Natalia 36-37 (2007) Complete

ii
THE NATAL SOCIETY FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES M.J.C. Daly (Chairman) P. Croeser Dr. C.E. Merrett S.N. Roberts Ms. P.A. Stabbins Mrs. S.S. Wallis P.C.G. McKenzie (Secretary) Miss J. Farrer ( Honorary Curator of the Special Collections)
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE OF NATALIA T.B. Frost (Editor) Dr. W.H. Bizley M.H. Comrie J.M. Deane Professor W.R. Guest Professor A. Koopman M.M. Marwick Mrs. S.P.M. Spencer M.H. Steele Dr. S. Vietzen
Natalia - Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2010
Natalia
Journal of The Natal Society
No. 3637 (December 2007)
Published by Natal Society Foundation Trust P.O. Box 11093, Dorpspruit 3206, South Africa
SA ISSN 0085-3674
The cover illustrations refer not only to Adrian Koopmans article on modern KwaZuluNatal heraldry (page 42) but also to that on the centenary of the Scout movement (page 34). The armorial bearings of the Natal Society appear at the top, as they always do on Natalia covers. The four large ones below are the former crests of the City of Durban and the Province of Natal, and what has replaced them for the metro municipality of eThekwini and the Province of KwaZulu-Natal. In the centre (purely for reasons of design and symmetry) is the Scout eur-de-lis with added springbok head, which has for many years been the emblem of the South African Scout Association.
Page design by M.J. Marwick Printed by Intrepid Printers (Pty) Ltd Pietermaritzburg
Editorial
WHEN the rst slim volume of Natalia appeared in September 1971 under the editorship of the late Professor Colin Webb, its numbering chimed neatly with the year. In the 1990s it fell behind and so in 1994 a joint Number 2324 edition appeared to get it back into line. In recent years, we have again been late in publication on several occasions resulting in the absurdity of the journal appearing with a dateline of anything up to a year before actual date of publication. So this edition is numbered 36-37 to restore numerical tidiness. Number 2324 proved to be a jumbo edition of 144 pages. Number 3637 will not be as large, partly because, for various reasons, the publication of several of the features originally envisaged will be postponed to a later edition. The secretary of the editorial committee, Patrick McKenzie, has been assiduous in promoting sales, not only of the current issue of the journal but also of back numbers and has won for us a number of new readers. One of these took the trouble to write expressing both appreciation and constructive criticisms. He pointed to the early Boer period in Natal history as one which has not had much coverage. This is a shortfall made up in this edition with the publication for the rst time of My First African Excursion by Marianne Faure (born Alewyn) recounting a journey in 1853 from Pietermaritzburg to Ladysmith and back. The original Dutch manuscript of 73 pages is in the Witwatersrand University (William Cullen) Library. The reference is Document 6 of 235, Ref: A36. M (A) Faure. Mijne eerste Afrikaansche excursie 1853, 8 May 29 June. It was translated into English in the 1950s by the authors great-granddaughter Anna Maria Entrop-Le Poole and in the 1980s came into the hands of Val Ward. We are grateful to her for her meticulous editorial work in preparing the document for publication. Our feature articles are by Professor Adrian Koopman on KwaZulu-Natal municipal heraldry and by Professor Emeritus K.N. Greggor Pietermaritzburg Gold the Natal Camp dealing with the Natal connection in the early mining history of the Witwatersrand. The year also marked the centenary of the Boy Scout movement, an event celebrated world-wide, and we are grateful to Graham Harrison who has had a very long association with scouting in Pietermaritzburg, for an appropriate article.
There is the usual list of recent publications with reviews of some of the more prominent books. We have not been able to secure all the reviews we would have liked in time for publication and so some will have to be held over for a subsequent edition of Natalia. Sadly, Natalia has to record the deaths of prominent citizens. None was more shocking than that of David Rattray, shot in an attempted robbery in his Fugitives Drift Lodge home. Here, in the words of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, he had succeeded in internationalising Zulu history and his death had international repercussions. We are grateful to Dr Jeff Mathews for a ne obituary tribute. We record, too, the passing of a largely unsung hero of the struggle against apartheid, Vishwaprea Suparsad, as well as no fewer than three former professors of agriculture, Professors Behrmann, Truter and De Villiers together with a giant of the conservation movement, Ian Garland. Natalia continues to rely for its continued existence not only on generous funding from the Natal Society Foundation but also the labours, without any sort of monetary reward, of many members of the editorial committee and contributors. Academics who contribute to it cannot even claim a SAPSE bonus because, not being a monodisciplinary publication, it does not qualify for SAPSE recognition. We trust that our readers will nd our labours not in vain. JACK FROST
My rst African excursion
On the 8th of May 1853, Sunday night, some members of our Dutch Reformed Church of Pietermaritzburg, Natal had gathered to discuss the necessary details for Faures1 departure to Ladysmith in Klip River, which was due the next morning. It was already some weeks ago that it had been announced that on Saturday May 14th the new church building there would be consecrated by the reverends Dr H.E. Faure and Dr D. Van Velden2 of Winburg in the Colony3. A short time ago he had arrived in Pietermaritzburg to induct Dr Faure as Minister of the parish. This took place on May 8th 1853, and the reading was Jeremiah 1, Verse 17. Faure preached in the evening from the text 2 Corinthians 5, Verse 20 Now then, we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to God. He, Dr Van Velden, was now ready to go back to Winburg, via Ladysmith. Faure suggested we should accompany him as far as Boschfontein, the place of Gerrit Naude4 and then return to Pietermaritzburg, We, my sister-in-law Gertrude5 and I, agreed; provided the weather was favourable. The next morning [Monday 9th May] at 9 oclock sharp the waggon, drawn by 14 oxen, pulled up in front of the house6. At 11 oclock Gertrude, little Marianne7 and her wet nurse, Nancy, with the Deacon Naude, set off in this typical African vehicle. It is not easy to describe what an ox waggon looks like; it is a little bit wider, much longer and denitely cleaner than our original transport waggons. Ours was in extremely good condition. It had been newly painted, green and red, and it had a clean white canopy. On the katel (the katel is a wooden frame, a little more than half the length of the waggon, as wide as the inside, and tted with leather straps) we had put a mattress, three pillows and one blanket. Furthermore, the waggon contained little more than two camp stools, an African mat and a small Persian carpet. Faure and I stayed in the rectory and followed an hour later on horseback. We had sent off our African, Tom, with the waggon, together with a Hottentot as driver and an African as leader. We rode very slowly along a terribly bad, rough road to reach the summit of a steep hill8. When we overtook the waggon we found our sister Gertrude in tears over the
Natalia 3637 (2007), Val Ward pp. 1 20
Natalia 36-37 (2007) Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2010
The map is based on a map in the Natal Archives Repository, MS/108 map which is marked ?1854, but has on it places that did not exist in 1854. It is very likely taken from a later map, perhaps Cullingworth 1862. Only the middle section of the map has been used and altered here. For orientation Colenso and Escourt [sic] were retained while Winterton and Mooi River have been added. The route presumed to have been taken by the Faure party is dotted and places mentioned in the text are starred and numbered. 1: Prellers place, Hebron. 2: Naudes place, Boschfontein. 3: Scheepers place, Wagendrift. 4: De Waals place, Tugela Drift. 5: Klip River drift, Hermans Kraal. 6: Caspars place, Klein Tugela Rustenburg. 7: Mooi River drift, Grays Accommodation House. 8: Jan Naudes place, Bosch Hoek. 9. Potgieters place, Wildeals Spruit.
uncomfortable road, the waggon rolled from one hole to another, alternately bumped into huge stones or banks of clay with which the waggon had to cope. The road led us along a mass of hills, in Holland we would call them mountains. It was almost 2 oclock when we reached a plain9. There, we unyoked to give the oxen some rest and time to graze. The horses had been unsaddled and Tom was sent off to gather wood for a re. A kettle was put on and while Faure was busy preparing coffee, the mats were spread on the grass and pillows on top of them. Then we took our lunch from the waggon-box. The carpet served as a table, seats etc. Our lunch consisted of bread and butter and cold meat, brought from Pietermaritzburg. As we possessed only one plate, one knife, one cup, sharing was introduced instantly, so we had to wait our turn. After an hours pause we discussed continuing our journey but our lazy driver protested: We should not be able to reach Mr Prellers farm10 anyway before dark, and the road was unknown to him, besides it would be too far, he added. Fortunately we had been well informed before our departure so we insisted we should leave immediately. We told him that, whatever happened, we had to be at Prellers farm even late
at night, if necessary. We had never spent the night in the open and the possibility did not appeal to us. Not far from the picnic place we had been fortunate to meet two waggons from Preller and Westhuysen; in one of them sat Dr Van Velden who was travelling with Mr Preller and his family. We felt safe and without fear for although the road was very bad in the vicinity of Prellers house, and a steep hill loomed up, Mr Preller promised to see that our waggon would be safely brought in. Faure and I continued on our way and rode via a side road to the famous [Howick] waterfall of the Umghene. We could make it in time and catch up the waggons later on. For three-quarters of an hour we rode fairly fast over a good path. On both sides the grass was very high. We were still a good distance from the river when a constant roar reached our ears. We came nearer and nearer and, as is usually the case in meeting gigantic natural phenomena we were overwhelmed by a feeling of respect when we heard the rst sound. We had reached the summit of a grassy hill, where a monument had been put up. That is where we led our horses by hand. The Umghene drift (the place where waggons, horses and pedestrians cross the river) is at a dangerous spot, only 40 or 50 steps distance from the waterfall. When the water is high, many accidents have occurred here. There is a bridge now, a little higher up, preferred by everyone, of course. We saw some Africans wading the river, the water was low and the at stones, lying at the bottom, formed almost a dry path for them. It was interesting to watch how quickly they jumped from one rock to the next without slipping once. To my great relief, our ox waggon crossed the river by the bridge! It is more and more understood that wading is dangerous and in several places bridges are being built. The grave monument11 was a simple one, with the following text Sacred to the memory of William, only son of William Lodge, who was drowned by falling off a horse, whilst crossing the Umghene drift on the 15th of January 1851, and whose body was found beneath the falls on the 22nd of January 1851, aged 13 years and one month. Requiescat in Pace! It made a deep impression on us. A bend in the road took us to the side of the hill12 from where we had a marvellous view of the falls. It is impossible to describe the beauty of it. As far as the eye could see there was not one dwelling, only a vast wilderness where we stood. It gave us the impression of loneliness which was very special and sublime. We overlooked a sheet of water owing straight over steep rocks, more than 470 feet high, cascading into the depths. The rocks on both sides were of a dark reddish brown; green ivy and red aloes gave them a lively touch of colour. The enormous force with which the water came down (in spite of the moderate width of the stream feeding the waterfall) appears in one great mass of foam. It took us quite a while to absorb the lovely view, and even longer to tear ourselves away from it. I had never imagined to be so moved by any natural event it was even beyond my highest expectations! We soon reached our waggon. It had been an awful job to drive the oxen over the new bridge. These animals, used to wading rivers, feared the wooden bridges on which their hooves made an unusual noise. The two middle oxen were still unruly and had broken their yokes. These were soon repaired and we started off for the next bridge, over the Sterkspruit13, which was very wide at this point. Evening had fallen and as we did not fancy facing unnecessary dangers, we decided to have the waggons undone and be brought to the other side while
we followed on foot. I was afraid of the cold evening air for my little Marianne and carried her in my arms, wrapped in a warm shawl drawn over her little head. We reached Mr Prellers house14 without further delay, after crossing a small drift with many rocks. I want to point out that the slippery rocks, with which the rivers are paved, made the crossing unsafe and especially so when one goes on horseback. We were welcomed with warm hospitality at Mr Prellers house, where we stayed until the next day. The house (a farm house is not the right name because the occupants are more like landowners than farmers) was not very large, and Mr Preller had a big family, like most Afrikaners, 13 children I believe. A tidy room, compared to the ones we found elsewhere, was ours, it was even a royal room. We had to share it with my sister-in-law, the child and her nurse. The usual extent of farmers land is about 3000 acres. Many owners possess two, three or even four farms. I wish I could give a general description of the so-called Afrikaner Boers, as we learned to know them during our trip. Mr Preller is not the right person as an example because he is much more civilised and cultured than most. Their appearances are somewhat unusual, mostly they are big, muscular types. In that respect they are not like the Europeans. Their open faces are sympathetic. The families are numerous. I have seen grandmothers who fostered their own children and their grandchildren at the same time. There is something patriarchal in their way of living, their innumerable ocks of sheep, oxen and cows remind us of the old shepherd kings. The father is the head of the family, married sons and daughter live under the same roof. Matrimony and love, obedience and subordination, mark the Afrikaner families. The appearance of the women I found not very attractive; they seem to take pride in being heavy. Many Boers have a real faith; house services, when the father reads the Bible and prays, are seldom missed, three times a day. Simplicity, courage, generous hospitality and love of truth, are characteristic of Boers. Common sense, even intelligence, does not fail them. They have constructed complicated machinery for agriculture and other purposes and they make all kinds of furniture. Knowledge and culture are not counted necessary; as long as they can read and write and do some arithmetic that is all that matters to them, three months of going to school is sufcient. They are excellent shots. We have been told that one man had shot a hundred lions in his lifetime. Most Boers still live in houses made of wood, plastered with clay, as when they rst came to the Colony. The furniture consists of one table, two or three chairs and waggoncases along the walls serving as seats, wardrobes or trunks. The front door is generally the only door, the other door openings are closed by simple curtains, or not at all. Windows have no glass and are closed by shutters during the night or in a storm. It is nice and airy during summertime but cold in winter. Most farms have a front living-room and two or three smaller rooms used as bedrooms. The whole family consisting sometimes of more than 20 people, live together. This way of life is more or less obnoxious to us Europeans. On the other hand, it is remarkable that lack of morals, in Europe an overruling evil, is practically non-existent amongst these people, and although temptation is there, cleanliness of hearts is found everywhere. Often I have been impressed by the faith of married life. It is a natural state. Since my arrival in Africa I have not heard of one unhappy marriage. Perhaps in Gods Hand the nave way of life, the lack of many sinful pleasures, so familiar to civilised people in Europe, is the clue which guards these simple people from evil? Truly, our Lord has blessed this nation.
They generally are very young when they marry. It is not unusual to nd a 13 or 14year-old bride and a 16 or 17-year-old bridegroom. Seldom is the bride older. But it is not my intention to talk about the remarkable history of the Afrikaners. What I have heard about their departure from the Cape, their trek to this area, the ghts with the Africans, their deadly fear in camps and their heroism, related to me by eye-witnesses, seems incredible! We sometimes met people who were the only survivors of a whole family. Parents, brothers and sisters had been murdered by Dingaan, the former Zulu king. Even little children had been smashed against the wheels of the Boers waggons by this monster. We have visited these places of slaughter during our travels, and it only happened a few years ago! The aversion for the British, for whom they left their old colonies, is still prevalent amongst the Boers. In Mr Prellers house we noticed, at the lower end of the table, a neatly dressed English person. We could not make out what relationship he bore to the family and we were curious. The next day we were even more curious when we saw him working on the farm, killing a pig, preparing fowls for dinner, feeding the horses and making the re. He turned out to be the schoolmaster who taught the Prellers children and neighbours children. They really are a practical lot, though they dont fancy science. The day after our arrival at Prellers, we travelled to Mr Naudes place15. We departed at half past three in the afternoon [Tuesday, 10th May], Gertrude, baby and her nurse, Nancy, in the waggon, Faure and I following on horse-back. At 6 oclock we reached our destination. Our deacon, Naude, a kind man, six foot tall, welcomed us with love and heartiness and an hour and a half later the waggon arrived at Boschfontein. It was a lovely quiet evening. We had enjoyed our trip, the road had not given us too many difculties and the views were magnicent. We came through the woods, crossed many clear waters and admired a beautiful sunset behind the hills which were covered with all kinds of grass. Twice a year the grass is burnt in this country, in January and again in May or June. It is said that burning fertilises the soil. The fresh, green grass contrasts with the dark grass, recently burnt; a clear stream16 meanders through the foot of the hills forming small waterfalls here and there. Everything was beautiful and harmonious. Mr Naude is building a fairly large, comfortable stone house. His present house is small and built of clay. It contains a small kitchen, apart from the living-room, and two modest bedrooms. Some of the inhabitants were obliged to spend the night in the ox waggon belonging to the owner of the house to make room for us. We had to share it with our sister, the child and her nurse. It was so small, we could hardly move. But what is the use of grumbling? We had been offered the best they had. One learns to be content when there is no choice. Boschfontein, Mr Naudes place, is certainly one of the most beautiful in Natal. There are the most fantastic views and woods ever to be seen. On the way back we had a chance to observe the wonderful surroundings more closely. We saw many trees that could not be encircled by six or seven men at a time! There is a well-equipped sawmill in these woods. We had to make our way though thick undergrowth, sometimes through water, swamp etc., then again we came into the open or had to go down steep hills strewn with large stones. Sometimes I had to lead my horse. Unfortunately, it was a troublesome animal that I had borrowed from Mr Naudes sister in order to give my own pony to Gertrude, who was less used to riding. The horse I rode wanted to gallop all the time and it frequently stumbled.
When we reached the top of the hill we had a marvellous view of the valley of the Umghene and the Sterkspruit. We saw a few houses they were resting points for our eyes. Far away we saw the snow-capped mountains of the Drakensberg17. The effect of colours of the woods against the white snow, where the sun cast its clear light, was overwhelming, and we stood there, fascinated beyond words! The Umghene [Howick] Falls were out of sight as they were behind rocky mountains. At Boschfontein we decided to accompany Faure on his trip to the district of Klip River. Up to now we had thoroughly enjoyed our trip and we had not met with many hardships. Mrs Naude kindly provided us with bread and butter, coffee, tea, our, sugar, salt and meat and she even added two bottles of milk and a roast suckling pig. This seems to be a speciality in these parts for wherever we had been given a treat we were offered this dish and we always had unskimmed milk with it. As far as our attire was concerned, we had to manage with the few clothes we had taken for two days. It was a little inconvenient but, on the other hand, it was fun to travel with the minimum. Next morning [Wednesday 11th May] at 6 oclock, the waggon started off, Faure and I following an hour later. We had sent home our African, Tom. Mr Naude, as deacon, accompanied the waggon with the aid of an African leader. So it was in safe hands, humanly speaking. The weather was good, although a little cold, because of the early hour. The road was reasonable and the sun shone clearly on the grassy hills. We saw many fowl, African turkeys18, partridges and other wild birds. This gave a pleasant touch to the scenery. Falcons, eagles and all sorts of birds of prey, are to be found as well. A poor little bird sought in vain a safe shelter under our horses. At that very moment a large eagle, that had been waiting to strike, descended and took its prey before our eyes. At noon we reached the Mooi River Drift19. The Mooi River is certainly one of the most beautiful in the colony and its drift is broad and calm at this time of the year. In summer, crossings are sometimes impossible at high water. Because this drift was totally unknown to us, we took the wrong route across, although we had asked some Africans to show the way. They probably misunderstood and so we had to cope with a lot of stones, causing our horses to stumble many times! However, we reached the other bank where we unsaddled and allowed our horses to roam freely while we sought a place in the shade under some overhanging rocks. The sun was high and burning. One hour later we saw the ox waggon coming down the hill and crossing the river. The waggon was open and Dr Van Velden came over to us. After having our meal we started off at 2 oclock. Dr Van Velden came with us in the waggon. I lent my horse to my sister-in-law for the next hour and tried to make myself as comfortable as possible in the waggon, but alas no chance on this bad road. I lay down on the mattress spread on the katel, but my poor head had to endure so many shocks and bumps that I did not know where to put myself. I wanted to read, but that was out of the question. Little Marianne slept on Nancys lap. I tried to think, but the smoke of tobacco was blown in to the wagon and affected my head. Dr Van Velden, like most Dutch reverends, had the habit of smoking all day long, either a pipe or a cigar. Complaints, or serious pleading did not change this although it was a cause of constant war between Gertrude and Dr Van Velden. She had to put up with it all the time. We were on our way for half an hour when I discovered that I had lost four rings. I had taken them off when washing my hands and put them on the wheel. In a hurry to prepare our meal I had forgotten all about them. Faure came to the waggon not long
after the discovery and returned immediately to look for them: however, in vain, as one can imagine. The value of these rings was immense. They had been given to me as gifts on my departure20 from dear friends in Holland. At 4 oclock, Gertrude returned to the waggon and it was decided that Faure and I should ride in front to look for Scheepers house, which was still a long way off. We wanted to get there before dark. The exact spot was unknown to us so we rode fast, the road had been repaired recently and was good. In Holland one can hardly imagine that we in this country can travel for a whole day, yes, even for two days, without seeing one single dwelling or even an African kraal. All around us was totally deserted. When the sun went down this desolation did not appeal to me at all. The hills and valleys formed a welcome change in the setting sun, and we enjoyed the calm and beauty of it. We continued on our way without discovering anything that looked like a farm. It grew dark quickly and, as we had gone at some speed, we were, by that time, a long way ahead of the waggon. I was reluctant to go further, especially as I had seen Dr Van Velden running towards us from the waggon, as if he wanted to tell us something. We had not taken any notice because we did not want to lose time. Mr Naude had told us that near Mr Scheepers place we would have difculty in nding our way down the hill. We ought to ask for help when we got there. I felt uneasy and implored Faure to return and see if Dr Van Velden had wanted to tell us that he considered spending the night on the plain instead of continuing in the dark. The road was so good that Faure decided to ride on. We reached a brook with clean water and we drank out of the cups of our hands. We mounted our horses again and bravely started to wade across the water, but my pony refused. Faure, seeing that I did not succeed in persuading it, even after he had made a small footpath through the rocks, showed the way and then came back for my pony. It was very unwilling and when it got to the opposite side it staggered. I was glad I was not riding at that moment. We sped on. It was completely dark now and no moon. I was jumpy, the slightest noise made me afraid. I imagined all sorts of things animals rounding up on us, even lions in this uninhabited country. And how could we survive if we had to spend the night in the open in case we did not nd our waggon? We felt the cold night breeze. It made me shiver. Fear had taken hold of me, even the noise of our own voices frightened me. At last, we discovered a faint light in the distance. As we approached, we found that some Englishmen had made a re. They had unyoked their oxen and decided to spend the night in their waggon. Where Scheepers lived they could not tell, but it was denitely a long way off. That was all not very encouraging! What next? Should we go on, or return? After hesitating, Faure gave in to my pleading and we returned. I must confess disappointment; realising that our fruitless effort had taken away my last ounce of courage, I had difculty in suppressing my tears. At this very moment we heard Mr Naudes voice and we discovered that the ox waggon was quite near. The oxen travelled at a constant speed, hence this unexpected meeting. I was soon consoled and took my place in the waggon while Faure led my horse. We decided to go on and try to nd Scheepers place. It was half past eight when we reached the top of the hill21; we saw an open eld and a light in the distance. In some parts the road was so bad that we hardly moved. Faure also had difculty in nding his way. At last we could see Scheepers place22. Our shouting seemed to awaken only the dogs. Now and then we saw some movement, for instance a lamp was taken from one room to the other, but nothing happened. Mr Naude was getting impatient and wanted to make camp (we had waited three-quarters
of an hour by that time) when we saw some commotion, someone was coming out of the house to help us. It was Scheepers himself who led us along a very bad road. The waggon bumped from one stone to another, fortunately the darkness hid the dangerous situation. When we saw it the next morning, we were glad still to be alive. We had reached Scheepers house but not the end of the bad luck. Gerrit Scheepers told us that a whooping cough epidemic had broken out and so we could not go inside. It was not wise to expose our dear little girl to the infection so we decided to spend the night in the waggon except for Mr Naude and Dr Van Velden. It was our rst attempt of this kind. Coffee and bread and butter were brought to us after which we closed the waggon thoroughly. We lit the lantern and lay down fully clothed on the mattress. For Nancy and the baby we had put up a bed in the back of the waggon. In spite of the noise of the geese, ducks and other fowl, we slept well that night. The sun was already high on the horizon when we woke up. Gertrude and I started out to wash in a little stream nearby which soon refreshed us. Shortly after, we broke camp [on Thursday 12th May], Gertrude, Faure and myself on horseback. Scheepers had kindly lent us a horse on which Faure rode. Gertrude took his pony and I rode my own. Faures pony was a nice brown one, bought recently from Mr Naude, but she was not used to being ridden and she was so frightened that Faure had to take her by the reins. Later I had to change horses with Gertrude. I liked this one, and so did Gertrude. After a while we reached Bushmans River and a little further on Little Bushmans River, both known for their dangerous banks23. Faure took Gertrudes horse by the reins, I followed on my pony and we came safely to the other side. Fortunately, I had not been informed that the crossing of these two rivers was dangerous because of the slippery stones. Even in these parts, the Bushmen make their annual poaching excursions. The district of the Tugela to the Drakensberg mountains, their original homeland, lies open to them. Many times they even operated in the neighbourhood of Pietermaritzburg24. Some years previously they stole 7000 sheep and 250 oxen near Bushmans River. Oosthuysen25, a land owner, who lived there, told me he had lost 123 oxen and 38 horses through robbery, not long ago. It is almost impossible to pursue them. They generally come in troops, with guns and deadly poisoned arrows, which they handle quite skilfully. To make pursuing even more difcult, they steal the horses rst. The cattle are so frightened by the smell of the Bushmen (they know it predicts evil) that they run as fast as they can when they are driven by them, as if they are followed by lions. The Bushmen live in caves, or sometimes in the open air. They feed on plants and butchered meat, even in its raw state. Their cruelty is notorious. When they have stolen cattle, and discover they are being pursued, they kill or mutilate the poor animals so that they are no use to the owner any more. They leave them on the spot. Many times one nds sheep with only two or three legs or with a piece of esh cut out from their sides. Sometimes their muscles or tendons have been cut so as to make them useless to the owner. They even leave behind their own children in the woods, like some useless waste, when they get troublesome during those trips, and where they perish through lack of food or by wild animals. Some are killed against the rocks which is perhaps a little more merciful. I have seen in Pietermaritzburg, Bushmen parents serving in a respectable family, who, with threats of a beating, had to be forced not to leave their naked babies out in the frosty night but to take them into the house.
Out of more than a hundred animals that have been stolen, one nds, after several days, only a dozen still alive, the rest having been gruesomely butchered. What they steal is generally given up. The rapidity with which they proceed along the dangerous paths over the rocks (which they climb without difculty) terries the animals (the ones that wont go are thrown down) and makes it impossible to go after them. Their caves are inaccessible. They are safe there. Besides the English Government has prohibited the killing of them. When they are captured they have to be brought to justice where they are set free on condition that they promise not to steal again, and they are sent off with some blankets as a reward. That is how many landowners lose a great deal of their possessions, frustrated by the law. It is also forbidden to take ones cattle back once they have crossed certain borders. This was one of the grudges the Boers from the Cape have against the Government and for which they left the country to go to Natal. Mr Naude told us that before this trek to Natal they actually saw their cattle being stolen without having the right to take them back. It was said that the Government would pay compensation and therefore pursuing was prohibited. When some sheep and oxen fell into the hands of the government the prey was sold and the money given to the victims as damages. The freedom of the Bushmen was called humanity. As proof of their cruelty, they often, out of simple blood-thirst, killed and butchered the cattle guards. Not one beast of prey was more feared and shunned than the Bushmen! After leaving Scheepers place, we came through most interesting countryside. We crossed a small brook called Moordspruit26, the water of which was coloured red by the bloodshed, 13 or 14 years previously, by Dingaan, Africas Nero27. His victims were mainly Boers, but also among his own subjects. The Boers who had penetrated the country, were killed28 by this cruel monster. We had now neared Blauwkrans, the place where Dingaan murdered Retief and those who were with him, in his own kraal29. Retief had pretended to be a member of a Commission of Boers and had spoken words of hospitality and greetings of peace. After this horrible deed Dingaan attacked the waggons of Boers and killed the wives and children treacherously. Retief and his men had been invited to dinner and, suspecting no harm, had been slaughtered. Many lost, on that particular day, their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. Parents had been robbed of their children. Nobody was able to escape, for Dingaan had ordered the waggons, in which some people tried to hide, to be stabbed by the Zulus; tents were torn to pieces, the heads of babies were smashed against the wheels of their waggons. Women were cut open and two babies met with all kinds of cruelties. It is thought that some 616 souls, men, women and children were slaughtered on that spot. No wonder Blauwkrans is called Place of bloodshed. We saw many deserted African kraals from which Dingaans subjects had ed in fear of his wrath. Nature, wild and beautiful in its wilderness, is in accordance to those awful remembrances. We saw an unusual occurrence, at least for us it was, 23 large eagles feasting on a dead animal, probably a dead ox that had perished on the road. The most spectacular thing was that one bird watched the whole scene from a dead tree. At sunset we arrived at the broad and most beautiful river of the Colony of Natal, the Tugela30. It seemed to me to be too wide to be crossed on horseback so I left my dear animal in Faures care and climbed the waggon. It is still strange to me to wade a river and I do it with fear in my heart. Faure, on his horse, led mine by hand. Now and again I saw them stumble and I was glad to be in the waggon. The bank of the other side was steep and the path leading to the hills was even more so. Mr Naude had to use his whip
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to persuade the oxen and an Afrikaner, willing to help, used his also. The oxen not used to two whips at a time started to protest, some tried to turn round, others wanted to run away and some refused to go one step. In the confusion, Nancy, with our child in her arms, jumped out of the waggon. Two oxen broke their yoke, while Mr Naude tried to retain control over the animals so that he could repair the yoke. Gertrude, Dr Van Velden and I got out of the waggon, preferring to climb the hill on foot rather than in the waggon. As soon as we had reached the top, Faure and I mounted our horses while the others took their seats in the waggon. After a quarter of an hour we arrived at Groot Tugela31, a small village consisting of a few houses , built only recently. It is a neat, quiet place on the bank of the river Tugela. It was a nice, calm evening when we arrived. The house of Mr De Waal, who had moved to Pietermaritzburg, was lent to us in which to spend the night. The house was not quite ready and it certainly was primitive. We drank tea and coffee in the front room. For supper we had hot and cold meat, potatoes, eggs and bread. It was very cold that night. The cold night air penetrated the thatched roof due to the fact that the ceiling , as in most South African houses, was omitted. If it does exist, it is timber boarding. My greatest concern was for my dear little Marianne who was not used to the cold and inconvenience. The next morning [Friday 13th May] we started off early. The road was bad, with many loose stones, and many times we had to lead our horses by hand. The rst stop was between Tugela and Ladysmith. The drift32 over the Klip River was too dangerous. So we all got into the waggon, leaving our horses to the care of one of the Africans. At noon we arrived at Ladysmith. We had seen many waggons, with churchgoers, on our way. They came from different regions. Ladysmith looked most attractive and promising. The situation was not glamorous, hardly a tree to be seen but the general impression was one of joy and festivity, 150 ox waggons and many tents were gathered. Many churchgoers had come on horseback, according to African custom. The oxen and horses grazed freely in the surrounding eld. Almost without exception there was a tent next to every waggon; imagine the sight of these white tents, some closed, some open and all the white hoods of the ox waggons. In their midst was the neat and simple church building, to be consecrated the next day [Saturday 14th May]. From all directions more churchgoers came down the hills. It was a touching, patriarchical scene. We wanted to go to Captain Strubens house33, Magistrate of Klip River and looked for it. Soon we saw a nice cottage, the most respectable house in the village. We thought it would be the Magistrates dwelling and we were not disappointed. We knocked (one does not nd door bells in primitive Natal or rarely, perhaps I saw one or two in Pietermaritzburg). The door opened and Captain Struben and his wife greeted us cordially and bade us come inside. Their large and cosy cottage was elegantly arranged. There was a verandah along the side with brown painted lattice work. A few trees in the English garden gave more privacy to the house. The Strubens wanted us to stay with them. I was against it, because here again there was whooping cough in the house. What could be done? There was no accommodation elsewhere. Mr Naude could sleep in the waggon. Although we had brought a tent it was not suitable as an abode for several days, certainly not for a baby. Mrs Struben was so kind as to offer us a room, separate from the house where our little Marianne could stay, with no contact with the coughing children. We accepted this generous offer gratefully, and by Gods grace our dear child was saved. Captain Struben was born a Dutchman and, indeed, he was one at heart. His father came to Holland as a boy of 16 with the regiment of the Waldeckers34 whose
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Colonel he became. Capt. Struben served with the Dutch Marines for some time. Later on he went to England, where he married an elegant, cultured and amiable English girl. For some time they lived in Rotterdam, then they returned to England, where his wifes relatives lived. Some three year ago he was appointed Magistrate of Klip River, the result of a visit to these parts of the world. After he started his civilian service, his wife came over to Natal. He is a respected man amongst the Boers and very popular because of his open character and broad views. As a human being and as a countryman, we have learned to appreciate him also. His wife is adorable. She has been brought up wealthy, but she has adapted herself so well that she stole all hearts. She also speaks Dutch very well. A few hours after our arrival, Gertrude and I went out to visit the churchgoers in their tents. This seemed to please them and the next day I had to visit as many people as was possible so as not to disappoint them. At dinner a few guests had been invited, it turned out to be a nice, quiet evening. To show how nave the views of the Afrikaners can be, I want to mention how easily they can be misled. Capt. Struben told us that, three or four years ago there happened to be an elderly lady, whose way of life had not been unscrupulous, set herself up as the Mother of the Messiah. I did not quite get her ideas, but I have learnt that she had great success with the Boers, who respected her as a prophetess, and treated her with respect and admiration. Many had been persuaded to travel to Jerusalem, where great things would take place. Her death put an end to all this, on her deathbed she confessed to have cheated and also that there had been a man behind these things. It was exactly at this time that Capt. Struben was on one of his ofcial excursions. He visited a farm, where the inhabitants were busy preparing their ox waggons with many things, as many as they could possibly pack for a long journey. In answer to his questions they told Captain Struben that the prophetess had visited them, and now they intended to go to Jerusalem. All the members of the family had made the same decision and they were ready to depart soon. But how will you get there, dear friends? Capt. Struben asked. If we go eastwards all the time, we cant miss it they answered. But how can you cross the sea with your ox waggons? They had not thought of this, their knowledge of geography was not far-reaching, some of them had never seen the sea, they hardly knew the word. With astonishment they looked at each other. Is there no other way? The prophetess had not mentioned the sea and she was sure to know. Capt. Struben asked for a piece of chalk or charcoal and started to draw, as well as he could from memory, a world-map on the rough table. They started to conde in him and looked at each other hesitantly. At last they exclaimed But then the prophetess must be wrong, however impossible that seems. We shall postpone our plans and see what the others are going to do. Half a year later (Capt. Struben had almost forgotten the incident) the owners of the farm came to visit him. What, you here?the Magistrate asked him. I thought you had gone to Jerusalem. No, the man replied, we know now that you were right and that we can trust you. But what has changed your mind? the Magistrate asked. Well, he answered, some time after you had left we saw an old Bible at our neighbours farm, in it was an old map and that was exactly as you had drawn for us.
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Then we knew that it was true and we are ready to believe all you say. I am glad that Mr Struben came just in time! I mentioned this incident to prove how nave the Afrikaners are, and to point out how much they respect the Bible and all it says. It is of the greatest value to be careful in selecting the Europeans to be sent out, teachers, lawyers, reverends. The next day [Saturday 14th May] the consecration of the Church was to take place. I visited many tents, all by myself, that day, and again I was pleased to see how welcome I was. As soon as I entered someone hastened to give me a camp-stool and from all sides they rushed in to see and welcome The wife of our reverend (as it said on my letter of introduction). I stretched out to shake hands and tried to have a personal word with everyone. In each tent I was urgently invited to have a cup of tea or coffee; I had to try their new baked bread or their roast chicken or duck. As I happened to come at the time they had their meals, I feared indigestion. The sound of church bells called me away from my friends to go home. I was sorry not to have been able to visit them all. It seemed they considered the wife of the reverend a bit young, due to my looks, for they asked me again and again how old I was. I told them I had a child, 9 months old, so they concluded I had married very young. This, to prove that the African climate and the journey have had no affect on me. The African woman ages quickly as a rule, due to the climate and the hard life. At the consecration of the Church Dr Van Velden read from Genesis 28, Verse 19 and he called the name of that place Beth-el. After the service we had refreshments. Visitors came all the time, so it was not a quiet dinner. One of the people whom I had visited the previous day brought me a roast duck. After dinner Faure took the service of Preparation and Admission, his text being 1 Cor. 11, Verse 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. I needed some rest and remained at home. The inside of the church was not yet complete, the pulpit for instance was made of some cases, one on top of the other, covered by a table cloth; a footstool helped the preachers to climb to the pulpit, a hazardous procedure! I feared many times Faure would tumble down, pulpit and all. There also were no lamps yet. To have light the churchgoers brought their own candles, holding them in their hands all the time, during the service. A few had been more inventive and put them on bottles. One has to adapt ones self to the circumstances. On Sunday May 15th Faure took the Holy Communion Service, according to John 6, Verse 48 I am the bread of life. Dr van der Hoff35 had arrived at Ladysmith the previous day [Saturday 14th May], he was on his way, with his wife and child, to Mooi River36 in the Transvaal Republic, where he had been called by the Transvaalers; he had been sent out as a preacher to the Cape. A few months after his arrival he got this new job. Dr Van Velden took the Thanksgiving Service in the afternoon and on this occasion Faure baptised no less that 53 children. After the service we went to one of the tents, where a child, meant to be baptised, lay severely ill. It looked as if he was going to die and the parents urgently bade Faure to baptise him there and then. The deacon was also present. With Dr van der Hoff and his family we had dinner at the house of our kind host. Dr van der Hoff led the evening service and preached from the text Mark 4, Verses 3335 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them as they were able to hear it.
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But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone he expounded all things to his disciples. I had caught a cold and did not go and when many visitors arrived I slipped off to bed early. We had planned our departure for the next day [Monday 16th May]. Dr Van Velden set off before us to lecture to his parish. I went to visit some people in tents with my sister-in-law and to our great relief we found the sick child much better and ready to go home. It was half past two [afternoon of the 16th May] when we left our hosts and their hospitable home. After the waggon had left, Faure and I followed on horseback. Again we crossed the Klip River, at another drift this time37, for we rode in the opposite direction, towards Little Tugela River. We went westwards hoping to reach Deacon Caspar Labuschagnes home38 before night fall, where on Wednesday May 18th a service would be held. A long journey lay ahead of us, and because the road was very bad we had to make our way through banks of sand and stones. The sky was dark with menacing clouds. Fortunately, we could climb into the waggon when the rain came. We left our horses in the care of an African and hurriedly made for Caspars house. We had to cross the Tugela at a bad drift and there was even the possibility that the water would be high. At half past ve, darkness fell, still no sign of the river. It did not look too good. We had a lantern, but no place to hang it, so that was no use. For some time we held it in our hands but with the rolling of the waggon the candelight soon extinguished. At last we reached the river [Tugela]. We found we had to go down a steep slope while the one on the other side of the Tugela seemed even worse. When going down, the waggon stood almost vertically, so that I held my hands in front of my eyes so as not to see the danger. Wading at this point was very risky as the water was deep and the river bed full of holes, two of the oxen stumbled and fell. A steep rocky path awaited us on the other side but we arrived safely at half past eight at Labuschagnes house39. The rain came down in torrrents and I was afraid to expose Marianne to the damp night air. The waggon could not get close to the house. Gertrude felt sick after the uncomfortable trip, so we decided to remain in the waggon that night. Faure and I went inside the house and returned after a light supper, to the waggon. Supper consisted of meat, potatoes and dry rice with a glass of fresh milk, usually the only drink for the Boers. In a white cup we made a night light, lit it, and made a sleeping place for Nancy and baby, after which we went to sleep, fully clothed, on the mattress. It was a cold night and to make it worse the hood leaked here and there. At dawn we saw that our blankets were soaked in several places. Nancy did not feel well either, she had to go in and out of the waggon, letting in the cold air. It kept on raining, so we decided to go to the hospitable house. It was a primitive dwelling, a living room and two bedrooms with curtains instead of doors. One of the bedrooms was prepared for us. As in most houses, there was no ceiling, only the roof over our heads. The windows had no glass, only wooden shutters, closed all day long because of the rain. We were glad to leave the dark bedroom and go to the living room, where the whole family gathered. The shutters were also closed here but the light came in through the half open door. It is not easy to describe our bedroom, under the bed pots of honey were stacked, sacks of lard, our and all kinds of seeds, etc. Hanging along the walls were weapons and our hosts Sunday hat and coat. The rain coming down steadily, kept us indoors all day. Gertrude lay ill in bed. At noon a thunderstorm broke out with ashes of lightning. The whole day I felt miserable cold, due to the damp clay oors.
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When we woke up the next day [Tuesday 17th May] the rain had stopped and although the roads would be bad after the constant rain, we decided to proceed on our journey. When we were ready to leave, there was a great tumult. It appeared that a lion had dragged away many sheep during the night, right in front of the house. Lions come regularly in these parts. We took the way to Klein Tugela [Labuschagnes Rustenburg] accompanied by the father and his sons, who followed the lions tracks. We did not fancy a lion hunt! The waggon had gone on ahead and we followed on horseback. The road was drenched and very slippery, so that we had to dismount several times. The trail of the lion led away from our road in another direction, but we could not forget it and turned around at every sound. After about 3 hours we came to a fast owing river [probably the Tugela] and when we had crossed it we reached the church place, Klein Tugela40, a vast empty eld with only one building, the small church, where 13 or 14 ox waggons had gathered. More churchgoers arrived soon after us. Hurriedly we prepared our meal, helped by some of the churchgoers, one brought boiling water, others brought meat, bread and rusks. We soon had our meal, together with the provisions we had brought along. After having written down the names of the children to be baptised and those of the grown ups to be conrmed (with which I helped my husband, like a true reverends wife), we all went to church. The service started at 7 oclock in the evening. Faure preached from the text 1 Thess. 5, Verse 17 Pray without ceasing. Here also there were only candles in bottles. I was amazed that the children made so much noise, they even talked aloud. After the service we returned to our waggon while the church was being prepared to serve as a shelter for various church people, including Mr Naude. The cold night made me run to our waggon and the next day we saw frost on the ground. The service started early at 7 oclock, in the morning [of Wednesday 18th May]. Faure read from Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd. At 11 oclock we were ready to leave. Honey and milk had been brought to us. The region we came through was most interesting, we saw clearly the Drakensberg mountains with their snow-capped peaks against the blue sky. During our stay at Tugela church place we had admired this range and now when we drew nearer I was disappointed that we did not have time to go there and admire the waterfall [Tugela Falls], coming down from 1000 feet high. We had been told that we could reach it after three hours riding without effort, but alas time failed us. The Drakensberg mountains are known to be very interesting for tourists, there are Bushmen and many beasts of prey, lions, buffaloes, hippos, eland etc., especially on the other side of the mountains. We approached the land of Moshesh, king of the hostile tribe of the Basouto which had fought the English Government, a short while ago. We went through the Sterkspruit41 and the Little Tugela, both rivers are generally high in summertime, but now they were low. We came through grass elds, where the grass stood 23 feet high. Even on horseback it was difcult to ride through, it is called Tamboeki grass, owing to the deep holes it covers. These holes are made by aardvarken [antbears Orycteropus afer. Smithers, p. 599] and are dangerous because the horses may stumble or even fall. We went on carefully and saw many wild animals, for instance, large buck called hartebeest, brown and with huge horns. We visited some Boers whom we met at the church place and were cordially welcomed. The weather was glorious, the air was warm, not oppressive and the trip, that would be a long one, as we had to go to Kaalspruit42 before nightfall, did not worry us.
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Evening fell and we had some horses riding ahead of us. We reached an African kraal and changed some raw meat for wood to be able to cook our meal when we arrived at the camping place near Blauwkrans43. The moon was high and clear in the sky, shedding a beautiful serene light on the plain. We passed elds of Turkish corn [grain] and mealies on which our horses fed now and then. It was one of those nights which can never be forgotten. We were ahead of our waggon and we talked about our dear Fatherland and the loved ones we had left behind. Our hearts lived in the past. What struck me was the constant change in temperature, it was cold in some parts and warm in others. At the camping place we met another waggon. We made a re for all of us, spread the mat and the Indian carpet and sat around the re, it gave us a nice warm feeling in the chilly night. It was half past nine. The coffee was soon made, our good, kind fellow traveller Mr Naude went out of his way to help, he grilled sausages and steak over the re. I had never before seen a roast prepared this way, it was very tasty. At half past eleven we broke up to go to our waggon to sleep. Mr Naude took a rug, put it under the waggon and fell asleep. He was glad that the horses had the excellent idea of accompanying him, for it was a cold night. When he woke up he saw a horse lying on either side. We opened our waggon and found breakfast ready [?19th or 20th May], thanks to Mr Naude. We had not slept much owing to the wild shouts of Africans, probably a festivity in one of the kraals. It must have been a joyful event! When the African, who was our leader saw that Mr Naude was preparing breakfast, while we were still in the waggon, he asked our deacon in mysterious terms who was the big boss in the waggon who had 3 wives? And if Mr Naude had more? There is no law yet forbidding polygamy for Africans and a chief who is rich and respectable has many wives. Women are still a matter of trade. Faure and I mounted our horses at 8 oclock. There was a frost and the ground was white. At 10 oclock I lent my horse to Gertrude who with Faure, rode on to Scheepers place [Wagendrift] where we had spent the night at the beginning of our trip. We crossed the Bushmans River where we bumped and rocked uncomfortably. Finally, we reached our destination. Remembering the prevailing whooping cough, I wanted to keep at a distance. When the waggon halted Faure came to meet us, together with Gerrit Scheepers44 and his son-in-law Oosthuysen, whose parents had been murdered by Dingaan, near Blauwkrans. I felt ill and exhausted and preferred to remain in the waggon but Faure insisted I should get out and have dinner with the Scheepers. I gave in and left Marianne and Nancy in the waggon. A disagreeable surprise awaited us. We had counted on getting another leader and oxen at Scheepers place but we were disappointed. The leader told us he had to be back in time to hand over the oxen to his master and he refused to come. We were obliged to go on for the next Sunday Service [22nd May] was to be at Boschfontein, Mr Naudes place, and to get there we had to make haste. We had hoped to camp that night at Mooi River. Scheepers and Oosthuysen talked to our leader for a long time in his own language and succeeded in persuading him to go with us part of the way. We could not understand what they said, but it was evident that the man was frightened. Oosthuysen told us afterwards that he had said Mr Faure was a mighty head of the white people and a friend of the Government and if he persisted, he would be handed over to the police and be punished. We only stayed for a short time at Scheepers house and departed at 3 oclock [in the afternoon of ?Saturday 21st May]. I tried to ride my horse but I felt sick and had a terrible headache, so that every movement was too much for
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me. We tried to overtake the waggon and so it was necessary to ride fast; unfortunately it took some time before we sighted it. Evening fell, the road was bad and unused, in many places we had to go through swamps or make detours to avoid them. It was dark when we nally caught up with our waggon. Faure wanted to camp knowing how much I needed a rest, but Mr Naude did not agree. I lay down on the mattress and immediately fell asleep. I already felt a little better when Faure brought me my supper, a slice of bread and cold chicken. Like the night before Mr Naude camped under the waggon with the promise he would wake us early for we had to start at dawn. Fearing our African leader might escape we gave him a good meal. Mr Naude threatened him with a severe punishment if he tried to run away. But in spite of this he went while it was still dark, Mr Naude awakened us with the bad news [on 20th May]. The oxen were still there for they had been fastened to the waggon and could not be taken away without making too much noise. Our horses were let loose, they never go a long way. They were still there. What next? We were at a loss, the oxen were not used to Mr Naude, besides he did not know the way and as the road was untrodden and full of holes, he was reluctant to take the responsibility. We decided to proceed slowly and very carefully. Faure would ride ahead and see if he could get some help. We had seen some tents in the distance. They belonged to an Englishman, who was in charge of some Africans repairing the road to Bushmans River. He willingly lent us one man to act as our leader. This being arranged I jumped out of the waggon to accompany Faure. While he saddled my horse the waggon went on. We soon caught up with it, when Faure remarked that neither, in front nor at the back the leader could be seen. We wanted to ask Mr Naude if the leader was perhaps sitting next to him, when he turned round and answered he had not seen him for some time and asked us if we had seen him anywhere. So that was the end of it, African No. 2 had escaped, but how? We had not seen him, although we had been following at a short distance. Possibly the man did not like to walk in the cold morning air and had taken cover in the high grass, we had to continue without a leader as well as possible. At Mr Naudes request we rode to Mooi River where we would try and nd an able leader and send him to the waggon, for, at Mooi River the waggon would have to negotiate a steep downhill path. It was cold and my hands were numb. I could hardly hold the reins. I had put on a warm coat and a fur, but I still felt the cold. I had not expected it in Natal. I put on two pairs of gloves, the sharp wind was blowing hard, the sky was hazy and it took a long time before the sun could force its way through heavy, dark clouds. We took a shortcut to the river, meandering quietly and beautifully through the valley at our feet, not unlike a silver snake creeping through the dark green grass. What a pity, we were in such a hurry! Gradually the footpath got steeper and we had to dismount and lead our horses by hand. The river was swollen, but we came through without difculty. We found a small inn45, owned by an Englishman and soon we were sitting near the re waiting for the waggon. We had been lucky to nd an African willing to lead the waggon down the slope and through the river, but no further. It was half past nine when at last the waggon arrived. Our poor deacon was exhausted, no wonder. Only someone who knows Africa would understand what it is to be a leader and driver at the same time. Our poor friend had to walk beside the waggon most of the time, looking on both sides to calm the oxen. We had lunch at the Hotel, bread and chicken, wine and coffee. At 4 oclock [afternoon of 21st May] Faure and I mounted our horses to go
17
with speed to Boschfontein and sent Mr Naudes own leader back to him to help him to climb the difcult path in the rocks near his place. On our trip we passed rocky hills, very picturesque with aloes and beautiful valleys formed by the hills. On the grassy plains, amidst dark woods, a mass of cattle was grazing peacefully. To me Boschfontein, with its lovely valleys, majestic woods and owered hills always has a great attraction. When we arrived at Mr Naudes place [Boschfontein], we sent him the Africans without delay, a leader and a driver. A few hours later the waggon arrived safely. Every year some wild animals are being shot at Boschfontein, lions, buffaloes and eland. Shortly before we arrived some mares and a colt had been dragged away by a lion and after our return to Pietermaritzburg a lion had been seen on the very spot where we stood, near the house of our deacon. The next day, being a Sunday [22nd May], Faure preached to about 50 people. This service was held in the front room. The text was Matthew 11, Verse 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavily laden, and I will give you rest. On Monday [23rd May] we rode out on a pastoral visit, Faure, Gertrude, Mr Naude and myself. We dined with Jan Naudes family46, brother of our deacon, and so we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the beautiful surroundings. At night Faure held a simple service, the text being Romans 8, Verse 31 If God be for us, who can be against us? The next day [Tuesday 24th May] we left our kind host to return to Pietermaritzburg on horseback. Faure and I visited Petrus Potgieter47 and his family. We crossed the Sterkspruit48 and arrived at Karel Prellers house49 at suppertime. We spent the night there. Gertrude borrowed a horse and Preller himself accompanied us part of the way. The waggon was left to the care of Petrus Potgieter whose oxen we borrowed at Boschfontein and who acted as driver. He looked after Nancy well and our dear little Marianne, whom he loved very much. He often said If only I had a little girl like her, then I should be really happy. With my sister-in-law we visited the Umghene [Howick] waterfall. We reached the rectory at Pietermaritzburg at 6 oclock in the evening of May 25th, truly contented and happy with our rst improvised African excursion, which we shall always remember with joy. Marianne Faure50 Born Alewyn Pietermartizburg June 29th 1853 Translated by Anna Maria Entrop-Le Poole51 In memory of my Great Grandmother. EDITORS NOTE Marianne Faures story was written ve weeks after she returned home in 1853. It has been transcribed several times. Originally written in Dutch it was copied by hand in Dutch in the early 20th century. Then it was translated into English in the early 1980s. In 1987 I transcribed a typed English translation onto my electric typewriter. Subsequently, I have typed this into my computer. The authors memory, the Dutch transcription, the English translation and subsequent transcriptions may have resulted in the discrepancies in this publication. I have tried to keep to the original English translation but have made
18
a few changes e.g. when a river is named, I have used River and I have italicised the farm names. I have accessed the original document and I have used it to correct some of the English translation that bothered me. I have not interfered with the language, ethos or attitudes of the past. Marianne Faures great grand-daughter Marguerite Cotterrell lent me a typed copy in 1987. At that time she was visiting Pietermaritzburg from Thomas River in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Since then she has emigrated to South Island, New Zealand to be with two of her children and her grandchildren. Marguerite is a rst cousin of Anna Maria Entrop-Le Poole, the translator of the Dutch copy. Marguerite has given permission for the publication of the English translation. The original Dutch manuscript of 73 pages is in the Witwatersrand University (William Cullen) Library. The reference is Document 6 of 235, Ref: A36. M (A) Faure. Mijne eerste Afrikaansche excursie 1853, 8 May 29 June. Shelagh Spencer was most helpful in lending me copies of early colonial Natal material, the Cullingworth map being the most useful in identifying places, and the list of title deeds from 1847. Shelagh also made useful suggestions and provided additional information when she checked a draft and the endnotes. Helpful staff of the Natal Museum include Linda Ireland who found that the original manuscript was listed as being in the Witwatersrand University Library; Jeremy Hollman who prepared the map; Gavin Whitelaw who identied the Waldeckers for me and who checked the current ofcial farm and river spellings used in the endnotes; Zandile Mbhele unsuccessfully tried to effect an Interlibrary Loan. I am grateful to Jo Earle of Johannesburg who accessed and photocopied Marianne Faures Dutch manuscript in the Witwatersrand University Library, and delivered it to me at home in Pietermaritzburg.
ENDNOTES 1 Rev Hendrik Emanuel Faure, born 17 August 1828, baptised in Cape Town 21 September 1828, died 6 April 1898 at Doesburg, Holland. He married at Soestdyk, Holland 20 November 1851 (South African Genealogies vol. 2 p. 272). 2 Dr Dirk Van Velden (18131878), Winburg clergyman 18501854. (Dictionary of South African Biography, vol. 2 p. 809). 3 Orange River Sovereignty (todays Free State). 4 Gerrit Jacobus Naude (born c. 1809) 5 Gertruida Isabella Faure born 19 February 1827, married in Cape Town 24 August 1853 Marthinus Frederick Alewijn (South African Genealogies Vol. 2 p. 272). 6 The rectory, in Longmarket Street, now the site of the provincial ofces, Natalia. 7 The authors daughter Marianne Isabella Marthinus Frederika, born 6 September 1852, baptised Cape Town 24 October 1852 (South African Genealogies Vol. 2 p. 272). 8 Probably present-day Hilton. 9 Probably Cedara area. 10 Karel (or Carl) Fredrik Preller (18011870) 11 According to Mrs Holland of Howick Museum, this monument is no longer extant (1988). 12 Present-day view site. 13 Possibly present-day Lions River or Mpofana River. 14 Hebron on the Mngeni River in the Lions River area. Present-day Hebron Haven Hotel is on the farm. (Dimock, Lions River; Hebron: Cullingworths map) 15 Boschfontein, at present-day Caversham. 16 Possibly Mpofana River. 17 There must have been an early snowfall in May. 18 Probably the Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri), a turkey-like bird David Johnson pers. comm. 19 This was downstream from present day Mooi River town, on the Greytown Road.

