As our first "hero of
geographical discovery," we join Lieutenant William Paterson, who, in
1777 and 1778, made three trips in the Hottentot country north of the
Cape, and one into Kaifraria, being, as is supposed, the first European
to enter the latter province.
In his first trip,
Paterson advanced no further than the foot of the Schneuwberg Mountains,
and met with no more thrilling adventure than an encounter with some
so-called savages, who, advancing upon him with warlike gestures,
retired on receiving a little tobacco. The second journey, however, bad
more important results. Guided by a young Dutchman possessing several
farms up country, Paterson made in the first instance for the small
Dutch town of Zwellendam, and thence for the Buffalo River, where he was
joined by the well-known settler, Van Reenan. Having visited St.
Catherine's Bay, some 280 miles from the Cape, our explorer, with a
fresh team of oxen for the inevitable waggon, now so familiar to all
travellers in South Africa, began his journey north by way of the
Grcener kloof or ravine. Crossing the Great Karroo or mountain-terrace,
the most important of the barren table-lands, rising some 2000 feet
above the sea-level, which form so remarkable a feature of the Cape
Colony, then haunted by marauding Bushmen at war with the Dutch, lie
entered Little Namaqua Land, on the north-west of the Cape Colony, on
the 21st August, 1778, arriving on the 27th of the same month at a large
Hottentot kraal or village. Here the woolly-haired, thick-lipped natives
entertained him and his companions with music and dancing, showing none
of those savage qualities for which the Dutch settlers were ever ready
to give them credit. Indeed, the bows and arrows, without which no male
native seemed ever to sally forth, were never used against the white
guests, and nothing could exceed the simple hospitality shown to them on
every opportunity. Leaving the friendly Hottentot village on the 28th
August, but escorted by a native of Namaqua Land, our heroes, enriching
themselves by the way with botanical treasures, such as specimens and
seeds of the numerous aloes, euphorbias, &e., common in those regions,
pressed on for the so-called Great River, now known to be the Gariep, or
eastern branch of the Orange River, visited by a Colonel Gordon (not the
hero of the Soudan) the previous year, and named after the Prince of
Orange.
Keeping along the eastern
bank bank of the river until the 16th September, the three travellers
crossed it on that day, narrowly escaping with their lives from two
hippopotami, who pursued them to a rock in the middle of the stream.
Scrambling up it, with the wild river-horses snorting at their heels,
all were saved, and the guns being loaded, the attacking party was
driven off, one being shot, and the other swimming to the opposite
shore.
On the 19th the three
travellers pursued their way northwest through a country abounding in
poisonous reptiles, elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, tigers, zebras,
elks, koodoo antelopes, hyenas, and jackals, visited the now well-known
copper mines, &c., and then, after a short excursion into the districts
on the north, peopled by a wild and wandering race called Bush
Hottentots, they returned to the Cape, along the Atlantic Ocean.
In his third journey,
Paterson, accompanied by a Dutch overseer named Tunies, turned his steps
towards Kaifraria, then scarcely known to Europeans. Leaving Zwellendaxu
on the 8th January, 1779, the two directed their course eastwards,
passed the Zwartskop River, the remarkable Zoutpan Lake, three or four
miles in circumference, which at certain periods of the year is
converted into a mass of fine white salt, the Sondags or Sundays River,
and on the morning of the 4th February, the party, augmented by Mr. Van
Reenan, and a Mr. Jacob Koch, entered Kaffraria, then bounded on the
west by Great Fish River. Passing through the dense woods lining its
banks, with nothing to guide them but an elephant-track, the little band
of white men crossed the river on the afternoon of the same day, to find
themselves in a beautiful plain, rich in evergreens and bulbous plants,
such as the iris, succeeded by a wood some eight miles broad, beyond
which they came in sight of the first Kaffir village. Approaching it
cautiously, with natural doubt as to their reception, they were met at
its entrance by three Kaffirs, wearing oxen hides, tails of animals
round their thighs, brass ornaments in their hair, and ivory rings on
their arms, who showed great surprise at their appearance, they being,
doubtless, the first white men ever seen by them. Turning their backs on
their visitors in a manner far from encouraging, the advanced guard
hastened to return to their village, to tell their fellow-countrymen of
the approach of the strangers; but on the entry of the latter, they were
agreeably surprised at receiving a hearty welcome, and the immediate
offer of milk and a fat bullock by way of refreshment. The natives then
formed themselves into a kind of voluntary bodyguard, and escorted their
guests from one village to another, till they came to that of their
chief, Khonta, who proved himself as hospitable as his subjects, offered
Paterson a whole herd of bullocks, and was quite hurt at his declining
to accept more than one.
Like most Kaffirs, King
Khonta was a tall, well-made man, with a jet black skin, large
intelligent eyes, and gleaming white teeth. his house, with a rounded
roof distinguishing it from the conical extremity of those of his
Hottentot neighbours, was built on the bank of a stream, and he ruled
over his people with patriarchal simplicity. Twenty-two servants
accompanied him wherever he went, and his chief wealth consisted in the
possession of some hundred cows and bullocks. He would gladly have
detained his visitors for some days, but finding them unwilling to
remain with him, he let them go, first presenting them with lances and
baskets of native manufacture, the latter so closely woven of grass as
to hold liquid of every kind.
A short excursion to the
east terminated this, Paterson's third trip, and on a fourth to the
north-west, with the exception of a visit to the huts of some wild men
living on the banks of the Orange River, with whom he was unable to open
any intercourse, he traversed no new ground, although, with the
assistance of Colonel Gordon, again his comrade, he was able to confirm
some of the discoveries of his second journey.
Amongst the many
missionaries sent out by various societies in the early part of the
present century, some few added geographical research to their labours
amongst the heathen. Of these, one of the earliest was John Campbell,
commissioned by the London Missionary Society in 1812, shortly after the
final occupation by the English of the Cape Colony, to visit and inspect
the missionary stations in it and the neighbouring districts.
Campbell arrived at Cape
Town on the 23d. October, 1812, and having duly made himself acquainted
with the condition of its schools for slaves, under Dutch or English
missionaries, he repaired to Steflenbosh, then a quaint little town,
with carved and whitewashed houses, set down in a valley shut in by
mountains. here, as in Cape Town, our hero found missionaries hard at
work, and superintending large schools attended by male and female
slaves, eager to learn all that could be taught them. At Genadendal and
Caledon, or Zwarteberg, villages within easy distance of Stellenbosh,
the Moravian and London Missionaries were also actively employed, and
early in February, 1813, Campbell, encouraged by all he had seen, was
able to start for Bethelsdorp, an important nucleus of missionary
effort, in the district of Uitenhage, near Algoa Bay, and 450 miles cast
of Cape Town. With two waggons, drawn by teams of oxen and driven by
natives, our hero made his way over the steep and difficult Hottentot
Holland's Kiouf or ravine, along the Bot River, and across country to
Zwellcndarn, beyond which he pressed on in an easterly direction through
the then dense bush, bright with tropical flowers, chiefly cacti (of
which we give a group of specimens), across one river after another, to
the shores of Mussel Bay, everywhere finding evidences of the civili&ing
results of his predecessors' work. From George, a growing Dutch
settlement overlooking the Bay, excursions were made to the Hottentot
kraals of Hooge and Zurebrak, where the natives crowded round Campbell,
and listened with interest to his impromptu sermons. Between George and
Bethelsdorp many a long compulsory halt was made, owing to the rugged
nature of the country traversed, the waggons requiring each a double
team of 26 oxen to get them up some of the kloofs or ravines; but
patience, that indispensable characteristic of a successful African
traveller, appears never to have failed Campbell, and in his spirited
account of his adventures he makes no complaint. Whilst waiting for his
men to get the wheels of his carts out of some unusually obstinate rut,
he would enter into conversation now with a Dutch boor, now with a
Hottentot slave, and the appendix to his second publication contains a
most interesting collection of native tales, picked up here, there, and
everywhere.
