Abstract
DR. MATTHEWS left England in 1864, soon after he had taken his medical degree. He settled, in the first instance, at Verulam, in Natal, where he was appointed a district surgeon. Afterwards he became familiar with many different parts of South Africa, and especially with the Diamond Fields, the inhabitants of which twice returned him at the head of the poll to represent them in the councils of their country. He is not a very skilful writer, but any one who will take the trouble to read his long and somewhat elaborate narrative will be rewarded by obtaining a great amount of solid and more or less interesting information. He has naturally much to say about the population of the Diamond Fields, and about the process of diamond mining, and on these subjects he speaks with the authority of one who presents the results of direct personal observation. He has also brought together a good many curious and instructive facts about the native tribes; and his descriptions of scenery, if not brilliant from a literary point of view, at any rate suffice to convey a general impression of some of the districts he has visited. The work will be of considerable service to Englishmen who think of settling in South Africa.
Incwadi Yama: or Twenty Years' Personal Experience in South Africa.
By J. W. Matthews (London: Sampson Low, 1887.)
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Our Book Shelf . Nature 38, 295 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038295a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038295a0