Vol. 1, 20th Aug, 1929 to 29th Oct, 1930
The letters are trascribed using dictation software, so there WILL be mistakes. Please tell us of any that you may spot.
Volume 1
Relating:
The voyage from England on S.S. 'Gloucester Castle'
via Plymouth, Las Palmas and
Lobito Bay (Angola) to Capetown;
by train to Livingstone;
the Victoria Falls;
by train to Kapiri Mposhi;
by lorry to Luwingu;
working in Luwingu;
working in Perembuto in the Bangweolo Swamp;
arranging for food to be sent to Mpika;
shooting buck, buffalo and birds.
Gervas
Content
19290820 Colonial Office to GCRC
19290822 GCRC to Colonial Office (Draught)
19290831 Colonial Office to GCRC
19300710 Postcard of S.S. Gloucester Castle
19300711 GCRC to EVC, from Plymouth
19300715 GCRC to EVC, from Las Palmas
19300728 GCRC to EVC, from Lobito
19300729 Telegram from GCRC, from Lobito
19300729 GCRC to EVC, from Capetown
19300730 GCRC to EVC, from Capetown
19300803 Telegram from GCRC, from Capetown
19300804 GCRC to EVC, from Mafeking
19300805 GCRC to EVC, from Mafeking
19300809 Chief Secretary to GCRC
19300810 GCRC to EVC, from Livingstone
19300811 Telegram from GCRC, from Livingstone
19300813 GCRC to GAC, from Livingstone
19300823 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
19300831 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
19300906 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
19300913 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
19300920 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
19300927 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
19301005 GCRC to EVC, from Perembuto
19301014 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
19301022 GCRC to EVC, from Perembuto
19301023 GCRC to GAC, from Perembuto
19301029 GCRC to EVC, from Perembuto
The letters are in different colours to distinguish one from the next.
19290820 Colonial Office to GCRC
Communications on this subject
should be addressed to----
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE, Downing Street,
COLONIAL OFFICE,
LONDON, S.W.l. 20 August, 1929.
and the following
Number quoted: 16195 Appts. N. Rhod.
Sir,
I am directed by Lord Passfield to inform you that, subject to your being passed as physically fit for service, he proposes to select you provisionally for probationary appointment as an Administrative Officer (Cadet) in Northern Rhodesia with salary at the rate of £400 a year for two years and then, if you are confirmed in your appointment, £475 a year, rising by annual increments of £25 to £600, and thence by annual increments of £30 to £840, and by annual increments of £40 to £920, subject to your passing efficiency bars at £600, £720 and £840.
2.
The conditions attached to appointments in Northern Rhodesia are shown in the following memoranda which are enclosed:-
Regulations for the Employment of Officers in the East African Dependencies;
Model Pensions Ordinance and Regulations; and the Colonial Regulations.
You should, however, understand that you would be subject, to any regulations which may hereafter be introduced by or with the approval of the Secretary of State. Copies of "Hints for Officers appointed to Northern Rhodesia" and "Hints on the Preservation of Health in Eastern Africa" are also enclosed.
3.
You will be required, before proceeding to East Africa, to attend a course of instruction at Oxford University commencing in October and extending over three University terms. A memorandum containing particulars of the course is enclosed. The Crown Agents for the Colonies will communicate with you shortly respecting the bond which it will be necessary for you to sign with regard to the allowances for which you will be eligible during your attendance at the course.
4.
You should note that in the case of a candidate selected for an appointment in the service of a Colonial Government who is required to undergo a preliminary course of instruction, the Secretary of State may, at any time, cancel the selection if the candidate fails to complete the course successfully -within the
time allotted, or if the Secretary of State receives what, in his opinion, is an adverse. report upon the candidate's conduct or work while attending the course. If the selection of a candidate is cancelled by the Secretary of State, the candidate will be liable to refund any payments made to him or on his behalf in connection with his attendance at the course.
5.
If you are prepared to accept the appointment on these conditions, you should inform this Department without delay, and should present yourself as soon as possible to one of the Consulting Physicians to the Colonial Office whose names
are given on the enclosed letter for the purpose of being medically examined.
You will be required to pay his fee of one and a half guineas. It is not necessary for you to await a communication from the Crown Agents regarding the bond referred to in paragraph 3 before presenting yourself for examination.
You should complete the enclosed form (J/lb) and hand it to the Consulting Physician at the time of the examination. He will send his report direct to this Department.
6.
I am to request that in the event of your not accepting this offer, you will return the enclosures to this letter.
I am,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
19290822 GCRC to Colonial Office (Draught)
Draught of reply to the Colonial Office
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of Mr Machtig's letter (16195 Appts N. Rhod) of the 20th instant and in reply to acquaint you, for the information of the Secretary of State that I accept with gratitude the appointment referred to therein on the terms and conditions specified and that I will take steps to
appear before one of the Department's Medical Officers at a very early date.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant
19290831 Colonial Office to GCRC
Communications on this subject
should be addressed to----
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE, Downing Street,
COLONIAL OFFICE,
LONDON, S.W.l. 31 August, 1929.
and the following
Number quoted: 32844 E.A.
Sir,
I am directed by Lord Passfield to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22nd August, and to inform you that you have been passed as physically fit for service as an Administrative Officer (Cadet) in Northern Rhodesia, subject to your being re-vaccinated. You have accordingly been selected provisionally for probationary appointment in accordance with the terms of the letter from this Department of the 20th August. You will be required before your departure from England to furnish a certificate showing that you have been successfully re-vaccinated.
2.
Further instructions will be sent to you at a later date from the University Authorites with regard to the Tropical African Services Course at Oxford. It is presumed that you are in communication with the Crown Agents for the Colonies, 4 Millbank, S.W.l., respecting the bond which it will be necessary for you to sign with regard to the allowances for which you will be eligible during your attendance at-the course.
3.
In the event of your final selection, a further letter will be addressed to you respecting your passage. As a general rule, selected candidates will be required to embark not later than fourteen days after their period of instruction has terminated.
4.
I am to request you to keep this Office informed of any changes in your address.
I am,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
19300710 Postcard of S.S. Gloucester Castle
19300711 GCRC to EVC, from Plymouth
Union-Castle Line
S.S. 'Gloucester Castle'
July 11th, 1930
My dear Mummy,
We shall leave Plymouth at about 3.30 this afternoon, so I am writing this before lunch to post when we get in. I suppose we're now off the Dorset coast.
The sea is inclined to look choppy, but the ship is quite extraordinarily steady and there's really no motion at all. It's rather cold though & I've had to rake out a sweater. On leaving Plymouth we go to Las Palmas which we reach on the 18th, then to Lobito on the 29th & we're supposed to reach Cape Town on the 3rd.
Yesterday it was lovely & we passed very close to Dover & could see France in the distance. We passed the new German liner the Bremen shortly after Dover & have seen a good many big ships. We also ran through a large shoal of porpoises.
The ship has got a large library which is just as well as the other passengers look a very dull lot, & last night I played bridge with 3 of our people & they were very bad! The fellow in my cabin is quite nice & a good sailor I think which is lucky. I'm afraid it's going to be rather cold at first.
Well, I must stop. I'll write again from Las Palmas!
Best love to you all
Your very loving
G.
19300715 GCRC to EVC, from Las Palmas
Union-Castle Line
S.S. 'Gloucester Castle'
July 15th 1930
My dear Mummy,
We get to Las Palmas tomorrow, so I am writing this this afternoon to catch the post tomorrow. Thank you so very much for your letter which I got at Plymouth. Well, we're having a very enjoyable trrip, no sea to speak off and mild almost sunless weather. It's pretty warm now especially at night but I'm sticking to a sweater, as I think it will soon get a good deal hotter.
Apparently it will be winter at the Cape so we may get some rough weather before we arrive. We passed close to Cape Finistere but have not seen land since. I'm not very popular at the moment having won the sweep on the day's run for three days in succession! £1-2-6 each day at a shilling a ticket. I also won 15/- at deck coits and 10/- at 3d bridge one day so altogether my luck seems to be in at the moment.
One of the Cambridge fellows Wallace by name has a brother who has just come back from his first tour in Northern Rhodesia. He was out 2 yrs 7 months & they wanted him to stay longer. He only got 4 months leave & returns on the next
boat, but he is apparently very keen to get back & loved the life. He had 7 months on an outstation at first with one other man who was a hypochondriac & an outsider & only saw 2 other white men. Then he was sent it to Fort Jameson for the rest of the tour and now goes back to Broken Hill.
The Governor of N. R. is on leave at the moment so we shall avoid seeing him with any luck. He is very unpopular.
We get a certain amount of news on the wireless but chiefly very dull and uninteresting. The food is excellent - much too good & it's hard to get enough exercise - I had to walk 2 miles up & down the deck last night to kill my indigestion.
Deck tennis is hardly exercise at all!
Well, I must stop. No news.
With best love to you all
Your v loving
G.
19300728 GCRC to EVC, from Lobito
Union-Castle Line
S.S.'Gloucester Castle'
28th July, 1930
My dear Mummy,
We get to Lobito tomorrow morning early and I shall send you a wireless message just to say I'm alright! I expect you'll get it tomorrow.
There's no post from Lobito so this will have to be sent off from Cape Town when we get there next Sunday or Monday.
We're not making quite such a fast passage as we ought to be doing apparently, as we should get to the Cape on Sunday & probably won't till Monday which means that the Mail boat getting in that day will be unloaded first. It's been very calm on the whole so far though rather a groundswell the last day or two. I have felt none the worse but several people have succumbed I believe. According to the captain we are going to have rough weather before the Cape & it seems very likely at this time of year. It hasn't been a bit too hot so far - in fact we've all gone back to sweaters again now, though we've only just crossed the line really. It's been cloudy every day - no sun - & though hot at night never too hot.
I won the sweep again after writing to you making 4 days in succession - a terrific record, & haven't won since though I was second 2 days running this last week.
Las Palmas is an extraordinary island. Before getting to the harbour there's a large hill sticking out into the sea and looking exactly like an enormous slag heap & with a white temple at the top. The town runs round the bay with the harbour (full of shipping) at one end & the fashionable district at the other.
We all went ashore for an hour or two & saw the cathedral etc: The town itself is just like a dirty Italian village. Immediately behind the town are sand dunes - rather Sahara like - and behind that again some really fine rocky mountains which looked beautiful with the setting sun on them. When we got back to the ship it was swarming with dagoes selling all sorts of stuffs and trinkets etc: One man had some field glasses so I asked him how much they were. He said £7 so I said I'll give one, & he took it!! The glasses are really not bad at all when cleaned and washed! I also bought rather an attractive cigarette box. We left that evening after only a few hours there. A few days later we passed quite close to Cape Verde & saw quite a lot of ships.We have had deck sports & games etc: every day & night have got a bridge drive.
