to one's use.



_Negro Culture In West Africa_. By George W. Ellis, K.C., F.R.G.S. The
Neale Publishing Co., New York, 1914. 290 pages. $2.00 net.

This study by Mr. Ellis of the culture of West Africa as represented by
the Vai tribe, is valuable both as a document and as a scientific
treatment of an important phase of the color problem. As a document it
is an additional and a convincing piece of evidence of the ability of
the Negro to treat scientifically so intricate a problem as the rise,
development, and meaning of the social institutions of a people. Easy,
yet forceful in style; well documented with footnotes and cross
references; amply illustrated with twenty-seven real representations of
tools, weapons, musical instruments and other pieces of handwork;
containing, incidentally, a good bibliography of the subject; and
finally, with its conclusions condensed in the last four pages, it is a
book excellent in plan and in execution. The map, however, which has
been selected for the book is overcrowded and, therefore, practically
useless.

As a scientific study, its value is suggested by the topics emphasized,
viz., "Climate," "Institutions," "Foreign Influence," "Proverbs,"
"Folklore," and "Writing System." Referring to the climate the author
says: "In West Africa the body loses its strength, the memory its
retentiveness, and the will its energy. These are the effects observed
upon persons remaining in West Africa only for a short time, and they
form a part of the experience of almost every person who has lived on
the West Coast. White persons,--with beautiful skin, clear and soft, and