THE NA TAL SOCIETY OFFICE BEARERS 1997 President Vice- Presidents Trustees Treasurers Auditors Director Assistant Director and Secretary to the Council M.J.C. Daly Or F.C. Friedlander T.B. Frost S.N. Roberts M.J.C. Oaly A.B. Bumett S.N. Roberts KPMG Messrs Thomton-Oibb, Van der Leeuw and Partners Mrs S.S. Wallis le. Morrison COUNCIL Elected Members Transitional Local Council Representatives M.J.C. Oaly (Chairman) S.N. Roberts (Vice-Chairman) Prof. A.M. Barrett A.B. Bumett J.H. Conyngham lM.Deane T.B. Frost Prof. W.R. Guest Prof. A. Kaniki H. Mbambo Mrs T.E. Radebe Mrs J. Rosenberg A.L. Singh Ms P.A. Stabbins Prof. C.O. Gardner N.S. Madlala E.O. Msimang Mrs M. Msomi EDITORIAL COMMITTEE OF NATALIA Co-editors Secretary lM. Deane and T.B. Frost Or W.H. Bizley M.H. Comrie Prof. W.R. Guest Or O. Herbert F.E. Prins Mrs S.P.M. Spencer Or S. Vietzen DJ. Buckley Natalia 26 (1997) Copyright Natal Society Foundation 2010Natalia Journal ofthe Natal Society No. 26 May 1997 Published by Natal Society Library P.O. Box 415, Pietermaritzburg 3200, South Africa SA ISSN 0085-3674 Cover Picture Sir Henry Rider Haggard visited Pietermaritzburg in March 1914. On Friday 27 March the front page of The Natal Witness featured photographs of him at the Imperial Hotel, where he was staying. (Photograph by courtesy of The Natal Witness) Typeset by the University of Natal Press Printed by The Natal Witness Printing and Publishing Company (Pty) Lld Contents EDITORIAL ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5 UNPUBLISHED PIECE 'No recollections worth recording ... ' The 2/5th in Natal, 1863-64 John Dickson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 REPRINT Alice Werner's 'Kisimus' at Bishopstowe Brenda Nicholls ....................... 12 ARTICLES 'When I was concerned with great men and great events.' Sir Henry Rider Haggard in Natal Stephen Coan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 'We come unto our fathers' God; Their rock is our salvation.' The story of the Metropolitan Methodist Church, 1846-1996. David Buckley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Wooden railway on Durban's Bluff Terry Hutson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 OBITUARIES Benjamin (,Pitch') Christopher 79 EvaDudley ... 82 John Fairbrother 83 Darrell Hall . . . 84 John Macquarrie 86 Cecil Rees ... 88 Pamela Reid . . 89 Christopher Dering Stainbank 90 NOTES AND QUERIES ........................ 92 BOOK REVIEWS ................. . ....... 97 SELECT LIST OF RECENT KWAZULU-NATAL PUBLICATIONS .. 106 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ..... . 108 Editorial On leaving KwaZulu-Natal to take up an appointment in another province, Graham Dominy relinquished the editorial chair of Natalia in April 1996. The appointment of a successor was problematical, as no member of the editorial committee felt able to take on the task alone, knowing how time-consuming it is. A solution was found in a temporary co-editorship. John Deane and former editor Jack Frost agreed to see Natalia 25 through the press, and to edit Natalia 26, with the proviso that the latter would appear during the first half of 1997, rather than at the end of 1996. The co-editorship will continue for at least another year, and we are in the fortunate position of having enough suitable material in hand not only for this issue but also for Natalia 27, which we plan to publish in December 1997. Lovers of the neat and tidy will be pleased that the final digits ofour issue number and ofthe year will again correspond! Readers will find Natalia 26 dominated by two substantial articles. Stephen Coan has provided a finely researched and interesting account ofSir Henry Rider Haggard's two visits to Natal: from 1875 to 1881 as a young man, and in 1914 as a royal commissioner and celebrated novelist. David Buckley marks the 150th anniversary of Methodism in Pietermaritzburg with a history which will be of interest to readers beyond the bounds of the city and the denomination. John Dickson's editing of a soldier's memoirs of Fort Napier and Fort Buckingham provide us with hitherto unpublished material, and his detective work has solved the mystery ofits authorship. Brenda Nicholls has rescued from obscurity, and annotated, an account of a Christmas spent with the Colenso family at Bishopstowe, by Alice Werner, whose life's work devoted to Africa may well have been inspired by this visit. Terry Hutson writes about a wooden railway along the shore-line of Durban's Bluff, which predated by three or four years the reputed 'first railway line in Africa' built on the other side of the harbour entrance. Notes and Queries provides the usual mixture of items. Book reviews, a select list of recent publications and obituaries make up the rest of this issue. We hope that our subscribers, and indeed all readers ofNatalia, find it interesting and informative. It is appropriate in the journal of The Natal Society to record with great sadness the deaths oftwo members of its Council during 1996. Pamela Reid (whose obituary appears elsewhere in these pages) was President ofThe Natal Society for twenty-three years, from 1964 to 1987-the longest presidency in the long history of the society. At the time ofher death she was an ordinary elected Council member. Graham Smith, a city attorney WIth an abiding interest in wildlife, especially birds, died when the vehicle in which he was a passenger, overturned. The deaths of these two colleagues and friends were great losses to the Natal Society Council. J.M. DEANE 5 (No recollections worth recording' The 215th in Natal, 1863-64 Introduction Between 23 April 1863 and 9 June 1864 the garrison of Fort Napier was maintained by the 2nd Battalion the 5th (Northumherland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot. They also provided detachments at Durban, Lowerlugela, and Fort Buckingham. The Battalion had been previously stationed in Mauritius, and e\entually departed for East London. I A series of articles under the title With the colours of the 2nd Battalion, signed simply '/KS'. appeared in 1883 in the very tirst issues of the St George's Gazette, the monthly journal of the Northumberland Fusiliers. These articles covered several overseas stations, but only those which relate to Natal are reproduced here. Identifying 'JKS' has been something of a challenge. There are indications within the articles thatthe author was ajuniorofficer. The list ofofficers ofthe 2/5th transferred to Natal from Mauritius shows no one with such initials. JKS says that he joined the 2/5th Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1857, and that he retired in about 1881 or 1882. He describes himselfas one oftwo Fusilier officers detailed for six months to Fort Buckingham early in May 1863, and implies that one officer was subsequently withdrawn leaving only himself. However, the regimental records list only Lieutenant J.1. Robinson at Fort BuckingharnZ The Natal Almanac of 1864 has Lieutenant W.F. Langbourne at Fort Buckingham, so \Ve may assume it \vas he who replaced Lieutenant Robinson at the end of 1863. In a later instalment of his memoirs ./KS indicated that he was part ofa detachment ofthree Companies of2/5th which went to St Helena in July 1866 and stayed there for some months. The official list of officers of this detachment shows no one with initials JKS, but once again includes Lieutenant J..1. Robinson. Lieutenant Rohinson begins to look like a candidate for authorship ofthese articles. Then, finally, in his last Natal instalment. ./KS gives the game away when writing of himself as factotum ofthe Regimental Theatre at Fort Napier. At least he does so ifone is fortunate enough to come upon D.L. Schauffer's thesis on the Pielermaritzburg theatre.3 Schauffer categorically identifies our author: ... the Regimental Amateurs of the 5th Fusiliers were well organised as a group and well versed in the management of Repertory theatre. The Manager was Lieut. Robinson "whom rumour invests with an already established dramatic celebrity." This attribution can then be verified from the records of the Northumberland Fusiliers. Shortly after the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny it was decided to add second battalions to twenty-six regiments of the line, and as part of this process, the Second Battalion, Fifth Regiment, the Northumberland Fusiliers was raised in Newcastle in October 1857. On 23 October 1857 Lieutenant ./ohn James Robinson was appointed to the new battalion, transferring from the 31st. the Huntingdonshire Regiment. He served unlil 13 April 1881, then retired with the honorary rank of major. These dates correspond with lhose which JKS gives for his period of service with the 2/5th. JKS's, or Lieutenanl Rohinson's reminiscences of his period of service in Natal appeared in the SI George's Ga::ette between August and December 1883. They were kindly made availahle to me by the Curator of the FlL'iiliers MlL'ieum of Northwnberland, Captain P.H.D. Marr, \\110 also gave me much general help in relation to the Natal service of the 2/5th, and on Lt Rohinson. Na/alia 26 (1997), J. Dickson pp. 6-11 7 'No recollections worth recording' About the end of March, 1863, we got our orders for Natal and East London, the Head Quarters and five Companies being told off to the former, and the remainder of the Battalion to the Kaffrarian seaports. Early in April the Himalaya came to carry us to our respective destinations, bringing with her the 2nd Battalion 13th Light Infantry as a relief; and on or about the 9th of the month we steamed out of Port Louis harbour, leaving behind us many kind friends and pleasant memories. Our voyage to Natal was not an eventful one, the weather being splendid and the passage rapid. The Himalaya was then the finest and fastest transport in Her Majesty's service, but unfortunately commanded by a gentleman who did not do all he might have done to make things go smoothly. His mania was to find fault with every man - officer, non-commissioned officer, or private - who wore a red coat, and he carried th is out so effectually as to take a great deal away from the pleasure of the trip. Neveliheless the journey was a pleasant one, the ship being beautifully clean and comfortable and the messing excellent, forming as strong a contrast to what we were treated to on board the wretched tub that brought us out [to Mauritius] as it is possible to imagine. We landed at Durban or Port Natal on St George's day