PORTMANTEAU P006 19361121
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[6 pages] Sesheke, N.R.
21st. November, 1936.
recd. 9.12. 36
Darling Everybody,
Well, how are we all this week? We're awfully well, and feeling in very good form, and THE RAINS HAVE COME!! We had a fine shower one morning early which woke us up and woke all the birds up and woke all the flowers up and everybody looked very porky; all that day it was quite fine but dull and cool, and that night we had another slashing shower, During the night I dreamt that one of our frangipani had two flowers on it in the middle of a lovely dream which I can't remember except that we were at Pax - and when we woke up in the morning we looked out, and there were two little white flowers on one of the frangipani! It has now got several lovely little buds, and is looking SO nice, though all the others are still green and dull.
The evening before last (Thursday) Musonda and I planted a whole lot of seeds in the handsome beds he has made in the vegetable-garden, and that night we had a terrific lot of rain and all the lettuces shot up about an inch with excitement, so we've had to cover all the new seeds up with Mats to protect them from the rain.
I AM so furious with myself - I've been SUCH a fool, losing the opportunity of a lifetime., On Thursday morning a native brought to the house a most lovely Animal, which we had to look up in a book before we knew what it was, and it was called a pangolin or Scaley Anteater, and he was too intriguing for words. He was about four feet long (when he was out straight) with a bumpy sort of body and a tiny pointed face with bulgy eyes and no ears, and a flat thick tail ending In a point, and he was absolutely Smothered in scales, sort of shell-shaped ones with very sharp edges, and when we touched him or he was frightened he rolled himself up into a tight ball and all the scales twitched. He had tiny short legs with enormously long sharp claws on the end, and he was altogether a most amusing Person.
The book we looked him up in said that very little is known about him, as he is so rare, and that the author has only seen one, and known about one or two others, who were kept in captivity but never lasted for more than two years. tie said that the scales are so bard that a bullet shot from a hundred yards glanced off them; when a pangolin is molested by anything he grinds his scales together - tat's the twitching we noticed to try and catch a bit of the enemy, and when it does it can pretty well saw off a dog's leg or a person's hand with the sharp edges of its scales.
The book also said that as they know so little about him any material would be of great value, so we decided to keep ours till we heard of an aeroplane going to Livingstone or Lusaka, and send him to the Game people there by air.
We put him in the wire enclosure of the vegetable-garden, and put a boy on to watch him, and he rootled about very happily among the roots of a tree, getting ants and whatnots, and that night we put him in a nice big wooden crate with wire netting over the top, and gave him some water and meat and anything else that we thought he might like, and left him in the boy's shelter.
The next day, there he was, as good as gold, sitting in his box, not having touched any of the tasty things we'd given him. I thought I'd take some nice movie pictures of him so went to get the camera, and found it had only about ten feet left, so it wouldn't be worth putting him on that one - I might as well finish the film on something else and take him on a brand new one, as I knew we'd want to take a whole lot of him, as he is so Rare. So that evening when it was cool enough to go out we vent and took some vague films of the gum-avenue and some trees and a Husband and the great Hunk-dog, and then I went and changed the film, and by the time it was ready it was rather too dark to make it worth while taking him, and I thought I'd wait till the next day.
As it had been raining that day, the bathroom was a mass of ants, so we pushed the Pangolin in there to eat them all up, which he loved, and then when it was time for him to go back into his box we pushed him out again and told a boy to watch him while we cleared up the bathroom of ants and got his bed ready.And Then the Great Tragedy Happened. We came out to look for him to put him to bed, and Could we find him anywhere? No, not a sign of a scale or a claw or a bulgey eye could we see in the whole of the landscape. So that was the end of that, and I expect he's very much happier where he is, and I don't expect we'll ever see another one as long as we live. Wasn't that a wasted opportunity?
Another great tragedy also happened the next night, because we heard the boys shouting outside, and went out, and there was an Enormous TOAD sitting in front of the back door. We poked him with a broom-handle, and he leapt round with fury shining out of his eyes, and took a flying leap at the broom with his great mouth wide open! So then we had the most lovely hunt, because he jumped away and almost ran towards the big fig tree, and tried to hide between the roots, so we poked him out, and he got angrier and angrier, and as he got angrier his tummy got fatter and fatter, and he swelled, and he swelled, and he swelled till we thought he was going to Burst.
He made such a lovely noise, a sort of grunting croak, as he jumped at the broom. It sounds rather like the noise that bulldog "Jix" makes, who sits on the windowsill of Peter's and my little den, the one with the permanent bandage round his leg - if you pull the string in short, sharp jerks, the noise he makes is just like the noise this Toad made, and it WAS so funny.
Eventually we got him near a box, and Musonda threw it over him and dumped a heavy can on top of him so that he couldn't get out and we left him for the night, meaning to take a film of him in the morning before we let him go.
But lo and behold, a little Hole was dug under the edge of the box, and the nasty thing had escaped without our having filmed him. Wasn't it bitter. But I had more excuse for not taking him, as it was in the night, but I had no excuse at all for not taking the Pangolin, as there he was in the garden for a whole day.
And now I'll tell you about something we HAVE got, and which will thrill Mummy to the Marrow. Two Baby Owls! We have called them Adam and Eve, and they are exactly alike except that Adam's eyes are yellow and Eve's are orange, and they are "too, too divine" as Christian would say. We give them grasshoppers and little crickets to eat, alive, and we tried them with ants but they weren't having any. They don't seem to want water, so I think we'll have to try them with milk, but we don't really know how old they are or what they are used to being fed on.
