mE NATAL SOCIETY OFFICE BEARERS, 1978-1979

President er Miss P. A. Reid

Vice-Presidents M. 1. C. Oaly, Esq.
A. C. Mitchell, Esq.
Or 1. Clark

Trustees A. C. Mitchell, Esq.

Or R. E. Stevenson
M. J. C. Daly, Esq.

Treasurers Messrs Oix, Boyes & Co.

Auditors Messrs. Thornton-Oibb, van der Leeuw
& Partners
Chief Librarian A. S. C. Hooper
Secretary P. C. G. McKenzie

COUNCIL

Elected Members er Miss P. A. Reid (Chairman)

S. N. Roberts, Esq. (Vice-Chairman)

Or F. C. Friedlander

R. Owen, Esq.

Mrs S. Evelyn-Wright

W. G. Anderson, Esq.

F. 1. H. Martin, Esq., M.E.C.

A. O. S. Rose, Esq.
R. S. Steyn, Esq.
J. M. Sellers, Esq.

City Council Representatives er H. O. Browne

er H. Lundie
er Mrs M. P. Rainier
Cr C. W. Wood

EDITORIAL COMMIITEE OF NATALIA

Editor 1. M. Sellers, Esq.

1. M. Deane, Esq.

T. B. Frost, Esq.

W. R. Guest, Esq.

Miss M. P. Moberly

Mrs S. P. M. Spencer

Miss 1. Farrer (Hon. Sec.)

Natalia 9 (1979) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2010

 Cover Picture
William Stanger (1811-18S4)-rrrst Surveyor-General of Natal; President of the Natal

Society, 1853-54.

Photograph: Local History Museum, Durban.

SA ISSN 0085 3674

Printed by The Natal Witness (PlY) Lld

 Contents

Page
EDITORIAL 5
REPRINT

On a Tough Missionary Post in Zululand - Edited

by Charles Ballard
Translated by Helen Feist 7
ARTICLE

Institute of Natural Resources - John Hanks . . 20

ARTICLE

William Stanger and the early years of cartography

in Natal, 1845-1854 - ChristopheT Merrett. 30
OBllUA1lIES

A. J. W. Bayer 36
E. H. Brookes 39
H. C. Lugg 43
NOTES AND QUBRIBS

M. P. Moberly 47

BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES 58

Rl!GISrBR OF R.ESEAROI ON NATAL

I. FarTer . 68

SELECT usr OF RECENT NATAL PUBUCATIONS

I. FaTrer 69

NOTES ON CONTRmUTORS 70
 5

Editorial

With remarkable perception, John Maynard Keynes, writing in 19]9. main­

tained in his book, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (Macmillan
Edition, ] 97], p. 8), that
"The great events of history are often due to secular changes in the growth
of population and other fundamental economic causes, whkh, escaping by
their gradual character the notice of contemporary observers, are attributed
to the follies of statesmen or the fanaticism of atheists ..."
There is an interesting historical link with this viewpoint and the statement
of the object of the Natal Society made by its founders in May, ]851, whkh
was to be the conection and publication of
"full and accurate information as to Natal's physical resources ..."
This is the central idea underlying the publication in this number of Natalia
of Professor John Hanks's study dealing with the natural environment and
resources of this region of Southern Africa and the need to preserve them.
The scope of the work and the methods to be used by the Institute of Natural
Resources, which is about to be established on the Pietermaritzburg campus
of the University of Natal, would undoubtedly have won the approval of those
far-seeing foundation members of the Natal Society. who had the welfare of
the early Colony at heart.
During the past year this Province has seen the passing of three men who
have made notable contributions in a variety of ways. This edition carries
tributes to them by scholars who knew and worked with them. Dr Kathleen
Gordon-Gray, formerly Associate Professor of Botany at the University of
Natal, Pietermaritzburg, has written about the late Professor A. W. Bayer;
Professor A. T. Cope. Head of the Department of Zulu Language and Litera­
ture, University of Natal, Durban, has given us a number of interesting
observations about the late Mr Harry Lugg; while Professor Colin de B.
Webb, King George V Professor of History at the University of Cape Town,
has contributed the article on the late Edgar H. Brookes.
It is interesting to note here that the History of Natal, first published in
1965, which was a joint work by these two last-mentioned gentlemen and
which has now become a standard work of reference, has been printed again
by the University of Natal Press. This is the Third Impression.
We should also like to congratulate Professor Webb, the first editor of
Natalia, on the award of a Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society. This
is indeed a rare honour and one which has been conferred on very few South
Africans. It is a worthy acknowledgement of the great contribution that
Professor Webb has made in the sphere of South African historiography.
Writing now in more general terms, it is gratifying to note how the study of
Natal and Zulu history has flourished in recent years. In this connection there
is no need to be reminded that historians are constantly in debt to the cus­
todians of archives depots, and those working on Natal history are particularly
6

conscious of tbe vast resources boused in the Natal Archives DepOt in Pieter­
maritzburg. For the last eighteen years - until the end of 1978 - this Depot
had as its Chief Archivist, Dr B. J. T. Leverton, during whose term of office
the building was enlarged considerably and its facilities were greatly improved.
Many a researcher is indebted to him for his helpful advice. Furthermore,
with his vast knowledge of the primary sources, Dr Leverton was able to
produce a wide variety of publications that added considerably to the corpus
of written work on Natal and its peoples - particularly as far as Natal's
economic development was concerned, although this was certainly not his
sole historical interest. He was also a member of the Natalia Editorial Com­
mittee from 1975 to 1977.
In January 1979, Mr F. Nel, formerly Deputy Chief Archivist at the Cape
Town Archives DepOt. took over from Dr Leverton as Chief Archivist. and
we wish him a long. happy and profitable tenure of office. It will be his
policy to make every effort to see that the material in the Natal Archives
DepOt is available to all those who require it for research purposes. The latest
equipment, which enables research workers to improve their research tech­
niques, is continually being installed. This DepOt is, indeed, keeping up with
the latest trends. A computer linked to Pretoria and to archives depots
throughout the country is now available in the Reading Room. Thus all
is set fair for research workers as we enter a new decade. the 1980s.

JOHN M. SELLERS
 7

On a Tough Missionary Post

in Zululand

The Life Experiences of the Missionary

Friedrich Volker according to the notes of
his wife
HERMANNSBURG 1928
Edited by Charles Ballard

Translated by Helen Feist

"[ think that we have lost one of our best missionaries. Everything
in him was upright and loyal. When I saw him for the first time he
made a favourable and trustworthy impression on me. His whole
appearance, especially his face had purity, sincerity, loyalty and
reliability imprinted on it, as in few other people."
G. Haccias.'

INTRODUCTION
The role of the missionary in Natal and Zululand during the nineteenth
century has always been a subject of considerable debate. Natal's settler
community had mixed feelings on the proper "place" of the missionary; some
colonists felt they exercised a "civilizing" influence over the "heathen" black
man and were, therefore, an asset to the community; others were of the
opinion that missionaries "corrupted" and "spoilt" the "noble Zulu" making
him insolent and unfit for "Kaffir labour". Missionaries and churchmen who
became involved in political activities, particularly those who defended
Africans against the onslaught of white political and economic expansion
and domination, were anathema to settlers and colonial officials. Bishop
John W. Colenso and his daughters Harriette and Frances were in the fore­
front of protest against the maltreatment of Langalibalele, Cetshwayo and
Dinizulu by the Colonial government and white settlers. 2 Needless to say,
the Colensos were extremely unpopular among the vast majority of white
Natalians.
Recent studies have focused on the role of missionaries as agents of
British expansion in southern Africa. Dachs has shown how the Reverend
John Mackenzie of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society pushed
vigorously for British intervention in Bechuanaland in the 1870s.3 Similarly,
Etherington has revealed how white missionaries living in Zululand actively
supported the British invasion of the Zulu Kingdom in 1879. They con­
8 On a Tough Missionary Post

stituted a small but articulate and influential element of the "war party" in
NataJ.4 The Anglican missionary Robert Robertson wrote anonymous letters
to the local press branding King Cetshwayo as a cruel and bloodthirsty despot
and a foe of Christianity.' The Rev. O. C. Oftebro of the Norwegian Mission­
ary Society strengthened Sir Bartle Frere's case for war with the Zulu King­
dom by offering his solution in despatches to the Colonial Office: "Nothing
less than the disarming of the Zulus, the breaking up of their military
organisation, and the appointment of a British Resident to watch over the
strict upholding of treaties, will, in our humble opinion, settle the Zulu
question satisfactorily."" Throughout much of his career, the Reverend
Friedrich Volker hoped "that England would intervene and restore peace
and order" to Zululand. He was a member of the "war party" and it is those
passages from his Life Experiences dealing with the Anglo-Zulu War of
1879 and the Zulu Civil War of 1883 that appear in this edited memoir.
Friedrich Konrad Volker was born on the 28th April 1826 at Harken­
bleck in the Province of Hanover. He was the youngest of five children born
to Konrad and Engel Rosina Volker. After serving his apprenticeship in
carpentry Friedrich Volker was accepted into the second class of Lutheran
missionary candidates of the Hermannsburg Missionary Society in 1853 under
the direction of the society's founder Louis Harms. In October of 1857
Volker and eleven other students were examined by the Royal Consistory in
Hanover and ordained two days later by the Konsistorialrat Niemann. On
30th October 1857 King George V of Hanover received Father Harms,
Volker and the other missionaries at the Royal Palace and bestowed his
blessing on the foreign assignments awaiting them. He assured them that
"their King, their Queen and the Royal Family would daily pray for them
when they were far away at sea or in the desert or amongst the heathen.'"
Volker and his eleven colleagues were assigned to Zululand. Before leaving
Hamburg for Durban Volker married Sophie Wilhelmine Auguste Lutz of
Northeim, but she only joined her husband in 1860. The Hermannsburgers'
choice of Zululand is not surprising for it was considered a potentially
fruitful and attractive field for the propagation of the Gospel. The Zulu
Kingdom had a population estimated at between 150000 and 200000 souls
- all as yet ignorant of the word of Christ. And Zululand was still indepen­
dent of the nearest colonial power, the British settlement of Natal. Yet, it
had the advantage of being near white "civilization". Furthermore, the
Hermannsburgers arrived in Natal in the late 1850s - a time when German
colonists were founding settlements in the colony.8 Thus, the missionaries
were relatively close to settlers who shared a common language and culture.
Volker arrived in Durban on the 21st February 1858. In 1860 he estab­
lished his first station, Emlalazi, near the Inyezane River in southern Zulu­
land. Volker undertook the task of evangelization with great zeal but his
labours bore little fruit in the way of converts. In frustration he wrote that
the Zulus "were so embroiled and ensnared in their heathen morals and cus­
toms, in superstition and animism that they did not want to give those Up."9
Volker blamed much of the Zulus' anti-missionary bias on "the prominent
ones of the nation" who "agitated against the spreading of the Kingdom
of God". 1 0 It is a well known fact that King Cetshwayo disliked missionaries
because their teachings were potentially subversive to the existing Zulu social
and political order.ll Volker, on the advice of Sir Tbeophilus Shepstone 12
On a Tough Missionary Post 9
and the Hermannsburg Superintendent, Karl Hohls, left Emlalazi for Natal
with the approach of war between Britain and the Zulu Kingdom.
Volker was in favour of the British invasion and annexation of the Zulu
Kingdom for embedded in Frere's 11th of December ultimatum to Cetshwayo
were two clauses demanding that missionaries were to be allowed to go
about their proselytizing task unmolested and that those Zulus who wished
to convert to Christianity were to be permitted to do so without threat of
persecution. 13 Volker was, however, bitterly disappointed by the terms of
Sir Garnet Wolseley's Ulundi settlement of 1st September 1879 and the con­
ditions prevalent upon his return to Zululand. Wolseley had given no
assurances to missionaries that they could reoccupy their old stations and the
lands surrounding them.14 Volker returned to Emlalazi to find that it had
been burned to the ground by the Zulus during the war. Adding insult to
injury, John Dunn, the "chief" of the District, had taken possession of the
mission grounds on the claim that King Cetshwayo had given him the station
after Volker had abandoned it in 1877. Dunn told Volker that no missionaries
would be allowed to settle in the territory over which he ruled. Ounn's
word was law according to the Ulundi settlement and the bitter and heart­
sick Volker was obliged to leave his home of eighteen years. 15
In 1880 the Hermannsburg Superintendent ordered Volker to move to
northern Zululand and rebuild their station Ekuhlengeni, which had also
been destroyed during the Zulu War. The Volkers' new station also suffered
the ravages of the Zulu Civil War of 1883 fought between the rival factions
of Cetshwayo's Usutu and Zibhebhu's Mandlakazi. Ekuhlengeni lay in the
very heart of the war zone and was completely destroyed by a contingent of
Hamu's warriors. Volker returned and rebuilt the station only to see it
destroyed a second time by either the Zulus or careless Boers who had
camped there. Volker spun out the remainder of his years at Ekuhlengeni
where he ministered to a small but growing number of Zulu converts. At the
age of 67 Volker was taken ill with tropical fever and after a short illness
died on the 3rd May 1893. 16 Friedrich Volker was survived by his second
wife, Oorothea Elisabeth Lutz - who had married Volker in 1872 after
her sister had died in childbirth in 1868 - and eight children.
The wealth of new fact contained in Volker's Experiences would, alone,
warrant its publication. It is one of the first full accounts of a Zululand
missionary's life from the beginning of his career until his death yet to
emerge. Volker's story is particularly valuable to the social historian for it
reveals his "cultural belligerence" - that is, his implicit faith in the superi­
ority of western European cultural norms in the form of Christianity, social
behaviour and political institutions - and his intolerance towards all those
"benighted" Zulu, the majority of whom rejected Christianity and clung to
their "heathen" ways, who refused to don European dress, and who were un­
willing to foresake the norms and usages of northern Nguni society for ones
so thoroughly alien as those practised by Whites. 17 It was a great deal to
ask anyone and it is no mystery that Volker failed to convert any significant
number of Zulus to Christianity. Volker also wished to see Cetshwayo
deposed and his Kingdom annexed for the Zulu King symbolised all that
was darkness and barbarism. Moreover, Volker nursed a hatred for John
Ounn, the white hunter-trader who rose to political prominence both before
and after the Zulu War. Ounn was an even more vile creature in Volker's
 10 On a Tough Missionary Post

eyes than Cetshwayo, for he was a European who had renounced "civiliz­
ation" by entering into polygamous marriages with "heathen" women. And,
Dunn had a double burden of sin to bear - not only had he rejected
Christianity but he "dominated Cetshwayo like an evil spirit"18 by supposedly
inciting the Zulu monarch to drive out all missionaries in Zululand and to
persecute converts. Volker's grinding self-righteousness and lack of sym­
pathy for indigenous African cultures were no doubt aggravated by his forced
removal from Emlalazi and the repeated destruction of Ekuhlengeni. He
was both a witness and a "victim" of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 and the
Civil War of 1883. His own highly personal account of this turbulent period
in Zulu history is strongly prejudiced but perhaps that is its most redeeming
and valuable quality.
On a Tough Missionary Post in Zulu land was first published in German
by the Hermannsburg Mission Press in 1928. Friedrich Volker's second wife,
Dorothea, recounted her late husband's experiences to the Mission Superin­
tendent and veteran Zululand missionary, the Reverend Heinrich Wiese.
Dorothea Volker obviously consulted Friedrich Volker's private papers, diaries
and oftkial reports for the information appears to be accurate and based on
eye-witness accounts. On A Tough Missionary Post consists of a total of
sixty-three pages divided into twelve very short chapters. For the sake of
brevity those chapters concerned with Volker's youth, preparations for the
mission service and family and economic life have been omitted here. Much
of this information has been incorporated into the introduction. The chapters
entitled "In Southern Zululand", "The Horrors of the Zulu War", "In
Northern Zululand" and "The Devastations of the Second Zulu War" appear,
with four editorial omissions, in their entirety. A few liberties have been
taken in the translation in order to render it more readable and comprehen­
sible in English. Every effort has been made not to alter the essential meaning
or subtlety of the original German. The translator has attempted to convey
the profoundly religious nature of Volker, his family and his fellow mission­
aries by following as far as possible the pious phraseology used in the 19th
century narrative of events. Notes and explanatory annotations have been
provided and appear at the end of the text.
CHARLES BALLARD

PART I

In Southern Zululand
Travelling by oxwaggon from the City of Durban, we reached Hermanns­
burg,l our first station in Natal. There was a glad reunion with the first
missionaries and colonists and their families, a bodily and spiritual recuper­
ation after the long, arduous voyage. This rest period did not last long.
Soon everything was organised and on April 30th 1858 two big waggons,
drawn by eighteen oxen each, were standing ready in Hermannsburg; they
were to take us on the long journey into Southern Zululand. which had been
selected as a mission territory with the permission of the Zulu King Umpande
(i.e. the root of a tree), a brother of Chaka and Dingaan. Together with
Volker the missionaries Prydtz, Meyer, Ahrens and Wiese as well as the
On a Tough Missionary Post 11

colonists Helge and Hinze were to be the pioneers of this work. Women and
children were also in the party, and after farewell was said in Hermannsburg
they climbed into one of the waggons, while the men marched alongside. It
was an unbeaten, difficult trail, which led to the decision that once the
Tugela River was passed, one of the waggons should return to Hermanns­
burg. But as King Umpande, on account of the risk of lung sickness (bovine
pleuropneumonia), had prohibited oxen or cattle to be brought from Natal
to Zululand, which was bordered by the Tugela River, the great mission
family would have been unable to reach its goal had it not been for the
Norwegian missionary Oftebro, who was already living in Zululand. He
very kindly put his trek oxen at their disposal from the Tugela. On May
18th, the caravan approached the River Umlalazi (i.e. grindstone). Here the
mission sisters settled and called the station Emlalazi (i.e. at the Umlalazi).
Very strenuous physical and mental activity was now required, since they
must house themselves and gain practice in the missionary work. On June
30th, the first mission feast was celebrated in the open, in the course of which
Volker preached the sermon for the small German congregation from Corin­
thians 11, 5, 20-21. "On behalf of Christ, then, we are Ambassadors, God,
as it were, making the appeal through us. We beg you for Christ's sake, be
reconciled to God; God made Him who knew no sin to be made sin on our
behalf, so that in Him we might share the righteousness of God."
Finally, after two months, a small log house was ready for occupation and
Volker mentioned the fact in his diary with thanks to God that they were
now once again living in a house and could hold regular services. The strange
language of the Zulus was practised to the best of their ability, but there was
so much outside work that only a limited time could be devoted to studying
it. Not only must the brothers build and cultivate the land, but they also
had to fell trees in the indigenous forests, cut them up, drag them out and
convey them home.
By the end of the year Volker received the order to found a new station
at the River Inyezane, together with Prydtz, Wiese and the colonist Helge.
King Umpande, however, was at first disinclined to give his permission for
it and only agreed after the brothers had promised to build him a waggon­
house. On May 6th, 1859, they travelled to Umpande and the work of erect­
ing the waggon-house lasted all of six weeks, as practically no labourers
were obtainable among the Natives and the missionaries had to cut the thatch
themselves, using only their pocket knives, to complete the job. 2 By this
time Volker, to his great delight, could begin to hold short services for the
Natives in their own tongue.
The house for Enyezane was built in timber in Emlalazi and in October
1859 three of the brothers drove the waggon to this new station, in order to
complete the building work. Only in the year 1860 did Volker return to
Emlalazi to do missionary work. Further stations were then put up, and
occupied by the newly arrived brothers, like Frohling, Bartels, Kiick and
Brauel, after these had helped to build a massive house in Emlalazi with a
church which was consecrated on January 18th, 1865. In their joy at the
completion of their heavy labour, they little suspected how soon the work
of their hands would be destroyed.
F. Volker was blessed with the special gift of winning the confidence and
devotion of the Natives. Although he had not as yet completely mastered
12 On a Tough Missionary Post

their language. he could make himself clearly understood. He was never short
of Native labour. and it was from amongst them that he saved the first
souls for the Lord Jesus. Among the first whom he christened were Daniel
Mgadi. later trained as a teacher in the seminary, and his brother Petrus
Quabe, who later followed them to Ekuhlengeni where he became church
warden. In the year 1870 the congregation of Natives at Emlalazi already
consisted of twenty christened souls.
Hundreds, or perhaps thousands, entered and left the station, but most of
them were so embroiled and ensnared in their heathen morals and customs,
in superstition and animism that they did not want to give these up. If they
were told of God's word so that they found no other excuses, then they would
answer: "Yes, we also want to go to the devil; we want to go to hell". When
Volker's daughters tried to convert the kaffir girls, they said: "We are not
afraid of Satan because our people simply kill him with the assegai", but in the
case of some, the Living Word of God was given witness and the mission
work could have taken its blessed course if the proud Zulus, especially the
prominent ones of the nation, had not agitated against the spreading of the
Kingdom of God. As the small band of christened ones grew, the stronger
they became in their faith and the more the heathen showed their hatred
and enmity.
The faithful Daniel Mgadi was particularly hated by them and one day
ten armed Zulus with loaded guns appeared at Volker's door, claiming that
Daniel was an Umtakati (sorcerer) and that they wanted to catch and kill
him, but he had been warned in time and escaped through the back door,
later finding his way to Natal.
It was particularly difficult to persuade Zulu girls to learn. There was no
other way than for a Christian to take one of them as his bride and to pay
for her with cattle, but even that frequently required a hard struggle. As
one of the first girls, after she had become engaged to Joshua, came for in­
struction, her own father threatened her with death and her brothers took
her away from the station again, beating and kicking her and spitting at her;
however, she returned and finally her father and brothers did consent because
they expected that Joshua would produce a good number of cows for pay­
ment. 3
At the end of 1872 King Umpande died and his son Cetshwayo, who had
already been co-regent, became his successor. In 1856 he had destroyed his
brother Umbulazi and his dependants in a horrible bloodbath at the Tugela.
As prince he had shown himself well disposed towards the missionaries, but
as King, Cetshwayo soon displayed a boundless pride. This became iJarticu­
larly apparent after Cetshwayo was proclaimed King of Zululand in 1873 by
Theophilus Shepstone in the name of the British Government. It was a
clever move by the British, when on the 1st September Shepstone rode with
a troop of soldiers to the Royal Kraal, Ulundi, and not only gave Cetshwayo
wonderful presents, but robed him with a purple cloak and put a crown on
his head. Admittedly certain agreements were later concluded with him,
whose non-fulfilment could later become fateful according to International
Law.
All might have been well if a certain John Dunn, an Englishman, who,
however, lived as a Zulu heathen, had not dominated Cetshwayo like an
evil spirit. John Dunn had previously been clerk for the border agent
On a Tough Missionary Post 13

