ATTENTION BOOK LOVERS

Planning for this year’s Richmond Book Fair is well underway. Key promoter, Peter Baker, confirms dates are set for October 22 to 24, and that response from writers has been phenomenal. He promises an impressive forum of speakers. “Almost all have confirmed for 2010 and the list for 2011 is steadily filling,” he says. “The World Cup will no doubt dominate the first half of the year, but after that we expect the focus to be on the commemoration of 150 years of Indian settlement in South Africa. So, with this in mind, and as another first for the Karoo, this year’s Fair will be far more representative of our literary heritage. The theme of BookBedonnerd III will be “The Coolie Odyssey” and six key speakers have been lined up to discuss Indian Diasporic writing in South Africa. They are Ronnie Govender, Aziz Hassim, Betty Govinden (health permitting), Imraan Coovadia, Prof. Lindy Stiebel from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, and Prof. Isabel Hofmeyr from the University of the Witwatersrand. Afrikaans literature will be discussed by Prof. Johnathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Free State, Prof Joan Hambidge from the University of Cape Town, Prof. Steward van Wyk and Diana Ferrus, from the University of the Western Cape, as well as Loftus Marais, Ingrid Winterbach and Kirby van de Merwe. Other speakers are Stephan Welz, Geoff Klass, Marianne Palmer, Roger and Pat de la Harpe. Radio interviewers, Denis Beckett, Rian Malan and Tymon Smith will broadcast chats with most speakers before October 22.

OLD CRASH, NEW MYSTERY

Military history researcher, Col Graham du Toit, has discovered another air crash at Beaufort West. Browsing through some old files he found details of a crash that happened on April 25, 1949, but it has presented a new mystery. On that day a Harvard AT-6, Serial Number 7148, of South African Air Force 17th Squadron crashed while carrying out low level aerobatics. Both the pilot, Lieutenant Frank Scurr Upton, and a civilian passenger, J. Classens, were killed. “I assume Lieutenant Upton was practicing for an air display at some special event such as the Beaufort West Agricultural Show, when the accident occurred,” says Graham. “The story is particularly intriguing because only in exceptional and officially sanctioned circumstances would a civilian be allowed to fly in military aircraft of this type. I sincerely hope some old Beaufort Westers might be able to shed more light on the accident and tell me who Classens was, why he was in the aircraft and whether he is buried in Beaufort West. Lieutenant Frank Upton was laid to rest in Plumstead Cemetery in Cape Town.”

SCOTTISH READER FINDS MORE FAMILY TIES

A Scottish reader has once again found family links in Rose’s Round-up. Many years ago, it helped trace some branches of her family tree in South Africa, now recently, while reading one of the latest issues over a cup of tea on a cold winter’s day, she discovered more family ties. She writes: “Thanks for Round-up as usual. Found two links with my family in this issue. Dr James Christie was my paternal great grandfather’s brother and Melsetter is the name of Captain Benjamin Moodie’s family home in Orkney. He brought my grandmother’s grandfather to the Cape Colony in 1817 (to the Grootvader’sbosch Estate). The house still stands and is still called ‘Melsetter’. I believe there is also a ‘Melsetter’ in old Rhodesia where one of Moodie’s brothers settled.”

EVER MET THE MORRIS FAMILY OF LAINGSBURG?

A reader is searching for information on the Morris family who once lived in Laingsburg. “I wonder whether anyone has heard of Percy Charles Morris, born about 1876, who married Beatrice Marion Faulkner in Laingsburg in 1902? She appears to have come from Kimberley, and it seems they had a son named Clement Morris. This child is listed as born in Laingsburg in 1908. Any information would be welcomed.”

