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AFRICA: 
Past and Present. 



A CONCISE ACCOUNT 

OF THE COUNTRY, ITS HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, EXPLORA- 
TIONS. CLIMATES, PRODUCTIONS, RESOURCES, POPULA- 
TION, 'I'RIBES, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, LANGUAGES, 
COLONIZATION, AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 



BY AN OLD RESIDENT. 



WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



PREFACE. 



HE interest which is now felt by all classes in 



everything relating to Africa has suggested to 
the Author the propriety of giving to the public the 
results of his own observations and researches during 
his residence and travels, both in the western and 
southern sections of the great continent, together with 
such information as he has been able to glean from 
the various works that he has read upon the subject 
during the half-century which has elapsed since his 
attention was first drawn to the study of this interesting 
quarter of the globe. 

By careful analysis, arrangement, and condensation, 
the writer has endeavoured to make the present volume, 
not only a work of interest to the general reader, but 
also a portable, cheap, and convenient handbook of 
reference on the subjects of which it treats for mission- 
aries, merchants, travellers, emigrants, and others who 
wish for reliable information on the history, geography, 




iv Preface. 

climate, resources, and productions of Africa ; and the 
character, manners, customs, and social condition of its 
inhabitants ; together with what has been done, and 
what yet remains to be done, to promote their moral 
and religious improvement. 

How far the Author has succeeded in his aim must 
be left for the reader to judge. It is hoped that the 
index, map, and illustrations will add to the value of 
the volume, and contribute to its general and permanent 
usefulness. 

W. MOISTER. 

Sedbergh, Yorkshire, 

November 15M, 1879. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Early Adventure and Discovery. 

PAG 

Herodotus and Strabo — Arab Travellers — Portuguese Discoveries — 
French Discoveries — British African Association — Mungo Park — 
Sundry Travellers — Tuckey and Peddie — Gray and Laing — Ritchie 
and Lyon — Denham and Clapperton — Laing and Caillie . . i 

CHAPTER n. 
Recent Adventure and Discovery. 

Richard and John Lander — Laird and Oldfield — Coulthurst and 
Davidson — Niger Expedition — Barth, Krapf and Rebmann — 
Burton and Speke — Grant and Baker — Dr. Livingstone, Stanley, 
and Cameron .... . • • • S3 

CHAPTER HI. 
Slavery and the Slave Trade. 

Prevalence of Slavery — Sources of Slavery — Uses of Slaves — Treatment 
of Slaves — The Slave Trade — Methods of Procuring Slaves — The 
Middle Passage — Slaves in Exile — Abolition of the Slave Trade — 
Emancipation of Slaves — Work Still to be Done . . . loi 



vi 



Conteyits. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Northern Africa. 

r 

Africa in General — Egypt — Nubia — Abyssinia — Tlie Barbary States — 
Barca — Tripoli — Tunis — Algiers — Morocco 

CHAPTER V. 
Western Africa. 

Geographical Boundaries — Topographical Aspect and Scenery — • 
Mountains and Rivers — Climate and Seasons — Soil and Produc- 
tions — Native Tribes — Manners and Customs — Superstitious 
Notions and Practices — Colonization and Missions — Sierra Leone 
— The Gambia — The Gold Coast— Lagos — Liberia — Senegal — 
Fernando Po — Angola ........ 

CHAPTER VI. 

Southern Africa. 

General Description — Mountains, Rivers, and Lakes — Soil, Produc- 
tions, and Climate— Native Tribes and Settlers — European Colo- 
nization — The Cape Colony — Western Province — The Cape 
Colony — Eastern Province — British Kaffraria — The Colony of 
Natal — The Orange, Free ^tate — The Transvaal — Neighbouring 
Territories ........... 

CHAPTER VII. 
Eastern and Central Africa. 

General Outline — Rivers and Harbours — Native Tribes and Settlers — 
Portuguese Colonization — DelagoaBay — Mozambique — Quillimane 
— Zanzibar — Aden — Christian Missions— Makololo Mission — Lfni- 
versities' Mission — Livingstonia Mission at Lake N'yassa — London 
Society's Mission at Lake Tanganyika — Church Society's Mission 
at Lake N'yanza — Conclusion ....... 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



I'ACE 

I. Map of Africa ...... To face Title Page. 

II. Hippopotami at the Falls of Barraconda, River Gambia . 13 

III. Falls of Govinia, River Senegal, in the Rainy Season . . 22 

IV. Canoe Travelling on the River Niger ..... 56 
V. Lake Tanganyika, as seen from the South . . . .82 

VI. Slaves on their March from the Interior to the Coast . .114 
VII. Women Pounding Corn for Cus-cus at the Gambia . . 140 
VIII. African Village and Palaver Tree ...... 170 

IX. Fort and Town of Elmina ....... 200 

X. Kumasi, the Capital of Ashanti . . _ . . . . 216 

XI. The Island of Goree ........ 226 

XII. Port and Shipping at the Mouth of the Gaboon . . . 240 

XIII. Village of Slengelly, Delagoa Bay 270 

XIV. Slave Market at Zanzibar ....... 300 

XV. Steamer Point, Aden 337 

XVI. Dining on the Banks of the Upper Shire .... 356 
XVII. Camp at Kigoma on the Borders of Tanganyika . . . 365 



CHAPTER I. 



EARLY ADVENTURE AND DISCCVERY. 



Herodotus and Strabo — Arab Travellers — Portuguese Discoveries — Early 
English Discoveries — French Discoveries — British African Association 
— Mungo Park — Sundry Travellers — Tuckey and Peddie — Gray and 
Laing — Ritchie and Lyon — Denham and Clapperton — Laing and 
Caillie. 



HROUGHOUT the entire range of modern geography 



1 we find no country more interesting in its general 
features, or presenting stronger claims upon the attention of the 
Christian philanthropist than Africa. And yet it is a remark- 
able fact that, until a comparatively recent period, the interior 
regions of this vast continent remained almost entirely unknown 
to the civilized nations of the earth. It is true, Egypt and 
Nubia on the borders of the Red Sea, and Libya, Carthage 
and other districts on the shores of the Mediterranean, were 
well known to the ancients ; but all beyond appears to have 
been a veritable terra hicognita. Hence it becomes an inter- 
esting inquiry — At what periods, and by what means, were the 
more distant shores of Africa explored, and the inner regions 
of the great continent partially made known to the rest of the 
world ? An answer to this question may appropriately form the 
subject of the present and following chapters, as introductory 
to the account we have to give of the country itself, the char- 
acter of the people by whom it is inhabited, and the means 
which have been at different times employed for their civil, 
social, and moral elevation. 




I 



Africa: Past and Present. 



Herodotus and Strabo. 

The earliest instance we find on record of African explora- 
tion inland is that of Herodotus, the celebrated Greek historian ; 
who, when collecting information respecting the whole world 
for his great historical work, was obliged, in the absence of 
written documents, to have recourse to travelling. His published 
narrative is almost entirely the record of what he saw and heard 
during his various peregrinations ; and, even at this distant 
period, it possesses an interest superior to that of most ancient 
writings. By means of a long stay in Egypt, and an intimate 
acquaintance with the native priests, he obtained much infor- 
mation respecting the wide region which extends from the Nile 
to the Atlantic. But not satisfied with this, he took an exten- 
sive jpurney into the interior of the country. He justly de- 
scribes it as much inferior in fertility to the cultivated parts of 
Europe and Asia, and as suffering severely from drought. On 
quitting the northern coast, which he terms the " forehead of 
Africa," the country became more and more arid. He speaks 
of hills of salt, out of which the natives constructed their houses 
without any fear of their melting beneath a shower, in a region 
where rain was almost unknown. As he proceeded, the land 
became almost a desert, and was filled with such multitudes of 
wild beasts as to make travelling extremely dangerous. Farther 
to the south the sandy barren soil no longer afforded food even 
for these fierce tenants of the wilderness : there was not a blade 
of grass, a tree, or a fountain of water to be seen ; total silence 
and widespread desolation reigned, so that he was obliged to 
return. Such is the general picture which Herodotus draws of 
this northern boundary of the great African desert, which subse- 
quent examination has found to be on the whoJe fairly correct. 

Strabo, who wrote at a subsequent period, and after the 
Roman sway was fully established over the northern coast of 
Africa, gives an interesting account of some of the interior 
states. He does not, like Herodotus, profess to have visited 
the countries which he describes, but simply records the infor- 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 



3 



mation which he had obtained from others. Extending his 
view beyond the Atlas, he describes the Mauri as peopling a 
rich country on the Atlantic coast, capable of yielding the most 
abundant harvests ; but nothing could wean the nation from a 
wandering life, in which they delighted, moving continually with 
their tents from place to place, wrapped in skins of wild beasts, 
and riding without saddle, and often without bridle, on small, 
swift-footed, active horses. He represents them as fighting with 
swords and spears, and not with poisoned arrows, as Horace 
had described some warlike African tribes when engaged in 
furious contests with each other. Further information has 
proved that both these weapons, and many other dangerous 
missiles, are used by different savage nations inhabiting the 
continent of Africa. 

Arab Travellers. 

The first to penetrate the interior of Africa for the purposes 
of trade and commerce, and to notice the character of the 
country and the people, were the enterprising Arabs. At an 
early period they introduced the camel, which, though a native 
of the s^ndy wastes of Arabia, was equally adapted to the still 
more extensive deserts which stretch so widely over many parts 
of Africa. By means of these patient creatures, sometimes 
called "the ships of the desert," the mercantile adventurers 
alluded to, everywhere known as " Moors," pushed their way 
through the narrowest parts of the great Sahara to the more 
fertile and populous regions of the interior, where they propa- 
gated the Moslem faith and carried on a lucrative trade with 
the various negro tribes among whom they sojourned. We are 
indebted to some of these semi-civilized adventurers for our 
earliest knowledge of Inner Africa, their narratives having come 
down to us in the Arabic language. Allowance being made 
for the high colouring which frequently characterizes these nar- 
ratives, much useful information may be gathered from them, 
as some of the parties concerned were professed travellers as 
well as traders. A specimen or two of the most interesting. 



4 



Africa : Past and Present. 



and apparently the most reliable, of these early explorations is 
all that our limited space will permit us to give, purposely 
omitting accounts of African travels which are evidently 
fabulous. 

It is recorded of Ibn Batuta, a learned Mohammedan who 
flourished in the fourteenth century, that he commenced his 
great journey to the interior of Africa from Fez. He went first 
to Segilmissa, which he describes as a handsome town situated 
in a country abounding with date trees. Having joined a 
caravan, he came, after a journey of twenty-five days, to Tha- 
ghari, a place celebrated for its mine of salt, where the native 
huts were built of slabs of that mineral, and roofed with camels' 
hides. Thence he went in twenty days to Tashala, three days 
beyond which commenced a desert of the most dreary aspect, 
where there was neither water, bird, nor tree, — " nothing but 
sand and hills of sand." In ten days more he reached Abu 
Latin, a large trading town, crowded with native merchants 
from various parts of the continent. From Abu Latin our 
adventurer proceeded in twenty-four days to Mali, then the 
most flourishing city in that part of the interior. Here the 
traveller was astonished by the immense size of the trees, in 
the hollow trunk of one of whigh he observed a weaver plying 
his trade ! In this part of his journey Ibn Batuta saw an 
immense river, probably the Niger ; and the view necessarily 
led to a conclusion opposite to that hitherto entertained by his 
countrymen, who considered it as flowing eastward to the ocean. 
Having no opportunity of making a complete observation, he 
fell into the opposite error, afterwards prevalent in Northern 
Africa, and identified it with the Nile. From Mali he turned 
northward to Timbuctu. This city was then governed by a 
negro viceroy, and was far from possessing the celebrity and 
importance which it afterwards attained. He next proceeded 
eastward by Kawkaw, Bardama, and Nakda, where he seems 
to have been near Nubia, but gives no further details till he 
again arrived at Fez. 

About two centuries after Ibn Batuta, a very full description 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 5 

of Africa was furnished by a geographer named Leo, who was 
even honoured with the surname of Africanus. He was a 
native of Grenada, in Spain ; but having, after the capture of 
that city by Ferdinand, repaired to Fez, he acquired a know- 
ledge of Arabic learning and of the African continent. He 
afterwards travelled through a great part of the interior ; and 
having, on his return, made his way to Rome, he wrote a 
narrative of his journey under the auspices of Pope Leo X. 
It appears from this account that Timbuctu, at the time of 
his visit, had risen to the position of a powerful and important 
city, — the centre of commerce and wealth in that part of Africa. 
Ghana, once possessed of imperial dignity, had changed its 
name to Kano, and become tributary to Timbuctu. Bornou 
appears under its present appellation ; and some native sove- 
reigns, who afterwards held conspicuous rank, are mentioned 
for the first time. The names of several prominent places are 
also readily identified with those mentioned by subsequent 
travellers. At Timbuctu several of the Moorish merchants 
were exceedingly opulent, and two of them had obtained 
princesses in marriage. Literature was cultivated with ardour, 
and Arabic manuscripts bore a higher price than any other 
commodity. Izchia, the king, who had subdued all the 
neighbouring countries, maintained an army of three thousand 
horse and a numerous infantry, partly armed with poisoned 
arrows. Gold, for which its capital had now become the chief 
mart, was lavishly employed in the embellishment of his court 
and person ; some of his ornaments weighing as much as 
1300 ounces ! The royal palace and several mosques were 
built of stone ; but the ordinary habitations, as in all towns 
and villages of Central Africa, were merely bell-shaped huts, 
the materials of which were stakes, clay, and reeds. 

Portuguese Discoveries. 

Little more was done in the way of exploring the distant 
coasts and interior regions of Africa till towards the end of the 
fifteenth century, when the different nations of Europe began 



6 



Africa : Past and Present, 



to awake from the slumber and apathy in which they had been 
so long involved. The invention of the mariner's compass, 
the skill of the Venetian and Genoese pilots, and the know- 
ledge which had been transmitted from former times, inspired 
all classes with the hope of being able to pass the ancient geo- 
graphical barriers of the globe, and to throw light upon regions 
hitherto unknown. Portugal, a nation of comparatively small 
resources, but of remarkable energy, started first in this career 
of maritime and geographical enterprise, and took the lead for 
a considerable period of all the European states. During the 
reign of its kings John and Emanuel, it stood pre-eminent in 
this respect ; and Prince Henry in particular — a younger son 
of John I. — devoted all his thoughts to the promotion of naval 
undertakings. 

No idea had been entertained at this early period of the 
new world afterwards discovered by the daring and enterprising 
Columbus. The local position of their country, its wars and 
expeditions against Morocco, suggested the thought that the 
western border of Africa was the best field for research. The 
information respecting this coast was at that time very limited ; 
so that the passage of Cape Bojador by GiHanez, in 1433, 
caused a surprise and admiration almost equal to what were 
afterwards excited by the discovery of America. On a second 
attempt at exploration rapid progress was made along the shore 
of the great Sahara, and the Portuguese navigators were not 
long in reaching the fertile regions watered by the Senegal and 
the Gambia. The early part of this voyage was dreary in the 
extreme, for the mariners saw nothing but naked rocks and 
burning sands stretching far away into the interior in every 
direction. Beyond Cape Blanco, however, Nuno Tristan, in 
1443, discovered the Island of Arguin ; and, notwithstanding 
the disaster of Gonzalo de Cintra, who, in 1445, was killed by 
a party of Moors at that place, the Portuguese made it for 
some time their head-quarters, whilst they undertook further 
explorations on the neighbouring continent. 

The researches of the Portuguese on the western coast of 



Early Adveiiture and Discovery. 



7 



Africa, at this early period, were stimulated by the hope of 
discovering and opening an intercourse with a distinguished 
sable prince of whom they had heard much under the mys- 
terious appellation of " Prester John." This singular name 
seems to have been first introduced by travellers from Eastern 
Asia, who represented the imaginary person to whom it was 
applied as reigning in unexampled splendour in some part 
of the interior of Africa. What were the precise expectations 
from intercourse with this far-fame|i personage does not fully 
appear ; but the idea was thoroughly rooted in the minds of 
the navigators, that they would be raised to a matchless height 
of glory and renown if they could by any means arrive at his 
court. The same delusion seems to have prevailed at home, 
for the principal instruction given to all officers employed in 
African service was, that in every quarter and by every means 
they should endeavour to effect this grand discovery. They 
accordingly never failed to put the question to all the wanderers 
of the Desert, and to every caravan that came from the interior, 
if they knew anything of the dwelling-place of Prester John. But 
all their inquiries were in vain : such a person had never been 
heard of; and we need scarcely add that, being a mere myth, he 
was never found. 

In 1446 Diniz Fernandez discovered Cape Verd, and in the 
following year Lancelot, another Portuguese navigator, entered 
the mouth of the Senegal. In this neighbourhood the mariners 
found fertile and populous regions, that promised to reward 
their exertions much more effectually than the visionary name 
after which they had so eagerly inquired. A circumstance 
occurred also at this time which was regarded as peculiarly 
auspicious. An African prince of the Jalloff nation, named 
Bemoy, came to the Portuguese at Arguin, complaining that 
he had been driven from the throne of his ancestors, and 
entreating the aid of the strangers to enable him to recover his 
crown, which he was willing, he said, to wear as their ally, and 
even as their vassal. He was received with open arms, and 
conveyed to Lisbon soon afterwards, where he met with a 



8 



Africa : Past and Present. 



brilliant reception, being entertained with bull-fights, puppet- 
shows, and other kindred amusements. After being instructed 
in the Christian religion, according to the rites of the Romish 
Church, he was baptized, and did homage to the King and to 
the Pope for the crown which was to be placed on his head 
through their influence on his return to his native land. At 
length an expedition was fitted out, under the command of 
Pero Vaz d'Acunha, to convey the young prince to his own 
country on the banks of th^ Senegal. The conclusion of this 
adventure was, however extremely tragical ; for, a quarrel having 
arisen between Bemoy and the commander of the ship in which 
he sailed, the latter stabbed the prince on board of his vessel, 
and thus an end was put to this strange enterprise. 

The Portuguese continued to prosecute their African dis- 
coveries till 1 47 1, when they reached the Gold Coast, where, 
dazzled by the importance and splendour of the commodity, 
the commerce of which gave name to the region, they built 
Elmina, with its fort and other appendages, and made it the 
capital of their possessions on that part of the continent. 
Pushing onward to Benin, they received a curious account of 
a powerful African sovereign, whose kingdom was said to be 
situated at a distance of seven or eight hundred miles from 
the coast. From the statements made of the splendour which 
surrounded this sable monarch, the strangers for a time in- 
dulged the pleasing but delusive hope that he might prove 
to be the far-famed Prester John, of whom they had been so 
long in search ; but their most careful inquiries resulted in 
disappointment, as before. 

In 1484 Diego Cam sailed from Elmina in quest of new 
shores, on which the cross might be planted as an emblem of 
national dominion, according to the instructions which he had 
received from the king of Portugal. After passing Cape St. 
Catharine, he found himself involved in a very strong current 
setting out from the land, which was still distant ; and the 
water, when tasted, was ascertained to be fresh. It was con- 
jectured, from these circumstances, that he was near the mouth 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 9 



of a large river, which proved to be the case, and it is now well 
known as the Zaire or Congo. On reaching the southern bank 
of the magnificent stream, Diego landed and- erected his first 
monument, indicative of his claim to the country. On ascending 
the river for a short distance, he came in contact with some of 
the inhabitants, and inquired after the residence of their sove- 
reign. They pointed to a place at a considerable distance in 
the interior, and undertook to guide thither a mission, which 
they pledged themselves, within a given period, to lead back in 
safety. As the natives in the meantime passed and repassed 
between the shore and the vessel with the utmost freedom and 
confidence, Diego basely took advantage of a moment when 
several of the principal persons were on board, weighed anchor 
and stood out to sea. 

Great was the consternation of the simple-minded negroes 
when they found themselves floating away from their native 
shores in the white man's big ship. Diego tried to soothe 
them as best he could, by endeavouring to make them under- 
stand, by signs and otherwise, that this step was taken solely to 
gratify the anxious desire of his sovereign to see and converse 
with these African chiefs — assuring them that in fifteen moons 
they should be brought back in safety to their native land. He 
then sailed for Lisbon, where he exhibited with triumph these 
living trophies of his wonderful discoveries. The king was 
much pleased, and held many conversations with the sable 
strangers, whom he loaded with honours, and caused to be 
conveyed back to their own country within the appointed 
time. 

On arriving in the mouth of the river, Diego was highly 
gratified to see waiting on the shore the portion of the crew 
whom he had left behind as pledges of his return, and con- 
cerning whom he had felt some anxiety. He found the natives 
on shore disposed to be quite friendly, their confidence in the 
pale-faced strangers being increased by the safe return of their 
fellow-countrymen, after witnessing the strange sights of Europe. 
Diego was now invited to the native court, where the sable 



lO Africa: Past and Present. 



sovereign not only received him with kindness, but agreed to 
embrace Christianity, and to send several of his nobles to 
Portugal to be instructed in its principles. They soon after- 
wards sailed accordingly, and their arrival at Lisbon gave fresh 
satisfaction to the king and his people. They remained two 
years in Europe, experiencing the best treatment ; and, on being 
considered ripe for baptism, the king stood godfather to the 
principal envoy, and his chief courtiers to others ; on which 
occasion the African converts received the names of the dis- 
tinguished persons by whom they had been thus honoured. 

In 1490 a new armament was fitted out, under the command 
of Ruy de Sousa, to convey this party of Africans back to their 
native land, and to take more formal possession of the country. 
The Portuguese, on their arrival once more at the mouth of the 
Congo, were received by the sable monarch and his people 
with great pomp, and the most extravagant manifestations of 
barbaric joy. The native troops were drawn up to grace the 
occasion, and advanced towards the shore in three lines, 
making a prodigious noise with horns, kettledrums, and other 
rude instruments. The king was seated on an ivory chair 
raised on a platform, dressed in rich and glossy skins of wild 
beasts, with a bracelet of brass hanging from his left arm, a 
horse's tail pending from his shoulder, and a head dress of fine 
cloth woven from the palm-tree of the country. He gave full 
permission to the strangers to settle in his dominions, to build 
a church, and to propagate the Christian religion. The king 
himself and all his nobles were forthwith baptized ; and the 
freest scope was allowed to the Roman Catholic missionaries 
who accompanied the expedition to prosecute their appointed 
work. 

Here was a fine opportunity of introducing the pure light 
of the Gospel into a benighted land ; but it is to be feared that 
the Romish priests brought by the Portuguese did not duly 
improve it, or proceed in a manner that was likely permanently 
to benefit the people. They baptized the poor ignorant natives 
by hundreds and thousands, it is true, and adapted the cere- 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 1 1 

monies and gaudy processions of their Church in a great 
measure to the heathen rites and superstitions of the people ; 
but they were left in the grossest pagan ignorance, without any 
adequate idea of the principles of Christianity which they were 
made to profess. It is, moreover, admitted by Portuguese 
historians that physical force was frequently employed to bring 
the natives more completely under tire will of the priests. The 
accounts given of some of the floggings which took place, of 
both males and females, would be alternately shocking and 
ludicrous if it were not for the fact that they were associated 
with the propagation of religion. The ultimate result of such 
a system might have been easily foreseen. After a long career 
of superstition and folly, and of the so-called success of the 
mission, the priests came into collision with the chiefs and 
people on the subject of polygamy and other matters, and they 
were summarily expelled from the country. At what period 
this occurred does not appear ; but when subsequent travellers 
explored the banks of the Congo in the following century, 
they found no trace of Christianity or of the labours of the 
Romish missionaries, nor any traditions among the natives of 
their ever having been there. 

Early English Discoveries. 

In the early part of the seventeenth century a change had 
passed over the relative positions of the mercantile and 
maritime powers of Europe. Portugal had been eclipsed by 
Spain, France, and Holland in succession. The last-named 
power had wrested from the Portuguese their far-famed African 
settlement Elmina, and usurped their position and influence 
on that part of the coast. At the same time a spirit of enter- 
prise was awakened in England such as had never been known 
before. In 1618 a company was formed in London for the 
purpose of exploring the Gambia, with the impression that that 
noble river might prove a highway into the interior, and to 
the wealthy neighbourhood of Timbuctu, if it were not in fact 



12 



Afj'ii a : Past and Present. 



an outlet of the mighty Joliba, or Niger, as some geographers 
supposed. 

The first person employed in this service was Richard 
Thompson, a man of considerable spirit and enterprise, who 
was sent out in the autumn of the same year, in charge ot 
the brig Catharine, 120 tons burden, with a cargo worth 
about p^2,ooo. In the month of December he entered the 
river ; and proceeded as high as Kassan, where he left his 
vessel and most of his crew, and pushed on in boats. The 
Portuguese, who were still numerous in that district, and 
retained all their lofty claims, were seized with bitter jealousy 
of this expedition, made by a foreign and rival power. Led 
on by Hector Nunez, they furiously attacked the party left 
at Kassan and made a general massacre of our countrymen. 
Thompson was greatly distressed on hearing the dreadful 
tidings that several of his men had thus fallen by the hand 
of violence ; but he was too weak to avenge the slaughter of 
his people. He nevertheless prosecuted his discoveries with 
vigour, and sent home the most encouraging accounts of the 
general prospects of his undertaking. The company, influenced 
by his statements, sent out another vessel, which unfortunately 
arrived at the most unhealthy season of the year, and lost 
most of tlie crew by death. Yet they were not dismayed ; but 
forthwith fitted out a third and larger expedition, consisting of 
the Sion, of 200 tons, and the St. John, of 50, and gave the 
command to Richard Jobson, to whom we are indebted for 
the first reliable and satisfactory account of the great river- 
districts of Western Africa. 

Jobson entered the Gambia in the month of November, 
1620 ; and the first intelligence he received on reaching Fort 
James was that of the death of Thompson, his predecessor, 
who had perished by the hands of his own men. Mutiny was 
not uncommon in those days ; but how it arose in this instance, 
or who was to blame, never seems to have been fully investi- 
gated. The crew of the Catharine are said to have been 
unanimous in representing the conduct of their commander 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 13 



as oppressive and tyrannical ; but in regard to a man of un- 
doubted courage and enterprise, and who was the first English- 
man who fell in the cause of African discovery of which we 
have any record, we should, in the absence of direct evidence, 
cherish a spirit of Christian charity. Notwithstanding the 
shock caused by this sad disaster, Jobson took courage, and 
pushing briskly up the river, soon arrived at Kassan, the 
rendezvous of the former expedition. The Portuguese inhabit- 
ants of that neighbourhood had most of them fled before his 
arrival, whilst the few who remained professed, in respect to 
the notorious Hector Nunez and the massacre committed by 
him, both ignorance and horror; but there was reason to believe 
that they were planning fresh schemes of mischief. 

In consequence of these machinations Jobson could scarcely 
prevail upon a native pilot to accompany him to the upper river. 
He nevertheless pressed forward in the most commendable 
manner, with such help as he could procure ; but after passing 
the falls of Barraconda he found himself involved in great 
difficulties. The ascent had to be made against a rapid current; 
the frequency of hidden rocks, moreover, made it dangerous to 
sail in the night ; and the boats often stuck upon sand-banks 
and shallows, when it became necessary for the crews to strip 
and go into the water to push them over these obstacles. On 
one occasion they were obliged to drag the boats ashore, and 
carry them a mile and a half on their shoulders, till they came 
to deeper water, where the rocks and sand-banks were less 
obstructive. 

The discoverers now found themselves in an entirely new 
world, and surrounded by novel aspects of nature. On every 
side were immense forests of unknown trees, whilst both land 
and water were inhabited by multitudes of savage animals, whose 
roarings every night resounded through the air in the most 
alarming manner. Sometimes as many as twenty crocodiles 
were seen together in the stream, or basking in the sun on a 
sand-bank. Hippopotami, or sea-horses as they were then called, 
were observed tossing their huge heads and snorting in almost 



14 Africa: Past and Present, 



every pool ; whilst elephants appeared in such numbers on the 
shore, that at one place there were sixteen observed in a single 
troop. Lions, ounces and leopards were also seen at a little 
distance ; but amid the alarms occasioned by the appearance 
and howlings of these ferocious creatures, the sailors were much 
amused by observing the various evolutions of the monkey 
tribe, some of which performed various kinds of antics in their 
presence. 

Amid these difficulties and adventures the party arrived at 
Tenda on the 26th of January, 162 1, where they had appointed 
to meet Buckar Sano, the chief native merchant on the Gambia. 
This important personage rendered the expedition good service, 
and volunteered some valuable information ; but the confi- 
dence of Jobson in his veracity was somewhat shaken by the 
glowing accounts which he gave of a city four months' journey 
in the interior, the houses of which, he declared, were covered 
with gold ! The report of a vessel having come up the river to 
trade caused great excitement in the neighbourhood of Tenda, 
and drew multitudes of natives together from the surrounding 
districts. These built temporary huts, and soon formed a little 
village on each side of the river. Unfortunately, the universal 
cry was for salt, a commodity in great demand in this and other 
parts of Africa. Not being aware of this fact, Jobson had not 
laid in a sufficient supply ; but the articles he had were highly 
prized, and in exchange for them he received gold and ivory. 

Buckar Sano having offered to introduce the English at the 
court of Tenda, they proceeded to the royal place of residence. 
On reaching the king's presence they witnessed an example of 
the debasing homage which is usually paid to African princes, 
such as they had never seen before. The great and wealthy 
merchant, on appearing before his sable majesty, first fell upon 
his knees ; then, throwing off his shirt, extended himself naked 
and prostrate upon the ground, whilst his attendants covered 
him with dust and mud ! After grovelling for some time in 
this position, he started up, shook off the dirt from his person ; 
and, assisted by two of his wives, he was speedily equipped in 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 15 



his best attire, with bow and quiver at his side. He and his 
attendants, after having made a semblance of shooting at Jobson, 
laid their bows and arrows at his feet; which was understood as 
a token of submission and a high compliment. The king assured 
tlic English captain that the country and everything in it were 
thus placed at his disposal. In return for gifts so magnificent, 
we are sorry to record that the gallant explorer presented the 
king of Tenda with nothing better than a few bottles of brandy. 

Whilst Jobson was thus amusing himself and his men with 
the novel sights of the Upper Gambia, he found himself in the 
middle of the dry season, when the water of the river sinks 
lower and lower, and when navigation, even with canoes and 
small boats, becomes exceedingly difficult. At length the 
stream became so shallow, and the obstructions to navigation 
so numerous, that he found it utterly vain to attempt ascending 
higher. He therefore commenced his voyage downward on the 
loth of February, proposing to return and renew his researches 
during the following season, when the periodical rains filled the 
channel. This purpose was never executed, however; for before 
the time arrived for further operations, both he and his patrons 
had become so involved in quarrels with the Gambia merchants 
that the expedition was abairdoned. 

The company in whose service Thompson and Jobson had 
been engaged, amid the discord and divisions alluded to, do 
not appear to have prosecuted any further their designs of 
African discovery. The next attempt in this way, of which 
we find any record, was made by a wealthy merchant at the 
Gambia named Vermuyden, who fitted out a boat well stored 
with provisions and merchandise, for the purpose of exploring 
the upper river to search for gold, which was said to exist in 
rich abundance. He first came to a wide expanse of water 
which he compares to Windermere Lake, where the chief diffi- 
culty was to find the main branch of the river, amid several 
that opened from different quarters. " Up the buffing stream," 
says he, "with sad labour we wTought ;" and when they ascended 
higher, it often became necessary to drag the boat over the 



1 6 Africa : Past and Present. 

shallows, or to carry it for a short distance through the jungle, 
after the manner of former voyagers, to avoid the rocks that 
impeded the navigation. They were rather rudely received 
by the only tenants of these watery regions — the crocodiles and 
river-horses. One of the latter struck a hole in the bottom of 
the boat with his teeth, — an accident which proved very incon- 
venient, from the absence of any one skilled in carpentry. 
Having effected the necessary repairs as best they could, the 
voyagers endeavoured to avoid future accidents by hanging a 
lantern at the stern of the boat, which caused these monsters 
of the deep to keep at a respectful distance. 

In the course of their voyage, Vermuyden and his party 
landed at various places on the banks of the Gambia to search 
for gold. At one place they found a large mass of glittering 
matter, which at first they took to be the genuine article, but 
which, on examination, proved to be mere spar or mica, At 
another place, by twenty days' labour, they succeeded, with 
patient washing of the sand, in extracting twelve ounces of the 
precious metal. At length the traveller declares that he arrived 
"at the mouth of the mine itself, and saw gold in such abundance 
as surprised him with joy and admiration." He gives no par- 
ticulars, however, of the position of this vein, the existence of 
which has not been confirmed by any subsequent observer ; nor 
does he seem to have continued his researches, as he no doubt 
found more profit in mercantile pursuits than in prospecting for 
the precious metal. 

It was not till the year 1720 that the spirit of African discovery 
revived in England. The Duke of Chandos, then director of 
the African Company, concerned at the declining state of their 
affairs, entertained the idea of reviving them by opening a path 
into the golden regions still reported to exist in the interior of 
Africa. At his suggestion the members, in 1723, furnished 
Captain Bartholomew Sibbs with the usual means of sailing 
up the Gambia. On the 7th of October he arrived at James's 
Island, a small English settlement about thirty miles from the 
mouth of the river, whence he immediately wrote to Mr. Willy, 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 



17 



the Governor, who happened to be then visiting the factory of 
Joar, more than a hundred miles distant, asking him to engage 
canoes from the natives for the use of the expedition. He 
received for answer that none were to be had, and was greatly 
distressed to find that this officer was giving himself no concern 
about the affair. A few days afterwards, however, a boat 
brought down the dead body of the Governor, who had fallen a 
victim to the prevailing fever of the country, and he was left to 
his own resources. 

From various causes of delay it was not till the 26th of 
December that Sibbs and his party proceeded on their voyage 
up the Gambia. The expedition consisted of nineteen white 
men and twenty-nine hired negroes, with three female cooks, 
and a balafeu or native musician, to enliven the spirits of the 
party by his performances. The season was somewhat ad- 
vanced for the navigation of the river, but for some time everj'- 
thing proceeded agreeably. The voyagers were everywhere 
well received by the natives, and at one place a saphie or charm 
was laid upon the bank of the river for the purpose of drawing 
them on shore ! The captain had endeavoured to conceal the 
prime object of his journey ; but his efforts were vain, for he 
found himself pointed out by the natives as the person who was 
" come to bring down the gold ! " The native crew, however, 
were evidently unwilling to proceed to the upper river, and 
predicted the most fearful disasters if any attempt was made to 
go any farther. A long palaver ensued, and, according to the 
adventurer's own account, it was not till he had produced a 
bottle of his best brandy that he conquered the scruples of his 
sable followers, and got them to proceed beyond what they 
regarded as the limits of the universe. 

The Falls of Barraconda were not found so formidable as 
was expected. They were narrows rather than falls, the channel 
being confined at this point by rocky ledges and fragments, 
between which there was only one available passage, where the 
canoes rubbed against the rocks on either side. The most 
persevering exertion now became necessary in order to pass the 



1 8 Africa : Past and Present. v 

shallows and quicksands, which multiplied in proportion as 
they ascended the stream, and over which the boats had 
frequently to be dragged by main force, as in former instances. 
All now longed for the time when it would be necessary for 
them to commence their voyage down the river. Before long 
their ardent wishes were realized. At the end of two months, 
on the 22nd of February, Sibbs found himself only fifty miles 
above Barraconda, where it became necessary for him to 
relinquish the enterprise, in consequence of the unfavourable 
season having arrived ; so that he did not even reach Tenda, 
the point to which Jobson had previously attained. 

The commander of the expedition, on his return, could 
not forbear expressing deep disappointment in regard to the 
expectations with which he had ascended the Gambia. He 
had met with no cities of gold, nor did he see any appearance 
of the mighty channel which was to lead into the interior of 
Africa, and through so many great kingdoms as had been 
spoken of. He declared his conviction, in reference to the 
river, that " its original or head is nothing near so far in the 
country as by the geographers has been represented." The 
natives reported that at twelve days' journey above Barraconda 
it dwindled into a rivulet so small that " fowls walked over it." 
Nor did he find any indications of the precious metal which he 
had been led to believe was so abundant. These representations 
produced a degree of discouragement which prevented any other 
exploratory voyage from being undertaken by the English for a 
considerable time into that part of the African continent. 

French Discoveries. 
France was behind some of the other nations of Europe in 
maritime enterprise and African discovery ; but when she did 
wake up to the importance of the subject, she displayed con- 
siderable zeal and activity. Louis XIV., aided by his minister 
Colbert, was the first prince of that nation who endeavoured to 
raise his kingdom to a high rank as a commercial and maritime 
power, and it was not long before Africa attracted his notice. 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 19 



Whilst the English were engaged in exploring the Gambia, the 
French turned their attention to the Senegal. In their esti- 
mation this was one of the principal outlets of the Niger, and 
the mighty stream by which they hoped to penetrate the 
interior as far as Timbuctu and the regions of gold. About 
the year 1626 a settlement was formed on an island near the 
mouth of this river, to which was given the name of St. Louis, in 
honour of their sovereign, and it has ever since been the capital 
of their possessions in this part of Africa. It has also been 
the starting-point of every French expedition which has been 
organized for the exploration of the interior in this direction. 

The first person who brought home any reliable account of 
the French colony on the Senegal, and of the adjacent country, 
was a young man named Jannequin. The manner in which he 
became an African explorer is somewhat remarkable. Walking 
along the quay at Dieppe one day, he saw a vessel bound for 
the west coast ; and, being seized with a sudden fancy to do 
so, he embarked and made the voyage. The ship sailed on 
the 5th of November, 1637, and touched at the Canaries; 
but the first spot on which young Jannequin landed on the 
continent was a part of the Sahara, near Cape Blanco, where 
nothing presented itself to view but a plain of moving sand, in 
which the feet were buried at every step. Proceeding to St. 
Louis, on the Senegal, he found the colony in a very rude and 
imperfect state ; but on ascending the river soon afterwards he 
was delighted with the brilliant verdure of the banks, the majes- 
tic beauty of the trees, and the thick impenetrable underwood. 
Wherever he landed the natives received him hospitably, and 
he was much struck with their strength and courage, — decidedly 
surpassing, as he thought, in these respects, the generality of 
Europeans. He saw a Moorish chief, who, mounted on horse- 
back, and brandishing three spears and a cutlass, engaged a 
lion in single combat, and vanquished the mighty king of the 
desert. He was surprised by the enormous number of gregrees, 
or charms, in which the chief and head-men were enveloped. 
Every peril — of water, of wild beasts, and of battle — had its 



20 



Africa : Past and Present, 



appropriate antidote, by which the safety of the wearer of the 
charms was supposed to be secured. These gregrees were 
merely slips of paper, which the marabonts, or Mohammedan 
priests, had inscribed with sentences from the Koran in Arabic 
characters ; and, being enclosed in ornamented cases of cloth, 
leather, or even gold and silver, were hung round the person in 
such profusion that they actually formed a species of armour. 

