Matabele land and the Victoria Falls by Frank Oates
QR code
"Matabele land and the Victoria Falls" by Frank Oates is a travel and natural history account written in the late 19th century. Compiled posthumously from a naturalist-explorer’s letters and journals, it traces an overland journey through the Transvaal and Matabeleland to the Zambesi and Victoria Falls, interweaving geography, wildlife, and encounters with local peoples. Readers can expect detailed field observations, maps from route surveys, and on-the-spot illustrations, shaped by an editor’s hand.
The opening of the book presents an editor’s preface explaining that the narrative is pieced together from field notebooks and private letters, justifying publication, noting delays, and outlining added scientific appendices (ornithology, herpetology, entomology, botany) and maps based on the traveller’s observations. A memoir then sketches Oates’s lifelong passion for birds and natural history, his interrupted Oxford career, recovery and travels in the Americas, character traits of courage and gentleness, and the aims and risks of his South African expedition. The narrative proper begins with departure for Natal, outfitting at Pietermaritzburg, and a slow wagon journey via the high, treeless veldt (cold nights, burned grass) to Pretoria, then into the bush-veldt along the Crocodile River, where game and birdlife abound and Boers trade farm produce. Reaching Shoshong (Bamangwato), the party meets King Sekomi amid scarcity and locust-gathering, receives practical guidance from missionaries, and pushes on through sandy, water-stressed country past the Seruli and Gokwe with encounters among Bushmen hunters and abundant sand-grouse. After a dramatic episode in which a lion seizes an ox at the Shashe, the travellers arrive at the small Tati gold settlement; plans are set for Oates to proceed toward Lobengula’s town and, if possible, the Zambesi, while his brother turns aside for a shorter hunting excursion. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Download for free
For your e-reader or reading app — Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, Calibre etc.
Kindle → Use Send-to-Kindle
- Download the EPUB3 file above
- Upload it on the Amazon site your Kindle is registered with: amazon.com/sendtokindle for the US, amazon.co.uk/sendtokindle for the UK etc.
- It appears on your Kindle and in the Kindle app
Kobo, Nook etc. → Transfer via USB
- Download the EPUB3 file on your computer
- Connect your e-reader by USB and tap "Connect" on its screen
- Drag the file onto the e-reader drive
Phone, Tablet or Computer → Online or Reading App
Easiest: read online in your browser. Nothing to install.
Or use a reading app:
- Find and install one you like, for example Apple Books, ReadEra or Thorium Reader
- Download the EPUB3 file above
- Open it in the app
More help: iPhone / iPad · Android · Computer
Other formats & older devices
There may be more files related to this item.
About this eBook
| Author | Oates, Frank, 1840-1875 |
|---|---|
| Editor | Oates, C. G. (Charles George), 1844-1901 |
| Title | Matabele land and the Victoria Falls |
| Original Publication | London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1881. |
| Credits | Peter Becker, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | DT: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Africa |
| Subject | Africa, Southern -- Description and travel |
| Subject | Natural history -- Africa, Southern |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77803 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-77803-7 |
| Release Date | Jan 28, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 493 downloads in the last 30 days. |
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!