THE NATAL SOCIETY OFFICE BEARERS, 1981 - 1982

President Cr Miss P.A Reid Vice-Presidents M.J.C.Daly AC. Mitchdl Or J. Clark S.N. Roberts

Trustees A.C. Mitchell Or R.E. Stevenson M.J.C.Daly

Treasurers Messrs Dix, Boyes & Co. Auditors Messrs Thornton-Dibb, van der Leeuw & Partners

Chief Librarian Mrs S.S. Wallis

Secretary P.c.G. McKenzie

COUNCIL

Elected Members Cr Miss P.A. Reid (Chairman) S.N. Roberts (Vice-Chairman) Or F. C. Friedlander R.Owen W. G. Anderson F.J.H. Martin, MEC A.D.S. Rose R.S. Steyn M.J.C.Daly Prof. AM. Barrett

City Council Representatives Cr H. Lundie Cr W.J.A Gilson Cr R.J. Glaister

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE OF NATALIA

Editor T.B. Frost W.H. Bizley M.H. Comrie J.M. Deane Or W.R. Guest Ms M.P. Moberly Mrs S.P .M. Spencer Miss J. Farrer (Hon. Sec.)

Natalia 12 (1982) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2010 Cover Picture Monks processing in the imposing cloisters of Mariannhill Monastery, about 1908.

Photograph.· Father L.A. Mettler, C.M.M.

SA ISSN 0085 3674

Printed by Kendall & Strachan (Ply) Ltd., Pielermarilzburg Contents Page EDITORIAL 5

UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT Roadside Memories: the Reminiscences of A.E. Smith of ThornviJIe ...... 7

ARTICLE Colonial Coalopolis: The Establishment and Growth of Dundee Sheila Henderson ...... 14

ARTICLE In Search of Mr Botha: An investigation into a Natal place name Robin W. Lamp/ollgh ...... 27

ARTICLE The 1882 Norwegian Emigration to Natal Frederick Hale ...... 35

ARTICLE The Umsindusi: A 'Third Rate Stream"? Trevor Wills ...... 45

ARTICLE Mariannhill Centenary: A look at the Early Years Joy B. Brain ...... 58

OBITUARIES Mr H.S. Msimang ...... 71 Prof. K. Nathanson ...... 73 Prof. E.M. Burchell ...... 76

NOTES AND QUERIES J. M. Deane ...... 79

BOOK REVIEWS & NOTICES ...... 89

NOTES ON RECENT PUBLICATIONS S. P. M. Spencer ...... 98

SELECT LIST OF RECENT NATAL PUBLICATIONS 1. Farrer ...... 99

REGISTER OF RESEARCH ON NATAL 1. Farrer ...... 100

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS T.B. Frost ...... 103 OUR NEXT ISSUE We hope to publish several articles on the life and work of Bishop John William Colenso to mark the centenary of his death. 5

Editorial

The prospect of sitting down in cold blood to write an Editorial for a journal which appears only annually is a daunting one. Denunciations of the follies of the powers-that-be in the manner of the newspaper editorial are not appropriate here; nor are lengthy sermons on such cliched topics as the evils of pollution or the need for conservation of both physical environment and historical heritage likely to be well received by readers who, by their very choice of reading material, are assuredly converted anyway. So this Editor, at any rate, has decided not to editorialise, and to aspire no higher than a letter of introduction to Natalia 12. During the past year the Editorial Board has welcomed to its ranks Mr Moray Comrie who replaced Mr W.H. (Bill) Bizley, away on sabbatical leave overseas. When Mr Bizley returns in 1983, our other Bill, Dr W. R. Guest will be off to enjoy his sabbatical. Mr J.M. Deane has' taken over responsibility for the Notes and Queries section from Ms Margery Moberly who was a perceptive note-maker and raiser of queries for a number of years. Two past issues of Natalia, Nos. 1 and 8, have been out of print for some while. (Even the Editor did not possess a copy of No. 1!) It is therefore pleasing to be able to announce that No. 1 has been reprinted and is again available. No. 8, however, remains increasingly valuable Africana. In recent issues Natalia has marked the centenaries of the Anglo-Zulu and first Anglo-Boer Wars. 1982 has seen centenaries of events more significant in peace than war - Norwegian immigration to Natal, the foundation of the monastery at Mariannhill, and the establishment of Dundee as a township. We are grateful to Dr Frederick Hale of Oslo University (yes, Natalia is known beyond the confines of Maritzburg!) and Dr Joy Brain of the University of Durban-Westville for drawing our attention to the former two events and offering to write articles on them. Our thanks go also to Mrs Sheila Henderson for her very full picture of late Victorian and Edwardian Dundee. Our old friend, Frank Emery of St Peter's College, Oxford, offered us, as our 'previously unpublished piece', a recently discovered letter from Neville Coghill, written shortly before he lost his life at Isandhlwana. This raised the question of the amount of coverage given by Natalia to wars in general and the Anglo-Zulu War in particular. It was decided by the Editorial Board, as a matter of policy, to leave matters military to the specialist military journals, at least for the time being. (We won't pre-judge our response to the centenary of the second Anglo-Boer War, due seventeen years hence!). Thus, turning swords into ploughshares, we offer in print for the first time an extract from the 'Roadside Memories' of A.E. Smith of Thornville, a typescript in the Natal Archives, noting wryly, however, that Smith could not but observe the soldiers of the 24th Regiment marching past. 6

Trevor Wills, writing from the distant vantage point of Ottawa where he is temporarily resident, offers a fascinating and to many, perhaps, nostalgic look at the Umsindusi. Robin Lamplough's enquiry into the origins of the name 'Botha's Hill' arose from a local history assignment he conducted with a Standard Five class at Kearsney College, which started off as an attempt to compile a history of Botha's Hill. It is a project which reflects considerable credit on pupils, teacher and school. To all these writers, as well as those who contributed obituaries or book reviews, notes or queries, we express our thanks. May our readers receive as much pleasure in perusing this edition of Natalia as the Editorial Board has had in compiling it. T.B. FROST 7

Roadside Memories: the Reminiscences of A. E. Smith of Thornville EDITORIAL NOTE

Alfred Edwin Smith (born 1866) was the eldest child of John Smith (c.1826-1893), formerly of Normanby, Yorkshire, and his wife Eliza Ford (c.1840-1921), the daughter of Edward Ford, a blacksmith of Pietermaritzburg, formerly of Warblington, near Emsworth, Hampshire. John Smith was a cousin of Mrs Mary Boast. widow of Henry Boast, the originator of the scheme which in 1850 brought to Natal those Yorkshire immigrants who settled in the area now known as York. Alfred states that his father came to Natal in the early 1860s with ample capital, supplied by himself and a syndicate, 'plus a complete outfit' of the most modern farming implements. In his early days in Natal he acted as agent for 'a machine and implement-making establishment' in England. A cousin of Alfred's on his mother's side, Myrtle Foss, wrote that John Smith had been a wealthy man when he emigrated to Natal to farm, but through inexperience, lost nearly all his capital. Thvrnville Park was the name of his farm. It was formed of a consolidation of emigrant allotments on the farm Vaalkop and Dadelfvntein, outside Pietermaritzburg. As a settler location the area had proved a failure, being in low rainfall thorn country, with most allotments far removed from any source of water. Thornville, the village laid out for the settlers, had been sited on an outcrop of shale, and apart from a canteen and a house or two, existed more on paper than in reality. The area took its name from the village, and early in his manuscript Alfred discusses the relation between the original Thornville. and Thornville Junction some six or seven miles away. Thornville Junction came into being when the branch line to Richmond was constructed. Smith points out that there is hardly a thorn tree anywhere at the Junction. The only excuse he can think of for the inappropriate name was that the canteen at Thornville, 'being the nearest point at which liquor could be obtained. was the regular Saturday afternoon rendezvous of the Mauritian navvies who were employed on railway construction work' at the time. John Smith and his family remained at Thvrnville Park until at least the early ISROs. They afterwards went to Pretoria, where he and his wife both died. Alfred trekked to Barberton in the early 1880s, but by 1R8R was back at Thornville, farming at Normanby. He later lived in the Transvaal once more, and at the time of writing this manuscript (which is undated), was resident in Bloemfontein. SHELAGH SPENCER

... Let us get back to the main artery of the colony's economic existence, - the road that ran through the heart of Natal from Durban to the regions known as "up-country", bifurcating at Ladysmith to serve the Free State over Van Reenen's Pass on the one side and over Laing's Nek to reach the Transvaal on the other. To those of us youngsters who attended school, when such an institution happened to be located at the roadside, or who lived in its immediate vicinity, the traffic that passed to and fro was a 8 Roadside Memories constant source of interest, and where lessons were concerned, of distraction. The procession of wagons and their spans of sixteen was a never ending one. In twos and threes, a sign of single ownership, up to a train of a dozen or more where the drivers had moved off together or caught up to each other on the road, these wagons would pass with their loads of miscellaneous merchandise weighing from 60 to 70 cwts - sometimes a good deal more if the load happened to be a heavy piece of machinery. They headed for destinations very often hundreds of miles away and taking a month or more to reach, the time depending on the state of the weather, the roads and the rivers, or perhaps the vicinity of the nearest blacksmith's shop where repairs could be effected, and where a broken axle or disselboom could be replaced. The state of the rivers was perhaps the greatest cause of anxiety; hence the cardinal rule in the transport driver's code: Always outspan on the other side when coming to a drift. The drift might be perfectly safe when the wagons arrived at the banks of a river or spruit but there was no telling but what a spate of water or a flood might come down in the rainy season from a source far removed from the outspan and if the rain persisted the wagons might be held up a week or more until such time as gauging the water with a stick indicated that a crossing was feasible. More often the loads for up-country were of a very miscellaneous nature, in keeping with the varied nature of the stocks to be found in the general stores that served the inland areas and where anything from a needle to an anchor could be obtained. These goods were packed in an assortment of containers as varied in shape and nature as the contents, so the loading of the wagon called for much skill and delicate adjustment and a plentiful supply of ropes and riems to keep the components of the load from falling off or getting damaged. Then of course a bucksail was a very essential part of the wagon's equipment for keeping the load dry during the frequent rain storms that had to be faced; hence greasing the sail to make it waterproof and to see that it was kept in good condition was one of the most important tasks that the transport rider had to attend to. It was not very often that a load suffered damage from rain but a sail was no protection if the waters of a swollen river reached the bedplank and soaked the lower layers of the load. In such cases there would most likely be a bill for damages to pay and that would take all the profits out of the trip, especially should the load have consisted partly of such commodities as flour and sugar. Should a load have been damaged either during the crossing of a swollen river or because of the use of a defective sail that had failed to be proof against a heavy storm of wind and rain, eviden~e of the fact would often bc afforded by the sight of a whole load of goods spread out on the roadside to dry. If it was a case of a saturated consignment of sugar the best that could be hoped for was that the consignee would not notice the diminished state of contents in the bags. If it was flour other measures could be resorted to to make the bags look as if nothing had happened. Water, as long as there is not too much of it, will not penetrate very far into a bag of flour. That in contact with the inside of the bag cakes, forming a thin waterproof layer that protects the rest of the contents. However, damages would have to be paid if bags of flour with a plank-like covering were presented for delivery, so the task was to restore the external appearance of those bags to their original pristine softness. So if the passer-by on the road side was confronted with a scene in which all Roadside Memories 9 hands belonging to the outfit were busily engaged in pounding the surfaces of white objects spread on the ground with the flat side of yokes or if he happened to be a transport rider himself he would know what was happening. If the wet layer of flour was allowed to become thoroughly dry first the pounding it received restored it to its velvety softness and if there was anything wrong with the contents of those bags it was for the grocer or baker to find out. Having signed his consignment notes undertaking delivery in good order and condition, the transport rider or kurveyer, as he was often called, was held strictly responsible for all losses and damage however slight, there was no "Act of God" about it. Tales of mishaps and adventures on the road, of dodges and shifts, that had to be resorted to, of difficulties and dangers overcome by the fraternity of transport riders were legion; one had only to listen to the yarns and experiences when these were swopped at any time, when these men of the road met each other at the outspans, or more probably at the roadside canteen, to realise that transport riding, however slow and leisurely its movement, could nevertheless be crammed with incident and excitement and why its urge was so strong among all classes of men. While the majority came from the farms other ranks and professions furnished their quota, including men from abroad who had come to try their fortunes in this land who, attracted by the open life and freedom of the road, took up transport riding. They were well educated and refined men, some of them - onc could always tell these overseas entrants to the game by the way they handled a double handed whip. One has to start early in life to give that artistic touch to a twenty foot lash that denotes the expert able to give the lightest touches or the heaviest of swipes just where wanted and who make the echoes ring with the resounding cracks of the "voorslag". Among the most noted of these experts was a well known Maritzburg citizen, familiarly known as Bill Leathern, whose fame as a handler of the whip was as wide as the subcontinent itself. He was credited with being able to flick the neck off a bottle or send a shilling flying off the ground with the point of the lash. There were lions to be encountered in the days when Mr Leathern was on the road and to the end of his days he bore the marks of a mauling received in an encounter with one of these kings of the veld. In the days when the up-country conveyance of goods was the main feature of the traffic, wagons for the most part had to return empty to the nearest loading point, the distance shortening as the point moved with the railway constructions from Durban to Maritzburg, from Maritzburg to Ladysmith and so on. What down-country traffic there was consisted chiefly of wool and hides, largely game hides. In the earlier days the multitudinous and unique four-footed fauna of the country was being decimated just for the sake of their coverings and to a certain extent for making "biltong". There being no export market for the latter it was used chiefly for local consumption, only a limited quantity finding its way towards the coast where the chief buyers were the transport riders themselves who looked upon it as a standby should provisions run short on the road. Rates on down country traffic were very low compared with those paid in respect of merchandise consigned in the opposite direction; so were the value of wool and hides, the former being of a very inferior quality with very little attempt at sorting and classification. When it was realised that some system of classification 10 Roadside Memories

resulted in higher prices, many tricks were resorted to for the purposes of making inferior wool and sometimes rubbish that was not wool of any kind, masquerade as the superior article. Ask any woolbroker who was in business in those days and he could a tale unfold, in fact he could tell of a practice that persisted long after wool ceased to come down to the coast by wagon, of "stovepipe" methods by which inferior wool was neatly packed in the centre of a bale, and even of geological specimens being used for purposes of avoirdupois. The chief drawback to these loads was their bulkiness. To make a worthwhile load, bales and skins had to be piled high on the wagon, and a topheavy load was very liable to capsize on an uneven bit of road and reloading was an awkward business. Wagon transport was by no means confined to the conveyance of trade goods. The ox-wagon, slow as it was, played a vital part in military movements and history, whether these had to do with simple change of garrisons or actual hostilities. Whether the body of troops was small or large, there was the inevitable convoy of wagons required for the purpose of conveying kit and commissariat supplies, each wagon with its guard of two privates marc!)ing behind. The wagon convoy usually trekked ahead of the column and if it was a large one it was a sign that a full regiment or several companies were on the march, and that there was a band at the head of it. The sight of the convoy or the sound of martial music, which on a clear and calm day could be heard for miles, was the signal for all and sundry, especially the native section of the community, to assemble at the village outspan, which was generally the spot where the troops bivouackcd for the night or rested during the hotter hours of the day. On resuming their march the band would strike up to the delight of an appreciative audience of the youths of the village and a heterogeneous crowd of natives of all ages and both sexes who would keep the marching column company for a mile or more. When the convoy of wagons was on the move, each with its guard, was also the occasion when farmers, whose lands abutted on the road, found it necessary to do a little guarding for Tommy's curiosity as to the nature of some of these crops, which he had never seen before, was insatiable. Slipping into a field he would loot a few mealie cobs or a pumpkin or perhaps get a sample of each and Johnny the driver - all natives were "Johnny" - would be asked "What ... these ... things were for"'? It was in wartime that the military element was most in evidence and the road became the scene of greatest attraction for the inhabitants living anywhere in the vicinity. These were the times when the convoys would stretch for a mile or more along the highway and the tramp of infantry could be heard as well as the clop of cavalry and the rumble of artillery, especially on their way to the scene of action in the North. Many a famous regiment took part in this cavalcade. Some had been hastily summoned from service in other parts of the Empire, others from the parade grounds in Great Britain. M y most vivid recollection is of the 24th Regiment of Infantry. Bronzed and bearded they were, men fresh from active service in quelling one of those interminable conflicts between whites and natives in the Transkeian territories. How full of confidence these men were as to the outcome of the coming conflict with Cetywayo's impis. The reason for this confidence was Roadside Memories 11 the demonstration they had had of the superiority of the Martini-Henry rifle, which had only been recently issued, over the falling block Snider, and which they had used for the first time in the Transkei. One man was pointed out who had bowled over a native warrior at a distance of 1 100 yards, which was considered a marvel of long distance shooting and accuracy. What "chance" they askcd had any native warrior, however bold and numerous, against a weapon that would start mowing them down long before thcy got within assegai range? Yet the irony of fate decreed that this crack regiment of the British army should be all but annihilated on that fateful day, January 22nd, 1879, at Isandhlwana. Although, because someone had blundered, the new rifle was unable to accomplish at Isandhlwana what was so confidently expected of it, there is little doubt that the small company of men belonging to the same regiment who so heroically held Rorke's Drift against the Zulu hordes had largely to thank the new weapon for the execution it caused and its effect on the enemy. It was the cavalry regiments that excited the most attention and interest, especially among the natives. The beautiful mounts, the like of which in such numbers had never been seen before, made the local nags look sorry specimens in comparison. Yet it generally happened that it was these same nags that had to be resorted to in order to finish a war. However, it was appearance that appealed in this case and no more picturesque sight was afforded on these occasions than a regiment of cavalry on the march, the magnificent horses, and the striking uniforms of the men in orderly procession, half a mile long, being most impressive as well as picturesque. I still call to mind the sight of the 17th Lancers (Death or Glory Boys) defiling through the drift at the M'Pushini as the sun shone on the gleaming steel of the spearheads of their lances and the pennants at the spearheads fluttering in the breeze. Needless to say the sight of the Lancers made a great impression on the native mind, the lances being regarded no doubt as nothing less than a modification of their own favourite weapon, the assegai, greatly improved because of its greater length, but above all appealing to them on account of the gaily coloured piece of bunting that fluttered at the end. One saw the result when the Native Contingents were formed to take part in the hostilities against the Zulus. I was in Maritzburg one day as a mounted contingent rode down Church Street on its way to the front. They were armed with the traditional weapons, the throwing and stabbing assegai. The use and management of a lance being unfamiliar to them a large number had compromised by tying a piece of coloured rag to the correspondil1g position on the regular lance, the decorated weapon being carried in approved lancer fashion. This form of flattery was no doubt quite sincere but a compliment which the Lancers could hardly appreciate because of the burlesque appearance these decorated assegais presented. The more so when side by side with the lancer members of the contingent, other of the mounted warriors carried gaily coloured umbrellas to safeguard their complexions. Dressed in that motley garb characteristic of the native, the whole tout ensemble was anything but a martial one. One form of traffic was the daily and perennial interest provided by the coming and going of the passenger buses and postcarts carrying Her Majesty's mails. Thornville was the first and the last of the stopping places or stages on the Maritzburg to Durban route, where the teams of horses 12 Roadside Memories were changed and passengers were given a chance of stretching their cramped legs and trying to get a little refreshment. There was little opportunity of doing either where postcart passengers were concerned. The postal service was scheduled to be done in six hours from the starting points, which were left at noon, and so there was no time to waste. The fresh team of four and sometimes six horses stood ready harnessed at the stopping place in front of the hotel where the changes were made, to be hitched on as soon as the old team of horses with sweating bodies and heaving flanks were unhitched. The customary shout "All aboard" was given by the driver; the passengers climbed up into the two wheeled conveyance with its limited seating for five persons. If the mails were heavy, as on the occasions when the English mail came into port, passengers often had to seat themselves precariously on top of the mail matter. Then with a swish of the whip the postcart went off on its next eight or ten mile gallop to the next stage. Unless the roads were very bad during spells of very wet weather, the whole distance was done at a gallop, the only pause for more than a few minutes being at "Half Way H-ouse" for more solid refreshment than there was time for at the other stops. The passenger buses followed the same procedure more or less but having ten hours or so in which to do the trip leaving town much earlier in the day, their progress was a little more leisurely. Passengers generally, the full complement of ten or twelve which the buses could seat, had a little more time in which to stretch their limbs and have a little refreshment, both being needed badly by the time the journey was finished. There were at one time two firms engaged in the bus and postcart business, l.W. Welch and Thomas Murray. The postcart would alternate between the two firms, according to which put in the lowest tender. At one time a rate war developed in respect of the bus service. One firm announced a reduction in the customary fare of 21/- to 17/6d. I think it was the rival firm countered with 15/- the response to which was the offer to carry passengers at 10/- till at last, when it came to a threat to convey passengers for nothing at all and a free lunch thrown in, wiser counsels prevailed. The firms reached an agreement which stabilised fares at the original rate and as the "War" only lasted about a week the travelling public did not get much benefit from it. It is remarkable that during all the period from the time when the bus services were inaugurated and the postcart took the place of the native runners who carried the mails between Durban and Maritzburg, until the day when both services were relegated to the limbo of the past by the railway. so few accidents occurred to either buses or carts. This is all the more remarkable in view of the heavy wagon and other traffic which was constantly on the move. This was due to the skilful handling of the reins by the drivers, some of whom were Cape Coloureds who seem to have a flair for handling the ribbons. Their skill was all the more manifest in that they had not only to manage the reins to a team of hard-mouthed hor!!es, but to double handle the whip as well with a sjambok in reserve for the benefit of the "wheelers". White men were equally good at the game. It was all a matter of training and long practice. lohnny and lim Welch, sons of the founder of the firm, were outstandingly good drivers. Another man with a Scottish name but of mixed descent, whose special job was to drive the post cart was regarded with fear and dislike by ~ll the wagon drivers on the road. Roadside Memories 13

If some dilatory individual had not responded quickly enough to the warning call of the hugle to make room for the cart to pass, he would ae reminded of his remissness hy a flick of the whip as the cart sailed by. An indispensable adjunct to the safety of the buses and postcarts was the hugle which every driver was an expert at blowing. The bugle calL which could be heard half a milc away. not only gave the signal to the change boys to have the new team ready at the stopping places, but was used as a warning to all and sundry travelling on the road to get out of the way - a very necessary precaution where wagons were concerned. When in their stride on the road, ox teams generally went leaderless as they tramped leisurely in the middle of the road with both driver and '"voorlooper" seated comfortably at the front of the wagon. But there was a quick change over the scene when the sound of a hugle was heard in the distance. more especially when it was known that it was the postcart that was coming along. The "voorlooper" would make a rush for the "touw"; the driver would leap down with his whip in order to get the team to the side of the road to enable the bus or cart to pass. Awkward occasions were when a wagon had stuck fast in the middle of the road with the team stretched diagonally across and perhaps another team standing by waiting to he hooked on to the one in difficulties. This immunity from accidents was not only attributable to skilful driving and close attention in seeing that the vehicles and harness were kept in good repair, but to the fact that dangerous drifts were few and far between. This was because the road for the most part traversed the ridge that divided the catchment areas which fed the rivers on either side, the road chosen by the Voortrekkers with their unerring instinct for choosing the most practicable route for their wagons. The most dangerous of the drifts was that on the M'Pushini in the seasons of floods. Being at the confluence of two streams, it was simply impassable after a heavy storm. But except on those rare occasions when heavy rains persisted for a week or a fortnight, the floods soon subsided and it was rarely that bus or postcart with their high wheels was held up for more than an hour or two. 14

Colonial Coalopolis The Establishment and Growth of Dundee The genesis of a small mining community in the 1880s in the heart of the pastoral paradise of Buffalo and Biggarsberg was a phenomenon of the Victorian Colony of Natal. The founding of the cosmopolitan township of Dundee gave a new dimension to the remote frontier. By juxtaposing highly professional British stock, tied by deep-rooted loyalties to the Empire of the Great White Queen, cheek by jowl with the rugged Republican Boer veterans of Blood River, it produced a political dichotomy in the colony. The swift growth of its prime industry, coal, gave the town an influence out of proportion to its size. By 1910 Dundee could call itself "Coalopolis" and the "Capital of the North".

Empty Triangle Major Grantham's map of Natal in 1864 shows the great empty triangle north of the Tugela River to Amajuba, bounded on the West by the Drakensberg escarpment and on the east by the Buffalo River, as the Klip River County. The meticulous cartographer marked only the tiny villages of Ladysmith, Newcastle and Helpmekaar. The great plateau and plains were empty of all but the names of farmers and traders living by the strategic river drifts, or prominent ivory hunters, or tradesmen offering a vital service. Between 1865 and 1875 the Umsinga magistracy to the east, manned by the second of a great Natal pioneer family, Henry Francis Fynn, in a tiny stone building on the Enhlahleni slopes looking down the Sandspruit valley to towering Umsinga mountain, was the frontier's sole link with law and order. Our first account of the vale where Victorian Dundee was to grow comes in the records of the famous Wenkommando of 1838. Two years later Commandant Andries Pretorius, heading the Beeskommando, led his men back to the area. The chronicles of an imperious French naturalist Adulphe Delegorgue, recorded the strong river (die Sterkstroom) flowing northwards to the Buffalo and its tributary flowing down from a high mountain in the east, where they found coal, and made fires on the banks of the river where they camped (die Steenkoolstroom) . The promise of. the empty triangle north of the Tugela River was great. Well-watered and well-timbered it offered prime grazing and a climate much healthier for cattle, sheep and horses than the lowlands of the coastal plain. Land was to be had for the taking, game was plentiful and for hunters like the Vermaaks, the trails led direct to the great elephant grounds of Zululand, Swaziland, Maputoland and Matabeleland. Colonial Coalopolis 15

The triangle of No Mans Land as it was commonly known, was indeed a crossroads. Whilst this geographical factor was in time to prove an asset in the economic development of the region, in its formative years, it proved a curse, putting the area at the mercy of marauding groups of Basuto and Swazi buccaneers or making it the dumping ground of African refugees. From the moment of their settlement in 1843, for the Biggarsberg and Buffalo Boers the next thirty years were a period of sporadic turmoil. In the thirty years following that, (1873-1903), this restless frontier was to be the cockpit of war.

