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Title: Through lands that were dark
Author: Hawkins, F. H.
Language: English
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THROUGH LANDS THAT WERE DARK
[Illustration: KHAMA, THE CHRISTIAN CHIEF OF THE BAMANGWATO TRIBE.]
THROUGH LANDS
THAT WERE DARK
Being a Record of a Year’s Missionary Journey
in Africa and Madagascar
BY
F. H. HAWKINS, LL.B.,
Foreign Secretary of the London Missionary Society for Africa, China
and Madagascar.
“_To the Darkness and the Sorrow of the Night
Came the Wonder and the Glory of the Light_”
LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY
16, New Bridge Street, London, E.C.
1914
Dedication
This little Book is dedicated (without permission) to the Friend whose
generosity made it possible for the journey herein recorded to be taken
free of any expense to the London Missionary Society.
Table of Contents
PAGE
FOREWORD 9
A. SOUTH AFRICA:
I. Darkness and Light 13
II. The Light Spreading Northward 27
III. Tiger Kloof--“A Lamp Shining in a Dark Place” 62
B. CENTRAL AFRICA:
IV. The Heart of the Dark Continent 66
V. The Brightness of His Rising 79
C. MADAGASCAR:
VI. Tananarive--“A City set on a Hill” 106
VII. Imerina Country Districts--“Fields White Unto Harvest” 126
VIII. Betsileo--“The Sombre Fringes of the Night” 139
IX. Glad and Golden Days 149
List of Illustrations
PAGE
Chief Khama _Frontispiece_
1. Map of South Africa 15
2. Kuruman Mission House _facing_ 34
3. The New Kuruman Waggon ” 34
4. Tiger Kloof ” 64
5. Map of Central Africa 67
6. Missionaries’ Children _facing_ 70
7. Native with Fish Trap ” 82
8. Kafukula Mission House ” 95
9. Map of Madagascar 109
10. Malagasy Girls at Girls’ Home _facing_ 121
11. Dr. and Mrs. Sibree ” 152
I hear a clear voice calling, calling,
Calling out of the night,
O, you who live in the Light of Life,
Bring us the Light!
We are bound in the chains of darkness,
Our eyes received no sight,
O, you who have never been bound or blind,
Bring us the Light!
We live amid turmoil and horror,
Where might is the only right,
O, you to whom life is liberty,
Bring us the Light!
We stand in the ashes of ruins,
We are ready to fight the fight,
O, you whose feet are firm on the Rock,
Bring us the Light!
You cannot--you shall not forget us,
Out here in the darkest night,
We are drowning men, we are dying men,
Bring, O, bring us the Light!
JOHN OXENHAM.
FOREWORD
This short record of a year’s missionary journey in Africa and
Madagascar is written at the request of the Directors of the London
Missionary Society, and is based upon a series of Journal Letters
written to my family and friends while I have been on my travels. This
fact must be my excuse for writing in the first person. This little
book has been prepared in the midst of the pressure of Secretarial work.
My visit to South Africa was a Secretarial visit. In Central Africa
and Madagascar I formed one of a Deputation from the London Missionary
Society. My colleague in Central Africa was the Rev. W. S. Houghton of
Birmingham, and in Madagascar the other members of the Deputation were
Mr. Houghton and Mr. Talbot E. B. Wilson of Sheffield.
It is not my purpose to attempt to give any description of the three
Mission Fields which it has been my privilege to visit during the
journey. Details with regard to the countries and the peoples will be
found in three Handbooks published by the Society.[1]
Nor does the discussion of questions of missionary policy or any
account of the details of the work in the various fields fall within
the scope of this book. These matters have been dealt with in Reports
prepared for the Directors of the Society. Further information with
regard to all the fields can be obtained in the Society’s Annual
Report. Some account of Madagascar and the missionary work there
will be also found in a book just published, entitled “Madagascar
for Christ,” being the Joint Report of the Simultaneous Deputations
from the London Missionary Society, The Friends’ Foreign Mission
Association, and the Paris Missionary Society, which have recently
returned from Madagascar.[2]
The journey has been one of great fascination. From the point of view
of the traveller it has been full of interest. From the point of view
of a Secretary of a Missionary Society carrying on work in the lands
visited, the outstanding impression has been that of the growing
Christian Church. In Central Africa that Church is in its infancy,
but it is an infancy full of promise. In South Africa and Madagascar
the Native Church is nearly a century old. Its foundations have been
well and truly laid, and it exhibits all the signs of healthy life and
growth. As one travelled from station to station and came into contact
with the Native Church in all stages of development and met the Native
leaders of that Church, one looked into the future and saw a vision
of a Church which would one day become not only self-supporting and
self-governing, but so possessed with the missionary spirit that it
would be an instrument in God’s hands for evangelising the peoples
amongst whom it is now set as a lamp in the night. One hundred years
ago and less these lands were in gross darkness; to-day the curtains
of the night are being lifted and long closed doors are wide open to
the light. The darkness has turned to dawning and the growing Church is
becoming “a burning and a shining light” in the lands which aforetime
sat “in darkness and in the shadow of death.”
F. H. H.
_31st January, 1914._
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “South Africa”: Rev. W. A. Elliott (price 6d., post free 8d.);
“Central Africa”: Mrs. John May, B.A. (price 6d., post free 7¹⁄₂d.);
“Madagascar”: Rev. James Sibree, D.D., F.R.G.S. (price 6d., post free
8d.). I am much indebted to the “Ten Years’ Review” of the Madagascar
Mission, edited by Dr. Sibree (L.M.S., price 2s. 6d. net), for much
information embodied in the Madagascar section of the book.
[2] Copies can be obtained at the L.M.S., 6d. net, post free 8d.
Through Lands That Were Dark
A.--SOUTH AFRICA
CHAPTER I
Darkness and Light
A land of lights and shadows intervolved,
A land of blazing sun and blackest night.
JOHN OXENHAM.
South Africa exercises a great charm over those who visit it. It is a
land of sunshine. An unkind critic has described it as “a land of trees
without shade, rivers without water, flowers without scent, and birds
without song.” It is a land of vast distances and sparse population.
The portion of the African Continent which is popularly referred to as
“South Africa” is that part which lies south of the Zambesi. This great
expanse of country is as large as Europe without Russia, Scandinavia
and the British Isles, but its entire population is less than that of
greater London.
I left England in the late autumn and arrived at Cape Town seventeen
days later in the early summer. London fog was exchanged for a land
of lovely flowers and luscious fruits. Cape Town has been so often
described that I will not dwell upon its beauties or attempt to draw a
picture of Table Mountain, The Devil’s Peak, The Lion’s Head, or The
Twelve Apostles.
My first impression--and it is a lasting one--was of the abounding
kindness and hospitality of the Colonials wherever I went. On the
day of my arrival I was entertained by the Executive Committee of
the Congregational Union of South Africa. On the following day I
was the guest of the Archbishop of Cape Town at his lovely home at
Bishopscourt, where I met fourteen South African Bishops in full
canonicals gathered together for their Annual Synod. Bishopscourt is
a beautiful old Dutch House with a far-famed garden which surpassed
in luxuriance of colour anything I had ever seen except in Japan.
All through South and Central Africa I was often the guest of
Government officials and European residents, and everywhere received,
as the representative of the Society, a warm welcome and the utmost
hospitality and kindness.
[Illustration: MAP OF SOUTH AFRICA, SHOWING L.M.S. MISSION STATIONS.]
My next impression was of the great contribution which the London
Missionary Society has made to the public life and development of Cape
Colony and South Africa generally, quite apart from the direct work
which its missionaries have been able to accomplish. Evidences of the
value of this contribution abounded everywhere I went. In Cape Town
I had the pleasure of meeting the Hon. W. P. Schreiner, who was the
Prime Minister of Cape Colony at the outbreak of the Boer War. Mr.
Schreiner is now a member of the Senate, specially chosen to represent
the interests of the Native population. He is recognised as the
leading lawyer in South Africa. I also met his brother, Mr. Theophilus
Schreiner, who is also a member of the Legislature and is well-known
as a leading Temperance advocate. Their sister, Olive Schreiner, the
authoress of “The Story of an African Farm,” is known wherever English
literature is read. This distinguished family are the children of an L.
M. S. Missionary.
It is not often that three brothers receive the honour of knighthood
for public services. Sir William Solomon, Sir Saul Solomon and the
late Sir Richard Solomon (who was Agent-General for the Commonwealth
of South Africa, and who died a few weeks ago) are sons of an L. M.
S. Missionary. In its Review of the year 1913, the _Times_ speaks of
Sir Richard Solomon as “the most distinguished South African of his
generation, a man who was loved by his intimates and respected by all
for his ability and efficiency,” and of Sir William Solomon as “an
eminent judge.”
Dr. Mackenzie, the leading physician in Kimberley; his brother, Dr. W.
Douglas Mackenzie, the Principal of the Hartford Theological Seminary,
U.S.A.; and another brother, at present Solicitor-General for Southern
Rhodesia, are three sons of John Mackenzie, the missionary-statesman of
South Africa and Lord Rosebery’s friend, who had so much to do with the
making of history in South Africa thirty years ago. I need only mention
other families whose names are household words in South Africa, and
whose representatives are to be found in many places--the Philips, the
Moffats, the Kaysers, the Andersons, the Helms, the Rose-Innes, to show
how large a part the L. M. S. has indirectly played in building up the
Commonwealth of South Africa.
Throughout Cape Colony I found numerous Congregational Churches of
coloured people at places which were formerly Mission Stations of
the Society. Amongst others, Pacaltsdorp, Kruisfontein, Hankey,
Port Elizabeth, King Williams Town, and Fort Beaufort were visited.
The Society many years ago withdrew its missionaries and left these
Churches to develop along their own lines into self-governing
communities, supporting their own pastorate and carrying on their
own work. Wherever one went, one found evidences of the great part
which the Society had played in days gone by in planting churches
which are now independent, thus contributing both to the civilisation
and evangelization of the peoples of the land. Passing reference may
be made to one of these Churches which I visited. In the Brownlee
location at King Williams Town I found at work the Rev. John Harper,
who nearly thirty years ago exchanged his position as a missionary
of the Society for that of pastor of the Congregational Church. For
forty-five years he has laboured there as the minister of the Kaffir
Church in the Native Location and in charge of nineteen out-stations.
This veteran not only ministers to the spiritual needs of a very large
congregation, but acts both as doctor and lawyer to all the natives.
In 1912 he treated 4,000 patients and acted as guide, philosopher and
friend to the members of his congregations, advising them in all their
difficulties, drawing up their wills for them and ever looking after
their temporal and spiritual interests. Many of these coloured Churches
are now served by ministers of their own race, who have been trained
for the pastorate.
From Cape Town I proceeded to Great Brak River and paid a short visit
to Mr. Thomas Searle, who for some years has been the Society’s Agent
for its properties at Hankey and Kruisfontein. The history of the
Searle family at Great Brak River during the last fifty years affords a
good example of the contribution to the development of the Colony which
Christian families have been able to make.
On the 31st December, 1859, the late Mr. Charles Searle arrived at
Great Brak River with his wife and four children to take up the
position of toll-keeper at the Causeway carrying the main road over the
river. The toll-house was the only habitation in the place. Mr. Searle
erected a house for the accommodation of travellers, and afterwards a
shop and a store. Four more children were born. He purchased a farm of
354 acres for £91, and spent some money in constructing water-furrows.
A church was built. The business grew and subsequently a tannery and
boot-and-shoe factory were started. Branch stores were afterwards
established at George, Oudtshoorn, Heidelberg, Riversdale and a
wholesale depot at Mossel Bay. Mr. Searle had three sons, Charles,
William, and Thomas, who entered the business, and now direct the
Limited Company, which has been formed to carry it on. As the place
grew the Searles successfully opposed all applications for a licence
for the sale of intoxicating drinks, and to-day there is no licence
between Mossel Bay, 16 miles to the west, and George, 18³⁄₄ miles to
the east. The present population of Great Brak River exceeds 900, all
of whom are in the employ of, or dependent on, the Searles, except
the doctor, the post-master and the school-teacher. At first, all the
employees were coloured people. Latterly, however, white people have
also been employed, but they are treated exactly in the same way as the
coloured people and receive the same wages as coloured people doing
similar work. A very large new factory is now being built. Mr. Thomas
Searle preaches regularly in the spacious church. Dutch is the language
spoken. There is an excellent golf course. About six years ago old Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Searle died. They and other members of the family are
buried in the beautiful little private cemetery in Mr. Thomas Searle’s
garden--the first of numerous garden burial places I saw in different
places in the Colony. The three sons continue to reside in Great Brak
River honoured and esteemed by the whole countryside.
While at Great Brak River I paid a visit to Pacaltsdorp, an old L.
M. S. station founded 100 years ago, where the Rev. G. B. Anderson,
whose father and grandfather were L. M. S. missionaries, is pastor. A
massive stone Church was erected in 1824, and is a memorial to the Rev.
Charles Pacalt, who devoted his salary to the building of the Church.
In addition to being pastor, Mr. Anderson is also schoolmaster,
post-master, registrar of births, marriages and deaths and agent for
the Society’s property known as Hansmoeskraal farm.
Mr. Searle kindly took me in his motor car to visit Kruisfontein and
Hankey, where the Society still owns property. The South African roads
are not constructed for motor car traffic. They defy description and
I shall not soon forget this journey. The gradients are very bad, the
surface execrable. The ruts, rocks, stones and especially the sand
made rapid travel in a motor car a mixed pleasure. Rivers, and more
often dry river-beds, had to be crossed. For the most part the roads
were very narrow and were often over-hung with trees and prickly-pear,
constantly blocked by great ox-waggons with teams of fourteen to
eighteen oxen, or by goats, sheep, pigs, cows and more often than all
by ostriches, which seemed to take a delight in trying to race the car.
In spite of, or perhaps partly because of, these drawbacks, however,
the journey was most enjoyable. Some parts were very wild and desolate,
but others were scenes of sylvan beauty. There were mountain passes,
ravines, funereal forests (in one of which wild elephants are still to
be found), fairy glens and water-falls (often with very little water on
account of the prolonged drought), and in turn one was reminded of the
Pass of Glencoe, the Barmouth Estuary, the Precipice Walk, Dolgelley,
the New Forest and the Highlands of Scotland.
Hankey is a name well known to all interested in the work of the L.
M. S. in South Africa. Through the engineering skill of one of the
missionaries applied to the construction of a tunnel through a narrow
mountain ridge, the waters of the Gamtoos River were made available for
watering the Hankey valley, and ever since the desert has “blossomed
as the rose.” Above this tunnel, near the top of the mountain, is a
remarkable natural feature known as “The Window.” It is a large opening
in the rocky ridge through which a beautiful landscape can be seen on
both sides.
Another feature of Hankey which impresses a stranger from Europe is the
frogs’ chorus every evening rising from an innumerable multitude of
these amphibious reptiles which infest the fields and water-furrows.
They are known as the canaries of South Africa, and reminded one of the
music so characteristic of the rice fields of Central China.
At Hankey there is a large Church of coloured people, representing an
old mission station of the Society, and an Institution for the training
of teachers now under the control of the South African Congregational
Union. Through the sale of the Society’s property a considerable
population of Europeans has been attracted to Hankey, and I had the
honour during my visit of opening the new European Church.
From Hankey I proceeded to Port Elizabeth, where I was again hospitably
entertained. I had an opportunity of meeting the Congregational
ministers and the leading laymen at a Reception, and learnt much of
the contribution of the L. M. S. to the development of this part of
South Africa. The coloured Church there for so many years ministered
to by the Rev. William Dower, formerly a missionary of the Society,
is another instance of a strong self-supporting and self-governing
Church which has grown out of the missionary work of years gone by. On
the occasion of my visit it was crowded from floor to ceiling with a
congregation of coloured people, who are under the pastoral care of a
young and able coloured minister.
After leaving Port Elizabeth I had the privilege of paying a visit to
two of the greatest Native Institutions in South Africa. At Healdtown,
near Fort Beaufort, the Wesleyans are carrying on a great work in the
training of Native Teachers. There are 185 boy and 84 girl boarders.
The results obtained in the Government examinations are the best in the
Colony. The students come from all parts; most of them are Kaffirs. The
medium of instruction is English. This great work is mainly the result
of the blessing of God upon the labours of one man, Principal R. F.
Hornabrook, who is in supreme control. The Institution is nominally in
charge of a Committee which, however, has not met for ten years. When
he commenced work there twenty-two years ago there were thirty-three
students. Mr. Hornabrook is his own architect and builder. He is also
a farmer and a doctor. The fees charged are £12 a year, and there is a
large Government grant. Some small help is given by the Wesleyans in
South Africa. Not a penny comes from England. The buildings are quite
unambitious in character, and for the most part have been erected
from the profits made from carrying on the Institution. The whole
enterprise is a triumph of organisation. There are four white men
teachers, three white lady teachers, two matrons and several coloured
teachers. The course is three years, and the students must have passed
the sixth standard before they enter. All have a little manual labour
to do, but there is no industrial department except so far as it is
necessary to teach woodwork. All sorts of difficulties have had to be
surmounted, the chief physical one being the water-supply, which is
now satisfactorily provided by a windmill. The whole Institution is a
monument of what can be done by one man with comparatively small funds.
Mr. Hornabrook is doing great things for South Africa.
From Healdtown I journeyed to Lovedale, the centre of the world-famed
labours of Dr. James Stewart, who will always be known as “Stewart
of Lovedale.” This is an Institution carried on by the Free Church
of Scotland. There are 550 boarders from all parts of South Africa,
and of these 155 are girls. There is also a “practising school”
with 210 children. The fees range from £12 to £16 a year. Since the
Institution was commenced considerably over £100,000 has been received
in fees. Preachers and teachers for the South African Churches and
schools are trained here. The industrial work is widely known. The
Natives are taught carpentry, waggon-making, smith’s work, printing,
book-binding, boot and shoe making, office work, needle and laundry
work, horticulture and many other industrial pursuits.
The present Principal is the Rev. James Henderson, formerly of the
Nyasaland Mission. The Warden of the Boys’ department is Dr. Moore
Anderson, a son of Sir Robert Anderson, at one time Chief of the
Metropolitan Police Force. On the staff there is the famous South
African astronomer, Dr. Roberts. It was good to find the daughter of
one of our present South African missionaries occupying a responsible
position in the Girls’ department. Words fail me to describe the great
work which is being done. The Institution is an enduring memorial to
the ability and devotion of Dr. Stewart. Over the grave of this great
and good man, which I visited, is the simple inscription, “James
Stewart, Missionary.” On the hill-top is a huge stone monument erected
to his memory.
On leaving Lovedale I journeyed _via_ King Williams Town, Blaney
Junction, and De Aar to Kimberley. The railway meanders in and out
amongst the hills through picturesque scenery. Great rocks are much
in evidence. On the latter part of the journey I passed numerous
block-houses and stretches of galvanised wire fencing reminiscent
of the Boer war. Here as elsewhere the country has an unfinished
look about it. Most of the buildings are of galvanised iron. Long
distances were traversed without any signs of human habitation, and
where such signs appeared they were not always pleasing. The wretched
huts of “red-blanket kaffirs,” and the abject poverty in which they
live, showed that there is still much to be done to raise the native
inhabitants out of their degradation and to teach them to live decent
lives.
In order to see at first-hand the conditions under which so many of
the Bechuanaland Natives live in the Compounds of the great De Beers’
Diamond Mines, I visited Kimberley. Dr. Mackenzie kindly took me over
the diamond mine workings and one of the Compounds. From these mines
the bulk of the world’s supply of diamonds comes. I was very pleased
with what I saw in the Compound I visited, where 4,762 natives were
quartered. The annual death rate is only eight per thousand, about
half that of London. Every provision is made for the comfort, health
and well-being of the native workers. There is an admirable hospital
and a well-organised store, where the necessaries of life are to be
obtained at cost price. The fact that the natives are well cared for is
evidenced by the popularity of the work in the Kimberley mines all over
South Africa. Natives who have worked there return again and again for
a further period. There can be no doubt that the restraint upon their
liberty, to which they voluntarily submit while at work in the mines,
is greatly to their advantage, and the facilities which exist for the
remitting of wages to their families obviate, to a great extent, the
risks they would run if they left the Compound with large sums of money
in their possession. Nor are their spiritual needs neglected.
While at Kimberley I paid a visit to Barkly West, formerly a mission
station of the Society for many years, associated with the name of
William Ashton. From Kimberley I proceeded to Tiger Kloof. I shall
refer to the great work which is being carried on there later in this
narrative.
As one travelled through the Cape Province and visited many places,
which were at one time stations of the Society in the charge of
missionaries and entirely supported by funds from home, but are now
independent Churches carrying on their own work, one realised the
power of the growing Church in the lands which 100 years ago were
in darkness. This province is still “A land of lights and shadows
intervolved, a land of blazing sun and blackest night,” and some of
its portals are still “barred against the light.” That light has for a
century and more been beating up against “close-barred doors,” but the
missionary traveller looking down “the future’s broadening way” sees
many a sign that the time will surely come--
“When, like a swelling tide,
The Word shall leap the barriers, and The Light
Shall sweep the land; and Faith and Love and Hope
Shall win for Christ this stronghold of the night.”
CHAPTER II
The Light Spreading Northward
Kingdoms wide that sit in darkness,
Grant them, Lord, Thy glorious light;
And from eastern coast to western,
May the morning chase the night.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS.
Up to this stage the narrative of travel has taken us through districts
in which the London Missionary Society has laboured in days gone by.
We shall now visit the stations where it is carrying on work at the
present day.
Until quite recently the South Africa Mission of the L. M. S. might
be described, from the point of view of means of locomotion, as “an
Ox-waggon Mission.” The days of the Ox-waggon are rapidly passing.
This slow cumbersome means of conveyance, which was formerly almost
universal throughout South Africa, is giving place to the Cape cart and
the Railway. The change is symptomatic of the progress in the methods
of work. Greater facilities of communication have revolutionized the
conditions under which Missionary work is carried on. Missionaries are
no longer isolated from their fellows as they were in the days of old.
Until recently they were obliged to spend a considerable portion of
their time in actual travel in the ox-waggon. Now they can get about
rapidly and are able to cover much more ground and visit many more
out-stations in a given period of time. I was enabled to visit the
Society’s stations in Bechuanaland and Matebeleland in one-fifth of the
time which would have been necessary for such a visitation thirty years
ago.