Captain Walmsley. After he had committed some trespasses against the

law, he left Natal to find refuge in Zululand. Soon he had managed to
arrange becoming Cetshwayo's frontier- and toll-guard at the Tugela after
U mbulazi, on whose side he had fought, had been killed. He and two of
his companions had at that time shot down many fleeing Zulus. He knew
how to win favours with Cetshwayo and soon obtained a high position. In
addition to his White wife, he took several from among the Zulu people
and lived like a Zulu.' The Natives recounted that he had said to them:
"Take no notice of my skin or the fact that I wear clothes. I am a Zulu
like you. I have nothing to do with what the missionaries preach." At the
time of the war John Dunn already had 16 wives. He had whipped and
chased away some of the older ones in order to replace them immediately
with younger ones. John Dunn especially hated the Hermannsburg mission­
aries and amongst them our Brother F. Volker, because he lived in the
vicinity of Emlalazi and it is certain that he repeatedly incited Cetshwayo
against the missionaries and the christened ones.
One day Cetshwayo ordered Brother Volker and some missionaries to
cut some cart-loads of building timber in the woods and deliver them to him.
This was no small matter because the work and the journey to the King
took a full six weeks, but the missionaries obeyed for the sake of their calling.
They were, however, very astonished when on delivery the King still
upbraided them saying that some of the trunks were not quite straight.
Soon after this time the Christian ones (amakolwa, i.e. believers) were
called to work for longer periods for the King, and were then exposed to
plenty of derision and contempt, but they kept to their faith and prayed
fervently. Fear and horror took possession of all of them when, in the year
1876, one of missionary Frohling's christened ones at Enyezane, called
Joseph, just like Daniel Mgadi, was proclaimed a murderer and poisoner
and was charged. Although the defendant was absolutely innocent, he was
tortured in front of Frohling's eyes and finally tied to a tree and ill-treated
there. The dear Brother did everything he could to save the innocent Joseph
from the hands of his tormentors, but in vain. When he offered them as
many of his own cattle as they wanted, they at first made a show of agree­
ment, pretending that they would come along to receive the cows. As soon
as Frohling had turned his back on them, they dragged Joseph away for
dead and threw him to the crocodiles which inhabited a section of the
Inyezane. Joseph died quietly resigned and praying, but Frohling's wife was
scared to death with fear and horror. For this reason the Frohlings then
left Zululand and moved to Hermannsburg.
The Zulus now moved ever more frequently about the land in wild armed
bands and assembled around the King, whose pride now knew no bounds.
At times the people came in full war regalia to the station, mirrored them­
selves in the windows, swinging their clubs, and danced and sang or rather
shouted, often with the words: "We Amazulu are as numerous as the grass,
we shall make an end of the Whites, and of the small Whites.'" One day
messengers of the King again came in order to call Volker's christened ones
to work. They, however, recognised one of the messengers as one of Joseph's
murderers and they were so frightened that they fled the country rather
than walk into the jaws of the bloodthirsty tiger.
As at that time Superintendent Hohls wrote that the Brothers would have
14 On a Tough Missionary Post

to decide what must be done, Volker regarded it as his duty to take his
family across the frontier for a while until the crisis had passed. Thus
Emlalazi had to be abandoned and the small band of Christians as well as
the Native labourers came along. In 1877 they found a primitive shelter at
Burpham, an abandoned coffee farm on the Sinkwazi River. Only the most
necessary things were taken along, the rest were left at Emlalazi as it was
hoped to return, but "man proposes and God disposes".

The Horrors of the Zulu War

Hardly had Volker and his family left Emlalazi, after having installed two
reliable Natives, Usambulane and Simon, as guards and protectors, before
John Dunn hastened to ask King Cetshwayo for the house and the fields, in
fact for the whole of the station Emlalazi. Against Cetshwayo's objections,
which a Hollander by the name of de Lange personally overheard, he
pretended that Volker had left the station for good and should never be
allowed to return. He took possession of the station and asked his brother­
in-law, a bastard (Coloured) to live in the former mission house. However,
the latter was more honourable than his English brother-in-law and refused
the offer.
Then Dunn himself appeared one day at the station, bringing a key to the
house and opening the doors. The door to the sitting room was the only
one he could not unlock. He broke the window and climbed in. Usambulane
and Simon confronted him and declared politely that the Umfundisi (teacher)
had left the station only for a short while and that he would soon return,
but they were given short shrift. Finding the house still full of furniture
and the pantry and the loft still full of provisions, John Dunn wrote a short
letter to Volker as follows:
"As your house and station have been presented to me by King Cetshwayo,
I would ask you to take away your effects as soon as possible, failing which
I shall not be responsible for them. If you want to fence in the graves
(missionary Wendland's grave, the grave of the first Mrs. Volker, of the
colonist Ahrens and his wife and of Dorothea Volker), I promise to respect
them. I also found three pigs which I want to buy from you, if you do not
ask too high a price. Yours, J. R. Dunn."
Volker answered him briefly and politely that he had left the station only
for a short time, the effects were well looked after in his own house and
that he wanted to slaughter the pigs himself at a later stage.
John Dunn then, without further ado, took possession of the whole
property, allowing members of his black family to live in the house, and they
helped themselves freely to the missionary's property.
But let us return to Cetshwayo. Robbery and bloodshed became more
and more the order of the day; even in Natal girls were kidnapped and their
relatives killed. When the government of Natal made representations to
him about it, he replied: "Did I ever tell Shepstone that I would not kill?
I kill, but I do not think that I have already gone very far in killing. Many
people do not obey unless they are killed."
Furthermore Cetshwayo claimed a large stretch of land between the
Pongola and the Buffalo Rivers as his territory, had military kraals built
there and curtly ordered all those living there, Black and White, to move
out. He even demanded the area between Blood River and thePongola.
On a Tough Missionary Post 15

Sir Theophilus Shepstone, as Administrator of the Transvaal, came to

sort the matter out, but without success. Then Gerhard Rudolph, Magistrate
of Ladysmith, was sent to negotiate with King Cetshwayo, but was received
very ungraciously. When Rudolph walked a few paces up and down during
the discussion - Zulus are expected to sit down as a sign of respect before a
superior, i.e. to squat on the floor - the King exclaimed: "What are you
always walking up and down for?" Rudolph answered: "Because to stand
before the King is not allowed, and I have not been offered a chair to sit
down", whereupon Cetshwayo replied insolently: "My envoys also get no
chairs to sit down when they call on you."
In September 1878 Sir Bartle Frere arrived by order of the British Govern­
ment, to arbitrate in the dispute. He carefully prepared an ultimatum which
was ceremoniously handed to Cetshwayo on December 11 th and explained
to him. Most of the territories under dispute were accorded to the Zulus,
but Cetshwayo was to hand over the murderers of women kidnapped from
the Natal territory and to pay with cattle as a fine for other violations of the
border; the missionaries were to return and nobody was to be restrained
from converting to Christianity, etc. Cetshwayo must make his decision
within thirty days.
When the Zulus discussed this ultimatum among themselves, the word
was: "Do not give in; we want to kill all the Whites and occupy Natal." So
both sides armed themselves in readiness. Meanwhile, what of John Dunn,
Cetshwayo's favourite? Shortly before the declaration of war on the 10th
January 1879, Dunn, with two thousand of his supporters, crossed the
frontier, the Tugela River, and went over to the British side, thus betraying
King Cetshwayo by taking arms against him. The real Zulus were justified
in saying: "We are most astonished that John Dunn, who has supplied us
for so long with rifles and trained us, has crossed over to the British. We
thought that he would live and die with our King, but now we see that he
has sold our King in order to take possession of his land."
During these troubled times the Volkers lived at Sinkwazi in Natal, three­
quarters of an hour from the Tugela, where every Sunday Volker held
services for his people and for others who gathered around him, first in the
living room and later in a barn.
Then one Sunday the District Officer, Captain Lucas, came galloping up
to Volker's house and called out to him: "How can you calmly stay here
instead of taking your wife and children well out of harm's way? Don't you
know what terrible things have happened, that the first army, which marched
across the Buffalo River in Zululand has already been destroyed? The
Zulus have torn them to pieces and only a very few have escaped."6

[N.B. There follows an account of the battles of Isandhlwana and Rorke's

Drift. C.B.]

After their initial setbacks the British hastened to re-arm themselves and
fought bravely on to victory. John Dunn was accepted among the officers
and played an important role. At the end of June the decisive battle took
place near Ulundi in which 15000 Zulus were killed or put to 11ight.
Cetshwayo himself also fled but was chased hither and thither until he was
taken prisoner on the 28th August 1879 by Major Marter in the forest of
16 On a Tough· Missionary Post

Ungoma [Ngome]. Already on September 1st, Sir Garnet WolseIey, the

successor to Sir Bartle Frere could tell the assembled Chiefs and the Zulu
people: "Today it is just six years since Cetshwayo was crowned King of the
Zulus and only yesterday you have seen how he was taken away from here
as prisoner."
Unfortunately only some weeks earlier, on the 7th July 1879, our Brother
Filter, who had been acting as Pastor in Liineburg, had had to witness his
promising son Heinrich being stabbed with assegais and dragged away. His
body could not be interred in the cemetery. Nor was the outcome of the war
agreeable to Brother Volker, as he was permanently barred from returning
to his station, Emlalazi.
In the speech quoted above, Sir Garnet Wolseley had the following to say
about the mission: "As regards religion, we do not want to force ours on
you, and missionary work should not be undertaken against the wishes of
the Chiefs and the people wherever missionaries choose to establish them­
selves. If therefore missionaries come and wish to live amongst the people,
they should not be granted any further land, but only a small plot for their
house and garden." When on the 8th September 1879 Superintendent Hohls
made a petition to the General, in which he proved that the Hermannsburg
Mission, through the destruction of ten stations, had suffered damage
amounting to about 100000 Marks, and most humbly asked for compen­
sation, he received the following reply:
"Dear Sir, I have been instructed by General Sir Garnet Wolseley to
advise you that he has received your petition of the 8th instant in which
you request compensation for the losses suffered by the Hermannsburg
Mission Society in the course of the Zulu War. His Excellency instructs
me to reply that the activities of your Society in Zululand are purely a private
concern and that he is not in a position to find any grounds on which your
request for compensation could be based. Herbert."
Sir Garnet Wolseley sent a friendly letter to the Norwegian Bishop
Schreuder, in which, however, he remarked, misguided by wicked rumours,
"that in reality most missionaries who had hitherto worked in Zulu land had
been traders."7 When this letter was published in the daily press there was
a general outcry and our missionary Kiick published the following letter
on tl-te 22nd October:
"His Excellency, Sir Garnet Wolseley, maintains in his reply to Bishop
Schreuder, 'that most missionaries who hitherto had worked in Zulu land
had been traders'. As four other missionaries and I have worked for many
years as emissaries of the Hermannsburg Society in the district in which
J. Dunn is now Chief, I regard it as my right and duty to give you and yoUl
numerous readers a short description of our so-called trading.
When we came to Zululand and began to build with the permission of
Umpande and Cetshwayo, we needed workers and they were Zulus. For
these workers we needed food and wages; but as they did not know the value
of money, we found ourselves obliged to buy goods and to pay our workers
with blankets, hoes, etc. We needed trek oxen and cattle for the household
and bought these in exchange for goods. Neither my brothers nor I were
interested in trading, nor did we send our people out for this purpose. All
the cattle we bought were brought to us, and we did not buy them in order
to trade with them but for our own use. I ask: 'Who has seen us driving
On a Tough Missionary Post 17
cattle to Natal in order to sell them there?' I know of no missIOnary in
J. Dunn's district who has sold cattle for trading purposes. I think this
explanation should suffice to show you the real nature of our 'trade' during
our residence in Zululand. The readers and yourself can judge whether we
have been 'traders' and whether our stations were the ones with 'stores' or
not. I am most amazed at how the senior official could make such a hasty
judgement without prior investigation. He accepted as irrefutable truth what
the accuser told him without asking the missionaries accused. I challenge
the man who told Sir Garnet Wolseley that nearly all missionaries were
traders to come forward and prove what he said." - Nobody came forward.
The letter of Brother Kiick already revealed that the increasingly notorious
John Dunn had become a Chief in the district where the Hermannsburg
Mission Station, and also some of the Norwegian Missions, were situated.
Sir Garnet Wolseley had appointed 13 such chiefs over the whole of Zulu land
and John Dunn had been the first to sign the settlement. When somebody
warned the General that this arrangement would result in the Zulus making
war among themselves, he replied in truly English fashion: "Just let them
kill each other. Then we can hang the last one!"
It is, however, hardly comprehensible that anyone could have appointed
such a treacherous and mean man as John Dunn as the first of these chiefs.
He started off by writing a letter to the Norwegian Missionary Oftebro
saying: "If you should make any attempt to take possession of your station
on the grounds of your former right of occupancy, I shall be faced with
the unpleasant task of forcibly preventing you from doing so." But later he
had to amend this because of pressure from above, and he set out nine
strange-sounding conditions which had to be met by the missionaries if they
wanted to return. 8
The Hermannsburg people were particularly hated by him, as they could
not and would not condone his godless life. When Brother Volker met him
shortly afterwards on a journey to Durban and challenged him about his
injustice, he became agitated and said: "What do you want in Zululand and
what have you achieved there?" Volker replied calmly: "At the behest of
the Lord Jesus, we have preached the Gospel and saved souls," whereupon
John Dunn remarked somewhat sneeringly, "We all end up in the same place
when we finally go." But Volker did not let him get away with it, and
reminded him of God's justice and judgement, whereupon he eventually
said meekly: "If I were to allow you back again, I would have to accept all
the missionaries and that I will not do."9 That was the last Brother Volker
saw or heard of him. Today (1927) John Dunn himself has long since gone to
meet his Maker and the conditions in Southern Zululand have changed in
many respects. Younger missionaries have again started to work on the
stations and although we still have no title to the stations, we do not have
any governmental interference with our ongoing work. According to the
Annual Report of the Hermannsburg Mission published in July 1927, 70
persons were christened in the year 1926 at Enyezane together with Emlalazi,
Emvutini and Andhlovini: 55 heathen adults and 15 children of heathen (i.e.
converted) Christians. The total community numbers 544, viz. 317 adults
with 227 children. Yes, the Lord reigns also in adversity. His counsel is
wondrous, but He carries it out with glory.
18 On a Tough Missionary Post
PART II will appear in Natalia No. 10. [Editor]
NOTES
I Introduction
1 H. Wiese (Hgr.). Au! schwerem Posten im Zululande. Lebenserjo!Jmngen des
Missionars F. Volker, nach Au/zeic/mungen seiner Gattin.
H. Wiese (ed.). On a Tour;}l Missionary Post in Zululmld: The Life Experiences of
the Missionary Friedrich Volker according to the notes of his wife. (Hermannsburg,
1928). p. 43. Pastor G. Haccius was a Church Mission Inspector.
'Edgar Brookes and Colin Webb, A History of Natal, (Pietermaritzburg, 1965), p. 105.
1 See Anthony Dachs, "Missionary Imperialism: the Case of Bechuanaland", Journal
of African History XIII, No. 4, 1972, pp. 648-56.
1 See Norman Etherington, "The Rise of the Kholwa in South-East Africa: African
Christian Communities in Natal, Pondoland, Zululand", (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis,
Yale University, 1971).
, British Parliamentary Papers (B.P.P.), C - 2220 of 1879, No. 129, p. 340.

"Ibid. Enclosure in No. 129, p. 344. Oftebro to Frere, 12 Oct. 1878.

, Wiese (ed.), On a Tough Miuionary Post ill Zululand, p. 9.

, Ibid. p. 10.

" Ibid. p. 14.

11) Ibid.

" Etherington, "The Rise of the Kholwa",p. 191.

" I bid. p. 200.
1.1 Brookes and Webb. A History of Natal, p. 134.

1< B.P.P. C-1482 of 1880. Enclosure 2 in No. 175. p. 467.

1.1 Wiese (ed.), On a Tough Missionary Post in Zululand, p. 29.

III Ibid. p. 62.

"For a thorough discussion of the meaning of "cultural belligerence". see D. M.

Schreuder, "The Cultural Factor in Victorian Imperialism: A Case Study of the
British 'civilising mission''', Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol IV,
No. 3. May 1976, pp. 184-5.
I, Wiese (ed.), On a Tough Missionary Post in Zulu/and, p. 16.

1I Part I
1Hermannsburg is approx;mately forty-five kilometres north of Pietermaritzburg. It was
the General Headquarters of the Hermannstlurg Mission Society but 31 p~esent a
school for the German community in Natal is maintained.
2 Many of the German and Norwegian missionaries in Zululand were carpenters and

artisans - skills which they used to win the favour of Mpande, Cetshwayo and
prominent Zulus.
1 Etherington, "Rise of the Kholwa", p. 191. The overwhelming majority of Zulus
treated Christian Zulus with contempt and "they applied to mission station residents
the same sneering epithet which white men gave to all blacks. They called them kaffirs."
• Volker is incorrect on this point. John Dunn's first wife was Catherine Pierce, a Cape
Coloured, who had been a servant in John Dunn's father's household in Durban.
In 18~2-53 Catherine ran away with John Dunn to Zululand.
'The Zulus referred to the African mission residents, the kholwa, as "small whites".
6 Here Volker was referring to the Battle of Isandhlwana fought on 22 January 1879.