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
19
29
30 31 32 33 34
35 36 37 38 39
40
41 42 43 44 45
46 47 48
She married Faure in Holland in 1851 and arrived in South Africa in December 1852. Probably Beacon Hill, near the N3 motorway. Wagendrift. A portion of present-day Wagendrift Dam is on this farm. The group travelled west of present-day Estcourt which lies at the conuence of these two rivers. See also John Wrights Bushman raiders of the Drakensberg. There were several Oosthuysens in the area, including at Wagendrift (Wright). There are a few streams running northwards through the farm Moordspruit, owned by E.G. Landsberg in 1862, and which join the Blaauwkrans River north-east of present-day Frere. The Blaauwkrans attack took place on 17 February 1838 (F.T. du Bruyn) Piet Retief (17801838) was leader, with Gerrit Maritz, of the Voortrekkers from the Cape Colony to Natal in 1837. Because of the hope of obtaining large tracts of land, the Voortrekkers were of great concern to the Zulu Kingdom, resulting in the murder of Retief at Mgungundlovu, Dinganes capital (Ballard). Dinganes kraal was at Mgungungdlovu in the eMakhosini Valley near Melmoth. Retief was murdered there and not at Blaauwkrans (Colenbrander). Dingane kaSenzangakhona (17951840) was the Zulu chief from 1828 when he obtained the throne by murdering his predecessor, and brother, Shaka. He was defeated in a battle with the Boer immigrants on 16 December 1838 at Blood River (Ncome). He escaped to Swaziland where he was deposed by his brother Mpande, and subsequently murdered. Thukela River drift, upstream from present-day Colenso. Probably Tugela Drift farm on the north bank, owned by P.J. de Waal. The road on the 1862 map runs through Hermans Kraal and crosses the Klip River south-east of Ladysmith. J.H.M. Struben (18061869). Waldeck-Pyrmont was a small principality in the German empire. A Waldeck Battalion was founded in 1681. In 1784 the 5th Waldeck Battalion entered Dutch service. During re-organisation in 1806, the 5th Waldeck Battalion was disbanded while the other regiments were renamed. Early in the 19th century the Waldeck regiments left Dutch service. (Ref: http://home.att.net/~david.danner/militaria/waldeck.htm) Dr Dirk van der Hoff (18141881), the Transvaals rst Dutch Reformed Church minister (Dictionary of South African Biography, vol. 2, p. 771) Mooi River Dorp is present-day Potchefstroom. South or west of Ladysmith. This may be on the farm Labuschagnes Kraal. I have not been able to identify positively Labuschagnes home. The description of the next four or ve days is very confusing. Probably the farm Rustenburg on the north bank of the Little Tugela River near the conuence with the Tugela River, east of present-day Winterton. Caspar Jeremias Labuschagne (c17731860) was granted Rustenburg (5241 acres) on 1 April 1851 and Schietdrift (1987 acres) on 1 Jan 1851 both signed for by him on 1 April 1852. Schietdrift, adjacent to Rustenburg belonged to J. Caspar Labuschagne. Mrs Elbie Raath of the Dutch Reformed Church Archive in Pietermaritzburg informed me that Reverend Faure named the little church place (where a church could be built) at Klein Tugela, the Marianne Church, in honour of his wife. The church subsequently fell into disrepair and by the 1870s was no longer in use (Record 1694). In Record 5045 Die Kerkbode of 27 May 1854, page 176 records that the church council and members of the congregation between the Little Thukela and Thukela rivers, Natal have named their house of God, the Marianne Church after the wife of the minister whom they respected and in remembrance of her visit to the Lindique Spruit. The Sterkspruit converges with the Little Thukela River south of Caspar Labuschagnes Rustenburg. The Kaalspruit runs northwards from near Draycott to join the Little Tugela River upstream of its conuence with the Tugela River. The road on the 1862 map crosses the Blaauw Krans River on J.B. Wessels farm Plessislager and passes through J. Rudolphs Blaauwkrans, near present-day Frere. Messrs Oosthuyzen & Scheepers granted Wagendrift (6031 acres) on 1 September 1847 signed for by F or T.W. Oosthuyzen. David Grays Accommodation House, on the Mooi River at the drift. David Gray was at Mooi River between 1850 and 1859. The hotel was improved and subsequently owned by John Whipp (in Mooi River 18611875) and named John Whipps Accommodation House before it was renamed the Mooi River Drift Accommodation House, and nally The Lake Hotel. It burnt down in the 1950s. Information supplied by Shelagh Spencer, Pietermaritzburg and Phillip Romeyn, Rohde House Museum, Mooi River. At Bosch Hoek, north of and adjacent to Boschfontein. P.E. Potgieter on Wildeals Spruit, west of Boschfontein. Possibly Lions River.
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49 Hebron, on the Mngeni River at present-day Lions River. 50 Baptised Maria Johanna Louisa Alwijn, born 22 May 1830, Amersfoort, Holland. Wife of Rev Hendrik Emanuel Faure. 51 Translated in the mid 1950s in Holland by Anna Maria Entrop-Le Poole. The translater is the granddaughter of Rev H.E. Faure and Marianne Faure-Alewijns second son Louis Henry Ferdinand Alewijn Faure and his wife and cousin, Natalie Gertrude Faure. Information supplied by Marguerite Cotterrell.
Itinerary of My First African Excursion (abstracted by Val Ward)

