Disturbances in the Interior
The next three years were a period of tranquil prosperity in the Kuruman Mission, the only cloud upon which was the declining health of Mary Moffat, who had never recovered thoroughly from the shock of a severe illness in 1835.
The knowledge and conviction of the truth were steadily growing upon the station itself. Year by year the community of professing believers grew larger, and as they advanced in spiritual life their outward demeanour and manner of life improved also. The population was small; some were drawn to the station by their desire for instruction, whilst others clung to their heathenism and shrank from the light in which it lay bare at the Kuruman, and they withdrew to a distance where they could follow their old practices with less disturbance of conscience.
The three missionaries worked together with a will. Upon Moffat fell the largest share of duty — from his more complete mastery of the Sechwana language, and his personal ascendency over men. He had been called especially to the great work of translating the Scriptures, but his colleague, Roger Edwards, took a large share of the printing and the whole of the school work; and Robert Hamilton, though well stricken in years, and never able to acquire the Sechwana language, quietly went about his daily labour in the mechanical department of the mission, supplementing in Dutch, by the aid of a native interpreter, the preaching of his colleagues when necessary.
The great church was still in progress. It stands to-day a monument of the patient labours of these three men whose only European assistants were Hume and Millen, the latter of whom had died before the completion of the work. The Bechwanas, however willing, co’Jd give but little help except their unskilled labour; and it is a matter of surprise to those who have seen it how this, for many years the largest building to the north of the Orange River, could have been put up with such scanty means as were then available.
Meanwhile the printing office was constantly at work. The increase of those who were eager to learn caused a continual and growing demand for books from the outlying districts. It will be remembered that the Batlaping tribe, to which the missionaries were originally sent, continually harassed by the western marauders, had moved to the south-east, and, breaking up into sections, had scattered along the Kolong or Hart River, a tributary of the Vaal. In the same neighbourhood had settled some of the Barolong and Bahurutse from the interior; and there was also a tribe of Korannas, under their chief Mosheu, whose headquarters were at a place called Mamusa, now in the Transvaal near the border of the modern Stellaland. It was long hoped that the Batlaping might be led to return to the Kuruman. They had found, however, that their new country was far superior to the old in its fitness for cattle, and the return has never taken place.
The Directors had not yet seen their way to sending a missionary to them, so that their old teachers, still at Kuruman, felt a call to visit them from time to time, and with considerable encouragement. Then, again, the Batlaro tribe to the westward was showing a greater desire for instruction, and thus new demands were made upon their time and strength. So that what with the work on the station, and that throughout the district, even with such assistance as could be given by the converts, every energy was taxed; but it was with the joyful feeling that every effort was telling in the right direction.
Meanwhile, in the year 1837, the aspect of affairs in the interior underwent an ominous change. The emigration of the Dutch farmers, disaffected to British rule, had commenced. One party of these had come into collision with the warriors of Mosilikatse. The Boers had intruded on what he considered his domain, and had refused to retire. The Boers defended themselves successfully in an entrenchment of their waggons, repulsing the Matebele with great slaughter, but losing all their oxen. They were extricated from their dangerous predicament by their friends further south, and shortly afterwards they planned an invasion for the double purpose of plunder and vengeance, which was so well carried out that Mosilikatse was taken by surprise, and a great booty in cattle swept away.
Unhappily the attack of the Boers was directed upon the very spot where lay the newly-formed American nussionary station.
Iliis was destroyed. The missionaries were in a pitiable condition. They had been prostrated by fever for some time, and they were led to fear that on the departure of the Boers the infuriated Matebele would return and wreak their passion upon them; for it would have been difficult to convince them that they had not in some way been acting as the spies of the enemy. Under these impressions they accompanied the Boers, thus deepening an impression of this kind which not unnaturally did find place in the minds of the Matebele. It was a fatal blow to that mission, and a difficulty in the way of all future endeavours.