The sections describing the battle of Isandhlwana and the death of the Prince Imperial
are at best second-hand accounts which add nothing new or interesting. These passages
have been omitted.
, Sir Garnet Wolseley relied heavily on John Dunn's advice in drawing UP the post-war
settlement. He was in an excellent pos;tion to influence Wolse1ey's attitude towards
missionaries.
'See B.P.P. C - 2482 of 1880. enclosure 1 in No. 175, pp. 466-76. In fact, there were
ten conditions the missionaries had to accept if they wished to settle in Dunn's district:
1. He shall acknowledge my authority as chief.
2. He shall acknowledge that he has no personal claim or title to land within mv
~~or~ ­
3. The schools to be established on the mission stations shall be founded on the
principle of an ordinary plain English school; both the Zulu and English
language being taught; and no undue attention being given to accomplishments
such as music etc.
4. That any natives so inclined shall be taught some trade.
On a Tough Missionary Post 19

5. That no native shall be allowed to. remove from any kraal to. settle on a mission
station without my consent.
6. That it be distinctly understood that no native becomes exempt from his duties
to his chief by residing on a mission station.
7. That any native desirous of residing on any mission station shall be bQund to
erect a dwelling house in European style.
8. That every encouragement be given to the cultivation by such natives of
produce for a market.
'I. That the utmost encouragement be given to industrial pursuits so as in time
to make the stations self-supporting.
10. That the stations shall not be allowed to be made trading stations for dealing
in cattle for profit .
• Dunn had good reason for banning missionary activity in his chiefdom; first, Dunn
was a supreme individualist who fairly bristled with rage when missionaries, like Volker,
condemned him for his polygamous marriages to Zulu women; second, Dunn derived
a comfortable income from his trading activities - at the time, most missionaries were
forced to trade with the local Black populace in order to supplement their meagre
incomes. Therefore, they posed an economic threat to Dunn's own trading monopolies.
20

Institute of Natural Resources

Natal takes a lead with computer aids

to optimurfl land use planning
Two of the greatest problems facing Natal are closely linked to one
another. They are unemployment and rural poverty, concerns that are
becoming increasingly common throughout the world. They stem from
a complex of causes, including an unacceptably high rate of human
population growth, the unequal pattern of land holdings, the extension
of subsistence agriculture into marginal habitats, degradation of the
environment, the concentration of available investment in the modern
urban sector, and the glaringly obvious gross inequalities in the distribution
of wealth. Few could deny that the major actor in this tragedy is population
growth, which is surging ahead of progress in investment and technology. I
It is only comparatively recently that man has come to appreciate that
the majority of our contemporary social, economic and environmental
problems are directly or indirectly connected with a rapidly increasing
human population. In the early eighteenth century, the heyday of mer­
cantilism, the prevailing opinion was that population growth was desirable;
more people enahled countries to expand their labour force and to have
bigger armies. 2 In the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the first
indications of resource shortages stimulated a question of some considerable
consequence: are there physical limits to the possible size and growth
rates of human popu1ations?
This was an important departure from the blind acceptance of a world
of limitless space and facilities, but the proponents of this question, although
they were ahead of their time, had no idea that the world's population
would increase fourfold from one thousand million in 1830 to four
thousand million in 1975, and that this alarming increase would be
accompanied by unprecedented pressures on social and family life as a
consequence of resource shortages and environmental degradation leading
in turiI to economic instability and unemployment. As we enter the 1980s,
it has become only too obvious that it is impossible for us to maintain
the high rates of ·economic growth that are required to alleviate unem­
ployment because the per capita availability of almost all resources has
declined. These resources include -the products of forests, fisheries, grass­
lands, croplands and cheap oil. 3
South Africa, in particular the Province of Natal, has not been exempt
from these problems, and although the scale of the social and environmental
perturbations are generally less pronounced than elsewhere in the world,
the country has no grounds for complacency. The population of South
Africa is expected to increase from an estimated 24570000 in 1974 to
50288000 in the year 20OD,4 and there is already every indication that this
rate of growth will stretch existing resources and facilities to breaking
Institute of Natural Resources 21

point. In common with other developing countries, shortage of jobs and

rural poverty are the two biggest challenges facing South Africa, and
there can be little doubt of the urgent necessity of programmes and plans
to tackle these problems throughout the whole of the Republic. In 1980,
the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg will begin to make a uniqu~
and vital contribution to the required planning process in Natal itself,
following the creation of a new Institute of Natural Resources. In fact.
Natal has been given an exciting opportunity to set an example in resource
management and land use planning for the rest of the continent to follow,
and the concomitant social, ecological and economic advantages of thi.,
new approach to planning that will flow from the creation of the Institut{,
should make a very significant contribution to the alleviation of unemploy­
ment and rural poverty throughout the Province.
The concerns outlined above are recent. Why have they come into being?
What has changed in the world whereby man finds his future on this
planet thre.atened as never before? To answer this question, we must go
back in time and look at the world before the advent of agriculture, a
time when early man interacted with his environment in much the same
way as other animals did..' In Africa, we need go back no more than
400 years and look at the continent before the European settlers arrived
here. In places, it must have been a magnificent sight; the greatest variety
of large ,mammals to be found anywhere in the world could be seen feeding
together. . We know that each species had its own role to play in the
dynamics of the forest or savanna communities, and very often two or
more species worked together to feed on the vegetation. Over a period of
thousands of years, a fascinating complex of inter-relationships had evolved
whereby there was an incredible variation in the structure and habits
of the animals that culminated in nearly all parts of the plant communities
being used for food. The warthog dug below the ground for tubers and
bulbs. The zebra, with its strong upper and lower teeth ate the coarse
grass tha.t was too tough for other species, and the wildebeest and hartebeest
moved in when the zebra had finished. Other selective grazing species
were present, mixing with those that both grazed and browsed, such a<,
the elephant and the impala. The giraffe reached high into the taller
trees, nibbling on leaves far above the heads of other browsers. The tiny
duiker browsed at the bottom, and a range of species filled the intermediate
regions. Overall, there was a surprisingly high degree of population
homoeostasis, and man was as much influenced by the process and
characteristics of natural environments as were other species.
Unfortunately, man's capacity to influence the physical environment on
a large scale developed rapidly with the advent of agriculture, and although
such moves were initiated elsewhere in the world up to ] 0 000 years ago,
it was not until the European settled in Africa that similar changes
occurred here. All too often, development of early industry and the intro­
ductionof modern farming methods resulted in an unprecedented slaughter
of the indigenous fauna, and the destruction and elimination of th~
indigenous flora. Large mammals in particular were killed in their thousands.
South Africa had an incredibly bad record. Heavy slaughter, to provide
meat and hides, for sport, and to remove competition for domestic livestock,
virtually eliminated larger wild animals from an accessible areas by the
22 Institute of Natural Resources

late 1800s.';, As if .this was not enough, a new and additional threat emerged
in the form of a human population explosion throughout much of the
continent, a consequence of the European settlers introducing death control
without birth control. Today, some of the highest population growth rates
in the world are to be found in parts of Africa, with doubling times of
less than 25 years.
The rapidly increasing pressures of human populationshaV'e been
accompanied by an equally dramatic increase in livestock. Man is inexorably
bringing about the total replacement of Africa's natural and stable
ecosystems with towns, industry, roads and a vast agricultural "civilization".
We have failed to appreciate that the survival of man, like any other animal,
depends on our having a sustainable relationship with the environment, an
environment that contains all the necessary life support systems. 6 Environ­
mental problems arise when the available resources of the habitat are
unable to provide the requirements for the species living there. It follows
that there must be a limit to the population that can be supported by
finite resources, and in human terms, if this limit is exceeded, not only
will environmental degradation follow, but there wi1l also be a reduction
in the standard of living. In short, the instabilities and disruptions that
are evident all around Us result from our failure to recognize the necessity
of maintaining balance and planning effectively towards that end,
Rural poverty and associated unemployment are prime examples of
inadequate planning, and are not necessarily an inevitable accompaniment
of the increase in human numbers. If this is accepted, then it follows that
the potential exists to develop strategies to reduce both rural poverty and
unemployment, but these will not be developed unless we come to under­
stand where our present beliefs and behaviour are leading us.' This can
best be understood by looking in more detail at our present predicament,
wi,th particular reference to the relationship between food production and
human survival, economic stresses, and unemployment.
It has been emphasized already that the survival of any' species of
animal, including man, depends on that species having a sustainable relation­
ship with its environment, There is quite obviously a limit to the number of
animals that can be supported by anyone habitat. This concept of
"carrying capacity" is all too familiar to farmers, but unfortunately not
to political decision makers. To a farmer, the carrying capacity of an
area is the number of animals of a given size which can be supported
for a given period of time by the vegetation growing in that area without
adversely affecting vegetation production. In any natural biological system,
the carrying capacity is determined by its maximum sustainable yield,
and this is a product of its size and regenerative potential. The carrying
capacity cannot be exceeded indefinitely without reducing the system's
carrying capacity. Two simple examples will illustrate this point. If the
offtake from a fishery exceeds its regenerative capacity, stocks will dwindle
and it will even'tually collapse. Secondly, if the numbers of cattle, sheep
and goats increase too rapidly, the herds will decimate grazing lands,
turning pastures into barren and unproductive wastelands. The' 'world is
full of other examples of man exceeding the carrying capacity, and inevitably
environmental degradation has been the consequence. 7 The conclusion
should be obvious. If we· are to survive on this earth, we must recognize
Institute of Natural Resources 23
that all ecological systems have a limit to the extent of the exploitation
that can occur without causing irrevocable damage.
The problem of overfishing is worth looking at in a little more detail,
because it provides a classic example of the consequences of making
excessive demands on natural biological systems. It is a subject that is
certainly not new to the residents of Natal after the recent shad fishing
restriction controversy, yet at the time few took it seriously. From 1950
to 1970, the world's fish catch more than trebled from 21 to 70 million
tons, the increased catch yielding 18 kg/person/year. Of this total nearly
90 % came from the oceans, and the remainder came from lakes and
rivers. However, in 1970, the upward trend was abruptly and unexpectedly
halted, and in spite of increased effort, it has subsequently fluctuated
between 65 and 70 million tons. Meanwhile, the human population has
continued to grow, and with the world fish catch stabilizing the per capita
catch ha9 declined by 11 '7:" resulting in rising prices for virtually every
edible species. -; Serious overfishing now occurs in many parts of the world,
and the coast of South Africa is no exception. Yet, for many years, the
oceans of the world have long been considered as a major potential source
of food, with the hope that man could turn to the oceans for food ~s
pressures on land-based food resource9 increased. This hope is being
shattered, resulting in an even greater intensification of pressures on the
land. Can the land cope?
In the last ten years, the decline in the fishing industries has been
accompanied by a very pronounced reduction in the huge world surplus
stockg of food. From 1950 to 1971, per capita grain production had increased
31 ~6 from 251 kg to 328 kg. In spite of more land being brought into
production. the world per capita consumption in 1977 was only 324 kg.
In 1961. the combination of reserve grain stocks in exporting countries
equalled 112 days of world grain consumption, falling to an alarming 39
days in 1973. r Although there has been a modest rebuilding of stocks
since then, there are no grounds for optimism. The overall global balance
between supply and demand remains delicate, a situation that is aggravated
by the fact that all food exporting countries are experiencing increased
demand, further reducing the quantity available to rebuild reserves. Even
the U.S.A. will be unable to help, because the anticipated 24 % increase
in the domestic popUlation between now and the end of the century means
that all of the food produced in the U.S.A. would be consumed there. 8
Nearly all countries that have a declining per capita food production
have populations growing at over 2 % per year, and it is quite obvious
that unless this high rate of population growth is accompanied by sound
agricultural technology, chronic food insecurity is an inevitable con­
sequence. The world's fishermen, farmers and other food producers are
already finding it impossible to feed over 4000 million people, and yet
each year another 64 million are added to the earth's surface. Since the
Second \Vorld War, literally scores of countries have become food
importers. Not one new country has emerged as a significant cereal exporter
during this period,1 a warning South Africa, and Natal in particular, cannot
afford to ignore. Although we are still one of only eleven significant food
exporting nations and the fifth largest food producer in the world, we will
suffer an annual grain shortage of over seven million tons by the end of
24 Institute of Natural Resources

this century. Of the 83 % of South Africa that is used for agriculture,

only a mere 11 % of this area is suitable for cultivation, severely limiting
an increase in crop production. 9
An additional limiting factor in the expansion of food production is
energy. Almost half of the world's agriculture is highly energy-intensive,
being heavily reliant on mechanical power and also on chemical fertilizers
and irrigation. Chemical fertilizers use energy in their production, and
massive quantities of these fertilizers are used in modern agriculture,
particularly those containing nitrogen. Nature annually fixes an estimated
120 million tons of atmospheric nitrogen through such means as legumes
and soil microfiora, and we now add 40 million tons of additional nitrogen
to the soil in the form of nitrogen fertilizer. 7 With the recent dramatic
increase in the costs of all forms of energy, further cut-backs in food
production seem inevitable.
"Desertification" is a new term that has come into prominence in this
decade, and it refers to the reduction or destruction of the biological
potential of the land leading ultimately to desert-like conditions. 1 0 This
process has been inextricably linked with overcrowded rural areas and rural
poverty. Grazing lands cease to produce pasture, dryland agriculture fails
and irrigated fields are abandoned owing to salinization, water-logging, or
some other form of deterioration. Overgrazing is becoming very widespread.
and is cause for grave concern. On every continent, the area in grass
exceeds that planted to crops. Approximately 2,5 billion hectares are
grassland, and these areas play an important role in food, energy and
industrial sectors of the global economy. Protein is provided for human
consumption, fuel is provided for cultivating one-third of the world's
cropland that is tilled by draft animals, and wool and leather are produced
for industrial use. Recent estimates indicate that these grasslands support
2,7 million domesticated ruminants, and their numbers are increasing,'
overtaxing these grasslands as never before at a time when overgrazing
is already commonplace. The end result is inevitable - desertification.
Deserts that have been created by man are already afflicting at least
680 million people living in 63 countries, and they are spreading at the
rate of five to seven million hectares each year, an area equivalent t.)
two Belgiums! 11 Tn the vast Sahelian Zone, which extends across the
continent from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Ethiopia and Somalia
in the east, desertification is very pronounced, and in recent droughts nearly
200 000 lives were lost. The nomads who live in the area lost nearly
two-thirds of their cows, sheep and goats. their traditional form of
livelihood. 12
Such examples and statistics might seem far removed from Natal, but
once again the Province should take note of what is happening elsewhere.
If the loss of topsoil becomes too great, the initial depletion of fertility
can end in lands being rendered totally useless for crop production. Tn
a recent survey of soil erosion in Natal,13 it was concluded that soil loss
from most arable fields is well in excess of acceptable limits and in some
cases it has reached alarming proportions. Desertification is only a short
step away if present trends continue.
The environmental degradation described so far is directly related to
food production. Deforestation threatens just as many ecological systems,
A typical river scene with well-tended farm lands in the background.

Ph otograph by cou rtesy of R. A. HOLLlDAY Esq., F.R.P.S., Pietermaritzburg

The result of winter veld burning.

Photograph by courtesy of R. A. HOLLlDAY Esq., F. R.P.S. , Piet e rmaril zburg

An African kraal showing poor veld management and consequent erosion.

Photograph by courtesy of R. A. HOLLlDAY Esq., F.R.P.S., Pielermarilzburg

A particularly severe case of veld erosion.

Photograph by courtesy of R. A. HOLLlDAY Esq., F.R.P.S .. Pietermaritzburg
Institute of Natural Resources 25

and also undermines the stability of soils. In our urban environments,

surrounded as we are by the synthetic materials of the modern age, it is
easy to forget that millions of people rely on wood for cooking, heating
and building, and that the average person in a rural subsistence economy
consumes over one ton of wood each year.14 A recent review has shown
that most of the Middle East and North Africa, and much of continental
Asia and Central America are virtually treeless, and similar trends an.:
becoming apparent in southern Africa. Once the trees have gone, a
dangerous substitute is used - dried animal dung. It is dangerous because
organic material and nutrients which should be returned to the soil and
recycled are going up in smoke. This is already apparent in several parts
of KwaZulu, an ominous warning of the dangers ahead. Our forests
provide more than just wood products; they exercise considerable control
over the circulation of nutrients, erosion, climate, hydrology and the
cleansing function of air and water. When the forests are removed fasL:r
than they can regenerate, soil erosion and flash floods are inevitable, and
the forests' vital contribution to the essential complex biogeochemical
cycles is lost forever.
Environmental mismanagement associated with a rapidly growing human
population must lead to rural poverty. It has happened, and is still happening
all over the world. and it is being exacerbated by world economic stresses
and the energy crises. It is a sad reflection on our present predicament
that the evolution and structure of present-day society has been determined
by the amount and form of energy that we use. Over the past generation,
cheap energy has shaped the global economic systems and helped triple the
output of goods and services. 7 Today we consume the energy equivalent
of eight billion tons of coal per year, or two tons per person, not including
wood and cow dung. The importance of oil as a source of energy is well
known, and much of the world has become heavily dependent on the
pre-industrial societies of the Middle East for their fuel supplies. Thirteen
of the major oil exporters have joined forces within the Organization i)f
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to form a commodity cartel, but
this has done little to help world economic stresses. On the contrary, the
latest price hikes by OPEC, coupled with the fact that several members
of OPEC have introduced a surcharge over and above agreed wholesale
prices, has caused unprecedented inflationary pressures and widespread
capital scarcity.
As if this was not enough to contend with, many parts of the world,
including Natal, are being faced with a new competitIOn for resources
between the food and energy sector. For example, Brazil has launched
a programme to produce ethanol from sugar cane and cassava to drive
automobiles. 1 If the goal to produce most fuel for automobiles from
agricultural sources bv 1995 is realized. vast areas of cropland will be tied
up in fuel production, in effect driving food prices even higher. This
dilemma could be facing Natal in the very near future.
South Africa is not alone in exp~riencing dramatic increases in the
price of many commodities in the seventies. The increases in the price
of energy have played their part here, but of equal importance has been
the extra demands from a rapidly growing population. Severe inflation
is a real danger for every government. It can distort economic and social
26 Institute of Natural Resources

values and undermine public confidence in the government of the day.

Of major significance is the realization that economic depression and
rising unemployment are linked to homicide, crime, mental breakdowns,
family disintegration and other psychological problems. In short, the slow­
down in economic growth is intimately connected with the carrying capacity
of the world; we have reached our limit of growth.
Low expectations and low income from a rapidly deteriorating rural
subsistence economy in many of the developing countries leave men with
no real alternative but to drift to town in search of work. It is happening
every day in Natal, as it is in much of the rest of Africa. Yet the towns
have no hope of accommodating this influx. On a global basis, the World
Bank estimates that by the year 2000, 600 million urban dwellers will be
living in conditions of "absolute poverty", a standard of living described
by the President of the World Bank as "a condition of life so degraded
by disease, illiteracy, malnutrition and squalor as to deny its victims
basic human necessities".15 Once again, the high rate of human population
growth has exacerbated the situation. In the developed countries. where
the fertility rates are low, young people fill the vacancies created by the
retirement of older workers. In contrast, most of the developing countries
have high fertility rates, and here new jobs must be created each year.
Every year in South Africa alone, 210000 new work-seekers enter the
labour market, and the government is faced with the impossible task of
creating 1 500 new jobs each working day, a total of 4200000 new jobs
between 1979 and the year 2000. It is too simplistic to look to indus­
trialization as the answer to unemployment. A recent survey by the Urban
Foundation showed that there are 30 industrial undertakings in KwaZulu,
involving a total investment, including infrastructure, building and capital
equipment of R63 000 000. As a result, 2 500 people are employed, but the
cost of creating one job was more than R25000Y
It is indeed a bleak scenario. The major actor in the tragedy, rapid
population growth, has precipitated a chain-reaction that will culminate
in an ecocatastrophe of frightening dimensions. Lester Brown believes that
the essential choice open to us is whether to limit births and individual
consumption consciously and voluntarily so as to avoid excessive pressures
on the earth's natural systems, or to continue pressing a!!ainst the earth's
biological limits until regulation becomes mandatory. Historian Arnold
Toynbee sees increasingly authoritarian government emerging as economic
growth slows or stops. He writes: "In all developed countries a new
way of life - a severely regimented way -- will have to be imposed by
ruth less authoritarian government."7 The recent severe fuel restrictions
in South Africa may be an indication of what is to come. But is
authoritarian government the only solution? Have we reached the stage
where strict regimentation is our only hope? Rapid population growth,
and the consequences of it, will be with us for some time to come, but
the problems of rural poverty and associated unemployment can be tackled
effectively without going to extreme measures. Put quite simply, in rural
areas a rural land use strategy is required which recognizes the prime
importance of food production, but at the same time safeguards soil
and representative samples of natural ecosystems. Before this can be
done, a land capability analysis is required that considers all the possible
Institute of Natural Resources 27

competing forms of land use, such as crop production, grazing, forestry,

and game reserves. Quite obviously, the production of food must rate
as a high priority choice for land use, and areas that have a high potential
for food production will have to be used accordingly. Also, those areas
particularly suited for timber production will be similarly used, and so
on. However, the choice of how the land will be used will be made only
after an objective land capability analysis has been completed, which will
be based on information on the density and distribution of the human
population in relation to relevant natural resources. This is where the
Institute of Natural Resources will show its real value and potential, par­
ticularly with the development and use of a computer-based natural
resources data bank.
Why do we need such sophisticated tools to help us overcome the
problems of rural development in the 1980s when at the turn of the century
our unaided intellect was quite adequate? After all, the success and
uniqueness of man lies in the fact that we alone have indulged in thi~
inheritance of acquired characteristics by means of the written and spoken
word, I: and the accompanying simple powers of reasoning which lifted
us out of the Stone Age into the present have served us amazingly wen
up until now. But with the complexities of modern planning, the demands
on our unaided intellect have become too great. In holistic planning, it
is quite impossible to visualize all the relevant resources at anyone time,
and with the information explosion that is taking place, coupled with
rapid modification of existing data as populations move and increase and
resources become depleted, there is a very real danger that planners
will become completely overwhelmed in their attempts to plan efficiently.
A computer-based natural resources data bank is the logical solution
to this dilemma. Very briefly, this system would enable us to store on a
standard geographical basis all the relevant information we would require
for efficient planning. and, of great consequence, the information could be
rapidly retrieved and up-dated. It is perhaps unfortunate that this computer
aid to planning is called a "data bank", because the prime function of
such a system is not the storage of facts per se, but rather the rapid
manipulation of the available data in a variety of ways to aid the planning
processes, and to stimulate the outcome of different management strategies.
Although the initiation and formation of a data bank will be a hy
feature of the Institute of Natural Resources, there will be four principal
objectives.
Firstly, the Institute will conduct research in integrated resource planning
related to the computer-based data bank. 18 Methods will be studied to
optimize the storage and retrieval of information on such aspects as human
population distribution and density, climate, soils, geology, mineral potential,
land use, land ownership, forest cover, agricultural potential, water and
transport facilities. In the first phase of the research and development
programme, great emphasis will be placed on the identification of users
of the data bank and an assessment of their needs. In the second phase,
research will concentrate on the development and testing of the data
bank. involving pilot applications in key areas, again related to user
requirements. As was stressed earlier, a data bank is not just a store,
and the ultimate .iustification for the system will be the demand for th~
28 Institute of Natural Resources

facilities the data bank can offer.

