THE NATAL SOCIETY OFFICE BEARERS, 1976-77

President Cr. Miss P. A. Reid Vice-PresideotI M. J. C. Daly, Esq.

A. C. Mitchell, Esq.

Trustees A. C. Mitchell, Esq. Dr. R. E. Stevenson M. J. C. DaIy, Esq.

Treasurers Messrs. Dix, Boyes and Co. Auditon Messrs. R. Thomton-Dibb and Son

Chief Librarian A. S. C. Hooper Secretary P. C. G. McKenzie

COUNCIL

Elected Members Cr. Miss P. A. Reid (Chairman) M. J. C. DaIy. Esq. (Vice-Chairman) Dr. F. C. FriedIander R. Owen. Esq. Dr. J. Clark Mrs. S. EveIyn-Wright W. G. Anderson. Esq. F. Martin. Esq.. M.E.C. A. D. S. Rose, Esq. R. S. Steyn. Esq.

EDITORIAL COMMITIEE OF NATALIA

Dr. J. Clark Dr. B. J. T. Leverton Miss M. P. Moberly Mrs. S. P. M. Spencer Miss J. Farrer

Natalia 7 (1977) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2010

SA ISSN 0085 3674

Printed by The Natal Witness (Pty) Ltd.

Contents

Page

EDITORIAL 5

ARTICLE

A Rare Piece of Africana - S. P. M. Spencer. 7 REPRINT

First Impressions of Natal by a Perth shire Plough-man (Thomas DUff). . . . . . . . 8

ARTICLE

All aboard for Howick! - W. H. Bizley . 24 ARTICLE

The Embossed postage stamps of Natal, 1857-69 - E. C. Wright. . . . . . . . . 28

ARTICLE

Portrait of my friend Magqubu Ntombela - Ian Player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

ARTICLE

The Incident of the Brazilia and the Rev. Pieter Ham - Gordon W. Haddon. . 38

ARTICLE

'The Father of Natal Botany' - John Medley Wood - Rudolf G. Strey. . 43

NOTES AND QUERIES

D. H. Strutt, M. P. Moberly. . . . . . . . 46 REGISTER OF RESEARCH ON NATAL

J. Farrer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

REVIEWS AND NOTICES

Trekking the Great Thirst. . . . . .. 58 Victorian Buildings in South Africa. . .. 58 The Possible Incorporation of East Griqualand into Natal . . . . . . . . . . . .. 60 Pioneers of Natal and South Eastern Africa.. 60 Dictionary of South African Biography, Vol III 61 Thoughts on South Africa. . . . 62 Reprint . . . . . . . . . . 63 Journal of Natal and Zulu History. 64

SELECT LIST OF RECENT NATAL PUBLICATIONS

J. Farrer . . . . . . 65

5

Editorial

A small but valuable publication from the University of Natal, Durban, appeared in mid-year. Entitled A Guide to Unofficial Sources Relating to the History of Natal* it originated from a research project initiated by the Department of History and Political Science and was supervised by Prof. K. H. C. McIntyre, head of the Department. Sadly, it is the last publication with which his name will be associated as he died earlier this year. Dr. A. H. Duminy of the Department and two full-time research officers played a big part in collecting and collating the material and seeing it through the press. The method of collecting the information was an interesting one: a circular letter was sent out to Natal historians, students, writers, repre­sentatives of settler families, libraries, institutions, etc., and appeals were also made through the medium of the press, not only to the big-circulation newspapers but to smaller town and country weeklies. From the response to the circular the History Department was able by means of its research officers to collect up-to-date information on unofficial sources of Natal material, including diaries, letters, documents, photographs, and facts supplied by word of mouth. And it is amazing what turned up among even the big names-the Acutts, Catos, Methleys, Campbells, Birds, etc.-and from other sources believed to have been exhausted by previous researchers. It reminds one of the method used by Cory in the Eastern Province to collect 1820 settler information. With a pack on his back and a notebook in his hand, he trudged from farmhouse to farmhouse to ask questions of descendants and other people.

The fact is, that much historical information concerning Natal is still held by relatives and descendants in various corners of the province. Proof of this is the success of the Federation of Women's Institutes in producing their series of 'Area Annals' in which they publish unknown photographs and particulars about early settlers in each district. Many of these people know the value of the material and preserve it in trunks and steel boxes. Occasionally they take it out to acquaint their children with its importance to their family's history. But there are other people, perhaps the majority, for whom the material is so much waste paper occupying valuable space or collecting dust and fishmoths. Some of it is stored in outhouses, sheds, or garages where white ants, rats, and the damp do their worst. In the dry moistureless deserts of the Middle East it was possible for ancient scrolls to be preserved naturally for ten centuries but it is not so in the climate of Southern Africa. Inside 60 years Natal books can deteriorate to a perishable condition with buckled cases, heavy foxing, broken spines, borer, and - worst of all - damage by white ants. In my own possession is a scarce pamphlet by Bishop J. W. Colenso written as an open letter in 1861 to the Archbishop of Canterbury on the subject of polygamy among the Zulus. Stowed away in a wooden box in an outshed it has been reduced by a quarter of its size from the spine inwards by a colony of white ants working on a broad front. The book is now valueless except as a record

Editorial

that the Bishop once produced it in pamphlet form. The culprit in this sad affair was an uncaring old man, the last of his family.

Other dreadful things have happened in the past. There is the story of Harry Escombe whose sudden death on the 27th December 1899 dismayed the people of Natal. Apparently his extensive collection of documents which had accumulated over 30 years of a crowded political career was stored for many years after his death in a Durban house and then destroyed. The bonfire took place in the garden and lasted three days. In that fire there must have perished much of the inside story of Escombe's fight to remove the sand bar and develop the harbour of Durban.

Another story concerns the court interpreter and expert on Zulu culture, Carl Faye, who died many years ago at his remote home in the Wilgefontein area of Pietermaritzburg. The house, slowly disintegrating with birds flying in and out of the empty windows, had been emptied of its contents except that in an open shed there lay exposed to the weather a mouldering mass of his papers, mostly dealing with native law and administration. Deep down in the pile was a letter written from Government House by Sir George Pomeroy Colley during his term as governor of Natal (1880-1) in succession to Sir Garnet Wolseley.

Even more vulnerable in their sensitivity to sunlight, fluorescent lighting, chemical deterioration, and careless handling are photographs. Probably the best place to keep them is in an album as Victorian people did with the admirable little pictures known as cartes-de-visite. There, safe from light and handling, many of them have been preserved in good condition to this day. Modern photographs, however, are too hastily processed and do not have the same 'keeping' qualities as the old ones. They will need careful watching. A drawback with all photographs is the absence of a caption or other identification of the person or place. Everyone has seen albums of the 1870s full of photographs of beautiful girls and handsome young men, but - regrettably - all are unnamed. They were known to their family and therefore no written identification was felt to be necessary. So thousands of pictures of that period have no value to historians except those specialists who study costume.

The purpose of these remarks is, of course, to encourage people to preserve historical material whether it be books, documents, letters, diaries, pictures, photographs or other items. South Africans, deeply attached though they are to furniture, china, silver, and other antiques, have still to develop a liking for historical documents. As yet, progress is slow ­but it may come in time.

JOHN CLARK

01< Durban, University of Natal, Department of History and Political Science, 1977. Research Monograph No. 4.

7

A Rare Piece of Africana First impressions of Natal, by a Perth shire ploughman, is now a rare piece of Africana. Not even the British Museum library has a copy. None of the libraries whose holdings are recorded by the Mendelssohn Revision Project of the South African Library in Cape Town have an original copy of this pamphlet. For this reprint, the Editorial Board had to use a typescript version, copies of which are in two Durban libraries, the Don Library and the Killie Campbell Library.

The author of this letter was Thomas Duff (1825-1905), a Scotsman from Logiealmond, Perthshire, who emigrated to Natal with his father, John Duff (c. 1784-1864).

Life for Thomas in Natal had its ups and downs, but his strength of purpose, which is evident in these letters, ensured ultimate success in his adopted country.

The Duffs emigrated with the intention of farming, and on their allotment near Verulam they grew potatoes and mealies. It soon became apparent, however, that with marketing difficulties and the low prices fetched by farm produce, few profits were to be made in this line. Thomas was thus led into other pursuits, and only in the 1880s did he again solely depend on farming.

In common with many other colonists, he turned to Zulu trading. Although his first expedition into Zululand in November 1850 did not prove very profitable, he carried on in this business for the next eight or nine years. He also made one journey south, into Pondoland, in 1856.

Thomas suffered his first major setback in 1856. Lungsickness was prevalent throughout the country, and swept through the herd of cattle he had built up from his trading. Very few animals remained of his original total of about 120 head.

In 1860 he married Anna Maria Doyle, the niece of Henry Shire of the farm Milkwood Kraal near the Umhlanga River. The Duffs settled on part of Milkwood Kraal, which they named 'Woodlands'. The area later became known as Duff's Road, a name that it bears to the present day.

From itinerant trading, Duff turned to general storekeeping. He also supplemented his income with sugar-growing.

Economically the sixties were a depressed time for Natal, and indeed for the rest of South Africa. Duff had his share of misfortune, both financial and domestic. In 1861 a fire from the nearby cane fields destroyed the Duff home and their possessions, resulting in a loss of between £700 and £800. Six years later, Thomas's wife died and he was left to bring up four young children.

Thomas remained at Duff's Road until 1881, when he moved his family to Mooi River for the sake of his youngest son's health. There he farmed until the early 1890s. After selling his Mooi River farm 'Epworth', he settled in Town Bush Valley near Pietermaritzburg. He died in Durban in 1905.

S. P. M. SPENCER

8

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF

NATAL

by A PERTHSHIRE PLOUGHMAN

[THOMAS DUFF]

EDINBURGH: D. MATHERS AND J. MENZIES PERTH: P. R. DRUMMOND

Price Fourpence [1850]

Introduction

The following letter was written by a young man, who left his native country for the new settlement of Natal, in November last, with the Ina,l from Glasgow, the only ship which has yet sailed from Scotland for that colony. It was intended solely for a circle of friends; but, in consideration of the many persons interested in the probable success of this new emigration field, either from having friends already settled there, or having it in contem­plation to proceed thither themselves; or from sympathy with these pioneers of civilisation - the best missionaries to the heathen - the agricultural settlers, who, leaving behind them home, with all its endearing associations, boldly venture across half the globe, among a race of reputed savages, carrying with and diffusing around them, in their new country, the arts of civilised life, and the influence of practical religion; as well as the great scarcity of reliable information regarding Natal, it has been judged advisable to offer it to a larger circle. The accounts of Natal hitherto published have been very contradictory; and the letter being written without the least idea of its being printed, will be some guarantee for its presenting, at least in the opinion of the writer, a fair statement of what he has seen. It will be evident to the reader, that though not over elated, he is, upon the whole, not disappointed.

A word on his qualifications to write what may possibly in some degree influence others in their decisions on such an important matter as the choice of a settlement: The son of a small farmer, early accustomed to

First Impressions of Natal 9

labour, his hand much more familiar with the plough than the pen, he yet possesses an education superior to most of his class even in Scotland; and though not very favourably situated for access to books, he had contrived to procure and digest a very considerable quantity of the superior cheap literature circulated so extensively of late years. The subject of emigration had occupied his thoughts for a long time, and everything bearing on it was eagerly read; so that when the Government decided on colonising this new district of South Africa, he was able to compare, at least theoretically, the prospects of success in it with those in the Scotchman's own colony of Upper Canada, and was induced, along with his father, to try his fortune in a quarter of the world which only, a short time before, would have been reckoned among the very last to which a Scottish peasant would have thought of emigrating.

As some may take up this pamphlet who have not previously paid any attention to the subject of it, we take the liberty of offering them a few extracts, showing some of the different opinions which have been expressed regarding it. The situation of the colony is to the northward and eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, and may be generally described as lying between the sea and the first range of mountains which form the boundary on the northern side. In extent, it is about the size of Scotland. The proposed capital, Pietermaritzburg, is situated about 31 degrees south latitude, and 31 degrees east longitude.

The following is from Sidney Smith's popular little work, Whether to go, and Whither: 2

"The climate is the most salubrious in the world. Uniformly mild, subject to no extremes of temperature, with all the equability, and none of the atmospherical moisture, of New Zealand, it is nearly as abundantly watered, of far richer soil, and within half the distance of Europe. Its productions, indeed, of coffee, rice, cotton, indigo, sugar, aniseed, indicate a somewhat warmer temperature than the former; but it is conceded on all hands that the heat is never exces­sive, or calculated to render field labour very oppressive. Pulmonary and scrofulous diseases are quickly cured by a residence in the district, and ague is entirely unknown. The soil is capable of producing most of the vegetable treasures of the tropics, and all those of the temperate zone in abundance, and of the finest quality, particularly the cereals which flourish best in Egypt. Grass is so thick and luxuriant, that it fat tens cattle rapidly, and grows up to the horse's shoulder. In the numerous clefts of the mountain streams and gullies fine timber is to be had. It produces cotton of the best quality, and its cultivation is accompanied with unrivalled success. In short, it seems to combine every advantage of New Zealand and Australasia, with much greater proximity to England. The government surveyor-general becomes per­fectly eloquent in describing its character and excellencies. The succes­sive governors of the Cape are equally emphatic in their praises; public companies both in England and Germany, endorse these favour­able opinions; and, to sum up all, merchants have largely ventured their money in establishing settlers in its most eligible localities, and promoting its culture of cotton."

10 First Impressions of Natal

In Chambers's lournal of October 20, 1849, after quoting the above, the editor proceeds:

"In this paradise a fat ox costs £2: lOs.; working bullocks and milch cows from £2 to £4; horses, £10; sheep 6s.; and provisions are at all times remarkably abundant and cheap. It is only ten days' sail from Mauritius, which could readily absorb its agricultural pro­duce; and the neighbouring sea-banks afford an extensive and pro­mising field for cod-fishing. Thus the country is adapted in a very remarkable degree both for land and marine enterprise; and, to make all complete, it is supposed that the bowels of the earth teem with that material now indispensable to high civilisation - coal.

"Why, then, is Natal a wilderness, with so much to attract the capital and industry of Europe? So far from being a discovery of the present moment, it has already been settled by the Dutch boers, those warlike farmers of the Cape, who, retreating in wrath and indignation before the irresistible power of the English, carried their families and flocks, and herds across the frontiers. Here they found themselves in a far superior location both as regards climate and production, and their agricultural tastes and knowledge would have led them to adopt it as their permanent home, but that the hated supremacy of the English reached them even there. It was vain to struggle. Robust and herculean of frame, ignorant, proud, daring, and high-fed as they were, still they could not withstand the tactics of Europe: they were beaten from point to point; and when the conflict became hopeless, they once more began their march of emigration, and once more retreated across the frontiers. Such are the neighbours, then, of Natal; they hang upon its boundaries, like a thundercloud charged with the elements of destruction.

"But the English were not the only enemies of the gallant Dutch in Natal. This rich territory is surrounded by the tribes of the African wilderness, against whom, just as against the wild beasts of the country, they wage a constant and deadly war, and who carried off their property, and burned their dwellings, as often as opportunity occurred. When the Dutch at length abandoned the unequal contest, the ground was taken possession of by a new class of emigrants. The savages of the interior, flying from the tyranny of their native chiefs, took refuge within the deserted circle; and these Zoolah and Kaffir refugees are now supposed to amount to 200,000. So much the better, it will be said, for here we have the rudiments of a labouring popula­tion; and this would be true in the case of the strong colony, with ample means of military defence against both external and internal force. But if the mistake should be committed of throwing a handful of Europeans into the arena, to grapple at once with Dutch, savages, and wild beasts, what will be the result? The Colonial Commissioners report that 'the universal character of the natives is at once supersti­tious and warlike; their estimate of the value of human life is very low; war and bloodshed are engagements with which their circum­stances have rendered them familiar from their childhood, and from which they can be restrained only by the strong arm of power; their

11 First Impressions of Natal

passiens are easily inflamed, while, from their servile obedience to despotic rulers, they shew ready obedience to constituted authority.' Sir Peregrine Maitland, indeed, states that 'they are generally of a docile character,' but the significant fact, that Sir Harry Smith has ordered the removal of the coloured population from intermixture with the white occupants 'Of the land, 'so that a distinct line may be established between the different races of her Majesty's subjects,' is a pretty clear indication of his sense of the danger of employing savage labour, and of permitting the proximity of the natives to the settlers."

[First Impressions of Natal] Emigrant's Shed,3 D'Urban, March 25, 1850.

The houses are mostly built with wood and plaster, a few being of brick. Stone for building is scarce, but some public edifices, &c., are of good free­stone, brought from the Bluff, a hill en the other side of the bay, opposite D'Urban. The houses are generally thatched with reeds or rushes, which look well; the garden fences and Caffre huts are made with fine large canes, brought from the banks of the Umgeni, three or four miles distant. This river, which has te be crossed on the way te the new settlement, is from 100 to 300 yards bread now, but is nearly dry in summer 'Occasionally. It is rather rapid, and after heavy rains, is unferdable for several weeks. Its banks are wild and beautiful, but in many parts overgrown with reeds or canes. Game is not abundant near the town, but several kinds of buck, and even elephants, are not rare away in the bush. I have been 'Out a number of miles into the ceuntry with my gun, but have seen little except birds. Those acquainted with their haunts, sometimes get a gocd buck te eat. In the cultivation 'Of land, the celeny is as yet in its infant state. Vegetables are scarce and dear, the gardens being too sandy, or the ccttagers toc lazy to cultivate them. Pumpkins are plenty, and easily raised. They vary in size from that of a man's head to a foot in diameter, with a space te the heart containing the seeds. They look and taste like carrot, and, with beef and rice, make an excellent and cheap soup. A seasenable rain has lately taken place, but this has been a drier seasen than has been knewn for many years. This is 'One cause 'Of the high prices of provisions here at present. Indian corn, or mealies, as they are called, grow well, but they have been as yet little cultivated, comparatively speaking.

Father and the rest have returned from seeing the late Cotton Company's land, and their report 'Of the quality of the soil is favourable, but the access by roads is difficult. It is distant about twenty-five miles, and is within half a dozen miles of the mouth of the river Umhloti. This river is always pro­nounced, and generally spelled, Umsloti, instead of Umhloti, as on the maps. Um4 in the native means river, which accounts for the names so often begin­ning thus. Some of them had to sleep in the bush once or twice, as there are few houses, and little accommodation. Some of the King William emi­grants are settling, or preparing te settle there, and the surveyors are busy mapping out the land. There will yet be some delay ere we can be located,

12 First Impressions of Natal

and we must begin with small things. Set down in what may be called a fertile wilderness, with neither roads nor markets, with everything to buy, and scarce £20 in our pocket, we need not expect wonders for some time. How­ever, we do not despair at all; time will do much in such a country as this, though the 'joys of emigration' may not yet be very many. The climate, so far as I have seen, though warm, is very fine, resembling summer weather at home, but more equable.

There are about 600 soldiers at Pietermaritzburg, and 100 here. I learn they have enjoyed excellent health, even better than in Cape Colony.

As soon as we landed, several of the emigrants got engagements. One of the single women was hired to the English Minister," by the month, at £20 a-year; another, who was inexperienced, at £15. A carpenter is employed at £1 a-week and victuals, and another at 5s. a-day, and find himself. Carpen­ters and blacksmiths are most in request, and may even get higher wages than those mentioned.

There is an Episcopal Church here, and a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. I attended the Methodist meeting yesterday. Both the clergyman have been in our barracks giving us their advice, and seem to take an interest in the land question.