Unfortunately everyone plays pretty badly!! In the deck tennis & deck quoits I was knocked out in the first round in every event except in the men's doubles & in that only survived one round! However I got on much better in the sports, winning the ducking for apples, shaving race (in which an old woman had to shave me with a spoon; I'm sure she must have been a nurse!), being second in the potato race to a small boy with a large handicap, the bolster bar & the egg & spoon race!
19300729 Telegram from GCRC, from Lobito
19300729 GCRC to EVC, from Capetown
Tuesday 29th July, 1930
We left it Lobito this afternoon about 3.30 & I sent you a wire from ship just to say I was all right. When we woke up this morning the ship was riding at anchor in the harbour beside the quay. After breakfast and we went ashore & it was extraordinary to look back at the ship within 20 yards of the shore - & she takes a 23 feet draft too! I should think Lobito makes a very fine natural harbour, as an arm of land comes round and runs out parallel to the shore, shutting in quite a large stretch of water. This arm is fairly thickly covered
with bungaloes & houses, with a few native huts at the far end. We went for a walk for an hour or so & everything was very smelly & dirty, particularly the Portuguese. It must be a terribly dreary little place to be stuck in.
We had lunch on board & afterwards tried to do a little fishing, as there were quantities of quite big fish about - jumping out of the water etc: One of the stewards hooked a big one 4 or 5 lbs I should think but it jumped off just as it left the water & got away. We have seen a lot of sharks the last day or two. I
took my camera ashore & took a film of photos but the light wasn't at all good & it was really pretty cold this afternoon even in a sweater.
The other night we had a fancy-dress dance. I couldn't think of anything to go as so I just put on my tails & my pillow under my shirt as a large tum-tum & made myself a wig from that frizzy stuff you pull-out (which the barber had) & with a corked moustache & beard went as a French Count complete with very broken English. We had great fun & some of the dresses were very good indeed, so I it was very surprised to get second equal in the men's competition for dresses made on board!!
19300730 GCRC to EVC, from Capetown
Weds: 30th July, 1930
We also had a race for ladies cutting down ribbon with a pair of scissors, & known as the 'Gloucester Derby'. There were two 'firms' of bookies & a 'tote' & lots of betting. I didn't succeed in backing the winner, but I went as the 'Colonel' complete with eyeglass & a moustache & was a steward.
It's been a very much colder today - the coldest day we've had, & we're all getting out some rugs & coats. We're making slow progress & don't expect to make Cape Town before Monday evening. I am feeling pretty well & fit now & take plenty of exercise, but I wish we were there! Several people of our crowd are staying at various places in S.Africa on the way up & have got special leave to arrive in Livingstone a week late.
19300803 Telegram from GCRC, from Capetown
19300804 GCRC to EVC, from Mafeking
Monday 4th August, 1930
I am trying to write this in the train on the way up from Cape Town. The next mail doesn't leave here till next Friday so I thought I'd keep this open & send it off later.
We were badly held up getting into Cape Town owing to fog & didn't get in till 5pm though we were due at 10am. The last day was pretty rough but I held out though a lot of people succumbed. The fog was very thick & we crawled into the
harbour. We couldn't leave the ship till our agent came aboard & when he arrived he gave us tickets to Livingstone but couldn't tell us where we were going after that. Four chaps have special leave to stay with friends in S.Africa & he gave
them orders not to arrive in Livingstone till Thursday week (we arrive this Thursday) on account of shortage of accommodation. We imagine this means that four of us will be shot out into our districts before that date. I shall cable you wherever I am sent when I know, so when you get this you will know where I am. Thank you very much for the cable I got at the Cape saying you're all well - it was so nice to know.
19300805 GCRC to EVC, from Mafeking
Tuesday.
We get it into Mafeking this evening & I must send this off from there or it won't get the mail. I've a lot more to tell you but I shall wait till next week as it most uncomfortable trying to write in the train & hardly legible! We had a rotten time last night - it's very cold. Fortunately I had my coat & a rug & slept in my sweater & so was not so bad. No doubt tonight will be less cold, but it's the worst winter they have had for 25 years. We're all feeling fed up & very dirty & the Dutch servants on the train are awful. You'll get another letter in a week's time so I'll stop now.
With best love to you all
Your v. loving
Gervas
1930809 Chief Secretary to GCRC
12r-N876 10-29 In reply please quote
No S. 1252.
CHIEF SECRETARY'S OFFICE, LIVINGSTONE,
9th August, 1930.
Sir,
I am directed to inform you that His Excellency the Acting Governor, with the approval of the Secretary of State, has been pleased to appoint you to be an Administrative Officer (Cadet) on the conditions stated in Colonial Office letter No. 16195 Appts. N. R. addressed to you on the 20th August 1929.
2. Your appointment takes effect on and including the 10th July 1930. For the purposes of leave your residential service will commence on and including the 3rd August, 1930.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
G. C. R. Clay, Esq.,
u. f. s. Secretary for Native Affairs,
19300810 GCRC to EVC, from Livingstone
The North Western Hotel,
LIVINGSTONE.
--------------------
Sunday, August 10th 1930.
Recd. Wed 3. Sept.
(3 weeks & 3 days)
My dear Mummy,
Thank you so very much for your 3 letters which I have got so far, also a bundle directed by Daddy & some papers.
We leave here next Thursday, the day the mail gets in so we shall miss it - alas - & I shan't hear from you again for several weeks! This letter will have to be posted by Tuesday to get the mail & it's very difficult to find time to write, as we are being so rushed around! I meant to send you a cable yesterday but the shops were shut in the afternoon so I shall do it tomorrow, & you will know by the time you get this that I'm being sent to Luwingu - the maps spell it LUINGU. By the way, while I think of it, don't address letters S.Africa - as this is nothing whatever to do with S.Africa, and so probably delays them a good deal (it's considered an awful brick!!) especially as I think it's possible that my letters may now go via Beira and not the Cape at all. All you need put is just Luwingu, N.Rhodesia.
I go up by train to Kapiri Mposhi just beyond Broken Hill & stay there one or two nights, then a 1 ton lorry picks me up & takes me to Luwingu via Kasama which is the chief town in the district & where I have to report to the Provincial Commissioner.
This lorry journey takes 5 days (so that letters will take at least a week to reach me after they get to Livingstone), & I shall have to camp out each night on route. I told you that 4 of our crowd were taking a week in S.Africa, fortunately 3 of them are going to be quite reasonably close to me, but unfortunately they arrive a week later here & will follow me up instead of going with me - rather unlucky. These 3 are Peacock who goes to Chinsali, Billing who goes to Mporokoso & Vaughan Jones who goes to Kawambwa - I hope I shall see them all occasionally. My senior at Luwingu is a man called Wickins, whose wife is there with him, & they are the only white people on the station. The district is 6620 square miles in area, with 49,473 natives and only 12 whites all told; the other 10 are White Fathers - French missionaries with long white beards who never wash. In November the Wickenses go on leave and another fellow comes to take charge - I don't remember his name.
The Boma - where all the offices are - is apparently in a marvellous situation on the edge of a plateau looking out over 40 or 50 miles of lakes & swamp. It's supposed to be very healthy & everyone who knows it says how lucky I am to be
going there. It's supposed be the best place for game in all Africa. The herds are not large but everything is there, a lot of lions, elephants, the only rhinos in N.Rhodesia, and quantities of duck, geese etc: Unfortunately my cartridges (200) have not turned up - but they were cleared at Cape Town so I expect they will turn up soon. Most of the others have lost their ammunition likewise. We had a foul journey in the train & I was very glad to get here on Thursday (mid-day) - very dirty. This hotel, though the best in Livingstone, is very primitive.
[Today we went over to the Victoria Falls Hotel which is a most grand place - a very elaborate, but 35/- a night we hear.] We were met at the station on arrival & sent up here & told the stations we are to go to. We have been dragged round a
good deal, & had to call on a lot of people - fortunately my cards have arrived, but they never put a Mr. in front, which was a mistake, I think. Yesterday evening the Chief Secretary gave a gramophone hop for our benefit, but it was rather a dud show - the girls were very plain!
It gets very cold at night now, though in the daytime it's pretty hot - but we're all feeling the cold more than the heat. September, October, & November are the worst months & June, July & August the best. Tomorrow we go to play tennis with the acting governor (the Governor is away) & I have already played golf on the quite good course here. Today we went out to the Falls which are simply magnificent & took a lot of photographs. The length is 1½ miles & the depth 400 feet. Unfortunately the water falls in a deep chasm with a long cliff
opposite, so that one can only see bits at a time. We saw a large number of baboons in the rain forest & one fellow got an awful fright when one of them laughed just behind him. The spray rises to a great height above the Falls & we all got soaked the skin. The rainbows were simply magnificent - lots of them
coming out of the ground right at one's feet. At one place called Danger Corner one can stand (I did) on a rock with a sheer drop on three sides & when I was up on it I saw a rainbow in a complete circle with half another one outside it!
Tomorrow we hope to go at night & see a lunar rainbow which is rather more rare.
Each of us has got a native servant which we had to choose. Mine, whose name is Malenga, has references of 4 years & 2 years - I know this will make your mouth water! I only recognise him by a long blue line vertically down his forehead to the top of his nose! I am to pay him 20/- a month, which is rather more than most people are paying - but then he's supposed to have more experience! The only thing against him in his references was that he didn't like being a caddy - so I made him caddy for me yesterday - for the good of his soul! He is to be my personal servant & when I get to Luwingu I shall have to get at least two more - one of them a Cook. I am also trying to hear of a dog - I believe pointers are the ones to have, but there are none in Livingstone for sale. One fellow engaged a boy & then found that he was married, so he's got to take the wife out with him too.
I hear that for the next 2½ years I am not likely to be moved out of the Kasama province, but after that may be moved anywhere. The language up there is not Chinyanja but Wemba/Bemba & there seem to be no textbooks on the subject at all.
I'm afraid this letter will seem very disjointed but I have been writing 'off & on' & there's a good deal to tell you.
Livingstone is a very odd kind of town; one's always expecting to get to the middle of it & never does! It seems to be outskirts & no centre. 2 nights ago we went to the cinema & saw a film of Oxford which was rather amusing.
We shall see the other 4 when they arrive next Thursday & before we leave, so may be able to arrange to meet some of them some time.
Even round here the country is amazingly wild & from a few miles away one can look down on Livingstone & never see a sign of it - just miles of parkland & forest - with wonderful autumn tints & sunsets at night.