Campbell arrived at
Bethelsdorp on the 19th March, and found it to be a mere straggling
concourse of miserable huts, interesting, however, in spite of its
dismal appearance, on account of the noble work going on amongst the
Hottentots, numbering some 1050, there protected and educated by
emissaries of the London Missionary Society.
Having, as usual,
inspected the schools, and cheered teachers and pupils by his eager
interest in and approval of their work, our hero left Bethelsdorp,
accompanied by Messrs Read and Albricht, also missionaries, to traverse
Albany, formerly the home of the since extinct Gonaqua race, but now
colonised by Scotch settlers; and wending his way over its vast
park-like meadows, or through the narrow rugged ravines and almost
impenetrable bush, he came on the 21st April, 18 13, to Graham's Town,
named after Colonel Graham, who commanded the British troops when the
Kaffirs were driven beyond the Great Fish River, dividing Albany from
Kaifraria. A short rest at Graham's Town, as the honoured guest of the
chief English and Dutch residents, was succeeded by a march across
country in a north-westerly direction to Graaf Reynet, a town containing
a large free and slave population, the latter already converted to
Christianity by the London missionaries.
On the 11th May, Campbell
started for the Bushmen's country on the north of the Cape Colony, by
way of the Sncuwberg or Snow Mountain, arriving on the borders of the
native district on the 20th of the same month. Here Albricht and one or
two missionaries from Albany returned to the south, and Campbell and
Road, accompanied by some young Bushmen as guides, several armed
Hottentots as an escort, and the usual complement of waggon and oxen -
drivers, began that part of their journey most interesting to us as
students of geographical exploration. The country traversed was wild,
desolate, and but thinly inhabited. Again and again want of water
reduced the party to the last stage of exhaustion, and but for their
native guides, they would probably never have reached their journey's
end. Now following a more elephant or zebra track, now resting for a
night with huge fires burning around their camp, as a protection from
lions and other wild beasts, they came on the 25th May to a lake, a rare
phenomenon in this part of Africa, which they named Burder, after the
then secretary of the London Missionary Society, and on the shores of
which they shot nine bucks, one quagga or zebra, and one ostrich.
Another five days'
journey, rendered exciting by several narrow escapes from falling into
pits dug by the natives as traps for wild beasts, brought the exhausted
travellers to the shores of the Great or Orange River, where a friendly
Bushman chief, wearing a tall hat, a short blue coat, and skin trousers,
and escorted by nine of his subjects on oxen, took them under his
protection, and showed them the way to the ford. On the 8th June, the
Great River was crossed in the following order:—1st, the extra oxen,
driven by three Hottentots; 2nd, Campbell's own waggon with three
mounted Griquas on each side; 3rd, more extra oxen driven by two mounted
Griquas; 4th, a second waggon, with two Griquas on either side; 5th, the
baggage waggon, with three Griquas on each side; 6th, a Hottentot on
horseback; 7th, four dogs, which were driven down by the torrent; Sth,
sheep and goats, driven by three Griquas swimming on wooden horses; and
9th, more oxen driven by Griquas on wooden horses.
This list will serve to
give a better idea than pages of description of the motley pharacter of
a travelling party in South Africa, and will enable us to picture to
ourselves the entry into Griqua Land, on the other side of the Great
River, where a hearty welcome awaited the dripping heroes and their
escort from the chief of the border districts. The successful crossing
was celebrated in the evening by a service in the open air, attended by
crowds of Griquas, and at 10 p.m. arrived Mr. Anderson, a successful
missionary from Klaar Water or Griqua Town, the next stage in Campbell's
journey.
On the 9th, leave was
taken of the Griqua cliief, and on the 10th, after a pleasant ride
through a paceful country dotted with kraals, Griqua Town was reached,
and acquaintance made with the celebrated chief, Adam Kok, who threw
himself heartily into Campbell's designs for penetrating into the
interior of the country, and volunteered to escort him to Lataku or
Lithako, a native town on the north-east of Griqua Land, never before
visited by a European, unless by the unfortunate Dr. Cowan and Captain
Denovan.
Eagerly accepting Kok's
valuable offer, Campbell stayed in Griqua Town only long enough to visit
a few native families, and be present at a most interesting meeting, at
which he preached to a motley congregation of Dutch, English, Scotch,
Griquas, and Corannas. Then, accompanied by his old comrade Read, the
native chief, and Anderson, he started for the north-east, crossed a
valley bounded right and left by ranges of hills, halted on the 17th at
John Bloem's Fountain, now known as Bloom Fontein, named after John.
Bloem, a Dutchman, entered the Matchappee country, inhabited by a fine
race of that name, wearing coloured sheepskins, on the 21st, and on the
24th arrived at Lattaku (S. lat. 27° 19' E. long. 24° 16'), then a
straggling town with well-built conical-roofed houses, divided into
several districts, each ruled over by a headman, responsible to the
chief or king.
On the first entry of the
three waggons and their escort into this city in the wilderness,
absolute silence prevailed, not a creature, except a few boys, was to be
seen in any direction, but when Campbell's equipage came to the
principal street, containing the king's residence facing a square, a man
appeared, who made signs to the visitors to follow him. Arrived at the
square, the unnatural stillness was suddenly changed for a genuine
native hubbub. Crowds collected round the waggons, which the leaders had
lost no time in drawing up in the form of a square, placing the tent in
the middle, and shortly afterwards the leading men of the place, in the
absence of their king, then on a hunting expedition, came to pay their
respects, and invited our hero and his companions to remain with them
until his return. This Campbell readily consented to do, and the next,
few days were passed in making friends with the natives, in witnessing
public shows, such as dancing, accompanied by bawling and yelling,
visiting different houses, one containing some really good paintings of
animals by a chieftain's wife, and obtaining information respecting the
neighbouring races.
On the 5th July, Mateebe,
the king himself, returned home, and in an early visit paid to the white
men, he astonished our hero by his quiet, gentlemanly, almost English
manners, and by begging him, after some little conversation with the aid
of an interpreter, to send instructors to his people, promising to be a
father to them. In the next two days, several meetings, to which the
natives were invited, were held by Campbell and Anderson, and the king,
who listened with interest to the addresses given by the missionaries,
declared that he would some day go to Griqua Town and learn more of
these things.
On the 7th, Campbell took
leave of his royal host, to whom he had become positively attached, and
still accompanied by Anderson and Kok, started eastward, and crossing
some districts never before visited by Europeans, peopled by the
Matchappees, he arrived on the 11th at a town called Malapeetze, where
the appearance of the white men excited the greatest astonishment,
nearly indeed caus• in, the death from fright of the wives of one of the
chiefs. From Malapeetze excursions were made amongst various wandering
tribes, who offered no opposition to the travellers' examination of
their country, and early in August the party, their numbers, strange to
say, undiminished, returned to Griqua Land, whence Campbell and Read
started again for Namaqua Land on the 9th.
On this new excursion the
Orange River was again crossed, and turning due west, the indefatigable
missionaries followed its course through the Coranna country and across
the sandy desert dividing it from Namaqua Land, arriving at the
missionary station of Pella on the 12th September, 1813. Here, as
elsewhere, noble teachers of the Gospel had already won the affections
of natives and settlers, and having cheered the European exiles with
greetings from home, preached to the usual mixed congregations, and met
the great chiefs of Namaqua Land both privately and publicly, our hero,
feeling that his work was done for the present, set out on his return to
the Cape Colony by way of the desert to the south of Little Namaqua
Land. The 30th October found him again at Cape Town, and in the ensuing
month he returned to England, to meet, as may be imagined, with an
enthusiastic welcome from his employers, and, five years later, to be
sent with the Rev. Dr. John Philip on a yet more important mission to
South Africa
The missionaries arrived
at Cape Town on this new expedition on the 26th February, 1819, and, for
reasons connected with the interests of the parent society into which we
need not enter here, it was arranged that Philip should remain on the
coast whilst Campbell proceeded to the interior. Accompanied by the now
famous Moffat and his wife, with the necessary Hottentot attendants, our
hero started from Cape Town on the 8th January, 1820, and, travelling by
way of the Dutch towns of Stellenbosh, Paarl, and Tulbach, arrived at
the mouth of the Hex River Kloof on the 28th, where a district not yet
traversed was entered, bringing the party first into one of the romantic
serpentine defiles such as are numerous in the Nieuwveld and Dracheuberg
chains, and then to the great Karroo. The last day of February found the
missionaries on the extreme limits of the Cape Colony) and on the 1st
March they entered the then wild Bushman's territory, and travelling
leisurely on account of the parching heat, Campbell made personal
acquaintance with many of its simple untutored inhabitants, finding
amongst them some slight knowledge of God and a touching readiness to
learn more, though they feared the Good Lord was for the white men, not
for them. The springboks, the quagga, the ostriches of these now
colonised districts were also duly noticed and admired, but the main
object of this, as of the previous journey, was the paving the way for
the establishment of new missionary stations. Griqua Town was reached on
the 11th March, and on the 21st the journey to Lataku began. On the
22nd, the source of the Kxooman or Kuruman, bursting from a curious
arched subterranean passage, was visited, and on the 26th, King
Matcebe's capital was entered for the second time.
