CONSERVE EVERYTHING FROM AARDVARKS TO ZEBRAS

The Nama Karoo Foundation (NKF) has launched a booklet that stresses the need for conservation. Karoo Landowners Conservation Guidelines covers a wide range of issues related to the preservation of the country’s natural heritage and is available free as a PDF download, or as a hard copy costing R20. In addition to advising farmers on how to ensure that veld creatures, such as tortoises, can access water on their farms, the guide includes valuable information on how to handle the conservation of a wide range of fauna and flora. The NKF says “many of these issues apply not only to the Karoo, but to other regions in South Africa, and countries across the world.” The guide was produced with the assistance of Dr Sue Milton, Dr Victor Loehr, and the late Dr Lyall Watson, an extraordinary man of science, who became a special mentor to the NKF. He designed its logo, guided some of its projects and named High Karoo Park, considered a showpiece for conservation. He spent four months there shortly before he died. There is a blue crane sanctuary in this area and so many other interesting birds that Dr Watson started a bird data base for the NKF. The organisation has several other interesting publications which it sells for funds: Karoo Architectural Network – Restoring and Caring for Karoo Houses – free as a download, or R20 for a hard copy; Springbok Treks in the Karoo by Chris Roche (R100); Happy Days at Zoetvlei (a children’s book) by Stella Rubidge (70); Oral History of the Sneeuberg by C J Rubidge and Alien Vegetation Removal in the Bo Karoo.

IT IS ALL ABOUT TIME AND ROCK ART

A new book on Karoo rock engravings is being launched at the Living Landscape Project in Clanwilliam on Tourism day, September 27. This book, Karoo Rock Engravings: Marking Places in the Landscape, compiled by archaeologists John Parkington and David Morris, contains some superb photographs taken by Neil Rusch at many sites throughout the region. The text includes detailed descriptions of each site, as well as a great deal of background information on rock art in the Karoo. Karoo Rock Engravings, published by Krakadouw Trust, part of the Clanwilliam Living Landscape Project (CLLP), costs R140 and proceeds of its sales will be divided between the CLLP and the Wildebeest Kuil centre, outside Kimberley. After the official launch others are planned at various venues in the Karoo. The book will be available at the Richmond Book Fair, which takes place from October 23 to 25. Also of interest to those who love the Karoo is Julia Martin’s new book, A Millimetre of Dust, just published by Kwela Books. It is an account of a journey from Cape Town to the Northern Cape and back “into our deepest past” to visit some world-class stone age archaeological sites. This book costs R165 and is also available from the McGregor Museum, Box 316, Kimberley, 8300. The CLLP exhibition is entitled “It’s About Time.” It marks the passage of time in the Greater Cederberg area.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? MAYBE MORE THAN YOU THINK!

Dr Peter Raper, an expert on place names, believes the San may have had a greater influence on South African place names than they are given credit for. His research into the Khoisan people and their influence on history stretches oven 45 years, and for the last three or four years he has been delving into the impact of the San on local names. His research has revealed that an increasing number of names across the country have a San root. To date much of his work has been based in KwaZulu-Natal, where people believe most of the names are of Zulu origin. “This is not so,” says Peter, “the problem is that almost nothing in respect of San Language was recorded in that part of the country. So, this is proving to be a fascinating area of research.”

THE MYSTERY OF THE SHIELD SOLVED

Military researcher Col Graham du Toit solved the mystery of Johanna Nicholson’s Zulu Shield pendant (Round-up No 60) “It is in fact a Prince Alfred’s Guard Collar Badge,” he says. “The Regiment served during the Ninth Frontier War of 1877 and came under hostile fire for the first time at Umzintzani, which is why they adopted this name for their collar badge. I have replied to Johanna and sent her a short history of the Regiment,” he says.