They can fly, but they fell out of a tree to start with, so I don't think they can be very old. They dislike us intensely at the moment, and click their little beaks together and open their huge eyes when we come near, and puff up all their feathers to try and look Big and Imposing. When they sit on our fingers they bite like anything, but as soon as we stroke their faces between their eyes, they settle down small and fluffy and their eyes shut and they go to sleep in our hands.
We keep them in the meat-safe-that-goes-on-tour, which has two shelves, one for day nursery and one for night nursery, and they have a little nest of shavings and cotton wool, and we usually keep the front covered in the day so as to keep out the light as much as possible. They fly about in the back verandah quite a lot, and love hanging head downwards from the wire netting by their claws, I have filmed one, the one who was brought in first, but the other only arrived yesterday, so I'm going to take him to-day, and I think they ought to look rather sweet together - if it comes out well.
Have you got any of my films yet? Because if so do tell me what's wrong with them so that I can remedy it. I still find it difficult to put the film in without using more than two feet, and it's usually down to 46 or 47 before I get started, and 50 feet is so short anyhow, isn't it. Can you please tell me what to do about it, Heather or Dad?
G has discovered some rather attractive little pools quite near, so he goes out with his gun every evening, and the first night he got four duck and a handsome little pheasant and last night he got Nothing at all. They are quite small - just a nice meal for the two of us and soup in the evenlng but they are awfully good, and we have been very lucky in having them, and fish, and "ngombe" - cattle . instead of the endless chicken I was expecting.
We are still unpacking the presents. We did the silver last night, and we have still got to sort it as to what we are to send to the Bank and what we can possibly keep here, and what we shall send home again if we can afford it. It seems to be a mass of candlesticks at the moment,
Sorry, I must stop for a bit, as I've got a spot of secretarial typing to do for My Husband, There it's done now so I'll continue. It's SUCH fun "doing" a house of my very own, and I'm very busy learning Chiwenba, and I think I'm getting quite good, though nobody else does, and the boys continue to understand better if I talk English or just point! I can't understand a bit what they say, and sometimes I can't even understand their English, which is most degrading!
The pony's back is still very sore, though it is getting better I think, and has a dry scab on it now. It's very tender, and I shouldn't think we'll be able to ride him for quite a long time. We haven't ridden since Phibbs has gone, as Miss Lanz said it would be better not to at first, and they are really more for use on tour, than for just "going for a ride" on. It might be nice to ride for these evening constitutionals of ours later, as the sand is very thick and tiring to walk in, and there aren't many paths and the grass is rather prickly and you get stalks in your shoes and tockings all the time.
We are rather hoping that nobody will try and land here just now, because the wind-sock got ripped to pieces by that first big storm of rain, and Musonda is very busily mending it on the sewing machine! You know we wrote to the Doctor in Livingstone suggesting that he might fly up one day? We haven't seen him yet, nor have we heard from him, but we might hear tomorrow (mailday round again) or else he may just leave it and come some months later, when it will be More Important and there will be something for him to come for!
Sunday, 22nd.
We had a lovely lazy bed-morning reading our mail till half past nine! The lovely letters from Mummy saying that they have almost bought Abbotswood. That IS lovely, and I'm so glad you love it as you seem to, and we are longing to see pictures of it, and I AM sorry that I shan't be able to come home next autumn to stay in it! 3ut on the other hand I'm glad I'm not coming home because it wouldn't have been much fun leaving my Husband, and also because I've got such a jolly good reason not to! She also told us that poor old Heather has got the Flu are you talkig through your dose all the tibe? Or isn't it the cold-ey kind?
Yes, you had put enough stamps on, Mummy. It is sixpence for half an ounce, and sixpence extra for anything else. That doesn't help me much as we haven't got a scales, so I hope mine are stamped enough. We DON'T want Lady Burton's suitcase out here, thank you Mummy, so you needn't bother to send it. What a pity about °P.J." being so ill, and I expect in a way it would be a great relief to Aunt Bridget if he DID die, as he can't be happy and a long dragging illness is very trying for everybody, isn't it.
And a lovely letter from Mum in Scotland, which came by sea-mail, and you DO seem to have be having a busy time. What fun going to all those places in Scotland, though I don't expect it was exactly "Fun" for you, and being with my beloved Mrs. C. I'm afraid we've been very dim and forgotten all about Xmas Cards, and now it is too late to order any; isn't that a pity, but it can't be helped. I would have liked to have one - or is it "I would like to have had one or "I would have liked to have had one?" - because it polishes off so many casual acquaintances so easily without having to write them a letter, but just to show that I haven't Forgotten Them. However, no doubt your card will do that all right, and perhaps dear little kind Heather will be sending them to some of our people as well as all your official ones. I mean, such people as the Deans - Uncle Bill and Aunt Kath - in New Zealand; Eli Hastings (that nice American girl on the Maunganui, whose address is 405 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California.) Eileen Maclear, or whatever her name is now; and what about Lila and Moley Molson (2186 Marine Drive, Vancouver, B.C.) Roy and Myra have one anyhow, don't they? Billie Ray at Naivasha (I had a letter from her from Dar-es-Salaam where she is Out on the Razzle, today). I think Whitmore might be allowed one, too, don't you, but don't send one to Colonel Reilly at Mafeking because he's dead. Ethel Swinton-Home at Soy, if she's come out again yet, which I think she has. (By the way, have you seen anything more of her nice daughter Hazel, who is at school at Priorsfield?) The Stephenson-Hamiltons at M'timba - and that's about all I can think of, at the moment.