On this occasion the
white visitors were welcomed with eager hospitality by the Matehappees;
every facility was afforded for missionary effort amongst high and low,
rich and poor, and, most important of all, a friendship was struck up
with Kossie, King of Mashow, on the north of Lattaku, who happened to be
on a visit to Mateebe. This fortunate acquaintance with a potentate of
the unexplored interior led to Campbell's accepting an invitation to
visit him in his own home, and he left Lattaku for that purpose on the
12th April, accompanied by his old friend and comrade Read, and escorted
by Munameets, a Matchappee chief. A short halt at a town called Old
Tattakn, to distinguish it from the more modern Matchappee capital, was
succeeded by a most interesting trip in a north-easterly direction
across a park-like country, as yet untracked by anything but footpaths
some eighteen inches wide, made by the natives iii bringing milk to
Lattaku from theii cattle posts. Here and there on the right, amongst
the tall grass and thick clumps of trees, rose Coranna kraals, whilst on
the left stretched the country of the wild Bechuanas, with an occasional
village of the so-called Bechuana Bushmen, a mongrel race descended from
the few Bushmen who had penetrated so far north and the true T3ecbuanas.
Lions, gnus, springboks, hartebeest antelopes, and countless ostriches
were seen as the little caravan advanced further and further into the
wilderness, and the lakes here and there breaking the monotony of the
scenery were rich in flamingoes and water-fowl.
On the 21st April,
Meribohwey, the capital of the Tammaha country, was entered, and the
waggons were quickly surrounded by a motley crowd of some five hundred
natives, who, though reputed of a murderous and blood- thirsty
disposition, offered our heroes no molestation, but listened patiently
to a sermon from Campbell on the text, "Let us do good unto all men."
This impromptu service was succeeded by breakfast, and that by an
interview with the principal kings or chiefs, Munameets acting as
mediator, the result of which was that their sable highnesses consented
to receive and protect instructors. They also requested Campbell to
bewitch the rain and make it cease, but expressed no indignation when he
pleaded his powerlessness.
On the 24th April our
heroes left \Ieribohwhey for Mashow, two hours' distance, and arriving
there on the same day, were courteously received by their host, Kossie,
who introduced them to his chief men, and agreed, as his brother of
Meribohwhey had done, to receive missionaries.
From Mashow, a town
scarcely differing in appearance from those already visited, except for
the addition of a kind of terrace in front of the low mud houses,
Campbell and Read proceeded almost due north through the so-called
Morolong country, arriving, after crossing some well- watered districts
rich in large game, at a beautiful spring, to which they gave the name
of Philip Fountain, beyond which they entered a lovely mountain pass
leading down into the Marootzee country, peopled by a sturdy, hardy, and
warlike race, trading with their southern neighbours in assagais or
spears, knives, and beads of their own manufacture. The first week of
May witnessed the entry of Europeans into the important town of
Kurreechana, the central city of the Marootzee nation, and the furthest
point reached on this memorable journey, and as the natives poured
yelling and shouting out of their semi-circular rows of conical huts,
their excitement and horror at the appearance of the white men was at
first extreme. Gradually, however, as the fact that their visitors were
harmless, in spite of their weird appearance and their extraordinary
clothing, was borne in upon their minds, the king, a young man of only
sixteen, was brought forward and introduced to the new-corners. They
were allowed to retire to rest in their waggons for the night, only to
be beset by eager crowds the next morning, who brought them presents of
sugar-cane, &c., and seemed vastly diverted at their cooking operations,
holding up their children to watch, and expressing their surprise by the
wildest gestures.
The usual meetings for
prayer and praise were held on the ensuing days, in the presence of a
vast multitude of natives, including many kings and chiefs, who, though
not asked to kneel, did so, in imitation of Campbell and Read. Promises
of protection to future missionaries were obtained from the principal
men, together with some important information respecting the inhabitants
of the Wanketzen country on the north-west and of the native routes to
Delagoa Bay, &c. Then, feeling that the path was paved for his
successors, Campbell made ready to return to the coast. Taking a
somewhat more easterly route than he had done in his journey up, he
arrived it Lattaku on the 8th June, and after a short visit with Moffat
to the scene of that hero's future labours on the Kuruman River, he
returned to Cape Town by the ordinary route, arriving there in good
health on the 10th November, 1820, after an absence of ten months,
during which he had not met with a single accident of importance, and
had everywhere been well received by the natives.
About the same time as
Campbell made his first visits to Lattakii, an Englishman named Burchell
penetrated to the town of Chuai, on the Moiopo River, some little
distance to the north-west of the Matchappee capital, with a view to
reaching the Portuguese settlements on the western coast by way of the
Kalihari Desert, but he was deserted by his servants and compelled to
return to the Cape, not having added more than a small tract of country
to that already explored.
The hearty reception
accorded to Campbell by King Mateebe encouraged other missionaries to
visit his capital, and in 1816, between their predecessor's two
journeys, Messrs Evans, Williams, Hamilton, and Baker attempted to
settle in Lattaku, but they were peremptorily ordered to leave the town,
and though after a long and wearisome delay at Griqua Town a reprieve
was granted, they had scarcely begun their work when war broke out
between the Matchappees and Bechuanas, compelling the white men to
retire to the Kuruman River. Here King Mateebe and the remnant of his
tribe also took refuge after their defeat, to find but one missionary,
Hamilton, still true to his post, where he remained, labouring on
against gigantic difficulties, until he was joined by 'Moffat, to whom a
separate chapter must be devoted.
ROBERT MOFFAT arrived at
Cape Town in 1817, and, after a delay of eight months, started on his
first journey into the interior, making Namaqua Laud, recently the scene
of troubles amongst the missionaries, his goal. Accompanied by a Mr.
Kitchingham and his wife, he set out with the usual waggons and teams of
oxen, but, labour being scarce, be and his comrade were compelled
themselves to take charge of the loose oxen, sheep, and horses, which
are the inevitable accompaniment of every travelling caravan in South
Africa. This, of course, added very much to the fatigue of the trip,
great courage and perpetual watchfulness being necessary to save the
animals from the attacks of wild boars, hyenas, &c., or from tumbling
over, sometimes even disappearing, in the ant-hills dotting the country.
On one occasion a pet lamb which had been doomed to die the next morning
was missed, and, following its track, Moffat and Kitchingham traced it
to the top of a rugged mountain only to be finally beaten in the chase,
the animal darting away to cliffs inaccessible to its pursuers, when
they were within a step of its thong.
Another trouble, rare in
the districts north of Cape Town, which are generally dry and parched,
was the swelling of the rivers from rain, and the almost complete
obliteration of roads from the same cause. The loose limy soil of the
Kamies Berg was so completely saturated that the oxen and waggons often
suddenly sunk in the mire, not to be extricated until the latter had
been unloaded. All these troubles, however, met with energy and courage,
were triumphantly conquered, and the party arrived safely at the
missionary station of of Bysondermeid without any serious casualty.
Here Mr. and Mrs.