I'm thinking of sending down to Bulawayo for a good rifle, as there's a tip-top place there apparently & I think that as Luwingu is such a wonderful place for shooting it's worth getting a good rifle, as I may not be there for very long. I
was to have been sent to Mpika, but at the last moment they decided to send the last year's Cadet who was Luwingu to Mpika, & to send me straight to Luwingu.
The flora & fauna are simply amazing, but I expect that they will be much more so further north. We're all religiously taking quinine, though we have none of us seen a mosquito yet! Yesterday I found a tiny hornets' nest in my bedroom (which I'm sharing) & destroyed it with some haste.
Well, I must stop. I'm afraid you won't hear again for a fortnight after you get this owing to the extra distance.
Very best love to all
Your very loving
Gervas
P. S. Monday.
I was asked this morning if I was a good sailor & said promptly that I was frightfully bad. This was greeted with roars of laughter, & I was told that the reason the last year's Cadet was going from Luwingu to Mpika was because at Luwingu there is an awful lot of tax-collecting by boat on the swamps & this
fellow was seriously affected by being a bad sailor!!! I don't think I shall be as bad as that!
19300811 Telegram from GCRC, from Livingstone
19300813 GCRC to GAC, from Livingstone
North Western Hotel
Livingstone.
N.Rhodesia.
Aug: 13th 1930
My dear Daddy,
Thank you so very much for your cable which I got today, saying you were writing to Luwingu. The Awemba part of the address is not necessary, it's merely the name of the tribe!
We start off again tomorrow, so I thought I'd just write a line to catch next week's mail as I shall probably miss it en route. We've had a terribly strenuous time in Livingstone getting stores & paying duty calls. Today I went to lunch with the Dickinsons - he is principal assistant secretary - & everyone has been very kind to us indeed. My stores cost just over £60, as I have had to get a good supply as I'm so far off. I think I'd better pay this money off before sending any home to repay what you have lent me. The £30 which was to be here has not yet turned up & they had heard nothing of it at the Bank. They expect it tomorrow by the Mail, but I think it's very inefficient of Burton not to have sent it before. It was particularly annoying because I was told expressly to get a rifle before starting off & eventually got a Mauser 7.9 new for £18 as I
couldn't hear of any 2nd-hand rifle at all! The Mauser should be a good & useful weapon but being only about the bore of a .303, would be useless against lion or anything very large. However I shall have to get a bigger bored one later when I
have learnt to shoot buck etc! It's no good going after lion till I can deal with smaller stuff! I've been hearing some gruesome lion stories of the Luwingu district - in fact one man up there seven years ago was half killed by a lion which jumped through his bedroom window & chased him round the room! As a result
all windows are now barred!! I had hoped to get a rifle up there, but was told I must get one before starting as I shall be 5 days on the way after leaving Kapiri Mposhi. The Bank advanced me the £20 for the rifle so I was able to get discount on it! Many things are wildly expensive here envelopes for instance being 2/6 a packet, & pencils at 9d each!
The dust is pretty bad & my nose is very sore, but my throat is quite all right & I'm one of the few people in Livingstone without a cold at the moment! I enclose some photos.
No more news. With much love
Your loving
Gervas
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19300823 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
Your letter of 22nd July just arrived.
Luwingu
Northern Rhodesia.
August 23rd, 1930.
Received 23rd September
4 weeks, 3 days.
My dear Mummy,
I missed the mail at Livingstone and again at Kapiri Mposhi where I had hoped it would be forwarded, so I haven't had a letter from you since I last wrote. The mail gets here on Sunday morning and goes out two hours later, so I shall have no time to write in between as I am P.M.G. among my other jobs!
This means 2 hours of work every Sunday morning which is most annoying as it prevents my ever taking a weekend off while I am here!
Well, to go back to my journey up here:
I left Livingstone on Thursday mid-day & had a rotten night on the train as the other 5 who started with me, all got out at all hours during the night & I had to get out & help them off with their luggage etc: travelling in these trains is a very casual affair & time seems to be of small consideration. At every station one gets out & has a stroll, getting in as the train moves off. The dust is pretty bad & one gets very dirty & tired. On Friday I got to Kapiri Mposhi about mid-day & stayed there that night. It's quite a good & clean hotel & actually has a bath with H & C laid on - a great rarity in this country!!
Next morning, Saturday, a large Brockway 1¼-ton lorry arrived for me & all my luggage was piled on to the back - including my personal servant & his wife & two children & the driver's servant too. The driver was a white man - a S.African & quite a decent fellow. I sat in front with him on a straw cushion on
wood - no springs & most uncomfortable. Fortunately when I undid my bed that night I found three cushions had been packed in it, which was a great piece of luck, as after that I sat on them & was much more comfortable!
We saw an eland that afternoon but I had not got my rifle out so I missed a chance of a shot. We got to a place called Mombwelo that night where there were some rest huts erected by the Government for travellers to sleep in. Later the same evening another driver turned up who had seen 2 leopards on the road but had had no rifle with him. Next morning we started early & reached Mpika that night - a distance of some 190 miles [from Kapiri Mposhi (in GAC's writing)] but the roads were comparatively good. About half-past three that afternoon I saw a buck standing about 80 yards from the lorry. It was a hartebeeste, so I hastily loaded my rifle which I had on my knee & was just going to fire when one of the boys on the back of the car moved & frightened it & it began to lollop away
crossing me from left to right. I lowered my rifle, but the driver said 'Go on, have a smack at him' so I had a hasty shot at 120 yards. The driver said I had wounded it so I had 3 more rounds of rapid before it disappeared behind some trees. We then dismounted, the boys in great excitement, & hurried towards the place where it had disappeared. 50 yards further on it was lying on its side practically dead, so I fired another shot at point-blank & finished it off - my first buck! The first shot had hit it straight through the shoulder, but the other three never touched it - a terrific fluke!!
That night I slept at the rest camp at Mpika but had dinner & breakfast the next morning with Hill the D.C. (district commissioner) there & his wife. They would have put me up but had 3 guests staying with them. I gave them a lot of meat
from the hartebeeste and so was most popular! Next morning I was taken round the station - most interesting as I was to have gone there originally myself, & met Moffat (the junior) & his wife. It's a lovely spot just at the foot of some big wooded hills with a marvellous garden and two streams running through it. They are building an aerodrome there & Moffat said I was very lucky not to be going there as they had such a lot of work to do. He (Moffat) is going to Kasama as soon as Rideal arrives there from here.
Next day, Monday, we had an easy run to Kasama, the provincial capital where I was put up by Willis, the P.C. (Provincial Commissioner) who controls the whole province & so is the biggest man I have anything to do with. He is a man of
about 60, I should think with a much younger French wife. They were very kind, but there was a big dinner party there that night - a farewell to some people leaving, so I had an awful rake round & search for my evening clothes & eventually had to borrow a tie - rather unlucky.
Next day Tuesday I left early again & reached Luwingu about lunch time. The road was very good & I shot a baboon on the way!
[Note in Gerard's writing:
The Province is one of nine; it is 37,000 square miles; it has 4 districts.
Luwingu is 7,000 square miles & has 50 thousand natives & 12 whites.]
I think I told you that Wickins was the D.C. here. He goes on leave in October & a man called Hillier comes to take his place. The rumour is that Hillier is to take over the Province from Willis when Wickins returns from his leave, but that Willis is very reluctant to retire!
I like both the Wickenses very much. At first sight he reminded me of Mr Stubbs & and she of Mary Brough. He is a very jolly fellow with a constant Maurice Moreton-like laugh, not very clever I should think & very bad at the language but exceedingly kind as indeed they both are. She is South African & short & fat & reminds me very much of Nurse Cannell, & was as a matter-of-fact a nurse herself. A niece has lived with them for two years - I can't make out how old she is in the least, but she's about the plainest female I've ever come across - also a South African. The Wickenses are both about 40 I should say. They have really been most kind & gave me all my meals for the first day or 2 before I got settled in. Rideal, who I am relieving, looks a feeble rather effeminate creature I thought, and he went off the same day that I arrived (in his own car).
This house is quite a nice one though I hear it gets very hot in the summer through having a corrugated iron roof. There's a dining room, sitting room, bedroom & bathroom, also a pantry & store at the back. The cook-house is about 20 yds away also at the back. I have engaged a cook & also 2 small boys for
various jobs. There's a very good nine-hole golf course just in the front of the house & also a tennis court. The Wickinses's house is about 200 yards off down the road. The other night after dinner at their house I was just setting out for home when Wickins, who had come out with me spotted a pair of eyes just opposite my house. The torch was lighting them up. He thought it might be a leopard & went & got his revolver for me to take with me. When I got quite close to my house the eyes appeared again quite close, & it gave me a great fright till I
found it was only a cat!!
Next morning I went up for breakfast & found they had had 4 lions all round their house roaring & making a great noise. They had then gone to the cattle kraal behind my house & the herdsmen had fired three rounds (all duds!) at them & they had then sheered off). I had slept through it all. I am now dining here, & taking jolly good care not to go out when it's dark. This evening a boy came in at 7.30 to report a lion down at the office which is 100 yards beyond the Wickins' house. I don't mind confessing I'm horribly frightened & didn't sleep a wink last night though the doors were locked & all windows are heavily barred with wooden slats. The story about the lion jumping through the window is perfectly true & happened in 1923 & the bars had been put up ever since!
I want Daddy to get me a revolver & send it out at once - a cheap one will do - it should not be an automatic, but something with a heavy pull. Wickins says that it is essential to have one, as when one goes on ulendo (collecting taxes
etc:) & sleeps in a tent a rifle would be useless if a lion sprang on to you in the tent, but a revolver handy might do the trick! The swamps round the lake are swarming with lions & they come right round the tents at night. To my mind this constant night scare of lions is the one crab to an otherwise perfect place. I like the people, I like the work, I like the place, but I loathe the night funk of lions! I suppose my nerves haven't recovered properly from that diphtheria!
I'm also having pretty bad indigestion & that no doubt makes me sleep badly.
The whole place here is really in a wonderful situation. In front of my house there is a sort of park perhaps 50 yards wide, then the golf course & beyond that miles & miles of forest spread out below you. I should think one can see quite 40 miles by day. The lake is 45 miles off. I have hardly seen a mosquito yet & it's really not too hot. I'm sleeping without a net up, as the Wickinses do, & haven't been bitten by anything worse than sand flies. I shall use a net on ulendo of course. Tomorrow, Sunday, Wickins goes into Kasama for 4 or 5 days to a big meeting & to meet the S.N.A.(Secretary of Native Affairs) so I have got to run the whole place while he's away! At present of course I've done nothing but office work, but it's all very interesting at the moment. Office hours are 8 to 12 & 1.30 to 3.30, with a break at 10 to drink tea! There's really not much
work to do, though my duties are manyfold. Amongst other duties, I'm always P.M.G. (issuing stamps P.0.'s etc) Collector of Taxes, Bank Manager, Storekeeper, Registrar etc: etc:! As a matter-of-fact my greatest job is the new native registration which has just been brought in. Every native has to have his
registration form & number, & I have to sign & issue them. We've only done 400 or so, so far, out of 50,000, but they are only coming in for them slowly, when they want to get work. No native can get work without one. The tax is levied at the rate of 10/- per head of the adult male population. Each morning when I get the office (Boma) the guard (or messengers as they're called) are called to attention & salute - they're are a pretty smart lot.