May 9th Monday. Left Pietermaritzburg, for night at Hebron, Carl Prellers place. May 10th Tuesday. Left Hebron for Boschfontein, Deacon Naudes place. May 11th Wednesday. Departed Boschfontein for Wagendrift, Scheepers place. May 12th Thursday. Left Wagendrift for Tugela Drift, De Waals place. May 13th Friday. Departed Tugela Drift for Ladysmith, Magistrate Strubens house. May 14th Saturday. Ladysmith. May 15th Sunday. Ladysmith. May 16th Monday. Left Ladysmith for ?Labuschagnes Kraal May 17th Tuesday . Left ?Labuschagnes Kraal for Klein Tugela Caspar Labuschagnes Rustenburg. May 18th Wednesday. Rustenburg farm. May 19th Thursday. Departed Rustenburg farm for camp near Blaauwkrans. May 20th Friday. Departed Blaauwkrans for night in open near Mooi River. May 21st Saturday. Departed camp for Boschfontein, Deacon Naudes place. May 22nd Sunday. Boschfontein. May 23rd Monday. Visited Bosch Hoek, Mr Jan Naudes place, from Boschfontein May 24th Tuesday. Left Boschfontein, visited Petrus Potgieter at Wildeals Spruit on way to Hebron, Prellers place. May 25th Wednesday. Left Hebron for Pietermaritzburg, via Howick Falls. The exact whereabouts of the party from the evening of Monday 16th May (arrival at Labuschagnes home) to the evening of Saturday 21st May (arrival at Naudes Boschfontein) are unknown. REFERENCES. C. Ballard. Traders, trekkers and colonists, in A. Duminy & Bill Guest. Natal & Zululand from earliest times to 1910: a new history (Pietermaritzburg, 1989) p. 121. P. Colenbrander. The Zulu Kingdom, 182879, in A. Duminy & Bill Guest. Natal & Zululand from earliest times to 1910: a new history (Pietermaritzburg, 1989) p. 91. J. Cullingworth. Map of the Colony of Port Natal, South Africa. Compiled and published by Jos. F. Masser, Lithographer, 25 Boar Lane, Leeds, England and J. Cullingworth, Stationer, Natal Star Ofce. Durban, 1862. Dictionary of South African Biography (Cape Town, 1983) Vol. 2. F.T. du Bruyn. The Great Trek, in T. Cameron, ed. An Illustrated History of South Africa (Johannesburg, 1986) p. 133. M. (A) Faure, Mijne eerste Afrikaansche excursie. 1853. Unpublished Ms. Witwatersrand University Library. Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository, SGO III/12/1. Lists of quitrent and freehold properties from 14 February 1847; Titles to Crown Lands Issued. R.H.N. Smithers, The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion (University of Pretoria, 1983). South African Genealogies. (Stellenbosch, 1989) Vol. 2, p. 272 John B. Wright. Bushman raiders of the Natal Drakensberg 18401870. (Pietermaritzburg, 1971) pp. 196201.
VAL WARD
Pietermaritzburg Gold
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The Natal Camp
Reaching for riches Gold permeates the dreams of mankind and gold-fever was very characteristic of the nineteenth century colonies. It was certainly true of the early inhabitants of Pietermaritzburg, when many, but disappointingly meagre, deposits were being discovered throughout Natal. When The Natal Mercury published a booklet about gold in our region the areas around Mfongosi were typically, but misleadingly, said to be promising. It was at about this time, with a world economy based on gold, that resources of the metal in the world were becoming scarce. There were even moves to supplement the Gold Standard with silver. It was then that the early Natal mining camp on the Witwatersrand was encouraged to work a group of particularly protable mines, a rich zone, able to feed news of useful prots through to the new Pietermaritzburg Stock Exchange. The original Natal Camp was noticeably better ordered than the other rough mining camps of the nascent Johannesburg, and the townships which the Camp spawned subsequently became shopping and social gathering centres for the ordinary residents of the new town. The area to the west of the new railway line began to resemble a suburb of Pietermaritzburg, housing many families of mine workers who had come from Natal. These Natal people in the Camp were to contribute much to the establishment and enrichment of Johannesburg, and continued to provide a labour force when the move into extensive deep-level mining to the south of Johannesburg took place, and the suburbs of Jeppestown and City & Suburban eventually overtook the early camp settlements. Gold mining in Natal During the latter half of the nineteenth century, numerous nds of gold were being explored in Natal. They were mostly scattered in the north of the colony, but also at Umzinto in the south, and by 1886, mining ventures were proliferating along the Thukela river, just to the east of the Thukela Ferry area, along the north bank of the river, from the Mfongosi river towards the village of Ngubevu (some 20km to the east of the GreytownHelpmekaar road), and in the spectacularly rugged gorges, towards where the Buffalo
Natalia 3637 (2007), K.N. Greggor pp. 21 33
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river joins the Thukela. In November 1868 The Natal Witness reported rather vaguely on these discoveries. The resultant euphoria was shortlived but had revived a little by 1890, and today we have only confused records of the ventures. Apart from the mines around Ngubevu, there were some sixteen other gold-mining ventures in northern Natal. There were companies and syndicates such as the Golden Eagle Mine, where grains of clearly visible gold had been pointed out by a Msinga tribesman at a footpath over the Ngubevu stream. An impressively large nugget was found at a bridge site near to Nondweni (east of Nqutu). Greytown became the focus of enthusiasm. Closer to Pietermaritzburg, the Inspector of Mines reported that Messrs. Ekstein and Co. drove an adit 200 metres into a reef which had been discovered close to Table Mountain, east of the city. Gold was found to occur primarily in quartz veins through very ancient slate, initially yielding as much as a very impressive eight ounces per ton of ore crushed. But these early windfall yields decreased. And, as occurred later on the Witwatersrand, the ores at some depth suffered from refractory amalgamation with sulphides (pyrites), such that they yielded up their gold only with great difculty. By late 1886 the mining facilities provided by as many as 25 companies and syndicates were rather primitive. When gold in the ore they managed to crush was extracted, by allowing it to be taken up in an amalgam with mercury, this amalgam had then to be sent via Pietermarizburg to Pretoria for the gold to be actually recovered. There were rich pockets which even included patches of visible gold, but disappointingly, by 1887 the yields had diminished and even by 1920 an average of only a single kilogram of gold per year was being recovered in Natal, which compares unfavourably with the 3 000 kilograms a year in the very earliest years of the Witwatersrand. The Natal Mining Company had installed expensive equipment such as a 10-stamp ore-crushing battery in Natal but had to stop operating by 1890 when less than one intermittent ounce per ton was being obtained. Also, by then the Witwatersrand goldelds were absorbing all the willing and available labour. Thus by 1900 the Natal Mining Commissioner had to report that the output of Gold in Natal [was] insignicant. Nevertheless the Wonder Mine situated in what is now the Ithala Game reserve near Louwsberg, was reported to have produced protable returns during the years between 1908 and 1911 and Nancy Gardiner says that the Golden Dove Mine was in operation as late as 1951. Another mine was in operation near Ngubevu until the 1940s. The ambitious plans for the developments at Mfongosi were abandoned, along with whatever heavy machinery had been installed. From then on, and into the 20th century, gold mining ventures along the Thukela have been largely restricted to an intermittent and
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very dangerous, frequently fatal, pig-rooting of tunnels dug by Msinga tribesmen along the river banks. Some gold seems still to be there for the nding in KwaZulu-Natal. The very ancient geologies in Natal seemed similar to those of the then booming Barberton elds in the Transvaal Republic, and it was largely the relatively poor returns of the Thukela ventures that towards the end of the 1800s precipitated a rush from Natal into the Transvaal. The year1886 was the momentous one during which the new eldorado of gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand, over large farms, across grass plains that had been occupied by Voortrekker families since the 1850s. In July 1886 The Natal Mercury had described these as farms which are nothing more than veritable gold vaults. The Witwatersrand geology and the discovery of gold reefs The Witwatersrand gold reefs had, some unimaginable two thousand million years ago, been deposited, like a lling in a sandwich cake, in a large basin, the edges of which dipped down sharply from a long, somewhat broken east-west line of an intermittently visible outcrop. From early winter in 1886 prospectors were wandering over the bare, treeless veld in an optimistic search for this new and barely understood source of great riches. In the Ferreiras Camp, the present Ferreirastown in Johannesburg, the stretch of the main reef was visible, outcropping at the surface, and it became the focus of further exploration. Dr Hans Sauer from Kimberley, referred to by his friend Cecil Rhodes as a genial rufan, combined a medical practice with prospecting on Rhodess behalf. A
Johannesburg, 1886. (From the photograph album of Max Nicholls, now in the German House Museum, Royal Showgrounds, Pietermaritzburg.) Nicholls father, Horace W. Nicholls, was one of Johannesburgs early photographers. In 1899 he had the Goch Studio in Pritchard Street. He later moved to Pietermaritzburg where he had his studio in a double-storeyed building on the corner of Longmarket (Chief Langalibalele Street) and Fleming streets. Bramhill Building now encompasses the site.
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son of the widow Petronella Oosthuizen (the exploited owner of a farm at Langlaagte out to the west, on which the main gold reefs had rst been discovered) guided Dr Sauer hopefully eastwards from the Ferreiras Camp outcrop of the main reef, over a kilometre or two of ground where the main group of gold reefs was hidden, undiscovered, under a layer of red soil. They then found themselves in a dip through which a small, marshy stream (to be named Natal Spruit) had cut its way down from the surface through the overburden of the soil, revealing again the reef where there was a small waterfall over the exposed outcrop of the main reef and its accompanying main-reef leader. Oosthuizen thought then that the country to the east (the whole of the fabulous East Rand) was wild and not worth bothering about, and presumably Dr Sauer accepted her opinion. This was one of the many unsung and momentous blunders of Witwatersrand history associated with that colossus Cecil John Rhodes. It is also recorded that Frank M.Wolhuter from Natal was actively prospecting in the area before 1886. John Charltons initiative Another of the Natal entrepreneurs was John Charlton, a building contractor in Pietermaritzburg. Building operations typied business entrepreneurship in the city at that time, and according to Eric Rosenthal the restlessness of gold-hungry sons in Pietermaritzburg had resulted in at least one family construction business being abandoned. John Charlton, concerned by the Mfongosi disappointments, was during 1886 on his way to explore possibilities, on behalf of a Pietermarizburg syndicate, in the Barberton area of the eastern Transvaal where impressively payable gold was being mined from very ancient geologies. These geologies, as mentioned, seemed to be remarkably similar to those at Mfongosi. The railway did not reach the central Transvaal until 1895, and Charltons journey was long and slow, largely by ox-wagon. But according to T.V. Bulpin, he had the good fortune en route of falling in with Veld Kornet J.P. Meyer. Meyer had grown up on the Klipriviersberg farm just south of Johannesburg and had found himself by default, in the role of a government mining commissioner in the Transvaal Republic. He was busy spreading the word of the new sources of riches on the Witwatersrand. Dr Sauer had been excited to nd conrmation of the existence of the group of gold reefs at the Natal Spruit stream by identifying the presence of a set of the indicative shale and quartzite rocks at Jeppestown, known subsequently as the Red bar, underlying the gold strata. Interestingly, Sauer was pre-empting the use during the 1930s of the iron content of these strata below the gold reefs, in locating the fabulous West Rand gold elds. Rhodes was, however, in strangely cautious phase and ignored his friends nd at the Natal Spruit. He was concerned by the relative sparseness of gold returns on the Witwatersrand perhaps one or two ounces of invisible gold per ton of ore being mined at Ferreiras Camp whereas in the eastern Transvaal, and even at Mfongosi, patches yielding several ounces to the ton were being found. There were even visible streaks and nuggets, such as were generally not seen on the Witwaterstand. And Rhodes was concerned also that the nature of the Wiwatersrand deposits was strangely different to anything elsewhere in the world. He was not then aware that the amazingly extensive and consistent nature of the deposits would more than compensate for their relative
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sparseness. The consensus of opinion at that stage was that the discovered outcrop of the Witwatersrand main reef was simply the edge of an essentially narrow, ancient, tilted river bed containing limited alluvial gold deposits. The possibility of an extensive basin of gold reef was not considered. Despite these doubts, however, and being Cecil John Rhodes, he was not long in climbing back on to the wagon of opportunity. At about this momentous stage of 1886 John Charlton arrived, explored, and was able to report back to his syndicate in Pietermaritzburg on the presence of 12 parallel reefs across the few metres width of the Natal Spruit outcrop, in the area which became the Natal Camp and which is today in Johannesburgs suburb of Jeppestown. These reef outcrops were in fact all simply broken fragments of the fabulous main reef group, exposed (as Dr Hans Sauer had discovered) at the marshy little stream. Following the surge of Natal hopefuls, the area was named the Natal Camp. Charltons confusion as to the scattered nature of these reef outcrops was perhaps because he was expecting to see something akin to the very ancient, rich and confused geology of the Barberton and Mfongosi deposits. The location of the Natal Camp The Natal Spruit had its origins in the (later) Harrow Road gap in Johannesburg before running across the future suburb of Doornfontein into a marshy area at Ellis Park and thence through the present Jeppe dip, before dropping sharply over the strike of the main reef strata outcrop, a few hundred metres north of the present E-W M2 highway (Henry George Harrow was the driver of the rst passenger train from Pietermaritzburg to reach Johannesburg). Water was essential to mining and human subsistence, and was a scarce commodity on the Witwatersrand. Therefore, this place being near water and at the visible outcrops, early prospectors gathered in numbers along the banks of the stream (on which a dam was subsequently to be built) and Meyers Camp came into existence. As mentioned, these pioneers were largely nanciers and explorers from Natal, and the camp thus subsequently became known as the Natal Camp. The road to Heidelberg and on to Natal ran from the Camp down from the present End Street at the edge of Jeppestown. Maritzburg Street in present Jeppestown also ran as a track down alongside the spruit, and on to the Heidelberg road. It crosses Durban Street, and runs parallel to Berea Street. Johannesburgs Jules Street was originally named Natal Street. The area of the Natal Camp was thus just to the north of the present M2 motorway and extended for about 1km eastwards from the present Heidelberg Road-End Street interchange in central Johannesburg. Most dwellings were located to the east of the Natal Spruit, but very little trace of the camp and its mining activity can now be found. There are the low remains of a couple of ore dumps; the canalised route of the Natal Spruit through the Jeppestown dip; scattered mounds of rock at the site of the Meyer & Charlton Mine (on the left bank of the stream) and the City & Suburban Mine (on its right bank); and streets which follow the route of an east-west track which led along the outcrop of the main reef group; and tracks which were the forerunner of the modern Main Reef Road. There are also streets which follow the north-south route of the tracks from the Jeppestown dwellings down to the Meyer & Charlton Mine; and the roads
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which came in from Natal. Johannesburgs Main Street developed from a rough track where the present Albert Street led off towards Ferreiras Camp. The Maritzburg Stock Exchange Eric Rosenthal remarked on the fact that Pietermaritzburg, though then quite a small place, in those times had a stock exchange which ranked in importance just behind Johannesburg and Kimberley. It was established during 1888, opened at 242 Church Street next to the old Presbyterian Church, and was subsequently in Chancery and Change Lanes. The distance to the Transvaal had been bridged since the late 1870s by a telegraph line and in 1881 a postal service using 200 horses was instituted. Then by 1885 the rail link was in place. Later, in 1894 when the railway line from Durban reached the Witwatersrand, in exchange for permission for the line to pass through the Jeppestown Camp area, all passenger trains were obliged to stop at the Jeppestown halt (Johannesburgs rst suburban train station). Said Robert Richards, a Pietermaritzburg attorney: Trade is on all sides brisk and the unemployed have disappeared from the streets. In jovial mood, the Natal Witness was pleased to refer to its nancial correspondent as its Joker-Broker.
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The very early 1880s had seen a transformation into prosperity in Pietermaritzburg following the presence of the military after the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War, but by 1883 stagnation had set in, resulting by 1886 in a severe slump. Then came the Witwatersrand gold bonanza and during 1889 alone Pietermaritzburg oated more than 23 mining companies, compared perhaps to the total by 1887 of 68 at the emerging Johannesburg nancial market. One of the Pietermarizburg companies, incidentally, had failed in one particular mining enterprise, but this had resulted in the establishment of Johannesburgs prestigious Houghton suburb. The Houghton Estate Gold Mining Company of Pietermaritzburg (the Wolhuter Company/Houghton Syndicate) hoped to mine what was referred to as the Randfontein Reef and had reportedly sunk shafts as deep as 400 feet at the foot of Houghton Ridge, to no avail. The Pietermaritzburg Stock Exchange eventually closed in 1931, at a time when prosperity had vanished. The people of the Natal Camp People whose names were to be written into the history of Johannesburg, many of whom would have been Natalians, wandered across the wide, empty veld into the Natal Camp area, during the exceptionally cold winter of 1886. T.V. Bulpin notes that the young Julius Jeppe from Pretoria, searching across the bare, treeless, winter veld in order to visit his brother Carl, was able from the empty Hillbrow ridge one cold night, to see camp res in the far distance. One of these turned out to be that of his brother whom he found in the company of Veldkornet Jan Meyer, discussing such matters as the pegging of claims and all-important issues of water rights. Carls tent was at the site of the reef in the locality of the future Meyer & Charlton Mine, just to the east of the Natal Spruit its address: Tent No. 1, Reef. Carl Jeppe (an attorney), H.B.Marshall and Henry Nourse, persuaded Meyer to mark off 200 claims along the reefs, adjacent to the spruit, which in the autumn of 1886 they did in an untutored, somewhat unconventional manner, in the dead of night. It seems that their action led to a near-lynching by a group of other prospectors who felt they had been excluded. In terms of the Transvaal mining laws, claims were each to be 150 feet east to west along the direction of the outcrop, and 400 feet in the southerly direction of the dip of the reef (46 by 122 metres). Any duly licensed prospector was entitled to take possession of any vacant claim on condition that it be mined continuously. The same law did not permit mining underground beyond the boundaries of a claim. With the reef dipping down at sharp angles of about 60 degrees, it subsequently became necessary progressively to extend by pegging further claims in the southerly direction in which the Reefs dipped. In partnership with Charlton, Meyer was able to establish the very protable Meyer & Charlton Mine at the Natal Camp, which was subsequently to be described as the Jewel of the Rand. With an estimated life of 13 years a remarkable gure at the time it actually continued in existence as a venture for some 40 years and its original headofce was in Pietermaritzburg. John Charlton had come to Natal from Scotland, and had some engineering knowledge, whereas Meyer had recognised a need for technical assistance. Charlton was in fact to be active throughout theWitwatersrand, and became wealthy but ultimately lost his wealth and returned to Pietermaritzburg.
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The Jubilee Mining Co. was also oated in Pietermaritzburg in 1886, and in 1887 set up a three-stamp battery alongside the Main Reef at the Natal Spruit. This venture was subsequently enlarged to accommodate a ten-stamp battery. The Wolhuter Mine, to the east of the Meyer & Charlton, was established by Frank M.Wolhuter and it was still operating in 1924. Wolhuter hailed from a cottage in Pietermaritzburg (at the site of todays General Post Ofce). Thence, via a short nancial career on the Kimberley diamond elds, to the Witwatersrand. The Wolhuters were amongst the very rst inhabitants on the goldelds and were said to be popular hosts. Their home at the Natal Camp was a meeting place of the leading personalities of the time. Apart from these people, other (some possibly recognisable as Natalians) settled residents of the original camp were: Mr William McCleod; the butcher Mr Malherbe; C.G. Oosthuizen; Julius Jeppe; George Edward Fawcus; and John George Auret. Mrs Charlton, Mrs McCleod and Mrs Wolhuter accompanied their husbands. In an early tragedy the McCleods son was one of those who died in the camp, reportedly of the prevalent camp fever (typhus). Julius Jeppe (later Sir Julius) had joined his brother Carl Jeppe and lived in a tent. They were the sons of the prominent Transvaler Julius Jeppe Snr who died in 1893. Carl Jeppe was subsequently to be the chairman of the Chamber of Mines. H. Grifn (a representative of a Pietermaritzburg syndicate who later became Mayor of Pietermarizburg) was elected by a camp committee to manage the camp affairs. Mr Alexander William McIntyre, of the Meyer & Charlton Mine, was also a member of this Diggers Committee. Other Natal people who had associations with the camp were George Hedley Murray, Bussey (a hotelier, and of the Natal Syndicate), W.J. Scott and T. Yeo Sherwell. These latter two lent their names to the Johannesburg suburb of Yeoville and to Scott Street in Jeppestown. Miners from the Mfongozi goldelds who were to play prominent roles in Johannesburg included Edward Button and H.B. Marshall. Carl Hanau was a director of the Wolhuter Gold Mining Co. He became fabulously rich before descending into poverty. Streets in Jeppestown carry the names of Hanau, Betty Jeppe, the surveyor Auret Pritchard, Albrecht Jeppe, Julius Jeppe, and Thomas Maddison. A Natalian soccer club was founded by messrs Ridgeway and Harvey. Other concerned parties in the camp were Col. E.M.Greene from Natal and the very prominent nancier Sir Lionel Phillips. George Albu, who held signicant control over the rich Meyer & Charlton Mine, was a prominent person. He had come to the Witwatersrand from Berlin, via a trade in diamonds at Kimberley. It was in later years that he founded the powerful General Mining & Finance Corporation. Herman Eckstein (of the Corner House mining giant) became in effect the owner of the Natal Camps City & Suburban Mine, which had originally been owned by J.P. Meyer, H.B. Marshall and others. When the ZARs Mining Commissioner Carl von Brandis visited Johannesburg during 1890, he was presented with a welcoming letter signed by 80 persons from the Natal Camp area. By 1896 an estimated number of 10 000 for the population in the Jeppestown and City & Suburban townships was to be published on the Residents and Strangers plan of Johannesburg. By 1893 there were reported to be over 400 buildings in the vicinity of the Natal Camp.
Civic structures and authorities
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The original Natal Camp consisted of a scattered collection of tents and rough houses, the latter mostly built of sun-dried mud bricks (known as green Kimberley bricks) with thatched roofs. Amongst these houses were those of the Wolhuters (boasting a tennis court) and Julius Jeppe, who had built during the dry Kimberley-like winter of 1886 with raw brick and thatch. His house subsequently collapsed when the rains came in the summer of 1886-87. This lesson led subsequently to the lining of the bricks with corrugated iron. Floors were of the wood from packing cases. Meyer and Marshall occupied tents, Marshalls being reed-fenced. There were also the Meyer & Charlton Mine buildings mine ofces; the stamp battery; the amalgamators quarters; later cyanide works; and the inclined shaft structure of the mine. The City & Suburban Mine had a similar set of structures. The Natal Camp was decidedly superior in character to Ferreiras Camp over to the west, which was populated by a somewhat rougher crowd from the mining world of Kimberley. The Natal community was largely without its own businesses, or liquor and entertainment outlets, such facilities being accessible about half-an-hours walk away, at Ferreiras Camp and in central Johannesburg. There was from the beginning a valuable suburban community spirit in the Natal Camp and it was noted that lonely, single mineworkers were entertained in the houses of families. It was nevertheless said not to be safe to walk around unarmed at night in the Natal Camp.
The rst house built by the digger community at Johannesburg in about 1887 was destroyed by the heavy rains of Dec. 1891. The house stood on the City and Suburban Township Lands. (From a painting by the late J.W. George. George was in South Africa by the time of the diamond rush. Two of his paintings, Sorting and washing diamonds at Pniel, 1870 and The beginning of the Kimberley mine, 1871 were reproduced in the 1970s for the South African Permanent Building Societys calendars, as were three Transvaal scenes, viz. Two of the Magaliesberg area (c. 1890) and a work depicting the cottage where Dr L.S. Jameson and his ofcers were incarcerated in 1896.) From the Thomas OByrne collection.
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Authority in the Natal Camp was originally given to an elected Committee of Diggers pending the appointment of an ofcial Sanitary Board. This latter had the authority to lay down rules such as those forbidding thatched roofs, the emptying of slop water into the streets; the riding of bicycles at speeds exceeding 6 mph, the driving of carts, carriages and wagons in a furious manner, etc. Property rates were set at 1% of valuations. By 1890 the Jeppestown suburb had been established across the area of the camp, providing all facilities necessary to serve the mines of the eastern region. e.g. the Grand Station Hotel in Main Street, incorporating Normans Grill which was still a well-known restaurant until the mid 20th Century. McIntyre Street ran down from Jeppestown to the Meyer & Charlton Mine area. The Johannesburg suburb of Wolhuter was established adjacent to the Natal Camp (and Jeppestown) during 1895, and by 1898 a horse-tram (and later electric) service ran between Market Square in Johannesburg and a terminus at Wolhuter. This form of transport earned a Johannesburg music-hall commendation: Ag this is the place for me, Jannisburg Where the likerish lights always shine, And the ricky-tickey trams run by Jeppe And the mine hooters tells me the time. Despite recommendations during 1962 for the urban renewal of the area, the buildings lining the streets of Jeppestown are now (2007) somewhat derelict, but are nevertheless the oldest extant commercial premises in Johannesburg. These shops and other facilities served the needs of the Natal miners and also of the upper-class households being established to the east beyond the railway line. The route of the original local railway (known as the Rand Tram) through Jeppestown was established in 1890 to carry coal from deposits near Boksburg to a coalyard for the mines at Jeppestown. Main Street in Jeppestown subsequently crossed this railway line via a subway. The whole of the Natal Camp area was declared to be a mining-freehold area, over the Doornfontein Mijnpacht owned by F.J.Bezuidenhout, the Bezuidenhout family having owned the farm Doornfontein since the early 1850s. This farm became the whole eastern side of early Johannesburg. In later years, when the City & Suburban suburb streets were laid out around the Natal Camp, the upper part of the Camp area was declared to be a public park named the Portplein (also known as C&S Square), fenced as part of the City & Suburban township in 1895. It has since been built over. John Charlton was instrumental in establishing this township after 1889. The present City & Suburban industrial stands were not added until 1929. Another park, Gilllan, was established below the railway line, above the Wolhuter Mine, apparently on the site of Wolhuters original house and tennis court. At the lower end of the central park a dam was built across the Natal Spruit. With the location and nature of the urban stands, the gold deposits were becoming refractory with depth and were judged to be tightly and irretrievably bound into pyrites. Thus it was deemed that there was no assurance that they could be payably mined for longer than about another ve years. Consequently the stands and streets were designed to be temporary and economically small, and little provision was made for public space. This latter lack was soon rectied by the residents who fenced off an area to become
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the Portplein referred to above. There was also an open area to the west of the camp, adjacent to Greene Street (named after Edward Mackenzie Greene of Pietermaritzburg, later to be the Minister of Railways and Harbours) which was used for such excitements as sports, balloon ights and visits by a circus. Horse racing had since the 1850s been important in Pietermaritzburg life and it was not surprising that a race course was set up in the Natal Camp, complete with a small grandstand, near the Wolhuters tennis court. This was up towards the railway line, where a small park was subsequently included in the layout of the Jeppestown suburb. A Pietermaritzburg man Alexander William McIntyre of the Diggers Committee was prominent in this racing venture and it is recorded that a Dr Rosenthal organised a race and sports meeting here during late 1886. This Natal-inspired racing initiative was later moved to its current location at Turffontein. What of the view from far-off Pietermaritzburg? People thought of all those tin shacks with golden cellars, and of the facilities where small armies of labourers were housed and fed in rough compounds, where mining was hard, debilitating and dangerous. The poet William Plomer wrote: Perhaps it was a fall of rock. Two miners trapped Up to the waist in dirty water. All the care That went to keep them t! Concrete bathrooms and carbolic soap A balanced diet and free hospitals Made them efcient, but they die alone, Half stunned, then drowned. They might have lived on in the sun With miners phthisis, silicosis A gradual petrifaction of the lungs. Mining methods Outcrop mining of the reef at the Meyer & Charlton and the City & Suburban Mines was initially accomplished by means of shallow trenching along the outcrops of the reef, but by 1887 inclined shafts were being driven down southwards into the sloping plane of the reef and the reef ore was being scooped out (stoped) from either side, to the east and west of the shaft, and lifted to the surface by manual winching from a platform. By the end of 1886 the Meyer & Charlton shaft had reached down 20 metres, and by the end of 1887 had reached some 200 metres. But as the reefs continued to dip away beyond these depths it became impractical to follow them in this way, and deep vertical shafts were commenced a kilometre or two to the south, such that the Natal Camp mines spawned the vast City Deep deep-mining complex. Expensive machinery, the fact that any actual gold recovery had to await the completion of the shafts, and the costs of processing the refractory ores obtained at these depths, demanded large capital investment. This effectively removed the roles of the modest mining companies of Pietermaritzburg into the hands of the amalgamating giants which were emerging in Johannesburg. The nancier George Albu had a hand in initiating these expansive ventures when the City & Suburban Mine achieved an early distinction by installing a fty-stamp ore-crushing battery. This was necessary because, in order to extract the
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1886 Surface workings on the reef. (From the photograph album of Max Nicholls.)
gold, the ore rst had to be crushed into a very ne powder. In the early days of the Natal Camp, and until the ores at depth became refractory, the afnity of mercury for gold was effectively used to lift the ore out of the crushings. At the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War of 18991902, the Meyer & Charlton and City & Suburban Mines were not among those few mines which the Boers allowed to continue production, probably because they were suspected of having Natalian, imperialist sympathies. They were not even allowed to prevent the inevitable destructive ooding of their workings. When on 31 May 1900 General Lord Roberts led the central column of his conqering army through from Elandsfontein (Germiston) into Johannesburg, they passed a dismally empty Natal Camp. The mines had closed, the population had ed, and gold production had dropped to 2% of pre-war levels. Nevertheless they were able to reopen after the war, with a champagne bottle broken against the stamp batteries and an address by Sir George Albu.
REFERENCES Bulpin, T.V., Lost trails of the Transvaal (Cape Town, 1966). Bulpin, T.V., Natal and the Zulu country (Cape Town, 1966). Cammack, D., The Rand at war ( Pietermaritzburg, 1990). Diagram of Water Rights Natal Spruit, in E. & J. Grey Discovery of the Witwatersrand Goldelds (1940). Gardiner, N., Natals century-old gold rush, Daily News, 15 October 1968. Leyds, G. A., A history of Johannesburg (Nasionale Boekhandel, 1964). McLea, J.H., A sketch of the Natal Camp by a Lady Pioneer, supplemented by a sketch by Mr John Hunter McLea.
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1886 One of the rst pithead gears on the reef. (From the photograph album of Max Nicholls.)
Melville, E.H.V., General plan of the central and east portions of the Witwatersrand, in F.H. Hatch and J.A. Chalmers The gold mines of the Rand (London,1895). Natal. Colony, Mines, Commissioner of, Annual reports, 18881900. Residents and Strangers friend group, Map of Johannesburg in 1896. Robertson, C., Remembering old Johannesburg (Johannesburg,1986). Rosenthal, Eric, On Change through the years (Johannesburg, 1968). Rosenthal, Eric, The Rand Rush (Johannesburg, 1974). Sauer, Hans, Ex Africa, (London,1937). Shorten, J.R., The Johannesburg saga (Johannesburg, 1970). Smith, A. H., Johannesburg street names (Johannesburg). South Africa. Union, Map of the Witwatersrand gold elds,19101915. Tompkins plan of Johannesburg and southern suburbs, 1890. Vaughan, J.E., Mines and minerals of the Natal Province, in A century of progress in Natal (Pietermaritzburg, 1924). Wilks, T., For the love of Natal (Durban, 1977). Witwatersrand University. Geology department, Geological map of Johannesburg, 1965. Zeederberg, H., Down Memory Lane (Archivist Publishing Co., 1971). K.N. GREGGOR
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Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007
In May 1900, the name Baden-Powell became a household word in England. The littleknown but resourceful British soldier became a national hero overnight for using his military skill, imagination and bluff to hold Mafeking (now Makeng), an obscure town in the northern part of the Cape Colony, with no natural defences, against an enemy force nearly ve times as large as his. Just before the siege began, he posted the corrected proofs of his little military handbook Aids to Scouting to his publishers, who, when the news of the relief of Mafeking reached Britain, found they had a potential best-seller on their hands. During the seven-month siege, and with the intention of strengthening his perimeter defences by using all available soldiers, he decided to use boy volunteers as clerks, orderlies and messengers. He was impressed by their willingness to accept responsibility, and by the way they carried out their rather mundane duties, as if they realised that the defence of the town rested partly on their shoulders. On his return to Britain after the Anglo-Boer War, he learned that Aids to Scouting was being used not only by the military but also in schools as a method of training boys in observation and deduction. He also met Sir William Smith, the founder of the Boys Brigade, the units of which were afliated to churches and religious organisations
The cover of the rst of six fortnightly parts of Scouting for Boys.
Natalia 3637 (2007), Graham Harrison pp. 34 41
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1st Pietermaritzburg Scout Group. The rst scout camp was held during Easter 1910 at Zwartkop, near Blackridge. The troop was started in October 1909 by Mr Job Brookes whose son, Edgar, a member of this troop, was later to become a Senator, Professor of History at the University of Natal, and author. He is possibly the child on the right. (From Victorian and Edwardian Natal by Jennifer and Alistair Verbeek, Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg, 1982.)
and used a smart uniform, brass bands, drill and Bible study to retain members. BadenPowell felt that some of his scouting practices might prove an additional attraction for boys, and a more colourful means of training than the Brigade already provided. At Sir Williams suggestion he set down on paper his ideas of how scouting could be adapted to the use of boys, intending to provide an additional, not an alternative, way of training for existing boy organisations. The outcome of this was the writing and publication of Scouting for Boys, which appeared in 1908 in six fortnightly parts, each costing fourpence, to keep the book within the nancial reach of boys. This book was aimed not at soldiers but at boys. It dealt with outdoor subjects like camping, pioneering, woodcraft, observation, tracking and stalking, as well as physical health, saving-life, self-discipline, citizenship and patriotism. Baden-Powell was the rst man to suggest that boys could and would enjoy activities which, up till then, had been the exclusive preserve of the soldier, although the boy would use them for peaceful enjoyment. Eschewing the easier path of the negative, largely followed by the religious authorities of the day, he drew up the Scout Law, a ten (originally nine) point positive code of conduct for the boy to live by: 1. A Scouts honour is to be trusted. 2. A Scout is loyal to the King, and to his ofcers, and to his country, and to his employers. 3. A Scouts duty is to be useful and to help others.
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4. A Scout is a friend to all, and a brother to every other Scout, no matter to what social class the other belongs. 5. A Scout is courteous. 6. A Scout is a friend to animals. 7. A Scout obeys orders of his patrol leader or scout master without question. 8. A Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances. 9. A Scout is thrifty. 10. A Scout is clean in thought, word and deed. No-one (either boy or adult) could or can become a Scout without taking the Scout Promise: On my honour, I promise that I will do my best To do my duty to God, and the King*. To help other people at all times. To obey the Scout Law. It is not easy to live up to this promise, but the phrase do my best keeps it within the boys ability, and Baden-Powell was quick to point out to his young readers that everyone could do his best, and no-one could do more. But before venturing into publication, Baden-Powell felt he should try out his ideas in practice, to see how boys would respond. He wanted a private wooded area away from the public view and the constant attentions of newspaper reporters, and found it on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset. He obtained permission from the owner, whom he had met socially, to use the island for an eight-day camp for 20 boys during August 1907. He deliberately selected boys from a wide spectrum: some were sons of his friends, some were pupils at public schools, and the rest were members of the Boys Brigade in Poole and Bournemouth, attending local schools. While Baden-Powell, assisted by two adult friends, was in charge of activities, logistics and supplies, the boys were placed in small groups under boy leaders, each of whom was responsible for, and led, his particular team. (This is now known as the patrol system.) While the boys were settling in on the rst day, Baden-Powell gave the leaders special instructions, so that they would be a step ahead of the other boys in their groups. Thereafter, he would introduce a new skill, demonstrate its use, and then lead the boys in games and contests to practise the skill. In this way all the subjects dealt with in Scouting for Boys were covered, while in the evenings he would lead songs round the campre, and tell them stories of his adventures. On the last day of camp parents were invited to observe the skills their sons had learned during the camp, and Baden-Powell was convinced that his ideas would work in practice. The public reception of Scouting for Boys was startling. Boys who bought and read the fortnightly parts began to form scout patrols, with or without adult help, and it became clear to Baden-Powell that a new boys movement was forming before his very eyes. It seemed that boys of all classes wanted to be members of a movement inspired by the hero of Mafeking. Lord Haldane, the Secretary of State for War, Baden-Powells political boss, and King Edward VII both saw the value of a movement for boys using the methods advocated by Baden-Powell, namely trust, responsibility, preparedness, and a positive code of conduct, and urged him to make it his prime objective. He resigned
(*The exact wording will obviously vary in different countries and religious traditions.)
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from the army and proceeded to place his edgling movement on a businesslike footing. He rented ofces in Henrietta Street, London, and engaged a skeleton secretarial and administrative staff. He took all decisions himself and solved problems as they presented themselves. Support, personal, moral and nancial, came owing in from well-wishers in all classes of society. The rst Scout census, taken in 1910, revealed 109 000 scouts in the United Kingdom. The movement quickly spread, rst to the British Dominions (Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand), and then to other countries, of which Chile, in South America, was the rst, beating the Unites States by a full year. The story of how a scouts good turn enabled scouting to reach the United States must have warmed King Edward VII attended a rally of 30 000 Scouts in Baden-Powells heart. An American Windsor Great Park on 4th July 1911, and the event businessman named William Boyce captured the imagination of the British public. This picture appeared in Punch shortly afterwards. was visiting London, and became enveloped in one of the pea-soup fogs for which the city was notorious. He asked a small boy for help, and the boy took him through the fog to the address he was seeking. When he offered a tip, the boy refused, saying that a scout didnt accept a reward for doing a good turn. The astonished Boyce had never heard of Boy Scouts, and determined to nd out more of this unusual organisation. He obtained copies of pamphlets and of Scouting for Boys, taking them back to America with him. He found other men who had heard of the movement, and together they founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. Sixteen years later, the Boy Scouts of America presented a bronze statuette of an American bison to the British Boy Scouts, with a plaque reading: To the unknown scout whose faithfulness in the performance of his daily good turn to William D. Boyce in 1909 brought the Boy Scout Movement to the United States of America. To accommodate smaller boys, who were too young to t into the scout programme, Baden-Powell devised the Wolf Cub programme in 1916, using Rudyard Kiplings Jungle Book as a background and, in 1918, the Rover Scouts were formed, designed for young men aged 18 years and over, but using the same methods and following the same aims. To accommodate girls, the Girl Guide Movement was founded in 1910, with Baden-Powells sister Agnes as its leader. On Baden-Powells marriage in 1912, Lady Baden-Powell became Chief Guide, a position she held until her death in 1977.
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The rst Scout Troop in South Africa was formed in Cape Town in March 1908; the 1st Pietermaritzburg Troop, which still meets in its own headquarters in Adrian Road in Prestbury, a suburb of Pietermaritzburg, followed later that year. This was followed, within the next few years, by the 4th Pietermaritzburg Troop, attached to St Peters Anglican Church, the 5th Pietermaritzburg Troop, attached to the Boshoff Street Methodist Church, and the 6th Pietermaritzburg Troop, attached to St Saviours Anglican Cathedral. The original 2nd and 3rd Troops did not last more than a few years, and no details are available. About this time, the Mayor of Pietermaritzburg, Daniel Sanders, was the District Commissioner of the local scout district. In 1916, the Natal University College established a department of History, and the rst lecturer (later Professor) was Alan F. Hattersley, a former Senior Scholar of Downing College and a graduate of Cambridge University with rst class honours. He had become interested in the Scout movement while at Cambridge, and had been scoutmaster of two scout troops in the town. On leaving Cambridge, he became District Commissioner of Eneld, where he received the highest Scouting decoration, the Silver Wolf, from Baden-Powell himself. On his arrival in Pietermaritzburg he took over leadership of the 6th Troop, and about a year later became District Commissioner, starting a Patrol Leaders Parliament, where on one Saturday a month patrol leaders of all troops met in the Presbyterian Church Hall to discuss subjects of interest to them. He also kindled in the mind of a local businessman, Mr H. V. Marsh, such an interest in the movement, that he travelled to England to be a participant in one of the rst Scoutmaster Training Courses run at Gilwell Park, the now famous scout camping ground adjoining Epping Forest, donated to the movement in 1919 by Mr W de Bois Maclaren, a Scout Commissioner in Scotland. Returning to South Africa full of enthusiasm, Marsh was appointed Natals rst Deputy Camp Chief (a scouter in charge of training scoutmasters), and immediately set aside four acres (1.6 hectares) of his extensive property on the Town Hill for use as a scout camping ground and training camp, named Lexden Scout Camp, after his home village near Colchester in Essex. This land proved an immediate boost to local scout troops, who could now go camping without the need to nd a friendly farmer willing to have scouts camping on his land. As the citys sewerage and water-reticulation systems did not, in 1920, extend to the top of the Town Hill, the rst need was for pit-latrines and a water-supply. The rst were easily dug, covered with a corrugated-iron structure, and were in use until the municipal sewerage reticulation reached Lexden 50 years later. A borehole was drilled, a pump obtained, powered by a diesel engine and protected from the weather by a corrugated-iron shed, which also served as an equipment- and tentstore. Lexden used the water from this borehole until piped municipal water reached the Town Hill in 1930. The Rover Scouts took up the challenge of developing the campsite. At midday on Saturdays (this was before the ve-day working week) the Rover Scouts would ride the tram to its terminus at the Showgrounds, hike up Howick Road with all their camping gear in their rucksacks, and work on levelling the grounds and building camp-kitchens during the week-end. On Sunday afternoons they would hike down the same road to catch the six oclock tram back to town. Their devotion was a ne example of the Rover Scout motto in action Service. In addition to affording a place for boys to camp, Lexden provided a base for the training of scouters, for both the Cub and Scout
39
sections. About 1934, Marsh negotiated with the municipality for the lease of a further eight acres (3,3 hectares) adjacent to Lexdens northern boundary at a rental of one shilling per annum, which made for a more extensive camping ground. That same year the Pietermaritzburg Rotary Club paid for the erection of the brick hall which still stands by the gate into Hosking Road, and looks good for another 70 years service to the movement. It enables activities to continue in the evening, provides emergency accommodation for cubs (who are not permitted to sleep in tents when it rains), and has proved an invaluable acquisi- Baden-Powell was a talented artist, illustrating his own In his last tion, as the Scout movement books with line drawings. of African years, living in Kenya, he did some oil paintings wildlife, which can be could not, at that time, have seen in the British Scout headquarters at Gilwell Park, Essex. This sketch from Scouting for Boys shows his skill funded the structure. vision of a In 1937 Marsh formally do- in pen-and-ink sketching, and also illustrates hisadventure. very important element of Scouting outdoor nated and transferred the original four acres to a body called The Lexden Trust, established to hold the property in perpetuity for use by the Scout Movement or other youth movements. In 1940 the Municipality scrapped the old lease agreement, and donated the additional eight acres to the Scout movement, subject to a condition that should the land not be used for scouting purposes it would revert to the municipality. This camping ground is, in the writers opinion, the nest Scout camping ground in South Africa. In 1921 the four troops mentioned above were joined by a new troop, given the name Scoutholm and the number 3, and meeting in the new suburb of Scottsville. Professor Hattersley was its rst scoutmaster, having relinquished the leadership of the 6th Troop, owing to the refusal of the cathedral authorities to allow boys to join the troop who were not members of the St Saviours congregation. In 1928 the movement adopted the group system as a policy, thus ofcially encouraging Wolf Cub packs to link up with Scout troops, to ensure that each boy was provided with continuous training from 8 to 18 years. Unlike most other centres, the majority of cubmasters in Pietermaritzburg were male, though there were a few exceptions, fortunately for the survival of the Wolf Cubs of Pietermaritzburg. The departure of young scouters on active service during the Second World War caused the closure of several troops, and the wars end saw only two of them still functioning the 3rd Troop led by Alan Hattersley, and the 5th Troop led by Cyril Friggens, assisted by Arthur Pipes. The Wolf Cub packs might well have suffered the same fate had it not been for Miss Florence Parker, the cubmaster of the 6th Pack, who took under her wing the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th
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Packs, the cubmasters of which were all serving in the armed forces. This indomitable little lady, who by day served in the millinery section of John Orrs department store, made the survival of the Pietermaritzburg Wolf Cub packs her contribution to the war effort, and ran a pack meeting every night of the week from Monday to Friday. The return of the men from active service saw the 1st, 4th, and 6th Troops resuscitated, and two new Groups, the 9th and the 7th were started, both in the Scottsville area, followed a few years later by the 11th, using Lexden hall as its base. Some years later the 4th Group built its own hall in the Pelham area, leaving no groups meeting in the centre of town. As the movement reaches its centenary year only four groups are still functioning: the 1st, the 3rd, the 4th, all with Scout troops and Cub packs, and the 11th, with a Cub pack only. Commencing in the 1970s the Patrol Leader Training Unit, headed by Dudley Forde, has run week-long training camps for Patrol Leaders at Lexden Scout Camp. Hundreds of boys have attended these courses, where they have been challenged by an enthusiastic training staff to attempt new projects and to hone their leadership skills. After an exciting and exhausting week they have returned home looking at scouting in a different light. Until 1977 there had existed, side by side, four parallel Scout associations for whites, coloureds, Indians and Africans. These had been tolerated (though not encouraged) by the Nationalist Government, who preferred the Voortrekker Youth Movement, founded in the nineteen-twenties or -thirties for political reasons. In that momentous year the leaders of the four parallel associations, led by Colin Inglis, at that time Chief Scout of South Africa, (and who was a former scout and Scoutmaster of the 3rd Maritzburg Troop), decided that such separation was contrary to the spirit of scouting, and formed a single Scout Association to which all scouts belonged. Despite expected fears of a crackdown, there was no response from the government. In 1999, following the trend in several other countries, the South African Boy Scout Association decided to open the movement to girls, and the word Boy therefore disappeared from its name. To revert to Baden-Powell, the founder of the rst worldwide movements for boys: knighted by King Edward VII in 1909, he travelled the world to encourage the boys who had joined his movement. At the rst World Scout Jamboree in 1920 he was acclaimed Chief Scout of the World, a title given to no other man. In 1921 he was created a baronet by King George V, and in 1929 raised to the peerage as Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell. In 1936 he and Lady Baden-Powell made the rst radio broadcast from the Worlds View radio station overlooking Pietermaritzburg. At the age of 80 he was made a member of the Order of Merit by King George VI, and started spending the northern winter months in Kenya, where he and Lady Baden-Powell made their home in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war. He died there in 1941, and his funeral was attended by members of the South African armed forces then serving in East Africa. Among their number was Rover Scout Jack Withey, the eldest of three scouting brothers who were members of the 1st Pietermaritzburg Rover Scout crew. Jack later became district commissioner for Pietermaritzburg, and subsequently commissioner for the whole of Natal. Though there are still Scouts and Cub Scouts (the latter no longer known as Wolf Cubs) in Pietermaritzburg, the movement now does not have the same support or prominence in the city that it once had, especially in the middle years of the 20th century. This is not surprising, considering that the city itself is so much larger and its life more complex
41
than in the past. Then, too, there has been a huge increase in the number of organisations and activities competing for young peoples attention. Nevertheless scouting here continues to provide a signicant life foundation for those who give their time and loyalty to it. Former scouts from this city have made their mark in many spheres, and often gratefully acknowledge the inuence that scouting had on them, not only in the useful skills it taught them (especially that of leadership), but also the positive values and attitudes. The most recent former Pietermaritzburg scout to make the headlines is Andr Bredenkamp, the rst South African to make an Everest ascent from both the North and the South routes, and also to scale the so-called Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each of the continents. GRAHAM HARRISON
Note. Readers wishing to know more about the present state of the Scout movement in South Africa may wish to read Scouting About, the SA Scout Associations newsletter at www. scouting.org.za/scoutingabout/ Acknowledgments: While most of the content of this article comes from my 60 years as a member of the Scout movement in Pietermaritzburg, its writing and completion would not have been possible without the encouragement and help of John Deane, a fellow scout, whose friendship I have enjoyed for over fty years.
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Shield, Symbolism and Identity
Shield, Symbolism and Identity: Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Introduction In the days of chivalry, mediaeval knights riding to battle or jousting at tourneys were covered from head to toe in armour, and with the visor on their helms shut, it was impossible to identify the knight-within, so to speak. For this reason the knights cloak, worn outside his armour, the cloth worn outside the horses armour, and later, the knights shield as well, were decorated with easy-to-recognise brightly-coloured patterns and devices: crosses, circles, stars. Many knights also wore distinctive crests on their helmets. Over the years, as these symbols of identity proliferated, they became formalised and codied. The shield became the main carrier of the various symbols and images, and together with helmet and crest, and various other bits and pieces all described below these became known collectively as a Coat-of-Arms or Armorial Bearings. When the Age of Chivalry ended, and knights no longer rode to joust in tourneys, or to defeat the indel at the gates of Jerusalem, the coats-of-arms, still in, on and around their shields, remained. They became the identifying symbols, not only of aristocratic families, but of institutions. Countries and provinces, cities and boroughs, guilds of tradesmen and other corporations, universities and schools, all used coats-ofarms, which were normally registered. Identity has become an enormously important issue in the post-colonial era, and especially so in Africa, where for so long it has become a given that colonial settlers stripped the local inhabitants of their identity and replaced it with a quasi-European identity. Much has been written of how Christianity replaced local religions, of how local naming systems were replaced by European systems, how political, economic and social systems were perverted and reformed into variations of European systems. The African Renaissance, emphasised by South African president Thabo Mbeki over the last decade, is an attempt to bring back a sense of African identity. There are two interlinked issues here: Firstly, is it possible, or even desirable, to bring back the identity of The African as it was before colonial times?
Natalia 3637 (2007), Adrian Koopman pp. 4268
Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal
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Secondly, is it possible, or even desirable, to discard completely all of the legacy of colonialism? These are issues hotly debated in Africa, and particularly in South Africa today. The furore, as I write (May 2007) over the changing of street names in Durban is a case in point. There are those who argue that they must remain, as they are part of the legacy and the heritage of Durban. And there are those that argue, yes, precisely, they are the legacy and heritage of colonial Durban, and as we are no longer a colony, they must go. Here naming, heritage and identity go hand-in-hand. It is with these issues in mind that I wish to examine the use of heraldic coats-of-arms in KwaZulu-Natal today, and to do so within a general framework of post-colonialism in Africa. So although the emphasis will be on the coats-of-arms adopted as visual identities by KZNs various municipal authorities, I will also look briey at the arms adopted by various African countries on independence, and at South Africas new coat-of-arms. We will need to look briey at the new entities which need new identities mainly the district municipalities and we will also need a brief introduction to the principles of armorial bearings: the arms themselves and their various parts: shield, parts of the shield, the helm, the crest, the mantling, the supporters, etc., the language of heraldry ( .. in chief, a lion passant guardant or, langued gules, ), the rules of heraldry, and typical and standard icons used in heraldry. With these in mind, we can see how this aspect of colonial legacy has been retained as part of modern identities, albeit in a much adapted form. Sources The coats-of-arms described and analysed in this article were derived from three main sources: Most came from websites. The majority of the local and district municipalities in KZN have functioning websites, and most of these place the coat-of-arms or other identifying logo on the home page. In a few cases this was too small to identify the separate elements (e.g. aMajuba Municipality, Greater Kokstad Municipality); in other cases a whole page was devoted to the coat-of-arms, with a detailed explanation of the elements (e.g. KwaZulu-Natal Provincial website, Zululand District Municipality). Some came from the pages of local newspapers, from large half or full page colour advertisements with an uplifting message from the mayor of this or that municipality, to smaller single column black-and-white advertisements in the classied sections calling for municipal tenders and the like. A few came from personal visits to municipalities, where the coats-of-arms were found, and photographed, on municipal buildings and vehicles. Approaches to provincial government ofcials came to naught, so the number of coats-of-arms described in this article is probably not the complete number. However, I believe it is a sufcient representation to give a general picture of contemporary heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal. The coats-of-arms of nine African countries have been added to give some sort of wider African perspective, those of one or two KZN cities, and those of the erstwhile Universities of Natal and Durban-Westville and the logo of their offspring, the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
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The Colonial counties of Natal, and todays equivalents: the District municipalities The map provided with Russells 1911 Natal The Land and its Story [see map 1], gives the counties of Natal at the time: Klip River, divided into Newcastle and Klip River (Ladysmith area), Weenen, Umvoti, Victoria, Durban, Alexandra, Alfred, and Pietermaritzburg County. Pietermaritzburg was divided into Ixopo (by far the largest portion), Lions River, and Pietermaritzburg. To the north of the Tugela River1 was the completely separate entity named Zululand.
Map 1: The Counties of Colonial Natal (after Russell, 1911)
The SA Constitution of 1996 denes three different categories of local government authority. These categories are described more fully in subsequent legislation as metropolitan, local and district municipalities. Metropolitan municipalities are essentially large economic conurbations, and in their geographic areas each Metro is the only local government authority. In KwaZulu-Natal, eThekweni municipality (greater Durban including Umhlanga, Pinetown and Amanzimtoti) is the sole Metro.
1
I use the old spelling here, instead of the modern correct uThukela, as we are referring to a colonial map of 1911.
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Many people nd the concepts of district and local municipalities confusing because they seem to be describing exactly the same entities under different names. Local municipalities cover the geographic areas of traditional towns or cities, while districts cover much bigger geographic areas and include anywhere between four and eight or nine different local municipalities. Districts do not have any executive or oversight powers over local municipalities, but they do have a primary responsibility to provide for the bulk distribution of water and electricity services. In only one respect is there a clear distinction between the powers of the different categories. Metros and local municipalities have the power to levy property rates, districts do not (Municipal Property Rates Act, Section 2)2. Since 1999, KwaZulu-Natal has been divided into 11 District Municipalities, each itself divided into smaller units. These are, reading from North to South, and left to right (see Map 2): Amajuba District Municipality, divided into Newcastle, Dannhauser and Utrecht; Zululand District Municipality, divided into eDumbe, uPhongolo, Abaqulusi, Ulundi and Nongoma; Umkhanyakude District Municipality, divided into Jozini, uMhlabayalingana, The Big 5 False Bay, Hlabisa and Mtubatuba;
Map 2: Local and District Municipalities since 1999 (map by Koopman, A 2007)
2
I am indebted to mSunduzi Municipal Councillor Mark Steele for this information.
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uThukela District Municipality, divided into eMnambithi/Ladysmith, oKhahlamba, iNdaka, uMtshezi and iMbabazane; uMzinyathi District Municipality, divided into eNdumeni, Nquthu, Msinga, and uMvoti; uThungulu District Municipality, divided into Nkandla, eMthonjaneni, Ntambanana, Mbonambi, uMhlathuze and uMlalazi; uMgungundlovu District Municipality, divided into Mooi Mpofana, iMpendle, uMngeni, uMshwathi, The Msunduzi [sic], Richmond and eMkhambathini; iLembe District Municipality, divided into Maphumulo, eNdondakusuka, Ndwedwe and KwaDukuza; eThekwini Metro; Sisonke District Municipality, divided into kwaSani, Matatiele, Greater Kokstad, Ingwe, and uBuhlebezwe; and Ugu District Municipality, divided into Vulamehlo, uMdoni, uMzumbe, uMuziwabantu, eZinqoleni, and Hibiscus Coast. Heraldic Language When armorial bearings are granted to an institution by a College or Arms (in South Africa the Bureau of Heraldry), the arms are accompanied by an ofcial description in the esoteric language of heraldry. This description is known as a blazon, and there is a related verb to blazon. There is no space in this article to describe fully heraldic language, but just as an example, the following is the ofcial blazon of the arms of KwaZulu-Natal (Fig. 28), with an explanation following: Arms: Argent, a fess dancetty Vert, in base, within a bordure dovetailed of the last, a Strelitzia ower proper, on a chief dancetty Azure, lletted of the rst, a mullet Argent. The shield is ensigned of a headring Or, thereupon a Zulu hut proper. Behind the shield a spear and knobkerrie in saltire proper. Supporters: On a compartment Vert, the lower edge Or, dexter a lion and sinister a black wildebeest proper. Motto: MASISUKUME SAKHE Explanation: Arms: Argent = silver = white, the main colour of the shield, mentioned rst. A fess dancetty is a zigzag band and Vert is green. In the base (lower part of the shield), within a border where green and white (of the last means last colour mentioned) are dovetailed, is a Streliztia in its natural colours (proper). On a chief Azure dancetty (in the top part of the shield, blue, with a zigzag edge) lletted (edged) in white (the rst) is a white star (a mullet Argent). The shield is ensigned (topped, crowned) with a yellow headring (Or = gold, yellow). On top of that we nd a Zulu hut in natural colours. Behind the shield a spear and a knobkerrie in natural colours are crossed (in saltire). Supporters: on a green base stand a lion on the right and a black wildebeest on the left, both in natural colours. The motto MASISUKUME SAKHE means Let us stand up and build.

