Bluettes Franco-Nataliennes

The Bluettes Franco-Nataliennes is series of monthly publications by C.E.Boniface (1787 – 1853).

The series title also occurs as De Natal Bluetts in Dutch, The Natal Bluetts or The Natal Bluettes in English (the latter two titles cited from William Groom, 1899 p. 479).

The original texts

The full title for the series, as cited by F.C.L. Bosman (1928: p. 510), is: "Bluettes franco-natalienmes; ou recueil de contes, fables et autres petites pieces en verse et en prose à l'usage des etudians et des amateurs de la langue française dans le pays de Natal."

Written (1846-1849*??) in verse and prose and in dramatic form and including songs and music. Though containing satiric and barbed commentary, they were primarily intended to make his students and the public conversant with French, even though some of the pieces were also in Dutch (Myn Ouwe Snoek in de Pekel) and English (Paddiscordion).

No 2 of the series for example had the title: Le Latanier, the sub-title La Mort du Latanier et la metamorphose de ses feuilles en papilotes and is described as a "vaudeville à grand spectacle" in two parts.

South African performances

No record of performances have been found, though they most probably were performed on occasion by amateurs or school children, as part of their classes or training in French.