After a few days’ stay at Tiger Kloof, the first place I visited was
Vryburg, where the Rev. A. J. Wookey, the missionary in charge of the
numerous scattered Churches of the Baralong tribe, resides. Vryburg
is not in a true sense a station of the Society, but the headquarters
for an extensive out-station work. After a stay of two days there,
I journeyed with Mr. Wookey in a Cape cart drawn by four horses to
Ganyesa, forty miles to the north-west. The growth of the work in
the lifetime of a single missionary is well illustrated by what has
happened at this place. When Mr. Wookey first visited it, forty-three
years ago, two or three people met with him for worship in a hut there.
A man read the Scriptures, and a woman led in prayer and preached.
Now there is a good stone Church with 120 Church members, and an
Anglo-vernacular school with seventy children. Connected with it are
three branch churches and schools.
A short description of the visit to Ganyesa will serve to illustrate
one’s experience at many a country out-station in Bechuanaland and
Matebeleland. I started from Vryburg at 7.10 and reached Ganyesa at
4.30, after out-spanning twice. We camped for the night on an open
common, in the middle of a large Native Reserve, close to an ox-waggon
which had brought two other missionaries, Mr. Helm and Mr. Haydon
Lewis, to the place. On all sides stretched the illimitable veldt.
There were very few trees, but almost all around the sky-line was
broken by the conical thatched roofs of the Native huts. Close at
hand were to be seen emaciated oxen returning from the almost dry
watering-places in charge of little black herd-boys, who were nearly
naked, their bodies glistening like polished ebony, and having an
appearance which suggested that they had recently been black-leaded,
and presenting a great contrast with the white of their eyes and of
their perfect teeth. After my arrival I was visited by the schoolmaster
and the deacons, and afterwards attended a concert in the Church,
organised to raise funds to help to send a teacher to Tiger Kloof.
The price of a ticket for the concert was 6d. The night was hot, and
the Church was packed. In spite of the almost overpowering heat the
doors and windows were kept closed, in order that the crowd outside
should not enjoy the music for which they had not paid! The atmosphere
within was beyond description. Evening meetings are almost unknown
in Bechuanaland. Some antique lamps had been requisitioned, and the
air was laden with the pungent smell of the lamp oil. The “Bouquet
d’Afrique” was also strongly in evidence. The audience afforded a
picturesque scene in the dim lamp light. Most of the women wore highly
coloured head-dresses, and with their numerous babies sat on the floor,
which was made of a mixture of sand and cow-dung. The rest of their
dress was remarkable for its colour and variety. Many of the boys and
men were in dilapidated European costume. There were 100 items on the
programme, and the concert continued until the small hours of Sunday
morning. I left before midnight, and slept on the ground underneath the
bright penetrating stars. The darkness of the night was illuminated by
flashes of summer lightning on the eastern horizon.
The following day, Sunday, will live in my memory. The service was
announced to begin at eleven o’clock, but at ten o’clock the evangelist
came to say that the chapel was already full, and forthwith the service
commenced. The building was crowded to its utmost capacity, and there
were large numbers of men, women and children sitting in the shade on
the ground outside. I spoke to the people from a side-door in order
that my words might be heard by the crowd inside and out. After the
service I was visited by a large number of deacons and workers from
the Churches for many miles round. Afterwards I went to see an old
woman named Dipepeng in her kraal near by. She is over eighty years
of age, and for a long time has not had the use of her legs. She sat
in the entrance to her hut in the shadow of the over-hanging eaves,
reading her Sechuana Bible. She told me she had been a servant to Dr.
and Mrs. Moffat at Kuruman, and remembered David Livingstone courting
Mary Moffat under the historic almond tree, and was present at their
wedding. She described them, and spoke of an arbour in the garden where
they used to sit. The old woman has been a Christian for sixty years,
and is deeply interested in the Church at Ganyesa.
I visited the only European in the place, he being a store-keeper. In
the afternoon there was a baptismal service, Sunday School, a sermon,
and a crowded Communion Service conducted with great reverence. At
the close the people all rose and sang, “God be with you till we meet
again.” At day-break on the following morning there was a prayer
meeting. This was followed by the wedding of five couples, and a visit
to the school. Later in the morning Mr. Wookey and I started on our
return journey to Vryburg in the Cape cart.
Later in the week I journeyed by rail and cart to Taungs where Mr.
McGee is the resident missionary. The Society has carried on work there
for forty-five years, and although the Church membership in connection
with Taungs and its out-stations is the largest (1,184) connected with
any L. M. S. Church in South Africa, the place was described quite
recently by an experienced missionary as “a back-water of heathenism.”
The signs of heathenism are certainly very apparent. The Native Chief
is a bad specimen of a Bechuana. Some of his headmen make themselves
particularly hideous by a plentiful application of the contents of
the blue-bag to their faces and heads. There are many evidences of
superstition and heathenism, and yet there is another side to the
picture. On the Sunday the spacious Church--which has recently been
built by the tribe, heathen and Christian alike contributing--was
crowded both morning and afternoon. Twenty infants and thirty adults
were baptised. The scene from the platform was extremely picturesque.
About half the congregation consisted of women, most of whom wore
brilliantly coloured head-dresses, vivid yellows and startling pinks
predominating. Many were clad in gaudy shawls. In the afternoon a
solemn Communion Service was held, at which individual communion cups
were used. The service was rendered the more impressive by the fact
that a great thunderstorm broke before it closed. Looking through the
great west doors of the Church at the beginning of the service one
could see the wide-spreading veldt stretching away into the distance
as far as the eye could reach, and looking dry and thirsty in the
pitiless blaze of the afternoon sun. Then a kind of mist appeared
on the horizon. It was a dust-storm approaching. The natives have a
proverb which says that “God sweeps His land before He waters it.”
The clouds of dust came nearer, until at last all the doors had to be
shut. The Church became dark. Then came claps of thunder, which made
speaking difficult, while the dim interior was from time to time lit
up with brilliant flashes of lightning. Then followed a downpour of
heavy rain upon the galvanised iron roof, making a terrific noise. The
storm increased in intensity until there was a perfect artillery of
thunder, while the lightning was continuous and most vivid. In spite
of the storm the service was continued in an orderly fashion, and the
crowded congregation seemed perfectly oblivious to the hurricane raging
outside. The service concluded with thanksgiving for the rain, for
which the people had long been praying.
Taungs is the centre of a widespread district, in which there are
twenty-three outstations regularly visited by the missionary. I
visited one of them, called Manthe, nine miles away. That visit was
impressed upon my memory by one of the appalling contrasts which are
so common in heathen lands. Under an extemporised roof at the back of
the evangelist’s house I saw and talked with a bright Christian boy,
the eldest son of the evangelist, by name Golekynie, who had been for
seven years at Tiger Kloof. He was on the point of passing his third
and final examination as a pupil-teacher, when, a month before, he had
been compelled to return home in an advanced stage of consumption. He
was lying on his bed in the open air. He spoke excellent English and
had a refined face and manner, and was evidently an earnest Christian
youth. He realised that he could not live long, and spoke with high
appreciation of the happiness that had come into his life at Tiger
Kloof. He told me that he was not afraid to die.
An hour afterwards I paid a visit to the Chief of the village, who was
slowly dying of a loathsome disease in a wretched, evil-smelling native
house. He lay on a dirty mattress with a coloured blanket over him. He
was a heathen of a low type. Two of his wives and several children were
on the verandah outside the open window. After Mr. McGee and I had left
he sent to us to ask us to return to pray for him, the first time he
had ever made a request for spiritual help.
From Taungs I proceeded to the historic station of Kuruman,
accomplishing the journey of 143 miles by cart, rail, motor-car and
ox-waggon. The contrast in the modes of travel is illustrated by the
fact that the first seventy-seven miles occupied five hours, and the
remaining sixty-six miles--which were travelled by ox-waggon--occupied
three nights and two days. This journey helped to bring home the
sparseness of the population. On Christmas Eve I travelled from early
morning till late at night in the ox-waggon without seeing a single
human habitation, or a single human being, except those who were
accompanying me, and this not in the recesses of Central Africa but in
British Bechuanaland, which is part of the Cape Province. I travelled
in a new waggon recently made by the boys at Lovedale for the Kuruman
station. It was drawn by fourteen oxen, kindly provided by the Church
at Kuruman, with two supernumeraries in reserve in case of accidents.
As travelling by ox-waggon is rapidly becoming a thing of the past,
it is worth while attempting a short description of the journey. The
waggon in which I travelled, although a new one, had no springs.
The road was of a most primitive description, although the main
thoroughfare between two important centres of population. The jolting
and bumping defy description. The speed is nearly two miles an hour
if all goes well. The discomfort of travelling is somewhat mitigated
by the “cartel”--a wooden frame hung within the waggon by very short
chains of three links. Across the frame are stretched “rims” or strips
of undressed ox-hide about a quarter of an inch broad. When the waggon
is at rest this makes a very comfortable bed, far more so than some
of the beds of my experience in China, such as the boards of a Chinese
chapel vestry, or the planks of a Chinese boat.
[Illustration:
_Photo by_] [_Mrs. Hawkins._
KURUMAN MISSION HOUSE, BUILT BY MOFFAT AND HAMILTON.]
[Illustration:
_Photo by_] [_Neville Jones._
THE NEW KURUMAN WAGGON, WITH MR. AND MRS. J. TOM BROWN.]
The oxen are outspanned about three times a day at places where there
is water, or where they are likely to find some grass. No reins are
used in driving, but the oxen are controlled by a very long whip which
is used with great dexterity either by the driver from the front of the
waggon or by his assistant walking alongside the oxen. These two men
also act as cooks. A Christmas Day spent in these conditions will live
in the memory.
The stay at Kuruman was a delightful experience. This place is a
veritable oasis in the desert with a perennial water supply from the
Kuruman river, which issues from a place called “The Fountain” in the
Kuruman township three miles away from the Mission station. Thence in
summer and winter, in flood and in drought, flows 4,000,000 gallons
of water a day. By means of water-furrows, constructed by the early
missionaries, the dry and thirsty land is converted into a paradise of
green. The trees in the garden are a constant delight.
I stayed in the Mission House built by Robert Moffat and Robert
Hamilton eighty years ago. The whole place is rich with associations.
It was here that David Livingstone courted Mary Moffat. The almond tree
in the garden under which he proposed to her is still flourishing.
Close by is the great Church, built by Moffat, and rich with many a
memory. Next to it is the house where William Ashton lived for many
years, which is now occupied by Mrs. Bevan Wookey, who is in charge
of the excellent Mission School at Kuruman. Behind is the school
and the old printing office. The garden is most fertile; oranges,
lemons, quinces, mulberries, pears, apples, plums, apricots, peaches,
pomegranates, walnuts, melons and richly-laden vines, abounding. For
more than a quarter of a century the Rev. J. Tom Brown has carried on
Missionary work at this station.
The great fact of the growing Christian Church in South Africa was
abundantly emphasised on the Sunday of my stay at Kuruman. From
outstations far and near the Christians came in for the Communion
Service on the last Sunday of the year and for the New Year’s meetings.
In the morning some 1,500 gathered together for public worship, and
three services were carried on simultaneously. Moffat’s long, and
somewhat dark Church, with its great wooden beams, was filled with a
Sechuana-speaking congregation. The dimness of the Church was relieved
by the orange, yellow, pink and blue of the dresses of the women. In
the spacious school there was a crowded service for the Dutch-speaking
natives and coloured people. In the yard of Mrs. Wookey’s house there
was a service, conducted by an evangelist, for the Damaras, a stalwart
tribe of blackest hue. These people are refugees from German South-West
Africa. In the afternoon all the Church members gathered together in
the Church at a solemn Communion Service. A stranger will not soon
forget the impressive quietness and reverence of the service as the
bare-footed deacons moved noiselessly along the serried ranks of the
great black crowd that was present.
The meetings on the following day were further evidence of the
growing Church. A large gathering of Church members was held at
which discussions took place on several subjects quite familiar to
the Home Churches, many Natives joining in with great intelligence
and earnestness. The Native Pastor at Kuruman, the Rev. Maphakela
Lekalaka, an eloquent preacher, a capable minister, and a master of
metaphor--known as the “Joseph Parker of Bechuanaland”--superintended
the work of the station with ability and success during the absence of
the Missionary on furlough.
The journey back to Vryburg was made in an old ox-waggon drawn
by fourteen oxen kindly lent by the Church at one of the Kuruman
outstations. I travelled back _via_ Motito, which has pathetic
associations. In a tiny grave-yard there are buried two or three
missionary children. There is also a grave which recalls a grim
tragedy,--that of Jean Fredoux, a son-in-law of Dr. Moffat, and a
missionary of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, which was
formerly at work there. It was in 1865 that he met his death. A
“depraved European” (to quote from the inscription on the gravestone)
attacked his wife in his absence. The Native Christians defended her
and made him prisoner, intending to send him to Kuruman for trial. Next
day they were afraid they might get into trouble for arresting a white
man and they let him go. He escaped in his waggon to the place where
Mr. Fredoux was, and the Natives followed and told the latter what had
happened. Mr. Fredoux went to speak to the man, who retreated inside
his waggon. Then followed an explosion of gunpowder, which blew the
waggon, the “depraved European,” Mr. Fredoux and all the Natives to
pieces.
At the conclusion of the journey from Kuruman I paid a short visit
to Tiger Kloof and then proceeded north to visit the Matebeleland
stations, in what is now known as Southern Rhodesia, taking three days’
holiday to see the wonderful Victoria Falls and places of interest in
Bulawayo and the neighbourhood. Every Britisher naturally associates
Rhodesia with the name and work of Cecil Rhodes. His statue stands in
a commanding position in Bulawayo. His grave in the rocky fastness of
the Matopo Hills is an impressive monument to his memory. All round are
immense blocks of granite piled up in fantastic shapes. Four groups of
these granite boulders almost completely enclose a rocky surface about
30 yards square, in the centre of which there is a large untrimmed
block of granite lying on the ground. On the top of this is a sheet of
bronze about 10 feet by 4 feet and 2 inches thick, on which are deeply
cut these words:--
“HERE LIE THE
REMAINS OF
CECIL JOHN RHODES.”
There is no date. Close by on the slope of the hill there is a white
marble rectangular monument, with bronze panels, commemorating Major
Wilson and thirty-four men who laid down their lives in one of the
Matebeleland wars. The inscription reads:
“TO BRAVE MEN.”
Few people, perhaps, realise what Rhodesia owes to the lives and
labours of L. M. S. Missionaries. When Cecil Rhodes was a youth of
twenty Mr. Helm was establishing the Mission Station at Hope Fountain,
10 miles away from the present town of Bulawayo, which was then
non-existent. Rhodes was always ready to acknowledge the value of
the services rendered by Mr. Helm in his early pioneering days in
the country which afterwards was named Southern Rhodesia. He was a
constant visitor to Hope Fountain, and Mr. Helm often took part in
his negotiations with Lobenguela, the blood-thirsty Matebele king.
John Smith Moffat, the son of Dr. Moffat, at one time an L. M. S.
Missionary, afterwards for many years a Government official, and
always the friend of the Natives, played an important part in the
establishment of British rule in Rhodesia. John Mackenzie, too, did a
great work in this direction, and was ever a stalwart champion of the
rights of the Natives.
Mr. Helm drove me from Bulawayo to Hope Fountain in a cart drawn by
four mules, the two leaders rejoicing in the names of “Bella” and
“Donna.” At Hope Fountain the Society holds for the benefit of the
Natives a farm upon which some 500 people are living. In Southern
Rhodesia, outside the towns, it is very difficult, if not impossible,
to carry on missionary work except on such farms or in Native
Reserves. Throughout the country farms are being rapidly taken up
by white farmers, and the Natives are steadily and inevitably being
driven off the lands which they previously occupied into the great
Native Reserves provided for them by the Government. Hope Fountain
is the centre of some thirteen outstations, most of which are under
the charge of resident evangelists. These men and many of the Native
Christians came into the head-station to meet me. These small Churches
form another example of the growing Native Christian Church of South
Africa. The principles of self-support have been inculcated with such
success that they raise for the support of their own Christian work a
sum considerably in excess of that raised at any other station of the
Society in the sub-continent.
At Hope Fountain, as in so many places in the Mission Field, one is
reminded of the great and good men who have given their lives to the
work in days gone by. In the cemetery there David Carnegie is buried,
and his white stone tomb can be seen from the Mission House across the
valley. His widow and family live at a house on the road between Hope
Fountain and Bulawayo.
The next week of my travel was devoted to exploring one of the great
Native Reserves above referred to. Mr. Helm drove me from Bulawayo to
Inyati, the most northern station of the Society in South Africa, a
journey of forty-five miles. Thence, accompanied by Mr. Cullen Reed and
Mr. R. Lanning, the Native Commissioner, I paid a visit to the Shangani
Reserve, which comprises a large tract of country situated about midway
between Bulawayo and the Zambesi. This Reserve has been set apart by
the authorities for the accommodation of Natives who have been driven
off the land by the gradual settlement of white farmers. The expedition
involved a cart journey over rough country of some 220 miles, some of
it through virgin tropical forest across which the road consisted of
little more than a track. For seven nights I slept on the ground near
the great fires which were necessary to keep off lions and other beasts
of prey. The experience was a delightful one in spite of a too abundant
insect life which often proved troublesome. Mr. Lanning has a unique
knowledge of the country and his experience of travel on the veldt
added greatly to the comfort and the pleasure of the journey. Moreover,
he is a keen hunter and kept the larder well supplied with fresh meat.
The cart was drawn by six mules and we were accompanied by another cart
which conveyed the Native servants, the luggage and the camp equipment.
The interest of the journey was enhanced by meetings with Native chiefs
and headmen at different places. They may be typified in the person of
Tjakalisa, Lobenguela’s third son, a fine specimen of the human race,
standing over six feet high and every inch of him an aristocrat.
Clad in a vest and a short leather apron and some wire bracelets, he
looked like the son of a king. Years ago he was nearly burnt to death
in a tree in which he had taken refuge from a bush fire. David Carnegie
treated him and saved his life. On another occasion he was out hunting
with his father. His cartridges were several sizes too small for his
gun. As fast as he put them in at the breech they fell out at the
muzzle. Lobenguela insisted that he was bewitched, and this opinion was
apparently confirmed when, on his shooting expedition, his horse took
fright and threw him, breaking his leg into splinters. Mr. Helm came to
the rescue and effected a complete cure.
Nowadays Tjakalisa has settled down in the Shangani as a farmer on a
large scale. He has been known to realise as much as £600 at one time
on the sale of his produce. He came to discuss with us the question
of the settlement of a resident missionary. He was accompanied by
a fine old chief, Sivalo, who still wears one of the old Matebele
iron circlets on the top of his head. I shall not soon forget the
long morning spent in the blazing sun--in “the splendour, shadowless
and broad,” of a South African midsummer. Tjakalisa and Sivalo were
attended by a score of headmen. They were eloquent in praise of their
new country, which had not suffered from the terrible drought which has
been afflicting so much of the sub-continent. They realise the benefits
of elementary education and promised to support a school and to build a
house for a teacher. They were filled with enthusiasm for the future of
this promised land.
Later on the same night I was lying on my bed, consisting of leaves and
grass and a rug, under the stars which were soon to be extinguished by
the brilliant light of a South African full moon. A few yards away our
black servants were sitting around the camp-fire. One of these was a
Basuto who had passed some of his life in prison and was now a servant
in the mission. Another was a black, curly-headed herd-boy from one of
our mission stations. With them were some naked Matebele. Before I
slept I heard the strains of a hymn in the native language, sung to a
well-known tune. It was:
Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won;
And, although the way be cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless;
Guide us by Thy hand
To our Fatherland.
I fell asleep to dream of the African church of the future in this new
fatherland of their race.
Already under the steady pressure of white settlement large numbers
of Natives have been driven into this Reserve and month after month
there are fresh arrivals. In the old days the L. M. S. was ever to the
front as the pioneer Society in the evangelization of South Africa. In
these days it is looking forward to establishing a new mission station
in this Reserve, unless prevented by the great deficiency and the
lukewarmness of the Home Churches.
From Shangani I returned to Inyati, the station where Mr. Bowen Rees
has laboured so long and faithfully. He was away on furlough at the
time of my visit. During my stay there I was reminded of some of the
minor inconveniences--not to say dangers--of a missionary’s life. One
evening while we were sitting on the verandah a snake paid us a visit,
while the next day a cobra was caught in the woodstack close at hand.
I inspected the school and attended a large gathering in the Church of
Christians from Inyati and its outstations. Most of the adults squatted
on the floor with their families around them. The naked babies tumbled
over each other in their playful frolics, or slept on their mothers’
backs while I was trying to speak to their parents.
From Inyati Mr. Helm drove me to Insiza, formerly a station of the
Society. On the following morning I left at 4 a.m. by train for
Bulawayo, where I proceeded to Marula Tank Siding _en route_ for the
new Arthington station at Tjimali, where our Missionary, Mr. Whiteside,
met me. A drive of twenty miles in the mule cart brought us to the
Mission House, which is beautifully situated in the midst of granite
kopjes which form the western spur of the Matopo Hills. The view is
magnificent. The garden terminates in a forbidding precipice some
hundreds of feet deep. On one side of the house is a lofty rocky hill
which commands a wide stretch of mountainous country in all directions
with intervening valleys, and plains and hills. There are, however,
drawbacks to Tjimali as a residence. The baboons are very numerous in
the immediate neighbourhood and go about in herds of forty or fifty
and rob the gardens in the day time. The wild cats steal the chickens
at night. The eagles carry off the lambs, and the insect life is
super-abundant. Tjimali is the Society’s newest station in Matebeleland
and the work is in its early stages. There are ten outstations, at each
of which there is a native teacher who conducts school during the week
and acts as pastor-evangelist on Sundays, preaching and holding classes
for inquirers. The work is bright with promise and is reaching the
miners who are settling in the outskirts of the district.
From Tjimali I journeyed by cart to Dombodema, a long day’s drive
of fifty-eight miles. My experience that day illustrates one of the
disadvantages of the new mode of travel in South Africa. I had been
driven to the Marula Siding to catch the train for Plumtree, the
station for Dombodema. On arrival there I found that on the previous
day the time for the starting of the train had been put forward four
hours without any notice whatever to the public or even the station
master, and hence there was nothing for it but to drive the whole
distance. On the way I was met by Mr. Cullen Reed, the Dombodema
missionary, who has been at work there since the foundation of the
station in 1895. Mr. Reed has to carry on his work in three languages
and has to itinerate a parish of 3,000 square miles inhabited by 15,000
people. On each side of the Mission station are low picturesque kopjes.
The day before I arrived Mr. Reed had killed a snake fifteen feet long
in the garden.
