A RARE TREASURE RE-APPEARS – AFRICANA COMES HOME
A special treat is now available for history and poetry lovers. It is Songs of the Veld an anthology of protest poetry written during the Anglo-Boer War by six well known South African intellectuals (some of whom were English-speaking). These poems by C Louis Leipold, Betty Molteno, Alice Greene, Anna Purcell, Albert Cartwright and Friedrich Carl Kolbe, denounce the imperialistic methods of barbarism and scorched-earth policies of the British military forces. They were smuggled out and published anonymously in England in 1902 to protect the writers from prosecution as Martial Law still prevailed in South Africa. The book was instantly banned in South Africa and until now has never been reprinted, so few South Africans have ever had a chance to read these dramatic, emotive works. Songs of the Veld, an A-5 hard-cover, 136-page volume with photographs of the poets, is now available from Cederberg Publishers at R285 (incl p&p). The driving force behind the reprinting of this work was Martiens van Bart, heritage editor of Die Burger. He also wrote the preface and background explanations in English and Afrikaans. The book’s cover looks the same as it did a century ago but, as a tribute to Olive Schreiner, its dust jacket features a dramatic photograph of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Olive kept a framed photograph of this Greek statue in her home. “No picture has ever been to me what this is – broken, defaced without head or arm – yet so strong, moving on into victory,” she said. The poems express the same intensity of feeling and endeavour to eliminate the misconception that the Anglo-Boer War was a simple conflict between “Afrikaans” Boers and the English-speaking British. After reading the book Professor Wium van Zyl, of the University of the Western Cape, said: “What now deserves fresh recognition is the reality that English-speakers from many different backgrounds spoke out in the struggle for freedom and right, not only in support of the Boer Republics and the ‘Dutch’ in the Cape Colony, but also in the interests of human rights. There is surely no better way of recognising this than by reprinting this volume of poems.” The book is a treasure. It deserves a place on the bookshelves of all who have a serious interest in the Anglo-Boer War.
AROUND THE KAROO IN A CLOUD OF DUST
Self-confessed dirt-track junkie Nicholas Yell recently circumnavigated the Great Karoo on a motor cycle. His adventures captured in Circling the Great Karoo – A Back-Roads Journey Through History On An Old Scrambler make exhilarating reading. Nicholas set off from Aberdeen, on a trusted Yamaha XT250, named Rebeccasaurus, in honour of the fossil-territory he would traverse. He did his best never to set his wheels on tar throughout the almost 3 000km ride and his motor rallying experience served him well when he merged into the secret network of farm roads and gravel tracks. Here long-forgotten sign posts with rusted, blank faces taunted him but, like the explorers of old, he pressed on, captivated by the journey and not the destination. He paused at the peaks of little-known passes to soak up the awe-inspiring vastness of the Great Karoo, often stretching further than the eye could see. He revelled in the sound of silence, immersed himself in the symphony of veld and often just celebrated the joy of being the only traveller on the road. Circling the Great Karoo is a great read. This soft-bound A-5 book (costing R200 inc p&p) is much more than a saga of where he went and what he did, it includes the history and happenings of this ancient land and the small towns he visited. Nicholas introduces the reader to heroes, outlaws, missionaries, adventurers, explorers and their modern-day counterparts. His readers become part of the trip, sharing everything including the aches and pains of the ride.
KEEP FEET HEALTHY AND DRY
Cape Mohair, the biggest sock manufacturer in the South Africa, has developed a special product for diabetics. Made of a wool, mohair and bamboo mixture, these are said to be extremely effective in keeping feet dry, an essential for diabetics. “After extensive testing on patients, the socks received many very favourable comments,” said Jackie Grant of Cape Mohair. “The mohair in this mixture has proved itself a winner because it absorbs and expels moisture, while wool only absorbs it.” According to the Farmer’s Weekly of October 17, 2008, South Africa exports half of the world’s mohair output.