New Settlers This wild land attracted other men from wild places. As the clans of Moodie and Murray so amply prove, the Gaels and Celts easily assimilate with the Boer. Physically they too felt at home in the mist-clad Biggarsberg. Two middle-aged 1850 settlers, hillmen and doctors trained at Edinburgh, Prideaux Selby of Alnwick and John Sutcliffe Robson of Hawick had settled in the mountains east and west of the Sterkstroom. Many people of British farming stock moved into the area between 1850 and 1870. The Sterkstroom valley attracted a Scot and a Cornishman. In 1860 a farmer's son and an ex-Ballarat golddigger, Thomas Paterson Smith, put the name of his native town Dundee on the map when he took over from Gerrit Gerhardus Dekker of "Dumain" the lease of over 3 041 acres of land on the eastern side of the valley running down the summit of Talana hill across the Steenkoolstroom towards the Sterkstroom and Impati Mountain. A builder by trade, Tom found good clay in the river flats. Burning his own bricks, he built a two-roomed thatched butt and ben in the shelter of Talana. Four years later he was joined by his younger brother Peter, who brought his wife Ann and three children to join their bachelor brother and uncle. Peter's farming venture near Ladysmith had been hit by drought, disease and the current collapse of markets in Natal. The brothers set about restoring their fortunes, Tom developing his brick-making and building skills, Peter farming and exploiting a seam of good quality coal which he found a few hundred yards north of the cottage on the slope of Talana Hill. The Cornishman was Edward Jasper Howe Pascoe. Born in Penzance, Cornwall in 1839, Pascoe came of roving stock and followed the family tradition, though he could scarcely have got further from the sea-girt land of his birth than the drought-stricken Klip River County of the late 1860s. On 6th January 1861 Melmoth Osborn the A.R.M. of Klip River County in Ladysmith signed the receipt for the payment of £3.3.8d sterling, quitrent payable for the farm "Coalfield" granted to G.G. Dekker for the year ended December 1861. This grant and the name attached to it would make it clear that there was already knowledge of local coal deposits and would imply that such deposits were being worked. Ten years later E.J. Howe Pascoe became the owner of "Coalfield". On the 1st June he married Mary Aire Ritchie, the daughter of a well-to-do brewer in Edinburgh, in St. Peter's Church in Pietermaritzburg. Her marriage dowry was £500 sterling and it was a great help to the young people in purchasing the farm and setting up their house and their store. On "Coalfield", Howe built a pleasant thatched home and storehouse and his Mary planted bluegums and pampas grass and cultivated her wild ferns 16 Colonial Coalopolis and plants. They gave four acres for a church and with the help of Peter Smith and John Robson and the Wade brothers, the Coalburn Church, of home-baked brick and local yellowwood and thatch, was built in the year of their marriage and a cemetery for the small but growing community begun, planted to cypress. Peter Paterson and George Turner became trustees for a Methodist Chapel on "Dundee" under Talana Hill and Peter Smith set aside land for that and a family cemetery. Wagonmakers, wheelwrights and blacksmiths came to join the infant community and a Mr. Wright, seeing the need for education, opened a boarding school and gathered 40 pupils from the neighbourhood. Charles Willson, a young Londoner, arriving in 1871 "without a penny to buy a match in my pocket" set up a rival store to Pascoe at a junction where seven tracks met. Peter Smith imported Cornish miners to improve the mining and the quality of his coal. Dr. John Robson, uneasy at the Zulu rumblings along the Buffalo River, encouraged the local men to form their own volunteer Regiment, the Buffalo Border Guard (1873). The Pomeroy Gold Mining Co. and the Elandskraal Helpmekaar Syndicate (1868) busily sought the pot of gold. The Pascoe idyll in this time of bustle was brief. Howe Pascoe died of fever on the 29th July 1875, and Mary sold up their few possessions and leased her property. Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 was the making and the breaking of the little hamlet. Savagely stricken by the battle of Isandhlwana, in which four of their men died among the troopers of the Buffalo Border Guard, the scattered villagers went into laager and only began to return to "Dundee" and "Coalfield" when the vale of the Sterkstroom was chosen to be the H.Q. camp of Lord Chelmsford's Second Invasion Force. Within weeks, morale and fortune changed and the local folk rallied. In April 1879 world maps marked DUNDEE in heavy black type. Visiting war correspondents expected a sizeable town and were appalled when they could not buy notepaper or stamps in the rudimentary stores. But coal mining boomed as a bitter winter made a ready sale for it amongst the troops, and transport riders, bringing up commissariat stores from Pietermaritzburg, welcomed the chance to return with wagons laden with a saleable commodity. Social life boomed and officers enjoyed a ride out to Peter Smith's cottage, below Talana hill, to help drink the droplets from his whisky still, whilst his son-in-law Dugald Macphail, a clansman of the Duke of Argyll, thrilled fellow Highlanders with tales of his escape from Isandhlwana. The impetus thus given to the burgeoning Dundee could not be restrained - not even by the further traumas of the death of the Prince Imperial (June 1st 1879) nor a second war and disastrous defeat (Amajuba, February 1881). Local men turned from war after the victory of Ulundi (July 1879) and hurried to build their fortunes. Establishing a Township Dundee was unique in that it was the product of free enterprise. Whereas Ladysmith and Newcastle had been established by government as administrative centres for the control of a remote yet vital frontier, the coal Colonial Coalopolis 17

Mary Aire Pascoe (born Ritchic), later the wife of Hon. Gcorge Sulton and owner of Coalfield. (Photograph : Dundee Museum) town was fired by the steam of its own economic potential, now recognised by leading men in the legislative and commercial capitals of the colony, Pietermaritzburg and Durban. By 1881 the race was on to establish a township and the major rivals for first place were the owners of the farms "Dundee" and "Coalfield". Early in that year Mary Aire Pascoe married after four years of widowhood. Her second husband was 47 year old George Morris Sutton who had settled at Howick in 1872 after some years of adventure in the United States. He had rapidly become a force in Natal colonial affairs, being elected to the Legislative Council in 1875 . In 1882 he was to become an Executive Council Member. Mary could look to realising her assets well with help in high places and Sutton quickly recognised their value. In March 1881 he was up with his friend from the Dargle, Fannin the surveyor, discussing with Frederick Still, the lessor of the store, the planning of a township on "Coalfield", deciding the site of the main road, the streets, the market square, public places and a commonage. 900 acres, 2 roods and 6 perches of land would be set aside for the township of which 420 acres, 2 roods and 6 18 Colonial Coalopolis

perches would be for the above public and open spaces. Still understood from the on-site discussion that his hotel would be in the heart of the township and it was on this understanding that he signed an agreement on 26th August 1882 to accept five erven which would include Still's house and stable, his hotel and stable, his store and woolshed and a row of W.Cs. Fannin's surrey was a neat geometrical grid with each street duly given a family name ("Sutton" "Fannin" "Morris" "Aire" etc) , the domestic erven a full acre each and the commercial erven along the main road half an acre each. The plan and deeds of transfer were printed, under the name of "DUNDEE TOWNSHIP COALFIELDS". As Tommy Dodds, a local "character" with a sense of humour, told the story in the "Courier" fifty two years later (1924) (when the town belatedly celebrated its Golden Jubilee) the Smith family was stung by this pre­ empting of its family name "Dundee" . Moreover the Smith protege , Charles Willson , was determined that his store should be the heart of the future town. Peter Smith with the concurrence of his son William Craighead Smith and son-in-law Dugald Macphail set aside I 000 acres of land fronting on the Steenkool river. The Ladysmith surveyor George Tatham did a hasty survey and laid out a grid of streets. This second township was pointedly named "DUNDEE PROPER". A quick sale of erven was a great success. Sutton's township did not flourish and when Frederick Still in 1887 bought out his interests, Still complained that his hotel was now on the outskirts of the settlement. The heart of Dundee was where Willson's store stood

Coalfield store and/or home, 1905. (Photograph: Dundee Museum) Colonial Coalopolis 19 opposite the Market Square and the Town offices at the crossroads of Victoria and Willson Street. Thereafter growth was phenomenal. When Mrs Peter Smith opened the Dundee Public Hall on 24th April 1885 papers in the foundation stone revealed that "Dundee Proper" could boast 91 inhabitants, 25 solid new buildings and twelve flourishing businesses.

Coal Mining Coal was the key to Dundee's fortunes and it was about 1885 that the local interests which had been mining since the 1870s, went public. The Dundee Coal Co. (on occasion named the Durban-Dundee Coal Co.) had as its first chairman Sir Benjamin Greenacre and was backed by the Durban shipping magnates, King and Sons. Importing a brilliant Scottish mining engineer, Wiliiam Maconochie, to spur on development, absorbing the Sutton coal interests on "Coalfield", building its own railway line from Glencoe to Talana to the Buffalo River, the Dundee Coal Co. by 1891 was supplying four-fifths of the total output of the Natal mines (97 387 tons) and the Co~missioner of Mines in his Departmental report could refer to its steady rise in production and its sure markets. Its headgear at the bottom of Boundary Road on the banks of the Steenkool river and its thirteen shafts under Little Talana Hill (Lennox) dominated the valley. The company locomotives busily steaming through the village, which was rapidly expanding south and west into the Crown land known as "Dundee Extension" and onto land set aside by Dugald Macphail, underlined its dependence on mining success. Proving good deposits in 1892 and 1897, the Dundee Coal Co. expanded dramatically. The local man who was indefatigable in his promotion of Dundee in its early days was Charles Willson. "Again and again (post 1879) he travelled by post-cart to the city to plead the case for Dundee" battling opposition from the Colonial Government, from the shipping companies and the Natal Government Railways. Homely Peter Smith, the "Father of Dundee", and his kindly Ann, sitting on the flagged verandah of their simple cottage in 1899, looking down on the bustling mines and village, beheld a miracle. An endless trail of wagons moving in and out of the town square transporting mining equipment, coal, lime, copper, asbestos, lead and silver and gold marked the upsurge of interest in a Zululand Eldorado and the growth of satellite coal mining villages. The Governor of Natal had called on them on his way to meet the claim holders. Victoria Street, the main street, was wide enough to turn a wagon and a span of sixteen oxen. Profits on coal and other trade were rising an average 25% per annum and the population was almost doubling itself annually. The drab wood and iron prefabricated shops and cottages of the start were being replaced by stylish buildings built in the fine local face­ brick and the lovely golden sandstone. Stone Town Offices on the Market Square, an elegantly furnished Magistrate's Court and Gaol, an imposing double-storied Post Office, and charming Presbyterian and Methodist Churches were solid proof of the permanence of the settlement. Ryley's great mill and agricultural machinery depot, Oldacres' stylish emporium with its wrought-iron pillars and mahogany fittings and the Victoria Hotel 20 Colonial Coalopolis with its quality table silver were symbols of Dundee's commercial pre­ eminence. St. lames's Church, the new Masonic Hall in Gladstone Street, the Talana Hall in Ladysmith Road and the Dominican Convent in Ann Street added further tone. Facing old Peter across the vale on the slopes of vast Impati Mountain his dynasty lived in style, his son William Craighead in "Balgray", a splendid stone mansion built in 1894 and marked by a great palm avenue. Southward along the same slopes stood "Craigside" house, the lovely home of the irrepressible Dugald Macphail, his son-in-law. Each family had its own private mine and on the profits could live as mining magnates should. Anglo-Boer War Dundee mining magnates proved a powerful political lobby. In 1899, as the threat of invasion from the Boer Transvaal grew, against the better judgment of military advisers, the decision was taken to defend Dundee and the coal mines. Lt. Gen. Penn-Symons, in command of the 4500 men camped there on Ryley's Hill, had sentimental links with the town. Twenty years before he had spent several weeks in camp at Fort Jones with the despondent remnants of the ill-fated 24th Regiment. His gallantry did not save the town. Directing the assault against General Lukas Meyer's commandos stationed on the summit of Talana Hill on the misty morning of October 20th, (the first battle of the Anglo-Boer War), he was fatally wounded. Though the hill was taken by his successor, General Yule, the British situation was untenable and the town had to be abandoned. Wives and children had already been hastily evacuated by train on the 18th and 19th. Then imperturbable dignified Francis Birkett, the Town Clerk, in top hat and frock coat, had ridden through the town, knocking on doors, enforcing the order to pack and go, despite protests about bread still baking in the oven. The Boer occupation of Dundee lasted eight months. Many prominent men escaped, like Charles Willson and Francis Birkett, and trudged with Yule's withdrawing troops through the slush of flooded tracks to Ladysmith. where they endured the rigours of the siege. Craighead Smith, the heir to "Balgray", was amongst them - he died there. The Dundee Coal Co. manager stumbled in barefoot - his boots had disintegrated in the march. It was a bleak time in Dundee. A few civilians remained to protect their interests. the Rev. Bailey of St. lames's Church and the Rev. Norenius of the Betania Mission to care for the abandoned British wounded, Oldacre to try to save his store stocks and young Norman. the clerk at Ryley's Mill, to control, if he could, Boer demands for horse fodder. Some bewildered refugees from the Transvaal wandered in unwittingly from Glencoe and had perforce to stay there. Young Denys Reitz observed with contempt the orgy of drinking and looting whieh his comrades-in-arms indulged in. a providential orgy for the men of Dundee, trudging desperately towards Ladysmith. Within days the mines ground to a standstill and as General Lukas Meyer's commandos rode out to join Commandant-General loubert at his H.Q. on the Modderspruit. a silence fell on the battered little town. They buried the fallen on Talana, at St. lames's and at Betania; then they buried the Rev. Bailey himself, dead from enteric, his young widow cradling her orphaned two-month-old son in her arms. The handful of townsfolk Colonial Coalopolis 21 grew dejected as siege news filtered through; the Boer guards in the town celebrated the victories of Colenso and Spioenkop. Hope for besieged Ladysmith and their own future dwindled; they were hungry and many were ill. The electrifying news of the Relief of Ladysmith got through by native runner on the 2nd March 1900 and the Dutidonians dared a few cheers and chaffed the Boer guards. But weeks passed and the only military activity was the heavy Boer fortification of the passes through the Biggarsberg. At the beginning of May rumours spread of an impending British attack on these positions. Oldacre and Norman scrambled to the shoulder of the Indumeni and watched General Buller's 30 000 troops fanning out from Zendoda Mountain onto the Waschbank plain. A week later from their stores on the opposite side of Victoria Street the two men watched winded Boer horses and smoke-begrimed commandos clatter through and disappear towards Glencoe. An hour later Natal Carbineers and British cavalry under the command of Lord Dundonald galloped into 'town. The relief of Dundee on May 13th 1900 began a recovery that was swift and impressive. Dundee men, haggard from the privation of the Siege of Ladysmith, r:eturned overnight and resurrecting the Town Guard under the command of Charles Willson, set about resettling the civilian population who were equally prompt to return. Repairing their shattered homes and businesses, sorting out their furniture from the jumble of broken and damaged loot in the Masonic Hall, householders were soon back to normal. On the anniversary of the Battle of Talana the leading ladies of Dundee, impeccably dressed with wide picture hats, lace mittens and parasols, laid wreaths on the military graves and looked down to the Steenkool River where the local brickfields and the mines were once more in full production.

Post-War Development Mining recovery was rapid and development was vigorous. New fields were exploited during the post-occupation boom, and these satellite mines powered a period of great economic expansion in Dundee and district in the first decade of the 20th century. This expansion is the more remarkable in that the area faced continual setbacks. In 1901-1902 threat of a second invasion by Commandant­ General Louis Botha's forces, British military disasters at Bloedrivierpoort and Scheepersnek, sabotage to railway lines and bridges and flying raids from the International Brigade at Utrecht all combined to lower morale. A specially recruited crack Natal unit, the Natal Composite Volunteer Regiment, was stationed in Dundee and the crucial line of the Bufalo-Blood River frontier was heavily garrisoned and fortified. The upheaval of the war and of industrialisation with all its social problems affected the local African population. Correspondents in the local paper spoke ominously in 1903 of the "native trouble". The local paper had been founded in 1900 after the Relief by a Mancunian Hughes (of "Manchester Guardian" connections) and a printer Teversham, but Hughes died within six months. Thereafter the "Dundee and District Courier" took on the grandiose title of "Dundee and District Courier And Northern Natal News". Under its third owner W.H. Doidge it became an 22 Colonial Coalopolis

outspoken weekly, reporting in considerable detail the vigorous provincial and municipal politics of Dundee. It was remarkably early and frank in debating the relative virtues of Federation and Union. But not everything was rosy. The Boer community, proscribed after the war, was struggling. The Bambatha Rebellion of 1906 not only disrupted farming life and depressed agriculture, but was directly responsible for the terrifying scourge of East Coast Fever spreading disastrously. The pro­ liferation of mines round Hattinghspruit bade fair to give Dundee a rival. As though to cap the calamaties, on Thursday, February 13th 1908 an explosion at Glencoe Colliery entombed 12 Europeans, including the Deputy Commissioner of Mines, and 60 Africans. "The shadow of a great catastrophe has spread its gloom not only over the community and a colony, but through the world at large", said the clergyman at the mass funeral. It was perhaps not surprising that Dundee lost heart for a while and that an irate Hon. Secretary of an AGM, prayed for something to stir "the green slime of apathy off the stagnant pools of so many Dundee clubs and societies! "

Clubs and Societies There was a plethora of such clubs and societies. The powerhouse of affairs was the Dundee and District Club, housed in new double-storied premises at

Lower Victoria Street, after 1901. The photograph shows Oldacre's Store (still standing) on the left, with Ryley's Mill and the Victoria Hotel on the right. Talana Hill, much less heavily bushed than today, is on the skyline. (Photograph: Dundee Museum) Colonial Coalopofis 23

Central Buildings in Victoria Street, where gentlemen could sit on the glassed-in-verandah with its "splendid views" and "free from the dust of the street," summon the white stewards by the "plentiful array of bellpushes" to order "tea or otherwise". Tradition has it that "otherwise" was the popular choice! The lowlier grades of society had their Institute in the old club premises in Lyle's "Enterprise Building" in Gladstone Street, where non­ alcoholic beverages were served. The liveliest societies were the Patriotic Societies, and the mining communities boasted flourishing Caledonian and Cambrian Societies and Sons of England. One old resident still recalls the Scottish Institute making the night hideous in the Talana Hall in Ladysmith Road "with the awful squealing of their pipes and their reeling from too much whisky"! Scottish concert parties often filled the Masonic Hall to capacity and on one occasion featured a formidable "Hieland Flingist"! The Masonic Hall was the centre of flourishing theatre life, where the Pieter Toerien of the day was Atwell, the talented local photographer. He brought the latest novelties to the town, Wolfram's Bioscope, an Aux-te-to­ phone recital and the Chronophone. Local families too were talented; the Labistours gave chamber concerts, Mr. J.W. Holding staged minstrel follies and musical soirees and Mr. Bert Head brought the house down with his comic songs. St. James's Dramatic Society made more serious attempts at drama and staged the first South African production of George Bernard Shaw's "The Devil's Disciple". The daring title roused some misgivings in local breasts!

Schooling Schoolchildren were well provided for in Edwardian Dundee. Excellent public schools existed. An ex-Hiltonian, Mr. Clifton M.A., conducted the first preparatory school for boys north of Cordwalles, The Talana Preparatory School. The Dominican Convent (later Holy Rosary Convent) expanded and added a second storey, St. John's School for girls in Pietermaritzburg opened a branch on the Berea, where the fashionable new suburb was opening up; nearby, Government built the Dundee Intermediate School where the Principal Mr. Gowthorpe laid the foundations of an excellent academic standard. But poverty amongst the Boer community restricted schooling for many to two or three years; moreover language barriers created further problems, although the provision of a Dutch­ speaking Inspector and of Dutch textbooks and special syllabi in 1908 began to meet their needs. Through the Betania trade school promising young Africans and Indians had a hope of education as also through the churches and missions; here they were fortunate in having excellent establishments like "Nazareth" at Elandskraal and "Maria Ratschitz" at Mlatikulu and several others. The Amakholwa villages in the district produced many good workmen and stable families. Indeed the picture grows of a compassionate society moved by the plight of vagrants of all races, the Benevolent Society and the Child Welfare 24 Colonial Coalopolis

Society working with the missions to alleviate distress. One of South Africa's first orphanages for African children was at Kalabasi near Dannhauser; the townsfolk and the farmers gave support in cash and kind to the pioneer hospitals at Betania and Pomeroy. Certainly the community was pious; the churches were many and well supported.

Building Boom The town was a quaint mixture of the affluent and the poor. Rickshas plied up and down the main street and the Victoria Hotel horse-bus collected passengers from the station. Indian hawkers jostled the genteel Victorian housewives round the market stalls. The gentry trotted into town in Baverstock's handsome spiders and covered the few bold spirits on Shimwell's bicycles in dust or mud according to the season. Village children, barefoot, bobbed a curtsey as Mr. A.A. Smith, the prominent lawyer, tossed them sweets and pennies. Herds of cows being driven to the commonage and flocks of ostriches to the saleyards impeded the traffic. The creme de la creme built double storey mansions. Some houses, like "Symonsdale" the home of Edward Ryley the Minister of Agriculture, or the mansion of Thomas Dewar of Dewar's Anthracite, faced the Talana Hill as though it were Mecca. The building boom, at its height in 1905, adorned Dundee with five residences. Harry Tatham's "Sunnyside", set in three acres, had four large reception rooms, six vast bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, a larder, a butler's pantry, a washhouse, extensive stables, a carriage house and a cowshed, all fitted with electricity and piped water. Some had libraries, smoking rooms and conservatories. All had servants. Superior families like the Brokenshas had white housekeepers, nursemaids and governesses as well as a horde of young Indians in turbans. The finish of the homes and the furnishings were good. Quality imports were the rule. Indeed the well-to-do bride like Bessie Carbutt, marrying from the Oldacre home "Stonehenge", would import her wedding trousseau from London and the home furnishings from Maples of Regent Street, complete with matching carpets, wallpaper and curtains, and the bric-a-brac of the day. Sidesaddles and ladies' riding habits with stocks and bowler hats were also imported along with the fine bloodstock which sired the hacks and thoroughbreds that raced at the Dundee Turf Club meetings. Excitement was rare and the sound of the Town Office bell and of the Electricity Co. hooter brought the brigade out in their brass helmets and crowds would rush in pursuit. On one occasion "one lady in exceeding fantastic attire and with her hair not exactly a la Grecque was most voluble in her denunciations of the wicked who raised a false alarm when people were just getting into bed." But the sinking of the "Waratah" and Halley's Comet brightened life up. There were crudities to life. The sanitary arrangements were deplorable and the night-soil removal cart doing its early morning rounds with clanking buckets was dubbed "Mrs Baasch's Light Artillery"! Presbyterians complained that visiting clergy went away with a "stinking impression" of Dundee - the manse was uncomfortably close to the sanitary dump. Mr and Mrs Harry Pybus Handley and family taken in the garden of their home in Victoria Street. He was a merchant who traded in Dundee throughout the Victorian era. (Photograph: Dundee Museum)

Future Assured As the era drew to a close Dundee's future was assured. Coal figures were re-assuring and the industry had galvanised itself in the Natal Coal Owners' Society. East Coast fever was abating, agriculture was organising itself, trade was brisk and the town was all bustle. Stores were proudly promoting "COLONIAL INDUSTRY" and a new patriotism and healing of the old political wounds in the remote frontier territory was evident, as Dundee accepted Union and the mood of the National Convention. Enviously the Grey town delegate to the N.M.A. Conference of 1910 reported: "Dundee possesses three or four times more stores and generally speaking there was much more life and activity. The streets too are well-kept and the channelling for carrying off storm water is extensively gone in for. The red flowering gum is much employed and as different varieties of trees are planted in each street the general effect is pretty." Dundee remains pretty, set in its historic vale. Its story is slowly unfolding and the relics of "Coalopolis" are gradually being rescued. Much research is being done on this multi-faceted society and much remains to be done. Much is unique - the Amakholwa communities, the Indian mining group, the pioneer missions. The human story in time will prove as enthralling as the pageantry of the great battles of the Biggarsberg and Buffalo. 26 Colonial Coalopolis

SOURCES Bird, J. Annals of Natal. Vols I & 11. Struik, Cape Town, 1965. Delegorgue, A. Voyage en Afrique Australe. Paris, 1842. Deleage, E. Trois Mois Chez Les Zoulous. Paris, 1879. Dundee Museum Records. Smith, Handley, Oldacre, du Bois, Gregory, Dekker. Pascoe Papers by courtesy Mrs Melanie Martin. Moreland's Biggarsberg Diary by courtesy Dr. John Clark. The Diary of Capt. Garden by courtesy Natal Society Library. Dundee and District Courier. Northern Natal News. The Norenius Papers by courtesy Mrs E. Perrett. The Fay Goldie letters. The Hector Baxter papers. Natal Archives Diary of Humphrey Evans Knight. Magisterial Reports 1890---1891. Natal Almanacs and Directories 1901-1910. Natal Witness. Natal Advertiser. Natal Mercury. SHEILA HENDERSON 27

In Search of Mr Botha An investigation into a Natal place-name

Standing as it does on the edge of the Valley of a Thousand Hills and some 150 metres above the surrounding countrysidc, Botha's Hill has always been a major obstacle to travellers along the old main road between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. Several of those who made the journey in the second half of the nineteenth century have left accounts of its steepness and its roughness and the slippery nature of thc track in the wet season. In spite of this early notoriety, however, there exists no satisfactory explanation of the origin of the namc. Who was Mr Botha and how did he come to leave his name on the map of Natal'? Local tradition asserts with some vehemence that the name comes from Philip Rudolph Botha, grandfather of Louis Botha, who (it is said) settled in the vicinity of the hill at some time after Blood River. This is the explanation given, too, in the Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, J in Robertson's Travellers' Guide' and by T.V. Bulpin.' The journalist Don Stayt4 goes further and asserts that P.R. Botha was granted a farm at Botha's Hill in 1839. One lone dissenter, however, is Janie Malherbe/ who says that the spot is named after Captain Cornc1is Botha, the first harbour master of Durban. Captain Botha, she avers, opened an accommodation house at Botha's HiIl after the British occupation. The existence of an accommodation house at Botha's Hill is, in fact, another strong local tradition, although a separate one from the name of the original Botha. Often the inn is referred to simply as "the old halfway house" and two sites arc commonly identified for it, both of them on the north-western or Pietermaritzburg side of the hill. One of these sites is said to have had, until fairly recently, a clearly demarcated boundary of gum trees and some ruined buildings on it. The other is near the railway siding at Alverstone. But local tradition is silent as to the name of either proprietor. When approached to quote a source for his claim, T.V. Bulpin cited a folder in the Killie CampbeIl library. Janie Malherbe's reply to the same request was a simple assertion that what she had written was true. Don Stayt referred to all the secondary sources mentioned above. A visit to the Killie Campbell library turned up one other piece of information: a hand-written addendum to the text of a radio talk delivered in 1926. 6 It gave substantiaIly the same details as those given by Janie Malherbe.' The next step was to attempt the verification of the land grant to P. R. Botha. The Natal Archives could throw no light on the matter. There was no record to be found of P.R. Botha's having been granted land by the republican authorities between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. Similarly, no record could be traced of his having registered a farm there under the British administration. None of this is, of course, conclusive evidence because it is not always possible to trace republican land grants, if indeed a 28 In Search of Mr Botha claim was ever registered. In addition to this, many Boers left Natal in the "Second Trek" of 1848 because of the delay in carrying out the promised survey of farms' and P. R. Botha may have been among their number, although his descendants farmed in the Greytown district a generation later. There is, however, one piece of positive evidence which weighs against the claim that P.R. Botha lived at Botha's Hill. The hill lies on the farm Assegay Kraal, which was registered in the name of 1.1. Potgieter in 1848.' By 1850 Potgieter's farm was so well established9 as to suggest that he had been there for some time and was probably therefore the first white settler there. A study of contemporary accounts proved more fruitful than official records. In 1849 or 1850 the Rev. James Green, on his way to Pieter­ maritzburg, "put up at an accommodation house kept by a Mr Botha, at the foot of Botha's Hill."'" The English merchant, Joseph Churchill, on a journey from Durban in January, 1851, to drum up business in the capital, recorded in his diary that he "slept the first night at Botha's Accommodation House, very fatigued with the jolting."11 Thomas Phipson, travelling down to the coast a few months later, wrote that after climbing "a high mountain or hill" he had gone "down on the other side by a steep declivity to Botha's Halfway House, about thirty-four miles from Pietermaritzburg. ,," The most valuable account, however, is that given by G.H. Mason after a journey to Pietermaritzburg in 1850. After spending the night at the German House, near Cowie's Hill, Mason and his brother walked through what was to become Pinetown, up Field's Hill (which he called "Murray's Hill") and along the road to a deserted farm by midday. The record continues: "Resuming our journey, we at length reached Botha's half-way house, where we intended to get dinner." L1 Considered together, these accounts show clearly that in the early 1850s the name "Botha's" was applied rather to the inn than to the hill. But Phipson and Mason take the matter a stage further. They both make it plain that the accommodation house was at the foot of the hill on the south­ eastern or Durban side. Phipson approached it from Pietermaritzburg "by a steep declivity", whereas the Masons, fortified by cold sucking pig and congenial company, discovered that "leaving Botha's, our first business was to climb the formidable barrier before us. "14 Manifestly then the halfway house of tradition, on the north-western side, was not the Halfway House of the 1850s visited by Green, Churchill, Phipson and Mason. Is it possible, a hundred and thirty years later, in an area which is becoming increasingly built up, to locate the approximate site of the inn and, perhaps, to identify more closely its proprietor? Alexander Mair's Map of the Colony of Natal, 15 published in 1875, provided the first clue. Based on the records of the Surveyor-General's office, this map shows the boundaries of farms registered at that time. It is easy, even on a photographic reproduction, to identify the farm Albinia, on which present-day Hillcrest is situated, and Assegay Kraal (present-day Botha's Hill). And, sandwiched between them, without any form of identification, is a small property, very much in the shape of a paper dart and lying across the old main road. An earlier map, Watt's Map of Natal, which appeared in 1855, shows the same boundaries. 16 The search shifted to the records of the Surveyor-General. There, sure enough, between Albinia on the east and Assagay (sic) Kraalon the west, In Search of Mr Botha 29 and straddling the old main road, was the familiar paper dart shape of the property officially described as Botha's Halfway House, No. 921, 320 acres in extent, which had heen surveyed by Thomas Okes in 1849. All that remained then was to attempt the identification of the original owner of the land. In due course. from the Registrar of Deeds in Pietermaritzburg, came the notification that the first registered owner of Botha's Halfway House, No. 921 was none other than Cornelis Botha, the name of the man written of by Janie Malherbe. Although, therefore, it is not possible to state categorically that Philip Rudolph Botha never lived near Botha's Hill, the weight of the evidence as presented above seems to be in favour of Cornelis Botha, the erstwhile harhour master (unless, of course, hc had a namesake of whom nothing else is known), as the man who gave his name to the hill and to the twentieth century village. The halfway house at the foot of Botha's Hill turns out to have been, for the best part of thirty-five years, a landmark on the road from the Port to the capital. The earliest reference so far discovered is to f.'l/iou's accommodation house, which he named Albenia (sic) in honour of Martin West's wife.'- At the beginning of 1847 the establishment bore the name The Travellers' Home and was run by Louis Smith." By the middle of that year, however, there appeared an announcement by Cornelis Botha that he was rc-opening what he called the Albany Hotel, formerly kept by Elliott. 1Y Even though within eight months Botha advertised his intention of selling the inn,clI he was still there in January, 1850." When Charles Barter travelled inland later that year he stopped for the night at Botha's, "the halfway house hetween D'Urban and Maritzburg", but finding a noisy party already in occupation he and his companion preferred to sleep in their wagon. 22 Eventually, however, Botha must have found at least a tenant, because by the early part of 1852 .I.F. Smith had taken over the premises "on long lease". n In August of that year Barter stopped at the inn on at least two occasions and noted that Smith was the proprietor. 24 In spite of his original intention Smith's long lease appears to have been relatively short, hecause by August, 1854, Frederick Ashford was recorded in the jury lists as the "occupier" of Botha's.c' Two and a half years later, at the time of his wife's death, Ashford was descrihed as "formerly of Botha's Halfway House"." At this point the record appears to fall silent for several years. When, in May 1860, John Dare's 'Perseverance' overturned while going down Botha's Hill, the shaken passengers were taken to McNicol's at Pinetown, "where things were made comfortable".27 To have done this would have been to pass an obvious source of succour at Botha's Halfway House. Does this mean that the inn was no longer in business or that it had degenerated into one of the low-class estahlishments which decent folk avoided? There is no way of telling but the answer probably lies in the prosaic demands of a transport operator's schedule. The coach had three main stops, at Camperdown, Clough's and McNicol's/8 and Dare would have lost time as a result of the accident. No doubt his aim was to reach the next stop with all expedition. The fact that the omnihus arrived "safely and satisfactorily in Durban, a little late for dinner"'" suggests that this is the reasonable interpretation of this incident. 30 In Search of Mr Botha

