III. DR. LIVINGSTONE'S EXPERIENCES
IN THE TRANSVAAL AND IN SURROUNDING NATIVE DISTRICTS. LETTER OF DR. MOFFAT
IN 1877. LETTER OF HIS SON, REV. J. MOFFAT, 1899. REPORT OF M. DIETERLEN TO
THE COMMITTEE OF THE MISSIONS' EVANGELIQUES OF PARIS.
The following is an extract from the
"Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa," of the venerable
pioneer, David Livingstone.[12]
"An adverse influence with which the
mission had to contend was the vicinity of the Boers of the Cashan
Mountains,[13] otherwise named 'Magaliesberg.' These are not to be
confounded with the Cape Colonists, who sometimes pass by the name. The word
'Boer,' simply means 'farmer,' and is not synonymous with our word boor.
Indeed, to the Boers generally the latter term would be quite inappropriate,
for they are a sober, industrious, and most hospitable body of peasantry.
Those, however, who have fled from English Law on various pretexts, and have
been joined by English deserters, and every other variety of bad character
in their distant localities, are unfortunately of a very different stamp.
The great objection many of the Boers had, and still have, to English law,
is that it makes no distinction between black men and white. They felt
aggrieved by their supposed losses in the emancipation of their Hottentot
slaves, and determined to erect themselves into a republic, in which they
might pursue, without molestation, the 'proper treatment' of the blacks. It
is almost needless to add, that the 'proper treatment' has always contained
in it the essential element of slavery, namely, compulsory unpaid labour.
"One section of this body, under the
late Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter, penetrated the interior as far as the Cashan
Mountains, whence a Zulu chief, named Mosilikatze, had been expelled by the
well known Kaffir Dingaan, and a glad welcome was given these Boers by the
Bechuana tribes, who had just escaped the hard sway of that cruel chieftain.
They came with the prestige of white men and deliverers; but the Bechuanas
soon found, as they expressed it, 'that Mosilikatze was cruel to his
enemies, and kind to those he conquered; but that the Boers destroyed their
enemies, and made slaves of their friends." The tribes who still retain the
semblance of independence are forced to perform all the labour of the
fields, such as manuring the land, weeding, reaping, building, making dams
and canals, and at the same time to support themselves. I have myself been
an eye-witness of Boers coming to a village, and according to their usual
custom, demanding twenty or thirty women to weed their gardens, and have
seen these women proceed to the scene of unrequited toil, carrying their own
food on their heads, their children on their backs, and instruments of
labour on their shoulders. Nor have the Boers any wish to conceal the
meanness of thus employing unpaid labour; on the contrary, every one of
them, from Mr. Potgeiter and Mr. Gert Kruger, the commandants, downwards,
lauded his own humanity and justice in making such an equitable regulation.
'We make the people work for us, in consideration of allowing them to live
in our country.'
"I can appeal to the Commandant
Kruger if the foregoing is not a fair and impartial statement of the views
of himself and his people. I am sensible of no mental bias towards or
against these Boers; and during the several journeys I made to the poor
enslaved tribes, I never avoided the whites, but tried to cure and did
administer remedies to their sick, without money and without price. It is
due to them to state that I was invariably treated with respect; but it is
most unfortunate that they should have been left by their own Church for so
many years to deteriorate and become as degraded as the blacks, whom the
stupid prejudice against colour leads them to detest.
