SKETCH OF FREDERICK C. SELOUS. 261 



Selous's pioneer work began in 1889, wiien lie conducted a gold- 

 prospecting company through eastern Mashonaland. The journey 

 took the party to the Portuguese settlements on the Zambezi, 

 where those people were found to have a full appreciation of the 

 richness of the gold region. 



The British South Africa Company, or " Chartered Company," 

 as it is sometimes called, was incorporated about the same time 

 (October, 1889), with power to occupy and possess the large do- 

 mains that constitute what is now called Rhodesia. The return 

 of Mr. Selous to the Cape of Good Hope with the report of what 

 he had observed had the effect of determining the company to speed 

 its operations so as to anticipate the Portuguese. Mr. Selous en- 

 tered the service of the company, and, although he was not yet an 

 explorer in the scientific sense, the accurate memory of his early 

 wanderings over the region enabled him to guide successfully the 

 pioneer expedition that took possession of Mashonaland. 



One of the sensational incidents of this campaign was the re- 

 fusal of Lobengula to allow the pioneer force to use the road that 

 led through Buluwayo, his capital, the only existing wagon road 

 from the British frontier to the Mashonaland plateau. A new 

 road was cut, under the guidance and superintendence of Mr. Se- 

 lous, through four hundred and sixty miles of wilderness, the whole 

 work being accomplished in two months and a half. 



Among the chiefs who submitted to the British occupation 

 after the seizure of Gonvola was Moloko, ruler of the country 

 north of Manica, who made a treaty with Mr. Selous. After two 

 years spent in various operations for opening up the country and 

 securing treaties with the native chiefs, Mr. Selous returned to Eng- 

 land in December, 1892, and put the narrative of his adventures 

 to press, but was called back in August, 1893, returning at very 

 short notice, on account of the threatening attitude of the Mata- 

 bele chief Lobengula and the consequent risk of interruption in the 

 development of the country. The tribes had risen against the 

 assumption of the company to claim as a territorial cession what 

 they had regarded as simply a grant of mining and exploiting privi- 

 leges. Mr. Selous engaged actively in the campaigTi, in which he 

 is credited with having fought with great gallantry by the side of 

 the colonists, and was wounded while protecting some negroes who 

 had been surprised by the enemy. 



Returning again to Mashonaland, he reached there in time to 

 witness a second outbreak of the natives, vexed by the triple plague 

 of locusts, rinderpest, and the stringent regulations of the Char- 

 tered Company's government with respect to cattle. His OAvn cat- 

 tle were stolen, and he headed' a company of volunteers that went 