The reference above to "Clough's" adds another dimension to the emerging picture. Botha's Halfway House had aquired a competitor a few miles away on the other side of the hill and the noiseless tenor of life in those cool sequestered vales had been rudely disturbed by some hot commercial rivalry. When this contest began is not certain but by 1855 E.B. Clough had become proprietor of another Halfway House on the farm Assegay Kraal, in the shadow of the hill later known as Alverstone. Dr Bleek spent a night there in 1856 and described it subsequently as "one of the best along the road" .'" Sometimes, to the confusion of the investigator. the house was called Clough's Sterk Spruit Hotel. 31 Sterkspruit is the name of the next farm along the road, on which the present village of Drummond is situated, and on the bank of the stream which provided its name was yet another small inn, called at various times Sportsman's Lodge,'" Cheeseborough's'3 and Edwards's." Colenso thought it was Stirk's Spruit," an impression perhaps reinforced by the herd of Zulu cattle through which he rode not far from there,''' among which there was doubtless a number of yearlings. In 1860, after the visit of Prince Alfred," the name of Clough's is said to have been amended by the then proprietor, one Thomas Arnold, to Clough's Royal Halfway House. How Botha's fared during this period it has not been possible to establish but eventually that inn was taken over by John Padley, who pointedly advertised it in 1866 as "the original (my italics) halfway house between the City and the Port. "'R He advised that the establishment had undergone "extensive alterations and additions" for the third time, "to meet the increasing demand for comfortable accommodation on the road."'R Padley, however, ("he paddles his own canoe",R) must soon after this have embarked temporarily upon some other venture, because in April, 1868, Thomas Martin, formerly of the Natal Mounted Police, respectfully announced that he had obtained a lease of "the above­ mentioned well known and long established premises" which he named The Black Horse.'· Prof. Hattersley identifies the premises as "the Halfway House at Botha's".-I(' By this time the transport struggle between J. W . Welch and George Jessup was in progress and in the course of the war Welch acquired both Clough's and Botha's, where he provided hot lunches for his passengers as an added inducement to support his line.4! This prandial persuasion proved the final straw for Jessup, who eventually retired from the field. At this point the picture becomes obscure. Prof. Hattersley states that Welch bought the Botha's building from Martin.42 A reader of the Daily News recalled in 1964 that the original Botha homestead (which he associated with P.R. Botha) was used as a staging post for Welch omnibuses. 43 Yet by 1869, scarcely a year after Martin's initial announcement, John Padley was back at Botha's44 and when, in 1872, he married the daughter of J.C. Field, he was described as "of Padley's Hotel, Botha's Hill. "45 Even though it is not clear who actually owned the inn at this time, the association with Padley makes it possible to attempt an approximate identification of the site of Botha's Halfway House. At the foot of Botha's Hill, giving access to that part of modern Hillcrest known as West Riding, a road intersects the railway line at a point known as Padley's Crossing. Not far away is the old Padley's Halt. And within metres of the crossing stands a In Search of Mr Botha 31

venerable oak tree which is associated in local tradition with an outspan, a staging post and a nameless inn, in what is very approximately the middle of Cornelis Botha's farm and in close proximity to the old main road. Almost certainly Botha's Halfway House was not far from this spot, although today there is no trace of an old building to be seen. Clough's, on the other hand, is said to have survived into the present era and to have been rebuilt as a cottage by a local farmer in the late 1960s. John Padley died in 187646 and in the same year the farm was transferred from the name of Corm-lis Botha to that of Elizabeth Cato.47 Both Halfway Houses must have remained in business for some years after that, however, because in January, 1879, Lt. Commeline, conducting his wagons from Pinetown to Pietermaritzburg, negotiated "a terrible hill known as Bowker's Hill", camped for the night at "the Halfway House" and then returned with other wagons and spent the next night at "a little inn at the bottom of the hill".4X But for the innkeepers and the coachmen the writing was on the wall. In March, 1879, the railway (which had forced Welch out of business in Britain) reached Botha's Hi1l4" and by 1880 it had been taken through to Pietermaritzburg. «, Almost certainly, although there was a suggestion that the trains should stop at Welch's Halfway House for fifteen minutes for refreshments," neither Padley's nor Clough's long survived this onset of civilization. The fact that a photograph of Botha's Hill station taken about 1884 shows both a refreshment room and an hotel immediately behind the station suggests that by then the older inns had closed." They had admirably served their purpose but they belonged to an age which had passed beyond recall. What, in the meantime, of the man whose name began this investigation? Assuming that there was only one man of this name in Natal at that time, it is possible to piece together a little about Cornelis Botha, although much of it is at present unverified. It is said that he ran away to sea as a teenager, joining a ship at Durban" and serving for a time in the British merchant navy.54 Soon aftcrwards, while he was in his early twenties, he became the master (and perhaps the owner) of a small sailing vessel, the Eleanor which traded out of Durban up and down the east coast. In August, 1839, the Eleanor was wrecked at thc Durban harbour mouth." The name of Cornelis Botha appears on a list of men to whom land grants were made by the Volksraad in the first half of 1839. 5b Subsequently he was appointed to the rank of heemraad " and, early in 1840, was installed as harbour master of Port Natal. 58 According to an account among the Bird papers he was occupying some "Kaffir huts" at the Point at that time. s9 In April 1840 the Volksraad granted him certain additional powers regarding the control of shipping in the harbour (or, perhaps, defined his authority more preciscly)."" By August of that year, however, certain charges had been laid against him and he was suspended, pending an investigation, while his assistant Edmund Morewood acted in his place. bl Shortly after this, however, at his own request he was released from service.'"

In November, 1840, he purchased an erf in Port Natal from P. Raats.b l In April, 1844, he announced thc opening of an inn in Church Street, Pietermaritzburg64 but by September he was bankrupt.'" He is said to have 32 In Search of Mr Botha married Sophia Maritz, the daughter of the Voortrekker leader,"" to whom a son was born on 2 March, 1845,67 christened Gerhardus Marthinus in the following month." By 1847, as has already been demonstrated, he had taken over the Albany Hotel, half-way between the capital and the port, only to lease it to J .F. Smith in 1852. Not a great deal more has emerged about Cornelis Botha. The Killie Campbelllibrary has a photograph of him which shows a youthful, dark-haired man with a lock of hair dropping over his right eye. He is said to have been the great-grandfather of the historian, Dr Graham Botha."')

Only one further incident needs to be considered. When G.H. Mason and his brother stopped for dinner at Botha's Halfway House, they met "a most entertaining young Dutchman", who regaled them with an account of his activities "during the late war with the English. "70 This unusual man had commanded a detachment of boats, he said, at the time of the Boer siege of Capt. Smith's camp and he had been ordered to capture a British sloop which had anchored off the Bluff. On boarding the ship he discovered to his horror that the hold contained several hundred British troops with loaded carbines and fixed bayonets. It is tempting to consider the possibility that the young man was Cornelis Botha himself. (By this time he was probably in his thirties.) Mason's account does make it clear that the "young Dutchman" was not their host, but it is not unlikely that Botha had installed a manager to run the inn while he attended to other matters. Perhaps even the management of the farm, which appeared to Mason very productive ,71 occupied his chief attention, although Mason does say that the host was the proprietor of the farm. It is reasonable to suppose that in wartime Botha's seafaring experience and special skills would have been valuable at the Port, regardless of the circumstances in which he left the service of the government. In itself unimportant. the incident at the inn has about it a faintly Buchanesque ring. One can imagine Richard Hannay in his younger years narrating it under some such heading as "The Adventure of the Nautical Boer". But, more seriously, the whole affair sounds so very similar to that recounted ahout the boarding of the Conch hy Edmund Morewood" (Botha's former assistant and his successor as harbour master) that the matter cries out for further careful investigation. In the varied chronicle of conflict "tussen Boer en Brit" naval engagements (even abortive) do not occupy a very prominent place. When one notes that Capt. Bell, the master of the Conch, later himself hecame harbour master,71 a further element of complication is added. So whether Mason actually passed the time of day with Cornelis Botha in the comfortable travellers' room of Botha's Halfway House must remain a matter of speculation. If he did, this would be the only positive identification of the proprietor of the Halfway House with the harbour master of the same name, which has been assumed throughout this article. Be that as it may, Cornelis Botha did not remain very long at Botha's Hill. His venture there appears to have been, like the others upon which he earlier engaged, relatively short-lived. But like other, greater men he was in the right place at the right time and, as a result, he has joined that select band whose names live on although their deeds may be forgotten. In Search of Mr Botha 33

REFERENCES I SESA volume 2, p. 455 (Cape Town, 1970) 2 Robertson J.W., Travellers' Guide for South Africa, p. 233 (East London, 1945) 3 Bulpin T.V., To the Shores of Natal, p. 108 (Cape Town, n.d.) Bulpin T.V., Natal and the Zulu Country, p. 124 (Cape Town, 1966) 4 Stayt D., Where on Earth? p. 12 (Durban, 1971) 5 Malherbe J., Port Natal, p. 47 (Cape Town, 1965) 6 Reynolds H.G., Text of broadcast talk, 1926 (KilIie Campbell Library) 7 Brookes E.H. & Webb C. de B., History of Natal, p. 61 (Pietermaritzburg, 1965) H SGO III1l21l, p. 70 9 Mason G.H., Life with the Zulus of Natal, South Africa, p. 101 (London, 1855. Reprinted 1968) Currey R.N., Letters of a Natal Sheriff, p. 41 (Cape Town, 1968) 10 Bird Papers, Volume 12, p. 20 (Natal Archives) 11 Child D., A merchant family in early Natal, p. 13 (Cape Town, 1979) 12 Currey R.N., op. cit. p. 41 13 Mason G.H., op. cit. p. 99 14 ibid. p. 101 15 Detail reproduced in Currey R.N., op. cit., p. xxiv 16 Information supplied by the Curator, Local History Museum, Durban 17 Mackeurtan G., Cradle Days of Natal, pp. 299-300 (London, 1930. Reprinted 1972) I. Patriot, 8 January, 1847 19 Patriot, 4 July, 1847 20 Patriot, 3 March, 1848 21 Natal Independent, 3 January, 1850 22 Barter C., The dorp and the veld, p. 19 (London, n.d.) 23 Durban Observer, 12 March, 1852 24 Barter c., Natal Diary, (Thesis by Rickard C., pp. 34 & 37) 25 Natal Government Gazette, 15 August, 1854 26 Natal Mercury, 5 February, 1857 27 Russell G., History of Old Durban, p. 447 (Durban, 1899) 2. ibid. p. 446 29 ibid. p. 447 '" Spohr O.H. (trans) , The Natal diaries of Dr W.H.I. Bleek, 1855-1856. (Cape Town, 1965) p.93 " Russell G., op. cit.. p. 483 32 Currey R.N., op. cit.. p. 40 33 Mason G.H., op. cit., p. 101 34 Barter c., Natal Diary, (Thesis by Rickard C., p. 34) 35 Colenso J.W., Ten Weeks in Natal, p. 37 (Cambridge, 1855) 36 ibid, p. 38 37 Russell G., op. cit., p. 483 3. Times of Natal, 27 October, 1866 39 Times of Natal, 11 April, 1868 40 Hattersley A.F., Portrait of a Colony, p. 173 (Cambridge, 1940) 41 ibid. 42 ibid. 43 Private communication from Mr Don Stayt 44 Natal Government Gazette, 10 August, 1869 45 Information furnished by Mrs Shelagh Spencer .. do. 47 Records of the Registrar of Deeds, Pietermaritzburg 4. Emery F., The Red Soldier, p. 58 (London, 1977) 49 Campbell E.D., The Birth and Development of the Natal Railways, p. 72 (Pietermaritzburg, 1951) 50 ibid. p. 101 " ibid. p. 97 52 ibid. between pp. 116 & 117 53 Reynolds H.G., op. cit. 54 Malherbe J., op. cit., p. 47 55 Mackeurtan G., op. cit., p. 253 34 In Search of Mr Botha

50 Breytenbach 1.H., (eomp) S.A. Archival Records Natal no 1, Notule van die Natalse Volksraad (1838-1845) (Cape Town, 1958) 57 ibid. p. 17 5" ibid. p. 30 59 Bird Papers. Volume 12, p. 103 (Natal Archives) 60 Breytenbach 1. H .. op. cit., p. 40 61 ibid. p. 48 and p. 57 02 ibid. p. 64 03 SGO 1112 p. 212 and Russell G., op. eit., p. 61 M Mackeurtan G .. op. cit., p. 292 and illustration opposite 05 Natalier, 20 September, 1844 00 Malherbe 1., op. cit., p. 47 07 Natalier, 7 March, 1845 oH ibid., 18 April, 1845 09 Reynolds H.G., op cit. 711 Mason G.H., op. cit., p. 100 71 ihid. p. lOO " Mackeurtan G., op. cit., pp. 280-1 cp. Russell G., op. cit., p. 41 73 Russell G., op. eit., p. 82

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The writer wishes to record his deht to Mrs Shelagh Spencer, who drew many of the ahove references to his attention. ROBIN W. LAMPLOUGH 35

The 1882 Norwegian Emigration to Natal It is hardly a mere coincidence that 1982 marks not only the centenary of the cresting of Norwegian emigration to North America but also that of the first organised migration from Norway to southern Africa. Domestic economic woes and a demographic explosion that raised the population of that Scandinavian kingdom from fewer than 900 000 in 1800 to over 2 000 000 a century later had triggered a mass exodus of Norwegians that waxed and waned for decades. in the end giving Norway continental Europe's highest rate of emigration. A severe depression made the United States less attractive during the linOs. however, and some prospective expatriates began to cast about for alternative destinations. Natal offered what seemed to be promising conditions, prompting some 230 venturesome souls belatedly to sail from Aalesund, Norway, in July 1882, arriving in Durban forty-five days later. Though beset by difficulties that were never fully overcome, they formed one nucleus of what evolved into South Africa's considerable Scandinavian population. Historians have paid northern European emigration to southern Africa disappointingly little attention. One probable explanation for this neglect lies in their preoccupation with the transplanting of well over two million Scandinavians to the United States, some 800 000 of them Norwegians.' Ingrid Semmingsen, the distinguished social historian at the University of Oslo, surveyed some aspects of the topic in her classic study. Veien mot vest (The Way West).' Being unable to conduct research in South Africa, however, she was compelled to devote a disproportionate amount of her treatment to the departure of the few Norwegians who eventually landed in Natal and the Cape Colony before 1882. An American scholar. Alan H. Winquist, presented additional information in a recently published thesis focusing primarily on Swedes in South Africa. 3 Perhaps owing to the language barrier, South African colleagues have virtually ignored the subject. One will search such standard works as T. R.H. Davenport's politically-oriented South Africa: A Modern History" or The Oxford History of South Africa.' in vain for any mention of Scandinavians, although one can cull a few facts from articles on "Scandinavians" and "Port Shepstone" in the Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern African. Most of the history of this migration remains to he written. Norwegians began to trickle into southern Africa many years before the surge of 1882. By the early years of the nineteenth century, at least twenty had found their way to the Cape.' Commercial and maritime relatiom between Norway and The Netherlands probably lay behind their presence there at that early date. The first Norwegians in Natal arrived much later. of course, but not long after the end of the Boer Republic of Natalia in the 36 Norwegian Emigration early 1840s. As in other parts of Africa, Christian missionaries formed the vanguard of settlement. H.P.S. Schreuder (1817-1882), a minister of the established Lutheran Church of Norway, came to Port Natal in 1844 with the intention of proceeding to Zululand but was turned back by Mpande. Undaunted, the determined cleric returned six years later to found a mission station at Umpumulo just south of the Tugela. This strategically situated outpost soon became a staging area for a series of stations that Schreuder and his colleagues founded among the Zulus after Mpande allowed them to evangelise his subjects in response to medical assistance he received from Schreuder. Within a decade a number of stations dotted the landscape of Zululand at Empangeni (1851), Entumeni (1852), Mahlabatini (1860), Eshowe (1861), Imfule (1861), and Inhlazatshe (1861). The ambitious Schreuder also translated part of the Bible into Zulu and wrote a grammar of that language. WiIIiam Charles Baldwin, a professional hunter, visited the modest mud church at Entumeni in 1855, three years before the first conversion to Christianity, and vividly recorded an early confrontation between Scandinavian Lutheranism and Zulu ways: From the beams hung Kaffir ropes, the tent and sides of a waggon, loads of mealies, old saddles, yokes, skeys, neckstraps, and all apparatus for waggoning, old hats and bridles, and part of a splendid tiger-skin. In the midst of all this and ten times more, rose a pulpit, the cushions and hangings of which bore marks of a great deal of service; and in the pulpit a tall, bushy-whiskered Norwegian missionary, in a black coat buttoned to the throat and reaching to the heels. with spectacles of course, held forth. About thirty Kaffirs, men and women, squatted on a mat on their hams, huddling close together, two under one blanket, hunting the borders for - (presumably lice), and cracking heaps of them, or taking thorns out of their feet with wooden pins, unseen by the pastor, who held forth for more than three hours." Possibly attracted by the stream of reports that missionaries sent back to Norway, other adventuresome Norwegians reached Natal individually before organised emigration to southern Africa began. In nearly all instances they settled in or near Durban or other towns and assimilated quickly British colonial life. Hilmer Brudevold (1842-1913), the most prominent of these early adventurers, sailed to Natal in 1862 and began a sugar and coffee plantation near the fledgling hamlet of Port Shepstone. Shortly after his arrival, he joined the Alexandra Mounted Rifles, eventually becoming a colonel and fighting in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Brudevold, or Bru-de-Wold, as he dashingly spelt his name in Natal, later served as a justice of the peace and received citations from the government of the colony.9 Jacob Jacobsen Egeland (1864--1946) rose from an inauspicious beginning to become the best-known and probably the wealthiest Norwegian in Natal. A deckhand on a ship that broke up near Durban in 1880, the teenager was hauled ashore with other sailors and decided to remain in Africa and try his luck. Walking to Zululand, Egeland worked briefly for a farmer before returning to Durban. He greeted the first party of Norwegian immigrants when they disembarked there in 1882.10 During a second foray into Zululand, he opened an inn and shop that he operated for three years. When business stagnated, though, Egeland went to Durban once again and gradually became a tycoon with interests in shipping, fishing, timber, and Norwegian Emigration 37 whaling. For decades he was not only the acknowledged economic kingpin of the city's expanding Norwegian community, but also a mainstay in its cultural life." Egeland was not the first Norwegian to arrive in Natal unintentionally, however. In 1876 a party of twenty-four sailed in the employ of the British trading firm Porter, Muir, and Long to Madagascar, where two of their countrymen had begun to propagate the Gospel a decade earlier. The death of onc of the company's owners led to its liquidation two years later, leaving its Norwegian agents unemployed. Several accepted a severance offer of free passage back to economically troubled Norway, but others elected N atal." Notwithstanding the fate of this group, another coterie of approximately thirty sailed in 1879 from Bergen to Madagascar with the intention of continuing north to the Aldebra Islands, where they hoped to combine farming with missionary work. On reaching Madagascar, though, they were informed that the Aldebras had little more to offer than coral reefs and turtles. Several of the disillusioned Norwegians consequently proceeded no farther, but others set sail for Durban, where the v formed the nucleus of the city's Norwegian colony. 11 ­ Yet these early immigrants were only a tiny fraction of the Norwegians counted in later South African censuses, and their numbers were utterly insignificant compared to the vast Scandinavian emigration to the United States prior to 1880. Why did so few uprooted Norwegians choose to settle in southern Africa before that date? The availability of inexpensive transportation across the North Atlantic and free acreages under the terms of the 1862 Homestead Act unquestionably provide much of the answer. Less obviously, the image of Africa in nineteenth-century Norway discouraged emigration to that continent. Beginning in 1842, two generations of Norwegian school children were subjected to Ludvig Kristian Oaa's Udtog af Geografien (Elements of Geography), a textbook which created a thoroughly warped image of Africa in countless impressionable minds. That "immense peninsula", as Daa labelled the continent, supposedly lacked high mountain ranges; consequently, "there is little variation in temperature on the African landscape. Nearly the entire continent belongs to the hottest regions of the world." Even its ostensibly few fertile areas, he cautioned, are "unhealthy, indeed lethal, for Europeans". The native African peoples fared poorly under Oaa's unenlightened pen. "The actual Negroes and Kaffirs are semi-wild barbarians," he declared. "Some tribes are as anarchic as the American Indians." Daa's description of Natal was mercifully limited to a sentence identifying it as a "province" on the Indian Ocean.14 C.W. Horn's briefer Lrerebog i Geografi for Middelskolen (Textbook in Geography for the Secondary School) contained one scant page about Africa, only a few lines of which were devoted to the southern part of the continent. Horn stated cryptically that "Zululand is on the cast coast" but told nothing about its climate or people." Other than these unreliable school-books, most Norwegians apparently had little access to information about Africa. The nation's press rarely carried pertinent articles, and apart from Henry Stanley's often sensational accounts, practically no relevant books existed in Norway until shortly before the organised emigration began. At least until 38 Norwegian Emigration the 1880s the popular stereotype of Africa as a jungle populated by savages appears to have prevailed. Captain Nils Landmark (1844--1923) deserves much of the credit for improving the Norwegian image of southern Africa and encouraging emigration there. While in command of the Norwegian Missionary Society'S vessel Elieser from 1872 until 1879, he visited Natal several times and was impressed by the climate and fertility of its coastal regions. In September 1879 Landmark wrote to the Land and Immigration Board in Maritzburg to inquire about the conditions under which it would accept and assist Norwegian immigrants. C.A. Butler of the Board replied immediately, informing him of its willingness to sell fifty families a common grazing area of 2 000 acres and plots of 100 acres to each family for seven shillings and sixpence per acre, payable in ten annual instalments. He also conveyed the Board's offer to underwrite their passage to Durban, a week's lodging there, and transportation costs to the appointed place of settlement. The Norwegians' new home, Butler disclosed, would presumably be in Alfred County, near a German hamlet of recent origin called Marburg. Landmark found the terms reasonable and published them in one of the Norwegian capital's newspapers. Perhaps anticipating unfavourable comparisons of them with those of the well-known American Homestead Act, he noted that the superior climate of Natal made costly houses and outbuildings unnecessary. Landmark revealed that he envisaged a self-contained Norwegian settlement with its own administration, school, and minister. The idealistic captain urged interested countrymen to apply to him and enclose not only objective information about ages, trades, and familial and financial circumstances, but also letters of reference from their parish parsons. I" The response was overwhelming, although in retrospect the number of respondents is not surprising during that decade of rapidly rising Scandinavian emigration. Within a month, Landmark received more inquiries than he could handle, including many from individuals who had ignored his warning that it was inadvisable to emigrate to Natal with less than 2000 Norwegian crowns in liquid capital. In an article printed in several newspapers, he emphasised that his initial intention was to establish a model colony "consisting to the greatest possible degree of decent, Christian people who can form the basis for a more general Norwegian migration to Natal." Hence, only those applicants who met his stringent criteria would be considered, and only if they agreed to remain a unit after settling in Africa. "The entire undertaking will be a failure if, instead of uniting and forming a Norwegian community, these emigrants spread hither and yon throughout the colony," Landmark wrote presciently, "for then it will be impossible to organise a society capable of supporting qualified teachers for the children and a minister for the church."17 The scheme suffered a setback, however, after Landmark conveyed the applications of thirty selected families and four bachelors to the Land and Immigration Board. Butler replied in August 1880 that since so much time had elapsed since the offer had been made the previous November, the plots had been designated for another purpose. No doubt to the dismay of some of the applicants, he also informed Landmark that "a large number" of them had occupations unsuited to the proposed settlement. lR Norwegian Emigration 39

Yet the appetites of land-hungry Norwegians for inexpensive acreages in Natal, whetted by Landmark's enticing rhetoric, were too strong to be quelled by a few strokes of a colonial official's pen. Ignoring a warning by a Norwegian who had arrived in Durban in May 1880 only to discover that owing to an influx of immigrants after the Anglo-Zulu War "the employment situation was not much better here than in Norway,"]9 several rebuffed applicants renewed their efforts. They contacted Emil Berg (1842­ 1913), curate at the Norwegian seamen's church in London, and requested him to pursue the matter on their behalf. The young cleric forwarded their request to Waiter Peace, the Land and Immigration Board's agent in London, who extended an offer similar to that made in 1879. Peace sweetened its conditions by promising to erect "comfortable cottages" on all of the fifty plots but also cautioned that immigrants could not expect any assistance from the government of Natal beyond the terms of their agreement. 20 The Aalesund group accepted these terms and, after sifting a large number of applications, selected fifty families to form the first settlement. Many had difficulty in disposing of their property, however, and only thirty­ four families, together with about sixty young men and women who accompanied them as servants, embarked when the Tasso docked in Aalesund on 14 July 1882. The married men included thirteen farmers, three fishermen and sailors, three carpenters and cabinet-makers, two merchants, two teachers, a mason, a blacksmith, a goldsmith, a bookbinder, an agronomist, a tailor, a landscape gardener, a weaver, a painter, a minister, and a versatile handyman who listed both "mechanic" and "cobbler" as his trades. The party numbered approximately 230, nearly all of them from western Norway.2] After crossing the North Sea to Hull and continuing their journey by rail to London, these Norsemen boarded a second British steamship, the Lap/and, which would carry them to Durban. Emil Berg accepted a call to accompany the emigrants as their minister. Several of the intrepid voyagers wrote to friends and relatives in Norway when the Lap/and took on provisions in Madeira. "We are travelling like lords, if not better," boasted one passenger. "The food is outstanding, but some of the farmers do not always tolerate it, because they are not accustomed to such fine fare."22 After calling at St. Helena and Cape Town, the Lap/and dropped anchor in Durban Bay on 28 August, forty-five days after its weary passengers had left Aalesund. C.A. Butler came on board and held a lottery to determine the distribution of the 100-acre plots near Marburg. A handful of the Norwegians who had previously arrived in Durban then emerged from the town's European population of some 4000 to visit the ship. The Lap/and thereupon steamed back down the coast to the mouth of the Umzimkulu River near Port Shepstone, about 120 kilometers southwest of Durban, arriving there that evening.23 The following morning the 230 immigrants were taken ashore in a lighter through typically heavy surf. On the beach they were welcomed by Hilmer Bru-de-Wold, then a twenty-year veteran of life in rural Natal, whom the colonial authorities had hired to assist the newcomers, two other Norwegians, a Swede, and representatives of the Land and Immigration Board. Four hundred of Duka Fynn's Zulu warriors, adorned with "full war paint and regalia, with shields and assegais glittering 40 Norwegian Emigration and decorated with white ox-tails on (their) legs and arms, and showing great horns on their heads," also greeted the Nordic contingent. During their frenzied dance, recalled one of the settlers, "many of our ladyfolk got very uneasy when they noticed some big pots being brought by these