Secondly, the Institute will become involved in land use planning in Natal.
The operational phase of the data bank is the end product of the research
programme, and the Institute will have qualified staff available to ensure
optimum use of the data bank. placing emphasis on the dynamic integrative
nature of the system.
Thirdly, the Institute will have a vital role to play in education, by
providing a post-graduate course at Master of Science level in integrated
resources planning. and by helping to identify and to focus attention on
environmental problems in Natal by lecturing and producing papers for a
wider audience of decision makers and the general public.
Finally, the Institute will become intimately involved in the co-ordination
of integrated resource planning in Natal. There is already a duplication of
effort taking place in several fields, simply because various Departments have
not known what work was completed or under way in other Departments,
and this is a waste of time, effort and money. A very important objective
of the Institute will be to promote the maximum use of the data bank
by all potential users by encouraging contact and regular meetings between
the relevant sectors of commerce and industry and the relevant Government
Departments.
In conclusion. an integrated approach to rural development is long
overdue in South Africa as the most effective and desirable means of
raising the standard of living for the majority of the population, thus
reducing the migration from rural to urban areas. The holistic multi­
disciplinary nature of integrated resources planning does not fit into
anyone of the traditional arademic disciplines. and the Institute of Natural
Resources will provide the combined expertise that no one discipline can
do at present. It is an exciting opportunity for Natal to make a signilcant
contribution to alleviating the problems of rural poverty and unemployment.

J. HANKS

REFERENCES
1 l"hrri,nn, P . Workless of the world. People 6 (3): 3-7. 1979 .
2 Rn~erup. M. Fear of Dnomsday: past and present.. Population and Deve!(1."'ment
P.eview 4 (I): 133-143 . 1978..
'Rrow.... L.. R. Re<ollrce trends anrt DODulation policy: ~ time for reassessment.
Worldwatch Poper 29.. Worldwatch Institute, Washin'!ton. 1979.
4 S,,'lie. J. L. Pm;pctions of the South African population 1970-2()1O. IInJustrial
nevelopment Corporation, Johannesburg. 1974.)
5 H~"'1cs. J. A stYIIggle for survival. The Elephallt Problem. (c. Struik. Cape Town.
1979).
,. W'ttt. K. E . F... MoJloy. L. F., Varshn<'v. C. K.. Weeks. D. and Wirn<'l.rrlionn. S.
The unsteadv state. Environmental problems, growth and culture. (University Press
nf Hawaii, Honolulu. 1977),
'Hrown. L. 'R.. The twentvninth dav . (W. \V. Norton and Co. Inc.. New York. 19711).
'Pi"'ente!. D. and Krummel, J. America's agricultural future. The Ec%,!!;s/ 7 (7):
:?54-26I. 1977.
'Downing. B. H . Environmental consequences of a<Jricultnral expansion in South
Africa since 1l!50. South African Journal of Science 74 (11): 420-422. 1978.
10 Biswas. M . R. V . N. Conference on Desertification in retrospect. Environmental
Conservation 5 (4): 247-262. 1978.
11 Tolba. M. K. The Executive Director of the U.N. Conference on Desertification.
mCN Bulletin 8 (8/9): 43, 1977.
Institute 0/ Natural Resources 29
" Bugnicourt, J. Saving the nomads of the Sahel. People 6 (1): 21-23. 1979.
l3 Scotney, D. M. The present situation in Natal. pp. 16-34 in: The Proceedings of a
Symposium on the relationship between agriculture and environmental conservatioll
in Natal and KwaZulu. (Wildlife Society of Southern Africa, Durban, 1978).
"Eckholm, E. Planting for the future: forestry for human needs. Worldwatch Paper
26. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, 1979.
"Jaycox, E. The Bank and urban poverty. Finance alld Development 15 (3): 10-13.
1978.
,. Mountain. A. G. The case for integrated rural development. A strategy proposal.
(Urban Foundation, Durban, 1978).
"Short, R. V. The evolution of human reproduction. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 195:
3-24. 1976.
" Ridler. P. F. Computer aids to resource management. Zimbabwe Rhodesia Science
News. 13 (7): 146. 1979.
30

William Stanger
and the early years of cartography in Natal,
1845-1854

A lack of accurate topographic maps haunts the history of Natal and is

particularly noticeable at times of military activity: during the Anglo-Zulu
and both Anglo-Boer wars. This recurrent problem constitutes a paradox
in view of the fact that the post of Surveyor-General was the first official
professional appointment in the colonial administration of 1845. An
explanation of the paradox involves not only a variety of cartographic factors
but also a complexity of problems existing during the first decade of the
colony's existence.
The first incumbent of the Surveyor-General's post was William Stanger,
born on 27 September 1811 at Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. A member of
the 1840 expedition to the Niger River area, he moved to the Cape of Good
Hope, where he acted as a naturalist, geologist and surveyor, surveying the
road to Grahamstown from Cape Town in 1843. Stanger was the second
choice for the Natal job, it having been turned down by C. D. Bell, who
became Surveyor-General of the Cape three years later. The early appoint­
ment of a Surveyor-General to Natal reflected the importance attached to
the question of the land in general, and its division in particular, in a hitherto
undeveloped territory.
Stanger's letter of appointment, signed by John Montagu, Colonial Sec­
retary at the Cape, and dated 17 February 1845, laid down 35 points outlining
his duties, including those related to surveying. In general terms Stanger
was required to carry out the ". . . measurement and appropriation of
lands . . .". He was ordered to appoint four qualified surveyors "if the
services of that number can be secured..." to be employed on surveys of
Durban, Congella, Pietermaritzburg and Weenen. The other main surveying
duty was "to ascertain by a Trigonometrical Survey, the real extent of the
Territory" and to map in particular the main topographic features and any
features which would "facilitate a cadastral survey." The method of
achieving this was specified and Stanger was requested to " ... ride over the
Country to make yourself generally acquainted with it, and to select the
most central or otherwise eligible point for a measurement of a base line
from which the surveyors . . . should start upon the Survey." Even at this
early stage the drawback of general trigonometrical survey, in an unde­
veloped colony, that of delay, was perceived. Stanger was instructed to
avoid retarding the occupation of farms by laying down a limited network
of triangulation points and surveying the farms of a locality, starting with
the most densely populated areas. Given the circumstances, an inherent
conflict was built into Stanger's terms of reference, with the need to accom­
modate both a long term definitive topographic survey of Natal and a
rapid and piecemeal cadastral survey. The trigonometrical survey was to be
William Stanger 31

carried out at a scale of 1 : 63 360 (1 inch to 1 mile) with standardized

symbolization so that localized surveys could be incorporated into the
broader. A sliding scale of survey charges was laid down at 12/- per erf up
to four erven, and 9/- per erf thereafter, with a total fee of £14/12jlOd. for
6 000 acres. Surveyors were to be held personally responsible for errors
which had to be rectified in their own time and at their expense.
During Stanger's tenure not only were surveys carried out at the four
towns mentioned in his letter of appointment, by 1846, but those at Lady­
smith (completed 1847) and Colenso (completed 1855) had also been started.
A greater number of problems was, however, to be found with the trigono­
metrical survey. Stanger had a justifiably low opinion of the cartographers
who had preceded him. In a letter dated 2 April 1846 to the Secretary to
Government, Stanger described existing maps as "very erroneous". He pointed
out that Arrowsmith's map placed the Drakensberg some 70 miles too far
East and portrayed rivers inaccurately, and that such errors had been per­
petuated by the copying of other cartographers. Wyld's was the only map,
for example. showing Pietermaritzburg, but detracted from its accuracy
by the attribution to the town of an inaccurate line of longitude. But
Holden's later map of 1855 persisted in showing the Drakensberg to be a
mere 4000 to 5 000 feet high. Stanger travelled widely through Natal, wrote
a geographical description of the colony and made some fundamental
discoveries. He verified the sources of a number of rivers, recognized that the
Drakensberg incorporated a dog-leg shape and did not follow a simple
straight line, and proved that Natal was larger in area than had been thought
-at least 13 500 square miles depending on the trend of the Drakensberg
escarpment in Northern Natal, rather than the hitherto accepted 10 000.
Stanger had thus partially complied with a request from Donald Moodie,
Secretary to Government, dated 27 February 1846, to form a general idea
of the extent of Natal, in particular the Northern limits of the colony, the
trend of the Drakensberg and the height of its passes, and the sources of the
Buffalo and Umzimkulu Rivers. Moodie had in fact stressed the acceptability
of a "best estimate".
Apart from his written report on Natal, and in particular his comments
on territorial limits and agricultural potential, Stanger left tangible evidence
of his work in the form of two maps. The first was published in 1848 and
entitled Sketch of Natal shewing its proposed divisions, projected towns,
villages etc. Natal's boundaries were fixed mainly by river survey but relief
detail is sparse, the Drakensberg shows little elaboration, and relief elsewhere
is highly simplified. Even Stanger perpetuated the positioning of the
Drakensberg too far to the East and rectified this too severely in his second
map The District of Natal, published in 1850, which shows the mountains
18 miles too far West. Yet again the topographic base of this map is over
simplified, but the map is more precise than any contemporary publication
and, in showing albeit simplified farm boundaries, can claim to be the first
topo-cadastral map of Natal. The farms shown are those granted in 1843
and 1848 in the form of registered and Land Commission farms, while Crown
Lands and African locations are also shown. Contemporary maps of the
Eastern Province and Border show far greater relief detail, although this
can, of course, be related to comparative states of development. Stanger
himself was the first to point out the limitations of his work and he adds in
32 William Stanger

a footnote to his 1848 map that in parts it is little more than a sketch and
the surveyed areas, as well as being limited, contain an element of estimation.
Such an admission highlights Stanger's professional status at a time when
amateur cartographers were publishing a wide variety of cartographic non­
sense as accurate surveys. However, it can in no sense be claimed that in the
first nine years of the Surveyor-General's department's existence Stanger
was able to carry out his terms of reference regarding a trigonometrical
survey of Natal.
Explanations of this inability are to be found in Stanger's correspondence,
primarily with the Secretary to Government. The difficulties he encountered
can be grouped under the broad headings of the physical; financial;
official policy and staffing; cartographic; and the burden of other
responsibilities. The physical difficulties involved in the topographic mapping
of Natal in the mid-nineteenth century were immense and were indeed not
fully solved until the advent of aerial photography ninety years later. Stanger
had to contend with vast distances, a lack of roads combined with horse-back
travel and, when surveying, progressing at the pace of oxen. The supply of
unreliable and sub-standard ox teams for his wagon was not the least of his
worries. The terrain and vegetation were such that much of Natal could
be surveyed only by theodolite and the climatic extremes of summer and
winter resulted in floods and drought with their concomitant problems.
Nearly forty years later the report on the Geodetic Surveyl listed the hazards
of mist, heavy rains and grass fires as retarding progress and these problems
would have affected Stanger's work in no small measure.
Stanger was under constant pressure to hasten the progress of rural
surveys. For example, a letter dated 20 January 18462 asks for a reason for
the delay over farm surveys in response to prompting from London. Not
only were the physical difficulties great but local administrative problems
frustrated progress. These included conflicting claims to land arising from
the transfer of the administration from the Boers to the British. The
Volksraad had granted land without surveyor registration and the new
British administration was slow to deal with claims, leading to a three-way
clash between Pietermaritzburg, London and the settlers themselves. 3
Stanger clearly did not remain neutral in this context - a certain A. J. Spies,
writing in April 1848,4 accuses the Surveyor-General of robbing the Boers
of land. Above all was the problem of finance. Landowners were held
responsible for survey fees incurred, and deeds and survey plans were with­
held until the necessary sums were paid. Many farmers, however, could not
afford the money at this early stage of Natal's development and the colonial
government in Cape Town refused to advance the necessary finance.
Considering that small farm survey fees could amount to twice the value
of the land, it is perhaps surprising that any surveying was carried out.
Clark gives the example of land valued at 1/- per acre costing 2/3d. to survey.s
The parsimony of the colonial government was of crucial importance. In a
personal letter to F. Becker, Clerk to the Resident Magistrate at Ladysmith,
on 17 May 1852, John Bird, the acting Surveyor-General, explained the
drawbacks of the system of finance. Each department was required to budget
by the month but approval of forward budgeting was frequently delayed
and would often result in the unavailability of money for a particular month,
as in fact happened in May 1852, with neither the Treasury nor the Surveyor­
William Stanger 33

General able to release money. The financial stringency of the times is best
illustrated by the attitude of the administration to the purchase of carto­
graphic instruments. For example, on 14 April 1848 Stanger was still
awaiting approval of the costs of instruments from the Secretary of State. 6
This followed his request on 17 February for £125 worth of instruments - a
theodolite, chain, barometer, level, perambulator, chronometer, transit
instruments and measures. Eventually Stanger's request for a chronometer
and transit instruments was rejected because they were not available in Cape
Town. Stanger maintained that these were necessary for calculating azimuths
of larger triangles and laying down of base lines respectively, and proceeded
to provide them at his own expense. By August Stanger was hampered by
a lack of a good theodolite in his laying down of base lines. Like many
cartographers before him, he had problems in calculating longitude using
bearings and distances, the root cause of the misplacement of the Drakens­
berg on early maps of Natal. Ironically the subject of instruments was raised
again in 1851 1 when Bird, acting Surveyor-General, requested a sextant,
Stanger having prudently taken his own on leave to England.
Stanger also had staff problems, although these can only have been
exacerbated by the Surveyor-General's irascible nature. Initially there was
a shortage of qualified surveyors and although numbers later came forward
there was a constant problem of dishonest practitioners. In September 1846,
for example, Stanger warned his surveyors against conducting private work
detrimental to their public function. On 22 August 1850 the authorities
decided that errors in farm surveys conducted by Cloete should be rectified
at public expense. By this time Cloete had left the public service. In 1852,
acting Surveyor-General Bird complained to surveyors 8 that farmers in the
Klip River area could not find the locations of the beacons delimiting their
land because they had been inadequately described. A comparison of new
plans and descriptions of the original beacons suggested that farms' best land
had sometimes been excised. In a directive which implies that he doubted
the efficiency of his employees, Bird demanded a list of beacons on each
farm and a p:uarantee that these had been pointed out on the spot to each
farmer, together with explanations for subsequent alterations. There was,
in addition, constant negligence in communicating the receipt of survey fees
to the Surveyor-General's office, by surveyors in the field.
The cartographic consequences of these factors were severe. The Surveyor­
General's correspondence is full of their effects on both specific farm and
general topographic survey. The financial problems meant that a general
survey was an impossibility, and in April 1846 Stanger estimated the probable
cost of a general triangulation at £4000 spread over five years. It would,
however, have been possible to build up such a survey from specific farm
surveys, that is to say, work in a deductive way, had these surveys been
contiguous. That they were not, resulted in a patchwork of surveys
characterized by overlap and omission. In the Byrne valley area the
authorities expected the plotting of lots as small as t acre in extent at a
scale of 1 : 31 680 to 1 : 47 520, a technically difficult operation. 1o At the
other end of the scale the surveying of 6 000 acre first class farms in isolation
was less detrimental to a general survey, but Stanger apologized to Moodie l l
for unavoidable errors, explaining that it was impossible to pinpoint farms
and farmhouses without sufficient points of reference. Indeed, although some
34 William Slanger

farms were actually surveyed, those based on the 1848 inspections owed their
boundaries to estimated distances and no reliance could be placed on them
or the extent of the intervening land. Both Stanger and Bird refused to
accept full responsibility for the accuracy of isolated plans unrelated to a
more general survey which Stanger described as essential." Stanger admitted
to having surveyed in 1847'3 unoccupied land between scheduled farms in
lieu of a definitive trigonometrical survey but no further mention was made
of this and financial constraints and the pressure of other work presumably
caused its abandonment. In future Crown Land was to be surveyed only
when there was a demand for land, as for example, with the large influx of
immigrants. With an eye to the future Stanger instructed his draughtsman
to prepare farm plans on the same scale as his projected trigonometrical
survey so that the former could be fitted more easily into a definitive survey
at a later date. Government policy led to an ad hoc survey system meeting
the needs of the moment without taking into account the future development
needs of the colony. As Stanger justifiably pointed out, the postponement of
a general survey for financial reasons was in reality a false economy and
the authorities were storing up future problems, particularly in relation to
unoccupied land. In one of his most persuasive letters'! Stanger argued
that a trigonometrical survey would be a valuable long-term investment and
not always an additional cost, for example, in the delimitation of the African
locations. Two years later the Drakensberg location had not been delimited
and it was impossible to say where the boundary between farms and the
location lay. IS
It is important to realize, however, that the joh of Surveyor-General in
mid-nineteenth century Natal was a broad one and Stanger had responsibili­
ties other than drawing up farm plans and a trigonometrical survey. He was
an agent of settlement as well as a recorder and was required to anticipate
settlement as well as formalizing that which had already taken place. From
time to time Stanger was required to undertake special tasks such as con­
ductin!! a topographic and hydrO(!raphic survey of St. Lucia,'" later
cancelled, and a survey of a suspected coalfield at Compem.ation. The laying
down of erven of future towns was considered a primary responsibility and
by mid-1849 Stanger was involved in the Land Commission, the Magisterial
Districts Commission, the employment of Africans on road building, the
collection of African taxes and improvements to the Durban-Pietermaritz­
burg road. The surveying of town sites, for example, involved resurvey work
after earlier efforts had been found to be faulty. Houses were discovered
to be occupying what should have been Commercial Road, Pietermaritzburg,
and property had to be evened up allowing for a road 83 feet wide, which
led to disputes with landowners. Similar problems arose in Durban.
William Stanger died on 14 March 1854 of pneumonia in Durban and
was huried in the West Street cemetery. At the time he was acting Secretary
to Government and it was not until 1856 that he was succeeded as Surveyor­
General by Peter Cormac Sutherland, who was to occupy the post until 1887.
Stanger himself had been absent from the colony on leave in England from
March 1851 to April 1853, and from 1851 onwards exercised progressively
decreasing influence on mapping in Natal. He cannot be said to have carried
out fully the terms of his original directive, nor did he fulfil what he
personally considered to be Natal's mapping priorities. His maps. although
William Stanger 35

a distinct improvement on their forerunners, were not unfailingly accurate.

In this connexion it has to be remembered that no map, especially in the
mid-nineteenth century, is an entity in itself - all draw upon previous maps
in a cumulative process. Additional physical, administrative, financial,
human and technical problems with which he had to contend have been
outlined above. Stanger stands apart from his contemporaries as a
cartographer for two reasons. Firstly, he was able to recognize the
limitations of his own work, and indeed to comment freely on these.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, he recognized the vital nature of
a general topographic survey for Natal in terms of its future economic
development. a need which the authorities proved unwilling, or unable, to
provide.
CHRISTOPHER MERR ETT

REFERENCES
I NATAL (Colony). Surveyor-General. Reoort. 1881.

, D. Moodie to W. Stanger. 20 January 1846.

" WRIGHT. John B. Buslzman raiders of the Drakensberg, 1840-J870. pp. 48-9 .
• A. J. Spies to W. Stanger. 1 April 1848.

:, CLARK. J, Natal Settler-Agent. pp. 26-7.

., D. Moodie to W. Stanger. 14 April 1848.

; J. Bird to D. Moodie. 11 September 1851.

, J. Bird to G. Greaves, G. Moodie and C. Bell. 4 August 1852.

'W. Stanger to D. Moodie. 2 April 1846.

'" CLARK. J. op. cit. p. 20.