I wonder if you could pack up my athletic group photographs & send them out as
the place looks awfully bare with no pictures at all, & I am pretty certain to
be here for two-and-half years all being well.
When Wickins gets back he is going to take me on a short ulendo for 4 or 5 days
down to the swamps - after that I shall have to go alone, though with native
porters, clerks, servants etc:
Well, I must go to bed & I hope I shall get some sleep as I'm worn out & haven't
slept for nights! Perhaps I shall have time to write some more tomorrow morning.
Sunday morning.
I had a particularly good night last night & am feeling in very good fettle this
morning! The mornings here are lovely as there's always a breeze & the sun is
just the right heat. There's been no rain here since April & will be no more
till October. This place is regarded as an absolute health resort & no one has
been ill here for years. The mail has come so I must stop.
With much love to you all
Your v loving
G.
19300831 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
Luwingu
Northern Rhodesia.
Saturday, August 31st, 1930.
Recd 23rd September
4 weeks. 3 days.
My dear Mummy,
Thank you so much for your letter of 22nd July which I got last
Sunday. It's a rotten arrangement having the post coming in and going out all on
Sunday morning, & no time to answer letters through being Postmaster. [By the
way if you tell Uncle Harry this I expect he'll say "and what d'you think the
fellow has become? - A Postman!!!"] I see your letter took almost exactly a
month, & that is the time letters from England are supposed to take to get here,
so I expect mine will take about the same time going back.
There's really not a great deal of news this week. Wickins went away on Sunday
and got back late on Wednesday so I had a very busy time in his absence & of
course umpteen things turned up which I had not been told how to deal with.
However I managed to muddle through all right & didn't drop any bricks.
At present my chief care is not to lose any of the money, as I have always got
£50 or so in one safe & £400 worth of stamps in another & they have to be
checked constantly. The coinage is English & South African - pennies coming in
very rarely, the 3d bit being very common. There are two and native clerks in
the office both of whom speak English which is a help, but one is very sly &
wants constant watching! The tax is paid in to them as it comes in, & they pay
it to me every evening when I check it all & put it in the safe. Stamps are
saved by the junior clerk who gets his supplies from me once a week & hands over
his cash then. Postal orders are issued by me personally, also orders on the
store for food (meal & salt) for the native staff & all the servants on the
station.
Prices are extraordinary here. Chickens for eating are 6d each, & eggs cost a
teaspoonfull of salt each - salt being 3d a pound!!
I pay my personal boy £1 a month, my cook about 8/- a month, & my washboy & golf
caddy etc: 6/- a month. The cooking is excellent & I always have three
vegetables at a meal, from our gardens - usually lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage,
French beans or pumpkin - all excellent.
Unfortunately my stores have not yet arrived as they were very stupidly sent by
goods - most irritating.
My day is usually something like this
6.30 am. Called. Tea.
7.30 - 7.30. Bath.
7.30 - 8. Breakfast
8 - 12 Office (Tea at 10)
12 noon Lunch
1.30 - 3.30 Office
3.30 - 4 pm Tea
4.00 - 6.00 Golf or tennis.
7 Dinner
10 pm Bed.
Saturdays we stop work at 12 in theory though there's always so much to be done,
we don't get through till 12.30. Sunday, I stay in bed as long as possible, torn
between idleness & a long sleep in & wanting to get the mail which arrives about
9 o'clock & goes out 2 hours later. We only do essential mail work on Sunday but
Monday is a long day & Tuesday too, while for the rest of the week there's not a
lot to be done. At present of course it's not very easy to know where everything
goes & how everything is done, as there are dozens of files etc: However I'm
beginning to feel more at home now, though the language is a difficulty.
On Sunday or Monday after rest we go down to the lake for a walk - so as to
teach me the visiting job - known as going on ULENDO (the word corresponds to
Safari) We expect to collect £1200 in taxes & issue of Registration Certificates
to each man. As I have to sign each Certificate I shall know my name quite well
before the week's out!
I am hoping to get some shooting & might get a shot at a hippo.
I've more or less got over the lion scare - though they're still pretty near
each night - & I'm now sleeping very well.
The climate here seems to be admirable & it's not a bit hot - just right. Today
there was a lot of wind & it was almost chilly. The Wickins house is being
re-thatched. All the old thatch has been stripped off & the new stuff goes up
tomorrow. They use bundles of dried grasses for thatching. My roof is corrugated
iron - said to be very hot & every leaf makes a terrific noise falling on it
from the trees!
I'm doing a lot of reading & should very much like Priestley's new book & also
John Buchan's "Castle Gay". I also want my +4 coat sending out - I'd like
leather elbows put in - it will be most useful; also my ½ blue scarf and blazer.
No, I don't want to the Gridiron sub: continued. I can't tell you about the
others - except the L.A.C. which I would like kept on - as I forget what they
are if any. I'm a life member of the Achilles.
Wickins brought back the news from Kasama that they had decided to have a
permanent doctor & hospital here for training natives in 1st aid etc: It's
really for the benefit of the swamp natives, as there's no white doctor there at
present & 50,000 natives. However he will live here which will be very nice,
though I don't suppose he'll arrive for years!
Very much love to you all
Your v loving
Gervas
19300906 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
Luwingu
Northern Rhodesia.
September 6th, 1930.
Recd Oct 7th
4 weeks. 3 days.
My dear Mummy,
I'm afraid this will be rather a poor, scrubby letter as nothing
has happened of much note this week, and I'm afraid I probably shan't be able to
write for next week's mail as we leave on Monday for Chilui Island in the middle
of Lake Bangweolo & shall be there a week and probably 10 days. I was most
disappointed to get no letter last Sunday & no papers at all - only an
interesting letter from Hugh. However today one of the French Fathers arrived
from Kasama & had goodly picked up the mail in his lorry & brought it on with
him, so we got it tonight instead of tomorrow morning. In it was your
interesting letter of 20th July & papers etc sent off at the same time.
Evidently letters are being held up somewhere en route, probably Livingstone,
but possibly owing to that S.Africa on all your letters! You don't say what
letters of mine you have got! By sheer luck I had seen the Sudan list you sent
me. It's not John Pumphrey but his twin brother who is going there. John goes
into his father's coalmine for three years to learn the job. What fools they are
to take Ralph Hevins[?] for the Sudan!
I got some of the Empire Games results today in a S.African paper Wickins got, &
see Burghley was first in the ¼ hurdles, & Tatham was 4th. If I had gone at all
it would have been instead of him. We were just about equal. He beat me by
inches the last time I ran against him. Wickins thinks there will be no
difficulty about my getting local leave to run in the South African
championships next year & the year after. It would be very nice if I could!
The week seems to have gone very fast & I expect time will begin to fly when I
get back from the lakes. I think it's great luck having Hillier coming here in
October, as he is to be the new P.C. at Kasama next year - so I must try &
create a good impression! Wickins thinks I'm getting on very well & much better
than he expected which is satisfactory. The language is the great difficulty at
present as it is harder than Chinyanja & the words run into each other in an odd
& peculiar way. I got my first month's pay today - over £31 from the Treasury,
Livingstone. I'm hoping to pay off my bills here fairly soon, as expenses are
small. Nearly all the clothes I brought out are more or less superfluous - one
wears grey flannel bags & a shirt in the office - but shorts on "ulendo".
I have found out one or two more facts about Luwingu I think will interest you.
It's over 4600 feet up which surprised me a good deal. Last year the mean or
average maximum temperature was 80° & the mean minimum 58.5°. The actual record
temperature for the year was 98° in October, and the lowest 42° in July and
August. Rainfall was 41 inches in 103 days and the maximum fall in any one day
(Jan: 2nd) was 2.75 inches. I have discovered all this as it's one of my jobs to
send in the monthly records - another odd job! One day soon after I arrived we
had a temp: of 96° but I never noticed it as particularly hot. Of course at
present it's very dry & there's usually a breeze too.
I'm much looking forward to this trip down to the Lake & hope to get some duck
shooting! We shall see a tremendous lot of natives, as there are no less than 50
villages on the island although it's only 18 miles long. It may be marked as
Chirui on your map, as Ls and Rs are interchangeable.
Jobs still turn up which I have not met before. Example this morning 2 men came
in for bicycle licences which I had to issue, & a man came in wanting a
remittance, sent him by his father at the mines. Neither of these 2 had turned
up before - some I learnt how to do two new jobs!!
The remittance system is as follows: - A man in the mines at Ndola for example
wishes to send a pound to his mother who lives on Lake Bangweolo. He goes to the
D.C. at Ndola & gives him the £1. The D.C. at Ndola then makes out a form saying
that he has received this amount & whom it is for, & sends it up to the D.C. at
Luwingu. I open the letter & send a message down to the woman (when the headman
of the village reports, which he does once a month) telling her that there is
money for her at the Boma. She comes up to the Boma & when I am satisfied she is
the right person, I gave her the £1 & enter it up on the Debit side of the Cash
Book!
Sometimes boys come in who have not paid tax before & want to begin doing so.
They want to, because they can't marry till they do! We have to decide if
they're old enough & strong enough to earn enough wages. Usually the boys are
14-16 years old!
Again natives come in constantly who want to change their villages or make a new
one or go to work in the mines - all this we have to give permission for.
Meanwhile the clerks are taking tax in their office & making out the new
registration forms - Chitupas - which we have to sign. I collect the tax from
the clerks each night. The Chitupa system is one which might well be employed
for servants in England! No man can get employment without one, & his employer
has to sign the back when he begins & leaves his job & can comment on him too!
This would do away with "references" & also give you a longer history of each
servant!
Wickins thinks I am particularly lucky to have come out this year, as he says a
great many men are going to retire in the next few years & we all ought to get
districts of our own (i.e. become D.C.s) in about six years' time (i.e. on our
3rd or 4th tours). The order of seniority is rigidly held to, & between our 12
it goes by age - I come about 5th or 6th I believe. It's a very rare occurrence
if a man is promoted otherwise than according to this order - granted that he
passes all his exams as required.
Could you send me the buttons for my white waistcoat which I may want badly &
left behind & also 2 or 3 black & white evening ties. No more news.