"This new species of slavery which
they have adopted serves to supply the lack of field labour only. The demand
for domestic servants must be met by forays on tribes which have good
supplies of cattle. The Portuguese can quote instances in which blacks
become so degraded by the love of strong drink as actually to sell
themselves; but never in any one case, within the memory of man, has a
Bechuana Chief sold any of his people, or a Bechuana man his child. Hence
the necessity for a foray to seize children. And those individual Boers who
would not engage in it for the sake of slaves, can seldom resist the twofold
plea of a well-told story of an intended uprising of the devoted tribe, and
the prospect of handsome pay in the division of captured cattle besides. It
is difficult for a person in a civilized country to conceive that any body
of men possessing the common attributes of humanity, (and these Boers are by
no means destitute of the better feelings of our nature,) should with one
accord set out, after loading their own wives and children with caresses,
and proceed to shoot down in cold blood, men and women of a different
colour, it is true, but possessed of domestic feelings and affections equal
to their own. I saw and conversed with children in the houses of Boers who
had by their own and their master's account been captured, and in several
instances I traced the parents of these unfortunates, though the plan
approved by the long-headed among the burghers is to take children so young
that they soon forget their parents and their native language also. It was
long before I could give credit to the tales of bloodshed told by native
witnesses, and had I received no other testimony but theirs, I should
probably have continued sceptical to this day as to the truth of the
accounts; but when I found the Boers themselves, some bewailing and
denouncing, others glorying in the bloody scenes in which they had been
themselves the actors, I was compelled to admit the validity of the
testimony, and try to account for the cruel anomaly. They are all
traditionally religious, tracing their descent from some of the best men
(Huguenots and Dutch) the world ever saw. Hence they claim to themselves the
title of 'Christians,' and all the coloured race are 'black property' or
'creatures.' They being the chosen people of God, the heathen are given to
them for an inheritance, and they are the rod of divine vengeance on the
heathen, as were the Jews of old.
"Living in the midst of a native
population much larger than themselves, and at fountains removed many miles
from each other, they feel somewhat in the same insecure position as do the
Americans in the Southern States. The first question put by them to
strangers is respecting peace; and when they receive reports from
disaffected or envious natives against any tribe, the case assumes all the
appearance and proportions of a regular insurrection. Severe measures then
appear to the most mildly disposed among them as imperatively called for,
and, however bloody the massacre that follows, no qualms of conscience
ensue: it is a dire necessity for the sake of peace. Indeed, the late Mr.
Hendrick Potgeiter most devoutly believed himself to be the great
peace-maker of the country.
"But how is it that the natives,
being so vastly superior in numbers to the Boers, do not rise and annihilate
them? The people among whom they live are Bechuanas, not Kaffirs, though no
one would ever learn that distinction from a Boer; and history does not
contain one single instance in which the Bechuanas, even those of them who
possess firearms, have attacked either the Boers or the English. If there is
such an instance, I am certain it is not generally known, either beyond or
in the Cape Colony. They have defended themselves when attacked, as in the
case of Sechele, but have never engaged in offensive war with Europeans. We
have a very different tale to tell of the Kaffirs, and the difference has
always been so evident to these border Boers that, ever since 'those
magnificent savages,' (the Kaffirs,) obtained possession of firearms, not
one Boer has ever attempted to settle in Kaffirland, or even face them as an
enemy in the field. The Boers have generally manifested a marked antipathy
to anything but 'long-shot' warfare, and, sidling away in their emigrations
towards the more effeminate Bechuanas, they have left their quarrels with
the Kaffirs to be settled by the English, and their wars to be paid for by
English gold.
"The Bechuanas at Kolobeng had the
spectacle of various tribes enslaved before their eyes; - the Bakatla, the
Batlo'kua, the Bahukeng, the Bamosetla, and two other tribes of Bechuanas,
were all groaning under the oppression of unrequited labour. This would not
have been felt as so great an evil, but that the young men of those tribes,
anxious to obtain cattle, the only means of rising to respectability and
importance among their own people, were in the habit of sallying forth, like
our Irish and Highland reapers, to procure work in the Cape Colony. After
labouring there three or four years, in building stone dykes and dams for
the Dutch farmers, they were well content if at the end of that time they
could return with as many cows. On presenting one to the chief, they ranked
as respectable men in the tribe ever afterwards. These volunteers were
highly esteemed among the Dutch, under the name of Mantatees. They were paid
at the rate of one shilling a day, and a large loaf of bread among six of
them. Numbers of them, who had formerly seen me about twelve hundred miles
inland from the Cape, recognised me with the loud laughter of joy when I was
passing them at their work in the Roggefelt and Bokkefelt, within a few days
of Cape Town. I conversed with them, and with Elders of the Dutch Church,
for whom they were working, and found that the system was thoroughly
satisfactory to both parties. I do not believe that there is a Boer, in the
Cashan or Magaliesberg country, who would deny that a law was made, in
consequence of this labour passing to the Colony, to deprive these labourers
of their hardly-earned cattle, for the very urgent reason that, "if they
want to work, let them work for us, their masters," though boasting that in
their case their work would not be paid.
