Diaǃkwain (known by the Dutch as David Hoesar, Hussar or Huzar) came from the Katkop mountains north west of Brandvlei speaking the same ’Katkop’ dialect of ǀxam as ǂkasin. His story is perhaps the most dramatic of all those who came to the house at Mowbray, except, perhaps, for the ǃkun boys, and his stay coincided with the death of Wilhelm Bleek, leaving him as the only man in a home full of grieving women and children.
In February 1869 the killing of farmer Jacob Kruger at a place some 23 hours’ horse-ride from Kenhardt was reported by special magistrate MJ Jackson. He travelled to the site of the death to investigate, incurring costs of some £9 8s. for the hire of horses (the desperate drought in the region meant his own horses could not make the whole journey) and special constables who would guide him through a country to which he was a ’perfect stranger’. Apparently, Kruger had accused Diaǃkwain, along with four of his comrades, of the theft of his stock, threatening to return to their camp with his men to ’exterminate them’. Diaǃkwain fired a shot that struck Kruger and ǂkasin fired another which struck his saddle. The five men made their escape and Kruger died of his wound. The resident magistrate, P de Smidt, dispatched three constables who pursued the men for thirty days and finally arrested Diaǃkwain and two others. ǂkasin and his companion Andries Africaander evaded capture for a further two weeks. De Smidt was proud of his men’s bravery, writing to the colonial secretary:
I deem it right to bring to His Excellency’s notice the admirable manner in which the three constables whom I had sent to capture the murderers effected their hazardous task. For thirty days they hardly took any rest, but day and night slowly but surely tracked the murderers until they found and caught them — The difficulty and danger of their duty may be fully realised from the fact that these culprits have for years been the terror of the Aachterveld being unerring marksmen and the swiftest runners in the country.
The constables have returned almost lame (having performed the journey on foot) and I have had to give them a few days leave to rest – as a special reward for their successful exertions and as an encouragement to be equally vigilant in future cases of a similar nature, I beg to recommend that they receive a gratuity of one pound five shillings each. Their names are, Christiaan Bierwinkel, Adriaan van Wyk and Jan Kok.
Diaǃkwain’s sentence of five years at the Breakwater indicates that the judge and jury believed he had acted pre-emptively in self-defence. Diaǃkwain had suffered much at the hands of farmers, and in his narratives he details accounts of the murder of his friends by Boers. There could be little doubt that he felt his own life and the lives of his family threatened by the man who accused him of stealing his sheep.
Kenhardt 25th February 1869
Sir,
I have the honour to report for the information of His Excellency the Governor that on the 5th instant I received information that a farmer of the name of Jacobus Casper Kruger had been murdered at a place called N’Aries, in the Division of Calvinia, about three and twenty hours ride from Kenhardt. I deemed it expedient at once to proceed to the spot with a small Police Escort to investigate the case and, if possible, to apprehend the murderers, who were supposed to be five Bushmen. On reaching N’Aries I found that the District Surgeon of Calvinia had already visited the scene of the murder and held a Postmortem examination. I was, however, enabled to collect some valuable evidence by proceeding further to a place called BushmanKop near the Great Salt Pans and although unsuccessful in capturing the murderers, to set things in train for, I trust, their speedy apprehension. Owing to the extreme drought the police horses were unable to proceed further than Dik Doorns and I was obliged to hire seven horse at Riet Kolk for the transport of myself and men, I also found it necessary to engage three farmers as guides and special constables, as some of the policemen had to remain in charge of the fagged horses and as we were perfect strangers to that part of the country, unacquainted with either the wells or haunts of the Bushmen. I beg to enclose vouchers for the sum of nine pounds and eight shillings paid for the hire of special constables and horses and I request that they may be forwarded to the Civil Commissioner of Victoria West with His Excellency’s approval and authority to include them in a requisition of his department.
Signed M. J. Jackson
Special Magistrate
Diaǃkwain’s prison record describes him as 25 years old, and his prison number was 4434. He served four years of his five-year term and was released into the Bleek household just before Christmas 1873, departing for home in March 1874 with his brother-in-law ǂkasin. He returned to Mowbray three months later. His are among the most intriguing but also the most anxious narratives, detailing tragedy, portents of death and evil omens, and the activities of sorcerers who went about at night on magical expeditions while their bodies and others slept. Diaǃkwain contributed over 2000 pages of narrative to the Bleek and Lloyd archive, as well as several drawings. His father, trained as a ’sorcerer’ or ’magician’, was said to have made paintings on skin and engravings, at a place identified by Janette Deacon as the current farm Varskans and Kans and he offered interpretations for copies of rock paintings that were made by George Stow.
Diaǃkwain remained at Mowbray after Bleek’s death in August 1875. He seemed to be concerned about leaving while Jemima was so distraught, but eventually left on 7 March 1876 for Calvinia. He was anxious to visit relations and hear news of his children. Diaǃkwain worked in Calvinia for a while in the employ of Dr H Meyer and later went into the country to visit one of his sisters, leaving some of his wages in Dr Meyer’s care. Diaǃkwain intended to pass back through Calvinia and then return to Mowbray, but he never collected his pay and was not heard from again despite Dr Meyer’s inquiries as to his whereabouts.
According to his companion Jan Plat (who left Calvinia with Diaǃkwain), interviewed by Lloyd in January 1884, he had heard that Diaǃkwain accompanied a farmer called Louw (whose sheep he had been keeping) to Kenhardt and then the Orange Free State, possibly in search of his sons whom Diaǃkwain thought might be in that region. It is also possible, according to a story Janette Deacon unearthed, that Diaǃkwain returned to Kenhardt and was killed by friends of the farmer he had shot, in an act of retaliation.