Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Secretary P. e. G. McKenzie
COUNCIL
REPRINTS
ARTICLE
A Remarkable Survey: The Natal Scene at Union
W.H. Bizley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 22
ARTICLE
A Centennial Comment
Charles Ballard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 29
ARTICLE
some Poems
Colin Gardner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
ARTICLE
The Oldest Houses in Pietermaritzburg
R. W. Brann and Robert F. Haswell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 67
ARTICLE
The Colenso Cases: A Perspective of Law in Nineteenth
Century Natal
P.R. Spiller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 76
OBITUARIES
Dr E.G. Malherbe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85
Neville Nuttall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 90
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
T.B. Frost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 120
Editorial
The energies of Bishop Colenso's last years were devoted in large measure
to attempting to secure justice for Cetshwayo. It is therefore not
inappropriate that 1983 should see also the commemoration of a Cetshwayo
Centenary for, though he died in early 1884, it was in 1883 that he was
restored as Zulu King. Our thanks go to Dr Charles Ballard for so willingly
meeting our request for an historiographical survey of the changing
perceptions of the King.
We are happy to be able to publish a study of Natal literature by, most
fittingly, Professor Colin Gardner, Head of the Department of English at
the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, which takes Natalia into
hitherto untrodden literary territory. His colleague in the English
Department (and also our colleague on the Editorial Committee), William
Bizley has been able to indulge his extra-mural interests in both railways and
history in giving us a fascinating glimpse into the Natal Railway Guide of
1911.
Russell Brann and Robert Haswell have cast new light on the Pietermaritz
burg urban scene with their discoveries of Voortrekker buildings still
standing, but hitherto unrecognized as such.
Natalia has attempted to cast its net a little wider this year by recruiting
correspondents in the persons of Mrs Sheila Henderson (Dundee), Mrs Gill
Tatham (Ladysmith), Mrs Belinda Gordon (Greytown) and Miss Estelle
Gericke (Eshowe). We thank them for their interest and support - which
has sometimes extended beyond corresponding to occasional attendance at
committee meetings. Our thanks go, too, to those many who have so
willingly and without rewarrl agreed to contribute obituaries or book reviews
or to Notes and Queries. We are confident that their efforts, together with
those of our authors, will provide an edition of Natalia of abiding interest
and value.
T.B. FROST
7
Eph. VI. 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
The text leads us to consider the duty of prayer. The idea most commonly
held on this subject is that in prayer we are to beseech God to give us, not
merely spiritual gifts and graces, blessings for the soul, but especially such
temporal blessings as we may think we need - recovery from sickness,
worldly prosperity, success in our undertakings, supplies of rain, or a
plentiful harvest - deliverance at all events from some immediate danger or
distress, "from lightning and tempest, from plague, pestilence, and famine,
from battle and murder, and from sudden death." And happy indeed are
those who habitually pour out their hearts in prayer to God, expressing to
their Heavenly Father, with all the confiding simplicity of children, all their
wishes, all their necessities, all their fears - "in everything by prayer and
thanksgiving making their requests known unto God." It is but natural for us
as human beings, dependent on Power and Wisdom above our own, and it is
our privilege as Christians taught by our Saviour's lips, so to do. Happy is
that man who in all his troubles of every kind can throw himself upon the
bosom of his Almighty Friend, his Faithful Creator, and tell out all his
sorrows, as well as all his sins, into the gracious ear of Him who knows them
all before he utters them, who tenderly cares for all his children, of whom
the Psalmist said of old that, "as a father pitieth his children, even so the
Lord pitieth them that fear Him." On this point indeed the Master himself
has left us a precious example. "Father, all things are possible unto Thee:
take away this cup from me" - or rather, as we read elsewhere "0 My
Father, if it be possible" - if it be consistent with Thy Holy Will and
according to the ordering of Thy Good Providence - "let this cup pass from
me." There spake the human heart of Jesus, shuddering at the near prospect
of death and cruel agony, yet ready to endure whatever the Father's Infinite
Wisdom and Love might see good to lay upon him, to drink to the dregs the
cup, however bitter, which Perfect Goodness had prepared for him; and so
he added "Yet not my will, but Thine, be done."
Our prayers, then, in the time of our deepest distress, in the prospect or
in the actual sense of our saddest bereavements, may be fashioned upon that
of Jesus, our Elder Brother in God's Family: we cannot go wrong if we
follow the example which he has set us. Only in the light of that bright
example, and of that Divine Teaching which we have received from his lips
and from the whole record of his life, we must remember not to pray to God
as if we would prescribe to Him what He must do to help us, as if we would
explain to Him what He does not know, forgetting that blessed word "Your
Father knoweth what things ye need before ye ask Him" - as if we would
teach the Infinite G80dness and Wisdom what is best and most useful for us
- as if we were wiser and better than God, and would make God wiser and
better than He is!
The prayers of many however, do in fact lose sight of the fundamental
principle of our religion, that God is unchangeable in Truth, in Wisdom, and
in Love, as if they were worshipping some capricious heathen deity, whose
will could be overcome and changed by our importunity. And such prayers
also lose sight often of the fact that God's Laws in Nature are unchangeable.
This truth is so clearly revealed, and indeed in our day is so generally
recognised, that no intelligent person will now be found asking God in plain
terms in his own particular case to set aside some law of the natural world,
10 Praying for Rain
to violate His own established order in the Universe and work a miracle on
his behalf. No one, for instance, would pray that the Sun may rise in the
West, or that a stream, which bars his way or threatens to drown him, may
be dried up or turned aside in its course, or that some dearly loved one may
be raised to life again. Why do men not ask for such things as these?
Because they know that God's laws in the natural world are never broken,
they have learned by experience that in such cases as these the unchangeable
order of nature is never disturbed. But other natural laws are not as yet so
generally recognised or so fully understood. Everyone knows that one who
is dead will not be restored to life again in this world - not that God cannot
do this, if He will, by His Almighty Power and Wisdom, but that experience
teaches us that He will not do so, He will not disturb in this way the order
which He has Himself established, and we never expect Him to do so. But it
is not everyone who realises as certainly the fact that, in order that there
may be a fall of rain, certain causes in the atmosphere must be at work and
certain changes must take place in it, and that, until those conditions are
fulfilled, there ·cannot possibly be rain, - that is, there will not be,
according to God's established order, anymore than a lifeless form will be
restored to health and activity again. Hence we often hear of prayers being
offered for rain or against rain, while we never hear of any sensible person
praying that a dead friend may be raised to life again. If only men
considered that to pray for rain or for fair weather is simply to ask that God,
for the sake of some person or people, would work a miracle, just as it
would be to ask that he should raise the dead - and considered also how
unwise, how irreverent, how presumptuous, is such a request, when we
really understand what it means - we should not hear of prayers being
made for rain or sunshine anymore than we hear of prayers for the raising of
the dead.
Suppose that a man's crops are suffering from drought, and that he asks of
God relief·in his distress. He does not simply pray that his crops may be
saved from destruction, nor does he expect that they will be saved without
rain. He knows enough of the fixed laws of nature to be sure that the grain,
in order to grow, must be nourished with rain. He prays therefore expressly
for rain: that is to say, while recognising one law of nature which regulates
the growth of the grain, he takes no account of that other law of nature,
equally unchangeable, which regulates the fall of rain. In other words he
asks for a particular miracle to be wrought for his own special benefit. The
wind must be changed in answer to his prayers, and the clouds be driven
over his fields. But that change of wind requires certain changes in the
atmosphere in the direction from which it came, and will produce certain
changes in that to which it goes. And, if we thus go back along the chain of
causes which produce storms and calms, rains and droughts, we shall always
find that a link - nay, a thousand links - must be violently broken, and the
whole order of nature thrown into confusion, in order that this one man's
fields may have the rain which he desires. In praying for rain, then, he prays
that a miracle may be wrought on his behalf, just as much as if he prayed
that his crops may be saved by some miraculous agency without any rain at
all. And why does he not do this? Or why does he not ask that the grain may
be made to grow in his garner without any sowing or reaping at all, that the
sack may grow full again, through some miraculous agency, as fast as it is
Praying for Rain 11
emptied? He does but prescribe the mode in which the miracle shall be
wrought which he requires; he undertakes to instruct the Almighty in what
way He sh,!ll fulfil his wish and save his harvest! And the wind, which brings
up the rain for him, may wreck a vessel caught in it on some lee shore, or
hinder its progress to the port, where medical aid might have been obtained
for one on board, shattered by accident or struck by disease, whose friends
are longing - perhaps are praying - that just the very opposite wind might
blow, and bear them swiftly to the haven where they would be!
If, indeed, our knowledge of the laws of Nature, and of all the powers
which must act together to produce certain results, were perfect, we should
no longer ask God for many things, which now are often the subject of
prayers put up in the Church or in the secret chamber. It has been truly said
that with most men prayer begins where the knowledge of the laws of
Nature ends, and that, as that knowledge of the laws of Nature ends, and
that, as that knowledge advances, prayer retires backward, and confines
itself more and more to that region to which it specially belongs, to those
things which concern the spiritual world and the Life Eternal. A man would
not in these days pray that a deadly poison should be changed on his behalf
into wholesome food. But many will still think it proper to pray for the
removal of a drought or a pestilence - not for increase of patience to bear
the trial, faith to go through with it, wisdom to make the best of it, charity
to feel for the sufferings of others under it - but for a miraculous removal
of the cause of distress, by some suspension or violation of God's laws
established in the Universe. By those who understand that one miracle, one
interruption of the regular working of the laws of nature, is, according to the
Divine Order, as impossible as another, such prayers will not be offered
except it may be out of mere human weakness, with full recognition of their
unfitness, and with a mute appeal to the merciful compassion of Him who
bears, like a tender parent, with the infirmities of His Children, who "knows
our frame and remembers that we are but dust."
Twice during the past week have I been called to read the Burial Service
over the remains of those who were dearly loved - who are loved tenderly
still, but have left blanks in their families, and places vacant, which in this
life will be filled no more. One was a young wife and mother, known well to
the members of this congregation, when taking her part in days gone by in
the Sunday School and in the Choir, who has been called in her youthful
prime, from her sphere of useful activity on earth and the joys of her home,
to come up higher, where sorrow and sighing are unknown, and the seed
sown in this life will bear fruit for evermore. The other was a little one of
the flock, who had but just begun to taste life's mingled cup of bliss and
pain, and has been taken from the loving arms that held it here into the
embrace of the Eternal Father. Doubtless for each of these, while still in
life, fond prayers were offered that, if God so pleased, the precious one
might be spared awhile. But the Father of spirits, their Father as well as
ours, has seen good to order otherwise, and the heads of the mourners will
be bowed to say "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away - blessed
be the name of the Lord!" And in each case I have read the words which our
Church orders to be read - "We give Thee hearty thanks most Merciful
Father" - "we give Thee hearty thanks!" - the words of Christian faith
and hope - words which we are taught to use because we ought to use
12 Praying for Rain
them, ay, though our hearts are breaking, if we really believe in the Wisdom
and Goodness of God.
But so should it be with all our prayers in times of trouble, such, for
instance, as this time of drought which in God's good providence has of late
afflicted this land. Here too we should be ready to say "we meekly accept
what Thou in Thy Wisdom and Goodness hast ordered; we yield Thee
hearty thanks, most merciful Father," for this result of Thy everworking
laws, brought about through the natural ordinances which Thou has
established. We are sure that it has been wisely and graciously meant for
some good end. We do not wish this drought to be removed, except in Thine
own good time and way, and when it has thoroughly worked Thy blessed
Will, ~for ourselves and~ for others - Thy Will which is infinitely wiser and
better than ours. We pray only that we may be able to go through our
appointed trial in the spirit which becomes Thy children, in patience and
trust and in love to one another, and to those poor heathens round us, who
will suffer, if suffering there should be, as well as we, but who have not the
assurance which we have, as Christians, that a Fatherly Love is ordering all.
Yes! if we truly believe in God, the living God, we must ascribe to Him
Infinite Perfection, perfect Wisdom, perfect Love. And such a Being,
perfect in Wisdom and perfect in Goodness, must needs will that which will
best promote our truest welfare; and though the way may be dark, and we
may not see the path by which He is taking us, yet He holds us with His
Mighty Hand, and we shall come out into the light at last. Let us not rebel
and say to our Heavenly Father, "0 God! our will is at variance with Thy
will: we do not like this trial, we do not like what Thou hast appointed for
us: fulfil Thou our desire: let our will be done, not Thine, in this matter.
What Thou knowest to be best for us, let not that happen: but change Thou
Thy purpose at our request, yea, change Thy everlasting laws, and let
something else happen, the thing which we desire." Would not such a prayer
as this clearly show that we do not really believe that God is perfectly Wise
and Good? Ah! yet we are but, the best of us, as "infants crying in the
night," and God, our God, will not be angry when he hears our feeble cries,
our foolish prayers. Nay, the Father of Spirits will bend with compassion
over us when He sees how at times, it may be
We falter where we firmly trod,
And falling with our weight of cares
Upon the great world's altar-stairs
That slope through darkness up to God.
We stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what we feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope.
(Tennyson, 'In Memoriam')
Yes! He hears when there is no voice of supplication, when only the heart
is broken, and the spirit maketh intercession with groanings which are not
uttered. But blessed are those who know the true use of prayer, as the
means of obtaining spiritual help and strength! Whenever we ask for
spiritual blessings, for a pure heart, for strength to do a difficult duty, for
power to overcome temptation, for grace to become better and nobler than
we are, then we ask Him not to work a miracle, not to break his own laws,
but to keep them, to fulfil them; for it is a law of the spiritual world, as fixed
Praying for Rain 13
and sure as those of the natural, that whoever sincerely desires to become
more holy, more brave, and true, and good, more what a child of God
should be, and who uses prayer as a means which God has given us for
growing more and marc in His likeness, shall attain what he desires. The
man who is irreligious or immoral may ask of God plentiful harvests and
favourable seasons. But he who goes to God and says, "Father I am not
worthy to be called Thy child: have mercy upon me and inspire Thou me
with strength to become a better man than I am, more submissive to Thy
will, more obedient to Thy Law, more faithful in my duty, more true to my
own inner conviction of what becomes a child of Thine" - he who prays
thus out of a full heart with all earnestness, it may even be with strong
crying and tears when he looks back upon the path which lies behind him
and sees what waste he has made of life's blessings, what wrong he has
done, what woe he has caused, to himself and to others - gives thereby a
proof that the spark of Divine Life has not been quenched in him, that his
soul is still alive unto God, that the life of God is still within him, however it
may have been at times oppressed, almost crushed out, with evil. What
strength, what joy from above, is given in answer to such prayer! It changes
not the nature of Him to whom the man prays: it changes the man himself;
his soul is quickened, cleansed, and purified through such communion with
God.
Let no man therefore say "If I cannot change the mind of God by my
prayer, it is useless to pray, and I need not, will not, pray at all." There are
prayers which are altogether useless, like those of which St. James writes,
"Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss." But prayer indeed helps, if
we say as Jesus did, "Father, not my will, but Thine be done!" Prayer helps
if we seek thereby to draw near to God, if our only desire is to have closer
fellowship with God. Such prayer indeed helps if we practise it habitually,
"praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," now in the
time of our health and strength and happiness, as well as in the time of our
tribulation. For then, when the dark days come, and the years draw nigh in
which we shall say we have no pleasure in them - when deep afflictions
overwhelm us, and earthly joys are failing us, and life itself is passing away
- we shall still be able to draw near to the presence of God as all along we
have been wont to do, and shall find in Him a tender, compassionate
Father, and be cheered with the light of His countenance. He will pour fresh
life into our souls while our outward man is perishing and our inward man is
being renewed from day to day. And the rich experience of our past life will
teach us to sum up all our desires by saying in that dread hour, with more
entire surrender of our whole being than ever, "Father, Thy Will be done on
earth, as it is done in heaven!"
