SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

Taarrts,

Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa. By Robert Moffat. twenty- three y ears an Agent of the London Missionary Society on that Continent. With Engravings, by G. Baxter. &sow. BrooRarer,

Recollections of the Life of the Rev. A..1. Scott, D.D., Lord Nelson's Chaplain. Sataiden and Otley.

MOFFAT'S MISSIONARY SCENES AND LABOURS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA.

MR. MOFFAT has been engaged as a missionary for upwards of twenty years in Southern Africa, labouring to convert the heathen, or, according to his own view of the matter, the Atheists of that country. The principal scene of his labours has been beyond our colonial frontier, among the Namaquas on the North and the Bechuanas on the North-east; but occasionally embracing a larger extent of country, with a view to sow the seeds of the gospel, though the ostensible object of the journey might appear to be secular. The detailed journals of his exertions among the Gen- tiles, we have no doubt, are scattered through the voluminous publications of the Missionary Societies : the volume before us contains the cream of his experience and adventures in Kafir-land ; and exhibits a very striking picture of man in a natural state, and of the hardships, troubles, and risks to which a Missionary is ex- posed ; whilst it illustrates, in a latent though clear manner, the anfluence which superior mental power attains even under most unfavourable circumstances, and the seeds of goodness which will be found to lie dormant in almost every heart, if favourable circum- stances call them forth.

As regards its formal contents, this volume contains a precis of the history of the Missions in South Africa, as well as a some- what fuller narrative of the foundation of the station among the Namaquas, to which the author was first attached ; and though neither very new nor very strikingly told, these introductory pas- sages are of use, as saving a reader unversed in missionary lore the trouble of search, or the unsatisfactory feeling of being without a clue. But the attraction of the book is in Mr. MorraT's personal narrative ;—his tales of privations supported and dangers run in deserts idle; his descriptions of the toil to be undergone by the pioneer missionary, and the vexatious to be daily suffered, without any display of vexation, from petty mat- ters, each too trifling to seem an evil in itself, yet amounting in the aggregate to more than martyrdom; his pictures of the brutish- ness, ignorance, and vices of the natural man, mingled with a shrewdness and point-blank simplicity that serve to denote the lord of the creation, as occasional traits of kindness mark humanity ; and his sketches of the country and its animals, though some of his anecdotes of natural history derived from the natives appear apocryphal. In addition to these passages, there are missionary speculations and reveries, whose interest will vary with the state of the reader's mind. These, however, are not predominant ; nor is Mr. MOFFAT by any means fanatical, or prone to attribute things to direct interference when secondary causes obviously account for them, although he occasionally touches upon the difficult point of special providences in a manner that may be objected to.

The main event of Mr. MOFFAT'S missionary labours is the foundation of the Kuruman station, and the conversion of the Bechuana tribe. The same principle, however, contributed to his success, whose operation we traced in the Polynesian labours of his friend and comate WILLIAMS the Martyr of Erromanga—the superiority of the missionary in the arts of life—his means of ad- vancing physical wellbeing, coupled in Africa by political changes which gave the missionary a sort of politico-patriarchal power. When Mr. Morrer first arrived among the Bechuanas, MOTHIBt the chief was to a certain extent powerful : before his death, he saw his people harassed, plundered, and scattered by a mixed band of freebooters, as well as by the invasions of more powerful inland tribes. In the time of their independence, neither MOTHIBI, his nobles, nor plebeians, exhibited any regard for the Scriptural know- ledge the missionary aimed at imparting. If their attention was preoccupied, they would display impatience or indulge in sar- casm; if they were at leisure, they would listen, if they had a direct prospect of payment —as a bit of tobacco—or an ob- ject in view ; but Mr. MOFFAT does not think that any spiritual effect was produced upon them. Nor was this the result of fanati- cism, but of what our missionary dreads more, a cold or scornful indifference, confining all thought to this world, disbelieving in any other, and not caring to inquire about it. The only approach to superstition was a belief in the power of certain professors to pro- duce rain : but neither the people nor the rain-makers believed in a Deity or the immortality of the soul. So far as their ideas can be penetrated, the professors were cheats, and the people only endowed them with some extraordinary command over the powers of nature. But, though lifting up their voices in season and sometimes out of season, the missionaries were generally protected, and always tole- rated with some degree of fear. The chieftains looked upon them as a kind of connecting link between themselves and the potent White colonial authorities; the people as foreigners who spent their money in the country ; all in times of trouble derived some benefit from the larger views which dictated their advice, and most seem to have attached the idea of some vague kind of advantage from their presence.