Love to you all
Your very loving
Gervas
19300913 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
Luwingu
Northern Rhodesia.
September 13th, 1930.
Recd Oct 14th
4 weeks. 2 days.
My dear Mummy,
Here I am back again at Luwingu on Saturday night. I had a long &
rather exhausting day so this will probably be a very short letter. We did not
expect to get back till the middle of next week, but there was much less to do
that we had expected & we only got just over £400 in taxes.
We started early on Monday morning, leaving about 7.30 and getting to the lake
about 9 o'clock. We went in Wickins's Buick & his wife & niece went too. All the
luggage or at least most of it, had gone on Saturday by native carrier down to
the lake. It's 45 miles from Luwingu to Nsambo on Lake Bangweolo where we
embarked. An awful little Scotch trader lives there with the half-caste wife & a
herd of khaki children! The journey by water took over 7 hours though it's only
25 miles as the crow flies from Nsambo to Chilui Island.
We went in a steel boat while the luggage went in 4 canoes. We had 12 paddlers
in the steel boat, 3 on each side in the bows and 3 on each side in the stern.
They sat on little raised seats & paddled in time, occasionally singing most
mournful ditties! The motion didn't upset me a bit & I never felt the least
sea-sick, but we kept close round by the shore the whole way as it was supposed
to be rough in the middle. The first mile or so was through dense rushes & reeds
& consequently very slow indeed & all the way across we kept on running through
patches of reeds. There are a lot small islands in the Lake and we passed quite
a number.
It's not really the right season for the duck & we saw none on the way over but
there were quite a lot of pygmy geese which looked very like duck. I stood in
the bows of the boat & tried to shoot them but though I got one down, it dived &
we never picked it up! It wasn't very easy shooting as the boat wasn't very
steady. The natives think one is quite mad to shoot at flying birds & they
always shoot duck sitting, usually at very close range!
The camping place on Chilui is really rather a pretty spot on the top of a
steepish slope up from the lake & rather reminds one of a house on the Thames!
though the prospect is much more like the sea.
There is quite a nice 2-roomed bungalow there but I slept in a tent outside. The
mosquitoes were pretty bad at night but I didn't get stung much & only saw one
of the dangerous kind - anopheles - & killed that. We had to work longer hours
there & of course there was no golf in the evenings.
On Tuesday & Wednesday, the head messenger took me out into the gardens behind
the villages after pheasants of a sort. He was amazingly good at locating them &
when he had done so, threw a stone into the grass or bushes & up they got.
Unfortunately I seem to have lost the art of hitting anything & though I had a
bird down each night I never managed to pick one up! On Thursday we went over to
the Santa Maria mission on the island & had lunch there & saw round the place.
They have just built a really wonderful Church - entirely by native labour &
making their own bricks. There were 2 White Fathers - one French & the other
German - but they were very keen to air their very indifferent English &
wouldn't talk French!
On Friday I got up very early - 6 o'clock - & went out by canoe to one of the
small islands in the hope of shooting a hippo. The only chance of shooting them
is to find them lying asleep ashore, but on this occasion they were all in the
water & though we saw 2 or 3 snouts I never got a shot. They are very valuable
here owing to the amount of fat - about 100 lbs - one gets off them. As all fat
for cooking has to be bought in tins, a hippo is a great boon when one can get
one! Today we again started early & took a more direct route across the lake &
the crossing only took five hours. The head messenger went on ahead & landing on
one of the islets shot 7 sitting ducks with one shot of his single-barrelled
gun! His bag on the trip was 10 duck in 2 shots & mine was nothing at all in
about 20 shots!! Chacun a son gout!
It got very hot on the way back & I'm still in a sweat. Fortunately a strong
wind has begun to get up, but unfortunately one of my windows has been broken in
my absence!
I have just heard of the 9 months old pointer puppy & am trying to get it from
Bulawayo. I don't know whether I shall succeed, but it's a pedigree dog which I
want - no mongrels for me!
There were no lions or leopards in Chilui so I was able to sleep with the tent
open & slept very well indeed. Some of the chiefs we saw were amazingly
picturesque old birds & others just the reverse. We were told when we got back
that the lions had disappeared but I have just heard a shot out of the night so
I suppose they're back again & the herdsmen has had a pot at them. I've been to
all the windows to try & see something with my rifle at the ready but nothing
appeared so they have sheered off I hope!
Sunday morning
I haven't time to add much as it's 10 to 9 & the post arrives at 9 so I shall
have to rush off in a moment & hope for some nice letters. Cuthbert's letter
(which you said he told you at Lord's he had written to me) has never
materialised - no doubt he directed it to southern California or something in
his usual mental aberration.
Could you put your letters in stronger envelopes, as they always arrive in a
very dilapidated state - torn all round the edge !! Very like.
Also parcels want very strong wrapping up as they get awful batterings &
probably wet too - but I know you pride yourself on your parcels! Let me know if
my letters are arriving all right & in good condition. I have written every week
so far.
Much love to you all
Your very loving
G
P.S. feeling particularly fit!
19300920 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
Luwingu
(the 'g' is hard)
September 20th, 1930.
My dear Mummy,
I was so delighted to get 2 letters from you and 2 from Daddy
altogether last week. The letters coming direct had caught up with the one sent
to the PO at Livingstone. I'm sorry the address on the cable arrived wrong. I
did not reply to Daddy's cable because that had Luwingu spelt right. In case you
are in any doubt about the address still here it is: -
G.C.R. Clay, Esq.,
LUWINGU
Northern Rhodesia.
That's all that's necessary!
I anticipate being here the whole of my 2½ years, but of course can't tell a bit
& might be told to move any day. I shan't apply for a move if I can help it as
it's not a good thing to do. Also I'd much rather be out here than 'on the
(railway)line' which is considered here 'the abomination of desolation'.
Thank you so much for the group photo though I think it's a terror. You looked
the complete 'menace in the bus', Daddy looks slightly dotty & Ralph very snuffy
& snobbish, while I look like nothing on earth (naturally) - though why one eye
should be ½ size I don't know!! You must send me one of the better ones later
on!
I have just heard from the Bank at Livingstone to say that £29-19-0, has arrived
at last to be put to my credit. I can't think why it should have been so
delayed, or why they have lost a 1/- in the post! I hope my 'power of attorney'
will blow up the trustees account at Burton for the delay. It's been a great
worry & nuisance. Again there's very little news. My stores have at last arrived
from Livingstone (the ones I got there), terribly badly packed & a lot broken -
I've written them the 'ell of a snorter!!
Tuesday & Wednesday I spent in bed with a slight go of tonsillitis - fortunately
I nipped it in the bud & Mrs Wickins was very kind & fussy - the complete
trained nurse! I am none the worse now & really feel very well here. We play
golf every evening but I'm getting steadily worse daily!
Reports keep coming up from the swamps to say how bad the lions are down there,
but they've left this part of the country now apparently. The shot I heard last
week was the stake gun at the cattle kraal - the big wind blew it off
apparently.
The Kasama doctor is coming out here tomorrow on his quarterly (?) visit - he
will stay a day or 2 I expect. I'm going to ask him if he can do anything for
the inside of my nose, which has been bleeding again since I was in bed. I
expect it's the height & being ill, but he might be able to 'fire' it or
something.
When you send parcels to me, direct them 'via Beira' as this costs very much
less but takes slightly longer. Any dutiable things should be addressed 'in
bond' & then I levy the duty on myself (most satisfactory!!!) on arrival.
The weather is still wonderful here - spring. The strawberry season is in full
swing & I have some every other day. My cook is very good indeed - you'd think
him a treasure - 15/- a month!! He belongs to the Wickenses really, but she
insisted on his coming to me as I couldn't get another & she is training a new
one. When they are on leave of course I keep the treasure! & if they don't come
back here I shall hang on to him!!
I must try & write to Evie or Rosy next week as I haven't done yet, but there's
a lot to do! I'm sorry this letter is so miserable but there is no more news
Your v loving
G
19300927 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
Luwingu
Northern Rhodesia.
Saturday, September 27th, 1930.
Recd Oct 23
My dear Mummy,
I got another terrific batch of mail last week - most welcome! 3
letters from Mummy (one had been delayed) 1 from you, 1 from Ralph, 2 Times, 2
Punches & 1 Strand - most satisfactory!
I expect you're back from France now - I hope you had good weather & a good
time.
2 most unexpected letters arrived this last week. One was from Sherratt Horne
who looked after us while we were in Livingstone & to whom I had written to
thank him for all he had done for us. He writes 'don't shoot me if you are moved
some time early next year, it is possible that you might be - to another station
on the plateau - still Wemba country'! A bolt from the blue, as I had
anticipated staying here for 2½ years. However, much as I like Luwingu & sorry
as I shall be to go, I think it's a good thing to get moved around a bit - one
gets to see other sites & study other people's methods.
The second letter was an even greater bolt & came from the PC to Wickins. I
think I told you that there is an aerodrome in course of construction at Mpika
with 3,000(?) workers at it. These men are relying for food on the Luwingu
district which adjoins the Mpika district. Apparently the food is not coming in,
so the PC wrote to Wickins telling him to send me down to the swamps to roust
the people round generally and send all the meal I can get, up the Chambeshi in
canoes for Mpika. I am to stay at Perembuto and of the sacks etc: are being sent
to me there. I enclose a very rough map which will I think show you where I am
going. I have taken it from the office copy of what I take to be your map -
rather a bad & inaccurate one of this district! We've got a large map of all the
villages etc & the whole district in the office & I have made the enclosed
largely with the help of that, but taking the main outline from yours to make it
easier for you to follow where I am going. You will see the place Muchinshi Camp
marked on Chilui Island where we stayed a fortnight ago. This time I shall have
to go down the road to Nsombo by bike, then canoe to Nsumbu Island, thence to an
island on the right bank of the River - or cutting through the reeds (I don't
know which) and then to Perembuto. I shall start on Tuesday & get there on
Friday & probably be down in the swamps 3 weeks or a month. Go on writing to
Luwingu of course & the letters will be sent down to me, but don't let Mummy
worry if you don't hear from me for a week or two - I shall write of course if I
can! I don't suppose I shall see a white man the whole time so it will be rather
an adventure & I'm looking forward to it very much. I shall have a native clerk
with me of course & he can speak English after a fashion but unfortunately he is
young & new here (he arrived since I did). I shall also have 4 native messengers
(corresponding to police) but the second head messenger (who will always go with
me on these ulendos) is also new to that position since I arrived, so we are
rather an experimental lot. This second head messenger is a very fine fellow
indeed & I get on with him very well - he's a very great sense of humour. He
can't speak a word of English & I can't speak a word of Chiwemba but we get on
very well none the less & have great jokes!! On the enclosed map I have
pencilled off the various chiefs' districts & enclose a list of chiefs and their
tribes - all of them are Chiwemba speaking!
