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From a Photograph by Elliott &> Fry,
THE LIVES OF
ROBERT & MARY MOFFAT
JOHN S. MOFFAT
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY WM. M. TAYLOR, D.D.
WITH PORTRAITS AND MAPS
A C ARMSTRONG & SON
714 BROADWAY
MDCCCLXXXV
INTRODUCTION.
r W "^ HE name of Robert Moffat deserves a high
place on the honor roll of modern mission
aries. It is not so well known, indeed, as
that of his son-in-law, David Livingstone, but it
may well be held in reputation as that of the pioneer
without whose labors those of Livingstone and others
would have been far other than they were. As the
London Times said in a remarkable leader, published
on the day after his funeral : " Moffat has labored,
and other men have entered into his labor
It is his honor to have been among the first in the
field, to have laid, as it were, the stepping-stones by
which his successors have been able to outstrip him ;
to have borne the burden and heat of the day in
early missionary work, and at once to have given an
example of devotion to his noble cause, and to have
furnished proof that the ground was not barren, and
that even in South Africa the good seed might be
trusted to spring up and to bring forth abundant
fruit."
When he went to South Africa in 1817, he found
tribes of idolaters and savages, constantly at war
with each other and with the white men, utterly
iv IN TROD UCTION.
ignorant and degraded. When he left it in 1870,
churches had been called into existence, a perma
nent body of native pastors had been reared from
among the Bechwanas, and the whole region had
become largely civilized and Christianized.
How this result was accomplished, through what
difficulties he wrestled, by what motives he was sus
tained, and with what tireless energy he labored, is
fully set forth in this interesting volume, wherein,
without needlessly obtruding himself, the son has
very nobly and lovingly unfolded to us the daily life
of his parents on the mission field. Of his parents,
we say, for the missionary's wife was a second mis
sionary, and the story of her self-sacrifice and devo
tion, not to her husband only, but to the cause of
Christ, is as noble and spirit-stirring as anything of
the kind which we have ever read. Both were of
such stuff as heroes are made of, and their names
are worthy of a place in the peerage of faith, beside
those which the author of the Epistle to the He
brews has ennobled by his praise.
The work needs no commendation at our hands ;
but we heartily introduce it to our American friends
as a worthy companion to the Lives of Judson and
others whose names are better known on this side
of the Atlantic, and as furnishing a new and strik
ing illustration of what a Christian missionary can
be and do.
WM. M. TAYLOR.
PREFACE.
I HAVE to thank many for willing help rendered
in the making of this book — so many that I
cannot name them all ; and if I pass over some
who are not mentioned, or of whose service I have
seemed not to avail myself, let them understand that
their kindness has been none the less felt or valued.
I thank the Directors of the London Missionary
Society for placing their records at my disposal ;
and their Foreign Secretary, the Rev. R. W.
Thompson, for the liberal interpretation which he
gave to the instructions of the Board on the subject.
Still more do I thank those old friends who, with
brotherly and sisterly confidence, committed to my
care the family correspondence of long years, a
sacred record of mingled joy and sorrow in the lives
of their parents and mine.
I need scarcely say how I value the communica
tions received from Messrs. Yellowlees and Oswell,
the Reverend Messrs. Collum, Guest, Rogers, and
Robinson ; also from Dr. Mackie and Mr. F. W.
vi PREFACE.
Chesson. It was not till most of these pages were
in print that I had the opportunity of visiting Ormis-
ton, my father's native village, on the occasion of
the unveiling of a monument to his memory, of
which an illustration will be found in this work.
The monument owes its existence to the zeal of a
few friends in Edinburgh. They found an unwearied
secretary in Mr. Thomas Fairgrieve, to whose hearty
exertions much is due. I am thankful that Mr.
Stevenson has been successful in producing one of
the best portraits of my father that I know, in so
permanent a form as that of the bronze medallion
which forms the chief feature of the memorial at
Ormiston.
Round that quiet nook in East Lothian cluster
many associations. Close by is the Hall, with its
great yew-tree, one of the finest in Scotland, so
closely bound up with the memory of John Knox
and of Wishart ; and from the old Hall — a part of
which still stands — Wishart was taken by night, to
be carried away to his martyrdom.
At the entrance of the grounds stands the gar
dener's house, a substantial stone building, in which
Robert Moffat's mother spent her youth a hundred
years ago ; and in the churchyard stands a stone to
the memory of her parents, William Gardiner and
his wife, erected by the Earl of Hopetoun of that
date, in whose service they had lived and died. A
short walk from Ormiston is the village of Tranent,
where the first coal mines in Scotland were worked ;
and a little farther on is the field of Prestonpans,
PREFACE. vii
perhaps less remembered for its battle than for the
fact that the pious Colonel Gardiner fell there within
sight of his own house.
An illustration is also given in this work showing
the Kuruman street, with Robert Moffat's house in
the foreground— from its least picturesque side un
fortunately, but no better view is available. The
church is seen beyond, and farther still is the other
mission house.
Two pairs of portraits are given, the earlier of
1816, the later taken in the last years. There are
also two maps showing the relative knowledge of
South Africa at the time of Robert Moffat's arrival
and final departure from that country.
I hope this book will, in a measure at least, serve
to continue the strong missionary influence exerted
by my parents during their presence here amongst
us.
JOHN S. MOFFAT.
SS. " SPARTAN," OFF MADEIRA,
May 26, 1885.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS IN SCOTLAND.
V
MDCCXCV. — MDCCCXIV.
PACE
The home at Carronshore— Attendance at school— First missionary impres
sions—His life at Donibristle— Saves a man from drowning- -Leaves for
a situation in Cheshire— His promise to his mother — Voyage to Liverpool
— Arrives at High Leigh — His situation there x
CHAPTER II.
RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS.
MDCCCXV. — MDCCCXVI.
Spiritual struggles— He suffers for conscience' sake— His father urges caution
— A memorable walk to Warrington — Seeks to become a missionary — His
first call on Mr. Roby — He goes to Dukinfield Nursery — Unfolds his
plans to his parents— His father's adverse comments — And resignation
to the inevitable ••• 12
CHAPTER III.
PREPARATIONS AND DEPARTURE FOR AFRICA.
MDCCCXVI.
Earnest longings for the work— He resolves to go unmarried— His first visit
to London — Set apart to the work and embarks 23
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV
JOURNEY TO NAMAQUALAND.
MDCCCXVII. — MDCCCXVIII.
PACE
Obstructive action of Government— Stays at Stellenbosch— Departure from
Cape Town— Episode at a Boer farm — Preaching to the " dogs " — Arrival
at Afrikaner's kraal 28
CHAPTER V.
LIFE IN NAMAQUALAND.
MDCCCXVIII.
The Chief Afrikaner— Moffat's hut at Vredeburg— His work among Afri
kaner's people — Journey eastward — Hardships of travelling — Multifarious
occupation — Reasons for visiting the Cape — Moffat's home circle — First
acquaintance with Bechwanas — Religious activity at the Cape — Afri
kaner's reconciliation— The Namaqualand Mission 35
CHAPTER VI.
THE WIFE OF ROBERT MOFFAT.
MDCCCXIX.
Parentage and youth of Mary Smith — With the church at Ashton — Parents
consent to part with her — Letter to Moffat's parents — Letter of consola
tion — Letter to Miss Lees — A converted brother — Letter to Mrs. Greaves
— Prospect of parting — Her departure draws near — Entertained by Dr.
and Mrs. Bogue — A communion Sunday at Gosport — Letter to Miss
Smith's parents. 48
CHAPTER VII.
ROBERT MOFFAT VISITS THE CAPE.
MDCCCXIX.
Deputation from the L. M. S.— Relations of Moffat and Dr. Philip— Trials
of faith
CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER VIII.
ARRIVAL OF MARY SMITH AT THE CAPE.
MDCCCXIX.
PAGE
Her voyage out— Joyful meeting in Cape Town— Marriage— Cheerful counsels 66
CHAPTER IX.
JOURNEY TO LATTAKOO.
MDCCCXX.
The Orange River — Travelling experiences — The great Karroo — Wild animals
— Infant village of Beaufort West — Obstructive policy of Government —
Encouragements by the way 7t
CHAPTER X.
SOJOURN AT GRIQUA TOWN.
MDCCCXX.
Campbell's visits to various tribes — Hopes fulfilled — The iCuruman fountain—
The neighbourhood of Kuruman — State of the mission — Curiosity of the
Natives — Intercourse with Afrikaner — The Moffats at Griqua Town —
John Campbell's snuff-box . . .79
CHAPTER XI.
SOJOURN AT GRIQUA TOWN.
MDCCCXX* — MDCCCXXII,
Mode of living— How the larder is replenished-— Primitive floor-scrubbing—
Anderson among the Griquas— Reorganizing the mission— The Griqua
Church needs discipline — Mary Moff'at's severe illness — Birth of adaughter
— Moffat settles at Kuruman — Description of the country — Ungracious
conduct — Internal difficulties — The people reject the gospel — Trials of
faith— Ox-waggon travelling-^-Death of Afrikaner— Children rescued . 89
xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
THE MANTATEE INVASION.
MDCCCXXIII. — MDCCCXXIV.
PAGB
Clouds from the eastward— Rise of the Matebele power — Moffat makes a
reconnaisance — He seeks the aid of the Griquas — First sight of the
Mantatees— Battle with the Mantatees— Narrow escape of Robert Moffat
—Results of the engagement — The missionaries gain influence— Suffer
ings of missionaries— Famine and cannibalism 107
CHAPTER XIII.
WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS.
MDCCCXXIV.
Visit to Makaba— Another invasion repelled — Marauders from the west —
Mary Moffat in a lonely situation — Continued commotions — Mr. Hamil
ton's house is burned — The miseries of heathenism— Encouraging con
ditions • •••••••••••• 119
CHAPTER XIV.
FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS.
MDCCCXXV.
The Batlaping desert Kuruman— Death of Mary Moffat's mother — Moffat's
brother Alexander — Commencement of a literature . . . 128
CHAPTER XV.
PROGRESS ON THE NEW STATION.
MDCCCXXVI.
Rescue of a child buried alive — The charge of trading in ivory— Small
stipends of missionaries— Aged missionaries and widows— Hard manual
labour unavoidable— Mr. Wright at Griqua Town— Moffat starts for the
desert— Rough fare and discomfort— The marauders at work again—
The Blooms menace Kuruman— Jan Karse settles on the station— Con
course of tribes at the station ......,,. 133
CONTENTS. xiii
CHAPTER XVI.
LAST ATTACKS OF THE MARAUDERS
MDCCCXXVIII.
PACE
Attempt at mediation — The banditti grow poorer — Moffat under a flag of
truce — A terrible pair of eyes — The last of the robbers .... 146
CHAPTER XVII.
DA YLIGHT A T LAST.
MDCCCXXIX.
Unshaken faith— The great awakening— Hope not made ashamed— A bright
spring-time — Answers to prayer — Mosilikatse first heard of — His messen
gers visit Kuruman — Moffat journeys to the Matebele — A land of deso
lation — State reception by a chief — Robert Moffat's message to him —
Return home •••••••••••. 152
CHAPTER XVIII.
VISIT TO THE CAPE.
MDCCCXXX.— MDCCCXXXII.
Moffat turns printer — Death of Mr. Roby — Children put to school — Horse
back journey to Cape Town — Birth of a daughter — Printing-press set up
at Kuruman — Mosilikatse attacked by Griquas — French mission to the
Bahurutse— Evil results of the Griqua raid — French missionaries have
trouble— Establish themselves at Motito ..,,... 165
CHAPTER XIX.
MARY MOFFAT TRAVELS TO THE COLONY.
MDCCCXXXIII. — MDCCCXXXIV.
An escort of natives— Arrangements for the children — Fellow-labourers in
the mission — Another attack on Mosilikatse — Millen's lonely death-bed
— Universal regret 177
xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX.
A SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
MDCCCXXXV.
PAGE
Moffat accompanies it— Smoothing difficulties — Counsels of peace — The anti-
swearing covenant — Military versus missionary tactics — Messengers from
Mosilikatse — Moffat's confidence in the natives — At the mercy of the
chief — Second reception by Mosilikatse — Peaceful stay of the expedition
— Tries to gain various objects — Improved disposition of Batlaping —
Sources of consolation— Woodcutting expedition 184
CHAPTER XXI.
MOFFAT ITINERATES, AND HIS WIFE GOES TO
THE COAST.
MDCCCXXXVI.
Moffat parts with his family again— Preaching, by dim moonlight — Work on
an empty stomach — Caught in a thunderstorm — News from the wife —
Zeal for the gospel— Waiting for the river — Sending children away to
school — Embarkation under difficulties — Mary Moffat in Port Elizabeth
—They meet at the Orange River — State of the Mission .... 199
CHAPTER XXII.
DISTURBANCES IN THE INTERIOR.
MDCCCXXXVII.
Labours, mental and manual — The Boers and Mosilikatse— Fatal blow to
American Mission— Americans leave for Natal — Dark forebodings—
Matebfile reap what they sowed— The French missionaries at Motito—
A peep into the home .... . 212
CHAPTER XXIII.
VISIT TO ENGLAND.
MDCCCXXXVIII. — MDCCCXLI.
Birth and death on board ship— An unexpected welcome— The circle of old
friends— Great missionary interest excited — Moffat's literary labours—
CONTENTS. xv
PAGE
Introduction to the Eisdells — Successful anniversary meetings— Mary
Moffat longs to return — Bechwana Mission reinforced — Moffat writes a
book— His wife's anxieties about him— Letter to Mrs. Jacob Unwin —
Gratitude for kindness — Consolation for a dying bed . . . .221
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE M OFF ATS RETURN TO SOUTH AFRICA.
MDCCCXLII., MDCCCXLIII.
Valedictory services — Last farewells — The voyage out — Death of Mary
Moffat's Brother — The Rev. John Brownlee — Narrow escape of the
baggage— Crossing Orange and Vaal Rivers— Enthusiastic reception at
Kuruman — By missionaries and people — Influx of visitors — Edwards
and Livingstone — Moffat's daughter goes to Mabotsa — A night with the
lion — The adventure ends well 236
CHAPTER XXV.
MARY MOFFAT VISITS CHONWANE.
MDCCCXLIV.— MDCCCXLVII.
Labours great and small— The sunset hour — Mary Moffat starts for Chon-
wane — In the lion country — An interesting country — Interest in the
interior missions— Death of Moffat's father — Letter of condolence to
his mother ••••••••••«. 251
CHAPTER XXVI.
MARY MOFFAT JOURNEYS TO THE CAPE.
MDCCCXLVII— MDCCCXLIX.
Last weeks with her little ones — Her perplexities about them — Motives for
parting with children — Sacrifices for Christ's sake — Progress meanwhile
at the station — An aged parent — Flooded rivers again — Difficulties by
the way — A timely meeting — The Boer invasion — Effects on the Bech
wana Mission — Origin of the Transvaal State — The worst fears confirmed
— Moffat's son Robert on the Boers — Their unmanageable disposition — "
The natives in a dilemma — Explorations of Livingstone— Mr. Fredoux
turned back— The natives perplexed 260
xvi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
DARK CLOUDS WITH A SILVER LINING.
MDCCCL.
PAGE
Translation and printing go on — Reasons for not writing oftener — Slow
progress of the people— The Kat River Rebellion — Encouragement in the
retrospect— The Moffats and their parents— The case for the Hottentots
— Kuruman in its beauty — Moffat's labours in translation — Hopeless
prospects— Reasons for not taking sick leave — The Boers triumphant —
Sechele's confidence in Moffat 280
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MOFFATS THIRD JOURNEY TO MOSILIKATSE.
MDCCCLIII.
Death of Mary Moffat's father— Moffat's failing health — Mosilikatse's move
ments — Moffat sets out to visit him — Visiting chiefs by the way — Sechele's
anomalous position — Travellers groping their way — Sabbath in the wil
derness — Mosilikatse aged and decrepit— Condition of the Matebele —
Moffat and Livingstone — A journey with Mosilikatse — Return to
Kuruman 294
CHAPTER XXIX.
MARY MOFFAT AGAIN JOURNEYS TO THE COAST.
MDCCCLIV. — MDCCCLVI.
Meets her daughter from England — Death of Robert Moffat's mother —
Letter to friends at Kendal— A retrospect of mercies — Letter to Dr.
Bruce— Interruptions to his work— Many sorts of visitors— Unfair policy
of the Government— The chiefs well disposed 308
CHAPTER XXX.
FOURTH JOURNEY TO MOSILIKATSE.
MDCCCLVII.
Moffat looks northward again — Extensive plans for new missions — The
Hanoverians at Sechele's— Moffat smooths their way — They are estab-
CONTENTS. xvii
PAGE
lished there— The captive Macheng— He is restored to his people— The
new undertakings— Livingstone at the Cape— A laborious journey from
the Cape — Antagonism to the new missions— Work in an interval of
delay ............. 318
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE NEW MISSIONS TO THE NORTH.
MDCCCLIX.
Helmore's party sets out — The Makololo Mission— Heavy loads in a sand
desert— A march through the forest — The even ing bivouac — The approach
to Matebeleland— Waggons drawn by warriors— The chief hesitates —
A season of suspense— Settlement at Inyati — Affections weaned from
the world— Misconceptions of natives ....... 331
CHAPTER XXXII.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MATEBELE MISSION.
MDCCCLX.
Fever in the camp — Death of Marelole"— Moffat leaves the Matebele — The
Matebele Mission an enigma— Encouraging considerations — Collapse of
the Makololo Mission — Interest in the interior . • • . . 344
CHAPTER XXXIII.
FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS.
MDCCCLXII. — MDCCCLXVII.
Care for those in the interior— Death of Moffat's son Robert — Death of Mary
Livingstone— Death of William Ross— Moffat attacked by a lunatic —
Deaths of relations— The waifs and strays of society — Death of Jean
Fr^doux— Death of Mrs. Brown 352
CHAPTER XXXIV.
DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND.
MDCCCLXVIIL, MDCCCLXIX.
Strong home-ties to Kuruman— Farewell scene — They are welcomed on the
road— Early condition of South Africa— Effecting a change— He teaches
xviii CONTENTS.
agriculture— Moffat's scientific observations— The geology of Bechwana-
land — Linguistic achievements — Christianity and civilization — Chris
tianity must take the lead ,.. 362
CHAPTER XXXV.
DEATH OF MARY M OFF AT.
MDCCCLXX. — MDCCCLXXII.
Meetings in Port Elizabeth— First days in England— Stay at Brixton — Mary
Moffat's illness— She finishes her course— Her care over her husband—
Moffat travels for the Society — The old house at Dukinfield — The insti
tute at Kuruman — Interview with the Queen — Visit to Mr. Black at
Melrose— Visit to Sir Titus Salt 374
CHAPTER XXXVI.
MOFFAT REVISITS CARRONSHORE.
MDCCCLXXIII.
Presentation of /SOOQ — Mary Moffat's long-lost brother— Letter from Mr.
Yellowlees— An old schoolmate at Carronshore — A collection of por
traits—The sceptical tailor — The home at Bantaskine — Death of a
grandson 387
CHAPTER XXXVII.
FAREWELL TO CHILDREN.
MDCCCLXXIV.
Welcomes a daughter from South Africa— Lecture at Westminster Abbey —
Address from ministers— Letter to Mrs. Goulty, of Brighton— The Jubilee
Singers— Visit to Miiller's Orphanage— Visit to Paris— Meeting at the
house of Casalis— Visits the Kidstons at Portencross .... 396
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CLOSING SCENES.
MDCCCLX XVIII. — MDCCCLXXXIII.
Visit to Jersey and Guernsey— Removal to Leigh in Kent— Delight in country
life— Retrocession of the Transvaal— Visit to South Bantaskine— Repre
sentative meeting— Of Scottish friends — Meetings at Manchester— In
terview with Ketshwayo— Visit to Lancashire friends— Failing strength
—Last meeting with the Sturges — Letter to Mr. Dickson — The last
Sunday— The land of Beulah— Thoughts about Africa— The end draws
near— The kindness of friends— Farewells— The pilgrimage over . . 406
CONTENTS. xix
CHAPTER XXXIX.
FUNERAL, AND NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
PAGE
The funeral— Address by the Rev. J. C. Harrison — Address by Rev. J. G.
Rogers — Comment of The Times — Eulogium on mission work —A mis
sionary first, a citizen after— Such men much needed — Moffat at home
everywhere— Dr. Mackie's reminiscences — Moffat at the Mansion House 427
CHAPTER XL.
REMINISCENCES OF FRIENDS.
Mr. Oswell on Kuruman — Robert Moffat in his Kentish home — Letter from
Rev. Hugh Collum — The village of Leigh — Moffat's personal qualities —
His stedfast faith — His views of the Liturgy — His public engagements at
Leigh — His Nonconformity — Entertained at the Mansion House — His
Death— Letter from Rev. J. G. Rogers— At Great George Street Chapel
— Letter from Mr. Chesson — His address in Westminster Abbey — At
the Mansion House — Archbishop Tail's speech — Rev. R. Robinson's
letter — At the Mission House — Refuses to take arrears of salary — The
end 438
INDEX 461
PORTRAITS.
ROBERT AND MARY MOFFAT.— From Miniatures taken at the age of
20, prior to their departure to S. Africa. Drawn from the originals
by RUDOLF BLIND, and reproduced by Lithography.
ROBERT AND MARY MOFFAT. — Cabinet Portraits by Elliott and Fry
and Brittain (recently taken) in Woodburytype, with Autograph
facsimiles.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
ORMISTON, the birthplace of Robert Moffat. Showing the Monument
erected to his memory.
KURUMAN, Robert Moffat's station in Bechwanaland.
MAPS.
SOUTH AFRICA in 1820. Showing the routes taken by Robert Moffat.
Stanford.
SOUTH AFRICA in 1885. Stanford. •
tfew York:
SOUTH AFRICA
to accompany
TheLlves of Robert AMaayMaffet
Scale of English Mies
SO -100 SCO
AOUI'fA HTIJ08
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS IN SCOTLAND.
1795—1814.
ROBERT MOFFAT was born on the twenty-
first of December, 1795, atOrmiston, in East
Lothian. Of his father's origin and family
little is known, but his mother, Ann Gardiner, came
of ancestors who had lived for several generations
at Ormiston in a lowly walk of life, their" only dis
tinction having been a steady and unobtrusive piety.
It is uncertain what was the occupation of the elder
MoiTat at Ormiston for some years after his mar
riage, but in 1797, when the subject of this memoir
was two years old, his father received an appoint
ment in the custom-house at Portsoy, near Banff,
and removed thither with his wife and young family.
In those days the voyage was long and venturesome,
not without serious risks, as would appear from
some of the letters written at this time. A visit
which had been promised by some of the family is
deferred till a more convenient season on account of
a fear of being " captured by the French ; '* and that
this fear was not altogether groundless appears, from,
2 THE HOME AT CARRONSPIORE.
another item in the same letters, to the effect that a
French privateer had chased an armed brig into
Leith roads. An account is also given of the raising
of volunteer forces to repel an expected invasion,
towards which force the quiet landward parish of
Ormiston furnished its quota of sixty-nine men.
The Moffats remained only a few years at Port-
soy. In 1806 we find them established at Carr.on-
shore, on the southern side of the Firth of Forth,
and a short distance from Falkirk. The cottage in
which they lived still stands, a small and unpre
tending abode, surrounded by others of the same
class. It was visited and recognized by Robert
Moffat when in his old age he re-visited some of the
scenes of his youth. The family which found a
home here consisted of four sons and two daughters,
besides Robert himself. These have all passed
away ; only one of them left children, and of these
.scarcely any remain.
In a letter written nearly fifty years later to one
of his sons, Robert Moffat tells the story of this
period ;
" When I think of the advantages you have possessed, I
;am reminded by way of contrast of my infant years. Well
•do I remember, as if it were but yesterday, being sent to
William— or, as he was called, Wully — Mitchell, a parish
schoolmaster, to learn to read. The shorter catechism was
my first book, the title-page of which contained the A, B, C,
&c. That acquired, I went plump into the first question,
•' What is the chief end of man ? ' I tugged away at this till
I got to the Amen, but not without having my hands some
times well warmed with the taa's, for Wully was stern when
-he sat in judgment. This was my first step at school. You
would be surprised to hear how little I knew. I might
ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL. 3
have received a better education. My dear father and
mother were not to blame, but I wanted to be a man before
the time. I lived among shipping, and ran off to sea ; and
the captain becoming exceedingly attached to me, con
strained my parents to allow me to go many voyages with
him in the coasting trade, and many hairbreadth escapes I
had. I got disgusted with a sailor's life, to the no small
joy of my parents ; and I shall always feel grateful that I
was afterwards, about the age of eleven, sent with my elder
brother Alexander to Mr. Paton's school at Falkirk. It
was properly only a school for writing and book-keeping,
and those who chose to pay, or could afford to pay, received
lessons in astronomy and geography after school hours.
My brother was one of the class of young men, who were
nearly all the sons of the better sort of folks. Having
some distance to walk home I was allowed to remain in
the large room. I felt queer to know what the master was
doing within the circle, and used to look very attentively
through any little slit of an opening under an elbow, while
I eagerly listened to the illustrations given, the master all
the while never suspecting that I was capable of under
standing the wonders of the planetary system. What I
could not understand my brother explained on our way
home. I was only six months at this school, the last I
ever attended."
At this time he was a regular attendant on the
ministry of the Rev. Mr. Caldwell. Judging from
later allusions, even at an early age deep and
serious impressions must have been made. All his
life through, Mr. Cald well's earnest teaching left
recollections never to be effaced. These were con
firmed by a mother's influence. Robert was blessed
with a mother of a type not uncommon in those
days in Scotland. In the opinion of more than one
of her grandchildren who have had the opportunity
of judging, she might have sat to George Mac
4 FIRST MISSIONARY IMPRESSIONS.
Donald for his portrait of Robert Falconer's grand
mother. She united a sternness of religious belief
bordering on gloomy vindictiveness with one of the
tenderest and most loving hearts that ever beat.
Her handsome features and dark eyes usually wore
an expression of melancholy, but when a smile came
it lit up her beautiful face in a way that could not be
forgotten.
Nor was her sombre theology incompatible with
a lively interest in the movements which were even
then on foot for the preaching of the gospel to the
heathen, and tidings of which reached even the se
questered villages of Scotland. On the long winter
evenings the lads were gathered by the fireside, and
while their mother taught them — not without re
monstrance against employment which they thought
more fit for their sisters — to knit and to sew, she
would read aloud, in such missionary publications
as were then to be had, the story of the dauntless
pioneers of the gospel ; and more especially of the
work of the Moravians in Greenland and in the
East Indies.
About 1809 Robert was apprenticed to the trade
of a gardener, under a certain John Robertson of
Parkhill, Polmont. This John is described as having
been a hard man, though withal a just one. Often,
even in the bitter cold of a Scottish winter, the lads
were required to be on foot in the dense darkness
at four o'clock in the morning, and had to hammer
their knuckles against the handles of their spades to
try and bring some feeling into them. They had
just enough to eat, but not a whit more than was
absolutely necessary.
HIS LIFE AT DONIBRISTLE. 5
Notwithstanding the severe regime under which
he lived, Robert seems to have found time to attend
an evening class occasionally, and to make an at
tempt at learning Latin and mensuration ; and it
would appear that in his intercourse with the family
of a neighbour — of which one member, a Mrs. Home,
still lives near Liverpool — he took his first lessons
at the anvil, and also learned to play a little on
the violin. He had a craving, which clung to him
through life, to learn something of whatever he
came in contact with, and many of the accomplish
ments of which he thus gained a smattering proved
of unlooked-for value to him afterwards.
In 1811 his father was transferred from Carron-
shore to Inverkeithing, in Fifeshire; and at the end
of 1812 his apprenticeship at Parkhill expired, and
he obtained a situation at Donibristle, a seat of the
Earl of Moray near Aberdour. For a twelvemonth
he had the opportunity of frequent intercourse with
his own family circle only a few miles away — the last
as it proved, for after this, with the exception of a
few transient visits during the lapse of long years,
he was never with them again.
The late Dr. W. Lindsay-Alexander, in a paper
in the United Presbyterian Missionary Record, says :
" While at Donibristle he lived with the other workmen
in the bothy there, only occasionally visiting his parents at
Inverkeithing. One who was a fellow-workman with him
at that time, and who still survives, reports that he was
wont to while away the evening hours by practising the
fiddle, and thereby contributing largely to the entertain
ment of his companions, who delighted in his performances,
lie was fond of athletic sports, and in these he excelled.
6 SAVES A MAN FROM DROWNING.
When about sixteen years of age he fell from a boat and
narrowly escaped death from drowning, being insensible for
some time after he was drawn from the water. This did
not, however, deter him from his favourite pastime of bath
ing, and he soon became an accomplished swimmer. Of
his powers in this respect he on one occasion made noble
use."
Mr. William Dickson, of Edinburgh, has furnished
the following account of the incident referred to by
Dr. Alexander.
" iSt/t March, 1885. — The following narrative I to-day
received from the lips of John Roxburgh, who is now in
his eighty-fifth year, and whom I found occupying a com
fortable cottage on the estate of Colinswell, about a mile
from Burntisland, on the high road to Aberdour : —
"'In the summer of the year 1814, I was employed
along with Robert Moffat in the gardens at Donibristle,
under the head gardener, Mr. Piper. I was then about
fourteen, and Moffat about eighteen years of age.
" ' One morning at the breakfast hour, between nine and
ten o'clock, the two of us, and some others of the workmen,
were bathing in the Firth of Forth, opposite the " New
Harbour " at Donibristle. One of them, John Thomson,
could swim a little, but wanted to learn how to " turn " in
the water. Swimming out beyond his depth, he tried to
do so, but sank. The others thought he was diving ; but,
seeming to remain too long down, they got alarmed, and
feared he was drowning. He again, however, came to
the surface. Meantime Robert Moffat, who was a strong
swimmer, was out in deep water several hundred yards
off, when the others shouted and signalled to him to come
to the rescue. Swiftly he came. They showed him where
Thomson had disappeared, when Moffat, plunging down,
caught him round the body, swam with him ashore, and
laid him on the bulwark. When brought ashore, Thomson
was unconscious. The others tried to help him, the sea-
water running from his mouth ; but they had quickly to
LEAVES FOR A SITUATION IN CHESHIRE. 7
get on their clothes and go back to work, as it was now
near ten o'clock. I stayed beside him till he was able to
speak, and then left him.
" ' Robert Moffat was in this way the means of saving
John Thomson's life. If he had not come at once, and
been but two minutes later, I believe all would have been
over.'
"Roxburgh told me that at this time Moffat was living
with seven other men in a ' bothy ' on Donibristle estate.
He himself (then but a mere boy) lived with his father, who
was also a workman on Lord Moray's property. Notwith
standing his great age, Roxburgh still possesses sound
health of body, and remarkable acuteness of memory and
intelligence. He has for fifty-two years been an elder
in the United Presbyterian congregation at Burntisland."
Robert Moffat's engagement at Donibristle having
expired, he obtained employment as under-gardener
to Mr. Leigh, of High Leigh, in Cheshire, and bid
farewell to Scotland.
It was on this occasion that an incident occurred
which has happily been recorded in his own words,
and is quoted from the Bible Society's " Gleanings
for the Young " :
" I was scarcely sixteen when, after working in a nur
sery garden near my parents for about a twelvemonth, I
was engaged to fill a responsible situation in Cheshire.
The day arrived when I had to bid farewell to my father,
mother, brothers and sisters. My mother proposed to
accompany me to the boat, which was to convey me across
the Firth of Forth. My heart, though glad at the prospect
of removing to a better situation, could not help feeling
some emotion natural to one of my age. When we came
within sight of the spot where we were to part, perhaps
never again to meet in this world, she said —
" ' Now, my Robert, let us stand here for a few minutes,
8 HIS PROMISE TO HIS MOTHER.
for .5 wish to ask one favour of you before we part, and I
know you will not refuse to do what your mother asks.'
" ' What is it, mother ? ' I inquired.
" ' Do promise me first that you will do what I am now
going to ask, and I shall tell you.'
" ' No, mother, I cannot till you tell rue what your wish
is.'
'- ' O Robert, can you think for a moment that I shall
ask you, my son, to do anything that is not right ? Do not
I love you ? '
" ' Yes, mother, I know you do ; but I do not like to
make promises which I may not be able to fulfil.'
" I kept my eyes fixed on the ground. I was silent, try
ing to resist the rising emotion. She sighed deeply. I
lifted my eyes and saw the big tears rolling down the
cheeks which were wont to press mine. 7. was conquered,
and as soon as I could recover speech, I said —
" * O mother ! ask what you will and I shall do it.'
" ' I only ask you whether you will read a chapter in the
Bible eveiy morning, and another every evening ? '
" I interrupted by saying —
" ' Mother, you know I read my Bible.'
" '• I know you do, but you do not read it regularly, or as
a duty you owe to God, its Author.' And she added :
' Now I shall return home with a happy heart, inasmuch
as you have promised to read the Scriptures daily. O
Robert, my son, read much in the New Testament. Read
much in the Gospels — the blessed Gospels. Then you can
not well go astray. If you pray, the Lord Himself will
teach you.'
" I parted from my beloved mother, now long gone to
that mansion about which she loved to speak. I went on
my way, and ere long found myself among strangers. My
charge was an important one for a youth, and though pos
sessing a muscular frame and a mind full of energy, it
required all to keep pace with the duty devolved upon me.
I lived at a considerable distance from what are called the
means of grace, and the Sabbaths were not always at my
command. I met with none who appeared to make rcli-
VOYAGE TO LIVERPOOL. 9
gion their chief concern. I mingled, when opportunities
offered, with the gay and godless in what were considered
innocent amusements, where I soon became a favourite ;
but I never forgot my promise to my mother."
The following gives a picture of what travelling
was for the humbler classes seventy years ago :
" HIGH LEIGH, Dec. 5, 1813.
" DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER,— I make no doubt but
you will be greatly surprised at my not writing you sooner,
but I hope the reception of this will satisfy you. I shall
begin with giving you an account of our passage. After
parting with you on the 5th (of November), I got to Polmont
about four o'clock. I slept with Robert Bailie that night."
He seems to have joined a ship the following day
at Carron, which was to go by way of the canal to
the Clyde ; and after many delays reached Greenock
"on the 1 8th.
" We left Greenock next morning, very calm. It was
about midnight when we got as far as the Cumbrae Isles,
blowing a strong breeze right in our teeth. We were obliged
to bear away under a heavy sea and dismal dark to Rothsay
Bay, in the Island of Bute ; but the wind favouring us,
we put about and stood towards the Cumbrae Lighthouse,
but under a dreadful sea we were obliged to bear away a
second time to Rothsay Bay, where we got in about one
o'clock Saturday morning with several sloops and a man-
of-war. The rain descended in torrents the whole night
till about eight o'clock. One unhappy circumstance took
place. Two men of the man-of-war, the Cygnet, had got
overboard, and attempting to swim on shore, one of them
found himself going; he immediately cried out, which
alarmed the ship. A boat was immediately hoisted out,
but before they could get nigh him he was no more ; but
they laid hold of the other one who was attempting to
swim to shore, but the body of the other was not found so
io ARRIVES AT HIGH LEIGH.
far as I know. Pie \vas nine years on board. The above
enraged the Captain (Russell) ; the boat was sent out early
the next morning, the 2Oth, and pressed John Bow. I
happened to be in bed, and keepit there as long as they were
upon deck. There was no other pressed in the bay. The
vessel was stationed at Lough Swilly in Ireland. Every
man was sorry for Jock. But to make a long story short,
we left there next morning, and arrived in Liverpool Dock
on Friday morning the 26th. Mr. Walker asked me if I
would attend on deck in Bow's stead, which I did all the
voyage ; indeed Thomas Barker was mate. I got my
victuals along with Mr. Walker, and he charged me £i 55.,
which was nigh two shillings a day. He said that he
would take nothing for my trunk or passage. He was
kind enough to me, indeed. I got the fiddle, and I kept
ourselves merry during the long voyage, but it was against
my will.
" I attended church at Rothsay, and heard a young man,
an anti-Burgher. His text was in Matthew — Jesus coming
to John to be baptized.
" Every person was for me taking the coach on Sunday
morning, but I took my own way of it, and set off on
Saturday morning between nine and ten, and arrived at
High Leigh about five o'clock at night. I think my travel
cost me a sixpence for a pint of ale besides five or six
shillings for a coach. The distance is about twenty-six
miles."
At High Leigh the Scotch lad found himself in a
genial atmosphere. The head gardener, a Mr. Bear-
park, took to him, arid soon got to leave a great
deal in his hands. This tended to make his duties
heavier, and to lay more responsibility upon him.
The gardens were maintained on a scale and in a
style to which he had as yet seen nothing to com
pare, and he was at work almost day and night,
weekdays and Sundays ; but as he took a strong
HIS SITUATION THERE. n
delight in his calling, this was no hardship. Many
men were employed, and these seem to have been
for the most part careless, and given to amuse
ments for which Robert Moffat had no inclination.
He lived in a lodge in a somewhat secluded situa
tion in the grounds, and what time he had was given
to quiet study of such books as he could obtain.
Mr. and Mrs. Leigh were very considerate, and
gave a good deal of attention to the interests of
their numerous servants. The young gardener
attracted the kindly notice of Mrs. Leigh, who lent
him books and encouraged him to studious pursuits.
CHAPTER II.
RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS.
1815 — 1816.
NOT long after his arrival at High Leigh he
came in contact with what to him was a new
development in religion. The Wesleyan
Methodists had commenced a good work in that
neighbourhood, and by the influence of a pious
Methodist and his wife Robert was led to attend
some of their meetings. The passionate appeals of
the faithful evangelists found a ready response.
His condition at this time will be best described by
himself.
" I had, like most Scotch youths in those days, the Bible
in two small volumes. These I read (remembering my
mother's last words), chiefly in the New Testament, but it
was only as a pleasing duty I owed to her. I thus became
familiar with the Gospels, notwithstanding my inattention
to what I read. At length I became uneasy, and then un
happy. The question would sometimes, even when my
hands were at work, dart across my mind, What think ye
of Christ ? which I dared not to answer. A hard struggle
followed. I could have wished to have ceased reading, but
the very thought would raise the image of my mother
Rudolf -Blind, dfl
SPIRITUAL STRUGGLES. 13
before me. I tried hard to stifle conviction, but I could
not help reading much in the Epistles, and especially in the
Epistle to the Romans. This I did with an earnestness I
tried in vain to subdue. I felt wretched, but still I did not
pray, till one night I arose in a state of horror from a
terrific dream. I fell on my knees, and felt as if my sins,
like a great mountain, were tumbling down upon me, and
that there was but a step between me and the place of woe.
Then followed the struggle between hope and despair. I
tried to reform — not by avoiding grossly immoral conduct, for
I had never been guilty of that, but by forsaking foolish and
worldly company, vain thoughts and wicked imaginations.
" For many weeks I was miserable. I wished to feel
that I was converted, but I could not believe I was. I
thought I had the faith required, and that I had repented
or turned to the Lord, and could adopt the words, 'To
whom shall I go but to Thee, O Jesus ; ' but still my soul
was like a ship in a tempest. At last I made a resolve to
become as wicked as I could make myself, and then if con
verted I should be so sensible of the change that all doubts
would vanish. I looked over this awful precipice down
which I was about to leap, and trembled at the thought
that I might perish in my sins. I turned anon to my Bible,
and grasped it, feeling something like a hope that I should
not sink with it in my hands. I knew of no one to whom
I could unbosom the agony that burned within. I tried to
pray fervently, but thought there was a black cloud between
me and the throne of God. I tried to hear Jesus saying to
my soul, ' Only believe ; ' but the passages from which
I sought comfort only seemed to deepen my wounds.
" Living alone in a lodge in an extensive garden, my
little leisure was my own. One evening, while poring over
the Epistle to the Romans, I could not help wondering
over a number of passages which I had read many times
before. They appeared altogether different. I exclaimed
with a heart nearly broken, ' Can it be possible that I have
never understood what I have been reading ? ' turning
from one passage to another : each sending a renovation
of light into my darkened soul. The Book of God, the
14 HE SUFFERS FOR CONSCIENCE' SAKE.
precious, undying Bible, seemed to be laid open, and I saw
at once what God had done for the sinner, and what was
required of the sinner to obtain the Divine favour and the
assurance of eternal life. I felt that, being justified by
faith, I had peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that He was made unto me wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption.
" Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be."
With all the energy of which he was capable,
Robert Moffat threw himself into the society and
work of his new friends, whose ministrations had
quickened into life the seed sown in earlier days.
Not but what he had to meet crosses. He lost the
goodwill of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh, who were grieved
that a young man in whom they took more than
ordinary interest should have become a Methodist,
and should have taken upon himself a name which
in those days was to many a term of the severest
reproach.
His4 letters home at this time are full of the
intense feeling shown in the foregoing quotations.
His father, with true Scottish caution, replies in
guarded language. He says :
"We are always happy to hear of good news, especially
while they are of the nature you mention, and the Scripture
assures us that good news from a far country are as cold
water to a thirsty soul ; and we are very happy to hear
that you seem to have got a sight of the evil nature of sin,
and the evil that it often bringeth on the unthinking and
heedless part of mankind. Nevertheless I would exhort
you not to be highminded, but to fear ; for I read of one
who was brought up into the third heavens, and saw things
which were not lawful for him to utter ; nevertheless there
was given him a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan
HIS FATHER URGES CAUTION. 15
to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure ;
and our Saviour himself no sooner received the sign of
baptism than He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
and was tempted of the devil forty days. And tempted to
what ? Even to distrust the common providence of God.
And the Apostle Peter, although he made more pretensions
of love to the Saviour than any of the disciples, yet how
soon was he tempted of the adversary of souls to deny his
great Lord and Master.
" I have said, * Be not highminded, but fear.' I would
also say, ' Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall,' for
the history of all ages confirms to us that one no sooner
begins to set his face heavenward than he begins to be
persecuted with enemies both within and without ; and
it often becomes no easy matter to bear the mocks and
even threats of some who set themselves up to oppose
all that is good.
" You seem to be much attached to the Methodists. I
verily believe they are a set of men who have done much
good. But at the same time, I do not altogether go in
with some of their tenets ; and as there are different sects
of these preachers, some of which are said not to be very
sound in the faith, it would take one to examine well for
themselves, and to follow them no further than they follow
the Word of God."
To this the son replies, stoutly defending his
friends. There was evidently a severe struggle in
his mind between the Calvinistic faith of his fathers
in which he had been brought up, and the teachings
to which he was now listening. Meanwhile another
phase of life was dawning upon him, which we can
read in his own words :
" I had undergone a great change of heart ; and this I
believe was produced by the Spirit of God through reading
the Bible and the Bible only, for my small stock of books
consisted chiefly of works on gardening and botany. Be
yond visitors to see the gardens, and the men in daily
16 A MEMORABLE WALK TO WARRIXGTON.
employ who returned to their homes after the labours of
the day, I saw no one. I occupied my leisure in studying
the Scriptures, and when opportunities offered I did not
fail to try and convince others of the necessity of repent
ance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I thought I had only to tell them what Christ had done for
them and what was required of them to be saved. I
wondered they could not see as I saw, and feel as I felt,
after explaining to them the great truths of the everlasting
gospel. On the contrary, I was treated by some as one
who was somewhat disordered in mind.
" Having a desire to visit Warrington, a town about six
miles from where I lived, to purchase a trifling article, I
went thither. It was on a calm, beautiful summer evening.
All nature seemed to be at rest, not a breath of wind to
move a leaf. In the clear blue expanse of heaven was to
be seen a single cloud passing over the disc of the sun as
he hastened toward his going down. I seemed more than
usual to feel admiration of the handiworks of God. I was
imperceptibly led to a train of thinking of the past : how
much of my life I had spent serving the world and not
Him who died for me ; that I had really been living to no
purpose. I thought of the present : how little I could do.
It was more pleasurable to contemplate the future. The
prospect of ere long being put in a position of honour and
of trust had of course a charm to one who was yet in his
teens, besides the hope of having it in my power to do
good. Little did I imagine that this bright picture I had
been painting of future comfort and usefulness was in the
course of an hour to vanish like a dream, and that I should
be taught the lesson that it is not in man to direct his steps.
"With thoughts like these I entered the town, and,
passing over a bridge, I observed a placard. I stood and
read. It was a missionary placard, the first I had seen in
my life. It announced that a missionary meeting was to
be held, and a Rev. William Roby, of Manchester, would
take the chair. I stood some time reading over and over
again, although I found that the time the meeting was to
be held was past. Passers-by must have wondered at my
SEEKS TO BECOME A MISSIONARY. 17
fixedness. I could look at nothing but the words on the
placard, which I can still imagine I see before me. The
stories of the Moravian missionaries in Greenland and
Labrador which I had heard my mother read when I was
a boy, which had been entirely lost to memory, never hav
ing been once thought of for many years, came into vivid
remembrance as if fresh from her lips. It is impossible for
me to describe the tumult which took hold of my mind.
" I hastened to obtain the trifle I wanted in town, and
returned to the placard and read it over once more, and
now wended my solitary way homeward another man, or
rather with another heart. The earthly prospects I had so
lately been thinking of with pleasure had entirely vanished,
nor could any power of mind recall their influence. My
thoughts became entirely occupied with the inquiry how I
could serve the missionary cause. No Missionary Society
would receive me. I had never been at college or at an
academy. I, however, began to devise plans. I had been
for a short time a young sailor, and I resolved to go to sea
again and get landed on some island or foreign shore,
where I might teach poor heathen to know the Saviour.
" Soon afterwards, having heard that a Wesleyan Con
ference was to be held in Manchester, I proposed to a
young man with whom I had become intimate that we
should go thither. During our few days' sojourn, hearing
first one and then another, I resolved on hearing William
Roby. His appearance and discourse, delivered with
gravity and solemnity, pleased me much. In the evening
the lady of the house where we lodged remarked that he
was a great missionary man, and sometimes sent out young
men to the heathen. This remark at once fixed my pur
pose of calling on that great man, but how and when was
a very serious matter to one of a naturally retiring habit.
I thought and prayed during the night over the impor
tant step I was about to take. There was something like
daring in the attempt which I could not overcome. Next
morning, when I awoke, my heart beat at the prospect
before me. I had told my beloved companion; Hamlet
Clarke, what I intended doing, and asked him to go with
3
iS HIS FIRST CALL ON MR. ROBY.
me. This he decidedly objected to, but he wished me to
go, and promised to wait within sight till I should return.
" Though the distance we had to walk was more than a
mile it seemed too short for me to get my thoughts in
order. Reaching the end of a rather retired street, I pro
ceeded with slow step. On getting to the door I stood a
minute or two, and my heart failed, and I turned back
towards my friend, but soon took fresh courage, and
came back again. The task of knocking at the good
man's door seemed very hard. A second time I reached
the door, and had scarcely set my foot on the first step
when my heart again failed. I feared I was acting pre
sumptuously.
" At last, after walking backward and forward for a
few minutes, I returned to the door and knocked. This
was no sooner done than I would have given a thousand
pounds, if I had possessed them, not to have knocked ; and
I hoped, oh ! how I hoped with all my heart, that Mr. Roby
might not be at home, resolving that if so I should never
again make such an attempt. A girl opened the door. * Is
.Mr. Roby in ? ' I inquired with a faltering voice. ' Yes/
was the reply, and I was shown into the parlour.
" The dreaded man whom I wished to see soon made
his appearance. Of course I had to inform him who I was,
•and my simple tale was soon told. He listened to all I
.had to say in answer to some questions with a kindly
•smile. I had given him an outline of my Christian experi
ence, and my wish to be a helper in the missionary cause.
I did not even tell him that it was his name on the mis-
•sionary placard which had directed my steps to his door.
He said he would write to the Directors of the Society, and
•on hearing from them would communicate their wishes
respecting me. I returned to my charge, and after some
weeks was requested to visit Manchester, that he might
get me placed in a situation which would afford him the
opportunity of examining me as to my fitness for mission
ary work. On my arrival, Mr. Roby took me to several of
his friends to obtain, if possible, a situation in a garden, a
-mercantile house, or a bank ; but all failed, there being no
HE GOES TO DUKINFIELD NURSERY. 19
opening for any one at the time. Mr. Roby then re
marked, ' I have still one friend who employs many men
to whom I can apply, provided you have no objection to
go into a nursery garden.'
" ' Go ! ' I replied ; ' I would go anywhere and do any
thing for which I may have ability.' Very providentially
Mr. Smith of Dukinfield happened to be in town, and at
once agreed that I should proceed to his nursery garden.
Thus was I led, by a way that I knew not, for another
important end ; for had I obtained a situation in Man
chester I might not have had my late dear wife to be my
companion and partaker in all my hopes and fears for
more than half a century in Africa. As it was, Mr. Smith's
only daughter possessing a warm missionary heart, we soon
became attached to one another ; but she was not allowed
to join me in Africa till nearly three years after I left.
" Mr. Smith, whose house was a house of call for minis
ters, and who was always ready to advance the Redeemer's
kingdom at home and abroad, only bethought himself on
returning home that the step he had taken might eventually
deprive him of his only daughter ; and so, in the provi
dence of God, it turned out. It would be unnecessary to
detail the subsequent events during my stay — under the
watchful care and instruction of Mr. Roby, which lasted
nearly a year — at the nursery garden, from which I could
visit him only once or twice a week."
A letter from Mr. Roby himself bears upon this
period :
" November 2j, 1815.
" DEAR SIR, — I have been anxiously waiting for an
answer to the letter which I wrote to the Directors of the
Missionary Society respecting you, and did not receive it
till this morning. It informs me that at present they have
so many applications that they cannot receive all who offer
their services for missionary work, and are therefore obliged
to select those who possess the most promising acquire
ments. On this account they are under the necessity of
declining your offer at present."
20 UNFOLDS HIS PLANS TO HIS PARENTS.
Mr. Roby was, however, convinced that the young
gardener had good metal in him, and, carrying out
the measures above described, eventually prevailed
upon the Directors to reconsider their decision.
Robert was not for some time able to screw up
his courage to tell his parents the nature of the
great step he was taking. In a letter to them about
this time, he says :
"You requested to know what I intended doing next
season ; and I doubt not but you will be surprised at my
informing you tnat I leave my present situation next
Saturday, being the 23rd of December, and I intend stop
ping a week with my religious friends in this place, and
then go, about New Year's day, to a nursery near Man
chester. Some of the circumstances I will mention which
have occurred within this short time to me. About the
month of July there was a situation offered me, and it
seems to be of great extent. I was to be both factor,
steward, and gardener, and have under my charge some
hundreds of acres of farming, with a number of men and a
garden, &c. ; and my description, it seems, was given to the
gentleman, and he said there was nothing to hinder me but
one thing — and what was that do you think ? It was, if I
would give up going to the Methodists I would just suit
him ; but my answer was, I thanked them for their good
intentions, but I would prefer my God to white and yellow
ore. Some time after another situation was offered me,
but I did not feel a willingness in my mind to accept of it,
not having a desire to settle so soon. My master was very
good. He said that if I found employers he would become
responsible for a good character. Some time about a fort
night ago kind Providence opened a door for me to the
above-mentioned place. I am not driven there, but I am
called to go there — not for the present benefit, but for the
future good. The wages are fifteen shillings per week ;
mine will be only twelve or thirteen, on account that I will
only work five days in a week. The reason of this I will
leave a future period to determine."
HIS FATHERS ADVERSE COMMENTS 21
To this his father replies :
" We are not without our apprehensions that you may
not have made a very profitable change. You say that
the wages are fifteen shillings per week, but as you are
only to work five days you will have but twelve or thirteen
shillings a week. But you have left us to conjecture how
you are to employ yourself on the sixth day. But if
my opinion be rightly founded, I presume that you mean
to endeavour to fit yourself for another line of life ; but I
would have you duly to consider the importance of such an
undertaking, and to weigh well what our Saviour says to
the builder in the Scriptures, and to first sit down and
count the cost, and to see whether you have sufficient to
finish or not ; and to consider what was said to David, that
the Lord said that he did well that he had it in his heart
to build an house unto the Lord. And we think that you
might both live usefully to your neighbours and profitably
to yourself without engaging in a line of that kind ; neither
do we think that your health would altogether agree with
such an undertaking, as I verily believe that you will find
a close application to study as hard an undertaking as
anything you have hitherto engaged in.
"You mention having had the offer of a good situation,
which in my opinion was rather flattering, especially for
one of your age. But as you were to be bound up to a
certain mode of worship, we think you did well in refusing
it."
It was not till the month of May following that
he wrote and made his parents acquainted with the
nature of the determination to which he had come ;
and even then it was only under the persuasion of
his good friend and adviser, Mr. Roby : so great was
his diffidence, and, we may add, so heavy did he feel
the news would be to them. To his mother it was
a trial of no ordinary sort. In those days, to go out
into the heathen world war. like taking an eternal
22 AND RESIGNATION TO THE INEVITABLE.
farewell so far as this world was concerned. No
swift steamers then crossed the ocean in a few days
or a few weeks. A great part of heathendom was
an unknown region, into which few had gone and
from which still fewer ever returned.
In a letter full of dignified resignation the old
man bids his son Godspeed, declaring that whatever
may be his own feelings and those of Robert's
mother, they dare not oppose his design, lest haply
in so doing they should be found fighting against
God.
CHAPTER III.
PREPARATIONS AND DEPARTURE FOR AFRICA.
1816.
AT last the Directors resolved to accept his
services, and he left Dukinfield nursery for
the purpose of being close to Mr. Roby in
Manchester, to receive such superintendence as was
possible in his studies ; but as this period was not
allowed to extend over more than a few months,
whatever gifts may have been bestowed upon Robert
Moffat to fit him for his work as a missionary, it
certainly could not be said that they came in the
form of collegiate opportunities.
The time drew near for his departure, and he
paid a hurried visit to Scotland to bid farewell to
his parents. He little thought of ever seeing them
again, though they were both spared to welcome
him on his return twenty-three years afterwards.
He never saw his two sisters again. In a letter
written from Manchester after his visit, he says :
" Having left Edinburgh with emotions which it is our
lot to share, I arrived here at five o'clock the Sabbath
morning following, very much fatigued. My bundle re-
24 EARNEST LONGINGS FOR THE V/ORK.
ceived no injury. I caught a slight cold. I availed myself
of three hours' sleep, and with unusual transport I accord
ingly went to hear our beloved pastor. Having embraced
the opportunity of conversing with him, I could not learn
the precise time that we were to depart, further than that
letters had been received stating that we were to be in
readiness, and that it was expected that we were to take
partners along with us, and that in so doing it would be
approved by the Directors (but more of this hereafter)."
After a description of the missionary anniversary
services held in Manchester, which were marked
with the enthusiasm of those early days, he goes on
to say, in reference to his approaching departure and
that of his companions :
" Mr. Kitchingman and Mr. Pratt both take wives along
with them, but from particular reasons I go alone. I made
it a matter of prayer to God, and from the clearest dicta
tion of His Providence He bids me go alone; and He who
appoints crosses and disappointments also imparts resigna
tion and grace sufficient unto the day. So I am bold to
adopt the language of Eli, and to say : ' It is the Lord, let
Him do what seemeth Him good.' My dear parents, such
language may seem strange unto you, but its interpretation
is known unto me in a measure, and what we know not
now we shall know hereafter. My present feeling with re
spect to my undertaking, is that I long to be gone ; I long
to be engaged in the blessed work of saying to the heathen,
'Behold your God !' Do not think that the future scenes
cast me down. No ! behold I go full of hope, transported
at the prospect of being counted worthy of undergoing a
few transient troubles for His sake, who for our sake be
came poor, who for our sakes was despised and rejected,
was crucified and slain. No, my Redeemer ! let me not
sink, let me not faint. Oh ! that when I die, I may die
fighting in the armies of the living God !
" My colleague, Mr. Kitchingman, has earnestly requested
me to remember him to you though unknown to him. I
HE RESOLVES TO GO UNMARRIED. 25
have to be grateful to God who hath appointed me such an
one. He is endeared to me, and worthy of my affection.
I shall be happy to spend my days with him : so what the
Lord takes away on the one hand He gives on another."
This early judgment of Mr. Kitchingrnan was not
belied. He always remained a valued friend, though
his lot was to work in another part of South Africa.
He died at his post many years afterwards ; one of
his sons followed him in the missionary work, and is
also gone to his rest ; and others of the family are
still entering into their labours.
The " interpretation " of one passage in the fore
going letter is to be found in a few lines addressed
to the Rev. George Burder by Mr. Roby.
"MANCHESTER, Aug. 31, l8l6.
" Our festival is concluded, and it has been a festival
indeed, at least equal to any that I have enjoyed in London.
The sermons were uncommonly excellent, the meeting for
business delightful, the missionary communion solemnly
affecting ; the collections at the several services amounted
to upwards of ^500 . ...
" Poor Moffat's amiable disposition and eminent devoted-
ness have attracted the affectionate regards of his master's
daughter, a young lady of high piety, of polished manners,
and the expectant of a considerable fortune. She possesses
as truly a missionary spirit as he, and is eager to accom
pany him ; but her parents forbid it, and both she and he
therefore determine to sacrifice their ardent wishes."
Moffat writes to his parents from London on the
twenty-third of September :
" I left Manchester on Friday the I3th, at four o'clock in
the afternoon. It was with no small degree of sorrow that
I bid a final adieu to my present friends, who were friends
indeed, who manifested their distinguished kindness to-
26 HIS FIRST VISIT TO LONDON.
wards me in an extraordinary manner. The family of
Smith, with whom I served at Dukinfield, were truly kind
to me, with many others whose names are written in heaven,
and who shall be rewarded at the resurrection of the just.
It is impossible for me to be grateful enough to God for
such a friend as Mr. Roby. Truly his kindness, like that
of a father, will not be easily obliterated from my mind.
I have no doubt but it will follow us as long as the wheels
of life continue to move.
" I visited the Rooms on Friday morning and saw Mr.
Burder, secretary. I spent some time in viewing the
museum, which contains a great number of curiosities from
China, Africa, South Seas, and West Indies. It would be
foolish for me to give you a description. Suffice it to say
that the sight is truly awful, the appearance of the wild
beasts is very terrific, but I am unable to describe the sen
sations of my mind when gazing on the objects of pagan
worship. Alas ! how fallen my fellow-creatures, bowing
down to forms enough to frighten a Roman soldier, enough
to shake the hardest heart. Oh that I had a thousand lives,
and a thousand bodies : all of them should be devoted to no
other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded,
despised, yet beloved mortals. I have not repented in be
coming a missionary, and should I die in the march, and
never enter the field of battle, all will be well.
" On Saturday night I heard a minister of Lady Hunt
ingdon's Connexion, at Spa Fields, and on Sabbath I heard
the Rev. Mr. Burder and Dr. Waugh, that worthy Scotch
man, like another John Knox. To-day, which is Monday,
the Committee of Directors met for examination, but there
was very little said to us — from our having been examined
at Manchester, I suppose. On my entering the room with
the rest, Dr. Waugh, on shaking hands, said, ' Are not you
one of Ebbie Brune's lads ? ' I said that I had heard him
frequently, and knew him well. I understand that Dr. W
was one of his father's pupils. He speaks of them with
great feeling and respect. I was almost afraid of appear
ing before the Directors to be examined, for they turn one
outside in. However, next Monday we are appointed to
SET APART TO THE WORK AND EMBARKS. 27
meet, and be publicly ordained and designated to the im
portant work."
On the evening of the thirtieth of September nine
missionaries were set apart. The service was at
Surrey Chapel. The names of Leifchild, Winter,
Waugh,and John Campbell of Kingsland — household
words to a past generation — appear on this occasion
in connection with what was naturally a specially
interesting service ; though few could have formed
any adequate forecast of the wide interest that would
attach to the names of two who were then buckling
o
on their armour. Four men were destined to the
South Seas, of whom John Williams was to be the
first martyr of Erromanga. Other five were for
South Africa.
During the discussions in the missionary com
mittee as to how this band of men was to be dis
tributed, it had first been proposed that Williams
and Moffat should both go to Polynesia ; but this
was overruled at the suggestion of Dr. Waugh,
who deemed " thae twa lads ower young to gang
tegither," so they were separated. On these small
links hang our lives.
After many delays — which intending voyagers then
took as a matter of course — the party embarked at
Gravesend, on the eighteenth of October, in the
Alacrity, Captain Findlay. The pilot left them in
the Downs on the twentieth, bringing one more
affectionate letter from Robert to his parents ; the
shores of England faded from his view, and he was
launched on the enterprise of his life.
CHAPTER IV.
JOURNEY 20 NAMAQUALAND.
1817-1818.
OBEET MOFFAT and his companions
reached Cape Town on the thirteenth of
January, 1817, having been eighty-six days
at sea in their little brig. They were well pleased
with their passage and with each other, peace and
goodwill having prevailed among them, and the
captain having shown them unvarying kindness.
They were received in Cape Town by the Rev.
George Thorn, then or afterwards a minister of the
Dutch Reformed Church.
Two of the party were destined for stations within
the Colony ; Moffat and Kitchingman were to go to
Namaqualand, which was beyond the border, and it
was necessary for them to have the permission of the
Government before they could proceed on their jour
ney. To their great surprise this permission was re
fused. An interview with His Excellency the Gover
nor followed, of which the following is a record ;
" His Excellency stated that it was the intention to
prohibit us as well as other missionaries from proceeding
OBSTRUCTIVE ACTION OF GOVERNMENT. 29
beyond the limits of the Colony; that he had been informed
that many of the servants and slaves belonging to the
farmers within the Colony had fled to Griqua Town as an
asylum ; and that he understood from a letter that Mr.
Anderson exhorted them to go back, but that he con
sidered it not the intention of the Society to drive such
characters back by force of arms to their former masters.
" Mr. Taylor replied that it certainly was not the intention
of the Society that we should arbitrarily govern by force
of arms, but that we should introduce religious civilization.
" His Excellency stated that the collecting of individuals
together was likely to prove fatal, they being without the
limits of the Colony. He said because the population of
the Colony was thin, that when men were called up in case
of war they were not to be found ; and that, also, such a
body of men without government laws was likely to mutiny,
and so to prove fatal to the missionaries and also to the
Colony."
It was in vain for the missionaries to plead and
to urge such arguments as common sense suggested.
It was true that escaped slaves and criminals were
continually making their way across the frontier and
settling beyond the reach of the Government ; but
this was going on quite apart from the question as
to whether there were or were not missionaries in
those regions already ; and it did not seem to occur
to the men in authority that if Christian teachers
chose to exile themselves, and perhaps to incur
peril in following their duty by going into those
remote districts, their influence would tend to
diminish the dangers and inconveniences which
were supposed to threaten the Colony.
Under these circumstances the only thing that
was left for them to do was to await orders from
home, and meanwhile to make the best use they
30 STAYS AT STELLENBOSCH.
could of their time. Taylor went, for the time, to
a missionary institution not far away ; the Kitching-
mans took up their abode in Tulbagh, and Moffat
in Stellenbosch, the latter a village about thirty-six
miles from Cape Town. Here he lodged with a
Dutch wine farmer named Hamman, who was not
only hospitable, but a man of deep piety and earnest
missionary spirit.
The object of this arrangement was to give the
young missionary an opportunity of learning Dutch,
which it did not take him long to do, placed as he
was among those who could speak or understand
no other language. Much as he must have been
discouraged and perplexed by the long delay, it was
always a great advantage to him in after life to have
had this enforced detention. He was in a position
to go to work at once when he did eventually reach
Namaqualand, and it was at all times a great advan
tage to him during his missionary career to be able
to speak Dutch. During the period of his stay at
Stellenbosch, he accompanied Mr. Thorn on an
evangelistic tour extending over six weeks, in which
they rode a distance of about seven hundred miles,
in the district of the Western Province adjacent to
the Cape.
To any one who knows the present condition of
the country round which they travelled, it would be
curious to read how the evangelists found them
selves in a desolate region, with primitive home
steads few and far between, where now many a
smiling village lies nestled amongst its trees. In
these then lonely spots small congregations gladly
assembled from many miles around to listen to
DEPARTURE FROM CAPE TOWN. 31
the preaching of the gospel, which was to them a
rare privilege.
Sometimes the travellers would be belated in the
wilds, and would have to make their bivouac on a
hillside, and be treated to a serenade more wild
than sweet of jackals and hyaenas. From these
there was no danger : but they were sometimes in
fear of visitors of another kind, for the mountainous
districts were full of fugitives, mostly runaway slaves,
whose hand was against every man.
After a further stay at Stellenbosch, Moffat
returned to Cape Town, where he busied himself
with picking up everything in the shape of practical
knowledge that came within his reach, and found a
congenial outlet for his zeal in visiting the military
hospital. Many of the soldiers were Scotch, and he
had a peculiarly tender feeling towards soldiers.
His brother Alexander had gone to India in the
ranks some years before, and at this time nothing
was known as to what had become of him.
The long detention at length came to an end.
The scruples of the Governor were overcome, ap
parently by the efforts of Mr. Thorn, who was
possessed of some influence and of much persever
ance. Permission was granted to Kitchingman and
Moffat to go their way. No time was lost; the
necessary preparations were made, waggons were
bought, oxen were hired, and on the twenty-second
of September, 1817, Moffat bade farewell to the
many warm friends whom he had tound in Cape
Town and Stellenbosch.
His companions were the Kitchingmans and the
Ebners. With the latter he expected not only to
32 EPISODE AT A BOER FARM.
travel but to be a fellow-labourer at Afrikaner's
kraal, where Ebner had already been for some time
resident.
The record of the journey, like many in the olden
time, is one of hardship and difficulty. Every day
which took the travellers farther from Cape Town
brought them into a more desolate region, in which
the lonely homesteads became fewer, and approached
an almost complete isolation. With a few excep
tions the farmers were friendly and wished the
travellers well. The chief Afrikaner had earned
himself a terrible reputation, and the reports that
he was now a changed character were not readily
believed by the Boers. Many were the gloomy
prognostications. One motherly dame shed tears
over the comely lad — for he was little more, being
not quite twenty-two years old — who, in her belief,
was going into the lion's mouth.
One evening he halted at a farm which showed
signs of belonging to a man of wealth and impor
tance, who had many slaves. The old patriarch,
hearing that he was a missionary, gave him a hearty
welcome, and proposed that in the evening he should
give them a service. No proposal could have been
more acceptable, and he sat down to the plain but
plentiful meal with a light heart. The sons and
daughters came in. Supper ended, a clearance was
made, the big Bible and the psalm-books were
brought out, and the family was seated.
" But where are the servants ? " asked Moffat.
" Servants ! what do you mean ? "
" I mean the Hottentots, of whom I see so many
on your farm."
PREACHING TO THE "DOGS." 33
" Hottentots ! Do you mean that, then ! Let me
go to the mountain and call the baboons, if you
want a congregation of that sort. Or stop, I have
it : my sons, call the dogs that lie in front of the
door — they will do."
The missionary quietly dropped an attempt which
threatened a wrathful ending, and commenced the
service. The psalm was sung, prayer was offered,
and the preacher read the story of the Syrophenician
woman, and selected more especially the words :
" Truth, Lord, but even the dogs eat of the crumbs
that fall from the master's table." He had not
spoken many minutes when the voice of the old
man was again heard : "Will Mynheer sit down
and wait a little ; he shall have the Hottentots."
The summons was given, the motley crowd
trooped in, many who probably had never been
within the door of their master's house before, and
many more who never before had heard the voice
of a preacher.
When the service was over and the astonished
Hottentots had dispersed, the farmer turned to his
guest and said, " My friend, you took a hard
hammer and you have broken a hard head."
This must not be taken as an instance repre
senting the universal feeling of a class. Even in
those days there were God-fearing and earnest-
minded Boers who did their best for their slaves ;
and now, thanks to the labours of many devoted
ministers, there is a true and growing missionary
spirit in the Dutch population of South Africa.
As the travellers got farther on their way their
difficulties increased. They advanced into an al-
4
34 ARRIVAL AT AFRIKANER'S KRAAL.
most pathless region, barren and stony hills, inter
secting plains of sand, with scanty trickling springs,
and occasional but uncertain pools of water, at long
intervals. Their oxen grew weaker day by day;
the little flock of sheep on which they depended for
mutton was dispersed by the hyaena and lost; and
they were thankful to reach at last a haven of rest
in the missionary station of Byzondermeid, more
than two months after they had left Cape Town.
Here the Kitchingmans were to remain, and Moffat
after a time continued his journey to Afrikaner's
kraal, where he rejoined Mr. Ebner and his family,
on the twenty-sixth of January, 1818.
. CHAPTER V.
LIFE IN NAMAQUALAND.
1818.
ROBERT MOFFAT'S stay in Namaqualand
extended to a little over twelve months,
and only a part of that time was spent in
residence at the station. Before he had been many
days on the spot, he saw that it was not a place for
permanent settlement and progress. A long journey
was soon undertaken to the north, in which he was
accompanied by most of the able-bodied men of the
tribe and by their chief. The result of their journey
was to put an end to any hope of a settlement in
that quarter, and the thoughts of Afrikaner were
drawn eastward across the Kalahari to the country
of the Bechwana, with whom he had enjoyed some
friendly intercourse. The missionary, with a select
party on horseback, made a journey in that direc
tion, reaching Griqua Town and Lattakoo. On his
return to Afrikaner he found that Mr. Ebner, the
only other missionary in Namaqualand north of the
Orange River, was leaving the country, so that he
was left completely alone. In the intervals of his
36 THE CHIEF AFRIKANER.
long absences from his station he carried on such
missionary work as was possible — conducting a
school, and raising a place of worship. Towards
the end of the year he saw reason to visit Cape
Town in company with the chief, and there he met
Dr. Philip and John Campbell, who had come out
as a deputation from the Missionary Society.
It will not be necessary to go into much detail
about Afrikaner. His history is told by Moffat
himself in his " Labours and Scenes." Suffice to
say here, that he was a man who had escaped from
vassalage in the Cape Colony, and having his own
family as a nucleus, with a following of other
refugees had crossed the Orange River, and es
tablished himself in what is known as Great Nama-
qualand. Here he carried on for years a system of
predatory warfare. His enemies were twofold — the
farmers within the Colony, and the Namaquas, of a
race kindred to his own, in whose country he had
settled as an unwelcome intruder. He managed to
strike terror into them all,' and to make himself of so
much importance that a large reward was offered for
his head by the Government of the Cape Colony.
After many years he came under the influence of
the earlier missionaries, more especially of Christian
Albrecht, a man of more than ordinary character
and apostolic zeal ; and on the occasion of John
Campbell's first visit to South Africa, negotiations
were commenced which ended in his consenting to
receive a missionary. A Mr. Ebner was at once
sent to take up the work until the promised mis
sionary should arrive from Europe, and he would
probably have remained but for a certain want of
M OF FATS HUT AT V REDE BURG. 37
harmony between him and some of Afrikaner's
people ; so that as soon as he saw the post filled he
took his departure, and the young missionary was
left quite alone.
Vredeburg, as it was called, was a collection of
huts in a small valley, bounded by bare rocks 0:1
either side. A spring rose in the upper part of the
valley, which in times of heavy rain —say once in
two or three years — swelled into a flood, filled the
river bed, and covered the levels on either side, so
that the people had for a few days to move their
huts nearer to the rocks. There were many large
mimosa trees, which gave a pleasant look to the
place, and redeemed it from the utter dreariness of
the barren plains which stretched around for many
miles.
The huts in which the people lived were as
movable as tents. They were formed of long
tapering wands, planted in a circle, then bent over
and tied together so as to form a cage, and on this
were fastened rush mats, packed more or less
thickly according to the means of the owner, and
admitting less or more rain accordingly. As rain
fell very seldom, and as in that country to get wet
was a mere refreshing novelty, this was not a serious
inconvenience. The dust and the heat were the
worst plagues. There was one opening large enough
to crawl in at, and this sufficed for door and window,
and for that matter chimney too, when a fire was
lighted within. In a hut of this kind the missionary
lived during his sojourn with Afrikaner. His
efforts to obtain comfort must have met with but
partial success. He lived principally upon milk
33 HIS WORK AMONG AFRIKANER'S PEOPLE.
and dried meat, until latterly he was able to raise a
little grain and garden stuff.
For the best part of a year he did not see the
face of a fellow countryman, or hear a word in his
mother tongue. Happily he was in entire sympathy
with the chief and his brothers. Not only could
they enjoy the mutual confidence of fellow Christians,
but a strong personal friendship sprang up, and
from the first Robert Moffat exerted a charm over
Christian Afrikaner, which it was given to him to
'exert over many others afterwards. Even Titus,
the brother who stood out against the gospel, was
amenable to his personal influence, and devoted to
his interests.
Moffat went to work earnestly, and soon had a
flourishing school. Meanwhile a building was being
raised for a church on a different scale from that of
the beehive huts. But the temporal condition of
the people was miserable, and there never could be
much progress in civilization or industry with such
surroundings. The missionary and the chief were
of one mind in the conviction that no lasting settle
ment was to be thought of in that part of the
country. The scanty spring gave water enough for
the irrigation of only a small bit of ground, which
would not supply food for one-fifth of the few
hundreds of people belonging to Afrikaner, and yet
it was the only spot available for many miles around.
So in June we find them starting with a large
following of the able-bodied men to explore the
country northward, in search of something better.
This journey took nearly two months, and ended in
nothing. No better country was to be found in that
JOURNEY EASTWARD. ^
direction, so far as they went, without entering a
region where the hostility of other Namaquas might
be looked for; so the idea was abandoned. In
those thinly peopled regions, the few Bushmen and
scattered Namaquas whom they found were sunk
into a brutish degradation which stirred the heart of
the young missionary, and instead of repelling rather
quickened his zeal.
Space would not suffice for even extracts of his
journals, but the following letter will give a view of
this part of his life :
" VRISDEBURG, Dec. 15, 1818.
"Mv DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER,— I feel ashamed
when I recollect that I have not communicated to you a
single syllable since the eighth of April last. But on the
other hand, when I call to mind the different scenes
through which I have passed since that period, and how
my time has been taken up, I think myself almost excus
able. In the month of June I commenced a long journey
to the northward as far as the Fish River, accompanied by
the chief and his principal people ; our object was to find a
more suitable place to form an institution, but after enduring
many hardships we returned after two months, disappointed
in the object of our journey. A short time afterwards I
came to a conclusion to undertake a journey to Griqua
Town to see a place which the Griquas had offered to
Afrikaner. The approach of the warm season induced me
to take the journey immediately. I accordingly departed
on the second of September, accompanied by four of my
people with ten horses. We travelled along the Great
River and crossed it twice. I preached frequently to the
tribes of Korannas along the river. We suffered much
both from hunger and thirst, having taken nothing with
us, depending entirely upon the natives. The last three
days previous to our arrival in Griqua Town, one of the
men and myself suffered extreme hunger and thirst, nearly
40 HARDSHIPS OF TRAVELLING.
three days without victuals and nearly two without water.
This was on account of three of my people having un
expectedly stayed behind, and been unable to overtake us ;
and we not knowing the hindrance, saw it most proper to
go forward, being then in the midst of a sand desert without
water, and the little flesh was with those who stayed behind.
You may well conceive what effect such hardships had
upon me in a bodily respect, sleeping behind a bush on the
sand, eating nothing but flesh, and that so hard frequently
that we must beat it small with stones, and living two or
three days on a little milk. But I stood it out far better
than my companions, for I had always to encourage both
them and myself, or we never would have got there.
Through Divine help we all arrived at Griqua Town on the
evening of the eleventh. The brethren and sisters received
me with joy and affection, and supplied me with everything
needful ; and I may say with Paul, when I saw them I
thanked God and took courage, and when I reflected on the
•difficulties which I had undergone, I adored the Hand which
had preserved me in them, and I more than ever estimated
the value of providential blessings ; but above all, I was
cheered with this one recollection that it is for Jesu's sake
•and the sake of the heathen. In the midst of these hard
ships I felt, as I do at this moment, that I desire to suffer
^anything, even death itself, if but Christ is glorified in the
salvation of the poor heathen. During my stay at Griqua
Town I preached occasionally, and got proper information
••relating to the situation alluded to — to which I had some
•objections, seeing some difficulties in the way in a political
point of view.
" I set off on the fifth of October to return home, and
;after experiencing nearly as great difficulties as before, I
reached this place on the fifteenth. My little flock were all
out of patience, and were ready to quarrel with me for
leaving them. They assured me that they would never
again suffer me to do so. On my arrival I found a letter
from Brother Ebner, informing me of his critical situation,
he having been obliged to leave the Warm Bath station on
•account of the broils which had taken place between the
MULTIFARIOUS OCCUPATION. 41
people themselves, which were likely to end in a war. He
begged of me to visit him. I immediately set off, and
reached him the same day on the north side of the Great
River ; he was then on the point of crossing, and only
waited on me. I did all that I could to dissuade him from the
idea of leaving the Namaqua Mission, but all my entreaties
were vain, for he seemed determined to leave Narnaqualand
entirely, and perhaps resign the work and return to Europe.
This considerably affected me. After stopping two days
I left him ; he soon crossed the river, and suffered consider
able loss of cattle on account of the strong current.
"About two weeks ago the two parties, viz., that of
Bondelzwartz and that of Magerman, came and laid the
whole of the case before me, leaving me to judge betwixt
them. After hearing both parties, I showed each how far
they had erred from common justice, and how Magerman's
people were culpable, which they acknowledged. Both
parties were perfectly satisfied with the judgment, and gave
each other the hand as a token of peace, promising to return
the guns which each party had taken. Ebner is gone, and
has left me a solitary missionary with little prospect of
having help. But the cause is the Lord's, and how can we
be faint or weary in well-doing, while we witness immortal
souls dying for lack of knowledge. I have many difficulties
to encounter being alone. No one can do anything for me
in my household affairs. I must attend to everything,
which often confuses me, and, indeed, hinders me in my
work, for I could wish to have almost nothing to do but to
instruct the heathen, both spiritually and temporally. Daily
I do a little in the garden, daily I am doing something
for the people in mending guns. I am carpenter, smith,
cooper, tailor, shoemaker, miller, baker, and housekeeper —
the last is the most burdensome of any. Indeed, none is
burdensome but it An old Namaqua woman milks my
cows, makes a fire and washes. All other things I do
myself, though I seldom prepare anything till impelled by
hunger. I drink plenty of milk, and often eat a piece of
dry flesh. Lately I reaped nearly two bolls of wheat from
two hatfuls which I sowed. This is of great help to me. I
42 REASONS FOR VISITING THE CAPE.
shall soon have plenty of Indian corn, cabbage, melons, and
potatoes. Water is scarce. I have sown wheat a second
time on trial. I live chiefly now on bread and milk. To
day I churned about three Scotch pints of milk, from which
there were two pounds of butter, so you may conceive that
the milk is rich. I wish many times my mother saw me.
My house is always pretty clean, but oh what a confusion
there is always among my linen. I have no patience.
" On the twenty-sixth of November I received letters
from the Cape and England, of a very interesting nature.
One from Miss Smith of Dukinfield. She informed me
that Mr. Roby saw you on his visit to Scotland, and that
you were well and that my mother was in good spirits.
This was very agreeable news to me indeed, for I often
think of you all, and feel anxious to know how it fares with
you. In a former letter I mentioned something respecting
my hope of being united to Miss S., but her last two letters
have been completely effectual in blasting my hopes. She
has most reluctantly renounced the idea of ever getting
abroad, her father determining never to allow her. Of
course I have been greatly cast down of late, but have at
the same time been enabled to love and confide in Him
who sticketh closer than a brother, and have been more
than ever led to see the mutability of every earthly
comfort.
" I must now inform you that it is my intention shortly
to visit the Cape. I think of commencing my journey in
February. I have requested Afrikaner to accompany me.
He immediately consented, and is now making prepara
tions. This will be a wonderful event to hear of, Afrikaner
accompanying a missionary to Cape Town. It will also be
very acceptable to the Governor, as he has often requested
him to come that some sort of peace might be established.
For particular reasons he would not go, nor would do
now were it not that he esteems and puts great confidence
in me. I have much reason to believe that this unexpected
event will be the means of doing much good, both in a
political and an ecclesiastical point of view. The Govern
ment will sec the fruits of our labours, and be convinced
MOFFATS HOME CIRCLE. 43
that \vc are indeed messengers of peace ; but you will hear
more afterwards.
" I am also excited to visit the Cape by hearing that my
presence will be acceptable when some important discus
sions will take place relating to our Missions.
" I could have wished to communicate my journal in full ;
it would interest you in the winter evenings, and I may do
this. I long to hear from you. I have now been nearly
two years in Africa, and only received one letter from you,
not a syllable from William, nor do I hear anything of
Alexander. Write me fully, and forget me not in your
approaches to the throne of grace. Remember me to all
my friends in Edinburgh and elsewhere, and particularly to
Richard, Helen, Ann, and James. Tell them all that I
often think of them and pray for them, and that it is not
likely 'that I shall see them any more till we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ, and I hope finally in
the presence of the Lamb. I must conclude, desiring to
remain your affectionate but unworthy son."
We can form but a faint idea of the feeling with
which such letters as this would be received and
read in the quiet Scottish home at Inverkeithing.
They continued to come in unfailing succession
through more than fifty years, perhaps sometimes
not oftener than once in the twelvemonth, but never
failing to come at last. The home tie was never
broken or allowed to die away, indeed it seemed
to grow stronger and more tender as the years
rolled by.
The reader will understand that the region called
Great Namaqualand lies to the north of the Orange
River, and along the western coast of the continent.
To the eastward of it is the almost rainless and
waterless Kalahari desert, and beyond that, still
further eastward, the Bechwana country. To any-
44 FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH BECHWANAS.
one comma- from the southward the first Bechwana
o
tribe encountered is the Batlaping, who were then
on the Kuruman river. The missionaries Read and
Hamilton were already among these people. Moffat
had already seen, and had been favourably im
pressed with, some Bechvvanas who, travelling for
purposes of trade, had visited Namaqualand. They
in their turn were importunate for him to accompany
them to their own country, which was a few miles to
the westward of Lattakoo as it was then called. Of
course he could not yield to their entreaties. On
the occasion of his visit to Griqua Town above re
lated, he went on to visit the missionaries on the
Kuruman; and whilst with them came in contact
with the same people, who hailed him as an old
friend. He then found that his fame had preceded
him, and that he had already gained a most sur
prising ascendency over the hearts of these strangers.
He little thought even then that among these very
people it was the will of God that the great work of
hrs life was to be done.
The letter already cited had a postscript, both
long and important, of which the following is a
part :
" CAPE TOWN, April 16, 1819.
" DEAR FATHER, — It was my intention when I wrote this
letter to have sent it off immediately, but the overflowing
of the Orange River completely cut off all communication.
I accordingly kept this and other letters, as there was a
probability of my reaching Cape Town before them should
they have been sent. Although the Great or Orange River
was nearly full, I crossed it safely, though not without being
exposed to imminent danger and loss, and after a pros
perous journey I reached this place about four days ago.
Afrikaner, the chief, is with me, and every one is pleased to
RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY AT THE CAPE. 45
see him, and no less astonished to witness the effect of
Divine grace manifesting itself in him and others who are
with me. On my arrival here I received your letter of the
thirty-first of July, 1818, and you may well conceive what
my feelings were in recognizing the handwriting of my dear
brother Alexander, whom I never expected to behold again
in this world, and may not even as it is ; but I cannot de
scribe my joy on hearing that he yet lives, not in a far
distant land, but in the bosom of his nearest friends. When
I think on this my soul seems winged to your habitation
and mingling in your converse.
"The worthy Mr. Harvard, Methodist missionary from
Ceylon, on his way to England, goes on board in three
hours, and promises to take this with other letters. I also
send with him some African curiosities to my dear friend
Mr. Roby. I have just received letters from Miss Smith.
The scene is changed. I have now abundant reason to
believe that God will make her path plain to Africa. This
I trust will be soon, for a missionary in this country with
out a wife is like a boat with one oar. A good missionary's
wife can be as useful as her husband in the Lord's vine
yard.
"Dr. Philip and Mr. Campbell are preparing for their
journey into the interior, and have earnestly begged of me
to accompany them as interpreter. 1 have consented, and
we will, I think, proceed in a few weeks. Of late in this
corner of hell the dry bones begin to shake, apostolic zeal
begins to peep out, Government is favourable to missions
and to the cause in this town, and we confidently look for
ward to a harvest of souls. Dr. Philip has got permission
to build a chapel ; such a thing was never known before.
Twice every Sabbath Divine service is held at the Orphan
Chamber, when Messrs. Philip and Campbell preach. On
the Sabbath a prayer-meeting is held in this house, also on
the Wednesday evenings, when exhortations are given.
The two directors are always present. There are many
other meetings in Dutch. Brother Evans preaches in Dutch
to-night to slaves, and I have to engage on Sabbath.
This you see is the old way and the only way to damp
46 AFRIKANER'S RECONCILIATION.
Satan's courage, and eventually gain victory. Pray for
us all.
" Remember me to Mr. Brown. Tell him, after all that
I have suffered, I am not tired but strengthened, and feel
myself more a missionary than I ever was before in my
life."
This visit of Afrikaner to the Cape was an event
of great importance in more ways than one. In a
striking and concrete manner it brought to the view
of those who had authority and influence the fact
that missionaries, instead of increasing political diffi
culties, may often help to solve them. Moreover
the strikingly gentle and Christian deportment of
Afrikaner and his followers, a man who had formerly
been known as a public terror, greatly encouraged
those who were holding forth the power of the
gospel to regenerate the most unpromising cha
racters.
The Governor himself was personally much in
terested with the visitors from Namaqualand, and
when Afrikaner left to return home it was with many
good wishes and substantial proofs of esteem. It
was a curious coincidence that the hundred pounds
sterling which had once been offered for his head as
an outlaw, was eventually laid out by the Govern
ment in offerings of goodwill to be bestowed upon
himself.
Afrikaner took a tearful farewell of his friend, but
kept the hope of a speedy meeting in Bechwanaland,
whither it had been determined that Moffat should
go. That meeting took place, and Afrikaner again
returned to Namaqualand, with a view to arrange
the removal of his little tribe to the neighbourhood
THE N AM AQU ALAND MISSION. 47
in which his beloved teacher was settling. It was
not to be. Before he could carry out his plan, he
was called away to eternal rest ; his people got
divided, and lost purpose and heart for an under
taking which required a measure of discipline under
a strong leader.
" At last " (says Moffat in his own history) " our Wes-
leyan brethren nobly extended their efforts to Namaqua-
land. Their labours have been crowned with success, and
I have watched their onward progress with as much interest
as though I had been one of their number. The field being
thus ably occupied, it was unnecessary for the London
Missionary Society to send others, while the character oi
the country, with its scanty population, and the cry for
missionaries to carry on the work in more important fields,
influenced the Directors to leave that section of the mis
sionary world to our Wesleyan brethren."
CHAPTER VI.
THE WIFE OF ROBERT MOFFAT.
1819.
MARY SMITH was born in the year 1795, a
few months earlier than Robert Moffat, at
New Windsor, which now forms part of
Sahwd. Her father was a Scotchman, originally
from Perthshire, who settled in England and married
Mary Gray, of York, in the year 1792. Mary was
their eldest child and only daughter. She had three
brothers, one of whom, William, died at a compara
tively early age. Another, John, became the pastor
of a church near Manchester, but afterwards followed
his sister's example and gave himself to foreign
missionary work. He was for some years an ardent
and faithful labourer at Madras, and his earthly
career was brought to a sudden and mysterious
close by the loss with all hands of a ship in which
he was voyaging off the coast of Hindostan. The
third brother, James, alone survived his sister, and
has but recently died in the United States. He
has left children and grandchildren who happily
have imbibed the missionary spirit, and are entering
Rudolf Blind, del.
PARENTAGE AND YOUTH OF MARY SMITH. 49
into the labours of those who have set them an
eminent example.
Both James Smith, of Dukinfield, and his wife,
were persons of strong piety, in which they stood
upon common ground, though he was a staunch
Nonconformist, and she an adherent of the Church
of England. Their daughter, from her earliest
years, walked in their steps. Her father followed
the occupation of a nursery gardener, in which he
prospered greatly, and at one time promised to be a
wealthy man. By the foolishness of others he after
wards became much reduced in circumstances after
his daughter's departure for South Africa. He
never lost the respect and friendship or the practical
aid and sympathy of those who had known him in
more prosperous times, and valued him for his true
worth of character.
Mary lived at Dukinfield all her youth. The old
house is still standing, but the extensive nursery
grounds have long ago been built over, and gone
past recognition. She went to the Moravian school
at Fairfield, and the years she spent there must
have been very happy, judging from the way in
which she was wont to dwell upon them in talking
to her children in after times.
They were not only happy, but they were years
full of sacred influence ; and at Fairfield was
fostered the strong sense of devotion to duty as
a servant of the Cross, which helped to carry her
through toils and difficulties of no ordinary kind,
and made her a helpmeet indeed to her husband.