Talking of Dad drawing a Scout for this year's, don't you think he will have to draw a picture of The Brat when it arrives, to send round in answer to letters, like he had that drawing of himself when he was so ill, or at least do a little Card of some sort, for judging by the lettere that arrived for us all on the Unique Occasion that has just taken place, Dad's First Grandchild will be something of a mild sensation, don't you think. And I, for one, have had just about my fill of writing letters!
I would have thought you would have had something more exciting, or topical than just A Scout,. for your Xmas Card - the Victoria Falls, as we were there this year, or the family party at Gilweil which that man took which we never saw, or something of that sort. However I expect it will be very nice whatever it is. You will send us one, won't you!
MUM. In your last letter you enclosed a letter from Mrs. Copley Hewitt saying she was giving us a Mirror, but you didn't say anything about it in your letter. A very nice three-sided mirror arrived among the presents, but it had Lady Delia Peel's card on it, and had evidently arrived since we left as I hadn't got her down in my book. Actually Mrs. Hewitt had written to me and said "When you have settled down a bit write and tell me what you want which you have not already got" so I wrote from the ship saying would she very sweetly give us Rupert Brooke's Complete Works with a Memoir and the Letters, which we both want very badly. I don't know whether she never got the letter, or whether she disapproves so strongly of R.B. that she wouldn't give it us, but if you haven't already sent off the mirror - Don't, as we don't need it.
The Owls are too delicious, and are getting much tamer. They squeak quite a lot, and peek at us vaguely with their eyes shut, and they LOVE live grasshoppers, holding them with their little claws and pecking wildly at them. They are also very partial to Cream, taken in dainty beakfuls from a teaspoon! They don't care much for fish, and we tried them with milk, and they quite liked it, but they prefer cream. We leave their cage open at night so that they can fly about the back-verandah and air their little selves.
We've got One Hibiscus! The last shower brought him out in all his scarlet glory, and he really does add Distinction to the garden. The frangipani with flowers on is still going ahead like anything, but the others haven't got any further than little curly leaves.
It's now Tuesday, and we've been out shooting twice since I wrote the last page about shooting, and the first night we got Nowt again, and last night we got a duck and a pheasant. There were about six of them in a bunch and the boys sent them over beautifully. He missed the first - a very high one, and two others, but got the one. We also shot a Hawk, but he got caught in the branches of a tree and we couldn't get him down, which was rather a shame as we wanted to look up what kind he was in our Priest's Book - which the Youngs gave us as a Wedding present.
Well, that's all for now, and this is the end of that nice block of Airmail paper, so next week's will be thicker, I'm afraid.
Lots and lots of love to you all from
US.
PORTMANTEAU 007 Sesheke, N.R.
29th November, 1936.
Darling Everybody,
Here we are again, Happy as can be, All good friends and Jolly good Companee. Yes, we're very well indeed this week, and it's been raining solidly all day and all the seeds are ready to be taken out of thcbir cots and put into proper, grown-up Beds now. And we're SO happy and having SUCH fun, and me 'usbind is Such a darling one, and the wonderful Son is going to be SO wonderful that I can't help feeling well.
Is this a wide enough margin for you, Daddy? The first two I know were very bad, but I hope all the ones since have been wide enough. I know how trying it is having to take letters out each time to read them, and I hope it is all right writing on the back of this paper, because it is so thick that my ordinary length of letter wouldn't fit into the envelope on one side only!
Tragedy Number One this week. One of the baby owls has DIED. I fed them yesterday morning; as usual on live grasshoppers, and there was one extra huge grasshopper almost a locust in fact, - who was making himself extremely objectionable by jumping out of the cage everytime I opened the door. So I picked him up in a fury and my hand, and tendered him to the Owl, who plucked him in half and swallowed him whole, if you see what I mean. Well, he had to gulp rather hard, and shut his eyes and pushed with his neck, like Sham does when he has raw meat, and eventually the thing went down. He sat there quite still for a little while, and shut his eyes and hunched his feathers, and I thought he was just nice and well-fed, so I picked them both out and placed them on a shelf while I cleaned the cage, and then put them both back again and stroked their noses till they stopped clicking their false teeth at me and went to sleep.
And at teatime my Husband came and woke me up after my siesta with the Tragic news that the Owl Was Dead. There he lay, stretched out on his side, with his little claws quite limp and his little eyes quite shut and his little heart quite still. And the grasshopper had Killed him. Sob, sob, sob.
Then an exciting thing happened, because we suddenly saw a small owl just like ours flying about the trees in the garden, so we thought we'd let the other little lonely one go and see what happened. He could fly a little, so it would be quite safe and the kindest thing to do, so we took him out and placed him neatly on the lowest bough of the big fig tree, and the other one came and fle into one of the branches above him and called to him, and he went "Squeak squeak" back.
At last he summoned up all his courage and took a great big Jump and flapped violently with his wings, which took him on to the ground about half way between that tree and the next, to which his brother - we suppose it must have been his brother - had already flown. So we picked him up and put him on that tree, and presently his brother lured him on to the next, all the time getting him further away from the house.
Eventually it got a bit dark, and we had to go off for our walk, so we left them still hooting and squeaking at each other, Brother saying "Come on, you little slow-coach" and poor little fellow saying "I can't, I'm too small." When we came back from our walk they'd got to the second to last tree before the huge blank space of the aerodrome, so we left them there and I don't know how they got themselves across the aerodrome, unless they just stayed in the tree till he could fly properly. But we haven't seen them since.
Tuesday, 1st. December, 1936.