14
Ekukanyeni In 1857
. The central and principal station of the Mission work of the Church of
England in this Diocese, is at Ekukanyeni, about five or six miles from
Maritzburg, and (to use the colonial mode of measuring distances) within an
easy ride of thirty-five or forty minutes from it. Its name, which was given to
it by those who first took possession of the land on which it stands for
missionary purposes, signifies "Light", or "in the Light". And we may as
well inform our English friends that the word, though rather long, as most
Kafir words are, is one easily pronounced by giving all the consonants their
ordinary English sounds, and sounding the vowels as in French, with an
accent on each of the e's.
The land, on which this Station stands, was granted to the Bishop of Natal
for Mission purposes, by the late Lieutenant Governor Pine. Maritzburg
itself lies in a kind of basin of large extent, surrounded on all sides by lofty
hills; so that, before getting clear of the City in any direction, (except along
the banks of the Umsundusi), it is necessary to climb a long ascent, the toil
of surmounting which, however, is amply rewarded by the magnificent views
which open upon the eye, as one rises higher and higher above the level of
the town . . . .
The ground here, instead of being parched and bare at this season, as in
the rest of South Africa, is everywhere fresh and verdant; and the
appearance, consequently, as one mounts up from Maritzburg, of this
multitude of green hills, reaching away into the far distance, and swelling,
one behind another, like the billows of the sea, shaded with innumerable
dimpling hollows, or spotted over with the mimosa, or other bushwood, is
indescribably beautiful, more especially when the horizontal rays of the
rising or setting sun add splendour to the scene. Below, at his feet, the
traveller will discern the little City itself, looking bright and cheerful in the
sunlight, with its pretty white houses, interspersed with the foliage of
seringas and gum trees; and on its further course he will trace the shining
course of the Umsunduzi (or Little Bushman's River) as it hastens along the
plain, towards the east, to join the Umgeni, at some point far away in the
Inanda location.
The hill, upon which the Mission Station stands, is one of the lowest of
those which bound the Maritzburg basin. The road from the City, which
leads to it, passes, for about half-a-mile, through a swampy flat ... But, for
the sake of our English readers, let us suppose a friend - (and many such
find it a pleasant ride, on a fine afternoon, from the City to the Station,
where, we need hardly say, any visitors from town or country, who might
Ekukanyeni in 1857 15
wish to inspect the school and mission operations, would receive at any time
a hearty welcome) - to start from Maritzburg for a visit to Ekukanyeni.
The City itself is rectangular in form, lying N .E. and S. W. He will leave it at
its eastern corner. Ten minutes' ride on level ground, along the town
common, will bring him to Vanderplank's Bridge, of rather primitive
construction, which crosses a little brook, occasionally swelled by rains to a
considerable stream - (some of its waters, indeed, at all times wash over
the road at this place) - and has on its right, at some little distance, by a
clump of trees, the mill, for which a portion of the stream is turned off at
this point, and the town slaughter-houses. After crossing another little
spruit, he will mount a slight ascent, and come upon a good piece of
cantering ground, over which the road passes, with a very gradual descent,
for three-quarters of a mile, till it crosses another stream, (that by which the
waters of the marsh are drained), by a bridge still ruder than the former,
consisting, in fact, of a few stout stems of branches, laid side by side, and
covered with soil and grass. Over this there pass daily several heavy wagons,
bringing firewood from Mr Marten's farm, (which is just beyond the Mission
land), and drawn by ten or twelve oxen . . . .
A few minutes' ride, after leaving the bridge behind him, will bring our
traveller to another small stream, which separates the town common lands
from the Mission ground. Hitherto the road has been almost level all the
way from the City for three miles or more, and the last mile or so between
low elevations on each side, which completely prevent him from getting a
view of the surrounding country. But now begins a long steep ascent ....
Indeed, in slippery weather, it has more than once happened, that the
Mission cart or wagon has been stopped at the foot of this ascent, and been
unable to mount the hill, on its return from town at night, with stores from
the house, or linen from the laundry. In such cases it has been left for hours,
perhaps the whole night, in the midst of pitiless rain, till additional help
could be brought to it . . . .
Our traveller is now on Mission ground. After climbing this long ascent of
half-a-mile, he will reach a ridge, peering above which, as he rises, the first
object, that strikes his eye, will be the white cross on the roof of the Mission
Chapel. A few steps further, and the whole magnificent scene will burst
upon him, the more striking from its being so suddenly presented, and not
even suspected by a stranger, as he has travelled along the dull and dreary
bottom. For now he will come face to face with the glorious Table
Mountain, which rises before him in massive grandeur, at a distance of
seven or eight miles, with a multitude of lower hills and kloofs, in wild
disorder, filling up the space between, their universal covering of green
16 Ekukanyeni in 1857
speckled, as usual, with dark spots of bush, and tinged at this season (the
end of summer) with the brown or ruddy hue of the ripening grass. Our
Table Mountain resembles much in form that at the Cape, but differs from it
materially in one respect, that its sides, to within a yard or two of the
summit, where the red rock appears, are clothed all over with vegetation. At
one point, towards the northern end, a large triangular patch of green,
which slopes up the mountain-side, gradually narrowing upwards, indicates
the only path by which an access can be gained, without much difficulty, to
the summit. The top of the mountain is, in point of fact, a large farm of five
or six thousand acres, well watered, and abounding with game; and both on
its left and right, at some little distance, are elevations of a similar character,
which have evidently once been joined to it, but appear to have been torn
asunder by some violent convulsion, at the time the Umgeni forced its way
between them . . . .
Our visitor has only as yet caught a glimpse of the Mission buildings. But,
as he advances, the road soon brings them into full view before him, at the
distance of half-a-mile, on the crest of another ridge, running parallel to that
on which he now stands. He will perceive the Mission House, with its two
low gable-ends, over one of which is hung the Mission bell, which summons
the little flock, morning and evening, to daily worship, and marks the
intervals of rest and labour. Close to it, on his left, he will mark with
pleasure the Mission Chapel, a wooden structure - with thatched roof,
Gothic porch, lantern, and gable, these latter all of wood, and painted white
- the construction of which does great credit to the taste and skill of Mr
R yder, the mechanical superintendent of the Station. The appearance of the
building is, indeed, sufficiently ecclesiastical; but alas! its uses, as we shall
presently be obliged to confess, are just now of a very miscellaneous
character. About half-a-mile further to the right, he will notice the farm
buildings, smithy, & c., and about sixty acres of enclosed and cultivated
land, containing crops of mealies, oat-forage, potatoes, cotton, china-grass,
and sesamum. We have also gathered in this season an excellent crop of
wheat, good forage, and splendid potatoes. Mealies, of course, do well,
subject only to the colonial "contingency" of being trampled down now and
then by an inroad of cattle . . . .
Our cotton field throve well last season, and the plants, though of the
finest and most delicate kind (Sea Island), have generally survived the
winter cold. At the beginning of this season they sprouted vigorously; but,
from some cause, have not thriven since in all parts of the field. It is most
probable that frosts of this region, so much more elevated and colder than
the Bay, have really interfered with their growth; so that we must exchange
the Sea Island for a coarser kind of cotton, which, after all is said to be in
the long run more profitable in the market. The China-grass, a sort of flax,
does very well indeed, and is likely, some day, to be an article of export.
The Sesamum Indicum, called by the natives udonca, is a valuable plant,
resembling at first sight in its appearance, when in flower, a rather small
variety of the English Foxglove. The seed is very small, and grows in small
pods, a large number of seeds, from 1 500 to 2 000, upon one stalk: and
these, when pressed, yield an excellent oil. This seed forms a considerable
article of export from India. And, (according to a report from Kew
Ekukanyeni in 1857 17
Gardens, which appeared lately in the Natal papers), the sort we have under
cultivation, which is the white variety, has the highest mercantile value. The
seed, from which our Mission crop is grown, was obtained from Panda. The
plant, however, is found indigenous in some places along the coast of this
district; and the natives are aware of the oily nature of its seeds, and are
accustomed to use the oil as a delicacy mixed with their isijingi, or mea lie
porridge . . . .
It is very desirable to make a trial at the Station of any such article of
commerce, as is likely to reward the labour of the natives, by way of
example and encouragement to them to do the same.
But we have left our visitor looking at the Mission buildings from the
opposite hill. Let him now follow the long descending path, which leads him
down across a wide tract of grass into the hollow, which, with its little
brook, separates the ridge he has now left from that of the Mission House.
He will sink at last out of sight of the latter, but discover on his right, taken
off lower down from the tract of grass which he is crossing, another
enclosure of forty acres, with a small dwelling, and outhouses attached,
which has hitherto been occupied by the family of an excellent farmer, who
died suddenly in the service of the Mission about two years ago .... Crossing
now the little stream, which flows along the bottom, by a substantial
causeway, which serves as a dam to form a mill-pool to his left, and looking
down the little current to the right, he will see the mill itself, built strongly
of stone, with a powerful overshot wheel, which already grinds all the wheat
and mealies for the eighty or ninety people, white and black, great and
small, living upon the station, but will shortly be applied, as we hope, to yet
more profitable uses. Near the mill stands an extensive brick-shed, where a
brick machine is now employed in preparing for the erection of the Bishop's
house, for which a special sum was raised among friends in England at the
original foundation of the See.
The whole of the above is the work of little more than two years. At the
time the Bishop left Natal, on his return to England in April, 1854, the land
had only just been granted by the Government; and no building or
cultivation of any kind, not even a Kafir hut or mealie ground, could be
found upon the whole extent of it. Since then the Kafirs have been gradually
gathering around the Station, requesting leave to settle upon it. And at this
moment there are eight or nine kraals within sight of the windows of the
Mission House, or only hidden among the kloofs.
A short canter up a stiff bit of hill will now bring our friend to the Mission
premises, where, if he arrives out of school hours, he will probably see a
number of little black forms, in their blue-striped linen dresses, worn with
flannel underneath, but with naked legs and bare heads, as the children of
the kraal, engaged in their various childish pursuits; , .. or perhaps the
whole party of seniors may be out on the grass hard by, with their teachers,
white and black, engaged at a game of cricket - "might have been", we
should rather say, than "may be", for alas! their cricket balls, sent out some
time ago from England, are all expended. They were never of much value;
and the work of a grand field-day last Christmas, when the white boys of the
Church School at Maritzburg gave battle to the black boys of Ekukanyeni,
and both beat and were beaten, completely finished up our stock for the
present.
18 Ekukanyeni in 1857
But, having now brought our visitor to the doors, we must introduce him
to the special work of this Institution. Our readers are aware that about a
year ago (on Feb. 1st, 1856) nineteen young Kafir children were brought by
their friends to Ekukanyeni, and delivered formally up into the hands of the
Bishop for education, by the chiefs, Ngoza and Zatshuke. At the instance of
Sir George Grey, and, indeed, on his express promise, made at the time of
the review at the Table Mountain, it was intended originally to have
founded a station among Ngoza's people, in the neighbourhood of his
principal kraal. Upon examination, however, it was found that the country,
in which this Station would have been placed, was so broken and
precipitous, and utterly impracticable for agricultural purposes, that the idea
was abandoned in favour of one, which would eventually be of far greater
importance, both to Ngoza himself, and to the colony, if only the people
could be induced to think so - n~mely, that of collecting their boys, by a
voluntary act on their part, for separate continuous education, apart from
the heathen kraal. Mr Shepstone determined to make the experiment, and
sounded the principal men upon the subject. They appeared convinced by
his arguments; and, after various discussions and debates with their people,
Ngoza and Zatshuke announced their intention to accept the proposal made
to them, and bring their own children at all events, and, they hoped, several
others, to the station at Ekukanyeni - "for (said Ngoza) I should like to be
the last fool of my race" . . . .
... a long and anxious delay occurred, after the chiefs had pledged their
word to us: and again, and again, the day was changed for the arrival of the
first batch of children. At last, however, on Feb. 1st, our hopes were
realized, and our native school became a fact. The day before, the two
chiefs had arrived at the Station, with a large body of followers, men,
women and children. And, seen from a distance, as they wound their way
slowly along the hills, some of the men carrying their little ones, and others
leading them by the hand, as they "trudged unwillingly to school", with
many a longing backward look upon the snug warm hut, which was their
home, upon the pleasant mealie-grounds, and the wide cattle-ranges, and
the comfortable idle life they had hitherto been leading, and which they
were now about to exchange for the dreaded secrets of the white man's
house, and still more for that mysterious process of education, to which their
father's will had now consigned them, in opposition generally, as they knew,
to the wishes of their mothers, and in disregard of their fears - the whole
party had certainly very much the appearance of a troop of slaves. The
women followed, or went beside their young ones, carrying presents of
sweet cane (imfi) , or other school comforts for their use.
In the course of the afternoon, a council was held, at which the nineteen
boys were formally surrendered to us, and were taken out at once to be
washed and clothed in their little dresses, as the first step to civilization: for
they came to us, most of them, naked as they were born, and none of them
had ever yet known more of what can properly be called clothing, than a
corner of their mother's blanket thrown over them at night. Meanwhile,
many speeches were made upon the occasion by the two chiefs and their
indunas, which showed that, what they then did, they did deliberately,
because they had confidence in those into whose hands they entrusted their
Ekukanyeni in 1857 19
children, and believed that the sacrifice, which they now made in parting
with them, would be repaid in their permanent welfare.
The next day the parting kiss was given by the parents, with every sign of
fond affection, which, indeed, they manifest whenever they come to see
them: the friends took their leave, and the little ones looked with tearful
eyes on their departure. We say "little ones", for the great majority of these
children were not above seven or eight years old, and some younger, when
they came to us. They were now left alone with strangers, and these all
white people, except that we had secured two native men, of Ngoza's and
Zatshuke's tribe, and one old woman, well known to the two chiefs, to wait
upon the children for a time, and br~ak the sudden change from savage to
civilized life. These black attendants, however, being mere wild heathens
themselves, were a great nuisance to us after a while, and we were glad to
get rid of them, as were the boys also, when once they began to feel at
home.
The Rev. Mr Fearne resided for the first three months, as clerical
superintendent of the Institution, having been summoned hastily from his
duties at Richmond upon this sudden emergency, to lend help in the first
establishment of the school. And a great debt is due to Mr and Mrs Fearne
for their kind parental attention to the domestic comforts, and personal
health and happiness of the boys, by which so much was done towards
making them contented with their new circumstances, though everything, at
first, was strange around them. Messrs Baugh and Pigg were the boys' first
teachers; and Mr Baugh still continues to superintend their education. For
some weeks little more could be done than to break in the children gradually
to habits of order, and accustom them to the restraints of civilized life.
Indeed a great part of the day was spent at first in mere amusement, and
English games of all kinds were taught them, as also many simple chants and
rounds, to take the place of their discordant Kafir songs. By these means
their minds were kept in salutary exercise; and they were able to show
cheerful faces to their friends, who came continually to visit them, bringing
their little home-presents of imfi or amasi (sour milk), and doubtless
watching for any signs of ill-usage. They began to feel the kindness of their
new friends; and meanwhile their school-hours were imperceptibly
lengthened, and their school-work increased, till now we have the regular
colonial allowance of school-time, namely, five hours a day, with a half
holiday on Saturday, - but no vacations at Mid-summer or Christmas. For
our boys are given up to us for five years' schooling: and, except in case of
sickness, are not likely, we trust, to return to their kraals in the interval.