SIT DOWN IN THE MIDST OF HISTORY

THE Fransie Pienaar Museum in Prince Albert has a range of chairs with interesting histories. The oldest is a “riempie” chair, made in 1840 by F F de Wit, whose sister, Christina, married Voortrekker leader, Andries Pretorius. Six spindle back bentwood chairs with arm-rests elegantly set off the huge table which has pride of place in the old dining room. Legend has it that while Prince Albert’s first councillors were admiring these new chairs, before the inaugural council meeting in 1901, General Jan Smuts and his commando were fleeing through the area ahead of ‘khakis’ (British soldiers) on horseback. Six other bentwoods are strategically placed so researchers can comfortably browse through old documents, newspapers and books. The museum also boasts a patented stroller (walking ring) with metal castors. Made of wood, spring steel and leather, it belonged to Fransie Pienaar’s family and did sterling service for years helping babies learn to walk and strengthen their legs. Also, on show is J J Bothma’s barber’s chair. He opened a barber shop in the village in 1975 and after it closed the chair was given to the museum. Then, the Basson Room proudly displays four magnificently carved chairs with a distinct Middle Eastern “flavour.” These were made by Piet Basson, who was born on Vyevlei in 1918. He rose to become a director of Iscor but when he retired, he returned to Prince Albert to indulge in his hobby – wood carving. Piet’s other love was the Middle East. He travelled there frequently and once spent time in the palace of the Shah of Iran. After that visit he designed and carved these ornate chairs, working on them from 1985 to 1988. The newest chair, the office chair, was purchased with funds from the Piet Basson Trust. Prince Albert also boasts eight re-cycled plastic benches which have been strategically placed in the main street to allow locals and tourists to pause for a chat and admire the view. These were sponsored by the Central Karoo District Municipality.

BERBER WORD MAKES SOUTH AFRICA ITS HOME

The word assegai, unknown in indigenous African languages, is a Berber word. Charles Pettman in Africanderisms says: “The name was adopted by the Moors and subsequently applied by the Portuguese to the slender javelins used by the natives of Africa. The Portuguese brought the word to East Africa and from there it filtered down to South Africa where it was later taken over by the Boers and British.” Pettman quotes Cowel as saying that after Richard II banned stabbing spears in Britain, all words for them disappeared from the English vocabulary. These words only returned when the British became associated with South Africa, where two forms of these weapons were widely used – a throwing spear, called the um Konto, and a short stabbing one, i Boqo. In 1685 Sir T Herbert wrote of natives brandishing assegais – small lances, barbed with iron. “These people know how to jaculate as well as any in the Universe,” he proclaimed. Kolben mentioned Khoi-khoi using assegais in 1745 and in 1834 Pringle wrote “the Bushmen retain the light javelins, or assegais of the Hottentots.” By 1836 the word assegaied was being used to indicate someone had been killed in an assegai attack.

TALES OF ADVENTURE WARM WINTER HEARTS

The winter of 1845 in the Colesberg area of the Karoo was a severe one. A letter, in the Grahamstown Herald of November 20, confirms “the frost has been so very severe that most of the wheat has been completely destroyed.” The letter also reports that big game hunters Oswald and Murray were welcomed to Colesberg on their return from the interior. “They have travelled further into the interior than any others and they have shot much large game including elephants, rhinos and giraffes. They have also had many hair-raising escapes.” Locals gathered daily to be entertained by exciting tales of almost unexplored areas of the vast South African hinterland. They were amazed to hear that these two intrepid men had seen a tree so huge that it was at least 51ft (15,5 m) in circumference and 17in (43 cm) in diameter. In a place like the Karoo where trees are sparse many longed to see this giant.

GIVE ME A HOME WHERE THE ANTELOPE ROAM…

Proclaiming a village in the Central Karoo in 1818 was one thing, getting building material there was another. Such material had to be exported from coastal forests, then dragged northwards on ox wagons. In 1823 when George Thompson went to Knysna he was stunned by the magnificent forests. He wrote: “These supply Cape Town and the interior with timber. The wood is sent by sea from Plettenberg Bay and Knysna to Cape Town and then carried up overland even to the Drostdy of Beaufort and other unwooded parts of the Great Karoo.” He added that the woodcutters of the Knysna forests were the poorest class of white people in the country “They are never sure of enough food. They earn their livelihood through service, labour and conveying timber by wagon to the ports.”

