LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS;; Or Wanderings in South Africa
Richard Bentley. 1848 London, 2nd revised edn, 363pp, 16 wood-engraved text illustrations. Original blind stamped cloth, very good clean copy, front inner hinge tender. Item #004371
'A journal of an eight months' sporting expedition through the Eastern Province to the Orange and Vaal Rivers, Waterboer's country (Griqualand West), and thence in a north-easterly direction to the junction of the Mariqua and Limpopo Rivers as far as Moselekatse's old capital, in what was afterwards known as the Transvaal.' In Kuruman they met the missionaries Moffat, Hamilton and Livingstone who gave them 'much information .. respecting the country and its natives, and many valuable botanical and geological notes will be found in the work. The main interest of the volume, however, centers in the description of the game animals, and there are a number of well-drawn illustrations of the heads and horns of various species of antelopes met with in the course of the expedition. 'Czech, page 114: 'An early work of travel and sport, in this the author trekked to the Orange and Vaal rivers, eventually venturing into Griqualand during an eight-moth sporting safari. He hunted elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, eland, sable, giraffe, gemsbok, and other game, including quite a few encounters with buffalo: "..a man is safer even under the paws of a wounded lion, than under the head of an infuriated buffalo." Much of the book is written in journal form.'
Price: $350.00