l23 April], and for once in my regimental life I was without a rose in my cap. I was not singular in this respect, as I doubt if anyone in the Battalion differed from me, but the want of the time-honoured old badge was depressing, and it was without surprise that I found myself in company with the Band and some others stuck on the bar of the harbour in an open flat boat. There we lay for hours, 'hot, thirsty, sick and sorry we'd come,' and here I will leave you, and what I have to say of the best quarter I was ever in, ti 11 my next letter. * * * * * I do not know whether I am singular in thinking that pleasant quarters impress you less forcibly than disagreeable ones. Now I never spent three happier years anywhere than those I passed in South Africa, and yet I find it very difficult to commence an account of that time. I suppose the difficulty lies either in the fact that I am a firm grumbler, and having nothing to growl at, have nothing to write about. or that I have not the power of putting down my recollections on paper, or, to advance a third conjecture, I have no recollections worth recording. And yet I might be able to write pages of my experiences there, for a more complete change oflife than from the Mauritius, or any other quarter I had been in, to Natal it would be difficult to imagine. My first impressions of the place were not, however, so very favourable. As I mentioned in my last letter, I was stranded in a surfboat on the Bar of the river for several hours, under a burning sun, and with nothing to drink, and when we at last landed I fondly hoped both to quench my thirst and rest myself. But it was not to be. The camp that I foolishly imagined was within a stone's throw ofthe quay, lay a good three miles off, and the road to it was simply awful. No number of big, big D's that I can put down, or that you would print, can describe it, and I must borrow from the 'Pinkun' the word 'bally,' the only one I know of that will convey any idea of its peculiarities. That night and one or two more we remained in camp in Durban enjoying ourselves greatly. The climate and scenery were both new and delightful, and the hotel at which we messed homely and comfortable. The one thing I can remember taking objection to was the extreme friendliness ofa snake that insisted on sharing my bed, and caused me to arouse a]1 my neighbours by the horrified yell I gave when I discovered its presence. I had another contretemps, too, now that I think 8 'No recollections worth recording' of it, but that had nothing to do with the place. 'Big Jacko', one of the numerous monkeys that accompanied the Battal ion, got at my portmanteau, and emptied a bottle of red ink over my shirts. I suppose he thought it was something good to drink, and to punish me for disappointing him he spoiled my linen. I forget how many days our march up to Pietermaritzburg occupied, but I think it must have been about on the fifth day that we arrived there. We followed the Indian custom of striking camp long before daylight and arriving at our halting place before noon; but so early a start was scarcely necessary as the winter was setting in, and the early morning was rather trying for us who had come from a country where cold is unknown. I remember seeing the leading comet player in the band, one 10nathan Cunliffe, deliberately putting his instrument on the top of a lot of burning timbers so as to have it nice and hot when he commenced to play on it, and from the feeling of my fingers on that particular morning I did not feel disposed to blame him. Apart from the cold, and it from its novelty troubled us but little, there was nothing to complain of, and we all marched in to our new quarters in excellent health and spirits. At the time I write of, Pietermaritzburg was but a small place with a Fort, Government House, Cathedral, about a dozen other public buildings, and at most by (sic) a couple of hundred houses and shops. It was surrounded by hills, very well watered and healthy. The Fort where all the troops were quartered lay on the top of a moderately steep hi 11 commanding the town, and accommodation for the headquarters and about three companies of an Infantry Regiment, for a troop of Cavalry, and for the third of a Battery of Mounted Artillery. This latter branch of the service was quite peculiar to the Cape. The Battery in question [was 1actually a garrison one, but equipped in every respect (uniform excepted) as a Battery of Horse Artillery. The mess was in the Fort, but there were no officers' quarters there, and we consequently drew lodging money and lived in the town. There was no great disadvantage in this, except in very bad weather, as we were all mounted, and rode to and from barracks for our meals and duties. * * * * * The Colonial allowance for the otlicers of all ranks was three shillings a day with ralions and forage for a bat horse. The field and mounted staffofficers ofthe regiment drew the regulation allowances for their chargers in addition, together with certain other payments, the nature and amount of which I cannot remember. Although we, in the junior ranks, were very fairly treated and, the dear prices of most things considered, twice as well off as we were in our last quarters. I only remained a week at headquarters, and then went up with my company (No.9) to Fort Buckingham, an outpost on the Upper Tugela, some 78 miles distant. Our march up was uneventful, one or two of us got knocked up with rheumatism from not being sufficiently warmly dressed and that was about all that went wrong. I was not a little surprised when we arrived at our destination to find how very peculiarly the fort was situated. It was perched on the side of a 'kloof or ravine commanding nothing but a small spring of water, and being itself commanded on every side. Who put it there I never was able to find out, probably some highly-educated individual who has since blossomed into an ArnlY Reformer or a War Office official. In addition to our men the little garrison consisted of half a troop of the Cape Mounted Rifles and a Sapper, and we counted altogether four officers, namely, two Fusiliers, one subaltern in charge of the C.M.R., and an assistant surgeon. The two latter were married, living some little distance off in pretty bungalows that they had built themselves, whilst my comrade and I lived in a very ramshackle old wattle and daub hut in the fort. For the t; (") Cl o 1;; ::t Cl S. i ) '; ,! .. A .... .s , , /, . I ; ... Officers o/the 2nd Battalion 5th Fusiliers /860/61. The photograph was taken in Mauritius, and most of these officers came with the regiment to Natal. Though Lieutenant Robinson's name appears in the handwritten caption, it is difficult to identify him with certainty. (Photograph by courtesy o/Northumberland Fusiliers Regimental Archives) \0 10 'No recollections worth recording' short time I spent there I found it a very pleasant station, but I very much doubt if I should have cared to have stopped on much longer than I did. I am not a sportsman, and the main attraction of the place was the good shooting. Beyond that and taking riding and walking exercise there was nothing to do, and when I came to be left alone, after the gradual removal of all the other officers, I longed to be back again with the battalion. Luckily I had not to wait for the realization ofmy wishes for I was relieved before my time there (six months) was up, and by one who was just as enthusiastic for sport as I was indifferent to it. The march back differed little from the one up, except that we were all in better health and condition, and that we accomplished it in much less time and without a single man falling out or going sick. I have said that the distance was about 78 miles, and as we started late on a Tuesday afternoon and arrived at the Fort on Friday at about 3 p.m., we cannot be said to have done badly. The summer weather was just then commencing, but the heat gave us little or no trouble as it lasted during part of the day only. As a rule the sun commenced to be felt at about four, and the heat went on increasing till about three or four p.m., when we almost invariably got a thunderstorm accompanied with heavy rain. This passed over in an hour or two, and the air after that, and till the following morning, was as fresh and pleasant as could be wished. Ofcourse there were some hot nights, but they were few and far between, and the day I have just described may be taken as a pretty fair specimen of the weather during the hot season at Natal. * * * * * Not long after my return from Fort Buckingham we commenced to build a Regimental Theatre. A plot ofground close to the Parade was granted for the purpose, and I and several others set to work at it with the greatest enthusiasm. From the time the ground was laid out to our final performance only six or at the most seven weeks elapsed, and as we did every bit of the work in the regiment, work that included scenery, costumes, upholstery, and decorations, it will be seen that our enthusiasm never grew very slack. When completed the theatre held about five hundred people, of whom seventy-two were accommodated in the stalls, sixty in the second seats, and the remainder in the gallery. We opened with two pieces, viz., a farce called 'Done on both sides,' and a comic drama in two acts 'Take that Girl away,' and that we succeeded in pleasing the public was shown by the fact that we acted to crowded houses for the seventeen performances we gave, and that during that time we had only three vacant seats in the stalls, seats for which we charged five shillings. Had we stopped longer in the Colony our venture would have been a great financial success; as it was, after starting with a debt ofover 450 we lost nothing, and brought away a lot of valuable costumes and properties and an excellent theatrical library. Our principal performers were Or Close, Captain Mason, Mr (now Major) Vincent, Mr Taubman, Captain Harford, C.M.R., poor young George Shepstone4, the Colonial Secretary's son who was killed at Isandula (sic), Private Williams, Private Burke, Sergeant Hawkins, and the writer ofthis article. The two Privates were exceptionally good comedians, better by far than many professionals of good standing in the London theatres, and as good-natured and free from conceit as they were clever. It was good fun whilst it lasted, owing a great deal to the hearty support the public, headed by the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr