Rhodesian Genesis - Neville Jones

0ne of the principal objects of the Rhodesia Pioneers' and Early Settlers' Society is to record the history of the early occupation of the country, and the Society has long projected a collection of pioneer reminiscences, but there have been many difficulties. Some of these, due to the fact that the pioneers were men of deeds rather than men of words, are mentioned in the text of this volume.

But it was felt that the Rhodes Centenary should not be allowed to pass without an effort in this direction. This book is the result.

Mr Neville Jones has made the best use of such material as is available. Personal recollections can only be fully appreciated against a more general background. Most skillfully he has woven the individual narrative into the general pattern. He has avoided repetition and discursiveness, but has retained the personal touch that is the real object of this publication. Here, presented as a writing, are a series of sidelights upon history, most revealing in their nature. The characteristic of these stories is personal modesty.

Yet, in their untutored relation, they bring most vividly before us a daily round in which hardship and deprivation are accepted without complaint, and danger and death are faced with unassuming courage. No formal history, however powerfully written, could convey, in quite the same way, the resolution, the steadfastness and the constancy that went to the making of this country.