fter Lobengula had signed the Rudd Concession Mr. Rhodes petitioned the British Government to grant him a Royal Charter to exploit the King's dominions. Once this had been obtained Rhodes’s next problem was to admit a band of pioneers into Mashonaland, and for this purpose he enlisted the help of a remarkable young man, half-soldier and half-entrepreneur, named Frank Johnson. After a short discussion Johnson offered to "effect the occupation of Mashonaland for £87 500" and Rhodes at once accepted.

ohnson then proceeded to recruit and equip 200 men for the Pioneer Column, selecting men from every trade and profession, so that they formed a cross-section of the contemporary South African white community. To defend this company of settlers the British Government insisted on adding 400 men of the Bechuanaland Police.

he Column was concentrated successively at Mafeking and then on the Macloutsie River, which was crossed on 27 June 1890 thus entering disputed territory. It reached the frontier proper of Lobengula’s domain, the Shashi River, on 1 July. Crossing the river meant that the Column from then on would be in extreme danger during the 400-mile march to Mount Hampden which was its goal, for in Bulawayo Lobengula was being subjected to almost intolerable pressure to order an attack on the white intruders.

he Matabele army numbered 20 000 disciplined warriors and the bush country through which the Pioneers were advancing was perfectly suited to ambush. And the sheer physical difficulties of the march were daunting: the country was wild and uncharted, and there were broad rivers like the Nuanetsi and Lundi to be crossed. Yet the Column all through July and the first weeks of August averaged 10 miles a day with Selous guiding it with a compass and sextant as though he were navigating a course at sea. On 17 August the Pioneers came to the step-like granite scarp of the Rhodesian plateau and found their way up it through a long valley which Selous thankfully named Providential Pass. From then on, in the open country of the high veld, the Column could move more quickly and its danger from the Matabele impis was over.