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National Geographic September 1989 Issue

NatGeo Sep1989 The Shakers' Brief Eternity
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305 views144 pages

National Geographic September 1989 Issue

NatGeo Sep1989 The Shakers' Brief Eternity
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
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safeve:” ee ed Ce a il ee toi ws lOlne Blase OS abl Brea et as) ia OPENING A BOXFUL OF HISTORY (MALAWI: FACES OF A QUIET LAND PT eae eS Peas ed | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SEPTEMBER 1989 The Shakers’ Brief Eternity x At their 19th-century crest, the Shakers numbered 4,000 bel 4 spiritual perfect she purity of their faith mart ers inal life devoted to achiev jon. fh fewer than a en members remain, beauty of r work ip endure. Cathy grapher Sam Abell capture their spirit Retracing the First Crusade.» 1 of Pope Urban 1 to reclaim the secre difrey of Bouillon ‘ope in 1096. Tim Severin travels g their route—gaining Heeding the infidels,” n northern s by horseback c new insights into the crivsadlérs' quest. Photographs by Peter Essick. A Bygone Century Comes to Light 15 bilia relating to the centennial of George Washington's first inauguratio after a hundred y ing contents that prove the of a preliminary Robert M. Poole reports, Malawi: Faces of a Quiet Land», Paul The: rice to find octogenari Banda keeping s operied racy throt Himalaya Sanctuary» ing beauty of Nepal, an innovative nature pre: ing the locul people Amid the breatht serve safeguards fragile environment, Invol thor-photographer € hey to its success, 5 Samurai Aphids: Survival Under Siege ws Within a placid and unobtrusive in: © Orient produce g. Their home: up, some aphid spe ste to defe their w The boundary be n heave nd earth under a veil of mist that The Shakers’ By CATHY NEWMAN Briet Eternity ISTER MILDRED BARKER, 92, of Sabbathday Lake, Maine, tells the story with an exasperation born of suf- fering too many fools: ‘The man, she recalls, whisked through the smal! muscum at the Shaker village, admiring the spare, ele gant furniture. “Too bad no Shakers are left,” he chucked. “t'm left,” she snapped. She is tiny, gray, fierce, with dark, piercing eyes behind wite~ rimmed giasses. She endures, with fewer than a dozen others in Maine and New Hampshire, as steward of a relizious society founded some two centuries ago. In 1845 Shaker membership totaled nearly 4,000 in 18 communities from Maine to Kentucky. ‘The final amen has yet to be murmured, those left remind us that they are not dead yet. But nostalgia intrudes. We see them as if looking through a stereopticon from an attic trank_ ‘The reality is granite tough. Shakerism is religion, demanding, uncompromising. As a tenet of faith, Shakers are celibate; their fife, communal, Who would accept such sacrifice? Those whe had heard the trumpets of salvation. “I found perfect heaven," wrote one convert In glorious, if impossible, quest the Shakers committed them- selves to perfection. Like other utopians, they wanted to create heaven on earth. But the dream dangled just beyond reach, a reminder that, like all mankind, they were only human, “In the spring of 1780, I heard of a strange people living above Albany, who said they served God day and night and did. net com- mitsin, ..." Soa contemporary named Thankful Barce wrote of her first encounter with the people known as Shakers, so-called ‘because they trembled from head to foot in religious transports; ‘Their leader was Mother Ann Lee, “Her countenance appeared bright and shining, an angel of glory,” Thankful Barce wrote. “As T sat by the side of her, one of her hands, while in motion, frequently touched my arm; and at every touch, .. Tinstantly felt the power of God... ." A blacksmith's daughter born in Manchester, England, in 1736, one of eight children, Ann Lee could neither read nor write. She married a blacksmith, bore and lost four children, Tormented, she swung from despair to visions of glory, Joining a sect of religiaus reformers known as the Shaking Quakers, later to be known as Shakers, she became their leader. Tn her 30s she had a vision of Adam and Eve in intercourse. To her this was the original sin, ‘To be saved, humans must be celi- bate, recapture innocence, and emulate Christ's humble life. Only then could each soul experience its own Second Coming Widely persecuted, she and eight believers set sail in 1774 for America and settled at Niskayuna, which they also called Water- vliet, eight miles northwest of Albany, New York Mother Ann believed she represented the second appearance of the Christ spirit; the sect's formal title is the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. Haly Mother Wisdom was the female nature of God, The idea of a deity with dual aspects, male and female, placed women on equal footing with men With her flock she combed the spiritual pastures of New Photographer Sas ABELL has contributed to a dozen GrocRarHic articles, including “The World of Tolstoy” and another on wild rivers. 304 “SHE IS THE MOST PERFECT ‘Shaker I have known,” Sister Frances Carr, standing, says of ‘Sister Mildred Barker, seated. The two belong to the lust working Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake, Maine. In 1774 Shakerisin’s founder, Mother Ann Lee, lender of a splinter group of English Protestants, fled persecution andsailed to America with eight followers. Settling at Niskayuna, New York, she trav eled around New England, preaching that salvation was [Link] all If the reward was (great, 50 was the cost. Shaker belief demanded « morally per~ fect life patternedt after Christ, inclucting celibacy, obedience to elilers, and confession of sins, Says Sister Mildred: “Alt the Shaker does is done in the eye of eternity.” National Geographic, September 1080 England, barvesting converts, But she died in 1784, without ever secing-a Shaker village established. In the following decavles Shak- ets made the step from scattered converts to settled communities, ‘By 1800, 11 communities had formed. Soon after, the Shakers pushed west, founding two communities in Kentucky, four in Ohio, and one in Indiana. The gospel was spreading. A plain marble stone marks Mother Ann’s grave. The Water- vliet Shaker Cemetery abuts a baseball stadium, built several years ‘ago over protests from surviving Shakers. Now the crack of ball against bat punctuates summer nights, “Tdan’t suppose the ball field does anyone any harm,” Martha, Hulings sighed, looking-at the ranks of headstones. Martha, now a teacher in Kingsport, Tennessee, spent her childhood with the Watervliet Shakers. “I felt more secure here than anywhere else,”* she said. “It’s probably the only love I've known." She is 74. Nearly 69 years have passed since the couple who had adopted her, but couldn't cope, left her with the Shakers. We ‘Tres OVAL. nox with its delicate swallowtail joints has become practically emblematic of Shaker design. These belong to Pleasant Hill. The carefully aligned tacks are made of cop: er, not iron that might rust anid mar the wood. Also the ‘work of Shaker hands and heart, a song in the spirit of faith sold for $450 at auction. ‘So too a fine Shaker chair, with its stim, spare lines, may be worth tens of thausands of dale lars—to the dismay of living Shakers, who resent the focus on the material at the expense of the spiritual. “People don't see the chair aka consecration," said Sister Mildred. Thomess Merton, priest and Writer, was ore Who did. "The peculiar grace of a Shaher chair is due to the fact that it was crossed the road to the South Family property where she grew up. és of Suddenly she wasa child. “That was my room on the third ete ntaiae floor,” she pointed. “remember staring out that window when T came and sit on it." was sent to bed early.” ‘When the Watervliet Shaker community closed in 1938, the South Family property was sold and the clapboard dwelling house cutup into apartments by the new owner. ‘The woman who lives in Martha's old room inyited us in. “Ever see any Shaker ghosts?" I asked. “They say @ white spirit lives here," she replied. Martha paled. “Oh, my goodness, that must be Pauline." ‘The grapevine that hugged the side of the trustees’ house was uprooted years ago, but she remembers, “Lpicked a bunch of grapes for Pauline, the woman who cared for me,” she said. “I ran to lay them in her lap. “Don't you know these are not ours?” Pauline frowned. ‘They're