98 



said that if only he could have a few words with the Prime Min- 

 ister he might manage to right matters. He called a typist and 

 asked me to write and express regret for having attempted to 

 speak to Smuts at Groote Schuur, as that might help. 



Eventually, getting on for 4 p.m. my patience was exhausted 

 and I demanded to know the position. The Secretary said he was 

 sorry, he could do nothing more, Smuts refused to see me at all. 

 So I left, abruptly, this time not without deep annoyance in my 

 heart, for 1 could not but feel that it was not my youthful appear- 

 ance that was to blame, but my nationality, that if I had been a 

 scientist from some other land I might well by now have been 

 snatching treasures from the sands of Swakopmund. Thanks to 

 him, they were gone. To be esteemed by foreigners was more 

 important than the special plea of a scientist of his own country. 

 I was not the only South African scientist who had been treated 

 in this way, there was Broom. ... It all brought to my mind 

 again the fable of the shepherd and the sheep,* as true today as 

 it was then so long ago. I was one of his own sheep. 



Some time later I had a meeting with the Trustees of my book 

 fund to finalise a number of issues. We had many reasons to be 

 pleased, for the public had been responsive, the quality of the 

 specimen work of the Cape Times was all that could be desired, 

 and the estimates proved to be within our means. Towards the 

 close of the meeting the Chairman raised the issue of the Fore- 

 word, saying that he supposed he could take it that we were all 

 agreed that 'The General' should be approached to do us the 

 great honour of writing the Foreword. 'If by that you mean 

 Smuts,' I said, *I regret to say that I will not have his name 

 associated with my book in any way.' 



This was clearly a bombshell, but I was adamant without many 

 words. The only reason I gave was that in my view it would be 

 more proper for the foreword to be prepared by a scientist, 

 rather than by a politician who had no fundamental interest in 

 the subject or the author. When this matter had come up for 



♦ Some sheep caught by a storm sought shelter with a shepherd, who, scent- 

 ing profit for himself, put them with his own flock, whom he deprived of the 

 best food and the warmest beds to give to the strangers. The storm over, the 

 strange sheep prepared to leave, when the shepherd entreated them to stay and 

 asked, 'Did you not like the way you were treated.'" 'Yes,' they said, 'but we 

 saw how you treated your own sheep.' 