As this is my last sheet, I draw to a close. I pay eightpence for my letter, and I suppose you may have to pay a like sum on receiving it. Twopence is charged on newspapers; you will tell me if you receive them and what you pay. I suppose I will be employed for a time to assist in surveying some blocks of land, but it is not yet settled.

The inducements to assist the surveyors turned out to be so meagre, that I have continued to employ myself on the land along with my father. Our luggage is not all ashore yet. The Sovereign, from London, has arrived yester­day with more emigrants, after a protracted passage of 117 days. The natives are friendly and trustworthy, and I believe, from all I can learn, there is nothing at all to fear from them. I am beginning to learn their language from a resident. I thought the natives at first very repUlsive beings, but I am now more reconciled to them, and like them for the tractable and friendly dis­positions they display. They seem very willing to learn anything, but dislike hard work. Those settlers who have known them some time say they would do nothing at all, were it not for the pressure of hunger, or the desire of buying a wife to work for them. The young men carefully hoard up all the shillings they earn, till they gather the value of about ten cows, which will purchase a wife. When married, they act the gentleman, the idler, or the tyrant, by mak­ing their partner do all the drudgery, and support them. The women make for sale good mats or carpets of tough rushes. and bring in from their kraals every morning the milk of their cows, which brings a high price. In person, they seem agile, tall, and well made, without the daring look and muscular frame of the real Caffrc. I find they are all called by the general term Caffre (Arabic for infidel), though the most of them are Zulu refugees. The Hotten­tots are a small race, and generally wear clothing. The others, though nearly so, are not quite naked. Beads, brass rings, &c., plentifully adorn those who can obtain them. They are employed by every white settler, to go errands and do their work. Even in our barracks here numbers of them are engaged to wash, cook, and attend some of the emigrants. I, however, prefer doing these things for ourselves.

13 First Impressions of Natal

Emigrant's Shed, D'Urban, March 27, 1850.

From what I have seen during the passage, and since I landed, light clothing is indispensable. Father and I got some clothes made during the voyage of twilled linen, yet we regret having so few of them. Dresses made of cotton, linen, duck, light canvass, or pack-sheet, are most comfortable for wear, and, what is of much importance, can be easily washed. It is now the beginning of winter in this country, and though it does not stop vegetation, yet the gardens and plots are said to be less prolific at this season of the year. Mealies, bananas, pumpkins, water melons, French beans, and some potatoes, are grown, but not to a great extent.

I was out yesterday, seeing a Perthshire settler, who lives five or six miles south of D'Urban. From the hill tops, I could only see a patch here and there under cultivation, like solitary sails seen on the boundless waste of waters. The country was beautiful - at least, as far as hill and hollow, green trees and grass, could make it. The soil did not seem very good, being red or very sandy; but was, nevertheless, covered with the most luxuriant vegetation I have ever seen. There are no extensive flats, as far as I have been, but land­scape covered with small hills, as steep as the old braes of S[cotland]. In the bush, grew plenty of martingoolas, which, though scarcely in season, ate very well. This fruit somewhat resembles cherries, but is much larger. It is of a sweet milky nature, and tastes like our youthful favourite, the Scotch blae­berry.

The town of D'Urban is built in a very straggled manner, and may contain perhaps 1000 inhabitants. The roads, or streets, are very difficult to walk on, being of soft sand, which drifts occasionally. The houses look indifferently at first, being mostly thatched, and of one storey. The walls, however, are nicely whitewashed, and have a verandah supported by wooden posts all round, partly to shade off the sun, but principally, I believe, to keep the rain from the mud walls, of which they are generally constructed.

Most of the residents are English, and, I am told, the town has doubled its population within the last four months. Emigrants, instead of betaking themselves to the bush to raise something for consumption, prefer making their nest in the sand here, and living upon their brother emigrants, whom they manage to fleece very cleverly on their arrival.

The grocers and general dealers know how to turn the penny, and charge very extravagant profits, I understand. Ironmongery and hardware goods are very high priced, as also flour, potatoes, onions, candles, &c., which the colony ought to produce in abundance within itself. Glass, summer hats, baskets, &C., are about as cheap as at home. Sweet milk is scarce; and I am inclined to think a properly managed dairy, with such unlimited pasturage, would pay very well. The rearing of calves is the only thing attended to by the natives or old settlers, the demand for milk being, I suppose, of recent date.

Partly owing, in all likelihood, to the coarseness of grass, the cows give much less milk than at home, and, generally, what little they do give can only be obtained while the calves are sucking. By training young cows, a better system might soon be introduced. The large African oxen differ little from the Zulu cattle, except that the latter are smaller and hardier. They take less time to graze, and can better subsist on the rough, sandy pasture

14 First Impressions of Natal

abQut the coast. They have all immensely large hQrns, but, in dispositiDn, they are generally quiet and harmless.

It strikes me, that a ship to England, if freighted, at least in part, with these large horns, might prove a profitable speculation. They would cost little more here than the trouble Qf collecting, as many Qf them are to be seen lying unheeded on the sands of D'Urban. I heard a sagacious Highlander of our party remark lately, that if he had moulds here, he could make a snuff­mull and at least five spoons out of one horn.

The settlers concur in saying, that the natives are a friendly, peaceable race - that they like the white man, and have nO' inclination to' injure him. Their Qnly failings are laziness, and a certain want of 'can', or handiness, in doing particular work. Being universally employed by the settlers, they have property at all times in their power, yet they are seldom known to' steal, dishonesty being considered by them as the deepest disgrace. Their employer usually gives them a Caffre hut near his dwelling in which they live, but sometimes they go home at night to their own kraals, perhaps situated Qn the heights near the Umgeni River. Only the men hire themselves to work, the women being employed in cultivating their small patches, and attending to the household duties. Their wages are not great - from 4s. to 6s. a month, with victuals, or from 6s. to 12s. and meat themselves. Their victuals, or scoff, as it is always called here, do not cost much, as they seldom seek mQre than an allowance of mealies and pumpkins. Waggon-drivers, and those who occupy situations Qf some responsibility, Qf course, get higher wages than those specified.

The mealies, or Indian corn, which is the principal food of the natives, is almost the only crop I have seen cultivated in Natal. The pickles are about the size of white peas, and grow on the ear, which is of a conical form, very much like the pears Qf the spruce fir, which we used to' gather in Dur schoolboy days. The white American mealies are thinner skinned, and much better than the Caffre meaiie, which is generally raised here. They grow on large stalks resembling rhubarb, with occasionally two or three ears, each having some hundreds Qf pickles from one seed. The mealies are grQund into a coarse meal, not a little resembling oatmeal, which. though rather too free fQr making bread, makes good porridge, and is generally used by the settlers for that purpose. The natives boil the grain, and eat it like rice, in which form it tastes very well, if taken with milk or sugar.

Emigrant's Shed, D'Urban, April 1, 1850.

You will observe, my dear friends, that I am noting down now and then, for your perusal, some sketches of the country, people, productions, &c., gathered partly from my own observations, and partly from the testimony of others. If, at some future time, more experience shows my first impressions to have been incorrect, of course the mistakes will be rectified. It is likely you will have obtained, by this time, much more information concerning Natal than was known when we left Scotland. The emigrants, by the six or seven vessels which preceded us, will have reported much to the mother cQuntry, Qf which we learned nothing during Qur long ocean passage. The reception which

15 First Impressions of Natal

former emigrants met with on their arrival here, was not so good as ours, no house being erected for their accommodation, and lodgings being scarce and dear at D'Urban. In some cases, they could not obtain immediate posses­sion of their land; in others, as the King William people (the ship before us), the land was rejected as unsuitable.

The land surveyed and offered to these emigrants, is about eight or nine miles from Maritzburg, and, excepting the scarcity of wood and water, the soil is all that could be wished. Those who have seen it inform me that the land is of a deep black loam, occasionally mixed with clay. It is such as would be considered a first-rate soil at home, but is apt to become much hardened by drought. The great drawback is the absence of wood and water, streams or bush being only found at a great distance. For this reason, it is unsuitable for being cut up into twenty acre lots, though perhaps well enough adapted for extensive grazing ground. I understand Byrne & Co. paid Government 7s.6d. an acre for this land, and it is a vexing thing to them now to have it refused by the emigrants, as not worth the survey fees, or 2s. an acre. In this emergency, Mr. Moreland, as agent for Byrne & Co., obtained from Government, not long before our arrival, a tract of land on the Umhloti, of the extent of nearly 23,000 acres. This land, which is not defi­cient in wood and water, belonged to an English cotton company6, who have been unable to fulfil their engagements. The site for a town, suburban land, and country lots, are [sic] being surveyed, but it is thought some weeks may elapse ere the land is ready for our choice; but, instead of twenty, we expect to get forty-five acres each.

I have been overhauling and examining our trunks lately, and find their contents little injured by the voyage. Shirts, if well dried before packing, may be starched and ironed without being the worse. Edge-tools should be greased before packing, to prevent rust. Our shoes were a little mouldy, but uninjured. It may not be useless to mention, that boots or shoes, for wear on the voyage, are best to be light, and without sprigs or tacks, which very readily cause slipping and falls. Shoes, though large enough at home, are apt to be too small when taken to a distant country. I'm glad to say, however, this is not the case with ours. Luggage trunks require to be strong, as they have to endure much rough usage.

Since we came ashore, an application was made to Mr. Field, the magis­trate at D'Urban, for compensation for the want of luxuries during the voyage, but, from various causes, no redress was obtained. There are two churches in D'Urban, an English and a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. The Wesleyans have a large and handsome new church, almost finished, and seem to be a zealous, thriving body. I attended their meeting yesterday, and heard an excellent discourse from the Rev. J. Freeman,1 missionary, who is visiting the churches and stations of Southern Africa. The proficiency with which the singing department of the services was carried on, surprised and pleased me a good deal. There was no precentor's desk, but in one of the seats, near the pulpit, was the leader, a tenor singer, and a bass. Beside them, with his back to the congregation, sat a flute-player, who accompanied the leader, and produced the most mellow and pleasant tones. The readiness and skill with which the congregation joined in singing such tunes as Mount Nebo, Walmer, Lonsdale, &c., waSl what I had never witnessed anywhere in Scot­land. Yesterday, we also attended a funeral procession to the New Burial

16 First Impressions of Natal

Ground, at the west side of the town. It is a lonely, sequestered spot, washed on one side by the bay, and dotted over with patches of bush, and grass, and sand, as the hand of nature made it. A considerable portion of ground here is about to be enclosed and set apart to this purpose, for which it seems very well adapted. The shadows of night were fast falling, ere the English clergyman had concluded the burial-service; and, as father and I turned and walked home, I could not help wondering to myself who would be the tenants, ere another generation has passed away, of that solitary graveyard, of which the busy, little town was now laying the foundation.

From all the accounts I can learn, the climate of Natal is peculiarly healthy, and liable to no particular disease. Most emigrants are liable, at first, to a sort of inflammation of the skin, or outbreak of pimples, partly caused, perhaps, by the change of provisions; but this results in nothing serious.8

Emigrant House, Port Natal, April 6, 1850.

The Hannah, brigantine, which has been lying in the bay since we arrived, has sailed this week for the Cape, carrying homeward, at length, our letters and papers. I have been employed most of this week down at the beach, assisting to land cargo, and pass it through the custom-house. My wages are 3s.6d and 4s. a-day, and I sometimes have pretty hard work. However, as we are waiting for the landing of our plough and cart wheels from the Ina (the last of which came ashore to-day), I am glad of the job, though I suppose it will not last long.

On Monday, four ships came in over the bar, and they are now in the bay, discharging their cargoes of sugar, rice, flour, spirits, &c. Some of them are of considerable size, but none draw so many feet of water as the barques Ina and Sovereign, which are obliged to lie outside. There is more water on the bar this week than there has been since we arrived: occasionally showing as much as 10 or 12 feet at high water. For this change to the better, we have ourselves partly to thank, as we lent a hand to the opening of the bar about a week ago. Mr. M[ilne],9 a Scotchman, who has the charge of some break­water operations, got about a dozen of us, assisted by twice as many Caffres, to go and cut a trench across the bar, for payment. I was the first who volun­teered my services, and had the honour to be the first who thrust in the shovel for the opening of the bar. We were conveyed in a boat to the middle of the bar, an hour or two before low water, and, being about the time of neap-tide, the sand was almost bare. Though sometimes up to the knees in water, we worked for three hours most heroically; deeming our attempt, to let in the ships which were lying laden outside, an act of charity as well as one of self-interest. Our operations were so planned, that the force of the tidal current, entering and receding, might deepen and enlarge the trench which had begun. And luckily it had the desired effect.

Thus a small amount of labour, well directed, did much good. It saved the masters of the ships, which got into the bay, a good deal of money, as the shore boatmen charge £1 per ton more, for bringing cargo outside the bar, than for landing it from ships in the bay. This heavy charge, which small-boat competition might considerably lessen, adds seriously to the cost of imported articles, and the doubt of getting their vessel over the bar dis­

17 First Impressions of Natal

courages shipowners from making shipments to Port Natal. Such an im­provement of the bar, as would enable all trading vessels to sail at once into the bay, is most desirable.

An engineer10 from London has been examining it lately and has gone to the Cape, or 'the Old Colony', as it is here called, to draw up his plans to be laid before Government. I have heard that he gives it as his opinion that £25,000 or £30,000 would make it one of the best harbours in the world. As soon as Mr. P[ine], the new governor, arrives, the attention of the Government is to be called that way, to see what can be done for it. At pre­sent, a sort of breakwater is constructing, and fences of wattle, stones, &c., for collecting the sand. are being carried out at the point, to narrow the mouth of the bay. so that the current out and in may keep a clear, deep channel.

The bay seems to be about thirty or forty miles in circumference; and. though the upper part is a little shallow at low water. it is a lovely and well­sheltered basin. Fishes of good quality abound in it, and are caught occa­sionally with the hook, of considerable size. Anyone who chooses may fish; but, as no nets are used, few are caught. If a person had a net of the con­struction used in the Scottish salmon-fishings, I am inclined to think great quantities might be taken. The D'Urban market might, at least. be supplied at a handsome profit.

There is plenty of bush about D'Urban, which makes wattles for building houses and firewood easily produced. Fuel, however, is only required in this country for cooking. There are also plenty of large trees, for other purposes, in the neighbourhood; but the wood seems to be too hard and twisted. to be easily worked. But I have not been long enough here to be a judge in this matter. Some of our party have just returned from a visit to the German settlement,l1 which is about a dozen miles up the country, on the Maritzburg road. They say there are about fifty or sixty families. who seem to be living very comfortably on their small farms. Besides cultivating cotton, they are now growing almost all kinds of farm produce on a small scale. They were very hospitable to our Scotchmen, and seemed to lack none of the substan­tial comforts of life, though, of course. they were without some of its luxuries and conveniences.

In my excursions into the country. and especially on the banks of the Um­geni (the g is pronounced like the g in girl), I have seen the cotton plant growing well. The bushes seem to thrive; but little care is bestowed on their cultivation. The want of capital, machinery, and a regular means of export, seem to have denied it. as yet, a fair trial. Caffre labour is not to be de­pended on, as they may take a thought, and go away from the planter at the month's end. just at the time the cotton is ready for picking; and, in present circumstances, they say it will not pay white labour. When enterprise and money are brought to bear on its cultivation, it is very likely it may be­come the staple of the colony. But the great desideratum at present seems to me to be the cultivation of the land. I am absolutely angry at such a country lying waste, and us importing at a high price the staff of life.

Horses are plenty about D'Urban, but they are generally of a small sort, and only used for riding. I have only seen one or two instances of horses employed in drawing the cart. and everybody was staring at them as curio­sities. With such steep roads and soft sand, I see one horse could draw a

18 First Impressions of Natal

very small load; but, if more than one were attached, and heavy beasts used, such as Clydesdale horses, I am sure they would be much more tractable, and little inferior in strength, to the long unmanageable yokes of oxen. But horses would require feeding, and the people about the town have little, except what the animals could pick up, to give them. I have heard it said, that horses do not thrive well among the settlers near the coast, and, from the appearance of some of the beasts I have seen, I believe there is some truth in it. But when I saw the grass on which they were turned out to pasture, I did not much wonder at it. Rank weeds, and dry grass of the coarsest sort, pretty well powdered with sand, is not the walk in which we would expect to find sleek and healthy cattle. Were the land brought under cultivation, and laid down again in artificial grasses, as at home, I think the complaint of unhealthiness would cease to be heard. Horses kept for hire in the town, and which get oat-hay and Caffre-corn, look as well as their like in Scotland, and are always used by those who pay for them, even when going the shortest distance.

In dealing with the natives, much difficulty is experienced from ignorance of their language. The greater part of them know scarcely any English, and, in order to communicate with them, I think it much better to learn their language than to endeavour to teach them ours. If a grammar and dictionary had been procurable, the task would not have been so difficult; but, though I made every inquiry, no such helps were to be found in D'Urban. A book, called The Zulu Companion, by Mr. P[osseltJ,I2 intended to answer this de­sirable end, is in course of being published at Maritzburg, but where it was likely to be had no one could tell. Those who have been a few years in the colony have acquired considerable knowledge of the native language, and to these I must apply for lessons. A son of Mr. M[oreland], the Im[migration] Agent, has already given me a pretty long list of those words and sentences most commonly used, which I will soon make my own. I have now left off studying French, and turned my attention seriatim to the acquirement of Caffre, aSi the language spoken by the natives (consisting of Zulus, Hotten­tots, Fakus, Caffres, &c.) is always called.

I am told that the language used in Natal is the same as that spoken by the natives in Cape Colony, only differing in dialect, as one district of Britain differs from another. It is said to be simple in construction, and is not harsh in pronunciation.

Tuesday, April 9, 1850.

We have at length got all our luggage in the Emigrant House beside us, including the cart wheels, which have cost us for conveyance more than per­haps they are worth. I believe I have before mentioned that we were charged £2 for them at Glasgow, as extra luggage, and we had to pay other 25s. for landing them, and passing them through the custom-house. Mr. M[oreland] paid the boats for the landing of our personal luggage from the Ina, but he was either unable or unwilling to do the same with our extra-freight. Mr. C[ato]/3 who owns the barge, and who is one of the most influential citizens of D'Urban, claimed on all extra luggage, for bringing over the bar, £1 per ton, or per forty cubic feet; and for landing them from the bay, 3s.6d. per

19 First impressions of N alal

ditto additional. All goods intended for traffic, and articles not required for personal or agricultural purposes, are liable to a duty of 5 per cent. on their value at the custom-house on landing. Our trunks and baggage were not in­spected.

It is three weeks to-day since we first came ashore. I have just been cal­culating our items of expenditure. and find that the average outlay during this time for provisions was 4s. each, or 8s. a-week. This was exclusively for victuals, and does not include other necessary expenses. Ale and porter, with wines and spirits, are all high priced here, yet numbers of our party of emi­grants are so foolish as to go to the inns, night after night, for their tumbler of ale, and occasionally they stayed so late as to be paying Ss. a bottle for brandy. Of course, the publicans have got none of our money, and I am sure our health is none the worse on that account. Living would be cheap here, were it not for the high price of bread. It is commonly baked into six­penny loaves, but, looking at weigllt and quality, I believe it is more than double the price it was in Scotland when we left. Butcher meat, at least beef. is very cheap - boiling beef 2d., roasting do. 2id., and the best steaks 3d. a pound. We have a steak at least once a day to our coffee, and rice and pumpkin being reasonable, we have a good soup to dinner, when convenient te make it. Tea costs from 3s. to 4s. a pound; but we generally prefer coffee, which is to be had. of excellent quality, at Is. a pound. The sugar is coarsc, and costs at present from 4d. to 5d. per pound, or about its price at home; but several ships, laden with that commodity, being daily expected from the Mauritius, it is likely soon to be lowered in price. Potatoes are, strange to say, very scarce, and bring about 65s. a boll, or 1d. and I!d. per pound. Mealies, or Indian corn, beans, oats, potatoes, etc. are sold here by the muid, which is about 3 bushels, or from 160 to 180 pounds. There are a great number of ,general stores, as they are called, in the town; but few, if any, make a trade in one particular line. There is no stationer or bookseller, though I think there might be demand enough in that business.