the family's. To take them is to steal.” The Shakers’ Brief Eternity 309 “Hands to work, and hearts toGod" With THE FOUNDING OF ‘Now Lebanon, Now York, in 1787, Shaker belief took form in-communities where members could work and pray. Believers were organized inte groups known as families. Membership crested in 1845 at 4,000 or so, then declined a5 fewer joined. Apostasies also pared dawn numbers, After nearly adecade of contemplating Shaker life, 2 n EE a 2 astingoen.D Cy Vi ‘SHAKER COMMUNITIES fm Existing Community Restored butidings or museum 4, NEWLERANON, KEW Vor Crrantes 2 WATERULIET, Kew York (irenraa6) m9, [Link] (iraa 97) 4 HANCOCK MASSACHUSETTS irwa-t9¢) Wb HAEWARD, MARRACMLSETTS: (yyatcpii m0, OWTERQUAY. NEWHAMPSHRE ((7R2BRESENT) 7. TYRRIGHAM. MASSACHUSETTS (rraena7s) mo ALFRED, Maine Efren rean) mm. FARELD, MEW HAlARSHIRE: firs si 10, SHLEY, uRSRADMUsET TS ives room 11, SABBATIED A Lal, MAINE tree mreaenty mie PLEASANT Im, MeNTUCIEY (aoe 181%) ‘Thomas Brown could not accept doctrine: “As [ heard one of the brethren say, not long since: “Phe gospel Is just like a tunnel; the farther in, the narrower it grows,’ " Others; unable to: conform, were pushed out. From a Pleasant Hill journal: “Lucy Lemon was kindly invited to go to the world, She went!" Today fewer than a dozen Shakers remain in two villages, * Mother Robocca ‘Jacksan, ane of several black Shakers ed ‘email group of toliowere in Philaclolhia during the second ied of q 15, UROONVELASE OHO (age 302) WATERVLIET, Ceti (isos "B01) SSOUTH Unban, KENTUCKY (sor-raas ‘Gores AINE (oe resi WEST UNION, OKANA, | (anette SAVY, MASSACHUSETTS. (nas h dec 1848 Whirling Gi = ah rualise, wl received divinely inspired au mie =n sof di Shaikers ned or ‘nOgTEWATER, o¥00 bok in children (leaer00) ‘SODUS-AAY. NEW YOR T eases) hi ‘GROWEL AND, WEE YOK (ise) or b mH h as boys cared for in 19th ce 28 tury by Brother f Waterviier ¢). Most left before sign- nt. Elder Shakers Pot shove BE NARCODSSEE; FLORIDA (18-191) 1 VONTE CAN GEORGIA (Th 1802) ipted this resigned, National Geographic, September 1980 VILAGE MAPS were drawn as-a matter of pictorial record keep- ing, such as this detail showing the Church Family property at Alfred, Maine, done in 1845 by Brother Jostua Bussell. Tha 1896 round barn at Hancock (left) could house more than 50 head of dairy cattle, More tike a fine piece of machinery than a barn, it was efficient ant mod ern for its time. Ten wagoris at a time could cart hay up @ ramip to the top level, then exit with- out backing up. The cattle oceu- pied stalls ringing the middle level, Trapdoors behinet statts allowed casy removal of manure, stored in a pit belaw ground level and tised to fer~ tilize fields. The Shakers’ Bricf Eternity I didn't mean to steal, 1 just wanted to bring them to you.’ ““That may be, but now you must sit on your chair and eat them all. So you won't forget’ “Tobeyed,” Martha recalled, “Each was harder to swallow than the one before." It was a harsh lesson, given by love, Hadn't Mother Ann said, “The reproof of a friend, is better than the kiss ofan enemy"? HRIST SAID “Be ye therefore perfect"; the Shakers accepted the challenge af bringing heaven down to earth, In the otherworldly air of a Shaker village, the tesponsive soul found safe harbor, “I-came upon vaca- tion at 16,” said the late Sister Lillian Phelps of Can- terbury, New Hampshire, “E felt { was in the company of angels ‘When it came time to go back to Boston, I said I wasn’t going.” But the fence around a Shaker village could not exclude human failing. A sister, now in her 90s, wide-eyed behind glasses, wearing: pink-flowered slippers three sizes too large, recalls: “Nothing worse than a graup of women, Such jealousiest They would tattle on each other to the eldress. They complained about me looking in the mirror, The eldress called me in, sat me down, and said 'T don't know why you spend so much time looking in the mirror. ‘There's nothing about you to admire.’ " ‘The challenge lay in excising imperfection. Community welfare dictated the pruning of individual vanity. If the individual couldn't, leaders would, ‘To tend body and soul, the village was divided inte several fam- ilies of as: many as 100 members, Each had its own house ‘Two elders and two eldresses in each family monitored spi behavioral issues, Trustees handled business dealings with the out- side world. Ultimate jurisdiction rested with the parent ministry at New Lebanon (later renamed Mount Lebanon) in New York. Families were named for their geographic relation to the central Church Family, where the meetinghouse stood. There was typical- ly Notth, South, East, and West Family, New members entered agathering order, progressing to the church order, where they ned the covenant, Herause the community was celibate, but cluded men, Women, and children, the dwelling house was vided. Men and women entered separate doorways, used separate stairs, sat on opposite sides of the meeting room. N SPRING’S TENDER GREEN I journeyed to Canterbury, ona ribbon of road that unfurls past New Hampshire's maple groves and apple orchards, Shaker sisters live here, but it is more a museum now, a still life in white and green: meeting- house encircled by a picket fence, manicured herb garden, trim white shops and dwellings, clean-swept stone walks, “There is no dirt in heaven,” Mother Ann said, How beguiling this orderly blueprint of how to live, Many found the life congenial. Said Brother Robert Wilcox in 1849, “Tam per- fectly content. I have enough to eat and drink . , . good clothes to wear, a warm bed to sleep in, and just as much work as I like and no more.” Small wonder the villages attracted “winter Shakers,” who joined with the first snow and left with spring thaw. That drop-ins were tolerated is.a measure of Shaker charity It extended beyond village boundaries. In 1846, during the 313 on Village se ant Hill ir fire hose attracted potato famine thousand bushels of Kentucky sent After the | one Dg, members came from the ranks of @ by Shakers from those who landed on Shaker doorsteps orphans, widows, families fallen on hard times. Thus Shakes attracted t vers into the 20th cer A Ca ‘bury sister explained her arrival: “My mother died. My father remarried, and my stepmother didn't like me 1€. To their dismay na small proportion of the chil After 1845 membership b Shakers couldn't ensure that e dren they reared would sign the covenant. “We gather in man children, but when they come to act for the , 8 large portion of them choose the flowery path of nature rather ian the cross, fretted Bi Isaac Youngs in the 1850s. Of the 197 children raised at Mount Le from 1861 to 1900, only one joined, says Priscilla B ry Shaker communit wer, a historian of 19th-cen sé the decline? No. s would have ended id stumble. From a 19th-ce alias Nahum y—thinks there is not room Did celibacy ca As Brewer points out, if th ion. Some di Backstiding —Hanania at were so, Davi ve for the exp. intellect! Suppose we should say ligst! Toa Shaker, celibacy is a given. Says Sister Frances Cart of Sabhathday Lake, Maine: “Celibacy frees us to be able to love and I'm speaking of Gospel love—to love tricted by pe lace community over self-interes hing to veryone and not be onal love, was the more difficult mit your will toc piritual did not hun woman nity was know i sisters. To pri as uni of brethren ar convinced that politics was ¢ did not vote ial issues. They spoke out on abalition, child wel ‘age, compulsory ¢ducation, labor ri Equality was not just x homily; it w Il, There were b s part of Shaker life, Mem: cks like Mother Rebecca bership was open t Nati THR DA theparent mintst nt, in of fect ruling that no new Sh nterbury « thas changed members Sabbethelay Shake Arnold Hadd and Brother th (left), embody their community's c s, Brother strong personalities o { thetr Lawyer each side esn't understand,” saya In truth, the wort Ithas anothe has ial Geographic, September 1989 Jackson, who led a small group of Shakers in Philndelphia, Jews and American Indians were also welcomed pacifists, the Shakers, particularly those in Kentuck: scape the effects of the Civil War. South Union, Ken: losses of crops, stock, and buildings ‘Trade was disrupted there and at Pleasant Hill, The Shakers cared for and fed soldiers on both sides Said an officer tot “Madam, I fear yeu will kill us with good vittles,” “Better that, than with a bullet." ‘The Civil War was a visible sign that the nation was changing. But the sre