There still lives a lady who remembers with affec
tion her life at Fairfield with Mary Smith. It was
5
50 WITH THE CHURCH AT ASHTON.
the custom for each of the younger children to be
placed under the special care of one of the elder
girls, who was called her " little mother." Mary
was " little mother " to one who afterwards became
Mrs. J. S. Buckley, of Ashton, and the circumstance
is connected with happy and blessed recollections.
The following extract is taken from the Records of
Albion Independent Chapel, Ashton-under-Lyne :
" The church had not been long formed when one of its
members went out to live and labour among the heathen in
South Africa. In 1819, Mary Smith, of the Dukinfield
Nursery, departed for the Kuruman, where she safely
arrived, and was married to the Rev. Robert Moffat. Mr.
Moffat was an occasional worshipper and communicant
with the small company in Refuge Chapel, with which
Miss Smith was connected. Her father was an old In
dependent, and was one of the fourteen who left Providence
Chapel. One who saw her relates that when service was
occasionally held in a carpenter's shed in Cricket's Lane,
.she was there, ever active and attentive to all. She often
•arranged the benches and other furniture of the place in
-order to reduce the discomfort to a minimum ; found the
hymns for strangers, and invited people to attend. The
missionary spirit which was in her then has rendered her
through a long, laborious, and honourable life, the worthy
.helpmeet of her husband, the well-known apostle of the
"Bechwanas."
The manner in which she became acquainted with
,her future husband has already been seen ; the rest
-of her tale will be largely told by her own pen in
these pages. The following letter was addressed by
her to the parents of Robert Moffat, and will explain
itself:
" MANCHESTER, Dec. 16, 1818.
" MY DEAR FRIENDS, — Doubtless you will be surprised
kto be addressed thus by an entire stranger : but though
PARENTS CONSENT TO PART WITH HER. 51
personally unknown, you are dear to me for the sake of
your beloved son Robert. If you have received a letter
from him lately you will perhaps know in what relation I
stand to him ; but as I think it very probable that your
letter may have miscarried, I cannot but feel deeply
anxious that you should know of his welfare. I received
letters from him about ten days ago, dated April and May,
1818, in the former of which he states that he sent by the
same opportunity a letter for you and also one for my father,
but as this has never come to hand I fear that yours also
may have met with some delay, if it is not entirely lost.
" It is not only the probability of this circumstance
which induces me to write to you, but also a desire to com
municate to you that, after two years and a half of the
most painful anxiety, I have, through the tender mercy of
God, obtained permission of my dear parents to proceed,
some time next spring, to join your dear son in his ardu
ous work. This is what I by no means expected a week
ago ; but God's thoughts are not as our thoughts. When
He arises, every mountain flows down at His presence. He
has the hearts of all men in His hands, and can turn them
as the rivers of water. So He has done with regard to my
parents. Previous to the arrival of these last letters, my
father had persisted in saying that I should never have his
consent ; my dear mother has uniformly asserted that it
would break her heart (as I have no sister, and she is far
advanced in life) : notwithstanding all this they both
yesterday calmly resigned me into the hands of the Lord,
declaring they durst no longer withhold me.
" The idea of parting for ever with my beloved family
appears almost too much for myself. Sometimes I think
I shall never get launched on the ocean before grief weighs
me down ; but such are my convictions of duty, that I
believe were I to remain here another year, it would then
be out of my power to go, for I must sink under the
weight of an accusing conscience, when I consider Robert's
peculiarly trying situation and the strong affection which
he seems to bear to me. When he last wrote he was
exceedingly well, very happy in his work, but quite alone,
52 LETTER TO MOFFATS PARENTS.
seldom sees a white face. The people are nearly all
Namaquas, are very kind and affectionate to him.
" He was about to take a journey still further north in
search of a better situation. The chief and part of the
people were going, and would have him with them. I have
had a letter from a gentleman at the Cape saying that he was
gone, and was expected to return the latter end of the year.
It must be trying to parental feelings (as well as mine) to
think of a dear child being alone in a strange land and
among savages ; but let us remember that Abraham's God
is his God, that the Divine promise belongs eminently to
him and his companions in self-denial : * Lo I I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world.'
" He speaks of enjoying much of the Divine presence,
and while exhibiting the truths of the gospel to the wild
Namaquas, he feels the power of them on his own heart in
a remarkable degree. I am sorry my father's letter is lost,
as I understand it was much more descriptive than mine,
his thoughts naturally turning to our personal concerns
when writing to me."
At this juncture she was in Manchester, and to
this circumstance we owe another letter which will
show her strong sense of duty, and at the same time
her intense affection for the parents between whom
and herself there was not only the tie of natural
relationship, but the strong bond of a kindred faith :
"December 18, 1818.
" I cannot but be anxious to know how you feel by this
time. I hope you have not wished to recall that which
you have resigned. No, I trust you are more and more
convinced of the propriety of the act. I cannot describe to
you the secret pleasure it gave me to see both you and my
dear father give me up in such a Christian-like manner. I
always feared that if you did give me up it would be by a
sort of compulsion, but when I viewed you with calmness
declare that you saw it your duty and could no longer
LETTER OF CONSOLATION. 53
withhold from the work of the Lord whom He had a right
to demand, I could not but exclaim, 'Is not this the
finger of God?' What but a Divine power could have
brought your spirits to what was so contrary thereto ; and
I trust you will live to see abundant cause to rejoice that
you were ever brought to do it. I dare venture to affirm
that you will not be losers by it You must ever remember,
my dear mother, that the Lord never deprives us of our
comfort, but He is ever ready to make it up by a greater
degree of His own Divine consolations, if we seek these at
His hands, and are willing to have the space filled up by
Himself; and surely you would be willing to be deprived
of an earthly comfort, to have more of the consolations of
the Spirit of God. For my own part, I have found it so
much the more to be valued, that sometimes I have thought
I could bear to be stripped of every earthly comfort if I
might enjoy the Divine presence in a proportionate degree
for everything, as I have under troubles of late.
" You will be well aware that the struggle in my own
breast is very great ; yes, it is so much so, that I dare not
reflect closely upon it. If I could rest, surely I should be
tempted to do it on your account But no, my convictions
of duty are so strong, that were I to remain at home I should
surely sink under the weight of an accusing conscience.
" When I went home last week it was with the intention
of exerting myself to the utmost ; and if I could not
prevail, I saw, I felt, that death must soon put an end to
the conflict But the battle was the Lord's. He brought
me off more than conqueror by His own almighty arm.
And now I think if ever I do land on Afric's shore, my
soul will feel more sensibly than ever her obligations to
active usefulness. Such a singular display of his care over
me as I have had lately, surely calls loudly for active
gratitude. And, O mother ! will it not gladden your heart
if the Lord permit me to enter into His work ? I say, will
it not gladden your heart that the Lord made you the
mother of at least one child who was so highly honoured as
to be an instrument in His hands, however humble, of
doing something towards the conversion of the heathen ?
54 LETTER TO MISS LEES.
O mother ! were I a mother, I should esteem it the greatest
honour which could be conferred on me or my child. I
should think it an ample compensation for all the self-
denial I was called to exercise.
"I think I need not fear that you doubt my natural
affection, by thus leaving father and mother. No, surely
my dear mother knows me better than that ; she is well
aware of the pangs that my feeble nature will feel when
the last hour arrives : surely her own will not be more
violent ; nothing but Divine power can support me in such
an hour. Often have I thought that it would be too mighty
a struggle for my poor tabernacle to stand out, but I have
the promise, * My grace is sufficient for thee ; My strength
is made perfect in thy weakness.' *
It was several months before a suitable op
portunity to the Cape occurred. Passenger ships
did not go at regular and frequent intervals as they
do now. The following letter was written to her
friend Miss Lees, of Manchester. Such un veilings
of the heart as appear in this and in the previous
letter are almost too sacred for the public eye, but
at the distance of more than sixty years it is hoped
that they may be an encouragement to some who
are going through similar experiences now.
" DUKINFIELD NURSERY, May i, 1819.
" I sit down to write a few hasty lines to you this morning.
I have uniformly made my complaints to you, and I often
used to wonder when my complaining days would be over.
I often used to think of a maxim of my old friend Mr.
Bennett, that * prayers and praises are sure concomitants.'
I thought surely my experience differed from any one
else's, for I groaned year after year for particular blessings,
and I seemed as far from having obtained them as when I
first began to pray. These reflections had never been so
strong before as when I heard your dear pastor preach
A CONVERTED BROTHER. 55
from the eighth verse of the ninety-ninth psalm. The
sermon was so powerfully applied that I wept the whole of
the time, as he described the various workings of my mind
under that particular, ' thou answeredst them/ and sent me
away rejoicing with an assurance that my prayers would
yet be answered. Shortly after, you know how that sweet
sermon of Dr. Jack's affected me, * Faithful is he that
promised ; ' and very shortly after this you know how
wonderfully, I may say miraculously, some of my prayers
were answered. This encouraged me to go on, and that
passage was as powerfully applied as any ever was to my
mind, * Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.'
" I had still large requests to make ; still some of my most
anxious desires appeared to be unnoticed. But I did not
believe they were, though I was resigned and willing to
wait the Lord's time. Often when I had contemplated the
separation from my family have I groaned in spirit ; often
have I shed tears of wormwood and of gall to think that,
when I was gone, my dear parents would not have one
child to sit down with them at the table of the Lord ; that
their eyes could no longer beam with pleasure on one of
their offspring whom they had any reason to believe the
Lord had made His own. Often had I poured out my soul
to God, ' Oh ! could I but see the spiritual life of one of
my dear brothers, I could go without half the anxiety.' And
oh ! my dear friend, how shall I tell you ? Now I can
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the salvation of
God for my dear brother John (so I have good reason to
hope) ; yes, my tears, and sighs, and inward breathings are
answered. He was last night proposed to the church. He
has written several very pleasing letters to Mr. Sutcliffe.
Does it not appear, in deed and of a truth, that we are now
enjoying the smiles of our God ; does it not appear that
He approves of our conduct, and if He takes away one
child He gives another ? You know what it is to rejoice
over a brother born ; but in proportion to the peculiarity of
the case on account of my going, and the length of time
we have been looking with deep anxiety to this event, in
proportion our joy is greater. I know you will rejoice with
56 LETTER TO MRS. GREAVES.
me, and as you had long heard of my complaints, you shall
hear my thanksgiving."
About the same time she wrote to a friend in
Sheffield, Mrs. Greaves :
"With grateful emotions I sit clown to acknowledge the
receipt of the bountiful present which you and Mr. Greaves
have made me. My parents and I have just now been
examining them, and we are very much gratified ; the whole
of them appear so well calculated for usefulness, and some
of them such beautiful articles. I can answer for Mr.
Moffat's gratitude when he views them on a foreign shore,
if such a time should come, and I dare venture to say that
benevolence so pure will not be forgotten by him at a throne
of grace. I feel unable to express to you how much I felt
on receiving the parcel, and reading your very kind letter.
I could not but admire the love which you and your dear
partner manifested to that great cause which the Lord has
made peculiarly my own, and which now lies nearer to my
heart than any other. I could not but reverence the humility
which induced you to say that you regretted not having
had the privilege of my company at Sheffield, and shrink
into the dust of self-abasement to see how much better an
opinion you had formed of me than was my due, and which
I was apprehensive, had you had a more intimate acquaint
ance with me, would have been in some degree altered.
As for my qualifications for the noble employment which it
appears probable is to devolve upon me, I am daily led to
see more and more of my own weakness and insufficiency
for such an undertaking ; and were it not for a persuasion
that the Lord often makes use of the meanest instruments
to bring about important designs, and declares in His Word,
4 Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' I durst in
nowise presume to venture. But having (according to my
own internal conviction and the opinion of many pious and
prudent friends) a clear and loud call to leave my native
land and enter into this arduous work, I would humbly
follow the leading of His providence, counting it the highest
PROSPECT OF PARTING. 57
honour which could be conferred upon me in this vain
world. Yea, highly favoured indeed of God shall I con
sider myself if I might but be permitted to smooth the
rugged path of one of those dear men who have given
up all for His sake, so that through my feeble aid and
assistance he may give himself more devotedly to the
work.
" Sometimes, indeed, when I contemplate the last painful
hour when I must bid adieu to all my dear friends, my
family, but above all my dear mother, now far advanced in
years, my feeble nature faints, my tears will flow, the enemy
of my soul and destroyer of my peace would then persuade
me that it cannot be my duty to go ; but these vile in
sinuations I feel assured proceed from my weak, treacherous
heart and the father of lies, who had too long inclined me
to listen to these things by the transforming himself into
an angel of light to overcome.
" Yes, my dear Mrs. G., through the goodness of God I
am not now entirely ignorant of his devices. He knows
my weak side, and as he has been foiled in every other
attempt (though no praise to me) he often assaults me in
this way : a beloved and affectionate mother, bowing under
age and infirmity, her sick and dying bed are often pictured
on my imagination in the most gloomy colours, and the
reflection that she will not have her daughter to cheer by
kind attention those gloomy scenes, overwhelms me with
sorrow. But I would chase away my tears and sighs, bid
every anxious thought begone, cheerfully walk in the thorny
path appointed for me, and in humble faith commend her
and my dear father into His hands who can and will be
more unto them than ail they are called to sacrifice. Great
condescension has been displayed by my heavenly Father
to make my path plain. For two years and a half I have
suffered much from perplexity, not knowing what to do,
continually harassed with a fear that I had acted sinfully
in suffering Mr. M. to go alone, as he declared he could
not reconcile his mind to taking another ; and from various
concurring providences I feel a degree of assurance that I
have been out of the path of duty ; at the same time the
58 HER DEPARTURE DRAWS NEAR.
circumstance of my not going with him appears to have
been overruled for good by Infinite Wisdom.
" As to my health, about which you appear tenderly
solicitous, it is the opinion of a medical man whom I have
consulted that the climate will agree with my constitution.
The delicate often survive the strong and robust in that
country ; but this I would leave with Him, who will grant
me just as much as is needful
" Now, my dear Mrs. G., I must draw to a close. I must
say farewell. Oh, think of me when on the stormy ocean,
when on the burning sands of Africa, and when you think,
oh let your heart be lifted up to Him who ruleth all. You
have promised me your prayers, and I most earnestly ask
them for myself and my dear friend, that we may be found
faithful and diligent, and never be weary in the work of
the Lord."
It was at last arranged for Mary Smith to sail for
the Cape under the care of the Rev. Mr. Beck, a
minister of the Dutch Church, and his wife. She
bade her mother a life-long farewell, and, accom
panied by her father, made the journey to London
by coach. There were the customary delays in the
date of sailing, days grew into weeks ; her father,
too, had to return home, and she found herself, in a
manner, alone in the great city, but at the same time
among friends in the best sense of the term. Mr.
Lewis, the pastor of Islington Chapel, and his wife
did their best to cheer the young girl, and their
kindness and that of other friends in Islington ever
remained a grateful memory.
The many, almost daily, letters of this period are
not for a public memoir. In them the whole tender
ness of a dutiful childhood and youth culminate, and
reveal an anguish of soul and a conflict of faith of
ENTERTAINED BY THE BOGUES. 59
which only a rare nature could be capable. The
following short note is characteristic :
"LONDON, August 13, 1819.
"MY DEAR MOTHER,— I have sent you a small token
of affection. I thought it would be better calculated to
communicate pleasure and comfort to your heart than any
article of dress. As for having my portrait taken, I cannot
now, as my father is leaving, and I should have to pay for
it myself; and that- you know would not do. Whatever I
possess now I must husband well, remembering that I am
now supported more peculiarly out of the sacred treasury.
Oh ! may I ever keep this in mind, and be a faithful
steward. O my dear mother ! do be happy, as you value
my peace of mind, the honour of religion, and my credit in
the world. Do not let me be reflected upon for want of
affection to the best of mothers. You know it is not want
of affection. Oh ! do not allow the world to think so.
Let us prove to the world that our blessed religion has
power to soothe us under every distress."
It was not till the twenty-fourth of August that
she left London, and then only to go to Gosport on
her way to Cowes, where the passengers were to
embark. At Gosport she was the guest of Dr. and
Mrs. Bogue. Nearly a fortnight later she writes
her last letter from English ground.
" COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT, September 7, 1819.
" MY DEAR PARENTS, — Having received an order from
Captain Scott to go on board to-day, I sit down to address
a few lines to you, which will most probably be concluded
on board the British Colony. My feelings are very solemn
at this time, but calm. I anticipate much pleasure in the
voyage. We have plenty of good books, work and pleasant
company. I begin to like Mr. Beck very much. I hope
to derive much advantage from his society. I believe
he is a very learned man. Mr. White and family have
60 A COMMUNION SUNDAY AT GOSPORT.
increased much in kindness to me, and I have not felt so
awkward of late as I did at first
" Having a longing de ;ire to spend another comfortable
ordinance Sabbath with friends for whom I felt some
peculiar attachment, I proposed to Mr. B. to go to
Gosport if the wind did not change. He readily entered
into it, and accompanied me in the packet on Sabbath
morning. We spent a happy day, heard the old doctor
preach twice, and a student once. I sat down with them
and attended a church meeting. The doctor and his lady
and daughter all gave us a hearty welcome. We stopped
all night and returned yesterday.
" I could not but feel a melancholy pleasure in reflecting
both on Sabbath afternoon and last evening, at the mis
sionary prayer-meeting here, that my own dear people and
family were engaged in the same way. I could not but
hope that I was at both of those seasons remembered by
some of them. Oh beg my friends to think of me at those
times. For a season I am going to be shut out from these
ordinances. Oh pray that the God of ordinances may be
with me.
" Now, my dear and beloved parents, I commend you to
God, believing that He will preserve you in these troublous
times. I sometimes think you will be shortly coming after
me. Do not be anxious about me. The Lord is going
with me. Do not be long before you write to me at the
Cape — conceive how anxious I shall be to hear; and be sure
to send good, full letters, or they will only set my teeth
on edge. The wind is quite unfavourable, but the captain
is tired out, and we are to sail at twelve to-day."
" GoSPORT, September 15, 1819.
"MY DEAR MADAM, — After having had your lovely and
interesting daughter an inmate in our family, and enjoyed
an opportunity of developing her character and beholding
her unfeigned and exalted piety and zeal, I cannot but feel
deeply for you and Mr. Smith, on being called to part
with her to such a distance. Great must have been the
trial, the conflict must have been severe ; all the parental
LETTER TO MISS SMITH'S PARENTS. 61
feelings must have risen up in direct opposition to her
plans and wishes. The sacrifice you have made of them is
great, but not too great for Him who gave up Himself for
you. ' The best child is not too good for God.' He gave
her to you, and He has demanded her back again, and He
can and will be better to you both than ten such daughters,
lovely and excellent as she is. His gracious presence can
more than supply hers, and if He withdraws the nether
springs He can make the upper springs to overflow and
abound. He has highly honoured you in giving you such
a daughter, and by calling her to fill such a high post on
earth as that of a Christian missionary, the highest she
could fill
" While with us Miss Smith was in excellent health and
spirits, looked well and was cheerful, and in a very happy
and suitable frame of mind. She sailed last Thursday, and
is, we suppose, by this time safely across the Bay of Biscay,
as the wind has been favourable.
" Your truly sympathizing friend,
"CHARLOTTE BOGUE."
CHAPTER VII.
ROBERT MOFFAT VISITS THE CAPE.
1819.
IN the year 1816 the Missions in South Africa
had fallen into a state of grievous disorder.
The number of stations was large, and they
were scattered far apart. Some of the men who
had been sent out had proved themselves unworthy
of their trust, and had not maintained even an
ordinary standard of Christian conduct. On the
arrival of Robert Moffat and his colleagues they
were astounded to find themselves associated in the
service of the Society with men who had brought
shame on the very name of Christian, and whose
reputations were a by-word to the ungodly.
A correspondence with the Directors followed on
this and some other subjects. They were slow to
open their eyes to the unwelcome truth, and were
disposed to regard the representations which had
been made to them as the result of prejudice and
discontent.
They were the more predisposed to take this
view of the case because the missionaries were at
the same time pointing out another of their diffi-
DEPUTATION FROM THE L. M. S. 63
culties — the smallness of their stipends. The
Directors seemed unable to understand why men
who had given up home and friends for the sake
of preaching the gospel to the heathen should be
so open to ordinary human weakness as to find it
irksome, if not difficult, to keep up a position of
respectability on twenty-five or thirty pounds a
year, which was less than half what any ordinary
mechanic could earn at the Cape. Correspondence,
as is often the case, did not mend the matter much.
The chasm between the Directors and their mis
sionaries grew wider. It was for Robert Moffat a
happy circumstance that he was away in Namaqua-
land, too far off to take an active part in the strife
which led to three of the colleagues with whom he
sympathized retiring from the service of the Society.
Happily, too, when he arrived at the Cape on his
return from Namaqualand he found that the Directors
were sending two deputies — John Campbell of Kings-
land, and Dr. Philip — to inquire into these matters,
and to set things in order. This measure saved the
South African Mission. The Directors had made a
good choice. Mr. Campbell's work was temporary,
but Dr. Philip was to take up his position at the
Cape as the Society's agent or superintendent.
It would be difficult to measure the good that
has resulted from the work of Dr. Philip. Per
haps a test of the depth and reality of the in
fluence he exerted is to be found in the fact that
for many years he was the best-hated man in the
Colony — hated, that- is, by those who were not the
friends of the natives. To the Cape he was in those
days, in his championship of justice to the natives,
64 RELATIONS OF MOFFAT AND DR. PHILIP.
very much what Dr. Colenso was later on in Natal ;
and he was more fortunate than the latter in never
having handicapped himself with excursions into the
regions of Biblical criticism. He united a clear and
scholarly mind with a will as firm as the granite
ot his native land, and he fought the battle of the
native races at heavy odds. Now that the tide has
turned, and that there is a strong Colonial party
standing where Dr. Philip once stood all but alone
but for a few trusty friends, some men may have
forgotten what he did. His record is on high, and
can never be forgotten there.
The members of the Deputation set themselves to
remedy the evils which had worked so much havoc;
and Moffat soon saw that there was no reason for
him to do otherwise than to continue his work in
connection with the Society, though, as he says in a
letter to his parents at this time, " My determination
was, whether I continued with or left the Society,
to return to the heathen beyond the limits of the
Colony."
Men like Philip and Moffat, both devoted to the
service of their Master, could not be very far away
from each other in personal brotherly feeling. The
latter, however, had a stout Nonconformist objection
to the principle of a superintenclency- He protested
against it from the first as " putting Pope into new
clothes." It was well that the remoteness of the
Bechwana Mission practically isolated it from the
range of the doctor's regime; and after his retire
ment from the duties of his office in old age no
successor was appointed. The wisdom of this is an
open question.
TRIALS OF FAITH. 65
The Deputation was already in Cape Town when
Moffat arrived there with Afrikaner. After many
conferences with him, it seemed good not only that
his services should be transferred to the Bechwan i
country, but that he should accompany Campbell
and Philip on a journey of inspection to the stations
in the eastern part of the Colony and in Kafirland.
As this journey involved a probable absence of
about twelve months, it was a trial of faith to him.
He was expecting the arrival of his bride, and it
seemed hard that she should have to land in a
strange country and to find none of her own to
welcome her.
" On these accounts " (he says) " nothing could have
excited me to take this journey but a sense of my duty
which I owe to Him in whose service I am engaged. Dr.
Philip and Mr. Campbell laid before me the valuable aid
my service would render them on their important tour. I
consider this a sufficient cause to take up my cross and to
follow Jesus. This is my comfort, that the Lord is her
refuge, and she will find numerous affectionate friends in
the Cape who will receive her with open arms. During
my stay in the Cape I enjoyed the longed-for privilege of
hearing a few English sermons from Dr. P. and Mr. C.
I also preached occasionally in Dutch both to Christians
and heathen — or properly, to white and black."
6
CHAPTER VIII.
ARRIVAL OF MARY SMITH AT THE CAPE.
1819.
r I ^ H E Deputation had a prosperous journey, tra
velling, as everybody did then, in ox waggons,
and visiting the line of stations which lay along
through the eastern districts as far as Bethelsdorp.
Drastic measures were adopted, healthy reforms
effected, and the Missions were put upon a new
footing. At Bethelsdorp the party found its further
progress effectually barred. War with the Kafirs
(had broken out, and there was no way to visit
Kaffraria. This was a providential circumstance
for Moffat. Dr. Philip, having no further work to
'keep him in the eastern province, returned to Cape
Town, taking Moffat with him, who had thus the
•unspeakable happiness of being able in person to
welcome his Mary when she first landed on the
shores of Africa.
" CAPE TOWN, Dec. 8, 1819.
0 MY DEAR PARENTS,— From this far-distant land I sit
down this morning to address you, being informed that a
vessel is to sail at two o'clock to-day for England. Before
.I proceed, however, I must warn you not to expect me to
HER VOYAGE OUT. 67
write an interesting letter, as the change of scene and cir
cumstances which has burst upon me renders my mind
confused and agitated. I will begin by bearing testimony
to the goodness of that God who brought me out from my
father's house to this land of heathen darkness, to which
my eyes and my heart have been so long directed. He
has granted us delightful weather all the voyage, and made
me with His own presence unspeakably calm and happy
ever since I embarked
" Thus you see my God has delivered me from the perils
of the sea, which are truly great, such as no heart can con
ceive but those who have been there. I have enjoyed
excellent health all the way, excepting my headache, which
has been very bad for the last two months. I had good
spirits all the time. I suppose none was more cheerful
than I. Our captain kept us well, but I cannot say we
were very agreeable company, there being one continued
scene of jangling, but I generally managed to steer pretty
clear. We had Divine service every Sabbath day, when
the weather would permit, in the cabin, but not on deck.
The captain is unfavourable to these things. Mr. Beck
paid me every necessary attention. From some of the
passengers I received the most respectful attentions. My
fellow-passengers pronounced me the fittest person on
board to go into the interior — I bore everything so well
both mentally and bodily. You will not, my dear parents,
suspect me of want of affectionate solicitude about you
when I tell you I was so happy. No, surely you know me
better ; but I did not think it incompatible with that cheer
fulness that reigned in my breast sometimes to weep and
to mourn when I thought of you and each of my dear
brothers (not to mention my numerous friends in England).
I do confess that often during the silent hours of darkness,
when the angry billows beat against my cabin with tre
mendous roar, at such moments I turned my thoughts to
you and your dear dwelling. Then my imagination would
rove till my heart sickened and floods of tears drenched
my face. There is something inconceivably cutting in the
reflection (to nature) that for many years at least there is
68 JOYFUL MEETING IN CAPE TOWN.
an ocean between us, and that personal intercourse has
ceased, but even from these piercing reflections I was
enabled to derive consolation. It was for the cause of the
Redeemer I had forsaken all. This I accounted my
highest honour, and it was this consideration that enabled
me to take down my harp from the willows and tune it to
His praise.
" Having parted from you all, my affection felt weaned
from the world ; and there being an uncertainty whether
on my arrival here my dear friend would be alive, I felt
prepared for anything. But oh ! my cup of happiness
seems almost full ; here I have found him all that my
heart could desire, except his being almost worn out with
anxiety, and his very look makes my heart ache. Our
worthy friend Melville met me on board, and conducted
me to his house, where a scene took place such as I never
wish to experience again. We have received each other
from the Lord, and are happy
" Moffat will conclude this letter, and I will write very
soon more particularly ; my time is now expired, and I
can say no more. But, mother, be happy, and praise God
on my account."
Robert Moffat to Mr. and Mrs. Smith of Dukinfield.
" DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER, — I can now with more
reason than in my former letter address you with the
endearing title of parents. It would be in vain for me to
call to mind the different scenes through which I have
passed, but more particularly what I felt when the sound
of your beloved daughter's arrival had reached me. It was
to me nothing less than life from the dead. My prayers
answered, the promises which had long been my refuge
were now fulfilled. My prayers in that respect are now
turned to praise, and surely never in my life has the hand
of God been so singularly manifested for good.
" Mary, my own dear Mary, is now far distant from a
land endeared to her, being the place which gave her birth,
and which still contains a circle of friends who are entwined
MARRIAGE. 69
round her heart ; but more especially endeared as the resi
dence of you, dearer than all besides. She is now separated
from those scenes and from you, but let this comfort you.
that, although in a land of strangers, she is under the care of
our ever-present God, and united to one who speaks as he
feels when he promises to be father, mother, and husband
to Mary, and will never forget the sacrifice you have made
in committing to his future care your only daughter.
" When I last wrote you, from Swellendam, the affairs
of the mission were almost buried in a cloud of gloom,
which obliged me to be silent on that subject ; but how do
I rejoice to be now able to tell you that those seasons of
sadness are in a great measure turned into joy. The gloom
is dispersed ; but ah ! shall I tell you that from the general
wreck a few, and only a few, have survived the sad cata
strophe.
" We were disappointed in our intended journey into the
interior from the state of the Kafirs, now in a considerable
measure appeased. Nothing but the gospel will make the
Kafirs good neighbours. We were no farther than Theo-
polis, from which place we returned direct to Cape Town.
The Deputation having destined me to superintend the
mission at Lattakoo, and having empowered me to set to
rights the affairs of our missions in that quarter, Mr.
Campbell thought seriously of returning to England, having
done all that was essential to be done by him in Africa ;
but the whole depended on the early arrival of Mary. He
is now completely engaged, and I have some reason to
think that he will accompany us to Lattakoo, for he is now
all on fire about going. The warm season is approaching,
but I intend to proceed in a few weeks with or without Mr.
Campbell. Dr. Philip will remain for the present to settle
other important affairs."
They were married on the twenty-seventh of
December, 1819, in St. George's Church. Dr.
Philip took the place of the absent father ; and the
Melvilles, ever ready when an act of kindness was
70 CHEERFUL COUNSELS.
to be done, opened their house to the company.
Writing to her brother John a few days later, Mary
Moffat says :
"There was an expression in my father's letter which
rather grieved rne : it was that in one sense I was dead to
them. Now I think they ought not to consider me so.
Surely it ought to afford consolation that I am now united
to a devoted servant of God, one who counts not his life
dear to himself. They can hear of me, and I trust that
they will hear that I am of some little use in the world. Is
not this better, to be a succourer of those who are labouring,
than to lie down in the grave without having done anything
towards the building of the temple ? I trust you will en
deavour to remove this impression. Cheer their hearts,
and never indulge any melancholy fears respecting me. I
can assure you every provision is made for my comfort
which is possible, and the Deputation afford Moffat every
facility. At the same time, I wish ever to be reasonable
in my expectations and cheerfully to take up the cross.
" I find missionaries are greatly despised here, and indeed
it is not to be wondered at after the conduct of some, but I
think I can say —
* All hail reproach ! and welcome shame !
If thou remember me.'
Before I bid adieu to home with all its delights, I calculated
upon a life of hardships, toil, shame, and reproach, and now
my soul can bid it welcome for the sake of Christ."
CHAPTER IX.
JOURNEY TO LATTAKOO.
1820.
EARLY in the year 1820 the missionary party
started from Cape Town. It consisted of
John Campbell and the Moffats. When
once they had left the fertile vallies and lovely
mountain scenery of the Breede and Hex Rivers,
they had to traverse a comparatively desolate region
for some hundreds of miles. In the middle of this
they came to the place on which is now found the
village of Beaufort West, about three hundred and
fifty miles from Cape Town. Here there was as
yet a house or two only. The newly appointed
magistrate and the clergyman of the Dutch Re
formed Church were the principal inhabitants : the
latter, a Mr. Taylor, one of Moffat's late colleagues.
Passing Beaufort West, they in the course of a day
or two crossed what was then the Colonial boundary
and advanced into the Bushman country, a dreary
waste extending to the southern bank of the Orange
River. Here, after seven weeks of ox- waggon travel
ling, they found themselves about six hundred miles
72 THE ORANGE RIVER.
from Cape Town. This journey can now be ac
complished by railway in a couple of days. It is
impossible to describe the curious sensations which
fill the minds of those who have had occasion many
times to make this journey in the old style, when,
for the first time seated in a comfortable railway
carriage, they glide over plains which can scarcely
ever be anything but monotonous, and mark hour
by hour the spots which used to be the night's
bivouac after a long and toilsome day's march ; for
the line is almost identical with the trade and mis
sionary route of the old days.
The travellers crossed the Orange River without
much difficulty, as it was low. This was its normal
condition. Although a stream of a thousand miles
in length, rising not very far from the shore of the
Indian Ocean, and crossing the continent to fall into
the Atlantic, it is for the most part shallow enough
to be fordable for the greater part of the year.
This did not prevent it in years of exceptional rain
fall from being a serious obstacle at times, as will be
noticed by the reader who follows this narrative.
For months the great channel would show a narrow
stream brawling over a small part of the broad stony
bed ; but when the river rose, as it did sometimes,
suddenly, a muddy flood would fill it up to the very
top of the steep banks twenty or thirty feet high,
covering even great willow-trees growing on those
banks, and sometimes spreading beyond and over
the adjacent levels.
Two or three days' north of the river lay Griqua
Town, and here the party made a halt for a time.
Kuruman — or Lattakoo, as it was first called — was a
TRAVELLING EXPERIENCES. 73
hundred miles further. The missionaries Hamilton
and Read were already there, but had scarcely
established their footing.
" BEAUFORT WRST, Feb. 17, 1820.
" MY BELOVED PARENTS,— Having by the good provi
dence of God been brought thus far on our journey, been
mercifully preserved from all dangers in this wild and
barren country, and enjoying good health, I feel it in
cumbent upon me to write by every opportunity, conscious
that soon my opportunities may be very few of sending
letters to the Cape. We have experienced much of our
Heavenly Father's love while traversing the barren sandy
desert. We are all well, and, excepting a little headache,
my health is extraordinary. It is true I feel a little feeble
and languid in the very heat of the day, but am not sickly
as I always was at home in warm weather. I never was
more vigorous than I am now in the cool of the day ; and
when I consider the manner in which we live, just eating
and sleeping when it is convenient, I am truly astonished.
It is frequently one or two o'clock when we outspan. I
like waggon travelling better than I expected. It is not so
fatiguing. I have had none of those hardships which 1
looked for. Our table is generally well spread, better than
we shall look for when settled as poor missionaries ; this is
partly owing to Mr. Campbell being with us, and partly to
Moffat's being well known in the country, and receiving
liberal presents. At a Mr. De Vos's, where we last stopped
a few days, at the Hex River, we experienced the most
unmerited kindness, though they had never seen one of our
party before. I never met with so much hospitality in my
life as I have witnessed in Africa, though the Dutch are
considered fond of saving. We have met with many of the
descendants of the French refugees. They originally took
refuge in one of the deep vallies near the Paarl, where, as a
people, they still reside ; the name of the place is Frans
Hoek ; but, as might be expected, they are now a little
scattered. What I have seen of them are remarkably
74 THE GREAT KARROO.
nice people, and retain the savour of the gospel amongst
them.
" I could not but feel a reverential regard when I saw
them, on remembering that their forefathers were cruelly
persecuted for the gospel's sake.
" I trust you will have received a letter from Robert,
dated the 3ist ultimo, at the Hex River. Since that time
we have been in a perfect desert called the Karroo, and in
the last ten days never saw but one house till last night,
about two hours' ride from here. For eight of those days
we have been on the banks of the Gamka River. The
principal features of the desert through which we have
passed are its mountains and rivers. The banks of the
rivers are thick with the long-thorned mimosa, which is
certainly very beautiful. In some places I have seen the
old tree fallen with age, and from the root a young flourish
ing large tree, and both attached to each other. There are
few other things except succulent plants, and everything in
the desert, except the mimosas, has a blue and yellow
sickly hue with the saltpetre. We have scarcely seen any
grass for a fortnight. Mr. C. remarked that we had need
put on our spectacles to look for a blade of it. The
water is a little brack, but not much. The roads have been
very good indeed — in many parts as fine as any turnpike-
road in England. It is a very public road ; we have met
with a great number of waggons from Sneeuwberg and other
parts of the interior. Amongst others we met poor
Pienaar, the son of the man whom Afrikaner murdered.
M. told him that he was restored to favour and had been
at the Cape, but he said very little. Meeting with so
many Boers on the way affords a fine opportunity of dis
tributing tracts, with which they seemed well pleased, for
they seldom see a book, except their old, massy, finely-
gilt family Bibles, kept more as a piece of furniture than
for use. I think I never saw so many fine-looking Bibles
in my life as since I came to Africa. They seem to have a
particular pride in them.
" Some persons thought it imprudent of us to travel at
this season of the year ; but from all we see and hear, we
WILD ANIMALS. 75
think it by far the best, notwithstanding the heat, for the
rivers we have to cross are at present chiefly without water,
except a little stream the same as your river in summer :
but the beds of them in some places are very broad, and
we might have to stop a fortnight together on the banks
till the water was gone, and then the ground is like a
quagmire.
" We have seen no beasts of prey, though we have been
in their dominions. M. saw the footmarks of one about
a mile from where we outspanned one day ; and at
the farmhouse we saw last week we were informed that
sixty lions had been killed in six years in that neighbour
hood. At that farm we saw two tame ostriches, which to
our great surprise devoured pebble-stones like bread. It
is said they will eat iron or any hard substance. I have
seen these huge, uncomely-looking birds at a distance
running on the mountains, and have often walked in their
footsteps.
" Thus you see the promises have been fulfilled in our
experience. The sun has not smitten us by day, nor the
moon by night, and the beasts of the field have been in
league with us. Our God has been our sun and our shield,
and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. We all
enjoy excellent spirits, and all our company is cheerful and
pleasant, and everything goes on well.
" We have got two men and betwixt twenty and thirty
oxen from Bethelsdorp. They are just arrived after a
month's journey, but they came very slowly. The oxen
are what they left there on the last journey.
" The place where we now are is the newly-formed
district where our missionary Taylor has accepted of a
church— which, by-the-bye, is only a room in a farmhouse,
with two beds in it. I have been in many odd-looking
places to worship, but never saw one like that. There are
only about six houses in the place, and the Landdrost's
is one of them. He is a Scotchman, a Mr. Baird. He
visited our tent on our arrival here, and courteously invited
us to his house to eat, which we have done now for four
days. We go to every meal, and then return to the waggons.
y5 INFANT VILLAGE OF BEAUFORT WEST.
He is remarkably friendly, and affords every facility for
getting what we want. He supplies us plentifully with
delicious fruit from his garden, though we eat it three
times a day at his house. He speaks well of Mr. Taylor,
and says that a minister is a needful auxiliary to the
magistrate here.
" He showed us a plan of the intended town. It is a fine
fertile spot, bounded on one side by the Gamka, and on
the other by the dry river. He intends to bring the water
down the main street, and to have trees planted on both
sides. They are going to build a shed for a temporary
church until they get the other built. From all that we
can see and hear, it appears that Mr. Taylor may have
great opportunities of doing good. They have the law and
the prophets, but they are as ignorant as the heathen them
selves. They are very much scattered. Mr. Taylor is now
visiting his flock, which I hear will be a month's journey ;
they live so very remote. This is a disappointment to our
people, as they expected to have got much information
from him.
" Mr. Anderson is well spoken of here. The Landdrost
is sending him by us a little coffee and sugar as a present.
There is a half-yearly fair established here, and the people
at Griqua Tq,wn bring their stuff to sell, and are highly
spoken of. We leave this place to-day for Griqua Town,
which is ten days' comfortable journey from here, good
roads, plenty of water the most of the way, and a fine
moon, which is valuable to African travellers.
"MARY MOFFAT."
Though on their way to Lattakoo, it was by no
means certain that they would be allowed to remain
there. In a letter to his parents Robert Moffat
explains this :
" I think I mentioned in my former letter that we were
preparing to go and reside at Lattakoo, expecting to be
accompanied by Mr. Campbell. It pleased the Lord, how
ever, at first to allow these our expectations to be baffled,
OBSTRUCTIVE POLICY OF GOVERNMENT. 77
for when- we were almost ready to set off the Colon in I
Government sent a negative to a memorial on the subject.
Their political, though very inapplicable views, served them
as a sufficient reason to hinder me. I may here remark-
that the Governor has been for this some time imperious
on me to become their missionary, and proceed to Kafir-
land, and had I consented to this they would have jumped
at me ; but because I would not agree to their proposal
for conscience' sake, however 'encouraging their offers
were, they seemed to make a necessity of my accepting it
by barring my prospects. This threw us into a little con
fusion, for Mr. Campbell was determined to go, and that
was deemed by others both imprudent and impracticable
without I were to go with him ; and to undertake such a
long journey in the heat of the season without a hope of
remaining appeared to have its difficulties, considering my
situation. We, however (I trust divinely directed), have
come to a conclusion that I should accompany Mr. Camp
bell in the place of Dr. Philip, who should remain at the
Cape to set to right other important affairs relating to the
missions with the Government. Of course, prudence and
advice dictated to me the propriety of taking Mrs. Moffat
with me on the journey. In many respects it was prefer
able to her remaining in Cape Town, it being much
healthier in the country, and there is after all, I may say,
a probability of our remaining at Lattakoo. We accord
ingly left the Cape about a month ago, and travelled by
Stellenbosch, the Paarl, and Tulbagh. We are now near
the limits of the Colony opposite to Griqua Town. It
has been very warm, the thermometer as high as 96° in
the shade ; this and a constant sunshine tans us all like
gipsies.
" It is astonishing that you are at this time shivering in
the beams of the same sun which drives us to take refuge
to the shadow of a rock or bush. We have had a tolerable
supply of water, though we have travelled through a country
the most desert. I am happy to say that Mary stands the
journey amazingly well ; she takes everything as she find-
it and encounters with ease what you would term dim-
78 ENCOURAGEMENTS BY THE WAY.
culties. She has several times asserted that she never
enjoyed better health than she has done since she came to
Africa. Nay, I am sometimes astonished to see her
possessed of such good spirits at times when human nature
is spent, for we have our hardships.
" Mr. Baird's kindness is astonishing. As we are com
plete strangers to this part of the country, he has provided
us with two guides, who will cross the Bushman country
with us. We intend to depart to-day. And what is very
wonderful, a few people have arrived from Bethelsdorp
whom we sent for previous to our leaving the Cape. Had
they been a day later we should have been gone. All
things seem to work together for the furtherance of the
journey."
CHAPTER X.
SOJOURN AT GRIQUA TOWN.
1820.
THE Moffats had gone thus far in uncertainty
about their real position. The Governor had
as yet withheld his assent to their settling
at Lattakoo. They walked by faith. In a few
weeks they continued their journey from Griqua
Town with John Campbell. It was intended that
Robert Moffat should take the place of James
Read, who was to return to one of the Colonial
stations. On their arrival at Lattakoo John Camp
bell went on to the north-east to visit the Bahurutse,
a tribe two hundred miles distant, about whom much
had been heard in consequence of their friendly
relations with the Batlaping. He took with him
Read, leaving the Moffats at Lattakoo to make the
acquaintance of the people there. This journey to
the Bahurutse country was really a surprising feat at
the time. Campbell was a man with little physical
endowment for playing the part of a pioneer ex
plorer ; but he was a simple and heroic soul, who
went straight on wherever he saw duty, and left
80 CAMPBELL'S VISITS TO VARIOUS TRIBES.
all troublesome questions to be settled by the Master
he served.
He returned from the Bahurutse with a determina
tion to press their claims for the early planting of a
mission among them, and this object was kept in view
undl the convulsions of a few years later drove this
and much else out of reach. The Bahurutse still
exist as a tribe, though in vassalage to the Transvaal
Boers, and their spiritual wants are ministered to by
worthy men of a German Missionary Society.
When Campbell got back to Kuruman, he and the
Moffats made an excursion westward to the scattered
villages of the Batlaro, another Bechwana tribe, an
offshoot of the Bahurutse. They had found their
way down to the neighbourhood of the Batlaping,
and were living on the border of the Kalahari desert.
These were the people with whom Moffat had some
slight intercourse before he left Namaqualand.
Returning from the Batlaro, the unwelcome news
reached them from the Cape that the desired per
mission had not been obtained ; and as Mr. Campbell
had now done all that he had to do, and was leaving,
there was no alternative but for the Moffats to turn
their steps southwards, which they did with heavy
hearts. Read's transfer to the Cape Colony was
still to be carried out, so that Hamilton, not for the
first or the last time, was left alone at Lattakoo.
At Griqua Town a fresh message from the Colony
met the travellers ; the Government had yielded, and
the way was now open to the Moffats to carry out
their dearest wish.
HOPES FULFILLED. Si
"LATTAKOO, SOUTH AFRICA, April 8, 1820.
"MY BELOVED FATHER AND MOTHER,— Now that I
am here, and when I look back to the day on which I left
my father's house in full confidence that my heavenly
Father would go with me, I am astonished. I was only
seven months 'twixt Dukinfield and Lattakoo, and never
met with one disaster. What reason have you and we to
adore that God who has heard our prayers, and has gone
before me and made all things pleasant and comfortable.
Yes, my dear parents, and in addition to all other favours,
He has brought me to that place which, of all others in the
world, was first fixed upon my heart as a place and a people
amongst whom I should love to dwell and lend a helping
hand to the work, nearly six years ago, when hearing our
friend Mr. Campbell in Manchester. It was then I first
dared, with tears in my eyes and an overflowing heart, to
breathe the petition — Oh, that I might spend my days at
Lattakoo ! This doubtless was noticed by a heart-searching
God, and so here am I. I cannot tell you what I felt on
approaching the spot, when I took a retrospect of all that
had passed to bring me here. I could not but exclaim, Is
not this the finger of God ? You can hardly conceive how
I feel when I sit in the house of God, surrounded with the
natives ; though my situation may be despicable and mean
indeed in the eyes of the world, I feel an honour conferred
upon me which the highest of the kings of the earth could
not have done me ; and add to this seeing my dear husband
panting for the salvation of the people with unabated
ardour, firmly resolving to direct every talent which God
has given him to their good and His glory. I am happy,
remarkably happy, though the present place of my habita
tion is a single vestry-room, with a mud wall and a mud
floor. It is true our sorrows and cares we must have, and,
in a degree, have them now from existing circumstances at
the station ; but is it not our happiness to suffer in this
cause? It is one of the trials of missionaries to bear such
long silences from their friends. Poor Mrs. Helm has not
had a letter for five years ! I long to hear from you, to
know how you all are, but do not expect till the people
7
82 THE KURUMAN FOUNTAIN.
return from the fair at Beaufort, which will be the latter
end of May. Many Bootsuanas, as well as Griquas, are
gone this time. I hope you are perfectly easy about me,
and do not consider me dead or lost. I wrote to you from
Beaufort. We arrived at Griqua Town on the I3th of
March. I did not find things there quite as good as ex
pectation, but must say great things have been done. The
indolence of the people is a formidable obstacle in the way
of civilization. There are some, however, who do well, and
some of the places belonging to the rich captains assume
the appearance of En.;lish farms. Decent houses, a waggon
before the door, plenty of oxen, poultry, dogs, &c., about,
and good cultivated ground, and very respectably clothed ;
they make good appearance at the church, which is often
full, and it is about the size of the old preaching-room at
Salford.
" I forgot to say how we got over the Orange River. It
was but very low, and all our waggons were over in half an
hour. This will appear to you a happy circumstance, when
I tell you that at the same time last year Mrs. Hamilton
was nine weeks waiting on the other side, and one week in
the act of getting ovei with one waggon ! Some parts of
this time the rain was descending in such torrents that she
•could not tell whether the waggon was in the river or out of
iit. It is a majestic stream, and on the banks are woods of
;the mimosa and a species of willow. There is a greater
variety of greens than I have seen since I came to Africa,
-and much more pleasing to the eye. We travelled along
the banks three days before we crossed. We were met
with oxen and men from Griqua Town, they having heard
of our approach. After spending a week there, we pro
ceeded to this place, four long days' journey. I do not
recollect being so fatigued since I left the Cape. We were
obliged to make long stages on account of there being no
water between. The last outspan place was the source of
the Kuruman River. It is a vast rock, which appears to
have been terribly convulsed some time or other, forming
curious caves, and on every side the most beautiful water
ihat ever I saw (except at Greenfield) gushing out. I went
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KURUMAN. 83
into the principal cave that is accessible, and went nearly
knee-deep in water as clear as crystal. The top of the
cave was lined with bats, and in some directions we heard
waters rushing like a torrent The sound came along the
subterraneous passages. I should have imagined that a
mighty river would have flowed from such a spring, but it
is very small. The country between Griqua Town and
here abounds in fine-looking grass, but not good ; in low
mountains, but few trees.
" On our entrance to this place I was pleased. I thought
the landscape resembled that of England, the cornfields
and gardens being very pleasing, and here and there trees
scattered ; trees are not seen in general in Africa, except
on the banks of the rivers. I have not yet seen a wood
equal to the one above the Nursery.
" I think there is already timber there superior to any I
have seen in the uncultivated parts of Africa. Upon the
whole, as a country, I am greatly disappointed. It is my
opinion that the new settlers will be deceived if they expect
a fat land. Were I choosing a country, either for a com
fortable livelihood or pleasure, it should be old England
still. The extreme scarcity of water, and in many parts
firewood, render people's comfort very precarious. If the
periodical rains fail they sometimes reap less than they
sow. In this {*art everything that is sown must be greatly
assisted with water, or it would do no good at all. The
cattle are sent to different outposts where there is water.
The' source of the Kuruman is the principal place, and
there they are subject to the depredations of the Bushmen,
who are very daring indeed. The cattle are watched by
Bootsuanas and some who are half Bushmen through inter
marrying, but, notwithstanding this, a large number of the
cattle are carried off.
" It is really a pity that no hold can be laid on these
men. They do deserve punishment, but that the innocent
should perish with the guilty is hard. The Bootsuanas
have, since the missionaries came, renounced the practice
of going against other people unprovoked. They only
plead now that they defend themselves, arid to this no one
84 STATE OF THE MISSION.
can object ; it certainly is a great attainment to bring them
to this, as all the nations beyond partly live by robbing
each other. This, however, makes them very exacting
from us, as they have done it by our advice.
"There are no appearances of real piety among this
people but in one woman who is blind ; she is in church
fellowship. The attendance is irregular. Sometimes the
church looks well with numbers of them, and sometimes
the benches are nearly empty. They seem to think they
do us a favour by coming. The school is miserable. There
is no girls' school, and I almost doubt the practicability of
it, as the women here do all the men's work, and the men
the women's.
" One great impediment here is not having the language.
Not one of our friends here can converse surely with the
natives. All is done through an interpreter, one of those
who has lived at Griqua Town. They are good-tempered
people in general, happy and easy, dance and sing a good
deal. The strong man armed keeps his house in peace,
but we hope ere long to see one stronger than he take pos
session. They have curious notions about God. They
make Him the author of everything evil. If it rain when
they don't wish it, they ask why God does so ; if the ground
is parched, the same. " MARY MOFFAT."
In a letter to his parents, dated from Griqua
Town the eighteenth of September, Robert MorTat
writes :
" On the fifth day after our departure from Griqua Town
we arrived at Lattakoo, and found all the friends there well.
We were soon introduced to Moteebe, the king, who seemed
very much pleased at our arrival. We were soon visited
by a retinue of chiefs, with people who, of course, were
anxious to see the strangers. To Mr. C. and myself
the sight was not new, having been amongst them before,
but to Mary it was; indeed their manner, appearance,
and dress must greatly interest any one, and especially
my dear Mary, whose hopes had been so long directed
CURIOSITY OF THE NATIVES. 85
towards that people. After remaining three weeks settling
the affairs of the mission, Mr. Campbell set off on a journey
nearly north-east. He took Mr. Read with him, deeming
it of importance that I should remain with a view to
ingratiate myself into the affections of Moteebe and his
people.
" After two months Mr. C. returned, having visited some
nations, properly tribes, hitherto unexplored. We remained
a week together, when Mr. C., Mr. R., my wife and self, set
off on a' journey to the westward along the bed of the
Kuruman River. We visited many towns of the Boot-
suanas, in which Mr. Campbell and myself alternately
preached to the benighted inhabitants the word of life.
Our journey. extended to Lehaise's town, the most westerly
of the Bootsuanas, lying on the east side of that great
desert which separates Namaqualand from them. The
inhabitants here never having been visited by white people
before, made our visit the more interesting to them, who of
course received us as curiosities, and especially Mary, who
got plenty to stare at her and her dress. They have often
sat nearly the whole of the day gazing upon our movements,
and especially our sitting together at table when dining in
the tent ; our using knives and forks, plates and different
dishes, was such a sight as they had never seen before or
heard of. In one of our interviews with Lehaise, the old
chief was asked if he would like to have a missionary with
him to inform him and his people of the things of God.
This grave, aged, and well-looking man answered very
seriously : Yes ! if the missionaries could tell him how he
could become a young man again. He also added that if
missionaries came he was not able to sing.
" Such was the judgment he formed of the missionaries ;
and oh, how affecting ! The subject of his answers was
explained, and he seemed to approve of missionaries
coming among them.
" Taking a circuitous road on our return, we fell in with
some Koranna kraals. They differ materially in manners
and dress from the Bootsuanas, though residing very near
them. To obtain water for themselves and their cattle
86 INTERCOURSE WITH AFRIKANER.
they dig down in the beds of periodical rivers to the depth
of twenty-five feet. By means of five men standing at a
suitable height from each other they hand the water up in
a wooden bowl ; and this requires to be done daily.
" After an absence of little more than a fortnight we
arrived safely at Lattakoo. Shortly after, we had letters
from Dr. Philip informing us that permission had not yet
been obtained from the Governor for me to remain at
Lattakoo. Nothing now remained but to return. We all
felt acutely, as our hopes and designs were completely
thwarted. We were obliged, however, to submit to the
powers that be, and to look to Him who has the hearts of
idl men in His hand, and to say, 'The Lord reigneth.'
" After suitable preparations, we, including Mr. Read
and family, took our departure from Lattakoo — nor could
we help being affected on leaving a country where the
harvest was great and the labourers so few — Mr. Hamilton
being left alone with a Griqua assistant and a few Hotten
tots. A remarkable circumstance took place just before
we left. Previous to our leaving the Cape I wrote to
Christian (Jager) Afrikaner to meet me at Griqua Town or
Lattakoo, and bring my cattle and property with him ;
which he did, and arrived, as above, just when we were
preparing to return. I was happy to see them, and to hear
that all went on well in Namaqualand. To his honour I
would just add that my books and articles of furniture were
in good order. Particular attention had been paid to these,
as well as to my cattle and sheep, during my long absence.
Such was the conduct of the once plundering Afrikaner,
conduct in every respect becoming a Christian. He stated
his regret at my being taken from them, and his wish to
remove to a situation near my destination, which was to us
at that juncture unsettled.
" We returned by another road from Lattakoo, in order to
see a fountain which might afterwards become a station for
the Bushmen. While we were at the said fountain, some of
these unfortunate people, whose interests we were seeking,
came during the night and set off with four of our cattle.
They were pursued in the morning, but in vain. The
THE M OF FATS AT GRIQUA TOWN. 87
pursuers, however, caught one man and a boy, who were
more or less engaged in the theft. These were brought to
the waggons, and our people had much to do to keep the
few Bootsuanas who were with us from plunging their
assegais into them — such is the abhorrence which the
Bootsuanas have to that despised and forlorn people.
But it is also to be observed that the Bootsuanas suffer
greatly from their depredations, which so exasperates them
that they spare neither man nor woman nor child.
" The prisoners alluded to, especially the eldest, expected
nothing but death, but we let him go after giving him
a sufficient number of stripes.
" To proceed on our journey. Afrikaner left us when
we were half way to Griqua Town, to take a nearer route
home. When we were near Griqua Town we received a
letter from the Rev. Mr. Faure of Graaff Reinett, informing
us that permission was granted for me to proceed to my
destination. This was unexpected but pleasing infor
mation. The same letters also informed us that he, in
company with the Landdrost of Graaff Reinett, was on his
way to Griqua Town and Lattakoo.
" We came here and awaited the arrival of Mr. Stocken-
strom, the Landdrost, whose object was to investigate the
political concerns of this people, which had hitherto been
in a state of confusion."
When Mr. Stockenstrom had done his work
among the Griquas, he prevailed upon Moffat to go
with him on a visit to Lattakoo. It had been de
cided that for a few months he should remain at
Griqua Town to set the affairs of that town in order,
before he availed himself of the Government per
mission to settle at Lattakoo. John Campbell was
now to take his departure. To the Moffats it was
an affecting occasion. They had been in his com
pany as fellow-travellers many months, ap-d he had
singularly endeared himself to them.
b8 JOHN CAMPBELL'S SNUFF-BOX.
Fifty years afterwards Moffat wrote to a son of
Robert Philip of Kingsland, John Campbell's suc
cessor, who had sent him as a relic the snuff-box of
his old friend :
" I must now thank you for the late good old Johnny
Campbell's snuff-box. Of course I could not but know it,
having travelled so much with him in our dear Africa. I
prize it exceedingly, and feel honoured in possessing it,
and will care for it being cared for, after getting engraved
on it from whence I received it. John Campbell, his name
is fragrant. The very sight of the box brought to mind
great and little incidents of long bygone years. I have
often seen him, when perplexed, take out his snuff-box,
take a pinch, and sometimes two if the subject was weighty,
and in the tent, or outside of the tent, or on the other side
of a thin partition, he might be heard to say, ' Oh I never
was in such a world as this ! ' More delightful society and
a better fellow-traveller than Mr. Campbell could not be
desired. Many, many nights, to avoid the heat of the sun,
we travelled together in one waggon for company, and he
was wont to interest us (Mrs. M. and self) with anecdotes
almost without end, all bearing on what was good, and
many of which had reference to the course of Christ's
kingdom in our own and in foreign lands."
CHAPTER XI.
SOJOURN AT GRIQUA TOWN.
1820-22.
THE Moffats were now settled down for a few
months at Griqua Town, and the following
from Mary Moffat is a simple description of
the homely ways which obtained in those secluded
regions — indeed it will still hold good of what may
still be found in some parts of South Africa :
" I dare say my friends often wonder how we proceed in
our domestic concerns. In some of them we are extremely
awkward, and in others pretty well. For instance, in this
part of the country it is the custom to have the kitchen
separate from the house, a thing which few English women
can reconcile their minds to ; for when that is the case the
kitchen of the missionary is the place of common resort,
and if one turns one's back, perhaps half of the food is
gone, and spoons, knife, fork, or whatever lies ahout, is away.
They are generally such places as an English person cannot
sit in, because there is no chimney and the place is full of
smoke, and it must all go out at the door or not at al'.
Add to this the wood fire, which requires one person's
const; nt attendance to keep in and regular.
" Those who have tolerably good houses have generally
what is called a fore-house. It is the place of entrance.
90 MODE OF LIVING.
The outer door renders it cool and comfortable, which
door is in the middle, as in a hall ; and this place is
generally the largest in the house. It is the houseplace of
the family, where they eat, fold and iron their clothes,
prepare victuals for the fire, &c. At each end of this place
is a small room, one of them the bed-room, the other the
private sitting-room, study, or whatever you may call it.
Behind are detached pack-houses, where everything is
kept. This is the plan of a good missionary house here,
and I approve it, only I would have both kitchen and
pack-houses attached to the dwelling-house. If I want a
little coffee, sugar, or butter, I like to have it at least a little
nearer the house than they have it. Custom seems to have
established this awkward system, which is productive of
many evils : for instance, it ruins servants, and there is
such a propensity in all the natives of this country to
assist each other to food, when they have it in their power,
that you cannot keep them from it whilst the kitchen is out
of your sight.
" However, my good man dislikes it as much as I do,
and has promised to order matters differently when he
builds, which will be on our return to the Kuruman. No
servant will like it, as she will not then have an oppor
tunity of displaying her liberality. They seem to account
all Europeans stingy. Poor creatures ! they are ignorant
of the value of most things, and they think we should eat
everything up at once as they do, and starve all the rest of
the time.
"The washing is done at the river, in cold water, and
instead of rubbing they beat things upon the stones, which
wears them fast. When we get settled, I wish very much
to wash in the English way. We cannot at present for
want of tubs, but Moffat has promised to make me some,
as I know he will.
" With regard to animal food, all missionaries, however
small the family, kill a sheep (but the sheep are small in
this land) every week in the moderate weather. They
must do it on account of the people they have about them—
people in the garden, &c., who all eat more than their work
HOW THE LARDER IS REPLENISHED. 91
is worth, for it will take two or three generations to get
indolence out of their nature. The chief part of the sheep's
fat is in the tail, which is an enormous size, a burthen for it
to carry. The fat of this is of quite an oily nature and
very rich ; this we melt, and it assists in cookery. In the
heat of summer it will not stiffen unless mixed with hard
fat and set in a cool place. With the hard fat we make
candles, and some people soap ; but that is an immense and
troublesome business, being three weeks every day on the
fire, and requiring the most constant attention.
" As much of the mutton as we can we salt for the
summer, for fresh meat will not keep a day here in that
season. Sometimes an ox or a cow is killed, and the chief
part of it salted. The salt here is used in its natural state,
and is both salt and saltpetre. We smoke the meat to
keep the moth out of it, otherwise it would be devoured—
and is even then sometimes.
" Most missionaries have a brick oven for their bread.
We leaven our bread, always keeping a lump of leaven, and
the bread is as sweet as any yeast could make it if we
do not let it work too long. We have the wheat all ground
down together, and I like it better than sifted for house
hold bread.
" The cows in this country give very little milk. Seven
or eight are no better than one English cow. When I was
in England we used to wonder what the ' thick milk ' was
of which Mr. Campbell spoke, and now I can tell you. It
is only the natives who make it, but I shall certainly have
it too if ever I get abundance of milk, it is so good. They
get a goat-skin and scrape the hair quite clean off, so that
you could not tell that it had been hairy. Then they turn
the outer side in, sew it up into a bag with a narrow neck
like a bottle. At the bottom they have a very small peg
stuck in, a thick peg at the top which closes the mouth of
the sack. Into this sack of goat's-skin they pour their milk
as it comes from the cow. Perhaps in three or four days it
is full. It is hung in a pretty warm place. They pull out
the small peg at the bottom and let the whey off. The
milk is poured out at the top end of the sack, and comes
92 PRIMITIVE FLOOR SCRUBBING.
to the table wet, but not svvashy. This when served up
looks like a dis'i of light rurds. The milk here being very
rich it has quite a yellow appearance. It is rather sour,
and with a little sugar and new milk it is delightful. I did
not fancy it at first, but probably it was on account of its
being brought in their dirty vessels. I have now got over
that, and eat it with relish. Moteebe frequently brought
us a dish of it, which is a great mark of esteem. The
Hootsuanas have it much nicer than others, because they
let no dirt into the bag.'
" I have yet another of our customs to relate. You will
perhaps think it curious when I tell you that we smear all
our room floors with cow dung once a week at least. At
first when I saw Sister Helm do it I thought to myself,
' But I'll do without that dirty trick, or I will try hard.'
However, I had not been here long but was glad to have it
done, and I have hardly patience to wait till Saturday. It
lays the dust better than anything, kills the fleas which
would otherwise breed abundantly, and is a fine clear
green. You observe it is mixed with water, and laid on as
thinly as possible. I now look upon my floor smeared
with cow dung with as much complacency as I used to do
upon our best rooms when well scoured.
" Writing about this curious article puts me in mind of a
custom of the Bootsuanas. If his majesty Moteebe dines
with us, before he eats he sends his servant for a handful
of this article and rubs his hands with it till every particle
of dirt is gone. However curious it may appear to you, I
would rather see him eat after this process than before it,
as their hands get a share of the nasty fat and red ochre
with which they smear themselves.
«M. M.
"Griqua Town, Aug. n, 1820."
The close of the year found the Moffats still at
Griqua Town. This place was inhabited by a
mixed multitude of Griquas, Korannas, Hottentots,
and even Bushmen and some Bechwanas. At an
ANDERSON AMONG THE GRIQUAS. 93
early period, about the year 1799, missionaries made
an effort to collect the scattered Bushmen in the
northern part of the Colony. They were only par
tially successful, and they extended their plans so
as to include others as well as Bushmen. There
were many people of mixed blood, descendants of
the Dutch farmers, who had taken to a roving and
marauding life. The missionaries Anderson and
Kramer spent several years of almost incredible
hardship following these people in their wanderings,
and at length succeeded in prevailing upon a large
body of them to settle down. When once this was
accomplished, the new village soon became a rallying
point for members of all the broken tribes above
mentioned. Mr. Anderson lived to see a large
and orderly community making great progress in
industrious habits, and a Christian church formed.
Then the Government took a very, strange step.
An order was sent to Mr. Anderson to furnish
twenty Griquas as recruits to the Cape regiment.
It might have been supposed that these people
would have been left alone. The missionaries had
found them mere wanderers in the desert beyond
Colonial control, and had gathered them together in
a locality far outside of the frontier, where they could
claim no protection except that of God and their
own right hand.
Mr. Anderson had no option but to give the
message, and the effect was disastrous. He at once
lost the confidence which he had earned by years of
patient labour and self-denial. Up to this time he
had acted as a medium of correspondence between
the Griquas and the Government, and had, moreover,
94 REORGANIZING THE MISSION.
been the adviser and guide of his people in reference
not only to spiritual but political matters. They
now began to look upon him as an emissary in the
interest of the Government, and so utterly did their
trust in him fail that in a few years he saw it his
duty to give up the charge of the mission of which
he was to a large extent the founder, and to retire
to another station in the Colony. Nor were the
effects less disastrous to the people themselves.
They began to break up ; one party, headed by the
most influential chief, removed to another part of the
country ; a second, though acknowledged as chief,
withdrew to a distance of about fifty miles ; and
Griqua Town was left with a population reduced in
numbers and practically without a head.
It was at this juncture that Robert Moffat was
requested by Mr. Campbell to assist Mr. Helm in
reorganizing the mission on a new footing. The
task seems to have been a difficult one. The people
were invited by the missionaries to make choice of
one of their number as chief. They did so, showing
great wisdom in the appointment of the late Andries
Waterboer, who for many years ruled the settlement
with firmness and discretion, but was succeeded by
a son far inferior in character, under whom matters
went altogether wrong. The Griqua Mission is
now a thing of the past. They as a people have
broken up, and are becoming absorbed in larger and
stronger communities around them ; but this is no
reason for considering what was done amongst them
in the earlier days as thrown away. For a long
time the Griquas served a good, purpose on the
northern border of the Colony — as we shall have
THE GRIQUA CHURCH NEEDS DISCIPLINE. 95
occasion to notice — apart from purely spiritual results,
of which the annals of the mission furnish abun
dantly satisfactory proof.
Of the mere degraded wanderers in the desert
whom the first missionaries gathered together, many
a humble and faithful believer in the Lord has
entered into rest after a life of consistent godliness.
During his stay at Griqua Town Robert Moffat
wrote as follows :
" As it regards the cause of our Lord in this place, I
cannot say much to the praise of the Griquas. It is true
of late we have been delighted to see a full church. The
members are numerous. The last time I administered the
Lord's Supper there were upwards of forty who partook ;
but alas ! too many of these have stains on their garments,
but of such a nature as not to bring them under church
discipline. Heretofore this important duty has not been
exercised to that extent that Paul would have done had
he been here. The result of such neglect is that our
church is a mixed heap of which the major part is rubbish.
They have a name, and they lead a course of life which
exhibits neither a devil nor a saint. Within the last month a
number of these dead members have been amputated from
the body, and their examples have the very effect which
the Scriptures intimate : 'others fear,' and dread to commit
crimes which they would otherwise have done with im
punity. Mr. Helm, who is a wise, prudent, and pious
brother, fully coincides with my views, and is very zealous
in clearing the church of such fruitless stumps. We rejoice,
however, in the faithful few who seem indeed pillars in the
temple of our God. These, with others who have entered
the regions of immortality, witness that the labours of Mr.
Anderson have not been in vain, and that the exertions of
British Christians have, through the Divine blessing, been
mighty in pulling down the strongholds of Satan.
" This season has been extremely warm, and we have
had much thunder. On the 2ist of November we had a
96 MARY MOFFATS SEVERE ILLNESS.
heavy storm of thunder, lightning, and rain. The light
ning struck and set fire to a small round storehouse in
which some of our goods lay. It entered the top and ran
obliquely down one of the thick poles which supported
the roof, shattering it into a thousand pieces. It passed
through the wall, melting the very stones in its course.
" Means were soon used, the fire was got under, and
no injury whatever sustained. This round house is only
about fourteen yards distant from our dwelling-house, and
scarcely so far from Mr. Helm's. It was very alarming,
and deeply impressed our minds of God's fatherly pro
tection. On the 28th of the same month the lightning
struck a tree in one of the missionary gardens at Lat-
takoo."
Towards the end of 1820, Mary ivloffat was
prostrated by a severe illness, and for a long time
it seemed unlikely that she would recover. In
reference to this her husband writes some weeks
afterwards :
" We are assured that though weeping endures for a
night, joy will come in the morning, which has also been
realized in the experience of thousands since it was
written. A very short experience, indeed, convinces us
that the brightest scenes and most enlivening prospects are
not without their alloy ; like the interrupted rays of the
unchanging sun which cast a shade on our most dazzling
enjoyments, and convince us that this is not our rest, and
that the Christian life at best is a life of vicissitude. Happy
they, whether on beds of languishing or in adversity, who
can say, ' Faithful are the wounds of a friend.' To such,
affliction is not loss, but gain, for they say from experience
that it is good to be afflicted, and joy more exalted and
pure takes possession of the mourner's heart. This, my
dear parents, has been the experience of myself, but
especially of your beloved daughter. She has sowed in
tears, but now reaps in joy. Yes ; she who a few months
BIRTH OF A DA UGHTER. 97
ago stood on the brink of eternity, expecting hourly to
quit the tottering fabric, delivering with sinking voice her
last message, is at this moment sitting in perfect health,
with a lovely, healthy daughter on her knee. Surely this
is the Lord's doing, and is wonderful in our eyes."
This daughter was named Mary, and was after
wards known as the wife of David Livingstone.
She was born on the twelfth of April. Very soon
afterwards the quiet little community, at Griqua
Town was enlivened by an unusual event — the
influx of a large party of visitors : Mr. John Mel
ville of Cape Town, with his wife and family, and
Mr. and Mrs. Kaye, Wesleyan missionaries. The
former had come as a representative of Government,
to inquire into political affairs, with a view to his
eventually taking up his abode as Resident at
Griqua Town.
Mr. Kaye's object was to find a station among
the Bechwanas. As the time was now come for
the Moffats to commence their work at Lattakoo,
it was agreed that their visitors should accompany
them, and so the whole party started together, and
arrived in safety on the seventeenth of May. Mr.
Hamilton was not a little comforted by the advent
of his future companions in labour. He had
borne trials of no ordinary character, which would
have caused many men to give up in despair.
Though gentle and unassuming, and by no means
disposed or fitted to take a leading part, he was a
man whose faithful obedience to his Master and
tenacious perseverance nothing could shake or
turn aside. From this time he and Moffat stood
shoulder to shoulder through a work of more than
98 MOFFAT SETTLES AT KURUMAN.
thirty years, at the close of which he was called
away to his rest.
This period marks the commencement of Robert
Moffat's permanent connection with the Kuruman
Mission. It may be well to explain here that the
name of Lattakoo, so long used, was better known
in England than in South Africa. When Mr.
Campbell paid his first visit he found the Batlaping
tribe at a place called Letakong, about thirty-six
miles north-east of the present station of Kuruman.
When the missionaries he had promised to send
arrived at their destination, the tribe had removed,
•or was removing, to a spot on the Kuruman River,
about ten miles from its source. The name Leta
kong — or, as it had been transformed by persons
unaccustomed to native pronunciation, Lattakoo —
had, however, become identified with that parti
cular station, and for a long time continued to be
so, until the missionaries moved a little higher up
the valley, and Kuruman, which was the name of
the river, came into use.
The Kuruman River, so-called, is through the
greater part of its course a mere channel, such as
is common enough in that waterless region. The
stream, which takes its rise as already described
in a previous chapter, flows for a mile or more
along a somewhat narrow valley. This then widens
out, and the water used to spread over a broad,
reedy lagoon or marsh, but has been stopped with
a dyke, and led in watercourses along the higher
ground on either side, and made available for irri
gation. Little or none of it passes beyond the
•limits of the present station. Such is the thirsty
DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. gg
nature of the soil, that, especially during the grow
ing season, every drop is required for watering
the lands.
A few miles lower down, at the site of the old
station, there is a recurrence of springs in the
river-bed, and a stream again flows for some dis
tance and eventually disappears. The course o,
the Kuruman trends away westward, and then
southward across the Kalahari Desert. Here and
there, at long intervals, wells are sunk in the chalk
deposits within the channel ; but it is only in an
exceptional year that there is any stream, and I
am doubtful whether even that fitful stream ever
runs continuously as far as the junction of the
Kuruman with the Orange River.
The higher part of the Kuruman used to be
well fringed with mimosas. These have nearly
all disappeared, owing to the increasing demand
for wood. The picturesque aspect of the original
station and its environs, which so pleased Mary
Moffat on her arrival, is pretty much a thing of
the past.
As soon as we ascend the low banks on either
side and leave the river, we find the surrounding
country barren in the extreme. For many miles
nothing is to be seen but stony hills and sandy
plains covered with long grass, which for the
greater part of the year is not green, but a light
straw-colour. The continuity of the grassy ex
panse is broken by scattered bushes a few feet
high and of a dull grey hue, and dotted here and
there with a few dark-green camel-thorn trees, To
any one accustomed to the rich foliage and green
ioo UNGRACIOUS CONDUCT.
fields 'of England, such a prospect must be cheer
less in the extreme, especially when, as in those
days, the transit from one point to another was a
matter of crawling along for days or weeks in an
ox-waggon.
The Kuruman station is not far from the border
of the desert. Westward towards Namaqualand
the country becomes drier and more dreary at
every step. Eastward, and particularly north-east
ward, there is a steady improvement until, after a
journey of two hundred miles, the traveller finds
himself in a comparatively picturesque and well-
wooded region.
The self-denying labours of the original pioneers
had not been attended with any success when the
Moffats joined the Lattakoo Mission. The Bech-
wanas turned a deaf ear to the gospel. The ground
which the chief had given them for gardens, and
which they with immense labour had made avail
able by leading the water to it, was encroached
upon by the women, headed by the chiefs wife
herself. Rather than make any difficulty, the
point was conceded. When the corn ripened, a
great part of it was openly taken by the people.
Their sheep were stolen out of the fold at night,
or driven off when grazing in the day-time ; until
they were constrained to slaughter the remnant
and to put the meat into salt lest they should lose
it altogether. No tool or household utensil could
be left about for a moment, or it would disap
pear. The chief, though himself friendly, was a
man of weak character, and could not, or would
not, give them effective help.
INTERNAL DIFFICULTIES. 101
A severe drought had set in. A rainmaker who
came from the N.E., when he found all his arts in
vain, laid the blame on the white strangers. The
people, who were really suffering greatly, were only
too ready to take up this idea ; and for a time it
seemed possible that the missionaries "would be
driven away.
But the cruellest trial of all was to find their worst
foes within their own camp. A number of Hotten
tots had accompanied the missionaries from the in
stitutions within the Colony. These, though them
selves converts, were too new and too weak in the
faith to meet the demands which were made upon
their constancy, surrounded as they were by a
heathen and corrupt people. Their conduct became
a source of shame to their leaders, and could not be-
otherwise than a hindrance to the gospel of which
they showed themselves such unworthy exemplars.
Robert Hamilton, the only one of the three
originally told off for the Lattakoo Mission who
remained, was in a position which hampered his own
usefulness, and must have hailed with joy the advene
of a colleague who was both able and willing to
wield the pruning-knife with a strong and skilful
hand. In a few months after Robert Moffat's arrival
a course of stern discipline had purged the little
community ; and though the band that met around
the Lord's table was reduced to a mere fraction, yet
it was a lesson to heathen onlookers that must have
told its tale.
In February, 1822, Mary Moffat writes to her
parents :
" At present Moffat is applying himself with all diligence
102 THE PEOPLE REJECT THE GOSPEL.
to the language, as the particular object of his destination
here. He finds immense difficulties from the barrenness of
the language and imperfect interpreters, but he is naturally
too persevering soon to lose courage. This is his sole
motive for undertaking a journey at present, in order to
become familiar with it by being for a time out of the habit
of speaking Dutch with our own people here. I think it
will also be of advantage to me in that respect ; having so
much to employ my time with at home I have little chance
of learning much of it. You beg of us to pay particular
attention to the instruction of the rising generation, but
alas, we have no opportunities of doing this : the people,
instead of desiring that their children should be instructed,
are afraid of their becoming * Dutchmen,' so tenacious are
they of their old customs and habits ; and if a boy and
a girl venture to come they are soon laughed out of it.
Perhaps if we gave them each a meal of meat every day
or a few beads, we might have the place crowded — but on
no other condition. Oh ! how were we affected on reading
an account of Madagascar, when we thought of the dif
ference between that people and this ; they so desirous
and these such despisers of instruction. As to some of
these people having correct notions of God and of heaven,
death and hell, as has been asserted, you must not believe
it ; for daily conversations convince us that the wisest of
them have most corrupt notions on these subjects. We are
astonished at their dreadful stupidity about these things.
My beloved parents, we have much need of your sympathy
and prayers, and those of all other Christians. Could we
but see the smallest fruit we could rejoice amidst the priva
tions and toil which we bear ; but as it is, our hands do
often hang down."
"Aug. 29, 1822.
" I acknowledge the receipt of brother Alexander's
letter of the i6th of February, 1821. It rejoiced us ex
ceedingly to hear that all was well with you. It is always
a great treat to us to receive one of his letters. We have
not a more interesting correspondent. My own father and
he are much alike in their letters. We hope he will keep
TRIALS OF FAITH. 103
his resolution of writing once every four months. You
can form no idea of the delicious repast which a well-tilled
letter affords to our minds, especially when we hear that all
is going well. We are entirely at the mercy of our friends
for what we know of what is going on in the world. We
seem here to be in its suburbs, and when a long time elapses
without fresh intelligence our hearts sicken and languish.
" We have no prosperity in the work, not the least sign
of good being done. The Bootsuanas seem more careless
than ever, and seldom enter the church. Their indifference
seems to increase,and instead of rejoicing we have continually
to mourn over them. Our consolation is derived from the
promises of the immutable Jehovah. We walk by faith
and not by sight. How mysterious are His works, and His
ways past finding out. In almost every other part of the world
to which the gospel is sent, some of the people receive it
gladly, but here the blessing is withheld. Five years have
rolled on since the missionaries came, and not one soul
converted, nor does any one seem to lend an ear. All
treat with ridicule and contempt the truths which are de
livered
" I must now endeavour to remove some mistakes under
which you seem to labour, respecting African travelling.
You appeared to think that the journey from Griqua Town
to this place was a very formidable one. It is true, con
sidering the weak state in which I was at the time you
allude to, it was a little exertion, and at times I felt it ; but
we are so accustomed to travelling that in general we think
that journey a mere trifle. Since that time I have been
twice to Griqua Town with Robert. We think it essential
to health to take a trip now and then, and it is a rule of
mine that when my husband goes with the waggon for
more than two days I go with him, unless circumstances
render it very improper. If he goes alone he does not
take care of himself, and will not be at the trouble to make
himself comfortable ; and I think he had enough of that
sort of life in Namaqualand. But you can form no idea
how comfortable our waggons are. They are very light
vehicles, and in them we carry all necessary comforts. If
104 OX-WAGGON TRAVELLING.
there are children, they play on the bed or lie asleep. The
length of our day stages is about eight or twelve hours on
an average, riding about three and a half miles an hour ;
we are chiefly guided by the water, riding from one fountain
to another, that our oxen may be refreshed as well as our
selves. Sometimes the water is too distant and we make
two stages of it, but we always take with us a keg of water
in case of an accident in the wilderness. When we span
out (or unyoke), a fire is immediately made, the kettle set
on, and coffee or tea made. I would here notice that that
missionary must be very regardless of his wife's comfort
who does not see to that being done without her troubling
herself. For my own part I never think of coming out of
the. waggon till there is a good fire, for it is comfortless
work indeed turning out in a cold night in the wilderness
with a child or children before there is a fire.
" If it is a short journey we generally make bread enough
to serve us before we leave home, and if a long one we stop
when needful to provide such necessaries. Having thus
refreshed ourselves, we have worship with our people round
the fire, or in the tent which we sometimes pitch, and retire
to rest in our waggons. In these we have as comfortable
beds as at home, only a little strait, especially when the
family increases. The Hottentots roll themselves in a
kaross, with another skin under them, and lie round a good
fire quite happy. There are also dangers attending our
journeys. In many places a sharp look-out must be kept
lest the Bushmen seize our oxen while grazing ; in other
places the lion is on his prowl for the same object. In
every place the wolf pays us a visit. He seldom touches
the oxen, but seizes the sheep if he can. Though I wish to
convince you that we do not lead such a gypsy sort of
life as brother Sandy seems to suspect, I shall by no
means attempt to prove that it is a remarkably pleasant
life, fcr we are always heartily tired by the time the journey
is done. It is at the same time a lazy and a busy life — all
bustle when we stop, and unfavourable to sewing and
reading when we are moving ; but custom and necessity
reconcile us to it.
DEATH OF AFRIKANER. 105
" At the present time the scarcity of food in this country
is terrible. The cattle are dying from want in every
direction, and the inhabitants feed on the flesh of the
animals which are starved to death. Of our small stock
three calves and four cows have died, and from the re
mainder we have not one drop of milk. The poor people
have scarcely any milk, no corn nor anything else. How
they live we know not. Truly this is a wretched land.
" If you have not heard what I am going to communicate
you will doubtless be much affected. Afrikaner is no more
an inhabitant of this lower world, but has passed through
the swellings of Jordan and entered the abode of endless
bliss. Younker, his son, has lately written to Robert to
apprise him of it. You may readily conceive of the feelings
it excited in our breasts, especially that of Robert, who
was once so nearly connected with him. He feels as one
who has lost a near relation, and cannot but wish that he
had been there to have witnessed his happy spirit take its
flight."
At the close of the year 1822 Robert Moffat
writes to his brother :
" I shall now give some particulars of our present situa
tion. The most important is the cause of Christ. Alas !
we still hang our harp on the willows, and mourn over the
destiny of thousands hastening with heedless but impetuous
strides to the regions of woe. They turn a deaf ear to the
voice of love, and treat with scorn the glorious doctrines
of redemption. This often causes our hearts to languish,
while our eyes fail with looking upward.
" It is, however, pleasing to reflect that affairs in general
wear a more hopeful aspect than when we came here.
Several instances have proved the people determined to
relinquish the barbarous system of commandoes for stealing
cattle. They have also dispensed with a rainmaker this
season. We rejoice in this, because his services and
presence must ever form a strong barrier to the spread of
the gospel.
io6 CHILDREN RESCUED.
"We prayed and hoped that a good season would
thoroughly convince them that the power of giving rain
belonged only unto God, but He whose footsteps are in
the sea has been pleased to order it otherwise. The season
has been so dry as to destroy their corn, except a little
which happened to be sown on ground a little marshy.
Nothing, however, has been said as to the cause of the
drought.
"We continue on friendly terms with them, though we
have also much to suffer, especially from thieves, who pester
us on all sides.
" Ann and Dicky, the two Bushmen children whom I
consider part of the family, are doing well. Ann is very
useful, and forms a good nurse for the little Mary."
Some months before this Robert Moffat, on one
of his journeys, had come unexpectedly upon a party
of Bushmen. They were digging a grave for one
of their number, a woman, who had died leaving
two children. Finding that it was the intention of
the party to bury not only the body of the woman,
but the two children also, the missionary begged for
them ; and as the only object was to get rid of them,
his petition was readily granted. He brought them
home, arid for some years they were part of his
household.
CHAPTER XII.
THE MANTATEE INVASION.
1823, 1824.
THE year 1823 opened quietly enough, though
it was to be a period of considerable anxiety
and excitement. The Batlaping continued
indifferent to the gospel, and unbelieving of any
thing beyond the things of time and of sense ; but
the hostile spirit had passed away, and the gentle
perseverance of the missionaries in bearing evil and
in doing good had borne fruit.
At the end of March a second daughter was
born, who was named Ann, after her father's mother.
There was at this time among the Batlaping at
Lattakoo a young man, a refugee. His father,
Makaba, was chief of another Bechwana tribe, about
two hundred miles to the N N.E., and the son had
fled from his father's anger. He came in contact
with the missionaries, and although his testimony
about Makaba was not of a friendly character, it had
the effect of exciting in the mind of Robert Moffat
a deep interest in the Bangwaketsi and their chief,
who had shown somewhat more of warlike prowess
io8 CLOUDS FROM THE EASTWARD.
than their neighbours, and had made themselves
dreaded far and wide.
For some months rumours had been spreading,
however, which had put Makaba and his Bang-
waketsi in the shade. It was reported that a strange
people, fierce and many, were slowly but steadily
advancing from the eastward, eating up all the tribes
with which they came in contact. To those who
have known the country since, it must seem strange
that events had been taking place for months, and
even for years, within the space of a few hundred
miles, the knowledge of which had spread but a
very little way. But in those days each tribe occu
pied its own locality, often separated from its neigh
bours by a tract of uninhabited country Occasional
messengers might be sent from one chief to another,
now and then some enterprising person would make
a journey for purposes of trade ; but as often as not
some act of hostility had caused a break in com
munications, and it might well be that for months
together tribes which were only two or three
days' journey from each other remained in igno
rance of each other's affairs, no one being bold
enough to cross the intervening solitudes which in
the meantime were left to the game and to the lions.
That branch of the Bechwana race which extended
from the junction of the Vaal and Orange rivers up
along the western side of the former stream, into
what is now known as the Transvaal, was subdivided
into numerous tribes which still recognized more or
less kinship to each other ; but eastward there lay
another branch of the same race, now known
generally as Basuto or Bapedi. Beyond these, and
RISE OF THE MATEDELE POWER. 109
still related — all being members of the great Kafir
family — but more distant in kin as in locality^ were
the Zulus and other coast tribes inhabiting the
well-watered and fruitful slopes of the Kwathlamba
range, on the coast-line of South-eastern Africa.
Early in the century rose the tyrant Chaka, who
extended his rule over all the tribes adjacent to his
own, and commenced a career of conquest. He
attacked one tribe after another, blotting them out,
unless they saved themselves by timely and absolute
submission or by flight. More than one emigration
took place from this cause, but the fugitives kept
as much as possible to the mountain country, and
directed their course parallel with the coast. At
last one of Chaka's lieutenants, himself the son of a
chief whose power had been broken by Chaka, gave
offence to his master, and sought safety in flight.
This was Umziligazi, or, as the Bechwanas called
him, Mosilikatse. He, with his followers, climbed
the Kwathlamba. range, and once upon the high up
lands which now form part of the Transvaal, he
found himself like a wolf among a flock of sheep.
Of the Bapedi and Basuto tribes none could resist
him except Moshesh, who, on his mountain fortress
of Thaba Bosigo, successfully defied the invaders.
Meanwhile the Bapedi and the Bechwana tribes
were thrown into confusion by the onslaughts of
the terrible Matebele. Some tribes were utterly
destroyed, others bowed the knee and accepted the
position of vassals, and others again fled.
It was these fugitives, tribes and broken remnants
of tribes, huddled into great hordes, abandoning
lands and driving what they could of their cattle
no MOFFAT MAKES A RECONNA1SANCE.
with them, who came pouring on like a flood and
threatening- to overwhelm the western Bechwanas,
who, if driven back, would have had no option but
to perish in the fooclless and waterless wastes of
the Kalahari. For months the reports which came
were vague and contradictory, but they gradually
became less shadowy, and it was evident that the
danger was coming nearer.
So little was definitely known, however, that
Robert Moffat determined to carry out his project
of visiting Makaba, whose town was about two
hundred miles to the north-east. Leaving his wife
at Kuruman, he directed his course through Old
Lattakoo — or Letakong — and Nokaneng, at both of
which places there were sections of a tribe closely
connected with the Batlaping. As he advanced it
became more and more certain that the dreaded
enemy, known under the general name of Mantatees,
was not far away. It was resolved to continue the
journey as much for the purpose of gaining infor
mation about these Mantatees as for anything else-
For some days the travellers went on through the
wilderness, seeing much game and getting quite
accustomed to the neighbourhood of lions — seeing as
many of these, according to the journal, as nine in
one day.
At last, however, at a place called Mosite, they
received definite information that the Mantatees
were in actual possession of the Barolong towns, a
few hours to the eastward, and that they were on
their way to Lattakoo. This of course hurried
them back home, not knowing whether they might
not find the enemy there before them. No time
HE SEEKS THE AID OF THE GRIQUAS. ITI
was lost. A public meeting was called by the di«< f
Moteebe, who with his people heartily acknowledged
that but for Moffat's pertinacity in starting for the
north-east on a journey which they had tried to
hinder him from taking, they would not have had
this timely warning ; and the missionary was asked
for his advice in the critical position in which they
were placed.
