Undeveloped rural area, often used derogatorily (OTS: 47 “A Boer Rip van Winkel”; CSJ: 95).
Badcock, Peter (b. 1949) Born in SA and educated in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), worked in interior design before turning to fine art and writing in 1978. Published books on the Zimbabwean and Namibian guerrilla wars. Returned to SA, where he works as an illustrator and creative consultant. Provided the illustrations for The Illustrated Bosman (1985).
Baden-Powell, Robert Stephenson Smyth (1857–1941) British lieutenant-general who successfully defended the Siege of Mafeking in the Second Anglo–Boer War; later went on to found the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movements (MR: 54 “Mafeking Road”).
Bakhatla(s) One of several clans resident in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana); its traditional reserve lies in Mochudi just north of the capital Gaborone; there are also settlements of the clan in the Pilanesberg area where Chief Pilane, at one point in their history, led the clan; their chief Lynchwe fought on the side of the British against the Boers in the Second Anglo–Boer War at the Battle of Derdepoort (OTS: 50 “The Heart of a Woman”). HCB also erroneously uses the term ‘Makhatla tribe’ in “The Heart of a Woman”.
bakkop (Afr.) Lit. ‘cupped head’; generic term for any hooded snake such as cobra (MR: 82 “Brown Mamba”). See also Rinkhals.
bakoond Outside baking oven (UD: 98 “Oom Piet’s Party”; H: 30 “Black Magic”).
Bakwena One of the main tribes of Botswana, its centre being Molepolole and its totem the crocodile (MR: 133 “The Rooinek”).
“Ballad of the Lords of Old Time” Poem by François Villon (CSJ: 198).
balmy/barmy Foolish in the extreme; idiotic (CJ: 100 “Playing Sane”).
bandolier (bandoleer) Shoulder-worn cartridge belt (OTS: 46 “A Boer Rip van Winkel”).
Banisteria caapi South American jungle vine used to make herbal medicines (CJ: 202 “Calling All Patients; S&H: 105 “Dopper and Papist”).
Bapedi People (roughly numbering four million) who occupy parts of what was the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo); also called the Pedi people. Their language is Sepedi, called Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) by native speakers (UD: 25 “Romaunt of the Smuggler’s Daughter”; H: 165 “Failing Sight”).
Barbarossa Reference to Emperor Frederick of Barbarossa, who is said to awaken from his sleep every hundred years to see if his country needs his guidance (OTS: 47 “A Boer Rip van Winkel”).
base Indian Reference to Othello Act 5 scene 2 (VS: 150 “South African Literature”).
Basson Poor-white labourer who works alongside and goads the weakening Van Schalkwyk until the latter ‘accidentally’ sees him right; a masterful piece of writing that shows the mental state of a man suffering the rigours of mind-numbing manual labour (JN: 90).
Basson, Drieka Young lady from the Marico who leaves in haste for the bright lights of Johannesburg – too much like the character Baba Haasbroek in Jacques le Français’s play for the locals’ liking (IT: 91 “Play within a Play”).
Baudelaire, Charles Pierre (1821–67) French poet renowned for his morbid romanticism and eroticism; most famous for his first volume of poetry Les Fleurs du Mal (1857; ‘The Flowers of Evil’). Greatly admired by HCB; the latter apparently read Poe in Baudelaire’s translation at the famous house party the night before his death (see Gray, LS: 361). See also George Howard’s memoir of HCB, in which the latter indicated his admiration for Baudelaire (RB: 34, 42, 50) (CJ: 52 “Study of a Poet Genius”).
Bavendas Local chief who takes umbrage when an American tourist slaps him on the back (IT: 32 “Secret Agent”).
Bay, Johnny Prisoner who drills the other inmates in learning the definitions indicating the differences between a zebra and a quagga (CSJ: 157).
Bayfield, Louis Willemsdorp’s resident attorney; is introduced at one or two social occasions, but plays no part in the events that make up the novel (W: 25).
Beauty Bell Nickname of a poet and safe-blower doing three life sentences at Pretoria Central (L&O: 72 “Beauty Bell”). See also L&O: 18 “Introduction”.
“Beauty Bell” (L&O: 72) A eulogy for Beauty Bell, a habitual criminal who made a huge impression on HCB during their time in prison. Sad and earnest tribute leavened by touches of wry humour. “The girl was twenty-five years old when she started waiting for Beauty Bell. She was close on to sixty when he wrote his poem to her”. See also CSJ: 114.
Bechuana(s) Colonial form for ‘Tswana’. The Batswana (sing. Motswana) are the people of Botswana, who speak Setswana (H: 27 “Black Magic.)
“Bechuana Interlude” (MR: 77) A devious, two-timing insurance agent gets his come-uppance. A brooding story that, despite some funny moments, never delivers on its promise. “‘Well, then, for the sake of your wife and daughter, Lenie,’ Johnny de Clerk said, ‘and what’s more, I’ve already spent an hour talking to you. If I spend another hour I shall have to insure you for two thousand pounds.’”
Bechuanaland Colonial name for the modern independent (since 1966) state of Botswana; called the ‘Bechuanaland Protectorate’ or simply ‘the Protectorate’ in HCB’s day (see Maps). The territory contains the small town of Ramoutsa (properly, ‘Ramotswa’), famous in HCB’s fiction for hosting the Indian trading store, where the local Dwarsberg farmers would have obtained many of their provisions, Ramoutsa being considerably closer than Zeerust. The Protectorate features in numerous HCB stories, usually in relation to the cattle smuggling that was an illegal mainstay of the local economy. It also contains the inhospitable, semi-desert region in which the ill-fated trekker party in “The Rooinek” comes to grief (see Kalahari Desert).
Beemer, Ellie In 1930 briefly joined HCB and Blignaut in their Touleier venture, where she apparently had the role of both contributor and secretary. She had literary aspirations, sending in some poems to the magazine, one of which, “L’Ingénue”, caught Blignaut’s eye and duly appeared in the second issue of the magazine. According to Blignaut she even contributed financially to the magazine. There has been speculation that she had an affair with HCB, and that her impending marriage to a Jewish doctor provoked a bitter reaction from him. His uncharacteristically tasteless and vicious story “Rita’s Marriage” (July 1931) is taken to be a thinly veiled attack on Beemer for abandoning him and reverting to type (marrying within her race and class). The preface to his pamphlet of poems entitled The Blue Princess (1931) also contains lines taken to be an attack on Beemer: “Mostly, these verses are about a princess to whom I gave millions of blue jewels that were real because I made them so. But I lost this princess. You see, she didn’t want jewels: she wanted jewelry …”
beker (Afr.) Lit. ‘mug, cup or trophy’ (VS: 144 “Should We have Art Competitions?”).
Bekker, Adriaan Errant communion attendee bunking to enjoy a drink of mampoer with Krisjan Wilman (MR: 110 “Mampoer”).
Bekker, Flip Farmer on whose farm Arndt Prinsloo lived (OTS: 50 “The Heart of a Woman”).
Bekker, Gert Wily, boastful and patronising travelling companion of OSL (S&H: 97 “The Ghost at the Drift”; S&H: 105 “Dopper and Papist”).
Bekker, Gys Head of a group of Bekker families in the Drogedal region (VS: 114 “My Eerste Liefde”).
Bekker,