Scott, gave us, and partly also to the ability and cheerfulness ofthe actors. A subject on which I can speak with some authority as I fulfilled the duties of Stage Manager, Acting Manager, and Treasurer. The order to leave Natal for Kaffraria came for us quite unexpectedly some time in June or July, and a most unwelcome order it was, as we were::111 very well contented where we were and in no hurry to move to a quarter where the Colonial allowance II 'No recollections worth recording' was smaller and British soldiers were more numerous and consequently less appreciated. Our march down to Durban was not a very cheery one, and our spirits were not raised by the treatment and accommodation afforded to us on board HMS. Valorous. Discipline and order are, I grant, more important on board a Man of War than almost anywhere else, but I maintain that both could have been carried out to perfection without one being forbidden to sit down whilst on deck. It is all very fine for a bold mariner to swagger up and down there and sniff the invigorating sea air whilst the vessel is plunging and rolling, but it does not come so easy to the soldier, especially when his 'stummick' happens to be in an advanced state of mutiny. There was no room for us in the ward-room and no berths to lie down in as we slept in hammocks, so we were not sorry when our short voyage was over and our feet were once more on dry land at East London. Ofthat place and of Kaffraria generally, I may say here that except in the matter of Colonial pay (I s 6d a day instead of 3s) and of society, it differed very little from Natal, and that when I left it some few years afterwards I did so with great regret. NOTES l. A summary ofthe service oflhe 2/51h in South Africa is given in H.M. Walker, 1919. A Ifistory of the Northumberland Fusiliers 1674-1902. ppAOO-40l. Details of the movements of the Regiment and its various detachments. with names of the officers involved, can be found in the (undated) History of the Second Battalion. the Fifth or Northumberland Fusiliers, 1857-1911. For the Natal period see pp.6-11: Jor LI. Robinson's service with the regiment see pp.2 and 4l. 2. Fort Buckingham is situated some 35km NE of Grey town. Begun in 1861, it had fallen into disrepair by 1870. but became the base for Durnford's No.2 Column in the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. 3. The detailed story of the Garrison Theatre can be found in D.L. SchaufTcr's University of Natal doctoral thesis of 1978: The Establishment ofa Theatrical Tradition in Pietermaritzburg, prior to the opening of the first Civilian Playhouse. The theatrical productions of the Northumberland Fusiliers appear on pp.143-176. Hattersley also has a brief comment on the regimental theatre: 'St George's Theatre, at Fort Napier, Pietermaritzburg, a large room within the cantonments, completed in 1864, was the first house built for purposes of theatrical entertainment ... The garrison theatre was ... Used for amateur performances by the officers' mess, and for little besides'. (Alan F. I-iattersley, 1940, Portrait ofa Colony, pp.140-14l.) 4. George Shepstone would have been only 15 years old at the time of his appearance in these productions. His name is not given in the published programme for any of these pertonnances, so he must have appeared under a pseudonym. possibly that of Mr Swan, who appeared iLS a page in one production. Robinson incorrectly refers to George's father as the 'Colonial Secretary'. Theophilus Shepstone Wib at that time Secretary for Native Affairs in the colony. JOHN DICKSON Alice Werner and (Kisimus' at Bishopstowe Introduction From the time when she met Harriette Colenso in England in 1890 Aliee Werner (1859-1935)1, the author of this sketch, was a lifelong friend of Harriette and Agnes Colenso. In 1897 Alice was a freelance journalist, and a teacher at Aldeburgh. She published frequently in The Speaker, a liberal progressive weekly journal, founded in the wake of the Home Rule crisis in the Liberal Party of the 1880s. Her friendship with the Colensos was a very creative one for Aliee and the history of African scholarship. Before the 1890 meeting Alice had already published poetry and prose of high quality. After that meeting Africa became the focus of her interest. In time she became a distinguished scholar of African languages and a pioneer anthropologist. Her commitment was strengthened, not weakened. by the death of a brother in West Africa.2 Aliee spent some months at Blantyre (1893-1894) as a missionary but her intellectual gifts were certainly not those of a narrow evangelist. Briskly advised by I Iarriette Colenso that a mistake once recognised must be remedied, Alice gave up the missionary experiment and, helped financially by the Colensos, took refuge at Bishopstowe where she stayed for a year before returning to Britain3. Both Blantyre and Bishopstowe contributed greatly to her later studies, for she drew richly on her experience and observation of Africa during these years.4 Alice brought great gifts to her studies of African languages and societies. Born in Trieste, Alice was a member of a very gifted family, her father being a teacher of languages. She travelled extensively with her family as a child. After studying at Newnham College, Cambridge. Alice Werner taught for a time at Truro High School. Her early publications, both in poetry and prose. show the range of her intellectual gifts. During the Second Anglo-Boer War Alice Werner gave private classes in Afrikaans and Zulu and these classes became part of the formal instruction offered by London University. She travelled to East Africa as the holder of the Mary Ewart Scholarship in 1913, and from 1913-1915 was a research fellow at Newnham. She concentrated her later studies on East Africa and was appointed lecturer in Bantu Languages and Swahili at the School of Oriental Studies when it opened in 1917. to become professor in 1922. She was awarded a D.Litt by London University and was the recipient of the CBE as well as the silver medal of the Africa Society. In 1908 Alice Werner was naturally involvcd in the appeal for funds to assist Harriette in the defence of Dinuzulu, in which Lady Schwann was most prominent5; but Alice was a committed scholar and fully-engaged teacher, and not prominent in political matters. Not surprisingly she was, however, a supporter of the critics of British foreign policy, the Union of Democratic Control, during the First World War aoo was onc of the intellectuals whose criticisms of the direction of policy led into support for the Labour Party in Britain.6 Throughout her life Alice Werner's relationship with her sister Mary seems to parallel that of Harriette and Agnes Colcnso: the younger sister was devoted to the cIder and more distinguished sib I ing. Mary was a lecturer at the School ofOriental Studies and the two Werner sisters travelled to South Africa in 1928. That visit included a visit to the ageing Misses Colenso at Sweetwaters.7 The sketch republished here shows Alice Werner's literary ability, as well as her power of observation and the richness of mind that shc brought to her writings. Alice spent two Christmases at Bishopstowe: with both the Colcnso sisters in 1894 and, in Harriette's absence, with Agnes in 1895. Drawing on her recollections she creatcd a vibrant picture of the missionary work of which 'little Bishopstowe' continued to bc the centre. The evocative quality of her writing reflects her keen appreciation of the African scene and how much she empathised with those whom she depicted in this sketch of Kisimus. Natalia 26 (1997). B. NichoJls (ed.), pp. 12-16 13 Alice Werner and 'Kisimus' at Bishopstowe 'Kisimus' Reprinted from The Speaker, 24 December 1897 A soft, warm wind from the north, blowing over miles on miles of fresh-springing grass. The night is a riot ofcolour-ofcolours which have no name. The sky, jewelled with great stars, is not blue; the rolling waves of veldt, losing themselves in silvery haze, are not greenish-grey; the feathery syringa-boughs, making a delicate lattice-work against the sky, are not emerald-green - yet each has its own distinct tone. There is a bright semi-circle of moon - enough to dim the Milky Way, not the lustre of Aldebaran and Canopus. Orion lies stretched out all his length in the zenith - Sirius at his foot - lower down the Pleiades ... It is very still. Even the rush of the Umsindwzi8 - the background to all other sounds on calm nights - is not heard; the wind carries it off southward. The cattle are lowing restlessly in the kraal; now and then a low-pitched, soft-toned native voice is heard speaking to them reassuringly. No other sound suggests human life - unless it is a vague something which may or may not be the muffled thumping of holiday-making tom-toms from the Indian quarter of the city ... But, close at hand - in fact, all round us - ring out the hoarse rattle of the bull-frog and the ~ P E K E K E K E ~ K o a ~ K o a ~ 9 of the other sort, and the chirp of the tree-frog and the crickets. And, if you know when to listen, you may, from time to time, distinguish another sound among all these - an indescribable snoring sound, recurring in regular rhythm, like the backward and forward working ofa saw, but not so harsh. It is not unlike the very lowest notes of a violin, if these were repeated indefinitely, without the slightest variation. It is produced by a mysterious lizard, who lives in trees, and seldom, if ever, s,hows himselfby day. 10 A great meteor shoots slowly from the zenith, like a planet being hurled from its place; it passes westwards across the sky and disappears in the direction of Maritzburg, leaving a trail of sparks beh ind it. 'lnkanyezi i ya tsheka pezulu' 11 - as the Matabele bards used to sing of Lobengula. Scents, as well as sounds, unknown by day rise from the earth at night. The air is full of bewildering sweetness - strong currents, now of one, now of another, strike on the sense. The yucca, with its towering spike of white, waxy bells; the Hoya, draping the west verandah with its bunches ofwhite plush stars; the homelike evening primroses on the other side of the house - all send out their various incense. 