THE GOLDFIELDS OF MASHONALAND (1894)

Publisher's brown cloth binding with gilt titles to spine.

99pp with plans + twenty-one fold-out maps at rear.

Binding sound. Contents clean.

The author, Arthur Robert Sawyer, was for some period manager and engineer to a company in the Zoutpansberg District of the Transvaal, and gives a Geological and Technical Description of the Mashonaland Mines. The Mashonaland district later became Rhodesia, which is present-day Zimbabwe. In 1893 he made a trip to Mashonaland, which had to be cut short due to rising tensions between the British Settlers and Natives. In his Preface he expresses the hope that, in spite of the shortness of time he had at his disposal to carry out field work, enough had been written to convey a general idea of the nature of the Goldfields and of the geology of Mashonaland. He believed that Mashonaland had every appearance of becoming a large gold-producing country.

Chapters are as follows:

1.) General Geological Features.

2.) Description of Rocks and Minerals Occurring in Mashonaland.

3.) The Victoria Goldfield.

4.) The Manica or Umtali Goldfield.

5.) The Upper Umfuli Goldfield.

6.) The Salisbury Goldfield.

7.) The Concession Hill Goldfield.

8.) The Other Goldfields.

9.) Climate in 1893, with Extracts from Diary.

10.) Description of a Mashona Furnace.

11.) General Remarks.

12.) LIST OF COMPANIES HAVING INTERESTS IN MASHONALAND AND MATABELELAND.

A very scarce title!