Several years after the return to France of young Jannequin, 
the famous Sieur Brue was appointed director-general of the 
Company's affairs, and exerted himself in the most laudable 
manner to promote the interests of the Senegal settlements. 
He also did exploring work which is worthy of a passing notice. 
In 1697 he embarked at St. Louis on a voyage to the Saratik, 
or king of the Foulahs, whose territory lay about 400 miles 
up the river. In ascending the stream he was struck, like his 
predecessor, with the magnificence of the scenery. He saw 
elephants marching in bands of forty or fifty, and large herds 
of wild cattle browsing in the meadows. These moved to the 
highlands when the lower banks of the river were inundated in 
the rainy season. At Kahayde the traveller was received by a 
chief belonging to the Saratik, accompanied by numerous 
attendants, among whom were his principal wife and daugh- 
ters, and some female slaves, all mounted upon asses. He 
was cordially welcomed to the country by this motley retinue ; 
but he soon discovered their avaricious propensities, and he 
complains that "when they could no longer secure what 
they wanted by begging they began to borrow, with the firm 
resolution of never repaying.'^ 

Brue continued to ascend the Senegal till he reached 
Ghiorel ; then, with a party of armed attendants, and accom- 
panied by certain royal messengers, he set out for Gumel, about 
thirty miles distant, where the king resided. He found the 
palace to consist of a cluster of mud huts, enclosed by a fence 
of reeds ; and in one of these he was introduced to his sable 
majesty, as he reclined on a couch, surrounded by several of 
his wives and daughters, seated on mats spread on the floor. 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 21 



The reception was perfectly friendly, and the traveller obtained 
permission to form settlements and erect forts wherever he 
thought proper. In acknowledgment of these favours he 
presented his offerings to the king, consisting of scarlet cloths, 
coloured worsteds, copper kettles, pieces of coral and amber, 
brandy, spices, and a few coins, which seemed to give general 
satisfaction. Having satisfactorily accomplished the immediate 
object of his journey, the traveller returned to St. Louis. 

In 1698 the same gentleman undertook another journey, 
with the intention of penetrating, if possible, still farther into 
the interior. He ascended the Senegal as before as far as 
Ghiorel, and had a friendly interview with the Saratik whose 
acquaintance he had formed before, and four of whose negroes 
he employed to destroy an enormous lion which had for some 
time infested the neighbourhood. Farther on he observed 
some peculiar forms of the animal creation ; the air for two 
hours was darkened by the passage of a cloud of locusts, and the 
boats on the river were covered with their filth. I>ions and 
elephants roamed about in vast numbers ; but the latter were 
quite tame and harmless, unless they were attacked. 

On reaching Gallam, Brue found himself in a somewhat 
delicate position. Two rival princes disputed the throne, each 
holding at his place of residence a certain sway, but both 
claiming the entire homage and all the presents brought by the 
traveller. Guided by a principle of self-interest, Brue showed 
most favour to the personage that seemed most likely to aid 
him in the object of his journey, when his rival fell into a great 
rage and threatened violence, from which he was only restrained 
by being reminded of the big guns which were ready for action 
on board the boats in the river. The traveller now proceeded 
up the stream till he came to Dramanet, a thriving native town 
inhabited by several wealthy merchants, who traded as far as 
Timbuctu, which, according to their computation, was more 
than a thousand miles farther in the interior. This advanced 
position was therefore thought the most convenient for a settle- 
ment and fort, which were accordingly established on a humble 



22 Africa : Past and Present. 



scale, and to which was given the name of St. Joseph. This 
place has ever since been the head-quarters of the French on 
the Upper Senegal. He then proceeded to a place called Felu, 
where an immense rock, crossing the river, forms a cataract, 
which it is almost impossible for vessels to pass. Quitting his 
boats, he proposed to ascend to the falls of Govinea, about 
eighty miles higher up ; but the water was getting so low that, 
fearing the navigation downward would be interrupted, he 
returned to St. Louis. 

Whilst in the Upper Senegal, Brue collected much useful 
information in reference to the countries and peoples beyond. 
He received glowing accounts of the kingdom of Bambarra, of 
Lake Maberia, of Timbuctu, and of caravans which came thither 
from Barbary, and even of masted vessels which had been seen 
on the mighty streams which water those regions. But the grand 
object of his inquiry was the course of the Niger, concerning 
which he heard two quite opposite descriptions. According 
to one statement it flowed weshL>ai-d from Lake Maberia, till 
it separated into two channels for the Gambia and Senegal ; 
but according to the other it was quite distinct from both of 
these rivers, and wended its way eastward beyond Timbuctu. 
The latter representation was subsequently proved to be the 
more correct. 

The trade of Gallam and the adjacent countries on the 
Upper Senegal, according to the statements of Compagnon 
and Saugnier, both of whom visited these regions after Brue's 
day, consists principally of gold, ivory, slaves, and gum- 
arabic. The commodity last named soon became the most 
important article of traffic by the French colonists, and the 
manner in which it is obtained is thus described by Golberry : 
— " To the north of the Senegal, where the fertile lands pass 
into the boundless and arid plains of the great Sahara, grow 
large forests of that species of the acacia from which the gum 
distils. The plant is crooked and stunted in its growth, re- 
sembling rather a bush than a tree. No incision is necessary 
to extract the precious liquid ; for under the influence of the 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 23 



hot winds which prevail in these parts, the bark dries and 
cracks in various places, whence the gum exudes and forms 
itself into drops as clear as crystal. At the proper season these 
are collected in bags by the natives, and exposed for sale at 
an annual fair held on the banks of the Senegal, the agents of 
French merchants being almost the only purchasers." 

British African Association. 

It will be seen from the preceding brief sketches of African 
explorations by the Portuguese, English, and French, that 
hitherto comparatively little impression had been made upon 
the vast continent. While the remotest extremities of land 
and sea in other quarters of the globe had been reached by 
British enterprise, Inner Africa remained an unseemly blank 
in the map of the world. Such a circumstance was felt to be 
discreditable to a great maritime and commercial nation like 
England, as well as to the sciences upon which geographical 
knowledge depends. With a view, if possible, to remove this 
reproach, a number of spirited individuals formed themselves 
into what was termed the " African Association." The object 
of this Society was to raise the necessary funds by subscription, 
and then to seek out and employ suitable persons to explore 
the interior of Africa. Lord Rawdon, Sir Joseph Banks, the 
Bishop of Llandaff, Mr. Beaufoy, and Mr. Stuart, were nomi- 
nated managers, and they soon found themselves in a position 
to proceed to business. 

The first adventurer employed under the auspices of this 
new organization was Mr. Ledyard, who, born a traveller, had 
spent his life in passing from one extremity of the earth to 
another. He had sailed round the world with Captain Cook, 
had lived several years among the American Indians, and had 
made a journey, with the most scanty means, from Stockholm 
round the Gulf of Bothnia, and thence to the remotest parts 
of Asiatic Russia. On his return to England he presented 
himself to Sir Joseph Banks, to whom he had previously been 
indebted for kind attentions, just as that gentleman was looking 



24 



Africa : Pad and Present. 



out for an African traveller. He was forthwith engaged for the 
service ; and on being asked when he would be ready to set 
out, he promptly replied, "To-morrow,"- — an answer worthy of 
being noted by all who engage in important undertakings for 
the benefit of mankind. He was soon afterwards provided 
Avith a passage to Alexandria, in Egypt, with a view of first 
proceeding southward from Cairo to Sennaar, and thence tra- 
versing the entire breadth of the African continent. He arrived 
at the Egyptian capital on the 19th of August, 1788, and, while 
preparing for his journey into the interior, transmitted to the 
Association and his friends at home an amusing description of 
the country and people. By conversing with the Jeiabs, or 
slave merchants, he learned a good deal respecting the caravan- 
routes and the countries of the interior. Everything seemed 
ready for his departure, and he announced to his friends that 
his next communication would be from Sennaar. But, alas 1 
this was not the case. The next tidings received were those 
of his death. Disappointment, occasioned by the delay of the 
departure of the caravan with which he had engaged to travel, 
working upon his ardent and impatient spirit, brought on a 
bilious fever which terminated fatally before he left Cairo. 

Previous to the lamented death of Ledyard, the Society had 
entered into terms with Mr. Lucas, with a view to his attempting 
to explore the interior of Africa in another direction. This 
gentleman had been captured in his youth by a Sallee roven 
had served three years as a slave at the court of Morocco, 
and after his deliverance had acted as a British vice-consul in 
that empire. Having altogether spent sixteen years there, he 
had not only become inured to the climate, but had also 
acquired an intimate knowledge of Africa and its languages. 
He was consequently regarded as peculiarly eligible for the 
service on which he was entering. He was sent out by way of 
Tripoli, with instructions to accompany a caravan which took 
the most direct route for the interior ; and commenced his 
journey well armed with passports and letters of introduction 
to important personages. He proceeded with the caravan, 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 25 



according to arrangement, to Mesurata ; but on reaching that 
place he found the Arabs in a state of rebellion, and unwilling 
to furnish camels and guides for the intended journey. Mr. 
Lucas was therefore obliged to return to Tripoli, without 
penetrating any farther into the continent, and the enterprise 
was relinquished. 

In the meantime Major Houghton, who had resided some 
time as consul at Morocco, and afterwards in a military capa- 
city at Goree, undertook to reach the Niger by the route of the 
Gambia ; not, however, like Jobson and Sibbs, by ascending 
its stream in boats, but by travelling singly on land. He com- 
menced his journey early in 1791, and after a short time spent 
at Pisina with Dr. Laidley, he pushed forward to Medina, the 
capital of WooUi, on the Upper Gambia, where a venerable 
native chief received him with great kindness, offered to furnish 
him with guides, and assured him he might travel in safety to 
Timbuctu "with his staff in his hand." The only evil that 
befel the traveller there, arose from a fire which accidentally 
took place, and in an hour reduced a town of a thousand 
houses to a heap of ashes. The Major ran with the rest of the 
people into the fields, as the conflagration spread, saving only 
a few articles that he was able to carry with him. Quitting the 
Gambia at Fattatenda, he took the path through Bambouk, and 
arrived at Ferbanna, on the river Faleme, in safety. Here he 
met with extraordinary kindness from the king, who furnished 
him with a guide and money to defray his expenses. A note 
was afterwards received from him, dated Simbing, and which 
contained merely these words : " Major Houghton's compli- 
ments to Dr. Laidley ; is in good health, on his way to 
Timbuctu; robbed of all his goods by Fenda Bucar's son." 
This was the last communication received from him ; for ere 
long some negro traders brought down to Pisina the melancholy 
tidings of his death. It was afterwards ascertained that he had 
been stripped of all that he possessed by a party of Moors, 
and left to wander about in a state of starvation, till, perfectly 
exhausted, he sat down under a tree and expired. 



26 



Africa : Past and Present. 



MuNGo Park. 

The British African Association were no sooner informed of 
the lamented death of Major Houghton than they accepted the 
services of Mr. Mungo Park, a native of Scotland, who had 
been regularly bred to the medical profession, and had just 
returned from a voyage to India. The committee were satisfied 
as to the general qualifications of this gentleman for the 
important work on which he was about to enter, though they 
could not be aware of the full extent of his courage and 
perseverance, nor of the unrivalled eminence to which as an 
African traveller he was destined to rise. 

Park set sail from Portsmouth on the 22nd of May, 1795, 
and on the 21st of June he arrived at Jillifree, on the river 
Gambia. He then proceeded to Pisina, in the fertile kingdom 
of Yani, where he was detained five months by illness under 
the hospitable roof of Dr. Laidley. As soon as the fever 
abated, and he became convalescent, he turned his attention 
to the study of the Mandingo language, and at the same time 
collected much valuable information from the native traders 
respecting the interior. On the 2nd of December he again 
took his departure, attended only by a few negro servants. 
On the 5th he reached Medina, where the good old king 
received him with the same kindness and hospitality that he 
had shown to Major Houghton ; but earnestly exhorted him 
to take warning by the fate of that adventurous traveller, and 
to go no farther. Park was not to be thus discouraged ; but 
immediately proceeded to enter the great forest which separates 
this country from Bondou. In two days he passed through 
this dreary wilderness, and reached the district just mentioned, 
which he found to be a fine open country watered by the 
Faleme. He had soon, however, to encounter some of the 
difficulties which await the lonely and defenceless traveller 
in a land of lawless savages. At Fatteconda, which he reached 
on the 22nd of December, he was obliged to wait upon the 
Almami, or king, who had already disgraced himself by being 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 27 



a party to the plunder of poor Houghton. Park happily 
escaped a similar fate by taking off a handsome blue coat, 
with bright yellow buttons, which was greatly admired, and 
presenting it to his sable majesty. 

Another forest of smaller dimensions intervened between 
Bondou and Kajaaga, which the traveller crossed by moon- 
light, when the deep silence of the woods was interrupted only 
by the howling of wolves and hyenas, which glided like shadows 
through the thickets. Scarcely was he arrived at Joag, in 
Kajaaga, when a party from Bacheri, the king, surrounded 
him, and declared his goods forfeited because he had entered 
the country without paying the duties. Under this pretext 
he was stripped of all he had, with the exception of a few 
trifling articles which he contrived to hide about his person. 
Unable to procure a meal, he was sitting disconsolate under 
the bcntang tree, when an aged female slave, aware of his 
forlorn condition, gave him several handfuls of ground nuts, 
and instantly \yent away, evidently pleased with what she had 
done. Our adventurer next proceeded to Kooniakary, the 
capital of Kasson, where he was well received by the king, and 
forwarded to Kemmoo, the principal town of Kaarta. 

The following few weeks in the eventful life of Mungo Park 
were crowded with incidents of thrilling interest, even to 
epitomise which would be impossible in the limited space 
assigned to this portion of our work. It must suffice, therefore, 
to glance at a few of the principal of them, and to indicate 
the manner in which he fared during the remainder of this 
adventurous journey. The country through which he passed 
was largely peopled by negroes ; but the enterprising Moors, 
who were invariably rigid Mohammedans, were also numerous. 
From the simple-minded negroes the traveller received nothing 
but kindness ; but where the Moors were in power, which was 
frequently the case, he was bitterly persecuted and ill-treated. 
At Benown he was detained a prisoner for more than a fortnight, 
simply to gratify the curiosity of Fatima, the favourite wife of 
Ali, the Moorish chief, who had never seen a white man or a 



28 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Christian of any kind before, and was anxious to see " what 
kind of creatures they were." In the meantime, until her 
ladyship arrived from a distance, his supply of food was very 
limited, and he was treated with the utmost indignity. He was 
made to button and unbutton his clothes almost perpetually, to 
let the people see how white men performed this operation, as 
well as to show the colour of his skin beneath ; whilst the boys 
in the street hooted him and laughed him to scorn. He was 
here also robbed and stripped of all that he possessed, with 
the exception of his pocket-compass, of which his tormentors 
seemed afraid, as he had told them that it always pointed to 
the place where his mother lived ! 

On the other hand, when he had escaped from the cruel 
treatment of the Moors, on this and on subsequent occasions, 
the poor negroes commiserated his sufferings and supplied his 
wants according to their means. Many striking instances of 
this kind are given in the interesting narrative which has been 
published of Park's travels ; but perhaps the most touching 
was the one which occurred in the neighbourhood of the 
capital of Bambarra, when he was reduced to the lowest state 
of destitution. Being without food or lodging, turning his 
jaded horse loose to graze, he was preparing, as a security 
from wild beasts, to climb a tree and sleep among the branches, 
when an old woman, returning from the labours of the field, 
cast on him a look of compassion, and desired him to follow 
her. She led him to an apartment in her hut, procured a fine 
fish, which she broiled for his supper, and spread a mat for him 
to sleep upon ; ordering her maidens, who had been gazing in 
fixed astonishment at their guest, to resume their tasks of 
spinning cotton, which they continued to ply through a great 
part of the night. Meanwhile they cheered their labours with 
a song, which must have been composed extanpore, since Park, 
with deep emotion, observed that he himself was the subject 
of it. It said, in strains of affecting simplicity — " The winds 
roared, and the rains fell. The poor white man, faint and 
weary, came and sat under our tree. He has no mother to 



Early Adventure atid Discovery. 29 



bring him milk, no wife to grind his corn. — Chorus: Let us 
pity the white man, no mother has he," etc. The traveller was 
singularly gratified by this little incident, and next morning he 
could not depart without requesting his landlady's acceptance 
of the only gift he had to bestow — namely, two of the bright 
brass buttons that still remained on his waistcoat. 

At length, on the 21st of July, 1796, after passing through 
innumerable trials and hardships, Park was favoured to behold 
the grand object of his search, the river Niger, or, as it was 
there called, the Joliba or "Great Water." He had passed a 
sleepless night in anticipation of this great event ; but, starting 
before daybreak, he had the satisfaction at eight o'clock to see 
the smoke arising from the town of Sego, on the banks of the 
river. He soon afterwards overtook some other travellers, and, 
in riding through a piece of marshy ground, one of them called 
out, '■'Geo affilli" (see the water), and looking forward, "I saw," 
says he, " with infinite pleasure, the great object of my mission, 
the long- sough t-for majestic Niger, glittering to the morning sun, 
as broad as the Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the 
eastward. I hastened to the brink, and having drunk of the 
water, offered up my fervent thanks to the great Ruler of all 
things, for having thus far crowned my endeavours with success." 

Park found Sego, the capital of Bambarra, to be a town 
containing about 30,000 inhabitants, and a place of consider- 
able trade and commerce. It was divided into four parts, two 
on each bank of the river, the whole being entirely under the 
dominion of the Moors, who manifested considerable jealousy 
concerning the movements of the pale-faced stranger. Indeed, 
he was not permitted to enter the city, and only saw it, with its 
whitewashed mud houses and numerous mosques, at a distance. 
The decision of Mansong, the ruling chief or king, conveying 
this prohibition, reached the traveller after he had been waiting 
in the suburban villages for several days, hoping to be admitted 
to the royal presence. But this was not to be. He therefore 
turned his face westward, hoping to reach the coast by the 
same route that he had come. 



30 



Africa : Past and Present. 



The sufferings of our adventurer on his return journey, he 
being in a state of perfect destitution, were appalling to con- 
template ; but it is refreshing to find him turning his thoughts 
to the special providence of God, and from this source taking 
courage when almost all- hope was gone. On one occasion, 
being completely exhausted, he threw himself on the ground 
with the desponding feeling that after all he must perish in the 
desert. At this moment a sprig of beautiful moss, in a state of 
fructification, caught his eye, the delicate conformation of which 
could not be contemplated without admiration. He then 
bethought himself, " Can that Being who planted, watered, 
and brought to perfection, in this obscure corner of the world, 
a thing which appears of so small importance, look with uncon- 
cern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after 
His own image?" Inspired by these just and pious reflections 
he started up, went on, despite fatigue, and found deliverance 
to be nearer than he had any reason to anticipate. 

It is doubtful, however, whether Park would have succeeded 
as he did on his journey westward, if it had not been for the 
friendly aid afforded him by the conductor of a slave-koffel 
which he had the good fortune to fall in with. Having the 
advantage of this assistance when exposed to wild beasts and 
savage men, he re-crossed the forest of Jallonka, in which he 
and the caravan travelled five days without seeing a human 
habitation, and reached Pisina on the Gambia in safety, on the 
loth of June, 1797. He was received by his friends there as 
one risen from the dead ; for all the traders from the interior 
had believed and reported that he had met with a similar fate 
to that of his predecessor. Major Houghton, and perished in 
the desert. The traveller had some difficulty in reaching home 
after all. No direct opportunity for England offering, he was 
obhged to embark, on the 15th of June, in a vessel bound 
for America, and was afterwards driven by stress of weather 
to Antigua, in the West Indies; whence he sailed, on the 24th 
of November, for England, and landed at Falmouth on the 
22nd of December. He arrived in London before dawn on 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 3 i 



Christmas day, and, taking a walk in the garden of the British 
Museum, he accidentally met with his brother-in-law, Mr. 
Dickson, who, in common with his other friends, rejoiced over 
him with exceeding joy, having long since concluded he was 
dead, two years having elapsed since any tidings of him had 
reached England. 

Soon after his return to England, Mr. Park published an 
interesting narrative of his first journey, and of the discoveries 
which he had made in the interior of Africa. This was read 
with avidity by all classes ; but, so far from satisfying the public 
curiosity, it only excited an earnest desire for more information 
concerning a continent which had so long been involved in 
mystery. The majestic Niger had been seen flowing eastward, 
and an anxious wish was everywhere felt that its course might 
be traced to the sea, and that Inner Africa might be more fully 
laid open to the civilized world. With these objects in view, 
Mr. Park was invited by Government to undertake an expedition 
on a larger scale than his former one, and with more ample 
resources at his command. Having in the meantime married 
the daughter of Mr. Anderson, with whom he had served his 
apprenticeship as a surgeon, and having entered with some 
success on the practice of his profession in the town of Peebles, 
it was thought by many that, content with laurels so dearly won, 
he had renounced a life of peril and adventure. But none of 
these ties could detain him when the spirit of adventure was 
once more aroused in his breast ; and he responded to the call of 
his country to renew his African explorations with characteristic 
ardour and enthusiasm. His plan was to proceed direct to 
Sego — not as a lonely defenceless traveller, as before, but with a 
company of men armed and equipped in a manner calculated 
to secure mutual defence, as well as to command respect, 
wherever they travelled ; then to build a boat on the Niger and 
navigate the stream throughout its entire course to the sea. 

Park sailed from Portsmouth in the Crescent transport on 
the 20th of January, 1805, accompanied by Mr. Anderson, his 
brother-in-law. On the 8th of March they arrived at Cape Verd 



32 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Islands, and on the 28th they reached Goree. There they were 
joined by a British officer and thirty-five soldiers, and they pro- 
vided themselves, moreover, with a number of asses, of a breed 
apparently well calculated for traversing the rugged hills of the 
high country whence issued the infant streams which form the 
source of the Gambia, Senegal, and Niger. They took with 
them, also, two sailors and four artificers who had been sent 
from England to join the expedition. But before all these 
arrangements could be completed, a month had elapsed, and 
it was then evident that the rainy season could not be far 
distant, when travelling would be both difficult and trying to 
European constitutions. The enterprising traveller hoped, 
however, to reach the Niger by the middle of June, when the 
season would be favourable for the navigation of the river. He 
departed, therefore, with his heroic band, on the 4th of May, 
and proceeded through Medina, along the banks of the Gambia, 
on the same route he had traversed before. With so strong a 
party, he was no longer dependent for protection upon the 
petty kings of the countries through which he passed ; but the 
natives seeing him so well provided with stores seemed to think 
that he had now no claim upon their hospitality ; and they 
consequently became somewhat exorbitant in their demand for 
presents. Indeed, at one place the women, with considerable 
labour, had emptied the wells, that they might sell the water to 
the strangers to greater advantage. 

Submitting quietly to these little annoyances. Park and his 
party pushed on to the neighbourhood of Satadoo, on the 
banks of the Faleme. It was there that they experienced the 
first tornado which marked the commencement of the rainy 
season. This proved the "beginning of sorrows," for the 
country was soon inundated, and one after another of the party 
was stricken with fever; in three days twelve men were on 
the sick list. Seeing the strangers thus involved in difficulty, 
the natives became more troublesome than before, and at 
Gimba attempts were made to overpower the whole expedition 
by main force, and seize all they possessed; but by merely 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 33 



presenting their muskets the assault was repelled without blood- 
shed. At Maniakorra the whole population hung on their rear 
for a considerable time, headed by thirty of the king's sons, when 
one man stole a fowling-piece and another an overcoat. Orders 
were now given to fire upon all depredators, and it was not till 
severe measures had been adopted that the thieveswere dispersed. 

The expedition now began to melt away in the most appalling 
manner beneath the deadly influence of the climate. Every 
day added to the list of the sick or the dead, or of those who 
declared themselves unable to proceed any farther. Near 
Bangassi four men lay down at once ; and it was with difficulty 
that Park dragged forward his brother-in-law, Mr. Anderson, 
who was suffering from extreme weakness, whilst he himself 
felt very sick and faint. His spirits were about to sink entirely, 
when, coming to an eminence, he obtained a distant view of tiie 
mountains, the southern base of which he knew to be washed 
by the waters of the Niger. Then indeed he forgot his troubleFj 
and thought only of climbing the blue hills, the sight of which 
delighted his eyes. But before he could arrive at that distant 
point three weeks had elapsed, during which he had experienced 
the greatest difficulty and suffering. At length he reached the 
summit of the ridge which divides the Senegal from the Joliba, 
and, coming to the brow of the hill, saw again the majestic 
river rolling its immense stream along the plain below. Yet 
his situation and prospects were gloomy in the extreme, com- 
pared with those with which he had left the banks of the 
Gambia a few weeks before. Of thirty-eight men whom he 
then had with him, there survived only seven, all of whom 
were suffering from severe illness, and some nearly at the last 
extremity. Still he was not discouraged; on the contrary, his 
mind was full of the most sanguine hope, especially when, on 
the 22nd of August, he reached the river, and, having hired 
canoes, found himself, with the remnant of his party, floating 
on his favourite stream towards Marraboo, preparatory to his 
making permanent arrangements for the voyage down the river 
to the Atlantic Ocean. 

3 



34 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Alter tedious and protracted negotiations with King Mansong, 
Park and his companions succeeded in converting two large 
canoes, supplied by his sable majesty, into a small schooner, 
forty feet long, six broad, and drawing only one foot of water, 
which they named the Joliba. Whilst these operations were 
going on at Sansanding, a large town a few miles to the north 
of Sego, the traveller had the misfortune to lose his brother- 
in-law, Mr. Anderson, which affected him much, and elicited 
from him the following touching statement : " No event which 
took place during the journey ever threw the smallest gloom 
over my mind till I laid Mr. Anderson in his grave. I then 
felt myself as if left a second time lonely and friendless, amid 
the wilds of Africa." Although the party was now reduced 
to five Europeans and a few negroes, the mind of Park was 
remarkably firm and unshaken. He announced, in a letter to 
Lord Camden, his fixed purpose to discover the termination 
of the Niger, or to perish in the attempt ; adding, " Although 
all the Europeans who are with me should die, and although I 
myself were half dead, I would still persevere." To his wife he 
expressed the same determination, combined with a declaration 
of the utmost confidence of success ; and the commencement 
of his voyage down the Niger, through the vast unexplored 
regions of Central Africa, he called " turning his face towards 
England " ! 

It was on the 17th of November, 1805, that the intrepid 
traveller began his last voyage. He passed Jenne, the port 
of Timbuctu, Sackatoo, and other populous towns on the banks 
of the Upper Niger, as quickly as possible, the current being in 
his favour ; and the expedition was soon lost sight of by the 
natives of those regions. After the departure of Park and his 
party from Sansanding, nothing was heard of them in England 
or in the settlements on the coast for more than a year, with 
the exception of certain unpleasant rumours as to their fate 
which came to hand at intervals. Alarmed by these, and 
feeling a deep interest in the expedition, Governor Maxwell 
of Sierra Leone employed a negro interpreter named Isaaco, 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 35 



who had formerly belonged to Park's expedition, and who had 
been sent to the Gambia with despatches from the Niger, to 
undertake a journey of inquiry as to what had become of the 
exploring party. 

At Sansanding Isaaco was so fortunate as to meet with 
Amidi Fatu, who had been engaged to succeed him as inter- 
preter to the expedition, and who sailed with Park and his 
party down the river. According to this man's statement, the 
schooner Joliba proceeded all right till she came to the town 
of Yaour, where he left her, his services having been only 
engaged to that point ; that the king of that place was very 
angry because the English had passed his place without making 
him any presents, whilst they had thus honoured persons much 
inferior to him in rank and position ; that to avenge the insult 
the sable monarch had despatched a party of warriors to 
intercept and massacre the travellers, and take possession of 
their goods, before they should pass beyond his dominions 
This wicked purpose Amidi declared they accomplished at a 
place called Bousa, where the river is contracted to a narrow 
pass, with overhanging rocks on either side, where the savages 
stationed themselves, and hurled stones, spears, and other 
missiles on the unfortunate voyagers below, till they al sank 
in the waves to rise no more. The substantial correctness of 
this account was verified by subsequent inquiries; and thus 
ended an expedition which had excited the most sanguine 
hopes in the interests of African discovery. 

Sundry Travellers. 

It has been thought best to trace, without interruption, the 
eventful career of Mungo Park from its promising commence- 
ment to its melancholy close. But between his first and second 
journeys, another expedition was planned and sent out under 
favourable auspices, which now demands our attention, as do 
others also which followed soon afterwards. In 1797 Frederic 
Horneman, a student of the University of Gottingen, offered 
his services to the British African Association, proposing to 



36 



Africa : 



Post and Present. 



penetrate the inferior of the vast continent in the guise of an 
Arab, and as a professed Moslem — a species of deception not 
to be commended. He reached London in the month of 
May, and having been accepted, made the necessary prepara- 
tions for his journey, embarked for Egypt, and arrived at 
Alexandria in September. After spending ten days there 
studying the language of the Mograbin Arabs, a tribe border- 
ing on the Nile, he set out for Cairo, to await the departure 
of the Kashan caravan, with which he proposed to travel. 
Before his departure, however, tidings arrived of Buonaparte's 
landing in the country, when the just indignation of the natives 
vented itself upon all Europeans, and among others the German 
traveller was thrown into prison. He was liberated, however, 
on the victorious entry into the capital of the French com- 
mander, who, besides restoring him to freedom, provided him 
with money and everything necessary for the prosecution of his 
mission. 

It was the 5th September, 1798, before Horneman could find 
a caravan proceeding westward ; when he joined the one destined 
for Fezzan. The travellers soon passed the cultivated land of 
Egypt, and entered upon a vast sandy desert. When the 
caravan halted for the night, each person dug a hole in the 
sand, gathered a few sticks, and prepared his victuals after 
the African fashion of kouskous, soups, or puddings. Ten 
days brought the travellers to Ummesogeir, a small oasis in 
the desert, with a village built upon a rock, containing about 
120 inhabitants. Another day's journey brought them to 
Sivvah, a more extensive settlement ; after which they entered 
upon a more dreary and desolate waste than they had seen 
before, which took them sixteen days to traverse. At the 
end of this period they were cheered by the appearance of 
the great oasis which constitutes the small kingdom of Fezzan, 
where the arrival of the caravan was hailed with demonstrations 
of joy by all classes of the community, from the sultan to the 
meanest slave. Horneman remained at Mourzouk, the capital 
of Fezzan, for a long time before he met with a caravan for the 



Early Adventure and Dhcovery. 37 

south, and in the interim he took a journey to Tripoli to 
forward despatches to England. After his return to Mourzouk, 
and his detention for several months longer by iUness, he took 
his final departure for the interior on the 6th of April, 1800,, in 
company with two shereefs who had given him assurances of 
friendship and protection. His letters written previous to his 
starting were expressive of the most sanguine hopes of success. 
But the lapse of two years without any further tidings of him 
threw a damp on the cheering expectations which had been 
raised in the minds of the members of the Association and 
the public generally. In 1803 various reports reached Fezzan 
and Tripoli to the effect that Yusuph, as Horneman chose to 
designate himself, had been seen alive at Kashan a short time 
before; but from information collected by subsequent travellers, 
it appeared that he succeeded in travelling into the interior of 
Africa as far as Nyffe, on the Niger, where he fell a victim, not 
to any hostility on the part of the natives, as was at first feared, 
but to disease induced by the trying character of the climate. 

The next person engaged as an African traveller by the 
British Association was Mr. Nicholls, who, in 1804, repaired 
to Calabar, in the Gulf of Benin, with the view of penetrating 
into the interior of Africa by this route, which appeared shorter 
than any other ; but without any idea of the Niger having its 
principal outlets in that neighbourhood, which was afterwards 
proved to be the case. He was well received by the chiefs on 
the coast ; but he could not gain from them much informEition 
about the neighbouring rivers, or the character of the country 
inland. Unfortunately, of all the sickly climates of Africa, that 
of the Gulf of Benin is about the worst, and before he had 
fairly commenced his journey, poor Nicholls fell a victim to 
the epidemic fever so prevalent on the coast in the rainy 
season. He died before he had proceeded many miles on 
his intended journey. 

Shortly after this another German, named Roentgen, recom- 
mended to the Association by Professor Blumenbach, undertook 
to penetrate to the interior of Africa by way of Morocco. Like 



38 Africa: Past and Present. 



Horneman, he made himself master of Arabic, and proposed 
to pass through the country as a Mohammedan. He set out 
in 1809 ; and, having arrived at Mogadore, he hired two guides 
and proceeded to join the Soudan caravan ; but his career was 
short indeed, for his body was soon afterwards found not far 
from the place whence he started. No information could ever 
be obtained with regard to the particulars of his death, though 
it was conjectured, with too much probability, that he had been 
murdered for the sake of his property. 

The next account of African exploration was furnished by a 
man named Adams, a sailor, who was said to have been wrecked 
with several others on board an American vessel which struck 
on the rocky coast of the great Sahara, on the nth of October, 
1810. The men who swam on shore were soon after daylight 
attacked by a band of Moors. The captain, who offered violent 
resistance, was killed, but the crew were taken prisoners and 
divided among the barbarians. Adams, one of the mariners, 
according to his own statement, was carried to the border of 
Bambarra, where the Mussulmen, his masters, who by their 
practice of slave-stealing had roused the hostility of the negroes, 
were surprised, made captive, and, after four days' confinement, 
marched to Timbuctu. Adams says that his fierce companions, 
on being presented to the king, were thrown into prison ; but 
he himself being regarded as a curiosity, from the circumstance 
of his being a white man, was retained in the palace, where he 
became a favourite with the queen, who used to sit gazing at 
him for hours together. He had been at Timbuctu about six 
months, well treated and even caressed, when a party of Moorish 
traders arrived, who ransomed their countrymen and Adams 
along with them. 

The caravan which Adams and his associates joined on leaving 
Timbuctu travelled towards Morocco; and, after a weary journey 
of forty-two days across the sandy desert, during which they 
suffered much from extreme heat and want of water, they came 
to Wedinoon, where the American met with some of his ship- 
mates, who, together with himself, were ransomed from the 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 39 



Moors and liberated by the kind and humane interposition of 
M. Dupuis, the British consul at Mogadore. Adams proceeded 
thence to London, with a view of obtaining a passage to America, 
and was found in the streets of the metropolis by a gentleman 
who took a deep interest in African affairs, and who commu- 
nicated the circumstance to the secretary of the Association. 
Adams was then strictly examined, and his statement taken 
down in writing ; and M. Dupuis, the consul, who happened 
to be in England, confirmed the general facts of his shipwreck 
and captivity. Allowing for lapse of memory, and perhaps a 
little exaggeration, the narrative of this adventure was admitted 
to be substantially accurate in its main features, and to have 
added something to the knowledge previously possessed of the 
interior of Africa. 

Another contribution of a similar kind was made some time 
afterwards by Mr. James Riley, supercargo of the American 
brig Covimerce, which was wrecked near C"ape Bojador, when 
on a voyage from Gibraltar to Cape Verd Islands. The crew 
escaped safe to shore when the vessel ran aground ; but, on 
landing, they were assailed by a band of armed natives, whose 
appearance indicated the utmost degree of poverty and ferocity. 
They began forthwith an indiscriminate plunder of the week, 
which was near to the shore — emptying trunks, boxes, and 
casks, cutting up beds, and amusing themselves with seeing 
the feathers flying before the wind. The sailors in the mean- 
time were endeavouring to patch up the tCm^ boat as a means 
of escape. In this they at length pushed out to sea, but were 
soon obliged to land again, when they fell into the hands of 
another band of savage Moors, who took them captives, divided 
their living booty among them, and proceeded on their journey. 

The sufferings of Riley were so great that he almost regretted 
the life he had saved, till he met with Sidi Hamet, a respectable 
caravan merchant, who offered to purchase him, and who, 
in bargaining for his person, showed much sympathy for his 
unhappy situation, and undertook to conduct him to Mogadore 
provided he were made sure of a good ransom. The American 



40 



Africa : Past and Present. 



encouraged him in the hope of this, and had soon the satisfaction 
of seeing two blankets, a cotton robe, and a bundle of ostrich- 
feathers, paid down as the stipulated price. He prevailed upon 
the Mussulman to purchase his companions also ; after which 
they set out together to cross the desert with their master and 
deliverer. They had a very painful journey to perform, riding 
with the utmost rapidity on the naked backs of camels over 
hills of loose sand, whilst the air was filled with flying particles 
of the same substance. Not trusting entirely to the professed 
generosity of his Mussulman master, Riley, having an oppor- 
tunity of communicating with Morocco, procured a reed for a 
pen, and some black substance to serve as ink, wrote a pathetic 
representation of himself and his companions, and addressed 
it "to the consuls or to any Christians" who might happen to 
be at Mogadore. After eight days of dreadful suspense a letter 
arrived, which proved to be from Mr. Willshire, the English 
consul, couched in the most sympathizing terms, and assuring 
the sufferers that a ransom would be provided. This promise 
was faithfully performed ; and the supercargo and his com- 
panions, on reaching the capital of Morocco, met with a hearty 
welcome at the British consulate, and were soon restored to 
liberty and to their friends. 

Although Riley saw little of the interior of Africa beyond 
the dreary desert in which he travelled, he collected a good 
deal of information from Sidi Hamet, who professed to have 
been to Wassanah, Timbuctu, and other populous towns on the 
banks of the Niger, which he described with great minuteness. 
The information thus obtained was duly noted down, and com- 
municated to the secretary of the African Association for future 
guidance. 

TUCKEY AND PeDDIE. 

The melancholy fate of Mungo Park and the other adventu- 
rous travellers, who fell in the cause of African discovery at an 
early period of the enterprise, did not damp the ardent desire 
of the British public for still further information concerning the 
interior of the great continent. As a strong impression existed 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 41 

in many minds that, on further examination, the rivers Congo 
and Niger would prove identical, two large and important expe- 
ditions were planned under the auspices of Government, which 
were intended to decide this question. One was to ascend the 
Congo, and the other was to descend the Niger, with the hope 
of a triumphant meeting in the interior. The Congo expedition 
was entrusted to Captain Tuckey, an officer of distinguished 
merit and varied service. He was accompanied by a crew of 
about fifty men, including marines and mechanics, together with 
a botanist, a geologist, a zoologist, and a gardener. They sailed 
from Deptford on the i6th of February, 181 6, and reached 
Malemba, on the western coast of Africa, on the 30th of June. 
A few days' further sailing brought the English into the channel 
of the Congo, which, to their great disappointment, instead of 
exhibiting the immense size they had been taught to expect, 
scarcely appeared a river of the second class. The stream, it 
is true, was then at the lowest, and the depth being still more 
than 150 fathoms, it was impossible to estimate the mass of 
water it might convey to the ocean. The banks were swampy 
and overgrown with mangrove trees, and the deep silence and 
solitude of these extensive forests made a profound impression 
on the minds of the travellers. 

