Missionary crusaders : stories of the dauntless courage and remarkable adventures which missionaries have had whilst carrying out their duties in many parts of the world

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Field, Claud, 1863-1941.

Missionary crusaders

The Red Indian Attack on the Missionary Station

Eleven of the missionaries perished, either shot by the Indians or burnt alive in
house ; only five contrived to elude their murderers.

A Cowardly Murder

I the two missionaries who were prisoners of ihe Mohawks were approaching the village
one of the Indians killed the defenceless Goupil with one blow of his tomahawk.

MISSIONARY CRUSADERS

j(iM I'M WDi.FF A Prisoner of Turkoman Brigands

Wolff was captured and stripped by these rascals, and tied to a horse's tail.

To add to his misery the weather was intensely cold, and a cruel whip was

frequently applied to his defenceless body.

y/

MISSIONARY
CRUSADERS

STORIES OF THE DAUNTLESS COURAGE
AND REMARKABLE ADVENTURES WHICH
MISSIONARIES HAVE HAD WHILST
CARRYING OUT THEIR DUTIES IN MANY
PARTS OF THE WORLD j- ^^

SEP 24 1915

BY

V^v

CLAUD FIELD, M.A. Cantab.

SOMETIME C.M.S. MISSIONARY IN THE PUNJAB

WITH MANV ILLUSTRATIONS

New York Chicago Toronto

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

London and Edinburgh

PREFACE

IN the mysterious Greek legend of Prometheus, the
hero who sacrificed his place among the Olympians,
and incurred the anger of Zeus, that he might
bring to the primaeval cave-dwellers the gift of fire, from
which all arts were to spring, we have a striking figure
of the Christian missionary. He has ever in his ears the
saying of his Master, " I am come to cast fire on the earth,""
and he carries a spark of it in his breast to the darkest
regions of the world, where he has to guard it sedulously
from all the powers of evil that are leagued for its
extinction. Like Prometheus, he has often to be the
victim of brute force, and, as Shelley says of the Fire-

bringer,

" To love and bear ; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplatea."

For this he must be willing to sever the tenderest ties,
to mortify ambition, to forego opportunities of culture,
and to live misunderstood in deadly climates. What
others undergo for gain or glory, he must brave for a
wholly spiritual object, the kindling of new life in the
grossest and earthliest types of humanity.

But, however much our missionaries may resemble the
ideal Greek hero, the revolutions they have wrought are
real. "These who have turned the world upside do\vn,"
was the earliest and perhaps the best description of them.

PREFACE

Like the Hebrew prophet, they confront idolatry and
Islam with the challenge, "The God that answereth by
fire, let Him be God," and the fire has often descended.

These spiritual revolutions are all the more striking
when they come as the climax and crown to long years
of monotonous and disheartening toil, as was the case
in Greenland, Tahiti, and Burmah. " What ! God so
love the world, and the world not love Him ! " With
these words a Tahitian broke in upon the missionary
Nott's preaching one day, and burst into tears. This
was the sudden flash of recognition for which the train
had been laid during fifteen years. And what takes place
in the individual takes place in the nation. Blood-stained
and foul idolaters are found sitting at worship, clothed
and in their right mind. " Those who deblaterate against
missions should come here," said R. L. Stevenson of
what he had witnessed in the South Seas, and Darwin
has recorded his surprise at the transformed Fuegians.

Some scenes and episodes from this great drama, on
which the curtain never falls, are described in the following
pages. The heroic figures, which are seen against a back-
ground of darkness and horror, belonged to various nations,
and to different Churches, and their acts are found in
records extending over nearly three hundred years. Some
of the more recent are quoted by permission, and the
author's best thanks are due to the Church Missionary
Society for leave to use materials from their publications
for the sketches of Bishop Crowther, Mr. Duncan, and
Mr. Clark ; and to the Society for the Promotion of
Christian Knowledge, for permission to borrow from the
book entitled "Stranger than Fiction."

CONTENTS

I.— IN REGIONS OF SNOW
CHAPTER I

JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE OF THE RED INDIANS

PAQB

Difficulties of the language — Pow-wows — Longfellow's description —
Founding of Noonatomen — Perils in the wilderness — A covetous
chief — Founding of Natick — Governor Endicott's visit — The first
Bible printed in America— War with Philip— Destruction of
mission settlements — Unpopularity of Eliot — Death of Philip —
Baxter's encomium 17-26

9HAPTER II

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

Saute Sainte Marie — Jesuit explorations — Life in the wigwams —
Capture of Father Jogues — Horrible tortures — Cruelty of Indian
children — Murder of Father Goupil — A blood-stained oratory —
Instruction of Indians — Baptized at the stake — A timely warn-
ing—A hairbreadth escape — English wreckers — Home at last-
Back to martyrdom 27-38

CHAPTER III

DAVID BRAINERD AMONG THE REDSKINS

The Yale student— First settlement at Kanaumeek—" Plain living
and high thinking " — Dutch colonists — Perils of the frontier —
Life in a wigwam — Forest solitudes — Building his own house
— Indian sorcerers — Itineration hardships — Gratitude of the
savages — Visit to Jonathan Edwards — Brainerd and Martyn 39-49

CHAPTER IV

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

Early colonists in Greenland— Egede's reception by the Esquimaux —
Heroism of his wife — The annual store-ship — Greenland
sorcerers — Exploring the east coast — Outbreak of pestilence —
Settlement of "Good Hope "—An Esquimaux suicide— Arrival
of new missionaries — Gluttony of Greenlanders — A con-
Bpiracy— Saved by stupidity— Death of Frau Egede . 50-61

CONTENTS

CHAPTER V

SIXTY YEARS AMONG THE RED INDIANS
_ , , PAOa

Early adventures— The attack on Gnadenhlitten— Reprisals by the
colonists— Deportation of Christian Indians— Attempt on Zeis-
berger's life— The divided town— An Indian orgy— Trouble-
some guests— Zeisberger taken prisoner— The scalp-whoop— An
anxious night— The massacre at Gnadenhiitten . . . 62-74

CHAPTER VI

WILLIAM DUNCAN AT METLAHKATLAH

Captain Prevost's appeal— Cannibalism at Fort Simpson— Duncan's
encouraging reception — Opposition of medicine-men — Threats
of Legale— First baptisms— Migration to Metlahkatlah— Con-
version of Legale— His temporary relapse— Self-surrender of
a murderer — Duncan's visit to England— Learning trades-
Admiral Cochrane's surprise — Lord Dufferin's testimony — Ex-
cannibal as churchwarden 75-82

CHAPTER VII

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

Arrival at Lhassa — Suspected as spies — Interview with Chinese
Ambassador — Inquisitive Tibetans — Hopeful inquirers — Ex-
pulsion from Lhassa — A dangerous march— Martyrs to discipline
— Oxen as road- makers — Illness of M. Gabet — Startling a town —
Death of Ly-Kouo-Ngan— Before the Chinese tribunal— Chinese
justice— Saie at Canton , 83-96

II.— IN LANDS OF THE SUN
CHAPTER VIII

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

Praying for a revelation— Chosen by lot— A slender capital— Opposi-
tion of the planters — Breaking up a prayer-meeting — Legalised
tyranny — " Taking the blows" — Wounded missionaries — A cen-
tury of progress 97-106

CHAPTER IX

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

Forest journeys— Attacked by bush negroes— Daehne threatened
with death — Struggle with a snake— Stalked by a jaguar —
Repentant Caribs — An embarrassing host — Baptism of a chief
— Palgrave's testimony— Solidity of Moravian work . . 107-115

CONTENTS

CHAPTER X

THE CHAMPION OP THE HOTTENTOTS

PAGE

A narrow escape — Lions and snow — First interview with Geika —
Propitiated by buttons — Kaffir gluttons — Nervous savages —
" From the university to the hut" — Unnatural parents — A lion'a
bonne-bouchc — Fastidious Boers — The attack on Graaff-Reinet —
Shooting a peace-maker — A truculent farmer — The wilderness
settlement — Redeeming slaves 116-126

CHAPTER XI

ROBERT MOFFAT AND THE BECHUANAS

A dismal prospect— Africaner the terrible— Sheep scared by a
hyena — Between a tiger and a serpent — A frail shelter — Short
commons — A happy transformation — Moffat poisoned — The
frightened Boer — Further afield — Mischievous natives — A
Bechuana virago — A stone for dinner — Gunning rain-makers
— Facing death — A timely warning — Savage warfare — " Moving
houses " 127-138

CHAPTER XII

FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

Captured by slave-dealers — On an English man-of-war — Exploring
the Niger — Murders of twins — Training in London — Journey to
Abeokuta — Mother and son — Persecution of converts — The sur-
rendered idol — Queen Victoria's gift — Human sacrifices — Abeo-
kuta attacked by the King of Dahomey — Second voyage up the
Niger — The black bishop — A negro martyr — Generous native
contributions 139-149

CHAPTER XIII

THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR]

The usurping Queen— Expulsion of missionaries — A fanatical re-
former— First mutterings of the storm — The poison ordeal —
Proscription lists — Destruction of books — Rasalama the proto-
martyr — The martyrs' rock — Hiding for life — In the slave-
quarries — Conversion of Prince Rakoto — End of the persecution
— Proclamation of liberty 150-160

CHAPTER XIV

Livingstone's early explorations

The happy warrior— Adventure with a lion— Marked for life — The
alarmed chieftain — Sechele and his whip — Obstructive Boers —
Discovery of Lake Ngami — The waterless desert — Death of
Sebituane — From Linyanti to Loanda — Petticoat government —
An athletic princess — Terrors of the magic-lantern — Mice for
supper— Swimming for life— First sight of the sea . . 161-173

CONTENTS

III.— IN INDIA AND THE EAST
CHAPTER XV

SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

PAQB

The Rajah of Tanjore— Power of the Brahmins— Schwartz as diplo-
matist— The Lion of the Carnatic — In the Indian jungle —
Cruelties at Seringapatam— Preaching in the palace— Hjder's
invasion — A second Joseph — The bankrupt Rajah — A treacherous
guardian — The prince-poet — A double memorial . . , 174-184

CHAPTER XVI

AT THE MERCY OF AN EGYPTIAN PASHA

John Antes — A thunderstorm in Cyprus — Arrival in Cairo — Up the
Nile — The annual inundation — Alone in the desert — Caught by
Mamelukes — The rapacious Pasha — Bastinadoed — An accom-
plished liar — The fleeced missionary 185-197

CHAPTER XVn

DB. JUDSON IN BURMAH

Dr. Judson — Driven from Calcutta to Burmah — Breaking ground —
The first baptism — Outbreak of persecution — Voyage up the
Irrawaddy — Interview with the Emperor — Dr. Judson arrested
as a spy — The death-prison — Sufferings of Mrs. Judson — The
starved lion — A rapture of release — Linguistic labours . 198-203

CHAPTER XVIH

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

Wolff's early wanderings— First journey to Bokhara— Attacked by
brigands — Outwitting the robbers — Preaching in rags — Half-
starved in prison — The Khan's rapacity — Defying a bully — Dis-
cussions with Jews and Mohammedans — Threatened by fanatics
— A last resource — A welcome present — First evangelist in Cabul
— Second journey to Bokhara — Welcomed by the populace — A
remorseful despot — In peril of life— A blood-thirsty Afghan-
Home again . . 210-221

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Joseph Wolff a Prisoner op Turkoman

Brigands (see p. 212) Frontispiece

A Cowardly Murder To face page 32

EaEDE Carried the Orphans Home with Him . „ „ 58

The Red Indian Attack on the Missionary

Station „ „ 64.-

A Redskin Murderer gives Himself up to the

Captain of H.M.S. " Devastation " . . „ „ 78

A Terrible Fight with a Serpent ... ,, „ 110

Two Against One ,, „ 130

The Martyrs of Madagascar . . . . „ „ 156

The Missionary was cruelly Bastinadoed . ,, „ 194

The contents of this volume have been taken from
Mr. Claud Field'' s larger volume, entitled ^'Heroes
of Missionary Enterprise" issued at Five Shillings

MISSIONARY CRUSADERS

I

IN REGIONS OF SNOW

CHAPTER I

JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE OF THE RED INDIANS

Difficulties of the language — Pow-wows — Longfellow's description —
Founding of Noonatomen— Perils in the wilderness— A covetous
chief — Founding of Natick — Governor Endicott's visit — The first
Bible printed in America — War with Philip — Destruction of mission
settlements — Unpopularity of Eliot — Death of Philip — Baxter's
encomium.

JOHN ELIOT enjoys the distinction of having been
the first Protestant missionary to preach to the
aborigines of North America. Driven from England,
like so many other non-conforming ministers under the rule
of Laud, he settled as a pastor at Roxbury in Massachusetts.
Here his spirit was stirred by witnessing the ignorance and
degradation of the Red Indians, who for the most part
were regarded by the early Puritan colonists as the in-
habitants of Canaan were by the Israelites.

With incredible industry Eliot applied himself to the
task of learning the Indian language. What sort of a
feat this was, we may gather from the fact that the
word for "loves" is " Noowomantammooonkanunonnash,"

17 B

JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE

and for "question," " Kummogkodonattoottummoootit-
eaongannunnonash."

The Indians of New England, like all savages, were
averse to regular labour of any sort. Their time was
spent alternately in wai', hunting, and fishing, or in idle-
ness and sleep. Their knowledge was limited within the
narrow circle of animal wants, and their ignorance of the
use of metals was shown by their habit of calling an
Englishman "a knife man," the knife being an imple-
ment wholly new to them, and one which they greatly
admired.

They were much under the influence of male and female
wizards called "pow-wows," in whose connection with in-
visible powers they had great faith. These persons claimed
to cure diseases by means of herbs, roots, exorcisms, and
magical incantations. A " pow-wow," in short, was at once
priest, physician, and juggler. Their power was a formid-
able obstacle to the spread of Christianity ; " for," said the
Indians, "if we once pray to God we must abandon our
pow-wows, and then, when we are sick or wounded, who
shall heal our maladies ? "

Such were the people among whom John Eliot was
preparing to labour. His zeal on their behalf was in-
creased by the fact that he believed them to be descendants
of the lost ten tribes of Israel. Though arrived at middle
life, he studied their language for two years before he
began preaching among them. He paid his first visit to
the Indians on 28th October 1646, at a place afterwards
called Nonantum. At a short distance from the wigwams
he and his friends were met by Waban, a leading man
among the Indians at that place, who assembled the
natives in his wigwam, where Eliot conducted a religious
18

OF THE RED INDIANS

service for them, which Longfellow has graphically de-
scribed in "Hiawatha": —

"All the old men of the village,
All the warriora of the nation,
All the Jossakeeds the prophets,
The magicians, the Wabenos,
And the medicine men, the medas.
Came to bid the strangers welcome,
' It is well,' they said, ' O brother ;
That you come so far to see us.'
In a circle round the doorway
With their pipes they sat in silence,
Waiting to behold the strangers,
Waiting to receive their message,
Till the Black Robe chief the pale face
From the wigwam came to greet them.
Stammering in his speech a little.
Speaking words yet unfamiliar."

The service lasted three hours, and the Indians listened
with the utmost attention, some of them being moved to
tears. When Eliot had finished they asked many questions
showing an intelligent appreciation of what he had said.

Encouraged by their behaviour on this and subsequent
occasions, Eliot applied to the General Court of Massa-
chusetts for a grant of land where the Indians might
settle and learn the arts of civilised life. The land being
granted, the site of a town named Noonatomen, or " Re-
joicing," was marked out by the Indians. Eliot advised
them to surround it with ditches and a stone wall, pro-
mising to furnish them with spades, shovels, mattocks, and
iron crows. He also gave money to those who worked hardest.
The wigwams they erected were in a considerably improved
style ; they were built not with mats as formerly, but with
the bark of trees, and were divided into several apartments.

The women began to learn to spin, to make various
19

JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE

little articles, and to carry the natural productions of the
country to market for sale.

The Indians also consented to conform to a code of
simple laws drawn upon the basis of the Ten Command-
ments. One of these aimed at the suppression of the
drink traffic, which had already begun to ruin and degrade
the character of the natives. After establishing this
settlement Eliot took frequent journeys through the
different parts of Massachusetts as far as Cape Cod,
preaching to as many Indians as would hear him. During
these tours he endured much personal hardship. In a
letter to a friend, he says, "I have not been dry night
or day from the third day of the week to the sixth, but
have travelled from place to place in that condition; and
at night I pull off my boots, wring my stockings and on
with them again, and so continue,"

When travelling through the wilderness without a friend
or companion, he was sometimes treated very harshly by the
Indians, and in some instances they even threatened his
life. Both the " sachems " (chiefs) and the pow-wows were
greatly opposed to the introduction of Cluristianity ; the
chiefs were alarmed lest they should lose their authority,
and the priests lest they should be deprived of their gains.

On one of these occasions, when one of the sachems,
named Cutshamakin, was storming against him, and the
friendly Indians were cowed by his words, Eliot with
calm courage told him that as he was about God's work
he feared neither him nor the other sachems, and that,
let them do what they would, he would go on with his
undertaking. The storm of words died down, and this
victory over the violence of the chief contributed not a
little to strengthen Eliot's influence with the other Indians,
20

OF THE RED INDIANS

The matter did not rest here. When Eliot left the
meeting Cutshamakin accompanied him a short distance
and unburdened his heart by stating honestly the ground
of his opposition. He alleged that the " praying Indians "
did not pay him tribute as they used to do. On inquiry,
however, Eliot found that this accusation was false, and
rebuked the chief severely for his covetousness.

The Indians were so extremely poor that Eliot had to
take his own food and drink with him on his journeys,
besides presents to distribute among them. Nor were
they altogether wanting in gratitude. He relates with
satisfaction on one occasion that as he was taking his
horse to depart, " a poor creature " seized his hand and
thrust something into it, which he found to be a penny-
worth of wampum^ on the end of a straw. He accepted
the humble present with thanks, " seeing so much hearty
affection in so small a thing."

In 1651 Eliot founded another settlement for "the
praying Indians " at Natick on the Charles River. Though
the stream was so shallow in the summer that the Indians
could generally wade through it with ease, yet, as the
water was deep in winter, it became necessary to throw
a bridge over it. Eliot persuaded them to undertake
this work, and they built a foot-bridge over the river
80 feet long and 9 feet high. The town was laid out in
three streets, two on one side, and one on the other side
of the river. Lots of land were measured and divided,
apple trees were planted, and the business of the sowing
season was begun. They built a circular fort, palisaded
with trees, and a large house in the English style, con-
taining a small room set apart for the missionary, while
1 A kind of shell-fish used among the Indians for money.

21

JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE

the rest of it 'was used as a schoolhouse and depot.
Wolves and bears still roamed in the woods at no great
distance, and at night their howling was distinctly heard.

The next year the settlement was visited by Governor
Endicott, who expressed himself highly gratified with the
progress made by the Indians, and requested Eliot to
write down the substance of a sermon preached by one
of the converts. Their religion was more than lip-deep,
for when the smallpox raged fatally in the winter of
1650-51, many of them hazarded their lives in unwearied
attention to the sick. There was an aged paralytic in a
loathsome condition which rendered him extremely trouble-
some. His own children became tired of the burden and
forsook him. Eliot offered six shillings a week to any
one who would take care of him. None would undertake
the office for hire ; but some of the families of the Christian
Indians offered their services gratuitously, and took care
of him for a long time.

The report of Eliot's work had led in England to the
foundation of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel. This society assisted him in the production of
the Indian Bible, his magnum opus, which occupied him
for many years. It is now only a literary curiosity, though
eagerly sought after by collectors, as the Indians who
spoke the Mohican language, in which it was made, are
all extinct. It enjoys the distinction of being the first
Bible ever printed on the continent of America, no English
Bible being printed there till about the middle of the next
century. Eliofs literary labours and care of his settlement
did not, however, prevent his itinerating as opportunity
offered. The chief of one village whom he had often
visited, at last signified his change of mind in a quaint

OF THE RED INDIANS

and characteristic speech : " I acknowledge that I have been
used all my life to pass up and down in an old canoe ;
and now you wish me to make a change, to leave my old
canoe and embark in a new one, for which I have been
unwilling, but now I give up myself to your advice, enter
into a new canoe, and do engage to pray to God hereafter."

One haughty chief, however, named Philip, rejected
Christianity with disdain, and would not allow it to be
introduced into his tribe. When Eliot went to visit him
he took hold of one of his buttons, and told him he cared
no more for his message than he did for that button.
Between this chief and the English colonists a war broke
out that was to wreck Eliofs work, and cast a shadow over
his declining years.

Philip had been summoned to appear before the
Governor to answer for some offence committed by his
tribe. The man who had given information of the offence
was murdered by the savages, and the murderers were
hanged by the English. The Indians retaliated by mas-
sacring eight or nine of the colonists at Swansey. Philip
wept when he heard that the blood of a white man had
been shed, but other atrocities soon followed. The colonists
began to arm, and a universal panic prevailed. Signs in
the heavens were reported to have been seen; a scalp
appeared on the disc of the moon ; an Indian bow was
imprinted on the sky ; troops of horses were heard rushing
through the air. The various outrages perpetrated by the
Indians roused the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts,
and Connecticut to an exterminating war. Eliofs com-
munity of praying Indians did not escape the effects of
the general resentment against the Indians. Some of them
were accused of favouring the designs of the enemy. The
23

JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE

colonists were afraid that the instinctive love of war and
carnage in them would break through the restraints of
religion. On the other hand, the chief Philip was jealous
of the praying Indians, and used every means of intimida-
tion and persuasion to enlist them on his side. The upshot
was that some enlisted with the English and did good
service, and some deserted to Philip. The order and har-
mony of Eliot's mission-stations were now utterly destroyed ;
on the hills around Natick watch-fires were blazing, and
war-whoops were heard in the night; at intervals musket-
shots and cries rang out from the neighbouring woods.
After several encounters Philip retired to the forests,
swamps, and fastnesses of the interior, in the dominion
of the great tribe of the Naraganset Indians, who for
his sake had now broken treaty with the English. It
was the depth of winter, yet the colonists resolved to
follow him to his retreat, and an army of fifteen hundred
men under the command of the Hon. J. Winslow marched
to the fastness of the Indians. This was on an island of
five or six acres, the only entrance to which was upon a
long tree trunk laid over the water, so that but one man
could pass at a time; the trees and thickets were white
with snow, as was the surface of the earth, so that the
smallest movement of the Indians could be seen. Within
the isle were gathered the Pequot and Naraganset tribes,
with their wives, families, and valuables; there were no
leaves and thick foliage to make an ambush possible, and
the savages had to fight in the open. It was the close
of day when the colonists came up to the place. A fort,
a blockhouse, and a wall that passed round the isle showed
the skill as well as the resolution of the natives ; but they
were no match for the white men. The frozen shores and
24

OF THE RED INDIANS

water were quickly covered with the slain, and then the
Indians fought at the doors of their wigwams till all was
lost. A thousand of them fell, and Philip fled with his
surviving forces to a distant retreat where it was impossible
to follow him.

During these troubles Eliot was subjected to much
contempt and reproach. His efforts to protect his people
and watch over their interests were incessant, but so strong
was the suspicion against them that the colonists inflicted
on them many sufferings. The General Court passed an
order that the Natick Indians should be removed to Deer
Island, in Boston harbour, between four and five miles
from the shore. They sadly but quietly submitted. Eliot
met them on the shore and endeavoured to soothe and
cheer them, and about midnight, when the tide served,
they embarked in three vessels and were transported to
their destined confinement on Deer Island. The state of
feeling among the colonists against Eliot is vividly illus-
trated by an incident that occurred about that time. He
happened to be in a boat which was run down and upset
by a larger vessel. Eliot was in great danger of drowning,
but was rescued by strenuous efforts. One at least of the
colonists, hearing how narrowly he had escaped, said openly
that he wished he had been drowned.

A party of Christian Indians who had fled from an
unprovoked attack by the colonists, in which some of their
women and children were wounded, had taken refuge in the
woods. They sent a pathetic message : " We are not sorry,"
they said, " for what we leave behind, but we are sorry that
the English have driven us from our praying to God and
from our teacher. We did begin to understand a little of
praying to God." Attempts were made to induce them to
25

JOHN ELIOT, THE INDIAN APOSTLE

return, but the remembrance of the day when their wives
and children were shot down was still fresh, and they re-
fused. At length winter and hunger drove them back to
their wigwams. When their return was made known at
Boston, a committee, consisting of Eliot and two others, was
appointed to visit them with a message of encouragement
and friendship, and to persuade the neighbouring colonists
to better treatment of them.

Philip at last was tracked down and killed. Peace was
restored, but the mission settlements had received a blow
from which it was impossible entirely to recover. Eliot
retired to Natick, the only settlement which had partly
escaped destruction, and sought to gather his scattered
people together and to restore their habits of industry.
During the few succeeding years he had the satisfaction of
seeing some of his churches restored, and the congregations
partially gathered together.

But his life was now approaching its close. "I am
drawing home," he wrote to the celebrated Robert Boyle,
who had been a steadfast supporter of his mission; "the
shadows are lengthening around me. I beseech you to
suppress the title of 'Indian Evangelist'; give not any
glory to me for what is done." Twenty years before this
Baxter had written to him, "There is no man on earth
whose work I think more honourable than yours. The
industry of the Jesuits and friars, and their successes in
Congo, Japan, China, shame us all, save you." " Since the
death of the Apostle Paul," says the eloquent American
orator Everett, "a nobler, truer, and warmer spirit than
John Eliot never lived."

He died in 1690, at the advanced age of eighty-six.

S6

CHAPTER II
THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

Saute Saint Marie — Jesuit explorations — Life in the wigwams— Capture
of Father Jogues — Horrible tortures — Cruelty of Indian children —
Murder of Father Goupil — A blood-stained oratory — Instruction of
Indians — Baptized at the stake — A timely warning — A hairbreadth
escape — English wreckers — Home at last — Back to martyrdom.

IN the long gallery of missionary heroes few figures more
strikingly rivet the attention than those of the Jesuit
martyr-missionaries in Canada. The most uncompro-
mising Protestant cannot contemplate them without feeling
moved at the spectacle of their unparalleled sufferings.

, Not long after the French had entered Canada in
1634, the Jesuits established a mission at Saute Sainte
Marie, between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The
difficulties of the journey thither from Quebec are thus
graphically described by Bancroft, the historian of the
United States : " The journey by way of the Ottawa
and the rivers that interlock with it was one of more
than nine hundred miles through a region horrible with
forests. All day long the missionaries had to wade or
handle the oar. At night there was no food for them
but a scanty measure of Indian corn mixed with water ;
their couch was the earth or the rocks. At five-and-thirty
waterfalls the canoe had to be carried on their shoulders
for leagues through thick woods or over roughest regions:
fifty times it was dragged by hand through shallows and
rapids over sharp stones; and thus — swimming, wading,
27

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

paddling, or bearing the canoe across the portages with
garments torn, with feet mangled — the consecrated envoys
made their way by rivers, lakes, and forests from Quebec
to the heart of the Huron wilderness."

Among the Hurons they made several converts, but
the mission stations were kept in a constant state of alarm
by the inroads of the Iroquois, or Confederacy of Five
Nations, the\ hereditary foes of the Hurons. Excelling the
Chinese in their love of horrible and strange tortures, these
savages, obtaining fire-arms from the Dutch at Manhattan,
used to lurk in the woods that lined the shores of the great
lakes, waiting for the canoes that conveyed missionaries and
supplies between Sainte Marie and Quebec.

The superior of Sainte Marie at that time was Jean
de Brebeuf, a man of imperturbable courage. Nor were
his companions lacking in the same quality. Days and
nights they spent in the Indian wigwams, half stifled by
the smoke of the fires, by the light of which they wrote
the graphic letters which are still preserved. When
disease broke out, as it often did, they went from hut
to hut, baptizing the dying, though often cursed them-
selves for being, as was supposed, the cause of the sickness.
Their worst enemies were the native sorcerers, who accused
them of causing not only pestilence, but drought, blighted
crops, or whatever other disaster happened.

In the letters above mentioned we have a graphic account
of the terrible sufferings of Father Isaac Jogues, one of
the missionaries at Sainte Marie. In 1642 he had been
sent to Quebec to obtain supplies, and on his return
with Ahasistari, a Christian Huron chief, and other
Hurons, as the canoes ascended the St. Lawrence, they
were fired on and captured by a party of Mohawks, an

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

Iroquois clan, who had lain in ambush in the woods.
The canoes were riddled with bullets, but none of the
occupants were killed, one Huron only being shot through
the hand. A French missionary, Rene Goupil, was taken
prisoner, and, seeing this, Father Jogues, who might possibly
have escaped by concealing himself in the reeds and tall
grass on the bank, surrendered also to the enemy.

When the rest of the Mohawks came back from the
pursuit of the fugitive Hurons, they carried the captives
across the river, and there shared the plunder of the
twelve canoes they had taken. This was very great, for
independently of what each Frenchman had with him,
there were twenty packages containing church-plate and
other articles. While they were dividing the plunder,
Father Jogues completed the instruction of those of his
Huron fellow-prisoners who were unchristened, and baptized
them. Among the rest was one octogenarian chief who,
when ordered to enter the canoe to be borne off with the
rest, exclaimed, " How shall I, a hoary old man, go to a
strange and foreign land ? Never ! here will I die ! "
As he absolutely refused to go, they slew him on the
very spot where he had just been baptized. Raising then
a joyful shout, the Mohawks bore off the Frenchmen and
the Christian Hurons, consisting of twenty-two captives,
three having been killed. Their sufferings on the journey
(which lasted thirteen days) were great from hunger and
heat, and the hideous cruelty of the Indians. These
savages, according to their practice with prisoners, tore
out Father Jogues' finger-nails, except two, with their
teeth. On the eighth day they fell in with a troop of
two hundred Iroquois going out to fight. It was the
custom of the Indian war parties to signalise their depar-

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

ture by deeds of cruelty, under the belief that their success
would be greater in proportion as they had been more
cruel. First rendering thanks to the sun, as the god of
war, they congratulated their countrymen by firing off a
volley of musketry. Then arming themselves with clubs,
as the prisoners landed from the canoes, they beat them
with such fury that Father Jogues, who was the last, and
therefore the most exposed to their blows, sank before he
had traversed half the rocky path which led to the scaflFold
which had been erected for the prisoners. When they had
carried him there half dead and drenched with blood, they
burned one of his fingers and crunched another with their
teeth. One savage came up, and, seizing his nose in one
hand prepared to cut it off with a large knife which he held
in the other, but some unaccountable impulse restrained his
hand. Had he accomplished his purpose. Father Jogues
would probably not have been allowed to live, as Iroquois
do not generally spare captives thus mutilated.

On the tenth day about noon they left their canoes
and performed on foot the rest of the journey, which
lasted ten days. The prisoners had to carry the baggage,
but owing to Father Jogues"* enfeebled condition only a
small package was given him to carry. They suffered
much from hunger, and for three days in succession tasted
nothing but berries. When they reached the first Iroquois
village the captives had to run the gauntlet between two
lines of youths armed with clubs, before they reached the
stage erected for them. Here the same sickening scene
of cruelty was re-enacted, Father Jogues having his left
thumb cut off by a Christian woman, compelled to per-
petrate this act by violent threats.

At night the prisoners were stretched on the ground,
30

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

their feet and hands being fastened to four stakes. Here
during the hot August nights they suffered torments from
insects, without being able to move a limb. The children
of the village, by way of apprenticeship in the art of cruelty,
would come and lay hot coals and embers on them, which it
was very difficult to shake off.

So proceeded this terrible pilgrimage through various
Indian villages, many of the inhabitants of which had never
beheld a captive Frenchman before. In one of them they
hung Father Jogues up between two poles in a hut, tied by
the arms above the elbow with coarse rope woven of the
bark of trees. Father Jogues thought he was to be burnt
alive, as this was one of their usual preliminaries to that
mode of execution. Owing to the intense pain caused, he
begged his torturers to relax the ropes a little. But their
only answer was to tighten them. At last when he had
been hanging there for a quarter of an hour they unloosed
him as he was on the point of fainting.

The captives had now for seven days been led from
village to village and from scaffold to scaffold. On the
eighth day they were told that they would be burned to
death. Father Jogues, addressing the Christian Hurons for
the last time as he supposed, exhorted them to be of good
courage. But the chiefs on further consideration deter-
mined that no precipitate step should be taken as regards
the French prisoners, and, when they had summoned them
before the council, told them that their lives would be
spared. Three, however, of the Christian Hurons were put
to death with cruel torture.

Hunger, sleeplessness, and wounds had reduced Father
Jogues and his companion, Rene Goupil, to a state of
pitiable exhaustion. They had nothing to add to the
31

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

Indian corn, carelessly bruised between two stones which
the savages gave them, but unripe squashes. The Indians,
seeing their prisoners on the point of death from exhaustion,
hunted up in the village some small fishes and bits of meat
dried by the fire and sun and gave them to the sufferers.

About this time some of the Dutch settlers at Albany
sent overtures to ransom the French prisoners, but the
Mohawks refused. They were at that time specially incensed
against them, as a band of Indians had just been repulsed in
an attack on Fort Richelieu and three of them slain.

One day as Jogues and Goupil were walking in a wood,
the savages allowing them this degree of liberty as they
did not attempt to escape, they were accosted by two
savages, who commanded them to return to the village. At
the entrance to the village one of them dealt Goupil a blow
on the head with his tomahawk which stretched him lifeless.

At the sight of the murderer's reeking hatchet, Father
Jogues knelt down on the spot, and, uncovering his head,
awaited a like blow. But when he had thus knelt a minute
or two they bade him rise. Father Jogues learned after-
wards that Goupil had been killed by the orders of an old
Indian on whose grandchild he had made the sign of the
cross, which they viewed with superstitious horror.

The next day Father Jogues went out to look for the
body of his friend in order to bury it, but found that the
Indians had contemptuously tied a rope round the neck,
and, dragging it through the village, had flung it into a
ravine at a considerable distance. Not being able to bury
it that day he returned the next, but found that the body
had again been carried off. Only after the lapse of some
time did he succeed in recovering some of the bones and
the skull, which he interred.

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

Amid such suifering two months passed away. In the
autumn, when the hunting season had come, Father Jogues
was made to accompany a hunting party to gather wood for
them and to do other menial offices. At intervals he tried
to preach to them, but they told him to desist, as they
believed it spoilt their chances of catching game. Their
ill-will against him was inflamed by the fact that he refused
to partake of any of their captured game, as they were in
the habit before eating of dedicating it to a demon called
Aireskoi. Father Jogues"" conscience, therefore, would not
allow him to eat any of it, and he often remained hungry
while watching them feast.

He had made himself an oratory in the woods, and here,
clad in a scanty cloak, he would offer his devotions amid
the snows which often were spotted with blood from his
wounds. At night he often had to sleep on the ground
on some rough bark, for though the Indians had plenty of
deerskins they refused to let him have one.

Thus two more months passed, when he was sent back to
the village bearing a heavy load of venison for the hunters.
Seeing that his life was likely to be spared, he began to
apply himself to the study of their dialect, for in their
quieter moods the Indians would ask him many questions
as to the sun, moon, and stars, &c. They were pleased with
his answers, and said, " Indeed, we should have lost a great
treasure had we put this man to death, as we have so often
been on the point of doing.""

Thus the time passed on till spring, but for Father
Jogues the prospect of death was never remote. When-
ever any of their " braves "" fell in their numerous expedi-
tions, he was liable to be demanded as a victim to be
pffered up in compensation.

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

His feelings were harrowed from time to time by seeing
the awful tortures inflicted on Indian prisoners from other
tribes when they were brought into the village. Burning
alive was one of the most merciful of these. On one occasion
he baptized a woman at the stake while raising a drink of
water to her parched lips. As she was burnt an old Indian
exclaimed, " Demon Areskoi, we offer thee this victim whom
we burn for thee, that thou mayest be filled with her flesh
and render us ever anew victorious over our enemies.*"

In the summer he was sent with a party of Indians on
a fishing expedition. Hearing, however, that some captive
Hurons had been brought to the village during his absence,
he begged for leave to return that he might have the oppor-
tunity of instructing them. This was granted, but on his
way thither, stopping at Fort Orange, a Dutch settlement,
he heard that the Indians in the village were extremely
incensed against him, and had positively determined on his
death. This was because, when starting on an expedition
against Fort Richelieu, one of the Indians, hoping to get
some advantage by it, had asked him for a letter to the
French at the Fort. Father Jogues wrote the letter, and,
at the risk of his life, made use of the opportunity to warn
his countrymen of the treacherous designs of the Indians.
When the commander of Fort Richelieu read the letter, he
turned his guns against the Indians, who returned to their
village breathing out terrible threats against their captive.

The commander of the Dutch troops at Fort Orange,
when Jogues arrived there on his way back to the village,
offered him the means of escape. " Here,'' he said, " lies
a vessel at anchor ready to sail in a few days. Get privately
on board. It is bound first to Virginia, whence it will
carry you to Bordeaux or Rochelle." Tlianking him with
34

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

much respect, Father Jogues told him that the Indians
would suspect the Dutch of favouring his escape and
perhaps do them some injury. "No! No!" he replied,
" do not fear, get on board ; it is a fine opportunity, and
you will never find a surer way of escaping."

