9-11 September 1938

[Sept 9]

Naidoo has not waked me & I ask the Steward (morning tea) when we wd [sic: would] cross the line – 11ocl [sic: 11 o’clock], he says [,] but I find from Mahtu [sic: T.C. Mehta] we had crossed it without my knowing

Breakfast [,] then upper deck [.]  Watson a big fellow but wins in leap frog – Games in progress & DN [D. Naidoo] speaks of us as forming 2 ½ gallery to Europeans [.]  so we talk among ourselves & pretend we don’t see the Europeans – We don’t go down for tea – Band – Lunch.

After lunch Mahti [Mehta] + I play Table Tennis [,] he enjoys it — we talk to little sailor chap [,] he asks me my destination [.]  When I say Paris he warns me of the beautiful girls and young stewards butts in with they lead you on & leave you in a mess — The French are crooks.  Little sailor speaks reflectively of good old days in Boulogne — He tells of his experiences in the countries he has been to — North Greenland taking stores — it sounds weak to me compared with the adventures of the sailors of the old days — Today land or sea all the same [,] no glamour of adventure but hard and matter of fact.  He likes CapeTown.

My steward comes up & tells me the CapeTown Castle will be passing at 7.Opm [sic: 7 o’clock, pm]  I tell Mahtu [Mehta] and we are excited — At dinner I tell Watson and he eat quickly to be in time — Watson goes out of dining saloon and returns to say he has sighted the ship — Still no conversation with N.

I rush to upper deck & find W [Watson]. the rest of the passengers lining the rails to see CapeTown Castle — The tropical moon at its splendour [,] a silver pathway in the ocean — The CapeTown Castle approaches — a symphony of lights and movement — It is a wonderful sight to be seen in the ocean by a passing ship otherwise “a rose in the desert of water shedding its beauty to the ocean air” [.]  Shouts and sallies from our passengers — S.V. wonders why this excitement for a sight which was like a bubble from soda-bottle [,] only to disappear into nothingness —

We return to the deck – games of leap frog – N looking very miserable -

The dance in progress [,] the younger set in their element - Some officers in the dance [.]  The girl in black very excited and exaggerated movements – The older women look on - & I wonder what they think of the young generation – Drinks the order of the day – Abr [Abraham] very talkative & I get restless - he wishes to draw the attention of the Eur [sic: Europeans] to himself as a bright fellow – DN [sic: D. Naidoo] refers to him now & again as a Griqua[1] – We play game of “guess which hand the watch stick” – We have a beer and the others have lemonade -

Abr [Abraham] Mahtu [Mehta] + I go to men’s quarters & find way closed [,] yet contrive to get there -   Maltese man first to strike my notice – He sits and looks at the rough & ready orchestra [,] two banjos & mouth organ – It is dull tonight & we turn back.

Others go down + only S.V. [,] Abr [Abraham] & I remain on deck - Abr [Abraham] talks all the time about his love affairs — He is shocked at my pt [sic: point] of view of sex and hopes I shall meet a woman to whom I shall adjust myself as it wd [sic: would] be impossible to find one who cd [sic: could] adjust herself to my ideas of life -

The moon is beautiful — A couple are making love and Abr [Abraham] draws attention to woman who did not wish to stay too long alone with man in the dark — But she appears drunk to me and I fail to see Abr’s [Abraham’s] pt [sic: point]. The women [,] young [,] seem to abandon care [,] their evening dresses seem to cling on and to cling ungracefully round the legs — We go downstairs — Sleep -

Sept 10 

[/P] We get up – No talk in Cabin – Mahti [sic: T.C. Mehta] comes in and we stroll the deck before breakfast.   We see the sailors plump the depth of the ocean – breakfast – Games [,] orange throwing and tug of war (N does not take part) – I call this the Non European championships – Two three lemons go over board – Abr [Abraham] lets the ball pass towards white-girl reading alone [, ] too often & each time I look at his eyes he looks at her in a strange way [.]  I get restless - & am relieved when girl shifts away [.]  We sit down and talk – then lunch [.]  Watson seems to take interest over child.

After lunch in Watson’s cabin, he says he wants & has read of the shooting cases [note added in margin: Bantu in the City, not mine] he relates the case of the Native shot by White farmer investigate for particulars [sic: investigating the particulars] of the Case - I tell him of more cases of shooting in the Pietersburg area – [illegible] case [,] the P.P. Rust case etc.  I relate my experience at Pretoria station [.]  Book stall [.]  Watson is shocked – I tell him how it did not worry because every one is playing a game in this world - I was young but I had no illusions left of this life - I tell how I asked Jabavu [John Tengo Jabavu] after Wellington sermon at Fort Hare [University of Fort Hare][2] – whether anybody was prepared to live as the Xtians [sic: Christians] preached — How he told me to attend to my studies and that nothing could be done — A game I say, but the ball is the life of young child who starved with no one to care for them — Watson is nonplussed.

