Ancestry24

About 200 Afrikaners, the descendants of immigrants who, at the beginning of the 20th century, emigrated to the Argentine from the Northern Cape, are today still resident in the province of Chubut, about 1,000 m. south of Buenos Aires. Almost all of them are engaged in sheep-farming on the Pampas to the northwest of the port of Comodoro Rivadavia. The causes of their emigration were of an economic nature. Most of them had very little capital, but they did have a thorough knowledge of sheep and wool. At the start every settler was given 625 hectares of land free by the Argentine government and was required to purchase a further 1,875 hectares of government land at a purchase price of one peso per hectare. This gave him an economic holding of nearly 3,000 morgen. The purchase price was spread over a term of 5 years, and the purchaser was required to give proof of occupation by erecting at least one room, planting 200 trees and bringing 10 hectares under cultivation; he had to be in possession of 400 sheep or goats or 80 head of cattle; and he had to take an oath of allegiance to the Argentine government. Few of these settlers acquired full ownership on the conditions imposed, because not long after the arrival of the first immigrants the free grants of land were discontinued and the purchase price was later raised to 4 pesos a hectare. Eventually government land could only be leased. This led to dissatisfaction among many of them, since they were unable to obtain title-deeds; but in practice it made no difference to their right of occupation.

It was a bleak, uninhabited region of sparse grazing, severe winters and fierce blizzards. Roads and bridges did not exist. Nor were there harbour facilities at Comodoro Rivadavia. The settlers were therefore virtually isolated from the outside world. The only communication with Buenos Aires and the settled North was by ship. At the start they had to do without a church, and there was no school. A few non-white servants had accompanied their masters to the foreign land, but the farmers themselves had to perform almost all the labour. Although the settlers in general failed to reach a high level of material prosperity, they nevertheless managed to make a fair living. Their heaviest setback came in 1925 when an exceptionally heavy snowfall resulted in great loss of sheep, obliging many of the settlers to make a fresh start. Gradually they tamed this inhospitable region. Better dwellings were put up, more land was brought under cultivation, and one farm after another was fenced. The expense of all this, the collection by the Government of long-overdue rents and the low wool prices of 1926 and 1927 brought many of them to the verge of ruin and gave strong impulse to a repatriation movement. In 1934 there were still 900 Afrikaners in the Argentine, 80% of them in the Chubut region.

A unique problem which confronted them was the maintenance of church connections and juvenile education. They had hoped to preserve intact their national identity, their language and their religion amidst a foreign race and a foreign faith, and they were loath to assimilate with the Argentinians. At first the parents assumed the task of educating their own children as far as they could. In 1907 the Government instituted a school on the farm of C. J. N. Visser, with a unilingual Spanish-speaking teacher in charge. This school was later closed down when numbers of the farmers trekked into the interior. Some of the children were sent to the Government school at Comodoro Rivadavia, where hostel facilities were available; but no instruction was to be had in Afrikaans, nor was religious instruction given in the Government schools. Parents who lived close to the private English school conducted by Miss Cave sometimes sent their children there. A few attended Roman Catholic schools, and parents who could afford it sent their children to Buenos Aires for further instruction. Private schools were maintained at the cost of great personal sacrifice. In 1934 more than 500 children were living with their parents, and their prospects were poor. Unless they received an education they were condemned to a menial existence as herdsmen, shearers or servants. Almost 200 of them were of school-going age. Some few attended Government or Roman Catholic schools; the rest were taught the rudiments at home, sufficient to be able to read the Bible and to learn the catechism. An attempt in 1934 to persuade the Government to set up a Spanish school and a hostel with a Protestant housemaster and matron met with no success. An appeal directed to the South African government the same year also failed.

With great difficulty and at considerable expense a few private schools were maintained on a few farms. The teachers were C. Verwey, T. van der Walt and one Melville, who gave private tuition and thereby managed to maintain primary education until 1925. From 1928 to 1930 the wife of the Rev. J. J. Wasserfall conducted a preparatory school at Comodoro with Afrikaans as the medium of instruction. The management of this school was taken over by Miss Johanna Visser from Oct. 1929 until May 1933. The Poor Relief Commission of the Cape N.G. Kerk played an important part in supporting Christian National Education among its adherents in the Argentine. The Rev. A. D. Luckhoff; delegated by the Cape N.G. Kerk in 1925 to visit the Argentine, concerned himself in particular with the educational aspect. Upon his return to South Africa the Poor Relief Commission sent out Nico Loubser and T. C. de Villiers of the Paarl Training College, but their attempt at founding schools failed through lack of support. The Rev. D. P. van Huyssteen of the Cape N.G. Kerk observed a great measure of illiteracy among the younger generation and felt the adoption of Spanish culture to be inevitable.

In church matters likewise great difficulty was experienced. The Rev. L. P. Vorster was deputed by the Gereformeerde Kerk of the Cape to accompany the second trek to South America – that of C. J. N. Visser of Maclear, C.P. – after a small trek under Lewis Baumann of Bloemfontein had preceded it in 1902. The Visser trek consisted of 102 persons who, on 13 Sept. 1903, met as a congregation under the Rev. Mr. Vorster on board the ship in which they left for South America, and elected their elders and deacons. Most of them were members of the N.G. Kerk, the rest belonged to the Geref. Kerk. When Vorster returned to South Africa, these people were without a spiritual leader. The third trek, which left in 1905 under M. M. Venter, a former member of the Cape Legislative Assembly, upset the ratio between the members of these two churches to quite a considerable degree, since most of the new arrivals were of the Gereformeerde persuasion, and their church was unable to afford its members in South America financial support.

In 1906 the Commission for Indigent Congregations of the N.G. Kerk in the Cape sent the Rev. A. J. Jacobs to the Argentine to make a fresh start at organising the church there. He inaugurated the ‘Gemeente Colonia Boera’ in Chubut, which members of both churches joined, although it was really a congregation of the Cape N.G. Kerk. Jacobs met with many disappointments. He returned to South Africa in 1911, and the Gereformeerde section thereupon tried to maintain their  own church. Both these groups kept their church activities alive through office-bearers of their respective churches in spite of having no parson.

