Friends and Foes in the Transkei: A Victorian Lady's Experience of Southern Africa During the 1870s

Helen Prichard arrived in South Africa with her family in 1876. The colonisation of the interior was in full swing and hers was a family that typified the pioneer sprit of the time. Inevitably the expansion of a new people impacted upon the lives of the native population. These were years-for the British in Africa-when this would have its most significant and disastrous consequences. We experience through Helen Prichard's writings her family's efforts to create a new life for themselves in the wilderness. Their lives are put in jeopardy as the Kaffir tribes rise and as the decade draws to a close imperial forces are preparing to deal with the great Zulu nation. A vital account of a colonist woman's experiences in an uncompromising landscape.