66

DEATH OF A. ALBRECHT.

of life. Their table, for a long time, the lid of a wagonchest, was covered with the most scanty fare. One feels at a loss, while reading their journals and letters at this season, which most to admire, their zeal, their self denial, or their resignation to a life of hardship. While laboring here, their congregation was increased even by that desperado Africaner, who, with part of his people, drew near, and attended occasionally the instructious of the missionaries, who visited his place in return. It was here, and at this time, that Jager, afterwards Christian Africaner, listened with attention to the first principles of the doctrine of Christ; and it was to this period that he frequently referred in his communications with me; that he saw "men as trees walking.” But this was but a transient glimpse; for a degree of jealousy, and perhaps alarm, was excited in the minds of the inhabitants on the station, which influenced Africaner to retire to his wonted distance, with the full consent of the missionaries, who, had it been in their power, would gladly have prevented the separation. Abraham Albrecht soon after married; but, ere long, he was compelled by ill health to leave the station, and proceed to the colony, where he hoped that, by medical advice, and attention to regimen, his system might be restored. His frame was not naturally strong, and his constitution ill able to weather the hardships which had marked his short career. On the 14th of May, 1810, he took an affectionate and touching farewell of the flock at Warm Bath, and, accompanied by his brother Christian, left Mr. Tromp to carry on the work of the mission. After a journey, trying and tedious in the extreme to a sick man, he reached the hospitable mansion of Mr. and Mrs. Botma, the faithful and devoted friends of missionaries, at Honing Berg, near Tulbagh, where he finished his earthly course on the 30th of July. Shortly before he fell asleep in Jesus, he read a chapter, and conversed on its contents. To the inquiry how he felt, he replied, "I go to Jesus; I am a member of his body." The writer has stood by his grave with his widow (now Mrs. Ebner) who, pointing to it with much feeling, referred to his tranquil passage into eternity, his deep anxiety for the heathen flock he had left, and the charge he gave his attendants, entreating them to "cleave unto the Lord." Immediately after this event, Christian Albrecht, who had proceeded to Cape Town, was married to Miss Burgman, a lady of superior education and promise, who had long burned. with a holy zeal to encounter the perils of the wilderness, to make known the savour of a Redeemer's name among the

MURDER OF HANS DRAYER.

67

For this purpose,

perishing sons and daughters of Africa. as her biographer states, "she cheerfully relinquished all the gratifications that a pleasing connexion with her pious and respectable friends at Rotterdam afforded, ready to encounter the privations and hardships which she fully expected." Eminently qualified for her intended station, and fondly anticipating many successful years in the work which had so long been the cherished purpose of her soul, she left with her husband for the scene of her labours in Great Namaqualand, taking with them the widow and child of their departed brother. On their arrival she entered on her longanticipated labour with the utmost ardour; but, alas! a heavy cloud was gathering, which, in a few months, darkened their cheering prospects, and burst on the mission, which had just begun to bid fair for permanent success.

An event so painful and destructive to the mission cause, will require some notice being taken of its origin; which I shall give nearly in the language of the late Rev. J. Campbell, in his tract, The Life of Africaner," with slight cor

rections and additions.

"Africaner being an outlaw, could not visit the colony or Cape Town, and in order to procure supplies, employed others. He entrusted Hans Drayer with three teams, or thirty oxen, commissioning him to purchase a wagon for Africaner, with the twenty, and with the remaining ten, to bring it home: and at the same time allowing an ample reward for Hans. He had not gone far into the colony before he met a farmer to whom he owed a large debt, and who very naturally seized the whole. Hans returned chop-fallen to Mr. Seidenfaden's missionary station at Kamiesberg, of which he had the charge during Mr. S.'s absence. Africaner hearing of what had happened, went in quest of Hans, whom he expected to find humble, but who was insolent to the last degree. On their punishing him with a sambock, he seized a gun, and levelled it at Africaner, but he was instantly despatched."

Mr. Seidenfaden having left debts behind him, among the Great Namaquas, and some of the Africaners, a portion of his property was seized. After this the friends of Hans, with the assistance of the Namaquas, sought revenge on the people of Africaner, but not succeeding, obtained assistance from the people of Warm Bath. This, with a false report that they had taken some of his cattle, and that the missionaries were their abettors, dreadfully enraged Africaner, who vowed vengeance on the mission.

The situation of the missionaries and their wives was now most distressing. Among a feeble and timid people, with scarcely any means of defence, a bare country around, no

mountain-glen or cave in which they could take refuge, a burning sun, and a glowing plain; 200 miles from the abodes of civilized men, between which lay a waste-howling wilderness, and the Orange River, seldom fordable by wagons. Such was their position with the human lion in his lair, ready to rouse himself up to deeds of rapine and blood. This is no coloured picture, for the writer has with his family been placed in circumstances not dissimilar experience is requisite to aid in just conceptions of so trying a moment. For a whole month they were in constant terror, hourly expecting the threatened attack. The hearts of the missionaries were riven with anguish; their souls revolted at the idea of abandoning the people, who were now suffering from want, to become a prey to one from whom they could expect no quarter. On one occasion they dug square holes in the ground, about six feet deep, that in case of an attack they might escape the balls; there they remained buried alive for the space of a week, having the tilt sail of the wagon thrown over the mouth of the pit to keep off the burning rays of an almost vertical sun. As one of the suf ferers told me, she scarcely knew whether they had to suffer most by day or by night, for the heat sometimes amounted nearly to suffocation. From this place they removed at the suggestion of Fledermuis, a chief, northward to the base of the Karas mountains; but finding it impossible to settle, they retired to the colony to seek counsel and assistance.

