Journeys Beyond Gubuluwayo: To the Gaza, Tonga and Lozi. Letters of the Jesuits’ Zambesi Mission, 1880-1883

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The publication of these letters of Fathers Depelchin and Croonenberghs completes the rendition into English of the original two-volume work in French by these Jesuits of the Zambesi Mission. The first volume of letters marked the centenary of their arrival in what is now Zimbabwe and described the missionaries’ journey up from Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape and the establishment of a mission house near Lobengula’s capital. This second volume continues the story of the Mission from 1880. The letters are the record of the trials and tribulations they suffered in their over-ambitious plans for expansion beyond Gubuluwayo: to the east in Mzila’s Gazaland, another Nguni migrant state like that of Lobengula’s Ndebele; for the Middle Zambezi among the sateless Tonga; and for the upper Zambezi in Lewanika’s recently restored Lozi kingdom. The book ends on a note of failure after much loss of life, despite their courage and fortitude.