THE HORRORS OF WAR.

365

saw them eat raw flesh, as some have affirmed to be their practice.

To these facts, extracted from a voluminous journal, my limits will only permit me to add one picture more of heathenism, calculated to awaken all the sympathies of an enlightened mind. I am persuaded no one of my readers would thank me for a minute description of manners and dress, which could only excite disgust, and details of revenge and the punishment of capital crimes, in which there is a combination of all that is ferocious, horrid, and cruel. The following description of their mode of warfare and treatment of captives, cannot but excite the deepest sympathy for the millions of our fellow men, who are perishing thus awfully for lack of knowledge in the dark regions of this benighted. world.

The Matabele were not satisfied with simply capturing cattle, nothing less than the entire subjugation, or destruction of the vanquished, could quench their insatiable thirst for power. Thus when they conquered a town, the terrified inhabitants were driven in a mass to the outskirts, when the parents and all the married women were slaughtered on the spot. Such as have dared to be brave in the defence of their town, their wives, and their children, are reserved for a still more terrible death; dry grass, saturated with fat, is tied round their naked bodies and then set on fire. The youths and girls are loaded as beasts of burden with the spoils of the town, to be marched to the homes of their victors. If the town be in an isolated position, the helpless infants are left to perish either with hunger, or to be devoured by beasts of prey; On such an event, the lions scent the slain and leave their lair. The hyenas and jackals emerge from their lurking places in broad day, and revel in the carnage, while a cloud of vultures may be seen descending on the living and the dead, and holding a carnival on human flesh. Should a suspicion arise in the savage bosom that these helpless innocents may fall into the hands of friends, they will prevent this by collecting them into a fold, and after raising over them a pile of brushwood, apply the flaming torch to it, when the town, but lately the scene of mirth, becomes a heap of ashes. Oh! Christians of England, can you as subjects of divine love, as possessing the blessed Gospel of the Son of God, and as holding his last commission from the mount of Olives to publish it to the ends of the earth,- -can you gaze on these fields of human blood, these regions of unutterable woe, without emotion? Ah! brethren, could you behold the

scenes your missionaries witness, you would wake up with a power of pity which would impel you to deeds of Christian compassion, compared with which your past exertions would appear as nothing.

Having resolved on returning, Moselekatse accompanied me in my wagon a long day's journey to one of his principal towns. He soon became accustomed to the jolting of an African wagon, and found it convenient to lay his well lubri cated body down on my bed, to take a nap. On awaking he invited me to lie down beside him; but I begged to be excused, preferring to enjoy the scenery around me. Two more days we spent together, during which I renewed my entreaties that he would abstain from war, promising that one day he should be favoured with missionaries, which he professed to desire. Having obtained from me my telescope, for the purpose, he said, of seeing on the other side of the mountains if Dingaan, the king of the Zoolus, whom he justly dreaded, was approaching, I bade him farewell, with scarcely a hope that the Gospel could be successful among the Matabele, until there should be a revolution in the government of a monarch, who demanded that homage which pertains to God alone. A few moments before I left him, I remarked that it was the duty of a wise father to instruct his son, and as he called me Machobane, I thought it right again to warn him, that if he did not cease from war, and restrain his lintuna (nobles) from perpetrating their secret and dreadful cruelties on the aborigines, he might expect that the eternal God would frown upon him, when the might of his power would soon be broken, and the bones of his warriors would mingle with those they had themselves scattered over his desolate dominions. To this solemn exhortation he only replied, "Pray to your God to keep me from the power of Dingaan." After a journey through the country already described, preserved amid many dangers from beasts of prey, I arrived safely at home after an absence of two months, and found Mrs. M. and our family with Mr. Hamilton well, and cheered with the continued display of the Divine blessing on

the Kuruman mission.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE Country had been blessed with such plentiful rains that fields and gardens teemed with plenty, such as had not been experienced for several years. The ancient ramparts of superstition had been broken through by our converts, and many others, who could see no reason why the productions of their field and garden labour should be confined to the varieties of their native grain (Hoicus sorghum) pumpkins, kidney beans, and water melons, the only vegetables cultivated by their forefathers. Instead of purchasing a very inferior tobacco from the Bahurutsi, who were no longer able to supply the market, having imitated our example of leading out water, they began to plant it themselves, and it soon became a profitable article of traffic, as it had formerly been to those who lived in a better watered country. They also thankfully accepted the seeds and plants of grain and vegetables we had introduced, of maize, wheat, barley, peas, potatoes, carrots, onions, and they also planted fruit trees. As the course of our water ditch along the side of a hill appeared as if the stream ascended, several of the natives set to work in good earnest, and cut courses leading directly up hill, hoping the water would one day follow. Ploughs, harrows, spades, and mattocks were no longer viewed as the implements of a certain caste, but as the indispensable auxiliaries to existence and comfort. The man who before would have disdained to be seen engaged in such an occupation and with such a tool, was now thankful to have it in his power to buy a spade.

The spiritual affairs of the station kept pace with external improvements. The house of God continued to be well filled, and though the strong excitement which prevailed in the early part of 1829 had subsided, knowledge was on the increase, a growing seriousness was observable, and there was every reason for encouragement. Progress was made in reading, which increased my anxiety to make a revision of

* Maize I found abundant among the Matabele, where it does not require irrigation; also a fine large species of kidney bean, the pods of which grow under ground, and are earthed up like potatoes.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE STATION.

the gospel of Luke, especially as it was necessary for me to visit Cape Town.

As soon as the second mission house was finished, and occupied by Mr. Hamilton, the foundation of a place of worship was laid. This was commenced early in the year 1830, at the suggestion of Mr. Millen, the mason, who engaged to devote his spare time, from trading in the interior, to the building of the walls. This edifice, however, from local circumstances, and the difficulty of procuring timber, was not finished till several years afterwards. The buildings are of blue or dove-coloured limestone, and thatched with reed and straw. The place of worship stands between the missionhouses, at a short distance from each, and the more distant buildings are the trader's shop, the smith's forge, and schoolhouse. The lofty trees opposite are a species of willow, peculiar to the Gariep or Orange River; along the roots of these trees runs a watercourse five feet wide by two deep, and beyond are the gardens and valley ground. The watercourses were greatly extended, not only for purposes of irrigation, but to drain the extensive valley intended to be brought into cultivation; a native water-fiscal was appointed to take care of them, and rewarded by those possessing gardens dependent on irrigation.

Having thus been permitted to witness some of the effects of the introduction of the Gospel among the Bechuanas, and having accomplished a translation of the gospel of Luke, and of Dr. Brown's Scripture Texts,* I repaired with my family to Cape Town, by way of Algoa Bay. Before leaving the Kuruman, I signified that it was my intention to collect subscriptions among the friends in the Colony, towards the building of a new place of worship. When this was made known, a number of the natives cheerfully came forward, and begged to add their mite to so important a work. Some subscribed oxen, others goats, and a few money, though it was still very scarce among them, and a number engaged to give some months' labour. We left the station for the Colony, and on arriving at Philipolis, we were not a little delighted to meet at the house of Mr. Melvill, Mr. and Mrs. Baillie, of our society, destined to the Bechuana mission, and Messrs. Rolland and Lemure, from the Paris Protestant Missionary Society, also appointed to labour in the interior. To us, so long accustomed to feel as if out of the world, and

* The printing of this work was afterwards abandoned, and its place supplied by the Scripture Lessons used in the Borough-road and other schools.