After sailing between ridges of high rocky hills for several 
miles, the expedition came to Yellala, or the Great Cataract, the 
magnitude of which fell far below their expectations. Yet this 
obstruction rendered it quite impossible for boats to pass 
upwards, nor could they be carried across the deep ravines by 
which the country was here intersected. The explorers were 
therefore obliged to proceed by land through this difficult and 
rugged region, which, without a guide, was a work attended 
with overwhelming toil. At length the country improved and 
became more level and open, whilst the river was wider, and 
the obstacles to its navigation gradually disappeared. But just 
as the enterprise began to assume a prosperous and promising 
aspect, indications of its fatal termination manifested them- 
selves. The health of the party began gradually to give way 



42 



Africa : Past and Present. 



under the effects of fatigue from over-exertion, as well as from 
the malignant influence of an atmosphere at once moist and 
burning. Messrs. Tudor, Cranch, Galwey, and Smith were 
successively obliged to return to the ship; and Captain Tuckey, 
after struggling for some time against the increasing pressure 
of disease and exhaustion, as well as the accumulating difficul- 
ties of the expedition, saw the necessity of putting a stop to 
its farther progress. On rejoining the vessel, the commander 
witnessed a heartrending scene. The four scientific gentlemen 
just mentioned were no more, having, one after another, 
succumbed to the fever of the country ; and most of the crew 
were so ill as to be quite unfit for service. On the 4th of 
October Captain Tuckey himself added one more to the number 
of the dead, and the enterprise was forthwith relinquished. 

Meanwhile the other expedition, under Major Peddie, whose 
instructions led him to strike across the country, and, if possible, 
to descend the Niger, arrived at the mouth of the Senegal. 
Instead of the beaten track along the banks of that river, or of 
the Gambia, he preferred a new route through the country of 
the Foulahs, which appeared shorter and in other respects more 
eligible. On the 17th of November, 1816, he sailed from the 
Senegal, and on the 14th of December the party, consisting of 
100 m.en and 200 animals, landed at Kakundy, on the Rio 
Nunez ; but before they could begin their march inland, the 
Major was attacked with fever and died. Captain Campbell, 
on whom the command now devolved, proceeded in the line 
proposed till he arrived at a small river called the Panietta, on 
the frontier of the Foulah territory. By this time many of the 
beasts of burden had perished, and great difficulty was found 
in obtaining a sufficient quantity of provisions for the men. 
At length their circumstances became such as to place them 
under the absolute necessity of returning; and, all their animals 
being dead, they were obliged to hire natives to carry their 
baggage, — an expedient which gave occasion to much pillage. 
They reached Kakundy with the loss only of Mr. Kummer, 
the naturalist, on the way; but Captain Campbell, overcome 



Early Adventure and Discovery, 43 



by sickness and fatigue, died two days afterwards, on the 13th 
of February, 1817. The superintendence of the enterprise was 
then transferred to Lieutenant Stokoe, a spirited young naval 
officer, who had joined the expedition as a volunteer. He 
formed a new scheme for proceeding into the interior ; but 
unhappily, before anything further could be done, he also sank 
under tlie effects of the climate, and the undertaking was 
abandoned. 

Gray and Laing. 

The sentence of death now seemed pronounced against all 
who should attempt to penetrate the African continent ; and 
yet there were some daring spirits who did not shrink from the 
undertaking. Captain Gray, of the Royal African Corps, who 
had accompanied the expedition the fate of which has just been 
narrated, undertook, in the year 1818, to perform a journey to 
the interior along the more frequented banks of the Gambia. 
He arrived without any obstacle at Boolibani, the capital of 
Bondou, on the 20th of June. There he remained for eleven 
months ; and although anxious to go on, through the jealousy 
of the sable monarch he was not permitted to proceed any 
farther in that direction. With some difficulty he reached 
Gallam, where he met Staff-surgeon Dockard, who had gone 
forward to Sego, to ask permission to pass through Bam- 
barra, — a request which had also been evaded. The whole 
party then returned to the Senegal, and the undertaking was 
relinquished. 

In 1 82 1 Major Laing was sent on a mission from Sierra 
Leone, through the Timannee, Kooranko, and Soolima coun- 
tries, with the view of making commercial arrangements with 
the native chiefs, in the interests of the colony. On this journey 
he collected information which led him to believe that the 
source of the Niger lay much farther to the south than Park 
had supposed. At Falaba he was assured that it might have 
been reached in three days, had not the Kissi nation, in Avhose 
territory it was situated, been at war with the Soolimanas, with 



44 



Africa : Past and Present. 



whom the Major then resided. He was inclined to fix the 
source of the great river a very little above the ninth degree 
of north latitude. 

Ritchie and Lyon. 

Through the judicious conduct of Mr. Warrington, the 
British consul of Tripoli, the Bashaw was induced to cultivate 
the friendship of the British Government ; and, as he held 
constant communication with Bornou and other populous states 
in the interior of Africa through his tributary kingdom of Fezzan, 
it was thought a favourable opportunity to try once more an 
exploratory expedition in that direction. Encouraged by the 
British Government and the African Association, Mr. Ritchie, 
a young man of scientific acquirements and zeal for discovery, 
undertook the direction of a new adventure. He was accom- 
panied by Lieutenant Lyon, who, as a naval officer, was expected 
to be useful in navigating the Niger, if they should succeed in 
reaching that river. These gentlemen were well received at 
Tripoli, and set out on the 22nd of March, 181 9, for Fezzan, 
with Mukni, the sultan, who gave them the most solemn 
assurances of protection. This chief, however, was a ruffian 
who had made his way to power by the massacre of the late 
sovereign, and was at that time extensively engaged in the 
accursed slave trade. Under a guardianship so inauspicious, 
the travellers could hardly expect that support of which they 
stood in need, and they soon found themselves involved in 
trouble. 

Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan, proved extremely unhealthy, 
being intensely hot and surrounded by pools of stagnant water, 
which rendered even the natives liable to fever and ague. The 
members of the expedition soon felt its effects, Lieutenant Lyon 
being seized with dysentery, and Mr. Ritchie with bilious fever, 
under which they languished during the whole summer. At 
the same time they suffered from other causes. The treacherous 
Mukni not only withheld all aid, but he studiously prevented 
others from giving them assistance. At length Mr. Ritchie, 



Early Adveyiivre and Discovery. 45 



the chief of the mission, overwhehned with disease and anxiety> 
died on the 20th of November, 181 9, after which Mr. Lyon 
found himself without the means of penetrating farther than 
to the southern frontier of Fezzan. With such information as 
he was able to collect he returned to England, and the enter- 
prise came to an end. 

Denham and Clapperton. 

The misfortunes which had befallen previous expeditions did 
not deter the British Government and the friends of the negro 
race from making further efforts to explore the interior of Africa. 
The friendly feeling which existed between the English and 
the court of Tripoli, through the continued kindly influence 
of Mr. Warrington, the British consul there, suggested the idea 
of another attempt in that direction ; and Major Denham, 
Lieutenant Clapperton, and Dr. Oudney were engaged for the 
service. Without delay they embarked for Tripoli, where they 
arrived on the i8th of November, 1821. They were" imme- 
diately introduced to the Bashaw or reigning monarch, who 
received them very graciously ; and, fortified with recommen- 
dations to the sultan of Fezzan, they entered upon their long 
and dreary pilgrimage to Mourzouk, where they arrived on the 
8th of April, 1822. This prince received them with affability, 
but gave himself very little trouble in making provision for the 
prosecution of their journey, as they had been led to expect 
he would do. He even intimated his intention of visiting 
Tripoli, and the necessity of their remaining stationary till his 
return. This arrangement was most disheartening to the travel- 
lers ; nor did they know what reliance to place in the sincerity 
of Boo Khalloom, a great merchant who had invited them to 
accompany him with an expedition which he was preparing for 
Soudan. 

After a visit of the parties just mentioned to Tripoli, on the 
30th of October they returned to Mourzouk, when the Major 
was much concerned to find both Lieutenant Clapperton and 
Dr. Oudney prostrate with sickness ; one suffering from ague 



46 



Africa : Fast and Preseni. 



and fever which had confined him to his bed for fifteen days, 
and the other from a severe attack in the chest. Invalids so 
severely afflicted were not very fit to begin a long and laborious 
journey across the desert ; but their ardour was extreme, and, 
imagining that a change of air would be beneficial, they resolved 
to proceed. On the 29th of November the caravan started off, 
escorted by nearly every inhabitant of Mourzouk who could 
hire or borrow a horse. The expedition, besides the English, 
comprised 210 Arabs, ranged in tens and twenties under different 
chiefs. The caravan arrived in due time at Traghan, a small 
town containing a carpet manufactory. Leaving this station, 
they were soon in the heart of the desert, where they passed 
whole days without seeing a living thing, even a bird or an 
insect, that did not belong to their own company. After a fort- 
night thus spent in the desert, the expedition saw symptoms of 
a return to the region of life. Scattered spots of thin herbage 
appeared ; little valleys watered by springs were filled with the 
shrub called suag^ on which grew delicate berries ; small herds 
of gazelles fed in these retreats ; even the droves of hyenas 
which were occasionally seen indicated the revival of animal 
nature. As they advanced the dales became more gay and 
verdant, and after passing through varied scenes, both pleasing 
and painful, they entered Kanem, the most northern province 
of Bornou, and soon afterwards arrived at Lari, a town of 2,000 
inhabitants. 

This place formed a remarkable stage in their progress ; for 
from the rising ground in front of it was seen the boundless 
expanse of the great interior sea of this part of Africa, Lake 
Tchad, "glowing with the golden rays of the sun." The caravan 
now marched along the shores of the lake, and arrived in 
two days at Woodie, a large town, the first which was found 
thoroughly negro. A halt was made here till messengers were 
sent to the sheik of Bornou to obtain permission to proceed. 
After five days an invitation arrived from the sheik to visit him 
at Kouka, his capital ; and on entering that place the expedition 
was escorted by some thousands of horsemen, whom they found 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 47 



drawn up in line, as far as the eye could reach, awaiting their 
approach. On being admitted into the royal presence, the 
travellers found the sheik quietly seated on a carpet, plainly 
dressed, in a small dark room, ornamented solely with guns 
and pistols, which he had received as presents from crowned 
heads, and which he esteemed the most rare and precious of 
decorations. He appeared about forty-five years of age, and 
his countenance was pleasing and expressive. After going 
through the usual ceremonies which the etiquette of the country 
required, the travellers withdrew; and the next day Major 
Denham waited again on the sheik, and delivered his presents, 
which consisted of a double-barrelled gun and two pistols, with 
powder-flask and shot cases complete ; also several fine cloths, 
spices, and porcelain. These articles seemed to give general 
satisfaction. The arms were examined with much interest, 
whilst the other things were carried off by the slaves, as a 
matter of course. The Major frequently visited the sheik 
afterwards, and one day he took with him a musical-box, with 
which his royal highness was so pleased that his visitor made 
him a present of it. 

Denham and Clapperton spent two years in this part of the 
interior ; the former traveUing chiefly in Bornou, and the latter 
in Houssa. These eminent explorers visited Mandara, Loggun, 
Katagum, Murmur, Sansan, Kano, Sackatoo, and other large 
towns, cities, and centres of population ; and their descriptions 
of the country, people, markets, amusements, and other scenes 
which they witnessed, are both amusing and interesting. We 
confess, however, that we should have followed them in their 
journeyings with greater pleasure if they had not joined several 
native warlike expeditions in their savage attacks on peaceful 
villages to carry off the hapless inhabitants as slaves, in one of 
which Boo Khalloom and many others were killed. Their plea, 
of course, was that they wished to see more of the country and 
the manners of the people ; but we venture to think that some 
of their proceedings were scarcely justifiable on any ground. 
Having viewed the Niger and several of its most important 



48 



Africa : Past and Present. 



tributaries, and collected much valuable information, the travel- 
lers would gladly have pushed their way through to the western 
coast, with the hope of solving the great problem as to the 
termination of the Niger ; but this they were not able to do, 
in consequence of the unsettled state of the country in that 
direction, and the decided objection of the sheik of Bornou 
to aid them in their project. Denham and Clapperton there- 
fore recrossed the desert and returned to England via Tripoli, 
having buried poor Dr. Oudney, who died of consumption in 
Houssa. They arrived at Tripoli in January, 1825, and thence 
embarked for Leghorn ; but, being detained by contrary winds 
and quarantine regulations, they did not reach London till the 
month of June. 

Difficulties having presented themselves in the way of reaching 
the western coast of Africa from the interior, it was resolved to 
make one more effort to penetrate the interior from the west 
coast ; and Clapperton, having been applauded for the courage 
and perseverance which he displayed in his first journey, and 
promoted to the rank of captain, nobly offered to conduct a 
new expedition on this route. Captain Clapperton had associated 
with him in this mission, in addition to his attached servant 
Richard Lander, Captain Pearce, an excellent draughtsman, and 
Mr. Morrison, a surgeon of some experience, whose skill, it was 
thought, might be of great service in contributing to the health 
of the whole expedition. The party reached the coast towards 
the end of 1825, and were advised by Mr. Houtson, an intelligent 
and experienced resident there, not to follow the course of the 
river — a circuitous track, covered with pestilential swamps and 
jungle — but to take the route across the country from Badagry, 
as the most direct and commodious, and that by which, in fact, 
almost all the caravans from Houssa came down to the shores 
of the Atlantic. They accordingly left that place on the 7th of 
December; but they had not proceeded far before Morrison 
and Pearce were attacked with bilious fever, and Clapperton 
with fits of ague, induced by sleeping on the damp ground in 
the open air. They pushed on, however, till the 22nd, when 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 



49 



the chief of the expedition, seeing the illness of his two com- 
panions increase, urged them either to remain behind or return 
t3 Badagry. They persisted in proceeding, however; but next 
day Mr. Morrison, who could struggle on no longer, departed 
for the coast, and died before he reached it. Captain Pearce 
j persevered, till, sinking on the road, he also breathed his last, 
j on the evening of the 27th. The survivor was th.us left to 
: pursue his journey in sorrow and sadness, with his faithful 
i servant Richard Lander, and Pascoe, an African whom he had 
\ hired at Badagry, as his only companions. 

After a journey of sixty miles the travellers entered the 
j kingdom of Yoruba, the capital of which was Eyeo. This 
i country had long been considered the most populous, powerful, 
, and flourishing of any in Western Africa, holding even Dahomey 
j in vassalage. Clapperton found it fully to answer this descrip- 
\ tion ; and observed, moreover, that the fields were everywhere 
cleared and extensively cultivated with Indian corn, millet, 
I yams, and cotton. The travellers had now to cross a range of 
hills about eighty miles broad, said to reach the whole way 
from behind Ashanti to Benin. Having descended to the plain, 
they passed through a number of other towns to Tshow, where 
a caboceer arrived, with a numerous train, from the king of 
Yoruba, to conduct them to his royal residence. Next morning 
they set out with an imposing escort of bowmen on foot, and 
of horsemen ill mounted but active, dressed in the most 
grotesque manner, and covered with charms. From the brow 
of a hill Eyeo, the great capital, fifteen miles in circumference, 
opened to the view, on the opposite side of a vast plain bordered 
by a ridge of granite hills and surrounded by a brilliant belt of 
verdure. 

The entry of Clapperton into Eyeo, and his introduction to 
the king of Yoruba, were attended with the barbaric pomp and 
splendour usual on such occasions in Africa. The English 
were well treated by his sable majesty and his subjects ; and 
here, as at other places, he observed the great difference 
between the rule of the simple negroes and that of the despotic 

4 



Africa : Pasi atid Present. 



Moors. Having witnessed many exciting scenes in Eyeo, with 
the consent of the king Clapperton proceeded onward through 
various smaller places till he came to Kiama, the capital of a 
district of the same name, and containing 30,000 inhabitants. 
Kiama, Wawa, Niki, and Boussa are described by our traveller 
as provinces of the kingdom of Borgoo ; but they each possess 
a kind of local government .of their own. On his way to Comie 
Clapperton visited Boussa, the scene of Park's melancholy 
death ; and, from information which he collected on the spot 
it appears that the report of Amidi Fatouma as given in another 
])lace was substantially correct. The party next passed through 
Kotongkora and Guari to Zegzeg, a Fellata country, the capital 
of which is Zaria. Setting out from Zaria, Clapperton soon 
reached his old quarters at Kano ; but he unfortunately found 
that city in a state of dreadful agitation in consequence of 
war which raged on every side. At the sultan's suggestion he 
therefore repaired to Sackatoo, which was the last place he 
v/as permitted to visit. Here his health and constitution gave 
way ; and having lingered for some time, during which he was 
confined to his bed by dysentery, he peacefully passed away 
in the presence of his faithful servant and companion Richard 
Lander, who had nursed him during his illness with the most 
filial tenderness. 

On the death of Captain Clapperton Richard Lander had a 
r.iind to push forward the object of the expedition single-handed 
as he was ; but he met with obstacles at every turn, and the 
country through which he wished to pass being involved in war, 
he was obliged to retrace his steps to the coast. He reached 
Badagry on the 21st of November, 1827; but being detained 
for some time there and at Cape Coast, he did not reach 
England with Clapperton's papers till the 30th of April, 1828. 

Laing and Cailli£ 
About the time that Clapperton proceeded on his second 
journey. Major Laing, who had distinguished himself in the 
Ashanti war, and in the short excursion already mentioned 



Early Adventure and Discovery. 5 1 

towards the source of the Niger, undertook to penetrate to 
Timbuctu by way of Tripoli. He set out under the protection 
of Sheik Baboni, who professed to have resided twenty-two 
years at Timbuctu, and was now governor of Ghadamis; but 
in the midst of the desert, sixteen days after leaving Tuat, a 
band of ferocious Tuaricks surprised the cafila while the Major 
was in bed ; and having inflicted twenty-four wounds, eight of 
tliem with a sabre, left him for dead. Through the care of 
his companions, however, he made a surprising recovery, 
numerous portions of bone having been extracted from his head 
and temples. After some further delays he reached Timbuctu 
on the i8th of August, 1826, and remained there more than a 
month. Several letters were received from him dated from 
that celebrated city, which he described as in the main answer- 
ing his expectations. Laing was at length obliged to leave 
Timbuctu rather hastily, having learned that certain bigoted 
Mussulmen were plotting to take away his life ; and yet in 
attempting to save his life he lost it. Having made an arrange- 
ment with Barbooshi, a noted Moorish merchant, to accompany 
and protect him in the route by Sego to the coast, his course 
came to a melancholy end. Three days after leaving Timbuctu, 
and when in the heart of the desert, that miscreant, instigated ■ 
by avarice, murdered in the night-time the poor lonely white 
man whom he had undertaken to protect, and took possession 
of all his effects. Thus perished brave Major Laing, after having 
devoted so many years of his life to African discovery. 

Another journey was now announced as having been taken 
by M. Caillie, an enterprising Frenchman. According to his 
own statement — the accuracy of which, however, some affected 
to doubt — he visited Senegal twice, and afterwards, taking his 
departure from Sierra Leone, had set out with a small caravan 
of Mandingoes and travelled through Kakundy, Foota Jallo, 
Teembu, Laby, Kankan, and right away to Timbuctu. There 
he spent two or three weeks; but his account of the great 
city is very defective. He describes it as entirely supported by 
commerce, and as having a population of about 12,000, chiefly 



52 



Africa : Past and Present. 



negroes. He set out on his return journey in company ^vith a 
caravan of 120 camels, laden with the productions of Soudan ; 
and he had now the prospect of crossing a desert of ten days' 
extent, in which there was scarcely a blade of grass or a drop 
of water. In reference to this he says : " Before us appeared a 
horizon without bounds, in which our eyes distinguished only 
an immense plain of burning sand, enveloped by a sky on fire. 
At this spectacle the camels raised long cries, and the poor 
slaves mournfully lifted their eyes to heaven." 

During many weary marches Caillie suffered much from the 
scarcity of water and the insults of his companions. El Drah, 
on the frontier of Morocco, was the first inhabited district 
reached by the caravan ; but it was very poor and infested with 
robbers. Turning somewhat to the eastward, they passed 
through the fine country of Tafilet, covered with noble woods 
of date-trees, and producing a valuable breed of sheep. After 
undergoing the labour of crossing a rugged defile of Mount 
Atlas, they proceeded to Fezzan, whence the adventurer found 
his way, though in a somewhat poor plight, to Tangier. He 
arrived there on the i8th of August, 1828, and M. Delaporte, 
the vice-consul, received him kindly, and forwarded him to 
France, where he published a narrative of his travels for the 
edification of his countrymen. 



53 



CHAPTER II. 

RECENT ADVENTURE AND DISCOVERY. 

Richard and John Lander — Laird and Oldfield — Coulthurst and Davidson — 
Niger Expedilion — Barth, Krapf and Rebmann — Burton and Speke — 
Speke, Grant and Baker — Dr. Livingstone — Stanley and Cameron. 

IT was generally admitted, at the time, that the published 
narratives of the journeys of Park, Denham, Clapperton, 
and other adventurers, had added much to the knowledge 
previously possessed of the interior of Africa. These enter- 
prising travellers had explored numerous kingdoms and terri- 
tories lying between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Benin, 
scarcely known to exist before ; they had discovered and 
described new mountains, lakes, and rivers ; yet the course 
and termination of the Niger remained wrapped in mystery 
nearly as deep as ever. Its stream had been traced very little 
lower than Boussa, the point which Park had reached, and 
where his career was brought to a fatal termination. All 
below was involved in uncertainty, and geographers and 
scientific, men generally were extremely anxious to have the 
problem of the further course and termination of the majestic 
river solved. Among those who had experience in such 
matters, no one appeared so fitted to head another expedition 
for the accomplishment of the desired object as Richard 
Lander, who had acquitted himself so well as the faithful 
servant and companion of the lamented Clapperton. Nor 
was he himself reluctant to undertake the task. Having 
offered his services, he was engaged accordingly, on very 
economical terms ; and, together with his brother John, whom 
he particularly wished to have associated with him in the 



54 



Africa : Past aiid Present. 



enterprise, he made preparations for the adventurous under- 
taking. 

Richard and John Lander. 

The two brothers sailed from Portsmouth on the 9th of 
January, 1830, and arrived at Cape Coast on the 22nd of 
February, where they met with much kindness and hospitality 
from all classes of the community, as they did also at Anamaboe, 
where they called soon afterwards. Having engaged the 
services of the faithful negro Pascoe, who accompanied the 
former expedition, they proceeded on their journey, calling 
at Accra on their voyage along the coast, and arriving at 
Badagry on the 22nd of March. At the place last named 
the travellers were much annoyed by the crowds of natives, 
who made the most noisy pretensions of their regard, hoping 
to obtain presents, or at least a glass or two of rum. The 
situation of Badagry is described as in a fertile plain, watered 
by a broad river, resembling a still and beautiful lake. The 
soil, composed of loam or clay, covered with a fine whitish 
sand, is exceedingly productive, especially in yams, Indian 
corn, and fruits, while fish is abundantly supplied from the 
neighbouring stream. 

In proceeding to Eyeo, the capital of Yoruba, the party 
followed the route formerly pursued by Clapperton, with a 
few slight variations, which did not bring them into contact 
with any new places of importance, except Bohoo, an extensive 
city which is described as being situated in the midst of as 
fine a country as the best parts of England. The travellers 
were well received at Eyeo, the king expressing a readiness 
to promote the success of their enterprise by every means in 
his power. Lander had been directed to proceed by the 
shortest route to the Niger, which is distant only about forty 
miles from this town ; but, difficulties presenting themselves, 
he decided to go by way of Youri, which involved a circuit 
of more than 300 miles : this was a disadvantage in some 
respects, although additional facilities were thus afforded for 
seeing the country and the people. 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 55 



Having left Eyeo, the expedition passed through the large 
frontier town of Keeshee, after which they found themselves 
in a region altogether different from the level and fertile plain 
over which they had hitherto journeyed. The surface became 
abrupt and rugged, and covered with vast forests, through which 
ranged the lion, the leopard, and other fierce and destructive 
animals. The country was moreover infested with robbers, 
who made repeated attempts to plunder the travellers. In 
the midst of this wild region the passage of the small rivulet 
of Moussa brought them into Kiama, a territory which differs 
completely from Yoruba, both in its aspect and population. 
The king of this place gave them a good reception in his 
palace, or rather hut, on the floor of which arms were piled ; 
while the walls were adorned with portraits of George IV., 
the Duke of York, the Duke of Wellington, and Lord Nelson. 
Although the king managed to detain the travellers longer 
than they desired, he made no actual opposition to their 
journey ; but persuaded them not to proceed through Wawa, 
with whose chief he was then at war. 

Acting upon the counsel given by the king of Kiama, which 
appeared to be judicious, the travellers proceeded over a hilly 
country, and through the towns of Kakafungi, Coobly, and 
Zalee; till, on the 17 th of June, they arrived at Boussa, the 
scene of Park's sad disaster. They were immediately intro- 
duced to the king, and to the niidiki or queen, from both of 
whom they experienced the most cordial reception. Their 
majesties even professed to have been weeping in the morning 
over the death of Captain Clapperton, though their eyes bore 
no symptoms of this sorrowful occupation. Next day the 
illustrous pair were delighted beyond measure by being pre- 
sented with a looking-glass. They afterwards waited upon 
the travellers in very humble attire, and without the least 
ceremony. Some regret was at first expressed that no coral 
was included among their presents ; but a few plated buttons, 
newly cleaned, soon engrossed their attention, and gave rise 
to a long and eager struggle who should have the prettiest. 



56 



Africa : Past and Presenl. 



The king secured the largest and best, yet contrived to per- 
suade the queen to be content with what fell to her lot. " The 
royal couple were like two great children." 

From Boussa the Landers proceeded up the river to Youri, 
to make preparation for their downward voyage. Before finally 
leaving Boussa the travellers made one more effort to recover 
papers and effects belonging to the lamented Mungo Park, but 
without much success. It was found, however, that the sultan 
possessed a rich crimson damask tobe or cloak, embroidered 
with gold lace, which he said was purchased by his predecessor 
from a white man, at a period very nearly corresponding with 
the date of Park's last journey, and there was reason to think 
that it had actually belonged to him. Having expressed a 
strong desire to possess it, the travellers were fortunate enough 
to receive this beautiful tobe as a present ; but, as will be seen 
in the course of our narrative, subsequent events prevented 
their bringing it to England. They made searching inquiry 
for papers and books, hoping to recover Park's journal, and at 
one time their expectations were raised to a high pitch, as 
they heard of a poor man who possessed a large volume ; but 
when it was brought it proved to be an obsolete nautical 
publication of the last century. Among the leaves, however, 
was found an invitation card addressed to Mr. Park by a 
friend in the Strand, which showed that the book had belonged 
to him. Thus all hope of obtaining any more important relics 
of the great explorer vanished. 

On the 2oth of September the travellers took a friendly leave 
of their majesties of Boussa, and resumed their voyage down 
the mighty Niger. Their canoe arrangements were very defec- 
tive at first, but they obtained more suitable vessels in exchange 
for those they possessed as they had opportunity. The incidents 
of the voyage, which occupied about two months, were of 
varied interest. Being unprovided with the necessary instru- 
ments, and possessing but very limited scientific knowledge, 
the explorers were unable to fix the geographical position of 
prominent places, but they give a very sensible and interesting 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 57 



account of what they saw. They found the river to vary in 
width from one to three miles, and in some places it overflowed 
the low lands, assuming the appearance of vast lakes or inland 
seas. It was, moreover, bestudded with a number of beautiful 
verdant islands of varied sizes and shapes, some of which were 
inhabited and apparently well cultivated. They observed, as 
they sailed along, the entrance of numerous tributaries into the 
main stream, the largest of which was the Tchadda. The shore 
on each bank was in some places barren, mountainous, and 

I rugged, and in others level and fertile. They noted the names 
of numerous large towns and peoples with whom they came 
in contact, — as Layaba, Bajiebo, Belee, Rabba, Zagoshi, Egga, 

! Kacunda, and others. When they heard of a town with a bad 
name they contrived to pass it in the night, and so avoided, as 
much as possible, intercourse with savage and warlike peoples, 
only going on shore where they thought they could do so with 
impunity. 

On the whole, however, our adventurers found the natives 
well disposed till they came near the coast, when they observed 
a great difference in their manners and bearing. In the lower 
regions, where they had been brought into contact with the 
slavers, they became more insolent in their demands for 
presents ; and at length the travellers were involved in difficulty 
and trouble. One instance of a narrow escape from danger 
and death may be given as a specimen. They had sailed from 
Kacunda, their last halting-place, a distance of about seventy 
or eighty miles, when feeling fatigued, and their apprehensions 
of danger being lulled, they landed. On a cleared spot, seem- 
ingly laid out for a market or fair, they began to erect an 
awning, with the view of taking some repose. But news was 
soon brought that some of their men, straggling in search of 
firewood, had lighted upon a village, where they found only 
females and children ; who, struck with alarm, ran into the 
fields to warn the men of the arrival of strangers. Suddenly 
one of the native sailors called aloud, "War is coming ! oh, war 
is coming!" Starting up, they beheld a large party of men 

I 



58 



Afyica : Past and Present. 



almost naked, running in a very irregular manner, and with 
uncouth gestures, towards the little encampment. They were 
all variously armed with muskets, bows and arrows, cutlasses, 
knives, barbs, long spears, and other instruments of destruction. 
Very uneasy sensations were produced by the sight of this band 
of wild men, with their ferocious looks and hostile appearance. 
They advanced rapidly in such numbers as to afford scarcely 
any hope of a successful conflict. It was therefore determined 
to approach and accost them in a pacific manner. 

The sequel will be best given in the words of the narrator: — 
" Throwing down our pistols, which we had snatched up in the 
first moment of surprise," says Richard Lander, " my brother 
and I walked very composedly, and unarmed, towards the chief. 
As we approached him, we made all the signs and motions we 
could with our arms, to deter him and his people from firing 
upon us. His quiver was dangling at his side, his bow was 
bent, and an arrow which was pointed at us already trembled 
on the string, when we were within a few yards of his person. 
This was a highly critical moment, — the next might be our last. 
But the hand of Providence averted the blow ; for just as the 
chief was about to pull the fatal cord, a man that was nearest 
to him rushed forward and stayed his arm; all of them trembled 
like aspen leaves ; the chief looked up full in our faces, kneel- 
ing on the ground ; light seemed to flash from his dark rolling 
eyes ; his body was convulsed all over, as though he were en- 
during the utmost torture ; and with a tremulous yet undefinable 
expression of countenance he dropped his head, eagerly grasped 
our proffered hands, and burst into tears. This was a sign of 
friendship ; harmony followed, and war and bloodshed were 
thought of no more. Peace and friendship now reigned 
among us." 

Thankful for this merciful deliverance, the adventurous 
voyagers pursued their way down the stream ; but it was not 
long before they were involved in still greater trouble. In the 
course of a few days they thought they perceived the influence 
of the tide affecting their progress. The periodical rise and 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 59 



fall of the water in the river, which became more and more 
apparent, produced in their minds the conviction that they were 
approaching the sea ; and they rejoiced to think that their toils 
would soon be over and the grand problem of the termination 
of the Niger solved. Whilst thus musing, about seven o'clock 
in the evening, they came to the junction of two rivers, one 
flowing from the east into the Niger, and the other westward 
from it to Benin, near which stood the large market town of 
Kirree. Numerous boats were lying on the shore ; and there 
soon appeared, coming upwards, a fleet of fifty large canoes 
ornamented with a variety of ensigns, among which was the 
British union flag. The clothing of the men was entirely of 
European manufacture, and the whole presented a spectacle 
at once picturesque and grateful to an English eye. Richard 
Lander, whose canoe was a little in advance, sailed gaily on to 
meet them; but emotions of a different kind speedily succeeded, 
when a huge negro in one of the canoes beckoned him to come 
on board. As he did not instantly obey, the crew mounted a 
platform, and levelled their muskets at him. He felt that, with 
his small loaded bark, to engage a fleet of fifty war-canoes would 
be merely to throw away his life. He therefore stood still whilst 
the assailant pronounced him his prisoner and took possession 
of all his goods. 

Meantime John Lander and his party hove in sight ; and great 
was their surprise when they beheld the fleet of war-canoes, and 
the leader of the expedition on board one of them. John made 
an effort to escape, but he was pursued and seized by main force, 
and in the struggle which followed his canoe was upset, and 
he had a narrow escape from a watery grave. On looking 
round in despair, he saw Richard at a short distance steadily 
looking upon him, and pointing his finger to the skies, as if 
saying, " Trust in God." Hereupon his mind became more 
composed ; and soon after, coming alongside, Richard threw 
a shirt over the naked body of his brother, and spoke to him 
words of comfort ; but on attempting to go on board the same 
canoe he was dragged back with violence, and for the present 



6o 



Africa : Past and Present. 



the brothers were kept separated. In this extremity, and while 
the travellers scarcely hoped for life, affairs suddenly took a 
favourable turn. Some of the natives of a neighbouring pro- 
vince, who accompanied the expedition, had been plundered 
also ; and when the whole of the party were landed at Kirree, 
these called for justice. They were seconded by a number of 
females richly dressed in silk, and others disposed to befriend 
them. A council was forthwith held in the market-place, which 
decided that the attack had been unwarrantable, that the stolen 
goods should be restored, and the ringleader in the attack put 
to death. Search was accordingly made for the goods ; and 
there were produced in the midst of the assembly the medicine 
chest of the expedition, a box with books, John Lander's diary, 
and the cloths-bag nearly emptied of its contents. There had 
disappeared the whole of the arms, nine valuable elephants' 
tusks, ostrich-feathers, various small commodities, and (what 
was most of all regretted) Richard Lander's journal. The 
travellers were then cailled, and informed that, the king of 
Kirree being absent, they must be sent to Obie, the ruler of 
the Eboe country, and placed at his disposal. 

This was considered a favourable arrangement by the 
travellers, though they became virtually captives, and were 
escorted down the river by two large war-canoes. The banks 
now presented an alluvial aspect, resembling that of the coast ; 
they were low, fiat, and swampy, and covered with forests of 
mangrove and other trees. On the 8th of November, after 
passing two large branches of the river, one flowing south-east 
and the other west, an Eboe man called out, " There is my 
country ! " and they soon came in front of the town, where 
there were hundreds of canoes, some larger than any they had 
seen before. The houses were uncommonly neat, plastered, 
with wooden pillars in front, and surrounded by well-fenced 
courtyards, in which grew bananas and plantains. 

Having been brought before King Obie, the travellers were 
informed that the price of their ransom would be " twenty 
bars," or the value of twenty slaves, and that they must remain 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 6 i 

at Eboe till that amount was sent up from the coast. This 
announcement struck them with consternation, as it appeared 
very doubtful whether any English captain would be disposed 
to advance such a sum. However, a personage calling himself 
King Boy determined to engage in the speculation, and offered 
to pay Obie his demand, provided he obtained a " book " or 
order on Captain Lake of the English brig Thomas, then at 
anchor below, for thirty-five bars and a cask of rum. This 
was to them gratifying intelligence, though the claim was 
exorbitant ; but they resolved to promise anything in order to 
effect their escape. The engagement was accordingly made, 
and the brothers took their departure in the custody of King 
Boy in a large canoe bound for Brass Town, the royal residence 
of their sable lord and master. 

On the 17th of November, Richard Lander, leaving his 
brother and the rest of the party as hostages, was allowed to 
embark in a canoe at Brass Town, accompanied by King Boy, 
j to complete his discoveries. The branch of the Niger which 
I here enters the sea is divided into two smaller sections, called 
; the First and Second Brass Rivers ; but Brass Town is not 
built upon either, probably from their banks being too low 
and swampy, and liable to inundation in the rainy season. It 
stands upon a large creek, connected with the main stream by 
i numerous branches which wind through this alluvial district. 
In the evening they reached the Second, and next morning the 
First Brass River, called by the Portuguese the Nun ; and in 
a quarter of an hour afterwards Lander, with inexpressible 
jileasure, beheld in the distance the long-wished-for Atlantic, 
and heard the sea breaking over the sandy bar which stretches 
across the mouth of the river, where two European vessels 
were riding at anchor. The first was a Spanish slaver, and 
the other the Thomas of Liverpool, of which he had previously 
heard. The crews of both ships were nearly all down with 
African fever. On going on board the English vessel to make 
known his case, and to solicit the kind interposition of the 
master, his fellow-countryman, the sorrow and dismay of the 



^4 



Africa : Past and Present. 



civilization among the barbarous tribes of the interior of 
Africa. 

By means of steam navigation they proposed to ascend the 
Niger, survey the country, and open friendly communications 
with the natives everywhere. Two iron steamers were accord- 
ingly constructed specially for this service — the Quorra of 
forty, and the Albtirkah of sixteen horse power, with crews 
of twenty-six and fourteen men respectively ; while the 
Columbine^ a sailing vessel, of 200 tons, carried out goods 
for trafific. Mr. Richard Lander readily accepted an invitation 
to join the party, at the head of which was Mr. Laird himself, 
Lieutenant Allen being sent out by Government to survey the 
river, while Dr. Briggs and Mr. Oldfield went as medical men. 

The expedition sailed from Liverpool on the 19th of July, 
1832 ; and, after calling at the Cape Verd Islands, Sierra 
Leone, Monrovia, Axim, and Cape Coast Castle, the vessels 
anchored at the mouth of the river Nun on the i6th of October. 
The effects of the climate, the great barrier to African explora- 
tion, were soon manifest, so that within three days they lost 
by death Captain Harris and two seamen of the Columbine. 
Ten days were employed in preparations for ascending the 
river, during which they received marked attention and assist- 
ance from the native kings and others. 

On the 26th, having got under way, they began to explore 
a passage through the narrow channel of the Nun on their 
way up the river. On arriving at Eboe, the party met with 
a cordial reception from the king, notwithstanding a brush 
which they had had with some of his subjects at a village 
below. His sable majesty is described as tall in person, with 
a pleasing countenance and agreeable manners. Six female 
faces, visible through the doorway of an adjoining apartment, 
were understood to be those of his favourite wives. Here also 
was King Boy, who never spoke to the other sovereign without 
first falling upon his knees as a sign of his inferiority in position 
and power. Soon after leaving Eboe, on the i ith of November, 
fever made its appearance on board both vessels in a most 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 65 

virulent form. Mr. Laird was one of the first to suffer, but 
his attack was comparatively mild, and he soon got over it ; 
but this was not the case with many others. The disease daily 
spread more widely, till, on the 24th, the Qiiorra had lost thirteen 
men, and the Alburkah two. They were struck with the appre- 
hension that all would perish together, and not one return 
to relate the sad story of their fate ; but in a short time the 
disease abated somewhat, and the expedition pushed along 
up the river, hoping to find the climate improve as they 
approached the high lands — which proved to be the case. A 
month was occupied in reaching Attah, an important and 
populous town, about 300 miles above Eboe, where they 
attempted to traffic with the natives, but found serious diffi- 
culties, owing to the prevalence of the slave trade. 

