Matabeleland and the Victoria Falls - A Naturalist\'s Wanderings in the Interior of South Africa

Beautifully illustrated - with tissue paper divisions, colour plates and maps. Rebound & original cover intact, with replaced end papers, gilt spine title lettering. Original pictorial cloth, with picture of zebras watching sunset on front cover. Foxing at end of book. pp. 383. Title page inscribed,\'Mr \'Walter D. Jeremy, With the Editor’s kind regards, December 1882.\'

Mendelssohn II, 112: \'His account of Matabeleland is one of the best of the earlier modern works on the country\'.

Frank Oates (1840–1875) was a British naturalist and explorer who was one of the first Europeans to see the Victoria Falls. He was also uncle to the Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates.

Born in Yorkshire in 1840 he entered Christ Church College, Oxford, to read Natural Sciences in 1860, but due to ill-health failed to complete his studies. After visiting the Americas in 1871 in an attempt to re-establish his health, he set sail for Africa in 1873.

Oates visited the Falls in full flood on 31 December 1874.

Oates died of malaria on his return journey, before he had time to write up his notes and journal of the experience.

Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls; A Naturalist\'s Wanderings in the Interior of South Africa is the collection of his journals and letters home, which were edited by his brother, Charles George Oates. This book contains detailed descriptions of flora and fauna plus drawings and detailed maps based on Oates\' observations.