HE IS a prince in his own right in Africa He knows things which would make the imperialists of every country blush with shame. Descendant of Said Kafu and a long line of distinguished Negro merchants and sailors, he has known Cecil Rhodes, Conrad, Sir Alfred Milner. He has circumnavigated Africa 18 times, crossed it four times. He has been shot, cut, thrown overboard and almost hanged. And now, at 63, before he wrote this, his autobiography, he was penniless in Chicago. Compared to good old Trader Horn, his life has been more hazardous and more colorful, his philosophy and whole existence more worth while.
His name? Captain Harry Dean. His whole life work? The attempt to establish an Ethiopian Empire, the ending of Inperialism in the Dark Continent.
In some 300 pages of simple narrative he tells his tale, with a sincerity and depth of feeling which make the senile ramblings, the studiedly naive wisecracks of Trader Hour seem entirely inconsequential
But whether you chose to make the comparison or not and even if you haven't read Trader Hour, Captain Dean's tale is one which you shouldn't allow allow yourself to miss.
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