The transactions of the party with the king of Attah were 
very unsatisfactory ; and his brother, with whom they en- 
deavoured to treat for ivory and other native produce, ended 
every discussion with the angry query, " Why won't you take 
men ? " So superstitious were these people, that the king was 
seen with his priests performing certain fetish ceremonies, in 
which persons fantastically dressed used expressive gestures, and 
threw alligators' flesh into the river, hoping thereby to prevent 
the strangers from ascending farther ; but, as he did not oppose 
any human obstacle, they proceeded without further difficulty. 
The river now assumed a delightful appearance, bordered 
by gently undulating banks and hills of moderate elevation ; 
beyond which appeared in the distance the bold range of the 
Kong mountains. The sick began to recover, and the con- 
valescents to gain strength. On approaching the confluence 
of the Tchadda, the Niger presented itself to view as " an 
immense river about 3000 yards wide, flowing majestically 
between its banks, which rose gradually to a considerable 
height, and were studded with clumps of trees and brushwood, 
giving them the appearance of a gentleman's park ; while 
the smoke rising from the towns and villages, which appeared 
in various directions, and the number of canoes floating on 

5 



66 



Africa : Past and Present. 



its bosom, gave it an aspect of security and peace far beyond 
any African scene hitherto witnessed." 

The prospect of trade, however, did not meet the expectations 
of the adventurers. Ivory was very scarce and dear, and the 
indigo offered for sale was found to be dirty and not worth its 
freight home. The stream, moreover, now became compara- 
tively shallow, and on the 22nd of December the Quorra stuck 
first on one sandbank and then on another ; and, after a 
succession of such accidents, it was found necessary to " house 
her," and await the rise of the water caused by the rainy season. 
Lander endeavoured to penetrate upwards in the Alburkah to 
Rabba and Boussa, but soon discovered that the depth of 
water at this season was not sufficient for his purpose. 

Condemned to a gloomy and monotonous life, Mr. Laird 
again suffered from ague and fever, and was deeply affected 
by the death of Dr. Briggs, whose society had been his chief 
consolation. He therefore determined to ascend the Tchadda, 
if possible, as far as Funda, long known as the chief city in this 
part of Africa ; but the entrance of the river was so obstructed 
by sandbanks that the boat could proceed only through a creek 
which two miles above traversed its delta. The main stream 
thus reached was found two fathoms deep, and flowing rapidly. 
After a tedious navigation of seven days, during which he 
passed a considerable number of villages, he arrived at Yim- 
maha, the port of Funda, about thirty miles distant from the 
city. He sent a message to the king, to which an answer was 
returned by eighteen horsemen, who bowed in humble obeisance 
to the illustrious stranger, and who informed him of his 
majesty's wish to see him at his royal residence. After a 
diligent search, a navigable creek was found, through which the 
boat was able to ascend to a point within nine miles of Funda. 
By this route Laird travelled, and reached the city at night, by 
moonlight, and was directed to a miserable hovel for a lodging; 
but next day he was provided with a better house in a broad 
street. Both night and morning he was beset by immense 
crowds, who showed the utmost curiosity to see a white man. 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 67 



In the afternoon the king waited upon him in full state, arrayed 
in splendid silk and velvet robes. He expressed great pleasure 
at seeing a European, and promised abundance of ivory for 
barter. In the meantime he seated himself on one of Mr. 
Laird's tin cases, containing his wardrobe, which by this act 
was instantly declared by his attendants to be his majesty's 
property, according to the custom of the country, and they 
proceeded to carry it off ! It was rescued, however, by two of 
the boatmen, although not without a fierce struggle. 

On examination, Funda was found to be a large city of 
about 40,000 inhabitants, only a tenth part of whom were 
Mohammedans. A magnificent, fruitful, and extensive plain 
surrounds the city, bounded by a range of low distant hills. 
The place is enclosed by a wall twelve feet high, six thick, and 
for the most part by a ditch ten feet deep. Cotton is spun by 
every individual, high and low, the king himself not excepted ; 
the instrument being a species of bobbin which can be used by 
the hand, even in walking. The native method of weaving 
narrow webs of cloth, about six inches wide, is somewhat 
remarkable, the loom and other machinery being of the most 
rude and simple character. There are also extensive dye-works, 
and iron and copper are fabricated into a variety of useful 
articles. Mr. Laird, however, failed to transact any business 
of consequence with the king and people of Funda. Indeed, 
he seems, from his own account, to have been all the time at 
cross purposes with them ; so that after a week or two spent in 
useless contention, having satisfied his curiosity and amused 
the natives by the discharge of fireworks, etc., he descended 
the river, and joined the members of the expedition whom he 
had left behind. Soon after this, Mr. Laird's personal explora- 
tions in Africa came to an end. Being apparently disappointed 
with the result of the experiment so far, he descended the 
Niger, and, after visiting Bimba and Calabar, and spending 
some time at Fernando Po, he returned to England. 

The command of the expedition now devolved upon Mr. 
Oldfield. Immediately after the departure of Mr. Laird, he 



68 Africa : Past and Present. 



and Lander determined to ascend the Tchadda, hoping to 
reach by that channel the great lake Tchad. They found the 
shores to vary much in their appearance, but in general neither 
so fertile nor so populous as those of the Niger. In passing 
near Funda, they received a visit from the king's daughter, 
with whom they were greatly pleased. On ascending higher, 
the natives seemed alarmed at the visit of the strangers, and at 
two contiguous towns, Dagboh and Obohbe, the chiefs had fled, 
and only one sent his daughter, ten or eleven years old, with 
no attire except a girdle of beads, to represent him. They 
landed at the former place, and found it a town of considerable 
extent, and the streets well stocked with sheep, goats, and 
poultry ; but all the inhabitants had disappeared except two, 
who earnestly beckoned them to depart. Being thus cut off 
from intercourse with the natives, their provisions became 
scarce , and seeing no prospect of trade or further exploration 
with advantage in this direction, after they had ascended the 
Tchadda to a distance of 104 miles from its confluence with 
the Niger, they returned to their former station. 

The season having at length arrived for the periodical rise of 
the waters of the Niger, our adventurers resolved upon another 
attempt to ascend the mighty stream to a higher point than 
they had yet reached. On this voyage, the river, with its banks, 
presented to the view a magnificent appearance. Villages were 
numerous, and the mountain slopes, as well as the valleys, were 
highly cultivated. The people, moreover, were friendly and cour- 
teous ; and, although they flocked in crowds on board the steamer 
to gratify their curiosity, each visitor was no sooner required to 
bring a bundle of firewood than they cheerfully complied with 
the rule, and thus abundance of fuel was provided without 
expense or loss of time. Great excitement was caused among 
the natives by the appearance of the steamer as she pushed her 
way up the river against wind and tide. On reaching Egga 
Mr. Oldfield met with a kindly reception from Ederesa the 
king ; and, on examining the city, found it much more exten- 
sive and populous than he had supposed. Soon after leaving 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 69 



this place they met a canoe sent by the king of Rabba to 
inquire if they were the same Christians who were at Sackatoo 
about two years before, and to ascertain the object of their 
mission. On learning the friendly and pacific nature of their 
journey, the messengers returned with joy to give their report 
to their royal master. 

The expedition soon afterwards came in sight of Rabba, 
which appeared to be a city of immense extent, built on rising 
ground, and resembling an amphitheatre. A vast crowd of 
natives assembled to witness the arrival of the strangers. The 
English fired a salute, this being the first time that the report 
of a cannon had been heard on the Upper Niger ; and the next 
morning they found horses waiting to convey them to the 
palace. The streets were narrow and excessively dirty, but they 
passed through a spacious market-place, fitted for the sale of 
wood, cloth, indigo, slaves, and other articles, of which there 
was an abundant supply. The royal residence consisted of 
about thirty ordinary huts, each surmounted by an ostrich egg, 
and enclosed by a high wall of mud. After passing through 
several apartments, they came to the palaver-house, where about 
a hundred chiefs were seated cross-legged, having the whole 
head except the eyes enveloped in muslin robes. They could 
not for some time discover who was the king, but found him 
at length in the person of Osiman, who was sitting plainly 
dressed among the others, This temporary concealment of the 
monarch is the common policy in Africa, adopted from fear of 
treasonable designs on the part of visitors. The king, who 
proved to be a shrewd, intelligent man, received the presents 
which were offered him with perfect complacency ; but, accord- 
ing to African etiquette, had them removed without taking 
much notice of them. During the interview several ladies 
came and peeped at the strangers ; but, on being seen, scam- 
pered away laughing. At first the king, like most African 
potentates, seemed anxious for trade ; but, as usual, on a one- 
sided system. He wished to have everything he saw in the 
possession of the white men, and promised abundance of ivory 



70 



Africa : Past and Present. 



in exchange ; but very little of it was produced, and no business 
of consequence was transacted. Soon after leaving Rabba the 
expedition descended the Niger and sailed for Fernando Po, 
where it arrived on the 3rd of November, 1833. 

In accordance with instructions from home, arrangements 
were made soon afterwards for a fresh expedition up the Niger. 
Mr. Oldfield, in the Alburkah, was to lead the way; whilst 
Lander, in the Qnorra, went to Cape Coast and Akrah for a 
supply of cowries and goods for barter. The former forthwith 
sailed up to Iddah. Some time was spent there in the hope of 
opening an advantageous trade with the king and people. This, 
however, resulted in disappointment, as before. Mr. Oldfield 
then ascended to the mouth of the Tchadda, and, having visited 
the ivory market, where he carried on some small traffic, he 
returned down the river to look after the other members of the 
expedition. He had already received information that Lander 
had been attacked and wounded by a large body of warlike 
natives ; and on reaching the estuary of the Niger he learned 
all the particulars of the sad tragedy. That gentleman, who 
had come up with two boats and a stock of valuable articles, 
was, at a town named Hyammah, assailed by the combined 
inhabitants of that and two other places. Three of his men 
were shot, several wounded, and he himself received a ball in 
the thigh, which, though at first it appeared not dangerous, 
proved ultimately fatal. A boat, a canoe, and most of the 
goods fell into the hands of the brigands. A lady and her 
child were also captured, but afterwards redeemed. Mr. Old- 
field, in passing the place on his way downward, was careful to 
keep the steam in full action, and the vessel in the middle of 
the river ; yet 200 men rushed from behind a bank and com- 
menced firing, which they continued as long as the bark was 
in sight. He was afraid to retaliate, lest his vessel should run 
aground and his people be overpowered by numbers. On the 
9th of June, 1834, he reached Fernando Po, and on the 8th 
of November his arrival at Falmouth closed this chequered and, 
on the whole, unfortunate expedition. 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 71 



COULTHURST AND DAVIDSON. 

Whilst the expeditions for exploring the interior of Africa 
which have just passed under review were pursuing their arduous 
labours, efforts were made in the same direction by individual 
travellers which are worthy of a passing notice. In the early 
part of the year 1832 there arrived at St. Mary's, on the river 
Gambia, where the present writer was then resident, two young 
men who had left England with the intention of becoming 
African travellers. One of them became disheartened on first 
seeing the country, and returned home almost immediately ; 
but the other, Mr. Coulthurst, possessed more courage, and 
resolved to proceed alone. I had much conversation with this 
gentleman, who was intelligent and courteous ; and having just 
returned from a voyage up the Gambia, and seen some old 
native chiefs who remembered Mungo Park's passing through 
the country, I was able to give him several items of information 
which he highly prized. From reading Herodotus, Mr. Coul- 
thurst had conceived the idea that the one great river of Africa, 
mentioned by that historian, meant the connection of the Niger 
with the Nile, as one continued stream ; and that by ascending 
the one he might continue his voyage and sail down the other, 
and thus triumphantly prove their identity as " the father of 
African waters." The fancied connection of these great rivers 
he traced with his pen on a map of Africa now before me, and 
set himself the task of proving its reality by personal observation. 

The plan of Mr. Coulthurst was to purchase a canoe, ascend 
the Niger, which the Landers had proved to have its numerous 
mouths in the Bight of Benin, trace its mysterious connection 
with the Nile, and sail down that river to the Mediterranean. 
For this purpose he obtained a passage on board H. M.S. Plumper, 
which was about to sail for the Gulf of Guinea. His last night 
at the Gambia was spent at the Mission House at Bathurst, 
where he slept upon a sofa. We conversed till a late hour, and 
bowed together at the family altar. The next morning, after 
breakfast, he took his departure, being again commended to 
God in prayer. We heard no more of the lonely traveller for 



72 Africa : Past and Present. 

several months ; but at length the mournful tidings came that 
his short career was terminated. From the account received 
it appeared that he had scarcely commenced his adventurous 
journey when he was seized with malignant fever, under which 
he suffered for a few days and then expired, finding a grave 
in African soil. Thus was another victim added to the number 
of those who had fallen in their attempts to explore the interior. 

The design of penetrating to Timbuctu from the north was 
not yet relinquished ; and the task was undertaken by Mr. 
Davidson, a respectable medical gentleman, who had already 
travelled in different quarters of the world, and who possessed 
courage, strength, and address which seemed peculiarly to 
qualify him for its accomplishment. He embarked in Septem- 
ber, 1835, for Gibraltar; but found a difficulty in penetrating 
to Morocco, because of the jealousy which existed with reference 
to strangers from Europe going there. This was at length 
overcome, however, in virtue of the traveller's medical know- 
ledge, physicians being greatly in demand at that time. The 
emperor labouring under a severe illness, and hearing of 
Mr. Davidson's skill, sent him a kind invitation to court, and 
the Kaid of Tangier received instructions to assist him on his 
journey. On arriving at the capital he found his services wanted 
not only by the monarch, but by all the sable beauties who 
adorned his court. Every morning, after waiting on his majesty, 
he was presented with a list of the ladies' complaints, with the 
expectation that next day he would bring a remedy for each ; 
and thus he continued to prescribe for the royal household 
with increasing popularity and success for some time. 

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the 
traveller found considerable difficulty in getting away from the 
court of Morocco when he wanted to leave. It was not till 
the beginning of 1836 that he was permitted to depart. In 
commencing his journey he attempted to take the most direct 
route across the chain of the Atlas ; but after climbing to the 
height of 5000 feet above the level of the sea, he was arrested 
by snow, and obliged to return to take the circuitous way of 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 73 



Mogadore. Here Mr. Willshire, the British consul, exerted 
his influence in a negotiation with the sheik of Wadinoon for 
his safe conveyance to Timbuctu. The chief professed the 
most friendly disposition ; but alarming tidings came to hand 
of murderous attacks by wandering marauders in the desert. 
The caravan which the traveller proposed to join mustered 
uncommon strength, being composed of a host of men with 
400 horses and 2,000 camels. With this party he would pro- 
bably have been safe, but he decided to push on with only 
four companions ; and the first letters received from him were 
written in high spirits, stating that he hoped to spend the new 
year at Timbuctu. However, on the 7th of February, Mr. 
Willshire received a letter from the sheik of Wadinoon, with the 
mournful intelligence that Mr. Davidson had been murdered 
in the desert. This melancholy incident was rendered more 
painful by the circumstance that the Moslem chief who had 
undertaken to aid and protect the lonely Englishman was 
suspected of having been the principal means of his lamented 
death. 

Niger Expedition. 

The next effort which was made on behalf of the African 
race was one of great magnitude, and the sympathy and interest 
which it evoked were so wide-spread that it assumed almost a 
national importance. An expedition was organized under the 
direction and at the expense of the British Government, the 
object of which was not merely to explore the interior of the 
vast continent, and promote the interests of art and science, 
but especially to check, and if possible to annihilate, the slave 
trade by the substitution of legitimate commerce, and the 
advancement of civilization and social improvement ; and thus 
to prepare the way for the propagation of Christianity. For 
this purpose treaties were to be formed with native princes ; 
encouragement was to be given to trade and agricultural pur- 
suits; and schools and Christian missions were to be established 
as openings presented themselves. The river Niger, which 



74 



Africa : Past and Present. 



had been partially explored and made known to the British 
public by previous expeditions, was to be the highway to the 
interior, for it was still believed that it might be successfully 
navigated by vessels of light draught, at the proper season of 
the year ; and the native tribes of the interior, so far as known, 
appeared to be on the whole peaceable and well-disposed. 

The Niger Expedition consisted of three steamers — the Albert, 
Wilberforce, and Soudan, with the Harriet transport and Amelia 
tender — which were well adapted for river navigation, and care- 
fully fitted up with every appliance likely to promote the health 
and comfort of the officers and men in the trying climate to 
which they were going. There were on board these ships about 
300 souls, officers and men, all told, under the command of 
Captain Bird Allen. They left England in the early part of 
the year 1841, followed by the prayers of tens of thousands, 
arrangements having been made by various churches to hold 
special meetings for the purpose of commending the members 
of the expedition to the care and protection of Almighty God, 
and to implore His blessing upon the important objects which 
it had in view. On their way down the coast the vessels called 
at Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cape Coast Castle, and other places ; 
and at every settlement an interest was excited such as had 
never been seen before, as the expedition was known to be of 
a more decidedly philanthropic and religious character than 
any of its predecessors. 

The little fleet arrived off the river Nun on the 9th and loth 
of August. In unloading the transport they were detained some 
time, owing to the rolling of the vessels in the heavy swell 
outside the bar. A further detention arose when they had 
crossed the bar, from the necessity of refitting the tails of the 
rudders, which had been carried away on the passage from Cape 
Coast, and without which the vessels were almost unmanageable. 
These repairs, the badness of the weather, and the strength of 
the tide, detained the expedition at the mouth of the river for 
ten days, — a circumstance to be regretted on many grounds. 

This unavoidable delay does not, however, appear to have 



Recent Advefiture and Discovery. 75 



positively injured the health of the crews, as they enjoyed a 
wholesome sea-breeze, and every precaution was taken to 
preserve them from illness. Up to this period there had been 
seven deaths since the expedition left England — not, however, 
attributable to the climate : four of them were from casualties, 
one of apoplexy, and two from fever (not African, but typhus). 
Of these last, one only was a European. Under these com- 
paratively favourable circumstances the steamers commenced 
their ascent of the Niger on the 20th of August, with sanguine 
hopes of success. Their progress was necessarily slow, as they 
did not ordinarily make more than six miles an hour, and the 
current ran at the rate of three against them. They were 
delayed still further by looking for the Wilberforce, which had 
gone up a different channel. Thus the 22nd (Sunday) was 
spent, and at last it was found that she had gone ahead. The 
vessels rejoined at Eboe on the 26th, and no inconvenience 
was experienced beyond the loss of time. This deviation was, 
however, the means of discovering a new branch of the river, 
with numerous villages and a larger population than had yet 
been seen. 

Six days after leaving Eboe the expedition arrived at Iddah, 
when the African fever broke out among the crews of all the 
vessels with great virulence, and continued its ravages till they 
reached the confluence, a distance of 270 miles from the mouth 
of the river. On the 17th of September the sick list exhibited 
a total of seventy cases, whilst eight had died. In consequence 
of this alarming sickness, and their inability to examine the 
higher grounds for a healthy station, it was deemed advisable 
to send the sick to the sea-side. Forty-three of the worst cases 
were, therefore, put on board the Soudan on the 19th, and 
steaming down the stream as rapidly as possible, she reached 
the sea on the 22nd. On the passage down the surgeon of the 
Soudan and one seaman died. They had the good fortune 
to fall in with H.M.S. Dolphin, on board of which the rest of 
the patients were embarked, and she set sail at once for 
the island of Ascension. On the passage thither eight more 



76 



Africa : Past and Present. 



died, but the rest recovered in a most rapid and remarkable 
manner. 

It appears that up to this time about one-eighth of the entire 
number of Europeans employed in the expedition had died ; 
but they were chiefly sailors before the mast. The mortality 
among the officers and upper classes was less ; the scientific 
men having suffered but slightly, and the Rev, Messrs. Miiller 
and Schon, the missionaries, not at all. The leaders of the 
enterprise were not discouraged ; for great as had been their 
sufferings, they saw that they were light compared with those 
of previous exploring parties. They therefore proceeded as 
best they could to carry out the objects of the undertaking 
with the means which were still left at their disposal. They 
formed treaties with several of the most powerful native kings 
and chiefs, for the promotion of legitimate commerce, and the 
entire abolition of the slave trade and human sacrifices ; they 
purchased a tract of ground, sixteen miles in length and six in 
width, dry and elevated, including a mountain adapted for a 
settlement and sanatorium ; and they laid out a model farm 
for the instruction of the natives in improved methods of agri- 
culture. At the same time the missionaries and linguists were 
busy with preparatory and elementary work, with a view to 
promote the moral and religious welfare of the natives. 

It is painful to have to record the comparative failure of an 
expedition which had been so well planned and so vigorously 
conducted as the one we have briefly described ; but it is a 
mournful fact that, notwithstanding the enormous expense 
which it involved, and the numerous advantages which it 
possessed, it did not succeed as was expected, or accomplish 
the amount of good which its warmest friends and patrons 
desired. No blame is to be attributed to any one, for it 
developed, in various classes of its members, a measure of 
Christian courage, zeal, and endurance worthy of the highest 
commendation. The great obstacle to success was the climate, 
which in this instance, as in many others, proved seriously 
injurious to the health and constitutions of Europeans, and 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 77 



trying even to native Africans not accustomed to the swampy 
and pestilential regions of the coast. After the number of men 
had been reduced by the deaths and removal of invalids which 
we have mentioned, fever broke out again on board the 
exploring vessels, and many more were added to the list of the 
dead, whilst the survivors were most of them unfit for active 
duty. Consequently, after vainly struggling on for a few 
months longer, the steamers descended the river, returned to 
England, and the undertaking was relinquished. 

Barth, Krapf, and Rebmann. 

Few travellers have manifested greater zeal and earnestness 
in the cause of African discovery, or done more for the benefit 
of the negro race, than Dr. Barth, an intelligent and enter- 
prising German, who headed an expedition, under the auspices 
of the British Government, for the exploration of the interior 
of the north-western portion of the great continent, in 1849, 
and whose journals, in five large octavo volumes, are a noble 
monument of his Hnguistic and scientific ability. He was first 
associated with Richardson and Overweg in a journey under- 
taken with a view to establish friendly relations with the 
leading potentates and chiefs on the Niger and Lake Tchad, 
and thus, if possible, to put an end to the slave trade by 
promoting legitimate commerce and civilization. Richardson 
died in March, 185 1, at a place within one hundred miles of 
Kuka ; and Overweg, after exploring a portion of Lake Tchad, 
and visiting the Biddumas, who dwell on its islands, also expired 
on the 20th of September, 1852, near Kuka. Thenceforth the 
main burden of the mission fell upon Dr. Barth, who, although 
alone, unsupported, and frequently left without resources, 
pursued his hazardous and laborious researches with the 
plodding industry, pertinacity, and minute exactness charac- 
teristic of his countrymen. 

Following a route considerably to the west of the direct path 
to Bornou, the Doctor passed through Ghat and Air, two 



78 Africa: Past and Present. 



important oases and centres of trade in the hands of the 
Tarwick tribes, of whose history and habits he gives ample 
information. In the course of his researches he found the 
Fellatah states on the Niger nominally subject to the sultan of 
Sackatoo, whilst Bornou was under the rule of an Arab sheik. 
The unsettled state of the country increased the difficulties of 
Dr. Earth's enterprise ; but he succeeded in exploring Lake 
Tchad and its southern border-land. The lake was found to 
be a mere lagoon of no great depth, about four hundred miles 
in circumference, and contains numerous islands, inhabited by 
a wild race of natives called Biddumas. The shores are low 
and swampy for a considerable distance, and abound in croco- 
diles and hippopotami ; elephants, also, are found in great 
numbers in the neighbourhood. The river Shary enters the 
lake from the south, and the Waube from the west. 

On the 1 8th of June, 1854, Dr. Earth made his great dis- 
covery of the Eenuwe river, which is identical with the eastern 
branch of the Upper Niger. This river was found to be 800 
yards broad, 11 feet deep, and liable to rise 30 or even 50 feet 
higher after the rainy season in August and September. Here 
were found "extensive fertile plains, about 1000 feet above the 
level of the sea, and intersected by innumerable broad water- 
courses favourable to inland navigation " ; and the traveller 
expresses a confident belief that within fifty years European 
boats would keep up a regular annual intercourse between the 
Eay of Eiyafra in the Atlantic Ocean and these populous and 
fertile regions. 

We pass over the Doctor's account of his adventures in con- 
nection with certain slave-hunting expeditions which he joined 
— very unwisely as we think — that he might see more of the 
country and the people ; and follow him in his course through 
Gondo, Gurma, Masina and other places, to Saragamo, and 
thence to Timbuctu, which he reached on the 7th of Sep- 
tember, 1854. In this celebrated city of interior Africa he 
spent seven months ; and, more fortunate than some of his pre- 
decessors, he was permitted to leave it alive, in the month of 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 79 



April, 1855. The description which he gives of Timbuctu, and 
the narrative of his return journey along the north-eastern bank 
of the Niger, are full of interest, and we regret that our limited 
space forbids enlargement. It must suffice to say that, after all 
the splendid accounts we have received of the Niger, we fear 
that the fact of the rapids and rocks at Kerdaji, Akarambray, 
and Tosaye, and probably in other places mentioned by this 
traveller, will prove serious obstacles in the way of the con- 
tinuous navigation of its upper section. 

Dr. Barth arrived at Say on his return, on the 29th of July, 
passed through Wurno, Kano, and Kukawa, where he met with 
Dr. Vogel, who had been sent to reinforce the expedition, and 
reached Tripoli in the month of August, 1856, having per- 
formed the most extensive and important journey ever made 
in North Central Africa by a European traveller. 

The discoveries of Dr. Barth were followed up in after years 
in a more easterly direction by his fellow-countryman, Dr. 
Krapf, who had previously been employed as a missionary in 
Abyssinia and Eastern Africa, under the auspices of the Church 
Missionary Society. Failing health obliged him to return to 
Europe in 1855 ; but, after he was settled in a position of ease 
and comfort in his native land, the spirit of missionary enter- 
prise and discovery came over him again with such power that, 
casting a longing eye towards the scene of his former labours 
and sufferings, he was induced once more to devote himself 
to exploration and evangelistic work among the poor despised 
Africans. The large and powerful tribe known as the Gallas, 
with whom the Doctor had become acquainted in the course of 
his former mission, was now the object of his chief solicitude. 
These people he sought to reach first through Abyssinia, next 
through Shoa, and lastly by preliminary labours among the 
Wanika tribes on the east coast near Mombaz. In voyaging 
along the eastern coast of the great continent, he visited in 
succession Magadoxo, Kiloa, Barava, Milinda, Mombaz, and 
Zanzibar, all of which he describes in a most interesting 
manner. At length he fixed himself at Rabbi-Mpia, where 



8o 



Africa : Past and Present. 



he was joined by his fellow-countryman Mr. Rebmann, and 
their united labours were made a blessing to the native tribes, 
who are here called Wamrima and Washinzi ; whilst at the 
same time they made some interesting discoveries in different 
directions. 

Dr. Krapfs great object being to find access as soon as 
possible to the Gallas, he and his colleague undertook several 
journeys into the interior through regions until then unvisited 
by Europeans. Mr. Rebmann's first journey, commenced in 
October, 1847, was through the Teita country, over extensive 
plains, to the mountain known as the Kadiaro, said to be 
thirty-six leagues from Mombaz. In the early part of the 
following year he visited the Jagga country, about a hundred 
leagues from Mombaz. The great event of this journey was 
a view of Mount Kilimanjaro, with its covering of perpetual 
snow. This singular mountain was also seen by Dr. Krapf, on 
the loth of November, 1849, when on his way to Ukambani, 
and again on his second journey to the same place in 1851. 
There is also in this region a second snow-capped mountain 
called Kenia, and near it a volcano on a mountain, from which 
smoke was seen to proceed. These were distinctly seen by 
Dr. Krapf on the 3rd of December, 1849. The Doctor 
afterwards visited Ukambani, a mountainous country to the 
north of Jagga, and obtained much valuable intelligence 
respecting the Wakuafi and Masi tribes inhabiting the regions 
beyond. 

The information collected in these journeys by Dr. Krapf 
and Mr. Rebmann respecting the existence of a large inland 
sea was incorporated in a map published in the Proceedings 
of the Royal Geographical Society, in which the most striking 
feature was a lake of a curious shape, extending through twelve 
degrees of latitude. The devoted missionary explorers were 
not permitted to verify the reports they had received of these 
matters by personal inspection, their evangelical labours 
demanding their immediate attention; and it was left to others 
to make the real discovery. 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 8i 



Burton and Speke. 

The object of the expedition of Major Burton and Captain 
Speke was to test the accuracy of the data furnished and the 
general information given by Dr. Krapf and Mr. Rebmann 
with reference to the alleged existence of certain great lakes 
and mountains in the interior regions of Eastern Africau The 
result of their explorations was complete success, with regard 
to the main purpose of their enterprise. The journey inland 
commenced on the 27th of January, 1857, at Karle, a small 
town south of the Kingani river, opposite Zanzibar. The 
personnel of the expedition was as choice as circumstances 
would permit : " bad enough at best." In addition to two or 
three domestic servants brought from Bombay, the travellers 
were attended by an escort of thirteen Baloch men, twenty- two 
negro slaves, and twenty-five asses, — " a mass of savagery 
which proved a severe trial of temper." 

The maritime region, extending from the coast to Zungomero, 
about ninety-two miles in a direct line, was crossed in about 
twelve days. The mountain region, comprising the Usagara 
chain, consists of parallel ridges separated by plains ; it begins 
at Zungomero, and ends at the edge of the flat table-land of 
Ugogo, a distance of about eighty-five geographical miles. 
The highest points of this part of the chain of mountains, 
which extends from the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good 
Hope to the Gulf of Aden, are from 5000 to 7000 feet above 
the sea level, and the climate is said to be cold and damp. 
The arid table-land of Ugogo, the general level of which is 
4000 feet, reaches to the eastern districts of the Unyamwezi, 
155 miles, and is the counterpart of the Kalahari and Karoo 
deserts of South Africa. Excepting a few favoured spots, it 
has no cultivation, no wood, no river, — a perfect wilderness. 

Our travellers reached Kazeh, a principal town of the 
Unyamwezi, and an Arab trading depot whence various trading 
routes diverge, on the 7th of November, 1857, after journeying 
134 days from the coast. From Kazeh the land falls by a 

6 



82 



Africa : Past and Present. 



gentle decline westward. It is highly cultivated, and produces 
cotton, rice, sweet cane, etc. Cotton cloth is manufactured here, 
and is in general use for the loose wrappers worn by the natives 
when in full dress. On proceeding forward, Major Burton 
was seized with paralysis of the lower extremities, accompanied 
by partial loss of sight. With indomitable perseverance he 
nevertheless pursued his journey, carried in a hammock ; and 
on the 2nd of February, 1858, he was rewarded with the sight 
of the long-sought lake Tanganyika, " as it lay in the lap of 
the mountains, basking in the gorgeous tropical sunshine." A 
large crescent-shaped mass of mountains to the north of the lake 
was considered by Captain Speke to be the true Mountains of 
the Moon ; but Major Burton denies the existence of anything 
beyond " a thin range of hills fringing the Tanganyika." 

The exploration of the lake occupied the travellers from the 
loth of April to the 13th of May, and was accomplished with 
great difficulty. It was estimated to be 250 miles long and 
20 wide, with a circumference of 550 miles. Uruwwa, a 
country west of the Tanganyika, is said to be the terminus of 
the Arab trade in that direction. The journey from the sea- 
coast to Ujiji, on the lake, travellers usually make in eighty-five 
to a hundred stages, 540 miles direct, but 955 travelled miles. 

Returning to Kazeh, Major Burton halted to recruit, while 
Captain Speke went direct northward to the southern extremity 
of the large lake Victoria N'yanza, of which information had 
been received at Kazeh, on the journey from the coast. Of 
this discovery Captain Speke gave a particular account in 
Blackwood's Magazine for September, October, and November, 
1859 ; and Major Burton published the result of his obser- 
vations in a volume entitled " The Lake Regions of Central 
Africa." These two narratives may be read with interest, and 
compared with each other, as the eminent travellers vary in 
their views on some important matters. In the opinion of 
Captain Speke, founded on native information, a large river 
flows from the northern end of the N'yanza, connecting it with 
the Tubiri, one of the principal sources of the Nile ; but this 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 83 



was doubted by some distingutehed geographers, and flatly 
contradicted by Major Burton, till the problem was solved by 
subsequent travellers. 

Our limited space has not permitted us to introduce our 
readers to the Wazaramo, the Wasagara, the Wagogo, the 
Wanyamizi, the VVajiji, and other interior tribes, with whom the 
travellers came in contact ; but we may observe, in passing, that 
they share in common with other natives of South-eastern 
Africa numerous features of a general family likeness. Some 
interesting information, collected from Arab traders, respecting 
the northern kingdoms of Karagwah, Uganda, and Unyoro, to 
the west and north of N'yanza lake, leads to the inference that 
Central Africa, when more fully explored, will be found to 
contain numerous despotic kingdoms, similar to that of the 
Balonda people, with whom Dr. Livingstone became acquainted 
at an early period of his travels. 

Major Burton and Captain Speke, with their companions in 
travel, returned in safety to Zanzibar on the 3rd of February, 
1859, and the expedition was regarded on all hands as having 
been crowned with complete success. 

Speke, Grant, and Baker. 

The discovery of great lakes and of fertile and populous 
regions in Central Africa, by the successive expeditions whose 
adventures have passed under review, was hailed with delight 
by scientific men in Europe. But instead of satisfying the 
curiosity of the inquisitive, it only served to excite it to a 
higher pitch of enterprise. Nor were the explorers them- 
selves satisfied with what they had done. Captain Speke was 
impressed with the conviction that the lake called Victoria 
N'yanza, which he had discovered in 1859, would, on further 
examination, prove the real source of the Nile. This idea 
soon became so popular that the Royal Geographical Society 
determined to send him out again, accompanied by Captain 
Grant, that, by further investigation, they might, if possible, 
solve this interesting problem. 



84 



Africa : Past and Present. 



This new expedition left England in April, i860, and was 
absent the greater part of three years. Entering the continent 
as before from the east coast, the travellers passed through two- 
thirds of the entire length of Africa, and descended the Nile 
to Cairo. As the result of this remarkable journey, we have a 
large tract of country carefully mapped out, hitherto unknown 
to the civilized world, and a new route opened up for traders 
and missionaries to the fertile regions of this portion of Central 
Africa. The northern shores of the great lake were, moreover, 
thoroughly explored, and evidence obtained that it poured its 
waters into the White Nile. And although many points con- 
nected with the important question of the long-sought source 
of the Nile necessarily remained unsettled. Captain Speke was 
confirmed in his conviction that the true source of the " father 
of waters" was the Victoria N'yanza, which thus, in its magnifi- 
cent course, rolls over " thirty-four degrees of latitude, or more 
than 2,300 miles, being one-eleventh of the circumference of 
the globe." 

The incidents of this expedition of Speke and Grant are 
equal in interest to any other which has undertaken to explore 
the interior of Africa; and we regret that lack of space prevents 
our tracing them in detail. It must suffice to say that in courage, 
tact, and indomitable perseverance, in the face of uncommon 
difficulties and dangers, the adventurous travellers have seldom 
been equalled, and never surpassed ; whilst their graphic de- 
scriptions of the native tribes with which they came in contact, 
and the countries through which they journeyed, are not only 
well calculated to interest the general reader, but also likely to 
add to the knowledge of the geographer and naturalist. 

Whilst Speke and Grant were pushing their way through 
Central Africa, Mr. (afterwards Sir Samuel) Baker was sent out 
to explore the upper regions of the Nile by way of Egypt, with 
the hope of effecting a junction with the expedition from the 
east coast. In this journey Baker spent twelve months, and 
made some interesting and important discoveries in reference 
to the head waters of the Nile, and the adjacent countries, 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 85 



which he describes as generally low and swampy. On ap- 
proaching Gondokoro the scenery improves, the marshes 
disappear, the banks rise some four feet above the level of 
the stream, the stunted mimosas give place to well-grown trees, 
and the eye is gladdened by the sight of mountains. 

At this point Baker and his party met the expedition of Speke 
and Grant on the homeward journey, and great was the joy of 
all concerned at this auspicious event. They were soon after- 
wards joined by Consul Petherick and his wife, and Dr. Murie, 
who were travelling in the same region. There were also on 
the ground three priests connected with the Austrian mission ; 
so that the number of Europeans so far up the country was 
without a precedent. In about ten days the camp broke up, 
the several portions of it taking different, and indeed contrary, 
routes \ and, as so often happens, friends parted never to meet 
again in this world. It is melancholy to think that poor Speke, 
after passing through so many dangers in Africa, should, on 
reaching home, have perished by a miserable gun accident, 
while crossing a field on his father's estate in Somersetshire 
when in pursuit of game. 

Instead of travelling direct south, as he intended, Baker was 
compelled by the mutiny of his men to leave the river altogether, 
and take an easterly course, trusting to the chapter of accidents 
for eventually getting southward. This part of the journey, 
extending over eleven months, is full of strange interest. The 
information which the daring adventurer collected in reference 
to the civil, social, and moral condition of the native tribes 
with which he came in contact, is less favourable than that 
communicated by other travellers ; but some allowance must 
be made for difference in men's temperaments, as well as for 
difference of tribes and localities. 

Sir Samuel Baker resumed his explorations in the upper 
regions of the Nile in after years, under the auspices of the 
Khedive of Egypt ; and, with his heroic lady, passed through 
scenes of daring and endurance almost without a parallel in the 
history of African discovery. Some of the journeys were under- 



86 



Africa : Past and Present. 



taken in company with large armed escorts, avowedly for the 
purpose of suppressing the slave trade ; and, although we may 
not approve of all that was done, we can scarcely fail to admire 
the courage and perseverance of Sir Samuel and Lady Baker. 

Dr. Livingstone. 

Among the host of travellers and explorers who have exerted 
themselves so nobly to make us acquainted mth the previously 
unknown regions and peoples of Central Africa, the very fore- 
most place must be given to Dr. Livingstone. We now proceed 
to give a brief outline of the remarkable career of this genuine 
friend of the negro race, so far as our limited space will permit. 

