The travels of Prince Henri in 1895 from China to the valley of the Bramaputra covered a distance of 2100 miles, of which 1600 was through absolutely unexplored country. No fewer than seventeen ranges of mountains were crossed at altitudes of from 11,000 to 13,000 feet. The journey was made memorable by the discovery of the sources of the Irrawaddy. To the physical difficulties of the journey were added dangers from the attacks of savage tribes. The book deals with many of the burning political problems of the East, and it will be found a most important contribution to the literature of adventure and discovery.
Few Europeans have had the same opportunity of studying the barbarous parts of Africa as Mr. Decle. Starting from the Cape, he visited in succession Bechuanaland, the Zambesi, Matabeleland and Mashonaland, the Portuguese settlement on the Zambesi, Nyasaland, Ujiji, the headquarters of the Arabs, German East Africa, Uganda (where he saw fighting in company with the late Major 'Roddy' Owen), and British East Africa. In his book he relates his experiences, his minute observations of native habits and customs, and his views as to the work done in Africa by the various European Governments, whose operations he was able to study. The whole journey extended over 7000 miles, and occupied exactly three years.
The Turkish prohibition against all European travel in their African Pashalics has, during the last seventeen years, rendered impossible both geographical and archæological research. The author, however, was enabled to make two journeys through the hill range of Tripoli in 1895 and 1896, and this volume deals chiefly with a remarkable series of megalithic Temples and Trilithons, which he found to exist there in extraordinary numbers. These ruins have hitherto been quite uninvestigated, and to Englishmen should have an exceptional interest, from the light it is believed they will throw on our own national monument of Stonehenge. In all about one hundred sites were visited and photographed, and the volume will be fully illustrated by maps, plans, and photographs. Chapters will also be devoted to modern Tripoli, the little visited ruins of Leptes Magna, the ancient and modern geography of the district generally, and the author's personal experiences.
