JOURNALS OF TWO VISITATIONS IN THE YEARS 1848 AND 1850

A JOURNAL OF THE BISHOP'S VISITATION TOUR THROUGH THE CAPE COLONY, IN 1848, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE VISIT TO THE ISLAND OF ST. HELENA, IN 1849, 113 pages, folding map.

 Bound with:

 A JOURNAL OF THE BISHOP'S VISITATION TOUR THROUGH THE CAPE COLONY, IN 1850, 227 pages, folding map, Second edition.

113 + 227 pages, 2 folding maps, original brown cloth blind stamped on front and back covers and titled gilt on the spine which has been neatly repaired at the top and bottom, a very good copy.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography, volume 1, page 627/8: 'The diocese over which Bishop Gray ruled was at this period the largest in the world with the exception of Calcutta, and contained not less than 250,000 square miles. His first visitation was commenced on August 24, 1848, and extended throughout the Cape Colony, including Kaffraria and the Albany districts. All through the tour the ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church received the Bishop kindly and hospitably, and on nearly every occasion placed their pulpits at his disposal whenever required. The journal contains an excellent description of the state of the Colony in the middle of the nineteenth century, the author visiting a very large number of towns, villages, and missionary and other settlements. He was present at the celebrated meeting of Sir Harry Smith with the K*****r chiefs at King William's Town on October 7, 1848, and gives an account of the proceedings at which Sandilli, Makoma, and Umhalla were present, Kreli not arriving till the next day. The tour was extended to Kaffraria, then suffering from the ravages of the K****r War, and was completed on December 21st.

‘The tour recorded in Part II. was commenced on April 1, 1850, and consists of a journey through the Karroo to Colesberg, crossing the Orange River into the Sovereignty, and from thence to Natal, Faku's country, British Kaffraria, and the Eastern Province. The journey occupied nearly nine months, the Bishop arriving at Cape Town at the end of the year.’