David Livingstone was born about the year 1817, at the 
village of Blantyre, on the Clyde. He was the son of an 
honest, hardy, industrious Scotchman, who put him to work as 
a piecer in a cotton-mill at the early age of ten. In his boyhood 
little David was fond of books, and as he grew up he deter- 
aiined to be a scholar. By the labour of his own hands he 
supported himself while attending the medical and Greek classes 
in the University of Glasgow and the theological lectures of 
Dr. Wardlaw. At length, having been admitted a licentiate 
of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, believing himself 
to be called to preach the Gospel to the heathen, he offered 
himself to the London Missionary Society, and was by them 
accepted, and sent to South Africa in the year 1840. 

During the following eight years Dr. Livingstone laboured 
as a missionary at a station called Kolobeng, situated in latitude 
25° south and longitude 25° east, about 200 miles north of 
Kuruman, the station occupied by the Rev. Robert Moffat, who 
in due time became his father-in-law. The humble missionary 
was led to become an explorer by circumstances which appeared 
truly providential. The vicinity of the emigrant Dutch Boers, 
their hostility to missionary efforts, and their determination to 
shut up the native tribes in the locality of Kolobeng from all 
intercourse with the Cape Colony, led the thoughtful and ener- 
getic pioneer evangelist to consider whether some other place 



Recent Adventure a7id Discovery. 87 



might not be found more eligible for a mission station, and 
one that would have the additional advantage of a navigable 
river communicating with the sea. The first great difficulty to 
be overcome in the pursuit of these advantages was to cross 
the dreaded Kalahari desert, and reach the lake N'gami, which 
the natives described as existing beyond. 

With this object in view, Dr. Livingstone, accompanied by 
Messrs. Oswell and Murray, and a few native attendants, com- 
menced the first of his exploratory journeys on the ist of June, 
1849, skirting the desert as far as possible, rather than passing 
directly through it. It is described as " by no means destitute 
of vegetation and inhabitants ; for it is covered with grass and 
a great variety of creeping plants." It has, however, no running 
water, and very little in wells. Travellers have to depend upon 
the wild water melons, so providentially found there, for liquid 
support for themselves and their cattle. A journey of two 
months over this arid plain was followed by the discovery, first 
of the Zouga river, which flows from Lake N'gami, and then, 
on the I St of August, of the lake itself 

In his second ]o\xvmy to this famous lake, which commenced 
in the month of April, 1850, Dr. Livingstone was accompanied 
by Mrs. Livingstone and family, and by the chief Sechele, 
hoping to be able to pass beyond and visit Sebituane, the chief 
of the Makololo ; but the country fever which afflicted the 
children prevented the farther prosecution of the journey. The 
adventurous missionary returned to his station at Kolobeng 
with the satisfaction of knowing that he had a second time 
accomplished the crossing of the Desert, which had hitherto 
been deemed impracticable, and had found a noble river and 
a fresh-water lake of considerable magnitude, being upwards of 
seventy miles in circumference. 

The third ]0VLxntY, in which Dr. Livingstone was accompanied 
by Mr. Oswell and his own family, commenced in the spring 
of 1 85 1. The route followed was directly north, leaving the 
lake to the westward. Great sufferings were endured on this 
occasion from the absence of water ; and when they reached 



88 Africa : Past avd Present, 



the Mababe river other troubles awaited them. The oxen were 
bitten by the tsetse, a poisonous fly, whose bite is mortal to 
oxen and horses, while, strange to say, human beings, wild 
animals, the ass, the mule, and the goat escape with impunity. 
From Mababe Dr. Livingstone proceeded to the Chobe river, 
and at Simyati met with the great chief Sebituane, a tall, wiry, 
athletic man of about forty-five years of age, and the most 
renowned warrior ever heard of in the interior of Africa. The 
death of this important personage soon afterwards occasioned 
some delay to the travellers ; but as soon as they had obtained 
permission from his successor to visit any part of the country 
they pleased, they proceeded 130 miles in a north-easterly 
direction to Sesheke ; and there, in the end of June, 1851, " we 
were rewarded," writes the Doctor, " by the discovery of the 
Zambezi in the centre of the continent. We saw it at the end 
of the dry season, at a time when the river is about at its lowest; 
and yet there was a breadth of from 300 to 400 yards of deep 
flowing water." The country between the Chobe and the 
Zambezi is occasionally flooded, and abounds in swamps, and, 
although preferred by the Makololo, it was considered an 
unsuitable place for the residence of Europeans ; hence it was 
thought desirable to look beyond for a healthy locality as a 
mission station. 

In the early part of the following year Dr. Livingstone visited 
Cape Town, when the present writer first became personally 
acquainted with him. He had prepared elaborate maps of the 
countries which he had explored ; and, in common with many 
others, I inspected them with great interest, as they exhibited 
a clear view of the river system of the interior, with the course 
for a considerable distance of the Chobe and the Zambezi. 
We also listened with delight to the Doctor's graphic descrip- 
tion of his wonderful adventures. 

The fourth and the longest journey of Dr. Livingstone, from 
Cape Town to the Zambezi, and thence right across the vast 
continent to Loanda, in the Portuguese colony of Angola, 
commenced on the 8th of June, 1852. Perhaps that journey 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 89 



would never have been undertaken had not an unforeseen event 
occurred just then to deprive him of his home. Whilst he was 
travelling slowly through the Cape Colony the emigrant Boers 
attacked the chief Sechele, and destroyed the mission station 
at Kolobeng. The missionary was then free from any regular 
pastoral charge, the door was closed against him in that quarter, 
and he felt at liberty to pursue his grand scheme of opening a 
path from the interior to the sea-coasts for Christianity and for 
commerce. He reached Linyanti on the 23rd of May, 1853, 
made an experimental journey up the river Leeambye (another 
name for the upper part of the Zambezi), as far as its junction 
with the Leeba, in latitude 14° 11' south, and then returned to 
Linyanti. After some time spent in making arrangements for 
his journey, he left Linyanti on the nth of November, with a 
party of twenty-seven natives, intending, if possible, to reach 
the western coast. 

We cannot describe in detail the particulars of the canoe 
voyage up the Leeambye, through the fertile valley of the 
Barotse, which " is as capable of supporting millions of 
inhabitants as it is of its thousands. The river abounds with 
hippopotami and alligators." Not far from Makondo Dr. 
Livingstone left his canoe, and journeyed on oxback through 
a country like the preceding, a succession of park-like scenery 
and open lawns. The territory of the Makololo was now left 
behind, and the traveller entered the Balond country, which is 
of great extent, and is governed by a powerful chief named 
Matiamvo, whose vassals are said to border upon the Portu- 
guese possessions on both sides of the African continent. The 
Balonda are real negroes ; every village has its idols near to 
it; in this, and in other respects, widely differing from the 
Kaffir and Bechuana tribes. Human sacrifices are not un- 
common, and superstition increases and is more bloody as 
the traveller advances farther north. In this journey Dr. 
Livingstone suffered much from the scarcity of food and from 
incessant attacks of fever, which the rainy season rendered 
more trying than it would otherwise have been. The forests 



90 



Afyica : Past and Present. 



became more dense as he advanced, but happily without thorns, 
so that travelling was more easy than in some other parts. 

Beyond the Leeba, a plain of twenty miles in extent had 
to be crossed, covered with water ankle-deep, while to the left 
were the plains of Lobale, still more extensive and more deeply- 
flooded. A little farther to the north, in 1 1|° south latitude, 
is the watershed between the rivers which flow south and those 
which flow north. One stream, the Lotembroa, between Lake 
Dilolo and the Kasye river, was found to send forth two small 
branches which flow in opposite directions, — a novelty in 
physical geography. On the 30th of March, 1854, the party 
began to descend from the highlands towards the western 
coast of the great continent, when they found the country 
indented by deep and narrow valleys. On reaching the river 
Quango, 150 yards wide, and very deep, they found some 
difficulty in crossing. At length they got ferried over, and 
the Doctor found himself in the territory of Bangala, among 
the Cassanges, who are subjects of the Portuguese Government, 
and happily all his difficulties with the border tribes were over. 
On the 13th of May he arrived at Loanda, the capital of 
Angola, where he was received with great kindness by the 
Portuguese authorities, and the population generally, who 
paid every needful attention to the great traveller and his 
attendants. 

Having rested for a while, and carefully examined the Portu- 
guese colony of Angola, with a degree of courage and perse- 
verance never surpassed in African exploration. Dr. Livingstone 
and his faithful Makololos recrossed the vast continent, suffering 
even greater dangers and privations than they had previously 
experienced. The return journey commenced on the 20th of 
September, 1854; and after twelve months of incessant exertion 
they reached Linyanti in September, 1855. This being the 
home of the Makololos, and a place where the Doctor was 
well known and highly esteemed, the travellers were received 
with joy, kindly treated, and well fed during their stay. On 
the 3rd of November our courageous adventurer, accompanied 



Recent Adventure and Discovery, 91 



by the chief Sekeletu and 114 men, left Linyanti for the 
eastern coast, and commenced what may be with propriety 
called his fifth great journey of discovery. Following the 
track of the Zambezi, he turned aside to view the Victoria 
Falls, where the river is 1000 yards broad, and where, after 
becoming narrower, the large body of water falls down into a 
deep rent in the rock a distance of 100 yards, and sends up 
a cloud of vapour which can be seen six miles off. Here 
the chief Sekeletu returned to Linyanti, and the Doctor and 
his men, leaving the river on the 20th, and cutting across the 
country, on the 3rd of February, 1856, arrived at the Portuguese 
settlement of Tete, on the lower section of the Zambezi, where 
they were kindly received by the commandant. 

Here Dr. Livingstone left mcst of his men, and on the 
22nd of April proceeded down the Zambezi to Senna, which 
he reached on the 27th. On approaching the delta, he was 
attacked with fever ; but he pressed forward, and on the 20th 
of May, within a few days of four years since he left Cape Town, 
he reached Quilimane on the eastern coast. After waiting for 
a vessel at the place last named, on the 12th of July he 
embarked on board H.M. brig Frolic, which had been sent 
from the Cape to meet him, and on the 12th of August reached 
the Mauritius. Leaving that port, he proceeded home by way 
of the Red Sea and Egypt, and arrived in England on the 12 th 
of December, 1856, having accomplished some of the most 
remarkable journeys that were ever performed by any African 
travellers in ancient or modern times. 

In the early part of the year 1858, Dr. Livingstone left his 
native land once more, and entered upon his sixth great 
journey of exploration, at the head of the Zambezi expedition. 
He arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, where the present 
writer was then residing, in the month of April; and on Monday, 
the 26th, the renowned traveller was invited to a public meeting 
in the Commercial Exchange, Cape Town, over which His 
Excellency the Governor, Sir George Grey, presided, to receive 
such honours as we as British colonists could bgstow. A bank 



92 Africa: Past and Present, 



cheque for 800 guineas in a silver box, with an appropriate 
inscription, was presented to the worthy Doctor by His Excel- 
lency in the name of the Cape Colonists, who had generously 
subscribed for the amount, as a testimonial of respect, and to 
assist him in his further explorations. Some excellent speeches 
were delivered by the Governor, Dr. Livingstone, Mr. Moffat 
(who had come to the Cape to meet his son-in-law), and others ; 
and in the evening we were honoured with an invitation from 
the Governor to me, the Doctor and Mrs. Livingstone, Mr. and 
Mrs. Moffat, and other friends at Government House, where 
we spent two or three hours in pleasant conversation on the 
^ present condition and future prospects of Africa ; our distin- 
guished host. Sir George Grey, adding much to our enjoy- 
ment by his affable manner and generous hospitality, and by 
exhibiting for our inspection some of his choice books and 
curiosities. 

On the following day the Zambezi expedition left the Cape, 
followed by the prayers and best wishes of Christian people of 
all denominations. On this occasion Dr. Livingstone appeared 
amongst us, not in the garb of a humble missionary, as formerly ; 
but as H.B.M. Consul for Central Africa, with cap and coat 
ornamented with gold lace and bright buttons ; and we confess 
to a feeling of regret that he should have thus lowered himself, 
by changing his sacred for a secular position. Mrs. Livingstone 
remained at the Cape for a long time whilst her husband was 
exploring the interior, and during her residence at Mowbray 
she frequently attended our chapel and shared in our sympathy 
and prayers. 

Dr. Livingstone hastened up the Zambezi to Tete, where 
he had left his faithful Makololos, under the promise of re- 
turning to lead them back to their own country in the interior. 
The survivors (for, alas ! many of them had died) were delighted 
to see him, and after performing various voyages up the Shire, 
and exploring the lakes Shirwa and N'yassa, he fulfilled his 
promise by proceeding with his followers to Linyanti, where he 
arrived in safety in the month of August, 1862. Returning to 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 93 



the east coast in November, the Doctor welcomed to the 
country the ill-fated Universities' Mission, under the lamented 
Bishop Mackenzie, and having escorted its members to Mago- 
mero, their station on the highlands, returned to his work of 
exploring the Zambezi and its tributaries. The heaviest trial 
of the great traveller now occurred : the deadly fever which 
first carried off the English bishop, when on an expedition 
down the Shire, and in the same malarious district wrecked 
his mission, fearfully tested the Doctor's own party, and finally 
carried off his own dear wife, two short months after she had 
joined him at the mouth of the Zambezi. 

After two years of not very successful exploration the Zam- 
bezi expedition was recalled by the Home Government ; and 
Dr. Livingstone left Zanzibar towards the close of April, 1864, 
for Bombay, on his way to England, where he arrived in safety 
after an adventurous passage. Nothing daunted by previous 
disappointment, suffering, and bereavement, the great traveller 
soon embarked again for Zanzibar, on the east coast of Africa, 
at his own expense and on his own responsibility; and in the 
month of April, 1866, entered upon his seventh and last great 
journey of exploration in the interior of Africa. On this occa- 
sion he discovered other great lakes and rivers, which may prove 
very important in the future ; but having been deserted by 
most of his men, and left without a supply of necessary stores, 
he was unable to advance, and became lost to the civilized 
world for two or three years. At length different parties were 
sent out to search for him ; and he was ultimately found and 
relieved by the enterprising Stanley at Ujiji, on the shore of 
the great lake Tanganyika, on the loth of November, 187 1. 
The feelings of the lonely traveller may be better imagined 
than described, on being once more favoured to look upon the 
face of a white man, and to hear what had been passing in 
Europe during the long period of his exile. 

On the return of Stanley to the coast. Dr. Livingstone con- * 
tinned his researches during the following year, being unwilling 
to return to England till he had finished the explorations and 



« 

94 Africa: Past and Present. 



solved the geographical problems on which he had set his 
heart. In the order of Divine Providence, however, he was 
called to rest from his labours before he had fully accomplished 
his self-appointed task. Although relieved for a time by the 
welcome visit of Stanley, his supply of stores and necessary 
comforts again failed, and he was reduced to great straits. At 
length he became fairly worn down with fatigue and sickness, 
and after having been carried on a litter for several miles by 
his faithful attendants, they built a temporary hut for his 
accommodation on the banks of the Miliamo, in which he 
peacefully expired on the ist of May, 1873. His remains 
were brought to England by his faithful companions, Chouma, 
Susi, and Jacob Wainwright ; and he was interred in West- 
minster Abbey amongst the great and the good of past ages, — 
an honour of which he was in every respect worthy. 

Stanley and Cameron. 

The name of Henry M. Stanley, the enterprising "Travelling 
Correspondent of the New York Herald,^'' will ever rank next 
to that of the lamented Dr. Livingstone as an African explorer, 
not only because he found and relieved the Doctor under 
peculiar circumstances, as already mentioned, but because of 
his undaunted courage and indomitable perseverance, and the 
real value of his subsequent discoveries. After Stanley's return 
from finding Livingstone he appears to have been utterly 
unable to check the African exploration fever which had seized 
him. He manifested the restlessness of one who was evidently 
born a traveller; and no sooner did the proprietors of the 
Daily Telegraph and the New York Herald propose jointly to 
commission him to head an expedition to prosecute further 
exploration in the interior of Africa, with a view to solve the 
geographical questions still involved in mystery, than he leaped 
eagerly to the work. 

Having gone out to the eastern coast and organized his 
expedition, Stanley and his party started from the port of 
Bagomoyo on the mainland, about twenty miles south of 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 95 



Zanzibar. The baggage, including the sections of a portable 
boat called the Lady Alice, weighed eight tons, and had to be 
carried by porters. The members of the expedition, all told, 
including men, women and children, porters, chiefs, and guards 
(the latter being armed with Schneider rifles), were 356. 
There were also three Englishmen in the company: Frederick 
Baker, Edward Pocock and his brother Frank, who subse- 
quently displayed a fine religious spirit in the dreadful trials 
that awaited them. 

After twenty-five days' march from Bagomoyo the expedition 
reached Mpwapwa, 230 miles west of that port. Here it 
was found that fifty of the number who had started had 
deserted, carrying with them their advance of pay, and 
many of them their guns also. Before leaving Mpwapwa 
several others were discharged, as having proved physically 
unfit for the heavy work required of them. By Christmas food 
had run short, and Stanley had not tasted meat for ten days. 
On the loth of January, 1875, the expedition was completely 
starved out, and travelled forward very feebly, hoping to meet 
with provisions. Turning north, they reached Chiwyu, 400 
miles from the ocean, and 5400 feet above the level of the 
sea. Here Edward Pocock died of typhus fever; and after 
burying him under a tree, the weakened and dispirited expedition 
moved on. They soon afterwards struck the river Shimeeyn, as 
broad as the Thames at London Bridge. This noble stream 
was found, on examination, to empty itself into Lake Victoria 
N'yanza at its southern extremity. The Victoria N'yanza 
empties itself, at its northern extremity, through the Victoria 
Nile into the Albert N'yanza, which directly feeds the great 
mysterious river itself. Thus at last was the grand discovery 
made, which had perplexed the minds of men for ages, — 
one of the sources of the Nile, in the head streams of the 
Shimeeyn, 5400 feet above the level of the sea. 

On the 20th of January the expedition entered the Ituru 
territory, where they had much trouble with a notorious witch- 
doctor and other turbulent natives, who stirred up the people 



g6 Africa: Past and Present, 



to deeds of violence against the strangers. By this time 
Stanley's party had become much weakened by deaths and 
desertions. Twenty men had died, and eighty-nine had de- 
serted since they left the coast, whilst many of those who 
remained were enfeebled by sickness. In this unprepared state, 
the expedition was attacked by a numerous and powerful band 
of armed savages, and were obliged to fight for their lives. It 
was not until a loss had been sustained of twenty-four killed, 
and four wounded, that it was possible to get clear from the 
murderous Wanyaturu. Proceeding northwards, they travelled 
through a country the inhabitants of which were less inhos- 
pitable, and on the 28th of February the great lake Victoria 
N'yanza presented itself to their view, — a vast sheet of water, 
or an inland sea, with an area of 21,500 square miles, at an 
elevation of 4168 feet above the sea-level. "What a lake! 
nearly three times the size of Wales, lifted 600 feet higher than 
the summit of Snowdon, and environed with everlasting hills of 
granite ! " 

After a halt of nine days, to recruit and prepare for new 
adventures, the Lady Alice was fitted out and launched on this 
central inland sea, on which an English boat had never floated 
before. The eastern side of the lake was first examined, and 
evident signs of amazing fertility appeared on every hand. The 
expedition then steered for the extreme northern point, and 
examined the Napoleon Channel and Ripon Falls, through and 
over which the waters of the lake pour into the bed of the 
Victoria Nile, and thence into the Albert N'yanza, and thence 
through the Nile proper, it is believed, into the Mediterranean 
Sea. At this point of the voyage a squadron of six beautiful 
canoes, crowded with natives, was seen rounding a neighbour- 
ing headland, and fears were entertained of a piratical attack 
upon the strangers ; but nothing could have been more pro- 
pitious. They came from Metesa, the king of Uganda, the 
most powerful monarch of Equatorial Africa, with words of 
kindly greeting. The young chieftain in command sprang on 
board the Lady Alice, and, kneeling before Stanley, said, " The 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 97 



Kabaka sends me with many salaams to you. He is in great 
hopes that you will visit him, and has encamped at Usavara, 
that he may be near the lake when you come," etc. 

The account which Stanley gives of King Metesa, and his 
conversion from Mohammedanism to a semi-belief in the truth 
of Christianity, has some points of great interest ; but, on the 
whole, is somewhat mystified. The traveller had need of the 
sable monarch's aid in the further exploration of the Victoria 
N'yanza, and obtained it to some extent ; but eventually it 
proved of little avail. When the Uganda people got beyond 
the limits of their own kingdom and waters, they grew timid in 
the face of outer barbarians, and left their illustrious visitor to 
make his way alone. During his progress down the west side 
of the lake to Kagehyi, where the major part of the expedition 
had been left, when Metesa's canoes had forsaken them, the 
crew of the Lady Alice, being hard pressed for want of food, 
landed on an island called Bumbirch, where, instead of 
obtaining relief, they were fiercely attacked by the natives, and 
' had a narrow escape from destruction. It was the subsequent 
punishment by Stanley of the people of Bumbirch which 
excited so much comment and criticism in Europe, on the 
merits of which opinions will differ. 

After an absence of fifty-seven days spent in exploring the 
Victoria N'yanza, the Lady Alice returned to the camp on the 
southern shore at Kagehyi, her appearance having been de- 
spaired of by the bulk of the expedition left at that place. The 
joy with which Stanley and his party were welcomed was soon 
dashed with sorrow. One of the first sights to be seen was the 
grave of Frederick Baker, near the margin of the lake, this 
brave young man having sunk under the disease from which he 
had been suffering, during the absence of the exploring party. 
The circumnavigation of the Victoria N'yanza had, however, 
been completed, and there was no longer any room for question 
as to its extent, altitude, affluents, effluents, and configuration. 

With the aid of a large escort, consisting of nearly 2,000 
men, supplied by King Metesa, Stanley and his party next 

7 



9 8 Africa : Past and Present. 



attempted to reach and explore the lake of Muta N'zig^, lying 
about a hundred miles due west of Victoria N'yanza ; but 
when near the end of their journey the escort mutinied and 
returned to Uganda. Being thus foiled in his object, Stanley 
now turned his attention to the fuller exploration and circum- 
navigation of Lake Tanganyika, which he and Livingstone and 
Cameron had, on former occasions, only partially surveyed. 
On the 27th of May, 1876, Ujiji, on the shore of Tanganyika, 
was safely reached. Here old friends were met with, who were 
ready to aid the traveller to the utmost of their power ; but it 
was nevertheless a place of sad memories. Livingstone was 
gone, and the very house in which the two travellers had dwelt 
together in 1871 had disappeared, and the place where it stood 
was marked by a heap of ashes and ruins. 

Stanley and his party succeeded in circumnavigating the 
Tanganyika, and found it to be a lake little inferior to Victoria 
N'yanza, studded with numerous lovely islands, and with shores 
both fertile and populous. In some places, however, the 
country had been desolated by war and commotion, — the 
invariable accessories of the accursed slave trade. On landing 
at the large village of Kiwesa, they came upon the decom- 
posed body of a poor old negro with a broad spear-wound in 
his back. A few yards farther on they saw other corpses, 
decapitated and dismembered. When they reached the village 
itself they found little beyond the charred ruins of it, with 
domestic utensils and implements of war scattered on every 
hand, just as they had been abandoned by the terrified natives 
in their attempt at flight when the place was set on fire. 

The expedition now crossed the lake preparatory to their 
journey westward, with the intention of exploring the Lualaba, 
and, if possible, pressing their way forward across the dark 
continent to the Atlantic ocean. About six weeks after leaving 
Ujiji, on ascending a low ridge, they came in sight of the great 
river just mentioned, which had attracted the notice of Living- 
stone and Cameron, and which proved, when traced by Stanley 
through all its mysterious windings, to be identical with the 



Recent Adventure and Discovery. 99 



Congo, which empties its mighty volume of water into the 
Atlantic. The narrative of the journey of the intrepid traveller 
who made this important discovery is one of the marvels of 
modern times. The river, in its course of 1,150 miles, was 
found to contain numerous rapids, which rendered its naviga- 
tion in frail canoes both difficult and dangerous. In descending 
one of these, on the 3rd of June, 1877, Frank Pocock, Stanley's 
last surviving European, was drowned ; but the great explorer, 
nothing daunted, pressed on through hostile tribes, and in 
a few weeks afterwards reached Embomma, and ultimately 
Kabinda, a Portuguese settlement on the western coast. When 
Stanley and the remnant of his party thus reached the abodes 
of civilized men, they had been wandering in the wilds of Africa- 
for nearly three years, and were reduced by exposure and want 
of food to a state of extreme destitution. They received great 
kindness from the Portuguese settlers ; and, as soon as they 
were recruited somewhat, they embarked for the Cape of Good 
Hope. From thence they proceeded to Zanzibar ; and when 
Stanley had, according to promise, conducted his surviving 
companions to their homes, he embarked for England, where 
he arrived in the early part of 1878, and was everywhere received 
with the honours due to his merits as one of the most successful 
explorers of modern times. 

This brief sketch of recent adventure and discovery in Africa 
would be incomplete without some account of Lieutenant 
Cameron, a courageous and enterprising British naval officer, 
who was despatched from England at the head of a small 
expedition in 1 871, to search for Dr. Livingstone, about the same 
time that Stanley and his party were sent out on the same errand, 
Having heard that Stanley had found and relieved the Doctor, 
Cameron felt unwilling to return to Europe without doing 
something to promote the work of African exploration, which 
was then occupying so many minds. He therefore resolved to 
strike right across the continent, and push his way through, if 
possible, to the western coast, as Livingstone had done before, 
but taking a somewhat different route. This feat he accorr.- 



lOO Africa : Past and Present. 



plished with slender resources, and in the face of many diffi- 
culties, exhibiting a courage and perseverance worthy of the 
highest commendation. In this journey he was unable, from 
the hostility of the natives, to pursue the course of the Lualaba 
and the Congo, so as to prove their identity ; but he gathered 
useful information, which showed the high probability of this 
being the case, and so prepared the way for the demonstration 
of the fact by Stanley on a subsequent journey, as already 
mentioned. On reaching the western coast Lieutenant Cameron 
returned to England, where he was promoted to the rank of 
captain, and received other honours to which he was fully 
entitled by his heroic services in the cause of African dis- 
covery. 

The vast continent of Africa was no sooner laid open to 
the view of the civilized world than a spirit of enterprise was 
awakened in the interests of commerce and Christian missions, 
which promises ere long to bear good fruit. Every true friend 
of the African race must devoutly wish and pray that the time 
may soon come when the light of Divine truth and of Christian 
civilization may shine forth throughout the length and breadth 
of the land. 



lOI 



CHAPTER III. 

SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 

Prevalence of Slavery — Sources of Slavery — Uses of Slaves — Treatment of 
Slaves — The Slave Trade — Methods of procuring Slaves — The Middle 
Passage-Slaves in Exile — Abolition of the Slave Trade— Emancipation 
of Slaves — Work still to be done. 

BEFORE we proceed to give a more minute and particular 
account of Africa as a country, and the manners, habits, 
and condition of the people by whom it is inhabited, there is 
one subject which demands our separate and special attention, 
inasmuch as it has made an impression upon everything which 
relates to the history, character, and destiny of the African 
race. We refer to the compound question of Slavery and the 
Slave Trade, — a question which in years past excited the sym- 
pathy of all classes of Christian people, and without the brief 
discussion of which no work on Africa would be complete, 
notwithstanding the changes which have happily taken place in 
modern times, with reference to its various phases. 

Prevalence of Slavery. 

It may be truly said of Africa that it is " a land of slaves " ; 
and no person acquainted with the state of society in that 
unhappy country will doubt the truth of this startling declara- 
tion. On this painful subject the present writer received his 
own impressions from personal observations on the spot, during 
a lengthened residence among the people ; but it appears 
desirable on this occasion to cite the testimony of others also, 
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be 



I02 



Africa : Past and Present. 



verified. Every traveller who has visited the western coast of 
Africa, or passed through any part of the interior, testifies to 
the general prevalence of slavery. When he appeared before 
the West African Committee of the House of Commons to 
give evidence on the subject. Colonel NichoUs said : " I know 
no other characters in Africa than those .of master and slave." 
And Mr. M'Queen, on a similar occasion, said : " Slavery and 
the slave trade form the general law of Africa. These two evils 
reign acknowledged, sanctioned, known, recognised, and sub- 
mitted to, by her population of every rank and degree, through- 
out all her extended borders." According to the computation 
of Park, three-fourths of the entire population are in a state of 
bondage. In his first journey to Kano, Captain Clapperton, 
estimating its inhabitants at 40,000, records his opinion that at 
least one-half of the population were slaves. At a subsequent 
visit to the same place, however, he ascertained that his first 
impression had been too favourable, for he was now informed 
that there were thirty slaves for every fi-ee man ! The same 
traveller incidentally mentions a village in the neighbourhood 
of Sackatoo, where only one in seventy of the inhabitants were 
free. As illustrative of the number of slaves owned by some of 
the native chiefs, and the manner in which they were employed, 
Major Denham states that the Sultan of Bornou had, at one 
time, in his service "30,000 armed slaves as native soldiers." 

The testimonies here given as to the prevalence of slavery 
in the interior of Africa have reference chiefly, if not exclu- 
sively, to Mohammedan states. Now, when we remember the 
fact that, according to the laws of the Koran, a Moslem may 
enslave a Kaffir or unbeliever, but cannot hold in bondage one 
of his own faith, we are led to infer that in those districts which 
are purely Pagan, slavery must be still more predominant. 
This inference is fully borne out by a careful examination of 
the facts of the case. According to the testimony of Clap- 
perton, the whole lower-class population of Yoruba may be 
considered in a state of slavery, either to the king or to his 
caboceers. And it is said that in Ashanti, Fanti, and Dahomi, 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 103 



in addition to the large numbers kept in bondage by the respec- 
tive kings, each caboceer, or nobleman, possesses thousands of 
slaves, whilst the inferior chiefs and captains, or head-men, own 
proportionate numbers. It is therefore highly probable that 
the estimate of Park is much too low if applied to Western 
Africa as a whole ; and that there are considerably more than 
three-fourths of the entire population in a state of bondage. 

Sources of Slavery. 

Let us now glance at the means by which this gigantic evil 
is sustained, or the sources whence the slaves are supplied 
As slavery is everywhere hereditary, all children born of slave 
parents are, as a matter of course, doomed to a life of per- 
petual bondage ; and even if the mother only is a slave, her 
offspring have to share her hard lot. Consequently in Africa, 
as in all slave countries, slavery, when once established, is 
kept up and perpetuated in the ordinary course of nature 
But there are other sources from which the supply of slaves is 
maintained, which are deserving of notice. The principal of 
these are war, famine, insolvency, and crime. 

When the nations or native tribes of Africa go to war with 
each other, even on political grounds, the victors invariably 
reduce the vanquished to a state of slavery, even if they have 
been free before. This practice has prevailed both in ancient 
and modern times in other lands ; but in Africa we have the 
appalling spectacle exhibited to our view of wars waged for the 
avowed purpose of supplying the demand for slaves created by 
a foreign slave trade, to the enormities of which we shall have 
to refer hereafter. 

In this land of darkness people previously in a state of 
freedom are sometimes reduced to slavery by famine. In a 
country where the soil is remarkably fertile, and the common 
necessaries of life are generally abundant, being produced with 
comparatively little labour, it may appear strange to some that 
famine should ever be known. It must be remembered, how- 
ever, that the seasons favourable for cultivation are sometimes 



I04 Africa : Past and Present. 



very irregular, and that the natives are proverbial for their 
improvidence and recklessness as to the future ; consequently 
when the crop fails, through drought or otherwise, the common 
people are reduced to great straits, and are sometimes induced 
to sell their children as slaves to procure food to eat. Park 
gives an affecting instance of this kind, which occurred at a 
native town where he sojourned for a short time, after he had 
left the Gambia, on his way to the Niger. He says : " The 
scarcity of provisions was felt at this time most severely by the 
poor people, as the following circumstance most plainly con- 
vinced me. Every evening during my stay, I observed five or 
six women come to the mansa's house, and receive each of them 
a quantity of corn. As I knew how valuable this article was at 
that juncture, I inquired of the mansa whether he maintained 
these poor women from pure bounty, or expected a return 
when the harvest should be gathered in. ' Observe that boy,' 
said he, pointing to a fine child about five years of age ; ' his 
mother has sold him to me for forty days' provisions. I have 
bought another boy in the same manner.' I could not get this 
melancholy subject out my mind ; and the next night, when 
the women returned for their allowance, I desired the boy to 
point out to me his mother, which he did. She was much 
emaciated ; and when she received her corn, she came and 
talked to her son with as much cheerfulness as though he had 
been still under her care." 

Another common source of African slavery is insolvency. A 
negro trader contracts debts on account of some mercantile 
speculation, either by purchasing from his neighbours such 
articles as are likely to sell in a distant market, or by obtaining 
goods from the European merchants on the coast, with the 
promise of making payment at a given time. If he succeeds 
in his speculation, he gains a large profit ; but if he fails, all his 
remaining property, and his person, his family, and services, 
are forfeited and placed at the disposal of another ; for, in 
some parts of Africa, not only the effects of the insolvent, but 
even the insolvent himself, and his children, are sold to satisfy 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 105 



the demands of his creditors. There is, moreover, a modified 
kind of slavery which exists on the western coast under the 
name of " pawns," which, we regret to say, has, to a consider- 
able extent, been sanctioned by British merchants in their 
transactions with the natives. This subject has at length 
attracted the notice of the English Government, who have 
decided that the system is totally at variance with the spirit 
and intention of the Acts of Parliament abolishing slavery and 
the slave trade throughout the British dominions. To show 
the identity of the " pawn system " with the spirit of slavery, 
we need only remark that, in the investigations which were 
made on the subject before a Parliamentary Committee, one 
witness said, " A pawn is a man who runs into debt, and who, 
in order to discharge the debt, pawns himself until he redeems 
himself." Another described pawns as persons who had "sold 
themselves into bondage, from which they can only be emanci- 
pated by pecuniary payments ; and if not so emancipated, they 
must live and die in servitude." This witness acknowledged 
that he had "known both slaves and pawns sold at public 
auction." 

In addition to the means already mentioned, the natives of 
Africa who are born free are liable to lose their freedom by 
the commission of crime. Almost every kind of offence, — as 
theft, witchcraft, adultery, murder, etc., — when proved before 
the chief in a grand palaver^ is punished by the sentence of 
perpetual bondage. Sometimes, however, the criminal is 
allowed to redeem himself by offering to the king or chief, 
or the ofl'ended party, a certain amount of property, or a 
number of other slaves. 

Uses of Slaves. 

The enormous extent to which man holds his brother man 
in bondage in Africa, regarding him as bond-fide property, will 
still more fully appear if we consider the various uses to which 
slaves are applied in that degraded country. In many places 
slaves are the principal articles of barter, and are regarded in 



io6 Africa : Past and Present. 



the light of "current money with the merchant." Many kinds 
of merchandise can be purchased with slaves and with nothing 
else, other articles of produce being positively refused. A poor 
negro, who had passed through the hands of several masters on 
his way to the coast, related in all simplicity how he was first 
sold for a single hoe, then for some salt, and then again for 
some cloth, when he finally passed into the hands of a Euro- 
pean merchant. Major Denham states that " the Sultan of 
Sackatoo received tribute from his dependent states chiefly in 
slaves." 

In times of war (which, alas ! are so frequent in Africa) slaves 
are often employed as common soldiers ; and, when the country 
remains in a comparatively quiet and settled state, slaves are 
the artizans and agriculturists. Hired servants of free condition, 
and persons voluntarily working for pay, are unknown in most 
places, every free man possessing his establishment of domestic 
slaves. Slaves are also employed in personal attendance on 
their owners, and in the performance of various household 
duties; but in every relation they are regarded as so much 
property. It is quite common to hear an African of conse- 
quence summing up his wealth as consisting in " gold, slaves, 
herds and horses." Slaves are also the marriage bonus with 
which an African gentleman purchases his wives ; and they are 
frequently the only inheritance which he leaves his children. 

Such are some of the uses to which African slavery is applied 
by the few who are happily free in their own country. Whilst 
the poor slaves are employed as domestic servants, their condi- 
tion is comparatively favourable ; but when they are set apart 
as offerings to demons, or to be sent to distant lands, their lot 
is truly deplorable. In some parts of Africa tens of thousands 
of poor slaves are collected to be offered up as human sacrifices 
in the performance of their bloody superstitious rites on the 
death of chiefs and otherwise; and millions more have been 
dragged away from the land of their birth, and doomed to wear 
out their lives in hopeless bondage for the benefit of others, as 
we shall havg to relate more particularly further on. In the 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 107 



meantime we may briefly glance at another phase of the subject 
which is worthy of consideration. 

Treatment of Slaves. 

The apologists of negro slavery have frequently expatiated 
on real or supposed instances of kind treatment on the part of 
slave owners ; and we are free to admit that, in the course of 
our travels in foreign lands where slavery is common, we have 
met with such cases. Even in Africa itself there is a marked 
difference between the condition of domestic slaves — i.e., those 
who are born and brought up in the families of their masters — ■ 
and those who are taken in war or purchased from strangers in 
the ordinary way of business. It is a general rule or usage not 
to sell or otherwise dispose of the former, unless it be as a 
punishment for some fault committed ; but the latter are re 
garded as so much stock on hand for the purpose of barter 
Domestic slaves are, moreover, usually employed in light work 
about the house ; and, when well conducted, they are often 
treated with considerable kindness, and even with confidence ; 
being sometimes advanced to positions of responsibility and 
honour, as was Joseph in Egypt. 

But in its mildest form slavery is slavery ; and wherever it 
exists, and under whatever circumstances, it exhibits the same 
moral deformity, and ought to be viewed with detestation and 
condemned with boldness by every one who bears the Chris- 
tian name. However mildly treated, it must be remembered 
that the poor slave has no real property in himself, nor in 
anything which he may be said to possess. His goods, his 
wife, his children, his body, bones, flesh, blood and sinews, 
are not his own. They belong to his master, and are entirely 
at his disposal. He lives and breathes and works, not for 
himself, but for the pleasure and profit of a fellow-mortal ; and 
is liable to the most cruel and unkind treatment at the whim 
and caprice of his owner. 

