THE SAVAGE LIFE (1876) - A Memoir of the Early Days of the Kimberley Diamond Fields

The Savage Life. A Second Series of "Camp Notes".

332 pages. Half leather and marbled boards, the title to the spine. The rear board has come loose from the binding. pages clean and bright.

Neat old bookplate of James Hamilton Russell on the front pastedown.

'Several of the chapters are illustrative of early days on the diamond fields, 1871-2, and "My Adventures at Pniel," and "The Price of my Diamonds," bring back vividly the names of the pioneers and their haunts, and the exciting life of the diggers. In "A Story of the Transvaal," the author states, "I had once occasion to look into the title of 'Vooruitzicht' - the farm now christened Kimberley, but famous through all time as New Rush Diamond Fields. That property was sold upon the strength of a registered division or settlement, which proved on later investigation to be a forgery." It is related how litigant after litigant appeared, each claiming the property, until Government stepped in and stopped all lawsuits, "paying the sum of 100,000 pounds for the estate. Each of the plaintiffs knew, and was proved to know, that his case rested on a falsehood. In spite of that evidence, I am not prepared to dispute their honesty in general, nor their profound sense of religion. Is not the Boer beyond understanding?"' - Mendelssohn Vol.I