Eliot's East Africa ProtectorateThe East Africa Protectorate by Charles EliotReview by: Gideon S. WereThe Journal of African History, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1967), pp. 360-361Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/179498 .

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he give any guide to the history of the Turco-Egyptian institution which these men served, or to the history of the regions they were administering. The relevant works by Georges Douin, Richard Gray, Richard Hill and Muhammad Fu'ad Shukri ought surely to have been mentioned, if only as a corrective to the standard British stereotype of the Turkia.

Professor Collins's chapter has some useful information on the historiography of modern Egypt in Arabic, especially for the 'Urabi insurrection and for the development of Egyptian nationalism since I9I9. Work in Arabic on the Sudan might have been more fully noticed: for instance, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Rafi'i, Misr wa-l-Sudan fi Awa'il 'Ahd al-Ihtilall (Cairo, I942), and Na'um Shuqair's important Ta'rrkh al-Siudn...2 (Cairo, n.d. [I903]). Also such recent works of autobiography and reminiscence as: Babikr Badri, Ta'rnkh Hayati3 (Khartoum, 3 vols., 1959-61); Ahmad Khair, Kifhi Jil4(Cairo, 1948); al-Dardiri Muhammad 'Uthman, Mudhakkirit, 1914-585 (Khartoum, n.d. [1962]).

Specialists in other fields might well make similar detailed criticisms; but this book, with its admirable (if not quite infallible) index, will for some years be of great value not only as a guide to published material but as a stimulus to further research.

G. N. SANDERSON Royal Holloway College, University of London

1 Egypt and the Sudan at the Beginning of the Occupation Era. 2 History of the Sudan... 3 The Story of My Life. 4 A Generation's Struggle. 5 My Reminiscences...

ELIOT'S EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE

The East Africa Protectorate. By SIR CHARLES ELIOT. London: Frank Cass & Co., I966. Pp. 318, maps. 48s. It is by no means an easy task to assess the historical value of a book such as

Sir Charles Eliot's The East Africa Protectorate, now at last reprinted by Frank Cass. And this for a number of reasons. The book was written in I904 and first appeared a year later. As such, it contains much useful information based on such facts-historical, geographical, economic, botanical, zoological, climatic, etc.-as were known about present-day Kenya at the beginning of the present century by a very small number of people. Thus, looked at in the light of the particular circumstances in which it was written, and taking into account the extent to which information was available (or not available), Eliot's book must be regarded as a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the country.

Having said that, it must be freely admitted that this book has many odds to contend with-most of them not of its own making! The circumstances in which it was written have long since changed and, moreover, much more information is now available. In particular, so far as straight history is concerned, the position has immensely improved owing to the accessibility of official records, the results of the researches of numerous experts, and the increasing number of publications on the subject. As a historical source, therefore, The East Africa Protectorate has great limitations.

he give any guide to the history of the Turco-Egyptian institution which these men served, or to the history of the regions they were administering. The relevant works by Georges Douin, Richard Gray, Richard Hill and Muhammad Fu'ad Shukri ought surely to have been mentioned, if only as a corrective to the standard British stereotype of the Turkia.

Professor Collins's chapter has some useful information on the historiography of modern Egypt in Arabic, especially for the 'Urabi insurrection and for the development of Egyptian nationalism since I9I9. Work in Arabic on the Sudan might have been more fully noticed: for instance, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Rafi'i, Misr wa-l-Sudan fi Awa'il 'Ahd al-Ihtilall (Cairo, I942), and Na'um Shuqair's important Ta'rrkh al-Siudn...2 (Cairo, n.d. [I903]). Also such recent works of autobiography and reminiscence as: Babikr Badri, Ta'rnkh Hayati3 (Khartoum, 3 vols., 1959-61); Ahmad Khair, Kifhi Jil4(Cairo, 1948); al-Dardiri Muhammad 'Uthman, Mudhakkirit, 1914-585 (Khartoum, n.d. [1962]).

Specialists in other fields might well make similar detailed criticisms; but this book, with its admirable (if not quite infallible) index, will for some years be of great value not only as a guide to published material but as a stimulus to further research.

G. N. SANDERSON Royal Holloway College, University of London

1 Egypt and the Sudan at the Beginning of the Occupation Era. 2 History of the Sudan... 3 The Story of My Life. 4 A Generation's Struggle. 5 My Reminiscences...

ELIOT'S EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE

The East Africa Protectorate. By SIR CHARLES ELIOT. London: Frank Cass & Co., I966. Pp. 318, maps. 48s. It is by no means an easy task to assess the historical value of a book such as

Sir Charles Eliot's The East Africa Protectorate, now at last reprinted by Frank Cass. And this for a number of reasons. The book was written in I904 and first appeared a year later. As such, it contains much useful information based on such facts-historical, geographical, economic, botanical, zoological, climatic, etc.-as were known about present-day Kenya at the beginning of the present century by a very small number of people. Thus, looked at in the light of the particular circumstances in which it was written, and taking into account the extent to which information was available (or not available), Eliot's book must be regarded as a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the country.

Having said that, it must be freely admitted that this book has many odds to contend with-most of them not of its own making! The circumstances in which it was written have long since changed and, moreover, much more information is now available. In particular, so far as straight history is concerned, the position has immensely improved owing to the accessibility of official records, the results of the researches of numerous experts, and the increasing number of publications on the subject. As a historical source, therefore, The East Africa Protectorate has great limitations.

