Towards the Far Horizon. The Story of the Ox-wagon in South Africa by Burman, Jose

(Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1988) 0798124113. 8vo; laminated pictorial boards; pp. 168; colour plates, black-and-white photographs. Slightly sunned on spine; a little minor foxing. Very good condition. "Barely a hundred years ago the ox-wagon was still the most important means of transport in South Africa, and the wagon-building industry one of the largest enterprises in the predominantly rural economy of the country. The vital role of the ox-wagon in the history of South Africa cannot be overestimated: without this product of the skills of the new settlers and the oxen of the indigenous Khoikhoi, there would have been no opening up of the hinterland, no Kimberley diamond mines, no Witwatersrand goldfields and no Republic of South Africa. Jose Burman tells the whole story of the ox-wagon, its antecedents, its construction, the unsung technicians who built it, the dumb oxen that provided the motive power, and its use over two and half centuries in this country. Yet, Towards the Far Horizon is far more than the story of the ox-wagon: interwoven are tales of rare courage and vignettes of the discoverers, trekkers and transport riders who depended on their wagons for a livelihood, told in the inimitable style which has made Jose Burman such a popular writer on the highways and byways of South African history." .