1749 Reijnier van Madagascar
This is an extraordinary case of an escaped slave who survived on his own unnoticed for twenty years in the mountains around the Franschhoek region. On recapture, he vividly recalled the events which led to his desertion. The daughter he had with the woman he called his wife,1 Manika van Bengalen, was severely maltreated by their owner’s wife, for unknown reasons. Reijnier was a loyal and long-standing slave, who had built up the farm by his labour, but he was taunted by other slaves for his failure to defend his daughter. He eventually cracked, attacked his owner with a knife and fled to the mountains. Twenty years later he was recaptured. By then his owners and his daughter were dead. Only Manika, now aged 60, survived. For all these years she had not known what had happened to Reijnier or whether he was still alive.2
The case gives a vivid insight into psychological and emotional tensions which slave families could undergo on a remote farm, as well as the ability of an isolated runaway to survive for many years in the surrounding mountains. The story did not have a happy ending: Reijnier was sentenced to labour for life on Robben Island.3
Footnotes
-
Slaves were not permitted to marry until 1823, but in the eighteenth century those who formed permanent relationships were sometimes referred to as vrouw and man. The partnerships had no legal standing, but in the eyes of both the slaves and their owners, these bonds were matter of fact (see 1739 Cupido van Mallabaar, n. 3). Although couples could be separated from each other or from their children, this did not always prevent stable emotional relationships. On slave marriages, see Worden 1985: 57-8; Shell 1994: 288-89 and 320-24; and Schoeman 2001: 534-36 and 559-61; and, on slave families, Heese 1981. For other examples of marital or parent—child relationships, see 1721 Anthonij van Goa; 1741 Andries van Bengalen; 1742 Fortuijn van Bengalen; 1770 Jephta van de Caab; 1786 Ceres van Madagascar; and 1792 Francois de Wet. ↩
-
‘Zij comparante ook in alle die jaaren niet het minste vernoomen, nog gehoort heeft, niet beeter weetende, of dat reeds lang overleeden ware’ (she, the testifier, also in all these years did not learn, nor hear, the least thing [about him], not knowing any better whether he had long passed on), testimony of Manika van Bengal, CJ 357, ff. 11-12. ↩
-
CJ 31, f. 2. This sentence was, however, more lenient than the death penalty that was usually imposed on slaves who had attacked their owners. ↩
CJ 357 Criminele Process Stukken, 1749, ff. 7-9v.
There appears before us, the undersigned delegates from the honourable Council of Justice of the Castle of Good Hope, Reijnier van Madagascar, bondsman of the heirs of the late farmer Matthijs Krugel, 60 years old at a guess, who on the requisition of the landdrost of Stellenbosch and Draakensteijn, Sieur Adriaan van Schoor, confesses it to be true:
That fully twenty years ago now, the confessant’s daugther, named Sabina, was daily, without any reason, thrashed by the wife of his abovementioned owner, and that his said mistress would not agree, despite the confessant’s frequent entreaties, to sell her under any circumstances but, instead of this, continually maltreated her. As, towards the evening on a certain Saturday, when the confessant came home from ploughing and asked his fellow slave Manica, who was the confessant’s wife, for the used tea leaves of his mistress, this meijdmeijdLiterally ‘girl.’ This word developed among the same lines as jongen, the word coming to mean ‘female slave.’ However, its trajectory diverged from that of jongen in that it eventually was used more widely to refer to indigenous women, so that meid still survives in modern Afrikaans as a pejorative term for women of colour. As with jongen, the word was no longer available to refer to European girls, but instead of the difference between girl and daughter disappearing, the diminutive form, meijsje (Afrikaans, meisie), came to be used for ‘girl.’ answered: “The juffrouwjuffrouwStrictly speaking this contraction of jonkvrouw was the form of address for a noble lady (as with jonker, the contraction of jonkheer, ‘lord’), but at the Cape it was more generally used by settlers for women with some social status. Moreover, in the eighteenth century this was also the term slaves used to address their female owners, alongside nonje. drank no tea today, but wine”. The said meijdmeijdLiterally ‘girl.’ This word developed among the same lines as jongen, the word coming to mean ‘female slave.’ However, its trajectory diverged from that of jongen in that it eventually was used more widely to refer to indigenous women, so that meid still survives in modern Afrikaans as a pejorative term for women of colour. As with jongen, the word was no longer available to refer to European girls, but instead of the difference between girl and daughter disappearing, the diminutive form, meijsje (Afrikaans, meisie), came to be used for ‘girl.’ then narrated to him how that day his mistress, after first undressing the said Sabina and having her spanned into a so-called poolsche bok,1 had again pitifully beaten her with a sjamboksjambokThis word entered seventeenth-century Dutch via Malay (tjambok) or Javanese (sambok) from Persian (châbuk). It is a whip cut from thick animal skin, usually hippopotamus or rhinoceros, and was already known in the Dutch East Indies as an instrument for punishing slaves. At the Cape it was also used to beat draught animals with.. For which reason the said Sabina had fled from the house to behind a corral, from where the confessant himself fetched her and brought her into the kitchen. Moreover, as a result of this [beating], the said woman slave then wanted to run away; however, the confessant told her not to do so, but that she should rather go to her owner and beg him for forgiveness. Wherefore the confessant’s fellow slaves, named Hans and Patas, seeing the continual maltreatment of his aforementioned daughter Sabina, often said to him: “You are such an old jongenjongenLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour. and have helped to pay off this farm, you can plough and do all sorts of other work so well, and yet you can endure such maltreatment – if this meijdmeijdLiterally ‘girl.’ This word developed among the same lines as jongen, the word coming to mean ‘female slave.’ However, its trajectory diverged from that of jongen in that it eventually was used more widely to refer to indigenous women, so that meid still survives in modern Afrikaans as a pejorative term for women of colour. As with jongen, the word was no longer available to refer to European girls, but instead of the difference between girl and daughter disappearing, the diminutive form, meijsje (Afrikaans, meisie), came to be used for ‘girl.’ had been our daughter, we would have taught the baasbaasIn seventeenth-century Dutch this was used both in the sense of ‘head’ (e.g. ‘head carpenter’) and ‘master’. In South Africa the second meaning developed further, and thus baas came to be a synonym for meester (‘master’). It was the form that slaves (and Khoikhoi) would use to address male Europeans. differently”. And that, later on that very same Saturday evening, when both the confessant and the other slaves were all in the kitchen, the confessant’s owner entered it, holding a broomstick in his hand, and beat the meijdmeijdLiterally ‘girl.’ This word developed among the same lines as jongen, the word coming to mean ‘female slave.’ However, its trajectory diverged from that of jongen in that it eventually was used more widely to refer to indigenous women, so that meid still survives in modern Afrikaans as a pejorative term for women of colour. As with jongen, the word was no longer available to refer to European girls, but instead of the difference between girl and daughter disappearing, the diminutive form, meijsje (Afrikaans, meisie), came to be used for ‘girl.’ Sabina anew. As a consequence of this the confessant, out of dejection and grief, took up a knife lying on the table in the kitchen and gave his aforementioned owner three stabs with it, without being able to say where, seeing that the lamp was almost half burnt out. Upon this, the confessant immediately took flight to above the ploughed fields of his owner, where he remained for about one week, and thereafter went from there to the mountains at Franschhoek, at which place he remained for, as best he can remember, a period of sixteen years, after which he proceeded from there to the mountain situated above the farm of Jan du Busson, where he likewise remained some years, and where he was also, some days ago, captured by some Europeans, taken to Stellenbosch and then delivered into the hands of justice.
The confessant declares finally that during all of this time he had not spoken to a single person, and had maintained himself with dassies and fish, which he had caught with implements he manufactured to this end.
Thus confessed in the Dutch language, which the confessant speaks and understands reasonably well, at the Cape of Good Hope on 13 January 1749 before the honourables Cornelis Eelders and Paul Artoijs, members of the aforementioned honourable Council of Justice, who have properly signed the original of this, together with the confessant and me, the sworn clerk.
Verification
There appears before us, the undersigned delegates from the honourable Council of Justice of the Castle of Good Hope, Reijnier van Madagascar, who, after this, his given confession, had been read out word by word, clearly and plainly, declares to fully persist by it, therefore not desiring that anything more be added to or taken from it, and declares all of the above to be the whole truth.
