Personal Sketch -- Highland Ancestors --
Family Traditions -- Grandfather removes to the Lowlands -- Parents --
Early Labors and Efforts -- Evening School -- Love of Reading --
Religious Impressions -- Medical Education -- Youthful Travels --
Geology -- Mental Discipline -- Study in Glasgow -- London Missionary
Society -- Native Village -- Medical Diploma -- Theological Studies --
Departure for Africa -- No Claim to Literary Accomplishments.
My own inclination would lead me to say as
little as possible about myself; but several friends, in whose judgment
I have confidence, have suggested that, as the reader likes to know
something about the author, a short account of his origin and early life
would lend additional interest to this book. Such is my excuse for the
following egotism; and, if an apology be necessary for giving a
genealogy, I find it in the fact that it is not very long, and contains
only one incident of which I have reason to be proud.
Our great-grandfather fell at the battle of
Culloden, fighting for the old line of kings; and our grandfather was a
small farmer in Ulva, where my father was born. It is one of that
cluster of the Hebrides thus alluded to by Walter Scott:
"And Ulva dark, and Colonsay,
And all the group of islets gay
That guard famed Staffa round." [Lord of the Isles, canto 4.]
Our grandfather was intimately acquainted
with all the traditionary legends which that great writer has since made
use of in the "Tales of a Grandfather" and other works. As a boy I
remember listening to him with delight, for his memory was stored with a
never-ending stock of stories, many of which were wonderfully like those
I have since heard while sitting by the African evening fires. Our
grandmother, too, used to sing Gaelic songs, some of which, as she
believed, had been composed by captive islanders languishing hopelessly
among the Turks. Grandfather could give particulars of the lives of his
ancestors for six generations of the family before him; and the only
point of the tradition I feel proud of is this: One of these poor hardy
islanders was renowned in the district for great wisdom and prudence;
and it is related that, when he was on his death-bed, he called all his
children around him and said, "Now, in my lifetime, I have searched most
carefully through all the traditions I could find of our family, and I
never could discover that there was a dishonest man among our
forefathers. If, therefore, any of you or any of your children should
take to dishonest ways, it will not be because it runs in our blood: it
does not belong to you. I leave this precept with you: Be honest." If,
therefore, in the following pages I fall into any errors, I hope they
will be dealt with as honest mistakes, and not as indicating that I have
forgotten our ancient motto. This event took place at a time when the
Highlanders, according to Macaulay, were much like the Cape Caffres, and
any one, it was said, could escape punishment for cattle-stealing by
presenting a share of the plunder to his chieftain. Our ancestors were
Roman Catholics; they were made Protestants by the laird coming round
with a man having a yellow staff, which would seem to have attracted
more attention than his teaching, for the new religion went long
afterward, perhaps it does so still, by the name of "the religion of the
yellow stick".
Finding his farm in Ulva insufficient to
support a numerous family, my grandfather removed to Blantyre Works, a
large cotton manufactory on the beautiful Clyde, above Glasgow; and his
sons, having had the best education the Hebrides afforded, were gladly
received as clerks by the proprietors, Monteith and Co.
He himself, highly esteemed for his
unflinching honesty, was employed in the conveyance of large sums of
money from Glasgow to the works, and in old age was, according to the
custom of that company, pensioned off, so as to spend his declining
years in ease and comfort. Our uncles all entered his majesty's service
during the last French war, either as soldiers or sailors; but my father
remained at home, and, though too conscientious ever to become rich as a
small tea-dealer, by his kindliness of manner and winning ways he made
the heart-strings of his children twine around him as firmly as if he
had possessed, and could have bestowed upon them, every worldly
advantage. He reared his children in connection with the Kirk of
Scotland -- a religious establishment which has been an incalculable
blessing to that country -- but he afterward left it, and during the
last twenty years of his life held the office of deacon of an
independent church in Hamilton, and deserved my lasting gratitude and
homage for presenting me, from my infancy, with a continuously
consistent pious example, such as that ideal of which is so beautifully
and truthfully portrayed in Burns's "Cottar's Saturday Night". He died
in February, 1856, in peaceful hope of that mercy which we all expect
through the death of our Lord and Savior. I was at the time on my way
below Zumbo, expecting no greater pleasure in this country than sitting
by our cottage fire and telling him my travels. I revere his memory.