The emigrants also directed an appeal to the Netherlands Gereformeerde Kerk in Buenos Aires. The clergyman of the small congregation there was the Rev. A. C. Sonneveldt who, at the instance of the two Afrikaans congregations, also visited the Afrikaners and attended to their separate needs. He visited them for the first time in 1913, and the following year received a pastoral call from the church councils of both congregations. Thereafter he performed this function with great devotion twice a year from Buenos Aires. The close co-operation between these two congregations continued until 1925, when the N.G. Kerk members directed a call to the Cape Church for further ministration. This resulted in a visit by the Rev. A. D. Luckhoff in the same year. In 1927 the Rev. J. A. Hurter went there, and from 1928 until 1931 the Rev. J. J. Wasserfall served the congregation. He was in turn followed by the Rev. H. J. Pick and the Rev. J. S. Klopper. During all these years the Gereformeerde congregation was still constantly being ministered to by the Rev. Sonneveldt. In 1936 the Geref. Kerk of the Cape Province sent the Rev. D. Postma to the Argentine and he remained there until early in 1937.

Even before then there had been serious talk of repatriation among the emigrants. In 1929, having heard of the successful repatriation of Afrikaners from Angola with Government aid, they made representations to the Union government to extend its aid to them. Most of them could still make a reasonable living, but they were in general not disposed to assimilate with the indigenous population, which was mainly Latin and which, in the vicinity of Comodoro where oil had been struck, was decidedly cosmopolitan. The Afrikaners were indisputably citizens of the Argentine, but they were intent on maintaining their language and religion. The Cape N.G. Kerk came out strongly for repatriation, and in 193 8 the Union government extended a helping hand. South African citizenship was restored to repatriates and both the State and the Church co-operated in meeting the travelling expenses and in providing work. In the course of 1938 two-thirds of them arrived back in South Africa. Some of them were taken up by relatives and most of the others were placed in employment. Only a few individuals had sufficient capital to venture independent farming afresh. The entire repatriation scheme was carried through with the co-operation of the Argentine government. Those who declined the offer to return, rather fewer than 200, were mainly younger people who had already adopted the country as their own. Their spiritual needs were looked after by the Rev. Sonneveldt. One further effort was made by the Geref. Kerk of South Africa after the Second World War to keep these people within the fold of the church. In 1951 the Rev. J. M. Opperman accepted a call from the Gereformeerde congregation at Chubut, and he remained there until 1953. Thereafter this congregation allied itself with other Gereformeerde elements in South America and chose one of its own young men to be trained for the ministry.

BIBL.:  Domine (Rev. A. J. Jacobs): Reisavonture op land en see (1920); Rev. D. P. van Huyssteen: ‘n Besoek aan die Boere in Argentinie (1932); P. H. Henning: ‘n Boer in Argentinie  Source + Permission: Nasou Via Afrika / Naspers

Die Boerevrou

In 1918, Die Boerevrou, the first Afrikaans magazine for women, appeared in Pretoria. This illustrated monthly magazine for women was the first published magazine in Afrikaans. Die Boerevrouw (its title until June 1920) was the first women’s magazine in Afrikaans and appeared in Pretoria from March 1919 under the editorship of the owner, Mrs. Mabel Malherbe (nee Rex), whose assistant editor from an early date was Mrs. M. E. Rothmann (M.E.R.), who published her first short stories in it.

The magazine met with public approval almost from its inception, since it was the only Afrikaans magazine entirely for women; it also dealt with national affairs, with special emphasis on matters affecting Afrikaner women, their own past and their people; it aimed to include women as an essential factor in sound national development. Prominent writers like Eugene Marais, F. W. Reitz, G. R. von Wielligh, Jan Celliers, A. G. Visser, F. van den Heever (‘Toon’) and C. M. van den Heever, and artists like Anton van Wouw, Pierneef and Erich Mayer willingly contributed. Of special value were contributions sent in by the readers themselves, once confidence had been established in the editorial leadership.

These were contributed to a column ’round the coffee-table’ which would formerly have been regarded as of purely personal significance, but had a historical interest, for they cast a clear and intimate light upon the development and characteristics of the Afrikaner people, especially since the days of the Great Trek. To delve into the old volumes of the Die Boerevrou is to reveal valuable Africana. Mrs. Malherbe hoped that sufficient advertisements of reliable goods would be forthcoming to cover expenses. Perhaps her estimate was too high and, moreover, she turned down all advertisements of liquor and patent medicines.

The deficits, which for years had been borne by her husband, the attorney Kenne Malherbe, eventually became so great that she had to give up the struggle, and in 1931 the magazine ceased publication.

Two fine anthologies were compiled by Mrs. Malherbe from the contents: Die Boerevrou-boek (1950) and Juwele wat steeds bekoor (1951).

This coffee table magazine offered a number of regular features such as:

Sewing and Knitting patterns
Fashions
Childrens Stories

Jong Suid-Afrika – family photo’s sent in by the public

Margaretha Kuhne, 1 jaar en 9 maande. Dogtertjie van Mnr. en Mevr. W. Kuhne. Kleinkind van Mnr. Jurie Loubscher, Graaff Reinet.

George Ferreira Strydom, (8 maande oud, gewig 23 pond), enigste seuntjie van Mnr. en Mevr. J.C. Strydom, Barberton

"Die Wonderbybie" Kobus Van Schalkwyk, Oud 5 ½ maande. Gewig 20 pond. Seuntjie van Mevr. B. Van Schalkwyk, Barberton.

Sebastiaan Valentein Vom Hagen, jongste seuntjie van Mnr. en Mevr. S. Vom Hagen, Gezina.

Home Recipes

Koue Seep
8 lb. vet, 1 lb. seepsoda, 1 3/4 bottel water. Dit kan enige vet of botter wees; natuurlik moet dit uitgebraaide vet wees. 1/2 varkvet, 1/2 skaap of beestevet maak die mooiste seep, ofskoon die hoeveelheid van die ander net so goed is. Harde vet, al is dit baie donker en vuil, kers afdrupsels of enige uitgebraaide vet, sal vir koue seep ewe goed wees, al sal dit nie juis so mooi wees nie. Los op die soda in die water. Smelt die vet oor ‘n vuur. Laat so bietjie afkoel. Intussen voer ‘n kassie uit met ‘n natte doek. Probeer dat die soda en die vet so na as moontlik dieselfde warmte het. Roer nou bymekaar, hou aan totdat dit so dik as gesuikerde heuning lyk.