They number now, as we have said, thirty-three, of whom all but two refugee
children, lately admitted, are the sons of head men of their tribes, either
chiefs or indunas, and are likely therefore, in after life, to exert more than
ordinary influence among the Kafirs of this District. We call this, among
ourselves, our Kafir Harrow, in token of remembrance of the close
connection which the Bishop of Natal had formerly with one of our great
English Schools, and also of the warm interest which the boys of the English
Harrow have taken, and practically expressed, for the success of the Natal
Missions. And we do not despair of seeing the numbers of Kafir youths, who
are being educated at this Institution, increased before long to be more
worthy of comparison with those of her English patron.
20 Ekukanyeni in 1857
A Remarkable Survey
The Natal Scene at Union
In 1910 the South Coast Junction Literary Society acquired its own lecture
hall.
I suppose I was brought up short more by that fact - having in mind an
image of modern Rossburgh - and what it says about the energy of our
Edwardian forebears (for the era hadn't changed with the passing of the
monarch) than the news that Grey town and Dundee now had electricity ~md
telephones, or that the new zoological gardens at Mitchell Park, which you
reached by electric tram, had dromedaries, emus, wildebeest and a lion
house. South Coast Junction was apparently even more progressive than the
villages up the line, which often had literary societies, but couldn't sport, as
the 'Junction' did, the 'social farm' run by the Salvation Army. Facts like
these come in myriad quantities - and often with excellent photographic
illustration - in what is a beautifully bound and engraved volume, the
Descriptive Guide and Official Handbook of Natal, produced in 1911 by the
Tourist Department of what was now the South African Railways, but still
edited and printed in Durban. What I hope to demonstrate here is that these
Guides of the NGRlSAR are rich Nataliana, and that any library worth the
name should try to salvage remaining copies.
Glancing through them can be disconcerting, though. The sight of those
full-dress Edwardians, the ladies frilled and skirted whether on South Beach
pier, at the Umsinduzi Boat Station, or striding next to the tourist wagon en
route to Giant's Castle, fills one with distinct feelings of inferiority. (I felt
awfully junior on seeing the photograph of the interior of the new Natal
Museum. There they all are, in position by 1910, my favourite party pieces:
the two rhinos fighting, the lion attacking a zebra, the elephant with trunk
upreared.) This was the generation that thought nothing of building a special
branch of the Pietermaritzburg City Tramway to the Mayor's Garden in
Alexandra Park, for use on festive occasions! Not all Natal trams were
electrified by the way - one travelled from the railway station to that latest
fashionable resort, Isipingo Beach, one and a half miles, by tram of the
horse-drawn variety. Quiz question (while we are stopped at Isipingo):
Where is Dick King buried? Answer: In the Isipingo cemetery.
The Guide makes clear what a blossoming of major buildings there was in
the 1900s, pretty well compelling the judgement that our 'ancestral' genius
was frankly Edwardian. Not only was there the Maritzburg City Hall of
1901, Durban's City Hall and municipal complex of 1910, the University
Natal Scene at Union 23
Opening of the Town Hall, Pietermaritzburg, by T.R.H . The Duke and Duchess of
York, 1901.
more, a shallower craft could take you further to the site of one of Natal's
biggest success stories, the Umzimkulu Lime and Cement Company, basking
in the achievement of having won the lime contracts against all foreign
corners for the building projects of those years, the post-offices, the city
halls and even the new Colonial Buildings. (The stone for these enterprises,
we discover, was quarried at Alcock's Spruit, near Newcastle.)
Where would the timber have come from for such a large building
programme? Perhaps from the forest near Deepdale on the Umkomaas, now
linked by the 'Cape' line, and from which 'yellow wood, sneeze wood, stink
wood, white pear and wood suitable for wagon making are sent to market.'
Country life of the time had some interesting variations. 3 000 ostriches were
being farmed around Grey town and Weenen, and one wonders whether the
'oyster bed at Umzumbi' was just left to trippers. Dairy farming was still laid
low after two decades of rinderpest and East Coast fever (two thirds of the
cattle population was lost) and the province had shamefacedly to import its
condensed milk. A white population of almost exactly 99 000 owned 33 000
horses (same as the present-day ratio of motor vehicles?) while the black
population, nearing a million, had 25 000. Horse-breeding was 'down' since
the war, of course, but in other sectors there was a resurgence. The 'mealie'
(deriving, the Guide suggests, from the Portuguese word 'milho', and 'only a
few years ago sneered at as a Kaffir crop') was suddenly discovered to be an
exportable cereal. The sequel is perhaps best illustrated by the fascinating
photographs of maize. cultivation using steam traction. But that success story
would hardly deflect the wattle farmer, whose product, which raised £16 540
in 1896, earned over £200 000 in 1910. Perhaps this euphoria explains a note
of racial sourness: the Guide regrets that banana production, worth £80 000
per annum, is 'now almost entirely in the hands of Asiatics'! Undoubteoly
there was the odious side to the people who had been systematically
introducing trout into Natal rivers since 1899.
26 Natal Scene at Union
The story on Industry is equally euphoric (though the Guide, with nice
deference to origins, records that the first steam engine in Natal was - no,
not the Point locomotive of 1860, but a unit imported in 1855 to power a
locally invented sugar mill.) The roving colonial eye, blending acquisition
and imagination in equal measure , noted that there was graphite and
copper in the Ngeli mountains, china clay at Padley's, a coal seam at
Chaka's Kraal Station, and - hush, hush , - that petroleum had been
tapped 'two miles distant' from Chaka's Kraal Station. (All proceeds to
Natalia should this information prove lucrative.) A gold-mine that came into
production at Melmoth in 1909 produced 1821f2 ounces in three months. Did
you know that there was once a brick and tile factory at Gezebuso, that Park
Rynie had a whaling station , that weekend trippers to Sweetwaters weren't
put off by the iron-works there? Did you know that Verulam once sported
- Oh those naughty 1900s - three tobacco and cigar factories? More
Offensive smoke was blown into the idyllic air of the South Coast by Messrs.
Kynoch 's new 'forest of chimneys' at Umbogintwini (those go-ahead
entrepeneurs having already installed a factory on the Bluff to convert whale
oil to glycerine .) The race of cigar-smokers had to think quickly in 1905
when the main water-supply to Durban, two reservoirs at Sarnia, was
damaged by floods. Result: by 1910 Durban was supplied from a dam on the
Upper Umlaas. The Guide describes this as 'the largest body of fresh water
in Natal'. (It was washed away by floods in 1943. Nagle Dam, on the
Umgeni River, was officially opened in 1950. Ed.) .
Also astonishing is the widespread electrification and automation,
especially in the sugar industry. (Sugar, the Guide tells us in an interesting
aside, was in Natal before the white man came, in the shape of umoba, an
indigenous plant.) Mount Edgecombe mill was packing sugar bags
automatically by 1910, but had been outstripped by Sir J. Liege Hulett's
five-storey tea plant at Kearsney, electrically operated throughout, and
producing 1 500 000 lbs of Assam tea per annum. Not only could you visit
the Kearsney factory and estate: you were assured - provided parliament
wasn't in session - of a personal greeting from the great man should you do
so. Best way was by Natal's only private passenger-carrying railway, opened
by the estate in 1901 and connecting with the main-line trains at Stanger.
Such activity no doubt explains why the colony's coal production quadrupled
between 1900 and 1910 - most of it being consumed, of course, in the
bunkering of ships - 9 passenger lines operated into Durban at this date.
The Guide produces a nice crop of 'Did you know?' Natal names. Did you
know that when the Boers occupied Newcastle they changed its name to
Viljoensdorp? - that Kelso was called 'Alexandra Junction', Renishaw
'Crook's [sic.] Siding', Paddock on the Harding branch 'Murchison',
Tongaat 'Victoria', or that Creighton was more commonly known as 'Dronk
Vlei'? But then, did you know that Stanger was named after the first
Surveyor-General of Natal? Or that the original name for the Drakensberg
was the 'Kahlamba' mountains, or that the Aliwal Shoal was first reported in
1848 by James Anderson, master of the 'Aliwal', which worthy, having
survived the discovery, went on in good imperial fashion to get a knighthood
and a directorship of the Eastern Telegraph Company? (In 1884, the Guide
tells us, as a result of a ship striking the Shoal, ten thousand railway sleepers
were washed up on the Bluff. It's full of that sort of off-beat information.
Some more quiz questions - definitely for buffs only. What station would
you buy a ticket to if you wanted to get to 'Burntown [sic.]'? Answer:
Hemu-hemu, on the Donnybrook branch. Could you post a letter to Curry's
Post in 191O? Answer: Only just - the post-cart service had been disbanded,
but there was a runner who collected the mail at Balgowan station while the
train stood for watering!)*
The Edwardians, then, didn't only consist of the languid gentlemen in
gaiters who posed with fishing rods on the banks of the Mooi, or took the
night train to Somkele, the terminus in Zululand, to join hunting
expeditions into the interior. There was also the Brownie-wielding
generation for whom Table Mountain was a natural 'rendezvous for
picnickers, photographers and scientists.' They looked eagerly out of the
train at Seven Oaks to spot hartebeest, and studied the Guide for the 'list of
Views of the Drakensberg from the main-line.' They rejoiced that the
mountains were now only a day away - you could now plan a visit to
Champagne Castle via Loskop on the newly opened Winterton branch line.
There were the advocates of the two-day trip from Verulam - horses at ten
shillings a day - to see the 200 ft. falls on the Umzinyati River, or who
arranged with the owner of the Dalton Hotel to do the excursion to the
Edwards Falls (ever heard of them?) eight miles away. (Top honours for the
'prettiest waterfall in Natal'? The Umlaas, 6 miles from Cato Ridge. And
while you were in the district, why not stroll three miles up Umtimbamkulu
from Manderston station, to get the view of the Bluff lighthouse!?)
These were a more refined variety of imperial scrutineer than those who
thronged the Ladysmith battlefields in tours arranged by Thomas Cook.
They were the sort for whom 'words fail to find adequate expression' for the
view at Mont aux Sources, but who would generously offer a point of
28 Natal Scene at Union
*Editor's Note:
There was still a post office at Curry's Post until about World War 2 at which the postmistress
29
A Centennial Comment
One hundred years ago on the eighth day of February 1884 King Cetshwayo
kaMpande of Zululand collapsed and died near Eshowe. The manner in
which he died is still an intriguing mystery. The medical examiner at first
suspected poisoning but no post-mortem was allowed by the late King's
retainers. The 'official' cause of death was attributed eventually to a heart
attack although Cape Town and London physicians, who had both
previously examined King Cetshwayo, differed in their opinions as to
whether he had suffered from a congenital heart ailment or had died of
other than natural causes. Many Zulu to this day believe that the last king to
rule an independent Zulu kingdom was poisoned by his enemies and died a
martyr. The career of King Cetshwayo was, in life as in death, one of
conflicting interpretations and raging controversy. In the past century King
Cetshwayo's 'place in history' has been revised and, indeed, transformed by
a succession of ideological and cultural currents flowing through the
mainstream of South Africa's historical literature. 1
Cetshwayo was born about 1832. He was the eldest son of King Mpande's
first wife, Ngqumbazi. At the time Cetshwayo was growing to manhood the
region of south-east Africa over which his uncle, King Shaka, had once
reigned supreme, was beginning to feel the political, cultural and economic
impact of European penetration. During the 1820s English hunter-traders
from the Cape Colony established the first permanent white settlement at
Port Natal. In 1837 the Voortrekkers moved into Natal and thereby
challenged Zulu sovereignty in the region. The outcome was military defeat
and civil war for King Dingane and the permanent alienation of Natal from
the Zulu Kingdom. In 1843 Natal was annexed by Great Britain and white
colonial rule established. 2 During the 1840s and 1850s several thousand
British settlers immigrated to Natal and introduced a completely new and
vigorous cultural element to that which previously existed among the
northern Nguni, particularly among the Zulu. The nineteenth century
western European capitalist world, of which Britain was for so long the
acknowledged master, spread its cultural tentacles across Natal and
Zululand under a number of guises.
30 King Cetshwayo of Zululand
Nowhere was white culture more materially visible among the northern
Nguni than in the field of trade. Numerous manufactured items ranging
from blankets and hoes to guns and medicine were incorporated into the
material culture of the Zulu people. White hunter-traders from Natal
brought the products of western civilization into southeast Africa in exchange
for local commodities such as ivory, hides and cattle. 3 The expansion of
European material culture into Zululand was accompanied by the equally
expansionist social and religious norms of the European world. Norwegian,
German and British missionary societies rapidly established a score or more
of mission stations in Natal and the Zulu Kingdom in the 1850s and 1860s. 4
The thrust of British settlement into south-east Africa had by the mid
nineteenth century introduced a further new and unsettling dimension into
Zulu society.
The most disturbing and tragic feature of British imperialism and
colonialism for the Zulu Kingdom was the unfortunate tendency of
Europeans not only to justify, but to sanctify territorial expansion and
military aggression with an elaborate racial ideology supported by pseudo
scientific social theory. Thus the earliest historical and social literature on
the Zulu Kingdom, its people and culture was written largely by western
European explorers, missionaries, soldiers and colonists who were much
encumbered with the racial baggage that accompanied so many Victorian
documentary narratives of African societies. The first historical descriptions
of the northern Nguni written in the English language were neither accurate
nor flattering.
White settler attitudes toward the Zulu in Natal and Zululand gave vent
to the emerging racialism then currently in vogue in Britain. Many British
immigrants were no doubt familiar with the 'scientific' literature then
appearing on the innate superiority of the white European races over the
dark-skinned peoples that inhabited Africa, Australasia and North America.
The racialist literature emerging from the fairly new disciplines of ethnology
and social anthropology was fashionable fare among the educated classes
in British society. The 'scientific' racialists were opposed by a small but
influential circle of liberal intellectuals and humanitarian churchmen who
believed in the inherent equality of all men before God. Many British
immigrants in Natal justified their racialism by subscribing to Herbert
Spencer's 'social Darwinist' school - that is those who applied Darwin's
laws of evolution and natural selection to the human species and, in the
process, vindicated both scientifically and morally, the Anglo-Saxon
domination of the 'less advanced' darker races. Charles Barter, prominent
Natal settler and author of The Dorp and the Veld employed his 'Spencerian'
arguments to attack the liberal humanitarian view of Exeter Hall, that the
black man should be accorded equality with the white man: 5
... the two races, the white and the coloured - be it black, brown, or
red - cannot exist in close contact with each other, but on one
condition - that of the entire dependence of the weaker upon the will
of the stronger. The notion of equality, equality of rights, or equality
of treatment, is at best an amiable theory, unsupported by a single
evidence drawn from sound reason or experience.
The fact that Africans should be subservient to Europeans was not
incompatible with the principles attached to the settlers' 'civilizing' mission.
King Cetshwayo of Zululand 31
of Waaihoek in 1861; by 1873 the Blood River area was home to hundreds
of Boers.!2
Shepstone reasoned that a successful pacification of the Boers depended
on a demonstration of Britain's will to recognize their claims by grabbing
land belonging to the Zulu in the Blood River territory. Frere was convinced
by Shepstone that an independent Zulu kingdom did not serve the interests
of confederation and that only by the complete subjugation of Zululand
could union be realized. The High Commissioner mounted an aggressive
diplomatic and political offensive to persuade the Colonial Office that
Zululand was a savage and barbaric state that threatened the stability of
southern Africa. To achieve his ends Frere used a variety of moral, political
and economic arguments to impress upon his superiors in London the
'barbarism' of King Cetshwayo's rule. Zululand obsessed Frere and he
capitalized on every incident and intemperate action committed by the Zulu
as a pretext for justifying a punitive war.