Greatly to the commander's surprise, the worthy Father
asked for a night to consider the question. His conscience
was in doubt whether he might not be of some use to the
captive Hurons. Finally, considering the little chance he
had of instructing them in the then excited state of the
Iroquois, he resolved to accept the commander's offer ; who
thereupon sent for the officers of the ship, told them his
intentions, and ordered them to receive Father Jogues and
to carry him to Europe. " Cheer up, then ! "" he said to
the missionary, " this evening or in the night, steal off
quietly and make for the river ; there you will find a little
boat, which I will have ready to take you to the ship."
Father Jogues accordingly retired with his Indian escort,
consisting of ten or twelve Iroquois, to a barn where he
was to spend the night.

In the evening, before lying down, he went out to see
the way by which he could most easily escape. Un-
fortunately, one of the dogs which were let loose at night,
snapped at his bare leg and bit it severely. He immediately
re-entered the barn, and the Iroquois, whose suspicions had
been aroused, closed the door securely, and, to guard him
better, came and lay down beside him.

The whole night he spent without sleep. Towards dawn
he heard the cocks crow, and soon after a servant of the
Dutch farmer, to whom the barn belonged, entered by
another door which had been left unguarded. Father Jogues
went up to him softly, and, not understanding Dutch, made
35

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

him a sign to stop the dogs barking; he immediately went
out and Father Jogues followed him.

Having got out of the barn without making any noise
or waking the guards, he climbed over a fence which en-
closed the barn, and ran straight to the river where the
ship was. It was as much as he could do with his wounded
leg, for the distance was nearly a mile. He found the boat
as he had been told, but since the tide had gone down
it was high and dry. It was an anxious moment, as the
sun was rising, and the Iroquois might at any instant
discover his escape. He called to the ship for a boat to
be sent to take him on board, but, receiving no answer,
redoubled his exertions to push the stranded boat to the
water. To his surprise he at last succeeded, and, jumping
in, reached the vessel unperceived by the Iroquois.

He was immediately lodged in the bottom of the hold,
and to hide him they put a large box on the hatch. Here
he spent two days and two nights half regretting his
escape from the Iroquois, as he was nearly suffocated by
the stench.

Presently the Indians came out to the ship, and with loud
threats demanded to have him given up. This the officers
refused to do, but at night sent Father Jogues to the Fort,
where he was housed in the dwelling of a miserly o]d man,
who appropriated half the food that was sent him. The
garret where Father Jogues lay in hiding was only divided
by a thin partition from the room where the old man, who
was a trader, trafficked with the Iroquois, who came to
him. This partition had many crevices, and had any
curious savage applied his eye to one of them, the escaped
prisoner might have been detected. Accordingly whenever he
heard them coming he crouched down in the remotest corner.

THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

The angry Iroquois were at last appeased by the Dutch
with an offer of about one hundred pieces of gold. Father
Jogues was sent to New Amsterdam, where he was kindly
received and clothed by Director Kieft, who gave him a
passage to Holland in a vessel which sailed shortly after.
But his misfortunes were not yet ended. The vessel was
driven in a storm on to the English coast near Falmouth,
where it was seized by wreckers, who stripped Father
Jogues and his companions of nearly all their clothes, and
left them to pursue their journey as best they could.
Falling in with the crew of a French ship then in the
harbour, he obtained a passage to France, which he reached
on Christmas Day 1643,

A merchant took him to Rennes, and he presented
himself at the college of his order as one who brought
news from Canada. The rector hurried to see the stranger
as soon as he heard the word " Canada." Almost his first
question was, " Do you know Father Jogues ? " " I know
him well," said the other. " We have heard of his capture
by the Iroquois, and his horrible sufferings. What has
become of him ? Is he still alive .? " " He is alive," said
Father Jogues ; " he is free, he is now speaking to you,"
and he cast himself at the feet of his astonished Superior
to ask his blessing. Once recognised, honours met him
on every side. The Queen Regent, Anne of Austria,
requested that he should come to Paris, that she might
see so illustrious a sufferer. When she did so, she kissed
his mutilated hands.

Father Jogues, however, felt uncomfortable in these

novel surroundings. He felt irresistibly impelled to return

to Canada, and, having obtained permission from his

superiors, he arrived there in the spring of 1644. Soon

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THE CAPTIVE OF THE IROQUOIS

after his arrival he was commissioned by the Governor to
proceed to the Mohawks to congratulate that tribe on the
conclusion of a recently negotiated treaty. In writing to
a friend just before he set out, he used the fateful words,
"Ibo et non redibo,"" " I shall go and shall not return."
He set out in company with some Indians for the scene
of his former sufferings. Passing through Fort Orange
he proceeded to Oneugioure, one of the Mohawk villages.
Presents were here exchanged in ratification of the peace ;
the French received every assurance of future welcome, and
passed on. Unfortunately, Father Jogues left with his
Indian hosts a small box containing some necessaries as
a guarantee for his return. Sickness, however, broke out
during his absence, and worms destroyed their harvest.
They now became convinced that he had left the Evil One
in that box, and on his reappearance among them they
stripped him of his clothing and beat him with heavy clubs.
As he was entering a wigwam he was treacherously felled
with an axe, his head was cut off and stuck on the palisades,
and his body flung into the river.

Such was the marvellous career of this martyr-missionary.
The narrative is based on contemporary and well-authenti-
cated documents, of which the American historian Parkman
says : " All these narratives show the strongest internal
evidence of truth, and are perfectly concurrent. They are
also supported by statements of escaped Huron prisoners,
and by several letters and memoirs of the Dutch at
Rensselaerswyck."

88

CHAPTER III

DAVID BRAINERD AMONG THE REDSKINS

Ihe Yale student — First settlement at Kanaumeek — " Plain living and
high thinking " — Dutch colonists — Perils of the frontier — Life in a
wigwam — Forest solitudes — Building his own house — Indian sorcerers
— Itineration hardships — Gratitude of the savages — Visit to Jonathan
Edwards — Brainerd and Martyn.

DAVID BRAINERD, sprung from Puritan ancestry
on both sides, was born at Haddam, Connecticut,
in 1718. A tendency to morbid reverie marked
him in boyhood. He went as a student to Yale in 1739,
but his health broke down through overwork, and he had
a severe attack of haemorrhage from the lungs. From
this he recovered, and returned to Yale, only, however,
to be expelled, under the strict regime of those days, for
having used an unfortunate expression regarding one of
the tutors. A council of ministers asked for his restora-
tion but were refused, Brainerd being regarded as a fire-
brand by the authorities. Thus this most zealous and
devoted missionary was not permitted to take a degree.

The honour of having been the first to engage Brainerd's
services for work among the Red Indians belongs to the
"honourable Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian
Knowledge," a committee from which, sitting in New
York, examined him and gave him a license to preach.
His first work among the Indians was at a place near
Kent, on the borders of Connecticut, but not long after-
39

DAVID BRAINERD

wards he was appointed to Kanaumeek, many miles in
the interior. The place was encompassed with mountains
and woods, and there were no English inhabitants within
twenty miles. There was, however, one family that had
come from the Highlands of Scotland, and now lived at
a distance of only two miles from Kanaumeek. The
presence of this family was a godsend to the missionary.
People soon become intimate in the wilderness, and he
went to lodge with them. The Highlanders had dwelt
two years in this place, where the face of neighbour or
friend was unknown. They had built their log dwelling,
cut down the trees around, and cultivated the open land.
The coming of a stranger must have been a welcome event
in the monotony of their existence in the forest.

Brainerd's description of his life, in a letter to his
brother, is very graphic: — "I live in the most lonely,
melancholy desert about eighteen miles from Albany. I
board with a Highlander: his wife can talk scarce any
English. My diet consists mostly of hasty pudding,
boiled corn, and bread baked in the ashes. My lodging
[bed] is a little heap of straw laid upon some boards a
little way from the ground, for it is a log-room without
any floor that I lodge in. My work is exceedingly hard;
I live so far from my Indians. The master of the house
is the only one with whom I can readily converse in these
parts."

After many months he got into his own house : this
was a little hut, built with long and hard labour, chiefly
with his own hands. He writes : " Just at night moved
into my own house. In my weak state of health I had
no bread, nor could I get any. I am forced to go or
send ten or fifteen miles for all the bread I eat, and
40

AMONG THE REDSKINS

sometimes it is mouldy and sour before I eat it, if I get
any quantity."

The committee of his society had directed him to spend
as much time as possible this winter with Mr, Sergeant
of Stockbridge, twenty miles off. He began to study
the Indian language with him, riding to and fro in all
weathers — the way was partly through unhabitated woods.
He speaks of the wretched roads of Albany. At the
time alluded to, no regular road existed for a good part
of the way, which was flat and barren, and here and
there covered with sand : " Lost my way in a dreary
country, and obliged to lie all night on the ground.
Went to Kinderhook on the Hudson, fifteen miles from
my place." Albany and Kinderhook, whither he went
several times, were old Dutch settlements surrounded by
sandy plains and covered with yellow pine. The colonists
had intermarried only among themselves, and had pre-
served all the primitiveness of their habits ; their dwellings
were formal and quaint, with their gable ends to the
street, and with high-pointed roofs and little windows.
In the porch by the street door were seats where the
famihes used to sit a good part of the day ; and as their
neighbours generally joined them, the domestic circles of
the whole town were gathered in the open air. Every
one was expected to greet these parties as he passed, and
to Brainerd riding slowly through the town this was
embarrassing. On one occasion a Dutchman, moved by
curiosity, came to his log house, and the recluse was
greatly scandalised at his utter worldliness and insensi-
bility.

His situation at Kanaumeek was not wholly free from
danger. The settlement was situated upon an exposed
41

DAVID BRAINERD

frontier, and whenever war broke out between England
and France, the Indians, stirred up by the French, fell at
once upon the border settlements, killing, burning, and
destroying. Nothing could be more appalling than such
inroads. They came like lightning; no one could tell
where the bolt would fall ; so that the least prospect of
war caused deep and painful excitement. Those who
lived upon the frontier had no choice but to remain in
their place without protection, or to seek safety by aban-
doning their homes to plunder and ruin. One night, when
Brainerd was engaged with his Indians at Kanaumeek,
an express arrived in haste informing him that the
Governor had ordered Colonel Stoddart to give warning
to all who were in exposed situations that there was
every prospect of a sudden invasion, and that they must
secure themselves as well as they were able without delay.
The only notice Brainerd took of this startling message
in his diary was to observe that it taught him not to
attach himself too much to the comforts of life.

Brainerd had not been many months at Kanaumeek
before he saw that he might be more usefully employed
at a more distant station. The Indians there were few
in number, and greatly harassed by the avarice and
extortions of their white neighbours. It occurred to
Brainerd that if they could be prevailed on to remove to
Stockbridge / " would be under the care of an excellent
pastor who knew their wants, their manners, and their
language, while he himself would be released from his
engagements and left at liberty to go, not to an easier
station, but to some of the other tribes who were quite
without instruction.

As soon as it became known that he was leaving

AMONG THE REDSKINS

Kanaumeek, the people of two parishes, one on Long
Island and one in Connecticut, were urgent that he should
become their pastor; but having put his hand to the
missionary plough he would not look back, and deter-
mined to spend the remainder of life, short as it was
likely to be, among the Indians.

After leaving Kanaumeek he took a journey of a
hundred and fifty miles to a village of the Delaware
Indians, and, seeking an interview with their chief, ex-
plained his object. This chief, however, only laughed at
him and went his way. A journey of two days more
brought him to the Delaware River and to another settle-
ment, whose chief was more friendly, and after consulting
with some of his old men consented to listen to his
words: the audience was very small, but attentive. In
this place Brainerd spent the greater part of the summer,
lodging in one of the wigwams, compared with which his
former log hut was a home of comfort. He preached
usually in the dwelling of the chief, who had been pleased
with his first discourse, and had consented to have his
wigwam transformed into a chapel. Volumes of smoke
often arose from the huge camp-fires, and wrapped the
preacher and the audience in such dense clouds that they
could not see him. He speaks in his journal of the sick
headaches that were the consequence; and when the wind
was high the ashes and dust from the fires were blown
into his eyes and mouth till he was nearly choked. These
Indians were a sequestered colony, supporting themselves
by hunting and fishing, not powerful enough to engage
in war, and too poor to tempt the inroads of enemies.
Unshaken in his purpose, yet sick at heart, Brainerd lived
here till the autumn ; and his love of solitude grew more
43

DAVID BRAINERD

intense, fostered perhaps by the deep stillness of the
Indian forests. When the rains fell, not in showers but
in a deluge, his situation was pitiable. For days together
he was unable to stir out of the wigwam ; a blanket was
hung before the opening which served as a doorway; but
if the wind chanced to be high this frail screen could not
exclude the wet, and the smoke, unable to ascend, settled
below in a dense cloud. Even the bedding, a buffalo
skin, was often saturated; and as the whole family, and
in many cases two or three families, huddled together on
the floor to rest, sleep became almost impossible.

Wearied with the discomforts of a wigwam, he laboured
hard for a fortnight to construct a little cabin in which he
might live by himself during the winter. One chamber
served for kitchen and parlour ; in it he kept his store of
wood, and ate and slept. The dwellings of the Indians
were widely scattered; his own stood apart from the rest
— a miserable hut of pine or cedar logs rudely hewn, with
a roof of bark, and with fastenings which had to be carefully
secured at the close of day, for wolves and bears prowled
around.

By the return of spring the Indians had begun to pay
greater attention to his discourses. "The next day," he
writes, "I preached to the people in the wilderness upon
the sunny side of a hill ; a considerable assembly consisting
of many that lived not less than thirty miles asunder."
One of the earliest converts was a man of a hundred years
of age, an ancient savage whose head was as white as the
snows. Others listened with diligence, and ere long with
eagerness. They began to come to his cottage at evening,
when the chase was over, to hear him and ask questions.

After a while, wishing to occupy new ground, he went
44

AMONG THE REDSKINS

on to the Susquehanna, and came to an island called
Juneauta, occupied by a rude and degraded set of Indians.
A great part of the population being away hunting, he
pursued his journey down the river south-westward. One
evening he came upon a party who had kindled an immense
fire, which threw its red light afar upon the stream and
the woods that bordered it. They were dancing round it
with such outcries that they could be heard at the distance
of miles in the stillness of the night. At times they threw
in the fat of deer which they had prepared for the occasion,
and yelled fearfully as the flame rose in bright columns. It
seemed to be some religious rite, and the orgies were con-
tinued all night ; but Brainerd, when he had walked to and
fro till body and mind were exhausted, crept into a little
crib made for corn and there slept on the floor. The next
morning he made new attempts to get a hearing, but he
soon found they had something else to do ; for about noon
they gathered their pow-wows, and set them to work to
ascertain by their incantations the cause of a disease then
prevalent among them. In this business they were engaged
several hours, making all kinds of wild cries and contor-
tions ; sometimes stroking their faces with their hands, then
reaching out their arms at full length with all their fingers
spread, as if to keep something away; sometimes bowing
down with an expression of deep reverence to some invisible
presence, and then lying prostrate on the ground. Brainerd
sat about twenty yards from them with his Bible in his
hand, watching their proceedings with a strange mingling of
pity and disgust.

In his journal he has given a graphic picture of one of
these sorcerers : " He came in his pontifical garb, which was
a coat of bearskins, dressed with the hair on, hanging down
45

DAVID BRAINERD

to his toes ; a pair of bear-skin stockings ; and a great
wooden face painted one-half black and the other tawny,
with an extravagant mouth cut very much awry. He ad-
vanced towards me with the instrument in his hand which
he used for music in his idol-worship, which was a dry
tortoise-shell with some corn in it. As he came forward
he beat his tune and danced with all his might, but did
not suffer any part of his body, not so much as his fingers,
to be seen ; no man would have guessed by his appearance
that he was a human creature. When he came near me
I could but shrink away from him, although it was then
noonday, his appearance and gestures were so frightful."

The hardships of Brainerd's journeys in the Indian
wildernesses were enough to ruffle the most exemplary
patience. On the mountains which he was obliged to
cross, there were few abodes ; the Indians preferring the
flat country and the woods. Height after height arose
where no white man's foot had trod before, and sudden
precipices often barred the way, and then a long circuit
had to be made. But the chief danger attendant on these
passes was from the melting of the snows, which suddenly
swelled the mountain streams and caused floods. Pouring
down the precipices into the vales and ravines, the torrents
bore all before them; the rocks and shrubs v/ere soon
covered, and then the trees disappeared gradually. A
friendly roof in such a region was as delightful as un-
expected : " Late at night we came suddenly to the house
of a stranger, where we were kindly entertained; what a
cause of thankfulness was this!" Their night's lodging
was sometimes beneath the shelter of a rock ; a dead pine-
tree was kindled and threw its glare on the cliffs, and
kept the wild beasts at a distance; then they lay down
46

AMONG THE REDSKINS

to rest by the burning embers. On one of these journeys
he lay every night for three weeks on the bare ground.

In his journeys among the Susquehanna Indians he
found them as a rule civil and friendly, but bad listeners.
Although he did not join in the chase, he received a share
of the spoils and made one of the circle who sat round the
roasted deer on mats on the floor; he could have been no
costly guest, and the hungry savages must have been aston-
ished at the slenderness of his appetite.

Unlike Eliot and Zeisberger, he never found time to
master the difficult Indian languages, but preached through
an interpreter. " The great reason," he writes, " why the
Delaware language is not familiar to me before this time
is that I am obliged to ride four thousand miles a year,
and have little time left for my necessary studies. Then
I have to preach and catechise frequently, to converse
privately with persons who need so much instruction as
these Indians do; to take care of their secular affairs; to
ride abroad to procure collections for their help and benefit ;
to hear and decide all their petty differences : time also is
necessarily consumed upon my journals and other writings.
Often I have not been able to gain more than two hours a
week for reading."

In his journeys he was often accompanied by six Indian
disciples, who walked rapidly by his horse's side. This was
rendered necessary by his failing health, for in the midst
of the day's ride he sometimes fainted in their arms, and
they had to lay him insensible on the ground, and watch
over him.

The Indians owed much to his care, as one instance will
show. Through improvidence and a desire for articles of
clothing and arms, as well as ardent spirits, some Indians
47

DAVID BRAINERD

had incurred a debt to the European settlers of about
eighty pounds. In case of non-payment their lands were
forfeited to the lenders, who were eager to take advantage
of the bargain. When Brainerd became aware of this, he
caused the debt to be discharged and saved the lands.

Meantime his health was rapidly failing ; sometimes he
slept in cabins where the smoke affected his lungs so
seriously that he was obliged to rise and go out into the
open air ; sometimes he slept outside with neither fire nor
shelter, protected only by some branches which he had
broken from the pines. He was repeatedly drenched in
thunder-storms, and chilled with the damps and mists.
Every night he was tormented with profuse, cold sweats,
and by day he was perpetually throv/ing up blood from
his lungs. His Indians showed their gratitude as they
could, by making the interior of his hut as comfortable
as possible; there was neither carpet nor glass windows
nor soft couch, but the choicest skins were laid with the
fur uppermost for him to recline on.

A few of his tried friends, hearing of his state, hastened
to the wilderness to see him, but they could not rem^iin
with him, and he was left again to the unskilful hands
of his poor Indians, who watched round his bed with
wistful looks and whispered to the interpreter. The winter
was drawing on, the snow had begun to fall on the moun-
tains, the woods were stripped of their leaves, and the
piercing east winds, the most hurtful to consumptives, were
wild without. At last he resolved to depart, and, bidding
a reluctant farewell to his Indians, he journeyed to Eliza-
beth Town, where he was confined for a week to his
chamber, but was cheered by an Indian who brought him
news of the welfare and good conduct of his congregation.
48

AMONG THE REDSKINS

He went on to Northampton and consulted Dr. Mather,
who pronounced his case to be one of confirmed and rapid
consumption. He was here lodged at the house of his
friend and biographer. President Jonathan Edwards. " I
heard much of him before this," wrote the latter, "from
many who were well acquainted with him. I found him
remarkably sociable, pleasant, and entertaining in his con-
versation, far from any stiffness or demureness in speech or
behaviour, but seeming to nauseate such things."

He continued to decline till the middle of September,
when he felt as if he must make one more effort on behalf
of his poor Indians. A visit from his brother, who had
succeeded him in his post, constrained him to write to those
gentlemen in Boston whom he had interested in behalf of
the Indians, telling them of the growth of the school at
Crossweeksung and of the need of another teacher. As
soon as they received his letter, they met and cheerfully
offered the sum of two hundred pounds for that purpose,
besides contributing seventy - five pounds, according to
Brainerd's suggestion, to aid the mission to the Six
Nations. At the same time he selected two young men
for that mission, according to the request of the commis-
sioners. He was not able to finish these letters with his
own hand, but, when they were completed, he felt that his
work was done.

He died on October 9, 1747, at the age of twenty-nine.
His life presents the same strange combination of profound
melancholy and restless energy as that of Henry Martyn —
almost his exact counterpart. Both shine remote and
immortal, the Gemini of the missionary heaven.

49

CHAPTER IV
HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

Early colonists in Greenland — Egede's reception by the Esquimaux
— Heroism of his wife — The annual store-ship — Greenland sorcerers —
Exploring the east coast — Outbreak of pestilence — Settlement of
" Good Hope " — An Esquimaux suicide — Arrival of new missionaries
— Gluttony of Greenlanders— A conspiracy— Saved by stupidity —
Death of Madame Egede.

GREENLAND was first discovered by an Icelander
named Gunbiorn, who was driven there by a storm
about the beginning of the tenth century, and
carried back intelligence of its existence to Iceland. To-
wards the end of the same century an Icelandic chief named
Eric the Red, having killed another powerful chief, and
being obliged to quit the country, determined to follow
up Gunbiorn's discovery. After having spent two or
three years exploring the country, he returned to Iceland,
giving an exaggerated account of its freshness and verdure,
and naming it Greenland. Attracted by these reports,
other colonists from Iceland and Norway followed him,
and a regular trade between Norway and Greenland was
established. The colonists, though compelled to lead a
life of severe privation and hardship, continued to increase.
Christianity was introduced, and churches and monasteries
were built.

For some centuries the commercial intercourse between
Greenland and Norway was kept up, but the " black death "
of the year 1349 and the attacks of the native Esquimaux
60

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

had put an end to the main colony of the Norwegians in
Greenland, and at the beginning of the eighteenth century
the eastern coast had been for a long time inaccessible
through some change in the position of the Arctic ice.

About the year 1707 Hans Egede, a Norwegian pastor
at Drontheim, conceived the project of a mission to Green-
land from reading about these early colonists in a history
of Norway. The thought of those unfortunate settlers
cut off from the rest of mankind by a barrier of ice, and
sinking into heathenism for want of Christian instruction,
haunted him day and night. When he first mooted his
project, his wife and relations scouted it as the sheerest
madness. Not to be baffled, however, he wrote to the
Bishop of Bergen proposing to conduct a mission to Green-
land, and in reply received a strange letter from that prelate,
in which he suggested that " Greenland was undoubtedly
a part of America, and could not be very far from Cuba
and Hispaniola, where there was found such abundance
of gold." Egede resigned his pastorate and proceeded to
Bergen, where he haunted the harbour and the quays,
questioning the sailors and merchants about Greenland.
His wife had by this time been won over to his plans,
and in the end her ardour and resolution outstripped
his own.

Egede laid his plan before Frederick IV., King of
Denmark, who, in spite of the discouraging reports of the
merchants, approved it, and at length in 1721, after wait-
ing for thirteen years for the means of putting his project
into execution, Egede and a little band of colonists sailed
for Greenland. On the 3rd of July, after a dangerous
voyage, they landed at Baals River, on the western coast,
and were on the whole hospitably received by the natives.
51

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

These latter were extremely unprepossessing in appear-
ance, and were obviously not the descendants of the ancient
colonists. They were clothed entirely in skins, with the
fur turned inwards, and their garments consisted of a
vest with long sleeves, left open in front ; a pair of trousers,
with the ends tucked into their wide boots, and an outer
jacket with a hood, which they wore thrown back on their
shoulders; their greasy black hair being mostly gathered
into a knot on the top of their heads. The women seemed
chiefly anxious for coloured beads, to hang in long rows
round their necks, and to decorate their boots and vests,
as well as for red cloth to trim their hoods, and for pins
and twine and needles.

The climate (and the soil were both harsher and ruder
than the Norwegians had expected, and the only circum-
stance that was in their favour was the character of the
inhabitants, which though at first excessively phlegmatic,
so as to give the idea that their feelings had been frozen,
was neither cruel, nor, as was found by further experience,
unadapted to receive religious impressions. The natives,
however, grew apprehensive when they found that their
visitors built a house and intended to stay out the winter.
They intimated by signs that the new comers would be all
destroyed by the ice and snow, and had better go as soon
as possible. Nothing daunted, however, they proceeded
with the building of their house. Large blocks of stone,
with every crevice filled with turf and moss, both within
and without, formed the walls, and the roof was of the
same construction, with heavy timber frames to support it.
There were two apartments, each lined with dried moss,
and lighted by small windows doubly glazed. In the largest
was the fire-place for driftwood, and in the other a stove
52

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

which they had happily brought with them. In the enclo-
sure round they tried to make a httle garden, but no sooner
did a green thing appear, than it was torn up by the roots
and eaten by the natives, so that Egede and his sons were
obliged to make their garden in some spot among the hills
known only to themselves.

For some years following, the mission had a hard fight
for life. The settlers, unable to obtain sufficient food by
fishing and the chase, were entirely dependent on the supply
of provisions sent them once a year by store-ships from
Denmark, and when this supply was delayed they were
in danger of starvation. On one occasion even Egede's
courage gave way, and he had made up his mind to abandon
the mission and return to Europe unless the provisions
arrived within fourteen days. His wife alone opposed the
resolution, and refused to pack up, believing that the store-
ship would arrive in time; and ere the days had elapsed,
the ship, which had missed the coast, found its way to
Kangec, where Egede and his companions had established
themselves.

The following graphic account of its arrival is given
by a member of the crew who afterwards became Egede's
son-in-law : " The night of an Arctic summer came on as
we passed into the river, and I saw for the first time the
land we had come to seek. It was all unlike what I had
imagined. A magnificent background of mountains stood
out clear against the glowing crimson sky, but the strange
light of midnight in that region bathed the rocks and
headlands near us in one uniform tint of pearly grey. Not
a sound of life was heard along the winding shores, nor
a creature seen on the many islets, till a figure I recognised
as Madame Egede suddenly appeared on the brow of a tall
63

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

diff. For a minute she sunk upon her knees with clasped
and outstretched hands, then rose and vanished like a
dream.

" Scarcely was she gone when we rounded the pro-
montory that protects the island bay of Kan gee and
came in full view of the poor little settlement, the inhabi-
tants of which were already hurrying to the beach — fewer
in number than they should have been — and so worn and
haggard, and at the same time so wild with joy at our
arrival, that it was a sight never to be forgotten.'"

This trial of waiting for the annual store-ship was a
constantly recurring one, and more than once they had
to undergo a bitter disappointment. In the year 1727,
instead of the eagerly expected vessel, a vast field of ice
was driven upon their coast holding within its grip a
melancholy wreck. Egede had immediately to start to
the north to buy food from the Dutch whale-fishers, but
there was little to be bought, and when the provisions
for the colony, now consisting of thirty souls, were put
together for the winter, the whole stock was no more
than three barrels of peas, three of oatmeal, eleven sacks
of malt, and about a thousand biscuits. They also bought
seals from the Greenlanders, and Madame Egede contrived
to dress them with a very small quantity of oatmeal so
as to afford tolerable meals. That year, contrary to their
expectations, another vessel, after having been long delayed
in the ice, entered the harbour of Kangec ; but it brought
the tidings they dreaded to hear, that the company formed
to trade with Greenland had entirely given up the traffic,
which afforded them no return for their expenditure, and
that their friends earnestly entreated them to return to
their native country in time to save their lives.
54

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

The missionaries replied that they would not return,
and their steadfastness was rewarded the following year,
when Christian IV. of Denmark sent five ships with soldiers
and cannon, and materials for erecting a fort to protect
the trade he was still determined to establish there.
Egede's first effort at learning the language of the Green-
landers consisted in constantly repeating the word " Kina,"
" What is this ? "" as he pointed to various articles, and then
writing down the words so learnt. This rather alarmed
the simple folk, who made their sorcerers practise all their
arts to oblige him to leave the country. Having attempted
this in vain, the sorcerers declared he must be a great
*Angekok," or wizard, himself, as they could do nothing
against him.

After learning something of the language by living
part of the winter in the huts of the Greenlanders, Egede
made an expedition to the East Coast. Here he found
some remains of the ancient Norwegian colonies, and
amongst others those of a church with several ruinous
buildings round it, which he discovered in a valley wind-
ing up through the hills from the sea. This showed that
the old legends which had brought him to Greenland
were not untrue, though he found no living colonists. In
the meantime Egede's reputation as an " Angekok " had
so spread that during this expedition on one occasion the
natives conducted him to a grave, and requested him to
raise the dead.

Soon, however, fresh misfortunes broke over the settle-
ment. When winter set in the new colonists sent by
Christian IV. were appalled by its horrors; many died
from the intense cold, and the survivors could not commit
their bodies to the earth, which was fast bound with im-
55

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

penetrable ice, but were obliged to place them in the snow
covered over with stones until summer should come round
again.

But before it came pestilence had broken out ; the
artificers died fast, and want of proper food killed the
horses. At last the soldiers mutinied against the Governor
and threatened the life of Egede, whom they accused as
the cause of all their sufferings; he had slept securely in
the huts of the Greenlanders, but was obliged to have a
guard round his house to defend him from his fellow-
Christians.

The pestilence made such havoc that most of the
mutineers died also, and it lasted till the spring of 1729,
when the remainder of the sick were carried to the huts
of the Greenlanders, who treated them well at first, but
became so terrified by witnessing their sufferings that they
broke up their encampment, and retreated far from the
danger of contagion.

Preparations meanwhile were going on in Denmark and
Norway for again occupying the valleys which the Nor-
wegians had once inhabited. Presently building materials
arrived, but before they could be employed the mission
sujffered a serious blow in the death of Christian IV. A
royal mandate arrived recalling the Governor, and all
the colonists. Egede had the option of remaining in the
country or of returning with the rest ; in case he determined
to stay he was allowed to retain as many people as were
willing to remain, and as much provision as would last for a
year, but he was expressly told that he was to expect no
further assistance.

He had now baptized a hundred and fifty children
with the consent of their parents, and was instructing
56

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

them. He was establishing his influence over the natives,
and was mastering their language. Therefore he felt he
could not abandon Greenland. By turns he remonstrated
and entreated, but he could only prevail on a few of the
sailors to remain — all the rest departed ; and his family
and these rude but faithful friends alone stayed with him.
He gave to the little settlement on the mainland his
favourite name, "Good Hope,"" and set himself to make
chemical experiments for improving the soil. He sowed
patches of wheat in various sheltered nooks, but with all
his care it rarely ripened before the frost obliged him to
cut it.

Summer went by with its unchanging light spread over
sea and land, and the long winter followed with its never-
extinguished lamps, its dim twilight and its intense cold,
but no fresh converts cheered the hearts of Egede and his
wife. He would sometimes make long journeys with his
son Carl, and bring home abundance of game. Often he
would look towards the sea with its thickly-massed icebergs,
wrestling with his own disappointment and the heart-
sickness of hope deferred.

At last in May 1733 a ship was once more seen steering
her way through the ice towards them ; and they received
news that trade with the natives was to be begun anew
and the mission supported by a gift from the King of
Denmark of £4:00 annually. Some Moravian missionaries
also came from Herrnhut in Silesia to place themselves
under Egede's direction for the work.

But a few months had hardly elapsed when, in the
midst of winter, a new and unlooked-for calamity overtook
the missionaries. The smallpox was brought from Den-
mark by an Eskimo boy who had been sent there for
51

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

instruction. The natives, utterly ignorant of any alleviations
of this hideous disease, suffered dreadful tortures. Some
stabbed themselves or plunged into the sea to put an end
to their miseries; others fled from their unburied dead,
and carried the disease with them to infect fresh districts.
But this visitation, terrible as it was, gave Egede his
opportunity of winning the thorough trust and affection
of the natives. With indefatigable courage he went himself
from place to place, sending the Moravians to one village
and his son to another. All the sick who fled to the
settlement of Good Hope were lodged and nursed by
Madame Egede and her daughters.

Among these latter were four children whom Egede had
found alone on one of the many small islands of Baal's River.
Their father had buried many of his kindred, and had
taken the disease as well as his youngest child ; he raised
a hollow cairn for himself with loose stones, and then laid
himself and his sick baby in it, desiring the eldest girl
to cover them when they were dead with skins and stones,
that the foxes and ravens might not devour them. He
folded his infant to his heart saying that he could not
part with it, it must go with him to death ; and looking
round once more on the deserted homes of his race, he
laid down his head and never uttered another moan. When
he and the baby were both dead, the children covered the
grave with stones, as he had desired. Here Egede found
them lamenting bitterly, and carried them home in his
boat.

Both Egede and the newly-arrived Moravian missionaries

were assiduous in their attentions to the sick, and one of

the Greenlanders on his death-bed said to Egede : " You

have been more kind to us than we have been to one

58

Egede carried the Orphans home with him

Their father, himself ill, had lain downwith his infant in his arms, from which he
would not be parted, and had told his children to bury them when dead under a pile
of stones.

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

another ; you have fed us when we were famishing ; you
have buried our dead who would else have been a prey to
dogs, foxes, and ravens, and you have told us of a better
life hereafter." During eight months the disease continued
to rage. When traders afterwards arrived they found all
the dwelling-houses empty for thirty leagues. The number
of those carried off was estimated at between two and three
thousand.

Meanwhile the Moravian missionaries were undergoing
great hardships from the want of food. Egede and his
family had barely sufficient for themselves, and so the
Moravians had to go elsewhere to seek for supplies, in
places where the Greenlanders had not become accustomed
to the presence of missionaries. The Moravians tried to
buy seals of them, as they could not hunt themselves. But
when the Greenlanders saw their necessitous condition they
raised their prices, and often would not sell at all.

Sometimes after rowing from one place to another for
two or three days, the missionaries' utmost entreaties could
scarcely procure half a seal, and when that was consumed
they were forced to satisfy their hunger with shell-fish
and sea-weed. This trial was the more severe as they
were constantly witnessing the gluttony of the Greenlanders,
who on one occasion consumed eleven seals and refused to
give them a single morsel.

The urgency of their wants increased the perils of their
toilsome life, as they were frequently constrained by the
cravings of hunger to venture out upon the sea in an old
weather-beaten hulk for many miles along the shore. Once
when they had nearly reached the land on their return
homewards they were driven back four or five miles by a
sudden squall, and, after being completely drenched by the
59

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

breakers, were obliged to spend four nights upon a rocky
island exposed in their wet clothes to the cold.

Another time, being exhausted with toiling at the oar,
they halted for the night at an uninhabited spot, where,
for want of a hut, they lay down in a hole in the snow,
and when the drifting snow threatened to close them in,
had to rise and keep themselves warm by running to and
fro.

Their lives were also occasionally in danger from the
violence of the natives, who, seeing them unsupported by
external authority, as Egede was, treated them with the
utmost rudeness.

One night the missionaries heard a noise on the outside
of their tent, and soon perceived that somebody was trying
to pull aside the curtains which they had fastened with
a couple of pins. They went out to see who it was, and
beheld a number of Greenlanders gathered about the tent,
some with knives in their hands, nor could they drive them
away till they threatened them with their fire-arms. The
missionaries supposed at the time that they had only
come to cut their tent-skins to pieces, but some years after,
when some of the Greenlanders in those parts had become
Christians, they confessed that they had conspired against
their lives, thinking that the other Europeans would not
consider it worth while to avenge the death of such in-
significant people. At a later date their stupidity stood
the missionaries in good stead. They tried to effect an
entrance into the house where the missionaries then were,
and finding the doors bolted tried to cut the glass windows
with their knives. Not succeeding in this, they went away,
it having never occurred to them that the windows might
be broken.

00

HANS EGEDE IN GREENLAND

In the meantime Egede's wife had sickened and died,
and he himself was worn out with sorrow and fifteen years
of mostly unsuccessful toil. At last he determined to leave
a land in which he had no longer strength to labour. He
accordingly set out for Denmark in 1736, and there he
died in the year 1758. His last years were cheered by
news of the eventual success of the Moravians among the
Greenlanders and of the growth of the mission which he
had founded in the face of so many obstacles. At the
present time in Greenland heathenism is practically extinct,
and theft and murder, according to the testimony of recent
travellers, are almost unknown.