Kitchingham remained permanently, and Moffat for a month, as the guest
of Mr. Schinelen, the resident missionary. Then reluctantly bidding
farewell to his fellow-countryman, our hero started with a guide across
the comparatively trackless desert between Bysondermeid and Namaqua
Land. On this stage of his journey want of water was the chief
difficulty to be contended with, and as early as the second (lay the
oxen fell down exhausted from thirst. Before daybreak the next morning
Moffat and his guide started with spades and followed by the oxen to
seek for water, of which they succeeded in finding a small quantity,
after digging a huge hole in the sand. The scene which followed bafiles
description. The oxen, wild with excitement, gathered round, jostling
each other in their eagerness, the stronger getting the lion's share,
whilst the weaker obtained hardly any. The return to the waggon over a
burning plain beneath the meridian sun moreover undid what little good
the scanty draught had done, and many of the oxen made off in the
direction of Bysondermeid, their instinct telling them that things were
likely to be worse rather than better with their masters. An attendant
sent in pursuit returned unsuccessful, pleading that he dared not go
further alone—he should die of thirst, or lie should be killed by lions.
Moffat, who in all his
dealings with the natives made gentleness and humanity his rule, yielded
to the poor fellow's plea, and sent two men with the remaining oxen on
to Pella to obtain assistance, remaining himself with one man by the
waggon. Very great were the sufferings in the few (lays which followed,
on a burning plain, with scarcely anything to eat or drink, and with no
sound to break the silence but the occasional roar of a lion; but just
as he was beginning to despair of rescue, Mr. Bartlett, a missionary
from Pella, arrived on horseback, followed by two men, with quantities
of mutton dangling from. their saddles.
The meeting between the
two missionaries may -be imagined. Bartlett, accustomed as he was by
long residence to the burning climate of Namaqua Land, declared that
what Moffat had endured was exceptional, even for that district, and,
after much refreshing intercourse, the two, already capital friends,
rode together to Pella, where Moffat was most hospitably entertained by
Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett A short rest quickly restored him to his usual
vigorous health, and a few days later he started for the kraal of the
celebrated Christian chief, Africaner, arriving there on the 26th
January, 1818.
Before relating our
hero's experiences in this the first scene of his missionary labours, we
must pause to give the previous history of Africaner, acquaintance with
which is necessary to the proper comprehension of our further narrative,
and will do more than pages of description to illustrate the unhappy
relations between the Dutch settlers and the natives of South Africa,
referred to in our opening chapter.
The eldest son of the
chief of a numerous Hottentot tribe which once had its strongholds in
the Witseusberg and Winterhoek Mountains, and owned hundreds of miles of
pasture-land north of the Cape, Jager, afterwards Christian Africaner,
found himself in early manhood, by the resignation of his father of the
chieftainship, the champion against overwhelming numbers of the
oppressed and despairing Hottentots. Driven further and further north,
and dwindling gradually to half their former numbers, his clan finally
yielded to the force of circumstances, and Africaner with many of his
people became the servants of a Dutch farmer, whose name we have been
unable to ascertain.
A faithful ruler, so long
as he had anything to rule, Jager proved also a faithful servant, and
for years he lived on good terms with his employer, bravely defending
the flocks committed to his charge from the raids of Bushmen, &c., and
checking every incipient revolt amongst his own people with a firm
though gentle hand. Had the Dutch master shown common humanity in his
dealings with his native subjects all might have been well, but the
exiled chieftain had to witness the wholesale murder of the males of his
tribe, and the carrying into slavery of their wives and children. True,
the murders were said to be in self- defence, the slavery was called
apprenticeship, but to the minds of the untutored natives the last-named
distinction did not exist, and when rumours reached Africaner's ears of
a plot against the natives generally, he could bear no more. He refused
to execute an order of his master. His people seconded him, and when the
farmer reiterated his commands, he was answered by a petition from the
whole body of his servants for permission to retire to some secluded
district and there end their days in peace.
As a matter of course
this request was peremptorily denied, and the Dutchman coupled with his
refusal an order to all his native servants to appear that evening at
the door of his house. The crisis had come. In sullen silence Jager and
his next brother, Titus, led their men up to the door, the latter taking
his gun with him in case of the worst, and concealing it behind him.
Jager, ascending the few steps at the front of the house, intended
peaceably to state his grievances, hoping even yet to avoid coming to
extremities, but, before he could utter a word, his master rushed out
and with one blow felled him to the ground. The next moment there was
the report of a gun, and the farmer fell dead, shot to the heart by
Titus Africaner, who then, followed by his people, entered the house,
and telling the terrified mistress that though her husband was dead, she
was safe, they had nothing against her, demanded what ammunition and
guns she had. The widow brought them in fear and trembling, and was told
to remain quietly at home and no injury would be done her, but if she
left the house to expect no further protection, as the Africaners could
not answer for the forbearance of the natives not in their own party.
Two children who ran out at the back door in their fright were killed by
Bushmen, but the rest of the family escaped.
Africaner, though his
vengeance was accomplished almost against his own will, lost no time in
accepting the situation forced upon him by his brother's action, and,
rallying the remnant of his tribe, retired beyond the Orange River, and
later to Narnaqua Land, where a chief ceded him a considerable tract of
country, over which he ruled peaceably for some little time.
The news of the outrage
on the farmer's family, however, excited the greatest alarm and
indignation in the Cape Colony. Rewards were offered for the capture of
Africaner dead or alive, commandoes or military expeditions were sent
out against him, and finally, the Dutch settlers bribed Berend, a chief
of the Griquas, to attack Narnaqua Land. Unmoved by all the declarations
against him, and setting the commandoes at defiance, Africaner was
roused to action by this last manuvre, and rushing down upon the borders
of the colony, he murdered a farmer named Engel- brecht and a Griqua,
carrying their cattle and other property back with him to his own
country.
This was the beginning of
war to the death between Africaner and all his neighbours. Almost
worshipped by his followers, who were ready to slay and pillage on the
slightest provocation, his name became the terror of South Africa, and
the only man able at all to cope with him was the chief Berend mentioned
above. Again and again the two met in battle, mutually weakening, but
never crushing each other. On one occasion Titus Africaner and Berend
were engaged in single combat in the presence of their troops, and were
levelling their guns at each other when a COW suddenly rushed between
them, received both charges in her body, and fell down dead. But one out
of many hairbreadth escapes, this singular incident scarcely affected
either of the combatants, and it appeared likely that the plot of the
Dutch settlers would succeed, and the native tribes would exterminate
each other, when a strange change fell upon the leaders of both parties,
and one unprecedented even in missionary annals, rich as they are in
remarkable conversions.
The missionaries to
Namaqua Land, of whom Dr. Vanderkemp and the brothers Albrecht were
amongst the most successful and devoted, had long lived in terror of
their lives, and for some little time were compelled to take refuge in
holes dug in the earth, lest they should be massacred by Africaner and
his reckless followers, but unwilling to desert their posts entirely,
one little band, under the Albrechts, pitched their tents, or we should
rather say waggons, almost a hundred miles from Africaner's
headquarters. To their surprise they were not only unmolested, but,
before very long, the great freebooter himself became a member of their
congregation, and in course of time a believer in Christianity. This
unexpected success was followed in another part of the country somewhat
later by the conversion of the Griqua chief Berend; peace, never before
even wished for, was agreed upon, and when Moffitt arrived in the
country it was to find the worst troubles of the missionaries over, and
native congregations scattered over the length and breadth of Namaqua
Land.
Unfortunately, Mr. Ebner,
Moffat's predecessor at Africaner's kraal, had shown so little tact in
his dealing with the natives, that our hero's first welcome was of the
coldest; but, disguising this disappointment, he waited patiently for
the tide to turn, and, in two hours after his arrivals Jager, now
Christian Africaner, arrived, and enquired if he were the missionary
appointed by the directors in London. On Moufat's replying in the
affirmative, his host seemed pleased, and said, "You are young, and I
hope you will live long with me and my people." He then sent for a
number of women, such as those whose portraits we give, but for what
reason Moffat was at first at a loss to understand. The mystery was soon
solved, however, by their collecting bundles of mats and long sticks,
whilst Africaner pointing to a piece of ground said—
"There you must build a
house for the missionary."
