Letters From Gervas

I think Gervas would rather have me with him than be alone,
but at the same time, he is more or less "self-contained". He
is very keen on shooting & gardening & is extremely fond of
reading. He has had plenty of "administering" to do lately too.
A certain amount of lawlessness appears to have manifested
itself in his District, which will prevent him from becoming
bored, & at the same time will provide experience for him
\which will undoubtedly prove to his advantage later.
What did you think of the trouble on the Mines
here? There was quite a lot of excitement & you will notice
Gervas's favourites, the Awemba, were apparently at the
bottom of it all. There appears to have been rather a bungle
too. In view of the fact that some of the Government Officials
mingled freely with the rioters seems to prove that they were
not after the Whites a all, but were out for the Black (Civil)
Police mainly. However, things seem to have resumed normality
now & the detachment of B.S.A.P. (S.Rhodesian Police) both
White and Black, returned to Bulawayo recently.
As you have no doubt heard, a road is being made
from Mankoya to Mongu so that Gervas will be able to run in
with his car any old time. It is pretty certain too that one or
two people in Mongu will get a car when they discover they can

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get a run out to Mankoya. He had the Auditor & Doctor
flying out when he last wrote, & was also expecting Mr. &
Mrs. McArthur of the Vet. Department. He is, of course,
also only 37 m. from the Luampa Mission, to which place
he has cycled in a day on several occasions, so he is not
really very isolated. Now his aerodrome is completed I
think it more than likely that the Govt. will inaugurate a
policy of "swopping" officials for a month or two, sending,
say, a man from Lusaka by air to Mankoya where he
would take over or a month or so, while Gervas would
take his place at Lusaka for the same period. They would
then change back to their respective jobs. Sir Ronald
Stovis[?] stated that this would certainly happen. An
excellent idea, I consider. I envy Ralph his flying. I have
only "been up" once & was thrilled to the marrow. I went
from Mongu to Senanga & back, about 120 m. along the
Zambesi. I had always wanted to see the great river from
above & it more than exceeded my expectations. A
marvelous sight. I fully expected to feel sick, but did not,
& thoroughly enjoyed every moment in the air.
This is a nice little place on the Railway, 4307 ft.
above sea level. Nearly 1000 feet higher than

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Mankoya. It is pretty cold now, being winter, but lovely days,
clear & sunny. I like the country round here. Rolling downs.
Any amount of game & game birds. I went in an old Ford
lorry, to a Mission, Kanchindu, on the Zambesi (South of the
Falls of course) last week. It is about 90 miles from here & we
dropped over 3000 feet! The track through the mountains was
appalling & had been mad straight through the hills with no
attempt at grading, so that at one moment we were standing on
our heads and the next on our tails, so to speak. I could not
have believed that a motor could have negotiated the precipices
up & down which we crawled. When I say it took us 15 hours to
do the 90 miles you will realize it was "some" trip. We took 4
days to do the double journey. There are rhino, elephant,
buffalo & all sorts of game in the Valley but we only saw a
couple of beautiful kudu bulls as the country was a tangled
mass of grass & undergrowth & there was a lot of bush too.
None had been burnt, too green yet. We struck a pack of wild
dogs in the mountains, which evinced the most annoying
curiosity & hopped backwards & forwards in front of the lorry
at a distance of only a few feet. We were on a precipice at the
time & could

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not pull up. I got a shaky shot at one & they then
cleared off. They are a terrible scourge & kill a lot of
small stock & cattle round about. Lions have been
busy round here lately & killed about 10 head of cattle
on a "ranche" near here this week. However, the
Manager poisoned two & caught a third in a trap &
shot it. Another lioness ran in front of the train some
way the other night, not leaving the line until actually
near the School.
I am very glad to hear Mr. Clay has had a
good beagling season. I think it is wonderful of him to
run with them. I'm afraid a sprint of a couple of dozen
yards would incapacitate me for quite a period.
I'm afraid I can't say if Gervas has got his
gramophone mended. I expect he has. When I left he
had borrowed one & was using that.
I hope you, Mr. Clay & Ralph are all fit &
well; with kindest regards to you all
              Very sincerely yours
                           Soane Cambell

 

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