WILEY STATESMAN ALWAYS GOT HIS OWN WAY
Paul Kruger was a wiley old statesman who did not stop at histrionics to get his own way. Captain Francis Younghusband, special correspondent for the London Times, once wrote Kruger could “roar.” He added “I once saw him break a table with his violent thumps upon it. I thought that something vital must be under debate but was told that they were merely discussing some minor official’s salary.” Kruger’s “tricks” exasperated men like General Nicolaas Smit, a hero of Majuba. Smit said: “I do stand up to him. I know when he is wrong, and I tell him so; but first he will always argue with me. If that is no good, he gets in a rage and jumps around the room roaring at me like a wild beast. Then, if I do not give in, he fetches out the Bible and quotes from it hoping that that will help him out. If all that fails, he takes my hand and cries like a child and begs me to forgive him and prays me to give in …. Who can resist a man like that?”
PHEW, BUT IT’S HOT!
Sydney Smith, Canon of St Paul’s, and a renowned wit, is credited with saying on one a particularly hot Karoo-type summer day that he wished he could take off his skin and sit in his bones. However, on one of his trips into the hinterland John Blades Currey met a trekboer who bettered the remark. He said he was so hot he wished could take off his body and sit in his naked soul!
THE AARDVARK A MAJOR STAR OF THE ECOLOGIAL STAGE
Spotting an aardvark (Orycteropus afer) on a Karoo road at night is a rare privilege. Farmers, however, complain about the huge holes these animals make and into which stock can so easily fall sometimes with fatal results. Early writers cursed aardvark holes, calling them “dangerous to life and limb.” These half-hidden holes presented problems to early travellers. Many a horse and rider were injured when an unsuspecting animal stepped into an aardvark hole. Cart and wagon wheels were broken causing severe delays on the rugged roads to the interior. The aardvark was seen as early as 1684. De Grevenbroek reported seeing “three specimens of an underground boar known to the Europeans as an earth-pig, or ant-eater,” writes C J Skead in The Incidence of Mammals in the Western Cape. O F Mentzel, who spent about five years at the Cape in the 1730s, also saw aardvark, so did Burchell, W C Scully, John Barrow, Moodie and George Thompson, who (with great exaggeration) wrote: “We were often in danger of being overset by antbears. Their excavations are often large enough to admit a man and horse.” Mentzel said the meat of the ant-eater was very lean and most tasty when smoked. In Manna in the Desert Albert de Jager Jackson said many holes were found in the Beaufort West district, “but we seldom see him.” In 1937 Shortridge reported the dry Karoo did not hamper the aardvark at all.
NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T
Stefan Cilliers, who has studied these shy, nocturnal, poorly understood, animals, which cannot be kept in zoos, says: “My first impression was of a giant rat because the creature has donkey-like ears, a long, pig-like snout and strong rat-like claws. If you are ever lucky enough to spot one, you won’t have time to study it, because it will be gone in a flash. The aardvark’s long, tubular ears give it an incredibly sharp sense of hearing and it takes flight at any sound, easily outrunning humans to dash down its burrow.” Aardvarks eat mainly of ants and termites. Their exceptional sense of smell allows them to sniff out the nests of their prey several metres below ground. They’re excellent diggers; they use their powerful limbs and claws to tear into the earth in search of a meal, but the giant holes they dig devastate dam walls and cause serious damage to motor vehicles. “There is, however, a positive side,” says Stefan. “Termites cause loss of grazing, so aardvarks and other insectivores, such as the aardwolf, are actually beneficial. These truly remarkable creatures, which spend most of the night sniffing for termites, play a vital ecological role. Not only do they reduce ant and termite populations, but they make life possible for other species, such as pygmy mice, big-eared mice and the lesser dwarf shrew, one of the smallest and lightest creatures on earth. Aardvark burrows are also used by many species that cannot burrow, or struggle to make burrows. Research has indicated 17 mammal species use aardvark burrows, among these are jackal, hyena, wild dog, warthog, aardwolf, mongoose, the endangered black-footed cat and porcupine. A strange little bird, the Ant-eating Chat, also used the burrows and creates its nests in the roof.
TOO BAD – NO CHRISTENING CAKE!
The story of the “world’s oldest fruit cake” (Rose’s Round-up 61 and 62) reminded historic researcher, Joan Wright, of an old tradition. “Years ago, it was customary to keeping the top layer of a wedding cake to be eaten on the christening day of the first child,” she says. “My parents tried this, but the idea didn’t work out well. I was born two years after my parents married, and I was told that when the specially-kept cake was unwrapped it had gone mouldy! Wedding cakes in the States are mostly sponge cakes, unlike the British traditional of rich fruit cake, but even these have given way to pyramids of meringues or profiteroles, chocolate and ice-cream cakes.”