He judged — and the event proved him right — that
the Batlaping would be no match for the invaders.
He advised them to seek the aid of the Griquas,
who, though few, had guns and horses ; and he
himself hastened to Griqua Town and received from
Waterboer the promise that as soon as he could
muster his men he would come. By the time that
the Griquas reached the station the Mantatees had
occupied Letakong, thirty-six miles away. It was
thought best that Moffat should accompany the little
force of not a hundred men. It was hoped that a
white man might be able to open negotiations with
the Mantatees, and that at all events his presence as
a missionary might tend to mitigate the horrors of
war carried on by people like the Griquas, only im
perfectly civilized. Mr. Melville, the Government
Commissioner resident at Griqua Town, was his
companion.
They rode to the Matlwaring River, about half
way. The chief Waterboer, with the two Europeans
and about a dozen men, went on, and spent the night
in a clump of thorn-trees a few miles from Letakong.
They proceeded next morning, and about ten o'clock
came within sight of the dreaded Mantatees. One
detachment held the town, of which the inhabitants
ii2 FIRST SIGHT OF THE MANTATEES.
had fled. Another lay on the hills to the left of it,
presenting- the appearance of a great black patch as
contrasted with the light straw colour of the grass-
covered slopes.
The horsemen drew near, and as they did so they
could perceive a deal of hurrying to and fro, and
that the cattle were driven in and enclosed by the
men. It was the first time that these people had
seen a man on horseback, and at first they naturally
supposed that horse and man were one animal.
This was learned from some of the prisoners after
wards. In a ravine leading down to the river
the scouting party found a young woman who
belonged to the Mantatees. From her they learnt
nothing, except the fact that their language was
only another dialect of Sechwana. She was sent
back to her people with a message of peace, but
nothing came of this. A little farther on the party
found an old man with a lad lying under the shadow
of a rock, the younger in the last stage of starvation,
and the elder not very much better. They dis
mounted in full sight of the enemy, and stood
talking for some time with the wretches whom they
had found, and they gave the old man some meat,
which he ravenously devoured. Not finding any
way of getting speech with the Mantatees, who
would now and again make a furious rush towards
them, hurling clubs and spears, they moved back to
a height at some distance and saddled off, taking
their horses to a pool of dirty water. Here they
found several dead Mantatees, one body lying partly
in the pool from which they had to drink.
They sent back for the main force to come on,
BATTLE WITH THE MANTATEES. 113
and spent the night in this dangerous bivouac.
Next morning their men came up, followed at a
distance by the Batlaping force. They again ad
vanced, and exhausted every resource to get at the
enemy by way of coming to an understanding, but
at last the latter became more and more fierce in
their rushes, compelling the party to retire.
At last Waterboer raised his gun and levelled
one of their boldest warriors. It might have been
thought that this experience so new and startling
would have had some effect, but it had none what
ever. The firing now commenced, very slowly and
deliberately, a single shot at a time ; and not a shot
failed to tell, for the Griquas had to be careful, as
all the ammunition they had amounted to about
a dozen rounds per man.
Every now and then there was a cessation of the
firing to give a chance of negotiation, but it was to
no purpose. The Batlaping now came up, and
began playing upon them with poisoned arrows, but
a rush of a few Mantatees in their direction sent
them all scampering. After about three hours the
Griquas charged their positions, and they gave way.
and eventually started in full flight in the direction
from which they had come. The detachment occu
pying the town, which had taken no part in the
engagement, set fire to the houses and also started
in retreat. .
Then ensued a scene of the wildest confusion.
The houses burnt like straw ; an immense volume of
smoke rolled across the track of the fugitives and
mixed with the dust of retreating thousands — for
they were many thousands in number ; the country
9
n4 NARROW ESCAPE OF ROBERT MOFFAT.
was covered with bands of people fleeing or pur
suing. True to their cowardly tactics, the Batlaping
began to vent their warlike ardour on the wounded,
and on the women and children who could not keep
up in the flight. This was the most difficult and
dangerous part of the day for Moffat and Melville.
They could not stand by and see this going on
without interference. They galloped hither and
thither rescuing women and children from the
human wolves who were deliberately slaying them
for the love of killing, or to despoil their bodies of
such brass rings and beads as they had upon them.
As soon as the women began to discover who were
their protectors, they would rush frantically to them,
baring their breasts and crying, " I am a woman !
I am a woman ! "
The wounded men were especially dangerous, and
would not be taken alive, stabbing as they lay on
the ground. Robert Moffat has been heard to tell of
one especial deliverance on this day — though, alas, it
was bought at a dear price. He had got hemmed
in between a rocky height and a body of the enemy.
There was only a narrow passage through which he
could escape at full gallop. Right in the middle
of this passage there rose up before him a man who
had been shot, but had collected his strength, and,
weapon in hand, was awaiting him. It was almost
impossible for him to escape, Just at this moment
one of the Griquas, at a long distance, took in the
situation at a glance — raised his gun, and fired.
The ball whizzed so close past Moffat that he
shuddered ; but it was a true aim, and his outlet
of escape was clear.
RESULTS OF THE ENGAGEMENT. 115
This battle decided the fate of the mission and
a good deal more. The invaders retreated, never
to return. Their descendants are to be found, some
of them in Basutoland and others in the Transvaal.
Had they not been checked by the little body of
horsemen with guns, who proved, though few, such
terrible enemies, they would have swept away the
Batlaping and probably have poured into the Colony
— greatly extending the area of disturbance, and
would have been repelled with a loss of life terrible
to think of, as compared with the five hundred or
more who fell at Letakong.
Robert Moffat, with the able assistance of Melville
and afterwards of Hamilton, collected the women
and children who remained behind in the flight.
These poor creatures had many of them been
reduced to dire straits. At one place a horse had
died of snake bite, and had of course swollen up,
but they fell upon it like wolves, and would not
desist till every particle of it had disappeared. They
had not only to care for these people, but on their
return to the station, as soon as the Griquas had
gone home the country was full of rumours of the
advance of other bodies of Mantatees from a dif
ferent quarter. So serious did matters become that
the missionaries eventually saw it their duty to
abandon the station for a time and to retire to
Griqua Town. They carried away what they could
of their property, and buried the rest, and started
with heavy hearts. Robert Moffat, having seen
his wife and children safely bestowed, returned to
Lattakoo, and remained a while alone.
These events proved of great and lasting import-
n6 THE MISSIONARIES GAIN INFLUENCE.
ance to the mission. The Batlaping saw that the
missionaries, by their advice and energy, had been
the means of saving them from their enemies.
Their position was now established, and though for
a while there was a lack of interest in their message,
they themselves had gained a personal ascendency
Avhich they never again lost.
At the beginning of September Mary Moffat
writes to her parents from Griqua Town :
" My dear Robert left me on the 6th ultimo, having a
severe cold upon him, but so anxious to be at the post
of duty I could not prevail upon him to remain here till he
was better. It was by no means congenial to our wishes
to separate, but our oxen are already too much hurried to
take our goods back again to Kuruman before we go to the
Cape ; and on account of the confusion we have been in
for some months I shall have time little enough to prepare
for the journey to get off at the appointed time, which we
are anxious to do that we may be back in the month of
March, that being the best time for the river.
" Robert is gone to make another effort at the language
before we go. He writes me that all our buried things are
taken up in excellent order, but the garden is completely
destroyed by the oxen. Some of the Bechwanas made
attempts at robbing the houses, but Moteebe had acted
honourably ; and I assure you it is no little thing that
would arouse Moteebe to so much exertion. Were these
people idolaters, I should be afraid of them deifying Robert
now — they are so convinced of the interest he takes in
their welfare, from what has lately transpired. They say
it would have been easy for us to decamp, with all belonging
to us ; but are surprised at the promptitude and activity
which Robert used in warning the Griquas of the approach
ing danger, and thereby preserving them from enduring
those horrors which have come upon all their neighbours.
Last year we had the pleasure of informing you of the
downfall of rainmaking superstition, and now another
SUFFERINGS OF MISSIONARIES. 117
obstacle is broken through ; indeed they now seem to fear
denying Robert anything.
" He writes that he has broached the subject of removing
the station, and thinks he will succeed. If we get to that
place it will soon pay the expense, and; saye the Society
many thousands of dollars, and will also be a sort, of maga
zine for provisions for infant stations :in the interior. We
cannot but think that a new era is dawning on the history
of this unhappy, wretched country, and that the late awful
events will be overruled for .the spread of the glorious
gospel.
"We are persuaded that the surrounding tribes will
desire to have teachers after seeing the, advantage that
Moteebe's people have derived from their connection
with them. ;
"Spies have been sent out from., this place to ascertain
the truth of the report respecting the other marauding
tribes which were said to be approaching from up the river;
but it proves to be a mere fabrication. The spies saw the
miserable wretches with whom they had fought at Lattakoo.
They appeared afraid, and made signs, to that effect. The
spies went amongst them and talked: with them. They
said all their chief warriors were killed, and they desired to
return from whence they came. Brother Hodgson (Wes-
leyan) arrived here on the 2Qth ult, all well, having been
in great danger from both men and beasts of prey, lions
abounding exceedingly on their road. He found Mr.
Broadbent in a pitiful situation. The enemy having gone in
that direction, Sebonelo and all his people had fled, leav
ing Mr. B. alone. Even his own servants went, except one
Bechwana man. Providentially, however, Mr. H. arrived
when they had been one day in that situation. Mr. B.'s
waggon had come here with Mr. H. for supplies, 'so that
he could not fly, being himself in too weak a state to walk
and Mrs. B. having two little ones such as ours.
" It appears that the vanquished are fled in three direc
tions : one party over the river (Vaal), which was seen by
the spies, and the other two keep the river beyond Sebo-
nelo's place. His people find them scattered in straggling
n8 FAMINE AND CANNIBALISM.
parties, and kill them wherever they get them. They ap
pear to be dying of hunger, and Mr. Hodgson witnessed
the most horrid spectacles. Where they stopped one night
the unhappy people had encamped the night before, and
had left behind them two women and a man, who were
feeding on the body of a dead companion ; they were stamp
ing the bones to suck out the marrow ! I know you will
shudder when I tell you that they did it without the least
emotion. They pointed to the mangled limbs, and told
Mr. Hodgson the name of the man. Whether they are
cannibals from choice we are at a loss to know ; but I am
not disposed to think they are, as many Bechwanas do die
of hunger when they might get a share with the wolf of
their poor dead companions. At Nokaneng, Robert writes,
there are many women left behind, and some wounded
men. He had proposed a plan to Andries, the chief of
this place, for their rescue and preservation ; but I fear
it will not be attended to, but think R. will go himself and
devise some plan. This is such a hungry country that it
is difficult to procure victuals for them. There is no doubt
whatever but that they subsist on the dead bodies of such
as die amongst them. Oh the dark barbarity of this
wretched Africa ! When, oh when will the Sun of right
eousness arise and disperse the heathenish gloom I O Lord,
hasten, and make no tarrying ! "
CHAPTER XIII.
WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS.
1824.
AT the beginning of 1824 we find the Moffats
in Cape Town. They had gone thither for
the threefold object of seeking medical advice,
of obtaining supplies, and of conferring personally
with Dr. Philip about the removal of the station to
Kuruman — its present site.
They had with them Peclo the son of Mothibi, a
young man who gave good promise, and the heir-
apparent of the Batlaping chieftainship ; and Teysho,
one of the headmen of the tribe. It was an unusual
and striking proof of confidence, and spoke well for
the influence the missionaries had gained over the
native mind.
On the very day that the party reached Cape
Town, after more than two months' journey from
Lattakoo, a ship cast anchor in the bay bringing
three new men intended for the Bechwana Mission.
The coincidence was pleasing, but it was a dis
appointment that, after all, only one of the three,
Mr. Hughes, was allowed at that time to continue
I
120 VISIT TO MAKABA.
his journey. Mr. Edwards was detained in order
that his skill as a builder might be made available
at some of the Colonial stations, and he did not
reach Kuruman till some years later ; and Mr. Rob-
son's health never allowed him to venture into the
interior. He eventually took charge of a station
within the Colony, where he did good work for many
years.
The Moffats got back to their station in the month
of May, and found Mr. Hamilton pursuing his lonely
labours with the quiet patience so characteristic of
him. As the final arrangements for the removal of
the station were not yet complete, it was thought
best that Robert Moffat should meanwhile make
his long-promised journey to visit Makaba, the chief
of the Bangwaketsi. He left on the first of July,
and was accompanied by a large party of Griquas,
who were going to the more remote part of the
country to hunt elephants. Rumours still continued
to come of the movements of the Mantatees ; but so
difficult was it in those times to obtain authentic in
formation of what was going on in the country about
other tribes, that nothing could be certainly made
out about the truth of these rumours.
The journey to Makaba was unusually interesting
and eventful. It has been so fully described by
Robert Moffat himself in his " Labours and Scenes,"
that it can be lightly passed over here.
Suffice to say that the party — happily as it turned
out afterwards — was a strong one, with eleven
waggons and a number of horses, and well-armed
men, they having turned out for hunting purposes.
They took a westerly route along the edge of the
ANOTHER INVASION REPELLED. 121
Kalahari Desert, but were eventually obliged by
want of water to deviate and to call at Pitsana,
where a great concourse had gathered, consisting
of the different sections of the Barolong tribe who
had been driven the previous year from the country
along the Vaal River by the Mantatees in the course
of the same invasion which had threatened Kuru-
man.
From Pitsana they went on to Kwakwe, the
residence of Makaba and his people. Here they
were royally entertained, and started on their return
journey, the greater part of the Griquas accompany
ing the missionary, contrary to ! their previous plan
of remaining to hunt. Their leader could give no
explanation of this except that they had changed
their minds; but whatever was the1 cause of their
doing so, the result was an exceedingly important
one. They had not left Makaba many hours when
they were met by messengers from Tauane, the
chief of the Barolong, calling them to come and help
him as he was on the point of being attacked by the
Mantatees. They went on to Pitsana, and found
that this was actually the case. The presence of
scarcely twenty men armed with guns was the means
of repelling an attack which must otherwise have
resulted in the utter destruction of the great Barolong
town and the flight of its inhabitants into the Kala
hari Desert, where thousands who escaped the spears
of the ruthless Makari must have perished of thirst
and hunger. As it was the Barolong gave way and
took to flight, and it was only the effect of a few
shots from the Griqua horsemen, who stood their
ground, which turned the tide.
122 MARAUDERS FROM THE WEST.
Robert Moffat got back home to find that his wife
had been in a position of most intense anxiety. Not
only had she heard of the Makari invasion on the
north-east, which she knew was in the track of his
journey, but dangers were threatening from an oppo
site quarter. A horde of evil characters, runaways of
mixed blood from the Cape Colony, with Korannas,
Bushmen, and Namaquas, had established themselves
in the mountains to the westward of Griqua Town,
and had been joined by renegade Griquas who re
sented the rule and discipline of Waterboer and the
other Griqua chiefs. These people were carrying on
a series of marauding excursions, and had attacked
the Batlaros, a tribe to the south-west of Kuruman,
destroying some of their villages and carrying off
their cattle. They were atrociously cruel ; they were
mounted, and armed with guns, and consequently
no Bechwanas could stand against them. They were
contemplating a visit to the Kuruman. Nothing but
strong faith and a sense of duty kept Mary Moffat
at her post in this crisis. On one occasion so great
was the alarm that she was aroused at midnight by
the chief. Mr. Hamilton, with the men attached to
the mission, was at the site of the new station about
eight miles away. All that she could do was to write
and send a note to him, and to put a few things to
gether so as to be ready to flee with her two babes
and two little Bushmen children if it became abso
lutely necessary.
In her solitude Mary Moffat had written and sent
off at hazard the following letter on the twenty-
eighth of July :
" It is with a faint, faint hope that you will ever see this,
MARY MOFFAT IN A LONELY SITUATION. 123
that I take up my pen, it being so very improbable that
you will meet with the Barolong who take it ; but the
possibility of such a thing compels me not to neglect the
opportunity, anxious as I am to convey to your affectionate
heart tidings of our welfare. Our covenant God has
graciously protected us and all about us ever since you left ;
and I have strong confidence that He has also been with
you. But oh, my dear, I find it requires the exercise of
some fortitude to be calm and serene under such a separa
tion, in such circumstances and at such a time in a land of
barbarians. In vain has my heart fluttered when I have
seen a strange face, hoping he would pull out from under
his kaross a letter, no post yet having arrived from you, and
I begin to think that I must not have that exquisite plea
sure till the living epistle burst in upon me himself. You
know I dreaded your departure exceedingly. I had many
fears about your health from that ugly cough. I had also
fears on account of the tumultuous state of the land. I
expected also to suffer a good deal myself from low spirits
in my great solitude, but in this I was mistaken, having
been remarkably composed and very seldom in a melan
choly mood. When I feel it coming on I make great
efforts to dispel it, and have been successful. I feel very
thankful for the support I have had, and derive encourage
ment from it that all is well with you, and that your
journey is under the smiles of our Heavenly Father. I
have also great liberty at the throne of grace, for you and
the cause of Christ.
" Our dear little Mary and Ann are well. Mr. Hamilton
is also well. He took away most of his goods yesterday
and many trees, but will come as usual on Saturday till
you return. Mr. Hughes has not yet come, nor do we hear
anything from them. About ten days after your departure
two hastily written notes from Mr. Helm to Mr. Hamilton
arrived, bearing different dates, the last of them the 6th
inst, saying that an immense body of Mantatees was
rapidly approaching Griqua Town, that the Koranna
Mission was destroyed, that Mr. Edwards had been to call
a commando, that Edwards and Melville were gone out
124 CONTINUED COMMOTIONS.
with the Griquas and had been three days away. Borumelo
is since come from Campbell, and says that they were not
yet returned, but had sent for a fresh supply of ammunition,
and had also sent to Mr. Stockenstrom for help. The
Mantatecs were not the same people who fought at Old
Lattakoo. You will easily conceive how I felt with regard
to you, but was enabled in the confidence of faith to com
mend you to our covenant God. The idea of any of them
on their return falling in with your single waggon is truly
shocking.
" Since you left, Jacob Cloete, with a number of armed
Korannas on .horses, besides a number of Bushmen, has
been making terrible ravages at a town beyond Lehaise's,
has taken a great number of cattle, killed eight chiefs,
besides others and women and children. By all accounts
he has acted most barbarously ; the people here were much
alarmed, as he threatened to come here to get powder. Of
course I had some fears, but am happy to say he has gone
back to his place. . . .
" I know you will excuse the brevity of this letter when
you reflect on the uncertainty of getting it. I will promise
the man a few beads if he bring it tP you, as well as
tobacco."
On Robert Moffat's return things had settled
down a little, but only for a time. The marauders
began to repeat their operations. The Batlaros
appealed to their neighbours the Batlaping for help.
The latter sent out a party, but, heathen-like, instead
of joining hands with their own kindred in repelling
the common enemy, they took the opportunity to
carry off a large quantity of cattle belonging to the
Batlaros. From this time things went from bad
to worse. The missionaries had moved to the new
station, but they had scarcely done so when the
Batlaping whom they had left at the lower place
were attacked, not only by the marauders, but by
MR. HAMILTON'S HOUSE IS BURNED. 125
the Batlaros, who might have been their friends but
for their own folly.
So general was the confusion, that a second time
did the missionaries find it necessary to take refuge
at Griqua Town, where we find them at the end of
the year.
In July, during her husband's absence in the
interior, Mary Moffat had written :
" I feel my solitude very much, Mr. Hamilton having
removed to the new station to build himself a house, and
has the men with him. They come home, however, on Satur
day evenings and stop Sabbaths over ; but trying as it is, I
feel a satisfaction in sacrificing my dear husband's company
when I reflect that it is for the cause of Christ, and I feel
persuaded that these journeys into the interior are of
enormous importance to the kingdom of our Lord, as they
prepare the way for the spread of the gospel. Poor Mr.
Hamilton is heavily afflicted. Whilst he was away at
Griqua Town last October, his whole premises were burnt
to ashes. The Bechwanas were, however, active in endea
vouring to save his property, and succeeded pretty well,
but it may be easily conceived that his loss was consider
able."
After detailing the alarming rumours from the
north-east, she goes. on to say :
" Since we came home the Bushmen took at one time fifty
head of cattle from the post of one of our chiefs, but we do
not hear that ttfey are projecting a commando against
them. We now hear that the Batlaros to- the westward of
us are visited by a company of depredators, joined by
some rebel Griquas, and they have taken the poor people's
cattle. I cannot vouch for the" truth of this report ; but a
man was here yesterday who said he heard the firing of
the guns. Thus you see we are surrounded on every hand.
It requires some little fortitude to live at rest in such a
126 THE MISERIES OF HEATHENISM.
tumultuous land, amidst barbarians, but we trust that * He
who hath delivered will deliver.'
" How truly descriptive of the natives of this country is
the prophecy, ' His hand shall be against every man, and
every man's hand shall be against him.' And if we will
allow ourselves to reflect on the train of miseries which
such a mode of life brings with it, how conclusively may
we argue against that vain philosophy which declaims
against the efforts of missionaries in such a country by
saying that the natives live a quiet, harmless, and peaceable
life, attending to their flocks and herds, and know nothing
of the miseries of refined society. Oh how futile are such
reasonings ! When I allow myself to conceive of the feel
ings of the natives of this wretched country in their most
elevated state, I shudder. Methinks the condition of the
very beasts is -enviable in comparison of theirs. They
know that they must die, and the dread idea of annihila
tion strikes them through like a barbed arrow. To talk of
death makes them almost frantic.
" The hundreds who perish annually from hunger in this
state of society is another argument against such reasonings,
and a convincing proof that even feelings of common philan
thropy would induce many to exert themselves even for
the temporal good of these sons of humanity. Horror and
devastation reign over the whole land, darkness covers it,
and gross darkness the people. The longer we live in it
the more convinced we are of the necessity of missionaries
being here, being fully persuaded that it is only the gospel
of peace which can raise the degenerate sons of Adam.
How transcendently blessed will those missionaries be who
live to see the thick gloom which covers them dispelled by
the beams of the Sun of righteousness. I scarcely expect
to witness it myself, but feel confident that the time will
come, because the promises of Jehovah are yea and amen
in Christ Jesus. It is not conferring with flesh and blood
to live amongst these people. In the natives of South
Africa there is nothing naturally engaging ; their extreme
selfishness, filthiness, obstinate stupidity, and want of sensi
bility, have a tendency to disgust, and sometimes cause the
ENCOURAGING CONDITIONS. 127
mind to shrink from the idea of spending the whole life
amongst them, far from every tender and endearing circle.
But when we recollect that the Saviour of men has said,
' Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow me/ we blush
for harbouring such a feeling. He left the heaven of
heavens, the bosom of His Father, to carry through a life
of unparalleled suffering, ignominy, and scorn on this base
and sinful earth. Oh how imperfectly do we follow Him !
Pray for us that we may have grace ever to keep His
example in view.
" At present there is no appearance of a work of grace
among the Bechwanas. As may be expected, they are
very friendly, and consider themselves privileged. They
are by no means unanimous about going with us, but we
believe many will go at least next year, as we advise them
not to go till the water ditch is made.
" Peclo was received with loud and joyful acclamations,
and Teysho and he have made the people wonder with
their accounts. We are confident their visit to the Cape
will have a good effect."
CHAPTER XIV.
FAMILY BEREA VEMENTS.
1825.
EARLY in 1825 the immediate danger seemed
to have passed, and the Moffats, accompanied
by Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, rejoined Mr. Hamil
ton, who had remained throughout at his lonely
post. The western banditti had for the time retired.
Though the noise of war had ceased in their own
neighbourhood, yet elsewhere a spirit of madness
seemed to have seized on all the interior tribes.
Wasting and destruction were the order of the day
eastward and northward. Tribes of the same cha
racter, and in similar circumstances to those who
had been called Mantatees, roved about, carrying
terror and devastation through wide regions. Even
the hitherto invincible Makaba had been overcome
and slain, and his Bangwaketsi were scattered far and
wide ; but there was at all events a lull in the neigh
bourhood of Kuruman.
Once more the missionaries took heart, and com
menced laying out the new station. They raised
three temporary dwellings, each consisting of a
THE BATLAPING DESERT KURUMAN. 129
wooden framework filled up with reeds cut from the
adjacent valley, and plastered within and without ;
and they meanwhile laid the foundations of more
permanent dwellings.
But their troubles were not yet over. The young
chief Peclo died suddenly, and his death scattered
to the winds many bright hopes which the mission
aries had entertained of what might have been done
by his means. Again a cloud came up from the
west in the shape of a band of marauders. They
were a part of those who had come before, but
greatly reduced in numbers. Few as they were,
however, their boldness and their possession of guns
and horses made them irresistible. The Batlaping
at the old station gave way before them, losing
nearly all their cattle. The roving band drew near to
the Kuruman itself, but the missionaries had deter
mined this time to hold their ground ; and the
marauders retired, and again they were left in peace
to carry on their labours. Unhappily the Batlaping
could not be prevailed upon to return to their
deserted town. They drifted away eastward, and
eventually settled down on the Hart or Kolong
River, where the bulk of the tribe has remained
until now ; the greater part of what remains now
being under Mankoroane, a nephew of Mothibi.
The missionaries found themselves surrounded by
a much reduced population, though probably more
amenable to their influence, as those who remained
did so for the most part from confidence inspired by
their presence. Meanwhile the Moffats themselves
were called to mourn over the death of a little boy,
who only lived five days. In the month of October
10
130 DEATPI OF MARY MOFFATS MOTHER.
the mother of Mary Moffat passed away, after some
years of declining health. She had done her work
at home, and had the blessing and.comfort of having
a daughter like-minded in the missionary field, and
of being present a few months before her death at
the ordination of her son, and his induction into the
charge of a church at Hulme, which he afterwards
gave up in order to go to Madras as a missionary.
She died early in October. In April of the fol
lowing year her daughter received the news, so
slow were the means of communication then. She
writes as follows to her father :
" The account of my dear mother's heavy bodily afflic
tion distresses us much, but to hear at the same time of the
consolations of the gospel being so abundantly supplied
causes the voice of joy and praise to be heard in our taber
nacle ; and though the event of her death will be inex
pressibly painful to us, the bitterness of the stroke will be in
no small degree mitigated by having heard of the bright
ness of her evidences and her comfortable experience of
the efficacy of the blood of Christ."
She writes again in June :
" It is with mingled feelings of sorrow and gratitude that
I retire from the bustle of my domestic cares to write to
you once more : sorrow that you are now alone, and that
the endearing name of mother is no longer united with
that of father, and gratitude that I have still yourself to
address, and trust that the great Disposer of all events will
continue to spare your life for a few years longer ; but
these repeated strokes teach us not to set our hearts too
much on any earthly object.
" My dear Moffat and myself were for thirty years ex
empted from such bereaving dispensations ; the commence
ment was at length made with the beloved offspring of our
own bodies : and what is very remarkable, Robert's elder
MOFFATS BROTHER ALEXANDER. 131
brother Alexander died within ten days of my ever-beloved
mother — we received the accounts of both their deaths by
the same post, and you will judge of our feelings on the
occasion. For my own part, with regard to my dear
mother, I was long before I could in any degree feel recon
ciled to her approaching dissolution, though for more than
two years I have opened every letter with a palpitating
heart, expecting the painful intelligence that would at once
blast the feeble hope which was sometimes cherished of
again beholding her in the flesh. I never felt anything
like resignation till I heard how repeatedly and heavily she
was afflicted, and how happily she was prepared for the
last remove. I felt that it was cruelly selfish to wish her
to live : when I say selfish you must not suppose that I
did not consider you, my dear father, for my heart does
testify that this was the last struggle in my feelings, a con
sideration of your desolate condition, when she should be
called to leave you in this vale of tears, knowing how
uncommonly happily you have lived together, and sensible
that the widowed life would be comparatively dreary.
" May the God of all grace grant you consolations equal
to the loss you have sustained, and enable you to pursue
your earthly course with Christian cheerfulness."
Moffat's brother Alexander, mentioned above, was
a man, to judge from his letters, of great talent, but
his life was marred by a want of purpose and of the
devotion which inspired his missionary brother. He
had been a soldier in the East India Company's
service, but had come home invalided, to die.
It had been hoped that Mr. and Mrs. Hughes
would be a permanent addition to the band at
Kuruman ; but the health of the former suffered so
much from the excessive heat that he had to seek
chancre, and after a time he became attached to the
o '
Griqua Mission, in which he remained till the close
of his life in 1870.
133 COMMENCEMENT OF A LITERATURE.
About this time Robert Moffat commenced his
first regular efforts towards laying the foundation of
a Sechwana literature. A spelling-book was pre
pared, and sent to the Cape to be printed.
CHAPTER XV.
PROGRESS ON THE NEW STATION.
1826.
IN the year 1826 things settled down, and some
steady progress was made in the work of lay
ing-out the station. The Hottentots who
had come from Bethelsdorp to assist in public
manual labour were, however, so disgusted with the
country, the continual war alarms, and the scarcity
of supplies — for war had brought famine in its train
— that they returned to the Colony ; and as the
Bechwanas knew little about work, the missionaries,
with their assistant Mr. Millen, had to depend
mainly upon themselves. Though their days were
thus spent in hard labour, they yet managed to give
attention to the language, and to religious services —
which were held as usual, but with little result as
yet. Such of the Batlaping as had not moved away
to the eastward had settled down about the Kuru-
man valley ; and did not oppose, though they made
no response to, the efforts which were directed to
impress upon them the gospel message.
In April Mary Moffat writes :
134 RESCUE OF A CHILD BURIED ALIVE.
" By an especial providence a very young child was com
mitted to my care. One Sabbath morning while preparing
for church, some of our children brought in a report that
a child was heard crying among the stones on the side of
the hill about a quarter of a mile from the house. We
immediately set off to the spot. Moffat and Mr. Millen
arrived there before me, and heard its cries but could see
nothing. At length they discovered the poor babe literally
buried alive and covered with stones. At this moment
I arrived, and, as you will easily conceive, was dreadfully
shocked. The inhuman mother had pulled out stones to
make a hole sufficient for its little body, and then put it
in and laid upon it one huge stone, the corner of which
rested on its little nose and made a severe wound. Its
limbs were sadly bruised with kicking about, and its eyes
all bleared with the cold. I took it up and brought it home,
fed and washed it and dressed its wounds, to the great
astonishment of the natives. They viewed it with indif
ference ; said the mother was a rascal, but wondered much
that we should love so poor an object. It was only about
five weeks old, but very small, like one new born. It ap
peared that the monstrous mother, assisted by her own
mother, had committed it to its cold tomb about four
•o'clock the day before, where it remained the whole night
till nine o'clock in the morning when we found it. It was
amazing that it still lived, as it had rained hard and there
was not an inch of covering about it ; and still more that
the wolf had not got it, as a wolf will tear a dead body out
of the grave if not well secured. The mother was an object
of charity, and had been in the habit of getting food from
us. Only the day before I gave her a piece of beef for
a small bundle of firewood merely out of pity, and to her
•mother the very day on which the crime was committed.
She had reported that her child was dead, but when she
'heard that we had made the discovery both she and her
mother fled to another part of the country. Thus you see
I have an addition to my cares ; and as I knew no one to
whom I could entrust it as wet nurse, I began and carried
•on with the spoon till I was no longer able to do it on
THE CHARGE OF TRADING IN IVORY. 135
account of my late trial, when I engaged a good-natured
Hottentot, the wife of one of the men, to take it for a time,
for which I pay her liberally, the food and clothing coming
regularly from myself. It is coming on very well, and is
considered a very pretty child. The remarkable way in
which it has been brought into our family led us at once
to adopt it as our own, and we have accordingly offered it
in baptism a month ago, and named her Sarah Roby. You
may tell Mrs. Roby that it was our intention, had our last
dear babe been a girl and lived, to have given her name ;
and as we may never have another, we have given it to
this child of Providence. I assure you I have strong
inducements (independent of the common feeling of
humanity) to pay the strictest attention to the welfare of
a little infant whose life has been so singularly spared. I
feel habitually as if I had a command from God Himself
to nurse the child for Him. And may I be enabled to do
it as to glorify His holy name."
The following quotation from a letter written by
Mr. Melville to a friend in England deals with a
subject of some importance, so far as it has been
made a means of casting a slur upon the dis
interestedness of missionaries. Mr. Melville had
spent several years at Griqua Town as Govern
ment Commissioner, and was in a good position to
speak with authority about matters of this kind.
" As some calumnious reports have been circulated re
specting the elephants' teeth sent to Cape Town by Moffat,
I think it necessary to state the facts which gave rise to
them, that you may be enabled to counteract any such
reports which may reach the ears of the Directors. The
truth is this. Moffat sent a few elephants' teeth with two
waggons that went last year to Cape Town. The waggons
were, however, chiefly laden with ivory belonging to several
persons. Five hundred and eighty pounds, I well know,
belonged to a runaway slave who sent the ivory to pur-
136 SMALL STIPENDS OF MISSIONARIES.
chase his freedom ; one of the Griquas I know purchased
a new waggon for 606 dollars, being the proceeds of what
he took to town in the same waggon ; and several other
individuals also sent ivory by the same conveyance. As
Moffat had to manage the business of the sale of the ivory
of the slave through his agent, and having sent a small
quantity of his own, some person either ignorantly or
maliciously spread a report that he had sent two thousand
pounds of ivory to town. I don't think there is a mis
sionary in the country more disinterested than Moffat ; and
from my knowledge of the circumstances, nothing but
necessity induced him to send a little ivory to town to pay
his debts."
This is a matter which has been much spoken
about in South Africa, and wherever there are people
disposed to cast a stone at the missionary enterprise.
In the early days missionaries were expected to
prove their devotion by leaving home and friends
and going to live among repulsive barbarians on
stipends utterly unequal to their needs. The sums
which were then paid to missionaries were such that
the contemplation of them now raises a smile. It
was no laughing matter, however, for them.
When, therefore, a missionary could, by rendering
a service, by dint of his medical knowledge or me
chanical skill, he could not be blamed for being
willing to accept in return some kind of a thank-
offering. This might be a sheep, which would
supply his family with meat for a few days, or it
might be a tusk of ivory or a kaross. But for as
sistance of this kind, it is doubtful whether the
pittance on which these men were expected to hold
their ground, and to fight a heartbreaking battle in a
heathen country, would have kept them alive. Some
AGED MISSIONARIES AND WIDOWS. 137
men succumbed to the additional trial to which their
constancy was exposed, and there are instances on
record of missionaries who became eventually traders
or farmers, to the detriment or utter forsaking of
their spiritual work.
These, however, were the exceptions. Most men
added to their many missionary cares and labours
the duty of eking out a livelihood for themselves
and their families, and did so without their love and
zeal waxing cold. That their efficiency was de
creased by this additional weight on their hands
there is no room to doubt, but they did what they
could, and what was necessary, w th no thought of
laying by for their children or even for their own
old age ; — though, as all the world knows, there is no
more conspicuous example of the meanness and want
of right feeling which may be displayed by a board
or committee, even when composed of kind-hearted
and Christian men individually, than that which we
see in the dealings of missionary boards with super
annuated missionaries or their widows. The Editor
can speak with the more freedom about this matter,
because his father met with an exceptional lot and
is entirely out of the case. With reference to the
working stipends of missionaries, in most cases these
matters are better understood than they used to be,
and the effort is now made to put matters on a right
footing, and so to sustain men that they may have
nothing to think of but the work they have to do :
but as to aged missionaries and their widows, the
Church has still its duty to learn.
Mary Moffat writes to her father in September,
1826:
138 HARD MANUAL LABOUR UNAVOIDABLE.
"As regards the present, I must add that I never enjoyed
an equal share of health in similar circumstances. It
appears that I am really improving, and could I regain my
strength should be as well as in my native land ; but the
Lord knows best what is good for me. Through His
blessing Robert has enjoyed excellent health, but has been
terribly harassed with hard manual labour. Our Bethelsdorp
Hottentots having left us, it falls heavily on Hamilton and
Moffat, especially as our house has been building. It is,
however, within a few days of being finished, when he
intends leaving the public work .entirely — the smith's
excepted, because nobody else can do it — and applying
closely to study. Mr. Millen, not being able to go on for
want of labourers with the masonry, has made a journey to
the Molopo and bartered for ivory, with which he is gone
to Algoa Bay, and will return immediately to finish his
work. We have at present only one effective man, a Hot
tentot, all the rest being Bechwanas, with whom it may
easily be conceived it is difficult to get on. One of our
Hottentots was, three months ago, severely wounded by a
buffalo, and it remains doubtful if he will ever recover so as
to be able to work.
" You may form some idea of what missionaries have to
put their hands to when I tell you that Robert was a fort
night every day up to the middle in water cutting thatch
for the house. We promise ourselves the pleasure of writ
ing to all the friends to whom we are indebted when we
get settled in our new house, which is a very comfortable
one, and will be a treasure to the Society in this barbarous
land. The design is to build another good house and a
chapel, when I think every one will be heartily tired of
building ; but they will be permanent, and not require
rebuilding every few years like our reed houses, as well as
more conducive to the health of Europeans.
" As to the Bechwanas, I am sorry to say that they are
much as usual, equally careless about spiritual things, and
evidently as much attached to their old superstitions.
They have built large villages along the valley, and are
very busy cultivating their ground ; but a temptation has
MR. WRIGHT AT GRIQUA TOWN. 139
lately fallen in their way which was too powerful for them
to resist : a rainmaker from a distant country to the south
east, has made his appearance and offered his services,
which they have accepted ; and he is now exerting himself
to the utmost. We have had two showers since he came,
and this has of course strengthened their faith. He says
our houses will be washed away before the season is past.
They keep him away from us as much as possible, evi
dently ashamed of having turned again to this folly. We
sometimes think he is a Mantatee spy, as he very much
resembles those people.
" Mr. Wright, whom you know, has at length arrived at
Griqua Town, and is actively engaged. He appears to be
making a stir among the people, and especially in the
school. It is now three months since he came, and we
trust the interest excited will continue and increase. We
ardently long to hear of good doing somewhere in South
Africa, for wherever we turn our attention in this miserable
country we hear of no spiritual work."
The Mr. Millen thus mentioned was not in the regu
lar service of the Society, but had been engaged as a
good mason for a certain time, and for special work.
When the year 1827 opened it appeared as though
the mission had really entered on a peaceful and
steady course. The first permanent dwelling-house
had been finished and occupied — a substantial stone
building, instead of the wooden frame filled in with
wattle and daub with which the missionaries had
hitherto been contented. The water had been led
out, and smiling gardens gladdened the slopes of the
valley. Hamilton and Hughes took in hand what
remained of public manual labour, which it was
arranged that Moffat should lay a^ide at least for
a time, and devote himself to the literature of the
Sechwana language.
140 MOFFAT STARTS FOR THE DESERT.
Rumours of war still came from the interior at
intervals, but from a great distance. The marauding
vagabonds along the Orange River seemed also to
have ceased from further movements in the direction
of Bechwanaland. The time had come for Moffat
to carry out a plan he had long kept in view.
Hitherto, although living among Bechwanas, he had
been so much in contact with Dutch-speaking people
on the station, that it was not easy to gather up the
language, which as yet was nowhere to be found in
a written form. He determined, if only for a short
time, to go right away, so as to be perfectly alone
with Bechwanas, taking with him no one who spoke
Dutch or English.
In the month of January a son was born. He
was called Robert after his grandfather. As soon
after this event as it was fit for him to leave, Moffat
started on his journey. He directed his course to
the Barolong tribe, who were at this time scattered
in several spots along the margin of the Kalahari
Desert, to which they had been driven by the Man-
tatee invasion, and from which they had not yet
seen their way clear to return to the part of the
country more suitable for settled residence. They
were living in a state of utter degradation and
wretchedness, in mere temporary booths rather than
huts, in a dry and thirsty land, depending mainly
upon the milk of what cattle they had saved, and
the meat of such game as they could kill.
He took up his quarters at the encampment of
Bogacho, one of the chiefs of the Barolong, and
spent the greater part of two months there, visiting
also some of the other places. Day by day his
ROUGH FARE AND DISCOMFORT. 141
waggon was surrounded by the idlers of the camp,
whose noisy clatter would continue without inter
mission for hours. Their conversation was such as
no civilized person could take any pleasure in ; their
habits were dirty, as might well be imagined when
it is remembered that the water was four miles from
the village, and that what was brought, carried by
the women, would be used only for drinking and
cooking. The intense dryness of the country, the
high winds, carrying clouds of fine sand and dust,
the imperfect shelter of a waggon, with not a vestige
of a tree available for shade, and the swarms of
hungry flies from the heaps of rubbish around,
formed a sum total which imagination would fail to
grasp, except that of one who has seen the like.
The headmen were, in their way, hospitable
enough. A good supply of milk was always given,
and this with the flesh of the rhinoceros, the came-
lopard, and the quagga, or zebra, all of which were
plentiful in the neighbourhood, supplied sufficient if
not very delicate food. But the soul of the mis
sionary craved other sustenance. If he could have
found one patient or attentive listener to the mes
sage which lay like a burden upon his heart, it would
have sufficed. This was not to be. The hearts of
these people, even after their manifold chastisements,
were utterly brutish, and his message fell upon deaf
ears.
The chief object of his journey he fully gained.
He had already so far a knowledge of the Sechwana
language that a few weeks of the life he led in this
desert, physical and moral, were sufficient to place
him at one bound in a position to do without inter-
142 THE MARAUDERS AT WORK AGAIN.
preters, and to speak freely to the people in their
own tongue. He set off to return home with this
satisfaction, and on his arrival astonished Mothibi
and his councillors by preaching to them a sermon
in such Sechwana, that the only growling criticism
the chief could find to make was that it smacked too
much of the Serolong dialect. He found all well in
his now beautiful home ; but his chief joy was that
he could settle down with some feeling of ability to
the work of translation.
The time for this had not yet come. He had not
been long home before trouble again began by the
movements of the banditti from the westward. The
hands of these miscreants were strengthened by dis
sensions among the Griquas themselves, some of
whom had joined the enemy. An attack was made
upon Griqua Town itself, and repelled, but Water-
boer with his people were unable to follow up the
advantage in consequence of the capture of most of
their horses, and the exhaustion of their ammunition.
The marauders having failed at Griqua Town, now
turned their attention to Kuruman ; and so threaten
ing did the aspect of affairs become that the mission
aries there, in response to the urgent representations
of their friends at Griqua Town, felt it their duty to
retire for a time to that station, not for the first time
an ark of refuge to them.
Some time passed with no further movement on
the part of the banditti, and the Kuruman mission
aries returned home. But the loss of time was great,
and there was also the inevitable loss of property ;
though, upon the whole, they found their houses and
what they had left behind in good order — a proof of
THE BLOOMS MENACE KURUMAN. 143
the influence they were gaining over the minds of
the Bechwanas, whom they found on their first
arrival a set of inveterate thieves. Robert MofLt
writes as follows :
" LATTAKOO, Feb. 18, 1828.
"MY DEAR FATHER,— We wrote to Mr. Roby and to
John about two months ago, but as Mr. Hamilton will
leave this to-morrow for Algoa Bay, and there being little
probability of another opportunity for some months, I
cannot let the present slip without writing a few hasty
lines. If the above communications have come to hand,
you will be apprised of our temporary removal to Griqua
Town and subsequent return to this station. Since then
we have been thrown into much perplexity from a circum
stance which led us to fear that the worst of events was yet
to happen to -this our afflicted Mission. Nearly a month
ago a strong party of the mountaineers, headed by the
Blooms, sons of the famous robber of that name, came
unexpectedly on the Batlaro cattle outposts, a little way
below this station, where they made an easy prey of all
within their reach. They came no further ; but we were
soon informed on good authority that it was the intention
of the Blooms to return from the Orange River with the
sole purpose of rooting out this Mission, which all along
has been an eyesore to such marauding expeditions. In
consequence of this well-authenticated report, many of the
natives in our immediate vicinity sent off all their families
and cattle to a distance. After mature deliberation and
prayer for Divine assistance, we resolved to remain on the
station, and to abide the consequences. From a sense of
duty we acquainted Andries Waterboer with what had
transpired, and he soon informed us that his adverse cir
cumstances precluded every possibility of his rendering
any assistance. This was what we wished and expected,
as it was more congenial to our sentiments to remain un
connected with either party ; for if Andries had, agreeable
to his first intention, sent a small party to defend the
station, we should have become more than ever the butt of
indignation to the enemy.
144 JAN KARSE SETTLES ON THE STATION.
" In this state of suspense we continued near three
weeks, when it pleased our Heavenly Father to disperse
in some degree the gloom which rested on our prospects.
Jan Karse, a respectable Griqua, brother-in-law to the
Blooms, hearing of our situation, came with his family to
the station, not to defend by the force of arms, but to
endeavour to convince his relations by soft argument of
the error of their ways, and influence them to abandon
their murderous courses. Nothing could be more agree
able to our wishes than the motives of Jan Karse, and
through the Divine blessing they may have the most salu
tary effects. It is also likely that he will remain some
time on the station, being anxious that his children and
domestics should enjoy the advantages of the school.
" Affairs are wearing a more pleasing aspect. Mothibi
and his people are still wandering in the Bushman country,
and will not likely return till public affairs become more
settled. Although things are so unpropitious, we are,
blessed be God, far from being discouraged. The Lord
has hitherto preserved us, and done great things for us,
and He continues able to deliver.
" There are also some things calculated to cheer and
encourage, and we have no doubt but ultimate success
will crown our labours. At a small distance are two
Batlaro villages, and on the station there are at least fifty
families. All these from time to time have the gospel of
salvation preached in their own language ; and though we
as yet see no immediate fruit of the Spirit, yet it is a con
solation to know that their knowledge in Divine things is
increasing, and there are several who have begun to pray.
" By Mr. Miles the long-looked-for books arrived, and
about two weeks after he left I commenced the school in
the Sechwana language. Notwithstanding the unpleasant
circumstances of the station, the number attending ex
ceeded our expectations. There are already four Bech-
wanas who can read in their own language the first
principles of the doctrine of Christ, and I trust to be
able very soon to put six or eight more into that class. I
have also begun an evening school, which promises well.
CONCOURSE OF TRIBES AT THE STATION. 145
The attendance, chiefly adult, has risen to forty, while that
of the day school is about fifty. We have also begun to
sing hymns composed in the language, which has a very
enlivening effect. The scholars are at present exclusively
from the families who live on the station, and these con
sist chiefly of strangers. There are here Batlaping,
Batlaro, Barolong, Bashuto, Bakuena, Bakalahari, and
Matebele. At present they are chiefly poor, but indus
trious, and, with the assistance of fruitful gardens, are
better off than the more affluent natives whose depen
dence is entirely on their flocks. We have found them
very serviceable in carrying on building, they being always
ready to work, for which they are duly rewarded. We are
entirely dependent on them for such assistance.
" Attending school twice in the day, with the different
services in the church and other cares connected with the
welfare of the station, will for some time keep me very
busy, and prevent me devoting all that time to study which
I could wish. It is my object now to get something trans
lated to put into the hands of those who learn to read."
It
CHAPTER XVI.
LAST ATTACKS OF THE MARAUDERS.
THE hopeful prospect was soon, however, to
be again clouded over. In the month of
April the unfortunate Bechwanas from the
surrounding country began to take refuge at the
station on account of another band of marauders
that came up from the Orange River and scoured
the country. These were the people of whom Jan
Karse had heard, and he behaved very well indeed
in carrying out his good resolutions. Hearing that
they were encamped upon the Matiwaring River,
about eighteen miles away, he rode out and en
treated them to return, and not to add to the long
list of their evil deeds. He found among them his
brother-in-law, and gained him over.
The rest made as though they were persuaded,
and actually started ; but instead of going the way
they had come, as they had promised to do, they
suddenly appeared on the station, and threw them
selves into some breastworks which had been raised
for purposes of defence. There they remained
ATTEMPT AT MEDIATION. 147
several days, maintaining a sullen silence about
their intentions, but making so far a show of
friendliness that they went freely about among the
people on the station. At last Bloom gave warning
that evil was intended, and that all must be upon
their guard.
Karse went up to their camp the next day, and
tried to bring them to a better mind. His wife
went with him. The interview was long, but ended
fruitlessly, and he was warned to get him gone.
His wife was tall and portly; he was quite the
contrary. She took in the situation at a glance,
and as the pair came down the slope she made
him walk in front of her, having a shrewd sus
picion that otherwise he would be shot. A few
minutes later, Bloom, taking his gun, also left the
camp, and finally broke with his associates. He
was just turning the corner of the mission-house
when a shot was fired, and a bullet ploughed the
ground at his feet.
Happily at this juncture a timely reinforcement
appeared in the person of Arend and his party.
Mention has already been made of this man. He
was an escaped slave from the Colony, who had
paid his own ransom with ivory, and had settled
in the vicinity of the station. He was a bold and
resolute man, and a good shot, and he and his
men were well armed. His appearance put heart
into the somewhat timid Bechwanas. Sharp firing
commenced, Arend and a few resolute men made
a rush, the robbers deserted their entrenchments
and scattered in wild flight across the plain ; six
fell and five more were captured, and the rest be-
148 THE BANDITTI GROW POORER.
took themselves to the western hills. Thus ended
another critical episode in the history of the mission.
This was only one of several parties of marauding
banditti who for some years kept the border country
in a state of misery. Their haunts were along the
Orange River ; and they were in communication
with certain lawless Boers on the northern outskirts
of the Colony who carried on an illicit trade in
guns and ammunition. By means of these, though
their numbers were small, the Bechwanas were
quite at their mercy, armed as they were with as
segais and knobsticks only. Though they swept
away thousands of cattle and ravaged many vil
lages, so little did their wickedness profit them
that they grew the longer the poorer. After the
attack on Kuruman had been repelled, and had
shaken their prestige, another blow fell upon them
by the action of the Colonial Government in cut
ting off the supply of ammunition, and before long
these wretched men began to wander all over the
country in the last stage of destitution.
The missionaries now began to take heart again,
and work was resumed ; but their troubles were not
yet over. On the ninth of August the alarm was
again raised. The fugitive Batlaros came pouring
in with their flocks and herds, and the Kuruman
was once more a camp of refuge. Few slept that
night. Next morning, by Moffat's directions, the
low heights at the back of the station were crowded
with men, to give the appearance of a large de
fending force, though probably not a dozen guns
could have been mustered. The enemy was seen
approaching. The cavalcade was even more for-
MOFFAT UNDER A FLAG OF TRUCE. 149
midable than had been expected. It was a com
paratively strange party, which had come from
Namaqualand, far west down along the Orange
River. As they came on, they scoured the sur
rounding plain in search of plunder, but found
only a few sheep and cows, all other stock having
been crowded on to the station, and filling up
every available space in and around the half-built
church and other houses.
The would-be assailants drew up at some distance,
dismayed at the signs "of an apparently formidable
defence. After some delay they sent forward two
messengers with a flag of truce. It would not do
to let these people come within the precincts of the
station and see its weakness, so Moffat started to
meet them half-way. He learned from them that a
renegade Christian Griqua was one of the leaders
of the party, and wished to see him. He came, but
as he drew near the presence of the missionary was
too much for him, and his courage was fast melting
away. He was only too glad to disclaim any autho
rity or responsibility for what had already been done,
and tried to lay all blame on the shoulders of another,
a Namaqua chief of the name of Paul.
Just at this juncture a waggon came in sight on
the road from the southward. It proved to be that
of Archbell, a Wesleyan missionary from Platberg.
As it had to pass near the place where the bandits
had encamped, and a movement was evidently taking
place to intercept it, Moffat said to the cowering
Griqua, " Now is your time to show that you are
sincere ; bring that waggon safely past." He was
only too glad of an excuse to end a meeting that
150 A TERRIBLE PAIR OF EYES.
was growing every moment too embarrassing for
him, and ran off to curb the violence of the party
and to escort the waggon. This gave time for
further negotiation, and at last Paul himself slowly
and reluctantly drew near, with his hat drawn down
over his eyes, for he could not look into the face of
a man who in former days had slept in his village,
and had faithfully preached to him and to his family
the word of life.
He pleaded that Moffat personally need fear
nothing from him, but tried v to justify his desire for
vengeance upon the Batlaping. It took long and
patient persuasion to bring him round, but when he
did turn the victory was complete. He abruptly
called one of his men. " Bring back those sheep
and cows we took this morning." It was done. " I
am going," he said. " There are the things of your
people. Will Mynheer not shake hands with me
for once ? " " Of course I will ; but let me see your
face." " That I will not indeed : I do not want to
die yet. I can see your face through my hat." And
away he went, glad to turn without having met
those terrible eyes which roused an accusing con
science within.
So complete was the revulsion of feeling, that the
leaders of the party appealed to the missionary to
promise that they should not be attacked in their
camp that night. They were supplied with food,
and by the dawn of next day had vanished like the
shadow of a dream. The larger part returned to
Namaqualand, and others turned off and went to
seek plunder on their own account further north
wards,, but came to a miserable end. One of the few
THE LAST OF THE ROBBERS. 151
scattered survivors made his appearance naked and
starving, under cover of night, at Moffat's door a few
weeks afterwards, and found the succour which was
denied to none. From this time the land had peace
until fifty years afterwards, when an English force
invaded the Bechwana country — an invasion about
which the less said the better.
CHAPTER XVII.
DAYLIGHT AT LAST.
1829.
FROM the commencement of the Bechwana
Mission by Hamilton and Read in 1816, for
a period of more than ten years, not a ray
•of light shot across the gloom to cheer the hearts
of the missionaries. A dull and stolid indifference
reigned ; the Batlaping would talk of any ordinary
subject, and were willing to avail themselves of the
presence of the white people in their country for
any temporal advantage that might be within their
reach, but the moment a word was said about divine
things their ears seemed to become deaf at once,
and they would walk away determined to have
'nothing to do with that foolishness.
To people like the missionaries, whose whole
heart was in their work, who believed that all said
in the New Testament about the solemn eventuali
ties of another world was literally true and no mere
figure of speech, who looked at the heathen around
them and felt that they were verily perishing, it
was sore trial of faith to go on year after year with
•their message burning in their hearts.
UNSHAKEN FAITH. 153
The darkness was long and gloomy beyond com
pare, but there was no wavering of faith. There
were times, indeed, when the brethren Hamilton and
Moffat were cast down and disposed to cry with the
prophet, " Who hath believed our report ? " and to
ask, "Is this the right path?" but there was one
member of the mission, weak in body but strong in
faith, who never faltered. She would but fall back
on the promises of the unchangeable God, and say,
" We may not live to see it, but the awakening will
come as surely as the sun will rise to-morrow." On
one occasion a letter was received from her friend
Mrs. Greaves of Sheffield, asking if there was any
thing of use which could be sent. The answer of
Mary Moffat was, " Send us a communion service ;
we shall want it some day." At that time there was
no glimmer of the dawn, and in the course of the
two or three years which it took with their slow
communications to get that request of faith fulfilled
there was time for an even thicker darkness to over
spread the sky, and the sorest cross of all was a
rumour which came that doubts were beginning to
be felt at home about the use of going on with the
Bechwana Mission : but they held on.
In the year 1827 there began to be a sort of
change, almost like that change in the sky even
before the dawn which is familiar to watchers in the
night. The bulk of the Batlaping tribe, utterly
weary and impoverished by the incessant forays of
the western banditti, had drifted away eastward
and settled along the course of the Vaal and the
Kolong rivers ; but their place at Kuruman had
been in a measure supplied by a mixed community
154 THE GREAT AWAKENING.
of refugees from the interior tribes, and the Batlaro
still clung to their old location to the north-west of
the station on the confines of the Kalahari Desert.
Many of the refugees were drawn to the station by
feelings which gave them a disposition open to mis
sionary influence, so that it began to be seen that
there was a better attendance and a more settled
attention to the preaching and teaching of the mis
sionaries.
At length, in 1829, a marvellous awakening
began. It came, as such things do come, without
any human or visible existing cause. There was a
wave of tumultuous and simultaneous enthusiasm.
The two brethren who witnessed it were sober-
minded and hard-headed Scotchmen, by disposition
not willing to lend themselves to any movement
which might seem to have the taint of mere sensa
tionalism. They had been schooled to adversity,
and they could but dread some new device of the
devil to obstruct their path ; but it was not long
before they were forced to admit that there was
something that could not be gainsaid. In a few
months the whole aspect of the station had changed.
The meeting-house was crowded before the service
had begun. Heathen songs and dancing had ceased,
and everywhere were to be heard instead the songs
of Zion and the outpouring of impassioned prayers.
The missionaries were beset even in their own
houses by those who were seeking fuller instruction
in things which had become to them all at once of
paramount importance. The moral condition of the
community rapidly improved, and the dirt and in
decency of heathen costume were exchanged for
HOPE NOT MADE ASHAMED. 155
cleanliness and European habits of clothing, as far
as the supply could be met by the visits of occasional
traders.
Great as was the change, the missionaries did not
dismiss their northern caution. It was only after
careful examination that from the many who pressed
forward they selected some six in the first instance
to receive the rite of baptism. Few can enter into
the feelings which must have animated the hearts of
the missionary band when they first sat down with
that little company at the table of the Lord. On
the day preceding this memorable occasion in the
history of the Bechwana Mission a box arrived
which had been long on the road from England. It
contained the communion vessels for which Mary
Moffat had asked nearly three years before.
The zeal of the new converts sho.ved itself in
practical forms. There were, of course, in the first
instance features of the movement which needed to
be carefully watched. The Bechwanas pride them
selves in the suppression of all outward emotion.
Those who know them can often see that under a
calm demeanour there is raging a volcano of excite
ment. But if their feelings do gain the upper hand
they are shown by uncontrollable outbursts, and in
ways almost painful to witness. Thus it was that at
times the little meeting-house at Kuruman was filled
with a storm of sobs and cries which made it almost
impossible to proceed with the service. But as time
went on these manifestations moderated, and the
converts settled down to steady work. Three of
the men came forward and offered to take upon
themselves the work of building a brick school-
156 A BRIGHT SPRING-TIME.
house, which should at the same time serve as a
temporary place of worship until the great stone
church, of which the foundations had even then been
laid, should be finished. All that they asked was
that the carpenters' work, for which they were not
qualified, might be done for them. They would
provide all the material and would build and roof.
They were as good as their word, and a school-
house was raised without a sixpence of direct
expense to the Society.
The station at this time enjoyed much prosperity
in temporal matters. The leading out of the water
for irrigation made the people more independent of
the precarious rainfall ; they were well supplied,
while in the country around their heathen neighbours,
impoverished by war and drought, were living a
life of semi-starvation. The year was one of the
brightest in the annals of the station. It was the
full bloom of the spring time, which has been suc
ceeded by those alternations of frost and sunshine
common to all missions. Moffat was now more at
liberty to carry out his long desired purpose of
translating. He put into Sechwana the Gospel
of Luke and a selection of other scriptures ; and of
these he used to read from his manuscript in public
worship or as occasion offered.
Mary Moffat writes to her father on the nine
teenth of October, 1829 :
"If you have received our former letters your heart
would be overjoyed at the glad tidings from this station,
and the later communications were calculated rather to
increase than to diminish that joy. To hear of the steady
and growing piety of some of these sable children of Adam,
ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 157
together with the increase of Divine knowledge in the
minds of others, must be reviving to the hearts of all who
love the cause, but especially to such as are so nearly con
nected with this mission as yourself. Our gracious God
has been very condescending to spare the lives of His
unworthy servants to witness some fruits of missionary
labour — a felicity we frequently despaired of enjoying
while in this lower world, where crosses and disappoint
ments seemed to form so large a proportion in our cup.
We now often wish you could be with us, to witness for
yourself what we see. As I think you would see Mr.
Roby's letter, and probably the Directors would publish
Moffat's, it is not necessary for me to repeat what was then
written. Suffice it to say that the converts are going on
well, and though the general commotion in the minds of
the people has in a great measure subsided, we have solid
reason to believe that there are many persons who are
the subjects of an abiding conviction of their condition as
sinners before God, and are in the constant and diligent
use of the means of grace ; which we doubt not will be
effectual through the Spirit in leading them to the Saviour
of sinners. We do ardently hope and pray that what has
taken place may be but the few drops before the plenteous
shower. The Spirit of God has commenced His operations,
and surely He will go on. Oh for a more general spirit
of prayer and supplication ! I hear from my friend Miss
Lees, that the very time of the awakening here, was the
season of extraordinary prayer among the churches at
home. What a coincidence ! and what an encouragement
to persevere in that important part of Christian duty.
" But it is time for me to acknowledge the receipt of
the two boxes you sent. They came to hand in July. I
will not attempt to describe my feelings on the sight of
the portraits of my dear mother and yourself. They are
such striking likenesses as powerfully to affect our hearts,
and to the present moment when inadvertently I cast my
eyes on either, my heart bounds within me. The first day
we hung them up we had a church-meeting in our hall.
Brother Hamilton sat on one side of the fire in an arm-
158 MOSILIKATSE FIRST HEARD OF.
chair, and Robert on the other, and the portraits hanging
above seemed to form a part of the company. I fancied
my mother might be spiritually present. Five Bechwana
converts, with Rachel the wife of Arend, were received on
the occasion. The scene was highly interesting, and to us
the interest was heightened by this little circumstance. I
could not but breathe when looking at your own, ' Oh that
those lips had language, and that those ears could hear ! ' ':
The turn events had taken in the Bechwana
Mission was followed by another event which led
in the end to a wide extension of the sphere to
which Moffat and his coadjutors looked with hope
for the prosecution of their work. For months,
and indeed for years, vague rumours had been
coming, handed on from one tribe to another, about
a strong and warlike people to the eastward, who
spoke another language and were strangers to the
Bechwanas. Of his first visits to these people and
their chief, Moffat has fully told the tale in his own
missionary volume ; but in view of the important
part they played ever after in his life and interest,
a summary account of these visits is now repeated,
being much abridged parts of his journal in his
own words :
" This records the first contact of missionaries with the
Matebele tribe under the chief Mosilikatse — or Umziligazi,
as he would be called in Zululand, whence he came, him
self a fugitive from the tyranny of Chaka. He headed
another wave of emigration which rolled westwards, and
threw into terror and confusion the comparatively unwar-
like Basuto and Bechwana tribes, who inhabited what is
now the Transvaal.
" In the year 1829 two traders went into the interior to
shoot elephants and to barter. Hearing from the Bahu-
rutse that a tribe rich in cattle lay far eastward, they went
HIS MESSENGERS VISIT KURUMAN. 159
on, and were well received by Mosilikatse the king, who,
however, allowed them to approach his town on horseback
only. Before this the Matebele — or Mantotoana, as they
were then called — had come in contact with the Bahurutse,
and had learned through them of the existence of the
white people, especially those at Kuruman, with whom they
were best acquainted. Mosilikatse, in quest of more exten
sive and particular knowledge of the white men, was led to
send two of his head men, charging them to inquire specially
about the manners and teachings of those at the Kuruman.
" On their arrival here with three attendants, everything
astonished and interested them, and they themselves were
the objects of still greater astonishment to our people,
who stared as though regarding another order of beings.
They were shown every attention, and they in turn were
full of gratitude. The order of worship and the singing
arrested their attention, while the water-courses, gardens,
houses, and blacksmith's forge kept their minds in con
stant exercise. Difficulties arose about their safe return
to their own country. A report was spread that the
tribes through which they had to pass intended to murder
them as spies, and they were naturally in some alarm.
In view of the warlike disposition and mighty power of
the Matebele, who had already destroyed so many great
tribes and deluged the Bakwena country with blood, I
could not help fearing the dire results if anything should
happen to these peaceful messengers. After careful thought,
and having sought counsel from above, I resolved, with the
cordial approval of brother Hamilton, to escort them to the
Bahurutse, after which they could go on without fear to
their own country.
" I hired a waggon for their conveyance, and left this
place on the pth of November. We travelled quickly,
and reached the Bahurutse at Mosega a little south of
Kurrechane in ten days. We had been traversing immense
and monotonous plains, the only objects of interest upon
which were occasional troops of game, including giraffes
and rhinoceros. We passed without visiting the Barolong
villages at Kunwana.
160 MOFFAT JOURNEYS TO THE MATEBELE.
"At Sitlagole, a sand river about one hundred and s'xty
miles from Kuruman, we had just halted, and our oxen
had gone little further than a gun-shot in front of the
waggons, when two lions appeared, one of which rushed
down upon the cattle, sprang upon one of them, and with
one bite at the back of the neck laid him dead. All hands
hastened with guns and spears to dispute possession of
the carcase with the king of the desert, and he hastened
away, making no attempt to regain his booty.
" Reaching Mosega we were received with much pleasure
by Mokatle, the chief of the Bahurutse. We were detained
for three days by torrents of rain, during which I embraced
every opportunity of making him and his people acquainted
with Divine things. Many still remembered Mr. Campbell.
Mokatle had long wished to visit his new neighbour, but
had not dared to venture himself within the grasp of one
who had ravaged the country.
" Having fulfilled my engagement in conveying my
charge safely to the Bahurutse, I resolved to return ; but
of this they would not hear. They entreated me to ac
company them to their master, who, they declared, would
be ready to kill them for allowing me to go back after
coming so far. I at last consented, and Mokatle, seeing
that if he accompanied me he would now have some
chance of returning alive, started with us. The country
now became beautiful ; hills and valleys, with groves of
a richer foliage than I had seen before, and numerous
running streams of excellent water, all flowing towards
the Indian Ocean.
" The whole country appeared to have once contained a
dense population, but was now, since the invasion of the
Mantatees and the terror of the Matebele, become the
habitation of wild beasts and venomous reptiles ; where
lions roamed at large as if conscious that there was none
to oppose, and emboldened by having become accustomed
to gorge on human flesh owing to the destructive warfare
which had raged for some years. We were mercifully
preserved, though our slumbers were often interrupted by
the hideous serenade.
A LAND OF DESOLATION. 161
" Five days after leaving the Bahurutse, we came to the
first outpost of the Matebele. The country through which
we now passed was along a range of hills running nearly
east and south-east, while the country to the north and
east became more level and beautifully studded with small
chains of mountains and conical hills, along the bases of
which lay the ruins of innumerable towns, some of amazing
extent. Many an hour I walked pensively among these
scenes of desolation, casting my thoughts back to the time
when these now desolate habitations teemed with life and
revelry, and when the hills and dales echoed with heathen
joy. Nothing now remains but dilapidated walls and heaps
of stones and rubbish, which form a covert for the game
and for the lion. Occasionally a town may be met with
where the principal folds are now occupied by the cattle
of the savage victors. From having Matebele with me, I
found it difficult to obtain local information from the scat
tered and now degraded aborigines we occasionally met,
who trembled before them, and dared not to give a satis
factory answer in the presence of the men now their masters,
who ruled them with a rod of iron.
" In this neighbourhood we were detained again three
days by the rain, which fell in torrents until the valleys
resounded with the roar of rivers and waterfalls. Every
sort of vegetation was exceedingly luxuriant, and immense
qua ' ies of native corn grew wild among the ruins of the
towns. We at last went on, but with difficulty, on account
of the nature of the ground. The plains were saturated,
and the black peaty clay so adhesive that each wheel became
clogged with a solid mass, almost too tough to be cleared
away. We had to make towards the rising ground, where
the soil was more sandy and free. This was accomplished
at the cost of so much labour and time that we halted at
sunset after a short but most oppressive stage.
" Next day we continued our course over a picturesque
country, and crossed many fine rivulets. Towards evening
we came to the Oori River, a pretty large stream, in which
sport the hippopotamus and the crocodile. At this place
the river passes through a range of high hills, and flowing
12
163 STATE RECEPTION BY A CHIEF.
N.N.E. is joined by other streams, after which it is called
the Lempopo. We crossed the hills by a pass, and halted
on the banks of the Oori where it enters the range, cross
ing next day, and halting at a town where we were to await
orders as to our future course. Next day we went on, and
at length came within sight of the king's abocbe.
" Having preceded the waggons on horseback, we entered
the large public cattle-fold, where were ranged in a semi
circle about eight hundred warriors in full dress. About
three hundred more sat concealed in ambush, perhaps for
precaution or to try our courage. We proceeded to the
centre of the fold, when they beckoned us to dismount.
We had scarcely reached the ground when those who were
secreted at the entrance rushed in, shouting and leaping
with the most fantastic gestures, so that our horses, un
accustomed to such fun, tried to break away from us.
"A profound silence followed for some ten minutes ; then
all commenced a war-song, stamping their feet in time with
the music. No one approached, though every eye was
fixed upon us. Then all was silent, and Mosilikatse marched
out from behind the lines with an interpreter, and with
attendants following bearing meat, beer, and other food.
He gave us a hearty salutation and seemed overjoyed. By
this time the waggons were drawing near, and as he had
never seen such things before he desired to see them walk,
as he called it. We left the fold, the warriors maintaining
their positions in perfect silence. As the waggons drew near
he seemed awestruck, moving backward and dragging me
along with him. When they had halted, and the oxen were
unyoked, he approached with caution, grasping me with one
hand and holding the other on his mouth. He spoke little
at first, but examined all minutely, especially the wheels,
and when told of how many parts each wheel was composed
his surprise seemed to reach its climax. He then returned
to the fold, where he was received by his warriors with
immense bursts of applause.
" I stayed eight days, during which I had many inter
views with the chief and received many tokens of his friend
ship. I was struck with the way in which he testified his
ROBERT MOFFATS MESSAGE TO HIM. 163
gratitude. Laying his hand on my shoulder he said, ' My
heart is all white as milk ; I am still wondering at the love
of a stranger who never saw me. You have fed me, you
have protected me, you have carried me in your arms. I
live to-day by you, a stranger.'
" I replied that I was not aware of having rendered him
such service. Pointing to the chiefs who had visited the
Kuruman he instantly rejoined, 'These are my great servants
whom I love ; they are my eyes and ears, and what you did
to them you did to me.'
" I took an early opportunity of telling him of my object
as a missionary among the Bechwanas, and that I had not
come to hunt or to trade. I wished to return at once,
having gained the object of my journey. I told him I was
a teacher from God, the Creator of all things and Governor
among the nations, and in visiting him I had also in view
the time when his people also might receive messengers
from God to tell them of another and a better world beyond
the grave.
" I had long conversations with him on these subjects.
I took the opportunity of pointing out to him the horrors
of war, and directed his attention to the depopulated
country once swarming with inhabitants, who had lived in
comparative peace and plenty. I told him how I had met
with only a few wretched individuals, the remnant of all
the multitudes that must have been either destroyed or
scattered. I told him that though his cattle-posts were
numerous they were lost in the immense and solitary region
which was as a land that mourned, while innumerable bones
that strewed the plains seemed to call to heaven for ven
geance. He tried to lay the blame on Mantatees and others
who had preceded him : but time would fail to tell of all
the subjects on which we talked.
" I felt glad when the day came that I could return home.
Short as my stay was, the varied instances of despotism
and horrid cruelty made me feel as if I sojourned in the
tents of Kedar. Everything I saw or heard filled me with
melancholy. I had never before come in contact with such
savage or degraded minds. Truly the dark places of the
164 RETURN HOME.
earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Let such as
philosophize on the happiness enjoyed by man in his savage
state, visit such scenes and hear the ten thousand sighs and
groans which echo in these gloomy shades, and shudder at
the innocent blood shed through the length and breadth of
heathen lands — and then, if they can, tell the world that
such are happy.
" Mosilikatse showed much anxiety to prolong my stay.
My engagements at home made it impossible to delay. He
often made me promise to visit him at some future time
and to stay a year. I assured him I should not cease to
remember him, and to pray for him and his people that God
might send them teachers. As the time drew near for my
departure his attachment seemed to increase, so much that
some of his people thought I had given him some kind of
medicine which made him love me. He accompanied me
a short distance from the town, when he took my hand and
addressing me by name, said : * Ramary, your visit to me
seems like a dream ; my heart will follow you. Go in peace to
Kuruman, and when you come again bring Mamary with
you. Tell the white king I wish to live in friendship. He
must not allow the Batlaro and the Korannas to come
and annoy me as they have done. Let the road to the
Kuruman for ever remain open.' As the waggons moved
off, he and his men sat down on the grass and chanted
some dirge ; and I walked away musing on all the things
I had seen, and on the deplorable condition of the heathen
world.
" His attention and kindness have been unbounded. He
appointed Umbate to accompany me for several days ; and
said that at a certain place on the road I should find a couple
of horns. This proved to be some cattle which were de
livered to me as a present from him at one of the outposts.
"After a quick journey I reached Kuruman in safety,
having been absent two months."
CHAPTER XVIII.
VISIT TO I HE CAPE
1830-1832.
IN June of the year 1830, a long - projected
journey to the coast was carried out with a
twofold purpose— to put the two elder children
to school, and to get printed such parts of the New
Testament as had been translated. On their way
the Moffats had the pleasure of meeting, at Philip-
polis, the French missionaries Lemue and Rolland,
and also Mr. and Mrs. Bailie of their own Society.
The Bailies were intended for the Kuruman, and it
was arranged that the whole party should take up
their abode at Kuruman to await the return of the
Moffats from the coast.
Whilst the mother was arranging for the children
at Salem, the Wesleyan school near Grahamstown,
the father started on a journey to visit the stations
in Kaffraria ; and then finding that some time must
pass before a vessel would be leaving Algoa Bay,
and there being no possibility of getting anything
printed in the Eastern province, he took his manu
script in his pocket and started on horseback, for a
166 MOFFAT TURNS PRINTER.
ride of about four hundred miles, to Cape Town.
By hiring relays from the farmers on the road he
made the journey in nine days, leaving his wife to
follow by sea.
At Bethelsdorp the Moffats found Mr. and Mrs.
Edwards, who were originally destined to the Bech-
wana Mission, but had been detained among the
Colonial stations. It was arranged that Edwards
should also go to Cape Town, and assist Moffat in
carrying the Sechwana books through the press.
In Cape Town new difficulties arose. No print
ing-office could undertake the work, small as it was :
both type and compositors were scarce. In this
strait, by the exertions of Colonel Bird, Secretary
to Government, the Government printing-office and
material were placed at the disposal of the mission
aries ; but as no one could be spared to carry on the
printing, Moffat and Edwards had to set to work
themselves, with such guidance as the one man in
charge was able to give them. He was very willing,
and gave his assistance so well that they were soon
able not only to turn out the books they were printing
in fair style, but to regard themselves as finished
apprentices. All these things were ordered for the
best. At this very juncture a printing-press came
into the possession of the mission, and as soon as
this could be transported to the Kuruman there
were qualified hands ready to work it.
The intense exertions of this period, his forced
journey to Cape Town, the labours of the press
and the application of proof reading, with a crowd
of bustling engagements, were too much even for
Moffat's strength and constitution. He was pros-
DEATH OF L'F. ROBY. 167
trated by a bilious fever, and when the time came
for him to return to Algoa Bay, on his way back to
his station he was so ill that he had to be carried on
board the ship on a mattress.
Mary Moffat to Miss Lees of Manchester.
" BETHELSDORP, Sept. 15, 1830.
" I brought with me from home two of your letters un
answered, and, to make the debt the heavier, received one
on the way at Philippolis containing the affecting intelli
gence of the death of our esteemed father and friend, Roby.
We cannot but feel it very sensibly, though we were so far
removed from the privilege of his society, but with you and
his bereaved widow and church we can sincerely sympathize.
Verily a prince and a great man is fallen in Israel, but our
consolation is that he has finished a glorious course, and has
entered into the joy of his Lord ; and good and great as
he was, the Lord of the harvest can supply his place to the
Church. I trust in this you have attained a greater measure
of resignation than when you last wrote. I know the
tenderness of your heart, and can in some measure con
ceive of your feelings. Give my most affectionate regards
to Mrs. Roby, and assure her that could I have expressed
it she would not have found me wanting, but ready to
contribute my mite of sympathy to her. The assurance
that her loss is the infinite gain of her dear departed must
suppress every repining feeling, and lead her only to look
forward to that period when she also will mingle with the
sacred throng. O my friend ! this is a dying world. Almost
every packet of letters brings us the intelligence of some
whom we have once known and loved having ended their
pilgrimage here below. We shall lose all desire to see our
native land, for all our friends are dying away. I recollect
nearly seven years ago, when we saw Dr. Morrison on his
way to England, our congratulating him en the prospect of
meeting with his friends at home. He invariably appeared
dejected, and said : 'I have no friends to see ; all who love me
are dead, and I feel alone in the world.' We then. wondered
i68 CHILDREN PUT TO SCHOOL.
at such remarks, but, believe me, we now begin to be con
scious of a similar feeling ; two or three more dead about
Manchester, and what will it be to us ? ...
" Taking it for granted that my father will have called
upon you, as I sent a message to you when I wrote from
Cradock, I have not mentioned our leaving home, which
took place on the I5th of June. We met the French
missionaries Lemue and Rolland three weeks after at
Philippolis; arrived at Grahamstown on the 1st ultimo,
and at this place on the 1st instant. The distance is not
more than a week from Grahamstown to Bethelsdorp, but
Moffat, wishing to visit the stations in Kafirland, set out on
horseback, and left me to proceed with the children to
Theopolis, to get the two elder, Mary and Ann, in readiness
for school. We accordingly left them a fortnight ago at
Salem, theWesleyan establishment, with considerable satis
faction : the strict attention paid to the religious instruction
•of the children compensates for the want of some ad
vantages ; the cheapness of the school and its comparative
contiguity to our own part of the country are also induce
ments to have them there, as keeping them at home is
beyond all doubt highly improper. Hence you will per
ceive that we are entering on a new sort of trials. We
purpose calling to see them as we return, after which it is
probable Moffat will be many years before he sees them
again. It is likely, however, that I may come in the course
•of two or three years, as we have not friends to fulfil the
•duties of a mother to them. How happy are we, my dear
'friend, to have a covenant God to go to in all these straits
and difficulties. Nature has its struggle, but we are not to
confer with flesh and blood.
" Being disappointed in our expectation of meeting with
-a vessel at Algoa Bay, ready to sail for the Cape, Moffat,
to save time, has proceeded on horseback with his manu
scripts ; as he expects to be detained a length of time
•correcting for the press, I am to follow with the two
children, Robert and Helen, by sea. I expect to sail in
about a fortnight. Moffat has been gone nearly a week.
'A have said nothing about our station, and shall decline
HORSEBACK JOURNEY TO CAPE TOWN. 169
saying much till we see it again. Suffice it to say that we
left it in a hopeful and prosperous condition."
On his way to Cape Town, Moffat had visited his
old friends the Andersons, formerly of Griqua Town,
then settled at Pacaltsdorp, one of the Society's
stations within the Colony, from which the follow
ing was written:
" August 17, 1830, Sabbath night.
" MY DEAR MARY, — Through the goodness of God I
reached this place at nine o'clock last night, which was
more than I expected after being detained more than half
a day at Kromme River waiting on horses. This circum
stance obliged me to ride a seven hours' stage during the
night, and thirteen hours on Saturday, to be here before
Sunday. I was treated with the greatest kindness and
attention by the Boers wherever I called, even though I
told them all I was a ' Zendeling.' Stephanus Ferreira, a
notorious enemy to missionaries, whom I the most dreaded,
was the most kind and did the most to enable me to
proceed without loss of time. Had I acquainted the Field
Cornets with letters, as is the custom, I could have procured
fresh horses every four or five hours ; but not having used
this precaution my arrival in the Cape will be very un
certain. From George to the Cape is twenty-five hours'
ride on horseback — further than from Uitenhage to George
— so that I may scarcely reach the Cape on Saturday. But
if health be continued and horses at hand I may reach a
day sooner. The Lord willing, I leave this to-morrow
morning at three o'clock.
" Mr. and Mrs. Anderson received me with great kind
ness. They scarcely knew me when I first entered the
house. They were greatly disappointed when they heard
that you were not following. Many have been their
inquiries respecting the Griquas and Bechwanas, and they
do rejoice in what is doing among them. ' Had I youth
on my side,' says Mr. A., laying his hand on his pate, ' I
would spend it among the Bechwanas.' He is much aged,
and the sound of the grinders being low, his speech is not
170 BIRTH OF A DAUGHTER.
so clear as formerly. This evening he ran to hide his
tears when I was describing the pleasing change which
has lately taken place at Griqua Town. Mrs. A. takes
the liveliest interest in the welfare of our missions in that
quarter."
Mary Moffat continues the narrative :
"LATTAKOO Or LlTAKO, Sept. 15, 1831.
" MY EVER DEAR FATHER, — I am quite overcome
when I think that I have three of your letters by me
unanswered, but trust to your considerateness to make
allowance for our apparent neglect ; for surely since we
came to the country we have never experienced such a
bustling life as during the last year and a half. When on
the Sneeuwbergen, I wrote a hasty scrawl to Miss Lees,
from which you would hear part of our history since I
wrote to you, I think in November, from Cape Town. It
was then my intention to write often to my friends, but
the press of business and Robert's subsequent illness
prevented me. When we embarked at the Cape I felt
quite worn out, and the tedious voyage and necessary
attention to Robert produced fatigue from which I did
not speedily recover. At the same time there was so
much to do with the landing of our goods and getting
them off from Bethelsdorp that Robert did not write at
all to England, he being still weak and easily fatigued.
The Lord has been merciful and gracious, and, notwith
standing our unfaithfulness to Him, has loaded us with
lovingkindness and tender mercies. During our stay in
the Colony my own health greatly improved, and, as you
would hear, on the 25th of March I was again made the
joyful mother of a fine daughter whom we have baptized
Elizabeth, after my worthy friend, Miss Lees.
" My dear Robert's health is now completely established,
and he is able to pursue his usual avocations with his
accustomed vigour. We left our dear Mary and Ann
much improved, and in good health and spirits, after
having been absent from them a half-year. At Grahams-
PRINTING PRESS SET UP AT KURUMAN. 171
town we met with almost all of the Scottish Brethren
from Kafirland, as well as those of our own Society.
They were come to the missionary meeting there, and
we had our babe baptized among them by Mr. Brownlee,
in the house of our missionary Monro, where most of
us were lodged. From there we went to Graaff Reinett
by way of Somerset, both which places are blessed with
ministers from Scotland, holy men of God ; Mr. Morgan,
of Somerset, lately received a wife from his own land,
an excellent woman. Murray, of Graaff Reinett, is a re
nowned friend of missions. His house is open to all
missionaries. We stayed there a fortnight, making fur
ther arrangements for the conveyance of our baggage,
and arrived all well about the end of June at the Kuru-
man. Here we found things going on well ; but one of
the members had, alas ! turned to his idols, his young
wife, whom he had put away, having proved a snare to
him, and we are sorry to say we do not perceive in him
the penitence which is desirable.
" The French missionaries had both been very ill, but
were recovered. Mr. Lemue, however, continues sickly.
Mr. Hamilton has judiciously given up his house and
garden to the Edwardses, and they and the Bailies share it
at present. As we were anxious that Mr. Hamilton should
be as comfortably circumstanced as possible, and we knew
he would rather live with us than with the new-comers, it
is so settled that he boards with us. We have also the
mason, so that my family is now large, and may apolo
gize in some measure for my long silence ; since we came
home I have had no leisure.
" The printing press is set up, and has been at work
printing lessons for the school. It has been a formidable
work to bring it and to set it going ; but the advantages of
it will be inestimable to the mission. They are, however,
short of suitable type for lessons, though they brought all
which was to be found in Cape Town, Bethelsdorp, and
Griqua Town. Mr. Edwards will be found admirably
fitted to supply Mr. Hamilton's place, in many things
where his strength now fails. Since we came home he
172 MOSILIKATSE ATTACKED BY GRIQUAS.
has been chiefly engaged making appliances for the print
ing office, and later at the printing itself. The building of
our new church is now to be resumed. Five or six waggons
are to-morrow to leave the place for wood for the same.
While we were in the Colony Robert solicited subscrip
tions for it, and raised about a hundred pounds sterling.
Nearly twenty pounds came from Government House,
besides what was given by other officials. It is intended
to be built free of expense to the Society. Millen, the
mason, gives his work, and only requires his board. The
old church is now being enlarged by Arend, being much
too small even for the school.
" You will naturally be inquiring what are the French
missionaries going to do ? Mr.. Rolland, after his recovery,
went to the Bahurutse and looked out a place, and pro
mised to go immediately ; but Mr. Lemue's health being so
bad, his going at present is out of the question. Mr. Rol
land has been busily employed making a plough and
mending his waggon, and is ready to go. He has also got
a mason, a Scotsman, a Mr. Hume, to go with him. He
came here on trading business. A painful circumstance
has, however, taken place in the country which may cause
them some trouble, and renders it extremely doubtful
whether they ought to go at present. You have heard of
Mosilikatse, the Zulu chief whom Robert visited two years
ago. He is a desperate tyrant, and subjugates all the
tribes about him. He is consequently very rich, and his
cattle have proved a bait to those who ought to have known
better. A large hunting party of more than three hun
dred men left Griqualand four or five months ago, headed
by Berend, chief at Butswap. Many of the Philippolis
Griquas were also of the number, and some English traders
to whom these Griquas were indebted. When they came
by the outposts of the Zulu monarch, instead of hunting
elephants, they fell upon his cattle, took three posts, and
killed many of his young soldiers, who generally reside at
such places. This, of course, was not to be suffered with
impunity, and the enraged savages pursued and surprised
them while asleep. The battle was horrible. Many were
FRENCH MISSION TO THE BAHURUTSE. 173
slain on both sides, and but few Griquas have come out.
They suppose many of their number are still wandering
in the interior, but we apprehend their wanderings have
for ever ceased. When the traders who were with them
found that their object was a commando, they left them
and made the best of their way back to Butswap. From
what I have written you will judge how delicate is the
position of our dear French brethren. The Barolong
joined Berend in his iniquitous project, but the Bahurutse
would not. Mr. Millen, Arend, and many from our station
were at the same time in the interior, and, of course, made
for home. They were met by numbers of Mosilikatse's
people after the battle, and though completely in their
power, they received no harm, on it being found that they
were from the Kuruman. We have since heard that two
messengers were on their way hither from the Zulus, and
have been murdered by the Barolong."
Mary Moffat again writes :
" LITAKO (LATTAKOO), Feb. 23, 1832.
" MY DEAR FATHER, — ... If Miss Lees received
mine of the 2nd ultimo you will anticipate what I am
going to add. Our beloved and interesting child Betsy
is no longer an inhabitant of this lower world. Her freed
spirit took its happy flight on the night of the 4th
of January. As parents we do feel, and it is necessary
we should feel, for He does nothing in vain who has
afflicted us. ...
" I scarcely know where to begin, having forgotten the
contents of my last. I have some impression that I in
formed you of Mr. Holland's departure to settle at the
Bahurutse. He was, however, obliged to return, not being
able to get his attendants to accompany him on account of
the enraged Mosilikatse, who had been so villainously
treated by old Berend. For some time, however, all has
been quiet. Mr. Lemue's health seems to be established.
Mr. Rolland has had the smallpox. Mr. Pelissier has
joined them, and they again left us on the i$th in good
spirits. They have met with many discouragements, but
174 EVIL RESULTS OF THE GRIQUA RAID.
we hope and trust they will now succeed. Moffat has sent
with them a messenger to Mosilikatse to explain the
matter of Berend to the poor, ignorant savage. Robert
would have gone himself, but could not be spared at present
from the place. The printing and the building of the new
church require much attention.
" Robert and I have necessarily had a good deal to do
for the French mission, but it is all one cause, and we
could sympathize with them ; having enough to damp
their zeal, they require Christian sympathy and kindness.
I feel attached to them as my own brothers, and have
greatly enjoyed their company."
The raid of Berend and his Griquas which had
ended so disastrously to themselves left behind it
consequences which at length proved the ruin of
the infant mission of the Paris Society in the Bahu-
rutse country. Mosilikatse was himself a new-comer
from the far east, then an unknown region. He
knew but little of what lay to the southward of him.
It was difficult for him to discriminate between
Griquas and white men, or to understand how the
former coming from the country of the white men
could do what they had done to him without being
called to account by the Government of the white
people which he had been taught to regard as wise
and just. He had learned to place unbounded con
fidence in his friend Moffat, and had formed an
exaggerated notion of his power and importance
among his own people. It was hard to make these
things clear to him. It was natural that when the
three French missionaries entered the country of
the Bahurutse, which had become tributary to him,
he should a little hesitate. He professed himself
satisfied with the explanations given by a messenger
FRENCH MISSIONARIES HAVE TROUBLE. 175
whom Moffat had sent with them, and wished one
of them to repair to his own headquarters. Pelissier
accordingly did so, but found himself under a sort
of restraint from returning to his companions. This
naturally alarmed the missionaries, new as they
were to the country, and not yet ripe in the ex
perience that the only way to get on with people
such as these were was to treat them with perfect
confidence. The missionaries would probably have
come right, but their native attendants took the
alarm and were determined to go back with or
without them.