12 The night wears on. The Southern Cross lifts itself clear of the eastern horizon and whirls slowly towards the zenith, followed by the Centaur and the Scorpion, with its 'fiery heart' - the red star Antares. And as they rise, the moon sinks behind Zwartkop, and so, imperceptibly, the pageant ofthe night-sky passes by, and the earth rolls into the dawn of Christmas morning. The pale, and yet rich, uncanny colours of the night have sprung into positive clearness and glow in the midsummer sunshine. The new grass is vividly green, young palms are springing up along the Umsindwzi banks, and beside long shallow water-courses arum lilies make a green and white chequer-work, waiting to be gathered for Christmas decorations. Midsummer it is by the calendar, but the rains have come late this year, and properly it is spring - fullest, freshest, lustiest spring. The wind does not bring us the sound of the city bells; we hear nothing but the cries 14 Alice Werner and 'Kisimus' at Bishopstowe of birds and insects, the cooing of the small grey doves in the orchard-trees, the twittering of the potwes, the sharp shrilling of the cicadas, and the merry chirp of grasshoppers and crickets. But there is no need of bells to summon our congregation. Over the hills they come trooping in twos and threes, in tens and dozens here a band of little girls in print dresses, with coloured ribbons tied round their heads, dancing gaily along; there, a group of amakosikazi, staid matrons in gowns and shawls, with voluminous dark handkerchiefs tied round their heads, or perchance a cappie (Dutch sun-bonnet) of black stuff for decent Sabbath wear. The men are well in evidence too; some ofthem have been already sitting about in groups for the last hour or two, enjoying a quiet holiday chat. They are in all stages of European costume - from old Twaisa and Darfingubo, with their brown coats and shapeless felt hats of a brilliant terra-cotta, to the kehlas lately down from Zululand, in shirt and mutya. 13 The little grey stone school-house has been swept and garnished, the desks removed, the seats re-arranged, the every-day cupboard of lesson-books and slates draped with a bright-coloured blanket, and two or three vases offlowers placed about the room. On the platform, where the harmonium stands, is a little table, with a basin ofwater on it, in readiness for the baptismal service. It was an old Bishopstowe custom to have a large number of baptisms on Christmas Day - chiefly for the convenience of those living at a distance - and the people have already a kind of traditional preference for presenting their children at this season, so that there is quite an army of infants in arms, all of them more or less dressed for the occasion, being exhibited to admiring friends and neighbours. The congregation enters - over 140 all told, and almost more than the little building will hold. The Inkosazana14 sits down to the harmonium and plays the opening bars ofa hymn. 'Forth in Thy name. 0 Lord, we go' - scarcely recognisable, in Zulu words, a different metre, and a new tune - is, perhaps, not specially appropriate to Christmas, but everyone knows it, and joins in with hearty goodwill. Then Sotemba, the carpenter-catechist, begins reading the Morning Service. There is no ordained white shepherd in charge of this little flock in the wilderness - at least, there is only one at Durban, who can only come to them at long intervals 15 . So the native catechists have to do the best they can, with all the help and encouragement that the representatives of their late Bishop's family can give them. Prayers over, a general revival of attention precedes the baptisms. Besides the babies, there are some older children and two or three adults. Little 'Christmas' whose mother died a short time back, in a sharp, sudden attack of influenza - is now formally invested with his name; it was her last request to the family that they should not let this season pass without seeing it done. His aunt, who had brought him, has somehow contrived a christening robe, and the baby's brown feet are enclosed in little pale-blue socks - a casual gift, and worn more for the honour of the thing than any other reason, seeing they are several sizes too small, so that the heel comes into the middle of the foot. Christmas's father is not here - he had met with one misfortune after another, and just before his wife's fatal illness was forced to go to work at a distance to payoff his arrears of rent - so that the kindly neighbours have a specially tender feeling towards the little orphan. The simple ceremony is watched with the greatest interest; and when it is over Moses Sibisi16, the St Mary's catechist, rises to deliver the sermon. It is not a very learned nor a very profound sermon - but neither is it a long one; and it is listened to with the greatest goodwill. The discourse is punctuated by the shrill cries of the swallows, as they come and go under the eaves, and the louder chattering ofthe buffalo-birds who have theirnests in the school roof. And by-and-by 15 Alice Werner and 'Kisimus' at Bishopstowe it comes to an end, and after a pause the harmonium strikes up again, and the voices rise in a jubilant burst of sound-Bayete, Nkos i ey 'ehl' ezulwinil7 And then the people disperse into the sunshine, and the groups still linger under the pomegranate trees, before going their several ways, Some of the elders remain behind, to be entertained with coffee and bread - an unwonted and festive lUXUry, There have been many troubles about this year- droughts, locusts, cattle-diseases, and other thingslS - but, then, things can be forgotten, for one day at least, ifthat day is 'Kisimus'. In case there should be any mystery about this word, when seen in print, let the reader pronounce it aloud, accenting the first syllable. It will then become quite recognisable. NOTES I. For a short biography of Alice Werner see Dictionary of National Biography, Missing Persons (Oxford. 1993). 2. See her dedication in A. Werncr, the Natives ofBritish Central Africa (London, 1906). 3. Killie Campbell Africana Library (KCAL) Colenso Collection (Col. Coli) Dd.86: H.E. Colenso to A. Werner, 19 May 1894 and Rhodes House Library, Oxford, Frank Colenso Papers: H.E. Colenso to FE Colenso, 15 September 1897. 4. A Werner, The Natives of British Central Africa (London, 1906). 5. KCAL, Col. CoIl. KCM.50499, File 32: HE Colenso to FE Colenso 15 August 1908. 6. M. Swartz, The Union ofDemocratic Control in British Politics during the First World War (Oxford, 1971), p.100. 7. The visit is attested in the later letters which form part of the Colenso Collection in the Killie Campbell Library. In moving words Alice Werner dedicated to the memory of Harriette and Agnes what is probably her best known work, Myths and Legends ofthe Bantll (London, 1933: republished by Frank Cass in 1968). 8. In writing the long' u' sound as 'w', Al ice Werner was possibly drawing on Welsh orthography (cr. 'cwm'). 9. A famous quotation from Aristophanes' The Frogs which has no meaning but conveys the croaking sound of frogs. 10. It is suggested that this sound may have come not from a lizard but from a species oflarge tree frog found in Natal. 11. Translation: 'The meteor shot above'. 12. Interestingly, none ofthe plants to which Alice drew attention is indigenous. See detailed botanical notes below. \3. amakosikasi: This is explained by the context, viz mature women; kehla: an elderly man of standing in the community; mlltya: traditional loin covering. 14. Title of respect for a woman of standing: in this context clearly Agnes Colenso. 15. Revd A. Ikin ofChrist Church, Addington. was for a time superintendent of the Church of England native missions. 16. Both Sotemba and Moses Sibisi were prominent Bishopstowe men. Moses Sibisi was a catechist at St Mary's, the church for Zulu converts in Pietermaritzburg. The building is extant. The Colenso sisters worshipped there in later years. This was because the vestry at St Peter's eventually accepted as their priest the nominee of Bishop Baynes. The Colensos, together with some undeviating Church of England people, refused to accept the authority of Baynes. Sibisi was eventually ordained as a minister in the United Free Presbyterian Church. 17. Translation: Hail, Lord who descended from heaven. 18. The scourges of drought, locusts and rinderpest followed each other rapidly, 1895-1897. I acknowledge the assistance of Rhodes University colleagues Warren Snowball, Peter Mtuze, Sirion Robertson and P.B. Phillipson, and Bill Branch of the Port Elizabeth Museum. BRENDA NICHOLLS 16 Alice Werner and 'Kisimus' at Bishopstowe NOTES ON PLANTS MENTIONED IN 'KISIMUS' 1. 'Syringa' is Melia azedarach, an exotic tree commonly cultivated in many parts ofthe world, where it often becomes locally natural ised outside gardens. It is grown for its mauve-coloured, sweetly-scented nowers produced in spring and tollowed by clusters of dUll yellow neshy fruits, and its large decorative dark-green leaves which are finely divided. It originates from the Himalayas. 2. 'Yucca' (or 'Adam's Needle') is the name given to several species of Yucca, probably Y. gloriosa or Y recurvifolia. They are woody-based plants with decorative rosettes of long narrow sharp-pointed leaves, and huge plumes of pendulous 1l0wers, and originate from the southern states oUhe USA. 3. 'Hoya' or 'Wax Plant' is Hoya carnosa, a climbing plant with thick leathery leaves and small clusters of white and pink star-shaped flowers with a distinctive waxy texture. It originates from S. China and Queensland, Australia. 4. 'Evening primrose' is a name given to various species ofOenothera introduced as ornamental plants or as weeds to South Africa. Of these, 0. biennis or 0. stricta is probably the species referred to in the text. They arc herbaceous biennial or perennial plants with long un branched stems oflarge open yellow flowers that tend to open only in the evening. They mostly originate from the USA. P.B. PHILLIPSON 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' Sir Henry Rider Haggard in Natal A short distance north of the small town of Bungay in the English county of Norfolk lies the village of Ditchingham. The novelist and public servant Sir Henry Rider Haggard lived at nearby Ditchingham House for most ofhis adult life. After h is death on 14 May 1925 he was cremated and his ashes interred under a black marble slab in the chancel of St Mary's church. In the north aisle there is a memorial window dedicated to Haggard. A framed piece of explains various features of the window: the centrepiece of the Risen Christ is flanked by the angels Michael and Raphael while 'below in the centre is a view of Bung ay ... On the left the Pyramids ... On the right Hilldrop, Sir Rider's farm in South Africa. These views he loved .. .' Sir Rider's South African farm was just outside Newcastle in Natal. In his autobiography, The Days ofMy Life, written in 1912 when he was 55, Haggard said of Natal that 'the country impressed me enormously. Indeed on the whole rthink it the most beautifu I ofany that [have seen in the world, parts ofMexico alone excepted. The great plains rising by steps to the Quathlamba or Drakensberg Mountains, the sparkling torrential rivers, the sweeping thunderstorms, the grass-fires creeping over the veld at night like snakes ofliving flame, the glorious aspect of the heavens, now ofa spotless blue, now charged with the splendid and many-coloured lights ofsunset, and now sparkling with myriad stars; the wine-like taste of the air upon the plains, the beautiful flowers in the bush-clad kloofs or on the black veld in spring - all these things impressed me, so much that were r to live a thousand years I should never forget them. 