THE publication of these Letters of Frs H. Depelchin and C. Croonenberghs,S.J.. coincide- with the centenary of the arrival at GuBulawayo, on 2 September1879, of the party of Jesuit priests of theZambesi Mission, and of the founding ofthe CatlioIic Chhurch in Zimbabwe Rhodesia. As the twenty-fourth volume in the Rhodesiana Reprint Library - Silver Series it also marks the conclusion of the Series which, together with its companion Gold Series, comprises sixty of the most outstanding of this country's early books. The Jesuit Letters were originally published in French, in two volumes, in 1882. This translation is of Vol. 1, Trois ans dans L'Afrique Australe: Le pays des Matabeless dans Debuts de la Mission du Zambese, and covers the first years of the Mission 1879 to 1881. It has been retitled Journey to Gubuluwayo. The two Belgian Fathers describe the long journey of their party by ox-wagon from St. Aidan's College, Grahamstown, through the Cape Colony and Bechuanaland (Botswana) to Tati, where they set up a base, and on to King Lobengula's Gubuluwayo. There they established themselves in a homestead purchased from a trader by the name of Greite. The work's greatest value and interest lie in the authors' accounts of the Matabele, their history, customs and ceremonies; and, more particularly, the very detailed picture they paint of King Lobengula himself and of life at his court. The translation was done by Moira Lloyd of Bulawayo. Professor R. S. Roberts, Head of the Department of History at the University ofRhodesia, edited and annotated it.and contgridbuted a scholarly Introductionon the Zambesi Mission against a back ground of' contemporary growth of the Catholic Church throughout southern Africa. Brief biographies of members of the Mission are included. The work is indexed for the first time and numerous historic illustrations have been added.

 

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