Punic war, between Hannibal and Lucius (L&O: 102 “Rock Paintings of the Bushman”).
“Canterbury Tales, The” (YB: 87) A verbose yet favourable review of Chaucer’s work for a student magazine. The naiveté and enthusiasm for the classic reminds a jaded reader why Chaucer has retained his appeal over the centuries. See Umpa, The.
Cape cart Two-wheeled four-seater two-horse cart with canvas hood (OTS: 53 “The Night Dress”; S&H: 105 “Dopper and Papist”; UD: 35 “The Picture of Gysbert Jonker”).
Cape Coloured/Coloured/coloured Person of mixed ethnic origin, mostly of African, Khoisan, Malay, white and Chinese descent. The Cape Coloureds were the original group of what is now a much larger ‘coloured’ population spread across SA. Controversial term, sometimes deemed insulting, but also embraced by many people belonging to this ethnic group (H: 113 “Kith and Kin”).
Cape feet Unit of measurement; at 1,033 slightly longer than an English foot; approx. 31 cm; used for property measurements and discontinued in 1959 (UD: 46 “The Ferreira Millions”).
Cape Rebels Citizens of the Cape Colony who joined the forces of the Free State and Transvaal Republics during the Anglo–Boer Wars, an act regarded as treasonous and punishable by death (MR: 130 “The Rooinek”; OTS: 45 “A Boer Rip van Winkel”).
“Cape Revisited, The” (CJ: 112) Notes on the cultural differences between the lush Cape and the dry areas to its north; first of a series of five pieces on the Cape. Beautifully written ‘travel’ piece encompassing nature, culture and architecture. “Because there is the Karoo, with its magnificence of grassless hard earth.”
“Cape Town Castle” (CJ: 119) Second in series of five ‘travel’ pieces on Cape Town. Chilling account of the jail’s atmosphere; contains interesting digressions about types of wood, which relate back to HCB’s carpentry skills acquired while imprisoned. “And then I realised, for the first time, why the entrance to the main gateway of the castle is guarded during visiting hours, so that the visitor can’t run away from the guide.”
cardboard modelling A subject HCB took while at teachers’ training college (CJ: 93 “The Disappearance of Latin”).
Carlton Hotel Built in 1906, it was one of the best hotels in the rapidly expanding Johannesburg; demolished in 1963 to make way for more lucrative buildings; in 1973 a new Carlton Hotel was built, which for a time was the grandest hotel in Africa, but by 1997 inner-city decay caused it to be mothballed (JN: 60).
Carlyle, Thomas (1795–1881) Scottish-born lecturer and author of, among other works, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (1841) (CJ: 31 “Art Notes on Charlie Chaplin”).
Carmen Romantic four-act opera by Bizet (H: 120 “Rolled Gold”).
Cask of Jerepigo, A (1964) A selection of HCB’s journalism and autobiographical pieces by Lionel Abrahams. Given HCB’s obsession with the writer, Abrahams appropriately modelled the title on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “A Cask of Amontillado”. A very successful edition, it went into numerous impressions over the years, finally being replaced by the Anniversary Edition’s version of the title (2002; restricted to HCB’s journalism) and My Life and Opinions (2003; autobiographical pieces), both edited by Stephen Gray. “Jerepigo” is the name of a sweet, fortified SA wine, and is used by HCB in his piece “Street Processions”, included here. Heading the selection is a lengthy and very insightful overview of HCB’s life and work, and also of Abrahams’s own association with the writer.
“Caste” (YB: 36) A professor marries a second time and then fears his daughter’s reaction to a lower-class stepmother. A story that starts promisingly, but rapidly becomes ridiculous.
“Casual Conversation” (IT: 109) At Naudé spots the first tourists of the season. Meandering chat about tourism and heritage. “He had thought nothing of the way the tourists were jumping about and uttering strange cries, At Naudé explained, since he had grown to accept the fact that tourists were not quite human, so that nothing they did ever came as a surprise to you, much. Thereupon we all said no, of course, there was nothing in what a tourist did that could awaken any sort of real interest, any more. Even the most ignorant kind of Kalahari Bushman had by that time come to recognise a tourist for what he was. And it was many years since even a Koranna from the reserve had last raised an eyebrow at a tourist’s foolishness.”
“Catholic and Protestant” Favourable review by HCB of The Eagle and the Dove: A Study in Contrasts (1943), a biography of the two saints St Teresa of Avila and St Thérèse of Lisieux, by Vita Sackville-West; in it HCB displays his considerable knowledge of religious matters (L&O: 122 “Five Reviews”).
cat-o’-nine-tails/cat-of-nine-tails Short stick with many knotted thongs or cords attached; used for corporal punishment, especially in the British Navy (CSJ: 145).
cattle smuggling There are frequent references to this practice in HCB’s Bushveld stories, which typically involved farmers smuggling cattle from the Bechuanaland Protectorate (Botswana) into SA to sell on the Johannesburg cattle market. The practice was outlawed for two main reasons. The cattle in Botswana were not treated in accordance with SA veterinary and agricultural regulations, which meant that they held the threat of disease for local SA stocks – and since the rinderpest of the late nineteenth century, this was taken very seriously (although foot and mouth would probably have been the most likely disease that the Botswana cattle would have been carrying). Secondly, there are a cluster of reasons to do with border regulations, taxes and profits: Botswana cattle were bought cheaply; no taxes were paid to the government in the form of import duties, and honest local farmers’ profits would also have been undercut by cattle smuggling. For these reasons, the SA authorities sought to stamp out the practice and maintain tight border controls. There are several references in HCB’s stories to Marico farmers doing prison time after being caught smuggling cattle. The temptation, however, must have been strong: the region had always suffered economic deprivation and lack of opportunities, and smuggling cattle would have provided a way of making relatively easy money on a regular basis.
Celebrating Bosman: A Centenary Selection of Herman Charles Bosman’s Stories (2005) A selection by Patrick Mynhardt of some OSL and Voorkamer stories, with some journalistic and autobiographical pieces, as well as extracts from Cold Stone Jug, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of HCB’s birth. A preface details how Mynhardt became acquainted with and began performing HCB’s stories.
Celliers, Jan F. E. (1865–1940) Afrikaans poet. Born in Wellington and educated in Cape Town, he moved with his parents to Pretoria in 1873. Fought in the Second Anglo–Boer War; helped to found the South African Akademie in 1909. His poem “The Vlakte” (‘The Plain’) is still one of the best known in the Afrikaans language. HCB apparently translated his “Dis Al” into English as a schoolboy, and the poem duly appeared in The Touleier. Founded the literary journal Die Brandwag, which, in a revived form, published “Dit Spook by die Drif”, one of HCB’s early forays into Afrikaans, in April 1948 (see “Ghost at the Drift, The”). Known as a poet of the people of SA; with Leipoldt and Totius part of the triumvirate of poets who after the Second Anglo–Boer War established Afrikaans as a form of expression for a beaten people (VS: 148 “South African Literature”).
c’est la vie (Fr.) Lit. ‘that is life’; an expression, usually accompanied by a sigh of resignation (L&O: 92 “Royal Processions”).
Chaitz, Max The dagga-high Rooker Charlie takes a shop window dummy for his mate Max Chaitz: “Charlie thought that he knew those two dummies, and he thought that the one dummy was his friend Max Chaitz, who kept a restaurant in Cape Town, and that the other dummy was a well-known snooker-player called Pat O’Callaghan. And my friend Rooker Charlie couldn’t understand how