f economic and. geographic expansion had Hac ven earlier, After 1836 no new communities were suc sfully founded. Those who might have joined the Shakers had other options Faced with shrinking membership, communities dwindled, then closed. Tyringham, Massachusetts, in 1875. North Union, Ohio, in 1889, Groveland, New York, in 1892, Pleasant Hill, ntucky, in 1910, They were blotted up by a world that bolted past to an indus Thou; could not tucky suffered sev ister crac had ial, urban age Perhaps the ultimiate disposition of these shuttered villages s something about th Today two Shaker omimunit! e state prisons, +. of another lies under a municipal airport, and yet another is a housing development ‘Two short-liv munities — White Oak, € and Nar- coossee, Florida—are totally erased HE LAST ELDRESS of Canterbury sat in the kitchen the trustees’ house peeling broccoli with skil She has been blind for more than five years “T was the only one of six girls who decided to stay L watched as they left one by one for the world Bertha Lindsay, then 90. Catching a slight hesi the path not chesen “Oh, Lloved to keep hor utd would have loved to marry But I've never regretted my choice. I've been a happy woman,” She and 92-year-old Eldress Gertrude Soule, formerly « bathday Lake, are the last members of the parent mi which moved from New Lebanon to Hancock to Canterbury third sister, Ethel Hudson, also in her 90s, lives across the stre: sole occupant of a dwelling that once housed a hundred hands, id ncy in her voice, I say something about istry, “Eldress Bertha,” Task, “itisa She to seek perfec: tion, Is there anything less than perf ou? “Some would say I’m too independ . in ahigh-collared If Eldress Gertrude glances up, A tiny wr sand Shaker net eap, she pulls he "T'll say ot surprised hn few Shakers are left, amrod Bertha patiently, rophecy said our numbers would diminish, Still, we ki order. The hands drop off, but the work ‘ ‘The work falls to other hands as well. The South Family property of Mount Lebanon was purchased by a small congreg: tion of Sufis, 2 religious community with Islamic roots. I visited and was directed toa building that once housed the Shake 316 Natio na drying att at Sabbarhday Lake, which hos maintained an herb business since 1799. Shaker communities were primarily agrartan and, hanks to the care lavished on ps anul livestock, exempla of productivity. Dependence on nature nurtured a wry respect Aprit 1: Whip gf this morning, pring ia here at last. Prfiday 8: Snow ,... Whippoorwill itunie Frozen up." With Sunday worship service from winter quarters in the brick dwelling house :to the 179: house Geographic e attic at the H June Sprigg reache ack Shaker Vil up and twisted ard cireumscribing the room. A Shak- might well be such a pegboard; nearly very room had one. From irs and clocks hung out of the way. The peg"s hand-turned extra work for the crafts- an, ensured it would bear the weig! t pulling out Such hidden detail marks Sh; unstudied simplicity becomes a statement of belief. Shaker scholar Edward Deming Andrews called it Religion in Wood. What the eye worships is this: The chair that ses no more wood than need- hat could have been made across but gently curve, rungs that ever hit osts that soar. Examine hit of a small cupboard with r craftsman: p-Iis elegant of ston ould 1 ed replacing. Solidity prevails. This is the work of people ded to be al nel for a less at just work," explains Ed Nickels, director of collections “Tt's work with purpose,” Work wa of Shaker Perfection crossed from the spiritual to the temporal. “Do al your work a5 though you had a thousand years to live, and as you would if you knew o-morrow, Impressed by the excellence of the SI é wor became their customer, They sold, arn things, chairs, baskets, blankets, hats, hides, seeds, apples, pickles, candies, pre eves, herlvs, and brooms The passion for perfection extended to anything their hands touched en ‘ir soil was perfect,” Amy Bess Miller remem: bers. “Not a rock ora pebble in it Work was a consecration. “Put your hands your hearts to God," Mother Ann said. But the result was not meant to bean icon. A bench was to sit on. A table to eat on. Does heaven have chairs? ¥ THE TIME LOT aches the block, it is rai patter on the yellow-and-white tent muffles the auction: s staccato. “Let's start 009," says Will Her: It is his sixth Shaker auction, held at the Mount which is now a school Henry is in, late 30s. His speech ac < with each lot, wering adjectives like “ch Le I Revol ‘ood, oak, origi I varnish finish, South Family, New Lebanon, N.Y. c.18 handsome: a high revolvin with slender legs and spindle back, mad mile from where it will be sold lible ‘om the front row: a young man with is stunned. There sts to set a pace. The high oper to scare off competition. It nearly. works. Henry starts to hammer down the chair when— itd number 180 shoots up from the bas d Klank, a University of Mary inig for television actor Bill Ci It belongs to 30 YEARS he were in the divelling-hotixe attic at Canterbury (ahove) still lide out effortiessty, The pine used is “clear,"*or unflawed. ‘The Shakers did not have 4 rk wees worship, the task, "A man can show his religh ‘Ontons as The Shakers’ Brief Eternity “$35,0002” asks Henry. He lonks at the first bidder, David Schorsch, who nods At $60,000. Bids lob b: his card stays ‘The jull worries Henry. A break in the rhythm can kill the action. He push 10,0007" ‘The crowd is silent. In this part of the country that kind of mon: ey buys asmall house. Henry [Link] Schorsch, whe quietly an eyebrow in assent Klank? He shiakes his head “Other bids?” Henry asks. A pause, then "Sold! The $80,600 chair sets a record for Shaker furniture sole tion. The buyer, 23-year-old David Schorsch, « New Vork Cit dealer, bought it, he said, because he'd always wanted one. (The cord has fallen more than once since then: Last March a candie- 0,000.) all the people that mone Sabbathday Lake wh Shaker chair. She shakes her head. “Tdon't want to be remembered as a chair,” Sister Mildred Barker grumbles when I ask her opinion. My welcome to Sabbath- day Lake is grudging, 1 call for an interview and am told too many steps up to $5,000 increments, $5$,000 4c and forth. At$75,000 Klank waver But uld feed,” says Sister nicl of the $80,000 stories have been written already. “Frankly,” says Sister Mildred, “don’t recognize us in any of it.” She'll see me anyway. Set in the lake country of southwestern Maine, Sabbathday Lake is haven to nine believers, five women ranging in age from 60 to 92 and four younger, newer members A highway bisects the village. The rumble of trucks rudely shakes the windows of the brick dwelling house where Sister Mildred greets me. How da you want to be remembered? Task “Asa Shaker... who tried to live by the precepts,” she say: Sister Mildred came to the Shakers 86 years ago, Her father had died. Her mother, unable to support her ehildren, placed young Mildred in the care of the Alited, Maine, Shake here was an older sister, Paulina called. “Toved her. She was taken ill was dying, she asked if the c ne in.” Mildred was last in line, When her turn came, the failing sister said, “Mildred, promise me something, Pro you'll be a Shake “| promised her,” Sister Mildred said, “but it tool r pany years to fulfill the promise and t knew what that meant.” ger," Sister Mildred suddenly, When she Sprir iren could ec Sister Mildred does not volunteer this. It com history recording made two decarles ago At morning's end, Sister Mildred sgives me alight peck on the heek. “You're in," she says. The next day she rebuffs practically all questions to show I am not really “in” after all Something gentle is embedded in the toughn tiet glow like the glimmer of a lantern at dusk. To those who know her, Sis ter Mildred epitomizes Shaker values: compassion, love, total ded: ication. No compromises here, She is rigorous, a drill the soul There is bituerness y Lake. It o, [tis the subtext in talk at directed at the world's obsess to Sabbathday under the pbathday the rancor is blunt, the hu able ey say Sabt nthe Eas { to vate int dential fed that it wou to do on election day ay rift, a mor $ : Shaker schola ob Emmlen explained it thus: “If a ship i king, do y down ni t bailin Von? The going-down-. y's. Some time in the mic-1960s t] parent mi closec covenant vew member: The Shakers’ Brief Eternity the now closed enant. Noncovenanted a Shaker life, he says, but the parent ministry arly e of