360 360 REVIEWS REVIEWS

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Today, with the accent on the pre-colonial history of Africa about which relatively little is known in comparison to the documented and better-known colonial and post-colonial periods, the present edition of this book will, perhaps, be received with less enthusiasm than would have been the case a decade or so ago or, for that matter, when it first appeared.

For all that, however, The East Africa Protectorate is a valuable historical source. Specific topics of historical interest include, among other things, an account of developments at the coast and Zanzibar, the initial period of coloniza- tion, and the contemporary problems which bedevilled the young Administration. Though it is tenuous on straight history, Eliot's book is a useful reservoir of knowledge in general. Written by a man who was himself involved in the important task of firmly establishing and extending the Administration and, who therefore, was familiar with the contemporary problems-financial, political, administrative, social, etc., this book must surely be rightly regarded as one of the most important products of its time though, of course, many people will probably take exception to many of the author's personal observations.

University College, Nairobi GIDEON S. WERE

DILLEY-ANOTHER NOTABLE REPRINT

British Policy in Kenya Colony. By MARJORIE RUTH DILLEY. London: Frank Cass, I966. Second edition. Pp. 300. 45s. In the I930S three ladies were doing significant work on Kenya's history.

Besides Elspeth Huxley and Margery Perham, there was, unbeknown to either of them, a young American researcher, Marjorie Dilley, beavering away in the Colonial Office library. Her most solid contribution, uninformed by any personal acquaintance with Kenya and smelling of the lamp, appeared in 1937. Typical of then attitudes to Africa, the publishers felt burdened with the book's unsold copies during the war and obtained Miss Dilley's reluctant permission to destroy them. To those of us who started working on Kenya in the 'fifties, her book was an almost impossible treasure to obtain. We must now welcome for our students Frank Cass's initiative in reprinting it.

Newcomers will probably read the book, as we did, with mingled admiration and despair. My well-thumbed copy is scarcely pencil-marked for errors. Miss Dilley was a very thorough worker. She broke for us the ground of the published Colonial Office records and of the Kenya newspapers at Colindale. Then she set out her material topic by topic. With it broken up in this way, one may not always see the interconnexion between topics. Perhaps fortunately for your reviewer, Miss Dilley left room for a consecutive narrative.

Then, her book was somewhat narrowly about 'British policy'. We learn of the European settlers' reaction, and something about that of the Asians, but, most surprisingly for an American, Miss Dilley did not seem interested in what Africans thought. There is no mention of Kenyatta or of Harry Thuku. The various Kikuyu associations and their submissions to the Hilton Young and Morris Carter commissions did not move Miss Dilley. In 1937 she could feel that the people who deserved indexing were European settlers: C. K. Archer, T. J. O'Shea and J. A. Cable. Other settlers also appear in the text who are not

Today, with the accent on the pre-colonial history of Africa about which relatively little is known in comparison to the documented and better-known colonial and post-colonial periods, the present edition of this book will, perhaps, be received with less enthusiasm than would have been the case a decade or so ago or, for that matter, when it first appeared.

For all that, however, The East Africa Protectorate is a valuable historical source. Specific topics of historical interest include, among other things, an account of developments at the coast and Zanzibar, the initial period of coloniza- tion, and the contemporary problems which bedevilled the young Administration. Though it is tenuous on straight history, Eliot's book is a useful reservoir of knowledge in general. Written by a man who was himself involved in the important task of firmly establishing and extending the Administration and, who therefore, was familiar with the contemporary problems-financial, political, administrative, social, etc., this book must surely be rightly regarded as one of the most important products of its time though, of course, many people will probably take exception to many of the author's personal observations.

University College, Nairobi GIDEON S. WERE

DILLEY-ANOTHER NOTABLE REPRINT

British Policy in Kenya Colony. By MARJORIE RUTH DILLEY. London: Frank Cass, I966. Second edition. Pp. 300. 45s. In the I930S three ladies were doing significant work on Kenya's history.

Besides Elspeth Huxley and Margery Perham, there was, unbeknown to either of them, a young American researcher, Marjorie Dilley, beavering away in the Colonial Office library. Her most solid contribution, uninformed by any personal acquaintance with Kenya and smelling of the lamp, appeared in 1937. Typical of then attitudes to Africa, the publishers felt burdened with the book's unsold copies during the war and obtained Miss Dilley's reluctant permission to destroy them. To those of us who started working on Kenya in the 'fifties, her book was an almost impossible treasure to obtain. We must now welcome for our students Frank Cass's initiative in reprinting it.

Newcomers will probably read the book, as we did, with mingled admiration and despair. My well-thumbed copy is scarcely pencil-marked for errors. Miss Dilley was a very thorough worker. She broke for us the ground of the published Colonial Office records and of the Kenya newspapers at Colindale. Then she set out her material topic by topic. With it broken up in this way, one may not always see the interconnexion between topics. Perhaps fortunately for your reviewer, Miss Dilley left room for a consecutive narrative.

Then, her book was somewhat narrowly about 'British policy'. We learn of the European settlers' reaction, and something about that of the Asians, but, most surprisingly for an American, Miss Dilley did not seem interested in what Africans thought. There is no mention of Kenyatta or of Harry Thuku. The various Kikuyu associations and their submissions to the Hilton Young and Morris Carter commissions did not move Miss Dilley. In 1937 she could feel that the people who deserved indexing were European settlers: C. K. Archer, T. J. O'Shea and J. A. Cable. Other settlers also appear in the text who are not

36I 36I REVIEWS REVIEWS

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