Do you know what I am wearing to-day? My thick navy blue shetland jumper that I bought in St. Andrews last year, and my thick warm blue skirt, and Wooly etceteras! It rained solidly all yesterday, and it has been grey and cold and windy and lovely all to-day, and it's such a marvellous change to have to sleep under a rug in the afternoon instead of looking for the coolest room in the place and still being hot.
We have been very social this week. On Thurs evening we walked down to Miss Breach's garden, and she gave us some parsley and some cuttings of passion fruit and some roses, and then we went back with her to her little house and had sundowners with her and Mr. Read (the cattle one I think I told you about, who is always at daggers drawn with the Government). She's such a funny little person, Miss Breach - a mixture of Dear Aunt Agnes and Little Miss Exley, with her bright orange hair and huge round blue eyes and face like parchment. She is sixty, South African, and has ten sisters and two brothers!! Sorry, slight exaggeration on my part! I meant 12 brothersandsisters).
Then on Friday we had Miss Lanz up to tea as usual, and on Saturday we had the Monteverdis the people at the Mission who look like a pubkeeper. We had sardine sandwiches for tea, and chocolate biscuits, and it was rather fun entertaining in my own house for the first time, and doing the "'ow many lumps, Sam? Two?" stunt. We talked in English, but I think they would prefer to talk French as they had a little difficulty in understanding sometimes.
They came in their car, a Ford V8 vannette) bumping over the grass and sandy tracks and ant-hills. It can't have been very pleasant. They had been out on tour for a fortnight or so, in their car, and had gone along the "road" they have been making to a place about thirty miles away to do something or other - I didn't quite gather what. The "road" is a wide patch of sandy ground from which the trees and bush have been removed, but I shouldn't think any car could get through the deep, slidy sand that there is on the part nearest Sesheke that I've seen.
They hadn't seen any game at all, which was very dull of them, and hadn't even heard a hyena!
And THEN, on Sunday, came mail again, and the lovely wire from Pax and Weston saying how thrilled you are over Robin - or Judy! We haven't got your letters yet saying what you suggest, but now that you have presumably written them we tell you what we thought of calling it.
Robin, as that includes Dad; and Uncle Robbie who married us and who is G's godfather; G, as it is one of his names; G's grandfather; and no doubt a whole horde of other people, and also it's the name we both like best, and we think Robin Clay sounds rather nice, and there are no other Robin Clays are there?
Baden as his second name as it gives a touch of my ex-name which we thought might be nice.
That's all for the boy.
Judy, because we both like it, and it's nice and short. Do any of you object very strongly? Because if so I'm afraid you'll just have to Lump it.
Minella, because we found it in a book, and G wanted to call her Ella after his favourite grandmother, and I can't bear Ella, but we both think Minella is awfully sweet, do you? Anyway, she won't be called it, but I couldn't bear her to go through life as Ella.
St. Clair, because of it being my sort of family name and I would like my daughter to carry it on, even though I hate having the name myself!
And that's all for her. it's really too many, but we both wanted those two last names, but she couldn't be called either of them, and we both love Judy. Do you think those are all right?
Now to answer your letters.
MUM. POOR you, having all that work on your hands, and I feel sure you are doing much too much. I am so glad Rusty is such a darling. it's just as well we didn t get to know him too well or we wouldn't hare been able to part with him! How pathetic, poor Army getting lost like that, and we can sympathise with you over it having lost our Wol. Yes, Heather told us all about the exciting scandal of Mr. Brooke-Knight running over a man and Killing him and never stopping, In fact we got so thrilled about it that I went so far as to write a Poem on the subject. Did Heather show it to you? I am so proud of it!
DAD. How simply thrilling and lovely the House sounds, but I can quite understand you're not wanting to leave Pax, although it must be Frightfully tempting, with all the refrigerators and radios and fires and things, and of course glass drawers for socks and things are just heaven, aren't they. And all the crockery and things provided too - it sounds just too good to be true. But I can't imagine Rusty scrabbling on the sofas, and all the lovely curios and things we have at Pax being transferred into those surroundings - it wouldn't be HOME. Couldn't you have it as a sort of Retreat, to go to when there are too many people at Pax and you want to have a rest? Or wouldn't you be allowed to have it as a second house? It's terribly kind of the King to offer it to you, isn't it.
G is writing to you this week to thank you for your very sweet letters to him, and to assure you that I haven't ruined his life for him - yet! He doesn't get much time for writing letters, as there is rather a lot of business connected with Taking Over a station, and anyway, that's what his wife is for, for writing his private letters for him.
Mummy. Thank you so much for Fixing Harrods for me, and for doing the fool-glasses etc. I am glad you saw the same man as I did - the one with one arm, as it does make a difference if they know already what you are talking about, doesn't it: I like his taking such a fatherly interest in my welfare! Young Granny really is marvellous, isn't she. I was so glad she came to the wedding as I'd heard such a lot about her and I thought she was a perfect dear, and so bright and gay. Poor Ralph walking into the Kingsley Hotel looking like a Workman, and I don't blame him for leaving it and going somewhere else; we laughed like anything over that, and Uncle Ernest cutting him dead on the platform; We DO hope you manage to get the lovely bluebell wood at Abbot's Wood, as it would make such a difference.
How terribly sweet of you to send us Xmas presents, and I know we will love them when they come. We are thinking of having all the Locals up for a great Binge on Xmas night, which ought to be rather fun, with Crackers and Champagne and Christmas Pudding.