When King Cetshwayo granted permission to two Zulu regiments to seek
their brides from female regiments in 1876 five unwilling young women were
executed and scores fled to Natal. The Natal Government sent King
Cetshwayo a stiff message reminding him of his 1873 'coronation vows' to
Shepstone not to shed blood indiscriminately. The Zulu King had all along
resented Shepstone's gratuitous interference in the internal affairs of his
nation. Cetshwayo replied to Bulwer's reprimand with a sternly worded
warning to the British not to meddle in Zulu domestic affairs:
Did I ever tell Mr Shepstone I would not kill? Did he tell the White
People I made such an arrangement? Because if he did he has deceived
them. I do kill: but do not consider I have done anything yet in the
way of killing ... I have yet to kill, it is the custom of our nation, and
I shall not depart from it. Why does the Governor of Natal speak to
me about my laws? Do I go to Natal and dictate to him about his laws?
I shall not agree to any laws or rules from Natal and by doing so throw
the large kraal which I govern into the water. 13
King Cetshwayo's expression of Zulu independence was interpreted by
Frere and Shepstone as a further example of Zulu 'barbarism'. Frere
invoked the prevailing racial stereotypes assigned by Isaacs, Fynn, Holden
and other white commentators to the 'bloodthirsty' Shaka with the vicious
and calculated intention of saddling King Cetshwayo with the same negative
reputation. Frere mounted a propaganda war against King Cetshwayo. He
flooded the Colonial Office with correspondence that constantly compared
Cetshwayo with Shaka. Frere painted the worst image possible of the Zulu
King and denigrated every facet of his character:
I have not yet met in conversation or in writing with a single one who
could tell me of any act of justice, mercy or good faith, or of anything
approaching gratitude which had ever been related by a credible
witness of the present King. The monster Chaka is his model, to
emulate Chaka in shedding blood is as far as I have heard his highest
aspiration.!4
Frere also capitalized on missionary discontent in Zululand and used their
complaints of persecution against Cetshwayo to bolster his case for British
intervention. King Cetshwayo frowned upon missionary endeavour. He
thought that their teachings were seditious and that they gave aid and
34 King Cetshwayo of Zululand
When the Anglo-Zulu War broke out on 11 January 1879, there were
certain individuals in Britain and the Colonies who believed that Frere's
invasion of Zululand was a blatant contradiction of the British 'civilizing
mission' in Africa, and therefore, morally indefensible. They were
representatives of the growing humanitarian movement in nineteenth century
Britain. The 'humanitarians' injected the idea of collective moral
responsibility into a British society that was largely influenced by an
ideology of rugged individual capitalism, and with it, a creed that justified
economic exploitation and glorified the military and political aggression that
was felt necessary to secure and extend Britain's imperial system. Britain's
humanitarian movement emerged out of the religious ferment of the Great
Awakening in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain. This
gave rise to Wilberforce and the great Anti-Slavery movement. In Southern
Africa, missionaries and agents of the Church Missionary Society and the
Aborigines Protection Society had long been active in reprimanding both the
British government and white settlers and officials for having forsaken their
King Cetshwayo of Zulu/and 35
to seek refuge with the British Resident in the Reserve and it was here that
he died on 8 February 1884.
Nearly eight months before King Cetshwayo's death, Bishop Colenso had
taken ill and died. The indefatigable champion of King Cetshwayo's cause
had become discouraged and, indeed, physically exhausted when he could
not muster the political support necessary to influence Whitehall to
intervene decisively in Zululand and restore Cetshwayo to a united
Kingdom. Thus died 'Sobantu', the Father of the People, as he was hailed
by King Cetshwayo and the Zulu people. 29 It is fitting that Bishop Colenso's
significant historical contributions are being commemorated in the centenary
observances being held throughout Natal and Zululand in 1983.
In the past one hundred years, the popular and more" serious historical
literature on King Cetshwayo and the Zulu people has been influenced, in
varying degrees, by the two divergent stereotypes which emerged out of
pseudo-scientific racial theory on the one hand and liberal humanitarianism
on the other. Thus, the racial stereotypes spawned by Frere and Shepstone
came to influence H. Rider Haggard's historical and fictional literature on
Cetshwayo and the Zulu. The author of Zulu romances elevated the Zulu to
a heroic stature comparable to the heroic primitives of Homeric Greece or
the Norsemen of Scandinavia. To Haggard, the Zulu and their 'noble but
savage' King represented a stage of European civilization that had long since
passed. Haggard used his Zulu romances such as Nada the Lily and his histori
cal narrative Cetywayo and his White Neighbours to identify the 'European
past with the African present'. Out of such literature emerged vivid and
enduring images which reinforced the popular white stereotype ofthe Zulu.'"
To serve their Country in arms, to die for it and for the King; such was
their primitive ideal. If they were fierce they were loyal, and feared
neither wounds nor doom; if they listened to the dark redes of the
witch-doctor, the trumpet call of duty sounded still louder in their
ears.31
Much of the recent history on King Cetshwayo and the Zulu Kingdom is
contained in popular accounts of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 - a war that
has continually appealed to the imagination of the European world because
of its 'colourful', 'romantic' and 'heroic' dimensions. These largely military
histories vary from the substantial and well-written The Washing of the
Spears by Donald Morris to the weak and sensational 'story-telling' in The
Glamour and the Tragedy of the Zulu War by Clements. 32 By focusing on the
.~nglo-Zulu War, greater emphasis is given to analysing and describing the
formidable 'Zulu military machine'; in the process, the more persistent
Victorian racial stereotypes of a Zulu society absorbed in 'militarism' were
transferred to succeeding generations in the present day. Morris, who is
fairly sympathetic to King Cetshwayo, still reminds us in The Washing of the
Spears that 'Cetshwayo made no effort to change the usages of his people .
. . . the social fabric of the Zulus was still woven on the warp of cattle ...
and the woof of the military system'. 33
The principal modern works on the history of the Zulu Kingdom and King
Cetshwayo reflect the intellectual trends in contemporary South African
historiography. A History of Natal, written by Edgar Brookes and Colin
Webb, was very much influenced by the humanitarian ethos of Bishop
40 King Cetshwayo of Zululand
during the Anglo-Zulu War and his subsequent exile and successful
campaign to be restored as King bespeak the nobler human qualities of
tolerance, statesmanship and considerable courage. The great personal
sacrifices which King Cetshwayo endured for the sake of his country and his
people have not been forgotten by succeeding generations. A truer
reflection of King Cetshwayo's place in history can nowhere be found than
in the continuity of Zulu leadership over the past one hundred years. The
present Chief Minister of KwaZulu, and President of the Inkatha ye
Nkululeko ye Sizwe (National Cultural Liberation Movement), Chief
Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, is a greatgrandson of King Cetshwayo and
grandson of King Dinuzulu. Just as King Cetshwayo fought to preserve Zulu
freedom and nationality one hundred years ago, his descendants today carry
on a struggle for lost liberty, and in so doing, invoke the name of King
Cetshwayo as a symbol of inspiration and Zulu national feeling.
NOTES:
1 For an authoritative and well-written account of the history of King Cetshwayo and the
Zulu Kingdom during the Anglo-Zulu War and eivil war periods, one must read the
following: Jeff Guy, The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom (London, 1979); and Jeff Guy,
'Cetshwayo kaMpande c.1832-84' in Christopher Saunders (ed.), Black Leaders in Southern
African History (London, 1979).
2 E.H. Brookes and C. de B. Wehh, A History of Natal (Pietermaritzburg, 1965), Chapters
Ill, IV and V.
3 C. Ballard, The Role of Trade and Hunter Traders in the Political Economy of Colonial
Natal and Zululand 1824-1880', African Economic History. no. 10. 1981, pp. 1-21.
4 The historical dimensions of early missionary endeavour in the Zulu Kingdom are
admirably documented in Norman Etherington. Preachers Peasants and Politics in Southeast
Africa: African Christian Communities in Natal, Pondoland and Zululand (London, 1978).
5 For a lucid analysis of 19th century British racial theory, it is essential to read Christine
Bolt, Victorian Attitudes to Race (London & Toronto, 1971). The quote is taken from
Charles Barter, The Dorp and the Veld; or Six Months in Natal (London, 1852), pp. 172
173.
Natal Witness, 15 Januarv, 1847.
7 Nathanial Jsaacs, Travels- and Adventures in eastern Africa, 2 vols. (Cape Town, 1936 and
1937).
x Ibid., vol. 11, pp. 200-204.
9 British Parliamentary Papers (BPP), C.-1137, Aug. 1873, 'Report of the Expedition to
Install Cetywayo', paragraph 4.
10 Quoted in C. de B. Webb and J.B. Wright (eds.), A Zulu King Speaks: statements made hy
Cetshwayo kaMpande on the history and customs of his people (Pietermaritzburg and
Durhan 1978), p. 67.
11 Brookes and Webb, A History of Natal, pp. 98-100.
12 Donald Morris, The Washing of the Spears, (London, 1966), pp. 202-206.
13 C.T. Binns, The Last Zulu King: the Life and Death of Cetshwayo, (London, 1963), p. 87.
16 Natal Archives, Colonial Secretary's Office, vo!. 1925, No. 19, 'Special Border Agent's
22 Charles Ballard, 'The Transfrontiersman: the Career of John Dunn in Natal and Zululand
1834-1895' (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Natal, Durban, 1980), p. 314-318.
23 Cornelius Vijn, Cetshwayo's Dutchman: being the private journal of a white trader in
Zululand during the British Invasion, translated, edited and annotated by I.W. Colenso
24 (London, 1880).
Bishop Colenso's most analytically critical publication of British imperial policy and Frere's
25 role is contained in his Commentary on Frere's Policy, (Bishopstowe. 1882-83).
26 Guy, The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom, pp. 133-135.
BPP, C-3247 of 1881, Enclosure in No. 14, p. 12. Cetshwayo to Kimberley, 10 November
1881.
27 Colonial Office Confidential Prints, CO. 879119/248, pp. 1-2. Restoration of Cetewayo;
Terms of, 1882.
28 Guy, The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom, pp. 192-204.
29 Ibid., p. 199.
~o An able summary of Zulu literary stereotypes is contained in Russell Martin, 'British Images
of the Zulu, c.1820-85: Some approaches to a research topic', unpublished paper delivered
to the Southern African Seminar, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1980.
3l H.R. Haggard, Child of Storm (London, 1913), preface.
32 W.H. Clements, The Glamour and Tragedy of the Zulu War (London, 1936).
33 Morris, The Washing of the Spears, p. 282.
34 Brookes and Webb, A History of Natal, p. 95.
35 Guy, 'Cetshwayo kaMpande c.1832-84', p. 78.
36 Guy. The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom, p. 243.
37 Magema M. Fuze, The Black People and whence they came, translated by H.C. Lugg and
CHARLES BALLARD
43
some Poems
One cannot be certain that such an entity as 'Natal literature' can be said to
exist. Of the authors who have lived in Natal, the majority have spent large
parts of their lives elsewhere. It is clear too that literature, unlike some
other forms of human activity, is often not particularly associated with a
specific region; indeed the more important a writer is, usually, the less
regional he or she will seem.
In spite of these difficulties there may perhaps be some value in looking at
literature associated with Natal. But the subject is a complex one, and the
material is vast. In this article I shall attempt only two things: a sketch of the
history of 'Natal literature' until the 1930s, and a brief commentary on a
number of poems written by authors who have spent significant periods of
their lives in Natal.
I
The history of Natal and Zululand over the last 150 years or so has been
in many respects turbulent and unhappy, and it has produced deep divisions
between races and between classes. It is hardly surprising, then, that so far
nobody seems to have managed to get a clear view of all the literature
produced either in Natal (as it now is) or by people with Natal associations.
An additional difficulty is that there are three Natal languages: Zulu,
English and Afrikaans. When one considers the different interests and
audiences that literary works of various kinds cater for, one realises that
there could be said to be many more than three literatures.
The first literary compositions in the Natal area were oral, though some of
them have been written down since; they were the songs, prayers and tales
of the San (Bushmen) and of the Nguni peoples. Zulu oral literature is very
rich; perhaps nothing in the literature of Natal is more striking or more
beautiful; certainly nothing is more expressive of a highly integrated yet
constantly evolving culture, than the many subtly-wrought izibongo or
praise-poems, particularly those of the kings and other great men. (In
various forms the tradition of the izibongo is still alive today).
The coming of white settlers in the first decades of the nineteenth century
led to the beginnings of various European modes of writing - diaries,
reports, stories. Then as the white population increased and European
44 'Natal Literature'
important book, for it suggested some of the directions which much Zulu
writing would take: it dramatized tensions between western Christian and
traditional African values, and it showed a serious interest in that great and
puzzling figure, Shaka. For most Zulu writers - and indeed for many other
black writers too (one thinks of the Sotho Mofolo, the Senegalese Senghor,
the Nigerian Soyinka) - an analysis of the personality and significance of
Shaka has been a part of an overall investigation of the meaning of being a
black person. The first novel in English by a black writer was published in
1928, two years before Dube's novel (Sol Plaatje's famous Mhudi had been
written earlier but appeared later): this was An African Tragedy, by R.R.R.
Dhlomo. It was a small work, yet it was prophetic in some ways, as it was a
novel of the city; and the city, together with the sufferings of the oppressed
and confused urban workers, forms one of the great themes of South
African literature.
In the years which followed, there was a considerable amount of writing,
in various genres, by black Natalians. R.R.R. Dhlomo, for example,
produced a number of historical novels in Zulu. His younger brother H.LE.
Dhlomo, in some ways a more interesting figure, wrote, in English, plays,
short stories, criticism, and (in 1941) Valley of a Thousand Hills, a long
poem, rather loosely romantic and elegiac but nevertheless of considerable
thematic interest. In the mid-thirties there emerged B.W. Vilakazi: he wrote
three novels in Zulu, and became the first distinguished Zulu scholar (he
joined the staff of the University of the Witwatersrand, gained a doctorate
and was co-author of what has become the standard Zulu-English
dictionary), but his greatest achievements are the two volumes - Inkondlo
kaZulu (1935) and Amal'ezulu (1945) - in which Zulu written poetry can be
said to have come of age.
While these developments were taking place among black writers, some
very important work was being done by English-speaking whites; but there
seems to have been almost no contact between black and white. 3 In 1926 two
brilliant young writers came together and, at Umdoni Park on the Natal
south coast, edited and wrote articles for a new journal called Voorslag
(Whiplash). The first of these writers was Roy Campbell, aged 24, who had
been brought up in Natal 4 and had made a name for himself in Britain with
his long poem The Flaming Terrapin (1924). The second was William
Plomer, who was 22 and had spent his childhood in the Transvaal and in
Britain, but who had been living near Eshowe when he wrote his remarkable
novel Turbott Wolfe, which was published in London early in 1926. Turbott
Wolfe impressed Britain and the United States but scandalized most of white
South Africa: it is a lively annd imaginative book, which evokes Africans
with great sympathy and is critical of most whites; its central theme is
miscegenation, a topic which many white South Africans are reluctant to
discuss even today. Campbell and Plomer were joined by a third young
writer - Laurens van der Post, an Afrikaner, who was only nineteen. The
Umdoni Park moment was one of the greatest that South African literature
has yet produced: Campbell wrote some of his finest poems ('The Serf',
'The Zulu Girl', 'Tristan da Cunha'), and Plomer wrote his celebrated short
story 'Ula Masondo', about a tribal Zulu who experiences the full impact of
Johannesburg. But the Voorslag venture could not last: in its cultural and
political views it was too advanced for public opinion - which meant, then,
46 'Natal Literature'
II
Breaking off my survey at this point may seem arbitrary, but it is
necessary. By the 1930s the picture has acquired a complication which puts it
beyond the reach of a short essay.
