natalia 02 (1972) complete

8/9/2019 Natalia 02 (1972) complete

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THE NATAL SOCIETY OFFICE BEARERS, 1971-72President Miss P. A. Reid

Vice-Presidents Professor A. F. HattersleyM. J. C. Daly, Esq.A. C. Mitchell, Esq.

Trustees I. M. Fraser, Esq.A. C. Mitchell, Esq.Dr. R. E. Stevenson

Treasurers Messrs. Dix, Boyes and Co.Auditors Messrs. R. Thornton-Dibb and Son

Secretary and Chief Librarian Miss U. E. M. ludd, B.A., F.L.A.COUNCIL

Elected Members Miss P. A. Reid (Chairman)M. J. C. Daly, Esq. (Vice-Chairman)Professor l. W. MacquarrieMrs. J. A. VerbeekP. K. Moxley, Esq.Miss. M. I. FridayDr. J. ClarkR. A. Brown, Esq.Professor C. de B. WebbC. O. Smythe, Esq.City Council Representatives Cr. C. W. Wood (Mayor)Cr. I. H. M. BalfourCr. Mrs. G. E. TerryCr. H. Lundie

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE OF NATALIAProfessor C. de B. WebbMiss P. A. ReidOr. l. ClarkR. A. Brown, Esq.Miss J. FarrerMiss U. E. M. ludd


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ContentsPages

EDITORIAL 7 REPRINT

The Reitz-Shepstone correspondence 10 ARTICLES A house for Harry; an architect looks at the former residence of Harry Escombe-B. T. Kearney 21

Lieutenant Joseph Nourse, early Natal pioneer and Port Captain-Jean Nourse 24 Wilderness and the environment-Ian Player 27

SERIAL The origins of the Natal Society; Chapter I, Early Pietermaritzburg-U. E. M. Judd 30

OCCASIONAL LISTS Maps of Natal and Zululand, 1824-191O-R. A. Brown 34

NOTES AND QUERIES 37 REGISTER OF SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS

C. de B. Webb 39 REGISTER OF RESEARCH ON NATAL

R. A. Brown 43 BOOK NOTICES

R. A. Brown, J. Clark, C. de B. Webb 46 SELECT LIST OF RECENT NATAL PUBLICATIONS

U. E. M. Judd 49

B


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Editorial THE WELCOME accorded to Natalia No. 1 has heartened all those responsiblefor the launching of this new journal. Publication ventures are always hazardous,even when there is no profit-motive involved. Though the sponsors of a noncommercial journal look for no financial return, they require to know that theyare investing in something of value to society. Should the response to this andsubsequent issues be as good as it has been to the first, the Council of theNatal Society will have convincing proof that Natalia is fulfilling a functionfor which there is a distinct public need in this province.

Our only critic so far is a reader who favours a narrower subject focus andconsiders that the journal, in its present form, is attempting to serve too manydiverse interests. While we value the advice of critics, we are reluctant to followit in this case. What prompted the launching of Natalia was our convictionthat scholars, writers and artists have needs other than those served by specialistsubject journals. The enquiries received by our Reference Library, and byothers in this province, provide daily evidence of an astonishing range ofcross-cutting interests: historians needing botanical information; botanistshunting for the works of long-forgotten artists; geographers requiring information about the works of early writers; clerics seeking architectural data.Though the Reference staff can often provide the specific information required,its service ends there, and the botanists, the historians, the geographers, theclerics, the architects - all those whose paths of enquiry so often, and sostrangely, intersect - remain strangers to one-another.If Natalia was not a folly from its conception it should help to remedy thissituation by providing a forum where all those with Natal interests canexchange information. We hope that in every issue there will be something toengage the interest of even the narrowest specialist, and we believe that ourregular features - the Notes and Queries column, the Register of Research,the Occasional Lists, the List of Societies and Institutions - will provide aco-ordinating information service of value to all those engaged in scholarlyand artistic endeavour in Natal.

Reitz, Shepstone and Native PolicyThe reprint that we publish in this issue should interest even the politician!In its own day 'The Reitz - Shepstone Correspondence' became a livelytalking point, and it may be sobering to find how little the issues and theopinions have changed since then.The protagonists in the debate were both men of considerable stature inthe public life of South Africa. For this reason alone the 'Correspondence' isinteresting Africana.Francis William Reitz (1844-1934) was born at Swellendam in the Cape andeducated at the South African College. After being called to the Bar at theInner Temple, London, in 1867, he returned to practise in the Colony. But his


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8 Editorialtalents were rapidly to lead him to high office and enlarged responsibilities.In 1874, at the youthful age of 30, he was appointed to the Free State Benchand became chief justice. Fourteen years after that he became President of theRepublic in succession to Sir Johannes Brand who died in 1888. This positionhe held until 1895. It was thus during the middle years of his Presidency thathe published the views on native policy that are reprinted here.Reitz's reputation was built upon his abilities as a lawyer, politician andadministrator. A staunch supporter of the early ideals of the Afrikaner Bond,he laboured to foster a sense of national identity among his people, and moreparticularly to give political expression to the ties of blood and traditionbetween the two republics. Colour policy was a less personal and intimateinterest. He had no direct experience of native administration, and as Presidentof the Free State was responsible for the government of a smaller Africanpopulation than that ill any of the other South African states and colonies.It is arguable indeed that the case presented by Reitz was a generalisation basedupon limited experience, and that the white supremacist but non-segregationistsystem he advocated was simply that in operation in the Free State, where asmall African population was held in subordination as a thinly scattered labourforce spread over hundreds of white farms.Be that as it may, his was a view-point shared by perhaps thousands ofwhite South Africans and influential in the shaping of the history of thiscountry. Furthermore, by putting his opinions into print he performed theconsiderable service of drawing forth a reply from the man whose reputationin the field of native administration excelled all others.Theophilus Shepstone (1817-1893) differed from Reitz not only in temperament but in the whole range of his experience. Whereas Reitz was born inSouth Africa and raised in the Afrikaner tradition, Shepstone was brought toSouth Africa by 1820 Settler parents and raised in the evangelical traditions ofWesleyan missionary endeavour. Reitz was given the best education open toa young South African of his day; Shepstone received only a few years' tuitionat the Salem Wesleyan school. The environment of Reitz's youth was thesedate colonial society of the western Cape; Shepstone's was the rough andunsettled Cape eastern frontier where blacks provided a far more numerouscompanionship than whites. For Reitz there was the post-school experience ofLondon and the Inner Temple; for Shepstone there was Butterworth andBuntingville and work on the Xhosa language in collaboration with theRev. William Boyce.After serving as a government interpreter and holding other posts on thefrontier, Shepstone in 1845, at the youthful age of 28, was appointed DiplomaticAgent to the Native Tribes of Natal. To dispel any misunderstanding, his postwas redesignated Secretary for Native Affairs in 1853, and it was in this capacitythat he served until his resignation in 1876. Thus the man who took uphis pen against Reitz had behind him more than thirty years of practicalexperience gained under conditions very different from those that faced theFree State President. Not only was the proportion of Africans far higher inNatal, but surrounding the colony to the north, the west and the south werepowerful chiefdoms, and keeping a watchful eye over affairs throughoutShepstone's period of office was an imperial government sensitive at once tohumanitarian ideals and to the need for economy.The story of how his pragmatic response to administrative necessity became


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9ditorialthe Shepstone 'System' has recently been examined afresh by David Welsh ina work discussed elsewhere in this issue. I t is history too complex to summarisehere. In practice the system that took shape in Natal was one of indirect rule,entrenched tribalism, and territorial segregation modified by the labourdemands and other interests of white colonial society.Whether Shep;;tone saw in this Natal order a satisfa:tory basis for a lastingsolution to t h ~ problems of race relations is still a mltter of deb.:tte. Tworecently published studies reveal how wide the disagreement can be. Accordingto the one he was a gradualist whose ultimate aim was a shared society in which'the whites and the Bantu should have common interests'; in the other he ispresented as a segregationist 'wedded to traditionalism for its own sake'. 1A third interpretation - committing Shepstone neither to segregation nor toa shared society - is possible. In this his pragmatism is emphasized. He isseen as a cautious, perhaps unimaginative paternalist, anxious to protect theinterests of his wards, but unwilling either to hurry their emancipation or toinsist that they model themselves in their guardian's image; a man incapableof committing himself to any particular goal because of his consciousness thathuman beings have minds and wills that defy the plans of those who wouldmap their futures for them.This uncertainty about Shepstone's ideas and ideals is something for whichhe himself was partly responsible. Contemporaries found him secretive, andSir Bartle Frere's description of him as 'a singular type of an AfricanderTalleyrand, shrewd, observant, silent, self-contained, immobile' has stuck.Certainly Shepstone the administrator, the drafter of thousands of memoranda,despatches and reports, seldom revealed his innermost thoughts, and theunderlying philosophy of his system remains obscure.

It is for this reason that his reply to President Reitz is an important document.We leave it to our readers to judge which of the various possible interpretationsis the most acceptable. There is o:1ly one point that we would make: if he wasa paternalist, his paternalism was less that of a father to minors than that of anelder to fellow-men. Whatever Shcpstone's ultimate aims might have been,his long career had left him deeply conscious that those whose future he wasdebating were men whose pride and dignity demanded respect.

C. DE B. WEBB

Note:1. Gordon, R. E. and Kotze, D. A. 'Shepstone, Theophilus' in Dictionary of South African

Biography. v. T, ed. by W. J. de Kock, 1968, p. 718, and Welsh, D. The Roots of Seg-regation. 1972, p. 216.


