Zambesi River by MacDonald, J. F

(London: Macmillan, 1955). 8vo; original grey cloth, lettered in gilt on spine; pictorial dustwrapper; pp. viii + 240, incl. index; plates; folding map. Dustwrapper a little edgeworn and tanned; some foxing to edges, endpapers and outermost leaves. Good condition. "This is a remarkable book ... From its pages emerges not only a vivid geographical study, but a detailed social and historical description of the life of nature along the banks of the Zambesi. Here that majestic river is portrayed from source to mouth; its meanderings at the start, its sluggish flow through indeterminate marshes, its assault of the rapids and of the Victoria Falls, its course over the vast lower reaches of the delta ... The scenery is constantly changing, from unpeopled wilderness to forests, tributaries and alluvial plains, the haunt of crocodile and hippo, of tiger fish and lion, eagle and vulture, and of deadly insects in trees and flowers and luxuriant undergrowth. ... The author draws his picture against the immense background of the little-known history of half-forgotten tribes, of British exploration and Portuguese settlement ... " .