The structure of a Coat-of-Arms
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The component parts of a coat-of-arms (see Fig.1.a) are listed below, and are briey discussed as to their function in traditional heraldry, and the way they manifest in contemporary (post-colonial) African heraldry. The Shield The shield lies in the centre of the group of component which make up a complete coat-of-arms, and is important for two reasons: Firstly, because it is the one essential item in a coat-of-arms. There are coats-of-arms without all the other components listed below, i.e just a shield on its own, but there are no coats-of-arms without a shield.3
Fig. 1.a
Having said that, I must add that in the coats-of-arms of Angola, Mozambique and Madagascar, the shield itself appears to be missing. That is to say, there is no obvious outline of a shield, but merely a space lled with the kinds of symbolic devices which would normally ll a shield.
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Secondly, it is the main space where symbolic elements charges are placed, and so contains the core of the projected identity. Boutell (1970:19) gives four different forms of shield used in heraldry (see Fig 1.b) of which shape (b) is used most commonly. Many of the coats-of-arms described in this article use this shape.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Fig. 1.b Different shield forms used in heraldry. After Boutell (1970:19)
According to Boutell (op cit:240) the arms assigned to Tanganyika in 1961 created a precedent for the use of a native shield. i.e the shape of the Zulu shield that South Africans are accustomed to seeing in tourist brochures. (See Tanganyika arms in Fig. 2, and their modern equivalent those of Tanzania in Fig. 3). Most of the coats-of-arms of the KZN municipalities use the native shield. Henceforth to be referred to as the Zulu shield. Lesotho (see Fig. 8) uses a very individually shaped shield, referred to in the blazon as a Basutho shield. Swaziland has solved the problem of which shape of shield to use by using the traditional heraldic shield, and having upon it as sole charge a Zulu shield (see Fig. 9). The shield remains the most pervasive relic, not just of the colonial era, but of the mediaeval era of chivalry. Even when an institution, previously identied by full coatsof-arms, decides to abandon this type of iconic identity and go for the simpler, more modern corporate logo type, the shield somehow hangs on in. I refer here to the University of KwaZulu-Natal, built out of the two previous entities, the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville, each with a full set of armorial bearings. One might perhaps have expected these to have been merged in the same way in which the two institutions were merged (a not uncommon heraldic procedure called marshalling), but the new university was determined to shake off its heraldic past and come up with something snappy and modern. I have to agree that they have done just that, but I am also delighted to see that the shield remains an integral part of the design. An African shield, of course, and then again only half a shield, but a shield nonetheless (see Figs 31, 32, and 33). I do not have much of the KwaDukuza Municipality to go on just a 4 4 cm black-and white newspaper cutting. The logo for this is not a coat of arms appears to be half a Zulu shield within the upper half of an egg. And the half shield appears to be fraying very badly on its inside edge (see Fig. 19). It is possible the sample is too small to be sure that what we have here is half a Zulu shield joined with half a mealie plant.
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The Helmet or Helm This is the one part of traditional heraldry which seems to have been completely abandoned in African heraldry. In traditional heraldry, the helm is an indication of status. Whether it is of gold or steel, whether open or shut, barred or visored, and whether it faces the front, or sideways, all these indicate a certain status, in British heraldry at least. For example, only the reigning monarch and Princes of the Blood Royal (Boutell, 1970:154) may have an open, barred, gold, front-facing helm. Corporate bodies (which includes corporations and municipalities) must use the helm suitable to an esquire, that is a closed, steel, visored helm, placed sideways. See the arms of the old Union of South Africa (Fig. 11), those of the Umshwati Municipality (Fig. 25), the city of Pietermaritzburg (Fig. 29), the universities of Durban-Westville and Natal (Figs. 30 and 31), the city of Durban (Fig. 33), the Greater Kokstad Municipality (Fig. 35) and the Richmond Municipality (Fig. 42). The arms of the Zululand District Municipality (Fig. 15) have what appears to be a leopard-skin headring between shield and crest, and their description of their coat-of-arms on their website [www.zululand.org.za] says that this headring is The Helm. Bruce Berrys website on South African heraldry (http://www.crwags.com/fotw/ags/za-knzu.html) says the shield is ensigned of a leopard skin headring . I would personally say that in traditional heraldry, this would be described as a torse. The Torse Boutell (1970:155), says The crest was laced or bolted onto the helm, and to hide the unsightly join, various decorative means were employed ... [such as a] scarf the twisting of such a scarf round the helm would give rise to the torse ... The torse seems to have virtually disappeared from modern African heraldry, and can be found in few of the examples illustrated in this article. I nd this disappointing, and in the case of KwaZulu-Natal heraldry almost unbelievable, for the function of the torse can be seen as a support for loads to be carried on the head/helmet, and in Zulu tradition, this has been the precise function of the symbol-heavy inkatha. The inkatha in its simplest form is a coil of grass to be placed on the head to facilitate the carrying of heavy loads on the head. Such a head-ring quickly soaks up sweat, skin particles, hair, etc., known collectively (with other bodily waste) as insila, sometimes translated as body-dirt, but more correctly body-essence. These grass rings become highly personal to the owner, and must not be allowed into the hands of enemies or they would be used for witchcraft. In the days of the Zulu kings, from uShaka kaSenzangakhona, through Dingane and Mpande to Cetshwayo kaMpande, the king kept an enormous grass-ring, bound with python skin, under the roof of his great hut. This was added to yearly with the insila of the king and other notables. When the British defeated Cetshwayo in 1879 at the Battle of Ulundi, they burnt down his great hut, with its huge national inkatha, and this more than anything else symbolised the end of the nation to the Zulu people. When King Solomon kaDinuzulu was looking for a powerful symbol for a political party in the 1920s (Cope, 1993: 11, 170171) the inkatha was an obvious choice. Solomons short-lived political group was revived by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi in the 1960s as Inkatha yeNkululeko yeSizwe (the National Head-ring of Freedom).
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The Crest After the shield, this is the next most important part of the armorial bearings from a point of view of identity, because often the crest is used on its own as a visual sign of the identity of the bearer, and because it carries the same symbolic, iconic weight as the charges in the shield. Almost every example of post-colonial armorial bearings featured in this article has a crest, and to discuss and compare all of them would be the work of another full article. I mention here some interesting features of the crests illustrated in this article, and will return to them later when overall symbolism of charges and crests are discussed in the latter half of the article. Zululand District: Half a sun (rays), red, on a semi-circle of triangle-motifed beadwork in the colours of the national ag, both mounted on a torse/headring of leopard skin This combination already makes a complex symbolic statement. And this is only the crest. The rest of the coat-of-arms also contains much symbolism (Fig. 15). Pietermaritzburg (City): A blue sun with ve stars on it, the centre star gold, the others white (Fig. 29). Lesotho: The limited blazon does not mention a crest and it is a moot point as to whether the object at the top of the shield is a crest or not. If it is, it is an ear of corn, or perhaps millet. But it is more likely to be the furry top of the stick often seen at the top of a traditional African shield between the spear and the knobkerrie (Fig. 8). Namibia: A Fish Eagle on a torse both in the colours of the Namibian ag which is the sole charge of the shield (Fig. 7). Swaziland: Two black plumes (ostrich feathers?) on a blue and gold torse. The crest is said to be the kings lidlabe (crown of feathers) (Fig. 9). Transkei 4: On a green and white torse, a green mound with a wicker basket between two aloes (Fig. 43). Zimbabwe: On a green and gold torse, a ve-pointed red star with the Great Bird of Zimbabwe superimposed.(Fig. 10). eNdumeni Municipality: The crest is a gold crown with seven black diamond nuggets on the rim, and the spikes decorated with ears of wheat and maize (Fig. 18). KwaZulu5: On a black head-ring, an elephants head facing the front (Fig. 44). uMngeni Municipality: A bead-work crown in yellow, red and blue (Fig. 16). KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Arms: On a gold headring, a traditional Zulu beehive hut (Fig. 28). uThungulu Municipality: A red spiky thing which could be a red aloe ower, or a horned cucumber, or something similar (Fig. 24). aMajuba District Municipality: Hard to tell from the tiny size of the arms on the webpage, but it would appear to be a womens red isicholo (headdress) (Fig. 13). uMshwathi Municipality: A three-masted brigantine, red-agged, on blue waves on a blue and white torse. These are the arms of New Hanover (Fig. 25). Dundee Municipality: A ve-turreted castle. It is not clear whether these arms are still in use (Fig. 26). uMsinga Municipality: A womens red isicholo, with a bead-work rim (Fig. 21).
4 5
No longer in use, since 1994, when Transkei ceased to be a political entity No longer in use, since 1994, when KwaZulu ceased to be a political entity.
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uMzinyathi District Municipality: On a red ring, a golden crown with three turrets rising from it (Fig. 23). eDumbe Municipality: On an orange and blue torse, a white sheep couchant, surmounted by a spear blade (Fig. 27). The Crown In colonial heraldry, crowns and coronets may be used by royalty and certain ranks of aristocracy, and they would normally be placed between the helm and the crest. In civic heraldry crowns may occur as charges and as crest coronets, and the mural crown (masoned and embattled Boutell p. 188) is the most common. This seems to be the type of crown which adorns the top of the shield in the arms of the uMzinyathi District Municipality (Fig. 23), and it is certainly the crown on top of the arms of the Borough of Dundee (Fig. 26) The arms of King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu (Fig. 45) show a royal crown above the shield, but it is interesting to note6 that when his arms were registered with the South African Bureau of Heraldry in 1975, they were registered without the crown. The Mantling The mantling is the ornate leaf-like structure which ows from under the torse on each side of the helm, and down each side of the shield if there are no supporters. It represents the cloak which was worn over the armour in the days of knighthood. It is always in two colours: the two main colours of the shield. The arms of the uMshwathi Municipality (New Hanover) (Fig. 25) show the mantling owing down the sides of the shield as there are no supporters, while the arms of the City of Pietermaritzburg (Fig. 29) ow outwards and upwards from the torse to make room for the heads of the two wildebeest supporting the shield. Modern African heraldry has discarded the mantling completely, which is perhaps a pity. One understands the wish to discard images of colonialism and imperialism, but the cloak can hardly be seen as a denitive statement of Western attire today (or indeed for several centuries) whereas the cloak or cape is often still a part of African formal attire, particularly if of lion or leopard skin. One thinks also of the Sotho blanket unquestionably part of the sartorial image of the baSotho. Where there are no supporters in the modern coat of arms I cannot but think of how effective some sort of draped cloak on each side of the shield would be. European royalty decorated their cloaks with eurs-de-lis and ermine; here in Africa we have even more effective patterning in the hides of zebra and giraffe, besides the leopard skin favoured by Zulu royalty. Mantling can still be seen in the arms of those municipalities which have not changed from the coats-of-arms of towns dominant in the area. Besides uMshwathi/New Hanover, see the Greater Kokstad Municipality (Fig. 35), eMnambithi/Ladysmith (Fig. 41), uMvoti/Greytown (Fig. 17) and Richmond (Fig. 42). The only two municipalities which have devised new coats-of-arms using mantling are The Big Five False Bay Municipality, which has green and gold mantling issuing from the sides and the top of the shield, interrupted on each top corner by an elephants head (Fig. 20), and uMhlabayalingana (Fig. 14), also with arms that combine mantling with an elephant. The
6
Jens Pattke (20.02.01) in a website dealing with KZN heraldry.
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effect in each case is not unbecoming, giving the effect of an elephant appearing from within abundant foliage. The Supporters The role of the supporters is a simple one: to support and hold up the shield, but as with so much else in heraldry, they are also an opportunity for symbols of identity. Supporters are usually animals or birds associated with the person or place bearing the arms; occasionally they are humans. A quick roll-call of the arms of some African states, and some KZN municipalities will give an idea of the supporters favoured by African heraldry. Namibia has two oryx antelope, Lesotho two Basutho horses, Uganda a Ugandan Kob and a Crested Crane, Kenya two heraldic lions, the old coat of arms of South Africa (1932 to 2000) a springbok and a gemsbok, Tanzania a man and a woman in traditional clothing, Swaziland a lion and an elephant7, Zimbabwe two kudu, Botswana two zebra, and the old Transkei arms showed two leopards. The dominant animal theme continues with KwaZulu-Natal heraldry. The coat of arms of Pietermaritzburg are supported by two black wildebeest, King Goodwill Zwelithinis arms by two heraldic lions, the old arms of KwaZulu by a leopard and a lion, the KZN provincial arms by a lion and a black wildebeest, and the eDumbe Municipality by a wildebeest and an eagle. Birds only as supporters are favoured by the uMzinyathi District Municipality, with two bald ibises, the Zululand District Municipality with two Trumpeter Hornbills, and the aMajuba District Municipality, with two Secretary Birds. The coats-of-arms of the uMsinga, the Dundee, the uMngeni and the uThungulu District Municipalities have no supporters at all. The website of the eNdumeni Municipality provides interesting information: The Bureau of Heraldry advised us that the Endumeni Municipality, being a Category B Municipality, is not qualify [sic] to utilize animals or birds as supports in the coat-of-arms, therefore we opted for the two guinea fowl feathers . to ank the shield as supports. [See Fig. 18] The choice of the guinea fowls [sic] symbolizes the natural wildlife in this area. This quote conrms that some at least of the new KZN municipalities are seeking the approval of the South African Bureau of Heraldry8. It also raises the question of what a Category B Municipality is. And it introduces the curious heraldic notion that depending on ones municipal status one may either have whole supporters, or partial supporters. If you cant get the bird, at least you get the feathers. It brings us back to the question I raised earlier about indigenous hide mantling: if you are a Category B Municipality and therefore do not qualify for complete lions as your supporters, can you at least drape a little lion skin around the edge of the shield? The Base, or Compartment As Boutell points out (1970:180): The supporters themselves must have some support. Having the task of holding up the shield, they must be given something to stand on.
7 8
The lion representing the king and the elephant the Ndlovukadzi the Queen Mother. This has not always been the case. The website of KZN heraldry states for the coat-of-arms of the erstwhile homeland KwaZulu that although is was registered for the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly with the Bureau of Heraldry, the South African State Herald did not issue a formal certicate of registration as ..[the] .. arms had been devised without consultation of the Bureau of Heraldry.
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Boutell points out that occasionally the motto supports the supporters, but when a massive elephant ..[is] ..made to stand on the edge of a ribbon, this has an unfortunate appearance of instability. [ibid] The solution which is commonly employed is to make the supporters stand on a mound, usually covered with grass or other vegetation. This area is known as the compartment. It has the added advantage of providing yet another space for various symbols, especially if these are growing plants representative of species found in the territory of the coat-of-arms. Some examples of compartments with and without anything extra are discussed below. In the old arms of the Transkei (Fig. 43), the two supporting leopards stand on a grassy mound, and the motto is superimposed on this as well. The two oryx supporting the Namibian shield stand on a mound on which a Welwitschia mirabilis is growing, an example of local desert ora which is symbolic of survival and national fortitude (Wikipedia, Namibian coat of arms). The two horses holding up the shield of Lesotho are on a grassy mound, which carries the motto. On the mound below the shield of Uganda we nd a representation of the River Nile owing from the base of the shield between examples of a coffee tree and a cotton plant. There is still enough space for the motto at the bottom. Proteas grow between the legs of the supporting antelope on the mound of the old South African arms, and between the feet of the supporting humans holding the shield of Tanzania are a clove bush and a cotton bush. The two kudu holding up Zimbabwes shield are trampling on an earthy mound composed of stalks of wheat, a pile of cotton, and a head of maize. And yes, there is still room for the motto. The two zebra of Botswana tread daintily on the edge of the ribbon carrying the motto, and the supporters of the Swaziland shield oat in mid-air, just above the imsy ribbon bearing the countrys motto. Turning now to KwaZulu-Natal heraldry, we see that the two Trumpeter Hornbills of the Zululand District Municipality are safe on a grassy mound which also carries two Nguni cattle horns (if you believe the Zululand District Municipality website), alternatively two conjoined elephant tusks, the points upwards beside the respective shield anks, over the join a set of stringed beads, all Argent (if you believe Bruce Berrys South African heraldic website). The two Bald Ibis of uMzinyathi likewise have a grassy mound, shared with the motto, and this is also the case of the wildebeest and eagle of eDumbe Municipality. It is sufcient, though, for the insubstantial guinea fowl feathers framing the shield of eNdumeni Municipality to ow out from the edges of the motto ribbon. The Motto No coat-of-arms is complete without a motto, inscribed on a band or ribbon at the bottom of the arms, below, or superimposed upon, the compartment. Here follow examples of mottos from African states: Namibia: Unity, Liberty, Justice Lesotho: Khotso9, Pula, Nala (Peace, Rain and Prosperity) Uganda: For God and my Country Kenya: Harambee (for which no translation is provided on the Wikipedia website)
9
Although the illustration says Khoto
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Old South Africa: Ex Unitate Vires (From Unity Comes Strength10) Tanzania: Uhuru Na Umoja (Freedom and Unity) Swaziland: Siyinqaba (We are the fortress) Zimbabwe: Unity, Freedom, Work Botswana: Pula (Rain) From KwaZulu-Natal: uMsinga Municipality: Siqhuba amandla omnotho nentuthuko eMsinga (We drive the strength of wealth and progress in uMsinga) Provincial Arms: Masisukume Sakhe (Let us rise up and build) uMshwathi Municipality: Bete und arbeite (Pray and work) Old KwaZulu Arms: Sonqoba simunye (We will conquer if we are one) (Fig. 44) Arms of King Goodwill Zwelithini: Ilembe Leqa Amanye Ngoku Khalipha (a slight rewording of one of the most famous phrases from the praises of Shaka kaSenzangakhona, meaning the axe that surpasses other axes in sharpness. The Ilembe District Municipality takes its name from this phrase.) (Fig.45) Zululand District Municipality: Inqubekela Phambili Ngobuqotho (Service Delivery with Dignity) eDumbe Municipality: Utrumque (both or each. The signicance is not clear)) uMzinyathi District Municipality: Thuthuka Mzinyathi (Go forwards Mzinyathi) eNdumeni Municipality: Together in Prosperity uMngeni Municipality: uMngeni Municipality (Fig. 16). Should we consider this a motto? it occupies the place of a motto, and is placed within the standard ribbon. It raises an interesting question. Mottos, by and large are considered to be uplifting and inspirational messages. Scots Clan mottos, as explained by MacLean (1990)11, are of this type, such as the Gaelic S rioghal mo dhream (Royal is my race) for the MacGregor clan (MacLean, 1990:71), and the Latin Virtutis Gloria Merces (Glory is the reward of valour) for the Robertson clan, who also turn to Gaelic with Gargn uair dhuis gear (erce when raised) (op. cit. 105). Now and then, though, it is clear that a clan can think of nothing more inspirational than the clan name. Thus members of the Gordon clan went into battle shouting An Gordonach! An Gordonach! (A Gordon! A Gordon!) (op. cit. 34). Perhaps the uMngeni Municipality see themselves in the same light, and perhaps the oft-repeated phrase uMngeni Municipality drives the workers of this municipality to new heights of pride and productivity. Perhaps. uThungulu Municipality: We may have the same issue here, except that the uThungulu Municipality does not employ the standard ribbon for the words uThungulu District Municipality (Fig. 24). They would need three ribbons, anyway, for this municipality is language sensitive, and under its emblem we nd uThungulu District Municipality, then uThungulu Distrik [?] Munisipaliteit and then uMasipala Wesifunda Waso Thungulu. Pietermaritzburg Arms: Here again the motto is simply uMgungundlovu, the Zulu name for Pietermaritzburg. And yet is this so simple? That uMgungundlovu is the Zulu name for Pietermaritzburg is a given among whites, but amongst Zulu-speakers uMgungundlovu is the site of Dinganes former main establishment near Babanango,
One of the more splendid pieces of irony found in heraldic mottos. MacLean, Charles (1990) The Clan Almanac. Eric Dobby Publishing, Kent, England.
10 11
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and Pietermaritzburg is referred to as eTawini (town). There may well have once been some sort of inspirational message in the Pietermaritzburg motto, something along the lines of Take cheer, white citizens, for we have beaten the Zulus, and the power lies in our town now. The Charges Although these are very much part of armorial bearings, I consider them separately here, as these are the devices which make symbolic statements about identity, the third element identied in the title of this article. Charges are any iconic statement in the body of the shield (and elsewhere) that can assist in the identication of the bearer of the shield. It may be as simple as a red band in the top third of the shield (Argent, a chief gules the arms of the family Menzies (Boutell, 1970: Plate III) or a yellow band running from the top left to the bottom right across a blue background (Azure, a bend or the arms of the Scrope family (op. cit. Plate II). The charges may be identiable items: swords, crosses, animal heads. They may carry symbolic weight: the star represents light which may in turn represent knowledge, the book does so immediately. Analysis of 27 coats-of-arms from KwaZulu-Natal municipalities and a few selected African states shows that a number of symbols occur regularly and these are described below, in order of frequency. Heading the list is the category Wild animal or African (game) animal, with 12 of the 27 arms using these. These are mainly used as supporters, and amongst others we can note the Uganda kob, zebra, gemsbok, lion, kudu, and springbok. The main charge of the Lesotho arms is a crocodile, here symbolic of the BaKwena (People of the Crocodile) (Fig. 8), one of the largest clan groups in the nation. The Big Five and False Bay Municipality, as might be expected from the name, features lion, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, and leopard on the shield, with two additional elephants as crests (Fig. 20). False Bay is not exactly represented on the arms, but if you open the website of this municipality, you are greeted by the sound of a roaring hippopotamus. A buffalo head dominates the shield of the uMzinyathi Municipality arms, an excellent example of canting arms, where the name of the entity represented by the arms is represented by a charge in the arms. Boutell (op.cit. 298) denes canting arms as arms containing an allusion to or a play on the name of the bearer. In this case the head of the buffalo alludes to the name of the municipality uMzinyathi (the home of the buffalo). The next most popular image is that of the wavy blue band representing water, found in 11 coats-of-arms. This is very successfully used in the arms of the uMngeni Municipality (Fig. 16) where blue and white wavy bands in the lower part of the shield are counter-balanced by a falling blue band running from the top left to lower right, representing the famous Howick Falls. Also used in 11 of the arms are various birds. These appear mainly as supporters: the kob of Uganda is assisted by a Crowned Crane (Fig. 5); the wildebeest of eDumbe Municipality by an eagle (Fig. 27); while the shield of the Zululand Municipality is held up by two Trumpeter Hornbills (Fig. 15). The shield of the aMajuba District Municipality is supported by what appears to be two Secretary Birds, or they may be Blue Cranes. It is difcult to tell when a website gives a coat-of-arms only 9 mm high (Fig. 13). The aMajuba arms also give a good example of canting arms with the main
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symbol on the body of the shield a pair of white doves (Zulu: amajuba). The uMzinyathi District Municipality uses Bald Ibises to guard its shield. The Fish Eagle appears twice, as a crest on the arms of Namibia (Fig. 7), and in the top left corner of the shield in the arms of the uMhlabayalingana Municipality (Fig. 14). The South African coat-of-arms uses the head and wings of a Secretary Bird as part of a very complex multi-crest. The crest of the Zimbabwe arms (Fig. 10) is the famed Zimbabwe bird, a soapstone sculpture of some antiquity. Next in popularity are images of various plants, owers and trees, with ten of the arms using these. Occupying the lower half of the shield of the KwaZulu-Natal arms is a strelitzia (Fig. 28), while a owering aloe occupies approximately the same space in the arms of uMsinga Municipality (Fig. 21). A dominant feature of the uThungulu District Municipality, occupying the whole of the lower part of the arms (outside and over the shield) is a owering, leaved and fruiting branch of what I assume to be the Natal Plum (Carissa grandiora, or, in Zulu, umthungulu). Here we have another example of canting arms. In the arms of Tanganyika, and its successor Tanzania (Figs. 2 and 3), coffee bushes grow out of the compartment, while an orange tree in full fruit occupies the third quarter of the old South African arms, a canting reference to the Orange Free State (Fig. 11). Proteas grow from the base of the old South African arms (Fig. 11), while a protea is also part of the crest of the new South African arms (Fig. 12). At the same level of popularity is what I could call Zulu (or African) cultural icons, with ten arms displaying these. Dominant in the lower half of the Uganda arms (Fig. 5) is an African drum. The Zululand Municipality (Fig. 15) and the uMngeni Municipality (Fig. 16) both feature traditional Zulu pots. Traditional weapons, usually a spear and a knobkerrie crossed behind the shield, are found in the arms of Kenya (Fig. 4), Uganda (Fig. 5), Lesotho (Fig. 8), eDumbe Municipality (Fig. 27), KwaZulu-Natal (Fig. 28) Zululand Municipality (Fig. 15), Nquthu Municipality (Fig. 22), eNdumeni Municipality (Fig. 18) where they occur inside the shield, and South Africa (Fig. 12) where they occur as part of the complex crest. In the arms of uMsinga Municipality (Fig. 21), a traditional battle-axe is crossed with a hoe, and in the arms of Zimbabwe (Fig. 10), the hoe is crossed with an AK-47 machine gun. The KZN provincial arms use a traditional bee-hive hut (Fig. 28), while the arms of both the aMajuba Municipality and the uMsinga Municipality use a traditional Zulu womens headdress (isicholo) (Figs. 13 and 21). The Nquthu Municipality arms drape the traditional Zulu kings lion-claw necklace around a silhouette of iSandlwana Mountain, one of the more curious juxtapositions of images to be found in KZN municipal heraldry. Next on our scale of popularity is the elephant on its own, or elephant tusks, with nine coats-of-arms featuring this symbol. I deliberately excluded the elephant from the list of wild animals above (apart from the reference to the Big Five) because the elephant is such a popular symbol on its own. Besides being the King of the Beasts in Zulu lore, the elephant is also the Beast of the King, for Zulu royalty is always greeted with the shout of Wena wendlovu! (You of the elephant). The elephant is one of the supporters of the Swazi coat-of-arms, a reference, as already mentioned, to the important role of the Queen Mother (Indlovukadzi) in Swaziland. In municipal heraldry the elephant is a very dominant crest on the arms of the uMhlabayalingana Municipality (Fig. 14), and the sole charge on the shield of the uMvoti Municipality (which I assume to be the original arms of Greytown, the seat of the uMvoti Municipality). The elephant is also
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the sole charge on the shield of the city of Pietermaritzburg (Fig. 29), a canting reference to the Zulu name of Pietermaritzburg (uMgungundlovu supposedly The Place of the Elephant, but see Koopman in Laband and Haswell). The elephant appears in the top half of the shield of the Zululand Municipality, and a pair of upturned tusks surround the base of the shield (Fig. 15) . Tusks held by supporters to surround the shield are a feature of the arms of Tanganyika and Tanzania (Figs. 2 and 3), of Botswana (Fig. 6), where the tusk held by the zebra on the left is balanced by the stalk of sorghum held by the zebra on the right, and of South Africa (Fig. 12) where double tusks on each side of the lower half of the shield rise out of the motto. Eight of the coats-of-arms featured in this analysis show some sort of topographical icon. I have already mentioned the representations of rivers by means of the wavy blue band. Here we have more references to mountains and other topographical features. The arms of Tanganyika and Tanzania (Figs. 2 and 3) both depict Mount Kilimanjaro in the base, while from the base of the shield of Uganda (Fig. 5) ows the Nile River. The main charge on the shield of Zimbabwe (Fig. 10) is a representation of the rock and walls of the historical site Great Zimbabwe. The arms of the Zululand Municipality (Fig. 15) show two identical conical mountains with top-knots, while the arms of the uMsinga Municipality (Fig. 21) show three green mountains. The symbolic rendering of Howick Falls in the arms of the uMngeni Municipality (Fig. 16) has already been mentioned above. In the lower third of the shield of the uMhlabayalingana Municipality (Fig.14), we nd a hippopotamus swimming in a lake, while in the background a sun rises (sets?) behind a low range of green hills. The mountain shape in the top quarter of the eNdumeni arms is supposedly that of a prominent mountain in the district (Fig. 18), while iSandlwana Mountain, sporting a lions-claw necklace in the arms of the Nquthu Municipality (Fig. 22), has been mentioned above. Besides the arms of the uMhlabayalingana Municipality (Fig. 14) mentioned in the previous paragraph, six other arms feature a sun in one form or another. The central charge on the shield of Uganda (Fig. 5) is a sun in full splendour , in other words a full sun surrounded by rays. Namibia has a similar, but much smaller sun in the top left of the shield (Fig. 7). In the South African arms, a quarter sun is the top element of the complex crest (Fig. 12). A similar sun forms the top part of the crest of the arms of the Zululand Municipality (Fig. 15). In the arms of the uThungulu Municipality (Fig. 24), the Zulu shield sits on top of a round yellow-orange sun, from which issue little triangular rays, alternating in purple and light blue. The crest of the arms of the City of Pietermaritzburg (Fig. 29) is a blue fully-rayed sun, carrying ve stars. Equally popular is imagery of agricultural crops, with seven of the coats-of-arms depicting the cultivation of cotton, sorghum, maize and the like. I have already mentioned the coffee trees of Tanganyika and Tanzania, and the sorghum of Botswana. The shield of the uMhlabayalingana Municipality (Fig. 14) emphasises agricultural produce. I recognise the cashew nuts to the right of the Fish Eagle, and the maize cob below it, but cannot identify the two fruits on the right. Perhaps the most bizarre juxtaposition of images among all the armorial bearings described here is the crown forming the crest of the arms of the eNdumeni Municipality (Fig. 18), which has ears of maize and wheat growing out of it. As if this was not enough, the crown has seven black nuggets of coal decorating its base as well. The Zulu shield forming the arms of KwaDukuza (Fig. 19) has already been discussed. The only image I could obtain is very small, and the nature
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of the objects is unclear. It could be a representation of a shield unravelling on one side, as if knitted of wool, with a loose end steadily pulled out on one side, or one half of a Zulu shield conjoined with one half of a stalk of maize. I suspect it is the latter. Five of the arms discussed here use ags as charges. These are either the ags of the entity concerned, as with the arms of Tanganyika (Fig. 2), Tanzania (Fig. 3), Kenya (Fig. 4) and Namibia (Fig. 5), or they are smaller charges as in the case of the arms of the City of Pietermaritzburg (Fig. 29), where the wildebeest on the left is charged with the ag of Great Britain, and the one on the right with the ag of the shortlived Boer Republic of Natalia (18381843). Wildebeest form a category of their own in KwaZulu-Natal heraldry, and were excluded from the category wild animals which headed this list of commonly recurring images. It is not clear to me why wildebeest should be heraldically associated with Natal, but the old Natal coat of-arms (not illustrated) had two wildebeest, and this iconic association has continued. Among the arms discussed here, ve use the wildebeest, usually as a pair. Two wildebeest in the second quarter of the old South African arms (Fig. 11) represent the province of Natal. Another two stand upright facing one another in the left and right quarters of the shield of the eNdumeni Municipality (Fig. 18) and the same two in identical pose are the supporters of the arms of the City of Pietermaritzburg (Fig. 29). The KZN provincial arms (Fig. 28) and those of the eDumbe Municipality (Fig. 27) are satised with only one wildebeest as a supporter, with KZN using the wildebeest on the right of the shield, and eDumbe on the left. The arms of the town of Dundee (Fig. 26) have two wildebeest running in the top part of the shield. Wildebeest are found in the arms of many institutions in KwaZulu-Natal, such as in the arms of the erstwhile University of Natal (Fig. 31). Earlier in this article I discussed the difference between the traditional shape of the heraldic shield, and the African shield, rst adopted by Tanganyika in 1961. Here I especially identify the Zulu shield, a shield of African shape, with dappled markings in black or brown, and two vertical lines of parallel black bars. Four of the coats-of-arms analysed here use this shield specically, one being Swaziland (Fig. 9), where it is the sole charge on an otherwise traditional heraldic shield. The unravelling shield of the KwaDukuza Municipality (Fig. 19) was discussed above in conjunction with maize. The shield of the Nquthu Municipality (Fig. 22) is dappled brown and white and has the traditional arms in saltire behind the shield, with a tufted stick between them. The uThungulu Municipality (Fig. 24) has a shield dappled in black and white. Four coats-of-arms use livestock as a charge. These are Botswana, with the head of an ox in the lower third of the shield (Fig. 6), Lesotho, with two Sotho ponies as supporters (Fig. 8), eNdumeni Municipality (Fig. 18), with the head of an ox in the bottom quarter (and a website which boasts the biggest feedlots in KwaZulu-Natal), and eDumbe Municipality (Fig. 27), where the couchant sheep of the crest appears to be transxed by the spear behind the shield. Other symbols and images found in the African and KwaZulu-Natal heraldry include: Stars (Figs. 10, 26 and 27); representations of industry, such as cogs and wheels (Fig. 6), a miners lamp (Fig. 18), a aming torch (Figs. 2 and 30), an early Portuguese seafarer with an anchor (representing the Cape) and an ox-wagon (representing the Transvaal),
59
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
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Fig. 13
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 19 Fig. 17 Fig. 18
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Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22
Fig. 23
Fig. 24
Fig. 25
Fig. 26
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Fig. 32
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Fig. 41 Fig. 42
Fig. 43 Fig. 44
Fig. 45
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both in Fig. 11) and what appears to be an old amphora (although possibly it is a harp) in the arms of Dundee (Fig. 26). The symbols in the arms of the uMshwathi Municipality are unique (Fig. 25): a threemasted barque in full sail over a wavy ocean is the crest; while a red Foreign-Legion type fortress occupies the top half of the shield , and a badge consisting of a black cross superimposed on a red heart, in turn superimposed on a white rose, is the charge on the bottom half of the shield. These are surely the arms of the town of New Hanover, the seat of the uMshwathi Municipality. Multiplicity of images The number of images found in a single coat-of-arms in this analysis ranged from two to nine. Simplest of all the armorial bearings is that of the uMvoti Municipality (Fig. 17), using the old arms of Greytown. This simple design has a single elephant on the shield and a single animal head as a crest. (What this animal is, is difcult to tell from the small image available. An ox? A boar? A sheep?) In contrast, the arms of the Zululand Municipality (Fig. 15), and those of the eNdumeni Municipality (Fig. 18) seem very fussy and bitty indeed, overcrowded with nine distinct images or symbols. By and large, the charges found in post-colonial African heraldry, and in the KwaZuluNatal heraldry, carry enormous symbolic weight. My personal impression is that the aesthetic design of the arms is often drowned by the weight of its symbolic icons. I can imagine a committee somewhere, charged with the design of a coat-of-arms to represent the image that the people presumably have of their piece of territory saying: And we must have a sheaf of wheat to represent agriculture Yes, and a miners helmet to represent coal mining Right, and we must have one or more of the big ve animals to represent the importance of the game reserves in our tourist initiative And what about a Zulu shield/beehive hut/ crossed knobkerrie and spear/Zulu ukhamba/beadwork to represent Zulu culture and heritage? Yes but what about the beauty of our natural ora? I suggest a strelitzia/ protea/arum lily . And so the shield becomes packed to overowing with symbols, and thereby loses the simplicity of design which makes a good visual symbol. How African are these municipal identities? Here we come to the last part of the title, the phrase post-colonial. It is surely beyond any dispute that Africa has for decades, having won independence from colonial powers, tried to shake off the trappings of colonialism. The street-name changing in Pietermaritzburg in the early years of the 21st Century, and the identical process in Durban in the early months of 2007, have been widely described as a need to rid these cities of colonial images (including, on occasion, street names which refer to colonial gures). With the New South Africa, the new African Union, South African president Thabo Mbekis concept of the African Renaissance, and various other bodies, anything to do with colonialism, imperialism or Europeanism has been seen as needing replacement with objects, ideas, attitudes, processes, and symbols that are
65
African in nature. (Curiously enough, this has never applied that that unsuitable item of dress for African climes: the Western suit with its tightly knotted tie). This shrugging off of European values and images has to do with the pursuit of an African identity, and it is within the framework of this pursuit that we nally look at coats-of-arms in Post-Colonial Africa. The rst, and surely immediate question is Why do these independent African nations, and these post-apartheid municipalities in the new South Africa need coats-of-arms at all? Granted, some kind of visual or iconic identity is needed just as a product brand needs a trademark symbol. Badges, crests, logos, marques and so on have their use for political entities as they do for trade products. But why the shield? Why the shield with its crest, its supporters, and its motto? Surely this combination has no place as a political symbol in the new Non-European Africa? And yet clearly it does. No matter how many of the charges on these shields are African in nature African animals and birds, African landscapes, African artifacts they still t into an iconic matrix which is essentially unchanged from the days when knights jousted at tournaments on the elds of Europe. At this point, I have to acknowledge that there are some entities in the new South Africa which have totally eschewed the trappings of knighthood, and have opted for visual symbols which are more like commercial logos and brand marks. We have, in fact, a sliding scale of visual symbols of identity for political identities, which range from those which are still utterly indistinguishable from European heraldic images, to those that bear no resemblance at all. At the European/colonial end of the scale are those municipalities and other entities which have not discarded previously existing coats-of-arms. Among those discussed and illustrated in this article are the municipalities of uMvoti, bearing the arms of Greytown (Fig. 17), uMshwathi, with the arms of New Hanover (Fig. 25), the Greater Kokstad Municipality, using the arms of Kokstad (Fig. 35), eMnambithi/Ladysmith with the arms of Ladysmith (Fig. 41), and Richmond, using the arms of the town of Richmond (Fig. 42). It may be that these municipalities are a little slow off the mark and despite in 2007 having been in existence for eight years, have yet to shrug off the old identity and apply for a new one. It may be that their new identities are being processed by the South African Bureau of Heraldry which, after all, has almost certainly not seen such a demand for heraldic identities since its formation, and may be having trouble with the overload. And, of course, it might be that these municipalities are content to piggy-back on the heraldic identities of colonial entities. Just below this level on our sliding scale comes the independent African nation of Tanzania. Fig. 2 shows the coat-of-arms of Tanganyika, awarded by the College of Heraldry in 1961. Tanganyika was a British colony, so these are colonial arms, however African they may appear at rst sight. Tanzania was what the same country called itself once it gained independence from Britain. Fig. 3 shows the Tanzanian arms. A quick comparison of the two will show that the new Tanzania changed very little indeed of the previous Tanganyikan arms. Two golden crossed hoes were added, the black band edged with gold on a green background tilted up to the right, and the aming torch retained only its ame. The shape, colours, supporters, compartment and charges in the compartment remained the same. Next on our scale are those entities which have started afresh with a new coat-ofarms, but have somehow not been able to shake off certain aspects which remain deter-
66
minedly colonial. Take for example all those that could not resist a crown surely the quintessential symbol of European monarchy. The African nations have resisted using this symbol, but not the municipalities of uMngeni , eNdumeni, and uMzinyathi, all with shield ensigned with a dominant crown. In this category are the arms of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal (Fig. 28), not because of an imperial crown, but because the lion supporting the shield on the right is straight from the arms of the monarch of England: the stance, the curled tail, the tongue hanging out, the tufts below the knee these are all the hallmarks of the British heraldic lion. Compare this lion to the lion supporting the right side of the arms of Swaziland (Fig. 9), still a little Euro-heraldic in nature, but a lot more African. Then we come a little lower on the scale to those coats-of-arms where no particular symbol or charge reminds us specically of Euro-Western ideas and values, but the overall impression of a shield (especially if it is the traditional heraldic shape, and not an African shield) with supporters on a compartment, a crest above the shield and a motto below, still reminds us of European heraldry. King Goodwill Zwelithinis arms (Fig. 45), the arms of the erstwhile Transkei (Fig. 43), those of the Zululand District Municipality (Fig. 15), the uMhlabayalingana Municipality (Fig. 14), the uMngeni and eNdumeni municipalities (Figs. 16 and 18) all these still would not look out of place attached to a venerable boys school in England, or the Guild of Haberdashers in Stuttgardt. Below these on our sliding scale are those municipalities which have made the break from the shield, and have dispensed with crests, mottoes, supporters and the rest. The shield may still be used as a symbol, but the overall shape of the emblem (we must now stop calling it a coat-of-arms) no longer says heraldry. Two of these that use the Zulu shield as a symbol are the emblems of the uThungulu District Municipality (Fig. 24) and the KwaDukuza Municipality (Fig. 19). The former places a Zulu shield within a large yellow-orange ball, which may be either the sun (it does have what appear to be rays issuing from it) or a very large ithungulu fruit. A fruiting, owering, branch of the ithungulu lies across the bottom, slightly off centre. The name of the municipality, in three languages, lies beneath the yellow ball in concentric arcs , concave to the top, and are without the ribbon so typical of standard heraldry. The latter (KwaDukuza) is the Zulu shield which appears to be unravelling into a mealie stalk, this being placed in the top half of an oval, a rather wobbly line of beadwork separating this from the words KWADUKUZA
M U N I C I PA L I T Y
It is worthwhile looking again here at the logo of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. As has been previously stated, the University of KwaZulu-Natal was the result of a merger on 2002 between the previous universities of Natal and Durban-Westville, whose coats-of-arms are shown in Figs. 31 and 30 respectively. The new logo, or emblem, again clearly not a coat-of-arms, uses half a Zulu shield conjoined with half a globe, on a vertical axis. The ve coloured bars in the shield and the ve coloured sun rays issuing from the globe represent the ve campuses of the new university. The only symbol which has been carried over from the arms of the previous universities is a book, shown as a single wavy red band.
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The emblem of the Mkhambathini Municipality (Fig. 36) consists of a white egg, within which is an elephant on the left (for no obvious reason), a chicken in the bottom (representing the large number of Rainbow Chicken farms in the area), with sugarcane (the dominant crop of the area) in the background, and in the very distant background, faintly visible is the gray outline, of the at-topped Natal Table Mountain, the Zulu name of which eMkhambathini gives its name to this municipality. The Mpofana Municipality uses a circle within a circle (Fig. 40). In the space between the two circles are the words MPOFANA MUNICIPALITY and UMKHANDLU WASE MPOFANA), while within the inner circle an eland on the banks of a river is backed by mountains on the left and factories on the right. The eland and the river together are canting references to the name of the municipality, named for the Mpofana River which runs through it, which could be interpreted as the tawny-yellowish river, or the River of the Eland. The uMgungundlovu District Municipality (Fog. 34) has eschewed the shield, but has not been able to resist multiple symbolism, giving rise to an emblem that can only be described as cluttered. Five squares are tilted 45 so they are more like lozenges, and placed two above three, and all ve above a wavy blue line, which, as we know by now, represents a river. The space between the lower three lozenges and the wavy blue lines is lled in with a zig-zag black-and-white pattern which could possibly represent roof tiles. The squares are lled in with full colour pictures of (reading from left to right and top to bottom) an elephant (which could refer to the indlovu (elephant) in the name of this municipality), an eland (which surely refers to the Mpofana Local Municipality which is part of this District Municipality), a red at-topped mountain (Natal Table Mountain see Mkhambathini Municipality above), a Zulu woman with a red isicholo (headdress) (referring perhaps to the Zulu population and Zulu cultural tourism), and some factories set against green hills (industry and landscape). Arising out of the top two squares, and creating an overall pyramid shape, is the top part of the clock tower of the Pietermaritzburg City Hall, a reference to the fact that Pietermaritzburg is the dominant city of this municipality, and also because this municipality has chosen as a name one which is often called the Zulu name of Pietermaritzburg. By far the simplest of the logos/emblems chosen by municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal are those of the Ugu District Municipality and the eThekwini Metro. The Ugu D.M. has chosen as its emblem a pale yellow sun, under which are what could be four waves, two on each side, the upper waves a light blue, the lower ones a pale mauve (Fig. 38). The eThekwini Metro has chosen the dome of Durbans City Hall, a simple, striking and effective logo, in bold blue-and-white (Figure on outside cover). Although these are far simpler in design than the often highly-complex visual conglomerates which other municipalities have adopted, they are not without symbolic value. The Ugu logo reduces sun-and-surf to the simplest possible visual elements, suitably so for a municipality with a Zulu name which translates into English as coast. The Durban municipality has chosen an iconic architectural image the highly recognisable dome of the City Hall, and this itself is symbolically relevant. Indeed, the phrase city hall is often used as a metonym for local government. The effectiveness of the eThekwini logo as a visual image, simple, uncluttered and direct, can be seen when we contrast it with the logos used for both the Msunduzi Local Municipality (Pietermaritzburg) and the Mgungundlovu District Municipality (Pietermaritzburg district). Both use the top half of the
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Pietermaritzburg City Hall tower itself a highly recognisable visual icon but then clutter this image with a variety of other images (see Figs. 29 and 34). Conclusions There is certainly no consistency in the manner in which the newly constituted municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal have created their symbolic and iconic identities. As we have seen, some appear quite content to adopt the full heraldic emblems of the towns with which the are associated. It may well be, of course, that they are still in a process of designing new emblems. But if so, in the process, they appear quite happy to use the old emblems in modern contexts. The newspaper advertisement which shows the mayor of the uMshwathi Municipality happily wearing ceremonial robes with the arms of New Hanover embroidered thereon, is a case in point. A majority have opted for a new emblem, but have stayed within the general heraldic framework of the colonial past, producing images which are curiously unsettling in that the symbols chosen are uniquely and exclusively African but are tted within a framework which remains identiably European. Some have discarded this framework and come up with aesthetically satisfying emblems that are both African and modern, by which I mean are able to incorporate traditional African elements in a new and vibrant way. Such a one is the emblem (can we call it a coat-of-arms) of the uThungulu Municipality (Fig. 24), undoubtedly my favourite of all the modern municipal designs. And then others, as we have seen, have gone for very basic logos, knowing that the simpler the design, the stronger the brand identity. Students of branding and identity have long acknowledged that it is the very simple logos, like those of both MercedesBenz and Volkswagen, which are the successful ones. Many questions have been left unanswered in this article. It would be interesting to know at what point a proposed municipal emblem ceases to be regarded as a coatof-arms, needing approval by the South African Bureau of Heraldry. Surely when the eThekwini Municipality chose their simple blue-and-white dome, this did not need heraldic permission? It would be interesting to know what sort of brief was given to the designers of the various coats-of-arms, the logos, and the other visual symbols of the various municipalities. How did they perceive their own identities as municipalities before an artist produced a provisional draft of a coat-of-arms? Did the central government produce any kind of guideline for the new municipalities? This has been very much an exploratory research. More in-depth research into municipal and other political iconography in South Africa is called for, but these are the sorts of questions that need answers.
Bibliography Brooke-Little, J.P. 1970 Boutells Heraldry. Frederick Warne, London Cope, Nicholas 1993 To Bind the Nation: Solomon kaDinuzulu and Zulu Nationalism 19131933. University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg. Koopman, A. 1988 The Place of the Elephants? In Laband and Haswell below. Laband, J. and Haswell, R., eds. 1988 Pietermaritzburg 18381988: A new portrait of an African City. University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg. MacLean, Charles 1990 The Clan Almanac. Eric Dobby Publishing, Kent. Russell 1911 Natal The Land and its Story
ADRIAN KOOPMAN
Notes and Queries
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Notes and Queries

