and compelled to take refuge in the colony whence he had come. The success which, in almost every instance, followed the arms of such a small and inconsiderable body of banditti as that of Africaner, may be ascribed to his mode of warfare. He endeavoured always to attack his enemy on the plain; or, if entrenched, or among bushes, the usual mode of fighting in the country, he instantly drove them from their sheltering-places; where, if both parties were of the same mind, they would continue, from day to day, occasionally discharging their missiles, or firing a shot. By Africaner's mode of warfare the conflict was soon decided. His reasons were these: he did not like suspense when life was at stake: he preferred to conquer a people before they had time to be alarmed, which saved them much agony of mind, and spared the unnecessary effusion of blood. Africaner was a man of great prowess, and possessed a mind capable of studying the tactics of savage warfare. His brother Titus was, perhaps, still more fierce and fearless; and, though a little man, he was an extraordinary runner, and able to bear unparalleled fatigue. He has been known, single-handed, to overtake a party of twenty possessing fire-arms, and only retired when his musket was shot to pieces in his hand. On one occasion Berend's party, who were far superior in numbers, headed by Nicholas Berend, unexpectedly carried off every ox and cow belonging to Africaner; only a few calves being left in the stall. After a desperate though very unequal contest for a whole day, having repeatedly taken and lost their cattle, they returned home, slaughtered the calves which were left them, and rested a couple of days in order to dry the flesh in the sun, ready for the intended campaign. For several days they pursued their course along the northern banks of the Orange River, and having, by spies, found out the rendezvous of the enemy on the southern side of the river, they passed beyond them, in order to attack them from a quarter on which they fancied they were safe. They swam over in the dead of the night, with their ammunition and clothes tied on their heads, and their guns on their shoulders. The little force thus prepared, not unlike that of Bruce at Bannockburn, seized their opportunity, and, when all the enemy were slumbering in perfect security, aroused them by a volley of stones falling on their fragile huts. The inmates rushed out, and were received by a shower of arrows; and before they could fairly recover their senses, and seize their guns, the discharge of musketry convinced them that they were besieged by a host encamped

in the most favourable position: they consequently fled in the greatest consternation, leaving the captured cattle, as well as their own, in the hands of the Africaners.

Nicholas Berend, to whom reference has been made, was brother to the chief Berend Berend, (afterwards of the Griqua mission, and now of the Wesleyan mission among the Basuto,) and a very superior man both in appearance and intellect. I have frequently travelled with him, and many a dreary mile have we walked over the wilderness together. Having an excellent memory, and good descriptive powers, he has often beguiled the dreariness of the road, by rehearsing deeds of valour in days of heathenism, in which this struggle with Africaner bore a prominent part, and on which he could not reflect without a sigh of sorrow.

Among the remarkable interpositions of Divine Providence in saving his life from destruction, he more than once repeated the following, with much emphasis. It happened when he was engaged in a desperate conflict with Titus Africaner, from whose lips I had heard the same tale. The two had been engaged for hours in mutual strife, taking and re-taking a herd of cattle. By means of the large drove and bushes, each had managed to conceal himself. Suddenly a passage opening in the troop, which exposed the enraged combatants to each other's view, their rifles were instantly levelled. The moment they touched the triggers, a cow darted in between, and the two balls lodged in the centre of the animal, which fell dead on the spot. But for this interposition, both would, in all probability, have fallen, as they were most expert marksmen. Titus, a man who could take his gun in the dead of night, enter an immense deep pool in the Orange River, swim to the centre, take his seat on a rock just above the surface of the water, and wait the approach of a hippopotamus, which he would shoot just as it opened its monstrous jaws to seize him. A man who would deliberately smile the moment he laid the lion dead at his feet. This man, who appeared incapable of fear, and reckless of danger, could not help acknowledging being most powerfully struck with his escape from the ball of his antagonist, and would say to me when I referred to the fact, "Mynheer knows how to use the only hammer which makes my hard heart feel."

Nicholas finished his Christian course under the pastoral care of the Rev. T. L. Hodgson, Wesleyan missionary at Boochuap. His end was peace.

CHAPTER VI.

FROM the preceding description, which, though a mere glance at Africaner's character, or like a single leaf from which a volume might be produced, it may be seen that it was a most desirable object for the missionaries to make him and his people the centre of their labours, or otherwise to obtain a sphere sufficiently distant to prevent any thing like collision between the people of their charge and so formidable a neighbour. Humanly speaking, had the former plan been adopted, the evils which succeeded might have been prevented. The latter, for reasons obvious to the missionaries, was unfortunately chosen, and they removed to the Warm Bath, about 100 miles west of the neighbourhood of Africaner.