them doing so within existing Iris not Shaker-like to engage in authoritarian tation, he adds, so the ministry simply counseled Sabbath- sinst admitting new members, Nonetheless, it contin- It will not go gentle into that good night. The dispute turned so bitter that for a time in the early 19705 Canterbury cut off Sabbathday Lake’s income from the trust fund “They hoped t to our knees,” a Sabbathday Lake sister After discussion between lawyers for both sides, the funds were reinstated. These days, the n d, but little is forgiven. Communi: iS Hinnitedd, Itis acanker that will not heal, adi being Shaker. The peaceable kingdo “They're scared and fadiry acts like it’s a big yard sale “They want everything but the crass,"" Sister Mildred say's a world that presumes to understand, but doesn’t. We in the world miss a lot abs cans to be Shaker Hancock Village curator June Sprigg. “Perhaps it’s like heing color-blind. The At Canterbury in June of l way in her sleep. “Tam spre Shaker familie: confta day Lake ues to dos ncor may have ation rei action to the business af is anything bu ays an observer, “and the world nt what i are hues the rest of us can't see t year, Eldress Gertrude quietly ery tired,” she sighs before climb. ing the stairs to retire. Will the coming year witness more suc ts? A-close friend of the Shakers thinks so: “I holding their breath and waiting. They can relax and Several hundred attend the eldri Hadd and Sister Frances come from S: out of duty than remorse. More out of t cl go 5 funeral. Brother Arnold bbathday Lake Hessness th perhaps, a mourner discomfits them with Citing a prior commitment, Frances and Arnold leave early. There is no neutral terr Not even the grav In truth we want to bel en. To hear of the the elders had an open line tot communities reminds us the chair cracks; the per- Yet, what must be remem his: the body shook in of our own imperfect fect ending proves elu: red e was 4 joy so asy, RING-BLESSED SUNDAY at Sabbathday Lake the morning hush of lambs. Soon Shakers will walk from the ling house across the road to their 1794 white ghouse. The interior Shaker ti inal, uniretouched sinee it was applied 2 They file in, two brothers and five sisters, sitting sides of the room, joined by eight guests fra Rising out of the silence, their voices—somehow t all but angelic—cher To b Gi sung in this room is to touch the hem of hea "Tis the gift to be simp! Tis the gift to be free meet trim is n opposite n the world ansformed, ur “Simpl en a familiar hexrt son; And when we. sin the place just right and delight. Amen, o ruin, hurch bears witness to the i the Byzantine Enipire that preceded t of the First Crusad dealized in hi the perfect knight, God- frey leads crusaders in a [3th-century illustra- fer th tion. L he brow of € Godfrey's castle in Bouillon, Belgium inthor, astride the heavy horse Carty, and hi companion, horse expert Sarah Dormon, take up the route Godfrey fol- lowed to the Holy Land All roads lead to Jerusalem With a call to arms against Seljuk Turks pushing into Asia Minor, Pope Urban TI launched a holy war to win bark Christendom's shrines. A metley vanguard called the peasants’ crusude set gut in the spring of 1096 behind the firebrand preacher Peter the Hermit but met disaster in Turkey. Other groups left after the harvest. Tens of thousands of knights, foot sat- diors, and pilgrims had converged on Constantinople bythe next year. An engraving (above right} depicts ‘one of the battles on the way to Jerusalem, which ‘was captured ini July 1099 and its Mustim and Jewish population put to death: Nine centuries Inter the aa- thor spent eight months riding the crusaders’ route, SOVIET UNION —— Aethor's route (907-1988) — Godtray of Bewillon (096-tO) and Peter the Hermit (1096) — of Toute (0098-1007) — Pabert of Novmandy (iove-r059) = Boherond of Tasco (1096-1087) —— bistin of 97-1998) Balog ay ian too one Dashed fine icicaten yrcattrin rout. eb entry cages in parentheses 334 National Geographic, September 1959 NA RIGHT May morn- ing to the sound of trum. pets we rode out of the castle and took the road for Jerusalem There were four of us: Sarah Dor- mon—Irish and 22—two horses, and 1 Before us lay a journey that would carry usmorethan 3,000 mileste the south and east across ten countries. Nine centuries earlier the same route had been followed by one of the most remarkable hosts in history—the warrior-pilgrims of the First Crusade. All my life I have been fascinated by those legendary knights and their fol- lowers. With the symbol of the cross stitched to their clothes, the crusaders marched until theit shoes were shred- ded, their tents rotten, and their horses too weak to carry riders, They com- pleted the only truly successful Crusade to the Holy Land. They endured three years of battles, starvation, and disease, and at the end they stormed the walls of Jerusalem and captured that holy city. ‘They left an indelible mark on the histo- ry of hoth Europe and the Middle East ‘The kingdom that the crusaders éstablished was to Inst nearly a century before Saladin won it back, and in that time Europe and near Asia became locked in an embrace of culturesthat has no end to this day. At the start of the Crusade in 1096 dozens of aristocrats answered Pope Ur- ban TI's call to free the holy places from the control of the infidels of the East. ‘The medieval bards claimed that Duke Goulfrey of Bouillon was the crusader par excellence, Their own chronicles reveal that 338 thirsty, and fanatic. Yet they risked their ury and suffering on earth, anda hope of f the © many them, Duke Godire r returne . He died in Jerusalem and wa jed near Christ’s tomb in the Churcl af the Holy Sepulchre ER THE VEARS I have te mast of ther es. Butin 198 follow Duke € when E dec anc not just any kind of ean Arden breed Tnee of heavy horse na if France: and Belgiur Cone cemetery of Worms, West Germany. He atleft) gardens with a friend. The cross a ting faiths led to tragedies. Israeli Ma ish population. Near the crusaders’ line of march in Bavaria, Maria Pfaller (abo sta to the area's enduring religiaus devation eavy horse was thé main battle tank of struck terror into ny foo! soldier unlucky enough to stand in the harge In northern France I found and bought Carty—three-quartersof a ton of eth mnmense nel cri a business in 1 rant. In my Courtmacsherry I enlisted the Tor SeyERIN hus tracked Ulys u i GROGRAE i f Sindbad ( 82), endan (Die- This is the second magazin Perer Essick, who photographed is psalms in the aders attacked the Jew- Cracking their whips as # drive their herd acro puszta, or plain, of eas ell, a distinctive feature pastureland, provi. baigy Nation: Sarah Dormon, manager of alecal gour- met restaurant, who had owned horses and ponies since the age when most chil- dren acquire their first bicycle. Satah had an uncanny ability to know what a horse would think or do five minutes be- fore the animal itself made up its: mind. Five feet two inches tall and lfin, Sarah possessed a wry sense of humor, proved able to pick up foreign languages asif through her skin, and didn’t care a Jot for medieval history, In Courtmac- sherry she agreed to help out with Carty “just for a few weeks.” A yearand a half later, as we trudged across the Middle East's Jordan Valley. in searing July heat, Sarah was still muttering that it was a mistake to talk to strange customers in.a restaurant. Our ride began in the courtyard of Godfrey of Bouillon’s castle in Belgium, where our departure was hailed by the Jocal tourism office with a taperecording ofthe Irish national anthem, followed by acannon shot fromthe battlements. The Jatter sent Sarah's mount, a little bay mare acquired in Ireland and named ‘Mystery, skitteting off at a panicky gal- lop, Splendidly fit and supremely good- natured, the fittle mare lacked only one attribute—brains. Carty’s superabundance of brawn was no blessing either. In the first half mile I learned what he was-designed for—and it certainly wasn't riding! An animal so huge is the ideal load carrier; he can carry any amount at his pancer- ousand majestic pace, But Carty'sshat- tering plod was excruciating to a rider. He slammed each massive foot down with a bone-jarring thud that I felt right up through my spine. The knights of the First Crusade hadasecond, lighter horse known as a palfrey for everyday travel, and they saved the heavy horse for pack carrying and for battle Bruised and aching, I sympathized Retracing the First Crasade with those