Word: swazis
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Insuring the Swazis. When U.S.-born Isidore William Schlesinger arrived in Cape Town in 1896, South Africa was in the throes of the gold rush. A salesman from Manhattan's Lower East Side, I. W. preferred to seek his fortune above the ground. Soon the diminutive (5 ft. 2 in.) drummer was coursing the veld in horse and buggy, selling life insurance to gold miners and Swazi chiefs for the U.S.'s Equitable Life Assurance-and earning a record $30,000 a year in commissions. He set up his own insurance company, then turned to real estate...
December lived up to its Swazi name: "the time to pick teeth for a harvest." The veld lay parched in the midsummer sun. Hillsides and grasslands rotted rustily. Scorching winds raised dust from the river beds. By January even the mighty Orange had shrunk to a feeble trickle. A throttling drought gripped South Africa...