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10

NATIVE POLICY: THE REITZSHEPSTONE CORRESPONDENCE

OF 1891-1892 THE NATIVE QUESTIONBy PRESIDENT RElTZ, BLOEMFONTEIN

Originally published in the Cape Illustrated Magazine, November 1891WHEN OUR ANCESTORS - Dutch and English - - first settled at the Cape,they found a land stretching northwards to the mystic regions of Monomotapa,a land in which John the Baptist would have felt himself at home, for there wasno lack of locusts and wild honey - especially the former. But they found init besides, the Native.

From the very first days of Jan Van Riebeek South Africa had to deal withthis 'question', and it has been doing so ever since in a manner more or lessunsatisfactory.The subject is one of those which many honest men deem it safer to leavealone.'Leave well alone,' they say.

But how if it be not well ?There is such a thing as being overcautious, and surely a matter of such vastimportance to the future of the country should not be left to 'drift'. Let usrather look at and discuss it in a just and forbearing spirit, from all pointsof view, so that perchance we may arrive at some consensus of opinion on themain points at least, and thus avoid the risk of leaving our descendants exposedto the possibility of having some day, unexpectedly, to face a problem of vitalimportance which they may be unable to solve.The objects which civilized South Africa should bear in view are mainly thefollowing:-1st. To get rid of the Tribal System, as being an imperium in imperio of amost pernicious kind.2ndly. To abolish chieftainships.3rdly. To apply to all men alike irrespective of colour and race the rule 'By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt earn thy bread,' and with a view to thisend to break up all locations great and small.4thly. To suppress by law all such heathen rites as are undoubtedly andflagrantly immoral and degrading.5th1y. To discourage polygamy, and the selling and buying of women whichit involves, and 6thly. To adopt the principle and maintain it steadfastly, thatthere shall be no 'equality' between the aborigines of South Africa and thepeople of European descent who have made this land their home.

As a fact, the whole of South Africa (excepting Natal) has since the verybeginning been striving to attain these objects, but it has not been done onprinciple but under subterfuges. Where is Dinizulu? Where are Waterboer and


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President F. W. Reitz

(photograph by courtesy of Miss B. Levy)


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\ " . f ~ i I

Sir Theophillls Shepstone in hi s Pietermaritzbllrg garden durin(photograph by courtesy 0/ Dr. RUlh Gordoll)


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11eitz-Shepstone CorrespondenceMankoroane? What is the condition of Letsea, the SOil, and of Paulus Moperithe brother of Moshesh? And what will most likely be the fate of that fine oldmurderer, Lo Bengula? Some have gone, some are going, and the rest will haveto go, all upon some pretext or other; whereas the true reason why they havehad to 'take a back seat' is that they were or are stumbling blocks in the wayof progress and civilisation.

And, firstly, as regards the tribal system under which term are included therelation of the natives to their chiefs and to the land. It took many centuries tobreak down the system of 'clans' amongst the highlanders, but no one in Scotland to-day would wish to see the rule of small tyrants of the stamp of RoderickDhu restored in the 'land 0 ' cakes'.'Tribal tenure' is supposed to mean that the land belongs to the whole of thetribe in common, the chief with his counsellors holding it in trust for them.This looks very well on the surface, and might at first sight be regarded as avery pretty sort of socialism, but, as a rule, the chief apportions the land ashe pleases, without any regard to the necessities and circumstances of hispeople - and in many cases this irresponsible potentate has quietly given theground away or sold it to outsiders without even consulting his subjects. Thenumerous 'concessions' which have become so prominent a feature of SouthAfrican speculation afford sufficient evidence of the truth of this assertion.This 'tribal system' is in full operation in Basutoland to-day, and if there isanyone who knows what a nuisance it is, that one must be the Resident Commissioner, Sir Marshall Clarke. He has done, and is doing all that is possibleto carry on a civilized government, and has moreover succeeded beyondexpectation, yet there can be no doubt that he would be a happier ResidentCommissioner, if Messieurs Masupa, Lerothodi, Jonathan, Joel, and the restcould be sent to join Dinizulu or Arabi Pacha, to enjoy an otium cum dignitatein St. Helena or Ceylon.The Kaffir, as an individual, may be 'a man' and (under due reservations)'a brother', but as a member of a tribe, and the subject of a fat and arrogantchieftain, he can never be such. He is divided by an impassable barrier from thelaws and customs of civilized humanity, and there is no room for him in histribal condition in our European system of political economy.

2ndly. To reduce the Chiefs to the ranks is - it must be admitted - a thingeasier said than done. To banish them to Robben Island, the Cape Flats, oreven so distinguished a place of exile as St. Helena does not seem the mostsuitable way of dealing with them. It is not just for one thing, and besides thebanished one always leaves behind him a numerous progeny to mourn his lossand to continue the dynasty.Probably the most effective means of bringing the big Chiefs and the littleChiefs to their proper level is the introduction of the Roman Dutch Civil Lawand the English Criminal Procedure. Under these influences the Chief soonrecognizes the fact that the days of his despotism are ended, and that there is ajurisdiction in the land which makes no distinction between one Kaffir andanother. As long as we hear of the appointment of Commissions to codifyNative Law, so long there must be 'something rotten in the State of Denmark'.Native Law (save the mark! a lucus a non lucendo) conflicts in every detail andparticular with that sense of right and justice which is embodied in the law of the


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13eitz-Shepstone Correspondenceoccasionally by libelling the Republics, and accusing the governments of thoseStates of permitting slavery should on the principle that 'Charity begins athome', look into this matter a little, and enquire whether a system whichpermits the servitude of the weaker sex only is not even more mean and unmanlythan that which included men and women and children in the same category,and made them all alike 'Chattels' of their fellow men.

6thly. There is a large section of people in England, and some even in theCape Colony (though they are fortunately very few indeed) who hold that theblack man should have equal rights in every respect with the white. They musthave tt.e ~ a m e right to hold land, to vote, to be educated and to be raisedgenerally to the legal, social and political level of their fellow men of Europeanorigin; - and not only, say these philanthropists, is this to be treated as a mereabstract right, but it is also the duty of the Government and of the white manto bring this ideal condition of affairs about.Let us assume that the view of these good people is correct, and that havingsaid 'A' we likewise say 'B', and so forth to the end of the alphabet.What should be the eventual logical result? Well, for one thing, our intelligentfriends Abdol Burns, and Tembu Jabava should be elected to represent theirfellow-citizens in Parliament. And not only they, but (if we are to be strictlyfair and logical) the majority of the legislators of South Africa should, in duetime, be of the same or similar complexion.

Moreover, we cannot stop there. This would only be recognising the politicalrights of our fellow-man. How about their social rights? Are we to ostracise aman who is a gentleman and a senator, merely because the colour of his skinis such as we may in our narrow-mindedness not approve of? No! my friends,if there is to be equality, it should be complete, and you must not be so unreasonable as to refuse your daughters in marriage to a man who in every respectbut that of colour is your 'equal'. That is what philanthropy and fair play,and the rights of man, should lead to; and is that what you are contemplating?If not, why not? In the United States of America, the land of Liberty, not tosay of Licence, this result is being arrived at more rapidly than the men whofought and died for the abolition of negro slavery could ever have anticipated.There the descendants of the African race are in the minority, and yet theeducated and ambitious amongst them to-day are looking forward to the timewhen the 'gentlemen of colour' shall have established their claim to be regardedboth physically and mentally as the dominant race and 'the Caucasian shallindeed be played out'. It is the opinion of many people in America that thenext civil war in that country will be a 'war of colour', and such fears do notseem to be unreasonable, when we consider that the only alternatives are thatthere must be amalgamation of the two races or 'miscegenation', as it is called,or else that the rivalry, which certainly does exist, must lead to a rupture.There can be no doubt that, when matters do come to a crisis, the Caucasianwill prove himself-as he has so often done before-not 'played out'. But whocan contemplate without a shudder the horrors of such a struggle?Here in our part of the world the proportion between black and white is inan inverse ratio to what it is in America, and we are told that the aboriginesare increasing more rapidly than those of European race, and probably this isthe case in those parts where the institution of polygamy flourishes, and whereone man may have as many 'wives' as he thinks proper. The history of the


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14 Reitz-Shepstone CorrespondenceIsraelites in Egypt and of the Mormons at Salt Lake proves that the 'Caucasian'race will increase in a similarly prolific manner under similar matrimonialconditions. The only chance for the survival of the fittest will be the breakingup of locations, as already suggested above. Should this not be done, and theKaffir increases both in numbers and in 'civilization' in a sort of geometricprogression, the sooner we who cannot claim to be of the same race as Tshakaor Lo Bengula, return to the countries from which our ancestors were foolishenough to emigrate, the better. It is upon this point that South Africans aremost strongly at issue with the Aborigines Protection Society, or, as these wellmeaning, but ill-informed people are generally styled 'the Exeter Hall Party'.We claim to have as little animosity towards the black man, as any theoreticalphilanthropist amongst them all, but 'self-preservation is the first law of nature,'and if the 'Caucasian' must either remain the dominant race or perish, then ofthe two evils let us choose the least.