"I can never cease to be most
unfeignedly thankful that I was not born in a land of slaves. No one can
understand the effect of the unutterable meanness of the slave system on the
minds of those who, but for the strange obliquity which prevents them from
feeling the degradation of not being gentlemen enough to pay for services
rendered, would be equal in virtue to ourselves."
After giving his experience of eight
years in Sechele's country, in Bechuanaland, Livingstone continues: -
"During that time, no winter passed without one or two of the tribes in the
east country being plundered of both cattle and children by the Boers. The
plan pursued is the following: one or two friendly tribes are forced to
accompany a party of mounted Boers. When they reach the tribe to be
attacked, the friendly natives are ranged in front, to form, as they say, 'a
shield;' the Boers then coolly fire over their heads till the devoted people
flee and leave cattle, wives and children to their captors. This was done in
nine cases during my residence in the interior, and on no occasion was a
drop of Boer's blood shed. News of these deeds spread quickly among the
Bechuanas, and letters were repeatedly sent by the Boers to Sechele,
ordering him to come and surrender himself as their vassal, and stop English
traders from proceeding into the country. But the discovery of lake Ngami,
hereafter to be described, made the traders come in five-fold greater
numbers, and Sechele replied, 'I was made an independent chief and placed
here by God, and not by you. I was never conquered by Mosilikatze, as those
tribes whom you rule over; and the English are my friends; I get everything
I wish from them; I cannot hinder them from going where they like.' Those
who are old enough to remember the threatened invasion of our own island,
may understand the effect which the constant danger of a Boer invasion had
on the minds of the Bechuanas; but no others can conceive how worrying were
the messages and threats from the endless self-constituted authorities of
the Magaliesberg Boers, and when to all this harassing annoyance was added
the scarcity produced by the drought, we could not wonder at, though we felt
sorry for, their indisposition to receive instruction.
"I attempted to benefit the native
tribes among the Boers of Magaliesberg by placing native teachers at
different points. 'You must teach the blacks,' said Mr. Hendrick Potgeiter,
the commandant in chief, 'that they are not equal to us.' Other Boers told
me 'I might as well teach the baboons on the rocks as the Africans,' but
declined the test which I proposed, namely, to examine whether they or my
native attendants could read best. Two of their clergymen came to baptize
the children of the Boers, so, supposing these good men would assist me in
overcoming the repugnance of their flock to the education of the blacks, I
called on them, but my visit ended in a ruse practised by the Boerish
commandant, whereby I was led, by professions of the greatest friendship, to
retire to Kolobeng, while a letter passed me, by another way, to the
missionaries in the south, demanding my instant recall for 'lending a cannon
to their enemies.'[14]
"These notices of the Boers are not
intended to produce a sneer at their ignorance, but to excite the compassion
of their friends.
"They are perpetually talking about
their laws; but practically theirs is only the law of the strongest. The
Bechuanas could never understand the changes which took place in their
commandants. 'Why, one can never know who is the chief among these Boers.
Like the Bushmen, they have no king - they must be the Bushmen of the
English.' The idea that any tribe of men could be so senseless as not to
have an hereditary chief was so absurd to these people, that in order not to
appear equally stupid, I was obliged to tell them that we English were so
anxious to preserve the royal blood that we had made a young lady our chief.