SECRETS OF THE HIDDEN ‘AROMA’
Prince Albert’s Fransie Pienaar Museum is filled with treasures of yesteryear. Among these are three konfore (coffee warmers), one of which still has a coffee bag. Two were donated by the Harmse family of Lammerskraal. The beautiful old white enamel one, with its lovely pink flowers, came from Sarie Harris (nee Basson) of Vyevlei. There was a time when such devices stood ready, filled with steaming hot “boeretroos” (as coffee was known throughout the hinterland), kept warm by glowing coals in the little containers at their base. Their days are long gone. They have been overtaken by instant coffee, drip filter machines and coffee bags. The hinterland is filled with stories of strange concoctions served up as “coffee.” Helena Marincowitz tells a wonderful tale in her booklet of Gamkaskloof Stories. “In the 1950s Dominee Theron walked over the mountains and down into Gamkaskloof (The Hell) where he was warmly welcomed with fruit and biltong and apologies that they had no coffee to offer him. A little later the woman he was visiting whispered to her husband: ‘Slip out to the garden and dig up the can fruit jar of coffee beans, after all this is a Man of God and we need to welcome him correctly.’ The sound of a grinder churning away in the kitchen indicated her bidding had been done and within short the most wonderful aroma of coffee filled their humble home. The message, however, was clear – they could only afford to welcome the most highly regarded guests with a cup of real coffee.”
A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
Some say Matjiesfontein is the most haunted place in the Karoo, but others feel Prince Albert is not far behind. Many have heard strange sounds in the dark of night, some have seen dancing girls and a poker-playing ghost at the Swartberg Hotel, where ghosts, it seems, are sometimes on day duty. The hotel has two much-admired 19th century paintings. Most simply register the pretty scenes and pass by, but there are those who swear that the demure Victorian lady in the one develops a particularly malevolent stare and that the water in the pond turns red. Those who see this happen say it’s a painting of a murder scene, others laugh and saying it is no more than a trick of the light!
A POUND FOR A RABBIT
The critically endangered riverine rabbit has been known by many names over the years. Among these are “doekvoethaas,” (cloth-foot) rabbit, a name relating to its large, floppy-looking feet and “pondhaas,” (pound rabbit) which many said came about because a skinned rabbit, ready for the pot, tipped the scale at exactly a pound. The Farmer’s Weekly of October 24, 2008, adds a new twist to this tale. It states that the name “pondhaas,” arose because Captain G C Shortridge, curator of the Kaffrarian Museum in King Williamstown, offered £1 for every rabbit brought in to him. This rabbit, first discovered at Deelfontein, near Richmond, in 1902, just after the Anglo-Boer War, lives for three to four years in the wild and produces only one offspring, called a kitten, each year.
NEW PROJECT GROWS FUEL
Five Prince Albert organisations have joined forces to grow firewood. “This is a scarce resource in semi-desert environments such as the Karoo,” says ecologist and University of Cape Town research associate Richard Dean. “Firewood is often the only source of fuel in areas with high unemployment where many cannot afford to buy electricity or gas and have to rely on a fire to keep warm and to cook their food.” In the Karoo trees mostly grow on privately-owned land so, Prince Albert Municipality, Renu Karoo, the Plant Conservation Unit at the University of Cape Town, Working for Water and Prince Albert Primary School have teamed up to create a community woodlot. This is a long-term project and it will be at least five years before any meaningful bundles of firewood can be collected from the lot. Nevertheless, it is a good start. First, the Municipality closed the rubbish tip near Rondomskrik, and tasked two men to dig 500 holes. Then, Renu-Karoo, a recently formed nursery for indigenous plants, donated 500 soetdoring (sweet thorn) trees which were planted and carefully monitored for two weeks. A team of workers (including children from the Primary School) almost daily accompanied a water tanker around the lot to ensure that the trees had sufficient water to allow them to develop an efficient root system. Working for Water is training the team in woodlot management and showing them how to prune the trees so that the growth is channelled into the main stem and not to the thin side branches. “Much depends on support and commitment from all organisations involved,” said Richard. “We are convinced this is a viable project and that it will be successful.”
MEMBER OF THE BAIRD CLAN?