THE NAT]VE QUESTION Originally published in the Natal Mercury, 29.1.1892

Maritzburg, Natal, Jan. 19.Sir, - President Reitz, the ruler of the Orange Free State, has contributed apaper on the 'Native Question' to the last November number of the CapeMagazine.He expresses his views with remarkable frankness, but with less gravity,perhaps, than might have been expected on so important a subject from theactual ruler ofan independent state. He recognises, however, the 'vast importance

of the subject, and invites its discussion in a just and forbearing spirit from allpoints of view'. He sets forth the main objects, which he says 'civilised SouthAfrica should bear in view'. They are: '(1) to get rid of the tribal system asbeing an imperiL/m in imperio of a most pernicious kind; (2) to abolish chieftainships; (3) to apply to all men alike, irrespective of colour and race, the rule"By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt earn thy bread," and with a view to thisend to break up all locations, great and small; (4) to suppress by law all suchheathen rites as are undoubtedly and flagrantly immoral and degrading;(5) to discourage polygamy and the selling and buying of women which itinvolves; and (6) to adopt the principle and maintain it steadfastly, that thereshall be no "equality" between the aborigines of South Africa and the peopleof European descent who have made this land their home'.'As a fact,' President Reitz goes on to say, 'the whole of South Africa (excepting Natal) has since the very beginning been striving to attain these objects;but it has not been done on principle, but under subterfuges'. Well may Natalfeel gratified at being acquitted by such an authority from participation in sowicked and disreputable a strife!The President has rendered a service by the frank terms in which he hasformulated his outspoken and clearly intelligible creed.Let us examine its different articles, and the grounds upon which their acceptance is enforced, not in the light of any moral standard, for no such standardwould apply, but in that of their practicability alone, irrespective of any moralconsideration.


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15eitz-Sh(pstone CorrespondenceThe first two propose (I) 'to get rid of the tribal system', and (2) 'to abolishchieftainships'. These will not admit of being discussed separately. They muststand or fall together. There can be 110 'chief' in the sense in which the Presidentuses the word, without a tribe; similarly, there can be no tribe without a chief.If there is one truth more necessary to be known than another by a SouthAfrican statesman, it is the impossibility of effectually abolishing hereditarychieftainship.Hereditary chiefs may be officially deposed by the paramount power; maybe refused recognition; may be sent into exile, or placed under personal disabilities. These arc the means which civilized governments generally use, andwhich have been llsed in South Africa; but they have succeeded only in makingmartyrs; in augmenting the power of the chiefs concerned for mischief, and in

clothing with gre:lter reverence their persons and their utterances. The eiTectis to inflame the tribal sentiment and to strengthen attachment to its representative member.The history of the contact of civilisation with South African tribes furnishes,and is at this moment furnishing, evidence of this; but the most remarkableproof of the strength of the tribal sentiment is to be gathered from eventsamong the natives themselves, that occurred towards the end of the last century,and the beginning of this. The Zulu Chief Chaka founded the greatest nativepower that is known ever to have existed south of the Zambesi River; hismilitary conquests extended over a large portion of the Portuguese, Transvaal,and Orange Free State territories; they included the whole of Natal and someof the present districts of the Cape Colony as far as the Umtata River; the onlytribe betvvcen Natal and the Umtata that he did not subdue, and which repulsedone of his regiments, was the Pondo tribe, under Faku. For this temporaryrepulse the whole of the survivors of that regiment were executed on theirreturn to Zululard. Chaka was not a man to be trifled with; his object in allhis conquests was to destroy the chief of a tribe and his family, and to incorporate the people with his own, or annihilate them by periodical harassing expeditions.He succeeded in most cases in compelling incorporation, but rarely exterminating the reigning family of any considerable tribe. Chaka's orders were stringentenough; his generals were sufficiently zealous; but the loyalty of the conq ueredpeople to their chief and family was invincible, no instance of betrayal wasever known to have taken place; in some cases the people selected from amongthemselves vicarious substitutes who were represented as being their chiefs; inothers, it is told, and told with pride, that men presented themselves a voluntarysacrifice to save the lives of the real heads of their tribes. Loyal devotion suchas this burns with too ardent a flame to be quenched by a mere proclamation.Chaka with all his resources, his idolising regiments, his inflexible will, his disregard of human life, his contempt for every opinion save his own, failed in hisattempt to accomplish what President Reitz so airily recommends as main objects to be kept in view by civilised South Africa! So strong did this tribalsentiment prove, that at the end of the Zulu war, 60 years afterwards, it wasfound that most of the incorporated tribes that made up the bulk of the Zulunation, had kept themselves so distinct, that on the removal of the Zulu Kingthey were found ready to re-enter upon their separate existence. The BritishGovernment took advantage of that remarkable fact, without perhaps fullyrecognising the lesson that it taught.It is quite true that the military chiefs, kings, as they arc called, who possess


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16 Reitz-Shepstone Correspondencelarge organised and well disciplined armies, are not only, as President Reitzsays, stumbling blocks in the 'way of progress and civilisation', but absolutehindrances. They dislike civilisation; its effect is to destroy their power; theysee this, and naturally, and inevitably they oppose it in one way or another;and as inevitably will their power be eventually shattered by the slow but sureadvance of civilisation. Their organisation is a pure military despotism, inwhich, in the first instance, public opinion, or tribal councils or councillors,have very little to say. This necessarily constitutes a daily danger to a neighbour.Fortunately there are, however, only four of these in South Africa, the Zulu,the Swazi, Gungunyana and Lobengule. These are all collections of conqueredtribes, and each of these organisations will have to be treated as its specialconditions may require. The Zulus must still be included in this list, becausealthough broken by conflict with a civilised power, the policy that followed hastended to support the hopes of the ruling family; to disappoint the aspirationsof the incorporated tribes, who had hoped to become free, and more unfortunately still, to suspend the idea of finality; so that the end of this politicalchapter, whatever it may be, has still to be looked for. The remarks that followare not intended to apply, nor could they apply, to the military organisationsabove referred to; but to the hundreds of other hereditary chiefs and tribeswhose constitution is more patriarchal than military, with whom civilisedSouth Africa is in more direct contact, whose treatment is most concerned bythe President's theories.

The first question that suggests itself is - what is to be substituted for thetribal or patriarchal organisation under the rule and guidance of the chief?President Reitz answers 'The Roman-Dutch Civil Law, and the English criminalprocedure"! The President wrote this not seriously most probably, but to elicitthe discussion that he invites; it seems impossible that even a chief justice couldcherish such astounding faith in codes of law. The 'big chiefs' and the 'littlechiefs' who are to be brought to their 'proper level' by the introduction ofthese two codes include, at least, all in Natal, British Basutoland, Kaffraria,Zululand, and the Orange Free State. These countries contain hundreds ofchiefs, and hundreds of thousands of natives. All have been accustomed to, arenow living under, tribal laws and tribal administration which have existed foruntold generations. Each individual of this vast population has his specialresponsibility, and assists in the government of his tribe to the extent of hisresponsibility. He must report everything of importance that becomes knownto him to his superior until the Chief is reached, who decides what courseshould be taken. By this means the head of a tribe, or as is the case in Natal,the head of many tribes, is kept informed of what is going on. The foundationof all effective government is a knowledge of what its subjects are doing andthinking. Do away with all this, bring the 'big chiefs' and 'little chiefs' to whatPresident Reitz considers their 'proper level' of 'no distinction between onekafir and another'. Substitute your magistrates and your codes, and your ownpolice, for their chiefs and their ancient system of tribal responsibility, thatturns every member of the tribe into an active policeman, and what have you?Flocks of sheep without shepherds; alien rulers of an estranged people; thecessation of all sympathy and frank intercourse. How, in such a case, are you toget your information except through prejudiced and naturally misleading sources?Dislike and distrust inevitably beget misunderstanding, to end sooner or later


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17eitz-Shepstone Correspondencein a death struggle for existence. Ts this what the President wishes to bringabout?

I t may be reasonably asked, if it be possible to effectually abolish hereditarychieftainship, what is to be done with hereditary chiefs?The answer is, use them as they have been used during the last 45 years inNatal; use their influence, their system of tribal management, their principle ofmutual responsibility; make room for these in your own system. Let the chiefsunderstand that they rule as your lieutenants; that they carry out your behests,subject to your general supervision, even in tribal matters. Pay them fairly.They will prove loyal and zealous, inclined, perhaps, to severity rather thanotherwise; correct this by giving their people the privilege of appeal to a whitemagistrate, and ultimately to a still higher tribunal. Forbid, except by specialleave, the performance of any function devised to keep up the idea of tribalindependence. Prohibit absolutely accusations of witchcraft. 'Witch dances' asthey are called, such accusations being their purpose, are the great politicalengine of the hereditary chief; they take public opinion by storm, they make iteasy to strike down, without trial or defence, the most formidable rival; theyare what a standing army is to the military chief. Take away this engine, andnothing will be left to lean upon but the power of the Government.