The earliest recollection of my mother
recalls a picture so often seen among the Scottish poor -- that of the
anxious housewife striving to make both ends meet. At the age of ten I
was put into the factory as a "piecer", to aid by my earnings in
lessening her anxiety. With a part of my first week's wages I purchased
Ruddiman's "Rudiments of Latin", and pursued the study of that language
for many years afterward, with unabated ardor, at an evening school,
which met between the hours of eight and ten. The dictionary part of my
labors was followed up till twelve o'clock, or later, if my mother did
not interfere by jumping up and snatching the books out of my hands. I
had to be back in the factory by six in the morning, and continue my
work, with intervals for breakfast and dinner, till eight o'clock at
night. I read in this way many of the classical authors, and knew Virgil
and Horace better at sixteen than I do now. Our schoolmaster -- happily
still alive -- was supported in part by the company; he was attentive
and kind, and so moderate in his charges that all who wished for
education might have obtained it. Many availed themselves of the
privilege; and some of my schoolfellows now rank in positions far above
what they appeared ever likely to come to when in the village school. If
such a system were established in England, it would prove a never-ending
blessing to the poor.
In reading, every thing that I could lay my
hands on was devoured except novels. Scientific works and books of
travels were my especial delight; though my father, believing, with many
of his time who ought to have known better, that the former were
inimical to religion, would have preferred to have seen me poring over
the "Cloud of Witnesses", or Boston's "Fourfold State". Our difference
of opinion reached the point of open rebellion on my part, and his last
application of the rod was on my refusal to peruse Wilberforce's
"Practical Christianity". This dislike to dry doctrinal reading, and to
religious reading of every sort, continued for years afterward; but
having lighted on those admirable works of Dr. Thomas Dick, "The
Philosophy of Religion" and "The Philosophy of a Future State", it was
gratifying to find my own ideas, that religion and science are not
hostile, but friendly to each other, fully proved and enforced.
Great pains had been taken by my parents to
instill the doctrines of Christianity into my mind, and I had no
difficulty in understanding the theory of our free salvation by the
atonement of our Savior, but it was only about this time that I really
began to feel the necessity and value of a personal application of the
provisions of that atonement to my own case. The change was like what
may be supposed would take place were it possible to cure a case of
"color blindness". The perfect freeness with which the pardon of all
our guilt is offered in God's book drew forth feelings of affectionate
love to Him who bought us with his blood, and a sense of deep obligation
to Him for his mercy has influenced, in some small measure, my conduct
ever since. But I shall not again refer to the inner spiritual life
which I believe then began, nor do I intend to specify with any
prominence the evangelistic labors to which the love of Christ has since
impelled me. This book will speak, not so much of what has been done,
as of what still remains to be performed, before the Gospel can be said
to be preached to all nations.
In the glow of love which Christianity
inspires, I soon resolved to devote my life to the alleviation of human
misery. Turning this idea over in my mind, I felt that to be a pioneer
of Christianity in China might lead to the material benefit of some
portions of that immense empire; and therefore set myself to obtain a
medical education, in order to be qualified for that enterprise.
In recognizing the plants pointed out in my
first medical book, that extraordinary old work on astrological
medicine, Culpeper's "Herbal", I had the guidance of a book on the
plants of Lanarkshire, by Patrick. Limited as my time was, I found
opportunities to scour the whole country-side, "collecting simples".
Deep and anxious were my studies on the still deeper and more perplexing
profundities of astrology, and I believe I got as far into that abyss of
phantasies as my author said he dared to lead me. It seemed perilous
ground to tread on farther, for the dark hint seemed to my youthful mind
to loom toward "selling soul and body to the devil", as the price of the
unfathomable knowledge of the stars. These excursions, often in company
with brothers, one now in Canada, and the other a clergyman in the
United States, gratified my intense love of nature; and though we
generally returned so unmercifully hungry and fatigued that the embryo
parson shed tears, yet we discovered, to us, so many new and interesting
things, that he was always as eager to join us next time as he was the
last.
On one of these exploring tours we entered a
limestone quarry -- long before geology was so popular as it is now. It
is impossible to describe the delight and wonder with which I began to
collect the shells found in the carboniferous limestone which crops out
in High Blantyre and Cambuslang. A quarry-man, seeing a little boy so
engaged, looked with that pitying eye which the benevolent assume when
viewing the insane. Addressing him with, "How ever did these shells
come into these rocks?" "When God made the rocks, he made the shells in
them," was the damping reply. What a deal of trouble geologists might
have saved themselves by adopting the Turk-like philosophy of this
Scotchman!
My reading while at work was carried on by
placing the book on a portion of the spinning-jenny, so that I could
catch sentence after sentence as I passed at my work; I thus kept up a
pretty constant study undisturbed by the roar of the machinery. To this
part of my education I owe my present power of completely abstracting
the mind from surrounding noises, so as to read and write with perfect
comfort amid the play of children or near the dancing and songs of
savages. The toil of cotton-spinning, to which I was promoted in my
nineteenth year, was excessively severe on a slim, loose-jointed lad,
but it was well paid for; and it enabled me to support myself while
attending medical and Greek classes in Glasgow in winter, as also the
divinity lectures of Dr. Wardlaw, by working with my hands in summer. I
never received a farthing of aid from any one, and should have
accomplished my project of going to China as a medical missionary, in
the course of time, by my own efforts, had not some friends advised my
joining the London Missionary Society on account of its perfectly
unsectarian character. It "sends neither Episcopacy, nor
Presbyterianism, nor Independency, but the Gospel of Christ to the
heathen." This exactly agreed with my ideas of what a missionary
society ought to do; but it was not without a pang that I offered
myself, for it was not quite agreeable to one accustomed to work his own
way to become in a measure dependent on others; and I would not have
been much put about though my offer had been rejected.