original innotents who joined the Crusade with little notion of what they faced and even less of how to equip ‘themselves. In # 12th-century chronicle Guibert of Nogent wrote; “The poor were soon inflamed with so burning a zeal that none stopped to consider the slenderness of his means, neither wheth- et it'was wise for him to leave his house, ‘is vines and his fields... . Truly aston ishing things were to be seen, things which could not but provoke laughter: poor people shoeing their oxen as though they were horses, harnessing them to two-wheeled carts on which they piled their seanty provisions and their small children, and which they led along behind then.” HERE was no controlling such an explosion of fervor. The great lords began to muster two armies in France; another was raised in Ttaly; and Duke Godfrey assembled his forces from the Low Countries and Germany. The plan was to rendezvous at Constantinople, But many bandsof ordinary folk impatiently set out ahead of them, This unruly vanguard seethed across Europe, often acting no better than brigands and massacring Jews in the Rhineland. ‘The largest group, led by a firebrand preacher named Peter the Hermit, was scathingly dubbed the “peasants’ cru- sade." Itsadvance guard was led by nly tight knights. As Sarah and I soon learned, peasants marched faster than princes: Peter's motley followers aver- aged nearly 18 miles a day on their way across Europe, while Godfrey's army. managed only 15% miles. Sarah and I found it took us some three hours each morning to feed, groom, and inspect our horses properly, atid once under way we were limited by Carty’s numbingly slow gait. Even gentle Mystery was so M1 irritated by his ball-and-chnin effe che took an accasiénal nip at him to hur ty him along. But Carty simply igno her. Hispain nto believe the old talesof un jet that I fled hreshold wasso war-horses emerging from the fray tling with arrows like pincushions Noe route acn bo burg his army set foot on the Via Militaris, the ancient Roman road I e knows Duke ecise Godfrey's pi s modern. Belgium, Luxem: 2, and Germany. But at Regen: the banks af the Danube he and ing to Asia As best we could, Sarah and 1 followed the Roman tracks, while Carty adeled substance to the erusnders' rey tation for d ruction and pillage reat beast proved to be a one: He combined hi with an unquenchal resillt was d-span Bavarian vil to buy a loaf of bread for lunch ng Carty’s reins to Sarah, 1 ge bakery, Cart 0 the out Sarah and Mystery rehed ov huge strength fosity, and the ly mayhem, In a spick menace ge Sarah and I side wall. To rand thrust enormoushead into the bin to invest eate ed, he simply raised his head, whereupon the bin tore out of the louc ncrete ng like a nose 's muzzle; th H Foramome ‘rom: ( the street and sprayin 8 cont and wide. Shamefaced, Sarahand T rode: quickly c wn with think what would Duke Godfre heavy age, leaving the n Ishuddered have happence on an unsuspecting Lown timates of the crusaders’ total num: bers vary, from their own wildly ex: ds of thousands gerated figure of huni to elikely numberof 4,000 or 5,000 Retracing st Crusade punted knights and squires and $0, foot soldiers, plus countless civil Casualties én route were high, espe among the horses. Many of the y horses died from lack of food or harsh conditions from particularly heat. During our trek across Germany rly farmers would scramble down from their tractors to pat Carty and tell us of the days when they used heavy horses on their farms. But when they heard how far we intended to go with Carty, they looked skeptical. “He'll never get to Turkey," they warned And in the next country, Austria, a young livery-stable owner was so taken with our behemoth that hema offer: “If yc eda home for him, Wherever he is, I'l mean wer just Jet me know come and fetch him." Duke Godfrey's first the kingdom of hallenge wa: Hungary. The country was ruled by a king named Colomar rst-rate army that who commanded « Profoundly moved, pilgrims flock to Medjugorje, Yugoslavia (above), wher several villagers claim daily visits feom the Virgin Mary. Similar visions inspired crusaders, In Serbia, which was crossed by Gadjrey, a mank devotes himself to chores at the Ljubostinja monastery. could block Godfrey's advanct 2 to Gyérey Gyirffy, historical ge dling Col man was uperstition cin Bu jon telling people not Profe t, "Coloman secuting witches, witeh And, of course,” he added, “Colo: man knew just how to handle the Cr red that Ge ulm, he insi: nt Baldwin, the 4 the pil i they were out of Hu Our own traverse of Hung nest cour in all Europe for et friend whe ry riding,” rganizes horse tours across Ve. Don’t lle paths. J ss course, H worry a comp horses, 21 ou can ive farms, robust Har t. when it cam ses, the Hun} uting he il the Irish ule ] AVING FooLIsItLY ridden y from Belgium I decided That M-year-old hat had National Geogra ic, September 1989 taught several tricks by the wrangler, and on Command he would lie prone ¢ the ground of walk on his knees. “That's all we need,” Sarah com “a performing horse. antics we were halfway to being acireus already at Teast, Vugosiavia w corning than Hungary. “T are no facilities for riders in Vugoslavia’ had the curt reply te my inquiry to Belgrade, “We suggest you abandon your trip.” But we persisted, and again the horses were our passports to hospi- tality and help. The Yugoslav country- folk welcomed us wherever we went In late July, almost three months into our journey, a heat wave struck south. very nearly lost ollapsed from the mented dryly, one point he heat, and Sarah and I frantically poured buekets of water over him to coo! bim down. After six hours he rallied, but I began to suspect that he would ne make it all the way to Jerusalem At the Bulgarian border we were ed by sizable reception committee 8 organized by Theodore Troev, a Bulgar- Sts d for- ment. It was letter ian member of my crew from voyage. A local hi ward, flourishing a modetn version of the welcomin that Alexi emperor of Constantinople, had sent to Duke Godfrey. An Eastern Christian, Alexiushad set the Crusade in motion by appealing to Pope Urban I for help agninst the Muslim Turks But hunger, not history, was Mys- n ste Comnenus, Byzantine riority, Our previous few days in Yuuoslavia had been lean go jamished., As the historian began his oration, Mystery spotted two Bulgarian girls in traditional costume holding welcoming bouquets of flowers and th Sidling over, she lunged for a Goral snack, Not to be outdane, Carty ambled, Retracing the First Crusade Dancers abounded on the crusaders’ campaign, cutting down many men before they reached Jeru- salem. In what is now Turkey, legend says, Godfrey survived a bear attack, illustrated in ipt a medieval manus (below). Near the author’s route through the Balkan Mountains, a friendlier bear dances to a tune from a Gypsy’s gadulka. 345 Fresh fish netted in reaehed Car Asia and rendezvous point for the of he finished hisrecitation, pinnedtothe tres, a chaplain with the cruse Peter himself escaped the slaughter, Beyond Istanbul and the Sea af Mar mara; Sarah andl | picked up the tracesof the Roman road through pine-forested mountains, Now and then we encoun- tered groups of woodcutters bringing down timber on slender but incredibly tough pack ponies, each animal a mav- ing mound of brushwood. It was here on a bleak day in October 1096 that Peter the Hermit’s peasant army had been ambushed and butch- ered. An account of the battle says that the Turks followed the panic-stricken peasants back to their camp, where, “going within the tents, they destroyed with the sword whomever they found, the weak and the feeble, clerics, monk old women, nursing children, persons of every age. Bypassing the massacre site, the cru~ saders and a contingent of Alexius’ forces besieged the fortified Turkish town of Nicaea, known today as Lenik Sarah and I camped for aday or two be- side the city and rode around the walls, justas Godfrey must have done to scout the defenders’ pe History recounts that during the siege a gigantic Turkish soldier raged up and down the battlements, hurling rocks at the beéstegers with deadly effect. At Jength Godfrey himself took up a bow and with a single well picked off the giant After 45 days Nicaea fell, but not to assault. The defenders made a secret deal with Emperor Alexius' ambassador and handed the city over ta his troops, not to the crusaders. The hard-pressed pilgrims were bitterly disappointed. They needed gold and valuables to fi- nance their continued march to Jeruéa- Jem and had counted on Nicaea’s loot Alexius bribed the leaders with lavish wtifts, but the rank and file were not even allowed inte the city except in small -aimed arrow Rotracing the First Crusade eyo I, show respect, worshipers in Istanbul kiss the hand of the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church (left). In the same city dur- ing the First Crusade, Emperor Alexius extracted an oath of fealty from Godfrey of Bouil- lon (above, kneeling), binding him to deliver lands won in battle to the Byzantine Empire. 