11 W. Stanger to D. Moodie. \0 December 1847.

'" W. Stanger to D. Moodie. 7 September, 10 December 1847; 19 January. 10 September

1850.
l3 W. Stanger to D. Moodie. 7 September 1847.
"W. Stanger to D. Moodie. 10 September 1850.
.. J. Bird to D. Moodie. 13 August 1852.
'" D. Moodie to W. Stanger. 17 April 1849.
SOURCES
All correspondence referred to above is to be found at the Natal Archives Depot in the
Surveyor-General's Office (SGO) archive. The relevant letter books are listed as: Her
Majesty's Commissioner (H. Cloete) correspondence 1842-1846; Letters despatched and
Letters Received 1845-1853. Other sources were:
BROOKES, E. and WEBB, C. de B. A History of Natal. Pietermaritzburg, University of
Natal Press. 1965.
CLARK, John. Natal Settler-Agent. Cape Town, Balkema, 1972.
DICTIONARY OF SOUTH AFRICAN BIOGRAPHY. Stanger, WilIiam. Volume 2
p.702.
NATAL (Colony). Surveyor-General. Report. 188()'1904.
STANDARD ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. Stanger, WiIliam. Vol. 10
p. 244. (Contribution by R. and N. Musiker)
WRIGHT, John B. Buslzman raiders of the Drakensberg, 1840-70. Pietermaritzburg
University of Natal Press, 1971. '
36

A Man of Natal

Adolf' Joseph Wilhelm Bayer

1900-1978

Visitors to the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg often comment

upon the pleasing aspects of the main campus. The beauty of the mature
trees, set as they are in fairly extensive lawns, is obvious to all who walk
beneath their dappled shade: not everyone, however, knows enough of
their variety, their history and their intrinsic interest to appreciate them
as a memorial to one of the University'S most dedicated sons, Adolf Joseph
Wilhelm Bayer.
Adolf Bayer occupied the Chair of Botany in the University from 1939
to 1966, a period of twenty-seven years. Before this he had been student,
then lecturer in the same department. After retirement he was to return
at the request of the University authorities to serve as Vice-Principal
after the sudden death of his friend and colleague, Professor S. F. Bush.
Those who had contact with Bayer long enough to know him well, could
not have failed to sense the strong sincerity in his commitment to the
University. This was not evinced merely by his contributions to his
chosen subject and to the progress of his Department, aspects that might
reflect directly his personal capabilities, aims and endeavours - it was
something deeper, wider and much more selfless, a dedication to all that
the University stands for in the community it serves. He believed that as
Head of Department his duty lay as much without the University as
within it. This led to involvement in numerous projects, association with
many people in varied fields, travelling, lecturing, guiding. For years he
was a member of the Advisory Committee of the Botanical Survey of
South Africa, supervising ecological research in Natal, particularly in the
coastal areas. This brought him into close contact with what is now the
Botanical Research Institute of the Department of Agricultural Technical
Services. Several members of the Institute staff were his contemporaries,
and in time they gave place to his own postgraduate students. This
ecological work in coastal and midland Natal suited his background well,
for after his appointment in 1931 as lecturer-in-charge of the Botany
Department, he was requested by the government Department of Forestry
to undertake a survey of the Dukuduku area. This work led on to
ecological studies in the rest of Zululand. Much of this country. especially
the most northerly Tongaland. was then very little known floristically.
His studies resulted in the award of the D.Sc. degree in 1936.
With the late Dr. J. S. HenkeL a forester of considerable experience
and a keen field observer. he was commissioned by the Executive Com­
mittee of the Natal Provincial Administration to undertake studies into
the prevalence of ngana in Zululand, especially in the Hluhluwe area.
with the hope of markedly reducing and eventually eradicating this disease.
A. 1. W. BA YER
Photograph: The Natal Witness, Pietermaritzburg

H. C. LUGG
Phot ograph : Daily News, Durban

E. H. BROOKES
Photograph: The Natal Witness, Pietermaritzburg
Adol! loseph Wilhelm Bayer 37

Their discovery that puparia laid by the flies died in dry soil led to
the concept of the eradication of these insects in their restricted winta
breeding grounds, which line of attack proved most successful.
In 1964 he was appointed a member of the St. Lucia Lake Commission,
a body whose terms of reference included investigation into causes of
the increasing salinity of this natural water system, an environmental
change which endangered it as a wild life haven.
He was associated conjointly with the Natal Town and Regional
Planning Commission and the Botanical Research Institute in the
ecological surveys of the Tugela River Basin and the "Three Rivers
Region" (the country between the Tugela and Mkomanzi river basins)
undertaken by doctoral students. He was a member of many societies,
holding office in some of them: he served a term as President of the
South African Association for the Advancement of Science and of the
Natal Section of the Botanical Society of South Africa. Before his
retirement he was honoured by being elected to a Fellowship of the
Royal Society of South Africa.
Professor Bayer's greatest contribution lies probably in the students
whom he trained during his forty-two years as a member of the
University staff. He worked in Natal, but through his students his influence
became widespread, since many came to hold important posts in all parts
of the country. He was much concerned with training in the art of
communication, guiding his postgraduate students in the writing of theses
and scientific articles. This was not always pleasant for the student, for
he could be provocative and changeable and tended to payout rope until
one had almost hanged oneself, while despairing of ever producing
something worthwhile!
His hobbies were mostly connected with his work: he enjoyed the field
and many a seed went into his pocket as he trudged through the vegetation,
later to be tended as a young potted plant before being set out as a
specimen on campus, or handed over to an ardent gardener prepared to
nurture it further. It is to Professor Bayer that we owe the acacias,
yellow-woods, Kafir-booms, cycads and others far less familiar, that grace
the campus today. He spent many years photographing in colour Natal
plants and Natal vegetation, and built the basis of a collection of
transparencies that has been much used within the Department.
He liked experimentation and found pleasure in trying to photograph
difficult small objects like spores and tiny fruits effectively, and in attempting
to devise inexpensive eauioment useful to his students. Fond of the open
air he enioyed fishing and other sports, especially rugby. He followed keenly
the achievements of the University rugby teams and was a member of the
Pietermaritzburg Rugby Sub-Union for 20 years. In the later years of his
life he gardened enthusiastically and at Kloof where he retired, created
his own small forest at "the bottom of the garden".
It is fitting that Adolf Bayer be remembered in these pages, for he
was essentially a man of Natal. Born at Hermannsburg in 1900, the son
of W. J. Bayer of Stanger, he matriculated from Durban Boys' High School
and entered Natal University in Pietermaritzburg about a decade after
its inception when the first Profe,sor of Botany, J. W. Bews, was finding
for himself the fascination of research in a new hemisphere and in a
country where few with ecological interest had walked before. Bews, with
38 Adol! loseph Wilhelm Bayer

his brilliant questioning mind and his enthusiasm, fired his students wit:l
his own interest, but he gave them too a philosophy of living which Bayer,
young, confident and able, was to be influenced by for the rest of his life.
Bayer never forgot the contribution Bews had made, not only to world
ecology ~ for it is remarkable that he did achieve this from his new and
small department in the young University -- but to those who came within
the spell of his teaching and his own stimulating though quiet personality.
It was amongst Bayer's deepest wishes that under his own period (Jf
guidance, the department which Bews had begun so successfully, should
develop further. There is no doubt that he achieved this aim despite the
setback of the Second World War and the stringent financial period of
rapid expansion which followed.
In 1929 Adolf Bayer married Miss Daphne Pallent of Durban, also a
graduate of Natal University who herself contributed worthily to education
within the Province. Their children, two daughters and a son, all married
and with families, live in England and Australia.
There is a second reason why this man should be remembered in this
journal. He contributed to it himself. Having grown up at a time when
botany in Natal \vas very young, he knew personally some of the early
collectors and naturalists, like Rudatis of Dumisa who would deny himself
food in order to have the means to proceed with his botanical collecting
and conservation. and T. R. Sim who worked prodigiously, writing and
personally illustrating. while pursuing his duties in forestry. accounts of
South African ferns and mosses which have not yet been superseded.
Bayer had a fund of anecdotes about early Natal botanists and wrote
delightfully of the history of botany in this Province. Essentially simple
in his own way of life and naturally deeply reserved despite his outward
confidence, Adolf Bayer appreciated the qualities of the early workers
and the difficulties with which they often had to contend in pursuance
of their interests.
It is fitting that he who gave so much of his life to the University of
Natal and who so unobtrusively aided those of any race and colour who
showed scientific promise but who were limited financially, should have
been honoured soon after his retirement by the award of an Honorary
Doctorate in Science from his Alma Mater. Fitting, too, that at the time
of his death in early December, 1978, the two flamboyants he had planted
among the University buildings wore wreaths of scarlet blossom.

K. D. GORDON-GRAY
 39

Edgar Harry Brookes

1897-1979
Edgar Brookes died on 22nd April, 1979. His was a great life, richly
varied, richly creative. richly beneficial to his fellow-men. The people or
Natal are privileged to have been able to count him amongst their number.
He was not a South African by birth, but no "son of the soil" was (\
more devoted South African than he.
He came to Natal from England with his parents in 1901, when he had
just turned four. The long agony of the Anglo-Boer war had all but ended,
and it was to a British-dominated South Africa that the small boy was
brought. It says much of the man that the first cause to which he felt
himself drawn was that of defeated Afrikanerdom. The epic story of this
pioneer people captured his imagination; its recent sufferings fired hi~
indignation and sympathy; and he gave expression to his feelings in :.\
volume of republican verse, published when he was a young man in his
twenties. A long pilgrimage lay ahead; but the end of that journey was
implicit in its beginnings. Illuminating his compassion for the Afrikaner
was a Christian faith which would, as it developed, lead him away from
sectionalism to delight in the brotherhood of men, and devotion to the
cause of a society free of discrimination.
In later life, Edgar Brookes would liken himself to a second-rate
1. H. Hofmeyr. It was one of the few dubiously just judgments of a very
just man. The similarities were there, of course; and when they are
compared, Edgar Brookes does, it seems, trail the man whom he so greatly
admired. There were, for example, the precocious, but unequal, scholastic
achievements: Hofmeyr matriculated first class at the age of twelve:
Brookes matriculated second class at the age of fourteen. There were the
youthful, but unevenly matched, publishing achievements: Hofmeyr pro­
duced a biography of his uncle. "Onze Jan", when he was in his teens:
Brookes produced a volume of political verse when he was in his twentie'S.
There were the brilliant. but unequal, early academic careers: Hofmeyr.
after studying at the South African College and at Oxford, was appointed
Professor of Classics at the Johannesburg School of Mines when he was
twenty-two, and became principal of that institution three years later:
Srookes. after studying as an external student through the University of
South Africa, was appointed lecturer in Political Science at the Transvaal
University College when he was twenty-three, and became a professor it:
that institution six years later. There were also the public careers: Hofmeyr
was selected to serve as administrator of the Transvaal when he was twenty­
seven. and after some vicissitudes rose to be deputy prime minister of the
Union of South Africa; Brookes was selected to serve as a South African
delegate at the League of Nations when he was thirty. and after some
vicissitudes became a senator representing Natal African interests in the
Union parliament.
When all this has been said, there were dimensions to the life of Edgrl:'
40 Edgar Harry Brookes

Brookes that were lacking in the life of J. H. Hofmeyr. Brookes was a

"whole man" in a way that Hofmeyr was not - less brilliant, to be sure,
but very brilliant nevertheless, and blessed with a maturity of the emotions
and the spirit which Hofmeyr seemed to lack. To continue the comparison
could only diminish both, for greatness is not cast in a single mould.
Though they shared much in common, they were, in the last analysis, very
different men. It is fortunate for South Africa that they were.
Throughout his career, Edgar Brookes was conscious of his development
being shaped not simply by his own will and purposes, but also by chance
interventions, twists of fortune, that were beyond his personal control.
For the people of Natal, one such moment stands out as particularly
important: his failure to secure the South African Party nomination for
the Pretoria East constituency in 1933. By then, the great metamorphosis
in his outlook had already begun. He had renounced the segregationist
principles which had informed his first major work of scholarship,
The History of Native Policy in South Africa from 1830 to the Present Day.
He and a number of other prominent South Africans (amongst whom were
C. T. Loram, J. D. Rheinallt Jones, D. D. T. Jabavu, R. F. A. Hoernle and
Leo Marquard) had established the South African Institute of Race Relations;
and he was also working in close collaboration with J. H. Hofmeyr. For a
man with his views and interests, an academic career at Pretoria University
had ceased to be appropriate. He decided accordingly to resign his professor­
ship in Political Science for a life in active politics. But the unfavourable
Pretoria East nomination decision cut that career short before it had properly
begun. Without a university chair and without a seat in parliament. he turned
to fund-raising for the Institute of Race Relations, of which he had been
elected president in 1933; and in 1934 he made his headquarters in Durban.
Natal. which had been his home in childhood and youth. now became
his home again. With his return to it there began a career of service to his
fellow-men in an awe-inspiring variety of roles: as principal of Adams College
from 1934 to 1945: as senator representing the Africans of Natal from 1937
to 1952; as a member of numerous government committees and commissions; I
as a South African representative at UNESCO in 1947; as a churchman and
a member of many influential public bodies;" as an academic at Natal Uni­
versity, Pietermaritzburg, from 1953 to 1969;3 as a visiting scholar at a variety
of distinguished overseas institutions of learning; as chairman of the Natal
Convention in 1961; as national chairman of the Liberal Party from 1963
to 1968; as a teacher at St John's Diocesan College, Pietermaritzburg, in the
late sixties and early seventies, as a priest of the Anglican Church from 1973
until his death; and as a friend of the needy throughout.
During his years as an academic in Pretoria, Edgar Brookes had, in addition
to his History of Native Policy, produced two important volumes, one entitled
The Colour Prohlem of South Africa, the other Native Education in South
Africa. He had also contributed to such notable works as Coming of Age and
I. Schapera's Western Civilisation and the Natives of South Africa. Thereafter
for twenty years, while he was principal of Adams and a Senator in the Union
parliament, the nature of his activities changed. For the printed record of his
ideas and opinions one has to scour sources such as newspapers and journals,
the publications of the Institute of Race Relations, and government documents,
including the outwardly uninviting volumes of Senate Debates, to whose pages
Edgar Harry Brookes 41

his Augustan oratory contributed an unfamiliar. but welcome. literary splen­

dour. Then, with his return to academic life at Natal University in 1953, a new
phase of scholarly and literary activity began and gathered momentum until.
in the late fifties and the sixties. his pen seemed never to be still. The pattern
can be seen in the publication dates of some of the more important of his
works: South Africa in a Changing World, 1953; The Native Reserves of
Natal (written in collaboration with N. Hurwitz). 1957; Civil Liberty in South
Africa (written in collaboration with J. B. Macaulay), 1958; The Common­
wealth Today, 1959; The City of God and the Politics of Crisis, 1960; Power,
Law, Right and Love: A Study in Political Values, 1962; A History of Natal
(written in collaboration with C. de B. Webb). 1965; A History of the Uni­
versity of Natal, 1966; Apartheid: A Documentary Study of Modern South
Africa, 1968; White Rule in South Africa (a revision of his History of Native
Policy), 1974; and A South African Pilgrimage, 1977.
These achievements won him high academic honours in this country and
abroad. In different circumstances, he might have been the recipient of others.
for there were - in addition to the students and intellectuals who gained en­
richment from his teaching and writing - millions of human beings who had
no means of honouring him. but whose needs and interests were his constant
concern. To that it must. in fairness. be added that amongst his compatriots
there were some who would gladly have seen him stripped of all honour. The
principles which he arrived at through his faith and his scholarship were not
universally shared; and they ran so directly and strongly into his public life
that responses to him could never be neutral. Political scientist, historian.
cleric, he lived by his Christianity, and saw it as his moral responsibility to
contribute (so far as his abilities and the times would allow) to the shaping of
history by active involvement in politics. Such a man was bound to have
critics and enemies in great number. He never flinched in the face of their
threats; nor did he respond to their attacks with rancour. Wit was his weapon
rather than hate.
If compassion. intellectual brilliance, courage, generosity of spirit and
humour were some of the qualities that distinguished Edgar Brookes, this
was not the full range. He was a complex man. A scintillating common-room
companion, and a convivial dinner-table guest, he was difficult to get to
know, nevertheless. He treasured his friendships; but they deepened very
slowly. Passionate by nature, he was also shy of intimacy. and preferred to
build most of his relationships round light-hearted banter and. more seriously.
round discussion of matters of general concern. He was also a man of driving
ambition. He knew this. and at times it troubled him. He needed to score up
achievements; he was gratified by the honours that came to him; and he found
amusement in being able to claim all the titles appropriate to the male sex on
a South African income tax form: "The Hon., Prof., Dr., Rev., Mr.". One of
the more difficult challenges of his life was that of reconciling himself to the
fact that in public affairs he was "the coming man" who never "arrived". He
saw this as a sign of failure. But the explanation was different. His life took
the course it did because principle was stronger in him than his very strong
ambition. It was this that made his talents so fruitful; and it was this that
made him a great man.
C. deB. WEBB
42 Edgar Harry Brookes

NOTES:
'Particularlv important for Natal was the University of South Africa Com;nission,
which met under Brookes's chairmanship. Its report included recommendations
under which the Natal University College was to gain autonomy as the University
of Natal.
.. Of the various public bodies on which he served, the South African Institute of
Race Relations continued to enjoy his particularly vigorous support. He was twice
president of the Institute during this period. His services as a lay member of the
Anglican Church was recognised by the conferment upon him of membership of
the Order of Simon of Cyrene in 1962.
'After serving briefly as a temporary lecturer in thl! Department of History and
Political Science, he was appointed Senior Lecturer in 1954, and in 1959 he became
the university's third Professor of History and Political Science in succession to
A. F. Hattersley and A. M. Kcppel-Jones. On his retirement at the end of 1962,
he remained closely associated with the university in a number of different capa­
cities until 1969. It was during his tenure of the headship of the Department that
plans were laid for a new History oj Natal to supersede Robert Russell's Natal;
the Land and it.~ Story, The new History, written after his retirement, is now in its
third imprint.
 43

Harr.y Camp Lugg

1882-1978

At the time of his death in November last year at the age of 96, all the
leading Natal newspapers featured obituaries recalling the life and career
of Harry Lugg, from court interpreter at the turn of the century, to
magistrate, and finally to Chief Commissioner for Native Affairs in Natal.
His subsequent appointment to the Health Commission (five years) was
mentioned, and his post as Welfare Officer at King Edward VIII Hospital
(12 years), from which he retired at about the age of 80. His next
appointment (!) was as representative of the Permanent Building Society in
its dealings with the Zulu people, and it was he who invented the Zulu
equivalent for "Savings Account", Kwagcinamafa, "where the inheritances
are preserved".
His qualities were widely recognised: administrative ability, fair-mindedness,
understanding; an authority on Zulu life, language and culture; the author
of several books on early Natal and Zulu history. I would simply like to add
that his magisterial sense of justice was surely always tempered by the mercy
of his sympathy, and softened by his sense of humour.
Here, however, I would like to record a lesser known quality; that of
scholarship. He was a scholar in the real sense of the word: always humble,
almost unaware of the extent of his knowledge; always inquiring, always
researching into Zulu beliefs and attitudes. He never relied solely on his
own knowledge, but would go to the people themselves: old men he had met
at the hospital, school teachers, painters or gardeners, men whom he knew
to be knowledgeable on particular matters. "The best thing I ever did was
to let Mrs Hoemlc persuade me to take the Witwatersrand Diploma in
Bantu Studies. It opened my eyes for the first time to the meaning of so
many Zulu customs. She was a wonderful woman, Mrs Hoernlc." (She was
the first lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of the Witwaters­
rand.) How many "authorities" on "native affairs" would admit that they
could learn anything from a university diploma?
Although he was so great an authority, he frequently admitted that there
were things he did not know about the Zulu people: "I have never lived with
them, you know". He was never heard to utter such South Africanisms as
"I have lived with Zulus all my life" and "I was born and brought up
amongst the Zulus", meaning that the speaker had played with them as a
child; as indeed had Harry Lugg, and he-rded and hunted with them in his
boyhood. And yet his knowledge was so deep, stemming not only from
memory and experience, but from his scholarly attitude of mind, always
seeking to learn; and his perception and interpretation of Zulu concepts
stemmed from this same scholarly attitude. No-one has seen to the heart
of the Zulu concept of "insila" (personal essence) as has Harry Lugg (sec
Chapter 1, Zulu Religious Beliefs, in Life under a Zulu Shield; also Section
44 Harry Camp Lugg

1, Religion, in A Guide to the Zulu Social System). What does the standard
Zulu dictionary say? "Body-dirt"!
1 had heard about Mr. Lugg for a long time, but 1 hesitated to approach
him, because of his great age and authority. It was he who approached me,
after reading about my work in the newspaper, and from then a long ~eries
of visits began, and a deep friendship. On my return from long-leave in
England at the beginning of 1978, he wrote "I am glad to know you have
returned from England, but sorry to find that you are still a long way from
me. (I was living in Himeville at the time, still on long-leave.) I have been
anxious to see you for many months." Why? While 1 was away, he had
produced his "Guide to the Zulu Social System" and he wanted me to see it.
He sent it to me; he incorporated my suggestions; he sent it back: "I hope
it will now meet with your approval, but do not hesitate to correct it further
if necessary". The grand old nonagenarian to the middle-aged upstart!
- the teacher to the disciple. He ended: "You must be finding it very cold
at Himeville at this time of the year. 1 well recall the trips we had to make
to hold branch court at the Underberg store in 1900 when 1 was stationed
at Bulwer".
My visits to Mr. Lugg, apart from the mutual interest, were occasioned
by his wanting to see me about his work [including the translation of
Magema Fuze's Abantu Abamnyama (The Black People), the first book
ever written in Zulu by a Zulu author, which 1 had persuaded him to under­
take, and which is shortly to be published by the University of Natal Press],
and by my wanting to see him about queries arising from the preparation
for publication by the University of Natal Press of the James Stuart Archive,
a vast collection of manuscript material relating to Zulu traditional life and
history, partly in English and partly in Zulu. The editors used to send the
difficulties down to me, and I would take the real teasers to Harry Lugg.
As his sight and hearing deteriorated, 1 had to print out the queries in a
large hand, and although communication became difficult towards the end,
he could still talk from a mind as lively as ever. It was sad to see his fine
and informed mind frustrated by the loss of his senses. He could read only
by a combination of two magnifying glasses held at different angles, the
one to magnify the print and one to magnify the light.
Because of his deafness, Mr. Lugg did not always immediately get the
point. On one occasion 1 asked him what he thought the name Nomagaga
meant. He told me about three Nomagagas, one at the time of Shaka, one
in the Richmond district, and one in the Greytown district, where, as a
young man in his early twenties, he had been sent out to a remote valley
to settle a boundary dispute. When he got there, he found a huge crowd
of people waiting to receive him and to hear his decision. The boundary
seemed quite clear to him, and, at this young age, he had the responsibility
to point it out. Nomagaga became very angry, and his men started to
.threaten that they would fight it out. "I was really scared, and it was
terribly hot, a real scorcher. 1 had only a few sardine sandwiches with me,
and a small flask of water, and by the time 1 got back to Greytown after a
long ride, 1 had the worst headache of my life."
"And what does Nomagaga mean?"
"Oh, it means an emaciated person, skin and bones", which is what 1
wanted to know, but 1 would not have missed the rest.
Harry Camp Lugg 45
Readers of Natalia may be interested to hear Mr. Lugg's answers to some
of the Stuart queries:

23.6.72 The king (Shaka) used to be shaved every two months or so.
Question His head or his face?
Answf'r The circular patch inside the head ring, which should always be
bare. Perhaps also the pubic hair, which should likewise not be
allowed to grow. The face did not matter·- wisps of hair could
be allowed to stay, if they grew, and even encouraged and
dressed.