April ]0, 1850.

Some of our party have returned from Pietermaritzburg, after a short so­journ about the capital. They describe the country as hilly or undulating all the way, and the waggon-road rather steep and circuitous. Maritzburg is beautifully situated on each side of a branch of the Umgeni, and connected by two bridges. The streets are regular, and much better built than at D'Urban and, the town being surrounded with hills at no great distance, it has a handsome appearance. There is not much stir about it; the people seeming to be idling and living on their money, rather than earning it. The land is of excellent quality around; but the want of wood near the town, both for building and fuel, is felt as Lt serious inconvenience. Agriculture there, as here, is yet in its infant state. little land being under cultivation. They went and saw the land which we left Scotland with the intention of occupying, but which former emigrants refused to accept. They liked the appearance of thc land very much, but those who could judge declared it to be generally un­suitable for the intended purposes, owing to the scarcity of wood and water. Some of them saw Mr. J. E[llis],14. who left L. last year, and who is

20 First Impressions of Natal

following his trade in the neighbourhood of Maritzburg. One of his sisters is keeping house to General Boys,15 the interim Governor of Natal. Mr. E. has bought a farm, or rather an estate, of nearly 3000 acres, about 30 miles beyond Maritzburg, price £150, and which he intends shortly to occupy. I could not learn anything of the D.s from -, but the letter I carried was sent to them. So much for 'news from Maritzburg'.

We have had several meetings of the emigrants, and some correspondence with Mr. Moodie, the Secretary of Government, Mr. Moreland, &c., and we expect the land question to be settled shortly.

My job at the shore was finished yesterday; and, as it is now useless and expensive living here, we intend to hire a waggon some day this week, and go on the land, where we can squat, and put in our potatoes and seeds. We had a letter from Mr. Roberts,16 London, to Mr. Moreland, and he advises us to go, offering to give us the land which the Cotton Company had ploughed before, in which we can plant our seeds, and get a crop, and one of the huts beside it to live in, if there is an empty one. By taking a quantity of staple provisions with us, it is said we can live cheaper there than here; and it will be an adventure to be near the land, and acquainted with it, when it is ready for our selection.

Thursday morning, April 11.

We have engaged a waggon at 30s. which will convey us and the most of our luggage, we expect, to the Cotton lands: it is to start about mid-day. I intended at first to post this before going up the country, but, as I under­stand there will be no mail or ship to the Cape with letters for some weeks to come, I think it better to take it with me, and bring it to the Post-office the first time father or I come down to D'Urban. I can then tell you a little of the land in the interior.

Mr. B[yrne] has sent out by the Edward, just arrived, an excellent surf boat of 40 tons for the landing of emigrants and luggage.

The entrance to the bay continues to improve, and ships are coming in and out every week with freedom.

Hut on the Cotton Company's Land, Banks of the Umhloti, Saturday, April 13, 1850.

My Dear Friends,-We arrived here safely last evening, and have established ourselves in one of the best huts, almost close to the river. Our journey was rather adventurous and difficult-for we had our 'perils by the way' as well as Paul- but, thank Providence, we escaped all injury.

We left D'Urban about noon on Thursday, mounted on the top of our luggage, in an open waggon. The distance from the town to the Umgeni ­which, in the Caffre, signifies 'river of alligators' - cannot be more than 2-!­miles. The lower drift, or ford, is close to the sea, where the river mouth is of considerable breadth, and is therefore easier crossed, except when the tide is in. As no rain had fallen for some days, our waggon-driver judged the river to be passable at the middle drift, and, as we proceeded thither, I saw

21 First Impressions of Natal

blocks of freestone, of hard quality, but not unsuitable for bridge or house building, jutting out of the hill by the roadside. Entering the river by a very steep bank, we found it deeper and heavier than we had imagined. We had only got a short distance, with the water up to the bottom of the waggon, when the oxen stopped, and seemed unable to get on farther. All the efforts of the leader and the driver, both of whom were Caffres, to get the oxen forward, were unavailing, as, unfortunately, they had to pull against the stream, which, though seemingly smooth and dead, was strong and impetuous. Seeing no better resource left, we stripped; and, descending from the waggon, urged on the oxen, till they fortunately gained the opposite side. I have heard of instances of waggoners making their oxen swim across when the river was high, and they getting impatient for its fall: injuring, of course, whatever was in the waggon, and sometimes getting their goods floated away altogether. As there is now no small traffic across, a bridge would be very desirable: but, as the river rises occasionally high, and the banks are rather flat, it would not be very easy of construction. Judging from its appearance and channel, it seems to have ordinarily more water than the Almond, but less than the Tay at Dunkeld. For a considerable distance inland, it has a soft, sandy bottom, which is constantly shifting. The water is always of excellent quality, and is used by the military and others at D'Urban. From the river to the town, on the north side, there is a hollow, through which, I believe, it would not be very difficult to lead the Umgeni, or part of it, into the bay, where it might be of much service. For the first few miles, after crossing the river, our road was over grassy knolls and through thick bush, but afterwards the prospects grew more open and beautiful. At the side of the track, in a bushy part. the driver pointed out the recent footprints of an elephant: they were of large size, and deeply indented in the ground. There are said to be many of them in the bushy district of Natal; but they generally manage, somehow, to keep out of the sight and reach of the 'lords of the creation'.

Hut on the Northern Bank of the Umhloti, April 21.

My Dear Friends, - I long to ask for the welfare of you all, and to tell you of' ours. Distance forbids our hearing from you, and time may long roll on without bearing tidings to one another. I enclose you half-a-dozen small sheets, made up of occasional notes, in which I have purposely avoided speaking of home thoughts and personalities. I miss much the friendly correspondence which used to be a source of such pleasure to me in Scotland. It is my intention to continue to write, as I find occasion, this sort of fireside chat about ourselves, our country, etc., and send it to friends in Scotland, who I know, will listen with pleasure to a 'voice from Africa'. My next will contain all particulars of the choice of our land, and the progress ·of our seeds. I may only say, that the more I have seen of the climate, soil, and capabilities of this country, my opinion of it is the more favorable, though it is farther behind in improvement than I expected. The coloured people are an inoffensive race, and no one seems to have any fear of them.

22 First Impressions of Natal

May 2, 1850.

During the last two or three weeks, we have been busy putting in our seeds, &c. One of the huts beside us is occupied by Mr. G., who turns out to be a cousin's son of the poet-preacher. He shares with us a bag of Cape oats and a bag of beans, which we are putting in here to get one crop before we get on our own land. He bought a span of six oxen, and we work together. We are more comfortable here than, in the circum­stances, you would imagine, and live, though simply, better than we usually did in Scotland. Except the occupants of three or four huts beside us, we rarely see a white face, yet I do not weary much; and when, at the mid-day rest or with the evening lamp, 1 can get an hour or two to the Book of Scottish Song, Chambers's Information for the People, or my letters to my dear friends in Scotland, J am as happy as my wont.

I believe a lodging-house at D'Urban would be a paying concern, even though rents are high. If a person had the means to purchase an erven [sic], or town lot, and build a house on it for that purpose, it would be a profitable investment.

As to the inducements to othcrs to come out, circumstances change so rapidly here that little definite can be said. To farm to advantage in this country, as at home, requires some capital. If a person had £100, or even £50, with which to stock and set agoing, he might get plenty of suitable land, and a good return. Farms of any extent and quality may be rented on a short lease, from 3d. to Is. an acre, or bought from 6d. to Ss., and that in any district of Natal. Such men as-----, who would not grudge to 'put their shoulders to the wheel', and work themselves as an example and encouragement to the Caifres, would certainly have a good chance of success. Wheat and other grains are likely to grow well, but in most of the districts they have scarcely been tried, and seed can hardly be procured.

Servants' wages are certainly high about the bay, and there was a brisk demand for them when our ship came in; but, so far as I can learn, the demand is not so general but that it might be more than met by a few arrivals of emigrant ships. As great numbers are now settling on the land, and the popubtion of town and village rapidly increasing, servants will by and by be in more extensive request. So soon as a Briton has got settled down with anything like comfort, he will seek such assistance and attendance as he has been accustomed to employ at home, in preference to the cheap but unskilful service of the natives.

The demand for ploughmen and farm-labourers is as yet limited, and may be said to be just beginning. Tradesmen will do well here, and when districts are more thickly peopled, they will do better.

May /0, 1850.

We have at length, my dear friends, got an opportunity of choosing our land, but which will not be surveyed into lots, and ready for our occupation, for some time. We have got our 90 acres on the banks of the Umhloti, eight or nine miles from the sea, and six miles further up than our present location. A stream runs by or through the land to the Umhloti.

23 First Impressions of Natal

[Here the series ends.]

Edinburgh: Printed by J. Hogg.

Notes

1. The Ilia was the first ship of the Byrne emigration scheme to sail from Glasgow. She carried 120 people made up of 76 adults and 40 children. Her date of sail­ing from the port of Greenock was 30 November 1849 and she arrived on 8 March 1850. Later, a second shipload of Scots emigrants arrived by the Con­qllerillg Hero on 28 June 1850. She also sailed from the Clyde.

2. Sidney Smith was the author of Whether to Go, and Whither? or, the Cape and the Great South Land. According to a footnote in Chambers's Edinburgh Jour­nal. vo!. 2, 1849, the book was 'a useful and extremely well-written shilling pamphlet'.

3. John Moreland, the Byrne settler agent, built various wooden and thatched huts as temporary accommodation for the emigrants. Thomas Duff and his father lived in the 'barracks' for single men from March 25 until April 11 1850 when they moved to their plots on the late Cotton Company's land.

4. The prefix um indicates that the word belongs to the first of six noun classes. It has no meaning on its own.

5. Rev. W. H. C. Lloyd. 6. The Natal Cotton Company was established in April 1847 by the Cape Town

businessman Edward Chiappini and others. The company was wound up in 1850 and the land, 22 750 acres on the Umhloti and Tongaat rivers, was repossessed by the Colonial government and later sold to Byrne & Co. The agent Moreland settled many emigrants at Verulam, Mount More1and, and New Glasgow, the villages which he laid out on this land.

7. The Rev. J. J. Freeman of the London Missionary Society, author of A tour in South Africa, with notices of Natal, Mauritius, Madagascar, Ceylon, Egypt, alld Palestine, (1851).

8. Here Duff refers to Natal sores, a complaint more serious than he realised. 9. John Milne, an emigrant by the Dreadnought, was the first harbour engineer to

attempt to remove the notorious sand bar across the entrance of Port Natal. 10. Hardy Wells, Esq., who visited Natal between November 1849 and February 1850.

A later attempt to engage a professional consultant resulted in Captain James Vetch, Admiralty hydrographer, constructing a badly designed pier in 1859 on the South Beach, Durban. TwO! or three gales destroyed it. Its foundation is still visible at low water.

11. Jonas Bergtheil set up a successful settlement at New Germany, 12km west of Durban, in 1848. He brought out 189 emigrants to grow cotton. The scheme failed but the settlers were successful with other crops. In his old age the settlers sent messages of gratitude to Bergtheil for establishing the community in Natal.

12. The Rev. C. W. Posselt, minister at New Germany, published The Zulu Companion, offered to the Natal colonist, to facilitate his intercourse with the natives. Pieter­maritzburg. D. D. Buchanan, 1850.

13. George C. Cato, known as 'King' Cato (1814-93), came to Natal in 1839 and was regarded by the settlers as the most knowledgeable person in Port Natal. It was his surf boats that brought the Byrne settlers and their baggage from the outer anchorage. His charges were somewhat high.

14. James Ellis (1806-87), a carpenter who emigrated by the Henry Tanner in October 1849. He was accompanied by his sisters Elizabeth and Helen. The former be­came housekeeper to Col. Boys.

15. Between the time of Lieut.-Governor Martin West's death and the arrival of his replacement, Benjamin C. C. Pine in 1850, Colonel E. F. Boys, officer comman­ding the 45th Regiment, was acting-governor of Natal.

16. Thomas Roberts, chief clerk to Joseph C. Byrne & Co., handled the business of the London office during the absence of his employer.

24

All Aboardfor Howick! Few Maritzburgers would take exception to the sentiments of Mr. C. J. Smythe, member for Lion's River, when he addressed the Natal Legislative Assembly in the capital in 1897.

'Sir', he asserted, 'the inhabitants of this city, who suffer from the heat in the summer time and the dryness in the winter, can have no more agreeable relaxation than a trip to Howick.' Contemporaries of Mr. Smythe, however, might have found his genial proposition not a little loaded, since as member for Lion's River he certainly had a vested interest in the bill under discussion.

This was the Extension to Howick Railway Bill, which had done the rounds as a parliamentary perennial ever since the main trunk line had got through to Ladysmith, and whose 'hardy annual' debate spurred each year its own sort of eloquence. In 1976 the organisers of the train excursion to Howick (heavily patronised, but perhaps owing to the fact that a steam locomotive was more persuasive than the Falls!) might flatter themselves that they were putting into practice the notions of those eminent gentlemen of some eight decades ago, probably the first in any South African House of Government to propose a railway on entirely pleasurable or recreational grounds.

Not that we would share their rather limited view of what Natal had to offer. How much more of the province do we now take for granted, through the private motor car, than did Mr. H. Binns, for example, Member for Victoria County, who claimed:

There are not very many places which offer any big attraction in this Colony, but certainly if there be one locality more than another which ought to be brought within the reach of tourists, it is the locality which will be reached by this railway.

(Mr. Binns was inclined, in fact, to refer to Howick as almost a foreign place, or was he speaking tongue-in-cheek when he said '1 believe that Howick is a most interesting village. There is every reason to suppose that it is .. .'). One suspects, though, that not all the transport amenities in the world would have ever persuaded Mr. G. S. Armstrong, (member for Victoria County) to subscribe to the parliamentary euphoria on the subject of the Falls:

The Hon. Member has spoken of a National asset. All 1 have to say is that if that is the only asset Natal has at the present time it is a very poor one indeed. One visit to Howick Falls would, I think, satisfy, anyhow, a man of my stamp.

But Mr. Armstrong lived in a changing world, and one of the surprises in store for any student of these debates is the way that, even in this inaccessible and raw little colony, it came naturally to many members to think in 'mass' terms about the transporting of populations for recreational purposes. No matter how idyllically we might picture the early Maritzburg

A picture of the GMA Garratt steam engine heading the 1977 Azalea Express. It is possibly the most powerful steam locomotive operating in Natal. This may have been its last journey from Pietermaritzburg.

An 1877 photograph showing an early train of the Natal Government Railways. The engine, weighing 26 tons, is pulling freight trucks and passenger coaches. (Photo: The Pictorial. 1905).

25 All aboard for Howick!

scene, it could only be in the 'Industrial era' (shall we say) that Mr. C. A. S. Yonge, member for Lion's River, could report:

We all know the difficulty there is for people living in Maritzburg to get to Howick on anything like a holiday, or a Sunday, or a half -day. You see the wives and families of residents of Maritzburg absolutely hemmed in round about the present station at Howick, because they do not possess enough money to get to the Falls.

Reference was being made here, of course, to present-day Merrivale, where the trunk line went through, and where the charge for the 5 km 'bus' ride to Howick proper was one shilling, more than a third of the rail fare to Pietermaritzburg. The Colonial Secretary, Mr. T. K. Murray, was inclined to echo the observation:

I dare say nine out of every ten men give up the trip to Howick simply because of the inconvenience at the end of their journey. The first question people ask is 'Can I get there by rail?' 'No' the reply is, and Howick suffers in consequence.

Hardly a situation to satisfy energetic Victorians! They had before them, after all, the enormous example of Thomas Cook, whose special excursions in the Midlands of England in the 1860s had given the urban masses a new image of what could be done with a Sunday. In our South Africa of the present day there is, for many reasons, an almost evangelical regard for 'tourism', and it comes to us surely as something of a surprise to find how easily the word 'tourist' tripped off the tongue of even the pre-Boer War colonials. Thus, for instance, the Colonial Secretary:

The Howick Extension Bill should be passed because tourists from Great Britain and other countries are coming to South Africa more and more every year, and we want to encourage traffic of that kind.

However, not all the members of the Legislative Assembly were ready to subscribe to the transformed Natal Sunday that some of their colleagues proposed. Mr. Baynes, member for Maritzburg City, sounded a qualifying note:

If a Sunday service is granted to Howick, then people living in Camperdown, Richmond Road, or Cato Ridge and other places along the line will also claim a train service on Sunday. The people in Durban will claim a service to Pine town or Gillitts or for anything that I know even to the Inchanga. They may even want one to Verulam. (Loud cries of 'No'.)

Nor did all members exude quite the touch of 'tourist commercialism' these excerpts might suggest, the same genius that still blows down from Howick borough to this day! Had not the Prime Minister, Sir John Robinson, as early as 1890, entered the 'Extension' debate with 'There is no doubt that Howick, Health, and Happiness are synonymous terms ... '.

No, the debate on the three miles of railway sometimes took on the Victorian ardour for regeneration that would have a Bentham or a Mill in the background rather than the pecuniary genius of a Thomas Cook.

26 All aboard for Howick!

It was there, for example, III the speech of Mr. T. Kirkman, member for Alexander County:

I have looked upon this railway, and still look upon it, as an educational railway ... it will take people away from Maritzburg and Durban up-country to see some of the bounties of nature.

At the height of his eloquence Mr. Kirkman was able to make Maritzburg seem as tawdry as an industrial metropolis of the Old Country.

The railway would take them away from this humdrum place in which there is nothing whatever on which to spend their time or to interest them. (,Oh, oh' from several Hon. members, and 'Shame' from Mr. Tatham.)

The moral majesty of his message even reached this optimism:

The railway will enable people to see something more than public houses . . . It will lead to the non-necessity for such places as inebriate retreats ...

At \vhich point, 1 conceded, he rather climbs back on to the bandwagon of 1\1r. Thomas Cook, whose first epoch-making excursions took very much the theme of his 'prohibitionary' enthusiasm. It was in his closing sentence though, and that still on the subject of a branch railway, that 1\1r. Kirkman finally swept the whole gamut of nineteenth century idealism from Wordsworth to Morris:

And it will be a distinct benefit to the Colony that young men and others from both north and south should have an opportunity of seeing something other than the walls of churches, something which will appeal to them far more eloquently from nature, from the running water and from anything that appeals to one's inner senses, something above the life of a city like this.

The radical secularism in this most unparochial point of view was apparently too much even for the Natal Assembly, and at this point a dumb­founded 1\1r. Hulett quickly moved closure. Perhaps we see here the ancestry of the Natal Capital's stand on the subject of Sunday Cinema!

It takes even more than idealism, however, to lay down railway tracks. When the Colonial Secretary argued loftily, on the soundest utilitarian principles, that the Howick branch should be built because it would 'increase the sum of human happiness', that pragmatic 'people's man', Mr. O'Meara, member for Maritzburg City, replied

Sir, the increasing of human happiness will have to be a secondary consideration, considering the financial position of the country at the present time.