Preachers, teachers and Christian workers had come in from the
outstations for the meeting. Three of them had travelled all the
way from Nekati, a distance of 150 miles. At this place Segkome
Khama lives. He is the eldest son of Khama, the famous Chief of the
Bamangwato tribe. For the Sunday service the Church was crowded, the
congregation sitting on the floor, and some scores more finding seats
under the shadow of a great fig tree outside the door. The Service was
conducted in two languages. In the afternoon an impressive Communion
Service was held.
On leaving Dombodema I proceeded south to Serowe, spending two days
on the way at the British Residency, Francistown, as the guest of
Major Daniel, the Assistant Commissioner for the Northern half of
the Bechuanaland Protectorate. My visit to Serowe was one of my most
interesting experiences in South Africa. Leaving Phalapye Road railway
station at 3.20 a.m. in the faint light of the waning moon I started
on the cart ride of thirty-five miles to Serowe. The cart was drawn
by eight fine mules kindly put at my disposal by the Government. It
was the dustiest ride I have ever experienced, in many places the road
being several inches deep in sand and dust. The dust of the Plain of
Chihli in North China makes an impression on the memory which it is not
easy to forget, but the drive to Serowe was a more trying experience,
because eight galloping mules travel much faster than the sorry beasts
which draw the Peking carts of North China. About three miles from
Serowe we saw a cloud of dust ahead and there emerged from it a company
of horsemen whom Khama had sent to escort me. A mile further on the
whole veldt seemed to be enveloped in a mighty dust-storm. When it
reached us we stopped. Khama had come in person with some hundreds of
horsemen. The old Chief sprang from his saddle like a man of 26 rather
than a man of 76. He joined me in the cart and we renewed our drive.
The horsemen galloped before and behind and on either side. The drivers
thrashed their mules with two whips to force them to keep pace with
the horsemen. A regular stampede ensued. Fresh detachments of Natives,
all mounted on fine steeds, joined the cavalcade every two or three
minutes. The Chief thoroughly enjoyed the fun and laughed heartily
as the horses of the various members of our escort kept cannonading
against one another in the mad rush.
Serowe, the largest Native town in South Africa, contains about 26,000
inhabitants, and is picturesquely situated. Mr. Jennings, the L. M. S.
missionary, has carried on work there for upwards of ten years. It is
a typical Bechuana town, having no streets but consisting of numerous
collections of native huts within fenced kraals. The position of the
Mission House is particularly striking, lying as it does between three
great piles of rocks.
The town owes much of its importance to the fact that it is Khama’s
capital. This old Chief--the Jubilee of whose baptism was celebrated
two years ago--is the most distinguished Native of South Africa.
He is undoubtedly one of the busiest men in the world. He spends
laborious days in the Kgotla--the great open-air meeting place of the
tribe--dealing with all sorts of questions affecting his people, and
acting as judge. Nothing concerning the life of the tribe is too minute
for his careful attention. He knows all that happens and rules his
people with a firm hand, exercising a benevolent despotism.
In a very true sense Khama is head of the Church as well as head of
the State. He is most regular in his attendance at Sunday services and
religious meetings. Under his leadership his people have just built
a magnificent stone Church, on the foundation stone of which are
inscribed these words:--
“THIS CHURCH WAS ERECTED TO THE GLORY OF GOD
BY CHIEF KHAMA AND THE BAMANGWATO TRIBE.”
Two great meetings in the Kgotla will live in my memory. At day-break
on the morning after my arrival I attended a prayer meeting for rain.
These meetings had been held for weeks. About 800 men and women were
present in almost equal proportions. Most of the women sat upon the
ground and the men on low chairs or stools which they brought with
them. Khama sat on a deck chair under the shadow of a tree in the
middle of one of the sides of the oval into which the people had
grouped themselves. His young wife sat on his left hand. There was
singing, reading and prayer. The Chief himself led the meeting in the
final prayer, which lasted about five minutes. I am told he compared
his country to a wilderness where there was no river, and his people to
a lonely dog in the desert crying for water.
Another memorable meeting in the Kgotla was the Sunday morning service.
Between 4,000 and 5,000 people assembled at 7 a.m., most of the men
sitting on the right and the women on the left. The scene was a most
picturesque one. The coloured head-dresses of the women were brilliant
in the morning sunshine. Khama and his wife were present. A deacon
with a fine voice led the singing, which was very hearty, and was
unaccompanied by any instrument.
Many other gatherings were held during my visit to Serowe. I met
deacons, Church members, catechumens, inquirers, Sunday School
teachers, and other Christian workers. In several conversations
with the Chief I found him to be deeply interested in Christian
work in other parts of the world. He has the high spirits of a boy
and told many yarns of hunting experiences. He had some interesting
reminiscences of his meetings with David Livingstone to narrate. He
told me that he remembered Livingstone visiting his father, Segkome, on
three occasions. On the first and second of these visits Livingstone
was riding on a hornless ox. On the third occasion he was travelling
in an ox-waggon and came to Shoshong. “After that,” Khama added, “he
went beyond the Zambesi, and I never saw him again.” Of his own accord
he told me of Livingstone’s encounter with the lion, and described the
damage to the arm and told me he remembered hearing of the incident at
the time.
Khama has two houses, one a spacious and well-built native hut, where
he lives with his wife, Semane, who was trained at the L. M. S. School,
and is a fine specimen of a Native Christian woman. She takes great
interest in the work and often visits the schools and is a regular
attendant at the services in the Kgotla. Khama’s other residence is a
European house, brick-built, with a verandah in front and containing
four rooms. I visited him there, and was received in his sitting-room,
which is about 18 feet square. The floor was covered with linoleum
upon which was a Turkey carpet. There were two tables--one a large
old-fashioned drawing-room table, on which stood a photograph of Earl
Selborne in a silver frame and two other photographs, and the other a
light folding table on which was a richly framed autograph photograph
of Queen Victoria, which she had given to the Chief when he was in
England in 1895. On this table also stood a very large blue enamel
milk-pail full of milk and a bottle of vinegar. In the corner was an
Address from the Serowe Chamber of Commerce on the occasion of the
Jubilee of his baptism. On the walls were portraits of the late King
Edward, Queen Alexandra, King George and other Royalties. He showed
me a gold hunter watch he was wearing, which contained an inscription
recording that it was presented to him by the Duke and Duchess of
Connaught. He was very interested in political matters and was most
anxious about the future of his people, being apprehensive that the
Protectorate might one day be incorporated in the South Africa Union,
and keenly desirous of preventing the occurrence of anything in the
nature of such a catastrophe, as he deems it would be.
Khama is a man of great physical strength. A week or two before I saw
him he had ridden sixty miles to Shoshong on horse-back in a single
day, and after a day or two’s stay had made the return journey in the
same way. He exercises a tremendous influence over the tribe, and in
recent years has put a stop to the manufacture and drinking of Native
beer. The story is told of him that some time ago a man who had tried
to bewitch him died of fright, when Khama reminded him that he was the
son of the greatest of witch doctors, Segkome, and that he could kill
him if he wished to do so.
My week’s intercourse with Khama made two impressions on my mind. The
first is that he is a Christian gentleman, and the second is that he is
one of the most cautious and astute men I have ever met in my life. He
has a remarkable mind, the working of which it is not always easy to
understand, but of his desire to spread the light amongst the people
over whom he rules with a rod of iron there cannot be a shadow of doubt.
Of the growing Church among the Bamangwato there are many manifest
signs. Apart from the salaries of the missionaries and a small
grant to keep the Mission House in repair, the work at Serowe is
self-supporting. Moreover, the Church is a Missionary Church, and is
seeking to pass on the light to others. For many years it has done much
to sustain the work for God at Lake Ngami, which is the Mission field
of the Bamangwato Church. It sends out its own missionaries. For twenty
years Shomolekae has been the devoted and much loved evangelist of the
far-away Lake Ngami district and has bravely held the fort in spite of
loneliness and isolation and repeated attacks of fever. He has now been
joined by Andrew Kgasi, who was trained at Tiger Kloof, and volunteered
for service at the Lake.
From Serowe I travelled to Shoshong, being driven to Phalapye Road
Station by the Acting-Magistrate in the Government mule cart.
Proceeding south by railway to Mahalapye I was there met by Mr. Lloyd,
the Shoshong missionary, with his ox-waggon. We travelled all night
and reached Shoshong at mid-day. This place in the old days was the
capital of the Bamangwato tribe. It was here that Segkome, Khama’s
father, ruled and Khama himself was baptised fifty-two years ago. Here
David Livingstone preached and practised in the early forties, and
later on John Mackenzie, Roger Price and J. D. Hepburn laboured. But
its glory departed when in 1886 Khama moved his capital to Phalapye.
Shoshong is picturesquely situated in a wide plain with mountains on
all sides, but there are few traces of its former greatness. The site
of the old town is covered with bush. The present town consists of
three large kraals under three local chiefs or head-men, one of whom
is Khamane, Khama’s brother, and another Tshwene, Khama’s son-in-law.
At the time of my visit Shoshong was experiencing the terrible effects
of the prolonged drought. The only water supply was two miles away in
the river bed, over one of the roughest paths I have ever traversed.
Between the boulders over the stones and across the rocks the narrow
serpentine track had been worn quite smooth by the long procession of
women walking up and down day by day to fetch water from holes dug in
the bed of the river. One of the vivid impressions of travel in these
parts is that of a string of women carrying very heavy clay pots of
water balanced on their heads, climbing over rocks and making their way
through thorn bushes, and never spilling a drop of the water. These
great pots are 18 inches across in the broadest part and one foot high,
and when filled are very heavy. I tried to lift one on to my head
but entirely failed. The women help each other to hoist them and they
do this very cleverly and quickly. A man attempted to help a woman to
replace on her head the pot I had tried to lift. The woman said “No!
you are no good, you are only a man! You cannot do it.” An old woman of
sixty came to the rescue and between them they succeeded in replacing
the pot upon the head of its bearer.
Shoshong is the centre of a large district comprising thirty-nine
outstations, some of which, however, are little more than preaching
stations. The missionary visits them from time to time. There are only
seven schools in the district.
On my return journey to the railway I had an experience of travel which
was much more common formerly, when the ox-waggon was the only means of
conveyance, than to-day, when its place has been largely taken by carts
and trains. We left Shoshong in the waggon at 10 p.m. The herd-boy had
been unable to find two of the best oxen, and we started with a span of
twelve, at least two of which were very poor specimens. In the first
two miles we had to stop a score of times. Finally, one of the oxen
laid down and refused to move. We left this creature and its fellow
behind, and proceeded with ten oxen only. The heavy thunderstorm of the
previous day had left water behind it on the road and our progress was
slow. Between five and six on the following morning I was wakened by a
tremendous banging and found one of the drivers standing on the front
seat of the waggon chopping off a branch of a tree which barred our
way. Fifty yards further on, owing to careless driving and tired oxen,
the wheels on one side of the waggon got lodged in a deep rut full of
water and mud. I got up to find the waggon at an angle of forty-five
degrees and in imminent danger of overturning. Dressing hurriedly and
getting out of the waggon I found the boys had unyoked the oxen and
fastened them on to the back in the vain hope that they might thus pull
it out of the rut backwards. A futile effort was then made to dig out
the two wheels, but it was impossible to move the waggon. The boy went
off post-haste to Bonwapitse, two miles away, to borrow oxen and men
from the Chief to extricate us. In two hours twenty men, including the
Chief’s son, and ten of the most powerful oxen I have ever seen, came
to our rescue. A chain was fastened round the back axle and in less
time than it takes to describe the incident the waggon was dragged
out of the rut. The new oxen, however, were not content with their
performance, but rushed off, dragging the waggon backwards, and soon
two considerable trees were levelled to the ground in the stampede.
Fortunately, the oxen took a semi-circular course, and the great trees
and dense bush checked them in their mad career, but not before some
damage had been done and the interior of the waggon half-filled with
broken branches of trees.
It was Sunday morning. On reaching Bonwapitse we held a Service under
the trees, which was attended by the Chief and his wife and about 100
people. This was one of the many open-air services which will live in
the memory. The trees afforded little shade. The almost vertical rays
of the South Africa summer sun beat down with merciless severity upon
the people gathered together as they joined in singing their hymns and
listened with great attention to the words spoken to them, and took
part with great devoutness in the prayers which were offered.
I proceeded by railway to Gaberones, arriving there between two and
three in the morning. Alighting from the train I waited in the darkness
until two men appeared with a lantern to conduct me to the Government
waggon which Mr. Ellenberger had kindly sent. We in-spanned early
in the morning and I was taken to the Residency three miles away,
where a warm welcome awaited me. Mr. Ellenberger is the Assistant
Commissioner for the Southern portion of the Protectorate. He is the
son of a missionary of the Paris Missionary Society who laboured in
Basutoland, and his wife is the daughter of the well-known Dr. Casalis
of the same Society. I experienced from them the same kindness which
was always extended to me by the Government officials, and my two days’
stay at the Residency was altogether delightful. They kindly drove me
in the Government cart to Khumakwane, where we found the waggon which
had conveyed my luggage on the previous day, awaiting us. Mr. Haydon
Lewis, the missionary from Molepolole, met us there with his waggon.
Afterwards another open-air service was held under a great tree, in the
course of which Mr. Ellenberger spoke to the people in Sechuana, and
a business interview followed with the neighbouring Chief, at whose
village the Mission Chapel had been burnt some time before at the
instigation of a “false prophet.”
Mr. Ellenberger drove us to Kolobeng, where we saw the ruins of the
house which Livingstone had built seventy years before, and which was
destroyed during his absence by the Boers. The outline of the house
was quite distinct, and on one side the walls are still standing about
7 feet high. The bricks were of the roughest description, and the
marvel is that they have stood the storms of seventy years without
disappearing altogether. In Livingstone’s day there was a large town
here, but now not a hut is to be seen owing to tribal migration. The
Kolobeng river itself has almost disappeared, but its course is clearly
marked by a great line of reeds and rushes.
I met two old men who remembered Livingstone, and gave me some details
of his personal appearance. One of them as a boy was doctored by him,
the other still cultivates Livingstone’s garden--a small patch near
the ruins, where mealies are grown. Close by are the remains of an old
Dispensary, and a little further off are two nameless graves. It was
a scene of desolation, nature having completely re-asserted herself,
and obliterated all traces of the former town. But from the site there
was a fine view of undulating veldt and valley and mountain, and one
thought with gratitude of the great man who had “passed like light
across the darkened land”--
“To lift the sombre fringes of the Night
To open lands long darkened to the Light,
To heal grim wounds, to give the blind new sight,
Right mightily wrought he.”
Next day I left for Molepolole with Mr. Haydon Lewis. This town, where
missionary work has been carried on since 1866, is the capital of
the Bakwena tribe. In the afternoon there was a great gathering of
school children for their annual sports. Just after I had distributed
the prizes a youth galloped up on a bare-backed horse, scattering
the children in all directions. He was the Chief’s son and has the
reputation of being a graceless young rascal, constantly under the
influence of drink and a veritable vagabond in the tribe. He rejoices
in the name of Ralph Wardlaw Thompson Sebele, having been born about
the time when Dr. Thompson was last in Molepolole, and receiving at
baptism the honoured name to which he is anything but a credit.
During my visit I inspected the schools and met the Church members
and congregation, and was present at a crowded lantern service in the
Church. In spite of great difficulties the evangelistic work is being
carried on with success by means of twenty-eight native preachers
trained on the station. This tribe has set an example to the other
Bechuanaland tribes by levying a school tax of 2/-per annum upon all
tax-payers, thus providing ample funds for educational purposes.
Except for the salary of the missionaries and an annual grant for
itineration the work at this station is self-supporting, and the Church
is realising the duties of providing for its own work, of governing
itself and of spreading the Gospel in the outlying parts. Its Mission
field is the North central part of the Khalahari Desert which adjoins
the territory of the tribe on the west. At Molepolole, as well as at
other stations, the missionary is also the doctor. A considerable
portion of each morning, when he is at home, is spent in examining
patients and dispensing medicines. He is ably seconded by his wife, who
was a trained nurse. Thus the light is spread not only by the preaching
of the Gospel and the teaching in the schools, but also by the healing
of the sick. So our missionaries are found following in the footsteps
of the Great Physician.
From Molepolole I travelled south in the ox-waggon to Mahatelo on my
way to Kanye. Early next morning I was met at Gamoshupa by a cart
and four mules, kindly sent for me by Seapapico, the Chief of the
Bangwaketsi tribe. After a drive through beautiful scenery I reached
Kanye, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, and the capital of the tribe, in
the afternoon. I spent the greater part of a week at this station,
where missionary work has been carried on under the superintendence
of a resident missionary for forty years, and where Mr. and Mrs.
Howard Williams were labouring. While this book is passing through
the press a cablegram has been received, conveying the sad news that
Mr. Williams has been called to the higher service, after a devoted
missionary life of well-nigh thirty years. The increasing activities
of a growing Church of nearly 700 members were apparent in the town
itself and in the numerous outstations in the district. On the Sunday
the spacious Church, which was provided by the tribe and cost £3,000
apart from the bricks, and contains a fine organ, the gift of the late
Chief Bathoen, was packed to its utmost capacity, many having come in
from the outstations. The women’s head-dresses, which were of all the
colours of the rainbow, were in striking contrast to the black heads
of the men. After the service thirty-four adults were baptised, and
in the afternoon a Communion Service was held, at which 550 Church
members gathered round the table of our Lord. On the following days I
attended meetings of Church members and Christian workers and of women,
inspected the schools, and had interviews with some of the leading men.
The present Chief, Seapapico, is a young man of twenty-six, and the son
of Bathoen, who accompanied Khama to England in 1895. The young man was
educated at Lovedale, and speaks English well, and was a great support
to the missionary, Mr. Howard Williams. His mother, Bathoen’s widow, is
a fine Christian woman and gives great assistance to Mrs. Williams in
her work amongst the women of the tribe. She was the favourite daughter
of Sechele, the old Chief of the Bakwena tribe. When she was a girl she
had a quarrel with a friend and destroyed her eyesight with a thorn.
Sechele had one of his daughter’s eyes put out, on the principle of “an
eye for an eye,” and she bears the mark of this parental correction to
this day.
From Kanye I was driven in the Chief’s cart to the railway at Lobatsi,
whence on the following day I was escorted by the native ordained
minister, Roger K. Mokadi, to his station at Maanwane, over the
Transvaal border. After a service in the Church and a visit to Roger’s
kraal, a hot tramp under a fierce sun brought us at Mabotsa to the
ruins of the old Mission house built by Livingstone and Edwards. Some
of the walls were standing seven or eight feet high, but the interior
was overgrown with bush. Close by is the hill where Livingstone had
his famous encounter with the lion, and near at hand an old native
Christian lives who was with Livingstone at the time. A drive through
Linokani, where the German Lutherans are carrying on a fine piece of
missionary work, brought me to Zeerust and next day by means of the
train I reached Johannesburg. It does not fall within the scope of
this book to describe this wonderful city, the creation of the last
twenty-five years. It is by far the largest business town in South
Africa and is the centre of the greatest gold producing mines in the
world. Here I experienced the utmost kindness from members of the
Congregational Church and met my colleague, Mr. Houghton, with whom
I was to travel for the next nine months. Nor must I stay to refer
to a deeply interesting visit to Pretoria. At these great centres
the evidence of the appalling racial conflict, which constitutes the
greatest problem confronting the Christian Church in South Africa
to-day, was abundantly apparent.
A few days later I travelled to Mafeking, for ever immortalised for
its heroic defence during the Boer war, to see Colonel Panzera, the
Resident Commissioner for the Bechuanaland Protectorate, and thence
proceeded to Tiger Kloof to meet all the Society’s South African
missionaries for consultation upon the work and its problems.
Throughout my journeys amongst the Churches in Bechuanaland and
Matebeleland there were many signs of the growing power and promise of
the Native South African Church. That Church, planted first by Moffat
and his colleagues at Kuruman, and carried north by Livingstone and
his successors until it has well-nigh reached the Zambesi, has had a
chequered career, but its progress has been unmistakably onward and
upward. It has been tried and purified by the struggles of the past,
and to-day its “far-flung battle line” is making a steady advance
against the forces of superstition and heathenism with which it is
confronted.
“Climbing through darkness up to God,” the members of that Church
are bravely carrying “the wonder and the glory of the light” into
“the darkness and the sorrow of the night” in which so many of their
fellow-countrymen are still enshrouded. Through the open doors “the
true Light, which lighteth every man coming into the world,” is pouring
its ever-brightening rays.
CHAPTER III
Tiger Kloof--“A Lamp Shining in a Dark Place”
From North, and South, and East, and West
They come.
JOHN OXENHAM.
The crown of the work of the L. M. S. in South Africa is the Tiger
Kloof Native Institution. Ten years ago the site on which its buildings
now stand was bare veldt. To-day it is a centre of light for all the
L. M. S. work in South Africa. Situated on the Cape-to-Cairo Railway,
767 miles north of Cape Town, the Institution buildings, which
challenge the attention of every passing traveller, are a monument to
the princely munificence of that great missionary-hearted man Robert
Arthington of Leeds, to the energy, ability, devotion and far-seeing
statesmanship of the Rev. W. C. Willoughby, and to what can be
accomplished by the South African boys trained in the Institution, who
have erected most of the buildings which are now so notable a feature
of the landscape.[3]
It is to Tiger Kloof that the brightest and best boys, who have
received their early training at the Mission stations of the Society in
South Africa, are sent to complete their education. It is from Tiger
Kloof that the teachers and preachers, who are to be God’s instruments
in building up the growing Native Church, proceed after receiving
training to fit them for their work. Tiger Kloof is the strategic
centre of the Society’s work in South Africa. In the coming days it
will also be the training place for teachers and preachers connected
with the Central Africa Mission.
Within the limits of this sketch it is impossible to describe the
manifold activities of this great Institution. I visited it on three
occasions, and altogether spent upwards of a month there, and I had
many opportunities of seeing and learning to appreciate the great work
which is carried on. At the present time there are nearly 200 students
in residence.
On the 8th March, 1904, Mr. Willoughby and his wife outspanned their
waggon, and that a borrowed one, on the veldt at the corner of a large
farm which the Society had previously bought. The word “farm” conveys
a false impression. It was an unfenced wilderness covered with stone
and low bush. The foundation stone of the Institution was laid in
1905 by Earl Selborne, the Governor of Cape Colony. Year after year
buildings have been added, and the Institution now comprises a fine
dining-hall with a clock tower, six dormitories, commodious school and
class rooms, carpenters’ and tailors’ shops and work-rooms, offices and
residences for the members of the staff, and a series of cottages for
the theological students and their families.
