world war.

The work begins with a picture of the country as nature made it. There
is an account of early plant life, prehistoric animals, paleoliths,
and prehistoric man. The early inhabitants are then given more
detailed treatment. Attention is directed to the Bushman, the
Hottentot, and the Bantu as each figured in South Africa. An effort to
contrast the country as the natives kept it with the country as the
white man developed it, is a large part of this chapter.

Beginning then with Prince Henry of Portugal the author presents an
array of "Great Adventurers." Following this sketch comes the account
of the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope by Bartholomew Diaz and next
Vasco da Gama's voyage around the Cape to India. The climbing of the
Table Mountain by Antonio de Saldanha, the landing of Don Francisco of
Almeida, the voyage of Sir Francis Drake, and the adventures of other
travellers appear in chronological order.

The rise of settlements in South Africa or on the neighboring islands
as half-way stations, show the early importance of the country which,
after being conquered, soon experienced considerable expansion. Then
followed in the seventeenth century an era of prosperity which paved
the way for better beginnings the next century under Governors
Hendrik, Swellengrebel and Tulbagh. The troubles of the eighteenth
century when the settlements had to reckon with natives and foreigners
constitute a critical period of the colony ending with the capture of
the Cape by the English in 1795. Then follow the first British
occupation, the restoration of the Cape to the Dutch by the Treaty of
Amiens in 1802, the second rule of the Dutch and the second coming of
the British.

With the nineteenth century the British were to be free to start upon
an all but uninterrupted rule of prosperity. The establishment of
courts, the rise of missions, the improvement in agriculture, and the
extension of the frontier characterized the first efforts of the
pioneering British. Their relations with the natives and difficulties
with the Boers are treated in the chapters on the Story of Natal, the
Vootrekkers, the founding of the Boer Republic and the retrocession of
the Transvaal. The chapters covering the subsequent period consist of
a discussion of new influences, the Uitlanders, the Jameson Raid, the
War of 1899-1902, and the problems of peace and reconstruction.

* * * * *

RECONSTRUCTION IN LOUI