Financial considerations had already spoilt the Universal Improvement supposed to be ushered in by the advance of the main line to Ladysmith. In its comprehensive design for a better mankind it has signally failed to take in Howick; for, as Sir John Robinson said

the main line ought originally to have gone by Howick, and it is one of the mysteries connected with railway construction in this Colony that a reasonable route was not taken.

27 AI1 aboard for Howick!

Modern engineers might feel somewhat relieved that their forebears of J883 had decided to make the line cross the Umgeni at its easiest point, there being no Cecil Rhodes available in Natal to insist that passengers should he able to contemplate - as was to happen on the Zambesi - the main cataract of the Falls as they progressed across the bridge!

What would our ancestors in the Legislative Assembly have thought of our recent train excursion, now that the motor car has given the Natal 'bourgeoisie' access to remote points in the province that they wouldn't have dreamed of? One paradox must have struck both the progressive and the conservative amongst them as a distinct curiosity. An electric train runs to Howick every afternoon, along the 'Extension' that was eventually built in 1911, and asks a very reasonable fare for a most scenic ride. It is not noticeable, however, for much 'white' patronage. But couple to that train a decadent, chunky, retrogressive and thoroughly Victorian piece of locomotion, a steam engine, and people vie for seats to travel behind it. Perhaps in running these excursions a little longer while the engines are still vvith us, we make our small contribution to prevent Pietermaritzburg from becoming -- in the words of the doleful Mr. Kirkman - 'an inebriate retreat'!

W. H. BIZLEY

28

The Embossed Postage Stamps ofNatal-1857-1869

The first postage stamps of Natal were issued on 1st June, 1857. Great Britain, the first country in the world to issue adhesive postage stamps, had produced its famous 'Penny Black' in 1840, and the Cape of Good Hope had commenced the issue of the equally famous 'Cape Triangulars' in 1853. Unfortunately, while Natal was quite early in the field amongst the world's stamp-issuing countries, its first stamps have never enjoyed the esteem and popularity enjoyed by the stamps just mentioned and by most other 'classic' issues of the world. The reasons for this will become apparent from this article.

There was no properly organised postal service in Natal until the year 1850. In terms of a proclamation dated February of that year, Post Offices were established at Pietermaritzburg, D'Urban, Bushman's River (later Estcourt) and Klip River (later Ladysmith). Previously, such limited postal facilities as were called for had been provided by the various missionaries (mostly American), while between Pietermaritzburg and Durban the pro­prielors of the Natal Witness had provided what they referred to as a 'Private Post established for the satisfaction of our subscribers. and at the same time to afford facilities for communication to the public'. This private post commenced in March, 1846, and was soon being conducted on a regular weekly basis, the tariff being 6d. per sheet. By the time the Govern­ment postal service commenced in February, 1850, the tariff had been reduced to 3d. per sheet. With the establishment of the Government service. the private post terminated.

After the opening of the initial four Government post offices, further post offices were opened from time to time. Pinetown and Richmond were opened later in 1850, Verulam in 1851, Howick, Mooi River, Colenso, Weenen and York in 1852, Sterkspruit (later Caversham) in 1853, Grey town in 1854, Umhlali in 1856, Umzinto in 1858, Isipingo in 1859 and many more in the l860s. By 1870 the number of post offices in the Colony had passed 40 and by 1880 the number was up to 73.

Soon after the opening of the first post offices, rates of postage were fixed under which the prepaid rate was less than the non-prepaid rate -- for local letters Id. per half-ounce, compared with 4d. per half-ounce non­prepaid. There was a preferential rate of Id. on soldiers' letters bearing the signature of the commanding officer, and this was also the rate for newspapers. On overseas letters the rate was 6d. per half-ounce, this having to be prepaid. On the introduction of postage stamps (on ] June 1857), prepayment of postage was made obligatory on all letters.

The Colony's first postage stamps were a makeshift issue introduced as a result of complaints from the public. There were four values, namely, 3d., 6d., 9d. and 1/-, crudely produced from the embossing dies of those values which were used at the Natal Treasury for the purpose of stamping

29 Embossed Postage Stamps

documents subject to stamp duty. For such purposes, a series of embossing dies ranging from 3d. to £25 was in use for impressing on documents such as licences, title deeds, etc. which attracted duty in terms of Ordinance No. 3 of 1850. The dies were normally impressed directly on to the document which required stamping, but for the production of postage stamps the dies were impressed, one impression at a time, on small sheets of rather coarse coloured wove paper, probably ready-gummed, obtained from a local stationer. No means of perforating the stamps was available, so they had to be cut from the sheet with scissors as they were sold. The 3d. stamp was impressed on a rose coloured paper, the 6d. on green, the 9d. on blue and the 1/- on buff paper. In every case the colouring went through the paper. Each value was of a different design, but basically all the designs consisted of the word 'Natal' at the top, then a crown between the letters V.R. (Victoria Regina), and below that the value in words. All this was surrounded, or partially surrounded, by a frame the style of which was different for each value. The dies, or at any rate those used for the production of the postage stamps, were made by B. Wyon of London.

A Id. value was added to the series early in 1858, the die for this stamp being somewhat smaller than the other dies and not containing the letters V.R.; the style of lettering was also different. It is not known where this die came from, but it was certainly not as well executed as the other dies. At the outset the Id. die was impressed on blue paper, but later rose paper was used and then buff, presumably to use up stocks of paper left over from the other stamps.

The method of producing the stamps was obviously quite unsuitable, especially as the embossing machine was apparently so constructed that it could emboss only two rows of stamps on the sheet, which then had to be turned round to take two rows on the opposite side. It seems unlikely that the Treasury would have been willing to relinquish control of the dies, so the production of the stamps must have been carried out at the Treasury itself. The appearance of the stamps was poor and, having to be cut from the sheet with scissors as they were sold, their size varied greatly. In a letter written to the Colonial authorities in London on 6 July 1859, the Governor described the stamps as 'a clumsy substitute for the usual postage stamps and prepared with difficulty', and asked tha~ the new stamps which had been ordered on 6 September 1858 should be despatched as early as possible. Actually, the new stamps, of the value of 3d., and supplied by Perkins Bacon & Co. of London, were already on their way to Natal and must have arrived soon after the letter had been written. New Id. stamps arrived early in 1860, but new 6d. stamps were not received until 1863 - this notwithstanding the fact that the 6d., 9d. and 1/- embossed stRmps had been withdrawn, along with the embossed 3d. value, in July 1859.

The consumption of stamps in the Colony in its early stages was naturally very small. The basic rate for local letters being 3d. per half ounce, the 3d. value was the one most used, some 210 000 being sold over the period of about two years during which they were in use. Of the Id. value 27000 were sold; of the 6d. value 19328; of the 9d. value 2263, and of the 1/­value, 5601. With the possible exception of the 3d. value, the stamps were thus from the outset difficult for collectors to obtain, especially

30 Embossed Postage Slam ps

as stamp dealers were virtually unknown until the early 1860s when stamp collecting suddenly became a popular hobby. Added to the actual scarcity of the stamps, early collectors seem to have been prejudiced against them because there was some doubt whether they were not revenue rather than postage stamps, while the fact that they were embossed instead of being printed meant that they were very easily damaged. In this connection a prominent philatelist of the time, Judge Philbrick, writing in 1866, referred to 'the wretched indecipherable condition of most specimens of this issue, a set of clear, sharply defined, legible examples being hardly known'. The 9d. and 1/- values were so seldom seen that as early as March 1865 the Editor of 'The Stamp Collector's Magazine' included them in a list of the 15 rarest postage stamps in the world.

It was about this time that a most undesirable development occurred and reference must again be made to 'The Stamp Collector's Magazine', the April 1866 number of which contained the following:

Natal - The dies of the first issue for this colony appear to have fallen under the control of some person who has struck off a number of reprints, on a much thinner and brighter coloured paper than that originally employed. Those noticed to this period are:

one penny - blue threepence - pink sixpence - green ninepence - buff shilling - a bright yellow.

This reprint will not lessen the value of the genuine old issue, but is, in itself, comparatively worthless.

Further reprints were made in 1873 and again in 1893, some of the 1ast­mentioned ones being on wove paper identical in colour, thickness, and in all other respects with the paper used for the original issue. It is not known who was responsible for the earlier reprints, but the indications are that the 1893 reprints at any rate were made with official approval.

What complicates the matter is that, after the embossing dies had ceased to be used for producing postage stamps, they continued to be used for revenue purposes and, at the beginning of 1869, a series of revenue stamps on coloured gummed paper was produced from them (and from two of the dies that were never used for postal purposes) for affixing to documents which attracted stamp duty. In this revenue issue the stamps of the denominations which had been used for postal purposes were produced in colours which approximated to those used for the postal issue. In the case of the Id. value, it was embossed on no less than four different coloured papers, three of them being similar to the colours of the postage stamps. The revenue stamps of all values were, however, clearly distinguish­able from the postage stamps because, firstly, they were on paper which was coloured on the surface only, not right through, and secondly, they were perforated so as to avoid the need for them to be cut from the sheet with scissors as had had to be done with the postage issues. There is no doubt that the revenue stamps were regularly used for the purpose for which they were introduced, but what was undesirable from the philatelic

31 Embossed Postage Stamps

point of view was that it was an easy matter to trim off the perforations, leaving stamps which, superficially at any rate, were very similar to the rare postage stamps of 1857/1858.

Another interesting thing about the 1869 series of revenue stamps is that, from about 1881 to 1884, when they were apparently still in ordinary use, the Post Office seems to have handled them, or possibly special printings of them, selling them at face value to collectors who wanted them for philatelic purposes and describing them as 'obsolete stamps'. I remember being told many years ago by someone who as a boy had purchased a set of these stamps when they were on sale at the Pietermaritzburg Post Office that they were sold to him on the understanding that they would not be used for postal purposes. The stamps that I was shown were not perforated, so either they had had their perforations trimmed off before the Post Office sold them or they were special embossings that were not sent forward for perforating. These stamps, on surface coloured paper and imperforate, came to be referred to as reprints and this caused confusion with the proper reprints on paper coloured through.

The origin of the various reprints has always been a mystery and who first hit on the idea of making them is not known. Nor is it known whether it was the Natal Government that received the proceeds of the reprints or whether there were one or more individuals who made irregular use of the dies to the benefit of their own pockets. In the early 1930s there was quite a controversy in the philatelic press concerning the reprints and some conflicting statements were made by persons who had been living in Natal during the 1880s and 1890s and who it would appear were in a position to say what had occurred. On reading the various statements, one gains the impression that something was being hidden, and an expert on Natal stamps, writing several years after the controversy had died down, expressed the view that it was unlikely that the real truth would ever be established. With the lapse of nearly another forty years, one can only agree with him.

Reprinting of the embossed stamps seems finally to have ceased with the 1893 series of reprints. According to Stanley Gibbons's Monthly Journal of January 1894, this happened as a result of representations made to the Postmaster General by some collector in Pietermaritzburg. The dies were apparently not defaced until very much later - about 1930 - but are now held by the Postmaster General in Pretoria. The defaced revenue dies (Le. the ones not used for the production of postage stamps) are in the Natal Archives in Pietermaritzburg. With so many reprints in existence, there has always been a tendency from the earliest days to assume that any unused embossed stamp of Natal must inevitably be a reprint. While this is not correct, the well-known London stamp dealers and publishers of the leading British stamp catalogue, Stanley Gibbons Ltd., have always had a note in their catalogue (an annual publication) indicating that, because of the existence of the reprints and the difficulty of distinguishing them with certainty from the originals, they do not quote any prices for unused stamps of this issue. I think the same applies to other leading stamp dealers throughout the world, and most catalogues, wherever they are published, do not mention prices for the unused stamps. When such stamps change hands, therefore, they would almost certainly do so at a

32 Embossed Postage Stamps

nominal price that would represent only a fraction of the value of a used stamp.

The value of the used stamps depends very much on their condition; i.e. whether they are of good appearance and free from defects such as tears, creases, trimmings, etc. Stanley Gibbons' prices, which range from £150 for the 3d. stamp to £3 000 for the 9d. stamp, are for stamps in fine con­dition. Stamps in poor condition - for example, if they are of a small size (and particularly if the design is cut into), or if they are tom or creased or thinned - would be worth very much less. On the other hand, stamps on original envelopes or letters could be worth much more, again depending on the general condition of the stamp and cover and what postal markings are on the cover. It follows, therefore, that whenever envelopes or letters of this nature are discovered, the proper course is to consult an expert philatelist or dealer. Under no circumstances should any attempt be made to remove the stamp from the envelope and it is most important that the whole envelope - front and back - should be retained intact. If there is any letter in the envelope, that too should be retained.

It should be mentioned that many of the embossed stamps were not cancelled with postmarks as in the early stages only the Pietermaritzburg, Durban and Ladysmith Post Offices had steel cancelling stamps. The other post offices usually cancelled the stamps by writing the name of the post office across them. At the outset, the cancellor at Pietermaritzburg took the form of a horizontal oval containing 'Post Office P.M.Burg' without any date. The one at Durban consisted of a small circle containing a crown at the top, 'Natal' at the bottom and, in between, the month and date of the month. There was no mention of the year or of the name D'Urban. The Ladysmith cancellor was on the lines of the one at Pietermaritzburg.

It was mentioned earlier in this article that, after two rows of stamps had been embossed on a sheet, it had to be turned round for embossing of two more rows on the opposite side. This meant that the two middle rows were upside down in relation to each other, resulting in vertical pairs of the stamps being, to use the appropriate philatelic term 'tete beche'. Very few H:te beche pairs have survived, and only of the Id. and 3d. values. There is a fine tete beche pair of the 3d. stamps in the Hurst collection of Natal stamps in the Durban museum.

Forgeries of the Natal embossed stamps are known, the most dangerous ones being those produced by adding forged cancellations to the reprinted stamps. As mentioned previously, the paper used for some of the 1893 reprints was virtually identical with the original paper-it may even have come from the old stocks of that paper - and about 1895 quite a number of reprints, particularly of the 9d. value, bearing faked cancellations were noticed. It is inevitable that some collectors will have been deceived by these forgeries and no doubt some of them are still in existence.

It would certainly be very interesting if one could see a complete collection of the various series of reprints - i.e. 1866, 1873, 1881/84 (the trimmed down revenue stamps) and 1893 - and compare them with the original stamps. It is most unlikely, however, that such a collection would exist.

While the use of the embossed postage stamps finally ceased in 1860

SY"d <>'"" ~

Iw"l'i'lO'>UJ.J.)l,m I' ,

I elI:i\ Wn:iH1lJ

~. .~

Types of ern bossed starnps as used in Victorian Natal.

33 Embossed Postage Stamps

when the new Id. stamps printed by Perkins, Bacon & Co. arrived, there was a brief period in 1869 during which one of the Id. embossed revenue stamps issued at the beginning of that year was allowed to be used for postage. The stamp in question was embossed on yellow surface coloured paper and was perforated. Why it should have been used for postage is not clear, but its use for this purpose should in any case have ceased in August 1869, when a proclamation was published under which only stamps bearing the inscription 'Postage' could be used for postal purposes.

The stamps that replaced the embossed stamps were of the design known to philatelists as 'Chalon Heads', i.e. containing the head of Queen Victoria from a painting by a well-known nineteenth century artist, A. E. Chalon. They were beautifully produced stamps and, with their various 'Postage' overprints resulting from the legislation mentioned in the preceding paragraph, form an interesting series. Fortunately there are no reprints of these stamps to contend with.

E. C. WRIGHT

34

Portrait of my friend Magqubu Ntombela

Magqubu Ntombela's first memory is of being carried on his mother's shoulders to watch the troops go by on their way to capture Dinizulu in the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906. His father had been in the inGobamakhosi Regiment in the Zulu War of 1879 and fought against the British at Isandhlawana. His grandfather had served Shaka and his great-grandfather had served Senzangakona. Although Magqubu cannot read and write his knowledge of history is exact and unfaltering. He remembers everything passed down from father to son.

Magqubu's home is at Macibini near the entrance to the Umfolozi Game Reserve. Here he has two wives, lots of grandchildren, a herd of cattle, some goats and sheep. But he has never spent a great deal of time at home. At 14 he was a guide to hunters who came to shoot in the crown lands adjoining Hluh1uwe and Umfolozi Game Reserves. He was already a skilled tracker because, like all his Zulu contemporaries, he had to herd the goats, some of which inevitably got lost in the bush and had to be tracked down. Failure to bring the whole herd back meant a severe thrashing. Magqubu also learnt how to set snares for guineafowl and francolin, and what wild fruits were: good to eat. It was a life very close to nature. White rhino, black rhino, lion, leopard, cheetah, kudu, impala, reedbuck, were all part of his daily life. He learnt their habits and imitated their calls.

At the age of 16 he was employed as a labourer by Vaughan-Kirby, the first Game Conservator of Zululand. Magqubu used to walk to Nongoma with Mali Mdhletshe, a senior game guard, to collect Vaughan-Kirby's kit, then walk back on patrol with Vaughan-Kirby to the Umfolozi Game Reserve, Hluhluwe and Mkuzi. It is no wonder that at his age of 77 he is still so fit. The capture of poachers was part of his life in the 50 odd years that he spent as a game guard. He has been shot at many times and once had to kill a man in self-defence.

I first met him in 1952 shortly after I had joined the Natal Parks Board. I was immediately struck by the man. There was something very compelling about him. Although small in stature and slightly bandy, he exuded con­fidence. His smile was warm and in talking to him one soon observed his firmness and tact. A psychic bond held us together and intuitively I knew, 25 years ago, that this man would play a big part in my life.

All young game rangers, if they have any sense, become friendly with a game guard because it is a quick way to learn the bush. The white man's whole thought pattern is different and it takes time to become observant and sensitive to the surroundings.

In 1955 I was transferred to the Umfolozi Game Reserve for a year. Magqubu was still employed by the Veterinary Department but I spent all my spare time with him and we went on patrol together. I was deeply impressed with his knowledge. It did not seem possible that one man could

35 Portrait of my friend

know so much. He knew Umfolozi Game Reserve intimately and every path, pan, hill, valley or stream meant something to him. I once noticed a strange break in the vegetation on the lower slopes of Dengezeni hill. When I asked Magqubu the reason he explained that in the early days of the tsetse fly campaign R. H. T. P. Harris of Harris By Trap fame had erected a hessian fence as an experiment to keep the fly in. Needless to say, it was a hopeless failure. With great hilarity and imitating Harris's lisp, Magqubu told me how Harris had bought some old donkeys, poured insecti­cide onto sacking then wrapped it round the donkeys' legs and let them go into the fly area. The flies bit into the sacking and immediately died. Harris hopped around in great joy exclaiming that he had found the answer to killing off the fly. Many other schemes were tried including his fly trap, but it was aerial spraying with insecticide that eventually eliminated the fly.

In 1958 I returned to Umfolozi Game Reserve as the senior ranger in charge. Magqubu was the head game guard. Nick Steele was in charge of the southern buffer zone and his senior guard was Masuku Mzwabantu. We faced formidable difficulties: squatter invasions, poaching incursions, cattle straying, political interference and a host of other problems. The only pleasure we had were the long horse patrols to all parts of the Reserve. We sat around the fire at night, listening to Magqubu telling stories of the old days when there were different problems to contend with.

In the same year we started the wilderness trails. When the trails were first mooted by Jim Feely and myself, I spoke to Magqubu. He was im­mediately enthusiastic and said it was the only proper way to get people to understand the importance of the reserves. 'If people see the game reserves like you have seen them, they will love them like you do.' I believe that wilderness trails have helped to bring about an awareness of the importance of wildlife conservation in a way that nothing else can.

