Preface
_ A TALE OF THE GREAT TREK
BY
H. RIDER HAGGARD
Ditchingham, 20th May, 1898.
My dear Clarke,
Over twenty years have passed since we found some unique opportunities of observing Boer and Kaffir character in company； therefore it is not perhaps out of place that I should ask you to allow me to put your name upon a book which deals more or less with the peculiarities of those races--a tale of the great Trek of 1836.
You, as I know, entertain both for Dutchman and Bantu that regard tempered by a sense of respectful superiority which we are apt to feel for those who on sundry occasions have but just failed in bringing our earthly career to an end. The latter of these admirations I share to the full； and in the case of the first of them, as I hope that the dour but not unkindly character of Vrouw Botmar will prove to you, time softens a man‘s judgment. Nor have I ever questioned, as the worthy Vrouw tells us, that in the beginning of the trouble the Boers met with much

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