In the scholastic department the boys are taught the subjects
prescribed by the Cape code. There is an excellent normal school for
the training of teachers. Apprentices are taught masonry, carpentry,
tailoring and office work, and there is a theological department where
the students are trained for the ministry.
On arrival at Tiger Kloof the visitor to whom the Institution wishes
to show honour is met by the boys in full-dress Sunday uniform and the
Band. As such visitors are not infrequent the sight of the boys at the
Siding, smartly attired in their blue uniforms, and the strains of the
Band help to make known the Institution to the numerous travellers
passing through by train.
Daily Prayers are held in the Hall at 6.45 a.m. precisely. The English
language is employed and the Mill Hill School Service book is used.
These gatherings for morning prayers are characterised by a quiet
dignity and reverence which is very impressive. The singing is good
and the musical responses are very effectively rendered. The singing
of “Crown Him Lord of all,” to the tune “Diadem,” will not soon be
forgotten by those who have listened to it. After prayers the boys
march out of the Hall and form themselves into companies outside and
proceed to the parade ground for drill. The discipline is perfect. The
work of the Institution has constantly received high praise from the
Government Inspectors, and large Government grants are earned.
[Illustration:
_Photo by_] [_W. C. Willoughby._
PORTION OF TIGER KLOOF INSTITUTION.
Right to left: DORMITORY, DINING HALL, PRINCIPAL’S HOUSE BEYOND.]
The influence of the work there is already being felt throughout the
South Africa Mission. Not only are ordained pastors and certificated
teachers, who have received their training at Tiger Kloof, to be found
at the various stations, but masons and carpenters who have learnt
their trades there, after returning to their homes, occupy themselves
with erecting Churches, schools and houses, and in many cases their
life and example is a blessing to the people amongst whom they live.
In this and other ways Tiger Kloof is making its contribution to the
building up of a strong Christian Church in South Africa, and sending
out Christian youths to spread the light in many a dark place.
An Institution on similar lines for girls is in course of erection at
Tiger Kloof. When it gets to work the most promising girls from the
different Mission stations will be sent there for higher training. Many
of them will become the wives of the preachers and teachers, and thus
it is hoped will help to build up Christian homes in South Africa,
which will be centres of light in different parts of the field.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] The genesis and development of the great work at Tiger Kloof is
admirably described in the Handbook by Mr. Willoughby, entitled “Tiger
Kloof,” published by the L.M.S. Price, 1s. net; post free 1s. 2d.
B.--CENTRAL AFRICA
CHAPTER IV
The Heart of the Dark Continent
Watchman, what of the night?
The Watchman said, The morning cometh.
ISAIAH.
The night is far spent and the day is at hand.
ST. PAUL.
After four and a-half months spent in South Africa, where the Native
Church has been planted for a century, I proceeded north to Central
Africa, where missionary work is in its early stages and the Native
Church in its infancy. Leaving Tiger Kloof towards the end of March,
I travelled by the Cape-to-Cairo Railway through the Protectorate and
Southern Rhodesia, and was joined by the other member of the Central
African Deputation, Mr. Houghton, at the Victoria Falls. The Railway
took us to Ndola, 1,373 miles north of Tiger Kloof. There we were met
by Mr. Nutter, of Mbereshi, in our Central Africa Mission, and over 100
native carriers who were to be our companions for many a day to come.
Before attempting any description of travel in Central Africa it will
be well to say something about the country itself.
[Illustration: MAP OF CENTRAL AFRICA, SHOWING L. M. S. MISSION STATIONS.
(Kambole should be west, and not south of Kafukula).]
As late as the middle of last century maps of Africa described the
central regions of the Dark Continent as unexplored. The labours
of Livingstone, his contemporaries and successors have revealed to
the peoples of the West a vast area as extensive as Europe which is
somewhat vaguely described as Central Africa. Towards the end of
the century this great expanse of country had been parcelled out
amongst the great Powers of Europe. Internal peace has taken the
place of tribal warfare, and the land has been thrown open to Western
colonization. Foremost amongst the pioneers of civilization has been
the Christian Missionary, and one of the earliest Societies to enter
the field was our own. A remarkable and immediate result of the
travels of Livingstone was the occupation of Central Africa by some
of the missionary organizations of Britain. The work commenced by our
own Society, the Church Missionary Society, the Universities’ Mission
and the Presbyterian Missions was due directly or indirectly to the
influence of that great Missionary explorer--David Livingstone.
Central Africa exercises a singular fascination on those who visit it.
Its great lakes, its mighty rivers, its boundless forests, its glorious
sunshine, the black races which inhabit it, all combine to make travel
in that region a unique and delightful experience. In our case that
travel was made the more pleasant by the company of one and another of
our missionaries on our journeys, and the great privilege we enjoyed
of fellowship with them and their families in their homes, and the
opportunities afforded us of seeing something of the work which they
are carrying on amongst the people of the land.
One of the first impressions a traveller receives is that of the
vastness of the territory and the comparative sparseness of the
population. These facts, together with the want of facilities for rapid
travel, constitute serious difficulties in carrying on missionary work.
My colleague and I were the first Deputation from the Society to
visit Central Africa. As long ago as 1879 the Directors accepted an
offer from the Society’s Foreign Secretary, Dr. Mullens, to visit the
Mission. He proceeded to Zanzibar and started on his journey to Lake
Tanganyika, but died at Chakombe in July of that year and was buried
in the C. M. S. cemetery at Mpwapwa, between Tabora and Dar-es-Salaam.
Since that day conditions of travel and of life in Northern Rhodesia
(which is the part of Central Africa in which the L. M. S. carries on
nearly all its work) have completely changed. No more striking evidence
of the change can be afforded than a comparison between the experiences
of the early missionaries and of their successors, twenty-five years
later. The average term of service for the first ten missionaries
who served in Central Africa was well under three years. The ten
missionaries at present on the field have already to their credit an
average term of service of thirteen years, and the majority of them are
still under forty years of age. Moreover, in the first ten years of the
Mission eleven missionaries died on the field, and six were invalided
home, and (with one exception) did not return. During the last ten
years not a single missionary has died on the field, and no missionary
has retired on account of ill-health.
It was our good fortune to visit Central Africa during its winter, and
our experience of the climate was altogether delightful. Even during
the hot season the heat is not so extreme as might be expected from
the geographical position of the country. At the Society’s stations
the thermometer seldom, if ever, reaches 100° Fahrenheit during the
hottest season--a point often exceeded further south. Nevertheless,
Central Africa is still a trying place for many people. The liability
to malarial fever, dysentery, and cognate diseases is considerable.
Nor must it be forgotten that all our stations are necessarily at a
high altitude above sea level. The lowest of them--Kafukula--is nearly
as high as the top of Snowdon, while all the remaining stations are
between 4,700 and 5,600 feet up, except Mbereshi, the altitude of which
is 3,900 feet. Life at this altitude is often trying to the nerves and
heart, and the strain is all the more severe owing to the impossibility
of securing a substantial change of altitude without great expenditure
of time and money. The distance to the coast is so great, the travel
is so trying, and the cost is so heavy that it is practically
impossible for our missionaries and their families to obtain a complete
change--either as a mid-term furlough or otherwise.
Perhaps the best indication of the changed conditions of life and the
improved health of the Mission in these later days is afforded by the
splendid health enjoyed by the missionaries’ children. The picture
facing this page speaks for itself.
But there is an aspect of life in Central Africa which must not be
over-looked, namely its isolation. At only one of our stations is
any other white man in residence. There are less than a dozen white
people--officials and a trader--at Kawambwa, the Government station
twenty miles from Mbereshi, and about a dozen at Abercorn--the
Metropolis, as it is called, of the white people in the Society’s
area--ten miles from Kawimbe.
[Illustration:
_Photo by_] [_Bernard Turner._
Hilda. Gay. Kenneth. Ethel. Dennis. Sylvia. Hope. Monica. Marjorie.
Franklin.
HEALTHY MISSIONARY CHILDREN IN CENTRAL AFRICA.]
The exercise of a little imagination will enable the reader to realise
something of the loneliness of men and women living in a country
where there are so few people of their own race. Moreover, the Mission
stations are widely separated from each other. Mbereshi is five days’
journey from Mpolokoso, eight days’ journey from Kambole, nine and
a-half days’ journey from Kafukula, and eleven days’ journey from
Kawimbe.
For the greater part of the three months following our departure from
the railway at Ndola we lived in tents, and travelled through the
great Central African forest, which in fact extended nearly all the
way from Bulawayo, the capital of Southern Rhodesia, to Dar-es-Salaam,
the capital of German East Africa, situated on the east coast of
the Continent, 80 miles south of Zanzibar. Almost the whole of this
country is a plateau from 4,000 to 6,000 feet above the level of the
sea. The southern part of this forest is traversed by the Zambesi,
and the western portion is bounded by the Congo, there known as the
Luapula, while situated on the table-land there are the great lakes of
Bangweolo, Mweru and Tanganyika, the two last of which we visited. In
travelling through the forest one day’s journey is very like another,
although each day abounds with a variety of incidents and new sights
and new experiences for one who visits the country for the first time.
A general description of the means and conditions of travel will
suffice.
We were almost wholly dependent upon native carriers. With the
exception of bicycles and single-wheeled bush-cars there is no wheeled
traffic in Northern Rhodesia. There are practically no roads in our
meaning of that term. The travel-routes are native paths--often very
narrow and overgrown. In the long grass, which is a remarkable feature
of the country, the path often cannot be seen, but can only be felt by
the feet. There are no inns or rest-houses. Tents, bedding, cooking
utensils, food, etc., must all be carried everywhere. The minimum
number of carriers required by one person on a short journey is about
twelve if a bicycle is used, or eighteen to twenty if a machila is the
means of conveyance. A machila is a chair slung between two poles and
carried by four men. For longer journeys extra men are needed to carry
supplies, or in case of sickness among the carriers. Should native food
not be easily obtained--as at certain seasons is the case everywhere,
and along many of the main travel-routes, more or less constantly all
the year round--five more men are needed for each week that food has
to be carried. Carriers cost about 1s. 6d. per man per week away from
their homes. The general practice is to pay 1s. a week in cash on
discharge, and the balance in calico, cash, salt or food, weekly in
advance. The speed of travel is, of course, dependent on the ability
of the carriers, and the nature of the country traversed, but it may
be taken as about seventeen or eighteen miles a day, or three miles
an hour, including rests. Sometimes over thirty miles is accomplished
with loads, or even more with a letter only. Our average day’s travel
from Ndola to Mbereshi was just under twenty miles, but on two days we
covered over thirty miles.
Our experience of Central African travel was a delightful one. We left
the rail a week or two before the rainy season comes to an end in most
years, and we had been warned that we should probably meet with a good
deal of rain on our way to Mbereshi. We only had two or three showers
the whole way, and with one trifling exception all these fell after we
were in camp. We tasted some of the joys of crossing Central African
swamps, but with the kindly assistance of our carriers, whose backs and
shoulders were always at our service, we were none the worse. Numerous
rivers and streams were crossed in dug-out canoes, on men’s backs and
shoulders, and by means of tree trunks, stones, or bridges made of the
branches of trees. The Luapula (Congo) was crossed in a steel boat.
On the recommendation of the missionaries on the spot we had provided
ourselves with bush-cars as our means of conveyance after leaving the
railway. A bush-car is a seat fixed over a motor-cycle wheel with
steel tube shafts back and front. It is propelled by two men, whereas
a machila requires four men, and thus a bush-car halves the cost of
carriers. Moreover, it is a much quicker means of conveyance than a
machila. The experiment was entirely justified. Some days we were
enabled to travel upwards of thirty miles without undue fatigue.
It may be of interest to describe shortly a typical day’s programme on
“ulendo”--as travel with carriers is universally called in Northern
Rhodesia. We rose at six. Before we had finished dressing a number
of carriers would be besieging our tents to snatch up our boxes and
other luggage in order to make an early start. Within a few minutes
of vacating our tents they would be taken down and made into suitable
loads and our beds and bedding would be packed and carried away. We
breakfasted in the open air about 6.45, and generally by 7.15 or 7.30
we were under way. It was our custom to walk for the first hour or
two in spite of the heavy dew, which during the first part of our
trip covered the giant grass and the trees until the sun was well up.
Fortunately for us the cavalcade of carriers who had gone on ahead
acted as “dew-driers” by brushing the water off the grass as they
passed along.
For the most part our journey lay through forest and bush and tall
grass, along native paths or roads three or four feet wide, which
had been made under the direction of the Government, but were often
overgrown with grass and shrubs except for a narrow track a foot or
eighteen inches in width, which had been kept clear by the constant
passing of natives along it. The greater part of our travel was over
the plateau, on which the paths were fairly level except at the
depressions caused by the numerous streams which drain it. From time
to time, however, there were steep, rocky hills to be surmounted, and
there were occasional swamps. It was not often possible to ride more
than a few miles in the bush-car without alighting and walking for some
distance. A very uncomfortable experience is to travel by bush-car or
on a bicycle along a path over which elephants have passed a short time
before. The sensation of bumping over footprints fifteen inches across
and three or more inches deep, and occupying the whole width of the
path, can be better imagined than described.
We generally took luncheon between twelve and one, at a place where
water was to be found, either in a native village or in the forest. We
often found the table spread and the meal awaiting us, but sometimes we
had to wait long for it if our luncheon box happened to be far behind
us on the road. Then came two or three hours’ further travel before we
finished our journey for the day. Then came a cup of tea, and as soon
as the tents were pitched a bath and change of clothing. We dined about
sunset. Then followed what was to us the most delightful of the day’s
experiences. The rule on “ulendo” is for every man, when he collects
the firewood for his own watch fire, to bring a log for the white
man’s fire. Night after night we had magnificent camp-fires. Often the
missionary accompanying us would gather the men together for a service
round the fire, and sometimes the villagers also came. Those camp-fire
services will long live in my memory. The men would sit round the fire,
most of them naked to the waist, with their faces lit up by the fitful
flames or the light of the moon. They would listen with rapt attention
to the reading of the Scriptures or the words of the missionary, or
would join in prayer, often led by one of themselves, with the utmost
devoutness. But the most impressive part to us of these services was
the hearty and reverent singing of the hymns in the native language to
tunes well-known at home. These people have wonderful verbal memories.
Hymn books seemed quite superfluous. Many of them knew by heart most
of the hymns in their collection, and it was quite evident that they
much enjoyed singing them. After the men had dispersed to their own
camp-fires came an hour or two’s talk round our fire before we sought
the shelter of our tents and our mosquito nets. It was our practice
to join in English evening prayers immediately after dinner. But
often long before we had left our chairs round the fire our native
servants, and oft-times many of the carriers, would spread their mats,
or, failing mats, lay some grass on the ground, as near the fire as
possible, with their bare feet towards it, and wrap themselves in
blanket or cloth and go to sleep under the stars, grateful for the
genial warmth of the fire in the cold night of a Central African
winter, and for the protection it afforded them against the beasts of
prey who were often prowling near at hand.
Thus we travelled through Northern Rhodesia, visiting the stations of
our Central Africa Mission, calling upon the European Magistrates and
Native Commissioners, meeting Native Head-men and Chiefs, and passing
through numbers of small native villages, at all of which we received
a hearty welcome. When we entered a village, or met native carriers
on the path through the forest, we were greeted with the salutation
“Mutende,” which, being interpreted, means “Peace.” The carriers would
take their loads off their heads or shoulders, squat down on their
haunches, clap their hands and give us their salutation. On leaving
a village we were often accompanied for a mile or two by a running
crowd of natives, consisting for the most part of women with babies
tied upon their backs and laughing children, who would shout and sing
as they ran behind and before the bush-cars or bicycle. We soon got
accustomed to the sight of these natives, nearly all of them naked to
the waist, and many of the children altogether naked. Most of those
whom we saw were smiling, happy-looking people, but that there was
another side to the picture was often painfully apparent. In many
villages the faces of nearly all the adults were marked with small-pox.
We frequently met cripples and lepers. Sore eyes, caused by the smoke
of the wood fires in the huts, for which there is no escape but the
door, were much in evidence, and we heard sad stories of the high rate
of mortality amongst these children of nature. Certain forms of disease
were very prevalent, and laid a heavy toll upon the people. Signs of
the superstition which shadowed their lives, and which is the main
feature of their animistic religions, were abundant. In many a village
the rude “spirit-hut,” with offerings of food spread in front of it was
to be seen, and we heard many sad stories of the influence wielded by
sorcerer and witch-doctor upon the lives of the people.
Everywhere we experienced the good-will and hospitality of the
inhabitants. On arrival at our camping places a dozen women would
appear with brooms made of the twigs of the trees and brushes to sweep
the site of the camp clean before the tents were pitched. Others would
hasten off to the nearest watering-place to get a supply of water in
very large rough clay vessels for ourselves and our men. We often
pitched our camp in the middle of a village, and on these occasions
many of our men slept in the huts of the villagers which had been
willingly vacated to afford this accommodation. Mealies, manioc, and
native flour would be purchased by the missionary in charge of the
expedition for the men, and fowls and eggs for our own larder. Portions
of Scripture and hymn books would be sold by the missionary, and there
were many applications for them. Wherever we went the people were
always most grateful for any recognition of their efforts to show us
hospitality. Their desire for books for themselves and schools for
their children was everywhere apparent; while they were always willing
to come to the open-air services round the camp-fires. In the parts
of Northern Rhodesia through which our journey lay there were but
small indications of the advance of Mohammedanism from the north, of
which we had heard much. In the territory recognised as the Society’s
field of operations we have the country almost to ourselves. But in
the northern part of this territory there were not wanting indications
that the followers of the “false prophet” were already at work. In the
northern part of Central Africa Islam is advancing like a flood, and it
was clear that unless our Society is able effectively to occupy this
territory, we shall before many years be face to face with the growing
forces of Mohammedanism in its most debased form. The light which is
brightening the sky in Central Africa has this background of threatened
cloud and storm.
CHAPTER V
The Brightness of His Rising
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is
risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and
gross darkness the peoples; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and
his glory shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall come to thy
light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.--ISAIAH.
After fifteen days’ travel by bush-car, on bicycle, and on foot we
had traversed the 286 miles between the railway and Mbereshi. We
crossed a strip of the Congo-Belge territory shortly after leaving the
railway. At Sakania, the first station over the boundary, all our men
were examined by the doctor, and everyone who had not had small-pox
was vaccinated. We heard a gruesome story of a native postman who had
been arrested a fortnight before, in whose wallet a half-eaten human
foot had been discovered. A day or two later we crossed the Congo back
into Northern Rhodesia again. In the interval many rivers had to be
crossed, sometimes on tree trunks, but more often on the shoulders of
our carriers. The forest was magnificent, one of its most striking
features, perhaps, being the large number of giant ant-hills, some
30 feet high, generally around some great tree, and always covered
with bush and grass, flowers and trees. Butterflies were to be seen
in myriads, exhibiting all the colours of the rainbow. The crossing
of the Congo was a new experience. Descending the hill from the last
Belgian Post Office, Kalunga, the post-master of which was a young
Belgian Count, we crossed a bit of swampy ground on men’s shoulders and
then reached the landing-place, where pandemonium was raging. Our crowd
of carriers were there struggling for the two or three dug-out canoes
in which to transport themselves and their loads across the river,
which at this place--although it is thousands of miles from the sea--is
considerably wider than the Thames at London Bridge. It swarms with
hippopotami and crocodiles. But my most vivid recollection of the Congo
is that one of my bearers managed to drop an iron box containing my
papers into the river. Unfortunately it leaked and considerable damage
resulted.
The village on the other side, in which we encamped, was typical of
many another village we passed through on our journey. Just behind our
tents were three spirit-huts; all around us were native houses built
of straw and mud, and then came an enormous growth of kaffir-corn
about twelve feet high. Surrounding this was forest, save where the
river wound its tortuous course. In the clear light of the evening the
somewhat sparse foliage stood out with great distinctness against the
blue of the sky, each twig and leaf being defined as if seen through a
stereoscope. The neighbourhood abounds with lions, leopards, elephants,
buffaloes, rhinoceros, zebras and hyenas.
Half-way on our journey we camped for one night at Fort Rosebery, the
Government centre for the district. There we were the guests of the
Native Commissioner, Mr. Denton Thompson, one of the small band of
young Cambridge men who are now being employed by the Chartered Company
as Magistrates and Native Commissioners. It is satisfactory to be able
to state that almost without exception the Government officials we came
across in Northern Rhodesia were men really interested in the welfare
of the natives and anxious to do their duty by them. Here as elsewhere
we received the kindest hospitality. Whenever we visited the Government
station we were invariably entertained by the officials, to whom no
trouble seemed too great which ministered to our comfort.
During the following week we passed through country infested with
lions. At Mupeta we saw the skin of an enormous lion which had been
killed the day before. During the previous week this lion had killed
five natives. The people in the village laid a trap for him by tying a
goat in an empty hut, on each side of the door of which they had dug
a pit and had covered them over with laths smeared with mud. At the
bottom of the pits they had fixed spears pointing upwards. The lion
fell into one of them and the natives, who were on the watch, speared
him from above. There were at least a dozen holes in his skin. In
this neighbourhood twenty-two natives had been killed by lions in a
fortnight. We passed through one village where on the previous day a
man had been carried off by a lion, and a day or two before a woman and
a child, who were laying fish traps in the stream, had been killed and
carried away.
On our arrival at Mbereshi we received a very warm welcome. About five
miles from the station some fifty boys met us and ran with us along the
broad road, which has been made by Mr. Nutter, for some distance into
the forest. The men in charge of the bush-cars raced at full speed.
Groups of people met us nearer the station, all of whom joined the
racing cavalcade. Loud peals of thunder kept reverberating overhead
and drowned the reports of the guns which were fired to welcome us. We
arrived just as the first drops of a terrific thunderstorm fell. Mr.
Nutter’s house was soon crowded with natives, and there was endless
shouting and hand-shaking. Never had the natives had such a time in
Mbereshi. The whole village rose to the occasion and turned out to give
the representatives of the L. M. S. a hearty welcome. On the following
day we were the recipients of numerous presents of fowl, flour, goats
and eggs.
[Illustration:
_Photo by_] [_Bernard Turner._
NATIVE WITH FISH TRAP.]
