The Far Interior

‘Mr. Kerr remarks that he did not carry out “an expedition in the accepted meaning of that term,” observing, “My journey was undertaken alone; I was unaided, and had no companionship of white men, neither had I a corps of regularly enlisted carriers.” He claims that, under these circumstances, the recital of his experiences “should present a very clear reflection of the natural life of some of the races in South- East Equatorial Africa,” as he travelled free from the “natural suspicion or prejudice” which generally prevails among the natives when “regularly organised bodies of men, total strangers to the communities they meet with,” pass through their country. He says, “I lived during a large stretch of my travels as the Kaffirs lived, mingling freely with them, and my opportunities ... for observing closely the modes and conditions of native life were unusually good.” Mr. Kerr was “the first white to traverse the great extent of territory stretching between Cape Colony and the Lake Regions of Central Africa,” and his account of Lobengula, his capital, harem, and the inhabitants of his country is vivid and picturesque, affording a capital description of the state of the country at this period, with interesting notes regarding the few white inhabitants then residing there.In discussing the gold regions between Matabeleland and Tete, the author maintains that he has “been careful to speak of things just as he found them without colour and without gloom,” but he had not discovered anything of so certain a nature that he could “speak with hope and confidence of success in that direction.” Mendelssohn (Sydney) South African Bibliography, volume 1, pages 812/3

The work is an important contribution to the history of exploration in South-East Equatorial Africa, and contains an excellent account of the physical features of these regions, and of their fauna, inhabitants, etc, and the volume contains a portrait of the author, a number of illustrations, and a route map.’

Two Volumes: I. xvi+318; II. xvi + 316 pages, frontispiece portrait of the author in volume I (a laid down photograph), engraved frontispiece in volume II, 30 plates and text illustration, folding map at the end of volume II with the author's route indicated in red.

In original olive green boards with gilt sun and vignette of Africa, with gilt title on spine and upper covers. Vol. 1 is very lightly cracked at hinge but holding firmly with two small articles pasted opposite ex-libris sticker.  There is some very mild foxing at the beginning and end of this volume. While Vol. 2 is in marginally better condition, it does have slightly more foxing in the corresponding places. A very good set.