Gooi uit in die kassie, vou die buitenste stukke van die doek oor die seep. Sit dan ‘n ou sak oor, en laat oornag staan. Sny die volgende oggend uit. Laat in die son of in ‘n trekkerige plek droog word, as dit gou nodig is. Die kassie wat in die vorm gebruik word, kan goed diep wees. Dit kan dan in stene op die volgende manier gesny word. Sny die stuk deur van bo af in stene, sny dan weer deur op die dikte van die steen; 2 of 3 stene kan so opmekaar gevorm word. Dan het dit nie so ‘n groot kassie nodig nie.
Deurskynend koue seep

7 lb. vet, 1 lb. soda, en 1 bot. water. Maak die soda die vorige aand aan. Maak goed warm toe. Volgende oggend smelt die vet af en koel of; roer dan by die soda, en roer vir ‘n uur. Voeg dan by een lepel terpentyn en ‘n half koppie parafien. Roer goed deur. Gooi uit in ‘n kassie (uitgevoer met ‘n nat lap). Bedek baie goed met ou sakke of komberse; laat dit so langs die stoof staan op ‘n louwarm plek vir 4 of 5 weke. Dit sal dan mooi deurskynend wees. Die soda moet in ‘n geëmailleerde emmer of skottel aangemaak word. Die seep moet die volgende dag na dit aangemaak is uitgesny word en teruggesit in die kassie, en goed toegemaak word vir 4 of 5 weke.

Skuurseep (Monkey Soap)

7 lb. vet, 1 lb. seep-soda, 1 bot. water, 1/2 slypsteen (’bathbrick’) fyn gepoeier, dan deur ‘n kamerdoek gesif, of ‘n fyn siffie (dit moet baie fyn wees anders krap dit strepe) en 2 lepels ‘whiting’. Los die soda op in die bottel water, smelt dan die vet, laat afkoel; probeer om die warmte van die vet en soda so eenders moontlik te kry. Roer bymekaar. Voer ‘n kassie uit met ‘n nat lap. Nes die seep al mooi dik is, amper klaar, moet dit soos ‘n dik pap wees. Roer nou die fyngesifte slypsteen by en die ‘Whiting’; roer goed; gooi in die gevoerde kissie; dit moet goed dik wees voor dit in die vorm gegooi word, anders sak die slypsteen af. Sny dit in mooi klein handige steentjies die volgende dag. Dis net so goed as die gekoopte.
Een van Mevr. van Tulleken se resepte vir:

Aartappel Seep

7 lb. vet, 14 lb. aartappels, 2 1/2 lb. seepsoda, 3 bottels water. Kook die aartappels met hul skil, trek dan die skille af, maal deur die vleesmeule. Weeg af, smelt die vet, roer die aartappels by tot dit ‘n gladde mengsel is. Meng die soda met ‘n 1/2 bottel water, meet die ander 1 1/2 bottel water en sit by der hand neer. Roer nou by die soda, maar haal eers die pot van die vuur; roer 5 min. gooi dan die helfte van die afgemete water by, roer 10 min, nou die res van die water, roer weer 10 min. gooi dan in kassie met ‘n nat lap gevoer. Laat drie dae.staan voor dit uit te sny; maak mooi droog op ‘n trekkerige plek of in die son (die seep moet die drie dae goed toegemaak word voor dit uitgesny word.)

Dikmelkseep

Neem dikmelk, sit dit op die vuur in ‘n parafienblik. Laat nou amper kook tot dit so’n mooi stywe dik aanmekaar stuk maak; dit moet nie baie taai wees nie. Gooi nou in iets waar die water goed van die melk kan afloop (’n ander bilk met gaatjies – klein – is goed). Werk mooi saggies met die melk, anders gaan te veel verlore. As dit nou mooi droog afgeloop is, vryf dit dan so fyn as moontlik met die hande. Smelt 2 lb. vet en neem 10 lb. van die fyngevryfde melk. Voeg dit daarby, roer goed deur, neem weg van die vuur; roer by 1 lb. soda opgelos met ‘n bottel water; voeg by en roer vir ‘n uur. Gooi in ‘n kassie gevoer met ‘n doek. Laat drie dae staan en sny dan uit. Droog die stene mooi uit. Dit is goeie seep en skuim baie mooi.
(Al die seepresepte kom in Mevr. Tulleken se boek voor. Daar het pas ‘n 5de (vergrote) uitgawe van die nuttige boek verskyn – dit is werklik ‘n onmisbare besitting vir elke Afrikaanse huisvrou)
Verlede maand het ons in die Ruilkolom vertel hoe iemand wat moeite wil doen om die boeke te verkoop een vir haar beloning sal kry. Of anders kos een 11/-pos vry – bestel van Mevr. van Tulleken, P.K. Holmdene

Hoofstuk 1 (Deur Else Louwrens)
Wie sê die lewe in ‘n mierkat-dorpie is saai en eentonig? Moenie glo nie. Kyk, die son loer net effentjies oor die ver blou rante, maar dis genoeg om vir Swartjie en Spitsbek en Jan Hoepelbeen en Takhaartjie en Nooientjie en nog dertig of veertig ander mierkatte uit hul huisies daar in die bult te lok.
Hier is hul. Een, twee, drie, sit hul penorent soos kerse op hul agterpote. Vinnig draai die koppies heen en weer, agtertoe, vorentoe, alkant-toe. Die lewe is nou eenmaal te interessant. Dit sou al te jammer wees om iets daarvan te mis.

“Swartjie, het jy gehoor?”
“Ja, wat gehoor? Jy weet mos altyd meer as ‘n ander, of jy dink jy weet meer,” en Spitsbek werp hom ‘n venynige bilk toe.
“Die Kriebos meerkatte daaronder in die laagte noem ons dorp mos “Lawaaimakersfort.”

“Begryp jou, Lawaaimakersfort. Hul is net jaloers op ons deftige naam, ‘Rus en Vrede’; hul, wat vir hul ou dorpie nie eens ‘n naam het nie. Papbroekvlakte sou net ‘n goeie naam vir hul wees. Pieperig en afgemaer en papbroekery, dis wat hul is. En wie weet iets van hul afkoms, hul famielies?”

“Ja wie? Ons, Besems, – ons weet! Nie verniet heet ons die Besemstam nie. ‘n Stert soos ‘n besem, elkeen van ons. Kyk vir ou Grootjie. Ses mierkatgeslagte is aan haar te danke, en elkeen van hul, man, vrou, of kind, ‘n opregte Besem, mooi, rats, sterk…”

“En vernuftig ook. Moenie vergeet nie,” val Kannetjie, wat in die tussentyd nader gekom het, horn in die rede.

“En ‘n stert,” en hier waai Spitsbek statig sy rnooi harige stert op en neer – “‘n stert soos ‘n … nou ja, jul weet mos. Jul’s mos ook Besems.’

