A History of the Xhosa Western Frontier
 J.B. Peires, TheHouseofPhalo. Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1981,pp.x
 + 281, including maps, illustrations, footnotes, appendices and biblio-
 graphy 'New History of Southern Africa Series', Paperback, currently
 retailing at PII.50
Dr Peires's sub-title,     A history of the Xhosa=le           in the days of their
 independence, IX>intedly refers to the period           fore 1850 rather than to
any IlOre recent configuration on the SOUthAfrican map. This is rot a
history of the Xb:>sa-speaking proples as a whole (which \'.OUl.dinclude the
ThemJ:u,r-tx:>noo and so on eastwards as far as Natal), l:ut is confined to
 those who trace descent fJ:OIT1   an ancestor called Xhosa, namely the present-
day Gcaleka and Rharhate peq:>les. The Phalo of the title,            a Xhosa king
of the mid-eighteenth century, was the father of Gcaleka and Rharhabe.
As the author claims in his preface,         this is the first CXJlIpletehistory
of the Xhosa to have been written since T.H. SOga's The SOuth-Eastern
Bantu, published in 1930. There is llUch to recornnend this new b:lok,
especially the depth of research uIX>n\'.hich it is based. Dr Peires draws
uIX>na wide range of sources, written and oral and is the first llOdern his-
torian to use vernacular sources for the writing of Xhosa history.               His
essay on Xhosa historiography,       inserted as an Appendix, reveals a thorough
awareness of the rrodern problems of conducting oral research into pre-
colonial society, especially in SOUthAfrica in the 1970s. And historians
who intend enbarking uIX>noral field research elsev.here in southern Africa
w:mld be well advised to add this insightful          short essay to the growing
historiography of oral research methodology. From the scure Appendix we
learn that the first Xb:>sanewspaper Ikhwezi (The M;:>rningStar) appeared as
long acp as 1844 (p 175). This first generation of literate              Xhosa, th;)ugh
convinced Christians were keenly interested          in preserving their cultural
heritage and romtitting Xhosa historical         traditions   to paper, and they have
clearly provided a valuable collection of oral traditions,            based much near-
er to source than one can roI1l1ally expect in central and southern Africa.
Having drawn upon such a wide range of raw materials,           I:xJthoral and
written, Dr Peires has produced an inpressively catprehensive coverage of
many aspects of Xhosa history.        A 'WOrdof warning, however. This is an
unusually structured b:lok, and some may be put off by its awarent d iscon-
tinuities.     The author has interspersed narrative with thematic chapters,
in order to avoid 'a generalised social and eroromi.c dlapter' \'.hich may have
'created a false inpression of stagnation'          (p viii).   Thanes d10sen cover
erology, chieftaincy,     religion,   trade and warfare, and are interspersed
at reasonably appropriate IX>ints in the narrative.           It is an interesting
ted1nique and unooubtably carefully applied, l:ut this kind 6f segregation
of 'narrative'    and 'theme' 00es have its own set of problems.
It appears   to the present reviewer that Dr Peires has been caught in his
own trap.    He has segregated and dispersed his 'thanes' in an attarpt            to
avoid a long, generalised,      introductory chapter and, by dealing with than
separately,    to convey a better sense of change over time. On the \\t1ole
these thematic d1apters achieve this sense of change and tie in well with
the narrative.     There is, lnwever, one rotable ~tion.              Ironically   it is
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that very introductory thematic chapter rand and People' (FP 1-10)
                                             I
\\hich (bes in fact oonvey just that 'false iItpression of stagnation'
\\hich the author sought to awid.      Like the other d1apters, it is an
excellent piece of writing, providing a graphic picture of XOOsah:lne-
steads and a clear exposition of Xhosa transhumance patterns.           But
there is 00 sense of change and I canoot believe that there was 00 change
in land use and settlement patterns during the turrolent period fran the
17705 to 1850 Iohich is the oore period of the narrative.        '!he sources
for this chapter are nostly writings ranging fran early to late nineteenth
century and one is thus left \\Ondering mether this is, perhaps, an
idea1ised picture of Xhosa society, not necessarily closely oorresponding
with reality.
Secondly, stripperl of its supporting thanes, the bare skeleton of the
narrative is at tines so highly oondensed and XOOsainternal and external
politics   so CCltplex that it is difficult    to follow Ioho is <bing mat and
my and to whan. Furthenrore, those vtJo are accustomed to their history
being a nore straightfonvard chrooological narrative may find the 1::oJk's
structure sarewhat frustrating.     If, for instance, one wants to kn:lw
al::out Nxele (also koown as Makana or Makanda), one will find only brief
reference to him in the narrative section as a Xhosa war<bctor (p 63), rot
his role is discussed nore fully as a religious diviner in the thenatic
chapter on 'visions and interpretations'       (FP 66-74) and as a warleader in
the battle of Grahamstown,April 1819, in the chapter on warfare (FP 143-
4). Fortunately, there is a good index and so this kind of search can
fairly readily be made, by those accustx::Jired   to using an index.
On the whole, however, these are criticisms of fonn rather than oontent.
Whatever the present reviewer's slight. reservations al:out the way the book
is structured,   this is oot intended to detract fran the book' 5 \\Orth as a
major oontriOOtion both in its own field of Xhosa history, rot also in the
broader field of southern African history as a mole.          As such it deserves
a wide readership, 'lay' and academic, and should stand the test of t:ilre.
Particularly   perceptive is Dr Peires's treatment of Xhosa/Kh::liand XOOsa/
Colonist relations.     He argues that 'the limits of Xhosadanwere oot
ethnic or geographic, rot political'      (p 19). 'Ihe Xhosa exerc'ised a loose
political   ascendancy over nost Cape Kh::lias far west as the Cape Peninsula
itself by the mid-seventeenth century, tlough this was clearly very loose
as it disintegrated    in the face of Dutch expansion. Whenfaced with the
westward advance of Dutch settlers,     b::Jwever,the XOOsaini tiall Y prepared
to incorporate these new elements into a larger and greater XOOsad:ml.The
 'total war' waged by the oolonists, particularly      after the British occupa-
 tion of the Cape, thus caIre as a shock to the Xhosa chiefs.        'Ihe exercise
of this ooncept of total warfare was to be seen at its nost devastating in
 the 'expulsion' policy of the Fourth Frontier War of 1811-12 (PP 60, 65-6,
 142-3).
One of the nost refreshing things al:out House of Phalo is the iItpression
one gains that the advance of colonial settlanent and political          oontrol is
being vie~     from the east looking westwards. 'Ihus, in as nuch as it is a
history of the first five 'frontier wars", it is an examination of the wars
of the Xhosa 'western frontier'    rather than the hackneyed wars of the Cape
 'eastern frontier'.
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Dr Peires clearly has great etpathy for his subject and the pec:ple 'AtIose
history he is writing.    'lhe present reviewer looks forward to the author's
p:rani.sed I Phalo, ~lume II I, \\hich will, I at sane future t:iJre' (p ix),
dii!a1 with the ~t       period   of the 1850s.
KEVIN SHIILING'lOO
Department of Languages and Social     Sciences
Universi ty of Botswana
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