MISSIONARY LABOURS.

CHAPTER I.

THE Continent of Africa, though probably the most ancient field of geographical enterprise, still is, and there is reason to believe that it will long continue to be, the least explored portion of our earth. Though once the nursery of science and literature, the emporium of commerce, and the seat of an empire which contended with Rome for the sovereignty of the world,—the cradle of the ancient church, and the asylum of the infant Saviour, yet Africa still presents a comparative blank on the map, as well as in the history of the world. Though, according to Herodotus, it was circumna vigated by the Phoenicians long before the Christian era, and its coast was the first object of maritime discovery after the compass had inspired seamen with confidence to leave shores and landmarks, and stand forth on the boundless deep; yet to this day its interior regions continue a mystery to the white man, a land of darkness and of terror to the most fearless and enterprising traveller. Although in no country has there been such a sacrifice of men to the enterprise of discovery of men the most intelligent and undaunted, of men impelled not by gross cupidity, but by refined philanthropy; yet, notwithstanding such suffering and waste of human life, we are only acquainted with the fringes of that immense continent, and a few lineaments at no great distance from its shores.

Africa had once her churches, her colleges, her repositories of science and learning, her Cyprians and bishops of apostolic renown, and her noble army of martyrs; but now the

funeral pall hangs over her wide-spread domains, while her millions, exposed to tenfold horrors, descend like a vast fu nereal mass to the regions of woe. Christendom has been

enriched by her gold, her drugs, her ivory, and bodies and souls of men-and what has been her recompense? A few crucifixes planted around her shores, guarded by the military fort and the roar of cannon. Had it not been for British power and British sympathy under the favour of Heaven Africa to this day, with scarcely one exception, might have had the tri-coloured flag waving on her bosom, bearing the ensigns of the mystery of Babylon, the crescent of the false prophet, and the emblems of pagan darkness, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the colony of the Cape of Good Hope.

"The countries extending throughout by far the greater portion of the vast surface just mentioned, are, as regards soil and capabilities, among the finest in the world; but the population of the whole, with the exception of Egypt in ancient times, and the population of the shores of the Mediterranean when under the Carthaginian, the Roman, and the brighter days of Arab sway, have been, through every age, and are still, sunk into the lowest depths of ignorance, superstition, disorganization, and debasement; the glimmer of civilization, which for a time appeared in Nubia and Abyssinia, compared with the whole, scarcely forming an exception."*

Before entering into a detail of Missionary operations, it may be proper to glance briefly at the position, extent, and character of some of the fields which have been occupied.

The bold and mountainous promontory of the Cape, was first discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, the Portuguese navigator, and was taken possession of by the Dutch, in 1652. At that period the whole of what is now designated the Colony, was inhabited by Hottentots proper, whose history and origin, from their physical appearance, language, and customs, continue involved in profound mystery. They resem ble none of the Kafir, Bechuana and Damara nations, which bound the different tribes of that remarkable people, extending from Angra, Pequena Bay on the west, to the great Fish-river on the east. The whole race are distinct from all others with which we are acquainted. Taking the Hottentots, Corannas, Namaquas, and Bushmen, as a whole, they are not swarthy or black, but rather of a sallow colour, and

* M'Queen's Geographical Survey of Africa.

HOW POPULATION EXTENDED.

in some cases so light, that a tinge of red in the cheek is perceptible, especially among the Bushmen. They are generally smaller in stature than their neighbours of the interior; their visage and form very distinct, and in general the top of the head broad and flat; their faces tapering to the chin, with high cheek bones, flat noses and large lips. Since the writer has had opportunities of seeing men, women, and children, from China, he feels strongly inclined to think, with Barrow, that they approach nearer in the colour and in the construction of their features, to that people than to any other nation. Since his arrival in England, this supposition has been strengthened by seeing two blind Chinese children whom, had he not been previously informed, he would have taken for Hottentots; and if they had had their eyesight, the resemblance would have been much more striking. It is well known that the Hottentots inhabit the southern point of Africa, and spread northward, while the Bushmen, the most northerly, exist among the inhabited regions, where they continue perfectly distinct, and, which is very remarkable, do not become darker in their complexion, as is the case with all the other tribes that inhabit, or have inhabited the Torrid Zone. If they had been gipsies from Egypt, as some have thought, it is another singular circumstance, that they should not, during the successive ages which they must have required slowly to advance through nearly 5000 miles of territory, have adopted one word of the language of the myriads with whom they came in contact, or one of their customs of any description, not even that of sowing seed in the earth. It may not be considered chimerical to suppose that when the sons of Ham entered Africa, by Egypt, and the Arabians, by the Red Sea, that the Hottentot progenitors took the lead, and gradually advanced in proportion as they were urged forward by an increasing population in their rear, until they reached the ends of the earth. It may also be easily conceived of by those acquainted with the emigration of tribes, that during their progress to the south, parties remained behind, in the more sequestered and isolated spots, where they had located while the nation moved onward, and research may yet prove that that remarkable people originally came from Egypt.* At all events, it is evident that they

A few evenings ago I was in the company of a Syrian who lately came from Egypt. On giving him a specimen and a description of the Hottentot language, he remarked that he had seen slaves in the market at Cairo, brought a great distance from the interior, who spoke a similar language, and were not near so dark coloured as slaves in general.