Hall of Memory at the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Marburg which serves as a museum for the 1882 Norwegian settlement. (Photograph: Frederick Hale) Norwegian Emigration 41 warriors, and put on a fire." Their fears were assuaged, though, when four cattle were herded into the circle and slaughtered. The ensuing feast initiated an era of generally harmonious relations between the two groups. '1 After the rustic Zulu banquet, the immigrants began the arduous task of transporting their belongings to their farmsteads. Some of the plots lay only two or three kilometres from Port Shepstone, while those surrounding Marburg were about six kilometres inland. The lack of roads in the vicinity made the chore all the more laborious. Adding to the tribulation, the "comfortable cottages" which the Land and Immigration Board had promised the Norwegians proved to be a pair of grass hovels on each acreage. "We had to chase out the snakes, owls, and bats that were living there," wrote one young supplanter who also related the immigrants' hunger until they learned how to bake with the sack of maize meal the government had donated each family.25 What became of Nils Landmark's vision of an economically viable, Christian settlement in Natal, one in which Norwegian folkways and ethnicity would be diligently preserved? Initially, the prospects of its fulfilment seemed promising. Emil Berg gathered a congregation at Marburg almost immediately after disembarking. Twelve months later the immigrants dedicated as their first permanent building, a modest brick sanctuary which also housed an active Sunday school and a women's guild.'6 The Norwegians on the Umzimkulu thus had from the outset a cohesive, well-organised social and spiritual fellowship, something which most Scandinavians in North America lacked for several years. Early in 1884 a school was opened, meeting initially in the church building. Gustav Kjonstad, who had been a teacher in Norway, and Berg's Netherlandic wife taught forty children the language and history of Norway as well as English and Christianity. In the 1890s the government of Natal furnished two-thirds of the £300 needed to erect a separate school-house.27 Religious discipline extended beyond the curriculum as parents imposed pietistic strictures on the younger generation. "We children were therefore not even allowed to whistle on Sundays," recalled Edward Haajem. They soon learned Zulu, however. and "therefore got on fine in that language. "2k Agriculture, the backbone of the community's economy, also seemed encouraging at first. By ·Christmas the Norwegians' fields were planted with sugar cane, cotton, maize, bananas, and other cropS.29 Daytime tempera­ tures in the upper twenties, an adequate water supply, and far more sunshine than any of the immigrants were accustomed to elevated hopes of abundant yields. 30 In the meantime Landmark, still in Norway but encouraged by a stream of roseate reports from Marburg, completed a book titled Natal, dets Geografi, Nceringsveie, Historie ete. En Bog for Udvandrere (Natal: Its Geography, Economy, History etc. A Book for Emigrants) in which he urged more of his countrymen to emigrate to Natal and contribute to the fulfilment of his dream. 'I Yet disillusionment soon set in. One root of several related problems that stifled the prosperity of the Norwegian settlement was its relatively remote location. In April 1883 a Norwegian in Marburg wrote a lengthy riposte to a newspaper in Norway countering the.glowing accounts some of his fellow immigrants had sent home. "What good is it to have a farm full of bananas, potatoes, maize, and oranges," he asked rhetorically, "if the expense of 42 Norwegian Emigration transporting them to market exceeds the price they will fetch?" Moreover, a sandbar at Port Shepstone hindered shipping, while the primitive road to Durban was ostensiblv little more than a Zulu trail. This disenchanted pioneer also complained that the cows yielded "practically no milk" and diseases had struck both them and the horses. "I'll tell you more when I return to Norway in two or three weeks." he promised." No less seriously. many of the immigrants soon discovered that their skills and labour were superfluous in the vicinity of Marburg. Kjc)nstad. soon to become onc of the community's teachers, conceded later in 1883 that many of the colonists had already departed to seek employment elsewhere in Natal. Several had found it in railway construction between Durban and Newcastle. Six had taken jobs in building trades at Lion's River, but one had complained that drunkenness and related crude behaviour reigned there. Another had become the foreman of a sugar plantation. Fore­ shadowing later Norwegian participation in a movcment that cut across ethnic lines, two had joined the exodus from the countryside into Durhan." In short, within a year after thc festive landing at Port Shepstone. the dream of a thriving. well-rounded Norwegian settlement in Natal seemed badly eroded. Subsequent developments confirmed this trend. Perhaps most significantly, in 1884 news of the discovery of gold in the Rand prompted another flow of Norwegians from Marburg, this time to the Transvaal. Some of the Nordic argonauts whose hopes of instant wealth were dashed returned to the settlement; others simply remained in the north - where they eventually fought on both sides during the Anglo-Boer War - or sought work in Durban or other towns in Natal. Indeed, by 1890 there were enough Norwegians in Durban to launch a building fund for what is now St. Olav Lutheran Church.'" Secular ethnic societies followed around the turn of the century as shipping, whaling, and other interests developed. The Norwegian experiment in Natal thus became a predominantly urban one. Immigration from Norway continued on a small scale. but it was not the general folk migration that Landmark had envisaged. The new immigrants were overwhelmingly men, most of them specialists in non­ agricultural trades. Strictly speaking, many of them were not really immigrants seeking a new homeland, but temporary residents whose tentative plans of returning to Norway were realised within a few years. Whalers, for instance, were typically stationed in Durban for from one to three annual seasons. Others remained and pursued a variety of occupations. The South African census of 1921 enumerated 1 353 Norwegians in the Union, 719 of them (including 458 men) in Natal. 422 of those in Natal were classified as "urban" and 297 "rural". Durban alone had 355. In contrast, only 63 Norwegian-born still resided in the Port Shepstone magisterial district at that time." The improvement of the harbour there and the extension of the southern coastal railway to the Umzimkulu in 1901 gave the original Norwegian settlement a new lease on life but also made it even more subject to social influences that further diminished its ethnic distinctiveness. By 1920 most of the first generation had died or migrated from Marburg. Moreover, as onc of the original Norwegians there lamented, "there arc only a few children who have taken over their parents' farms." The Norwegian Emigration 43 departure of the others had forced the school to close, one inevitable result of which was the rapid disappearance of the Norwegian language from the region. Linguistic assimilation and population decline in turn sealed the fate of the town's Norwegian church, which has long been used only on ceremonial occasions. Perspicacious Norwegians perceived fairly early that Landmark's experiment could not succeed. H.J.S. Astrup, a missionary in Zululand, blamed its demise partly on unprincipled individuals among the immigrants "who have brought shame on Norway through deceit, swindling and other evils. "36 L.M. Altern. a surveyor who had emigrated independently in 1882, admitted in 1913 that the Union's economy had stagnated and predicted that black majority rule would eventually become a reality." A Norwegian pharmacist who had lived in Eshowe for several years discouraged further emigration in 1924, stating that "if South Africa really is the land of the future, it is so more for the black people than the white. "'X Opinions on that sensitive issue differed sharply even then, of course, but apparently very few people in Norway regarded South Africa as the land of their own future after about 1905. Norwegian immigration naturally plummeted during the Anglo-Boer War, and a brief upswing after its conclusion was not sustained. From 1906 until 1915 only 132 Norwegians emigrated to Africa as a whole. 39 The rate never recovered. Lacking a substantial influx of compatriots, those already in Natal became increasingly interwoven with other Europeans there. Such ethnic institutions as the Norsemen's Federation chapter and St. Olav Lutheran Church in Durban testify to the dominant role that city has played in the Norwegian cultural life of Natal, but even they have revealing histories of considerable assimilation. For the most part, the Norwegians of both Durban and Marburg long ago became inconspicuous fibres in the variegated warp and woof of South African society."(I

REFERENCE NOTES

I The standard treatments of the subject in English are Ingrid Semmingsen, Norway to America: A History of the Migration (Minneapolis. 197R): Arlow W. Andersen. The Norwegian-Americans (Boston, 1975): and Theodore C. Blcgcn, Norwegian Migrarion to America. 2 vols. (Northfield, 1931, 1940). Ingrid Semmingscn. Veien mot vest. 11. Utl'llndringenfra Norge 1865-1915 (Oslo, 1950). pp. 334-355. 3 Alan H. Winquist. Scandinavians and South Africa (Cape Town, 19n). " London. 1977. , Oxford, 1969, 1971. 6 Unfortunately, it is not a fully reliable source, The date of the landing at Port Shepstone is erroneously given as IkR6. Sec D.F. Kokot. "Port Shepstonc", Slllndard Encyclopaedia of _ SOUlhern Africa, vo!. IX (Cape Town, 1973), p. 26. Kurt G. Tragardh. "Norrman som ut\andrat til Kappr()\insen," Norsk Slektshistorisk Tidsskrift, vo!. XXII (1970). pp. 145-149. R William Charles Baldwin, African Hunting and Ad~'elltllre from Natal to the Zambesi, 3rd ed. (London, lk94), pp. 96-98. 9 "Oberst Bru-de-Wold", Nordmands-Forbundet, vo!. VI (1913), pp. 532-534. III 1.1. Egeland, "Norske piom;rer i Syd-Afrika". Nordmands-Forbundet, vo!. XXVI (1933), p. 7. 44 Norwegian Emigration

11 "Fra Syd-Afrika", Nordmands-Forbundet, vo\. xv (1922), pp. 45--47. 12 O. Jensenius, "Nordmrendene paa Madagaskar", Nordmands-Forbundet, vo\. 11 (1909), pp. 236-240 and "Norske Kolonister poo Madagaskar" Nordmands-Forbundet, vo\. III (1910), pp.180--182. . 13 Ludvig Saxe, "Nordmrend i Sydafrika", Nordmands-Forbundet, vo\. IV (1911), p. 426. 14 Ludvig Kr. Daa, Udtog af Geografien, 5th ed. (Kristiania, 1875), pp. 122-130. 15 C.W. Ludvig Horn, Lrerebog i Geografi for Middelskolen (Kristiania, 1882), p. 39. 16 Fredrelandet (Kristiania), 6 March 1880; Bergensposten (Bergen), 25 May 1880. 17 Fredrelandet, I May 1880; Bergensposten, 25 May 1880. 1K Bergensposten, 6 October 1880. 19 Bergensposten, 11 December 1880. 20 Aalesunds Blad (Aalesund) 18 July 1882. 21 Andrew Halland, et al., Norsk Nybyggerliv i Natal (n.p., 1932), p. 10. " Aalesunds Blad, 15 August 1882. 23 Natal Mercury (Durban), 29 August 1882. 24 Edward N. Haajem, "Memoirs of 63 Years (sic) Struggle in South Africa", (1945), unpublished manuscript at the Killie Campbell Africana Library, University of Natal, Durban, pp. 3--4. " Haajem, "Memoirs", pp. 4--5. 26 Halland, et al., Norsk Nybyggerliv i Natal, pp. 31-32. 27 Halland, et al., Norsk Nybyggerliv i Natal, p. 44. 2K Haajem, "Memoirs", pp. 5~. 29 Stavanger Amtstidende og Adresseavis (Stavanger), 2 March 1883. 30 Adressebladet (Kristiania), 20 December 1882. 31 Porsgrunn, 1884. 12 Morgenbladet (Kristiania), 1 June 1883. 33 Morgenbladet, 22 October 1883. 34 Natal Mercury, 18 January 1892. 35 Third Census of the Population of the Union of South Africa Enumerated 3rd May, 1921. Part V: Birthplaces (Europeans) (Pretoria, 1923), pp. 4,6,10,11,14,25. 36 H.J .S. Astrup, "Hvad vi kan lrere av englrenderne", Nordmands-Forbundet, vo\. IV (1911), p.468. 37 L.M. Altern, "Fra britisk Sydafrika", Nordmands-Forbundet, vo\. VI (1913), p. 589. 3K Nordmands-Forbundet, vo\. XVII (1924), p. 299. 39 Norges officielle Statistikk. vol VII. p. 25. Utvandringsstatistikk (Kristiania, 1921), p. 118. • 0 I wish to express my special gratitude to Mark Erling Hestenes of Johannesburg, who helped me gain access to books and archivalia at both the University of the Witwatersrand and Rand Afrikaans University in that city as well as at the University of Natal in Durban. FREDERICK HALE 45

The Umsindusi: A "Third Rate Stream"?

It was Charles Barter, chronicler of olden times in NataL who used the term "third rate stream" to describe the "Little Bushman's River'" (Barter. 1852) on his first approach to Pietermaritzburg from Port Natal. There are no doubt countless numbers of present-day residents of the capital who would leap to the defence of 'their' Umsindusi, a river which in no small way adds to the character of the city, yet it is less likely that many would exhibit the degree of enthusiasm for the river shown by the then Governor of Natal, Sir Henry McCallum on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of St. Anne's College at Hilton in 1903. Referring to the disadvantages of their new location Sir Henry remarked that they "would lose that cheery sight, the beautiful, limpid pellucid river, the Umsindusi". (Natal Diocesan Magazine, 1903).2 The Governor could scarcely have foreseen the turbid, chocolate-brown appearance of the polluted Umsindusi of today ~ a river in which water sports were recently temporarily banned because of the threat of cholera. The Umsindusi continues to play an important role in the lives of city residents, not only as an undoubted scenic asset as it meanders by the heart of the city but more importantly as the source of the domestic water supply to the city. Indeed from its source in the Elandskop district (to the south­ west of the city) the Umsindusi flows through increasingly densely populated peri-urban fragments of KwaZulu before it reaches Pietermaritzburg, and serves as water source for both man and beast, while the colour and polluted state of the river bear testimony to the growing pressures on the land flanking the river in those parts. The purpose of this article, however is to focus attention on the role of the river in the life of Pietermaritzburg in the past, and to speculate on its future role. To this end it is that stretch of the Umsindusi where it flows by the city centre that comes under scrutiny.

Bridging the Umsindusi The siting of the dorp of Pietermaritzburg by the Voortrekkers on the spur between the Umsindusi and the Dorpspruit required the visitors to the dorp (later city) travelling to and from Port Natal to cross the river in order to reach their destination. Ordinarily this would have posed few problems as there were drifts where the river could be forded. After heavy rains, however, the river could only be safely crossed by bridge and many early attempts to span the river ended in failure, to the embarrassment of city authorities. The saga of bridging the Umsindusi (or Little Bushman's River as it was at the time) began while Pietermaritzhurg was still under the jurisdiction of 46 The Umsindusi the Volksraad, with Willem Van Aardt's wooden bridge over the river in the vicinity of the present Victoria Bridge. Van Aardt's bridge, however, lasted only until 1844. As Hattersley (1938) recounts, when Martin West and his entourage reached Pietermaritzburg in 1845 they forded the river at the Camp Drift (a crossing south west of the dorp, below Fort Napier, and about three quarters of a kilometre below the confluence of the Umsindusi and the Slangspruit). The track from the Port forked about two kilometres from the river, the western fork leading to the Camp Drift and the other to the lower drift where Van Aardt had attempted to bridge what Barter disparagingly referred to as a third rate stream. The next bridge of any substance was built as a result of the efforts of the Hon. Henry Cloete, Her Majesty's Commissioner, who opened a public subscription list in 1847 for the erection of a new bridge in line with the present Commercial Road. This construction of wood was named after Hippolyte Jargal, an enthusiastic local merchant who undertook to cover any shortfall in funds (Hattersley, 1951). Jargal's Bridge, though four feet higher than its predecessor, lasted barely eight months before being washed away in April, 1848. The same fate befell the next bridge, this time built from stone and timber on the instructions of the newly inaugurated Board of Municipal Commissioners3, although it lasted seven years before succumbing to the power of the swollen Umsindusi during the floods of April 1856. An eyewitness account of the floods and an interesting consequence of the washing away of the bridge is provided in the letters of a Dr W. Bleek, residing in the city at the time. "It began raining on the Sunday (April 13th) and it rained almost constantly and heavily on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. No such rain had fallen since 1848. All the rivers were in flood, and the water reached very great heights, washing away nearly all the bridges, including the low bridge built of stone, near Maritzburg, over the Little Bushman's River, leading to the D'Urban main road. The bishop'S rubber boat, which was tried for the first time, was used for communication between the two banks, as apart from swimming no-one could reach the other bank save by this boat. It takes six persons and is extremely practical. All the rest of the few existing boats in Natal and the ferries were swept away by the rain."4 (Spohr, 1965, p. 38). It is not surprising, then, that the Council (Pietermaritzburg having achieved borough status in 1854) deliberated at length about the best type of bridge to replace that lost in April 1856 (and replaced by a temporary wooden structure upstream later in that year, anchored in position by two chains, according to Hattersley, 1938). The Minutes of the City Council (Natal Archives) for 1857 reveal that the dilemma of bridging the Umsindusi was the subject of debate on at least thirteen occasions. The outcome of the debate was the ordering of an iron tension bridge some 100 feet long and 20 feet wide from the Iron Bridge Company of Pall Mall, London, to be delivered to Durban by ship. It is interesting to note that the deliberations over the bridge coincided with the decision to create a park on the southern bank of the Umsindusi, upstream of the site of the proposed bridge.s A measure of the relief felt by the Council at having solved, it believed, an embarrassing problem for the city, was the proclamation of 22nd August The Umsindusi 47

The original Victoria Bridge circa 1863 (looking upstream). Note the lack of trees and other vegetation in the Alexandra Park and the town lots stretching down to the river. (Photograph: Natal Museum)

1858, the date on which Mayor W. Leathern laid the foundation stone of the first Victoria Bridge, as a school holiday marked by the holding of a "Victoria Fair" (Hattersley, 1938) in the new park. The relief of the city authorities and travellers alike was to be relatively short-lived, however, as in 1866 the bridge collapsed ignominiously under the vibrations set up by a large herd of oxen driven over it. Undaunted, the authorities used the iron tension rods and masonry pillars two years later to construct a narrow footbridge linking Chapel Street to the park - at a site about 50 metres upstream of the present footbridge , replacing the earlier wooden structure erected by lames Napoleon Wheeler" to serve the park (officially opened in 1863). The original Victoria Bridge components were later moved once again (in 1900) to form the basis of the footbridge linking Commercial Road to the Alexandra Park, a well-known landmark. This bridge (recently renovated) was known originally as the Park Suspension Bridge, but since 1963 has been officially named the O'Brien Bridge. The McFarlane Footbridge was erected in 1899 to provide access to the park from Chapel Street. The loss of the first Victoria Bridge in 1866 was not as serious a blow to the town as previous bridge collapses because in 1860 Scott's Bridge (an elaborate yellow-wood construction) had been erected by a Mr Hodgson (Meineke , 1980) at McKenzie's Drift at the foot of West Street. The Umsindusi was soon to re-assert itself, however, and in 1868 Scott's Bridge was washed away! Until the second Scott's Bridge and Victoria Bridge had been built and the river conquered at last, traffic into and out of Pietermaritzburg had to rely on the Camp Drift or Wheeler's rickety , temporary wooden bridge built a short way upstream of the present Victoria Bridge. 48 The Umsindusi

The McFarlane Bridge and the Umsindusi , then and now circa 1906 and 1982. (Photographs: Natal Museum and T. Wills) The Umsindusi 49

Scott's Bridge. Umsindusi. (Photograph: Natal Museum)

Though today's Umsindusi bridges seem capable of withstanding the river during its worst flooding. the river continues to exert an influence on traffic flows. A glance at a map of Pietermaritzburg's growing suburbs south of the Umsindusi will reveal how the road system is constrained by the limited number of bridges across the river. linking commuters to the commercial districts of the city.

The Umsindusi and Recreation Notwithstanding Barter's disparaging remarks, and the undoubted problems the Umsindusi posed for the city fathers and travellers alike, the river and its (later) shady banks were an invaluable asset as far as recreation in the colonial capital was concerned. The river was for many ye?rs the unofficial, tacitly accepted public swimming bath. Buchanan' in her Pioneer Days in Natal (1934, p. 66) recalls how the boys of the town would hurry down from school to the river, disrobing as they went ("Their lack of raiment did not give offence, for there was no one to see them"). She adds that there was a favourite swimming pool below the Victoria Bridge near Scott's Mill (roughly opposite the present day Woodburn Rugby Stadium) while the stretch of river from the hospital grounds to the "big island"7 gave the opportunity for a good long sWIm. A vivid account of the enjoyment provided by the Umsindusi is contained in the following extract from the unpublished memoirs of Robert James Mason: " ... once a year a gala was held on the U msindusi River. You would be surprised at the sport we had there. A raft was fixed up in the river from which the competitors dived. There were the usual short distance races but we had one long race starting at the Alexandra Bridge,8 quite 50 The Umsindusi

a mile away, which was a very hard race on account of shallows & rapids. Then there was the greasy pole with a Yorkshire Ham as prize; a greasy pig was put into the river and the man who caught it had it as a prize. Another item of great fun was when half a dozen ducks were put into the river and had to be caught. The ducks entered into the spirit of the game right away and immediately a man put out his hand to grab one it dived and bobbed up a dozen yards away. I entered once for the fancy dress race as a Salvation Army lassie with a ribbon "Happy Eliza" around my poke bonnet. For this race we were lined up on the raft, but on the pistol shot to start I found that owing to my costume I could not dive but had to jump in; my skirts floated on the water and my body went down. I struck out for the winning post but before I reached it my clothes were dragging me down and I was very thankful to reach the other side. Although I did not gain a place I received a special prize for the best costume. The final and best event of the day was a horse race. The conditions were: the horses had to be mounted on taking off from the one bank, but on entering the water the rider had to dismount, and, holding the saddle with his right hand, had to keep the horse's head out of the water with his left. The race was a bit risky on account of some of the horses pawing badly with their front legs. The horses had to be mounted on emerging." J .D. Holliday in his "Dottings on Natal" (1890 p. 22) commented: "The Little Bushman's River affords capital bathing, in which all who can, swim, and those who can't endeavour to learn. This highly useful, healthy, and necessary colonial exercise, was so far encouraged by the Town Council, that they one evening opened their hearts to determine on the erection of a bathing-house; but the wind shifted a day or two afterwards, and instead of a bathing-house, a policeman was put on duty, to keep people from bathing at all, and to walk off with any bogtrotter's toggery who happened to infringe these anti-hydropathic regulations. " The anti-hydropathic regulations he referred to came about, it would appear, because of the Increasing popularity of th~ Alexandra Park and the consequently increased traffic over the Umsindusi bridges, which led to a spate of complaints to the Council about the presence of naked bathers! At a Pietermaritzburg City Council meeting on the 14th January, 1863 (Natal Archives) it was decided to instruct the police to bar swimmers from the river on Sundays (when the Park was particularly busy) - the previous understanding having been that bathers would desist from swimming within one hundred yards of any of the bridges. It was the same 1.D. Holliday (above) who was responsible for the construction of Pietermaritzburg's first 'open air' swimming bath, near the Umsindusi and "just above Chapel St" (Buchanan, 1941). The bath, Buchanan recounts, was not a success despite the fact that bathing had been banned in the Umsindusi at the time of its construction." The present Alexandra Open Air Swimming Bath has enjoyed a far greater measure of success, positioned on the site of the Umsindusi bathing house. To an evergrowing band of canoeing enthusiasts Pietermaritzburg and Alexandra Park in particular have become synonymous with the "Dusi", a muscle-pulling, bone-jarring canoe-cum-footrace between Pietermaritzburg The Umsindusi 51 and Durban; a battle against river, hilly terrain, heat and sadly increasing pollution and risks of infection.lo Every year thousands of spectators line the river and bridges to watch hundreds of competitors jockey for position in the narrow course from the start (these days situated below the O'Brien Bridge. near the old "big island" referred to earlier). During the rest of the year, however, apart from a dedicated band of "Dusi" enthusiasts, boating is rarely seen on the river as it passes through the city. Indeed it is hard to imagine boating being possible below the Victoria Bridge weir. At the turn of the century, however, and up to the 1930s boating on the river was a much touted attraction of the city. The Natal Illustrated Guide (for 1917118) for example proclaimed: "To those interested in boating the river offers many opportunities ... a boating stretch some three miles in length affords infinite opportunities for recreation and pleasure". The guide continues enthusiastically: "What the river lacks in majesty is made up by its charm. Here Nature runs riot, and the placid surface of the stream reflects the prolific growth of vegetation lining its banks. Every bend opens up an enchanting vista, while some of the reaches are Gems of Nature's Handiwork". The guide concluded by noting that a "rustic tea-garden" had been opened for the boating enthusiasts. An undated 'boating map'" of the Umsindusi shows the tea-garden situated just below the confluence of the

Boating on the 'Dusi in bycgonl days. (Photograph: Natal Society Lihrary) 52 The Umsindusi The Umsindusi 53

The Umsindusi as it flows through Alexandra Park; a familiar sight to residents and visitors alike. The former course of the river when a "big island" existed at this point can be seen on the opposite bank. (Photograph: T. Wills) river and the Dorpspruit, and linked to the town centre by a footbridge over the latter stream. The necessary depth of water for boating was provided in all but the dryest seasons by the "Wigganthorpe Weir" (later "Musson's Weir" - demolished in 1967) and efforts on the part of Boating Club members to keep the river clear (for which they were commended by Borough Engineer J.J. Niven in his report to the Council in 1912). The 'boating map' shows the three mile course referred to in the Natal Illustrated Guide, marked at quarter mile intervals as the river meandered between Victoria Bridge and Wigganthorpe Weir. The names of the various bends and reaches on the river no doubt reflect much of the unwritten history of Pietermaritzburg at the time. What was the origin of the name "Party corner" (where the Merchiston Boys' School playing fields are today)? "Horsehoe Bend", "Gum Tree Bend", "Scott's Reach" and "Mason's Reach" have all disappeared, victims of the seemingly inevitable malaise of 'urban' rivers - canalisation. The river now runs straight down a man-made uniformly sculpted channel, where once "Gems of Nature's Handiwork" were there to behold. 12

Undated Boating Map of the Umsindusi between Victoria Bridge and Wigganthorpe Mill. (Natal Archives) 54 The Umsindusi

The Umsindusi as a source of power and water Future generations of citizens of Pietermaritzburg may wonder about the origins of the name 'Mason's Mill', now applied generally to the industrial zone between the city centre and Imbali township. To many present residents of the city, however, the remains of the Mason's Mill alongside the Umsindusi were a familiar sight when travelling between the city and Edendale, until road re-alignments obliterated this valuable relic of the time when a number of water-powered mills were kept busy processing the products of settler agriculture. In order to ensure the grinding of maize at a fixed rate for all burghers, the Volksraad (Hattersley, 1938) made C. Visagie and one Tobias Smuts grants of land for the purpose of erecting mills. While Visagic's land was within the dorp (on a site adjoining what were to become the grounds of Government House) and was thus powered by water drawn from the "sluite" or furrows lining the long streets in the dorp, Smuts's land lay on the northern banks of the Umsindusi below the confluence of the river and the Dorpspruit. Smuts's mill was acquired by J. Vanderplank soon after the British occupation of Natal and named by him "Milton" (according to Hattersley, 1938). The mill was also known as 'Compton's Mill' or 'Vanderplank's Mill'. In the late 1850s the majority of the commercial milling was done at the mill erected by Paul Anstie in 1854 and named the 'Belvidere Mill'. This mill was located on the northern bank of the Umsindusi about three quarters of a kilometre downstream of the Victoria Bridge weir, from which point a millrace led water to the Belvidere (the millrace is clearly visible on the 'boating map' - the mill being situated where a tannery is shown on the map). That milling was not an occupation without commercial risks was confirmed by the closure of the Belvidere after barely two years, preceded by the disappearance of Anstie, who it is claimed, sailed from Cape Town "quite indifferent to whether the boat went to Mauritius or India or elsewhere" (Hattersley, 1940 p. 21). Anstie's mill was subsequently known as Scott's mill. The provision of a domestic water supply would seem to be an obvious role for a river such as the Umsindusi to play, and indeed Henley Dam (situated about 18 km upstream) provides Pietermaritzburg with water, and the river and its tributaries, of course, serve many thousands of people living along their banks in the Zwartkops Location and Edendale areas. Until the permanent tapping of the Umsindusi at Henley, initiated at the turn of the century, the river played a minor role as far as water supply was concerned. The original source of water supply to the dorp as a whole was the Dorpspruit. A furrow led from this stream to the head of the Voortrekkers' grid layout of 'erven' (plots) and streets, supplying water to 'sluite' lining the dorp's long streets (eg. Church St., Longmarket St., Loop St., and so on) which in turn provided water for domestic use, for irrigating erven and even for driving water wheels at mills such as Visagie's and Wilson's (situated at the corner of Chapel St. and Loop St). 13 In colonial times the fierce controversy over the benefits imd shortcomings of the open furrow system and the, at times, erratic supply of water from the Dorpspruit, led to the introduction of a piped water system. The first 'waterworks' in the city were not situated on the Umsindusi, however, but The Umsindusi 55

Mason's Mill , Umsindusi. (From 1.0. Keith Photograph album. University of Natal Library. Pmb.) on the Dorpspruit in the Zwartkops Valley, and both the Town Bush and Chase Valley streams were tapped before the Umsindusi . This is not to say that private attempts were not made to use the waters of the Umsindusi. For example, in 1862 the Council was presented with a plan to lead water from the river at Plessislaer via furrows to the Alexandra Park vicinity, while by 1884 a group of enterprising residents calling themselves the Richmond Road Water Supply Company had won from the Council the right to draw water from the Umsindusi at Scott's Bridge for their properties along the present day College Road (Meineke and Summers, undated).