This seemed to them a most convincing proof of our sound sense. We shall see
farther on the confidence my account of our Queen inspired. The Boers,
encouraged by the accession of Mr. Pretorius, determined at last to put a
stop to English traders going past Kolobeng, by dispersing the tribe of
Bechuanas, and expelling all the missionaries. Sir George Cathcart
proclaimed the independence of the Boers. A treaty was entered into with
them; an article for the free passage of Englishmen to the country beyond,
and also another, that no slavery should be allowed in the independent
territory, were duly inserted, as expressive of the views of Her Majesty's
Government at home. 'But what about the missionaries?' enquired the Boers.
'You may do as you please with them,' is said to have been the answer of the
Commissioner. This remark, if uttered at all, was probably made in joke:
designing men, however, circulated it, and caused the general belief in its
accuracy which now prevails all over the country, and doubtless led to the
destruction of three mission stations immediately after. The Boers, 400 in
number, were sent by the late Mr. Pretorius to attack the Bechuanas in 1852.
Boasting that the English had given up all the blacks into their power, and
had agreed to aid them in their subjugation by preventing all supplies of
ammunition from coming into the Bechuana country, they assaulted the
Bechuanas, and, besides killing a considerable number of adults, carried off
200 of our school children into slavery. The natives, under Sechele,
defended themselves till the approach of night enabled them to flee to the
mountains; and having in that defence killed a number of the enemy, the very
first ever slain in this country by Bechuanas, I received the credit of
having taught the tribe to kill Boers! My house, which had stood perfectly
secure for years under the protection of the natives, was plundered in
revenge. English gentlemen, who had come in the footsteps of Mr. Cumming to
hunt in the country beyond, and had deposited large quantities of stores in
the same keeping, and upwards of eighty head of cattle as relays for the
return journeys, were robbed of all; and when they came back to Kolobeng,
found the skeletons of the guardians strewed all over the place. The books
of a good library - my solace in our solitude - were not taken away, but
handfuls of the leaves were torn out and scattered over the place. My stock
of medicines was smashed; and all our furniture and clothing carried off and
sold at public auction to pay the expenses of the foray. I do not mention
these things by way of making a pitiful wail over my losses, in order to
excite commiseration; for though I feel sorry for the loss of lexicons,
dictionaries, &c., &c., which had been the companions of my boyhood, yet,
after all, the plundering only set me entirely free for my expedition to the
north, and I have never since had a moment's concern for anything I left
behind. The Boers resolved to shut up the interior, and I determined to open
the country."
* * * * *
Mr. A. McArthur, of Holland Park,
wrote on March 22nd of this year: -
"When looking over some old letters
a few days ago, I found one from the late venerable Dr. Moffat, who was one
of the best friends South Africa ever had. It was written in answer to a few
lines I wrote him, informing him that the Transvaal had been annexed by the
British Government. I enclose a copy of his letter."
Dr. Moffat's letter is as follows: -
July 27th, 1877.
"My dear friend,
"I have no words to express the
pleasure the late annexation of the Transvaal territory to the Cape Colony
has afforded me. It is one of the most important measures our Government
could have adopted, as regards the Republic as well as the Aborigines. I
have no hesitation in pronouncing the step as being fraught with
incalculable benefits to both parties, - i.e., the settlers and the native
tribes. A residence of more than half a century beyond the colonial boundary
is quite sufficient to authorize one to write with confidence that Lord
Carnarvon's measure will be the commencement of an era of blessing to
Southern Africa. I was one of a deputation appointed by a committee to wait
on Sir George Clarke, at Bloemfontein, to prevent, if possible, his handing
over the sovereignty, now the Free State, to the emigrant Boers. Every
effort failed to prevent the blunder. Long experience had led many to
foresee that such a course would entail on the native tribes conterminous
oppression, slavery, alias apprenticeship, etc. Many a tale of woe could be
told arising, as they express it, from the English allowing their subjects
to spoil and exterminate. Hitherto, the natives have been the sufferers, and
might justly lay claim for compensation. With every expression of respect
and esteem, I remain, yours very sincerely, Robert Moffat."
