Seven Khoi Lives. Cape biographies of the seventeenth century

8vo; original olive boards, lettered in white on spine; laminated pictorial dustwrapper, housed in protector; pp. 216, incl. index. Fine condition.

"Seven Khoi lives contains the biographies of seven people - five men and two women - who played an important role in the early colonial history of South Africa during the seventeenth century. Each of these individuals, who comprise tribal chiefs and captains, interpreters in the service of the Dutch and other partially westernised Khoikhoi, attempted in his or her own way to adjust to the changing realities of Southern Africa in their time, though ultimately with little success. By the end of the century the Khoi tribes of the South-Western Cape had lost their cohesion and were no longer a force to be feared or even reckoned with in further developments."