The Umsindusi and the future Far from being a "third-rate steam" the Umsindusi has played an important part in the past development of the city and will continue to do so in the future, although growing demands upon the river's water make it unlikely that any observer in the near future will echo the words of Governor McCallum and praise the "pellucid" waters of the Umsindusi. In conclusion, it is suggested that much more could be done to integrate the Umsindusi and its banks into Pietermaritzburg's park system. Despite 56 The Umsindusi inevitable canalisation of even greater stretches of the river, if security against flooding is to be provided, the river banks provide a "green thread" through the city which could be utilized, for example, to build a cycle path stretching from Camp Drift in the southwest to Echo Road in the north-east. Such a path with appropriate connections, could provide safe and attractive access to schools dotted along the river's flood plain and the city centre for cyclists and pedestrians, There are attractive stretches of the river, such as that immediately above the confluence of the Umsindusi and the Dorpspruit which are currently not readily accessible to the public and could be developed into "linear parks" with foot-paths and/or a cycle path system,I4 Pietermaritzburg is a growing city and it is essential that whatever opportunities there are to improve the quality of life are grasped, and in this case the Umsindusi could once again become a focus of recreational activities in the city,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The invaluable assistance in gathering information on Pietermaritzburg's Umsindusi bridges provided by Mr G. Summers (City Engineer's Department) is gratefully acknowledged.

NOTES 1 The spelling of 'Umsindusi' used in this article is widely used, although there are many variations. T.J.R. Botha (Watername in Natal, Naamkundereeks No. 8, HSRC, Pretoria, 1977) favours Msunduze for the seven rivers of the same name in Natal. H.C. Lugg (Zulu Place Names in Natal reprinted by "Daily News" Durban, 1968) gives emSumduze as the correct spelling for the river and the "one who pushes away" as the meaning. Yet another spelling (and meaning) is provided by the Rev. C. Pettman (S.A. Place Names Past and Present, Queenstown, 1931); i Sundusi (after the Zulu name for the plant Phoenix reelinata). What has not been established is when 'Umsindusi' replaced "Little Bushman's River" as the generally acknowledged name for the river; certainly both terms were used well into the 1870s. 2 In fairness to Barter the river would have looked less than impressive, particularly in winter, without the trees lining its banks planted during the 1860s, and without the weirs to dam it. , A painting of this bridge by John Sanderson is housed in the Local History Museum, Durban. The painting also provides an excellent view of the dorp/town beyond. 4 The rubber punt referred to belonged to Bishop Colenso (Gordon, 1982) and was apparently used by postmaster Mr Tatham, to transfer mail bags (stranded at Uys Doorns by flooding) across the river (Hattersley, 1938). 5 The decision to create Alexandra Park was taken by the Council on 21st September 1857. 6 James Napoleon Wheeler, a man of many talents, was appointed Assistant Town Clerk in 1859 and subsequently held a variety of other posts as well, e.g. Inspector of Public Works and Inspector of Meat. 7 The "big island" was located about one hundred metres below the present O'Brien Bridge. to the south of Kershaw Park. The river no longer bifurcates at that point although traces of the former course can still be detected. 8 Scott's Bridge at the foot of West St. was at times known as Alexandra Bridge. e.g. on the 1906 Seccandanari Map of Pietermaritzburg (Natal Museum). , A photograph of this first pool is contained in J. and A. Verbeek Victorian and Edwardian Natal, Shuter and Shooter, Pietermaritzburg, 1982. 10 The origins of this race, and descriptions of the Umsindusi en route are recounted by I. Player in Men, Rivers and Canoes, Simondium Pub .. Cape Town. 1964. 11 The "boating map" is undated and its origins are, to the writer's knowledge, unknown. Strangely it does not show the clubhouse of the Pietermaritzburg Boating Club at the Umsindusi end of Retief St. 12 The canalisation of the river has had the very beneficial side effect of creating areas of flat land over the former course of the river. 13 For further information on the Voortrekker dorps of Natal see Haswell. R.F. ''The Voortrekker Dorps of Natal", Natalia 10, 1980, pp. 23-33. The Umsindusi 57

,. This article was completed while the writer was temporarily resident in Ottawa, Canada; a city where planning authorities have made the Rideau River and its compliment, the Rideau canal the focus of a magnificent system of parks and recreational "bikeways" - utilizing at times only a servitude of about thirty mclres wide along the river and/or canal.

REFERENCES BARTER, C. (IX52) The Dorp and the Veld. Wm Off, London. BUCHANAN, B. (1934) Pioneer days in Natal. Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg. BUCHANAN, B. (1941) Nlllal Memories. Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg. GORDON, R. (19XI) The Place of the Elephant. Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg. HATTERSLEY, A. (1931\) Pietermaritzburg Panorama. Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg. HATTERSLEY, A. (1940) The Natalians. Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg. HATTERSLEY, A. (1951) Portrait of a City. Shuter & Shooter, Pietermaritzburg. HOLLIDAY, J .0. (1890) Dottings on Natal. P. Davis & Sons, Pietermaritzburg. MASON. R.J. (undated) "I remember Pictermaritzburg in the 'seventies and 'eighties" Unpublished memoirs. MEINEKE. E.N. (1980) "Scott's Bridge, Pietermaritzburg" The Civil Engineer, October, 191\0. MEINEKE. E.N., and Summers, G. (undated). Unpublished notes on the history of the Pietermaritzburg City Engineer's Department.' Natal Diocesan Magazinc. Vo!. VII. IY03. Natal Illustrated Guidc (1917I1X). Durban. Pietermaritzburg City Council Minutes (11\54--). Natal Archives. Pietermaritlburg. SPOHR. O.H. (1%5) The Natal Diaries of Dr W.H.I. Bleek (reprinted 1965, A.A. Balkerna. Cape Town). Twentieth Centurs IlIIpressions of Natal (19()6). Lloyds Greater Britain Publish ing Co.. London. TREVOR WILLS 58

M ariannhill Centenary: A look at the Early Years 1982 marks the centenary of the establishment of Mariannhill Monastery, outside Pinetown, by a group of Trappist monks led by Father Franz Pfanner. The history of the monastery is inextricably linked with the name and the personality of Pfanner, although he was abbot only until 1893. Pfanner was the son of a farmer, born at Vorarlberg in Austria in 1825, and was described as a wiry, red-headed, energetic, hot-tempered man. He studied for the priesthood and spent some years as a parish priest before joining the Trappists in 1863. The time during which Pfanner was active was the period of the Kulturkampf in Europe and to this must be attributed some of the enthusiasm of Catholics for overseas missions as they closed ranks against Bismarckian opposition. It was also the pre-war period in which prosperity and stability were manifested in vast edifices, and this too had an effect on Pfanner's ideas and his plans. In modern terms he liked to 'think big'.

The Trappists have been described as twice reformed Benedictines. I The Benedictine Order, founded by St Benedict in the 6th century, was reformed by St Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century, and after it had suffered from wars and upheavals in France, it was again reformed by Armand de Rance of the Monastery of La Trappe in Normandy, from which the Trappists took their name. Rance re-introduced the strict observance which St Benedict had advocated, consisting of prayer, contemplation and manual work. The monks observed strict silence, began the day with Matins at 2 a.m., and lived on a vegetarian diet. They were to preach the Christian message, not through pastoral work but by silent example. Trappist Monks had been successful in establishing a monastery and an agricultural colony at Staoueli in Algeria and it was with this in mind that Bishop Ricards of the Eastern Cape approached the Trappist General Chapter at Septfons in France in 1879 asking for a group to come to South Africa to work among the Thembu. Abbot Pfanner, then superior of a monastery in Bosnia, volunteered to come with 30 monks and the party sailed in July 1880. Ricards settled them in Dunbrody on the Sundays River, but despite their efforts the Dunbrody experiment was a failure, the drought and poor soil being too much even for the skilled cultivators among the Trappists. In July 1882 Pfanner left for Europe to consult his superior, sending two of his followers to Pietermaritzburg to ask permission of Bishop lolivet for the Trappist party to settle in Natal. With Jolivefs approval and the understanding that the Trappists would take over the unsuccessful St Michael's mission near Highflats and be responsible for their own expenses, the two returned to Dunbrody to arrange for the removal to Natal. The first Mariannhill Centenary 59

Abbot Pfanner outside the first 'abbey', 1885. (Photograph: Father L.A. Mettler, CM.M.) party under Father 10seph Biegner left Dunbrody on November 24, 1882 and the second under Father Arsenius two weeks later. The first party was met at Port Natal by Bishop 10livet and escorted to St Francis Xavier mission on the Bluff and soon afterwards Father Biegner set out with an Oblate priest to inspect St Michael's mission. On December 18th Father Franz arrived in Pietermaritzburg to present his credentials to the Bishop and to inform him that he had no intention of taking over St Michael's because of its distance from the port; instead he intended to buy the farm Zeekoegat near Pinetown from the Natal Land and Colonization Company for the sum of £1 000. 2 10livet finally agreed to the change in plan, the ox-wagons were recalled from Isipingo where they were preparing to leave for St Michael's and the whole party set out for Pinetown, the first wagons arriving on December 26th 1882. The first Mass was celebrated by Pfanner on December 27th and the new venture began with the renaming of the farm as Mariannhill after the Virgin Mary and her mother St Ann, to whom, it is said, Pfanner had a great devotion. The name also commemorated Pfanner's stepmother Maria-Anna who had encouraged his priestly vocation and had assisted him financially. 3 For some time the monks lived under canvas but slowly buildings were erected and one of the illustrations shows Pfanner outside his first abbey, a small wood and iron building. Development of the farm was high on the list of priorities, partly because there was an urgent need to grow vegetables and cereals for the monks' own use and partly because agricultural development was an intrinsic part of the Trappists' missionary method. With the motto 60 Mariannhill Centenary

Ora et labora they set to work to cultivate crops of all descriptions, to build roads and to make bricks for the permanent buildings, all the time retaining the hours and rules of the Trappist Order in Europe. They kept silence except for an hour spent in recreation and the brothers engaged in manual work for nine hours a day, the priests for six. Three brothers were appointed to conduct everyday affairs such as shopping and welcoming visitors, and these were permitted to speak. Of their way of life Pfanner explained: "What do I offer the monks in return? Well, an excellent diet. Only no meat, no fish, no eggs, no butter, no coffee, no condiments, no sweets. Nothing to drink except water and plenty of that. I offer them a hard paillasse to sleep on and coarse woven clothes to wear. I demand hard manual work, like digging, threshing, mowing, washing, chopping wood, scrubbing floors - and all this in the heat, wind, ice ... For all this I offer and give no pay, no remuneration"" It requires little imagination to realise how extraordinary the whole enterprise must have seemed, not only to the Zulus but to the colonists as well, most of whom were Protestants, while even the Catholics among them had little knowledge of monastic life. Christian missionaries had been working in Natal since 1835 when the Church Missionary Society sent Captain Allen Gardiner to work among the Zulus. The first Catholic missionaries arrived in March 1852, when Bishop Allard and a group of Oblates of Mary Immaculate established centres at Pietermaritzburg and Durban. All the missionary bodies had a similar

" demand hard manual work ...' Roadmaking. c.1883. (Photograph: Father L.A. Mettler, CM. M.) Mariannhill Centenary 61 missionary method and all depended to a large extent on grants of land from the Natal Government. Large tracts of land were set aside for mission reserves after IS55. a total of 70 777 ha. being allocated by 1864.' On each mission reserve the glebe was used by the missionary and his family and staff for a church and a school while the remainder continued to be occupied by the chief, his followers and their stock. Initially after the erection of the chapel or church the tribespeople were invited to attend the opening ceremony when the word of God was explained to them; this was followed by visits to their homes by the missionary and catechists. Parents were invited to send their children to attend the school and from these openings the evangelistic process continued and eventually converts were made. None of these conditions applied to the Trappists whose work was based on the centuries-old Benedictine method of attracting converts by example. Firstly, Pfanner did not ask for, nor did he receive. grants of land from the Government. He purchased carefully selected farms at places convenient to transport. as in the case of Mariannhill. with fertile soil, abundant water and with a reasonable number of kraals from which to draw pupils for his schools and. eventually. to make adult converts to Christianity. This enabled him to be freer from government control than other mission bodies and he could and did make his own terms with the occupiers of the farm lands who were now his tenants. No rent was charged for the first year but during that time the tenant and his family was expected to build a strong hut, preferably square. with at least one window and a door. Tenants with more than one wife were not interfered with but no extra wives were to be taken while the family lived on mission property. Pfanner saw tribal life as "the endless monotony of idleness"" and encouraged his tenants to improve their own plots of land or to take paid employment on the mission property. Some men did arrive at the end of 1884 to work on road building but others found his insistence on standards of hygiene. sobriety and morality impossible to accept and moved off the Mariannhill property.7 In addition to the building of the monastery and the planting of crops the brothers at Mariannhill engaged in all kinds of trades and crafts. A printer was engaged in producing pamphlets and books reporting on progress at the mission for the benefit of donors in Europe. Two periodicals were published in the first years, Fliegende Btaffer aus Mariannhill and Vergissmeinnic/zt and in 1889 the Mariannhiller Kalender, an annual. made its appearance. The object of these publications was to keep donors informed of progress, to keep their interest alive and to keep the supply of money, so urgently needed, flowing in. Pfanner wrote many of the articles himself and they were illustrated with photographs to enable the reader to see how far the work had progressed. In later years he was to be strongly criticised by the Father Visitor for advertising the work of the mission and for publishing articles on non-religious subjccts.8 A photographic studio was set up specializing in studies of Zulu life and customs, many of which found their way into the various Mariannhill publications. The Mission Archives still has negatives of hundreds of these photographs forming a unique collection. Mariannhill had been in existence for nearly two years before mission work as it was generally known was commenced. In 1884 a Basuto catechis!, Benjamin Makhaba, joined the Mariannhill staff and began to visit the kraals in the vicinity of Mariannhill. He found six 62 Mariannhill Centenary boys whose parents were willing to allow them to attend school; later the chief ordered that two boys be sent from each kraal and the number increased considerably. Instruction at the school was rudimentary with concentration on the three R's. Each day began with ablutions and the donning of a shapeless white garment supplied by the monks for use during the school day.9 It was Bryant, one of the men particularly concerned with the educational aspect of the mission work, who had pity on the young boys who were expected to sit for long hours in the classroom, in the way of German and French boys. He arranged for them to spend each afternoon in the open air learning from the many skilled brothers who practised their craft in the workshops and in the fields. 10 Soon Pfanner, dissatisfied with the slow progress, decided to build a hostel and to turn the school into a boarding establishment so that the newly acquired knowledge was not forgotten as soon as lessons were over. This was an entirely new idea to the Blacks and was difficult for them to accept. Many complaints were made that children were being forcibly removed from their parents, and modifications in the original plan had to be made before the experiment was successful. In addition to the three R's Benjamin instructed the boys in Christian doctrine and at the end of 1884 four of them accepted baptism and were given Christian names. From the first Pfanner insisted on lessons being given in English and, as the only Englishman, Bryant was invaluable. Little girls were accepted as pupils after 1885 when Pfanner's advertisement for women to help at Mariannhill was published in the Trappist news magazine Vergissmeinnicht. A party of five German and Austrian women arrived in Natal in September of that year; they were given a uniform and put to work as lay sisters. 1I One of their duties was to teach the girls and it was this group that laid the foundation of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood which works now in Natal and the Transkei and in other parts of the world. Pfanner caused an outcry in the Colony when he insisted that his objectives were to train good Zulu wives and mothers and not to provide domestic servants for the colonial households. Indeed it was his educational ideas that brought a great deal of publicity to the monastery, much of it unwanted. His article in the Mariannhill publication Natal Record found its way into the Government House files with its controversial and somewhat dogmatic statements about education for girls. "A ... girl should be able just to read as much Kafir as would enable her to learn the catechism and her prayers, she should be able to undertake the simplest arithmetic viz. to ascertain how much her twenty eggs or her sack of mealies is worth; this should suffice". 12 His views on the place of Black women in the home would not have found favour with modern feminists: "If a girl be able to read like a boy, to count like him, to write like him, and then gets married, woe to the husband ... She will not work lor her partner; she will not mend his clothes when they need repairs; she will not till his little garden; she will not look after her kitchen but she will try to dress herself and desire to be waited upon like an English-woman, she will lead a useless and unprofitable life . . ."13 Pfanner's argument was that it was pointless to send inspectors to test Zulu children on complicated points of English grammar, the knowledge of Mariannhill Centenary 63 which, in the circumstances and as first generation school-goers, would be irrelevant for their future life which he saw as being spent as well trained artisans or agricultural labourers. Sir John Akerman commented on the article at the Governor's request remarking that many people would take exception to the place assigned to women by the Abbot since "in this age of the world 'woman' is regarded as the equal of the man. Tradition which oft times insists on the necessary inferiority and ignorance has become superseded by the light of experience and the voice of the centuries ..."" Nevertheless, Akerman seems to have exaggerated since the education of the majority of European girls in colonial Natal was certainly not equal to that of boys, especially as regards curriculum and length of schooling. Writing of the 1850s and 1860s Vietzen describes the characteristics of education for girls as "brevity, uncertainty, improvisation, opportunism"ls and in Europe, while a minority of the upper classes might send their daughters to be educated away from home, the majority of girls were given an education quite different from that of their brothers. It was for industrial education that Mariannhill was particularly well equipped. In 1887 the Inspector of Native Education, who examined the schools and the workshops at Mariannhill, approved a grant of £100. By 1889 the schools were well established and a great variety of technical instruction had been offered; skilled printers, blacksmiths, carpenters and joiners, wagon-makers, coopers. bricklayers and stone-cutters. tanners, tailors, shoemakers, bakers, bookbinders, plumbers, clock-makers, saddlers, and glass-makers were at work on the mission. The abbot, therefore, decided to apply to the Council of Education for an increase in the grant from £100 to £500. There was an immediate outcry and both the superintending Inspector of Schools, Robert Russell, and the Inspector of Native Education, Robert Plant, were sent to inspect the monastery schools. Their report was published in the Government Gazette, /6 receiving a great deal of publicity and showing disagreement between the inspectors. Russell reported favourably while Plant was critical both of the amount and the standard of school work offered. The press took up the argument assisted by numerous letters to the editor. In the end Mariannhill did not receive the additional grant despite the praise by both inspectors for the thoroughness and variety of industrial training given to 177 pupils. As compared to the £100 given by the Colonial Government, Pfanner spent £6 300 in that year alone on education, board and clothing; this money was donated by his benefactors in Europe. 17 After 1893, the Natal government appointed a special committee to investigate the subject of native education and it duly recommended that the main object of the schools should be to train Africans to work, while education should be kept to an elementary level. The cost to the Colony was not to exceed £4 500. Under the new regulations for industrial schools Mariannhill lost its grant altogether and in the first year £1 061.2.6d was granted for the whole Colony, no school being allowed more than £250. IX It was about this time that colonists began to show concern that the skilled artisans from industrial schools run by mission societies might offer strong competition to white artisans and mechanics, with the result that industrial education in mission schools fell into disfavour. Although the Trappists differed from other missionary bodies in the 64 Mariannhill Centenary

Colony in many respects, there was a similarity which was in fact typical of 19th century Europeans in all parts of the world. Unlike the missionaries sent to England by Gregory I in the 7th century, who were told, "Baptise, but do not destroy the realities", most 19th century missionaries saw little worth preserving in African religion and tribal beliefs, which appeared to them only as superstition and paganism. They were similar also in their attitude to nakedness, which seemed to disgust them, and all made attempts to clothe the Blacks as quickly as possible. Pfanner's collectors in Europe appealed for clothing and large quantities arrived to be received, apparently enthusiastically, by his tenants and the families of the school children. 19 Although unappreciative of these aspects of African life, the Trappists were nevertheless vitally interested in the Zulu language. Soon after their arrival they arranged for the Oblate missionary, Father Louis Mathieu, to ride over from Oakford each week to give lessons to the Trappists, one of whom, A.T. Bryant, soon outstripped his teacher. Bryant prepared a number of word lists and grammars for the use of his colleagues and translated many educational and religious texts into Zulu. Bryant, one of the few Englishmen who worked at Mariannhill, had a deep interest in the Zulus aroused during the Anglo-Zulu war. He had heard Pfanner speak, during a visit to England, about the need for missionaries to educate the Zulu children and to preach the Christian message, and he volunteered, arriving in Natal in 1883. His first literary work printed at Mariannhill in 1887 was Roman legions on Libyan fields; the story of the Trappist missionaries among the Zulus in Natal, written under the pen name Sihlobosami. His interest in Zulu language and culture increased with the years and he began to collect oral evidence, especially on early events and lineages, as soon as he had mastered the language. His best known works are Olden times in Zululand and Natal and The Zulus before the White man came and although his work is criticised by modern scholars it still offers an excellent example of 19th and early 20th century scholarship. In the words of Shula Marks "his work is, and must remain, the most important single source of Nguni history before and during the Mfecane and is of very considerable importance to anyone trying to understand the structure of the Zulu state throughout the 19th century". 21 Later, another Mariannhill priest, Father Willibald Wanger, built up an enviable reputation as a Zulu scholar and linguist with his publications including Konversations-Grammatik der Zulusprache, baSEd on Colenso's Grammar and Scientific Zulu Grammar. The last abbot of Mariannhill, Abbot Gerard Wolpert, was a considerable Zulu scholar and his translation of the Bible forms the basis for the Zulu Bible now used in Catholic churches. MariannhilI was also early in the field of journalism, producing a number of short-lived journals in the 1890s while in 1912 a Zulu newspaper lzindaba Zabantu, appeared, changing its title to Umafrika in 1929, under which name it is still published weekly at Mariannhill. Another monk who became well known in Natal was the skilled architect and engineer, Brother Nivard Streicher who was responsible for designing a number of monastery buildings including the church and the cloisters. He constructed bridges, installed and maintained the turbine engines which Mariannhill Centenary 65

provided power, and established the water supply on the various missions. He also acted as consultant to the Colonial Government on many occasions, particularly when large bridges were to be erected and he was well known among the farming community for his ability to repair boilers and other equipment. 22 At Newcastle he built the campanile and the garden pavilion in the grounds of St Dominic's Academy, now declared national monuments. In addition to priests and brothers, Pfanner, (who was appointed abbot in 1885), introduced a group of mission helpers called Franziner. These were priests or laymen who came at their own expense on annual contracts. To be accepted they had to be trained in a trade or profession, be free of debt and of good character and be prepared to pay their own return fare to Europe. It was these men, and the women mentioned earlier, who helped Mariannhill to develop so rapidly and enabled the abbot to open new foundations . Pfanner made frequent visits to Europe to recruit monks and laymen for Mariannhill and by 1898 it had become the largest abbey in the world both numerically and in the number of its extensions. 23

Abbot Pfanner and Brother Nivard set out on a missionary journey. (Photograph: Father L.A. Mettler, CM.M)

In 1886 with Mariannhill firmly established Abbot Pfanner began to think of opening daughter houses, the traditional way in which monasteries extended their influence. The original foundation served as a nucleus for the establishment of other centres, each with its own superior and a large measure of independence, but retaining close contact with the mother house whose abbot made periodic visitations. Pfanner planned to open his new monasteries each about a day's ride from Mariannhill or from each other and the first was Reichenau on the Polela River, 216 km from Mariannhill, opened in 1886. Reichenau consisted of 2 227 ha with a river frontage which 66 Mariannhill Centenary included a waterfall capable of being harnessed for power. One of the reasons for selecting this farm was that the chief, Sakayedwa, was most anxious to have a school opened and had promised his support. Pfanner's next purchase was a small farm at Rosebank outside Richmond, which, being surrounded by white farms, was not ideal for a mission station, but was half way between Mariannhill and Reichenau and thus a useful overnight stop. Also in 1887 a farm of 1 240 ha. was purchased in the Blitsberg on the Ixopo Road where Mariathal Mission was established; another 588 ha. was bought in the Highflats district for Oetting mission. Between 1887 and 1892 Kevelaer mission was established at Polela Road near Bulwer, Lourdes in East Griqualand, Centocow at Dronk Vlei in the Creighton district, Maria Ratschitz in the Biggarsberg, Rankweil near Westville. Maria Ratschitz was situated far from the other Trappist stations and was the only one to be overrun during the Anglo-Boer war. In 1890 the Trappists took over St Michael's mission, the old Oblate mission that had been allocated to them in 1882. Of all these missions Lourdes was the largest, consisting of 20 243 ha, and was part of the land belonging to Donald Strachan, one of the earliest traders in the region and a friend of Adam Kok. About 4 000 ha. were put aside for the use of the monastery, the remainder being used for Christian and other Black tenants. It was at Lourdes that the brothers revived the medieval system of marsh or bog drainage to produce excellent wheat lands; horse and cattle breeding was also introduced in addition to crops. A waterfall on the property was harnessed to provide power for the turbine engines and the monastery buildings were set on the hi11side overlooking the farm lands. 24 In 1892, ten years after the arrival of the Trappists in Natal, they could look back on a period of remarkable progress. Mariannhill had beautiful buildings, workshops producing articles of all kinds and fine farmlands which enabled the monks to be virtually self-supporting. The schools were flourishing, the number of converts was growing steadily and the Abbot continued to attract monks and helpers of all kinds as well as generous donations of money; at the same time the daughter monasteries were becoming established. In that year the General Chapter of the Trappists decided to send an apostolic visitor to report on Pfanner's work and Father Francis Strunk, Abbot of Olenberg was appointed. As a result of his visit Pfanner was suspended for a year for contravening certain Trappist regulations and before the year was up he resigned and went to live at Emaus mission near Lourdes in East Griqualand where" he and two companions continued their mission work, opening a model dairy farm. Pfanner remained there until his death in 1909. 25 Pfanner's successors continued almost unchanged the work he began at Mariannhill, including the extension to other areas and the method of establishing Black Christian communities on monastery farms. Under Abbot Amandus Scholzig (1894--1900) eight new properties were acquired including Maria-Zell near Matatiele, Maria-Telgte in the Swartberg district, Maria-Hilf or Maryhelp between Emaus and St Michael's, Clairvaux near Impendhle, Citeaux outside Bulwer, Mariatrost in the Highflats area, and in East Griqualand Hardenberg and Maria-Linden. During Abbot Amandus's time the first missions outside Natal and East Griqualand were opened. Two Mariannhill Centenary 67