“Ja, Boetie, ‘n goeie ou stam. Dis die grondige waarheid, al moet ek dit self sê, ek wat Swartjie is. Maar wag, ek moet loop. Tryntjie roep al na my,” en Swartjie maak dat hy wegkom.

“Jy weet dis brekfistyd, man, en jy sit maar en bak in die son, – bak en skinner. Julie mans is almal eners. Kom, die kinders vra kos. Laat ons loop,” en Tryntjie kruip deur die gareboom-laning, gevolg deur haar man en tweeling seuntjies.

Dit word al lewendiger in die mierkat-dorpie. Dit loop en spring en gaat te keer. Eindelik is almal die veld in.

Ai, maar dis ‘n lekker lewe: baie pret, baie gevare ook. Maar dit gee juis die prikkel aan die vcrmaaklikheid daarvan.

Nie ver van hier lê die ou boereplaas van Oom Jan v.d. Vyver. Maar Oom Jan laat die mierkat-volkie maar sy gang gaan. Hy hinder hul nie. “Lewe en laat lewe,” was sy leuse.

Maar daar by hom op die plaas het ook ‘n hond gewoon, ‘n nare rooi- en witgevlekte ding wat van mierkatte niks gehou het nie. Snaakse smaak het sommige mense en diere tog. Sy grootste begeerte was om mierkatte te vang. Juis vandag het hy weer een van sy giere. Hier kom hy aan, kruip-kruip, al nader en nader.

Witpootjie is net met sy brekfis besig – ‘n vet ou muis wat hy al lank in die oog gehad het. Voor jy kan sê “mes” is Aasvoël op hom! Maar ek sê vir jou niks – ou Witpootjie glip vlak onder sy neus weg en woerts om die bos. Maar Aasvoël, ook nie links nie, keer hom voor.

“Nou het ek jou, outjie,” en hy blaf van opgewondenheid en blydskap.
Maar moenie glo nie, Witpootjie fop hom weer. En so gaan die jag voort, agter-toe, vorentoe, tot die kat eindelik sy huis haal en woeps! in is hy. Aasvoël krap en blaf en gaan te keer nes ‘n mal ding, maar dis verniet. “Jep, jep,” blaf Witpootjie terug van binne, net om vir Aasvoël uit te koggel. Ja, die ou diertjie is nog astrant ook.

Nee, Aasvoël, ‘n Besem vang jy so maklik nie. Jy dink miskien aan die dag toe jy een aan die been gehad het en jou klaargemaak het vir ‘n smaaklike middagete, nê? Maar in ‘n kits had die outjie weer handuit geruk – en jy, ou, moes leeg-leeg huistoe draf en ou Hoepelbeen was skoonveld. Maar, “Hoepelbeen” was …

Jokes
Die lesing was verskriklik droog, om die minste daarvan te sê. Die onderwerp was “Die Ontwikkeling van die Mens”, en as ‘n illustrasie wys die geleerde man op die onderskeid tussen die mens en die dier.
“Die mense,” so beduie hy, “maak steeds vordering, terwyl die ander diere bly stilstaan. Neem bv. die esel. Deur al die eeue heen, die hele wêreld deur, bly dit net dieselfde skepsel. Julle het nog nooit, geagte dames en here, julle sal nooit ‘n beter esel sien as wat julle vandag sien nie.”
* * *
Hy: “Vir wat klap jy so? Daardie vrou het akelig gesing.”
Sy : “Ja, ek weet, maar ek is verlief op haar tabberd en ek wil dit graag nog ‘n maal sien.”
* * *
Pa: “Hoe lyk dit, Koos, smaak die medisyne nog so sleg?”
Koos: “Nee, pa, nou gaan dit darem.”
Pa: “Drink jy nog gereeld drie keer op ‘n dag ‘n lepelvol?”
Koos: “Ja, pa, maar my lepel het weggeraak, nou gebruik ek maar ‘n vurk.”
* * *
Tante: “Miena, wie is die luiste in julle klas?”
Miena: “Nee, Tante, ek weet nie.”
Tante: “Wel, dis tog maklik as julle reken wie sit die luiste daarby?”
Miena: “Die juffrou, Tante!”
——————————————————————————–
Letters
Liewe Boerevroutjie,
Nou wil ek ook so’n rukkie met julle saam gesels orn die koffietafel. Ek sien so baie vertel van oumense, nou wil ek ook graag vir julle van my man se Ouma vertel. Sy is, sover ek weet, die oudste oumens in Lydenburg se Distrik, sy is die 12de deser 100 jaar oud, en is nog taamlik sterk vir so ‘n hoë ouderdom. Ouma was ‘n nooie Schoeman en was getroud met Jan Steenkamp. My skoonvader is haar enigste kind. Toe Oupa Steenkamp dood is, is sy weer met Jan Jacobsz getroud, hy is ook al vir jare dood. Ouma bly by my skoonouers. Sy kan nog al die voortrekker-verhale vertel, of dit gister gebeur het, sy was destyds ‘n kind van 11jr jaar.

Mevr Annie Catharina Jacobtz – Gebore Schoeman, gebore 12de Jan 1825

Maar nou wil ek somar ‘n grappie vertel, wat in die Boere-oorlog plaasgevind het. Ouma had een suster wat baie op haar gelyk het, maar sy was toe deur die Engels eweggevoer. Op ‘n dag kom ouma in ‘n winkel en sien haarself in ‘n groot spieel. Sy dog dis haar suster, sy loop na die spieel en steek haar arms uit, en sê “My liewe ou suster, is jy ook hier?” Dit het glo gedreun in die winkel soos die klerke en mense gelag het. – Mevr. Willem Steenkamp.
* * * * * *
Mej. C. Benade skryf : “Ek sien dat die vrouens en meisies saam gesels oor die armblanke, so wil ek ook baie graag iets daaroor skryf, want as almal dink en saamwerk kan die saak opgelos word.
Ek dink die vrouens en meisies moet werk om Suid-Afrika ‘n droë land te maak soos Amerika, want deur die drank is daar duisende kinders wat armoede en gebrek ly. Die vader werk miskien, en sodra as hy die geld gekry het, gaan dit na die kantien. Die kinders kry geen behoorlik opvoeding nie, en volg naderhand hulle vader se voetstappe. Ek het gehoor hulle sê, solank as hulle onder die in vloed van drank is, voel hulle so gelukkig en ryk. Ek dink al die vrouens en meisies moet saamspan om in die saak te werk. Ek wens die “Boerevroutjie” alle seën toe, en hoop sy sal nog lank lewe. Ons almal geniet haar baie.”
Source: Standard Encylopeadia of South Africa and Die Boerevrou Magazine 1922 November & December, 1925 January, March & June, 1926 April & June, December 1931

Mr. PETER BELL was born in Herschel, Cape Province. His parents moved to Basutoland when he was only three  Weeks old. He was educated first in Basutoland and later at Bensonville and; Zonnebloem College, Capetown. He joined the Civil Service as interpreter in the Native Affairs Department in 1897 and continued until 1929. The only break was during the Anglo-Boer War when he served first as a sergeant. and later on promotion as a sergeant-major. He is now headman of Klipspruit Location, Johannesburg.