President Reitz's third proposition is, 'To apply to all men, irrespective ofcolour and race, the rule "By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt earn thy bread,"and with a view to this end to break up all locations great and small'.The President is outspoken enough; he takes no pains to disguise the wayin which he would apply this sacred rule. 'To break up all locations, great andsmall,' is the essence of his plan. All the 'kafirs' occupying these locations, both'within and without our borders,' must 'get scattered and settled down amongstthe farmers' of Eurorcan descent, 'and as domestic servants in the towns andvillages' 'of the same favoured people. The millions of sturdy men who now'lie idle' in 'Zult:land, P o n d o J a J ~ d , the Transkei, Swaziland, Basutoland, Ama-tongaland, and Matabeleland' must be 'constrained' to 'handle the pickaxe,and the plough, or starve'. They are not to be permitted to earn, they are tobe deprived of the means, which they at present possess, of earning 'their bread',except as farm labourers or domestic servants to the people of European descentwho have chosen to make this land their home!President Reitz leaves unnoticed the important fact, that the millions ofsturdy men he alludes to, and the many more millions of their women andchildren, who must also be taken into account, are the aboriginal inhabitantsand owners of the land, that they have inherited it from their ancestors fromremote ages, that they are at this moment living on it by cultivation, and therearing of stock, as they have done from time immemorial. Surely the Presidentbetrays some respect for 'colour and race' in this!President Reitz resents the libelling of the republics in South Africa by the'gentlemen of England who sit at home at ease,' when they accuse the govern-ments of those states of permitting slavery.What is the essence of slavery but the power of one human being to so controlthe life of another as to deprive him of the right of exercising free will, even inthe manner of earning his living? Wherein do the recommendations of thePresident fall short of this?

I t is not, as has already been said, the object of this paper to measure the


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18 Reitz-Shepstone CorrespondencePresident's plans by any recognised moral standard; any such attempt wouldbe as unprofitable as to adjudicate upon what is called the 'land grabbing'processes of any nation on the basis of moral right or wrong.One precept only is applicable - that he should take who has the power,and he should keep who can; but measured even by this simple gauge, and itis the only one that it is desired to apply, can these plans be said to be practicable?The answer must be in the negative, because they involve physical impossibilities.I f not practicable, why propound and recommend them? I t is no smaH matterfor the actual President of an independent state in these parts to proclaim tothe millions of natives concerned that it should be the settled policy and avowedobject of the 'people of European descent who have made this land theirhome' to crush them into the condition of slaves or serfs. Such utterances, byso exalted a personage, must produce a profound impression, not lessened bythe fact that they are published without comment in a high-class periodicalat the seat of the Government of the senior South African state, and, as faras the writer has yet seen, without a word of dissent from its Press. Whatcould be more compromising to neighbouring governments? What bettercalculated to excite resentment and all its possibilities, when the native raceslearn from so high a source the true value and object of aH our philanthropyand Christian solicitude? 'Wolves in sheeps clothing' l

President Reitz's 4th and 5th propositions are : - 'To suppress by law all suchheathen rites as are undoubtedly and flagrantly immoral and degrading';and 'to discourage polygamy and the selling and buying of women which itinvolves'.These are both objects which commend themselves to the moral sense;although the President's mode of enforcing the last is made to depend upon thecarrying out of the 'objects' which it has been found necessary to remark upon.The subject of polygamy does not admit of adequate discussion in publicprints; it involves considerations which are not likely to have presented themselves to the investigation of most of t h o s , , ~ who sit in judgment upon it; considerations which, if they had presented themselves, would most probablyhave been thought absurd or trivial, but which to the natives themselves areserious enough, as, in their belief, affecting their social conditions and wellbeing.To these must be added the special prejudices and beliefs of the women, whorule in their sphere as potently as civilised women do in theirs. These are likeso many peculiarities which the potter has to take into account in the treatmentof his clay. The custom, as the President recommends, may and should bediscouraged, but it cannot be done away with at a stroke without causingperhaps greater evil.

President Reitz's 6th proposition is: 'To adopt the principle and maintainit steadfastly, that there shaII be no "equality" between the aborigines of SouthAfrica and the people of European descent who have made this land theirhome'.Later on in his paper he suggests that the 'most effective means of bringingthe big chiefs and the little chiefs to their proper level would be to introduce theRoman-Dutch Civil Law and the English criminal procedure'. But these areunderstood to govern the people of 'European descent', and both these codes


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19eitz-Shepstone Correspondencedemand equality; if they are applied to the aborigines they will still demandequality; and equality between the races will have been established by law.How then can the panacea be reconciled with the proposition?The President shows a great deal of anxiety, and expends some rhetoric onthis subject of equality; but the truth is that from the days of Jan van Riebeeckuntil now, no sign of a struggle or demand for equality has occurred. Thecoloured races have accepted the superior position of the European as a race,and accept it now. Wars have taken place at different times; each war has hadits special object or its special cause; but in no case has political or socialequality been the aim.

I t must be remembered also that the human intellect cannot be fettered;when aided by education it will rise to the level that is due to it, whether coveredby a coloured skin or a white. To prevent the growth of that formidable thingintellectual equality, the President, to be consistent, should 'adopt the principle,and maintain it steadfastly', that there shall be no educational establishmentsfor natives, no mission or industrial teaching among them, beyond what maybe needed to teach them to 'handle the pickaxe and the plough', or to become'domestic servants in towns and villages'.President Reitz instances the dangers that are said to be now threatening theUnited States of America from the coloured population that were once slaves;he cites this state of things as the one to be avoided in South Africa; he addressesthis example for want of a better, presumably, to enforce his advice to breakup all locations, to abolish chieftainships, and the tribal system, which helooks upon as the root of all mischief. Unfortunately for his argument, thedanger in the United States which he cites as a warning to us, has grown some-how out of the very condition that he wishes to establish as an antidote to itin South Africa.The descendants of the African race in the United States had no locations,no chieftainships, no tribal system; they had for generations been 'scatteredand settled down amongst the farmers, and as domestic servants in the townsand villages' of the dominant race, exactly in the way that President Reitzwishes our immense native population to be 'scattered and settled down'among us. Yet out of this, his ideal state of things, in which no equality waspermitted or thought of, a danger has arisen serious enough to cause anxietyto sixty millions of people of European descent!President Reitz speaks sneeringly of the appointment of commissions tocodify native law; he declares that native law 'conflicts in every detail andparticular with that sense of right and justice which is embodied 111 the law ofthe civilised white man!'The President being a trained lawyer, late chief justice of the state over whichhe now rules, must be accepted as an authonty on the law of the 'clvilIsedwhite man'. That same training would have led one to expect that he wouldnot have ventured to pronounce a judgment on any question untIl he hadexamined both sides of it. I t is surprISing, therefore, that neitner his judicialsense nor his prudence prevented him trom publishing to the world so un-qualified a condemnation of native law before he knew what It was.Those who have administered it all their lives and know It best would havetold him, and independent enquiry would have satisfied him, tllat 'l!Vt:fY senseof right and justice which is embodied in the law of the cIVIlIsed white man' isrecognised, respected, and enforced by native law intelligently and fairly


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20 Reitz-Shepstone Correspondenceadministered. I t is in the forms of procedure and the mode of administrationthat the difference exists; difference is rendered necessary by the variation ofsocial and political conditions; that it is great cannot be denied; but it doesnot necessarily contradict moral principles; it is commensurate with thecontrast between civilised and savage man; the one has his chop grilled onsilver, the other throws it on the ashes.

President Reitz makes more than one contemptuous reference to Natal.The position of ruler of an independent adjoining friendly state, which PresidentReitz occupies, did not suggest to him the indelicacy of criticising in a publicprint in disparaging and offensive language the internal arrangements of aneighbouring government. There would be little difficulty in vindicating thenative policy of Natal, and such vindication will be forthcoming shouldPresident Reitz call for it.Meanwhile the history of Natal may be left to speak for itself. Forty-sixyeurs of existence, and forty-six years of peace, as far as its own internal management is concerned, is a record that no other South African state can show.A few domestic disturbances, such as must be expected in every household,have occurred, only to be repressed by the great majority of its loyal members.An annual direct contribution by the natives to the treasury, regularly andunfailingly paid for forty-three years, and which now amounts to more thana million and a half pounds sterling, in the aggregate, is a significant fact; andto these must be added the confidence which, to the credit of both, the whiteand the coloured population feel towards each other; these are not resultswhich justify the contumelious allusions that President Reitz has thought itbecoming to make. - I am, &c.,

T. SHEPSTONE


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21

A House for HarryAn architect looks at the former residence of Harry Escombe

THE Bayside Beach, Durban, was a long cry from a classical education at St.Paul's, London, and the clerical cubicles of the London Stock Exchange, butappropriate for the man who, more than any other, believed that Durban'spotential development would pivot on its harbour and the eradication of thesand that 'barred' its use. Harry Escombc, liberal, amateur astronomer, chessplayer, vigorous surf-bather, eminent lawyer, antagonist and then protagonistof sclf-government for Natal and latcr Prime Minister would have selected thesite for his future home on that beach with great care. 1Escombe approached Philip Dudgeon, architect, some time during the winterof 1881 and commissioned the young Irishman to design his house there so thathe might be close to the object of his life's work. 2 Dudgeon had only beenpractising in Durban for four years at that time,3 and considering his age, hadcstablished quite a reputation for his abilities. This was firstly through his workon Addington Hospital 4 and then as professional adviser to the Durban TownCouncil for the new town hall competition. 5 He won this competition thefollowing year (1882), and it is possible that due to these circumstances Escombefound the man who would realise his intentions.We know that Dudgeon ran into some difficulties with the Town Clerkshortly after the building had commenced in October 1881. Evidently operationshad begun without the prior submissions of drawings for the 'mayor's approval'.This was rather strange for an architect designing a house for so prominent alegal client. 6 Dudgeon's ire at the 'considerable inconvience caused to him bythe Town Surveyor's office keeping his plans for four days' shows, however,how different such matters were then. 7The house itself was superb; standing back from the Bay behind several wildfigs (which even at that time must have been a considerable size), it consisted ofa main double-storeyed portion containing the principal apartments and asecondary one on the northern side. The main entrance to Bayview was approached from Beach Grove and led through the lush planting directly onto agenerous veranda. This completely surrounded the front part of the building.(Fig. 1, 2). The main entrance was strategically placed to allow easy access tothe gentlemen's cloak room and service areas of the house on the one hand, andto a large tiled stair-hall on the other. This space with its two flanking stainedglass windows and palms led into the study and drawing room. 8 The latter wereconnected with folding doors to form one large space which opened out acrossthe veranda to the lawn. From these rooms onc could enjoy the splendid viewsof the garden and Bay.By contrast, the bedrooms above would have been light and airy, with theirdifferent views of the treetops and the Bluff beyond. During the heat of summer,however, closed shutters would have assisted in preventing any sense of discomfort. The upper Hoor windows were very interesting for another reason.c