'Then there were the Zulu Kaffirs living in their kraals filled with round bee-hive like huts, bronze-coloured, noble looking men and women clad only in "moochas", whose herds of cattle wandered hither and thither in charge of a little lad. From the beginning [ was attracted to these Zulus and began to study their character and their history.'1 * * * * Haggard was born on 22 June 1856 and christened Henry Rider - the eighth of ten children. From the beginning Rider, as he was always called, seems to have been the odd one out. 'Only fit to be a damned greengrocer' was the verdict of his father William, a mercurial Norfolk squire who, according to his grand-daughter, 'was a man of violent temper, impatient and autocratic ... but he loved his children and worked hard in their interests.'2 /Va/alia 26 (1997), S. Coan pp. 17-58 18 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' At the age of thirteen, after being educated by a series of governesses, the time came for the young Rider to undergo more formal education. Unlike his brothers, and other members of his class, Haggard's father decided against sending him to a public school. 'Not only was he apparently without any particular ability, but he completely lacked concentration, and had failed to absorb enough general knowledge to come up to even the modest requirements of the lesser public schools.'] Furthermore, William Haggard was feeling the financial strain of supporting a large family. Accordingly Haggard, together with two or three other boys, was sent for coaching by the Reverend HJ. Graham of Garsington Rectory, near Oxford. From there he went to Ipswich Grammar School. Haggard's academic career was undistinguished. Though he won a school essay competition he failed the army entrance examination in 1872 - 'duly floored by myoId enemy, Euclid'.4 His father was probably beginning to wonder what to do with this problem son when, in a move of 'characteristic suddenness',5 he decided Rider should be educated with a career in mind - the Foreign Office. He was packed off to London where he spent almost a year at the home of a private tutor. 'Then my father announced that I was to go to Scoones, the great crammer, and there make ready to face the Foreign Office examination.'r, 'I was about a year and a half at Scoones, making many friends, collecting many experiences and some knowledge of the world. How much book knowledge I collected I do not know, nor whether I should have passed for the Foreign Office if I had gone up. But it was not fated that I should do SO.'7 Once again a sudden change ofmind on the part of his father sent young Haggard off in a different direction. Rider was with his family enjoying a summer holiday at Tours in France when his father WilIiam 'read in The Times, or heard otherwise' 8 that Sir Henry Bulwer had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Natal. The Bulwers of Hey don in Norfolk were old friends ofthe Haggard family and Rider's father wrote from France asking Sir Henry ifhe would take his son to Africa as a member of his staff. Bulwer agreed, 'which was extremely kind of him, as I do not remember that he had ever set eyes on me. >CJBulwer was to replace Sir Garnet Wolseley who had been appointed acting governor by Lord Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary, for an interim term after the recall of Sir Benjamin Pine following the Langalibalele fiasco. Wolseley had been given the task of reforming the colony's administration with a view to promoting Carnarvon's vision of a confederation of states in South Africa, a policy in which Haggard was destined to be a minor player. Haggard's holiday in France came to an abrupt end and he reported to his 'future chief in London, where he set me to work at once ordering wine and other stores to be consumed at Government House in Natal.' 10 Haggard was put in charge of the catering arrangements. It was an unpaid post and for several years the young Haggard was dogged by his financial dependence on his father. Bulwer was a fastidious man who 'with his pot belly, square head of spiky red hair, bushy moustache and incongruous imperial beard growing on his self-important chin, struck a faintly ludicrous figure. He was undoubtedly a fussy self-righteous official, but a thorough gentleman withal and an experienced imperiai administrator who had served in distant outposts ranging from the IonIan Isles through Trinidad to Borneo.' 11 Though Haggard later acknowledged Bulwer's kindness to him, he was not blind to his faults. 'He was most painstaking and careful in all his methods, but to me his weak point seemed to be that he always saw so much of both sides of the case that he found it difficult to make up his mind which of them he ought to follow.' 12 19 'When / was concerned with great men and great events' Haggard dedicated Marie (1912), the first of his Zulu trilogy, to Bulwer. In London, while Haggard's brother Bazett organised the purchase ofguns. Rider kitted himself out and said his goodbyes. In his farewell letter to his mother, dated 23 July 1875, he told her he had spent fifty pounds on his kit. Ella Haggard, his mother, was still holidaying in Tours, from where she wrote a farewell letter to her nineteen-year-old son complete with well-meant advice: 'I hope you have managed the wine well. Your father begs me to tell you, for your consolation, that you will get into nice trouble if you have not! Be careful always to get a very clear understanding of Sir Henry's directions so as to make no mistakes which might reflect on you. Make him repeat anything you are in doubt about - if you can! This I give you as a general hint only, which may be useful, and do not forget what I sai d about order and punctuality, etc.' 13 Though written by Ella it was a family letter signed by the other members of the family at Tours and included messages from his father and his brother Jack. Rider's mother added a poem: \4 To My Son Rider (On Leaving Home. July 1875) Rise to thy destiny! Awake thy powers! Mid throng of men enact the man's full part! No more with mists of doubt dim golden hours, But with strong Being fill thine eager heart! Nineteen short summers o'er thy youthful head Have shone and ripened as they flitted by: May their rich fruit 0' er coming years be shed, And make God's gift of life a treasury. So, go thy way, my Child! I love thee well: How well, no heart but mother's heart may know Yet One loves better, - more than words can tell, Then trust Him, now and evermore; - and go! Looking back at his own youthful self about to embark for Africa Haggard described him as 'a tall young fellow, quite six feet, and slight; blue-eyed, brown-haired, fresh complexioned, and not at all bad looking ... Mentally I was impressionable, quick to observe and learn whatever interested me, and could already hold my own in conversation. Also, if necessary, could make a public speech.'\S But the bluffness of youth masked a darker side: 'I was ... subject to fits of depression and liable to take views of things too serious and gloomy for my age failings I may add, that I have never been able to shake off.' 16 Bulwer and his staff arrived in Cape Town on 17 August 1875 where they stayed with the Governor, Sir Henry Barkly, for a week. During the trip young Haggard was kept busy bringing himself up to date with affairs in Natal - 'getting up all the Langalibalele case and extracting the pith from a mass of blue-books. It is not easy to get at the truth,' he wrote to his father on 18 August, 'when it is hedged round by such a mass of contradictory evidence. However the whole affair is rather interesting, inasmuch as it gives an idea of the tremendous state of ferment and excitement the Colony was and still is in.'17 His still somewhat ill-defined (and unpaid) role on Bulwer's staff was also a cause for concern. 'I am getting on all right, though my position is not an easy one. I find myself responsible for everything, and everybody comes and bothers me. However it all comes in the day's work. I don't know yet in am private secretary, but I suppose 20 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' I am as nobody else has appeared. I make a good many blunders, but still r think I get on very well on the whole. I expect rshall have a tremendous lot of work at Natal as the Chief told me that he was going to entertain a good deal, and that will faU on my shoulders in addition to business.'18 During the week Bulwer's party spent in Cape Town with the governor, Haggard got a taste of the sort of entertainment he might be expected to arrange in future, attending various dinners as well as a ball given by the 'merchants of Cape Town ... a good opportunity to study the Cape Town aristocracy.' He also visited the Bishop of Cape Town, William West lones - 'a thorough specimen of muscular Christianity.' 