The times., 1901-05-05
A WHITE AFRICAN QUEEN
The Mysterious Woman Who Ruled
Native Tribe.

anown Majaje, the Rainmaker,
and Controlled the Nnkntese Tribe
i'm the Northern Part of the Trans
vaaI-Seen by Boer General
For more than half a century the rain
maker for all the native tribes south Of
the Zambesi River in South Africa, vas
Majaje. the White Queen OF the Makatese
tribe, which lived in the woodbush in the
northern part Of the Transvaal The
Zulus, the Hottentots. the KafIirs the Ba-
sutos. and scores Of other tribes reccg-
nized her as the great rainmaker. and
whenever there was a drought in their
provinces they sent their emissories -
her with requests for rain.
The tales which white men heard con
cerning her led them to believe that Ma
jaje was myth. and Rider Haggard elab-
GRATED the report in his novel She which
had for its leading character a mysterious
white woman who ruled over a race OF
blacks somewhere in Central Africa Hag-
! gard wrote his novel in the eighties. 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
woman really lived was proved by three
white men who talked with her and one
of those men. the late Piet Joubert. COM
mandant general of the Boer army. was
authority for this account OF the woman.
Henning Pretorius, one OF the Trans
walls first commandsnf generals. and
probably the most fearless Boer that ever
lived. returned from one of his frequent
Journeys into unknown regions of the
Transvaal in the latter part OF 1853 and
reported to his Government that he had
succeeded in seeing Majaje. In a volum-
inous report which he made OF his journey
he stated that the woman was Queen OF
a section Of the Bakatese tribe ana 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 number Of well-armed tribes
men. who asked him and his companions
to depart from the neighborhood imme-
diately Pretorius refused to leave and
insisted upon seeing the Queen.
After long discussion, during which
many messengers were sent TO the
Queens kraal, Pretorius was granted per-
mission TO visit the monarch. He was dis
armed and his companions were left be-
hind under guard of a large number Of
tribesmen. He was led along a narrow.
winding path through the bush, and after
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 abs0-
Lutte monarch over her people, that she
undoubtedly had the power of life and
death over them, and that she had estab-
Hshed a government that was far in ad-
vance of any negro government he had
ever seen.
The most astonishing part of his report
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 con-
corning her antecedents, and added that
she appeared TO be more than 100 years
old-perhaps 1f5.
IN 1894 the Makatese tribe formed an
alliance with Magoeba, the king of the
woodbush Kaffirs, who lived near the
same district. and Majaje's people were
dragged into rebellion against the Beers
Jouberts the cOmmandant general Of the
Boer army. was sent against the re-
beliious natives and he took with him
small number of STazis. who had been
driven into the Transyaal from their ma
tive country by Umbandine, the father of
the late King Bunu. who acquired the
fatal habit of drinAIug five quarts Of
champagne day.
When Joubert and his forces reached
the 'betoyert (bewitchedD bush the war
riOrs Of MaIaje and MagOeba attacked
them and fought valiantly for several
weeks. The natives were defeated finally
and fled into the bush and mountains.
The SWazis tnen asked goubert Tor per
mission to follow the rebels and il 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 had really been
victorious
The day after the return OF the Veto
TiOuS SwaZiS several messengers caI9te
from Majaie, bringing peace offerings in
the shape of two ivory tuskS and beau
tifu white OK. The emissaries declared
that Majaje had been nnisled by Magoeba
and that she had no desire to be an enc
my of the Beers. JOubert told the mes
sengers TO tell their Queen that If she
would surrender her arms unconditional
" and permit some one to go 70 her kraal
the war would be ended In her reply
she accepted the first condition. but de-
clined to allow anyone to visit her kraai,
adding. however. that she would come out
and grant an audience 10 the BOer leader.
The following morning the bush re-
sounded with the beating OF drums and
the shrill noises OF crude Wind lnstru-
ments- FOrerunners emerged from the
bush and announced the coming OF the
When the head of the procession reach
ed General Joubert the priests deposited
the palanqUin on the ground and drew
aside the curtains that concealed the
Queen. She reclined on beautiful QuagSA
skin and was clothed in a variegated cos
tune of skins. fuTs and bead work JOu
bert observed her closely and found that
Henning PretOrius 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
ma jOrity of white persons who have lived
in the Tropics for man years
Many persons have attempted TO eX-
plain the mystery Of the Queens ances-
try and the result has been that many
strange tales are current in the country
each being heralded as the only true so
luton. The most plausible theory is the
one that Commandant General Joubert
advanced From some old chieftaius he
learned that there was a tradition among
the Makatese that many generations ago
q large number OF white men had come
into the Zambesi region to dig gold. These
men incurred the enmity of the blacks.
who maSSaCred all except one or two
General JOubert believed. as did the chief
tains that Majaie was the descendant OF
one of these survivors, but the native ira
diti0u does not explain the process by
which she rose TO ths position OF ruler OF
the tribe. Proof of the fact that gold was
dug in that neighborhOOd has been found
in scores of places along the Zambesi,
where in recent years many old shafts
have been uncovered.-New York Even
no