At College Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #25)

Chapter 2: At College Immediately after our return from Tyhalarha, the Regent took me across the Mbashe (the river rises in Thembuland but towards the sea it forms a boundary between Thembuland and Gcalekaland) to begin Standard VI at Clarkebury Boarding Institution, then the highest centre of learning in Thembuland and where the Regent himself had once been a student. Justice had entrained for Healdtown the day before. Clarkebury is in the district of Ngcobo (Engcobo) and was built on land donated to the Wesleyan missionaries by Ngubengcuka. It was mainly a teacher training school but also offered courses in secondary education, tailoring, carpentry and tin smithing. Only African students were accepted. The Reverend C. Harris was the governor and he was one of the most powerful figures I had thus far met. For one thing, he was white and head of the leading institution in the area, enjoying respect and support of members of the staff, parents and the public. At Mqhekezweni I had met many white traders and government officials, including magistrates and police officers. The Regent always received them courteously but on equal terms. There were occasions when he would be quite aggressive and dictatorial, and he never gave any solemn lecture as to how I should behave in their presence other than to urge caution on my part. But with Reverend Harris the position was quite different. Before leaving home the Regent carefully briefed me on this clergyman, pointing out that he was one of the few white persons in the