19340805 Soane Cambell to EVC
P.O. Mongu
Barotseland
N.Rhodesia
5 / 8 / 34.
Dear Mrs Clay,
Your boy thinks you might like another waffle from the. So, apologising, I presume to bore you once more. First, please let me thank you for your kind & interesting letter of June 3rd which I received while we were out on tour, from which we returned on 3rd Aug. I have all the tree & fruit seeds etc. planted in the garden with a view to planting out later on. It will be interesting to see if Laburnum grows. I have not yet seen it in this country.
Master Gervas is in very good form. He has the best native boy I have ever struck as Cook and General Foreman of Works. This old chap (I suppose he is really not more than about 35) apart from being an excellent cook, is a splendid example (very rare, I am sorry to say) of the “Friend of the White Man”. I must say I envy Gervas. Musonda (said Cook) looks after him amazingly well. Should Gervas be out after sundown, away goes master cook with lamp, coat, etc. to look for him. Never delegating this duty to an underling, mark you. Most unusual. Well. A good “boy” is “a Perl above price” & he is lucky to have one. We are both very fit, tho’ we had some pretty awful walking, most of the tour being through
sandy country. However, this does not often happen in this district & one can usually bike part of the way at any rate. There were plenty of villages to attend to & we did not see much game. I only got a couple of small buck, but Gervas got a warthog boar & a Roan bull, also small buck or two. No doubt he will tell you about them & the dog’s (Penguin) behaviour in “trailing them up”. I saw 3 Lions one afternoon, one a particularly fine specimen. They were a long way off & I did not, needless to relate, fire on them. We enjoyed the tour, but I’m afraid he can’t get out again for some time as some new estimates etc. have appeared which have to be attended to & of course there is always the accumulation of work caused by absence from the station.
Gervas is as hard as nails & very fit. After a long “track” he would buzz off to look for game, while I curled up & felt sorry for my feet as a rule. He will perhaps tell you how nice cold boiled warthog leg is. One of our favourite dishes is Oribi liver, kidneys & bacon. I’m sure you and Mr Clay would appreciate some of our feeds. Fried pheasant & guineafowl breast is not to be despised either, I can assure you.
The aerodrome is beginning to look fine. It’s a pity you can’t fly along and see us. This is a lovely place & the nicest camp in Barotse in my opinion. The weather is simply perfect now & I’m sure it would do you & Mr Clay all the good in the world to take a run out here. I really do not think there is much danger of malaria
so long as one takes five grains of the good old quinine daily. There are hardly any mosquitoes here & a most posh house. You would love the place. Most fascinating country. Mr clay would not miss his beagles as he could run like anything after Pongo & Penguin & if he could keep them in sight – well –! The garden is full of beans, tomatoes, etc. & we have actually had a couple of small cauliflowers (Yum Yum!) They are very hard to grow & about 1 – 100 comes up & “Collies”. There are dozens of pawpaws & they are excellent. Cape gooseberry is grow like weeds. Any amount of lemons and limes & a few small oranges. The granite dealers don’t seem to do too well, though we get a few. There are some mango trees but they don’t bear yet. We neither of us had a ticket on the Derby, & a good job too, for no-one won anything in this country. I hear Mr Clay’s sharp eye picked Winston Lad. What a day the bookies had!
The Chitas are well but still very nervous. The little mail will come & be stroked if one sits down, but the female sits a yard away & spit suspiciously. They are fascinating little things but it seems incredible that they attain such a size when full grown.
Yes we have terrific contests at bridge & after months of playing I think I am about
69 points to the good. At one time he was nearly 5000 points up & then I had a go & went up to about 4000. Two-handed is a marvellous game & we are both quite keen, tho’ of course we would prefer four-handed
the motorcar turned up all right but it is not going yet. He worked awfully hard on it & when he had pieced it together, found the “key” was missing! However no doubt it will “go” someday. I’m sorry to say I know nothing about motors & am one of the few people living who cannot drive one! As a matter-of-fact I have spent most of my life in Barotse & have been as much as seven or eight years without seeing a railway even, so have not had much chance of learning to drive a car.
I hope you & Mr Clay & your son [thir younger son Ralph] are all well. Kind regards to you all.
Sincerely yours
(signed) Soane Cambell
J.S.Cambell
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