In this second part of my article I propose simply to print an extract and a
number of poems - with translations into English where the original
language is Zulu or Afrikaans - and to make a few comments on them and
their authors. My only aim is to give some immediate sense of the richness
and variety of the work that has been produced. This way of presenting
poems does not of course do full justice either to the poems or to the poets.
More important, it is obviously unfair to focus all of one's attention on
poetry and to omit novels, short stories, and plays - to say nothing of other
types of literature. I have singled out poetry because it is the most
concentrated form of literary art and can for this reason be more easily
presented to the reader.
In adopting this procedure I have, inevitably, passed over many important
writers. I name a few of the more recent ones (some of the earlier ones have
been mentioned already): Bessie Head, C.L.S. Nyembezi, Jack Cope,
Abraham de Vries, E.E.N.T. Mkhize, J.c. Dlamini, Henrietta Grove, June
Drummond, Daphne Rooke, O.E.H. Nxumalo, Marlise Joubert, J.F.
Holleman, Jenny Seed, Ronnie Govender, C.J.M. Nienaber, Jordan
Ngubane, Khaba Mkhize.
With these explanations and apologies, then, I pass on to my brief
anthology and commentary.
'Natal Literature' 47
Even in cold print, and even in translation, this epic poem has, it seems to
me, considerable power. But it was made for passionate recitation by an
official praiser or imbongi on occasions of great excitement and importance,
and it would have had an extra communal meaning which it is not easy to
recapture fully. The imbongi was the mediator between the chief and his
people, and the heroic qualities and deeds that he praised (sometimes he
criticized too) were offered to the gathering not simply as personal laudation
but as social ideals. Needless to say, most people at the gathering would
have known all the names that appear in the poem, while at the same time
recognizing, consciously or intuitively, the poet's artistic accomplishment.
Some modern readers may find the ideals offered here rather bloodthirsty
and frightening. But it is important to remember that every culture has
praised the warrior-virtues where they are felt to have been employed in a
good cause. (English readers need go no further than Henry V or the
wartime speeches of Churchill.) Shaka was the founder of the Zulu nation,
and a leader of great intelligence, energy and boldness; he can be said to
have partly created, by his life and exploits, some of the characteristic
features of the corporate Zulu personality.
A reader who does not know Zulu will not of course be able to detect the
poem's rhythmic subtlety; but the force of the imagery comes through in
translation, and a careful look at the Zulu text reveals impressive rhetorical
repetitions and delicately interlocking instances of assonance and alliteration
(consider, for example, the first six lines). This is poetry in the richest sense
of the word.
'Natal Literature' 49
To F. C. Slater
The quatrain 'On Some South African Novelists' is superb; some people
have thought it the best epigram written in English this century. It is
interesting to note that here, too, Campbell's attention is focused on the fact
- or rather the absence - of power.
facet of British imperial life. Two lines later we are on a battlefield, and we
are given a shockingly exact picture of the death of a British soldier, the
clubman's son. Why did he die? 'By your son's courage, sir, we took the
hill.'
But, as the last stanza goes on to stress, that kind of answer is hopelessly
unsatisfactory. The minor triumphs of battle look paltry and dubious in a
larger perspective, and indeed the whole war created problems far greater
than any that the British could have claimed to be attempting to solve.
Ngikubonile ngisekhaya,
PhO!1O
52 'Natal Literature'
The Moon
o moon, bright queen of darkness!
Some see you as a healer
Who carries medicine bags
And shoulders horns and satchels;
I watch you climb the skies.
Dear moon, so radiant at night
'Natal Literature' 53
In some of the poems in his first volume, Inkondlo kaZulu (Zulu Songs),
Vilakazi, partly under the influence of the English Romantic poets, tried
experimenting with EuropeatJ metrical forms; but in his second volume,
Amal'ezulu (Zulu Horizons), fmrp. which these two poems are taken, he has
fully developed a style of bis owii, modelled to some extent on the praise
songs or izibongo.
Vilakazi wrote poems on a variety of subjects, but in almost all of them
one is aware of his brooding, probing personality, his love of the Zululand
and Natal of his childhood and youth, his desire to be a true poet and true
spokesman for his people, and his abhorrence of the indignities suffered by
his fellow blacks.
'Inyanga' is one of his more intimate poems, a poem in which the writer's
personality is vividly conveyed to the reader. In his poetic use of the moon
he has succeeded in combining traditional Zulu notions (in Zulu, for
example, 'inyanga' can also mean a diviner or herbalist) with ideas that he
might have come across in English poets. The poem expresses the writer's
sense of being not only alienated in a white-dominated city but also, to some
extent, lonely in a disappointing world. At the same time the moon,
symbolizing the mysterious power both of the universe and of the poetic
imagination, is a source of inspiration to him.
54 'Natal Literature'
uit die klein wit ko\. out of the small white spot.
uit die klein wit skyn disappear from the small, white
Digter Poet
wat groei tot boeg en mas that grow to bows and mast
Dirk Opperman comes from the Dundee district, and took an M.A.
degree at the University in Pietermaritzburg in 1939. Since 1960 he has been
Professor at the University of Stellenbosch. He is generally regarded as the
greatest living Afrikaans poet.
Of all the poets that appear in this chapter, Opperman is perhaps the most
difficult to do any sort of justice to in a short space. He is a poet of
remarkable depth, complexity and variety. In his uses of symbolism and in
the philosophical edge to his poetic explorations, in his recognition of
central tensions in human existence and in his translation of these tensions
into the structure of his poetry, Opperman is in some ways comparable to
such great twentieth-century masters as Yeats, Rilke and Valery. And yet
his poetry is profoundly South African too - profoundly of this soil.
'Man met flits' is on one level a sharply-etched account of the experiences
of a man making his way, past stones, branches and waters, with a torch or
flashlight. But there is obviously, from the first, a deeper resonance: the
poem is offering, in fact, an account of man's life in the universe; the torch,
with its bright but narrow and moving ray of light, represents man's
perception (as is made clear in the first stanza). Life is dark, then. What we
see we tend to see fleetingly, and in isolation; we never get the full 'daylight'
picture. Moreover the very act of seeing is rather frightening to us, and we
seem somehow to frighten away the things that we look at: they won't stay
still to be examined. We managed to keep going, with great difficulty; but
on both sides a dark land threatens us. It is a sharp, grim, challenging poem.
Its short words and spiky consonants thrust themselves at us like objects
seen briefly by the light of a torch.
In some respects 'Digter' resembles 'Man met flits'. The poet is a person
who is actively aware that he (like other people) is an exile from a lost
fatherland - the land, presumably, where meaning and fulfilment exist. All
his longings draw him back towards this fatherland, and he resolves to
construct a poetic work which will be the ship in which he will sail home. At
56 'Natal Literature'
last the vessel is fully rigged, and the journey begins - but the ship is in a
bottle, it can't be launched on a real sea. What does the poem mean? It
seems to suggest that our noble or desperate attempts to reach the truth
valuable though they may well be - are all subjective, perhaps even
solipsistic. We cannot escape the glassy confines of our own visions. The
best that we can attain to is a personal, long-distance view of the truth. The
imagery of Ceylon and the fatherland is of course South African (in the
Anglo-Boer War, some Boer prisoners were sent to Ceylon, now Sri
Lanka), and the poem may have some meaning on this level. But
undoubtedly its main thrust is universal.
'Kersliedjie' is one of the poems in which Opperman shows his lively
awareness of social and political problems. The birth of Christ - tersely and
vividly recounted - is seen as an event in the life of the 'Coloured'
community. The poem recreates crucial features of the Christmas story
which are apt to be blurred, particularly in the eyes of those upon whom
society bestows privileges: the poverty in which Christ lives is real, not
merely decorative, and the salvation that he embodies has been offered to
all human beings, and especially to those who are humbled by being poor
and powerless. The final stanza is enigmatical; it perhaps suggests that the
poet, like the bantam, for various reasons reserves his judgment on 'the
whole affair'.
poet's inner consciousness and towards the heart of the country's innermost
problem:
We in our swiftly moving car
Pass small boys on the road walking
In a few words, with great simplicity, we are given the gist of the South
African issue: rich whites as against poor blacks, an affluent economy
interwoven with rural underdevelopment - an overall complexity in which
everyone is involved. The poet hears and sees the boys calling out to him
'father, father' - and he considers the meaning of their call.
He ponders: the style of the poem, with its Whitmanesque repetitions,
suggests - as much of Paton's writing does - a man thinking deeply and
earnestly. He feels that behind the salutations thrown out by the small boys
- 'For pleasure or hope of gain, I cannot say' - there lie 'solemn and
sacred meanings', meanings which the boys t,hemseives are not distinctly
conscious of but which the poet in his partial detachment can discern. What
he is above all aware of is that the boys' salutations - all that they signify, all
that they suggest - lead to obligations, 'solemn and sacred obligations', in
the poet, in the reader, in white people, in society at large.
It could be said that Alan Paton's life-work has been a continual attempt
to articulate and dramatize these 'obligations'.
58 'Natal Literature'
Let's zoom our minds down, say, in human focus and feel;
We see.
1945
Staan daar nog in Eden erens, Lies there still in Eden somewhere,
met poorte grusaam toegespyker, with gates closed up and nailed so grimly
deur eeue die mislukte tuin? that ill-starred garden, through the aeons?
Word daar nog die swoele dae Are the sultry days still followed
deur swoele skemering en nag vervang by sultry dusk and night time now,
waar donkergeel en purper vrugte where purple and dark yellow clusters
verrottend aan die takke hang? of fruit hang rotting on the bough?
soos sierkant deur die rotse heen: that runs like lace through rocks unknown
Vloei daar deur die natgroen struike Do there flow with rippling echoes
nog met kabbeling wat ver weerklink, through dank green bushes on their brinks
60 'Natal Literature'
Staan daar nog in Eden erens Lies there still in Eden somewhere
verwaarloos soos 'n stad in puin, neglected like a town in ruins
gedoem tot langsame verrotting and doomed to gradual putrefaction
deur eeue die mislukte tuin?24 that ill-starred garden, through the aeons?25
(translated by C.J.D. Harvey)
wrists as slim;
such a dolour
Mother!
Springy, a daisy
Head on a stalk
(But no ways leafy)
- Who well defends herself
But isn't touchy
- Who's grave and gentle.
She bows her head to kiss me:
Her lips are softer than satin,
Her mouth is full of honey.
Gay she is sometimes
And bitter at others
(What does she have against me?)
And fierce she is in her loving
And reproach
But always gentle,
Always witty. 30
Dompas!
I looked back
Dompas!
Mafika Pascal Gwala was born and educated in Natal, and lives at
Mpumalanga, near Hammarsdale.
'Kwela-Ride' is a vivid poem of 'black experience' - or of the experience
of anyone who feels the victim of an unjust and arbitrary system of law
enforcement. The poem is brief, and surprising: that is a part of its point. It
is also dramatic; every line offers a new concrete fact. And the details are
significant. 'I looked back': he is stopped short in his tracks, addressed
rudely from behind. 'I went through my pockets': one pictures the man's
desperation, and his humiliation, there in the street. 'They bit into my flesh
64 'Natal Literature'
(handcuffs),: the handcuffs bite, but behind the physical biting is the
psychological biting of 'they', the 'guardians' of society. 'We crawled in': the
people are reduced now to the condition of animals or insects. 'The young
men sang' - in defiance, but also to raise their morale.
In that dark moment
It all became familiar
What the poem offers us is, in the end, not an isolated incident but a central
fact of folk-experience.
15. Chris Mann (born 1948)
The Prospect from Botha's Hill
on Good Friday
Far below,
What provoked
No calm is falser
Chris Mann has studied and worked in a variety of places; he is now one
of the directors of the Valley Trust in Botha's Hill.
The scene of the Valley of a Thousand Hills, and the sounds of donkey,
cock l!nd herdboy, are vividly evoked. Looking and listening, the poet is
depressed by the ways in which the whole scene seems to symbolize 'human
weakness and betrayal': an essential aspect of the South African situation is
before his eyes, and he is reminded of the great betrayal of the Christian
story (it is a poem for Good Friday).
The poem also pictures a conflict within the poet. His dismay is in danger
of making him insensitive to the beauty of the herdboy's song, but
something within him suggests that insensitivity can never be valuable.
16. Shabbir Banoobhai (born 1949)
in each you
you model before me
every day
i see
beyond the chameleon of your never self
now green against my growing happiness
now brown against the dUll twig of my sorrow
the still you
longing
to lose yourself
in my whoever me 33
'Natal Literature' 65
III
I have offered a glance at the earlier history of 'Natal literature' , and I've
presented and commented on a number of poems. One cannot draw large
conclusions from such an impressionistic half-survey.
But it seems safe to say that Natal - or Natal-KwaZulu as it might
perhaps be called today - has produced, not only complex socio-cultural
clashes and interweavings, but a fair range of subtle literature. Or rather, it
has provided the site for this literature. It is difficult to be sure in what sense
Natal, which is a part both of South Africa and of the world, can claim
ownership of 'Natal literature'.
2 An English translation of it has recently been published by the University of Natal Press.
3 Plomer did, however, meet Dube, and Gandhi's son Manilal. And van der Post has said
that the three young editors of Voorslag intended to publish work in Zulu as well as in
Campbell had been a pupil at Durban High School; so, some fourteen years earlier, had
Fernando Pessoa, who went on to become the greatest modern Portuguese poet.
5 Trevor Cope (ed.), lzibongo: Zulu Praise· Poems, collected by James Stuart, and translated
by Daniel Malcolm (London, 1968), p. 89.
Cope, Izibongo, p. 88.
Roy Campbel\, Collected Poems: Volume 1, (London, 1955), p. 30.
8 Campbell, Collected Poems: Volume 1, p. 198.
9 William Plomer, Collected Poems (London, 1973), p. 25.
15 A.P. Grove and C.J.D. Harvey (eds.), Afrikaans Poems with English Translations (Cape
30 Peter Strauss, Bishop Bernward's Door and other poems (Cape Town, 1983), p. 27.
34 Michael Chapman and Achmat Dangor (eds.), Voices from Within: Black Poetry from
Southern Africa (Johannesburg, 1982), p. 84.
35 Dikobe wa Mogale, Baptism of Fire (Johannesburg, to be published 1984).
COLIN GARDNER
67
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Oldest Houses in Pietermaritzburg 69
This number does not include the 11 new buildings which will probably
be completed before the end of this month; and 30 temporary houses
of wood erected by those who have not yet decided whether they will
stay in the city or sell their property.
Well then - of these houses which are described by the shameless
person as 'temporary hovels', at least half are favourably comparable
to the houses in the old capital of Doctor Van Riebeeck as far as
external appearance, solidity, and the arrangement of comfort inside
the house are concerned. The houses of the following people are
examples of this: Landsberg, Ohrtmann, Hansmeyer, Coqui, Boshof,
Muller, Ripking, Poortman, Eick, Ferreira, Van der Merwe,
Wolhuter, Botha, as well as 25 or 30 others.
Then one also has to consider the beautiful gardens behind these
houses, which, for their neatness and the quality and the variation of
their products, are a recommendation to their owners.
These, then, are the houses described by the mendacious person as
'mushrooms' . . .