Had affairs remained in their original state, it may be ques- tioned whether half-a-dozen converts would have signalized the

efforts of the Bechuana missionaries; but movements and revs- lotions among the barbarian tribes unsettled the whole of such society as there was. Villages were attacked, cattle carried off; tribes half destroyed, and the remnants scattered; whilst the robbers or invaders suffered in return, sometimes from successful resistance, sometimes from famine and thirst, or internal quarrels. The eventual result was, that numbers who had no home, or a very insecure one, settled at the missionary-station, which though sometimes threatened was never attacked ; and although it does not appear that conversion was required as a rule of admission, intuitive sagacity taught the candidates that attendance at chapel would be a becoming compliment to their protectors, and that " public profession" did not conduce to disfavour. Whether more of faith or hypocrisy was produced in this way, may be questioned; but in a temporal sense the advantages were great. Woman was elevated from the position of an animal to an equality with man, and relieved from much of the drudgery to which savages condemn the weaker sex. A regular and enlightened industry superseded the idle, hungry, yet often severely laborious life of the people ; irrigation guarded against the effects of drought, so far as they can be guarded against in that parched land, where rain sometimes does not fall for years ; the use of decent clothiug began to super- sede a very primitive mode of dress, and even to create a demand for British manufactures ; whilst other stations, founded by other missionaries, sprung up in the country, contributing unquestionably to civilize the inhabitants : whether the barbarous and unsettled state of the entire region will allow the results to be permanent, remains to be seen.

The only two difficulties as regards public opinion which the Mis- sionaries had to contend against, were the impossibility of making the people comprehend the motives which induced them to take up their abode in a barren land, and the machinations of the rain- makers. Looking upon all that the teachers inculcated as fable, and not scrupling to say so, they could not believe that men would quit what was obviously a superior state of society to preach to the ignorant : accordingly, some fancied they were spies, or Govern- ment-agents, others conceived they had fled from the law. The rain-makers were in some sense their rivals ; and when the efforts of one of these professors failed to bring down water, he insinuated it was owing to the White men. These persons, though impostors, and conscious impostors as they seem to be, exhibit the advantage of a pursuit which exercises the mind and compels study, though it be only how to impose upon people. They are the only persons in Southern Africa who exhibit the quality which we call intellect ; they display in their bearing and behaviour more of guard and politeness, whilst they accomplish their ends with a refined dissi- mulation akin to the well-bred policy of Europe, and without any unamiable display of personal feeling.

DEMEANOUR AND ARTS OF A RAIN-MAKER.