IMPRESSED BY THE SMALLHOLDERS, BUT NOT BY THE DAM

When Robert Wallace visited Beaufort West in 1895, he found it an interesting area from an agricultural point of view. In Farming Industries of the Cape Colony, he writes: “The plains below the mountain have aromatic Karoo bushes suitable for grazing by sheep and goats, while on the top of the mountains, actually a new plateau, these bushes are mostly absent, so the grazing is better suited to cattle and horses.” He also mentions an interesting experiment in cultivation under a system of irrigation from a large dam. “This scheme allows a number of smallholders on two-acre plots to do very well growing a succession of farm crops and vegetables irrigated by water from the dam.” But, for the dam itself, he saw no future. “The Beaufort West irrigation dam was built by the municipality at a cost of £12 000. The money was borrowed from the Government at 6%. The irrigation community pays as much as £21 annual rent for their plots, but this only provides enough to cover interest on the loan. While amount of money borrowed is not decreasing, the dam is rapidly filling with soil washed in from the Karoo-bush veld from where the water supply is drawn. This veld, furrowed and loosened on the surface, is more easily denuded by the trampling of animals as they come and go to and from the dam to drink. In a comparatively short space of time the dam will be filled, and the Government will probably be expected to write off its loan,” he said. He praised the town for its efforts at growing trees. “Oaks do not thrive because of the presence of brak (salt) in the soil, but Robinias and pear trees do exceptionally well. The mile-long main street is lined with healthy pear trees, making it a picture in spring.” The area to the north east of the town, towards Nelspoort, he said, was a rich alluvial plain with no lack of lime. “Good agricultural ground,” he said.

FEATHERS RUFFLED BY OUDTSHOORN BUYERS

Some of the feather buyers of Oudtshoorn horrified Robert Wallace. “An effective means must urgently be found to expose and combat the usury practices of some feather pedlars,” he wrote in Farming Industries of the Cape Colony in 1896. “There is a low-type of German, Pole and Russian, who swarm about this town posing as bona fide feather buyers. They bewilder ignorant or imperfectly educated farmers by offering them ready cash, which they badly need, for feathers still on the birds. This is done months before the feathers are ready to pull. Then these fiends advanced part of the price against a bill bearing 5% interest. What these ignorant people do not realised is that this is a monthly and not an annual interest, and that it amounts to 60% per annum. These poor people end up loosing the feathers and owing money to these dishonest buyers. Another trick they play is to send relays of buyers to country farmers, where one after another offers a price far below the market value of the feathers. These fellows offer as much as 30% under current prices. Then, when the poor rural farmer is in despair, they send a buyer who offers 5% above the last offer and so they secure feathers at 25% below the market price. These rogues then all meet in Oudtshoorn, sell the feathers, at top prices, and divide the plunder.”

A HORSE, A HORSE, MY KINGDOM FOR A BETTER HORSE!

Many British soldiers used to riding and hunting in England were most disappointed with the horses issued to them in South Africa. J Cooper-Chadwick, who came out in 1885 to join Sir Charles Warren’s Expedition, was one of them. In Three Years with Lobengula and Other African Experiences, he says: “We were given a most weedy looking lot of horses. Some had not been broken, but then several of the men had never ridden before, so matters were about equal, and most men quickly learned how to hang on.” In order to water their horses each morning, the men had to ride down to the river. A steep embankment caused havoc. Most horses took fright, bucked and bolted sending their red-faced riders rolling right down into trampled mud. The first mounted parade was “very good fun.” Some were not able to mount, others climbed up on the wrong side, and one had put his saddle on back to front. “I was given a big bony brute that strongly objected to being mounted. He was also terrified of a rifle. I later learned he’d been hit in the head. In order for me to mount someone to hold a scarf over his eyes. Eventually, however, we began “to understand each other.”

UNSEEN HOLE HELPS CURE THE FEAR

A fearful fall “cured” J Cooper-Chadwick’s horse of its fear of rifles. “One day, en-route back to camp I fell out to light my pipe. I dismounted, thinking as the horse was tired and that he would let me mount again without any trouble. However, as I put my foot in the stirrup, my rifle touched his shoulder and he bolted. I managed somehow to scramble on to his back, but I landed up behind the saddle instead of on it. The reins fell out of my hands, but I clung on for dear life as he charged along at full tilt, flying across the ground. Then suddenly he came a cropper as he put a foot into an unseen hole. I flew over his head and slammed into the ground, every breath knocked out of me. I was stunned, but so was he. I got to my feet as quickly as I could and rushed to the horse. He was fine. Nothing broken. As he staggered to his feet, I mounted. Then, I kept getting on and off, running the rifle over and over his head until he was calm. When he was, we slowly moved off. He was fine. His fear of rifles was gone. I never had any trouble with him again.”

MORE THAN PRAYERS WERE NEEDED!