The women at once set to
work with a will, fixed the poles in the shape of a hemisphere, and
covered them over with mats. In half-an-hour the work was done. For six
months Moffat lived in this primitive dwelling, and tells us that its
discomfort could scarcely be surpassed, for when the sun shone it was
unbearably hot; when the rain fell he came in for a share of it; when
the wind blew he had frequently to decamp to escape the dust, and, in
addition to these little inconveniences, any hungry cur of a dog that
wanted a night's lodging would force itself through the frail wall, and
more than once he found a serpent coiled up in a corner.
All this, however, failed
to discourage our hero, who was far more concerned at the ill-will
between Mr. Elmer and the natives, which shortly after his arrival
became so bitter that the former left the country in disgust. But for
Moffitt's presence and remonstrances, his predecessor would probably
have been murdered, and it was, therefore, a relief when he was safely
back at the Cape, though his intemperate zeal rendered his successor's
position quite alone amongst the angry natives anything but pleasant.
Fortunately Moffat soon proved himself to be a man of a very different
stamp. Africaner himself and his brothers Titus, Jakobus, and David,
became devotedly attached to him, and in a severe illness, brought on by
living in the house above described, the great chief nursed his guest as
tenderly as any woman.
Finding Africaner's kraal
really too unhealthy for a European to live in, and dreading a premature
shortening of his labours amongst the natives, Moffat was obliged at the
end of six mouths to look out for another field. On his mentioning his
wishes to Africaner he was relieved at meeting with no opposition, and
when his preparations for a journey of discovery were completed, his
host declared his intention of accompanying him himself with a strong
escort. It was decided to make first for the borders of Damara Land on
the north of Namaqua, then quite unknown to Europeans, though
subsequently explored by Galton.
Having himself repaired
his waggon, which had suffered much in the journey from Cape Town, with
the aid of a pair of bellows of his own manufacture, Moffat and his
protectors started due north, over a sterile country abound- ing in
mineral treasures, such as iron-stone and copper, with here and there
fine specimens of fossil trees, meeting at first no living creatures but
zebras, wild asses, elks, koodoos, and an occasional troop of some
thirty or forty giraffes. Further on, however, the country was studded
with villages, and making a point of remaining a day or two in each to
preach the Gospel, Moffat began to hope to find a permanent home amongst
the Namaquas, but, as he approached the Fish River, the natives showed
considerable jealousy of the further advance of the party. They had had
enough of "hat-wearers," they said; their sorcerer had warned them that
the coming of the white man would bring evil upon their land; if he
remained they would flee.
As no arguments could
induce these wild Namaquas to believe in Moffat's harmlessness, there
was nothing to be done but return to Africaner's kraal, and, wending
their way amongst the poisonous euphorbia and prickly acacia, the little
baud tried to reach home home by a slower and less well known route. As
a result, they became involved in serious difficulties from want of
water, and were often in danger from the lions haunting the unfrequented
district through which they passed. One night, after evening service,
the leaders were smoking over their fire of sticks, and the men were
lying about in all manner of careless attitudes, when the roar of a lion
was heard, the oxen rushed suddenly into the camp, trampling down
everything in their way, and then dashed off for the mountains.
Fortunately no serious
injury was inflicted, though Bibles, hats, guns, and hymn-books were
flung in every direction. Africaner, who with Moffat had been rolled
over in the sand, soon started up, and shouting, "Follow me!" led his
men to the pursuit. The frightened animals were brought back safely, but
the lion which had caused all the tumult escaped.
The morning after this
alarm, a sad instance of native cruelty was met with, the travellers
finding an old woman reduced to mere skin and bone, left alone to die in
the desert. Moffat, though himself exhausted from want of water, vent up
to her and enquired what was the matter. Terrified at the sudden
appearance of the white man, the unhappy woman tried to rise but sank
down again from weakness. Reassured by degrees, she at last managed to
explain that she had been left to die four days ago. "My children are
gone," she said, "to yonder blue mountains, and have left me to die. [
am old, you see, and I am no longer able to serve them. When they kill
game, I am too feeble to help in carrying home the flesh; I am not able
to gather wood to make fire, and I cannot carry their children on my
back as I used to do." Then, when Moffat asked how she had managed to
escape the lions, she answered, taking up the skin of her left arm with
her fingers, and raising it as one would do a loose linen: "I hear the
lions; but there is nothing on me that they would eat. I have no flesh
for them to scent."
Touched to the heart by
this piteous recital, Moffat tried to persuade her to let him lift her
into the waggon and take her to the next village, but the mere idea
seemed to convulse her with terror. "It is our custom," she said; "if
you left me at another village they would do the same. I am nearly dead
now; I do not want to die again."
Our hero was, therefore,
compelled to content himself with leaving her some fuel, dry meat,
tobacco, and a. knife, and, promising to return in two days, he joined
his own party in a further search for water, which was found in small
quantities somewhat later in the day. At the appointed time he went back
to the spot where he had left his old protógd to find her gone, the
footmarks of two men leading him to suppose that she had been carried
off to the hills to which she had pointed. Long afterwards he learned
from a native that her sons, who had, unseen, witnessed the interview
with Moffat from a distance, had come down and taken her home with them,
dreading the vengeance of Africaner.
All perils escaped, the
caravan got back to Africaner's kraal towards the close of the year, and
a little later, Moffat, at the request of his host, made a trip to
Griqua Land, to inspect a situation offered to Africaner and his people
by the chief of that country. Accompanied by two of the chief's younger
brothers, and taking nothing with him but his gun and a few necessary
articles of clothing, he bent his steps to the Orange River, and keeping
along the northern bank, arrived safely at the well-known Falls in the
course of one day.
Here a Coranna chief
named Paul received them hospitably enough, and on the following evening
they started again, entering the, to them unknown, Bushman's country,
where they were sometimes well and sometimes badly received. At one
village Moffat nearly lost bi5l life by drinking from water poisoned
with a view to destroying the wild animals with which the jungle near
abounded, but though he suffered great agony for a time, he recovered.
The people of the village showed him the greatest sympathy in his
distress, and some of them scoured the country to find him the fruit of
the solanum, which here grows to the size of an egg, and acts as an
emetic.
Our two illustrations,
one of half-naked Bushmen making a fire, the other of a Bushwoman in
holiday attire, may serve to give some idea of the people amongst whom
Moffat was now travelling. Further on will be found a group of the
weapons still in use amongst this primitive people, and one of the
articles which make UI) a Bushman's travelling equipment, including his
water-skin drinking vessel and club. Moffat speaks in terms of pitying
affection of the wretched condition of these persecuted natives, living
in dread alike of the Dutch settlers and of the Corannas on the other
side of the river, but when left unmolested, showing themselves to be of
peaceable and friendly dispositions. The recent discoveries by G. W.
Stow of cave paintings and rock sculptures, executed by Bushmen before
their complete subjugation by the Dutch, point to the conclusion that
these unfortunate sons of the soil had attained to considerable
excellence in the pictorial area. One of the more modern of these works
is a painting representing the first Boer commando sent out against the
Bushmen; whilst, others, probably of earlier date, give hunting scenes,
struggles between the Boers and Kaffirs, all alike remarkable for
spirited execution.
Before reaching Griqua
Land the whole party suffered fearfully both from fatigue and want of
food and water, having somewhat injudiciously trusted for supplies to
their guns and native hospitality. Moffat indeed was so completely worn
out, that when he at last entered Griqua Town, and drew rein at the
house of Mr. Anderson, the missionary there established, he was
absolutely speechless. Making signs that he wanted water, he was quickly
supplied by Mrs. Anderson with a cup of coffee, and whilst it was being
prepared he managed to explain who he was, but not until the next day
was he able to enter into any details. His sufferings, however, seem not
in the least to have quelled his ardour, and after a very short rest we
find him starting on a journey to the residence of Berend, the chief
already alluded to, and to Lattaku, this time accompanied by Mr. and
Mrs. Anderson.
