"Chiruoula's Tale" - Review

Here is a review :-

Chirupula's Tale by J. E. Stephenson. (Bles., 8s. 6d.)
African Affairs, Volume XXXVI, Issue CXLIV, July 1937, Page 395

Chirupula — "The Beater" - is the somewhat sinister name by
which the author was long known to the Natives of North-Eastern
Rhodesia, where he was formerly a district official. The circumstances
in which he acquired it were in no way discreditable, but he admits
his belief that the lash was the only satisfactory corrective for Native
delinquents in the primitive conditions of that region at the beginning
of the century. And this is by no means his only departure from
orthodoxy. He defends sexual relations between white men—officials
included—and Native women as justifiable in the lonely conditions
of their isolated lives. In the other territories under the Chartered
Company's rule such relations were sternly interdicted by the authorities
and condemned generally by public opinion; in North-Eastern
Rhodesia, if we are to accept Mr. Stephenson's assurance, they appear
to have been winked at.
His book, however, reveals in a vivid and often startling manner
the perils and difficulties of initiating civilised government in districts
which, throbbing as they are to-day with an immense industry, were
untamed, and almost unknown, less than forty years ago. To Stephen-
son and his one colleague was assigned the task of opening pioneer
stations in parts now familiar to hundreds of Englishmen through the
development of the Bwana Mkubwa, Roan Antelope, and other famous
copper mines, His personal experiences, often grim and hazardous,
bear the stamp of veracity. He is not so much at home when he
strays into the history of adjacent territories, but this may be forgiven
in the light of his graphic accounts of the human and animal denizens
of the parts in which he himself laboured. His observations on the
lore of the Native tribes and his analysis of the twisted logic which
governs their daily conduct prove that he has penetrated deeply into
their lives. He displays an equally close knowledge of the wild beasts
and birds of the country, and gives us many intimate glimpses—told
in a way reminiscent of Kipling—-of their peculiar habits.
"Chirufiula's Tale" is strong meat—unsuitable perhaps for squeamish
palates—but its stark reality fascinates rather than repels.

H. M. H