The Diamonds and the Necklace

Written both as a travelogue and a contemporary study of the people of South Africa, this book presents the author's experiences and observations as he retraces the steps of the Europeans who opened up the country. He begins at Cape Town, which was settled in 1652, and proceeds through the Eastern Cape (where the English settled in 1820), Natal and the Orange Free State to Kimberley, where the diamond rush began in 1869. He then continues to the Afrikaner capital of Pretoria, and finally travels to Johannesburg, examining the plight of the people and the particular problems of the country along the way. Richard West is a freelance journalist and the author of several books on African subjects, including "The White Tribes of Africa" (1965), "Back to Africa" (1970), "Brazza of the Congo" (1972) and "The White Tribes Revisited" (1978).