Mr. PETER BELL was born in Herschel, Cape Province. His parents moved to Basutoland when he was only three weeks old. He was educated first in Basutoland and later at Bensonville and Zonnebloem College, Capetown. He joined the Civil Service as interpreter in the Native Affairs Department in 1897 and continued until 1929. The only break was during the Anglo-Boer War when he served first as a sergeant and later on promotion as a sergeant-major. He is now headman of Klipspruit Location, Johannesburg.

Dr. Daniel William Alexander, Doctor of Divinity, Archbishop and Primate of the Province of South Africa and East Africa, in the African Orthodox Church-an independant Episcopal Church with apostolic succession through the Original Patriarchal See of St. Peter at Antioch.

Born 25th December, 1880, at Port Elizabeth, Cape Province. Second eldest child of Henry and Elizabeth Alexander (father a native of the French West Indies, Martinique). Educated at St. Peter’s Primary and Secondary Schools and the Sisters of Mercy (Catholic). Married Elizabeth Koster 28th August, 1901, at Pretoria. Boatbuilder by trade. Joined the British in the Anglo-Boer War, was captured at Colenso and sent to Pretoria.

After the capture of Pretoria joined the Anglican Church and was appointed chaplain at the Old Prison, eventually studying for the ministry under the Fathers Bennet and Fuller of the Community of the Resurrection, and Canons Farmer and Rev. H. Mtobi. Elected secretary of the A.P.O., Pretoria Branch, and the secretary of the committee for the purchasing of the Lady Selborne Township, Pretoria.

Resigned the Anglican Church and went to Johannesburg and joined the African Life Assurance Society as agent on their starting the Industrial Branch, and opened the Pretoria office after two and a half years. Resigned and was elected Grand True Secretary of the I.O.T.T., Northern Grand Lodge, before the separation. Re-elected 1920-21. Refused nomination 1922.
In 1924 organised the African Branch of the African Orthodox Church and was appointed Vicar-Apostolic by Bishop George A. McGuire, M.D., D.D., D.C., and in the following year was elected Bishop for the Province of South Africa. On arrival in New York was given Catholic Orders by Bishop W. E. Robertson and Archbishop McGuire respectively to the Priesthood, and on the 11th September, 1927, was consecrated Archbishop and Primate of the Province of South and East Africa, in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Boston, U.S. America. The Degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by the Faculty (Honorary)) on the Archbishop.

Editor of the African Orthodox Churchman, a monthly magazine of the Province, and author of An Orthodox Catechism. Dean of the Seminary of St. Augustine for the ministerial students for the Church. Address: 3, Brimton Street, Beaconsfield, Kimberley, South Africa.

Mr. SIMON MAJAKATHETA PHAMOTSE was born in Basutoland and educated at Morija and Lovedale. Became postmaster at Mahaleshoek. After the Anglo-Boer War he came to the Transvaal with Sir Godfrey Lagden and joined the Native Affairs Department, Pietersburg, under Mr. C. A. Wheelwright. After resigning his position, he was instrumental in establishing the first African newspaper in the Transvaal known as The Native Eye. After some years Mr. Phamotse returned to Basutoland and became secretary to the late Chief Johnathan whose daughter he afterwards. married. Mr. Phamotse was a very progressive man, and did much. for Basutoland. The Basutos acknowledged him as being their foremost leader. He was respected by both black and white. Hating injustice and tyranny he did not hesitate to condemn chiefs whc dealt arbitrarily with their subjects. Was a lover of African liberty throughout the country, especially in Basutoland.

Boswell Circus 1959

From the evidence of early Dutch and Cape paintings, it may be assumed that the first White inhabitants of the Cape were diverted by performing dogs and various animals trained to do tricks, notably monkeys (which were common household pets) and baboons. The garrisons at the Castle possibly spent part of their leisure in training such animals, and performing bears and various animals from the Orient may have been seen when in transit to Europe. In the country districts feats and tricks of horsemanship were highly esteemed, and were probably demonstrated at kermis (fair) and other occasions where the farmers gathered. Organised exhibition of performing persons and animals cannot be traced before 1810, when an application was made for leave to stage a circus in Cape Town. Except for occasional theatrical performances and amateur diversions in the town, organised entertainment was rare, and the circus was one of the first forms to develop.

One of the earliest was W. H. Bell’s circus, but by the eighties there were several, including Feeley’s, Wirth’s, Cooke’s, Val Simpson’s and that of the incomparable Frank Fillis who, coming to South Africa in 1880 to join Bell’s circus, took it over when Bell died. The two mining towns, Kimberley and Johannesburg, and the seaports of Cape Town and Durban now provided profitable ‘pitches’, and the smaller inland towns, formerly almost completely Fillis’s Circus building, Cape Town, in 1895  without entertainment, constituted a worth-while ‘circuit’.

Going overseas from time to time in order to recruit his ‘turns’, Fillis developed his circus into a major entertainment which the highest in the land were glad to patronise. He established a permanent building in Johannesburg in 1889 known as ‘Fillis’s Amphitheatre’ and specialised in spectacles such as a reconstruction of the Niagara Falls, ‘Dick Turpin’s ride to York’ and ‘Major Wilson’s last stand’. These were also staged at a structure opened in 1896 in Cape Town at the foot of Adderley Street alongside the Pier. Madame Fillis was an equestrienne of note and performed haute école at a benefit night given in Johannesburg in 1895. Mr. Lionel Phillips presented Mr. Fillis with a set of diamond studs and Madame Fillis with a ruby and diamond brooch on behalf of Johannesburg residents.

