The Sunday globe., 1901-06-02
A WHITE QUEEN.
The "She" Who Rules a Negro Tribe
in South Africa.
pRETORIUS, THE BRAVE BOER,
Has Seen and COnerssd with The Queen,
His Astonishing Account Of the Interview
Absolute Ruler OF The Tribe, with Power Of
Life and Death-NOt a Negress, but White
Woman with Light Hair and Blue Eyes,

WbUloW WIN hlkUA UdN dUu IluO NJVS'
For more than half a century the
rainmaker for all the native tribes of
the Zambesi river, in South Africa,
was Majaje, the White Queen of the
Makatatese tribe, which lived in the
woodbush in the northern part of the
Transvaal The Zulus, the Hottentots,
the Kaffirs, the Basutos, and scores Of
other tribes recognized her as the
great rainmaker,, and whenever there
was drought in their provinces they
sent their emissaries to her with re-
quests for rain.
The tales which white men heard
concerning her led them to believe that
Majaie was a myth, and Rider Hag-
gard elabrated the report in his novel,
,"She," which had for its leading char
actor a mysterious white woman who
ruled over a race Of blacks somewhere
in Central Africa Haggard wrote his
novel in the sos, while he was in
South Africa, and long before it was
established that the white queen was
not a myth. The fact that such "A wom-
an really lived was proved by three
white men who talked with her, and
one of those men, the late Piet Joubert,
commandant general of the Boer army
was authority for this account of the
woman.
Henning Pretorius, one Of the Trans
walls first commandant generals, and
probably the most fearless Boer that
ever lived, returned from one of his
frequent Journeys into unknown re-
gions of the Transvaal in the latter
part of 1889 and reported to his gov
ernment that he had succeeded in see.
ing Majaie. In a voluminous report
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 al
most impenetrable forest Of small
thorn trees On the outskirts of this
forest he was met by large number
of wellarmed tribesmen, who asked
him and his companions to depart from
the neighborhood Immediately Pre-
torius refused to leave and insisted
upon seeing the queen.
After a long discussion, during
which many messengers We're sent to
the queens kraal, Pretorius was grant
ed permission to visit the monarch.
He was disarmed and his companions
were left behind under guard of a
large number Of tribesmen. He was
led along a narrow, winding path
through the bush, and after a journey
of about thirty miles he came to the
queens royal kraal. In his report he
described the woman minutely and at
great length. He said that she was
absolute monarch over her people, that
she undoubtedly had the power of life
and death over them, and that she had
established a government that was far
in advance of any negro government
he had ever seen.
The most astonishing part of his re-
port was that the woman was not a
negress. He described her as having
straight, soft hair of a light brown
color, thin lips and light blue eyes.
The color of her skin was not black,
but as white as that of a Portuguese.
Pretorius stated that she refused to
tell her age or anything concerning
her antecedents, and added that she
appeared to be more than 100 years old
perhaps 115.
In 1894 the Makatese tribe formed
an alliance with Magoeba, the king of
the woodbush Kaffirs, who lived near
the same district, and Maiaje's people
were dragged into rebellion against the
Beers. Joubert, the cOmmandant gen
eral of the Boer army, was set against
the rebelious natives of Swazis, who
had been driven into the Transvaal
from their native country by Umban-
dine. the father of the late King Bunu
who acquired the fatal habit Of drink
ing five quarts Of champagne a day.
When Joubert and his forces reached
the "betovert" (bewitchng) bush the
warriors of Majaje and Magoeba at
tackled them and fought valiantly for
several weeks. nThe natives were de-
feated finally and fed into bush and
mountains. The Swazis then asked
Joubert for permission to follow the
rebels, and it was granted. When they
returned, several days afterward, the
Swazis brought with them the heads
of Magoeba and several of his indunas,
or headmen in order to prove to the
Beers that they really had been vic
tOriOus.
The day after the return of the vic
torious Swazis, several messengers
came from Maiaje, bringing peace Of
ferings in the shape of two ivory tusks
and a beautiful white OK. The ennis
saries declared that Majaie had been
misled by Magoeba, and that she had
no desire to be an enemy of the Beers.
Jouhert told the messengers to tell
their queen that if she would surTen-
der her arms Internationally and per
NIT some one to go to her kraal the
war would be ended. In her reply she
accepted the first condition, but de-
clined to allow anyone to visit her
kraal, adding, however that she would
come out and grant an audience to the
Bocr leader
The following morning the bush re-
sounded with the beating of drums and
the shrill noises of crude wind instru-
ments Forerunners emerged from the
bush and announced the coming Of the
queen.
When the head Of the procession
reached General Joubert the priests
deposited the palanquin on the ground
and drew aside the curtains that CON
cealed the queen. She reclined on
beautiful quagga skin and was clothed
in a variegated costume Of skins, furs
and bead work Joubert observed her
closely and found that Henning Pre-
torius description Of her was accurate
in every detail The woman had light,
soft hair, thin lips, blue eyes, and
complexion as light as that Of the
majority Of white persons who have
lived in the tropics for many years.
Many persons have attempted to eX-
plain the mystery Of the queens an
cestry, and the result has been that
many strange tales are current i'm the
country, each being heralded as the
only true solution The most plausible
theory is the one that Commandant
General Joubert advanced. From some
Old chieftains he learned that there
tradition