The Walls

I took this photo recently -- of a wall -- built by Khoisan slaves. This one is within sight of my parents-in-law's home. Some of the stones are enormous. One sees these walls all over South Africa's Eastern Cape. Wikipedia says there were Khoisan attacks on farms with the building of these walls, and that the Khoisan's social organisation was "profoundly damaged" at the time. Oral history -- I find it nowhere in writing -- says that the settlers massacred the Khoisan once they had built the walls. One may click on the photo to enlarge. Notice how, centuries later, the wall has created dongas.

POSTSCRIPT: The very morning I posted this, the remaining Khoisan made headlines, among other things threatening a unilateral declaration of independence.