SUNSHINE AND STORM IN RHODESIA

Second Edition. 290 pages, frontispiece, folding map, 9 plates, 6 illustrations in the text, red textured cloth worn on the covers, Rowland Ward zebra-skin patterned endpapers printed in red, a good copy.

Mendelssoh (Sidney) South African Bibliography volume 2 page 302: After the close of the Matabele War, Mr. Selous returned to England, but in 1895 was offered an appointment in Matabeleland, and proceeding to Rhodesia, took up the management of the Essexvale Estate in the neighbourhood of Bulawayo. He was busied in the organisation of the property till March 1896, when the rebellion of the natives broke out, and he assumed the command of the H troop of the Bulawayo Field Force, which he retained till the conclusion of hostilities. The author was of opinion that the removal of the police force from Matabeleland to the Transvaal (Jameson Raid), " gave the natives their opportunity to revolt," but he asserts that the leaders of the insurrection had long determined on rising whenever the circumstances were favourable to the movement. The causes of the discontent amongst the natives were, the exaction of " a certain amount of paid labour from every able-bodied man," the confiscation of cattle, and the endeavour on the part of the Matabeles to free themselves from the restraints of a settled form of government. In addition to a full account of the rebellion, there is a supplementary chapter recording some of the author's views on the Anglo-Boer question, in which he states that " a war between the Boers and British can only be a calamity of incalculable dimensions to both races."