61

CHAPTER V

SIXTY YEARS AMONG THE RED INDIANS

Early adventures— The attack on Gnadenhiitten — Eeprisals by the
Colonists — Deportation of Christian Indians — Attempt on Zeis-
berger's life— The divided town — An Indian orgy— Troublesome
guests — Zeisberger taken prisoner — The scalp-whoop — An anxious
night — The massacre at Gnadenhiitten.

OF all the devoted missionaries sent by the Moravian
Brethren at Herrnhut to foreign lands, few better
deserve the name of hero than David Zeisberger.
Born in 1721, he emigrated at an early age to the Moravian
settlement in Georgia, where he lived some time with his
parents. Danger and adventure had a charm for him, and
not unfrequently he roamed through the forests at night,
seeding game or tracking the wild animals which then
abounded in those parts, and more than once he very
narrowly escaped with his life.

After determining to be a missionary he applied himself
to the study of the Mohawk language, and in 1745 pro-
ceeded on his first missionary tour among the Iroquois with
another Moravian missionary, Frederic Post. At that time
there was much suspicion of the Moravians on the part of
the English government, who supposed them to be in league
with the French; and this suspicion was increased by the
fact that, though the Moravians were in no way opposed to
the English government, their religious principles would not
allow them to take the oath of allegiance.

For these reasons Post and Zeisberger were unexpectedly
62

THE RED INDIANS

arrested at Albany and taken before the Governor. They
were kept in jail seven weeks, till a petition to the Supreme
Council, supported by a certificate from Governor Thomas of
Pennsylvania, procured their release.

They then proceeded on their way, and on arriving
among the Iroquois each of the missionaries had himself
adopted as a member of one of their tribes, Zeisberger
assuming the name of Ganousseracheri. They received a
cordial welcome from a deputation of headmen, who said:
"Brothers, we rejoiced when we saw you approaching; our
houses are swept, our beds are prepared, we have hung the
kettle over the fire, lodge with us."" This was only one
instance of the hospitality which they often experienced at
the hands of friendly Indians. For some time Zeisberger
laboured among the Delaware and Iroquois tribes, and was
often sent by his Mission Board as a messenger to the
various Moravian settlements.

On the outbreak of war between France and England in
1754, these settlements were exposed to great danger, as
many of the Indians had espoused the French cause. In
November 1755 Zeisberger was proceeding by night to the
Moravian settlement of Gnadenhiitten when he was startled
by a red glare against the sky. A party of French Indians
had arrived and attacked the house of the missionaries on
the river Mahony. As the family were sitting at supper
they heard an unusual barking of dogs, upon which Gottlob
Senseman, one of the Brethren, went out at the back door to
see what was the matter. On hearing the report of a gun
several others ran to open the house door. Here stood a
number of Indians with their muskets levelled, and no
sooner was it opened than they instantly fired and killed
Martin Nitschman, another missionary, on the spot. His wife

SIXTY YEARS AMONG

and some others were wounded, and fled upstairs to the
garret with the utmost precipitation, barricading the door
with bedsteads. One of the Brethren named Partsch j umped
out at a back window ; another, who was lying ill in bed in
an adjoining house, escaped in a similar manner, though the
Indians had placed a guard at his door.

Meanwhile the savages followed those who had taken
refuge in the garret, and endeavoured to burst open the
door ; being baffled in this attempt they set the house on
fire. A boy named Joseph Sturges, having got on the
flaming roof, leapt down and made his escape, though a ball
grazed his cheek and one side of his head was severely
burnt. Encouraged by this, the wife of the missionary
Partsch followed his example, and, having come down unhurt,
fled unobserved by the Indians and hid herself behind a tree
upon a hill near the house. Christian Fabricius, another of
the Brethren, was the next who made the attempt, but
before he could escape he was perceived by the savages
and struck by two musket balls. He was the only one
whom they captured alive, and after mangling him with
their hatchets they took his scalp, and left him dead on the
ground. All the others who had taken refuge in the garret
were burnt to death. Senseman, who had gone out at the
back door, had the dreadful experience of seeing his wife
perish in the flames.

The whole number who perished in this terrible catas-
trophe was eleven. Five only made their escape. Besides
burning the house, the savages set fire to the barns and
stables and thus destroyed all the corn, hay, and cattle.
They then divided the spoil, soaked some bread in milk, and,
after making a hearty meal, departed from the place.

Overwhelmed with horror at this tragic event, which he
64

THE RED INDIANS

witnessed from a distance, Zeisberger rode to the settlement
of Bethlehem and gave warning to the Moravian bishop,
Spangenberg. When the Christian Indians heard of the
massacre they offered to go and attack the enemy, but being
dissuaded by one of the Brethren they took refuge in the
neighbouring woods. They thus escaped with their lives,
but lost their property, for the savages set fire to the
settlement, destroyed ^ the mill, and laid waste all the
plantations.

Terrible as this catastrophe was, it dissipated the sus-
picion which had hitherto hung over the Moravians of being
covertly in league with the French. Such indeed was the
revolution in the public sentiment, that Bethlehem and other
settlements of the Brethren became a common asylum for
white people fleeing from the murderous ravages of the
Indians, who plundered and destroyed several villages so
near to Bethlehem that the flames of the burning houses
could be seen from that place. They even approached the
town itself, lurking about with torches and endeavouring to
shoot burning wadding upon the roofs in order to set the
place on fire.

During this disturbed time missionary work was for the
most part at a standstill. Zeisberger employed himself
in compiling an Iroquois grammar and dictionary, and also
went on various deputations from the English Governor
to various Indian chiefs, making Bethlehem his head-
quarters, and from thence visiting Nain and other Moravian
settlements.

The colonists had become so infuriated by the outrages

of the Indians that they determined to destroy the civilised

natives as well as the savage. For four weeks at Nain the

brethren stood on their defence, watching day and night

65 s

SIXTY YEARS AMONG

through intensely cold weather, not against red Indians but
white men. At length a government express arrived from
Philadelphia with orders that the Christian Indians should
be conducted to that city, Zeisberger and other missionaries
accompanying them. Amid the taunts and curses of the
white men they set out on their three weeks' journey. The
sick, aged, and children were conveyed in waggons, the rest
went on foot. In passing through Germantown they were
insulted by the populace, who shouted, " Hang them ! Burn
them !" During the journey and on their arrival at Phila-
delphia, when they found themselves surrounded by a
threatening and bloodthirsty mob, Zeisberger kept up their
courage by his intrepid bearing and words of encouragement.

In spite of the Governor's express order that the Indians
should be lodged in the barracks, the soldiers refused to
admit them, and they were conducted six miles farther to
Province Island, on the river Delaware. At first they were
left in want of firewood and provisions, but on Zeisberger's
petitioning the Governor, these wants were supplied.

After peace had been concluded between the English and
French, Zeisberger set off on a journey to the river Ohio
accompanied by two Indian assistants, as he heard that some
of the inhabitants of that part were desirous of instruction.
The missionaries had to travel across extensive plains over-
grown with such high grass that a man on horseback was
completely covered by it. By day they often had to cut
a path through the thickets, and at night to sleep in the
open air exposed to the bitter cold.

On approaching the town of Goshgoshunk, Zeisberger
was warned by a native chief that the inhabitants had not
their equal in wickedness and thirst for blood. He replied,
" If they are indeed so wicked a people, they stand more io

THE RED INDIANS

need of Christian teaching," and proceeded on his way. On
their arrival at Goshgoshunk the missionaries preached every
day, and the Indians came round them in great numbers,
with their faces painted blaclc and vermilion and their heads
decorated with clusters of feathers and foxes' tails. At
first they listened with great attention, but after a time
many opposed the preaching violently.

Instigated by the chiefs, who were jealous of their own
authority, old women went about complaining that the
Indian corn was blasted or devoured by worms ; that chest-
nuts and bilberries would no longer grow in the country
because the white men brought strange things to their ears
and the Indians had begun to change their manner of life.
To appease the wrath of the offended spirits, the sorcerer
appointed solemn sacrifices and offered up hogs by way of
atonement. Some of the neighbouring chiefs also sent
messages to the chiefs of Goshgoshunk expressing their
displeasure that they should have allowed white men to
settle among them, and urging them to banish or kill them
without delay.

Attempts were made to kill Zeisberger, and one evening
several Indians assailed the missionaries' dwelling at a late
hour with intent to murder them, but their hearts failed
them, so that they did not carry their design into execu-
tion. The missionaries no longer thought themselves safe
when alone in their house, and always kept some Christian
Indians with them as a guard ; and even these did not dare
to venture twenty or thirty yards from the house without
being armed.

Notwithstanding these dangers, Zeisberger and Sense-
man resolved to stand firm at their post. With this view
they built a small winter-house at a little distance from the
67

SIXTY YEARS AMONG

town where they might have an opportunity of holding
services and meeting with inquirers. Several of the latter,
dreading the reproaches of their countrymen, came by night
to escape observation.

The inhabitants of the town were now divided into two
parties, one in favour of the missionaries and one against
them. The opposition between these at length rose to such
a height that the hostile party retired to a place about
fifteen miles on the opposite side of the river Ohio, where
they were joined by many more heathen Indians.

The outbreak of hostilities between the Senekas and
Cherokees made the missionaries resolve to retire from that
part of the country, and in April 1770 they and their ad-
herents embarked on the river Ohio in sixteen canoes. As
they passed Goshgoshunk, where they had experienced so
much opposition, another canoe, containing an additional
convert, shot out from the bank and joined them. They
sailed by Pittsburg to the mouth of the Beaver Creek.
Having entered the river, they proceeded up to the falls,
where they had to unload and transport their goods and
canoes by land. After a journey of upwards of a fortnight,
they arrived in that part of the country where they designed
to take up their abode, and immediately proceeded to build
a new settlement, which they called Friedenstadt, or " the
town of peace."

By this time Zeisberger, who was now well known among
the various Indian tribes, was a marked object of their
malice, and was frequently in danger of his life. One night
some of these heathen Indians came to Friedenstadt, and
attempted to compel the inhabitants to get drunk. Having
failed in this attempt, they threatened first to murder the
missionaries and afterwards the whole congregation, and

THE RED INDIANS

raised such a hideous uproar in the town that the Christian
women fled to the woods and the men were compelled to
keep a strict watch round the dwelling of their teachers.

Sometimes the savages brought a quantity of spirits
close to the town, and there they drank and danced and
raved like so many maniacs. In this state of intoxication
they frequently entered the settlement, rambled through
the town, and broke every window that happened to be
open, so that the inhabitants at last were under the
necessity of fastening their shutters and burning candles
by day. In several instances when they entered the
town intent on mischief they quarrelled among themselves,
and, instead of injuring the missionaries or the Christian
Indians, attacked and mangled each other with their
knives in the most brutal manner.

For these and other reasons Zeisberger and his colleagues
removed the settlement successively to Schonbrunn and
Lichtenau. Here, after enjoying an interval of peace,
they were again disturbed by the outbreak of the Revolu-
tionary War between Britain and the American Colonies.
The English Government stirred up the Indians to attack
the colonists, and the Christian Indians, who remained
neutral, were looked on with great suspicion both by
those Indians who espoused the cause of England and
those who were on the side of the colonists. The mis-
sionaries were in the greatest danger, for the refusal of
the Christians to take up arms was ascribed to their
authority and influence. The savages therefore frequently
repeated their threats that the missionaries should be
killed or made prisoners, as they flattered themselves that
if these were removed the Christians would soon be forced
to join them. One day Zeisberger met eight Mingoes
69

SIXTY YEARS AMONG

"belonging to a tribe by whom he was hated, and who
had resolved upon his death. He was alone, but unawed;
the savages quailed before his calm courage, and in a few
moments walked swiftly away. In August, 1777, the
Brethren received information that two hundred Huron
warriors, under a chief called Half-King, were on their
march to the settlement of Lichtenau. This intelligence
at first caused them much alarm, but after deliberation
they resolved to attempt to win over the savages by hos-
pitality and kindness. They accordingly set about killing
oxen and pigs, and making other preparations for them.
They also sent a Christian Indian, Glikkikan, at the head
of a deputation to the Half-King, who received them
favourably. The same day he and his warriors came to
Lichtenau, and behaved in a very friendly manner. But
though he kept his followers in restraint as far as possible,
yet the maintenance of such a number of people, many
of Avliom came dancing before the houses, and asking for
bread and tobacco, proved extremely troublesome.

The dangers to which the missionaries were now exposed
proved so great that most of them left the Indian country
and retired to Bethlehem. Two only remained behind,
Zeisberger at Lichtenau, and Edwards at Gnadenhiitten,
twenty miles apart.

The Hurons, who were on the British side, continued to
carry on hostilities against the Americans, and the mis-
sionaries were often shocked to behold the savages on
their return from the expeditions leading captive men,
women, and children, or, what was more distressing, carrying
their dead bodies and scalps through the town. The
Christian Indians showed great compassion to the un-
fortunate prisoners, supplied them with food, and would
70

THE RED INDIANS

never suffer them to be scourged or abused, as is the
Indian custom whenever warriors pass through a town
with captives.

The Christians and missionaries themselves, however,
soon began to be in great danger. The English Governor
of Fort Detroit was led to believe that ^the Christian
Indians were on the side of the Americans, and that the
missionaries were spies who carried on a secret corre-
spondence with them. He therefore resolved to rid himself
of such troublesome neighbours. The Half-King of the
Hurons, though personally friendly to the missionaries,
suffered himself to be employed by the English as an
instrument for carrying off both the missionaries and the
Christian Indians.

At first he tried persuading them to leave the settlement
on the plea that they were in danger, but finding them
reluctant to move from a place where the ground had
become fertile under careful cultivation into an unknown
wilderness, he resolved to use force.

One day as Zeisberger, Senseman, and Heckewelder were
walking in their garden they were seized by a small party
of Huron warriors and marched off towards the camp,
about a hundred yards distant. On the way thither an
ugly-looking Huron aimed a blow at Senseman's head
with his tomahawk ; but the missionary fortunately eluded
the stroke.

On reaching the line which divided the Huron and
Delaware camps, their captors raised what is called the
scalp-whoop, each of them raising a yell for his man, this
being the way in which the Indians indicate the number
of prisoners who have fallen into their hands. Several other
of the Hurons now came up and stripped them of their
71

SIXTY YEARS AMONG

clothes, watches, and other property. The missionaries
were then placed in two huts, which, however, were merely
roofs of bark raised on poles to keep off the rain, the sides
and ends being open. About half-an-hour after they heard
the word given for a troop to start, and immediately about
thirty armed Hurons set out for Salem and Schonbrunn,
where the missionaries' wives and families were.

It may be imagined with what suspense the missionaries
passed the night, lying on the bare sod with their eyes
directed towards the east that they might catch the first
glimpse of the morning light. At length the sound of the
scalp-whoop was heard in the direction of Schonbrunn,
which showed that some captures had been effected there.
The nearer the party drew the greater was the commotion
among the warriors in the camp, the scalp-yell being
sounded and resounded on both sides. At length the
Hurons arrived by water with the wives of Zeisberger and
Senseman and other missionaries. After keeping the mis-
sionaries prisoners for several days the heathen leaders
perceived that the Christian Indians would never be per-
suaded to forsake their settlements unless the missionaries
led them. Accordingly they liberated them on the under-
standing that they would lead their congregations to
Sandusky, an uncultivated tract in the wilderness. To
this the missionaries and Christians reluctantly consented.
They were obliged to leave three beautiful settlements and
the greater part of their property, black cattle, and great
quantities of Indian corn in their stores, upwards of three
hundred acres of land where the crop was just ripening,
together with potatoes, cabbages, and other garden stuffs
in the ground. Their losses, according to a moderate cal-
culation, amounted to 12,000 dollars, a striking proof of
72

THE RED INDIANS

the civilisation which the missionaries had introduced among
the Indians.

Great hardships befell them on the way, as they were
continually being hurried forward by the impatient savages.
One morning when the Christian Indians could not set off
so expeditiously as their conductors thought proper, the
savages attacked the missionaries and forced them away
alone, whipping their horses forward till the animals be-
came quite unmanageable. The road, too, was extremely
bad, being through one continual swamp. Zeisberger's wife
fell twice from her horse, and on one of these occasions was
dragged for some time, hanging in the stirrup.

Having arrived at Sandusky Creek after a journey of
upwards of four weeks, the Hurons left them and marched
away into their own country, leaving them to shift for
themselves as best they could. After having pitched on the
most convenient spot they could find in this dreary region,
they erected small huts of logs and bark to shelter them-
selves from the rain and cold. They were now, however, so
poor that they had neither beds nor blankets, for on the
journey the savages had stolen nearly everything from
them.

Scarcely had the congregation begun to settle in this
place than the missionaries were summoned to appear before
the Governor of Fort Detroit. Zeisberger and the others
proceeded thither, and after due examination were acquitted
of being spies, and, having been released by the Governor,
returned to Sandusky.

Soon after their arrival there they were horrified by

the news of a massacre of ninety-six Christian Indians at

Gnadenhiitten by white men on the American side. Their

patience and resignation astonished even their murderers,

73

AMONG THE RED INDIANS

and were a testimony to the efficacy of the missionaries^
teaching.

When the news of the massacre reached Sandusky, Zeis-
berger was almost heartbroken, and wrote in his journal:
"Where shall we find a retreat, nay, but a little spot of
earth where we may flee with our Indians ? From the whites
who call themselves Christians we can hope for no pro-
tection, among the heathen we no longer have any friends.
We are outlawed."

By the kindness of the Governor of Detroit, however,
he was allowed to found a Christian settlement at New
Gnadenhiitten, on the Huron lliver. The numbers were
naturally very small at first, and by the end of the year
only fifty-three persons were living there. But after peace
was made between England and America the settlement
began to flourish.

As the infirmities of age began to creep on Zeisberger
he occupied himself with the translation of the Scriptures
into the Delaware language. At last he became totally
blind, and died in 1808 at the patriarchal age of eighty-
eight. It would be difficult to find another missionary
career sustained at such a lofty pitch of enthusiasm for such
a length of time — twelve years over half a century. His
work was one of those " apparent failures " which are nobler
than many superficial successes.

74

CHAPTER VI

WILLIAM DUNCAN AT METLAHKATLAH

Captain Prevost's appeal — Cannibalism at Fort Simpson — Duncan's en-
couraging reception — Opposition of medicine-men — Threats of Legaic
— First baptisms— Migration to Metlahkatlah — Conversion of Legaic
— His temporary relapse — Self -surrender of a murderer — Duncan's
visit to England — Learning trades — Admiral Cochrane's surprise —
Lord Dufferin's testimony — Ex-cannibal as churchwarden.

IN 1856 the attention of the Church Missionary Society
was drawn to the Tsimshean Indians on the coast of
British Columbia by Captain Prevost, who had been
stationed there, and had been struck by their intelligence
and other good qualities. During the same year a state-
ment drawn up by him and inserted in the Church Missionary
Intelligencer was the means of eliciting a contribution from
" Two Friends, for Vancouver's Island, ^500." At the end
of the same year Mr. Duncan, a student at the Society's
college at Islington, was appointed to the new mission.
When he arrived at Victoria in Vancouver's Island, the
Hudson Bay officials wished him to commence his missionary
labours there, where the Indians had already come into
contact with white men. But the committee's instructions
were to begin work among the entirely uncivilised Indians
at Fort Simpson. Accordingly he proceeded there, and
found them to be a ferocious tribe, strongly addicted to
murder and cannibalism, and under the superstitious sway
of medicine-men.

The degraded condition of these Indians was shown in a
75

WILLIAM DUNCAN

horrible way by a ghastly scene of which he was an un-
willing spectator soon after his arrival. A chiefs female
slave had been murdered, and her body thrown into the
water near the shore. Crowds of people came running out
of their houses near where the corpse was thrown, and
formed themselves into groups. Presently two bands of
excited savages appeared, each headed by a man in a state
of complete nudity. These two came on with grotesque
motions, stepping and shooting out each arm alternately.
For some time they pretended to be seeking the body, and
the instant they came where it lay they began yelling
and rushing round it in the manner of angry wolves.
Finally they seized it, dragged it out of the water, and laid
it on the beach, where they tore it in pieces with their teeth.
Mr. Duncan confessed that he felt at first rather alarmed
at the thought of visiting group after group of these half-
naked, painted savages. But to his agreeable surprise he
met with an encouraging reception. On entering a house
he was saluted by two or three of the principal persons with
the exclamation " Clah-how-yah ! " (" Welcome ! "") Then a
general movement ensued while they all squatted down,
fixing their eyes upon him. He found it difficult to make
himself heard, as they all persisted in shouting at once, but
they showed an evident desire for instruction, and after Mr.
Duncan had sufficiently mastered the language to address
them he found them attentive listeners. The more friendly
of them helped him to build a school, and sent their children
to attend it, but the work was much disturbed by the noise
of medicine-men and their pupils hard by. These men
resolved that the school should be closed while their rites
were being performed, and tried to intimidate Duncan. On
one occasion the head chief Legale, who was leader of the
76

AT METLAHKATLAH

medicine-men, broke into the school, raising his voice,
stamping on the floor, and storming furiously. During this
scene Mr. Duncan's Indian teacher, Clah, stood by, wrapped
in his blankets and fingering a concealed pistol, with which
he was prepared to defend the missionary's life, if it were
really endangered. Legaic was aware of this, and did not
proceed to extremes. The first baptisms took place on
26th July, 1861, when fourteen men and five women were
admitted to the rite. It was now decided to form a Christian
village at a place called Metlahkatlah, about seventeen miles
from Fort Simpson. Such a step was rendered necessary,
not only by the anxiety of the Christians to escape from the
sights of heathenism and its thraldom, but by the rush of
miners in search of gold, many of whom made Fort Simpson
their winter quarters, bringing with them the grossest evils.
On the 27th May, 1862, Mr. Duncan started for his new
home, accompanied by about forty Indians, men, women
and children, in six canoes. In about ten days they were
followed by a fleet of some thirty more, and nearly the whole
of one small tribe named Keetlahn was gathered together at
Metlahkatlah to the number of 300 or 400 souls.

Here they were visited by the Bishop of Columbia in
1863, who admitted several catechumens to baptism. Among
these was Legaic, the chief who had threatened Mr. Duncan's
life, but who now had become a genuine convert. His tribe
had been decimated by smallpox, and he had been much
humbled by that and other calamities. Retiring from his
chieftainship, he settled down with his wife and daughter at
Metlahkatlah, and became one of Mr. Duncan's most zealous
supporters. On one notable occasion after his conversion he
suffered a relapse, but a very brief one. Gathering the
Indians together on the Metlahkatlah beach, he told them
77

WILLIAM DUNCAN

he could hold out no longer and was going back to his old
life — that he could not help it, for he was being "pulled
away," that he knew it was wrong, but still he must go.
With tears he shook the hands of each in turn, and then,
stepping alone into his canoe, paddled rapidly away from
his weeping friends. He went a few miles along the coast,
and then, as darkness came on, put the canoe ashore.
The night was one of such misery, he afterwards said, as no
words could describe, and next day he reappeared at Metlah-
katlah, to the joy of all. For seven years after he led a
consistent life, working as a carpenter, and dying in 1869.

Metlahkatlah rapidly acquired a recognised position of
importance and influence as the centre of all good work of
every kind among the coast Indians. Mr. Duncan was lay
pastor and missionary, treasurer, chief trader, clerk of the
works, head schoolmaster, and the father and friend of the
people. In addition to this the Colonial Government
appointed him a magistrate in order that he might dispense
justice, not only at the Christian settlement, but along the
whole coast wherever his influence extended.

The moral effect of the mission is most strikingly illus-
trated by an incident narrated by Dr. Hills, Bishop of
Columbia. In 1862 H.M.S. Devastation sailed up the
coast seeking the three Indian murderers of two white
men. The Indians gave up two, but would not surrender
the third. Two lives for two lives was their rule of equal
justice. But as soon as the ship was out of sight the third
murderer left his tribe, went to Metlahkatlah, and gave
himself up to Mr. Duncan. " Whatever you tell me to do,*"
he said, " I will do ; if you say I am to go on board the gun-
ship when she comes again, I will go." Six months after-
wards the Devastation again came up to Metlahkatlah and
78

A Redskin Murderer gives himself up to the Captain of
H.M.S. Devastation

Some Indians had killed two whites. One of the Redskins came to the missionary,
Mr. Duncan, and confessed his crime, adding, "Whatever you tell me to do, 1 will
do." Mr. Duncan went on board the man-of-war with him. He was tried for the
crime, pardoned, and was eventually baptized.

AT METLAHKATLAH

fired a gun to announce her arrival. The murderer heard
it, went straight to Mr. Duncan and asked, " What am I
to do ? " " You must come with me a prisoner," he said, and
the man went on board with the missionary and dehvered
himself to the captain. "Thus," justly observed Bishop
Hills, "what the ship of war with its guns and threats
could not do for civilisation, for protection of life, for
justice, the simple character and influence of one missionary
availed to accomplish." In due course this man was brought
to trial, when it came out that he had been an unwilling
participator in the crime, and he was pardoned. On his
release he went back to Metlahkatlah and was baptized by
the Bishop in 1866.

The social and commercial progress at Metlahkatlah
was not less remarkable. By the year 1867 the profits
accruing to the mission from trade had sufficed to build
a large market-house, a soap factory, a blacksmith's shop,
and a saw-mill. The market-house was about 90 by SO feet,
and divided into two portions, the smaller designed for a
court-house, the larger for village assemblies, and for the
accommodation of strangers. By this means strange Indians,
who often came in large numbers to trade, instead of being
scattered over the village, to the great discomfort and detri-
ment of their more civilised brethren, were comfortably
housed and properly cared for, whilst frequent opportunities
were thus given of addressing large bodies of the heathen
from the surrounding country.

Duncan now took an important step. It was most
desirable that the industries in the settlement should be
developed and multiplied in order to provide sufficient outlet
for the enei'gies of young Indians, and to save them from
being drawn within the range of the demoralising influences
79

WILLIAM DUNCAN

at Victoria. As he was not capable of doing it, he resolved
to make himself capable. He determined to go himself to
England and to acquire a knowledge of several simple
trades, to purchase such machinery as he required, and to
return to his people prepared to erect and equip workshops
and factories. With this view he sailed for England at the
end of January, 1870. The scene of his departure showed
how great a hold upon the people his thirteen years' labour
amongst them had gained for him. Though he had pre-
viously gone round to every house to take leave of them,
they collected in crowds as the time for his leaving drew
near, and even after he had said his last farewell upon the
beach they still followed him in their canoes to the ship.

Arriving in London on 13th March, 1870, Duncan at
once set to work on his self-imposed task, going about to
different parts of the country, and, as far as it was possible
in a limited time, making himself acquainted with the local
industries. Thus, when visiting Yarmouth, he learned rope-
making, at another place weaving, at another brush-making,
and so on.

On his return to Metlahkatlah in 1872, Duncan re-
ceived an enthusiastic welcome, and at once commenced
teaching the Indians new industries. How readily they
took to mechanical work was shown when Admiral
Cochrane, in H.M.S. Boxer^ paid a visit to Metlahkatlah
in 1873. In looking into the worksheds, and seeing a
number of Indians at their work benches, he exclaimed,
" I say, these men are not Indians, they are white men !
I say, my good man,"" addressing the Indian next him,
" what is your name ? " Of course, the astonished Admiral
got no response, but only wondering looks. But when
Mr. Duncan interpreted the Admiral's words, there were
80

AT METLAHKATLAH

roars of laughter at his expense. Admiral Cochrane sent
a note to his ship, inviting his officers to come on shore,
and assuring them that they would be greatly interested.

In 1876 the settlement was visited by Lord Dufferin,
Governor-General of Canada, who was presented with an
address by the natives. In his reply, he said : " Before I
conclude, I cannot help expressing to Mr. Duncan, and those
who are associated with him in this good work, not only in
my own name, not only in the name of the Government of
Canada, but also in the name of Her Majesty the Queen, and
in the name of the people of England, our deep gratitude to
him for having thus devoted the flower of his life, in spite
of innumerable difficulties, dangers, and discouragements, of
which we who only see the result of his labours can form a
very inadequate idea, to a work which has resulted in the
beautiful scene we have witnessed this morning." Before he
left British Columbia, Lord Dufferin delivered an address
at Government House, Victoria, in which, referring to this
visit, he said : " I have seen the Indians in all phases of their
existence, from the half-naked savage perched like a bird
of prey upon a rock, trying to catch his miserable dinner of
fish, to the neat Indian maidens in Mr. Duncan's school at
Metlahkatlah, as modest and as well-dressed as any clergy-
man's daughter in an English parish. . . . What you want
are not resources, but human beings to develop them
and to consume them. Raise your 30,000 Indians to the
level Mr. Duncan has taught us they can be brought, and
consider what an enormous amount of vital power you will
have added to your present strength."

As time went on, outlying missions were established at
Kincolith, on the mainland, and in the Queen Charlotte
Islands, inhabited by the Hydahs, a savage race for a long
81 r

WILLIAM DUNCAN

time the terror of the Pacific coast. From Vancouver's
Island an Indian travelled 300 miles, in October 1875,
to see Mr. Duncan. He said, " A rope had been thrown
out from Metlahkatlah, which was encircling and
drawing together all the Indian tribes into one common
brotherhood.''

In 1878 Admiral Prevost, whose article in the Intelli-
gencer in 1856 had been the means of starting the Metlah-
katlah mission, visited the settlement, and was delighted
to see the progress which twenty years' of steady missionary
work had brought about. He says of those Indians who
met him on landing, " Nine of the sixteen before me were,
to my knowledge, formerly medicine-men or cannibals.
The very church-warden, who opened the church door for
me, was the chief of one of the cannibal tribes."

Mr. Duncan had thus, in his work among the Indians,
solved a problem which had often puzzled Governments —
namely, how to give the aborigines the benefit of civilisa-
tion without its vices, and how to save them from slowly
becoming extinct in the presence of the white man.

88

CHAPTER VII

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

Arrival at Lhassa — Suspected as spies— Interview with Chinese am-
bassador— Inquisitive Tibetans— Hopeful inquirers— Expulsion from
Lhassa — A dangerous march — Martyrs to discipline — Oxen as road-
makers — Illness of M. Gabet — Startling a town — Death of Ly-Kouo-
Ngan — Before the Chinese tribunal — Chinese justice 1 — Safe at
Canton.

IN 1845, after a wearisome and perilous journey across
the Mongolian desert, the two French missionaries,
Hue and Gabet, arrived at Lhassa, the capital of
Tibet. The inhabitants stared at them with intense
curiosity, but no obstacle was opposed to their entrance.
They hired two rooms at the top of a house which con-
tained fifty lodgers, and to reach these rooms they had
to ascend a flight of wooden stairs without a railing. All
the furniture they had was a fire-dish placed in the middle
of the floor, two goat-skins spread right and left of the
fire-dish, their travelling tent, two dilapidated trunks, and
a supply of fuel.

In order to avoid suspicion, they conformed to the
regulations in force at Lhassa, and reported themselves as
soon as possible to the chief of the police. They told him
that they belonged to the Western Heaven, to a great
kingdom called France, and that they had come to Tibet
to preach the Christian religion. The chief phlegmatically
drew his bamboo quill from behind his ear, and wrote
without the slightest observation what they told him.
When he had done writing he wiped his pen, still wet with
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IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

ink, in his hair, and replaced it behind his right ear, saying :
"yak poze," " very well." The missionaries then returned
to their lodging, congratulating themselves on the ease
with which they had secured admittance as residents of
Lhassa.

In a few days, however, they were summoned to go
before the Regent of Lhassa to give further explanations.
The Regent was dressed in a yellow robe, trimmed with
sable; a ring adorned with diamonds hung from his left
ear, and his long jet-black hair was collected together at
the top of his head and fastened by three small gold combs.
His large red cap, set with pearls and surmounted by a
coral ball, lay at his side on a green cushion.

After conversing with the missionaries in a friendly
manner, the Regent sent them to be examined by Ki-Chan,
the Chinese ambassador to Lhassa. Ki-Chan was friendly
towards them, but spoke with considerable severity to
Samdadchiemba, their Chinese servant, a Christian convert :
" Why did you adopt the religion of the Lord of Heaven ?
Don't you know that this is forbidden by the Great
Emperor?" Eventually, however, he dismissed them, the
chief object of the inquiry having been to ascertain whether
they had been drawing maps of the country, the Tibetans
being even at that early date afraid of European invasion.

The two missionaries were given a room in the palace,
and told they could not return to their lodgings. To their
embarrassment a crowd followed them to their chamber,
and insisted on watching them go to bed. In vain the
missionaries begged to be left in peace. The inquisitive
Tibetans only bowed, while some of them put out their
tongues, a perfectly polite Tibetan form of salutation
The missionaries then recited their evening prayer, while
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IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

the crowd listened in silence. To baffle further curiosity
they put out the light, and the onlookers laughingly retired.

The next day three Lamas came and announced to them
that their luggage would have to be inspected. Accordingly
they returned to their lodgings, whither the Regent also
came and sealed up all their belongings with red wax. A
procession to the court of justice was then formed. A
Tibetan horse soldier, his drawn sword in his hand, and
his gun at his side, opened the procession. After him came
the troop of porters marching between two lines of Lama
satellites; the Regent on his white charger, surrounded by
a mounted guard of honour, followed the baggage; and
last, behind the Regent, marched the two French mis-
sionaries.

When they arrived at the tribunal, the seals were
broken and the contents of the trunks exposed to the
general gaze. First came some French and Latin volumes,
then some Chinese and Tartar books, church linen, orna-
ments, sacred vessels, rosaries, crosses, medals, and a collection
of lithographs. All the spectators were lost in admiration
of this small European museum. They opened large eyes,
touched each other with the elbow, and smacked their
tongues in token of admiration. None of them had ever
seen anything so beautiful. Everything white they con-
sidered silver, everything yellow, gold. The Tibetans put
out their tongues and scratched their ears, the Chinese
bowed.

On some French maps of Tibet being produced, the
missionaries said to the Chinese ambassador : " It is for-
tunate for us that we have met you in this country. If
by ill luck you had not been here, we should have been
utterly unable to convince the Tibetan authorities that
85

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

these maps are not our own drawing." The ambassador,
being flattered by the compliment, assured the Tibetan
Regent, evidently to his great relief, that the maps were
printed. " It is well," he said, " you are honest people."

After this the conversation turned to religion. The
Chinese ambassador, who was former Viceroy of the province
of Pe-chi-li, and had persecuted the Christians, displayed his
knowledge. He explained the images, the sacred vessels,
and the ornaments. The Regent, on the other hand, thought,
till the missionaries reassured him, that the tongs used for
lifting the sacred wafer were an instrument of torture.

Thoroughly satisfied of the harmless character of the
missionaries, the Regent said to the ambassador, " What
do you think of these men ? What must we do with
them ? These men are Frenchmen, they are ministers of
the religion of the Lord of Heaven, they are honest men ;
we must leave them in peace." These flattering words
were received with a murmur of approbation, and the two
missionaries joyfully returned to their lodging.

The next day the Regent told them in confidence that
the Chinese were jealous of their being at Lhassa, but that
they might count on his protection, and reside freely in the
country without any one having a right to interfere with
them.

Thus encouraged, the missionaries made a small chapel
in their house, and were gratified by several inquirers
coming and holding long conversations on the subject of
Christianity.

Chinese jealousy, however, frustrated their hopes. One

day Ki-Chan, the Chinese ambassador, sent for them and

told them they had better return to their own country,

as Tibet was too poor and cold a country for thera.

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IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

His real reason, of course, was apprehension of their
weakening Buddhism in its centre of worship. Near
Lhassa, on the summit of a mountain, dwelt the "Delai-
lama" (a child supposed to be an incarnation of Buddha)
in his golden temple, where he received the adoration
of streams of worshippers. Ki-Chan was shrewd enough
to see that the missionaries' real object was to uproot
Buddhism, and he insisted on their departure.

Thus all fruit of their exhausting and dangerous
journey to Lhassa was lost, and reluctantly they began
their preparations for another perilous journey of six
months to Canton, as they were not allowed to return by
way of India.

Soon after the New Year the missionaries started,
with an escort of Chinese soldiers under the command of
a mandarin, Ly-Kouo-Ngan. This made their journey
in some respects more comfortable than before, and at
their first halting-place they found themselves in a com-
modious room, where they were invited to sit on thick
green cushions, and to regale themselves with buttered
tea. During their journey to Lhassa they had had to
set up their tattered tent with their own hands, to search
for fuel, and to prepare a little weak tea mixed with
barley meal.

Their chief dangers now were not from robbers, but
from the huge masses of snow which hung over them,
and the frightful precipices that yawned below.

On one occasion the whole party had to slide down a
gigantic glacier. M. Hue describes the descent as follows :
" A magnificent long-haired ox opened the march ; he
advanced gravely to the edge of the plateau ; then after
stretching out his neck, smelling a moment at the ice,
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IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

and blowing through his large nostrils some thick clouds
of vapour, he manfully put his two front feet on the
glacier, and whizzed off as if he had been discharged from
a cannon. He went down the glacier with his legs ex-
tended, but as stiff and motionless as if they had been
made of marble. Arrived at the bottom he turned over,
and then ran on bounding and bellowing over the snow.