We go upstairs and sit – Watson is asked away by the [illegible] white fellows.  They stand at the rails and talk [.]  To our left a few girls are sunbathing [,] the crooner is lying on his belly talking [.]  He seems a ladysman [sic: ladies’ man] –

[note in margin:] Retaliation against being called halfbreed – looking up

Abr [Abraham] leads a heated discussion to show how the Coloureds in CapeTown were better fighters for their rights than the Natal Indians — D. Naidoo is roused - defends Coloured Occidental Indians, Agent Generals etc + goes of [sic: on] to the conditions in India & how the English play one Community against the other [.]  The Bombay Riots — The Shootings — The explanation - British tactic of divide & rule — exploiting of religious differences.  I tell him of the strong reply of Indians in London Dinning—The British policy of repression of Indian Bourgeois — The Indians Line of [illegible] squashed—The manufacturer of Calico goods — Japanese competition  - The strange thing all the legislation passed by Indian Assembly — But Indian leaders becoming Socialistic — He deplores this as he is a Nationalist [.] Tea time—But Abrahams believes score one up

[note in margin:] In S.A. policy of defensive measure by Ag. G. [sic: Agent General] Hofmeyr [sic: JH Hofmeyr] liberal

Mahtu [Mehta] goes for game of tennis – He returns & hangs around –

[/P] I hear news of Hofmeyer’s [sic: JH Hofmeyr] resignation – Mahtu [Mehta] shows me news bulletin - I wonder what Thakedi must be thinking at home [.]  I get homesick a bit to discuss the meaning of resignation & how the situation will develop – Fournice - Hertzog [James Barry Munnik Hertzog] “mania” [3]–

[/P] Heat intense and women in all stages of dress.

Dinner – Watson in difficulty with the menu - N orders all what I don’t want – queer situation.  We sit up on upper deck & Mahtu [Mehta] talks on [illegible] of men – the rest turn in [,] we remain and Abr [Abraham] + SV tell of talk with S African blaming rest of passengers as narrow-minded [.]  They think it’s a victory but I say the man could make theoretical analysis but practically, a hypocrite – So they dry up – There is a dog-race & we refuse to go and witness as 2 1/2 gallery – We sit and talk [,]  Abr [Abraham] idealist. 

[/P] Then Mahtu [Mehta] tells how the men must be having a bad time of it - The Madeira a sex-maniac and the gates to be barred as the men wd [sic: would] rush at passengers - I mention homosexualise [sic: homosexuality] it cd [sic: could] not be helped as company keen on profits – the same on the mines on the reef – the Nkotsane[4] system – Abr [Abraham] wants to know homosexual (meaning) [,] I explain – He looks unhappy and goes down – Mahtu [Mehta] hangs on and I tell him not to worry as he is not responsible for it all – I tell him there is some goodness in worse of the stokers – The Pamla[5] story of burial & philosophy of the friend of dead drunkard – Mahta [Mehta] says I have been helpful – I feel a bit of a hypocrite – I wonder if I have not been trying to impress him by trickery – I tell him I owe much to him too – We go below

[Sept 11]

Breakfast and then sit in the Smoking room and rain comes dn [sic: down] – DN says something about waste of water which shd [sic: should] fall in Bechequland [sic: Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana] – “Phula” the grand salute in B.B. land [sic: Bechuanaland].  We hold forth a discussion on conditioned reflexes led by Abr [Abraham].  Introduce the moral factor and Abr is put he cannot support argument [.]  He tells of experiments on dogs & mental breakdown - I say it is a trick by Professor and that he was merely impressed – We go to Church – Mahtu [Mehta] gives 4d[6]. 

[note in margin:]  a woman faints & Mahtu [Mehta] smiles

Watson in national dress - a grand figure of a man – odd with specs [sic: spectacles or eye glasses] & reading newspaper –

Lunch & after lunch Watson tells of his surprise at information that natives as individuals could not afford to get overseas education except by a system of scholarships – even chiefs badly paid - He tells me of men with chdn [sic: children] overseas, one man had 4 chdn [sic: children] in English universities etc.  He is surprised in CapeTown no black possessed car.  If black driving car it belonged to European employer.  In gold coast office clerks etc. 

