The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-07
MAJAJE, WHITE QUEEN
MYSTERIOUS WOMAN WHO Rur-
 ED NATIVE TRIBE IN AFRICA.
Known sac ssRainmaker" and Con- trolled the Makatese Racs-Lived in Northern Transvaal and
 Seen by Boer Generals.

--~
 New York Evening Post.
 For more than half a century the rafr- maker for all the native tribes south of the Zambesi River, in South Africa. was tese tribe, which lived in the woodbush In the northern part of the Transvaal The Zulus, the Hottentots: the kanlrs, ' the aBsutos and scores of other tribes and whenever there was drouth in their provinces they sent their emissaries to her with requests for rain.
 The tales which white men heard con- cernirg her led them to believe that Majale was myth and Rider Haggard elaborated the report in his novel. "She" which had for it's leading. character a a race of blacks somewhere in central Africa. Haggard wrote his novel in the sos, while he was ir south Africa, and long before it WAS established that the white queen was not myth.
 The fact that such a woman really lived was proved by three white men who talk cd with her. and one of those men. the late Piet Joubert, commandant general of tho Roer army, was authority for this1 account of the woman. HenniDg Preto- rius. one of the Transyaars rsfit com mandant generals and probably the most fearless Boer thate yer lived. returned from one of his frequent journeys into unknown regions of the TransyaA in the latter part ct 1889 and reported to his bO'CihiHCu tidt ttV cdSStltcA AaA sSNeAaG
 Guarded by Dense Forest.
 In voluminous repor. which he made of his journey he stated that the woman was queen of a section of the Makatese tribe and that her capital was surrounded by an almost impenetrable forest of small thorn trees. On the outskirts of this forest he was met by large numoer and his companions to depart from the neighborhood immediately. Pretorius re- fused to leave and insisted upon seeing the queen. After long discussion, dur to the queens kraaL Pretorius was granted permission to visit the monarch. | He was disarmed and his companions s were left t, behind upder fsrd Of % ss s sss q marrow, winding path through the bush. and after Journey of about tbirty miles he came to the queens royal kraal. minutely and at great length. He said that she was absolute monarch over her people, that she undoubtedly ind the power of life and death over them and was far in advance of any negro gov ernment he had, eyer seen. The most astonishing part of his report was that | scribed her as having straight. soft hair | of light brown color; thin lips end | light blue eyes, The color of aer skin | vas not black: but as white as that that CT 2
 
 refused to te liner age or anything con- | corning her antecedents, and added that | she appeared to be more than 1oO years
 Led Into War With Boers.
 In 1884 the Makatese tribe formed an | alliance with Msgoeba, the king of the woodbsssh kaftirs who lived .r;a lsar the the draEged into rebsl0n ssnihst :ssnsrs ans of the Boer army, was sent against the | rebeiliou snatives and he took with him | A small number of Swazis. who had heen | driven into the Transvaal from their | native country by Umbandine, the ,ather of the late King Bunu, who acquired tbe | fatal habit of drinking i've quarts of s'ss1 his forces reached the s'betovert'' be witched) bush the warrior sof Mata5e | and Magoeba attacked them and fought l vaiinatly. for several weeks. The natives were defeated finally and lied into the | bush and mountains.
 The Swazis then asked Joubert for per- mission to follow the rebels and 1t was day safter the swazis brought with them | the heads of Magoeba and several of his | indunas. or headmcn, in order to prove | to the Brers that they had really been the victorious Swazfs several messengers came from MajaJe. bringing peace offer- ings in the shape of two Ivory tusks and cIared that Majaje had been misled by | Magoeba and that she had no desire to be an enemy of the Boers. Joubert told the messengers to tell their queen that If she would surrender her arms uncondi- tionally and permit someone to go to her kraal the war would be ended. In her reply she accepted the rict condition, but kraai. adding, however, that she would come out and grant an audience to the
 Seen by General Joubert.
 The following morning the bush re- sounded with the beating of drums and ments Forerunners emerged from the bush and announced the coming of the ! queen. When the head of the procession reached General Jorbert the priests de- posited the palanquin on the ground and drew aside the curtains that concealed the queen. She reclined on a beautiful gated costume of skins, furs and bead work. Joubert observed her closely and | found that Henning Pretorious' descrip- tion of her was accurate In every detail. The woman had lifht, soft hair, thin lips blue eyes and a complexion as light as that of the majority of white persons who have lived In the tropics for many
 Many persons have attempted to. ex- plain the mystery of the queens ancestry | and the result has been that many strange tales are current in --.e country, each being heralded as the only true solution. The most plausible theory is the one that Commandant General Jou- bert advanced. From some old chieftains he learned that there was a .radilion among the Makatese that many genera lions ago A large number of white men had come into the Zambesi region to dig gold These men incurred the enmlty of the blacks who massacred all except Che or two. General Joubert believed, as did the chisftains, that MaJaJe was the des- cendan tof one of these survivors, nat the native tradition does not explain the pro cress by which she rose to the los.tion of ruler of the tribe Proof of the fact that gold was dug in that nelghborhood has ben found in scores of places aicng inc Zambesi. where In recent years many old shafts have been uncovered.