The motive of Pelissier's detention was probably
two- fold. He would be useful as a hostage if it
should prove that Mosilikatse's fears were well
founded about the missionaries being privy to some
further raid upon him from the southward ; and,
moreover, a large number of guns had fallen into
his hands by his victory over the Griquas, and he
wanted some one to put them in order and to teach
his people to use them.
It was difficult for him to see why the missionaries
should object to supply him with ammunition, of
which indeed they had but little for their own use,
even had they been willing to serve his purpose in
this way. It soon became evident to them that
their position would be untenable, and when at
length Pelissier was allowed to return to them they
at once grasped the opportunity and left the Bahu-
rutse country and started for Kuruman. They were
met by Moffat himself, who was on his way to see
whether he could not smooth matters for them. It
was not to be, however, and this first mission, in
176 ESTABLISH THEMSELVES AT MOTITO.
some measure directed to t'le Matebele themselves,
was a failure. In the providence of God what was
their loss was the great gain of another South
African people, the Basuto, under Moshesh, to
whom the French gave their attention. Their mis
sion in Basutoland has been most prosperous and
satisfactory in spite of great trials caused mainly by
wars between the natives and the Colonists.
Towards the end of the year 1832 Dr. Philip
visited Kuruman, and it was arranged that Holland
and his companions, who saw no immediate prospect
of re-opening their work with the Bahurutse, should
commence a station at Motito, about thirty-six miles
to the north-east of Kuruman, until time should
open a way for further undertakings. The appeal
of Moshesh afforded that opening. Motito long
remained the only station of the Paris Society in
Bechwanaland, and it \vas after many years handed
over to the care of the missionaries at Kuruman.
CHAPTER XIX.
MARY MOFFAT TRAVELS TO THE COLONY.
1833-1834.
EARLY in 1833 Mary Moffat started for the
Colony. It was more than two years since
she had seen the daughters who were at
school. Her heart was naturally drawn to them.
They had of course friends, but not of their own
kindred. Even for t;he sake of*visiting them she
did not feel that it would be right of her to take her
husband away from his work. She brought her
mind to undertake the journey alone. It involved
an absence of five months. Her escort through the
wilderness for a good part of that time was to
consist of Bechwanas who a few years before were
mere barbarians, not to say savages.
It was an additional comfort to her to be able to
do good service to the mission by her journey. She
brought up from the coast a large quantity of
printing material which otherwise would have pro
bably been many months finding its way from Port
Elizabeth to Kuruman.
178 AN ESCORT OF NATIVES.
Mary M off at to Mrs. Roby of Manchester.
" LlTAKO, Oct. I, 1833.
" You would hear that I had visited the Colony to see
our dear children. It was of course no pleasing task to
take such a journey alone, but it appeared to us that we
were bound in duty to separate for that time. It was
necessary to know how the children were getting on and
to attend to their wants ; and it could not be Mofifat's
duty to leave the station again so soon, and therefore we
determined to part. I was more than five months absent,
having arrived on the 7th of last month, nearly a month
later than was my intention, having taken with me a
waggon expressly to bring type and printing paper for
the Society, and having to await the arrival of the same.
We have, however, satisfaction in the step, Moffat's presence
having been exceedingly requisite on the station, and much
has been accomplished both in the spiritual work and in
the temporal, and all has been well.
"The maids also, whom I left to manage domestic matters,
have far exceeded my expectations, so that he had very
little to trouble him in that respect, and I see that my
.labour in instructing them in these matters is not lost.
Every member of the mission family enjoyed uninterrupted
health the' whole time. My journey was exceedingly pros
perous, nothing worthy the name of an accident having
taken place, though the waggons had extraordinary weight
upon them. My travelling company of servants consisted
of five Bechwana men and one Hottentot as drivers, leaders,
and loose cattle-drivers, and a girl to nurse my baby. Jn
•one of these men, Paul, one of the first converts, I had
great comfort. Not having my husband with me I had
occasion to put the more confidence in him, and truly it
was not misplaced. He has proved himself faithful, did
everything in his power to make me comfortable, and
managed the rest of them admirably. I assure you that I
had continual joy in him as a brother in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Ever since his conversion, nearly five years ago,
•we have esteemed him highly, but now justly more than
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CHILDREN. 179
ever. I know, my dear Mrs. Roby, you will bless God
for His goodness to us in this transaction of our lives. I
am a poor weak creature, mentally and bodily, but He
has graciously supported me through the whole of it. I
found it particularly pleasant to be constantly feeling my
dependence on Him, having no earthly protector near me,
and in numerous instances had occasion to admire His
providential care over us. He was indeed to me better
than all my fears, for I am too ready to suspect that the
rod of correction is about to be used. By this you may
guess what a wayward child I am.
" I left the three elder children at school. The two girls
have I think made as much progress as could be expected
in the time. We have been desirous of making Mary
acquainted with the Infant School system before her return
home ; but she is still rather too young to leave school,
unless she could have been placed with a person who would
have attended to her education, such as Miss Tyndall — but
the dear woman has been obliged to retire from labour on
account of bad health. Should she recover her strength
the good people at Grahamstown are anxious to secure her
future labours for their children, and this would be the very
thing for us. Should there be no probability of accom
plishing this object, we shall most likely soon get Mary
home by some opportunity.
"And now, my dear Mrs. Roby, I must conclude. Will
you forgive all my neglect of you ? I know you will.
Surely I need not say how happy I shall be to hear from
you at any time ; and whilst you live do not forget to pray
for us. I trust the church at Grosvenor Street will never
lose the missionary zeal which has so long characterized it,
and into which our late beloved friend so warmly entered.
I suppose you do not often see my poor old father. I fear
his health is declining, but he appears to be happy and
resigned ; but my anxieties about him can only cease with
his life."
" LlTAKO, March 20, 1834.
" Do, my dear father, write as often as you can, and
forgive- us that we are not more attentive to you. Robert
180 FELLOW-LABOURERS IN THE MISSION.
is in a perpetual bustle ; the printing is a wonderful addition
to the work here, and the extreme anxiety of his mind to
give everything as correctly as possible causes him incessant
mental labour. Whatever he is doing or however engaged
we are sure to find that his mind is occupied with some
knotty passage of Scripture about which commentators and
critics cannot agree. Besides this, the care of the whole
station spiritual and temporal is upon him. Mr. Hamilton
is an excellent and laborious man, and his labours on the
place are invaluable, but he has not an ability for managing
the affairs of a mission, neither have the Directors ever
thought proper to invest him with that office. Mr. Edwards
is a laborious and active schoolmaster, and the rest of his
time is filled up with work in connection with the press. If
my dear Robert had not had an iron constitution he must
long ago have sunk under his manifold labours, so that
I really feel delicate about pressing him even to write a
letter. . . .
" I have the happiness to inform you that our dear
Rolland has married Miss Tyndall, and we expect them
daily, when Moffat and all who can be spared from this
place are to set off for the Bahurutse for roof timber for the
chapel, as they could not get away last winter. Mosilikatse
has full possession of that country, and gives no rest till
Moffat goes to see him. We have at present a messenger
of his in the house who came out with Hume, two months
ago. Mr. Millen was out about two months before that,
having got into a district of country where a stinging fly
abounds, lost all his oxen, and actually left his waggon in
care of another trader in the same predicament, and came
hither on foot, a distance of four or five hundred miles from
the north-east. He mustered oxen, took another waggon,
and set off again in a fortnight to fetch his property and
add more to it. With him, also, we had two messengers
from Mosilikatse, and with him they returned. He pro
fesses the most unbounded confidence in Moffat, and we
hope it will tie useful in the establishment of a mission
there."
ANOTHER ATTACK ON MOSILIKATSE. 181
Robert M off at to his brotJter Richard.
July 28, 1834.
" Much of my time has been taken up in acquiring the
language under innumerable trying circumstances, and now
that I am able to translate I view every moment as doubly
precious. I am trying to redeem much precious time which
has been lost. I see nothing in the world worth looking
after if it has not a direct reference to the glory and
extension of the Redeemer's kingdom ; and were we always
able to have a lively view of the myriads who are descending
to the horrible pit, our zeal would be proportionate. Much
depends on us who have received the ministry of reconcilia
tion, assured that God our Saviour willeth the salvation of
all.
" A short time ago we mustered a number of men and
waggons, and Mr. Hamilton and I set off to the Bahurutse
country to bring timber for the roof of our new church,
leaving Mr. Edwards on the station. We had just reached
within little more than two days of Mosilikatse's residence,
near which the timber stood, when a messenger overtook
us with the information that Jan Bloom with a commando
was gone to attack Mosilikatse. This obliged us to return,
for had we proceeded we should in all probability have
been placed in a most distressing dilemma, as the scene of
conflict was within sight of the spot where we should have
encamped. As we could have neither conscientiously
helped the one nor fought against the other, the event
would likely have been fatal to some if not to all of us.
" Mosilikatse's messenger, who had been with me for
some months, I sent forward from the place at which we
returned. Jan Bloom, it is said, shot a great number of
the younger soldiery, but he and his party, who were all on
horseback, were entirely defeated, and narrowly escaped
with a handful of cattle, losing some men and horses. It
is said he will go again next month. If so I fear it will be
never to return. Mr. Millen passed us by another road
coming out, and died in the desert beyond old Lattakoo.
He seems to have died of a bilious fever. Two of his men
died before him on the road. We were much affected to
i82 MILLEN'S LONELY DEATH-BED.
hear of it. He had almost become like one of our family.
He has done much for this station. Mosilikatse sent with
him two messengers to me, who are still here. He may yet
be exasperated to do dreadful things on this side. None
of the Bechwana tribes in this part of the country have
ever yet done him any injury, and he professes friendship
on that account, but the professed friendship of a savage
monarch is little to be trusted."
Mary Moffat to tier Father.
August 20, 1834.
" I forget whether I told you that Mr. Millen, our mason,
was away in the interior, seeking ivory. We were daily
expecting him, and indeed he was not far from us, but
never arrived here ! His waggons and those of this place
passed each other in the desert, about a half-day's journey
apart. Had they been upon the same road they would
just have seen him to close his eyes in death, but this
privilege was denied to poor Millen. He had none but
Bechwana attendants, and they, worn-out with fatigue with
travelling night and day to bring him home, had slept
while he breathed his last. They afterwards did their best
to bring him to Motito for burial, but it was impossible,
and they reluctantly committed his remains to the dust in
the desert. The grave is on a plain, but in a clump of
bushes — rather a pretty spot. It is remarkable that all those
who came out on foot are dead, and we suppose the effects
were latent for some months. To the north of the Zulu
country a bilious fever attacked several of his people, and
he feelingly laments in his journal that he has no medicine
to give them. Before they reached Mosilikatse's one of
them died. The day they left Mosilikatse's he himself
sickened ; two days after another man died, and three or
four days after, he himself. He said nothing in his illness,
but one day told his people to drive on without regard to
oxen or anything else, as he thought more of their number
would die.
" There is great obscurity on his eternal state. He
possessed much knowledge on religious subjects ; he loved
UNIVERSAL REGRET. 183
the cause and people of God, but never decided. He was
the child of pious parents, who died when he was very
young, and his reverence for sacred things was great. His
Bible was found in his bed, and his driver testifies that he
read much in it. He was much respected, and every heart
was melancholy, not only Europeans, but natives. I think
you know that he finished the walls of our church last
winter — the last labour of his hands, for which he charged
nothing but his board.
" We have for some months been expecting the expedi
tion for Central Africa, which is not yet arrived ; nor have
we had any news whatever from the Colony for two
months.'*
CHAPTER XX.
A SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION.
1835-
EARLY in 1835 an expedition reached Kuruman.
At the head of it was Dr. Andrew Smith. He
was accompanied by several English assistants
and by an officer and a few men of the 98th Regi
ment, making up a somewhat imposing party, and a
caravan of seven waggons. The object was scientific,
being promoted by the members of an association at
the Cape with a little assistance from Government.
Dr. Smith found the Moffats in great trouble.
The summer had been unusually hot, and this cir
cumstance, combined with exhaustion from overwork,
had prostrated the missionary with a severe attack
of bilious fever : from which he had scarcely re
covered when his wife was brought very near the
gates of death. After the birth of a son on the
tenth of March she seemed to be better, but soon
relapsed into a state of such debility that for many
days there seemed no hope. It was a special sub
ject of thankfulness that at such a time there should
have been on the spot a medical man of Dr. Andrew
Smith's skill ; and that, too, exercised with such
MOFFAT ACCOMPANIES IT. 185
tender care and assiduity as might have been looked
for in a dear brother rather than in a comparative
stranger. It was the beginning of a lifelong friend
ship, for the Moffats could never forget the man
who had come to them like an angel out of heaven
in their time of trouble.
The members of the expedition were for some
months engaged in the country round Kuruman ;
but as the doctor's main object was to get farther
into the interior, he prevailed upon Moffat to ac
company him as far as Mosilikatse's headquarters.
He left about the tenth of May. His main object
was of course to aid the expedition, but he had other
important matters in view. The new church, the
stone walls of which had long been raised to their
full height, could not be roofed with such timber as
was to be obtained about Kuruman. From what he
had seen on his former visit to Mosilikatse he was
convinced that what was required was to be obtained
in the dominions of that chief. There was also a
prospect of the American missionaries seeking a
place in which to work, and he felt that he might be
the means of preparing the way for them in Mosi
likatse's country. All these considerations over
came his reluctance to leave his work at Kuruman
and his wife scarcely recovered. The following
extracts formed only a small part of a copious
journal giving a minute account of each day's pro
ceedings. The first quotation is dated from Motito,
the station of the French missionaries, near to which
Mahura, the brother of Mothibi, had settled with a
part of the Batlaping tribe, which had formerly lived
on the Kuruman river until broken up by wars :
i86 SMOOTHING DIFFICULTIES.
" MOTITO, August 13, 1835.
"MY DEAR MARY, — Though it is now late I must write
a few lines, lest I be too busy to write to-morrow morning.
Yesterday afternoon I wrote to you by two men, Batlaro
returning to the Kuruman on horseback. I shall now give
you a brief account of what has transpired since. After a
very short night's rest, I left this at an early hour to visit
Mahura, who lives as far again as Letakong is from Motito.
As the object of the visit was of some importance, I had
many cogitations on my way thither. He received me
well, and I soon stated one of the objects of my visit,
namely, to obtain Mosilikatse's oxen. He gave the reasons
why he had not brought them, the chief of which was that
he had been falsely charged with having stolen them from
Mosilikatse. He said this continued to annoy him beyond
anything. I pointed out the propriety as well as the neces
sity of his returning the cattle, both for his own sake and for
that of the country. I had scarcely finished my argument
when he instantly ordered a man to proceed to the outpost,
and to have the oxen forthcoming at Motito by this evening
or to-morrow morning. This was one point gained.
" The next thing was that I was sorry and surprised at
the misunderstanding between him and Dr, Smith, and
that he had not visited him since his return to Motito.
He said in reply to this, that when the doctor was last at
Motito he promised on his return from the Kuruman to
visit him and see the hills, and examine the different stones.
That, instead of fulfilling his promise, he only heard that he
would not come because he was very angry with him. I
admitted that if the doctor promised he ought to have sent
a reason for not coming, and added that the doctor was
certainly much grieved with his threatenings to hinder the
party and the interpreter from proceeding on the journey.
He said he would like well if the doctor would point out
any one who had heard him say such things. I said some
thing more on the propriety of his having a good under
standing with the doctor. I then asked him to accompany
me to Motito. He said he would yield to my request, and
immediately sent off for his horses, stating that if they did
COUNSELS OF PEACE. 187
not come in time he would follow. This was a second
point gained.
" Of success in the third object of my visit I despaired,
namely, his intended attack on the Batlaro. However,
the subject was introduced, and I stated to him all that I
had heard on the subject. He replied that all was true.
That his full determination was to punish the Batlaro for
their insolence. He had a long string of complaints, to
which I remarked that if these things were true he certainly
had cause to be offended, but no reason to go to war. I
said the Bechwanas were a nation of liars, and that any
beggar would bring him such reports merely to get a bone
to pick : that if he went to war on these grounds I should
ever view him as a fool, and incapable of government. I
proposed to him what he ought to do, namely, to call the
chiefs of the Batlaro to account or visit them, hold a
pitso, and hear the sentiments of the principal men. I
said a great deal to him on the horrors of war. I told him
to throw a burning coal into the grass and tell me when
the burning would end : that attacking the Batlaro was
like attacking the Kuruman station, which had been the
means of saving himself and the country. After I had
done speaking — for I had spoken long and earnestly on the
subject — he paused for some time. He said he was glad he
had heard me on that subject, and he would endeavour to
do what I had recommended. This was the third point
aimed at. You cannot think how grateful I felt. After
partaking of thick milk I left, and arrived here about three
o'clock."
" M AOTO A Ts£PE, May 17,1835 . — Nothing of any interest
occurred on the road. Nothing to be seen but an extensive
plain covered with long grass, and a few camel-thorn trees
and bushes. I ordered my waggon forward in the long train
at a distance from the gentlemen, in order that I might be
alone and get a nap, but I could not get a wink of sleep.
However, I had the more time to read. The evening was
pleasant, and the whole camp seemed as cheerful as a hive
of bees in midsummer. I spent most of the evening in
i88 THE ANTI-SWEARING COVENANT.
the tent with the doctor and the young gents, and also Mr.
Kift, who is more cheerful company than I had supposed.
" I proposed to the doctor that he, or rather Mr. Bell the
chaplain, should read a short sermon in English for the
few who did not understand Dutch and Sechwana. He
objected, stating that most of them knew a little Dutch.
We had the Dutch in the forenoon and the Sechwana in
the afternoon, and as all attended I had good congregations
— and who knows but that the seed sown may yet grow.
May the Lord grant His blessing. This evening I found
that the English do not understand a Dutch sermon, at
least but a very few sentences ; and therefore, the Lord will
ing, I shall next Sabbath have a service for them also.
" I continue to admire Dr. Smith more than ever. He
sets an excellent example to his men and is not only will
ing but anxious for their instruction in the things 'of God.
All the English, if I except Dr. Smith and one or two
more, swear, and some do it to no ordinary degree, but
they are all cunning enough to take care that I never hear
them. I am glad, however, to be informed this evening by
Messrs. Hume and Scoon, that they have just written out
an agreement that for every oath the swearer pays a fine of
half a stick of tobacco. Tennant is to be the treasurer. I
am quite rejoiced to hear this, and pray that the plan may
succeed ; and it is very likely, as all have put their names
to it and tobacco is precious.
" The sentry walks for two hours, and six are appointed
for each night. Dicky had the first watch to-night, from
eight to ten, and the second watch has just commenced.
Every ten minutes or a quarter of an hour the sentry shouts
that all is well. I hope it will be the same song till we
return.
" Now I must return to last night, and tell you that when
I was sitting by a roaring fire, taking my last puff for the day,
I jumped for joy to hear them calling out ' Matlolanyane.'
I soon got hold of the packet of letters, and instantly
read yours, with a heart full of gratitude to God for His
continued favour toward you. I handed it to the doctor,
who I am sure read it with almost equal pleasure."
MILITARY VERSUS MISSIONARY TACTICS. 189
" MARITSANE, Sabbath, May 2^th. — Have had a quiet and
peaceable Sabbath. The forenoon service was in Dutch.
After dinner I read to the English a sermon on the im
portance of Divine knowledge. In the evening I addressed
the Bechwana. It may be that what was said about eternal
things may prove like bread cast upon the waters. Many
have left the land of light on which the Sun of righteous
ness shone with almost meridian splendour, and have found
a Saviour in a land of pagan darkness where but a few
glimmering rays were darting on the gloom. The day has
been very serene, but the night is cold.
" I think I mentioned in my last that the English
swearers had unanimously agreed to pay a half-stick of
tobacco for every oath. It was on a Sabbath, and when
the characters are considered one will forgive such a con
tract on such a day. Next day's produce was seventeen
and a half sticks, equal to thirty-five oaths. The most
notorious lost only one and a half stick. The number of
fines decreased so rapidly that the treasurer is out of em
ploy, except keeping what he has got. I comfort them by
saying that they will have all the fewer oaths to account
for in the day of judgment."
" MOLOPO, Friday, May 2<$th. — We have been here all day.
Have been employed most of the time translating. The
wind being cold I had frequent interruptions. No messengers
have yet arrived from Mosilikatse. In the afternoon the
doctor seemed a little anxious, and of course conjectures
followed. Towards evening the waggons were removed from
the form of a crescent to that of a waggon fortification, with
all the oxen on one side enclosed with a fence. When the
plan was proposed I gave my plain unvarnished refusal.
Hume and Scoon were also much opposed, particularly on
account of the oxen, which were comparatively exposed to
the lion, as the fence would prove a mere shadow if they
were once frightened by him. The excuse the doctor made
to Monaheng was that he feared for the men's lives, and he
stated at the same time to me that he was bound down to
take every precaution for the safety of his people. Of
course we submitted, but not cheerfully.
igo MESSENGERS FROM MOSILIKATSE.
" As soon as it became dark the lions began to drive the
dogs back to the fence, and had nearly frightened the oxen
out of their enclosure. Port fires and blue lights were
burned, and a party went out with guns enough to blow
him to pieces ; but * Tau ' knew how to take care of him
self, and of course eluded the short-lived moonshine. The
oxen are still very restless. The bell is constantly ringing,
and I fear the night's serenading will not be conducive to
sleep.
" Saturday^ May ^ofk. — Most of those who had cares
slept very little and uncomfortably, anxious about the oxen.
However, through the goodness and mercy of our God, no
evil was suffered to befall us. The forepart of the day
was excessively cold, with flying clouds and a strong wind
from the S.E. Monaheng told me early that as the doctor
was afraid of proceeding he should go forward. I replied,
' Good, and I shall go with you.' I accordingly stated the
circumstance to the doctor. He objected to my going.
I then said, * Some one else must go ; ' and in ten minutes
Andries, Baba, and Boy, with Monaheng, the latter in
regimental coat, started off on horseback. They had
scarcely gone half way before they met five Matebele
coming post-haste to meet us. The horsemen returned,
and the rest followed and came here in the afternoon. The
Induna is an old acquaintance of mine, and seemed not a
little pleased to get hold of my fist again. We learned
the following particulars. Mosilikatse was living beyond
the Marikwa River, and many of the people had been
carried off by a sickness hitherto unknown to them."
" MoSEGA, June 2. — We arrived here early in the evening.
The variety of country, the first part undulating, with a bold
range of hills or mountains before us adorned with wood,
especially the glens, the valleys showing signs of an abundant
harvest, rendered the short stage very delightful compared to
the country through which we had been passing before, and
especially with so many fine streams running rapidly alone?
the fertile vales. I walked the latter part of the stage, and
when we came to the first village the doctor joined me.
We passed four considerable villages. As you may con-
MOFFATS CONFIDENCE IN THE NATIVES, igi
ceive, twelve waggons excited considerable interest ; but I
am sure you would have laughed as heartily as we did to
see how much they were astonished at my long beard.
Many a ram-race was taken to obtain a front view. I am
sure no wild beast in Exeter Exchange could have excited
more wonder.
" After halting, the doctor proposed to make a kraal for
the oxen. This I did not approve of, as there was a com
paratively empty kraal capable of holding two thousand
cattle quite contiguous, and the Matebele would most
cheerfully give them lodging for a few nights ; that for my
own part I should send my oxen thither, and that Mr.
Hume I believed would do the same. After a good deal
of persuasion, he at length agreed.
"The doctor's waggons are again placed in the form of
a square, the entrance of his own facing the centre, into
which I could not go without climbing over the wheels or
going under the waggon. A little before sunset the doctor
again called me aside, and said that sending the oxen to
the kraal referred to was placing ourselves too much in the
power of the natives, and that he was not inclined to risk
it. I argued that it was in the power of the natives to take
our oxen almost all the hours of the day, it being impos
sible for them to find grass within sight of the waggons,
and that giving over our cattle to their care and placing
almost unbounded confidence in their friendship would of
itself disarm them of any evil intentions ; but I did not
believe that they had any such intentions. No one had
seen the slightest mark of it. I never once contemplated
danger from that quarter, or I should not have come myself
or have recommended others. With many more remarks
of a similar kind, the doctor was persuaded to let his oxen
go with mine. He has a greater charge than any one of us,
and is of course under a greater responsibility. He is indefa
tigable in research, and will do great things and throw light
on those parts of the country over which he travels ; but
all men do not see alike."
"June 5///. — Kalepe having returned this morning, told us
it was Mosilikatse's wish that we should go to his present
ig2 AT THE MERCY OF THE CHIEF.
esidence beyond the Marikwa River. This message was
perfectly agreeable to our wishes, and set all in motion ;
but we halted at the mouth of the kloof, about three
hours and a half from Mosega, fearing to go farther
into the thicket on account of lions. Fine grass and abun
dance of water, the Mainelwe River carrying off all the
drainage of the half a dozen streams which take their rise
to the west, of which Mamuri and Marimane are the most
distant. There are also sea-cows in the river a little farther
down."
" Monday, June 8///. — In the evening Kalepe told me that
he was going forward early to-morrow morning, and I must
follow. Monaheng again came into the tent, and said it was
the wish of Mosilikatse that I should precede the waggons
on horseback. I objected, preferring to ride in my waggon.
We conferred some time, and then I told him I should likely
go, and that he must be ready to accompany me. I told
the doctor what had passed. He, as I expected, opposed
my leaving the waggons. I stated that my chief reason
for acceding to Mosilikatse's wish was to show him that I
was entirely what I was before — that is, void of fear.
Should I not go, he might think I could not trust him
now as I once did, and of course our friendship would
be broken, and the whole party would as a consequence
suffer more or less. To suspect danger appeared to me
like a childish mania, and to act towards such a tyrant
according to the doctor's system would certainly create
suspicion.
" I also argued that if Mosilikatse seriously intended to
do us harm, he would have numerous opportunities when
he could destroy the whole party. A soldier, of course,
will not admit this, however clear it may be to others. As
I had engaged to take the party to Mosilikatse with a pro
mise of his attention and friendship, the inference was clear
that I must be allowed to take my own way in obtaining
the same. I left the doctor silenced, but not convinced ;
for after I left the tent he resumed the subject with Scoon,
but he said he wished with all his heart for me to go
forward. Mr. Hume was of the same mind.
SECOND RECEPTION BY MOSILIKATSE. 193
"ToLANE RIVER, Tuesday, gth. — The Indunas, Kalepe,
&c., left for Mosilikatse before sunrise. I, with Monaheng,
Andries, and Younker, left on horseback just when the
waggons were starting, and reached this place in about
three hours.
" Mosilikatse was bathing in the river, but he soon
marched up with a kind of bodyguard singing. The moment
he entered the kraal lie stretched out his hand, hastened up
to me and seized me by mine. He did not speak, but gazed
on me for a time as if I had dropped from the clouds.
" At length he repeated my name two or three times, and
said, ' Now my eyes see you, my heart is white as milk.'
This he repeated again and again, laying hold of my hand
and stroking my beard. He called me to the side of the
kraal, where we sat down, and the warriors began their
songs. He seemed as if he could not help laying his hand
first on one of my shoulders and then on the other, and
sometimes taking a lock of my beard in his hand. During
the intervals in the singing I conversed with him about the
objects of my journey, and about those who had accom
panied me.
" We sat together till the waggons came, when I went to
point out a place for the encampment. I returned with the
doctor and four others to introduce them to the chief."
In the course of a few days it was arranged that Dr.
Smith, with the major part of the expedition, should
go on to the north-east and return. The traders,
Messrs. Hume and Scoon, also left on a hunting
expedition to the northward ; so that Robert Moffat
was left comparatively alone at headquarters. It
would be impossible to give anything more than a
mere index of the copious journal which it was his
solace to write during the two months thus spent,
for the benefit of the wife who was watching for news
at Kuruman. The extracts which have already been
given bear largely upon one point. The principle
194 PEACEFUL STAY OF THE EXPEDITION.
upon which his whole life among natives was based
was that of implicit mutual confidence. It was the
secret of much of his success. It was of course a
little difficult to inspire the leader of an expedition
which had a strong military ingredient with a similar
confidence. In time, however, the good doctor threw
off his strategical shell, and became as contented
and as safe among the Matebele as could be desired,
and got rid of the strange and unaccountable delu
sion which possesses the minds of so many other
wise rational white men — that their black neighbours
are, as a matter of course, ever on the watch for an
opportunity to cut their throats.
The expedition was accorded full liberty to come
and to go in any part of the wide extent of country
then under the rule of Mosilikatse ; and it speaks well
for its conduct and discipline that, during the long
stay of this party of between twenty and thirty
white men of very different grades in life, not a
•single serious misunderstanding or act of injury
seems to have occurred.
By the removal of Dr. Smith to the scene of his
researches in what is now the Transvaal, near Rus-
tenburg and Pretoria, Moffat was left free to attend
to other objects which he had in view in visiting the
chief of the Matebele. First and foremost was it
his work to try, as on his former visit, to instil into
the dark mind of the savage despot at least some
gleams of religious truth — a work of great difficulty
in the case of one who lived as he did, the object of
.almost idolatrous adoration on the part of all who
>came near him. Little could be done in this way,
*but a p?.th was opened and made easy for the advent
TRIES TO GAIN VARIOUS OBJECTS. 195
of the American missionaries who it was hoped
would come.
Another object was to find in the country timber
such as would be suitable for the roof of the Kuru-
man church. In this Moffat was entirely successful,
and that roof still stands a monument of the united
work of Hamilton, Moffat, and Edwards — an
achievement, in those days and with such means as
they possessed, of no ordinary character.
An endeavour was also made to procure from
Mosilikatse the return of two Griqua children who
had been captured on the outskirts of his country
from a hunting party. He had been much harassed
by the depredations of Griqua and Koranna marau
ders, and he could not be prevailed upon to give up
the captives until he should have some guarantee
that he should in future be exempted from such
attacks ; and on the same ground he refused to
return two waggons belonging to an English gentle
man of the name of Bain, who had, unfortunately for
himself, been mistaken for one of these marauders.
" KURUMAN, June i$lh.
" MY DEAR ROBERT, — Another day is far advanced, and
we hear nothing of you. Shampan arrived this morning,
and knows nothing. Once more I begin to feel that ' hope
deferred maketh the heart sick.' The brethren advise me
to wait till Monday, and then to send to you.
" You will doubtless be anxious to hear something about
the Americans, but we cannot tell you much, and shall
send you all the correspondence respecting them. Late in
the last month Moses and his wife were on a visit, and
brought us intelligence of their being at Griqua Town, and
a letter from Mr. Lindley, which I showed to our brethren
and we were all of opinion that they could not do better
ig6 IMPROVED DISPOSITION OF BATLAPING.
than to send one of their number to visit the Matebele
while you were there ; and a letter was immediately de
spatched giving them such advice, and offering them oxen
to take them on. They did not, however, fall in with the
plan, as you will see from their reply, and of course we
could do no more.
"As far as we can gather from all sources, it is their
intention to stop here some time in order to become
familiar with the language.
" I must now give some account of this place and
neighbourhood. All is well as far as I know outwardly,
but there has been a necessity for church discipline. The
congregations are exceedingly large ever since you went,
and the brethren never so much encouraged with appear
ances among the Batlaro. The numbers who attend are
great, and there is considerable emotion among them such
as was never before observed. We have also good news
from Mothibi's place. Our people on their late visit found
them in a good frame of mind. They appear to be in
earnest about coming to the Kuruman. Mothibi wishes
you to send him a waggon to help him to come. Our
people held service with them on the Sabbath, and many
were much affected.
" Mahatlane had much conversation with them, and
appears to have made very sensible remarks to them ; and
he represents them as quite broken in spirit, and as regard
ing themselves as dogs before those who have embraced
the gospel. Mothibi says he now sees that he has had
great privileges and has despised them, that the gospel is
now going past them to the interior tribes, and that he is
living in deep darkness. So you will see our hopes are
reviving about the Batlaping. .
" My dear Robert, thus far I wrote on Thursday evening,
fondly hoping to hear something of you before this, but
still all is darkness, and this is Sabbath evening. Some
Bahurutse from Taung arrived yesterday, and tell a story
which must be old. They say that a youth of theirs made
his escape from the Matebele, and tells that the waggons
had all arrived at the Molopo, and that you had sent mes-
SOURCES OF CONSOLATION. 197
sengers forward to apprise Mosilikatse of your approach ;
that when he heard this he had packed up and fled further,
apprehending danger. This is all we can hear, except one
other report which said you had left the waggons at Mosega,
and were gone on alone.
" I have now come to the conclusion to send Melomo
and another with the little news we have, that you may be
no longer kept in suspense, whatever we are. I continue
to hope for the best, though I feel very impatient to hear
in what circumstances you have been placed. I am aware
that your situation is a critical one, and one of considerable
responsibility, and therefore I was the more anxious that
one of the Americans should have gone to you. I have
felt much for you and sympathized with you, and trust that
the Mighty Counsellor has been with you to direct as well
as to protect you and those who are with you.
" For my own part I do not experience less support on
this occasion than on former ones, believing that He who
has hitherto been so gracious to us will yet be so, notwith
standing our unfaithfulness to Him. I again assert that I
never trusted God in vain, but have often suffered loss by
my distrust and unbelief. I do, however, feel it necessary
to prepare my heart for further trials, as I have always
done under our separations, anticipating at times the most
painful occurrences, and have frequently found that such
anticipations are a means of deepening a sense of the
Divine goodness when we were again permitted to meet.
" I have this day considered the Ninety-first Psalm, and
have read Scott and Clarke on it, and am much comforted
by it"
In the course of the month of August Moffat
returned to Kuruman, to be followed shortly after
by the expedition. All the available waggons and
oxen which could be mustered on the station started
under the care of Hamilton and Edwards, to obtain
the timber of the existence of which Moffat had
satisfied himself. It was a great undertaking. The
ig8 WOODCUTTING EXPEDITION.
woodcutters had to travel to a distance of two
hundred and fifty miles ; but they were not men to
be deterred by difficulties, and they enjoyed a great
advantage in the cordial approval of the chief, and
in such assistance as his people were capable of
giving.
CHAPTER XXI.
MOFFAT ITINERATES, AND HIS WIFE GOES TO
THE COAST.
1836.
M OFF AT had not long been home when he.
and his wife were again called to separate
for a time. Her health, which a few
months before had been severely tried, had not been
re-established, and it was the advice of Dr. Andrew
Smith that she should pay a visit to the coast. This
was also needed on account of the children who
were at school. Rather than take her husband
away from his post she determined again to go
without him, he accompanying her as far as the
Vaal River, about a hundred miles distant. Mr.
Hume, the trader, being on his way to Grahamstown,
she was able to avail herself of his escort, which, as
it proved afterwards, was of great service to her.
Having seen his wife over the Vaal River, Moffat
started on his return to Kuruman on horseback, but
made a detour to visit the old chief of the Batlaping,
Mothibi, who had settled down at a spot about forty
miles higher up the river with a portion of the tribe.
200 MOFFAT PARTS WITH HIS FAMILY AGAIN.
The people seem at this time to have been much re
duced in circumstances, with scarcely food to eat on
account of their extreme poverty, not having re
covered from the long1 period of war during which
they had deserted the Kuruman. This, however,
would not account for their want of hospitality.
The Batlaping had always a character for meanness
among Bechwana tribes, for the Bechwana generally
give what they have without grudging to strangers.
Where there was work to be done for his Master it
made no difference to Robert Moffat whether he
was well cared for or not, as the following letter
will show :
" KURUMAN, Thursday, Dec, 2, 1835.
" MY DEAR MARY, — It is with gratitude that I sit down
to record to you the goodness of our Heavenly Father in
bringing me back to this place in health and safety. I
arrived here about ten o'clock last night with Mosheu.
We looked like half-drowned beings, having been exposed
to the vehemence of a thunderstorm which lasted from Bok
Fontein to near this place. The night was awfully grand,
and the rain was heavy on us for more than two hours.
Though I suffered a few hardships in my journey I am
nevertheless happy indeed that I went, and as a few of the
particulars may prove interesting I shall begin where I left
you. I did not part with you in that comparatively easy
frame of mind in which I left you for the former journey.
Poor Jimmy and Johnny were entirely unconscious of the
pain we felt. On reaching the opposite bank of the river
I felt somewhat relieved. I galloped nearly all the way to
Campbell, so that I reached Mr. B.'s house with good day
light. Many a look I gave to your waggons, at least to
the dust they occasioned, which I still saw when I had
arrived opposite Abram's house. I felt that evening no
inclination to think or speak.
" Next day, the 2/th, through the kindness of Cornelius,
I proceeded with three horses and a guide to Mothibi.
PREACHING BY DIM MOONLIGHT. 201
The day was hot and the journey long, upwards of forty
miles. I reached the place a little before sunset. I had no
sooner alighted in the public yard than the people flocked
to see me, as if I had dropped from the clouds. Mahuto
seemed greatly delighted. (Mothibi was absent at Taung
with Mahura.) Though she has suffered and is not strong,
she has still the same appearance she had when you last
saw her ; indeed her countenance seemed to me more
intelligent and interesting, and especially her conversation.
Many were her inquiries about you and the children. Thus
it continued till moonlight, when she brought a little thick
milk. She then with many others begged me to tell them
about God and their souls. 'We are great sinners, we are
ignorant,' were the words which fell from the lips of many
alternately. Mahuto ordered the congregation to assemble.
I addressed them from ' How shall ye escape, &c.' All
were attentive ; every eye seemed to continue fixed on me.
The night was a little cloudy, and the pale moonlight
falling on miy swarthy audience, which was all silence,
rendered the scene impressive and solemn. I think I
continued speaking for nearly an hour. After they had
dispersed, several spoke to me about their souls. It was
with difficulty I could reach the loloapa, about twenty
yards distant, where I was to sleep. One robust young
fellow interrupted me, and repeated with clearness passages
he had heard read in the Gospel of Luke, which had been
blessed in turning his attention to the concerns of his soul.
' Believe me,' he said, grasping my hand, 'I prayed earnestly
to God this very morning that He might send some one
to teach my soul ; and God has hearcl my prayer.' On
entering the loloapa I laid me down on a mat, as you
may conceive much tired. Mahuto sat a long time, and
talked freely on a variety of subjects, and assured me that
if she had her will in the government of the people they
would soon be back at the Kuruman. I told her you would
weep tears of joy to see what I had seen. I fell asleep at
a late hour on a hard and stony bed — which to me, however,
was as if it were a mattress.
" Long before sunrise I was awoke by Mahuto inquiring
202 WORK ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.
when I should teach. She wished me to begin then and there.
I begged for time to think a little. I then had an earnest and
attentive congregation of three or four hundred. I felt great
liberty and great delight in dispensing the word of eternal
life. I often thought how your soul would be rejoiced
to have looked on these countenances, on which you have
so often seen the vacant stare or scornful sneer, turned into
the most devout attention to the great truths of Christianity.
I reasoned long with them, and after the service I felt the
cravings of an empty stomach, but found on inquiry there
was no food. The outposts were at a distance from which
milk was expected. I then went down to the Vaal River
from the top of a high stony hill on which the town stands,
I think about four miles distant I filled my stomach with
water, washed, and by the time I had crossed the sandy
plain and reached the summit of the hill I was as thirsty as
ever. On my return I was assailed by many of the youths
to teach them to read, and repeat hymns. Thus I continued
till noon, when I was again called upon to preach. The
people collected in the largest Bechwana house I ever saw.
Many sat outside. I preached till I was nearly exhausted,
and made very solemn appeals to the consciences of the
aged, they being the only opposers to the people removing
to a missionary station. Many applications were made for
a missionary, but of this I could not hold out the shadow
of a hope ; yea, I assured them that the thing was impossible
in their present situation. Finding that I could not obtain
any food, I resolved in the evening to leave and visit
Simeno's Town, about eighteen miles lower down on the
river. They begged and entreated me to remain, but I
could not both for myself and horses, for I never saw one
blade of grass.
" I reached Simeno's about sunset. Many were the
salutations. Instant application was made for me to preach.
I said, ' I am killed with hunger.' Simeno replied that he
was wont to have always something to give, but he was
ashamed to say that at present he had nothing. Motlanka
now looking very old, rose and brought me a goats,
shoulder-blade with a morsel of flesh. I shared it with
CAUGHT IN A THUNDERSTORM. 203
my guide. The people were instantly assembled, more
numerous than at Mothibi's; and although I could not from
the darkness see my audience distinctly, I could perceive
that they listened to me for at least an hour with the
greatest attention. The night was dark and stormy.
Simeno and others talked with me a long time about
having a missionary. I gave the same reply as at Mothibi's.
I laid me down wearied and hungry, amidst dust and dirt
and vermin, and slept soundly. Next morning application
was made for me to preach again, but this I refused on the
score of want of food. I was asked to stop, and an ox was
killed, of which I was promised a steak ; but having thirty
or more miles to ride to Campbell, and the horses having
nothing to eat, I took leave, and reached Campbell in the
afternoon, right glad to eat a hearty meal, for I had fasted
nearly two days.
" Next day I started for Daniel's Kail, about fifty miles.
At the pan one horse gave up, for the day had been
terribly hot. I left the man with the horse to come on
slowly, while I went on if possible to reach the place before
the frightful storm which was approaching from the north
should intercept me. My horse also gave in, which obliged
me to walk. When within five miles of the place, on a
plain without a single bush, the lightning struck close to
me, and the rain and hail instantly fell in torrents. The
knocked-up horse turned his tail to the storm, and I had
no alternative but to imitate him, and I sat me down in
the middle of the road with my head on my knees. In five
minutes I was drenched to the skin, and from a state of
perspiration and excessive thirst I was, as it were, instantly
launched into an ice-cold bath ; but still my thirst continued.
I at length proceeded, it still raining till I reached Mosheu's
house — a wretched temporary place, as you know, but to me
it was a palace. Having no other clothes, and there being
many other persons in the house, I had no alternative but
to throw off my jacket and waistcoat, and try and dry
myself with the rest on by the fire. A cup of tea did me
good, and I lay down with my underclothes like a dish-clout.
I awoke fresh in the morning. The weather was still
204 NEWS FROM THE WIFE.
unsettled, and I did not leave before ten or eleven o'clock —
to finish the last fifty-five miles. We reached Konung,
when a heavy thunderstorm came on, which detained us
nearly three hours ; but the worst was in the evening
approaching home, as stated in the beginning of the letter.
I am, however, happy to say that, through the mercy of our
God, I feel none the worse, which to myself seems wonderful,
considering the transitions through which I have gone. I
am quite well, not even a cold. Though. the house seemed
a little doleful, it was delightful to get under a roof and get
on dry clothes. Had I the journey to undertake again, I
should do it with double cheerfulness.
" By the time I got some tea and had told my tale to
Brother Hamilton, who was right glad to see me, it was
late. Mr. Edwards also came over to greet. Stiff and
tired I laid me down on my lonely bed, but from the tea
or the association of ideas I could not sleep."
1 ' December z-yd.
" Two days have been taken up preparing another sheet
of the selection for the press ; and to-day it has been
printed off, so that I again take up my pen half-tired and
sleepy, for I was in the office by 5 a.m. I must first tell
you that your letter from the salt-pan came to hand, and
it was not only one drop of comfort but a thousand, for
I really felt anxious to hear something about you and our
dear children. You cannot think how much the particu
lars of your letter rejoiced my heart. Your welfare, and
your meeting with our trusty friend the doctor, made me
weep tears of gratitude to the Father of all our mercies.
Blessed be His name ! But now I have another anxiety.
You said the Orange River was full ; and David Bergover
has just been here, and he says that you, the expedition,
Hume and the Boers, are still on this side of the river.
Though I make allowance for David's tales, I cannot help
fearing that it may be in some measure the case, which
must prove very trying to you. 'I wish I could fly' often
fell from my lips. I will hope the best, and continue to
believe that the Lord will keep you and bless you. . . .
" Our American brethren and sisters grow in our esteem,
ZEAL FOR THE GOSPEL. 205
and I think they will be devoted missionaries. None of
the sisters are strong or likely to become so. Messrs.
Lindley and Venables have resolved to leave this for
Mosega some time next month, in order to get the house
put in order. They will likely be absent for at least three
months. Dr. Wilson remains here with the ladies. The
brethren are now making preparations. They will also
print a few lessons in the Setebele language from the words
they have collected. Frederick and Baba have engaged to
go with them, and others are willing to go. They are all
in good spirits. They are often at this side of the village,
and of course we see each other many times in a day. We
feel happy in aiding them in every way we can. Their
undertaking is an arduous one, and they need our sym
pathy and prayers. They have a glorious Leader and an
almighty King. Trials they will have, but the cause will
prevail.
" As far as I am able to judge, the work of the Lord is
still progressing here. A great work is yet to be done.
What has been accomplished is only like a handful of corn.
May it shake as Lebanon ! I am beginning to think, since
I visited Mothibi's, that we want in zeal. The work of
conversion, or endeavours to convert sinners, is not so much
the primary object of our souls as it ought to be. If I
speak for myself I must say that I do not feel that sym
pathy for the awful condition of my fellow- men which their
state ought to excite in every Christian bosom. When I
look at the Man of Sorrows, His toilsome days and mid
night prayers, and the burning zeal of the first ministers
of the gospel, I feel as if I had not the same mind or spirit.
There was no abatement of their zeal till they had finished
their course with joy."
Mary Moffat to her Father.
"PORT ELIZABETH, April 14, 1836.
" My last was written to you in October, after the arrival
of my dear Robert from his journey to Mosilikatse. The
expedition arrived in November, having been obliged to
return, after getting just within the tropics, from failure of
206 WAITING FOR THE RIVER.
oxen. They got no further than some of our travellers
have done before ; but I expect Dr. Smith will be able to
interest the scientific world. I see from the papers that
people at the Cape are enthusiastic about it, not only with
regard to the objects of science, but the relations of the
native tribes with the Colony. We left the Kuruman on
the i Qth of November ; Robert accompanied us to the
Vaal River, over which we walked dry shod, and, finding
it so low, we never dreamed of getting the Orange River
in flood ; but so it was, and I was compelled to lie on the
banks of that mighty stream for one round month. I was
in company with a Mr. Hume, with whom I had travelled
before, preferring to go with him rather than with the expe
dition. Mr. Hume rendered me every possible assistance,
but my health being in such a delicate state I could not
but suffer much from the extreme heat and exposed situa
tion, and was severely tried, often hesitating whether to
return. Frequently were we tantalized with the prospect of
being able to ride through ' to-morrow,' but as sure as to
morrow came the river rose again, till all hope was gone,
and we came at last to the conclusion to cross on a raft,
some Boers higher up having commenced so doing. We
joined a party of them, and got over very well. There were
eighteen waggons altogether, and with hard labour we got
everything over that frightful river in less than three days
without a single accident. How much have we to be thankful
for ! and it was gratifying to find that for all I had endured
I was no worse, but rather better. Perhaps being obliged
to take it easily was in my favour, for it was impossible to
be active through the day for want of shade, and by the
time the sun was down my strength was all gone, so that
I could not walk, except to the water's edge and back.
"The raft was a much better conveyance than I had
supposed. It was made of four or five willow trees tied
together with bark of the river thorn, and again two or
three trees tied across underneath. To this they fastened
a strong rope of bullock's hide on either side, and then
able-bodied men drew it at their pleasure back and for
wards from one bank to the other. They chose a narrow
SENDING CHILDREN AWAY TO SCHOOL. 207
place between rocks which were convenient for landing. It
was eighty yards across ; but where we had lain so long,
hoping to ride through, it was five hundred yards across.
Each waggon was brought over piecemeal in two trips, and
the contents afterwards. It was a time of great anxiety
to me, the river being tremendously deep, but the Lord my
God graciously heard and answered my prayers, and ex
ceeded all my expectations. We recommenced our journey
on the 4th of January, and arrived in Grahamstown the
latter end of the month ; but finding myself extremely weak,
it was judged proper for me to get to the sea coast as soon
as possible. I got my children from Salem, and went down
in company with Mr. and Mrs. Monro to a place called the
Kowie, on the borders of Kafirland. I was obliged to re
turn before I had been there three weeks, but found my
strength much recruited.
" My oxen have suffered so much that I could not get
away from Grahamstown again till the beginning of the
last month, and even then I was obliged to leave one
waggon, which necessitates my returning that way. And
now I am detained here for want of a suitable conveyance
for the children to the Cape, all the vessels which have left
hitherto being destitute of female passengers who could
take charge of them. I am, however, congratulated by all
my friends here for the necessity that is laid upon me to
stop, as my health is daily improving."
Mary Moffat had come to the resolution to send
the three elder children to school at the Cape. It
was, as thing's went in those days, a great venture,
but her faith was also great.
" PORT ELIZABETH, May 2, 1836.
"MY DEAR ROBERT, — No doubt you are perfectly amazed
to see the date of this, but be assured it has not been my
fault that I am not now at least at Cradock ; but for your
consolation I now inform you that if my Heavenly Father
does not again see fit to cross my plans, I hope to be at the
Kuruman about the end of June, but not one day sooner ;
208 EMBARKATION UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
it is impossible. I wrote to you just four weeks ago, since
which my patience has had a severe trial in detention
against my will. Three weeks ago I took a passage for the
children, when they were to sail in a few days, and only
last Friday was the final day. The Monday before I was
getting terribly impatient, but suddenly got a check. Mary
was taken very ill on Monday evening; her symptoms were
so violent that she was twice bled, and had to take much
medicine. You may in some degree conceive of my anxiety
expecting every hour to be called on board. During the
whole of Tuesday I was harassed with messages that the
ship was to sail. On Wednesday I was kept in the same
state of agitation, besides grief on Mary's account, want of
sleep, and excessive fatigue. The captain having assured
me the day before that I should have timely warning I
tried to keep myself easy, though some of my friends
urged me to be off ; but knowing the anxiety of the pas
sengers, I viewed it all as report, foolishly trusting to the
captain's promise, which he forgot. All the passengers
were on board, when good old Mr. Kemp came and assured
me that the vessel was to sail before morning. The moon
had now risen. It was just time to put the little ones to
bed. Mary was altogether unfit to go, and I had no alter
native but to pack up arid get the others away without her.
Mrs. Atkinson and Mrs. Chalmers, who were here, agreed
to stop with Mary, and Mrs. Robson and I went on board
accompanied by the good old gentleman. I make no
attempt to describe my feelings. The very evening, fine,
still, clear, and a full moon beaming on the water : it was
enough to produce a sentimental feeling, but I had little
time for this. Deep perplexity and consideration of the
mystery of this providence absorbed much of my thoughts.
I left the two dear children in comfortable circumstances
and in good company, among them Mr. Thomson, of
Grahamstown, who assured me of paying them every atten
tion as the father of a family. When we left the vessel
they were speaking of drawing up the anchor, and just as
the evening gun went off the captain passed us in the last
boat.
MARY MOFFAT IN PORT ELIZABETH. 209
"Two or three times in the night I arose to try if I
could see the Briton, but the light was not sufficient. In
the morning, however, I saw a vessel had made out and
was opposite Cape Receife, and supposed it was she.
About ten o'clock, however, Mr. Robson came, out of breath,
to tell me the Briton was still in the bay, and the wind
contrary. This was good news to me, as there was still
a chance of getting Mary away should she be detained
another night. Thursday evening I went down to Mr.
Kemp and begged of him to order a boat to be in readiness
to-morrow morning should there be any signs of the Briton
sailing. Ac Mary continued to recover, I now began to
hope ; and, after committing the matter to the Father of
mercies, laid me down quite composed, concluding that if
the vessel were away before daylight it was for some
gracious reason, and if not, I should certainly get her on
board. As soon as day dawned I went to the window to
see, but all was still. I lay down again, but was soon
roused, hearing that Mr. Chick wanted me. He told me
the vessel would soon be off. I sent for Mrs. Robson, and
we soon got Mary up and a chair prepared for her. She
walked part of the way, and was carried through the sand.
The ship was now under weigh, and we followed her about
four or five miles. Mary bore it well. My mind was
greatly relieved by finding Ann and Robert perfectly
happy. The ship was out of sight early in the afternoon.
It is now stormy, and I think much of Cape Lagulhas, but
am enabled to hope in that mercy which has always
attended us."
Mary Moffat to Jier Father.
" KURUMAN, July 18, 1836.
" I wrote to you some time in April at Port Elizabeth
while waiting for the sailing of the vessel which was to
convey our children to the Cape. On the 8th of May I,
with my three little ones, left that place for Grahamstown,
where we arrived on the I3th. I remained there until
the following post day to have the satisfaction of hear
ing of the children, which, through the kindness of our
15
210 THEY MEET AT THE ORANGE RIVER.
Heavenly Father, I did. They had rather a dangerous
passage of eleven days, but were well and in good spirits.
On the evening of the same day I left Grahamstown for
home, and had a pretty comfortable journey, having been
favoured with very fine weather for the season, never
having suffered from the cold. Having before I left Port
Elizabeth written to my dear Robert to tell him about what
time I expected to be at the Orange River, he providentially
received the letter, and left home on horseback to meet me
there. I arrived at the last farmhouse close to the river
on the 1 5th of June about two o'clock in the afternoon,
and about five he arrived ! This circumstance was rather
surprising, as such an occurrence is very rare in this country
where travellers meet with such a variety of incidents to
cross their plans. I had been particularly anxious that I
might meet him there, though I considered there were
many probabilities against me, and could not but consider
it a special providence towards us. The formidable river
was again to be crossed, though then fordable with waggons ;
but the water was pretty high, having never run off entirely
since I was floated over. I had had to buy sheep and cows
from the farmers, and all these would have been an increase
to my cares in crossing, which I did not need ; therefore
Robert's arrival was most seasonable to me in every light
of the subject. And thus to meet again in circumstances
of health and comfort was certainly enough to overwhelm
us with gratitude to our gracious Benefactor ; and we came
on our way rejoicing in that goodness which so graciously
led us and protected us in our separation.
" We found all well here. Two of the American brethren
with their wives had gone to their station at Mosega, the
spot where the French brethren commenced, and where
Mosilikatse now lives — at least occasionally. Mr. Lindley
left to follow them on the I4th, so that we consider that
mission now fairly commenced. Mr. Lemue is prospering
at Motito. Patience and perseverance are two essential
qualities in a missionary in this country, without which no
one will succeed.
" We are now experiencing some heavy trials. Some of
STATE OF THE MISSION. an
our church members have grievously departed from the
path of rectitude, and this produces in our mind great
jealousy over others who are making a profession, and
makes us slow about encouraging them, lest they also
should wound the cause. There are many candidates of
long standing, but in general they do not give the satis
faction they ought Their natural apathy is a great barrier
to their improvement. The school is not flourishing as it
was, and we can scarcely account for it, except that some
few families have left the place on account of the discipline
which it has been necessary to exercise.
" The translating and printing are going on. The Scrip
ture lessons which were in hand are finished, a volume of
443 pages. The Assembly's Catechism is also in print and
in use ; readers are increasing in every direction. A man
was here last week to fetch away his daughter to go and
teach the people at Mothibi's to read. She is a clever girl,
and has lived all her life on the station, and we doubt not
will instruct them well"
CHAPTER XXII.
DISTURBANCES IN THE INTERIOR.
1837-
TH E next three years were a period of tranquil
prosperity in the Kuruman Mission, the only
cloud upon which was the declining health of
Mary Moffat, who had never recovered thoroughly
from the shock of a severe illness in 1835.
The knowledge and conviction of the truth were
steadily growing upon the station itself. Year by
year the community of professing believers grew
larger, and as they advanced in spiritual life their
outward demeanour and manner of life improved
also. The population was small ; some were drawn
to the station by their desire for instruction, whilst
others clung to their heathenism and shrank from
the light in which it lay bare at the Kuruman, and
they withdrew to a distance where they could follow
their old practices with less disturbance of conscience.
The three missionaries worked together with a
will. Upon Moffat fell the largest share of duty —
from his more complete mastery of the Sechwana
language, and his personal ascendency over men.
LABOURS, MENTAL AND MANUAL. 213
He had been called especially to the great work of
translating the Scriptures, but his colleague, Roger
Edwards, took a large share of the printing and the
whole of the school work ; and Robert Hamilton,
though well stricken in years, and never able to
acquire the Sechwana language, quietly went about
his daily labour in the mechanical department of the
mission, supplementing in Dutch, by the aid of a
native interpreter, the preaching of his colleagues
when necessary.
The great church was still in progress. It stands
to-day a monument of the patient labours of these
three men whose only European assistants were
Hume and Millen, the latter of whom had died
before the completion of the work. The Bechwanas,
however willing, could give but little help except
their unskilled labour ; and it is a matter of surprise
to those who have seen it how this, for many years
the largest building to the north of the Orange
River, could have been put up with such scanty
means as were then available.
Meanwhile the printing office was constantly at
work. The increase of those who were eager to
learn caused a continual and growing demand for
books from the outlying districts. It will be re
membered that the Batlaping tribe, to which the
missionaries were originally sent, continually harassed
by the western marauders, had moved to the south
east, and, breaking up into sections, had scattered
along the Kolong or Hart River, a tributary of the
Vaal. In the same neighbourhood had settled some
of the Barolong and Bahurutse from the interior ;
and there was also a tribe of Korannas, under their
214 THE BOERS AND MOSILIKATSE. •
chief Mosheu, whose headquarters were at a place
called Mamusa, now known as Vryburg, the chief
village of the modern Stellaland. It was long
hoped that the Batlaping might be led to return to
the Kuruman. They had found, however, that their
new country was far superior to the old in its fitness
for cattle, and the return has never taken place.
The Directors had not yet seen their way to
sending a missionary to them, so that their old
teachers, still at Kuruman, felt a call to visit them
from time to time, and with considerable encourage
ment. Then, again, the Batlaro tribe to the west
ward was showing a greater desire for instruction,
and thus new demands were made upon their time
and strength. So that what with the work on the
station, and that throughout the district, even with
such assistance as could be given by the converts,
every energy was taxed ; but it was with the joyful
feeling that every effort was telling in the right
direction.
Meanwhile, in the year 1837, the aspect of affairs
in the interior underwent an ominous change. The
•emigration of the Dutch farmers, disaffected to
British rule, had commenced. One party of these
had come into collision with the warriors of Mosili-
katse. The Boers had intruded on what he con
sidered his domain, and had refused to retire. The
Boers defended themselves successfully in an en
trenchment of their waggons, repulsing the Mate-
bele with great slaughter, but losing all their oxen.
They were extricated from their dangerous predica
ment by their friends further south, and shortly
•afterwards they planned an invasion for the double
FATAL BLOW TO AMERICAN MISSION. 215
purpose of plunder and vengeance, which was so
well carried out that Mosilikatse was taken by
surprise, and a great booty in cattle swept away.
Unhappily the attack of the Boers was directed
upon the very spot where lay the newly-formed
American missionary station. This was destroyed.
The missionaries were in a pitiable condition. They
had been prostrated by fever for some time, and they
were led to fear that on the departure of the Boers
the infuriated Matebele would return and wreak
their passion upon them ; for it would have been
difficult to convince them that they had not in some
way been acting as the spies of the enemy. Under
these impressions they accompanied the Boers, thus
deepening an impression of this kind which not
unnaturally did find place in the minds of the
Matebele. It was a fatal blow to that mission, and
a difficulty in the way of all future endeavours.
Mosilikatse, seeing that with the continual in
cursions of Dingaan, the Zulu king, from the east
ward, and with this new danger threatening him
from the south, there was little hope of holding his
ground where he was, gathered his warriors and his
herds of cattle and started to the far north-east.
He disappeared into what was the vast unknown
region south of the Zambezi so completely that for
some years nothing was known of him except by
vague rumour, and his actual existence came to be
a matter of doubt.
Mary Moffat to her Father in 1838.
" I must now leave this half-page for the relation of a
most painful event, one of the most painful in the annals
of this unhappy country. The Zulu Mission on our side
216 AMERICANS LEAVE FOR NATAL.
is broken up, and the Americans have left the country to
go to Port Natal, and to join their brethren who are with
Dingaan (the successor of Chaka) on the coast. You have
probably heard that some thousands of disaffected Boers
have emigrated to Natal and the interior. We have
anticipated the direst events from them, and these have
commenced. They have approached the territory of
Mosilikatse, his people have attacked them, they (the
Boers) have since fallen upon him, killed many men, and
taken six thousand head of cattle ; and with them the
missionaries have fled. This is all we know at present,
but we expect an explanation every hour, as some of our
people were with them, and are on their way home.
" More than six weeks ago the brethren here had every
thing ready, with six waggons to fetch timber from thence,
but were prevented from starting by the rains, when the
report of this event reached us. We could not at once
give credit to it, but it was agreed to defer the journey for
a time.
" Yesterday a letter arrived from a Wesleyan brother
stationed east of Philippolis, stating that the Americans
were there, and going to Natal ! The interior is now
effectually closed, and if Government wink at the pro
ceedings of these Boers they will annihilate the aborigines,
as we hear they intend seating themselves in the Bahurutse
country, and they themselves will doubtless become
formidable to the Colony."
" April $tk.
" MY DEAR FATHER,— Robert was to have filled up this
blank, but has more to do than he can accomplish before
the people leave. We have just heard from Dr, Wilson
by our two men, but his letter is short and not explanatory.
The brethren and sisters have been heavily afflicted. In
the latter end of August a fever commenced among them,
which carried off dear Mrs. Wilson. All took it in suc
cession except the Doctor, who writes that he had done
nothing for four months but attend to the sick and to his
own motherless babe.
" lii this state the Boers came upon them quite unex-
DARK FOREBODINGS. 217
pcctcdly one morning early. The Zulus were entirely off
their guard, knowing nothing till the bullets were flying
about them in every direction. The Boers brutally com
menced hostilities at the mission station, and one ball fell
at the foot of the bed on which Mr. Venables lay sick.
The outhouse in which their servants slept was literally
shot to pieces. Two of our poor people who were with
them, one of them a lad we brought up, have disappeared,
and it is not known whether they were killed or fled. One
of those who has come back narrowly escaped several
times. What induced the missionaries to go with the
Boers we do not yet know, but are inclined to think, from
what the men tell us, that they submitted to whatever the
Boers wished. These pillaged the house before their eyes,
and when the missionaries left, the Boers were still in the
house, packing up all that their horses could carry. Thus
the poor brethren have been in great perils, but these
enemies were not suffered to lake their lives. This, it
appears, some of them wished to do."
Robert M off at to his Father-in-law later.
" We heard nothing more from our brethren till a short
time ago; another few lines came from Dr. Wilson at
Grahamstown. We are truly sorry to see the Matebele
Mission once more abandoned, and the interior covered
with a dark cloud, with the prospect of any other attempt
tenfold more hopeless than ever. The means also by
which this painful event has been brought about must
have a baneful influence on the minds of the interior
natives, and will lead them, and especially the Matebele, to
think anything but well of the Government of the white
people. From the testimony of our two young men, who,
as it proved, escaped in the attack, and were some weeks
among the Matebele, and kindly treated by them, it is
evident that Mosilikatse deeply regretted the departure of
the missionaries.
" They are by this time in Natal, but if all be true that
we read they will have their troubles there, from the
tyranny of Dingaan, who seems to be looking with a
2i8 MATEBELE REAP WHAT THEY SOWED.
jealous eye on his white neighbours, who have located
themselves on the coast. We wonder and wonder again
to witness the apathy of the Government in allowing so
many hundreds of its subjects to pass the boundaries of
the Colony, and by force of superior arms to mark their
course among the native tribes with blood. If they are
not interrupted the success of our interior missions will
soon be at an end. These Boers are from various parts of
the Colony, are discontented with the British Government,
and have been for the last two years emigrating to what
they think a better country. We are glad that none come
in this direction.
" The evils now coming on the Matebele are only what
I expected. Mosilikatse has ruled with an iron sceptre,
and his warriors have, full often unprovoked, shed the blood
of thousands, and thousands more have been driven from
affluence to the most abject poverty. I have more than
once told him that if he did not change his government
and prohibit deliberate destruction of human life, the
innocent blood which deluged his country would soon
call down vengeance from heaven. It is to us blind
creatures, in the awful mysteries of Providence, painful to
see professing Christians becoming the sword of Jehovah.
" Whether he will stand or fall in the present crisis is
doubtful, as Dingaan is assailing him from the south-east.
Past events in this country make us thankful for the bless
ings of peace here. The number of inhabitants is con
stantly increasing. We have abundance of work, and much
more than we can attend to. This, of course, makes trans
lation and printing go on slowly. The brethren, Hamilton
and Edwards, are now daily employed in preparing the
roof of our new place of worship."
Mary Moffat to her Father.
" KURUMAN, March 5, 1838.
" We should now bring the girls home, but do not know
when we shall be able to go, as it will be difficult for
Robert to leave the place. He intended to finish the
translation of the New Testament, that it might be printed
THE FRENCH MISSIONARIES AT MOTITO. 2ig
in Cape Town, it being too great a task to accomplish
here, unless we had a printer. The field of labour is now
greatly extending, and the Directors seem reluctant to
afford us aid. You will thus readily perceive that my dear
husband's labours are manifold, by far too much so. If we
do not soon get assistance he will have to lay aside transla
tion altogether, which would be much to be regretted, as
his whole soul is in it ; and any one who has witnessed the
change amongst the Bechwana tribes since they got some
portions of Holy Writ must feel anxious that they should
have more. Were he relieved entirely from the printing
he could be much better employed, nor could his health be
likely to suffer as it now does. He is a very bad sleeper,
and, when overdone with mental exercise, sometimes passes
whole nights, with the exception of an hour or two, in
restless tossings."
About thirty-six miles to the north-east of Kuru-
man lay Motito, the station occupied by the French
missionaries on their retirement from the Matebele
country. Mr. and Mrs. Lemue now represented
the Paris Society there, their colleagues having
accepted the great opportunities which had opened
to them in Basutoland. An affectionate intercourse
was kept up between Kuruman and Motito, and
none who knew the Lemues could wonder at this.
The following gives a peep of Moffat keeping
bachelor house, with his two younger children, in
the absence of their mother, at Motito, whither she
had been summoned on account of the severe illness
of Mrs. Lemue :
" April, 1838, Sablath Evening.
" The bell has just been rung, and I am alone with Jim
and Jack, the one on my right hand, and the other on my
left, talking and questioning with no little volubility, so
that my attention is divided, for I do not like to command
220 A PEEP INTO THE HOME.
silence. As soon as the messenger left on Friday I went
to the printing office and made arrangements so that
Brother Edwards could go on. Friday night was one of
sleep, you may believe ; though I awoke early and was at
the type before I could see a from b. With hard tugging
we managed to get a proof sheet. Brother Hamilton left
for the Batlaros at noon, so that I was alone in the evening,
but not in solitude, for who could be in the company of
Jim and Jack ? Jim let me see that he could put his foot
into either end of his shoes. I took the hint and repaired
them. I had scarcely finished this work when he perched
himself at the end of the table and stood in the attitude of
a Grecian orator, and questioned me about the resurrection
from the dead. The conversation, or rather the contention,
lasted for more than half an hour, while Jack stood with
his hands crossed behind his back wondering and some
times repeating Jim's inquiries.
"Never in my life was I so delighted with the questions
of a child. ' Will these hairs,' laying his hand on his brow,
* also come out of the dust on that day ? ' ' Could the
naughty children who have died come back and hear
preaching they would not be naughty again.' * How can
that which has decayed become alive again ? ' 'I know
mamma says that God is a very, very great God ; will He
make the dead come out of their graves ? ' I gave a few
simple hints about the coming of Christ. When I asked
where he had heard of Christ coming in flames of fire, he
said, ' Do not you teach the people that He will come in
that way?' Enough- of this subject. People are coming
for medicine, and I must get the lads to bed. They have
put twenty or more questions while I have been writing."
The Jim mentioned here was at this time between
five and six years old, and before another year had
fulfilled its course he went to the dimly-known world
about which his child-mind was already so busy.
CHAPTER XXIII.
VISIT TO ENGLAND.
1838-1841.
TOWARD the end of 1838 the Moffats
started for Cape Town. If no other reason
had called for the journey it was necessary
for health ; but apart from this, the translation of
the New Testament was now complete, and the
printing was too heavy a task to be accomplished on
the station. It proved that Cape Town was no
better off in this respect. No office there was in
a position to undertake book printing on the scale
required, and it became plain that the work would
have to be done in England.
A passage was accordingly taken. The ship was
on her way from China. She was not of the best,
being small, and carrying troops ; but there was little
or no choice, and the voyagers had to embark under
circumstances calling for the. exercise of great faith
and patience. A severe epidemic of measles was
raging at the Cape, of which the Moffat family and
their native attendants had come in for a heavy
share ; and there was also much sickness on board
222 BIRTH AND DEATH ON BOARD SHIP.
the ship. There was no alternative but to embark
at the time fixed. Friends at the Cape behaved
with their usual kindness, and especially Mr.
Mathew, of Claremont, who smoothed over many
difficulties and made matters easier for the almost
bewildered missionary and his wife in a way they
could never forget to the last hour of their lives.
They had not yet left Table Bay when a daughter
was born. In a few hours the ship put to sea, but
severe weather set in, with contrary winds, and in
the midst of the general distress it became apparent
to the mother that her beloved Jamie was sinking.
He had never thoroughly overcome the measles,
and dysentery had followed. Three days after the
birth of his sister he passed away at the age of six
years. His mother, finding all around her prostrate
with sea-sickness, had him brought and laid beside
her in the cot from which she could not rise.
Amidst the storm he lay upon her arm peacefully
talking of the angels who should bear to the
heavenly land the spirits of children, and with the
words, " Oh, that will be joyful, when we meet to part
no more," on his lips, he fell asleep in Jesus.
For a while the life of another of the children
trembled in the balance, but his time was not yet
come, and in two or three weeks all were recovered.
The voyage was tedious. It was not until the sixth
of June, nearly three months from the date of sail
ing, that the ship cast anchor off Cowes, to await, in
the leisurely fashion of the time, further orders from
London. Mary Moffat was glad to set foot on land
with the children, and she was welcomed and enter
tained by the same friends from whose house she
AN UNEXPECTED WELCOME. 223
had embarked twenty years before. Her husband
was in no hurry to land, and remained on board to
attend to the baggage and write letters.
The clergyman of the parish was the first Chris
tian brother to welcome Robert Moffat to his native
land. He went on board in the dark, hearing that
there was a missionary, and stayed an hour or two,
filling with great joy and comfort the heart of the
shy and diffident man who shrank from landing on
what had come to be like a strange country to him.
The ship was ordered to London, and in a few days
with furled sails she was being towed up the Thames
by a steam tug, a new and strange sensation to the
South African family, even to Moffat himself, for when
he left, in 1 8 1 8, steam navigation was in its babyhood.
His reception in London was a surprise for which
he was scarcely prepared. He found himself at
once plunged into a whirlpool of public meetings
even before he could get his luggage through the
custom-house, that bugbear of unfortunate travellers
so dear to the official mind. It was with the utmost
difficulty that he could get liberty to visit his own
friends. Twenty years had made a great difference
in the home of Mary Moffat's youth. The mother
had gone to her rest. Of three brothers, one had
died a few months before in Manchester, another
was in the United States, and the third, John, was a
missionary in Madras. The father was getting old,
and had been obliged by infirmity and by adverse
circumstances to give up the nursery at Dukinfield,
and to retire to a cottage at Flixton.
Great changes had also come over the circle at
Inverkeithing. A brother and two sisters had passed
224 THE CIRCLE OF OLD FRIENDS.
away. The parents were, however, still compara
tively hale and hearty when they welcomed back
the son from whom they had parted with but little
expectation of ever seeing him again ; whose career
they had watched with growing satisfaction, and
who, they were willing to admit, had not disap
pointed their hopes.
It was also the privilege of Robert and Mary
Moffat to meet again many faithful friends who had
shown unwavering constancy. Of these there was
Elizabeth Lees, of Manchester, who, with her sister
Mary, wife of Stephen Sheldon, never faltered or
failed to keep up a friendship commenced in the
days of girlhood. The churches assembling in
Grosvenor Street, Manchester, and in Albion Chapel
at Ashton-under-Lyne, still contained many who
had known Mary Smith, and throughout the long
absence a constant and faithful correspondence had
been kept up. Letters from Lattakoo — or, as it is
now more correctly called, Kuruman — came to be
treated as circular epistles. Copies were made and
sent round, and the station received many proofs
of the heartfelt liberality which spoke in practical
language, and made many things possible which
otherwise would have been left undone. Another
faithful friend — one of that goodly company of whom
none are now living — was Mrs. Greaves, of Sheffield.
For many long years she and others likeminded
had failed not to encourage their missionary brother
and sister with sympathetic prayers and kindly deeds.
Miss Lees lived to see her friend on her return, but
was already nearing the confines of the other world,
and died a few months after.
GREAT MISSIONARY INTEREST EXCITED. 225
Moffat was not allowed to linger long among his
own people. The popular demand for his services
as a missionary deputation could not be withstood.
At that time there was an enthusiasm for foreign
missions such as has scarcely been seen since. The
missionary heart of England had been stirred to its
depths by the recent visits of many good and earnest
workers in various parts of the world ; especially by
John Williams, the impression made by whose visit
was soon to be deepened in so tragical a manner
by his martyrdom at Erromanga. The Malagasy
refugees were also in England, the objects of wide
spread interest. It was thus ordered that Moffat's
visit was well timed. The public mind was keenly
alive to impression, and it was given to him to
take an instant hold, the effects of which cannot
be estimated. He was hurried from town to town
with scant opportunity for a moment's rest. The
country was not then covered with a network of
railways. Much of the travelling had to be done
by coach, and the mere travelling called for more
than ordinary strength and endurance. There was
in all this, of course, a sense of pleasurable excite
ment and a glow of sympathy and interest which
made labour and fatigue of no account ; but Moffat's
heart was all the time longing to be at the work
which had brought him home, the printing of the
Sechwana New Testament.
When he landed, his hope had been to get this
work speedily accomplished, and then to slip away
again to South Africa before the winter ; but it was
not until the end of October that he was able even
to make a beginning, and to get settled in London
16
226 MOFFATS LITERARY LABOURS.
with his family. To carry his own translation of
the New Testament through the press meant not
merely a correction of proof sheets, but further
revision of the text, for he was never satisfied with
his work. He was far more conscious than any one
else could be of his deficiencies. When he went
out as a missionary he knew nothing of the original
languages. It was only by painfully laborious
comparison of many authorities, and by collation of
the Dutch with the English version, that he could
satisfy himself of having grasped the meaning of
the original ; and having so grasped it, there was
still the task of putting it into Sechwana. From
the officials and the committee of the Bible Society
he had always the kindest sympathy and co-opera
tion. Loyal and devoted as he ever was to his
•own Society, the tie of affection to the kindred
institution was even stronger and deeper.
Whilst carrying through the printing of the New
Testament, it was suggested that the Psalms would
be a valuable addition. A few of these had already
•been translated. With his usual energy the work
-was at once taken in hand, and when the New
Testament appeared, the Book of Psalms was printed
-and bound up along with it.
By a happy coincidence, Moffat's brother-in-law,
who had gone out as a missionary to Madras a few
years after his sister left for South Africa, arrived
in England. He did not know when he sailed
from India that the MofTats were also on their way.
The most he had looked for was possibly to see
something of them at the Cape, which was then
port of call. Between him and his sister there
INTRODUCTION TO THE EISDELLS. 227
was a strong bond of affection. He had been led
to become a follower of Christ, and to give himself
to missionary work, by her example and influence.
They again met with no ordinary joy in the blessing
which had been accorded to each in their Master's
work in different parts of the world.
The winter was spent in London, as far as possible
in the work referred to already. This was much
interrupted by the incessant and imperious demands
of many supporters of missionary enterprise. At
last respite was gained in a fashion not altogether
to be desired. The exposure to cold air returning
home late at night, after speaking at densely-packed
meetings, brought on so severe an illness as to bring
the doctors upon the scene. All public speaking
was for the time absolutely forbidden, and Moffat
was glad to utilize the leisure thus gained. He had
taken up his abode with his family at Walworth,
where they attended the ministry of George Clayton.
On the first Sunday as they entered the chapel they
were unknown. The appearance of the somewhat
foreign-looking family with a native servant attracted
the kindly interest of many, but especially of the
Misses Eisdell, who were ready for every good work,
and who felt a pity for these evident strangers.
The tall sunburnt man, in anything but clerical
garb, was supposed to be the captain of a ship !
Inquiries were made, and George Clayton and his
people were delighted to find amongst them unawares
the man whose fame had already reached their ears.
This was the commencement of a lifelong friendship
with the Eisdells, whose tender and loving ministra
tions never ceased till they were called away from a
228 SUCCESSFUL ANNIVERSARY MEETINGS.
career of hallowed usefulness which is fragrant in
the remembrance of hundreds who had the privilege
of being their pupils.
It was arranged that Moffat should preach a
sermon in connection with the anniversary services
of the Society in May, 1840. To get him, or rather
his throat, into order for the strain of public speaking,
he was sent down to Brighton, and taken in hand
by the Rev. J. N. Goulty. With him and with his
family there sprang up another of those devoted
friendships with which the lives of Robert and Mary
Moffat were singularly enriched and brightened. It
was given to them not only to make, but to keep
friends even unto death.
The anniversary meetings were an overflowing
success. The Tabernacle in Moorfields was crowded
by a congregation so absorbed that they listened to
the close of a discourse which took more than two
hours in its delivery. At Exeter Hall the throng
was so great, that after making his speech in the
larger room Moffat had to go and give it again in
the smaller one, which was crammed with a second
audience.
In the month of August a daughter had been
added to the family band. She was born in the
cottage of her grandfather at Flixton, and was
named Jane 'Gardiner, after her father's aunt.
The New Testament was ready, but the pressure
of public engagements had retarded the translation
of the Psalms,; and as there was no likelihood of the
requisite leisure being obtained before the end of
the year, all hope of a speedy return to Africa was
gone. Two men had, however, been detailed to
MARY MOFFAT LONGS TO RETURN. 129
reinforce the Bechwana Mission, William Ross and
David Livingstone. The former, though not so well
known to the world as his distinguished companion,
was a faithful and laborious missionary, who died at
the post of duty after twenty-three years' service in
Bechwanaland.
Mary Moffat to Robert Hamilton.
"SHEFFIELD, November 25, 1840.
" MY DEAR BROTHER HAMILTON, — It was my intention
to write letters long and many by our dear brethren and
sister now going out to join you, but I have found it
impracticable. This grieves me the more as I know that
my dear Robert will be still less able to spare time to
do it. Since my baby was born he has never been with
us except for a few hours at a time, and since the 8th
of October I have not seen him, as he is in Scotland
interesting his countrymen with African details, which
are everywhere devoured with avidity. We congratulate
you and brother and sister Edwards on an accession to
your numbers, and we think very highly of them. Of
Mr. Ross we have seen the most, and the more we saw of
him the better we liked him. Mr. Moffat will soon write
on the subject, and enable you to judge of what will be
best for them to turn their attention to.
" I am sure you will greatly enjoy the company of the
two missionaries, both being Scotchmen and plain in their
manners. I do hope they will all be a blessing to the country.
They must of course look to our garden for their present
supplies. Anything about the premises they can make
use of. You must not from this infer that we are not to
return. No! if Moffat lives we shall return, but it cannot
be immediately. The Psalms have to be finished, the
Selection reprinted, and perhaps the hymns too, and
besides all this the public is determined to have a book.
You will smile, and so do I, for I have felt opposed to it
till very lately, but I see it is of no use to refuse. It must
be so. I fear this will detain us very long. Our present
230 BECHWANA MISSION REINFORCED.
plan is to leave this time next year, but I doubt very much ;
it will require another winter. Mr. Moffat says not, but I
fear, for he will again be sent to different parts of the
country where he has not yet been. I long to get home.
I fear I shall forget what I knew of the language. I long
to see the spot again where we have so long toiled and
suffered, to see our beloved companions in the toil and
suffering, and to behold our swarthy brethren and sisters
again ; and I long for my own home, for though loaded
with the kindness of friends, and welcome everywhere, still
home is homely !
"We have, however, much that is painful to anticipate:
the parting with some of our children, and my aged father,
whose circumstances are such as require the exercise of
strong faith to believe that he will always be comfortably
provided for should he live long — he has entered his seventy-
eighth year. Moffat's parents have also to be left, our dear
brethren according to the flesh to be parted with, and many
kind Christian friends. In fact, long as our visit to England
is, it is a state of constant excitement, bustle, and anxiety.
We are seldom together as a family. I should have ac
companied Mr. Moffat in many of his journeys, but the
Lord has given me other work to do. I have two lovely
little girls whom you have never seen, and they are sweet
little ties. I enjoy good health : one reason may be I am
exposed to no hardships ; everywhere well taken care of
as a hothouse plant, so that I am not exposed to the
inclemency of the seasons.
" Thus far the Lord has been gracious to us, and I trust
He will continue so. My husband is terribly worked, but
keeps well thus far in the season. How his head stands it
I know not. Our dear children are doing well according
to their capacity. I have done what I could to persuade
Livingstone to marry, but he seems to decline it."
Ross was married, but Livingstone at this time
had other views on the subject, and held them in
spite of the motherly advice of Mary Moffat. She
MOFFAT WRITES A BOOK. 231
had never forgotten what her own Robert had gone
through as a forlorn bachelor in Namaqualand, and
her kind heart was sore to see any one with such a
prospect before him. But the Disposer of events
had ordered it otherwise. The two missionaries
sailed for the Cape in the course of the year 1840,
and it was a great joy to Moffat to be able to send
with them an instalment of good things, consisting
of five hundred copies of the complete New Testa
ment in the Sechwana language. A few months
later he had the still greater joy of sending out five
times that number of Testaments, with which were
bound up the Psalms. These he had translated in
the intervals of the distraction and excitement of
public work, to which he was called in almost every
town in the kingdom. Scarcely were the Psalms
out of his hands when he undertook a revision of
the Scripture Lessons, a selection from the Old and
New Testaments, suited to the circumstances of the
Bechwana churches. By the liberal aid of members
of the Society of Friends an edition of six thousand
of these was carried through the press. Nothing
but herculean strength and indomitable will could
have enabled him to go through with these manifold
labours. Towards the end of the year 1841, he"
managed to seclude himself for a time from public
engagements, and to devote himself to the prepara
tion of his book, the well-known " Labours and
Scenes in South Africa." The work was published
in the spring of 1842, and was a great success.
Scarcely had the last proof sheets left his hands,
when he was called upon to meet the imperious
demands of the churches. He never could say no
232 HIS WIFE'S ANXIETIES ABOUT HIM.
to any call to what seemed to him like an op
portunity of serving the missionary cause ; and for
some months he was almost swept away with a
torrent of engagements, which scarcely gave him a
moment's breathing time day or night. It was a
time of great anxiety to his faithful partner, who,
naturally anxious in disposition, viewed with fear,
almost with resentment, the demands that were
made on her husband's powers both of mind and
body. Writing to his parents in May, 1842, she
says :
" We have great reason to be thankful for the completion
of the book, for many a time have I trembled lest he
should become poorly before it was finished, and have to
lay it aside and disappoint the public. He has found it an
arduous task. I always dreaded it, and often wished he
would not do it, but had I known how formidable a work
it would be I should have felt more opposed to it. I can
assure you his head is thoroughly tired, and he ought to
have at least a fortnight's relaxation ; but this was out of
the question. He has had some engagements, for the
middle and latter end of this month, standing over for six
months, and these he could not break ; and not being able
to finish so soon as he had hoped, he has consequently been
sadly hurried. He was some days in Buckinghamshire last
week ; and yesterday morning, after sitting up till two o'clock
to correct, he had to depart at seven for Cambridgeshire, there
to labour very hard indeed, as the printed bills testify. I
am anxious to hear how he gets on, for he was quite unfit ;
he said he was so fatigued that his head felt empty. If all
be well I expect him here to-morrow evening, when, if
possible, I hope we shall go down to Brighton for two days
at least; as, by what I consider a merciful providence, some
mistake has occurred, so as to leave next Sabbath vacant —
although Mr. Arundel is at his wit's end to answer the
numerous demands for his services. A day or two there
LETTER TO MRS. JACOB UN WIN. 233
at his leisure, enjoying the fine air and the good society of
Mr. Goulty's family, will do him great good."
Although living a life of almost insupportable
distraction, racked with constant care about her
husband, looking forward to her parting with dear
friends and with some of her children, Mary Moffat
still found time to indulge in those friendships
which so brightened and widened her life, and
gave flow to her far-reaching sympathies. The
following letter was addressed to the wife of Mr.
Jacob Unwin, of London — then, as may be gathered,
a great sufferer, but soon to enter into rest. She
and her husband had greatly endeared themselves
by their kindly interest in the children — an interest
which was continued by him, and led to important
consequences to more than one member of the
family :
"Ax MY FATHER'S HOUSE, NEAR MANCHESTER.
"Nov. 26, 1842.
" MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, — Though I can hardly per
suade myself that you are still an inhabitant of this lower
world, I cannot resist the strong inclination I have to
address you ; and though I seem to stand on holy ground
while thus attempting to address one who is on the con
fines of the heavenly world and calmly closing her eyes
on terrestrial things, having to-day (for the first time for
many weeks) a little leisure, my thoughts will rest upon
you, and impel me to make an effort to express to you the
sympathy we have had with you and your beloved husband
in the extremely afflicting circumstances in which you have
been placed for some time past. Our friends at Walworth
having kindly communicated with me from time to time,
although we have been under perpetual excitement and
fatigue, our minds have hovered over the trying scene, and
234 GRATITUDE FOR KINDNESS.
when we could do no more, we have breathed a prayer for
you and yours.
" Oh, my friends, you are indeed enduring chastening,
and doubt not it is as seeing Him who is invisible. He
has before caused you to pass through the fire without
being burned, and will also be with you when you pass
through the floods, that they do not overflow you. Your
graces of faith and patience are now severely proved ; but
when He has tried you, you shall come forth as gold, and
shall shine for ever and ever to the glory of His name.
" It is with reluctance that I introduce to your notice my
own affairs at a time when you must have almost ceased
to think of friends so distant as we ; but it would be cold
of me while I am troubling you with these lines not to
notice your labour of love towards our dear boy and our
selves, the kind and maternal interest you took in his
being comfortably fixed, to fit himself for the arduous work
in which he is anxious to be engaged, and your personal
endeavours to further the object we have in view. All
these have made an impression on our minds never to be
erased, and we desire to express our gratitude for all that
you accomplished and for all that you intended — for it was
evident to me that it was your intention to be as a mother to
him when his own was far removed. In this I had the fullest
confidence, and must therefore consider that we also are
losers by your removal from this world. Our prayer is
that your own dear children may experience the Divine
favour and love all their lives long, and at last unite with
yourself and their beloved father in singing the praises of
that dear Saviour who shed His blood for them. Oh ! my
dear friend, I feel very solemn while thus taking my fare
well. These I am taking every day, till they become a
common sound. I have within the last few weeks bid fare
well to many aged persons who are very dear to me, and
on Monday must do so to my honoured father, now sitting
beside me. He is in his eightieth year, but his mind is as
vigorous as ever. I think he will bear separation well,
though with all the feeling I could desire.
" Adieu, then, my esteemed friend. Methinks I see you
CONSOLATION FOR A DYING BED. 235
in the dark valley ; but His rod and staff comforts you, and
though heart and flesh fail, He will be with you. Methinks
I see you panting to be gone, cheerfully surrendering all
the loved ones about your dying bed, till that day when
you shall again meet them in that world where there is
no more such agonizing pain as you have been called to
endure. The ways of God are ofttimes inscrutable, but
what we know not now, we shall know hereafter."
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE MOFFATS RETURN TO SOUTH AFRICA.
1842, 1843.
IN November, 1842, commenced a series of vale
dictory services, which in their extent, and in
the deep feeling shared by those who attended
them, gave a striking proof of the manner in which
Moffat had been privileged to rouse in the hearts
of many thousands in England and Scotland not
only a strong personal regard for himself, but a
deeper missionary interest and purpose. A few
citations from a little book published at the time by
the late Dr. John Campbell, of London, will serve
to illustrate this :
" On the evening of Thursday, November 3, 1842, a
meeting was held in the Waterloo Rooms, Edinburgh, for
the purpose of presenting a copy of the ' Encyclopaedia
Britannica' to the Rev. R. Moffat, as an expression of
affectionate regard from some of his friends of different
Christian denominations in Edinburgh and its neighbour
hood. The large room was filled in every part, and the
platform was occupied by ministers and friends of almost
every Evangelical body. The Rev. W. Lindsay Alexander,
M.A., occupied the chair."
VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 237
Addresses were delivered by the Rev. Henry
Grey, by the chairman, and by the Rev. Dr.
