1792 Mentor van Mosambique

Details
Name on Document:
Mentor van Mosambique
Date:
1792-11-22
Document Type:
Statement
Primary Charge:
assault
Secondary Charge:
--
Tag(s):
violence (7)verbal resistance (2)disobedience (3)social status distinctions (1)
Summary

A fight broke out between Mentor and the burgher Tielman Roos because Mentor refused to greet Tielman, saying he was only obliged to greet his owner and wife. This episode is a rare example of verbal resistance by slaves, although it also led to physical conflict.1 It also illustrates the importance attached to symbolic acts in the maintenance of social distinctions between masters and servants.2 It appears as if no further action was taken.3

Footnotes

  1. For a similar example of the refusal of a slave to greet a burgher, see 1794 Abraham van Macassar. ↩

  2. This was equally the case in early modern Europe where status was clearly displayed through symbolic and ritual acts (Muir 1997), but was particularly marked in a colonial slave society (Ross 1999). ↩

  3. The case was not sent to the Council of Justice, and there is no record of further action by the Stellenbosch authorities. ↩

1/STB 3/12 Criminele Verklaringen, 1786-1793, unpaginated.
Translation Dutch

Statement, given in the presence of the undersigned deputised heemradenheemradenThe origin of this word is uncertain, but is connected to the Dutch words heem (‘homestead’) and raad (‘councillor’). This was the title of a free burgher who served on the Collegie van Heemraden in the rural districts of the Cape, usually for a term of two years., the honourables Johan Bernhard Hoffman and Pieter Gerhard Wium, and on requisition of the landdrost of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, the honourable Hendrik Lodewijk Bletterman, by the burgher Tieleman Roos Jansz, of competent age, which goes as follows:

That yesterday afternoon, when the testifier, who lives with his uncle, the burgher Francois Roos, was going from the house to the fields, he found the slave Mentor van Mosambique,1 belonging to the burgher Stephanus Francois Joubert, about 100 paces from the house, and to whom the testifier said in essence: “Good day, 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.”, while the same did not want to greet him, whereupon the testifier asked him if he, Mentor, did not greet a Christian?2 which the slave answered by saying no, because he was not obliged to greet the testifier but only his owner and mistress. That, because of the insolent behaviour of this slave, the testifier dealt him a blow with the light kirrijkirrijThis is the Cape Khoi word for the walking stick traditional Khoikhoi carried with them and used as weapons. In the course of the eighteenth century, the word was adopted by Dutch-speaking colonists to refer to a walking stick, also where it was used as an instrument of punishment. he had in his hands, upon which the slave immediately seized the testifier by the throat, while the testifier also took hold of the said slave’s throat with both his hands in order to free himself, and then gave the said slave Mentor a blow in the face with his one hand, as a result of which the testifier got free from him.

That after this, the aforementioned slave Mentor tried to take up one end of a bamboo stick, that the testifier tried to beat him to it, which is when the aforementioned slave pushed the testifier away and lifted up the end of the bamboo stick. The testifier was then given a blow on his head, causing his hat to fall off, by him, Mentor,3 who tried to retreat backwards; and while the testifier was following this slave, the same tried to give him yet another blow, which the testifier evaded, though, by jumping sideways.

That the testifier then took hold of the aforementioned slave Mentor with the intention of taking him prisoner, during which the burgher Pieter de Villiers came by and also helped the testifier to hold down the aforesaid slave Mentor. Yet the said slave managed to draw away and then grabbed the testifier by his left leg, which is when the testifier gave Mentor a blow in the face so that his nose and mouth bled, who then let him go. Upon this, the aforementioned slave Mentor repaired to the farm of his owner, situated nearby.

The testifier finally declares that when the aforementioned Mentor had grabbed him by the throat, he said: “If only I had my knife with me”.

There being nothing further to relate, the testifier declares to be convinced of the accuracy of his statement as in the text, being prepared to subsequently confirm the same solemnly.

Thus recorded at the secretary’s office at Stellenbosch on 22 November 1792.

[signed] Tieleman Roos Jansz.

As delegates, [signed] J.B. Hoffman, P.G. Wium.

In my presence, [signed] J.P. Faure, secretary.