When I have dealt with the meal problem, I am to go on to the districts of
Mweshi, Kasama, Milambo & Kalimankonde & visit every village taxing them &
censussing them. This means going to the village, calling out their headman &
total male population, taxing them, hauling off tax defaulters for dispatch to
Luwingu, entering new 'youths' who are to pay tax in future, going through the
village criticising the layout, looking at the condition of the paths etc:. I
expect I shall have the chief concerned with me too - at any rate on arrival at
Perembuto I shall send for all chiefs nearby & tell them to make their people
bring in all the meal they can spare. The chiefs are a tremendous contrast -
when we were at Muchinshi 2 came in at the same time - Mbulu & I think Mulongwe.
One looked just like a complete buccaneer or pirate with a loaded bullet through
the lobe of one ear, about 15 necklaces, each finger loaded with brass wire
rings, a dozen brass anklets on each leg, bangles on his arms & very
gaudy-coloured ragged clothes. Beside him sat the other in a very long, very
new-looking mackintosh, buttoned close up to the neck & reaching almost to his
ankles & no ornaments at all!! A queer couple.
It's a wonderful place for game - particularly duck & buffalo. My 7.9 is not
heavy enough for shooting the latter so I shall leave them strictly alone for
the present. Mweshi & Kasama country abound with lions so I'm wishing the new
revolver had arrived! I don't suppose I shall see one though! (by the way my
cartridges have at last arrived)
With regard to my being moved early next year - I think possibly it may be to
Kasama because Moffat who is there now is teetotal & a non-bridge player &
refuses to keep drinks in his house - so as it's a social centre they may be
rather fed up with him. The P.C. ask me if I played bridge & seemed pleased when
I said yes, so I think it possible we may be changed - a mere guess of course.
By the time I return from the swamps the Wickenses will have gone & the Hilliers
arrived - I have taken over a lot more stores from the Wickenses as during the
rains transport is difficult. The result is that I owe them £16, & the African
Lakes (where I got the rest of my stores in Livingstone) some £60. Thus my
outstanding debts here are £76. My pay is £30 a month roughly, & I spend not
more than £5 a month here. By the end of the year therefore I should have paid
off all my debts here, especially as I shall get a special travelling allowance
of 5/- (five) a day on this ulendo - I got 25/- for the visit to the Muchinshi.
I would like to know exactly how much I owe you if you have discovered that yet.
As soon as I have paid off everything here I will begin sending you £10 - £20 a
month if I can - as I have no doubt I can.
I have written to Walter's (Oxford) for some more books etc - no doubt they will
send me the bill later on.
I never realised about you going to Aix & have sent all the letters home but
that is probably the best really.
Except for that touch of tonsillitis I have kept very well & feel
extraordinarily fit. The swamps are not nearly so healthy of course but quinine
ought to deal with the mosquitoes adequately. I don't care much about handling
the tax money which I have to count every day - about £20 of silver - no
coppers. It's usually very dirty from being buried & with a certain amount of
leprosy about one feels very glad to get a good wash afterwards. I don't care
much about taking in the meal which I have to see weighed. I usually find myself
surrounded by a herd of smelly ½-naked perfectly revolting looking native
women!! However these are minor disadvantages!
I like the life so far very much indeed & shall soon get into it I expect - it's
exceedingly interesting at the moment.
The enclosed note will amuse you - no doubt you will find it
easy to decipher - we gave it up at once. As you gather the native is quite
mad. One morning he sent in 15 of these notes to Wickins one after another -
all sheer gibberish. The only one clearly written Wickins has ever had was an
accusation by this man against the officials of Kawambwa, Fort Roseberry &
Luwingu, plus all the missionaries of all the districts of
committing adultery with his wife!! Moffat who was then the junior here said
dryly that there was never smoke without fire - next day he got the same
accusation against himself. As Wickins said 'No doubt he was the latest
offender'!! A score for Wickins.
Well, I think that's all for this week. I ought to be able to write to you an
interesting letter when I get back from the swamps, but life here is all very
much the same.
Best love to all
Your loving
Gervas
P.S. the doctor saw me last week & doesn't recommend 'fixing' my nose. He thinks
my throat will be cured by this country & saw nothing wrong with my tonsils.
G.C.R.C
Luwingu District
Wemba Tribe Sub-Chiefs Chipalu (old, ill & decrepit)
Muchereka
Tungati (has just died)
Shimumbi
Kasonka
The Wemba Chief is in the Kasama District
Wenambukulu Tribe Chief Chungu
Wisa Tribe Sub-Chiefs Chyawula
Chitumkubwe
Mbulu
Mulongwe
Matipa
The Wisa Chief is in the Mpika District
Aunga Tribe Chief Kalimakonde
Sub-Chiefs Mweshi
Nsambo
Kasama
Milambo
Divisional Headmen Kambala
Mushilichula
Mpyana Bwalza
19301005 GCRC to EVC, from Perembuto
Perembuto.
Sunday, Oct: 5th, 1930.
Recd Tues Nov 11
My dear Mummy,
I expect you are wondering how I am getting on. It seems very odd
not to have got a nice mail today, but any letters are being sent on & I shall
get them on Wednesday I hope & this letter ought to catch next Sunday's mail
out. I'm afraid it's only doubtfull whether it will or not, & I don't know a bit
when you will hear from me next!
I left to Luwingu about 2 o'clock on Tuesday after a long morning in the office.
My luggage, and food etc had gone by carrier on the Sunday & I went down
accompanied by Nsongo - the 2nd head messenger. It took us about 3½ hours to
bicycle down to the camp about 7 miles from Nsombo, & about 38 miles from
Luwingu.
I was very tired when I got there & stiff as I've had no exercise except golf
lately. The road though good for Northern Rhodesia was very much like the rides
in a wood though not nearly as good as those in Weston Wood. Fortunately it was
more or less downhill all the way. When I got there it was nearly dark, but my
tent had been pitched & after having a light dinner I went to bed. The
messengers - I've got 4 with me - & the carriers slept round a large wood fire
about 20 yards from my tent. Next day I was up at 7 o'clock, had breakfast while
the carriers loaded up & started off & then I rode the remaining seven miles or
so to the end to the lake and Nsombo. There I had to wait some time as the
carriers had to walk of course & when they arrived we got on board 4 long canoes
& started off. The canoes are hollowed out of enormous trees & are quite deep &
wide & I had my deck chair to sit on & was quite comfortable & out of the sun as
there was a sort of shelter built over the middle part of the boat.
(I forgot to say that I had to pay off all the carriers before embarking - 1/6
each!) I have never yet felt the least suspicion of sea-sickness in one of these
canoes, in fact they are rather comfortable - only it's a deadly monotonous mode
of progression!
It took us 7 or 8 hours to cross to a village called Matipa Munchichi on the
extreme shore end of Chilui Island. When we arrived I sent for the headman of
the village, soundly checked him off for the state of the camping ground (almost
every village has one) & told him to send up anyone who wanted to pay tax. About
15 men arrived & I collected the tax from them although it was dark by that
time.
Taking tax is a longish job as each man has to be given a tax receipt on which
has to be written his name, village & chief. Then the number of his tax receipt
has to be entered in the census book of his tribe. The clerk actually does this
usually but I have to sign them all, & if there are a lot at once I do some
myself too. In the meanwhile my tent had been pitched & when I had finished I
had dinner while the clerk packed up, & went to bed early again.
Next morning I was up at seven again & we went on to Nshimba village on Nsumbu
Island, arriving there about 10 o'clock A.M. Here again the tent was put up &
the headman of the village & divisional headman of the island sent for. In the
meantime the clerk had started to take tax & as there were a large number
waiting I took a lot too.
Each camping ground has a kitchen hut made of mud with a grass roof & another
erection known as an 'nsaka' in which we sit at tables taking tax.
(Again I have forgotten something - a terrific thunderstorm & a lot of rain, the
last hour in the canoe the night before)
As at Matipa Muchinshi the kitchen & nsaka were in a very bad condition indeed -
holes in the roof etc: When the headman of the Nshimba arrived I roundly checked
him off & finding from the census that he had been warned & fined two months
previously for the same thing I told him to wait till the D.H. (divisional
headman) arrived. The latter arrived late that afternoon - a pompous,
inefficient man rejoicing in the name of Wanakasawi. I checked him off too &
they both admitted they were wrong so I sent them off to their chief - Matipa -
to be fined - the chiefs do all that now. All that day we issued tax receipts &
collected tax & gave out Chitupas (identity certificates) (We took about £40).
Next day Friday I was up at 6 o'clock, in the canoe by 7 o'clock & we paddled
all day arriving at Kambala on an island on the lower bank of the river at 6.30
that evening - a very long day - 11½ hours.
I had 2 intervals during the day of about ¾ hour each when I tried to shoot buck
but with no success. It was a very laborious job, wading through the swamps,
sometimes 1 ft over my knees in water & hoping there were no crocs about! The
second time I had several shots at a red lechwe bull & wounded him but couldn't
find him afterwards. Much of the day I spent sitting in the front of the canoe
trying to shoot pygmy geese but I only got one out of very many shots - I don't
know why it is I can't seem to hit them. They are very small (partridge size) &
exceedingly good to eat. That night again I soon went to bed & so on to
Perembuto on Saturday arriving about 12.30 in the morning. There are still no
signs of the meal boats which were to have met me here & I am rather anxious &
am wondering what to do if they don't come soon. It is very hot here, with
swarms of small mosquitoes & my legs, neck & arms are a mass of bites!
Fortunately they're only bad at night & in the morning but they're awful, & of
course I itch all day! Last night I went out after buck for 2 hours & saw some
hartebeeste. Nsongo went with me & we had a very long stalk - about ½ mile till
we got to the cover of a palm tree growing on a large ant heap. Cautiously
looking round this tree I saw three hartebeeste bulls facing me about 60 yards
off & a herd behind them. I singled out the biggest & had a shot at him -
nothing happened at all & they remained facing me & quite still. Hastily
re-loading I had another shot & the big fellow in the middle dropped to his
knees & then just as I thought he was going to roll over dead, gathered himself
together & galloped off with the rest & I never saw them again! Most annoying. I
shot him through the leg apparently. I hope my luck will change soon & I shall
shoot something!
I have had a beautiful nsaka & kitchen built for me here & am pretty
comfortable - I expect be here some time.
Wednesday
In haste as the post arrived yesterday & leaves today. It came a day early as
Wickins picked it up on his way back from Kasama or where he had had to go
apparently with a native (always known as 'munts' (to rhyme with hu-hu-hunny))
who had shot off his hand with a shotgun!