Mahtu [Mehta] arrives [,] we go down – Abr [sic: Abraham] arrives & he says he has been praying in his Cabin.  He speaks comparatively of Moslem – Xtian [sic: Christian] religions [,] 250 mill [sic: million] of Moslems in world + Xtians [sic: Christians], 125 mill [sic: million] – Moslem religion more practicable than Xtianity [sic: Christianity] – Lord Reading – After prayer one felt much better for harder fight in world *[note in margin: Watson asks me if I went to Church – He will go next Sunday out of curiosity].

[note in margin:] The young SA talks wrestling + [illegible] He speaks as vs the English

We meet Cockney sea-man & tells of London and Queen comes along & talks about London & no differentiation in bioscopes etc - I pt [sic: point] out he wd [sic: would] be as bad as S Africans if he went to SA to live – He talks of his tattoos and wants one of them removed, mum & dad, one on left – Does not mind the right one – He talks of how he got the tattoos in Durban & how his mother cried when she saw it.  Abr [Abraham] says it could be removed –

We go down for tea.  Abr [Abraham] produces a cake [.] N comes along and starts the Uncle Tom’s business with a European Child – who blurts out that her mother said that all the niggers were going to Scotland – N foolishly goes on asking the chd [sic: child] what “nigger” means – The chd [sic: child] does not understand but goes on to say that they had a nigger cook in Rhodesia [present day Zimbabwe] – I get nauseated and run away from the nasty sight -

I go for a bath [,] M [Mehta] comes along and tells two [illegible] just gone past – Ships wrestler [.] the Stoker [illegible] to Abr [Abraham] but Abr put him off and lost form at Table Tennis – had never expected Deck Steward to have taken it.

Abr [Abraham] tells wrestler Indian is on Upper Deck [.] Has a knack for putting one on the track – Incident of seeing the men’s band told office of intervening the wrestler as excuse to go there – We go up and hang around till Dinner – I ask Watson if he has read any Shakespeare [William Shakespeare] because he reminds me of Othello – He says no -

In Watson’s cabin, we refer to the N situation [.]  He thinks it’s a pity – I say N & I are just diff [sic: different] – We go to upper deck and Abr [Abraham] appears with two Naidoos – He talks as quickly as a machine gun with no bullets – He tells of his meeting with the Ship Wrestler and of the match at 5 next day – I know he is pulling my leg because Mahtu [Mehta] had explained all – Naidoo help A [Abraham] to carry the joke on – He demonstrates & gesticulates and jaws – Naidoo says something about smelling salts & Coffin.  Jabber, Jabber - - - We order drinks and hell of a fuss to decide what – I say beer [,] they hope for ginger beer lager but Abr [Abraham] leaves them to order and when it comes [,] takes sip [,] spew it out and wag his head [,] looks at it again [.] Sniffs [,] blithers and look from side to side - I am ashamed and I call them bloody fools - DN [sic: D. Naidoo] wants to argue the pt [sic: point] I am too sensitive - I tell them the people are looking and what impression they will have – Naidoo says they are worst [sic: worse] than muck in their morals as has been demonstrated – But I say they are white and by their word in South Africa other fellows more deserving perhaps wd [sic: would] be discourage or stopped by the Govt [sic: Government] who was on the look out for any pretext to discourage Non-European enterprise [.]  They seem to see the pt [sic: point] & wander off to other conversations – SV seems to me a very suspicious character and this worries me - Above all I warn them to be more manly when they arrive in England. 

An Engineer comes along — we stop him & ask the photos of sculpture he promised [.]  Goes away and returns with photos — a head & figure of woman — He tells she (sc) is a Jewess — Jews are clever — His mother a Jewess — thinks S Africans foolish.  + I pt [sic: point] out the Africans loosing [sic: losing] confidence in Eng. [sic: English] also no Dutchman on the boat — the Engl [sic: English] + Dutch in SA had to adopt the attitude to get all economic benefits — it paid then it was not just foolishness — He agreed but excepted himself as having been all over the world & all the small nations still looked to Eng [sic: England] for protection — He tells how we shall be equal in England — How foreigners took all the girls and we say Nothing — I see the cloven hoof of a Nazi — He tells how the Indians looked Jewish except that he was black [.]  Sharp features — jabber, jabber [.] then we go down & find Mahtu [Mehta] in bed, undressed -

The meaning of the [illegible] — He gets up & we go to upper deck [.]  We talk of the political situation in SA, love making couples at corner of upper deck — Some pass and look glaringly at us — In SA all niggers out of the way at 9 o clock[7]  — to save the prestige of white-man — I explain to Mahtu [Mehta] the method of political progress in SA [.]  No statesmen [,] all robbers etc etc [,] thinkers then yappers but S Africa the other way round — We go down & Deck Steward asks if Abr [Abraham] will be ready [.]  Mahtu [Mehta] disillusions him — I ask Mahtu [Mehta] to wake me for Cape Verde