The legendary gold deposits of Zambesia, north of the Limpopo river, attracted hordes of concession hunters in the years prior to the arrival in force of the white man in 1890. Prospectors had come in a steady stream to the court of the Matabele King Lobengula until, in 1888, Rhodes, through the controversial Rudd Concession, obtained the complete and exclusive rights to all minerals in the Matabele Kingdom. This intriguing work is an account of the Wood-Chapman-Francis syndicate of concession hunters, from Grahamstown, who visited Matabeleland in 1887 the time of the most intensive competition for the supposed gold riches of the area. The leader and author of this book, Joseph Garbett Wood, was a prominent personality in the Eastern Province of the South African Cape and the descendant of an 1820 Settler. After lengthy negotiations with Lobengula (Wood's account of these parts the curtain to reveal a fascinating scene one glimpses the Royal Kraal, and learns something of the customs and mode of living of the Matabele), the syndicate was granted a concession. This ran counter to the Imperial interests, and those of Rhodes's powerful group, and there followed a great deal of intrigue and infighting.

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