Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa since September 1795, Volume 1 (1908).pdf/9



The preparation of a history of South Africa has occupied my almost undivided attention during the last forty years. I kept it constantly in view while connected in different capacities with Bantu tribes, and while keeper of the archives of the Cape Colony and subsequently I have made the closest possible research among official documents of all kinds. Of printed books upon the country I have one of the best collections in existence, and though I have not made many extracts from them, they have often served me as guides. To the utmost of human ability I have striven to write without fear, favour, or prejudice, to do equal justice to all with whom I had to deal. I can therefore, without laying myself open to the accusation of vanity, place my work confidently before the public as not alone the only detailed history of South Africa yet prepared, but as a true and absolutely unbiassed narrative.

GEORGE M. THEAL.

London, July 1908.