Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa
Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa
$72.00
USDWilliam John Burchell (1781–1863) is remembered for this outstanding geography of South Africa, published in two volumes in 1822–4 and later taken on Darwin's Beagle voyage. It covers the first year of Burchell's 4,500-mile expedition into southern Africa from 1811 to 1815, while 'botanist to the Cape Colony'. The author returned to England with 500 scientific and ethnographical drawings, many of them used as illustrations in the book, and about 63,000 natural history specimens including 120 animal skins and 265 species of bird. His preface emphasises that his journal is accurate, independent and free from prejudice; he also claims that unlike many travelogues, his contains no 'indelicacies … offensive to decency'. Volume 1 focuses mainly on landscapes, and flora and fauna, often giving their indigenous names. It covers Burchell's trek to Klaarwater, which became his base for over a year, and a major side trip to the south-east.
Product details
July 2015Paperback
9781108084154
622 pages
252 × 178 × 33 mm
1.2kg
50 b/w illus. 10 colour illus. 1 map
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- 1. Approach to, and arrival at, the Cape of Good Hope
- 2. Residence in Cape Town, and rambles in the vicinity
- 3. A sketch of Cape Town and the colony
- 4. A ride through Hottentot-Holland to the warm-bath at Zwarteberg
- 5. Visit to Genadendal
- 6. Ride from Genadendal to the hot-spring in Brand Valley, and visit to Tulbagh
- 7. Ride from Tulbagh to the Paarl, and thence to Stellenbosch
- 8. Residence at Cape Town, and preparations for the journey
- 9. Journey from Cape Town to Tulbagh
- 10. From Tulbagh, through Hex-river Kloof, to the Karro Poort
- 11. Journey over the Karro
- 12. Journey through the Roggeveld to the borders of the colony
- 13. Journey from the borders of the Cape colony, through the country of the Bushmen, to the river Gariep
- 14. Journey in the country of the Koras, from the Gariep to the Asbetos mountains
- 15. Residence and transactions at Klaarwater
- 16. Excursion from Klaarwater to the confluence of the Nu-gariep , and thence to the Ky-gariep
- 17. Occurrences on the banks of the Ky-gariep
- 18. Return from the Ky-gariep to Klaarwater
- 19. Residence and transactions at Klaarwater, till the end of the year
- 20. Residence and transactions at Klaarwater, and preparations for resuming the journey into the interior
- 21. Arrangements for a journey back into the colony, and preparations for departure
- The itinerary, and register of the weather
- Remarks on the map, and geographical observations.
