Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls: The Letters and Journals of Frank Oates, 1873-1875

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Limited Edition This is No 504 of 1500 numbered Copies

Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls: The Letters and Journals of Frank Oates, 1873-1875

Hardcover

Publisher: The Pioneer Head Salisbury, Rhodesia 1971(A Facsimile Reprint of the original book of 1881)

Used - Very Good. This book is in very good condition. The DJ is in a poor condition it has some limited signs of wear and tear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. The book is protected with a Cellophane cover.

A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Interior of South Africa. From the Letters & Journals of the late Frank Oates.

Includes sections on Ethnology, Ornithology, Herpetology, Entymology and Botany.

383p with many illustrations and 4 fold-out maps. 

This book draws on the original diaries, letters and sketches of Frank Oates to paint a vivid picture of the Victorian exploration of Central Africa. It documents his encounters with legendary rulers such as King Lobengula of the Ndebele and larger-than-life characters like the ivory hunter Frederick Selous, and records Oates final, fatal trek through the Zambezi Valley towards Victoria Falls. Offering the modern reader an unparalleled view of nineteenth-century Africa at a period of transition, Matabeleland and The Victoria Falls is detailed, personal, and compelling.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography volume 2 page 112: Frank Oates was born near Leeds on April 6, 1840, and was educated at Oxford. After a tour in the Rocky Mountains he formed a plan for an expedition to visit the Zambesi Falls via Natal, and accompanied by his brother, Mr. W. E. Oates, sailed for South Africa in March 1873. The brothers fitted out their expedition at Maritzburg, and travelled through the Transvaal and Bechuanaland, visiting the Tati district, soon after which Mr. W. E. Oates returned to England. Frank Oates proceeded to Bulawayo, and he gives an interesting account of Matabeleland at this period. He was well received by Lobengula, who gave him considerable assistance, but owing to many delays he made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the falls, and did not arrive there until the last day of the year 1874 ; soon after which he was attacked by fever, and died on the return journey to Tati early in February 1875.

His account of Matabeleland is one of the best of the earlier modern works on the country, and the volume possesses a number of coloured and chromo plates, a portrait of Mr. Oates, and several maps and other illustrations. The appendices contain an article on South African Ethnology by Dr. George Rolleston, and catalogues and descriptions of the ornithological, botanical, and entomological collections formed by Mr. Oates.

One of the chromolithographic plates is a particularly fine view of the Victoria Falls (Western extremity).


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