23.4.74 One of Colenso's praises was Indlondlo yasEkukhanyeni.

Question Would his viper-like attributes have been his quickness of mind
or certain physical characteristics?
Answer Indlondlo is an old black mamba with a crest on the back of
his head, the remnant of successive sloughings, which the
natives call a feather and say it whistles ­ a common praisc­
name for an important and powerful person, which need not
refer to particular characteristics.

29.8.74 Makhonda was called Dambuza by Dingane.

Question Why?
Answer Dambuza is a common praise-name and means "toddler" or
"totterer". A man could get it as a child and retain it when
he grew up, or he could get it because of the way he walked.
Europeans are particularly prone to get it because of the way
they walk. The man who issued me with my interpreter's
certificate in 1902 was known as Dambuza: Mr. Harrison,
Under Secretary for Native Affairs, (Mr. Lugg knew everyone
who had ever been in the Department of Native Affairs ­ and
could tell stories about them!)

Also the Marole cattle: I had puzzled over the Marole cattle,
thinking that marole was the Suthu equivalent of mathole, and
so on. Lugg clicked immediately: Oh, yes, the Marole cattle,
izinkomo zikaMarole, and continued to relate that when the
Boers came to claim their cattle, the Zulus said they were to
be found at the place of the headman Marole down yonder,
and so off they went. When they got there, they were told that
it was not these, but those over there, at the place of another
headman. And so they went from pillar to post, and hence
the expression izinkomo zikaMaro!e. referring to cattle claimed
by the Boers.

13.10.78 The tribe had a medicine which could cause buffalo to leave
the forests and come and be herded like cattle. It is found at
incana where amaula are.
Questioli incana? {lmaula?
Answer The medicine is found on the Oribi Flats (which the local
natives used to call inconll or inClIne) where the aribi (amlllVulal
46 Harry Camp Lugg

live. I used to hunt there often with my father whe.n I was a

boy. There were so many oribi and they were so tame, that
they wouldn't even stand up, let alone run away, when
approached. This is why they were called amawula, because
they seemed to he so foolish. (The Zulu word for "fool" is
isiwula.)

This was the last Stuart query I raised with Harry Lugg, almost exactly a
year before his death. For once he was pleased with himself: "I don't think
many people would know about that today". Not many people today would
have hunted in the 1890s, and even if they had, they would not have so fine
a mind to recall it in this sort of detail.
A. T.COPE

BIIJLlOGRAPH¥
ARTICLES (other than newspaper articles).
The Praetice of Lobolo ill Natal. African Studies. Vol. 4. 1945. p. 23.

A Method for reproducing Zulu Words. African Studies. Vol. 11. 1952. p. 35.

Mr. LlIg~ also wrote an article on 'ukweshwama', first-fruit ceremonies, for African

Studies in the early days (circa 1930) when it was still called Bantu Studies, under the

title Agricultural Ceremonies ill Notal and Zululand. Otherwise all his publtcation~

followed his retirement.

BOOKS
HiHoric Natal and Zululand. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter, 1949.

A Handbook for Doctors ill the treatmellt of Zulu Patien/5. (With Dr. G. D. Campbell).

Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1960.

Zulu Place Names in Natal. Durban: Daily News, 1968.

A Natal Family looks back. Durban: Griggs, 1970.

Life under a Zulu Shield. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter, 1975.

Places of interest ill Natal and Zululand. Privately published, 1978.

A Guide ta (he Zulll Social System. Privately published posthumously, 1979.

 47

Notes al1d Queries

'Humiliatiou and Prayer'

At tim.es during the first part of this year it almost seemed as if the
Anglo-Zulu War Centenary was receiving more attention than even the
events of 1879 did. A special issue of South African postage stamps, a
Conference at the University of Natal, several new books and centenary
numbers of journals, in addition to the official commemorations at the
battlefields, all helped to keep the War in the public mind.
A Centenary event which did not receive wide press coverage but which
will be noted with particular interest by our readers was the public reading
of Colenso's sermon delivered on 6 March 1879 (reprinted in full in Natalia
6, 1976). The following note was supplied by Mr T. B. Frost of Pietermaritz­
burg.

Six weeks after the battle of lsandhlwana the Governor, Sir Henry
Bulwer, summoned the bereaved colonists of Natal to observe a 'Day
of Humiliation and Prayer in consequence of the great Disaster at
Isandhlwana on January 22nd, 1879'. Throughout the Colony the as
yet unburied dead, both Volunteers and Imperial troops, were com­
memorated in pious memorial services.
In the Cathedral of St. Peter in Pietermaritzburg, however, Bishop
Colenso declared 'I will not prostitute my sacred office by speaking
peace to you when there is no peace .. .' and proceeded to deliver one
of the great prophetic sermons of the church in Natal on the text 'He
hath shown thee, 0 man, what is good! And what doth the Lord
require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God'?' (Micalz vi, 8).
In the multitude of activities conferences, lectures, tours, exhibitions,
essay competitions and commemorative ceremonies - which marked the
1979 Centenary of the Anglo-Zulu War, Colenso's famous sermon was not
forgotten. On the night of Sunday, 11th March, a large congregation from
many denominations gathered in St. Peter's church for Evensong. After an
introductory address on the life and work of the Bishop delivered by the
Rev. lan Darby. the Rev. Charles Parry. the Sub-Dean, re-read Colenso's
sermon. Though the circumstances have changed immeasurably, the prin­
ciples which, following in the tradition of the prophets of old, Colenso so
courageously proclaimed. are as applicable to the South Africa of today as
to the Natal of 1879.
For 'Thus saith the Lord. let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might; but let him that glorieth
glory in this. that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that 1 am the Lord
who exercise lovingkindness. jUdgement, and righteousness, in the earth:
for in these I delight, saith the Lord'.
48 Notes and Queries

Looking blackward
Black history
At the University of Natal's Conference on the Anglo-Zulu War black
speakers challenged the traditional 'white' interpretation of history and
called for a fresh look at South Africa's past and for the writing of 'black'
history.
Historians concerned about the black viewpoint will be greatly assisted
by the oral history programme recently launched by the Killie Campbell
Africana Library, and described here by the Librarian, Ms J. Duggan.
The Oral History Programme of the Killie Campbell Africana Library
was formally instituted at the beginning of 1979 by the appointment of
two researchers. The programme, the first of its kind in Natal, was
undertaken to supplement existing material relating to the history of
Black people in Natal and Zululand. The last major attempt to record
oral evidence relating to the history of the Zulu people was made
between 1902 and 1922 by James Stuart and the information he
collected; which is contained in his papers housed in the Library, is
presently being edited and published. (c. de B. Webb and J. B. Wright,
eds. The lames Stuart Archive. Vol. I. Pietermaritzburg, University of
Natal Press, 1976. Volume n is scheduled to appear before the end
of 1979.)
The researchers appointed to the Killie Campbell Africana Library
Oral History Programme are focusing on four broad themes. These are:
(i) The major historical events of the past century and the early
part of this century;
Cii) Black political or labour movements in Natal and Zululand;
(iii) The response of Blacks to some of the major economic, cultural
and social dislocations of this century, particularly phenomena
such as urbanisation, labour migration and the growth of a black
proletariat;
(iv) Regional studies from the point of view of the 'common man'.
Taped interviews are summarised and indexed and the tapes are housed
in the Killie Campbell Africana Library for use by researchers. To date
over 60 interviews have been conducted, the results of which have been
gratifying in view of the many difficulties involved.
Some of the more important interviews are listed below, together with
a brief outline of the major topics of discussion.

Interviewee Subject
Adams College.
Dr and Mrs E. Brookes
Mr R. R. Mbongwe Adams College; Black business in Natal; Kwa­
Zulu politics; Inkatha.
MrH. M. S. Makhanya Black education in Natal; history of the Um­
bumbulu area; Sibusisiwe Makhanya.
MrO. Kunene Black journalism in South Africa; history of
Ilanga.
MrP. Gumede Black business in Natal; history of Inanda.
Chief L. Mini History of the amaKholwa and of Edendale.
Notes and Queries 49
Mr S. Msimang Personal history; history of Edendale.
MrS. Mtolo History of labour movement in Natal; con­
ditions in KwaMashu; Inkatha and opposition.
Mrs H. Sibisi Life in Mapumulo district in the early part of
this century; Bambatha Rebellion.
Mrs R. Mooyi Position of Black women in Natal.
Mr J. Makhatini History of the Metal and Allied Workers'
Union; trade unionism in Natal.
Mr C. C. Majola History of KwaMashu; activities of the Urban
Foundation in KwaMashu.
Mrs A. Mnguni History of Cato Manor; history of KwaMashu;
community work in KwaMashu.
Mrs B. Mkize The Industrial and Commercial Workers'
Union of Africa; Association of African
Women; pass resistance.
Mr. H. Mnyandu History of Umlazi; urbanisation of mission
reserve.
Mr W. Masinga History of Umlazi; urbanisation of mission
reserve.

The programme is at present operating on a limited budget and largely

in isolation, oral history being a new discipline in South Africa. Attempts
have therefore been made to work in conjunction with academic and
interested institutions in order to pool information and ensure the
most efficient use of resources.

Black biography
Nearly 50 years ago the black point of view was put forward in a work of
reference that is so full of interest that it deserves to be better known today.
The African Yearly Register: being an illustrated national biographical
dictionary (Who's Who) of black folks in Africa was compiled by T. D.
Mweli Skota (General Secretary of the African National Congress) and
published in Johannesburg in 1931. We quote the Publisher's Foreword.
In view of the most vital problem - the present-day and future social
and economic relationships of the white, coloured and black populations
- the publication of a black man's 'Who's Who' may help to relieve
much of the obscurity at present surrounding the question. Obviously,
a work of this nature, particularly in the biographical section, win
suggest points of view on history and present-day political, industrial
and religious organisation not fully appreciated today. The absence of
bitterness and useless dialectical provocation is most noticeable through­
out the biographies. Like all first editions of a comprehensive nature,
this book has, no doubt, many omissions and will bear criticism, but
withal that we place it on the market as a unique work of reference.
This book is also unique in that it is entirely written by the black folks
themselves.
I n the Preface Skota refers to the traditional schoolbook picture of
Africans and we know that such views were fairly widely held.
50 Notes and Queries

They are deemed to be savages prone to witchcraft, cannibalism and

other vices credited to barbarians. Even historians are wont to record
the worst that is in some of the great Africans they sometimes mention
in their books. The result is obvious; young children reading in their
schoolbooks that their kings and ancestors were murderers, traitors,
etc., are tempted to feel ashamed of their race. In this book the lives
of such men as Tshaka, Moshoeshoe, Crowther, Tiyo Soga, Montsioa,
Khame and others are portrayed by African contributors, and in each
case a genuine historical summary has been given to show, without
favour, the qualities of these sons of Africa.
The first part of this book of 450 pages consists of biographies of Africans
varying in length from a few lines to more than two pages. Although most
of the subjects were born in what was, at the time of writing, the Union
of South Africa, other African Colonies and Protectorates are generously
represented. It is interesting that although some members of the Zulu royal
house are treated in detail others are entirely omitted; there is no explanation
at all of why Dingane, Dinizulu and Tshaka are included while Cetshwayo
and Mpande are not.
The 'Who's Who' section follows the biographies and once again the
compiler has cast his net wide. Among the Natal figures are well-known
personalities such as A. W. G. Champion and Selby Msimang, and also a
number of people who are less famous but who also provided dynamic black
leadership in the churches, business, education, law, music, social services
and politics. An interesting couple, for example, were Mr and Mrs Alfred
Mangena. He was the first African Barrister-at-Law in South Africa, having
been called to the Bar after eating his dinners at Lincoln's Inn. His death
in 1924 at the early age of 45 cut short both his promising legal career in
Johannesburg and his marriage to Miss A. V. Ncobela of Mapumulo. After
attending the Inanda Seminary (incidentally the oldest girls' private school
in Natal) she trained at the Victoria Hospital, Lovedale, and was one of the
first Africans to qualify as a nurse. After her husband's death she nursed
in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg. Her skill and kindness won her wide
appreciation and 'many friends in Natal, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port
Elizabeth who highly respect her'.
The second part of the book is devoted to information on various organised
bodies, including religious organisations, temperance societies, teachers'
associations, fraternal societies, musical bodies, political unions, labour
organizations, savings banks, the African press, mine staffs and sporting
bodies.
The book is generously illustrated with photographs of many of the sub­
jects. There are also a number of pictures of the Prince of Wales in South
and West Africa. Of particular interest are several groups of ANC per­
sonalities and African deputations to London.
The intrinsic interest of the copy shown to us was enhanced by the
inscription on the fly leaf by Sol. T. Plaatjie, one of the contributors.
The African Yearly Register can be seen in the Reference section of the
Natal Society, which also possesses a copy of the 3rd edition, published in
1937 and devoted exclusively to the Transvaal. To date no information on
the second edition has been forthcoming.
Notes and Queries 51

The hole in the wall

Notes on the origins of the Zulu words for window have been sent to us
by Mr. A. Koopman of the Department of Zulu Language and Literature,
University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.
The Zulu language has two words for 'window': i-fasitele, and i-windi.
Although these words have quite different forms, it is interesting to
note they are ultimately derived from a common source, albeit by very
different routes. This common source is the concept of a hole in the
wall.
COMMON CONCEPT: 'the h~he wall'

GRErK:~,"r;ng, 'being clear'

OLD NORSE: vindauga
('wind-eye')

LAT N f<!nestra ~ FRENCH: fenetre

1
MIDDLE veinster(e) -+ DUTCH: venster
DUTCH

1 ENGLISH: window
AFRIKAANS: ven.~te,. - - + XHOSA: i-fen stile
'~~SOTHO: d;'leml'"
j
ZULU: i-fasitele and ZULU: i-wind;
The Norsemen regarded this hole in the wall primarily as a source of
ventilation, and so named it vindauga ('wind-eye'). The English, or
Anglo-Saxons as they were at that time, adopted this concept, and from
the Old Norse word derived our modern word window, thus fore­
shadowing their later reputation as lovers of fresh air. When the English
first came into contact with Zulu speakers, the latter, lacking their
own word, adopted the English, and derived modern Zulu i-windi.
The Ancient Greeks likewise had holes in their walls, but they saw these
not as a source of fresh air, but rather as a source of light. The term
they applied to this hole was mu-rvOllat (phainomai 'to appear';
'becoming clear'). The Romans adopted this term for their own win­
dows, and derived the word fenestra, from which English in turn
(ignoring the cold breezes for the moment), derives such modern archi­
tectural terms as 'fenestration'. From the Latin fenestra comes, via
Old French, the modern French word fenetre. It is tempting to suggest
that the modem Afrikaans venster is derived from the French via the
Huguenots, but in fact this is not so. The modem Afrikaans word
derives ultimately from the Old Germanic word, and this goes back to
the Roman occupation of the Germanic areas in 300 B.C. (E. H. Raidt,
Afrikaans en sy Europese verlede, p. 8.) Thus the Latin fenestra
occurred in Middle Dutch in a variety of forms: veenster(e), vinster(e),
52 Notes and Queries

veinster(e), and (without the -n-, as with Zulu later) as veister(e). From
these come the modem Dutch and Afrikaans word venster.
Some Zulu speakers came first into contact with English speakers and
derived i-windi; others came first into contact with Afrikaans speakers
and derived i-fasitele. Modem Sotha and Xhosa have borrowed from
Afrikaans only. Xhosa reflects the different forms of Middle Dutch
with both i-festile and i-fenstile; Sotha is closer to Afrikaans: di-fenstere.
Years ago, when the Zulu words were first derived, their usage depended
on the language spoken by the neighbouring whites, whether English
or Afrikaans. Nowadays, both words are used interchangeably by all,
whatever the predominant language of the local white community.
It would be interesting to find out whether, today, any Zulu speaker,
whether white or black, uses these two words specifically according to
whether it is light or fresh air which is coming through the hole in the
wall.

Current Conservation
Preservifl~ Piefcrll/aritzbur~
The restored facade of the former Ireland's, by now a familiar sight in the
Capital. is a triumph for the campaigners for conservation. There is absolutely
no doubt that the preservation and restoration of this handsome example of
Victorian commercial architecture can be attributed to the pressure of public
opinion.
Mr E. P. M. Beiber. the general manager of the Old Mutual, the owners
and developers of the site. commented. while the building of the new Edgars
behind the nineteenth century shopfront was in progress,
If there was ever any doubt that this action stemmed from a genuine
community need it was soon dispelled by the letters of thanks and radio
and Press comment which not only praised Edgars and the Old Mutual
but sought repetition of action country-wide.
,Valalia hopes that this success will inspire and encourage those who are
concerned about preserving some reminders of our past.
To achieve success any conservation campaign needs to be based on sound
research and reliable information as to origins and development. This
necessary documentary platform from which further Pietermaritzburg con­
servation projects can be launched will be provided by the University of
Natal's current project to record all pre-1920 statuary and buildings. Prof.
Murray Schoonraad writes,
The aim of the study is to compile a comprehensive archive of information
on all statuary and public and domestic architecture erected in Pieter­
maritzburg prior to 1920. It is our intention to publish this information.
\\ hich includes the tabulation of all previously documented material, as
wdl as data recently collected by the Department of Fine Art and History
of Art. in a form readily available to future students of the subject. To
fa.;ilitate this a list of specifications has been drawn up for each building.
which includes such criteria as the positioning of the building or statue
in the Municipal area. its date, the architect, builder and/or artist respon­
sible for it, erection; its historical attributes. i.e. previous owners and
Notes and Queries 53
partIcular use to which it was put; including a detailed description of
the building as it appears today. with references to its original appearance;
and whether the building should be considered for restoration and/or
permanent preservation. Further specifications allow for the stylistic and
aesthetic classification of the building or statue. based on a detailed
analysis of its physical appearance and attributes. The projected archive.
therefore. is intended to be of use to any person interested in architecturaL
pure historical or art historical information.
Information from all available literary sources has been entered onto the
specification sheets. and municipal references such as title deeds. archi­
tectural and engineering plans have been consulted. In the drawing up of
the specification sheet. we were assisted by Miss Melanie Hillerbrand
(Provincial Library Services) and influenced by previous publications by
R.A.U. and Pretoria University on comparable studies conducted in their
respective cities. Having researched as much information as possible from
literary sources, the programme at present is to document the buildings in
situ by means of photographs and descriptions; combined with verbal
information offered by elderly citizens, which, though apparently some­
what unscientific, has confirmed many of our speculations. We consider
that this study will answer the need for a succinct and comprehensive
archive of information, which will be available to all interested parties
for purposes of further research, and which hopefully will be instru­
mental in influencing more ambitious projects for the permanent restor­
ation and preservation of our local architectural heritage.

Village, dorp and city

Another member of the University who has focused attention on historic
Pietermaritzburg is Mr Rob Haswell of the Department of Geography who is
shortly to present a thesis on urban morphology in Natal. The origin and
development of towns has been the subject of lectures and published articles;
for example, The Geographical Magazine (London) in July this year published
under the title South African towns on European plans, his examination of
the characteristics of Boer dorps, as exemplified in Pietermaritzburg and
Weenen, and typically English towns such as Richmond.

