Travel in South Africa Kindle Edition

This travelogue was published in 1921. From the Foreword:This volume is one which does not fall within any well defined literary category. Such a production is liable to be criticised less for what it is than for what different readers may think it purports to be or should have been. In the circumstances it may be useful at the outset to explain the aim and scope of the volume. It deals with travel in the Union of South Africa, without, however, any pretence of conveying the last word on such travel ; indeed the volume is confined to what was seen and felt by only one party of travellers, and they did not see everything. There has been no attempt to describe the Union in detail. Not much, for instance, has been set down about the remarkable development, and the even more remarkable prospects, in South African farming, manufacturing, and general industries. These are diffuse, complex, and important subjects that should preferably be handled separately by competent authorities. They have therefore been reserved for other publications, and the present volume has been confined to the subject of travel ; an account of the tour being given under the " we " of the party whose experiences and opinions are set down. The only reason for publishing this material is that as the party travelled the Union recently and extensively much that has been set down in these pages will, it is believed, be fresh, at least to readers outside South Africa, and of sufficient general interest to warrant perusal by whoever may be seeking a little-known but remarkable field of travel. ...........................................................................................Excerpt from the Introduction:South Africa is one of the most attractive countries in the world. Its charm would be hard to analyse, but undoubtedly it exists. This cannot be set down entirely to climate, beautiful though that is, or to the wide expanse of the rolling veld, or to the grandeur of its mountains, or to the charm of its woodland scenery. The real cause lies deeper, and results in the fact that to those who have made South Africa their home, and even to those who have made only a temporary sojourn there, it will always remain the one country to which they desire to return. — Dominions Royal Commission. Properly to appreciate South Africa — what it stands for and may develop into, one should know something of Africa as a whole, the continent usually known as " dark," but where nevertheless civilisation had its infancy, and where it may yet have a high manifestation. Africa was the last continent to be explored, but the first to figure in history. Nine-tenths of it has no authentic record, and until modern times was little affected by civilising influences. But the tenth part — the northern fringe of the continent, what other portion of the world has had so varied and so wonder- ful a past ? This was the Africa of Hannibal, all- conquering in its day ; the monumental Africa of the Pharaohs, socially and architecturally spectacular beyond anything before or since ; the Africa of the Ptolemies, boasting a rule almost modern in its enlightenment ; the literary brilliant Africa Augustine knew ; the Africa of Antony and Cleopatra, steeped in romance.But, even in that northern area, the ancient grandeur is gone. Solitude and decay have taken its place. So completely is this so, that, travelling in Egypt or Algeria to-day, it is with something of shock one realises, not only how far Northern Africa has fallen from its old estate, but how little there is even to remind one of the great past. Read more