In later years when the Wilderness Leadership School became fully active, Magqubu was again involved. He is a natural teacher and was an instant success with the trailers. We took out Americans, Britons and Europeans as well as South African whites, coloureds, blacks and Indians. No matter who made up the group the old man soon had their measure and they quickly learnt how to identify trees, animals and different sounds. Some­times a group of schoolboys would become a little obstreperous. Magqubu, with a certain gleam in his eye, would start walking at a pace that did not vary up the hills or along the flats. Soon, the giggles and the horseplay stopped. But the old man had no mercy and kept on walking. When someone lagged behind he would shout in Zulu, 'If the lion or the black rhino gets you it will be your own fault'. Even if the person did not understand the language, the gestures and intonation were enough. A tired group limped into camp and the following day there were no disciplinary problems.

In 1964 I was promoted to Chief Conservator Zululand and moved to Hluhluwe. Magqubu decided to return to his muzi at Macibini and when I passed his place I always stopped to say hello and talk about old times. He was as energetic as ever, building new huts, ploughing fields and looking after his cattle. But he was never too busy to help us with place name derivations or other specialized tasks. He was always willing to help in any way he could.

In 1969 I was transferred to head office in Pietermaritzburg, much against

36 Portrait of my friend

my will but orders are orders. It was a sad and bitter day for me when I had to leave Zululand. Magqubu heard about my going. He appeared one morning at my office to say that he would go with me because he knew I would not be spending too much time at home. So today he spends most of the year on my smallholding in the Karkloof where he has become a well-known figure. Every January he goes to Inanda to the Shembe gathering and returns a rejuvenated man.

I left the Natal Parks Board in 1974 to work full-time with the Inter­national Wilderness Leadership Foundation and the Wilderness Leadership School. Since then I have travelled all over the world raising money and making arrangements for young Americans, Britons and other people to walk the wilderness trails. Magqubu lives in a thatched cottage on my property and has a kitchen behind an old stable. He has a knowledge of people as deep as his knowledge of animals, and one of the first things I do on my return is to spend time with the old man. It is a great comfort to listen to his sane, down-to-earth views on the world.

Despite his age he is always ready to go on trail and for me it is a relief to be able to hand over to him the moment we slip into the bush. Everyone is always impressed by Magqubu. One man, a very senior executive in a big company in Johannesburg, said, 'This has been the greatest ex­perience of my life, walking in Umfolozi with this old man. I have learnt more in three days than I ever believed was possible. The whole experience has given me a new perspective on life and a deep understanding of the need for wilderness.'

At indabas after the Wilderness Leadership School trails I have tried to explain that a wilderness experience can be the beginning of a voyage of self-exploration. Some values never change and wilderness is one of them. People have always sought a period of isolation, in the desert, on the mountains, the sea or the bush. The Wilderness Leadership School tries to provide for this need today. Magqubu Ntombela as a guide gives an extra dimension to the trail. Even the most prejudiced of people - and we get our fair share - cannot help but get a glimmer of understanding of the importance of the old knowledge that so-called primitive people can pass on to us. As D. H. Lawrence said, 'In the dust where we have buried the silent races and their abominations, we have buried so much of the delicate magic of life'.

So, while he can still walk and see, Magqubu will lead Wilderness Leader­ship School trails and, as he says, try to pass on verbally what he has learnt. Although I have known him for 25 years, I learn something new every time I go out with him. Just to be with him and watch him walk through the bush is an experience in itself.

From a lifetime of knowledge he knows where a rhino path begins and ends, where it is possible to ford the river. Intuition gives him warning of danger. The screech of the amaHlalanyati (oxpeckers) puts him instantly on guard against a rhino or buffalo ahead. As he does not drink or smoke his sense of smell tells him if a lion is nearby. A rustle in the grass inaudible to anyone else, indicates to him the presence of a snake. A freshly bitten branch, the sap still oozing, tells him a story. A few feathers lying on a sandbank are sufficient information for him to know and reconstruct how a hawk swept out of the sky and killed a dove drinking. Tracks, weeks,

The 77-year-old game guide Magquhu Ntombela with Mr. fan Player (rear figure) and a party of American 'trailers' at the Wilderness Leadership School. (Photo: Dailv News)

Donald Morris, auth or of The Washing of the Spears, Magqubu Ntombela, game guide, and lan Player, organiser of the Wilderness Trails,

Portrait of my friend 37

sometimes months old, tell him other stories of lions or hyena stalking an antelope; a quick rush and there still imprinted on the sand is the outline of the prey. One bone is enough for Magqubu to be able to identify the species. Nothing escapes his attention and his enthusiasm, humour and goodwill are limitless.

Earlier this month the Natal region of the Wilderness Foundation put on a wilderness awareness evening in Durban. Magqubu spoke to a small audience with Hugh Dent, a former trail leader of the Wilderness Leadership School, interpreting. The evening was an experiment and it encouraged us enough to stage another in Johannesburg which was a resounding success. When all the seats had been sold, people sat on the floor or leant against the walls. Magqubu had their rapt attention as he imitated Shaka's lisp, then went on to tell stories of the symbiotic relationship between the ratel and the honey guide, and the significance of the mpafa tree. Although no more than three or four people in the crowd could understand Zulu, Magqubu's presence and his ability to mime held the audience.

It was a remarkable evening: an old Zulu keeping more than 400 sophisticated Johannesburg people entertained and instructed for over two hours. It is also perhaps a sign of our times: we are beginning to search for something beyond the material. I believe that a wilderness experience is the key.

IAN PLAYER

38

The Incident of the BRAZILIA and the

Rev. Pieter Ham Pieter N. Ham, the son of Adrianus Pieter Ham and Johanna Reynders, was born in Amsterdam on 17 March 1807 and baptized by Dr. Hugenholst at the Groote Kerk on 12 April 1807. Pieter was first educated at the Latin school and later at the Athenaeum Illustre of that city, thereafter beginning his theological studies at the State University in Utrecht on 30 June 1828. According to a letter received by the general convocation of the Dutch Reformed Church the student tried to pass his examinations on 1 May 1833 but by unanimous vote was rejected for failing and not being con­sidered competent. This did not deter the 26-year-old student from a career in divinity. On 7 May 1834 he again approached the provincial elders and deacons of the Church of the Guelderland Province and after being examined at Arnhem was accepted by majority vote for holy orders and was ordained by the Dutch Reformed Council. During this particular period there was in fact a surplus of Netherlands clergy and so the Rev. P. Ham received no immediate call to a fixed congregation but gave his assistance by relieving elderly and sick predikants in the Provinces.

About 1841 a society, The Commission for Supplying the Religious Needs of the Inhabitants of Natalia, was formed in Amsterdam and headed by a Jacob Swart, lecturer and examiner at the Naval College, with a com­mittee of D.R.C. ministers. At the end of 1842 this church commission extended an invitation to young predikants for possible selection for overseas assignments. Through this arrangement they engaged the young licentiate Pieter N. Ham and a schoolmaster Mr. Martineau as pioneers to the emigrant republic of Natalia, this being in answer to a plea from the Trekker settlers of the first Boer republic in South Africa which had come into existence only in 1839 after the defeat of Dingaan and his Zulu warriors at Blood River on 16 December 1838, the Day of the Covenant.

With this idea in mind of going to Natalia the Rev. Pieter Ham and his wife accepted the call to distant Southern Africa and joined the schooner Brazilia at Rotterdam. Totally unaware of the political intrigue in which they were later to become involved, they sailed from the port on 8 February 1843 for their destination in the Indian Ocean.

To obtain the correct background to the circumstances it is necessary to turn our attention to the year 1841 when the society was formed. A small trading company had been established by some Amsterdam merchants under the partnership of George G. Ohrig of Klyn & Co. and Jacob Swart the naval lecturer, and pressure was exerted locally to encourage trade between the Netherlands and the emigrants in Natalia. However, there was little enthusiasm for the scheme. Nevertheless, the partners purchased a schooner Brazilia for the planned trips to Southern Africa. A Captain

39 The Incident of the Brazilia

Cornelius Reus was placed in command and a young ambitious merchant was given instructions to seek trade openings with the emigrant community in Natalia. His name was J ohan Smellekamp, one ever to be associated with both the ship and the Republic of Natalia.

It would appear that the first voyage of the Brazilia was to Port Natal where the vessel arrived on 24 March 1842 on which date the senior officers including the passenger J. Smellekamp immediately reported to Mr. Wicht, the local Boer landdrost and specifically enquired if the English were yet in possession of the port or the colony, that is, the Republic of Natalia, it being clearly implied by the visitors that they were on the political errand of enabling the Boer settlers to seek the protection of the Royal House of William II of Orange, as well as the Netherlands government. Alternatively they would assist in the escape of the Trekker settlers from the British imperialists.

Captain Reus and the ship's party then went direct to Pietermaritzburg, capital of the republic, to consult the Volksraad, staying for eight days in the capital enjoying the festive atmosphere of bedecked streets displaying the tricolour of the Netherlands in honour of the visitors, since many believed this intervention of the Netherlands would guarantee the Trekkers' independence. The visitors returned to Port Natal for the auction of the trade cargo brought out by the Brazilia. Little, however, was disposed of as it was found unsuitable for local needs. Luckily Captain Reus decided to set sail for Batavia and left the port on 24 April 1842 which was a fortuitous decision because a British military force from Fort Peddie (Eastern Cape) under Captain Thomas Smith did in fact reach Port Natal on 5 May to haul down the Republican colours. Then followed the siege of Captain Smith's party and the episode of Dick King's ride to Grahams­town. It was this small military force with its reinforcements from the frigate Southampton in late June that was instrumental in persuading the Volksraad at Pietermaritzburg to surrender the Republic of Natalia to the British Crown on July 15, 1842.

From an international point of view, however, the implications of the visit in March of the Brazilia were of greater importance. From a report received at Downing Street, London, from the Governor of the Cape Colony concerning the visit of the Brazilia, it was obvious a discourtesy had been committed against the British Crown and swift action was taken in diplomatic circles. As a result an official apology was handed to the British representative at the Hague, Netherlands, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the House of Orange, Baron Kattendycke, stating that the government disclaimed sympathy with the emigrants in Natalia, even though many of the Boers were Dutch subjects. This formal action must be borne in mind together with the behind-the-scenes activities, which proved even more spectacular in that the British Foreign Office had become suspicious of French complicity and an official enquiry was instituted in October 1842. By December it was allegedly discovered through a minister at the Hague that in fact it was Johan Smellekamp who had been financed by French capitalists for the Brazilia venture to the Republic of Natalia in March. Consequently, in order to keep the Governor Sir George Napier fully acquainted with the situation as seen in Europe, a copy of the official apology by the Netherlands was sent by Lord Stanley, Secretary of State,

40 The Incident of the Brazilia

with other correspondence concerning the changing situation in Southern Africa. It will be recalled that Natal was proclaimed a British Colony, though still part of the Cape Colony, on 12 May 1843.

Quite unexpectedly on 8 May 1843 we find the schooner Brazilia under the command of Captain Reus arriving at Port Natal roadstead again. It is important to note that while the Rev. P. Ham and wife were listed as passengers they had been instructed to place themselves at the disposal of the Boer Republic of Natalia on arrival. In fact they were accompanied by none other than Mr. Johan Smellekamp as their chief director, with Mr. P. S. Kervel as assistant trader and schoolmaster Mr. Martineau. Whether the passengers were acquainted with the master's intrigue or not, the ship's manifest was clearly endorsed for destination Mauritius, not Port Natal.

In consequence, immediately the schooner arrived she was boarded for inspection by Lieut. Joseph Nourse, R.N. This officer with his armed crew was anchored in the roadstead aboard the small vessel Fawn which had arrived on 25 June 1842 and was to remain until June 1844. Nourse was suspicious of gun-running as the military and political situation was tense. On his discovering that the manifest failed to indicate Port Natal as the legitimate destination and no doubt having some idea of the Brazilia's previous visit the year before, he refused to allow any communication with either the British or Dutch people of the port or colony. Neither would he permit the Rev. P. Ham and his wife to disembark but ordered Captain Reus to set sail forthwith. Consequently the Brazilia sailed off on 9 May 1843 to make for the nearest alternative port not under British control.

So they went to Delagoa Bay in Mocambique where the Rev. P. Ham and his wife landed, together with Mr. Smellekamp and their personal property including cases of religious literature sent by the Amsterdam commission for the Boers of Natalia. Mr. Martineau had died during the short voyage and so the schooner continued on its trip to Java. Whether it included a stop-over at Mauritius has not been verified. However, some­time during the following year the schooner did return to Delagoa Bay from Java where Mr. Smellekamp took passage back to Europe, later re­visiting South Africa to involve himself again in the affairs of the Dutch Trekker community.

The news of the British action in refusing the Rev. P. Ham permission to land at Port Natal whilst the Brazilia was actually there in May 1843 created extreme bitterness within the Boer communities but the basic result was that the unfortunate clergyman and his wife were now stranded at Delagoa Bay.

So in time the Boer community organised a small party of emigrant farmers to go by horse to Mocambique and we find J oachim Prinsloo, Gerrit R. C. Coetzee, and a youth Bezuidenhout leaving from Weenen in the latter part of the year 1843. Although they did in fact reach their destination their efforts were disastrous in that all the horses eventually died from disease and the men fell victims to malaria, Coetzee dying in Mocambique and Prinsloo succumbing 14 days after getting back to Weenen. Another attempt was made by a larger party of 50 Boers setting out from Winburg with waggons, oxen, and horses expressly to bring back the stranded minister from Delagoa Bay, but the route to the port in

Rev. Pieter Ham.

John Medley Wood, 'the Fathe r of Natal Botany' .

The Incident of the Brazilia 41

Mocambique was through tsetse-fly infested regions and the men were forced to abandon their plan and return home.

In the interim tragedy had struck at Ham. He himself was afflicted with fever, coming close to death itself, and about the same time his wife gave birth to their first and only child which survived only a couple of weeks. Shortly afterwards the mother also succumbed to the dreaded fever. So the Rev. P. Ham was left in a terribly weak physical condition and a widower as well.

Fortunately, early in the New Year of 1844 a ship arrived at Delagoa Bay from Batavia and in view of the predikant's distressing position the captain reluctantly accepted him for the long voyage back to Europe. As it turned out, when the ship was sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, the captain was more or less obliged to call at Table Bay owing to sickness among his crew. So it was indeed fortunate for the Rev. P. Ham that he was enabled to land at Cape Town. Here he met an old school friend from Utrecht who took immediate care of the sick man. Thereafter Ham was befriended by the local community and persuaded to stay at the Cape and forget his past ordeals.

On recovering his health he resumed his religious calling and initially went to Paarl to offer his assistance. On 8 September 1844 he was enrolled by the D.R.C. of the Cape Colony as official assistant to the local congre­gation. His devotion to his duties and his tenacity of character were soon recognised, for on 26 February 1845 a formal recommendation was made by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, Sir Peregrine Maitland, to the Secretary of State in England, Lord Stanley, in support of the application by the inhabitants of Franschhoek (previously part of the Paarl circuit) for the appointment of a clergyman for the recently separated D.R.C. congregation. A new church building had just been completed but was without a resident predicant.

So it was, then, that the Rev. P. N. Ham became the first resident predikant of the Franschhoek congregation, where he remained for 19 years from the date of his appointment on 14 September 1845 at a salary of £100 per annum. Shortly after this ecclesiastical appointment he seems to have found new purpose in life and married a young widow. The marriage took place at Wynberg in the Cape on 8 July 1846. The lady was Aletta Francina, born van Schoor in October 1815, and had been married in 1833 to a Scotsman of the landed gentry, Lieut. John Maitland of the 4th Madras Light Cavalry who died at Secunderabad in December 1835. The Rev. P. Ham and his wife Aletta were blessed with four children born during their stay at Franschhoek.

Regrettably, differences developed between Ham and the local con­gregation. So on 9 May 1864 he decided to relinquish his post at Fransch­hoek. For a short time the family lived at Stellenbosch where Ham took over the supervision of the Lutheran local community by whose members he was overwhelmed with kindness. However, his final call was to the Willowmore congregation where he and his family transferred in November 1865.

Here he made untiring efforts to spread his religious beliefs and con­victions, concentrating on extensive 'huis-besoek' on foot and horseback in this widely scattered community. His rapidly declining physical condition

42 The Incident of the Brazilia

could not cope with the demands he was setting himself in the arduous Baviaans Kloof area. He arrived back at Willowmore completely exhausted and on the 19 September 1866 died, his age being 59 years. He left his wife Aletta with three surviving children. She herself passed away at Wynberg in 1884 in her 69th year.

Ham's life illustrates the hardships that were the inevitable accompaniment of pioneering in South Africa in the mid-19th century. His innocent involvement in the Brazilia affair was nearly a complete disaster and there is little doubt that he would have died at Delagoa Bay if the Dutch ship from Batavia had not arrived and given him a passage to the Cape. The story, then, is an interesting footnote in the early history of Natal.

GORDON W. HADDON

43

'The Father of Natal Botany' JOHN MEDLEY WOOD

Born 150 years ago, settled in Durban 125 years ago.

A biographical note on the accomplished botanist who administered the Durban Botanic Gardens for 31 years, 1882 to 1913. He made many botani­cal explorations throughout Natal, mainly by ox-waggon, when he was over eighty years of age. On his retirement at the age of eighty-six he continued with Herbarium work until his death. The author of this note is himself a professional botanist and former curator of the Natal Herbarium.

I became interested in the origin and background of the three main curators of the Durban Botanic Gardens when I became curator of the Natal Herbarium in 1963. John Medley Wood was one of the most im­portant but information about him was hard to get. Although he answered the questionnaire sent out by Christopher Bird to all the early settlers still living in 1896, his replies were most uninformative and little or nothing could be obtained about his youth and early life. He wrote:

In answer to your circular of 19th Nov. (1896) I have, I fear, but little to communicate that will be of public interest, but will answer your questions as briefly as possible.

Then followed brief statements that he was born in Mansfield, Notting­hamshire, in 1827, that he arrived in May 1852 by the barque lane Morice, that his family had preceded him in the Byrne settlership King William in 1850, that his father J. Riddall Wood practised as a notary in Durban and was for a time deputy sheriff till his death in 1853, that he himself farmed near Verulam and at Inanda, that in 1882 he took charge of the Durban Botanic Gardens, that he had married in the Colony but had no family.

In a search for further information I obtained help from the obituaries in the Natal newspapers. Then I traced the grandniece of Medley Wood, Miss Phyllis Haygarth, who was of immense help as she possessed excerpts from the Wood family Bible. She also told me of letters given by the family to the Killie Campbell Africana Library. Dr. Killie Campbell who was then alive could not remember them but with her permission I searched through her immense card index and found them in a general file marked 'Reminiscences' .

As many people did a century ago to save paper and postage, the letters were partly written crosswise and made difficult reading. Miss McQueen, then assistant to Dr. Campbell, kindly undertook the task of deciphering them and making copies.

The letters are addressed to J. M. Wood, aboard the ship Cornelia, Liverpool. The first letter is written by his father James Riddall Wood from

44 The Father of Natal Botany

Preston, England, on 3 August 1849, giving reasons why he had chosen Natal for emigration. The second letter, written by his brother James Weaver Wood, gives news of life and prospects in Natal. The third, written on 4th March 1851 at Durban by his father, gives an account of the happenings in the family and the outlook for the future. The fourth, of 20 October 1851, supplies general news of the Kaffir war, business, and the family.