The total of 162 houses (132 built of stone or brick plus 30 wooden
structures enumerated by De Natalier) , is corroborated l by Commissioner
H. Cloete's 1843 Register of Erven Claimed in Pietermaritzburg (Table 1).
Cloete's report distinguished 'Built upon and Bona Fide occupied erven'
from 'cultivated and occupied erven' without explanation, but he was
probably distinguishing permanent from temporary houses. However,
Cloete's report does not indicate the location of houses upon their respective
erfs. Article 5 of the dorp regulations stipulated:
De woonhuizen zullen, naar aanwyging van een daartoe gekwalificeerd
persoon, in den front moeten worden gebouwd en in eengelyke linie.
(S.A. Archival Records, Natal No. 1, (1958) p. 295).
But which was the front of the erf? In dorps such as Graaff-Reinet rows of
houses faced each other along every alternate longstreet, but this pattern
was not followed in Pietermaritzburg. An 1851 sketch of the dorp, Plate 1,
indicates rows of houses along Longmarket, Church and Pietermaritz
Streets. This sketch along with slope considerations, viz. that the houses
would be located at the higher end of the erfs, and Cloete's report were used
Plate 1: Pietermaritzburg from Fort Napier in 1851.
(Photograph: Natal Museum)
to compile Figure 1.2 The double-storey house which stands on Erf 33 Boom
Street, which has been accepted as 'The Oldest House in Town' and is a
National Historical Monument, is notably absent in Figure 1. According to
Cloete's report Erf 33 Boom Street was not 'Built Upon' although it had
been enclosed and cultivated. 3
The next step was to check Figure 1 in the field in order to answer the
question: how many if any, of the 1843 houses have survived?' Ten houses.,
which occupy expected locations on erven 'Built Upon' in 1843, were
identified in July 1983. 5 Table 2 provides additional information on these ten
dwellings.
Although each of these historic dwellings has been modified, their floor
plan and construction materials point clearly to their historic character. They
are all basically single storeyed rectangular plan cottages, with a loft,
standing lengthwise to the street. Each of the dwellings contains thick walls
- the smaller mud brick wall cottages average 40 cms in thickness and the
larger houses, whose walls were built with shale or burnt brick reach 60 cms
in thickness. 6 Yellow wood floor and ceiling boards, and in one instance a
staircase, provide additional evidence . In terms then of architectural
features, historical records and geographical location these dwellings are the
oldest in Pietermaritzburg.
Six of these historic houses are worthy of conservation and restoration,
and hence warrant further detail.
Oldest Houses in Pietermaritzburg 71
House van der Merwe (Old Oxenham's Bakery, 241 Commercial Road)
This house stands on Erf 81 Burger Street, which was built upon by 1843.
The house was identified by De Natalier in 1844 as one of the best in the
dorp, and the 1846 title deed shows the building in its present location.
Although it has been substantially modified (Plate 2) the loft, yellow wood
ceiling beams, walls and an 1896 photograph (Plate 3) all verify its longevity.
Conclusions
Much basic research concerning the early development of
Pietermaritzburg still remains to be undertaken. This study claims only to
have pointed the way. Pietermaritzburg is widely renowned for its late
nineteenth century architecture. The conservation and restoration of the six
early nineteenth century houses detailed herein would add considerably to
the city's architectural record and reputation.
NOTES
I Hattersley (1938, 1951), Kearney (1967) and Gordon (1981) all accepted De Natalier's
1844 tally of houses without verification from Cloete's 1843 report.
2 The location of Widow Retief's house and the Church of the Vow on Church Street lend
further support to the locations proposed in Figure 1.
No dwelling is shown on Erf 33 Boom Street on the 1845 Town Plan of Pietermaritzburg
drawn by Chas. Piers and P.L.G. Cloete, which is on display in the Natal Museum.
4 Although the Church of the Vow was originally a house it is not included in this tally of
dwellings.
5 Since then the house at 417 Berg Street has been demolished.
Ii Pistorius' brick and tile works, at the foot of Town Hill, began producing bricks in 1840,
while shale was quarried at Ohrtmann's quarry to the east of the dorp.
REFERENCES
CLARK, J. (1969) John Moreland, Byrne Agent (Ph.D. Thesis: University of Natal, Pieter
maritzburg).
CLOETE, H. (1843) Register of Erven claimed with names of claimants at Pietermaritzburg,
Congella and Weenen (Natal Archives).
GORDON, R. (1981) The Place of the Elephant (Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter).
HATTERSLEY, A.F. (1938) Pietermaritzburg Panorama (Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and
Shooter).
HATTERSLEY, A.F. (1951) Portrait of a City (Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter).
KEARNEY, B.T. (1967) Architecture in Natal (1824-1893) (Master of Arch. Thesis: University
of Natal. Pietermaritzburg).
SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHIVAL RECORDS (1958) Natal No. 1: Notule van die Natalse
Volksraad (1838-1845) (Cape Town: The Government Printer).
RW. BRANN & ROBERT F. HASWELL
76
A Perspective of Law in
a voluntary association are not law, even to those who have voluntarily
subjected themselves to them, because law governs irrespectively of
there having ever been consent. 27
At times, Connor would enliven his learned, carefully-reasoned
judgements with an attractive and lively mode of expression. In Lloyd v
Colenso, the plaintiff objected to Colenso's decree of suspension for certain
alleged wrongs, on the ground that the offences charged against him (LJoyd)
had not been committed in Natal. Connor J. rejected this defence, and
asked rhetorically:
Is there any locality but that of the mind and soul in morals? Can a
person commit an immoral act and then by leaving the scene of its
performance leave his immorality behind him too? If a person acts
wrongly in England and then comes to Natal, does he by his voyage
change his nature as well as his sky?2R
Also on the Natal Supreme Court Bench was the third puisne judge,
Henry Lushington Phillips.29 His judgements in the Colenso cases were
generally short, direct statements, containing a small amount of legal
authority, and a large measure of personal assessment. 30 The highly
subjective nature of his judgements was shown in Ex parte Wheeler (1866).31
Here the applicant sought an order calling on Dean Green to produce the
baptismal register of St Peter's, so as to allow an entry to be made of
Colenso's baptism of Wheeler's child. Phillips J. declined to grant the order,
saying that he did not see the importance of the matter, as 'he had not been
baptised'.32 In expressing his opinions, PhiIIips was often extremely
forthright. In Williams v Brooks and Fraser (1867)/3 he decided to impose
only a small fine on certain Colenso supporters, for contempt of court. After
condemning the 'desecration' of the church through the holding of 'orgies
and committing brawls', he went on to:
blame a Christian Bishop [Twells], who, if he did not proclaim,
allowed his partisans to proclaim, that he would invade the diocese and
usurp the functions proper to the Bishop of Natal alone in his
Cathedral Church. If this invading Bishop does not follow the precepts
of peace and charity which were inculcated by his master, he ought at
all events to show that delicacy of feeling which is observed between
one gentleman and another. 34
On occasions, one of the above judges would be absent from duty, and an
acting judge would be appointed to officiate on the Bench. During the
1860s, Connor was twice called to serve on the Bench in the Cape Colony. 35
During his first absence, Henry Meller36 officiated as acting second puisne
judge. Meller was an English barrister, with very limited knowledge of the
local legal system. 37 Therefore, his judgements were usually in line with
those of the Chief Justice, supplemented by personal opinions. In Bishop of
Natal v Green, Williams and Dickinson (1866)/8 Colenso applied for an order
that he be allowed access to the baptismal register of St Peter's, held by the
respondents. Meller A.J. supported Harding's decision to grant the
application, and then (gratuitously) went on to condemn Dean Green's
mode of conduct in the dispute. 39
On the occasion of Connor's second absence, Henry Cope40 was
appointed. Cope was a lowly English solicitor, with barely an elementary
knowledge of Natal law.41 He achieved his elevation to the Bench through
The Colenso Cases 79
zealously promoting his cause before the local authorities, and by working to
the very best of his limited abilities. 42 On the Bench, he produced pompous,
longwinded judgements, perilously deficient in sound legal reasoning and
authority. In Bishop of Natal v Green, he produced a jUdgement far longer
than those of Harding and Phillips, and said that this was because the main
issues had 'not been as fully noticed by the Chief Justice in his judgement,
nor do I think by Mr Justice Phillips, ... as I deem it advisable they should
be'. He then went on to outline his conclusions, which were, he admitted,
'adverse in many respects' to those of the judges of the Privy Council on the
matter!43
The Colenso cases thus reveal a Bench of sharply contrasting abilities:
encompassing the talent of Connor and the abysmal ignorance and
subjectivity of Phillips and the temporary judges. The next issue to be
examined is the kind of law that these judges applied to the disputes in
hand. A statute of 1845 had established Roman-Dutch law as the official
legal system of Natal. 44 In Bishop of Natal v Wills, the Court considered the
application of Colenso for an interdict restraining Wills from officiating as a
minister in any Anglican Church in Natal, without the licence of Colenso to
do so. Harding c.J. affirmed that the 'foundation or constitution' of the
Supreme Court was based upon 'the law adopted and modified in Holland
from the [Roman] civil law, and commonly called the Roman-Dutch Law'.
He said that '[t]he process of interdict is well known in the practice of the
Roman-Dutch Law, and to the Courts which like this Court are founded on
that system', and so proceeded to consider the Dutch authorities on this
issue. 4; Following Harding C.J.'s judgement, Connor J. also canvassed the
Roman-Dutch law on the matter. 46
However, Roman-Dutch law was a legal system which had, by the 1860s,
long since ceased to operate in its country of origin, and so was becoming
out-dated and obsolete. 47 Furthermore, many of the major Roman-Dutch
works were un translated from the original Dutch and Latin in which they
were written. 48 Harding knew Dutch, but no Latin; Connor knew Latin but
no Dutch; and the other judges on the Bench displayed scant knowledge of
either language. 49 Thus, reference to Roman-Dutch law was at best
spasmodic, and in the case of Phillips, Meller and Cope, hardly at all. 50
Where recourse was made, this would often be to English translations of
Roman-Dutch works. In Bishop of Natal v Wills, Connor J. relied upon
Johannes van der Linden's Koopmans Handboek translated as Institutes of
the Laws of Holland. 51 This reference was unsatisfactory for two reasons:
this work was written for Dutch laymen, not for legal experts; and the
translation used was done by an English barrister, who at times incorporated
notions of English law in his rendering of the text. 52 Connor certainly did
possess the intellectual capacity for a thorough grasp of the Roman-Dutch
law, and this was evidenced to some extent in his Colenso judgements. 53 But
at the time of these cases, his interest in and mastery of Roman-Dutch law
had not yet reached the levels he was to attain in the late 1860s and
beyond. 54
Because of the deficiencies in Roman-Dutch law, and the judges' limited
grasp of it, recourse was had to other sources. In particular, as the Colenso
cases show, the judges used English law extensively, to supplement and even
supplant Roman-Dutch law. This was hardly surprising, in view of the
80 The Colenso Cases
charged atmosphere of the Colenso cases of the 1860s. Most of the judges
were seen to have decided views either for or against Colenso, and their
judgements were seen to follow these preconceived opinions. Thus, Harding
was held to be on the side of Colenso,68 and on one occasion, in Bishop of
Natal v Wills, bets were freely offered on his judgement, long before the
case came up for hearing. 69 Harding's line was adopted with even greater
fervour by Cope and Meller: the latter's judgement in Bishop of Natal v
Green, Williams and Dickinson, which was sharply critical of Green's
conduct, was reportedly presented with 'face white with rage, his teeth all
but clenched with fury'. 70
Ranged on the side of Colenso's opponents was the redoubtable Connor.
As seen above, Connor's legal ability was of the highest order, and he was
generally esteemed as an impartial, scrupulously careful and level-headed
judge. 7! However, on the personal level, Connor lived a very narrow, at
times eccentric existence: he never married, and 'lived all alone in a cottage
bare of anything but the most primitive and cheap furnishings [and] plank
shelves round the rooms, full of books'. 72 Within these limited confines, he
devoted his time and energies to his studies, and to the handful of non-legal
subjects that interested him. This was done with great intensity, and it is not
surprising that the views which he formed on his pet topics tended to be
rigid and dogmatic. Perhaps the most important amongst his interests was
religion: he was said to be 'a devout [Anglican] churchman'.73 Connor's
brand of Anglicanism was traditional and precise, and he was reportedly
'very particular in his interpretation of the rubrics'. 74 It was, then, to be
expected that when Colenso began to expound his controversial ideas in the
1860s Connor would be deeply affected, and would find his own religious
views sharply opposed to those of Colenso. Connor proceeded to attend
services held by Colenso's opponents, and when he and Colenso happened
both to be in Durban, he ostentatiously left the church as soon as Colenso
began the reading of prayers. 75
What was highly unfortunate was that Connor brought his personal
religious views to bear on his decisions in the Colenso cases. Con nor
consistently gave judgements in favour of Colenso's opponents, and often
appended personal comments adverse to Colenso's position. In Bishop of
Natal v Bishop of Cape Town, he noted that:
if a new trustee [of the Natal Anglican Church] were to be appointed I
should say it ought not to be the plaintiff; . . . Every trustee is duty
bound to look to the interests of all, and not of any particular member,
or class of members of his [trust].76
Then his dissenting judgement in Bishop of Natal v Wills, concerning the
grant of a provisional order, was emotional, repetitive and punctuated by
strong statements. 77 On the return day of this matter, Advocate Pinsent,
counsel for the Bishop, appealed to Church of England members, from
'every principle of decency', to submit quietly while Colenso remained
Bishop of the local Church. To this Connor 1. replied: 'Of course there are a
good many answers to that'. 78 He later went on to indicate fairly explicitly
his own position in the conflict, when he noted that:
the question was a most important one to all persons in the Church of
England. The principles in this case would affect every single
worshipper in the English Church in Natal. 79
82 The Colenso Cases
REFERENCES
Abbreviations: SC = Supreme Court;
PRO CO = Public Records Office, London: Colonial Office
1 Natal Archives, SC, 115/46: case 501.
Natal Archives, SC, 11811: case 56.
12 In 1863, a Natal advocate estimated the total cost of an appeal to be at least five hundred
17 Ibid.
7(J Natal Witness 6 April 1866: letters by 'An Eye Witness' and 'A Churchman'.
71 See e.g. PRO, CO 179/90: Keate to Buckingham 1 September 1868.
72 C. Bird, ~Natal Judges of Former Days', 1936 South African Law Times, 5, p. 215.
73 A.F. Hattersley Later Annals of Natal (Pietermaritzburg, 1938), p. 204.
74 Ibid.
75 Natal Mercury, 13 August 1867: comment by 'Maritzburg Correspondent'.
76 Times of Natal, 9 February 1867: judgement of Connor J.
77 Times of Natal, 11 May 1867: judgement of Connor J.
78 1867 Natal Law Reports, p. 15.
79 1867 Natal Law Reports, p. 17
80 1867 Natal Law Reports, p. 23.
81 Times of Natal, 8 May 1867 and 18 May 1867: letters; and Natal Witness, 6 August 1867:
editorial.
P.R. SPILLER
85
Obituaries
Dr Ernst Gideon Malherbe
At the end of November, 1982, some three weeks after his eighty-seventh
birthday, Or Emst Gideon Malherbe died in Durban. Few men have
contributed more to the welfare and progress of South Africa. Throughout
his long and busy life he devoted himself to the promoting of co-operation
and harmony among our diverse racial groups.
If any man had cause to be a "bittereinder", a narrow racialist, it was
surely Emst Malherbe. In the impressionable years of early childhood his
home, a Free State parsonage, was looted and burned by British soldiers, his
father made a prisoner of war, and the rest of the family, including the five
year old Ernst, forced to seek refuge at the Cape. But the father drew the
right lesson and passed it on to his son! "It was war, and war is a terrible
thing." Throughout his life, Or Malherbe, an eighth generation descendant
of another refugee, a Huguenot, remained a thorough Afrikaner, proud of
the Afrikaner volk and its achievements, but also a citizen of the world,
singularly able and willing to work with people of the most diverse origins
and experiences.