Mbereshi is a delightful station with a magnificent view to the
westward from the front of the Mission Houses, rolling parkland and
forest, with the Mofwe Lagoon four miles away on the horizon. Along
the shores of this lake and beyond there are about thirty villages
with a large population, which has settled there as a result of the
regulations to combat the sleeping-sickness. These have had the effect
of driving the Natives from the east and south shores of Lake Mweru
to the Mofwe villages. All the missionary activities of a flourishing
Mission station are in operation. There are Sunday services, schools,
classes for hearers and catechumens, and prayer meetings. The
Christians from the head-station go out to the villages on Sundays to
conduct services. Industrial work is being carried on under the able
superintendence of Mr. Bernard Turner. The fame of the cabinet-making
and carpentry of the boys trained by him is spread far and wide
over Northern Rhodesia. Much of the furniture in the houses of the
Government officials was manufactured here or at Kambole. Medical
work, too, has been carried on at this station, and for several years
a doctor was in residence. Leprosy is common. In the district there
are 147 registered cases, and probably not less than 200 people are
suffering from the disease. Our Mission work was commenced here in
1900, and the early days were times of great trial. One of the first
missionaries, Mr. Purvis, died there in 1901, a fortnight after Mr.
Nutter’s arrival, and his grave is to be seen under a tree near the
Mission houses. In 1903 a missionary and a missionary’s wife died on
two successive days. God buries his workmen, but carries on His work.
During our stay at Mbereshi we visited Kazembe, the paramount Chief of
the district, who nominally rules over 30,000 people. His town is some
six miles away from Mbereshi, through the thick forest and the long
grass. He received us outside his hut in the centre of the kraal, in
which are a hundred huts for his hundred wives. He was seated on the
ground, gorgeously and grotesquely adorned with beads and skins and
gaily coloured skirts, and wore four large bells, gaiters of beads, and
numerous heavy anklets above his bare feet.
We sat down on low stools and Mr. Nutter helped us to talk to him. He
showed us his treasures. One was a bloodthirsty-looking dagger which
had belonged to ten chiefs before him, and had often been used to kill
men. He produced a large number of charms, which he believes keep the
lions away, and played tunes on a wooden drum cut by himself out of a
solid tree trunk and decorated with brass-headed nails. He uses this
to call his servants when he wants them. The heads of the drum-sticks
are made of raw rubber. He sent for another and much larger drum made
in the same fashion, and carried by two men on a pole, and also showed
us two dulcimers made of wood and calabash. He gave us some raw green
mealies (Indian corn) to eat. Kazembe smoked cigarettes, and when
a member of the party offered him one he wanted to keep the silver
cigarette-case. Then he took us to the Mission School where there were
186 black boys and girls, many of whom were quite naked, and most of
the rest were dressed in pieces of string!
A day or two afterwards Kazembe came to pay us a return visit,
accompanied by hundreds of his followers. He was seated on a platform
suspended between two tree trunks and carried by thirty men, a great
umbrella being held over his head. He himself beat his wooden drum to
tell us he was coming, and a man carrying great yellow and black flags
walked in front of him, and when he got off the platform he strutted
about like a peacock.
Twenty years ago the Chief was a great warrior, and often led his
tribe to battle; but the coming of the British Government and of the
missionaries has changed all that. For fifteen years not a shot has
been fired in anger in his country, and the nearest British soldier or
policeman is stationed more than a thousand miles away at Bulawayo.
Such is the influence of the Pax Britannica in Northern Rhodesia!
On another day we crossed the picturesque Mbereshi river by the ferry
in two dug-out canoes, passing through masses of cream and mauve
water-lilies, visiting a considerable number of the Mofwe villages,
inspecting the schools and receiving the greetings of the Chiefs and
Headmen, with whom we exchanged gifts. The villages consist of one wide
street, and are almost continuous. The people live on fish and tapioca.
At the farthest point at the north end of the Lagoon was a village, on
the site of an older moated village, where Livingstone stayed for some
weeks when he first visited the district. We interviewed one or two of
the old inhabitants, who well remembered seeing him and were able to
describe him to us.
After a stay of ten days at Mbereshi we plunged into the forest again
and journeyed to Chiengi on the north-east shore of Lake Mweru, which
was discovered by Livingstone in the late sixties. On the way we
paid a visit to Kashiba, a proposed site for the new station for the
Chiengi district. This visit brought home to us very clearly some of
the discomforts of Central African travel. After leaving our camp we
had to traverse some half-mile of bad swamp, being carried through
several stretches of water on the shoulders of our bearers. I used a
bicycle, but before we had gone very far a tremendous storm broke and
flooded the path. We sought shelter in a hut in one of the villages.
There was a fire inside, the smoke from which filled the hut and only
partially escaped through the thatch and the door. Except for the glow
of the fire and the flashes of lightning seen through the doorway
it was perfectly dark. The village street gradually became a raging
torrent. After the storm had ceased we pushed on through the long
grass, six to ten feet high and laden with water, arching over the
narrow winding path. We passed through a succession of villages, and
as we neared the site of the proposed station the people, who knew why
we were coming and who are most anxious to have a missionary residing
amongst them, gave us an ovation. The site overlooks the rapids of the
great Kalungwishi river, and a mile away a column of spray indicated
the presence of a great waterfall. Another deluge of rain descended
as we turned back. I hastened in front on the bicycle and reached the
swamp as it was getting dark. The heavy rain had converted it into a
lake. I rode along the path until the water was up to the pedals, then
I dismounted and pushed the machine. Soon both wheels were under water.
It grew deeper and deeper until finally, when the water became breast
high, I was obliged to lift the machine and carry it over my head. Such
are the joys of travel in Central Africa!
Next day we entered the sleeping-sickness area and crossed the great
Game Reserve to get our first sight of Lake Mweru. The day afterwards
we arrived at Chiengi, after experiencing the delights of travelling on
a narrow path along which for miles elephants had been walking after
the rain. Cycling under such conditions is a somewhat trying experience.
The view of Lake Mweru from the verandah of the Native Commissioner’s
house at Chiengi is of surpassing loveliness. To the south the lake
stretches away as far as the eye can see, bordered on the left side by
the forest and on the right by the mountains of the Belgian Congo 25
miles away. Opposite, a little to the south, is Lunza, the beautiful
home of Mr. Dan Crawford, the famous author of “Thinking Black.” At
one’s feet the water broke in tiny wavelets on the golden sand. Its
music was in our ears throughout our stay. The Central African sunset
from Chiengi was a sight to be remembered. The sun went down behind a
bar of cloud. A purple light, which rapidly turned to green, lit up the
western shores of the lake. After the sun had sunk below the horizon
there was a perfect blaze of colour over a large portion of the sky,
and purple, green and golden light stretched in broad bands above the
surface of the lake.
From Chiengi we journeyed to Mpolokoso, the newest of the stations
of the L. M. S. in Central Africa, where Dr. McFarlane has a small
hospital consisting of eight native huts. Our stay here was curtailed
owing to a very serious outbreak of small-pox, nearly half the
inhabitants of the village suffering from this scourge. Most of
those who were not isolated in the segregation camp had already had
the disease. Mpolokoso himself, the Chief of the village, succumbed
to it a few days later. The Government officials were using every
effort to stay the spread of the disease; all infected huts were at
once destroyed by fire, and no one was allowed to enter or leave the
village. The thin columns of smoke ascending from the burning huts into
the cloudless sky told a pathetic tale. On arrival our carriers were
put into custody to prevent them mixing with the people, and every
precaution was taken for the safety of ourselves and our men. One felt
great sympathy with Mr. Cullen Gouldsbury, the Native Commissioner,
upon whom great responsibility rested. Mr. Gouldsbury is a man of many
parts. He is in the service of the British South Africa Company’s
Administration, and we had many indications of the sympathetic way
in which he carried out his duties in looking after the welfare of
the natives. Moreover, he is a poet of no mean order, a constant
contributor of verse to the columns of the _Bulawayo Chronicle_, has
written a delightful book of poems, is the joint author of “The Great
Plateau of Northern Rhodesia,” the most authoritative work on the
country through which we were travelling, and last year published a
book entitled “An African Year.” He has always been a friend of the
Mission, and it will be of interest to quote his testimony from his
latest book, as to one of our missionaries and his wife, which is
rendered all the more valuable by the fact that Mr. Gouldsbury is
himself a Roman Catholic.
“My views upon missionaries and their work, from the general point of
view, stand recorded elsewhere. I have no intention of recapitulating
them here. Let me rather dwell upon the personal standpoint, as
exemplified in the festive little couple who are our neighbours at
---- six miles away.
“Let us call them Saunders--since that is not their name, and quite
sufficiently unlike it--Joseph Saunders and Jane his wife.
“All missionaries in this country, whether Baptist, Presbyterian,
Church of England, or White Fathers, are hard-working, whatever else
they may be. Saunders himself is a man hung upon wires, each of which
would seem charged with a full circuit of electricity. He and his wife
and the sun rise together--a most energetic trio. Before breakfast
he has conducted service, taught for an hour or two in the school,
visited the workshops and checked the labourers about the station.
During the rest of the day he is occupied with blacksmithery, joinery
and the like--laid in slabs between other chunks of teaching. As
likely as not in the evening he will go out after a buck, for Joseph
Saunders is that _rara avis_ among missionaries, a keen hunter; and
after dinner if there are people in the house he will play ping-pong
till all is blue. Not the ordinary ping-pong, you may be sure; that
does not afford sufficient outlet for his exuberant spirits. Kapembwa
ping-pong has mysterious rules of its own, such as that the players
must bound upon the table between the strokes, or lie flat on the
floor between serving and receiving the return. It is a curious game.
I can generally stay out two sets, after that Beryl (the author’s
wife) and I sit on the sofa and watch Saunders and his wife play.
“As for Mrs. Saunders, she is one of the nicest little women in
Africa. Demure, placid, and the very antithesis of Joseph--an adorable
touch of Lancashire in her soft drawling speech, and an utter freedom
from affectation or pose of any kind--she is the ideal next-door
neighbour in Central Africa.
“Saunders sent over the _junga_ for Beryl, so that she was able
to cover the six miles in comparative comfort, while I paddled
furiously behind upon an antediluvian bicycle. For the benefit of
the uninitiated I should perhaps explain that a _junga_ is anything
which moves upon wheels. Originally it meant a bicycle, but in this
particular instance it refers to a marvellous construction, balanced
upon one wheel, which has been built by Saunders himself in the
Kapembwa workshop out of some old packing cases and gas piping,
and which has to my mind solved the question of locomotion in this
country.”
We stayed for two nights at the Mission house at Mpolokoso with Dr.
McFarlane. On account of the small*pox it was impossible to visit the
schools or to meet with the people, though on the Sunday night some
half-dozen of the Mission staff, who do not live in the village, met us
and presented us with a generous offering to the L. M. S. of £4 12s.
6d., made by the infant Church, which consisted of nine members only,
a welcome token of the missionary spirit of the newest and smallest of
the Central African Churches.
Travelling eastward from Mpolokoso we reached Kambole, near the south
end of Lake Tanganyika, after three days’ journey. On our way we had
our first view of this great lonely lake, eight miles away through the
trees, probably from the very spot where Livingstone saw it for the
first time. As we approached the station the people ran beside the
bicycle and bush-car shouting their salutations and showing their joy
in welcoming us in many other ways.
Kambole is the centre of a very widely-scattered district, and is in
an isolated position. The nearest village is an hour and a-half’s walk
away from the station-village, and some out-stations lie three or four
days’ journey distant. It takes the missionaries five weeks’ continuous
travelling to make a circuit of the district.
Many branches of missionary work are carried on at this centre. We
attended crowded services in the Church, and meetings with the classes
for hearers, catechumens, teachers and women. Some ninety-six youths,
who were teachers at the schools in the outstations, at which there
are 1,800 scholars, gathered at Kambole during our visit to attend the
school for the training of teachers, which is held twice a year at
the head station and lasts for about two months. Mr. Stewart Wright,
one of the Kambole missionaries, carries on an extensive out-patient
work at the dispensary near the wattle-and-daub church. Mr. Ross, the
other missionary, is engaged in manifold activities and has charge
of the industrial department which was established and carried on
so successfully by Mr. Bernard Turner, who is now at Mbereshi. The
prolific mission garden is another indication of the practical value
of Mr. Turner’s work. It is excellently irrigated by the construction
of water-furrows. Palms, limes, bamboos, bananas, yams, pineapples,
guavas, grenadiloes, coffee, wheat, tapioca, rice, rubber, and many
vegetables and flowers flourish abundantly.
Half-an-hour’s walk from the Mission House, along an eight-foot road
cut through the forest for a mile and a-half, at a total cost of £2
10s. 0d., takes one to the edge of the Tanganyika Plateau, where there
is a sheer fall of from 400 to 500 feet. On the right is the river,
which descends in a series of beautiful waterfalls, arched over with
foliage and rock, to the level of the lake below. In front the lake
stretches away into the distance extending for 400 miles northward.
It is bordered on the left by the mountains of the Belgian Congo
and on the right by the hills of German East Africa. At the foot of
the precipice is a fertile valley, once thickly populated but now
uninhabited, owing to the sleeping sickness, and through this beautiful
valley flows the river Lovu.
At Kambole we came across a cripple, by name Kalolo, whose history
affords an illustration of the sort of missionary work which is being
carried on in our Central Africa Mission.
Mr. Ross found Kalolo at Katwe, near Kambole, in 1906, destitute and
emaciated, cowering over a few embers of fire, his feet a mass of
putrid ulcers, which had not been washed or dressed for many a long
day. He seemed to have no relations. Mr. Ross brought him to the
station at Kambole, and on his arrival prepared lotions for him, and
put him in charge of another youth, also a cripple, whom he told to
wash Kalolo’s sores. Cripple No. 2, by name Nundo, was afraid and
demurred. Mr. Ross took him into the house and read to him the story
of the Good Samaritan, and told him to go and help Kalolo. He then
consented, and assisted the missionary to attend to Kalolo for a long
time. Mr. Ross had taught Nundo to repair boots and shoes, and this
work he did for some time, but ultimately disappeared while Mr. Ross
was on furlough. Mr. and Mrs. Ross did their best for Kalolo for five
years, thus bearing witness to the people of the compassionate spirit
of the Gospel they had come to teach. The Mission doctors when visiting
the station treated Kalolo, but at last (in 1910) Dr. Wareham, after
vainly endeavouring to cure his tedious ulcers by palliative measures,
amputated both feet. When Kalolo returned to consciousness he was so
depressed that he tried to destroy himself. He still bears a scar on
his forehead caused by dashing his head upon the ground in his despair.
He was, however, brought through that crisis, and when he had recovered
he was sent back to Kambole station. A wooden waggon was made in the
joiner’s shop to enable him to get about. Then he was taught boot and
shoe repairing, as the Europeans in the neighbourhood all sent their
boots and shoes to Kambole to be repaired. Kalolo was highly delighted
to have a means of making a living, and became a most useful man at
that station. Later, when Mr. Ross wished to find employment for two
blind men who came seeking work, he put them with Kalolo to grind
wheat. They proved to be a most successful trio at this work, and in
sawing up timber with the cross-cut saw, at which employment they were
engaged during my visit. Kalolo came to Mr. Ross long ago to say that
he wished to join the Enquirers’ Class, and was enrolled. He afterwards
came to the missionary and offered to help to dress the repulsive sores
of another unfortunate occupant of the little station hospital. Thus
the light of the Gospel is spreading in Darkest Africa, and the Native
torch-bearers are lifting it high, and passing it on from hand to hand
until “the beauty and the glory of the Light” shall illumine the people
that are now sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Accompanied by a large crowd of people, who escorted us on our way
for two or three miles, we left Kambole, still travelling eastward,
for Kafukula, a mission station near the south-eastern corner of
Lake Tanganyika, staying for a night at a village to which some of
the people on the lake shore had been moved in consequence of the
sleeping-sickness. It was amongst these people that Livingstone stayed
for some weeks when he first visited the lake. The exterior of many
of the huts was decorated with charms in the shape of snail shells.
Nearly all the women of the village had holes, about the size of
five-shilling pieces, in the lobes of their ears, in which large discs
of wood, decorated with grotesque specimens of native art, were placed.
[Illustration:
_Photo by_] [_Ernest H. Clark._
KAFUKULA MISSION HOUSE, WHICH COST £40.]
On the following day, escorted by Mr. Clark, the Kafukula missionary,
we reached that station, having descended some 2,000 feet from the edge
of the Plateau, enjoying on the way magnificent views of the lake,
near the shores of which we could see the ruins of the old Mission
station at Niamkolo, which we were to visit a few days later. The
Kafukula Mission house is a wattle-and-daub erection, and one of the
most picturesque residences in Central Africa, as will be seen from the
picture on the opposite page. It was built by Mr. Clark in 1910 at a
total cost of £40. The view from the verandah can never be forgotten.
In front the valley shelves down to the lake shore some 300 feet below.
A small island, which is the property of the Society, nestles in the
lake close to the bank, while beyond away to the north stretch the
crystal waters in their mysterious loneliness. The eastern shore is
visible for some distance, but the western is hidden by the trees in
the foreground. This exquisite picture is framed by the forest-crowned
hills on either side.
We had a great reception. As soon as we were seen descending the hill
the drums began to beat, the bugle sounded and a gun was discharged.
The people showed their gladness by smacking their mouths with their
hands while emitting a clear bell-like sound. At the bottom of the hill
the village Headman, a Christian, and a Church member of many years’
standing, met us, and we walked into the village between rows of people
who, as we passed along, closed in behind and formed a long procession.
Here and there were groups of children singing hymns, some of them in
the native language and some in English. We passed through the village
and down the slope to the beautiful river Lunzua, a rushing torrent,
over which a primitive bridge of tree-trunks and mud in the shape of a
crescent moon leads to the path to the Mission house, which is situated
on a hill on the other side and is reached by a flight of forty-five
steps.
Kafukula is the village to which many of the people from Niamkolo on
the lake shore were moved in consequence of the sleeping-sickness
regulations. During our stay we paid a visit to Niamkolo and the lake.
The following description, written on the evening of the day of our
visit, will speak for itself:--
“We were up early--as is usual in Central Africa. After breakfast
we started for Niamkolo and the lake shore. On Mr. Clark’s advice I
donned my ‘ulendo’ dress--a large white sun-helmet, a khaki flannel
bush-shirt, khaki shorts, and stout boots and stockings and leather
leggings. The Mission family accompanied us, Mrs. Clark travelling in
a machila; the children--Dennis and Marjorie Clark--were accommodated
in a box slung on a pole, carried by two men. My colleague travelled
in a chair suspended between two poles and carried by relays of four
men. Mr. Clark and I walked. It was a glorious morning. We stayed for
a few moments at two villages to see the schools, or rather to see the
teacher and his scholars, for school is held in a kind of stockade
open to the sky, but partially shaded by a tree. The children sang
lustily some verses of Mambwe hymns. Like all Central Africans they
have wonderful memories, and soon learn the hymn-book of nearly one
hundred hymns by heart.
“The walk was somewhat arduous, as much of it was through very long,
thick, bamboo-like grass. Beyond the second village the land is
uninhabited, and is forbidden ground owing to the sleeping-sickness
regulations. We had to obtain special passes from the officials at
Abercorn to permit us to make the trip. Mr. Clark had gone down with
thirty men a week before to clear the path as much as possible and to
burn the grass where necessary and practicable. It was an eight-mile
walk to the former Mission station at Niamkolo, and nearly two miles
further to the shore. The old station was a pathetic sight. The brick
house in which the Stewart Wrights and the Clarks had lived was in
ruins, as it had been left after the fire seven years ago. The walls
were standing to the first floor, and inside trees, shrubs and grasses
were growing in wild profusion. It was on Saturday evening, the 29th
June, 1906, that the detached kitchen took fire in a great gale of
wind. The sparks were carried on to the thatch of the dwelling house,
and in two hours the place was burnt out--very little being saved.
The Clarks were there to see their home destroyed before their eyes.
This was the first time Mrs. Clark had visited the spot since the
conflagration.
“Then came the walk down the hill past the site of the house in which
Mr. and Mrs. Hemans, the black missionaries from Jamaica, used to
live. Then we crossed the plain, once a great garden and rice field,
now a swamp, to reach the Church and the shore. I was carried across
the swamp by two men holding hands, on which I sat with my arms round
their necks. We reached the ruins of the Church about mid-day. It
is picturesquely situated on a hill overlooking the south end of
the lake, and the island belonging to the Society. Its appearance
suggests, on a smaller scale, the ruins of Iona Cathedral far more
than those of a Church in Central Africa. The walls and gable end
and the roofless bell-tower are still standing--and what walls
they are!--all of light stone fashioned in large slabs, and a yard
thick. We had lunch in the bell-tower in some trepidation, as the
over-hanging stones threatened to fall, and then we made our way down
to the stony beach, where we lingered long. The scene was beautiful
beyond description. The lake stretched away to the north into the
‘glow and glory of the distance,’ where water and sky met on the
horizon. The hills on each side were clothed with sylvan loveliness.
The sky was reflected on the bosom of the water. White cloud was piled
on white cloud with many a glimpse of deepest blue, and the glorious
sunshine dominated the scene. It was a dream of beauty.
“The beach is covered with the loveliest shells of all descriptions.
As we sat on the shore the wind blew the spray from the waves into our
faces. The children and I paddled, and though, doubtless, there were
crocodiles in the bulrushes to our left, we did not see any. After tea
we turned our faces towards Kafukula. Long before we arrived at our
destination the shadows of departing day crept on, and by the time
we reached the villages it was quite dark. The sunset was worthy of
the beauty of the day. For some moments the western sky looked like
the very gate of the eternal. Then the fireflies flitted about in
thousands. Their light was, however, from time to time obliterated,
as it were, by flashes of summer lightning. Then the moon came out,
nearly at her fullest, and lit up the landscape with clear, cool,
placid light, and in the solemn beauty of the scene we forgot all
about the lions and puff-adders which infest the country after dark.
“We had a great reception in the villages. The people all turned out
and greeted us, and bade us farewell with ear-splitting salutations,
following us for two miles and keeping up an unearthly noise all the
time. Then all was peaceful again as Mr. Clark and I reached Kafukula,
and crossed the arched bridge over the rushing river, and climbed up
the steps to the Mission House. From the verandah we could see the
great lake ten miles away peacefully asleep in the moonlight. It has
been a glorious day, which will live in the memory as long as life
lasts.”
Evangelistic and educational work is carried on in Kafukula itself and
in the district of which it is the centre. Services and classes for
inquirers and catechumens are regularly held, and the missionary visits
the whole district three times a year, conducting services, inspecting
schools, interviewing inquirers and carrying on the usual missionary
activities. There are seventy-nine teachers connected with the station
whose wages range from £1 (one senior teacher alone gets this; the next
gets 9s. 6d.), to 1s. 6d. a month, and these wages are only paid during
the six or seven months that teaching in the schools is carried on. If
the teacher is placed far from his home he gets in addition 1s. a month
for food. There is also an evangelist, paid at the rate of 6s. a month,
who visits and preaches in the villages. There are 1,300 scholars in
thirty-two schools, and their education consists of reading, writing,
very elementary arithmetic and the memorising of the Lord’s Prayer, the
Commandments, the Beatitudes and other passages of Scripture and hymns.
