by Percy M. Clark
1936 (1972 Books of Rhodesia reprint)
I recently read the inspiring book by David Livingstone “Missionary Travels” which included his account of his coming across the Victoria Falls for the first time. I then read a History of the Victoria Falls Hotel by Peter Roberts. That book quoted on occasion from Percy Clark’s book, who was the first commercial photographer of the Falls. “The Old Drift” was the settlement just north of the Falls by westerners, prior to the building of the railway. I found it striking that though there were no clergy present, and the residents did not appear at all religious, they nonetheless felt the need for some kind of Christian funeral when one of their number died. Page 168:
“During the rainy season, which continued from November to March, the place was a swamp; out of the thirty-one settlers there, no less than eleven died of blackwater fever or malaria that winter. Surely a high percentage, that. The Old Drift was, none the less, a real cheery camp and the settlers were good fellows.
There was a funeral about once every week. When a settler died one of the others was elected as undertaker, and had to make a coffin out of old whisky cases. This when knocked together was finished off with a covering of black limbo, or callico. When the departed had been encased, the coffin was placed on a Scotch cart drawn by oxen and was hauled to the burial ground. Everybody in the settlement walked behind, slacks and shirts, no coats, and with shirt-sleeves rolled up to the elbow. When the grave was reached the coffin would be lowered into it. We had no Bibles or Prayer Books in the camp, so somebody would recite what he remembered of the Burial Service, and the others would prompt or carry on to the best of their ability.”
Adrian Vincent. August 2018.