Mosilikatse, seeing that with the continual incursions of Dingaan, the Zulu king, from the eastward, and with this new danger threatening him from the south, there was little hope of holding his ground where he was, gathered his warriors and his herds of cattle and started to the far north-east. He disappeared into what was the vast unknown region south of the Zambezi so completely that for some years nothing was known of him except by vague rumour, and his actual existence came to be a matter of doubt.
Mary Moffat to her Father in 1838.
“I must now leave this half-page for the relation of a most painful event, one of the most painful in the annals of this unhappy country. The Zulu Mission on our side is broken up, and the Americans have left the country to go to Port Natal, and to join their brethren who are with Dingaan (the successor of Chaka) on the coast. You have probably heard that some thousands of disaffected Boers have emigrated to Natal and the interior. We have anticipated the direst events from them, and these have commenced. They have approached the territory of Mosilikatse, his people have attacked them, they (the Boers) have since fallen upon him, killed many men, and taken six thousand head of cattle; and with them the missionaries have fled. This is all we know at present, but we expect an explanation every hour, as some of our people were with them, and are on their way home.
“More than six weeks ago the brethren here had everything ready, with six waggons to fetch timber from thence, but were prevented from starting by the rains, when the report of this event reached us. We could not at once give credit to it, but it was agreed to defer the journey for a time.
“Yesterday a letter arrived from a Wesleyan brother stationed east of Philippolis, stating that the Americans were there, and going to Natal! The interior is now effectually closed, and if Government wink at the proceedings of these Boers they will annihilate the aborigines, as we hear they intend seating themselves in the Bahurutse country, and they themselves will doubtless become formidable to the Colony.”
April 5/A.
“My dear Father, — Robert was to have filled up this blank, but has more to do than he can accomplish before the people leave. We have just heard from Dr. Wilson by our two men, but his letter is short and not explanatory. The brethren and sisters have been heavily afflicted. In the latter end of August a fever commenced among them, which carried off dear Mrs. Wilson. All took it in succession except the Doctor, who writes that he had done nothing for four months but attend to the sick and to his own motherless babe.
“In this state the Boers came upon them quite unexpectedly one morning early. The Zulus were entirely off their guard, knowing nothing till the bullets were flying about them in every direction. The Boers brutally commenced hostilities at the mission station, and one ball fell at the foot of the bed on which Mr. Venables lay sick. The outhouse in which their servants slept was literally shot to pieces. Two of our poor people who were with them, one of them a lad we brought up, have disappeared, and it is not known whether they were killed or fled. One of those who has come back narrowly escaped several times. What induced the missionaries to go with the Boers we do not yet know, but are inclined to think, from what the men tell us, that they submitted to whatever the Boers wished. These pillaged the house before their eyes, and when the missionaries left, the Boers were still in the house, packing up all that their horses could carry. Thus the poor brethren have been in great perils, but these enemies were not suffered to take their lives. This, it appears, some of them wished to do.”
Robert Moffat to his Father-in-law later.
“We heard nothing more from our brethren till a short time ago; another few lines came from Dr. Wilson at Grahamstown. We are truly sorry to see the Matebele Mission once more abandoned, and the interior covered with a dark cloud, with the prospect of any other attempt tenfold more hopeless than ever. The means also by which this painful event has been brought about must have a baneful influence on the minds of the interior natives, and will lead them, and especially the Matebele, to think anything but well of the Government of the white people. From the testimony of our two young men, who, as it proved, escaped in the attack, and were some weeks among the Matebele, and kindly treated by them, it is evident that Mosilikatse deeply regretted the departure of the missionaries.
“They are by this time in Natal, but if all be true that we read they will have their troubles there, from the tyranny of Dingaan, who seems to be looking with a jealous eye on his white neighbours, who have located themselves on the coast. We wonder and wonder again to witness the apathy of the Government in allowing so many hundreds of its subjects to pass the boundaries of the Colony, and by force of superior arms to mark their course among the native tribes with blood. If they are not interrupted the success of our interior missions will soon be at an end. These Boers are from various parts of the Colony, are discontented with the British Government, and have been for the last two years emigrating to what they think a better country. We are glad that none come in this direction.