But, whilst domestic slaves in Africa are generally exempt 
from harsh and cruel treatment, it is otherwise with those who 



io8 Africa: Past and Present. 



are literally held as merchandise for the purpose of traffic. 
These are not only torn away from everything which is dear to 
them on earth — separated from home, parents, brothers, sisters, 
and friends — but they are frequently confined in chains, flogged, 
and driven from place to place as sheep for the market. Listen 
to the sorrowful words of one who had himself tasted of the 
bitter cup of bondage. Speaking of a certain stage in the 
painful march down to the coast, he says : " When we came 
to that place I was quite faint, for I had been without food some 
time. I began to weep, and fell to the ground. My master 
was angry, and lifted his hand and knocked me about the head, 
saying he would kill me and eat me. I thought then all was 
over. I expected that the dagger would be driven into my 
bowels every moment." This is but a faint specimen of 
what frequently occurs. In that land of darkness, cruelty, 
and blood, a master may take away the life of his slave with 
impunity ; and, what is still worse, in some places the female 
portion of the population are commonly and systematically let 
out on hire for the purpose of prostitution, and are liable to 
the grossest abuses to which their savage and unfeeling masters 
can subject them. We have witnessed instances of the cruel 
treatment of slaves, both at their original home in Africa and 
in the lands of their exile, the recital of which would harrow 
up the feelings of the reader without any good result; but we 
forbear. 

The Slave Trade. 

Such is slavery in Africa, its own home ; but we have a still 
darker page to turn over in the history of this gigantic evil. 
We have to consider the Slave Trade, properly so called — the 
traffic in which Africa was induced to engage with foreign 
countries for the flesh and blood, the bodies and souls of her 
own sons and daughters. The story of this dark and wicked 
business is one of mournful interest ; and, so far as it has been 
written,- it appears to our view stained with tears and traced 
in characters of blood. The evil which it records is, moreover, 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. log 

one of long standing, and has involved several nations bearing 
the Christian name in guilty complicity, shame, and dishonour. 

As early as 1434, soon after the discovery of the country, 
Antonio Gonzales, a Portuguese captain, landed on the Gold 
Coast, and carried away with him some negro boys, whom he 
sold to one or two Moorish families in the south of Spain. 
This strange act seems to have excited some criticism at 
the time, but the disgust with which it was regarded by some 
soon subsided, and from that day it became customary 
for captains of vessels visiting the coast to carry away a few 
negroes of both sexes. The patient and cheerful labours of 
these poor Africans on board the ships which took them away 
from their native land, and in the families of the persons to 
whom they were sold, being found valuable, the practice soon 
grew into a regular traffic ; and negroes, instead of being carried 
away in twos and threes as mere curiosities, soon came to form 
a part of almost every cargo, in common with other native pro- 
duce. Henceforth ships no longer visited Africa on voyages of 
mere discovery, but for valuable cargoes ; and the inhabitants 
of the negro villages along the coast being delighted with the 
knives, tinder-boxes, beads, buttons, and other trinkets which 
they got in exchange for gold, ivory, and slaves, took care to 
have these articles in readiness for the vessels when they 
arrived. Thus the slave trade, commenced by the Portuguese, 
was soon taken up by the Spaniards and people of other nations, / 
who entered with alacrity into the infamous traffic. 

Perhaps this strange and iniquitous trade in human beings 
would never have become very extensive, had not an impor- 
tant event occurred, which gave it a great impetus. This 
was the discovery of America and the West Indies by the 
enterprising Columbus, in the year 1493. When the Spaniards 
first took possession of the islands, they employed the natives, 
or Indians as they were called, to do all their heavy work — 
such as cultivating the ground, carrying burdens, and digging 
for gold. In fact, ere long these Indians became the slaves 
of the Spanish conquerors ; and it was customary, in assigning 



1 lo Africa : Past and Present. 



lands to a person, to make over to him at the same time 
all the natives residing upon them, whose labour he claimed 
as a matter of course. 

It soon became evident, however, that these poor, frail, 
timid, listless aborigines of the West Indies, accustomed only 
to hunting and fishing for their daily supply of food, were 
not only indisposed, but totally unfit for continuous and 
arduous toil. Under the united influence of hard labour, 
cruel treatment, and contagious diseases, introduced among 
them by the pale-faced strangers, they melted away in the 
presence of their oppressors, with a rapidity truly alarming. 
In a few years after the arrival of the Spaniards tens of 
thousands had perished. When Albuquerque entered upon 
his office as Governor of St. Domingo, in 15 15, he found 
that, whereas in 1508 the natives in that island numbered 
60,000 they did not, then amount to 14,000 ; and there 
appeared nothing in prospect but the ultimate extinction of 
the entire race of Indians, if the same system of cruelty and 
oppression should be continued. 

Under these circumstances the enterprising but avaricious 
colonists were led to consider what could be done to meet 
the emergency. Labourers must be had from some quarter 
to till the ground, work the mines, and perform other 
drudgery for the haughty settlers ; and the idea was suggested 
that African negroes would be the best adapted for the 
purpose. As early as 1503 a few negroes had been carried 
across the Atlantic ; and it had been found not only that one 
of these could do as much work as four Indians, but that, 
whilst the aborigines were rapidly wasting away under the 
enforced toil to which they were subjected, the Africans were 
thriving wonderfully, and even increasing in number. It was 
therefore resolved to import negro slaves into the Spanish 
colonies of the West Indies as rapidly as possible; which 
was accordingly done, although the process was gradual. 

The African slave trade thus inaugurated by the Spaniards 
was not long left entirely in their hands. At first the Spaniards 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 1 1 1 



had all America and the West Indies to themselves ; and as it 
was in these countries that African labourers were most in 
demand, the Spaniards alone possessed large numbers of negro 
slaves. But other nations soon came to have colonies in the New 
World also ; and as negro labour was found to be of great im- 
portance in the founding of new settlements, and in agricultural 
work generally, other nations came to participate in the guilt of 
the new traffic in human beings. The first recognition of the 
slave trade by the English Government was in 1562, in the 
reign of Queen Elizabeth, when an Act was passed legalizing 
the purchase of negroes. This was to meet the demand antici- 
pated by the planting of the first British colony on the continent 
of America. But these early efforts at colonisation being un- 
successful, it was not till 1616 that the first negro slaves were 
imported into Virginia ; and these were brought over, not by 
an English ship, but in a Dutch vessel which touched there 
when on her way from Africa to the Spanish colonies in the 
West Indies with a cargo of slaves. After this, however, the 
English were no longer indebted to foreign ships for this kind 
of service ; but, seeing the large profits which were to be 
realized by the horrid trafiic, they entered into it with a zeal 
and earnestness worthy of a better cause ; and thenceforth it 
was conducted on a scale and in a manner appalling to 
contemplate. 

The French, Dutch, and other European nations soon be- 
came involved in the African slave trade ; those who had 
colonies to supply the demand there, and those who had none, 
to make money by helping to supply the demands of planters 
belonging to other countries. Before the middle of the seven- 
teenth century the slave trade was in full vigour ; and almost all 
Europe was implicated in buying and selling negroes. It is 
stated by Macpherson, in his " History of Commerce," that " the 
number of Africans shipped in 1768, by all nations, for America 
and the West Indies, was estimated at 97,000; that of those 
the British shipping took 60,000, the French 23,000 — the re- 
mainder being divided in small portions among the ships of 



I 12 



Africa : Past and Present. 



other nations, the Portuguese at that time only taking 1,700." 
In succeeding years the slave trade became still more extensive, 
and it has been estimated that in the course of a single century 
no fewer than 2,130,000 negroes were dragged away from their 
native land, and transported to the British West Indies alone, 
independent of the vast numbers enslaved by other nations. As 
far back as 1732, Liverpool, in one year, procured and carried 
over 22,720 slaves; the net profits being estimated at_;^2i4,6i7; 
and it is believed that Bristol was not a whit behind her sister 
seaport in her interest in this infamous traffic. 

Methods of Procuring Slaves. 

The effects produced in Africa itself, by this wholesale traffic 
in her own children, may be more readily imagined than de- 
scribed. It stamped with a tenfold curse that system of slavery 
which had previously existed for centuries in that benighted 
land. The demand for slaves soon became so great, and the 
prices offered by captains of slave ships in red cloth, knives, 
looking-glasses, beads, rum, and tobacco, so tempting, that 
all kinds of means were adopted by the petty kings, chiefs, 
and caboceers to procure the required number of victims. 
Domestic slaves, who had hitherto been a privileged class, were 
now frequently sold and sent off for the most trifling offence, 
or without any offence at all when the demand was unusually 
pressing. Petty wars were waged for the express purpose of 
seizing and dragging into hopeless bondage young negroes of 
both sexes likely for the market, old people and infants being 
frequently put to death as not available for the purpose. 
Wicked men were constantly prowling about with a view to 
kidnap and carry off all who came within their reach ; and it 
was not an unusual circumstance for a friend or brother, a 
sister, or a child, to fall into the hands of " the man-stealer," 
who thus stood related to his hapless victims by the tenderest 
ties of nature. The strife and enmity, and earnest desire to 
enslave each other for the sake of paltry gain, which was 
manifested by the sable sons and daughters of Ham, as the 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 1 1 3 



result of the foreign slave trade, was not confined to the coast, 
but extended far away into the interior of the vast continent. 
In this way Central Africa came to be the "great mother" of 
the slaves required for exportation ; and the negro villages on 
the coast, under the control of petty interested chiefs, were 
converted into so many " nurseries " or warehouses, where the 
slaves were kept in the infamous barracoons till the ships of 
the white men came to carry them across the Atlantic. 

The accounts we have heard from the lips of poor captured 
negroes of the sufferings they endured when seized by the 
merciless man-stealer, and on their long and dreary march 
down to the coast, were truly heartrending. The mode of pro- 
ceeding adopted by a regular slave-hunting party, in anticipation 
of the arrival of a slave ship, appears to have been generally 
as follows : — The European, or half-caste agent (generally a 
Portuguese), in charge of the depot, would muster his gang of 
desperadoes, consisting of the wildest and most savage natives 
to be found in the country. These being well armed, and 
provisioned with an ample supply of rice and rum for several 
days or weeks, would set out on a lengthened tour into the 
interior. Having fixed upon a peaceful village to be attacked 
during the night, they would skulk in the adjacent woods till 
the appointed hour, and then, on a signal being given by the 
captain of the expedition, they would pounce upon the place, 
set fire to the huts, and capture the hapless natives when 
attempting to escape. Helpless infants, old people unfit for 
slaves, and those who offered violent resistance, were frequently 
put to death at once ; whilst the young men and women and 
boys and girls who fell into their hands were closely pinioned, 
and with their heads made fast in forked sticks, or tied to the 
slave-chain, they were driven to the coast as cattle to the 
market. 

The Middle Passage. 

When the slave trade became fully organized, means were 
adopted by European merchants £0 secure greater constancy 

8 



114 Africa: Past and Present. 



and regularity in the supply of negroes for the West India 
market, and to have them transported across the Atlantic as 
quickly as possible. At first the slave vessels only visited the 
coast of Africa in a casual way, and bargained with the native 
chiefs and others, at the places where they called, for such 
slaves or other produce as they happened to have on hand. 
But this was found to be a dreary and inconvenient mode of 
doing the business ; and the sickly season frequently came on 
before the ships were ready to depart, and many of the sailors 
were cut down by fever. As an improvement in the plan of 
conducting the traffic, African trading companies were formed, 
and small European settlements were planted at intervals along 
the western coast, all the way from Cape Verd to the equator, 
by English, Dutch, French, and Portuguese mercantile firms. 
These were called slave factories, and agents were appointed in 
connection with them, whose business it was to negotiate with 
native traders, stimulate them to activity in their slave-hunting 
expeditions, and to purchase slaves and other produce, that 
they might be ready in the barracoons when the ships called to 
take in their cargoes at the appointed season. Vessels were, 
moreover, constructed specially for this trade, and fitted with 
water casks, cooking apparatus, and everything complete ; not 
forgetting chains, handcuffs and other irons for the refractory. 

In many instances the toils and sufferings of the long and 
weary march from the interior to the coast were scarcely ended, 
when the word of command was given for the poor negroes to 
go on board the slave ship riding at anchor in the roads. Then 
the miseries of the middle passage commenced, the character 
and extent of which could only be fully known by those who 
endured or witnessed them. The first thing was the embarka- 
tion, in large canoes prepared for the purpose. As a violent 
surf generally breaks upon the sandy beach all along the coast, 
the heavy swell of the sea is sometimes alarming, and this 
operation is frequently attended with difficulty and danger. We 
have known many instances of canoes being upset and slaves 
being drowned in the course of embarkation. These casualties 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 1 1 5 



were regarded as so many losses of valuable property, but very 
little feeling was manifested for the poor sufferers. 

The horrors of the middle passage may be best illustrated by 
quoting a few sentences from the testimony of an eye-witness. 
Mr. Falconbridge, a surgeon on board a slaver, writing of a 
period anterior to the year 1790, makes the following state- 
ment : — " The men negroes, on being brought on board ship, 
are immediately fastened together, two and two, by handcuffs 
on their wrists, and by irons riveted on their legs. They are 
frequently stowed so close together as to admit of no other 
posture than that of lying on their sides. Neither will the 
height between decks, unless directly under the grating, permit 
them the indulgence of an erect position, especially where 
there are platforms, which is generally the case. These plat- 
forms are a kind of shelves, about eight or nine feet in breadth, 
extending from the side of the ship towards the centre. They 
are placed nearly midway between the decks, at the distance 
of two or three feet from each deck. Upon these the negroes 
are stowed in -the same manner as they are on the deck 
beneath. It often happens that those who are placed at a dis 
tance from the buckets, in endeavouring to get to them, tumble 
over their companions, in consequence of their being shackled., 
These accidents, though unavoidable, are productive of con- 
tinual quarrels, in which some of them are always bruised. 

" In favourable weather the slaves are fed upon deck, but in 
bad weather their food is given to them below. Numberless 
quarrels take place among them during their meals, more espe- 
cially when they are put upon short allowance, which frequently 
happens. In that case, the weak are obhged to be contend 
with a very scanty portion. Their allowance of water is about 
half a pint at each meal. Upon the negroes refusing to take 
their food, I have seen coals of fire, glowing hot, put on a 
shovel, and placed so near their lips as to scorch and burn 
them, and this has been accompanied by threats of forcing them 
to swallow the coals if they any longer persisted in refusing to 
eat. These means have generally the desired effect." 



1 1 6 Africa : Past and Present. 



Falconbridge then tells us that the negroes are sometimes 
compelled to dance and sing on board the slave ships, and that 
if any reluctance is exhibited, the cat-o'-nine-tails is employed 
to enforce obedience. He goes on to mention the unbounded 
license given to the officers and crew of the slavers as regards 
the women ; and speaking of the officers, he says, " they are 
sometimes guilty of such brutal excesses as disgrace human 
nature." " But," he continues,"the hardships and inconveniences 
suffered by the negroes during the passage are scarcely to be 
enumerated or conceived. They are far more violently affected 
by sea-sickness than Europeans. It frequently terminates in 
death, especially among the women." 

The same witness, when speaking of other trials which the 
poor slaves endure in the course of the middle passage, says : 
" The exclusion of fresh air is another cause of suffering. Most 
ships have air-ports ; but when the sea is rough and the rain 
heavy, it becomes necessary to shut these, and every other 
avenue by which air is admitted. The fresh air being thus 
excluded, the hold of the vessel very soon becomes intolerably 
hot. The confined air, rendered noxious by the effluvia exhaled 
from their bodies, and by being repeatedly breathed, soon 
produces fevers and fluxes, which generally carry off great 
numbers of them. During the voyages that I made, I was 
frequently a witness to the fatal effects of this exclusion of fresh 
air." Then follow many affecting details, at the conclusion of 
which the writer observes, in reference to a certain voyage : 
" Circumstances of this kind often happen, and sometimes to a 
greater degree than what has just been described, particularly 
when slaves are much crowded — which was not the case at that 
time, the ship having more than a hundred short of the 
number she was to have taken in ; yet, out of 380, 185 died on 
t-he passage, — a proportion seemingly very great, but by no 
means uncommon. One-half, sometimes two-thirds, and even 
beyond that, have been known to perish in the course of the 
passage." 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 1 1 7 



Slaves in Exile. 

The sufferings of the poor slaves, thus torn away by tens of 
thousands from their native land, and huddled together on 
board small and inconvenient vessels, at the peril of both life and 
limb, did not terminate with the middle passage, even if they 
were able to bear up and endure its horrors to the end. The 
few survivors who reached the scene of their exile were gene- 
rally landed in a state of great weakness and emaciation. 
Having been conducted to the yards and sheds prepared for 
their reception, some attention was paid to their wants by 
their avaricious owners — on the same principle that cattle 
are prepared for the market by the thrifty farmer. When the 
condition of the poor captives was improved somewhat, by 
the dressing of their wounds, the administration of physic, and 
a more ample supply of food, they were ready for the market or 
the auction, and were frequently put up for sale and knocked 
down to the highest bidder, like sheep or oxen. The lot of a 
few who were drafted off as domestic servants, to wait upon 
their masters and mistresses, and to do light work about the 
" great house," was comparatively favourable ; but the fate of 
the majority, who were doomed to toil beneath a burning 
tropical sun in the swampy cane-fields of some of the West 
India colonies, was hard indeed. 

Many pages might be filled with shocking details of cruelty 
and oppression which came under the personal observation of 
the present writer during the years that he spent among the 
poor negroes in the lands of their exile, striving to cheer them 
under their sufferings and to prepare them for that happy place 
where '* the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at 
rest." Suffice it to say that their labour was frequently very 
severe, their food coarse and scanty, and their clothing barely 
sufficient for common decency. As a rule, no regard whatever 
was paid to their moral and religious welfare, for they appeared, 
in most instances, to be looked upon as mere animals having 



1 1 8 Africa : Past and Present, 



no souls. For any deficiency in the performance of the daily task, 
or for any other real or imaginary fault, the punishments inflicted 
by flogging and otherwise were sometimes fearful to contemplate, 
and still more so to witness, as we have sometimes been obliged 
to do. In one word, the lives of the poor slaves in America 
and the West Indies, under the treatment of most owners (for 
we are free to admit that we met with a few noble exceptions) 
were a continued scene of wretchedness and misery truly hard 
to bear ; hence the occasional insurrections which broke out, 
and which for the time involved them in still greater misery 
and ruin. 

Nor let it be supposed that these poor outcasts were void of 
feeling, or indifferent to the privations and sufferings to which 
they were exposed in being torn away from their native country, 
shut up so long in the hold of a slave ship, and doomed to 
live and labour in a land of strangers for the benefit of others. 
We have witnessed among them instances of the keenest sensi- 
bility, and heard from their lips, with feelings of deep emotion, 
their own artless stories of what they felt when they first saw 
the " great salt water," across which they knew full well they 
were to be taken, and the anguish they experienced when 
forcibly separated from parents, brothers, sisters, and friends. 
And we have heard narrations of the most painful interest of 
severe floggings and other punishments inflicted upon them in 
the lands of their exile, making life almost unbearable ; whilst 
the speakers would sometimes burst into tears, and thank God 
that He had enabled them to bear it all, and especially that He 
had overruled their misfortunes for good in bringing them to a 
place where they were favoured to hear the good news of salva- 
tion. The touching language of the prophet might be truly 
applied to the African race in their bitter bondage : " This is 
a people robbed and spoiled ; they are all of them snared in 
holes, and they are hid in prison-houses ; they are for a prey, 
and none delivereth ; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore " 
(Isaiah xlii. 22). ^ 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 1 1 9 



Abolition of the Slave Trade. 

Having thus briefly traced the rise, progress, extent, and 
character 0^ African slavery and the slave trade, we would now 
direct the attention of the reader to the circumstances which 
led to the nominal abolition of the accursed traffic by Great 
Britain, and ultimately to the emancipation of the slaves 
throughout the British empire, with a few observations on the 
position of the question at the present time. 

As early as the year 15 12, when the importation of negroes to 
the West Indies began to assume the character of a regular 
trade, Cardinal Ximenes protested earnestly against the thing 
as a sin against God and man ; but such was the cupidity of 
the parties interested, that his pious remonstrance was disre- 
garded. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the Rev. 
Morgan Godwyn, an English clergyman, who had himself 
witnessed the horrors of slavery in the island of Barbadoes, 
broached the subject of abolition in a volume which he pub- 
lished under the title of " The Negro and Indian's Advocate " ; 
and about a century later John Woolman and Anthony Benezet, 
two members of the Society of Friends in America, exerted 
themselves nobly in its interests. Woolman travelled far and 
near among the people of his own persuasion, trying to induce 
them to relinquish all connection with the traffic in negroes ; 
and Benezet founded a negro school in Philadelphia, whilst at 
the same time he denounced the slave trade in various publica- 
tions which he prepared for circulation. So powerful was the 
effect produced by the united labours of these two philanthropic 
men, especially in the religious community to which they 
belonged, that in the year 1754 the "Friends" in America 
came to a resolution declaring " that, to live in ease and 
plenty by the toil of those whom fraud and violence had put 
under their power was consistent neither with Christianity nor 
common justice." This declaration was followed up by the 
abolition of slave labour among the "Friends," the penalty of 



1 20 Africa : Past and Present. 



keeping a slave being excommunication from the Society. 
From this time the Society of Friends, as a religious commu- 
nity, distinguished themselves, both in America and England, 
by their unwearied efforts to ameliorate the condition of the 
poor negro in every possible way ; and the first petition ever 
presented to the British Parliament on the subject of slavery 
emanated from them. 

A committee of benevolent gentlemen was at length organised 
in London, which had for its express object the abolition of the 
African slave trade ; and public feeling was aroused to a state 
of great excitement on the subject. Several talented and 
powerful writers also appeared on the stage of action as the 
friends and advocates of the negro race. Amongst these may 
be mentioned Richard Baxter, Bishop Porteus, James Ramsay, 
Joseph Wood, George Whitefield, and John Wesley. Some of 
these honoured gentlemen and ministers were able to speak 
and write from personal experience, having witnessed the 
abominations of slavery and the slave trade in America and the 
West Indies. Mr. Wesley especially took up the subject with 
characteristic zeal and earnestness. In his masterly tractate 
entitled " Thoughts on Slavery," he denounced the traffic in 
human beings as " the sum of all villainies," and placed the 
question in all its bearings in a most convincing light before 
the British public. The interest of the venerable founder of 
Methodism in the oppressed negro race continued unabated 
to the end of his useful life ; and it is an interesting fact that 
the last letter he ever wrote was addressed to Mr. Wilberforce 
on the subject a few days before his death, urging the zealous 
philanthropist to proceed in his " glorious enterprise " of seeking 
the abolition of the accursed traffic. " Go on," he writes, "in 
the name of God and in the power of His might, till even 
American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish 
away before it." 

In 1785 the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 
proposed " the slave trade " as the subject of a prize essay. 
This prize was gained by Mr. Clarkson, then a young man of 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. I2i 



twenty-four. The study of the subject, in connection with the 
preparation of his essay, made such a powerful impression upon 
the mind of the young student that he was induced from that 
time to devote all his powers of body and soul to the cause 
of abolition. He visited every person he could find in and 
around London who had been in Africa or the West Indies, 
or in any situation that gave him an insight into the character 
of the slave trade. He boarded vessels that had been engaged 
in the traffic, and inspected the wretched holds in which the 
poor slaves had been confined during their passage across the 
Atlantic. In one word, he devoted his whole life to waging an 
implacable war against slavery and the slave trade in all their 
horrid forms. 

The evidence collected by Mr. Clarkson on the subject of 
the slave trade attracted the attention of Wilberforce, and 
secured his valuable co-operation. On Sunday, October 21st, 
1787, that eminent philanthropist made this striking entry in 
his journal : " God Almighty has placed before me two great 
objects, — the suppression of the slave trade, and the reforma- 
tion of manners." The reformation of manners he did not see 
fully accomplished, but the suppression of the slave trade he 
did ; and just before he passed away from this world, he was 
cheered with the delightful intelligence that the royal assent 
had been given to a Bill entirely abolishing slavery from the 
British dominions. This was the result of a long and arduous 
struggle, however; and it required the united and constant 
efforts of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Sharp, together with those 
of others who were associated with them in the powerful 
confederacy which was organized to carry on the campaign. 

For twenty years did this noble band of Christian philan- 
thropists labour before the first great object which they aimed 
at was fully accomplished. Their modes of operation were 
various, and no means were neglected to secure the desired 
result. Reliable information on the extent and abominations 
of the slave trade was carefully collected and zealously circu- 
lated ; Parliament was urged by petitions to interpose on behalf 



122 



Africa : Past aiid Present. 



of the poor downtrodden negro race ; and all other likely 
means were employed to interest the public in the important 
question. For a long time, however, but little impression 
appeared to be made by these efforts ; for, although a few 
minor measures were adopted, professedly to abate some of the 
most glaring cruelties of the traffic, for seven years in succes- 
sion was Mr. Wilberforce's annual motion for its abolition 
thrown out. Such was the result of the opposition that was 
organized against the movement, and of the influence exercised 
by interested parties both in England and in the Colonies. 
Still the friends of freedom persevered in their noble work, and 
by the blessing of God their efforts were at length crowned with 
complete success. The Bill for the total abolition of the 
British slave trade, on and after the ist of January, 1808, 
received the royal assent, and was left to take its course 
accordingly. 

Emancipation of Slaves. 

Perhaps it may be necessary here to remind the reader of the 
difference between the slave trade and slavery. By the first we 
are to understand the traffic in human beings when they are 
dragged away from their homes and bought and sold, like brute 
beasts that have no understanding ; and by the second is 
meant that state of bondage and servitude to which they are 
thereby reduced. The slave trade, so far as England was con- 
cerned, was now abolished by law ; and it was made criminal 
for any one henceforth to take away slaves from Africa, or from 
any other country. But notwithstanding the achievement of 
this great object, slavery itself continued in the British colonies 
in all its rigour ; and the accounts which were received from 
time to time of the sufferings of the poor negroes were truly 
appalling. 

The friends of the oppressed negro race, encouraged by the 
result of their past labours, now reorganized their forces, and 
commenced a vigorous crusade against slavery itself, as they 
had previously done against the slave trade. They openly 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 123 



avowed their intention to agitate without ceasing till slavery 
should be utterly abolished from the British empire. They 
nobly kept their word ; but it was not till after another twenty- 
six years of arduous toil that their object was fully gained. 
This interval was crowded with the most interesting incidents 
connected with this philanthropic movement ; but our limited 
space will only admit of a very brief outline. 

As years rolled on, several of the earlier labourers in the cause 
of emancipation were removed by death ; but their places were 
supplied by others who were raised up in the order of Divine 
Providence. The venerable Wilberforce himself felt the influ- 
ence of age and debility creeping upon him ; and, being less 
able than formerly to plead the cause of the oppressed, both in 
and out of parliament, he began to look round for some one 
who would be able and willing to take his place as the acknow- 
ledged leader of the movement. His eye fell upon the late Sir 
Fowell Buxton, then in the prime of life ; and he solemnly 
urged him to come to his aid, and to take his place when his 
strength should fail. After mature deliberation the weighty 
charge was accepted ; and henceforth the name of Buxton 
became prominently identified with the struggle for the entire 
abolition of slavery. 

At length the nation rose en masse, and demanded of the 
Government that the slaves should be emancipated. In the 
year 1831, upwards of five thousand petitions were presented to 
both Houses of Parliament pleading for this ; and two years 
subsequently, a Bill was passed by an overwhelming majority, 
securing the freedom of all the slaves in the British empire, on 
the ist of August, 1834, and awarding ^20,000,000 sterling to 
be divided among the proprietors as compensation for the loss 
they were supposed to sustain by the arrangement. It was 
stipulated, however, that only the children of six years of age 
and under were to be fully free at once. Domestic slaves were 
to serve an " apprenticeship " for four years, and field negroes 
for six years ; professedly to prepare them for entire freedom. 
This was a great mistake, as the so-called " apprenticeship " 



1 24 Africa : Pad and Present. 



turned out to be nothing but a modified form of slavery, and 
was attended with many peculiarly aggravating circumstances. 
But time passed away, and at the end of four years the slaves 
were found so well prepared for the boon of freedom, and the 
apprenticeship system was working so badly for all pafties, that 
the respective local legislatures in the British colonies resolved 
to remit the remaining two years of servitude to the field 
negroes, and all were fully emancipated on the ist of August, 
1838. 

Thus were 800,000 poor slaves delivered from the galling 
yoke of bondage in the British colonies by the united efforts of 
Christian philanthropists and missionaries, by means of whose 
unwearied labours they had been raised to the position of men 
and brethren. The day of freedom was everywhere observed 
with solemn religious services and public thanksgiving to 
Almighty God ; and the present writer will never forget with 
what earnestness the assembled thousands of emancipated 
slaves in the West Indies sang the praises of Jehovah in His 
sanctuary, and with what attention they listened to the exhorta- 
tions and counsels which were addressed to them with reference 
to their future conduct on the memorable occasion. 

Work Still to be Done. 

After the above brief sketch of the character and early 
history of the slave trade, its abolition by the British Govern- 
ment, and the emancipation of all the slaves in the British 
empire, the question may be appropriately asked, " Has the 
African slave trade, then, ceased to exist ? Would to God that 
we could answer in the affirmative ! But, alas ! this is not the 
case. We grieve to say that, although England has washed her 
hands of the foul stain of being connected with the accursed 
traffic in human beings, it is still carried on by people of other 
nations in a manner and to an extent truly appalling. 

The efforts made by the British Government to put a final 
termination to the African slave trade, and to slavery itself 



Slavery and the Slave Trade. 125 



everywhere, are deserving of the highest commendation. By 
mutual treaties, and diplomatic influence, other nations were 
induced at an early period to join in a general protest against 
the nefarious traffic, and even to promise to punish as pirates 
all who might henceforth be found engaged in it. England 
has, moreover, spent immense sums of money in well-meant 
endeavours to prevent this crying evil, in addition to the 
;^20, 000,000 granted to the planters as compensation for their 
alleged losses on the occasion of the glorious emancipation. A 
large number of armed vessels have been kept for many years 
past cruising on the coast of Africa at the expense of the British 
Government, for the express purpose of capturing slavers, 
liberating the poor victims of oppression, and bringing to 
justice the incorrigible offenders. It is a grand sight to witness 
a slave vessel towed into the harbour of Sierra Leone by a 
British steamer, laden with captured negroes, and the crowds 
of their fellow-countrymen standing on the shore to welcome 
their arrival, hoping to meet a parent, brother, sister, or friend 
— which frequently happens. But notwithstanding the severity 
of the penalty and the vigilance of the British cruisers, such 
are the inducements held out in the shape of large profits, that 
scores of vessels are still employed in carrying on a smuggling 
trade in slaves. Occasionally these daring adventurers are 
overtaken and captured, when the slaves are liberated and the 
vessel seized ; but such casualties are regarded with comparative 
indifference, as the slave dealers consider themselves amply 
remunerated if one-half of their voyages prove successful. 

Of late years, by the united labours of the British Govern- 
ment and Christian missionaries, the slave trade has been 
driven from the western coast of Africa, its former stronghold ; 
but it has reappeared with new vigour on the eastern side of 
the great continent ; and according to the testimony of Dr. 
Livingstone and others, it is evident that the populous regions 
of Central Africa are still being drained of their most promising 
youth to supply the demand for slaves, especially in Egypt and 
other parts of the Turkish empire. Thus it appears that there 



126 



Africa : Past and Present. 



is still work to be done by the friends of freedom and of the 
degraded and enslaved African race. Let British Christians ot 
every name address themselves afresh to the noble task of 
proclaiming " liberty to the captive, and the opening of the 
prison doors to them that are bound." This may, perhaps, 
best be done by the propagation of " the glorious Gospel of 
the blessed God " throughout the length and breadth of the 
vast continent by the agency of missionary societies. Let no 
means be neglected for the accomplishment of this grand 
object. Then will " Ethiopia stretch out her hands unto 
God," and the beautiful vision of the poet be more fully 
realized : — 

" High on a rock, in solitary state, 
Sublimely musing, pale Britannia sate ; 
Her awful forehead on her spear reclined, 
Her robe and tresses streaming in the wind ; 
Chill through her frame foreboding tremours crept I 
The mother thought upon her sons, and wept ; 

" Shame flushed her noble cheek, her bosom bum'd, 
To helpless, hopeless Africa she turn'd ; 
She saw her sister in the mourner's face, 
And rush'd with tears into her dark embrace ; 
' All hail ! ' exclaimed the empress of the sea, 
' Thy chains are broken, — Africa, be freeP " 

Montgomery, 



127 



CHAPTER IV. 

NORTHERN AFRICA. 

Africa in general — Egypt — Nubia — Abyssinia — The Barbary States— 
Barca — Tripoli — Fezzan — Tunis — Algiers — Morocco. 

IF we spread before us the map of Africa, preparatory to a 
brief geographical and historical survey of its various 
sections, we can scarcely fail to be struck with the magnitude 
and importance of the vast continent. Looking at it as a 
whole, it presents to our view a peninsula about 4320 miles in 
ength from north to south, and 4140 in breadth from east to 
west. Its shape is that of an irregular pyramid, at its southern 
extremity tapering off almost to a point ; so that it has, properly 
speaking, only three sides. Its western coast, which is by far 
the most extensive, faces the Atlantic, Avhich separates it from 
the parallel or corresponding coast of America. To the east, 
Africa looks out upon the Indian Ocean, with Hindustan 
and the Eastern Archipelago in the remote distance. From 
Europe, Africa is separated by the Mediterranean ; and from 
Asia by the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. 

In former times Africa was generally regarded as a country 
which consisted chiefly of extensive sterile deserts, where the 
vertical rays of a tropical sun burned up everything approaching 
to vegetation ; and where a blade of grass, a drop of water, or 
a living creature was not to be seen. Hence we read and 
heard of moving sands, tossed by the winds and whirling in 
ceaseless eddies through the air, frequently surrounding the 



1:8 Africa : Past and Present. 



traveller, and threatening him and sometimes overwhelming him 
with instant destruction, when pursuing his weary way through 
the trackless wilds. That this description will apply correctly 
enough to some portions of the vast continent, especially 
towards the north, there can be no doubt ; but at the same 
time it must be remembered that on the coasts generally, and 
in some parts of the interior, there are millions of square miles 
of rich and fertile lands, some of which are open and park-like 
in their appearance; and others covered with extensive forests 
of valuable timber, where the sound of the woodman's axe has 
never yet been heard, and which only require the culture of 
the husbandman to make them produce an ample return for 
his labour. It is, moreover, an important fact that recent dis- 
coveries have brought to light, not only rich and fertile regions 
in the interior, but also the existence of extensive lakes or 
inland seas, with gigantic navigable rivers, which seem to point 
to a bright and glorious future for that long-neglected country. 

The superficial area of the African continent has been 
estimated at 13,450,000 square miles, and the population at 
70,000,000 ; but, of course, in the absence of topographical 
surveys, and the taking of censuses, these figures can only be 
regarded as an approximation to the facts of the case. On a 
continent of such vast dimensions, the climate, soil, scenery, 
and the character of the inhabitants, vary considerably, which 
will appear from our observations on the various localities 
which will pass under review. Most parts of Northern Africa, 
to which the present chapter is devoted, were known to the 
ancients, and figure largely in the history of former times. 
This section of the vast continent comprises Egypt, Nubia, 
Abyssinia, and the Barbary States, each of which will require a 
brief notice. 

Egypt. 

The land of the Pharaohs, and the scene of so many thrilling 
incidents of Scripture and general history, must be regarded 
by every Christian student with feelings of profound interest. 



Northern Africa. 



Situated in the immediate vicinity of one of the vast sandy 
deserts to which reference has already been made, and in a 
region where rain seldom falls, Egypt is entirely dependent on 
the majestic Nile for its existence and amazing fertility. By 
the annual overflow of its banks, and the inundation of the 
whole country, aided by numerous canals, lands are abundantly 
watered and rendered productive, which would otherwise be 
sterile and useless. The extent and resources of this portion 
of Africa must therefore be measured by the course and 
capacity of the mystic river. 

The coast of Egypt runs from east to west, nearly in a 
straight line, for a distance of about 150 miles, and embraces 
the two mouths of the Nile, with the base of the delta, the 
cities and ports of Alexandria, Aboukir, Rosetta, Damietta, 
and the intervening territory. In ascending the river to Cairoj 
a distance of ninety miles from the sea, the cultivated tract 
gradually becomes narrower, and at length tapers almost to a 
point, and through the whole of Upper Egypt seldom exceeds 
the breadth of four or five miles. Beyond this space, on the 
east, the country passes, by almost insensible gradations, into 
wild wastes and sandy tracts, about a hundred miles in, breadth, 
which stretch from the Nile to the Red Sea. On the west the 
transition from fertility to barrenness is still more abrupt, as a 
few miles from the river the sandy desert begins, which in one 
direction separates Egypt from Barbary, and in the other 
stretches right away into the distant interior of Northern 
Africa. 

The Delta of the Nile, which comprises the principal portion 
of Lower Eg}'pt, is the most fertile and populous part of the 
country. It is studded with towns and villages in every 
direction, which appear as so many little islands peeping up 
above the surface of the water at the time of the inundation ; 
but afterwards, when the crops begin to spring up, the scenery 
is verdant and charming beyond description. The country 
cannot be called wooded, however, the foliage which embellishes 
it being chiefly derived from fruit and garden trees of ordinary 

9 



130 Africa: Past and Present. 

size, which are cultivated with great care. When the waters 
retire, all the ground is covered with mud ; then the corn is 
sown and harrowed in with comparatively little labour, and in 
the folloAving March there is usually a plentiful harvest. Indeed, 
some of the land is so fertile, and the climate so favourable to 
vegetation, that the farmers raise three crops a year. There is 
no place in the world better furnished with corn, flesh-meat, 
fish, sugar, fruits, and all sorts of garden vegetables. 

Egypt has a long, chequered, and interesting history, into 
the particulars of which we cannot enter. It has always been 
famous for its splendid buildings and architectural adorn- 
ments. In some of the existing cities and towns — as Alexandria, 
Rosetta, Damietta, Cairo, and others — although the streets are 
narrow and crooked, m.any remarkable edifices present them- 
selves to our view ; but these are poor and insignificant com- 
pared with the erections of former times, as clearly appears 
from the remains of gigantic pillars, obelisks, temples, and 
other ruins, which are to be seen on every hand. As we 
ascend the Nile, through Lower and Middle Egypt, to Cairo, 
the present capital of the country, we are struck with the evi- 
dences of its former splendour and greatness, which everywhere 
attract our notice ; but when we proceed beyond that city, and 
come in sight of the wonderful pyramids, sphinxes, and other 
gigantic monuments of antiquity, we are lost in astonishment 
and surprise, — and more so still when we reach the majestic 
ruins of ancient Thebes, Karnac, Luxor, and other stupendous 
ruins on the banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt, especially if 
we examine them in the light of ancient history. 