At both places Moffat and
the Andersons received a hearty welcome, and at Lattaku they remained
some days, and Moffat made his first acquaintance with the Bechuanas,
amongst whom his lot was subsequently cast. On the return journey to
Africaner's kraal he had two narrow escapes; one from hyenas, who,
emboldened by hunger, attacked his camp, and one from a hippopotamus,
which dashed furiously up stivain as he and Younker Africaner were about
to cross the Orange River. As Paterson had done before him, Moffat
escaped to an island in the river, and the monster was driven off with
stones by his men.
Once more "at home," as
he expresses it, Moffat made the somewhat startling resolution of paying
a visit to the Cape, and taking Africaner with him. "Do you not know,"
said his host when the proposal was first made to him, "that I am an
outlaw, and that one thousand rix dollars have been offered for this
poor head? But," he added, "I shall deliberate, and roll my way upon the
Lord. I know he will not leave me."
The result of the
deliberation was in Moffat's favour, and a little later, escorted by
half the population of Namaqua Land, he and the royal convert started
for Pella, where, acting on Mr. Bartlett's advice, Africaner assumed an
old suit of Moffat's as a disguise) and decided to act as the
Englishman's servant in the coming journey, with a view to eluding the
vengeance of the Dutch farmers, many of whom had heavy scores against
him, and were not unnaturally sceptical about his conversion.
One farmer, on seeing
Moffat and his "servant" approach his homestead, showed the wildest
excitement, taking the former for a ghost, and surprising him with the
question,
'When did you rise from
the dead?" It was sonic time before the poor fellow was reassured; he
had heard that Moffat had been murdered by Africaner, and when the story
of his conversion had been related to him, with his subsequent
hospitality to missionaries, the worthy Dutch. man cried—
"Well, if what you assert
be true respecting that man, I have only one wish, and that is to see
him before I die; and when you return, as sure as the sun is over our
heads, I will go with you and see him, though he killed my own uncle."
A moment's hesitation,
and then turning to Africaner, who had listened to this conversation
with a quiet smile, Moffat said, "This, then, is Africaner!"
The farmer started back,
stared at the "servant," and exclaimed, "Are you Africaner?" "I am,"
replied the person addressed, raising his hat and bowing. "Oh God!"
cried the farmer, "what a miracle of Thy power; what cannot Thy grace
accomplish!" and forgetting all his wrongs, he invited Moffat and the
chief to remain with him, and spread his best before them.
Arrived at Cape Town,
Moffat lost no time in waiting on the Governor, Lord Charles Somerset,
who listened to his account of the reform of Africaner with evident
scepticism, but was completely won over and fascinated in an interview
the next day with the ex-freebooter himself, so much so that he
presented him with a waggon worth some eighty pounds, and supplied him
with a Government passport, which would enable him to travel unmolested
throughout the English possessions in South Africa.
To Moffat's regret and
disappointment, his connection with Africaner now ended, lie had
intended returning to Namaqua Land with his host, to whom he had become
much attached, but he was requested by the Missionary Society to which
he belonged first to join Mr. Campbell in his second journey to Lattaku,
of which an account has already been given, and then to settle amongst
the Bechuana tribe. Before starting on the first trip he was married to
a Miss Smith, to whom he had long been engaged, and his future labours
were much lightened by her earnest help and sympathy.
Into the details of the
travels of the newly-married couple with Campbell we need not enter
here, but will resume our narrative with their arrival in 1821 at the
Kurumaii River, where they had long been anxiously expected by Hamilton,
worn out by his ceaseless and lonely labours amongst the Bechuanas,
Hottentots, and Bushmen. At this early stage of missionary work the
people seemed callous to all instruction, though many pretended
conversion for the sake of obtaining help from Hamilton. Munameets, the
uncle of Chief Mateebe, who, it will be remembered, accompanied Campbell
on his visit to Mahow, summed up the views of his tribe with regard to
the Christian religion in the following characteristic sentence—
"Your customs may be good
enough for you, but I never see that they fill the stomach. I would like
to live with you because you are kind and could give me medicine when
sick."
A certain rain-maker, who
did all he could secretly to undermine the influence of the
missionaries, and constantly plotted against their lives, long rendered
vain all their efforts to gain a hold upon the affections of the
natives, but falling himself into disgrace, he was sent into exile by
Mateebe, and after his departure the prospects of the little English
colony brightened.. At first the time both of Hamilton and Moffat was
almost constantly occupied in building and tilling the ground, in both
of which operations they were pre-eminently successful, in spite of the
gigantic difficulties with which they had to contend, working often with
the thermometer at 120º at noon in the shade, or compelled to go three
miles' journey for a drop of water.
Their little cottage
built at last and their chief enemy gone, Mr. and Mrs. Moffat, with
their baby boy, settled down, as they hoped, to peaceful labours amongst
the people, Moffat and Hamilton visiting even the wild Bushmen from the
caves of Griqua Land, and never letting slip an opportunity of bettering
their condition, or that of the Hottentots and Beehuanas.
The troubles of the
mission were, however, not yet over. A long-continued drought was
presently attributed to the sinister influence of the white men, and
after many a secret meeting to discuss their fate, an armed party of
natives presented themselves at Moffat's door to inform him that it had
been decided that he and his people must leave the country. Our hero's
quiet and dignified reply, in which he expressed his pity for the
sufferings of the natives from the want of rain, and his confidence that
his God would yet have mercy upon them all, so surprised his enemies,
that the headman, looking at his companions, said—
"These men must have ten
lives, when they are so fearless of death; there must be something in
immortality."
At this the warriors
lowered their spears, and with many a significant shake of the head
moved off, leaving the white men, as we may imagine, relieved at the
unexpected turn affairs had taken. They had escaped yet once again.
Surely, they thought, they were reserved for great things; they would
not despair, but continue to work quietly on.
Gradually from this
crisis the missionaries seem to have gained upon the respect, if not
upon the affection of the people. A small chapel, built at the cost of
incredible exertions, was opened for Divine service, and by degrees a
little native congregation was formed. Mateebe took Moffat under his
special protection, and when the latter received an invitation to visit
Makaba, the chief of Bauangketsi, a powerful tribe living two hundred
miles north of Lattaku, the Matchappee ruler did all he could to
dissuade him from accepting it. There had been terrible rumours long
afloat of the horrors perpetrated in the north by a band of warriors
under a woman named Mantatce; the white man would fall a victim ; he had
better remain quietly at home.
Undeterred by these
remonstrances, though pleased at this proof of his work not having been
entirely in vain, Moffat started with a few native servants, and arrived
three days later at Old Lattaku, where he found tli C people in terror
of the approach of the Mantatces. At Nokaneng, twenty miles further
north, it was reported that the Baralongs at Kunuana, about one hundred
miles off, had been attacked, but still sceptical of the truth of all
these sinister rumours, he pressed on, only to be obliged to turn back
and flee for his life when he came within sight of the Bauangketsi
outposts, convinced at last beyond a doubt that the invaders were close
upon him.
Back again at. Nokaneng,
Moffat warned the inhabitants to prepare for the worst, and then,
hurrying on to the station on the Kuruman, communicated his views to
Mateebe, who blessed him for returning in time. A council of war was at
once called, at which Mateebe, after cutting a number of symbolic capers
which greatly amused the white spectators, made a long harangue, the
upshot being that help must be obtained, and that soon. "We cannot stand
against the Mantatees," he said; "we must now concert, conclude, and be
determined to stand: the case is a great one. You have seen the interest
the missionary has taken in your safety; if we exert ourselves as he has
done, the Mantatees can come no further. You see the white people are
our friends. You see Mr. Thompson (an Englishman who had arrived during
Moffat's absence) has come to see us on horseback; he has not come to
lurk- behind our houses as a spy, but in confidence."