Now for some background information about the Wood family. His parents, James Riddall Wood and Hannah Healey Weaver, were married in the Anglican parish church of St. Peter, Mansfield, in December 1826. Their first child John Medley was born on 1st December 1827 and baptized by his grandfather in his church. His grandfather was the Independent Rev. Robert Weaver whose congregation later joined the Unitarian Church. In this church a plaque honours the grandfather's 50 years of service from 1802 to 1852, the year when he died and John his grandson disembarked at Durban.

John's parents lived in Manchester where another four of their children were born. Then on the 25th December 1835, Christmas Day, the mother Hannah died when John Medley was only seven years old. It is believed that he afterwards lived with his grandparents or other Wood relations in Mansfield.

Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, is the chief town of the Sherwood Forest area and of ancient foundation. In the sandstone cliffs are dwellings exca­vated from the rock, some still in use as dwellings as late as the 1890s. Remains of Roman villas have been also found. In the centre of Mansfield a stone embedded in a wall marks the spot where once a tree stood which was reputed to be the centre of the famous Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood's time. To the north are the 'Dukeries' containing today the largest remnants of the old forest. To the south is Newstead Abbey, famous as the residence of the 'bad Lord Byron'. In 1227 King Henry III granted the town a market charter. The market is held to this day every week from Thursday to Saturday and is a colourful institution where general mer­chandise is sold to the people of the nearby coal mines. The most remarkable feature of the ancient town is the early railway viaduct towering over the old houses, its arches filled beneath with shops, storehouses, and even through going streets, all still in use. In this environment John Medley lived his schooldays and early youth.

The year after his mother's death John's father re-married, his second wife being Mary Haygarth, a young woman only nine years older than John Medley. There were ten children of this marriage.

In 1844 John, aged 17, left school and began a seafaring career. He served on the ship Cornelia, which was owned by a Liverpool mercantile firm engaged in the East India trade. He must have shaped well in his profession for some years later when he left the ship he had reached the rank of 'acting' chief mate.

In 1849 his father, a lawyer, decided to emigrate to Natal with his wife and eleven children, and wrote to his son (as previously mentioned) acquaint­ing him with his decision. In the next year letters sent from the family to John Medley must have convinced him of the advantages of emigrating to the new colony of Natal. Early in 1852 he made up his mind and on the 4th May 1852 he arrived at Port Natal in the barque lane Morice.

45 The Father of Natal Botany

For a while he assisted his father in his business as notary and deputy sheriff but within a year his father had died (6 April 1853) and John had to wind up his estate. Mary his step-mother gave birth posthumously to a daughter three months after her husband's death. When everything had been settled his step-mother went to Mount Moreland, the Byrne 'new town' near Verulam, where she set up a school.

John then entered the second phase of his life, trading and farming in the Verulam and lnanda areas for the next 30 years. During that time his love of nature had full outlet and he collected specimens of the indigenous flora as well as experimenting with plants like arrowroot, coffee, sugar-cane, etc., which were of great commercial importance to the pioneers.

During these years he built up his Natal reputation as a botanist but overseas people began to show interest in his work. In 1882 the committee of the Botanic Society, Durban, had no hesitation in appointing him the new curator. His work there placed him in the highest class of botanist and his publications increased his fame. In the year 1913 the University of Cape of Good Hope conferred on him an honorary doctorate of science. Various species of Natal plants also bear his name.

Professor J. Bews, the distinguished botanist, named John Medley Wood the 'Father of Natal Botany'.

Truly, an amazing career. RUDOLF G. STREY

46

Notes and Queries York Church Commemorated

This year saw the centenary of the foundation of the Anglican church of St John the Evangelist at York, Natal. The township was established in 1850 by a party of 246 Yorkshire settlers who came out under a scheme of co-operative emigration. The promoter, Henry Boast, a much-respected farmer, arranged for the sailing but the ship chartered for the voyage was found unseaworthy by the authorities and Boast had to pay for the main­tenance of the stranded passengers until the Haidee, the replacement vessel, was ready some months later. The strain was too much for him and he died at Hull before sailing. His wife Mary Boast bravely decided to continue the scheme and assisted by her relatives accompanied the party to Natal. Land had already been purchased and the settlers, most of them experienced farmers, set to work to establish themselves on their plots. They produced grain, salted butter, hides, hacon, and timber sawn out of the hush. Since it was the age of horse-transport, they specialised in forage for the Pieter­maritzhurg market.

The township, however, never flourished. The inhabitants, a devout com­munity, protested strongly against a railway line through York, reputedly because it would involve the erection of a hotel with bar and they were opposed to drink. Consequently the line was laid through New Hanover, which has continued to flourish whereas York has become a ghost-town of three dwellings.

In 1877 those settlers who were members of the Church of England con­structed their own simple building, made of local shale and Gospel Oak roof-iron. It is now the only church left in York as the Wesleyan church, built in 1851, was demolished recently after standing empty for years.

The present Anglican rector, the Rev. I. D. Darby, conducted well-attended services during the period of celebration. Descendants of the original settlers came together also. The Ancient Africa Club of Pietermaritzburg held an outing for members and friends, who were shown round the church and the old graveyard containing the memorial stones of many settlers. Mr. Darby also spoke on the history of York and its sturdy pioneers. An attractive booklet entitled The Church of St John the Evangelist, York, Natal, 1877­1977 and compiled by Ethel Norman Paterson also commemorates the occasion.

Trade Tokens

An interesting enquiry has been received from Dr. Clive Graham, Secretary of the Pietermaritzburg Numismatic Society.

Until recently few South African numismatists have been interested in the collection and documentation of trade tokens, i.e. 'coins' issued by private

47 Notes and Queries

firms to facilitate trade in periods when coin of the realm was in short supply. Collectors now realise the historical importance of these tokens in the development of South African currency, but their attempts to research into the precise circumstances surrounding the minting of these pieces, where they were minted, the dates of issue and the numbers produced are severely hampered by lack of original documentation. The trade token catalogue of the Africana Museum is itself a pure description of trade tokens, with minimal historical detail. Enquiries have recently been directed to the Birmingham Mint, which is frequently mentioned in connection with trade tokens, but they have replied that no records have been kept by the Mint of any of the private issues they have produced. The accumulation of historical information concerning trade tokens therefore seems to be our own responsibility, and assistance is earnestly requested.

A unique opportunity for the study of trade tokens was recently provided by Mr. K. Strachan of Umzimkulu, who made available for numismatic study the entire issue of Strachan and Company trade tokens. These are brass coins, in 3d., 6d., 1/- and 2/- denominations, bearing the inscription'S & Co'. Details concerning the varieties and relative abundance of these coins have been acquired in an extensive examination of the coins provided, but historical details concerning the dates of issue, precise reasons of issue, etc., are conspicuously absent.

The firm of Strachan and Company was established in the Drift (now Umzimkulu, East Griqualand), by Thomas and Donald Strachan, in 1858, but the first documentary evidence of the tokens is a reference to them in a letter dated 1907. However, the two decades 1860-1880 were our main period of acute shortage in small change, during which many private tokens were issued. From our examinations of the coins available, there seem to have been four separate mintings, and we strongly suspect that the first issue may have been during the above period. Readers' assistance with information concerning this issue in particular, and in the wider problem of trade tokens in general will be most gratefully received.

Department of Physics, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.

Maps

Last year we mentioned Christopher Merrett's bibliography of Natal maps. During 1977 this energetic carto-bibliographer has turned his attention to the Trigonometrical Survey 1 : 50000 series of South Africa and compiled a two­part index to the maps. Part I covers the 157 Natal sheets, Part 11 the rest of South Africa. The Index to the 1 : 50 000 map series is published by the Natal Society Library.

'The basis of the index,' the compiler writes in the Introduction of Part I, 'is essentially that of the human environment, covering the following: settle­ments, railway stations, sites of historical importance, mission stations, dams, game and nature reserves; but lakes, passes and coastal features are also listed.

'The index is in no way intended as an authoritative gazetteer of Natal. Having been based strictly on the coverage given by the map, it suffers from

48 N ales and Queries

the deficiencies of maps in general (bias and lack of currency) and the I : 50000 series in particular. Thus place names are reproduced as they occur on the map even where there is doubt about accuracy. In the case of settlements, the Automobile Association map of Natal (revised edition February 1976) was used as a guideline and all place-names shown on that map also appear in the index. The term 'settlement' is hard to define, especially in the case of non-European areas. In this connexion it was decided to list all agglomerations of population which were shown on the map to have a minimum of three urban functions (e.g. a school, church and shop). Thus scattered African settlement with no central place function is excluded.

'It is important to remember that coverage of Natal varies in date from place to place. Thus the currency of the index is variable, depending on the date of a particular sheet-the latest may be 15 years old. A list of place names found on the AA map but not on the 1: 50 000 series forms appendix 1.'

Grave Business

Readers of English tombstones know that much wry humour is to be found in churchyards: South African gravestones tend to be more factual and less whimsical but, though they may be somewhat more solemn in tone than those in older cemeteries, they also record a wealth of historical information.

A number of burial registers listing the graves in the Church of England, Wesleyan and Dutch Reformed cemeteries in Commercial Road, Pieter­maritzburg, have been handed over to the Natal Society Library by the local branch of the Van der Stel Foundation.

There are 13 volumes in all, of which six are alphabetical indexes. One of the Church of England indexes lists a few burials from the 1870s but the majority of the entries were made between the mid-1880s and the 1930s. The information contained in the entry varies from volume to volume but in general they all list the names of persons buried, the date of burial and the number of the grave; in some registers there is a column in which is entered whether the deceased is child or adult; in others the age is stated; (one is struck by the large number of infant deaths). The officiating clergyman is listed in some of the registers and in some the burial fees are recorded.

These registers will be invaluable in locating particular graves, and in establishing the burial dates of the people listed. Unfortunately, however, the records are not complete so they cannot, at this stage, be used to prove conclusively that a particular person is not buried there. It is to be hoped that the missing volume or volumes will come to light.

Mystery Mine

Roadwork near Sarnia exposed part of what is believed to have been an early gold mine. Although experts who have examined the shaft have expressed the opinion that it must have been the work of experienced miners, neither the Pietermaritzburg Regional Office of the Geological Survey, nor the Government mining engineer in Johannesburg has any record of the work­ings or of any permission granted to work such a mine.

fhe Church of St John the Evangelist. built a hundred years ago at the village of York in the Karkloof district of Natal. It was constructed of nat shale stones, hand-cut roof beams, and a roof of Gospel Oak iron. The people of York have long since left the village but there are services twice a

month for farmers and their families living nearby. (Photo: Joh n C1ark)

49 Notes and Queries

This intriguing information was supplied by Mrs. Mary Macartan of Pine town who has spent several months unravelling the mystery of this unrecorded mine. The results of her researches have recently been written up in a supplement to the Pinetown Women's Institute's Annals of Pinetown.

Great Scot

Earlier this year George Gordon Campbell, Chancellor of the University of Natal and scion of one of the most talented, tough and versatile pioneer families, died after a long illness. The following tribute is taken from the funeral eulogy delivered by Professor Francis Stock, Principal and Vice­Chancellor of the University:

George Campbell was a descendant of a pioneer Natal family, his forebears having arrived on the Conquering Hero in 1850 among the Byrne settlers. Most of these settlers were tough and none more so than the Camp bell clan. The name of the ship on which William Campbell, the original settler came, might have been an inspiration to those that followed. Marshall Campbell, W. A. C. Campbell, Roy Campbell, Killie Campbell and Sam Campbell all made their mark on Natal in a variety of ways.

George Gordon Campbell was born in Natal in 1893 and became a legend in his lifetime. He was educated at Hilton briefly and then at Maritzburg College. He entered this University in 1912, two years after its foundation, and in the year that our first permanent building was opened on the Scotts­ville campus. He proceeded to Edinburgh to study medicine, but the war intervened and he volunteered for service in the newly-founded Royal Flying Corps. At the time of his death a few days ago, he was one of the few surviving members of that elite corps-the fabric and string brigade that started the war-firing revolvers out of open cockpits. He returned to medicine, qualifying first with the M.B., Ch.B. degrees of the University of Edinburgh and later becoming, like his father before him, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Dr. George, as he was known, was not interested only in his studies. He was a keen and distinguished cricket player, captaining the Edinburgh University XI and playing for Scotland in two international matches against the Australians. He returned to general medical practice in Durban and continued this until a few years before his death, with the exception of the years of the Second World War, when he commanded a medical unit in the Western desert.

George Campbell's claims to distinction, however, were to be found in fields outside medicine. He followed in his father's footsteps in becoming President of the Natal Technical College, later to become the Natal College for Advanced Technical Education, and he was chairman of the College Council for many years. He was also a member of the Council of the Natal University College, later to become the University of Natal, being its chair­man for 14 years until 1966 when he was elected to the Chancellorship, a post he held for a further seven years, resigning only due to ill-health.

He played a large part in the foundation and development of the Medical Faculty of the University of Natal, the only faculty in Southern Africa dedicated exclusively to the education of African, Indian and Coloured doctors.

50 Notes and Queries

He inspired the foundation of the Natal Society for the Preservation of Wildlife, and of the South African Association for Marine Biological Research, and as President of both these bodies for many years he guided their destiny and the development of conservation of the natural resources of land and sea, as well as of scientific research in these fields.

He played an important part in the development of the Royal Society of South Africa and was a founder member of the Natal Branch, of which he became President. The parent society in due course made him an Honorary Fellow and President.

The University of Natal, in collaboration with the Royal Society of South Africa, created a George Campbelllectureship in 1974 to commemorate his lifelong interest and contributions to medical and biological sciences. The first lecture was given in 1974, and the second will be given in about six weeks' time when the George Campbell Building for Biological Sciences in the University will be formally opened.

George Campbell was honoured by both the universities with which he was associated with the award of honorary degrees, in each case a Doctor of Laws. He also received civic honours in the City of Durban in recognition of all that he had done in his lifelong association with the City.

The contributions which Dr. George Campbell made to medicine, science, the University, the Technical College, the College for Advanced Technical Education, and other interests in the City were substantial. The recognition he received was local, national and international, but despite all these things George was never unmindful of his colleagues, nor did he lose the common touch. He will be remembered by all manner of men and institutions with gratitude and affection.

Natal Historian

In April this year the University mourned the death of another of its members, Professor Kenneth McIntyre. Although his own special interest was American history, he contributed so much to historical studies in Natal and to the training of historians that he deserves to be long remembered as a historian in Natal, if not of Natal.

Dr Andrew Duminy, Senior Lecturer in Historical and Political Studies, University of Natal, Durban, writes of the Professor with affectionate appre­ciation:

Professor K. H. C. McIntyre was known to all members of his staff-senior and junior-as 'Mac'. This indicates the extent to which he ran the Depart­ment of History and Political Science at the University of Natal, Durban, with friendliness and informality. This arrangement required that his col­leagues responded with the same openness and discussed departmental and private projects freely with each other. They will remember how it produced a unique and congenial atmosphere in which to work. They could feel that they were participating in a joint undertaking and sharing in its growth.

Mac was blinded in a landmine explosion while serving with the Royal Natal Carbineers during the Allied advance upon Florence in 1944. He would never allow that blindness was a disability and this point he proved with remarkable effectiveness-he compensated for not being able to read the written word by developing a complex system of reference to his tape

51 Notes and Queries

recordings and braille notes. Unable to rely, as do sighted people, upon 'looking things up' when the need arises, he stored information in his memory and was able to recall it when needed. His proficiency in remem­bering where things were, in navigating his way around his home or the department and in identifying people by their sounds (not necessarily their \oices) was such that many, when first introduced to him, did not realise that he was unsighted.

It may be asserted that Professor McIntyre's greatest contribution to his academic discipline was to build up the Department of History and Political Science in Durban. In 1949, when he was appointed Lecturer, the depart­ment was a small offshoot of the department in Pietermaritzburg. He saw it (and he did not shrink from using this word) grow from this small begin­ning, through its part-time, Marion and City buildings phases, to reach its present strength and was appointed its first Professor in 1970. In addition to his administrative duties, he always took a full teaching load-he once recalled that he had lectured in every course which the department offered, some of these lectures being delivered on three separate occasions during the week! It was only after the department had grown sufficiently to allow for more specialisation that he was able to confine himself to American history, a subject in which he developed a special interest.

One of Mac's concerns was to create links between the historians in the University and interested persons-particularly teachers-outside it. To this end, he established the John Bird Historical Society. Its first meeting took place on 18 March 1960, when Professor E. H. Brookes delivered a paper on the formation and consequences of South African Unification. There­after, among the many prominent academics who contributed to its proceed­ings were M. W. Swanson, B. A. le Cordeur, S. Trapido, P. B. Harris, C. de B. Webb and T. Cope. The Society was an undoubted success in stimulating interest and its published proceedings constitute a valuable body of literature; many of these papers have in fact been republished in revised form by their authors.

His opportunities for undertaking research were few but he actively promoted and took an interest in the projects of others. One undertaking in particular aroused his interest: the compilation of a register of early Natal settlers, for which purpose he obtained a grant from the Ernest Oppenheimer Trust (this work is being continued by Mrs. Shelagh Spencer). He was also associated with the lengthy project to publish selections from the papers of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick and with the compilation of the recently-puhlished Guide to Unofficial Sources relating to the History of Natal.

Mac died suddenly on April 20th, after an amazing recovery from a major operation at the end of last year. He will be remembered for his good humour, his courage and for the trust which he always placed in others.

Dundee Seeks Its History

1977 has seen the opening of a historical museum in Dundee. The enthusiasm of those responsible for assembling the collection is reflected in this local account of their activities:

It is not our Dutch ancestors alone who had the trekking spirit, nor David Livingstone alone, who reached the Zambezi. The researchers of the

52 Notes and Queries

Dundee and District Historical Society are travelling far and wide as they seek the lost relics and stories of the gallant pioneers who settled this entranc­ing part of Natal. They were tough stock, the Landmans and Labuschagnes, the Vermaaks and Cronjes, the Van Tonders and Kemps and the many others who marched beside Andries Pretorius to meet fate head-on at Blood River and who later, victorious, returned to the sheltered, wooded kloofs and the windswept heights of the Biggarsberg to put down their roots. Beside them marched and dwelt Englishmen. Alexander Biggar, the Rev. Parker Joyce, Dr. Prideaux Selby, their first doctor and J.P., James Twyman and Richard Bodien, their first teachers. Forts starred the map on this troubled frontier of the Buffalo, and as Zulu impis and Redcoats, Boer Commandos and Regiments of the Line marched and countermarched through this cross­roads of South African history, tiny crossed swords sprinkled the map and the names of Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, Talana and Elandslaagte spelt massacre and heroism on the grand scale.

After 1850 the postal lists showed families whose aristocratic blood lines linked them with the great in British history. Hyde and Neville, Comins and Dimock, Brandon and Napier, Urquhart and Bremner were of true blue blood. Into the hills came descendants of the great Admiral Collingwood, close friend and second-in-command to Nelson at Trafalgar, and of General Vandeleur of Waterloo fame. Out rode transport riders, Collyer and Schwik­kard, Dubois and Munger, to the diamond fields of Kimberley, to Barberton, to Pilgrim's Rest, over the Limpopo to the Tati and on to the mighty Zambezi and back to the incredible golden Reef. They helped build Southern Africa.

Missionaries trekked in to bring Christianity; the Reverend D6hne to Helpmekaar, the Reverend Prozesky to Normandien, and to Waschbank the Austrian Trappists who built the lovely Maria Ratschitz church beneath Hlatikulu, and the great evangelising Zulu Methodists, the Msimangs.