* * * * *
A letter from a Son of Dr. Moffat
may have some interest here. It is dated December 20th, 1899.
The Rev. John Moffat, son of the
famous Dr. Moffat, and himself for a long time resident in South Africa, has
sent to a friend in London a letter regarding the relations of the British
and Dutch races previous to the war. Mr. Moffat, throughout his varied
experiences, has been a special friend to the natives. One of his younger
sons, Howard, is with a force of natives 60 miles south west of Khama's town
(at the time of writing, December 20th), and Dr. Alford Moffat, another son,
was medical officer to 300 Volunteers occupying the Mangwe Pass, to prevent
a Boer raid into Rhodesia at that point.
He writes: -
"1. Had Steyn sat still and minded
his own business no one would have meddled with him. Had Kruger confined
himself strictly to self-defence, and we had invaded him, we might have had
to blame ourselves.
"2. To have placed an adequate
defensive force on our borders before we were sure that there was going to
be war would have been accepted (perhaps justly) by the Boers as a menace.
We did not do it, out of respect for their susceptibilities.
"3. To most people in South Africa
who knew the Boers it was quite plain that Kruger was all along playing what
is colloquially known as the game of 'spoof.' He never intended to make the
slightest concession.
"4. Take them as a whole, the Boers
are not pleasant people to live with, especially to those who are within
their power, as the natives have found out sufficiently, and as the British
have found out ever since Majuba, and the retrocession of the Transvaal. The
wrongs of the Uitlanders were only one symptom of a disease which originated
at Pretoria in 1881, and was steadily spreading itself all over South
Africa.
"5. With regard to the equal rights
question, it is quite true that all is not as it ought to be in the Cape
Colony. But the condition of the native in the Transvaal is 100 years behind
that of our natives in the Cape Colony, and you may take it as a broad fact
that in proportion as Boer domination prevails the gravitation of the native
towards slavery will be accelerated."
In conclusion, Mr. Moffat has this
to say of the "Boer dream of Afrikander predominance": "We, who have been
living out here, have been hearing about this thing for years, but we have
tried not to believe it. We felt, many of us, that the struggle had to come,
but we held our peace because we did not want to be charged with fomenting
race hatred." He refers to Ben Viljoen's manifesto of September 29th, and to
President Steyn's manifesto, and State Secretary Reitz's proclamation of
October 11th, and says, "When I read these in conjunction with the history
of South Africa for the last 18 years, I see that the cause of peace was
hopeless in such hands."
* * * * *
Almost contemporaneously with the
expression of opinion of Dr. Moffat (in 1877), the following report was
written by M. Dieterlen, to the Committee of the Missions Evangeliques de
Paris: -
"Lessouto, June 28th, 1876.
"Gentlemen,
"I must give you details of the
journey which I have just made with four native evangelists; for no doubt
you will wish to know why a missionary expedition, begun under the happiest
auspices, and with the good wishes of so many Christians, has come to grief,
on account of the ill-will of certain men, and has been, from a human point
of view, a humiliating failure. Having placed myself at the head of the
expedition, and being the only white man in the missionary group, I must
bear the whole responsibility of our return, and if there is anyone to blame
it is I.
