tooBOOK REVIEWSThere is no doubt that some people connected with the College genuinelythought that it ought to have been more politically motivated while otherswent further and really wanted to provoke the closure of the College inorder to embarrass the Smith Government. But my vote has always been andstill is for those who fought to keep the College afloat as long as its academicfreedom, in the sense of that term as defined by Sir Robert Birley, and itsnon-racial character were not impaired. Subsequent events have vindicatedtheir attitude and Rhodesia enters on self-government with a proportionallylarger and better qualified cadre of Africans than any other newly independ-ent state in the continent.At the risk of being accused of bias,I must say that in my opinion theUniversity of London played a more important part in the decision that theCollege should be non-racial than Profesor Gelfand's narrative implies. I waspresent at the meeting in London when Manfred Hodson and his delegationwere told categorically that adherence to the non-racial principle by theCollege was a condition precedent of Special Relation with the University ofLondon and without Special Relation the College would never have got offthe ground. It is no coincidence that the clause in the College Charter en-shrining this principle is based almost word for word on Statute 4 of theStatutes of the University of London which traces its lineage back to its firstcharter in 1836.Perhaps in conclusion a few more personal comments are permissible.The book contains a striking portrait of Manfred Hodson, the driving forcebehind the acceptance in Rhodesia of the need for a university institution.Even more vivid is the picture of Walter Adams who shines through thepages of the book like Mr Valiant in Pilgrim's Progress. Less successful is thedelineation of Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders who played a dominating rolein his dual capacity as Chairman of the Inter-University Council for HigherEducation Overseas and the University of London's Committee on HigherEducation Overseas Š but this is not surprising since I know from personalexperience what an enigmatic character he was. Perhaps a little more stressshould have been placed on the contribution of Professor C. T. Ingold, whosucceeded Sir Alexander as Chairman of the Committee on Higher EducationOverseas. Without his staunch advocacy in the troubled years followingU.D.I., when the extremists in London were demanding the immediate ter-mination of Special Relation in complete disregard of the interest of bothstudents and staff of the College, the proper and orderly phasing out ofSpecial Relation would have been impossible.For those interested in the early years of the College, Professor Gel-fand's book is prescribed reading and, when the definitive history of thatperiod comes to be written, the author will be eternally indebted to ProfessorGelfand for the magnificent preparatory work he has done.University of LondonSIR DOUGLAS LOGANUmendo By B. C. Makhalisa. Gwelo, Mambo Press, 1977, 136pp., Rh$0,70.Umhlaba Lo! By B. C. Makhalisa, Gwelo, Mambo Press, 1977, 80pp.»Rh$0,60.The author of these works, Mrs Nkala, writes under her maiden name ofBarbara C, Makhalisa. When she wrote her first book, Qilindini (LongmansBOOK REVIEWS101Rhodesia, 1974), she was only the second female writer in Ndebele (now thereare three and about the same number in Shona),Umendo (Married Life) is a novel portraying the story of love andmarriage, and the lives of the three main characters in the book. Gugu, thegirl, is torn in her choice between two young men, Thulani and Ndaba. Sheends up marrying Ndaba, and this choice results in an unhappy marriage.Central to the theme of the book is a Ndebele proverb: 'Ukwenda Akuthu-nyelwa Gundwane' (lit. No mouse is sent when one is to marry, i.e. troubleswhich may be in store for one (in married life) cannot be predicted). Butthere is hope for Gugu in the end, when her drunken and irresponsible hus-band is stabbed to death by a gang of young people, and a revival of herformer relationship with Thulani is possible.Umhlaba Lo! (What a World!) is a work of drama, a play which looksat the life of a country girl who passes Form VI, but fails to get a place forfurther education or any form of professional training. In desperation, shegoes to the city to look for any type of job. First, she is forced by circum-stances to live with a very cruel aunt (her maternal uncle's wife) who vents afamily vendetta on the unfortunate girl. In an effort to escape from this, shelands in the company of morally corrupt friends ŁŠ and her eventual triumph,despite these trying circumstances, makes very interesting reading.Miss Makhalisa is good at using dialogue to add variety to her style,and to make her narrative vivid. This technique makes her characters comealive. In places, she employs good figurative language: imagery, simile andmetaphor, as well as an effective use of ideophones, all of which combine togive a colourful, vivid and picturesque narrative. Her words abound withtypical Ndebele aphorisms and telling proverbs.Her books are interesting and relevant to our times, in that theydeal with contemporary problems that people face in their day-to-day lives.She has won a number of Rhodesia Literature Bureau awards (First Prize forQilindini in 1970; Second Prize for the manuscript of Umendo in 1972; andFirst Prize for the manuscript of Umhlaba Lo! in 1976) and in 1978 theKingston's Literary Award, organized by P. E. N. International (First Prizein the Ndebele section).She is a keen observer of human character, and her main charactersare well drawn. But the minor characters suffer from a certain neglect andat times seem to get lost somewhere in the middle of the scene. They fail toplay an effective supportive role to the main characters In her works, andthis detracts from her otherwise promising work. She also has a rather toosimplistic view of life's complexities. Her works invariably have a happyending. A couple of people die now and then, but the main people alwaysseem to survive to the end; thus, her works have a very predictable ending.At times her plots rise in tension, and they approximate the height of tragedy,but she brings them down to a 'happy ending', creating an anti-climax in thereader's mind.University of RhodesiaCM. SILEYATrekking In South Central Africa 1913-1919 By C. M. Doke. [Johannesburg],South Africa Baptist Historical Society, 1975, 188 pp., no price indicated.This interesting book is infuriating to use Š no details of where it ispublished, how or by whom it is edited, or what or where exactly its sources