Brown, of Broughton Place Church. The chair
man, in presenting the volumes, gave a brief but
happy address. He too, with many others who
took a part in that meeting, has gone to join Moffat
amid the glories of the heavenly state. The fol
lowing are a few of his words :
" Your visit to us we never can forget. Our little chil
dren are already, in their infantine chronology, beginning
to date from the time 'when Mr. Moffat spoke to them ; '
and believe me, to many of us of riper years the time when
you spoke to us will be as a sunny spot on the dusty and
troubled road along which we have to journey. We feel
ourselves your debtors. We have reaped a real and a pure
pleasure from the pictures you have given us of missionary
life — your romantic adventures, your hairbreadth escapes,
your bold exertions, your surprising successes. You have
opened before us a new page of human society and cha
racter, and have confirmed our attachment to the mission
ary cause by showing that there is no tribe too degraded
for the gospel to elevate, no heart too polluted for Chris
tianity to purify. Your debtors we are, and it is but an
imperfect expression of our sense of obligation which we
convey to you by this present. Nor are our feelings of
affection unmixed with an emotion of sadness, as we reflect
that after a short space we shall in all human probability
behold your face no more in the flesh. But we would not
detain you if we might."
From Edinburgh he passed on to Newcastle,
where his friend John Collingwood Bruce, with other
gentlemen, were waiting to present him with a set
of scientific instruments, which were to be used in
introducing to the minds of the natives of South
Africa some little insight into wonders still greater
238 LAST FAREWELLS.
than those with which civilization had made them
in a measure familiar.
In Manchester was held a series of meetings
which left an impression never to be forgotten by
those who took a part in them. The interest was
much increased by the circumstance that Joseph
Gill and William Ashton were going out as mission
aries with Moffat — the latter, as it proved, to be
closely associated with him for many years, and now
the only one of that generation still remaining in the
Bechwana field.
Two or three similar services were held in Lon
don. On the twenty-third of January, Moffat and his
company took their leave of the Directors. Among
the many who attended on that occasion, the fol
lowing names remind us forcibly of the ceaseless
course of time. The chairman was T. M. Coombs.
Other directors were Thomas Lewis, James Row
land, John Foulger, Thomas Binney, John Morison,
Thomas Piper, John Yockney, Alexander Fletcher,
H. F. Burder, Joshua Wilson, John Burnet, Henry
Townley, Ebenezer Henderson, with the secre
taries Arundel and Tidman.
A week after, the missionary party embarked at
London Bridge, with a great concourse of friends,
on board a steamer which was to carry them to the
ship at Gravesend. There all the partings of some
weeks past culminated in a final farewell, one more
tearful service was held on the deck of the steamer,
the Moffats and their companions bid adieu to
friends and kindred, and the missionary party had
set its face towards Africa.
Though the embarkation of the passengers took
THE VOYAGE OUT. 239
place at Gravesend on the thirtieth of January, the
ship was still wind-bound in the Downs on the
fourth of the following month, by which time some
thing like a hundred sail had assembled at the same
o
anchorage. That morning the wind changed round
to the north, and in a heavy snowstorm all got
under weigh and stood down the Channel. The
crowd of outward-bound ships spread away each on
her own course, the white cliffs receded from view,
and next day the company on board the Fortitude
found themselves alone on the wide, rolling sea.
The voyage was much what might have been
expected, though with a larger share than usual of
bad weather ; but the ship was stout and well
manned. The captain was an old and godfearing
man, from whom the missionaries enjoyed every
facility for the observance of the Lord's day and for
public services, as was befitting so large a proportion
of missionary passengers. All were safely landed
in Cape Town on the tenth of April, the passage
being considered an average one.
As there was an opportunity by steamer to Port
Elizabeth, it was deemed best that Ashton and
Inglis with their wives should go, and await the
advance of the rest at Bethelsdorp, a village a few
miles from Port Elizabeth. It was not till the
twenty-fourth of May that the Moffats were able to
follow them ; embarking in a little coasting schooner
for Algoa Bay, where they arrived after a tem
pestuous passage of ten days. Little could Mary
Moffat have imagined that only a week before this,
her beloved brother John Smith — whom she had the
joy of meeting in England, and who had returned
240 DEATH OF MARY MOFFATS BROTHER.
to his work at Madras — had found a watery grave, a
vessel in which he was making a short voyage along
the coast having foundered in the Bay of Bengal
on the twentieth or twenty-first of May. Nothing
was ever known of the exact circumstances. He
had gone to Vizagapatam to attend a missionary
ordination, and had started on his return journey to
Madras by land, but was taken ill and constrained
to return. In his anxiety to get back to his work
he took a passage in a small vessel, not very sea
worthy at any time, and too deeply loaded. The
day after she had sailed, a storm of unusual violence
swept the coast. Many ships were lost, while others
were dismasted or driven far out of their course ;
but of the Favourite not a vestige was ever found,
or a ray of light thrown upon her fate or on that of
her passenger.
He was ready to go. He was a man of ardent
and exalted piety, beloved of many for his work's
sake. His widow — who still lives — then in England
for the recovery of her health, was many months
before she could bring herself to accept the truth, so
tragical in the uncertainty which surrounded it.
The Moffats now rejoined their companions at
Bethelsdorp, but hindrances, so familiar to travellers
in Africa, taxed even their well-trained patience.
All the heavy baggage of the large missionary
party, with an immense amount of public property,
including a supply of Sechwana books, had been
shipped in a slow-sailing vessel, whose appearance
was looked for in vain for months. Seeing no
chance of a forward movement for some time,
Robert Moffat found vent for his restless energy in
THE REV. JOHN BROWNLEE. 241
a journey on horseback to Kaffraria. He attended
a meeting of ministers and missionaries on the way
at Grahamstown, and then visited all the eastern
stations of the London Missionary Society. He
was glad to meet his old and valued friend John
Brownlee, in whose company he had first sailed for
Africa, and with whom he had kept up a steady
intercourse by correspondence. It is much to be
regretted that, owing to the destruction of Brownlee's
papers in successive Kafir wars, none of Moffat's
letters to him are obtainable. They were men of
strong sympathy with each other, and Brownlee was
amongst the natives of Kafirland very much what
Moffat was in the interior of South Africa.
The following notice is from the pen of the Rev.
Mr. Dugmore, and appeared in the "Cape Monthly
Magazine" for September, 1876 :
" The venerable John Brownlee has gone to his rest ; but
it will be long ere he is forgotten in King William's Town,
where nearly the whole of his long missionary life was
spent. I have his figure before me, almost gigantic in
height, but losing an inch or two in his latter years as age
bowed his herculean frame, with breadth of chest and
shoulders proportionate, and an arm and hand, the sinewy
power of which it would be dangerous for most men to test
if occasion had ever called it forth. Grave in deportment,
as became a Scotch minister, yet hiding under his gravity
a vast amount of blended information and intelligence.
With the one drawback of his indistinct utterance, it was a
treat to converse with him. When past personal travel, he
showed himself abreast of the times on almost all subjects —
political, literary, scientific, religious. Some branches of
science, such as theology and botany, he had studied con
amore. On great social questions he seemed quite at home.
But his favourite theme was the relation of the world's
17
242 NARROW ESCAPE OF THE BAGGAGE.
progress to Christianity. On this I had the pleasure of
hearing him dilate, with an amount of information and a
degree of animation that surprised and delighted me, only
a few weeks before the fatal stroke of paralysis which was
the beginning of the end of his long and honourable
career. I felt as though I had lost a father when I heard
he was gone."
When at last the long-looked-for ship was heard
of, it was from Table Bay, where she had put in to
discharge some cargo and to receive some more for
the coast ports : and when in a calm and leisurely
manner the Agrippina glided into Algoa Bay and
cast anchor, that was by no means the end of the
trial of patience. Except in perfectly fine weather,
a heavy surf rolled in on the beach of what was an
almost open roadstead. Days sometimes elapsed
when no landing was effected, and Moffat's heart
sank within him at the loss of precious time ; most
of all when one night in a gale four ships parted
their anchor and came ashore, and were utterly
wrecked with some considerable loss of life. He
paced the beach that night, his soul harrowed by
•scenes of death and destruction, longing for the day,
to see whether the Agrippina still held to her
moorings : and he was thankful to find that, if slow,
she was at least sure.
At last the start was made, and the old familiar
scene presented itself: the long train of ox waggons,
winding over hill and down dale, sticking fast in
muddy fords, and making fifteen or twenty miles a
day. The labour had been immense of getting
everything away, but it was going home and going
back to a well-loved work. At Graaff Reinett the
CROSSING ORANGE AND VAAL RIVERS. 243
missionary band was welcomed and cheered on its
way by the venerable and apostolic Murrays,
husband and wife Ifkeminded, who have always
given a warm and practical support to missionary
undertakings, and have been the means of establish
ing the missionary spirit in their own church in South
Africa.
Moffat and his companions crossed the Orange
River on a pont or floating bridge, the first of its
kind that had regularly plied ; though, as will be
remembered, Mary Moffat had some years earlier
been floated across the same river, and probably at
the same spot, on an extemporized raft. It would
then have been considered a wild and fantastic
dream if a vision could have been presented of the
splendid iron bridge which now spans the river,
and is in actual railway communication not only
with Port Elizabeth, but with Cape Town. Men
can now travel in ease and comfort in fewer hours,
what it would then have taken days of toilsome
journeying to accomplish.
Another large stream, the Vaal River, had to be
crossed, but this proved to be fordable. As the
travellers drew near to it, they were delighted to
meet David Livingstone. He had ridden from
Kuruman, a distance of a hundred and fifty miles,
to bid them welcome, and to tell them of the ample
preparations that had been made for hastening them
upon their way. From this point onwards they
were met day by day by joyous friends, always
bringing fresh teams of oxen. Their brother
missionaries and the natives showed the like ardour
and emulation, until, as the party drew near to
244 ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION AT KURUMAN
Kuruman, it seemed like a royal progress. As the
last stage was reached, it was felt by all that they
could not stop. The long cavalcade hurried on,
until between two and three o'clock, just before the
dawn, on the tenth of December, the MofTats found
themselves once more in their own much-desired
home, the scene of so many blessed labours in past
years, and still to be the scene of many more in the
years to come. Crowds were there to meet them
even at that hour, and next day, and for many days
after, people were coming from long distances round
to look once more on the faces of those whom they
were beginning to fear they should never see again.
It was a wonderful change, which some at least
could understand, and it showed that the work of the
Lord had struck its roots deep into the heart of the
people.
Writing to the Directors in February, 1844,
Moffat says :
" I assure you it is with emotions of a very peculiar
description that I take the pen for the first time to address
you on the return of myself and family to the scene of our
labours, after an absence of more than five years. I cannot
help reviewing the past, and the multitude of events which
have transpired since the day we bade farewell to the
brethren and the church here, and the unforeseen provi
dence which guided our steps into an unthought-of course,
conducting us through scenes the mind had never contem
plated, introducing us to the society and communion of
the excellent of the earth in our own native isle, preserving
our health amidst many labours, and crowning us with
lovingkindness and tender mercies, bringing us back again
to the people of our charge, from whom we received a
universal and joyous welcome.
" I am again seated where I was wont to sit when writing
BY MISSIONARIES AND PEOPLE. 245
to the Directors in bygone years, and where I spent so
many days and months with the most intense anxiety in
the translation of the Word of Divine Truth into the
Sechwana language. The well-known sound of the church-
going bell in the Kuruman vale again salutes the ear. The
substantial chapel and the mission -houses, and the tall
Babylonian willows waving in the breeze, the swallows
skimming aloft, having returned from the warm tropics,
the buzz of a hundred infant-school children at this mo
ment pouring out for a minute's play, some chanting over
again what they have just been singing, others romping
and running about on the greensward — are sights and
sounds pleasant and melodious to eye and ear. . . .
" When we reached Philippolis we were kindly received
by Mrs. Wright and Mr. Thompson. We had not pro
ceeded much farther when we were met by Mr. Livingstone
on horseback. Mr. Edwards had accompanied him half
way, but not being able to procure a horse had returned.
Such a visitant as Mr. Livingstone in the wide wilderness
was to us a most refreshing circumstance. Few can con
ceive of the hallowed feeling his presence produced, direct
from the station and people to whom all our fondest affec
tions were bending. We were looking forward hourly with
longing expectation of some one to tell us how it fared
with the mission, to which Mrs. MofTat and myself felt more
tenderly attached than ever. The deeply interesting con
versations we had on the affairs of the Bechwana Mission
cheered us on our journey through the desert. To our
great joy, on reaching the banks of the Vaal River we
found it fordable. Here we spent a delightful Sabbath,
opportunities having been afforded to address a goodly
number of Bechwanas from a neighbouring village. A
seasonable supply of oxen, sent by Mr. Bartlett and Cap
tain Kok, of Campbell, enabled us to get all safely and
expeditiously through the river. On the nth of De
cember we were met by many of our people from the
station and an abundant supply of fresh oxen, and on the
1 3th we were once more seated in our own dwelling at the
Kuruman.
246 INFLUX OF VISITORS.
" Our souls were overwhelmed with all the changing
scenes through which we had passed. We had been the
recipients of innumerable favours and mercies poured out
on us from the Divine hand. Thus laden with benefits, all
unworthy as we were, still one thing lacked. It was once
more to be with the people who had been for many long
years the objects of our most anxious solicitude, again to
gaze on their well-known faces, and to mingle with them
once more in their solemn feasts, and to tell them again
the tale of Divine love. This also has been abundantly
realized.
" For many successive weeks the station continued to be
a scene of bustle from the influx of strangers and believers
from the different out-stations, so that we felt somewhat as
we had done among the exciting scenes we had witnessed
in England. Among our visitors were every branch of the
Batlaping ruling family, and several subordinate chiefs.
Mothibi came, stooping with age, with his wife, on whose
brow the shades of life's evening were spreading. Mothibi
had visited us prior to our departure for England, and had
again been to Kuruman in our absence, when he was
baptized ; but for a period of sixteen years Mahuto, his
wife, had never been. After the death of Peclo, her first
born and the promising heir of the chieftainship, her mind,
in accordance with the habits of the natives, revolted at
the idea of living at a place where the object of her fondest
hopes had been suddenly consigned to a premature grave.
This, with a succession of afflictions and losses caused by
the devastating inroads of the western marauders, had in
scribed 'Marah' on everything connected with the Kuruman
River. It was therefore to us a deeply affecting scene to
witness this aged couple alight from their waggon, and
with their sons and daughters enter our house and testify,
with a kind of ecstasy of feeling, their thanks to God for
having brought us back and permitted us to see each other
in the flesh.
" My venerated and valued brother Hamilton, though
far from being what he once was in physical strength,
which has greatly diminished since we left in 1838, is, with
EDWARDS AND LIVINGSTONE. 247
delight renewed by our return, devoting with unabated
fervour his remaining energies to the blessed cause in
which he has been so long and so successfully engaged.
Mr. Ashton has taken the charge of the day school, and
Mary, our eldest daughter, that of the infant school."
The mission being now largely reinforced, it was
arranged that the Rosses should go to Taung, about
a hundred miles due east of Kuruman, where Ma-
hura, a brother of Mothibi, had settled with a part
of the tribe. Edwards and Livingstone were to
commence work among the Bakhatla, another Bech-
wana tribe two hundred miles to the north-east.
Inglis was to go to the same neighbourhood, and
Ashton was to remain at Kuruman.
Edwards and Livingstone settled down in the
valley of Mabotsa. A large native town stretched
along under a range of hills ; but, with the exception
of such land as had been cleared for cultivation, the
primeval forest filled the neighbouring glens, and
these were the haunts of lions, which had hitherto
had it all their own way, from the absence of guns
among the natives. The missionaries found them
selves exposed to nightly attacks, which worried and
harassed their cattle and deprived them of rest.
One day, after an unusually bold and destructive
attack on an outpost, a hunt was called. Living
stone joined the party, and, as is well known from
his own graphic story, got left in the lurch, and
found himself literally in the jaws of the furious
beast ; and was only rescued with a broken and
mangled arm by the devotion of his servant Me-
balwe, who himself got severely bitten.
Whilst recovering his strength, and waiting for
248 MOFFATS DAUGHTER GOES TO MABOTSA.
the healing of his arm, Livingstone visited the
Kuruman. Recent events seem to have altered his
views on matrimony : at all events he won the heart
of Mary, the eldest daughter of the house, and in
due time they were married. This circumstance
drew closer the tie which already held him to Moffat.
They were men of congenial spirit, and through
many long years they kept an unshaken friendship
far closer than the ordinary fellow-feeling of brother
missionaries. Livingstone returned to Mabotsa, but
only to make preparations for removal to Chonwane,
to take up his abode with Sechele, chief of the
Bakwena. The Edwardses were absent in the
Colony, and whilst Livingstone went to build a
house at Chonwane his wife would find herself
lonely. In view of this her sister Ann went to
cheer her solitude. This involved a journey for
about two hundred miles through a wild country,
with two or three native attendants only. Danger
from man there was none. Even heathen Bech-
wanas were so far amenable to the Christian influ
ences which had been permeating the country that
any member of the Mission families, or indeed any
European, would have been as safe as he would
have been in London— if not safer ; but the country
swarmed with lions. The young girl, with her maid
and a couple of native waggon - boys, made the
journey to Mabotsa in peace. After a few months
the Livingstones were all ready for removal to
Chonwane, and as they left for the north their sister
started for the south. Towards the close of the
second day's journey it was discovered that some
thing belonging to the native servants had been
A NIGHT WITH THE LION. 249
dropped. One of the men, with a companion, took
the only serviceable gun in the waggon and started
back to look for it. The approach of sunset warned
the driver, the only man left with the waggon, to
halt ; which he did on the open plain near a few
bushes. The oxen had been unyoked, and were
grazing close to the waggon ; a fire had been lighted
and the kettle put on, and the tired travellers were
sitting in the peaceful twilight. A sudden rush was
heard, the oxen galloped past the waggon and right
away, except one, which fell, with a lion on his
back, not fifty yards from where Miss Moffat was
sitting. It did not take her long, with her maid, to
jump into the waggon, where the man also took
refuge. Darkness closed in, and for hours the lion
could be heard tearing and crunching to his heart's
content, whilst the weaponless wights in the waggon
had to sit and listen, and wonder what had become
of the other oxen, and of the men who were out
without even the shelter they enjoyed. After what
seemed to them a good many hours the lion finished
his meal, gave a contented sort of roar, and went
away. As daylight drew on it became plain that
either he was back again or that another had taken
his place ; but as the sun rose he left, not liking to
be so near the waggon in broad daylight. The ques
tion now was, What is to be done ? The nearest
water was ten miles farther on, whilst that they had
left the previous morning was quite twenty miles
away, at a Bechwana village. There was nothing
for it but to walk back again. They did so, the
females expecting that out of every bush would dash
another of their dreaded enemies. They met the
250 THE ADVENTURE ENDS WELL.
two men coming on. They, too, had been beset by
a lion, and had spent the night in a tree. They
reached the place in safety — hungry, thirsty, and
footsore ; were kindly received and entertained by
the natives, and continued their journey next day
to Mabotsa, where they found the remainder of
their oxen. The waggon was brought back again,
and a fresh start made for the Kuruman.
CHAPTER XXV.
MARY MOFFAT VISITS CHONWANE.
1844-1847.
FOR some years after the return from England
the work went on with but little interruption.
The station had become the centre of a large
area of activity. Besides Edwards, Inglis, and Liv
ingstone northwards, and Ross at Taung, Helmore
was at Lekatlong, in the neighbourhood of what are
now the Diamond Fields. To all these Kuruman
was the mother station, from which were drawn sup
plies of books and of many other useful things.
The venerable Hamilton, who had seen the com
mencement of the Bechwana Mission in 1816, was
still able to render some aid, where all were workers.
The Moffats and Ashtons were fully employed, both
husbands and wives. Moffat's chief work was
translation, and in this Ashton was able to render
him much critical assistance, besides relieving him
almost entirely of the duties of the printing
office. But these represented only a small part of
the labours, manual and mental, which filled up the
day's work. The missionaries were surrounded by
252 LABOURS GREAT AND SMALL.
a people just struggling into light out of darkness,
dimly grasping the value of civilization, but needing
much help and guidance. The native converts were
willing enough to assist, but had themselves to be
taught how to do so. There were the usual disap
pointments to which all missionaries at home and
abroad are accustomed. Again and again was the
stone brought with labour near the top of the hill,
only to roll down again to the bottom ; and the toil
had to be begun over again. When encouragement
came it was thankfully received ; but in their pros
perous times the Moffats never forgot what years of
effort and suffering had first been necessary.
Besides direct mission work there was much to
be done of a subsidiary character. Dwelling-houses
had to be enlarged and new schoolrooms built.
The natives were now advanced enough to give
good help, but the chief workmen were still the
missionaries themselves. There was no allowance
for the payment of artizans, and they must put their
own hands to the work. What necessary cost was
involved in the new schoolrooms was met by the
opening of a kind of amateur shop by the mission
aries' wives, in which was isold a quantity of clothing
which had been given for the purposes of the mis
sion by working associations in England. No
doubt this supplied another shaft to those who were
always ready to say that missionaries were only
traders in disguise. There was no disguise about
it — the trade was there, but its object was no private
gain, but to make the resources placed in the hands
of the missionaries go as far as possible towards the
furtherance of the gospel.
THE SUNSET HOUR. 253
In the year 1845 Robert Moffat had a merciful
deliverance from what might have been a great
calamity. He had just set up a new corn-mill, and
whilst seeing to its being properly started unwarily
stretched his arm over two cog-wheels. In a
moment the shirt-sleeve, and with it the arm, was
drawn in. Happily the mill was stopped in time,
but an immense gaping wound, six inches in length,
with torn edges, was the result ; and for many
weeks the strong man was laid aside. It pleased
God to give such a recovery as might at one time
have seemed wellnigh impossible.
The public services were, of course, in the Sech-
wana language. Once a week the missionary fami
lies met for an English devotional meeting. It was
also a sort of custom that as the sun went down
there should be a short truce from work every
evening. A certain eminence at the back of the
station became, by common consent, the meeting-
place. There the missionary fathers of the hamlet
would be found, each sitting on his accustomed stone.
Before them lay the broad valley, once a reedy
morass, now reclaimed and partitioned out into
garden lands : its margin fringed with long water
courses, overhung with grey willows and the dark-
green syringa. On the low ground bordering the
valley stood the church, with its attendant mission-
houses and schools, and on the heights were perched
the native villages, for the most part composed of
round, conical huts, not unlike corn-stacks at a dis
tance, with some more ambitious attempts at house
building in the shape of semi-European cottages.
Eastward stretched a grassy plain, bounded by the
254 MARY MOFFAT STARTS FOR CHONWANE.
horizon and westward a similar plain, across which,
about five miles distant, was a range of low hills.
Down to the right, in a bushy dell, was the little
burying-ground, marked by a few trees.
It was a peaceful half-hour during which to watch
the sunset. The light-blue smoke would be rising
on the still air, the cattle just come in settling down
in their various kraals ; the Bechwana boys would be
taking an evening canter on the backs of their young
oxen, and the older men, as they looked upon the
tranquil scene, would often recall the former years
when the Kuruman valley was the gloomy and
dreaded haunt of the wild Bushmen, with their
poisoned arrows, and when the whole land was full
of war and rapine.
In 1846 Mary Moffat started on a visit to the
Livingstones at Chonwane. It added another to
the list of her long and adventurous journeys
alone, but her mother-heart was anxious about the
daughter now enduring sickness and hardship in a
new mission. She would not take away her husband
from his work, so she availed herself of the escort of
an accompanying native hunting party, and started
with her three younger children.
Mary Moffat to her Husband.
"MARETSANE, Sept. 3, 1846.
"We have kept plodding on since eight o'clock on
Monday morning, averaging seven or eight hours a day ;
the stages agreeing pretty well with your memorandum— of
which I am glad, as I do not feel so utterly strange on the
road. Tell Ann I did not sleep well last night, and my
thoughts fixed on her as a theme of meditation. I could
not but contemplate her alone in this desert, and 1 thought
IN THE LION COUNTRY. 255
till I was melancholy, and then again till my heart"was
filled with joy and thankfulness that she was brought
safely amongst us. I am very glad of Boey's company,
although it is, like many other good things in this world,
attended with its evils. I should indeed have felt very
solitary with my lone waggon, with ignorant people, but he
is so completely at home in this field that one feels quite
easy. We do not stop at nights by the waters, but come to
them at midday, and then leave about three or four o'clock.
We cannot but be constantly on the outlook for lions, as
we come on their spoor every day, and the people some
times hear their roar. Just before outspanning to-day Boey,
being on horseback looking for water, met with a majestic
one, which stood still and looked at him. He tried to
frighten him, but he stood his ground, when Boey thought
it was time to send a ball into him, which broke his leg, by
which he is disabled from paying us a visit. We have very
much to be thankful for, never even having had a fright.
Till to-day we have always had water at the places where
it is usual. Here we have had to dig for it. The country
is indeed very dry. Game is tolerably plentiful. We got
beautiful water yesterday in the sandy bed of the Sitlagole
River. I regretted not having your book with me, to re
fresh my memory as to past events in these localities with
the Barolong and Mantatees, not excepting your own
doings. I had no idea that Sitlagole had ever had such a
river."
• • CHONWANE, Sept. 15, 1846.
" Through the goodness of our heavenly Father we
arrived here on the loth, and found all well. Having
written some days before from the Maretsane, I had not
had leisure to write again, Sunday having been a most dis
agreeable day, spent at a place called Raphutse, a good
stage from Mabotsa. At the Maretsane it was so dry that
our oxen could not drink. We could have got water by
digging at some considerable distance from the outspan
place, but there being so many indications of the district
being greatly infested with lions, our party having wounded
two, I strongly advised them to rather face thirst than an
256 AN INTERESTING COUNTRY.
encounter nocturnally with these formidable animals. In
this I was warmly seconded by Martinus, and so we spanned
in an hour before sunset, and rode about two hours. Here
we were allowed to rest quietly, though they were heard in
every direction at a distance.
" We did not come on your old route to the Maretsane,
but farther west, which made our stage only five hours to
Lotlakane, where we got water, though at some distance
from the road ; and again started about four o'clock, and
arrived at Molopo about dusk, and found the river flowing,
which surprised the people, on account of the prevailing
drought. We had everywhere seen abundance of game,
and Boey and his friends got plenty of flesh. The
children also were much pleased with the variety of animals
they were privileged to see ; and Boey was very obliging
in bringing them before us whenever it was practicable. I
had just gone to bed when a troop of buffaloes came to the
river to drink. One of them was quickly despatched, and
this was an additional treat for the children next morning
to see his huge head.
" I was perfectly enraptured on entering the first valley
(Maanwane) of the Bakhatla : and it being necessary for
me to get out of the waggon on account of the rugged path,
I could examine the shrubs to my great delight. It seemed
altogether another region of the world. We passed through
it about sunset, and were anxiously straining our eyes to
get a sight of the station, when I found we had still to go
through a small and romantic kloof, forming a passage
between the two valleys, and we had to cross the stream
two or three times. In one of these fords Boey's waggon
stuck fast, and all efforts to extricate it were vain. They
struggled hard till darkness put an end to the attempt for
the time, and Boey sent me word that we were now so near
that I must drive on and leave them. This I refused to
do. He had behaved politely to me all the way; besides
the conviction that our people ought to do their best to
help our fellow-travellers, who had broken their dissel-
boom.
" I had had a long walk up and down the hill, and was
INTEREST IN THE INTERIOR MISSIONS. 257
greatly excited by everything about me, and felt terribly
nervous and weak, and was glad to lay down my head to
rest in that beautiful kloof. Had I not been so tired I
would have sat till midnight, that the moon might shed
additional beauty on the scenery.
" As soon as the moon rose the men returned to their
work at Boey's waggon, unloading and pulling it out, and
mending the boom. We had a good breakfast, a fine
eland steak shot the day before, and rode into Mabotsa
about ten o'clock/'
After a day spent with the Edwardses at Mabotsa,
she accomplished the remaining thirty miles to
Chonwane, the station of Livingstone ; where her
presence, as much as the supplies she had brought
with her, soon wrought a change and recruited the
health and spirits which had run low. It was a
great delight to her to see the first steps in the
planting of Christianity among a heathen tribe, and
reminded her of the early days of the Kuruman.
She never forgot these, and ever regarded it as a
sacred duty to strengthen the hands of those who
passed on to the interior.
Early in 1847 a general meeting of those engaged
in the Bechwana Mission was held at Lekatlong.
On his way back to his station, Moffat visited some
of the Batlaping villages along the Kolong River.
The advance which had taken place of late years
was striking. A severe contest was going on
between heathenism and Christianity. A little
company of believers had, however, been gathered
in each place, and were ministered to by native
teachers, who had spent a few months in training
at Kuruman. These people were feeling the
pressure of the surrounding heathenism, and were
18
258 DEATH OF MOFFATS FATHER.
proposing, in many instances, to remove to Kuru-
man. From this step they were dissuaded by the
missionary, who pointed out to them the value of
their presence and testimony to the gospel in the
midst of a heathen community. The test of their
sincerity has no doubt been severe, and has led to
many relapses ; but greater reliance can be placed
on those who remain firm in the midst of some
of the more heathen villages in isolated situations,
than on those who, under the wing of the mis
sionaries at headquarters, have every inducement
to maintain their profession.
Whilst Robert Moffat was thus engaged, death
had entered his Scottish home ; his father having
passed away after only a few days' illness. He had
been for fifty years an officer of the Government
in the customs, and had just retired on pension.
His son Richard, who had never left his parents,
and continued to reside with his mother until her
death, writes thus :
" I do think that he had been rather falling off for some
time past, though he always looked so fresh in the face,
and his spirits were so buoyant in the presence of friends.
I saw that in doing some little things in the garden he was
more easily fatigued than formerly, though I attributed it
entirely to the weakness of one at his age — upwards of
seventy-nine, mother's age exceeding his by some ten
months. She is eighty, past 7th of March.
"Our father enjoyed his pension one month only, so
that he has not been a burden on the country. We will
miss him much. He was always looking out and putting
things to rights, and being a man of peace was a cementer
of differences when any arose ; and it grieved him to see
those who ought to dwell together in unity, snarling and
disagreeing with one another."
LETTER OF CONDOLENCE TO HIS MOTHER. 259
" KURUMAN, Sept. ii, 1847.
" MY DEAR AND WIDOWED MOTHER, — It is with feelings
of the deepest sympathy I thus address you. By a letter
just come to hand from Helen I learn this melancholy intel
ligence. How deeply you must feel the sudden stroke in
thus being severed, after a union of nearly sixty years,
from him who was the husband of your youth. Had it
been the announcement of your own departure I should
have felt less, for you seemed to be like one sipping at
Jordan's stream for several bygone years ; and you have
lived to see my beloved father laid in the silent grave, gone
before you to the abodes of the redeemed. Though I
cannot restrain my tears, I will not, I cannot complain.
How gracious has our heavenly Father been to us, your
children, in sparing you to us so long, and in circumstances,
too, which have called on us loudly to give thanks to Him
who appoints the bounds of our habitation. Mother, dear
mother, your many prayers have been heard. Well do I
remember the time when prayer was called for. Wherever
I am I never forget how much I owe to your prayers.
The first dawn of reflection respecting my soul commenced
with hearing you pray. Oh may He who has been your
refuge continue to be your shield and stay ; may He wipe
away the falling tear and heal the wound that His hand
has made ! It is a Father's hand. I frequently remember
the last words of your now sainted father, ' Faithful are the
wounds of a friend.' There are many links which hold us
down to earth. One is snapped, and we know not how
soon another and another.
" I still thank my indulgent God that I was, with my
family, permitted to see you once more after twenty-three
years' absence. This was a great favour. I never during
that long period expressed a wish that it should be so, for
I was the bond-servant of the perishing heathen for Christ's
sake, but He whom we served in the gospel of His Son
brought it about in His own good time."
CHAPTER XXVI.
MARY MOFFAT JOURNEYS TO THE CAPE.
1847-1849.
IN 1847 the question of education for the younger
children again came to the front. The parents
had made up their minds that action could no
longer be delayed, and that the children must go,
at least, as far as the Cape. The father could not
leave his work, so the mother had to go alone. She
started on the second of August with the three
children, a son and two daughters. Her attendants
were four Bechwana men and a maid. An elder
daughter remained at home to keep house for her
father and for the now aged Hamilton. Robert
Moffat accompanied the travellers a day's journey
on their way, and then bid them a long farewell.
Two of the children he did not see again for eleven
years.
The journey to Cape Town, extending over a
period of two months, had still to be made in the
slow ox-waggon ; but to the mother the time seemed
all too short. She felt that it was the last she would
ever have with her young children about her. Her
LAST WEEKS WITH HER LITTLE ONES. 261
loving heart never got hardened to these partings,
one of the severest crosses incident to the missionary
calling. The children, too, were not so young that
they could not feel the shadow of the impending
change. During those few weeks of lonely wilder
ness life, the members of the little group were all in
all to each other. There was a pathetic tenderness
in the interest which the mother took in the wild
flowers and curious pebbles which the children
gathered on the hill-sides and in the stony river
beds ; and the gentle and homely counsels and
warnings then given are not forgotten even now,
nearly forty years after.
The journey was made without accident or hin
drance. In the homesteads of the farmers and in
the villages along the route all was goodwill. Rail
ways, express coaches, and hotels, are no doubt a
great improvement; but the old-fashioned hospi
tality of those days is a pleasant thing to remember,
for all that. The Cape was reached at last, and
Mary Moffat took up her abode at Claremont, and
found her trusty friend Mr. Mathew an invaluable
assistance in the many cares and anxieties of her
position.
She was confronted at the outset with a great
disappointment and perplexity. Her elder son
Robert, who had been left in England for his edu
cation, and who his parents had hoped would go
through a course of study at Glasgow, preparatory
to coming out as a missionary, had broken down in
health, and been driven to return in all haste to the
Cape. His coming out under these circumstances
led to his employment under Government in the
262 HER PERPLEXITIES ABOUT THEM.
Survey Department. He always remained a firm
and true friend of the natives, and was subsequently
of great service to the Bechwana Mission in a com
mercial capacity ; but anything short of his entire
consecration to direct missionary work failed to
satisfy his parents, with their intense devotedness
to a cause to which it was their desire to feel that
they had given not only themselves, but their children
as well.
The anxieties involved in his affairs, and in a
partial change of plan with regard to the younger
children, were very great. Mary Moffat had to act
upon her own responsibility. Postal communication
went as far as Colesberg, and no farther. The
remaining two hundred and fifty miles was bridged
by casual opportunities, and the attention of agents,
more or less prompt, at certain points on the route.
Consultation with the father at Kuruman was almost
out of the question. A letter, to which a special
answer was required, was despatched, with the
request to an agent at Colesberg that it might be
forwarded with all haste. It took three months in
transit, which was rather longer than usual.
A favourable opportunity presenting itself, she
put her two little girls on board a ship, under the
care of a minister and his wife returning home from
the Cape. The boy was placed at school in Cape
Town for a time. In the month of March, 1848,
she had her waggon packed, and with her native
servants addressed herself to her long and solitary
journey back to the Kuruman.
MOTIVES FOR PARTING WITH CHILDREN. 263
Mary Moffat to her Father.
" ON THE WAY TO THE K.URUMAN IN THE KARROO,
" March 17, 1848.
"MY DEAR OLD FATHER,— If your thread of life is
lengthened till you receive this, I am sure you will forgive
me the great crime of which I have been guilty — that of
having been five months in Cape Town and never writing
to you. Believe me, honoured parent, you were not for
gotten ; but the desire of writing to you fully and circum
stantially caused me to delay thus shamefully. The fact
was, from the day of my arrival I was the subject of
perplexity and anxiety. Having been led to expect our
dear boy about the end of October, I waited till he should
arrive. Besides which I had come for the express object
of sending John to England, but was immediately deterred
from doing so until I should again hear from his father, as
there appeared to me some temerity in so doing after his
brother's health had failed, who was always robust.
Before I left home, my husband and Livingstone had
been pressing on my attention very closely the propriety of
sending the two little girls. My heart rebelled for some
time, and I felt the thing impossible ; but again, on con
sidering that there was a school for them at comparatively
small expense, that owing to my constantly declining
strength they could not have a suitable education at home,
and then the journey I was about to take on John's
account would involve an expense which could not be
incurred again for many years to come, I began to con
sider the matter in all its bearings. I saw that, should I
be called to leave them, my death-bed would be embit
tered by the consideration that they might have been
placed in circumstances more favourable to a proper
training for usefulness in the Church and in the world,
but for the victory my feelings had got over my judgment.
I felt that in being thus weak I should be unjust to them,
and thus yielded the point. When Robert and I parted,
%it was with this understanding distinctly, that if I met with
favourable protection for them for the voyage they should
264 SACRIFICES FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.
go ; if not, I was to bring them back again. This was
to be the finger of God pointing the way, and in the mean
time the matter was to be spread before the Lord continu
ally, with all due submission to what appeared to be His
will. . . .
" Just at the time that a decision on my part was im
perative, the Rev. J. Crombie Brown resolved on going
home, and very kindly offered to take charge of my chil
dren. This was more than I looked for — people so kind
so pious, and having children of their own about the same
age. How could I doubt ! Though my heart was heaving
with anguish, I joyfully and thankfully acceded forthwith,
and set about preparation in good earnest. This was
about the end of January. On the loth of February
they embarked, and after stopping the night on board, I
tore myself from my darlings to return to my desolate
lodgings to contemplate my solitary journey, and to go to
my husband and home childless. O my dear father, when
I caused your breast to heave convulsively till the sobs
checked your utterance in Britannia Row, Islington, in
August, 1819, it was but the commencement of a series of
such separations to the present time ; or, I should rather
have said on the 6th of August, at Dukinfield Nursery,
when I last hung on the neck of my own dear mother.
What scenes have we not passed through since that memo
rable day ! But have we, my dear father, ever had cause
to regret these sacrifices which have been made for the
cause of God ? No ! He has richly fulfilled His promises
to us, and even where His steps have been involved in
mystery so that we cannot trace Him, we have the assur
ance that ' all things work together for good to those who
love God, and are the called according to His purpose.'
" But to return to my narrative. Having such a charm
ing opportunity, I regretted losing it for John, in case his
father should blame me. I was just on the point of send
ing him, too, but could not see my way clear, and was
therefore in the depths of perplexity when good Mr.
Steedman, who once before delivered us out of a dilemma,
came in and said, ' Do not send him till you hear from his
PROGRESS MEANWHILE AT THE STATION. 265
father : and then, should he wish it, he shall go with us
about the end of March.' I was thus relieved in my ex
tremity only three days before the embarkation, and three
days after got a letter fully sanctioning his remaining in
Cape Town. Though I feel excessively — for my nerves
have got a great shock — my judgment still approves what
has been done after five weeks have passed. We have
mothers in Israel in England, but not fathers, in this day
of rapid movements in mind and matter. Every man has
too much to attend to to have leisure to exercise a fatherly
control over other people's children. With the ladies it is
different, there being so many single who have mixed with
their benevolence so large a share of maternity. I have
confidence that our beloved friends the Eisdells will not
lose sight of my lambkins. They have most generously
and nobly taken upon themselves much care and anxiety,
and labour too, for the elder ones, and I have dared again
to presume on their kindness, for it is the element in which
they live. . . .
" The latest news from the station was good : all well in
the beginning of January. Ann earning a splendid repu
tation as housekeeper and infant-school mistress combined.
The prophecies of Isaiah have been printed since I left,
and the ' Pilgrim ' was on the way to be finished. This is
some consolation to me that though I had to pass through
so much alone, something so important has been done,
which could not have been done had my husband come
himself. I have never had the powers of mind and body
more taxed as a mother than during the last two years.
The Livingstones came out last year, half withered away
with fatigue and privation. I laboured hard to fetch up their
strength, and sent Mary back with her children like roses.
But the trouble I spent over them was at the expense of
my own little ones, who during those months had very
little of my attention. This I endeavoured to make up to
them on my journey to the Cape. While I have been
there they have been the all-engrossing subject ; nor have
I dared to indulge in reading or writing lest I should for
get what related to them. If I am now allowed to return
266 AN AGED PARENT.
to the station, I hope to serve the mission and my hus
band with renewed vigour for a while.
" In his last letter he tells me one had come to hand
from you, and gives me the contents. It is a cause of
thankfulness to us both to see you so composed and col
lected, and so thankful for the mercies you enjoy. Your
experience reminds me of a sweet verse of the late Charles
Wesley, composed when very old. I cannot repeat it, but
it begins, ' In age and feebleness extreme.' It is to be
found in Roby's Selection, and mine having disappeared,
I have not read it for many years. I am sure it would be
sweet to you. Give my warmest love to the dear Sheldons.
May our Lord and Master richly reward them for all their
kindness to you. They have indeed strengthened my
hands and comforted my heart in their attentions to you,
for I esteem it one of my chief mercies that you are so
comfortable in your latter end. . . .
" I must now close, my dear father, which always makes
me sad from the conviction that I may never have oppor
tunity to address you again. But, my dear father, we shall
soon meet for all that ; and
' There on a green and flowery mount
Our weary souls shall sit,
And with transporting joy recount
The labours of our feet.'
" I have written this on my first leisure hours in the
desert, while much fatigued. Adieu, dear and venerable
parent. — Your ever affectionate daughter."
"SOUTH BANK OF THE ORANGE RIVER,
" April 21, 1848.
"MY DEAR ROBERT, — Through the tender mercies of
God, here am I, to the great joy of my heart ; for though
such a formidable barrier as this swollen river lies be
tween me and my beloved home, I now feel that I only
want this luxury, to know that all is well, to make me
quite happy. It appears that patience must be tried on
this journey; but as I cannot blame myself for having
lingered one single night when we might have gone on, I
FLOODED RIVERS AGAIN. 267
can now be satisfied to wait the Lord's time. He has led
me and guided me all through, and when I am tempted to
think some awful trial may await me at my journey's end,
I think of the argument used by Manoah's wife with her
husband, and thus my fears are allayed. The loth of
January is my last date from you, so that I am really in
the dark as to what may have transpired, for here I can
hear nothing. I did indulge a hope that you might have
got some of my letters, and that I might meet you some
where hereabouts. I cannot recollect whether your meeting
at Griqua Town is in the first week in May or after the
first Sabbath, but I have resolved to write and beg of Mr.
Solomon to get this conveyed to you as quickly as pos
sible, as it may influence your movements.
"We arrived here last night in a heavy thunderstorm,
after having spanned out at midday because we could get
no further, the waggon having stuck fast in a sand-bank,
and there, with the front to the wind, I was some hours in
showers of sand. To-day has been dark and looming, and
again this afternoon a heavy storm. Indeed, I think I
have not seen such a sky since I was on the line — so
tropical. It is evidently the breaking of the season, and
I cannot guess whether it will affect the river or not, for
the clouds and rain are everywhere about. This moment
we have had a heavy hailstorm from the west, but I must
resume, having the prospect of a man swimming over to
morrow, and cannot let it slip. I have only one candle
left, and if I use it to-night must do without afterwards.
On Monday I did hope to have taken my cup of coffee
with the Solomons this evening, or at latest to-morrow. The
people say that the water will require a fortnight to run off,
but I cannot believe it. They say also that it is at least
four stages to where the boat is, below the junction. I would
rather not use the boat if it can be avoided. . . .
" I should think you will have heard by this time that
I left the Cape on the 6th of March, arrived at Beaufort
West on the 1st of April, have had to sing of mercy un-
mingled, though we have had an ample share of what is
disagreeable on an African journey : a broken axle, heavy
268 DIFFICULTIES BY THE WAY.
thunderstorms, and much rain from the other side of the
Gamka to this moment, and consequently oxen with sore
feet and sore necks ; quagmires in abundance : sometimes
we were stuck in them for three or four hours ; one night we
slept in one. But out of all our troubles the Lord has
delivered us, and the voice of joy and praise ought to be
heard amongst us. You will guess the people have had
their miseries, but the tent has been a great comfort
to them. ...
" My dear Robert, I feel for you that I come alone, but
the retrospect of the way in which we have been led is
highly satisfactory to me. I cannot wish it undone. I trust
our darlings are about this time reaching the land of their
fathers, and have confidence that they will be blessed."
A few days later Mary Moffat writes to one of
her children :
" On the 2Oth of April we saw the noble stream, to
our heart's dismay, for we had now the gloomy prospect
of long detention on the southern side. We arrived at the
English ford and had rain and cold for four successive
days. The Vortuins came over and sent my letter to papa
to the care of Mr. Solomon, and he sent me back a budget
which had been waiting my arrival, all from Kuruman.
These cheered me in my solitude, and Mr. S. kindly ad
vised me to go on to Read's ford, where he would meet
me with swimmers, and, if practicable, get me over. We
accordingly went thither, but alas ! the water was too high,
and there was no alternative but to go still higher up to the
junction, and get Mr. Hughes to take us over with his boat,
or wait papa's arrival — to the latter I was strongly inclined.
On Saturday night late we arrived, not at the proper place,
but not far from it, and when dressing in the morning the
maid told me papa was on the other side ! You may be
sure I lost no time in letting him know where I was, and
on Tuesday evening we had the happiness of saluting
across the beautiful expanse of water at the junction. The
boat had not arrived, and papa, having a severe cold, dared
A TIMELY MEETING. 269
not to swim, so that after ascertaining that all was well, we
retired to our respective waggons for the night. In the
morning we had another salute, and then papa and Mr.
Hughes set off to meet and hasten the boat, which came
about noon, when we had soon a joyful and sorrowful
meeting : joy, because of all the goodness and mercy of
God to the whole family during our separation, and sorrow,
or rather tender regret, for the absence of the three younger
children. Yes, it was trying for papa to see me alone, with
not one little prattler. But these feelings were quickly
swallowed up in thankfulness and praise.
"Early next morning they commenced operations.
Edward Hughes was chief boatman, and all was through
before sunset, and then the rain commenced, so that we
had hard work to get everything under cover. We came
here to Griqua Town in two days, and are awaiting the
meeting of Committee, after which we hope to reach our
beloved home on the
For two or three years after Mary Moffat's return
from the Cape, little took place out of the ordinary
routine. Moffat's chief energies were concentrated
on the work of translation. During his wife's
absence the prophecies of Isaiah were not only
translated, but put through the press. Bunyan's
" Pilgrim " was now also published in Sechwana, and
additional parts of the Old Testament were being
taken in hand. As the unwearied translator re
marks in one of his letters, each portion of the
Scriptures as it came out seemed immediately to
call for some additional portion to help in its expla
nation. Meanwhile Ashton, besides translating
" Line upon Line," assisted his colleague in revision
and carried on the press-work ; the two missionaries
dividing between them the ordinary duties of the
station, with its home church, and as the centre of
270 THE BOER INVASION.
a large district of out-stations. The venerable
Hamilton, the father of the mission, was fast de
clining- in strength, and could do little more than
walk about, leaning on his patriarchal staff; but
what little he could do was done with the old love
which had kept him constant through cloud anJ
sunshine, storm and calm, for more than thirty
years.
Whilst at Kuruman all was peaceful and in a
measure prosperous, clouds were gathering to the
eastward, destined eventually to throw a dark
shadow over the whole Bechwana Mission. The
Dutch emigration from the Cape Colony, to which
reference has already been made, had been steadily
going on for some years. The Government had
not thought fit to interfere with a movement which
was a temporary solution of troublesome problems
within the Colony itself. To those in power, who
had no permanent stake or interest in the country,
and to whom it was a sufficient object to get quietly
through their own term of office, it was an advan
tage rather than otherwise to be rid of a few
thousands of disaffected spirits, who might or might
not have tangible grievances, but whom it seemed
impossible to satisfy. What matter if these men
pouring over the Colonial boundaries encroached
upon the lands and rights of many native tribes ?
So it came to pass that as years went on the emi
grant Boers had spread themselves over the whole
of what is now the Orange Free State, and also a
considerable part of Natal and the Transvaal. The
course of the emigration was influenced by the
character of the country, and took for the most part
EFFECTS ON THE BECHWANA MISSION. 271
a north-easterly direction. Kuruman, lying as it
does well away westward, on the borders of the
Kalahari desert, and in a comparatively dry country,
though in itself an attractive spot, has thus escaped
absorption even to this day.
Before the superior organization and the firearms
of the white intruders the Bechwanas had to choose
between exile or vassalage. It is an old and oft-
told tale, and is only referred to because these
events have had an important bearing on the pro
gress and efficiency of the Bechwana Mission.
They resulted in that enterprise, so far as the
London Society is concerned, being hemmed in
and confined to the tribes which skirt the desert,
whose country was not sufficiently attractive to the
Boers so long as the fertile regions to the north-east
had not been fully taken into possession. In later
years the German and Swiss missionaries have
taken up the work in what is now the Transvaal,
and are bravely coping with difficulties incident to
a state of society in which their people are not
regarded as being entitled to human or civil rights.
Livingstone had settled with the Bakwena of
Sechele, about two hundred and fifty miles from
Kururnan. They also lay on the very margin of
the desert, but eastward from them the country was
well wooded, well watered, and thickly populated ;
for the Bechwana tribes had returned to their old
places after the departure northward of Mosilikatse
and his Matebele. Livingstone regarded his station
at Kolobeng simply as a basis of operations, and he
was, by repeated visits to the eastern tribes, pre
paring the way for a large extension of missionary
272 ORIGIN OF THE TRANSVAAL STATE.
work in that direction. He had met with much
encouragement, and a promising field for enterprise
was opening among a people who seemed well
disposed to the gospel, and whose language was
already used in Moffat's translation of the Scrip
tures. Into all these projects the Moffats had
entered with the greatest ardour, and they viewed
with increasing alarm the tide of Boer emigration
setting in from the Cape Colony.
In 1848 complications arose which led to a trial
of strength between the forces of the Government
and the emigrants beyond the Colonial border. Sir
Harry Smith, then Governor at the Cape, concen
trated his small force at Colesberg, suddenly crossed
the Orange River, and in a short and sharp engage
ment put the Boers to flight. They never rallied,
but scattered to their homesteads, and Sir Harry
annexed the country, now the Orange Free State, but
at that time the Orange River Sovereignty. Many
of the Boers settled down quietly under British rule,
but the more irreconcilable spirits crossed the Vaal
and joined those who had already carved out for
themselves a country in the territory of the Bech-
wana and Bapedi tribes. It soon became apparent
to the London missionaries that all hope of carrying
on their work in that region was over ; and it
became doubtful whether they would be allowed to
retain even their existing stations. It was incon
venient to the Boers that there should be so near
men who were able to give testimony to the civilized
world of what was going on in those remote regions ;
men who could be neither cajoled nor intimidated
into silence. It is probable also that many Boers
THE WORST FEARS CONFIRMED. 273
did actually believe in the charge they were so fond
of bringing against missionaries, that they supplied
the natives with ammunition, and incited them to
armed resistance. Like many other falsehoods, it
lived long enough to do its evil work before it died
of its own absurdity.
Under these circumstances Livingstone, looking
for an outlet for the expansion of the Bechwana
Mission, turned his eyes northwards, and thus came
about that series of explorations which absorbed the
remainder of his life. Mary Moffat writes to one
of her children in January, 1849 :
"When I wrote to Mr. Mathew I told him that our
fears about the Boers in the interior were given to the
wind, that they were quite tamed, acknowledged the
superior power of the English, and were all at once
become very civil and quiet with the natives. This was
our latest news, and so easy was Mr. Livingstone, that
he was going to send Paulo to near Magalies Berg to
Mokhatla forthwith. But, alas ! it appears they were only
pausing to consider what they would do. Yesterday a
letter came from Joseph Arend, who is on his way to
Kolobeng or further if practicable. He found the people at
Sitlagole all in commotion about the Boers, who, they say,
are forcibly taking possession of all the fountains and fine
lands of the Bahurutse and Bakhatla. Mosega and Poe
are in their possession. The report runs that they first
met opposition with stroking of the hand ; but now they
have recourse to their guns, so that the natives are in
despair. It is said that the Bakhatla country was all in
an uproar. Now, though we always deduct from native
reports till we hear from a missionary, this intelligence has
made us very unhappy. We have many fears for our
missions, and more for the poor natives. We can scarcely
hope that all this is false, but shall be glad to find it so.
If it be true we shall soon hear, and shall let you know by
the first opportunity."
19
274 MOFFATS SON ROBERT ON THE BOERS.
Moffat's elder son, Robert, had been appointed,
after the battle of Boomplaats and the annexation
of the Orange River Sovereignty, as one of the
officials in the new territory. The first years of
his manhood and of his active service were spent
among the Boers, with whom> he thus became well
acquainted. He was by no means ready to condemn
them indiscriminately. Indeed, missionaries were
disposed to think that he leaned too much to their
favour. In the light of the following quotation
from a letter to his father this would hardly appear
to have been the case. The opinions here ex
pressed remained unchanged after a good many
years' experience.
" January, 1849.
" Since I last wrote you matters have been going
on as usual. I have, for my part, been inspecting some
hundred and ten farms in this district — not surveying,
but pointing out beacons and settling disputes where such
arise. I must say that I have had a very trying time
of it. Among the farmers I have been treated with respect
and kindness, so that I have no need to complain. But
the Boer pride, obstinacy, and ignorant disaffection are
enough to eat up the spirit of any one in the smallest
degree devoted to their welfare. With all my arguments
as to the new state of matters in this vast Colony, with all
my appeals that they trek no more, with all my promises
as an Afrikander myself among them to bring their wants
and feelings publicly before the governor and council of
the land, they remain incredulous, fomenting fresh ingrati
tude and, it may be, new determinations. To my mind
they are the most peculiar men under heaven. My mind
has been so absorbed with the nature of their proceedings,
measures for the amelioration of their condition, and dread
of the far future, not only as it concerns them and their
deluded families, but the fate of the unhappy thousands of
aborigines, that I feel dejected. I have been collecting my
THEIR UNMANAGEABLE DISPOSITION. 275
thoughts, but I find the subject too great ; for where will
this trekking end ? It will appear to you natural that I
should be so excited on these subjects. It has been my
lot to be placed alone, as an English official, in the extreme
district, twice the size of any of the others, and, what is
more, bordering on the very sphere of rebellion. Here is
a tract of at least fifteen thousand square miles, watered
on one side by some two hundred and fifty miles of the
Vaal River and its tributaries — the Valsch, the Rhenoster,
the Eland, and Liebenberg's Vley. I am now presenting
a report to headquarters, with a chart of the district, that
there is still room for some seven hundred new farms of
three thousand morgen each. This will appear almost in
credible, but I am prepared to prove it Out of three
hundred cultivated farms, one hundred and fifty proprietors
have trekked. Thus it may be said that there is room
here for eight hundred and fifty additional Boer families,
which is somewhat less than the total number beyond the
Vaal. Is it not a lamentable fact, my father, that with
such eligible lands in the immediate neighbourhood of the
Colony so many should be prevailed on, by an ignorant
pride and obstinacy, to trek into the wild jungle ? Where
is the great desideratum ? Who is at fault ? The Boers
are not altogether so intractable. They have a measure of
religious knowledge culled from the Bible and their itinera
ting predikants, but they have been degenerating for the
last ten years, and if Government should not be more
decisive, this land will yet have to deal with a white semi-
barbarous herd, who, with a still prouder obstinacy, will
resist all coercive measures."
Mary Moffat to one of Jier Children.
March 2, 1849.
"Now I have some sad news to tell you. The Boers in
the interior have written to the Committee of our missions
here insisting on Mr. Livingstone's being immediately
removed to the Colony, and that for ever ! They add,
if the Committee does not comply with this demand, they
will carry it into force themselves. Their chief reason for
276 THE NATIVES IN A DILEMMA.
requiring this to be done is, that though he knew that they
had issued laws that no coloured person should possess a
gun or a horse, he had failed to give them information of
Sechele's having made large purchases in this way. The
Boers' letter contains many palpable untruths. The
brethren here have written to let them know that the sub
ject will be brought before the Committee at its next meet
ing. The Bakwena seem inclined to fight for it. They
say they must die at all events, for they know they must
do so or give up their arms which they have struggled hard
to procure, and which are now essential to their subsistence,
for it is impossible for them to get game by the spear in
a country overrun by well-armed Boers with abundance of
powder. A famine is expected this year, as the drought has
been excessive, and the crop of native grain has entirely
failed. It is the fourth year of scarcity, but exceeds all
the rest. Therefore they are right in saying they must die
at any rate if deprived of their firearms. It is quite plain
that this ill-will against Sechele arises from the conviction
that he is a superior man, who by his attainments threatens
to leave them in the rear, and this is intolerable in a black
man, a Kafir. Sechele is marked out for destruction, the
first convert to Christianity in those regions, the firstfruits
of the Bakwena Mission. We feel very disconsolate on
account of present appearances, for without a direct inter
position of Providence the mission will be broken up."
When Livingstone, in despair of being allowed
to work eastward from Kolobeng, turned his
thoughts to the north, the prospect was not attrac
tive. The Kalahari desert seemed to bar the way.
Beyond the Bakwena lay the Bamangwato, in an
isolated position. They could only be reached by
crossing an almost waterless country for a hundred
and twenty miles, and beyond them it was known
that the country was if anything drier still. For
some years, however, faint rumours had grown more
EXPLORATIONS OF LIVINGSTONE. 277
distinct that there was a large lake far to the north.
In 1849 Livingstone started, in company with two
gentlemen who had visited the country for hunting
purposes — Murray and Oswell. They were success
ful in reaching Lake Ngami, or, more correctly,
Nghabe, found there another large tribe of Bech-
wanas, an offshoot of the Bamangwato, known as
the Botauana, and discovered that north of the
Kalahari desert was a land of rivers and of many
and diverse populations.
From that time Livingstone was lost to the Bech-
wana Mission. He returned to Kolobeng, but it
was with the determination to revisit the lake in the
following year. His travelling companions had
been of the greatest assistance to him, and Oswell
in particular, who was so in sympathy with him that
he returned to the Cape only to make preparations
for a more extended journey.
Meanwhile Moffat had occasion to pay a visit to the
Bakwena country. The Boers were busy with dis
putes among themselves, and the western Bechwanas
were for a time left in peace. Moffat's journey was
for the purpose of accompanying a deputation from
home which had come out to look into South African
*
matters. The tour was an extended one. On
their return from the interior the travellers visited
Bloemfontein. the seat of government in the new
territory. An endeavour was made to represent to
the authorities the grave state of affairs in the
interior, but to little purpose. An era of irresolution
had commenced, and the outcome of it was that the
Boers took courage, and found that they could act
with impunity.
278 MR. FREDOUX TURNED BACK.
Mary Moffat to Mrs. Sheldon of Manchester.
July 23, 1850.
" The interior missions are in a sad state. The rebel
Boers are thorns in their sides. The natives are grievously
oppressed, deprived of the lands of their fathers, and
driven hither and thither to the desert regions. Mission
aries are forbidden to go eastward, and edicts are issued by
the Boers to the different native chiefs commanding them
* to prevent all English travellers and traders from pene
trating beyond them, while they, if they refuse, will be
accounted the enemies of the Boers.'
" Mr. Fredoux, a French missionary, started in March to
go north-east to visit an interesting people in that quarter
who have three times sent messengers to my husband
seeking friendship. Mr. F. thought, as he was not an
Englishman, he would meet with no .opposition, but he has
come home thoroughly convinced that it is not Englishmen,
but the friends of the aborigines, who are to be expelled
the country. He was allowed to travel among the Boers
a fortnight, and was after all surrounded on a Sabbath
morning by a host of Boers on foot and thirteen horsemen,
all armed, demanding to know from whence he was, whither
going, and what to do ? On telling them his object he
was strictly ordered to go no further, but to return to the
place from whence he came. He got leave to stop for the
day, till he should have written orders from Pretorius.
These he received next morning, and , then turned home
wards with a sorrowful heart.
" You will thus see to what trials and discouragements the
missionaries are exposed. It may truly be said, * They labour
in vain, and spend their strength for nought/ The natives
are confounded. They have always been led to believe
that the English nation is not only powerful, but benevolent
and generous, and that they should now drive away their
rebels to destroy them is a puzzle. It is calculated to pro
duce a degree of scepticism as regards missionaries, espe
cially as it has been judged proper and prudent for the
latter, as men seeking the welfare of all mankind, to be
conciliatory towards the Boers, hoping thus to prevent
THE NATIVES PERPLEXED. 279
hostility. This is difficult for the poor barbarians to under
stand. Their minds are distracted ; nor do they pay atten
tion to the instructions imparted. If some measures are
not speedily adopted by our Government it seems likely
that every mission in those regions will soon be broken up.
We have not had darker prospects for twenty years than
we have now. Mr. Livingstone seems inclined to go to
the lake ; but if things continue as they are he will have
to penetrate from the west coast."
CHAPTER XXVII.
DARK CLOUDS WITH A SILVER LINING.
1850.
LIVINGSTONE did not fail to carry out his
project of again visiting the lake, and of ex
tending his explorations to a considerable dis
tance beyond. He had the company of his friend
Mr. Oswell, who had endeared himself to the Liv
ingstones and the Moffats. He was one of those
whose influence was on the right side, calculated to
give the natives a high esteem for the English cha
racter. On this expedition Livingstone had with
him his wife and family, and the chief, Sechele, also
accompanied him, not without the idea of moving
eventually with his tribe to some of the regions
newly opened up, so as to avoid the collision with
the Boers which all felt was inevitable. The idea
was never carried out. It would have been attended
with insuperable difficulties.
On their return to Kolobeng the travellers were
in a somewhat reduced condition, particularly Mary
Livingstone and the children. Hearing this, her
mother, ever on the alert, set off once more alone
to carry succour and supplies, and as soon as con-
TRANSLATION AND PRINTING GO ON. 281
venient prevailed upon the Livingstones to return
with her to the Kuruman and to recruit their ex
hausted strength. It was one of her greatest plea
sures, and continued to be to the end, to feel that
Kuruman was serving the purpose not only of a
prosperous missionary station in itself, but of a basis
of operations for those who were at work further
into the interior. Many are those who have found
its value in this respect.
In a letter to his friend, Dr. Bruce, of Newcastle,
on the twentieth of March, 1851, Moffat says:
" We are getting on here as fast as we can in what we
firmly believe is the work of God. We are instant in
season and out of season in our public duties and in the
work of translation, but the progress is slow, very slow.
Could I obtain a competent amanuensis it would greatly
facilitate my progress in translation. The printing goes on
at snails' pace, from the want of a sufficient quantity of
type, and the want also of compositors on whom we can
depend. One is taught, and perhaps he leaves to live with
friends at a distance ; another does not like the confine
ment; and as printing is only one section of the round of
pressing duties which devolve on the missionary, it must
frequently wait his time. Lately a new edition of Isaiah,
Proverbs, and Preacher was turned off, but will not be bound
up till the smaller Prophets are also printed. We have
commenced the Pentateuch : Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
and Deuteronomy are ready. Numbers will be compara
tively light work. Translation I feel to be hard work, and
I have my fears that my head will not stand till the whole
is completed ; but it is comforting to know that God will
carry on His work as well without as with me.
" The Livingstones were some months with us, and have
returned improved in health. It is probable that he will
visit the lake, or rather Sebetoane, the ensuing winter,
accompanied by Mr. Oswell.
282 REASONS FOR NOT WRITING OFTENER.
" Although a war with the Kafirs has been raging in the
Colony for nearly three months, it is only within these
few days that we have received papers giving us an
account. Opportunities between the nearest post office at
Colesberg, two hundred and fifty miles away, and this are
sometimes few and far between, and it is not improbable
that you hear now that a line of steamers has been es
tablished sooner than we do here of the war and of the
real state of the frontier. There can be no doubt but in
the end it will go wofully with the Kafirs and the Hotten
tots, who have rebelled."
Mary Moffat to her Father.
June 7, 1851.
" For some time past my conscience has been burdened
for not writing to you or to Mrs. Sheldon, but I have
deferred so long that now you must be first by all means.
When I think of your extreme age, and how frequently
you have of late been unwell, I am ashamed to seem to
neglect you so ; but you would readily excuse me if you
knew how difficult it is for me to get a quiet hour, and my
head has long been so weak that when disturbed my ideas
leave me. I miss Ann very much in this respect, as she
used to take charge of my little affairs entirely when I
wished a day for writing. In this country, if the mistress
of a house abstracts herself from domestic affairs, all hands
seem to hold up — they seem as if they could not go on
without propelling. It is just so with the men outside,
which Robert feels very annoying ; for though we have not
the same work as in former years, having now only our
buildings to keep in repair, yet we must farm and garden
to keep our household in food, for now we cannot be snug
as people can in England, where everything can be pur
chased. How gladly would we retire to some little cot
with one servant, but it seems that we must drudge on to
the end of life with such work.
" Robert is now more closely engaged at translation than
at any former period, and he would fain let everything of
a secular kind alone, and purchase for our wants ; but this
SLOW PROGRESS OF THE PEOPLE. 283
is so precarious in this dry country that it seems a pity not
to use our fine garden, besides which it is certainly con
ducive to his health, however irksome he may feel it at
the time, and chiefly on this account I persuade him to
go on cultivating the ground. He has for some time past —
I think nearly a year — been troubled with a peculiar affection
of the head, which I do not like. It is a constant roaring
noise like the falling of a cataract, then like buzzing or boil
ing up of waters; it never ceases night and day, though he
does not feel it when entirely absorbed in study, but the
moment he gives up there it is again. When preaching,
it is also absent. He loses much sleep from it. He has
wanted to bleed himself, but I have discouraged it, for
there is no appearance of fulness about him ; he is very
abstemious, and takes sparingly of nourishment. A cup
of coffee too much will increase it.
" You may wonder that, after our long residence here,
the people are not more clever. But you may remem
ber our station was composed of people of all tribes,
and since missionaries have gone into the interior some
of our people of the best abilities have gone back to
their own countries, where the other missions reap the
advantage, so that we are ever teaching fresh ones. And
there is really not that advancement in civilization which
we did expect. They are content with such small attain
ments. Now the length of my apology will surprise you,
but I hope it will give you information of our present
circumstances.
" The Lord's goodness to yourself, my venerated parent,
is very great ; how far He has exceeded faith's largest
demands ! I have not forgotten the conflict which rent
my bosom on your account when we were in England,
when I could not see how your wants were to be supplied.
At that time I heard George Clayton preach from the
words, ' Man shall not live by bread alone.' The train of
his ideas was exactly suited to the state of my mind, and
thenceforth I endeavoured to believe that my God would
supply all your need. Unbelief has often tried to drive me
out of this stronghold. I have feared that the barrel of
284 THE KAT RIVER REBELLION.
meal would waste, the cruse of oil would fail ; but, blessed
be God ! He continues His mercy — yea, and will do to
the end. In all your sickness and infirmities you have
lacked no good thing.
" You will hear of the awful state of the Colony from
the Kafir war. We are quite confounded by the Hottentot
rebellion. This is a public calamity indeed, and will be
a tremendous blow to the missionary cause. All societies
will feel it for a long time, but especially our own. No
doubt all these things will be thoroughly investigated, and
all sides of the question considered ; but it is difficult for
us to see how it is possible to exculpate them from heavy
blame, such as fills the mouths of blasphemers. They are
now pouring out their ra^e and spite against missionaries,
and even the press teems with taunts and reproaches. The
defection of the Kat River Hottentots has depressed our
spirits no little ; besides that, the missions south-east of us,
French and Wesleyan, are all in trouble.
"There is much to discourage, yet we feel we must not
despair. I was a few days ago greatly animated by a
retrospect which seemed to force itself upon me at our last
missionary prayer-meeting. The first verses sung were of
a hymn, a pretty good translation of ' O'er the gloomy
hills of darkness.' My thoughts were involuntarily led
back to the time when I first heard that hymn sung, and
to the same tune too, and all my feelings on that occasion
seemed to be revived. This was at Queen Street Chapel,
Chester, when you, my dear fafher, went to Park Gate, and
so kindly took me to be present at the first missionary
meeting held in our part of the country, a season which I
never shall forget : it was a Bethel to my soul. The
sermon of the venerable Dr. Waugh, or rather the im
pression it produced then, was revived. ' In the multitude
of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul,'
was his text. What an odd subject, thought I, for a
missionary sermon, but he soon convinced me that he
could not have found a better in the whole Bible.
" The image of the venerable man is still in my mind's
eye. He was full of pathos, and solemn as eternity ; he
ENCOURAGEMENT IN THE RETROSPECT. 285
seemed to me on the borders of the heavenly world while
describing the comforts and consolations, the blooming
hopes of immortality, possessed by every real Christian. But
the effect produced was by the contrast he then drew — and
such a contrast ! How did he set before us the condition
of the heathen world which knew not God, sunk in the
filth of vice and gross superstition, without hope and with
out God in the world.
" My mind was powerfully affected. I was very young,
and had not the slightest prospect of joining the missionary
band, but felt that the cause was worth a thousand lives.
Now, my dear father, after more than thirty years in the
service, I had begun to despond a little, but on that evening,
when I came to remember how we found the whole of this
country north of the Orange River, and see the change
wrought, I felt ashamed of my gloom. We found these
people just what Dr. Waugh described them to be. Now
we can say that we believe many souls have passed into
glory. There are native teachers in different parts of the
country, imparting a knowledge of reading and of the
first principles of the gospel. There are, on the different
stations, thousands who can read the oracles of truth, and,
as you know, large portions of that sacred Word are in their
hands. All these, and other thoughts of the same kind,
passed rapidly through my mind after the singing of those
verses by Christian Bechwanas, and I came home stronger
in my hopes and expectations for the kingdom of Christ in
poor Africa than I had been for some months.
" What, thought I, if these results had been set before
my mind, on hearing Dr. Waugh, as the fruit of the labours
of but a few missionaries, should I have hesitated for a
moment about joining such a band in my feeble capacity
as a female ? or would my parents have refused to surrender
me ? No, it could not be ; and now should we all rather
feel honoured in having had any share in the matter.
" Livingstone is again away to the lake, intending to
seek a field there, or rather beyond it He seems deter
mined to get out of the reach of the Boers. We have been
affected on hearing of the death of so many of the servants
286 THE M OFF ATS AND THEIR PARENTS.
of Christ at home, just when they seemed to us so much
needed. What wonderful things you have lived to see.
We feel intense anxiety for the newspapers just now, from
the state of our own beloved country and also the state of
the Colony. We expect a batch in a few days by Hume's
waggons, the letters having come beforehand.
" I find that Helen sent a portrait of yourself by a Mr.
Galton, who was to have come here but changed his route,
endeavouring to reach the lake from the west coast. The
portrait he sent to Colesberg ; there it got into careless
hands, and has lain some months at Griqua Town. I hope
soon to get it, however. Mr. Galton and party left the
Cape, I think, in November, and we hear nothing of them
since they arrived at Angra Pequena. . . .
" Now, my dear father, I must draw to a close, and can
not but feel solemn when I do so, always thinking this
may be the last letter I shall write to you. You will not
doubt our constantly praying for you, as also for Moffat's
mother. She is now in her eighty-fourth year, and you
are both constantly borne on our hearts at the throne of
grace. We believe that He who has led you, and fed you,
and guided you for so many years, will be with you when
heart and flesh fail. His rod an 1 His staff shall comfort
you ! Should you go before us, we shall soon follow you
if we have grace to endure to the end, and this hope takes
away the pang of separation. I have long bee'n disposed
to congratulate all good people on their emancipation from
the body of death."
A few words will not be out of place here about
the rebellion of the Kat River Hottentots referred
to in the foregoing letter. It was truly, as Mary
Moffat says, a most tremendous blow to the mis
sionary cause in South Africa. For many years it
remained a terrible missile in the hands of those
who wanted one. Nor is it possible to say that the
Hottentots were anything but ungrateful and in-
THE CASE FOR THE HOTTENTOTS. 287
fatuated rebels against a government which, upon
the whole, had meant well and done well by them.
But there was another side of the question, as- was
conclusively shown by the late Sir Andries Stocken-
strom, who, in his place as a Colonial legislator,
made a full exposure of the manner in which these
Hottentots had been dealt with, and subjected to
treatment which did not justify their rebellion, but
accounted for and in a measure excused it.
It was the old story — which, unfortunately, in
South Africa is ever new. Loyalty to Government,
especially on the part of natives, is a dangerous and
unprofitable virtue ; and whilst rebellion too often
has been pampered and has received all that it
sought, the loyal have been left to suffer for their
devotion. It can hardly be expected that even
Christianized Hottentots should be found more
faithful to an alien government than its own people.
Their constancy was overtaxed, and it gave way ;
but it is a fair question whether these misguided
rebels were more to blame than those whose in
justice made them such.
Mary Moffat to one of her Children.
Oct. 23, 1851.
" We have received all your letters per steamer up to
that of May, which arrived early in August, while those of
March and April came only on the 5th of September.
Our letters and papers come with strange irregularity; nor
can we discover where the fault lies, as sometimes, even
when people are at Colesberg on the arrival of the post, we
get, perhaps, a letter or two of a late date, while all the
English papers are at least a month older. Our latest
papers now are of the 7th of June, and these came
with Mr. Ashton, who was there himself when the post
288 KURUMAN IN ITS BEAUTY.
arrived. Mr. Bruce's letter of May gave us the first account
of the opening of the Great Exhibition. You will have
heard from your sisters of the death of our venerable friend
and brother, Mr. Hamilton. We had the Fredouxs here
about two months, which was a relief, as we did not feel so
much the blank in our circle. Truly we do now feel lonely,
and should be glad indeed to have some of you here, but
this is not likely for a permanency. The whole country
has been very dry ; our fine grassy street was one mass of
loose dust, so that I was fatigued by walking to Mr. Ashton's;
but we have at last had some showers, and everything looks
splendid. The great willow tree is majestic ; the syringas
have been one sheet of bloom and the perfume delicious ;
and now the orange trees are sending forth their still more
grateful scent. The pomegranate hedge, with its numerous
scarlet flowers, exceeds everything ; the grass is again
growing, and all nature looks gay at the Kuruman. Many
parts of the valley are covered with corn, and others soon
will be with maize and native grain, which have just been
sown. I regret to say your willow is dead ; it did not like
its new position. A syringa tree has taken its place. The
cypress you procured for me is a splendid tree ; it shall
represent you, or rather the time of your departure. It
stands between the fig-trees and the house where the print
ing rollers are kept.
" But, alas ! we seem to want something to make us
enjoy these beauties. Not one of you, our dear children,
to flit about among them. Once you were here, but now
all looks so sad without you ; and dear old Mr. Hamilton,
too, gone. Well, the time is short, and if we never again
see you here we must hope to meet one family in heaven."
Robert M off at to Dr. Bruce, of Newcastle.
Oct. 30, 1851.
"Yours of May the I2th and April the I2th I have
lying before me, and, to my shame, unanswered. Mrs.
Moffat has from time to time jogged my memory, but you
cannot conceive what a threefold cord it requires to drag
me from the work of translation. ' Next time ' has been
MOFFATS LABOURS IN TRANSLATION. 289
my reply ; and next time and time again passes, and what
may be deemed the little exertion of writing a letter is left
undone. But I am getting more nervous in the work. I
feel to grudge the appropriation of any mental exertion
apart from translation, for it seems impossible to redeem
time at a work of that kind, and suitable aids are not to be
had here for love or money. Add to this that I feel my
head, usually so strong, the worse for wear, and it is giving
unmistakable evidence that its best days are gone by. This,
of course, makes me most anxious that the remaining time
and strength be devoted to a work a sense of the impor
tance of which increases with my years, and which I hope
most ardently to see one day finished. To you I need not
describe the extreme difficulty there is in translating that
wonderful book, the book of God, into a language the
capabilities of which have not yet been fully tested. While
on the subject, let me tell you that at present (to-day) I
am at the fourteenth verse of the twenty-first chapter of
Numbers, where I came to a dead halt yesterday, and spent
more than half the day on the fourteenth and following
verses, examining lexicons, versions, and commentators.
You may guess the time it takes when I tell you that before
I write down the shortest sentence I have to look to several
translations of the Bible to see how each has it rendered.
The Dutch is a valuable translation in coming nearest to
the original. Sometimes the pen glides, and then again I
am bewildered, and that frequently with passages which to
a plain Bible reader would appear to be language in its
simplest form ; but this, of course, arises from the character
of the Sechwana. . . .
" I have perhaps said more on this subject than is neces
sary, but it is one that lies near my heart. We are thankful
for thus having work which, in the end, we trust will
redound to the Divine glory in the conversion of souls.
We cannot expect to see a redeemed, or rather a reformed,
world. The Bible must be read in every language from
shore to shore. We have this comfort, that we are pre
paring material for future aggression on Satan's kingdom
in this benighted continent. I say comforted, for our
20
2QO HOPELESS PROSPECTS.
present prospects are at best very gloomy. War has com
paratively destroyed missionary labour in Kafirland, and
its baneful influence has extended through every Colonial
station. The demon, as is usual, has cast his baleful
shadow on other tribes, so that, with the exception of a
few isolated spots, the public mind is in one ferment from
Walwich Bay on the west to Delagoa or Natal on the east.
As you may have learned, there has been a rumpus of a
rather sanguinary character in the sovereignty between
native tribes and the British power at Bloemfontein, in
which the latter will likely be compelled to come to an
agreement of peace on easier terms than are generall}
offered at the point of the bayonet, but minus that little
bit of a thing misnamed honour. Then there are the
native tribes looking at each other, as the Bechwanas say,
with cat's eyes.
" The prospects of our missions among the Bahurutse,
Bakhatla, and Bakwena, are melancholy. According to
human observation scarcely anything has been achieved,
and to all appearance a dark and gathering cloud will soon
burst over them, and frustrate any effort to save the natives
in either soul or body. They are prostrate before the over
whelming power of the insurgent Boers. These would be
speedily expelled were the natives unanimous, but they
are the very reverse. An unusual blindness prevents their
looking at the future. Present existence is all they think
of. An independent spirit is a very rare thing among
them. For nearly two generations they have been scat
tered and peeled. Sechele is an exception to the general
spirit, and, if all be true we hear, the Boers are meditating
his reduction, and perhaps destruction.
" Livingstone and Oswell were in Sebetoane's country by
last accounts, north-east of the Ngami lake. Think only
what a journey for a wife and children. We shall wonder
and be very thankful if they all come back safe. How
mysterious are the dealings of our heavenly Father, how
immutable His government. It humbles us, for it shows
us how blind we are as to the agency He employs for the
accomplishment of what will be for His own glory ; for we
REASONS FOR NOT TAKING SICK LEAVE. 291
know that the Judge of all the earth will do right. Well !
it is ours to labour and to pray, and His to bless."
Robert M off at to Dr. Tidman.
NOV. 22, 1852.
" I have to acknowledge yours of the I4th of July. I
feel deeply sensible of the kindness of the Directors in
their expressions of sympathy with me under my present
circumstances, and their generous offer to supply whatever
want might arise in the carrying into effect what they
recommend for my recovery and future usefulness. Although
of their kind and fraternal regard I have never had cause
to doubt, I am nevertheless gratified with the assurance
they have given me of their entire willingness to become
responsible for any necessary expenses which a journey to
and a sojourn at the coast might involve. What could I
desire more, as this relieves my mind entirely on a point
on which I should have felt considerable embarrassment.
For this information please present my heartfelt thanks
to the Directors, whose confidence in me I trust, through
Divine grace, will never cause a shadow of regret.
" While, however, I might be influenced by the advice
of those who are better able to judge of my health than
myself to remove to the coast for a short season, my present
circumstances are such as to render the thing almost im
practicable. Nay, I conceive it would be highly improper
unless the exigency were much greater than I think it is.
I shall endeavour briefly to state my reasons, the cogency
of which will be cheerfully corroborated by my brethren
Livingstone and Ashton, however much they could desire,
and do desire, my restoration to perfect health and pro
longed service in the Bechwana Mission. The state of the
country is such as it has not been since I entered the field.
The violent opposition of the tribes to the introduction of
the gospel during the early years of the mission, the
threatened destruction by the hordes of Mantatees, and
the successful and devastating inroads made by the mixed
freebooters, Korannas, Griquas, and Bushmen, appear now
in our eyes as mere gusts compared to the storm which
292 THE BOERS TRIUMPHANT.
threatens to sweep away all the labours of missionaries
and philanthropists to save the aborigines from annihila
tion. This is a time when all the wisdom, caution, and
firmness that can be called into action are required. We
need all the heads we have, even were they sevenfold
better than they are, with fervent, persevering prayer that
the Divine Spirit would lift up a standard against the
approaching enemy.
" The mission among the Bakwena, commenced by
Livingstone, and latterly under the care of a native teacher,
is a scene of solitude, brooding over ashes and dead men's
bones ; while Sechele and his followers, who escaped the
balls of the Boers, are in the fastnesses of a neighbouring
mountain, suffering from want, their supplies having been
taken or destroyed by the enemy. The Bakhatla of Ma-
botsa have been attacked, many slain, and the survivors
scattered in the desert wilds. The Bahurutse of Mathebe,
the third missionary station, are prostrate, because on the
side of their oppressors there is power. Our two native
teachers among the Bangwaketsi, as well as the one with
the Bakwena, have had to retire with much loss of property.
The Barolong on the Lotlakane, among whom Mr. Ludorf,
a Wesleyan missionary, was living, have fled to the west
ward, and Mr. L. is on his way southward, seeing no pos
sibility of continuing his labours.
" The Boers can give no reason whatever for all this,
except it be that all the aborigines must become their
vassals ; and they conceive that they have a special right
to engage in wars and to dispossess chiefs of the lands of
their forefathers, on account of the late treaty between
them and the British Government, in which their inde
pendence north of the Vaal River is acknowledged and
proclaimed. Every act of rapine and bloodshed is carried
on with the excuse that the country is theirs by authority
of the Queen of England. This strange note jars horribly
on the ears of the natives. Their estimation of the English
was once very high. Such is the present state of the
country beyond us, and how near the enemy may approach,
or how soon this quarter' may be visited with the dire
SECHELE'S CONFIDENCE IN MOP FAT. 293
calamities which have befallen others, is hidden from our
eyes. We look to Him that is higher than the highest.
" The state of things as above described renders it next
to impossible for me to leave at the present time. Again,
in addition to the charge of Sechele's children whom he sent
to my care for their education eight months ago, he also
sent hither, after the attack of the Boers, his wife and little
ones, with a considerable retinue for safety. These are all
on my premises, and are to a considerable extent depen
dent on me for supplies. Such entire confidence in us we
reciprocate with pleasure from a persuasion that it will
hereafter turn to the furtherance of the gospel. We feel as
if we could not on any account abandon our charge.
Again, there is the work of translation, which appears to
me paramount to everything else. My buzzing head does
not, I think, retard progress, though it may render the
work more laborious. The closer I stick to the work the
less inconvenience I feel. Were I to leave my mind to
take its own swing it would think of nothing else, and
would break down altogether. As it is I have scarcely
time to think of anything but what must be thought of
earnestly and perseveringly ; and in doing so I find the
most relief. I am going to resume attention to the sug
gestions of Mr. E. Pye Smith. To him I feel extremely
thankful, and also to the Rev. Mr. Ellis, for the pains they
have taken."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MOFFATS THIRD JOURNEY TO MOSILIKATSE.
1853-
AS may be seen from foregoing extracts, mis
sionaries in Bechwanaland were going
through a period during which their faith
was heavily taxed. With the exception of the
neighbouring station of Motito, where Fredoux re
presented the Paris Society, Kuruman had again
become the northernmost outpost of missions on
the road to the interior. Ludorf had retired in
despair, his Barolong under Montswe having fled
to the desert. Edwards and Inglis had been de
ported by the Boers, and warned never again to
enter Bechwanaland. Livingstone had penetrated
the enormous and unknown region on the Upper
Zambezi, and was practically lost to Bechwanaland,
and indeed to South Africa.
But Moffat and Ashton went on with their work
at Kuruman. With the former the desire to com
plete the translation of the whole Scriptures into the
Sechwana language had become almost a devouring
passion, now that he saw the people capable not
DEATH OF MARY MOFFATS FATHER. 2^5
only of learning to read, but of reading with in
telligence what was printed. Hamilton had been
gathered to his rest. Ross and H el more were on
the Vaal River with the Batlaping. Moffat stood
alone of the old pioneers. His three coadjutors
were of a later generation. . But his ardour was not
diminished, though he sorrowfully confessed that he
was beginning to feel older. Little did he think
then that he was to survive two of these compara
tively youthful comrades by more than twenty years,
as well as his son-in-law, Fredoux, of Motito, and
his own son Robert, who at this time was striving
as a Government official to serve and benefit the
natives.
Towards the end of 1853 the tidings reached Mary
Moffat that her beloved father had ended his pil
grimage of ninety years. Born in 1763 at Dunkeld,
the son of a Highland farmer, he grew up deeply
imbued with the Covenanter spirit, every mountain
and glen reminding him of his persecuted forefathers.
After attaining the age of manhood he set his face
southward, and eventually settled in Lancashire,
having married, in spite of his anti-episcopal lean
ings, Mary Gray, a lady of that communion, a
woman of strong piety. He himself came under
the influence of Roby, of Manchester, and became a
decided Christian and an ardent promoter of the
cause of missions. It was a severe trial to his
attachment to that cause to be called upon to part
with his only daughter ; but after a struggle he and
his wife gave her up. Her mother did not live long
enough to see how highly honoured her daughter
was to become ; but he was privileged for more than
296 M OF FATS FAILING HEALTH.
thirty years to watch her labours, and to thank God
that he had been able to consecrate her to this work.
Between father and daughter during the whole of
that period there subsisted a most tender affection,
which neither time nor distance seemed to cool. In
his early days a prosperous man, he was latterly
impoverished by the fault of others ; but by the
kindness of some of the most faithful friends who
ever graced that name he was never allowed to
want ; and though bereft of ajl his children, he was
attended to the last hour of his life by one who had
served his departed wife, and had promised her
never to leave him. For twenty years she dis
charged her trust, until the day when she stood at
his grave with a little company of those who, for
his own and for his daughter's sake, had tenderly
watched over him in his declining years, and amply
made up for the absence of his own kindred, who
were represented by two of his grandchildren only.
It was becoming apparent that intense application
to the work of translating the Old Testament was
telling upon Moffat's health in a manner that could
not be misunderstood. He had again and again
received a cordial invitation from the Directors of
the Society to intermit his work and to pay a visit
to the coast, or even to England ; but his eyes were
turned towards the interior. Northwards there was
no European representative of the Church. Two or
three native teachers were all that remained, and
their footing was precarious, to remind men of the
late missions among the Bahurutse, Bakhatla, and
Bakwena, which had been swept away by the Boers.
Moffat could not but think with sadness of the doors
MOSILIKATSE'S MOVEMENTS. 297
lately so wide open now closed to the gospel.
Again, the question was beginning to arise, What
had become of Livingstone, who so long before had
started for Linyanti, and of whom nothing was
known at Kuruman but that he had in a sense
burnt his boats by sending back the native servants
who had accompanied him from the south, and
was thus perfectly alone among the tribes on the
Zambezi ?
In addition to all this messages had been coming
of late years from Mosilikatse, chief of the Matebele,
to his old friend Moshete, or Ramary. It will be
remembered that some fifteen years before Mosili
katse had emigrated northwards, and had drifted out
of ken. The advancing explorers of later years
ascertained that he had settled in the country on
the southern watershed of the Zambezi River, and
roving bands of Matebele had been met on the out
skirts of the country. The predatory disposition of
the tribe had made it impossible for them to have
any immediate neighbours ; and the Matebele were
thus secluded from the world by a zone of unin
habited country roamed over by game and beasts of
prey. Not long after his departure to this remote
region the Boers, emboldened by what seemed to
them a sign of fear, had thought by a rapid and well-
organized expedition to make a raid into the new
country which Mosilikatse had chosen for his re
treat. At first it seemed as though they would be
successful, but in a few hours the alarm was sounded
far and wide, and the invaders, or rather their
advance party on horseback, found it necessary to
abandon what spoil in cattle they had obtained, and
298 MOFFAT SETS OUT TO VISIT HIM.
the expedition returned with the conviction that, for
the present at least, the Matebele were best left
alone ; and for years after even their whereabouts
became a matter of uncertainty.
In the month of May, 1854, MofTat again bid
farewell for a season to his faithful partner. It was
a great relief to her anxieties that he was provided
with very suitable and pleasant company. Two
young men — one the late James Chapman, and the
other Samuel Edwards, son of Edwards the mis
sionary, long Moffat's coadjutor at Kuruman — were
to accompany him for purposes of trade. He was
not as strong as he had been in times past ; the
journey was to a comparatively unknown country
seven or eight hundred miles away, and might be
extended even further, and he would in all pro
bability, as proved actually the case, not see the face
of a single white person from his departure to his
return, except of those who went with him. Their
company proved most acceptable and helpful to him,
and they in turn obtained access for trade to a
country from which they must otherwise of necessity
have been excluded.
It was necessary for them to keep a westerly route
in order to avoid as far as possible interception by
the Boers, who had declared that no Englishman,
whether trader or missionary, should travel into the
interior without their permission, which in this case
would certainly not have been given. The route
lay within the confines of the Kalahari Desert, and
involved dragging for days through heavy sand and
with great scarcity of water. At Kanye the travellers
found the various sections of the Bangwaketsi tribe,
VISITING CHIEFS BY TPIE WAY. 299
who had for years been scattered, again reunited on
the spot where long before Moffat had visited the
chief Makaba. This circumstance is a remarkable
instance of a feature characteristic of the Bechwanas.
