SOUTH AFRICAN LITERATURE. The earliest of the books written in or about South Africa were naturally de voted to description of the country and its inhabitants. The best of those in English is Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa (1822) by William John Burchell. Among many later works David Livingstone's record of his early explorations entitled Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (1857) is of outstanding importance. South African literature proper must be divided into that written in English and . that written in Afrikaans.
The first poet with any claim to be called South African is Thomas Pringle (1789-1834), who spent six years in the country as librarian and journalist. Among his poems the best known are Afar in the Desert (1828), which was highly praised by Coleridge; The Lion Hunt, and The Bechuana Boy. It was some time be fore any other notable work in verse appeared. A recent anthol ogy, The Centenary Book of South African Verse (1925) , edited by Francis Carey Slater, contains poems by 68 writers, most of whom are still living. Slater's own poetry is saturated with the feeling of the country to which he belongs. Among his works are The Sunburnt South (1908), and The Karroo and other Poems (1924). Arthur Shearly Cripps, for many years a missionary in Mashonaland, has written poetry in which the influence of Oxford is blended in a surprisingly beautiful way with that of the country to which he devoted the best part of his life. His poems include Pilgrimage of Grace (1912), Lake and War (I917); and he has also written stories of life in those remote parts, including Faery lands Forlorn (1 91 0), Cinderella in the South (1918) and Lion Man (1928). Cullen Gouldsbury, for several years a native com missioner in Rhodesia, showed poetical gifts of a high order in his Songs out of Exile (1912) and From the Outposts Mary Rosalie Boyd, in her poem The Veld, which won the Cape town Bardic Chair in 1921, has finely expressed the fascination exercised by South Africa upon those who come to make it their home. Charles Murray, formerly chief of the Public Works De partment, has written some excellent poetry, mainly in a Scots dialect. Hamewith (1909), A Sough of War (1917) and In the Country Places (192o) are among his volumes. Arthur Vine Hall has published his collected poems under the title Poems of a South African (1926). Roy Campbell, one of the youngest of South Africa's poets, made a startling appearance with The Flaming Terrapin (1924). Among his later poems Tristan da Cunha gives promise of more mature work with an increasing feeling of historical atmosphere.
The most famous novel yet produced in South Africa is Olive Schreiner's Story of an African Farm (1883), which with all its faults has the stamp of genius. Some of Rider Haggard's most thrilling stories, such as King Solomon's Mines, Jess and Swallow, belong to South African literature, for they arose directly out of his residence in that country. William Charles Scully, a magis
trate in the Cape Colony, has written stories based on a first hand knowledge of native life. The White Hecatomb (1897) and A Vendetta of the Desert (1898) are among his works. Margaret Harding (1911) by Percival Gibbon, and God's Step Children (1924) by Sarah Gertrude Millin, deal with the difficult problems arising out of the contact of the white races with the black. Pauline Smith, a young writer born in the district of Oudtshoorn, has pub lished some short stories under the title of The Little Karoo (1925), which are marked by a fine sympathy and sincerity.
In history and biography some valuable work has been done. The letters of Lady Anne Barnard belong in a sense to both cate gories. Though not published till 1901 (South Africa a Century Ago) they give a vivid picture of life at the Cape about 1800. An interesting account of the writer is given in Dorothea Fairbridge's Lady Anne Barnard at the Cape of Good Hope (1924), which includes much previously unpublished material. Among many later workers the name of George McCall Theal (1837-1919) stands out conspicuously for the untiring industry which he gave to investigating the original records upon which the work of fu ture historians must be based. Sir George Cory's Rise of South Africa (1910 seq.) deals mainly with the development of the eastern part of Cape Colony, and gives the results of many years of patient research. Another work of outstanding importance is Lord de Villiers and his Times (1925), by Eric A. Walker, pro fessor of history in the University of Capetown, who has also written a valuable History of South Africa (1928). An extensive literature has gathered round the name of Cecil John Rhodes, including lives by Sir Lewis Michell and Sir Thomas Fuller. Ian Colvin's Life of Jameson (1922) and Earl Buxton's General Botha (1924) are also of importance. Frederick Charles Kolbe (Monsignor Kolbe), a poet and critic of distinction, has written a delightful autobiography entitled Up the Slopes of Mount Zion (1924). Education in South Africa 5652 to 1922, by Ernst G. Malherbe, is a useful survey of an important subject. Among many works dealing with the and complex problems in volved in the relations between the Europeans and the natives may be mentioned Black and White in South-East Africa (i9i 1) by Maurice Evans ; The Education of the South African Native (1917) by C. T. Loram; and The History of Native Policy in South Africa from 5830 to the Present Day (1924) by Edgar H. Brookes. The views of the natives themselves have found expression in The Black Problem by D. D. Tengo Jabavu, and in other works. A History of Christian Missions in South Africa 09'0 and Thrice through the Dark Continent (1917), a record of missionary travel by Prof. J du Plessis, deal with another aspect of the same subject.