"From our departure from Leriba, as
far as the other side of Pretoria, our voyage was most agreeable. We went on
with energy, thinking only of our destination, the Banyais country, making
plans for our settling amongst those people, and full of happiness at the
thought of our new enterprise. An excellent spirit prevailed in our little
troop, - serious and gay at the same time; no regrets, no murmurings; with a
presentiment, indeed, that the Transvaal Government might make some
objection to our advance, but with the certainty that God was with us, and
would over-rule all that man might try to do. We crossed the Orange Free
State without hindrance, we passed the Vaal, and continued our route towards
the capital of the Transvaal; we reached the first village through which we
must pass - Heidelberg - and encamped some distance from there. There they
told us that the Boers knew that we were about to pass, and if they wished
to stop us, it would be there they would do it. Let us take courage,
therefore, we said, and be ready for everything. We unharnessed, and walked
through the village in full daylight, posting our letters, etc. No one
stopped us or spoke to us, and we retired to our encampment, thanking God
that He had kept us through this critical moment. Some days later, we
approached a charming spot, within three hours of Pretoria, near a clear
stream, surrounded with lovely trees and flowers; we took the Communion
together, strengthening each other for the future. Monday, at nine o'clock,
we reached Pretoria. We were looked at with curiosity; they read our names
on the sides of my waggon, they seemed surprised, and held discussions among
themselves; the Field Cornet himself saw us pass, they told me sometime
later. But we passed through the town without opposition.
"We continued our way to the
north-east full of thankfulness, saying to each other that after all the
Government of the Transvaal was not so ill-disposed towards us. Our oxen
continued to walk with sturdy steps; we had not yet lost one, although the
cattle plague was prevalent at the time. Wednesday, at four o'clock in the
evening, we left the house of an English merchant, with whom we had passed a
little time, and who had placed at our disposal everything which we needed.
Towards eight o'clock, by a splendid moonlight, I was walking in front of my
waggon with Asser (one of the native missionaries), seeking a suitable place
where we could pass the night, when two horsemen galloped up, and drawing
bridle, brusquely asked for my papers, and seeing that I had not the papers
that they desired, ordered us to turn round and go back to Pretoria. One of
these men was the Sheriff, who showed me a warrant for my arrest, and
putting his hand on my shoulder, declared me to be his prisoner. This, I may
say in passing, made little impression on me. We retraced our steps, always
believing that when we had paid some duty exacted for our luggage and our
goods, we should be allowed to go in peace. Towards midnight they permitted
us to unharness near a farm. The next morning these gentlemen searched all
through the waggon of the native evangelists, and put any objects which they
suspected aside. All this, with my waggon, must be sent back to Pretoria,
there to be inspected by anyone who chose.
"That same day I arrived in Pretoria
in a cart, seated between the Field Cornet and the Sheriff, who were much
softened when they saw that I did not reply to them in the tone which they
themselves adopted, and that I had not much the look of a smuggler. The
Secretary of the Executive Council exacted from me bail to the amount of
L300 sterling, for which a German missionary from Berlin, Mr. Grueneberger,
had the goodness to be my guarantor. I made a deposition, saying who we
were, whence we came, and where we were going, insisting that we had no
merchandise in our waggon, only little objects of exchange by which we could
procure food in countries where money has no value. We had no intention of
establishing ourselves within the limits of the Transvaal; we were going
beyond the Limpopo, and consequently were simple travellers, and were not
legally required to take any steps in regard to the Government, nor even to
ask a passport. All this was written down and addressed to the Executive
Committee, who took the matter in hand.
"As they, however, accused us of
being smugglers, and having somewhere a cannon, they proceeded to the
examination of my waggon. They opened everything, ran their hands in
everywhere, into biscuit boxes, among clothes, among candles, etc., and
found neither cannon nor petroleum. The comedy of the smuggling ended, they
took note of the contents of my boxes, and then attacked us from another
side. They decided to treat me as a missionary. The Solicitor-General said
to me that the Government did not care to have French missionaries going to
the other side of the Limpopo. I said, 'these countries do not belong to the
Transvaal;' to which they replied, 'Do you know what our intentions are?