349 First to fall, the Seljuk city of Nicaca (modern iznii) was watled on all sides, protected by Lake Ascanius in the rear and defended ty a fierce and skillful foe. The crusaders besieged the city, then hauled boats overland from the Sea of Marmara, launching them on the lake. Thus blockaded, the Turks surrendered. ntor Carty’s replacement was a mountain pack pony named Zippy, whe a third Carty'ssize. Zippy wor ual put in look that uld have him an Oscar among pack ponies He ould give the impression that he was ove ‘hed erloaded, and uncerfec ust at the moment he was ing makingarun forit ud flat-footed. Zippy w kick his leg J me, sh and the three horsesand I set off gain in A snowmel We um, where the footwa, een Szair pinned the ad a tarmac, and seve nes were crusher She curled up in agony, and as J rushe to pick her up, L received clear directions nere to locate the medicinal gin ir ddlebag retired Carty with full crusade. He had dom Turk miles as fier a the same fate as his forebears that had 4 f heatand e Jesert steppes, True to his p Austrian friend collected Carty and too! x him back to the Vienna W ion in Turkey’ f the Turks as they turned in Retricing the First Crusade 381 1 to Aleeiuis—on condition that the he Playing ut war, el preserve the game of cirit, a galloping re of central Turkey exchange of blunt lances enjoyed by the Seljuls around the time of the Cr Ine village near Kayseré, a tearful six- pid bay is showered with lira and words of encouragement to prepare him for the Mustim rite of circumcision jonent, whether Tu ingly faced the shatte red greatly ubbed bet i hands. ¢ fond wretchedly enough, ut we lost most of our horses, so that Why are jo answer was easy for Muslim ors to grasp: “We are making a hi he holycity of Jerusalem: Just beyond the town of Kayseri we The crusaders passed this way in atumn 1097. Winter was coming o no im Jerusalem, What dri diate pros the T Antaky elope ment was Yabar ating undigested sceds pic Turkish —a_palow ininial dung, and pes hauling basker unr at Antnk ly used and s ified, @ mass of 00: ‘ously pot, bathed and nd open th They delayed more than a kish arm They laic th late, to reliew fortific I zthe enone of the on that the he Antioch, a Selju Turkish coast. The city had re: wen after the cr reinforcementssentfi old Roman road ( turned the tabi slip ov ah citadel held out. relief army crusaders now trapped spes grew dim, en St without sup plies. As claime party ad, a lance was Found. Thus inspired, the crusaders threw them. upon the Turkish enemy—and prevailed. Un decided to t lem e old ¢ ow of a crusader igh Jordan. ‘Theré rdanians and inl pet vould about the ¢ Jordan Riv floors,” he ar 3ridge, From our ca History m oldie The xt morning was stifli past group: pints, and eld h guarding the Israel he horse heck and antitank d we aseri mine forward positions, It was not so differ- moats andl aders bh ent, 1 thought, from the wate encountered When the p ‘usalem on the seventh of June imssighted the walls af 1099, y must have been half crazed by the i Some stood with tears running down their faces, knelt and kissed the dusty read. Their zeal was great eno to launch the assault against hing their ga rise exertion of rez he infidels imm was lacking ext aly the equip Mountof Olives o attack without delay hermiton em “God is all powerful," the hermit “If He wills, He will storm the ven with one | yn June 13 ders flung themselves into th eedlessly that they wo nt aside the declar wall th battle so tides jans who themselves had captured the city only the year before—but for a crucial shortage of scaling ladders. The leading Christ knij fell back hand severed from his arm ] ORMORE THAN THREE WEEKS | the hest waited while two | giant siege towers were constructed. Duke Godfrey f initiated the successful break On July 15 the siege tower in which he th Beams were run out at rampart height to make a bridge, and the first knights charged ac E irs were shocked by the terrible massacre red and pushed to weakest point of Jerusalem's wall in their hatd-bitte contempoi C that followed as the maddened crusaders rn wed through the city in a bloody catharsis for that appalling, three journey “No one hasever seen or heard of such jaughter of ” recalled one knight grimly was full of their dead bodies.” The tem ple where the Muslims maze their last ditch stand, he with their blood. pagan Almost the whole city was "streaming Uprooted by this century's clash aver the Holy Land, children of Palestinian refu- gees huddle next to their family’s eamel- hair tent in @ camp outside Amman, Jordan. Their homeland, sacred to Mus- lims, Christians, and Jews, has long been history's battlefield. Thoughts ef John the Baptist sustained crusaders as they made trips for water from Jerusalem through the wilderness to the Jordan River, where the prophet conducted ministry. Severinand abewe, reached the Holy Land in stertimier—as dict , slowed by bickering among their leaders and detours to plunder the he siege ended when Godfrey and his knights overran the ramparts from a tower and stormed the city. The defenders and their wives and children were massacred with such ferocity that the victors “waded in blood up to their ankles.” 364 National Geographic, September 1080 A plaque in Jerusalem's Qld City wall “Weeping for jay,” the crusaders secured the spot where Godfr his the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre (below od the Satacenderenies, N ;. thought to be the tamb of Jesus Christ Christendom haited their triumph, ev Tesocie ale rel : « Mustims plotted to reconquer the Holy the Christian Kingdom of hat the were ultimately unable to held first hed wen A Bygone Century Comes to Light MALAWI: FACES OFA QUIET LAND HEN the Life President of Malawi, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, enters Kamuzui Stadium (on Kamuzu Highway) under the huge sign “Long Live Kamuzu,” he does so like a conquering hero, In fact one of his titles—and the name by which he is known in-all the villages—is Ngwari, Conqueror. His grand entrance is alway procession of one, and then he is mobbed by a thousand women dancers, deessed alike in Kamueu-print cloth, who bear him forward along his lap of honor, while 60,000 Malawians in the stands look on in respectful silence It is as though he has come from the last century in his formal black suit with a ‘ont and @ wateh chain, a homburg hat, and—the one African accessory—a swirling fly whisk, which he flourishes likea whip, His style has not changed since Malawi's indepencence 25 years ago. He is $3 years old, and one of the longest- serving heads of state in the world His beliefs too are as old-fashioned and uncompromising as his clothes. He is puri- tanical in matters of na- tional dress—he sent out adecree that all hemlines in Malawi must come below the knees and that long hair on men is. an aberration. A staunch Presbyterian, he is an elder of the Church of Scotland. Although the dates are hazy, the events in Banda’s life are unusual, and in Malawi they have acquired an epie quality—how at the age of 13 he walked a thousand miles to South Africa for an education (working his way south menial in. hospital and a laborer and inter- preter in amine), Banda a as THE IMAGE of their leader, women dance around Batdaduringa sed the money he had Mother's Day celebration. A cer whisk proclaims the absolute saved to buy a ticket on a ity of the diminutive octogenarian. freighter to the United 374 tates, where he earned the degree of doctor of medicine from Mcharry Medical College in Nashville, Ten nessee. But that was not the end of his medical studies. He crossed the Atlantic to Scotland and enrolled at Edinburgh University, and with his British qualification he practiced medicine—a family doctor greatly estecmed by his patients —first in the north of England and in the 19403 in London. He is also a classicist, “No