Thus verified at the Cape of Good Hope on 14 January 1749 before the honourables Cornelis Eelders and P. Artoijs, members of the aforementioned honourable Council of Justice, who have properly signed the original of this, together with the confessant and me, the sworn clerk.
Which I declare, [signed] C.L. Neethling, sworn clerk.
CJ 357 Criminele Process Stukken, 1749, ff. 14-15.
Statement given, on the requisition of the honourable landdrost, Adriaan van Schoor, by the burgher Pieter Reijnertsz., being of the following contents, namely:
That on Friday, the 3rd of this month, the testifier, who has been working for some time on the farm of the farmer Jan du Buisson in Draakensteijn, understood from the cattle herder of the said Jan du Buisson that there must be deserters maintaining themselves in the vicinity of the river or the mountain, which this jongenjongenLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour. presumed because he found lying there two small fish nets and some small snares with which one could catch dassies or other small animals, as also that he discovered up on the mountain, next to or beneath a rock, a hut made from shrubs. That the deponent, together with the brother of the aforesaid Jan du Buisson, named David du Buisson, and a person with the name of Schellenberg, who is a knechtknechtLiterally ‘male servant,’ but because most European knechten at the Cape were used as slave overseers, this original meaning gradually eroded and the word ended up meaning primarily (as in modern Afrikaans), ‘farm foreman.’ of the said Jan du Buisson, went out that very afternoon to the mountain, taking with them, in order to point out this hut, the aforementioned cattle herder and yet another slave of Jan du Buisson. That not far from this hut, they kept watch throughout the night and, when they searched it by day, they found nothing but small snares which had been laid there. However, when they searched together around the area, the aforementioned cattle herder espied a jongenjongenLiterally ‘boy.’ In Dutch it was common to use this word also to refer to male servants, irrespective of age. At the Cape, however, this usage was extended to slaves and then became exclusive, so that jongen (also in the deflected form jong) came to mean ‘male slave’, such that Afrikaans lost the use of the word to mean ‘boy’ and instead uses seun (from Dutch zoon) for both ‘boy’ and ‘son.’ In this primary meaning, the word has become obsolete in modern Afrikaans, except for the archaic terms tuinjong (‘garden boy’) and plaasjong (‘farm boy’), in the sense of male workers of colour., of which he immediately warned the testifier and the party with him. That they then all went there together, finding, about a couple of hundred paces from the aforementioned hut, towards the Draakensteijn mountains, a slave, who was at once asked by the burgher David du Buisson if he was Reijnier of Matthijs Krugel, to which the same answered: “Yes!”, adding that he had been supporting himself in the mountains for about seven or eight years and that he had maintained himself with trapped dassies and fish from the Berg River, whereupon they took this slave Reijnier prisoner and brough him to the prison in Stellenbosch.
There being nothing more to declare, the testifier asserts to be convinced of the accuracy of his statement as in the text, being willing, if it may be required, to subsequently confirm the aforegoing, at any time.
Thus related at the office of the secretary in Stellenbosch on 8 January 1749 in the presence of the lay reader Abraham Faure and the messenger of the court Hendrik van Ellewe, requested as witnesses hereto, who have properly signed the original of this, together with the testifier and me, the secretary.
Which I declare, [signed] A. Schephausen, secretary.