The Bangwaketsi, themselves at one time a domi
nant and warlike tribe under Makaba, were scattered
in the great battle in which he fell, encompassed by
a host of invaders from the east. Scarcely had his
people recovered from this crushing blow when they
were again driven into exile by the onslaught of the
Matebele, and scattered in parties, hundreds of miles
apart, mostly as refugees with other tribes. Yet in
the course of time they were to be found gathered
together, a compact people, under the grandson of
Makaba, on the same spot. A similar history might
be given of nearly all other Bechwanas.
Above the frowning precipices of Lithubaruba
Moffat found Sechele and his people. They had
retired to this mountain fastness after the attack of
the Boers at Kolobeng. Sechele was in a position
of more than ordinary difficulty. His teacher,
Livingstone, had been taken from him, and he was
alone, or almost alone, among his people as a Chris
tian. After the attack of the Boers he had made
the journey all the way to Cape Town to lay the
case before the Queen's representative, confident in
the justice of his cause. He had been coldly re
ceived, and had been led to believe that the English,
whom he had always hitherto regarded as the faith
ful friends of the black man, were in sympathy
rather with his oppressors. Had it not been for the
steady and consistent friendship of those at the Cape
who were missionary at heart, he would have found
300 SECHELE'S ANOMALOUS POSITION.
himself a destitute stranger in a strange land. In
after years he was never tired of telling of the kind
ness of these, particularly the Rev. William Thomp
son, whose judicious advice and aid were of untold
value to him. He came back to his own people to
find his influence as a chief impaired. He was dis
credited as the friend of the white people, at whose
hands the Bechwana tribes were suffering these
things. He had already severely tried the patience
of the great heathen majority of his people by his
adoption of Christianity and his violation of the
unwritten law of custom, which was a sort of religion
to them in the absence of any other. It was won
derful that he clung tenaciously to the faith into
which he had been baptized by Livingstone. It
was not wonderful that, while trying to be at once
chief and teacher, he swerved from the high standard
required in converts, and that there was too much
diplomacy and paltering with heathenism.
Moffat's heart was grieved by much that he saw
and heard ; he forbad the chief to continue his
ministrations from the pulpit, and arranged for a
native teacher to take up his abode in the Bakwena
town until the way appeared more clearly. He then
went on his way across a hundred and twenty miles
of desert country to Shoshong, the residence of
Sekhomi, chief of the Bamangwato tribe. From
Shoshong he had to cross a wilderness without road
or chart. Sekhomi for his own reasons was un
willing to let the way be opened to Matebeleland,
but confined himself to withholding guides and
warning the few scattered Bushmen and Bakalahari
on in front against giving aid. Consequently the
TRA VELLERS GROPING THEIR WA Y. 301
travellers had to betake themselves to the use of the
compass, directing their course over an unknown
country in a general north-easterly direction.
For eighteen days they groped their way through
a region new to them all, but in spite of Sekhomi's
prohibition they received some guidance from the
scattered children of the wilderness, of whom they
met with a few even in this desolate land, until they
had crossed the Shashe, a broad river-bed filled
with white crystalline sand, after crossing which
they had to trust to their own ingenuity. The fol
lowing extracts from MofTat's journal will give some
idea of their travelling :
u July 8t/i, Saturday. — Our guides returned, and we pro
ceeded in the direction they had pointed out, but they
professed not to know the country beyond. We had not
gone far before we found ourselves embayed in hills, with a
river on the left, the banks of which would not allow us to
pass. After some twisting and turning and running to the
tops of hills to look out, we got on till we were again
obliged to turn down to the river or to retrace our steps
and strike out in another direction. The bed of sand was
about twenty yards across, plenty of water in pools
and hollows, but the passage down the bank was bad.
After crossing the river we found the other side with
our course northward good. We halted at noon to allow
the oxen to drink, as they had had no water since
yesterday morning, and we were uncertain about the
future. We afterwards continued our course, but finding
it lead us too far to the left we struck into an opening in
the hills through which we passed with difficulty, cutting
down trees and rolling stones out of the way, but the
waggons had to rattle over boulders hid in the long grass
through which we have sometimes to wade as if through
water. After struggling on till near sunset we halted
within reach of the river, surrounded by hills near and
302 SABBATH IN THE WILDERNESS.
distant, but no signs of human abode or of any living thing
except a solitary bird. In one or two places we saw where
human beings must have bivouacked long ago, but with
the exception of an occasional jackal or hyaena howl all is
silence and solitude.
"July gt/i, Sabbath. — This morning the wind as usual
strong from the east, with a thick, gloomy sky, as if it
would be a pour of rain. It continued cloudy most of the
day. About an hour before sunset the under clouds cleared
away, and the upper layer collected away eastward, over
which a bright moon rose to cheer us, for her presence is
most welcome to travellers in a land like this. We had
our services as usual. We could see nothing human in the
hills and vales around. It is ten days since we saw an
abode or hut. It is comforting to feel assured that we
have been remembered to-day by God's praying people at
the Kuruman.
"July loth. — After examining our course and the rocky
descent to the river Enkwezi, and the rather suspicious-
looking hills beyond, we resolved not to run the very great
risk of getting our waggons broken. While getting all
things ready one of the men was sent ahead to examine a
northerly course through some hills of coarse sandstone.
He returned with a favourable report, and we started
northward, with a good deal of winding to avoid trees and
large blocks of stone which ever and anon lay in our path.
After travelling some miles, and having again turned into
another opening in the hills in a north-easterly direction,
footpaths were seen, and soon after voices were heard in a
defile. Sam and another proceeded on horseback to the
spot, and came upon some Bamangwato, who appeared at
first sadly afraid, but were induced to come to the waggons.
We gave them some flesh of a gnu we had shot, and got
two of them to direct us to a large village of the same
people, where there was one of Mosilikatse's Indunas and
some cattle. With grateful hearts we saw that all was
right, and that much sooner than we had expected."
In spite of their anxiety to proceed it was several
MOSILIKATSE AGED AND DECREPIT. 303
days before the travellers reached headquarters.
The Induna in charge of the outpost was sadly
exercised in his mind. The long-looked -for friend
of Mosilikatse had indeed come, but the Induna was
afraid of a mistake, and in one respect MofTat was
greatly changed — the long black beard was gone.
However, messengers were despatched to announce
his arrival, and an answer came that the party was
to proceed, which they did for several days.
"July 22nd, Saturday. — Last night, after we were all fast
asleep, men arrived from Mosilikatse with an ox to be
slaughtered, and an injunction to hasten forward, as his
heart longed exceedingly to see me. We set off again
early next morning. We passed several towns from which
the people rushed out to us, walking alongside of the
waggons for miles, staring at me as though they would
look their very eyes out. In the forenoon we drew near
the royal residence. One after another with shield and
spear came running to say that the chief was waiting.
Sam and I walked on before the waggons, taking little
notice of the fuss around us. We of course expected some
such display as I had aforetime seen. We entered an
immense large fold, and following a headman were led to
the opposite side, where sat some fifty or sixty warriors.
The town seemed to be new, or half finished. There was
nothing like the order or cleanliness I had seen before.
We stood for some minutes at a door or opening in the
fence leading to some premises behind. In the meantime
Mosilikatse had been moved from his house to this door
way. On turning round, there he sat — how changed ! The
vigorous, active, and nimble chief of the Matebele, now
aged, sitting on a skin, lame in the feet, unable to walk or
even to stand. I entered, he grasped my hand, gave one
earnest look, and drew his mantle over his face. It would
have been an awful sight for his people to see the hero of
a hundred fights wipe from his eyes the falling tears. He
spoke not, except to pronounce my name, Moshete, again
304 CONDITION OF THE MATEBELE.
and again. He looked at me again, his hand still holding
mine, and he again covered his face. My heart yearned
with compassion for his soul. Drawing a little nearer to
the outside so as to be within sight of Mokumbate, his
venerable counsellor, he poured out his joy to him. >
" Meanwhile Sam had come up, but he, like me, had
anticipated a very different scene, neither of us having
heard a word of Mosilikatse's indisposition. We sat some
time with him, while he would expatiate on my unchanged
friendship, on which he said he had always relied."
The chief was almost helpless with dropsy. It
was a happy beginning to his renewed intercourse
with his old friend that the means adopted for his
restoration were wonderfully blessed, and in a short
time he was walking about again with something
of his old vigour. Moffat remain- d nearly three
months. He found the Matebele in much the same
condition in which they were when he had seen
them last, more than fifteen years before, on the
Marikwa River. His short visits and the transient
efforts of various missionaries to gain an influence
had left little impression of a religious kind on the
minds of the people. The greater part of those
who were in the prime of life on the occasion of his
earlier visits had passed away in heathen darkness.
The rank and file of the nation were now the young
men and women who had grown up in captivity,
belonging to the Bechwana, Makalaka, and Mashuna
tribes, upon whom the ruthless Matebele had fallen
in their migrations. There were two captives of a
different sort, a Griqua boy and girl, whose release
Moffat had vainly sought before. These were of
course grown up. William was a man of some in
fluence, and in command of a considerable number
MOFFAT AND LIVINGSTONE. 305
of warriors. He still remembered a little Dutch,
the language of his childhood, and speedily became
more ready in the use of it, and a great assistance
in interpreting and in giving information such as
could be obtained from no one else in the country.
His cousin, Troi, still retained some faint recollec
tions of her father, and cherished a desire to see
her friends again. The tyrant, in deference to the
entreaties of Moffat, allowed her to return in his
train, and she was restored to her family like one
brought back from the dead after a captivity of
nearly twenty years.
With much greater difficulty Moffat accomplished
one of the principal objects of his journey : to ascer
tain something about the circumstances in which
Livingstone might be placed, and to forward to him
letters and supplies. For some time he was wholly
occupied in putting the old chief through a course of
medical treatment. The success which attended his
efforts in this direction gave him a great advantage ;
but even with this gained, it was hard to persuade
Mosilikatse to take any steps which would tend to
open up communication northwards. The motto of
the Matebele and their chief was — isolation. At
last, weaned out by Moffat's importunities, a small
party was sent off to the Zambezi to come within
touch of the Makololo, and to make inquiries as to
what had become of the Doctor. But this was not
enough to meet Moffat's views, and at last he
obtained consent to himself starting for the north
west. To his surprise Mosilikatse determined to
accompany him, and accordingly for many days
this strange sort of royal progress continued It
21
306 A JOURNEY WITH MOSILIKATSE.
was slow and not very favourable to the object
Moffat had in view, but it gave an opportunity of
much more constant and closer intercourse between
the chief and the missionary, and broke down the
objection of the former to the preaching of the
gospel to himself and his people.
After travelling several days and reaching the
farthest outposts of the Matebele, in the direction of
the Victoria Falls, it was found that there were in
superable obstacles to further progress with waggons.
The country was waterless, and there were belts of
jungle infested with the tsetse — the fly so destructive
to cattle. What might have been done by Moffat
himself, had he been alone, was out of the question
for him, encumbered as he was with Mosilikatse and
his retinue of aged counsellors, wives, and some
hundreds of men, with cattle for slaughter. Pro
bably this was all clear enough to the crafty old
chiefs own mind. He could not bear the thought
of Moshete going on to people beyond him. This
is a feeling to be commonly observed in these native
chiefs, and is one of the obstacles which bar the way
of most travellers in the interior.
Having got so far, and when it became plain that
there was nothing for it but to turn back, Moffat
was determined to carry out at least a part of his
wish, and at last the chief was persuaded to send on
a party of men to whom the supplies for Livingstone
were committed. These supplies had been made up
into bundles for carrying on men's shoulders. It
afterwards proved that these men faithfully dis
charged their trust. As privileged persons, carry
ing the packages of a missionary, they crossed the
RETURN TO KURUMAN. 307
border country in safety, and descended into the
valley of the Zambezi, where there were none but
their sworn enemies, the Makololo, and at last pre
sented themselves on the south bank of the river at
a spot where they could shout across to an island in
the river and announce their errand. Small as their
party was, they could get no one to approach them,
for treachery was still suspected. They laid their
packages on the bank, delivered their message
across the stream, and departed hungry and tired
and footsore. The Makololo, finding them really
gone, took the bundles they had brought, placed
them on an island, and built a roof over them, and
there they were when Livingstone returned some
months afterwards from his journey to St. Paul de
Loanda on the west coast, thankful, indeed, for the
letters and supplies which reached him by this
strange kind of parcels delivery.
As the time drew near for departure, Moffat lost
no opportunity of speaking to the chief and his
people on matters of eternal importance. Many
were the warnings and exhortations addressed to
those to whom such words were strange. The
result can never be known till the day when all
things shall be made manifest ; but as the mis
sionary prepared to bid farewell, it was with a heart
oppressed with an awful weight in the sight of such
abject, grovelling degradation mingled with nobler
and affecting traits of character. The long return
journey of seven hundred miles was accomplished
without notable event. Moffat parted with his
genial and valuable fellow-traveller, Mr. Edwards,
at the Bamangwato, and reached home in safety.
CHAPTER XXIX.
MARY MOFFAT AGAIN JOVRNEYS TO
THE COAST.
1854—1856.
IT was home, but home without its chief attrac
tion. Moffat found himself quite alone at
Kuruman. The Ashtons were away, and his
own wife had gone to the Colony to meet one of her
daughters returning from school in England. She
had been obliged to continue her journey much
further than she had originally contemplated, had
met with unusual hindrance and difficulty, and had
not been able to return in time to meet her husband
and to welcome him from his long and interesting
expedition.
" PORT ELIZABETH, October 9, 1854.
" I now begin to fear that I shall not be at home to
receive you, which grieves me much. Hitherto I have
written nothing to you, from a conviction that I should be
in time, but it may be otherwise. Livingstone's destiny
being so involved in obscurity, you may turn back before
you reach the Zambezi. The extract I now enclose with
this to Fredoux was taken from last week's papers, and
gave me great joy to see that he was alive in April last,
and that this information, having come through the Portu-
MEETS HER DAUGHTER FROM ENGLAND. 309
guese, there was no fear of their doing him any harm.
Should you arrive at Motito before this letter, you will have
had some items of news, though I have not been able to
write much to any one ; for what with the fatigue of travel
ling, unpleasant weather, and having everything to think
of, it has been impossible. It is a great tax on my strength
to have to talk so much ; to tell over and over again all
about you and your journey as well as my own. with all the
whys and wherefores. With a few more intelligent I have
to expatiate on the probable results of your journey, and
Livingstone's reasons for adopting the course he has done.
All this fatigues me exceedingly ; both head and chest
suffer.
" You will see from letters sent to the Fredouxs that I
came here to meet Betsy, and have, blessed be God, met
her in perfect health and safety. . . .
" She is now full of ardent aspirations after meeting you,
but we are detained — waiting for her luggage. This is the
twelfth day since they landed, and only this morning is a
little of it come, and now there is such a swell that the boats
cannot work. I was to leave to-day, via Bethelsdorp, to
see the Kitchingmans, and am getting oxen from them to
take me back to Wilmot's, where I left Robert's, because
they were sore-footed and could not come on. This was
occasioned by heavy rains when I was among the hills.
" I feel unhappy at the thought of not being at home as
soon as you, and all is so dark about you ; your last date
which has come to hand is July I3th. Well! patience
must have its perfect work. We commenced this sort of
suffering at Dukinfield Nursery, and it looks as if we
should continue much in such feelings to the end of our
lives. The last six months have been very trying in this
respect — all things dark and obscure ; my mind has been
like a bow at the full stretch — you and Livingstone at one
end, Mary and Betsy at the other. I felt sometimes as if
the string was too tight, but was wonderfully sustained. I
felt more hopeful than is my habit, much encouragement
in prayer ; you know I am not very imaginative, at least
where you come, but have generally pictured you and pcor
3io DEATH OF ROBERT MOFFATS MOTHER.
Livingstone both surrounded by the angels of God (Psalm
xxxiv. 7) in your encampments. My heart has been
especially drawn out for the extension of the Redeemer's
kingdom as a result of the journeys of you both. God can
of the stones raise up seed unto Abraham, and if you are
only able to leave the impression on some minds that they
are immortal beings and accountable creatures, you will
have been instrumental of doing a great work.
"You will have heard that your worthy and beloved
mother has done with all sorrow and pain, and got to hei
rest. Now, my dear Robert, you will think my mind poorly
prepared for trial, taking as I do the most cheerful view of
things. Well, I have the promise, * As thy day, so shall thy
strength be.' Be assured I shall lose no time on the road."
In his solitude on his arrival at Kuruman the
tidings reached him that his mother had passed
away at the age of eighty-four. The event was
naturally not unexpected. She had been a good
mother to him, and he could not forget it. It was a
great comfort to him that, though it had not been
his privilege to watch over her declining years, she
had been well cared for by his brother Richard, who
had never left her since his father's death, and was
with her till the last. She died as she had lived, a
godly and consistent woman, whose faith found a
sure resting-place in the eternal realities.
Mary Moffat to Miss Braithwaite.
" KURUMAN, JztneZ, 1855.
" It certainly becomes me to spare a little time to
acknowledge all your kindness and that of the dear
Kendal friends, but I am too ready to frame excuses for
myself, and have been doing so lately, promising to write
after the arrival of the box which you sent off last July.
This came to Algoa Bay in the same vessel as our daughter
Bessie, whom I had gone thither to meet ; but as there
LETTER TO FRIENDS AT KENDAL. 311
is no jetty at that port, and the surf sometimes runs
very high for weeks together, we had to leave before it
was landed, just leaving orders that it and some other
lugga§e should be sent by carriers to Colesberg. Since
then, the Vaal River having been impassable for months,
there has been little communication between the Colony
and this. The box, however, came to hand about a
month ago, having been floated over on a raft, and caught
a little water about four or five inches deep ; happily,
however, the least valuable things were at the bottom. . . .
" I must not pass by the little notes accompanying the
various parcels. Truly they do our hearts good, and
strengthen our hands in the work in which we are engaged,
seeing how many hearts are sympathising with us, and
sending up their fervent petitions for a blessing on that
work, and sighing for the redemption of the people among
whom we live. We sometimes fear that poor degraded
Africa is forgotten among the many objects which engross
the public mind, but such communications as we have had
from you and the Kendal friends show us our mistake and
revive our hopes. . . .
" A little before this time last year circumstances seemed
to indicate that my husband ought to seek relaxation in a
journey, and the reiterated entreaties of that savage king
Mosilikatse that he would once more visit him seemed to us
both like a call in Providence to direct his steps thither in
preference to visiting the civilized world, as then he would
have numerous opportunities of scattering the precious seed
among the various tribes through which he would have to
pass, besides the possible good which might result from his
visit to the Matebele. Again, as we could hear nothing of
Livingstone, and were assured that his supplies must be
exhausted, it would afford an opportunity of ascertaining
where he was, and at the same time of forwarding to
Linyanti such things as he required. Just when the matter
hung in doubtful scale two very respectable young traders
arrived in the hope that Mr. Moffat would go, that they
might thus have an introduction through him to the Mate
bele. As regards my own opinion, I no longer doubted of
3i2 A RETROSPECT OF MERCIES.
the propriety of his going, as my only objection had been to
his going alone, for fear of the fever so prevalent in the
tropics ; and his own inclination being decidedly in favour
of the measure, it was soon decided, and he left this in
May.
" Feeling that I too required a change of air, it was
decided before he left that I should go as far as Coles-
berg as soon as I heard from him from the Bakwena.
Waiting for this I did not leave till the I5th of July, which
was providential, for had I got away sooner, I should have
returned before the (to me) important intelligence reached
me that, though Mrs. Livingstone was not coming, my
younger daughter Bessie was. Just when all was ready for
my journey home I heard this, and at once started for Port
Elizabeth, where we arrived within three days of each other.
Now, fearing that my husband might come home to an
empty house, I made my journey as rapidly as swollen
rivers would allow me. We were detained three weeks at
the Orange River and one month at the Vaal, and thus
after all my haste he was at home first, and had to come
and help us over the river. Then, indeed, we had a season
of great joy as a family, on having reached the northern
bank of that mighty stream. Our dear child had been
brought in safety over the stormy ocean after nearly seven
years' absence. My dear husband had travelled seven hun
dred miles north-east of this, through savage beasts and
savage men, and had been brought back again in perfect
safety and improved health, after being permitted to make
known the word of eternal life to perishing thousands
who had 'never heard before of a Saviour or of a Supreme
Being at all. My journey too had been attended with
difficulties and dangers, out of all of which the Lord had
delivered us. Added to these mercies during our stay at
the river, a paper came to hand announcing the arrival of
our poor Livingstone at Loanda just when I had been in
dulging fears. You will be able to conceive of our feelings
at such a season, what abundant cause of thankfulness we
had. vea, and still have, for we seem to wonder more and
more on the retrospect.
LETTER TO DR. BRUCE. 313
" As my husband has sent home copious extracts from
his journal, the most interesting parts of which will likely be
published by the Directors, it would be superfluous for me
to give anything here except to remark that after so much
providential leading and guidance in both our journeys, we
think there is much to indicate the Divine approbation,
and we fondly hope the results will be such as shall even
tually redound to the glory of God. There is something
very remarkable in the uncommonly strong attachment of
the poor savage Mosilikatse to my husband — an attachment
which has lasted for twenty-three years — and we cannot
help thinking that this circumstance is to be overruled for
some great object."
Robert M off at to Dr. Bruce, of Newcastle.
" June. 9, 1855.
" It is long since I wrote to you, it being now more than
a twelvemonth since I left for my interior journey, which
occupied seven months. . . .
" I have resumed the translation of the second volume of
the Old Testament — a work at which I never tire, and only
regret that I have so many interruptions. I have just laid
the MS. aside with the resolution to write to you by an un
expected opportunity to the Colony. We heard through
John some time since that you had visited Rome. How
much I should like to sit in Percy Street and hear you talk
for a couple of hours about what you saw in that strange
city ! In reading ^bout it, there are so many things which
arise in the mind, about which one would like to ask ques
tions. According to some students of prophecy it is one
day to be destroyed or swallowed up by a fiery deluge. If
so, one must feel thankful that you have got out of it again.
What an awful conflagration has been witnessed in your
town ! A stray number of the Illustrated News came,
with drawings of the terrible scenes which, though on paper,
appeared quite frightful enough. How uncertain are all
human prospects, and how ignorant we are as to where
danger really exists ! . ,
"You have my hearty thanks for your ' Roman Wall,'
314 INTERRUPTIONS TO HIS WORK.
which came safe at last, after having been long on the
road. How it rivets one's thoughts to the interesting
incidents of the past ! How nobly the Romans acted in
their warlike expeditions, if such may be called noble.
They carried their civilization, their arts, and their devotion
to their gods with them ; they left marks of improvement
wherever they planted their eagles. You must have had
much labour, but the completeness of the work must yield
no little satisfaction. . . .
" I found all the tribes in the interior at peace ; at least
there was no active warfare. That the Transvaal Boers
and the aborigines will live in peace, is what we have long
since ceased to expect ; nor will the former ever rest till
they have driven the latter beyond their reach, or reduced
them to abject vassalage. The condition of these is still
more hopeless, since the abandonment of the sovereignty,
since which the inhabitants unite with the Transvallians in
helping on the work of extermination."
Robert M off at to one of his Children.
August 20, 1856.
"In taking up the pen to write to you, according to
promise, I shall endeavour to give you an account of my
present labours, that you may form a tolerably correct idea
of the difficulty I find in obtaining time to write letters.
Doubtless you are by this time pretty well acquainted
with the difficulties attendant on the translation of the
sacred oracles into a language but lately reduced to
writing ; but these difficulties also increase or diminish
according to the circumstances of the translator. Of
course it is a work which demands all the time and pains
which can possibly be bestowed upon it, and after all may
not come up to what may be desired. Here I am, and
have been among a people whose wants are endless, and
whose demands on my time are incessant and uncertain
as the course of the wind. Many, many are the times I
have sat down and got my thoughts somewhat in order,
with pen in hand to write a verse, the correct rendering of
which I had just arrived at, after wading through other
MANY SORTS OF VISITORS. 315
translations and lexicons, when one enters my study with
some complaint he has to make, or counsel to ask, or
medical advice and medicine to boot, a tooth to be ex
tracted, a subscription to the auxiliary to be measured or
counted ; or one calls (as at the present moment) to say he
is going towards the Colony, and wishes something like a
a passport ; anon strangers from other towns, and visitors
from the interior arrive, who all seem to claim a right to
my attentions. Here we cannot so easily ring the bell and
bow visitors to the front door. More generally they expect
entertainment of a tangible character. Repairs want doing
or superintending ; the general concerns of the station
devolve upon myself. I have to correspond with native
teachers, and to see their wants supplied — all these, and
twenty other things of a similar kind, leave very little time
indeed at my command or that of your mother. Public
services and visits to out-stations of course demand their
share. The worst is that all or most of these interruptions
dart on one with the uncertainty of a shooting star, and
render the appropriation of time as devious as the flight of
the bat. When I take up a newspaper, it is only to glance
at it with a feeling like that of committing sacrilege. I
have sometimes been arrested with something interesting,
and have read it with ten or more strokes in the minute
added to my pulse, from the anxiety caused by the
conviction that I am spending precious time apart from its
paramount object while I feel perfectly composed over
anything which I am satisfied has a direct bearing on the
true object of the missionary. As I have a small mechani
cal bump in some corner of my head, I feel a relief
occasionally in mending an article, or it may be a gun-lock
for some needy body ; but I cannot imitate the musical
souter, whose picture I have seen, holding his chin in one
hand, while he is whistling a tune to a new-made shoe he
is holding up with the other, with the violin and flute at
his side to vary the exercises of the last. Every time I
make a halt from such causes in the course of my duties
I feel as if I must endeavour to make up in some way for
the loss. The moment I have finished any little job I
316 UNFAIR POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.
throw down my tools and am back to my work, so that my
little workshop would beat any Irishman's garret you ever
saw ; but it does not incommode me any more than con
fusion in my study. Your mother has some difficulty at
times to get permission to brush out my study, for it is
visited by all sorts of people, some of whom are neither
brushed nor buttoned, independently of the dusty character
of the country. . . .
"With regard to the Bechwana Mission our present
prospects are anything but bright. This arises principally
from the pressure of foreign influence. It is the time of
ebb with us, and has been for some time past. Few have
been added to our churches, notwithstanding the increase
of means in the way of books and, I might add, good
congregations and attentive hearers. There is a general
deadness over which we mourn. We feel we need the
kindling influences of the Holy Spirit. The public mind
has been greatly soured by the policy of our Government
towards the native tribes on the northern border, who
have never given the shadow of a reason for being so dealt
with. The odious powder ordinance, put into force to meet
the wishes of the inhabitants of the Free State and of the
Transvaal Republic, precludes the natives from procuring a
single ounce of ammunition, either to defend themselves or
to kill their own game. This is tantamount to depriving
them of their arms that they may become an easy prey to
their enemies. The members of our churches of course
know that this is no fault of ours, though we are sadly
ashamed of it, and can no more open our mouth to say a
single word in favour of our nation, once so respected and
honoured by the aborigines.
" The conclusions drawn by the heathen are very natural :
viz., that the English connive at their extermination. This
has an indirect but powerful influence in prejudicing them
against everything emanating from that quarter; but we
know that this, like other things which the gospel has had
to contend with, is destined to fall at the Divine mandate.
Though compared to the teeming millions of the Eastern
world the tribes are small, yet there is a large population
THE CHIEFS WELL DISPOSED. 317
speaking the language in which the whole of the oracles of
God will shortly be printed. The gospel has already been
made the power of God to the salvation of many of them,
and while we know that Jehovah's hand is not shortened,
nor His ear heavy, we continue to hope that the mental
desert will yet rejoice and blossom as the rose.
" Hitherto the progress of the gospel has been, as it has
always been, among the poor and middling sort of folks.
Our chiefs are sordid and sottish. Yantye of Lekatlong
is one who has influence, but he has not much energy.
However, he has around him a Christian community, under
the ministrations of our worthy brother, Helmore. Though
there may be a solitary village whose chief might refuse a
native instructor, there is no chief in the whole country,
from here to the Zambezi River, that would refuse the
services of a missionary. Pity that Sechele is so beset with
difficulties from the Transvaal Boers, for he is the most in
telligent and energetic of all the chiefs, and he is resolved
not to retrograde, as he is now building a chapel or school-
house on his mountain, which is surrounded by many
thousands of Bakwena and other tribes who have fled from
the iron rod of the Boers. Surely all these souls cannot
be left to perish ! "
CHAPTER XXX.
FOURTH JOURNEY TO MOSIL1KATSE.
1857-
IN 1857 the translation of the Old Testament
was finished, and the whole Bible was in the
hands of the Bechwanas in their own language.
To the translator the labour had been simply
herculean. His work had been carried on in the
face of countless interruptions as already described
by himself. These may have saved him from a
concentration on study resulting in serious con
sequences, but it required indomitable energy and
strength of will to overcome them. The distance
of other stations, and the absence of means for
speedy intercourse, prevented his fellow-labourers,
with the exception of Mr. Ashton, from taking any
important part in the work. At the time it was
going on they were also, for the most part, at work
on comparatively new stations, and fully absorbed in
overcoming the difficulties incident to such under
takings. The New Testament, which with the
Psalms had been printed in 1840, on the occasion
of Moffat's visit to England, was already in full
MOFFAT LOOKS NORTHWARD AGAIN. 319
circulation. It is worthy of remark, and is a tribute
to the character of the translation, that the identical
text is still in use after more than forty years. No
one would be so foolish as to say that it cannot be
improved, but as yet the improvement has not been
made.
Before the last sheets of the Old Testament had
passed through the press MofTat was laying his plans
for further action. He felt great concern for the
many tribes comparatively within reach to the north
east, who for some years had enjoyed the presence
of missionaries, and were now again left to them
selves. Especially was his mind exercised for
Secbele, chief of the Bakwena, who united with a
forwardness to receive the gospel and its accom
panying civilization quite unusual an erratic way
wardness of disposition, which caused grief and fear
to his best friends. So MofTat had made up his
mind to visit Sechele and his neighbours, and to
strengthen the hands of one or two native teachers
who still held their ground.
Meanwhile Livingstone, after , disappearing at
Loanda on the west coast, had reappeared at Quilli-
mane on the east, and had made his way to London.
The supporters of the London Missionary Society
had come to take a strong interest in the Makololo,
who under their chief, Sekeletu, had shown such con
fidence in the missionary, and such capacity for
enterprise ; and steps were taken for the establish
ment of a mission among them. There was one
condition necessary, that the Makololo should leave
the marshy network of rivers about the Chobe where
they were living, or rather slowly d)ing, and should
32o EXTENSIVE PLANS FOR NEW MISSIONS.
remove to the high country about the Kafue, on the
north bank of the Zambezi, and opposite to the
Matebele, on the south bank. But the two tribes
had a long-standing feud, and the Makololo dis
trusted their southern neighbours, whose love of
plunder would sooner or later assert itself and lead
to a renewal of the attacks which had formerly
caused the Makololo to abandon that region and
o
betake themselves westward to the shelter of the
marshes and rivers. So a great plan took shape,
which, like a good many other plans of man's making,
after costing a deal of money and life, came to
nothing. It was thought that if a mission could be
established simultaneously among the Makololo and
Matebele, the two tribes could be got to live in
peace. The outcome of all this, so far as Moffat
was concerned, was a letter from the Directors pro
posing that he should go for a twelvemonth to the
Matebele, taking with him two younger men, and
plant a new mission.
There were many things to be considered. He
was sixty-two years old, of which forty-one had
been spent in hard work for the Society ; but that
consideration did not weigh for a moment. Though
he might be fit for such an undertaking, his wife was
not. She was still active and energetic, but she
only kept herself in working order by extreme care
and method, such as could be secured on an old and
well-established station like Kuruman. It would be
necessary for her to remain behind. True, the
Bechwana Mission, already almost abandoned, would
be more completely bereft by the so long absence
of the one man whom his two or three companions
THE HANOVERIANS AT SECHELE'S. 321
would readily acknowledge to count for a host in
himself. Ashton would be left at Kuruman, Fre-
doux at Motito, Ross at Taung to the eastward, and
Hughes at Griqua Town. Helmore was away on
furlough. But Moffat felt that if he went forward
it was for the Directors to look to it that the hands
of those in the Bechwana field were strengthened.
A still more serious consideration was as to how
such a move would be regarded by Mosilikatse and
his people. Had it rested solely with Moffat at this
time he would not have advised an immediate com
mencement of a mission to the Matebele. But he
felt that the action of the Directors was in part the
result of what he himself had written home, and he
was too chivalrous to draw back at such a moment.
In two days his mind was made up. " I will go," he
said, " but I must start at once and first prepare the
minds of Mosilikatse and his people for the coming
among them of missionaries, and explain to him the
whole plan." So in a few days more he was off,
ploughing the sandy plains to the north-east, with
seven hundred miles thither and seven hundred
miles back again of travelling in the slow but trusty
ox waggon.
On his way he made use of the opportunity to
visit the Bechwana tribes along his line of route.
He found himself face to face with a grave question
at Sechele's. Three missionaries had arrived — a
Mr. Schroeder, with two companions, belonging to
a Hanoverian Society under the direction of Pastor
Harms, of Hermannsburg. Curiously enough they
had come through the Boers, and in some measure
by their aid, in answer to an appeal from Sechele,
22
322 MOFFAT SMOOTHS THEIR WAY.
who had begun to despair of further attention from
the London missionaries. At this time Pretorius
was in power at Potchefstroom. He was a man of
mild disposition, and sought to pursue a more peace
ful policy towards the native tribes. The Boers
were harassed by dissensions among themselves,
and a certain party of them were cultivating the
friendship of the border chiefs, particularly of
Sechele.
When the worthy Schroeder arrived in the town
of the Bakwena, accompanied by a Boer functionary
from the Marico District, the chief began to realize
the true significance of the step he had taken. His
people, not actuated by his intense desire for a mis
sionary, were quick at catching up an objection to
these men. They had come with and from the
Boers, their coming meant no good. If the Boers
wished the Bakwena to have the word of God, why
had they driven away Ngake (Livingstone), burnt
his house, and pillaged his property ?
When Moffat appeared on the scene his own
mind was full of somewhat similar thoughts. But
he had not been long in the company of the new
comers before he was reassured. He found them
good and worthy men, whose connection with the
Boers was merely accidental. They had come that
way from Natal because they did not know how
else to get there, and when they had found that the
Bakwena were under the care of the London Mis
sionary Society, and had among them a native
teacher, they had, through their own Superintendent
in Natal, taken steps to communicate with the
Directors of that Society ; and hearing that Moffat
THEY ARE ESTABLISHED THERE. 323
was expected from Kuruman, they meanwhile awaited
his arrival. Still the position was perplexing. Here
was a case of intrusion, and a departure from the
rule of courtesy and convenience which the Evan
gelical Societies observe towards each other. A
word would have been enough. Schroeder would
have withdrawn instantly if he had been asked to do
so, and Sechele was only wanting Moffat's word for
it, which he earnestly desired, when he found, to his
mortification, that in receiving his new friends he
was parting company with his old ones. But Moffat
felt that he could not say the word. If these mis
sionaries left, Sechele could then justly claim to be
supplied with at least one European agent by his
old Society. And this was just what Moffat could
not promise. So the Hanoverians remained. They
have done and are doing good work within the
Transvaal, where they have many stations. Their
nationality, and their concessions to the Boers on
some points, give them a footing where English
missionaries would be shut out ; but it is open to
question whether it would not have been better for
the Kalahari tribes outside of the Transvaal to have
had their wants supplied entirely by the Society
which had first commenced work there.
Moffat arranged that Paul, the native teacher,
should remain to assist the new missionaries for a
time, and successfully combated the prejudices of
the Bakwena. It was decided that the mission
should be transferred to the Hanoverians, and so it
remained for some years, when they withdrew, and
their place was again supplied by the London
Society. Moffat went his way, and in due time
324 THE CAPTIVE MACHENG.
arrived at the headquarters of Mosilikatse. The
task in hand was not so simple and easy as it might
seem at this distance of time. The failure of at
tempts in former years to establish missions among
his people had not left a good impression on the
mind of Mosilikatse. Yes ; he was willing to have
missionaries, but my friend Ramary must come
himself. " These new men, I do not know them.
All men are not alike." Then he and his people
shared in a deep conviction that the opening of
the country to white men to come and settle would
be the beginning of the end. They were not far
wrong there.
However, all these difficulties were overcome by
patient effort, and the way seemed clear. Again
and again was the chief reminded that the new
comers would come with their wives to make their
homes there, and would not be merely visitors as
Moffat had been, and that their great work would
be to teach and to preach the gospel. It was
obvious even then that the chiefs mind was full of
other things. He thought of certain temporal ad
vantages which in his mind would be connected
with their advent and residence in the country.
To the north-east of the Bakwena, on the road to
the Matebele, lay the Bamangwato, a large tribe ruled
by Sekhomi. The legal chief, by name Macheng,
had been taken prisoner by the Matebele when a
boy, about twenty years before. On his former
journey to Mosilikatse Moffat had been importuned
by Sechele and others to bring back Macheng, if
possible, out of captivity. He had declined to do
so, because it seemed to him to be trenching to an
HE IS RESTORED TO HIS PEOPLE. 325
undesirable extent upon the region of politics. But
on this occasion his objections had been overcome,
especially when Sekhomi declared his willingness to
abdicate his power in favour of Macheng, whose
rights he never attempted to dispute.
Accordingly, when the main object of Moffat's
journey was accomplished, he sought and obtained
the release of Macheng. It was not a small matter
to set free a captive, and even to forego such ransom
as might have been expected in his case as the chief
of a large tribe ; but consent seems to have been
readily given, and towards the end of the year
Moffat turned his face homewards, accompanied by
Macheng. On his arrival at Shoshong, the town of
the Bamangwato, there was, of course, much excite
ment, and Macheng was welcomed back ; but Moffat
refused to give him over to any one but Sechele, in
whose keeping he was when captured by the Mate-
bele, and in accordance with whose request Moffat
had obtained his liberation. On the arrival of the
travellers at Lithubaruba, an immense concourse of
Bechwanas, representing eight different tribes, were
assembled, and in their presence Macheng was
handed over, and shortly escorted back to his own
people. The transaction was not attended with the
best results. Sekhomi gave way, but never ceased
to plot and agitate. After several revolutions and
countless wars, which nearly led to the dismember
ment of the tribe, Macheng and Sekhomi both died
in exile, and the tribe is now ruled by Khame, the
son of the latter, a man of more than ordinary
character and enlightenment, and a decided Christian.
326 THE NEW UNDERTAKINGS.
Mary Moffat to one of her Children.
July 13, 1857.
" All pens have been going except mine, and I feel a
sort of hankering after it too, though I dare not write
much or it would so far stupify me, as to cause me to for
get some part of the provision necessary for your father's
long journey. You can hardly conceive of the variety of
things which go to equip a person on such an expedition,
into a country totally uncivilized. The importance to the
mission of Bessie's having come out was never more evi
dent than now. Your father would hardly have seen it his
duty to leave me now had she not been here. As it is, all
is comparatively easy. The poor heart will ache in antici
pation of all these separations, and the life of privation
and hardship which seems destined for so many loved
members of my family. I cannot help contemplating what
is before the Livingstones and yourself, as well as your
father at his advanced age. Thus my sympathy is exces
sively excited — I say excessively, but this I ascribe to my
physical debility, for what I would have faced courageously
(when once convinced of my duty) seems now very for
midable to me. I can, however, call to mind how we have
been sustained and strengthened for the last forty years,
and our lives preserved, till we have seen the whole of the
precious volume in print in this language. Thus I take
courage for you all, and doubt not you may be honoured
to see greater things .than these in this poor benighted
country. The tribes in this part do not duly appreciate
their privileges, and it may be that they will value them
more when they see teachers passing them by ; and then
they will have to fall back on the written word like the
Malagasy — and we have seen how quick and powerful has
been the sword of the Spirit there. Conceive, then, our
joy on the completion of such a work, and we feel that we
owe much to the cause in which we are engaged as a proof
of our gratitude for such an honour put upon us."
On his return from his journey to Mosilikatse,
LIVINGSTONE AT THE CAPE. 327
Moffat found the news awaiting him that the Living
stones were starting for the Zambezi, and were to
call at the Cape on their way ; and that a large
party of new missionaries had been appointed to
commence the new Interior Missions. Mary Moffat
had a strong conviction that if her daughter once
went to the Zambezi she would not return, and here
was the chance for a last meeting. Moffat himself
saw an opportunity of meeting and conferring with
the Doctor, who, though no longer in the service of
the London Missionary Society, was expected to be
an important auxiliary to operations among the
Makololo. The path of duty seemed to be clear,
and the Moffats started from the Cape, using the
utmost expedition, travelling over the northern
wastes of the Colony and through the Karroo for
the first time in their lives in a horse waggon. In
due time the Government expedition arrived, and
after a short stay at the Cape went on its way ; and
Livingstone said good-bye for the last time to his
wife's parents. She had suffered so much on the
voyage that it was thought better for her to accom
pany the missionary party overland, with the view
of meeting her husband on the Zambezi. It was
some time before all arrived ; and it was August
before a start was made for the interior. Helmore
was to go to the Makololo with Mackenzie and
Price ; Moffat to the Matebele with Sykes and
Thomas. Moffat's younger son was to accompany
the latter party, sustained in the capacity of a mis
sionary out of Livingstone's private resources. The
latter, in giving up official connection with direct
missionary work, felt a desire to have a sort of
328 A LABORIOUS JOURNEY FROM THE CAPE.
deputy to take his place, and devoted more than
a fourth of his Government salary to this object.
During his stay in Cape Town, Moffat met with
many proofs of goodwill. Old and faithful friends,
whose friendship dated from days of darkness and
evil report, welcomed him as warmly as ever after
an absence of fifteen years. Beyond the limits of
this circle there was a strong and widespread interest
in the new undertakings, which at that time seemed
to promise such great things for Tropical South
Africa. Sir George Grey was then Governor, and
showed an unusual and practical determination to
forward the objects of the party.
Whilst there was much to encourage, there were
also great difficulties to be overcome. One of those
severe droughts, unhappily so common in the history
of South Africa, made the long journey from Cape
Town to the Orange River one continuous struggle.
When the various parties reached the northern limit
of the Colony, it was after a much more tedious
journey than usual and at a ruinous cost in oxen. It
was while struggling through the Karroo that sad
news met the Moffats from Kuruman. The Batlap-
ing, the southernmost of the Bechwana tribes, had
hitherto managed to avoid collision with the Boers.
Their country was in itself not so attractive as the
well-wooded slopes and fruitful vales of the Bahurutse
and Bakhatla, further to the north-east. Unfortu
nately, along the lower Vaal River there were people,
mostly Korannas, in scattered bands, who recognized
no chief and were guilty of occasional lawless acts.
Some of the more turbulent spirits among the Bat-
laping, notably one or two of the young chiefs, fol-
ANTAGONISM TO THE NEW MISSIONS. 329
lowed their evil example, crossed the river into the
Orange Free State in their company, and put to
death the men of a Boer homestead, bringing away
two of the women as captives. These, it may be
said, were not ill-treated, and were eventually re
stored by the intervention of Edward Chapman, a
trader. These infatuated freebooters brought upon
themselves and upon their tribe severe chastisement.
A Boer expedition crossed the Vaal River, attacked
the Batlaping, whose principal chief, Gasebonwe, fell
with many of his people. A large booty in cattle
and other property was taken, and the force retired,
promising to return shortly and to complete what
they had begun, and to go on to the missionary
station of Kuruman, which lay farther to the west
ward.
When the missionary party began to muster here
towards the end of the year 1858, so far from an
extension of work in the interior, it seemed doubtful
whether Kuruman itself would be spared.
The Free State people, having carried out what
appeared to them just reprisals, had nothing more
to say ; but the Transvaal Boers were strongly dis
posed to carry matters farther, and as the year 1859
wore on it became evident that mischief was brew
ing, and an expedition was on foot to attack Kuru
man and to root out the mission there. At the
same time a document was received from certain
local officials on the north-western border of the
Transvaal, informing MofTat that his intention to
accompany a party of missionaries to the Zambezi
would not be allowed, and that in case of his going
he would be stopped by force. On these matters
330 WORK IN AN INTERVAL OF DELAY.
coming to the ears of Sir George Grey, he, as High
Commissioner, caused it to be made known to the
Boers that such things could not be tolerated ; and
the result of this was that the malcontents in the
Transvaal found themselves bereft of support among
their own people, and were fain to drop their inten
tion.
Several months were, however, lost, owing to the
delay and uncertainty involved in -these matters and
in the extended preparations of such a large party
of missionaries going to such a distance into the
interior. The time was occupied by Moffat in at
tending to the wants of the station, and in pushing
through the press an additional hymn-book. His
wonderful energy seemed irrepressible, and to grow
at a time of life when other men would have been
feeling inclined to take a little rest.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE NEW MISSIONS TO 1 HE NORTH
1859.
SOME changes of plan had to be made. It was
evident that the hope of Mary Livingstone
meeting her husband at the Zambezi was too
uncertain to be counted upon, and she returned to
the Cape. Ashton, so long Moffat's colleague at
Kuruman, was transferring his service to the Griqua
Mission at Philippolis, and left in the month of May.
He had been called in the month of February to
suffer the irreparable loss of his wife, the partner of
his work for sixteen years.
Mackenzie had decided not to accompany this
expedition to the Makololo in the first instance, but
to follow a year after.
Robert Moffat to his brother Richard.
June 22, 1859.
" A short letter at any time is better than none, and as
it will be the last I can address you before leaving for
the interior, I embrace this opportunity. The dark cloud
which has for a time hung over our prospects has to all
appearance dispersed for the present, and within a month
we all hope to take our departure for the Matebcle and
Makololo Missions. We have been put to much trouble
332 HELMORE'S PARTY SETS OUT.
and expense as well as delay from the threatened attack of
the Transvaal Boers on the Kuruman, on account of the
removal of goods to the Colony, which have only just been
brought back. The Boers appear to have been shamed by
letters from the Governor, as well as by influence exerted
by others, into the abandonment of their purpose. Whether
they will attempt to prevent us from passing their assumed
territory remains to be seen. The subject has called for
fervent prayer to God, here and in Cape Town. These
prayers have been heard, and to God would we give all the
praise. We also consider it an omen for good, believing
that He who has thus dispersed the threatening storm will
still make our way plain in carrying the light of the glorious
gospel to the dark regions beyond. If all go well, I shall
in all probability remain about a twelvemonth among the
Matebele, or at all events until I shall see that, under the
Divine blessing, the mission is established.
" I think it is since I wrote to you that Mrs. Ashton
died. Not long after, John's son, born at Beaufort, died.
That was soon followed by the death of Mrs. Sykes and
the child to whom she had given birth. Since then Mr.
Ross, at Lekatlong, has lost a daughter, so that death in
our missionary band is warning us to be also ready. I am
much as usual, but the worse of wear ; and have been, ever
since our return from the Cape, worried almost to death with
cares and engagements — now, with all the preparations of
myself and others, getting to a climax. Mrs. Moffat is not
nearly so strong as she was, but, like our late beloved
mother, will be doing."
On the seventh of July, 1859, the first division
of the party started from Kuruman. They were
Mr. and Mrs. Helmore and four children, and Mr.
and Mrs. Price. There was Tabe, a native teacher
from Lekatlong, who had determined to accompany
his old missionary, and there was the usual staff of
native attendants. Every one was impressed with
the gravity of the occasion. The end of the journey
THE MAKOLOLO MISSION. 333
was a point a thousand miles farther into the interior,
to which none of those now going had ever been
except a couple of the native servants, who had
accompanied Livingstone on one of his former
journeys. All were happy in the thought that a
start was really being made, but there was a calm
and subdued feeling which befitted the occasion.
They went out, knowing not whither they went,
and what was in store for them ; but they went in
faith. It was just a year and a half after this that
Roger Price returned, bringing with him two orphan
children of the Helmores ; and they, with the broken
remnant of their Bechwana followers, were all that
remained of the missionary band. The story of
the failure of the Makololo Mission is well known-
failure in one sense, but not in the highest, for
such episodes leave behind them influences which
can never die. For some years nothing was done,
but latterly the work has been recommenced.
Arnot, of Glasgow, has been for a time alone, verily
a pioneer of apostolic mould ; but the Coillards and
their niece, with their colleague Jeanmairet, have
now gone to establish a mission for the Paris Society.
A week after the Makololo party had started,
Mr. Thomas and John Moffat, with their wives,
left, to be followed speedily by Robert Moffat and
Mr. Sykes. Once more Mary Moffat was called to
part with her husband, and with her two daughters
was left in comparative solitude ; there being, for a
time, no one left even to carry on the public services
on the station, except the native elders of the church,
until the Mackenzies returned from their visit to the
Colony.
334 HEAVY LOADS IN A SAND DESERT.
Robert Moffat overtook his own company at
Sechele's, but the Helmores and Prices were too far
on their way ; and although some communications
took place by letter, at Shoshong the roads diverged
and the Matebele party turned to the north-east,
and saw their companions no more.
From Sechele's town to Shoshong, the head
quarters of the Bamangwato, the road crossed a
corner of the Kalahari Desert. The country con
sisted of slightly rolling plains of deep white sand.
In one part of this there was an interval of sixty
miles without water. It was a hard struggle to get
the train of six heavily-loaded waggons across -this
thirsty desert. Progress was slower than usual. On
former occasions Moffat had travelled this road
alone, with the object of spending a few months
only in the interior, but now it was a question of
carrying requisites for the permanent settlement of
families. When civilized people put together what
they need for two or three years to come for resi
dence among utter barbarians, seven hundred miles
from the nearest shop, they make the discovery—
if they have not made it before — that their wants
are neither few nor simple. By dint of hard work
by day and by night the desert was crossed, and
the waggons were drawn up under the shadow of the
Bamangwato mountains.
From this point onwards the sand ceased, and
the course lay through a wooded region, which
continued the same in character to the end of their
journey. The country onwards had by this time
become better known than it was when Moffat first
groped his way through it five years before ; but as
A MARCH THROUGH THE FOREST. 335
yet there was no beaten track. Each traveller made
his own way, and left but little trace behind him.
So when we had coasted round the eastern end of
the hills, and had set our faces to the north-east,
there lay before us a region, as far as the eye could
reach, almost level and of a dark colour, on account
of the unbroken woodland. Day by day the waggons
followed in line. Two or three pioneers had to walk
in front seeking the most easy path. Fortunately,
as a rule, the forest was not dense. The trees
stood fairly apart, the undergrowth being mostly
long, rank grass, through which the foremost waggon
ploughed its way as through a field of corn, each
succeeding vehicle finding progress easier, until,
when the whole train had passed, there was some
thing like a beaten track. Here and there ant-hills,
some of huge side, had to be avoided, and occa
sionally great stones or stumps lay hidden in the
grass, and sorely tried the wheels and axles of the
heavy waggons. Occasionally the forest was found
too dense, a halt had to be called, and all who could
chop, white or black, had to fall to, until, by their
united efforts, a way had been cleared. Foremost
among these would be the veteran himself, who
would never allow the younger men to get the better
of him in any form of activity. Hour by hour this
slow progress would go on ; for days no clear view of
the horizon could be obtained, or indeed any view
more distant than a few hundred yards. Now, again,
the way would be barred by one of the many chan
nels in which water flowed only after the summer
rains. The river-beds were full of white crystalline
sand, and under this sand water was to be found
336 THE EVENING BIVOUAC.
pure and cool. It often took a good part of a day
to get the waggons down and up the steep banks
and across the expanse of sand, often eighty or a
hundred yards broad. Each day as the sun began
to sink behind the tree-tops a halt would be called,
a space sufficiently open would be fixed upon, the
waggons were drawn into a circle, the oxen unyoked
and allowed to graze, while all hands were again at
work felling mimosa bushes, dragging them to the
waggons, and making a kraal. Some would be col
lecting large heaps of firewood. As the shades of
evening fell, the oxen would be enclosed in the
kraal, the fires would be lighted, cooking would
commence in real earnest. V/hen the travellers
were ready for rest a call would be sounded, all
would assemble at one fire, a hymn would be sung
where no such sound was ever heard before, prayer
would be offered, and in another hour nothing was
to be heard but the chirping of the beetles, the
snoring of the sleepers, and the occasional inarticulate
sounds by which the tired oxen showed that they
were contentedly chewing their cud.
Very little disturbance was experienced from wild
beasts. The season was dry ; the game had moved
to more favoured localities, and the lions had fol
lowed suit. Occasionally the distant roar of the
latter was to be heard during the silence of the night,
but it was not unpleasant at a distance. The occa
sional dismal howl, or rather yell, of the prowling
hyama, who used to hang about the outskirts of the
camp, was not much regarded ; and still less the
cheerful yelping of the jackals. Not often a sudden
hubbub at one of the fires made night hideous, when
THE APPROACH TO MATEBELELAND. 337
it would be discovered that a snake or a larger
scorpion than usual had insinuated himself amorg
the sleepers round the camp-fires. The nights were
always still ; even if it blew during the day the
nights were calm, and at this season of the year
cloudless, so that there would be a bright moon, or
starlight. As the dawn crept up the sky the camp
would awake to life, the still burning fires would be
replenished, the oxen turned out to graze, and the
coffee kettles put on for a hasty breakfast before
the start. Once or twice there were forced marches
for want of water, meat would run short on account
of the scarcity of game, an axle would break by a
waggon running against a stump or rock ; but the
energy of the leader rose over each impediment.
He seemed to have the strength of three men, and
was here, there, and everywhere in turn.
At length, twenty-six days after leaving Shoshong,
signs began to appear of approach to the land of the
Matebele. The first outposts of the Makalaka, a
tributary people, were reached, and from this point
onwards, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles
to the headquarters of the chief, the journey was
through an inhabited country.
On their progress through Bechwanaland it had
been necessary for some of the party to buy oxen
with which to fill up their dwindling teams. It
proved that these were infected with " lung sick
ness," a disease which had ravaged South Africa, but
which had never reached the dominions of Mosili-
katse. Moffat saw that it would not do to run any
risks of connecting the advent of the gospel among
the Matebele with that of such a scourge as a pes-
23
333 WAGGONS DRAWN BY WARRIORS.
tilence among the myriads of their cattle. On his
arrival at the first outposts he sent forward messen
gers explaining this to the chief, and proposing that
the draught cattle of the expedition should be left in
quarantine, whilst Mosilikatse might supply his own
oxen to bring the party to headquarters. A second
message had to be sent before the chief could be
brought to see the merits of the case ; and then he
gave orders that the oxen were to be left as pro
posed, but that as his own draught oxen were "all
dead " he would send men to drag the waggons.
Moffat knew well enough what value to attach to
rhe statement about the oxen, but it was best to let
things take their course, and to fall back on patience,
a commodity without which little can be done in the
interior of Africa. In due time a band of warriors
appeared, but they were only eighty in number —
not half enough for the task of dragging six heavily-
Joaded waggons over hill and down dale, through
gullies and brushwood, for upwards of a hundred
miles. After ten days' valiant struggle on their part,
the slow progress made convinced the despot that
Lis whim ^ould not be gratified, and at last the oxen—
which he had kept back for reasons best known to
himself — made their appearance.
Unfortunately, though originally trained, it was
years since most of them had been in the yoke. A
whole day was taken up in compelling the unwilling
submission of a sufficient number to drag three of
the waggons, and progress was but slow. At last,
however, on the twenty-eighth of October, the party
approached the chiefs camp — some waggons drawn
by oxen, others by men. Mosilikatse, with a very
THE CHIEF HESITATES. 339
small number of people, was encamped in a dense,
gloomy forest on the banks of the Impembezi.
He received his old friend with his usual cor
diality, but as time wore on it became evident that
something was wrong. The younger missionaries,
who had come to settle in the country, and to whom
it was of importance to provide for the future by
getting seed into the ground, as the rainy season
was commencing, were naturally eager to get to
work. In this their senior and leader fully sympa
thized, and many were his earnest representations to
the chief that it was desirable at once to point out
a j5lace for a station. From day to day he was met
with evasions and delays. The days became weeks.
The summer advanced, and the wayworn travellers
had to endure days of tropical heat, with a succes
sion of equally tropical thunderstorms, with no better
shelter than the canvas tilts of their waggons and
the tents that they had pitched. Happily their
camp was on a slope of hard ground, which did not
get muddy. It was a trying time to all; not least
so to the older missionary, who could not under
stand the change that had come over the chief, and
who began, not without reason, to suspect that he
was repenting of the permission he had so freely
given for the establishment of a mission in his
country. This suspicion proved to be correct.
During Moffat's visit to the Cape in the previous
year Mosilikatse had sent messengers out to visit
Mahura, then chief of the Batlaping, at Taung. These
were present when the Boer attack upon the Bat-
laping took place ; and the Batlaping, soured against
all white men, had sent a message that missionaries
340 A SEASON OF SUSPENSE.
not only destroyed the old customs, such as poly
gamy, but that wherever they came the Boers
followed in due course. The experience — which
the Matebele had not forgotten — of the advent of
the American missionaries at Mosega, followed so
closely by the attack of the Boers, gave colour
to this charge ; and now that this large party of
new-comers were actually on the spot, not merely
as visitors, but to settle in the country, the fears,
perhaps more of his people than of the chief himself,
were aroused, and the question was in actual debate
as to whether the settlement should be allowed.
This suspense was not even relieved by the con
solation that the missionaries were in contact with
the people, for there were scarcely any people on
the spot, it being Mosilikatse's own encampment,
and not a town. As time wore on things got worse
instead of better. At the beginning of December
the chief, without a moment's warning, broke up his
camp and removed with his waggons to a town
at some distance, telling the missionaries that he
would send people with them to the spot where
they were to settle, and where he would join them
afterwards. As he did not supply them with oxen
for their waggons, it was difficult to understand
what he meant, and for a fortnight longer things
seemed as gloomy as they well could do. Day after
day the missionaries waited, their waggon supplies
diminishing, and the chief having apparently for
gotten that they were dependent upon him for meat,
for there was no one from whom they could buy.
About the middle of the month there was a sud
den change in the whole aspect of affairs. One
SETTLEMENT AT INYATI. 341
morning two headmen arrived with beaming faces.
They seemed to have had a load taken off their
minds. Mosilikatse was on his way to Inyati, and
had sent two teams of oxen, with which the mis
sionaries were to go and join him there at once.
No time was lost ; tents were struck, waggons
packed, and a start made. The distance was about
twenty-five miles, but it took a week's hard work to
get to the end of the journey. Owing to the rains,
some parts of the country were little better than a
morass. On the twenty-second of December, after
almost incredible exertions, the whole party was as
sembled on the outskirts of the kraal of Inyati. All
was settled. A spot which looked well for a station,
about a mile from the town, was pointed out ; and
after spending Christmas Day together in their
camp, the last mile was travelled with no little
satisfaction, and the new-comers felt that they had
reached home. Each selected for himself a tree
under which to pitch his tent, until he should have
raised a more solid dwelling. Moffat had now ac
complished one stage of his undertaking. To him
the experience of the previous two months had been
perhaps the sorest trial of faith that he had known
in his life. At one period even he had wavered in
doubt whether it would be possible to establish the
mission ; and yet, while harassed with doubt himself,
and chafing under the suspense and enforced inac
tivity of these two months, it was necessary for him
to prop up the weaker faith of his companions, who
had never seen Mosilikatse under any more favour
able aspect, and, not having the same strong per
sonal bond of friendship, were inclined to think
342 AFFECTIONS WEANED FROM THE WORLD.
that whilst other doors were open to the gospel, it
was wasting time to press its acceptance upon a chief
and people so unwilling. ,
Mary M off at to her Brother-in-law.
Feb. 22, 1860.
" MY DEAR BROTHER RICHARD,— It is now so very long
since we heard from you, that we hardly know how things
are with our Scotch friends. So many of our contempo
raries are dropping off one after the other that we scarcely
expect to receive a post without some such information,
and we cannot help feeling it will soon be said of us too,
' They are gone.' Well, the grand thing is to be found pre
pared when the summons does come, having our loins girt
about and our lamps burning, waiting the arrival of the
Bridegroom. If I had not felt it before, I should do so
now, that all earthly things are vain and trifling, except we
are enabled by Divine grace to use them to His glory.
My strength is gone, and I begin to feel myself of so little
use in the world that my affections are more and more
loosened from it, and I feel that I could very willingly
leave it ; for I know in whom I have believed, and, when
heart and flesh fail, He will keep that which I have com
mitted unto Him. I have very little hope of meeting you
on this side Jordan, but if we may meet on the other side
it will make rich amends for all the pain and separation
here. Your brother, my dear husband, is much more likely
for life than I am, yet I think he feels very much as I do
on the subject — that is, he lives under a conviction that his
time here may be short He has been called to an arduous
duty, that of commencing a new mission amongst a
thoroughly barbarous and naturally unpromising people,
because under the dominion of an absolute tyrant, to whom
they yield all the powers of body and mind in the most
abject subjection. Nothing short of Almighty power can
make them dare to receive that instruction which is now
offered to them ; but the Saviour who said ' Go/ has also
said, ' All power is given to me in heaven and earth.' As
MISCONCEPTIONS OF NATIVES. 313
you will perceive from Robert's letter, they have had their
discouragements from the very outset, though eventually
light dawned upon them. It was especially painful to him,
who was expected by his influence to have ensured for
them a more cordial reception. The enemy had been at
work, and fears had been excited. We can hardly wonder
that subjects of Mosilikatse, after remaining with the
enemies of the gospel in this quarter for some months,
should have.imbibed notions such as they did, and should
take them to the ears of their master ; and then he had
so many months to con over them before they could be
counteracted.
" Nearly the same thing took place in the commencement
of this mission. After Mr. Campbell had promised to send
teachers, the enemy crept in and said, 'Do not receive them ;
they are agents of the Cape Government, just coming to
tame your young men, who will then be taken to become
soldiers.' Had your brother urged the commencing of this
mission he would have had more painful exercises than
what he had ; but he had not done so, but went in obedience
to the wish of the Directors, though much to his own satis
faction, for he and I had often wondered together what end
was to be answered by all the intercourse he had had with
that people, and the extraordinary attachment of that poor
savage to him. When, therefore, the proposal came from
London, the question seemed to be answered, and we both
stood ready to make any sacrifice to which we might be
called for so great an object. I feel much for him at his
age, for though yet strong, he is not what he once was, and
it costs him more to labour so hard and endure privations
than it did in middle life ; and I know him too well, to sup
pose, whatever be his resolutions, that he will not have
much hard labour and consequent fatigue while he does
CHAPTER XXXII.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MATEBELE MISSION,
1860.
THOUGH his principal object was gained
when Moffat saw his younger companions
settled at Inyati, yet the labours which re
mained were not few or small. The first six months
of the year 1860 were a time of incessant toil, in
which none wrought harder than he. There is no
lack of manual labour in all new undertakings in an
uncivilized country. There were houses to be built,
waggons to be repaired, garden ground to be broken
up. Early and late Moffat was to be found at work,
always at work — it might be at the sawpit, or the
blacksmith's forge, or the carpenter's bench, or aiding
the younger men where their own knowledge and
skill failed them. In addition to all this, the chief
must have a share of his company. It had been
hoped that regular communication might be estab
lished with the Livingstone expedition on the Zam
bezi by way of Matebeleland, and as soon as matters
had fairly settled down Moffat addressed himself to
the task of persuading Mosilikatse to give aid to the
project ; but it soon became clear that the plan could
FEVER IN THE CAMP. 345
not be carried out. It was with a good deal of diffi
culty that the chief was induced to send a party to
the Victoria Falls with a post for Helmore and Price.
It was more evident than ever that he was deter
mined not to have the country opened in that direc
tion. It was quite enough for his suspicious nature
to have one outlet to the world by way of Kuru-
man. There he and his people feared no danger ;
but elsewhere the policy pursued was one of abso
lute isolation. Such was that isolation, that nothing
could be learned of what had become of the other
missionary party at this time lying stricken with
fever at Linyanti. It was not till more than twelve
months later that the little company at Inyati heard
the news that the Makololo Mission was broken up,
and that a mere remnant had returned to Kuruman
to tell the tale ; yet a fortnight's travelling, had the
way been open, would have brought the news.
As time went on it became apparent that the
Matebele country was not so entirely free from fever
as had been hoped, though much more healthy than
the immediate vicinity of the Zambezi. Fever in
vaded the missionary camp. The Europeans enjoyed
immunity from attack, but the Bechwanas from
Kuruman seemed especially liable to its inroads.
For a while a stop was put to work, and gloom
overspread the little community. Only one fatal
case occurred, and as the cooler weather drew on,
the invalids plucked up courage, work was resumed,
and all was hopeful again.
In the Sunday at Home for 1875 there is a paper
by Moffat himself, of which the following paragraph
relates to this juncture :
346 DEATH OF MARELOL&
"There was a young man among those engaged to
accompany the missionaries from the Kuruman to the
Matebele. He had been for some time one of the inquirers,
and would soon have been received into church fellowship.
He was clever and intelligent. After some months our
camp was visited by the well-known African fever. Every
thing was done that our knowledge or experience could
suggest. It was not long before most of the patients were
recovering. Marelole, the young man, had a relapse. He
became insensible to all around him, and to every entreaty
to take something which might again do him good. He
lay for two days motionless in a comatose condition, from
which no effort could rouse him. On the evening of the
second day I was at work repairing my waggon, about thirty
yards from the house in which the sick man lay. I heard
some one singing with a strong, clear voice. Inquiring who
was singing to the sick man, ' It is himself,' was the reply.
I hastened to the spot, and found it even so. He was
lying as I had left him about an hour before, but with a firm
voice he was still singing one of our hymns, which em
bodied some of the striking parts of the 84th Psalm.
When I entered and knelt down beside him he was singing
the last verse, to which I listened with inexpressible feelings
of gratitude, presuming that there was a change for the
best. I addressed him — he was deaf; I tried to arouse him
— it was vain ; I felt his pulse — it was performing its last
beats : and while I was looking at his motionless lips, his
spirit departed to that heavenly Zion about which he had
just been singing."
In the month of June Moffat felt that his work at
Inyati was done. He had spared no labour of body
or of mind to aid in planting the mission. So far
as his personal influence could go, he had done all.
He was willing to have remained longer if there had
been anything for him to add to the exceeding
abundance of his services. He had smoothed a
hundred difficulties, such as must of necessity arise
MOFFAT LEAVES THE MATEBELE. 347
with a chief and people so jealous and suspicious,
and he had taught his younger brethren lessons of
patient and humble self-devotion which none of them
could ever forget.
On Sunday morning, the seventeenth of June, he
walked up to the chiefs kraal for the purpose of
speaking to Mosilikatse and his people for the last
time on the great themes of life, death, and eternity.
As we followed him along the narrow path from our
camp to the town, about a mile distant, winding
through fields and around patches of the uncleared,
primeval forest, no step was more elastic and no
frame more upright than his. In spite of unceasing
toil amid tropical heats and miasmatic exhalations,
in spite of cares and disappointments, his wonderful
energy seemed unabated. The old chief was, as
usual, in his large courtyard, and gave kindly greet
ing. They were a strange contrast as they sat side
by side — the Matebele tyrant, and his friend the
messenger of peace. The word of command was
given ; the warriors filed in and ranged themselves
in a great semicircle, sitting on the ground ; the
women crept as near as they could, behind huts
and other points of concealment, and all listened in
breathless silence to the last words of " Moshete."
He himself knew that they were his last words, and
that his work in Matebeleland was now given over to
younger hands. It was a solemn service, and closed
the long series of such in which the friend of Mosi
likatse had striven to pierce the dense darkness of
soul which covered him and his people.
On the morrow there was the last leave-taking,
and Moffat started for his distant home. That was
348 THE MATEBELE MISSION AN ENIGMA.
twenty-four years ago. Of the three men whom he
left in the work, one has passed to his rest, another
has retired from the field, and the third, William
Sykes, is still at his post. Mosilikatse, faithful to
his promise, was a steady friend to the new mission
aries ; and in this respect his son, Lobengula, has
followed in his steps, but the mission has as yet been
without visible success. Time only will tell what
has been the meaning of this strange history. It is
more than fifty years since MofTat first visited the
Matebele. In the meantime attempts had been made
by the Paris missionaries and by the American board
to establish missions among them, but in vain.
Sykes and those now associated with him have been
able to maintain a foothold in the country, but it is
difficult to see any result commensurate with the
existence of a mission for twenty-five years. The
day will declare it !
Mary Moffat, meanwhile at Kuruman, writes to
her son on the fourth of April :
" On the tenth of next month it will be twenty-five
years since I parted with your father when he visited the
tyrant Mosilikatse the second time, he being then the terror
of the tribes in the latitudes north of us, and it was deemed
prudent to conciliate him that the interior might not Ue
closed against the progress of the gospel. How little did
I then think that the very babe who sat before me on his
nurse's lap was destined to go to that savage people to hold
before them the lamp of eternal life. Unable as I then
was to hold you in my embrace, your sweet smiles, which
in my solitude I so often witnessed, are yet engraven on
my now shattered memory. Often did I wonder how that
dear child could seem to love me so much, though I could
not fondle him or have him to drink at life's fountain. I
could only laugh and talk very feebly then. Now, after
ENCOURAGING CONSIDERATIONS. 349
what I have been spared to see, those sweet infant smiles
so tenaciously held in my remembrance seem to have had
language. Methinks they said, ' Cheer up, dear mother ;
though you think your course is nearly finished, I am
destined to live to fulfil your heart's desire. I shall yet
become a missionary to that very people for whom you
have so cheerfully parted from him who could, better than
any one else, have succoured and cherished you in the
season of debility and weakness.'
" In those lone hours I had many meditations, as a
matter of course, and I did then fondly hope that the
sacrifice I had made was acceptable to my Lord and
Master ; but little did I think that you, my dear son,
would so many years afterward have your name lisped by
those rude barbarians as their missionary. But so it is,
and may you and dear E. have grace to persevere with
your colleagues till you see the influences of the Holy
Spirit descending upon those poor ignorant men and
women, till of such stones God does raise up children unto
Abraham. Wonders and miracles of grace are being wrought
in all parts of the world where the light of the Word has
reached, and why not among the Matebele ? Almighty
power is needful to enlighten the most polished, as well as
those who have not one theological idea, and the Saviour
has said/ All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.'
Why, then, should we doubt ? You may all have much to
suffer, many, many, privations to endure, and great sacrifices
to make ; but nothing is so calculated to quiet our spirits
under such trials as to remember what Jesus forsook for us,
and what He endured through life from poverty and shame,
independent of the sacrifice on the cross. His was all for
poor perishing worms ; while we are but worms,.doing what
\ve can for fellow-worms. Have good courage. We can
never stoop as the Saviour did — He, the mighty God.
Many modern missionaries have suffered as much as you
may be called to do, but what glorious fruits do we now
see!"
Moffat found himself once more in his own home,
350 COLLAPSE OF THE MAKOLOLO MISSION.
after an absence of twelve months. Ashton also
was returning. The duties of the station had been
carried on for a time by Mackenzie, who had now
left to follow his comrades to the Makololo, but only
to meet Price coming back, and the mission aban
doned. Kuruman, which had been for a long time
little more than a calling-place for passing travellers,
was again to become a scene of systematic and
settled labour.
Robert Moffat to Dr. Tidman.
Nov. 12, 1860.
" It is only four days since I forwarded a letter to you
which contained what little information had reached us
respecting our Makololo brethren. It was favourable, but
alas ! alas ! it only seemed to lift us up that we might be
plunged into the depth of sorrow Helmore, the amiable,
the unwearied, the apostolic Helmore, and his kind and
devoted wife are no more inhabitants of this lower world.
This distressing intelligence reached us last night by one
of our people who had been on an elephant hunt as far as
the Victoria Falls. He there met with people from Lin-
yanti, who, when asked about the welfare of the mis
sionaries, replied, in the fashion of the country, that they
were all dead with the fever."
This sad story proved to be to a large extent true.
It was, however, ascertained that Mr. Price, with
the remnant of the party, had returned, and that
they were somewhere on the road back again. A
long time had, however, elapsed, and no further
tidings had come. Moffat, ever ready, determined
to set out in search. He had a difficulty in getting
people to go with him, but at last succeeded. He
met what remained of the original expedition, and
the Mackenzies with them, near Shoshong, and all
returned sorrowfully to Kuruman.
INTEREST IN THE INTERIOR. 351
Whilst carrying on their own work at Kuruman,
the Moffats were ever looking to the north-east.
The Makololo Mission had collapsed, but that among
the Matebele still held its own, and it was with
intense interest that every line from the missionaries
was read. No pains were spared to supply their
wants, and to convey to them in their great isolation
news from the outer world. This was no easy matter
to accomplish at such a distance, and among a people
so disliked and shunned by their neighbours as the
Matebele. The welfare of the mission at Inyati
was bound up with that of their own at Kuruman.
There was a family tie, but, over and above this,
there was that entire consecration to the supreme
object of carrying the gospel to the heathen which
overflowed every other consideration. Another link
of personal and family interest was to be formed.
On the twenty-second of October, 1861, Bessie
Moffat became the wife of Roger Price, and in the
course of a short time went with him to Shoshong,
in the hope of the way being opened to join the
Matebele Mission. This object was afterwards
relinquished, and the Prices took up the work among
the Bakwena of Sechele, that station having become
vacant by the retirement of the Hanoverian mis
sionaries.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS.
1862-1867.
WHEN Moffat had returned from meeting
what remained of the Makololo Mission, his
work north of Kuruman was done, so far as
his personal presence was concerned. No more was
he to be seen climbing the hills of the Bakwena and
Bamangwato. No more was his voice to be heard
pleading with chiefs in their courtyards, and with
their people in assembled congregations, beseeching
them, as he was never weary of doing, to put aside
their feuds and fightings, and, more than all, their
brutish indifference to the gospel, and to arise and
come into the light. But the stream of his interest
flowed as strong as ever. Both he and his faithful
partner watched with intense anxiety the progress
of events in the Matebele country. Whilst regard
ing with goodwill the newly-established Hanoverian
Missions, it was natural that their feelings should be
most deeply stirred on the behalf of those who still
further on were trying to plant the gospel among a
people for whom Moffat had done much, and had
endeavoured to do so much more
CARE FOR THOSE IN THE INTERIOR. 353
They deemed no care or trouble too great. No
opportunity or shadow of an opportunity was lost of
sending post-bags and supplies ; and when, after
months of isolation at Inyati, the little community
there would be roused into' joy and excitement by an
arrival from the far South and news from the outer
world, there were always words of warm encourage
ment from Kuruman, and stores of practical sym
pathy from the patriarchal pair, who seemed to live
over again in Matebeleland their old hardships and
struggles in the early days at Lattakoo.
It was enough that any one was an interior mis
sionary. At Kuruman he was sure of attention to
the forwarding of his commissions ; he was sure of
a warm welcome and of good cheer for weeks to
gether ; he was sure of sympathy in all his plans
and endeavours ; and he might be equally sure that,
whether present or absent, no prayers would be
more earnest or sincere than those offered daily at
the family altar at Kuruman for the success of his
work. Meanwhile, Kuruman itself was still a scene
of activity. A revision of the New Testament was
in progress ; the youngest daughter, now the only
child at home, was working hard at schools and
classes ; Mr. Ashton, after a short absence, was once
more at work with his old colleague.
In 1862 a great blow fell upon the home at Kuru
man, which seemed to add visibly to the weight of
years already becoming heavy. For some time
Moffat's elder son, Robert, had been carrying on
trade on the station. He was a man of great energy,
and added to commercial pursuits a love of philo
logical study. He had commenced a laborious work
24
354 DEATH OF MOFFATS SON ROBERT.
on the Sechwana language. He had been in poor
health, and, regardless of this, had been overtaxing
his strength. His wife and family were at Durban,
in Natal, and he had arranged to start early in
August for the purpose of bringing them to Kuru-
man, where he had made a home for them. When
the time came he was not well ; but, in his anxiety
to keep his engagement, he started in opposition to
the wishes of all. It was, however, thought that
the journey in a comfortable waggon, with good ser
vants, would be beneficial rather than not. It was
otherwise ordered. He had only reached a point
six hours' distant when he became worse, and before
any of his own family could reach him he had passed
away. It was a merciful providence that Mrs. Ross,
the wife of a missionary, a woman of good judgment
and strong character, was travelling in the same
direction, and finding him in a dying state, remained
with him till the end.
His loss was deplored far and wide in the Bech-
wana country. He was a man of impetuous dis
position, but generous to a fault. By his manly and
upright dealing he had gained the confidence of the
natives, and had endeared himself to them ; and he
had become a great help to the mission, though not
officially connected with it. The loss fell heavily
upon his parents. They had been greatly exercised
in mind by his going into the native trade ; but he
had succeeded in showing them that it was not
necessary for him to lower his standard of upright
ness, and they had come to lean much upon him, so
that he had promised to be not only a help to the
mission, but a stay to them in their declining years.
DEATH OF MARY LIVINGSTONE. 355
A great multitude came to show their regard for
the departed, both for his own sake and as the son
of their missionary. It was a help and a comfort to
the household plunged into mourning that there was
no lack of gentle and willing hands to perform the
last melancholy duties. Moffat's colleague, William
Ashton, a man who had himself borne many sorrows,
with the hearty aid of the few English neighbours,
took everything in hand, and he conducted at the
grave a service full of tender sympathy.
Not many weeks after this, sad news came from
the Zambezi. Mary, the wife of Dr. Livingstone,
had gone to her rest — four months before her
brother. The news was scarcely unexpected. Her
mother had made up her mind at once, when she
heard that her Mary had left for that fever-stricken
region, that she had gone " a sacrifice ready offered
up ; " and though the end came sooner than even she
had quite looked for it, yet it had been to her as an
object of contemplation, only a matter of time. So
strong, however, was the missionary feeling, that
half the sting was taken away by the joy that her
daughter had been permitted to meet her end in the
front rank of those who had gone to strive for the
welfare of the heathen children of Africa. There
was much of this Spartan fortitude, or rather,
perhaps, of the martyr spirit, in Mary Moffat, which
strove with her intense and womanly- love for her
own kindred. This latter showed itself in her un
ceasing care for them all, and in her efforts to reach
them, wherever they were, if only by letters. In
distant New Zealand, or in the United States — it
mattered little where — whether nephew or niece,
brother or grandchild, each was remembered.
356 DEATH OF WILLIAM ROSS.
A year after their own bereavement the Moffats
were called to sympathize with others. News came
that William Ross, the missionary at Lekatlong,
about eighty miles distant to the south-east, was
seriously ill. This was enough. In a few hours
Moffat was on his way ; he had the sad satisfaction
of doing all that could be done to alleviate suffering,
and of succouring the lonely widow and the weeping
children.
The death of Ross led to Ashton being transferred
to Lekatlong, and for a while the whole weight of
duty at Kuruman rested on Moffat's shoulders.
This was more than was fit or desirable. His energies
were flagging, and his health failing. Early in the
year 1865 an event occurred which taxed his phy
sical frame, and deeply wounded his spirit at the
same time. For some months a young man living
on the station, who had hitherto borne a promising
character, had begun to show signs of a disordered
mind. His vagaries were endured by his neigh
bours as long as they were merely annoying, but
they became at last too serious to be quietly tole
rated. This was a contingency for which no pro
vision existed in a community like that at Kuruman,
where for years crimes of violence had been un
known, and where moral influence alone had been
found sufficient to maintain order. The compara
tively feeble patriarchal control exercised by certain
headmen was not equal to the emergency. An
appeal could have been made to the Batlaping
chiefs, but it was thought best to avoid this as
long as possible. It was necessary for the mis
sionary to give his advice and co-operation. Under
MOFFAT ATTACKED BY A LUNATIC. 357
his superintendence measures were taken to impose
a certain amount of restraint. This was too partial
to prevent mischief, and had the effect of exciting in
the lunatic himself a violent personal animosity
against Mofifat. One evening, returning home from
the church in the dark, he was fallen upon by the
unhappy man, who, armed with a knob kerrie, in
flicted some terrible blows, and then fled, apparently
frightened at his own violence. But for the won
derful tenacity of the iron frame the consequences
must have been serious ; as it was, the heart was
sorely grieved, and it was many months before the
shadow of this sorrow was removed. The event
caused a profound sensation ; the culprit was arrested
and removed to another part of the country until it
was seen that his mental condition gave no further
ground for alarm.
Mary Moffat to one of Jter Children.
August^, 1863.
" I am sorry that your father is not here to add his share
to what we now send. Doubtless Janie will have told you
that poor brother Ross's sufferings have ended, and that he
has entered into rest. His end was emphatically ' peace.'
He was full two months very ill, and needed much atten
tion. It is cause for devout thankfulness to me that your
father was there, for besides the common debt which we all
owe to each other in such circumstances, I felt I could
never repay Mrs. Ross for her kind attention to our own
dear departed, when we were all unconscious of what was
going on.
"Mr. Ross has been a hard-working, plodding man in
evangelistic work. Itinerating seemed to be his forte, and
we calculated on his holding on for a long time to come,
being in nowise feeble in health ; but his Master had other
wise ordered, and now there is a blank in this region to be
358 DEATHS OF RELATIONS.
filled up (for a while at least) by the brethren here, unless
some of you young men have to retreat southward ; this
our noblest principles forbid us to hope for, but the will of
the Lord must be done. What we see going on in other
parts of the world precludes despair even for those dark
places where your lot is cast. Look at what has taken
place at Abbeokuta, in West Africa, and take courage.
You will see the post has arrived, and we have more hope
ful news of Madagascar. As Mr. Thomas has the papers
you will see in that of the iith of July a letter ; but we
cannot feel sure about the real state of feeling until we see
something from Mr. Ellis's own pen."
Towards the end of 1865 the mission was rein
forced by the arrival of John Brown from England,
and Moffat's own son, having come out from the
Matebele, his labours were in a measure lightened.
He took advantage of this to push on more zealously
the work of Scripture revision, the preparing of
additional hymns, and the carrying of smaller works
through the press. The now narrow circle of his
Scottish relations was still more contracted by the
death of his aunt, Jane Gardiner, and his brother
Richard. The latter had been his steadfast corre
spondent from the early years of his missionary life.
His letters were not frequent, but they were regular,
and when they came they were something to read,
containing as they did the annals of the home at
Inverkeithing and of its surroundings ; then a digest
of the political news of the day, and an array of
ecclesiastical items ; enough matter in fact closely
written into an enormous sheet to have filled a small
newspaper. By such means, in days when public
journals were a rarity, an interest had been kept up
in the outer world which had never grown faint.
THE WAIFS AND STRAYS OF SOCIETY. 359
For many years the Paris Evangelical Society
had been represented in Bechwanaland by a station
at Motito, about thirty-six miles to the north-east of
Kuruman. This station had latterly been held by
Jean Fredoux, who had married Moffat's second
daughter. Fredoux was a man of gentle disposition,
addicted to study, possibly the last man among the
missionaries in Bechwanaland whom any one would
have expected to fall a victim to violence in a
country where missionaries, whatever might have
been their hardships and trials, had been almost
entirely exempt from such forms of suffering. Mis
sionaries had hitherto, even from the earliest times,
found their persons and lives safe among the natives
of South Africa, who have heathenish vices enough,
but certainly have not been noted for treachery or
bloodthirstiness.
Unfortunately the development of trade had
brought into the country a good many characters
of a different stamp from the respectable store
keepers who had hitherto been found aids to the
mission. These waifs of civilization had drifted into
the country, had obtained waggons and a few goods
on credit from some merchant, and used to wander
from one native village to another ; and, whilst carry
ing on some sort of a trade, they debased others and
were themselves debased, coming in contact with a
race in whom the vices of heathenism were still
strong, and among whom Christianity was still in its
infancy.
Early in March, 1866, Fredoux started on a tour
to the westward to carry on evangelistic work
among the Barolong villages along the margin of
360 DEATH OF JEAN FR&DOUX.
the Kalahari Desert. Whilst at Morokweng one of
the class of unfortunates above referred to arrived.
The news had preceded him that he had been guilty
of atrocious conduct at Fredoux's own station. The
chief at Morokweng and his people took the matter
up warmly. They insisted upon the trader return
ing to Kuruman and submitting his conduct to
investigation there, where a sufficient number of
white people could be assembled to go into the case.
He refused, and on it becoming apparent that the
natives would take him by force, he entrenched him
self in his waggon, with all his guns loaded, and
dared any one to lay hands upon him.
Fredoux, whose camp was at a little distance,
seeing that matters were becoming serious, went
over to try and bring the man to reason by persua
sion. He drew near, and, standing by the side of
the waggon, within earshot, but out of sight, gently
urged the trader to go quietly to Kuruman, assur
ing him that the people were resolved that he
should go, if not peaceably, then by force. To this
there was only a blasphemous refusal. One who
was standing in a position to command a view of
what passed inside of the waggon, and who survived
the catastrophe, testified that at this juncture he saw
the man strike a match, and in a moment an ex
plosion took place. There were two hundred and
fifty pounds of powder in the waggon. The waggon
itself and its misguided occupant were blown to
atoms ; the mangled form of Fredoux was found not
far away : he had passed to his rest after a blame
less and laborious career. Twelve natives also lost
their lives, and about thirty more were injured.
DEATH OF MRS. BROWN. 361
Directly the sad news reached K urn man Moffat
hastened to succour his widowed daughter, and to
consign to the grave at Motito the remains of his
late son-in-law. It was another sore blow, and
added materially to the cares and anxieties of the
aged missionary and his wife to the end of their
days. A few months later the shadow of death
again darkened the doors of the little community at
Kuruman. The Browns had taken up their abode
and work there. Mrs. Brown was a woman of
exceptional accomplishments and great energy of
character. Her removal was one of those enigmas
respecting which all human penetration is at fault.
She was on the very threshold of what seemed to
be her work ; she was entering upon it full of earnest
hope ; she had shown a special aptness for learning
the language : but Divine wisdom saw what was best
and she was called away. Shortly after his wife's
death Mr. Brown removed to Lekatlong, and was
afterwards appointed to take up his position at
Taung, the headquarters of the Batlaping tribe,
where he remained for some years.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND.
1868, 1869.
M OFF AT was thus left once more in sole
charge of the Kuruman until early in 1868,
when he was joined by his son. For two
years more he held on his way, but the conviction
began to force itself upon him that he was really
getting old — a conviction not easily received. He
had been so long the central figure, not only of the
mission but of all matters in Bechwanaland, and so
accustomed to take the lead, that it was difficult to
imagine anything different. As long as he remained
at Kuruman it was not possible for him to rest, and he
was often drawn on to exertion which told upon him
afterwards. He suffered during the winter months
from a short and constant cough, which during the
nights aggravated his natural tendency to sleepless
ness. Still he could not be inactive. He visited
all the out-stations, and took upon himself work
multitarious enough to have taxed the energies of a
younger man.
A great care had been thrown upon him by the
STRONG HOME-TIES TO KURUMAN. 363
death of Fredoux. The widow and seven orphan
children were practically unprovided for. All this
while, and in fact for years, the Directors had not
ceased to urge him to come home. In one sense it
was not a question of going home, but of leaving
it. It was about fifty years since Robert and Mary
Moffat had entered upon their work in Bechwana-
land. More than forty of these years had been
spent in the house where most of their children had
been born. The shady street with church and
schools, the surrounding villages all full of hearts
in which deference and love reigned superior to
every other consideration, where Ramary and
Mamary were sure of a respectful welcome from all,
old and young, and maintained an almost absolute
rule, though wielding no other sceptre than that
of gratitude and affection, were things which made
it hard for them to leave Kuruman. One of the
pleasant recollections of those last years at Kuru
man was the presence on the station of Mr. and
Mrs. Levy. Mr. L. was continuing the business
which had been founded by Moffat's son Robert.
The Levys were more than usually considerate
neighbours. Their tender reverence for the aged
missionary and his wife was shown in a thousand
acts of unobtrusive and refined attention. Even
when at last the affectionate entreaties of the
Directors had been responded to, and they had
come to a final determination, it was with slow and
faint steps that preparations were made. It was as
though they were waiting for something to hinder
them.
On Sunday, the twentieth of March, 1870, Robert
364 FAREWELL SCENE.
Moffat preached for the last time in the Kuruman
church. In all that great congregation there were
few of his own contemporaries. The older people
were for the most part children at the time when
they had first seen the missionaries. With a pathetic
grace peculiarly his own, he pleaded with those
who still remained unbelieving amid the gospel
privileges they had now enjoyed so many years.
With a fatherly benediction he commended to the
grace of God those who had been to him a joy and
crown. It was an impressive close to an impressive
career. Many years must pass before that service
can be forgotten in Bechwanaland.
On Friday following the departure took place.