This exciting picture is being slowly and painstakingly sketched in by a small band of amateur historians. They have found their facts in the Rhodesian Archives in Salisbury, in the Mendelssohn Collection of the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town, at the University of the Witwatersrand, in the Killie Campbell Library in Durban and in the Archives in Pieter­maritzburg.

The trail, however, yields its richest treasure from the hands of private persons. The keepers of family relics are usually the womenfolk and as they change their names on marriage, the trail is often confused and even lost. Some HYDE relics have been found with Pringles, Colepeper and Pousties, PASCOE papers with Mortons and Martins, a BIGGAR diary with a Krohn, DIMOCK photographs with Parrs and COMINS silver with Harries. Through the distaff side valuable relics have been traced to Somerset West, Amanzimtoti, Klerksdorp, Windhoek, Bulawayo and far beyond, even to Tasmania. Much new information relating to Voortrekkers and to 1820 and 1850 Settlers is being found. The fine portrait that forms the frontispiece of the latest Brenthurst Africana publication, The Kitchingman Papers, was found by a member of the Dundee Society in Pietermaritzburg and she arranged that it be handed over for safe keeping to the Albany Museum in Grahamstown. It was inevitably with a great-great-grand-daughter of James Kitchingman.

53 Notes and Queries

Astronomy

In last year's Notes and Queries, under the heading Natal's Astronomer Extraordinary, Mr. M. A. Gray of the Natal Centre of the Astronomical Society outlined the life and works of Edmund N. Nevill of the Durban Observatory. In March of this year a most exciting event added a few more pages to that history when Edmund's daughter, Miss Maud Nevill, flew to Durban from London and, on the 23rd, opened an exhibition, Astronomy and Allied Sciences in Natal at the turn of the Century, arranged at the Local History Museum and in collaboration with the Astronomical Society. The exposition was designed to focus attention on the story of the Durban Observatory and to do honour to its remarkable astronomer. Miss Nevill, an octogenarian of vivacity, charm and incredible energy, not only captivated the regard of all who met her but, by her delight in it and her recollections and reminiscences, made the exhibition-and the subject of it, her father­come vibrantly to life. Those who saw her briefly in the S.A.T.V. programme Nevill of Natal in The Changing Sky series, on the 24th of July, will under­stand how this could be so.

One of the most important exhibits was the transit telescope sent to Natal in 1882 for the observation of the Transit of Venus of that year-for which occasion the Observatory had been erected. This telescope was displayed in a replica of the tiny transit room where Nevill and his wife-cum-assistant Mabel, over the years, made many observations and calculations.

For the exhibition, instruments and documents were lent or presented by astronomers and scientific bodies all over South Africa and indeed the museum's own collection of this type of material was so increased in size and importance that a permanent exhibit on astronomy in Natal is soon to be arranged.

About 6 000 persons visited the exhibition, among these being the delegates attending the annual general meeting of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, held in Durban at the end of July.

The Conservation of Norwich, in Pictures

The Simon van der Stel Foundation was responsible for bringing to South Africa a photographic exhibition showing the results of the remarkable efforts of the people of Norwich towards the preservation of their beautiful city. Available through the British Council and sponsored by the Norwich Union Life Assurance Company, this exhibition toured the Republic and was seen in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria before ending its progress in Natal, at Pietermaritzburg and then Durban. Everywhere it drew good attendances and attracted the interest not only of architects and conservationists but of the general public-a good augury for South Africa's own efforts in this direction. It was opened in Durban on the 10th of August by Mr. Robert E. Levitt, renowned Africana collector. As was the case in other centres, a small exhibition of pictures of local buildings of note, in danger or already demolished, was shown con­currently, perhaps encouraging positive comparison!

54 Notes and Queries

The Work of Barbara Tyrrell On the 25th of August an exhibition of paintings by Barbara Tyrrell was opened at 220 Marriott Road, Durban, the home of the Killie Campbell Africana Collections, in the new wing. A departure from the artist's usual style and medium, the pictures were executed using pen and Indian ink, and acrylic paint, laid on mounting canvas attached to hardboard-produc­ing a most interesting textured effect. Forty-eight of the paintings depicted African dress-with inimitable clarity and feeling-and a further ten were environmental. This collection is the basis of a new book, in which Barbara's son Peter will write the text. She has two other books to her credit.

Museums Conference

This year, for the first time since 1961, the annual conference of the South African Museums Association took place in Durban and was hosted by the Durban Museum and Art Gallery. It was held during the period 3rd to 5th of May in the lecture theatre of the Durban Centenary Aquarium and was attended by delegates from all parts of the Republic and Rhodesia, also Swaziland and Malawi, and the papers read and discussions shared were most successful and beneficial. The Mayor and Councillors of the City of Durban entertained the delegates to a cocktail party on the evening of the 3rd, and the conference ended with a dinner at the Royal Hotel on the night of the 5th.

DAPHNE H. STRUTT M. P. MOBERL Y

55

Register of Research on Natal The following does not pretend to be complete. It has been compiled from the Human Sciences Research Council Research Bulletin and from individual submissions.

It is a supplementary list to the 'Register' published in Natalia 6. Persons knowing of research work that has not been listed are asked to furnish information for inclusion in the next issue. For this purpose a slip is provided.

ANTHROPOLOGY 'n Ondersoek na ontwikkelingsprosesse en

probleme by die Xolo van Suid-Natal A. O. Jackson

ARCHITECTURE The Development of the architecture of the

Natal railways between Durban and Pieter­maritzburg P. J. J. Jones

BANTU LANGUAGES A Linguistic and instrumental investigation of

the tonemic system, tonal morphology and intonation in the KwaZulu dialect of Zulu J. S. M. Khumalo

A Study of the structure of Zulu folktales, with special reference to the Stuart collec­tion M. J. Oosthuizen

Die verwerking van nuwe begrippe in Zulu P. M. S. von Staden Die Zoeloe-predikaat en enkele verskynsels

wat daarmee saamhang c. S. van Rooyen

BIOGRAPHY Colonel A. W. Durnford R. W. F. Droogleever The Life and letters of Frances Ellen Colenso

(1849-1887) Rev. J ames Scott, missionary

Mission 1877-1910 Dr Killie Campbell

- Impolweni Mrs. P. L. Merrett

Rev. C. S. Shaw Norman Herd

BOTANY The Grasses of Natal P. C. V. du Toit A Morphological-taxonomical revision of the

genus Pentaschistis P. C. V. du Toit

BUSINESS ECONOMICS A Comparative study of the productivity

attainments in the men's and boys' clothing industry in the Durban-Pinetown area P. N. Palmer

An Investigation into management develop­ment in the clothing industry in the Durban-Pinetown area P. S. Nel

56 Register of Research on Natal

An Investigation into the planning, execution and evaluation of management development in the textile industry in the Durban-Pinetown area

'n Ondersoek na die bestaansreg van bepaalde soorte kleinhandelsake in Umlazi, Natal

A Socio-economic survey of Indian squatters in the Mariannhill area

ECONOMICS Labour problems in the sugar industry of

Natal and Mauritius, 1793 to 1860

EDUCATION An Investigation into the extent which certain

psychological and sociological factors in­fluence academic achievement among first­year students in the faculty of Education at the University of Durban-Westville

An Investigation into the social and cultural aspects of the home background of two markedly different socio-economic groups of Indian primary school pupils in the Durban area and its implications for education

The Prognostic value of the Standard Five ex­amination for placement of pupils in aca­demic and practical classes in a selected group of Indian high schools in Durban

Relative independence for colleges of education with special reference to Natal-an historico­comparative study and evaluation

Resource-based learning and its implementa­tion through the resources centre concept in South African education institutions, with special reference to Natal

The Role of the school library in the teaching of history in -Durban schools in Natal

The School principal's executive role under the Natal Education Department

FAMILY mSTORY Family history of Natal Archibald family for

five generations

GEOGRAPHY 'n Bepaling van die buitelugontspannings­

potensiaal van die Natalse Drakensberge Die Invloed van litologie en gebiedsgradient op

die ontwikkeling van dreineerkomme in die omgewing van Durban

Woonbuurtdifferensiasie in Port Shepstone

P. S. Nel

P. G. Marais J. J. C. Greyling and W. W. Anderson

M. D. North-Coombes

P. K. Gouden

S. A. Naicker

M. Naidoo

A. L. le Roux

D. Walker

S. Natalie

R. G. Adams

Dr. R. E. Gordon

J. M. van der Westhuizen

J. Cooks A. van der Merwe

The Legislative Council or Colonial Office buildings, now the Deeds Office, Church Street, Pietermaritzburg, I g9g: 'Has none of the elegance of the earlier Parliamentary buildings. '

Maritzburg College, I ggS: 'By no means a good example of Dudgeon's work

Cast-iron water trough: from MacFarlane's Catalogue. 'Complete with hooved legs.'

Natal Museum . Loop Street . Pietermaritzburg. 1905: This particularly hideous building in the Flemish style ...'

I).R.e. Church . Dundee. 19(x): 'An entity held together by marked lIuoinings and the deep recesses or the fenestration

57 Register of Research on Natal

HEBREW STUDIES A History of the Jews of Durban, 1825-1918

HISTORY The Administration of Lieutenant-Governor

Sir Henry Bulwer in Natal (1875-1885) Alexander Harvey B,iggar The Cato Manor riots, 1959-1960 E. G. Jansen se rol in die kulturele ontwaking

van die Natalse Afrikaner Fort Mcupe and Fort Mistake Fort Pine General Louis Botha's second expedition to

Natal during the Anglo-Boer War, Septem­ber-October, 1901

Historical graves The History of Mid-Illovo - a study of the

development of a rural community in colonial Natal

An Iconographic study of the paintings of the Zulu War, together with an assessment of their reliability as historical documents

The Ingwavuma magistracy, 1895-1910 The Natal Nguni, 1893-1910 Organised labour in Natal, 1918-1924 Place names in relation to the histories of the

settlers Die Vestiging van Blankes in Zoeloeland van

1897 af tot 1936 The Village of Helpmekaar

MAPS Old maps and charts of Durban with particular

reference to the Old Fort, Fort Victoria and Smith's Camp

POLITICAL SCIENCE Political attitudes of Africans in Umlazi and

KwaMashu Townships in Durban

TOWN AND REGIONAL PLANNING Plant ecological study of the vegetation of the

Durban metropolitan area Research project to determine the hydrological

potential of the Drakensberg Research project to determine the scenic pre­

ferences of the Natal Drakensberg

S. G. Cohen

B. Naidoo Mrs. Sheila Henderson L. K. Ladlau

P. J. J. Prinsloo Mrs. Sheila Henderson Mrs. Sheila Henderson

D. M. Moore J. A. C. Uys

A. E. Gonlag

Mrs. J. A. Verbeek R. W. F. Droogleever J. Lambert B. L. Reid

N. T. Hunt

W. van der Merwe Mrs. Sheila Henderson

S. Evans

P. Zulu

B. Cawood

R. E. Schulze

J. Pickels

Compiled by J. FARRER

58

Reviews and Book Notices

TREKKING THE GREAT THIRST Travel and Sport in the Kalahari Desert. By ARNOLD W. HODSON. Africana Reprint Library, Volume 12. (Africana Book Society, Johannesburg, 1977).

This book first appeared in 1912 and was based on popular articles written for newspapers and magazines. The author was then a man in his thirties but his hunting adventures took place in his early twenties. His occupation was that of a sub-inspector with the Bechuanaland Protectorate Police and his subsequent trips into the Kalahari Desert enabled him to acquire an extensive knowledge of the Great Thirst. In his accounts of his journeyings he refers only cursorily to his official tasks, the main interest of his writings being his hunting adventures. He shot hundreds of animals, including lion, and obviously derived great pleasure from his exploits. His world was then full of wealthy sportsmen who formed a considerable reading public for works about African game hunting, and his book went into a second edition. Today his Africa has changed out of all recognition politically and otherwise. His Bechuanaland Protectorate is the modern Botswana, an independent state, and the game that remains is now conserved against the organised poaching that is the curse of efforts to preserve Africa's wild life. There is, too, a complete change of public feeling about the mindless slaughter of wild creatures. Nevertheless, Trekking the Great Thirst is well-written, contains much information about life in the Kalahari, and is still readable. The author later held administrative posts in Somaliland, Ethiopia, the Falkland Islands, and West Africa. In 1932 he was knighted for his considerable services and retired from the Gold Coast in 1941. He died in New York in 1944 at the age of 63.

J.c.

VIcrORIAN BUILDINGS IN SOUTH AFRICA By D. PICTON-SEYMOUR. (Published by A. A. Balkema, Cape Town.)

At first sight it would seem that the author of this book has naught for our architectural comfort in the section dealing with Natal.

Of Maritzburg College, built by P. M. Dudgeon, 1885, and cherished by tens of thousands of Old Boys, she says: "These school buildings are by no means a good example of Dudgeon's work-although just on 90 years of weathering has given them a sort of WaIter Scott Gothic charm.'

Of the Natal Museum in Loop Street, she writes: 'This particularly hideous building in the Flemish style is yet another variation on the much-favoured red brick and ochre theme, used in stripes with sculptured friezes and a sculptured archway above the main entrance.'

59 Reviews alld Book Notices

The Legislative Council or old Colonial Office building, now the Deeds Office, Pietermaritzburg, circa 1898, has also to take its medicine:

'The edifice, neither typical Victorian nor a forerunner of the Edwardian style, has none of the elegance of the earlier Parliamentary buildings.'

The reader has also to face a terminology that will send him back to the dictionary, as for example, the caption on the picture of the Dutch Reformed Church at Dundee, built about 1900:

'Of strange proportions and a strange mixture of styles-at once Italianate and Dutch-yet the design as an entity is held together by marked quoinings and the deep recesses of the fenestration.'

'Quoinings' are simply dressed corner-stones and 'fenestration' the arrange­ment of a building's windows.

But to be fair, the author has good things to say about many Natal build­ings. 'Pietermaritzburg,' she says, 'must be the most Victorian town in South Africa, except for the village of Matjiesfontein ... .' With a professional eye she recalls Warring ton House, the old YMCA with its cast-iron facade, and the pantiled cottages that once lined the humbler streets of this quiet town. She has kinds words, too, for the handsome GPO, the City Hall, the Railway Station, Macrorie House, Natal Training College, the Standard Bank, St Peter's, St Mary's, the Supreme Court building, and others.

She does not overlook the town's monuments and its street furniture, especially the lamps, hitching posts, and water troughs. In this connection many old residents will remember the water trough that survived until recently in the market square. It looked like a bath and stood on four cast-iron legs which ended in hooves and fetlocks. One couldn't help smiling at this touch of Victorian pop-art, but the trough served its purpose and stood at the right height for a thirsty horse to drink in comfort.

This trough, by the way, was a design advertised in the 1890 catalogue the Glasgow firm, MacFarlane's Castings, which supplied all the British colonies with cast-iron verandahs, street drinking fountains, bathroom and toilet fittings, firegrates, spiral staircases, entire bandstands, etc. Although desperately sought after by architects, these priceless catalogues are almost non-existent. The author of this book, fortunate woman, obviously has one.

This is a very large book of over 400 pages which are equally large, the reason being that it has been planned in five sections: Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Natal, Transvaal, Orange Free State and North-West Cape, all with sub-divisions of large cities and small towns. Consequently it is impossible to cover the material in detail here but a few excerpts will show its quality:

Corrugated iron, invented in 1829 by an English engineer and galvanised by a process in the late 1830s, was exported to the Colonies, including Natal, about 1850. The early lifts made possible the building of multi-storied premises since the limit of human endurance is reached by mounting the staircase of a five-storey building. Jimmy Logan, the Scots railwayman who put Matjiesfontein on the map, installed a golf-course, cricket field, tennis court, and croquet lawns-the last, says the author, 'that most spiteful of Victorian games ... .' Lastly, the illustrations must be mentioned, for they add enormously to

60 Reviews and Book Notices

the value of the book. There are 600 in all-photographs, line drawings, lino prints, and catalogue sketches, all capturing the appearance of buildings which run the risk of being bulldozed to make way for enormous concrete structures which shrivel the souls of men and women.

For people interested in South African buildings, this book-a 10 years' labour of love-is their book.

J.c.

THE POSSmLE INCORPORATION OF EAST GRIQUALAND INTO NATAL (Published by Natal Provincial Administration, 1977)

It is not very often that historical matter of special interest is to be found in official publications but a noteworthy exception is the report of the committee of enquiry into the possible incorporation of East Griqualand into Natal. The work of the committee under the chairmanship of Justice M. T. Steyn came about as a direct result of the granting of independence to the Transkei and the isolation from the rest of the Cape Province of East Griqualand.

The committee investigated in detail the legal and political background of the situation but seemed to base a lot of its conclusions upon the history of the area and this is why a substantial part of the report, which was published in May 1977, deals with this aspect of the problem.

The committee undertook a detailed investigation into the history of East Griqualand from very early days until its incorporation into the Cape Colony and thence up to modern times. Special attention was paid to the claims of various racial groups in East Griqualand since the beginning of the nine­teenth century and particularly the reasons for the settlement of Adam Kok and his people there. Although the historical aspect of East Griqualand is dealt with from a legalistic point of view the summary of events over this long period is excellently presented and anyone interested in the area should not miss this exposition. The chairman and the members of the committee were not historians but they carried out a great deal of research in both the Cape and Natal archives. In addition there was obviously a great deal of consultation of other sources, both published and otherwise.

If East Griqualand becomes a portion of Natal, as seems likely at the date of publication, this printing will possess much value for Natal students.

B.J.T.L.

PIONEERS OF NATAL AND SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA By E. C. TABLER (Balkema 1977).

This new addition to the growing number of interesting books on Natal is a successor to Tabler's Pioneers of Rhodesia and his Pioneers of South West Africa and N gamiland. It comprises about two hundred and fifty potted biographies of Natal personalities who explored, hunted, traded and travelled south of the Limpopo river during the years 1552 to 1878. Each entry con­tains the full names of the person, parentage, year of birth, date of death and life's work. Some of the biographies are lengthy but others, where not much detail is known, are very sketchy. A random check of information

61 Reviews and Book Notices

about some of the personalities reveals that Tabler's information is trust­worthy and that his lives are fully covered and unbiased. It is noted with interest that Tabler has no date of death for St. Vincent Erskine ('Vinny') and this is in keeping with the information of the reviewer.

Tabler excludes a great number from this book. In his foreword he explains that no one is included who came to Natal after 1839, no Voor­trekkers, no officers or crew of Owen's survey ships, no Norwegian mission­aries and no later Natal settlers. This is a pity because the inclusion of Voortrekkers (such as Hans de Lange) would have added much to the value of the book for the researcher. It can only be hoped that these important gaps will later be closed by Tabler. He also excludes personalities dealt with in his previous books. This is understandable but he does not give a list of these people. This will inevitably lead to cross-references from publication to publication which will be upsetting for the researcher-an alphabetical list of those already dealt with would have quickly solved the problem.

The author's source material consists of periodicals, pamphlets and some manuscripts but apparently not South African archival sources, which is also a pity. Perhaps this can be remedied later?

Despite these drawbacks to the book the publication is very welcome as for the general reader there is a great accrual of information. For the serious researcher the book is a must.

B.J.T.L.

DICTIONARY OF SOUTH AFRICAN BIOGRAPHY. VOL. llL Editor-in-chief C. J. BEYERS. (Published for the Human Sciences Research Council by Tafeberg Uitgewers Ltd.)