Valuable medical work is also carried on. Some of the teachers acquire
a little knowledge of the English language, which they are proud to
show off on occasion. After our meeting with the teachers we received a
letter in English, signed by some seventy of them and addressed to the
Directors, from which the following extracts may be given as specimens
of their English scholarship. The opening sentence is as follows:
“We are exceedingly glad to write you this little note to give you
a hearty greeting to you all in this district, so that the old men,
women childrens, boys and girls and whose tribes of this country are
anxiously to send you a good compliments as they couldn’t reach there
to see your faces or to gathered in the same Church.”
It goes on: “But we were very glad to receipt those representatives
who came from their long journey as far as when they came from and we
had a very good general service and Mr. Horlick was one who had held
the service in our Church and it was interests wonderful to hear from
him about his describes preaching he told us many things about jesus
christ our saviour and how a man would follow the secularity of the
kingdom of God.”
The letter concluded as follows: “We thanks you very much for sending
us these Deputation to visit us and to hear many things from them
how do you loved us. We haven’t more information to tell you about.
farewell, Sirs with lots of salutation to all. We hope you are whole
in good health we should like to hear if you are better.”
“Mr. Horlick” requires some explanation. The natives were not familiar
with the names of the strangers who had come amongst them, but seeing
on the walls of the verandah a glazed sheet, which had arrived a few
days before, advertising the merits of “Horlick’s Malted Milk,” they
assumed that this “banner with a strange device” had some reference to
their visitors. Hence the mistake.
From Kafukula we continued our journey eastward to Kawimbe, the oldest
of the Society’s Mission stations in Central Africa. On the road, which
was hilly and very beautiful, we were met by Dr. Wareham. At Abercorn,
the Government centre for the northern part of Northern Rhodesia, we
were hospitably entertained by the Magistrate, and then we continued
our journey to Kawimbe, ten miles away, where another great welcome
awaited us. Hundreds came out to meet us, many of the women and girls
being decorated for the occasion with yellow and red flowers in their
black woolly hair. They escorted us, laughing, singing and dancing all
the way to the Mission station, which is 5,600 feet above the level
of the sea, and picturesquely situated in a shallow basin. The native
village is built on the hillside half-a-mile away, and is well laid
out. Four miles off to the west is Fwambo, the original site of the
first Mission station on the Tanganyika Plateau. A few miles to the
east is the boundary between Northern Rhodesia and German East Africa.
To the south-east is the fertile and populous Saise Valley, forty miles
along which the sphere of the Society’s work abuts upon the field of
the great Livingstonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland. It may
be mentioned that the river Congo takes its rise a few miles south of
the Mission station. We remained at Kawimbe for nearly three weeks.
The Annual Meetings of the Central Africa District Committee were held
there during our stay. The first week was spent in seeing the work,
visiting parts of the district and interviewing the missionaries and
preparing for the meetings of the District Committee. One day, under
the guidance of Mr. Govan Robertson, we spent over twelve hours in
visiting several of the villages of the district, and accomplished the
latter part of the journey in the dark. We shall long remember the
struggle in the dusk through the almost impenetrable undergrowth of a
picturesque mountain pass, and afterwards through the long grass.
The three Sundays spent at Kawimbe were days of great interest. On
the first two large numbers of people came in to meet us from the
neighbouring villages. On the second a crowded harvest-thanksgiving
service was held at which offerings in kind were contributed, including
sheep, goats, fowl, eggs, nuts, maize, beans, flour, cloth, bracelets,
cash, etc. On the third Sunday I visited one of the adjacent villages
with Mr. Robertson. Communion Services for the Native Christians
and the Missionaries were held. An interesting incident during our
stay was the unveiling of a brass tablet in the Church commemorating
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the commencement of the work on the
Plateau.
The work at Kawimbe is divided amongst the three missionaries by mutual
arrangement. We had not the pleasure of meeting the senior missionary,
Mr. Draper, who was away on furlough.
An early morning prayer meeting, a morning service and an afternoon
class are held every Sunday. The number of Church members has been
steadily increasing in later years and has now reached forty-seven.
There are in addition fifty Catechumens (Christians under probation).
The Church work, as far as the men are concerned, has been affected
by the attraction of better pay offered elsewhere at the mines,
in the stores and in German East Africa. Most, however, of the
Christian men who have remained at Kawimbe have gone out regularly to
preach, and some have conducted Bible classes in the villages in the
neighbourhood. Besides the station classes and Sunday schools there
have been during last year classes in fifty-three villages, attended
by over 900 persons. There is a branch of the International Bible
Reading Association. The Educational work makes steady progress, and
schools are held in every village in the extensive district. At the
close of 1912 there were 2,408 children on the school rolls, with an
average attendance of 1,691. For the most part the school buildings
are provided by the people themselves. Dr. Wareham carries on a much
valued medical work, connected with which is a small hospital admirably
adapted for its purpose.
Our visit to Kawimbe completed our tour of the Society’s Central Africa
stations.
Northern Rhodesia can still be described as a land that is dark, but at
the mission stations we visited, and at many a little outstation, the
light of the Gospel is being kindled, and everywhere there is promise
that the darkness is turning to dawning. The Church is in its infancy,
but it is a growing Church; and, under the blessing of God, will in the
days that are coming be His instrument in spreading the light where now
the darkness reigns.
C.--MADAGASCAR
CHAPTER VI
=Tananarive--“A City Set on a Hill”=
Earth has not anything to show more fair;
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning.
WORDSWORTH.
We travelled from Kawimbe in Northern Rhodesia to Madagascar by way
of German East Africa and Zanzibar. Owing to unavoidable delays at
the ports the journey occupied ten weeks. For the first three we
travelled by chair and bicycle and on foot, northward to Tabora, along
a road almost parallel with the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. On
the first night we encamped at a village near the Kalambo river, the
boundary between Northern Rhodesia and German East Africa, close to
the wonderful Kalambo Falls. The river, which is deep and about thirty
yards wide, plunges over a perpendicular wall of rock 900 feet high
into an awful chasm in one sheer drop. The rocky walls on each side
of the gorge are vertical. Looking westward one has a lovely view
of Lake Tanganyika, vignetted between cloudless blue sky and the
purple-breasted mountains in which the gorge terminates, lying calm and
peaceful in the “splendour shadowless and broad.”
A week-end was spent at Kasanga, now known as Bismarckburg, the
administrative centre of the southern part of German East Africa, where
we met some educated and courteous German officials, who have always
done what they could to facilitate the missionary work of the Society
in the small section of their territory in which it is being carried
on, and gave us some interesting information with regard to native
customs and superstitions. We learnt that the natives offer sacrifices
of goats, sheep and fowls at the Kalambo Falls to propitiate the gods
who are supposed to dwell in the chasm, and to bring them luck. They
have a superstition that the land at the bottom of the Falls would
belong to the posterity of any person who threw himself over. A woman
recently sacrificed herself in this way, and the Chief gave the land
at the foot of the Falls to her family. When twins are born it is the
custom to do away with one of them. Children who cut the upper teeth
first are killed. Cannibalism amongst the natives is by no means
extinct, and as late as six years ago a European was killed and eaten.
There are well authenticated recent cases of the widow of a Chief being
buried alive in the grave of her dead husband. This part of German East
Africa is certainly a land that is dark.
But I must not linger over the journey. Towards the end of June we
reached Tabora, a large native town of some 30,000 inhabitants, whence
we took train to Dar-es-Salaam on the east coast of the Continent--the
capital of the German colony. This place is beautifully situated on
the shores of a land-locked harbour, and the streets are bordered
with stately cocoanut palms and shady acacias. It was formerly the
centre of the Arab slave trade, but, to-day, except for the tropical
vegetation, it reminds one of a modern European town. A few hours on
a steamer brought us to Zanzibar, one of the most fascinating places
we visited in our travels. After a stay of some days there we embarked
on the Messageries Maritimes boat for Tamatave, on the east coast of
Madagascar. On the boat we joined our colleague in the Deputation work
in Madagascar, Mr. Talbot Wilson, and with him were the three members
of the Deputation from the Friends’ Foreign Mission Association, and
one of the Deputation from the Paris Missionary Society. A voyage of
seven days, calling on the way at ports on the north-west and northern
coast of Madagascar, brought us to the Port of Tamatave, some 1,500
miles south of Zanzibar. From Tamatave we travelled by the splendidly
engineered new French railway to Tananarive, a distance of 239
miles, passing on the way great lagoons near the sea coast, crossing
picturesque rivers, traversing belts of beautiful forest, and rising
by circular curves on the railway up the mountain side to the Central
Plateau of Madagascar, some 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. As
the train neared the capital it was joined by various missionaries who
had come part way to meet us. At the terminus--a great modern station
lit with arc lamps--nearly all the missionaries at work in the city
and around it, and thousands of Malagasy Native Christians in their
straw hats and white lambas, met us, and gave us a great welcome.
[Illustration: MAP OF MADAGASCAR, SHOWING L. M. S. STATIONS.
Madagascar is nearly 1,000 miles in length. Its area exceeds that of
France, Belgium and Holland put together, but its population is less
than one-fourteenth of that of these countries. ]
Tananarive is built upon a very narrow lofty ridge in the middle of
far-spreading rice fields, bordered by ranges of hills and mountains.
The ridge, which rises rapidly from the north, runs due south, and is
crowned at its highest point by the Palace of the former kings and
queens of the Island, which can be seen from a great distance around.
The crest consists of a steeply-rising thoroughfare, from many points
of which both horizons, east and west, can be seen. In the northern
portion, known as Faravohitra, are several of the Society’s mission
houses, and at the top is the Faravohitra Memorial Church. Continuing
southward, and still rising for the greater part of the way, the
British Consulate is passed on the right, and a short way beyond
this on the left is the massive building, now known as the Palais de
Justice, which was formerly the L. M. S. Theological College. After
a slight depression the road winds steeply upwards, until, leaving
the Palace of the Prime Minister on the left, and catching sight
of the Memorial Church of Ampamarinana on the right, we arrive at
the Queen’s Palace. The ridge then falls and rises again until its
southern extremity is reached at Ambohipotsy, where stand another of
the Memorial Churches and the present United Theological College of the
L. M. S. and F. F. M. A., and some Mission houses. The view is one of
great grandeur, especially looking to the west and to the south-west
towards the rugged ridges of the Ankaratra mountains. Looking
northwards one sees the wooded slopes of Ambohimanga, the ancient
capital of Imerina, like a crouching lion dark against the distant
hills. On the west, at the foot of the northern part of the ridge, is
the great Analakely market, which on Fridays is visited by thousands
of people, and adjoining the market is our handsome Analakely Church,
while beyond are the Residency, the railway station and the shops and
offices of the modern French town. A little above this the spire of
the Ambatonakanga Memorial Church and the two large school buildings
adjoining can be seen standing at the junction of two main roads, where
the traffic is at its busiest. One of the features of the landscape in
Tananarive is the large number of Church spires and towers which can be
seen on the plains below. It is said that there are some 150 of them
in sight, by far the greater number of them being now, or formerly,
Churches connected with the London Missionary Society.
We had come to Madagascar from Central Africa, where missionary work
was in its earliest stages. In the “great African Island” the contrast
was very striking. There is only one brick Church in the Central Africa
Mission, the rest being wattle-and-daub. In Madagascar there are many
hundreds of spacious well-built brick Churches, and some handsome stone
ones. In Central Africa the Church is in its infancy, and comprises
less than 150 Church members. In Madagascar there are over 30,000
Church members, and nearly five times as many other native adherents.
The magnificent results which have followed the work of the Society’s
missionaries, under the blessing of God, are everywhere apparent.
Wherever we went great crowds of Christian people gathered together to
meet us as the representatives of the L. M. S. The Churches were nearly
always full and often crowded to overflowing.
The congregations find great enjoyment in the singing of hymns, and
very large numbers read their Bibles, while Sunday School work is
splendidly organized. A considerable proportion of the Church members
take part in Christian work. There are more than seven times as many
ordained native agents at work in connection with the Society in
Madagascar as in all the other Mission fields of the Society combined,
except Polynesia. In addition, there are over 2,500 preachers, a number
largely in excess of the number of preachers in all the other fields of
the Society put together. Moreover, the number of Church members and of
other native adherents in Madagascar connected with the Society is far
more than those in any other Mission field, and the same remark applies
to the number of Sunday Schools and Sunday School scholars.
One cannot fail to be much impressed by the great capacity of the
Native leaders of the Christian Church in Madagascar. It would be
difficult to find a more capable set of men in any Mission field. They
are doing splendid work, and if this “apostolic succession” can be
maintained, the Malagasy Church of the coming days will not lack for
competent native leadership.
Moreover, as the work of our Missionaries in Madagascar is examined,
it becomes clear that the Mission is admirably organized. The men and
women who have served the Society in Madagascar in the past have,
under the guidance of God, laid the foundations of the work wisely and
well. Their successors are worthy of their great heritage. It was a
cause for rejoicing to find that the Native Church built upon those
foundations is a strong and living Church--full of promise for the
future. If the present Missionary work can be continued, and possibly
slightly increased, for a few more years, there is every reason to
hope that the Native Church will, in the not distant future, become a
self-supporting, self-governing, as it is already, to a limited extent,
a self-propagating Church, and strong enough to carry on its own work
of evangelizing the whole island.
This growing Native Church is largely composed of Hovas, the
most advanced tribe among the Malagasy, and is to a great extent
concentrated in the Central Province of Imerina round Tananarive. This
is not an accident. It is believed that the best way to bring about the
coming of the Kingdom in the Island is to build up a strong Church in
the centre. As that Church increases in numbers and in spiritual power
it will be able to extend its own Missionary efforts, which are already
not inconsiderable, and to dispense, as time goes on, with the help of
the white Missionary to an ever-increasing degree, thus freeing him for
any work that remains to be done in the outlying parts, and ultimately
making it possible for him to withdraw altogether--having finished
his work. To weaken our efforts at the present time would be to delay
and imperil this consummation. To maintain them will be the surest
and most speedy way of hastening on the day when the Missionary force
can be withdrawn and the Native Church left to bring each successive
generation into the Kingdom.
There were many indications that the Native Church is itself steadily
keeping in view this ideal. I may quote a paragraph from the
translation of an Address presented to us by the Pastors of the Commune
of Tananarive the day after our arrival:
“We want you to know that we earnestly desire our Churches to become
independent, i.e. self-supporting. It is natural for young people to
want to set up housekeeping for themselves, and it is the same with
the Church. The near approach of the hundredth anniversary of the
arrival of Missionaries amongst us makes our hearts all aglow with the
desire for the independence of our Churches. There is no day which we
should more like to see than that on which we shall go with the last
Missionary to the railway station. On that day we shall overflow with
joy and sorrow, and our laughter will mingle with our tears.”
The inner circle of Churches in Imerina is associated with seven
Churches in the capital known as “the Mother Churches.” Four of
these are the Memorial Churches erected in the years following the
re-opening of the Mission in 1862, after the twenty-five years of
the great persecution. The oldest and most famous is the Church of
Ambatonakanga, which was opened in 1867. It is the Mother Church of all
Madagascar. On its site the Bible was first printed in Malagasy in the
thirties of the nineteenth century, here the first converts made their
public profession of Christianity, and here stood one of the two first
places of Christian worship in the Island. The simple chapel erected in
1831 was afterwards turned into a gaol during the persecution, and here
many Christians suffered imprisonment. Adjoining it is the grave-yard,
where rest the remains of several British missionaries who have given
their lives to the service of Christ in Madagascar. This Church, which
has long been self-supporting, has associated with it twenty-seven
country Churches, and for some years has been under the pastoral care
of the Rev. William Evans, one of the noble succession of Welshmen who
have done so much to advance the coming of the Kingdom in the Island.
Mr. Evans has also charge of the Martyr Memorial Church of
Ampamarinana--“the place of Hurling”--which is situated on the
south-west of the ridge on which the city is built. To the west of
the Church is the top of a rocky precipice, where in earlier years
sorcerers were executed by being hurled down the cliff to the plain,
400 feet below. During the persecution, as Christians were supposed to
possess some powerful charms enabling them to defy their persecutors,
fourteen of the noble army of martyrs were in 1849 thus put to death.
The present Native pastor of the Church is Andriamifidy, who was
at one time Foreign Secretary in the old Malagasy Government, and
from this Church several of the present leading Native Pastors have
come. Associated with it in the district to the west of the city are
twenty-seven country Churches.
The third Martyr Memorial Church is that of Ambohipotsy, situated in
a commanding position at the extreme south of the city ridge with
a magnificent view on all sides. This beautiful stone building was
erected to commemorate the first Christian martyrdom--that of the brave
Christian woman Rasalama, who was speared to death near the spot in
1837, in a place where other Christians subsequently met their doom
in like fashion. The work of this Church and district, comprising
some forty-six country outstations to the south of the city, is now
superintended by Mrs. Thorne, who is bravely and successfully carrying
on the work of her late husband.
The fourth Memorial Church is that of Faravohitra, erected on the
northern ridge of the capital by the contributions of the children of
Great Britain to commemorate the burning alive of four martyrs in 1849.
The work at Faravohitra and in its extensive district to the north,
comprising fifty country Churches, is under the charge of the Rev.
Robert Griffith, another of the Welsh missionaries who have devoted
themselves to the service of Christ in Madagascar.
Not far from Ambatonakanga, at the western foot of the ridge, is
the spacious Church of Amparibe, built of brick and stone. This is
the third Church on the same site. The work there and amongst the
twenty-four country Churches lying to the north-west of the capital,
has during the last two years been under the care of the Rev. F. W.
Dennis.
The sixth Mother Church is that of Analakely, a short distance to the
north of Ambatonakanga, and adjoining the great market place. This
Church also is the third building erected on the present site. It was
opened in 1895, a few months before the French occupation, the ex-Queen
Ranavalona III. and her Court being present on the occasion. For thirty
years the veteran Missionary, Dr. Sibree, has been the missionary
in charge, and has superintended the work there and at the fourteen
country churches connected with it.
The remaining Mother Church is that of Isotry, another large building
in the populous western district of the capital. It is only recently
that the Church at Isotry has been reckoned as one of the Mother
Churches of the capital. Mr. Stowell Ashwell has had charge of the work
there for some years.
The Institutional work of the Imerina Mission is centred in Tananarive.
Of these Institutions the most important is the United Theological
College, where pastors and evangelists for the work of the Mission
receive their training. For upwards of forty years the L. M. S.
Theological College in Tananarive has rendered great service by
preparing hundreds of young men for their work as evangelists and
pastors. After the French conquest the conspicuous College building
on the northern part of the ridge was appropriated by the French
Government and, as already mentioned, converted into Law Courts. The
work of the College was removed to a smaller building a little further
to the north, adjoining the Faravohitra Church. In 1910 a union in
Theological training was entered into with the F. F. M. A., and the
College was removed to a large house at Ambohipotsy and became a
residential Institution. A notable feature of the present work is the
training of the students’ wives.
A number of cottages, named after Missionary Tutors of past days, have
been erected on land adjoining the College, and this department has
been superintended with great energy and devotion by Mrs. Sharman, the
wife of the present Principal, the Rev. James Sharman. The College
course extends over four years. Upon the staff are missionaries of
both Societies and four competent Native teachers, Pastors Rabary,
Rabetageka, Rakotovao, and Ravelo. The College at present contains
thirty-two students, and is doing a great work in making more adequate
provision for a well-trained and consecrated native ministry. In a
very true sense the College is the key to the missionary situation in
Imerina. If the Native Church is to maintain and extend its position,
it is necessary that a constant succession of well-educated and devoted
Christian men should go forth from the College to act as pastors of the
Churches and to be the leaders of the people in all their Christian
activities.
Reference has already been made to the two conspicuous buildings in
the centre of the city, adjoining the Ambatonakanga Memorial Church,
in which are carried on the Boys’ High School and a Girls’ School.
After the French occupation, Mr. Sharman started the Boys’ School in
1897. It grew rapidly, and the present building was erected and opened
in 1901 by Governor-General Galieni, when there were 500 pupils on
the books. This number increased to 720, but was subsequently reduced
to 530 owing to Government regulations. It is at present conducted by
our Missionary, M. Henri Noyer, with the help of a staff of Malagasy
Assistant Masters. The average attendance at the School is 91 per cent.
of the number upon the books. In addition to the ordinary curriculum of
a school of this character, which directs great attention to the French
language, there are industrial departments for carpentry, woodwork, and
metal work in which a high standard of efficiency is reached.
Adjoining the Boys’ High School is the Girls’ School, founded by Dr.
T. T. Matthews, where for many years some of the brightest girls from
the Churches of Imerina have received a good education. The Missionary
in charge of it is Miss Ysabel Du Commun, who, however, at the time
of our visit, was absent on furlough, Miss Craven taking her place as
Superintendent. The Government regulations only allow 230 girls in
the School, although there is ample accommodation for a much larger
number, and there are many girls now waiting admission when there are
vacancies. There are seven classes, with three men and four women
teachers and two sewing mistresses. In addition to the ordinary
curriculum for such a School, training is given in hygiene, cookery,
dressmaking and fancy work.
In another part of the town, at Andohalo, stands the Girls’ Central
School, where for upwards of forty years a fine educational work has
been carried on. There are now 400 girls on the books, and many more
are waiting for admission. The average attendance is 380. Amongst the
special subjects taught in the School are straw-plaiting, hatmaking,
lacemaking, first-aid and ambulance work. The staff consists of Miss
Elsie Sibree, the devoted head-mistress, two masters and eight women
teachers. The French Government regulations do not at present admit
of the employment of women teachers, except those who were appointed
before the present rules came into force. The present buildings,
which were erected twenty years ago, comprise a large and lofty
central hall, with a spacious gallery and six class-rooms. The sight
of the crowded school at morning prayers is a most impressive one.
The girls, bare-footed, dressed in their white lambas, with “shining
morning face,” and with that happy, placid expression, which is so
characteristic of the Christian girls and women of Madagascar, file
into the central hall and take their places with order and reverence
and join with heartiness and devotion in the singing and in the
prayers. It is a very rare thing for more than one or two to be late.
The tone of the school is of the highest, and the head-mistress always
strives, by prayer-meetings for the staff and in many other ways, to
impress the teachers with the missionary character of their work.