Looking back now on that life of toil, I can
not but feel thankful that it formed such a material part of my early
education; and, were it possible, I should like to begin life over again
in the same lowly style, and to pass through the same hardy training.
Time and travel have not effaced the feelings of respect I imbibed for
the humble inhabitants of my native village. For morality, honesty, and
intelligence, they were, in general, good specimens of the Scottish
poor. In a population of more than two thousand souls, we had, of
course, a variety of character. In addition to the common run of men,
there were some characters of sterling worth and ability, who exerted a
most beneficial influence on the children and youth of the place by
imparting gratuitous religious instruction. [The reader will pardon my
mentioning the names of two of these most worthy men -- David Hogg, who
addressed me on his death-bed with the words, "Now, lad, make religion
the every-day business of your life, and not a thing of fits and starts;
for if you do not, temptation and other things will get the better of
you;" and Thomas Burke, an old Forty-second Peninsula soldier, who has
been incessant and never weary in good works for about forty years. I
was delighted to find him still alive; men like these are an honor to
their country and profession.] Much intelligent interest was felt by the
villagers in all public questions, and they furnished a proof that the
possession of the means of education did not render them an unsafe
portion of the population. They felt kindly toward each other, and much
respected those of the neighboring gentry who, like the late Lord
Douglas, placed some confidence in their sense of honor. Through the
kindness of that nobleman, the poorest among us could stroll at pleasure
over the ancient domains of Bothwell, and other spots hallowed by the
venerable associations of which our school-books and local traditions
made us well aware; and few of us could view the dear memorials of the
past without feeling that these carefully kept monuments were our own.
The masses of the working-people of Scotland have read history, and are
no revolutionary levelers. They rejoice in the memories of "Wallace and
Bruce and a' the lave," who are still much revered as the former
champions of freedom. And while foreigners imagine that we want the
spirit only to overturn capitalists and aristocracy, we are content to
respect our laws till we can change them, and hate those stupid
revolutions which might sweep away time-honored institutions, dear alike
to rich and poor.
Having finished the medical curriculum and
presented a thesis on a subject which required the use of the
stethoscope for its diagnosis, I unwittingly procured for myself an
examination rather more severe and prolonged than usual among examining
bodies. The reason was, that between me and the examiners a slight
difference of opinion existed as to whether this instrument could do
what was asserted. The wiser plan would have been to have had no
opinion of my own. However, I was admitted a Licentiate of Faculty of
Physicians and Surgeons. It was with unfeigned delight I became a
member of a profession which is pre-eminently devoted to practical
benevolence, and which with unwearied energy pursues from age to age its
endeavors to lessen human woe.
But though now qualified for my original
plan, the opium war was then raging, and it was deemed inexpedient for
me to proceed to China. I had fondly hoped to have gained access to that
then closed empire by means of the healing art; but there being no
prospect of an early peace with the Chinese, and as another inviting
field was opening out through the labors of Mr. Moffat, I was induced to
turn my thoughts to Africa; and after a more extended course of
theological training in England than I had enjoyed in Glasgow, I
embarked for Africa in 1840, and, after a voyage of three months,
reached Cape Town. Spending but a short time there, I started for the
interior by going round to Algoa Bay, and soon proceeded inland, and
have spent the following sixteen years of my life, namely, from 1840 to
1856, in medical and missionary labors there without cost to the
inhabitants.
As to those literary qualifications which
are acquired by habits of writing, and which are so important to an
author, my African life has not only not been favorable to the growth of
such accomplishments, but quite the reverse; it has made composition
irksome and laborious. I think I would rather cross the African
continent again than undertake to write another book. It is far easier
to travel than to write about it. I intended on going to Africa to
continue my studies; but as I could not brook the idea of simply
entering into other men's labors made ready to my hands, I entailed on
myself, in addition to teaching, manual labor in building and other
handicraft work, which made me generally as much exhausted and unfit for
study in the evenings as ever I had been when a cotton-spinner. The
want of time for self-improvement was the only source of regret that I
experienced during my African career. The reader, remembering this, will
make allowances for the mere gropings for light of a student who has the
vanity to think himself "not yet too old to learn". More precise
information on several subjects has necessarily been omitted in a
popular work like the present; but I hope to give such details to the
scientific reader through some other channel.