Education at a small Boland school and at the University of Stellenbosch
was followed by extensive research for a doctoral degree at Columbia
University and other seats of learning in the United States. To pay his way
this versatile and ever-resourceful man took on a variety of jobs, among
them shovelling snow at a few cents per hour, steering a taxi through the
crowded New York streets (he was always as proud of his taxi-driver's
licence as of any of his academic honours), tending seasick cattle on an
overloaded cattle boat , and tutoring the mentally defective heir to a
millionaire at a Boy Scout camp.
On his return to South Africa in 1924, he became a senior lecturer in
education at Cape Town University under Fred Clarke and published
Education in South Africa, still the most authoritative work in its field.
Some fifty years later, when retirement brought some leisure to an
incredibly busy life, he brought his history up to date in a second volume. In
his first volume, he gave no space to non-White education; in the second he
amply made good this omission. Malherbe could learn as well as teach.
In the thirties he founded, and became director of, the Bureau of
Educational and Social Research. One result was particularly noteworthy.
Investigation into bilingualism convinced him of the need to educate English
and Afrikaans speaking children side by side in the same schools.
When a Commission was appointed under the aegis of the Carnegie
Corporation to investigate the Poor White problem, the presence in South
86 Obituaries
Dr E .G. Malherbe
(Photograph: PRO University of Natal)
Africa of a large mass of poor, unskilled, often illiterate and, in many cases,
possibly uneducable Whites, Malherbe was a most active member. The
problem is still with us but seems no longer so intractable. How much
improvement was due to general economic expansion is arguable, but the
Commission certainly made an important contribution.
Towards the end of the decade, Malherbe was Director of Census. Then
came World War 11 and, by the barest Parliamentary majority, South Africa
decided to join the Allied ranks. Nationalist opposition was fierce, and
sabotage and subversion were rife.
A group of liberally-minded academics, notably Alfred Hoernle and
Leo Marquard, persuaded Smuts to set up, under Malherbe, a corps
of information officers to counter subversion in the armed forces and to
stimulate the troops to consider what they were fighting for. About the same
time, Smuts made Malherbe Director of Military Intelligence. Henceforward
South African propaganda which had hitherto been too defensive, too prone
merely to counter Nazi propaganda, became much more positive and more
South African in its orientation. Also, the unrivalled insight Malherbe
gained into treason within our borders made him then and for the rest of his
life a feared and disliked object to not a few politicians still active. Though
habitually diplomatic, genial and urbane, he has never been afraid to remind
even the most exalted of their nefarious traffickings during World War 11.
Just before the War ended he became Principal of the Natal University
College and remained there until his retirement twenty years later. Under
Obituaries 87
Educationist
Her love for learning and teaching produced in Daphne the ideal student
and a very gifted teacher. After gaining her Teachers' Certificate Daphne
started as a teacher at Smorzomeni, outside Richmond, Natal in 1953. Later
she joined the Nichols Infant School in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg as an
Assistant Teacher. She was promoted to the position of Principal of Nichols
in 1963. She encouraged her pupils to join the Girl Guide and Scouting
movement which she believed contributed in the moulding of the young
characters in her charge. In the Girl Guide movement she excelled and
achieved the rare honour of being elected to the position of South African
88 Obituaries
Daphne Tshabalala
(Photograph : Natal Witness)
Philanthropist
Inside the Nichols School and outside of it Daphne displayed a unique love
for mankind. Her pupils were not only just children to be taught but she
looked upon them as one large family. The mother instinct came to the
fore when she observed how needy they were. She inculcated amongst her
teacher colleagues the same concern for the children and their homes. As a
result she was instrumental in starting a feeding scheme known as
'Bonginkosi' (thank the Lord) whereby children were supplied with some
thing to eat at school. This scheme grew and was introduced in other
local schools. Bands of concerned people joined and formed feeding
schemes in several other places. Alongside the feeding scheme Daphne and
some friends extended this philanthropic exercise so that today an
impressive Community Centre stands as a memorial to her initiative in
Edendale - the Thuthuka Community Centre. Here children gather after
school to have a meal before returning to their homes. What a pity Daphne
died just when we thought the Centre was reaching completion! Perhaps the
good Lord will raise yet another Daphne to continue this good work. The
story is told that even at her own home Daphne cared for a few waifs whom
she adopted just so that they too might enjoy the warmth of a home life.
Evangelist
Perhaps it was her firm Christian background that led Daphne to be what
she was. Born of sincere God-fearing parents she too grew to be a
committed Christian. In the Methodist Church she played a full part both in
worship and organisation. She was a member of the Young Women's
Manyano (Auxiliary) whose focus is constant prayer. She also served her
church as representative at the Annual District Synod. In the wider
Christian family she served on the Board of Africa Enterprise, an
organisation whose thrust is to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. Amongst
her activities in this field was attending PACLA (Pan African Christian
Leadership Assembly) in Kenya in 1976. Again in 1979 she was prevented
from attending the South African Christian Leadership Assembly (SACLA)
in Pretoria because of her mother's fatal illness. In 1982 she attended the
Consultation on World Evangelism in Thailand. The fruit of her evangelistic
fervour is that an on-going Bible Study group was established where a group
of the teachers of Nichols School meet with members of Africa Enterprise to
share on matters scriptural and spiritual.
So it was that on that gloomy Saturday afternoon in May 1983 at the
Mountain Rise cemetery in Pietermaritzburg as the casket containing
Daphne's remains was lowered into her last resting place I recited the
solemn words of committal and felt the impact of the scripture which says
'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the
Lord'.
And so departed a daughter of Africa - Natal's loss was God's gain.
ERNEST H.B. MKIZE
90 Obituaries
Neville Nuttall
The death of Neville Nuttall in July 1983 in his eightieth year must have
reminded many men and women in Natal of the important contribution
made to education in its widest sense by a man who was a schoolmaster Ipar
excellence and a supremely gifted teacher of English.
Neville Nuttall was born in Durban on 14 October 1903. His first school
was Highbury Preparatory School at Hillcrest, a school for which he had a
life-long affection. From Highbury he went to Kingswood College,
Graharnstown and, for the final year of his school career, to the Durban
High School.
He was one of the outstanding students of his time at the Natal University
College in Pietermaritzburg. A Bachelor of Arts degree in 1923 was
followed by a Master's degree in Engish in 1924 and the Higher Education
Diploma in 1925.
For thirty-eight years he served in the Natal Education Department, being
successively Senior English Master at the Durban High School, Headmaster
of Newcastle High School, Inspector of Schools and Principal of the Natal
Training College.
On his retirement from the Education Department at the end of 1963 he
was invited to join the staff of Hilton College, where he was Senior English
Master for six years .
Neville Nuttall
Obituaries 91
But whether she went to the show or not she stayed with the Natal Society
full-time until March 1973. Not content with 50 glorious years she returned
part-time until her final retirement at the end of May 1983.
Miss Dudley is a lady of many parts. We gather she could sing before she
could talk and is well known for her participation in Philharmonic concerts
and as a soloist in the Methodist Church. She has also sung at many staff
weddings.
Miss Dudley was a keen tennis player and walked undeterred from the
library after a Saturday morning's work to Alexandra Road to play.
A great number of Pietermaritzburg people will remember Miss Dudley
accepting them as members of the Natal Society and the pleasant welcome
she unfailingly gave them.
Many soldiers during World War 11 had occasion to be grateful to the
Natal Society for Books for the Troops. Miss Dudley played a large part in
organizing this service. These books were sorted in rented premises in
Theatre Lane now occupied by an outfitter. The library was of course where
PADCA is now. Most people know the present double storey building but
when Miss Dudley joined the staff it was a single storey structure with a
garden in front. She ended her part-time job in the new four-storeyed
library building behind the City Hall in May 1983.
The length of her service is certainly a record unequalled in the Natal
Society and we wish her a happy and busy retirement.
Dreaming spires
The older buildings of Pietermaritzburg have a remarkable variety of
turrets, spires, belfries, lanterns and other unclassifiable protuberances. It
was A.F. Hattersley in Portrait of a City (p. 107) who referred to the
'strange trio of glorified bowler-hats' on the roof of the Natal Government
Railways offices in Loop Street (now the police station). Our Editor,
forsaking awhile the pen for the Pentax and lifting up his eyes unto the
rooftops , has compiled the collection appearing on pp. 96-97. For the
benefit of those who know the city and may wish to test their powers of
observation, captions have not been placed with the photographs, but will
be found at the end of Notes and Queries.
96 Notes and Queries
7 8 9
13 15
16
Second Edition, 1940), pp. 81-83; M.K. Gandhi: Satyagraha in South Africa (Ahmedabad,
War Graves
The South African War Graves Board has recently been amalgamated with
the National Monuments Council, and two committees now operate under
the auspices of the Council. They are the British Graves Committee under
the chairmanship of Mr George Chadwick, and the Burger Graves
Committee under Brigadier W. Otto. The legal position regarding the
proclamation of war grave sites as national monuments is problematical, but
the Council and its committees are taking steps to obtain clarity on various
points.
Urban Conservation
In our last issue mention was made of the failure to prevent architecturally
incongruous property development in Leighton Street in Pietermaritzburg.
This year it is pleasing to report a victory for the forces of conservation in
the city. The proposal to erect another huge shopping centre in the suburb
of Scottsville, on the block bounded by St Patrick's, Durban and Coronation
roads, was, after much public and council debate, turned down by the
municipality. Not only does this decision check the development of the
Scottsville hillslope into a sort of lesser Hillbrow, but it means the reprieve
of some aesthetically pleasing older dwelling houses which would have been
demolished to make way for the proposed new buildings. Two of them, we
understand, were designed by Collingwood Tully, architect of the original
Natal University College building further up the hill, and an associate of Sir
Herbert Baker.
Continued vigilance is necessary, however. Although the threat of the
shopping centre is removed, there is still a possibility that plans for flats or
duplexes may in the future again threaten the houses in this block.
He was sitting reading his Bible at his crude handmade table on the
evening of 6th June 1883 when the door burst open. An impi of
Abaqulusi fell upon him and before he could stand and face them he
slid to the floor, blood pouring from eleven assegai wounds in the
back, his hands dragging the Bible down to fall between his knees. The
Abaqulusi swept through the humble dwelling, smashing and
plundering. The body lay on the floor for two days before the Rev. Mr
Weber and his son from Emyati mission dared venture over to bury it.
In fear of their lives Weber and his son pushed the pathetic remains
into a makeshift box and hastily interred them near the ruined
homestead. They took the bloodstained Bible with them.
Weeks later a Hollander from the Utrecht district, hearing of the
tragedy, rode over to see what he could salvage. Through him the
diary of the Rev. Mr Schroder as well as other papers were saved and
eventually returned to the Hermannsburg Society. Mrs Schiitte has
translated part of the diary which gives a vivid and poignant picture of
a missionary pioneer.
The ruined mission at Tshoba was never restored. The only sign of
the Rev. Schroder's martyrdom is a great rusting iron cross enclosed by
railings. Erected on the 50th anniversary of Schroder's death and sunk
into a heavy slab of concrete, the guard-fence is a pathetic reminder of
the vulnerability of these isolated graves.
Vandals have excavated the ground beneath the slab. No trace of the
missionary's remains is left. In time the slab must subside and the cross
and railings be smashed. As Mrs Hedwig Schiitte stood in the winter
sunshine following the tragic story and reading from the poignant
diary, a great sadness swept over her companions at society'S apparent
neglect of and disrespect for its early pioneers.
4. The stone wall along the boundary line of the farms Glenbello and
Stockton, Weenen County:
This dolerite wall was presumably erected during the period 1870-1880
as a boundary between the farms Glenbello (formerly Tamboekies
Kraal) and Stockton (formerly Zuurbraak). The wall also played an
important role during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).
5. The property with Ryley's House, as well as the outbuildings thereon, at
79 Karel Landman Street, Dundee:
This Victorian building complex dates from the years 1902-1903 and is
an excellent example of Natal Colonial architecture from that period.
6. The property with the dwelling thereon, at 219 Oos Street, Vryheid:
This elegant dwelling-house, based on the Edwardian building style, was
erected in 1905 and is situated on a portion of an erf granted in 1895.
7. The property with the Carnegie Library building thereon, at Vryheid:
This imposing Edwardian building was erected in 1908 with funds
granted by the Carnegie Trust. The land on which the building stands
was a gift from the Vryheid Town Council.
8. The property with the dwelling thereon, at 58 President Street, Vryheid:
This imposing dwelling-house, which was erected in 1920, is an excellent
example of the Tudor revival style.
9. Hilldrop House (also known as Sir Rider Haggard's House), at
Newcastle:
This imposing building was erected by Sir Melmoth Osborne, resident
Magistrate of Newcastle from 1868 to 1875. Sir Rider Haggard took
occupation in January 1881 and during his sojourn the Royal
Commission which drew up the terms of the Pretoria Convention and
which provided for the retrocession of the Transvaal after the First
Anglo-Boer War (1880-1881) held its meeting here. Present on this
occasion were Sir Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, President
J.H. Brand and Sir Evelyn Wood.
As these notes were being prepared for printing, the Natal Witness (14
September 1983) carried front-page news that the Victorian 'gentleman's
residence' at 149 Pietermaritz Street had been proclaimed. This handsome
and well-preserved building has often been photographed, drawn and
painted.
Guided Tour
There was a very gratifying response to the guided tour of places associated
with Bishop Colenso on Sunday 5th June 1983. Led by Mr T.B. Frost
(Editor of Natalia and Senior Lecturer in History at Natal Training College),
it was one of the numerous events arranged to mark the Colenso Centenary,
and attracted about a hundred people on a sunny winter's morning. After an
introductory talk in St Peter's Church, where Bishop Colenso lies buried,
the tour party moved across to upper Loop Street to Bishop Macrorie's
house, now a Van der Stel Foundation property and a museum furnished in
period style. Then there was a visit to Colenso's African Mission Church on
the corner of Commercial Road and Burger Street - not unlike St Peter's in
general appearance, and now the Grey's Hospital chapel. From there it was
a short step to the old cemetery, where the Bishop's wife and daughters are
buried, and where other interesting gravestones of the period can be seen.
The procession of motor cars then drove the seven kilometres out to
Bishopstowe. There, although hardly any visible remains of Ekukhanyeni
exist, one could identify the site of the Bishop's house, now occupied by a
farmhouse, and enjoy the view which Colenso admired so much -
Emkhambathini, or Natal's 'table mountain', altar-like, bathed in afternoon
sunlight. A final talk rounded off a very interesting and informative outing.
After a picnic lunch one could walk about enjoying both the rural quiet and
the historical dimension of the place before making the short journey back
to Pietermartizburg.
Brief Expectations
At one of the Editorial Committee's 'meetings during 1983, when so much
interest and attention centred on John William Colenso, there was great
excitement when a member reported hearing about the discovery at
Bishopstowe of the rusted remains of some machinery thought to be the
Bishop's actual printing press. In fifteen 'seconds the committee had
mentally accomplished the task of careful reconstruction and restoration,
and of making arrangements with the cathedral authorities for a permanent
exhibition of the physical fons et origo of so much of the published output of
Ekukhanyeni. Alas! Upon investigation the relic proved to be pastoral only
in the literal sense - an old chaff-cutter!