" The men in their turn embarked with no less intre-
pidity than the animals. We seated ourselves carefully
on the edge of the glacier, we stuck our heels close together
on the ice as firmly as possible, then using the handles
of our whips by way of helm we sailed over those frozen
waters with the velocity of a locomotive."

The really dangerous part of the journey was when
they had to ride along narrow ledges skirted by enormous
precipices from which the roar of waters could be heard
below. In one such place the missionaries dismounted,
but were told to remount, as the horses were surer of
foot than they. Sometimes the path itself came to an
abrupt end, and was replaced by trunks of trees supported
by piles fixed horizontally in the mountain side.

At the very sight of these frightful bridges, the Abbe
Hue says he felt a cold sweat of terror bedewing his limbs.
It was essential, however, to advance, for to return or
to dismount was impossible.

After having been for two days constantly suspended
between life and death, they at length got clear of this
dreadful pass, and arrived at Alan-To. Every one was
rejoiced, and they congratulated each other on not having
fallen into the abyss. Each recounted with a sort of
feverish excitement the terrors he had experienced in the
most difficult parts of the passage. The Governor of
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IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

Alan-To, on hearing that no one had perished, expressed
his opinion that the caravan had been singularly fortunate.
Three oxen with baggage had indeed been swallowed up,
but that seemed a mere nothing. The commander of
their escort, Ly-Kouo-Ngan, told them that he had never
passed the defile of Alan-To without witnessing frightful
accidents. In his previous journey four soldiers had been
precipitated from the top of the mountain with the horses
they rode. This had not been mentioned before lest the
missionaries should refuse to continue the journey.

At one place they passed a pagoda erected to com-
memorate a Chinese captain's fidelity to military discipline.
He had reached the mountain Wa-Ho with a body of 4000
men, when some of the people of the locality who acted
as guides warned him that every one crossing the mountain
must observe absolute silence, as the slightest sound might
set the snow in motion. The captain, whose name was
Kiang-Kian, issued orders accordingly to his soldiers, and
the army proceeded in profound silence. As the mountain
could not be crossed in a single day, the soldiers, laden
with baggage, encamped on the plateau. Conformably
with the established rule in large towns of the Empire,
and of camps in time of war, they fired a cannon at
nightfall, not daring to infringe this rule of military
discipline. The report of the cannon had scarcely died
away when enormous masses of snow came pouring down,
and Kiang-Kian and all his men were buried beneath the
fall. Their bodies were never recovered.

Arrived at Liang-Ki-Tsoung, the missionaries had a
further scare. While they were waiting in their room for
supper to be served, the Governor of the place came to
teU them that he had a little matter to settle with them.

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

At first they thought it was connected with the difficulty
of procuring baggage animals, but the Governor said he
had come to warn them that the mountain of Tanda,
which they were preparing to cross, was impassable, snow
having fallen for eight consecutive days. The day before
three men had ventured upon the mountain, two of them
had disappeared in the snow, and that morning the third
had arrived alone and on foot, his horse also having been
swallowed up.

The Governor added that they could have the baggage
animals if they liked, but that they would have to pay for
any oxen and horses that might die on the way. Having
delivered this pleasant intelligence, he put out his tongue
at them, and scratched his ear, Tibetan fashion, and
retired.

Abbe Hue took up his Chinese Road Book and read:
"The mountain of Tanda is extremely precipitous and
difficult of ascent. It is the most difficult pass on the
way from Lhassa."" The book fell from his hands, and
he sat for some time in a stupor of consternation. The
prospect of having to pursue a still more arduous route
than that of Alan-To made the blood run chill in his
veins. "The ambassador, Ki-Chan,"" he said to himself,
"is evidently an assassin. Not having dared to kill us at
Lhassa, he has sent us to die in the snow."

Next day before daybreak they sent a few men to
sound the depth of the snow. Towards midday these re-
turned and announced that Mount Tanda was impassable.
The Governor then proposed to send a herd of oxen to
trample down for two days the snow that blocked the
path up the mountain, which proposal the missionaries
gladly accepted.

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IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

After three days' rest, the Governor having announced
to them that the long-haired oxen had sufficiently trampled
down the snow, they departed. When they reached the
foot or Tanda, they perceived a long dark line moving
like a huge caterpillar slowly along the precipitous sides
of the mountain. The guides told them that it was a
troop of Lamas returning from a pilgrimage, who had
encamped for the night at the other end of the valley.
The sight of so many travellers restored their courage,
and they resolutely began the ascent of the mountain.

Before they reached the top, however, the way became
so steep that both men and animals had scarcely strength
to persevere. M. Gabet, weakened by the illness from
which he had suffered on the way to Lhassa, could scarcely
reach the top of Tanda: not having sufficient strength to
help himself by grasping the tail of his horse, as the others
did, he fell from exhaustion, and became almost buried
in the snow. The Tibetan escort went to his assistance,
and succeeded, after long and painful exertions, in getting
him to the top, where he arrived more dead than alive.

The descent of the mountain was comparatively easy,
as they only had to slide down on a thick carpet of
frozen snow.

Further on the missionaries came to Angti, another
great snow-clad mountain. A chief of the tribe of Angti,
a great warrior, had been buried under an avalanche while
crossing it, and a holy Lama, having declared that the
chief had become the genius of the mountain, the natives
raised a temple to him, where travellers never failed to
burn a few incense-sticks before proceeding on their way.
The natives had a superstition that during tempests this
genius of the mountain always appeared, clothed in white
91

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

robes and riding on a red horse, and that if he met any
traveller, he took him on his crupper and vanished at
full gallop. These fears did not trouble the missionaries,
but again they had to send on a herd of long-haired oxen
to trample down the snow and make a track over the
mountain.

The mountain of Angti was so lofty and so steep, that
it took them a whole day to ascend and descend it. The
sun had already set when they managed to reach the
bottom. They halted a short time under some black tents
inhabited by nomad shepherds, swallowed a few handfuls
of tsamba (barley-meal) diluted with brackish tea, and then
resumed their route along a rocky valley. For two hours
in utter darkness they followed the steep banks of a river,
hearing its waters roar below. Every instant they trembled
lest they should be precipitated into it, but the animals
knew the road, and brought them safely to Djaya.

Their arrival in the middle of the night put all the
town in commotion. The dogs by their fierce barking gave
the alarm. Soon after the doors of the houses were opened,
and the inhabitants of the town rushed out in a crowd
into the streets, with horn lanterns, torches, and weapons
of every description, the general impression being that there
was a hostile invasion. However, when they observed the
peaceful, and even timid bearing of the caravan, their
apprehensions were quieted, and each person returned home.

One morning a few days later, the missionaries had a
great shock. The beasts were laden with their burdens;
the horsemen, with their robes tucked up and whip in hand,
were ready to mount. But the commander of the escort,
the mandarin, Ly-Kouo-Ngan, did not appear, and a soldier
who entered his room found him in a dying condition. His

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

death threatened to throw the whole caravan into a state
of anarchy, as he was the commissioned leader of it; but
the missionaries, with admirable presence of mind, assumed
the command and issued their orders, which were fortunately
obeyed.

The dead man's body was enveloped in a large white
pall, covered with Tibetan sentences, and with images of
Buddha printed in black, and so carried to his home in
China. After crossing the Tibeto-Chinese frontier and
reaching Tching-tou-fou, the missionaries found themselves
summoned to appear before a tribunal of mandarins by
order of the Chinese Emperor, and were conducted to the
judgment-hall of the first provincial Commissioner. The
way was cleared by soldiers armed with bamboos and
rattans, the great doors were opened and they entered.
The attendants ran backwards and forwards in their long
red robes and hideous peaked hats of black felt. They
were armed with long rusty swords, and carried chains,
pincers, and various instruments of torture.

Twelve stone steps led up to the vast enclosure where
the judges were placed; on each side of this staircase
was a line of executioners in red dresses ; and when the
missionaries passed tranquilly through their ranks they
all cried out with a loud voice, "Tremble! Tremble!"
They were stopped at about the middle of the hall, and
then eight officers of the court proclaimed in a chanting
voice^the customary formula, "Accused, on your knees!
on your knees ! " This attitude the missionaries entirely
declined to take, even when two officials pulled their arms
to help them to kneel down. The President of the court
was a man of about fifty years of age, with an unpleasant
countenance and a forehead deeply wrinkled. His costume
93

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

was superb; on his breast glittered the large imperial
dragon embroidered in gold and silver; a globe of red
coral, the decoration of mandarins of the first class, sur-
mounted his official cap, and a long perfumed chaplet hung
from his neck.

After the President had asked them a few questions,
the Public Prosecutor began his speech; but during the
course of it he became so excited that the missionaries
declared they could not understand him, and desired to
be examined by the President.

This formidable trial gradually assumed a less terrible
aspect, and the missionaries began to hope that there was
no intention of tearing their flesh with red-hot pincers,
or sticking sharp reeds under their nails. The faces of
the executioners assumed a less ferocious expression, and
the instruments of torture appeared to have been meant
only for intimidation. The President was flattered by
their appealing to him, and, after some further interroga-
tions, allowed them to return to their lodging.

How different their fate might have been had they
been travelling without an escort, and as poor foreigners,
they had reason to know, from reports of the martyrdoms
of former French missionaries and from what they witnessed
during the remainder of their journey, of the cruelties
which disfigure the administration of justice in China.

At Kouang-tsi-hien, on going to visit the Prefect in
his judgment-hall, they found an accused man suspended
in the middle of the hall like a lantern. Ropes attached
to a great beam in the roof held him tied by the wrists
and feet, so as to throw the body into the form of a bow.
Beneath him stood five or six executioners, armed with
rattan rods and leather lashes, their clothes and faces
94

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

spotted with blood — the blood of the unfortunate creature,
who was uttering stifled groans while his flesh was almost
torn in tatters. The crowd present at this frightful spec-
tacle appeared quite at their ease, and the yellow caps and
red sashes which the missionaries wore (a Chinese mark
of high rank) seemed to excite them more than the spectacle
of torture. As the magistrate came to meet them he had
to walk on the tips of his toes and hold up his beautiful
silk robes that they might not be soiled by the pools of
half-coagulated blood with which the floor was covered.

On inquiry the missionaries learnt that this criminal
was the chief of a band of robbers, and had committed
more than fifty murders.

Another day a party of soldiers was met escorting a
number of carts in which were literally piled up a crowd
of Chinese who were uttering horrible cries. As the mis-
sionaries stopped to allow these cart-loads of human beings
to pass, they were seized with horror on perceiving that the
unfortunate creatures were nailed by the hand to the planks
of the cart. A soldier being asked the reason, replied with
frightful coolness : " We've been routing out a nest of
thieves in a neighbouring village. We got a good many of
them, and as we hadn't brought chains enough we were
obliged to contrive some way to prevent their escaping. So
you see we nailed them by the hand."

"But," said the missionary, "do you not think there
may be some innocent among them ? "

" Who can tell ? " replied the soldier. " They have not
been tried yet. We are taking them to the tribunal and
by-and-by, if there are any innocent men among them, they
will be separated from the thieves."

At last, in October 1846, after a journey of six months
95

IN THE HIGHLANDS OF TIBET

from Lhassa, the missionaries saw the masts of European
ships in the river at Canton. Here they found in the
English papers a report that they had been tied to wild
horses and torn in pieces.

M. Hue proceeded to Macao and thence to Pekin, but
the shattered state of his health compelled him to return to
France, where he spent the remainder of his days.

96

II

IN LANDS OF THE SUN

CHAPTER VIII

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

Praying for a revelation— Chosen by lot — A slender capital— Opposition of
the planters — Breaking up a prayer-meeting — Legalised tyranny —
•' Taking the blows " — Wounded missionaries — A century of progress,

THE Moravian Church at Herrnhut, in Saxony, has
the honour of having been the first to send mis-
sionaries to the West Indian slaves in the sugar
plantations long before the movement against slavery had
begun.

The incident which gave rise to this mission was a
journey to Denmark which Count Zinzendorf, the Moravian
leader, undertook in June 1731, to attend the coronation of
Christian VI. Some of the Moravians who were in the
service of the Count, and attended him on this occasion,
became acquainted with a negro from the West Indies
named Anthony, then in the employ of a Danish nobleman.
This man told them that he had often sat on the sea-shore of
the island of St. Thomas and prayed for a revelation. He
drew an affecting picture of the condition of the negroes,
among whom was his own sister, who was also very desirous
of Christian instruction ; and he assured the Moravians that
if a mission were established there was good reason to expect

97 a

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

When Count Zinzendorf was informed of this, he was so
interested that he determined to mention the matter at
Herrnhut, and asked permission for Anthony to follow him
thither. On his return he related the whole to the Moravian
Church, and his statement kindled in the minds of two of
the members, Leonard Dober and Tobias Leupold, a keen
desire to go and preach to the negroes. They opened their
minds to the Count, who rejoiced at their design and dis-
cussed the subject with them for a long time.

Shortly afterwards Anthony arrived, and was introduced
to the Church. He gave an affecting description of the
state of the negroes in the West Indies, and added that it
was scarcely practicable for a missionary to gain any oppor-
tunity of instructing them, except by himself becoming a
slave, since the negroes were overwhelmed with work and
there was no possibility of speaking to them except during
their hours of labour.

Dober and Leupold did not suffer themselves to be
deterred from their purpose by these accounts; on the
contrary, they heroically declared that they were ready to
sacrifice their lives in the cause and to sell themselves into
slavery if necessary. Their proposal, however, met with
but little approbation from the Church. Most of the
Moravians regarded it as a well-intentioned but imprac-
ticable resolution, and Martin Linner, the chief elder, on
whom devolved the superintendence of the choir, would not
consent to part with Dober, who was a skilful musician.

A whole year passed away before the Church came to any
determination, and even then not until they had submitted
the matter, as their custom was, to decision by lot. It was
thus determined that Leupold ought not to go for the
present. But as Dober did not the less persist in his

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

project, the Count, who was entirely of his mind, asked
him if he would submit himself to the same decision. He
replied that for the conviction of his own mind there was
no such necessity; but for the satisfaction of the Church
they might do what they wished. On this they requested
him to draw one from a number of slips of paper on which
were written different sentences, and he drew the following :
"Let the youth go." This put an end to all hesitation.
Dober received his appointment, and Linner gave him his
commission in the name of the Church. Not wishing to go
alone, he asked them to give him his friend David Nitsch-
mann for a companion, at least till the mission was
established. The Church made this proposal to Nitschmann,
who immediately agreed to it, although he had a wife and
children whom he was obliged to leave in Europe.

On the 18th August 1732 they took leave of the Church,
and left Herrnhut on the 21st, accompanied by the Count
as far as Budissin. Zinzendorf gave each of them a ducat
(about half-a-guinea), and they had received three dollars
each from the Church. With this sum they set off to
travel to Copenhagen, a distance of 360 miles.

On their journey they visited several persons, and com-
municated to them their design. But no one encouraged
them to persevere except the Countess of Stolberg. Every-
where they were told of difficulties and dangers arising from
the degraded state of the negroes, the unhealthiness of the
climate, and other causes. When they arrived at Copen-
hagen they found similar discouragement. Persons of all
ranks regarded it as a thing impossible ; they were told
that no vessel would receive them, that even if they should
reach St. Thomas they could not gain a subsistence and,
that they would not be allowed to speak to the negroes.
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AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

Even those of the directors of the West India Company
to whom they had letters of recommendation would neither
assist nor favour their voyage. They particularly dwelt
upon the degraded state of the slaves and the dearness of
provisions, which made it impossible for white men in
narrow circumstances to subsist. When the missionaries
replied that they would work as slaves with the negroes,
the Grand Chamberlain, with whom they were conversing,
told them decidedly that they would not be permitted to do
it. Nitschmann then replied that he would work at his
trade as a carpenter. " But this man, the potter, what will
he do ? ■" said the Chamberlain, pointing to Dober. " I will
support him by my work," replied Nitschmann.

In addition to all these difl&culties they had the grief of
seeing Anthony draw back almost entirely from his state-
ments and recant everything he had said. He, however,
gave them a letter to his sister which was of some service
to them. In the midst of all these discouraging circum-
stances the missionaries' resolve remained unshaken.

Their perseverance at length stirred up several persons
at Copenhagen to take an interest in their project; among
these were the two Court chaplains, who not only assisted
them but brought others over to the same mind. The
Royal Family having been made acquainted with their
design, the Queen was disposed to favour the undertaking,
and one of the princesses sent them a sum of money for
their voyage and a Dutch Bible. Several other persons
presented them with similar tokens of regard, among whom
were some councillors of state. As none of the West India
Company's vessels would take the missionaries on board,
one of the King's officers helped them to procure a passage
ia a Dutch ship bound for St. Thomas. The captain
100

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

received them with pleasure, and the kindness of their
friends enabled them not only to pay their passage but
to procure some carpenter's tools and other necessaries.
They embarked on the 8th October 1733, and the vessel set
sail the next day. On the voyage the sailors often ridiculed
them, and tried to dissuade them from persisting in their
purpose by the most discouraging representations. But the
missionaries were immovable : instead of listening to the
counsel of their opponents they preached to them, and their
consistent conduct procured for them more friendly treat-
ment. The voyage, which was often performed in three or
four weeks, lasted ten, and was attended with much danger
and hardship. In calm weather Nitschmann employed
himself in making a sideboard for the captain, which
pleased him so well that on reaching their destination he
recommended him for skill and industry.

The missionaries arrived at St. Thomas on the 13th of
December. On landing they felt perplexed how to proceed,
and were reflecting on the difficulty they would have in
earning a livelihood in a place where provisions were so
dear, and in which they were entire strangers, when a
negro came to invite them to the house of Mr. Lorenzen,
a planter. He kindly offered them board and lodging until
they could procure a residence for themselves. They im-
mediately began to preach, proclaiming to all within their
hearing the object for which they had come to the island,
and their readiness to teach all who were willing to be
instructed. The negroes received their message with eager-
ness, and clapped their hands for joy, for till this moment
they had thought all religion to be the exclusive privilege
of the whites, their masters.

The missionaries now made arrangements to visit the
101

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

negroes whenever they could get access to them, though
not without opposition from their masters. The planters
and other white residents on the island of St. Thomas
were divided in their views of the missionaries and their
aims. Some honoured them, others despised and detested
them, and wished to drive them out of the country. They
also suffered much from the unhealthy climate.

Presently other missionaries arrived, and the opposition
of the planters increased. Deeds of violence began to be
perpetrated. A meeting of negroes was attacked by a
number of colonists armed with swords and sticks. After
maltreating the poor defenceless slaves — who under the
worst usage dared not lift up a hand against a white
man — the rioters trooped off to Posaunenberg, a small
plantation which the missionaries had purchased, and on
which they lived. There the ruffians fell on the few
negroes about the place, beat them and wounded them,
and put them to flight. Then they smashed the chairs,
glasses, dishes, and other articles of furniture ; everything
was broken up or torn to pieces, and thrown out of the
house.

The Governor also determined to put an end to the
religious meetings of the negroes, and issued an order that
it should be an offence for any negro to be found after
sunset beyond the estate of his master; that a watch of
four men should be appointed in every quarter of the
night to go about and disperse any slaves whom they
found assembled; and that every offender should on the
following day appear before the court and be punished
with thirty lashes. This order the missionaries, in the
simplicity of their hearts, imagined to be merely a renewed
declaration of the law common throughout the West India
102

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

Islands, which prohibits nocturnal assemblies of the slaves
as dangerous to the peace of the community. They sup-
posed that it could have no reference to those meetings
which they held for instructing them in the principles
of religion. They therefore proceeded in their ordinary
course, and on the following Sunday held a meeting after
sunset as usual. Next night about eight o'clock six white
men completely armed came to Posaunenberg ; by the way
they had seized two of the negroes, beaten them and bound
them. On hearing the noise the missionaries went out and
entreated them not to disturb the meeting, but the ruffians
appealed to the order of the Governor, and boisterously
insisted on searching the house. They burst into it, and
found twenty-four negroes assembled. The Moravian
missionaries, with characteristic heroism, stood between
the armed men and the defenceless blacks, and received
the blows which were aimed at them. The negroes, thus
shielded, escaped from the house one after another, most
of them without sustaining any serious injury.

Enraged at their escape, the drunken leader of the
band required the missionaries to bring them back, a
demand which, it is needless to say, he made in vain.
In his fury he attempted to draw his sword on the mis-
sionaries, but was held back by his companions. In this
brutal attack several were severely injured. One of the
missionaries received several wounds, and his wife was
stabbed in the breast. The wife of another was wounded
in the shoulder, and a woman who had a child in her
arms was slashed over the head.

Two days after five white men came to the house of
the missionaries, and, finding no negroes with them, assailed
them with mockery and threats, brandished their swords
103

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

and pistols, and one of them led his horse into their
living room. Before their departure they read out the
order of the Governor concerning the watchers, and with
many threatenings gave them to understand that no negro
would in future be allowed to attend their meetings.

The colonists, however, soon grew tired of maintaining
so strict a watch on the plantations, and after a few days
hundreds of the negroes came again in the evenings to
Posaunenberg. The missionaries could not think of refus-
ing instruction to those who manifested so much desire
for it, but to save them from further brutality they retired
with them among the brushwood, appointing some to watch
and give notice if any white people appeared in the neigh-
bourhood. Happily they met with no interruption, and
after a short time they were again allowed to hold their
meetings without disturbance.

The Governor, though he had prohibited meetings
after sunset, gave no countenance to the wanton assault
which had been committed upon them ; and at his desire
the missionaries drew up a statement of the outrage from
which they had suffered. They asked no satisfaction for
themselves, nor any punishment of the offenders, but merely
protection in future. With unparalleled effrontery two
of the rioters denied the whole charge upon oath, and
demanded that the missionaries should be punished as
calumniators. After some weeks, however, this false accu-
sation was dropped through the interposition of Mr.
Carstens, one of the most respectable planters on the
island. An order was soon afterwards received from the
Court of Copenhagen, in answer to an appeal which had
been made to it, which happily put an end to the opposi-
tion of their enemies.

104.

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

In the meantime Leonard Dober had been recalled to
Herrnhut as presiding elder of the Church there. To him
belongs the honour of having initiated, in the face of
grave difficulties, the work among the negroes, which after
his departure increased rapidly. His heroic resolve to sell
himself into slavery rather than abandon his purpose can
never be forgotten. Presently a great change took place
in public sentiment in St. Thomas with regard to the
labours of the missionaries. Most of the white people
were convinced that they were attended with beneficial
effects to the slaves, and an exception highly honourable
to the missionaries was made in favour of the negroes
under their care. As it was not always possible to close
the evening meetings in time for the slaves to be home
before the appointed hour, the Governor ordered that
those who were furnished with a certificate by one of the
missionaries should be allowed to pass unmolested by the
watch.

How much progress had been made since Leonard
Dober landed at St. Thomas in 1732 without money and
friendless, to commence missionary work, was seen in 1832,
when the centenary of the mission was celebrated. Colonial
authorities as well as the Danish Government now afforded
the missionaries every facility in their labours. The
Governor-General and the Lieutenant-Governor attended
the Centenary Jubilee, accompanied by the leading autho-
rities of the island. The Governor even issued a pro-
clamation directing the planters to grant leave to the
negroes connected with the missionaries' congregations
throughout the island for that day, and the half of the
preceding day, that they might be present at the celebra-
tion. The numbers assembled amounted to upwards of
105

AMONG WEST INDIAN SLAVES

7000, being at least one-third of the population of the
island ; but thei'e was not the smallest disturbance either
before or after the festival, and the Governor remarked
that, however large a number of persons belonging to the
missionaries' congregations might be assembled together,
no detachment of police was found necessary to maintain
order.

At the present time Christianity has spread so widely
among the negroes that the Danish West Indies have
ceased to be a mission field, and have become the fourth
self-supporting province of the Moravian Church.

106

CHAPTER IX

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

Forest journeys — Attacked by bush negroes — Daehne threatened with
death— Struggle with a snake — Stalked by a jaguar— Repentant
Caribs — An embarrassing host — Baptism of a chief — Palgrave's testi-
mony— Solidity of Moravian work.

THE missionary labours of the Moravian Brethren
in South America have been principally in British
and Dutch Guiana. The climate is very unhealthy,
being humid and sultry. The country is flat, overgrown
with impervious thickets and immense forests, the haunts
of serpents and other venomous reptiles, and exposed to
frequent inundations. The soil is uncommonly fertile, and
the growth of vegetation so rapid, that several crops can
be reaped in a year.

About the year 1736, a Dutch gentleman in Amsterdam
requested the Moravian Church to send some missionaries
to settle on one of his plantations on the river Berbice,
and preach to the negroes. In pursuance of this request,
two missionaries, Daehne and Guettner, were sent in June
1738. The stewards and managers of the estates, suspecting
that they had been sent to spy upon their conduct, made
things as disagreeable as possible for them ; and access to
the slaves was extremely difficult, owing to the rigour with
which they were treated. In these circumstances, a gentle-
man of the Surinam trading company came to the rescue
by offering them a piece of ground lying in the middle of
the forest about one hundred miles from the sea-coast.
107

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

This offer they thankfully accepted, and built there a
settlement, which they called Pilgerhut.

They now made frequent visits among the aborigines,
called Arawaks, travelling a circuit of three hundred miles
through a vast wilderness. These journeys were attended
with great difficulties and dangers. They were obliged to
carry their provisions with them, wade through broad 'and
deep rivers, or cross them on a hastily constructed raft, and
often to spend the night in their hammocks suspended from
trees in the midst of the forest. If they came to a village
and the men were not at home, the women ran shrieking
into the wood, and thus their journey was rendered fruitless.
Undeterred, however, they persevered till they won by
degrees the confidence of the savages. Several were baptized
and a congregation was formed.

With a view to extending the operations of the mission,
Daehne proceeded to found another settlement in Dutch
Guiana called Sharon, on a piece of ground which had been
granted to the mission. Here were settled many of the
Caribs, who had been expelled from the West Indies by
the European colonists. This settlement also began to
flourish till it was nearly wrecked by the jealousy of the
bush negroes, who lived in the adjacent woods, and whose
habitations were safe asylums for runaway negro slaves.
For these fugitives the Caribs lay in wait, as the Dutch
Government allowed them fifty florins for every one they
seized. The bush negroes therefore resolved to destroy
Sharon, where many of the Caribs had settled, hoping thus
to force them to leave the country. They watched their
opportunity, and one Sunday, when most of the Caribs were
absent, and the congregation was returning from divine
service, the negroes, with a hideous noise, commenced an
108

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

attack, using fire-arms and bows and arrows. They killed
three aged Indians in their huts and took eleven prisoners,
but were afraid to approach the mission house, as they
observed men with guns stationed inside. They fired from
behind trees, wounding one of the missionaries in the arm ;
and at last, plucking up courage, they set fire to the house,
but the missionaries succeeded in making their escape. The
negroes did not pursue them, but, having plundered the
settlement, retreated with precipitancy, being afraid of an
attack from the Caribs, some of whom were returning.

Although the settlement was rebuilt, it was so con-
tinually harassed by the negroes, that the work of the
missionaries could not be satisfactorily carried on. Vast
swarms of ants almost totally destroyed their crops and
thus deprived them of the means of subsistence. These
and other circumstances led to the final abandonment of
the station.

From Sharon, Daehne proceeded to the river Corentyn,
which forms the boundary between British and Dutch
Guiana, accompanied by a few Indians, who assisted him
in clearing a piece of ground and in building a hut. But
in a short time they all went away except one, and he,
falling sick a few months after, was obliged to return to
his friends. Thus Daehne was left alone in this wilderness,
the haunt of jaguars, serpents of enormous size, and various
venomous reptiles.

The Indians, who were continually passing by, often
inquired into the reason of his building a hut in that
solitary place, and asked whether he did it by his own or
by the Governor's authority. He told them he did it for
their sakes, to make them acquainted with the true religion.
They answered : " The Indians have determined to kill you."
109

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

The soldiers at the neighbouring Dutch fort also sent word
that he was not safe, and invited him to come and live near
them. The intrepid missionary thanked them, but, although
in addition to all these perils he had suffered from fever,
he determined to remain at his post.

About this time he had an almost miraculous escape.
One evening being unwell, and going to He down in his
hammock, he perceived a large serpent descending on him
from a shelf near the roof. In the scuffle the creature bit
him two or three times in the head, and, pursuing him very
closely, twined itself several times round his head and neck.
Supposing that he would be dead in a few minutes, and
wishing to inform the other missionaries when they should
come of the cause of his death, he wrote a few words with
chalk upon the table, lest they should charge the Indians
with the deed. Suddenly, however, the text flashed into
his mind, "They shall take up serpents and it shall not
hurt them," and, seizing the creature with great force, he
tore it from his neck and flung it out of the hut. He then
lay down, and when he had recovered from the shock he felt
no injury. The serpent was doubtless one of those whose
bite is not poisonous, and which coil round their prey, and
crush it. But for his desperate effort he would probably
have been strangled. Daehne was also in danger from a
jaguar, which for a long time lurked near his hut watching
for an opportunity to seize him. The roar of the brute was
heard every evening, and the missionary had to make a
large fire near his hut night after night to frighten it away.

Later in the same year the Carib Indians resolved to

put their threats against him into execution. One day as

he sat at dinner about fifty of them arrived in canoes and

surrounded bis hut. They presented an alarming appear-

110

A Terrible Fight with a Serpent

One evening, feeling unwell, the missionary lay down. Suddenly a large serpent
descended from a shelf, wound itself closely round him, and bit him several times.
Thinking he would soon be dead, he sat down to write a dying man's message, when
the text, " They shall take up serpents, and it shall not hurt them," flashed across his
mind. With a desperate effort he seized the creature, and with great force flung it
from him.

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

ance, being armed with swords and tomahawks. Daehne
immediately went out to them and spoke to them in the
Arawak language. They answered in a surly tone, telling
him to speak the Caribbee language. He told them that
he could not, and upon this they began to speak with each
other, every now and then addressing Daehne to find out
whether he understood them or not. Perceiving that he
did not even guess their meaning, they called their Arawak
interpreter and made him ask Daehne, Who had given him
leave to build on their land ? He answered that he had a
written permission under the hand of the Governor. They
then asked what object he had in coming thither. He told
them in order to preach the Gospel. Their chief asked to
what nationality he belonged, and, being told the Dutch,
said, " Have you never heard that the Indians intend to
kill you?" "Yes," answered Daehne, "but I cannot
believe it. You have among your Indians some who
have lived with me, and they can tell you that I am a
real friend of the Indians." " Yes," replied he, " I have
heard so, and they say that you are another sort of
Christian than most of the white people." Daehne then
said, " I am your friend ; how is it that you are come to
kill me?" The chief answered, "We have done wrong."
Upon this the threatening aspect of his followers relaxed,
and the party dispersed. The chief continued to hold a
friendly conversation with the missionary, expressing pleasure
at being told that other missionaries would probably come.
As he was going away Daehne perceived that he had some
"cassabi" (a kind of native bread) in his pouch. Being
actually short of food, he asked him for it, as the chiefs
people could easily get more, adding, "If you should at
any time pass by and be hungry, I also will give you soms-
111

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

thing to eat." The chief immediately told his men to
give Daehne some cassabi and fish, and then took leave,
saying he would often come to see him. The Indians
showed their friendliness in other ways, helping Daehne
from time to time in clearing the ground and felling trees.
More than once he found himself reduced to great want,
not knowing when he rose in the morning whether he
should taste a morsel all day, but he generally found some
Indians who were willing to share their mouthful of cassabi
with him.

In the year 1758 another painful experience befell him.
While he was gathering wood for fuel some large black
ants nearly two inches long fastened upon his hand, and
their stings gave him such excruciating pain that he nearly
fainted.

During the following year he was occasionally visited by
Warau Indians, who listened attentively to his preaching,
and some of them promised to come and live with him.
His incessant bodily labours, which were often beyond his
strength, brought on an attack of sickness, which was
increased by the unhealthiness of the climate and hiL ^-oor
and scanty fare. His fellow missionaries in Paramaribo,
being informed of his condition, immediately despatched
one of their number, named Boemper, to his assistance.
He set out, but for a considerable time could not get an
Indian to take him in his boat, partly from their fear of
going near a sick person, but especially because a report
had been circulated that the devil lived with Daehne.
They therefore did all they could to dissuade Boemper
from venturing to go to so dangerous a person. However
he persisted and arrived at the Corentyn, to Daehne's great
comfort. After two years two missionaries were sent to
112

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

relieve Daehne at this post of difficulty and danger, and he
returned for a time to Europe.

In the meantime a war broke out in Surinam between
the bush negroes, headed by two leaders, Abim and Samsam,
and the Dutch Government. The negroes were not so
easily suppressed as their brothers in Jamaica, having behind
them an unlimited reach of wild forest country. In the
year 1764 the Government made peace with them, and,
judging that their conversion to Christianity would tend
more than anything else to make them peaceable and stop
the outrages which they were in the habit of committing,
applied to the United Brethren to send missionaries to
instruct them. Accordingly in 1765 Daehne and two other
missionaries were despatched to Paramaribo.

As soon as possible they proceeded inland, but found
Samsam the negro leader a difficult person to deal with.
He insisted on one of the missionaries living with him,
not from any peculiar regard for them, but solely to have
a European residing in his, house, which the negroes esteem
an honour. When he found them resolute in their deter-
mination of dwelling together, he kept back their goods,
and either applied them to his own use, or suffered them
to spoil. One of the new missionaries died, and Daehne
and the other, named Stoll, at first suffered great hardships,
living in a miserable little hut till Abim, the other negro
chief, built a small house for them. In a short time, how-
ever, they lost likewise this friend and benefactor, as he
was shot in a battle between his own and another negro
tribe. Before he went to the battle he presented his son,
John Arabini, to the missionaries, saying, " that he did not
know what sort of people the Brethren were, nor the cause of
their abode in the country, but believed God had sent them."
113 H

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

Arabini, who was chosen chief in the place of his father,
proved a real friend and protector to the missionaries, who,
as soon as they had learnt the language, began to preach
to the people. This excited the jealousy and opposition
of the idol-priest, and especially of the old women, who
terrified their superstitious fellow-countrymen by saying that
their "gados" (gods) were angry with them for turning
to the " Gran-gado " (the great God) of the white people.

The missionaries, ignorant of the plots for their destruc-
tion, continued to hold their family devotions with their
doors open, hoping that some of the savages might be
attracted by curiosity to attend. They were warned
against going out of the house at night, but as Arabini
maintained a good understanding with the Dutch Govern-
ment, who had recommended the missionaries to his pro-
tection, none of their enemies ventured to do them any
personal injury.

Arabini himself, after careful instruction, was baptized
in the presence of most of the male inhabitants of the
village, the women being too much afraid of their gods
to come. His baptism incensed the heathen negroes, especi-
ally the idolatrous women. Instigated by them the chief
of a neighbouring village entered the mission house foaming
with rage, and armed with a gun and sabre. He cursed
them for committing the heinous offence of persuading
Arabini to forsake the gods of his fathers. But the un-
daunted demeanour of the missionaries baffled him, and
he returned to his own house.

Of all the stations occupied by the Moravian mission-
aries, this one among the bush negroes of Surinam was
justly deemed the most difficult. The roving disposition
of the negroes, who were constantly moving from place
114

IN THE FORESTS OF DUTCH GUIANA

to place, and the unhealthiness of the climate, militated
most strongly against success in missionary work amongst
them. In coming up the river from Paramaribo to the
mission station at Bambey, the boat had to be carried
up twenty cataracts, and paths had to be cut with an axe
through dense jungles. Notwithstanding these moral and
physical difficulties, Daehne and his coadjutors laid the
foundations of their work so solidly that, when the famous
traveller W. G. Palgrave visited Surinam in 1875, he had
nothing but praise for the results of the Moravian mission
work. As an independent observer of large experience, his
opinion has no little weight, and he wrote thus : " The
latest census gives nineteen Moravian schools, while over
24,000 names are inscribed in the register of the Brother-
hood. That the emancipation of the slaves in 1863 was
neither preceded, accompanied, or followed in Dutch Guiana
by any disturbances like those which agitated Jamaica,
Demerara, and other settlements ; that scarcely one of the
Creole labourers on the estates struck work or took advan-
tage of his new completeness of freedom to give himself
up to idleness and vagabond life ; these things are mainly
due, so the colonists acknowledge, to the spirit of subordina-
tion, industry, and order inspired into their pupils by the
Moravian teachers. Their loyalty and good sense had
prepared a people worthy of the rights into the enjoyment
of which they at last entered. They had made of the slaves
under their tutorial care not only, as the phrase goes, good
Christians, but they had also made of them, what the
majority of other teachers had failed to do, good citizens
and good subjects, loyal to their Government, respectful
to their superiors, orderly among themselves."