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22 A House/or Harry(Fig. 3). Although they had slightly flattened arches which were emphasisedwith applied mouldings, they were obviously the forerunners of those Dudgeonused in the Standard Bank, Pietermaritzburg. Tenders were called for thisbuilding in January. 1882, and this mllst mean that both designs were on thedrawing boards at the same time. 9There are other similarities, too, some peculiar to Philip Dudgeon's work. 10The intersection of the string courses with the arched windows on the upperfloor, the utilitarian and unifying repetition of one or two sizes of well-proportioned windows, the formal cleanness of the composition, and the overriding classicism of the whole are traits which bear the familiar touch of thisenigmatic Natal architect. 11 Perhaps other sources, too, may one day bebe discovered for 'Fergus Hathorn's' bank.12

But the importance of this house does not belong to any particular feature(for it is by no means 'featuristic') but rather can be seen in its forthrightsimplicity, the sensibility of its form and arrangement as a solution for life inthe sub-tropical 'antipodes', and not least of all ill that unique interrelationshipbetween house and garden. I know of no comparable building of this date whichsucceeds so well by restraint (for example, the veranda struts), and which forrichness and variety relies not on pretentious display, but on the exotic splendours of its immediate environment which act as a foil to the building andoccupants alike. (Fig. 3, 4).I t seems hardly likely that such a garden could have developed accidently.Through the use of the genius loci and indigenous plant material, a cleverinformality of deceptive ease was achieved. Thus trees, shrubs and groundcover of contrasting shapes and sizes, in sun and shade, contributed towardscreating wonderful outdoor spaces for the leisures of life. (Fig. 3). One is soforcefully reminded of the great democratic romanticism evident in the gardens

of Jens Jensen and other early twentieth century landscape artists. 13 Here wasnot the recreation of the prairie or woodland though, but the ethos of thatglorious 'bushscape' which overawed the earliest settlers and gave Natal itsgarden reputation.Harry Escombe might well be forgiven his Ruskinian fondness for the'attribution of sentient emotions to inanimate objects' if this environment werehis influence. 'The rock recognises the superior powers of the dredger bucket,the bar itself will waste away, c!t:prived of that nourishment by which alone itsvitality is secured'. 14 But these words of Harry Escombe could, in the context

of his involvement with the Bay, be viewed as the final irony of romanticism.For it was from this demesne that he devised the political machinery whichopened up the port and set off a chain of far-reaching processes in the development of the city which would ultimately demand the unfortunate disappearanceof his own house and the wonderful environment he had created. 15Notes and References:1. No. 15 Beach Grove, Durban, adjacent to the Law Courts on the esplanade. This site wasoriginally occupied by a house belonging to Peter Lennox.Hartley, W. Reminiscences; C. Bird Papers, Natal Archives. Obituary, Harry Escombe;Natal Mercury, 28.12.1899.2. Hobson, E. G. The effect 0/ Durban Harbour on Nalai's politics, 1874-1898. B.A. Hons.Thesis, Univ. of Natal, 1961.3. P. M. Dudgeon was born in Dublin in 1852 and arrived in Durban from East London in

1877. Times a/Natal, 20.1.1877.


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~ U l ! . .' I j/ '

,' ,

. I >. ,

"

.. . . ' .. .,':.... . " " ~I" :." ' ) : : " ' : " J . . . : , , : , .

Fig. I. Recon struction of ground floor pla n, Bayv


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I

L,nel\toorn ~ o J k l ' o o r O \ . \0

1(\FRO"T "'EW FROM FI'Or\kDoor LBEAC,", GR.OVE

Fig. 2. View from Beach Grove, Drawing by Mrs.


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Fig. 3. View northwards towards the entrance


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Fig. 4. The bay windows on the west.


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23House/or Harry4. Some sources cite Robert Sellars Upton as the architect ofAddington Hospital (1877) butthe Natal Mercury of 29.10.1879, attributes this building to Dudgeon. Some kind ofassociation between the two men cannot be ruled out.5. Correspondence between P. M. Dudgeon and the Town Clerk, Durban. Letters of30.8.1881 and 3.10.1881. Town Clerk 's archives, Durban.6. Letter, Town Clerk to Dudgeon, 29.10.1881.7. Letter, Dudgeon to Town Clerk, 19.12.1881. A by-law was gazetted in 1878 compellingprospective builders to lodge drawings with the Borough Surveyor's Department prior tobuilding. These would have been original drawings.8. The layout of the internal walls and the arrangement of the spaces is based entirely oninformation supplied by Mrs. K. Wolfson and Mrs. J. A. Smith.9. Times of Natal, 9.1.1882.

10. A photograph in the Local History Museum, Durban, showing the house on the embankment would appear to indicate that the chimney had several semi-circular discs-a devicewhich Dudgeon used on the Standard Bank and a house in Longmarket Street, Pietermaritzburg.11. Nothing is known of Dudgeon's earlier life and training after his father died in 1853. Hereturned to Britain in 1887 and died at Bath in 1891.12. Hathorn was the manager of the Standard Bank at the time the new premises were erectedand as he was supposed to have been 'something of an architect' himself (Victoria Club,1893) this might explain Dudgeon's free hand.13. Eaton, L. K. Landscape artist in America; the life and work of Jens Jensen. Universityof Chicago Press, Chicago, 1964.14. Op. cit., Hobson, E. G. p. 14.15. The house was demolished in 1958.Acknowledgements

I am especially grateful to Mrs. K. Wolfson, a grand-daughter of Harry Escombe, for herenthusiastic assistance in the reconstruction of the plans of the building, for many interestingdetails and for directing me to a surviving grandson, Capt. Taylor, who very kindly allowedme the use of the fine set of photographs. B. T. KEARNEY, Durban.


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24

Lieutenant Joseph NourseEarly Natal Pioneer and Port Captain*

On a busy corner opposite Pietermaritzburg's City Hall stands an old ironcannon, its muzzle pointing defiantly skywards. A brass plate states:-This gun was cast in Woolwich in 1812 and brought to Natal in 1842 byH.M.S. Fawn (Lieutenant Joseph Nourse) which accompanied H.M.S.Southampton conveying troops under Colonel Cloete for the relief of theBritish Forces at the Point under Command of Captain Smith, then besiegedby the Boers. It was afterwards removed from the Point to Fort Napier andtransferred to this position in 1901.Who was this Lieutenant Joseph Nourse and how did he come to be in PortNatal in 1842?Joseph was born in London in 1810 and was the third son of Henry Nourse,an influential London merchant who, as early as 1806, had established a tradinghouse in Cape Town, and later promoted the 1820 Settler Scheme by ad

dressing a Committee of the House of Commons in June 1819.At the tender age of fourteen, Joseph entered the British Navy as a VolunteerFirst Class, a title given to young gentlemen on their way to becoming commissioned officers. He was privileged to begin his career in the Victory atPortsmouth. After a year in Nelson's famous ship he was fortunate to be sent toSimonstown in 1825, for by that time his parents resided in Cape Town so thatyoung Joseph was able to see something of them.One of the many ships in which he served was the H.M.S. Helicon. It waswhile Joseph was in this ship that he first visited Port Natal in 1826 where the

first tiny trading settlement of Englishmen had been established in 1824. Newshad reached Cape Town that the brig Mary, commanded by Lieut. King, whohad sailed to Port Natal in search of his friend Lieut. Farewell, had founderedon the treacherous sand-bar in 1825. The Helicon was sent to investigate.Joseph, then sixteen years old, tells us:-I first visited Natal in 1826 as a Middy in the H.M.S. Helicon, a ten gun brig.News had been received of the wreck of the brig Mary so the Helicon wassent to see if she could render any assistance. On arrival I accompanied theFirst Lieut. in a boat to endeavour to communicate with the shore at the backof the Bluff, but our orders were that we were not to attempt to cross the bar,which, even in those days had a bad reputation. We got on the bar before weknew anything about it and were hurled over on the Bluff side - no one wasdrowned. It came on to blow in the evening and for eight days we weredetained on shore as we could not venture to cross the bar. We found thecrew of the Mary some distance up the Bluff Channel. They were engaged inbuilding out of the timber of the wreck with green wood, the schooner inwhich they afterwards returned to Port Elizabeth.

*This article is written by a great-granddaughter of Joseph Nourse.


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Joseph Nourse in the autumn of his adventurous life.