The artistes and company presented him with a gold star set with diamonds’. In spite of the high tone and spectacular scope of his performances, Fillis was frequently in financial straits. In 1900 he took an extraordinary show entitled ‘Savage South Africa’ to England, but despite the attraction of an authentic South African stagecoach, black warriors and other novelties, it failed and he was again bankrupt. He was reintroduced grandly to his old South African pitch by the impresario A. Bonamici in 1902 with an ‘Imperial Circus’, but the current depression militated against him. He faced bankruptcy again and again, and his animals were once sold over his head to pay his creditors. Finally ‘Madame Fillis’s Circus and Wild West Show’ went into opposition against him in Durban in 1910. (Vincenta Fillis, once the world’s first ‘human canon-ball, died in Durban in May 1946 at the age of 75.) Frank Fillis, with the circus that had become a national institution, then left South Africa and operated in the East. He died in Bangkok in Jan. 1922, but his sons continued in the entertainment field. The eldest, Frank, a well-known cinema manager, died in Johannesburg at the age of 80 in March 1961.

During the acute depression that followed the Second Anglo-Boer War the circus was often the only entertainment in the large towns. In addition to Fillis, Bonamici himself, Blake, Willison, Bostock and Wombwell, and F. W. A. Pagel toured during this period. Pagel and his wife survived many vicissitudes to become as much a national institution as Fillis. Born in Pomerania, Wilhelm Pagel was a professional weight-lifter, wrestler and lion-tamer. Madame Pagel also performed with the lions and tigers in her earlier days. Later she left the ring to undertake the entire direction of the complex circus organisation. She was known all over South Africa and frequently caused a sensation by driving about in the streets in an open car with a fully-grown lion beside her. She died at the Pagel training farm for animals near Pretoria in December 1939. The circus continued even after her husband retired in 1944 and after his death at Knysna in October 1948. Bostock’s Circus, based in England, visited South Africa intermittently. One of its clowns, ‘Spuds’ (George Kirk), later joined Pagel, and in 1930 formed his own circus, which was disbanded in 1944.
The cinema and other forms of entertainment were drawing audiences away from the circus except in the smaller towns, where it was a welcome diversion, and in the large towns during holiday seasons. James Boswell, who with his three brothers had come to South Africa in 1910 to perform in a circus, stayed to establish his own. It rivalled Pagel’s as a South African entertainment institution, and in 1956 African Theatres bought an interest in it and kept it on the road. Boswell celebrated his 80th birthday in retirement in April 1961. Competing with Boswell on the Southern African circuit was Wilkie’s Circus, the two amalgamating on 1 July 1963 under the direction of Wilkie, and the combined circus continued to tour. A less ambitious enterprise operating simultaneously was Doyle’s Circus, which was sold in liquidation in 1967. In 1964, the two enterprises were faced by competition on a grand scale when the famous Chipperfield’s Circus was imported lock, stock and barrel from England to settle in South Africa, and opened for the Christmas season in Cape Town. A succession of misfortunes failed to prevent its establishing itself and regularly touring the sub continent.
In 1968 the International Circus Performers’ Award was won by the clown Charlie Bale, the first South African circus artist to be so honoured. Nicknamed the Circus Oscar, the trophy is awarded every five years by an international body to a circus performer whose work is outstanding.
Source:Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa

MONTSIOA, or Seja-Nkabo-aTauana. Among the best known chiefs of the mid-Victorian days. The son of Tauana, the son of Thutlwa, the son of Tshidi, head of the second branch of the House of Tau, who was King of the Barolong about 1740. Montsioa was born soon after 1810, so that he was a young man in the late•twenties of the last century when Mzilikazi, with his well-trained
armies, trekked from the east; conquered the Bechuana Tribes and proclaimed himself supreme ruler of Central South Africa. He then commenced to levy taxes on the Bechuana tribes, including the Barolong along the Molopo River. In 1830 the Barolong seized King Mzilikazi’s tax-collector, by name Bhoya, and killed him and his companion in cold blood. This seemingly isolated act brought down upon the Barolong the full force of Mzilikazi’s wrath, and the Matabele impies swooped down upon them like an avalanche. The Barolong, who had fought their way down from the great lakes and were known among other tribes as ” baga Rungoana le bogale” (the people with the sharp spear)) witnessed, for the first time, a kind of warfare which made no distinction between man, woman or child; and for nearly three-quarters of a century thereafter, the Matabele and all tribes allied to them, (e.g., Zulu, Xosa, Swazi, Shangaan, etc.,)) were regarded with awe, and the Bechuana would have nothing in common with them. It speaks volumes for the magical force of Christianity if their descendants now intermarry with members of such tribes.

Montsioa, as a young man just turned twenty, must have taken a prominent part in Bhoya’s execution, for the poets of the day immortalised the event with the following lines in his honour:

Re kile ra ineelela dichaba,
Ra ineela, ka lecogo, merafe;
Seja-Nkabo a sale mmotlana,
A sale mo tharing eaga Sebodio.
Jaana ke mmonye a tlhatlosa Motho lekgabana
A mo pega ncoe ja Ga-Khunoana tlhogo,
A nale mmaba, a ea go bolaoa,
Seja-Nkabo-a-Tauana.

Too long we’ve bent the knee to foreigners,
Too long we’ve yielded the arm to strangers;
Montsioa, at that time, was still a baby Astride the back of his mother, Sebodio. Now have I seen him lead a man up hill, Leading him up to the crest of Mount Kunana; Conducting a foeman up to his kill,
Seja-Nkabo, the son of Tauana.

After their destruction by the Matabele, Tauna and his people found a shelter among Moroka’s people-the Seleka branch of the tribe at Thaba ‘Nchu, now O.F.S. Here the first party of immigrant Boers, under Sarel Celliers, on their way north, found them. They, too, had a taste of Mzilikazi’s sword and also found an asylum under the. wing of Moroka at Thaba ‘Nchu. The Barolong and the Boers were later reinforced by a contingent of Griqua horsemen, under an intrepid leader named Dout. The Barolong evies were led by Tauana’s son, Motshegare; the combined forces being under the supreme command of Hendrik Potgieter-a friend of the natives, if ever there was one. Together they defeated Mzilikazi’s armies and forced the Matabele to trek to the far north, now known as Southern Rhodesia.

After this overthrow and expulsion of Mzilikazi, Tauana and his people returned to the Molopo region, where he died and was succeeded by Montsioa as Chief of the Ra-Tshidi section; but, under him, they were not left long to enjoy their hard won peace. Soon after the voortrekker wave had spent itself by spreading out and settling land in the distant areas of the Northern Transvaal, the southern territories were overrun by stray whites, whose land-hunger vied with their utter disregard of the vested rights of those whose territories they invaded. Some bands of these were labelled filibusters (or freebooters), but the difference between the aspirations of such freelances and those of the newly established Transvaal Republic the natives found it very hard to define. The similarity between them was particularly noticeable after the passing of the Potgieters, the Pretoriuses and others who, with their native friends,. bore the brunt of the pioneer work. Their places in the now settled country were taken by the new Pharaohs who knew not Joseph, and it was the bane of Montsioa’s chequered life to have them as neighbours.