Taking up this place, as likely to become a permanent abode, they pitched their tent, though there was nothing lovely in its appearance, the neighbourhood being bare and sterile; and the small portion of ground capable of being irrigated by the hot spring, so salt that little could be expected to grow. People and water were, however, the objects of the missionaries' pursuit; and of all places they had seen or heard of, this was the most likely in which to congregate a tolerable, though at most a small, community. Here they resumed their labours of love, casting the heavenly seed in the hearts of their hearers. These were composed of a mixed multitude of Namaquas, and Bastards from the colony, (called on that account Oorlams,) whom they, as well as other missionaries, found it difficult to manage. Origi nating in the colony, proud of their superior knowledge, and having a smattering of the Dutch language, they stood high in their own estimation, and despised the aborigines. This, in many instances, gave rise to dissension, discord and war, so as even to overthrow the labours of the missionaries, and turn a thriving settlement into desolation.

For a season the prospects of the brethren continued cheering, their labours being blessed. They were "instant in season and out of season "to advance the temporal and and spiritual interests of the natives, though labouring in a debilitating climate, and in want of the common necessaries

66

DEATH OF A. ALBRECHT.

of life. Their table, for a long time, the lid of a wagonchest, was covered with the most scanty fare. One feels at a loss, while reading their journals and letters at this season, which most to admire, their zeal, their self-denial, or their resignation to a life of hardship. While labouring here, their congregation was increased even by that desperado Africaner, who, with part of his people, drew near, and attended occasionally the instructions of the missionaries, who visited his place in return. It was here, and at this time, that Jager, afterwards Christian Africaner, listened with attention to the first principles of the doctrine of Christ; and it was to this period that he frequently referred in his communications with me; that he saw 66 men as trees walking." But this was but a transient glimpse; for a degree of jealousy, and perhaps alarm, was excited in the minds of the inhabitants on the station, which influenced Africaner to retire to his wonted distance, with the full consent of the missionaries, who, had it been in their power, would gladly have prevented the separation. Abraham Albrecht soon after married; but, ere long, he was compelled by ill health to leave the station, and proceed to the colony, where he hoped that, by medical advice, and attention to regimen, his system might be restored. His frame was not naturally strong, and his constitution ill able to weather the hardships which had marked his short career. On the 14th of May, 1810, he took an affectionate and touching farewell of the flock at Warm Bath, and, accompanied by his brother Christian, left Mr. Tromp to carry on the work of the mission. After a journey, trying and tedious in the extreme to a sick man, he reached the hospitable mansion of Mr. and Mrs. Botma, the faithful and devoted friends of missionaries, at Honing Berg, near Tulbagh, where he finished his earthly course on the 30th of July. Shortly before he fell asleep in Jesus he read a chapter, and conversed on its contents. To the inquiry how he felt, he replied, “I go to Jesus; I am a member of his body." The writer has stood by his grave with his widow (now Mrs. Ebner) who, pointing to it with much feeling, referred to his tranquil passage into eternity, his deep anxiety for the heathen flock he had left, and the charge he gave his attendants, entreating them to "cleave unto the Lord." Immediately after this event, Christian Albrecht, who had proceeded to Cape Town, was married to Miss Burgman, a lady of superior education and promise, who had long burned with a holy zeal to encounter the perils of the wilderness, to make known the savour of a Redeemer's name among the

MURDER OF HANS DRAYER.

67

perishing sons and daughters of Africa. For this purpose, as her biographer states, "she cheerfully relinquished all the gratifications that a pleasing connexion with her pious and respectable friends at Rotterdam afforded, ready to encounter the privations and hardships which she fully expected." Eminently qualified for her intended station, and fondly anticipating many successful years in the work which had so long been the cherished purpose of her soul, she left with her husband for the scene of her labours in Great Namaqualand, taking with them the widow and child of their departed brother. On their arrival she entered on her longanticipated labour with the utmost ardour; but, alas! a heavy cloud was gathering, which, in a few months, darkened their cheering prospects, and burst on the mission, which had just begun to bid fair for permanent success.

An event so painful and destructive to the mission cause, will require some notice being taken of its origin; which Í shall give nearly in the language of the late Rev. J. Campbell, in his tract, "The Life of Africaner," with slight corrections and additions.

"Africaner being an outlaw, could not visit the colony or Cape Town, and in order to procure supplies, employed others. He entrusted Hans Drayer with three teams, or thirty oxen, commissioning him to purchase a wagon for Africaner, with the twenty, and with the remaining ten, to bring it home: and at the same time allowing an ample reward for Hans. He had not gone far into the colony before he met a farmer to whom he owed a large debt, and who very naturally seized the whole. Hans returned chop-fallen to Mr. Seidenfaden's missionary station at Kamiesberg, of which he had the charge during Mr. S.'s absence. Africaner hearing of what had happened, went in quest of Hans, whom he expected to find humble, but who was insolent to the last degree. On their punishing him with a sambock, he seized a gun, and levelled it at Africaner, but he was instantly despatched."

Mr. Seidenfaden having left debts behind him, among the Great Namaquas, and some of the Africaners, a portion of his property was seized. After this the friends of Hans, with the assistance of the Namaquas, sought revenge on the people of Africaner, but not succeeding, obtained assistance from the people of Warm Bath. This, with a false report that they had taken some of his cattle, and that the missionaries were their abettors, dreadfully enraged Africaner, who vowed vengeance on the mission.

The situation of the missionaries and their wives was now most distressing. Among a feeble and timid people, with scarcely any means of defence, a bare country around, no