The rain-makers, as I have since had frequent opportunities of observing, were men of no common calibre ; and it was the conviction of their natural su- periority of genius which emboldened them to lay the public mind prostrate before the reveries of their fancies. Being foreigners, they generally amplified prodigiously on their former feats. The present one, as has been noticed, was above the common order. He kept the chiefs and nobles gazing on him with silent amazement, while the daemon of mendacity enriched his themes with lively imagery, making them fancy they saw their cornfields floating in the breeze and their flocks and herds return lowing homewards by noonday from the abundance of pasture. He had in his wrath desolated the cities of the enemies of his people, by stretching forth his hand and commanding the clouds to burst upon them. He had arrested the progress of a powerful army, by causing a flood to descend, which formed a mighty river, and arrested their course. These, and many other pretended supernatural displays of his power, were received as sober truths. The report of his fame spread like wild-fire, and the chiefs of the neighbouring tribes came to pay him homage. We scarcely knew whether to expect from him open hostility, secret machinations, or professed friendship. He, like all of his profession, was a thinking and cal- culating soul, in the habit of studying human nature, affable, engaging, with an acute eye, and exhibiting a dignity of mien, with an ample share of self- esteem, which, notwithstanding all his obsequiousness, he could not hide. He waited upon us; and it was well; for though we wished at all times to become all things to all men, he would have grown old before we could have constrained ourselves to pay court to one who, under the influence of the great Enemy of souls, had reached the very pinnacle of fame. He found we were men of peace and would not quarrel. For the sake of obtaining a small piece of tobacco, he would occasionally pay us a visit, and even enter the place of worship. He was also studious not to give offence ; while, in the course of conversation, he would give a feeble assent to our views as to the sources of that element over which he pretended to have a sovereign control. He said he was poor; and this fact, to thinking minds, would have proved that his successful achievements must have been either gratuitous or ill-rewarded. When I put a question on the subject to one of his admirers, in order to excite suspicion, the reply was, "The Bahurutsis," the people from whom he came, "are stingy : they never re- ward people for their services." It might be briefly noticed, that in order to carry on the fraud, he would, when clouds appeared, order the women neither to plant nor sow, lest they should be scared away. He would also require them to go to the fields, and gather certain roots and herbs, with which he might light what appeared to the natives mysterious fires. Elate with hope, they would go in crowds to the hills and dales, herborize, and return to the town with songs, and lay their gather- ings at his feet. With these he would sometimes proceed to certain hills, and raise smoke; gladly would he have raised the wind also, if he could have done ao, well knowing that the latter is frequently the precursor of rain. He would select the time of new and full moon for his purpose, aware that at those seasons there was frequently a change in the atmosphere. • • • The rain-maker found the clouds in our country rather harder to manage than those he had left. He complained that secret rogues were disobeying his proclamations. When urged to make repeated trials, he would reply, " Yon only give me sheep and goats to kill, therefore I can only make goat-rain; give me fat slaughter oxen, and I shall let you see ox-rain." One day, as he was taking a sound sleep, a shower fell; on which one of the principal men entered his house to congratulate him, bat, to his utter amazement, found him totally insensible to what was transpiring. " Bela ka rare, [Halloo, by my father,) 1 thought you were making rain," said the intruder ; when, arising from his slumbers, and seeing his wife sitting on the floor shaking a milk-sack in order

to obtain a little butter to anoint her hair, be replied, pointing to the operation of churning, " Do you not see my wife churning rain as fast as she can This ri ply gave entire satisfaction ; and it presently spread through the length and breadth of the town that the rain-maker had churned the shower out of a

milk-sack.

A COMMUNICATIVE RAIN-MAKER.

It was often a matter of speculation with me whether such men had not the fullest conviction in their own minds that they were gulling the public; and opportunities have been afforded which convinced me that my suspicions were well-grounded. I met one among the Barolongs, who, from some service I had done him, thought use very. kind ; and before he knew my character became very intimate. He had derived benefit from some of my medicines, and con- sequently viewed me as a doctor and one of his own fraternity. In reply to some of my remarks, he said, " It is only wise men who can be rain-makers, for it requires very great wisdom to deceive so many "; adding, " you and I know that." At the same time, he gave me a broad hint that I must not re- main there, lest I should interfere with his field of labour.

A RAIN-MAKER ON MAN AND BEASTS.

In their ceremonies connected with the burying the dead, there is no re- ference to pleasing the spirits of the departed; on the contrary, a rain-maker himself contended that there were no such existences. " What is the differ- ence." he asked me, pointing to his dog, " between me and that animal ? You say I am immortal, and why not my dog or my ox ? They die, and do you see their souls? What is the difference between man and the beasts?—None, ex- cept that man is the greater rogue of the two." Such was that wise man's view of man's dignity and man's immortality.

A BECHUANA ON THE " PRENTICE HAW."

A wily rain-maker, who was the oracle of the village in which be dwelt, once remarked after hearing me enlarge on the subject of creation, " If you verily believe that that Being created all men, then, according to reason, you must also believe, that in making White people he has improved on his work : he tiled his band on Bushmen first ; and he did not like them, because they were so ugly, and their language like that of the frogs. Be then tried his hand on the Hottentots; but these did not please him either. He then exercised his power and skill and made the Bechuanas; which was a great improvement : and at last he made the White people : therefore," exulting with an air of triumph at the discovery, " the White people are so much wiser than we are in making walking-houses, (waggons,) teaching the oxen to draw them over bill and dale, and instructing them also to plough the gardens, instead of making their wives do it like the Bechuanas." His discovery received the applause of the people ; while the poor missionary's arguments, drawn from the source of Divine truth, were thrown into the shade. They were always so averse to reasoning on any subjects of this nature, that the missionary felt it quite a treat to meet with an individual who would enter into a discussion, even though with derision and

scorn.

