EX AFRICA By Dr. Hans Sauer
In this account (Ries, x8s.) of his early life in South Africa, from his
birth on a Dutch_ farm to his accompany- ing Rhodes on the dramatic Matabele Indaba of the Matopos, Dr. Sauer amply proves his title : Ex Africa semper aliquid novi. His . description of life among the Dutch farmers of the 'seven- ties and 'eighties is curiously remote and picturesque. Dr. Sauer was a man of action, and his fight against smallpox was only the first incident in an adven- turous life that included imprisonment for taking part in the Jameson raid. His attitude is objective; he is not interested in natives except as part of his difficulties ; the only objects which lead him from cool common sense to heights of lyrical ecstasy are the delicious roast anteroPes (" an oribi saddle is a dish to dream about for years ") and 'game-birds. Dr. Sauer is an excellent shot, and his hunting expeditions with Rhodes and other famous South Africans are well recounted. The book is well 'written, practical, shrewd and incisive, though naturally hardly in sympathy with modern ideals. It ends with an anecdote of Rhodes after the close of the Matebele rebellion, and . Dr. Sauer promises a further volume of his historical reminiscences.
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