The covenant - James A. Michener [561]
But the vital evidence was taken on the third day, and the community watched grimly when a motorcar brought the Albertyns, including two older children, to be inspected visually by the three commissioners. This was all-important, for what the investigators were endeavoring to decide was whether the Albertyns as a whole were Coloured or not, and looking at them face-to-face was one of the best ways to judge.
The four Albertyns, lacking Petra, were lined up before the commissioners, who studied them minutely prior to questioning. Mr. van Valck, whose name meant falcon, rose from his chair behind the prosecutor's table, where the commissioners sat, and suggested that they move onto the bench used by judges 'so we can look more impressive.'
'No,' Detleef objected, 'this is a simple family matter, so let's handle it that way. Our job is to start sorting out our nation, putting everyone in his place. This wouldn't have been necessary if the English had kept people properly separated, but once those first fatal steps of intermixing occurred, the damage was done. Now we must move back to an honest base.'
Detleef van Doorn began: 'Who were your grandparents?' He placed great store on lineage.
'Have you any Coloured friends?'
'What is your minister's name? His initials?'
'Is his church exclusively for whites?'
'Are you and your husband registered as voters?'
'Have your names ever been removed from a voters' list?' Here Magistrate van Valck interposed gravely: 'Remember, you are under oath, and one false answer will put you in jail'
'Have you ever traveled in a train for Coloured persons?'
'When you go on holiday, where do you stay? What hotel? Is it for whites?'
On and on, for three hours, the questioning went, inconclusively. The Albertyns seemed much like any other South African family, mostly Dutch, with a strong strain of German and perhaps a Huguenot ancestor far back. No English. Probably no Malay or Hottentot or Bantu.
Now the fascinating part of the investigation approached, when the commissioners actually inspected the bodies of the suspects. Each commissioner had his or her special clues for detecting Coloured blood, the result of rural superstitions. Mr. van Valck, coached by his wife, placed emphasis on freckles and ear lobes: 'White people freckle. Coloureds don't. It's as simple as that.' But when he examined the Albertyns, he found Mrs. Albertyn and one son with no freckles, Mr. Albertyn and the other son with a copious supply. 'Now, with ear lobes,' he explained to everyone in the room, 'with whites, there's an indentation. With Coloureds, there isn't.' But again the Albertyns divided two and two.
The dentist had heard that something about the half-moons at the base of fingernails furnished some clue to racial origin, but he could never remember what it was. He considered an investigation like this offensive but felt he had better go through the motions, so he carefully studied forty Albertyn fingernails, and said, 'Hmmmmmm!' The other two commissioners were relieved that he was taking his assignment seriously.
Van Doorn trusted only hair, especially on the backs of hands, where it could not be tampered with, as it often was on the head: 'Hand hair that twists in a certain way.' Eight Albertyn hands were carefully inspected, after which Detleef asked for a pencil, which relieved Mr. van Valck, since he placed considerable store in the pencil test. 'We twist the hair over the ears tightly around this pencil,' Van Doorn explained to the watchers, 'and if the subject is white, it unravels quickly when the pencil is withdrawn. With blacks, as you know, it remains crinkled.' Studying the pencil to see that the hair was properly drawn, he jerked the pencil away and watched with satisfaction as the hair responded. 'You may sit