Die dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi Kaptein van die Witbooi-Hottentotte 1884-1905 Hendrik Witbooi bron Hendrik Witbooi, Die dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi, Kaptein van die Witbooi-Hottentotte 1884-1905. The Van Riebeeck Society, Cape Town 1929 Zie voor verantwoording: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/witb002dagb01_01/colofon.php © 2014 dbnl t.o I HOTTENTOT-KAPTEINS. Die drie middelstes is (van links af) Samuel Isaak, Hendrik Witbooi en Isaak Witbooi. Hendrik Witbooi, Die dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi iii Chief events in the life of Hendrik Witbooi. 1884: HENDRIK WITBOOI succeeded his father, Moses, as captain of the Witbooi Hottentots at Gibeon. In the same year he commenced a war against the Hereros which lasted for 8 years. 1892: Concluded peace and returned to his stronghold at Hoornkrans, in the Rehoboth district. 12th April, 1893: Hoornkrans attacked and captured by Major von Francois. Witbooi and his warriors escaped. 15th Sept., 1894: Witbooi surrendered to Governor Leutwein in the Naukluft Mountains. He promised to live peaceably and abandon his warlike and marauding ways. 1894 to 1904: Lived peaceably at Gibeon. On occasions he assisted the German troops against other native tribes. 1904: Broke his promises and agreements and resumed hostilities against the white people in a most treacherous way. 29th Oct., 1905: Wounded in action near Vaalgras (northern part of Keetmanshoop district) and succumbed to these wounds some days later. Hendrik Witbooi, Die dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi vii Introduction. Hendrik Witbooi. This introduction was written by Mr. Gustav Voigts, one of the members of the S.W.A. Scientific Society. He is one of the oldest and most respected inhabitants of South-West Africa. He knew Hendrik Witbooi personally and in the following pages he speaks from his experiences as a merchant, farmer and soldier of the prominent part that this little Hottentot captain played in his history of South-West Africa. (Translated from the German.) In the year 1891 I came from Chile to the Transvaal to join my brother Albert. On arriving at Schweizer Reinecke, I found him away from home, he having left a short time before with two other Germans by ox-wagon for Damaraland in order to make preparations for the establishment of commercial relations between that country and the Transvaal. After a year the expedition returned. In spite of difficulties and losses at the hands of turbulent Hottentots they had nevertheless arrived at a satisfactory result. It was decided to establish a business, with the help of our principal, Mr. Wecke, in Okahandja, the residence of the Paramount Chief of the Hereros. The goods would be bartered for Herero cattle, which would then be driven overland to the Transvaal to be sold in Johannesburg. Besides ourselves Messrs. Hermann Brandt and Bernhardt Mahler took part in the trek. They had already accompanied the first trek and later purchased Enkelkameelboom, the present Mariental, from Witbooi. Hendrik Witbooi, Die dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi viii In July, 1892, we left the Transvaal with two well-spanned and well-equipped ox-wagons and trekked via Taungs and Kuruman through the Kalahari which we crossed without loss on the waterless stretch of 240 kilometres from Koes along the Molopo to Mier. At Karaam we came upon a ruined and burnt-out Hottentot village. Brandt, an experienced German-South African, explained that this was one of the many instances of Hendrik Witbooi's cruelty. Evening after evening our conversation round the camp-fire turned to Hendrik. Brandt could narrate endless anecdotes about this remarkable Captain of the Witboois. Hendrik had subjected almost the whole of Namaqualand; tribes which refused to submit to him were exterminated. Towards the whites he was just and magnanimous, knowing well that without them he could obtain no weapons and ammunition. On the last stage of the trek, in the neighbourhood of Karaam, ten delegates met us with a letter from Hendrik Witbooi requesting that the convoy should go to Witbooi's village, as he wished to purchase all the merchandise. My brother and Brandt knew well that, if they obeyed, Hendrik would take all our goods with the promise to pay for them with oxen after his next excursion to Damaraland. They therefore refused with the excuse that they had no authority to do so as they had strict injunctions from Mr. Wecke to proceed to Okahandja. The ten Witboois remained a few days, examined the wagons, particularly in search of weapons, ammunition and brandy, and on being unable to find any, drank up our whole stock of Dutch medicines indiscriminately for the sake of their spitituous contents, an act which produced the most Hendrik Witbooi, Die dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi ix remarkable effects. After they had recovered they purloined a number of articles they required and departed without paying. From Karaam we trekked to Enkelkameelboom. One evening we saw a camp-fire burning in the neighbourhood. It occasioned us some uneasiness, as it might belong to some of Simon Cooper's people from Gochas, who were fond of robbing whites. To our relief, however, Abel Isaak, one of Hendrik Witbooi's headmen, soon appeared and asked who we were and whither we were going. He did not molest us in the least, drank a mug of coffee and returned to his fire. Next morning we continued our journey over Kub and Rehoboth to Windhoek, which at that time consisted only of the fort and three houses. The Kaiserstreet of to-day was then a mere spoor for ox-wagons; the hot springs ran freely over it as they had done for centuries. The present Zoo was a marshy thicket of reeds and witdoorntrees. In the neighbourhood of Okahandja we met the first Hereros. Without greeting, everyone of them, man, woman or child, asked: ‘Otjikorta tji ri pi?’ that is to say: ‘The base short one! Where is he?’ Hendrik Witbooi was generally called ‘The Short One.’ The use of the prefix ‘Tji,’ which as a rule is used to indicate inanimate objects, signified contempt. Witbooi was the terror of Hereroland, particularly along the Southern border which passed through Otjimbingwe, Barmen, Okahandja and along the White Nossob to Otjihaenene. Along this Southern line the Hereros were packed in dense masses with their large herds of cattle. The reason was that Witbooi was wont to appear unexpectedly from the South with his Hendrik Witbooi, Die dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi x mounted warriors, fall upon the cattleposts of the Hereros, shoot down the few herdsmen and drive off the cattle. In order, therefore, to have as many fighting men as possible on the spot when such unexpected attacks took place, the Hereros were obliged to live together in dense masses on this Southern boundary. This necessitated keeping many cows, for milk was the staple diet of the Hereros. When our firm commenced business in Okahandja in 1892, there was an astonishing scarcity of even the most primitive necessities such as spades, buckets, cooking-pots, etc. The first goods were literally snatched out of our hands by the Hereros. Within a few weeks we had 500 oxen together, with which my brother Albert immediately departed for the Transvaal. Samuel Maharero gave him a letter addressed to Witbooi, asking the latter to vouchsafe his white traders safe escort through Namaland, according to the conditions of the recently concluded peace. The request was complied with. A copy of this letter is to be found in Witbooi's diary. Witbooi still owed us about £40 from the first trek, and Hermann Brandt several times requested him to pay, but without success. Recourse to legal proceedings was out of the question, but Brandt knew how he could get round Hendrik. He simply wrote to him that it would never do for him, as the Great Chief of Namaland, not to pay his debts. If he really refused, then he (Brandt) would publish the fact in the Cape Town newspapers, which would mean the end of all his fame. This had its effect and payment followed immediately. Hendrik Witbooi, Die dagboek van Hendrik Witbooi xi At the beginning of 1893 we again had 700 oxen in our possession. Samuel Maharero informed me that he could only give us pasture for these in the mountains of Otjihavera to the South of Okahandja. Witbooi would not steal the cattle of a white man, and we would further be able to give the Hereros immediate warning if Hendrik invaded the country on his raids from the South. That was not very friendly, but at any rate reasonable. When Brandt left with our 700 oxen for the Transvaal, we received in Windhoek the ominous tidings that Governor von Francois had driven Witbooi out of Hoornkrans - that meant war. Instead of trekking further southwards, we had to remain with our oxen on the Schaf River and wait. The war against Witbooi was endlessly prolonged. No purchasers for our cattle could be found in the country. The accounts for the large consignments of goods were a year old and had to be paid. I was alone in Okahandja and at my wits' end. At last I formed a desperate decision. I wrote through Samuel Maharero to Witbooi, reminding him that according to the conditions of peace it was his duty to grant protection to Samuel's traders through Namaland, that I was in difficulties and had to send 500 oxen urgently to the Transvaal, and that I required his protection for this purpose. Witbooi replied that he was involved in a strenuous war and could not help me. If, however, the matter was very urgent, I could approach him again. When I then wrote to him that it was extremely urgent, he informed me that I might send my people with the cattle.