[Illustration: MALAGASY GIRLS AT MISS CRAVEN’S GIRLS’ HOME.]
Another branch of the work amongst girls is the Girls’ Home,
successfully carried on by Miss Craven for twenty years. Here is a
home provided for the daughters of evangelists and pastors and other
Christian workers who come to Tananarive for their education. The
girls attend the Central School and live in Miss Craven’s house, where
they are taught domestic duties, lacemaking, embroidery, and other
needlework at very small expense to the Society. Thirty girls are in
residence, and there are always more waiting for admission. Miss Craven
describes the work being carried on as follows:
“Now for a picture of the Home itself. There are one sitting and two
bed rooms, all large and airy; the former has tables and benches, but,
except for meals and preparation, the matted floor is just as much
used. Books and small possessions are kept in covered baskets, one to
each girl, and their clothes are in a cupboard or tin boxes. The girls
sleep on mattresses laid on the floor, besides which there is no other
furniture in the dormitories. They bring their own clothes, plates,
spoons, mattresses and coverings, but as there is more ventilation
than in their rooms at home, I keep a supply of blankets to lend to
them when the nights are cold; an outside building provides kitchen,
rice-house, bath-house, etc.
“The days’ occupations vary little; the girls are up at daylight,
say 5.30 in the summer and 6.0 in winter, and, after a wash in the
bath-house, come back to their household duties, sweeping and dusting
their own rooms and some of ours, and preparing their breakfast of
rice and milk, which is ready before seven o’clock. After that all
the household assembles for morning prayers, and then there is the
bustle of final preparation for school before they form in line and
march off, two by two, looking a clean, tidy, and intelligent family,
of which we may well feel proud. They all go to the Girls’ Central
School, under the care of Miss Sibree, school hours being from 8 a.m.
to 12.45 p.m. One hour every afternoon is given to school preparation,
the remainder of the time being filled up with different kinds of
needlework, while the little ones divide their time between work and
play. One afternoon most of them are away at the C. E. weekly meeting
at Analakely. The evening meal is ready at 6.30, we have prayers at
7 o’clock, and then they say ‘good-night,’ and troop off to bed, a
few of the elder ones staying a little longer to do more lessons, or
finish some piece of needlework. Saturday brings a change of work,
for most of the girls go to do their weekly washing, not getting home
until about 3 p.m. After dinner they are busy until bedtime ironing
their clothes and getting ready for Sunday.
“At different times they have attended Faravohitra, Ampamarinana,
Ambohipotsy, and Analakely Churches, and the Sunday Schools connected
with them. Sunday evening is spent with me singing hymns, discussing
Sunday School lessons and sermons, and other matters of interest.
It is a happy time, and one to which we all look forward. The Sunday
School has a great attraction for them, especially the yearly
examination, for which they prepare several weeks beforehand, and from
which they carry off some of the best prizes.
“Quarrels and troubles have not been frequent, and during the last two
or three years have been increasingly rare. Severe discipline has been
needed in very few cases, one being that of a girl who was sent away
for continuing a clandestine correspondence; she has been carefully
watched at home, and is turning out well. About three years ago we
were very grieved when one, who had been with us for many years, took
the law into her own hands and ran away to be married. We do not,
however, give up hope that she will become a Christian woman and train
her children well. The health of the girls has always been a great
responsibility, and malarial fever has been very much more frequent
during the latter half of the decade. We have not lost any by death,
except one who died at home during holidays. We generally find that
the girls improve in health while under our care, and we do not often
need to call for the help of a doctor. Occasionally we have to regret
that girls are removed by their parents while still young, but as a
rule they remain with us until about to be married, or get married
soon after leaving.
“As to the spiritual results, we may speak with some confidence.
Three have joined the Church, and one has been baptised on profession
of faith while still in the Home, and others have become Church
members soon after marriage. The Spirit of Christ is clearly working
in the hearts and lives of many who are still with us. Of one dear
girl, who died very happily after the birth of her first child, her
husband said to me: ‘I rejoice over the months we have lived together;
she has done me good.’”
Another department of Institutional work is the L. M. S. Printing Press
in Tananarive, which stands for much more than its name implies. It
is true that a prosperous business in printing and book-binding is
carried on, seventy men being constantly employed. But the Printing
Press is a kind of “Universal Provider,” and anything, from a harmonium
to a needle, can be purchased there. Under the able superintendence
of Mr. Ashwell, a considerable annual profit is made. The magnitude
of its operations is surprising. In the ten years ending in 1910,
1,833,243 books and pamphlets were issued from the office, including
over 40,000 Bibles, 60,000 New Testaments (printed in England), nearly
350,000 lesson books, over 131,000 hymn books, and a large number of
commentaries and other religious works.
No sketch of the Institutional work in Tananarive would be complete
without a reference to the Medical Mission, which for many years has
been carried on jointly by the F. F. M. A. and the L. M. S., the doctor
being a missionary of the former Society. For the last sixteen years
Dr. Moss has been the medical missionary in charge, and in his own
person illustrates the close union between the two Societies in this
work. He has been a missionary of the F. F. M. A., and is the son of
an L. M. S. missionary, and his wife, a trained nurse, is the daughter
of an L. M. S. missionary, the saintly Joseph Pearse. No department of
missionary work in the capital suffered more from the advent of the
French than the Medical Mission. A fine commodious hospital, opened
in 1891 by the ex-Queen, was appropriated by the French Government
in 1896, and since then the hospital work has been on a much smaller
scale, and in fact there was no hospital at all between 1897 and 1903,
although a large out-patient work was carried on. In the latter year
a small Cottage Hospital was erected, round which the work has since
centred under the devoted superintendence of Dr. and Mrs. Moss.
In barest outline some account has been given of the Institutional work
of the Imerina Mission, which is centred in Tananarive. In this work
the European missionary and the Native agent, working together side
by side and in closest co-operation, are contributing to the building
up of a strong Native Church, which in the future is to be God’s
instrument in spreading the light into the dark places of the Island.
This Church is as “a city set on a hill that cannot be hid.”
CHAPTER VII
=Imerina Country Districts--“Fields White Unto Harvest”=
Say not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
* * * * *
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain;
Far back, through creeks, and inlets making,
Comes, silent, flooding in the main.
CLOUGH.
It was not until 1870 that the L. M. S. established its first country
station in Madagascar. In that year Dr. Sibree founded a residential
station at Ambohimanga, the ancient capital of the Hovas, and one of
the three towns in Madagascar which, until the French occupation, no
European was permitted to enter. Ambohimanga lies about eleven miles
north of Tananarive, whence its wooded heights can be clearly seen.
At the top of the hill is the old royal palace, built for King
Andrianampoinimerina, who reigned from 1788 to 1810, and was the first
king who had any claim to be regarded as monarch of the whole Island.
He was the father of Radama I., who moved the capital to Tananarive.
After its removal the old royal palace was visited by the sovereign at
least once a year. The building is at all sorts of levels, and there
are great trees growing in most unexpected places. When the walls which
supported the wooden palace were last plastered the white of eggs was
used to make the plaster, so as to give it a glazed appearance. It is
said that millions of eggs were used in the process. At the very top of
the hill are some rocks, from which there is a most magnificent view
nearly all round the horizon. On these rocks superstitious practices
are still observed, indications of which were very apparent to us at
the time of our visit. To the north is a precipice, and at its foot
rice fields stretch away into the distance to the hills and mountains
which bound the horizon. The present Native Governor of the town is
an old L. M. S. boy from Betsileo, trained by Mr. Rowlands. He showed
to us with great pride a silver watch which his former missionary had
given to him.
Ambohimanga is reached by pousse-pousse (rickshaw), the journey
occupying two hours. Its first three missionaries were Dr. Sibree,
Mr. Wills, and Mr. Peill, all of whom have had the honour of giving
children to the Mission field in Madagascar and in other parts of
the world. The Ambohimanga Mission house must be the centre of happy
memories for missionaries now at work in China, India, and Samoa.
The contribution which the Madagascar missionaries have made to the
Society’s staff, especially in China, is remarkable. Dr. Sibree has
given a daughter to the Medical Mission at Hong Kong, and a son to the
South Sea Mission, in addition to two daughters to the Madagascar
Mission. Mr. Wills was the father of a medical missionary carrying
on work in Central China, and another son is at work in India. Mr.
Peill has given four sons to the North China Mission, three of them
being doctors. A son of Mr. Peake’s is also a medical missionary in
North China. Mr. Rowlands has two sons and a daughter missionaries in
China. A daughter of Mr. Pearse is the wife of a medical missionary in
North China; and a second daughter is the wife of a medical missionary
in Madagascar. A son of Mr. Huckett was for a short time a medical
missionary in India. Three children of Mr. George Cousins have become
missionaries in China. And so the Apostolic succession is continued.
Since Mr. Peill left Ambohimanga the Mission there has been in charge
of two Welshmen, Mr. Griffith, and the present missionary, Mr. Owen
Jones, thus carrying on the tradition that Madagascar is pre-eminently
the Mission Field of the Welsh Churches.
On the occasion of the visit of the Deputation a great gathering was
held in the largest of the three L. M. S. Churches at Ambohimanga, all
outside the city walls, on account of the old law, above referred to,
excluding Europeans from the town itself. Thirty-five Churches were
represented in the crowded congregation from the Ambohimanga district
which gathered together to meet us. There were all the indications of
a strong and growing Christian work, which was further evidenced by
the efficient school work, and the work amongst women which is being
carried on, and by the long and earnest discussion we had with the
native pastors and preachers.
Twelve miles east of the capital is the country station of Isoavina,
where for nearly forty years the Rev. P. G. Peake carried on his
vigorous and varied missionary labours. The Mission house is
beautifully situated in the hills amidst fine trees planted by Mr.
Peake in a beautiful garden, intersected by two perennial streams
of water. There are school buildings, workshops, and a row of
cottages bearing testimony to the work of this earnest missionary. He
established an industrial school at the station and taught carpentry,
iron-work, tinsmith’s work, and other industrial pursuits. The
industrial department was, however, suppressed by the French officials
in 1896, but was afterwards resumed on a smaller scale in 1907. But
perhaps the missionary activity by which Mr. Peake will be best
remembered is the founding of the leper settlement at Imanankavaly, an
hour’s walk away from Isoavina, which has since grown to such large
proportions under the French Government. Mr. Peake has himself told the
story of the genesis of this great work in the “Ten Years’ Review.”
In 1900 the French authorities purchased the Leper Settlement, and
have since carried on and developed the work there to an amazing
extent. There are now 1,500 lepers in residence. The Settlement is
a large village, consisting for the most part of rows of detached
huts in which the lepers live, and is a model of cleanliness and
order. I visited the Institution and was greatly impressed with what
I saw. Nearly all the inmates bear the awful marks of leprosy upon
them. Many have bandages round their feet, legs and arms. Many have
lost feet and hands and are horribly mutilated or deformed. Many have
terribly distorted faces. Some hid themselves away as they saw visitors
approaching. Others lay in the sunshine huddled up in dark blankets.
Many, however, were able to work, and were engaged in building new huts
or in agricultural pursuits. There were men and women, boys and girls,
a most pathetic multitude. Yet smiling faces were quite common as the
lepers saluted us as we passed along between the rows of cottages. It
was Saturday, the weekly cleaning day, and all the meagre furniture,
pots and pans, were turned out of doors. The staple article of food is
rice, of which over five tons a week are consumed. Twice a week meat is
supplied, and the Government also provide soap, candles and salt. The
whole Institution is a wonderful example of method and organization.
But the most remarkable fact in connection with the work is that it is
entirely directed by a woman of sixty-five years of age, Mlle. Sapino.
This lady came to Madagascar some eighteen years ago as a missionary
of the Paris Missionary Society. On severing her connection with that
Society she took up this work amongst the lepers. She controls the
whole of the Institution down to the minutest details. She superintends
the buildings. She buys all the stores, and I saw her weighing out
the rice for distribution to the Lepers. She examines every case
as it comes in, and puts all the particulars down on a chart. She
personally dresses the wounds in the worst cases, and was engaged in
doing this Christ-like work when we arrived. For all her services she
receives the munificent stipend of £80 per annum and a house. Out of
this at the present time she is keeping some forty untainted children
of lepers born in the Institution. The Government will not make her
any grant because these children are not lepers. Some months ago she
sold her drawing-room furniture to get money to keep the children. She
is a remarkable-looking woman--tall, with prominent features and iron
grey hair. She reminded me more than any other woman I ever saw of the
pictures of George Eliot. She told me that the Government respected
her, but did not love her. They know she is indispensable. A week or
two previous to my visit they sent her an unsatisfactory Frenchman
to be an assistant. She objected and resigned. In a few hours a high
official’s wife came out to tell her that the Government would do
anything she asked with regard to the Frenchman. She demanded his
immediate removal, and in twenty-four hours he was gone. She has no
European assistant, but seven untainted Malagasy, including a doctor.
All the rest of the work is done by lepers--except that the Government
have sent recently five Malagasy soldiers as a guard. I was told that
Mademoiselle always carries a loaded revolver about with her for fear
of trouble. At the time of my visit she had no servant in her house,
and did all her own cooking and housework. She is one of the most
remarkable women I have ever met, and carries on a wonderful piece of
work. She is a strong Protestant. There is a school and a Protestant
and Catholic Church in the Institution. The cost is very small--less
than 35s. per inmate per annum, which seems almost incredible.
But to return to Isoavina. During our visit a great united meeting of
the Isan-Efa-Bolana (four-monthly meeting) for the whole district was
held in the Church. The schools were inspected and interviews held
with the leading Christian workers. At this place, as at nearly every
other place in Madagascar which we visited, presentations were made
to us by the Native Christians in order to express their gratitude
to the Society for sending us to visit them and their pleasure at
seeing us. At various places we were the recipients of numberless
turkeys, fowls and eggs. Offerings of other kinds of food were made,
and we received more permanent reminders of our visit in the shape of
lambas, walking sticks, lace, rafia work, embroideries, scarf pins,
serviette rings, photographs, hats, addresses, etc. In their joy at
seeing representatives of the Society in their midst it seemed that our
friends could not do enough to express their appreciation and gratitude.
Some half-hour’s walk from Isoavina, the “Rest-House,” or Sanatorium
belonging to the Mission is situated at Ambatovory in the midst of
lovely country commanding fine views. It is here that many of the
Imerina missionaries spend their hard-earned holidays.
During my stay at Isoavina I paid a surprise Sunday morning visit to
a small outstation called Fararina. Every precaution was taken to
conceal the fact that a visit was going to be made, so that the visitor
might have an opportunity of seeing a country outstation under normal
conditions. The Church was a small and primitive wattle-and-daub
building, with a brick pulpit, covered with the commonest and most
gaudy wallpaper. The earth floor was covered with matting. I was
delighted to find that the chapel was practically full. Afterwards
a Communion Service was held. The “bread” was nearly black. It was
made of manioc root and coarse black sugar almost like treacle. The
“wine” was pine-apple juice. The cups and plates were tin painted red.
Although the visit was a complete surprise, the people would not let me
go without making the customary gifts. As I descended the steep hill
after the service some of the Church members overtook me bringing a
fowl, and as I reached the foot others came running after me with eggs.
Ten miles north-west of Tananarive is Ambohidratrimo, where the late
Mr. Baron lived for two years in the seventies. In 1901 Ambohidratrimo
was re-opened as a residential station under the care of the Rev. F.
W. Dennis, and it is now in charge of the Rev. H. A. Ridgwell. In past
days it was the capital of one of the four small kingdoms into which
the present province of Imerina was divided, and it still retains
marks of its former importance. At the top of a lofty hill behind the
Mission house the royal village once stood, where a century ago the
Malagasy king ruled over his petty kingdom. There are still several
royal tombs to be seen. Towards three-quarters of the horizon a great
plain stretches out into the distance. In the middle of it towards
the south-east amidst the rice-fields is Tananarive. All around are
mountains. The country looked like a gigantic relief map, and the view
must be similar to that to be seen from an aeroplane.
Ambohidratrimo is reached by a two hours’ ride in a pousse-pousse
through rice fields and pine-apple gardens. In passing along the road
I could see the women very busy in the rice fields, transplanting the
young rice and working in water half up their legs. Pine-apples are
very plentiful in the district, and three large ones can be bought for
a penny. During our visit we attended two great meetings, one in the
Mission Church consisting only of men, representing some sixty-eight
Churches in the district, while the other, for women only, was held at
an outstation in a large village Church with very few seats. The Church
was crowded, most of the women being seated on the floor looking very
clean, happy and bright in their white lambas. Many of them had walked
for several hours to attend the meeting. The wife of the evangelist
made an admirable president, and several women took part in the meeting.
Fourteen miles north-west of Ambohidratrimo is Vangaina, which became
the residence of a missionary in 1903. It is the centre of fifty
outstations, which are superintended by the Vangaina missionary,
the Rev. Thomas Tester. The beautifully situated Mission house has
been built on the hillside some distance off the main motor-car road
from Tananarive to the Port of Majunga on the north-west coast. At
the station there is a Church and a school. A united meeting for the
Churches of the district was held at the outstation, Ampanotokana, at
which forty-four Churches were represented, crowding the building to
its utmost capacity.
Our journeys to these country stations afforded many opportunities of
seeing various sides of native life. On the way to Vangaina we visited
the large native market at Mahitsy on market day. We went up and down
between the stalls in the market place. The vendors must have numbered
many hundreds, and the people attending the market some thousands from
all over the countryside. Amongst the articles for sale were straw hats
and mats, spades and hatchets, great heaps of fine pineapples, sugar
cane, pigs, cattle, rice, meat, great piles of a small kind of dried
fish, salt, tinware, calico, black soap (like the soap our missionary,
Mr. Cameron, taught the natives to make eighty years ago), buttons,
biscuits, ducks, vegetables--all in the greatest profusion. Perhaps the
most interesting feature was the space set apart for the blacksmiths,
who were repairing spades, tinware, cart-wheels, etc., with the help
of primitive forges. The blast was created by two upright cylinders
of wood with pipes from the bottom of them to convey the wind to the
charcoal fire. The air was driven into these pipes by means of plates
of wood, which were forced up and down the cylinders by poles attached
to the upper surface and worked by men’s hands. They formed very
effective bellows.
Vangaina itself is a small village with two moats, each about twenty
feet deep, in which banana trees were growing. An interesting feature
in the village is a great tree in which I saw three enormous nests
of the crested-umber built in the forks of the tree and made of hay,
straw, grass, and twigs, each one being about six feet long by six
feet wide. The bird is about the size of the domestic fowl with longer
wings, and is called the Taketra. It is a bird of ill-omen, and in the
old days when the ex-Queen used to come out to Ambohimanga she would
turn back again to Tananarive if one of these birds crossed her path.
The old Malagasy believe that these birds bring leprosy.
The most distant country station in Imerina from Tananarive is that of
Anjozorobe, between sixty and seventy miles north-east of the Capital.
On the way one passes through the town of Ambohitrolomahitsy, for some
years the residential station for the district, at which the late
Rev. Percy Milledge, and after him the Rev. W. Kendal Gale, carried
on work. We attended three large meetings at this place. The journey
thither to Anjozorobe led us over a range of mountains, one of which
bears a Malagasy name meaning “The mountain which cannot be climbed.”
Anjozorobe, which is beautifully situated, became a residential station
in 1910, when Mr. Gale moved there from Ambohitrolomahitsy. He and
his family live in a newly-erected Mission house bearing a Malagasy
name, which being interpreted means “The house of sweet breezes,” now
quite familiar to readers of the Society’s magazines. His missionary
colleague, Mrs. Milledge, formerly Miss May Sibree, lives some
distance away in the centre of the native village in a Malagasy house.
Anjozorobe is the centre of a very extensive district, in which there
are forty large outstations, and includes the northern part of the
Bezanozano country, the southern portion of which is connected with the
Isoavina Station. It was not my privilege to visit the Bezanozano, but
one of my colleagues, Mr. Talbot Wilson, spent nine days in a tour in
this country.
During our visit to Anjozorobe a large united meeting for the whole
district was held at the Church. Visits were also paid to some of the
nearer outstations. The schools were inspected, and a gathering held
for the native workers. Much of Mr. Gale’s time is spent away from
home, his itinerating work through a widespread district necessitating
his absence for many days at a time. Mrs. Milledge, too, spends much
of her life travelling between outstations, living in native houses,
and holding classes for women and girls in both the Anjozorobe and
Ambohitrolomahitsy districts.
The journey back to the capital took us through Ankazandandy and
Ambohibao, where crowded and enthusiastic meetings were held.
By the work of our missionaries at these country stations, and of
hundreds of native pastors and preachers, the light is being spread
through the central province of Imerina. Before the French occupation
the L. M. S. work was much more extensive than it is at present. It
became necessary to hand over some of the work to the Paris Missionary
Society, whose missionaries, with those of the F. F. M. A. and the
S. P. G. and their native workers, have now for many years past been
engaged in passing on the light from place to place. The Church is
steadily growing and extending into the dark places beyond.
CHAPTER VIII
=Betsileo--“The Sombre Fringes of the Night”=
The glad Dawn sets his fires upon the hills,
Then floods the valley with his golden light,
And, triumphing o’er all the hosts of night,
The waiting world with new-born rapture fills.
L. C. MOULTON.
The scene now changes to the province of Betsileo, in the south of the
Island, where the work is carried on amongst a backward people, whose
territory abuts upon the districts occupied by tribes more benighted
still--the Sakalava, the Bara, and the Tanala.
Until quite recently the work in Betsileo was separated from the work
in Imerina by a journey in a filanjana (palanquin) occupying from
eight to ten days. Now the 264 miles which separate Tananarive from
Fianarantsoa are covered in two days in comfortable automobiles, along
a magnificent road which has been constructed by the French. For almost
the whole of the distance the country is very hilly, the road rising to
4,500 feet above the sea level, and being carried over mountains in a
continuous series of curves with easy gradients.
We were travelling in the middle of the Malagasy winter. The mornings
were cold and misty, but before long the sun broke out and we enjoyed
a changing panorama of hill and mountain, waterfall and river, and
far-spreading distant views. Peaks sixty miles away appeared to be
quite near. Time after time the road traversed amphitheatres in the
mountains, and I was often reminded of stretches of country in the
province of Hunan in Central China.
Fianarantsoa is the capital of the Betsileo province, the inhabitants
of which are a curly-haired, dark-skinned people of a somewhat low
type, except in the large towns where most of the population is Hova.
Work is also carried on at outstations amongst the Bara and Tanala
tribes in the south. The L. M. S. first sent resident missionaries to
settle in Betsileo in 1870, and the Paris Missionary Society and the
Norwegian Society are also at work there.