man is truly educated who has not studied the ancient Greeks and Romans,” he bas said, When he discovered that no school in Malawi pable of teaching Latin and Greek, he founded Kamuzu Academy, known as “the Eton of Africa,” where such subjects are required. He is described as “Founder and Proprietor” of the academy, Along with Newari and Life President, was ¢ another appropriate title for this tenacious autocrat would be “Founder and Propri- ctor of Malawi. Paut THERON, an American novelist and travel writer based in London, has written about rail Journeys across China and the Indian subcontinent for the GEoGRAPHIC. This ts prize- winning photographer Ett Reev's debut in the magazin National Geographic, September 1989 I first set eves and I was.a Malawi was still Nye le school outside Limbe. He been ere nthe floor de above him. He litical di ssophy of the doctor who knows nade a speech, ittle wooden and T listened with the en an. I was was dressed like amo tism (his has always been t do-it-my-wa; best}, and the terror the cabinet m one made Dr, Banda inc jescent with but what was most he gave his speech in English —he had lived away from his th aps his mother tongue wa: nd shrieked in Chichewa each time Banda pa: i Thad only r Howed to.q en he was heared somewhere in his Rolls-Royce raffie and p : way for the Cc wspape bout—no one was the party quired that ned domine: pompous, something jok Ce nly he a vision of what he wanted Malawi to become, but te me stich a vision seen unattai without an: ion —th: was, alter all, the 1960s T left Malawi in Qetob hat 0 days were num: feuk at Sanjike Palace in Blane ed that Dr, Banda was still the same but th nsame ways, had Malawi. [saw how his ‘anity than on a constructive use of power and was off a spit it of publi His hard work and clo with Malawians had been an [r spiration, His politi and Sou ic management had produced Malawians. It had tal my youth Thad time to see that puritanical. The last tive and quiet-minded 1asen to go oon go to an atlas to find out where next to finger-shaped Ithad on It textbook Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malay paved road, a handful of doctor et Lan 375 ‘om, the cou example of an underdeveloped countr hyperbole. N al per capita in mortality on people. Onily five Malawians w adu medical doc ne of With a climate that could prod y, hookworm, = bitable endlie its pov hts, and frost, d people afflictec F sickness, and malaria, Malawi ought to hi But it was not. Its people we: stic I had ever met rty and its depend a the outside world, Di wi in power pc | was not one bors would ar from it, M ated assertion in Banda’s the so-called front was the first Afr try to estab Africa, a arecipient of South id at polit attached town of Limbe, chief staple. Sptsrred ty represented al in mud huts ar ble or chair, thei sent to Malawi, and I have always con: life in the way that wi—its low, rounded hills and h ts roads of red mud, and the w me—the “land ire.” Octe s0 the month of fir urn method of clearing g it for cultival at is practiced throughout southern Afr gave a smoky haze t they were p: larly dramatic; Whole ranges of f flame wri and and pre sideways to the summits, I thought of my students— of the great distances they walked barefoot to school; ¥ of their mud huts, and the way they studied at night by the light of greasy candles or oil lamps. I thought: “aA of their laughter, and the day we planted a litte mebavoa 1 tree in the school yard What had happened to it all—to the students, to the trees and roads, to the school itself? What of Dr- Banda? What happens, anyway, to developing countries years later? In Africa it aften seemed as though more of them disintegrated than developed. T wished Malawi well, and I never stopped wonder ing about it. The wonder was itself a sort of hope. $B Patugee setttament arms apie i Gomi ‘1 SEEMED TO ME on my return that Malawians were better dressed but that the woods were more ragged—the hills showed the effects of serious deforestation. There were more peo- ple in evidence: They crowded the roads, they jammed the buses, they had plowed and plant- ec most of the visible hillsides, Malawi was no longer a'country of cyclists; it was.a wilder- ness of pedestrians. The population had dow- bled. It now stood at more than eight million, not including some 650,000 refugees from the guerrilla war in Mozambique. Per capita income had increased to $160, but buying power was about the same, or less. More people wore shoes, Some aspects of Malawi seemed eternal. The market traders still sold love potions and smoked fish and fried locusts, as well as elegant baskets and sturdy sandals made from rubber tires. Malawi's cash erops— peanuts, ter, coffee, sugarcane, and tobacco —were unchanged, though their value on the world market continued to fluctuate, ‘The aroma of woodsmoke still hung over the countryside, and except for the people in the few main towns, Malawians still lived in mud huts with grass roofs and worked as subsistence farmers, ‘The tractor was still not common in Malawi, nor was the television set, Censorship was fairly brisk and forbade the propagandistic China Reconstructs as well as the erotic Kama Sutva and the novels of Emile Zola and Vindimir Nabokov. The telephone directory for the entire country was not much thicker than this copy of NaTIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. After arriving as the liberator of Malawi, Dr. Banda was still president. ‘These days in his speeches he stresses the need for what he calls “the three essentials" — food, decent clothing, and a house with a roof that doesn't leak. It seems a modest proposal for a political program. Great importance is given in Malawi ta respectability—to looking decent and behaving politely, Four signs on the heights of Kamuzu Stadium are jettered Unity, Loyalty, Discipline, and Obedience. It is very much a churchgoing country, practically every religion and sect represented, from Islam, Roman Catholicism, and Hinduism, to Methodism, the Assemblies of God, and Jimtny Swaggart Ministries. ‘The Jehovah's Witnesses were banned by the government and persecuted by the Malawi Young Pioneers, a paramilitary unit of Dr. Banda's Malawi Congress Par- ty, for their refusal to join the ruling party. ‘There is only one party, Dr. Banda is Malawi. Faces af a Quiet Land a7 idence of AID MORNING SHA Rift Valley syst pl jes aquariums around the world with unique species of tropical fish president for life, and parliament, for all its English wigs and knee breeches, is little more than [Link] stamp for lis policies and prograi “They call me @ dictator,” Banda bas sald. “But if'so, then I am.a dictator by the people, for the people, and of the people." Wher I first heard that saying 23 ago, I thought it was a joke. It has proved to be a political credo, and it seems to have worked. Even with all of Malawi's disadvantages of being landlocked, with little industry or raw materials and an essentially agricultural economy, the country has remained stable and orderly and good-tempered. RESIDENT BANDA’s biickground as 4 physician has given him insights into the medical problems that face the country. Leprosy has been just about elimi. nated, and what malnutrition exists is chiefly due to misunderstanding Malawi is able to feed itself. There is a large teaching hospital in Lilongwe called, unsurprisingly, Kamut Central Hospital—where on Banda’s initiative & scheme for training para- medics was started One of these clinical officers, as they are called, is Ben Kadzola, who received his second ary school education from Peace Corps volun- teers in the 19605 and. went on to complete a folur-year course at Kamuzu Central “T can pull teeth,” he says, “Tcan do appen- dectomies, Tean clean and stitch wounds, | can deliver babies and do many other medical jobs.” He runsa health center in Limbe, where nereal diseases are a problem: “Fift refreshes « fisherman at Lake Malawt. Part of the Great ad Africa’s third largest loke generates tourism and sup: five other health conte was been recog- nized as # serious problem in Malawi and is currently being studied by the World Health Organization (WHO), which recently tested a 20 percent sample af blood transfusions from high-risk patients and discovered one in five to be infected with the HIV virus. In February 1988 South Africa deported a thousand black migrant workers who were carrying the AIDS virus: The majority of these men were Mala- wians, At