DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE KAFFIR WAR OF 1835

xvi + 403pp. Contents clean, binding tight. Publisher's purple cloth binding with gilt titles on spine.

Some 30 years ago, around 1881, the Government of the Cape Colony requested a search to be made by their archivist, Geo. McCall Theal, for the correspondence between Colonel (afterwards Sir Harry) Smith and Governor Bejamin D'Urban which concerned matters relating to the Sixth Frontier War (1834-36). Two volumes of copies of Colonel Smith's letters were found, "but there was no trace of the Governor's replies." Thirty years later, in 1911, Theal was informed by a colleague in England that a grandson of Governor D'Urban living in Exeter was in possession of a great quantity of his grandfather's letters, which included private letters to colonel Smith and many other officials. Mr. D'Urban allowed Theal to copy the correspondence for publication of this volume. These private letters are of very high historical value, as in them the motives of the actors can be more accurately ascertained than in the formal official documents intended for the public eye. (taken from the preface)