It is a curious circumstance, that the rain-makers, according to Mr. MOFFAT, rarely die a natural death ; being generally sacrificed at last to the anger of their dupes, when a series of unlucky cir-' cumstances exhausts their patience.

Several of the scenes descriptive of travelling in Southern Africa, where nearly all is desert, are full of an interest approaching to that of Captain GREY'S narrative of his privations in Australia ; and there are also several striking and curious passages relating to animals. Each of this class, however, would require considerable space to exhibit ; and, referring those whose taste inclines them to the volume, we will take a few miscellaneous extracts.

THE LOST SHEEP.

Our little flock of sheep was reduced to one; and one sheep will not easily travel alone, but soon becomes very tame, so as to walk about like one of the dogs : indeed, ours became so very sociable that we loved it, and tried hard to spare its life. It generally travelled with a long leather thong tied round its neck, with which it was fastened during the night. However, having fasted long from animal food, being unable to procure game, sentence was passed, and the pet sheep was to die next morning : but it so happened that the near ap- proach of a; hyena frightened away the sheep ; and being dark, the country busby and mountainous, pursuit was out of the question. Early next morning Mr. K. and I followed the track, which showed us that the hyena had pursued it to the mountains, to which such animals instinctively resort. After a long and wearisome search, we discovered our lost sheep near the top of the rugged elevation. It had still, as the natives express it, de schrik in de lyfe, (the terror in the body,) and fled at our approach : sometimes when we, after great labour, got within a step of the thong, away it bounded, till it ascended cliffs beyond our reach. It was most mortifying to us to leave such a feast to the panthers; but not having a gun with us, and seeing some foot-marks of those dangerous animals, we slowly returned to the waggons, where all were anticipating a mutton-chop, and the only compliment paid to our exertions was that we bad managed very badly.

THE WEAKEST GOES TO THE WALL.

As the sun arose towards the meridian, the heat became excessive ; and if we bad been nearly frozen at night, we were almost scorched during the day ; and before we reached the water the following night, we would have given a crown for a bottle of that in which we had washed in the morning. Our return was little different from our outward journey—" in fastings oft." A kind Provi- dence watched over us, and in some cases remarkably interposed in our behalf ; which the following incident will show. We had passed the night without food ; and after a long day's ride the sun was descending on us, with little pros- pect of meeting with any thing to assuage the pains of hunger, when, as we were descending from the high ground, weak and weary, we saw at a great dis- tance, on an opposite ridge, a line of dust approaching with the fleetness of the ostrich. It proved to be a spring buck closely pursued by a wild dog ; which must have brought it many miles, for it was seized within two hundred yards of the spot where we stood, and instantly despatched. We of course thank- fully took possession of his prize ; the right to which the wild dog seemed much inclined to dispute with us. 1 proposed to leave half of it for the pursuer. "No," said one of my men ; "he is not so hungry as we are, or he would not run so fast."

A PRINCE AT CAPE TOWN.

As Mothibi was anxious that his son should see the country of the White people, he sent him with us, and appointed Taisho, one of his principal chiefs, to accompany him. The reception they met with from his Excellency the Governor and the friends in Cape Town, and the sights they saw, produced strange emotions in their minds. They were delighted with every thing they beheld ; and were in rapture when they met again their old friend George Thompson, Esq., who showed them no little kindness. It was with some diffi- culty that they were prevailed upon to go on board one of the ships in the bay ; nor would they enter the boat till I had preceded them. They were perfectly astounded, when hoisted on deck, with the enormous size of the hull and the height of the masts ; and when they saw a boy mount the rigging and ascend to the very mast-bead, they were speechless with amazement. Taisho whis- pered to the young prince, " A ga at khatla? " (Is it not an ape ?) When they

entered the splendid cabin, and looked into the deep hold, they could scarcely be convinced that the vessel was not resting on the bottom of the ocean. " Do these water-houses (ships) unyoke like waggon-oxen every night ? " they in- quired. " Do they graze in the sea to keep them alive ? " A ship in full sail approaching the roads, they were asked what they thought of that. " We have no thoughts here; we hope to think again when we get to the shore," was the reply. They would go anywhere with me or Mr. Thompson, far whom they entertained a kindly feeling ; but they would trust no one else.

