Vol. 4, 22nd November, 1931 - 20th March, 1932
Luwingu
Nov: 22nd 1931
Recd Dec 22
My dear Mummy,
A happy Xmas ! And New Year !
I expect this letter will get to you just before Xmas with luck. It’s usually difficult to believe that it’s near Xmas but here, there colour coding but at the moment (7 a.m.) it’s simply teeming with rain & it might well be December in England only it’s not so cold! I’ve got the Padre here from Chipili Mission on his way through to Kasama & he’s just preparing to give me communion – the first since I left England sixteen months ago.
Chamberlain is away still, so I shall have the Service to myself. Curiously enough, the Padre has just got a Curate out from England to help him, who is an O.L. & must, I think, have been at Lancing with me. He’s only been out 2 months. His name is Gibbs & I think he must be a brother of the fellow I met at a beagle Meet at Albury in December ’29 & who was in the barracks at Guildford at the time. Possibly you may remember the incident ! I did not know there was another O.L. in the country, so I hope I shall get a chance of seeing him sometime later on.
I’ve been rather invaded lately. Last Monday the huge German film expedition descended on me. They had been down at the Lake & were returning to Fort Roseberry. The expedition is photographic & scientific and each one of the Germans (there were 7 – 1 woman) were Herr Doktor Hans or some such name!
The mail was an hour late – didn’t arrive until ten a.m. & had to get ready to go off at 12. With the D.C. away & all the official mail to go through & if necessary answer in a couple of hours you can imagine how pleased I was when Schomburgk, the leader of the expedition[i] appeared at the office. As a matter of fact he was a very nice fellow, had been in the Service long ago, had fought for us in the S.A. War, & spoke perfect English. As we had had special instructions to do all we could for them (official instruction) I had to h… in him, but I told him I had to get th mail off. Fortunately (great luck) there was absolutely nothing in the mail, so I had 4 Germans to lunch, & afterwards was dragged out (Sunday) afternoon) to the office to hear a case between the Germans & the paddlers they’d employed in the Lake. As the paddlers were asking 4 times the wages to which they were entitled, I soon scotched that ! I then found the 2 seven-ton lorries stuck on the hill up the escarpment on the lake round to Luwingu - ½ a mile from my house. I turned out everyone I could find to go & push & when I arrived found one of Schomburgk’s Zulu servants digging the centre of the road into a rut t foot deep which the lorry had made!! I was furious & soon stopped that little game. Then a Dutchman who was driving one of the lorries came up & seeing the look on my face, said, as a joke, “Yes, look what the German lorries do to the English roads!” (he having done it) to which I snapped back, “Yes, and there’s a very nice English prison at the top of the hill!!” One up, I think !! With the help of pulleys & much pushing we got the lorries up & I made them go right round the Bend to the Guest House where they stayed for the night. 6 Great Germans in 2 tiny rooms & the woman I put in the D.C.’s spare room on his verandah.
At 3.30 I invited them to tea & then said if they didn’t mind I’d go & read my own letters which I hadn’t had a chance of doing! Only Schomburgk came to tea & fortunately they wouldn’t come to dinner. They asked me for lemons & I gave them a larg box & a sack full – 3 or 400 I should think. Then they wanted tea & flour & I produced a new tin of tea & 7 lb of flour for which thy never paid ! I finally saw the last of them at 10.30 a.m. on Monday morning ! & I sent a messenger with them five miles out where there is a bad hill, in case they got stuck. Fortunately they didn’t & eventually got out of the District without doing any more damage. I hear now that they wentthrough every bridge from th end of our District to Fort Roseberry – our bridges alone holding together ! It’s really too bad to take 7-ton lorries through in the rains. They MUST be popular in Fort Roseberry.
They told me they had made a most important geological discovery. It has always been thought that Lake Bangweolo was not a genuine lake long ago, but had been formed by the junction of a number of rivers in a low-lying piece of ground or pan. They have now discovered shells of a mussel description which proves that the lake is as old as any in Africa, a genuine lake.
Thy apparently got some wonderful pictures, especially of situtunga, for the film they are making, & by a great stroke of luck an enormous flock of ibis appeared here on the golf course while they were here, and they managed to photograph them too. I have seen them once or twice before. I believe the hero of the film is a white rhino !
I haven’t ben able to make any Xmas plans yet, but I might get into Fort Roseberry as I think Budin (the brick contractor) may be going, but he hasn’t made up his mind yet.
I have just had a very nice but rather embarrassing Service by myself. Having no prayer book made it difficult, especially as the Padre was High Church & kept kneeling in the wrong place, & so I found myself standing when I should have been kneeling at least once. Please send me a prayer [book], I’ve always wanted one & meant to ask for one before.
Thank you so much for the books from The Times Book Club
I don’t remember Redely’s pedigree. It might be in my playbox in the den or in one of the tiny drawers of my dressing table. I remember that there was very little “Ware” blood – his maternal grandmother only, I think. The man I leant Ready to at Oxford I think has his pedigree. If you want it you could write to him – Strange, Old Marston, Oxford.
Ready is registered at the Kennel Club under the name of Sparks. I don’t agree about his head at all, I think that’s his best part. His flaws are
- Too long in the back
- White hairs on his head.
I would like you to send out the new Walpole book. I don’t know the other one & have never heard of the author or the 2 previous books. If Dornford Yates has written a new book, I’d like that.
Well, I must stop. With much love to you all & very best wishes for Xmas & the New Year.
Your very loving
G