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The 12 pounder gun, transferred from H .M.S. SOllthampto/l to H.M.S. Faw/I, now stands onRoad, Pietermaritzburg. Known for years as the 'One o 'c lock gun ', it was fired daily from Fort Nthe good news upon the arrival of the English mail from


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25ieutenant Joseph NourseWhen the gales abated they were able to rejoin the Helicon with which theyhad been able to communicate by signal once or twice whilst ashore.Most of Joseph's early years in the British Navy and while he was on the Capestation were spent putting down the nefarious slave traffic along the East coast

of Africa, at that time at its height. About 1840, Joseph was with an expeditionsent to punish the Arabs of Mombasa who were the worst offenders. Their fortswere shelled and a ship, laden with slaves, was captured. She was flat-bottomedand a larger vessel than usual. and was sent to Simonstown to be refitted as agun-boat. She was named the Fawn and on 9th February, 1842, Joseph tookcommand of her.Because of the Fawn's flat bottom, she was able to pursue the Arab slavers upthe rivers where the naval ships were unable to follow owing to the sand-barswhich protected the river mouths. At least four slave ships were captured bythe Fawn and their pitiful human merchandise, manacled together in pairs, wasliberated.In May 1842 the British garrison commanded by Captain Smith was besiegedby the Boers in their encampment in Port Natal. Thanks to Dick King who rode600 miles to Grahamstown to get reinforcements, the beleaguered British weresaved.An uneasy peace followed. MJ.jor Smith requested the Governor of the Cape,Sir George Napier, for the services of a gunboat. On 15th October, 1842, the

Fawn arrived commanded by Lieut. Joseph Nourse. Being flat-bottomed shewas able to sail across the perilous bar and into the Bay, 'a circumstance Irejoice at. the outer bay being an insecure and exposed roadstead', wrote MajorSmith. 'She came into the Harbour and by exercising her guns, duly impressedinterested parties that all hope of retaking the Bluff or Block House or ofrecovering Congella, was at an end'.This second visit to Port Natal was a far more auspicious occasion forNourse than the first! Later he wrote:-1 was in command of the ship H.M.S. Falvn ~ a brigatine which had been anold slaver. My ship came into harbour and remained in the Bay. The Headquarters of the English troops were encamped in the Durban Vlei. I was sentto Natal with the object of rendering what assistance I could. The only housesin Durban in those days were of wattle and daub. Those I remember belongedto George and Joseph Cato, the Rev. Archbell, Beningfield and a Frenchnaturalist, Delegorgue.The Fawn remained at Port Natal for 22 months during which time Josephwas Port Captain. If ships anchored in the road steads, either Joseph or hissecond-in-command. Lieut. Lowe, a man as courageolls, conscientious and

resourceful as himself, crossed the Bar and boarded them, bringing ashore thelong awaited mail and occasionally passengers. If ships needed to enter theharbour the Fawn was there to guide them over the difficult entrance. Betweenthem, Joseph Nourse and Lieut. Lowe saved the liws of36 people from drowning.Joseph himself was saved five times from a watery grave by Lieut. Lowe:-

During my stay I made a survey of the Bar and Harbour doing as best I couldwith the small boat at my disposal. r was five times upset on the Bar so have alively recollection of it.He made the first Admiralty Survey of Durban's Bay and the original is with

the British Navy Hydrographic Department.


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26 Lieutenant Joseph NOllrseCrossing the Bar one day, the Fawn broke her back. She was not worthrepairing so she was dismantled and ultimately broken up.In the first newspaper in Natal, De Natalier, dated June 21st 1844 appearedthe following:-We regret to say that the Officers and Crew belonging to Her Majesty's BrigFawn are going to leave this place for the Cape. The departure from Natal ofsl'ch men as Lieutenant Nourse and his gallant Friend, Mr. Lowe, will be feltby everyone here but more especially by the Mercantile part of the communityfor these Gentlemen have always been ready and willing to render assistanceto Ships and Boats crossing our dangerous Bar. We therefore consider theremoval of such experienced and generous Officers as those of the Fawn, as agreat loss and a cause of deep regret. We have heard and wc sincerely wishthat the report may be true, that the respectable inhabitants of the Bay intendto give a Public Dinner or some so;t of entertainment to the Officers of theFawn as a token of their gratitude. We think at all events that our Friends ofNatal cannot do less, and they have our most hearty thanks for the intention.Should that dinner actually take place, Pietermaritzburg EXPECTS THAT inspite of the Canting Preachcrs of Temperance, EVERYONE on that occasionWILL DO HIS DUTY.The dinner did take place and no doubt everyone present did his duty nobly!Joseph retired from the Navy in 1847 and took up farming near Adelaide inthe Eastern Cape. There he met and married Anne Mary Norton, a widow withfour sons. But his adventurous life was by no means over. After a severe droughtin 1858 and continual harassment by marauding Kaffirs, Joseph began to thinknostalgically of the lush. green pastures of Natal and decided to make the lastgreat voyage of his life - this time by ox-wagon.In May 1859 the family set out in three tent wagons, crossing the OrangeRiver by punt, travelling through the Orange Free State, down the formidableVan Reenen's Pass into Natal. Joseph bought land near Grey own and namedhis farm Greenwich.He spent his latter days in Pietermaritzburg where he lived to the ripe age of95.He was affectionately known a:, 'the father of the Navy'. His sons becameprominent men, the most outstau.ling being Henry Nourse, the mining magnate,a pioneer of Johannesburg and founder of the Nourse Mines.After the break up of the Fawn, the 12 pounder gun stood for a time on duty

at Durban's Point but was later transferred to Fort Napier in Pietermaritzburg.Known as the 'One o'clock gun', it was fired daily except on Sundays. When theEnglish mail arrived by native runners from Durban, it was fired to announce tothe citizens of Pietermaritzburg the glad rcws, whereupon they hurried to theold Law Courts where the Post Office then was, to collect their letters andpackages.During the troubled times of the Zulu War in 1879 the gun was brought outto defend the city.

I t has boomtd across Durban's harbour and many thousands of times overthe early town of Pietermaritzburg. Since 1901 its muzzle has been silent and itnow keeps a lonely vigil as an historical monument.JEAN NOURSE, 61 Willern, Victoria Embankment, Durban.


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27

Wilderness and the Environment IN THE reprint of John Bird's excellent article (Natalia Volume 1, No. 1) thereis a vivid phrase which illustrates the local change of scene between 1846 and1972. He wrote referring to Natal, 'the new country was almost a desert; and itmay be well to advert at the outset to the first thing noticed by a new corner -the paucity or absence of population . . .' Now, having experienced a greatpopulation explosion, Natal has less wilderness than the Highlands ofScotland.The effects of this growth are plain to see: cities, highways and b::!aches, allcongested and noisy: smog and soil erosion. The Ummnduzi, the Umgeni andtheir tributaries once ran clear, many within the memory of our fathers.Fortunately a climate and soils not dissimilar to Europe enabled some of ourforefathers in Natal to farm along conservation lines, though the reverse is trueof the more brittle ecological conditions in the drier parts of South Africa.Nevertheless the popUlation build up and the policy of placing blacks in themost hilly parts of the province where farming, as it always does in such regions,demanded a great deal of scientific knowledge, together with the poor farmingmethods of many \\hites, has led and is lC1ding to th(' silting and destruction ofmany rivers. It is estimated that during the summer rains a fifteen acre farmflows down the Tugela river and into the sea every day. Gone are the days whenbig fish came up the river and could be caught below the Ultimatum Tree. Siltis choking our rivers and hardly it stream between the Portuguese border andthe C2pe is not polluted in some way.The game herds that John Bird saw have all but vanished. I t is only in thewilderness areas of Giant's Castle, Hluhluwe, Umfolozi, Ndumu, Mkuze andLake St. Lucia that any are left. Tt is true that many farmers appreciate thatgame can play a part in farm economics and slowly farms are being restockedwith the help of the Natal Parks Board, but very few of the farms are over athousand acres in extent, and the animals lead an almost artificial existence.The full natural beauty of most of Natal is a thing of the past.Humanity is involved in a tremendous struggle for survival. Sir GeorgeStapledon in his book Human Ecology says that considcrable unbalallce existsin our way of life. Man's adaptability is the key to his progress, but it alsoenables him to create an environment that threatens to engulf him. Natal, likeCalifornia, is a clear example of expansion outstrippiJ1g planning, leading toenvironmental decline and impoverishment of the quality of life.Aldo Leopold, the great Amcrican f o r e ~ , t e r and wild life biologist, preachedthe necessity of having an ecological conscience. Today the need for thisconscience is urgent. Wc need a conscience about the continued destruction ofour Natal landscape. The once beautiful view from Signal Hill to Maritzburgand beyond to Table Mountain is being sa\'aged. A little landscape planningsuch as that practised b)' Sylvia Crowe in the Scottish Highlands, could haveobviated many eyesores. We need a conscience about litter. Soil erosion shouldbe looked upon as cutting deep wounds in the earth. We desperately need to


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28 Wilderness and Environmentprotect and nurture the n m a i l l i ~ g wildel ness areas. These are the temples ofsilence and places for the rejuvenation of our people.There are many organizations dedicated to the protection of wildiife, or birds,or historical buildings, and they all constitute a part of the struggle for theenvironment 1. The Wilderness Leadership Sehool is one sueh organization. Ihappen to know this one well, beeause I was the founder. Its philosophy issimple: man to God, man to man, man to the soil. To achieve this, boys, girls andyoung adults who have proven leadership qualities or who have leadershippotential are taken on a course in the wilderness areas of Natal and are subjectedto the spiritual impact of wilderness.

