On the road earlier in the year, while travelling through the Klein Karoo and exploring mountain passes and small towns, I came across the books by the Helena Marincowitz. She insightfully collected the stories of locals who had grown up and grown old in the Klein Karoo. The stories continue to enchant and amuse us all these years later, adding colour and character to the area.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฆ & ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ฌ
The fertile farm of Scholtzkloof, at the foot of the Swartberg mountain range, has a surprisingly rich history. Hertha Bokelmann did some research at the Cape Archives and found that not only was it a successful farm, but that it had a history of stormy marriages.
The recorded history of these marriages began with Stephanus van den Burg and Louisa (nรฉe Erasmus) who moved to the farm in 1771. When Stephanus passed on in 1795, Louise continued to tend to the farm with the help of her six children. In 1805, โthe sprightly widowโ married a much younger Frederik Nielson.
The intelligent Dane experimented extracting oil from orange peel and orange blossom, and found a ready market at the Cape for the peppermint, aniseed and coriander which he grew.
As the story goes, jealous of his success, the local Justice of the Peace, Samuel de Beer, made life difficult for him So much so that Magistrate Stockenstrรถm from Graaff Reinet had to intervene and caution De Beer. Eventually Nielson could take no more. He packed his things and left both Louisa and Scholtzkloof in 1811.
The farmโs history of stormy marriages didnโt end there, however. The next occupants of the farm were Petrus van den Burg, Louisaโs son from her first marriage, and his wife, Catharina (Botes). Petrus bought the farm from his mother. When he died, Catharina inherited the property and its 1 300 grapevines.
It didnโt take long for โan extremely handsome fortune seekerโ, a Mr Giebelaar, to woo and marry the wealthy widow, and in 1822 the Scholtzkloof farm was registered in his name. Their marriage didnโt last long and Catharina left the farm. In 1824 their marriage was annulled.
Giebelaar was known for his bad temper and he was fined several times for harassing his neighbours. The farm also deteriorated under his care. But, five years later Catharina returned and the couple was remarried. Peace resumed and the couple jointly owned the farm from 1829. We are none the wiser as to how the marriage progressed from there.
The records show that the farm changed hands in 1847 when Francois de Wit bought the farm, hopefully ending the cycle of Scholtzkloofโs stormy marriages.
The young dominee and the beer cans
A long time ago a young dominee visited Prince Albert. His modern approach appealed to the younger generation but not the older members of the congregation who had more old-fashioned ideas of how a dominee should present himself.
The dominee enjoyed visiting the congregation on his own without taking a senior deacon along. And when visiting the farms on the Karoo plains on the outskirts of the hamlet, he would dress casually in shorts and an open-necked shirt and spend time talking with the church members in a relaxed manner.
One day he visited one of the churchโs โlost sheepโ. The farmer welcomed the visitor into his kitchen, which was strewn with empty beer cans. He graciously offered his visitor a beer and they chatted away enjoying each otherโs company. Eventually he asked his guest about his profession and was surprised when he received the reply: โIโm the dominee from Prince Albertโ.
It was then that the farmer looked around him and became aware of the beer cans around them. He did, however, later admit that it was the best chat he had ever had with a dominee.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐
This story was told by Rev Sieberhagen about the time he buried a woman next to her husband who had already passed. The coupleโs graves had been built beforehand and a brick wall was built between them. When the minister looked down, he saw that rather than the graves being separated by a wall, a neat opening had been made in the wall between them as if, even in death, they didnโt want to be far apart.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ โ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ค๐๐ฅโ
Back in the days of transport wagons, before motor cars, bicycles were a rare sight. Goods were conveyed from the station by transport wagons.
This amusing tale transpired between Laingsburg and Beaufort-West, and involved two transport drivers and their โtouleiersโ (wagon leaders). At nightfall they stopped and outspanned on the side of the road. It was winter and an icy wind blew. A pale sickle-moon hung mournfully in the sky in the bitter cold. Near to their camp was a solitary grave.