16

ORIGIN OF THE BUSHMEN TRIBES

have arisen from a race distinct from that of their neighbours, and extended inland, inhabiting the most fertile spots, till their course was arrested on the east by the bold and warlike Kafirs, and on the north by the Bechuana and Damara. It is probable that they stretched out into Great Namaqualand, along the western division of the colony, till prevented by a desert country, beyond which lay the Damaras; and then again they proceeded from Little Namaqualand, eastward, along the cooling banks of the Gariep or Orange River, richly fringed with overhanging willows, towering acacias, and kharree trees and shrubs, umbrageous at all seasons of the year. Thus, by the localities of the country they became separated into three great divisions, Hottentots, Corannas, and lesser and greater Namaquas. From time immemorial these have been the boundaries of their habitations, while the desert wastes and barren mountain-ravines, which intervened, became the refuge and domains of the Bushmen, who are emphatically the children of the desert.

All these possess nearly the same physical characteristics, the same manners and customs. I have had in my presence genuine Hottentots, Corannas, and Namaquas, who had met from their respective and distant tribes, for the first time, and they conversed with scarcely any difficulty. All use the same weapons, the quiver, bow, and poisoned arrows, of which the tribes beyond are ignorant, except such as border on them, like the Batlapis, who say they adopted that new mode of warfare in order to compete with them and the Bushmen, from both of whom they obtained these weapons, which they have not yet learned to manufacture.

The Bushmen are the most remarkable portion of the Hottentot nation. Various opinions have been offered on the origin and state of the Hottentots, among which is that of Gibbon, that "they were the connecting link between the rational and irrational creation." If he had been acquainted with the Bushmen, who are unquestionably inferior to the Hottentots, he would have felt more confidence in this strange and long exploded theory. Some say they are the progenitors of the nation; others, that they are an entirely distinct race; and others, again, that they are Hottentots, who have been directly or indirectly plundered of their cattle by the Dutch farmers. That the Bushmen are the people from whom the Hottentot tribes have descended, is irreconcilable This corroborates the statements of ancient authors, whose description of a people inhabiting the interior regions of Northern Africa, answer to that of the Hottentot and Bushmen.

with existing facts; that they are a distinct race, is still farther from probability; and that they are plundered Hottentots, is, in my humble opinion, a preposterous notion, resulting from limited information on the subject. If this were to be admitted, then we must also admit that the Hottentots, in being deprived of their cattle, and becoming Bushmen, were deprived of their language also; for it is well known, from the earliest records that can be obtained on the subject of their language-which has, in addition to the klick of the Hottentot, a croaking in the throat,-that they never understood each other without interpreters.

Another fact is, that the Bushmen are to be found scattered, though thinly, among all the Bechuana tribes of the interior with which we are acquainted, even as far as the Mampoor lake, about eight hundred miles north of Latta

koo.

The Marosa, or Baroa Bushmen, are found of the same description as those just beyond the boundaries of the colony; and from the oldest traditions we can find among the Corannas and Namaquas, who are the unmixed Hottentots, as also from the Bechuanas, it may be demonstrated, that they existed a wandering people without homes, or cattle, or even nationality of character. That they descended from Hottentots, requires little argument to prove. Probably there are connected with all the tribes of Africa numbers of a nomadic character, whose origin will throw light on the history of the Bushmen. A parallel is furnished by the following facts of the case, which have hundreds of times come under my own observation, during a residence of more than twenty years among the Bechuana tribes. Connected with each of the towns among that people, there are great numbers of what are called "Balala," poor ones, who stand in the same relation to the Bechuanas in which the Bushmen formerly stood to the Hottentots, and whose origin doubtless was of the same nature. These Balala were once inhabitants of the towns, and have been permitted or appointed to live in country places for the purpose of procuring skins of wild animals, wild honey, and roots, for their respective chiefs. The number of these country residents was increased, by the innate love of liberty, and the scarcity of food in towns, or within the boundaries to which they were confined by water and pasture. These again formed themselves into small communities, though of the most temporary character, their calling requiring migration, having no cattle of any description. Accustomed from infancy to the sweets of comparative liberty, which they vastly