For instance, parties established the miniature republics of Stellaland and Goschen, with Vryburg as their capital; but, to their credit let it be said that these settlers in their diminutive republic troubled the Bechuana very little. Much of the brigandage against Montsioa and the filibustering forays into Bechuanaland were usually organised on Transvaal soil and all captured cattle were promptly driven across the frontier into the South African Republic. Other Barolong tribes were cajoled and organised against Montsioa. The Ra-Tlou section, descended from the senior House of Tau, were assured that they alone should be at the head of all Barolong affairs including Montsioa’s, and they were urged to join the Boers in their campaign against that usurper in order to bring about a desirable readjustment. Of course, white people were new in the country and it was not suspected that the solicitude of these intriguers for the regulation of the Barolong succession was stimulated by anything but a keen desire to place the House of Tau in its rightful position.

The tactics of the adventurers were remarkable. They first .engineered a treaty between the British Government and the Transvaal Republic. Under this treaty the English were to prevent the sale of arms to savages, so that white men alone could purchase firearms. The terms of this agreement were enforced by the British authorities with a firm hand, but some white men soon saw that the effect of the pact was to limit the spread of British Dominion in the interior. Most ” savages ” resisted the Boer expansion with no other object but to bring their own people under British protection; and many British pioneers sympathised with the violation of that treaty. Some actually came into Barolong territory and shared in the native defence of their country against Boer encroachments. Among these may be mentioned the late Richard Rowland, Christopher Bethell and others. They not only procured arms for Montsioa but actually helped his warriors in battle. Bethell fell on the battlefield among the sons of Montsioa near the present Transvaal-Bechuanaland boundary.

The clashes between the Barolong and the Boers extended over several decades. These hostilities necessitated the removal of the headquarters of the tribe to the present site, where the natural formation of the rocks and the thickets in Montsioastad afforded some shelter to the defenders. Thus Baden-Powell’s long defence of Mafeking was not the first; the place having been beleaguered more than once before the British annexation.
The High Commissioner, in a dispatch to the Colonial Office, about this time, points out the cruel anomaly whereby Her Majesty’s Colonial Forces at the Cape were employed to prevent the delivery of arms and ammunition to Natives who were waging a grim struggle in the interests of British colonisation; while the British Colonial Authorities, at the same time, were doing everything in their power to facilitate the delivery of arms to the Boers for use in subduing such loyal friends of the Imperial Government as Montsioa and his Barolong-War Office Dispatches, 1877

Dr. J. E. Mackenzie, son of the famous missionary, writing on the development of Rhodesia, in a colonial magazine some years later, said,  “The British would never be able to repay the debt they owe to those two Bechuana chiefs, Montsioa and Mankuroane of the Batlhaping, for the losses they have sustained in the wars they waged against the Boers in order to keep open for the British the trade route to the North, often in the face of British opposition”.
The history of these hostilities is unique in that Montsioa had! among his praise names an Afrikaans ditty that was sung and played by Boers in the Western Transvaal. I have forgotten the stanzas,. but the refrain was:-

Hoe ry die pad, hoe ry die pad,
Na Montsioa toe?
Kanoonkop o’er en die Molopo deur;
Die Boer die skiet dat die stof so staan Maar die Kaffir op sy plek bly staan.

It is not difficult to realise how these persistent raids and continuous losses of men and possessions which they involved were having a demoralising effect upon Montsioa’s tribe, and their plight eventually attracted the attention of friends of the Natives at the Cape. They strongly supported the Barolong’s frantic appeals for British protection. The result of these petitions was the Warren expedition in 1885, which annexed Bechuanaland as far as the Ramatlhabama Spruit, and proclaimed a protectorate over the territories of Bechuana tribes further north up to the Matabele borders. So that, after a most eventful life, the old warrior and hunter was able to spend the evening of his life in comparative peace.
This peace continued until 1896, shortly after the annexation to the Cape, when he was unsettled by the rinderpest scourge, which swept through Bechuanaland like a blizzard and denuded his territories of nearly every beast. Buffaloes and wildebeest in the forests perished like domestic trine and many flourishing cattle posts were reduced to ruins. So that where formerly large herds of sleek fat oxen swarmed over the grasslands as a moving testimony of Barolong wealth, only heaps of whitened skeletons remained, the only vestige of the animal life that once throve there. It was a heart-breaking situation. The misery of his people being a thing terrible to contemplate. Hyenas and wild hounds gorged themselves to excess, while flocks of carrion birds and other scaven• gers of the woods were attracted by the stench of rotting carcasses.

As a hunter in the chase, Chief Montsioa from his youth up, was as fearless as he was brave in war. He enjoyed a great reputation as a lion-killer-one of the few Bechuana who would follow a wounded lion straight into a thicket. His character in that respect has also been put into irregular verse by the court jesters of his time, for they sang:-

Moogatsa Majang, tau ga di kalo!
Tau ga di kalo, ntoroa Mhenyana.
Ga di ke di bolaoa leroborobo,
Di ba di etsa dipholofolo tsa gopo,
Di ba di edioa pitse tsa gopo,
Lekau ja Gontse-a-Tauana!
Tau di bolaoa dile thataro,
Lefa dile pedi dia bo di ntse.

(That’s not the way to kill lions,
0, husband of Majang!
That’s not the way, 0, offspring of M’Henyana!
Lions should not be butchered by the score
Nor like hunted animals at the chase;
Lions should not be slaughtered in such numbers,
To litter the field like carcasses of dead zebra,
0, descendant of Gontse, son of Tauana! Six lions at a time are quite enough
For, even two at a time are not too few!)

And here is a rare coincidence: the name ” Montsioa ” (he who is taken out) bears the same meaning as the Hebrew name “Musheh” (Moses) ; and, as the Se-Rolong expression has it-Ina lebe seromo (an ill name is an evil omen).
Chief Montsioa survived the rinderpest catastrophe by barely one year. At the age of 86 he succumbed to pulmonary disorders aggravated by a fatty heart. He was buried by his people in his cattle fold. Rev. Alfred S. Sharp, Wesleyan Missionary, now in retirement in England, conducted the funeral service. Among the Europeans in attendance were Mr. George J. Boyes, Resident Magistrate (who died at Capetown, not long ago) and some Transvaal Boers, including his former military foes who, despite their proverbial weakness in the face of colour, could respect a brave man whenever they met one.

