Book ReviewsJournal of Social Science, 1972, Volume 1. Limbe, University of Malawi, 130 pp. £1,40.Readers of Zambezia will welcome the ap-pearance of a not dissimilar journal for Malawi.It contains articles on Malawi history (notablyProfessor Pachai on the early relationship be-tween state and churches and Dr. Chanock oncolonial agriculture in the 1920s), and onvarious aspects of the law and its administra-tion in Malawi todav.The journal is not, however, restricted toMalawi and there are interesting articles onZambia (Lusaka Market Vendors and on thelong history of copper mining) and industrialisa-tion in Africa during the colonial period. Inall, an auspicious first issue; %ve wish the jour-nal well.R.S.R.BENNET, N. R. and YLVISAKER, M. eds. 1971 The Central African Journal of Lovell /. Procter, 1860-1864. Boston, Boston University, African Studies Center, 502 pp. no price indicated.Despite recent trends in African historio-graphy which rightly have emphasized thehistory of the indigenous peoples of the conti-nent, much interest remains in the earliest Eu-ropean missionary endeavours. In part, thismay stem from the aura many of these hardyChristians now enjoy, even among the Africanswhose forefathers they came to convert: butit is also due to growing historical investiga-tions into the interactions between them andthe indigenous peoples among whom theylaboured. Certainly both of these contempor-ary concerns apply to the first UniversitiesMission to Central Africa which came to theShire highlands over a century ago. The tragicstory of sacrifice and death is widely knowntoday. And so too is the physical violencewhich the missionaries turned to in an effortto supress the slave trade they so deeply ab-horred. Thus the recent publication of thisjournal of the senior priest of the mission, isa welcome addition to the literature.Procter was easily the least colourful of theMagomero missionaries, and this is confirmedin his journal. Seldom are there flashes ofanger, joy, or any emotion. Nor has he muchto add to the numerous and often vitriolic dis-cussions concerning the other, more dynamicmen associated with the U.M.G.A. efforts. Yethis observations on the land and people aroundhim are of great value, despite a measure ofethnocentrism which however he shared withall his contemporaries, even David Livingstone.Among the members of the U.M.C.A. missionand Livingstone's Zambezi Expedition, Procteralone provides an adequate picture of Africanlife, including glimpses of some of the keyAfrican figures involved with these enterprises.In particular, his discussion of the history ofChibisa, the upstart chief on the Shire who wasmade famous by Livingstone's praise, is unique;what is more, it contains details which makea substantial contribution to the understandingof African history in the region.95Likewise, Procter provides some new andvaluable insights into the operations of theU.M.C.A. mission as well. This is particularlytrue concerning the frequent military activitiesundertaken by the missionaries against theYao, whom they saw as invading slavers, dis-rupting the local Manganja and Lomwe popu-lations. Throughout the journal his own quietopposition to these actions clearly emerges, in-cluding his critical analysis of the factors whichbrought about the mission's martial activities.Such criticism allows historians a better per-spective on this aspect of the work of theU.M.C.A. in the Shire Highlands, and lendssupport to the numerous attacks made inBritain at the time against their use of force-ful means.Unfortunately, this and other importantcontributions which Procter's fournal mightmake are buried in nearly five hundred pagesof text with little to guide the reader. Theeditors have provided only a brief intro-duction to Procter and the U.M.C.A. mission.Instead of attempting a more complete analy-sis, they inconveniently asked the reader toturn for further enlightment to Owen Chad-wick's Mackenzie's Grave (London, 1959).This is unfortunate because Chadwick doeslittle to illuminate Procter's role within thesmall missionary band, despite having hadaccess to the manuscript of his journal. Thismight have been redeemed had the journalbeen carefully annotated, as the senior editor,Professor Bennett, ably has done for severalother works {From, Zanzibar to Ujiji, theJournal of Arthur W. Dodgshun; with GeorgeBrooks, Neiv England Merchants in Africa;and Stanley's Dispatches to the New YorkHerald). This volume, however, possesses notUniversity of Malawia single annotation. Such glaring deficienciesmay be the result of hasty preparation, but theyprobably reflect the relative lack of familiaritywith the history of the Shire Highlands andwith Central Africa in general.This not only makes the journal less readilyunderstandable to the general reader; it alsopresents pitfalls for the scholar. For example,at no point do the editors tell us that portionsof Procter's original journals were lost, onesection in his flight from a near ambush atManasomba's village on the Ruo River, anotherwhen fire destroyed the hut in which he wasliving at Chibisa's. In each case, Proctermanaged to reconstruct the missing segments,though lie confessed that they might be 'onlypartially restored'. These passages are oftenquite detailed and contain much valuable ma-terial, including the bulk of the history ofChibisa. But to what extent are they Procter'sobservations and not those of his colleagueswhose diaries he appears, even at other times,to have consulted freely? If these are his ownreconstructions, how accurately can they reflectwhat actually happened, having been recalled,in each case, not only after the passage of timebut also falling closely on the heels of somewhatcataclysmic events? Not only do the editorsfail to consider such points, they appear to beignorant of them.Fortunately, we can thank the editors andthe African Studies Center at Boston Universityfor at least bringing Proctor's own words to awider audience. In this way his journal of thefirst U.M.C.A. mission, as well as his valuableand relatively dispassionate observations on theAfrica he knew, will be a useful aid to a widerange of scholars interested in Central Africa.M. E. PAGEMURRAY, D. J. 1970 The Governmental System in Southern Rhodesia. Oxford, Clarendon Press, xxi, 393 pp.£4.The thesis of this book is to dispute the'prevailing interpretation of politics, foundedon the study made by Leys and on the pre-conceptions he shared ..... [which] mis-understands the character of the establishedgovernmental system of the period, and sub-stitutes for the actual dynamics, provided bythe intense inter-group competition amongthose in European society, a belief that changein the period was to be attributed to the actionsof a united European race which felt its domi-nant position to be threatened' (p. 370). InEuropean Politics in Southern Rhodesia (Ox-ford, Clarendon Press, 1959) Leys had predic-ted a swing to the party which offered the bestsafeguard to European interests, such changesto be accommodated within the establishedgovernmental system. Murray, however, findsthat 'what occurred after 1962, was not a swingtowards illiberalism within a continuing gov-96