Plenary meeting outside the monastery church. c.1903. (Photograph: Father L.A. Mettler, C.M.M.) farms were acquired in Rhodesia; Triashill, the land for which had been granted to Abbot Pfanner by Cecil Rhodes, and Monte Cassino. A migrating mission or Wandernden Kirche was established in Johannesburg to serve the needs of the Zulus and Basutos working on the gold mines. A group of Mariannhill monks and Precious Blood Sisters also entered the mission field in East Africa in 1897. The third and last abbot of Mariannhill was Father Gerard Wolpert (1900---1904) who like his predecessors was faced with the impossible task of combining the strict and inflexible monastic Rule of the Trappists with the ever growing needs of the many mission stations. During his period in office three new stations were opened, St John's at Highflats, Himmelberg and Maris-Stella in Southern Natal. In 1903, having called together the missionaries from all the stations, he explained that it was no longer possible to continue in the old way and that he was going to Rome to consult with his superiors. He tendered his resignation the following year, returning to his mission and handing over administration to the Father Visitor. Under the Visitor, Abbot Edmund Obrecht from Kentucky, all further extensions were stopped and the Trappists in East Africa were recalled, their work being handed over to the Holy Ghost Fathers. Efforts were made to transfer the Rhodesian foundations to the English Jesuits; in exchange the Trappist were to be responsible for running the Jesuit mission at Keilands in the Eastern Cape. Unfortunately the many changes and the tightening up of regulations by Obrecht brought disunity among the Mariannhill staff, leading to a crisis in 1909 when Mariannhill was separated from the Trappist Order as the Religious Missionaries of Mariannhill under Father Gerard Wolpert as the first provost. Under Wolpert extensions began again with the purchase of a 68 Mariannhill Centenary farm at Besters and St Anne's Mission, Loteni, Far View mission near Mount Fletcher, Stockville Farm on the borders of Mariannhill and numerous outstations. The First World War was a difficult time for Mariannhill since most of the monks came from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Eastern Europe. Their long period of service to the African people in South Africa and their complete separation from political affairs stood them in good stead, however, and with the assistance of Bishop Delalle and the co-operation of General Louis Botha they· were allowed to remain at their posts without interference. 26 Both new staff and supplies of money were cut off during the 1914--18 period, and with worries about families and colleagues in the war area this was in every way a difficult time. Finally in 1921, after a plenary chapter had been held, the new constitution, drafted in 1913, was approved. Father Adalbero Fleischer was elected first Superior-General of the Mariannhill Missionary congregation as Vicar Apostolic of Mariannhill, now completely seperated from the Natal vicariate. During the First World War Father Bernard Huss, well known as an educator, began to be recognized for his economic and social activities among the Africans. In 1915 he became principal of St Francis' Teachers' Training College where he taught agriculture, psychology and music, writing his own text-books. In addition to his teaching activities he lectured widely on economic subjects, during the course of which he came into contact with Clements Kadalie's Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union which he believed to be militantly anti-White and anti-Christian. To counter the rapidly growing influence of Kadalie, Huss and two other Mariannhill fathers, J.B. Sauter and E. Hanisch, founded the Catholic African Union with the motto "Better homes, better fields, better hearts". This movement was successful in the 1920s and 1930s and its scope was extended to include co-operative societies and people's banks.27 Huss also wrote a series of articles spanning the period 1925-1947, to the Catholic newspaper Ihe Southern Cross in the hope of bringing White Christians to a better understanding of Black problems and aspirations. The total membership of the Catholic African Union is unknown but its annual congresses were attended by several thousand Africans and Huss's influence can still be felt in the Marriannhill diocese. African catechists and teachers were trained at Mariannhill and its extensions from early days, but in the last decades of the 19th century it was decided that the time was ripe for training African priests and religious. The first young men were sent to train in Rome, returning to work in Natal. The Protestant Churches had taken this step of training indigenous people for the Christian ministry, much earlier, Tiyo Soga having been ordained as early as 1856 but this was the first time the Catholic Church in South Africa had admitted novices. In 1925 a minor seminary was opened at Mariathal Mission, leading to an increase in the number of Black priests. In 1923 the Franciscan Familiars of St Joseph were formed and Black sisters were trained at Mariannhill as the Daughters of St Francis of Assisi after 1922. There were 209 sisters in 1945"8 and at the present time the Congregation numbers about 300. In 1921 the Natal vicariate was reorganised. Mariannhill gained Southern Natal and the Transkei and lost Maria Ratschitz and St Joseph's Mission, Mariannhill Centenary 69

Besters. In 1930 and 1935 there were further divisions to form the dioceses of Umtata and Kokstad; in 1954 the Umzimkulu diocese was detached. At the present time the borders of Mariannhill comprise Ixopo, Impendhle , Umzinto and part of Bulwer, Himeville, part of Port Shepstone, Umzimkulu, parts of Camperdown and Mariannhill itself. The diocese consists of 12612 sq . km . and has a Catholic population of 245 400.29 Mariannhill in 1982 no longer has the large numbers of lay brothers and priests which enabled it to maintain the many skilled workshops in earlier days. Government legislation has brought about many changes in land usage and occupation. Schools are still run on mission properties on traditional Catholic lines and like other Catholic mission schools are financed privately, but public examinations are written. Mariannhill mission has a well equipped hospital, an orphanage, a large cathedral and is the residence of the Bishop of Mariannhill, now for the first time a Zulu, the Rev. Paul Mngoma. It is also the mother house of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood. On the property is a retreat house, a guest house, a retirement home for staff and the catechetical training school Khanyisa. Mariannhill missionaries are at work also in Zimbabwe, Brazil and New Guinea. One hundred years have seen tremendous progress and achievement as well as setbacks and the necessity for adaptation. The spirit of Abbot Franz Pfanner still pervades Mariannhill and its daughter houses, imbuing the

The recently renovated monastery church , 1982. (Photograph: Fath er L.A. Mettler, C.M.M.) 70 Maniannhill Centenary missionaries with that energy and wide vision combined with the practicality and lack of sentimentality that were characteristic of its founder, and which have made Mariannhill well known not only in Southern Africa but in Europe and the United States.

REFERENCES

I F. Schimlek: Mariannhill: a study of missionary effort, 1953, pp. 11-13. 2 'Monastic life in Natal' in Natal Mercury, May 18, 1883. 3 J.B. Brain: Catholic beginnings in Natal, 1975, p. 167. 4 A.L. Balling: Abbot Frallcis Pfanner 1825-1909, 1980, p. 63. , E.H. Brookes and C. de B. Webb: A History of Natal, 1965, p. 60. 6 R. Kneipp and others: Mariannhill and its Apostolate, 1964, p. 76. 7 Natal Mercury, July 20, 1887. N J.B. Brain: Catholics in Natal, ll, 1982, p. 160. 9 Schimlek: Mariannhill ... p. 59. JO A.T. Bryant: Some sweet memories. Unpublished typescript, p. 4. 11 Brain: Catholics in Natalll, p. 146. 12 Natal Record, March 12, 1889. J3 G.H. 1601, pp. 161-2 (Natal Archives). 14 G.H. 1601, pp. 166---8. I, S. Vietzen: History of education for European girls in Natal, 1837-1902. 1980, p. 15. 16 Natal Government Gazette, XLI, 2384, Dct. 1, 1889. 17 Natal Advertiser, Jan. 30, 1890. IN Natal Witness, Dct. 27, 1893. 19 F. Pfanner: Les Trappistes dans I'Afrique du sud. (MS. Archives of Archdiocese of Durban). 20 W.E. Brown: The Catholic Church in South Africa, 1960, p. 225. 21 S. Marks: 'The traditions of the Natal 'Nguni'; a second look at the works of A.T. Bryant', in L.M. Thompson (ed.): African Societies in Southern Africa, London, 1969. 22 Balling: Abbot Francis Pfanner, pp. 91-2. 23 R. Kneipp and others: Mariannhill and its apostolate, 1964, p. 61. 24 Brain: Catholics in Natal ll. 1982, pp. 152-3. 25 Ibid., pp. 158----62. 26 H. Delalle: Diary, Dct. 30, 1914 (AAD) 27 F. Schimlek: Against the stream, 1949, Chap. 8 and 11. 28 B. Huss: 'African sisters' in Southern Cross, Feb. 7, 1945. 29 Catholic Directory of Southern Africa, 1981. JOY B. BRAIN 71

Henry Selby Msimang Selby Msimang was born in Edendale on 13th December, 1886, and died there on 29th March, 1982. Not many of his conscious moments in those 95 years were wasted. Hardly a single movement with which he came into contact and which he thought might bring greater freedom in South Africa did not engage his support. His first important political involvement was in 1912, with the founding of the South African Native National Congress, later to become the African National Congress. At that time he was a clerk in the Johannesburg office of Advocate Pixley Ka Isaka Seme, recently qualified overseas and the inspiration behind the first ANC conference. As Seme's assistant he became deeply involved in the preliminaries to the conference. Afterwards , as the Johannesburg deputy for Sol Plaatje , the organisation'S first secretary, who lived in Kimberley, he was responsible for much of the day-to-day administration of the new organisation. He was an important figure in the committee established to raise funds to send a deputation to Britain to try to secure the repeal of the Natives' Land Act of 1913 , the source of so much misery and bitterness at that time and ever since. He continued his active

Mr Selby Msimang (Photograph : Th e /Vara/ Wiln ess) 72 Henry Selby Msimang aSSOciatIOn with the ANC through its many vicissitudes in the period between the two World Wars, and, after the Second World War, he became the new provincial secretary of its Natal region on the same ticket which brought Chief Albert Luthuli his first important post in that organisation, that of Natal President of the Congress. Selby had a long association with trade union work. He led a strike of municipal workers in Bloemfontein as long ago as 1917, and for that he was arrested and detained - a very gentlemanly detention by the standards prevailing at the time of his death. He helped launch Clements Kadalie's great Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of the 1920s and was for a short while its president. He was an active canvasser for Dr. Edgar Brookes during his time as Senate representative of the African voters of Natal. He was a member of the Natives' Representative Council when Dr. Verwoerd abolished it. He served the Methodist Church, to which his grandfather had been one of the earliest converts, faithfully, if not uncritically, all his life. He became involved in the S.A. Institute of Race Relations, the Joint Council Movement, the Edendale Benevolent Society, the Edendale Advisory Board and a host of other organisations. More recently he joined Inkatha and was an honoured member of its National Council. My close association with Selby Msimang arose through the Liberal Party of South Africa. In 1951 a small group of people of all races started meeting in Pietermaritzburg to discuss a non-racial alternative to the new apartheid policies which were then starting to be so vigorously applied. Selby was one of them. This group became part of a wider Liberal Association, with branches in many of the main centres of the country, which was established later that year. In May 1953, shortly after the Nationalist Party had won its second general election, a meeting of the Association was called in Cape Town to discuss what to do next - in the light of the fact that the Nationalists seemed destined to be in power for a long time to come and the parliamentary opposition was showing no sign of being able to produce a policy which would either beat them at the polls or satisfy the increasingly articulate expression of black aspirations. Selby and I went as the two Natal delegates to this meeting and there we both voted to convert the Liberal Association into the Liberal Party of South Africa. The Liberal Party was thus non-racial in its origiris although its early membership was predominantly white. Its aims were the establishment of a democratic system in South Africa, initially on the basis of a non­ discriminatory qualified franchise, but later on the basis of universal suffrage. In the new society equal rights and responsibilities would be shared by all, and vigorous steps would be taken to eliminate the inequalities which flowed from past discriminatory practices. These were the kinds of ideas that Selby really believed in and I have the feeling that the non-racial character of the Liberal Party provided him with the most congenial political home of all those to which he gave his support. Certainly the amount of energy and enthusiasm he gave to building up the Party was remarkable. His associations with the African people of Natal were very wide and there was scarcely a community in which he was not known. Through these he helped build up a network of Liberal Party branches throughout the Province and what had started off as a predominantly white organisation had, by the time it was closed down by government action 15 years later, grown into a Henry Selby Msimang predominantly black organisation. Many of these branches 'vere in black freehold areas, the '"blackspots". Selby Msimang was in the forefront of the fight to prevent their removal (as the dictates of apartheid required). a campaign in which he was still engaged, still prepared to sacrifice time and his by then failing strength. right up to the day of his death. In his hume area of Edendale he helped found, and then chaired. a branch of the Liberal Party which had every race group amongst its members and was a living example of what Selby stood for and the kind of society he wanted to see established in South Africa. What did all this achieve for Selby. his lifelong dedication to this struggle for a society in which everyone. Afrikaner as much as Zulu. would enjoy the freedom which he regarded as God-given. and exercise the responsibility to serve which he regarded as the burden the gift of freedom bestowed on everyone of us? It achieved for him. in his late 70s. a banning order which cut short his political work and confined him to the district of Pietermaritzburg - and when one day. because one of his family was ilL and he forgot to make the weekly report to the police station which his order required. he was sent to prison. his first experience of the inside of a gaol since those far-off days in Bloemfontein. Almost every campaign that Selby fought was lost. and a great many of the things he believed in were destroyed by a succession of white-controlled South African governments. and especially by the Nationalist governments after 1948. Does this mean that his life was a failure? One had onlv to meet him to know that the thought had never entered his head. As far as he was concerned. one fought for what was right. regardless of the chances of success. because that was what one had to do. Failure could not mean total defeat. for by fighting. one's own integrity and dignity had been preserved. For the last 70 years of his life Selby Msimang saw his freedom in the material world shrink steadily under the assault of the law-makers of South Africa. yet. in some strange way. when he died in Edendale on March 29th, the manner of his living meant that he died a freer man than they. PETER BROWN

Professor Karl Nathanson

It is a privilege to be able to write a tribute to Professor Karl Nathanson who died on 18th June 1982 while still in the service of the University of Natal. He was a colleague and friend who contributed much to the welfare of the University, as well as much to the organisation and scientific development of agriculture throughout Natal. Born and educated in Durban, his whole life was spent in the service of agriculture in this province, although his University training was obtained at the University of Pretoria. When he left D.H.S. as one of its distinguished products his family circumstances caused him to further his studies by taking up a four year bursary in Agricultural Education. Fortunately for us he realised that this course would be confining to his future in agriculture and 74 Professor Karl Nathanson he applied for and was granted permission to extend his training to that of a full agricultural scientist followed by a U.E.D. Permission was granted largely because of his success as a student and his University career was punctuated with cum laudes, scholarships, distinctions and further cum laudes, the last when he obtained his D.Sc. from Pretoria University in 1963. If such formality were extended beyond Universities he would have received many more. He returned to Natal to fulfil his educational obligations in agricultural teaching, first at Weston and then in Newcastle, and during this period met and married his wife Mary. In 1949 he joined the University as a lecturer in Agronomy and also gave lectures in Plant Physiology and Didactics of Agriculture. During this time he served as an executive member of the Natal Agricultural Research Institute Farm Committee, which was concerned with the development of the then new agricultural research stations at Ukulinga and Springfontein. It was during this period that his life-long interest in soya beans began and when he left the University in 1953 to become the Senior Agronomist at Cedara, he continued his research on maize and soya bean breeding. But, as at the University, he extended the use of his abilities into other work, including field husbandry, genetics and farm organisation. Furthermore he completely reorganised the research facilities at Cedara. In 1957 he became Chief Regional Agronomist for Natal and eighteen months later became Acting Assistant Director (Research) in Natal. Here he was directly involved in the design of the master plan for the

Prof. Kar) Nathanson (Photograph: P.R.O. University of Natal) Professor Kart Nathanson 75 development of research facilities in the Department of Agriculture and Technical Services which served them so well for the next decade. In 1959 he returned to the University, now as Senior Lecturer in Agronomy and in I96R hecame Professor and Head of the Department of Crop Science. During the period as Senior Lecturer, Karl showed those characteristics which resulted in his becoming such a highly valued and highly respected colleague within the University. First, without its interfering with his internal university work, he continued his loyalty to the Natal Agricultural Region by supervising its research programme until 1965. Second, when he found his new position required an improvement in his knowledge of mathematics and applied mathematics, he undertook the necessary courses. He was later to do exactly the same with Zulu. Thirdly, when it was needed by the University, he taught courses in Agricultural Meteorology for three years. These three facets of his approach to his work indicate the outstanding properties which showed throughout his life. He always had a constancy of purpose and a committed and continuing loyalty to the organisations for which he worked. He showed, too, a thoroughness of scholarship and a houndless energy and ability which he put into any task which he undertook. Three years after his appointment to the Chair he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and was immediately involved in two major exercises. The first was a totally revised system of curricula and degree regulations for the Faculty, in which his meticulous attention to detail did much to ensure its success. The second was the beginning of the long process of the final transfer of the staff of the Faculty of Agriculture from Department of Agricultural Technical Services to the University. Here again his thoroughness and his ability to understand the complexities of the process laid the foundation which led to its easy and sound completion by other hands. Indicative of the ability he had shown during these years and the confidence he had earned from his colleagues is the fact that. at the end of his Deanship. he was elected as onc of the Senate Representatives on hoth the Senate Executive and on the University Council. In his contrihution to both of these hodies his integrity and his concern for the welfare of others stood out as it had done when, earlier, he had served his colleagues first on the executive of the Lecturers' Association and. later, the Joint Academic Staff Association of which he became Vice-Chairman. Although he became so deeply and valuahly involved in the administration of the University, some things remained unchanged. He never lost his keenness to study further nor his avid desire to read about and understand fully whatever interested him. His interests were very widely spread but underlying most of them was a concern for the human condition. He did not ever lose, in the pressure of work, his ability to see the good in people, to encourage them and to build up their confidence. When his family became interested in sailing Karl, too, supported this interest, studied fundamentally and hecame first a co-constructor of boats, second, a good sailor and then served his fellow yachtsmen well as Commodore of the Henley-Midmar Sailing Club. His close-knit and successful family are a reflection in many ways of his and his wife Mary's love and understanding of people and a selfless willingness to serve others. 76 Professor Karl Nathanson

These qualities contributed to the steady output of research and the steady training of research students carried on during his years of control of the Crop Science department. His concern for people contributed significantly to his taking on the direction of the Cassava research project which has contributed to an extremely rapid practical application and the start of a very important new agricultural development. This is how he would havc wished his research efforts to be rewarded. But despite his elevation within the University hierarchy Karl was never confused by such positions. He always recognised that talents and abilities are not hierarchically confined and pressed strongly for the fuller inclusion of non-professorial colleagues in the affairs of the University. Tt was hugely due to him, his enthusiasm and his concept of people and of how a university should develop, that the University of Natal is moving in a new direction. As our new understanding grows we will recall, I hope, his wisdom in moving us to this development. This kindly, jovial and friendly man will be remembered long as a Natalian who contributed much to his province and to the University. While he did far more than his fair share of service to those around him he remained a lovable, humble and considerate colleague. G.D.L. SCHREINER

Exton Mabbutt Burchell (1917-1982) When Exton Burchell died in Pietermaritzburg on 21 July 19R2 a few weeks short of his sixty-fifth birthday there ended a long career of service to higher education in Natal. He was born in Pietermaritzburg, the grandson of F.G. Burchell a British emigrant to Natal who set up business in Pietermaritzburg in 1873 as a 'Horse Dealer in all its Branches'. His father was F.B. CBinkie') Burchell an attorney, later to become Professor of Law at the Natal University College. After schooling at Cordwalles and Michaelhouse he entered what was then the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg and read for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1937 he won the prestigious Elsie Ballot Scholarship and went up to Cambridge (as his father had done before him), entering Trinity Hall. He obtained first class passes in both Part I and II of the Law Tripos and was a scholar and prize-man at Trinity Hall. Then, in 1939, while he was at home in Pietermaritzburg, World War II broke out. He promptly joined up, volunteering for the First Royal Natal Carbineers. He served in Abyssinia, Egypt and Italy rising to the rank of captain. During the Italian campaign he was awarded the American Bronze Star and was mentioned in despatches. Exton Mabbutt Burchell 77

Prof. Exton Burchell (Photograph : The Natal Witness)

He returned to Pietermaritzburg after the war and studied under his father (who in 1924 had been appointed as Professor of Law in the Natal University College in succession to the late R.A. Inchbold, who had died in 1916). He completed the final LL.B. examinations in mid-1946, passing with distinction, and was appointed as senior lecturer in law at the University of Witwater..,rand. In 1948, at the age of 30 years, he was promoted to a full professorship in the Department of Law at that University. (By remarkable coincidence his son, lonathan, after studying for the LL.B. degree under his father, would, like his father, win the Elsie Ballot Scholarship, go up to Cambridge, be appointed a senior lecturer in law at the University of Witwatersrand and, at 30 years of age, be appointed a full professor of law at that University). In 1953 Frank Burchell retired as lames Scott Wylie Professor of Law at the University of Natal. Dr E.G. Malherbe, then Principal of the University, persuaded Exton to apply for the chair. He was appointed and so occurred the unique event in South African legal history of son succeeding father in the same chair of law. For the next twenty-eight years Exton Burchell devoted himself to the affairs of his department, his faculty and his University. For most of this time he was Head of the Department of Law, and served as Dean of the Faculty of Law for at least fourteen years. He would also serve on the Senate and the Council of the University as well as being the University'S legal advisor. At the same time he was for some years a member of the Board of 78 Exton Mabbllft Burchell

Governors of Michaelhouse and member and chairman of the Board of Governors of Cowan House School. His many teaching and administrative duties did not inhibit his academic career. From the very beginning he had written widely on legal topics, providing a steady stream of articles and notes to learned journals. In 1970 his magnum opus appeared. This was the first volume in the series South African Criminal Law and Procedure. The book dealt with Introductory Topics (four chapters written by the late P.M.A. Hunt) and the General Principles of Criminal Liability (eight chapters written by Burchell). It immediately became recognised as an authoritative and definitive statement of South African law. It is regularly cited with approval and followed by the courts and has become an indispensable item in every student's and practitioner's library. The high quality of the work was recognised by the University of Natal with the award to Burchell of the degree of Doctor of Laws. But if he was an outstanding scholar he was also a great teacher. He had a marvellous bass voice and spoke in a clear, deliberate way. His great knowledge of the law enabled him to teach it in a direct. unpompous fashion, presenting the essence of things in a manner so lucid and direct as to make it impossible not to understand and remember. A measure of his achievement is the great number of successful advocates and attorneys who have emerged from his lecture rooms, not to mention the significant number of his past students whom he inspired (and helped) to enter an academic career. (I know of at least eight who have become professors of law). The motivating force of his career was a desire to be of service to others. He never sought the glittering prizes of high office, preferring to obtain personal satisfaction from his teaching, research, and his service to the University and its students. Besides the inspiration he provided to students his greatest service, perhaps, was in his work in the councils of the University. A liberal humanitarian, he persuasively spoke the language of pragmatism, of reasonableness, of tolerance. His sincerity, his compelling sense of duty, his loyalty, his steady integrity, touched and marked the University and those of us who were fortunate enough to have been his colleagues. J.R.L. MILTON 79

Notes and Queries

Venus Observed in Transit A colony established in the nineteenth century provides many centenaries for us, and in countries of the younger sort centenaries tend to be important! In the Notes and Queries of Natalia nos. 6 and 7 mention was made of E.N. Nevill and the Natal Observatory. Nevill arrived in Natal on 27th October 1882, after a voyage of exactly one month in the S.S. Warwick Castle. He found the Observatory built and ready to begin its work. Its establishment resulted from a proposal made several years earlier by Mr (later Sir) Harry Escombe. who himself provided the main Equatorial Telescope at a cost of £60(). Two Durban businessmen, Messrs Greenacre and Randles. each gave £175. the Durban Corporation £350 and the Natal Legislative Council voted £5()(1. Smaller contributions were made by other interested persons and firms, making up a total of about £1 900. Mr Gill. Astronomer Royal at the Cape. who had advised on various aspects of the project. sent Mr Robert Pett to supervise the construction of the building and the erection of the instruments. The establishment of the Observatory was expeditcd so that it would be ready in time for the Transit of Venus in 11'11'12. The two planets closer to the sun than the Earth (Mercury and Venus) are sometimes seen from Earth to pass across the disk of the sun, and astronomers observe what is called a transit. A t such times valuable information can be obtained. Transits of Venus are rare, and come in pairs, eight years apart. They occurred in 1874 and 1882, and the next pair will be in 2004 and 2012. Pett was recalled to the Cape in October 1882 to take his share in the transit observations there, and Edmund Nevill was appointed Government Astronomer in Natal. The Natal Government Gazette of July 31. 11'11'13 contains Nevill's very full report on the establishment of the Observatory, a detailed description of its various instruments and an account of the observation of the Venus Transit. It is interesting to note that Nevill's use of the pseudonym 'Neison' extended to his signature of this official report CEdmund Neison'), and only later did he resume the use of his real name. By the end of his career in Natal in 1912 Edmund Neville Nevill, F.R.S., F.r.C.. F.C.S., F.R.A.S., was well-known in scientific circles all over the Empire and the world. He had three assistants, and had done a great deal of scientific work for the Colony. As well as being Government Astronomer. he was Government Meteorologist, Government Chemist and Official Assayer. He undertook not only astronomical observations, but compilation of tide tables. the keeping of meteorological records from 46 observing stations in the Colony. provision of accurate time signals for the region and geological assaying, including analysis of coal samples from Northern Natal. Nevill's intended sojourn of a few months in Natal to observe Venus in 1882 became a distinguished career of thirty years. 80 Notes and Queries

Versions of Two Zulu Names Mr J.e. Stuart of Pietermaritzburg writes: In the No. 5 issue of Natalia (December 1975) there appeared a letter from Mr G.S. Moberly regarding the spelling of Eshowe and Shaka (to use the modern versions). To my surprise there has been no response, and I venture to offer this contribution which I trust will at least keep the subject alive. As to the spelling Ekowe I think that the correct explanation can only be that the early Norwegian missionaries were responsible for it. In the Scandinavian language the ch sound is represented by the letter k. This clearly supports the alternative spelling Etshowe, and the spellings Echoi and Echowe referred to by Mr Moberly as being used by Gardiner and Grout. This brings me to the second point - the spelling and pronunciation of Shaka's name. During the late forties I was charged with the custody of the Fynn papers pending publication of the Diary and their return to the Fynn family. In 1949 I received a visit from the late Mr F.W. Ahrens, the well-known retired magistrate and accomplished Zulu linguist. He was most anxious to ascertain how Fynn had spelt Shaka's name. In conversation he waxed most indignant at the modern spelling. 'How was it,' he said, 'the old authorities such as James Stuart, Samuelson and others spelt it Tshaka unless the Zulus themselves pronounced the name thus?' As I had been forbidden to allow access to the papers I was not able to satisfy Mr Ahrens's quest, but, for the record, Fynn himself wrote Chaka. So did Nathaniel Isaacs. It is true that in the absence of established orthography early writers did adopt what appear now to be quaint spellings in their efforts to reduce Zulu words and names to paper. Nevertheless their renderings are I think easily reconcilable with the recognised pronunciation of such words today. How is it then that what once obviously must have been pronounced Etshowe and Tshaka have now become Eshowe and Shaka? During 1950 there was an exchange of correspondence in the Natal Daily News on the subject. Mr Ahrens crossed swords with well-known linguists such as G.Y. Essery and E.A. Ritter who came down on the side of Shaka. Mr Ahrens retorted by pointing to the spellings adopted by Sir Theophilus Shepstone and the Rev. Lewis Grout (Chaka), and by Bishop Colenso. Or Dube, J.Y. Gibson. James Stuart and R.e. Samuelson (Tshaka). I am sure that there must be many, like myself. who would like to learn from an authority the reason for these apparent changes. May I refer, before putting down my pen, to another point raised in Natalia No. 8 (December 1978). Mr Frank Emery, in his article on soldiers' letters from the Zulu War, refers to the book A South African Boy: Schoolboy Life in Natal and the fact that the name of the author, writing under the pseudonym 'Natalian', is unknown. Once again we have recourse to Mr R. e. Samuelson who reveals that the author was Albert Baker. Dux of Hilton College in 1872. who thereafter practised at the Bar in NataL giving this up for evangelistic work on the Transvaal mines. Incidentally, Baker relates a nice little story about a 'tall, raw, un tutored lad, brought up among the Zulus in Zululand' who walked all the way from his home to Hilton College driving before him cattle with which he was to pay the school fees. Marching into the headmaster's presence he laid, in true Zulu fashion. his assegai and two favourite sticks at the feet of the headmaster in token of Notes and Queries 81 submission. Baker does not give the boy's name nor, for that matter, does he even vouch for the story. At pp. 71-2 of his book Samuelson refers to this story, asserting that it was exaggerated but nevetheless revealing that he was the one concerned. However he confirms also that he and Baker became good friends. One feels that Samuelson would have done hetter if he had simply ignored the story.