Footnotes

  1. This toponym, used to refer to slaves imported from the south-east African coast and its hinterland, began to replace the earlier form ‘Rio de la Goa’ in the later eighteenth century. The former VOC station at Rio de la Goa (Delagoa Bay, or modern Maputo) was closed down in 1732, but in the later eighteenth century increasing numbers of slaves were brought to the Cape by French, American and Dutch traders from the region and its hinterland, and were called ‘van Mozambique’; Shell 2001; Reidy 1997: 18-22; and Worden 2002b: 132-33 for figures. ↩

  2. The word in the original is almost illegible – the most likely possibility is Christ, an abbreviation for Christen. In the course of the eighteenth century this word came to refer specifically to white people (see examples in Scholtz 1972: 117-18), although the question of whether the oppositional terms ‘christian’and ‘heathen’ were completely co-terminous with racial identities during this period is somewhat controversial (see Newton-King 1999: 1-2 and Biewenga 1999: 276-78). What is clear is that Roos was upset here because a slave did not answer him, a colonist. ↩

  3. The meaning of this sentence is very opaque. The translation presumes that the word ‘door’ was left out before ‘hem Mentor’. ↩

Relaas gegeven, ten overstaan van de ondergeteekende gecommitteerde heemraden, de edele Johan Bernhard Hoffman en Pieter Gerhard Wium, ende ter requisitie van den landdrost van Stellenbosch en Drakenstein, de heer Hendrik Lodewijk Bletterman, door den burger Tieleman Roos Jansz, van competenten ouderdom, luijdende hetselve als volgt:

Dat den relatant, die bij zijn oom, den burger Francois Roos, woonagtig is, op gisteren namiddag vanuijt het woonhuijs zig naar het land begevende, de slaaf Mentor van Mosambique, aan den burger Stephanus Francois Joubert toebehorende, omtrend een hondert schreeden van het huijs had aangetroffen, tot welke slaaf den relatant substantieelijk gesegt hebbende: Dag, jonge; denselven hem relatant niet had willen groeten, waarop den relatant hem gevraagt hebbende off hij Mentor dan geen Christ groeten, hetgeen dien slaaf beantwoord had met het zeggen van neen, want niet verpligt te zijn om den relatant, maar wel zijn lijfheer en lijfvrouw, te groeten. Des den relatant over het brutaal gedrag van dien slaaf denselven een slag met een, in handen hebbende, ligte kerrij [sic] hebbende gegeeven, deselve slaaf terstond daarop hem relatant bij de hals gegreepen, en de relatant gemelde slaaf ook met bijde handen aan den hals had aangetast om bevrijd te worden, en daarop met de eene hand gemelde slaaf Mentor een slag in het aangezigt gegeeven waardoor den relatant van hem is afgeraakt.

Dat voormelde slaaf Mentor hierna tragten de een end van een bamboes sweepstok op te nemen, den relatant gepoogd had hem te vooren te koomen, wanneer voormelde slaaf den relatant weggestooten en hetselve end bamboes had opgeligt, en den relatant alstoen hem Mentor een slag op het hoovd toegebragt, waardoor des relatants hoed van het hoovd was gevallen, en zig agterwaards getragt te retireeren, des den relatant dien slaaf vervolgende, denselven hem relatant nog een slag had getragt toe te brengen, dog hetwelk den relatant, door een zijdelengsche sprong, was ontkomen.

Dat den relatant voormelde slaaf Mentor daarop aangetast hebbende, met intentie hem gevangen te nemen, daarbij gekomen was den burger Pieter de Villiers, welke den relatant meede geholpen had voormelde slaaf Mentor vast te houden, dog had deselve slaav zig weten te ontrukken, en alstoen den relatant bij het linkerbeen gevat, wanneer den relatant hem Mentor een slag in het aangesigt had gegeven dat neus en mond bloede, en vervolgens losgelaten, waarop voormelde slaaf Mentor zig naar de, daar nabij leggende, woonplaats van zijn lijfheer had begeeven.

Betuijgende den relatant laastelijk dat toen voormelde Mentor hem relatant bij de hals had aangetast, denselve gezegt had: Had ik maar mijn mes bij mij.

Niets meer relateerende, geevt den relatant voor reedenen van wetenschap als in den text, berijd zijnde hetzelve nader solemneel gestand te doen.

Aldus gepasseert ter secretarije aan Stellenbosch, den 22e November 1792.

[get.] Tieleman Roos Jansz.

Als gecommitteerdens, [get.] J.B. Hoffman, P.G. Wium.

Mij present, [get.] J.P. Faure, secretaris.