But to return to Africaner. He spread devastation. around him, attacked the Namaquas, and proceeded to Warm Bath. Finding it abandoned, his followers commenced a rigid search for any articles which might have been concealed for safety in the earth, and were but too successful. While the plunderers were engaged in their destructive operations, an incident occurred, almost too ludicrous for so melancholy a recital. As the triumphant chief and his adherents were revelling in their ill-gotten spoils, not without some qualms of conscience, derived from the light, however little, which they had received, especially as they now stood upon holy ground, which recalled the scenes of by-gone days, one of the chieftain's attendants strayed into the burying-ground, where already a few mounds distinguished it from the surrounding waste as the place of the dead. Stepping over what he supposed a newly closed grave, he heard, to his surprise, soft notes of music vibrate beneath. He stood mot onless, gazing over his shoulder, with mouth and eyes dilated hesitating

A CURIOUS EXHUMATION.

69

whether to stand still, and see the dead arise, which he had heard the missionaries preach about, or take to his heels. After no little palpitation of heart, in order to assure himself, he mustered courage to make another trial, for the tones he had heard had died away. His second leap again roused the sepulchral harp, which now fell in soft but awful cadence on his ear. Without casting an eye behind, he darted off to the camp, and, with breathless amazement, announced to Africaner the startling discovery he had made of life and music in the grave. The appearance of the man convinced Africaner that he was in earnest, for reason seldom reels in that country. The chief, fearless of the living or the dead, was not to be scared even by the supposed spectre of the tomb, arose, and ordered his men to follow him to the spot. One jumped and another jumped, and at each succeeding leap, succeeding notes of the softest music vibrated on the ear from beneath. Recourse was had

instantly to exhumation. The mysterious musician was soon brought to light. It proved to be Mrs. Albrecht's piano-forte, which she had taken with her from London, and which was the first ever conveyed into the Transgariepine regions. Being too cumbrous to be taken in a hasty flight, 't had been buried in a soil where, from the entire absence of moisture, it might, but for this circumstance, have remained unscathed. Africaner, whose martial spirit made him a fitter associate for Mars than for the Muses, allowed the instrument to be dissected, parts of which I have seen, from which those fingers now silent in the grave had called forth divine harmony.

To finish the varied but sorrowful detail, one of the men of Africaner, on seeing him depart, took a fire-brand, and set fire to the houses and huts, which were soon reduced to ashes; and thus the light of Divine truth, which had just been enkindled in those gloomy regions, was extinguished for a season; and a peaceful Zion reduced to a heap of ruins. I have walked over them in pensive sorrow, and slumbered among them, when the owl only broke the deathlike silence which reigned with its melancholy note, or the gaunt hyena howled in quest of prey. It might be profitable to improve this event, by tracing the succession of evils which befell that mission to their source. It might afford instructive lessons to those who may be similarly situated. It is, however, not my object to preach, but faithfully to narrate past events; leaving my readers, especially such as have entered into the labours of others of whose sufferings

70

DEATH OF MR. AND MRS. ALBRECHT.

it is scarcely possible for them to form an adequate concep‐ tion, to make the improvement. I have known a newly arrived missionary listen to the apparently romantic tale of a veteran of the above order, with the conviction, that the exaggerated picture he drew of past trials must have been the effect of an intellect partially weakened. It is impossible to take a minute survey of the lives and labours of some of our missionaries, whose names have become, like their voices, silent in death, without concluding that "there were giants in those days," like Christian Albrecht; a glance at whose concluding days, and those of his beloved partner, must close the present chapter.

Driven by necessity, as we have previously shown, to the colony, a visit to Cape Town cheered their drooping spirits a little, though still feeling the effects of previous suffering; for Mrs. A. writes, just on the eve of again returning, in December 1811, addressing the directors, "Yes, dear brethren, we have suffered much in every respect, and my soul and body are very much dejected." After a most distressing journey, sometimes under apprehension of perishing in the wilderness, they reached Silver Fountain, the residence of Cornelius Kok, who again rendered signal service to the weary, worn-out travellers. Here Mrs. Albrecht breathed her last, on the 13th of April, just five days after their arrival; and when she anticipated some repose she was removed to an eternal rest; to the last her heart was fixed on her Master's work. The Namaqua. mission was resumed at Pella, south of the river, and which was so called from its becoming the place of refuge; there they were joined by about 500 of the Warm Bath people. Mr. C. Albrecht, having occasion again to go to the Cape for medical advice, as his health had been for some time declining, while there engaged in his Master's business, suddenly expired, leaving behind him a bright testimony of zeal, love, and self-denial seldom equalled. His labours follow him, while his remains slumber beside those of Dr. Vanderkemp, on a foreign shore, waiting the sound of the last trump. But before he was called, like a faithful servant, to the "joy of his Lord," a delightful realization of the faithfulness and mercy of Jehovah was permitted to enlighten and cheer his latter days. Many and fervent were the prayers which he and his coadjutors had offered up to the throne of God for the poor Namaquas, and for Africaner too. These prayers were heard; and before leaving the country, he had the ineffable joy, which it would require an angel's