“The evils now coming on the Matebele are only what I expected. Mosilikatse has ruled with an iron sceptre, and his warriors have, full often unprovoked, shed the blood of thousands, and thousands more have been driven from affluence to the most abject poverty. I have more than once told him that if he did not change his government and prohibit deliberate destruction of human life, the innocent blood which deluged his country would soon call down vengeance from heaven. It is to us blind creatures, in the awful mysteries of Providence, painful to see professing Christians becoming the sword of Jehovah.
“Whether he will stand or fall in the present crisis is doubtful, as Dingaan is assailing him from the south-east. Past events in this country make us thankful for the blessings of peace here. The number of inhabitants is constantly increasing. We have abundance of work, and much more than we can attend to. This, of course, makes translation and printing go on slowly. The brethren, Hamilton and Edwards, are now daily employed in preparing the roof of our new place of worship.”
Mary Moffat to her Father,
“KuRUMA:*, March 5, 1838. “We should now bring the girls home, but do not know when we shall be able to go, as it will be difficult for Robert to leave the place. He intended to finish the translation of the New Testament, that it might be printed in Cape Town, it being too great a task to accomplish here, unless we had a printer. The field of labour is now greatly extending, and the Directors seem reluctant to afford us aid. You will thus readily perceive that my dear husband’s labours are manifold, by far too much so. If we do not soon get assistance he will have to lay aside translation altogether, which would be much to be regretted, as his whole soul is in it; and any one who has witnessed the change amongst the Bechwana tribes since they got some portions of Holy Writ must feel anxious that they should have more. Were he relieved entirely from the printing he could be much better employed, nor could his health be likely to suffer as it now does. He is a very bad sleeper, and, when overdone with mental exercise, sometimes passes whole nights, with the exception of an hour or two, in restless tossings.”
About thirty-six miles to the north-east of Kuruman lay Motito, the station occupied by the French missionaries on their retirement from the Matebele country. Mr. and Mrs. Lemue now represented the Paris Society there, their colleagues having accepted the great opportunities which had opened to them in Basutoland. An affectionate intercourse was kept up between Kuruman and Motito, and none who knew the Lemues could wonder at this. The following gives a peep of Moffat keeping bachelor house, with his two younger children, in the absence of their mother, at
Motito, whither she had been summoned on account of the severe illness of Mrs. Lemue:
“April, 1838, Sablath Evening.
“The bell has just been rung, and I am alone with Jim and Jack, the one on my right hand, and the other on my left, talking and questioning with no little volubility, so that my attention is divided, for I do not like to command silence. As soon as the messenger left on Friday I went to the printing office and made arrangements so that Brother Edwards could go on. Friday night was one of sleep, you may believe; though I awoke early and was at the type before 1 could see a from b. With hard tugging we managed to get a proof sheet. Brother Hamilton left for the Batlaros at noon, so that I was alone in the evening, but not in solitude, for who could be in the company of Jim and Jack? Jim let me see that he could put his foot into either end of his shoes. I took the hint and repaired them. I had scarcely finished this work when he perched himself at the end of the table and stood in the attitude of a Grecian orator, and questioned me about the resurrection from the dead. The conversation, or rather the contention, lasted for more than half an hour, while Jack stood with his hands crossed behind his back wondering and sometimes repeating Jim’s inquiries.
“Never in my life was I so delighted with the questions of a child, ‘Will these hairs,’ laying his hand on his brow, ’ also come out of the dust on that day?” Could thenaughty children who have died come back and hear preaching they would not be naughty again.” How can that which has decayed become alive again?’ ‘I know mamma says that God is a very, very great God; will He make the dead come out of their graves?’ I gave a few simple hints about the coming ol Christ. When I asked where he had heard of Christ coming in flames of fire, he said, ‘Do not you teach the people that He will come in that way? ‘Enough of this subject. People are coming for medicine, and I must get the lads to bed. They have put twenty or more questions while I have been writing.”
The Jim mentioned here was at this time between five and six years old, and before another year had fulfilled its course he went to the dimly- known world about which his child-mind was already so busy.