Among Chief Montsioa’s Transvaal friends included General Piet Cronje, a former adversary and the noblest Minister of Native Affairs that ever sat in a Kruger Cabinet. He spoke the Barolong tongue almost like a native and answered to ‘the native sobriquet of ” Ra-Ntho’akgale.” After the peace in 1885, the old chief sometimes visited his Boer friends across the Transvaal border. On such occasions Dr. Molema’s father or the Doctor’s father-in-law (Rev. M. J. Moshoela, now of Klerksdorp) accompanied the old warrior as secretary, and sent back during his absence, one bulletin after another to keep his people informed of the progress of their beloved chief and his reception among the Boers.
SOL T. PLAATJE.

Kgame II. was the Paramount Chief of the Ba-Mangoato. These people broke away from the main tribe of the Bakoena during the chieftainship of Mothibi, son of Ngoato-after whom the tribe is now called. Kgame found it necessary to appeal to the British Government for protection against invaders in his country, now Bechuanaland Protectorate. Kgame was a wise ruler-stern yet kind, strict yet sympathetic. He was a real father to his people, whose interest he had at heart. In 1882 Kgame II. introduced a law prohibiting the making of Kaffir beer and the selling of liquor in his country. He also abolished circumcision among his people.. Converted to the Christian faith, and was a strong supporter of the London Missionary Society. Kgame was very rich in stock and money, and he encouraged his people to breed stock. He discouraged outsiders from coming to his country to buv livestock and totally prohibited the selling of cows and heifers to outsiders. Produce could be sold to foreigners only with the permission of the Chief, who alone had the right to stipulate the price; thus Kgame was chief, statesman, soldier and agent all in one.
Kgame often had trouble with the northern tribes. On one occasion Mzilikazi sent forty warriors to levy a tax. Orders were given to his councillors to have these warriors arrested and killed. Mzilikazi, hearing that his men were killed at once despatched a regiment to subdue Kgame. Receiving information that Mzilikazi’s warriors were invading his territory he led his army to meet the foe. Mzilikazi’s army was defeated with heavy losses and had to flee. After this battle smaller tribes hastened to pay homage to Kgame and to seek protection.
When Kgame was converted to Christianity he married according to Christian rites against the wishes of h’s father, Sekgoma. By this act John Mackenzie, a missionary of the London Missionary Society earned the disfavour of the aged Sekgoma. In those days the head kraal (or capital) of the tribe was at Shoshong. It has since been removed to Serowe.
As we have already stated, Kgame was strict, and often imposed a fine of 30 head of cattle on those who insisted on brewing Kaffir beer after the prohibition. A good horseman and a lover of animals. He had hundreds of horses. On day while riding a stallion he was kicked on the leg by a mare and was crippled for a long time. He was also very fond of hunting big game, and is said to have been one of the best shots of his time. Kgame made much money by selling the skins of the lions and other big game he shot and also elephant tusks.By his first wife, Kgame had one son and five daughters. When she died he married again. His second wife gave birth to two children, one is now acting as Regent. On Kgame’s death his son Sekgoma, succeeded him, but did not live much more than a year. Sekgoma’s son, Kgame’s grandson and heir, is as yet a minor, therefore Tshekedi, Kgame’s only son by his second wife, is acting for him.
When the Prince of Wales visited the Ba-Mangoato tribe he was met at Palapye Road Station, a number of miles from Serowe, by a full Ba-Mangoato regiment, and travelled to the head kraal in one of the two wagons made on the order of Sekgoma, Kgame’s son, costing £500 each. These wagons are well furnished and contain a sitting-room, a bedroom and a kitchen. Kgame had a number of regiments wearing uniform. The Black Watch, a mounted regiment, was the Paramount Chief’s bodyguard. Kgame had built a large church of stones, wood and iron before he died. Kgame was one of those rulers who was liked and respected by the Boer, the Briton and the Bantu. He will not be forgotten by his people for many years to come.
Tsekedi recently visited England to interview the British Government in connection with the mineral rights of the Ba-Mangoato tribe in their territory in Bechuanaland Protectorate.

Dingane, or Dingaan as he is known by Europeans, was the son of Senzangakona, and brother of the Great Tshaka and Mpande. He succeeded his brother Tshaka to the Zulu throne.

Dingane had not the military genius of Tshaka, nor had he the vision of a great African Empire, the Empire that his brother had so eagerly fought for, even to the extent of earning for himself the name of “Tshaka the Terrible.” It was during Dingane’s reign that the Boer Voortrekkers frequently visited his country, and it is said that on more than two occasions reports were brought to him by his spies that the Boers were seen by night on all sides of the village in which the Royal Kraal was situated.

This, no doubt, alarmed Dingane and his people; such behaviour was resented and taken to be a challenge. About the same time it was reported that the Boers had driven off a large herd of cattle belonging to the Zulus. Dingane at once sent to the Boers to return his cattle, but the Boers denied that they had taken the cattle, and suggested that a Msutu chief, Sikonyela, must have taken them. They offered to go to this chief and persuade him to return the cattle. A few days later the Boers returned the cattle saying they found them at the kraal of Sikonyela. It was later reported to Dingane that the cattle were never at the kraal of the Msutu chief, but that they were with the Boers all the time. Unpleasant rumours began to circulate as to the intentions. of these strange Boers.

It was stated further that the Boers were daily increasing in numbers. The fact that these people were all armed with deadly sticks that emitted fire which was capable of killing an ox instantly at a distance (rifles)) made matters worse.

The Zulus, who were used to countless victories in their wars, became terrified at the change of events. These strange intruders must be got rid of somehow, and so Dingane and his people decided to kill them if it was proved that they were conspiring against the Zulus. Dingane sent messengers to the Boers to invite them to his kraal. The Boers unsuspectingly accepted the invitation, and on their arrival at the kraal they were closely questioned, but their explanations did not satisfy the Zulu. Dingane decided that they were guilty of conspiring against the Zulus, and plotting to make war. He ordered his warriors to kill them.

This deplorable state of affairs led to the battle between Dingane’s warriors on the one hand and the Boers and Mpande’s-Dingane’s brother-regiments on the other hand. Mpande assisted the Boers because he was anxious. to get rid of his brother and install himself as the ruler of the Zulus, but he feared that the risk was too great if he worked independently. Thus he and all the Zulu warriors under him joined hands with the Boers against Dingane. Finally Dingane was defeated with heavy losses at Blood River (Encome), Natal. Dingane fled to Swaziland and was there murdered.