Set in southern Namibia, Great Namaqualand, ‘Bittersweet Karas Home’ is the story of three families, the Hills, Walsers & Hartungs, whose lives merge and intertwine in a semi-arid land that presents both hardship and blessings. Over the next few months, we would like to share this bittersweet saga with you from the (as yet) unpublished book.
The blessing of water
Emil Friedrich expressed his despondency about farming and business prospects in the country to a non-related German Hartung who was contemplating immigration to the country:
‘As someone sharing your surname I would advise you to think about it 10 times or even more often before you immigrate to this country. I know this highly praised land, you may believe that, since I, unfortunately, have been living here for more than 20 years. It is an almost waterless, sterile sand and stone desert. It offers few opportunities for people with no or only moderate capital’.
He contemplated becoming a trader again, writing to the businessman, a Mr Schwaner, in Upington on 10 January 1902 for advice: ‘Since I have fallen into some difficulties with our dear government it is possible that I will return to Gordonia. I am also tired of farming. In that case, I would like to sell my livestock and begin something else, eg. opening up a store. I would be grateful if you told me what you think about this idea, whether Upington is the right place for it and whether an additional store would have a chance.’ On the same day in a letter to a Mr Bergmann in Upington, he asked him the same question and stated even more strongly, ‘I cannot agree with the German government here’.
Buying the farm and taking possession of it was not the same thing. There would be a decade of delay until he and his family could live at Enos permanently. The 1903–1908 war forced them into South African exile and the farm infrastructure had still to be developed. Between 1908 and 1913 they trekked to and fro, hired pasture at places like Warmfontein, only digging the first functional ‘puts’ (wells dug in riverbeds) in 1911.
The farm Een-Os (one ox) or Enos had received this name from the previous owners who had fallen into hard times and at one stage only had a single ox remaining. The farm consisted of two parts - Enos and Kinnaspütz. One corner of the rectangular territory had been integrated into the neighbour’s farm. Not surprisingly, this became a bone of contention.
Emil’s pessimism did not keep him from working hard to make his new home a success. The farm was situated in a valley between gentle mountain ranges that were outcrops of the Great Karas Mountains. The rivers that sprang up in the mountains in the wet periods slowed down when they reached the level stretches of land in the Enos valley and sank into the ground, replenishing the ground-water. Grass, bushes and trees grew well.
Several of the Hartungs and Hills – men and women – were water diviners or dowsers and used this gift whenever they were searching for ground water and subterranean aquifers. The main water sources were wells dug in riverbeds. The bigger and more permanent ones, called ‘puts’ in Afrikaans, appear in farm names like Gapütz and Kinnaspütz. Dynamite was often used to blast through rocky layers in the ground. The first ‘put’ was dug in 1911, and the second one in 1925. Cattle movements from pasture to ‘put’ were monitored in order to prevent overgrazing. It became critical when the distance between ‘put’ and pasture became too far. There were also ‘kuils’ - natural pits and ponds in the rivers - and ‘gorras’ - shallow ponds and fountains in the river sand formed after good rains. The Hartungs built a sand dam to block the seasonal flow of the river in good rain years.
Water drilling machines were introduced from the turn of the century onwards. At first there were portable borehole drilling machines with diamond drill bits. With the influx of South Africans in the 1920s and with credit granted by the land bank, mechanised drills operated by professional drillers who trekked from farm to farm, became financially viable. Drilling was, however, a gamble for farmers. They had to pay for every foot drilled into the ground irrespective of success or failure. If the drill had been sunk to a depth of 30 feet unsuccessfully, a farmer could request another 30 feet and still be unsuccessful, doubling his losses, or with luck he would find precious water. The Southeast Kalahari Artesian Basin made discovering water at considerable depths a possibility, but at the risk of bankruptcy.
(Join us every Sunday to take a step back in time and follow the interesting, sometimes sweet, sometimes heart-wrenching tale.)