THIRTY YEARS ON Contributed by Jack Frost THE great ecclesiastical controversies of the 1860s which tore the Anglican Church in Natal apart (and even had reverberations further aeld), left Pietermaritzburg with two central city churches and two parishes: St Peters (the old Cathedral) in Church Street and St Saviours in Commercial Road. With the passage of time and the growth of several new generations, the old animosities disappeared and in 1957 a motion passed by the St Peters vestry placed its property between Church and Longmarket Streets at the disposal of the Diocese of Natal as the site for a new cathedral. That vision was to become reality in 1981 with the dedication of the Cathedral of the Holy Nativity, built next to St Peters, but not before St Peters and St Saviours had formally dissolved as separate parishes and united as a combined Cathedral parish. In June 1976 as part of a ceremony which began in St Saviours and ended in St Peters (which acted as a cathedral until the new one was completed) the reunited congregation marched along Commercial Road and up Church Street headed by the band of the Natal Carbineers. Thirty years later, in 2006, that march was re-enacted by veterans of the 1976 occasion (including the then Dean, John Forbes, who had own up from Cape Town to be part of the commemoration). The intervening years had brought about huge changes. Young and middle-aged participants 30 years before were now old and grizzled. The Carbineers band was on parade again, but in an attenuated form with a handful of musicians meeting the party as it arrived at the new Cathedral. Church Street had been turned into a mall and largely pedestrianised with only a single lane for trafc. The walkers now proceeded along the pavement with the parade enlivened by a thief dashing past, hotly pursued. And the demographics of the Cathedral congregation, in 1976 exclusively white, are completely different in line with the changing face of the inner city. Sadly, the openness to the city which was a Leitmotif of the design of the new building and its positioning on the site, has been completely negated by the growth of crime, necessitating the erection of high security fences and a single entrance from Longmarket Street.
70 BHAMBATHA UPRISING CLEANSING CEREMONY
Notes and Queries
Contributed by Pat McKenzie On Reconciliation Day 2006 IFP Leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi unveiled a memorial to Nkosi Bhambatha Zondi at Ambush Rock, Mpanza, in the presence of KwaZulu-Natal dignitaries and Zondi clansmen. The Bhambatha Memorial Committee was responsible for the erection of the memorial. Also present were Graham Smythe, a descendant of the prime minister of Natal at the time of the Uprising and John McKenzie youngest grandson of Sir Duncan McKenzie, who led the colonial forces. Part of the proceedings was a traditional cleansing ceremony in which Nkosi Sakhi Zondi of Keates Drift, Graham Smythe and John McKenzie washed their hands in a bowl of water as a token of reconciliation. The bowl was handed to them by a young woman Mazethu Zondi. A ock of pigeons symbolising peace was released.
DINUZULU STATUE Contributed by Bill Bizley Heritage month, 2007, was supposed to see the unveiling of the latest in the series of Amafa-inspired sculptures, the striking 3,4 metre statue of King Dinuzulu. It will be positioned in Durban at the park ground between Berea Road and Warwick Avenue, next to the statue of Louis Botha. It was Botha who ordered the release of the monarch two years after he had been imprisoned for treason at the time of the Bhambatha Rebellion. (The narrative favours a somewhat anti-British perspective, but Dinuzulus strangely British uniform plus helmet which, in the sculpture, he carries in his hand was insisted on in the original Amafa tender.) The pairing of the two statues is in accord with Amafas policy of balancing historic memory, and is thus in keeping with the monuments it commissioned at Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift. The Dinuzulu plinth is to be encircled with ten story panels, each relating to an episode in the kings life. Sculptor Peter Hall, who devised and sculpted the Pot with Horns motif in the eMakhosini valley (where Dinuzulu is buried), says that he found this latest statue to be his most challenging project yet. Sculpting took ve months; and the actual casting (by Kim Goodwin at Lidgetton) another ve. Under the direction of Amafas chairman Arthur Knigkrmer, the artworks commissioned by the body have
Notes and Queries
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certainly been completed in record time. Kim Goodwin tells me that the atmosphere in his foundry, while he and his team were working on the huge Dinuzulu piece, was quite haunting, his Zulu co-workers looking on with awe as their revered ancestor gradually reached ceiling height before them. In keeping with the policy of achieving cultural balance in the project, Amafa appointed journeyman and assistant Mondli Ndanda for the 10-month term of the completion of the work. In a sense Ndanda had to learn a new mind-set. While traditional Zulu sculpture in wood lasts well indoors, there has to be a durable substance like bronze for the sculpting of outdoor gures. Only western technology has the foundry techniques that can accomplish this. Mondli was taken on board to become, as it were, au fait with a foreign technology. He has proved to be a most willing student, and indeed has subsequently submitted a piece of his own to the tendering board of a centre of learning in Durban. Peter Hall, who is more immediately famous for his miniatures, the shoe-maker gnomes outside Groundcover Shoes, says that he studied many photos and even prose descriptions of King Dinuzulu before he started work. While he considers it to be his nest piece yet, he is disappointed that perhaps because of Amafas succession of administrators his striking piece at Rorkes Drift, where a bronze leopard lies atop a pile of shields, has never been ofcially unveiled.
DURBAN CONNECTIONS WITH BLOOMSBURY Contributed by Brian Spencer In the diaries of Virginia Woolf there are references in both text and footnotes to Alice MacGregor Ritchie (b. Durban 1897 d. London 1941). From the text one learns that Alice developed from an employee of Hogarth Press, whose praise of Virginias Orlando was suspected of being in gratitude for our 20 to a friend whose comments were appreciated. From the notes one learns that Alice was born in Natal, studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, was a travelling representative for the Hogarth Press from 1928 c.1936 and then became editor of International womens news, a journal produced by the International Alliance for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship. She later worked in the League of Nations Secretariat in Geneva. She had two novels, The peacemakers (1928) and Occupied territory (1930) published by Hogarth Press. In 1948 Hogarth Press also published her The treasure of Li-Po, with illustrations by her sister. It was through Alice that her sister Marjorie Tulip Ritchie (b. Durban 1902 d. England, c. 1995) met the Woolfs. Marjorie, known as Trekkie, was an artist and illustrator who had studied at the Slade. She was commissioned by the Woolfs to design dust-jackets for a number of books including Virginia Sackville Wests All passion spent (1931). In 1934 Trekkie married Ian Parsons who was employed by the publishing rm Chatto & Windus. At the outbreak of war he joined the RAF, and Trekkie the re service. Later she worked as a land girl and then for Intelligence. Their London home was in Victoria Square. After Virginia Woolfs death in 1941 they had Leonard Woolf as a neighbour. With Trekkie and Leonards acquaintance in
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the thirties, and their mourning over the deaths in the same year of Alice and Virginia, the Parsons and Leonard became rm friends, with the Parsons relinquishing their house and sharing Leonards. Leonard became devoted to Trekkie. Their correspondence has been published as Leonard Woolf and Trekkie Parsons: love letters 1941 1969 (Chatto & Windus, 2001). When Leonard died in 1969 he left the bulk of his estate, including Monks House, the Woolfs home in Rodmell, Sussex, to Trekkie. She presented the latter to the University of Sussex. It is now run by the National Trust and is open to the public. (Acknowledgement to Matthew Marwick for Internet research.)
MACRORIE LETTERS RETURN TO `MARITZBURG Contributed by Sylvia Vietzen The Macrorie House Museum in Pietermaritzburg has received an unexpected gift. It is a collection of letters written by members of the Macrorie family over the years 1889 to 1891 while they were living at South Hill, the old name of the house which is now the museum. Most of the letters are from Mrs Agnes Macrorie, wife of Bishop William Kenneth Macrorie, to their eldest daughter, Marion Acland and her husband Frank who lived in Cheyne Gardens, London. There were also some from the bishop and the other Macrorie daughters, Mildred and Elsie. How the letters survived, were found and returned to the home from which they were written is a remarkable story. Early in 2006 the Curator of the Museum, Mrs Marigold Rei, received a letter from Miss Jane Cooke of Bristol, England. She had been clearing out a cellar in the home of her late brother-in-law in Hastings in the south of England and recognised that a bundle of letters on the verge of being thrown away could be of interest. She took the letters home to Bristol, sorted them, ploughed through the Victorian script and noted the recurring name Macrorie. Having never heard of it before, she looked on the Internet and traced the Macrorie House Museum. She was so fascinated by her nd that she transcribed the letters and sent an e-mail copy to Marigold Rei and said she would like to travel to Pietermaritzburg and personally present the letters to the Museum. This she did at a well-attended luncheon held in her honour at the Macrorie House Museum on Saturday, 19 May 2007. It would seem that Jane Cookes brother-in-law had a sister, Helen, who had been companion/housekeeper to Clemence Margaret Acland, Marion Aclands daughter and the Macrories granddaughter. When Helen died her belongings came to her brother, including the letters. There they remained in somewhat disorganised storage until the vigorous and enthusiastic initiative taken by Miss Cooke. After all, she had never travelled south of the Equator before; but her courage was rewarded with two weeks in KwaZulu-Natal during which she was able to trace the names, events, places and activities mentioned by the Macrories in the letters, even to travelling on the old main line train between Kloof and Inchanga. She explored the nooks and crannies of old Maritzburg, including the sites of Scotts Theatre and the Theatre Royal. She visited the Cathedral of the Holy Nativity, St Peters Old Cathedral and the site of St Saviours Cathedral, giving context to the Colenso controversy and Macrories tenure as Bishop of Maritzburg. She was also able to visit Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift, the Berg, Richmond and Byrne
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as well as read the letters of Basil Macrorie already in the Museum. The newly-acquired letters themselves await further archival and historical attention. They are largely of a domestic nature with family news predominating. However, they do throw intimate and very candid light on Anglican Church personalities as could be expected from the Bishop of Maritzburg and his wife. They bring the Macrorie home to life and describe vividly its visitors and its comings and goings, including the bishops travels through his diocese. They offer an insight into the social life of Victorian Maritzburg. They are not short of gossip and are especially revealing of the fashion and frivolities of the young Macrories: Basil, Mildred and Elsie. The younger sons were in England, Arthur as a naval cadet and Theodore at school, adding much newsworthy responsibility for Marion Acland with her own rapidly increasing family. Of special interest to the Museum is Mrs Macrories detailed commentary on running the household and garden, not least her perspectives on domestic staff cooks, carriage drivers, coachmen, grooms and retainers all part and parcel of privileged colonial family life. There is food for thought here for keepers of museums and writers of history aiming to give meaning to colonial Natal in present-day Kwazulu-Natal. Macrorie House Museum is grateful for its good fortune. And it is extremely grateful that the letters were discovered by so enterprising a person as Jane Cooke.
NATAL FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP Contributed by Pat McKenzie The Natal Society Foundation has awarded a scholarship to Ian Kiepiel who is a registered M.Sc. student with the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is conducting research into the pollination biology and the breeding system of the charismatic plant genus Clivia and is seeking to understand its reproductive biology. The genus is well known in horticulture but poorly studied in its natural environment. In announcing the award the trustees emphasise that the Foundation as an educational trust is carrying out its object, which is the promotion and general study of the arts, science, literature and philosophy.
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David Grey Rattray (19582007)
An enduring memory I have is of a youthful David Rattray, eagerly bent on luring tourists to his newly-established Lodge above Fugitives Drift, running helter-skelter along the hazardous Fugitives trail from Isandlwana to welcome a fresh party of visitors to the Lodge. This action epitomises the energy, determination, commitment and enthusiasm which characterised his approach to his life and work. His untimely and senseless murder, at the David Rattray age of only 48, by intruders to his now famous Fugitives Lodge, brought a tragic end to the life of this remarkably talented man. David Grey Rattray was born on 6 September 1958 in Johannesburg. Educated at St Albans College in Pretoria, he went on to the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg to read entomology, graduating in 1982. His interest in the history of the Zulu people was kindled by his childhood visits to the battleelds with his father Peter, a former lawyer, and discussions with legendary pioneer farmers like George Buntting. More importantly, his contact with Zulu inhabitants in the areas close to Fugitives Drift and Isandlwana, armed with their oral evidence of the battles, enthralled and fascinated him. With the help of his lifelong friend and mentor, Mzunjani Satchmo Mpanza, he became a uent Zulu linguist. In the 1960s, his father had bought 10 000 acres of land on the banks of the Mzinyathi (Buffalo) river, part of which was above Sothondoses, or (as it was then known), Fugitives Drift, across which British survivors of the Isandlwana battle had ed. After graduating, Rattray took up the position of manager of Mala Mala game reserve but was soon lured by investors to Namibia where he was tasked with establishing a new game reserve. Opportunity turned to tragedy when his young son was killed in a freak accident and the investors vanished leaving David to pick up the pieces. Having paid off the staff of the reserve, David, now aged 30, his wife Nicky, and remaining child, all but penniless, moved to the remote farm on the Mzinyathi river.
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In its original state, the guest house had been the home of John Potgieter and family. Rattrays mother Gillian, a well-known writer and artist, had immortalised Mr Pot in her award-winning book The Springing of the Year. During his early days on the farm, when he was still honing his rhetorical skills and rening his interpretations of the battles of the Anglo-Zulu War, Rattray came under the scrutiny of local academic historians, some of whom were somewhat scathing of what they perceived as his simplistic approach to the events he was so eloquently describing. Rattray remained undismayed and determined as an untrained historian to make his mark in the competitive arena of interpreters and narrators of the military campaigns in the KwaZulu-Natal region. It was not too long before he was able to marry his impressive knowledge of oral testimony with extensive reading of written sources and eldwork on site. Increasingly, he began to collaborate with academics and more popular authors of military history to investigate some of the intriguing mysteries clouding the actions of participants in the conicts. I recall spending a stimulating morning with him some way along the Fugitives trail, close to Isandlwana, where we explored his tentative theory that some of the ofcers who had hastily left the battleeld on horseback had deserted the ordinary ranks leaving them unsupervised to erect hastily-formed defensive lines. He based this assertion not only on oral and written evidence, but also on a meticulous study of the terrain and the position of stone redoubts and graves along the trail towards the Mzinyathi river. This exercise in historical interpretation is testimony to his growing sophistication in the eld of historical analysis. As to the soundness of his theory, we came to no conclusion on that day. Rattray is, however, remembered more (perhaps unjustiably) for his incomparable skills as a dramatic narrator of battles than for his competence as a serious historian. He was often to be found on the battleeld, clutching his beloved knobkerrie, surrounded by enthralled visitors, dramatising events with war cries, songs, shouts and screams, softened in a lower tone of voice by his empathetic appreciation of the horrors of war and mans inhumanity in the face of combat. Few who listened to him did not shed tears. He spoke, too, of valour and of pride and the love that can exist between men. He spoke of respect for those who had died on the battleelds, respect for our elders and for each other. Signicantly, over the years his presentations were also attended by 94 generals and two eld marshals, many of whom it is said were similarly reduced to tears. David enjoyed colouring his descriptions of conict with anecdotes gleaned from both oral and written sources. I recall how delighted he was, aided by his entomological background, to read of the exploits of Lieutenant Henry Harford, who, ghting for the British at the attack on Sihayos stronghold prior to the Isandlwana battle, dropped to his knees as the action began. His comrades feared for his life but he had only dropped to his hands and knees to transfer a rare beetle into a tin box! Rattrayss descriptions were richly enhanced by anecdotes such as this one. Indeed it was Davids ability to empathise with the personalities who fought in military conicts which added a vital dimension to his lively presentations. These insights enabled him to place the military campaigns he described in the wider context of his vision of the future of South Africa in which an understanding of bitterness and conict could be woven into a cord to bind people together. During his early years at the Lodge, David spent many hours, accompanied by his Zulu friends, combing the terrain in the vicinity of Isandlwana, Rorkes and Fugitives
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Drifts, to challenge the prevailing interpretations of the battles and to search for abandoned or lost relics. He was particularly excited when an old Zulu informed him of an oral tradition which claimed that a great number of British rearms, uniforms and other items had, soon after the Isandlwana battle, been hidden in a cave near Fugitives Drift. Even though the cave was not located, Davids infectious excitement at the possibility of nding such treasure never abated. As Rattrays fame as an incomparable raconteur spread, visitors from far aeld began to visit Fugitives Drift Lodge. Many left so moved and inspired, that they returned again and again to partake of the intellectual and emotional stimulation provided by Rattrays tours. Evenings spent enjoying Nickys superb meals were invariably followed by animated discussion with the Rattray family about topics as diverse as shing, snakes, insects, birds, trees, ecology and of course, history! Rattray welcomed many dignitaries and inuential people to his farm (the Lodge was now incorporated into a game farm), including the Duke of Edinburgh, the Oppenheimers, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Ian Player, Cyril Ramaphosa and Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, with whom he established a close friendship. In 1997 Rattray met the Prince of Wales when Charles and his two sons took a short holiday at the Lodge following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Rattray was subsequently invited to Balmoral as a guest of the Prince. Rattray also became involved in outreach projects amongst the local communities and was supported by Prince Charles in fundraising efforts to modernise a local school. In the United Kingdom, Rattray addressed capacity audiences at the Royal Geographical Society on a number of occasions and in 1999 was honoured by that society by the Ness award in recognition of his work in widening popular understanding of Zulu culture in southern Africa. The following year he delivered the inaugural lecture in the Laurens van der Post memorial lecture series at St Jamess Palace. In 2002 he returned to London to receive a Tatler travel award for Vision in Tourism. Rattray often experienced problems with his vocal cords as a consequence of incessant presentations on the battleelds, yet never considered stopping. Instead, to supplement his on-site presentations, he produced a series of his narrations on tape and CD which allow enthusiasts to listen to them at leisure. As his condence and expertise in his ability to interpret and explain aspects of the Anglo-Zulu War grew, Rattray turned his attention to writing. His Guidebook to the Anglo-Zulu War Battleelds (in collaboration with Adrian Greaves), was published in 2004 and a second publication, A Soldier Artist in Zululand, was launched shortly after his death. Rattray leaves his wife Nicky and three sons, Douglas, Andrew and Peter. His legacy will live on, for his family have vowed to continue his work at Fugitives Drift Lodge where tour guides, expertly trained in the style of presentation David made famous, still welcome visitors. Indeed, instead of his demise sounding the death knell of Rattrays endeavours, the famous Lodge has recently become a place of pilgrimage attracting those who remember or have heard of the gentle, caring man who with his knobkerrie aloft and his eyes xed on the battleeld, passionately recounted tales of the exploits of men locked in conict. JEFF MATHEWS
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Vishwaprea Suparsad (19482006)