Compiled by JOHN DEANE
his article 'Why Langalibalele ran away' (Journal of Natal and Zulu History
Vol. 1, 1978), N.A. Etherington drew upon the archives of the Berlin and
Hermannsburg Missionary Societies in West Germany to expose the several
misunderstandings between black and white which had immediately
preceded the Hlnhi desertion from Natal.
All this might suggest that little or nothing was left to be written on me
subject. On the contrary, John Wright and Andrew Manson's The Hlubi
Chiefdom in Zululand-Natal justifies its publication by placing the now well
known events of 1873-75 within the broader context of a clan history which
probes back into early traditions and deep into the economic circumstances
of colonial society. The originality of their work rests primarily upon
information recently brought to light through C. de B. Webb's and J.B.
Wright's publication of The James Stuart Archive (Vol. 2, Pietermaritzburg,
1979) and upon Manson's re-assessment of the Hlubi's post-1848 history in
'The Hlubi and Ngwe in a colonial society, 1848-1877' (M.A. thesis, Natal
1979.) While a synopsis of the latter was already available in article form
(Journal of Natal and Zulu History Vol. 2, 1979), Wright and Manson's
collaborative efforts have now given Hlubi history its fullest treatment to
date. It is to be hoped that their example will further enrich knowledge of
the Zululand-Natal region by inspiring similar research into the history of
other chiefdoms. As for the Hlubi, it remains to be seen whether black
historians will have more to add in the way of information or interpretation,
drawing perhaps from oral tradition.
W.R. GUEST
KILLIE'S AFRICA
by NORMAN HERD
Blue Crane Books, 1982.
For those who were fortunate enough to know Killie Campbell and partake
of her bounty, Norman Herd's Killie's Africa is nostalgia indeed. The scents
and sounds of Muckleneuk, the upstairs library, the research rituals, the
ceremony of morning tea, the little lady herself - all are recalled faithfully
and vividly. This is an enjoyable book; warm, human and gripping. One
reads it with a deep sense of gratitude both to Killie Campbell for what she
gave to South Africa's cultural heritage and to Norman Herd for reminding
us of it.
Killie CampbeIl was an unassuming woman. In a letter to the University
of Natal in January 1950 when she was to receive the degree of Master of
Arts honoris causa, she described herself simply as a collector of historical
relics, the creator of an Africana research library, the curator of an
ethnological museum and a former member of the Historical Monuments
Commission. Yet here was the essence of a remarkable achievement. It is
the reason why she was again honoured by Witwatersrand University in 1953
with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. It earned her the friendship and
acknowledgement of authors and artists world-wide. It gave her a place in
the recent television series presenting six of South Africa's most famous
women.
108 Book Reviews and Notices
Perhaps the strongest feature of this book is the clarity with which the
endearing qualities of Killie Campbell's personality come through to the
reader: her charm, vigour, enthusiasm, compassion and, above all, her
generosity. Today, in an academic environment riddled with competition
and self-interest, it is salutary to be reminded of one who gave her ideas,
time and material so freely. Fumbling beginners and eminent scholars were
welcomed equally. Many a first thesis was helped on its way by the
knowledge that Killie was excited about it. And many a work of art owes its
existence to her persistence and patronage. Through the bequest of her
collection to the University of Natal, Killie Campbell's generosity continues
for posterity.
It is not easy to establish the genre of this book. It is neither history, nor
biography, nor journalism but a little of each. Some attention is given to
sources in brief notes to each chapter at the end of the book, but a large
proportion of the detail is derived from the author's personal acquaintance
with his subject and from oral evidence. A great mass of information is
presented, not without some local gossip, the occasional factual error, and a
fair amount of digression. Nevertheless, this is a very pleasing account of a
thoroughly pleasing person. As such Norman Herd has rendered a service to
the cultural history of South Africa, and Natal in particular, by reaching a
wider readership than a more scholarly work might have done.
SYLVIA VIETZEN
Book Reviews and Notices 109
As Mr Pearse states in his preface, to write a book about a man who left no
diaries and only a handful of letters is not easy. That Baynes becomes a
character one can at times respect, at other times not like at all and
sometimes pity, shows the measure of success Mr Pearse has had with his
work.
Born in the Yorkshire village of Austwick in 1842, Baynes came to Natal
with his widowed father on the Devonian in 1850. In 1863 he purchased land
on the upper Umlaas and spent the rest of his life adding to and improving
this property.
There were three men who helped Baynes in his farming and business
enterprises. They were John Grant, farm manager from 1899 until long after
the death of Baynes, George Alexander, general manager from 1902 to
1916, and Francis Harrison, a close friend of Baynes and the man chosen by
him to be the first Chairman of the Board of Administration to manage his
estate after his death.
With Grant's help Baynes was able to establish one of the finest Friesland
herds in South Africa. It was Alexander who assisted Baynes in establishing
the factory at Net's Rust where dairy produce from the Natal midlands was
processed, and the Model Dairy Company in Durban through which these
products were sold. Alexander also helped in founding the bacon factory at
Net's Rust.
By 1910 Net's Rust was 24 000 acres in extent. In addition to this Baynes
was also in control of the dairy and bacon factories there, a dairy factory and
pig farm at Harrismith, and the Model Dairy Company in Durban. Harrison
encouraged Baynes to amalgamate the last five into Joseph Baynes Ltd
which soon burgeoned into an enormous concern. In 1920 failing health
caused Baynes to sell his interest in the company.
Baynes' main contribution to agriculture in South Africa was the
introduction of cattle dipping for the control of tick-borne diseases.
The Ixopo electoral division of Natal returned Baynes as their
representative in six successive elections. This gave him fourteen years in
office, during the last ten months of which he held the cabinet portfolio of
Minister of Lands and Works. It was his idea to develop the Congella area
of Durban Bay (Maydon Wharf). On resigning from the Assembly in 1904
Baynes was appointed to the Legislative Council where he served until
Union.
In 1874 Baynes married Maria Hendrina Zietsman. Their two-day old
daughter died on their first wedding anniversary. Maria died nine days later.
His marriage to Sarah Ann Tomlinson lasted 45 years. A girl born to them
in 1881 lived only ten days.
Towards the end of his life Baynes donated two adjacent buildings he
owned in Pietemlaritzburg to the Salvation Army for use as homes for men
and boys. When he died in 1925 Joseph Baynes bequeathed his estate to the
people of South Africa.
110 Buuk Reviews and Notices
This is a well produced, readable book with good illustrations. The text
displays evidence of fairly extensive research but unfortunately this has often
been limited to secondary sources, an inadequacy which allows previous
mistakes to be repeated. One of the numerous examples is the fact that
Paul Anstie left Natal in 1855 and therefore could not have been operating
his Natal Conveyance Company in 1857 as stated [po 17].
Mr Pearse is wrong when, in the caption to photograph 31, he describes
W.P. and E.W. Gibson as brothers; they were father and son. Photograph
36 which is supposed to show the dipping tank at Meyershoek in 19C12 was
taken recently by Dr Taylor, the present Managing Director of Baynesfield
Estate.
Henry and Robert Nicholson farmed at Moyeni and Illovo Mills in the
Richmond district, and were not early settlers of Underberg (p. 128).
The author is not clear about what happened on the afternoon in 19C16
before Hunt and Armstrong were killed. By mistake the men had gone to
Mr Ethelbert Hosking at Byrne instead of Mr Henry Hosking at Trewergie,
and it was late before they reached their correct destination. Because of mist
and approaching dusk Henry Hosking advised them to wait until morning
before going to arrest Chief Majonga but they would not listen and
confusion and death were the results (pp. 195-196).
It is misleading to give the impression that Frederick and Sarah Moor
came to Natal as a married couple and incorrect to say that they rejected
their allotment at Richmond. Moor farmed his allotted land at Byrne for
two years before marrying Miss Ralfe, and they continued to live there for
another three years before joining her parents who had moved to Estcourt
Cp. 206).
The statement that William Peel owned Onrust and Meyershoek from
1857 to 1902 is not true. Peel died in 1881 (p. 283).
All of this, coupled with an element of speculation which is unusual in a
work of this nature, undermines confidence in the book but it is reassuring
to know that members of the History Department of the University of Natal
have checked through the chapters on the political life of Baynes.
B.M. SPENCER
written by Champion during the later part of his life - the 1960s - and
were originally published in a regular column in Ilanga.
The complexity and ambivalence that pervade Champion's life are
discernible in many forms. During his early career he worked as a policeman
in Johannesburg. By the late 1920s he himself was being looked upon as a
dangerous agitator and had hecome a prime police target. With the
advantage of hindsight, however, we can see that the contemporary official
perception of Champion was largely exaggerated and mistaken. It is true
that Champion worked for the removal of local African grievances hy
successfully challenging the Durban municipality in a series of court actions
during the latc 1920s (p. xix). It is also true that Champion acted as a
spoke~man for exploited Africans. This role enabled him to risc to
prominencc in the ICU and the ANC. However, in his political ideas and
strategies he was generally cautious, and at times even conservative. He
stopped short of advocating militant tactics to fight the oppression of
Africans. He disavowed strikes, for instance. And in the late 1940s, his
cautious stance led him to fall out with the ANC Youth League when it was
planning a passive resistance campaign (p. xxiii).
Champion helonged essentially to the petit bourgeoisie. (Swanson, calls
him a 'radical bourgeois' lp. xxv]). He thus could never play the role of
militant activist or promoter of working-class interests. The capitalist system
served as his paradigm. Capital accumulation and the private ownership of
property held a high place in his value system. He saw these as means not
only towards his own personal advancement but also towards the wider
advancement of Africans. Champion was a 'lifelong entrepreneur', albeit
one whose many business ventures seem mostly to have ended in failure (pp.
163-66). Whenever the opportunity arose he hought property, and
encouraged other Africans to do the same. Clermont township, for instance,
seems to have originated in this way (p. 23 n. 6, and p. 83). At various times
Champion advocated the creation of a National Fund to help the poor
(p. 45), the founding of a Zulu Bank (p. 83), and the establishment of the
Bantu Investment Corporation (p. 87). He could even see some economic
advantages for the African petit bourgeoisie in the government's apartheid
policy: 'The beauty of this policy to me is in our obtaining a way to build up
industries in the areas where we live'. (p. 80). He believed that Africans had
to accumulate money if they were to gain any political leverage; and, rather
naively, he thought such accumulation on a sufficient scale was possible.
This preoccupation led Champion to neglect the potential for working-class
mobilization or mass action.
Champion's petit bourgeois perspective gave him a vision of an expanding
non-racial middle class, in which he, and others like him, would obtain their
rightful place. Herein, though, lies another paradox. For Champion was not
a straightforward modernist. His writings reveal in the late 1960s a deep
admiration for the political order in Swaziland (p. 132). Although Swaziland
was newly independent at the time, its power structure was heavily weighted
towards the traditional royal family and chiefly order, and against the
emergent middle class.
A Christian upbringing also seems to have contributed towards Champion's
paradoxical character and attitudes. His 'views' are permeated with
Christian beliefs; and he is often preoccupied with Christian issues. Yet
114 Book Reviews and Notices
ISICHAZAMAZWI I
by A.C. NKABINDE
Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1982. 125 pp. R4,15.
This is the first volume to appear of the first ever Zulu explanatory
dictionary.
This pamphlet relates the history of neighbours of the Fannins in the Dargle
district, viz. Robert Speirs (1802-1879), of Mount Park, and his family. The
Speirses arrived on the Conquering Hero in 1850. Besides detailing the story
of Robert and his children, facts are provided about the family to the
present generation.
This is a second and enlarged edition of the work fully reviewed in Natalia 9.
The authors have discovered new fortifications since their original
publication and also studied and mapped the colonial defence system.
Book Reviews and Notices 115
This study investigates the origins of Christian Indians who arrived in Natal
between 1860 and 1911 either as indentured labourers or as 'passenger'
immigrants. More than half the book consists of tables of statistics listing
each and every Christian immigrant on each and every immigrant ship. The
generally accepted estimates of the numbers of Christians among the Indian
immigrants are challenged. The book also traces the history of the Missions
opened by the various Christian churches in Natal.
farms, with a key in the form of a list of names of the German settlers who
owned them. The names of the original (mainly Voortrekker) owners are
also given. Mr Hillermann's bibliography indicates the extent of his
researches, and this is a book which carries on the worthy tradition of
presenting the many-stranded history of our province.
sieges, 1899 to 1900, being the South African War experiences of William
material available in the Brenthurst library. The writers came from a variety
of backgrounds and their diaries and letters give personal, rather than
official, insights into the operations of the war. The book is liberally
Melton Prior, one of the most eminent war artists of the late Victorian era.
of the king.
117
Publications
ALLEN, Roger D.J. Images of industrial· work and the prospects for
personal advancement among African factory workers in Durban.
Durban: The University of Natal, 1982.
BUTHELEZI COMMISSION (KwaZulu). The Buthelezi Commission: the
requirements for stability and development in KwaZulu and Natal.
Durban: H & H Publications, 1982.
CHADWICK, G.A. The First War of Independence in Natal 1880-1881.
G.A. Chadwick, Durban; 1981.
DURBAN. City Engineer's Department. Durban metropolitan transport
area: interim transport plan 1980-1985. Durban: City Engineer's
Department, 1980.
FISKE, Symond. Ploughing a furrow. Pietermaritzburg: K.M. Fiske, 1982.
The NATAL BUSHVELD: ecology and mammals. Pietermaritzburg:
Shuter & Shooter in conjunction with Natal Parks Board, 1982.
NATAL BUSINESS REGISTER -1982/83. Pietermaritzburg, Swan, 1982
NATAL COAST ANGLERS UNION. Year book: list of records, trophy
and prize winners. Durban: The Union, 1983.
PRESTON-WHYTE, R.A. Climate of Durban. Pietermaritzburg: Town
and Regional Planning Commission, 1980.
SIVANANDA, Swami. Hindu fasts and festivals. Durban: Divine Life
Society, 1982.
SMITH, Ken. Alfred Aylward: the tireless agitator. Cape Town: Donker,
1983.
The STORY of Scottsville race course: Pietermaritzburg Turf Club/Pieter
maritzburg S.P.C.A. Pietermaritzburg: S.P.c.A. (198] ?).
Compiled by JUNE FARRER
118
IMMIGRATION
Indian immigration T. R. Metcalfe
Indian immigration within the British
Empire S.A.c. Vickers
LABOUR
The de Pass family and labour on the Natal
sugar estates J.A.S. PhiIlips
Land, labour and agricultural production,
Pietermaritzburg region, 1845-1875 N.M. Wellington
Land, labour and ideology - Northern
Natal - 1910-1936 V.S. Harris
Togt labourers 1838-1910 K. Atkins
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Annexation of East Griqualand E.G. Hobson
The policies of the Transvaal and the Natal
governments towards Dinuzulu, 1897-1913. S.J. Maphalala
The question of "Indian penetration" in the
Durban area and Indian politics, 1940-1946. D. Bagwandeen
RAILWAYS
S.A. Railways R. Ellsworth
SOCIOLOGY
African women in Durban 1920-1960 J. Mackenzie
Passenger Indians - socio-historical
analysis G.D. Klein
Social and economic changes in black
Natal, 1893-1910 J. Lambert
Social and economic history of Edendale S.M. Meintjes
Some socio-cultural features of the Ama
kholwa communities of Northern Natal,
with special reference to Telapi and
Kalabass S.W.D. Dube
White attitudes to Indians, Natal and the
far interior, in the nineteenth century P.R. Warhurst
120
Notes on Contributors
CHARLES BALLARD is a native of Virginia, U.S.A. and a graduate of
lames Madison University in Virginia and of the University of Natal. He
teaches in the Department of History at the University of Natal in Durban.
T.B. FROST