19 For all his apparent assurance Haggard was feeling homesick - 'all these new faces that you don't know make you think of the old ones that you do know' - and a little out of his depth - 'My mother will pity me when I tell her that I've got to get servants. Where on earth am I to find servants, and who am I to ask about them?'20 The week in Cape Town over, 'four or five days' steaming along the green and beautiful coasts of south-eastern Africa, on which the great rollers break continually. brought us to Port Natal.'21 The Natal Witness reported that 'Sir H.E. Bulwer arrived by the Florence on the 26th inst., and is at present in Durban conferring with Sir Garnet Wolseley. He is however expected in the city shortly as the Legislative Council is to meet for business on September 15.'22 Wolseley recorded the meeting in his diary, together with his unflattering impressions ofthe young Haggard: 'a leggy-looking youth not long I should say from school who seems the picture of weakness and dullness. '23 The new governor and his staff departed from Durban at lOam on the morning of Wednesday I September 'and came up the fifty-four miles over most tremendous hills in five and a half hours, going at full gallop all the way in a four-horse wagonette', reported Haggard in a letter to his mother. 'There were five of us, the Chief, Mr Shepstone (Secretary for Native Affairs), Napier Broome (Colonial Secretary), Beaumont24 and myself. Some of the scenery was very fine. but we were so choked by the dust, which was so thick that you could not see the road beneath you, that we did not much enjoy it.'25 Pietermaritzburg was busy anticipating their arrival. 'At an early hour on Wednesday morning. it became evident from the immense amount of bunting displayed in all parts of the city, that an event of unusual importance was expected to take place during the day,' reported The Natal Witness. 'Shortly after noon placards were posted on the walls ofthe town announcing the fact that His Excellency Sir Henry Em est Bulwer, K.C.M.G., the new Lieutenant-Governor of this colony, might be expected to arrive in the city about4.30 0' clock. In the course ofthe afternoon a number of citizens wended their way towards the Bridge to welcome His Excellency, while others proceeded on horseback or in carriages some miles out of town, in the direction of Thornville. At half past four a cloud of dust on the hill told those on the Bridge of His Excellency'S approach, and five minutes afterwards Sir Henry was driven over the Bridge, in Murray and Collins's four-wheel trap. escorted by a strong body of the Natal Carbineers, the whole being enveloped in a cloud ofdust, and looking very much begrimed after their journey. In the trap was Sir Henry with His Excellency's private secretary. the Hon. F. Napier Broome, and W.H. Beaumont, Esq .. the latter ofwhom returns to the colony after an absence of six months, to take up his position in the Colonial Office. '26 'When we got near Maritzburg crowds of people rode out to meet us,' Haggard told his mother, 'and we entered in grand style amidst loud hurrahs. We galloped up 21 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' to Government House, where the regiment was drawn up on the lawn, and as soon as the carriage stopped the band struck up "God Save the Queen" and salutes were fired from the fort [NapierJ. Then all the grandees of Maritzburg came forward and paid their respects to the Governor, and at last we were left alone to clean ourselves as best we could.' Haggard found Government House (now the Natal College of Education) a 'very pretty building'. While not as big as the Cape's Government House he declared it 'far from small. I, who have to look after it, find it too large. I have a large bedroom upstairs and my office in the Executive Council chamber.'27 Haggard thought Pietermaritzburg 'a charming town of the ordinary Dutch character, with wide streets bordered by sluits of running water and planted with gum trees. '28 On 2 September 1875, Bulwer was sworn into office 'in a room where the Legislative Council sit in the Public Offices building'29and 'the day being brilliantly fine, there was a very large attendance at the Court House, particularly of the fair sex. '30 When Bulwer arrived at noon 'the guard presented arms and the band played the National Anthem.'31 Once Bulwer's commission and proclamation had been read outthe city's mayor, John Fleming, began his address: 'To his Excellency Sir Henry Ernest Bulwer, Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, Lieutenant Governor ofthe colony of Natal, Vice Admiral ofthe same, and Supreme Chief over the Native Population .. .'32 As the honorifics indicate it was a 'very swell ceremony indeed' and Haggard 'had to go through an extraordinary amount of scraping and bowing, presenting and pocketing, or trying to pocket, enormous addresses, commissions, etc., etc.'33 After the ceremony followed a levee which, said Haggard, 'tried my patience considerably, for these people came so thick and fast that I had no time to decipher their, for the most part, infamously written cards, so I had to shout out their names at haphazard. However this came to an end too at last, and we drove off amidst loud hurrahs. '14 The Natal Witness, in a slightly more laconic tone, recorded that 'during the ceremony which lasted about % hour business was almost entirely suspended; however by one o'clock all was over, the crowd cleared away, and matters were allowed to resume their usual course. One or two flags were allowed to remain waving in the breeze for the remainder of the day, in honour of the auspicious event. '35 By the time of the inauguration Haggard's position on Bulwer's staff had been clarified: 'I am not private secretary,' he wrote to his mother. 'The Chief was talking the other night to Beaumont about me and told him he had a very good opinion of me and thought I should do very well, but that he "always intended" to have an older man help him at "first", though who it is going to be does not seem clear. He wants somebody who can go and talk to all these people as a man of their own standing, which I cannot do. He also wants someone who has some experience in this sort of work. I am not in the least disappointed; indeed now that 1 see something ofthe place, and of the turbulent character of its inhabitants, 1should have much wondered if he had made a fellow young as 1 am private secretary.'36 Though sporting a brave face at this disappointment Haggard nevertheless felt keenly the lost opportunity to support himself financially. 'I am sorry, very sorry, still to be dependent on my father, but you may be sure, my dear Mother, that I will be as moderate as 1can. At any rate 1will cost less than if I had been at home.' 22 'When 1was concerned with great men and great events' He then boosted his prospects: 'I am pretty well convinced that I shall be his private secretary sooner or later ... I continue to get on very well with him, indeed we are the best of friends, and I have many friendly jaws with him.'J7 Such friendly chats aside, the young Haggard was clearly under strain: 'my chief trouble is my housekeeping. I have all this large house entirely under me, and being new to it find it difficult work. I have often seen with amusement the look of anxiety on a hostess's face at a dinner-party, but, by Jove, I find it far from amusing now. Dinner days are black Mondays to me. Imagine my dismay the other day when the fish did not appear and when, on whispering a furious inquiry, I was told the cook had forgotten it! Servants are very difficult to get here, and one has to pay five pounds at the lowest.'38 Haggard was kept busy supervising the entertainments at Government House and because 'Sir Henry was unmarried, I had much to do.'39 By December he was making arrangements for a ball to be held at Government House on December 8. 'It was understood that about 250 had been invited,' reported The Natal Witness of the occasion, 'but the weather had been such as to account for a large defalcation. Government House balls are such common events that a detailed description is unnecessary. Our readers will be aware that the weather was hot and the host and his aide de camp were courteous. It only remains to add that the music, played by the band of I-13th was good, the company was mixed, the dresses very good for a place where materials are hard to get, and the dancing somew'wt provincial. '40 Early in the new year of 1876 Haggard would have been busy behind the scenes at the banquet celebrating the turning of the first sod of the Natal Government Railways link between Durban and Pietermaritzburg on 4 January. By February he had clearly settled down and was enjoying the colonial life: 'I am getting on all right and have quite got over all signs of liver since I got a horse. This place, if only you take exercise, is as healthy as England.'41 For the most part exercise meant riding and, as likely as not, hunting. 'I got out for a day's buck-hunting the other day to a place about twelve miles off, a farm of fertile plain (about 12,000 acres). The owner of it, a very good fellow, is one of the few people who preserve their buck. ' The letter enthusiastically describes the method of hunting: 'three or four guns on good horses ride over the plain about fifty yards apart. If an oribe (sic) gets up you have to pull up and shoot off your horse's back, which is not very easy till you get used to it.' Haggard was evidently sti 11 getting used to it: '[ had dropped a little behind the others, when in galloping up to join them my horse put its foot into a hole and came to the ground, sending me and my loaded gun on to my head some five or six yards further on. 1 had hardly come to my senses and caught my horse when I saw an oribe pass like a flash of light, taking great bounds. I turned and went away after him, and 1must say 1 never had a more exciting ride in my life.' After a breakneck ride of two miles the buck 'popped into a bush ... instead of getting off and walking him up, 1 sent one barrel into the bush after him and the other as he rose.' However he didn't kill the buck and when he spurred his horse to 'catch him ... he only gave a jump, and I found myself in a bog whilst my wounded buck slowly vanished over a rise. '42 Colonial Natal also attempted to recreate the English country scene by hunting with packs of hounds. Haggard wrote that they 'got very good runs sometimes. 1 very nearly lost my watch and chain in one the other day.'43 23 'When 1 was concerned with great men and great events' On 9 March 1876 Bulwer presided over the opening of the new corporation bridge, the Alexandra Bridge. Once again Haggard was busy with the catering though this time he also had a speaking role. The baptism of the bridge was to be followed by tiffin and 'after a pleasant walk of a few minutes, the party found themselves at a marquee in the Park, where a sumptuous repast was provided,' observed an approving Natal Witness. 