An Unlikely Cure
Returning to Witchwood after five years of overwork during the war, a severe attack of malaria set in as Edgar Whitehead contemplated the extent of the ruin of Witchwood. One morning he told his Assistant, Nat Williams, "I have a terrible fever. I'm feeling like death."
Nat said, "There's only one thing to do with you."
"What's that?"
"Take you down to Vila de Manica to the big bullfight there this afternoon."
Edgar was too sick to protest.
The Portuguese bull-fight is more humane than the Spanish as the bull may not be killed. The same bull may be used many times. On this occasion a famous Matador had come from Lisbon and the Governor of Manica and Sofala was attending along with most of the population of Manicaland from both sides of the border.
They hired a car for twenty-four hours, arranging to sleep in Vila de Manica. When they reached the arena several thousand spectators were assembled. The Governor in full uniform and his officials were occupying the Presidential box. The show opened with a parade of Toreadors and Picadors. Last came the celebrated Matador. He was a resplendent figure with a three cornered black hat embroidered with gold, a white shirt, a scarlet cummerbund, black satin breeches white silk stockings, and black shoes with huge silver buckles.
The procession filed past the Governor's box making their salutes, but the Matador halted. Turning towards the box he swept off his hat and three times bowed deeply to the Governor. At this point there occurred an unfortunate technical hitch. The first bull was admitted to the ring too soon unnoticed by the Matador who was in the middle of his third deep obeisance. The bull got up behind him and tossed him over the barrier into the audience. The silence was broken by cries of distress from the Portuguese spectators and ribald laughter from the Rhodesians.
Traditionally, Rhodesians were always allowed in the ring to fight the last bull. On this occasion a friend of Edgar's, a guard on Rhodesia Railways and former heavyweight boxing champion of Rhodesia, took on the job. He weighed about seventeen stone (two hundred and fifty pounds). Very drunk he was quite unable to walk straight. The bull charged him with 'elan' but found him a difficult target to hit as he was weaving so much. Finally after a near miss he wrapped his arms around the bull's neck and threw it. He then sat down on its head to keep it under control and proceeded to light his pipe. The crowd rose as one, shouting "Bravo! Bravo!"
This completely cured Edgar. He returned to Witchwood the next day without a trace of malaria and never had another recurrence. He had completely recovered his sense of humor, and was filled with grim determination to get cracking with Witchwood's rehabilitation regardless of the difficulties.
The historical novel Whitewashed Jacarandas and its sequel Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon as paperbacks and eBooks.
These books are inspired by Diana's family's experiences in small town Southern Rhodesia after WWII.
Dr. Sunny Rubenstein and his Gentile wife, Mavourneen, along with various town characters lay bare the racial arrogance of the times, paternalistic idealism, Zionist fervor and anti-Semitism, the proper place of a wife, modernization versus hard-won ways of doing things, and treatment of endemic disease versus investment in public health. It's a roller coaster read.
- References:
- Sir Edgar Whitehead's Unpublished Memoirs, Rhodes House, Bodleian Library, Oxford, by permission.
Photo Credit: Scientific Reports. 11, Article number: 16006 (2021) Eight-year analysis of bullfighting injuries in Spain, Portugal and southern France author Antonio Reguera-Teba et al. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-94524-7