Scots in South Africa
A compilation of stories from "Heroes of Discovery in South Africa" by N. Bell

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.

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