Setting up mission stations in South Africa was a daunting task. Some, like Kookfontein, outside Beaufort West, seemed doomed before they even got underway. After visiting this station Lichtenstein summed up the basic problem. The missionaries, he said, seemed to wholly forget that mankind was destined for more than work and prayer. So, the institutions bore within themselves “the germs of their own downfall.” Sadly, by the time he saw Kookfontein, Missionary Erasmus Smith had lost interest in the station, so Lichtenstein had good grounds for commenting: “Such was the universal sloth and negligence within this place that on one could remain here but with great reluctance or from strong necessity.”

ROMANTIC MYSTERY BEGS TO BE SOLVED

In 1881 a 32-year-old Englishman, who came to South Africa in search of better health, ended up in Beaufort West. Three years later he was dead. Yet such a romantic mystery veils Henry Roberts de Beauvoir Ellman’s brief life in that little Karoo town that his great grandson, Michael Ellman, has not yet been able to unravel it. In Beaufort West Henry was appointed postmaster and held this post until his death. He also met and fell in love with the daughter of John Pringle, a building contractor. They did not marry, but a child, said to be born of this relationship arrived about 9 ½ months after Henry died and was given his name. “The little boy was baptised in Beaufort West’s Christchurch Anglican Church in February 1886 and Henry is listed as his father. The rector, Rev Guy Gething and his wife, are listed as the little boy’s god parents. The parish register also records Henry’s death and lists a brother, Benjamin, still a minor, as his next of kin,” says Michael. Henry made a will while living on Salt Riversvlei or Salt Riverpoort. It states that he was “of sound mind, but not well, yet still active in the community.” It also states that he was Jewish. Michael feels he may have come from the Essex area, south-east of London. After Henry died Benjamin returned to England and from there wrote a letter to the South African Post Office trying to claim money still owing to his brother, Henry, “who died rather suddenly.”

Note: The child’s grandfather, John Pringle, came to South Africa from Scotland with the 1820 settlers. A talented man, he is listed as the building contractor of Beaufort West’s Dutch Reformed ‘Moederkerk.’ He also appears to have made a pulpit for the town’s first church and minister Rev John Taylor. In addition to being a builder and skilled woodworker, he was registered as a tailor, a butcher and a farmer.

OLDEST CAKE IN THE WORLD?

The United States Cake Museum considers a cake found in Graaff-Reinet to be the oldest cake in the world. According to a story by Gail Jennings in the Spring issue of The Motorist 2002, the fruit cake was discovered by an antique dealer in that town. The story goes that the cake was baked in 1902 to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary. When discovered its yellow and green icing was still gleaming and in good condition. It bears the date April 6, 1852 – 1902, but no names. One can’t help wondering what happened. Why was the cake not used?

ALWAYS PLACE IN THIS BOX

Some small towns have great ideas. And, just to prove this Calvinia created the world’s biggest post box from an old water tower. Gail Jennings discovered it as she searched for “South Africa’s oldest and biggest” for an article for the Spring issue of The Motorist, 2002. She wrote: “What do you do with an old water tower, out of use and an eyesore in town? Calvinia came up with a unique answer. The Hantam Municipality’s Chamber of Commerce, restored the town’s old, round, 6,17m tall, water tower and transformed it into the world’s largest post box. It has a capacity of 43m² writes Gail. The box attained immediate popularity because a special franking mark was created to cancel stamps on items posted there, she adds.

FROM TRAINS TO KAROO PLANTS

Soon after Joseph Archer stepped ashore in Cape Town in 1890 he joined the Railways, but his destiny lay in botanical circles. His career path led from station foreman to station master at several small places and eventually took him to Matjiesfontein. Joseph loved the Karoo and at Matjiesfontein station developed a rock garden to show off its plants. Time and time again this garden won the award for the best station garden in South Africa, says historic researcher Professor Cornelis Plug. The garden was enjoyed by train and road travellers alike. Many motoring along the hot, dry, dusty, Cape to Cairo route through the Karoo, stopped at Matjiesfontein to see it. In 1925 Joseph was appointed the first curator of the Karoo garden, a branch of the National Botanic Gardens at Kirstenbosch, which had been laid only out a few years earlier at Whitehill, 5 km from Matjiesfontein. With experts like Prof R H Crompton, director of Kirstenbosch, Joseph undertook many trips through the Karoo, north-western Cape and Namibia to collect plants. He brought these back to Whitehill, where he built up a huge collection of succulents and other dryland plants. After he retired as curator in 1939 the garden was moved to Worcester where authorities felt it would be more accessible to the public.

ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SNAKES

Incognito snakes, blind snakes, wolf snakes, garter snakes, tiger snakes, and the Kunene racer, are just some of the fascinating snakes mentioned in Johan Marais’s updated Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa. Johan has been the champion of snakes for the last 20 years. A keen conservationist and expert photographer, he has done much to eliminate the wide range of superstitions and fallacies surrounding these much-maligned creatures by lecturing and writing about them. The 312-page, updated and revised second edition of his guide, just published by Struik, is a winner. Superbly-illustrated in full-colour, it features photographs of over 150 indigenous snakes, with full details of their essential biology and behaviour. It also includes information on 11 newly discovered snakes. The guide includes scientific and common names as well as descriptive Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa names. “Some species have many common names,” says Johan. Tiny “thumb print” locator maps show at a glance where each species occurs and there is a useful “box of highlights” with a colour bar which indicates whether the snake is “very dangerous,” “dangerous”, “mildly venomous,” or “harmless.” The size of each species is shown relative to a human arm. There is a head scale diagram for each species and a series of icons to indicate habitat, and whether the species is active during the day or at night. Extremely interesting and most useful, this guide even has a section on how to count the scales on a snake for enthusiasts keen on a closer encounters. This guide is available in English and Afrikaans at the cost of R220 from major booksellers, or from kalahari.com.

A DELIGHTFUL WAY TO LEARN ABOUT INSECTS

A freelance illustrator of children’s books, who lives in Calitzdorp, has come up with a delightful way of introducing youngsters to the insect world. In African Insects to read, colour and keep Sally MacLarty introduces a wide range of “goggas” to budding artists. Each illustration, in easy-to-colour size, includes a short description of the insect. The book, published by Struik, and available at bookstores or from kalahari.com, costs R39-95. It is designed to add a great deal of fun to learning. And just to make sure that those budding artists get the colours of the Dancing Jewel Damselfly, Royal Tiger Beetle, Lunar Moth and others just right there is a full-colour gallery in the centre of the book. For all those who want to know how the “koringkriek” (corn cricket) produces its high-pitched sound, or which bug is named after a famous artist, this is just the book.

VICTORIA WEST FARMER WINS THE DAY

When the Kimberley mine began to flood at the end of 1873, Cecil John Rhodes saw this as an opportunity. When torrential rains made matters worse in January 1874, he and his partner, Charles Rudd, tendered to clear the mine of water, despite the fact that they had no pumps. They failed, but they later won a pumping contract worth £500 a month at Dutoitspan, amid accusations in the local press of skulduggery. They still had no pumping equipment, and Rhodes’s story of what happened next is one of the many legends surrounding him. He found out that a farmer at Victoria West had a pump suitable for his needs. Rhodes hired a Boer transport driver to take him to this farm, which was eight days’ ride away. The farmer, however, did not want to part with his pump as he needed it for irrigation purposes. But Rhodes would not take no for an answer. He apparently persisted, camping on the farmer’s doorstep for several days, begging, cajoling and charming the farmer’s wife, writes Martin Meredith in The Making of South Africa – Diamonds, Gold and War. Eventually Rhodes raised his offer and got the farmer to sell the pump for £1 000. Rhodes claimed this exercise taught him that everyman has his price. He rushed back to Kimberley, triumphant, with his reputation in tact. “Rudd,” he said, “we are a force to be reckoned with.” However, Martin Meredith adds: “What confounds the story is that the farmer had apparently advertised the pump for sale for £1 000 in Kimberley. All Rhodes had to do was collect it.”

BIRD CALLS FOR BEGINNERS

Thinking of taking up birding as a hobby? Accomplished birders might suggest you begin by studying the bird life in your own garden and Doug Newman, a passionate birder, would agree. An electrical engineer by profession, he has made this easy. He has just launched a CD and full colour booklet containing 60 southern African bird calls. This little A5 booklet, published by Struik, and costing R69-95, will prove the most delightful way of learning the “language” of birds. It will be invaluable to birders of all ages. Two species are featured on each page and thumbnail maps show distribution patterns. A highlighted bar indicates where to find the call on the CD. Doug warns that the CD should not be used in the wilds as it could upset birds and give a false impression of which species are in the area. “Bird calls are a special language,” he says. “Karoo thrushes, for instance, have several calls. One tells their parents where they are, another is a call for food and yet another, from the parents, tells the fledglings to stay close-by. Most birds have alarm calls to warn all others of danger.”

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going – Beverly Sills