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Correspondence

A letter from Wilhelm Bleek to Sir George Grey, sent from Mowbray on 21 April 1875 - his final letter before his death on 17 August. Bleek encloses the prefatory letter to his Bushman Report, which remains unprinted due to the printers' Parliamentary workload. He writes of his ongoing "earnest struggle" to preserve Native folklore despite "very limited strength". Some missionaries have collected folklore after his "hammering" them, but governments - except in South Australia and Victoria - offer little help. With Cape authorities funding only his Bushman work, Bleek plans to appeal to "friends of folklore" in England to support missionary collectors before such knowledge vanishes. He continues his "Comparative Grammar" while Lucy Lloyd collects Bushman folklore from their sole instructor; they expect their "old" and "best" Bushman narrator to return. He mentions hearing of Grey's island home and political aspirations, noting his own quiet life with four daughters and his wife's three sisters. Bleek reports the death of his mother in February and the wellbeing of old Sir Thomas Maclear. He closes by noting that Sir Garnet Wolseley has finally taken up Grey's "Native" work in Natal.

21 April 1875

Wilhelm Bleek (final letter to Sir George Grey 21 April 1875), "pelting" governments (successes and failures with folklore research), political aspirations (will appeal to "friends of folklore" in England for support), George Grey (Sir), political aspirations (Wilhelm Bleek updates him on personal and local news), Lucy Lloyd (collecting folklore from sole remaining instructor), Auguste Bleek (Wilhelm Bleek's mother), mother (Auguste Bleek), Jemima Bleek (three sisters staying with her and Wilhelm Bleek), wife (Wilhelm Bleek's three sisters staying with them), sisters (Wilhelm Bleek's wife's three staying with them), daughters (Wilhelm Bleek on his four little girls), sister-in-law (Wilhelm Bleek's Lucy Lloyd), family (Wilhelm Bleek's mother), Report (Wilhelm Bleek sends Sir George Grey prefatory letter accompanying Bushman -), A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages (Wilhelm Bleek working on), instructors (|xam), Bushman (Wilhelm Bleek sends Sir George Grey prefatory letter accompanying - Report), the best we have had" to return (Wilhelm Bleek's plan to reward missionaries to collect - folklore), folklore (Wilhelm Bleek's "earnest struggle" to save despite "very limited strength"), "pelting" governments for urgency collecting (in letter from Wilhelm Bleek to Sir George Grey 21 April 1875), missionaries (Wilhelm Bleek's plan to reward them for folklore collection), Garnet Wolseley (Sir), politics (Wilhelm Bleek on Sir Garnet Wolseley's "Native" work in Natal), letter (final from Wilhelm Bleek to Sir George Grey 21 April 1875), money (Wilhelm Bleek's struggles with funding Bushman research), finances (Wilhelm Bleek's struggles with funding Bushman research), Thomas Maclear ("old" Sir), Natal (politics), ill health (Wilhelm Bleek's "very limited strength"), the best we have had", Dia!kwain (only |xam instructor remaining in Bleek household)

1. For a short summary of this letter, see Dr OH Spohr's typewritten notes on Wilhelm Bleek's letters to Sir George Grey (C10.19.1-26).