Who is H.A. Ryder from Skeleton Coast and what is their importance? Skeleton_Coast_(novel) English & Literature H.A. Ryder | Skeleton Coast

Ryder is an old African hand. He abandoned a failing farm in Sussex during the Kimberley rush in an attempt to make a million in the diamond fields. By the time he arrived in 1868, the Colesberg Kopje was already mostly staked out. He and two native guides took a pair of wagons filled with salt to cure game and began providing meat for the workers. They ranged for thousands of square miles and he learned Matabele, Mashona, Herero and even some of the click language of the San Bushmen in the process. He worked as a safari guide, strung lines for the telegraph company and fought in many skirmishes.