WORLD ATTENTION TURNS TO KAROO

In the mid-1800s world attention was focussed on the Karoo. Invalids from Europe were flocking to breathe the fresh, clean, crisp, dry air at places like Beaufort West and be cured of their chest complaints. Beaufort’s Dr James Christie, who had been ship-wrecked and stranded at the Cape, moved to the Karoo in the 1830s and acquired a farm on the Salt River, (now part of Nelspoort) was one of the promoters of the area, so was Dr David Livingstone. In 1850 Livingstone wrote: “The Karoo is admirably suited for patients with pulmonary complaints”. James D Logan, Laird of Matjiesfontein, created South Africa’s first “health spa” at his privately-owned village, and people from across the globe visited there. It was a favourite place of South African author, Olive Schreiner, who loved the Karoo. Many Victorian medical men, like Dr Hermann Weber, considered Karoo air and climate “eminently favourable for those with a disposition for phthisis.”

ARMY GIVES KAROO A NOD

In the Official Handbook of the Colony (1878), John Noble, proclaimed “statistics of the Army Medical Department have proved the Karoo has one of the healthiest climates in the world. Because of this, it has highly recommended this area as the ideal spot for the establishment of a sanatorium for European invalids.” Cape Town’s Dr E Symes-Thompson agreed. In an address to the Royal Institute in London in1889, he said: “We find the Karoo, a region characterised by excessive dryness of air and soil, has a remarkable purity and coolness of air almost complete free of floating matter. There is also a great intensity of light and solar influence in the Karoo, a great stillness in winter, a large amount of ozone, and a degree of rarefaction that has proved to be of value to phthisis sufferers.” However, he warned, it would be useless to send anyone used to a life of luxury to the Karoo. “Anyone who grumbles when difficulties arise, will not like the humble and at times harsh living conditions.”

UNSUNG HEROINE PART OF THE BIG PICTURE

Dr Symes-Thompson’s words inspired a middle-aged English woman of “independent means.” to go to the Karoo. As a child Elizabeth Pilliner had a constant nagging tickle in her throat; over the years it developed into a debilitating, raw, hacking cough. The doctors called it consumption, (tuberculosis). She felt old and defeated by life, until she heard this man from Africa offer her new hope. By 1890, Elizabeth then 45 years old, had packed her bags and set sail for the other side of the world to find the Karoo on the great plains of Africa and hopefully also better health. She made it as far as Ceres and could travel no further. So she stopped. In time she recovered, but she stayed in Ceres until her death on September l, 1900. She loved the place and its people. She was grateful for the extra years granted to her under piercingly blue Karoo skies, so she left a bequest to the region. In her will she wrote: “I give and bequeath the bulk of my property to form the nucleus of a fund for founding a Cottage Hospital or Cottage Home at Ceres, or in the Karoo, for the benefit of ladies coming from England with weak chests and limited incomes.” At that time the Anglo-Boer War was ending, and no one was particularly interested in such an idea, but by 1911 businessman, philanthropist and visionary John Garlick came up with a similar idea and her bequest became part of his efforts to found Nelspoort Sanatorium in 1921. It had a special ward for ladies of limited means.

MERRY MERMAIDS SURFING?

Mermaids remain an eternal mystery in the arid Karoo. The San sketched them on rocks at various places through the region and to this day these water creatures of the dryland mystify researchers. There are intriguing examples of mermaids etched onto the rocks at Eeljacht farm near Oudtshoorn. The figures in these red ochre drawings have human heads and shoulders, but solid lower bodies ending in fish-tails. Many are engaged in some sort of activity, such as hunting, swimming or skipping, while others are making significant gestures i.e. pointing to something. A curved line extends from the slender body of the main figure and some researchers feel that this is indicative of a river. Several of the creatures flow along, following this line, so that might have meant that they were swimming. The central figure is holding a small stick-like object which may have been a wind instrument, say some researchers. “Most of these carefree figures seem to be engaged in leisure activities,” says A R Wilcox in The Rock Art of Africa. “One crouched figure even seems to be riding a surf board. Only by relating this painting to San folklore is there any hope of finding a meaning, but it does seem possible that the artists saw the dugong (plant eating, seal-like sea mammals) along the southern coast of Africa and were inspired by this.”