Finally, it was agreed to
send to Griqua Town for assistance, and during the eleven clays which
ensued before an answer could be received, Moffat, a Griqua chief named
Watemboer, and Mr. Melvill, a Government agent from Griqua Town, started
on a reconnaissance, coming up with the enemy's advanced guard a little
to the south of Lattaku. A second and more numerous body occupied the
town itself, and it seemed impossible for the scouts from the Kuruman to
approach nearer without danger. Moffat. and Waterboer, however, rode up
to a young woman gathering the pods of an acacia in one of the ravines,
and asked her in the l3echuana language a few questions about the
invaders. She merely replied that they came from a great distance, and
was evidently too faint for want of food to be able to talk much. Moffat
therefore gave her some provisions, and asked her to go and tell the
Mantatees that he and his companions were not come to fight, but to
speak to the leaders of the army. She went off but did not return, and
as the two were waiting for her, and noticing with pity and regret the
devastation all around them, dead bodies lying here, there, and
everywhere, they were suddenly discovered by a party of Mantatee
spearmen, who advanced upon them with threatening gestures.
Moffat was about to
dismount and advance to meet them alone, when the savages uttered a
hideous yell, and some hundred men rushed towards him and Waterboer,
throwing their weapons with such force and skill that they had scarcely
time to turn their terrified steeds and gallop off. Retreating to a
distant height, from which they could watch the movements of the enemy
unmolested, they awaited the arrival of the party from Griqua Land with
the greatest anxiety, and when the evening came and there was no sign of
succour, Moffat rode back to confer with the chiefs, leaving Waterboer
and a few native scouts to continue the necessary observations.
On his arrival at the
station, our hero found all the Griqua chiefs assembled in council, and
after he had given his report, it was agreed that the Griqua army should
advance the next day, with Waterbocr as its leader, Adam and Cornelius
Kok and Berend promising faithfully to serve under him. The best horse
was given to Moffat, it being urged that his life was more valuable than
that of any native; and touched to the heart by this proof of the firm
hold he had at last obtained over the affections of the people he had so
long tried to serve, our hero determined to spare no effort to help them
in the coming struggle.
Starting before daylight
the ensuing day, the Griqua warriors, presenting quite an imposing
appearance in their war-dress, and on their well-appointed steeds,
advanced to within a hundred and fifty yards of the enemy, and
endeavoured by signs to obtain a parley. But their appearance was
greeted by unearthly yells and a discharge of clubs and javelins. Jet
black and almost naked, the Mantatees, sturdy fellows much resembling
the Bechuanas in face and figure, looked truly formidable antagonists,
but Waterboer hoped to intimidate them in spite of his inferior force by
the use of firearms. In vain! True, they seemed at first overwhelmed
with astonishment at the fall of several of their chiefs by invisible
means, but quickly recovering, they wrenched the weapons from the hands
of their dying comrades, and sallied forth with increased rage in every
gesture.
The Griquas were
beginning to waver, to retreat, when the Bechuanas, encouraged by the
arrival of succour, rallied, and began plying the enemy with poisoned
arrows. This created, however, but a momentary diversion, as the
Mantatees soon drove off their new assailants, and the day seemed lost,
when, to the astonishment alike of Moffat and the Griquas, the enemy
showed signs of giving way, and retiring westwards. To wheel round their
horses and cut off their retreat was the work of a moment to the
warriors from the south, and, entangled in a narrow ravine, the
Mantatees fell an easy prey to the firearms of their assailants. An
awful scene ensued, for in the melee and confusion friends fell upon
friends, Mantatees pursued Mautatees, whilst with their war-cries were
mingled the bellowing of terrified oxen, and the wailing of women and
children.
Arrived at Lattaku, still
garrisoned by their own forces, the Mantatees set fire to the town, and,
their numbers now amounting to some forty thousand, continued their
retreat to the north. For about eight miles the little baud of Griquas
pursued, and then, riding quietly back to the battle-field, they joined
the Bechuanas in plundering the dying and the dead, respecting neither
age nor sex, till Mofiat, horrified at the ferocity displayed, rode in
amongst them, and prevailed upon them to spare the women and children.
Having done all he could
for the amelioration of the sufferings of victors and vanquished alike,
Moffat returned to the Kuruman river, to retire a little later with his
family and Hamilton to Griqua Town, where they all remained until peace
was restored by the filial retreat of the Mantatees to the J3akone
country and Basuto Land on the east. A year later, with Mateebe's
consent and approbation, Mr. and Mrs. Moffat paid a visit to the Cape,
accompanied by Prince Peclu, heir-apparent of the Matchappee kingdom,
and Taisho, a chief of high rank. The trip was successful in every way;
the Moffats, cheered by the sympathy of their fellow-countrymen,
returned to their post with zeal and energy increased, and the natives,
impressed with all they had seen, brought home glowing reports of the
strength and skill of the white men.
Feeling that lie might
now safely venture on a long absence from his family, Moffat determined
to carry out his long-deferred scheme of visiting chief Makaba, and on
the 1st July, 1824, he started for the north, accompanied by some Griqua
elephant hunters, arriving safely after an interesting journey of some
weeks at Pitsan, the principal town of the Baralong country, covering a
large extent of ground, and inhabited by a numerous division of the
Bahurutsi and another of the Bauangketsi, who had congregated there on
the Mantatee invasion. here he was very velI received alike by chiefs
and people, and was asked to remain amongst them "to protect them and
make rain," but, unable to comply with this request, Moffat contented
himself with promising to try and induce some other missionary to settle
at Pitsan.
The favourable impression
at first produced by the white man was somewhat compromised by his
protest against their custom of selling their children as slaves. No
open rupture ensued, however, and after a few days' rest, lie parted on
good terms with the chiefs, to press on for Makaba's outposts. Expecting
a hearty welcome as an invited guest, he was a little disconcerted at
the capture and slaughter of some of his oxen by subjects of his future
host before his arrival at the capital; but whilst still smarting under
the insult, Marocha or Maroga, one of Makaba's sons, rode out to meet
him at the head of a body of men, and, presenting him with an ox,
entreated him to forgive the injury which had been done him, declaring
that the guilty men should be torn in pieces before his eyes on his
entry into his father's capital. We need scarcely add that Moffat
expressed himself satisfied without any such sanguinary vengeance, and
late the same day he entered Makaba's capital in triumph, there to be
welcomed with almost extravagant joy.
The natives of the
numerous Bauangketsi villages dotting the country all around poured in
to see the white man who had come from afar. Makaba declared himself
ready to die of pleasure, and entreated Moffat to let his waggon pass
right through the town. That the ponderous vehicles might knock down
some of the frail huts or enclosures of the narrow streets did not
trouble him, and to humour him Moffat gave orders to his men to drive
them to the lower end of the capital, where the oxen were unyoked in the
presence of admiring crowds. Three chief men were then appointed to
protect the visitor, Makaba sent his principal wife with a present of
milk, and Moffat was allowed to retire to rest.
After a short time spent
with Makaba, during which more than one alarm occurred of the intentions
of the natives to murder their guests, Moffat returned to the station on
the Kuruman river, to find the country again distracted by civil war,
and to learn that his wife and little ones had been more than once in
serious danger. The Batlaros, a Bechuana tribe, had attacked the Griquas;
the latter had retaliated. Namaquas, Corannas, Bushmen, were all in
arms, scouring the country in the hope of plunder, and murdering in cold
blood all who came in their way.
Compelled to flee to
Griqua Town, the Moffats were long doubtful whether it would not be well
to return to the Cape, but things brightening a little later, they
joined Hamilton at a new station on the Kururnan, where that indomitable
hero was endeavouring to collect a little congregation about him. Then
ensued a visitation of locusts, destroying everything in their small
plantations, but bringing relief to the starving natives, who consider
these insects a luxury. The years 1826, 1827, and 1828 were one long
struggle with difficulties, dangers, and want, but 1829 opened more
brightly, and its close found the Moffats and their now numerous
children living peaceably in their new settlement, with native huts
clustering about their chapel, and a congregation including Bushmen,
Corannas, Bechuanas, and even some few once wild warriors from the
north.
In October, 1829, a visit
was paid to the white men's settlement by two ambassadors from the
renowned Mosilikatse, king of the Abaka or Matabele, a branch of the
great Zulu family, dwelling on the north-west of the Bechuana country.
