Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-01-26
Darkest Africa.
: KEN1LwoRTH, KIMBERLY,
South Africa, 10, 26 '98.
r. H. Harris, Esq,

hENILWORTH, KIMBERLY,
South Africa, 10, 26 '98.
r. H. Harris, Esq,
Mo. Valley, Iowa.
Dear Sir and Friend:-I will
take this opportunity 10 drop you
a few lines for publication as
it is sometime since I have pre-
sumed to impose on your good
nature, and we have seen and
learned more about this strange
land we are living in which may
be Of interest to yourself and
other of our friends, who through
lack of time we are not correspon.
ding with.
Yesterday was Christmas, but we
are having our Christmas today.
DeBeers Co. always give their
employees one holiday off with
full pay, something which 1 be-
lieve to be an uncommon thing
with large corporations that en-
ploy thousands of men. Christmas
being on Sunday this year we
we're given both Sunday and Mon
day, and l must confess that we
have appreciated and enjoyed
them to the fullest extent.
Well, we have passed through
one of South Africa's winters, of
which I have written you, and are
now passing through the summer.
This is supposed to be the very
warmest time. But / can assure
you that you feel the heat a great
deal more In Mo. Valley in July,
than we are feeling it here at the
present time. Although the Their
mometer may not register quite SO
high. 1t is very warm here in
the sun, but if you can manage to
keep out of the sun you don't feel
the heat. In the last two weeks
it has been 1O3 and 104 in the
shade, but 1 don't notice that as
much as ninety-fve at home.
Takingeverything into consider
alton I think this the finest, or
rather the grandest climate I have
ever lived in, not overlooking the
grand climate of California, and
as for health I see no difference
between here and America, only
that people don't linger SO long
with the same disease here as they
do at home, and when once dead,
they loose no time in getting you
under the ground. A person that
dies in the morning is usually
buried the same day. This is the
custom of the country.
People here are not laid away
in their best suit, but instead are
wrapped up in sheet and put in
the coffin. suppose the clothes
are kept to sell to the Kaffirs.
This seems very poor way to
put the human being away, but it
is elegant style to the way the
poor Kaffir is put out of the way.
The first time | witnessed
Kafir buried it made my hair
stand straight up. l will try and
give you an idea of how they do
it, but 1 know it is impossible to
make it clear enough that you will
realize the true condition of affairs
with the Kaffir. In the first place
the death rate among the Kafir is
very great and as there is very
few that have money enough to
pay funeral expenses it would be
foolish on the part Of the country
to have a grave digger digging
graves for each and every indivi-
dual Kafir that dies.
Although in land like this,
where land is no object, one would
not suppose that there would not
be space enough to lay away all
the dead decently. But it seems
that the city or county do not in
tend to use any surplus ground to
put Kaffirs in. So they dig the
Kaffir's graves six feet square and
about six feet deep, if they don't
strike rock, and in this they put
from twelve to sixteen dead Ka&rs,
all owing to- the, size of the Kaffir,
if there are several small ones the
grave will hold one or two more.
If they bring them one at time
they put the corpse in and just
put barely enough Of mother earth
on it to cover it. The next one