. few nieces of bent wire to j close bis nostrils when diving. The call- I ing has tlie fascination of uncertainty. Major Rayne possesses a gift of descrip- j tion which makes the scenes and manners of Zeila vividly real to his readers, and. ! moreover, an enlivening vein of humour. I The attractiveness of’ an entertaining! narrative is enhanced bv a considerable ‘ number of good illustrations. “Swamp Breath.” Bv Robert Simpson, j author of ‘The ’ Bite of Benin.” j Hodder and Stoughton, London Mr Robert Simpson made his mark in j fiction by “The Bite of Benin,” of which a third edition is now published. It was j praised by the British Weekly as “the j most striking and original novel of tlie j year.” The scene of the new story is in j the same pestilential region, and the storv ! itself is a powerful presentment of the | tragedy of English life in a country for- j hidden to the white man by nature. | “When the Niger River flow's past a. j man’s doorstep it is advisable, even if the news you bring is good, to approach • that man with caution. Because, though ! he may in all likelihood welcome von ; with tears of thankfulness in his eves, j though he may in generous abandon insist I in pouring all sorts of strong waters down ! your throat, and become eminently i hilarious in your honour, he may just as i readily swear like n gin-tank skipper and 1 hurl the empty bottles at your head. Life j that is largely made up of prickly heat, j quinine pills, and malaria fever; of canned ! food, mosquito clouds, and sanTtlies of j fetid swamp, blazing sun, and copious j perspiration—of an incessant thirst ‘ that < am be answered only with a lukewarm | I rink- of compulsory and constant asso- I nation with oneself in the midst of greasy, j malodorous natives who worship 'a ! thousand unknown gods in waxes that are ! d range and awful- life of that sort is i likely to do anything to a man accord- ! ing to his capacity for punishment.” In ( such an environment it is all too natural i j :.o seek temporary solace and .stimulation | | n incessant whiskies and soda or gin and j « litter-; and if these lose their power a I i ’a.r more deadly brew is available, a j i

diabolical native compound, “yak.u water,” which seems to excel all other drugs hi power to destroy man body and soul, lwo of the men of the story fail victims to it, one taking it wittingly, without at first recognising its full dead I mess, the other poisoned by the callous villain who covets his wife.' Both take ti e drug through the medium of tobacco, which in the latter case is moistened with it without the knowledge of the \ ictim. The earlier victim, a simple, good-hearted lad, lately out from England, dies, officially of heal t-lailure; the second, after being brought to the lowest depths, is finally rescued. Ihe two women of the .-Tory are strongly contrasted. Muriel Barstow is beautiful, gracious in outward seeming, irreproachable for long through coldness of temperament, bat utterly selfish, vain, but coveting public celebrity more than the ordinary homage to beauty. She accompanies her husband to West Africa to gam the work!';- applause for wifely devotion, taking with her piles of newspaper clippings telling of her and her doilies. "Muriel lid not have a soul, She bartered it long ago for a couple of sticks of type.” And with her goes as companion her opposite, Eileen Ellesmere, who has keen engaged in an informal way to „ *' ue hapless young Bobbie Loving. Eileen bad a very settled conviction that !lee;!l 1 her, or someone like her, quite badly, which is always her type of woman s sufficient excuse for loviii » anvThe book possesses unusiTal inteiest, mostly of a painful kind. There are terrible scenes where the yak a victim ti!' os ty to or struggles the murderous impulses excited bv the poison. Tor its vivid painting of the scenes and people of the Lower Niger and its poignant human interest ‘‘Swamp Breath” is an unforgettable Look.