I forgot to tell you about our Armistice Day. Me 'usbind went to the Office, and at about ten o'clock a messenger came down to the house with the box of poppies - mouldy little ones with no stalks - and I bought two and stuck them in my buttonhole and went on with my typing. I looked up and saw the time wasabout 1/4 to 11, so I thought, "well I'll just stand up for two minutes at eleven", and when I looked at the clock again it said 23 minutes past eleven! So I thought nobody would mind if I didn't stand up, as I wasn't feeling too well that day and two minutes is such a long time.
Then there was your lovely typewritten letter, which didn't seem half so much You as your written ones, but I know it is much easier to type than write, isn't it, and much less tiring. Weren't those pictures of Dad doing his exercises comic! Thank you so much for sending them to us, they were awfully good and SO like him, which newspaper photos usually aren't. Oh, how funny, you going to a lecture on Gas Attacks, and I do hope you didn't go and try the gas as it would be so bad for your eyes I'm sure. They are still "scaring" about gas at home, are they - thank goodness we are well out of the way of that here.
I think that's all there is in the letters to answer. Now I'll tell you another excitement we had the other day. When G and I went for our evening constitutional down to the river we passed a bunch of excited-looking natives whith shovels and some dogs, who were jumping about and barking the dogs were - and they started digging in a big hole near the path. So on our way back from the river we went and asked what they'd got there, thinking it might be another pangolin or something, and they said "inama" which is just any kind of game, and used some word that G didn't know. So we thought it might be a small buck that had dived down a hole to escape the dogs, and we went on home, and passed two of our boys running out to see what all the fun was about, and they told us they had heard it was a porcupine "chinungi".
Then later they brought it up to the house, dead, and so we put it in a shed to wait till the morning to take a film of it. It Was rather high in the morning, but I took a film from about 25 feet so it was all right! It was very dead. It was quite a big fellow, and seemed awfully heavy, and two boys had to carry it, and it hung right down in the middle. It had got such funny feet, and a little tail hanging out at the back covered with smaller, sharper quills. We asked the boys what they were going to do with it, and they said "Eat it!" So we said they liked having thorns for lunch, did they? Which amused them highly. So that was the end of him, and they didn't dig out any more from the hole.
There has just been a slight interruption to this letter, as we have been rather busy getting an Owl out of the chimney! Phibbs had told us that there was a nest of some sort in the sitting-room chimney, and when we tried to light a fire in there last night (for warmth, which we needed!) the smoke just poured out into the room. So this morning I told them to "wamya" it (i.e. make it good) so Musonda pushed a stick up from below, and Chishimba and Shimeo climbed up on to the roof and stuck a stick down from above, and they finally located an Owl. So they got him up to the top, and tied a string on to his leg while he was still hampered by the smallness of the chimney from struggling, and then, when I was ready with the camera down below, they pulled the string and out flew Owl. Shimeo the Timid leapt a mile and with a scream of terror leapt round to the other side of the chimney pot and cowered down behind it! I do wish I could reproduce noises on the camera, because the boys' remarks, and their giggles as they were poking about there were, too funny for words. They just love anything out of the ordinary or exciting or new, and Chishimba goes "blurbblurbblurb" in his funny deep voice, which I think is impossible to hear, and Shimeo squeaks and giggles and shrieks if anything happens.
So the Owl flew up out of the chimney, and then found he couldn't go very far and started sliding down the roof, with Chishimba holding the end of the rope so that he couldn't escape altogether. He got down on the the path quite near me, and tried to fly once or twice, and I took a good film of him close to, and then we put him in the meat safe to wait for G. Then G came down for tea - morning tea, I mean - we looked him up in our Priest's book, and found he was An African Barn Owl, the most frequently seen owl in Africa.
The book says that they are almost the most useful and beneficial birds to man in Africa, because of the enormous number of mice they kill - each bird eats two mice a night for twelve years, so if you can work that out it makes quite a pretty little sum and shows how valuable Owls are. It's a very interesting book - four fat volumes - and it is such fun looking up all the things we meet and finding out all about them.
He was rather sleepy, as it was in the day, so he didn't try and peck us or anything, though he did struggle quite a lot. He lay on his side in the meat safe quite calmly till we'd seen what he was, and was quite calm lying in our hands when we examined him for colouring, and was so gorgeously soft, with a lovely soft deep ruff of white feathers all round his face, with his black, pooly eyes in
the middle. It seems a shame that he's got to make a new nest now, somewhere else, as we of course let him go at once. We are wondering if he is the parent of our two Baby Owls, as we aren't sure what kind they were as they were only young and hadn't got their grown-up clothes on yet.
Well, that's all for this week, and I haven't any more time now. I'm afraid this letter isn't frightfully exciting, but it brings you our love, and says how TERRIBLY happy we are.
Your two (and a half!)
Us.
PORTMANTEAU 8.
8 pages Sesheke,
5th December, 1936.
Dear Everybody,
I'm afraid last week's letter was rather short and scrappy and dull, and I didn't even have time to write you all separate letters of your own, because at the Critical Moment we were Inundated with a Bombastic Array of VISITORS.
On Wednesday morning I was very busily finishing off the letters as the mail was waiting on the river bank to go off, when a roaring husband Burst in upon me and said "Look out! There's someone coming!" I felt like a conspirator, and looked round hastily to see if there was anything to Conceal, and shoved a few things together to try and make the place look a bit tidier than it was (which would deceive nobody), stuck a smile on my face as neatly as I could and rushed out to Do My Stuff.