Just after writing the above one of the bigger chiefs 'Matipa' arrived. I asked
him what he wanted & he said he had just come to see the 'bwana' (white man) as
I was new & he had not seen me before! So there he squatted beside me taking
stock as it were! Most uncomfortable & I began to wonder when he would go home.
At last I asked if I could do anything for him & the interpreter replied 'Had
the 'Bwana' a spare box of matches'! The 'bwana' had, and so got rid of him at
last!
Last night I went out shooting again (or hunting as it's always called) & shot 2
lechwe (rather small buck - very red - skins used extensively as mats), so there's
great joy in the camp as natives would sell their souls for meat!
I enclose my first Official Report (rough copy) which you will perhaps be able
to decipher & which will tell you my doings.
It was very nice to get 2 letters one from you all & one from Daddy from Aix. It
seems very odd that you have only just got my letter telling you about the
voyage out! & all your questions have I think been answered in my previous
letters, but do go on asking because it's easy to leave things out!
I have ordered but not yet got a pointer puppy from S.Rhodesia & am hoping he
will have arrived when I get back. I am also looking after the Wickins' dog - a
mongrel terrier! - called Rolie !!! while they are away.
I am most thoroughly enjoying myself here, & love the life generally. The heat
is seldom very bad, though hot at night & very cold in the early, early morning.
That temptation is the courts to throw all one's clothes off & then wake up
frozen!
Another long letter - they have nearly all been long! I hope you are keeping
them as you know I can't keep a diary!!
I don't at present find the life a bit lonely - at the moment I am 3 days
journey from the nearest white man - as far as I know!! I've got plenty to read,
& can at last read as much as I want to & the shooting seems to be excellent.
Daddy asks about the nearest doctor. The nearest is the one at Kasama, 103 miles
of good road from Luwingu. He is said to be an excellent doctor & 1st rate
surgeon - the best in N.Rhodesia. I had seen him of course as I told you - a
melancholy bird !!
I liked your description of the enormouse balloons at the Aix Casino!
No more news & I must send off the messenger back to Luwingu with the mail!
Much love to you all
Your very loving
Gervas
D R A U G H T
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the Provincial Commissioner's letter /
& instructions with regard to food supplies.
2. I arrived at Perembuto early on Saturday morning October 4th but the large
canoe from Chambeshi has not yet materialised. My efforts to dispatch an
immediate supply of food to Chambeshi will be very seriously handicapped if this
canoe does not arrive soon. Divisional headman Kambala reports that his people
will arrive with meal tomorrow Oct 9th & that supplies of meal from Kasama's
country could arrive here next Saturday Oct: 11th. All the meal that has arrived
up to date has been produced locally with the exception of a very small amount
which came in this morning from Mweshi's country.
3. Messenger Matta informs me that he has bought more than enough fish in Kasama's
country to fill two canoes. I have sent two of my canoes to fetch this fish
which should arrive shortly.
4. As the food supply question is of such great urgency I despatched one canoe
yesterday to the Government Agent at Chambeshi containing approximately 1400 lbs
of meal. I have requested him to send his canoe as soon as possible for further
supplies.
5. I have at present 1300 lbs of meal & a small quantity of fish here at
Perembuto & anticipate further supplies daily.
6. I am paying ½d per pound for meal and 6d a basket for fish at present.
7. A good deal of local tax is being collected.
19301014 GCRC to EVC, from Luwingu
Luwingu
N. Rhodesia.
Oct: 14th, 1930.
Recd Nov 18th
My dear Mummy,
I am still at Perembuto & it looks as if I shall be here another
week at least. Then I have got to do the censussing so it looks as if I shall be
away from Luwingu for another 3 weeks perhaps. So don't worry if letters are few
& far between at present! At the moment I'm eagerly awaiting the mail which
should arrive this evening, but I doubt it will now.
The big canoes which were to have come from Chambeshi have never arrived & I
want them very badly indeed! This morning I sent off 420 lbs of fish to
Chambeshi in 3 of my canoes as I could stand the smell no longer & had 900 lbs
in the camp! You can imagine the reek, as it's only sun-cured fish & the smell
is awful - sheer high kipper!
I heard from the Government Agent at Chambeshi on Sunday. He said that 3 of his
canoes were up the river in my direction & 2 of them should be near me & I
should try & stop them on their way back. He sent a note for the headman of the
boats (known as the Capitao) telling him to come here. This note was left at a
village three hours away from here but on Sunday night the 2 canoes arrived at
the village, refused to take the note & left early next morning for Chambeshi
deliberately refusing to come here. Most irritating - I have never been up
against such rank inefficiency all round in my life! I was trying to do this job
well & everything goes wrong & I'm sure to get the blame! The Gov: Agent said
that the PC Kasama had never told him to send me a boat at all!! This after
telling me the matter was very urgent etc etc: Today I sent snorters to the
Government Agent & the P.C. & hoped to stir them into some sort of activity.
It's really sickening to meet such utter inefficiency.
I was feeling pretty ill when I wrote to you last week, but was all right next
day & feel quite fit now. The clerk, however, was ill and out of action for 2
days & I had to carry on doing all the work myself & getting the cook to
interpret for me. I've never worked so hard in my life! The clerk is back now,
but his blooming wife has started mumps of all things, so I'm expecting the
whole staff, servants, messengers & clerk to go down with it at any moment!
The rains are just beginning to break & we have had 2 or 3 torrential downpours.
It thunders almost consistently day & night & is rumbling away fairly close now
(5pm). I expect that's why I'm in a particularly bad temper - that & the mail
not coming. A fairly stiff breeze is blowing but nothing to the gale we had last
evening. As a result we killed five tarantula spiders in my tent, & I saw
another running about after I was in bed. A tarantula has a worse bite than a
snake - it almost invariably kills - so I was glad of my mosquito boots which
squashed them adequately!!
The coming of the rain makes it particularly difficult having so much meal on
hand - I have now got 7000 lbs in sacks made of leaves. As no boat can arrive
for a week now at least, I shall be very hard put to find room for much more &
it's coming in fast - I got 3000 lbs yesterday.
Till Friday last I had not seen a white man for 10 days & then it was only a
loathly trader who turned up half-dumb & bothered me with complaints the whole
day - fortunately he left early next morning - good riddance!
I have been out shooting twice this week. The first time we saw a herd of
buffalo & manoeuvred for a buck within 300 yds of them while they got angrier
and angrier. At last and just when we had retired to a large ant hill with
discretion, they charged furiously - in the opposite direction, so we were able
to continue our shooting, but didn't get anything. The two buck I shot last week
were reedbuck not lechwe as I said in my letter.
On Sunday I started at 6 o'clock am (up at 5) & had a hunt lasting seven hours &
got back absolutely done - dead beat. I had to rest two or three times coming
back I was so done & it was very hot by that time & pretty hard walking. I
managed to shoot one hartebeeste, but expended over 40 rounds in the day. I'm
afraid I 'did for' at least three others but couldn't get them. They're terribly
tough. The one I did shoot had 4 shots which must have been within inches of its
heart but wasn't dead when I found it.
One very big fellow I was after got away on three legs with its near-fore
swinging about - a disgusting sight. They seem able to gallop on 3 legs & I am
such a bad shot at present. I feel quite disgusted by it at the moment only one
has to have the meat - & of course I love the stalking & shooting really - only
one hates the awful wounds they get away with sometimes. A hartebeeste is about
the size of a cow and 2ce as tough!
No more tonight.
No more at all - in great haste after a frantic day - 4000 lbs of meal.
Your v loving:
Gervas
19301022 GCRC to EVC, from Perembuto
Perembuto.
Oct: 22nd 1930.
My dear Mummy,
Excuses next week. I can't write much as mail must leave at once.
All meal & fish is bought, but I shall not leave here for another fortnight.
Keeping very well & fit, & practically no work to do. Had left your letter till
mail came, & so cannot write it as mail has to go at once. Have written long
letter to Evie this week, please see that.
Very much love to you all
Gervas
19301023 GCRC to GAC, from Perembuto
Perembuto
Oct: 23rd, 1930.
Recd Dec 2nd
My dear Daddy,
I am explaining to Mummy why I could not write more last week, so
I won't go over the same ground again. I thought you would probably be
interested to hear of my latest shooting adventures. Two days ago Nsongo came in
to report some spur-wing geese in the swamps 300 yards from my tent.
I went down hastily but owing to much water could not get quite as near as I
should have liked. I took the first shot 'sitting' I'm afraid, but failed to
bring the goose down with both barrels but extracted some feathers. I was using
No: 3's, not really big enough I expect, as they're great tough brutes. However
it's something to have had a shot at one.
Yesterday the mail arrived & brought me some much needed rifle ammunition, so we
went out after buck that evening. It was an odd cortege. First Nsongo, the
messenger, carrying a government 0.303 rifle in a case of emergency & also my
7.9. Next myself carrying nothing! I always carry my own shotgun, but when one
has to walk a very long way over very bad ground in hot sun, I get my rifle
carried for me! (unloaded) Then behind me Perembuto himself (the headman of a
village always takes the name of the village), armed with an 8 ft long hunting
spear; & behind him 2 other natives each with a long spear. It's not altogether
comfortable walking along with a great spear pointing at one's back, & I take
care to see there's plenty of room between us!
First we went through about two miles of cultivated native gardens. Most
uncomfortable walking, as the gardens consist of built up mounds in which the
cassava root is grown, & one has to take a zig-zag course between the mounds.
Then we got out into some sparse forest & no undergrowth but grass & not too
many small & stunted trees. Several miles of that & then out onto the plain. I
don't know whether the S.African veldt was like the plains up here - if so you
will know what they are like. In parts the grass is 5-8 ft high but not so thick
or dense that you can't see through it, & all is dry of course. Then one comes
to a great open space where the grass has been burnt & it is here one finds the
buck. The surface is very uneven from the burnt down clumps of grass, & green
from new grass growing up. You can't find 5 sq. yds without an ant heap ranging
in height from a few inches to 4-6 ft. These make excellent cover for stalking
though also affording wonderful cover for the buck. Every 200 yds perhaps one
comes to a high mound 20 or 30 ft high - another kind of ant heap - with bushes,
thorns or palm trees growing in or on them. One climbs the tallest of one of
these one can find & 'gluss' for buck. The natives are wonderful at picking them
out & often I can't see them even then & my glasses are useless. I think I shall
have to have a really good pair soon. You might find some old war glasses cheap
somewhere I think.
Yesterday we started early (at 3.30 pm) the avowed object being 'puku'. After 2
hours we had only seen a reed-buck in the distance & nothing else & I was
getting a bit bored - especially with the rifle I was now carrying - & very hot.