that time Malawi had not yet admitted the problem, Now there are AIDS posters in most public places, saying, “Have a Safe Journey—Don't Come Back with AIDS" and “Despite the Pleasure AIDS isa Killer.” Tasked Kadzola about AIDS. He told me he got two or three suspected AIDS casesa menth, but that he did not treat them—he referred them to the main Queen Elizabeth Hospital, The symptoms he looked for were similar in some ways ta those associated with tuberculosis—sudden weight loss, continuous fever, general malaise, and enlarged lymph glands, but without the chest pains and the cough, Ben Kadzola was typical of many former students of the Peace Corps I met on my return visit. He considered that he'd had a good education, he was serious about h Nationai Geographic, September 1989 he spoke Ex iho Malawi school system under way, and to p nations, Kadzola wa dren—and, as he rem Population growth large families h: one can entirely explain , his wife i: one of Ma ¢ birthrate at more th Mal: wi's infant-mort birth mpared with 7? per South Africa. So far only m: efforts hi prosperous with fewer children Jo have a high birthrate in Malawi," medical officer in the Ministry of Health. “We ce it by would like to re spacing births or by limit ing th It was Dr. Ntaba whe told meoft leprosy, but he sa both tub laria contine reats. Sere ust ning for tu ried out being stud cally by a multinational ulosis is being car emati- team of experts. One the great this coun S. Ambas e Trail TI their prablems, they don't then. They face YOunGsare typical in another way: He taught him. He did not regard his Peace Corps ican foreign policy —they were people who c re the students for t had a ve till of childbearin: n3 000 for Zimbabwe id U ty rate, 2 to Malay cent @ year and 75 per 1 ince Mal: S.-trained Hi 00 for of every American san aspect of work, to get the rucial exami nine chil awi's most serious problems, but the pridein A statistic tha which is 150 per 1,00 cks in ted bassador Trail says that his ex¢ nee in Mala: the most satisfying of his career: “Malaw steful for the aid they get (some 25 million pllars from the U. S, annually], They don't waste it, they put it to good use, and why it keeps comin en housed inn have been integrated into existing villages, A Land medical atte antind nts fi auth of Lilongwe the Land warped and turned mbered hu c necessary than now And for this orderlin tra n Malawi and Mozambii ea, quadrupling ship Another counts antagonistic. No at resettlement centers ot nsus is taken regularly, and hosp 1m the United Nations and aic dd refugees ality Malawi uintries al position of land to the west of upland pieoy bique the road isa foreign country. It is on this road, near the town of Ncheu, that one of the large settlement areas is situated —hill after hill of newly daubed mud huts “Twill go home when it is safe to do so,” one Mozambican said to me. He was holding his small daughter, He said his wife and two other children had been killed by the antigovernment guerrillas, allegedly supported by South Africa. He did not deny that there were many refugees who still had vegetable gardens across the border and that they entered Mozambique to tend them, returning to Malawi to receive the flour and beans that are stacked in bags nearby —fifts of the United States and West Germany. The tefugee settlement near Neheu did not have the temporary look expected. It seemed like a poor, but not deprived, village. Several refugees complained that they were being confined there —that Malawi policemen rounded them up when they tried to leave [Link] work Officer Patrick Mzungu (in Chichewa his ne Theans “white man") of the Main- wi police told me that there was. ten o'clock curfew in- most of Mala- though it ot strictly enforced. e refugees, zungu said, “If we didn't keep them in the camps, these people would travel throughou the country, taking jobs and staying forever Walking through the Neheu area, I marveled at the organization that ensured that these thou sands of refugees were fed, clothed, housed, and even taught. The food distribution was less im: pressive to me than the ight of about 70 young- vouched inside a large metal-roofed hut d school one sweltering day, all writing carefully on rithmetic lesson, but the class was as attentive and rever- ALONE ON THE WATCH, a youngster wards off the chill of dusk before head. ing home with his family's cattle, Far most Malawians, childhood is the onset of a life of werk, providing little chance to atte scraps of paper. It was an ential as at a church service “The refugees have been a blessing in disguise,” an old student of mine, Wyse Mambo, told me. “Malawi was brought to the attention of the world and was seen as having a helpful and responsible attitude.” ALAWI was my first experience of the world outside America —but nothing in Malawi was related to home: It was not just the tea planters and the tobacco farmers, living on remote estates, or the mostly white clubs with their cricket pitches and billiard rooms and afternoon te Most of all it was the Africans. I had ne n people with so few possessions and such high hopes. My classes wert made up of skinny barefoot children who wanted to be doctors or lawyers, They had impressive audacity and ansbitia seemed to come from nowhere; like waits through the mist on cald Mal ings, and they were claiming their place in the world. 382 National Geographic, September 1989 The homework in their copybooks always smelled of woodsmoke and the mid- night oil of the lamps in their huts. They had beautiful handwriting—it was-one of the legacies of the mission school system. They remained good-humored and atten- tive all day—it was very rare to have discipline problems. Their English was fine, and it improved and became Americanized in the two years that T taught them. ‘They were studious and hopeful. The very nature of Dr. Banda’s rule meant that they did not harbor any political ambitions, and, because of that, teaching them was joy. It was a country in which people were afflicted by tropical diseases and had a life expectancy of 38 years. I wanted my students to live long and healthy lives, and for them to be happ: I had first met them in the rainy season of 1964, when they were barefoot children in their mid-teens. Boys and girls alike tended to shaye their heads, for the simplicity of baldness and because of lice. What a pleasure it was for me 23 years later to sce that they were still alive, still well and happy, and that they had families and jobs. Little spindly legged William Bvumbwe was now x heavysetman of 40, & purchasing officer with @ Blantyre oil company and the father of three. Wyse Mambo worked for Portland Cement. Pretty Chrissie Nzumwa was a community-development officer with four children, Norah Malinki had. be- come a teacher, Golden Makata made orthopedic shoes, solemn Matthias Kaunjika worked in the Department of Informa- tion, and math whiz: Frank Kunje was in the Department of Income Tax. Itwasall good news. None of them had struck it rich, but they were all SWE8T OFFERING of cor passes from child to mother asthey wait to see a doing well. Yet wanted Sditional healer. In a nation proud of large famities, disease and malnu ja heartt fron teen trition take the ves of 15 of every 100 children during infancy. William Bvumbwe spoke for them: “Weare better off than at the time of independence. Malawi is uni- fied and peaceful.” I was gladdened but not surprised to learn that one of my former teaching col- Jeagues, Sam Kakhobwe, had risen to the top, and after senior posts in the treasury and as ambassador to Zambia, Ethiopia, and West Germany he had become the highest civil servant in the country, secretary to the president and the cabinet “When Twas 12 years old," Sam said in his Blantyre office, "T used to stand out- side the tennis courts at the Blantyre Sports Club over there" —he pointed out of ‘the window. “I used to throw the balls back when they went over the fence, and 1 always hoped at the end of the day that I would find one to play with at home. Some days I watched rugby at Limbe, looking through the fence.” He could have spoken bitterness, because these were white clubs, white teams in a British protectorate controlled and dominated by « handful of white farmers and bureaucrats; instead, he was smiling out the window, with a fondness for the innocence of the happy memory. Malawi; Faces of a Quiet Land 383

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