116

CHAPTER X

THE CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

A narrow escape— Lions and snow— First interview with Geika— Pro-
pitiated by buttons— Kaffir gluttons— Nervous savages— " From the
university to the hut "—Unnatural parents— A lion's ionne-bouche —
Fastidious Boers— The attack on Graaff-Reinet— Shooting a peace-
maker— A truculent farmer — The wilderness settlement— Redeeming
slaves.

DR. VANDERKEMP, the son of a Dutch minister
at Rotterdam, was born in 1748. Though a native
of Holland, he took his M.D. degree in Edinburgh.
For several years he practised at Middelburg in Holland.
He had then little religious belief, being entirely sceptical
till he was nearly fifty years of age, when a painful event
occurred, which revolutionised his life.

One day, in the month of June, while he was sailing on
the river near Dort with his wife and daughter, a violent
storm suddenly arose, and the boat was upset. Mrs. and
Miss Vanderkemp soon sunk and were drowned, and the
doctor, clinging to the boat, was carried down the stream
nearly a mile, no one daring in so dreadful a squall to
venture from the shore to his assistance. A vessel lying
in the port of Dort was by the violence of the storm
driven from her moorings, and drifted towards him, and,
just as he was on the point of sinking, the sailors took
him from the capsized boat. Thus remarkably was pre-
served a life which was henceforth to be dedicated to the
missionary cause.

116

CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

He came to London and entered into communication
with the directors of the London Missionary Society, laying
before them the project of a mission to South Africa.
He seemed to them to be the very man, qualified by the
most appropriate talents, to commence and superintend it.

In December 1798 he sailed with three other mission-
aries for the Cape of Good Hope, where they arrived in
safety. Letters from the English Governor to subordinate
magistrates in the country were kindly furnished, waggons
were purchased, and Bruntjie, a famous elephant hunter,
was sent from the Moravian Brethren of Bavian Kloof,
and engaged as guide and interpreter. In the end of May
Vanderkemp commenced his journey towards Kaffraria;
after passing the valley of Modezand, they entered upon
a perilous road between ridges of precipitous mountains.
In the last house on that side of the wilderness they were
sheltered from a heavy rain, and the next night they
pitched their tents amid a thick fall of snow. Onwards
they passed through a trackless waste infested with lions,
leopards, wolves, and other beasts of prey ; often they could
not sleep for the terrific sounds. At last they arrived at
the house of Mr. De Beer. The settlement of this wealthy
colonist, on the outskirts of civilisation, was on a large
scale, with buildings, substantial and clean, and numerous
domestics and dependants, extensive farms, corn and grazing
grounds. In the long, stupendous defile of the river Kloof,
through which De Beer and his guest went on their way, the
scenery was extremely grand, bold cliffs, rugged rocks, lofty
mountain peaks, and valleys clothed with groves of mimosa
trees, the flowers of which appeared like innumerable golden
balls suspended from the branches. The Hex River, foaming
in its course, forced its way tumultuously through the jungle.
117

CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

After a tedious journey they arrived at the dwelling of
the Kaffir chief Geika, to whom they had previously sent
a message requesting leave to enter his territory. The
chief soon approached, in a solemn manner, attended by
two of his men, one on each side. He was clothed with
a long robe of panthers' skins, and wore a diadem of copper
and another of beads round his head. He had in his hand
an iron club, and his cheeks and lips were painted red.
At a distance behind him stood his subordinates and women
in the form of a half-moon, and at a great distance the
rest of the people. He reached out his right hand, but
spoke not a word.

Vanderkemp presented him with a tobacco-box which he
had filled with buttons. Geika then desired to know by
an interpreter what was requested of him : he said that
the missionaries had come at a very unfavourable time,
that all the country was in confusion, and that he was in
perpetual danger from his enemies. By degrees, however, .his
suspicions of the missionaries were removed, and he assigned
them some land on the other side of the river Keiskamma.

The place allotted was a beautiful plain of grass in the
middle of an amphitheatre of high mountains, dotted over
by several kraals of Kaffirs, Round the foot of the moun-
tains ran a river of excellent water; the slopes of the
mountains were covered by thick woods containing trees
of every description.

Geika, the chief, though he did not care how much he
troubled the missionaries, or begged from them himself,
was sometimes enraged if he saw them too much troubled
by others. On such an occasion he once laid hold of a
stick and knocked down servants, women, and children,
indeed all who came in his way, without making any dis--
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CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

tinction. The natives were generally painted red, and some
of them by way of ornament wore a plaster of cow-dung
upon their foreheads. They were extremely gluttonous, and
a party of them would devour a whole ox at a meal. They
were very slow of apprehension, and could not conceive the
use of a gimlet or scissors till they saw some one actually
using them. It was no small addition to the trials of
Dr. Vanderkemp in this situation that his companion Mr.
Edmonds determined to leave him. He had a great desire
to go to Bengal, and could not overcome his strong aver-
sion to the Kaffirs. Thus the doctor was left to carry on
alone his arduous work. At the same time also violent
opposition was excited among some of the natives, who looked
upon him as a spy of the Boers, who were bitterly hated by
the Kaffirs. They resolved at one time to kill him, and he
was forbidden to continue teaching ; but after a while their
rage subsided, and he persevered in his lonely labours.
The Kaffirs were sunk in the depths of ignorance, and
were subject to senseless panics. One evening when the
missionary, after reading a chapter to some inquirers, arose
to kneel with them round the fire, a native who was with
them was so terrified that he seized his spear, and running
off to the field hid himself, supposing that they intended
to murder him. A few days after, a young Kaffir woman
going to visit the missionary saw in the distance his tent
shaken by the wind, and, supposing it to be some rapacious
beast which had been let loose to devour her, bolted off
through the river into the forest, where, missing the path
in her fright, she fell into a pit full of sharpened stakes
that had been made as a wild-beast trap, and nearly lost
her life.

Vanderkemp's most promising pupils at this time were
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CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

two or three Hottentot women, who could only come for
instruction at night. As all his candles were spent, and
there was no one to give him another, their conversations
had to be carried on in the dark. Dr. Moffat, in his
" Missionary Labours in South Africa," has paid an eloquent
tribute to Vanderkemp''s work at this time : " He came
from a university to stoop to teach the alphabet to the
poor naked Hottentot and Kaffir ; from the society of
nobles to associate with beings of the lowest grade in the
scale of humanity; from stately mansions to the filthy
hovel of the greasy African; from the army (in which he
had been a captain previous to entering the medical pro-
fession) to instruct the fierce savage in the tactics of a
heavenly warfare; from the study of physic to become the
guide to the Balm of Gilead."

In January 1801 Dr. Vanderkemp resolved, after a stay
of fifteen months, to leave Kaffraria. Some colonists, who
had also been resident there, accompanied him on the
march to GraafF-Reinet. This was not unaccompanied by
peril, as they were attacked by the diminutive Bushmen,
whose poisoned arrows were very dangerous. Fires were
considered necessary at night to keep ofi^ lions, but they
dared not light them for fear of being discovered by the
Bushmen. These degraded beings, who seemed to have
lost nearly all semblance of humanity, lived in holes in
the ground or caves. Moffat says, in the work above
quoted, "there are instances among them of parents
throwing their tender off'spring to the hungry lion who
stands roaring before their cave, refusing to depart till
some peace-offering be made to him." Their savagery
had been increased by the cruelty of the colonists, who
had hunted them like wild beasts.
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CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

Having passed safely through the country of the Bush-
men, Dr. Vanderkemp arrived at Graaff-Reinet. Here he
was offered the pastorate of the Dutch Church, but
refused it, being determined to devote himself to mis-
sionary work among the despised Hottentots.

At GraafF-Reinet Dr. Vanderkemp found two additional
missionaries, who had come from England to assist him.
They had already commenced instructing the slaves and
the Hottentots, assembling them in the church which
Mr. Maynier, the Commissioner of the district, had
granted them for that purpose. In this good work Dr.
Vanderkemp joined them, and great multitudes of Hot-
tentots flocked to Graaff-Reinet to receive instruction and
to seek a refuge from the oppression of the Boers. Their
labours were attended with success, but offence was taken
by the colonists, who actually took up arms against the
Government, complaining that the Commissioner protected
the Hottentots and Kaffirs, and encouraged them to rob
and murder the colonists ; that they were instructed in
reading and writing, and thereby put on a level with
Christians, and they particularly complained that they
were allowed to hold their meetings in the church of
GraafF-Reinet.

On the approach of the rebels to the village, the
Commissioner sent to hear their demands, which were,
that the slaves and Hottentots should be excluded from
the church, which should be purified by having the seats
washed, and the pavement broken up, and that those
Hottentots who had murdered white men should be given
up to them. The Commissioner consented to their demands
respecting the church, and promised that those Hottentots
whom they accused of murder should be tried according
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CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

to the laws of the colony, but he refused to let them be
delivered into their hands without any proof of their
guilt. These concessions did not satisfy the rebels, and
they prepared to attack the place; but finding the troops
ready to receive them they, after some hesitation, with-
drew. In the meantime Dr. Vanderkemp tried to bring
them to accept the terms proposed. He first wrote to
one of their leaders, with whom he was acquainted ; and
not receiving any answer he rode out alone to their camp.
They met him in a friendly manner, and he succeeded
in persuading the leaders of the party to accompany
him to Graaff-Reinet, where the affair was peaceably
settled.

Soon after this. Dr. Vanderkemp paid another visit
to Kaffirland, but there appeared so little prospect of
hopeful work there that he speedily returned to Graaff-
Reinet to resume his labours among the Hottentots.
Although he had very little visible success among the
Kaffirs, the disinterestedness of his character made so
strong an impression on them that they were favourably
disposed to receive the missionaries who came to them
in after years.

The Boers, ready to seize upon every pretext for
showing their enmity to the missionaries, now represented
the late journey of Vanderkemp into Kaffirland as intended
to stir up Geika against them, and again appeared in arms.
They completely surrounded the village of Graaff-Reinet,
and took possession of some of the houses, firing upon
the inhabitants and the soldiers. Many balls were deli-
berately aimed at Vanderkemp, but he escaped unhurt.
Soon after this the Doctor received a communication from
the Governor, General Dundas, in which he expressed his
122

CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

desire that a missionary institution for the Hottentots
should be formed on the borders of the colony, promising
at the same time any piece of ground in the disposal of
Government which might be thought suitable. Encouraged
by this offer the missionaries left Graaff-Reinet with a
hundred and nine Hottentots. Stragglers joined them
on the road, and increased this number to two hundred
and twenty-one. Their temporary residence was fixed at
Botha's farm, about seven miles west of Algoa Bay,
where they continued with the Hottentots for nearly
eight months, working under considerable difficulty. The
Doctor was for some time confined to his bed with
rheumatism ; and the country was in a very disturbed
state owing to roving bands of Hottentot marauders.
Not long after their settlement at Botha''s farm, one of
these bands attacked them by night. All endeavours to
persuade them to a friendly agreement were in vain ; they
only answered by firing at any one who showed himself.
A Hottentot was sent out to make overtures of peace,
but they cried : " Look ! there comes a peace-maker ! Kill
him ! shoot him ! " and he received a ball in his leg. The
chief of the banditti, however, being shot, the rest of the
band fled, but renewed the attack two or three times
afterwards. These successive attacks induced Vanderkemp
with his followers to take refuge for a while in Fort
Frederick, where, as usual, he found the colonists very
unfriendly.

By the peace of Amiens in 1802 it was stipulated that
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope should revert to
the Dutch, and the interval between the departure of
the English garrison from Algoa Bay and the arrival of
the Dutch was to the missionaries a time of great anxiety.
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CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

General Dundas was so much impressed with a sense of
the danger to which the missionaries would be exposed
that he used every argument to induce them to suspend
their labours and accompany him to Cape Town, and
when he could not prevail upon them, " he considered
us," says Dr. Vanderkemp, "as dead men." The new
Governor, General Janssens, arrived at Algoa Bay in
1803. On his arrival, the frontier Boers proposed that all
the Hottentots should be seized, that each should have a
chain attached to his leg, and that they should be dis-
tributed among them as slaves. Public opinion in Europe
would not have permitted, even if the General had been
so inclined, such a direct method of enslaving the people.
But the General had been acquainted with Vanderkemp
in former days in Holland, and was friendly to him. He
agreed to grant him another site for his settlement, and
Vanderkemp gave it the name of Bethelsdorp, since well
known in the missionary annals of South Africa.

A contemporary traveller, Lichtenstein, has given us
a graphic picture of Vanderkemp at this time. "On the
day of our arrival at Algoa Bay," he writes, "we re-
ceived a visit from Vanderkemp. In the very hottest
part of the morning we saw a waggon, such as is used
in husbandry, drawn by four meagre oxen, coming slowly
along the sandy downs. Vanderkemp sat upon a plank
laid across it, without a hat, his venerable bald head
exposed to the burning rays of the sun. He was dressed
in a threadbare black coat, waistcoat, and breeches, with-
out shirt, neckcloth, or stockings, and leather sandals bound
on his feet, the same as are worn by the Hottentots,"

As time went on Vanderkemp become more and more
the champion of this oppressed people againsft the tyranny
124

CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

both of Boer and English colonists. In 1804 he wrote
to the Governor stating that his conscience would not
permit him any longer to encourage Hottentots to enter
into the service of the farmers, because of the cruelty
and injustice with which they were treated, without any
relief being afforded them by the magistrates. The
farmers were so incensed at the missionary that one of
them went to Cape Town, and without ceremony re-
quested from the Governor leave to shoot him. General
Janssens replied by asking significantly if he had seen
the gallows on his entrance into the town.

In the year 1806 the colony again reverted to the
English. The fleet which brought English soldiers brought
also the celebrated missionary Henry Martyn, on his way
to India. He has described in his journal how he found
Dr. Vanderkemp outside his house looking at the stars,
and the veneration with which the veteran missionary
inspired him. Strikingly different as the two men were
in almost every respect, they were alike in devoting in-
tellectual powers of the highest order to the instruction
of some of the most degraded of the human species, —
Hottentots and low-caste Bengalis.

No sooner was English rule re-established than General
Sir David Baird sent for Vanderkemp to consult him on
the best method of treating Hottentot prisoners of war,
and soon after gave him full permission to resume his
labours at Bethelsdorp. This had now become a flourish-
ing settlement. The fields, once a barren wilderness,
were grazed by twelve hundred head of cattle, besides
sheep and goats; and in the year 1810 the number of
persons at Bethelsdorp amounted to nearly one thousand.
Industry continually increased. Mats and baskets were
125

CHAMPION OF THE HOTTENTOTS

made in considerable quantities and sold in the country
round. The manufacture of salt was encouraged, and it
was bartered in the neighbourhood for wheat and other
useful articles. Soap-boiling, sawing and wood-cutting for
waggons became also means of support.

Anxious to keep down as far as possible the expenses
of the mission, Vanderkemp generally supported himself
with little or no cost to his society. He also at various
times ransomed Hottentot slaves, paying the purchase
money out of his own private fortune. In the course of
three years he redeemed seven of these at no less a cost
than ,£'800. It is sad to record that up to the end his
soul was tortured by the heartless cruelties inflicted on
the natives. A few months before his death he wrote:
"I would go anywhere to escape from my present situa-
tion: I cannot remain much longer at Bethelsdorp; my
spirits are broken, and I am l^owed down by the Land-
drost Cuyler's continual oppression of the Hottentots."

He died in 1811 at Cape Town, whither he had been
summoned by the Governor to give evidence concerning
some of these very cases. Shortly before his death he
had projected a mission to Madagascar, and he seems to
have had some prescience of the success which Christian
preaching was to meet with in that country. He was an
accomplished linguist, being able to read and write in
sixteen languages. It was undoubtedly his work in South
Africa which laid the fomidation for the labours of Moffat
and Livingst.one.

126

CHAPTER XI

ROBERT MOFFAT AND THE BECHUANAS

A dismal prospect — Africaner the terrible — Sheep scared by a hyena —
Between a tiger and a serpent — A frail shelter— Short commons —
A happy transformation — Moffat poisoned — The frightened Boer —
Further afield — Mischievous natives — A Bechuana virago — A stone
for dinner — Cunning rain-makers — Facing death — A timely warning
— Savage warfare — " Moving houses."

BEFORE the year 1817, very little progress had been
made by missions in South Africa, owing to the
obstructions thrown in the way by the Cape
Government, and also by the Boers, who preferred to keep
the natives in the condition of slaves. In that year MoiFat
landed at Cape Town, having been sent out by the London
Missionary Society. He had intended to proceed to Nama-
qua-land, but permission was for a long time refused by
the Cape authorities, who said that as many slaves had
already run away from their masters to the mission station
at Griquatown, it was not desirable that any more mission
stations should be established.

After persistent applications, however, by Mr. Thorn,
a Dutch Reformed minister at Cape Town, the Governor
at last consented that Moffat should proceed. An account
which the missionary received from a traveller of the region
he was about to pass through, was not encouraging : " You
will find," he was told, "plenty of sand and stones, a thinly-
scattered population always suffering from want of water,
127

ROBERT MOFFAT AND

plains and hills roasted like a burnt loaf, under the scorch-
ing rays of a cloudless sun."

Besides all this, the region he was about to approach
was dominated by the terror of an outlawed Hottentot
chief named Africaner. He had formerly been servant to
a Boer farmer, who had ill-treated him and had been shot
dead by his brother Titus. On this a price of 1000 dollars
was set by the Cape Government on the head of Africaner,
who dared any one to approach his territories. He
threatened to destroy the mission station of Warm Bath,
where he himself had formerly received Christian instruction.
For a whole month the missionaries were in constant terror,
expecting the threatened attack. On one occasion they dug
square holes in the ground about six feet deep, that in
case of an assault, they might escape the bullets; there
they remained buried alive for a week, having the tilt
sail of the waggon thrown over the mouth of the pit to
keep oflP the burning rays of a vertical sun. Finding it
impossible to remain in circumstances of such danger, they
retired to Cape Colony. The mission station was «oon
afterwards burnt to the ground by Africaner's folio we. j.

When the Dutch farmers heard of Moffat's intention
to proceed to Namaqualand, they predicted his speedy-
death at the hands of Africaner. One said that he would
set him up as a mark for his boys to shoot at; another
that he would strip off his skin and make a drum of it
to dance to, another consoling prediction was that a
drinking cup would be made of his skull. One old lady
wiping her eyes, bade him farewell, saying: "Had you
been an old man, it would have been nothing, for you
would soon have died, whether or no ; but you are young
and going to become a prey to that monster."
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THE BECHUANAS

The difficulties of the journey were also considerable.
The waggons were drawn by eight or ten oxen, and only
went about two and a half miles an hour. The task of
driving the loose cattle was not an easy one, for frequently
the oxen would take one course, the sheep another, and
the horses a third. Sometimes the unearthly howl of a
hyena would make the sheep take to their heels, and the
missionary, dreading the loss of his mutton, had to pursue
them. At other times, after heavy rain, the oxen would
sink in the mire and the waggons had to be unloaded
and dragged out backwards. When there was a succession
of dry days, their troubles were of an opposite kind. The
oxen would toil along, their tongues lolling out with thirst,
till they came to a dead stop and declined to go any farther.
Moffat and his companion, Kitchingman, after digging an
immense hole in the sand, would find a scanty supply of
brackish water which scarcely sufficed for their needs.

They were also often exposed to danger from lions,
which frequented the pools, and some of the party had
many hair-breadth escapes. One night they were quietly
seated at evening worship by a small pool, and the closing
notes of a hymn had just died away when the terrific roar
of a lion was heard ; the oxen, which before were quietly
chewing the cud, rushed upon them and over their fires,
leaving them prostrate and in a cloud of dust and sand.
Hats and hymn-books, Bibles and guns, were all scattered
in wild confusion, but no serious injury was sustained. At
another time, Moffat had a narrow escape from a spotted
tiger and a serpent together. He had left the waggon,
and wandered to a distance among the coppice and grassy
openings in search of game. He had a small double-barrelled
gun on his shoulder which was loaded with a ball and small
129 I

ROBERT MOFFAT AND

shot ; an antelope passed, at which he fired, and slowly
followed the course it took. After advancing a short
distance, he saw a tiger standing staring at him from
between the forked branches of a tree, behind which his
long spotted body was concealed, twisting and turning
his tail just like a cat going to spring on its prey. This
was a critical moment, as he had not a bullet in his gun.
If he turned his back and ran, the tiger would be on him,
so he moved about as if in search of something on the
grass, taking care to retreat and reload at the same time.
After getting, as he thought, to a suitable distance, he
turned his back, and moved somewhat more quickly, but
in his anxiety to escape what was behind, he did not see
what was before, till he was startled by treading on a large
cobra asleep upon the grass. It instantly coiled its body
round his leg on which he had nothing but a thin pair of
trousers. He leaped from the spot, dragging the venomous
and enraged reptile after him, and while it was in the act
of throwing itself into a position to bite, he shot it.
Taking it by the tail, he brought it to his people at the
waggon, who, on examining the bags of poison, asserted
that had the creature bitten him he could never have
reached the waggon. The serpent was six feet long.

When Moffat arrived at Africaner's kraal, things looked
by no means propitious. The chief ordered the women to
build him a hut, but himself preserved a cold and distant
demeanour, while his brother Titus angrily insisted on'the
departure of Mr. Ebner, Moffat's companion.

The hut Moffat lived in was a frail structure composed

of reeds and mats. If a dog wished for a night's lodging, it

would force its way in and frequently steal his food ; and

more than once be found a serpent polled up in the corney,

130

Two AOAiNST One

Moffat suddenly saw a spotted tiger about to spring. Scarcely had he begun to retreat
carefully when to his horror he trod on a huge sleejiing cobra. It instantly curled itselt
round his leg, and he only just succeeded in shooting it as it was preparing to bite.

THE BECHUANAS

As the cattle belonging to the village had no fold, but
strolled about, he was sometimes compelled to start up
from a sound sleep and try to defend himself and his dwell-
ing from being crushed to pieces by the rage of two bulls
which had met to fight a nocturnal duel.

Besides this, he often had to suffer from absolute want
of food. His salary was only £25 a year, and he was
confined to a diet of milk and meat, no vegetables being
procurable owing to the want of water for the cultivation
of the ground. This proved extremely injurious to his
health, and brought on an attack of bilious fever, to which
he nearly succumbed.

He was rewarded for his trials, however, by seeing a
marked change come over Africaner, who would sit for
hours studying his Testament and asking questions. Gradu-
ally, to MofFafs joy, he became an enlightened Christian,
and proved a great help to him on his missionary
itinerations.

These were attended by considerable privation and
hardship. On one occasion, coming thirsty to a pool,
Moffat drank heartily, but, finding an unusual taste in his
mouth, discovered that the water had been poisoned by the
Bushmen for the sake of killing game. He began to feel
giddy, and his pulse beat with extreme rapidity. Fortu-
nately his constitution was sufficiently robust to throw off
the poison, and he recovered after some days. That the
danger was serious, however, was shown by the death of
some zebras which had drunk of the same water the
preceding day.

In 1819 Moffat went to Cape Town to meet his future
wife. He proposed to Africaner that he should accompany
him, but the chief at first did not believe that he was in
131

ROBERT MOFFAT AND

earnest. " I had thought you loved me," he said, " and do
you advise me to go to the Government to be hung up as
an example of public justice? Do you not know that I am
an outlaw, and that 1000 dollars have been offered for my
head?" However, after a time he yielded to Moffat's
persuasions, and they set out on their journey to Cape
Town.

Their appearance at the various farms on the way
created the profoundest astonishment. One farmer seeing
Moffat, put his hand behind him, and inquired rather wildly
who he was. When Moffat told him, he said, "Moffat! it
is your ghost ! " and moved some steps backward. " Don't
come near me," he exclaimed, " you have been long murdered
by Africaner. Everybody says you were murdered, and a
man told me he had seen your bones." At length he
extended his trembling hand, saying, " When did you rise
from the dead ? " His astonishment, if possible, was in-
creased on seeing Africaner in his new character as the
missionary's friend, especially as his own uncle had fallen a
victim to the chiefs ferocity in former days.

On reaching Cape Town, Moffat went with Africaner to
visit the Governor, Lord Charles Somerset, who was much
struck with this successful result of missionary enterprise,
and presented Africaner with a waggon worth <£^80.

During his stay at Cape Town, Moffat was appointed by
his society to the Bechuana mission. This work, upon
which he entered in 1821, proved to be even a severer
trial of patience than that in which he had been hitherto
engaged. The people were absolutely devoid of religious
ideas, and had not even risen to the level of idolatry. They
were also extremely mischievous. The Moffats were often
left without any water for "their vegetables, as the women
132

THE BECHUANAS

would cut the watercourse which they had made from the
Kuruman River, leaving them on a thirsty plain for many
days without a drop of water, and with the thermometer
at 120°.

The savage temper of the Bechuanas was a severe trial
to the missionaries. On one occasion Mrs. Moffat, with a
babe in her arms, humbly begged a woman to be kind
enough to move out of a temporary kitchen, that she
might shut it as usual before going to church. The
woman seized a piece of wood to hurl at Mrs. Moffat's
head, who was obliged to make her escape, leaving her
in undisputed possession of the kitchen, and free to
appropriate its contents to her own use.

Thefts of their property were indeed of daily occurrence,
from cattle and sheep, which were carried off at night, to
tools and utensils. Sometimes on returning from preaching
the missionary would find a stone left in the pot instead of
the meat on which he had hoped to dine.

Occasionally the natives hinted that the missionaries
had left their own country for some crime. " What is
the reason you do not return to your own land ? " asked a
chief whom Moffat had begged to help him recover his
knife, which had been stolen from his jacket, laid down
while he was preaching. " If your land was a good one, or
if you were not afraid of returning, you would not be so
content to live as you do, while people devour you," said
another.

Besides their natural stupidity, the superstitious rever-
ence paid by the natives to supposed " rain-makers " formed
a great obstacle to missionary labours. No device was too
grotesque or absurd for the natives to carry out at the
command of the rain-maker, in order, as they hoped, to
133

ROBERT MOFFAT AND

obtain rain. On one occasion he told them to catch a
baboon and bring it without a single hair missing, on
another to kill a lion and bring its heart. Neither of
these methods had any result; and the rain-maker then
declared that Moffat and his brother missionary Hamilton
frightened away the clouds by looking at them. Eventually
Moffat had to intercede for the life of the rain-maker, whom
the disappointed natives were preparing to kill. He suc-
ceeded in getting him off safely, but they then directed
their anger against himself, saying that the missionaries'
residence among them was the cause of the long-continued
drought, and that they must leave the country. One day
a chief, brandishing his spear, came to Moffat's door with a
threatening message to this effect. Moffat came out and
confronted him, while his wife looked on from the doorway
with her infant in her arms. To his threats the missionary
replied, " If you are resolved to rid yourselves of us you
must resort to stronger measures. You may shed blood or
burn us out. Then shall they who sent us know, and God,
who sees and hears us shall know that we have been perse-
cuted indeed." At these words the chief looked at his
companions, remarking with a significant shake of the
head, "These men must have ten lives when they are so
fearless of death ; there must be something in immortality."
The threatening group then broke up, and the missionaries
were left for the time in peace.

At last the day came when the Bechuanas were to
learn the value of Moffat. For some time past rumours
had reached Kuruman that a savage tribe named the
Mantatees were about to attack the Bechuanas. Moffat
had been preparing for a visit to a distant chief, Makaba,
head of the Bauangketsi, in order to open up friendly
134

THE BECHUANAS

relations with him. Notwithstanding the dissuasions of
the Bechuana chief, Mothibi, who refused to lend him
any men for the journey, he persisted in carrying out
his plan.

After some days' journey he came in sight of the
Mantatees, who were preparing for the attack on the
Bechuanas. Moffat hurried back to Latta Koo, the
Bechuana headquarters, and advised Mothibi to send for
help to Griquatown. He followed the missionary's advice,
and, after eleven days' waiting, about one hundred armed
horsemen came.

Moffat and the Griquas proceeded to reconnoitre, and
soon came in sight of the enemy. They were also seen
by the latter, and a few warriors hurled their spears at
them, which, however, fell short. Moffat then went for-
ward unarmed, with one of the Griquas, to parley with
them. They had approached within a hundred yards of
the enemy, and were just about to dismount, when the
savages uttered a hideous yell, and several hundred men
rushed forward flinging their weapons with such velocity
that Moffat and his companion had scarcely time to turn
their terrified steeds and gallop away. Seeing no possilbe
means of bringing them to a parley, they retired to a
height at a short distance but within view of the enemy.
At sunset Moffat rode back to confer with the Griqua
chiefs, and to devise some way of bringing the enemy to
terms, and avoiding, if possible, the dreadful consequences
of a battle.

Next morning they were all in motion before day-
break, and the hundred horsemen rode up to the invaders
hoping to intimidate them by their imposing appearance,
and bring them to a parley. But when they had ap-
135

ROBERT MOFFAT AND

proached within one hundred and fifty yards the Man-
tatees set up their terrible howl and flung their spears
and javelins, whereupon the Griquas fired and shot
several of their warriors. It was confidently expected that
the Mantatees, never having seen fire-arms, would be
daunted by this, but it only seemed to inflame their rage.
Those who had flung their spears snatched weapons from
the hands of their dying companions, and sallied forth
in such numbers that the Griquas were compelled to
retreat. At length, finding their ammunition failing,
they charged the enemy, who gave way in their turn.

During the battle the Bechuanas came up and began
to plunder and despatch the wounded men, and to butcher
the women and children with their spears and war-axes.
Seeing this Moffat galloped in among them, and by en-
treaties and remonstrances turned many of the Bechuanas
from their murderous purpose. At last, after many
hours' fighting, the Mantatees were finally repulsed, and
the threatened attack on Kururaan was averted.

Mothibi, the Bechuana chief, recognising that this
deliverance was due to Moffafs having persisted on his
journey in spite of the chiefs dissuasions, and so having
discovered the enemy, expressed his gratitude in lively
terms. His people also seemed at last to become sensible
of the deep interest the missionaries had taken in their
welfare, standing by them in troublous times when they
might have escaped to the colony with comparative little
loss of property. After nine years' patient waiting the
tide began to turn in the missionaries'' favour. But though
numerous candidates for baptism came forward, Moffkt and
Hamilton, with true Scottish caution, at first only admitted
six to the rite.

THE BECHUANAS

About this time Moselekatse, the chief of the Matabele
tribe, sent ambassadors to the Bechuanas to ascertain the
nature of the improvements among them, of which a
rumour had reached him. When the ambassadors saw
the houses which had replaced mud huts, the walls of the
folds and gardens, the canal conveying water from the
river for irrigation, and the smith's forge, they were loud
in their exclamations of delight and admiration. "You
are men, we are but children," said one; while the other
observed: "Moselekatse must be taught all these things."

The ambassadors being apprehensive of attack on
their way home, MoiFat accompanied them, and earned
their heart-felt gratitude by doing so. On reaching
Moselekatse's outposts Moffat was preparing to return,
but the ambassadors pleaded with the utmost urgency
that he should accompany them to the King's presence in
order to save their lives. Pointing to the blue mountains
on the horizon, they said, "Yonder dwells the great Mosele-
katse, and how shall we approach his presence if you are
not with us? If you love us still, save us, for when we
shall have told our news he will ask why our conduct
gave you pain to cause you to return ; and before the sun
descends on the day we see his face, we shall be ordered
out for execution because you are not with us."

Overcome by their importunity, Moffat proceeded to
the King's town. Here in a large circle composed of
warriors whose kilts were of ape-skins, and their legs and
arms adorned with the hair and tails of oxen, the King
gave him a friendly reception, saying, " The land is before
you ! you are come to your son. You must sleep where
you please." When the " moving houses," as the waggons
were called, drew near, the King, having never seen such
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ROBERT MOFFAT

things, grasped MofFafs arm and drew back in fear, doubt-
ing if they were not living creatures. He treated Moffat
with great kindness during his stay, and on his departure
accompanied him in his waggon a whole day''s journey.
This visit of Moffat's led to the foundation of a mission
to the Matabeles, which has lasted through various vicissi-
tudes to the present tirue.

Moffafs own energies were mainly devoted to the
Bechuana mission at Kuruman, where he worked till
1870, and was rewarded by seeing the steady rise of this
people out of savagery, and their progress in Christianity
and the arts of peace.

138

CHAPTER XII

FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

Captured by slave-dealers — On an English man-of-war — Exploring the
Niger — Murders of twins — Training in London — Journey to Abeokuta
— Mother and son — Persecution of converts — The surrendered idol —
Queen Victoria's gift — Human sacrifices — Abeokuta attacked by the
King of Dahomey — Second voyage up the Niger — The black bishop —
A negro martyr — Generous native contributions.

BISHOP SAMUEL ADJAI CROWTHER'S career
strikingly illustrates in its earlier stages the evils of
slavery as they still too largely exist in Africa. He
was born about 1810 in a town of the Yoruba country called
Ochughu, about a hundred miles inland from the Gulf of
Benin. One morning, when he was about eleven years old,
a hostile tribe made an attack on the town. Adjai's father
seized his bow and arrows, and hurried out to meet the
enemy, urging his family to flee into the woods, and they
never saw him again. The town was quickly set on fire,
and the women and children ran in every direction, trying
to hide themselves in the forest round the town. Adjai,
with his mother and two sisters, fled to the woods, but they
were soon pursued and caught by their enemies, who fastened
ropes round their necks and drove them off to a town called
Tschi, about twenty miles from Ochughu. They passed on
the road heaps of ruins and ashes, the remains of other
towns and villages which had been destroyed like their own.
The next morning the cords were taken off their necks and
they were divided among their captors ; Adjai and his sister
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

fell to the share of the principal chief. A little later in the
day Adjai was exchanged for a horse by this chief, but as
the horse did not suit him he sent it back and desired to
have Adjai returned. He then took him to a town called
Daddah, where, to his delight, he met his mother and sister
once more. After he had been there about three months,
however, he was ordered to go to a house in the town under
the pretence of receiving some money, when to his surprise
and horror he was seized and added to a party of slaves, all
of them in fetters, who were to be led away early the next
morning to be sold in a distant slave- market.

On the morrow the slave-dealers loaded the men slaves
with baggage, chained one hand of each to his neck, and
drove them off. After a few days' journey from Daddah
they arrived at Ijahi, and Adjai was sold to a Mohammedan
woman, who took him to the town of Toko. Here he had
some little liberty, as his mistress allowed him to walk
about with her son, it being so far from his home that she
was not afraid of his trying to find his way back. In this
way he passed from owner to owner till he fell into the
hands of a Portuguese slave-dealer, and presently found
himself at sea in a slave-ship with 180 other slaves. On
the very next evening after their embarkation the slave-
ship was surprised and taken by two English ships of war,
and in the morning they found themselves in the hands of
their new captors. When their fetters were taken off, and
they were brought up from the hold of the slave-ship, they
were astonished to see around them two very large men-of-
war and several smaller ones. They found the Portuguese
slave-dealer and all his men bound on the deck. The slave-
boys were divided between the English ships, and were
much alarmed at first, not knowing what would be done
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

with them. Adjai and five others were taken on board one
of the men-of-war, called the Myrmidon.

They were kindly treated by the sailors, who each took
one of them to be his own servant during the voyage. They
found the tables turned on their former owner, the Portu-
guese slave-dealer, who was brought into the same ship and
put in chains.

After cruising along the coast for about two months,
Adjai and the other boys were landed at Sierra Leone in
June 1822, and were sent at once to Bathurst, one of the
Church Missionary stations among the mountains; and
thirty other African boys, lately brought into Sierra Leone
from other slave ships taken by the English cruisers, were
sent with them.

At first the news that they were no longer slaves seemed
too good to be true, and they were alarmed at hearing that
they must go to Freetown to give evidence against their
former owner. This proved to be nothing formidable, and
Adjai applied himself to learning to read and write, and
was baptized in 1825. Subsequently he was sent to study
at Fourah Bay College, and became for some years a
schoolmaster.

In the meanwhile an expedition, consisting of three
ships, had been prepared to sail up the Niger, and to try to
persuade the chiefs of the various inland tribes to give up
the practice of burning each other's towns, and of men-
stealing, and to learn how to raise cotton, sugar, and corn
as articles of traffic instead of slaves. Adjai, who was now
known as Samuel Crowther, was invited to join this expedi-
tion in order to act as interpreter between the English and
the natives of the Yoruba country, to which he originally
belonged. As the ships passed up the river Niger, they
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

found the banks near the mouth lined with thick mangroves,
which were succeeded by palms, bamboos, and cotton-trees,
and then by plantations of bananas, plantains, sugar-cane,
and cocoa, with native huts interspersed. The natives were
so timid that they several times pulled their canoes ashore,
and ran away into the bush, where they hid themselves
among the grass and peeped at the steamer with fear and
great astonishment.

When the leading ship came opposite to a village, con-
taining about seven or eight huts, the inhabitants armed
themselves with sticks and country bill-hooks, and ran
along the bank to a neighbouring village to apprise the
villagers of the dreadful approach of these wonderful and
self-moving habitations. These villagers also followed the
example of their informers: having armed themselves in
like manner, they betook themselves to the next village to
bring them the same tidings. When they were encouraged
to come on board, it was difficult to find persons brave
enough to do so. Those who ventured to come near took
care not to go so far from the shore that they could not
reach it by a leap from their canoe if necessary.