Reports had reached the sable potentate of the wonders wrought by the
missionaries, and of the strange objects in use amongst them; he too
would fain share in the progressive movement set on foot by them; be
prayed them to give his envoys full information; if possible, even to
send back one of their number to his court.
Tall, sturdy, dignified
fellows, who had never known the restraint of clothing, the two Matabele
observed everything with the greatest astonishment, but preserved a
quiet decorum rare amongst savages. At Moffat's request they adopted
mantles of sheepskin during their visit, and showed a polite readiness
to fall into the customs of their entertainers, which proved them to be
nature's true noblemen. One of them seeing himself for the first time in
a glass thought some inquisitive native was staring at him, and gently
motioned him to be gone. Finding no result ensue, he turned the glass
over, and seeing nothing behind it, returned it to Mrs. Moffat, with the
remark that it was not to be trusted. The houses, the walls of the
fields and gardens, a water ditch conveying a large stream out of the
bed of the river, the smith's forge, the chapel with its orderly
congregation, all excited the most lively adiniration. "Ye are men,"
said the visitors at last; "we are but children. . Mosilikatse must be
taught all these things."
Here was an opening not
to be neglected, and Moffat determined to accompany his guests on their
return at least part of the way, hoping for an invitation from
Mosilikatse to enter his capital. Starting on the 9th November with a
small escort of his own people, he arrived shortly afterwards with the
envoys at Lattaku, where the whole party were kindly received. Then
rapidly crossing the l3aralong plains in waggons, and narrowly escaping
death from two huge lions which surprised and killed one of their oxen,
but were driven off and compelled to relinquish the carcass, the trio
reached the Bahurutsi outposts at Mosega, where Moffat intended taking
leave of the Matabele. To this the latter were firmly opposed, and
begged him to go with them to see their king, that he might return the
hospitality accorded to his subjects.
Delighted at this
invitation, Moffat consented to go at least to the first Alatabele
settlement, and entering a district differing in every respect from any
he had yet seen in Africa, and reminding him of the hills and dales of
Scotland, h6 traversed five hundred miles in five days. The evening of
the last found him at the first cattle outpost of the Matabele, and
halting by a fine rivulet near a gigantic tree, he was astonished to
find the latter inhabited by several families of Bakones, the aborigines
of the country. The conical points of little huts obtruded through we
dense foliage, and climbing to the topmost one, about thirty feet front
the ground, our hero entered it to find it anything but an uncomfortable
abode, though its only furniture was a spear, a bowl of locusts, and a
spoon. No chairs, no tables, no beds, but hay spread upon the ground
served for all three. The owner of the house gave her guest some food,
and several other women came from the woods near, stepping daintily from
branch to branch to stare at the white man, who was as great a curiosity
to them as they were to him.
On enquiry, Moffat found
that this singular style of architecture was adopted to avoid the lions
abounding in the country, and that the families came down in the day to
dress their food. When the houses seemed too heavy for the branches on
which they were perched, upright sticks were driven into the ground
beneath them to aid in supporting them.
having now arrived at the
outskirts of Mosilikatse's dominions, Moffat reminded his companions of
his intention of returning south, but they would not hear of it, and
some Matabele warriors arriving from the capital added their entreaties
that be would go on with them. Having with some difficulty obtained the
consent of his Bechuana companions to a change of plan, our hero again
yielded, and about a week's march through a desolate country brought him
and his escort to Mosilikatse's capital, entering which, and riding into
the large central fold capable of holding ten thousand head of cattle,
he suddenly found himself surrounded by some eight hundred warriors, who
made signs to him and his companions to dismount. They did so, and the
natives at the gate immediately rushed in with hideous yells, and,
leaping from the earth with a kind of kilt around their bodies hanging
like loose tails, joined the circle, falling into rank with as much
order as if they were accustomed to European tactics. Then from behind
the lines marched out Mosilikatse himself, the great Pezoolu (Heaven),
the Elephant, the Lion's Paw, and first shaking hands with all his
visitors, having previously learned the proper mode of doing so for the
occasion, lie linked his arm in Moffat's, and said---
"The land is before you;
you are come to your son; you must sleep where you please."
The "moving houses," as
he called the waggons, which were the first he had seen, made the great
warrior, whose name had spread terror throughout the length and breadth
of South Africa, tremble with fear; he took a firmer grasp of Moffat's
arm, and was careful not to relinquish his hold till reassured by the
explanations of one of the envoys who had been to the Kuruman river.
Moffat remained some
weeks as the guest of Mosilikatse, whom we shall meet again in our
further narrative; and having, as he hoped, paved the way for the
foundation of a mission amongst the Matabele, he returned to the Kuruman
settlement, escorted for some little distance by his host. Finding the
affairs of the mission prosperous, he ventured in the ensuing year again
to leave his station, and pay a round of visits to the missionaries in
Kaifraria. Of this journey he gives us no details in his account of his
work, but contents himself with stating that his fellow-labourers were
making satisfactory progress.
A journey in 1831 to the
Bahurutsi tribe, a second visit to Mosilikatse in the same year, and a
trip to the towns on the Yellow or Ky Gariep and Kolong rivers in 1836,
were the chief of Mofat's excursions in the latter part of Lis career as
a missionary. In 1838 a new church was opened on the Kuruman, and in the
following year our hero's persevering efforts were crowned by the
conversion of Mateebe himself, who professed Christianity just before
his death.
After between twenty and
thirty years of unremitting work amongst the Bechuana and neighbouring
tribes, Moffat left the Kuruman and returned to the Cape, but he long
continued to aid other missionaries with his counsel and encouragement,
sometimes, as in the case of Mackenzie, accompanying them to the
stations to which they were sent, and paving the way for them with the
chiefs, with whom lie was acquainted. The name of Robert Moffat is still
loved and honoured by the Namaquas, the Bushmen, the Corannas, the
Bechuanas, the Baralongs, the Bauangketsi, and the Matabeles; and though
he can scarcely be said to have contributed as much as many others to
geographical science, he must ever be honoured as a hero of geographical
discovery, for, but for his noble efforts amongst the heathen, the
difficulties in the way of the explorations of his successors would have
been more than doubled. He made the name of the white man synonymous
with truth and honour, lie taught the down-trodden natives to
distinguish between the Christian creed and its faithless professors,
and, not contenting himself with preaching the doctrine of a future
life, he taught his pupils to avail themselves of the everyday comforts
of civilisation, bringing them home to them by every means in his power.
To this enlightened policy was clue the permanent influence of his work,
and we would recommend those of our readers who are discouraged by the
difficulties, no matter of what nature, which beset their career, to
turn for refreshment and encouragement to the simple unvarnished account
given by Moffat in his Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa.,
of the gradual growth of the Kuruman community from the day when he and
his wife arrived on the banks of the river, houseless and unprotected,
to the final leave- taking of the schools and comfortable houses dotting
the once desolate districts.
Amongst the more
important of those whom we may perhaps characterise as the supplementary
heroes of the new epoch of discovery in Eastern Africa were the
ill-fated Keith Johnston and Joseph Thomson, who took up the work of
Johnston when the early death of that explorer removed him from his
command. In 1880 Thomson traversed the old route between Lakes Nyassa
and Tanganyika, exploring the country on either hand, follow- in the the
shores of Tanganyika as far as its outlet at the mouth of the Lukuga,
making his way thence through Urua to within one day's march of the
Congo. Compelled reluctantly to turn back there, he struggled in face of
many difficulties to the southern extremity of Tanganyika, and returned
to the east coast by way of Umyambebe, the main result of his journey
having been the discovery of Lake Hikwa, which he re-named Lake Leopold.
In 1884 Thomson made a
yet more successful journey, working his way from Mombasa across the
hitherto unexplored Masai-L-ind to the Victoria N'yanza, in the course
of which he explored the northern sides of Mount Kilimanjaro, the
table-lands of Kikuyu and Kapt, as well as the country about Mount Kenia
and the Aberdare range of hills. In 1887 and 1888 Count Teleki and
Lieutenant von Höhnel crossed Mtsni and Kikuyu Lands, and discovered
Lakes Rudolf and Stefanie, on the north of the Equator. |