Footnotes
-
The poolsche bok was a way of tying somebody up: the hands are tied together and put over the drawn-up knees, after which a stick or something like it is inserted under the knees and across the arms, thereby rendering a person totally defenseless. Slaves were usually undressed before being tied up like this and then whipped. For an explanation of the name and for further examples of this vicious punishment, see Franken 1953: 109-12. The punishment had been in use at the Cape since the seventeenth century and was also known in colonial Surinam (Stedman 1992: 556 and 665). Franken suggests that it might have developed from a punishment meted out on ships. ↩
Compareerde voor ons, ondergeteekende gecommitteerdens uijt den edelagtbaaren Raad van Justitie des Casteels de Goede Hoop, Reijnier van Madagascar, lijfeijgen der erfgenamen van wijlen den landbouwer Matthijs Krugel, naar gissing 60 jaaren, denwelken, ter requisitie van den landdrost van Stellenbosch en Draakensteijn, sieur Adriaan van Schoor, confesseerde hoe waar is:
Dat den confessant, nu ruijm twintig jaaren geleeden, omdat de huijsvrouw van bovengenoemde sijn lijfheer des confessants dogter, Sabina genaamd, dagelijx, selfs sonder reedenen bastonneerde, en gesegde sijn lijfvrouw, dewelke die meijd nogtans niet leijden mogte, ongeagt des confessants veelvuldige smeekingen, deselve in geenen deele verkopen wilde, maar haar, in steede van sulx, geduurig mishandelde; gelijk op een seekeren Saturdag teegens den avond, wanneer den confessant van ’t ploegen te huijs komende, en aan de meede slavin Manica, sijnde des confessants vrouw, vraagde om de afgetrocke thee bladeren van desselfs lijfvrouw, waarop die meijd antwoorde: De juffrouw heeft vandag geen thee maar wijn gedronken, door gesegde meijd aan hem alsdoen verhaald wierd, hoe zijne lijfvrouw genoemde Sabina dien dag weederom met een sjambok, alvoorens deselve naakt hebbende uijtkleeden en in een soo genaamde poolse bok doen spannen, deerlijk geslagen hadde; des deselve uijt het huijs weg en agter een kraal gevlugt was, vanwaar den confessant genoemde Sabina selfs weederom van daar en in de combuijs gebragt heeft; alwaaromme ook gesegde slavin alsdoen opdrossen wilde, edog den confessant teegens deselve seijde van sulx niet te doen, maar veel liever naar derselver lijfheer te gaan en dien om vergiffenis te smeeken. Weshalven des confessants meede slaven, genaamd Hans en Patas, de geduurige mishandeling van desselfs voornoemte dogter Sabina siende, dikmaals tot hem confessant gesegt hebben: Gij bent soo een oude jonge en hebt gemaakt dat de plaats betaald is, kunt soo wel ploegen als alderhande ander werk doen en kunt dog sulke mishandeling verdragen; die meijd moeste onse dogter niet sijn, of wij souden de baas wat anders leeren. En dat vervolgens des confessants lijfheer, dien eijgesten Saturdag avond, wanneer soo wel den confessant als de andere slaven meede in de combuijs waeren, daar in is gekomen, een beusem stok in zijn hand hebbende, en de meijd Sabina opnieuws sloeg; dierhalven dan den confessant, uijt mismoedigheijd en hertseer, een op de, in de combuijs staande, taafel leggende mes, opgevat en daarmeede desselfs veelgemelten lijfheer drie steeken toegebragt heeft, sonder te kunnen seggen waar, aangesien de lamp genoegsaam half uijtgebrand was, neemende alstoen den confessant immediaat de vlugt boven ’t geploegde land van sijn lijfheer, alwaar sig omtrent een week opgehouden hebbende, vervolgens van daar begeeven heeft op ’t Franshoeks gebergte, en aldaar, naar sijn best onthoud, den tijd van sesthien jaaren verbleeven is, waarna sig van daar vervoegde naar ’t gebergte geleegen boven de plaats van Jan du Busson, alwaar sig weederom eenige jaaren opgehouden heeft, en ook aldaar, voor wijnige dagen, door eenige Europeesen gevangen, naar Stellenbosch gebragt en vervolgens in handen der justitie geleevert is.
Betuijgende den confessant nog laatstelijk dat denselven geduurende in al dien tijd geen mensch gesprooken heeft, sig geërneerd hebbende met dasjes en vissen dewelke hij, door daartoe gemaakte gereedschappen, gevangen had.
Aldus geconfesseert in de Neederduijtsche taale, die den confessant reedelijk spreekt en verstaat, aan Cabo de Goede Hoop, den 13e Januarij 1749, voor d’ edele Cornelis Eelders en Paulus Artoijs, leede uijt voormelten edelagtbaaren Raad van Justitie, die de minute deeses, beneevens den confessant en mij, gesworen clercq, meede behoorlijk hebben onderteekent.
