Samuel Olaf Samuelson, a civil servant in Natal, describes the life of a schoolboy at the Diocesan Collge in Rondebosch, sea voyages from the Cape to Natal and conditions in Natal and Zululand where his father was a missionary at the St. Paul's Anglican Mission, Empangeni.

Also included is an interesting account of an audience with the Zulu King Cetewayo in 1876.