THE COMPASS IN THE DESERT.

After some hours riding, I could plainly discover from the stars that we were diverging to the left ; and gave information to the leading waggon-drivers; but was assured they were right, while I was equally sure they were wrong. About two o'clock A. H. we halted. The principal individuals of the party having dozed a little, arose and surrounded the kindled fires, which were now acceptable, though the day had been exceedingly hot. While preparing a cup of coffee, I took out my compass to assure the party that for more than two hours we had been travelling towards the Mashua, from whence we had come. The more sagacious looked for some time at the little instrument, and then looking around and upwards to the stars, pronounced it to be an impostor. Others re- marked, that it might know the right way in its own country, but how was it to find it out there ? While eating a morsel of food for which we bad an un- common relish, the waning moon began to diffuse a pale lustre on the Eastern horizon. " What a fire !" said one. " It is the moon," I replied. All start- ing to their feet, exclaimed, " The moon cannot rise on that side of the world"; and Antonio, a venerable old man who had been once a slave, said, very re- spectfully, " Sir, your head has turned ; the moon never rose in the West in my life, and I am an old man." " It is the moon," I again said ; but no one believed me, and we resumed our repast. Presently the moon's horn was seen above the horizon ; when all rose again, some saying, " What is that ?" I had no further need to argue the point. Antonie, in grave amazement, exclaimed, " The moon has for once risen on the wrong side of the world I " Soon after, the sun's rays threw additional light on their bewildered imaginations, and showed to all that for half the night we had been travelling towards the sta- tion of the former day instead of from it.

We met MOSELEKATSE in the sporting pages of Captain Haunts; when the redoubtable NAPOLEON of that part of Africa was so taken with a pair of inexpressibles and a greatcoat as to make his toilet in full court. Here is the warrior's first acquaintance with civilization.

" Another simultaneous pause ensued, and still we wondered what was in- tended, till out marched the monarch from behind the lines, followed by a num- ber of men bearing baskets and bowls of food. He came up to us, and having been instructed in our mode of salutation, gave each a clumsy but hearty shake of the hand. He then politely turned to the food, which was placed at our feet, and invited us to partake. By this time the wagons were seen in the dis- tance; and having intimated our wish to be directed to a place where we might encamp in the outskirts of the town, he accompanied us, keeping fast hold of my right arm, though not in the most graceful manner, yet with perfect fami- liarity. The land is before you ; you are come to your son. You must sleep where you please.' When the moving houses,' as the wagons were called, drew near, he took a firmer grasp of my arm, and looked on them with unut- terable surprise; and this man, the terror of thousands, drew back with fear as one in doubt as to whether they were not living creatures. When the oxen were unyoked, he approached the wagon with the utmost caution, still holding me by one hand, and placing the other on his mouth, indicating his surprise. He looked at them very intently, particularly the wheels ; and when told of how many pieces of wood each wheel was composed, his wonder was increased. After examining all very closely, one mystery yet remained, how the .large band of iron surrounding the felines of the wheel came to be in one piece with- out either end or joint. 'Umbate, my friend and fellow-traveller, whose visit to our station had made him much wiser than his master, took hold of my right hand and related what be had seen. ' My eyes,' he said, saw that very band,' pointing to mine, ' cut these bars of iron, take a piece off one end, and then join them as you now see them.' A minute inspection ensued to discover the welded part. Does he give medicine to the iron ?' was the monarch's inquiry. ' No,' said 'Umbate,' nothing is used but fire, a hammer, and a chisel.' "

PRINTING.

This was a new sera in the mission, and the press was soon called into opera- tion ; when lessons, spellin7-books, and catechisms were prepared for the schools. Although many of the natives had been informed how books were printed, no- thing could exceed their surprise when they saw a white sheet, after disappear- ing for a moment, emerge spangled with letters. After a few noisy exclama- tions, one obtained a sheet ; with which he bounded into the village, showing it to every one he met, and asserting that Mr. Edwards and I bad made it in a moment, with a round black hammer (a printer's ball) and a shake of the arm. The description of such a juggling process soon brought a crowd to see the segatisho (press), which has since proved an auxiliary of vast importance to our cause.