It was the Vet. and his wife, M. and Mrs. McArthur, going down from Mongu by barge on their way home on leaye, and I thought to myself, What fun, they'll probably stay the night and I811 have an excuse. to get out my Lovely New Best Sheets, and clean the guest-house up a bit, and entertain Real Live Visitors in my own house! But they said,"No thanks," and only stayed to morning tea, which was disappointing in a way, but rather a relief in another way! It was only ten o'cl when they arrived, but we pressed them to stay to lunch, but they wanted to get on as they wanted to be in Livingstone by the weekend so as to catch the Tuesday train down-country, so they went off after about an hour.
They weren't bad, he was small and stocky and Red, in shorts, and she was small and thin and had Straight hair and sandals and nice old clothes and looked very much the Woman who has Lived in the Bush - which she is. She was very nice and easy and amusing to talk to, and didn't mind a bit having to remove two pictures and a Strand Magazine before she could sit down in a chair, or having to step over three early morning teasets to get in at the front door.
So they went off, and walked down to the river again to their barge, and by that time the mail-barge was leaping about all over the place, getting so impatient and stamping its feet with fury at being kept waiting so long, so I just licked up everything I saw and jumped about a dozen stamps on some and none at all on to others, and packed them all off in a frenzy.
Then, as if we hadn't had enough excitement for one day, I suddenly heard the roar of an aeroplane. I was quite calmly reading on the verandah, so at first I thought nothing of it, as it seemed quite in the ordinary course of events at home, and you know I never hear a THING when I'm reading. Then suddenly I woke to the fact that it was flying rather low, and then I remembered I was at Sesheke (I ought to be able to spell it properly by now) and that it was actually and Aeroplane, and it was coming Down on our aerodrome.
So I rushed out, armed with a double Terai and the blue box, and got a very good one (at least it looked good in the view-finder) as the plane swooped down. Then it swooped up again, and flew round and swooped down again, because it did n't know which way the wind was, as the Pore windsock had died in the heavy rain we had last week. So I yelled to the boys to bring a towel or sheet or something, but by the time they brought it the plane had landed on the crossways run. Me 'usbing, had appeared on the scene by this time, and the plane came walking towards us and we thought perhaps it was the Dr. coming to see how Robin was getting on, as we hadn't heard a word from him.
But it wasn't - it was merely an Insurance gent doing a spot of propaganda! His name was Lacey, and he and his wife ,then his fiancee) had been at the dance they gave for us in Lusaka in April, and what is more, they had got the second prize for the dancing competition in which ME and my partner (I mean my partner and I) had been first prize! (I'll tell you something very exciting about that presently.)
He was small and thin and young and pale and had adenoids but didn't wear spectacles which is quite wrong for a person who looks like that. He smoked all the time, from the moment he Descended from the aeroplane to the moment that he had to put out half a cigarette when he jumped in again. He tried to make G take out one of his Insurance policies, and it sounds quite a good scheme, not so much as a Life Insurance as a means of saving without noticing it, and with the object of being able to pull out a big lump sum if ever we need one in the dim distant future - for instance, when we retire and want to buy a house, or something.
However, we haven't done anything about it yet. The pilot is English and had a farm in Southern Rhodesia and is now instructor at the Flying Club in Lusaka, and he hates the country - at least he says he does. Not very nice, but not bad.
They deigned to stay to lunch, for which we had curried egg (an invention that we tried for the first time, and it turned out very well) and boiled chicken with our first little sprigs of lettice chopped up round it with white sauce. And Heinz Baked Beans for veg. A syrup tart and tinned apricots for pudding. It was rather fun having people, but I felt SO
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inefficient and apologetic if anything went wrong! At onee moment the plates were cold, and I felt all responsible and wanted to send them back and blow Musonda up straight away for allowing the plates to be cold! At home I'de always just had to do the talking part of entertaining, and it seems so funny to be responsible for the food and the serving and everything now; they probably didn't notice when anything want wrong, but it ALL seemed wrong to me, even though it was all very good really!
After lunch the pilot went off to delve about inside his plane, and M. Lacey went down to see M. Read (the cattle man) to try and make him insure too, so I went off to my rest and G went off to the Office, and I woke up to hear the plane just getting ready to go, round about 3 o'clock. They were going on down to Livingstone, and asked if there was anything they could bring up for us the next day as they would be passing quite near and it wasn't far out of their way. So we asked them to bring up our two wireless accumulators, and a bag of Potatoes.
It's now two days later and they haven't turned up yet, so I expect they've forgotten.
Now would you like to hear about my partner at the Dance at Lusaka? Well, he's been MURDERED!. His name was Dr. Manning, and he was Very goodlooking and a Beautiful Dancer (that was why we won the competition) and he'd got black hair and blue eyes. Well, one day about two months ago - we read it in the newspaper at Bulawayo that day - he was sitting in his flat with a frier. late at night, talking, and some gay birds passed along the street down below and thought it would be fun to go and beat him up. I mean, just go and see him and pass the time of day (or night). So they all went up to his flat, singing and being generally rather the worse for wear, and barged into his flat and started chatting away with him.
One of them, a dentist, went into the bedroom next door, picked up a rifle that was sitting there, thought it wasn't loaded, and pointed it through the crack of the door into the room and said "Bang" for a joke. The rifle went off and killed D. Manning Stone Dead. As nobody actually saw him do it, and as all the other people were drunk, they had to take his word for it that it was a complete accident, and so he's been Iet off. They were all acquaintances of his, and nobody seemed able to find THat there was any MotiVe for killing him, so they couldn't do anything else but let him off.
