#MB78
1895
Octavo (ca. 18x11,5 cm). 2 pp. Brown ink on paper. Small tears on the top and bottom of the left blank margin, paper age toned, otherwise a very good letter.
An interesting letter by a British African explorer and colonial administrator Sir Harry Johnson relates to his service as the first commissioner of Nyasaland (British Central African Protectorate, modern Malawi) in 1891-1896. The letter particularly refers to the land regulations which needed to be established in Africa: “Dear Mr. Buckland, I am much obliged to you for so very kindly sending me the Waste Land regulations which will I am sure be of much use to me for determining the policy to be pursued in Central Africa in regard to Land questions." A number of land property issues were later discussed in Johnston’s “British Central Africa: An attempt to give some account of a portion of the territories under British influence north of the Zambezi” (London, 1897).
Sir Harry Johnston was a “British explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator, one of the key players in the "Scramble for Africa" that occurred at the end of the 19th century” (Wikipedia). In 1882-3 Johnston accompanied a geographical and sporting expedition to Angola‚ serving as artist‚ naturalist‚ and Portuguese interpreter. The party travelled slowly from Mossamedes to the upper Cunene‚ where Johnston left it‚ making his own way to the Congo estuary. There he was befriended by H. M. Stanley‚ who was then establishing the Congo Independent State for Leopold II of the Belgians. With Stanley's help‚ Johnston ascended the river as far as Bolobo‚ and spent some weeks collecting plants‚ birds‚ and insects‚ and vocabularies of the local Bantu languages. His books‚ The River Congo (1884) and The Kilimanjaro Expedition (1885) confirmed his reputation as an authority on Africa. He was resident in Nyasaland as British commissioner from 1891 to 1896. His other books were Liberia (1906) and The Negro in the New World (1910).
