The Expansion of South Africa. By the Hon. A. Wilmot.
(T. Fisher Unwin.)—Mr. Wilmot, who is a member of the Legislative Council of the Cape Colony, traces the history of the colony from the early days of Portuguese discovery through the vicissitudes of Dutch and English occupation. It is in some respects a dark story, but it may fairly be said that the English come out of it better than any one else. They are certainly not so blood-guilty in the matter of the natives ; we mean especially the Bushmen and the Hottentots. The future before the colony seems, to the writer of the book, and with excellent reason, to be a great one. Of Lobengula he has nothing that is good to say. "A merciless monster," is his summing up. So far as this personage is con- cerned, the reader may consult with advantage Three Years with Lobengula and Experiences in South Africa, by J. Cooper-Chadwick (Cassell and Co.) Here is a curious incident which we would commend to the consideration of the Aborigines Protection Society. A certain concession had been granted to Messrs. Rhodes and Rudd, mainly on the advice of a certain Loch& described by our author "as the most intelligent and 'far-seeing of the indunas." The Society wrote to the King advising him not to grant the con- cession. Thereupon the King, to justify himself to his people, turned to Loch6, and said,—" You are the man who has given away my country," and had him killed at once. Loch.% anyhow, was not " protected" by the Society.
Previous page