Of course it ought to be a criminal offence to point a gun at anybody, even if you do think it is unloaded.
This week's result in the Fauna line is so far limited to One Baby Impala, who is perfectly adorable but still a bit frightened. Phibbs had given out that he would give a reward of £l - vast wealth - to anyone who would bring one in, and furthermore he would give 10/- to the first one. The £1 was to be given by the Government, as the Impala was wanted for the little Game Park at Livingstone, so we will have to send the little chap down there soon. Meanwhile we have built him a lovely little house of grass with a roof of grass, and a round courtyard round it, also of grass, and I hope he'll be happy in there for a bit, though it seemed to me awfully stuffy and hot in there.
He arrived in one of those native baskets - a floor of rushes and curved sides made of sticks-tied together with grass, and there was a long stout pole all along the top for carrying him by. They had caught four, and this was the only one that lived, isn't it pathetic.
I'm afraid I had to take this page out, so I hope it will be all right having put it in again.
It is now Monday, 7th.
Yesterday all your loyely letters arrived, saying how thrilled you all are about Robin, and it IS marvellous, isn't it. It made us excited about it all over again, reading how pleased you all are. We got your wire about it last Sunday - I don't remember if I told you or not. POOR Mum, having to wait till after breakfast before telling Dad, when you must have been absolutely Bursting to shout it out to him, and just wishing all those silly people weren't there. And Mummy having to wait till the silly house-maid stopped fussing about with early-morning-teasets, and I bet Daddy was saying "Well, go on, go on, what are you wait in for? Why don't you read it to me?" Did he say that?! I'm so glad Ralph was there too so that he knew at once. Does he like having a portmanteau of his own, or would he rather share the Weston one, as he seems to be living there now?
Poor Heather, having to be an Aunt. You'll have to get a pair of Spectacles, because I feel sure nobody can be an Runt if they haven't got a Spectacled Face. I'm glad you're glad you've not got to be a Godmother too, because -Two relationships to One Person would be a bit unkind. Are the proposed Godparents approved of? Are the names approved of? We had thought of putting in the Arden too, but then we thought that was rather more Ralph's job! as he has the Arden part in his own name and it isn't really our business. Also Three names, all ending in N would be a bit hard on the child, wouldn't it.
We're frightfully pleased with life at the moment, as
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THE REFRIGERATOR HAS ARRIVED! We wired to it about a fortnight ago to ask why it hadn't got here, because the man in London had been so definite that his agent in Johannesburg knew all the difficulties of transport in N.R. and would be sure to know how to get it there, and of course a Mere Barge wouldn't deter him from getting it to us by the end of October.
So when we heard Not a Word from them, and there was no sign of the R. we sent a wire and got the answer back the same day as we got your wire! And they said that they had had no instructions from us as to what to do with it, so they had sent it to Salisbury, as being nearer to N.R. than Jo'bug! So there it was sitting, all by itself at S'bury, while we were sitting here all by ourselves pining for it. The wire said that on receiving our wire they had wired to it to Proceed at once, and yesterday it arrived, all packed up neatly in its little packing case.
I took a film of it arriving, as it was carried slung on a pole like an animal, between two natives, and I thought it might amuse Annie!
Well, we unpacked it, and put it together with the help of the instructions, which were rather difficult but not as difficult as the wireless had been, and we lit the little lamp and pushed it underneath and shut the door and went away. We went hack half an hour later to see how it was getting on, and it was just the same temperature and the water was more like water than ever! So we waited another half hour, and still nothing had happened, and the water was almost invisible it was so watery. So we decided we'd left somethining out or done something wrong, and left it in despair.
We went and had another look at about six o'clock, and lo and behold, two whole trays choc-a-bloc full of ICE!! So we put them in our drinks and enjoyed them more than we have enjoyed any drinks since the iced ones at Mrs. Cartmel-Robinson, in Livingstone.
So to-day I delved into one of my Three Cookery Books, and discovered Raspberry Ice. So I got a tin of raspberries and some icing sugar and some Cream and some lemon juice and -a seive and I jumped them all into a basin together and squashed 'em up good and hearty, and dumped them in the Ref. with many prayers for success. I gave them two and a half hours, and opened the door, and discovered - Exactly what I'd put in! So we had mangoes for lunch.
But you. just look out for yourselves, because we left it there all the afternoon, and we went to get our drink-ice out just now, and it was Ever so much harder, and really cold, and Almost looked like an Ice Cream! So we are going to have it for dinner,-after the chicken Pie.
Musonda had met a Refrigerator before, but a little box like one; this one is about four foot high; the other boys had never seen one before, and had Never seen Ice, When we picked the ice out for the first time, we told Chishimba to hold his hand out, and when we put the ice in it he dropped it as if he'd been burnt! They are all awfully thrilled with it I think. I KNOW we are, and I want to keep on going and seeing how it's getting on, but it isn't very good for it to be opened too often, as every time you open it it loses a bit of its cold and takes in some of the outside heat. We're going to have such fun with it!
Another excitement that happened yesterday was that we went out for our little constitutional on the aerodrome, and suddenly saw a huge flock of Guinea fowl leaping about up at the end. So we screamed for the gun, and I stood on a log and watched while G rushed through the bush to get behind them. They were quite unsuspecting, and then suddenly G went Bang, and they all started running at Fifty miles an hour towards the bush. Then out darted a tiny buck, squatted for a moment in the middle of the aerodrome, and then flew down one of the arms, passing quite close to me and going along in huge leaps like an Impala. He was Lovely to watch, with his little feet and his beautiful chestnut coat.