Fianarantsoa is picturesquely situated in a mountainous region. It
stands considerably higher than the top of Snowdon, and commands a
wonderful view on all sides--of mountains and moorland, forest and
river in infinite variety. During our visit, in the early mornings
great seas of mist lay in the valleys, but later in the day the whole
landscape was flooded with brilliant sunshine.
The work in the Capital itself and at seventy-four outstations is
in charge of Mr. Huckett and Mr. Johnson, who have borne the burden
and heat of the day for upwards of thirty years, while Miss Hare has
been in charge of the Girls’ School for the last seventeen years. The
Mission Compound is extensive and contains the Girls’ School, three
Mission houses, the Theological College, which was once a hospital,
and cottage accommodation for the students at work in the College and
the boys from the L. M. S. country stations attending the Boys’ School
of the Paris Missionary Society. In Fianarantsoa there were all the
evidences of extensive missionary activities and of a successful work.
The numerous meetings that were held during our visit were crowded.
During our stay the annual gatherings of the Betsileo Isan-Kerin-Taona
(yearly meeting) were held.
They were the first gatherings of the kind at which I had been present
in Madagascar. As I attended meeting after meeting the impression made
upon me as a visitor was that of “fields white unto harvest.” To my
unaccustomed eyes the white lambas, which seemed to fill the Churches,
suggested the white fields referred to in the Gospels. And then came
the thought which gave rise to glad thanksgiving, that in Madagascar
the harvest indeed had been plenteous, though the labourers had been
few. Then came a vision of the great harvest-home when from the north
and south, the east and west of this island men and women, boys and
girls would all be gathered into the Kingdom, and those who sowed and
those who reaped would rejoice together.
Three meetings stand out in my memory. On the Wednesday there was
a representative gathering of the delegates from the L. M. S. and
P. M. S. Churches in Antranobiriky Church. M. Couve, of the Paris
Society, addressed some burning words to the delegates, which went to
their hearts. I spoke of the United Malagasy Church of the future,
and rejoiced to find so hearty a response to the idea of union. Next
day at the Assembly M. Couve spoke with great earnestness on the
duty of self-support, and Mr. Houghton gave an eloquent address on
self-government.
The third meeting was a memorable one. It was a united Communion
Service held on Thursday afternoon in the Church of the French
Protestant Mission. The spacious church was crowded to its utmost
limits. The aisles and stairs were thronged with devout worshippers.
A native pastor conducted the service. Missionaries and evangelists,
pastors and preachers joined with some 800 Christians and the
Deputations from the two societies round the table of our Lord. Men
and women, brown and white, were all as one in that sacred service of
commemoration and consecration. The solemnity of the gathering was
emphasised by the thunderstorm which broke over the town while the
service was proceeding. The church became dark. The wind howled. The
lightning flashed. The thunder rolled. The rain fell. And then came the
brilliant sunshine--a prophetic vision of the history of the Church
of Christ in Madagascar. Persecution, trouble, and anxiety have beset
that Church in the past. Even now there are clouds upon the horizon.
But the day is surely coming when the glorious shining of the Sun of
Righteousness will flood this great island with light and love, and all
who live in it “shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and ...
as the stars for ever and ever.”
Mr. Huckett has long carried on a fine piece of work in the
Theological Seminary. Here pastors and evangelists receive a three
years’ course of training, and there is a two years’ course for
catechists and itinerating preachers. Mr. Huckett also superintends
the boys and youths from the country mission stations, who come up to
Fianarantsoa to complete their education, living in the cottages above
referred to, which are supported by the Glasgow Foundry Boys’ Religious
Association. Another branch of Mr. Huckett’s manifold labours is the
secretaryship of the local agency of the British and Foreign Bible
Society. From the Bible and Book Room in the Compound the Scriptures
are distributed to the whole of the South of Madagascar, and five
colporteurs are at work.
At the Girls’ High School, conducted by Miss Hare, there are one
hundred girls on the books, of whom on the occasion of our visit
ninety-six were present. There is ample accommodation for more
scholars, but the Government regulations prevent it being utilised.
Some of the girls at the school come from the country stations and
live in the Mission house with Miss Hare. It would be a very great
help to the work if a Boarding Home for Girls could be established
in Fianarantsoa. In addition to her duties in the School, Miss Hare
also has the oversight of the wives of the students at the Theological
Seminary. The Paris Mission carries on the Boys’ High School and a
Normal School, to which the L. M. S. students go.
About an hour’s journey from Fianarantsoa another fine example of
missionary activity is to be seen at the Leper Home, at a place
pathetically called “The Village of Hope.” This work was started by
Mrs. Huckett twenty years ago. My visit was a sad experience, and will
be an abiding memory. No leper who enters this home, in which there are
forty-three inmates, ever comes out again. The sufferers die, and are
buried in the grounds. My thoughts naturally carried me back to Dr.
Fowler’s Leper Home in Central China at Siao Kan. “The Village of Hope”
might well be called the “Village of Despair,” for maimed and missing
hands and feet told their tale only too plainly, and pitiable sores on
the legs and face were common. But without exception all the patients
seemed bright and happy, and one could not doubt the joy that had come
into the lives of the poor afflicted creatures, thirty-three of whom
were Church members, while others were enquirers. We visited the rooms
in which they live, and afterwards attended a pathetic and yet happy
meeting in the Chapel at which we all spoke. The lepers were genuinely
glad to see us and gave us a hearty welcome. After we left we could see
the whole community, standing in their white lambas just outside the
gate on the top of the hill, waving farewells to us for fully half an
hour.
Thirty-two miles south of Fianarantsoa is the growing Government
town of Ambalavao, which is reached by pousse-pousse along another
well-engineered road through the mountains. As we approached the town
we were met by streams of natives, many gaily decorated, returning
from the annual three days’ fair. For many years Ambalavao was worked
from Ambohimandroso, but it has been a residential station since 1903
under the care of the Rev. D. M. Rees, whose untiring efforts are
ably seconded by those of his wife, who has the great advantage of an
excellent knowledge of French. The Mission house is an old Malagasy
residence which has been enlarged. The Station Church is one of the
most handsome and best built churches in Madagascar. On the occasion
of our visit it was crowded to its utmost capacity by a gathering
representing the forty-four outstations in the district.
Six miles south of Ambalavao is situated Ambohimandroso, the most
southerly station of the L. M. S., where the Rev. Thomas and Mrs.
Rowlands (who, like Mr. and Mrs. Rees, keep up the connection between
Wales and Madagascar) have faithfully carried on work for the last
thirty-four years. At the bottom of the valley between the two stations
is a river which is crossed by a ferry, where I was met by a crowd
of school children who escorted me up the steep hill to the Mission
house, the boys assisting in propelling the pousse-pousse. Here again a
crowded and enthusiastic united meeting was held, with representatives
from most of the fifty-one out-stations connected with this Mission.
Schools were inspected, visits paid to some of the Native workers,
and other gatherings held. Mr. and Mrs. Rowlands find house-room for
a dozen girls from country districts who are attending school. Each
evening these girls file into the drawing-room for singing and prayer.
On the occasion of my visit they sang “Nearer my God to Thee” in
English. Then followed their salutation, “Good-night, Mr. Hawkins,”
with a curtsey. I replied, “Good-night, girls; God bless you.” Then
came their answer, “Thank you, Mr. Hawkins.” The same formula is gone
through with “Madame” and “Sir.”
The morning I left, the girls were up early to see me off, and stood in
a row alongside the filanjana. In a frivolous moment as I was leaving
I pretended to weep to express my sorrow at parting from them, and
off I went. Mrs. Rowlands told me a week or two afterwards that at
my departure all the girls had burst into tears and cried bitterly,
saying, “What a tender-hearted gentleman to cry when he leaves us. He
must be thinking of his own daughter in England who has dark hair and
dark eyes like us!”
From Ambohimandroso I proceeded to the Society’s newest station
in Betsileo at Alakamisy Itenina, where since 1905 the Rev. D. D.
Green, another Welshman, has resided and superintended the work of
the thirty-seven outstations, of which this place is the centre. The
journey occupied all day, and the road lay amongst the mountains,
the views of the hills and clouds being magnificent. Several crowded
meetings were held at the station and at outstations. At one place the
crowd that had gathered together was three times as large as the Church
could contain, and the meeting was held in the open-air, in defiance, I
am afraid, of the French law. I stood under the shadow of the Church.
In the immediate foreground was the great congregation, some on the
seats which had been taken out of the Church, and some on the ground--a
very picturesque crowd in white and gaily-coloured lambas. Beyond the
worshippers stretched a glorious vista of mountain and valley, rolling
away into “the purple distance fair,” with the brilliant sunshine
bathing all in a flood of golden light.
The only residential station in Madagascar which I was unable to visit
was that at Ambohimahasoa, a town of growing importance, where the Rev.
Charles Collins has laboured for the last eleven years, superintending
from that centre thirty-eight outstations. Both my colleagues, however,
were able to visit it, and attended a large number of meetings there.
The Society’s work in Betsileo is well organised, and has been carried
on for the last forty-three years with great and growing success. From
the centre at Fianarantsoa, over a wide-spreading district comprising
244 outstations, the Gospel has been faithfully preached, schools
have been conducted, Christian Endeavour Societies, Dorcas meetings,
and many other missionary activities have been carried on, and this
manifold work has been accomplished by means of a small European staff
which has never exceeded ten missionaries. Their efforts have been
seconded by a native staff of about fifty ordained pastors and 500
preachers. The Church is a growing one, but much yet remains to be done
to complete the evangelization of the large territory in which the
Society is at work. Beyond to the south, as already mentioned, are the
unevangelized tribes of the Bara and Tanala districts, amongst whom up
to the present very little work has been done. But the future is rich
with promise, and if the existing work can be maintained and somewhat
extended, the Society will have a rich reward in building up a Native
Church so strong and so missionary, that before many years have passed
it will be able to carry the light into the dark places around.
CHAPTER IX
=Glad and Golden Days=
Spread the Light! Spread the Light!
Till earth’s remotest bounds have heard
The glory of the Living Word;
Till those that see not have their sight;
Till all the fringes of the night
Are lifted, and the long-closed doors
Are wide for ever to the Light.
Spread the Light!
* * * * *
O then shall dawn the golden days,
To which true hearts are pressing;
When earth’s discordant strains shall blend--
The one true God confessing;
When Christly thought and Christly deed
Shall bind each heart and nation,
In one Grand Brotherhood of Men,
And one high consecration.
JOHN OXENHAM.
After our return from Betsileo and our visitation of the Imerina
country stations, we spent three weeks in Tananarive to meet with the
missionaries in their District Committee, in order to consult together
as to the present position and future work. We also took part in a
Conference with the representatives of all the Protestant Missionary
Societies at work in the island, and attended the great half-yearly
meeting of the native Christians known as the Isan-Enim-Bolana. It
is not the purpose of this record of travel to discuss questions
of missionary politics, or to deal with matters considered at the
Joint Conference. Suffice it to say that the intercourse with the
missionaries of our own and other Societies during those closing weeks
of our stay was a time of happy fellowship. In the interludes between
more serious work delightful social receptions and garden parties were
organised by several of the Missions, and we enjoyed the hospitality of
the Bishop of Madagascar and of our French and Norwegian friends.
There was one gathering, however, of very special interest to us, as
representatives of the L. M. S. On September 30th it was our privilege
to take part in the celebration of the jubilee of the landing at
Tamatave of our honoured veteran missionary, Dr. James Sibree. Mr.
Sibree, as he was then, went out to Madagascar as architect of the
Memorial Churches to be erected in Tananarive in commemoration of the
martyrs “faithful unto death,” who lost their lives during the time
of persecution. These Churches remain until this day, not only as
memorials to the martyrs, but as monuments to the taste and skill of
Mr. Sibree as an architect. But his services in this direction have not
been confined to the Memorial Churches. In after years to the present
time he has prepared the plans of upwards of 40 Churches in different
parts of Madagascar.
But Dr. Sibree will leave behind him, when the time comes for him to
bid farewell to Madagascar, a more enduring memorial than churches
of brick and stone. When he had completed the task which originally
took him to the island he returned to England, and, after taking
his theological course at Spring Hill, went back to Madagascar as a
clerical missionary, and from that day to this, with ceaseless energy
and devotion, he has been engaged in building the Invisible Church, “a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
The epitaph upon the tomb of another architect, Sir Christopher Wren,
in St. Paul’s Cathedral, “Si monumentum requiris circumspice,” is
equally applicable to Dr. Sibree, for no missionary has left behind
him in Madagascar a more enduring memorial of his life and work than
will Dr. Sibree. His energies, too, have found an outlet in other
directions. His most conspicuous service to the Mission has been
rendered in connection with the training of preachers and pastors.
For upwards of thirty years he has been associated with the Society’s
Theological College in Tananarive, and during that period several
hundred students have received the benefit of his instruction and
influence. As a writer of books and articles he has given to the world
much information, not only with regard to Madagascar, but also with
regard to the Cathedrals of the Homeland. The articles on Madagascar
in the last two editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica have come from
his pen, and he is a recognised authority on all matters relating to
the island. He has rendered invaluable service as a translator, and
especially in the revision of the Malagasy Scriptures. He does not know
what it is to be idle. In his seventy-seventh year he is an example
and a rebuke to men of half his age; from early morning until late at
night he is always at work.
Dr. Sibree has, throughout his missionary life, been ably seconded
and supported in all his “works of faith and labours of love” by his
devoted wife, to whom the women and girls of Ambohimanga, and, in later
years, of Tananarive, owe so much. As I have already mentioned, Dr. and
Mrs. Sibree have given four children to missionary work. Two of their
daughters, Mrs. Milledge and Miss Elsie Sibree are to-day rendering
fine service to the kingdom in Madagascar.
On the Jubilee day a great gathering of missionaries was held
in Faravohitra Church in honour of Dr. and Mrs. Sibree. Several
presentations were made to them from the Directors of our Society, from
their fellow missionaries and from the missionaries of other Societies,
in recognition of the services they have rendered, and of the respect,
esteem and affection in which they are held. It is said that never
before in the history of Madagascar has such a large gathering of
missionaries taken place. Later in the same day a reception and garden
party were held, at which even a larger number of the missionary
community were present to celebrate the occasion. A few days afterwards
a great gathering of past and present students of the Theological
College met to offer their tribute of gratitude and esteem to the
missionary who had trained so many of the preachers, pastors, and
evangelists, now engaged in the evangelization of the island.
[Illustration: DR. AND MRS. SIBREE.]
Only a passing reference can be made to the meetings of the Joint
Conference. This gathering was unique, for it is believed that never
before in the history of the Christian Church have all the Protestant
Missionary Societies at work in a mission field appointed simultaneous
deputations to unite with the missionaries on the spot to study in
common the problems and needs of the field, and to plan together
for its evangelization. Many matters of common interest to all the
Societies were considered, and important discussions were held with
the Malagasy Christian leaders. The subjects of the evangelization of
the island, the work of delimitation, education, the social and moral
condition of the people, the recrudescence of heathenism, the growth
of atheism and agnosticism, and many other questions vitally affecting
the life of the people and the growth of the Church came up for
discussion. The meetings were held in the beautiful French Protestant
Church in Tananarive in the early days of October. The tone and spirit
which prevailed throughout the deliberations were of the highest. The
Conference owed much to its Chairman, M. le Pasteur Couve, who presided
throughout with wisdom, tact, patience and good humour. The holding
of such a Conference in which High Anglican, Lutheran, Quaker and
Congregationalist, British, French, Norwegian, and American took an
equal part, was a remarkable evidence of the growth of the spirit of
comity and co-operation in the mission field.
But amongst the many vivid experiences of those crowded closing days
in Tananarive, the most lasting impression was that made by the great
meetings of the Isan-Enim-Bolana. This institution is a federation
of the Imerina Churches of the L. M. S., F. F. M. A., and P. M. S.,
and it holds a warm place in the regard and affection of the Malagasy
Christians. Moreover, it is a Missionary Society and sends its own
native missionaries into the outlying districts in the North where,
but for its efforts, there would be no Christian work carried on. It
is the child of the London Missionary Society, and came into being in
the year 1868. Since then it has met every half-year in the Capital,
and its gatherings are always marked with a spirit of great earnestness
and enthusiasm. It met in October, and high as our expectations
were from what we had heard, the gatherings surpassed all that our
imagination had pictured. On Wednesday afternoon, October 8th, five
preaching services were held at the same hour in five of the largest
Churches in the Capital, and these were followed by two great meetings
in connection with the Christian Endeavour Societies. Perhaps a short
account of my own experiences at the Isan-Enim-Bolana, which were
similar to those of my fellow-delegates, will convey some impression
of the character of these Meetings. I was taking lunch with a party
of French Missionaries, when M. Pierre de Seynes came to tell me that
the French Church in which I was to speak was already crowded to its
utmost limits, although it was nearly two hours before the time for
the commencement of the service. On reaching the Church an hour and
a half later I had the greatest difficulty in effecting an entrance.
There was a dense crowd round the door of those who could not find
room. It required great care to walk up the aisle without treading
upon the women, who were sitting on the ground two abreast. The great
congregation occupied every foot of available space; the floor of the
chancel was packed, and men were sitting on the communion rails, on the
top of the harmonium, and on the pulpit steps. Moreover, there were
groups of people round the numerous open windows on the ground floor,
and the gallery and the steps leading to it were likewise crowded. The
scene from the pulpit can never be forgotten. The contrast between the
black hair, brown faces and white lambas of the worshippers formed a
striking picture. Pastor Rabary, the Chairman of the Isan-Enim-Bolana,
translated for me. The vigorous action and fine declamation of the
interpreter, combined with the inspiration which one receives from the
enthusiasm and devoutness of a great audience, had their effect upon
the quieter methods of the more phlegmatic Englishman, and I found
myself moved to speak with a force and earnestness rarely experienced
before. My address was followed by what I am told was an eloquent
sermon by one of the ablest of the younger Malagasy leaders, Pastor
Rakotonirainy, who is also a successful master in one of the F. F. M.
A. Schools. As soon as the service was over the congregation hurried
away to a great Christian Endeavour meeting at Ampamarinana, where
the Church was already packed. An overflow meeting was arranged to be
held in the Church which we had just left, and in a few moments that
building was again filled to overflowing, and I was called upon to give
another address, which was translated by Pastor Razafimahefa, who
interprets from both French or English into Malagasy with wonderful
force and fluency.
But the greatest gatherings took place on the following morning. At
6 o’clock seven of the most spacious Churches were thronged to their
utmost capacity, some having arrived at 4 a.m. to secure a seat for
the meetings, which were not to commence till four hours later. I
was appointed to speak at the great meeting for men in the spacious
Ampamarinana Church, which had for hours been filled to overflowing.
As soon as I had spoken I was hurried away in a chair to an overflow
meeting in a neighbouring Church, and, having spoken there, went on to
Faravohitra Church, which was crowded with women, where my address was
translated by Mrs. Milledge, who speaks Malagasy like a native. The
service at this Church was concluded by eleven o’clock. Then came one
of the characteristic features of the meetings of the Isan-Enim-Bolana.
It is the practice for the Mother Churches in the Capital to entertain
the delegates from the various Daughter Churches in the country. I
went to Analakely, where some 1,400 people sat down in five relays
to abundant meals of rice and meat prepared by their hosts. The same
gracious hospitality was shown in each of the Mother Churches of
Tananarive. After attending such gatherings one wonders whether there
is any place in the world, unless it is Korea, where such great crowds
gather for Christian worship.
The hearts of sympathetic visitors to Madagascar are often thrilled
at these manifest signs of the Divine blessing upon the work of the
Missionaries, but very little investigation shows that there is another
side to the picture, and that the young Malagasy Church needs all its
zeal and courage to face the difficulties and dangers with which it is
surrounded. Apart from the experience which unfortunately is common in
all Christian communities, that practice does not always correspond
with profession, the Malagasy Christians have special difficulties of
their own which confront the growing Church. They have to face the
temptations which beset a backward race living in the tropics, and the
struggle with sensualism and immorality is a severe one.
Moreover, in recent years materialism and agnosticism have come
into the land like a flood, and tax to the uttermost the wisdom and
consecration of the Christian workers in the island. Again, it must be
remembered that the activities of the Church are being carried on in
an unsympathetic environment, for apart from the deadening influence
of the native heathenism amidst which the Church is at work, the
unfriendly attitude towards religion of the French official class is
felt on every hand. Again, on the north-east and north-west coasts the
menace of the advance of Islam is increasingly felt, and already there
are at least 75,000 Moslems in the country, professing a degraded type
of Mohammedanism and introducing many vices, especially drunkenness
and immorality. It will be a surprise to many to know that during the
recent Balkan war a collection was made in Madagascar to help the
Turks to fight “the vile Christians.”
With these and other difficulties confronting the young Malagasy
Church, it will be readily understood that the battle is by no means
won. Moreover, much of the field has, up to the present, not been
occupied by the Christian army, and great is the work remaining to be
accomplished.
If one stands on the verandah of “the House of Sweet Breezes” at
Anjozorobe, the Society’s most northern station, and turn one’s eyes
to the north, there is a stretch of country extending well-nigh 500
miles to Diego Suarez. In this vast district, the area of which exceeds
that of England and Wales, there is at the present time but one white
missionary. It is true that some dozen native missionaries, sent out
by the Isan-Enim-Bolana of Imerina, are at work in this territory,
and many of these men are carrying on their missionary labours with
energy and devotion, but without any European supervision. The Native
Missionary organisation which sent them forth would welcome such
supervision, and would be prepared to send more labourers into the
vineyard, if well-trained men were available for service. In the near
future the main work of the European missionary must be the training
of the Native missionary. As the Church at the centre grows and
multiplies, and becomes stronger and more efficient, the need of the
presence of a large number of European missionaries will gradually
diminish. The test of the success of their work will be that they have
made themselves unnecessary. As the College in Tananarive attracts
and trains and sets to work Christian Natives of good education
and apostolic fervour, so the work now carried on by the European
missionaries will steadily pass into the hands of the Native Pastors,
and, under the blessing of God, the day will come in the not distant
future when the foreign worker will be able to withdraw, having
completed his task.
“And lo! already on the hills
The flags of dawn appear;
Gird up your loins, ye prophet souls,
Proclaim the day is near;
The day in whose clear-shining light
All wrong shall stand revealed,
When justice shall be clothed with might,
And every hurt be healed:
When knowledge, hand in hand with peace,
Shall walk the earth abroad,--
The day of perfect righteousness,
The promised day of God.”
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Through lands that were dark" ***
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