Given the scope, complexity and duration of the liberation struggle, it has, inevitably, produced its unsung heroes and heroines. But, also, as new people have surged into our movement, specially recently, we have tended to ignore our tried-and-tested own. Of course, the new generation of activists cannot be clones of the struggle generation, but there has to be a measure of continuity. There has to, at least, be an overlap of core values and goals. But, sadly, the links of past and present are beginning to fray. The recent, untimely death of the relatively unknown 57year-old Pietermaritzburg-born struggle veteran, raises Vishwaprea Suparsad these and related issues. Quiet, sturdy, sensitive, humane, humble, self-effacing, brave Vish Suparsad made a signicant contribution to the struggle against apartheid, both in the legal mass movement and the underground political and military structures. But unlike so many of us, he had no culture of entitlement. He asked for nothing in return; and, quietly, continued to contribute to the consolidation of our democracy. As the traditional values of the ANC-led movement begin to fade, we need to extol the contribution of Suparsad and others like him. Suparsad was born in Plessislaer on December 10, 1948, the youngest of eight children of the respected Dookran family. He was inuenced by his parents who became part of the progressive reform tradition in Hinduism led by Swami Dayanand, the founder of the Arya Samaj novement. His mother, Ma Dookran as she became known, was in later years often used by the NIC (Natal Indian Congress) as a symbol of opposition to apartheid. In an interview with academics Suparsad was very nostalgic about his childhood experiences in Plessislaer, especially the proximity with Africans and the inter-racial contact. In 1965, Indians were forcibly removed from Plessislaer which left a deep impression. In 1966, he took part in a demonstration against Republic Day at Woodlands High School. He qualied as a teacher but left for England and Canada to further his studies. He returned shortly after the outbreak of the June 1976 student revolts. Soon thereafter, he met Pravin Gordhan, the current South African Revenue Service Commissioner, who was a major inuence on him. It was a two-way process, says Gordhan. He also inuenced me. He had so many strengths, after all. The two developed a lifelong friendship and comradeship. Among others, they were inuential in shaping a new approach to mass organisation which creatively linked peoples bread-and-butter concerns, such as water, electricity, rents and housing to the broader goal of overthrowing apartheid. As part of an overall strategy, they also stressed the need for considerable exibility of tactics and organisational forms that took into account the differing conditions between and within the different racial communities. Suparsad worked as a community worker at the Tongaat Child Welfare Society from 1977 to 1980. He established the Tongaat Youth Group and worked closely with
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the Tongaat Civic Association, especially in its links with the struggles in neighbouring Hambanathi. He was active in the NIC and also kept in touch with organisations in Pietermaritzburg. In 1980 he moved to Durban to establish a CRU (Community Research Unit), which gave research, organisational and other support to community organisations, including the Durban Housing Action Committee and the Joint Rent Action Committee. He also assisted trade union, cultural, religious and other organisations. Together with others, he played a role in the launch of the UDF (United Democratic Front). For all his prodigious legal activities, he was also a key underground operative for both the ANC and SACP. In 1979 he established contact with the ANC in Swaziland and regularly crossed the borders to ferry arms, literature, equipment and operatives. In 1985 he underwent a short training course in intelligence in East Germany. With the police hot on his heels, he largely disappeared into the underground from 1986, and played a key role in Operation Vula. In 1989 he married Vidhu Vedalankar, an activist, in a small underground wedding. Their close and formidable partnership bore a son, Viraj, now 15. After the ANCs unbanning he served in various roles, including in local government transformation, housing, development of small sugar farmers, co-operatives and micro-nancing. His very wide range of activities made an impact on people from all walks of life. His well-attended memorial service in the Durban City Hall was addressed by 12 people from very different spheres, including KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele who described him as a hero and a revolutionary who lived a noble life and embodied all that we think a dedicated activist should be. Suparsad was a rare combination of mass activist, underground operative, theoretician, strategist, organiser and counsellor. More than his contribution, it was his character and personality that impacted on everbody. He was fundamentally kind and he was humane to the core. He had a quiet, calming presence. Of course, he must have had his weaknesses but no one knows of them. There was not an ill-word spoken of him, surely rare in politics! Everybody speaks about his empathy. He seemed to listen to people with his very soul. SACP Gauteng Secretary, Vishwas Satgar, Suparsads nephew, says: He had the capacity to sit quietly through a conversation. But as you shared with him, he genuinely placed himself in your life. It was his nodding head, his pensive brow, his way of sometimes repeating words you used that told you this. But more than anything it was his response you knew hed understood everything youd said. In these trying times in our movement, it is vital that we focus on the lives of Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki and others like them. But these are giants and difcult to emulate. Hence the importance of also focusing on the Suparsads of our movement who are more accessible and there are many of them. We should acknowledge them before they die. YUNUS CARRIM (With acknowledegement to The Witness)
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Herbert Ian Behrmann (19182006)

Professor Herbert Ian Behrmann, a founding member of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Natal, died at the age of 88, after being hit by a bus on the last Friday afternoon of 2006. A resident of Rosewood Estate retirement centre in Jabu Ndlovu (Loop) Street, he had spent the day writing letters and was on his way to post them when the accident happened. Behrmanns death severs one of the last remaining personal links with the early days of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Natal. When he joined as a lecturer in Agricultural Economics in 1948, the faculty was housed in the old Oribi Military Hospital. Its library consisted of 20 volumes on one shelf, with not a single book on agricultural Herbert Ian Behrmann economics among them. Born in Johannesburg, the son of a magistrate, Behrmann was educated at Maritzburg College, matriculating in 1935. He completed his B.Sc. (Agric) at the University of Pretoria in 1939 and his Masters degree two years later. Three of the presidents of the SRC in his undergraduate years became prominent South Africans: Hilgard Muller, Anton Rupert and Albert Geyser. For his Masters thesis he did a survey of dairy farms near Johannesburg. He drafted a questionnaire and his supervisor, Professor F.R. Tomlinson, suggested that he start with an English-speaking farmer. Wilkinson and Craig, two farmers in partnership, seemed a good bet. He was dropped off at Wilkinsons home. However, Wilkinson proved to sport a long beard and speak not a word of English, so the interview had to be conducted and the questionnaire lled in entirely in Afrikaans. The session ended with Wilkinson asking, Is jy a lid van die Ossewa Brandwag? Tomlinson was delighted that his student had passed this test of bilingualism. When in 1942 Behrmann volunteered for military service he was refused permission by the Department of Agriculture, for which he then worked as a marketing ofcer, an assistant professional ofcer and a lecturer in agricultural economics and farm accounting at Potchefstroom, Boschetto and Cedara Colleges of Agriculture successively. Behrmann was to spend 35 years at the University of Natal: as lecturer in Agricultural Economics from 1948 to 1956, as senior lecturer from 1956 to 1960 and as professor from 1960 until his retirement at the end of 1983. His particular elds of interest were agricultural development, farm management and production economics, the history of agriculture and farm appraisal, but at one time or another he lectured in most courses offered by the department. Behrmanns Ph.D. thesis (1960), The Economics of Sugar Cane Production, was recognised by the award of its Founders Medal and Prize by the Economic Society of South Africa. It was, said the society, noteworthy for the application of economic principles and ingenious statistical sampling methods to one of South Africas major industries. Behrmann concluded that there was an over-abundance of labour on the
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average sugar cane farm and a sad lack of expenditure on the three fundamentals: machinery, fertiliser and management. Up to the time of his retirement 23 years later, he was one of only three agricultural economists to have won that award. Behrmann served as vice-chairman and then chairman of the Economic Society of South Africa, as president of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa and president of the Agricultural Scientic Association of Natal. He was chosen four times to represent South Africa at the conferences of the International Association of Agricultural Economists. The rst was in the USSR in 1970, which he was unable to attend due to visa difculties. In 1973 he got to the conference at So Paulo in Brazil and chaired a special group session. In 1979 he was able to attend at Banff, Canada, but in 1982 when the conference was held in Indonesia, visa problems again kept him at home and his paper was read in his absence. Behrmann represented the universities of Pretoria and Natal at hockey, was active in the administration of swimming and remained an active tennis player until the age of 84. He was a member of the Genealogical Society and traced the history of his family back into the 19th century. He was a regular participant in the activities of Birdlife KZN Midlands and a faithful churchman, a member of St Alpheges Church at which his memorial service took place. His wife Ren predeceased him by some years. He was survived by his three children, four grandsons and a granddaughter. JACK FROST
Susarah Johanna Truter (1910 2007)

In the eld of Agriculture it is rare that a woman achieves prominence as an academic. Yet it is probably true to say that Professor Truter who, at the age of 97, passed away in Pietermaritzburg, herself, and through the graduates she trained, produced more plant pathologists and mycologists than any other in South Africa. With her passing, an era in this eld in South Africa comes to an end. She was born on a farm in Aliwal North, and her love for nature that characterised her life, clearly had its roots there. In 1931 she obtained her B.Sc. degree, majoring in Botany and Zoology from Grey University College in Bloemfontein and was awarded the Junior Captain Scott Medal for achieving the top marks in Zoology. She then acquired a Diploma in Education and for ve years taught Biology at Durban Girls Professor Truter College to repay, as she later said, her considerable student loan. In 1939 she again demonstrated her academic prowess by being awarded a Masters degree in Mycology, cum laude, by the University of Stellenbosch. She then applied for an overseas scholarship under the auspices of the cultural agreement between South Africa and Holland and became the rst woman student to gain admission to this programme. So in 1939 Susarah Truter went to Het Willie Commelin
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Scholten Phytopathologisch Instituut in Baarn, in the Netherlands, and registered for a Ph.D. degree with, as her supervisor, Professor Johanna Westerdijk (the rst woman professor in the Netherlands). The outbreak of World War 2 compelled her to remain in Holland for a total of eight years and, as a South African, she was even interned by the Nazis for four months. She always considered herself very fortunate that she was released the day before the internees were transported to Germany. On 10 July 1947 she was awarded her Ph.D. degree by the University of Utrecht after defending her thesis on the die-back of a European tree, the alder, and then was able to return to her beloved South Africa on the Dutch liner, Oranjefontein. She always retained close contact with her mentor, Professor Westerdijk, who later, in 1953, visited South Africa for an extended holiday. On her return to South Africa in 1947, Dr Truter was appointed as plant pathologist at the Western Province Fruit Research Laboratories at Stellenbosch and it was there that, in 1949, she was persuaded by the Secretary for Agriculture to take up the post of Senior Lecturer in Plant Pathology in the brand-new Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Natal. When she arrived in Pietermaritzburg that faculty was housed in Oribi village, so she was offered the old war hospital dispensary from which she proceeded to fabricate her sterile student practical laboratory! In 1956 she was promoted to the new chair of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Natal, her elevation being approved by the Minister of Agriculture, as happened in those days. During 196162 her male colleagues elected her to the position of Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and in doing so made her the rst female Dean in a faculty of agriculture in the world. This led to an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. On 30 June 1976 Professor Truter retired, leaving behind her a department that had grown to ve academic staff members and a number of technicians and laboratory assistants. What was she like to those who knew her? She was a formidable, no-nonsense woman, even at 97, yet behind the tough facade there was kindness and considerateness: a little bouquet would arrive on a birthday, or a sympathetic telephone call came when life had dealt a blow. She was meticulous in all she did and exacted that from those who worked with, or studied under, her. She was a superb organiser, a very efcient administrator, and unstintingly gave of her time, devoting many of her evenings and weekends to assisting those she supervised with thesis drafts or with the writing of articles. She remained unmarried and during her working life devoted all her time and tireless energy to her department, her staff and her students. Thereafter, her retirement was devoted to her family, her many friends, the children of her friends, her garden, her pets and the droves of birds of various types that descended on the feeding place in her garden at the appropriate time every day. She leaves a great void, but clearly her legacy lives on especially through the many students she has produced, many of whom now nd themselves in senior positions throughout the world. She was a very important and well-loved person in our lives, certainly in mine. Requiescat in pace! FRITS H.J. RIJKENBERG
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John de Villiers (19342007)

(Address at Professor De Villiers memorial service) We are gathered here today to honour the memory of John Matthew de Villiers, who died on Sunday April 29th after a brief illness. Assembled here are Johns widow, Valerie, and their son Matthew and his wife Elspeth, and other relatives and friends. Oliver, their second son, is not here: lying in a coma, as he has been for seven years, he is undergoing his own special grief. We are here to offer our sympathy to the close family, to the wider family, and to all those who mourn Johns fairly sudden death. This speech in honour of John has been compiled in Pietermaritzburg, where John and his family spent many years. We have had input from members of the family and from a number of John and Valeries friends and ex-colleagues. All of the many e-mails and phone-calls that have owed in have shown the very deep affection and admiration John de Villiers which people had for John. Among the many things to be said about him as a person (and everyone has made this point) is that he was remarkably pleasant, generous and gentle a true gentleman in every sense but that he was also reticent and humble, never a person to push himself forward. Indeed some of our contributors said that, as John was often so quiet, in some respects they knew more about Valerie than they did about him! He was also a deeply committed family man, devoted to his wife, his sons, and his grandchildren, Henry, Missy and Bella. He and Valerie would have celebrated their golden wedding next February. But of course he was also a highly intelligent person and a profound thinker and worker in the areas of the intellectual life in which he chose to operate. He was in all his intellectual and creative work original, probing, energetic: a perfectionist, a person who did things fully and properly, and carried them through to their conclusion. A remarkable person like John is a very great gift to the human race. We all feel that deeply. Those who were closest to John feel it with a painful mixture of grief and pride. Some of his great qualities will be illustrated in a brief sketch of his life. John was born in Graaff-Reinet in December 1934. He went to the Union High School there, and then did a B.Sc. at the University of Cape Town. In 1957 he was appointed as a lecturer in Soil Science at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. By then he had worked at soils and irrigation research in Pretoria and spent time at Delft in the Netherlands studying the use of aerial photography for the interpretation of soils; this was part of his work, with others, on the great Tugela Basin project. In 1958 he married Valerie Werdmuller, an opera singer whom he had met in Pretoria. Not long after that he achieved his Ph.D. at the University of Natal.
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John was an extremely distinguished and inuential soil scientist. His ex-colleagues have compiled an impressive list of his research and his publications, and have stressed that he soon became well known in his eld not only nationally but internationally. One person, who later came to Pietermaritzburg as a lecturer, tells how he sought John out in 1983, because of his reputation, when John was working at Reading University as a part of his sabbatical work at Oxford. Sufce it to say that John was notable especially in the eld of soil classication. A contributor adds: He was also perhaps ahead of his time in terms of his recognising the environmental impact of mining and the need for adequate rehabilitation measures to be put in place. His document on the soil materials suitable for rehabilitation and the subsequent land uses to which the area could be put is still the Bible of the major mining houses, over 25 years since he wrote it. But this is not an academic gathering, so it wouldnt be appropriate to go into too many details about Johns academic achievements. They are available for anyone who would like to see them though they had to be searched for a bit, as John in his modesty was not the kind of person to ash his CV around. Perhaps one might say a little about his movements and activities. He did post-doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin. The family moved for some years to what was then Rhodesia, where he was invited to set up the department and later the faculty of Agriculture at the University in Salisbury (as it then was). He was recognised for his achievements by the government. In 1979 he was appointed to the Chair of Soil Science at his alma mater in Pietermaritzburg. This meant that he had to spend a good deal of time at his desk, but (as one of our contributors says) He was never a desk man, preferring the classroom and the eld. When in his ofce he worked from a large conference table surrounded by papers and reference material. He struggled to delegate, which kept his two wonderful secretaries very busy following up on him. Another contributor tells us how quietly enthusiastic, hard-working and meticulous but also how relaxed and cheerful he was, especially in the evenings, on these eld excursions with staff and students. On such occasions another important characteristic of his, not mentioned so far, came strongly to the fore: his lively and often impish sense of humour. He was admired as a lecturer and as a speaker at scientic congresses, and also appeared on many radio and TV broadcasts in South Africa and abroad. At one point he represented South Africa on a NASA planning session for satellite photography, and worked with Werner von Braun and Neil Armstrong. He was disappointed to be prevented by the then regulations, in the 1980s, from attending a Soils symposium in India, as he had a great admiration for India. He also served for many years on the editorial board of Geoderma, one of the top world journals in Soil Science. As head of department he showed his fairness, his kindness but also the right degree of rmness. It wasnt surprising, then, that he later became the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, and that was the position that he held until he retired at the end of 1994. In those years of being one of the top academics of the University he was invited to take on other important functions. While the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for the Maritzburg campus was absent John acted in his place, and he accompanied him on a study tour of the United States to pick up ideas for the Universitys momentous transition into the new era. After his retirement as Dean, what did he do? This is one of the remarkable mo-
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Obituaries
ments in his life. He decided to become a rst-year student, working for a B.A. degree with an emphasis on Fine Art. Having been a university dignitary, though always a quiet and unshowy one, he worked beside students more than 40 years younger than him. One has to ask how many people would have the qualities of character required to do this. He got on well with staff and students, was enthusiastic as always, and was of course a very good student. The sudden switch to the Arts was surprising, but not wholly so. Many people had remarked on his beautiful use of English. Like many other people, he recognised the other side of his personality, but he had the courage to follow it through. He focused on Fine Art, and distinguished himself. Members of the staff of the Visual Arts Centre speak of his quietly passionate dedication and his creativity as a ceramicist and a sculptor. He did a post-graduate diploma in Fine Art and got an exceptionally high mark. One of his striking achievements was something that enabled him to bring together his allegiances to the Faculties of Agriculture and the Humanities. He created a beautiful mosaic clock, in delicately muted colours, depicting a breakthrough event in the history of the Agriculture Faculty, when a Dr Hunter managed to avoid awkward regulations by importing from England two sheep embryos within the uterus of a rabbit doe. The rabbit and the sheep embryos are handsomely depicted in the mosaic. John donated the clock to the Faculty on the occasion of its 50th birthday, in 1998; and there it hangs for all to see. One of his many motives for producing the work was, incidentally, his feeling that students had a bad tendency to be unpunctual! Then seven years ago there occurred another striking event, a tragic one this time. John and Valeries son Oliver had a terrible accident, which left him severely disabled, in what is called a locked in syndrome. They decided to leave Pietermaritzburg in order to be close to Oliver. Johns continuing and totally uncomplaining devotion to Oliver has been another remarkable sign of his quality as a person. He was able to carry on with his artistic work, however, and he exhibited in several galleries in the Cape. One of his ex-colleagues in Soil Science concludes his tribute as follows: John de Villiers roots were in the Karoo. He was among the best to have been nurtured in South Africa. He knew and loved the African landscape. We can truly celebrate the knowledge and understanding we have gained from his work. One must add too that he has made his contribution to South African art, and to the lives of everyone who has had the privilege of knowing him. Now John has gone from us. We mourn him, and we salute him. COLIN GARDNER
Ian Frederick Garland 19252007

Legendary tree planter, renowned conservationist, visionary educationist and reluctant sugarcane farmer Ian Garland died peacefully in Kloof on Friday 3 August 2007 after a long illness. He was 82 years old. His lifetime work of caring for the environment has left a monumental legacy, which is felt daily far beyond Mtunzini and his beloved Siyaya catchment, and his wisdom and knowledge continues to be passed on through the Twinstreams Environmental Education Centre which he founded more than 55 years ago.
Obituaries
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Ians love for nature began when as a boy growing up in the Tongaat area he was bitten by the botany bug and collected butteries and studied frogs. By the time he began farming along the coast south of Mtunzini he was impassioned by the beauty he found here. The twin streams of his farm the Amanzimnyama and the Siyaya were a paradise of swamp forest, papyrus marshes and water lilies oating on deep, crystal clear pools. In those days it was possible to canoe from the conuence of the streams right to the mouth. Soon he had made his acquaintance with the rich diversity of Ongoye Forest and was Ian Garland part of the pioneering scientic exploration of Maputaland in the late 1940s. His excitement and boundless enthusiasm at the discoveries of this wondrous natural heritage led him to found South Africas rst environmental education centre at Twinstreams. But during the 1960s with the intensication of farming and increased pressure on the land, Ian witnessed the loss of the paradise he had found on his rst arrival and his message took on an urgency well in advance of the present debate on global warming. The conservation centre at Micks Park was soon transformed into a living laboratory visited by international scientists and academics but Ian always understood the importance of getting the message across to the ordinary folk who perhaps didnt know the difference between a guava tree and a Cleistanthus schlechteri. He was always available for a walk through the forests he had rehabilitated or planted and everyone from the Womens Institute to Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Harry Oppenheimer visited Twinstreams, heard the message that water is the key to life on earth and then planted a tree. But the most important lesson that Ian taught though he seldom voiced it was that individuals can make a vital difference. Few left his presence without being moved by his enthusiasm and commitment and many owe the joy they experience in a natural environment to the lessons of Twinstreams. In his lifetime, he estimated that he had planted over 60 000 indigenous trees not only on his own farm but wherever he felt the landscape needed a bit of cheering up. Mtunzinis sense of place owes much to Ians voluntary tree-planting and guidance. Ian was recognised in later years for his tremendous lifetime contribution to conservation and the natural sciences with an honorary M.Sc., two honorary doctorates and many community awards. He is survived by his wife and soul-mate of 58 years, Jean, and their ve children Bill, Francie, Peter, Ruth and Jill. Hamba kahle. BRUCE HOPWOOD (With acknowledgements to the Zululand Observer)
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Book Reviews and Notices