Then one of the natives out on the flank saw something & we closed up to find
out what. It was MBOO (pronounced to rhyme with door) buffalo! I had said I
wouldn't shoot buffalo & turned away saying 'no good'. Then I saw the buffalo in
the distance & there was only one. I thought the natives had said it was the
young one, but made a mistake in interpreting the Chiwemba - it was a very large
old bull I gathered later. The wind was exactly right, & there was a very large
ant heap 20 ft high quite close to the buffalo & between it & us. Temptation
overcame me & I said to Nsongo 'Would it be safe if we got to that ant heap'.
'Yes, Sir,' said Nsongo. So we set out most cautiously to get to the ant heap.
The buffalo is only dangerous in three circumstances: -
1. In a herd which may charge on sight;
2. Wounded when they ambush you & are far the most dangerous of all big game;
3. A single old ball which has previously been wounded slightly may charge on
sight.
I reasoned that this was a young one, away from its herd, & that once I could
get to the ant heap all would be well. The only danger was that the buffalo
might hear us & come forward to investigate, & discovering us, charge. In that
case there was the cover of the little ant heaps. Anyway we reached the mound
safely, & I scrambled up to the top. There was a thorn bush at the top & peering
through this I saw the buffalo 30 to 40 yds away, looking straight at me,
slavering slightly & looking distinctly cross. Having no experience of buffalo I
aimed at his chest (it was facing me) I should have aimed at his forehead.
Unfortunately the shot was a bit high & got it (I think) in the neck. It nearly
came down, recovered, & lumbered off in the opposite direction plunging its head
down & obviously badly hit. We watched it go on for some 800 yards & then came
down to consult. Up to that time there had been almost no danger at all, for
once we reach the mound we were absolutely safe as it was most precipitous.
There was a lot of blood on the ground & bits of bone & Nsongo said the buffalo
was sure to die. However I was in a nasty predicament as it was obviously
dangerous to follow this wounded brute in the long grass. It was now at 5.30 &
the light was going & I was very relieved when Nsongo suggested that I should
return to the village with Perembuto. This I did & just got in before darkness.
Nsongo came in 1½ hours later. He had followed the buffalo which had become very
weak & could only just walk & had a shot at it but missed & then came back as it
was dark. He suggested going off at daybreak today to try & find it as he
thought it would now be dead. I said 'all right, but I'm coming too!' a chorus
of protest rose all round (the messengers have a great sense of responsibility
towards their 'Bwana'). 'Why not' I said. 'Well,' said my cook, 'buffaloes are
very dangerous when wounded.' 'Yes, I know,' I said, 'so why should you go & not
me.' 'Well,' he said, 'Natives always run quickly, and Bwana not able to run
fast!!' (a pretty insult to a Southern Champion)! However I let them go & have
not gone myself (cowardly). I expect they will find that buffalo dead if they
find it at all. A fellow called Palmer (and very old & tough little man) was
here the other day & shot a buffalo at 30 yards with his 7.9. I saw the head, &
said 'That's a good head isn't it!' 'Good' he said , 'it's the best I've seen!'
Nsongo says my buffalo was as big as his, so I am much hoping they will find it.
It was a real thrill & of course I didn't sleep at all well last night!
I have often wished I had you to come shooting with me, as going alone isn't
half such fun. I think you'll have to come out next year & have a go! You'd love
it!
I shan't have another go at buffalo of course unless it is absolutely safe, but
I shan't get down here again till after the rains, & by then I may have been
moved to a gameless district!
It's now nearly 10 o'clock & no signs of Nsongo so I'm afraid he's failed to
find the buffalo!
. . . . . . . .
Oct: 27th.
The buffalo was never found! A pity.
Next day I went out in the evening again hoping to find 'puku' or 'roan'. This
time I fell in with a small herd, which I was told were roan. I had three shots
at one - the first got it in the back, the second in the belly & then the
messengers began to run towards it & it was now almost stationary. I ran too &
after about 200 yds stopped & fired again & it rolled over dead - a fluke & very
lucky as I was quite done! However the messengers now admit that the 'bwana' can
run! When I came up to the buck I found it was another hartebeeste, but with
quite a respectable head!
On Sunday I did a little poaching!
I got up about 5 o'clock & went in a canoe up the river to a village about one
hour from Perembuto - but in the Mpika district. I suspect one is not allowed to
go into another district, but I find many DC's here have been to the same place
& anyway no one will know. It is a famous place for game & I was hoping to see
eland, roan, oribi, zebra, puku etc: However luck was out & I only saw very few
buck. I went to after one which was said to be a roan & shot it in the neck. The
shot bowled it right over & it lay kicking. I ran towards it cautiously but when
I was 50 yards off it got up shakily & made off! I ran after & was just going to
fire again when it collapsed again & it was quite dead when I came up. Another
hartebeeste!
Later I saw some Oribi - very tiny buck - hardly worth shooting!! But I didn't
get another shot, so it was rather a disappointing day.
Oct: 4th
I've now got a perfectly berloody cold - I can hardly see straight for sneezing!
Fortunately it's only in my nose, so no doubt won't last long. I've had it
several days coming on, but today it's a streamer! It's a very windy, draughty
place this & not healthy - as far as I know no official has been down in the
swamps more than a month, except one who went down with fever & couldn't be
moved! I'm getting pretty bored with this place - my books are running out & my
food to, I've had no vegetables or fresh milk since I've been here & butter only
once! That fool of an Agent at Chambeshi sent his own large canoe last week with
a note saying, 'now you will be able to send all the loads' - unconscious irony
as the canoe held 2,000 lbs out of 20,000 I had waiting here. I've been
expecting more canoes from him for several days but they don't come - so here I
sit twiddling my thumbs & waiting to load the 15,000 lbs of meal and 1,000 lbs
of reeking fish! Hillier has now arrived at Luwingu & the Wickenses have left.
His stores have been held up as mine were & so he's borrowing & living on mine!
I had a very nice letter from him last week in which he says he is afraid 'it's
rather an unpleasant job' I've been given so soon after arriving & that 'there
appears to be bad staff-work somewhere' - there does indeed.
Well, I feel much better for the last two pages of grumble - it's this
confounded cold in the head! I think I'd better stop!
Your loving
Gervas
19301029 GCRC to EVC, from Perembuto
Perembuto.
Oct: 29th, 1930.
Recd Dec 2nd
My dear Mummy,
I was so sorry about not being able to write you a nice long
letter last week. I waited till the messenger had arrived with the mail - he
comes on Wednesday morning early & leaves early Thursday morning - so as to give
you all the latest news. Then I heard of two more canoes I could get hold of, so
I sent off the messenger as soon as I could & so couldn't write a long letter to
you! However, I have written a long letter to Daddy this week, so now I haven't
much news for you! I've had a lot of '1st aid' to do this week - & have been
remarkably successful!
One of my paddlers came up looking pretty ill & said he'd got pneumonia! I
examined him, took his pulse etc & then gave him 2 aspirins (making him eat
them) & painted his chest with iodine in the place he said hurted. He is now
quite recovered & I'm thinking of sending up a report to the 'Medical Weekly on
'Clay's cure for pneumonia'! How would you discover whether a man had leprosy or
not? I can't think, but I'm expected to know!
Many men have terrible sores on their shin bones - open & running - which last
for years. I usually put on a hot fomentation which seems a fairly effective.
Then I have seen a man with his eyes tight bunged up & matter oozing out - a
sort of advanced pink-eye - but heaven knows how to cure it! I feel very
ignorant, but my bandaging is very successful & stays on wonderfully!
Today I have had 2 enormous canoes in from Chambeshi & have loaded them with
6000 lbs of meal, so now I am leaving a messenger in charge here & am going to
leave in two or three days' time to start the censussing.
I shall go to Nsambo, stay there 1 night, & then go to Kasama where I shall stay
a week, going out each day to census outlying villages. After that I have got to
do Milambo, Mweshi & Kalimankonde.
All this country is infested with lions - in fact my servants say I shan't get a
wink of sleep the whole time for the roaring - so I wish the revolver had
arrived. Many thanks to Daddy for getting it, it will be a great relief when it
comes.
My cold is very much better today & I shall be very glad to move from here.
On my way up from Livingstone in the train I met a fellow who knew the Hickses.
He said Mr Hicks was terribly 'nouveau' & quite common! A bit of scandal for
you.
I had a very nice letter from Dot today. Please thank Ralph very much for his
letters & papers which have been at great joy - I must write to him next week. I
was most interested in Daddy's letter & his account of his meeting with Wellings
much amused me - I wish he could have prosecuted the brute, but quite see the
difficulty. How splendid about his taking a secretarial job with the beagles - I
am glad & I'm sure he'll enjoy it.
One gets the most amazingly old coins here with the tax money. Modern S.African
& English is the usual of course, but one gets E.African, Australian, Indian &
the old boer coins with Kruger's head on them occasionally! I've also had a half
crown of George IV & William IV, a 6d of the William IV & a shilling of George
III with the date 1819 quite clear! I find them most interesting & it gives
tax-collecting quite a thrill - I keep them & replace ordinary coins!
My last week or two at Luwingu I had quite got over the lion scare! It came, I
think, from having to walk back 200 yds in the dark from the Wickinses' house to
mine after dinner each night before my stores came. But there are a lot of rocks
on the way & one man once fired three times at one thinking it was a lion - so
I'm not the only one.
One night I had a leopard quite close to the house - growling & barking & making
an awful noise.
In a way it's not so bad on ulendo as although the tent is open there is a big
fire 20 yds in front with all the paddlers & messengers round it. The first
night I was here I had a hyena round the back of the tent!
I think I did tell you, that the £30 had arrived at long last but reduced to
£29-19s!
Perhaps it's tactless to rave about my cook again but he really is a treasure. I
pay him 25/- a month (20/- till the New Year) & he is really an excellent cook.
I very seldom suggest anything to him & his menus are excellent & varied - I
never order the meals. He talks a lot of English & is most amusing & takes an
interest in everything & so is most useful. I told you he was interpreter when
the clerk was ill! His omelettes are without exception the best I've ever eaten
& his chicken creams, soups etc delicious. Altogether a paragon!
I now have four servants whose board costs me 10d a week each. Their wages total
of 47/- a month at the moment, & I'm waited on hand & foot - almost literally!!
I was so interested to hear about Suddles' school, I'm sure she'll get on well.
I must write to her, but give her my best love when you see her, also Ardie.
Don't go & get boxed up in your coffin - I shouldn't like them to nail you in!!
Well, I must stop, Best love to you all
Your v loving
Gervas
I meant to ask for a 'pluddin' but fear it's too late!