When they reached the town of Ibo the King received
them in a friendly manner, and declared himself willing to
give up slavery. "If the white men," he said, "give up
buying, we will give up selling." He also asked for a native
teacher to be left with him, and was much impressed by
seeing one who had been a slave able to read. At this and
other places, a terrible custom was found — the slaughter of
every pair of twins as soon as born ; the mother being ever
afterwards regarded as an outcast.

Great sickness and mortality prevailed among the
members of the expedition, and Mr. Crowther recorded in
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

his journal the opinion that native missionaries and not
European should be chiefly employed in that region, an
opinion which the subsequent history of the Niger mission
has confirmed. The expedition, however, was successful in
making treaties with two of the African kings, who ruled
over vast territories, for the abolition of the slave-trade, and
in proving to them that legitimate commerce with Europeans
in cotton and other goods would be more profitable.

On his return from the Niger, Mr. Crowther was
summoned home by the Church Missionary Society's Com-
mittee, and, after a course of study at Islington College,
was ordained by Bishop Blomfield in 1843, and assigned
to the Abeokuta mission, the chiefs of which place had been
asking for a missionary. He arrived at Sierra Leone on
December 2, 1843, and for the first time preached to his
countrymen in their own language. Some delay, however,
ensued in his proceeding to Abeokuta, as the friendly chief
there had died and a war had broken out between the tribes.
He therefore commenced mission work at Badagry, on the
coast, occupying himself in preaching and in translating
the Scriptures into the Yoruba language.

When the country had become more settled in 1846,
Mr. Crowther and another missionary named Townsend
set out on their journey of sixty miles to Abeokuta. It
was a painful journey, in a country where the tracks through
the forests were scarcely to be called roads, especially as
the rainy season had set in. Neither bridges nor boats
were available, so they had to take a large bathing-tub
in which to cross the streams.

When they arrived near Abeokuta several messengers
from the chiefs came to conduct them into the town and
led them through every market-place and most of the
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

streets, in order that all the people might see them, to
the Town Hall, where the chiefs gave them a friendly
greeting. Many presents were made to the missionaries,
and land was readily granted to them on which to build
a chm'ch and houses for themselves.

Mr. Crowther had only been in Abeokuta a short time
when he had the joy of meeting his mother, whom he had
not seen for twenty-five years. In his journal he thus
graphically narrates their meeting — "When she saw me
she trembled. She could not believe her own eyes. We
grasped one another, looking at each other with silence
and great astonishment; big tears rolled down her emaci-
ated cheeks. A great number of people soon came together.
She trembled as she held me by the hand and called me by
the familiar names by which I well remembered I used to
be called by my grandmother, who has since died in slavery."
She was inclined to give the credit of their meeting to her
idols, but under her son's influence she soon embraced
Christianity, and was the first adult baptized in Abeokuta.
At first the mission prospered, but presently the hea'hen
natives began to persecute the converts. They threatened
to kill all who would not worship their deceased forefathers ;
then they attempted to poison them, but there were so
many of the idolaters whose relations had become Christians
that this was given up. Urged on, however, by the idol-
priests, who saw that they were likely to lose their power,
the heathen members of each family endeavoured to prevent
their relatives from going to church, and if they refused to
comply brought them before the council to be punished.
A female candidate for baptism was threatened with death
by her brother if she did not give up going to church, and
on refusing to do so she was put in the stocks. A man
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

of Mr. Crowther's congregation was offered a razor with
which to kill himself or to try to defend himself. He
answered, " I have two knives about me, and they would
have done as well, but I have been taught 'Thou shalt
not kill."' " So he rose up and quietly went with them, and
was kept in the stocks five days, a number of the priests
constantly trying to persuade him to give up the new
religion. Finding their efforts fruitless, they at last desisted
and let him go. Many of the converts were beaten nearly
to death, their feet made fast in stocks, exposed to scorching
sun by day and floods of rain by night for five days together.
Gradually the active persecution slackened, and other means
of seducing the converts were tried. One of these was a
resolution by the heathen to refuse their daughters in
marriage to any man who would not offer up sacrifices to
their gods and purchase idols for their intended wives,
according to the custom of the country.

The chiefs took no part in these measures, which probably
accounts for the comparative mildness of the persecution.
A chief told Mr. Crowther how a servant of his had risked
his life to save an idol from his master's house when it
was on fire. Mr. Crowther made the obvious answer, " If
the idol could not take care of himself, he could not possibly
take care of you." The chief was much struck with this,
and, being a man of good sense, said he " would think about
it," and in a few days he brought the block of wood to
Mr. Crowther, declaring that he would never again worship
idols, and desired to be received as a candidate for
baptism.

In 1848 Mr. Crowther's colleague, Mr. Townsend, being
about to proceed to England, the chiefs of Abeokuta sent
a message by him to Queen Victoria, begging that slavery
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

might be checked and trade opened up with the coast.
The Queen sent a gracious reply through the Earl of
Chichester, President of the Church Missionary Society,
and also an Arabic and an English Bible, to which Prince
Albert added a steel corn-mill.

The Queen's letter and the gifts were presented to the
chiefs on May 23, 1849. Mr. Crowther read the letter in
the presence of all the people, translating it into their
own language as he went on. After this the mill was
fixed. Some Indian corn, prepared for the purpose, was
put into the funnel before them, and they were greatly
astonished to see it come out as fine flour when the
handle was turned.

Less than a year before this Mr. Crowther had vainly
endeavoured to prevent the last human sacrifice in Abeo-
kuta. The victim, who had been kidnapped from some
distant tribe, was dressed in palm leaves split into small
strips, and led about the district in honour of the god
with singing and shouting. After that he was led into
the fetish-grove and murdered. The war-chief of the
district sent to tell Mr. Crowther that, if he had known
four or five days before, it should have been prevented ;
but he promised that such a sacrifice should never be
repeated, and that bullocks should be offered instead of
human beings.

A heathen reaction, however, began in Abeokuta, re-
inforced by Gezo, king of the neighbouring country of
Dahomey, and a great supporter of the slave-trade. He
had seen with dismay the success of the English cruisers
along the coast in capturing slave-ships, and he resolved
to attack Abeokuta and to drive out the missionaries.
Accordingly, in March 1851, he made a fierce assault on
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

the town with an army of 16,000 men, but was driven
off* with great loss.

Mr. Hinderer, an English missionary then at Abeokuta,
rode out to the battlefield, and found among the fallen
Dahomians an immense number of female warriors whom
the savage king forced to fight in front of his army. The
ground was also strewn with beheaded corpses of Yoruba
farmers, whom the King of Dahomey's forces had taken
prisoners, and, not being able to carry them away in
their flight, had decapitated.

Shortly after this Mr. Crowther came home, and was
accorded the honour of an interview with Lord Palmerston,
in order to explain to him the state of affairs in the
Yoruba country. After his departure from England, Lord
Palmerston wrote to him, telling him to assure his fellow-
countrymen of the interest which the Government took in
their welfare, and in the progress of Christianity and
civilisation among them.

After working for a time in Yoruba, Mr. Crowther
went up the Niger on a second expedition with Dr.
Baikie. This expedition was more successful than that
of 1841, as, though it lasted much longer, none of its
members died. It had occurred to Mr. Crowther that
the number of deaths during the first expedition might
have been due to miasma generated by the raw and green
wood for fuel kept in the bunkers for days together. He
suggested to Dr. Baikie that a supply of fuel might be
kept in the canoes which accompanied them, and used as
occasion required. To this suggestion he attributed the
good health enjoyed by the party.

This expedition explored a great part of the Niger
which had been hitherto unknown, and many openings
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

were found for locating native teachers. As the whole
of the Niger district wag very unhealthy for white men,
native agents had to be principally employed. Between
1854 and 1863 Mr. Crowther ascended the Niger several
times to hold communication with the chiefs and open
new stations.

In 1864 he was consecrated first Bishop of the Niger
Territories by Bishop Blomfield in Canterbury Cathedral,
being the first African to be appointed to such an office.
Under his superintendence the Niger mission steadily
expanded, and new stations were planted in the Niger
Delta. One of these was at a place called Bonny, which
had been the scene of much degrading superstition and
fetish worship, the temple being paved with the skulls
of those who had been killed and eaten. The principal
objects of worship there were sacred lizards. In this
place Bishop Crowther conducted his first service in an
old abandoned hulk named the Princess Royal. The King
took his part against the idolaters, and issued a decree
for the destruction of the sacred lizards, which was carried
out. But the first baptisms which took place were the
signal for a fierce outburst of persecution, in which one
of the converts sufi'ered martyrdom.

The heathen held a sacrifice to propitiate the gods on
behalf of two canoes about to set out to the markets
to bring down oil. The convert was asked to partake
of the sacrifice cooked and shared among those who were
to be the rowers in the canoes. He took a portion, but
would not eat on the ground that he was a Christian.
They insisted on his eating, and, as he continued to
refuse, they brought him before their chief. As he still
would not give way the chief ordered him to be bound
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FROM SLAVE TO BISHOP

and taken to the plantations. Here the keepers received
strict orders not to give him a morsel of food or a drop
of water. This injunction was obeyed, and the convert
was starved to death.

In 1878 the persecution ceased, and in January 1887
Bishop Crowther opened a church built from native con-
tributions, at a cost of nearly =£'2000, which received the
name of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

The throne for the Bishop, who had once been a
little slave-boy, was subscribed for by the Bonny school
children. It was carved out of teak-wood taken from an
old wreck. It was computed that 2500 found sitting-room
in the building on this occasion, and that at least twice
that number remained standing outside. St. Stephen's
proving insufficient to hold the crowded congregations,
the people raised ^£"900 towards a new church.

At Brass, another station in the Delta, after a similar
persecution, the King delivered up his idols to Bishop
Crowther, and was subsequently baptized. Notwith-
standing many difficulties, due to the nature of the
country, which consists largely of mangrove swamps, and
to the often unsatisfactory character of native agents,
the Bishop worked faithfully at his post till his death
in 1891. The committee of the Church Missionary
Society, in conveying a message of condolence to his
relatives, placed on record their sense of "his unwearied
industry, his absolute indifference to personal considera-
tions, his unflinching performance of all he believed to
be his duty, and his unvaried kindliness towards all in
thought and deed." It is certainly remarkable that,
even before India, Africa should have produced the first
Native Bishop,

149

CHAPTER XIII

* THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

The usurping Queen — Expulsion of missionaries — A fanatical reformer —
First mutterings of the storm — The poison ordeal — Proscription lists
— Destruction of books — Rasalama the proto-martyr — The martyrs'
rock — Hiding for life — In the slave- quarries — Conversion of Prince
Rakoto — End of the persecution — Proclamation of liberty.

THE London Missionary Society first sent mission-
aries to Madagascar in 1818. In its early stages
the mission had to encounter the jealousy of the
natives, in whose minds all Europeans were associated
with the slave-trade. Some of the people imagined that
the schools were nurseries for making their children more
valuable when sold into slavery, and others fancied that
their offspring were purchased by white men as articles
of food. During the first fifteen years of this mission,
besides other missionary efforts, the whole Bible was
translated, corrected, and printed in the native language
at the capital.

The King of Madagascar, at the time of the landing
of the missionaries, was named Radama. He encouraged
their labours, and sought to civilise his subjects by estab-
lishing schools. But in 1827, when visiting the eastern
coast of the island, he was entertained with great feasting,
and indulged in a course of intemperance which hastened
his end. The legitimate heir to the throne was his sister's
son, Rakotobe. But Ranavalona, one of the wives of
Radama, on hearing of the King's death, sent for two
military officers, and promised that if they would devote
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THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

themselves to her interest, and secure to her the throne,
she would advance them to the highest rank and reward
them with riches. Having first secured, as she supposed,
the favour of the gods by collusion with the diviners,
she succeeded in putting to death four officers of the late
King, who declared that he had named Rakotobe to suc-
ceed him. She soon after murdered Rakotobe, his mother,
and other relatives of Radama, some of whom were starved
to death and others openly speared. Such a monarch
was not likely to show much favour towards missionaries.
Her jealousy was aroused by the idolatrous party, who
represented the missionaries as having some political de-
signs. She abruptly ordered one missionary, Mr. Griffiths,
to leave the country, on the ground that the period of
five years to which his leave to remain extended had
expired. Towards the close of 1831 the permission which
had been previously given for the administration of the
sacraments was withdrawn. The next year the teaching
of slaves to read and write was prohibited.

In 1834 an incident occurred which tended still further
to prejudice the mind of the Queen against Christianity,
and to hasten the crisis. A half- taught inquirer into
Christianity, whose zeal outran his discretion, began
preaching to the inhabitants of his native village. He
imagined himself raised up as a reformer, and professed
to receive immediate revelations. In the course of two
years he had gained two hundred followers. This man
now sent a message to the Queen to say that he had an
important revelation for her. His message was received
by Rainiharo, the principal officer, who was informed
that this man's followers were very numerous. This
roused the jealousy of the Government, and the whole
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THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

party was summoned to the capital. When they arrived
they declared that they had a message from God to the
Queen, to the effect that she was to be the sovereign of
all the world; that the dead would rise, and the living
never die; that there would be an end put to divination,
murder, wars and contention ; and they offered to forfeit
their heads if these things were false. After an examina-
tion of two or three days, the man and three of his
principal followers were condemned to death, and led to
the north end of the town, where they were put head
downwards in a rice-pit and boiling water was poured
on them ; after which the pit was closed upon them and
filled up with earth. A number more of the party were
cruelly put to death, and the rest sold into slavery and
their property confiscated, which yielded a profit of several
thousand dollars to the Queen, officers, and judges, thus
giving them a taste for plunder. Soon after this she was
told that many of the Christians, and among them a
near connection of one of her chief ministers, had spoken
disrespectfully of the idols. About the same time another
incident came to her knowledge which fanned the flame
of her anger. A young man who had become a Christian,
while visiting some friends in a village where an idol
was kept, ventured rather freely to express his surprise
that any person could be so ignorant as to put his trust
in a senseless log of wood ; and his offence was aggravated
by the fact that he would not swear, nor work on the
Sabbath, and that at night he collected people for prayer.
These crimes were alleged against him before the judge,
who reported them to the Queen. That the guilt or
innocence of the prisoner might appear, he was required
to drink the " tangena," the poison-water ordeal. He
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THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

passed through it without injury, and to express their
joy at his deliverance several Christians residing in the
capital imprudently marched in procession through the
streets. This was reported to the Queen, and increased
her anger.

Just about this time an influential chief, having ob-
tained admission to her presence, thus addressed her : " I
am come to ask your Majesty for a spear — a bright and
sharp spear; grant my request." Being asked for what
purpose he wanted the weapon, his answer was, that the
idols, the guardians of the land, were dishonoured ; that
the hearts of the people were turned from the customs
of their ancestors, and that ruin would come on the land
unless these evils were speedily suppressed ; and " as,"" he
added, "I do not wish to see that calamity come upon
my country, I ask for a spear to pierce my heart before
the evil day comes." Greatly moved with grief and rage,
the Queen first wept, then sat in silence for about half-
an-hour, and at length solemnly declared that she would
put an end to Christianity if it cost the life of every
Christian in the land.

On Sunday, February 22, 1835, she ordered the women
whom the lady missionaries had taught to sew, to meet
in the courtyard to sew for her. Passing by them, she
said with a sneer, " You had better go and ask per-
mission of the Europeans to come and sew for me on
the Sabbath. You observe the day like the English; I
do not." In the evening of the same day, as she was
returning home from a bull fight, she passed the chapel,
and, hearing the singing, she said, "These people will
not leave off till some of their heads are taken from their
shoulders,"

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THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

The next Tuesday orders were given to procure a list
of all the houses where prayer-meetings were held, and
the names of all the baptized persons. The Queen was
astonished at their numbers, and swore she would put to
death the owners of the houses. On Thursday the mis-
sionaries received a letter from the Queen forbidding them
to teach Christianity to the natives, but allowing them to
teach the arts and sciences. To this they replied remons-
trating against the order, but without effect. On Sunday,
1st March, the people were summoned to the capital to
hear the Queen's proclamation. They flocked in from all
quarters amid the parade of troops and the roar of artillery.
The Queen sent a message, couched in bombastic Oriental
terms, in which she called on all who had been baptized,
or who had attended places of Christian worship, to come
and accuse themselves, threatening with death all who re-
fused, and forbidding the people to join in Christian worship
or change the customs of the country.

Many proved compliant, confessed, and made their sub-
mission ; but the majority stood firm. In the course of the
second week in March orders were issued that all persons
who had received any books from Europeans should de-
liver them up, and not conceal even a leaf, on pain of death,
and orders were sent to all the outposts to collect the books.
They were delivered up with the greatest reluctance by the
Christians, and it is supposed that many were retained and
concealed.

Before the end of 1835 it became obvious that the
missionaries could not profitably remain in Madagascar, as
they were entirely prohibited from teaching or preaching
Christianity, and other countries were needing labourers.
Two of them waited for twelve months more in the hope
154

THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

that the severity of the prosecution might relax, but as they
saw the hope was vain they left the country with heavy
hearts in July 1836.

Finding that the Christians persisted in holding secret
meetings in their own houses and on the tops of mountains,
from whence they could see any one approaching, the Queen
proceeded to more severe measures. An accusation was
lodged against ten of them, who were apprehended and con-
demned to perpetual slavery. One of these was Rafaravavy,
a woman of high position, whose house was razed and her
property seized under an order from the Queen. Sentence
of death was passed upon her, and she was loaded with
chains. The execution was to be on the following morn-
ing; but during the night a fire broke out in the capital,
which aroused the superstitious fears of Ranavalona, and
saved Rafaravavy's life. The honour of being the proto-
martyr of Madagascar was reserved for another.

Amongst the ten who were now imprisoned was a young
woman named Rasalama. While in confinement she was
overheard to express her astonishment that she and her
friends should be so strictly guarded, and said : " When the
Tsitialaingia (the silver lance borne by the Queen's officer
when arresting accused persons) came to my house, I was
not afraid, but rather rejoiced."" This utterance having
been reported to the judges, she was ordered to be put into
irons and severely beaten. Her firmness and fortitude con-
founded her persecutors, and astonished the people ; and
the only solution of the mystery which they could imagine,
was that she was under the influence of some mysterious
charm.

During the afternoon preceding the day of her execution
the ordinary chains she wore were exchanged for others,
155

THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

consisting of rings and bars fastened round her feet, hands,
knees, and neck, so as to force her into a constrained posi-
tion which caused great suffering. She, therefore, welcomed
her release at the hands of the executioner. One young
man, stimulated by her example, forced his way through
the guards who surrounded her on the way to the place of
execution, exclaiming, " My sister, I will not leave you till
the end.'" On reaching the fatal spot she knelt down, and
was pierced to the heart by the spears of the executioners ;
her body was left to be devoured by the dogs. This first
victim was soon to be followed by many more. Those who
were condemned to die were treated with the greatest in-
dignity. Old torn and dirty mats were wrapped round
them, and rags were stuffed into their mouths. Seventeen
of them were tied along poles, and each carried between
two men bearing the pole on their shoulders to the place
where sentence was to be pronounced. Four of them being
nobles, they were sentenced to be burned. At the place of
execution, life was offered them if they would take the re-
quired idolatrous oaths. Declining to do this, they were
bound and laid on the pile of wood, or placed between split
poles, more wood being heaped upon them, and the pile
then kindled.

The remaining thirteen were taken to a place of common
execution, whither a number of felons who had been sen-
tenced to death were also taken to be executed together
with the Christians. The latter were put to death by
being thrown over a steep precipice. Each one was sus-
pended by a cord on or near the edge of the precipice,
and there offered life on condition of renouncing Chris-
tianity and taking the required oaths. One of them was
a young woman, who, it was hoped, would be induced to
156

The Martyrs of Madagascar

The condemned native Christians were tied to poles and carried up to the top ot a
precipice. They were offered life if they renounced their faiih, but none faltered. One
of them, a young woman, was compelled to see the others hurled over the fatal rock,
but not even she was intimidated, and indeed begged to be thrown after her friends.

THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

recant. With this view, she was, according to orders, re-
served till the last, and placed in such a position as to
see all the others, one after another, hurled over the fatal
rock. So far from being intimidated, she begged to follow
her friends. The idol-keeper struck her on the face, and
urged her to take the oath, and do reverence to the idols,
but the executioner said, "She is an idiot, and does not
know what she says." She was then taken from the place,
and afterwards sent to a distant part of the country.

Several of the accused escaped, and wandered about home-
less in the wilds and forest. One fugitive, in a narrative
of their wanderings, says : " We then entered a thicket of
small bamboos where there was water up to the knees, and
there were many crocodiles in the water. It was all water
and marshy ground, and we found no place to lie down and
sleep on, except when we came to a tree or a piece of ground
somewhat raised and dry. We frequently came upon croco-
diles, sometimes we trod upon them, and when we lay down
at night we smelt them near us."

" We did not expect to live or ever see men again, for
we thought we should die in that swamp. But after nine
days we came to an open country, and found great numbers
of water-lilies growing. We gathered and ate the leaves
of the lilies, and remained five days in the place where we
found this food. When we went on again we soon came
to a broad water, where we stopped two days, and cut
a large quantity of long coarse grass, which we tied in a
bundle to serve the purpose of a raft ; we also made a rope
of long grass with which to draw the raft across the river.
Then I swam with one end of the rope to the other side
of the river. My wife and another woman pushed the
bundle of grass into the water, placed their bundles and
167

THE MAKTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

the little child on the top of it, and I pulled it across;
while the women swam one on each side of the raft, to keep
it steady ; and so all reached the shore safely, though the
stream was rapid and there were numbers of crocodiles
in the river."

Very many who neither escaped nor were killed were
forced to work as slaves. Some who had been officers in
the army were reduced to the rank of common soldier, and
to add to the punishment they were ordered to build a
stone house. This was a severe task, especially for men
altogether unused to such labour, for they were compelled
to go into the quarry, to dig out the blocks of stone, and
then to carry them to the site of the building. Task-
masters were placed over them ; they had scanty clothing
and little food; and they were branded with the name
" Tsihiaharana," which means " that which is not to be
imitated." As soon as they had completed one heavy task
they were set to others equally laborious. Thus, as soon
as the house had been built, the same band of Christians
was sent into the forest to fell large trees, and, though
there were no roads, to drag them over hill and dale to
a considerable distance. Some were despatched to fight
against a wild tribe called Sakalaves, and to remain in
the enemy's country during the wet season, when fevers
prevailed.

The only check on the savage Queen was the conversion
of her own son, Rakoto, to Christianity. Though only a
youth of seventeen, he exerted his influence in behalf of
persecuted Christians, and succeeded in saving some. In
defiance of the laws he joined them for worship in their
places of retreat, and when their lives or their liberty were
threatened he used all the means in his power to warn them
158

THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

of the impending danger and to assist their escape. The
Prime Minister appealed to the Queen, and said, " Madam,
your son is a Christian; he prays with the Christians,
and encourages them in this new doctrine. We are lost if
your Majesty do not stop the Prince in this strange way.""
" But," replied the Queen, " he is my only son ! Let him
do what he pleases ; if he wishes to become a Christian,
let him."

Notwithstanding this, the laws against Christianity
continued unrepealed till the Queen's death in 1861.
Shortly before that event there was a last and savage
outburst of persecution. Ten Christians were publicly
executed, and their death was accompanied with frightful
tortures. On the way to the place of execution the soldiers
goaded them with their spears, and the blood-stained path
along which they had been driven showed with what cruelty
the weapons had been used. For some special reason it
was ordered that they should not be executed according
to any of the accustomed modes. It is probable that, as
the previous martyrdoms had been fruitless of result, the
Queen resolved to strike terror by a new and strange
method. They were therefore sentenced to be stoned,
but not to death; and before life was extinct their heads
were to be severed from their bodies and held up to the
view of the multitude. These were the last of the long
line of Madagascar martyrs.

As soon as the Queen''s son came to the throne with
the title of Radama II., he proclaimed complete freedom
of worship, and sent his officers to knock off the fetters
from all the captives. He despatched others to recall the
remnant of the condemned ones from the remote and
pestilential districts to which they had been banished, and
159

THE MARTYRS OF MADAGASCAR

in which numbers had died from disease, or from exhaus-
tion caused by the heavy bars of iron with which they had
been chained together neck to neck. The exiles hastened
home; men and women worn with suffering and want re-
appeared in the city to the astonishment of their neighbours,
who had deemed them long since dead, and to the grateful
joy of their friends.

The case of Madagascar is unique in the history of
Christian missions. No single heroic figure, like Judson
or Livingstone, occupies the foreground : we have instead
a number of heroic but obscure sufferers. A few Christians
only were known to exist in 1836, when the last of the
missionaries left the island; yet, in 1861, though entirely
cut oflP from all outer aid, their number had swelled to
7000. The reason of ~ their tenacity in holding to the
truth, and of their zeal in spreading it is not far to seek.
They did not ask for money, though they were poor; to
ask for missionaries they knew to be useless ; but every cry
they sent to England was for more Bibles. Men of business,
men in office, would entreat for one copy — only one of the
New Testament. When a ship was expected to bring some
copies of the precious book, men would toil through a
twelve days' journey from the capital to Tamatave, and
would linger on the shore for whole days, watching with
longing eyes for the first glimpse of the sails of the vessel
which was to bring them what they valued more than food.
Never perhaps in history has there been a more striking
exemplification of the fact that "Man doth not live by
bread alone."

160

CHAPTER XIV

LIVINGSTONE'S EARLY EXPLORATIONS

The happy warrior — Adventure with a lion — Marked for life — The alarmed
chieftain — Sechele and his whip — Obstructive Boers — Discovery of
Lake Ngami — The waterless desert — Death of Sebituane — From
Linyanti to Loanda — Petticoat government — An athletic princess —
Terrors of the magic-lantern — Mice for supper — Swimming for life —
First sight of the sea.

WORDSWORTH'S well-known poem of the "Happy
Warrior" reads like an unconscious prophecy of
Livingstone, especially the two lines :

" Who comprehends his trust, and to the same
Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim."

In Livingstone's case that aim was to open up Africa to
civilisation and Christianity. When he landed at Cape
Town in 1841, he found the missionaries massed together
at the southern extremity of the continent, while inland
lay vast regions utterly unexplored. After residing for a
time at Kuruman, where he married Dr. Moflat's daughter,
and secluded himself for six months among the natives in
order to learn the language perfectly, he removed to
Mabotsa. Here his famous adventure with a lion took
place. He was shooting at the animal when it sprang at
him and caught him by the shoulder, and they both came
to the ground together. Growling horribly, the lion shook
him as a terrier dog shakes a rat. Fortunately a native
firing at him distracted his attention. He left Livingstone
to attack the native, and bit him in the thigh, but soon
161 L

DAVID LIVINGSTONE'S

afterwards fell dead from the musket-balls which he had
already received. Eleven of his teeth had penetrated the
upper part of Livingstone's arm, and had crunched the
bone into splinters. So serious was the injury that a false
joint had to be made, and this served to identify his body
when it was brought home from Africa to be buried in
Westminster Abbey.

Not long afterwards he moved to Kolobeng, the head-
quarters of a chief named Sechele, with whom he became
very friendly. When he first heard from Livingstone the
truths of Christianity, he said, "You startle me; these
words make all my bones to shake. I have no more strength
in me; but my forefathers were living at the same time
yours were, and how is it they did not send them word
about these things sooner." When Livingstone spoke of
his intention of carrying the Gospel to the regions beyond,
the chief said, pointing to the great Kalahari desert : " You
never can cross that country to the tribes beyond; it is
utterly impossible even for us black men, except in certain
seasons, when more than the usual supply of rain falls, and
an extraordinary growth of water-melons follows."

His first idea of the way to spread Christianity among his
followers was certainly naive : " If you like I shall call my
headman, and with our whips of rhinoceros hide we will
soon make them all believe together." After instructing
him for a considerable time, Livingstone baptized him.
Great numbers came to see the ceremony. Some thought,
from foolish rumours which had been circulated, that con-
verts to Christianity were made to drink an infusion of
dead men's brains, and were astonished to find that only
water was used.

Unfortunately at this time a severe drought took place^

m

EARLY EXPLORATIONS

and the natives, as usually happens in such cases, attri-
buted it to the presence of the missionary. "We like
you," said the uncle of Sechele to him, "as well as if you
had been born among us; you are the only white man we
can become familiar with; but we wish you to give up
that everlasting preaching and praying : we cannot become
familiar with that at all." They were confirmed in this
prejudice by the fact that rain often fell on the hills ten
miles away, while not a drop reached them.

Another and more serious obstacle was the treatment of
the natives by the Boers, who believed, or professed to
believe, that the natives had no souls, and therefore im-
pressed them as slaves without scruple. They told Living-
stone that he might as well go and preach to " the baboons
on the rocks." Their animosity was further aroused by the
fact that the English traders sold the natives arms and
ammunition. They were actually planning an attack to
seize these, when Livingstone went to the Boer commandant
and prevailed upon him to defer it. But later on, in Living-
stone's absence, the Boers made an attack on Kolobeng and
plundered his house in revenge, smashing his stock of
medicines, and tearing his books to pieces. Finding his
work so hindered by the Boers, Livingstone prepared for
his first long journey, in the hope of discovering Lake
Ngami, of which rumours had reached him. He was accom-
panied by two English travellers, Oswell and Murray, and
left Kolobeng on 1st June 1849. A neighbouring chief,
Sekomi, sent a message of strong dissuasion. "Where are
you going ? you will be killed by the sun and thirst, and
then all the white men will blame me for not saving you."
Other natives were not behind in expressing their surprise
at the three travellers daring to enter the waterless region.
163

DAVID LIVINGSTONE'S

" Have these hunters, who come so far and work so hard,
no meat at home ? " They had immense difficulty in crossing
the desert, owing to the scarcity of water, and were often
tantalised by mirages, which appeared so real, that not only
the Europeans but the natives were deceived by them.
On the 1st August, they reached the shores of Lake
Ngami, which had never before been seen by European eyes.

Livingstone would gladly have gone farther north, but
was forced to return to Kolobeng by the want of supplies.
In April 1850, he again started for the lake with Mrs.
Livingstone and her three children. They had a terrible
experience in crossing the desert, as the supply of water
in the waggons had been wasted by the carelessness of
their servants. For four days they could find none, and
the children nearly died of thirst. " Not one syllable of
upbraiding was uttered by their mother,"' says Livingstone,
"though the tearful eye told the agony within. In the
afternoon of the fifth day, to our inexpressible relief, some
of the men returned with a supply of that fluid, of which
we had never before felt the true value.'' The difficulties
of the desert march were increased by the presence of the
tse-tse fly, which destroyed forty-three fine oxen.

Arrived at the north of Lake Ngami, Livingstone made
the acquaintance of Sebituane, chief of the Makololo, a
remarkable man, who, by his courage and audacity, held
all the surrounding tribes in awe. He was pleased with
the proof of confidence the missionary had shown in
bringing his children. Unfortunately, he was soon taken
ill, and Livingstone was afraid to treat him medically,
lest in the event of his death he should be blamed
by his people. To Livingstone's distress, this occurred
soon afterwards, and Sebituane was succeeded by his
164

EARLY EXPLORATIONS

son, Sekeletu, who also became a warm friend of the
missionary.

During this expedition Livingstone discovered the
Zambesi, which had previously been supposed to rise
much farther to the east. Not being able to find a
healthy station where to settle Mrs. Livingstone and his
family, Livingstone resolved to send them home before he
proceeded further inland. Accordingly, he accompanied
them to Cape Town in 1852, and set out again with a very
sorry equipment of waggons and oxen, owing to scarcity of
funds, for the interior. He crossed the Kalahari Desert
again to the west, giving the Boers, who were violently
opposed to his missionary explorations, a wide berth. The
Makololo were startled at his coming again among them,
and said : " He has dropped among us from the clouds.
We Makololo thought no one could cross the Chobe
without our knowledge, but here he drops among us like
a bird." They took the waggons to pieces and carried
them across the river on a number of canoes lashed
together. The whole population of Linyanti, the chief
town of the district, numbering between six and seven
thousand, turned out to see the waggons in motion, having
never seen such a thing before. Sekeletu sent the court
herald to greet them, who, leaping and shouting at the
top of his voice, roared out : " Don't I see the white man .?
Don't I see the comrade of Sebituane ? Don't I see the
father of Sekeletu ? We want sleep. Give your son sleep,
my lord ! " (sleep meaning security from foes). Soon after
his arrival at Linyanti, Sekeletu asked him to mention
anything he wanted, offering to give him freely any object
required. When Livingstone said his object was to teach
him and his people Christianity, the chief replied that he
165

DAVID LIVINGSTONE'S

did not wish to learn the Book, " for he was afraid it might
change his heart, and make him content with only one wife
like Sechele."

At one of the religious services which Livingstone held
for the natives, the women behaved with great decorum,
but in kneeling down many bent over their little ones, and
the children, in terror of being crushed, set up a simul-
taneous yell. Sekeletu was urgent in pressing Livingstone
to take presents, but he refused, as he did on other occasions,
from the conviction that it was degrading for a religious
teacher to take gifts from those whose spiritual welfare
he professed to seek. Failing to find a healthy spot for a
settlement near Linyanti, Livingstone determined to open
up a way to Loanda on the west coast, or, as he wrote to
his father-in-law, Dr. Moffat, " perish in the attempt." A
" picho " or native assembly was held to deliberate on the
arrangement for his march. One diviner tried to frighten
his followers from accompanying him, and said : " Where is
he taking you to ? The white man is throwing you away ?
Your garments already smell of blood."" Sekeletu, however,
laughed at him, and twenty-seven men were deputed to
accompany Livingstone. He was convinced that no per-
manent elevation of a people can be effected without com-
merce, and that the opening of a route to the coast was
therefore of the greatest importance.

Only a man of indomitable courage would have under-
taken such a journey, through utterly unknown regions and
tribes for eight hundred miles, being already weakened by
constant attacks of fever. If he looked up quickly, he was
seized with a strange giddiness ; everything appeared to
rush to the left, and if he did not catch hold of some
support, he fell heavily to the ground. "But," he says
166

EARLY EXPLORATIONS

in his journal, "I had always believed that if we serve
God at all, it ought to be done in a manly way, and I
was determined to succeed, or perish in the attempt to
open up this part of Africa. The Boers, by taking pos-
session of all my goods, had saved me the trouble of
making a will."'''

To avoid heavy loads, he only took a few biscuits, a
few pounds of tea and sugar, and about twenty of coffee.
One small tin canister about fifteen inches square was
filled with spare shirts, trousers and shoes, to be used when
he reached civilisation again ; another of the same size
was stored with medicines ; a third with books, and a
fourth box contained a magic-lantern, which was found of
much service.

Proceeding up the Zambesi in canoes, he arrived among
the Balonda tribe ruled over by a female chief, Nyamoana.
She sent her daughter Manenko, a strapping young woman
of twenty, to escort him to her brother, the chief Shinte.
Manenko was something of a virago. When Livingstone
was making ready his packages, she said the men whom
she had ordered for the service would not arrive till the
next day. Annoyed at the delay, Livingstone ordered the
packages to be put into the canoes at once ; but Manenko
was not to be circumvented in this way. She came forward
with her people, seized the luggage, and declared she would
carry it in spite of him. His followers laid down their load,
and Livingstone, left powerless, was moving off in high
dudgeon to the canoes, when she placed her hand on his
shoulder and said: "Now, my little man, just do as the
rest have done." Amused at her masterfulness, he forgot
his feelings of annoyance, and went off with his gun to
spend the time in trying for some game.
167

DAVID LIVINGSTONE'S

When they started, this stalwart princess marched in
front as leader, and at a pace with which few of the men
could keep up. Livingstone, mounted on ox-back, followed
close behind, and asked her why she did not clothe herself,
as it was raining. She answered that a chief ought not to
appear effeminate, but must always wear the appearance
of robust youth, and bear hardships without wincing.
His men, in admiration of her pedestrian powers, kept
remarking, " Manenko is a soldier,"" and they were all glad
when she proposed a halt to prepare their night''s lodging
on the banks of a stream.

As they went north, they found themselves in the
dense gloom of the Central African forest, through which
they had to pass by a narrow way cut by the axe. Immense
climbing plants entwined themselves like boa-constrictors
around gigantic trees, and often stood erect by themselves,
having choked the trees by which they had been supported.
Although drenched with rain and often suffering from
fever, Livingstone says he found this dense gloom refreshing
after the scorching glare of the Kalahari Desert. Even
here, he could never see water thrown away without feeling
that they were guilty of wasting it, having so often in the
desert experienced the enormous difficulty of finding it.

At Shinte's town, he came upon Portuguese slave-traders
for the first time. His followers, who had never seen these
men-sellers before, exclaimed : " They are not men ; they
are beasts who treat their children so."