MEMORIES: THE MEMOIRS OF ARCHBISHOP DENIS HURLEY OMI edited by PADDY KEARNEY. Pietermaritzburg, Cluster Publications, 2006. 208 pages, illus. This is a coffee table book in size and in the generous number of photographs but it is far from being a light picture book. Written in an elegant, scholarly style it nevertheless reads easily. It is full of interesting ideas and has a decidedly historical slant. Archbishop Hurley intended to write a full account of his life. He began to collect material in the late 1980s and started to write seriously after his retirement in 1992. He hoped to set aside one day a week for the task but once he accepted the post of parish priest of Emmanuel Cathedral, a large and demanding parish, this became a difculty. He wrote when he could but the parish work, endless meetings and frequent trips overseas as well as his duties as the Chancellor of the University of Natal, a post he held from 1993 to 1998, cut into the available time. His method was to prepare a section and then dictate into a tape recorder after which his secretary would type it out and give it to him for revision. The result was a lively and personal account dealing with his childhood, school days, family events, his decision to study for the priesthood and his departure for Ireland to study at the OMI novitiate. His interest in history meant that he saw Ireland and then Italy, where he continued his studies, in terms of the events taking place in the late 1930s and in particular Mussolini and his relations with Hitler, and even more the effects on the Catholic Church of the time. He was ordained in Rome in July 1939 and, when Mussolini showed signs of taking his country into the war on the Nazi side in May 1940, all foreigners were advised to leave and Hurley and his colleagues were able to reach England via France and to return to South Africa on the mail boat. Hurley returned to Durban and was appointed curate to Father Leo Sormany at Emmanuel Cathedral. Writing of this period and of Natal in the 1920s and 1930s he refers to the serious consequences of the economic depression on ordinary people trying to support a family on little money and nowhere to turn for help. He also describes the Catholic Church of his youth and the strict discipline demanded, which will bring back vivid memories for older readers.
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After three years as a curate at the Cathedral, Hurley was appointed superior of the Oblate seminary at Cleland. In 1946 Bishop Henri Delalle resigned after over forty years as bishop and Hurley was appointed to succeed him. He was 31 years of age and the youngest bishop in the world at the time; four years later he became the youngest archbishop. The year 1947 was an eventful one for Denis Hurley. He was ordained bishop during the inaugural meeting of the Conference of Bishops that was to become the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference in which he played such a prominent role. It was also the year of the Royal visit and he attended several of the events connected with it. He had also to take over the running of the large diocese and to visit every mission and parish. He was young, energetic and enthusiastic and took most of these duties in his stride. One of his regrets, often mentioned in later life, was that he had not had the opportunity to spend time on a rural mission in order to learn to speak isiZulu really well. He did learn to speak it tolerably well but did not achieve the command of the language that Father Howard St George and other mission priests had acquired. The 1950s brought political worries as the Bantu Education Act of 1953 empowered the Nationalist government to take over mission schools receiving a state subsidy. The Catholic Church decided to ght this because most of its evangelisation efforts were centred around the schools. For the next four years major efforts were made to raise money in and outside South Africa to enable the Catholic schools to continue and all the bishops were active in this project. It is interesting to read in Hurleys correspondence that he personally acknowledged all the donations sent to him, many for as little as ve shillings. There were many disputes between Christian churches and the Verwoerd government over the next 30 years and Hurley was prominent in his public statements on racial injustice and apartheid. The Second Vatican Council was, for Hurley, the most exciting event of his life and he attended all the sessions and took an active part in the work of the Council from the rst session in 1962 to the nal session in 1965. In 2003 he decided to publish his letters and articles written from Rome during the council because he did not want the signicance of the Council to be lost on the generations born after 1965. He handed the manuscript to the publishers shortly before his unexpected death and it was published as Vatican II: keeping the dream alive. The present volume of memoirs deals with Vatican II in chapter 13 while the implementation of the Councils decisions in the following chapter was written by the editor. Memories is a fascinating book which will bring back memories to many older readers and interest young people for whom much of this will be new. It is written with touches of humour and a great deal of insight into the troubled period of the 1970s and 1980s. It leaves one with a personal view of a humble, good and thoughtful man of God whose life was lled with activity and interest. JOY BRAIN
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WILD HERITAGE KWAZULU-NATAL by PHILIP & INGRID VAN DEN BERG, HEINRICH VAN DEN BERG Pietermaritzburg: HPH Publishing, 2006. 208 pages. Standard Edition, R299. ISBN: 0-620-36679-6. Wild Heritage KwaZulu-Natal is unashamedly of the coffee table genre of publications, and as such it is not the usual type of book reviewed by Natalia. To borrow a clich from the world of advertising, however, this is a coffee table work which is so much more than the usual somewhat supercial compilation of photographs and text put together to appeal to souvenir hunting tourists. Natalia is also dedicated to recording all that is signicant in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, and it is timely to remind ourselves of the crucial role played by our increasingly fragile and threatened natural environment in shaping the life of the people of this province. Wild Heritage warrants a serious review because it treats the environment of KwaZulu-Natal in a serious and thought provoking fashion. This work is quite possibly unique in being the only single-volume photographic study to capture all the essential ecological variations found across the province, from the Drakensberg escarpment to the Indian Ocean and all that lies in between the grasslands, bushveld, forests and wetlands. The authors, highly respected former teachers and lecturers, have sought to explain and educate a wider audience as to the complex interactions of geology and climate which have contributed to the province having such an abundance of life in all its varied forms. The photographs, many of which are of award-winning standard, are obviously the main selling point in this publication, and the selection demonstrates the real passion the authors, a family team of husband, wife and son, have for their subject matter and in portraying the aesthetic beauty of our environment. They have included photographic studies which are reminiscent of portraiture together with highly dramatic action shots of wild animals found in both ight and ght situations. While the stunning colours and close up images will captivate, I suspect that many older readers might nd the extremely small font used for the picture captions something of an obstacle to the full enjoyment of this work. While on a critical note, the maps which locate each of the different vegetation types in the province are also very small. If a map is worth including, it should at least be of a functional size. With an eye to the use of this text in schools, the authors have included generous coverage of the two world heritage sites that are located in KwaZulu-Natal the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park and the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, each of which is given an entire chapter. The impact of man and human settlement on both these natural treasures is clearly spelt out without the tone of the writing ever becoming strident or dogmatic. Giving Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife an entire chapter will also ensure that this publication is given the attention it deserves at parks and conservation sites. MARK STEELE
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THE BERG: FROM SAN TO SUBURBIA TRACKS IN A MOUNTAIN RANGE, by JOHN WRIGHT AND ARON MAZEL, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2007. 155p. illus. ISBN: 978-1-86814-409-9 Historian John Wright and his archaeologist friend, Aron Mazel, had been talking for years about teaming up to do a book on the Drakensberg. Talking about writing a history of the Berg was one thing; actually doing it was another, says Wright. Plus, other things tended to get in the way, not least their professions. A historian at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Wright was busy working on the James Stuart Archive, a project begun in the seventies with the late Colin de B. Webb to bring to publication the oral evidence recorded by Stuart in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This extraordinary window into the history of Zululand, Natal and Swaziland now runs to ve volumes, and a sixth is nearing completion. Meanwhile, Mazel was busy at the Natal Museum, later moving to Cape Town, where he headed up the Cultural History Museum, before going to Britain where he is now an archaeologist at the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies at Newcastle University. Neither did the times seem right for such a book. South Africa was going through the most profound political and social changes, says Wright. It seemed to us too unserious a business to indulge ourselves working on a hobby, a labour of love, instead of more serious academic projects. Wrights rst contact with the Berg came at the age of eight when his father, Bob Wright, was appointed ofcer in charge of Kamberg nature reserve in 1951. He was trained as a vet and worked at Onderstepoort after World War 2 before going into private practice in the Estcourt/Mooi River region. He joined the then Natal Parks Board, four years after it was established. My father was a great rider, so I experienced the Berg both riding and walking. Schooled at Treverton and Michaelhouse, the Berg was a constant backdrop for Wright, though not a place of holiday. I only became a conscious Berg lover when I started varsity in the early sixties and started hiking in the Berg. Wright must also deserve a mention in Berg records for being bitten by a puff adder while walking in the Nzinga area in 2005. I got over it quickly, he says. Though I limped around for a while. Talk about a book on the Berg began to get more serious when the uKhahlambaDrakensberg Park was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2000. The nal impetus came from Veronica Klipp, director of the Wits University Press, who threw down the gauntlet of a commission. The result: Tracks in a Mountain Range, subtitled Exploring the History of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg. Aimed at a popular market, the book is elegantly designed and well illustrated, while also managing to be academically sound and readable. If Wright and Mazel had an ideal reader in mind, it was people who visit the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife resorts in the Berg. They dont go to hotels they are Berg lovers, Berg watchers, Berg walkers, as opposed to bowls players and golf players, says Wright. [They are] people who are prepared to think and read about what they see. Wright emphasises that one aim of the book was to produce a balanced history of the Berg, one that redressed some of the imbalances of earlier books. We particularly wanted to feature the San, not just as bit players but as mainstream actors. But even so, due to the lack of source material, they are only at the edge of our sight.
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The one sighting, the single San voice to be heard, belongs to Qing, and what he had to say was recorded in six brief pages by Joseph Orpen in 1874. Wright was able to draw on his own research into the San in the Berg undertaken for an Masters thesis, and subsequently developed for publication as Bushman Raiders of the Drakensberg, 18401870, published in 1971. He also drew on the book he did with Andrew Manson, The Hlubi Chiefdom in Zululand-Natal: a History, published in 1983. Both books involved a lot of research and broke down the older stereotypes. Aron and I also drew on the work of archaeologists Tim Maggs and Gavin Whitelaw on Iron Age farmers. The teaming of an archaeologist and a historian would seem the perfect match, one discipline informing the other. You would certainly think so, says Wright. But, as far as Im aware, this is the rst partnership between an academic historian and an academic archaeologist. Wright says that in some respects its not always a workable combination. We are two different animals: historians are archival animals, while archaeologists are excavators of materials and objects; they are often content to identify and record evidence while historians want to make a story, a history, out of it all. Despite their different approaches it proved an easy working relationship and the book economically divides into six chapters. The rst, The Mountains and the Storytellers, sketches out the main themes and approaches that previous writers have taken, says Wright, from missionary Allen Gardiner writing the rst known description of the Berg in 1835 to Bill Barnes writing about his life as a game ranger at Giants Castle in the years from the fties to the nineties. The second and third chapters, both by Mazel, give an account of San hunter-gatherer life in the mountains from 3 000 years ago, the rst black farmers in the area and the rock paintings. In Chapter Four, Black People, San and European Colonists, Wright focuses on the far-reaching changes of the period c1800 to c1870, brought about by European colonial expansion. In Chapter Five, The Closing of the Mountain Frontier, Wright examines the period 1870 to 1900. I give a revisionist account of the Langalibalele affair and the subjugation of the Hlubi in 187374, and then go on to outline the people of East Griqualand and Lesotho. The nal chapter, Modernisation in the Mountains, takes the reader from the 1890s to the present. This was the most difcult to write because of the relative lack of previous academic research, says Wright. I rst look at the domestication of the Berg, 1890s to World War 2, with the expansion of stock farming and of tourism: the San inhabitants having been cleared away, they are replaced by sheep and trout shermen. The post-war period saw the rapid expansion of the South African economy. The resources of the Berg became more commercially valued, says Wright, and more and more contested between different interest-groups: farmers, farm tenants and labourers, hoteliers, the tourist industry, real estate developers with their insertions of suburbia into the Berg in the name of development, industrialists wanting water supplies, dagga traders, stock thieves, poachers, migrant workers, conservationists and bureaucrats of different persuasions. It was an ongoing saga of tussle and sometimes outright confrontation, against a
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political background of the rise and fall of Bantustan policy, the expansion of South Africas security state, the establishment of a democratic government in an era of increasing globalisation, and the penetration of market economy into the Bergs remotest corners. Wright acknowledges that previous writers on the Berg have touched on many of these themes but have tended to do so from a colonial perspective. This perspective privileges the activities of ve groups of white males acting in heroic mode: explorers, soldiers, pioneer farmers, mountaineers, and game rangers. We dont deny their importance, but see it as necessary in this post-colonial age to show up the stereotypes that go with this kind of history and to demonstrate that there is much more to the history of the Berg than the activities of white colonial males. Consequently, Tracks in a Mountain Range has a critical edge to it. We resisted the easy romanticising of the Berg and the sentimental celebration of Berg heritage, says Wright. We aimed to problematise the notion of development in the Berg, and emphasise the point that the making of much of the Berg into a playground for the welloff urban middle-classes has been an often violent and ugly process. Wright says the great natural beauty of the Berg can be celebrated even if one is aware of the often sordid history that underlies its availability to us in the present. And he admits that readers alert to paradox and contradiction will probably nd a certain repressed romanticism trying to break through at certain points. They may also discern a certain nostalgia on the part of the books grey-beard authors for the times when they were young men in khaki striding over the ridges. STEPHEN COAN * Republished from The Witness, with permission.
HOW CAN MAN DIE BETTER?: THE SECRETS OF ISANDLWANA REVEALED by LIEUTENANT COLONEL MIKE SNOOK. London, Greenhill Books, 2005. 320p. illus., maps. ISBN 1-85367-656-X. This is the latest book on the battle of Isandlwana, January 22, 1879, in which a Zulu army defeated a British army invading the Zulu kingdom. The completeness of the victory and the near destruction of the defeated army have made it memorable in British military history. On the dust cover the publisher tells us: How can man die better? is a unique study of the Battle of Isandlwana of the weapons, the tactics, the ground, and of the intriguing characters who made the key military decisions. Because the fatal loss was so high on the British side there is still much that is unknown about the battle until now. The author reconstructs the nal phase of the battle in a way that has never been attempted before. It was to become the stuff of legend which the author brings to life so vividly that one can almost sense the fear and smell the blood. How can man die better? is essential reading for anyone interested in Isandlwana, the wider Anglo-Zulu War or the Victorian Army. The title of the book is from Macaulays Horatius
92 And how can man die better, Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his Gods?
Even allowing for booksellers licence, with so many books already on the war and the battle, we may well ask how this latest one can add signicantly to our knowledge of the battle. There is a ready, plausible answer to the question a special author and a special purpose. Lieutenant Colonel Mike Snook, a serving ofcer of the Royal Regiment of Wales (formerly the 24th), with a deep and long standing interest in the battle and a many-time visitor to the battleeld, explains (p. 12): The more time I spent at Isandlwana, the less convinced I became that the historians had mastered the great battle. There were dimensions of time and space that just did not add up. There were major Zulu troop movements that nobody had explained, but which simply had to have a cause or a reason behind them. The destruction of the 24th Regiment was, it seemed, altogether too difcult to piece together. But, if ever a tale cried out to be told well, it is the story of this supremely dramatic confrontation: this much we owe to those who fell. This is Colonel Snooks rst book, and he took a long time developing his ideas for it (p. 12). He particularly desires to set the record straight and to rebut the revisionists, a genre whose destructive inuence (p. 15) is manifest in a recent spate of books in this eld, which have been irksome for their many errors of fact, their sometimes eccentric interpretations, and, particularly, the deeply unpleasant vein of cynicism which runs through them. (p. 14). He cites specically the suggestion that Lieutenants Melvill and Coghill died not in an attempt to save the Queens colour of their regiment, but their own skins, a cheap slur on two men, who, as if any reminder were necessary, are holders of their nations highest award For Valour. (pp. 1415) I am far from being alone in my annoyance with the genre. (p. 14) This book stresses traditional values and celebrates the regiment. It makes entertaining and stimulating reading. Colonel Snook really does tell us some things we, who think we know something about the battle, have not heard before and which, but for him, we might not have heard otherwise. The text consists of seven chapters in two parts. The rst part, Gathering Storm, covers the British invasion and the advance of the Centre Column, under the eye of Lord Chelmsford, and the reconnaissance-in-force on January 21st, which discovered a sizeable Zulu force and led Chelmsford to take half of the column forward to meet it on the 22nd. These are short chapters, for the colonel presumes his reader is already versed in the history of the Anglo-Zulu War. He does not linger over causes and preliminaries, but moves on quickly to the great battle. It is generally acknowledged that Lord Chelmsfords division of his force in the presence of the enemy, of whose real strength and location and purpose he was ignorant, was fatal to the invasion. However, Colonel Snook, who is no admirer of the British commander, none the less takes very much of a minority position among writers on the battle in siding with him on the ability of the force left at the camp to defend itself against a Zulu attack. It was not a question of entrenching or laagering, as is often mooted, but of deployment and repower. The right answer for the camp . . . would have been a number of mutually supporting redoubts at key points on the ground. (p.
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68) This seems not to have occurred to any of the participants, and Colonel Snook does not belabour the point. If something went badly wrong, the regular infantry battalion could form receive cavalry squares in next to no time, and a British square was well known to be all but invulnerable. (p. 67) The second part of the book, In the Shadow of the Sphinx, covers the events of January 22nd. (The sphinx is Isandlwana hill, so called for the resemblance of its lengthwise silhouette to the sphinx badge of the 24th Regiment.) Three long chapters, two thirds of the text, treat the battle; the fourth chapter is a tailpiece on the return of the advance column to the scene afterwards. In the chapter Sunrise the author describes the British and Zulu movements in the vicinity of the camp during the morning. The author believes that the Zulu probably intended to attack the following day (pp. 148-150), and the Zulu forces seen on the heights north of the camp were parts of the right horn of the army, which took up a forward position in advance. The sound of an engagement between the generals and a separate Zulu force some 10 miles to the southeast roused it to action prematurely, and it was recalled with some difculty, as the British unknowingly witnessed (pp. 150-152). This is a novel interpretation of these Zulu movements, which, Colonel Snook rightly points out, have never been satisfactorily explained (pp. 12, 147). Beyond this he says little more than do other writers in praise of Zulu generalship and tactics. His is a military history and is written very much from an anglocentric viewpoint, and he refers his reader to Ian Knight and John Laband, for the other side of the fence. (p. 13) Much more important to him is how the British reacted to the appearance of a large Zulu force nearby. Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pulleine was left in charge of the camp by the general. Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony Durnford, at Rorkes Drift, was ordered to come forward with ve mounted troops, a rocket battery and infantry escort of two companies. Durnford was the commander of a separate column poised to co-operate with the Centre Column in its advance into the Zulu country. Durnford had been ordered to the camp, but he was not ordered to take command of it. As Pulleines senior in rank, he did so automatically. Essentially through absent-minded oversight, Chelmsford and his staff had provided for an incoherent command structure at Isandlwana (p. 89). Durnford did not actually take charge. He thought the Zulu receding from view on the heights were going after the generals column, and he hastened thither with two troops, followed by the rocket battery and escort. In addition he sent two troops to scout the hills. Pulleines orders were to defend the camp, and he resisted Durnfords efforts to detach part of his force, but Durnford left camp saying that he expected Pulleine to support him if he got into difculties. Chapter Five, Horns of the Buffalo, carries us into the battle. Durnfords two troops on the hills discovered the Zulu army, which now launched its attack. The horns swung wide to encircle the British camp, the chest bore down on it over the escarpment. Pulleine fought by the book, forming a very extended line of infantry with a section of guns near the centre to meet the chest, and effectively halted it with a heavy re. Finding that the line was being outanked, he anchored the left on Isandlwana, and the two companies on the right fell back and formed a line at a right angle (p. 203) along a rocky ridge. Meanwhile Durnfords sally had been stopped by the onset of the Zulu left horn, which also destroyed the rocket battery. Durnford made a ghting retreat, and halted in a watercourse to the right front of the camp in order to protect Pulleines right.
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He was reinforced by an assortment of mounted men from the camp. The combined force managed to hold back the Zulu in front, but not those working around their right ank. Moreover, Durnfords two troops were running low on ammunition. He ordered the men to abandon the watercourse and retire to the camp. Chapter Six, Rally on the Colours, is Colonel Snooks tour de force. He describes in great detail, in coloured prose, the defeat which overtook the British. Durnfords retreat exposed the right company of the 24th to destruction (pp. 17 and 248); his failure to rally made defeat inevitable (p 248). Colonel Snook does not quite say that the colonials let the side down, but it seems pretty clear throughout the book. The irresponsible Durnford (p. 139) is a fool when he is not a madman, and it is obvious from the very start that the Natal Native Contingent denitely are not the right stuff. They are kept out of the ghting as much as possible, and they run away when they have the chance. Pulleine ordered a general retirement so that he could form a receive cavalry square at the camp. He sent Lieutenant Melvill to fetch the Queens colour from the tent to mark the place (p. 231). It was too late. The Zulu pressed hard, and Pulleine himself was killed on the front line, commanding a masterfully-conducted withdrawal(p. 227). Just before he fell, he ordered Melvill to carry the colour to safety; Melvill did so (pp. 256257), but ran into difculties at the river crossing, where he was gallantly assisted by Coghill, and both were killed (pp. 278279). The left horn came on, and the right horn closed in soon after, cutting off further escape. The British regulars were doomed, but they fought to the last man. There was no collapse of the line on the left. Four companies put up a bold front, refused their right, and fell back along the eastern foot of the hill. Individuals were lost along the way, and eventually the company exposed on the right was cut off and cut down. The one company remaining on the rocky ridge formed a square and fought its way back to meet the others. They all were brought to bay, and died ghting in small clusters near the southern foot of the hill. Thus the narrative of the battle, according to Colonel Snook. Progressively it diverges from the mainstream one as told by, say, Ian Beckett, Ian Knight, Ron Lock, and Saul David. He justies his idiosyncratic account of the last stand(s) of the 24th: With few notable exceptions, historians have done these men a disservice. In the telling of their tale, the scholars have killed them off precipitately in front of the camp. The clear-cut hopelessness of the situation, the overpowering odds they faced, the renowned martial skill and ferocity of their opponents all the rst glance factors have driven the historians to their inevitable conclusion: whole companies were slaughtered in a few short seconds. Yet, in truth, it is clear that the Battle of Isandlwana raged long and hard after the ight of the lucky ones(p. 18). So Colonel Snook thinks that most of the historians are wrong, and he is right. He denounces particularly the ofcial Narrative of Field Operations (1881) as a deliberate misrepresentation of what happened (pp. 224225). Sadly, the feeble ofcial interpretation has been picked up and proliferated by successive generations of writers, most of them marching idly in the train of Donald Morris (p. 225), whose popular Washing of the Spears appeared in 1965. Starting with David Jackson, in his groundbreaking Isandhlwana, 1879 The Sources Re-examined, also in 1965, most historians have in fact done quite otherwise. Colonel Snook might concede, or even allow, that he has an imperfect knowledge of the recent literature. Instead, by his bald assertion, he reveals
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either a remarkable ignorance of it or a remarkable perverseness in denying it any merit. He does not play fair with his counterparts. He snipes at them continually as a group and does not engage with any one, except Morris, who is conveniently dead, whereas the others are not. He eschews scholarly apparatus his few notes are descriptive and utterly inadequate perhaps because there is little he can or cares to document, and it could entail a messy debate he would like to avoid. He is quite candid about being able to do a better job than the historians: The primary sources available to us are like an incomplete jigsaw; undoubtedly they leave yawning gaps in our knowledge. I have attempted to employ alternative tools, such as military logic and a professional soldiers eye for ground, to ll in the missing pieces. (pp. 1213). Of course: I have scrupulously avoided pushing on with favoured theories against the weight of evidence. Unfortunately, it seems a common failing in much of todays Isandlwana scholarship. (p. 12) And yet: In places there are contentions which I cannot substantiate to an evidential standard, but where this is the case I have tried to demonstrate the lines of thought leading to my conclusions. (p. 12) With regard to his reconstruction of the latter part of the battle, the author states that he has used ve tools viz. the accounts of Maori Browne (a NNC ofcer who witnessed some of the battle from a distance), some Zulu participants in the battle, and European ofcers and journalists who returned to the eld within a few months of the battle; the positions of cairns marking later interments; and military probability and soldierly logic, which may be the most critical tool of all (pp. 219220). He thus jettisons the accounts of any survivors on the British side, relies on some very mixed later ones, looks at burials done several times over, and trusts to his own genius. Then, recurring to his third tool, he corroborates this reconstruction. On the basis of their statements he identies nine clusters of bodies which represent last stands (pp. 282285). On these depend his theory that the companies of the 1/24th were not destroyed (or materially injured) in front of the camp, but retired along the foot of the hill to the southern end, in which vicinity they (with one exception) were destroyed. Let us take Colonel Snook at his word then, and work with what he says. He tells us 600 of the 24th were engaged. 400 were in the 1st Battalion. 200 were in the 2nd Battalion. He tells us that there were only two clusters of dead in front of the camp, one on the rocky ridge, in which were found the remains of Sergeant Wolfe of H Company and 20 others of the 1/24th, and the other further down the ridge and on the reverse slope, 50 men whom Snook says must be of G company, 2/24th. In the camp area there was a cluster of 50 of the 24th. To the south of the hill there are three clusters of 64 (almost all 24th), 70 (24th), and 63 (24th), and down the fugitives trail another cluster of about 40 of the 24th. In the cluster which marked Durnfords last stand there were also a few of the 24th. (The remaining cluster consisted of NNC, on the western side of the hill.) In addition to these dead the author estimates that 50 to 60 others of the regiment were killed, individually or in small combats, either in the camp area or down the fugitives trail. Altogether then he accounts for between 408 and 418 dead of the 24th. Plus the few with Durnford say three would make between 410 and 420. Of these between 360 and 370 belong to the 1st battalion and 50 to the 2nd Battalion. The remains of
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between 180 and 190 dead are unlocated between 30 and 40 of the 1st Battalion and 150 of the 2nd Battalion. Now Snook maintains that all but 50 of these men belong to the 1/24th. Leaving out Sergeant Wolfe and his 20 men, he identies 340 to 350 men who fell, not in line in front of the camp, but either in it or at the southern end of the hill or beyond. This proves that the 1/24th maintained its formation and suffered negligible losses ghting in front of the camp. They could not have been cut down in front of the camp, as the ofcial and epigonistic histories have maintained. The problems are obvious. The author states that the 24th had 600 at the camp, of which 400 were in the 1st Battalion and 200 were in the 2nd Battalion. Categorically he states the only 2nd Battalion dead found were the 50 on the rocky ridge. This leaves 150 of the battalion unaccounted for. Yet he says they died on the rocky ridge. The remains of Sergeant Wolfe and 20 men of the 1/24th were found on the ridge. Why should the remains of 150 of the 2/24th disappear? Unless the men were not there. But Colonel Snook says they were there. If 150 men of the 2/24th could fall on the rocky ridge and leave no trace, then why could not 150 (or more) men the equivalent of the two companies ofcially destroyed in front of the camp fall and leave no trace, further up the same ridge? What if most, or at least more, of the 2/24th rallied below the hill, as some historians suggest? Who is Colonel Snook to dictate that the only 2/24th dead found on the battleeld are in the cluster on the ridge? Why cant some of the 2/24th be in the other clusters? Because Colonel Snooks theory wont allow it. Start changing his numbers for the two battalions and his reconstruction starts to fall apart. Which brings us back to the real basis of his theory. Military probability and soldierly logic. Or call them Intuition and Inference. His reconstruction, however inspired, is essentially ctive. His book is a unique study, but it is not good history. PAUL THOMPSON
BLACK SOLDIERS FOUGHT FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY BLACK SOLDIERS OF THE QUEEN THE NATAL NATIVE CONTINGENT IN THE ANGLO-ZULU WAR by P. S. THOMPSON. Tusealoosa: University of Alabama Press, 2006. Paul Thompsons book The Natal Native Contingent in the Anglo-Zulu War has appeared in its third incarnation: a revised edition published by the University of Alabama Press which also comes with a new title, Black Soldiers of the Queen. Thompson, a retired associate professor of history at the University of KwaZuluNatal, rst brought out the book in 1997. A revised edition followed in 2003 and the latest edition also boasts new material, mainly relating to aspects of the Battle of Isandlwana. The new title also serves to draw attention to the fact that contrary to popular perceptions, Zulu-speaking people were not united in their support of King Cetshwayo against the British. The war was not simply one of white against black, colonial against native, says Thompson in a preface to the new edition. Over half of the ghting men
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in the invading British army were blacks from the Colony of Natal, and they served the Queen willingly. The reason they served so willingly dates back to the time of the Zulu kings Shaka and Dingane. Various peoples suffered at their hands and ed the Zulu heartland to seek safety south of the Thukela River. Among them the amaHlubi and the amaNgwane, who came to rest beneath the mountains upcountry; the amaChunu and the abaThembu, who settled along the middle Thukela; and the amaQadi at the coast. All furnished levies to the Natal Native Contingent (NNC). Over 120 years later the legacy of those times is still apparent. In July 2006 Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini launched a campaign to drop Natal from this provinces name because of its colonial connections. The Zulu nation has a right to name the place they live in as KwaZulu as much as the Indians have the right to do the same in India, Germans in Germany and French in France, said Zwelithini. The kings statement drew re from Khulekani Ngwenya, styled advisor to His Majesty King Msondeni Hlongwane of the amaNgwane. In a letter to The Witness, Ngwenya said, the Zulus are a smaller tribe than the majority amaNgwane tribe and that the amaNgwane were a nation under their own king at least 100 years before the Zulus even existed as a group. Ngwenya said there were other kings in KwaZulu-Natal and Zwelithini should hold his horses until he can debate the situation with kings of a similar station to him. King Hlongwane is a descendant of Zikali kaMatiwane whose followers fought on the side of the British at the battle of Isandlwana. The amaNgwane had a long history of friction with the Zulu. In the early 1820s, the amaNgwane under Matiwane living on the headwaters of the White Mfolozi ed westward, eventually settling in an upper Thukela River valley in the Drakensberg. This is now the amaNgwane Tribal Authority. In August 1828, after clashing with the Cape Colony forces, Matiwane sought help from the Zulu king at uMgungundlhovu. Dingane was wary of his motives and had him killed on a nearby hill, a place of execution known to this day as KwaMatiwane. Matiwane had a son called Zikhali and the Anglo-Zulu War provided him with the opportunity for revenge. He supplied 157 mounted men, known as Zikhalis Horse, and 243 foot soldiers. As well as the amaNgwane, other groups had good reason to hate the Zulu. The amaQadi, loyal to Shaka, had fallen foul of his brother and successor, Dingane. He had massacred all the amaQadi he could nd and the remnants escaped into the bush south of the Thukela. The amaChunu under Macingwane had fallen out with the Zulu King Shaka and moved into the country south of the Thukela known as the thorns. But the long arm of the Zulu king sought them out and they were eaten up. One story relates that Macingwane became a wanderer until he was eaten by cannibals. The surviving amaMchunu returned to Zululand but during Dinganes reign Macingwanes son, Phakade, led them back to the thorns and refused to return. His relations with Dinganes successor, Mpande, were fraught and peace only came to the amaChunu with the coming of the British and the establishment of the Colony of Natal in 1845. Such a heritage of hatred hardly applied to the people of Edendale. Edendale village, founded as a Wesleyan mission in 1851, boasted a population of about 1 000. They had no chief and the communitys affairs were in the charge of a Board of Trust. Many
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were amaSwazi, some were baSotho. Few had roots in Natal, says Thompson. They were well educated, most were Christians and in their habits, in their dress, and even in their dwellings people followed the model of England. At a meeting to discuss a request for men to ght against the Zulus, community leader Daniel Msimang made an impassioned appeal for volunteers. We all know the cruelty and the power of the Zulu King and, should he subdue the Queens soldiers and overrun this land, he will wipe out all the native people who have dwelt so long in safety under the shadow of the Great White Queen. Shall we not gladly obey her, when she calls for the services of her dark children? Evidence of the services of those black soldiers of the Queen can still be found today. In the amaNgwane Tribal Authority there is a stream named Isandlwana and an Isandlwana trading store. A feature in the Drakensberg is named Zikhalis Horn. In the centre of Pietermaritzburg, opposite the city hall, there are four statues on the monument to those who died in the Anglo-Zulu War. One of them represents an African soldier of the NNC. In the grounds of Georgetowns Methodist church, in the heart of Edendale, there is a sandstone obelisk. On one side, under Isandhlwana, the names of Ezra Tyingila and Klass Sopela appear Killed in action January 22nd 1879. On the south face, another name is recorded Johannes Mgadi, killed in action on July 4, 1879, at Ulundi, the battle that ended the war. Another inscription reads simply: For Queen and Country. STEPHEN COAN * Reprinted from The Witness, with permission.