Recollement
Compareerde voor ons, ondergeteekende gecommitteerdens uijt den edelagtbaaren Raad van Justitie des Casteels de Goede Hoop, Reijnier van Madagascar, denwelken deese, sijne gegeevene confessie, van woorde tot woorde klaar en duijdelijk voorgeleesen weesende, verklaarde daarbij volkomen te persisteeren, oversulx niet begeerde dat er iets meer bijgevoegt ofte van gedaan werden sal, en verklaarde alle ’t bovenstaande de suijvere waarheijd te zijn.
Aldus gerecolleert aan Cabo de Goede Hoop, den 14e Januarij 1749, voor d’ edele Cornelis Eelders en P. Artoijs, leede uijt voormelten edelagtbaaren Raad van Justitie, die de minute deeses beneevens den confessant en mij, gesworen clercq, meede behoorlik hebben onderteekent.
’Twelk ik getuijge, [get.] C.L. Neethling, gesworen clercq.
CJ 357 Criminele Process Stukken, 1749, ff. 14-15.
Relaas gegeeven, ter requisitie van den heer landdrost Adriaan van Schoor, door den burger Pieter Reijnertsz., zijnde van den volgenden inhoud, namentlijk:
Dat hij relatant, seedert eenigen tijd aan Draakensteijn, op de plaats van den landbouwer Jan du Buisson, gewerkt hebbende, aldaar, op Vrijdag den 3e deeser, van den beestewagter van gemelten Jan du Buisson verstaan heeft dat sig daaromtrent aan het rivier ofte het gebergte drossers moesten ophouden,’twelke dien jongen presumeerde omdat twee vischnetjes en eenige strikjes, daar men dasjes of ander kleijn gedierte meede konde vangen, had vinden leggen, alsmeede dat boven aan het gebergte, teegens of onder een klip, een huijsje van bosjes toegemaakt ontwaart hadde. Dat hij relatant, beneevens den broeder van voorseijde Jan du Buisson, genaamt David du Buisson, ende een persoon met naamen Schellenberg, zijnde knegt bij gemelten Jan du Buisson, dien eijgensten agtermiddag hun begeeven hebben, naar het gebergte, meede neemende den voornoemden beestewagter ende nog een slaaf van Jan du Buisson, ten eijnde hun dat huijsje te laaten aanwijsen. Dat zijlieden, niet verre van dat huijsje, hun dien nagt door opgehouden hebbende, teegens den dag hetselve doorsoekende, niets gevonden hadden als strikjes die aldaar opgespannen waren; dog zijlieden gesamentlijk die contreije rondsoekende, ontwaarde den meervoorengemelten beestewagter een jonge, waarschouwende sulx tegelijk aan den relatant en zij bijhebbend geselschap. Dat zijlieden hierop gesamentlijk daarnatoe gegaan zijn, vindende omtrent een paar hondert treeden van het dikwils gemelten huijsje, naar de kant van het Draakensteijnsche gebergte, een slaaf denwelken ten eersten bij den burger David du Buisson afgevraagt wierd, of hij niet Reijnier was van Matthijs Krugel, daar denselven: Ja! op antwoorde, met bijvoeging dat sig aan dat gebergte omtrent seeven of acht jaaren opgehouden en sig met gevangene dasjes en visch uijt het Berg rivier erneert hadde; waarop zijlieden denselven slaaf Reijnier gevangen genomen en naar Stellenbosch in de tronk gebragt hadden.
Voorts niets meer relateerende, geeft den relatant voor reedenen van weetenschap als in den text, bereijd zijnde, als ’t mogte verijscht werden, het voorenstaande ten allen tijden nader te sullen gestand doen.
Aldus gerelateerd ter secretarije aan Stellenbosch op den 8e Januarij 1749, in ’t bijweesen van de voorleeser Abraham Faure ende den boode Hendrik van Ellewe, als getuijgen hiertoe versogt, die de minute deeses, neevens den relatant ende mij, secretaris, meede behoorlijk hebben onderteekent.
’Twelk ik getuijge, [get.] A. Schephausen, secretaris.