I t all began in 1957 when I was stationed at Lake St. Lucia and a group ofboys from myoId school came to visit me. 1 took them out onto the lake, showedthem the dune forests on the eastern shores and how hippo going out to graze atnight on the grasslands wore furro\Is which led fresh water into the lake. J tookthem to Otoneni, the crocodile nesting grounds, and to Bird Island wherepelican. sacred ibis, Caspian terns and grey-headed gulls nested. I showed themthe dark waters of Lake Bangazi and the then wild beaches where the sea wascrystal clear. They saw a mullet migration and heard the fish eagles calling froma clear sky. When they returned they all wrote saying how the experience had'changed their lives', a phase I was to hear frequently.Their reaction gave me the idea offorming the Wilderness Leadership School.In 1958 I was transferred to Umfolozi Game Reserve and initiated and conductedthe first Wilderness Trails. The daily exposure to wilderness and contact withthe kind of people who wanted to experience it reinforced the idea and I becameconvinced of the need for the Wilderness Leadership School.The concept of wildcltiess goes back a long way into history. Jesus Christwent into the wilderness and so did many of the prophets. The experience gavethem strength to face the daily issues and iead mankind along the proper path.So it is today. It is a proportion of the people concerned in creative humanprofessions - teachers. doctors, lawyers, architects and so on - who wantspiritual recreation. The Wilderness Leadership School seeks to provide this.Over two thousand boys, girls, men and women have been through the schooland they constitute a powerful force in the conservation battle. Although theschool was started. has its headquarters in Natal and concentrates on Natal\\ilderness areas, it is now an international organization. For the past two yearsAmerican boys and girls have been on courses, and it is anticipated that eventually fifty a year will participate, and the same number of adults. There havebeen applications from Britain. Germany and Spain as well. The school receivesfinancial support from Game Conservation International in Texas and from theMzuri Safari Club in San Francisco. The main financial support in South Africacomes from the Sugar Association.The school has a Board of Governors headed by South Africa's most famollsconservationist, T. C. Robertson. Trustees include the Hon. Justice Broomc,Dr. W. J. Busschau and Chris Saunders. The school's staff consists of two seniorfield officers, Barry Clements and Hugh Dent, both former game rangers withmany years' experience ill the bush. [t is all interesting fact that most peopleassociated with the school come from families which go back to the 1820settlers or have made a contribution to Natal.The headquarters of the school arc at Stainbank Nature Reserve in Durban.Kenncth Stainbank kindly lent an old stable which has been converted into an


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29ilderness and Environmentoffice which retains all the c1nracteristics of the fine old stone building built somany years ago. The school operates in the game reserves by courtesy of theNatal Parks Board. Negotiatio:ls with the Department of Forestry are progressing well and it is hoped that l a r g ~ areas of the Drakensberg wilderness willbe available to the school.A course begins in Durban, goes to fan Garland's farm at Mtunzini, then intothe wilderness are2.S of Umfolozi Game Reserve where the participants walkamongst white rhino, lion, leopard, and antelope. Nights are spent in the openand each person has to spend an hour at the fire alone. From Umfolozi they goto Lake St. Lucia and canoe along the eastern shores of the lake. They areshown the role of the hippo in keeping channels open, the fish migrations,pelican and flamingo migmtions, the balance between fresh water and salt waterand the vegetation depending upon it all. Finally they h " l V ' ~ a thirty mile walkdown the beach. Here they e x p ~ r i e n c e beach wild:rness a ~ d have the opportunity to see a coastline that has not been ruined by mlS3CS of concrete andcommercialization.Few people have not gone away inspired. The majority know nothing ofconservation or what it really means, but they have had a spiritual experiencewhich they will never forget. Tt is true that not all participants are impressed. Irealized in the beginning that there was little hope of getting the wildernessconcept across to everyone, but the ones who do benefit become determined todo somethirg positive. In the last year Indians and Africans have gone on courseand their response has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

At the end of each course an indaba is held. It is an emotional experiencelistening to the young leaders of every race speaking about the impact of thecourse and of their determination to do something positive for conservation.Adults in the thirty to forty-five age group are applying to go on course andmany of them arc inspired to take action.The time is ripe for the formation of a Wilderness Society, for which theWilderness Leadership School will provide recruits. The Wilderness Societyshould become the mouthpiece of all those who want to preserve and maintainthe wilderness areas in the knowledge that it is here that the human spirit isuplifted.

lAN PLAYER

Note:1. Many of these are listed in the 'Register of Societies and Institutions', pp 39 below.

Further reading: PLAYER, lan. Mel/, Rivers al/d Cal/oes, 1964. STEELE, Nick. Game Ral/ger 011 Horseback , 1968.

Take a Horse to the Wilderness, 1971.WICHT, Hein. To Hide alld to Seek, 1971.


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30

The Origins of the Natal SocietyCHAPTER 1

EARLY PIETERMARTTZBURGTHE NATAL SOCIETY was founded on 9 May 1851. Its intention was to make theColony of Natal better known and understood, so that suitable emigrants wouldbe attracted. I t was not its intention to form a public library of general literature ;this did not occur to the founders and anyway the town already had a publiclibrary. Yet today, 120 years latcr, it is as a library that the Natal Society isknown.Later, in 1851, the Natal Society took over the existing public library. This

had been founded six years before, so the Society's library may be said to havehad a continuous history from 1845, making it the fourth oldest library incontinuous existence in South Africa. The South African Public Library wasfounded in 1818; Swellendam Library was probably founded between 1834 and1838; George Library started in 1840. Other libraries were started in the Capebut all seem to have failed at some stage, notably Albany Library at Grahams-town which foundered in 1863, only to start again later on.

Pietermaritzburg in 1845 was a small town of Britons and Boers trying tocome to terms. The Trekkers had arrived in Natal in October 1837. The slaughterof Retief and his band followed on 6 February 1838. The V o l k ~ ; r a a d named thesmall laager at Bushnunsrand 'Pietermaritzburg' on 23 October 1838, commemorating the two deceased leaders, Gert Maritz and Picter Retief. Thevictory over the Zulus followed at the battle of Blood River on 16 December1838, and the Republic of Natalia came into being with the arrival of the mainTrekker party at Pietcrmaritzburg in January 1839.

Pietermaritzburg remained the headquarters of the Trekker government untilNapier, following the )defeat of the emigrant farmers at Congella in 1842,proclaimed the annexation of Natal by the British on 12 May 1843. However,the Raad continued in being, as the British were slow to set up a government,although they sent troops to Fort Napicr in August 1843. So Pietermaritzburgremained a garrison town until the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor Martin Westin December 1845. This was a time of stagnation and depression, althoughHenry Cloete, sent as a special commissioner, did his best to treat with the Raad,to explain the intentions of the Crown, and to clear up land claims.

With the arrival of West, Natal became in fact, as well as in name, a Britishcolony. And now the Boers began to emigrate to the north. There were 400Boer families in Natal when West took office, and only sixty when he died in1849. 1 But those who did remain lived amicably enough with the administrationand the few British settlers. They and their language were respected. 2 The


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31atal Society HistoryTrekkers were not unmindful of cultural activities. Writing to the editor of theZuid Afrikaan, a Cape newspaper, on 5 January 1841, P. H. Zietsman said: 3

We intend to build a large edifice for public amusements, that will serve atthe same time for a commercial room, library etc.Stagnation was not the only picture before West arrived. Writing lyrically

about Pietermaritzburg in the Graham's Town lournal of 23 January 1845,lames Michiel Howell said:

I t is in contemplation to form a public library of standard works, the propertyof Major Smith.

(Major T. C. Smith was the British Commandant at Fort Napier garrison.)Unlike Archbell and others, Howell thought Pietermaritzburg was a splendidplace. In the same article he says:

The town of Pietermaritburg must awaken surprise in the mind of anystranger viewing it and lJl13cquainted with the infancy of its establishment.No one, unacquainted with the fact, would believe that it had existed butsevcn ycars. They would rather date its age at least fifty years back. I t hasnine long street''. besides a hmdsome square, and back streets and lanes.It has a h a n d ~ c m e stone-built church, public offices, prison, market place,printing office, horse races, subscription balls and a theatre. And there is fargreater sociality among the English and the Dutch inhabitants than I couldhave imagined. [n conclusion, no one can visit Pietermaritzburg and Natalwithout feeling regret at parting.Writing in 1841, the Reverend James Archbell had been less complimentary.

He says:The country at Pietcrmaritzburg and about this s[1ct is fiat, and on account ofthe abundant supply of water from Bushman's River, well suited to agricultural purposes: but its denuded appearance not merely detracts from itsbeauty, but actually stamps deformity upon its appearance, whilst its entirelack of fuel, which is not to be found within fifteen or twenty miles of its site,must for ever prevent it attaining superiority as a place of residence orbecoming of commercial importance. The town consists of about eightyhouses, none of which, with the exception of four or five, are of permanentcharacter. 4But as Cloete pointed out in 1843, its bareness added to its security against

any sudden attack from the Zulus, and the copious stream of water from theUmsindusi River made every street plentifully supplied with water during everypart of the day. 5Charles Barter writing in 1850-1851 was also unfiattering but he arrived atdifferent conclusions from Archbell:

Our first view of Pietermaritzburg scarcely tended to raise our spirits, orappeared to justify the enthusiasm with which it was regarded by our driver,whose father, Maritz, had been one of its founders. I t is situated on a buff,or hump of land, rising out of a natural basin, and surrounded by hills, which,to the west and north-west, stand in high ridges, and whose bare, black sides,unrelieved to our eyes by a single tree, formed a dreary boundary to the scene.