CONFRONTATIONAL TIME ON THE PLAINS

It was October 1901 and scattered spring showers had fallen over large areas of the Great Karoo “The veld was improving. Long stretches of young bright green grass promised good summer grazing. The British soldiers stationed at Nelspoort felt that at last felt that winter was over, yet they redoubled their alertness as “rebel” bands were being reported all along the railway line from Lamberts Bay on the West Coast, through Calvinia to Murraysburg and further east,” writes historic researcher, Ray de Villiers. “Boer commandos under men like Wynand Malan, Lategan, Smit, Pypers and others were bedevilling the situation by pouncing on bands of British scouts. They were easy prey and, after each little skirmish the Boers simply melted back and vanished on the veld always eluding the British columns.” In the Nelspoort area a small party of the Beaufort West District Mounted Troops under the immediate command of Sergeant Fred Rice were out on patrol reconnoitring in the hills east of the station. Near Kruidfontein farm, then owned by Philip van der Merwe, they rode out onto a raised plateau. Fred Rice and Ben de Villiers turned north, while T C W (Whitcomb) Rose and A S Sutherland, rode south east to try and establish the whereabouts of a small Boer band under the command of Commandant Wynand Malan. As they rode, they kept a wary eye on the veld said Ray.

JUST THE MAN THEY DIDN’T WANT TO MEET

As Rose and Sutherland steadily rode towards the edge of the plateau they passed by some towering rocks. Before they knew it they suddenly found themselves face to face with Commandant Malan. He was alone, he had sent his men out ahead in three small parties to search for the enemy. Malan leapt out shouting “Hands up!” Rose and Sutherland ignored this, opting to fight. As they jumped from their horses, Malan fired and shot Rose through the chest. Sutherland managed to take cover behind his horse and Malan knew he had to outwit this man and that any false move would prove fatal. He fired a shot into the flank of Sutherland’s horse, quickly reloaded, and before Sutherland could recover Malan fired again instantly killing Sutherland. A party of Malan’s men heard the shots and raced towards the spot fearing all the time that their commandant had come across a larger scouting party. Malan was relieved that they recognised him and did not fire. He knew they were all crack shots and he did not want to become another casualty. Malan then dismounted, walked over and touched Sutherland’s body with his boot saying: “This chap has had it.” Turning to Rose he stooped to examine his chest wound. He rose and said “And, this one will not make it either.” He gave his men instructions to transport Rose with utmost care and consideration to Kruidfontein and to take Sutherland’s body there as well. Malan knew very well from experience that it was almost always fatal to move a badly wounded man. Rattling along a rugged road on a buggy, normally killed seriously wounded men, but there was nothing else for Malan to do because he was aware that if he left him there, Rose would bleed to death. Once safely at Kruidfontein Malan sent word to the British at Nelspoort and allowed them safe passage to fetch Rose and take him to Nelspoort Station. From there he went by train to Beaufort West and from that station to the hospital at the Boys’ Klip School. There Rose received recovered from his wound.

ENEMY AND A GENTLEMAN

Malan never forgot Rose. For many years after the Anglo-Boer War he regularly, through family members in the Boland, sent a box of hanepoort grapes to Rose in Beaufort West. Rose accepted these, silently saluting him as an officer and a gentleman. Sutherland, who was easily recognised throughout the Beaufort West district by his flowing red beard, was also a farmer. He was 47 years old when he died. He had always said that he would never surrender to a Boer. He was buried next to the Boer, soldier, Botha, who had been shot in a skirmish at Nelspoort Station in July, when Commandant Gideon Scheepers and his men hijacked a troop train. These two, lay side by side in peace for many years until Carel Herholdt, then owner of Kruidfontein, wanted to extend his farming operations. To accommodate him, a road had to be moved and the two soldiers had to be exhumed and re-interred in Murraysburg. Ray de Villiers, who researched this story many years ago, included a few lines written by Fydell Edmund Garrett, as a fitting Inscription for these men. “Together, sundered once by blood and speech, joined here in equal muster of the brave, Lie Boer and Briton, foes each worth each. May peace strike root into their common grave, and blossoming where the fathers fought and died, Bear fruit for sons that labour side by side.”

A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool – Joseph Roux