| The object of these essays and sketches is to present to the student and general reader the outlines of a picture of the Natives of Southern Rhodesia. Notwithstanding years of painstaking inquiry, the result achieved is unfortunately but fragmentary. Truth and romance have not been separated. Yet it is hoped that the data -- collected in the first instance from Native sources, and supplemented by unpublished official documents and other written records-will contain sufficient facts to enable the reader to obtain a tolerably accurate account of the Bantu peoples inhabiting the Colony; to throw some light on their history; to afford the means of appreciating their laws and religions beliefs and customs, Each essay has been planned to form a complete section of the whole.
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