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32 Natal Society HistoryThe 'Little Bushman's River', a third-rate stream, almost encircles the town,and is spanned at the entrance on the D'Urban road by a wooden bridge.Crossing this, and passing alongside the turf wall that fences the thinlytenanted cemetery, in which an obelisk now marks the grave of the LieutenantGovernor, Martin West, we found ourselves at the outskirts of the town . . .After dinner, we strolled about the town, which, on closer inspection, revealedan interior far different from that which its distant view had led liS to anticipate . . . The abundance of water, which, flowing on either side of thestreets, not only supplies the ordinary wants of the inhabitants, but enablesthem to irrigate their gardens with the fertilizing stream, - the large marketsquare which the hopeful eye might easily picture thronged with a busy andindustrious population, and teeming with the produce of well-cultivated farms.The happy slope of the ground, by which drainage is facilitated and healthsecured - the commanding position of the camp which overlooks the wholeextent of the plain, form a combination of advantages not always to be foundin large and populous cities, and we could not but confess that should thecolony increase in prosperity and importance even so as to equal the expectations of its most ardent admirers, Pieter Maritzburg was in no respectunworthy to be its capital. 6It is interesting to note that these three people who expressed their views on

early Pietermaritzburg - Howell, Archbell and Barter - all returned to maketheir homes there. Both Howell and Archbell were to play vital parts in foundingthe Natal Society, while Barter became a member and served on the Coullcil from1853-1854.

Barter goes on to say that efforts of taste and r e f i r } { ~ m ~ i 1 t wae not w:lnting inPietermaritzburg. He noted the green hedges of quince or pomegranate enclosingscme of the gardens and the luxuria'lt creepers which relieved the white walls.He found that roses abounded. He admired the weeping-willows planteJ alongthe water courses and the seringa and lilac trees in the streets. He mentions thatblue-gum trees were beginning to grow already; it was lack of trees that hadworried Archbell in 1841. Barter liked the air of tranquil repc)se over the townwhich he attributed to Dutch influence and he hoped that the brisker influenceof English trade would be long subdued. He complains, however, about thestate of the roads in wet weather, finding them as impassable as the countryroads. Bishop Colenso, too, spoke strongly about the streets in summertimebeing 'thick with cloggy mud' into which one sank ankle deep. 7 In the winter,during the dry season, the dust was a problem complained about by numerouswriters as being particularly disagreeable.

Colenso heard 'wolves' thirteen miles from the town and John Bird tells of alion which came in broad daylight to the town property of Waiter Harding. I tseems that the lion had a leisurely look round and then casually left. Mr. Birdand others followed the tracks tbat day to TabJe Mou;)tain before having to giveup the hunt when night fell. 8 There weie countless antelopes in the district andshooting and riding were the major pleasures of the townspeople. Mail days werered-letter days; business stopped and meetings were adjourned. There were notelegrams and two months could elapse without any mail.Bird describes the Boers as poor but neat and very hospitable. They did notlike the government but were friendly enough to individuals. They had beengranted farms of 8.000 acres per man whereas British immigrants had only a


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33atal Society Historyvery inadequate twenty acres each (sufficient in Britain but useless in Natal).The British were a very mixed lot - - civil servants, traders, farmers, lawyers,merchants, hunters, labourers - - some came from good families but many of the2,000 settlers who flooded in were probably illiterate. Yet one cannot help feelingthat many of those earlier Natalians were keener for culture and uplift than thepresent day population. Lectures on difficult subjects only had to be advertisedby the Natal Society to bring a good crowd, to indifferent accommodation, too.One must of course bear in mind the limited facilities for the use of leisure, whichprobably made any gathering an 'outing'.Finally a word about the Africans, or Kafirs as they were called in those days.For many generations before Shaka's time, the tribes had kept separate but hadoccupied Natal. All that changed with Shaka, who killed thousands of tribesmen and left Natal deserted. After Dingane was defeated by the Dutch, theKafirs began to drift back in great numbers but in these early days most keptto the broken tn;cts, f a s t n e s ~ c s in deserted areas. A few came into Pietermaritzburg as fcnan1s and labourers to the whites. Theo. Shepstone was the Diplomatic Agent, responsible for the control and welfare of the natives.

U. E. M. JUDD, Natal Society Library.l\"otes1. Brookcs E. H., and Webb, C. de B. A History of Natal, p. 61.2. Ibid., p. 64.3. Bird, J. The Annals of Natal, Vol. 1, p. 623.4. Ibid., Vol. I , p. 656.5. MacKeurtan, G. The Cradle days of Natal, p. 261.6. Barter, C. The Dorp and the veld, or six monl/rs in Natal, pp. 21-23.7. Colenso, Bishop. Ten weeks in Nalal, p. 75.8. Bird, John. Nalal, 1846-185 I.


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34

Maps of Natal and Zululand1824 -1910

As FAR as can be ascertained, no list of Natal maps has yet appeared apart fromMendelssohn, South African Bibliography, 1910. p. 1099-1101, which only liststhose available in books. Previous to the arrival of the first settlers in 1824, Natalwas but a five-letter word on maps of South-East Africa. The earliest settlers suchas Fynn and Gardiner produced rough sketches which largely consisted ofinnumerable rivers with quaintly spelled names. Serious map-making only camewhen P. C. Sutherland succeeded William Stanger as Surveyor-General in 1854.The first really good map of Natal was that compiled by J. Alfred Watts. On thescale of I"= 6 miles this map shows farms, their size and owners. As onc wouldexpect the Zulu war of 1879 and the South African War of 1899-1902 gave agreat impetus to map-making.The University of Natal Library, Pietermaritzburg, now has a card index ofall maps so far traced, excluding those listed in Mendelssohn. These cards havefull details of each map, and thanks are due to all the people who contributeddetails of their maps. Mr. John Lambert of the Natal Archives must be singledout for his continual assistance.The list below is only a selection of the most useful and comprehensive of themaps so far recorded. The following symbols are used in the location column:DM Local History Museum, Durban PM Arch Natal Archives, Pmb.DP Durban City Library PMM Natal Museum, Pmb.DUK KilIie CampbeU Library, Durban PM Roads Provincial RoadsDepartment, Pmb.

* I n d i c a t e ~ wall map PMU University ofNatal, Pmb.Date Appelation/ Source Scale Size Location/Owner1810 Bryant, A. 12"x 14"Olden times in Zululandand Natal (1929) (Clans)1830 Fynn papers 24" x 15" PM Arch

1835 Gardiner, A. F. DPNarrative of a journey tothe Zoolu country1840 Theal, G. 1" = 45 miles 6" x 7"

History of South Africa.v. 6, 18921840 Sketch of Natal 17"x24" PM Arch1844 Delegorgue, A. 5"x 11 V PM Arch1848 Stanger, W. 1"= 15 miles 16" x 12" PM Arch (BPP. 15, 17)1850 Stanger, W. 24" x 19" PM Arch (BPP. 16,18)

*1850 Wyld, J. 1"= 8 miles 16" x 22" DP*1851 Rapkin, J. 9!, ' \J3!" PMU, PM Arch, DP

1852 Holden, W. C. 13r x 7!"(Cato, C. J.)History of the colonyof Natal, 1855


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35atal Maps1853 Diplomatic Agent 10" x 12". r t PM Arch 1855 Watts, J. Alfred 1" = 6 miles 34HX 26" DM 1858 Sutherland, P. C. & I H= 6 miles 26" x 35" PM Arch Walls, S.1862 Masser & Cullingworth l"= 6 miles 39"x 28 " DUK

*1863 Grantham l"= 4 miles 38" x 22" DPeach (3 sep.maps) 1863 Postal Commission 1"= 6 miles 26" x 39" PM Arch 1864 Tribes 1" = 6 miles 30" x 42" PM Arch 18 71 Diocesan Synod 10" x 13" PMU; Cathedral Archives1873 Sutherland, P.C. (Roads) l"= 6 miles 26" x 35" PM Arch

*1875 Mair, A. (Surveyor- 1"= 4 miles 2 sheets each DP, DM, PM ArchGeneral) 32"x 48"total64" x 48"*Prior Colonial Engineer 1"= 8 miles 37" x 23" DPto 1879 1879 Intelligence Branch 1"= 10 miles 21 f 'x 27 Y DM, PM Arch ofQ.M.G.

1879 Wyld, J. 1"= 12 miles 18" x 24" Lt. Col. L. W. Clarke1880 Colonial E!1gineer 1" = 1/8 mile 36" x 24" PM Arch (BPP. 51)1885 Sutherland, P. C. 22" x 32" PM Arch

*1893 Superintendent Inspector 1"= 5 miles 63" x 40" PMUof Schools1900 Cobley, W. H. 1"= I mile PM Arch190) Field Intelligence ) "0= 2t miles 64" x 60" PMU Department, Pietermaritzburg

*1904 Masson 1" = 4 miles 64" x 75 " PM Arch 1905 Cob\ey, W. H. 1"= 16 miles 26"x 38" PM Arch 1906 War Office, London 1"= 2 miles 8 sheets PM Roads 16i"x 16-k" &26 !" xI6k" 1906 Gilchrist & Powell 3f ' = 50 miles 19" x 21" G rey town 1906 Steere, Jas. H. I f'= 20 miles 18 r x 22" DM 1910 Tatlow, ell. 1"= 20 miles 16" x 16" Natal Province Handbook 1910 Surveyor-General 1"= I mile 69 sheets each PM Roads 22!"x 30!"

MODERN MAPS OF NATALThe Trigonometrical Survey Office , P.O. Box 624, Pretoria, publishes severalma

natalia 02 (1972) complete

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