OBSERVATIONS ON THE COUNTRY.

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mission among the Matabele, I laid the subject before Moselekatse, to which he gave his cordial assent. Thus, having settled every thing necessary respecting future measures, and surveyed the country to find large timber for the roof of our new place of worship, I returned to the Kuruman, to record again the goodness and mercy which had encompassed me and all the mission families during my absence, Mrs. M.'s health also being much improved.

Before concluding this chapter I would only observe, that the countries I visited on the present as well as on my former journey to Moselekatse, are the finest I have seen in Southern Africa, and capable of supporting a dense population, which they evidently once did. The soil is exceedingly fertile, and minerals abound. Iron ore lies scattered over the surface of the hills, many of which appear to be entirely composed of it. This ore the natives contrive with the simplest apparatus to smelt, and from it they procure iron of a very superior quality. I have seen little hills composed entirely of loadstone, and from experiment found that every fragment possessed a north and a south pole. Copper mines also abound, and from some specimens I saw would yield about fifty per cent. The Bakone country also yields tin. The mines of this metal I had no opportunity of seeing, but the specimens of moruru, as it is called, which I purchased from the natives, were of the best quality. The country of the Bamanguato and to the east of the great lake is not without timber, but water is scarce. The neighbourhood of the lake itself is reported to be exceedingly fertile.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE Tract Society having kindly supplied us with sixteen reams of paper, Mr. Edwards had, during my absence, printed several tracts in the language, translated by himself and Mr. Lemue. I had, on my journey, translated the Assembly's Catechism, and an additional portion of the Scripture Lessons; these also were put to the press, while the work of conversion was steadily advancing among the people, and

384

MISSION RESUMED AT MOSEGA.

the demand for books rapidly on the increase. Having, from the troublous state of the interior, failed in a former attempt to procure timber from the Bahurutsi, we availed ourselves of the present tranquillity, and Messrs. Hamilton and Edwards started with men, and all the wagons, for that purpose; obtained the timber with great labour, and what was a no less arduous task, brought it a distance of two hundred miles in ox wagons. As they returned they met with the Expedition at Mosega. When Dr. Smith* arrived at the Kuruman, he found Mrs. M. in such a debilitated state, that he considered it necessary for her to avoid the summer heat, by visiting the coast for a few months. The printing of the Scripture Lessons had been greatly retarded from the want of paper, sickness in the mission families, and the late journeys; she was as reluctant as I could be that it should be longer delayed, and therefore cheerfully undertood the journey without me, and was absent seven months. She went down to Graham's Town, under the guardianship of Mr. Hume, a trader, who was in the habit of visiting the station.

Early in 1836, our American brethren, Messrs. Lindley, Venables, and Dr. Wilson, after sojourning a season at Griqua Town, and on our station, removed to Mosega-where, after a season of deep domestic affliction, every member of the mission families, except Dr. Wilson, taking a fever, of which Mrs. Wilson died, their prospects were unexpectedly blasted, by an inroad of some disaffected farmers, who had located themselves on the Yellow River. It appears that the farmers had hunted on what Moselekatse considered his dominions, and had used some people who acknowledged his authority rather roughly. This the haughty monarch would not brook, and sent his men more than once to attack them; and on one occasion a desperate conflict ensued, when the farmers repulsed their assailants, who, seizing the cattle, retired with them, leaving many of their number dead on the spot where they had intended to massacre the farmers. Exasperated at this, the latter came down in a large body on the mission premises, in rather savage style; and there being only a handful of Matabele in the Mosega basin, these were cut off; and the farmers, with the cattle they had seiz

* Dr. A. Smith, the head of that Expedition, is at present in this country, publishing his work on South African Zoology, and intends, ere long, to give to the public his Travels, a work which the author has no hesitation in asserting will prove an abundant source of deeply interesting scientific information; and to whom the author is indebted for some of the sketches in this volume.

MOSELEKATSE AND THE FARMERS.

385

ed, made a precipitate retreat to the Yellow or Orange River, taking with them the American missionaries, who were so dispirited by the effects of disease, as to be scarcely able to judge how they should act. The latter were prevailed on to leave their property behind, except that which the farmers took for their own use. Thus was the mission to Mosega again broken Into the merits of the case we do not preup. tend to enter. It was altogether a melancholy affair, like many others, which have resulted from the unrestrained power of the farmers who emigrated from the Colony; and it is deeply to be regretted that there should have been causes, either real or alleged, for such a procedure.

Moselekatse was soon taught that his shields could not resist the balls of the farmers, who were not Griquas, whom his tried warriors had hitherto routed. To the latter he had the most uncontrollable hatred, and supposed that all the hordes on the boundaries of the Colony, and the vicinity of the Orange River, were Blooms, Berends, and Bergenaars, and such as had made unprovoked attacks on his assumed territories. In the last conversation I had with him I warned him against a rupture with the farmers; and as he had never heard of Waterboer and his people, I took the opportunity of informing him that from them he need apprehend no injury, as they were such as I could confidently recommend. After inquiring about their character, he very significantly shook his head, saying, he would trust no one who had not a recommendation or introduction from the KuruTo this engagement he remained faithful, and treated with kindness two of our people who had accompanied the American brethren, and who, on the assault of the farmers, escaped the balls, by concealing themselves among the reeds of a neighbouring stream.

man.