'The soldier's pleasure'

The public buildings of major cities are well known and an interest in the
design and preservation of private houses has arisen recently. But very little
notice has been taken of public houses. We welcome these notes by Mrs A. R.
Ogilvie on some past and present pubs of Pietermaritzburg.
At the beginning of this century Pietermaritzburg appears to have been a
very thirsty place because at every corner of our main streets one would
have come across a public house where liquid refreshments could be
enjoyed. Pietermaritzburg at this time was a garrison town and Fort
Napier saw many regiments come and go so that there was no lack of
healthy, thirsty young soldiers to fill these many pubs.
If we were to go back in time and imagine the Tommies taking a stroll
through the two main streets in order to call in on some of the bars,
we would find they would start from Fort Napier. The road at that time
54 Notes and Queries

led from the camp across the railway line into Longmarket Street. They
would not have gone far before they would come across the sign of a
beautiful prancing black horse painted on the side of the building of the
Black Horse Bar at the corner of West Street. This public house remained
in the hands of the Froomberg family until a few years ago when the
building was sold. This bar was filled with many historical relics ­
regimental badges and emblems and old photographs.
Having quenched their thirst here, the Tommies would then cross Long­
market Street, and at the corner of Deane Street they would see the
sign of a rampant red lion hanging from an attractive looking building
with a pan-tiled roof. This was the Red Lion Tavern. The proprietor at
one time was a Mr Lee who lived with his wife and daughter on the
premises.
Crossing the street once more, they would come to a family hotel, the
Commercial Hotel. It was a long, low building which became known as
Whitby Lodge, a private boarding house. Today the building is occupied
by officials of the Development and Services Board.
Further down Longmarket Street they would come to the Victoria Bar,
which also had a few rooms for lodgers, at the corner of Timber Street.
Allied House now stands on this site. Across the road from here one
could see the Victoria Oub, which had been founded in 1859 with its
initial maximum effective membership being put at sixty gentlemen.
Here the officers from Fort Napier were made welcome.
Leaving the Victoria Bar and continuing down Longmarket Street to the
corner of Commercial Road they would find, a few yards down that road
in the direction of Loop Street, the Crown Hotel. It was from this hotel
that John Dare and. later, John Welch started off with the omnibus on
the journey to Durban. This hotel was run by Mr Florey at one time.
On returning to Longmarket Street they would have found another
hotel, the City and Port, on erf 27 Loop Street. Mr J. C. Boshoff had
owned the erf since 1846. By 1872, Mr L. Torgius was running the City
and Port Hotel on the Longmarket Street frontage. By the end of 1875
Mr E. Warwick had taken over the lease. He changed the hotel's name
to the Woolpack. In 1879 or 1880 Mr H. P. Jones became the lessee.
The property was sold to George Hesom in 1897. Padayachee's green­
grocer's shop was in this building for many years. Today it is a pharmacy
(D. M. Forbes). The rounded carriage-way leading to the stables can still

be seen on the side of the building nearest Hesom Street.

The Plough Hotel came next - a wood and iron building, and very

popular with the farming community.

After this. at the corner of Archbell Street was an interesting building

originally owned by Mr J. N. Boshoff in the early 1840s and probably

one of the first half-dozen substantially built houses in Pietermaritzburg.

When Lieutenant-Governor Martin West arrived in December, 1845, as

the first Lieutenant-Governor, it was rented to him as a suitable Govern­

ment House for R200 per year. Martin West died in this house in 1849.

After his death the building became a superior type of boarding house,

and a little later became the Prince of Wales Hotel - proprietor Mr G.

Salmon. This area of the town was busy, with the market square filling the

Notes and Queries 55

space between the two main streets. Here the wagons and their oxen were
outspanned on their way to and from the north. It was a dry dusty spot
with a few syringa trees to give shade for the weary oxen and horses.
Here, too, farmers and transport riders sold their wares.
Crossing the market square to Church Street, the Tommies would have
seen the welcome sign of the Market Inn. After this they would start their
return trip to Fort Napier. Fortunately there were quite a few more pubs
to visit en route before returning to barracks.
On the right-hand side near where Edgars (formerly Irelands) now stands
there was a small pub known as the Masonic Bar. On the opposite side of
the street, on the site of the present-day Sanlam Building, was a really
enchanting hotel known as the Horse Shoe. Its large open entrance with
its brightly tiled floor gave it a look of luxury and coolness. Inside the
bar there was plenty of entertainment. too, as the Horse Shoe was known
to have the prettiest barmaids in the town.
On leaving this fascinating place they would work their way up Church
Street beyond Chapel Street where the Central Hotel would welcome them.
On the corner of Raven Street was the Phoenix Bar and on the opposite
side. higher up, was the Carlton Bar. In 1887 it was a tavern known
as the Waterloo Music Hall and it was owned by Mr Samuel Froomberg.
A very dramatic incident occurred here in that year. The Inniskillings
were in camp at Fort Napier at this time and. after a drunken brawl at
the Fort. a private was bayoneted to death. Four young privates aged
about 20 years ran out of their hut carrying rifles and fixed bayonets.
They made their way down Church Street. Outside this tavern they were
halted by a military policeman who was bayoneted in the back by one
of them. Mr. Froomberg. hearing the confusion, closed his door and
held it shut with the help of his wife and daughter. Another of the
young soldiers thrust his bayonet through the door scratching Mrs
Froomberg's face. Then the drink-crazed young men made off. They
were finally captured at the Star and Garter. At the ensuing trial two were
found guilty of murder and were sentenced to death. Subsequently one
had his sentence commuted to penal servitude for life, but the other was
hanged in November 1887.
On the West Street corner the Tommies would have found the Royal
Oak. now the Watson Hotel. Then, higher up, towards the station was
the Norfolk Hotel. which still exists - a useful stopover hotel for railway
travellers. The Tommies' final call would have been the Railway Bar at
the station.
There were numerous other bars around the town, and two that must
be mentioned are the Polo Tavern at the corner of West and Greyling
Streets near the old polo fields and the First and Last in Victoria Road.
From the latter's name we know that farmers and travellers called here
on their way into and out of town.
Another interesting feature about the Pietermaritzburg pubs was the
law controlling their opening and closing hours in the city. However,
three miles out of the city one could get drinks at any hour of the day
or night. So we find the Sutherlands Hotel on the Edendale Road, the
Ketelfontein Hotel on the way to Hilton, the Cremorne on the Grey town
Road. and the Star and Garter on the Durban Road.
56 Notes and Queries

This is but a brief survey of some of the past and present pubs of
Pietermaritzburg. Many have been left out, but their existence proves
that our City was not quite such a Sleepy Hollow - or maybe that could
be the reason for our unenviable soubriquet?

A word on wovd
Yellow-wood enjoys today an unprecedented vogue in Natal. Items of
furniture made of the wood are reverently brought out of lumber-rooms
and stripped of sacrilegious layers of paint, or rescued from the unap­
preciative hands of the uninitiated. Dealers allot pride of place in their
showrooms to any piece that can boast of even a plank of yellow-wood
in its composition. Yellow-wood floor- and ceiling-boards (not to mention
beams) are carried off with rejoicing by those who preside over the demo­
lition of the Province's architectural heritage.
Yet, Mr. John Laband goes on to remind us, yellow-wood has not always
been held in such extravagant esteem. Just over a hundred years ago its
utility was assessed by Henry Brooks in Natal: A History and Description
vf the Colvny: including its Natural Features, Production, Industrial Condi­
tion and Prospects. (Edited by Dr R. J. Mann and published by L. Reeve,
London, ] 876) pp. 177-178.
The wood is of a light yellow colour, of a very close and compact
appearance, and works easily and well while it is still moist; but when
dry it cuts jaggedly and unevenly across the grain. It is of short fibre and
slight tenacity, and if painted or varnished, with the sap still in it, very
soon decays. It shrinks more than any other wood employed in con­
struction purposes: beams of it shorten as much as half-an-inch in twenty
feet. It is very generally used for building purposes, where it can be
efficiently protected from the wet, and all the commoner kinds of house­
hold furniture, such as tables, and the internal fittings of houses, are made
from it. It is in this sense the 'deal-wood' of Natal. It is entirely useless
for out of door work where there is exposure to weather.

Sophisticated thievery
Less cheering for conservationists is the news that treasure-hunters and
souvenir-seekers are turning their attention and their greed to Natal's
archaeological sites. Mr. Martin Hall, Ethno-archaeologist at the Natal
Museum, writes:
The conservation of archaeological sites in Natal is a problem which
has always existed. Funds are never sufficient to match research require­
ments with the result that it is impossible to keep pace with the processes
of natural decay and weathering. Major construction projects lead every
year to the destruction of many valuable sites. However, in recent
months new problems have arisen which make the tasks of conservation
even more difficult.
Vandalism has, of course, always been present; indeed, much of today's
protective legislation has come about in order to defend national monu­
ments against the strange, but ever present, desires of people to ruin
things. But in recent months, this has been exacerbated by a new
The Black Horse Bar on the corner of Longmarket Street and West Street.

The Star and Garter Hotel on the old Durban Road.

Photographs published with grateful acknowledgment to MRS A. R. OGILVIE. Pietermarilzburg
 The original Plough Hotel in Longmarket Street.

The Prince of Wales Hotel in Longmarket Street. This site now forms part of the Natalia complex. the
headquarters of the Natal Provincial Administration.
Photographs published with grateful acknowledgment to MRS A. R. OGILVIE, Pietermaritzburg
Notes and Queries 57

element, the metal detector. These machines are used to search archaeo­
logical sites, forts and battlefields for valuable objects. There is very
rarely any attempt at scientific excavation or notification of museums
or other cultural institutions. Such users of metal detectors are, to put
the matter simply, thieves.
Interference with any pre-colonial archaeological site or with any
declared national monument is an offence against the National Monu­
ments Act, and stiff penalties may be exacted. Furthermore, as most
sites are on private land, trespass is also usually involved. The police
are generally too busy to act on all but the most blatant cases. As an
alternative, anyone who sees a metal detector being misused, or for that
matter is aware of any vandalism against prehistoric or historic sites,
can contact the Director, Natal Museum, Loop Street, Pietermaritzburg.

M. P. MOBERLY
58

Book Reviews and Notices

A FIELD GUIDE TO THE WAR IN ZULULAND, 1879

By 1. P. C. LABAND and P. S. THOMPSON
(Published by the University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, 1979.)

It is a pleasure to welcome the publication of this guide to the battlefields

and fortifications of the Anglo-Zulu War as they are today. John Laband
and Paul Thompson, together with the University of Natal Press, deserve
the congratulations of all students for achieving a landmark in the literature
of the campaign. It commends itself to the widest possible use. Buy it,
read its concise but comprehensive outline of the nature of the war, and
then plan a series of expeditions to explore the open-air history it reveals
in such fine detail. As the authors explain, it is not exactly pocket-sized
because of the need to make the maps as clear and full as possible, but it
weighs only 300 grams and will not overburden the most streamlined knap­
sack. Bruno Martin has drawn in exemplary style the forty-six plans of
battlegrounds and entrenchments. General maps make it easy to locate it
precisely. There are also eleven pictures, reproduced from engravings that
appeared in 1879; they have been chosen skilfully and will be new to
most readers.
The introductory text is particularly valuable for its discussions of 'The
Zulu Military System' (pages 3-7), which has been much misunderstood.
It is indeed vital to a proper comprehension of how the war proceeded
to know that the Zulu army 'was integrated into the whole fabric of
Zulu economic, political and social life', unlike the professional machine
of the British army. Perhaps there is a parallel danger of assuming we
know all there is to know about the latter. Maybe most of the red soldiers
came from 'the poorest and most ignorant elements' in society (page 8).
but many were forced to enlist by the severe economic recession through
which Britain was passing in the 1870s, and quite a few of them could write
a decent letter. The opposing strategies of the protagonists are clearly
explained, and the tactical moves and counter-movements of the field
operations here fall into place thanks to a masterly summary of what was
a highly complex, indeed messy, business (pages 11-18). The three arrows
showing the first invasion by British forces, as depicted on the map (page
15) are not readily seen, but readers can colour them in for themselves.
Sites of interest are grouped together in six separate sectors, Coast,
Dundee, Grey town, Luneburg, Ulundi, and Vryheid. This is a sensible
arrangement, but readers who are interested in a particular fort or Iaager
must be sure to consult the appropriate index on page 86, because a fort
may be discussed at four or five different and separate places in the text,
and it is necessary to look it up in each case. Perhaps it would also be
useful to have a distinct list of 'Battlefields' in the index. The authors
do not pretend they have said the last word on the subject, and indeed
they 'invite useful and informed criticism from others'. There seem to
be few errors of fact, despite the immense number of names of places and
Book Reviews and Notices 59

persons, units and dates. A reviewer has the duty to record some of the
mistakes he sees: an instance will be made here of two pages from the
Dundee Sector.
Page 39: (i) Fort Pine was built pre-1879 not "by local settlers" but by
Major Dartnell, as a stronghold for the Natal Mounted Police, which he
commanded; (ii) for 'Melville' read 'Melvill', as Lt. Melvill after whom
the Fort is named did not (as is usually the case) spell his name with a
terminal 'e'; (iii) the authors mention two forts at Landman's Drift,
whereas, in fact, there were three. Private E. J. Evans of the 1/24th was
there when he wrote a letter on 18 May 1879: 'It is the largest camp I
ever was in', he says, listing the British units 'and God knows how many
natives mounted and on foot. There are three forts in this camp, and
cattle laagers for the cattle at night. We are soldiering in earnest this
time' (The Western Mail, 28 June 1879). So two fortifications have dis­
appeared at Landman's. Page 45: (i) Lieutenant Chard was serving at
Rorke's Drift with the Royal Engineers, not the 24th Regiment; (ii) it
is not true that 'the hospital and storehouse were fired and gutted' at
Rorke's Drift, as the storehouse stood intact at the end of the fight; (iii)
the figure of 15 British soldiers killed at Rorke's Drift may puzzle those
who examine the old memorial in the cemetery there. It names 13 men
of the 24th who were killed or died of wounds, and (on another face)
Byrne of the Commissary, Anderson of the N.N.C., and Hunter of the
N.M.P.; these are shown correctly as 'killed', so the British total should
be 16, or 17 if we include the N.N.C. patient who was killed in the hospital
when the Zulu broke in.
Great credit must be given to Laband and Thompson for so skilfully
disentangling the remains of the Anglo-Zulu War from the many others
still to be seen in the landscape of Natal and KwaZulu. Few parts of the
world can show such a series of layers of military earthworks. They range
from the earliest days of the Boers, to the pre-1879 colonial period, the
Anglo-Boer wars, and the Rebellion of 1906. Even so far as 1879 is
concerned, a line has to be drawn between the military remains and those
defences put up by civilians. No doubt it is possible to compile an inventory
of laagers on the Natal side of the Tugela. Some of these may be difficult
to trace because their earthworks were so slight and have been vulnerable
to obliteration since then.
Even the military entrenchments were sometimes puny. Those at
Gingindlovu, from which Chelmsford fought off the attack by 10-12000
Zulu on 2 April, were not too substantial in their original condition. Laband
and Thompson do not refer to their state of preservation, partly because
they are hidden in canefields, but also because they were not dug very
deeply. The scale of the original defences has also been steadily reduced
by Nature and human interference, a case in point being Fort Cherry on
the road between Greytown and Middle Drift. Now the maximum depth
of the defences of the Fort is shown as 2 m but in May 1879 they were
4 m from the top of the bank to the bottom of the ditch.
Doubt exists over Potgieter's Farm Laager (pages 58-9 in Laband and
Thompson), which could have been known by one of three different
names. There may indeed have been three separate forts, because the three
names are used with fair distinction by Woodgate in his diary. On 25 April
60 Book Reviews and Notices

he rode with Wood, Buller, and Moysey towards Bivane Laager, 'they going
on to fix site of a fort near the Burgers laager'. A company of the 2/4th
Regiment were sent 'to Potgieter's House near Burger's Laager, which
will be the fortified post to protect that district'. On 26 April, he says,
'Moysey with convoy and 60 mounted men started to construct necessary
fortifications at Potgieter's'. It is by such means that the full story, so
clearly charted by Laband and Thompson, will ultimately emerge. Digging
into the written sources is still so much easier than it was for the soldiers,
in a campaign that was certainly a fatiguing business. Evelyn Wood kept
his men at the digging more than most, even on Sundays; although they
were allowed to put down their picks and shovels to join in Divine Service
parade, this never lasted more than ten minutes.
FRANK EMERY

A REPLY

Dr THOMPSON and Mr LABAND have replied to Mr EMERY'S reVJew

of their book as follows: [Editor]

Frank Emery has scrutinized our Field Guide with thoroughness. Our slip:>
or errors have not escaped his eye, and a new impression of the book
published in November has benefited by his observations. Several points
that he has raised, however, require further comment.

Fortifications
In attributing the building of Fort Pine to 'local settlers', we were mIS­
leading. Fort Pine was envisaged as a barracks and stables for the Natal
Mounted Police under Major Dartnell. Yet before their construction could
begin, mounting tension along the Zulu border caused the local Field
Cornet, J. S. Robson, to persuade the Natal government that the outside
wall should be built before the barracks and stables so as to serve as a
laager for the farmers of the district. At the direction of Captain A. N.
Rime, R.E., the Colonial Engineer, a local contractor (John Marshal])
built the laager walls between May and November 1878. The Natal Mounted
Police did not occupy Fort Pine during this period, nor were the barracks
or stables erected. Local farmers took refuge there in January 1879, and
the Buffalo Border Guard and Newcastle Mounted Rifles garrisoned it
from early February until the end of the war. The Natal Mounted Police
occupied the fort early in 1880, and had to live under canvas for several
months as the buildings were still not completed.
We mentioned only those forts at Landman's Drift that we could account
for, and thus gave the impression that there were only two. In fact, as
Norris-Newman states in the Natal Mercury of 15 May 1879, there were
three earthwork forts in a kind of echelon, with about fifty yards between
each one. The imprecision of contemporary descriptions of the fortifications
at Potgieter's Farm Laager make the possibility of one or more works
tantalizing, and the need for further research apparent. Continuing field­
work since the book's publication has brought us to the ir~egularly shaped
earthwork fort at Middle Drift, called Fort Montgomery.
Book Reviews and Notices 61

Battlefields
We are somewhat puzzled at Frank Emery's reference to the extant
military entrenchments at Gingindlovu. We twice visited the battlefield in
1978 and were taken to the site of the British laager by the farmer on whose
land it had stood. He assured us the works had been destroyed by cane
cultivation. Perhaps they have been ploughed over since Frank Emery last
saw them? The discrepancy between the number of British dead recorded
on the memorial at Rorke's Drift and the figures in our book is easily
resolved. We counted two mortally wounded soldiers of the 24th amongst
the wounded, and the memorial places them with the dead.

The 'home-front' fortifications

In preparing the Field Guide we decided, as Frank Emery notes, to treat
the 'battle-front' as opposed to the 'home-front'. Indeed, the latter in itself
would require a book, as the list below suggests. In this inventory the
posts and laagers are grouped according to the colonial Defensive Districts,
but any within them with which the Field Guide has already dealt (because
of their proximity or significance to the field operations of J 879) are
omitted.
District Government post or laager Private post or laager

I Ladysmith Dirk Peters'

Doom Kraal

'Ermelo fort'

Paddafontein

II Colenso bridge Gretna Green

Estcourt Kruisfontein

Ulundi Strydpoort

Weston Church

III Pietermaritzburg Curry's

Fort Napier Sterk Spruit

Baynes' Drift York

Howick Howick

IV Ixopo Cleveland Hill

Richmond High Flats

V Durban Ifafa

Pinetown Lower Umkomaas

New Germany

Umzinto

Harding

VI Stanger Hulett's store

Verulam

Williamstown

VII Rietvlei

JOHN LABAND
PAUL THOMPSON
62 Book Reviews and Notices

A ZULU KING SPEAKS

Statements made by Cetshwayo kaMpande on the history and customs
of his people.
Edited by C. de B. WEBB and J. B. WRIGHT
(Published jointly by the University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, and
the KilIie CampbeJI Africana Library (Reprint Series Number 3), 1978).

