1/7 Currently reading the only 1st hand account P.W. Forbes ever wrote about the conquest of Matabeleland by Rhodes& #39; Pioneers, published in 1894. Forbes was the Commander of Cecil Rhodes& #39; "Pioneers", @matigary , @Jamwanda2
2/7

26 year old Capt. Borrow, who owned Borrowdale Farm in Hre, also features heavily, having left his farm & new bride in Salisbury (Harare), to go to Byo for no other reason than that he "wanted some adventure" and to "kill some natives". Borrow was killed by Lobengulas...
3/7 ...bodyguard & Imbezu Regiment together with Allan Wilson& #39;s Victoria Column when they closed in on Lobengula on the Shangai River. Captain Borrow& #39;s Farm is now the Harare suburb of Borrowdale. It& #39;s amazing how many kraals (villages) Major Forbes cavalierly states they burned,
4/7 how many cattle they confiscated (totaling +/-300k) & how many old women, children etc they "took prisoner" as they invaded Matabeleland from Mashonaland & then pursued Lobengula, @VascoDaGappah. Forbes& #39; account is 1 of only three written accounts by any of the "Pioneers"..
5/7 ..the other ones being by the American Burnham, a Pioneer Scout, published in 1895 & William Harvey Brown, another American in the "Pioneer Column" of 1890. Both Americans published books. Also fascinating is seeing photographs and accounts of how Shonas and Ndebeles....
6/7 ...were just before Rhodes& #39; invasion and occupation. These last 2 photos are from Burnham& #39;s 1899 book
7/7 Interestingly, it is claimed that the photos we see of Lobengula are fake coz all the white men @ Byo in the 1890s, Selous the hunter etc say Lobengula never allowed himself to be photographed: he believed his soul would be captured by the camera if he permitted it.
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