Langalibalele and the amaHlubi Tribe; Being Remarks upon the Official Record of the Trials of the Chief, his Sons and Induna, and Other Members of the amaHlubi Tribe. By the Bishop of Natal

Imperial Blue Book [C.-1141]. 315 x 210 mm; new blue card wrappers with printed title label to upper cover; pp. v + (i) + 166; regular light browning; one hand-stamp. Very good condition. (Mendelssohn I, pp. 363-4 [Spottiswoode printing]; SABIB I, p. 584) An outstanding document, exposing violations of the rights of tribal peoples in Victorian Natal. Thomas Pakenham writes: \"Now Colenso ... risked a lynching to expose what he proved were a series of atrocities against the Hlubi and Putini. He took his documents to London and showed them to Lord Carnarvon, and Carnarvon reluctantly agreed that he was right. [Governor] Pine was sacked. The Putini were to be compensated. Langalibalele and his people were to be released. It was Colenso\'s triumph.\" (The Scramble for Africa, p. 49) \'It is asserted that, \"Within the last twelve months, since November 1, 1873, two tribes within the Colony of Natal - that of Langalibalele, numbering 10,000 people, and that of Putini, numbering 5000 - have been dispersed and destroyed by the Natal Government. The former tribe has been outlawed, its chief transported for life, and one of his sons for five years ... the lands of both tribes have been confiscated; their cattle, goats, &c., and all their property of all kinds ... seized by the Government.\" ... Bishop Colenso was thoroughly convinced that great injustice had been done to the chiefs and their tribes, but his attitude was severely censured \"by a large majority\" of the colonists, and it was stated that he had voluntarily thrown himself into this important question, \"which did not lie in his path of duty.\" The report is taken paragraph by paragraph, and criticised in an exhaustive manner, and there are important notes explaining much in the text which would possibly be unintelligible except to South African colonists.\' - Mendelssohn I, pp. 363-4.