THE NATAL MUSEUM IN A CHANGING SOUTH AFRICA 1904 2004 by BILL GUEST. Pietermaritzburg: Natal Museum, 2006. 322pp. illus. Pietermaritzburg is well served by cultural and recreational amenities. A perhaps underappreciated advantage of this citys provincial capital status is the presence of amenities such as the Natal Museum that are funded by the national treasury. Its resultant comparatively generous budget has thus made it easier for it to develop and function effectively without unduly burdening the citys ratepayers. It may also not be recognised by the citizens of Pietermaritzburg that the Natal Museum is well known far beyond the city limits, since it is a respected member of the international scientic community owing to the materials preserved in its collections and the research on them that is undertaken by both local and foreign scientists. The Museum, which has done much to engender civic pride through the services it provides to residents and visitors, has now taken a major step in further informing the public about its status, functions and achievements through the publication of Bill Guests well-researched and comprehensive history. In the heyday of the British Empire in Victorian times the British developed a passionate interest in the fauna, ora and indigenous peoples of the colonies. This was reected in part by the development of Londons Natural History Museum and other similar museums elsewhere in the British Isles. Since it was customary for the amenities of home to be emulated in the colonies, it is not surprising that local museums were developed in many colonial towns, particularly administrative centres. Pietermaritzburg, the capital of the Colony of Natal, was one such town and the citizens efforts in this
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connection are the subject of Guests Chapter One, Founding Fathers (18491903). This is really the story of the conception, birth and development of the Natal Society, which was established in 1851. It had as its purpose the collection and dissemination of information about the natural and cultural history of Natal, mainly to prospective immigrants. There were also plans for a museum. In fact, the Natal Society was unable to form a properly constituted museum and eventually, in 1901, the government agreed to establish a dedicated museum that was to be housed in its own building. The next eleven chapters in Guests book deal with the establishment of the Natal Museum and its development between 1904 and 2004. The chapters give details of all aspects of the museums functions and development. The collections that form the basis of each of the departments, the staff and accommodation all receive attention. Each of the more prominent persons associated with the museum is described in a brief biography. The museums library, publications and educational programmes are also described, and account is given of its perennial nancial and accommodation problems. The fact that Guest was able to provide so much detail in this history indicates that excellent record-keeping is another of the museums achievements. It is often the case that the calibre of the leader of an organisation determines its ultimate success, so it was the museums, and Natals, good fortune that Dr Ernest Warren, a zoologist from the University College, London, was appointed its rst director in 1903. Warrens appointment was the wise choice of a government-appointed management committee, which was later to become the museums Board of Trustees. These men, and the trustees that were to follow in later years, ensured good governance of the museum and made huge contributions to its development, almost always out of the public eye and for little or no reward. One area of development was in staff numbers. A photograph in the book shows the museums rst staff of four men and one woman, while another dated 2000 shows a near 10-fold increase in people (and one dog). Three chapters in the book are devoted to Warrens 30-year-long administration, a well-deserved tribute to this remarkable man and his contributions to the museum. It was Warrens vision of the role of a natural history museum in society that has formed the basis of virtually all the Natal Museums policies and programmes, and it was his persistence, dedication and drive that laid the foundation of the museums success. For example, his plans included making the museum an educational force in the Colony (page 27), which is still reected in the museums effective educational programmes. Also, the scientic disciplines whose development he encouraged are for the most part still covered by the museum today, while its links with the local university and nature conservation body are probably still as strong. Warrens achievements were made in spite of the fact that from the outset his administration was beset by problems, including shortages of nances, staff and space that were to persist throughout his tenure as director. After Warren retired and returned to London in 1935 he was replaced by Dr R F Lawrence, an entomologist at the South African Museum in Cape Town. Lawrence was another remarkable man who served the Natal Museum well. His period as director lasted until 1948 and thereafter he kept his ties to the museum and served as acting director on several occasions before retiring in 1961. He continued to edit the museums journal and research the museums collections before nally leaving to settle in Grahamstown in
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1966. Like Warren before him, he devoted 30 years of his life to the museum and also, like Warren, he faced many difculties during the period of his administration, not least the difculties that stemmed from the Second World War and its aftermath. Lawrence was replaced as director in 1950 by Phillip Clancey, a Scottish ornithologist. Clancey immediately set about modernising the displays, but his plans were hampered by nancial constraints and some animosity from the trustees. He left early in 1952 to become the director of the Durban Museum and Art Gallery. Lawrence was then appointed acting director until a permanent replacement was found. The replacement was to be Dr John Pringle, who had been director of the Port Elizabeth Museum for 16 years and so was more experienced in museum administration than his predecessors. He was to spend 20 years at the museum before retiring in 1974, and the period of his administration saw many improvements and some profound changes in stafng, displays and accommodation. Apart from an increased staff complement, the most signicant development during Pringles administration was the completion in 1969 of the addition to the museum building. This striking modern structure appeared in sharp contrast to the original Edwardian building and it allowed the museum to expand in ways that Pringles predecessors could only have dreamed about. Apart from providing much-needed extra space for the collections, it also became possible to expand the staff complement signicantly. For example, in 1969 Dr Oliver Davies was appointed honorary curator of the archaeology collections and three years later Dr Tim Maggs was appointed head of the newly-established Department of Archaeology, thereby becoming the rst professional archaeologist to hold a position in Natal. The later chapters of the book deal with the past few decades that will be within the experience of many residents of Pietermaritzburg. Amongst the personalities that will be well-known is Dr Brian Stuckenberg, the doyen of South African museologists. A protg of John Pringle, Stuckenberg grew up in Port Elizabeth and had his rst experience of a museum in that city. He followed Pringle to Pietermaritzburg in 1953 and has kept a connection with the Natal Museum to this day, so that he stands alone in terms of the length of service to this institution. Stuckenberg replaced Pringle as director in 1976 and remained in this position until he, too, retired in 1994. Stuckenberg continued Pringles modernisation of the museum. Under his sound leadership the scientic departments and school service were strengthened through the appointment of young, enthusiastic and well-qualied staff. An ongoing upgrading of the museums displays was undertaken. All this combined to improve the museums public image and its standing in the eld of research. For example, although Stuckenberg is an entomologist, he developed an interest in Portuguese shipwrecks on South Africas east coast, which resulted in a new dimension to the museums collections and displays and a new eld of expertise for himself. Dr Jason Londt was appointed assistant director in 1976 and he replaced Stuckenberg as director in 1994, the year that saw the beginning of a new political dispensation for South Africa. The next decade was characterised by considerable nancial uncertainty, major building operations and a restructuring of South African museums that involved the transformation of the Natal Museum as a public institution (page 179). This critical period was ably managed by Londt until he handed over the reigns to Luthando Maphasa, an ornithologist who has been tasked with adapting the Natal Museum to the needs of the new South Africa, while still maintaining its position as one of Africas
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leading museums. Bill Guests book, which was published to commemorate the Natal Museums centenary, will be welcomed by all who take a pride in Pietermaritzburg and an interest in its history and, hopefully, it will raise the prole of the museum amongst citizens in general. BRETT HENDEY
S H A K T I : S TO R I E S O F I N D I A N W O M E N I N S O U T H A F R I C A . Compiled by ALLEYN DIESEL. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2007. ISBN 378-1-8684-454-9 Recognising the importance of empowering people to tell their own stories particularly in the multi-cultural context of a South Africa attempting to redress the past; encouraged by her experiences, from 1987, of talking to Hindu women regarding their religious activities and involvement in the worship of various goddesses; and realising that the voices of Indian women have been neglected in the process of collecting the stories of various South African cultural groups, Alleyn Diesel embarked on a project of listening to, and recording, the stories of Indian women Hindu, Muslim and Christian in the Pietermaritzburg area. The project has culminated in the publication, Shakti, which includes the individual contributions of 18 women, each one offering, in her own unique register and style, information about, and insights into, the inuences and events that have informed and shaped her life. Further, the book contains accounts of the backgrounds and activities of ve Hindu women engaged in the worship of the goddess Shakti in KwaZulu-Natal. In some cases, these women are capable of entering the trance-like state in which they are possessed by one of the powerful autonomous goddesses, appear wild and dishevelled, and are able to endure walking on re and the piercing of their esh without experiencing pain. In a condition of trance, individuals are revered, bless their devotees and may demonstrate healing powers. In an article published in The Witness on 8 October 2005, Alleyn Diesel described Shakti as, the power of women; that primordial creative, healing and nourishing female energy that can help women triumph over the circumstances of their lives and contribute to the building of a safer society. Shakti is also the generic name for the goddess. The women featured in this publication range from one who is in her 20s to one who was born in the 20s, in prole from the private to the professional, public-spirited and politically active and in comment from the quietly reminiscent to the sometimes shockingly revelatory. Each demonstrates her individual shakti her own power and energy. In reecting on the past, some of the contributors provide the reader with information on, and insight into, the struggles and strivings of indentured labourers who came to South Africa as immigrants from the 1860s and, often in adverse and abject circumstances, determined, within their communities, to maintain their customs, dress and religious practices. Some offer glimpses of signicant events in Maritzburgian history, such as the establishment, in 1933, of the inuential Pietermaritzburg Indian Womens Association, initially founded to encourage Indian women to improve their lives through
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education, to become involved in welfare work and to contribute positively to South African society. And there are glimpses of life in the colourful, primarily Hindi-speaking community of Plessislaer, a locality where Indian and black residents apparently lived together compatibly and cordially until 1971 when, in accordance with the Group Areas Act, Indian families were often traumatically relocated to Northdale. Many contributors provide the reader with examples of individual experiences of apartheid, involving, in some cases, brushes with the security police and even detention in solitary connement. We are told of the feisty Durga Bundhoo, a diminutive gure who, confronted at home in the 1970s by two beefy members of the security branch, disconcerted and disempowered them by issuing threats and insisting that, in the course of their importunate searching, they leave everything neatly and correctly in its place. which they did, probably to their own great surprise. Nina Hassim movingly pays tribute to her compassionate jailer at the Hilton Police Station where she was detained for 78 days in 1971; Rabia Motala writes of visiting Nelson Mandela, an old friend, in the Victor Verster prison in 1989 ( and recalls seeing him in very different circumstances in the 1990s in Morocco when she and her husband were resident there as the rst South African ambassadors to that country) and Nalini Naidoo refers to prohibited sections of the Pietermaritzburg of her childhood as the Forbidden City. We were always the outsiders, she writes, visitors in our own city. Now, though, I feel a growing intimacy with the place I can call home. The segregationist principles of apartheid kept us apart and ignorant states Roshen Latiff. Ignorance of, and separateness from, one anothers cultures engenders stereotyping, suspicion and fear which manifest themselves all too often in the negative, hurtful and even harmful behaviour of one race group towards another. Nevertheless, in its attempt to contain and silence, apartheid sometimes inadvertently facilitated cohesion and the articulation of valued principles. Naseema Aboo argues that, Growing up in our group areas, we kept our culture intact we gained strength to ght against an oppressive government. And Ujala Satgoor contends that the legacy of legislated segregation has made us value democracy and human rights very highly. Some contributors offer insights into particular customs and ceremonies, and discuss attitudes towards marriage sometimes of the arranged kind and divorce; others tackle vexed issues of identity; others examine the forces that govern choices of career, spiritual commitment, social awareness and political activism. In much of the writing, women expose the complexities of relationships, so pertinent to all humankind. While Indian culture is traditionally perceived to be patriarchal and while many women speak of dominating father-gures and destructive husbands, some of the contributors to Shakti pay tribute to the men in their families as people who have encouraged and enabled them to become independent, strong women. Bunny Bhoola, a child of the 50s, speaks entertainingly of her grandfather and father who were in the undertaking business, ran the Edendale Funeral Furnishers and took the children to school in hearses. From a young age, they were involved in the business and quickly became savvy and strong. Their entrepreneurial spirit is evident in the fact that at the age of six or seven they picked fruit in their orchards, assembled it on plates and sold it to people visiting the sick at Edendale Hospital. Naseema Aboo, also a child of the 50s, praises her father for his awareness of the importance of education for girls; for involving his children in the running of his depart-
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ment stores in Vryburg and subsequently in Brits (Transvaal); and for teaching them, by example, the importance of charity work the need to serve ones fellows a creed so well expressed in a different context by Ujala Satgoor, who writes, We are here to serve humanity. The indefatigable Durga Bundhoo, born in 1921, and honoured for her lifelong commitment to the community, states that it was her parents who instilled in her the values of social service and the need to assist the poor and underprivileged. Other women, though, recount the experiences of difficult and ultimately untenable relationships, in which privacy, freedom, individuality and self-esteem are eroded and in which they are physically endangered. These are stories with which abused women, world-wide, will be able to identify. As one such victim writes, All that ritual is not what makes a marriage work. its something much deeper than that, some deep kind of understanding and caring. In each of the cases, despite sometimes protracted emotional and physical suffering, the individual speakers have emerged as stronger versions of self sometimes as independent women with professional and/or spiritual commitments, sometimes in new, mutually supportive and interactive relationships. Almost centrally placed among the contributions to Shakti is a description by Shano Suparsad of a textile panel designed and completed by a cross-section of Pietermaritzburg Indian women, from Tamil, Gujarati, Hindi, Muslim and Christian backgrounds for the International Mughal Tapestry Project initiated in 1997 by the Victoria and Albert Museum. To some extent, one might argue that these women have put into fabric what the contributors of Shakti have put into words. At the base of the panel is the SS Truro, in which the rst indentured labourers travelled to South Africa. Above that, workers are depicted in the caneelds and, subsequent to their indentures, venturing into other enterprises. At the beginning of Shakti is Raaz Pillays account of her ancestors who worked as indentured labourers in the coalmines of Newcastle and subsequently on the railways. On the panel, a colourful Indian pot symbolises traditional festivals and ceremonies; and an African pot indicates the co-existence of the two cultures in KwaZulu-Natal. There is a record of the forced removals from Cleland, Pentrich, Edendale and Plessislaer. Tribute is paid to Gandhi to his principles of non-violence and passive resistance and to his time in Pietermaritzburg. And at the top of the panel, a temple, a mosque, a church and a Buddhist stupa indicate the importance of the spiritual life. Shakti, too, ends with focus on the spiritual and the enduring image of Pat Pillay, dedicated from a young age to Mother Kali, vociferous in her campaigning for women to be permitted to walk the re in Pietermaritzburg, and nally achieving that goal. Of the experience of working on the panel, Shano Suparsad says, This rare opportunity to reect on our roots and our vision of ourselves has greatly reinforced our self-esteem and identity, both as Indian women and as post-apartheid South Africans. In providing a platform for women to speak out, Alleyn Diesel has similarly given individuals the opportunity to reect on roots, self and identity; to reveal the power and energy, the shakti within and to reach beyond the connes of a given community so that all who read this publication may grow in understanding, sensitivity, tolerance and respect. MOIRA LOVELL
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ZULU VANQUISHED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ZULU KINGDOM , by RON LOCK and PETER QUANTRILL (Greenhill Books, London). When Theo Binns published The Last Zulu King in 1963, it gave South Africans their rst detailed background to the rise and fall of the House of Shaka. It took an American named Donald Morris to expand on this aspect of South African military history when he produced The Washing of the Spears in 1966. Then there was a surge of interest that caught the imagination of the British people as the centenary of the Anglo-Zulu War approached, but more so when that hopelessly inaccurate block-buster movie Zulu was released. Interest in Rorkes Drift that remote corner of KwaZulu-Natal has now made a visit to the site of the famous defence almost a must see for visiting Britons. Since then, there has been a plethora of books released and one wonders if there is really much left to publish about the war of 1879. Ron Lock and Peter Quantrill have now produced a sequel to Zulu Victory, their rst combined effort on the Anglo-Zulu War, which analysed the Battle of Isandlwana and the cover-up by the powers that be. Zulu Vanquished focuses on the remaining actions that lead to the nal battle at Ulundi on the 4th July 1879. Their style is neutral enough but they tend to repeat what I felt somewhat spoilt their neutral style in Zulu Victory namely a constant reference to the Zulus as the enemy. Quoting extensively from rst hand accounts, many of which have not been published before, Lock and Quantrill constantly analyse them to support their interpretation of events. There are also a couple of Zulu spelling corrections that should be attended to in future editions, such as the use of Dingaan instead of Dingane. Their evaluation of the little known action at Myers (or Ntombe) Drift (incorrectly spelt Meyers Drift in the text) is excellent. It was a perfect example of a blatant ignorance of one opponents capability in conict. In the chapter on Hlobane, the authors identify the severe lack of communication between the commanders as a major cause of the embarrassing setback for the British, who (unlike Lock and Quantrill) clearly had no intimate knowledge of the terrain. Ron Locks book Blood on the Painted Mountain sets the scene for a superbly thorough study of this amazing battle. Again, considering the fact that the authors have spent so much time in the eld, my only criticism (in view of the fact that this can be seen as a denitive account of the war) is the use of another Anglicism (Ityentika Nek instead of Ntshenteka Nek) for the dele at the eastern end of the mountain, where the British suffered severe casualties. They are kind to Lt-Col. Redvers Buller (who justiably won a VC for his bravery at the Devils Pass) who, having observed the approaching Zulu army, hastily scribbled a note to Capt Barton instructing him to retire at once to the right side of the mountain. When Barton received the note, he was facing in the opposite direction to Buller when the latter had written the note, which resulted in Barton riding slap bang into the Zulus and to his death. Such simple errors were to beset the British through the Transvaal War of Independence and the Anglo-Boer War. The authors account of the Battle of Khambule is riveting and would leave little to the imagination if one were taken to Col. Woods hilltop redoubt. Cmdt F. X. Schermbruckers description of the burial of the Zulu dead is bizarre; the British accorded the warriors full military honours as batch after batch were deposited
105
into a ghastly ditch, 200 ft by some 20 ft broad and 10 ft deep. As far as I can recall, the only reason for their interment was to prevent them from polluting the air and water supply in the vicinity of Woods strategic redoubt on Khambule ridge the headwaters of the White Mfolozi River. Tragically, all signs of this mass grave, dug three quarters of a mile from camp, seem to have disappeared. The Battle of Gingindlovu is probably one of the most overlooked, both historically and guratively, in KwaZulu-Natal. Once again, the authors provide us with a splendid account of the Zulus advance on the British square one of the few occasions they had used this method of defence since their campaigning in the Sudan. Lock and Quantrill quote more Zulu accounts in their description of the Battle of Ulundi (4th July 1879) than in most others and this provides the reader with a more balanced picture of the hopelessness of the Zulu commanders task. Here, the ancient Zulu order was destroyed and until recently the only memorial to the warriors who fell in its defence could be seen in the form of a dolerite tablet that was mounted on the wall of the monument. Zulu Vanquished is written in the same style as Zulu Victory and is a valuable addition to an already impressive array of Africana. The authors style is easy going and enjoyable and their story well told. KEN GILLINGS
106
Select List of Recent KwaZulu-Natal Publications
AHMED, Sherin. The good luck house. Durban: Solo, 2006. 298 p. ISBN: 10-9802547-1-X and 13-978-0-9802547-1-6. R124,00 A novel. ANTHONY, Lawrence and SPENCE, Graham. Babylons ark. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007. 240 p. illus. R135,00 Experiences of a Zululand conservationist in alleviating the plight of zoo animals in Baghdad. BALLARD, Richard, HABIB, Adam and VALODIA, Imraan. Voices of protest: social movements in post-apartheid South Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2006. 460 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-089-2. R190,00 BANK, Andrew. Bushmen in a Victorian world: the remarkable story of the BleekLloyd collection of Bushman folklore. Cape Town: Double Storey, 2006. 422 p. illus. ISBN: 10-177019-091-8 and 13-978-177013-091-3. R189,00 Lucy Lloyd was the daughter of Durbans rst Anglican minister, Revd W.H.C. Lloyd. Dr W.H.I. Bleek was his son-in-law. BANNISTER, Elizabeth. The little pink shell: bipolar disorder, a crippling, destructive mental illness: a story of chaos, insanity and Gods intervention. Ashwood, Durban: Write Publishing S A, 2006. 191 p. illus. ISBN: 9780-62037458-3. R120,00 BANNISTER, Mark. Eyes wide open. Trafford, 2006. BIZLEY, William H. and McKENZIE, Patrick C.G. An historical meander through the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. Howick: Midlands Meander Association, 2007. 153 p. illus., maps. ISBN: 978-0-620-39179-5. R150,00 BOND, Patrick. Looting Africa: the economics of exploitation. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2006. 216 p. ISBN: 1-86914-095-8. R170,00
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BOND, Patrick and DADA, Rehana. Climate change, carbon trading and civil society: negative returns on South African investments. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007. 208 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-123-3. R160,00 BROWN, Duncan. To speak of this land: identity and belonging in South Africa and beyond. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2006. 248 p. ISBN: 1-86914-081-8. R 170,00 BUNDHOO, Dasarath. Whisperings of a Gandhi follower. Pietermaritzburg: the Author, 2006. 149 p. illus. ISBN: 978-0-620-38404-9. R150,00 Proceeds to the Gandhi Memorial Committee for the education of deserving students. BURNS, Jonathan. The descent of madness: evolutionary origins of psychosis and the social brain. London: Routledge, 2007. 288 p. illus. ISBN: 978-1-58391-743-5. R408,00 CHAPMAN, Michael, ed. Soweto poetry: literary perspectives. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007. 240 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-127-1 CHAPMAN, Michael. Art talk, politics talk: a consideration of categories. R170,00 Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006. 188 p. ISBN: 978-186914-069-4. R170,00 CLARK, Michael. The lighter side of the Berg, and other stories. Pietermaritzburg: The Author, 2005. 159 p. illus. ISBN: 0-620-35620-0. R 128,00 CLARK, Rosanne. St Michael and All Angels Church, Himeville: history and celebration. Pietermaritzburg: Parish of Drakensberg Churches, 2007. 47 p. illus. R35,00 COGHLAN, Mark. The Natal (Bambatha) uprising 19062006: Trewirgie and the rst sparks of the uprising in Natal: a quick guide Pietermaritzburg: Richmond, Byrne & District Museum, 2006. 10 p. illus., map. R15,00 COOVADIA, Imraan. Green-eyed thieves. Cape Town: Umuzi, 2006. 208 p. ISBN: 1-4152-0009-2 208 p. R128,00 DE LA HARPE, Roger and Pat. Scenic KwaZulu-Natal. Roggebaai, Cape Town: Sunbird Publishers, 2006. 112 p. illus. ISBN: 1-919-93841-0. R153, 00 DELMAR, Peter. The N3 book. Johannesburg: Parkview Press, 2006. 158 p. illus. ISBN: 0-620-34175-0. R62,00 DENDY, Gail. The lady missionary. Cape Town: Kwela/Snailpress, 2007. 158 p. illus. A book of poetry. DERWENT, Sue. Kwazulu-Natal heritage sites: a guide to some great places. Claremont: davidphilip, 2006. 94 p. illus., maps. ISBN: 0-86486-653-4. R108,00 DORRIAN, Paul. Dancing with the customer: 101 lessons towards service supremacy. Johannesburg: Random House, 2007. R154,00 DOVEY, John, comp. and ed. Soldiers verse: an anthology of poetry. Durban: Just Done Productions, 2006. 59 p. ISBN: 978-920169-27-5. R40,00. website: http:// www.justdone.co.za DUCKWORTH, Jenny, comp. and ed. Greys Hospital: transition and transformation, 19862006. Pietermaritzburg: Greys Hospital Board, 2007. 56 p. illus. R50,00 for this and the earlier brochure covering the rst 130 years of the hospital.
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DUNN, John. John Dunn, Cetywayo and the three generals; ed. by D.C.F. Moodie. Durban: Priv. Print, 2006. 185 p. illus., map. R180,00. Facsimile reprint of the Natal Printing and Publishing Co.s 1886 edition, with foreword by Arthur Knigkrmer, Ron Lock and Peter Quantrill, and added illustrations. EILERSEN, Gillian Stead. Bessie Head thunder behind her ears: her life and writings. 2007. Reprint. FLETCHER, Sally. I am a willow. Durban: Just Done Publications, 2006. 280 p. ISBN: 10-1-920169-07-5 and 13-978-1-920169-07-7. R114,00 A novel. website:http:// www.justdone.co.za FROW, Pat. Wheeling towards the prize. Claremont: PreText, 2006. 246 p. illus. ISBN: 0-9584770-8-6 GARDINER, Nancy. The ultimate gardiner. Welgemoed: Metz Press, 2006. ISBN: 1-919992-29-4. R234,00 GOLIGHTLY, Walton. Amazulu in the time of Shaka kaSenzangakhona, king of kings. Cape Town: Kwela, 2007. A novel. GOVENDER, Pregs. Love and courage: a story of insubordination. Johannesburg: Jacana, 2007. GREAVES, Adrian. Crossing the Buffalo: the Zulu War of 1879. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 2005. 383 p. illus., maps. ISBN: 1-86842-222-4. R184,00 GREAVES, Adrian and KNIGHT, Ian. Whos who of the Anglo-Zulu War. Pen and Sword, 2007. 2 vols. GUY, Jeff. Remembering the Rebellion: the Zulu uprising of 1906. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2006. 197 p. illus., maps. ISBN: 10-86914-117-2 and 13-978-1-86914-117-2. R184,00 HAGGARD, Henry Rider. Mameena and other plays: the complete dramatic works of H. Rider Haggard; ed. with an introduction and notes by Stephen Coan and Alfred Tella. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007. 432 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-099-1 JOHNSON, Shaun. The native commissioner. Johannesburg: Penguin, 2006. 143 p. ISBN: 0-14302501-5. R244,00. A novel. JONES, Huw M. The boiling cauldron: Utrecht district and the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879. Shermershill Press, 2006. 379 p. illus., maps. 45 KEVERNE, Gloria. The divine dawning. Pietermaritzburg: the Author, 2007. KHUMALO, Fred. Bitches brew. Johannesburg: Jacana, 2006. 326 p. ISBN: 1-77009-190-4 and 978-1-77009-190-0. R138,00. A novel. LABAND, John, ed. Daily lives of civilians in wartime Africa: from slavery days to Rwandan genocide. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007. 302 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-109-7. R195,00 LIEBENBERG, Brigitte. There and back again. Durban: Just Done Publications, 2006. 63 p. ISBN: 978-1-920169-2-51. R65,00 An anthology of poetry. website:http://www.justdone.co.za MACHEN, Peter. Durban: a paradise and its people. Durban: eThekwini Municipality, 2007. 384 p. illus., maps. ISBN: 978-0-620-38971-6. R185,00
109
MAGWAZA, Thenjiwe, SELETI, Yonah and SITHOLE, Mpilo Pearl, eds. Freedom sown in blood: memories of the Impi Yamakhanda: an indigenous knowledge systems perspective. Ditlou Publishers, 2006. 188 p. illus. ISBN: 0-9585070-7-4. R187,00 MARTENS, Ronald F. Loyal Natal Unity Lodge, no. 4443, 18532003: a brief history. Pietermaritzburg: the Lodge, 2006. 20 p. illus. A history of the Odd Fellows in Natal. MDLALOSE, Frank Themba. My life. MHLOPHE, Gcina. Our story magic. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZuluNatal Press, 2006. 100 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-111-0. R145,00 MHLOPHE, Gcina. Stories of Africa. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2004. 64 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-061-8. R99,00 MILLER, Kirsten. All is sh: a novel. Johannesburg: Jacana, 2007. Set in Zululand. MILLS, Greg and WILLIAMS, Dave. Battles that shaped South Africa. Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2006. 196 p. illus., maps. ISBN: 10-624-10298-7. R154,00 MKHIZE, Siyabonga. Uhlanga lwas Embo: the history of the Embo people. Durban: Just Done Publications, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-920169-37-4. R130,00 website: http://www.justdone.co.za. MOODLEY, Praba. A scent so sweet. Cape Town: Kwela, 2006. A novel. MOOLMAN, Kobus. Blind voices: a collection of radio plays. Botsotso Publishing, 2007. MOOLMAN, Kobus. Separating the seas. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZuluNatal Press, 2007. 64 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-124-0. R100,00. A book of poetry. MOORE, David. The World Bank: development, poverty, hegemony. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007. 596 p. ISBN: 978-1-86914-100-4. R225,00 NAIDOO, Phyllis. 156 hands that built South Africa: the 1956 Treason Trial. Durban: the Author, 2006. 470 p. illus. ISBN: 0-620-36092-5. R 200,00 NICHOLSON, Christopher. Papwa Sewgolum: from pariah to legend. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2005. 195 p. illus. ISBN: 1-86814-411-9. R154,00 NICHOLSON, Christopher. Richard and Adolph: did Richard Wagner incite Adolph Hitler to commit the Holocaust? Jerusalem and New York: Gefen Publishers, 2007. NKOSI, Lewis. Mandelas ego. Cape Town: Umuzi, 2006. A novel. NOLAN, Albert. Jesus today: a spirituality of radical freedom. Cape Town: Double Storey, 2006. 220 p. ISBN: 1-77013-111-6. R145,00 PARLE, Julie. States of mind: searching for mental health in Natal and Zululand, 18681918. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007. 334 p. illus. ISBN: 13:978-1-86914-098-4. R194,00 PEARSE, R.O. Barrier of spears: drama of the Drakensberg; ed. by James Byrom, photographs by Malcolm L. Pearse. Durban: Art Publishers, 2006. 394 p. illus., maps, diagrs. ISBN: 1-919-688-47-1. R400,00 Expanded edition of the 1973 publication.
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PETERS, Anneliese. The Knigkrmer family history. Durban: Partners in Publishing, 2006. 94 p. illus. ISBN: 0-620-37126-9. R 150,00 PLAYER, Ian. Men, rivers and canoes. 2nd ed. Empangeni: Echoing Green Press, 2007. 232 p. illus. ISBN: 978-0-9802501-2-1. R240,00 POOLEY, Elsa. Forest plants in the forest and in the garden. Flora Publications Trust, 2006. 72 p. illus. (Popular guides to the biomes of South Africa, 1) R95,00 POYNTON, Richard, Mouse, Donna and Tasha. The Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse cookbook. Kamberg: the Authors, 2006. PROZESKY, Martin. Conscience: ethical intelligence for global well-being. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007. 176 p. ISBN: 13: 978-1-86914-097-7. R122, 00 RAKOCZY, Susan. Great mystics and social justice: walking on the two feet of love. New York and Mahwah (NJ): Paulist Press, 2006. 217 p. illus. ISBN: 978-0-8091-4307-8. R125,00 RAS, Fiona and Clare. Sprigs: fresh kitchen inspiration. Cape Town: Double Storey, 2006. RATTRAY, David. A soldier artist in Zululand: William Whitelocke Lloyd and the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Cape Town: Rattray Publications, 2007. 259 p. illus., maps. ISBN: 978-0-37707-2. R1 400,00 plus R50 p&p RIEDER-ALBERS, Veronica. The Albers family 1883. Cape Town: the Author, 2005. 218 p. illus., diagrs. ISBN: 0-620-34121-1. R483,00 SKOTNES, Pippa. Claim to the country: the archive of Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd. Johannesburg and Athens (Ohio): Jacana and Ohio University Press, 2007. 308 p. illus. ISBN: 10:1-77009-337-0 and 13: 978-1-77009-337-9. R354,00 Lucy Lloyd was the daughter of Archdeacon W.H.C. Lloyd, Durbans rst Anglican minister, and Dr W.H.I. Bleek was his son-in-law. SMITH, Barry. The farming handbook. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZuluNatal Press, 2006. ISBN: 1-86914-090-7. R245,00 SNELL, Milner. A small river in a great valley: a journey through old Umzimkulu. Kokstad: the Author, 2006. 88 p. illus. R80,00 STOBIE, Cheryl. Somewhere in the double rainbow: representations of bisexuality in post-apartheid novels. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2007. 307 p. ISBN: 13: 978-1-86914-130-1. R190,00 STRAUSS, Gertrud. Chapters of childhood. Durban: Solo, 2006. 164 p. ISBN: 10-09802547-0-1 and 13-978-0-9802547-0-9. R90,00 SWEET, Reg. Pambili Bo: the story of Natals Spitre Squadron. Dalbridge, Durban: FAD Publishing, 2006. 62 p. illus. ISBN: 0-620-32052-4. R59,00 VAN DE RUIT, John. Spud the madness continues. Johannesburg: Penguin, 2007. 341 p. ISBN: 978-0143-02520. R100,00 VAN DER WALT, J.C. Zululand true stories, 17801976. Richards Bay: the Author, ?2006. 191 p. illus., maps. ISBN: 0-620-3634-X. R130,00 VAN TONDER, Jan. Stargazer; translated from the Afrikaans by Elsa Silke. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 2006. R128,00 A novel set in Durban.
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VOLKER, Walter. The Cotton Germans of Natal from Bramsche to New Germany: history of the Bergtheil colonists and their descendants, 18482006. Durban: Just Done Publications, 2006. 723 p. illus., maps, diagrs. ISBN: 978-0-620-36298-7. R300,00 Available from the Bergtheil Museum, Westville. VON FINTEL, E. S. Die Nachkommen von Christoph Klipp (aus Eimke, Deutschland). Pietermaritzburg: the Author, 2006. 60 p. illus. R50,00 WEINBERG, Paul. Moving spirit: spirituality in Southern Africa. Cape Town: Double Storey, 2006. R299,00 WYLIE, Dan. Myth of iron: Shaka in history. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2006. 615 p., maps, diagrs. ISBN: 1-86914-047-8. R249,00 ZULU, Bhekizizwe Zeblon ka Nhlayenza Nqama. Umongo ka Zulu: the marrow of the Zulu nation. Cape Town: Lotsha Publications, 2005. 286 p. illus., map. ISBN: 1-920019-38-3. R289,00 The assistance of the staffs of Exclusive Books and Book World, Cascades in compiling the above list is gratefully acknowledged. SHELAGH SPENCER
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Notes on Contributors
Notes on Contributors
KEITH GREGGOR, now retired and living in KwaZulu-Natal, was professor of land surveying in the University of the Witwatersrand. GRAHAM HARRISON practised as an attorney in Pietermaritzburg, and after his years as a Scout, was Cubmaster of the 3rd Pietermaritzburg Scout Group for fty years until his retirement in 2000. He is the holder of the Silver Protea, the highest award in South African Scouting. ADRIAN KOOPMAN is a professor in the School of isiZulu Studies on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has been interested in heraldry for over forty years. VAL WARD is the editor of the previously unpublished article, My rst African excursion. A Durban-born medical technologist, she became interested in peoples past while living in Hong Kong. She came to Pietermaritzburg and the Natal Museums Archaeology Department in 1978 from which she retired in 1998. She has published research articles in both elds since the middle 1950s.

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THE NATAL SOCIETY FOUNDATION

Natalia - Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2010

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

Natalia 36-37 (2007) Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2010

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

My rst African excursion

Itinerary of My First African Excursion (abstracted by Val Ward)

Natalia 36-37 (2007) Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2010

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Natalia 36-37 (2007) Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2010

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Scouting in Pietermaritzburg 1908 to 2007

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Shield, Symbolism and Identity: Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Natalia 36-37 (2007) Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2010

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Map 1: The Counties of Colonial Natal (after Russell, 1911)

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

I am indebted to mSunduzi Municipal Councillor Mark Steele for this information.

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Jens Pattke (20.02.01) in a website dealing with KZN heraldry.

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Although the illustration says Khoto

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Post-colonial Heraldry in KwaZulu-Natal

Shield, Symbolism and Identity

Fig. 19 Fig. 17 Fig. 18