Are you a member of the Baird clan in South Africa? Then, there’s a new website for you to browse created by John Baird’s great granddaughter Lindi, who also recently wrote a book on the family history “Response to this site has been exciting,” says Lindi. “I am happy to report that the South African clan is growing daily, so we may soon solve some of the riddles.”
ALL IN SEARCH OF RED GOLD
Plying unmarked routes into the interior was grim in the mid 1800s, yet fortune hunters braved the trips in search of red-gold – copper. They contended with intense heat, dust, sunburn, sore eyes, broken wagon and cart wheels, sick animals, the terrors of no water and flash floods. Life along these trails is dramatically captured in Arne Schaeffer’s recently published Life and Travels in the Northwest. Travellers tell of seeing “broken men who had taken to the hills a long time ago,” of lung sickness in cattle that made travelling well nigh impossible, of life on isolated farms, where the owners would “take money for stabling and forage, but never for food and rough roads that were “injurious to animals.” In places routes were so unclear that maps had to be obtained from farmers. Going it alone would simply get you lost in a territory where water often was “so brackish as to be almost putrid.” In places guides had to be found and many refused to cross certain areas because they were too scared of marauding Bushmen (San) bands. One farmer, Beukes, terrified a band of travellers by telling them his servant had been killed by a poisoned arrow as he sat at his fire. And, there were problems no one ever thought of. John Blades Currey, for instance, dismounted for a chat with a fellow traveller on an isolated road. Disaster hit when he tried to remount. “Before my right foot was over my horse’s back, he reared, fell over backwards and pulled me down with him. My foot was home in the stirrup, so this gave my knee a dreadful wrench. I almost fainted from pain.” But John had to continue on his way, so his casual acquaintance led him to an antheap, brought the horse alongside and helped him up. After that John dismounted only once at a mission station and had to be hoisted back into the saddle. At the next stop he had to be lifted from the horse and rest for almost a week to allow the knee to heal. This excitement all takes place after 1850 when copper lured men into the little-known Bushmanland and Namaqualand areas, fraught with hazard and hardship. Tony Grogan’s illustrations bring the tales to life.
EXCITING CONFERENCE IN THE PIPELINE
The Karoo Development Foundation (KDF) plans to hold a major development conference and trade fair in Graaff-Reinet next year. Scheduled for March 25 to 27, its theme will be: ‘Open Spaces, Dynamic Places.” The aim is to encourage top-level discussions on ways of improving agriculture, business and the economy. The conference will also focus on tourism and ways of using cultural heritage, the region’s unique geology, ecology, archaeology and palaeontology to increase its potential. A database of entrepreneurs will be launched at the conference, which will provide a platform for networking, showcasing new businesses, highlighting economic trends and investments opportunities. A call has been issued for papers. “Academics, researchers, NGOs and business people should submit proposals soonest,” says Professor Doreen Atkinson, driving force behind the conference and KDF. “Potential exhibitors should also contact us now.” The programme will include talks on re-thinking agriculture, building and strengthening old, tried and trusted farming methods, as well as investment in new scientific developments. Ways of broadening the Karoo’s business base by sustainably linking the economy and ecology, the need to overcome inter-provincial fragmentation and the building of human, cultural and social capital for future development will also be discussed.
WHAT’S IN A NAME – MORE THAN YOU THINK!
The focus will be on names in July next year. The 15th Names Congress, a five-day event, hosted by the Names Society of Southern Africa (NSA) and Centre for African Names Research (CANR), will be held at Howard College at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg from July 7 to 11. It will include follow-up sessions on the toponymical congresses recently held in Ballarat, Australia and Karasjohka, Norway. This year’s congress will also include Trends in Toponymy and this will run parallel to the main congress. Conference organisers are now inviting papers on any onomastic or general toponymical subjects. These may cover place names and identity; minority-language place names, as well as multilingual and multicultural contexts of place names. Papers must be submitted to The Conference Secretariat
Future generations will look back on TV as the lead in the water pipes that slowly drove the Romans mad.
Kurt Vonnegut, jnr. He dropped out of Cornell University to serve in WWII, was captured by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, and survived the Allied fire bombing of Dresden in 1945 – the experience served as the inspiration for “Slaughterhouse Five,” a novel he wrote nearly 25 years later.