For weeks before messages of farewell had been
coming from the more distant towns and villages,
from those who were unable to come themselves.
But the final scene was such as could scarcely be
described in words. As the old missionary and his
wife came out of their door and walked to their
waggon they were beset by the crowds, each long
ing for one more touch of the hand and one more
word ; and as the waggon drove away it was
followed by all who could walk, and a long and
pitiful wail rose, enough to melt the hardest heart.
It was characteristic of Mary Moffat that amid
these sad scenes she was full of thought for others ;
and that her last few minutes with her son, who was
remaining in charge of the station, were spent in
interceding with him on behalf of the unhappy man
who had some time before, under the influence of a
disordered mind, made an attack upon her husband,
and had remained ever since under a sort of ban.
j
THEY ARE WELCOMED ON THE ROAD. 365
At Backhouse, where they crossed the Vaal River,
the Moffats spent a Sunday with Mr. and Mrs.
Hughes. Mr. Hughes was a somewhat younger
man, and had joined the Bechwana Mission a few
years later than the Moffats ; but his course was all
but run, and not long after this he entered into rest.
The journey through the Colony was marked by no
special incident, beyond the universal respect and
kindness everywhere manifested. In Port Eliza
beth Moffat had the pleasure of renewing his inter
course with his old colleague Roger Edwards, with
whom he had worked so long at Kuruman before
his first visit home.
Both in Port Elizabeth and in Cape Town he
received a welcome which was a surprise to him.
Most of his older friends who had stood by him
when missions had their darker days in South
Africa, were gone ; but a few still remained, and
there had risen up a new generation to whom he
was the object of a peculiar interest. On the tenth
of June, 1870, he embarked for England, and looked
for the last time on the mountains of Africa. It
was a few months more than fifty-four years since
he had landed there.
It falls to the lot of few men to have seen such
a change in a country, and to have taken so large
a personal share in having brought about that
change. When he landed in January, 1817, the
northern frontier of the Colony was only a short
distance from Beaufort West, which was itself little
more than a central point in the enormous district,
at which lived a clergymen and a Government officer.
The only village worthy of the name outside of the
366 EARLY CONDITION OF SOUTH AFRICA.
Cape district was Graaff Reinett. There was a
small military post on the heights overhanging
the sandy shores of Algoa Bay. From the northern
frontier to the Orange River stretched an im
mense and desolate region, inhabited, or rather
roved over, by hordes of wandering Bushmen.
North of the Orange River it was known that there
were tribes of Bechwanas, and a party of travellers
had actually penetrated that country to some little
distance, and missions had been established, at
Lattakoo and at Griqua Town. Of Bechwanaland
proper scarcely anything was known. The tribes,
living apart, carried on but little intercourse with
each other ; when peace prevailed small trading
parties would venture to visit their neighbours, but
tribal disputes and cattle-lifting frays would interrupt
all intercourse, and for months or even for years
tribes would be as isolated as though each lived on
islands apart.
The country now known as the Transvaal, the
Orange Free State, and Basutoland were utterly
unvisited by European travellers, not to mention
Natal and the whole region along the coast-line.
The South African Missionary Society had com
menced work within the Colony, and at one or two
points in Namaqualand. The Moravians were at
Genadendal. Missions were truly in their infancy,
and were regarded with scant toleration by the
Government as doubtful and dangerous experiments.
Alongside of the colonizing movement which has
absorbed the whole country south of the Orange
River, has crossed the upper part of that stream and
the Vaal beyond, and is now filling up the country
EFFECTING A CHANGE. 367
between the latter and the Lempopo, Moffat lived to
see Kafirland, Basutoland, and Natal occupied by an
army, not merely of missionaries, but of missionary
societies ; while his own Bechwanaland is through
its length and breadth feeling the influences of his
work and that of his companions, a work which has
extended its operations to the very banks of the
Zambezi River, upon the upper waters of which
Arnot, Coillard, and Jeanmairet are holding the
outmost post of advance. The following extracts
from a paper in the Leisure Hour for Nov., 1883,
are worthy of note in this connection :
" The Bechwanas, as Dr. Moffat was careful to point out
with his usual sense of justice, were by no means among
the lowest of uncivilized races. To some extent they had
the use of metals. But the community was largely nomadic,
and regular industry was despised. In the work of agri
culture and building which he so assiduously followed at
the Kuruman mission - station, he describes himself as
employed at manual and menial labour the whole day,
' working under a burning sun, standing in the sawpit,
labouring at the anvil, or treading clay.' It is only inci
dentally that such glimpses are offered of the course which
Moffat pursued for many thankless and weary years, the
butt of the people for whom he was devoting his life.
Enough, however, transpires to show the almost incredible
resource and cheeriness of spirit which he brought to bear
upon his work. Mere temporal reverses and difficulties,
sometimes of a grave kind, he would meet not only with
equanimity, but often with bantering humour. In one
year he was slaving for months to carry a water-ditch,
several miles in length, from the Kuruman River into the
kitchen garden of the humble mission-house. The site of the
station was a light, sandy soil, where no vegetables would
grow without irrigation. Artifical irrigation was to the
natives entirely unknown, and fountains and streams had
368 HE TEACHES AGRICULTURE.
been suffered to run to waste, even where crops of native
grain, which support amazing drought, are seldom very
abundant, owing to the infrequency of the rainfall. The
natives saw the effect of irrigation upon the mission-house
garden, and did not scruple to divert the stream in order
that it might flood theirs. The result was that Mr.
Hamilton and Mr. Moffat were daily compelled to go
alternately three miles with a spade about three o'clock in
the afternoon, the hottest time of the day, and restore the
water-way, so that they might have a little moisture to
refresh their burnt-up vegetables during the night. Thus,
after working hard all day, they were obliged to irrigate
during the precious hours which ought to have been de
voted to sleep. Even then the natives stole the crops
which had been raised with such difficulty ; and after a
year's toil the missionary and his household scarcely reaped
anything to reward them for their labour.
" At a later period, when the people had become truly
evangelized, irrigation, and even the preparation of the
soil, were intelligently adopted in the Kuruman district.
Writing in the year 1864, Dr. Moffat records the progress
made. He tells us : c The views of the natives have under
gone a material change upon many points of importance,
and among others as to the cultivation of their fields and
gardens. When they first saw us employ people to convey
the contents of our cattle-folds to our gardens, the act was
in their judgment too ludicrous to admit of reflection ;
they laughed boisterously, supposing it to be one of our
foolish customs, in order to "charm the ground," as they
were wont to do to their own gardens (their own custom
was to chew a certain root and spit on the leaves, to make
the plant more fruitful). Thus, from time immemorial,
millions of heaps of manure were turned to no useful
account. It was very long before they were convinced,
but at last they discovered that manured gardens not only
did not " get old," but could be made very young again. To
day, therefore, the veriest heathen among them may be seen
carrying manure on their backs, or on the backs of their
oxen, to the garden ground. Lately one of them remarked
MOFFATS SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS. 369
to me on this subject : "I cannot persuade myself that we
were once so stupid as not to believe what we saw with
our own eyes." ' Writing at a later period with regard to
ploughs, Dr. Moffat says : * When I went out there was
but one plough in the country, now there are thousands.
The same may be said of waggons. It was formerly
women's work to plough, but now the men have been in
duced to take that work upon themselves.'
" Instances of Dr. Moffat's attainments as a true ' captain
of industry ' would fill a volume. The difficulty of raising
a high roof on a newly-built chapel in a country where there
were neither blocks nor tackle for the purpose is perhaps
only known to those who have tried it. At New Lattakoo
Dr. Moffat and his helpers found it an herculean and
dangerous task. Few would trust themselves on naked
walls whilst engaged in the work. The feat, however,
was successfully achieved. Whilst it was proceeding, the
natives often remarked that the missionaries must have
been brought up in the baboon country, and so have be
come accustomed to precipices and walls.
" The natural resources of the country and their capacity
for development did not escape Dr. Moffat's observation
even during journeys of the most hazardous kind. Even
when famine or death by wild beasts stared him in the face
his trained eye was involuntarily noting the plants, the
minerals, and the geological structure of the tract through
which he was passing. He remarks the meteorology as
affected locally by mountains and other causes, a problem
subsequently worked out in detail by his son-in-law, Dr.
Livingstone ; and he is struck with the extent to which
the climate must have been affected by the natives' reckless
habit of destroying the forests. It must be remembered
that fifty years ago the climatic effect of disforesting a
country was by no means the familiar topic it has since
become, and Dr. Moffat's observations are among the very
earliest made by modern travellers. He says the whole
country north of the Orange River and east of the Kalahari
Desert presented to the eye of a European something like
an old neglected garden or field, and the explanation was
25
370 THE GEOLOGY OF BECHWANALAND.
not far to seek. 'The Bechwanas,' he says, ' and especially
the Batlapis and the neighbouring tribes, are a nation of
levellers, not reducing hills to comparative plains for the
sake of building their towns, but cutting down every species
of timber without regard to scenery or economy.' Thus, of
whole forests, where the giraffe and elephant were wont
to seek their daily food, nothing remains. To this system
of extermination may be attributed the long succession of
dry seasons. ' Missionary Scenes and Labours ' shows how
persistently the author laboured to teach the natives the
necessity of preserving the forest.
" Dr. Moffat's early practice in his native country as a
gardener and botanist proved of admirable service in South
Africa, where he took every occasion of applying it and
enlarging his knowledge. Many of his interesting geo
logical observations were doubtless due to his early habit
of noting soils and their constituents. The traveller in
South Africa to-day finds it interesting and instructive to
compare Dr. Moffat's earlier notes on the rocks of the
country with those of later and more official investigators.
Travelling in his route they are struck in Namaqualand as
he was with the old volcanic dykes, which have forced
themselves up to the surface at a later period than the
schistose rocks which figure so frequently in his pages. At
Griqua Town, beyond the plateau (now a diamond-field), the
visitor with an eye for rock scenery will recognize the long
parallel range of jaspideous rocks cropping out, and pre
senting the wonderful group of yellow, brown, chocolate,
and red jaspers, with magnetic and other ironstone, and
beautiful seams of the blue and yellow mineral known as
crocidolite. The blue asbestos at Gamaperi was duly noted
by Dr. Moffat, and it was fortunate for him as a traveller on
several occasions when taking the compass bearings that
he knew the magnetic character of the schistose rocks, on
the top of which, as he found, the compass moves at
random. He was constantly noticing the way in which
the rocks decompose at the surface, and become fitted
more or less to support vegetation ; and long after he had
left Africa he took a keen interest in the progress of the
LINGUISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS. 371
geological survey by the accredited officers from Cape
Colony.
" It is easy to see how such observations, added to agri
cultural knowledge acquired in his earlier years, increased
Dr. Moffat's means of usefulness to his African proteges.
He introduced into suitable soils, and on levels available
for irrigation, both grain and fruit, among the former being
wheat, barley, peas, potatoes, carrots, and onions. The
improvement in the implements was quite as marked.
Instead of the primitive pick used by the women, the
plough was introduced and driven by the men. Harrows,
spades, and mattocks followed. 'The man who before
would have disdained to be seen in such occupations with
the old tools, was now thankful to have it in his power to
buy a spade. In their appreciation of irrigation several of
the natives set to work one day in good earnest, and in
their enthusiasm cut courses leading directly up hill, hoping
the wate/ would one day follow.'
" Happily there came a time when affairs at the Kuru-
man mission-station improved, and the strain of labouring
year after year to make the place yield sufficient supplies
of food for himself and his family could be relaxed. He
was at length able to proceed to his great work of acquiring
the Bechwana language. To achieve this object Dr. Moffat
spared himself none of the drudgery and self-sacrifice it
involved. It required among other measures the temporary
abandonment of his own home for some three months,
during which he tells us he lived a semi-savage life among
heathen dance and song and immeasurable heaps of dirt
and filth. In short, this is doubtless one of the experiences
which made him remark to friends on his return to England
that a missionary to people in the condition of the Bechwanas
needed a strong stomach in addition to a warm heart. He,
however, succeeded in his object, and was the first to reduce
the language of the Bechwanas to a written form. The
task of reducing a vernacular to its elements, and then pre
senting it in a synthetic and grammatical form, was not
one for which Dr. Moffat had been equipped when he left
England, but he accomplished it, even under the greatest
372 CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION.
disadvantages. No wonder that after the further task of
translating the Bible into the Sechwana language he com
plained that he felt as if he had shattered his brain. In
the interval he went to Cape Town and learned the art of
printing. Returning to the mission-station with type and
a printing-press, he produced catechism and spelling-books
for the schools. He gratefully acknowledges the help he
received from the British and Foreign Bible Society during
this period.
" Much might be added in illustration of Dr. MofTat's
extreme versatility in acquiring every industry or art
which the exigencies of the place might demand of him.
His treatment of the bodily ailments of the natives who
came to him was almost prophetic of the medical mission
aries, of whom so much has happily been heard in later
days. Enough, perhaps, has been said to indicate the
manifold resource and adaptiveness which helped to estab
lish the memorable mission to Bechwanaland.
" The question of the bearing of civilization in such cir
cumstances upon the work of evangelization is a weighty
one, and the testimony of such a veteran missionary as Dr.
Moffat would not fail to be of the greatest value. It is one,
also, on which he has spoken with no uncertain sound, for
the facts were pressed upon him at an early period of his
work among the Bechwanas. After twenty-six years of
missionary work he writes : f Much has been said about
civilizing savages before attempting to evangelize them.
This is a theory which has obtained an extensive prevalence
among the wise men of this world, but we have never yet
seen a practical demonstration of its truth. We ourselves
are convinced that evangelization must precede civilization.
It is very -easy in a country of high refinement to speculate
on what might be done among rude and savage men, but
the Christian missionary, the only experimentalist, has
invariably found that to make the fruit good the tree must
first be made good. Nothing less than the power of
Divine grace can reform the hearts of savages, after which
the mind is susceptible of those instructions which teach
them to adore the gospel they profess.'
CHRISTIANITY MUST TAKE THE LEAD. 373
" Dr. Moffat here spoke from practical and dearly-bought
experience, and his narrative, to which we have so often
referred, supplies an ample explanation of the verdict, so
explicitly given. It is true that he was for many years
occupied in maintaining those civil and social relationships
with the Bechwanas that were the base of the spiritual
campaign which was the sole object of his presence, and
during this period he sought to exemplify in all outward
things the blessing of a Christianized civilization. ' It
would appear a strange anomaly,' he said, ' to see a Chris
tian professor lying at full length on the ground covered
with filth and dirt, and in a state of comparative nudity,
talking about Christian diligence, circumspection, purifi
cation, and white robes/ Moffat accordingly did his best
for civilization as a matter of course, and always made
light of it so far as personal toil was concerned. It is,
moreover, a significant commentary on his view of civili
zation that none of its blessings were really appropriated
by the natives until after their evangelization. Then all
the past work which had cost him so much became, as it
were, fertilized at once. Their habitations, their dress, and
all the external hindrances of better habits of life, were
reformed, the outward means having been brought within
their reach through years of the missionary's devoted
labours. Dr. Moffat's views of the first principles to be
held by all missionaries to uncivilized peoples, as given in
the sixteenth chapter of his well-known work, have to-day
lost none of their high and almost unique value."
CHAPTER XXXV.
DEA TH OF MAR Y MOFFA T.
1870-1872.
FROM this point onwards the Editor of the
memoir is largely indebted to his youngest
sister, who accompanied her parents to
England, and remained with them through all the
later years, and the rest of the story will be told for
the most part in her words.
On the way down to the coast we were enter
tained at Graaff Reinett by Mrs. Murray, sen.,
and by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Murray. The
journey was long and tedious, owing to the wetness
of the season. The Sunday's River was flooded,
and we had to wait five days on its banks, during
which time Mr. Kitchingman and his daughter
overtook and encamped with us until we were able
to cross. By Sunday (we crossed on the Monday)
fifteen waggons had congregated, principally Dutch
f irmers carrying their wool to the coast. Our father
held a Sechwana service for the sake of our servants,
and we were somewhat amused to find that during
the singing of the hymns the farmers had con-
</
MEETINGS IN PORT ELIZABETH. 375
gregated behind the tent listening, quite charmed
with singing such as they were unaccustomed to
hear. We happened to have two or three of our
best singers with us. Mr. Kitchingman also con
ducted a service in Dutch for the farmers. This
Mr. Kitchingman was -a son of Moffat's old col
league, and was also a missionary. He, too, has
now passed to his rest. We reached Bethelsdorp
in time for our father to proceed to Port Elizabeth,
and to take a part in the meetings of the Evangelical
Union, especially the united communion service,
in which brethren of every nationality took a part.
It was an appropriate farewell to his work in South
Africa. We remained at Bethelsdorp with Mrs.
Merrington several days, and then went on to the
Bay.
Mr. Macintosh came out with a cart and horses
to take our mother on ahead of the waggons. "No,"
she said, " I will stick to my waggon as long as I
can," preferring not to quit it till she reached Port
Elizabeth. We stayed ten days there, during which
Mr. Edwards was indefatigable in his kindness, and
so was Mr. Macintosh. We sailed in the Roman
for Cape Town. Our six Bechwana servants came
on board with us (one excepted, who was afraid to
venture on the sea), and when they rowed off again
in a small boat for the shore we felt the cable was
cut, and that we had really left Bechwanaland. A
sore moment ! We had a very stormy passage to
Cape Town, taking four days instead of two. On
arriving we found that a public farewell breakfast
had been arranged, and this took place next
We remained a fortnight in Cape Town,
3;6 FIRST DAYS IN ENGLAND.
bidding farewell to our many old friends, and then
sailed in the Norseman for England. Both parents
bore the voyage extremely well — indeed, as regards
sea-sickness, better than any of the passengers. We
were six weeks on the voyage, owing to an accident
to the engines, which kept us under sail for a week
while repairs were being made.
We arrived at Plymouth on Sunday evening, the
twenty-fourth of July. Mr. John Snow was there
to meet us, and went on with us to Southampton,
where we landed next day, exactly four months
after leaving Kuruman. Here we found Helen —
who now saw her parents after a separation of
twenty-seven years. It was a memorable meeting.
Mr. J. Kemp Welch was also at Southampton to
represent the Directors of the London Missionary
Society.
We took up our abode in Canonbury for a few
weeks. A public breakfast of welcome was given
at Cannon Street Hotel. Our father was much
better in health after the journey and voyage, but
still far from strong. It was the first communion
Sabbath after our arrival in England, that at Mr.
Binney's wish — most heartily reciprocated by our
parents — we went to the Weigh House and partook
of the Lord's Supper there. Of course we went
very soon to Knockholt, later to Brighton, and then
our father was much pressed by Sir Roderick
Murchison to go to the meeting of the British
Association at Liverpool. He arranged to do so
on his way to Scotland, calling also at Manchester
to see our oldest friends the Sheldons, and Mrs.
Woodward, At Liverpool he was the guest of Mr.
STAY AT BRIXTON. 377
and Mrs. Crossfield. Thence he went to Scotland,
calling on the way at Newcastle to see the Bruces.
In Edinburgh he found still many old friends, and
some relations ; and was entertained by Mr. Stone,
Miss Peek, and the Cullens. Thence he went to
Glasgow to visit his grandchildren the Livingstones.
During his absence in Scotland our mother was at
Buckhurst Hill, at the house of Mr. Alexander
Fraser, who had kindly placed it at our disposal
during the temporary absence of his family.
On our father's return from the north we went in
October to Brixton, where we spent the winter at
the house of Mr. Henry Vavasseur, he letting us
make it our home for six months, until we should
settle upon a permanent residence. This was a
particularly acceptable arrangement to our mother,
who shrank from entering at once upon house
keeping in England, little thinking that this was to
be the last halting-place in her long earthly pilgrim
age. Before Christmas both parents paid visits to
old friends, to Miss Eisdell at Epsom, to Mr.
Davison at Canonbury, Miss Fletcher at Peckham,
and Mr. and Mrs. James Spicer at Woodford, all
friends who had been faithful to their children or
grandchildren in England while they were still in
Africa. During the few months she was at Brixton
our mother found great pleasure in the ministry and
friendship of the Rev. D. Herschell. On the
twenty-first of December our father received a
birthday gift of one thousand pounds. The initia
tive had been taken by Miss Peek, whose name is
associated with so many good works, and her
action had been heartily responded to ; and it was
378 MARY MOFFATS ILLNESS.
one of the last events crowning many acts of kind
ness received which so brightened the close of our
mother's life. Christmas was spent at Knockholt,
with the family circle there. On the return to
Brixton our mother took cold ; and after a few days'
illness passed away. On the Monday morning she
had seemed by no means worse, very bent on
getting- up and coming downstairs, and with some
difficulty we kept her in bed till afternoon ; but she
talked very ramblingly all the morning, which made
me uneasy. I wrote a joint letter to John and
Bessie, and she knew all about it and sent messages.
Poor mamma ! how active her mind was to the very
last. She talked about everybody. She imagined
she was talking to John. She said, " Where is he
gone ? I was speaking to John." The doctor pro
nounced her no worse, and said that on the morrow
she might get up earlier ; as she was so bent upon it,
it would make her feel as if she were recovering.
She got up that afternoon and spent about three
hours, as happy and quiet a time as she had had all
through. Then about half-past seven she wearied,
and went to bed ; but her breathing became much
oppressed, and nothing would relieve it. It appeared
to be becoming easier, and we hoped she would
get some sleep — which she was longing for, having
had none all day and but little the night before.
Then her cough, which had been very troublesome,
became so helpless that I felt alarmed, and we
watched her anxiously. Oh! so sudden it seemed at
last that the cough quite ceased. She drew a few
long, deep breaths, and was gone ! Not one word
of farewell! for never had I known her so little
COURSE. 379
alarmed at indisposition. Never even in her clearest
moments did she utter a word to us to intimate
that she thought she was going ; but at the same
time she was at heart conscious of the probability,
for while I was in her room on Monday evening
I heard her praying, clearly and distinctly, that if it
was God's will to take her she might be willing to
go, and that papa might have strength given him to
bear her leaving, and that his way might be made
plain. It was a beautiful prayer ; I would fain have
remembered every word. Poor dear mamma ! how
little we all thought it, as we enjoyed our merry
Christmas at Knockholt. For her verily it is all
joy ; for us, and above all comparison for papa,
how sad ! We have been loaded with kindness-
above all from Mr. Fraser, and Mr. Henry
Vavasseur. Mr. Spicer also has been most kind.
[Robert Moffat wrote to his old friend and fellow-
labourer, Roger Edwards, of Port Elizabeth, as
follows :
" The black border has, I presume, already told its tale,
that I am in affliction. Yes, it is even so ; for the wife of
my youth, the partaker of my joys and sorrows for more
than half a century, has been taken from me. She is
gone to the many mansions to which she has been daily
looking forward with the full assurance of faith for more
than sixty years. She never knew what it was to have a
single doubt or fear as to her eternal happiness. The
winter was too severe for her. She caught cold, but knew
not how. It excited no particular alarm for some time,
till it assumed the form of bronchitis. The day before she
died she walked about the bed-room, anxious to come down
to the parlour. The last words she spoke, about an hour
before she expired, were begging me to go to bed, as
380 HER CARE OVER HER HUSBAND.
Jeanie's presence would suffice. As she said she could not
sleep till I should go, I only hid myself for a few minutes.
She did fall asleep, but it was the sleep of death. Her
mind, for three or four days previously, occasionally
wandered, but it was always in the right direction : the
Redeemer's reign among the heathen, the printing of the
Scriptures, Kuruman and the Bechwanas. How lonely I
feel ! and but for Jeanie it would be much more so. I
long unusually to hear from you, and how your family and
all the Bay friends are. My dear brother, old friends are
leaving us for a better, a happier world, and we naturally
feel our hearts cleaving closer to those who yet remain.
How are dear Mrs. E. and your children, and how is your
own health ? We are both looking forward to our heavenly
home."
Reference has already been made to her wide-
spreading sympathy. The ties of kindred were by
her esteemed worthy of religious cultivation. Be
sides this, she gave systematic recognition to the
claims which arose out of brotherhood in Christian
work. This did not attenuate the strength of her
sense of duty in her own home. She watched over
her husband's health and comfort with a care which
only grew more constant in the course of fifty years.
She used to say, that although not able to take a
prominent part in direct missionary work, it was her
satisfaction to provide for the temporal wants of a
servant of Christ who was doing this work; and she
felt — what was true — that he never would have been
the missionary he was but for her care of him.
Even when life was numbered by hours, and on the
very shore of the dark river, she would not rest until
assured that his wants were being attended to. Her
children thank God for such a mother.]
At first we feared much for our father, who had
MOFFAT TRAVELS FOR THE SOCIETY. 381
been so dependent upon her. His first exclamation
on finding her really gone was, " For fifty-three
years I have had her to pray for me." We remained
at Barrington Road till May, 1871. Our father
turned from all thoughts of a settled home, feel
ing as if no place could be home now that our
mother was gone : so we took apartments in the
Brixton Road, and these were our headquarters till
the winter. In April we paid a short visit to Miss
Eisdell, at Epsom, our father preaching on the
Sunday. In May he attended the London meetings.
In June we went down to Manchester for the
missionary meetings there. He addressed a Sunday-
school gathering in the Free Trade Hall on
Sunday, June the eleventh. Dr. Turner, of Samoa,
and Richard Fletcher, son of a previous minister
of Grosvenor Street, also took a part. He went
through the whole series of missionary services at
Manchester and Liverpool ; and had the satisfaction
of again meeting old friends such as the Sheldons
and Mrs. Woodward. Then he passed to Notting
ham, where he met Dr. Mullens, and the first col
lections were made for the proposed Institute at the
Kuruman ; Mrs. Rogers, widow of Professor Henry
Rogers, and daughter of Samuel Fletcher, of Man
chester, having made the first donation. From
Nottingham he returned to Manchester, and so on
to Warrington. There we stayed with Mr. and
Mrs. Walter Ashton, and we also spent an evening
with Dr. Mackie, whose adopted daughter was
baptized by our father. One day was spent in
visiting High Leigh with Dr. Mackie and Mr.
Rylands. He of course found there many altera-
382 THE OLD HOUSE AT DUKINFIELD.
tions, but plenty to remind him of his early life
there : particularly the room or cottage in which he
had lived, the church, and many of the trees. After
visiting some other places endeared by old associa
tions, we returned south and spent a month at
Knockholt. During this month he went to Wim-
borne for the Bible Society, and was entertained by
the Hon. and Rev. Carr Glynn. He always looked
back with great pleasure to this visit. We returned
to Brixton, and remained there till the middle of
September. He was not very well, and made a
stay at Brighton with Mr. Unwin till recruited, and
then set out for the west, partly on missionary duty
and partly to visit old friends. It was on this
occasion that a thousand pounds were raised in
Bristol for the Institute in Bechwanaland. In the
middle of October he again paid Lancashire a visit
to attend missionary meetings, and visited the
Reyners and Cheethams of Ashton and Staleybridge.
He visited the old house at Dukinfield from which
our mother went forth to Africa in 1819, now called
''Plantation Farm." He also went to Fairfield, the
Moravian school at which our mother was educated.
The matron remembered her, having been a little
girl at the school when our mother was an elder
one. The building was the same, but the surround
ings changed. From this time onwards, till near
the end of the year, he was engaged in deputation
services, which resulted more especially in the raising
of large sums for the Institute.
[For many years it had been plain to those en
gaged in the Bechwana Mission that a necessary
step in advance would be the planting of a seminary,
THE INSTITUTE AT KURUMAN. 383
and the training of a native ministry. More than
once attempts had been made in this direction, but
no permanent success had been achieved. In a
meeting of missionaries at Kuruman a short time
before Moffat's departure, the attention of the
Directors at home had been formally drawn to the
subject, and their aid had been requested. Nothing
was done, but the subject was much on Moffat's
mind. On the occasion of a visit to Nottingham,
in which the late Dr. Mullens took a part, reference
was made to the need of special funds for this object ;
and the Nottingham people took it up with great
spirit, subscribing at once, in addition to their or
dinary annual contributions to the general purposes
of the Society, a sum of two hundred pounds. This
was the signal for a general movement, and with
wonderful energy and cheerfulness the churches
throughout the country took this way of doing
honour to the old missionary, by whose name it was
proposed to call the Institute that was to be founded.
Some thousands of pounds were readily raised.
It was not his privilege to see this money applied
as his judgment and experience would have advised.
With his departure from the Kuruman new men
had come to the front in Bechwanaland, and with
them came in new plans, more theoretical than prac
tical. But his unswerving loyalty to the Society — a
loyalty which had carried him for fifty years through
the friction and the trials incident in the official
working of even a Christian organization — bore this
test also.]
In the middle of December we left our Brixton
domicile, and went to spend the winter at Ventnor.
384 INTERVIEW WITH THE QUEEN.
During the whole of the year 1871 he had been
revising proof-sheets of the Old Testament in
Sechwana, and he devoted himself more entirely to
this work at Ventnor. We remained there till the
beginning of April, 1872. We went thence to
Gosport, where he addressed meetings, and stayed
with Mr. Jellie in Dr. Bogue's old house, the same
in which our mother sojourned when, as Mary
Smith, she was waiting to sail for Africa. Here he
heard that the Queen was to cross from Osborne
the next morning, and expressed a wish to get a
sight of her, never having had that privilege.
Through the kindness of an officer, a member of
Mr. Jellie's church, he got a good standing-place,
and not only saw her, but, to his surprise and pleasure,
was by her Majesty's own desire introduced.
Whilst at Ventnor he had received from the
Senate of Edinburgh University the offer of a
degree, which, after consultation with friends, he
agreed to accept ; and after a visit to Brighton, to
meet his son and family just arrived home from
Africa, he proceeded to Edinburgh, where he was
duly capped D.D. Returning from Edinburgh,
where he had been the guest of the Rev. G. D.
Cullen, he entered on an extended course of depu
tation work for the Society. The notes of the
year point to places all over the north of England.
He had the happiness of seeing other friends whose
attachment had been lifelong, Mr. and Mrs. Edward
Greaves, of Sheffield.
Our father had started from London tired, and
his exertions ever since made him almost come to a
halt at Kendal. However, having promised to go
MONUMENT TO DR. MOFFAT AT ORMISTON.
VISIT TO MR. BLACK AT MELROSE. 385
to Scotland, he pushed on, and gradually gained
strength. Whilst in Scotland we visited Inver-
keithing and Ormiston, both places full o f interest.
He spent the Sunday at Ormiston, and preached in
the old parish kirk, in the graveyard of which his
grandparents were buried. In the evening he gave
an address at Winton Castle, the residence of Lady
Ruthven, with whom he was staying. In the
gardens of Ormiston Hall, the cottage still stands
in which his mother was born. He could find only
very distant connections in Ormiston, and the
cottage in which he was born was not standing.
However, he much enjoyed the visit. Thence he
went to Melrose, and spent several days with .Adam
Black, then in his ninetieth year. It was a pleasant
time. Mr. Black was hale and hearty, and Mrs.
Black so cheerful and kind a hostess, although quite
blind. Dr. Lindsay Alexander was also a guest,
and added not a little to the enjoyment of the
party. The weather was exceptionally beautiful,
and besides fully exploring Melrose Abbey, which
Mr. Black's grounds adjoined, he greatly enjoyed
visiting Dryburgh Abbey and Abbotsford. He
then went to the west, more especially to see the
Livingstones. The visit was much clouded by the
serious illness of Dr. Livingstone's son Thomas, an
illness from which he never fully recovered.
Our father left Hamilton for Stirling, and met
with a slight railway accident, the only one in all his
travels. He was, however, none the worse, beyond
the momentary shock, and was able to assist a fellow-
passenger to walk the little distance that remained.
Leaving Scotland, he spent six weeks in Yorkshire
26
386 VISIT TO SIR TITUS SALT.
and Lancashire, holding four or five meetings every
week, and enjoying the hospitality of many friends
old and new. His stay at Crow's Nest, the residence
of Sir Titus Salt, was specially interesting ; the last
two days of it Dr. and Mrs. Binney, Dr. and Mrs.
Raleigh, and Mr. Samuel Morley being also guests.
He returned to London tired, but wonderfully
vigorous considering all that he had done.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
MOFFAT REVISITS CARRONSHIRE.
DURING the winter of 1872-3, after wander
ing about homeless for two years and a half,
although enjoying the hospitality of so many
friends, he made up his mind to settle once more
into a home of his own, and accordingly in January,
1873, took up his abode in Knowle Road, Brixton,
where he lived for nearly seven years. The great
privilege he enjoyed here was the ministry of the
Rev. Baldwin Brown. When not himself engaged
in preaching, he was almost invariably in his seat
morning and evening, for he never liked to lose an
opportunity of hearing Mr. Brown, between whom
and himself sprang up a warm affection. He soon
became interested in the mission-work in Lambeth
in connection with Mr. Brown's church. He first
went down to the penny dinners, and then was fre
quently present at the tea meetings and other enter
tainments for the poor, whether held at the Mission
Hall in Lambeth or in the lecture- room of Brixton
Independent Church.
388 PRESENTATION OF £5000.
[To a very large extent the motive which had
given strength to the stream of liberal contribution
to the Institute to be founded in Bechwanaland had
been a desire to give expression to the love and
respect which had gathered round him who alone
survived of the early founders of the mission, but it
was felt by many that an even more direct proof of
these feelings might be found. In the year 1873
he was presented by a large number of friends with
a sum of upwards of five thousand pounds. This
noble and unlooked-for act of liberality not only
provided for his wants during the remaining eleven
years of his life, but enabled him to serve the
Directors and the cause of missions without being
chargeable upon the regular income of the Society.
It moreover enabled him to meet the wants of a
widowed daughter and her fatherless family, for
whom no other support was forthcoming.
The same year the Rev. Sabine Knight called upon
him as a casual visitor, like many more. But Mr.
Knight had a message of unusual interest to convey.
Reference has been made to a brother of Mary
Moffat who had gone to the United States, and had
been lost sight of for many years. His sister, with
the tenacity of affection which marked her character,
would not give him up. From year to year she
looked for news of him, but no news came. On one
occasion, seeing a name similar to his in a Van
Dieman's Land newspaper, she had written thither,
drawing a bow at a venture. This letter was re
turned, the person into whose hands it came being
not the brother whom she sought. For some years
familiar with the prospect of her departure from this
MARY MOFFATS LONG-LOST BROTHER. 389
world, and in view of it, she had again written a long
letter treating of the great subjects ever so near to
her heart, the realities of eternity, and sealing it up,
had placed it in her husband's hands to be in readi
ness when wanted.
Mr. Knight had just returned to England after
a residence of some years in the State of Tennessee,
and from him Moffat had the happiness of hearing
that his long-lost brother-in-law was still living, and
was thus enabled to fulfil his Mary's cherished wish.
The brother, who thus received a message as it were
from the grave, has himself since passed away.]
In May our father went down to Scotland to
address meetings, glad at the same time to escape
the bustle and excitement of the anniversaries in
London. Miss Baxter was his hostess at Ellan-
gowan, near Dundee ; and he broke the journey by
resting a day and night with his old friends Mr.
and Mrs. Habershon, at Rotherham, and a night
in Edinburgh at Mr. Cullen's. He attended many
meetings in the towns along the east coast of Scot
land, and had, moreover, the happiness of seeing
Murray of Lintrose, near Cupar Angus, one of the
African travellers who had been in the habit of
calling at Kuruman, and had left such pleasant
memories behind them there. His friends in Man
chester claimed him for their meetings, after which
he again made his way back to Scotland, apparently
unfatigued, and was the guest of a fellow-passenger
from the Cape, Mr. Yellowlees, of Stirling. Here
he again attended meetings, and visited Carronshore
for the first time after sixty years.
[Mr. Yellowlees has furnished the following ac-
390 LETTER FROM MR. YELLOWLEES.
count of this visit, which will have an interest of its
own :
"STIRLING, Jan. 12, 1885.
" MY DEAR Miss MOFFAT, — When my wife and I had
the privilege of being fellow-passengers with you on
the voyage from South Africa in the summer of 1870,
your late father told me that several of his youthful
years were spent at Carronshore, an out-lying village on
the banks of the River Carron, near its junction with
the Forth, and about nine miles distant from Stirling.
We agreed then that on his first visit to me here we
should spend an afternoon at this village, that he might
revive old memories and possibly renew acquaintanceships
formed in 'the days of auld lang syne.' This intention
was carried out in the autumn of 1872, and the following
short sketch of this incident in the life of your honoured
father may not be out of place in the Memoir now being
edited by your brother ; at all events, I send it to you that
he may make what use of it he thinks proper. — With much
respect, I remain, yours sincerely,
"ROBERT YELLOWLEES.
" Dr. Moffat left Carronshore in 1809, when he was
fourteen years of age, and as his father had removed to
Inverkeithing he had never had occasion to return ; so that
sixty-three years had elapsed since his leaving, till his
return to pay a visit to this home of his boyhood.
" On our driving up to the village green it was some little
time before Dr. MofTat could realize that this was just the
place he had left so long ago, principally on account of
roadways and truck-lines to coalpits that were all new to
him. But soon his eye lighted and rested on a certain
red-tiled cottage near the old storehouses of the Carron
Company, which he fondly recognized as having been his
father's dwelling, and erelong the rest of the village and its
surroundings became familiar to him. He expressed a
wish to find out whether any of his old companions still
AN OLD SCHOOLMATE AT CARRONSHORE. 391
survived after so long an interval ; so I accosted a group of
collier lads who were busy at a game of pitch-and-toss,
and, after telling them who their venerable visitor was, Dr.
Moffat made inquiry about a family of McKillops. No,
there was no such name now in Carronshore. ' The
Patons ? ' No ; one of the lads was sure he had heard
his father speak about people of that name, but they were
all gone long ago. 'William Monteith?' 'Ah, did he
drive the carrier's cart from Falkirk to Edinburgh ? '
asked the spokesman of the group. ' Yes, that was just
the man. Well, he is deid lang syne, but the woman you
see standing at yon door is a dochter of his.'
" This link of connection with an old acquaintance so
excited Dr. Moffat's eagerness to make further inquiries,
that we drove to the only available stabling-place to get
the horse put up. Before leaving the stable door, we were
struck by the appearing of a little, quaint, old-fashioned
woman, wearing a Scotchwoman's undress of short skirt,
short gown, and mutch. She ran up to Dr. Moffat, seized
him by both hands, and then, quite speechless with excite
ment, racing, and chronic asthma, stood gazing up to his
face, while the Doctor looked down on her with a benign
but puzzled smile.
" At last she found some utterance, and gasped out,
« Are — you — really — the — great Moffat ? ' ' Well, I believe
I must be the person you refer to, whether great or not ;
but why do you ask ? ' ' Why ! Because I was at the
schule wi' ye — my name is Mary Kay, and you'll surely
come to mind me ; I sat in the class next ye, and ye often
helped me wi' my lessons. I have aye keepit my e'e on
you since you left Carronshore, and I'll let you see a lot of
your ain likenesses. I was aye sure you would come
back to see this place some day ; and though I didna
expect ye the noo, I'm fair daft wi' joy at seeing ye/
" Under the guidance of this enthusiastic conductor, the
first visit was paid to his father's old cottage. The tenant,
Mrs. Arthur, courteously invited us to enter, and here there
was no indistinctness of memory as the Doctor rearranged
the furniture by telling us how ' our eight-day clock stood
392 A COLLECTION OF PORTRAITS.
here, and the girnel (oatmeal chest) stood there, and the
aumrie (cupboard) stood over in that corner ; ' and as he
recalled, not without fitting emotion, the scenes of do
mestic piety, of gladness and of sadness, that he had
witnessed there, and by which his life and character had
been impressed and moulded.
" Our next visit was to the shore of the Carron — here
a deep and torpid river of, I should think, about forty feet
in breadth. His fond imagination had wonderfully widened
it ; but when he saw it as it was, he was disillusioned and
almost painfully disappointed. * Is it possible,' I remem
ber his remarking with great naturalness, ' that this really
narrow stream is what I have so long thought of as a
broad river ; and that I could think myself to be a man
when I was able sixty-three years ago to swim from the
one bank to the other ! But, after all, I need not wonder at
the difference between my conception of the size of the
Carron and the reality, for it seems to me that even the
Firth of Forth has shrunk in wofully since I first knew it ! '
"At Mary Kay's invitation we then went to rest in her
cottage, and there she fulfilled her promises about the like
nesses. She produced an ancient volume (Baxter's ' Saint's
Rest,' if I remember rightly) which answered the purpose
of a modern album, for its leaves were interspersed with
numerous woodcut likenesses of Dr. Moffat, clipped out of
illustrated almanacs, London Missionary and other maga
zines, &c. These were her favourite art treasures, and she
declared they were all faithful likenesses : ' they were even
like him yet, except that he had grown a terribly lang
beard, and she never could thole these lang beards. Al
though,' she added apologetically, ' to be sure, John Knox
had a lang beard, just like yersel'.'
" Dr. Moffat was anxious to know whether any more of
his schoolmates were still alive and resident in the locality.
Mary Kay could tell us there was only one, and she was then
on a visit to grandchildren at Greenock ; but there was a
master tailor in the village — whose name I may suppose to
be Andrew Johnstone — who might perhaps remember him;
it was worth calling to see. We called, and found the old
THE SCEPTICAL TAILOR. 393
tailor cross-legged on his board, and busy at work. Our
zealous guide introduced us by saying, 'Andrew, man,
here's Moffat come to see you, the great missionary from
Africa.' 'Aye, aye, maybe he is/ replied the cautious
Andrew ; ' but there are plenty of folks ganging about the
country noo-a-days passin' themsel's aff as great men, and
they are just a wheen impostors.' This was rather a stag
gering response; but it was met with, 'O man ! Andrew,
are you no believin' me, and I've kenned him mysel' a' my
days.' On this Andrew stopped his needle for the first
time, looked round on Dr. Moffat, and in an oracular tone
said, ' Are you aware, sir ! that if you were really the per
son you represent yourself to be, you would be the father-
in-law of Livingstone, the African explorer ? ' ' And so I
am.' This quiet reply from the Doctor was rousing ; the
crossed legs became straight and perpendicular. Andrew
raised his spectacles to get a fuller view of the visitor, and
exclaimed, ' Is it possible that the father-in-law of Living
stone stands before me, and under my humble roof? ' His
doubts were dispelled, and he tried by effusive expressions
of respect to make amends for the somewhat rude incre
dulity that marked his reception of us.
" Meanwhile a crowd of collier lads and other villagers
had gathered round the tailor's house, and Dr. Moffat, ever
ready to advance the cause for which he lived and laboured
so nobly, gave them an open-air address on South African
Missions ; and, before parting, came under a promise to
meet them again ere long, and give them a fuller account
of mission work.
" I shall conclude the sketch of this visit by remarking
that this promise was faithfully redeemed. Dr. Moffat
afterwards addressed crowded and enthusiastic meetings
in Carronshore ; he came specially from England to take
part in the opening services of Carron Church, where my
brother was and still is minister. Moreover, he gladdened
Miss Kay's heart by presenting her with copies of his
published works, and enriched her album with a photo
graph ; which (if alive) she still no doubt cherishes as the
gift of her old schoolmate — ' the great Moffat.' "]
394 ?HE HOME AT BANTASKINE.
While at Stirling our father was invited by John
Wilson, of South Bantaskine, Falkirk, to be his
guest. It was the first of many pleasant visits, and
the beginning of a friendship which lasted in this
world till the year when both were called home.
From his bed-room window at Bantaskine — the spot
where the battle of Falkirk was fought, a mile and
a half south of the town — he looked out upon the
same furnaces at Carron Iron Works upon which
.he had looked as a boy. He could point out every
change that had taken place in Falkirk in the way
of building, and it was hard to say whether he or
Mr. Wilson most enjoyed their visiting together
the old scenes of his boyhood — Carronshore, the
school at Falkirk to which he used to walk every
day for a year three miles each way, the church at
which he used to attend with his mother, and Park
Hill, Polmont, where he served his apprenticeship.
Each visit to Bantaskine — which was about every
two years after this — he entered afresh into all the
old memories, and never failed to visit and to have
a chat with two old schoolfellows, Mrs. Gilchrist
and Mrs. Higgins.
However wearied and worn-out with meetings,
when he arrived at South Bantaskine there was some
thing in the very air and surroundings, as well as
in that genial home, which made him begin to rally
at once, and sent him away with strength renewed.
After his first visit to Bantaskine he proceeded
on an extended tour through Scotland, and then
part of England, renewing old recollections and
visiting friends, but always and everywhere address
ing audiences on missionary work, a duty of which
DEATH OF A GRANDSON. 395
he never wearied, as he had never wearied of the
work itself. Whilst on this tour, the news reached
him of the death in East Africa of his grandson and
namesake, Robert Moffat, who died whilst serving
with the search expedition which had been sent out
under Captain Cameron to follow Livingstone.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
FAREWELL TO CHILDREN.
1874.
OUR father was not sorry, after an absence of
four months, to return to his home in Brix-
ton, where he spent the winter free from
public work : the principal family event being his son's
departure for South Africa. A farewell meeting was
held at the Rev. Baldwin Brown's lecture-room, and
the sailing of the steamer being deferred, the next
day was spent in his home at Brixton with a crowd
of his children and grandchildren around him. The
seeing the voyagers off was sad enough, with the
prospect of beholding them no more in this world,
and the intense desire to go with them — for his heart
was still in Africa. The solemn and earnest gaze
which he fixed on his children till the last possible
moment, as the vessel slowly moved away, was more
eloquent than words. A few weeks later, Living
stone's remains were brought home, and he went
down to Southampton to meet them. The part he
had to take in the identification, and his presence at
the funeral in Westminster Abbey, were all to him
WELCOMES A DAUGHTER FROM S. AFRICA. 397
deeply affecting circumstances. About this time he
was called to stand by the grave of another old
friend, Thomas Binney. A strong attachment had
existed between the two men, dating from our
father's first visit home in 1840. Binney had given
him much valuable assistance whilst writing his
book, and had been a kind adviser to each of his
sons successively when home for their education.
The greater part of the year was spent in deputa
tion work for the Society, beginning with London
and its neighbourhood, until after May, when ex
tended tours were taken, and meetings held in
nearly all the southern counties of England and
Wales. We reached home from this round in
November, and the winter was spent quietly at
home, with occasional attendance at meetings of
one sort or another.
In April, 1875, he again began work with the
meetings of the season. He paid a hasty visit to
Glasgow in May, to be present at the wedding of
his grandson, Oswell Livingstone ; returning imme
diately to London, where he had the pleasure of
welcoming his daughter Bessie and her husband,
on a visit home from South Africa. His summer
campaign on behalf of the Missionary Society was
in the eastern counties, after which he started for
Whitehall, Cumberland, the residence of Mr. George
Moore. Mr. Moore was in the habit of having a
gathering of London friends who helped him in
conducting Bible Society meetings in the neighbour
ing villages. It was a very interesting and enjoy
able season, Besides the guests at the Hall, who
represented all denominations, the town missionaries
398 LECTURE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
of Westmoreland and Cumberland were entertained
at the inn, and had the full enjoyment of the beau
tiful grounds, each day attending a conference in
the old baronial hall. Mr. Moore presented each
of them on leaving with a copy of " Guthrie on the
Parables," as a memento of their meeting with our
father. At the close of this pleasant week he went
on to Carlisle, where he held meetings for the Mis
sionary Society, and then proceeded to Hamilton to
the marriage of his granddaughter, Agnes Living
stone, with Alexander Bruce of Edinburgh. After
a month spent in Scotland he returned to London,
taking some deputation work on the way : but not
to rest, for before he settled in for the winter he had
visited Lancashire and Yorkshire, and various places
in Kent, Hampshire, and Wales ! He might well
say, as he often did, that people either could not or
would not see that he was getting old. All this
while he was seldom without some occupation in
the way of revising proof-sheets of the Sechwana
Hymn-book, Scripture Selections, and the " Pil
grim's Progress," a new translation of which last,
based upon his own, had been prepared by his
son-in-law, Roger Price.
On St. Andrew's Day he lectured on Missions in
Westminster Abbey, and afterwards supped with
Dean Stanley at Mr. Flood Jones's, Lady Augusta
Leing too ill to entertain him.
On the twenty-first of December, 1875, ne was
eighty years of age. This day had been fixed upon
by Mr. Baldwin Brown and his helpers for the
opening of the new Mission Hall in Vauxhall Street,
Lambeth. He was asked to attend — though without
ADDRESS FROM MINISTERS. 399
the knowledge that it was his birthday ; and thence^
forward the hall was called the Moffat Institute. He
had always been greatjy interested in this mission,
and now felt it had a special claim upon him. He
received many congratulatory tokens on this day,
and, not least, a visit from a deputation of Congre
gational ministers, who presented him with an
address signed by a great number from every part
of the country. This address remains to his chil
dren one of the most valued mementoes of the
regard in which their father was held by so many
of his fellow-servants in Christ.
The winter of 1875-6 was spent in London, but
he had a good many public engagements in the
neighbourhood. In March, Roger Price sailed for
Zanzibar. Later on our father visited, at Horsham,
the daughters of his former fellow-labourer H el-
more, who laid down his life for the gospel at
Linyanti, in the Makololo country.
From Horsham our father went on to Brighton,
and spent a week with Mrs. Goulty. It was always
a special pleasure to visit her. She and her late
husband were reckoned among those friends who
had welcomed him on his first return from South
Africa, and their attachment never wavered.
[The following letter was written to Mrs. Goulty
a year or two later on :
" BRIXTON, March 23, 1878.
" Among the many thoughts which have passed through
my mind to-day, you have not been forgotten. To-morrow
you will enter on the eighty-seventh year of your pilgrimage.
I think I can in some degree enter into your feelings of
wonder and gratitude — wonder in having been spared so
long, while so many thousands have passed away and gone
400 LETTER TO MRS. GOULTY OF BRIGHTON.
to an unchangeable and deathless state. Even among our
contemporaries how few, if any, remain. Among the last
of mine is James Parsons, of York. I have been affectingly
impressed with the succession of mourning-cards for friends
received since my return from a long life in Africa to the
land of my forefathers. They are gone, but they are only
gone before, enjoying what they so long desired — to be
present with the Lord. How impressive and how solemn
to think of the stream of human beings rushing on to the
vast eternity, and still more so to think of the multitude
moving along without a thought of their future destiny.
Our hearts sink within us at the thought of the untold
myriads perishing for whom Christ died. How the re
flection awakens our inmost emotions to exclaim, ' Oh to
grace how great a debtor ! ' and 4 Why was I made to hear
His voice ? '
" The remembrance of the Brighton Kuruman Lodge
and the many incidents, and the now happy Mary playing
on the piano while I was studying the sermon I had to
preach before the Directors ! Can I ever forget the atten
tion of your late beloved one, who received charge from the
Directors to care for me that my voice might, through
many a walk on the wavy beach, return to perform the
task appointed to me. It would tire you to refer to the
variety of apparently small, but to me never to be forgotten,
events. Will these things be thought of when we reach
4 the heavenly fields, and walk the golden streets ? '
" Oh how little we are made to know of that * land afar
off.' What are its shining inhabitants doing? Perhaps
the departed are, though in glory, very near to us. I was
with you in spirit during your severe attack ; and how good
it was of Lizzie and Isabel to report progress, which I hope
continues ; but old folks like you and me do not rally so
soqn."]
At this time he was much troubled by the
severe illness and death in Egypt of his grandson,
Thomas S. Livingstone, who had been for some
years in failing health. He longed to accompany
THE JUBILEE SINGERS. 401
the friend who went out, but felt it was too far.
Tom's genial spirit and frequent visits to his grand
father had greatly endeared him, and his death was
a great sorrow.
May brought its usual round of meetings. On
the sixth he dined with the Archbishop of Canter
bury at Lambeth Palace. About this time the
Jubilee Singers were in England, on their second
visit. He was quite in his element when with them,
and lost no opportunity of hearing them sing. When
at Brixton they came in to him at Knowle Road,
and he and they were both much pleased. They
afterwards gave him a photograph group of them
selves. In this month he received an invitation
from the Corporation of London to attend a ball
given at Guildhall in honour of the Prince of Wales
on his return from India. He accepted it, and went,
greatly amused by all he saw, though not sufficiently
charmed to desire a second such opportunity. Later
in the month he spoke at the Moravian Missionary
Meeting, which always drew out his sympathies, as
he considered he owed his wife to the Moravians.
A day or two after he was to have been with the
" Friends' " Foreign Mission Association, but was
unable to attend on account of a cold. " Sad dis
appointment," he writes in his note-book. A round
of engagements followed in town and country. On
the twelfth of July, 1876, he had the pleasure of
breakfasting with Mr. Gladstone in the house of
the Rev. Newman Hall, along with a number of
ministers.
In August he went* to Edinburgh to be at the
unveiling of Livingstone's statue, which took place
27
402 VISIT TO MULLER'S ORPHANAGE.
the day before a similar ceremonial for Prince
Albert. He took a great interest in both, but per
haps still more in another quite informal interview
with the Queen, who, hearing of his presence in
Edinburgh, sent for him. She was just starting for
a drive when he arrived, so that they really met
and exchanged a few words on the staircase
of Holyrood Palace. Later on we find him at
Bristol, always, as usual, in the thick of meetings.
He visited M tiller's Orphanage, and was intensely
interested. One little girl asked him to accept her
doll, a very minute one. This touched him exceed
ingly, and the doll took its place on his study
mantelpiece till the day of his death.
Constant engagements filled up the remainder of
the year. One day it would be a public meeting ;
then an address to the boys at Mill Hill School, in
which he took a special interest from the presence
there of two of his own grandsons ; then he was
to be found assisting in mission work at the Institute
in Lambeth. He spent a day at Wimbledon with
Sir Bartle Frere, then starting for South Africa.
His mind was very much occupied at this time
with African affairs, and full of anxiety. The East
African Missions were being started, and two mem
bers of the Bechwana staff transferred to them —
which did not meet with his approval ; nor did other
changes then taking place in the Bechwana field.
He never could see any start being made for South
Africa without being greatly excited. A longing
always came over him to go too. He was restless
till the party was away, which in this case was early
in 1877, when Price and Dodgshun left for Zanzibar
VISIT TO PARIS. 403
and Cockin for Matebeleland. Some of the party
were of his own family, and started from his house,
and his deepest feelings were stirred.
When all this was over, he went in April, 1877,
by invitation of the French Missionary Society, to
Paris. The day after his arrival he addressed,
through Theodore Monod, four thousand Sunday-
school children — a sight quite unexpected in France.
They were assembled in a circus, and the place was
crowded. These corresponded, with our French
friends, to the English May meetings ; but the
children were thus collected only once in two years,
it being a much greater undertaking than in Eng
land. During his three weeks' sojourn in Paris he
addressed nine meetings, besides one in Orleans.
On all these occasions the audiences were large.
Not the least interesting was a meeting held in one
of Mr. McAll's Mission rooms. Here particularly
the people seemed to anticipate the meaning from
the gestures, even before they heard the interpre
tation. Another meeting of special interest was held
in the Halle Herz at the request of Madame Andre,
a benevolent and missionary-spirited lady, who asked
our father to give a lecture on Livingstone as a
corrective to the idea of sceptics, who, it appeared,
rejoiced in Livingstone as one who had given up
the propagation of Christianity as hopeless and had
turned to science. This address was much appre
ciated and commented upon in the Paris papers.
Among his hearers was the Emperor of Brazil. His
host and hostess were Dr. and Mrs. Casalis, of the
Missionary Society. Dr. Casalis having been twenty
years in Basutoland, they had much in common. The
404 MEETING AT THE HOUSE OF CASALIS.
Casalis family were indefatigable in their kind atten
tion, and thus besides these meetings our father got
through a great deal of sight-seeing during the three
weeks, including two days spent with Madame
Andre at Versailles, and he enjoyed all immensely.
I think the tomb of Buonaparte impressed him most
of all. The fact that Dr. and Mrs. Casalis had been
shut up in Paris during the siege, and that Madame
Andre's house had been the headquarters of the
Crown Prince at Versailles, added not a little to the
interest of the sojourn with them.
On one occasion there was quite accidentally a
very interesting gathering at the breakfast-table in
the house of Dr. Casalis. Major Malan, who was so
devoted to Africa, was also staying there, and it hap
pened that the Messrs. Moir, bound for East Africa,
were passing through Paris. The daughter of Casalis,
born in South Africa, and married to the son of a
South African missionary, was there with her hus
band, besides several young French students board
ing in the house, their destination being also South
or West Africa. Very soon after, in a few days, all
were scattered ; but I think that unpremeditated
meeting, and communion of kindred spirits old and
young, would hardly ever be forgotten. So much
work and pleasure was compressed into those three
weeks that our father was pretty well worn-out, and
was glad to feel quiet at home again for a day or
two before going to Glasgow to address the mis
sionary meeting of the United Presbyterian Synod.
Here he was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. J. B.
Kidston, and he never visited Scotland again with
out renewing his enjoyment of their friendship.
VISITS THE KIDSTONS AT PORTENCROSS. 405
From Glasgow he went to the Free Church As
sembly meetings in Edinburgh, and here also ad
dressed the missionary meeting. He was the guest
of Mr. Dickson for the week. Dr. Andrew Bonar,
of Glasgow, and a Norwegian minister were also
guests, besides others whom he met, making the
occasion one of special enjoyment.
After a visit to Falkirk and Stirling friends he
found a quiet resting-place in a visit to the Kidstons,
then at Portencross, on the west coast of Scotland,
where the sea air quite set him up, as it generally
did. He thoroughly enjoyed the primitiveness of
this then out-of-the-way fisher village, and felt a
great pleasure in giving some idea of his work in
South Africa to the children of the village, on the
Sunday evening in Mr. Kidston's house. Returning
to England he continued his public work at various
places, and spent a month in visiting members and
connections of his own family, carrying at the same
time an edition of the Sechwana hymn-book through
the press.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CLOSING SCENES.
1878-1883.
THE winter was spent quietly at Knowle Road,
the only break of importance being his ad
mission to the Turners' Company, through
the nomination of his friend Professor Tennant.
This took place on the twentieth of December, and
a few days later he received the freedom of the City
of London. He still continued his visits to the Moffat
Institute in Lambeth, and attended steadily Mr.
Baldwin Brown's weekly lectures on St. Bernard,
Francis of Assisi, and Wycliffe, besides the Sabbath
services. In the spring of 1878 our father again had
the pleasure of breakfasting with Mr. Gladstone, at
the house of Mr. Birks, in Harley Street. In May
he assisted, with Mr. Baldwin Brown, at the mar
riage of another of his granddaughters, now Mrs.
Mannhardt, of Hanerau. The year passed quietly
in visits to friends and in some public engagements ;
but in January, 1879, came another of those seasons
of parting of which he had had so many. On the
ninth of January his daughter Bessie, with her hus-
VISIT TO JERSEY AND GUERNSEY. 407
band and younger children, left our house to return
to their work in South Africa. As usual, this was
the signal for a severe struggle in his own mind in
the desire to go too.
In addition to other public engagements among
his own people, having promised to address the
Wesleyan missionary meetings at Huddersfield, he
did so, returning via Rotherham to visit our old
friends the Habershons. It had escaped his memory
that the annual meeting of the Bible Society was so
near. He suddenly discovered it while seated at the
tea-table surrounded by friends, and could not rest
till it was settled that we should start next morning
early enough to be at the meeting ; and start we
did, in spite of sleet and snow, by the train leaving
Rotherham at seven in the morning. He arrived
in time to enter soon after the meeting had com
menced, sat it through with great satisfaction, and
then returned home to Brixton, by no means over
done and quite lively. Soon after this he started on
another round of public duty, getting as far as Scot
land, where he baptized a great grandchild, Mary
Livingstone Bruce.
At the end of July we went to Jersey and
Guernsey for the Missionary Society. We were
accompanied by the Rev. Edward Jones. We were
entertained in Jersey by Mr. Williams, who made the
deputation week a combination of pleasure and work,
driving to all the villages for meetings by the most
interesting routes, and occasionally picnicing for the
sake of seeing some beautiful spot on our way. The
weather was magnificent, so that the enjoyment of
so much fresh air and change of scene, with the
4oS REMOVAL TO LEIGH IN KENT.
delightful company of his genial coadjutor Mr.
Jones, quite counteracted the fatigue of the many
meetings. It was while we were at Guernsey that
we first heard of Park Cottage, but did not go to
see it till some weeks after our return to London.
Our father had for several years been craving a
change of residence. He was weary of looking at
bricks and mortar, and feeling it difficult to refuse
the many applications for work in the neighbour
hood of London during the winter months, he longed
for the quiet of the country, or more still a seaside
retreat. Nothing suitable, however, was found by
the sea, and Park Cottage seemed just the kind of
home he desired. Thither we went in November,
first paying a visit to Swansea for meetings there.
On arriving at Leigh a very warm welcome awaited
him from Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Morley, whose
tenant he had become, and their thoughtful atten
tion never wavered from that day until he passed to
the heavenly home.
The winter was bitterly cold. The morning after
the first heavy fall of snow his delight was great.
He stood gazing out of the window upon the beauti
ful white covering which made trees and shrubs all
look like fairyland. It was an old-fashioned winter,
and reminded him of the days of his youth, for even
in England he had not seen snow in the country
more than once or twice. But when it lay for a
month his enthusiasm vanished, and he longed to
see the green grass again, and to feel the sun's rays.
He longed, too, to be at work in the garden, and
so watched for the spring. He was quite in his
element when he was able to go out and guide the
DELIGHT IN COUNTRY LIFE. 409
gardener. He seemed to feel more at home in his
own house than he had ever done since he had come
to England. The village life and all his surround
ings seemed so much more natural to him. Of
course some privileges were missed, but others made
up for their loss. He attended regularly the little
village chapel, always in the morning and often in
the afternoon, and was always glad to help in the
services. Some friends remonstrated with him, when
leaving London, upon going to bury himself down
in the country ; but when they saw him after a few
months, especially in his own house, they had not a
word to say.
One of the first of these visitors was Baldwin
Brown. It was a flying visit, but a very welcome
one to all at Park Cottage. Several friends from
South Africa also visited him at Leigh, among them
Mr. and Mrs. Coillard of the Basuto Mission. Mr.
C. on entering the study, from the window of which
he looked into the garden, exclaimed, " Why you
have got back to Kuruman here ! " A door from
the study led out to the garden. He would be in
and out all day. There was always fresh enjoyment
to him in showing his friends the progress of his
plans and the growth or improvement of certain
plants. Then he was so pleased to show his visitors
Mr. Morley's beautiful grounds, upon the charms of
which he would stand and expatiate with all the zest
of a connoisseur.
Of course there were gloomy days when he could
not venture out. On these he often took refuge in
some Sechwana work, and felt that akays the best
means of forgetting the weather. The thoughtful
410 RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL.
sociability of his neighbours in the village did much
to render the years at Leigh happy, and one or two,
particularly, made a point of dropping in on dull
days, diverting him by their cheerfulness from all
thought of the sombre skies of old England, and
making him talk of the sunny land to which his
heart was always ready to turn. He read a great
deal, particularly newspapers, and in the evenings
always read aloud any scraps which interested him.
He was intensely interested and excited during
the Transvaal War. It never entered his head that
England would give back the Transvaal to the
Boers. To the very last he allowed himself to
believe that it would continue under the government
of England, and thus the natives be protected. I
remember well coming into his room the morning
the news of the retrocession was published. He sat
in his armchair the picture of sadness, his hands
clasped, and the paper thrown down by his side.
" They have done it," he said. " The Transvaal is
given back ! " For days he was as though he had
received a death blow, nor to his dying hour did it
cease to be to him a bitter sorrow.
We were seldom alone, often having a friend to
stay with us, as had been the case as long as he had
had a home in England. The holidays found him
surrounded by some of his numerous grandchildren.
During the first year of his residence at Leigh he
had a visit from the widow and children of Robert,
his elder son, from Natal, where they have long
lived. His comparative retirement did not by any
means end his public work. He still travelled both
for the Bible and Missionary Societies.
VISIT TO SOUTH BANTASKINE. 411
In May, 1881, he was at the Mansion House, the
guest of the Lord Mayor, Sir William McArthur,
for several days, and rather enjoyed sleeping in the
middle of the city, and waking up on the Sunday
morning to its marvellous stillness. He attended
the usual May meetings this year; and in June, in
fulfilment of a long-standing promise, went down to
Kendal for the Bible Society. It was a week of
hard work, as he made long speeches at Kendal,
Grasmere, and Ambleside. All that could be done
was done to make him comfortable by his old friends
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Braithwaite.
From Kendal he went on to Falkirk, there to preach
at the opening services of Carron United Presby
terian Church, close to the home of his boyhood. His
host here was, as usual, John Wilson, and after the
excitement of the London May meetings and those
at Kendal, winding up with the service at Carron
which drew so largely upon his feelings, he found
South Bantaskine once again a haven of rest, and
recruited as usual there. It was on this visit, I
think, he talked for an hour to a large number of
Sunday scholars on the lawn, most of them belong
ing to an evening school carried on by one of the
daughters of the house. After another visit to the
Kidstons he returned to the house of one of his grand
daughters in Edinburgh, Agnes Bruce. While there
he addressed, one Sunday evening at a valedictory
service in the United Presbyterian Assembly Hall,
nine young men leaving the Livingstone Medical
Mission for all parts of the world, and belonging to
all sections of the Church.
He greatly enjoyed seeing all his old friends once
4i2 REPRESENTATIVE MEETING
more, not knowing, yet always ready to think it was
the last time. His only remaining cousin, Mrs.
Moodie, who is quite blind, referring to that visit
three years afterwards said, " I mind how he said, ' I
have come straight to you, the first call I have made
in Edinburgh,' " and it pleased her well. Before re
turning to England he again went for a few days to
Bantaskine. There Mr. Wilson gathered a repre
sentative assembly from different parts of Scotland
to meet him at a breakfast in his own house.
The following report of this meeting appeared in
the periodicals of the day :
" On Tuesday a gathering took place at South Bantaskine
of a deeply interesting character. Dr. Moffat, who is at
present on a visit to his native district of Carronshore, is
the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. On their invitation a
large number of representatives of different churches as
sembled to do honour to the veteran missionary. After
luncheon, Dr. Lindsay Alexander introduced Dr. Moffat,
who spoke on his African experiences and of the work he
had been able to accomplish for the Hottentots and the
Bechwanas. Several gentlemen testified to the esteem in
which Dr. Moffat is held by all the churches ; and the fol
lowing address was drawn up and signed by the under
mentioned gentlemen, who were guests on the occasion : —
"We, the undersigned members of various religious de
nominations, having, through the great kindness of Mr.
and Mrs. John Wilson, of South Bantaskine, been invited
to meet the Rev. Dr. Moffat in a friendly manner at their
house, desire to express our kindest Christian sympathy
towards the venerable missionary who has so long laboured
in the high places of the heathen field, and who has been
honoured to accomplish so great a work in the moral and
spiritual elevation of the long-neglected tribes of South
Africa, and our great delight at seeing him in the midst of
us in the enjoyment of vigorous health ; and our earnest
OF SCOTTISH FRIENDS. 413
prayer is that the close of his long and useful life may be
crowned yet more abundantly with the blessing and favour
of his Divine Master.' Sir Peter Coats of Auchendrane ;
Rev. John Ker, D.D., W. H. Goold, D.D., William Wilson,
D.D., Sir H. Wellwood MoncriefT, Bart, D.D., W. Lindsay
Alexander, D.D., Professor Duff, LL.D., Rev. D. C. Scott,
J. B. Kidston, Esq., Glasgow ; Rev. R. S. Scott, D.D., Rev.
James Rennie, Glasgow ; James King, Esq., Levernholme ;
Professor Dickson, D.D., Glasgow; Rev. Charles R. Teape,
D.D., Principal Douglass, Glasgow ; William Wilson, Esq.,
Banknock ; Rev. James Brown, D.D., Paisley ; Robert
Moffat, Esq., M.D. ; Rev. T. A. Wylie, LL.D., Rev. Hugh
Mair, Rev. Finlay Macpherson, Sheriff Bell, Falkirk ; Rev.
J. Elder Gumming, D.D., Rev. J. C. Herdman, D.D., Mel-
rose ; Rev. John M'Laren, Larbert ; Rev. John Anderson,
Falkirk ; Principal Cairns, D.D. ; Professor Crum Brown,
Edinburgh ; J. A. Henderson, Esq., banker, Falkirk ; Rev.
John Yellowlees, Carron ; Alexander L. Bruce, Esq. ; W.
Leckie, Esq., Edinburgh ; Rev. George Wade, Falkirk ;
and W. Macdougall, Esq. Letters of apology for absence
were received, among others, from Principal Sir Alex. Grant,
Bart. ; Sir James Falshaw, Bart. ; Principal Rainy, Professor
Calderwood, Dr. Charteris, Dr. Culross, and Rev. Mr.
Brooke, Falkirk. It is interesting to state that there were
also present Mrs. Bruce, daughter of Dr. Livingstone, with
her husband, and the Rev. David C. Scott, who is about to
proceed to Africa to take charge of the Blantyre Mission,
and for which purpose he was ordained yesterday in
Edinburgh."
It was a happy day for all concerned. Several
remained the night, and it was a rich treat to him
to enjoy a little more at leisure the society of such
choice spirits. Among the guests at breakfast the
Dr. Scott above mentioned left Mr. Wilson's house
to go to his own wedding. Within two years at
least five of that company had gone to the better
land, including the large-hearted host as well as the
414 MEETINGS AT MANCHESTER.
central figure of the gathering. The first to depart
was Ex-Provost Russell, brother-in-law of Mr.
Wilson, whose hearty welcome to Falkirk our
father never missed. W. Lindsay Alexander, another
of the party, has also gone from us.
One more peaceful day after all the pleasurable
excitement, and our father started southward, un
consciously bidding farewell for ever to the scenes
of his boyhood. John Wilson and he, however,
met once more ; the former being on deputation
from the United Presbyterian Synod to the Pres
byterian Church in Paris, called at Leigh on his
way, and the friends spent a happy Sunday together.
Delightfully interesting as this visit to Scotland had
been, he was glad to get home ; but he was soon
earnestly entreated by his Manchester friends to go
to the Congregational Union meetings in that city,
to address the missionary meeting, and especially
to preach in Grosvenor Street Chapel. He could
seldom resist Manchester, and the weather being
uncommonly fine for the time of year, he went and
took up his abode at Broughton with Mrs. J. J.
Sheldon, senior. He attended the evening meeting
at the Free Trade Hall. The sight of the whole
assembly rising as he appeared on the platform was
overpowering. He always felt that in Manchester
there was a deeper feeling in many hearts when
they rendered that reverence than often dictated
such demonstrations. It dated back nearly seventy
years when our mother and he there consecrated
themselves to the work to which they were so
truly faithful even unto death. The most inte
resting service was the one at Grosvenor Street,
INTERVIEW WITH KETSHWAYO. 415
where sixty-five years before he had been ordained
to mission work by William Roby. He looked round,
and recalled where one and another had sat — all
now passed away except those who then were chil
dren ; and where he himself had sat and had
received the solemn charge. The meetings over,
he went to spend a week at Cheadle with Mrs.
Stephen Sheldon. After resting there he started
homewards, and spent the winter at Leigh. In
March, 1882, he visited at Knockholt his daughter
Helen, who was on the eve of sailing on a sorrow
ful mission to New Zealand ; and he then entered
on another series of engagements of a public nature.
On one occasion he attended a Salvation Army
meeting in Exeter Hall. He was much interested
and impressed by the earnest tones of those who
took an active part, but could not get over the ir
reverence of manner. In the evening of the same
day, Mr. Evan Spicer, whose house was his home
when he slept a night in London, took him to the
Electric Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, to his
great delight. June and July were spent in visits
to some of the many friends whose doors were
always wide to receive him. Ketshwayo was at
this time in England. Our father's sympathies
were all with him, and he went to see him. As
he could not speak Zulu, he had to be content
with interpretation ; but Mr. Shepstone brought
to him an attendant, saying, " This man can speak
Sechwana."
It was such an unloosing of his tongue as he had
not had for many years, and the man's delight was
beyond bounds. He had been in the train of a son
416 VISIT TO LANCASHIRE FRIENDS.
of Mosilikatse during his exile in Zululand. He
had heard of our father, but never expected to see
him, and seemed hardly able to believe it. He
asked again and again, "A u Moshete?" (Are you
Moffat ?) When convinced, he exclaimed with
beaming eyes, " I see this day what my eyes never
expected to behold, Moshete ! "
Two days after this episode we again started for
Lancashire to visit the Reyners and Cheethams ;
but our visit was much saddened by the blanks in
homes where all had been old friends. He much
enjoyed going over the past with Mr. Cheetham,
and visited with Miss Cheetham the house at
Dukinfield, sitting down in the very room in which
he first saw our mother. But there was an intense
pathos about it all — so many were gone ; and
pleasant as it was to see their children and chil
dren's children, he still felt the want of the absent
ones. A week spent with Miss Sheldon at Cheadle,
where death had taken away our dear old hostess
since our visit the previous year, completed his last
sojourn in Manchester. He found that even very
moderate public speaking this year made him dizzy,
and he therefore declined nearly all requests. Re
turning to Leigh we settled down for the winter,
during which he enjoyed good health ; but as Janu
ary wore on, debarred from air and exercise, he
was feeling weak, and craved a change, so we went
for a fortnight to Brighton.
For the next two months he was remarkably
well — quite extraordinarily bright and active. He
made a short visit to London in March, and slept
the last night in his first Brixton home, the house
FAILING STRENGTH. 417
of Henry Vavasseur. For two months he took
special interest in his garden, planting many things
with his own hands. In April, according to pro
mise, he went to Hampstead to lay the foundation-
stone of a new church. He enjoyed the occasion,
but complained of great weariness and intermittent
pulsation. This now troubled him so constantly
that he at last sought advice two months later.
Nevertheless, he was otherwise wonderfully well
and bright for a month, up at six in the morning as
often as not, and out at work in the garden. He
attended the Bible Society's meeting on the second
of May, but returned very tired. The irregularity of
the pulsation increasing, his symptoms during the
ensuing week caused some anxiety ; but he would
not be dissuaded from going up again to the So
ciety's meeting on the tenth. " It may be the last
time," he said. On Friday he did not seem more
tired than usual after such a meeting ; but that
night he was very ill. From the twelfth of May
he never fully rallied, although often so bright and
well as to dispel our fears.
He was greatly cheered in May by a visit from
Mr. and Mrs. James Spicer, of Woodford. Mr.
Spicer and his sons had served him unweariedly in
many ways during all the years after his return from
Africa — managing business matters for him, and
taking off his mind concerns which would otherwise
have been a sad care to him.
On Monday, Mr. and Mrs. Morley being at Hall
Place for a day or two, asked him up to tea. After
tea, Mrs. Morley and he walked round the gardens
and hot-houses. He had gone up just to see the
28
418 LAST MEETING WITH THE STURGES.
Morleys for half an hour, but fully two hours they
spent together, and it was the last walk he ever had
round the grounds. Then he went to Knockholt,
and we hoped for the usual effects of a change of
air ; but, alas ! we felt that he was no stronger when
he returned home. He was at last persuaded to
see his friend Sir Risdon Bennett, who, with his
usual kindness, gave him advice, and tried to cheer
him, but at the same time confirmed the worst fears
of those who were anxiously watching, and dread
ing that this was the beginning of the end. So
wonderfully, however, did he rally under Dr. Ben
nett's treatment, that we could not help hoping that
there was a mistake.
He was so much better, that early in July he
.again paid a visit to Knockholt. His daughter there
,had invited two dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. George
Sturge, to spend a day, that they might all meet
.again without over-fatigue to either. They walked
together round the garden in pleasant converse ;
•the afternoon passed, and they parted — two of the
number to meet again within one month in heaven.
Mrs. Sturge departed on the twenty-ninth of July,
•and our father on the ninth of August. He returned
.home brightly, but in a few days began to suffer still
more. Yet with all this he was in and out of the
garden, and took two drives, Mrs. Morley sending
.her carriage whenever he felt able. After the second
drive, on the fourth of August, he took half an
hour's walk ; and every evening he strolled round
the garden, noticing how things were going on.
One evening he remarked upon the beautiful crop
<of apples not yet ready for use, and said, " We must
LETTER TO MR. DICKSON. 419
not forget to send Mr. Stacey some of these." Mr.
Stacey, the devoted servant of the Society and faith
ful friend of all the missionaries, had long been laid
aside with paralysis.
To his friend Mr. Dickson, of Edinburgh, he
wrote about three weeks before his departure :
" I have for some time been experiencing a weanedness
from all that concerns this life, and feel a growing desire
to spend my future in praise and prayer. Of course it is
natural that one at my age should be frequently looking
at the ' goodly land ' beyond the ' narrow stream.' The
prospect is sublimely grand, for there
* Our best friends and our kindred dwell,
And Christ our Saviour reigns.'
I have oft felt much pressed in mind from the reported
sufferings of the Bechwanas, robbed and trodden down
by the Transvaal Boers ; and now our Senators have got
their hands full of perplexities. How sad it is to reflect
on the present state of Madagascar ! What a comfort,
among all these dark and ominous prospects, that our Father
in heaven surveys it all, and in due time will show who is
the only potentate. When we think of the glories of
eternity, how small the mites of power in this world are.
Love to your dear sons, and believe me ever gratefully,
" ROBERT MOFFAT."
The following was one of the last letters he wrote.
It shows that to the last his heart beat in unison with
the interests of the Society, to the service of which
he gave himself in 1810, and whose faithful servant
he was for fifty-seven years :
" J«iy 23, 1883.
"MY DEAR MR. ROBINSON,— Only a few lines to say
that but for an attack of illness I should probably during
the five weeks past have visited the Mission-house once
and again. I have been laid up, though not in bed ; and
420 THE LAST SUNDAY.
though I still feel great weakness, I think I am gaining
strength. I have suffered great weakness in my lungs, so
that the least exercise made me puff and blow as if they
were going to stop altogether. I mustered energy to visit
my old friend Sir Risdon Bennett, and am attending to
his prescriptions. If it be the Lord's will to restore
strength, I shall not fail to call, longing as I do to see
you all again. But such is life ; prop after prop is being
removed, but nothing will be suffered to remove the
* blessed hope ' of reaching the blissful shore beyond the
narrow stream. I have managed to write a couple of
letters to friends who may be wondering what has become
of me, and I feel fatigued. Some seem to suppose that I
do not get old* like other folks, as applications still come
in for services at public meetings. My platform and pulpit
days are over, arid I have had a tolerable share. I hope
you are still receiving good accounts from Wardlaw
Thompson. What a noble tale he will be able to tell us
on his return ! With every sentiment, of regard, yours,
" ROBERT MOFFAT."
On the thirtieth of July Dr. Risdon Bennett
kindly came down to see him. His visit was a
great comfort, and did good for the time ; but the
sun was rapidly nearing the western horizon, and
nothing could stay its course.
Our father enjoyed seeing his friends as they
looked in now and then, but could not bear much
company, though he brightened up for the time.
On Sunday the fifth he would fain have gone as
usual to the chapel, but was dissuaded — the first
time I ever remember his being absent from morn
ing service. He spent a peaceful Sunday at home.
In the evening he enjoyed the singing of a few
hymns, after our usual stroll round the garden. He
could not join in the singing, but chose the hymns
THE LAND OF BEULAH. 421
— " The sands of time are sinking," as it is in the
Presbyterian Hymnal, and he seemed to enjoy it
peculiarly ; also, " Come, Thou Fount of every
blessing," " How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,"
" At even when the sun was set," and " Nearer my
God to Thee." He was very fond of hymns, and
at home, even when quite well, it was his habit
when most of the household had gone to bed, and
he smoked his pipe before going himself, to repeat
hymn after hymn. He had learned several by
heart quite lately, among them, " Abide with me,"
and " I long to hear the story." He was struck
with the latter when he heard it was the last hymn
his friend Mr. Wilson sang before his death, and
he committed it to memory during the last three
months of his life. His New Testament (in large
type), a copy sent out to him and our mother
years ago by Miss Anna Mary Braithwaite, was his
constant companion during those last weeks, and
he seemed to live with the Apostle John. Even at
family worship he was in the course of reading
John over a second time when he passed away.
In fact those who were with him during the last
months were all struck with the way in which his
thoughts turned ever upward. It mattered not what
was the topic of conversation, and however heartily
he entered into it, somehow or other it always
turned to heaven and the Saviour.
On Monday, August the sixth, he seemed markedly
better, and very much enjoyed visits from Miss Unwin,
of Walthamstow Hall, a dear friend, and his son-in-
law James Vavasseur. He heard also of the return
of a grandson and granddaughter from South Africa
422 THOUGHTS ABOUT AFRICA.
whither they had been on a visit, and he looked for
ward to seeing them on the morrow with great joy.
He was very bright on the Tuesday, was down early,
walking in the garden before breakfast. When his
grandchildren came he listened eagerly to the tale
they had to tell of old friends and old places in " his
own loved country." On the Monday morning
when we came down he had been reading the Daily
News as usual, and threw it down sadly, saying,
" Oh, there is nothing about Africa ; they are just
letting it drop." When reminded that there was to
be a discussion that night in Parliament, he brigh
tened a little, and read the next day with great in
terest Mr. Forster's speech, which gratified him much.
On Tuesday evening, after his grandchildren had
left, he took his usual walk round the garden, and
seemed wonderfully better and very happy. At ten
o'clock he went upstairs, and then it was that a great
fear took possession of me, for I heard him praying
upstairs so fervently, in such a quavering voice-
not as usual, quietly with the door shut — that I felt
sure he was worse, and hastened up. He had a night
of pain and sleeplessness, and rose on Wednesday
very weary and low. Yet he was out several times
directing the gardener, though the weather was
drizzling and dull, and once he went out with the
garden scissors, leaning on his umbrella, and clipped
some twigs of a hawthorn, the which overhung the
path. While he was doing this a neighbour called,
and I was glad of the excuse to call him in, for he
was evidently feeling so weak. Mrs. Heath said,
" Why do you exert yourself so, when it could be
done for you ? " " Ah ! " he answered, " I like to
THE END DRAWS NEAR. 423
feel that I can still do it." He looked very ill that
day, but otherwise did not seem worse than he had
been several times before, or so bad as when we had
sent up for Dr. Bennett ten days before. It was
holiday time, and there were four of his grand
children with us. At tea-time, when he had retired
to his armchair, he said, " Why are you all so quiet ?
Talk away, for I cannot hear." I explained that
the children were going out to spend an hour or two
with our neighbours the Towers, and had not time
to talk. He was so sensitive about our denying
ourselves in any way for him.
So little did we look for any immediate change,
that he and I were left alone in the house when the
children went. We had not even a servant at hand.
As I sat beside him he asked when his daughter
Helen was likely to come. I said I thought pro
bably next day, as I had written that he was not so
well again. I begged him to let me send for Dr.
Fraser, but he said, " No, to-morrow will do." Very
soon after he was much worse, and had a fainting fit.
He became very ill, and determined to go upstairs.
I begged him to remain where he was ; but he said,
" No, I must go ; I feel I can, because I will," and,
thank God, he reached the top of the stairs without
falling. He remained on the bedside and rested
awhile, propped up with pillows, until he felt able to
undress, which he did, with but little assistance, as
collectedly and deliberately as possible, even wind
ing up his watch with a cold, trembling hand — " for
the last time," he said.
By this time the children had returned, and Roger
Price went for a doctor, and help speedily poured in.
424 THE KINDNESS OF FRIENDS.
Our kind neighbours were all ready. Mr. Morley
instantly sent off a carriage to Knockholt for Mrs.
Vavasseur — Mr. Towers, a clergyman who lived
close to us, going all the way to bring her. The
doctor came in a few minutes after being summoned.
He said that my father had broken a blood vessel.
He was glad to see the doctor, and told him just
how he felt. Our father slept beautifully most of
the time till between three and four o'clock. Mrs.
Towers remained with us until Helen arrived. He
received her thankfully and calmly, folding her in
his arms and asking how she came. He was full of
thankfulness to Mr. Morley and Mr. Towers. From
this time he continued to sleep, waking at intervals,
and was much inclined to talk when awake.
He was just full of his Saviour's love and mercy
all through his life ; he repeated many hymns and
passages of Scripture. About eleven in the fore
noon of Thursday, he tried to get out of bed, but
fell back in a fainting fit and was caught by my
sister. We feared that it was the end, but he
revived. Dr. Fraser was at hand at once, and also
Air. Maxted, the superintendent at the village
chapel, whom he had wished to see. Mr. Maxted's
ministrations were very acceptable, and he responded
most heartily, dwelling on Christ as the only stay
and help. He referred to our mother's peaceful
departure, and to the question of recognition in
heaven.
He was very pleased to have a visit from Mr.
Morley, whom he truly loved (and also Mr. Henry
Morley), and thanked him so warmly for sparing
time from his many engagements. He talked with
FAREWELLS. 425
wonderful vigour of the mysteriousness of Provi
dence, and was evidently clinging to the hope of the
restitution of all things, but wound up with the
words, " It is all a mystery. Will not the Judge of
all the earth do right ? "
A dear friend who was to have spent the day
with us, and had missed our telegram, came. He
knew her, and was very glad to see her. Several
grandchildren had come to see him, and he bade
them a loving good-bye, kissing them and giving
them his blessing. Mr. Towers came in and offered
a few words of prayer, beautiful and appropriate.
This was the last visitor he saw. Mr. Edward
Jones had come from the Mission House, but we
feared the flood of association and excitement his
presence would have caused, and our father did not
see him. He had asked for his Testament, and
tried to read during the day, but he could not. We
read to him, as he wished, portions of Scripture. The
last was the thirty-fourth Psalm. He repeated many
hymns, among them the Scotch version of the hun
dred and third Psalm, but stopped and said, " There
is nothing like the original," which we then read to
him. One hymn he would have us read to him was,
" Hail, sovereign Light," his mother's favourite,
published in very few hymn-books now.
Just at the last, Dr. Harry Pye Smith came. He
had been deputed to take charge of my father's case
by Dr. Bennett when leaving town, and kindly came.
When I thanked him he said, " I only came because
it was he. I knew quite well that at his age I could
do nothing."
He had another sleep, and when he woke from
426 THE PILGRIMAGE OVER.
this it was evident the end was near. He signed to
us to cover his poor, cold hands, and lay, his looks
wandering, unconsciously we think, from one to
another. It seemed a hard struggle for that wonderful
frame to let the spirit go, and then came the quiet
ness which was unmistakable, leaving the beautiful
face so natural. He ended his pilgrimage at half-
past seven on the evening of Thursday the tenth of
August, 1883.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
FUNERAL, AND NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
T
HE following account of the funeral is taken
from the columns of the Daily News :
" Yesterday afternoon the funeral of the Rev. Dr. Moftat
took place at Norwood Cemetery, the interment being
preceded by a service in the Wesleyan Chapel (of which
the Rev. J. McTurk is the minister), situated opposite
Tulse Hill railway station — a very large edifice, which was
filled throughout with mourners and sympathisers. The
friends of the family met, as previously arranged, at the
house of Mr. Evan Spicer, Upper Lawn, Tulse Hill, whither
the body had been conveyed from Brixton. It had found
a resting-place the previous night in the house of Mr.
Henry Vavasseur. The funeral procession left at two
o'clock, being joined by deputations from various societies,
and by many other persons. The centre of the chapel was
reserved for immediate friends of the deceased and the
deputations, the chief mourners being in front. At the
entrance of the chancel, where the coffin remained during
the service, were three large African palm-trees and several
smaller ones, symbolizing, as it were, the scene of Dr.
MofTat's half-a-century's missionary labours. As the pro
cession entered the chapel the organ played Mendelssohn's
' O rest in the Lord,' and the scene was deeply impressive.
The chief mourners were : Miss Moffat, daughter of the
428 THE FUNERAL.
deceased ; Mr. Unwin, sen., father-in-law of the Rev. John
Moffat, deceased's only son, now in South Africa ; Mr. and
Mrs. Vavasseur (daughter of Dr. Moffat) ; Mr. Oswell
Livingstone (son of Dr. Livingstone) and Mrs. Livingstone ;
Mrs. Fredoux and her two daughters ; Mr. A. L. Bruce
and Mrs. Bruce (daughter of Dr. Livingstone) and their
son, Master David L. Bruce ; and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson,
Among the other mourners were Mr. Roger Price and three
sisters, Mr. Vavasseur, jun., and three sisters, Mr. and Mrs.
Frank Wilson, Mr. George Unwin and Mr. Fisher Unwin.
There were also present Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Henry Peek,
M.P., Mr. .and Mrs. James Spicer, Mr. Samuel Morley,
M.P., Sir W. McArthur, M.P., the Rev. John Maxted, the
Rev. Mr. Guest, the Rev. S. T. Williams, Mr. A. H. Cooper,
Mr. W. Dickson (Edinburgh), Mr. W. Armitage, Mr. James
Spicer, jun., Mr. W. Gage Spicer, Mr. and Mrs. Evan
Spicer and Miss Spicer, Dr. Frank Fraser, the Rev. G. L.