But, however interesting a country may be in regard to 
its soil, scenery, and general aspect, the character and con- 
dition of its inhabitants will ever be the most attractive to the 
Christian philanthropist. The population of Egypt has been 
estimated at 4,900,000, and is very mixed and diversified, — 
comprising Copts, Arabs, Greeks, Jews, Syrians, Armenians, 
Albanians, Ethiopians, and Europeans. The forms of religion 
professed are almost as diversified as the nationalities of the 



Northern Africa. 



people, but the most prevalent is Mohammedanism. It is 
true that a number of Copts, Greeks, and Armenians, as well 
as the few European residents, call themselves Christians ; but 
their Christianity, like that of the Roman Catholics, is of a 
very spurious and adulterated character. Hence it is not sur- 
prising that travellers should give the most appalling accounts 
of the civil, social, and moral condition of the inhabitants of 
Egypt of all classes, whether they profess to be Jews, Moham- 
medans, or Christians. Living under a government truly 
despotic, not to say cruel and arbitrary, the people are stran- 
gers to civil and religious liberty ; and they are described as 
ignorant, superstitious, and depraved in the extreme. Slavery 
and the slave trade, moreover, prevail to an alarming extent, 
although they have been somewhat checked of late years by 
the intervention of British influence. 

Comparatively little has been done as yet by the great mis- 
sionary societies of Christendom for the elevation and evange- 
lization of the degraded population of Egypt. In the early 
part of the present century the 'Wesleyans had a missionary 
stationed at Alexandria, but the results of his labours being 
but slender, he was removed to a more promising sphere of 
labour. The Church of England and the British and Foreign 
Bible Society have done something for this country from time 
to time, but with little encouragement. The American United 
Presbyterians have been most successful in this comparatively 
uninviting field. They employ seven missionaries and sixty-six 
lay agents on twenty-two stations, and have gathered 431 
members into church fellowship and 11 49 scholars into the 
mission schools. The Khedive has been very liberal to the 
Presbyterians, having granted them valuable buildings for their 
schools and full toleration for their worship. The Church of 
Scotland has also one missionary in Egypt ; and Miss Whately 
has several prosperous Christian schools at Cairo and other 
places, which have already proved very useful, and which 
promise in time to become still more fruitful. 



132 Africa: Past and Present. 



Nubia. 

On proceeding southward from the Mediterranean, through 
Lower, Middle, and Upper Egypt, we come to that part of the 
great African continent known as Nubia, which next demands 
a brief description. Nubia, like Egypt, owes its exemption 
from the character of a complete desert, and its fertility, 
limited as it is, entirely to the Nile, which winds its way through 
the land for nearly a thousand miles, without reckoning the long 
bend round Dongola. That great river, however, diffuses its 
waters to Nubia in much more limited and scanty proportions. 
Being everywhere hemmed in by high banks and rocks, it 
cannot even, without artificial aid, be made to inundate, in 
general, more than a mile in breadth on one side and scarcely 
any on the other. The country, therefore, forms a narrow belt 
of immense length, nearly parallel with the Red Sea in the 
distance, and with extensive sandy deserts close at hand on 
both sides, where perpetual sterility predominates. 

Notwithstanding these and other disadvantages which might 
be named, a considerable quantity of land is brought under 
productive cultivation by means of wheels and other rude 
machinery employed to raise the waters of the Nile, and to 
distribute them along their appointed channels to the utmost 
possible extent. Dhourra, a kind of pulse, is almost the only 
grain produced in Nubia; though sometimes the people raise an 
after-crop of barley or lentils. Tobacco, a luxury in universal 
demand, is also cultivated with success. Sheep are fed on the 
tracts of land unfit for the growth of grain, but they are by no 
means numerous. Camels are generally employed as beasts 
of burden ; and horses are kept only by the chiefs or head- 
men, or for military purposes. The Nubians have scarcely 
any manufactures which can be called national. The women 
make coarse woollen and cotton cloth, mats from the leaves of 
the date tree, and the necessary implements for cooking. Their 
commerce is, nevertheless, considerable, as the country affords 



Northern Africa, 



133 



the only practicable line of communication for caravans between 
Arabia and Egypt, and far away to Abyssinia and Central 
Africa. Along these routes, at stated periods, cotton goods, toys, 
arms, and various articles of European merchandise, are con- 
veyed to distant regions, where they are highly prized by the 
rude inhabitants, and in return for which gold, ivory, and slaves 
are brought back in large quantities. 

The inhabitants of this narrow but extensive line of territory 
consist of two leading races. The first are Nubians properly 
so called, although they are there styled Berbers, — a class of 
natives of the same race with those who inhabit the moun- 
tainous districts of Barbary ; and the second are negroes, who 
inhabit the southern portion of the country. Between these, 
however, there is a mixed community of Nubians and Arabs, 
with a separate government of their own, if such it can be 
called. Indeed, the whole region is divided into small inde- 
pendent states, each town or village having a melek or governor 
of its own, who exercises to the utmost whatever power he may 
possess, which, according to circumstances or character, is almost 
absolute sometimes, and at other times held in the utmost con- 
tempt. Each individual is armed with a crooked knife, which 
he is ever ready to employ in deeds of violence ; and the cha- 
racter and condition of the population generally is reported by 
travellers to be fearfully depraved. That Nubia was in former 
times inhabited by a superior race of people is evident from 
the magnificent ruins which everywhere abound. Those which 
exist at Ibsambul, Mahass, El Belial, and other places, are 
equal to most of the gigantic ruins of Egypt, and excite the 
admiration and astonishment of all travellers by whom they 
are visited. 

The only forms of religion known in Nubia are Mohammed- 
anism, and the spurious types of Christianity already noticed, 
with a large amount of pagan superstition intermixed in both 
cases. Little or nothing has been done for the spiritual 
enlightenment of the people ; and, however unpromising it may 
appear, it is undoubtedly a very needy field of missionary labour. 



134 Africa: Past and Present. 



Abyssinia. 

Tracing the course of the Nile upwards, through Egypt and 
Nubia, we come to Azzel, where it separates into two main 
branches which flow from different and widely distant regions. 
The one which comes from the westward, known as the White 
Nile, has been recently ascertained to take its rise amid the 
lakes and mountains of Central Africa ; and the other, which 
flows from the eastward, bears the name of the Blue Nile, and 
is known to have its sources in the rugged regions of Abyssinia. 
Ascending the majestic stream last mentioned, we come to the 
country of which we may here give a brief description ; for, 
although it extends far away to the eastward, it may be best 
classified with the other nations of Northern Africa. 

Abyssinia is described by geographers as an extensive king- 
dom of Africa lying between the 7th and i6th degrees of north 
latitude and the 30th and 40th of east longitude. It is bounded 
on the east by the Red Sea, on the north by Senaar, and on 
the west and south by Senaar and Kordofan, together with 
some barbarous regions of Central Africa little known as yet to 
Europeans. Its superficial area has been computed to be 770 
miles in length by 550 in breadth ; but this estimate can only 
be regarded as an approximation to its real dimensions, as the 
boundaries of the kingdom have been subject to many changes. 
Although this country is generally mountainous and rugged in 
the extreme, extensive tracts of fertile land are to be found in 
the numerous valleys, which are well watered ; and it is alto- 
gether less desert and more fruitful than many other regions of 
Northern Africa. Whilst the lowlands, when carefully cultivated, 
produce good crops of grain and other provisions for domestic 
use, the mountain slopes afford rich pasture ground for nume- 
rous herds of horned cattle and other stock, so that there is no 
danger of scarcity of food when ordinary effort and foresight 
are used by the inhabitants. 

The ancients appear to have known nothing of this extensive 



Northern Africa. 



135 



region by the name of Abyssinia, or by any other distinctive term j 
hence they included it, together with the adjacent territories, 
under the comprehensive and general designation of Ethiopia. 
That the country was inhabited at an early period by a people 
who had made considerable advancement in civilization, arts, 
and science, is evident from the sculptured monuments, temples, 
tombs, and other ruins, which are found at Axum and in other 
localities. The place just named appears to have been the 
ancient capital of the kingdom ; but Gondar now enjoys that 
honour, whilst Massuah, on the Red Sea, is the principal port 
of entrance for Europeans and others. The towns and villages 
of Abyssinia are described by travellers as consisting of rude 
thatched dwellings of a conical shape, and their surroundings 
as corresponding with everything else pertaining to a semi- 
civilized and almost barbarous people. 

The travellers who have given the most copious and minute 
accounts of Abyssinia, and the manners and customs of its 
inhabitants, are Mr. Bruce and Mr. Sale ; and, making allow- 
ance for some evident exaggerations, the information which 
they furnish is both interesting and instructive. The gentle- 
man last named describes the country as being divided into 
three separate and independent states — namely, Tigre, Amhara, 
and Shoa, the province occupied by the Galla tribe. The 
inhabitants of these and other petty states, whilst living under 
their own chiefs and frequently claiming their independence, 
have generally been tributary, and in some way subject to the 
reigning monarch. Civil wars have not been infrequent, how- 
ever, and the country has for generations past been in a very 
unsettled state, Shoa having recently declared itself a separate 
and independent kingdom. No satisfactory information has yet 
been obtained as to the extent of the population of Abyssinia. 
The account of Alvarez is that it is one of the most populous 
regions of the globe, but this appears to be an exaggeration. 
The most recent authorities estimate the number of inhabitants 
at 4,000,000. 

However travellers and historians may differ in their accounts 



136 Africa: Past and Present. 



and opinions of some things relating to the Abyssinians, all 
agree in representing them to be in a very barbarous condition, 
judging from their social habits and moral conduct. The slight 
semblance of civilization which they possess has been derived 
chiefly from their intercourse with Egypt and Arabia, and is very 
superficial indeed. Their domestic life is marked by habits 
more gross and revolting than any that have been witnessed 
among the most savage tribes of Africa. Some of these are 
such that the bare report of them shook the confidence and 
credit of the British people in the statements of Bruce, their 
countryman, on his return from his extensive travels ; and yet 
subsequent inquiry has proved it to have been in the main 
correct. 

The Abyssinians are nevertheless proud of their ancestry. 
Relying on vague tradition, they boast of their relationship to 
Solomon, king of Israel, resulting from the visit of the Queen 
of Sheba to Jerusalem, as recorded in Scripture history. They 
also claim to have received their Christianity from its fountain- 
head in Judtea, on the return of the Ethiopian eunuch to the 
court of Queen Candace, after his conversion to the faith of 
the Gospel by Philip the evangelist. Whether there be any 
truth in these traditions or not, it is a fact that the only form 
of religion found in the country by the first Europeans who 
went there, was a spurious kind of Christianity resembling that 
of the Copts in Egypt. Indeed, their church, if such it can 
be called, owns the supremacy of the Patriarch of Cairo, and 
from him their Abuna, or ecclesiastical head, receives his in- 
vestiture. By a regulation supposed to have been made with 
a view of securing a greater measure of learning than could be 
expected to be found in an Abyssinian, this pontiff must be a 
foreigner. As such, however, he is usually ignorant of the 
language of the country ; and his influence and means of 
holding communication with the people are consequently much 
circumscribed. The Abyssinians combine with their Christian 
profession many Judaical observances — such as circumcision, 
abstinences from meats, and the observance of Saturday as well 



Northern Africa. 



as Sunday as a Sabbath. At the same time, they share largely 
the superstitions which have infected the Romish Church. 
Their calendar of saints is equally extensive, and scarcely a 
day occurs which is not consecrated to one of them. They 
maintain that no nation except themselves holds the Virgin 
Mary in due reverence. They have numerous rude churches, 
with paintings and adornments which are perfectly ridiculous 
to look upon ; and all their religious observances are calculated 
to excite pity, if not contempt, in the heart of the intelligent 
beholder. 

We must now briefly notice the efforts which have been 
made from time to time, by the Christian people of Europe, for 
the benefit of the ignorant and degraded natives of Abyssinia, 
with the hope of reforming their morals and winning them over 
to a purer faith. The Roman Catholics were the first in this 
field of missionary enterprise, priests having been sent from 
Portugal as early as 1620, to convert the Abyssinian Chris- 
tians to the Catholic faith. One of these, named Paez, being 
a man of considerable address, persuaded the king Susneos to 
proclaim Roman Catholicism the religion of the state. This 
bold step, however, occasioned violent civil wars, which ended 
in the total expulsion of the Portuguese from the country. 
Jesuit missionaries from France subsequently entered Abys- 
sinia; but civil complications again occurring, they also were 
banished. 

In 1826, the Rev. Messrs. Gobat and Kugler were sent to 
Egypt by the Church of England Missionary Society, with in- 
structions to proceed to Abyssinia by the first favourable oppor- 
tunity. After various delays, they reached Massuah on the 28th 
of December, 1829. Their reception was friendly, and they 
occupied themselves chiefly in distributing copies of the Scrip- 
tures supplied by the British and Foreign Bible Society. On 
the 29th of November, 1830, Mr. Kugler died by an accident 
from the bursting of his gun when hunting a wild boar. Mr. 
Gobat was much afflicted by this bereavement ; but he toiled 
on for three years, after which he returned to England without 



138 Africa : Past and Present. 

having accomplished much, in consequence of continued oppo- 
sition and the unsettled state of the country. Other mission- 
aries followed in the service of the Church Society, chiefly 
Germans, some of whom died, and others returned having 
failed to accomplish the object for which they were sent. At 
length an end was put to the mission, when in 1865 an English 
expedition was sent to Abyssinia to liberate the missionaries 
and other British subjects who had been imprisoned and cruelly 
treated by the eccentric king Theodore. The history and 
results of this expedition will be fresh in the memory of our 
readers. 

Since then nothing has been done, that we are aware of, for 
the evangelization of Abyssinia, with the exception of some 
desultory and feeble efforts which have been made by the 
London Society for the Conversion of the Jews ; the 
Swedish Missionary Society, who have a station at Massuah ; 
and the Pilgrim Crischona missionaries — who are, however, 
directing their chief attention to the independent kingdom 
of Shoa. 

The Barbarv States. 

Barbary is the general name given to that long line of terri- 
tory in Northern Africa, varying from one to two hundred miles 
in depth, which extends from Egypt westward to the shores of 
the Atlantic. It is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean, 
and on the south by the Sahara or Great Desert, which separates 
it from Central Africa. The name, though familiar to Euro- 
peans, and derived probably from a tribe or native race called 
Berbers, does not appear to be recognized in the country itself 
Nor is this surprising, when we call to mind the fact that the 
entire region is divided into a number of separate and inde- 
pendent states, which, however resembling each other in 
some respects, are, nevertheless, widely different in others. 
The level plain which composes the greater part of Barbary 
resembles somewhat, in surface and soil, some portions of that 



N'orthern Africa. 



139 



immense ocean of sand which extends over the great part of the 
northern section of the African continent. Barbary, however, 
derives a superior and distinctive character from the mountain 
chains, which, under the celebrated name of Atlas, range 
through nearly its whole extent from west to east, whence issue 
several small rivers to fertilize the land. The loftiest pinnacle 
is in the west, rising above the plain of Morocco, and facing 
the Atlantic, where it lifts its towering head even above the 
limit of perpetual snow. 

Barbary appears to have occupied a more conspicuous place 
in the ancient than it does in the modern world. It formed 
part, and in some instances a prominent part, of the great 
system of civilized nations which existed around the Mediter- 
ranean, long before the discovery of America and the coloniza- 
tion of Britain by the Romans. But a great change has passed 
upon this part of the world since then, as will evidently appear 
by a brief notice of the respective states into which this portion 
of Northern Africa is divided. They are Barca, Tripoli, Fezzan, 
Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco. 

Barca. 

Commencing our topographical survey of the Barbary States 
in the east, and proceeding westward, the first to be noticed is 
Barca, which is situated between Egypt and Tripoli, with Derna 
for its capital and chief port, on the southern shore of the 
Mediterranean. The south part of the country is said to be 
sandy and barren in the extreme, and inhabited exclusively 
by wandering Arabs, who are constantly roaming over these 
regions and the neighbouring desert of Libia. The northern 
districts, stretching along the coast, are comparatively fertile 
and well peopled. The inhabitants cultivate the ground, and 
raise different kinds of grain and other provisions for their own 
use and for exportation. 

In this territory, on a small oasis, surrounded by drifting 
sands, stood the far-famed temple of Jupiter Ammon, of which 
we read in ancient history. Against this temple it is said that 



1 40 Africa : Past and Present. 



Cambyses, king of Persia, despatched an army of 50,000 men. 
They set out from Thebes, in Upper Egypt, and after a weary 
scorching march of seven days, reached the oasis in the desert 
. on which the temple stood ; but what became of them is 
uncertain, for it is stated that they never returned either to 
Egypt or to their own country. Herodotus was informed that 
the whole army was overwhelmed by a driving storm of wind 
and sand, and perished in the wilderness. 

For some time after, Barca, in common with the other 
Barbary states, was peopled chiefly with Mohammedans, the 
country was subject to the Turks, and received a governor 
appointed by the Porte at Constantinople ; but for many years 
past it has been ruled by the bashaw of Tripoli. In its general 
aspect, soil, and climate, and in the manners, customs, and 
social condition of the people, Barca resembles most of the 
other Barbary states, so that an extended description is not 
necessary. It is impossible, however, for an intelligent 
traveller to land upon its shores without being struck with the 
absence of the beneficial and humanizing influences which 
generally exist in Christian countries. 

Tripoli. 

That part of Northern Africa known as Tripoli is bounded 
on the north by the Mediterranean, on the east by Barca, on 
the south by Fezzan, and on the west by Tunis. This portion 
of the coast, which extends to a distance of nearly 900 miles, 
was originally colonized by the Greeks, and called by them 
Cyrene. Extensive ruins are still to be seen, which clearly 
indicate the magnitude and importance of the cities and towns 
which existed here in ancient times. The present capital of 
the country bears the name of the state, and is conveniently 
situated as its chief seaport on the shore of the Mediterranean. 
The city presents an imposing appearance from the harbour, 
and contains some good buildings, one of which is a splendid 
palace occupied by the dey, or supreme ruler of the state, 
although said to be in some way under the protection of the 



Northern Africa. 



141 



Turks. The poi)ulation of Tripoli is of a motley character, 
consisting of people of various nationalities ; but the majority 
are Turks, Arabs, and Moors, all of whom are rigid Moham- 
medans. There have always been a considerable number of 
Jews, however, with a few Europeans, resident in this country, 
some of whom have been at different times appointed to 
important offices under Government. The inhabitants are said 
to be vicious and depraved in the extreme, but not so bigoted 
in their religious principles as the Moslems of some other parts 
of Northern Africa. 

It does not appear that anything has been done for the 
spiritual enlightenment of the inhabitants of Tripoli by the great 
missionary societies of Europe, with the exception of occasional 
visits of the agents employed by associations which have been 
organized for the propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. 
An extensive field is here open to Christian philanthropists, 
where it is believed more liberty would be allowed to missionary 
effort than is found in most Mohammedan countries. 

Fezzan. 

Fezzan is described by geographers as an interior kingdom 
of Northern Africa, lying between the great deserts of Sahara 
and Libia, to the west and south-east, and bounded on the 
north by Tripoli. It is an extensive plain encompassed by 
mountains except on the western side ; and to the influence of 
these heights it may be owing that, here, as in Upper Egypt, 
rain is scarcely ever known to fall. Compensation is made in 
some measure, however, for this great want by the heavy dews 
that fall during the night, and by numerous springs of water 
which are found in various parts of the country; so that, 
notwithstanding the light and sandy character of the soil, no 
part of Northern Africa appears more fresh and verdant than 
Fezzan at certain seasons of the year. The greatest length of 
the cultivated part is about 300 miles from north to south, 
and it is 200 miles in breadth from east to west. By diligent 
irrigation from wells from ten to fifteen feet deep, which are 



142 



Africa . Past and Present. 



dug in almost every garden and patch of provision ground, the 
husbandman succeeds in raising various fruits and vegetables, 
among which are dates, olives, limes, pomegranates, figs, maize, 
barley, wheat, pumpkins, carrots, cucumbers, onions, and garlic. 
Among the domestic animals are included sheep, goats, cows, 
camels, asses, and fowls ; and the inhabitants live in tolerable 
comfort notwithstanding the heat of summer, which is sometimes 
intense. 

Fezzan derives its chief importance from the circumstance of 
its being the starting-point of most of the caravans which cross 
the Great Desert to the distant interior of Africa. The departure 
and arrival of these caravans, consisting sometimes of thousands 
of camels, men, women, and children, with their merchandise 
of European goods, or of gold dust, ivory, and slaves, are the 
great events of the year at Mourzouk, the capital of the province ; 
and on such occasions great excitement exists among the 
inhabitants of all classes. These inhabitants are of the same 
character as those of the other Barbary states. The bashaw 
of Fezzan is tributary to Tripoli, to the government of which 
he pays 4000 dollars a year. 

Tunis. 

From Tripoli the coast of Northern Africa takes a sudden 
bend northward towards Sicily, for a space of about 200 
miles, and it is on this part of the continent that Tunis is 
situated. No province of Africa was more celebrated than this 
in ancient times. In it was the site of Carthage, which for so 
many years waged war with Rome, and disputed with her the 
empire of the world, until she was at length utterly vanquished 
and destroyed. The ruins of the far-famed city may still be 
seen about ten miles from the present capital, which bears the 
same name as the state. The situation of Tunis, projecting 
into the Mediterranean, and at an easy distance from the finest 
shores of Southern Europe, is highly favourable for trade and 
commerce ; and it has in all ages, and under all the changes 
through which it has passed, asserted its pre-eminence above 



Northcr7i Africa. 



143 



that of every other place on the coast of Barbary. In the 
successive kingdoms which the Sa'racens founded, as they 
advanced westward in their career of conquest, they fixed their 
capital first at Kairwan, and then at Tunis ; and Carthage was 
at length entirely deserted. In the sixteenth century Tunis 
was occupied for a time by Corsair Barbarossa, but in 1574 
it was completely subjected to the Ottoman power. On its 
decline it was for a long time domineered over by the Turkish 
soldiery ; but the beys have of late years succeeded in crushing 
the influence of this body, and have made themselves hereditary 
and almost absolute sovereigns. They have generally governed 
the province with comparative mildness, and done much to 
mitigate the former violent and bigoted system, and to introduce 
European improvements. 

The soil, scenery, and climate of Tunis differ little from those 
of other parts of Barbary. In the eastern part of the province 
the land is arid and comparatively unfruitful, from the scarcity 
of water; but towards the middle it is better, and the mountains 
and valleys abound with fruits and vegetables of various kinds. 
But the west part is the most fertile, being watered by rivers, 
which flow from the distant mountains. The environs of the 
capital are very dry, and corn is generally scarce and dear ; but 
there are plenty of citrons, lemons, oranges, dates, grapes, and 
other fruits ; also olive trees, roses, and odoriferous plants. 

The population of Tunis, which is estimated at 4,000,000, 
are a mixture of Moors, Turks, Arabs, Jews, and Christians. 
These carry on a thriving trade in linen and woollen cloth, 
morocco leather, gold-dust, lead, soap, horses, cattle, and 
ostriches' eggs and feathers. The established religion of the 
state is Mohammedanism, and no toleration is accorded to 
persons professing any other creed. Arabic is the learned 
language of the country, and in this tongue all public instru- 
ments are written, and instructions given in the few Moslem 
colleges and schools which have been established. Trade and 
commerce are conducted, however, in what is called the Lingua 
Franca. In the capital of the province there are some good 



144 



Africa : Past and Present. 



stone buildings, including several mosques and minarets, and 
a citadel on an eminence on the west side of the city. There 
is also an ancient palace, in which the bey resides and the 
divan or council of state assembles for the transaction of public 
business. The manufactures of Tunis are limited to a few 
velvets, silks, linen, and red caps such as are worn by the 
common people. 

The exclusive character of the Moslem faith has hitherto 
precluded all missionary effort for the evangelization of the 
general population of Tunis. The London Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews has, however, had 
several agents at work among the descendants of Abraham 
resident there, as well as among those who have located them- 
selves in the other Barbary states. A few copies of the Scriptures, 
supplied by the British and Foreign Bible Society, have also 
been circulated from time to time ; and thus a few rays of 
light have been shed upon a country which, on the whole, is 
notoriously dark and barbarous. 

Algiers. 

The next place on the coast of Northern Africa which demands 
our attention is the large and important province of Algiers. 
It is said to be 600 miles in length from east to west, along 
the seashore, and about 170 miles in breadth inland. It is 
bounded on the east by Tunis, on the north by the Mediter- 
ranean, on the south by Mount Atlas, and on the west by 
Morocco. Mineral springs are met with in many places, and 
lead and copper have been found in some of the mountainous 
districts. Algiers is more favoured than some of the other 
Barbary states with respect to water, as several fine rivers flow 
from the mountains in the interior. The elevated land towards 
the north is fertile in corn, and the valleys yield abundance of 
fruit and vegetables. The melons are said to have an exquisite 
flavour, and are of different kinds, some being ripe in summer 
and others in winter. The stems of the vines are very large, 
and bunches of grapes have been gathered a foot and a half 



Northern Africa. 



145 



long. Accounts are given of other productions of the country 
equally favourable. 

The capital of the country is a strong city, and bears the 
same name as the state. It is built on the side of a mountain 
facing the Mediterranean, in the form of an amphitheatre. It 
presents an imposing appearance when viewed from the sea, 
the houses being fairly well built, and arranged in terraces 
one above the other, and of resplendent whiteness. The roofs 
of the houses are flat ; and, being in some instances covered 
with earth, are formed into small garden plots. On landing 
and entering the city, the visitor is less favourably impressed, 
however, the streets being narrow, steep, and crooked, and far 
from cleanly. There are five gates, but no public places or 
squares of any considerable extent. The best buildings in the 
place, whilst it continued in the hands of the Turks, were the 
mosques, ten of which were of considerable magnitude. The 
palace of the dey was far from being spacious or extensive, 
and is now numbered with the things that were. The suburbs 
of the capital present to the view some handsome villas and 
fruitful gardens, watered by sparkling rivulets and bubbling 
fountains, and thither the inhabitants resort in considerable 
numbers in the hot season. Shocking stories are told of the 
rapacity of the Turkish soldiers in former times. They would 
frequently go to the farmhouses in the country, and live at free 
quarters for days and weeks together, despite every remonstrance, 
and commit all manner of depredations. The doings of the 
pirates by sea were also of the most appalling character. But 
all this is changed, now the country has passed into other hands. 

The past history of Algiers is of a very chequered character, 
of which we can here give but a brief outline. In i54r the 
emperor Charles V. sent a fleet and army against Algiers, both 
of which were almost annihilated, the expedition being entirely 
unsuccessful. It was otherwise, however, with regard to the 
English, who with a strong naval force attacked the city in 1635, 
and again in 1670, and burnt the vessels of the merchants in 
the harbour, to punish them for the cruel piracy which they 



146 



Africa : Past and Present. 



had been carrying on in the Mediterranean for many years, in 
the course of which they captured and reduced to abject slavery 
hundreds, if not thousands, of British subjects. In 1775 the 
Spaniards attacked Algiers, both by sea and land, but they were 
repulsed with great loss. In 1783, and again in 1784, they 
renewed their attacks by sea, when they were more successful, 
and succeeded in reducing the city and galleys in the harbour 
to a complete wreck, but failed to take possession of the place. 
In 1 81 6 a British squadron, under the command of Lord 
Exmouth, bombarded the town and fleet in the harbour, with 
such destructive effect as induced the dey to release all the 
Christian slaves then in the interior, and to subscribe to all the 
terms of submission and restraint which the victors thought 
proper to dictate. This, however, did not prevent them from 
resuming their piratical practices soon afterwards; and in 1830 
the French undertook an expedition against Algiers, which 
reached the port on the 13th of June, and on the following 
morning the troops landed. The preparations had been made 
on a comprehensive scale, and the success of the expedition 
was complete. On the 5th of July they took possession of the 
city and adjacent territory, which have ever since remained in 
their hands. 

The history of French colonization in Northern Africa has 
been somewhat chequered, but after all its successes and 
reverses, and the frequent wars which have been waged with 
native tribes of the interior, the settlement presents to the view 
of philanthropists something to be thankful for, as compared 
with the state of things under the former semi-civilized admini- 
stration. Piracy has disappeared from the neighbouring seas, 
and a new aspect has been given to the habits and manners 
of the people on shore. Christian churches, Roman Catholic 
though they be, are an improvement on Mohammedan mosques; 
and the fact that a French colony had been established 
at Algiers has drawn many Europeans and Americans to the 
country who would not have otherwise taken up their abode 
there, and the whole face of society is changed for the better. 



Northern Africa. 



147 



The population is necessarily of a very mixed character, 
consisting of persons representing various nations, of different 
complexions and languages. Nor can we say much in favour 
of the morals of the people, whether professedly Christians, 
Moslems, or Jews. There is an ample field for Protestant 
missionary effort, as we are not aware that anything has been 
done for the evangelization of the inhabitants, beyond the em- 
ployment of a few Lutheran ministers and the appointment of 
two or three agents of the London Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel among the Jews. These have established a few 
schools for the instruction of the rising generation of the 
respective classes among whom they labour ; but from all 
accounts their success has been very partial. 

Morocco. 

Although mentioned last, the empire of Morocco is not by 
any means the least of the Barbary states. It is, in fact, the 
largest, and in some respects the most important province in 
Northern Africa, next to Egypt, which must always have the 
pre-eminence. The geographical position and boundaries of 
Morocco are as follows : — It is bounded on the west by the 
Atlantic, on the north by the Mediterranean, on the east by 
Algiers, and on the south by a portion of the Atlas range of 
mountains, which separates it from the Sahara or Great Desert. 
Morocco has thus the advantage of two coasts — one along the 
Mediterranean facing the north, and the other along the 
Atlantic looking to the west. On both of these there are 
several ports, with their towns and villages, varying in import- 
ance according to their magnitude and position. The capital, 
which bears the name of the empire, is situated in the interior, 
and, both in its dimensions and population, it surpasses any 
other town or city in the land, with the exception of Fez. The 
length of Morocco is about 600 miles, with an average breadth 
of 260 ; and the population is estimated at 5,000,000. 

The soil of Morocco differs little in quality from that of the 
other Barbary states ; although comparatively sterile, sandy. 



148 Africa: Past and Present. 



and dry, in some places, it is fertile and productive in others. 
Fruits and vegetables, such as are produced in other parts of 
Northern Africa, are plentiful, and the pasture lands are 
excellent. This is especially the case with those which are 
situated along the slopes of the Atlas, the lofty range of moun- 
tains which runs parallel with the empire in one direction and 
with the Atlantic in another. In these grassy uplands, as well 
as in the fertile pastures on the plain, multitudes of splendid 
horses, horned cattie, sheep and goats are reared and fed, to 
the great advantage of the farmers who own them, and of 
the despotic emperor, who claims a considerable share in the 
earnings of his subjects. In addition to farming, other profitable 
industries are pursued in the country which are worthy of 
a passing notice. The principal of these is the manufacture 
of the beautiful leather known as " morocco." Some of the 
tanneries are very extensive, one in the capital employing as 
many as 1500 hands. The process of preparing and colouring 
this leather is rude and simple in the extreme ; but European 
skill has never yet succeeded in producing a perfect imitation. 
Whether the superior quality of Morocco leather is owing to 
the peculiar character of the skins of the sheep and goats fed 
on the slopes of the Atlas, or to some mystery in the mode of 
manufacture, still appears to be uncertain. Other articles for 
exportation are cattle, almonds of very fine quality from 
Suse, dates from Tafilet, ivory and gold-dust from Soudan, 
together with honey, bees-wax, and ostrich feathers. For these 
commodities Morocco receives various articles of European mer- 
chandise and colonial produce. This traffic is carried on chiefly 
through the ports of Mogadore on the Atlantic and Tangier on 
the Mediterranean, the latter of which is only separated from 
the continent of Europe by the narrow Straits of Gibraltar. 

The city of Morocco is situated on an extensive plain in the 
interior of the empire, ninety miles east of Mogadore on the 
Atlantic, and four hundred miles south of Gibraltar. It is 
said to have nothing particularly to recommend it but its great 
extent, and the royal palace, where the emperor resides and 



Northern Africa. 



149 



rules with a despotism which has no parallel in Northern 
Africa. The city is surrounded by a strong wall eight miles in 
circumference. It has eleven gates, one of which is superbly 
finished in the Moorish style of architecture.- The mosques 
are very numerous, and some of them are magnificent. The 
best of the dwelling-houses are elegant structures enclosed in 
gardens, but the generality of them serve only to impress the 
traveller with the idea of a miserable and half-deserted city, 
where periodical famines are of frequent occurrence. Tangier 
and Fez, on the Mediterranean, are in some respects more im- 
portant places than the city of Morocco. Indeed, the town and 
port last mentioned was once the capital of an independent 
kingdom of the same name ; but it has for many years- past 
been incorporated with the empire of Morocco. From this 
place, as well as from Tangier, immediately opposite Gibraltar, 
a considerable trade is carried on with the neighbouring ports 
of Europe. 

The population of Morocco is similar in its character to that 
which we find in most of the other Barbary states, and consists 
of a mixture of Moors, Arabs, Jews, and negroes, with a few 
Europeans. Formerly a considerable number of Christian 
slaves, captured by the pirates, were kept in various parts of 
the empire, and treated with great rigour. But all this is now 
done away ; and there is little fear of such a state of things 
occurring again, with the French at Algiers and the English at 
Gibraltar. The Mohammedan religion prevails here, as in 
other parts of Northern Africa, and it is characterised by the 
same fatalism, ignorance, bigotry, and superstition with which 
it is distinguished in other places. Nor are we aware that any 
systematic efforts have been made by the Protestant missionary 
societies of Europe to evangelize the inhabitants of Morocco, 
beyond occasional visits of converted Jews to their brethren, 
who reside in considerable numbers in some of the towns, 
especially at the capital, where they occupy a separate village 
in the suburbs. 



150 Africa: Past and Present. 



CHAPTER V. 



WESTERN AFRICA. 



Geographical Boundaries — Topographical Aspect and Scenery— Mountains 
and Rivers — Climate and Seasons — Soil and Productions — Native 
Tribes — Manners and Customs — Superstitious Notions and Practices — • 
Colonization and Missions — Sierra Leone — The Gambia — The Gold 
Coast — Lagos — Liberia — Senegal — Fernando Po — Angola. 

' I ^HE geographical boundaries of Western Africa cannot be 



X defined with precision ; but a description of the extent 
of the country sufficiently definite for our purpose may be easily 
given. The name is generally applied to that portion of the 
vast continent which lies between the Sahara or Great Desert 
on the north, the equator on the south, the Atlantic on the west, 
and the regions of the Upper Niger on the east ; embracing the 
extensive countries bordering upon the Senegal, Gambia, Sierra 
Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and the islands of Fernando Po and 
Ascension. Some would also include Angola and neighbouring 
territory among the countries which fairly belong to Western 
Africa, although situated beyond the equator; and perhaps 
they cannot be better classified. As thus employed, the term 
serves to distinguish this portion of the great continent from 
Abyssinia, Nubia, Egypt, and the Barbary States on the shores 
of the Mediterranean in Northern Africa,, on the one hand ; 
and the Cape of Good Hope, with its neighbouring territories 
in Southern Africa, on the other ; whilst it leaves Mozambique, 
Zanzibar, and other portions of Eastern Africa, with the lake 
districts in the interior, and other countries of Central Africa, 
recently discovered, to come under their appropriate designa- 
tions. 




Western Africa. 



Topographical Aspects and Scenery. 

When we consider the vast extent of that portion of the 
globe now under review, embracing, as it does, not less than 
1,000,000 square miles, we are not surprised to find that the 
topographical aspect and general appearance of different 
localities vary considerably. In some places we find extensive 
arid sandy deserts, where nothing is to be seen but a barren 
wilderness, and where the caravans of travelling merchants, in 
the course of long journeys, suffer much from various causes, 
but especially from want of water. Again we meet with extensive 
tracts of fertile land, teeming with the most luxuriant vegetation, 
and abounding with extensive forests of valuable timber. These 
more favoured districts are generally situated on the banks of 
the numerous rivers or tributary creeks, which intersect the 
country in various directions. They sometimes present the 
appearance of a gently undulating surface, reminding one of an 
English nobleman's park, or verdant meadow, with here and 
there a beautiful hill or rocky mountain of considerable altitude. 

With the exception of Cape Verd, the neighbourhood of 
Sierra Leone, the Cameroons, and a few other localities where 
inconsiderable hills and promontories present themselves to 
view, the western coast of Africa is generally level. It is not 
till we proceed a considerable distance inland that we meet 
with elevations worthy of the name of mountains. The districts 
bordering on the rivers, creeks, and lagoons are, moreover) 
generally low and swampy. At the close of the rainy season, 
thousands of acres are laid under water, and present to the 
traveller the appearance of interminable lakes or inland seas. 
When the waters retire, on the termination of the rains, cultiva- 
tion commences, and the country assumes a beautiful verdant 
aspect, contrasting favourably with its dry and scorched appear- 
ance during the dry season. 

Travelling in Western Africa is frequently attended with 
difficulties and dangers unknown in more highly favoured 
lands. The country is not only destitute of railroads, those 



152 Africa: Past and Pjesent. 



wonderful inventions of modern times, but also of common 
carriage-roads ; for no wheel vehicles of any kind are used by 
the natives in any place we have visited, or of which we have 
heard. The best roads are mere footpaths across the deserts 
or through the forests, on which the people walk in single file ; 
each man carrying in his hand a gun or a cutlass, to defend 
himself against the attacks of serpents or beasts of prey, to 
which he is constantly exposed. In some of the more open 
districts horses are occasionally used for the saddle ; but they 
are not generally employed as beasts of burden or for long 
journeys. Indeed, on some parts of the continent — as Cape 
Coast, Ashanti, and other places — from some peculiarity in the 
herbage or in the climate, horses cannot live. As often as they 
are introduced from other localities they decline in their con- 
dition, and ultimately dwindle and die. Camels even share 
the same fate, although horned cattle, sheep, and goats, thrive 
pretty well. When long journeys have to be performed over 
land, Europeans and native gentlemen are in some places 
carried by native bearers in hammocks or chairs suspended on 
poles, according to the plan adopted in India, whilst a party of 
porters follow with the baggage and provisions of the traveller 
and his attendants poised on their heads. 

The majestic rivers of Western Africa, which wind their way 
in various directions from the mountains in the interior to the 
Atlantic, supply to some extent the want of public roads ; and 
appear designed by Divine Providence to answer the purpose 
of highways for the introduction of commerce and Christianity 
to the regions beyond. The native tribes living on the banks 
of these rivers, and in the neighbourhood of the creeks, lakes, 
and lagoons, employ various kinds of vessels to convey them- 
selves and their merchandise from place to place; and it is 
almost as common to meet with boats and canoes on some of 
the streams as you sail along, as it is to meet carriages on 
the public road in England. Some of the canoes used by the 
natives are large and handsome vessels ; for, although the 
hulk is made of the trunk of a single tree, hollowed out with 



Western Africa. 