Have you not heard of the treaties which we have been able to make with the
natives and with the Portuguese?' There! that is the reply which they made
to me. They took good care not to inscribe it in the document in which they
ordered us to leave the Transvaal immediately. These are things which they
do not care to write, lest they should awaken the just susceptibilities of
other Governments, or arouse the indignation of all true Christians. But
there is the secret of the policy of the Transvaal in regard to us
missionaries; they feared us, because they know our attachment to the
natives, and our devotion to their interests.
"They then ordered me to retrace at
once my steps, threatening confiscation of our goods and the imprisonment of
our persons if we attempted to force a passage through the country. I had to
pay L14 sterling for the expenses of this mock trial. They brought the four
native Evangelists out of the prison where they had spent two nights and a
day in a very unpleasant manner; they gave me leave to take our two waggons
out of the square of the Hotel de Ville where they had been put, together
with the Transvaal Artillery, some pieces of ordnance, a large Prussian
cannon and a French mitrailleuse from Berlin.
"We were free, we were again united,
but what a sorrowful reunion! We could hardly believe that all was ended,
and that we must retrace our steps; so many hopes dissipated in a moment!
and the thought of having to turn back after having arrived so near to our
destination, was heart breaking. We were all rather sad, asking each other
if we were merely the sport of a bad dream or if this was indeed the will of
God. T resolved to make one more effort and ask an interview with the
President of the Transvaal, Mr. Burgers. It was granted to me. I went
therefore to the Cabinet of the President and spoke a long time with the
Solicitor-General, protesting energetically against the force they had used
against us, and I discussed the matter also with the President himself, but
without being able to obtain any reasonable reply to the objections I
raised. I saw clearly that I had to do with men determined to have their own
way, and putting what they chose to consider the interests of the State
above those of all Divine and human laws.
"Their Parliament (Raad) was
sitting, and I addressed myself to two of its members whom I had seen the
day before, and who had seemed annoyed at the conduct of the Government
towards us. I besought them for the honour of their country, to bring before
their Parliament a question on the subject; but they dared not consent to
this, declaring that if the Government were to put the matter before the
representatives of the country these latter would decide in our favour, but
that they could never take the initiative.
"I had now exhausted all the means
at my disposal. I did all I could to obtain leave to continue our journey,
and only capitulated at the last extremity. I received a written order from
the Government telling me to leave the soil of the Republic immediately.
"These gentlemen had made me wait a
long time, perhaps because they found it more difficult and dangerous to put
down on paper orders which it was much easier to give vocally. This note was
only a reproduction of the accusations they had made against us from the
beginning. They declared to us that we were driven from the country because
we had introduced guns, ammunition, and a great quantity of merchandise, and
because we had entered the Transvaal without a passport, in spite of the
Government itself having recently proclaimed a passport unnecessary for
evangelists going through the country. In this document they systematically
misrepresented and violated the right which every white man had had until
then of travelling without permission. From the beginning to the end of this
document it was open to criticism, which the feeblest jurist could have
made; but in the Transvaal, as elsewhere, might dominates right, and we have
to suffer the consequences of this odious principle.
"We sorrowfully retraced the route
towards the Vaal; this time no more joyous singing around our fire at night,
no more cheerful projects, no more the hope of being the first to announce
the glad Evangel among pagan populations. The veldt we traversed seemed to
have lost its poetry and to have become desolate. To add to our misfortunes
the epidemic seized our oxen. We lost first one and then a second, -
altogether eight. Those which were left, tired and lean, dragged slowly and
with pain the waggons which before they had drawn along with such vigour. At
last we were in sight of Mabolela, and arrived at our destination,
sorrowful, yet not unhappy, determined not to be discouraged by this first
check. And now we were again at Lessouto, waiting for God to open to us a
new door."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 12: The extract commences
at chapter II, page 29.]
[Footnote 13: Near Pretoria.]
[Footnote 14: Livingstone had given to the Chief, Sechele, a large iron pot
for cooking purposes, and the form of it excited the suspicions of the
Boers, who reported that it was a cannon. That pot is now in the Museum, at
Cape Town.]