To Mashonaland via Natal Difficulties encountered on the Bechuanaland and Transvaal routes to Mashonaland led some travellers in the latter part of the nineteenth century to go hy sea to Beira, and then inland to Umtali and Salisbury. One such party was an Anglican mission to the new territory, led by Bishop Wyndham Knight-Bruce. Mr R.R. Langham-Carter of Cape Town writes of this party's visit to Natal .en route. The Bishop, five African catechists. a doctor and three nurses reached Durhan from Cape Town on the Roslin Castle on 22 April 1891. There had news awaited them. The Chartered Company's first detachment had left Durban in the Norseman on 7 April. The Portuguese authorities at Beira had declined to let them proceed further and they had to return to Durban. Knight-Bruce was a determined character and he had no intention of being stopped. He and his five Africans would manage to force their way through (and this in fact he achieved), but he would not subject his nurses to these hazards. The medical group would go up by the Natal version of the land route. The railway line from Durban had reached Ladysmith in 1886. They would go thus far by train. There the Anglican Rector would see them on to a coach or post-cart. They would travel hy such means through Pretoria and Pietershurg to Fort Victoria in Mashonaland. and would do the final stage of their journey hy ox waggon. The party and their stores disembarked ... (and) the medical group went first to the Royal Hotel ... The bishop moved the medical party thrce days later to the boarding house on the Berea of a Scottish lady, Miss Wright. Knight-Bruce went to stay with Canon L.P. Booth at St Aidan's Indian Mission in Alice Street which Booth had founded eight years before. Where the five Africans put up is not clear, but it seems probable that they also came to St Aidan's. After seeing the nurses into their new quarters on 25 April the bishop took the train to Maritzburg where he had been invited to stay at Government House by Sir Charles Mitchell . . . After calling on his colleague W. K. Macrorie the Bishop of Maritzburg and making arrangements for the onward movement of the nurses, he returned to Durban on 2 May ... (and) preached next morning at St Cyprian's (which was then in Smith Street) and he and the nurses attended the afternoon service at St Aidan's. Booth was a qualified medical doctor and after the service they had a picnic tea with him in his surgery (!). 82 Notes and Queries

Knight-Bruce and the five Africans sailed in the Norseman (Capt. Forder) on 7 May, and after many adventures reached Umtali on 1 June. As the situation in Mozambique was now more stable he was able to cancel the medical group's overland plans. They left Durban on 20 May and ... arrived safely in Umtali on 14 July.' Two years later in lR93 Knight-Bruce was in Durban again with another party bound for the Mashonaland mission. This time he took the inland route through Natal, which bcgan with a twelve-hour train journey to Ladysmith and thence over Van Reenen's Pass in a vehicle of the Natal and Randt Coach and Mail Service, or the Jubilee Mail Coach Line. The following year, 1894, Knight-Bruce, who had suffered badly from malaria for several years, was invalided out and passed through Durban for the last time en route for England where he died within three years. About this time the rail link between Beira and Umtali was improved, and lines from the south reached Pretoria and Bulawayo, making a 'Natal route' to Mashonaland unnecessary.

The Diary of Mary Milner Greathead (1835-1896) This is a recent acquisition in the Killie Campbell Africana Library in Durban. Mary came to Natal in 1856 with her parents and sister. Her father Thomas and Martha her sister ran the Cheltenham Academy in Pinetown in the early 1860s. Despite its grand name it seems to have had only a score or so pupils, and young ones at that. The diary comprises 36 pages and covers the period 1856 to May 1864. With Pinetown being on the main road to the interior, Miss Greathead always had plenty of comings and goings to record. The family made the occasional visit to Verulam, Durban and the Karkloof and these are duly recorded. In 1863 Mary married Frederick Edgar Shaw of the Karkloof and thereafter the scene changes to that district. The diary ceases shortly after the birth of their first child. This little book went to New Zealand with Mr Len Shaw, a grandson, who willed that on his death it be returned to Natal, which it duly was. His sister Mrs Sheila Ogram has donated it to the Library. For the second time in the last few years nineteenth-century Natal documentary material has found its way back from New Zealand and to the Killie Campbell Africana Library. The other instance was the return of the original letters of George and Ellen McLeod, typewritten copies of which had previously been used by Or R.E. Gordon as the basis of her book Dear Louisa (Balkema, 1970). Mr John Talbot, a McLeod descendant in New Zealand, sent the originals back to be incorporated in the Byrne Museum Collection. However, as the Killie Campbell Library has proper facilities for manuscript preservation, it was decided by Or Gordon and the then Custodian of the Collection that they should be housed there. SHELAGII SPE"ICER

Genealogical Workshop On 3rd and 4th September last a genealogical workshop, arranged by Professor EIcanor Preston-Whyte, was held at the University of Natal, Durban. Mrs Lorna Rosbottom, a genealogical and heraldry expert from the United Kingdom, and Or R. Lombard, head of the Genealogical Unit of the HSRC, gave informative talks. Mr J.D. Krige, Secretary of the Genealogical Notes and Queries 83

Society of South Africa, and Mr H.C. HiIlerman spoke on their respective family histories, covering many hundreds of years. On the Wednesday evening preceding, a genealogical discussion evening on the same lines ws held at the University, Pietermaritzburg. A Natal Branch of the Genealogical Society, centred on Durban, and a sub-branch thereof, the Midlands Circle, centred on Pietermaritzburg, were established as a result of the two meetings. CO. HOLNESS

The Care of Photographic Collections The Department of Library Science at the University of Natal held a two­ day symposium in April 1982 on the documentation and care of photographic collections. The basic subjects covered were copyright, indexing, preservation and the copying of photographs for museum and archival purposes. Individual papers on related subjects included 'Nineteenth century Natal photographers', 'Collecting and identifying for a local history museum: a personal view' and 'The photographic collection of the Natal Archives'. The proceedings have since been published by the Department of Library Science. SHELAGH SPENCER

The Umsindusi RiIJer again Hardly had T.M. Wills's article on the Umsindusi (p. 45) been received than the Natal Witness (3 Sept. 1982) announced a Corporation plan to canalise the river from the Edendale Road bridge to Scott's Bridge. These works will not only facilitate municipal services to the new railway and industrial areas between Woods Drive and Camp Drift Road, but will provide a clear stretch of water almost two and a half kilometres long and eighty-four metres wide - a prospect of great promise for the devotees of fishing, canoeing, rowing and water-skiing. The Umsindusi has for some years been canalised below Commercial Road. This has eliminated the picturesque willow-lined bends and loops which used to characterise its course in this area; but has brought into being useful 'new' land, and removed the fear of occasional summer flooding which used to affect low-lying areas near Bulwer Street and Echo Road. When the proposed new canalisation scheme is complete, the only part of the river in the city to retain its original course and appearance will be the stretch in Alexandra Park itself. The Corporation plan makes provision for a purification filter system upstream. This appears to be a necessity if water sports are to be enjoyed without risk to health. Gone are the days when Maritzhurg College's 'Mr Chips', the late S.E. Lamond, could as a boy refresh himself with a drink of 'Dusi water while walking from school through the park. In this year's 'Conservation of the Environment' symposium, two Pietermaritzburg schools. Maritzburg College and St John's High School, tied for second place. Their papers were slightly different aspects of the same topic - the serious pollution of the Umsindusi River. 84 Notes and Queries

The Alan Paton Literary Competition The Natal Association for the Teaching of English this year organised a literary competition for high school pupils all over Natal and KwaZulu, which it is hoped will become an annual event. Pupils in Standards 8, 9 and 10 were required to present papers on literary topics, which could be related to the school syllabus or beyond it. Dr Alan Paton kindly consented to his name being used, and this was one of the reasons for the great interest shown and the large number of entries from among pupils in all the education departments represented within the geographical boundaries of Natal. Preliminary and semi-final rounds were held in various centres, and the final took place at the University of Natal, Durban, on 14th October, when winners and runners-up in each of the three standards were chosen. Dr Paton was present at the Standard 10 final, and spoke to the assembled candidates and their audience. Generous sponsorship by a commercial firm made possible the award of prizes to individuals and their schools in all the rounds, and the payment of travel expenses of adjudicators going to distant centres and school parties coming from far away. The organisers are to be congratulated on the success of this venture. It entailed a considerable amount of administrative work by a dedicated group of teachers, and if enthusiasm on the part of pupils and organisers is an indication, the Alan Paton Literary Competition will take its place with the various other annual competitions which give promising pupils the chance to show their mettle.

Theatre Lane, Pietermaritzburg The charm and utility of Pietermaritzburg's pedestrian lanes and arcades are recognised by residents and visitors alike. It is hard to imagine moving on foot about the central city area without the routes offered by Fraser Lane, Change Lane, Chancery Lane, Theatre Lane, Club Lane, Gallwey Lane, Harwin's Arcade and Perks Arcade. The City Engineer's Department is to be complimented on the replacement during 1982 of Theatre Lane's nondescript tarmac with handsome brick paving. With its new lighting, trees and bollards it is a pedestrian precinct of which any city could be proud.

The Leighton Street Affair Leighton Street is a steep, picturesque little street joining Loop and Burger Streets in Pietermaritzburg, above Chapel Street. It is predominantly lined with old double-storeyed houses of traditional Pietermaritzburg orange brick, and dating from the early years of this century. During 1982 it became clear that the development of a vacant site at the top of the street would result in a block of flats which it was felt would detract greatly from the architectural unity and atmosphere of the street. The residents formed the Leighton Street Action Committee and brought the matter to the attention of the public. Their approaches to the developers elicited an assurance that the new buildings would be of face-brick and therefore 'in character' with the other properties in the street. Seeking further clarification the Action Committee obtained professional architectural opinion to the effect that the proposed development definitely did not tone in with the surrounding properties. A petition addressed to the Town Clerk, and discussion of the Notes and Queries 85

matter by the Municipality's Works and General Purposes Committee followed. It became evident that the City Council is more or less bound by municipal by-laws which stipulate that as long as a proposed development complies therewith in accordance with the zoning df a particular area in terms of the Town Planning schemes, there is nothing much that can be done about it. In other words procedural machinery for objections to developments on architectural or aesthetic grounds simply does not exist. If a proposed development complies with the by-laws, it seems that the developers have an absolute and unqualified right to develop in whatever style they please. Public opposition (and much support was forthcoming for the Action Committee) cannot be transformed into action for lack of the appropriate machinery. The Leighton Street development received Council approval, and at the time of going to press building operations are well under way. This setback for conservation is very slightly tempered by the news that the Pietermaritzburg City Council intends introducing a system of listing and hence protecting certain areas of cultural. historical, architectural and aesthetic significance; and also that the previously defunct Pietermaritzburg Society has been resuscitated and is preparing itself for a more active rolc in the conservational affairs of the capital.

Proclaimed National Monuments The most recent Report of the National Monuments Council to hand is that for the year ending 31st March 1981, which contains the following proclamations of Natal buildings and sites during that year: 1. The Beachwood mangrove swamp at Durban: Mangrove swamps are among the rarest and most scientifically interesting ecosystems that occur in the highly specialised tidal environment. The Beachwood mangroves are of significant botanical, educational and historical value because they are situated close to one of the country's largest cities, which has a variety of important educational institutions. 2. The old Lmv Court building, Victoria Embankment, Durban: This building, designed by the architect Stanley Hudson, was erected in 1911. 3. The property with the geological exposure thereon, in Corinthia Road, Durhan: This glaciated pavement shows striae on Table Mountain sandstone at the base of the Dwyka tillite of the Karoo System and is approximately 300 million years old. 4. The property with the Riverside Mosque and mausoleum thereon, at Umgeni, Durban: This mosque was erected by the celebrated Hajee Soofie, who immigrated to South Africa in 1895. He was responsible for the construction of 11 other mosques, the establishment of 13 madras as and the laying out of a large number of cemeteries. Hajee Soofie died in 1911 and his body lies interred in the octagonal mausoleum that he designed. . 5. The Town Hall, at Grey town: This building with its high tower, the cornerstone of which was laid on 22 June 1897, was only completed in 1903. 86 Notes and Queries

6. The farmhouse, together with ten metres ofsurrounding land, on the farm Greystones, near Estcourt: This Victorian farmhouse, with its ornamental wood-decorated verandah, was built in 1873 by Sir Frederick Moor. He was the last Prime Minister of the Colony of Natal. 7. The so-called ludith church, together with ten metres of surrounding land, on the ludith church farm, Dundee district: This stone church with its straight end gables and neo-Gothic windows and doors was inaugurated in January 1885. It was named after Mrs Judith van Tonder, who donated 58 acres of land as a church farm. 8. The properties with the two Indian shop buildings thereon, in Retief Street, Weenen: These predominantly Edwardian shops date from the beginning of the twentieth century and form an impressive architectural entity. 9. The Bantu Administration Building in Landdrost Street, Vryheid: This rectangular building dates from about 1930 and forms an integral part of the historic core of Vryheid, especially from an architectural point of view. Since then there has been at least one more proclamation. The Government Gazette of 10th September 1982 mentions "The so-called Umgeni Water Board building, situate on Lot 2 of Erf 19, Longmarket Street, in the City and Borough of Pietermaritzburg, Province of Natal. Deed of Transfer 397911942, dated 1 August 1942. This double-storeyed building, with its wood and cast-iron decorated verandah, dates from the 1890s. The building forms an integral part of the fa~ade of Longmarket Street." Readers will know the building in question as being directly opposite the end of Buchanan Street.

International Conference - South Africa and the West In April 1982, a conference on South Africa's relations with the western powers took place in Durban under the auspices of the Department of History of the University of Natal. After the welcome by university Principal, Professor N.D. Clarence, the University of Zululand's Professor Absalom Vilakazi delivered the opening address, which was a personal memoir on South Africa's unwillingness to institute basic western democratic rights and freedoms for all its citizens. Subsequent papers and discussions covered the whole range of South Africa's present and developing role in the political, economic and strategic framework of the principal western countries, particularly the United States. Six overseas and two South African academics, and a senior manager of the Anglo-American Corporation were speakers. (Lest the proportion of overseas to local university speakers might seem too high, it should be mentioned that two of the former previously worked in South African universities). Out of the conference emerged a greater appreciation among delegates of the complexities which surround our country's vital and often tense relations with the western world. CHARLES BALLARD Notes and Queries 87

Durban Girls' High School Various events in the early months of 1982 marked the centenary of the Durban Girls' High School. A book, The First Hundred Years by Miss S. Moran, was published, and on April 26th the 'Natal Mercury' devoted two pages to the school, giving a brief review of its history and various premises, and biographies of the ten women who have been its principals: They are Miss Annie Day (1882-1898), Miss Amy Beeston (1899-1912), Miss Ethel WaIton (1913-1917), Miss Laura Meller (1917-1931), Miss Lucy Wolstenholme (1931-1938), Miss Anne Granger (1938-1948), Miss Margaret Martin (1948---1962), Miss Netta Manning (1963-1970), Miss Alison Clarkson (1971-1976) and the present incumbent Mrs Elizabeth Morris. Four of the ten were themselves pupils of DGHS, and there is among them a high incidence of longevity! Several lived into their eighties or nineties, the record being held by Miss Meller who died in 1967 aged 95. It is of interest to record that it was Miss Meller who arranged the first tour to the Cape by a party of pupils, at a cost of nine pounds per person for the fortnight's trip!

Roots, Growth, Change - Durban Architecture One of the exhibitions which formed part of the Durban Arts '82 Festival was arranged by the Natal Provincial Institute of Architects and the Natal School of Architecture. It was in the form of a review of local architectural styles, the historical development of residential architecture and a selection of notable public buildings. The guide book to the exhibition, compiled by Dr Wally Peters, lists the ninety-three exhibits - photographs and models of actual buildings, or student projects illustrating aspects of style and design. Though different in function and concept, the guide book makes a pair with 'Pietermaritzburg' (Ed. Daniel & Brusse) which was published a few years ago under the auspices of the Institute of Architects and the Tatham Art Gallery. Such publications play an important role in directing the general public's attention to buildings in Natal which are too much taken for granted, 'seen but not seen.'

At Home in Government House The week of 23--29 August 1982 gave citizens of Pietermaritzburg an opportunity of visiting and inspecting old Government House, a building once the centre of official and high social life of the Colony of Natal. The house is now, of course, the main building in a complex which houses the Natal Training College. (Vide 'Book Reviews and Notices' in Natalia No. 9, p. 66). Recent expert renovation by the Provincial Building Services led to the happy decision by the College authorities to celebrate seventy years of occupation by being 'at home' to the city at large. There were several functions during an exciting and memorable week. Invited guests (including the Administrator of Natal, members of the Provincial Executive Committee and the Director of Education) attended a cocktail party in the beautifully refurbished long drawing room. A Victorian and Edwardian Musical 88 Notes and Queries

Evening charmed a small audience in the fine old billiard room, now the College Senate Chamber. A large gathering of past students and staff enjoyed a reunion dinner in onc of the residences. The band of the Royal Natal Carbineers played on the lawn while students in period costume served tea and sandwiches to guests spcnding a nostalgic Sunday afternoon. The College's archive and museum material was on display. Ptide of place, however, must be given to the imaginatively conceived and expertly presentcd Son et Lumiere which captivatcd evening audienccs. The stonc wing of the house, with its front door and carriage porch, was seen in various moods - floodlit and spotlit, in eerie moonlight, with candlelight glimmering in the rooms, with a brilliantly lit ballroom scene observed through french doors. There wcre comings and goings on foot, on horseback, in pony-trap and vintage motor-car. Red-coated soldiers abounded. Music, dialogue, sound-effects and commentary completed the brief sampling of the house's 130-year history. And all the visual effects werc literally douhled by the fine reflections in the swimming pool situated hetween the building and the audience. It was a memorable experience in a gala week. Compiled by JOHN DEANE 89

Book Reviews and Notices BRITISH SETTLERS IN NATAL, 1824-1857: A Biographical Register, Vol. 1, Abbott-Ayres SHELAGH O'BYRNE SPENCER (Pietermaritzburg, University of Natal Press, 1981), RI8 + G,S,T.

History is no longer simply a record of 'Great Lives' but is also, we are reminded by Shelagh Spencer's work, 'A Tale of Innumerable Biographies'. And 'innumerable' indeed do her subjects appear when we take note that this first volume of the series comprises the first 93 biographical entries under the letter A and that some 2 500 entries are to follow (1 250 having already been completed in draft by the indefatigable author). What historians of Natal and South Africa will have at the end is one of the most comprehensive reference works on an infant and maturing colonial community in all the literature of empire. Even more significant is the fact that this monumental undertaking on the British human investment in the early colony is at the same time being complemented by the editing of a vast compendium of source material on the Zulu role in our regional history ­ Colin Webb's and John Wright's lames Stuart Archive. Lucky, and indeed grateful, will all future historians of Natal be to have to hand two such meticulously refined research tools for probing into both the black and white parts of an incipiently plural society. In the course of the last two decades South African scholarship has been quite well supplied with biographical reference works - the D.S.A.B., Eric Rosenthal's Dictionary, various encyclopaedias and, not least, E. Morse Jones's Roll of the British Settlers are examples. But what distinguishes Mrs Spencer's work is the integrated network effect that she achieves, even over the relatively small sample of colonists covered in volume 1. Being by a single author working at an even, and very remarkable, depth in a multitude of primary sources - but where many biographical details overlap - the British Settlers in Natal exhibits a tight-knit consistency that places it in many respects in advance of other reference works of its kind. Indeed, the completed work should provide future opportunity for comprehensive 'cross-sectional' socio-political analyses of Natal history reminiscent of the type carried out by the Namier school in British history. In other words, Shelagh Spencer's work is at one level an atomization of a colonial society into its individual components; at another level it reveals the structuring of these units in a comprehensive, integrated whole. The author and the University of Natal Publisher have arrived at a presentation format that is both pleasing and functional. The choice of A4 sized page makes the double-column entries easily readable and the hardback covers are well-suited to the heavy usage that the work can expect to get in home, school, university, and public libraries. Sensibly, too, the vast range of source material has been reduced to numbered categories in 90 Book Reviews and Notices

the bibliography and these numbers only have then been used at the end of each biographical entry to indicate in the briefest and neatest way the primary and secondary underpinning of the article, The overall impression is therefore one of a clear, uncluttered page which conveys all the required information about the individual concerned, about his or her immediate descendants, and about where further detail may be researched. At the beginning of Volume I there is a useful explanatory preface on how the entries are organized and a brief introduction on the different immigrant groups of the period: at the centre there are photographs of some of the subjects; and at the end are listed the immigrant vessels, related surnames, an overall roll of the settlers over the period I R24---57. and the comprehensive range of sources used. Finally, a workmanlike index contributes markedly to the network effect of cross-referenced, cumulative information mentioned earlier. With such well-known names as AlIison. Archbell, Aitchison. etc. among its entries. this first volume gives abundant promise of what use historian and layman alike can expect to make of the completed work. Natal descendants with a genealogical interest may now learn about their progenitors 'warts and all', rejoice at their triumphs and sadly shake their heads at disasters made fortunately distant by time. But beyond the interest to individuals there lies the public value of the work: as the training of schoolchildren and university students becomes more focused upon regional history and more orientated to the 'activity' and 'discovery' research projects, so will this massive range of biographical material further prove its worth to educational institutions. In many a cultured home and home of culture in this province the British Settlers in Natal will be, itself. at home. JOHN BENYON

F AlLURE AND VINDICATION The unedited iournal of Bishop Allard. O.M.I. Indexed and fully annotated by HOWARD ST. GEORGE, Oblate of Mary Immaculate. (Unity Publications, Durban. 1981. 538 pages. No price given). CATHOLICS IN NATAL 11, 1886---1925 by J.B. BRAIN. (Archdiocese of Durban, 1982. ISBN 0620060182 373 pages. R 12.00)

Taken together, these two works encompass the years 1858 to 1925, nearly three-quarters of a century of Roman Catholic missionary endea'vour in the vicariate of Natal. Established in 1846, the vicariate embraced an area far greater than the existing province of Natal, for it included the two Boer republics, Griqualand West, the Transkei, Basutoland and Swaziland as well as Zululand. Forty years later, in lR86, this huge vicariate was subdivided, with the Transvaal and the Orange Free State together with Griqualand West and Basutoland falling away. In 1921 further modifications brought separate prefectures for Zululand and Swaziland, and the creation of the independent vicariate of Mariannhill which included the Transkei and southern Natal. Thus by the third decade of this century the erstwhile enormous vicariate had achieved the proportions' from which there developed the present Catholic archdiocese of Durban. Book Reviews and Notices 91

The original vicariate had been assigned by the Vatican to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.), a religious order of priests and brothers founded by Charles Eugene de Mazenod in 1816 for the conversion of the heathen. The order initially had a strong French orientation, though it rapidly attracted men from outside France into its ranks, and French­ speaking clergy dominated the work of Catholic evangelization in Natal from the outset until well past the turn of the century. Language difficulties, in fact, were to prove something of a hindrance to the missionising process. To co-ordinate and direct missionary activity in the vast area, a Vicar Apostolic was appointed and given episcopal status to underline the importance of his work and the dignity of his position. The challenges facing him were quite awesome: to search out and minister to existing white Catholics scattered throughout the area and to initiate a widespread evangelization of the black peoples. Far-flung visitations would have to be made, mission-stations, churches and schools built, religious orthodoxy supervised, the spiritual and material welfare of the clergy under his care fostered; all this in a strongly Protestant or heathen environment and on a financial shoestring. In addition he was subject to two external bodies whose decisions had for him the force of law - the O.M.I. generalship in France (moved to Rome in 1905) and the Propaganda College, the missionary headquarters of the Church, in Rome. Sterling personal qualities of determination and resilience, robustness in body and mind, coupled with administrative flair and organizational expertise were some of the qualities required of the Vicar Apostolic of Natal in the second half of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century. Longevity the first three men to fill this post certainly possessed, for their combined periods in office stretched over nearly a century. Jean Fran«;ois Allard arrived in Natal in March 1852 and held office until 1874. His successor was Charles Constant Jolivet, Vicar Apostolic until his death in 1903. He was succeeded in turn by Henri DeLalle whose period in office stretched from 1904 to 1946. The vicarial careers of these men form the basic subject-matter of the two works under consideration. Father St. George's study of the journal of Bishop Allard opens with the journal itself, which covers a central period of Allard's apostolate, from January 1856 to December lR68. It is not a daily journal, there being gaps of up to three months between entries, and the length of individual entries varies considerably. It is written in longhand, mainly in English, though there are scattered entries in his home language, French. The journal is faithfully reproduced, including deletions, corrections, additions and marginal comments, in typescript by the editor. The supplementary notes, which take up 287 pages, then follow. There are three indexes, the first to the journal itself, the second to the annotations or supplementary notes. This latter is further subdivided into general matters and more specific reference groupings. The third index is particular to missionary activity among the Basotho. A full bibliography of primary and secondary source materials completes the book. Illustrations include photographs, mainly of clergy who feature in the journal, facsimile reproductions of the original journal, and a scattering of maps. This work is meritorious in every sense of the word and represents a significant addition to the corpus of South African historical endeavour. It is 92 Book Reviews and Notices clearly a labour of love, from the painstaking transcription of the journal itself (which was written in faltering English, untidily, in a hand at times barely decipherable), to the exhaustive supplementary notes. These notes are the product of intensive research into sources both published and unpublished. They are a mine of historical and ethnological information, notably those drawn from the archives of the Archbishop of Maseru and from the General House of the Oblates in Rome. The unusual indexal arrangement is justified by the voluminous nature of the annotations, and allows for easy reference. The journal tells us little of its author, except for his strict adherence to his religion. It tends towards a somewhat superficial description of day-to­ day events with facts, figures and activities stated rather baldly. In other words, it is not a diary and it takes the supplementary notes to breathe life and emotion into its pages. Given the vast extent of his mandate and the exacting personal demands it made (as discussed above), Allard was not up to the task. Intensively religious, he emerges as introspective, uncertain in his personal relationships with his clergy and somewhat lacking in organizational judgement. Disappointed by the early defection of such priests as Father Logegaray, he became overcritical of those who proved enduring. His failure to serve the concrete needs of the small white Catholic group was compounded by his lack of success with his missions to the blacks of Natal. Letters from the Oblate-General in France show impatience and concern at the slow progress, particularly among the blacks (for example, the letter from de Mazenod quoted on p. 270). His virtual abandonment of the rest of his vicariate for Lesotho, which the editor sees as justifiable in the long-term (hence the 'Vindication' contained in the title), could be interpreted as the action of a man who found himself incapable of meeting the heavy demands laid on him. The circumstances surrounding his resignation in 1R74 at the age of 67, tend to confirm this view. The inclusion of an editorial preface to the work would have been most useful and informative to the reader. What motivated the editor to take on this task? Were there major difficulties of transcription? - judging by the facsimiles, there must have been. Why was Allard chosen as vicar in the first place? Perhaps Father St. George would consider such an inclusion in future editions. Catholics in Natal II. while maintaining the same general subject-matter, is quite different in treatment and approach. It is a continuation of Or Brain's earlier work Catholic Beginnings in Natal, and originally took the form of a doctoral thesis. This is manifest in the conventional academic arrangement of the book, with preface, introduction, text and conclusion with footnotes, appendices, bibliography and index. Here too is a valuable addition to the historical corpus and, owing to the area and nature of the vicariate at this time, here too is a work with ramifications far wider than the boundaries of contemporary Natal and an appeal far broader than to the historian alone. The study opens with the 1RRfl division of the Natal vicariate (I'id!' supra) and focuses firstly on Bishop lolivet's efforts to maintain and extend the work of the Catholic Church within its boundaries. Or Brain concludes that he enjoyed a high degree of success, particularly in the cities and towns of Natal 'proper'. Crucial here was his introduction of orders of nuns, notably Book Reviews and Notices 93 the Holy Family sisters and the Augustianians, to staff schools and hospitals which served both Catholic and Protestant, helping considerably to make the Catholic Church acceptable to the Protestant white majority. The Coloured and Indian populations were not neglected, though the pace of O.M.1. missionary activity among the blacks continued to be slow, even faltering. The stunningly successful native apostolate of the Trappist Order at Mariannhill helped to compensate for this. 10livet, the writer concludes, did possess the necessary attributes for a successful vicar apostolic in that he was outgoing, forceful and flexible. By his death he had built some 90 churches and chapels, 82 schools, 14 convents and hospitals. The clergy of the vicariate had swelled to some 300 priests and brothers, and 900 nuns. He left his successor with a mountain of debt, however, and DeLalle's task was made far harder through circumstances beyond his control ­ anticlerical legislation in France, which affected the .fortunes of the O.M.ls grievously; the political and economic aftermath of the Anglo-Boer War; the coming of the Great War in 1914. Furthermore, Dr Brain suggests, DeLalle, though a holy man, lacked the administrative and personal capabilities of 10livet. The further .subdivision of the vicariate in 1921, while greeted with misgiving by DeLalle and his O.M.1. personnel, was essentially realistic. Later attempts by the bishop to raise money in North America were successful. By 1925, half way through his term of office, the future of the much-reduced vicariate was promising. Dr Brain's handling of her subject-matter, through careful division of chapters and accurate footnoting, is disciplined and scholarly. She leans heavily on statistics, but these are on the whole judiciously presented and enlightening. The copious bibliography, clearly arranged, indicates the breadth and depth of her researches. She is particularly to be congratulated on her intelligent use of primary archival material. The two maps included provide useful supplements to the text and the appendices contain a wealth of information as to the vicariate and the clergy who served in it. Her treatment of bishops 10livet and DeLalle is scrupulously impartial and her chapters on Mariannhill, with its successes and its problems, fascinating - and particularly apt in this, the year of the monastery's centenary. She sets out her basic theme in pp. xii and xiii of the Introduction, and sticks closely to these parameters in the main text. However, the work does lack analytical depth in certain key areas, most notably on the appointment of DeLalle as 10livet's successor. Dr Brain describes DeLalle as 'young, sensitive and inexperienced' (Introduction, p. xi) and 'a quiet and retiring academic' (p, 169). He seems more in the mould of Allard than 10livet. Why was he chosen for this most difficult and demanding task, over others with more evangelizing and organizational experience? What qualities particularly recommended him to his superiors? Then again, the reasons for the decision to subdivide the vicariate in 1921. a decision crucial for the future direction of the Catholic Church in South Africa, are not examined in any depth. These two works clearly manifest the complexity of the historian's task. Each has great merit. In broad treatment of themes and in meticulousness of research, each transcends the boundaries of purely religious history and recreates for the reader a vivid picture of pioneering days. MICHAEL SPENCER 94 Book Reviews and Notices

J.W. COLENSO: BRINGING FORTH LIGHT: Five Tracts on Bishop Colenso's Zulu Mission, edited by RUTH EDGECOMBE (University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, and Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban, 1982; xlvi + 252 pp., iIIus., map, index.)