'The party sat down, to the number of over 80, to a table well laid out in a tent decorated throughout with evergreens and flowers.' Various dignitaries made speeches and proposed toasts, among them Theophilus Shepstone and John Bird, then 'Mr Scoones proposed, in a few fitting terms, "The Ladies", on behalf of whom Mr Haggart (sic) replied, and kept the company in constant laughter.' The Natal Witness consistently misspelt Haggard's surname as Haggart. An improvement on the Cape Town newspapers which had referred to him as Waggart. By now Haggard had become known to many ofthe prominent figures ofthe day, among them John Colenso, Bishop of Natal. Colenso had been rector at Forncett St Mary in Norfolk from 1846 to 1853 and 'recognised my name the first time I saw him.'44 On Easter Sunday 16 April 1876 Haggard attended a church service where Colenso preached a funeral sermon on his friend Thomas Warwick Brooks, a superintendent of education and a churchwarden who had committed suicide a few days previously. 'The Bishop quite broke down. I was sitting under him; all the last part of his sermon he was literally sobbing. It was touching to see the stem-faced Colenso, whom nothing can move, so broken. He is a very strange man, but one you cannot but admire, with his intellect written on his face .. .'45 In later life Haggard recalled Colenso as 'a tall, able and agreeable man with a most interesting face, but one who was desperately at loggerheads with everybody. '46 Differences over doctrine had led to schism in the Anglican church and while Colenso remained the legal bishop ofNatal the opposition orthodox party had appointed W.K. Macrorie as Bishop of Maritzburg. 'It always seemed to me somewhat illogical that Colenso should wish to remain in a Church of which he criticised the tenets, on the principle that one should scarcely eat the bread and butter of those whom one attacks,' reflected Haggard. 'On the other hand the views that Colenso held forty years ago - which by the way were suggested to him by the extraordinarily acute questions put by Zulus whom he tried to convert to Christianity - are widespread today, even among clergymen. He was in advance of his generation, and like others suffered for it, that is all.'47 In Haggard's view Colenso was unpopular among Natal colonists not for his religious views but 'because he was such a strong advocate of the rights of natives' and Haggard was 'more or less in sympathy with him. White settlers, especially if they be not of the highest order, are to apt to hate, despise, and revile the aboriginal inhabitants among whom they find themselves. Often this is because they fear them, even more frequently because the coloured people, not needing to do so, will not work for them at a low rate of wage. For example, they cannot understand why these blacks should object to spend weeks and months hundreds of feet underground, employed in the digging ofore, and, in their hearts, often enough would like to compel them by force to do their will. Yet surely the Kaffir whose land we have taken has a right to follow his own opinions and convenience on the subject.'48 Bishops and matters of church protocol placed Haggard in something of a predicament at one dinner at Government House. As invited guests sat down to dinner among them were 'the Roman Catholic Archbishop [Charles Constant Jolivet], a dean 24 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' of the Church ofEngland, and a very shining non-Conformist light. Generally it was Sir Henry's custom if a clergyman was present to ask him to say grace, but on this occasion, realising the difficulty of the situation, he passed that duty on to me.' , "Haggard," he said in a reproachful voice, which suggested that I was neglecting my business, "will you be so good as to ask someone to say Grace?" 'I worked out the position rapidly in my mind and, coming to the conclusion that one should stick to one's own people, ignored the Roman Catholic bishop and went for the dean.'49 In the same letter that spoke ofthe sobbing Colenso, Haggard also wrote of seeing 'a curious dance the other day, a witch dance. I cannot attempt to describe it, it is a weird sort of thing.' However his powers of description were soon to spring to graphic life. During May Haggard accompanied Bulwer 'on a tour he made up country and there saw a great war dance which was organised in his honour.' He wrote of it in a letter home and later worked it up for publication - 'it was the first thing I ever wrote for publication. ' 501t was published in the Gentleman's Magazine of July 1877 under the title' A Zulu War Dance'. Though the first to be written, this was not the first of Haggard's articles to be published. His first published article, concerning the annexation of the Transvaal Republic and entitled 'The Transvaal', appeared in the May 1877 issue of Macmillan 's iHagazine. Bulwer's tour was to Weenen County and the purpose of the trip to this district, 'the largest in Natal, is understood to be a desire to acquire a more intimate knowledge of the county, and to examine the condition of the Natives of the district.'51 On the trip was the Secretary for Native Affairs, 'the most interesting man of all whom I came into contact in Natal ... who afterwards became my beloved chief and friend ... not withstanding the wide difference in our years ... I refer to Sir Theophilus Shepstone, or Sompseu (sic) as he was called by all the natives throughout South Africa.'52 In his memoirs Haggard recalled how he had once heard Shepstone 'say "I love that boy" to one of my elder colleagues as I passed by him, he thought out of earshot, and I have never forgotten the words or the tone in which they were uttered. Well, the affection was reciprocated, and will be while I have memory.' Haggard described Shepstone as a 'curious, silent man, who had acquired many of the characteristics of the natives amongst whom he lived. Often it was impossible to guess from his somewhat impassive face what was passing in his brain. He had the power of silence, but he observed everything and forgot little. To me, however, when the mood was on him, he would talk a great deal- the stories I have heard from him would fill half a volume - and sometimes even unfold to me the secret springs of his actions.' 53 The war dance that Haggard witnessed took place at the homestead of Pagate 'a powerful chief ruling over some fifteen thousand souls, who had fled from the rule of the Zulus many years before to this wild, remote spot, and dwelt there in peace under the protection of the Crown.' The journey to this destination was not without incident as Haggard made clear in a letter written on 13 May 1876, headed 'Camp, Pagate's Location'. Bulwer's party trekked 'steadily on through the country in much the same way, except that we have left the plains and entered the mountainous bush-land which, though the roads are terrible, is much pleasanter to travel through as it is more varied. Also you can make little dives into the bush in search of a little shooting, though it is very necessary to take your bearings first.' 25 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' As Haggard found to his cost one day having neglected to do so. Hopelessly lost he eventually spied some houses on a distant hill and 'thither I and my tired horse and dogs clambered as best we could, now over masses of boulders, now through deep water-courses, till at last we came to the neighbourhood of the first house, just as night was setting in.' Approaching the houses he was struck by the 'stillness ofthe place and drawing nearer yet I saw that brambles and thorns were mingled with the peaches and pomegranates of the garden, and the fruit had not been plucked, but eaten away by birds; then I observed that the front door had fallen from its hinges. I rode in and found the place a picture of melancholy desertion.' The other houses were in the same condition and Haggard decided to make 'one more shot for the road'. It began to rain heavily and so he turned back, making for the deserted houses 'as best I could through the dark, feeling uncommonly cold, when I suddenly stumbled on a Kaffir coming through the bush. An angel could not have been more welcome.' Then a new problem presented itself. 'I knew no Kaffir, he knew no English. Luckily I did know the Kaffir name of Mr. Shepstone- "Sompseu" -which is known by every black in South Africa, and managed to make my friend understand that I was travelling with the "Mighty Hunter", also that there were four wagons.' The man knew the party was travelling in the area and 'following his unerring instinct he at once struck out for the high road from which I had wandered five miles. Arrived there, he managed by the glimmer ofthe stars to find the track ofthe wagons, and having satisfied himself that they had passed, struck away again into the most awful places where anything but the Basuto pony I was riding must have come to grief. ' 'On we went for about eight miles till I began to think my friend was knocking underto the cold (a very little cold kills them) and making for his own kraaJ. However, to my astonishment he hit the track again and at length came safely to the wagons. I was not sorry to see them.'54 Pagate's homestead was situated on a 'high promontory that juts out and divides two enormous valleys atthe bottom ofwhich rLlns the Mooi River. The view is superb; two thousand feet below lies the plain encircled by tremendous hills bush-clad to the very top, while at the bottom flashes a streak of silver which is the river. There is little of what we admire in views in England, but Nature in her wild and rugged grandeur.' On arrival at the homestead 'we went into the principal hut and partook of refreshments in the shape of Kaffir Beer.' The following day Pagate arranged a war dance 'which is one ofthe most strange and savage sights I ever saw. It was not very large as they only had a day's notice to collect the warriors; however some five hundred turned up.' As well as writing a letter about the dance Haggard evidently kept a notebook or diary, since lost. He used the notes to work up the article that was subsequently published in Gentleman's Magazine. In this youthful piece Haggard's sense of the romantic and the dramatic, that he would later employ to telling effect, is already evident. 