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'And the detritus? There's bound to be a lot.'

'There always is when you find diamonds. Ten tons of rubbish for every carat. We'll pile it over there. Never see it from the house.'

The flamingos rose from their small lake, formed their ballet in the air, and danced about the sky in celebration of discoveries about to be made. At the end of one grand sweep, their red feathers blazing in sunlight, they passed the spot at which Philip would place his drills, then headed north. Next year when they returned, the lake would be quite different.

GLOSSARY

In writing of a people with a language as evocative as Afrikaans, the temptation is to lard the narrative with a spate of colorful short words like kloof (ravine) or astonishing compounds like onderwyskollegesportsterreine (education college sports fields). I try to avoid this device, judging it to be exhibitionism which does not aid the reader. However, to write of the Afrikaner without a seasoning of his language would be an injustice. I have, therefore, used those few words without which the narrative would lack verisimilitude, and in this glossary have marked with an asterisk those which can be found in our larger dictionaries as English adoptions.

*assegai slender hardwood spear Arabic

baas master; boss

*baobab tree with swollen trunk Bantu

bayete royal salute Zulu

*biltong strips of sun-dried, salted meat (jerky)

*bobotie ground meat, curry, custard Malay

*boer farmer (capitalized: South African of Dutch or Huguenot descent)

*commando Boer military unit (member of such unit)

*dagga marijuana Hottentot

dankie thanks

*disselboom main shaft of ox wagon

*dominee minister of Afrikaner churches

fontein natural spring (fountain)

hartebeest hut wattle-and-daub hut with low walls, no windows

*impi regiment of Zulu warriors Bantu

*inspan harness draft animals

ja yes

*knobkerrie club with knobbed head Hottentot

*kopje small hill, often flat-topped

*kraal African village; enclosure for livestock Portuguese

*laager defensive camp encircled by wagons

*lobola cattle paid for bride Bantu

*mealies British maize; American corn (hominy grits)

*meerkat small mammal (resembles prairie dog)

Mejuffrouw Miss; young unmarried lady

Mevrouw Mrs.; becomes Mevrou

*Mfecane the crushing (forced migration following Zulu consolidation) Bantu

Mijnheer Mr.; becomes Mynheer and Meneer

*morgen land measure (about two acres)

Nachtmaal night meal (Holy Communion) (becomes Nagmaal in Afrikaans)

oubaas old boss (old fellow; grandfather)

ouma grandmother

*outspan unharness draft animals

*predikant clergyman (especially of Dutch Reformed churches)

*rand unit of currency worth about one dollar (abbreviation of Witwatersrand)

*rondavel hut with circular floor plan

*sjambok short whip of rhinoceros or hippopotamus hide Malay from Persian

skollie hooligan (especially Cape Coloured)

*slim clever; crafty; cunning; shrewd (the original English meaning of this word)

*Smous itinerant merchant (peddler) German

*spoor track or trail of man or beast

*stoep stoop (porch)

*trek arduous migration (especially by ox wagon)

trekboer nomadic grazier

tsotsi member of street gang Bantu

*uitlander outlander (capitalized: foreigner, especially on the gold fields)

*veld open grassland with scattered shrubs and trees (veldt is archaic)

*veldkornet minor district official (in military: lieutenant)

*veldskoen rawhide homemade shoe (also veldtskoen)

verdomde damned; cursed

V.O.C. Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (United East India Company)

*volk nation; people

Voortrekker forward trekker (member of the 18341837 Great Trek)

Vrymeer Freedom Lake (in Dutch: Vrijmeer)

Pronunciation: In general, words are pronounced as they look, except that J = Y; V = F; W = V; OE = U. The name Van Wyk = Fan Vake; and for no reason that can be explained, Uys = Ace. Vrymeer, of course, is Fraymeer.

Table of Contents

Start

Table of Contents

Introduction

I. Prologue

II. Zimbabwe

III. A Hedge of Bitter