The Project Gutenberg EBook of South African Memories, by Lady Sarah Wilson

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Title: South African Memories
Social, Warlike & Sporting From Diaries Written At The Time

Author: Lady Sarah Wilson

Release Date: December 25, 2004 [EBook #14466]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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SOUTH AFRICAN MEMORIES

SOCIAL, WARLIKE & SPORTING

FROM DIARIES WRITTEN AT THE TIME

BY

LADY SARAH WILSON

LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
1909

DEDICATION

TO THE MEMORY OF MY
BELOVED SISTER,
GEORGIANA, COUNTESS HOWE,
TO WHOSE EFFORTS AND UNCEASING
LABOURS IN CONNECTION WITH THE YEOMANRY HOSPITALS,
DURING THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA, THE EARLY
BREAKDOWN OF HER HEALTH, AND
SUBSEQUENT DEATH, WERE
UNDOUBTEDLY DUE,
THIS BOOK,
CONTAINING RECOLLECTIONS OF THAT
GREAT AND MYSTERIOUS LAND, THE GRAVE
OF SO MANY BRAVE ENGLISHMEN, IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED

PREFACE

Everything of interest that has happened to me in life chances to have
been in connection with South Africa. In that land, where some of my
happiest days have been spent, I have also experienced long periods of
intense excitement and anxiety; there I have made acquaintance with all
the charm of the veldt, in the vast country north of the great Zambesi
River, hearing the roar of the lions at night, and following their
"spoor" by day; and last, but not least, I have there made some very
good friends. Only a few years ago, when peacefully spending a few weeks
at Assouan in Egypt, I was nearly drowned by the capsizing of a boat in
the Nile; again the spirit of the vast continent (on this occasion far
away to the north) seemed to watch over me. For all these reasons I
venture to claim the indulgence of the public and the kindness of my
friends, for these recollections of days in South Africa, in which shade
and sunshine have been strangely mingled, and which to me have never
been dull. To sum up, I have always found that life is what you make it,
and have oft