The first article (Chapter I), dealing chiefly with the natural features of South Africa, was published in the _Cape Times_, Cape Town, as a "(_Revised Edition_)" on the 18th August, 1891, with the footnote "(_To be continued in The Fortnightly Review_)," and the last (Chapter VI) in 1900. The first five chapters appeared, as far as my knowledge goes, some of them in _The Fortnightly Review_, others in _Cosmopolis_, and the sixth chapter in _The Cosmopolitan_. The last chapter on "The Englishman," which many will regard as the most remarkable part of this volume, has not been published before, and was apparently never revised; it was written so hurriedly that I had to type it myself, and only with great difficulty; the manuscript starts abruptly on a page numbered 3. A proposed chapter on the Native Races was never written. "The Domestic Life of the South African Boer" appeared in _The Youth's Companion_ in November, 1899. It is not a part of "Stray Thoughts," but, from its nature, seems to find a fitting place in this book. "Our Waste Land in Mashonaland" appeared in the _Cape Times_, simply as "Communicated," on August 26th, 1891. The Dedication, the Introduction, and the other Notes have not hitherto been published. All the articles were carefully revised by her, as also the above-mentioned unpublished matter, except Chapter VIII. It will be seen from the "Notes" that she was occupied with them at intervals, and, from the Prefatory Note, that she intended to publish them in 1896 soon after the Jameson Raid. About this time, however, she began to write _Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland_, which absorbed her time and attention to the exclusion of the "Stray Thoughts." She and I went to England in 1897, when she published _Peter Halket_. Not long after our return we went to Johannesburg and lived there until some little time before the Boer War started. Subsequently, on account of bad health, her doctor ordered her to leave. The Boer War and the distressing state of things in South Africa resulting therefrom, coupled with her ill-health and then the European War and the almost complete breakdown of her health, account largely, no doubt, for the non-publication of these _Thoughts on South Africa_. S. C. CRONWRIGHT-SCHREINER. KRANTZ PLAATS, 6 CAMDEN STREET, TAMBOERS KLOOF, CAPE TOWN. _January 1923._ PREFATORY NOTE These articles were written four years ago; the first, a description of South African scenery, appeared in _The Fortnightly Review_ at that time. The rest did not follow. This was owing to the fact that there were at the Cape at that time certain parties and persons who, using the Boers of South Africa for their own purpose, yet pandered to them that they might ultimately more successfully obtain their own ends.