Towers, the Rev. J. B. French, Mr. Pye Smith, Mr. and
Mrs. MacLaren, Mr. Braithwaite, the Rev. W. Butters, and
the Rev. James Calvert. The deputations were as follows :
London Missionary Society — Mr. A. Hubbard, Chairman
of the Board ; the Rev. Robert Robinson and the Rev. E.
H. Jones, secretaries ; the Rev. Dr. Kennedy, the Rev. T.
Gilfillan, Mr. Arthur Marshall, Mr. S. R. Scott, and Mr. W.
Lockhart, directors ; the only South African missionary of
the Society present being the Rev. J. D. Hepburn, from
Shoshong. Baptist Missionary Society — The Rev. C.
Rickard, Mr. J. C. Parry, Mr. J. Templeton. Congrega
tional Union of England and Wales — Mr. Henry Lee,
M.P., the Rev. A. Rowland, Mr. Thomas Walker, the Rev.
Dr. Hannay. London Congregational Union — Mr. William
Holtorn, Mr. Walter Capper, the Rev. J. Morlais Jones, the
Rev. Andrew Mearns. Church Missionary Society — The
Rev. Henry Sutton and Mr. Eugene Stock. Religious
Tract Society— The Rev. W. Ballantyne and Mr. W.
Stevens. English Presbyterian Missions — Mr. Hugh
Matheson ; London Presbytery — the Rev. W. Martin and
the Rev. A. Jeffrey. British and Foreign Bible Society —
The Rev. John Sharp and the Rev. C. E. B. Reed (secre-
ADDRESS BY THE REV. J. C. HARRISON. 429
taries), and Dr. Wood, of the Committee. There were
also other deputations from the Colonial Missionary
Society, the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union, and
the Hampstead Congregational Church, the foundation-
stone of the new place of worship of the last-mentioned
having been laid by Dr. Moffat only a few weeks ago. It
should be added that South Africa itself was represented
by Mr. Hugh Exton, Mayor of Bloemfontein. The service
in the chapel was performed by the Rev. J. C. Harrison,
Congregational minister, Camden-town, and the Rev. Dr.
McEwan, Presbyterian minister, Clapham. It commenced
with the hymn beginning * How sweet the name of Jesus
sounds.' This was followed by the reading by Dr. McEwan
of selections from the Holy Scriptures, including part of
the 1 5th chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and
the reverend gentleman offered up an appropriate prayer.
— The Rev. J. C. Harrison delivered an address, in which
he took a comprehensive survey of the life, character, and
labours of Dr. Moffat. After speaking of ' entireness of
consecration' as one great feature that marked his mis
sionary career and made him ' king amongst men,' and also
of the ' personal fascination ' which produced such wonder
ful effects upon the heathen, he dwelt upon Dr. Moffat's
* perfect disinterestedness,' illustrated by the fact that so
long as he had just enough to sustain him he seemed never
to covet anything more ; his wonderful catholicity, which
made him love all good men and rejoice in every good and
great work, there being no littleness or bitterness seen in
him, though he had indomitable firmness when the gospel
was in question ; his guileless simplicity, combined with
abundant shrewdness and a great deal of mother wit ; and
his astonishing faith in the power of the gospel — a faith
which gave wonderful beauty and consistency to his whole
character. In concluding his brief sketch, the speaker
read a letter written by the subject of it only fourteen days
before his death, which he characterized as ' breathing the
old loyalty to the London Missionary Society,' and ex
pressed an earnest hope that some of the young men who
were present would endeavour to imitate his Christian
430 ADDRESS BY REV. J. G. ROGERS.
heroism and be inspired by his earnest missionary spirit.
The rev. gentleman concluded the service with the bene
diction. While the organ was playing the * Dead March,'
the coffin was again carried to the hearse — an open one —
which was waiting outside, its destination being Norwood
Cemetery, and the intervening distance about half a mile.
The number of carriages forming the funeral cortege and
conveying the family and immediate friends and the depu
tations was about twenty-five, besides which there were
several private carriages. At the grave, which is about a
hundred yards from the cemetery chapel, there was a very
large public gathering long before the hour of interment,
and it was with some difficulty that adequate space could
be kept for the chief mourners and others who arrived in
carriages. In the grave was seen the coffin of the deceased's
wife — the figures ' 1871,' visible on the lid, indicating the
period of her burial. The inscription on Dr. Moffat's
coffin, which rests on that of his wife, is as follows :
'Robert Moffat, born 2ist of December, 1795, died 9th of
August, 1883.' Besides the chief mourners and others,
whose names have been given above, and who all assembled
round the grave, were the Rev. J. Gilmore, vicar of Lower
Norwood, and the Rev. Mr. Donovan and the Rev. Mr.
Sylvester, the Church and Nonconformist chaplains respec
tively of the cemetery. The final service having opened
with the singing of the hymn commencing ' How blest the
righteous when he dies,' the Rev. R. Robinson (secretary
of the London Missionary Society) read part of the Burial
Service of the Church of England. The Rev. J. G. Rogers
delivered an address, in which he pronounced a eulogium
on the deceased similar to that of Mr. Harrison in the
chapel, and also on the late Mrs. Moffat, whom he described
as having sympathized in all Dr. Moffat's cares, and entered
into all his hopes, his sorrows, his vicissitudes, his troubles,
and his fears, and who, he added, was a true-hearted and
noble-minded woman, a grand example to the wives of
missionaries, as Robert Moffat was a grand example to
missionaries themselves; so true, so noble, so courageous,
so heroic, was that great apostle of South Africa. The
COMMENT OF "THE TIMES." 431
Rev. Dr. Kennedy afterwards offered prayer, and closed the
proceedings with the benediction."
The expenses of the funeral were undertaken by
the Directors of the London Missionary Society,
who thus gracefully crowned the long period of
affectionate connection which had been maintained
with unbroken constancy on both sides.
It is difficult to select from the many kind words
which were spoken at the time, but it would be im
possible to do more than to give one or two cita
tions from the columns of the press. On the day
after the funeral the following leader appeared in
The Times:
" Dr. Robert MofTat, who was yesterday laid in the grave,
has left an abiding name as a pioneer of modern missionary
work in South Africa. He was born in 1795, a year
memorable as that of the foundation of the London Mis
sionary Society, and in 1816 he entered on his career as
one of the Society's missionaries. His first purpose was
to proceed to the South Seas, but his final choice was the
vast and yet unexplored field of the central region of
South Africa. His chief work was among the Bechwanas.
His picture of what they were when he first knew them
would hardly now be recognized, so entirely have they
changed under the new influences which Moffat was among
the first to bring to bear upon them. He found them mere
savages, idol-worshippers, constantly at war among them
selves and with their neighbours, ignorant of the arts of
agriculture, and in the utterly degraded state for which we
must seek a counterpart now in the more distant tribes
whom the message of civilization has not yet reached. It
was Moffat's mission to civilize as well as instruct, to free
those with whom he was brought in contact from the curse
under which they seemed to lie, to raise them to a higher
life, and so to fit them to become recipients of the sacred
message of good tidings which it was his main ultimate
432 EULOGIUM ON MISSION WORK.
purpose to announce. His success within the limited field
to which he confined himself — a field which has been now
far overpassed by the subsequent labours of other devoted
men, most notably by those of his own son-in-law, David
Livingstone — was very marked. His first care was to make
himself thoroughly master of the language of those to
whom he was sent. For fifty years, he has declared, he had
been accustomed to speak the Bechwana tongue ; he reduced
it to written characters, and, as an agent of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, translated the Scriptures into it.
The Bechwanas, under Moffat's guidance, became new men.
Mission work grew and spread among them ; what Moffat
had begun to do was taken up by other hands ; a perma
nent body of native pastors was created from among the
Bechwanas themselves, and the whole region was raised out
of the savage state in which Moffat had found it, and became
in no small degree civilized as well as Christianized. To
effect this and to make it possible for others to effect it
was the chief business of Moffat's working life. He went
out to South Africa in 1816. He left it finally in 1870.
During that long interval the dark continent was attacked
and explored in all directions. Scientific travellers and
missionary travellers were busy pushing their way into
regions to which Moffat had never penetrated. It is
Moffat's honour to have been among the first in the field,
to have laid, as it were, the stepping-stones by which his
successors have been able to outstrip him ; to have borne
the burden and heat of the day in early missionary work,
and at once to have given an example of devotion to his
noble cause and to have furnished proof that the ground
was not barren, and that even in South Africa the good
seed might be trusted to spring up and to bring forth
abundant fruit
" It is the fashion in some quarters to scoff at missionaries,
to receive their reports with incredulity, to look at them at
best as no more than harmless enthusiasts, proper subjects
for pity, if not for ridicule. The records of missionary
work in South Africa must be a blank page to those by
whom such ideas are entertained. We owe it to our mis-
< MISSIONARY FIRST, A CITIZEN AFTER. 433
sionaries that the whole region has been opened up. Apart
from their special service as preachers, they have done im
portant work as pioneers of civilization, as geographers, as
contributors to philological research. Of those who have
taken part in this, Moffat's name is not the best known.
Moffat, it may be said, has laboured, and other men have
entered into his labour. Livingstone has come after him,
and has gone beyond him, and has linked his memory for
ever with the records of the South African Church. Speke
and Stanley have become household names where Moffat
has been unknown or has been forgotten. In his own
simple words, it never occurred to him, while working
among the Bechwanas, that he should obtain the applause
of men. His one care was for those among whom he had
cast his lot. He was an enthusiast, of course — a man would
be worth little for missionary enterprise if he were not this
at all events. But he was an enthusiast with a clear sense
of the right means to employ for the accomplishment of his
unselfish task. He had a message to deliver of love and of
peace, and he must prepare men to receive it by instructing
them in the arts of peace. The progress of South Africa
has been mainly due to men of Moffat's stamp. In him, as
in David Livingstone, it is hard to say which character has
predominated, that of the missionary proper or that of the
teacher and guide. Certain it is that apart from the
special stimulus they felt as proclaimers of the gospel
message, they would never have thrown themselves as they
did into the work to which their lives were consecrated. It
was by no zeal for the spread of civilization on its own
account that they passed weary years labouring and teach
ing among savage tribes, amid dangers of every kind, amid
privations of which they themselves made light, but which
only a sense of their high spiritual mission could have
prompted them to face and undergo. One part of Moffat's
work has been to prepare the way for others. He has
given, so far, what promises to be a lasting stimulus. It is
another question whether his own work will endure. He
welcomed the annexation of the Transvaal by this country
as the commencement of an era of blessing for South
29
434 SUCH MEN MUCH NEEDED.
Africa. He saw in this the only possible guarantee for the
safety of the Bechwanas from the greed and tyranny of the
Boers. He has lived to see the Transvaal handed back,
freed from English control, and sending forth once again
the old swarms of adventurers to rob and plunder in Bech-
wanaland, bidding fair to undo his work, and to force the
entire region back again into sheer barbarism. It would
seem, indeed, that it is only by the agency of such men as
Moffat and his like that the contact of the white and black
races can be anything but a curse to the blacks. Even the
arts of civilization are of little avail by themselves. In
some parts of the world their chief result has been to
furnish the savage with means of enjoyment which have
proved fatal to him. In others, the black man has been
looked upon as fair prey. He has been forced into contact
with a race superior to his own, not that he may learn from
them, but that he may serve them ; not that he may be
raised to their level, but that he may be brought down to
something even lower than before. It is the missionary
alone who seeks nothing for himself. He has chosen an
unselfish life. If honour comes to him, it is by no choice of
his own, but as the unsought tribute which others, as it
were, force upon him. Robert Moffat has died in the ful
ness both of years and of honours. His work has been to
lay the foundations of the Church in the central regions of
South Africa. As far as his influence and that of his coad
jutors and successors has extended, it has brought with it
unmixed good. His name will be remembered while the
South African Church endures, and his example will
remain with us as a stimulus to others and as an abiding
proof of what a Christian missionary can be and can do."
The following is from the Brighton Daily News
of the same date :
" The grave has just closed over one of the most notable
men whose figures are familiar to the inhabitants of
Brighton. Robert Moffat, the veteran pioneer in the mis
sion field, and the simplest of heroes, has passed away, and
MOFFAT AT HOME EVERYWHERE. 435
many of the noblest of the land followed his remains to
their resting-place. During the past few years he has gone
in and out amongst us, and whenever he was seen it was
felt that a great man was with us. Although far past the
fourscore years, he retained to all appearance the vigour of
manhood. The shaggy grey beard adorned the face sun
burnt by the exposure of half a century to the heat of
Africa ; while his piercing black eyes betokened the spirit
of one who had often stood face to face with all that was
most fierce, whether wild beast or savage, or twinkled with
the keenest humour and heartiest humanity. Perhaps no
more thoroughly genuine soul ever breathed. It was all
the same to Robert Moffat where he was or with whom he
spoke. He addressed the cultured audience within the
majestic walls of Westminster Abbey with the same simple
unconsciousness that lent its charm to him when he led the
worship within the humble conventicle. The same simple
native dignity remained as unruffled in the presence of
Royalty as when conversing with the best known friend.
He was ever himself. Those who have heard him address
ing the great London assembly, and witnessed how all
who listened to him were thrilled and spell-bound merely
by the magical power of his earnest Doric eloquence, must
have pitied the practised orator who followed him, for
nature asserted its supremacy, and art was compelled to yield
the palm. It was the same all through his great career.
There are thousands of full-grown men and women who
cannot forget the impression made when as children they
listened to the story of his early victories. When last they
heard him there was still the plain and homely utterance.
The years told not on him. In the drawing-rooms of
fashionable Brighton, crowded with the lovers of art and
science, no one grudged the cessation even of music the
most classical, or of conversation the most charming, to
listen to the venerable Doctor when requested to repeat
some incidents of his missionary life. All felt that the
scene was hallowed by the presence of one who had done a
work for the good of men, such as few have been privileged
to accomplish. Robert Moffat belonged t®. no sect or
436 DR. MACKIE' S REMINISCENCES.
party. To better the world and advance the one Church
formed the sole end of his being."
Dr. Mackie, of the Warrington Guardian, gives
one or two notices which will be interesting.
" Dr. Moffat's connection with this district makes a few
remarks not inopportune. Coming from Scotland about
1813, an educated working gardener, he found employment
with the then family of High Leigh, and they were so
charmed with the ability and attention of their young
servant that they built him a cottage, young and unmarried
as he was. He soon became a general favourite with all
the household ; and even at this long distance he is re
membered for his efforts to make their evenings happy.
" Mr. Moffat was sent to Africa and Mr. Williams to the
South Seas. In the depths of Africa Moffat laboured
alone for years, spending months in the houses of the
natives that he might learn their language. He used to
tell that the report of the trial of Queen Caroline was three
•or four years old before it reached him. Returning to
England about 1837, ne became a general favourite at all
missionary meetings, and, unknown to himself, turned
young Livingstone to select Africa for his future labour
instead of going to China. At this time he visited War-
rington, and was the guest of the late Mr. Rylands, father
of the present well-known family of that name. After
being once more in Africa for nearly thirty years, he
returned to England, but he wrote to Dr. Mackie, with
whom he had kept up a correspondence for many years,
'that he must defer his visit for a time. About 1871 he
made his visit, and went to see the old cottage at High
Leigh, saying to the gentleman with him, when he had
entered and looked round, tears coursing down his cheeks,
' It was here the Lord revealed Himself to my soul five
and fifty years ago.'
" Dr. Moffat was one of the most childlike and purest
spirits it ever fell to the writer's lot to know. Remarkably
'tall and manly, and with an eagle eye, life in the African
MOFFAT AT THE MANSION HOUSE. 437
desert was no heavy lot to him. He charmed the chiefs
and their people, stayed their uplifted spears, left his family
for three months at a time in perfect safety, and triumphed
as a missionary. Since his return he has visited most parts
of the country, addressing missionary meetings, and preach
ing. Our last personal interview with him was some three
years ago, when he was standing side by side with the late
Archbishop of Canterbury, while the Lord Mayor was
receiving many of the most distinguished men in the king
dom to a dinner in Dr. Moffat's honour. Observing his
old Warrington friend in the crowd of guests, he made his
way to him for the usual salutations, not forgetting any of
his family, down even to the little girl whom he had bap
tized years before. He is gone, and leaves not his superior
on earth for all that was gracious and noble. Mrs. Moffat
died soon after their return to England."
CHAPTER XL.
REMINISCENCES OF FRIENDS.
AT different periods in the history of the Kuru-
man Mission, the station was visited by
various English gentlemen on their way into
the interior on hunting expeditions. The well-
known Gordon Gumming was one of these. There
were some whose names will be always remembered
with respect and goodwill in that country, and from
one of these it has been a great pleasure to receive
a few lines of reminiscence. Mr. Oswell will be
known as having been one of Livingstone's com
panions in his first exploratory journey, when, in the
year 1849, the Lake Ngami, or Nghabe, was visited
for the first time by Europeans.
" Since my answer to your letter I have been on a visit
to Kuruman, and have seen your father and mother amidst
their surroundings ; and memory's pictures, though, alas,
not so substantial, are nearly as bright as the original.
How well I remember the exquisite arrangement and order
of the mother's household, the affectionate interest in the
wayfarers, the father's courtly hospitality and kindly
advice, and the ready willingness with which he lent him
self to smooth our difficulties and help us on our way.
Without his aid we should have fared but poorly ; with it,
MR. OSWELL ON KURUMAN. 439
the stones were taken out of the path. He was always up
in the news of the world beyond, and would counsel us as
to our route and the best way of avoiding troubles. How
we looked forward to seeing him on our arrival at Kuru-
man, and taking from his oracular lips the tidings of the
interior ; and then on our return he was always the most
courteous of listeners to any scraps of news we had to give,
though he probably knew them all beforehand. How
pleasantly he enjoyed my mistakes in Sechwana, and
entered into all our worries and anxieties !
u Dear old Kuruman ! you were a very oasis peopled
with the kindest friends. My short visits to you were
among the happiest of my life ; no little kingdom ever had
a better king and queen, no home a better host and hostess.
With his majestic presence, his kindly courtesy and large
heart, your father was a true ' grand old man.' I speak of
him chiefly in his relation to his fellow white men, because
others, better qualified than I, will tell of what he was to
his dark brethren, and of the life and labours of the father of
African Missions ; but I can answer for his name being a
household word as far as I went."
Among Robert Moffat's many friends may be
reckoned the Rev. William Guest, formerly of
Gravesend, and his wife. The latter especially
had been instrumental in rendering a service to one
member of the family which had greatly cheered
and comforted the aged missionary, who was not
without his cares. It has been truly said of him
by Mr. Guest, that "he never forgot a kind atten
tion. Nothing in him was more marked than his
affectionateness of gratitude." Mrs. Guest's portrait
was one of two which always stood on his mantel
piece at Leigh. He had taken a very warm in
terest in Mr. Guest's efforts in connection with the
establishment of the Milton Mount School.
The Editor has been favoured by Mr. Guest with
440 ROBERT MOFFAT IN HIS KENTISH HOME.
a few words which picture him in his village home
in Kent.
"During the spring of 1882, my wife and myself went,
by invitation, to spend a day or two with Dr. and Miss
Moffat at Leigh. To me it was a touchingly beautiful
sight to observe the respect paid to the dear and venerable
man by the people of the village. As we were returning
together from chapel, the labourers (after their manner on
a Sunday evening) stood in groups in the main road. The
moment they caught sight of Dr. Moffat, they fell back in
a most respectful manner, and formed a gangway for him
to pass through them. There was not a face among those
English peasants, men and youths, on which there was not
an expression of reverence and honour. It was as the
children of Heth 'answered Abraham, saying unto him,
Thou art a mighty prince among us.' And the old man's
4 Good night,' which was so inimitably friendly, without
either undue dignity or familiarity, was a benison to them.
" Unfortunately my voice failed me during the latter part
of the visit so that I could not assist our host in family
worship. For me there was great gain. Although there
was then marked feebleness upon Dr. Moffat, he neverthe
less prayed in a manner that deeply aiTected us. There
was no hurry ; not the slightest obtrusion of physical weak
ness. The petitions were wondrously copious, and yet
with no unbecoming minuteness ; they were at once reve
rential, adoring, affectionate, and grateful. The references
to mercies, successes, and disappointments ; the spirit of
resignation and aspiration ; the intercessions for others, and
especially for the interests of Christ's cause in the world —
all combined to make those seasons of domestic worship
very memorable. In my own home he had often prayed,
and had done this at the opening of our new church in
Milton; but these prayers at Leigh seemed to Mrs. Guest
and myself to be pre-eminently rich in their sympathy with
Scripture, and in all the holiest elements of hallowed com
munion with the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
" I add a quotation from the obituary notice of the
LETTER FROM REV. HUGH COLLUM. 441
doctor which appeared in the Nonconformist and Indepen
dent of August 16, 1883:
" * Three weeks ago it seemed to me due to go over to
Leigh to pay a mark of respect to the veteran missionary.
His natural gracefulness seemed rather heightened than
diminished under very obvious physical weakness. On
quoting to him the thought of the aged Whittier, on the
Quaker poet's birthday —
" Before me, even as behind,
God is, and all is well ! "
he replied that his thoughts recently had been much oc
cupied with the three'words, " That blessed hope." With
those old tones of musical cadence and pathos, he repeated
and emphasized the epithet "blessed" as applied to the
vision of the Saviour ; and he seemed anxious to assure me
that it was not only to " the glorious appearing " of the
Lord Jesus that his prevailing thoughts adverted, but to
his own approaching introduction to Him. It was a beau
tiful attitude for the spent servant — the long life-work
finished — to think chiefly of seeing the dear Master who
had graciously appointed, and sustained in, the service.' "
The Editor is glad to be able to put before the
readers of this book a letter from the Rev. Hugh
Collum, vicar of Leigh, which will be interesting
for many reasons. It brings out well the fact that
Robert Moffat was not so much in sympathy with
any particular branch of the Christian Church, as
with all good men in that Church. He had his own
views, and he held them tenaciously, but his mind
dwelt on a different plane from that of ecclesiastical
discussion. Exception must be taken to one remark,
and then this work, which has been a labour of love,
is done. Mr. Collum says, " He had no love for the
Boers." This may go for more than it really means.
Among the Dutch in South Africa there were many
442 THE VILLAGE OF LEIGH.
with whom Robert and Mary Moffat had kept np
an affectionate friendship. They often spoke with
almost reverential regard of the high Christian cha
racter of some of these. Bitterly as their hearts
were grieved at the sorrows of the natives, and the
lawless and oppressive acts of which the more tur
bulent emigrant farmers were guilty, the Moffats
never withdrew from them the Christian charity
which we are enjoined to accord even to those who
have wronged us. They never measured words in
condemning their unjust and cruel conduct, but they
would have been the first to try and win them over
if conciliation had been found possible.
"On the high road from Hildenborough to Penshurst,
nestling in a corner of the fine park in which stands the
mansion of Hall Place — the property of Mr. Samuel
Morley, M.P. — almost under the shadow of the ancient
parish church of Leigh, may be observed, surrounded by
shrubs and evergreens, the picturesque villa of Park Cot
tage. It was here that a kind Providence designed that
the declining years of the subject of this memoir should be
peacefully and usefully spent. It would be hard to find,
within an hour's ride by rail of the Metropolis, a pleasanter
or more congenial retreat in which to terminate a long and
arduous career, so full of incident, variety, and adventure.
" To my mind there is something most suggestive in the
thought of the great and successful African missionary —
who had, with so much Christian fortitude and heroism,
faced a thousand dangers and surmounted a thousand
difficulties, during the half-century in which he had toiled
on behalf of his swarthy children in the faith — settling down
contentedly in a quiet English village to end his days
amid peaceful and pleasant surroundings, honoured, re
spected, and beloved by all who knew him — ' waiting for
the adoption.'
" It was in the year 1880 that I first made his acquaint-
M OFF ATS PERSONAL QUALITIES. 443
ance. It was impossible to look into his face, beaming with
intelligence and benevolence, still less engage in conversa
tion with him, without being fully persuaded that you were
in the presence of a man far above the average. There
was something about his whole appearance — so massive
and masculine, yet so gentle and yielding ; so venerable
and dignified, yet so simple and winning ; so thoughtful and
serious, yet so full of humour and playfulness — which com
pletely captivated the imagination. His conversation was
easy, natural, unaffected, without reserve or self-conscious
ness — the outcome of a beautiful, grave, and transparent
soul — betraying a wide knowledge of men and things, an
intimate acquaintance with human nature and human life
in all their complex variety ; a combination which to me
was of infinite charm.
" I always esteemed it a great privilege, a rare treat, an
intellectual and moral feast of fat things, to have an hour's
chat with my ever-to-be-regretted venerable friend. I
invariably felt that I came away after my visit a better and
a wiser man. I carried away with me a higher estimate of
our common humanity. In studying such a man I realized,
to an extent which I had seldom done before, that there
are infinite possibilities in human nature, when unspoiled
and unsoiled and suffered to develop itself, without ' let or
hindrance,' beneath the genial, fostering influences of the
Divine Spirit.
" Some men of inferior mould in Dr. Moffat's position,
courted by the great and good, would have completely lost
their balance — they would have been spoiled by human
admiration and applause. ' The smoothness of flattery/
that tendency to hero worship which is a characteristic of
our day, would have marred and corrupted a character
built up of feebler fibre.
" Happily for himself, Dr. Moffat combined the well-
balanced mind of a Christian philosopher with the attractive
docility and simplicity of a child. He was a living example
of the teaching of our Divine Master, ' Ye must become as
little children before ye can enter the kingdom of heaven.'
In my intercourse with him I was often struck by the
444 HIS STEDFAST FAITH.
spontaneous expression of his profound reverence for
Almighty God ; his deep and sincere attachment to the
Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his unbounded admir
ation for and belief in the Divine authority and regenerative
influence of the Holy Scriptures. In an age in which it is
confidently alleged that * we are apparently becoming less
religious/ when the supernatural is being discarded by
some eminent men of science for the natural, when the
creed of Christendom is being emasculated by agnosticism,
Dr. Moffat's faith remained unshaken, undriven about by
the shifting winds and currents of modern doctrine. At
the same time, he was fully capable of, and enjoyed, enter
ing into the discussion of those deep problems which are
exercising the thought and intelligence of some of the
master minds of our age. He also approached with deep
interest the consideration of political and social questions.
The critical and revolutionary state of Ireland engaged his
attention. He had a strong conviction that the ills of
Ireland were largely due, not merely to past misgovernment
and maladministration of her affairs, or differences of race,
but also to the pernicious influence of the predominant
Roman Catholic religion, which is a thorn in the side of
every independent and Protestant government. But the
question which pre-eminently interested him was the con
dition of the native population of South Africa. He was
strongly of opinion that there had been grievous mistakes
of policy and administration. He had no love for the
Boers ; while he had the utmost sympathy for Cetewayo,
whom he looked upon as an ill-used and unjustly-treated
man.
"We often had friendly discussions and arguments on
religious questions. He was, it is needless to say, a staunch
but liberal-minded Nonconformist. I was often intensely
amused at his quaint, original, and humorous way of
looking at Church matters. He evidently thought that, in
the case of the venerable Church of England, the primitive
purity and simplicity of the faith had been marred and
materialized by contact with social forces, and hampered by
State alliance. It was a perplexity with him to reconcile
HIS VIEWS OF THE LITURGY. 445
the titles, rank, incomes, and mode of living of 'the digni
taries of the Church ' with the self-denying, hard-faring
lives of the apostles and pioneers of the faith—' the servant,'
in his judgment, * not being greater than his Master.'
" I recollect his giving me an amusing account of his
being entertained at dinner by the hospitable Archbishop
Tait. The state and circumstance of the palace on the one
hand, and the eminently Christian character, geniality, and
sympathy of the good Archbishop, suggested to his simple
mind a bewildering contrast. With that catholicity of
spirit which distinguished him, he was wont to attend the
afternoon service in the parish church from time to time.
He enjoyed the reading of the lessons, the hymns, and the
sermon, but finding out the places in the Prayer-book evi
dently puzzled him. The Litany — which to the majority of
Churchmen is, perhaps, the most beautiful and comprehen
sive feature of our Liturgy — was to him, I think, the least
attractive part of the service. The breaking up of the sublime
whole into a number of short, ejaculatory sentences, the
frequent and emphatic reiteration of the same words by
the congregation, were to him uncongenial, savouring of
' vain repetition.' If I recollect rightly, it suggested to
him the quaint idea of ' bickering,' or importunity.
" Even the most bigoted and narrow-minded Churchman,
however, could not take offence at Dr. Moffat's friendly
and not unnatural criticisms of our system, services, and
ceremonial, which to him must have seemed somewhat
strange. They were offered, from an independent and by
no means unsympathetic standpoint, with the utmost
candour and bonhomie. To my mind they were rather
refreshing and stimulating, and I enjoyed listening to what
could be said ' on the other side of the question ' by one
whom I so greatly admired and esteemed.
" But if the good Doctor did not on occasion scruple to
point out what to him appeared the defects of the Church,
even while freely acknowledging the good work she was
doing, he was by no means blind to the imperfections of
Nonconformity. As a large-minded and large-hearted
man, who had seen much of the world; who had been
446 HIS PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS AT LEIGH.
brought face to face with the degradations of heathenism
and of bastard forms of Christianity, he had no sympathy
with what was narrow, bitter, sectarian, or intolerant,
whether it were found within the Church, or in systems
outside her pale. If I mistake not, Nonconformity no less
than ecclesiasticism had its own peculiar puzzles for him.
He never attempted to justify or palliate those too nume
rous and grievous divisions which marred the symmetry,
broke the unity, and weakened the influence for good of the
Church of Christ in its increasingly hard struggles with
1 the powers of darkness ; ' and in his generous heart he
longed for the reunion, in the one true faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ, of a divided and distracted Christendom, thus
realizing the devout aspiration of the Founder of our faith,
' that they all may be one.'
" He was always most ready to take part in any village
gatherings — turning out of his home on dark and cold
winter evenings. He attended many of our schoolroom
lectures, and was ever willing, when requested, to say ' a
word in season.' He highly approved of our Penny Readings,
and thoroughly appreciated the musical selections, readings,
and recitations.
"On more than one occasion he gave us a thrilling
account of his exciting adventures with African lions !
Like his great apostolic missionary predecessor, he could
say, though in a somewhat different sense, ' I have fought
with beasts.'
"At the annual meeting of the British and Foreign Bible
Society in our schoolroom, we always looked for his wel
come presence, and I do not think we ever looked for it in
vain. He seemed to take a special pleasure and interest^
in these gatherings — when Christians of all denominations
could meet on a common platform in support of a common
cause. He was wont to say, ' I have two masters : the
London Missionary Society, and the British and Foreign
Bible Society,' and they both commanded his allegiance
and affection. More than once he publicly referred to
his arduous undertaking of translating the Scriptures into
the Bechwana tongue. He had first to give shape and
HIS NONCONFORMITY. 447
grammatical structure to a language which had never been
reduced to writing, before he could proceed with the work
of translating. This, I think, he regarded as his magnum
opus, and it left its abiding mark on him in the shape of
sleeplessness and other evidences of an overtaxed brain.
On these occasions it was most touching to see him passing
his hand apologetically over his deeply-furrowed brow,
whilst labouring to recall some particular episode or pas
sage in his varied African experience.
" In my hearing he never spoke much of Dr. Livingstone,
though often I earnestly wished he would, of his own
accord, broach so intensely interesting a topic. One could,
however, easily understand that it was a subject which
recalled many sad recollections and mournful associations.
" He was a most regular and devout attendant at the
numerous services held in the attractive Nonconformist
chapel, built by Mr. Samuel Morley, in the village of Leigh.
" As I was wont to meet my venerable friend and his
devoted daughter going, Sunday after Sunday, in one
direction, whilst I and mine took the other, I could not
help reflecting on such a singular outcome of our common
Christianity : the autocrat of conscience leading good
men, who had so much in common, to adopt each his own
course in worshipping the same great common Father,
through the same blessed and Divine Son.
"In the summer of 1881 the happy thought suggested
itself to the mind of Alderman McArthur (now Sir
William), the Lord Mayor of London, to give a public
banquet in the Mansion House in honour of Dr. Moffat,
inviting the representatives of the various religious bodies,
institutes, and missionary societies to meet him. To this
banquet my father's old friend, Sir William Me Arthur, kindly
invited me. I well recollect having a very interesting con
versation with the Doctor before the arrival of the auspicious
day. While deeply sensible of the compliment which was
being paid him, and, in his person, the glorious cause of
propagating Christianity and civilization to which his life
had been devoted, I do not think he was greatly en
amoured of the special form which it was to take. He was
ENTERTAINED AT THE MANSION HOUSE.
evidently not an ardent admirer of the truly British
institution of giving sumptuous and costly entertainments
in honour of great events or distinguished public services.
He considered that the money might be better and more
appropriately expended.
" On the morning of the day so memorable in the annals
alike of civic hospitality and the cause of missionary and
philanthropic effort, I received a note from my venerable
friend, asking me if I could give him a seat to the station,
and ' take charge ' of him to town. I need hardly say I
was only too delighted to have the pleasure of his company;
and we journeyed together to the imperial capital, and
parted only to meet again at the Mansion House, and
partake of the Lord Mayor's proverbial hospitality.
"It was truly a magnificent and impressive sight to
observe the Archbishop of Canterbury, the representatives
of both Houses of Parliament, the President of the
Methodist body, and all the leading men of the religious
and philanthropic world — the aged Lord Shaftesbury
among the number — assembled together to do honour, not
to some foreign potentate or successful general, but to ' a
servant of Jesus Christ, called to be a missionary — sepa
rated unto the gospel of God.'
" It was my good fortune on that occasion to sit at table
beside my esteemed friend and squire, Mr. Samuel Morley,
who had the greatest admiration for and took the liveliest
interest in everything that concerned the comfort and
happiness of our mutual friend and neighbour.
" I shall not soon forget that brilliant throng, so
eminently representative of British Christianity and British
enterprise ; nor the outburst of enthusiasm evoked when
the health of Dr. Moffat was eloquently proposed.
" Much, however, as I should like to linger fondly on so
fertile and congenial a theme as my reminiscences of a
name which shall live as long as the British language, I
must rapidly compress my matter and draw to a close.
" During the last year of his life there was manifestly
a loss of wonted vigour and vitality, which was a source
of constant apprehension and anxiety to his family and
HIS DEATH. 44 g
friends. In the winter he complained much of the cold of
our climate, and spoke regretfully of the bright sunshine
and glowing warmth of that continent which he so dearly
loved. Sometimes he would pass his hand over his chest
and say that he felt as though his lungs were gone.
"Just before leaving for my holiday in August, on
Sunday evening I received a message to say that Dr.
Moffat was very ill, and asking whether, pending the
arrival of a physician from town, I could suggest anything
to alleviate the nausea and sickness from which he was
suffering. I ventured to send or bring some simple
medicines which I had at hand, and am thankful now to
remember that they afforded some temporary relief.
" I think it was on the following morning that I called
to say 'farewell' — little thinking that it would prove 'a
long farewell.' When I arrived at the hall door I refrained
from ringing, as I could distinctly hear that he was engaged
in family prayer. It was most touching to listen to the
aged, somewhat quavering voice, pouring forth in simple,
earnest, childlike language the expression of its wants in
the ear of Him ' who is always more ready to hear, than
we to pray, and is wont to give more than either we desire
or deserve.'
': A few days after my arrival in Donegal, I received, to
my sorrow and surprise, a telegram saying that my vener
able neighbour had passed peacefully to his eternal rest ;
and the telegram was followed by letters confirmatory of
the sad news from my friends, the Rev. G. L. Towers and
Miss Moffat.
" Looking back upon the residence of Dr. Moffat in this
parish, I can say, without fear of contradiction, that it was
an unspeakable blessing to the place and neighbourhood.
'We ne'er shall look upon his like again.' His influence
was eminently Christian and genial. He lived so simply,
and sought so thoroughly to identify himself with the
interests of his neighbours of all classes, and to harmonize
his life with the circumstances in which he found himself.
Everybody in the parish appreciated and esteemed him —
from the philanthropic squire down to the humblest villager
30
450 LETTER FROM REV. J. G. ROGERS.
and school-child. We all came to look upon him as one
of ourselves. We miss, beyond expression, his familiar and
venerable form going in and out among us; but his memory
abideth green, and will long survive. It would be a sincere
gratification to me if some suitable memorial of his residence
in this village could be devised ; so that future generations,
when they read the inspiring story of his life, might be able
to point to the place and say: 'Here lived and died, in peace
with all mankind, the great Christian missionary, Robert
Moffat, the father-in-law of the famous explorer Living
stone, who had been the means of the latter devoting his
life to the service of that " Dark Continent," which we fer
vently trust shall one day be illumined with the bright
beams of that Sun of righteousness which shall never set
nor wane, but shall shine more and more unto the perfect
day.'"
The writer of the following letter has done a
kindness, not only to the Editor, but to all those who
are likely to be readers of this book, in the loving
testimony he bears to the kind of influence exerted
by Robert Moffat over the minds of his fellow-men
•during the space of two generations.
"CLAPHAM COMMON, May 20.
"MY DEAR MR. MOFFAT, — My recollections of your
honoured father extend a long way back. They are but
slight, and I am afraid you may find them rather disap
pointing. It was in the year of his first visit to England
that I first saw and heard him. But even then I learned
to honour and love him. I was a mere lad at the time, and
had gone to Liverpool to enjoy the missionary services.
The annual meeting was held in Great George Street
Chapel, which was crowded by a deeply interested congre
gation, who, however, had come together for the purpose
•of hearing other missionaries, and had no idea of the extra-
•ordinary surprise that was in store for them. Your father
had unexpectedly come to the town, and was asked to
•speak. From the first word of his address he kept the
AT GREAT GEORGE STREET CHAPEL. 451
audience in a state of intense excitement and delight. His
touching simplicity, his loving spirit, and his unaffected
modesty, impressed the assembly almost as much as the
wonderful story he had to recite. That speech made his
reputation with the English public. It was the speech of
an apostle, and he himself looked the apostle. A night or
two afterwards he came to the little church of which my
father was minister, and his coming was an excitement even
in the sleepy little town where the church was. My hap
piest remembrances of him, however, are in the home where
his visit was long remembered as a bright and joyous event.
" In my pastorate at Ashton-under-Lyne I was brought
into contact with memories of your mother. She was
one of the first members of the church at that place,
which was founded under circumstances of difficulty which
severely taxed the faith and patience of those who had
entered upon an undertaking which at first seemed to have
but little promise. It was owing, in truth, to the zeal and
devotion of a very few that the foundation was laid of a
church which has long been one of the most influential in
the county of Lancaster. Among these your grandfather
and your mother were conspicuous, and her name was
fragrant in the memories of some of the older members
even when I was the pastor.
" Of course, after coming to London I often met your
father ; but one interview in particular remains fresh in my
recollection. I had the honour to be one of a deputation
sent by the Congregational Board to congratulate him on
his eightieth birthday. He received us with all that native
grace and dignity which were characteristic of him, and the
spectacle of the venerable patriarch was one not easily to
be forgotten. It was his reply, however, to our address
which most impressed me. I have often quoted it as a
striking example of the modesty of true greatness, and of
the way in which the noblest worker hides himself behind
his work. ' I never,' he said, in those tender and plaintive
notes of his that were so familiar to all, ' I never thought
when I was working in South Africa to see a day like this.
I simply did the work of the day in the day, and never
452 LETTER FROM MR. CHESSON.
thought that any one in England would think of me or it.'
It was a genuine self- revelation, in which was to be found
the secret of his power and success. Because he thought
so little of himself, all his friends and brethren thought
much of him. I cannot suppose that any one ever said
an unkind word of Robert MofTat. While he was here he
was cherished in the love of all of us, and now that he has
passed away his life-work is a sanctified and inspiring
memory. — Believe me, yours very faithfully,
"J. GUINNESS ROGERS."
Mr. Chesson's indefatigable efforts on behalf of
the Aborigines inspired Robert Moffat's sympathy
and admiration, and they frequently met to plead
the cause of those whose interests they both had so
much at heart. Mr. Chesson has kindly furnished
me with some particulars of several of these occasions.
" 5, TITE STREET, CHELSEA,
" July 7, 1885.
" MY DEAR MR. MOFFAT, — I have great pleasure in re
calling a few reminiscences of your honoured father, whose
name has been for so long a period a household word
among the friends of aboriginal races. My personal
acquaintance with him did not begin till after he had
finally retired from his great missionary work, but happily
he was still engaged in the active performance of those
duties which made his noble presence and his earnest voice
so familiar to tens of thousands of the British people.
" One of my most interesting recollections of Dr. Mofifat
has reference to the occasion on which the committee of
the Aborigines Protection Society presented a congratula
tory address to Sir Bartle Frere on his appointment as
Governor of the Cape Colony. This was in February,
1877. It is worthy of remark that both the deputation
and the new Governor approached the native question
from the same point of view ; for Sir Bartle Frere told
his visitors that 'he should be exceedingly glad if he
were allowed during what remained to him of official life
HIS ADDRESS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 453
to carry into effect the principles of entire justice to
every class, race, creed, and colour.' Dr. Moffat was
greatly disappointed when he found that the new policy
in South Africa involved the military conquest of the
Zulus and the compulsory disarmament of the native
tribes. He signed the protest against the Zulu war, which
a large number of influential persons addressed to Sir
Michael Hicks Beach, the Colonial Secretary, in the spring
of 1879. Early in the following year he wrote a letter to
me in which he put the disarmament question in a striking
light. * There are some things,' he said, ' in the British
Government which must appear to the native mind ex
tremely perplexing. That Government allows its merchants
in town and country to sell firearms to the native tribes to
any amount, and gives licenses to traders to go far and
near to sell and barter with firearms, and by which many
have made ample fortunes and added to the revenues of
the colony. By and by John Bull prepares a proclama
tion, and it goes forth that all those over whom he has
power are to be disarmed, that is, deprived of the property
for which they have honourably, and in some cases enor
mously, paid. Surely if our beloved Queen knew all these
things she would not, on any account, give her consent.'
His views as to the native policy of the Boers in the
Transvaal, and as to the duty of the Imperial Government
to secure adequate protection to the loyal tribes within
and near the borders of that country were equally
emphatic. I well remember the speech he made on this
subject at the residence of Mr. W. H. James, M.P., when,
on Lord Shaftesbury's invitation, he gave, from personal
knowledge, a vivid description of the cruel and oppressive
treatment which the natives had received at the hands of
the Boers during his long residence in South Africa.
" It may interest you to know that I was present in West
minster Abbey on that memorable evening towards the
close of 1873, when, on the invitation of Dean Stanley, Dr.
Moffat delivered a missionary address in the great nave.
The Dean was resolute in his determination to break
down, as far as he possibly could, the wall of partition
454 AT THE MANSION HOUSE.
between Churchmen and Nonconformists ; and in the
exercise of the discretion vested in him as Dean, he
invited men like Dr. Caird, Dr. Moffat, and Professor Max
Miiller, not to preach sermons from the Abbey pulpit — for
that would have been illegal — but to speak from a reading
desk on some important religious topic. My friend, Mr.
Alexander McArthur, M.P., and I made a point of being
present at the delivery of Dr. Moffat's address, and I feel
sure that we shall both always retain a lively recollection
of the good Doctor's animated and interesting effort to
excite the sympathy of the congregation on behalf of his
beloved Bechwanas.
" A yet more important occasion was the dinner which
Lord Mayor McArthur gave to Dr. Moffat in the Egyptian
Hall on May 7, 1881. It was in some respects one of the
most remarkable meetings of the kind ever held in the City
of London. Certainly so varied and so influential a repre
sentation of the religious and philanthropic world was
never before brought together to do honour to a Christian
missionary. An eminent Wesleyan layman (now Sir
William McArthur) occupied the chief magistrate's chair.
The guest of the evening sat between the. Lord Mayor and
Lord Shaftesbury, and his other near neighbours were Sir
Fowell Buxton and the Bishop of Sodor and Man. The
Archbishop of Canterbury — the lamented Dr. Tait — sat
side by side with the Rev. E. E. Jenkins, President of the
Wesleyan Conference. Lord Nelson, whose High Church
proclivities are well known, fraternized with Mr. Joseph
Hoare, a distinguished Evangelical layman. The Rev.
Malcolm Macoll elbowed a converted Turk, and very
appropriately that estimable member of the Society of
Friends, Samuel Gurney, sat next to Mr. Chase, the chief
of the Ojebways. The speeches were far above the
average on such occasions. In proposing the toast of the
Royal Family, the Lord Mayor dwelt on the interest which
the Prince Consort took in the exploration of Africa, as
shown by his having presided at the Niger meeting in
1840, when Livingstone (Dr. Moffat's son-in-law) was one
of the audience. The speech of the evening was made by
ARCHBISHOP TAITS SPEECH. 455
Archbishop Tait Thanking the Lord Mayor for having
brought such a unique assemblage together, he remarked
that while it was common to recognize in this great city
commercial industry and exertion, it was not so common
to remember that far better than the defence of armies or
navies, far better than the influence of commerce, is the
power of that gospel which the missionaries make it the
business of their lives to extend. He said he did not
know anything more instructive than the fact that the
representatives of so many missionary societies were able
thus peacefully to assemble on a common platform. They
were all determined to spread the gospel, and he thought
that perhaps the best mode by which they could hope to
arrive at one opinion at last was by each one of them
resolutely and conscientiously disseminating his own
views. His allusions to Dr. Moffat were full of good
feeling. In paying a warm tribute to Dr. MofTat's mission-
station as a centre of light, he said : 'Amid all the changes
of life, and amidst all the varieties of opinion there is a
reverence for old age, and for old and tried servants of the
Lord Jesus Christ which makes us all feel as brethren in
the presence of an old and devoted servant of the Lord.'
The Archbishop thus struck the true key-note of the
meeting. Canon Farrar spoke in the same spirit. ' While,'
he said, 'the Archbishop was speaking I was reminded of
the remark which Lord Macaulay made on his return from
India. He said that he had been living so long in a
country where the people worshipped cows that he was
unable to attach any deep importance to the minor ques
tions which separate Christians.' Dr. Allon gave expres
sion to a similar sentiment when he remarked, that in the
presenceof a noble work like that of Dr. Moffat, 'sectarianism
is dumb.' ' The venerable father of the missionary world,'
as Mr. Alderman Fowler called him, was doubly honoured
on this occasion — he was honoured not only by the compli
ment which the Lord Mayor paid him by the banquet he
gave in his honour at the Mansion House, but also by the
noble and appreciative spirit which pervaded the entire
proceedings.
456 REV. R. ROBINSON'S LETTER.
11 I could repeat many other interesting facts connected
with my venerated friend, but I have probably said enough
for the special object which has called forth this letter. —
Believe me, very faithfully yours,
"F. W. CHESSON."
The following communication from the Rev. R.
Robinson, so long the Home Secretary of the Lon
don Missionary Society, will appropriately close this
Memoir. He represents the past generation of
directors and officials who conducted the affairs of
the Society in the days of Robert Moffat's activity ;
and those who know his many acts of goodwill will
be best able to appreciate the genuineness of the
strong regard expressed in this letter :
"7, MANOR ROAD, BROCKLEY, S.E.,
" March 24, 1885.
" MY DEAR MR. MOFFAT, — With much diffidence, yet
with very sincere pleasure, I hasten to respond to your
earnest request for some personal reminiscences of your
late venerated father, whom I have known so long and
revered so much, and with whom of late years I have had
frequent opportunities of close and affectionate intercourse,
and have also received from him many most interesting
letters, both short and long.
" To me he has always appeared the very ideal of a true
missionary, and my heart was stirred to its lowest depths
when, as a young minister, I listened to his moving appeals
addressed to crowded audiences during his visit to this
country on his first and only furlough, more than forty-five
years ago ; and now that in later times I have been brought
into closer contact, I have felt constrained to regard him
as one of our moral heroes and spiritual princes — a man,
indeed, * after God's own heart.' His vital godliness, his
evident love to the Lord Jesus, his firm faith in the gospel,
seemed to me to be as distinct and distinguishing as were
his features, making him, everywhere and in every company,
a marked man.
AT THE MISSION HOUSE. 457
" His pastor, the Rev. William Roby, of Manchester, ever
spake of him as one of whom he had formed the highest
estimate, and commended him as of singularly sterling
worth when he introduced him, as ' a bonnie laddie/ to the
Directors more than seventy years ago ; and it is evident he
thought no less highly of the young lady who subsequently
became his wife.
" How all the brightest hopes of Mr. Roby have been
fully realized, in relation to Moffat as a devoted missionary
and a truly Christian man, the Biography makes plain,
showing that his course has been 'as a shining light, shining
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day/
"When Dr. Moffat returned to this country in 1870, as
his old friend Dr. Tidman had passed away, it was my
official duty and personal privilege to pay him an early
visit, to see what might be required to be done for the
furtherance of the comfort of himself and his loved ones ;
and I was then more than surprised at the Christian sim
plicity and self-negation both of himself and his devoted
wife, for they seemed more than content with anything and
everything that was arranged for them ; and truly it was
evident that in Mrs. Moffat he had been singularly blessed
with a noble and devoted wife, who was indeed a missionary
second only to himself !
" I shall never forget what took place in my official
room at the Mission House soon after their return from
Africa. While talking over their past labours, Mrs. M.,
looking fondly at her husband first, turned to me and said,
' Robert can never say that / hindered him in his work ! '
' No, indeed/ replied Dr. M. ; c but I can tell you she has
often sent me away from house and home for months
together for evangelizing purposes, and in my absence
has managed the station as well or better than I could
have done it myself ! '
" No wonder that when I went to see him the morning
after this dear one was called home, I should find him heart-
sore and bowed down with sorrow by his somewhat sudden
bereavement. He told me that on the previous evening,
finding there seemed to be an unusual silence, he went to
458 REFUSES TO TAKE ARREARS OF SALARY.
the bedside, and, looking at the invalid, in alarm he ex
claimed, * Mary, dear, only one word ! ' But silence was
the only response, for the Master had come and called her.
' And thus,' said Moffat, with touching pathos, ' she left
me, after labouring lovingly together for fifty years, without
saying good-bye ! ' But now he has joined her, and
together they continue the higher service in the Master's
more immediate presence, where work and weariness are
no longer united.
" I have often been profoundly impressed with Dr.
Moffat's evident natural boldness in relation to the cause
and kingdom of his Divine Lord. He was a man who,
having planted himself on a principle, would stay there till
he died ! When receiving civic honour at the Mansion
House, London, on being introduced as one familiar with the
African diamond fields, he responded, in the midst of the
assembled traders, merchants, and civic dignitaries, that he
could tell them little about the diamond fields, or the
diamonds there, for he had gone to Africa to seek jewels
of a very different character, namely the natives, in order
that they might be made as gems to adorn the Saviour's
crown !
"I have also had many opportunities of marking his
complete disinterestedness in the service of Christ. There
was nothing sordid about him ; he had no desire to accu
mulate money, and ever showed a scrupulous anxiety to
take for himself as little as possible out of the funds of the
Society. And when I found him resolutely refusing any
longer to draw his small stipend, I reminded him that our
books showed a certain amount of arrears now due to him.
He then in the strongest manner assured me that he would
not receive a penny of it ! and could not be satisfied until
he saw that the books were cleared of this amount !
" I might adduce many other personal recollections of
this now glorified saint, but the foregoing must suffice for
the purpose. I will only add that I know well how truly
the Directors loved him, and would have done anything in
their power to add to his comfort. The Society was greatly
honoured by his connection with it, and to it he remained
THE END. 459
' faithful unto death ; ' so that his memory will ever be
cherished as a precious ointment by the whole missionary
circle, standing, as he does, as an example and an inspira
tion to the young men of our homes and colleges, which
may well lead many of them to an entire and blessed con
secration to the work of the Lord !
" For myself I will only say that I revered him as an
honoured father, and felt it to be a precious privilege to
read the burial service at his grave, where we left his
mortal remains, gladdened by the thought that though the
body was thus returned to the earth, the spirit had gone to
the God who gave it, to be re-united with the loved ones
gone before, that together they might glorify Him to whom
they consecrated their lives, realizing that He had loved
them, and given Himself for them. — Believe me, dear Mr.
Moffat, yours truly,
" ROBERT ROBINSON,
41 Late Horn* Secretary of the L,M.S"
15
ao°
15° long: E. of Greenwich 80°
3D"
SOUTH AFRICA
1884
to accompaay
"TheLives of Robert & Mary Mbffat
30°
35°
45°
StanfbrcL's Geogl- F.stah*
.Armstrong & Son.
~HS
1/14 A
INDEX.
ADDRESS from Congregational Ministers on eightieth
birthday ...... 399
Aborigines' Protection Society . . . 452
Afrikaner, an outlaw from the Colony . . . 36
„ attachment to Moffat . . . 38
„ good effects of his visit to the Cape . . 46
„ his death ..... 105
„ meets Moffat at Kuruman with his property . 86
„ parts with his missionary ... 46
„ receives gifts from the Government . . 46
Agnes Livingstone, Moffat's granddaughter, married to
Alexander Bruce of Edinburgh . . . 398
Albrecht, Afrikaner's first teacher . . . . 36
Alexander, Dr. W. L., of Edinburgh, valedictory address 237
Alexander, Moffat's brother, a soldier in India . 31, 131
„ „ „ heard of again . . 45
Allon, Dr. . . . . . -455
Ambassadors from Mosilikatse . . . 159
American Missionaries arrive at Griqua Town . . 195
„ „ „ at Kuruman . . 205
„ „ go to Mosega . . .210
„ „ leave Mosega for Natal . 216
Anderson, his interest in his old Mission . . 169
„ „ labours among the Griquas . . 93
462 INDEX.
PAGE
Anderson, interference of the Government with . . 93
„ visited by Moffat at Pacaltsdorp . . 169
Andre, Madame, Moffat's visit to . . . . 403
Anniversaries in Manchester in 1816 ... 24
Anniversary sermon before the Directors of the London
Missionary Society .... 228
Ann Moffat journeys to Mabotsa .... 248
,, „ her adventure with a lion . . 249
„ Moffat's second daughter . . . .107
A nti- Swearing League . . . . 188
Apprenticeship of Robert Moffat at Parkhill . . 4
Archbishop of Canterbury, Moffat dines with . . 401
„ Tait entertains Moffat . . . 445
„ ., speech by . . . . 455
Arend, an escaped slave, helps to defend the station . 147
Arnot and Coillard ..... 367
„ of Glasgow on the Zambezi . . . 333
Arrival at the Cape and at Algoa Bay in 1843 . 239
„ in 1817 . 28
„ in England in 1839 . . . . 222
Arundel, Dr., Foreign Secretary of London Missionary
Society ...... 238
Ashton, Rev. W., his sympathy in sorrow . . 355
„ „ loses his wife . . . 331
„ ,, returns to Kuruman . . 353
., „ takes charge of school . . . 247
„ „ transferred to Griqua Mission . 331
„ „ „ Lekatlong . 356
„ „ translates " Line upon Line " . 269
Ashton-under-Lyne, Mary Moffat's connection with . 50
Assembly's Catechism . . . . 211
BACHELOR housekeeping in Namaqualand . . 42
Baggage in danger ..... 242
Bailie, Rev. Mr., stationed at Kuruman . . . 165
Bakwena in a dilemma . . . . 276
INDEX. 463
PAGE
Bakwena Mission interrupted . . . , 292
„ visited by Moffat . . . . 277
Ball in honour of the Prince of Wales . . .401
Bamangwato, a tribe north of the Bakwena . . 276
„ Political changes among . . . 325
Bangwaketsi of Makaba scattered and re-united . 29^
Bantaskine, favourite resort of Moffat . . . 394
Batlaping tribe move eastward . . . 129
„ „ settle on the Hart River . . .213
„ „ talk of returning to Kuruman . . 196
Batlaro villages near Kuruman . . . .144
Battle at Letakong improves the standing of the mis
sionaries . . . .119
„ „ saves the Mission .• . 115
Beaufort West in its infancy . . . ,71
Bechwana, Moffat's first acquaintance with . . 44
Beck, Rev. Mr., Mary Smith sails for Africa under his care 58
Bennett, Sir Risdon, advice from . . . 418
„ ,, visit from .... 420
Bessie, Moffat's daughter, arrives from England . 309
„ „ „ born on board ship . . 222
Bible Society, cordial relations of Moffat with . 226
,, Society's meeting . . . . 407
Big family bibles in South Africa . . . 74
Binney, Thomas, at farewell meeting . . . 238
,, „ friendship with . . . 397
Black, Mr., entertains Moffat at Melrose . . . 385
Bloemfontein visited by Moffat ... 277
Bloom attacks Mosilikatse . . . .181
Boers, break up the American Mission . . 216
„ claim the authority of the Queen for their acts 292
„ collision with the Matebele . . .214
„ demand Livingstone's removal . . 275
„ encroach on Bahurutse and Bakhatla . . 273
„ encroachments on the Bechwanas . . 270
hem in the London Mission stations . .271
464 INDEX.
PAGE
Boers, in collision with the Batlaping , . 328
„ many favourable to instruction of Natives . . 33
„ opinion of Moffat's son Robert on . . 274
„ prognostications of, about Moffat's probable fate
with Afrikaner . . . . .32
„ routed by Sir Harry Smith . . . 272
„ successful attack on Mosilikatse's outposts . . 215
„ supineness of Government about . . 270
Bogue, Mrs., Letter from, to Mary Smith's mother 60
Bogues, Mary Smith stays at Gosport with the . 59
„ „ visits them from Cowes . . 60
Braithwaite, Miss, Letter to . . . • 311
Braithwaites, of Kendal . . . . .411
Brixton, Moffat settles at . . . 387
Broadbent, Wesleyan missionary . . . .117
Brown, Mrs., Death of . . . . 361
„ Rev. Dr., of Edinburgh .... 237
,, Rev. John, arrives at Kuruman . . 358
„ Rev. J. Baldwin, his friendship with Moffat . 387
„ „ „ lectures . 406
„ „ „ visits Moffat at Leigh . 409
Brownlee, John, friendship with Moffat . . 241
„ „ Mr. Dugmore's estimate of . .241
„ „ met at Grahamstown . . 171
Bruce, Dr. J. Collingwood, of Newcastle . . . 237
„ „ „ Letter to . 313
Bruce's " Roman Wall " . . . . .3/3
Burder, H. F., at farewell meeting . . . 238
Burnet, John, at farewell meeting ...» 238
Bushmen, children rescued from the grave . • 106
„ depredations of ... 83, 86
CALDWELL, first minister who influenced Moffat . 3
Campbell, John, of Kingsland, deputed to visit South Africa
with Philip ... 45
„ „ Dr. John, notes of farewells . . 236
INDEX. 465
PACK
Campbell, John, his snuff-box .... 88
,, „ parts with the Moffats . . .87
jj „ proposes to visit Lattakoo . . 69
» „ visits Bahurutse and Batlaro , . 79, 80
Cannibalism in consequence of famine . . n8
Cape friends, their kindness . '. . .222
Carronshore, residence of Moffat's parents . . 2
Visit to .... 389, 390
Casalis, Dr., of Paris ..... 403
Changes in the home circle . . . .223
Chapman, Edward, rescues Boer captives . . 329
„ James, accompanies Moffat to the Malebele . 298
Cheethams of Staleybridge . . . . 416
Chesson, Mr. F. W., Letter from . . .452
Children, felt absence of . . . 288
„ sacrifices in parting with . . 1 6 3, 264
„ sent to England . . . 262, 263
Civilization, its relation to Christianity . . 372, 373
Clarke, Hamlet, an early friend of Moffat . . 17
Clayton, Rev. George, comfort from his preaching . 283
Clouds over the Colonial Missions in 1816 . . 69
Coillard, his colleague, Jeanmairet . . • 333
„ Rev. F., of the Basuto Mission . . 409
„ with his wife and niece, on the Zambezi . 333
Collum, Rev. Hugh, reminiscences by . . 441
Comforts and discomforts by the way • . • 73
Communion Service sent for in faith , . 153, 155
Confidence in natives, Moffat's principle . . .194
„ „ the best policy . . 191, 192
Conflict between heathenism and Christianity . .258
Consent of Mary Smith's parents to her going to S. Africa 5 r
Consoling thoughts in old age .... 266
Constancy of old friends .... 224
Contempt into which missionaries had fallen . . 70
Correspondence with friends a great solace . . 103
„ „ the home in Scotland . . 43
31
466 INDEX.
PAGE
Counsels of Moffat's father on his conversion . , 14
Courtesy of Landdrost . . . . • 75
Cruelty of the Batlaping to the vanquished . . 114
Cutting reed for thatch . . . . .138
DARK prospects . . . , . 290
Darkness of midnight in the Bechwana Mission . . 152
Death of Jean Gardiner, Moffat's aunt . . 358
„ Mary Moffat's father . . . .295
„ Moffat's brother Richard . . . 358
„ „ father ..... 258
„ „ grandson in East Africa . . 395
Degree conferred by Edinburgh University . .384
Departure for Namaqualand in 1817 . . . 31
Deputation labours . . . . .381
Detention by rivers . . . . . 312
Dickson, Wm., of Edinburgh, Guest of . . 405
„ „ Letter from . . 6
„ „ „ to . . . 419
Directors at first decline Moffat's services . . 19
„ first interview with . . . .25
„ their considerateness . . . 291
Disappointment in converts . . • 211, 252
Discomforts of life in a native encampment . . 141
Disorganization of the Bechwana Mission in 1819 . 101
Disposition of native chiefs . . . . 317
Domestic arrangements in South Africa . . 89, 90
Donibristle, Moffat works there for a year . . 5
Drought and the destruction of forests . . .369
Drowning, Moffat saves a man from ... 6
Dukin field, home of Mary Smith ... 49
.„ Moffat visits in later years . . 382, 416
EBNER leaves Namaqualand . . * ,40
.„ sent to take -up the work with Afrikaner . 36
INDEX. 467
Edwards, Roger, at Mabotsa . . . . . 257
„ „ detained some years in the Colony . 120
» „ helps Moffat with printing in Cape Town 166
,, „ meets Moffat at Port Elizabeth . . 365
,, ,, Moffat's colleague at Kuruman . 213
„ „ removes to the Bakhatla . . . 247
„ Samuel, Moffat's travelling companion . 307
Eisdell, The Misses, first acquaintance with Moffats . 227
Elizabeth, daughter, bora 1830 . . . 170
died 1832 . . . .173
Elizabeth Lees, daughter, born 1839 . • • 222
Elizabeth, Port, difficulties of embarkation . . 208
„ „ Mary Moffat leaves for Grahamstown 209
Emperor of Brazil, one of Moffat's hearers at Paris . 403
End, The ...... 459
Enmity or friendliness of Boers to missionaries . .169
Evening bivouac . . . . . 334
Extempore raft . . . . . .206
FAIRFIELD, Moravian School .... 49
Faithful friends at the Cape .... 365
False charges against missionaries . . . 273
Farewell to his family . . . . .23
Farrar, Canon, Speech by . . . 455
Faure, Rev. A., communicates consent of Government to
the Moffats settling in the Interior . . 87
Fever in the Matebele country .... 345
First sight of a steam- vessel . . . . 223
Fletcher, Alexander, at farewell meeting . . .238
Forty miles' ride, and then a sermon . . . 201
Foulger, John, at farewell meeting . . . 238
Eraser, Alexander, places his house at the disposal of
the Moffats . . . . . -377
Fraser, Dr., Moffat's medical attendant at Leigh . 423
Fredoux, his untimely death . . 359, 360
„ widow and children .... 363
468 INDEX.
PAGE
Fredoux turned back by Boers . . . 278
Free State and the Batlaping . . . .329
French missionaries abandon Basuto Mission . 175
„ „ commence work among Bahurutse 1 73
„ „ establish a station at Motito . . 176
„ „ turn their attention to the Basuto 176
Frere, Sir Bartle, Day spent with . . . .402
„ „ presented a congratulatory Address 452
Funeral, account in the Daily News . . . 427
„ expenses defrayed by the London Missionary
Society . . . . . 431
GAME in its native haunts . . . . .256
Gardiner, family name of Moffat's mother . . i
Geology of Griqualand West and of Bechwanaland . 370
Gift of one thousand pounds, promoted by Miss Peek 377
Gladstone, Moffat meets Mr., at breakfast . . 401, 406
God, Notions of the natives about ... 84
Goulty, Mrs., Letter to . . . . 399
„ Rev. J. N., Moffat's friendship with . .228, 399
Government House contributes to church building . 172
„ lends press and type . . . 166
„ refuses to allow missionaries to cross frontier 28, 77
„ „ „ MofTat to settle in Bechwana
land ... 86
Grahamstown, Moffats meet Scottish brethren there . 169
Gravesend, Embarkation at, in 1842 . . . 238
Gray, Mary, Mary Smith's mother . . .295
Great George Street Chapel, Meeting in . . 450
Great-grandchild, Baptism of . . .407
Greaves, Mrs., Letter to . . . 56
Grey, Rev. Henry, of Edinburgh . . . .237
Grey, Sir George, Intervention of . . 330, 332
Grievous disorders in South African Missions in 1816 . 62
Griqua Mission, its reorganization by Moffat and Helm 94
„ Town attacked by marauders . . .143
INDEX. 469
PAGE
Griqua Town, flight to . . . . 115
,, „ halting place by the way . . .72
„ „ its mixed population ... 93
it „ Moffat's return to . . . .80
„ „ retreat of Kuruman missionaries to 125, 142, 143
Groping in the wilderness . . . . 301
Grosvenor Street Chapel, Manchester : its missionary zeal 179
Guest, Rev. William, reminiscences . , . 440
HAMILTON, ROBERT, his character . , . 97
„ „ „ death .... 288
„ „ „ house burnt . . . 125
,, „ takes up his abode with the Moffats 171
Hampstead Church, Moffat lays foundation-stone . 417
Hanoverian missionaries at Sechele's . . .322
Hard bed ...... 201
Hard day's work . • . . . .203
Harrison, Rev. Joshua, address at funeral . . 429
Harvard, Wesleyan missionary . . . .45
Heavy waggons crossing desert . • • 334
Helm, missionary at Griqua Town . • • 95
Helmore at Lekatlong . • . • 251
„ dies at Linyanti . . . • • 333
„ goes to the Makololo . . . 327, 332
Henderson, Ebenezer . . . . .238
Herschell, Rev. D., his ministry attended by Mary Moffat 377
Hodgson, Wesleyan missionary . . . .117
Hospitality of the Dutch . . . . 73
Hottentots "dogs" . . . . • 33
„ return to the Colony dispirited . . 133,138
Hughes, Edward, assists Moffats to cross Orange River 269
„ Rev. J., joins Bechwana Mission . . 119
„ „ Moffats meet at Backhouse . • 365
„ „ transferred to Griqua Town . . 131
Huguenots, Descendants of . . • • 74
Hume, David, a trader . . . . 193
470 INDEX.
PAGE
Hume, David, helps Mary Moffat to cross Orange River 206
„ „ „ to build the church . . .213
Hungry preacher . . . . . 202
Hymns, Robert Moffat's love of . . . .421
IMPEMBEZI River ...... 339
Imperfect postal communication . , . 262, 287
Improvement of Bechwanas in honesty . . . 143
Injustice of the Government to natives • • 316
Insufficiency of missionary stipends . . .136
Interruptions to translation . . . . 314
Inyati, headquarters of Mosilikatse • . .341
Isaiah printed . . , • . 265
Isolation policy of the Matebele . . . 305, 345
JAMES MOFFAT dies at sea . . . .222
„ „ with his father . . . 220
James Smith, Mary Moffat's father . . . 295
James, Mr. W. H., M.P., . . . . 453
Jane Gardiner, daughter, born at Flixton . . .228
Jeanmairet, colleague of Coillard . . . 333
Jersey and Guernsey, Visit to • • .407
Jones, Rev. Edward . . . . . 407
Journey from Namaqualand to Bechwanaland • . 39
„ „ the Cape . § . . 328
„ of exploration northward in Namaqualand . 35
„ to the coast in 1830 . . . . 165
„ with Mosilikatse . . . 305
„ „ the deputation eastward . . . 65, 66
Jubilee Singers, Appreciation of . . . .401
KARROO, a waste land . • . . 74
Karse, Jan, Pacific efforts of . . . • 147
„ settles at Kuruman . . . .144
Kat River Rebellion . 284
INDEX. 47 r
PAGE
Kaye, Mr. and Mrs. . . . . .97
Ketshwayo, Interview with . . . . 4I^
Kidstons, friends in Glasgow * ... 404
„ visit to, at Portencross . . . 405
Kitchingman, Moffat's colleague . . . 25
,, son of Moffat's colleague . . 374, 375
Knight, Rev. T., brings Moffat's brother-in-law to his
knowledge ..... 389
Kolong River . . . . . .213
Kowie River, Visit to . . . . . 207
Kuruman menaced by Boers . . . .329
„ mixed population . . . . • 145
„ once more the northernmost station . < . 294
„ River, described .... 98
„ „ source of .... 82
*f LABOURS AND SCENES " published in 1842 . .231
Last moments . . . . . 426
Lattakoo, explanation of the name . . .98
„ first arrival of the Moffats at . 84
Lecture in Halle Herz . . . . .403
Lees, Miss, Letter to . . . . . 54
Lehaise, former chief of the Batlaro . . .85
Leigh, Mr. and Mrs., their kindness . . . 1 1
Leisure Hour, Citation from . . . -367
Lemue, at Motito . . . . 210, 219
„ French missionary . . . .165
Length of time occupied in journeys . . . 72
Levys, neighbours at Kuruman .... 363
Lewis, farewell meeting . . . . 238
„ of Islington, his kindness to Mary Smith . . 58
Lightning, Stroke of . . . . . 96
Luhubaruba, Sechele's stronghold . . . 299
Livingstone appointed to Bechwana Mission . . 229
„ at Loanda . . . .312
„ „ Quillimane . . . 319
472 INDEX.
PAGE
Livingstone attempts to communicate with '. . 305
„ bitten by a lion . . . . 247
„ goes north with Oswell and Murray . .277
„ hoped to have worked eastward . . 271
„ maintains a missionary on his own account . 327
„ marries Moffat's daughter . . 248
„ Mary, dies . . . . .355
„ „ returns to the Cape . . 331
„ meets Moffat at the Cape . . 327
„ „ MofTat on the Vaal River . . 243
„ remains identified .... 396
„ removes to Chonwane . . . 248
„ son Oswell married . . . 396
„ statue of, unveiled . . . 401
„ Thomas, Death of, in Egypt . . . 400
„ turns northward . . . . 273
„ uncertainty about him . . . 297
Love of country life ..... 408, 409
Loyalty a dangerous virtue in South Africa • . 287
Lunatic assaults Moffat . . . . 356
'• Lung-sickness " among cattle .... 337
MABOTSA, missionary station .... 247
Macheng, his release from captivity . . . 325
Mackie, Dr., of Warrington, reminiscences . . 436
Mahura, at Taung ..... 247
„ brother of Mothibi . . . .185
„ prevailed upon to be at peace with Dr. Smith 186
„ „ let alone the Batlaro . .187
„ „ restore stolen cattle . 186
Mahuto, wife of Mothibi .... 202
Makaba, chief of Bang waketsi . . . 107
„ slain . . . . . .128
„ visited . . . . . 120
Makololo and Matebele tribes . . . .320
Makololo Mission, Collapse of ... 333, 350
INDEX. 473
PAGE
Makololo Mission, start from Kuruman • . • 332
Malan, Major, met at Paris . , 404
Mamusa, now Vryburg, in Stellaland • . .214
Manchester, Visit to . . . . . 414
Mankoroane, nephew of Mothibi . . . , 129
Mannhardt, Mrs., Moffat's granddaughter . . 406
Mantatee, First reports of . . . . .108
„ the first is shot . . . . 113
Marauders again threaten the station . . 146, 149
„ from the west . . . 122, 124, 125
„ headed by Blooms . . . .143
„ menace Kuruman . . . . 129
„ routed . . . . . .147
Marelole's death ..... 346
Mary Moffat at Chonwane . . . -257
„ brings printing material from the coast . 178
„ comforts herself in God . . .197
„ embarks her children at Port Elizabeth . 209
„ her anxieties about her father . . 179
„ in solitude and danger . . . 123
„ meets her husband on the Orange River . 210
„ memories of, at Ashtqn-under-Lyne . 451
„ on the Interior Missions . . .326
„ „ Orange River . • . . 267
„ protests against the repining of friends . 70
„ starts for the Cape in 1847 . . 260
„ visits her children at school . . 178
„ visits the Livingstones at Chonwane . 254
Mary Moffat's care for her kindred . . • 355
„ confidence in her native escort . 177
„ early desire for missionary work . . 81
„ first impressions of Kuruman . . 82
„ happiness in her work • , .81
„ illness and death . . 378, 449
„ journey to the coast . . .308
last weeks alone wiih her children . 361
474 INDEX.
PAGE
Mary Moffat's legacy to her brother . . . 389
„ letter to her son . . . 348
„ mother dies . . . .130
„ portraits of her parents . . 157
„ remarks on Mr. Roby's death . . 167
„ second visit to the Livingstones at Kolobeng 281
„ sense of duty to her home . . 380
„ severe illness .... 96
„ thoughtfulness for others . . .364
„ unshaken faith . . . 153
„ weak health . . . .212
Matebele desolate the Bechwana country . . 161
„ invasion under Mosilikatse . . .109
„ reap what they sowed . . . 218
Matebeleland, Approach to, from Shoshong . • 337
McAll's Mission, Visit to, in Paris . . . 403
McArthur, Lord Mayor, entertains Moffat . 411, 447
Measles at the Cape . . . . . 221
Mebalwe, Livingstone's servant .... 247
Mediation attempted with the Mantatees . . 113
,, between hostile clans . . . .41
Meetings at Port Elizabeth' .... 375
Melville visits Griqua Town . . . .72
Melville's explanation of the trading question . . 135
Messengers from Mosilikatse . . . .190
Meteorological observations .... 369
Miles, Mr., visits Kuruman .... 144
Military precautions of Dr. Smith . . . 189
Millen buried in the wilderness . . . .182
„ dies . . .... 181
„ goes to the Molopo to trade . . 138, 139
„ much respected . . . . 183
„ walks from the Bamangwato country . .180
Mill Hill School, Visit to .... 402
Mischief-makers prejudice the natives . . . 343
Miserable condition of the heathen . . . 126, 164
INDEX. A:5
PAr;E
Missionaries as forerunners of Boers . . .340
„ Superannuated, and widows . . 137
Missionary Museum in London . . . .26
Mixed character of early Griqua Church . . 95
Mofifat, a captain of industry .... 369
„ accompanies South African Expedition . 185
„ and Melville save the wounded, the women, and
the children . . . . 1 1 4, 1 1 5
„ „ Philip on superintendency . .64
„ an enthusiast ...... 433
„ a Nonconformist ..... 444
„ arrives at Namaqualand ... 34
„ as a gardener in later life . . . 371
„ at the Mansion House » 454
„ comforts himself that he is preparing the way for
others ..... 289
„ complains of our climate . . . 449
„ condoles with his widowed mother . . 259
„ declines a higher situation ... 20
„ describes his way of translating . . .289
„ escapes from death . . . . 114
„ escorts Mosilikatse's messengers home . . 159
„ explains to Mosilikatse the object of his life . 163
„ expostulates with Mosilikatse on his ravages . 163
„ has to be identified by the Matebele . . 303
„ his hut at Vredeburg . . . • 37
„ „ motive a missionary one , . . 433
„ holds service for the English . . .188
„ hopes to make a short visit only to England . 225
„ Institute, Mission Hall, Lambeth . . 387, 398
„ isolates himself in order to learn Sechwana . 371
„ leads Mosilikatse's thoughts to the gospel . 194
„ mediates . . . . . *49
„ meets old friends at the Cape . . 328
„ „ the Mantatees . . . . no
„ overshadowed by greater explorers . . 433
476 INDEX.
PAGE
Moffat parts with his family on the Vaal River , 199
„ prints hymn-book . 330
„ rides from Bethelsdorp to Cape Town . 165, 168
„ ,, into Kaffraria . . , .241
„ seeks the release of Griqua captives • • 195
„ „ Bain's waggons . . 195
„ seeks timber for the church . . . 195
„ signs protest against Zulu war . . • 453
„ starts for Matebeleland . • • 321
„ „ to visit Makaba . . . .no
„ survivor of most of a second generation . 295
„ The Brighton Daily News on . • 434
„ troubled with his head . . . 283
„ visits Scottish soldiers in hospital at the Cape . 3 1
„ „ the Batlaping • . 199, 257
„ welcomed the annexation of the Transvaal . . 433
„ welcomes his bride • 68
„ with his children ..... 220
Moffat's accident with a mill . . . . 253
„ activity of mind and body to the last . .422
„ address in Westminster Abbey . . 453
„ affections weaned from the world . . . 342
„ anxiety to keep to his work . • . 316
„ arrival at Bethelsdorp in 1843 . • . 240
„ consideration for others . • • 423
„ craving for learning . . . . 5
,, declining strength .... 362
„ father dissuades him from his project . . 21
„ „ resigned to his departure to South Africa 22
„ feelings towards the Dutch . . . 441
„ first son dies . . . . .129
„ „ welcome back from South Africa . 223
„ visit to England ..... 450
„ health declining . • • • 295
„ illness ..... 167, 170
„ labours at Inyati .... 344
INDEX. 477
PAGE
Moffat's last sermon at Kuruman .... 364
„ letter to Roger Edwards . . . 379
„ longing to return to Bechwanaland . .402
„ manifold labours . . . . 180
„ mother, her character .... 4
„ „ „ parting charge . . . 7, 8
„ personal qualities .... 443
„ reasons for a journey northwards . . 296
,, refusal to take arrears of salary . . • 457
„ remarks on the great object of life . . 181
„ return to Cape Town . . . .66
„ speech on policy of the Boers . . 453
„ strong interest in the Interior Missions . 351, 352
„ ties to the Kuruman home . . • 362
„ versatility. . . . . .372
„ views on the Litany .... 445
Moffats go to Cape Town . . . .119
,, meet their daughter Helen . . . '376
„ part with the last Bechwanas at Port Elizabeth 375
„ reach home at Kuruman . . . 244
„ sail for England . . . . 375
„ settle at Griqua Town , . . .72
„ start for the Cape in 1838 . . . 221
„ visit the Mission House . . . • 45 7
„ voyage home in the Norseman . . 376
Mokatle, chief of the Bahurutse . . . .160
Moore, George, Visit to . . . . 397
Moravian Missionary Meeting . . . .401
Morgan, minister at Somerset East . . . 171
Morison, Dr. John, farewell meeting . . . 238
Morley, Samuel, Last interview with . . . 424
„ „ welcomes Moffat to Leigh . . 408
Morrison, Dr. Robert, on loss of friends . . 167
Mosega, in the Bahurutse country . . .192
Mosilikatse amazed at the waggons . . . 162
,, attachment to Moffat . . . 313
47§ INDEX.
PAGE
Mosilikatse attacked by the Griquas . . . 172
„ cannot understand white men's politics . 174
„ farewell to Moffat .... 347
„ his gratitude . . . . .163
„ „ message to the white people . . 164
„ ill and helpless .... 303
„ Moffat's last sermon to . . 347
„ motives for receiving them . . . 324
„ receives Moffat a second time . . 193
„ reluctance to have missionaries . . 321
„ retires before the Boers and Dingaan . 215
,, visited by Mofifat . . . .162
Mothibi and Mahuto visit Kuruman . . . 246
„ unwilling to return to Kuruman . . .144
Miiller's Orphanage, Visit to . . . . 402
Murray of Graaff Reinett, a friend of missionaries . 171, 243, 374
NATIVE agriculture, Improvement in ... 368
New Testament printed in 1840 . . . 231
„ „ revision . . . . .353
Ngami, Lake, visited by Livingstone and party . 290
OBJECTION of chiefs to travellers passing them by . 306
Obstacles to success among Bechwanas . . 102
„ „ translation and printing . . .281
Odd place of worship at Beaufort West . . 75
Old-fashioned hospitality ..... 261
Oori River, otherwise the Zempopo . . . 161, 162
Orange River . . . .72, 204, 206, 268
„ „ pont, now a bridge 243
Ormiston, Moffat preaches at . . . 385
„ Moffat's birthplace .... i
Oswell, William . . . . . .280
„ „ Reminiscences by . . 438
PACKAGES forwarded to Livingstone • . . 306
Paris, Visit to ..... 4°3
INDEX. 479
PAGE
Park Cottage, Leigh, Removal to . . 408
Parting scene at Kuruman . . , 364
Paul, the Namaqua robber .... 150
„ „ native teacher . . . , 323
Peclodies I29
„ joyfully received on his return . . . 127
„ visits Cape Town . . . . .119
Pelissier, detained hostage by the Matebele . . 175
Permanent dwelling-houses . . . .139
Perplexities arising out of Government opposition . 77
„ of natives about the policy of the English
Government . . . .278
Philip and Campbell, missionary deputation . . 45
„ services rendered by, at the Cape . . .63
" Pilgrim's Progress " (Bunyan's) printed . . 269
Piper, Thomas, at farewell meeting . , . 238
Pitsana, attacked by Mantatees . . . 121
„ Barolong gather there . . . .121
„ saved by Griquas . . . . 121
Population of the Kuruman . . . .212
Portraits of Mary Moffat's parents . ... 157
Portsoy, Moffats lived there in 1797 i
Poverty of Namaqualand .... 38
Practical encouragement given by Moffats to Matebele
Mission. .... 353
„ zeal of converts ..... 156
Presentation at Edinburgh .... 236
„ of five thousand pounds . . . 388
Press-gang, Narrow escape from . . . 10
Price, Rev. R., goes to the Makololo . . .327
„ „ marries Bessie Moffat . . 351
„ „ starts for Zanzibar . . . 399
„ „ survivor of Makololo Mission . . 350
Printing-press set up at Kuruman . . .171
Printing of the New Testament object of the visit to
England . . . . . .221
480 INDEX.
PAf
Psalms printed with the New Testament . . 226
Public breakfast of welcome at Cannon Street Hotel . 376
Pye-Smith, Dr. Harry » . . . 425
QUEEN, Interview with ..... 384
„ Second interview with . . . 402
Quiet Sabbath in the wilderness . . , .302
RAINMAKERS ..... 101, 139
Reasons for not accepting sick-leave . . .291
Relations, Parting with . . « . 229
Religious conflicts . , •> . .13
Removal of the station proposed . . 117
„ to High Leigh in Cheshire ... 7
Representative assembly of ministers and others at
Bantaskine . . . . . .412
Retrospect of the Mission .... 284
Revising proof-sheets of the Old Testament . .384
Richard, Moffat's brother . . . . 258
Robert, Moffat's son, dies . . . .354
„ „ goes into Government service . 261
„ „ returns from England . . 261
Robinson, Rev. R., Home Secretary of the London Mis
sionary Society . . . . .456
Robson, Rev. A., settled in the Colony . . 120
Roby, Rev. W. . . . . .457
„ „ Interview with . . . 18
„ „ Moffat first hears . . . .17
„ „ perseveres in recommending Moffat . 20
Rogers, Rev. J. G., Letter from . . , .450
Roofing the church at Kuruman . . . 369
Ross, Rev. W., dies . . . . .356
„ „ goes to Taung ... 247
„ „ reinforcement to the Bechwana Mission . 229
Rough fare ...... 141
Roughing it in the desert . . . . 40
INDEX. 481
PAGB
Rowland, James ..... 238
Runs away to sea ...... 3
SALEM, Wesleyan school near Grahamstown . 165, 168
Salt, Sir Titus, Visit to . . . . 386
Salvation Army meeting . . . .415
Sarah Roby rescued from a living grave . . 134
Scanty collegiate opportunities . . . .23
School at Falkirk with Mr. Paton ... 3
Schoolmates, Moffat's . . . . 391
Schroeder, Hanoverian missionary at Sechele's . 321
Scott, Dr., going to East Africa . . . .413
Scripture Lessons printed . . . . 211
„ „ reprinted by the Society of Friends . 231
Sechele, abortive journey to Cape Town . . 299
„ his mixed character .... 300
„ Moffat visits . . . . 319
„ sends his children to Kuruman . . .293
„ superior as a chief . . . . 276
„ withdrawal of Hanoverian missionaries from . 323
Sekeletu, chief of the Makololo . . . 319
Sekhomi, chief of the Bamangwato . . 300, 301
Shashe, dry river of sand . . . . 301
Simeno's poor fare . . . . .203
Sixty lions in six years . . . • 75
Slow progress of the people in civilization . . . 283
Smith, Dr. Andrew, admirable character . . 188
„ „ distrust of the nation . . . 191
„ „ his expedition . . . 184
„ „ „ kindness . . . .185
„ „ satisfactory intercourse with the natives 194
„ James, and his wife .... 49
„ „ birth and parentage . . . .48
„ „ comes under Roby's influence . . 295
„ John, lost at sea ..... 240
„ „ minister at Hulme, then missionary in India 48, 130
32
482 INDEX.
PAGE
Smith, John, visits England . 226
„ Mary, first meets Robert Moffat . . .19
„ „ happiness on the voyage out . . 67
„ ,, her brothers . . . . .48
„ „ letter to her parents . . . 52
„ „ Moffat loses hope of . . .42
„ „ sorrow for her parents . . . 57
„ „ writes to the parents of her future husband 50
„ of Dukinfield accepts Moffat as a workman . 1 9
Spicers, Visit from . . . . . 417
Spiritual awakening at Kuruman . . . .154
Stacey, E., clerk at the Mission House . . 419
Stanley, Dean . . . . . -453
State of South Africa when Moffat landed there . 365
Stellenbosch, Moffat's stay there ... 30
Stoekenstroom Sir Andries, defender of Kat River Hot
tentots .... 287
„ visits Griqua Town ... 87
Sturges, Last meeting with . . . .418
Subscriptions for church building raised in the Colony 172
Sunday, The last ..... 420
Suspicions of Mosilikatse ..... 339
Sykes, Rev. W., goes to the Matebele . . . 327
TAIT, Archbishop, Speech by . . .455
Taylor, formerly of the London Missionary Society . 76
"Thick milk" .... .91
Thorn, Rev. G., Moffat's tour with ... 30
„ „ receives the missionaries in Cape Town 28
Thomas, Rev. T., goes to the Matebele . . -327
Thompson, Rev. W., kindness to Sechele . . 300
Tidman, Dr. . . . . . .238
„ „ his death ... 457
Ti 'mes on Moffat's life . . . . 43 T
Towers, Rev. Mr. ..... 449
„ „ prayer at death -bed . . .425
INDEX. 483
• i,i
Townley, Henry . . • . „ B 238
Trade route closed in 1850 . . . .27
Trading of missionaries . . . . 25 .•
Translation, laborious work to Mofiat . . 226, 3 iS
Transvaal, Origin of . . . . . 272
» war ... 410
Travelling among lions . . . . 25 =;
„ in South Africa described . . .1*03
Treachery of natives to each other . . . 124
Troi, captive Griqua maid, released . . . 305
Turner's Company, Admission to . . 406
Tyndall, Miss, marriage to Mr. Rolland . .180
UN WIN, Letter to Mrs. . . . . .233
,, Miss, Visits from . . . . 421
VALEDICTORY services at Manchester . . .238
„ ,, United Presbyterian Assembly Hall 411
„ „ in London .... 238
Vavasseur, Henry, lends his house . . . 377
„ Moffat's son-in-law . . . .421
Violin, Moffat plays, at Donibristle ... 5
Voyage from Greenock to Liverpool ... 9
Vredeburg, Afrikaner's Kraal . . . . 37
WAGGONS drawn by warriors .... 338
Waifs and strays of civilization . . . 359
Wai worth, place of sojourn in London . . .227
War in Kaffraria . . . . . 282
Warrington, Missionary placard at . . . .16
„ visited in 1871 . . 436
Waterboer, appointed chief of the Griquas . 94
„ comes to the assistance of the Batlaping . 1 1 1
Watering cattle from wells . 85
Waugh, Dr., recollections of his sermon . . 284
sends Mofiat to Africa . . .27
484 INDEX.
PAGE
Wesleyan Methodists, Moffat's early association with . 1 2
„ „ Opinion of Moffat's father upon 14
Wesley's hymn, "In age and feebleness extreme". . 266
Westminster Abbey, Lecture on Missions in . . 398
Westward route to avoid interception by Boers . .298
Williams, John, Interest excited in England by . 225
William, Griqua captive among Matebele . . . 305
WTilson, Dr., loses his wife . . . . 216
„ John, of Bantaskine . . . 394, 411, 414
„ Joshua ..... 238
Wright, Rev. P., at Griqua Town . . . 139
„ „ „ Philippolis . 245
" Wully Mitchell," Moffat's first dominie ... 2
YELLOWLEES, describes visit to Carronshore . . 390
Yockney, John ..... 238
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