Moselekatse's power had reached its zenith; for, in addition to the attacks of the farmers, a large commando from Dingaan came upon him from the east, when many of his men whre cut off, and great numbers of his cattle taken. Overwhelmed by such superior and unexpected forces, he fled to the north; and it merits notice, that before his departure he allowed all the captive Bahurutsi, Bakhatala, and other neighbouring tribes, to return to their own land. This was a measure which astonished the natives, who have since congregated on the ancient domains of their forefathers; and if no foreign power again drive them from their native glens, they will ere long become the interesting objects of missionary labour.

386

PROSPECTS AMONG THE BAKONE TRIBES.

A few missionaries among the Bakone tribes, and an effective native agency, would, under the blessing promised to the seed sown, authorize us to expect a rich harvest of immortal souls from these rocks and plains, to grace the triumph of the Redeemer. Hitherto our native assistants have been occupied only in their own villages; but there is little doubt that, after the Gospel has been introduced to a distant town or tribe by the missionary, these assistants will be enabled, with the help of a comparatively small sum, to follow him; and, by reading, teaching to read, exhorting, and a humble, devout deportment, prepare the people for greater advances in divine knowledge, and render them the cheerful recipients of that civilization which the Gospel introduces. So fully were we convinced of the value of such auxiliaries, that, as early as 1834, we found it conducive to the interests of the mission to have recourse to native assistance, employing Aaron and Paulo to catechize the people, and lead on inquirers. In 1837, some of the influential young men among the Batlaros, who were good readers, cheerfully undertook the task of instructing their neighbours, by holding service and school. This they did among their own people, without being styled native teachers, and without stipend or reward, except what the missionaries spontaneously gave to encourage them. The Bechuana converts being still in their infancy, we deemed it necessary to be cautious in appointing official agents,-it being an acknowledged principle that novices are very easily puffed up; and in this respect my colleagues and myself have seen no reason to regret the caution exercised. Since that period they have been gradually advancing in Christian knowledge; and we consider that there are many who, with the Scriptures in their hands, will be able assistants to the missionary in carrying into effect the evangelization of their countrymen. The author has been much gratified, since his arrival in England, by the liberality with which several churches have come forward, to provide for a number of such as the missionaries shall deem competent to the work, and this without any appeal from him, but merely from statements of the importance of such auxiliaries.

At the Kuruman, measures are in progress for preparing, by a particular course of instruction, an efficient agency, without which the progress of the Gospel must be tardy in so large a continent, where the tribes are, in many instances, so far separated by vast tracts of country, with little water. The necessity of such a mode of procedure has been forced

upon the judgment of the author by his experience among the different tribes of South Africa for twenty-three years. He has had demonstration of the evil arising from the appointment of individuals who could scarcely read, and who did not comprehend the doctrines they were set up to preach. It is not surprising that some, with only a small portion of the word of God in their hands, and having few opportunities of hearing the voice of the missionary, should be found to conceive wild notions; and it therefore requires untiring vigilance on the part of the missionary to direct these early native efforts; as errors propagated in the commencement of a mission are the most difficult to eradicate. It is not enough that the hearts of such agents are affected by the constraining love of Christ; they should be men of good natural understandings and prudence, and, at the very least, good readers; and the more their understandings are cultivated, the more efficient we may expect them to be.

Having been repeatedly requested by the inhabitants of the towns on the Yellow and Kolong Rivers to pay them a visit, I left home for that purpose near the close of 1836. Pursuing my course along the Kolong River, I met large congregations of attentive readers; and the demands for spelling-books were beyond what I could supply. I also visited Musis, one of the Griqua Town out-stations, and was delighted to see the improvement made among the Batlapis, by the blessing of God on the labours of the brethren, Wright and Hughes. At Taung, where Mahura, the brother of Mothibi, resides, and where, including the Bamairis, there was a population of nearly twenty thousand souls, I preached to large congregations. As it was well known that I had performed some cures, I had some dozen of patients brought to me; and, among others, a young woman, who, from great exposure to the sun, was slightly deranged. It was most gratifying to see the sympathy of the chief and relations towards this afflicted creature. Knowing their general treatment of such diseases, viz., to throw the sufferer into a chasm, and cover him with stones, or tie him to a tree, I asked one of the roughest characters among the bystanders why they had not done so with this woman. "We heard the word of God at the Kuruman," was the reply. This was, strictly

*

The natives, though afraid of poison, never once suspected that the missionaries would do them harm by administering medicine. They are passionately fond of medicine, and of being bled, believing that all diseases lie in the blood. I have known individuals, after I had bound up the arm, open the orifice, and allow the blood to flow until they fainted.