At the place of audience, they found the chief Shinte
on a sort of throne covered with a leopard's skin. He
was dressed in a check jacket and a kilt of scarlet baize,
edged with green : strings of large beads hung from his
neck, and his limbs were covered with iron and copper
168

EARLY EXPLORATIONS

armlets and bracelets; on his head he wore a helmet of
beads neatly woven together, and crowned with a gi-eat
bunch of goose-feathers by way of crest.

On learning that " Shinte's mouth was bitter for want
of ox-flesh," Livingstone presented him with an ox, to his
great delight, but the masterful Manenko hearing of it,
came up with the air of an injured person, and explained
that, " The white man belonged to her ; she had brought
him here, and therefore the ox was hers, not Shinte's."
Upon this she ordered her men to bring it, had it slaughtered,
and presented her uncle with a leg only. Shinte did not
seem at all annoyed at her interference.

Here Livingstone exhibited his magic-lantern. The
first picture shown was the sacrifice of Isaac, and the
women listened silently to his explanation of it, but as
the slide was being withdrawn, the uplifted knife seemed
moving towards them, and they thought it was to be
sheathed in their bodies instead of Isaac's. They all
shouted : " Mother ! Mother ! " and rushed off, tumbling
pell-mell over each other, and nothing would induce them
to return. Shinte, however, sat bravely through the whole,
and afterwards examined the instrument with interest. It
was the only mode of instruction Livingstone was ever
pressed to repeat. The people came long distances to see
the pictures and hear the explanations.

When Livingstone took his departure, Shinte, as a sign
of friendship, hung a conical shell round his neck, " an
article in regions far from the sea of as great value as the
Lord Mayor's badge is in London." He also gave him a
native guide named Intemese, who proved a great plague
to the traveller, and lied on all occasions to save himself
trouble.

DAVID LIVINGSTONE'S

The serious difficulties of the march now began. They
entered a region where no animal food was to be procured.
One of the guides caught a mole and two mice for his
supper, and the care with which he wrapped them up in
a leaf and slung them on a spear, showed that there was
little hope of finding larger game. The chiefs through
whose country they were now passing proved covetous, and
demanded toll, Livingstone pacified one by sending him
the worst shirt in his stock. Another chief named Njambi,
of the Chiboque tribe, was not so easily satisfied. He sent
an impudent message demanding either a man, an ox, a gun,
powder, cloth or a shell ; and, in the event of refusal,
intimated his intention of preventing their further progress.
When this demand was refused, he collected his people
and surrounded their encampment, evidently intending to
plunder them of everything. Livingstone's men seized their
javelins and stood on the defensive, while he sat on his
camp-stool with his double-barrelled gun across his knees.
Njambi came for a parley, and sat on the ground in front
of him. After a lengthy discussion, Livingstone gave him
one of his shirts. On Njambi's followers showing dis-
satisfaction at this, he added a bunch of beads, and again
a large handkerchief. The more he yielded, however, the
more unreasonable they became. At every fresh demand
they shouted and rushed towards him, brandishing their
weapons.

In the meantime, Livingstone's Makololo followers, out-
numbering the Chiboque party, had quietly surrounded
them and made them feel there was no way of escaping
their spears. Livingstone then said that as everything had
failed to satisfy them, it was evident that they wanted to
fight, and that if so, they must begin first and bear the
170

EARLY EXPLORATIONS

guilt. Calming down at this, and seeing his party out-
numbered, the chief said : " If you give us an ox we will
give you whatever you wish, and then we shall be friends."
Accordingly the ox was given, and in return, two or three
pounds of its flesh were sent back with a very small
basket of meal ! Livingstone adds : " It was impossible
to avoid laughing at the coolness of these generous
creatures."

Added to these difficulties was the nature of the country
and the season of the year. It was during the rains, and
they had to flounder through several rivers, holding on
by the tails of the oxen. Crossing the river Loke,
Livingstone became separated from his ox, and was obliged
to strike out for the opposite bank alone. His followers
were greatly alarmed on seeing this, and about twenty
of them made a simultaneous rush into the water for
his rescue. Just as he reached the opposite bank one
seized his arm and another clasped him round the body.
They expressed great pleasure on finding that he could
swim.

Owing to the constant exactions and attacks of the
tribes through whose territory they were now passing,
Livingstone's men began to get disheartened. Some of
them proposed to return home, but he could not endure
the prospect of returning when just on the threshold of
the Portuguese settlements. After using all his powers
of persuasion, he declared to them that if they returned
he should go on alone, and retired to his little tent.
Thither he was soon followed by the headman, who said
"We will never leave you. Do not be disheartened.
Wherever you lead we will follow. Our remarks were
made only on account of the injustice of these people."
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DAVID LIVINGSTONE'S

Others followed, and with the most artless simplicity of
manner told him to be comforted. "They were all my
children; they knew no one but Sekeletu and me, and
they would die for me ; they had just spoken in the
bitterness of their spirit, and when feeling that they
could do nothing." At last they arrived at the edge
of the high land on which they had been travelling. At
the depth of a thousand feet below lay the magnificent
valley of the Quango. Livingstone had been so weakened
by twenty-seven attacks of fever that in going down the
descent he had to be supported by his companions.
"Emerging from the gloomy forests of Londa," he says,
"this magnificent prospect made us all feel as if a weight
had been lifted off our eyelids." Here a Bashinje chief
made an attempt at extortion before he would let them
pass to the river, but Livingstone, disregarding him, told
his men to move on, which they did, though the hostile
party opened fire on them, without, however, doing any
damage.

Not long afterwards they beheld the sea from the
elevated plains of Loanda. The Makololo were much
impressed, and in describing their feelings afterwards
they remarked, " We were marching along with our father
believing that what the ancients had always told us was
true, that the world has no end ; but all at once the
world said to us : ' I am finished ; there is no more
of me.'"

The large stone houses and churches of Loanda struck
them with little less awe. One of them before this had
said of Livingstone's house at Kolobeng : " It is not a
hut; it is a mountain with several caves in it." Visiting
one of the ships in harbour with Livingstone, they said,
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS

"It is not a canoe at all, it is a town! And what sort
of a town that you climb into with a rope?"

Thus successfully ended the first of those long journeys
by which Livingstone, as he said, was resolved "to open
up Africa or perish."

m

Ill

IN INDIA AND THE EAST

CHAPTER XV

SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

The Rajah of Tanjore— Power of the Brahmins— Schwartz as diplomatist
— The Lion of the Carnatic — In the Indian jungle — Cruelties at
Serin gapatam — Preaching in the Palace — Hyder's invasion — A
second Joseph — The bankrupt Eajah — A treacherous guardian —
The prince-poet— A double memorial.

CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH SCHWARTZ, a native of
Sonnenburg in Prussia, received Lutheran Orders
at Copenhagen, and after spending some time in
England to acquire English, sailed for India under the
auspices of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
He arrived in Tranquebar on the Coromandel coast in July
1750. Here in a few months, after intense and unremitting
study, he delivered his first sermon in Tamil, in the church
that had been built by Ziegenbalg, the first Protestant
missionary in India. After some years of persevering but
uneventful work at Tranquebar, he was transferred to
Trichinopoly. Here, besides missionary work, he ministered
to the soldiers and officers of the English garrison. From
this place, he paid several visits to Tanjore, the Rajah of
which received him in a friendly manner, but was not at
that time disposed to grant a piece of ground for the erection
of a church, as Schwartz desired. This was doubtless due

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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

to the influence of the Brahmins, who were strongly
opposed to the introduction of Christianity. He wit-
nessed a striking instance of the veneration in which they
were held during an interview with the Rajah. A
Brahmin entered ; the Rajah prostrated himself before
him on the ground, and afterwards stood before him
with his hands folded ; while the Brahmin placed himself
on an elevated seat : the Rajah made signs to the mis-
sionary to enter into discourse with the priest, who heard
all with seeming attention, but made no reply.

Schwartz had been labouring in South India for nearly
thirty years when one of the most striking incidents in
his life occurred.

In 1779 the garrison at Tanjore being numerous, Schwartz
addressed a letter to the Governor and Council at Madras,
and obtained their public sanction and contributions for
the erection of a church. The first stone of this edifice
was laid by General Munro, but the funds running short,
Schwartz applied to the Council at Madras for further aid.
He was desired in reply to come with all possible speed
to Madras. He did so, and on being introduced to the
Governor, Sir Thomas Rumbold, was addressed as follows :
"There is reason to believe that Hyder Ali (the ruler of
Mysore) meditates warlike designs. We wish to discover
his sentiments in this weighty affair with certainty, and
think you are the fittest person for this purpose. You
will oblige us if you will make a journey thither, sound
Hyder Ali, and assure him that we entertain peaceable
thoughts. As the intention of the journey is good and
Christian, namely to prevent the effusion of human blood,
and to preserve this country in peace, this commission
militates not against but highly becomes your sacred office,
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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

and therefore we hope you will accept it." This is prob-
ably the only occasion on which the Government of India
has requested the aid of a missionary for political service.

After some time for consideration, Schwartz accepted
the proposal, and in August 1779 set out for the capital
of Mysore. It was a bold step, for Hyder Ali was a cruel
despot and a breaker of all bonds and treaties. In one
village Schwartz had to wait many days to receive an answer
to his request for permission to proceed ; it was favourable,
and he again set out. Soon afterwards they had to pass
a wood and a mountain much infested with wild animals ;
often at night when composing himself to sleep in his tent
he was disturbed by the shrill mournful cry of the jackals
or the roar of the tiger. He was now among the passes
of the Eastern Ghauts ; narrow and wooded glens ; tracts
covered with thick jungle grass so high as to hide the
precipices close at hand, as well as the wild beasts who
there made their lair. The voice of waters was heard
among the woody heights around, and the travellers longed
to drink of these rivulets, but often feared to do so, lest
they should fall into the clutches of some beast of prey.

On the 14th of August the party arrived at a small
town, after a long and weary day's journey at the foot of
the mountains. There was a fort in the neighbourhood
built on a high rock, which had been captured a few years
before by his friend, Colonel Wood. These forts were
generally built on isolated rocks that rose several hundred
feet above the level of the plain. On the 17th they
arrived at Guzzulhutty ; where, he says in his journal, "the
heat was intense, and the formidable mountains were still
before us. A multitude of men accompanied us. Many
carried a piece of wood which they kindled not only to
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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

render the path more discernible, but chiefly to deter the
tigers. It was very solemn as we entered the passes, the
light of the torches being cast on the trees and rocks ; if
one looks down into the abyss, the head becomes quite
giddy, for the daylight was so dim that we saw only a
frightful void. The path is frequently so narrow that if
you begin to slip, it is all over with you. When we had
ascended about half-way up the hill, the sun arose ; then we
beheld the numerous heights and depths with astonishment.
The eye is unable to satiate itself with gazing, so that the
dread of tigers is forgotten."

On his arrival in Seringapatam, a tent was pitched on
the glacis of the fort for his residence. Things wore a
hostile appearance, for a large body of troops was encamped
without the walls, who only waited the signal to march.
From the tones as well as the looks of the people, it was
evident that war was at hand. On the eastern extremity
of the island on which the city stood were the prince's
palace, and the gardens, laid out in shady walks, with the
river Cauveri flowing beside them. Schwartz was visited in
his tent by officers and judges of the court, as well as by
Brahmins curious to know what the doctrine thus brought
for the first time to the capital of Mysore might be.

At last he had an audience of the prince, who requested
him to sit by his side. The floor was spread with beautiful
carpets. A greater contrast could hardly be imagined
than that between the blood-stained Oriental despot and
the German pietist whose life was "one constant calm."
Hyder Ali listened attentively to Schwartz, and then up-
braided the English, who had promised to aid him in his
war with the Mahrattas, but had failed to do so. He
professed, however, to be desirous to live at peace with
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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

them. He then gave audience to others on the affairs of
his empire. His rapidity in transacting business greatly
surprised Schwartz.

The missionary was now invited to stay in the palace,
where the cries of tortured victims were often to be heard.
"Here," says Schwartz, "the nearest friends do not trust
themselves to open their hearts. Within the palace Hyder''8
ancient friend, Kundee Row, is confined in an iron cage,
and fed with bread and milk ; by which means the former
kept his vow that he would treat him like a parrot.
Dreadful punishments take place daily. I am hardly sure
whether I ought to describe how one of his official servants
was punished. The poor man was bound; two persons
approached with whips, and mangled him shockingly. His
flesh was then torn with pointed nails, and then he was
flogged again. His shrieks were awful." Schwartz often
conversed with Hyder in a splendid hall that was cool during
the heat of the day. The roof was supported by a double
row of lofty pillars of marble, with capitals carved in the
form of palm leaves ; a flight of steps led to a light gallery,
that ran along the walls. " I frequently sat with him," he
says in his journal, " in this hall, which opened into a garden
with rows of cypresses, fountains, &c."

There could be few things in common between the two,
though Schwartz held religious conversations with Hyder, who
told him, " that he had his free permission to convert any
of his people to his religion, if he thought he could succeed ;
for he was sure he would say nothing improper to them or
that would tend to injure his authority." One evening his
curiosity was roused, and he desired Schwartz to speak in
Persian before him as he had done to his people. Schwartz
complied : officers, and ministers and others stood around.
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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

Never was there a more hushed or awe-struck auditory : this
was not due, however, to any religious impression, but to
the fear of Hyder, whose every glance and varying expression
was watched with deep anxiety. "It was in vain,"" writes
Schwartz ; " Hyder is quite unconcerned about religion ; he
has none himself, and leaves every one to his own choice.""

Schwartz spent three months in Seringapatam occupied in
missionary work, when not engaged with the prince. Often
in the evening, when the air came fresh from the river and
the mountains on the eastern shore, he repaired to the
glacis of the fort, and there preached to a motley audience,
both of high and low, of whom some few became converts.
That the darkest natures are not without a solitary virtue
was evinced one day when Schwartz, who was in the splendid
hall of the palace, observed a crowd of well-dressed children
busied in the garden. On inquiring who they were, he was
told they were orphans for whom no one else would provide ;
and Hyder was resolved that the fatherless should not be
deserted in his dominions. Schwartz was so impressed with
the scene that on his return to Tanjore he prevailed on the
Rajah to erect a dwelling about two miles from the city
for the reception of orphans, which he ever after carefully
tended.

When the time for his departure came, Hyder sent
commands to all his officers between Seringapatam and
Tanjore " to permit Padre Schwartz to pass unmolested and
show him respect and kindness, for he is a holy man, and
means no harm to my government." But notwithstanding
his friendly reception of Schwartz, Hyder had by no means
renounced his plans of revenge on the English, urged on by
his own ambition and by the intrigues of the French, who
were at this time again at war with England.
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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

In the month of June 1780 Hyder invaded the Carnatic
with an army of nearly one hundred thousand men, a third
part of which were cavalry. The first warning to the supine
government of Madras that an enemy was drawing near
was given by the black columns of smoke seen'on the horizon
from the Mount of St. Thomas, a few miles from the city.
The villages were burned, the fields wasted, and all the
crops perished. Hyder had a corps of 5000 pioneers, who
levelled the woods and jungles as they marched along.
Crowds of people from every part of the country flocked
into the towns for relief, Tanjore and Trichinopoly were
filled with multitudes whom famine soon began to stare in
the face. The number of dead that lay in the streets
threatened to add pestilence also. They were daily collected
in carts and carried to large trenches made outside the town.
"Here and there might be seen," says a contemporary
description, "groups of the wretched devouring bones,
shells, leaves of trees and grass : the sick and weary, sunk
down from absolute weakness, lay under the rays of a
burning sun and died." Many begged to be taken as
slaves for a little food. Parents of the highest classes
offered to sell their children for a mere trifle, but no one
would purchase them. In this extremity Schwartz played the
part of a second Joseph. There was grain enough left in
the country, but there were no bullocks to bring it into the
fort, for all confidence was lost; the inhabitants of the
country, in consequence of former oppressions, drove away
their cattle and refused to assist the town. Even the orders
and entreaties of the Rajah were in vain. At last he said
to one of his chief officers : " We all, you and I, have lost
our credit ; let us try whether the inhabitants will trust Mr.
Schwartz." Accordingly he sent him a blank paper empower-
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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

ing him to make any proper terms with the people. There
was no time to be lost. The Sepoys were falling down like
dead men, being emaciated with hunger; and the streets
were lined with corpses every morning. Schwartz sent letters
around, promising himself to pay any sums due ; and in one
or two days he got above a thousand bullocks, and eighty
thousand " kalams " of grain. The people made all possible
haste, so many lives being at stake, and thus the town was
saved. When all the necessary supplies had been brought
in he paid the people, and sent them home.

Apprehensive of the renewal of war, he bought a
quantity of rice when the price was moderate, and also
persuaded some European merchants to send him a supply
monthly. With this food he preserved numbers from
perishing who were lying about in the open roads. The
fort of Trichinopoly also afforded an asylum to many of the
people who fled thither from the enemy. About this time
Schwartz paid a visit to the camp of the British commander,
Colonel Fullarton, who was greatly impressed by him, and
wrote to the Marquis of Cornwallis : " The knowledge and
integrity of this irreproachable missionary have retrieved
the character of the Europeans from imputations of general
depravity."

Not long after the restoration of peace the Rajah of
Tanjore died. Being childless, he had adopted a boy as his
successor according to Hindu custom. On his deathbed he
conjured Schwartz to guard the life of the orphan, when he
should be no more, from the intrigues of his enemies. Thus
adjured, Schwartz consented after much painful hesitation,
for he foresaw the difficulty of the charge. On the follow-
ing day the Rajah felt he had not long to live, and sent for
Schwartz once more ; his couch was surrounded by his chief
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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

officers and ministers watching the dying man in deep and
silent anxiety ; beneath a pavilion were seated his brother,
Ameer Singh, and Serfojee, the Rajah's adopted heir. The
dying Rajah said, " I have followed the advice given me by
Mr. Schwartz. I appoint my brother to govern the country
till the orphan is grown up ; he is to act kindly to him.'"
On the Rajah's decease, in reply to Schwartz's representation*
of the oppressions sujffered by the people, Ameer Singh
promised him that he would be a father to them, would
relieve their burdens, and personally inspect the country,
without too much reliance on subordinates.

As usual with Orientals, these promises meant nothing.
Ameer Singh treated Serfojee barbarously, keeping him in
close confinement, deprived of instruction and exercise.
After some time, Mr. Schwartz being asked by the British
Resident to see how he was being treated, found him in a
dark room, with a lamp, with his sinews contracted from
want of exercise. Schwartz wa« not slow in expressing his
indignation to Ameer Singh. On the next day the British
Resident had the youth removed to better quarters, and,
finding that Ameer Singh still continued to persecute him,
the authorities had him removed to Madras. Here Schwartz
visited him as his legal guardian, and found him an affec-
tionate and docile pupil. Schwartz's representations had so
much effect on the mind of Lord Cornwallis that he wrote
home to the East India Company, adding his own opinion
in favour of Serfojee. A mandate was sent from England
to place the youth on the throne of the deceased Rajah,
and to depose Ameer Singh, which was soon after done.

Serfojee fully reciprocated the kindness of Schwartz. Al-
though he never became a Christian, he listened attentively
to his teaching, and on the missionary's death in 1798 he
18^

SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

wrote home to the Society for the Promotion of Christian
Knowledge, requesting them to send out a monument in
memory of him to be set up in the church where Schwartz
used to preach. He himself composed some lines, which
were engraved on the missionary's tomb. Rude as they
are, they breathe a spirit of sincerity.

** Firm wast thou, humble and wise.
Honest, pure, free from disguise ;
Father of orphans, the widows' support.
Comfort in sorrow of every sort.
To the benighted, dispenser of light.
Doing and pointing to that which is right.
Blessing to princes, to people, to me.
May I, my father, be worthy of thee !
Wisheth and prayeth thy Sarabojee."

The monument was designed by Flaxman, the famous
sculptor, and when it was sent out, the Rajah was so
pleased with it that he kept it for two years in the hall
of his palace before he allowed it to be erected in the
church. A gentleman who visited him at that time re-
ported that every morning as soon as the prince rose, and
before he went to his council, he approached the monu-
ment, folded his hands on his breast, and bowed before it.
Several years afterwards the prince, to perpetuate the
memory of his friend, erected a very extensive and costly
building sixteen miles from Tanjore for the benefit of
travellers. In a neighbouring village he also founded an
establishment for the support and education of fifty poor
Christian children.

The Directors of the East India Company also sent out

a monument to be erected in the Church of St. Geoi'ge at

Madras to Schwartz's memory. On Europeans and natives

alike the impression he produced seems to have been unique

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SCHWARTZ IN SOUTH INDIA

in its depth and durability. Bishop Heber, a sober-minded
judge, visiting Tanjore in 1824, shortly before his own
death, wrote : " Of Schwartz and his fifty years' labour among
the heathen, the extraordinary influence and popularity he
acquired both with Mussulmans, Hindus, and contending
European governments, I need give you no account except
that my idea of him has been raised since I came into the
South of India. I used to suspect that, with many admir-
able qualities, there was too great a mixture of intrigue in
his character ; that he was too much of a political prophet,
and that the veneration which the heathen paid and still
pay him — putting crowns and burning lights before his
statue — was purchased by some unwarrantable compromise
with their prejudices. I find I was quite mistaken. He
was really one of the most active and fearless as he was one
of the most successful missionaries who have appeared since
the Apostles."

184

CHAPTER XVI

AT THE MERCY OF AN EGYPTIAN PASHA

John Antes — A thunderstorm in Cyprus — Arrival in Cairo — Up the Nile —
The annual inundation — Alone in the desert — Caught by Mamelukes
— The rapacious pasha — Bastinadoed— An accomplished liar — The
fleeced missionary.

IN 1752 Count Zinzendorf, the leader of the Moravian
Church in Saxony, desiring to open up relations with
the Patriarch of the Copts in Egypt, sent Dr. Hocker
with a letter which was favourably received. A Moravian
mission was commenced in Egypt, with the view of eventu-
ally obtaining a footing in Abyssinia. The experiences of
one of the recruits of this mission, John Antes, throws a
vivid light on the unsettled state of the country at that
time.

Even before he reached Egypt he had an unpleasant
experience in the island of Cyprus, where he had stopped
for a time. Not being able to obtain a passage to Egypt
from that place, he at length heard there was a vessel at
Limasol, a port about fifteen leagues from where he was,
bound for Alexandria, and though he was then very ill of
an ague which he had caught immediately after his arrival,
he crept out of bed, packed up his luggage during an
interval of the fever, and prepared to take his departure.
A.s his conductor spoke no language but Greek, the English
consul procured him a muleteer who understood Italian to
carry his luggage and provisions. He cautioned him, how-
185

AT THE MERCY OF

ever, against his two guides, telling him they would murder
their own parents if they could make anything by it. The
muleteer in particular had so much the aspect of a villain
that Mr. Antes charged a pair of pocket pistols before
his eyes, and placed them in his belt to show him that he
was perfectly on his guard.

Thus equipped, he left Larnica in the dusk of the
evening; but he had scarcely proceeded a mile before a
most furious storm of rain came on, with vivid flashes
of lightning and frequent peals of thunder. As he was
badly protected from the rain in his Turkish dress, he
threw a bed-quilt which he had in his saddle over his
head, and was thus led, in a manner blindfolded, and
entirely at the mercy of his guides.

After they had travelled three or four hours through
a desert country, the muleteer who had the charge of
the luggage and the greater part of the provisions dis-
covered among them a bottle of spirits, with which he
made so free that he lost the command of his mule, and
the animal, taking advantage of his driver''s condition, ran
back to the place from which it came with the whole of
its load. The other guide endeavoured to assist in
catching it, but Antes, from the manner in which he
was covered, did not at first discover his solitary situa-
tion. When after some time he no longer heard his
companion following him, he took the quilt from his
head; but it was so extremely dark that except by the
flashes of lightning he could see nothing, even at the
distance of a yard.

He then dismounted and tied his mule by the bridle
to some brushwood near the path, which was only like
a sheep's track, and began to walk back in the hope
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AN EGYPTIAN PASHA

of finding at least one of his guides; but, reflecting on
the little probability there was of success, he returned
to the place where he left his mule, only obtaining an
occasional glimpse of the road when the lightning flashed.
When at last he got near the spot, the animal gave a
sudden spring, broke loose from the brushwood, and ran
away; but as it had come from Limasol, it naturally
took the way to that place.

After standing a considerable time, he perceived by
means of the lightning a rider coming towards him, but
he soon discovered with regret it was neither of his guides.
The stranger on approaching him muttered something in
Greek, but not finding himself understood he proceeded
on his journey.

After Antes had remained long in a state of painful
suspense, his conductor returned; but as neither knew
the language of the other, he could give him no informa-
tion about his luggage. Seeing, however, that his mule
had run away, the man dismounted from his own beast
and made Antes get upon it, while he himself trudged
by his side through deep mire and under constant rain.
Presently they discovered the runaway mule on the path
before them, and were at length successful in catching it.

About midnight they reached a mud -built cottage
and knocked at the door. Never in his life was Antes
so happy to get under a roof; but on entering it he
found it was merely a shed, quite open on the other
side. There was, however, a fire, and some men were
lying on the ground around it. The only bed procurable
was a chest covered with a clean sheet. However, he
was so exhausted that he fell asleep on it. The next
day he arrived at Limasol, from which place he embarked
187

AT THE MERCY OF

for Alexandria. Here the plague was raging, so he set
out in a boat for Cairo. The boat was old and crazy,
and the rain penetrated into his cabin so that he could
not find a dry spot to sit in. In a short time his bed
got soaked, and he was obliged to suspend it with a
cord to allow the water to run ofF underneath. He had,
moreover, to subsist on the rice bread of the Arabs,
which, he says, "was hardly to be distinguished from
black clay." The wind was often contrary, and so boisterous
that they repeatedly lay at anchor before some paltry
village for four or five days together.

At last he arrived at Cairo, where he received a warm
welcome from the other missionaries, Hocker and Danke.

In the spring of 1773, the celebrated traveller Bruce
returned safely to Cairo from Abyssinia. Antes became
intimately acquainted with him, and was very often in
his company. Bruce spoke freely of his perilous journeys,
and gave the missionary the best information as to the
state of Abyssinia and the prospect of doing good there.
He told him that if he went into the country and opened
his mouth about spiritual things, he would be stoned to
death ; that he himself was often in danger of persecution
on account of his religion; he could not indeed have
escaped had he not been constantly at court, and pro-
tected by the King himself. These accounts, Avhich were
afterwards confirmed by several natives of Abyssinia,
obliged him to defer his attempt to visit that country.

He now began to enter on his work in good earnest,
and set off on an expedition to Upper Egypt. The Nile
was then in the time of its overflow, and Antes dwells
in his journal on its extraordinary appearance. The whole
population was full of life and activity: it was their
188

AN EGYPTIAN PASHA

time of festival, and they greeted with joy the inunda-
tion which in our country would be looked upon as a
calamity. The rushing of waters was delicious to their
sight and hearing. The people lined the banks on every
side with loud cries of joy, and even the children ventured
forth on logs of wood.

He came at last safely to Upper Egypt, where he
remained a long time, going about from one village to
another. During his night voyages on the Nile, his boat
was several times attacked by robbers, who approached
by swimming under water, snatched whatever happened
to be within their reach, and then disappeared with their
booty.

On more than one occasion he went some distance
into the desert to visit villages. Mounting his mule, he
travelled all day over the sand, stopping only to drink at
the wayside wells; at night he kindled his watch-fire and
boiled some coffee, and then lay down on the ground to
rest. In those distant and sequestered hamlets, he was
received with a warmer welcome than on the shores of
the Nile, for a stranger's visit was rare, and the people
were delighted at his coming. They contended who
should have the pleasure of lodging him, and gathered
at evening to listen to his conversation and teaching.
After spending a considerable time in these itinerations.
Antes returned to Cairo to see his friends, and to receive
intelligence from Europe.

At that time, owing to the excited state of the populace
consequent on the war with Russia, Europeans could hardly
pass through the streets of Cairo without insults, or even
blows, of which the missionaries received their full share.
They lived in a confined part of the city, not far from
189

AT THE MERCY OF

the Great Canal, which from October to June was very
offensive owing to the want of any proper drainage.
Antes soon found himself obliged to take frequent exer-
cise in the open air, but as at that time it was not safe
to meet the Egyptian pashas and other powerful men,
who were in the habit of forcibly extorting money from
strangers, he did his best to avoid them. This was com-
paratively easy, as in such a level country any body of
men such as accompanied the pashas could be discerned
from a long distance.

It happened, however, on 15th November 1779, that
Antes had been walking out with the Venetian Consul,
and, as they were returning, about half-an-hour before
sunset, being near the city gate, they were observed by
some Mameluke soldiers belonging to a Pasha named
Osman Bey. Two of them came in full gallop towards
Antes and his companion, followed by some footmen.
They stripped them of what they had of any value, and de-
manded one hundred " maktubs " (each in value about seven
shillings and sixpence), threatening to take them before
their master unless the money was immediately produced.
Antes told them that he had no such sum, and, taking
out his purse, offered it to them. Finding it contained
only twenty-five shillings in small silver pieces, they
threw it back in disdain, crying, " Dahab ! " i.e. " Gold ! "
Antes told them that he had no gold, but that, if they
would go with him to his house, he would give them
some. Upon this they cursed him, and ten more on
horseback who had joined them made the same demand
Antes again promised, as before, that if they went with
him they would get some.

At last their principal man said, "Go home and
190

AN EGYPTIAN PASHA

fetch your gold, but we will keep your companion here
as a hostage, and, if you do not soon return, we will cut
off his head."

As the poor Venetian, who could not speak a word
of Arabic, was overwhelmed with fear and trembling.
Antes could not leave him in the hands of these blood-
thirsty ruffians, and generously replied that his friend
might go and bring the money, but that he would remain
with them. The Venetian, however, had scarcely gone a
few steps when the servants fell upon him and stripped
him of his clothes, so that he was obliged to flee nearly
naked into the city.

By this time the sun had set, and as the Mamelukes
dared not stay away from the Pasha till the Venetian
could return, one of them rode up to their master and
told him they had seized a European from whom some
money might be obtained. By his order they soon re-
turned, and, taking Antes between their horses, dragged
him before Osman Bey.

When Antes came near he addressed the Pasha with
the usual phrase: "I am under your protection;" to
which, if they are not maliciously inclined, they answer,
" You are welcome ! " But, instead of answering at all,
the Pasha stared at him furiously, and said, "Who are
you?" Antes replied: "I am a European." "What
are you doing here in the night.?" said the Pasha; "you
must be a thief. Aye, aye, most likely the one who did
such a thing the other day." Antes protested, "I was
entering the city gates half-an-hour before sunset, when
I was taken by your Mamelukes and detained till now,
when it is dark, but yet not an hour after sunset, which
is the regular time for shutting the gates." Without
191

AT THE MERCY OF

saying anything in reply the Pasha ordered him to be
taken to the castle, a building at some distance out of
the town, situated in a wide sandy plain, where most of
the Pashas had houses and exercised their Mamelukes.

Every month one of the Pashas in rotation took his
station at that place in order to guard the city by night
against the depredations of the wandering Arabs.

Before he was removed Antes tried to say a few
words more in his own behalf, but was prevented by a
horde of servants glad of an opportunity to insult a
European. One gave him a kick on one side, another
on the other; one spat in his face, while another put a
rope about his neck made of the filaments of the date-
tree, which are much rougher than horse-hair. By this
rope a fellow in rags, with another armed with a pistol
and sword to guard him, was ordered to drag him
along.

On their way to the castle they passed a gentle
slope with a large garden surrounded by a mud wall on
the left; and as the garden here consisted chiefly of
irregular plantations of orange, lemon, and prickly pear,
through which no horse can pass, it occurred to Antes
that he might cut the rope by which he was held and
escape over the wall ; but on searching for his knife he
found it was gone.

Soon after the fellow in rags advised him to give
money to the guard, who would then let him escape.
The word "money" operated like an electric shock on
the guard, who galloped up to him and asked if he had
any money left? Antes replied that he would give him
what he had if he would let him go. Accordingly he
gave him the purse which the Mamelukes had refused.
192

AN EGYPTIAN PASHA

Having looked at it, he put it into his pocket without
saying a word, still driving his prisoner forward, till thej
arrived at the castle. He was then thrust into a dungeon
a large iron chain was put round his neck, secured by a
padlock, and the other end fastened to a piece of timber.
The servants, hoping to be rewarded, supplied him with
water; but no entreaty could prevail upon them either
to let him have pen and ink, or to take a letter from
him to his friends to inform them of his situation;
neither indeed could they have gratified him without
peril to themselves.

In about half-an-hour the Pasha himself arrived with
his retinue, lighted flambeaux being carried before him.
He alighted, walked upstairs into a room, and sat down
in a corner while all his people placed themselves in a
circle round him.

Antes was then sent for, unchained, and led upstairs
by two men. In going upstairs he heard the rattle of
the instruments used for the bastinado, and guessed what
was before him.

On entering the room he found a small neat Persian
carpet spread for him. This was a mark of civility due
only to a gentleman, for the common people when about
to receive the bastinado are thrown upon the bare ground.

After asking him a question or two the Pasha exclaimed,
" Throw him down ! " Antes then inquired what he had
done. " How, you dog ! " answered the tyrant — " Dare
you ask what you have done ? Throw him down ! " The
servants immediately threw him flat on his face and with
a strong stafi^ about six feet long, having a piece of iron
chain fixed to each end, confined his feet above the ankles.
Two of them then twisted the staff" and chain together
193 »

AT THE MERCY OF

so as to turn up the soles of his feet; and being provided
with what is called a " corbage," which consists of a strap
of the skin of the hippopotamus about a yard in length,
somewhat thicker than a man's finger and very tough and
hard, they waited for the orders of their master. When
they had placed him in this position an officer came and
whispered in his ear : " Do not suffer yourself to be
beaten ; give him a thousand dollars, and he will let you
go." Mr. Antes, however, reflected that, should he now
oflPer anything, the Pasha would probably send one of his
men with him to receive it, and that he would be obliged
to open in the presence of this officer his strong chest in
which he kept not only his money, but considerable sums
belonging to others which he had received in payment
for goods belonging to different merchants. The proba-
bility was that the whole of this would be taken from him.

Being determined, therefore, not to involve others in
his misfortunes, he answered, "I have no money to give,''
upon which the word was immediately given for them to
begin. This they did moderately at first, but Antes gave
himself up for lost, knowing that his life depended entirely
upon the caprice of an unfeeling tyrant; and, not ex-
pecting to fare better than others who had been victims
of this barbarity, he had no resource but prayer.

After they had continued beating him for some time
the officer again whispered into his ear the word "money";
but now the sum was doubled. Mr. Antes answered again,
"I have none here." They then laid on more roughly,
and every stroke felt like the application of a red-hot
poker. At length the same officer, thinking that though
he had no money he might have some costly goods,
whispered something in his ear to that effect,
194

The Missionary was cruelly Bastinadoed

Rather than offer a bribe which would have betrayed that he held money belonging
to others, the brave missionary submitted himself to the bastinado, well knowing that
death often resulted from its merciless application.

AN EGYPTIAN PASHA

As Antes knew that English fire-arms often attract their
fancy even more than money, he offered them an elegant
blunderbuss richly mounted with silver, which he could
get without opening his strong chest. The Pasha having
inquired what he said, the officer answered with a sneer,
" Only a blunderbuss ! " To this the tyrant replied,
"Beat the dog!" They began accordingly to strike with
all their might. The pain was at first excruciating beyond
conception, but after some time all sensation ceased.

When at length the Pasha saw that no money could
be extorted from him, he probably thought that the
prisoner might after all be a poor man, and therefore
ordered them to take him away. He was now obliged to
walk down to his prison, the chain being again put about
his neck.

In about half-an-hour a messenger came with orders to
bring him up again. The servants then took off the
chain, and, after carrying him till he was near the door,
told him to walk in or the Pasha would have him beaten
again. Antes was afraid some one had told him that
with a little more beating money might yet be obtained.
There are indeed instances of the bastinado having been
repeated for three days successively to the number of
two thousand strokes, when the feet are rendered past
all cure. Persons of very strong constitution may yet
survive, but generally after about five or six hundred
strokes the blood gushes out of the mouth and nose and
the victim of their cruelty dies either under or immediately
after the torture.

When Antes entered the chamber, the Pasha said to
one of his officers, "Is this the man of whom you told
me?'" The fellow having stepped up to the prisoners
195

AT THE MERCY OF

and stared him in the face as if narrowly to inspect his
features, on a sudden lifted up his hand and exclaimed,
" By Allah ! it is ! Why, this is the best man in all
Cairo, and my particular friend. Oh ! how sorry I am
that I was not here before to tell you so," with other
expressions of a similar kind. The Pasha answered,
*' Then take him ! I give him to you ; and if he has
lost anything, see to get it restored."

