WITH WILSON IN MATABELELAND

First edition: xiv, 322 pages + 14 pages publisher's adverts, folding map as frontispiece, numerous illustrations, printed on coated paper, starting to wear at the front hinge, blue cloth titled gilt on the upper cover and spine, a good copy.

Czech (Kenneth) An annotated Bibliography of African Big Game Hunting Books, 1785 to 1999, page 82 – 83: Donovan landed at Cape Town in 1893 to enjoy a big game hunt into the veldt country near the Limpopo River. Buffalo, eland and sable were collected with hippo bagged on the Umtelique River and additional sport after lion and kudu. The sporting adventure had just come to an end when the First Matabele War erupted, with the author participating in that action.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography vol.1 page 479: When the expedition was first being arranged, Captain Donovan told Mr. Rhodes of his plans, and was advised by him to alter them, in the conviction, six months previous to the event, that war would break out later on. The shooting party travelled via Pretoria and Pietersberg to the territory of the Chartered Company, and had excellent sport. The war breaking out, the author seems to have attached himself to the forces, but without any official position. He saw many engagements, and gives a good account of the battle of Shangani River, recording the effects of the Maxims on black and white combatants. Many instances are related detailing the bravery, insolence, and savage habits of the Matabele, who seem to have inspired terror, not only among the Mashonas, but even amongst the Boer and British settlers, for whose timidity some contempt is expressed. Among other inaccuracies, it is stated that the Matabele are descended from the Fingos. The writer admits that at first he did not know whether the war was justified, but that later on he was convinced that it was not only justifiable but absolutely necessary.