Then G went on round the end of the aerodrome, still in the bush, and Chishimba went round the other side and put them up, and they all flew away over the trees making a noise like a bicycle wheel. G got one, and he came, fluttering down and Chishimba had to run miles to catch him. They have such funny humpy backs, and are SO fat from side view, and when you see them back or front view they are as narrow as a missionary's mind.
The first Bang had been the other little buck - the wife of the one who dashed away, and we were rather sorry it was the wife really, except that she hadn't got any children so it was really all right. She was a steinbok, and we are going to haye her for lunch tomorrow, and she ought to last quite a long time. We had the guinea fowl to-day, and he was Delicious - like a very tender turkey with a slightly gamey flavour.
And then tonight, we were just going out for a harmless walk, and Shimeo dashed up shouting "Makanga" (guinea fowl) so we flew for the gun, and chased out after them. There was only a pair, and we got one. It is nearly nesting time so we won't be abler to shoot them much longer; at the moment they are coming out on to the aerodromes so much because the lovely showers of rain we have had have made the grass lovely and green, and much softer and nicer than the coarse, high stuff in the bush. I don't know whether they factually EAT the grass, but it is nice and soft for their toes, and I suppose the bugs are juicier when they have been feeding on green grass.
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Oh, and another article of Food that has arrived is my beloved POTATOES, which I have been pining, for for weeks. For a little while I "did" with sweet potatoes, which weren't at all bad, and which served their purpose quite nicely in stews and the like, but they all Went Bad on us, and had to be given to the boys, which nearly broke my heart. So last mail we ordered some potatoes from Livingstone, and yesterday they came - a huge Sack of them, and I have been revelling in them ever since. We :had them all crusty on a Pie last night, and had two roast ones with the Guinea fowl to-day, and we're having them all crusty again tonight on our Chikken Pie.
There, that's made my mouth water, and we've finished our drinks, and Peter has just come in to say "Kulya" so we MUST go and eat it NOW.
Oh, that's MUCH better. Half an hour of Perfect Piggery, with the most gorgeous Cottage Pie that ever was made, and the potato all soft and slushy, and crusty all over the top. The Raspberry Ice was a delicious Raspberry Fool, I don't know why it failed to set, as it has been sitting in that icebox since ten o'clock thus morning, so I suppose it's something I've done wrong - though Musonda will be made to think that it turned out exactly as it was meant to, because everything the Mama does is all right.
Chishimba has got fever to-day, so we gave him some quinine and packed him off to his hut, and Peter is waiting at table. He is the new one, Musonda's brother, who has worked on the line with a Mama before so he knows bow to do things. He is bedroom boy, and washes quite nicely, though his ironing is not quite perfect yet. He's a nice boy, though and has become "one of the family" quite easily, and comes out shooting to carry the cartridges and gun as though he always has.
Talking of that, you WOULD laugh to see us going out shooting if it looks likely to rain. G and I go first, with the great Hunk rootling about all round us; we are followed at a respectful distance by Peter carrying the gun; behind him comes Shimeo with the bag of cartridges; behind him comes Chishimba, carrying a fly whisk and an umbrella!
It's marvellous having such excellent boys, and Musonda really is a dear. He looks after me so well, and won't let me buy anything that isn't quite all right, and when a boy tried to charge us 1/6d. for half a dead duiker he flatly refused to allow me to buy it. If anybody comes round selling things - eggs, fish, pawpaws, chickens, etc, he always comes and does the bargaining, while I stand like a Queen on the doorstep and look thoroughly disinterested, and finally say All right, I think we'll have it then, and dish out a sixpence as if it was a hundred pounds. And the man looks just about
as pleased as he would if I DID give him a hundred pounds!
Before we came out I had a few Squalms that I would not be able to DO things properly, that I wouldn't be able to boss up the boys, or order the. dinner, or keep every-thing clean, or look after the horses, or keep my Husband well-fed, or stop the rats getting in the linen cupboard, etc, etc etc. And I've discovered that it's SO easy. Here are a few remedies of things which I have discovered:-
WHAT TO DO IF:
1). There are bees in the bath.
Remedy: Call a boy, and tell him to remove them.
2). some seeds want planting.
Remedy: Call a boy, and tell him to plant them.
3). a horse gets a sore back.
Remedy: Call the boy and tell him to cure it.
4). you find a smell or a scorpion or a tick or a toad.
Remedy: Call a boy and tell him to remove it.
5). If the cows won't lay female calves.
Remedy: Sack the herd-boy.
So you see it's all Quite simple. And if any of those remedies don't work, Tell Musonda.
We are getting on slowly but surely with the business of hanging the pictures, and when we have got them all up I will tell you where they are. We were disappointed to find that you hadn't included any of Dad's, as we should so love to have a big one of his for the sitting room - one of his lovely landscapes - the Victoria Falls, or something. We have put Rosie's lovely Bonnington seascape over the fireplace, it's about the only decent sitting-room picture we've got, as all the others are my old horse-pictures, which don't look too good in here. The wedding-present ones are mostly so ghastly that they are having to be hung in ahem bathroom, or else given to the boys!
An aeroplane (red) flew over today, and I sent Shimeo out to wave a towel (as the windsock is beyond repair) hopefully, but it had no effect, and he went on without coming down. He is probably going to fetch Heggs from Senanga, which is the next place to us (a forthight's barge journey), who is Proceeding on Leave. He may pass over here tomorrow and drop in for lunch or something.
Well, that's enough for this week.
Goodbye, everybody, with lots and lots and lots of love to you all from
US