The centenary of the Anglo-Zulu War has been commemorated in a

substantial number of books and articles. Few, if any, of these can be of
greater importance than A Zulu King Speaks, a compilation of reprints of
statements originally made in 1880 and 1881 by Cetshwayo kaMpande, one
of the central figures in that conflict and, along with his people, its most
conspicuous victim.
There are three statements in all: "Cetshwayo's story of the Zulu nation
and the war", initially published in Macmillan's Magazine in February 1880;
his letter of 29 March ]881 to the Governor of the Cape, which first
appeared in the British Parliamentary Papers, C2950 of 1881; and the
minutes of his evidence to the Cape Government Commission on Native
Laws and Customs, the report of which was published in ] 883.
At one level the worth of this volume lies in the information it provides
about the Anglo-Zulu War itself. What is of greatest import here is
that the first two of the above statements represent amongst tbe most
authoritative of the very few Zulu accounts of its origins and course. There
is much of interest and value in Cetshwayo's discussion of the struggle
with the Boers over erritory in the northern and northwestern marches
of his kingdom, and indeed, in his description of the unsettled conditions
in that frontier zone. Likewise, the growing disillusionment with Shepstone,
the Sirayo affair, and Frere's ultimatum are all set in Zulu perspective.
Important information on the execution of the war by the Zulu, their
strategy, the strengths and, more unusually, the deficiencies of their military
organisation is also to be found.
Beyond this, however, the book - as its sub-title implies - sheds light
on Zulu society in its political, social, economic and ideological dimensions.
Of greatest importance in this regard is the third of Cetshwayo's state­
ments, certainly one of the most explicit and concentrated sources of inside
information on these matters. As the editors point out, Cetshwayo's answerS
not only reveal much about him, but also dispel many of the cruder
European misconceptions about the structure and operation of Zulu society,
particularly as regards lobola, the 'military' system and the extent of
royal power.
Fina]]y, the book provides a Zulu account of the course of Zululand's
history since the time of Senzangakhona. Much of this is familiar, but
evidence pertaining to the reigns of Mpande and Cetshwayo is of especial
interest. This is to be welcomed a]] the more since it is still too often
assumed that Cetshwayo's kingdom was an exact replica of that ruled
by Shaka. What emer~es from these statements, however, is that though
the structure of the later Zulu kingdom bore a marked resemblance to
that described by Fynn and Tsaacs fifty to sixty years before, not insignificant
changes had occurred, not least to the kingship itself.
The introduction by the editors is given over to a short but most useful
Book Reviews and Notices 63

and eloquent political biography of Cetshwayo. an assessment of

the importance of oral tradition in general. and of these three statements in
particular. Though editorial intercession has, wisely, been kept to a
minimum, the reader is able to find answers to most of his queries about
names, places, dates and events in the notes at the end of each section,
or in the index. The book's appeal is further enhanced by the illustrations,
the very helpful maps and the glossary of Zulu terms. It is also pleasantly
free of typographical error.
Students of Zulu history are already greatly indebted to Colin Webb
and John Wright for their work on the Stuart Papers. These two gentlemen
are now to be congratulated for bringing out in so convenient a form
these important sources of evidence, and thus for performing a valuable
service to the general reader, scholar and teacher alike.

P. J.COLENBRANDER

THE ZULU WAR AND THE COLONY OF NATAL

Edited by G. A. CHADWICK and E. G. HOBSON
(Published on behalf of the Natal Provincial Administration under the
auspices of the Natal Provincial Museum Advisory Board, Qualitas
Publishers, Mandini, 1979.)

As the officially blessed publication of the Anglo-Zulu War centenary year

this work demands careful attention. Well illustrated, and reasonably priced,
it contains articles, reminiscences and reproductions of contemporary
or relatively unknown material relating to the impact of the· Anglo-Zulu
War on the inhabitants of Natal.
The editors and contributors, particularly the museum curators, must
be applauded for bringing to light so many little-known or previously
unpublished accounts of the effects of the war on the lives of ordinary
people. The most noteworthy of these are the Methodist Recorder, repro­
duced here under the title "They fought for the Great White Queen",
which giveg the history of the Edendale Contingent of the Natal Native
Horse, and, secondly, the "Notes on the Zulu War" written in 1936 by
Mary Newmarch of Grey town, together with extracts from her diary
written when she was 16. Unfortunately, these vignettes are not well
annotated and it will be extremely difficult for researchers to trace the
originals from the information given in this book.
The work includes articles by Drs B. J. T. Leverton and J. Gark,
Cmdt J. Hulme, Cmdt S. Bourquin, Mrs M. Cliff, Mrs Sheila Henderson
and Mrs Daphne H. Strutt among others.
Dr Leverton hag provided a detailed account of the financial and
political ramifications of the War on settler politics. His work affords us
a fresh glance at a seldom considered aspect: the attempt by the British
Government to make the Natal colonists pay more than what they con­
sidered to be their fair share of the costs of the War. His views on the
causes of the War and the role played by Sir Bartle Frere will probably
need revision now in the light of Professor C. de B. Webb's article "Lines
of Power - The High Commissioner, the Telegraph and the War of 1879"
64 Book Reviews and Notices

in Natalia No. 8, and of the ideas advanced at the Centenary Conference

on the Anglo-Zulu War held in Durban during February of this year.
Dr Clark's article, "The Child of France", is a comprehensive account
of the life and death of the young Prince Imperial and of the pilgrimage
to his death place by his mother a year later. One would like to see some
mention of the embarrassing role played by the dubious 'Lady Avonmore'.
Mrs Strutt has described everyday life in Natal in great detail, but
her article is not, in my opinion, a well integrated synthesis of this aspect.
Mrs Henderson's series of notes on the impact of the War on Northern
Natal are fascinating and written in a lively style.
Commandants Bourquin and Hulme have analysed the organisation of
and the roles played by the forces raised in Natal: the colonial volunteer
units and the 'native levies'. Cmdt Bourquin has handled the seldom­
mentioned role of the Natal Native Contingent well and provided much
detail on the background, composition, training and performance in the
field of this amorphous force. On the other hand, emdt Hulme has given
the briefest outline of the establishment, mobilisation and operations of
the volunteer units. One would expect a more substantial account of this
aspect in a publication of this nature.
The policy of using the services of well-known writers on Natal history
as well as those of the curators of local museums has the advantage of
bringing together in-depth articles and analyses, and rare snippets of
information from areas most closely affected by the conflict. An unfortunate
side-effect of this policy is that the central theme is not well developed
- the choice of articles is somewhat random - and the same high quality
of content is not always maintained. However this in itself is not a major
detraction. A more serious defect is the fact that editors and contributors
alike seem by and large to have disregarded the recent trends of historical
thought on the War of 1879. For example, the title itself is unfortunate,
given the current preference amongst historians for referring to the War
as the Anglo-Zulu War. This latter term seems to be the most accurate,
and the one calculated to give the least offence in our heterogeneous
society. Indeed, this question is raised by Dr Leverton in his article,
'Political and economic aspects of the Zulu War'. when he mentions the
need " ... to advance the concept of an 'Anglo-Zulu War' of 1879 rather
than anything else" (p. 11).
Unfortunately the work suffers from a general lack of footnotes,
references and acknowledgements of sources. The exceptions to this criticism
are the articles by Mrs Cliff and Cmdt Hulme, but on the whole, the
omission is a serious detraction from the work. For example, in the article
by Dr Clark, he specifically contradicts the generally accepted view, sup­
ported (as he states in his only footnote) by Brookes and Webb in A history
af Natal that, apart from stab wounds, the Prince Imperial's body was left
unmutilated. Yet Dr Clark offers no indications of what sources he has
used to substantiate his contrary opinion. Another example, as previously
mentioned is the fact that the date and edition of the Methodist Recorder
from which Rev. Owen Watkins's account of the Edendale troops is
taken, is not cited. This is a great pity as it seems that this article will
prove popular with researchers. Also, surprisingly, the sources of the
illustrations are not acknowledged. Some of the sketches appear to have
Book Reviews and Notices 6S
been reproduced from contemporary periodicals such as "The Graphic"
and the "Illustrated London News" but there is no mention of this.
The Zulu War and the Colony of Natal is an interesting but flawed work
which must be treated with caution by the serious reader, although it
offers several items which can be enjoyed by all.
G. A. DOMINY

THE ROAD TO ISANDLWANA

By PHILIP GON
(Published by AD. Donker, London. 1979)

This book might never have been written had the author not acquired a
photograph album compiled by the Bandmaster of the 1st Battalion, 24th
Regiment of Foot. This stroke of good fortune sparked off an interest
in the fortunes of the Regiment and involved Philip Gon in a thorough,
five-year investigation which took him to a great number of museums and
research institutions in Southern Africa, London and Wales.
The author makes it clear in his preface to the book that his work
is not aimed at the academic but at 'the general reader with an interest
in military history and South Africa's past: The fortunes of a number
of the more prominent members of the Regiment, individuals like Richard
Glyn, Nevill Coghill and Henry Pulleine are sketched against the back­
ground of the political machinations of men like Henry Barkly, Richard
Southey and Bartle Frere and the military conflagrations which occurred
in the period 1877-79. Indeed. although the author's strength seems to
lie in his knowledge of military history, his incisive analysis of the political
implications of the actions of these and other statesmen. is impressive.
In this connection the author's insight into the so-called 'Black Flag'
rebellion in Kimberley and his assertion that the event acted as a catalyst
for the formation of exclusively white trade unions as well as the policy
of job reservation, is illuminating. Also of interest is his sympathetic
description of the so-called Griqua 'rebellion' on the Diamond Fields which,
he asserts. was a desperate and brave attempt by illegally dispossessed
Griquas to obtain redress for their grievances by force, the only remaining
means of protest open to them.
By far the most valuable contribution in this work is the author's
analysis of the Ninth Frontier War, a conflict which has been largely
ignored by both contemporaries and modern writers alike. Although Gon's
assessment of the military attributes of both Cunynghame and Chelmsford
leaves much to be desired. his exposition of the complex movements of
the adversaries and his definitive analysis of the battle of Centane, is
impressive. However, a more comprehensive and definitive work on this
complex conflict is still required.
The long road to Isandlwana also takes the author into the turbulent
waters of British-Transvaal politics, but the climax of the saga is reserved
for the events of that terrible day of 22 January, 1879. In his detailed
analysis of the battle of Isandlwana, Gon has examined most of the
available sources and the result is an authoritative and entertaining
re-interpretation of the events.
66 Book Reviews and Notices

The book also contains a number of previously unpublished photographs

and several useful diagrams and maps. This work should engage the attention
of both 'general reader' and academic alike.
JEFF MATHEWS

A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOVERNMENT HOUSE AND i'lATAL

TRAINING COLLEGE
By T. B. FROST

(Published and distributed by Natal Training College. Pietermaritzburg. May

1979.)

(40 pp. Soft covers)

Seldom, at least in this country, does a school or college occupy a building

previously used for some other purpose, and with an interesting history
of its own. For 54 years the home of the Governors of Natal, the building
and grounds at the head Of Church and Longmarket Streets have for
another 70 years been the home of the Natal Training College. Awareness
of this past and tangible reminders of it have done much to create the
distinctive milieu of Natal Training College.
When the College celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1959, its magazine
for the year understandably had an historical emphasis. It contained articles
about the House under a dozen or more governors, and the College under
four principals - imperial musical chairs being apparently a quicker game
than the educational version! These were no more than brief sketches,
and Mr Frost's account, though not lengthy, gives the story of Government
House a clearer historical framework, and traces the development of the
College to the threshold of the nineteen eighties.
Though setting his subject in the perspective of colonial and educational
development, Mr Frost has written a social history, and the pages are rich
in personal glimpses of people and their lives in this place. Being a lecturer
in history at the College, the author's feeling for the past and his affection
for the College are clearly shown in what he writes.
Mr Frost's sources are not specifically indicated, though it is clear from
the text that he must have consulted, for example, Wolseley's diaries, the
Reports of the various Superintendents of Education, and the Rector's
official Log Book. This is a work for the general reader rather than the
historical scholar, but even so, some sort of bibliography would not have
been inappropriate.
The history is illustrated with many interesting photographs and a series
of line drawings of architectural features of the College. The portraits of
governors (pp. 15-17) serve to remind us that the names West, Pine, Scott,
McCallum and Havelock are perpetuated in the names of streets and roads
all within three minutes' walk of the centre of the College.
Mr Frost has produced a book which, to echo the Rector's Foreword,
shows careful research and is eminently readable. It will be welcomed
by all who have an interest in a building and an institution which have
an important place in the history of this province.
J. M. DEANE
Book Reviews and Notices 67

NATAL FAMILY HISTORIES

The following notes on some recently-published Natal family histories have
been submitted by Mrs S. P. M. SPENCER. [Editor]
A merchant family in early Natal: diaries and letters of Joseph and Marianne
Churchill, 1850-1880, with a narrative of pioneering travels to Potchefstroom
and the Soutpansberg: ed. by Daphne Child. Cape Town, Balkema, 1979.
198 p. illus. (a number of which are sketches by Marianne Churchill).

Honour without riches: the story of an Archibald family, by RuthE. Gordon.

Durban. Griggs. 1978. 408 p. illus.
This is the history of the Archibalds of the Umzinto district, and is based on
family letters. The story, which is carried through to contemporary times,
details their experiences in the Cape (Namaqualand and Kimberley) and in
Natal.

Acutts in Africa, by Yvonne Miller. Durban, the Author, 1978. 206 p. illus.
This book represents an attempt to trace all the descendants of Robert Acutt
and Julianna Cotton (married in Cornwall in 1805). In the period 1850 to
1872 six of their nine children, as well as the children of two others,
emigrated to Natal.

A Norwegian family in South Africa, by Sofie Norgaard. Priv. print, 1979.

This book, first published in Norwegian early in this century, is the story of
Daniel and Caroline Nielsen and their family.. The Nielsens went to Zulu­
land in 1860 as members of Bishop Schreuder's mission. Their. daughter
Sofie married Hans Norgaard shortly after the Anglo-Zulu war. Thereafter
the narrative concentrates on the Norgaards - in Natal, in Johannesburg,
and finally in Matabeleland at the time of the rebellion.

JOURNAL OF NATAL AND ZULU HISTORY

Last year Natalia No. 8 was pleased to welcome the appearance of this new
publication among the ranks of those journals whose focus of interest is
South African history. The second volume of the Journal, published in
August of this year, contains five scholarly articles as well as several book
reviews and, as its name suggests, the contents should be of particuhlT interest
to readers of Natalia. The Journal of Natal and Zulu History is edited by
A. H. Duminy and P. R. Maylam of the University of Natal's History
Department in Durban, to whom all contributions and further enquiries
should be directed.
68

Register of Research on Natal

This list has been compiled solely from individual submissions from
subscribers to Natalia.
Persons knowing of current research work that has not been listed are
asked to furnish information for inclusion in the next issue. A slip is
provided for this purpose.

BIOGRAPHY
The lives of Archdeacon and Mrs Charles Johnson D. C. Pollock
The Rt. Revd. Dr A. H. Zulu R. J. G. Aitken

CONSERVATION
Natuurbewaring in Natal en Zoeloeland, 1824-1947 L. J. Winterbach

ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
Zulu children's songs - an ethnomusicological
analysis P. Weinberg

HISTORY
Dr Mabel Pa1mer: Fabian in South Africa Dr S. Vietzen
A History of the Jews of Durban, 1919-1975 S. Cohen
Horses used in Boer War R. G. Steel
The Image of South Africa in Punch, 1842-1910 C. N. Shum
Natal place-names in relation to the histories of
settlers N. T. Hunt
Source material on Pietermaritzburg history Dr R. E. Gordon
The Trewirgie Incident 1906, including its causes
and effects R. Aitken
Zulu Wars R. G. Steel
The History of the Supreme Court of Natal P. R. Spiller

POLITICAL SCIENCE
Frederick Robert Moor and Native Affairs in the
Colony of Natal, 1893-1910 U. Dhupelia

Compiled by J. FARRER
 69

Select list of recent Natal

publications

CHISHOLM, R. Ladysmith. Braamfontein, Jonathan Ball, 1979.

COPE, R. L., and Guy, J. J. The Anglo-Zulu war of 1879; two centenary
lectures. Johannesburg, Univ. of the Witwatersrand, Friends of the
library, 1979.
DODDS, David A. Natal Drakensberg. Cape Town, Pumell, 1978.

GIBSON, Janet M. Wild flowers of Natal (inland region). Durban, Natal

publishing trust fund, 1978.

GROSSERT, J. W. Zulu crafts. Pietermaritzburg, Shuter and Shooter, 1978.
KUPPUSAMI, c., and Pillay, M. G. Pioneer footprints: growth of Indian
education in South Africa, 1860-1977. Goodwood, Nasou, 1978.
MAPHALALA, Simon Jabulani. The Participation of the Zulus in the Anglo­
Boer war, 1899-1902. Kwa-Dlangezwa, Univ. of Zululand, 1978.
MILITARY HISTORY JOURNAL ~ Zulu War Centenary Issue. January, 1979.
NATAL. History Teachers' Association. History news: Anglo-Zulu war cen­
tenary issue, Vol. 9, May 1979. Edited by: M. Comrie and G. Shaw.
NATAL. Town and regional planning commission. The Estuaries of Natal,
by George Begg. Pietermaritzburg, the Commission, 1978.
NATAL. Town and regional planning commission. Pietermaritzburg-Durban
region: the potential Indian labour force: main report, by Margaret
Sugdon. Pietermaritzburg, the Commission, 1978.
NATAL. Town and regional planning commission. The \Vater resources of the
Richards Bay area, Natal, by Paul F. Worthington. Pietermaritzburg, the
Commission, 1978.
NATAL. University. Centre for applied social sciences. A Black township in
Durban: a study of needs and problems, by Valerie Moller, and others.
Durban, the University, 1978.
NATAL. University. Dept. of economics. Development or stagnation?: agri­
culture in KwaZulu, by Giuseppe Lenta. Durban, the University, 1978.
PEARSE, R. O. Mountain splendour: wild flowers of the Drakensberg. Cape
Town, Timmins, 1978.
PIETERMARITZBURG. Girls' collegiate school. Collegiate: the story of Girls'
collegiate school, 1878-1978; recorded by Myfanwy Tait. Pietermaritzburg.
the School, 1978.
REALITY -- A iournal of liberal and radical opinion. January, 1979. Special
Anglo-Zulu War issue.
SHARP, P. S. Outward from Port Natal. Cape Town, Tafelberg,1978.
SMAlL, J. L. From the land of the Zulu kings. Durban, Pope, 1979.
UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND. Kwa-Dlangezwa. A Preliminary demographic
survey and study of attitudes on housing and other facilities in Esikhawini
township, by J. L. W. de Clerq and A. V. Mshengu. Kwa-Dlangezwa the
University, 1978. '
Compiled by J. F ARRER
70

Notes on Contributors

CHARLES BALLARD. Is a lecturer in History at the University of Natal,

Durban. He obtained his B.A. and M.A. degrees in history from lames
Madison University, in the United States of America. At present, Mr
BaIIardis a finishing doctoral candidate in history at the University of
Natal, Durban. He has published several articles on Nineteenth and early
Twentieth Century Natal and Zulu history in a number of journals, including
the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, the lournal of African
History and the lournal of Natal and Zulu History.

HELEN· FEIST. Is a student at the University of Natal, Durban. She

majored in History and German, obtaining first class passes in both subjects.
She graduated (B.A.) in 1979 and is at present studying for an Honours degree
in German. Miss Feist has been awarded an Austrian State Scholarship for
the period October 1979 to June 1980, to further her studies at the University
of Vienna.

JOHN HANKS. Educated at Cambridge: M.A., Ph.D. (Cantab.). Worked

in Zambia for six years on a variety of wildlife research projects, where
his doctorate was written on the population dynamics and reproductive
physiology of the African elephant. Appointed joint course organiser for
the M.sc. Course in Tropical Resource Ecology at the University of Rhodesia
in 1972, moving to South Africa in 1975 as Chief Professional Officer
(Research) with the Natal Parks Board in 1975. Became Professor and
Head of Department of Biological Sciences, University of Natal, in 1978.
His appointment as Director of the newly-established Institute of Natural
Resources in Pietermaritzburg was announced in November, 1979.

CHRISTOPHER MERRETT. Graduated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford,

with a B.A. (Hons.) in Geography, and then took an M.A. in Librarianship
at the University of Sheffield. As a librarian he has worked at the School of
Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, in the Natal
Society Library as Periodicals and Map Librarian, and was subsequently
in charge of the Architecture branch library at the University of Cape
Town. He assumed duty as Deputy University Librarian at the University
of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, in November 1979. His publications include
Map Cataloguing and classification: a comparison of approaches. University
of Sheffield, Postgraduate School of Librarianship and Information Science
Occasional Publication series No. 6, 1976, and Index to the 1 : 50 000 map
series. Pietermaritzburg, Natal Society, 1977.
AFRICANA
COLENSO LETTERS FROM NATAL
Standard Edition R4,20
De Luxe Collector's Edition R10,00
Arranged with comments by WYN REES, formerly Senior Lecturer
in History, University of Natal.
An appraisal of Bishop Colenso's life and work as revealed by
the letters of his wife, Frances Colenso, from 1865 to 1893.
12 illustrations. Full cloth cased. (1958)

THE DIARY OF HENRY FRANCIS FYNN R5,25

Compiled from original sources and edited by JAMES STUART
and D. McK. MALCOLM
Covers the period from 1824 to 1836 and is the story of the first
White settler in Natal - describes Fynn's first visit to Shaka and the
military might of the Zulus.
341 pages. Full cloth cased. (1969)

FATHER OF A CITY R3,50

E. C. GOETZSCHE
A portrait of George Christopher Cato, first bank-manager, first
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in the early history of Natal.
216 pages. Full cloth cased. (1967)

PHILlPPS, 1820 SETTLER

Standard Edition R4,20
De Luxe Collector's Edition R10,00
Faithfully copied from original sources by Miss E. K. Heathcote
(a descendant of Philipps) and edited by Dr. Keppel-Jones.
371 pages. Full cloth cases. (1960)

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The Black People. Translated by H. Lugg and edited by
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The first translation into English of a unique work - the first

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Killie Campbell Afrieana Library Translation Series. Number I.

COLlN DE B. WEBB and JOHN B. WRIGHT (editors).

The James Stuart Archive: Recorded oral evidence
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Volume I published 1976, 25 x 17 ems. 411 pp.
ISBN 0 86980 073 6 . R14,40
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