Episode 44 – Trekboer Coenraad de Buys marries amaXhosa Queen Nojoli aka Yese and Barrow exacts a confounded promise

This is episode 44 and we continue to travel about the Zuurveld and beyond with Englishman John Barrow.
Remember he’d arrived in Graaff-Reinet with landdrost FR Bressler and their entry into the mud and daub village marked the restoration of Cape control after an interval of two and a half years. That was late 1797.

Because they were accompanied by a small group of Dragoon light cavalry, the message was clear.

Authority is back. But the trekboers and particularly the giant Coenraad de Buys were in no mood to hear that message.

The eastern frontier of the Cape colony in 1797 was a confused and distracted region – war with the San and the Xhosa had been followed by the Boers’ own revolution and then the British had arrived. The turmoil of these events had been compounded by the Xhosa civil war which led to the settlers becoming involved in their internal bickering.
And watching all of this in turn was Ngqika’s mother, Queen Nojoli. Her influence must not be underestimated as she was fully involved in these negotiations and the diplomacy because Barrow gave her exactly the same gifts he gave Ngqika.
Within a year of this visit, trekboer Coenraad de Buys would be living at Ngqika’s Great Place, married to Queen Nojoli and exerting an influence on both her and her son. Buys as we’ve seen had a long relationship with the Xhosa’s on the frontier, his familiarity goes back to some time.