Shades

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St Matthias becomes isolated by the rinderpest epidemic. Starvation looms and people flock to the mission. The Bishop of Grahamstown sees this as the hand of God to force the heathen into bowing abjectly before the Church. Inoculations begin but the amaXhosa notice that, while their cattle die, those belonging to the Whites live.

In the meantime, Frances offers to teach at Nolovini, a school situated a couple of hours from the mission. Walter accompanies her each day and remains in the area to protect her. A warm friendship begins to grow between the guilt-stricken young woman and the priest.

The period from 1890 through to about 1903 was a time of excruciating drought in the Eastern Cape — certainly the worst drought in more than 60 years.

At the peak of this drought, the rinderpest broke out. This was a deadly sickness which struck ruminants, especially cattle.

The rinderpest decimated the herds of cattle in the Eastern Cape, triggering an intense campaign of quarantine and inoculation.

Because the Whites and the missionaries tended to respond more quickly to a government call for quarantine than did the amaXhosa, their cattle tended to survive the inoculation.

It is natural, therefore, that the amaXhosa became deeply suspicious. Many believed that the rinderpest was merely the Whites' deliberate attempt to destroy the Black people's herds.

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Read the notes in the left column before answering the questions below:

Explain the Bishop of Grahamstown's attitude towards the rinderpest epidemic. (5)

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The Bishop saw the rinderpest as a blessing from God to force the amaXhosa into dependence on the missions, and therefore propelling them into becoming Christians. There is no sign of compassion from him, and certainly no sign of his understanding the desperate lot of the people who needed food, not religion.

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Comment on the new friendship building up between Walter and Frances on their daily trips to Nolovini. (NOTE: This is critical for the future understanding of the novel.) (10)

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You need to look at the closeness of Frances and Walter's togetherness during this period, how barriers were breaking down between them. Later Walter would describe this period of their lives as "an enchanted time". In many ways, it is this period which cements their friendship — and each falls in love with the other without realising that this was happening.

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Discuss the impact on Xhosa suspicions when they see their cattle dying while those of the Whites survive the rinderpest. (5)

[Need help?]

The amaXhosa would have seen the rinderpest episode as a conspiracy on the part of the authorities to get rid of their cattle. Those cattle belonging to the White settlers did not appear to sicken with the rinderpest — only Xhosa cattle did. They would have failed to notice that the mission cattle had been quickly quarantined from the rest of the herds, and that their cattle had already become infected even before they were forcibly vaccinated.

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