As they huddled next to the fire for warmth, sipping witblitz, their discussion turned to ghosts and they started wondering about the lonely grave. They set a dare to see who was brave enough to knock an iron peg into the grave. The most courageous of the group volunteered to go. As he later told the terrifying story, he went to the grave and hammered the peg in, but when he rose to his feet the ghost got hold of him and wouldnโt let go of his coat. He pulled and pulled, but the ghost held on. Eventually, after a mighty struggle, the end of the coat tore off and the wagon-driver, now bathed in sweat, escaped and made a dash for the wagon. He inspanned and moved off quickly with the poor touleier rushing to keep up.
As they made off, they noticed a small light approaching them. It flickered and came closer. The touleier screeched: โOooo gonnas Oubaas, here comes the ghost!โ He dropped the lead and jumped under the blanket in the wagon with the Oubaas. As they did so, the little light passed the wagon, giving a cheerful โtring, tringโ as it did so.
Things looked very different at daybreak when they saw the narrow track of the bicycleโs tyres in the dusty road. And when they went to look at the grave, they found the scrap of coat that had been fixed by the iron peg into the ground, fluttering in the breeze.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ โ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฒ๐โ
Unlike the ghost story, this story couldnโt be rationally explained a day later, and was seen by more than a handful of people.
In the years between 1940 and 1950 a supernatural spectacle, dubbed โThe Eyeโ was seen at night on the Karoo plains in the areas around the farms of Zeekoegat, Zwartskraal and Minnieskraal.
Many people who did not believe in the supernatural witnessed a round light that would suddenly appear in the night sky, move close to the vehicle and then vanish. Hendrik Hinkman saw โThe Eyeโ on five occasions. Once, it had even remained static in front of his bicycle before disappearing.
After 1952 โThe Eyeโ disappeared never to be seen again. The mystery remains.
๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ
This more recent story took place in 1971 when Tottie Bothma and a friend from Prince Albert took a trip to the Gamkaspoort Dam to see how it looked when it was full.
They went for a walk along the dam wall. They were happily walking along when they heard a snort. Turning to see where the sound came from, they saw a furious bull racing towards them.
They quickly dived into the dam. When the enraged bull charged into the water they swam further out and stood up to their armpits in water. The bull glared at them, but eventually retreated.
The two women emerged from the dam, soaked and terrified, and drove back to Prince Albert.
But that wasnโt the end of their story, or their mortification, because the following week the story made the headlines in the Oudtshoorn Courant.
๐๐ก๐ซ๐๐-๐๐ง๐-๐-๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ณ๐๐ง ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐๐ง
Bernice du Plessis represented her late husband, Otto du Plessis, former administrator of the Cape Province, at the opening of the Gamkaskloof road in 1962. At the event she asked local Gamkasklower, Koot Cordier, how many children he had. She didnโt expect his reply. โI have three-and-a-half dozen children,โ he said dryly, โThatโs beside those which the leopard caught.โ
Mrs du Plessis was duly shocked, but then someone in the crowd informed her that Koot Cordier was a rascal and a joker and that this was one of his big jokes. The three-and-a-half dozen children was, in actual fact, nine children and a leopard occasionally caught one of his goats.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ๐ญ
Dr Manie Coetzee, the flying doctor of Prince Albert, needed to fly a patient from Gamkaskloof to George for a hernia operation in his Tiger Moth. There was thick cloud over the Outeniqua Mountains at the time and when the doctor spotted an opening in the clouds, he dropped through it. His patient hung on, clutching his seat nervously. When the Doc landed smoothly at the George airport, an ambulance was waiting for the patient.
The doctor climbed out of the aircraft first. He had lost a leg in a flying accident and had a limp as a result. The ambulance personnel, on seeing him, thought him to be the patient. He protested: โNo, no, I am not the patient. The sick oom is seated at the back of the plane.โ
When the ambulance men climbed aboard the plane to help the real patient, they were surprised when they received the same reply: โNo, no. There is nothing wrong with me!โ
They eventually worked out that the dive through the clouds had caused the patientโs hernia to rectify itself and there was no longer a need for the ambulance.
And so ends another good story with a happy ending.
(References: Prince Albert Local Stories, by Helena Marincowitz, Fransie Pienaar Museum, 2000; Gamkaskloof Stories (The Hell), by Helena Marincowitz, Fransie Pienaar Museum, 2002)