Bishop Colenso is best known for the theological controversies in which he was involved in the 1860s, and for his role as the champion and defender of the black people of Natal and Zululand against British oppression in the 1870s and 1880s. Here we see him in a different role: that of missionary to the Zulus and the Zulu-speaking Africans of the Colony of Natal in the 1850s and early 1860s. The principal item in this collection is First Steps of the Zulu Mission (1860), Colenso's account of his visit to Zululand in 1859, when he obtained permission from the Zulu king to start a mission' and obtained a grant of land. This is supplemented by Church Missions, a pamphlet published in 1854, following his preliminary visitation of the diocese of Natal, in which he appeals for contributions to enable him to carry out his proposed missionary work; The Good' Tidings of Great Joy, a sermon preached in Norwich cathedral in 1854, on the occasion of the ordination of Henry Callaway, who was to join his mission in Natal; three accounts of his visit to Zululand in 1859, originally written in Zulu by three Natal African converts who accompanied him; and On Missions to the Zulus in Natal and Zululand, a lecture given in 1865 in London, in which he combated the increasingly prevalent 'Social Darwinist' view that Africans were incapable of civilization and doomed to extinction and that missionary endeavour was therefore a waste of time. The interest of this volume extends beyond the field of mission history; it also casts light on Colenso's later political activities. Very striking is Colenso's belief, in this period, in the beneficent nature of the British Empire, a belief which was to receive rude shocks in the last decade of his life, but of which he was never entirely able to free himself. Englishmen, he believed, had a special duty, greater than that of other nations, to spread the word of God. "For who can doubt, that, if our country has been suffered, and strengthened, in the Providence of God, to girdle the earth with her might, if her merchant-flag is floating in every harbour, and her standard of victory waving in triumph on many a shore - it is in order that God's Name may be glorified, and the Gospel of His Son proclaimed, by our means ..." But if the Empire was a means of spreading Christianity, Christianity was a means of strengthening the Empire. Blacks outnumbered whites in Natal by 100000 to 6 000. Colenso lamented that nothing had been done to raise the former "out of their degraded state of barbarous heathenism to the dignity of civilized and Christian men." In these circumstances, was there any wonder, he asked, that they should prefer "their own wild liberty to the yoke which their English rulers would fasten upon them?" Colenso's account of his visit to Zululand contains much of interest for the history of the Zulu kingdom in the reign of Mpande. Cetshwayo defeated Mpande's intended successor, Mbulazi, in 1856; it was not, however, until 1861 that Mpande recognized Cetshwayo as his heir. It was during this politically tense interval that Colenso visited the country. His impression Book Reviews and Notices 95 after visiting Cetshwayo was that Mpande retained much more power than was commonly supposed in Natal. Having visited Mpande, however, he concluded that he was "practically powerless, surrounded by indunas, who humour him by letting it be supposed that his consent is necessary, when they please to do so, but stand in his way whenever they choose." As in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, succession disputes in Zululand allowed power to slip from the monarchy to an oligarchy of territorial magnates. Cetshwayo, on his succession, attempted to restore the power of the monarchy, but with only partial success. Ruth Edgecombe has provided a very useful introduction, in which she draws attention to the principal points of interest and importance in these publications. She has also provided numerous annotations; sometimes, one may think, rather too numerous. The notes are not at the foot of the page, but at the end of each item, and having tracked down the relevant note, it is difficult to suppress a momentary spasm of irritation upon finding that it reads "I have not been able to trace any information about Mr. Olsen", or "It has not proved possible to identify Mr. M." Readers of a book such as this might reasonably be expected to know who Sir Harry Smith was; on the other hand, one would value further information concerning the order to Natal tribes to march to his aid during the 8th frontier war, but this is not forthcoming. These, however, are minor criticisms. Dr. Edgecombe has provided much useful and necessary background information, and the volume is a very valuable addition to the Killie Campbell Africana Library Reprint series. R.L. COPE

VICTORIAN AND EDWARDIAN NATAL JENNIFER and ALIST AIR VERBEEK (Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter, 1982)

A collection of photographs, especially significant historic photographs, is difficult to review because the closer onc looks at them the more they reveal or suggest. This collection provides "glimpses of the activities and events in the daily lives of ordinary people". Although it was compiled essentially for entertainment, perusal of the photographs and the additional notes is quite rewarding. Reading the notes indicates that the authors carried out a considerable amount of checking with regard to the accuracy of captions. Caption accuracy is especially important in the case of Pietermaritzburg, for example, where the Town Hall fire of 1898 destroyed much of the municipal records. Historic photographs and descriptions thus often become a prime source for historical reconstructions. Historic photographs, unlike their captions or history books, never lie. A good example is the photograph on page 16, which is entitled "Greytown, Natal". The vegetation - or rather lack of it - the topography, the position of the church, the Karroo type houses, the small plots rather than one acre erven, and furthermore the fact that for many years Greytown, as is typical of a dorp layout, did not have houses built along its cross streets, all strongly suggest that the photograph in question, despite the caption, is not of Grey town. This may seem like 96 Book Reviews and Notices much ado about a caption, but this particular caption has, I submit, led to erroneous descriptions of Greytown by both architects and historians. The authors' aim was not to produce a pictorial history of the Colony of Natal, and yet they have, albeit from a particular viewpoint. The collection is clearly a product of colonial nostalgia: colonial buildings feature prominently whereas mosques and temples are conspicuously absent. The 'Victorian and Edwardian' in the title therefore refers not only to a time period but to a particular, i.e. British, perception of Natal during that period. It is to be hoped that supplementary volumes compiled by authors of different persuasions will follow, thereby setting the stage for a definitive pictorial history of Natal. On the photographic score this collection is exemplary, but one is disappointed that the limited text is not typographically errorless, e.g. pages xii, xiii and xv each contain nonsensical sentences as a result of the omission of several words. Notwithstanding, the authors are to be commended for completing a sizeable undertaking, and for including many less well-known but very valuable prints. ROBERT F. HASWELL

TRADITIONAL HINDU TEMPLES IN SOUTH AFRICA PAUL MIKULA, BRIAN KEARNEY and RODNEY HARBER (Durban, Hindu Temple Publications, 1982, 112 pp.)

This is a valuable book on traditional Hindu temples in South Africa. The authors, all of them practising architects, concentrate on temples built along the Natal coast between the Tugela to the north and the Umzinto to the south in the 19th and predominantly-early 20th centuries. There are references, too. to traditional temples in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, East London. Newcastle, Ladysmith and Pietermaritzburg. The authors provide brief theoretical backgrounds to Hinduism and temple-building in India. The leading South African temple-builders, all men of humble origins. had never studied the Mansara or .the Silpa Sastra, the ancient Indian manuals on temple-building. And yet their works, sometimes intluenced by Muslim and Victorian architecture, show traits of the two major styles of all Indian temples, namely. the Nagara in the north and east of India, and the Dravidian in the south. The South African temple-builders knew enough from memory, or from information otherwise available in their adopted country, about temples in India. Short biographical sketches on the leading six temple-builders are provided, and they should inspire students of art and architecture to do further research on these extraordinary men. As architects. the authors excel in the physical descriptions that they provide. They describe the details with great care, sympathy, and understanding. There are descriptions of over 70 traditional temples: the wood-and-iron structure in 1870 (the earliest temple?) was the forerunner, to the now famous Isipingo Rail Mariaman Temple (p. 50); the Narainsamy Vishnu Temple is the best example of a "typical South Indian village" temple (p. 32); and the Durban Hindu Temple in Somtseu Road is described as "the Rook Reviews and Notices 97 most imposing of all Hindi temples" with traces of Victorian CIVIC and Islamic Mogul architecture (p. 59). The catalogue section contains in somewhat crowded arrangement meticulous diagrams of traditional temples of South Africa. These descriptions are amply supported by illustrations. Black-and-white photographs and magnificent colour-plates add a strong visual dimension. In several cases. interesting vignettes surrounding the foundation of the temples are given. reminding us of the human element that is ever-present in cor;crete structures. Take, for example, the story related on p. 46: "A young Hindu diving casually into the Umbilo River nearby, brought up a spear which resembled the Vel of Shree Shiva Subrahmanya. With such a divine omen, it was soon decided that this would be the most suitable site for the erectipn of the community's first temple". Throughout the book, the authors stress two aspects: one. the community spirit that went into temple-building among recent immigrants who wished to recreate familiar landmarks in new environments; two, the great need "to conserve the splendours of the heritage ..." brought by the newcomers. The authors show a genuine appreciation for the architectural value of traditional Hindu temples in South Africa. They lament the forces that have caused the demise of the temples. among others, the "political shuffling around of people" under the Group Areas Act. expropriations of public works, and disinterest among owners .. If this book was intended to be a guide for the interested student of traditional Hindu temples, it suffers rather badly from an awkward layout. Photographs are not always conveniently close to the description in the text; the innumerable cross-references make it necessary to t1ip back and forth from the text, to the colour-plates, and finally to the diagrams in the catalogue section. The reader will find this extremely cumbersome. By the time he gets back to the text, his train of thought will have been seriously interrupted. The authors should have considered a convenient format. As it stands, the layout of the book detracts from its usefulness as an easy reference guide. In some instances the cross-references are incorrect, inaccurate, or non­ existent. On page 15, we are told that the Pietermaritzburg Mariaman Temple is to be found on page 86 when it is on page 84. The dates of the Ganesa Temple are given as 1898 on page 15 and 1899 on page 46. There are several more such errors that could have been eliminated in proof-reading. The organisation of the book makes for some repetition. A temple is discussed in chapter 2 under "Master Builders". The description is repeated when the individual temple is fully discussed. Finally, the salient aspects of the temple are repeated in chapter 9 in the catalogue. A certain amount of repetition is unavoidable and even necessary, but rigorous editing would have reduced this to a minimum. There are photographs and drawings without captions. Even when captions are supplied, many of them stand aloof and unintegrated to the text. These criticisms in a book of this kind are serious. They detract from what is otherwise an extremely good and useful book. SURENDRA BHANA 98

Notes on Recent Publications DICTIONARY OF SOUTH AFRICAN BIOGRAPHY, vo\. IV, editor in chief c.J. Beyers. Durban, Published for the Human Sciences Research Council by Butterworth & Co., 1981. 803 pp. R27,50. From the Preface one finds that with the publication of this volume, the series now includes all the important figures who lived before the twentieth century. Included is a name index to all the personalities (3400) dealt with so far.

THROUGH MY BINOCULARS, by Ernie Duffield. Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1982. 168 pp. illus. R22,50. Durban-born Ernie Duffield, Natal jockey, well-known racing commen­ tator, and creator of Duffs Turf Guide, here presents a brief autobiography, followed by chapters of interest to the racing fraternity, ego 'Great horses', 'Trainers', 'Handicapping', 'Tips for punters', etc.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ZULU KINGDOM: the civil war in Zululand, 1879-1884, by Jeff Guy. Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1982. 273 pp. illus., maps. This important work was first published by Longman in 1979, and reviewed in Natalia 10. Priced originally at R36,00, Ravan Press's welcome paperback reprint comes at the attractive price of R9,95.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONNECTION OF THE HULETT FAMILY, by H.E. (Paddy) Hopkins. Priv. print, 1982. 66 pp. illus. RI8,OO. This book has been produccd in commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the arrival in Natal of the founder of the family, James Liege Hulett. Roughly half is devoted to the life of Sir Liege, based on R.F. Osborn's book This man of purpose. The other half consists of family information, including 23 pages of tables, documenting the family as it stood early in 1982.

MEMORANDA OF A TRADING TRIP INTO THE ORANGE RIVER (SOVEREIGNTY) FREE STATE, AND THE COUNTRY OF THE TRANSV AAL BOERS, by John Sanderson. Pretoria, State Library, 1981. 23 pp. R3,00. Sanderson's diary of a visit undertaken in 1851 and 1852 is reprinted from the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society for 1860. It was also published in the same year as a separate pamphlet by Clowes & Sons. Sanderson was for many years one of the prominent residents of Durban, and is best remembered as the outspoken editor of the Natal Colonist in the 1870s, and as a botanist and artist. 99

ONE HUNDRED GOLDEN YEARS: a history of the Natal Building Society, 1882-1982, by Terry Wilks. Durban, King & Wilks, 1982. 122 pp., illus. RI5,OO. This lavishly produced book with its interesting illustrations (among which are a fair number in colour), is more than just a history of the Society - it has much to offer on the early history of Durban as well.,

LONDON TO LADYSMITH VIA PRETORIA, by Winston Spencer Churchill. Durban, Griggs, 1982. 498 pp. maps. R18,95. Originally published in 1900 by Longmans, Green, this facsimile reprint covers, in letter form, Churchill's experiences from Oct. 1899 to Mar. 1900, shortly after the Relief of Ladysmith. SHELAGH SPENCER

Select List of Recent Natal Publications

BEDFORD, S.R. Social welfare handbook; a guide to the social welfare agencies of Durban and district, North and South Coasts, Kwa Zulu. Durban, Univ. of Natal, 1981. BENDHElM , Peter M. Clairwood; a survey of a community. Durban, Univ. of Durban-Westville, 1981. BRABY, Horace C. The history of Braby's, 1904-1980. Durban, Braby. 1981. CUBITI, Gerald, and Steele, David. Natal; province of contrasts. Cape Town, Nelson, 1981. FELGATE, W.S. The Thembe Thonga of Natal and Mozambique; a report. Edited and arranged by E.J. Krige. Durban, Univ. of Natal, 1982. GORDON, Ruth E. A 'Dear Louisa' picture book. Line drawings by Saxone E. Hancock. Pietermaritzburg, Pro-Print, 1982. HERD, Norman. Killie's Africa: the achievements of Dr Killie Campbell. Pietermaritzburg, Blue Crane books, 1982. HOFMEYR, J.H., and Oosthuizen, G.c. Religion in a South African Indian community. Durban, Univ. of Durban-Westville, 1981. KANTEY, B.A. The P.O.A. cancellations of Natal. Creda Press, 1982. MAYAT, Zuleikha. Indian delights; a book on Indian cookery. Enlarged edition. Durban, Women's Cultural Group, 1982. METILER, Lukas. Mariannhill, 1882-1982. Mariannhill, Mariannhill Mission Institute, 1982. MOLL, Eugene. Trees of Natal. Rondebosch, Univ. of Cape Town, 1981. MORAN, S.M. The first 100 years 1882-1982: Durban Girls' Model School - Durban Girls' High School. 1982. The NATAL bushveld; land forms and vegetation. Pietermaritzburg, Shuter & Shooter, 1981. 100

OOSTHUIZEN, G.c. Succession conflict within the Church of the Nazarites. Durban, Univ. of Durban-Westville, 1981. PEIRES, J.B. Before and after Shaka; papers in Nguni history. Grahams­ town, Rhodes Univ., 1981. PETERS, Wally. Durban architecture: roots, growth, change. Durban. Natal Provincial institute of architects, 1982. PIETERMARITZBURG. Russell High School. Souvenir edition. 1879­ 1979. Pietermaritzburg. the School, 1981. PLAYER, lan. More voices from the wilderness. Durban, Daily News, 1982. PRINGLE, John A. assisted by Creina Bond and John Clark. The conservationists and the killers: the story of game protection and the Wildlife Society of Southern Africa. Cape Town. T.V. Bulpin and Books of Africa, 1982. ROACH, Joyce M. The history of Bellair School, 1872-1981. Durban, Knox, 1982. ROSENTHAL, Eric. The Sarmcol story. Howick, SarmcoL 1981. SCHARFF, R.H. A profile of the African workforce in Durban. Durban. Univ. of Natal, 1981. Compiled by JUNE FARRER

Register of Research on Natal This list has been compiled from individual submissions from subscribers to Natalia, the University of Natal and the Natal Archives. Persons knowing of current research work that has not been listed are asked to furnish information for inclusion in the next issue. A slip is provided for this purpose.

AFRICANS Africans in Durban P.R. Maylam Africans in Natal 1750--1850 J .B. Wright African women in Durban 1920--1960 J. Mackenzie

ARCHITECTURE Art and architecture in Natal, 191O--c.1945 M. Hillebrand Pietermarizburg - Architecture and history J .A. Labuschagne

BIOGRAPHY Biographical sketches of Roman Catholic missIOnaries in South Africa 1800--1900 J.B. Brain Biography of Rev. Robert Robertson of Zululand K. Hughes J . W. Colenso J.J. Guy King Solomon, Zululand, 1913-1933 N.L.G. Cope Life of J.J .A. Prozesky, Berlin missionary of Koningsberg, Natal O. Prozesky 101

Life of Joseph Baynes R.O. Pearse Lord Chelmsford; British General III Southern Africa 1878-79 J. Mathews Zulu biographies D.C. Zondi; S.L. Mdaka

ECONOMICS Unemployment and poor relief in Pieter­ maritzburg, c.1923-1955 D.R. Owen Women's economic role in Natal, 19th century J.D. Beall

EDUCATION Or Mann's work for education in Natal N.M.P. Keirnan Educational development of the Polela Institution 1939-1981 c.C.C. Mbokazi History of Girls' High School, Pietermaritz­ burg J.K. Young

HISTORY Anglo-Zulu War P.S. Thompson Colonial defence and U mvoti County J.P.c. Laband Dundee S. Henderson Durban history and native policy M.W. Swanson Edendale, 185O--c .1930 S.M. Meintjes An evaluation of the historical sources III Natal available to the history teacher R. Chernis History of the coal industry in Northern Natal R. Edgecombe History of the Tugela Ferry-Msinga area C.Bond J.L. Dube: his Ilanga lase Natal and the administration of Blacks in Natal, 1903­ 1910 E.D. Gasa Ladysmith 1882 G. and G. Tatham Lamontville 1934--54 A.L. Torr Land, labour and agricultural production in Pietermaritzburg region, 1845-1875 N.M. Wellington Land regime in early Natal M.G. Cowling Mariannhill D. Lamoral Movement of Indians within Southern J.B. Brain and Africa S. Bhana Natal 1895-1899 F.R. Carroll Natal history 1875-1878 A.J. Edden Natal history, nineteenth century C. c. Ballard Natal Naval Volunteers S.H.C. Payne Natal place-names in relation to the histories of settlers N.T. Hunt Ndwedwe District, c.1860-1920 H. Hughes The 1913 distrubances in Natal M.D. North-Coombes Norwegian Mission: Zululand 1850--1874 T. J0rgensen 102

The policies of the Natal and the Transvaal governments towards Dinizulu. 1897-1913 S.J. Maphalala Port Natal harbour LJ. Heydenrych Rebellion of the Klip River Dutch community, lR99-1902 V.S. Harris Roman Catholic church history: Natal: 1925-1946 J.B. Brain Travel between Pietermaritzburg and Durhan from lR45 to IR80 R.W. Lamplough

IMMIGRATION Indian immigration V. Patcha\ Indian immigration N. Pillay Indian immigration A. Sookdeo Indian immigration G.H. Vahed Norwegian immigrants in Natal F. Hale Passenger Indians G.D. Klein

LAW The Natal Master and Servant laws J.G. Riekert Supreme Court of Natal P. Spiller

LIBRARY SCIENCE Libraries in Natal J.A. Verbeek

LITERATURE Zulu language and literature texts A. Hemmings

NATAL SEITLERS The establishment of the British settlement of Natal, 1823-1842 A.E. Cubbin Natal Settlers to 1858 S.P.M. Spencer

RELIGION Origins of the Christadelphian community in Natal (1870-1910) R.W. Lamplough

SOCIOLOGY Some socio-cultural features of Amakholwa communities of Northern NataL with special reference to Telapi and Kalabaas S.W.D. Dube

Compiled by JUNE FARRER 103

Notes on Contributors JOY BRAIN'S initial training was as an Africana librarian at the University of the Witwatersrand. She was Librarian at Edgewood College of Education for a number of years before accepting her present post in the History Department at the University of Durban-Westville in 1976. The research work for her master's degree and doctorate with the University of South Africa, has been published in the two volumes of Catholics in Natal (the second of which is reviewed elsewhere in this issue). She is shortly to publish a book on Christian Indians in N ata!.

FREDERICK HALE has taught and been a research fellow at the University of Oslo since receiving his PhD at the Johns Hopkins University in 1976. He has written several books about Scimdinavian emigration and contributed articles to historical, theological and literary journals in South Africa, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. He has undertaken lecture tours to the United States and South Africa, where he was the main speaker at the Norwegian Centenary Commemoration. He is currently writing a book about the Norwegian experience in Southern Africa.

SHEILA HENDERSON is an Oxford graduate, married to Charles Henderson, a prominent Biggarsberg farmer and former Senator. A brilliant speaker, she is a well-known guide to the many historical sites in the area. She has done wide research into the Biggarsberg region and was a moving spirit behind the establishment of the Dundee Museum.

ROBIN LAMPLOUGH is a history master at Kearsney College, Botha's Hill. A graduate of the University of Natal, he taught in Rhodesia (as it then was) and Durban before accepting his present post sixteen years ago. He has had a book of Matabele Folk Tales for Children published by the Oxford University Press.

TREVOR WILLS is an Old Boy of Maritzburg College and a graduate of the University of Natal where he now lectures in the Department of Geography. His master's degree won him the South African Geographical Society's medal for the best thesis of the year. His chief academic interest is local urban geography and he has done much towards developing town trails and green belt trails. An enthusiastic jogger, he has run the Comrades Marathon. Perhaps this article on the Umsindusi will inspire him to join those paddlers who choose to journey to Durban in even more arduous fashion than the runners. T.B. FROST Rare booklet for Natal Collectors

W.K. Ente - Natal en Nieuw-Gelderland. Arnhem, 1861 oct.wrps. 46 pp. Only publication: Gld. 120.

Offered for sale by Konig- Books. p.a. Box 2011 2460 BA Ter Aar/Holland

MISSIONARIES IN COLONIAL NATAL

FAILURE AND VINDICATION CATHOLICS IN NATAL 11 The journal of The history of the Bishop M.J.F. Allard 1856-1868 Roman Catholic Church in Natal An important previously 1886-1925 unpublished, primary source (The continuation of Catholic Edited with copious annotations Beginnings in Natal 1846-1885) and indexed by By J.B. BRAIN Fr HOWARD St GEORGE, OMI ISBN 062006018 ;. (Unity Publications, Durban 1981) (Archdiocese of Durban, 1982) Paperback R9,00 Paperback R12,00

Available from: Catholic Bookshop, Cennewa House, West Street, Durban Adams & Co, 341 West Street, Durban Shuter & Shooter, 230 Church Street, Pietermaritzburg SHUTER & SHOOTER Natal's Finest Bookshop Wittoriaft & @Edwardian ~ataJ lenn(fer and Alistair Verbeek . a compilation of some one hundred and fifty photographs ­ many never before published - depicting in vivid and memorable form the social, political, and military character of life in colonial Natal from 1860 to the time of the Great War. These photographs, each appropriately captioned and labelled, present a unique record of Natal's peoples from all walks of life at work, at play and at war. R19,95 The Place of The Elephant Ruth Gordon Ruth Gordon has for some time been acknowledged as one of our leading local historians, whose deep love and concern for Pietermaritzburg and its past have invariably been channeled into action. Her latest venture is this highly informative and readable account of Maritzburg's history - from the early days of Piet Retief and his fellow-trekkers in 1837 to the present. R13,95 ~ Shuter & Shooter P.O. BOX 109, PIETERMARITZBURG, 3200 Telephone: 58151 University of Natal Press

P.O. Box 375, Pietermaritzburg, 3200

RECENTLY PUBLISHED

Colenso, John William Bringing Forth Light: Five Tracts on Bishop Colenso's Zulu Mission Edited by Ruth Edgecombe 215 x 145 mm. 298 pages. Illustrations. Boards. ISBN 0869802836 RlS,OO The major work reprinted in this volume is First Steps of the Zulu Mission in which Colenso gives a lively day-by-day account of his journey to Zululand and his visit to King Mpande in 1859. His fresh and perceptive observations make this a rich historical source. Among the other reprints of historical and missionary interest are the English translations of the descriptions of the same journey written by the three young Zulu converts who accompanied him. Killie Campbell Africana Library Reprint Series No.4

King, Lester The Natal Monocline: Explaining the Origin and Scenery of Natal, South Africa Revised and enlarged edition. 243 x 160 mm. 144 pages. Illustrations. Paperback. ISBN 086980314 X R9,OO Professor King's geomorphological account was first published in 1972. Since then it has proved to be an indispensable aid to students and to all who wonder at the rich variety of Natal's landscapes.

Webb, Colin de B. and Wright, John B. (eds.) The James Stoart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples. Vol. Ill. 250 x 170 mm. 392 pages. Boards. ISBN 0869802879 RI8,60 The publication of this third volume brings to ninety-nine the number of informants whose testimony is presented in this unique publication. Killie Campbell Africana Library Manuscript Series No. 3