The Shire Highlands (East Central Africa) As Colony and Mission (1885 First Edition Hardcover)

This volume is primarily concerned with publicising the economic potential if the Shire Highlands showing an uncommon interest in pre-colonial economic behaviour. Writing of methods of cultivation, iron-working and production of bark cloth, he was an observant and sympathetic recorder of a vanished way of life.The author went with a party from the Church of Scotland to found the Blantyre Mission in what became Malawi. He was dismissed from the mission for involvement in a series of injudicious and ferocious punishments handed out to thieves and used his friendships with chieftains in the Blantyre and Zomba districts to buy large tracts of land. He became the first to grow tobacco and pioneered the growing of coffee and sugarcane. He was made acting Consul, and it fell to him to declare a Protectorate in 1889.

Hardcover. English. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. 1885 First Edition. 260 pp & 24 pp adverts and fold-out map at rear. Worn copy as exterior of spine is damaged and hinges shook. In original red boards with gilt title on spine and vignette and title on upper cover. Foxing in prelims and last page, with small library stamps on title page and beginning of chapter 1. Book No: 2502043