Antes had never in his life seen the officer before, and
he soon perceived the whole thing was merely a trick to
get rid of him in a decent manner, and to put a little
money into the pocket of his pretended deliverer. He
was obliged to walk once more till he was out of the
Pasha's sight, when the servants of his pretended friend
took him up and carried him to the man's home, which
was at a considerable distance.

Here the officer gave him something to eat and made
him a tolerably decent bed, which was the more welcome
to him as he had lost most of his clothes and felt ex-
tremely cold. Antes asked him whether what he had
suffered was a proof of the boasted hospitality of
Mohammedans to strangers. But he only got the usual
answer, " Min Allah! Maktub ! Mukkader !" "It is
from God ! It is written in the Book of Fate, which
cannot be altered." He, however, anointed his feet with
some healing balsam and tied rags round them. Antes
lay down to rest, but spent a very miserable night,
suffering, as might be expected, excruciating pain.

In the morning the officer asked him whether he was

acquainted with the master of the customs, and, being

answered in the affirmative, he offered to carry him to

his house. Having set him on au ass, while he himself

196

AN EGYPTIAN PASHA

mounted a horse, they proceeded towards the city accom-
panied by another soldier. On approaching the gate the
officer told him to take off his rags, as it would be a
disgrace to him to ride into the city in that condition.
"No disgrace to me," said Antes, "but to him who has
treated me so shamefully." "It is from God," the
officer answered.

When they arrived at the master of the customs' house,
Mr. Antes requested that official to settle everything for
him with his pretended deliverer, and found he had to
pay about £20, the whole farce being intended to bring
a little money into the hands of the Pasha's officer.

He was then carried home and put to bed, where he was
confined about six weeks before he could walk on crutches,
and for more than three years afterwards his feet, which
had been much hurt by the twisting of the chain, were
liable to swelling painfully.

This instance of Moslem barbarity shows in a graphic
way what a boon to missionaries in Mohammedan lands
such as Algiers and Egypt a European protectorate is.
Complaints are often heard that European authorities
obstruct missionary work, but without their protection
overt missionary work would often be impossible, as it
is to this day in Constantinople and Cabul.

197

CHAPTER XVII

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

Dr. Judson — Driven from Calcutta to Burmah — Breaking ground — The
first baptism— Outbreak of persecution— Voyage up the Irrawaddy —
Interview with the Emperor — Dr. Judson arrested as a spy — The
death-prison — SufiEerings of Mrs. Judson — The starved lion — A rapture
of release — Linguistic labours,

FEW missionary biographies are fraught with more
romantic interest than that of Dr. Judson, the
pioneer missionary to Burmah. During his youth
he was infected by the scepticism which was prevalent in
America at the time of the French Revolution, but the
death of an intimate friend gave his thoughts a more
serious direction. He first sailed to England to consult
the directors of the Congregational Missionary Institute
at Gosport with regard to his destination. On the way
he had a foretaste of missionary hardships, as the ship in
which he sailed was captured by a French privateer. For
some days he was confined in a French prison, and com-
forted himself by translating verses from his Hebrew Bible
into Latin. An Englishman discovered him, and obtained
his liberty by bribing the jailor. He subsequently returned
to America, and after marrying Ann Hasseltine sailed for
Calcutta in 1812. The English Government at that time
was extremely distrustful of missionaries, and ordered the
Judsons to leave at a few days' notice. William Carey, the
first Protestant missionary in India, recorded his impression
that they looked too delicate for missionary work, though
198

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

he little thought of the hardships which lay before them.
They sailed for Mauritius, and while there contemplated a
mission to Madagascar. This, however, proved impossible at
the time, and they finally took ship for Rangoon, then a mere
collection of wooden huts and pagodas. Their spirits sank
on first landing, as they felt alone in a land of strangers.
Dr. Carey's son, Felix Carey, who had been sent to com-
mence a mission at Rangoon, was absent in the interior.

Before engaging in any kind of preaching Dr. Judson
had to devote himself for some years to the laborious
acquirement of the language, an extremely difficult one.
The difficulty was increased by the fact that he had to
make his own grammar and dictionary. Not till 1817, as
Dr. Judson was sitting with his teacher, did an inquirer
appear with the momentous question, " How long a time will
it take me to learn the religion of Jesus ? " This inquirer
had been attracted by seeing two little books published by
Dr. Judson. The missionary, overjoyed at the interest
exhibited, gave him the two first half-sheets containing the
first five chapters of St. Matthew. This inquirer did not
appear again for a long time, but others began to come in.

Dr. Judson had caused a bamboo shed with a thatched
roof to be built under the shadow of one of the great
pagodas. In this he sat daily, like St. Paul, "disputing
with all those who came to him." Being Buddhists, the
natives were of a keen and philosophic turn of mind, and
would demand the definition of the simplest terms, such as
" man," before proceeding any further.

Just about this time Dr. and Mrs. Judson were obliged

to undergo a severe trial of patience. At the end of the

year 1817, in the hope of recruiting his health, which had

suffered severely from too close application to study, and

199

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

also of obtaining a Burmese-speaking Christian helper, Dr.
Judson set sail in a ship for Chittagong, on the north-east
coast of Bengal. Owing, however, to the incompetence of the
captain, they were kept tossing up and down in the Bay of
Bengal for three months and then landed at Madras. Here
for two or three months longer, Dr. Judson was kept in a
state of enforced idleness, while chafing to be at work again,
as very few ships sailed from that port to Rangoon. All
this time Mrs. Judson had to suffer tortures of suspense, as
she received no news whatever of her husband. She was
herself on the point of embarking for Bengal when fortu-
nately she heard of his arrival at the mouth of the river
Irrawaddy, and they were re-united after a separation of
eight months.

At last in June 1819, after six years of patient pre-
liminary seed-sowing, Dr. Judson had the satisfaction of
baptizing his first convert, Moung Nau. The ceremony
took place without disturbance in a large pond, the bank
of which was graced with an enormous image of Gautama
Buddha, This convert became an invaluable assistant in
the "zayat" or preaching shed, being familiar with the
terms necessary for conveying spiritual truth to the Burmese
mind.

But this hopeful commencement began to be darkened
by gloomy forebodings. One day the Viceroy of Rangoon,
seated on a huge elephant, and attended by a numerous
suite, passed the zayat. He said nothing, but eyed the
missionary very narrowly and the little group of natives
with whom he was conversing. He subsequently showed
his hostility to the new religion by issuing an order that no
one wearing a hat, shoes, or umbrella, or mounted on a
horse, should approach within the sacred ground belonging
200

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

to the great pagoda, which extended on some sides half a
mile. This obliged Dr. Judson to make a long detour
through the woods to get to his usual place of resort. This
pagoda, called the Shwaay Dagon, had been newly gilded,
and was considered the most sacred in the whole country
on account of its containing six or eight hairs of Gautama.

Towards the end of the same year Dr. Judson was en-
couraged by the baptism of two more converts. They were
somewhat timid, and requested that the baptism might take
place in the evening, and their wish was complied with ; but
the majority of the inquirers had been frightened away by
the Viceroy's action, and Dr. Judson had the mortification
of sitting whole days in the zayat, without any one coming
for conversation, though numbers were constantly passing.
Seeing that no further progress could be hoped for until
the Emperor's permission to preach Christianity freely was
obtained. Dr. Judson presented a petition for leave " to go
up to the golden feet and lift up his eyes to the golden
face," which was granted.

Accordingly Dr. Judson and Mr. Colman, a newly
arrived missionary, prepared for the long voyage of 350
miles to Ava up the Irrawaddy River. They had to take
guns with them, as the banks of the river were infested with
robbers, and on one occasion a gun had to be fired over the
heads of a boat- load of men which was approaching them
with apparently hostile intent. It had the desired effect of
frightening them away.

On arriving at Ava they laid their request before
one of the ministers of state ; but they found that they
had arrived at an unpropitious time, as the Emperor's
mind was full of a military display which he was holding
to celebrate his victory over the Cathays. The minister
201

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

said to them : " How can you propagate religion in this
empire? But come along." They were conducted into
a spacious hall, the vault and pillars of which were com-
pletely covered with gold. Presently the emperor's form
was visible between the pillars as he strode majestically
into the hall. In his hand he carried the gold-sheathed
sword, the symbol of royalty. All present prostrated
themselves with their foreheads in the dust except the
two Americans, who remained on their knees. "Who are
these ? " he asked, as he stopped opposite them. " The
teachers, great king," Dr. Judson replied. " What ! you
speak Burmese — the priests that I heard of last night?
When did you arrive ? Are you teachers of religion ?
Are you married? Why do you dress so?" After these
queries had been answered the King sat down, with his
hand resting on the hilt of his sword, looking towards
the missionaries. Their petition for toleration for them-
selves and their converts was then read aloud by the
minister of state. The Emperor himself also read it
through, and then put out his hand for a tract which the
missionaries had brought. Their hearts beat high with
mingled hope and apprehension as they prayed silently
for a favourable result. To their dismay, the Emperor,
after reading the first two or three sentences, dashed it
down to the ground in disdain. In vain one of the
ministers of state made an effort in behalf of the mis-
sionaries by displaying one of the volumes of the Bible
in a binding covered with gold leaf, which they had
brought for presentation to his Majesty. All the reply
they received was: "In regard to the objects of your
petition his Majesty gives no order. In regard to your
sacred books, his Majesty has no use for them; take
202

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

them away." The Emperor then, after directing that
Colman should be examined with a view to ascertaining
whether his medical knowledge would be of any value,
strode to the end of the hall, where he threw himself on
a cushion, listening to the music, and gazing at the
parade before him.

Notwithstanding the keenness of the disappointment.
Dr. Judson bravely wrote in his jom*nal: "Arrived at
the boat, we threw ourselves down completely exhausted
n body and mind. For three days we had walked eight
miles a day, most of the way in the heat of the sun,
which, even at this season in the interior of these
countries, is exceedingly oppressive, and the result of our
travels and toils has been — the wisest and best possible
— a result which, if we could see the end from the be-
ginning, would call forth our highest praise."

Their fears for their converts were increased at this
time by the story of a former Roman Catholic convert
which they heard from an English resident. This man,
after his baptism, had been to Rome to receive further
instruction. On his return he was accused by his nephew,
a clerk in the high court of the empire, of having deserted
the established religion. Whereupon he was subjected to
the torture of the iron mall, i.e. hammered from the ends
of his feet to his breast. At each blow he repeated the
name of Christ. At last some persons, pitying his con-
dition, went to the Emperor and represented that he was
a madman, on which he was let go, and sent by the
Portuguese to Bengal, where he died. This and other
considerations made Dr. Judson and Mr. Colman contem-
plate removing to Chittagong, which was under British
protection; but the little band of converts and inquirers

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

begged so hard not to be left, that Dr. Judson decided
to remain at Rangoon, while Mr. Colinan went to Chitta-
gong.

About this time an inquirer of superior rank and
intellect, named Moung Shway-gnong, was baptized. The
ceremony took place at night by lantern-light, the first
Burmese woman convert being baptized at the same time.
Moung Shway-gnong''s baptism caused considerable stir
among the Buddhists, and a complaint was made to the
Viceroy that "he was turning the priests' rice-pot bottom
upwards." "What consequence?" said the Viceroy; "let
the priests turn it back again." A second complaint,
however, against this convert, made by the priests to the
Viceroy, threatened to have more serious consequences.
The Viceroy replied to the priests that if he was indeed
endeavouring to subvert the Buddhist religion, he was
deserving of death. On hearing this Moung Shway-gnong
fled by boat to his own village, where he continued to
distribute Christian tracts.

So much alarm was caused by this first open mani-
festation of a persecuting spirit, that Dr. Judson was
obliged to close the zayat and betake himself to trans-
lation work. In the meantime a medical missionary.
Dr. Price, arrived at Rangoon, and the Emperor, hearing
of his arrival, sent an order for both of them to proceed
to Ava. They left Rangoon in August 1821, Dr. Judson
having in the eight years of his residence there baptized
eighteen converts.

Arrived at Ava, they found the Emperor more willing

to listen than before. He was especially interested in a

galvanic battery brought by Dr. Price, and requested

Dr. Judson to give a specimen of his preaching in Bur-

S04

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

mese. The Emperor's brother also requested to see
the "sacred books" — the Bible which had formerly been
refused — and held long conversations with Dr. Judson
on the subject of Christianity.

In 1824, however, this bright prospect was clouded
over by the breaking out of war between England and
Burmah. The Burmese were at first astounded at the
white strangers' audacity in attacking Rangoon, and the
only fears expressed at the palace in Ava were lest the
English should escape before they could be captured as
slaves. " Send to me," said one of the ladies of a Woon-
gyee (or high official), " four white strangers to manage
the affairs of my household, as I hear they are trustworthy."
" And to me," said a gay young sprig of the palace, " six
stout men to row my boat." The Burmese army went down
the Irrawaddy in large gilded boats to execute these orders,
with warriors singing and dancing in high spirits. Few of
them, however, were destined to return home again. As
soon as the army was despatched to Rangoon, suspicion
fell upon the Americans of being spies of the English.
This suspicion was increased by the fact that Dr. Judson
had received sums of money through Mr. Gouger, an
English resident. On the 8th of June 1824, to Mrs.
Judson's horror, a number of men rushed into their house,
and one whose spotted face denoted him as the public
executioner, flung Mr. Judson on the floor and tied his
arms tightly behind him. Mrs. Judson vainly offered
money for his release. He was led away, she knew not
where, and she was left, strictly guarded by ten men.
Presently a native Christian came with the information
that Mr. Judson had been conducted to the death-prison.
On the payment of two hundred "tickals"of silver, Mrs.
205

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

Judson was allowed a five minutes'' conversation with her
husband, who hobbled to the door of the prison, but she
was soon forced away from him and ordered to depart.
She then presented a petition to the Empress, but all the
reply she obtained was, "He is not to be executed; let
him remain where he is."

During the next seven months Mrs. Judson, with mar-
vellous persistency, kept applying to one after another of
the members of the Government, being exposed to continual
rebuffs and insults. On one occasion a Burmese grandee seized
her silk umbrella, and when she begged that he would at least
give her a paper one instead, he replied that she was too
thin to suffer sunstroke, and drove her away. She managed
to communicate with her husband by writing on a flat
cake and burying it in a bowl of rice, while he, in return,
wrote on a piece of tile, on which, when wetted with water,
the writing became invisible, but when the tile was dry
became legible. Afterwards she found it more feasible to
write on a sheet of paper, which she then rolled up and
inserted in the spout of a coffee-pot.

The news of the defeat of the Burmese army by the
English, and of the advance of the latter, only made
matters worse for the unfortunate prisoners. They were
thrust inside the common prison, with five pairs of fetters
each, and so crowded that there was not room to lie down.
There were at one time a hundred prisoners in one room
without a window for the admittance of air. At last Mrs.
Judson received an order from the Governor of the city to
remove Dr. Judson from the common prison into a little
bamboo room, six feet long and four wide. Under the
circumstances this seemed a great alleviation.

Soon, however, their sufferings recommenced. An official
206

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

called the Pakan-woon came into power, and by his orders
the prisoners were suddenly removed to a place called
Oung-pen-la, with the intention of sacrificing them to
secure the success of the Burmese army. One morning,
when Mrs. Judson had brought her husband's breakfast
as usual, she was summoned to the Governor's, and detained
a considerable time. On her return she found the little
bamboo shed torn down and the prison empty. Wild with
nameless anxiety she hurried back to the Governor, who
declared he was ignorant of their fate. He only said in
an ominous way, "You can do no more for your husband,
take care of yourself."

The next day she obtained a pass from the Government
to follow Dr. Judson with her three-months-old infant and
a faithful Bengalee servant. When she arrived at Oung-
pen-la, ten miles off, she found him half-dead with suffering
and fatigue, and his first words were : " Why have you
come.? I hoped you would not follow, for you cannot
live here."

She learnt that as soon as she had left him at the
Governor's summons, one of the jailors had rushed into
Mr. Judson's room, and stripped off his clothes, except his
shirt and trousers. In this state the prisoners were driven,
fastened by twos with ropes round their waists, under the
burning tropical sun.

Dr. Judson's feet were lacerated by the stones and
gravel. He obtained a little relief by leaning on the
shoulder of his fellow-prisoner. Captain Laird, but the
latter soon found the burden insupportable. So great
was Dr. Judson's agony that on crossing a river he would
have gladly flung himself into it had not the thought of
the guilt of suicide prevented him. A kindly servant
207

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

tore a strip of cloth off his turban and wrapped it round
his wounded feet. In this state he hobbled the remaining
distance.

The prison at Oung-pen-la presented a similar scene of
horror to that at Ava. The keepers of the prison were all
branded criminals, some bearing the name of their crime
branded into the flesh of their foreheads or their breasts.
At night a long bamboo pole was passed through the ankle-
fetters of the prisoners to preclude the possibility of escape,
and raised to a considerable height. So suspended, they
had to pass the night tortured by the mosquitoes, which
bit their bare feet, and which it was impossible to drive
away. In the morning the pole was lowered nearer the
floor, and the blood flowed slowly back into their benumbed
limbs.

A revolting feature of grotesqueness was added to all
this horror by the sight, in a bamboo cage close to the
prison, of a lion which was being slowly starved to death.
It had originally been presented by some foreigner to the
Emperor, and was a favourite with him. But when the • ",r
with the English began it was whispered about the ctv^rt
that the English bore a lion on their standard, and that
this unfortunate beast was in some mysterious way their
ally. Accordingly it was sent to the death-prison and
slowly starved, while its roarings filled the jail, in the hope
that its sufferings would somehow tend to the weakening
of the British force. On its death Dr. Judson obtained
the reversion of its cage during the day-time, which was
a considerable relief to him.

At last, after twenty-one months of misery, from June
1824 to March 1826, Dr. Judson was released on the nearer
approach of the British forces, and sent down the river to
208

DR. JUDSON IN BURMAH

act as an interpreter in drawing up the treaty with the
English. The rapture of release was indescribable. As
Dr. Judson said afterwards, when one evening people were
comparing different degrees of delightful experiences:
"What do you think of floating down the Irrawaddy on
a cool moonlight evening, with your wife by your side and
your baby in your arms, free, all free ? I can never regret
my twenty-one months of misery, when I recall that one
delicious thrill."

But in a few months Dr. Judson was called again to
sorrow. He had gone to Ava to act as interpreter for the
English Embassy, while Mrs. Judson remained alone at
Amherst. There she sickened and died, with only a few
native attendants around her.

Nearly a quarter of a century of labour still lay before
her husband. He lived to see the mission which he had
begun single-handed spread its branches over a considerable
part of Burmah. For several years he laboured assiduously
in translating the Bible into Burmese, a translation which
competent judges consider one of the best ever made in an
Eastern language. He also compiled a Burmese English
dictionary.

During his thirty-eight years of missionary service he
only once went home to America, on a nine months' visit-
and was distressed rather than gratified at the ovation he
received. At last, worn out with toils and sufferings, he
died at sea, April 12, 1850, during a voyage he had taken
for his health. Never more fitly was the title of " Apostle "
bestowed than in terming him " the Apostle of Burmah."

1S09

CHAPTER XVIII

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

Wolff's early wanderings — First journey to Bokhara — Attacked by
brigands— Outwitting the robbers— Preaching in rags— Half-starved
in prison — The Khan's rapacity— Defying a bully — Discussions with
Jews and Mohammedans — Threatened by fanatics — A last resource —
A welcome present — First evangelist in Cabul — Second journey to
Bokhara — Welcomed by the populace — A remorseful despot — In peril
of life— A blood-thirsty Afghan — Home again,

THE title of Dervish has been given to Joseph Wolff,
as among all missionaries he seems to have been the
greatest wanderer. Abyssinia, Mesopotamia, Persia,
Turkestan, Afghanistan, Arabia, by no means exhaust the
list of the countries which he visited. A Jew by birth, he
was a striking example of the fact that Jewish missionaries
are the best fitted to deal with Easterns.

Wolff was baptized by Leopold Zolda, Abbot of the
Benedictines of Emaus, near Prague, but becoming dissatis-
fied with the Church of Rome, he came to London, where
he made the acquaintance of Edward Irving, who intro-
duced him to his future wife, Georgiana, sixth daughter
of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford. He applied himself
ardently to the study of Eastern languages, Arabic, Syriac,
Chaldee, and Persian. Hebrew he could speak fluently.

The two chief expeditions he undertook were to Bokhara,
the first in 1830, with the idea of finding the ten lost tribes,
and the second in 1843. During both of these expeditions
he was assiduous in preaching to Jews and Mohammedans,
and roused much inquiry among them.
210

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

On his first expedition he proceeded through Armenia
and Persia. Arriving in Khorassan, at a village named
Sangerd, the caravan he was travelling with was attacked
by Turkoman brigands, who stripped the travellers of all
their clothes, and, according to their custom, tied each by
a long rope to a horse's tail to be dragged after them.
Wolff at first underwent the fate of the rest, and endured
the indignity of flogging. Presently, however, the chief
took pity on him, and ordered that he should be untied
and allowed to ride upon one of the horses. A few
rags were also thrown round him, as it was intensely
cold.

After travelling some time along a road covered with
snow and ice they encamped in a forest, where they made
a large fire. Then reckoning up the value of their booty,
they proceeded to set a price on the prisoners they had
taken. Wolff's servant was valued at ten tomauns (equal
to £5)^ but when they came to Wolff and looked at him
they said, " We don't like this fellow at all ; he stares at
us so." On examining his effects they found several im-
portant letters addressed on Wolffs behalf to Abbas Mirza,
the Governor of Khorassan. This frightened them, and
they debated whether it would not be better to kill him
and put him out of the way. But before setting out on
this stage of his journey Wolff, foreseeing that something
of the kind might happen, had taken the precaution of
writing to Abbas Mirza at Nishapoor, so that if he should
fail to arrive there, he might be inquired for. Accordingly,
he went up to the robbers and said : " I have understood
all you have said, and the resolution to which you have
come. Your reasoning is very good, but it has one fault,
and that is, you are too late ; I also knew how to calculate,
21]

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

and have laid my plans accordingly." He then told them
of his having written beforehand to Abbas Mirza, and pro-
mised that if they would let him write to the principal
Jews in Torbad-Hydarea, whose acquaintance he had
made on a former journey, he would be ransomed for 100
tomauns.

This excited their cupidity, and they let him write to
the chief Jews in Torbad-Hydarea, whither they were
journeying. In the meanwhile, WolfF had succeeded in
making six of the robbers his firm friends by promising
to recommend them (if they remained faithful to him) to
Abbas Mirza, whose soldiers they wished to become.

Thus they arrived safely at the gates of Torbad-Hydarea.
WolfTs Jewish friends came out to meet him, but strongly
objected to his paying any ransom. All the robbers had
had dealings with them, and owed them money, and they
insisted that Wolif should be allowed to go to the house
of one of them for the night, leaving everything else to
be settled in the morning.

Such a crowd of Jews came round WolfF and his friends
that they adjourned to the synagogue, where, although in
rags and shivering with cold, the dauntless missionary
preached to them, and was listened to with profound
attention.

In the morning, however, the robber chief seized him
again and put him in a miserable dungeon, chained with
fifty other captives. The chief seemed to have formed the
design of starving him to death, for he passed Wolff over
when apportioning bread to the other captives. However,
after he had been about two hours in the dungeon the
thunder of cannon was heard, and a voice exclaimed,
"Muhammad Izhak Khan has arrived!" This was the
212

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

Khan of Torbad-Hydarea, and a Persian officer of his
took summary measures with the robbers, and, coming to
the door of the dungeon, inquired if there were not an
Englishman there ? WolfF shouted " Yes, yes ! " and was
forthwith released along with his companions, who grate-
fully attributed their escape to him.

He was now brought to the palace of the Khan,
where he saw hundreds of miserable wretches with their
eyes put out, and their ears and noses cut off. Muhammad
Izhak was a truculent tyrant of great bodily strength, and
was said to have killed with his own hand his father,
mother, brother, sister, and son-in-law. The Khan, who
was eating his dinner when Wolff was brought into his
presence, said, " Abbas Mirza has written to me that
thou goest about to show to the nations the way of
truth. For my part, I have no religion. I have one
good quality, and that is, I am a man of justice : I love
strict justice; and therefore tell the truth, and you shall
see my justice. How much money have these rascals
taken from you ? " Wolff said : " They have taken from
me eighty tomauns." He repeated, " Eighty tomauns ? "
Wolff said " Yes ! " and he answered : " Now thou shalt
see my justice." So he ordered the robber chief and all
his followers to be flogged until they paid the whole
sum. This he counted, and said again, " Now thou shalt
see my justice." Then he put the whole into his own
pocket, and, turning to the unfortunate missionary, said,
"Now, you may go in peace."

Wolff remained a few days longer with the Jews, and

then set out with a large caravan for Meshed. On the

way he had an unpleasant adventure with one of his

companions, a bigoted Mohammedan, who took hold of

213

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

Wolff's foot, and beat it with his stick, saying, "Infidel!
say 'God is God, and Mohammed is the Prophet of God.'"
Wolff replied, " I will not tell a lie ! " The man put his
arms akimbo and exclaimed, " Imagine the boldness of
this infidel, who, in the midst of Mohammedans, and before
the city of Meshed the Holy, declares our religion to be
a lie ! W^hat a fool he is ! " A respectable Mohammedan
who heard this said, "Well, let the fool alone." This
quieted the man, who went on his way without molesting
Wolff any further.

At Meshed Wolff lodged with one of the principal
Jews, and had prolonged religious discussions both with
Jews and Mohammedans. He arrived at Bokhara without
further mishap, but during an examination before the
Ameer's Prime Minister, he was brought into some danger
by a Jew, who accused him of being a Russian spy.
Wolff, however, succeeded in disproving the charge, and
the Prime Minister informed him that he might hold
religious discussions with the Jews in Bokhara, but not
with the Mohammedans. He accordingly did so, with
the happy result that he was able to baptize twenty
converts, whom, on his return fourteen years later, he
found steadfast in their discipleship. After some time
the Prime Minister sent for him, and said that as he had
been obedient in not arguing with the Mohammedans, he
might hold a discussion with some of them in his presence.
This took place, but, as is usual in such cases, without
definite result.

Wolff spent altogether three months in Bokhara on
this occasion, and the Prime Minister gave him a pass-
port to Cabul, warning him to disguise himself as a
Mohammedan in passing through the town of Maazar-
«14

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

Sherif, the Governor of which had sworn to kill every
European he laid hands on. This Wolff sturdily declined
to do, and replied, " I guarantee your Excellency that I
shall pass safely through Maazar without its being found
out who I am, and without telling a single lie.'" This
he did by the simple but ingenious device of telling the
Governor of Maazar that he was a native of Ashkenaz,
the Hebrew name for Germany.

He was not, however, destined to escape so easily
from his next danger. As he neared the range of the
Hindu-Kush he found himself among a fanatical sect
of Mohammedans, called Kharijis, or "seceders." They
took umbrage at his being called "Haji," or "pilgrim,"
by his fellow-travellers, and said, " How dare you take
the name of Haji, as you are not a Mohammedan ? " Wolff"
meekly replied, "All you have to do is not to call me
Haji, and I will tell my people not to call me Haji."
"But," they said, "the mischief is done, and you must
either say 'There is no God but God, and Mohammed is
the Prophet of God,' or we will sew you up in the skin
of an ass and burn you alive." This was no idle threat,
for an Englishman named Moorcroft had not long before
been killed in that region. Wolff* bravely replied, " There
is no God but God, and Jesus is the Son of God." On
hearing this, they at once gave a sign, and all their
moollahs assembled in a large cave hewn out of the rock.
The Afghans who accompanied Wolff were much alarmed,
and said, " Repeat the Kalima [the Mohammedan creed],
and the moment you are on your journey again, you may
be just what you were before." Wolff* replied, "Leave
me alone, I will manage them." He then ordered his
servants to bring him his writing-desk, and wrote the
215

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

following letter to Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-
General of India, with whom he was acquainted : —

*'My Dear Lord William Bentinck, — The moment
that you read this letter, you must be aware that I am
no longer in the land of the living ; that I have been
put to death. Give to my servants some hundred rupees
for their journey, and write the whole account to my
wife. Lady Georgiana. — Yrs. affectionate, J. Wolff."

Wolff gave this paper into the hands of his servants
and said, "Now, I will make one more attempt to save
mylife. If I succeed, well ! If not, go as far as Loodhiana,
and the first redcoat you see give it to him, and he will
bring you to the Governor-General, and you will be re-
warded. Now bring me my firmans (passports) from the
Sultan of Constantinople."" They did so, and Wolff, with
the firmans in his hand, entered the cave where the
moollahs were seated with the Koran open before them,
and now gave their decision that he must be put to
death. Wolff said, " You cannot dare to put me to death !
You will be putting a guest to death." They replied,
"The Koran decides so." Wolff said, "It is a lie. The
Koran says, on the contrary, that a guest should be
respected even if he is an infidel; and here see the great
firman which I have from the Khalif of the whole
Mohammedan religion at Constantinople. You have no
power to put me to death."

WolfTs bold bearing impressed the superstitious moun-
taineers, and they said, "Then you must purchase your
blood with all you have." Wolff answered, "This I will
gladly do, for I am a dervish, and do not mind either
money, clothing, or anything."
216

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

Thus he had to surrender everything, and was dismissed
as he says : " without even an apron of leaves to dress him-
self with." When his Afghan companions saw him, they
were astonished and thanked God for his escape.

Having a very robust constitution he survived the
journey to Cabul, though it was winter time, and the
Afghans more than once had to pull him out of the snow
drifts, into which he had fallen. When he arrived near
Cabul, a native met him with a letter addressed to "The
Reverend Joseph Wolff, Missionary to the Jews, coming
from Bokhara." The writer of the letter was Alexander
Burnes, then British Resident at Cabul.

The letter was to tell him that the Resident had been
instructed to look out for him by Lord William Bentinck,
and was accompanied by an Afghan suit of clothes. When
he arrived at Cabul, Wolff was summoned before the Ameer,
Dost Mohammed Khan, and by his order had a religious
discussion with a moollah in his presence. He thus enjoys
the distinction of being the first and hitherto probably the
only missionary who has publicly disputed with Moham-
medans at Cabul and Bokhara.

The Ameer sent him safely on his way to Peshawar,
then in the possession of Dost Mohammed Khan, where he
had further discussions with moollahs, and presently he
arrived in British India, where he was kindly received by
Lord and Lady William Bentinck.

He proceeded home by way of Arabia and Abyssinia,
preaching continually to Jews on the way. He then visited
the United States, and in 1837 was ordained by the Bishop
of New Jersey. For some years he was engaged in clerical
work in England, but the news of the imprisonment of two
British officers. Captain Conolly and Colonel Stoddart, in
217

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

Bokhara, induced him to set out there again in 1843, in
the hope of being of some use, and of resuming missionary
work among Jews and Mohammedans.

Travelling by the same route as before, when he arrived
in Khorassan, he was apprehensive of being again attacked
by robbers, but, to his agreeable surprise, he found the name
of Englishman had become a passport in those regions.
This he attributed to the war with Afghanistan, which had
ended in the partial destruction of Cabul by the avenging
army of General Pollock.

On his arrival at Merv, his Jewish friends came to
him and said : " Joseph Wolff ! Joseph Wolff ! you are
a son of death as soon as you enter Bokhara. For God's
sake do not enter. There is still time to retrace your
steps." They informed him also that Stoddart and
Conolly had both been put to death by the Ameer.
Wolff, however, replied, " I shall go on ; I must be more
certain as to this.*"

Bokhara was entered after a week's journey, and Wolff
thus graphically describes his reception : " Shouts of ' Salaam
Aleikoom' (Peace be to you) rang upon my ear. It was
a most astonishing sight ; people from the roofs of houses,
the Nogay Tartars of Russia, the Cossacks and Girghese
from the deserts, the Tartars from Yarkand or Chinese
Tartary, the merchants of Cashmere, the grandees of the
Ameer on horseback, the Afghans, the numerous water-
carriers, stopped still, and looked at me ; Jews with their
little caps — the distinguishing mark of the Jews of Bokhara,
the inhabitants of Khokand politely smiling at me, the
moollahs from Shikarpoor and Scinde looking at me and
saying, ' Inglese Sahib ; ' veiled women screaming to each
other, * Englees Eljee ' (English ambassador), others coming
218

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

by them and saying: 'He is not an Eljee, but the grand
Dervish of Englistaun/ "

Wolff was accorded a friendly reception by the Ameer
of Bokhara, who, at the same time, told him that he had put
the officers Conolly and Stoddart to death. He seemed
interested in religious matters, and asked Wolff whether
he could raise the dead, possibly thinking of his victims,
and when Christ would return. Wolff was also allowed to
read and expound several passages of Scripture, his exposi-
tions being written down by the Ameer's servants. The
Ameer himself then read them to a great number of
moollahs of the colleges of Bokhara. After Wolff had
departed from the royal presence, he was informed that
the Ameer said : " How wonderful ! I have in my empire
two hundred thousand Persian slaves, and no soul ever came
from Persia to ask after any one of them ; and here I have
killed a few Englishmen, and Joseph Wolff comes with a
Bible in his hand, and enters my capital without a sword
and without a gun, and demands those two Englishmen. I
wish Wolff could make them alive again ; his coming here
has inflicted on me a wound which will never be healed."

The Ameer seemed more open - minded in religious
matters than Mohammedan despots generally are, and the
reason was that he had a marked predilection for the Jews,
of whom there were great numbers at Bokhara, and used
to attend their religious ceremonies. He asked Wolff to
write down proofs of the Christian religion, and also a brief
history of Mohammed from the Eui'opean point of view,
which he caused his moollahs to read.

Notwithstanding the Ameer's outward kindness, how-
ever, Wolff found that he was kept under strict surveillance
and that the despot was not inclined to let him go. He was
^19

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

lodged in the home of Nayeb Samut Khan, one of the
Ameer's chief officers. This man, as Wolff found sub-
sequently, had instigated the murder of Conolly and
Stoddart, and would have been pleased to have had him
put to death also.

Presently he was removed to the same room which the
English officers had occupied before their execution, and
this seemed a bad omen. The Ameer allowed Jews to visit
him, and they came in great numbers and held lengthy
religious discussions. As they conversed in Hebrew, Wolff
was enabled to learn many particulars of the conduct of
the Ameer towards Conolly and Stoddart in spite of the
presence of his guards.

One day a moollah came and asked him, in the Ameer's
name, whether he would become a Mohammedan. Wolff
replied : " Tell the Ameer, never, never, never." The
moollah asked : " Have you not a moi'e polite answer for
the Ameer," but was answered in the negative. A few
hours after, the same executioner who had beheaded Stod-
dart and Conolly came and said: "Joseph Wolff, to thee,
it shall happen as it did to them,"" making, at the same time,
a motion at his throat. Fortunately that very day, the
Persian ambassador in Bokhara presented a request from
the Shah, probaby at the instance of the British Resident at
Teheran, for Wolff's release. To this the Ameer with an
ill-grace consented. After perusing the Shah's letter, he
said : " Well, I make a present to you of Joseph Wolff,
he may go."

There is no doubt that Wolff's life had been in serious
danger. Shortly afterwards a truculent Afghan said to
him, " Ay, you infidel, have you succeeded in cheating the
Ameer, so that he has let you go ? If he had only given

DR. WOLFF IN CENTRAL ASIA

you into my hands I should soon have made an end of you
with my javelin."

Before leaving Bokhara Wolff waited on the Ameer,
accompanied by the Persian ambassador, and received
presents from him, a robe of honour, fifty ducats, and a
Persian manuscript with the Ameer's autograph. The
inhabitants crowded the streets at his departure, exclaim-
ing, " Thou hast been born again ! " in allusion to his
escape from death.

He was not yet altogether out of danger, however.
The caravan in which he travelled was a large one, and
before he left Bokhara his Jewish friends informed him
that it included ten assassins who had been hired to murder
him. But the Persian ambassador, who accompanied the
caravan and was friendly to Wolff, kept a vigilant watch
over him, and baffled the conspirators.

Wolff reached England without further mishap, and
spent the rest of his days in the seclusion of a Somerset
vicarage. Sir Charles Napier, the conqueror of Scinde, a
personal friend of his, said that he had undergone more
dangers in teaching the Christian faith than any of his
contemporaries. However that may be, there is no doubt
that Joseph Wolff, with his striking combination of linguistic
power, enthusiasm, devotion, and courage, is a unique figure
among missionaries.

Printed by Ballanttne, Hanson <V Co.
at Paul's Work, Edinburgh

AN APOSTLE OF THE NORTH

MEMOIRS OF
THE RIGHT REV. W. 0. BOMPAS

LATB BISHOP OF ATHABASCA

By the Rev. H. A. CODY

Tnth an IntroductioD by the AacBBiSHor or RUPERT'S LAND

Wtih Forty-two Illugtrations, Demy 8vo. 7*. Qd. net,

••It is a r«oord to m&ke th« he&rt young." — Church Times.

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HEROINES OF MISSIONARY
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TRUE STORIES OF THE INTREPID BRAVERY AND
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By the Rev. E. C. DAWSON, M.A.

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