'During the morning we could hear snatches of distant chants and caught glimpses of wild figures threading the thorns - Pagate's warriors hastening to the War Dance in our honour. Higher and higher rose the distant chant, but no one could be seen. Suddenly there stood before us a creature, a woman - tiny, withered, and bent nearly double by age, but in her activity passing comprehension. Clad in a strange jumble of snake skins, feathers, furs and 26 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' bones; a forked wand in her outstretched hand she rushed to and fro before the little group of white men crying: , "Ou, Ou, Ai, Ai, Ai, Oh! Ye warriors that shall dance before the great ones ofthe earth, comel Oh! Ye dyers of spears, ye plumed suckers of blood, come! I, the witch finder; I the wise woman; I, the seer of strange sights; I the reader of dark thoughts; call ye! Come and do honour to the white lords. Ah! I hear ye! Ah! I see ye! Ye come! Ye Come!" 'As her invocation trailed off there rushed over the hill a finely built warrior arrayed in the full panoply ofsavage war. In his right hand he grasped his spears, and on his left hung his large, black, oxhide shield, lined on its inner side with spare assegais. From the 'man's' ring round his head rose a single, tall, grey plume, robbed from the Kaffir crane. His broad shoulders were bare, and beneath the annpits was fastened a short gannent of strips of skin, intermixed with oxtails of ditTerent colours. From his waist hung a rude kilt, made chietly of goat's hair, whilst round his calf of the right leg was fixed a short fringe of black ox-tails. Striking his shield with his assegai he poured forth his salutation: , "Bayete, Bayete, 0 chief from the olden times, 0 lord and chief of chiefs! Pagadi, the son of Masingorano, the great chief, the leader of brave ones, the son of Ulabako greets you. Pagadi is humble before you; he comes with warrior and with shield, but he comes to lay them at your feet. o father of chiefs, son of the Great Queen over the Water, is it pennitted that Pagadi approach you? Ou! I see it is, your face is pleasant: Bayete, Bayete." 'As the last words died on his lips, the air was filled with a deep murmuring sound like distant thunder; it swelled and rolled and finally passed away, to give place to the noise of the rushing of many feet. Over the brow of the hill dashed a compact body of warriors, running swiftly in lines of four, their captain at their head. Each bore a snow-white shield carried on the slant, and above each warrior's head rose a grey heron's plume. These were the advanced guard fonned of the or veteran troops. 'As they came into full view, the shields heaved and fell, and then from every throat out burst the war-song of the Zulus. Passing us swiftly they took up their position in a double line on our right, and stood there solemnly chanting all the while. Another rush of feet and another company flitted over the hill towards us, but they bore coal-black shields, and the drooping plumes were as black as night. Then they came, faster and faster, but all through the same gap in the bush, The red shields, the dun shields, the mottled shields, the yellow shields, followed each other in quick succession, till at length there stood before us some five hundred men. 'A moment later, from each ofthose five hundred throats, there swelled a chant never to be forgotten. From company to company it passed, that wild song, so touching in its simple grandeur, so expressive in its deep, pathetic volume. Never had the white men who listened heard music so weird, so soft, and yet so savage, so simple and yet so expressive of the fiercest passions known to 27 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' the human heart. Slowly it died; lower and lower it sank, growing faint, despairing , "Why does he not come, our chief, our lord? Why does he not welcome his singers? Ah! see they come, the heralds of our lord! Our chief is coming to lead his warriors." 'Again it rose and swelled louder and louder, a sung of victory and triumph. It rolled against the mountains, it beat upon the ground. , "He is coming - he is here - attended by his chosen. Now we shall go forth to slay; New shall we taste of the battle." 'J {:gher and higher yet until at length the chief Pagate, swc.thed in war garments of splendid furs, preceded by runners and accompanieo by ricked warriors, crept slowly up. He was old and tottering, and of aa \2I1w:eldy bulk. One moment the old man stood and surveyed his warriors, and listened to the familiar war cry. As he stood his face lit up with the light of battle. The tottering figure straightened itself, t h ~ feeble had became strong once mare. With a shout the old man shook off his supporters and grasped his shield,al!d then, forgetting his weakness and his years, he rushed to his chieftain's place in the centre of his men. Pagate stopped and raised his hand, and the place was filled with utter silence. But not for long. The next moment five hundrec. shields were tossed aloft, five hundred spears flashed in the sunshine, and witl, a ,udden roar sprang forth the royal salute - Bayete! Bayete' (accent on first 'e') 'The chief drew back and gave directions to h i ~ "I r.dunas", his wise ones, distinguished from their fellows by the absence ofplume or shield. The Indunas passed the orders to the captains and at on(;e the dance began. First they manoeuvred a little in silence, changing their position with wonderful precision and agility; but as their blood warmed there came a sound like the hissing of ten thousand snakes, and they charged again and again. A pause and then the company of the "Greys" on the right, threw itself into open order, flitted past like so many vultures, to precipitate themselves with a wild whistling cry on an opposing body, which rushed to meet it. They joined issue; they grappled; on them swooped another company, then another and another, until nothing was to be distinguished except a mass of wild faces, of heaving, changing forms, rolling and writhing, and to all appearances, killing and being killed; whilst the whole air was pervaded with a shrill, savage, sibilation - S'gee! S'gee! S'gee! 'Another pause, and forth from the ranks sprang a chosen warrior and hurled himself on an imaginary foe. Warrior after warrior came forth, and last of all to spring forward with a wild yell was the future chief, Pagate's son and successor. He stood with his shield in one hand, and lifted his battleaxe - borne by him alone - in the other. Looking proudly around, he rattled his lion-claw necklace, whilst from every side burst forth a storm ofsibilating applause, that strange whistling sound, which, without the slightest apparent movement of face or lip, issued from every mouth, not from the soldiers only, but from the old men, women and children. 'Then followed a mimic battle, which is beyond words to describe in its abandoned fury. Wild as seemed the confusion, through it all, even in the moments of highest excitement, some sort of rough order was maintained. 'At last the warriors grew weary, and the companies were drawn up in order to receive the praise and thanks of the white men whom they had honoured, and to which the Zulus replied in imposing fashion. At a given signal each man 28 'When I was concerned with great men and great events' began to tap his ox-hide shield softly with the handle of his spear, producing a sound like the munnur of the distant sea. By slow degrees it grew louder and louder, until at length it rolled and re-echoed from the hills like thunder, and came to its conclusion with a fierce, quick rattle. This is the royal salute of the Zulus, and is but rarely heard by a white man. One more sonorous salute with voice and hand and then the warriors disappeared as they had come, dropping swiftly over the brow of the hill in companies. In a few moments no sign or vestige of dance or dancers remained. 'When the last dusky figure had topped the rising ground and had stood out for an instant against the flaming background of the western sun, then vanished as it were back into its native darkness beyond those gates of fire, the old Chief drew near and sat amongst Shepstone and his companions.' '''Ah!,'' said he, taking the hand of Sir Theophilus Shepstone and addressing him by his native name, "ah! t' Sompseu, l' Sompseu, the seasons are many since I first held this your hand. Then we were young, and life lay bright before us, and now you have grown great and are growing grey; and I have grown very old. I have eaten the corn of my time till only the cob is lell for me to suck, and ow! it is bitter. But it is well that I should clasp your hand once more 0 holder of the spirit of Chaka, before I sit down and sleep with my forefathers. Ow! I am glad."" In Lilias Rider Haggard's biography of her father, The Cloak That I Lefl, she describes how Haggard sat in the shadows listening to the two men talking 'until a full moon topped the edges of the further side of the valley and flooded all that wild and lovely place with a silver radiance ... At last the old chief rose to take his leave, and his parting words came clearly to Rider's ears and were written down in the little notebook he carried.' , "Your counsel is good, 1'Sompseu, and perhaps while your ann is still strong, and you hold it out to shield the white peoples that they may dwell in safety beneath it. But I tell you 1'Sompseu, that Cetywayo's regiments grow thirsty for blood, and his captains cry that they weary of idleness, and will the King have them milk cows and hoe gardens like women? Go to the King's kraal on the Feast ofthe First Fruits, and count the warriors who dance before Cetywayo - for every one that I have shown you he will summon a thousand, and there will be much killing. Cetywayo's heart is soil towards you, he does not want war with the English, but he is but one mind against who would tread the red road of the assegai - the road that was trodden by the great Elephants Chaka and Dingaan." , "Is it so, Pagate?" Shepstone replied quietly. "Then I tell you as I told the King, that the Queen of England is the most mighty one in the whole earth, and though her foot, of which you see but the little toe here in Africa, seems small to you, yet if she is angered it will stamp the Zulu flat, so that they cease to be." '''Ow! t'Sompseu, truth and wisdom dwells in your heart, and it may be so, but first there will be a very great killing." And with a sigh the unwieldy old man turned and bidding them a dignified farewell, departed to his kraal.' For Haggard the visit to Pagate's homestead was cle