King Solomon's Mines (39 page)

Central shaft on a wagon or cart (Afrikaans).

Boss; form of address used by nonwhites to show respect to white males.

Breaker.
large white-capped wave that breaks against a shoreline;
bar.
ridge of sand formed by the action of the tide against the shore.

Ravines (Afrikaans).

Afrikaans term for an ear of maize (American corn).

Also spelled loquat. Small, large-leaved evergreen tree
(Eriobotrya japonica)
that yields golden, pear-shaped fruit with a sweet but acidic taste; native to China, it was transported to Japan and later grown in Africa.

South African evergreen (
Ocotea bullata
)
;
also called stinkhout, cape walnut, cape laurel, and laurel wood; its dark-colored wood is as strong and durable as teak and has a very fine grain; when freshly cut, it emits a strong odor.

Highly fatal disease (
bacillary hemoglobinuria
) in cattle or sheep; caused by the bacteria
Clostridium haemolyticum,
found in soil. The scientific name derives from the red urine afflicted animals excrete as a result of ruptured red blood cells.

Also spelled dram; a drachm was a British imperial unit of measurement equivalent to 60 minims or 3.5516 cubic centimeters.

Offensive Afrikaans term for a Khoikhoi, a member of a pastoral people of southern Africa.

See endnote 8, chapter 3.

Haggard’s spelling of
wag
’n
bietjie,
the Afrikaans name for a species of acacia tree (
Acacia caffra);
also called common hook-thorn or cat thorn. It is distinguished by bright green, feathery leaves; its wood, resistant to fire, is used for fence posts and tobacco pipes.

Shield or screen (Afrikaans).

Natural latex from the sap or resin of the
Isonandra gutta, Palaquium gutta,
and other evergreen trees; has a texture similar to that of rubber, though is not as elastic; since 1845, used to insulate marine and underground cables.

Spear or lance with a long blade used by Bantu fighters.

Water filter. Thomas Cook (1808-1892), inventor of the guided tour and founder of a major British travel agency, advised travelers in his
Cook’s Tourist’s Handbook for Palestine and Syria
(1911) to carry “a leather drinking cup and a pocket filter.”

Also spelled
kopje;
small hill (South African).

Coarse, irregular surface layer of lava.

The heaviest bird in Africa, the great paauw or kori bustard (
Ardeotis kori
) can weigh more than 40 pounds; an omnivore, it sometimes eats carrion or hares found on shortgrass plains.

This fern
(Adiantum pedatum)
has dainty, feathery fronds and often grows on limestone soil in rich woodlands.

Hoofed mammal
(Oreotragus oreotragus)
that thrives in African mountains and gorges, and whose coarse yellow and gray coat serves as camouflage. Its name derives from the Afrikaans for “rock leaper.”

Wrung my neck or strangled me (slang).

Cobs of maize or, in American terms, corn (Afrikaans). During Nelson Mandela’s impoverished childhood he stole mealie cobs from maize fields to stave off hunger.

Peace (Arabic); respectful ceremonial Islamic greeting or blessing.

Literally, the Germanic language of the Saxon people, but Haggard seems to be referring to English.

This cruel custom is not confined to the Kukuanas, but is by no means uncommon amongst African tribes on the occasion of the outbreak of war or any other important public event. [Haggard’s note]

Unfit for battle (French).

Bantu-speaking people of modern Swaziland and other areas of southeastern Africa; they live by farming and herding.

Usually spelled
berserker,
Old Norse warriors famed for their savagery.

It is a law amongst the Kukuanas that no man of the royal blood can be put to death unless by his own consent, which is, however, never refused. He is allowed to choose a succession of antagonists, to be approved by the king, with whom he fights, till one of them kills him. [Haggard’s note]

Elders first (Latin).

“Now haste ye, my handmaidens, haste and see / How he sits there and glowers with his head on his knee.” [Haggard’s note]. The lines are from The
Ingoldsby
Legends.

Literal translation of the Greek
hippopotamus.

This extraordinary and negative way of showing intense respect is by no means unknown among African people, and the result is that, as is usual, the name in question has a significance, the meaning has to be expressed by an idiom or another word. In this way a memory is preserved for generations, or until the new word supplants the old one. [Haggard’s note]

It often puzzled all of us to understand how it was possible that Ignosi’s mother, bearing the child with her, should have survived the dangers of the journey across the mountains and the desert, dangers which so nearly proved fatal to ourselves. It has since occurred to me, and I give the idea to the reader for what it is worth, that she must have taken this second route, and wandered out like Hagar into the desert.
²
If she did so, there is no longer anything inexplicable about the story, since she may well, as Ignosi himself related, have been picked up by some ostrich hunters before she or the child were exhausted, and led by them to the oasis, and thence by stages to the fertile country, and so on by slow degrees southwards to Zululand.—A. Q. [Haggard’s note]