It is hard to believe that Vol. I of this dictionary appeared in 1968 and Vol. Il in 1972, for its use has become so widespread that one imagines it has always been with us. But now in 1977 we have Vol. III of this indispensable work containing 1 164 biographical articles, some long, many brief, on people of historical importance in South Africa. A useful name index covers all the entries in the first three volumes.

The longest entry-running to eight double-column pages-is perhaps that on the late D. F. Malan, fourth Prime Minister of the Union. One of the shortest-though entirely adequate-is that on Thomas A. White, the English journalist who as editor assisted in the launching of The Friend of the Sovereign and Bloem Fontein Gazette in 1850.

Another brief but interesting biography concerns 'Richard Dehan', the nom-de-plume of Clothilda Graves (1863-1932), who wrote a best-seller entitled The Dop Doctor about the siege of Mafeking and the Anglo-Boer War. It appeared in 1910 and sold a quarter of a million copies. Yet she had never visited South Africa. A kind of Ethel M. Dell novelist, she knew a good formula for her love stories and, confined to a wheel chair most of her life. supplied to her women readers a cunning mixture of sentiment and passion.

62 Reviews and Book Notices

Dr C. J. Beyers, the present editor-in-chief, feels that with a few exceptions most of the interesting figures from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have been dealt with. Volume In therefore contains a mass of distinguished names from the nineteenth century. It may be that the largest number of entries will be provided by the Victorian period, for there are many people of this era not yet mentioned whose entries will appear in later volume,.

Well bound and attractively printed, this new volume represents the work of many distinguished scholars and editors. To readers, students and writers it comes as a boon.

J.c.

THOUGHTS ON SOUTH AFRICA By OLIVE SCHREINER. (Africana Reprint Library, Vol. 10. Africana Book Society.) R18,45.

This collection of eight essays was edited by Olive Schreiner's hu:;hanJ after her death and appeared in 1923. It is now reprinted very handsomely by the Africana Book Society. The essays were written over a ten-year period. from 1890 to 190], and are remarkable examples of her piercing vision into the heart of things. The first and longest essay, an in-depth study of South Africa in 1890, illustrates how this woman-genius could take a trite subject and bend on it the full power of her imagination. Her physical descriptions of the Karoo show this power:

Not less wonderful is the Karoo at night, when the Milky Way forms a white band across the sky; and you stand alone outside, and see the velvety, blue-black vault rising slowly on one side of the horizon and sinking on the other; and the silence is so intense you seem almost to hear the stars move. Nor is it less wonderful on moonlight nights, when you sit alone on a kopje; and the moon has arisen and the light is pouring over the plain; then even the stones are beautiful: and what you have believed of human love and friendship---and never grasped­seems all possible to you ....

The structure of the writing and the rich succession of images n:veal at a glance her genius for selecting the natural truth of a scene, re-creating its atmosphere, and investing it with human feeling.

At the end of this essay she turns to the political problem of our racial divisions, the final problem for South Africa, 'so vast, so complex. and so beset with difficulty ... that it may be truly said that no European nation has had during the last 800 years to face anything approaching it in com­plexity and difficulty .. .' It is a moving thing to read these thoughts of a woman penned more than 80 years ago.

In another essay she takes as her subject the Woman's Movement of her day and describes how she sat beside a Bantu woman grinding corn. She asked her if she believed there was a God. The woman shook her head 'there might be a God but if there was one, He was not good. When further we enquired why this was so, she replied that if God were good He would not have made women. There might be a God for the white woman, but there was certainly none for the black. . . .'

And in artless words the grinder of the corn went on to describe the

63 Reviews and Book Notices

condition of a woman in a semi-barbarous society, beginning as a little girl at play, then maturing to marriage and her exchange for cattle, then household duties as wife to an uncaring husband, the bringing up of her children, and finally her relegation to the dung-heap and replacement by a younger woman.

It is a marvellous essay, marvellous propaganda, showing Olive Schreiner's passionate sympathy for her sex, as well as an unerring gift for seeing the great issues of the future.

A classic passage occurs in another essay entitled 'The Wanderings of the Boer'. It concerns the courtship and marriage of the young Boer and has established itself as a favourite piece in prose anthologies. Apart from the subject, itself full of interest, the author proves herself to be the possessor of a genuine and subtle sense of humour which derives not so much from incident as from brief asides about the young man and his visit to a Boer farmstead containing marriageable daughters:

If his visit be much approved of, his steed may be offered a f..:ed of mealies or oats, an indication which he may accept as most favour­able ... There are from time to time slight creakings of the doors of the bedroom in which the daughters are attiring themselves, as one or other attempts to peer through the crack in the boards ... The children keep their eyes fixed on the stranger as they eat, and the young man looks into his plate and eats silently, or answers questions from the house-father, but notes all that takes place ...

Thus not only a way of life is captured but a human situation universalised with humour and delicacy.

Thoughts on South Africa will, we think, be one of the· best-selling reprints of the Africana Book Society. Its appeal will not be lost on a new generation of readers.

J.c.

NEW REPRINT SERIES

The University of Natal Press has announced the publication of the first volume in a new series. Issued jointly by the University Press and the Killie Campbell Africana Library, the series will make available in facsimile valuable out-of-print items of Nataliana and Africana.

The series is planned to cover works of interest to both the historical researcher and the general reader. Detailed notes, and an index are added to the original text.

Number 1 in the series is Reminiscences of Kafir Life and History by Charles Brownlee, first published in 1896 by the Lovedale Press. It is the second edition (1916), containing additional material and some outstanding photographs, which has been reproduced. The notes and introduction arc 1.Jy Dr Christopher Saunders, Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Cape Town.

Brownlee was a key figure in the making of African policy in the nineteenth century Cape Colony. He held a number of important administra­

64 Reviews and Book Notices

tive posts and was the Cape's first Secretary for Native Affairs. He visited Natal in the 1830s and again in the 1870s when he helped Sir Bartle Frere negotiate with Cetshwayo.

The second volume in The Killie Campbell Africana Library Reprint Series will be The Early Annals of Kokstad and Griqualand East by William Dower. This will be published early in 1978 before the amalgamation of East Griqualand with Natal on April 1st.

JOURNAL OF NATAL AND ZULU mSTORY

,The first number of this new journal, to be published annually, will appear early in 1978. It will contain articles focusing on the societies of Natal and Zululand and will also include reviews of books of a wider relevance to South African history. It will be edited by members of the History Departments of the Universities of Natal and Durban/Westville.

65

Select List of Recent Natal Publications

AKHURST, J., and others. Compilers. A Field guide and worksheet to the Umgeni valley. Durban, Natal branch of the Wildlife Society, 1976.

ARNOLD, L. M., and Varty, Alice E. English through activity: handbook for lower primary instructors: first four years (Sub. A - Std. 2). Pietermaritz­burg, Shuter & Shooter, 1977.

ARNOLD, L. M., and Varty, Alice E. English through activity: language and activity book; fifth year (Std. 3). Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1976.

ARNOLD, L. M., andVarty, Alice E. English through activity: teachers manual: fifth year (Std. 3); illustrated by Val Woodley. Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1976.

ARNOLD, L. M., and others. Literacy course: advanced English course for adults: third reader. Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1976.

BAILEY, Harold. Pietermaritzburg - and the Natal midlands; pen and ink drawings ... (Vol. 2). (Pietermaritzburg), the Author, 1976.

BENGU, Sibusiso Mandlenkosi Emmanuel. Chasing gods not our own: the doctoral thesis ... that appeared under the title "African cultural identity and international relations ..." Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1976.

BHOOSHAN, Shri Bharat. What is Indian culture?: Durban, Arya Prathinidhi Sabha, and Veda Niketan, 1976.

BOSHOFF, D. N. Botany and our society: inaugural address ... Kwa-Dlangezwa, University of Zululand, (1976).

BRABY'S Durban Corporation directory, 1977. Durban, Directory publications, 1977.

BRABY'S Grey town directory, 1977. Durban, Braby, 1977.

BRABY'S Howick directory, 1977. Durban, Braby, 1977.

BRABY'S Ladysmith directory, 1977. Durban, Braby, 1977.

BRABY'S Natal directory, 1977 ... Durban, Braby, 1977.

BRABY'S Pietermaritzburg directory, 1977. Durban, Braby, 1977.

BROOKES, E. H. A South African pilgrimage. Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1977.

BURCH, C. van der. The Socio-economic position of Indian blind persons in Natal. Pretoria, South African Human Sciences Research Council, 1976.

66 Recent Publications

CLAMMER, D. The Last Zulu Warrior. Cape Town, Purnell, 1977.

DHLoMo, Oscar Dumisani. A Survey of some aspects of the educational activ­ities of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions in Natal as reflected in the history of Amanzimtoti Institute, 1835-1956. (KwaDlangezwa, the University of Zululand, 1975).

DUMINY, A. H., and others. A Guide to unofficial sources relating to the history of Natal. Durban, University of Natal, 1977.

DURBAN. Art gallery. Art South Africa today, 1975. Durban, the Gallery, (1975).

DURBAN-WESTVILLE. University. Institute for social and economic research. Bibliography on Indians in South Africa; compiled by J. J. C. Greyling and J. Miskin. Durban, the University, 1976.

DURBAN-WESTVILLE. University. Institute for social and economic research Socio-economic conditions in Verulam, by M. A. Sugden. Durban, the University, 1976.

DURBAN-WESTVILLE. University. Institute for social and economic research. The Squatter's market, by J. J. C. Greyling. Durban, the University, 1976.

FREAN, R. H. Grow top potatoes. Durban, Top farmers, 1975.

GORDON, R. E. Dear Louisa: history of a pioneer family in Natal, 1850-1888: Ellen McLeod's letters to her sister in England from the Byrne Valley. New ed. Durban, Griggs, 1976.

GUEST, W. R. Langalibalele; the crisis in Natal 1873-1875. Dept. of History & Political Science. University of Natal. Durban, 1976.

HART, W. R., and others. The Postal markings of Natal. Durban, the Authors, 1977.

HERD, Norman. The Bent pine, the trial of Chief Langalibalele. Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1976.

HILL, Tryna Fisher-. Fishing follies; illustrations by Jack Moore. Durban, the Author, (1976).

HILLIARD, O. M. Compositae in Natal. Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 1977.

JONES, Len. Anglers' atlas No. 2: Durban to Port Edward. Durban, the Author, 1976.

KEMP, P. H., and others. Water quality and abatement of pollution in Natal rivers. A research report by the National Institute for Water Research, CSIR & the Town and Regional Planning Commission, 1976.

LAWRIE'S Durban directory, 1977. Durban, Lawrie, 1977.

LYLE, Malcolm. The Theory and practice of photography simplified. Pieter­maritzburg, Shuter and Shooter, 1976.

67 Recent Publications

McLEOD, Ellen. Dear Louisa; history of a pioneer family in Natal 1850-1888. Ellen McLeod's letters to her sister in England from the Byrne Valley. Edited by Dr. R. E. Gordon. Newed. Durban, Griggs, 1976.

MBANJWA, Thoko, editor. Apartheid: hope or despair for Blacks? Durban, Black community programmes, 1976.

MERRETT, Christopher E. Index to the 1 : 50000 map series; Part 1: Natal. Pietermaritzburg, Natal Society Library, 1977.

MERRETT, Christopher E. Index to the 1 : 50000 map series; Part 2: Cape, Orange Free State, Transkei and Transvaal. Pietermaritzburg, Natal Society Library, 1977.

MINNAAR, G. G. The Influence of Westernization on the personality of a group of Zulu men. Pretoria, South African Human Sciences Research Council, 1976.

MOLL, E. J. The Vegetation of the three rivers region, NataL Natal Town and Regional Planning Commission, 1976.

NATAL. Town and Regional planning commission. The Climate of the Drakensberg by P. D. Tyson, and others. Pietermaritzburg, the Commission, 1976.

NATAL. Town and regional planning commission. Drakensberg policy statement, by A. J. Phelan. Pietermaritzburg, the Commission, 1976.

NATAL. University. The Department of agricultural economics, 1945 to 1975, by H. L Behrmann. Pietermaritzburg, the University, 1976.

NATAL. University. Centre for applied social sciences. The Situation of African migrant workers in Durban: brief report on a preliminary survey analysis, by Valerie Moller and Laurence Schlemmer. Durban, the University ,1977.

NATAL. University. Faculty of medicine. Staff publications, July 1968 to De­cember 1975. Durban, the University, 1976.

NATAL. University. Institute for social research. Minimum living levels among Black employees in a textile processing industry in Natal, by Peter Stopforth. Durban, the University, 1975.

NATAL. University. Institute for social research. A Study of malnutrition in the Nqutu district of KwaZulu, by Laurence Schlemmer and Peter Stopforth. Rev. ed. Durban, the University, 1975.

NATAL CoAST ANGLERS' UNION. 1977 yearbook. Durban, the Union, 1977.

NDABA, Edward Phi lip. A Psycho-pedagogical study of differentiated secondary education and its significance for education in KwaZulu. (KwaDlangezwa, University of Zululand, 1975).

OOSTHUIZEN, G. C. Pentecostal penetration into the Indian Community in Metropolitan Durban, South Africa. Pretoria; Human Sciences Research Council, 1975.

68 Recent Publications

PATERSON, Ethel Norma. An Account of the century of the Anglican church of St. John the Evangelist of York, Natal. New Hanover, Parish of York-cum­Ravensworth, 1977.

PHILPOTT, R. H., SAPIRE, K. E., AxTON, J. H. M. Obstetrics, Family Planning and Paediatrics. Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 1977.

PIETERMARITZBURG. New Horizon School for the Blind. 21st anniversary cele­brations. Clairwood Premier press, 1975.

PmTERMARlTZBURG. Russell High School. Souvenir magazine, 1879-1969. Pietermaritzburg, the School, (1969).

SEYMOUR, Desiree Picton-. Victorian buildings in South Africa, including Edwardian and Transvaal republican styles, 1850-1910. Cape Town, Bal­kema, 1977.

SHEPHARD, John. In the shadow of the Drakensberg. Durban, T. W. Griggs & Co., 1976.

SOUTH AFRICA (Republic). Dept. of mines. Geological survey. Cretaceous heteromorph ammonites from Zululand, by H. C. Klinger.

SOUTH AFRICA (Republic). Dept. ofPlanning Advisory Council. A Guide plan for the optimum utilization of the natural resources of the Drakensberg catch­ment reserve. Pretoria, V & R Printers, 1970.

SOUTH AFRICAN CANE GROWERS AsSOCIATION. The first fifty years, 1927-1977. (Durban, the Association), 1977.

SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF TOWN AND REGIONAL PLANNERS. Natal branch. Evaluation techniques in land use and planning: a "workshop"... (Durban, the Institute), 1975.

SPUY, Herman Hubert van der. Die Musieklewe van Pietermaritzburg, 1850­1902. Proefskrif ingelewer vir die graad van Doktor in die lettere en Wyns­begeerte aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch. 1975.

STEENKAMP, J. J. A. Income and expenditure patterns of urban Black house­holds in Durban. Pretoria, Bureau of Market Research, 1976.

STEENKAMP, J. J. A. Income and expenditure patterns of urban Black households in Pietermaritzburg. Pretoria, Bureau of Market Research, 1976.

STEYN, Nora. Natalia, land van trane (oor die Voortrekkers in Natal). Johan­nesburg, Perskor-uitgewery, 1976.

SUNDKLER, Bengt. Zulu Zion and some Swazi Zionists. London, Oxford University Press, 1976.

SWAN'S Natal business register, 1976/77. Pietermaritzburg, Swan, 1976.

TAINTON, N. M., and others. Common veld and pasture grasses of Natal. Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1976.

69 Recent Publications

TEMKIN, Ben. Gatsha Buthelezi; Zulu statesman. Cape Town, Purnell, 1976.

THEMBELA, Alexander Jabulani. A Socio-pedagogic description of some factors which influence the quality of a didactic situation in urban and rural African schools in Natal (a comparative study). KwaDlangezwa, University of Zulu­land, 1975).

THERON, Anita. Out of the ditch; the Mseleni story. Pretoria, V & R Printers, 1976.

UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND. Dept. of business economics. Income and expendi­ture patterns of Zulu households in the Mgwelezane townships at Empan­geni, by H. R. Lemmer. KwaDlangezwa, the University, 1975.

UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND. Dept. ofbusiness economics. Income and expenditure patterns of Zulu households in the Richards Bay area, by H. R. Lemmer. KwaDlangezwa, the University, 1975.

WHYTE, Harry Grant. Between life and death. Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1976

WILDLIFE HERITAGE TRUST FUND. Who's zoo?: a light-hearted look at wildlife and animals. Durban, the Fund, 1976.

Compiled by J. F ARRER

NATALIA No. 6 Contents

Page

EDITORIAL 5

OBITUARY

U. E. M. Judd (1917-1976) - I. Whitelaw and I. Farrer 9

ARTICLE

Colenso's Greatest Sermon - I. Clark . 12

REPRINf

What doth the Lord require of us? -I. W. Colenso 15

SERIAL ARTICLE

The Origins of the Natal Society: Chap 6, 1851 ­U. E. M. ludd . 24

ARTICLE

A Curiosity of Natal Settler Literature -I. Clark 28li NOTES AND QUERIES

D. H. Strutt, M. P. Moberiy 34

REGISTER OF RESEARCH ON NATAL

I. Farrer . 49 i

REVIEWS AND NOTICES

53

People of the Eland 53 Catholic Beginnings 54

,Fashion in South Africa 55 Dictionary of English Usage in Southern Africa 56 The Bent Pine . . 57 The Historian of Victorian Natal 58

ltEGISTER OF SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS M. P. Moberly . 62

SELECf LIST 01' RECENf NATAT. PUBLICATIONS

I. Farrer 64

J

UNIVERSITY OF NATAL PRESS

NEW PUBLICATIONS Reminiscences of Kafir life and History by Charles Brownlee Facsimile reprint of 2nd edition (1916), with introduction, com­mentary and notes by Christopher C. Saunders. 21 x 14,5 cm. 528 pp. Photographs. Index. Full cloth. R13,50. ISBN 0 86980 104 X. Killie Campbell Africana Library Reprint Series No. 1. Charles Brownlee is a key figure in the makIng of African policy in the nineteenth century Cape colony. He held a number of important magisterial posts and was the Cape's first Secre­tary for Native Affairs in the 1870s. He visited Natal in the 1830s and again in 1878. His Reminiscences, put together after his death, first appeared in 1896. Twenty years after the appearance of the first edition, the Lovedale Press published a second edition with additional material, including some outstanding photographs. It is this rare second edition, long out of print and now a classic work of Africana, that is reprinted in this new edition. Its interest for the general reader and its usefulness for the researcher are enhanced by the biographical introduction and notes by Dr. Christopher Saunders.

Compositae in Natal by o. M. Hilliard 21 x 14,8 cm. 672 pp. line draWings. 2 maps. Full cloth. R24,00. ISBN 0 86980 088 4. Compositae is by far the largest family of flowering plants in South Africa and this is the first detailed account to cover a whole province. No less than 113 genera and 640 species are described and there are keys for their identification. Many of these genera and species also occur outside Natal. The account is based on the author's own research, involving examination of material from all over South Africa and from parts of tropical Africa. This book is one of the most substantial contributions to knowledge of the South African flora that has appeared in recent years: ,it will be an invaluable reference work and, with a little selection of material, a useful teaching aid.

Orders to: American and Canadian University of Natal Press orders to: p.a. Box 375 Lawrence Verry, Inc. Pietermaritzburg, 3200 p.a. Box 98, Mystic South Africa Connecticut 06355

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