Book review for Manna in the Desert by Alfred de Jager Jackson

Alfred de Jager Jackson
Manna in the Desert: A revelation of the Great Karroo
Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Brevitas cc, 2006
270 pp. ZAR 285
ISBN 1-874976-48-1
First published 1920, second edition in hardcover published 2006 by Craig Elstob. The second edition includes the original black and white photographs as well as some recent colour photographs and an Afterword by Craig Elstob.

I have spent a fair amount of time as an ecologist in the Namib Desert in Namibia and in the Succulent Karoo and Nama-Karoo in South Africa. My impression was one of hidden beauty and concealed vitality and about 20 years ago I presented a talk entitled 'Manna in Your Wilderness'. One can only imagine my surprise to see, in a recent visit to Sutherland the Karoo, reference to a book published in 1920, Manna in the Desert by Alfred de Jager Jackson. The librarian at Kirstenbosch obtained a copy for me and I was expecting a book like this.

  

And I was very surprised to see a glossy cover, and found that the book was republished as a second edition in 2006 by de Jager's great-grandson Craig Elstob.

To add further to the surprise, inside the back cover one finds that Craig has the middle name Dryden, and his great grandfather x 5 married a Dryden in the UK, and all the family have the second name Dryden. This name has very particular significance for me as both my grandmothers (two sisters) were daughters of John Little Dryden who was Port Captain and Shipping Master in Port Alfred from 1882 to 1896, and then Harbour Master at Mossel Bay from 1896 where he lived until his death in 1914.

The author, Alfred de Jager Jackson, spent his youth on a farm near Beaufort West in the Great Karoo and shares many anecdotes about his experiences in the Desert. The book sets out to share the emotional and spiritual upliftment experienced by the author living in this semi-desert area. He talks about the plants and animals of the Karoo, and gives his insights into the web of life on the farm, and how the humans fitted into this web. The author gives his object in writing the book as drawing 'men towards a right and reverent regard of Nature, particularly as exemplified in the Great Karroo, in the abundance and variety of its animal life, in the wealth, diversity and complexity of its plant life, in its splendid skies, and in the intense contrasts of its natural features, both of air and earth.' De Jager clearly has a great love and reverence for his childhood farm and tells of more than 50 plants and several animals, giving quaint spellings (like rispers as opposed to ruspers, Dubbeltjiedoorn which is also know as Duwweltjiedoorn, or Devil's thorn) clearly influenced by Dutch, and 'translations' (Kougoed translated as 'cold' rather than 'chewing' goods) of common names, but very few scientific names. He gives some very interesting insights and accounts of farming in the Great Karroo, transport, accommodation, animal husbandry, tutors, farm workers, researchers, expeditions and so forth. He describes plants, animals, insects, birds, reptiles, seasons, climates, and more that paint an inviting picture of the 'vast solitudes', 'great valleys',  'rugged mountains' and 'splendid skies' of the karoo. He writes about several of his tutors, some farm-hands and their antics, several pets of either domesticated or wild origin, and dear memories and recollections that stayed close to his heart for as much as sixty years. His informal but pleasantly descriptive writing style would appeal to a very wide readership.

I very much enjoyed this insider account of the area that I have visited as an ecologist, learning of some of the practices and thoughts of the past and how they compare with present thoughts and practices, and how they may have affected the present practices and condition of the veld. I think that this book is worth reading for its ecological content, the writer's passion for the karoo, the delightful word pictures he creates, and well, I really enjoyed reading it!