153 



great skill, it is frequently fifty or sixty feet long, and six or 
seven feet broad, being occasionally raised at the sides with 
planks, and beautifully ornamented with carved work. A canoe 
of the largest class is generally manned by twenty-four negroes^ 
who sit twelve on each side, on the edge or gunwale of the 
vessel, and propel it forward at a rapid rate w^ith paddles about 
three feet long, which they ply with remarkable dexterity, 
beating time to a tune which they sing with much spirit to some 
extemporaneous song made to suit the occasion. Thus the 
scene is quite lively and animated when a fleet of these native 
craft are sailing in company, which is sometimes the case ; for 
they make the surrounding forest ring with their merry songs as 
they dash along through the placid water. 

Mountains and Rivers. 

Our knowledge of the mountains of Western Africa is of a 
very general and partial character, owing chiefly to the difficulty 
of exploring this portion of the continent, imposed by the 
unhealthiness of the climate and other obstacles. It has been 
ascertained, however, that all the great ranges of mountains are 
situated some distance from the coast in the interior. One of 
the most important of these is the extensive and lofty chain 
which runs across the eastern portion of Senegambia, usually 
called the Mountains of Kong. The direct course of this 
range has never been correctly ascertained, but it appears to 
stretch from east to west, almost across the entire continent, 
till it connects itself with the Mountains of the Moon on the 
opposite side of Africa. 

The principal rivers of Western Africa are the Niger, Congo, 
Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Volta, Mesurado, Bonny, 
Calabar, Nunez, Pongas, and Rio Grande. Most of these 
majestic streams are supposed to take their rise in the ranges 
of mountains just mentioned, some of which run nearly parallel 
with the coast ; and, after watering extensive and fertile regions, 
empty themselves at various points into the Atlantic Ocean. 
An exception must, however, be made in the case of the Congo, 



154 Africa: Past and Present. 



which has been proved by the recent explorations of Cameron 
and Stanley to have its source in the distant lake regions of 
Central Africa, and after winding its way through thousands 
of miles of fertile land, occasionally interrupted by rocky 
cataracts, to pour its mighty flood of water into the sea to 
the south of Angola. This river, being to a great extent 
navigable, will henceforth attract more attention than it has 
hitherto received, and will probably play an important part 
in the future history of the continent, as one of the grand 
highways leading to the distant interior. 

The majestic Niger was formerly regarded as identical with 
the Senegal or the Gambia ; but it was proved by the explo- 
rations of Mungo Park and the intrepid Landers to take 
its rise amid the mountains already mentioned, and, after 
flowing in a winding course about 2000 miles through the 
northern portion of Central Africa, to discharge its mighty 
volume of water by a number of large estuaries into the Eight 
of Benin. These real mouths of the Niger were in former 
limes believed to be so many separate rivers, and were known 
as the Brass river, the Nun river, the Old Calabar, the New 
Calabar, etc. But now it is evident that vessels may ascend 
by any one of them to the very heart of Africa ; and, at the 
proper season of the year, arrive at Egga, Rabba, Sego, or 
Timbuctu, on the banks of the Niger. This majestic stream 
has been already used to some extent for inland navigation in 
the interests of commerce and civilization, and it will no doubt 
be still more so in time to come, as the Christian people of 
Europe and America become more thoroughly interested in the 
welfare of Africa. 

The Senegal is a large and important river, and is deserving 
of more attention than it has yet received from European 
adventurers. It takes its rise at the northern extremity of the 
Kong mountains, and flows westward for several hundreds of 
miles, till it comes within about two leagues of the Atlantic, 
when it takes a sudden bend southwards, and, after running 
for about seventy-five miles nearly parallel with the coast, 



Western Africa. 



155 



empties itself into the sea a few miles north-cast of Cape Verd. 
It is navigable for vessels of light draught throughout most of 
its course ; but the entrance is rendered somewhat difficult and 
dangerous to vessels of large draught by a bar of sand which 
runs directly across its mouth, — an impediment which might 
probably be removed by skilful engineering. 

The river Gambia has its source in the same range of moun- 
tains which gives rise to the Niger and the Senegal ; and, both 
from its magnitude and the facilities which it affords for inland 
navigation, it may be fairly classed with these noble streams. 
The course of the Gambia, from its source downward, is some- 
what serpentine ; but it flows in the main westward for nearly 
1000 miles, through a fertile country, and empties itself into 
the Atlantic Ocean a few miles south of Cape Verd, in latitude 
13° 30' north, and longitude 15° west. It is about twelve miles 
wide at its mouth ; but on proceeding upwards we soon find 
that it contracts to about three miles. Thence it continues to 
vary from three miles to one mile in width for some distance, 
occasionally expanding to greater dimensions— presenting to 
the view of the traveller in some places, especially after the 
rainy season, the appearance of a vast inland sea. The river 
is navigable for vessels of fifty or sixty tons burden for upwards 
of 400 miles, at which point further progress is interrupted by 
a series of rapids, known as the Falls of Barraconda. In the 
dry season the influence of the tide is felt to a distance of 300 
miles from the sea ; and the larger vessels of the European 
merchants avail themselves of this circumstance in navigating 
the stream, as the breeze is frequently rather feeble, being 
impeded by the surrounding forests. 

Having sailed on the majestic Gambia and its tributaries 
thousands of miles in various directions, we may here add a 
few remarks as to the appearance of the country on its 
banks. On ascending an eminence, in the upper parts of the 
river, the prospect presented to the view is frequently of a 
charming character. On the right hand and on the left exten- 
sive forests of the richest foliage may be seen waving in the 



156 Africa: Past and Present. 



wind, and here and there a native to-vTO with its clearings of 
cultivated ground ; whilst, on looking towards the sea, the 
beautiful Gambia is seen like a silver thread of light, glittering 
in the sun as it winds its course towards the mighty ocean. 
When sailing on the river itself the scenery is also in many 
places very interesting. The margin of the stream is for more 
than a hundred miles lined with dense masses of the mangrove 
tree — a beautiful evergreen, with shining leaves of deepest 
verdure, not unlike the laurel of our own country. These man- 
groves flourish only where the ground is low and swampy, and 
saturated with salt water at the flow of each successive tide ; 
but as every tree sends down a number of branches, each of 
which in time becomes the stem of a tree, the whole region 
soon becomes an impenetrable mass of jungle. On ascending 
further into the interior, the banks of the river are found to be 
more elevated, and the ground drier, and frequently covered 
with forest trees of gigantic stature, and supplying valuable 
timber. Throughout its entire length the Gambia is studded 
with beautiful islands, some of which will be noticed in another 
place. 

The other rivers af Western Africa are of less magnitude and 
importance than those we have briefly described. They never- 
theless prove very useful, in the absence of public roads, in 
facilitating communication between different and distant places 
on their banks, by means of the native canoes, which may be 
seen in great numbers skimming their placid waters in various 
directions. Although differing in size and situation, they 
possess so many features in common, that it appears unneces- 
sary to occupy space by a minute description of each stream, 
creek, and lagoon, to which we have alluded, and which we 
have partially explored, when so many other topics claim our 
attention. 

Climate and Seasons. 

The seasons of the year and the climate of Western Africa 
possess many peculiarities, a brief notice of which may serve to 



Western Africa, 



157 



throw some light upon an interesting subject, and to explain in 
part why a residence in the country is generally so detrimental 
to the health of Europeans, and why the natives themselves 
are so frequently prostrated with fever. The seasons are 
divided, not into summer and winter, but into dry and rainy, 
which are marked by a distinctness not known in other parts 
of the world. With a slight variation on different parts of the 
coast, the dry season commences in the month of September, 
and continues till May following. During these nine months 
not a shower of rain is seen to fall, and the ground becomes 
parched and dry to an extent almost incredible to those who 
have not resided within the tropics ; but during the remaining 
three months of the year the rain descends in torrents, day and 
night, with scarcely any intermission. The principal rivers 
now overflow their banks, like the Nile in Egypt, and the low 
lands are inundated for scores of miles. When the rains in the 
interior cease, the waters gradually subside into their usual 
channels ; but they leave large tracts of country, naturally low 
and swampy, still submerged, and presenting to the view a 
succession of shallow lakes. The sun now pours his fiery rays 
on these extensive marshes, the waters of which soon become 
stagnant and pestilential as evaporation takes place ; and, 
charged as they are with vast accumulations of putrid animal 
and vegetable matter, they emit effluvia almost unbearable. 
The fatal march miasma, thus generated, is borne on the wings 
of the wind over the country at large, and frequently carries 
fever, desolation, and death to the habitations of thousands. 
After many years' experience in other tropical countries, we 
regard this peculiarity in the climate of Western Africa as the 
real cause of its pre-eminent unhealthiness. 

The rainy season is ushered in by the appearance of sheet 
lightning, which is seen flickering on the horizon, at short 
intervals, for several successive nights, and which sometimes 
illuminates the whole heavens. Then follow a succession of 
tornadoes. These are violent thunderstorms, accompanied by 
circumstances of an alarming character. The sky, which has 



158 Africa: Past and Present, 



so long been bright and cloudless, begins to assume a sombre, 
leaden aspect. Dense masses of clouds are seen to gather in 
the east, till the whole heavens are covered as with a sable 
mantle. Now the lightning begins to flash with fearful 
vividness, and the thunder roars in awful peals, resembling 
the crashing noise produced by the simultaneous discharge of 
numerous fields of artillery. These fearful manifestations are 
followed by the sudden rushing forth of the wind, like a 
prisoner bursting loose from his chains. Then the rain pours 
down in torrents, as if the windows of heaven were opened ; 
and the elements of nature, including earth, sky, and sea, 
appear mingled in fearful conflict ! As the tornado is seen to 
approach, it is necessary to secure windows and doors and 
everything about the house likely to be affected by it ; but, 
notwithstanding every precaution, considerable damage is fre- 
quently done by the tempest, in the unroofing of houses, the 
uprooting of trees, and the destruction of fences, etc. But the 
vessels in the rivers and on the sea fare still worse on these 
occasions, being sometimes capsized by the suddenness with 
which the gale sets in, before the men on board have time to 
shorten sail or prepare for the emergency. 

The heat is frequently intense during the dry season, 
the thermometer sometimes rising as high as 95° to 105° 
in the shade. For several months in the year, however, the 
heat on the coast is tempered by a gentle and refreshing sea- 
breeze, which springs up every morning soon after sunrise, and 
blows with tolerable regularity during most of the day. At the 
opposite season, when the land-breeze prevails for a few weeks, 
and the harmattan winds blow across the sandy deserts in the 
interior, the heat is very oppressive, reminding one of the hot 
air which proceeds from the mouth of a furnace. This we 
have found so intense as to produce extreme dryness of the 
skin, with parched lips and burning thirst. We have also known 
it to damage sundry articles of furniture in the house, cracking 
the glass and china ware on the sideboard, etc. On the other 
hand, the rainy season is marked by a state of the atmosphere 



Western Africa. 



the very reverse of what we have described. The ground 
being everywhere completely saturated, and in some places 
inundated, the fierce rays of the sun, which occasionally burst 
through the clouds as the rains begin to subside, rapidly 
accelerate the process of evaporation, and the exhalations which 
arise are so dense that a thick mist is frequently seen to prevail, 
and the air is rendered peculiarly humid. On such occasions 
we have seen the walls of the interior of the house steaming 
with water, from the condensation of the vapours which pre- 
vailed ; and we have sometimes been obliged to light a fire 
in our bedroom, even when the weather was hot and sultry, 
simply to rarefy the air and dispel the damp, before we could 
retire to rest with safety. 

The year in Western Africa is further divided by the natives 
into lunar months, or " moons," as they term them ; and the 
time of the day is noted by the altitude of the sun in the 
heavens, clocks and watches being out of the question. The 
day varies only about an hour in length during the whole year, 
tlie country being situated chiefly within the tropics. The 
twilight is of short duration ; for no sooner does the sun 
descend beneath the western horizon, than night begins to 
spread her sable mantle over the earth. This is very pleasant 
in the dry season, especially when it is moonlight ; for now the 
air is comparatively cool, and all nature is tranquil. But in 
the wet season the case is very different. At this period of 
the year, no sooner have the last rays of light departed, than 
the reptile and insect tribes begin their nightly song. The 
discordant noise produced by the croaking of frogs, the chirping 
of crickets, cockroaches and beetles, the flapping and screaming 
of bats, and the buzzing of myriads of mosquitoes, is also 
deafening. Multitudes of these noxious creatures are attracted 
into the dwelling-houses by the lights, and sometimes cover the 
walls of the room in which you are sitting, even extinguishing 
the candles or lamps by crowding around them, regardless ot 
the fatal consequences. It is at this season of the year that 
the mosquitoes especially are so troublesome ; for notwith- 



i6o Africa: Past and Present. 



standing the precaution of providing net curtains to the bedsj 
they still penetrate, and by their perpetual buzzing and poisonous 
stings they frequently deprive one of sleep for several nights in 
succession. 

It is towards the close of the annual rains, when the ex- 
halations from the swampy ground are so sensibly felt, that 
the sickly season is considered to commence. Now the natives 
themselves are frequently attacked with sickness ; and among 
the European residents the " old hands " expect the usual 
attacks of ague and fever, whilst the " new comers " have to 
pass through their " seasoning." This process is, undoubtedly, 
more painful and hazardous than the ordinary attacks of fever 
which may be expected to follow at intervals, and from which 
none need hope to escape. The course of the disease is some- 
what as follows : — At first the patient is attacked with severe 
headache, followed by a fit of shivering, which frequently 
continues for several hours, notwithstanding the additional 
covering which may be applied to his person. Then comes the 
hot stage, during which the skin is dry and burning, whilst the 
action of the pulse is quick and violent. The actual heat of 
the body, at this stage of the disease, is almost incredible — a 
person in health hardly being able to bear his hand in contact 
wiih the forehead of the sufferer. The time which this burning 
fit continues varies in different persons, according to the 
nature of the attack or the constitution of the patient. If every- 
thing proceed favourably, it may be expected to terminate in 
the course of two or three days ; but if it continue longer 
danger may be apprehended, as few have survived the fifth 
day without any intermission. When the fever breaks, the dry 
burning stage is followed by copious perspiration, which marks 
the passing of the dangerous crisis, and a speedy recovery is 
anticipated. The fever, however, frequently assumes the inter- 
mittent form, and returns every alternate day, with a regularity 
which is surprising ; but these periodical attacks are of trifling 
consequence, and of short duration compared with the " sea- 
soning," the patient being frequently able to move about on the 



Western Africa. 



i6i 



day which intervenes between them, which he calls his "good 
day." 

As all West African fevers are more or less of the bilious 
type, the mode of treatment has generally been simple and 
nearly uniform. Calomel, in combination with rhubarb or 
jalap, is freely administered immediately on a person being 
attacked, and Dover's powder has been found useful in aiding 
perspiration. During the intermission, the sulphate of quinine 
has been resorted to as an efficacious remedy against the return 
of fever, in preference to Peruvian bark, formerly employed ; 
and it scarcely ever fails if a sufficient quantity, say twenty-five 
grains, can only be received into the system in the interim by 
taking it in small doses every two or three hours. As soon as 
the patient becomes convalescent, careful nursing and constant 
attention to diet are of the greatest possible importance. 

There is nothing very alarming in the common country fever, 
to a person of good sound constitution and of temperate habits ; 
but we are occasionally visited on some parts of the coast with 
an epidemic in the form of " yellow fever," which is a more 
serious affair. From continued observation it has been found 
that this fearful scourge visits the western coast of Africa about 
every six or seven years. It is impossible to say through what 
medium it comes : whether by ships from the West Indies, or 
through the air like the mysterious cholera, none can tell. 
When this extraordinary epidemical disease makes its appear- 
ance considerable alarm is excited, inasmuch as it is infectious 
and contagious in a manner quite different from the annual 
remittent and intermittent fevers already described. It has, 
moreover, proved much more fatal than any other disease 
known on the coast — spreading with fearful rapidity, and 
sometimes carrying off one-half of a whole community. The 
"yellow fever" is easily distinguished from fevers of the 
common bilious type, not only by the yellow or jaundice-like 
complexion which it gives to the sufferer, but especially by 
the aggravated form of the attack, and by the circumstance 
that it is invariably attended with the " black vomit," which 

II 



1 62 Africa: Past and Present. 



generally occurs just before the patient expires. It is worthy 
of remark, however, that this awful pestilence is unknown in 
the interior of the country ; and we believe it has never yet 
made its appearance so far east as the coast of Guinea. 

The writer is aware that very different and conflicting 
accounts have been given from time to time by different 
persons as to the real character of the climate of Western 
Africa ; and he is anxious to present to the reader a correct 
and impartial view of the subject, without going to either of 
the extremes into which he conceives some writers have been 
betrayed. It has sometimes occurred that a naval or military 
officer has visited the coast in the middle of the dry season, 
when everything wore the appearance of health and activity ; 
and being charmed with the brilliancy of the atmosphere and 
the beauty of the scenery, he has returned to England after a 
brief sojourn, and published an account of his travels, eulogising 
the country in most unqualified terms, and scouting the idea 
of the unhealthiness of the climate, even for Europeans. Had 
such a transient visitor remained on the coast all the year 
round, his views would no doubt have been considerably 
modified. On the other hand, a traveller visits the coast at 
the most unhealthy season of the year, and is appalled at the 
scenes of sickness and death which he beholds. He narrowly 
escapes with his life, and brings an evil report of the land, 
declaring that the country is not fit for Europeans to live in, 
and that all the missions and the British settlements themselves 
ought to be at once and for ever abandoned. Henceforth the 
country is called "the white man's grave," and is regarded 
with feelings of dread by all who are appointed to sojourn 
there as missionaries, merchants, or government ofificers. After 
many years of personal experience in this and other tropical 
countries, and after having had the African fever more than a 
hundred times, I am of opinion that, whilst the climate of 
Western Africa is undoubtedly one of the worst in the world, 
it is not so bad as to render hopeless our best efforts to 
neutralize in some degree its baneful influence, and to grapple 



Wesiern Africa. 163 



successfully with the difficulties with which we have to contend 
in our endeavours to extend the blessings of Christian civilization 
to this interesting but long neglected country. 

The following facts and figures are respectfully submitted, as 
illustrative of the true character of the climate of Western Africa 
so far as European residents are concerned. In the course of 
twenty years — from 1804 to 1824 — the Church Missionary 
Society sent out to Sierra Leone eighty-five missionaries, and 
during this period fifty-four died and fourteen returned to 
England with shattered health. In 1835 there remained on the 
station only three missionaries and two catechists, out of 109 
labourers who had been sent out during the preceding thirty 
years. The experience of the Wesleyan Missionary Society is 
not very dissimilar. During twenty years — from 1824 to 1844 
— this institution sent out to Sierra Leone, Cape Coast, and 
the Gambia, eighty-six labourers, and during this period forty-two 
were removed by death, whilst several were compelled to 
return home on account of the failure of their health. Thus 
it will be seen that the loss sustained by each of these great 
societies in a course of years was over 50 per cent, of deaths, 
or rather more than one-half of the whole of the agents sent 
out. In 1823, from January to June, during a very sickly 
season, seventy-seven Europeans died at Sierra Leone, very 
few white men being left alive in the colony; and in the same 
settlement four governors died in seven years, from 1825 to 
1832. 

If we were in a position to give complete statistics of the 
army and navy connected with the western coast of Africa, we 
have reason to fear that the result would be still more 
appalling. In those which have come under our notice we 
find the following items of intelligence : in 1824, 283 European 
troops were sent to Western Africa, making the total number 
on the coast 11 93; of these 621 died during the year. We 
have known a large number of raw recruits carried off by fever 
soon after their arrival on the coast; and in the most favourable 
years the loss by death in the regimeois composed of British 



1 64 Africa : Pad and Present. 



soldiers has seldom been less than one-half the whole number, 
whilst in those composed of native troops the deaths have only 
averaged about one in twenty-six. Observing this difference, 
the military authorities have adopted the plan of late years of 
training and employing native troops under the command of 
European officers more generally than formerly, so that very 
few white men as private soldiers are now found on the coast 
of Africa. Sailors on board Her Majesty's ships of war 
stationed on the coast are seldom allowed to go on shore, 
and great attention is paid to their health and comfort, so 
that they suffer comparatively little from the climate. It is 
otherwise, however, with British seamen in the mercantile 
service, on board vessels visiting the coast. They are frequently 
employed in hard labour, loading or unloading the ship, during 
the day ; and at night they are often unable to sleep, from the 
intense heat and the attacks of the mosquitoes. Being thus 
worn out for want of rest, they soon become a prey to fever, 
and many have sunk under its influence to rise no more. We 
have known a whole ship's crew carried off in the course of a 
few days. When inquiry was made on one occasion when a 
certain vessel would sail for England, that letters might be 
sent by her, the answer was, " The Ann Grant has been laden 
and ready for sea for some time, but she cannot come down 
the river, all hands on board having died of fever ! " 

But the question has sometimes been asked, " Has not the 
climate of Western Africa improved of late years ? " After 
attentive observation and much thought upon the subject, the 
writer is of opinion that a decided improvement has taken place, 
the mortality among European residents being much less in 
])roportion to the number than formerly. The cause of this 
improvement is to be found, we think, not in any actual change 
in the seasons, but to a considerable extent in a purer state of 
the atmosphere, occasioned by the more thorough clearing and 
training of the ground in the neighbourhood of some of the 
settlements. It must also be noted that African fevers are 
now better understood than formerly, and consequently treated 



Wesieni Africa. 



with greater skill and more general success. As experience 
and observation are further extended from time to time, we 
may hope that still greater improvement will be realized, till 
a sojourn in Western Africa will no longer be regarded with 
serious apprehension as to the life or health of those who 
may be called to reside there. Nor must it be forgotten that 
this unfavourable account of the climate applies to the coast 
almost exclusively, the interior having been proved to be much, 
more healthy. 

Soil and Productions. 

With the exception of the sandy deserts and rocky moun- 
tains already referred to, and which occupy a comparatively 
small portion of this section of the vast continent, the soil of 
Western Africa is generally rich and fertile. At the close of 
the rainy season, vegetation of every description springs up 
with amazing rapidity ; and with the application of ordinary 
skill and industry, the land would be remarkably productive. 
Perhaps we should not greatly err, if we were to assert that no 
country in the world surpasses this in the abundance of its 
natural resources. The vast alluvial plains on the banks of 
the numerous rivers and creeks near the coast appear well 
adapted for the cultivation of hemp, indigo, cotton, coffee, 
ginger, arrowroot, sugar, rice, Indian corn, yams, and other 
articles peculiar to the tropics ; whilst the uplands, in the 
interior districts, produce the finest specimens of timber, from 
mahogany to the celebrated camwood. There also may be 
seen the cocoa-nut, the palm and the banana, with their lofty 
plumes gracefully waving in the breeze. The palm tree is a 
great favourite with the natives, inasmuch as it yields the 
refreshing wine of which they are so passionately fond. They 
also extract from the pulp of the nut the palm oil, which has 
of late years become a prime article of export, upwards of 
20,000 tons having been sent to England in one year. The 
value of the palm oil now exported to England amounts to 
upwards of 500,000 per annum. 



1 66 Africa: Past and Present. 



Large quantities of gum-arabic are also collected annually in 
the country which lies between the Senegal and the Gambia, 
and on the borders of the Great Desert. This valuable article 
is found exuding from the branches of a small shrub, not larger 
than a gooseberry-bush, and is gathered at certain seasons of 
the year for exportation to Europe. The natives are also in 
the habit of ranging the forests in search of bees' nests, which 
they take, not so much for the sake of the honey as for the 
wax, which has become an important article of barter with the 
merchants on the coast, who collect it for exportation. Another 
valuable article of merchandise is ivory, which is brought down 
from the interior in considerable quantities, and exchanged by 
the natives for various articles of British manufacture. 

In directing attention to the native productions and natural 
resources of Western Africa, we must not omit to advert to the 
probable mineral wealth of the country. Some districts appear 
to be literally impregnated with the precious metal ; and we 
have seen in the possession of one person several pounds weight 
of pure gold, collected and prepared for the British market. 
The hills on the banks of the upper Gambia, and in many 
other localities, moreover, contain iron and copper ores, which 
are smelted and worked by the natives into various useful and 
ornamental articles. We are aware that, hitherto, these mineral 
productions have been obtained only in small quantities, and 
by a slow and laborious process ; the gold being generally 
collected in single grains, after washing the sand in the beds 
of periodical rivers ; but by the application of improved modes 
of mining, crushing, and smelting the ore, it is probable that 
important results would be realized. 

Notwithstanding the fertility of the soil, and the numerous 
advantages possessed by the country, very little has, as yet, 
been done towards developing its vast resources. The land to 
a considerable extent lies waste, only very small portions having 
been brought under cultivation, and that of a very rude and 
primitive character. The immediate wants of the natives, in 
their present uncivilized state, are few and easily supplied, and 



Western Africa. 167 



they literally "take no thought for the morrow." In the vicinity 
of each town or village may be seen the gardens and fields 
of the people, sometimes laid out with a degree of neatness, 
regularity, and taste truly commendable, but always on a very 
limited scale, considering the abundance of land available for 
cultivation. The most common articles of produce, and those 
on which the natives chiefly subsist, are yams, rice, manioc, 
plantains, pumpkins, onions, cucumbers, ocroes, beans, and 
ground-nuts, with Indian and Guinea corn, and a few other 
vegetables of minor consequence. Fruit is also abundant and 
of great variety in most places, — such as the orange, banana, 
sour-sop, guava, pineapple, papwa, and mango-plums. Most 
of these fruits, especially the guava and pineapple, grow wild in 
the woods of Sierra Leone and on some other parts of the coast. 

The native mode of cultivation is somewhat peculiar, and 
deserves a passing notice in this connection. The low swampy 
land on the banks of the Gambia and other similar rivers is 
well adapted for the cultivation of rice, which is grown in large 
quantities both for home consumption and for export. The 
ground is prepared by the women and slaves, before the water 
has retired into its usual channel after the annual rains. When 
engaged in this branch of native agriculture, the sable workers 
may be seen wading up to their knees in water and mud, 
tramping the ground with their naked feet, and breaking the 
clods with their hoes, till they have reduced the whole to a 
proper consistency. The seed is then literally " cast upon the 
waters"; and, as evaporation takes place, it settles in the mud, 
germinates, springs up, and produces an abundant harvest, the 
results being thus " seen after many days."^ The appearance 
of a field of rice, as it advances to maturity, is not dissimilar to 
one sown with wheat or barley in our own country ; and when 
ripe the grain is gathered in and stored up in a similar manner. 

The dryer land, in more elevated situations, is selected for 
Indian and Guinea corn, both of which are largely used by the 
natives and produced with very little labour. After the ground 
has been cleared of weeds, and becomes moistened with the 



i68 Africa: Pad and Present. 



first showers of rain that fall after the dry season, the labourer 
passes along, merely grazing the ground with a hoe at intervals 
of two or three feet, drops in the seed, covers it up with the 
foot, and thus the work of sowing is accomplished. As the 
green blade springs up, it only requires weeding occasionally, 
and a plentiful crop is generally secured as the result of this 
trifling labour. The Guinea corn is of two kinds. When freed 
from the husk, one sort has the appearance of small peas ; and 
the other, which is a kind of maize, has a striking resemblance 
to the common canary seed. All kinds of corn in Western 
Africa grow to a great height, varying from eight to twelve 
feet ; and each stem being stout and strong, the process of 
reaping resembles that of felling small trees. When the grain 
is ripe, the husbandman strikes at the root of the tall stalk with 
his billhook or cutlass, and it falls to the ground. The large 
bushy ears are carefully collected into the granary, and the 
stems are used for fuel, fencing, or other domestic purposes, 
as occasion requires. 

The mode of threshing adopted by the natives is also pecu- 
liarly rude and simple. They carry the corn to an elevated 
place in the field cleared for the purpose, and simply beat out 
the grain with large sticks, and the work is done. The process 
of winnowing is equally simple ; for, selecting a windy day for 
the purpose, they merely throw up the corn into the air, the 
breeze blows away the chaff, and the pure grain is collected 
and stored up for mercantile purposes, or for home consumption. 
The native granaries are circular buildings, formed of mud or 
wattled canes, according to circumstances, and covered with 
thatched roofs. They generally stand on posts eight or ten 
feet high from the ground, and are reached by a movable 
ladder. This arrangement is considered necessary to preserve 
the grain from the depredations of the various kinds of vermin 
with which the country abounds, as well as to make it less 
accessible to the two-footed animals, who might be otherwise 
tempted to help themselves to their neighbours' property without 
permission. 



Western Africa. 169 

But the yam is the edible most highly prized by the natives 
of Western Africa. At this we are not surprised, when we call 
to mind its nutritive qualities, and the ease with which it is 
produced in a climate so well adapted to its growth. It is 
cultivated by planting cuttings after the manner of potato setting 
in England ; only the yam being so much larger than the 
potato, it requires a deeper soil. One yam sometimes weighs 
eighteen or twenty pounds, and would furriish a meal for a 
considerable family. In substajnce this root is more like the 
turnip than the potato, but in taste it resembles neither, 
partaking more of the nature of bread. In shape it bears a 
striking resemblance to the ginger root, frequently branching 
off in finger-like projections and other fantastic forms. The 
sweet potato is also a valuable edible, somewhat smaller 
than the yam, but equally nutritious-; and, although totally 
unlike any vegetable in domestic use in Europe,, it is eaten 
with relish when the taste for it is once acquired. It is 
cultivated by planting slips of the top, which take root 
and run along the ground, or climb up a pole like a vine. 
On this account it is an economical article of diet, being 
produced with little labour and still less expense for seed, 
and it is in high repute among the natives as well as with 
Europeans. 

The sea-coast and rivers of Western Africa abound with 
excellent fish, such as the dolphin, pilchard, mullet, and others; 
and the market of some of the settlements is occasionally 
supplied with mussels, cockles, and oysters. The shell-fish last 
named are produced in a curious manner. They grow upon 
trees, and we have seen a fine crop of oysters brought to market 
still adhering to the branches on which they had grown. This 
statement, true as it is, may require some explanation. There 
are no rocks to which the young oysters can adhere, as in most 
other places ; but there are roots and branches of the mangrove 
trees in abundance, which are submerged by the flow of the 
tide ; to these the young oysters attach themselves, and on 
these they live and grow till they are matured^ whea the natives 



1 70 Africa : Past and Present. 



come and chop off the branches, throw them into their canoes, 
and take them to the market, as already stated. 

It does not come within our province to dwell at any length 
here on the natural history of Western Africa ; but we may 
briefly observe that no part of the world affords greater variety 
or richer specimens of the wonderful works of God in each 
respective kingdom of nature. We have already adverted to 
the indications of mineral wealth which appear in different 
parts of the country, as well as to the luxuriant vegetation of 
the coast, which presents such an extensive and interesting 
field for the researches of the botanist. The lamented Bowdich 
did much to elucidate these branches of science ; and had he 
lived to complete his investigations in the interior, still clearer 
light would no doubt have been shed upon the subject. 

The wild animals which haunt the rivers and roam about 
the forests are very numerous. The most prominent of these 
are the lion, leopard, hyena, elephant, hippopotamus, crocodilCj 
baboons and monkeys of various kinds, from the savage gorilla 
to the smallest species so easily domesticated in dwelling-houses. 
A great variety of serpents and other reptiles might be enume- 
rated, from the gigantic boa-constrictor and crocodile already 
mentioned to the smallest snake that glides among the grass, 
and the beautiful harmless little lizard that intrudes itself into 
the bedroom. The specimens of the feathered tribe are also 
numerous, for we have seen in Western Africa the ostrich, 
maraboo, crown bird, guinea-fowl, vulture, wild turkey, partridge, 
dove, kingfisher, canary, mocking-bird, humming-bird, and 
parrots and paroquets of various kinds, with an almost endless 
variety of small birds of the most splendid plumage, exhibiting 
every colour of the rainbow. It is remarkable, however, that 
these exquisitely beautiful birds, with the exception of the 
canary, are not generally birds of song. In travelling through 
the woods a few pleasant chirping notes may be heard, but 
nothing to be compared with the continuous cheerful warbling 
of the nightingales, blackbirds, thrushes, larks, and linnets of 
our own highly-favoured land. The most annoying creatures 



Western Africa. 



in Western Africa are those that belong to the reptile and 
insect tribes. With care one may manage to keep out of the 
way of the larger animals ; or, if an encounter be inevitable, 
the enemy may be vanquished, and there is an end of the 
contest ; but it is utterly impossible to escape from, or to 
vanquish, the endless hosts of centipedes, scorpions, flies, cock- 
roaches, ants, and innumerable other foes, not to be mentioned, 
by which one is constantly assailed. 

Native Tribes. 

It is pleasant to trace the history, scenery, and natural 
resources of a foreign land ; but it is still more interesting 
to the Christian philanthropist to inquire into the character, 
condition, and manners of the people, with a view to promote 
their social and moral elevation. To this branch of our subject 
we now turn, with the hope of enlisting the kindly sympathies 
of the reader on behalf of populations long neglected, and 
sometimes despised by their fellow-men of fairer complexion. 

Western Africa is inhabited by various tribes of the negro 
race, resembling each other in many respects, and yet possessing 
traits of character sufficiently distinctive to render a brief 
description of a few of the most prominent ones desirable. In 
the northern section of the country, sometimes called Sene- 
gambia, we meet with the Jalloffs, a numerous people, generally 
tall of stature, but not remarkably robust. They are a hardy, 
daring, warlike race of men, however ; industrious in their 
habits, sociable in their manners, and more intelligent than 
most of the other negro tribes. The Jalloff language is some- 
what harsh and guttural in its tones ; but when brought into 
the service of the sanctuary by the converted natives on our 
mission stations, as we have had the pleasure of hearing it, it 
is remarkably pathetic and impressive. 

The next tribe we come to, on proceeding southward, is that 
of the Mandingoes, who are found in vast numbers on both 
banks of the Gambia, as well as in the kingdoms of Manding 
and Bambarra, through which the celebrated Mungo Park 



172 Africa r Past and Present. 



travelled on his way to the Niger. These people are almost 
invariably tall, muscular, and well-formed, with features some- 
what sharper than those of their neighbours, the Jalloffs. Their 
disposition is generally friendly and hospitable, although they 
are brave and courageous. When travelling alone, and unpro- 
tected among them, we have always been treated with marked 
civility and respect, and never felt the slightest fear of moles- 
tation. We regard the Mandingoes as the finest specimens of 
negroes that we have met with, and we consider them capable 
of a high degree of civilization. Their language is peculiarly 
soft and mellow in its tones ; and on hearing it spoken we 
have been reminded of the Italian. It is, however, somewhat 
cramped and confined when applied to religious purposes. 
Nor is this to be wondered at, when we remennber that, till the 
arrival of missionaries in the country, it had never been reduced 
to a written and grammatical form. 

In immediate contact with the tribes just mentioned, and in 
some instances mixed up with them, we have the Pastoral 
Foolas. As they are found in the regions of Senegambia, these 
are a simple, inoffensive people. They make no pretensions 
to a right in- the soil, but live by mere sufferance among the 
Jalloffs and Mandingoes, to whose kings or chiefs they pay 
tribute for the privilege of pasturing their cattle. By these 
petty despots they are often severely oppressed, and sometimes 
robbed of all they possess; yet they seldom complain, but 
travel from place to place with, their flocks and herds, as 
occasion requires, subsisting entirely on the milk of their flocks. 
The Pastoral Foolas have a tradition among themselves that 
they originally sprang from a white man, who settled in their 
country ;. and whether there be any truth in this or not, it is a 
remarkable fact that they have a striking resemblance to Euro- 
peans, not only in their complexion, which is comparatively 
light, but also in their general aspect and features, being 
destitute of the flat nose and thick lips and retiring forehead 
which distinguish most of the African tribes. These people 
never pray, neither are they addicted tO' pagan superstitious 



Western Africa. 



173 



rites so common among the negroes generally ; their highest 
idea of virtue is to refrain from war, and to live in peace with 
all men. 

We may here mention the Teucolars and Loiibies, who are 
generally regarded as petty tribes of Foolas, in consequence of 
their speaking the same language, though differing in many 
respects from them, The first-named people resemble the 
Mandingoes in appearance, character, and prowess. They are 
not a wandering tribe, like the Pastoral Foolas, but havfe 
established themselves in several powerful states, the principal 
of which are Foota-Toro, on the south of the Senegal, Foota- 
Jallon, adjacent to Sierra Leone, and Foota-Doo, in the 
neighbourhood of Wassela and Missina, in the interior. The 
Teucolars are Mohammedans, and frequently designated 
learned Foolas, to distinguish them from the Pastoral Foolas. 
The Loubies are a degenerate race, stunted in growth, and 
haggard in appearance ; and yet they speak the Foola tongue. 
They possess neither towns nor cattle, but wander about from 
place to place with wooden bowls and other utensils which 
they manufacture, and sell to the Mandingoes and others, and 
thus procure a precarious livelihood. From their appearance, 
character, and habits, the Loubies may be regarded as the 
Gipsies of Western Africa. The Foola language is somewhat 
peculiar in its structure, and bears a striking resemblance to 
that of the Kafifirs of Southern Africa. 

We must now divert the attention of the reader to the Moors 
of Western Africa ; for, although this is not their original home, 
here they are in vast numbers, and in great power and force. 
Amongst these people are to be found the principal merchants 
of the country, who travel extensively in the prosecution of 
their special vocation. They may be seen crossing the sandy 
deserts in caravans, with their camels laden with merchandise, 
and driving flocks of poor slaves to the market. Those who are 
more settled in their habits have established themselves in the 
far-famed city of Timbuctu, and other large towns on the banks 
of the Niger ; and, in small parties, they find their way across 



1 74 Africa : Past and Present. 



the continent, where they carry on a lucrative trade with the 
natives. The Moors are not of pure negro blood, but a mixture 
of the Arab and African races. They are rigid Mohammedans, 
and use the Arabic language in their ordinary intercourse with 
each other, as well as in their religious exercises. In features 
and complexion, the Moors have a strong Eastern cast, and 
are generally more energetic and intelligent than their neigh- 
bours. This superiority they make known in an unmistakable 
manner, by their acts of cruelty and oppression, wherever they 
have power to dominate. Not only have the feebler native 
tribes of Western Africa suffered much from the tyrannical 
conduct of the Moors ; but inoffensive travellers have been 
subject to their treachery, as we have seen in the narratives of 
Mungo Park, Major Houghton, and others. 

On proceeding southward down the river Niger, we meet with 
the Fellatas, a numerous and powerful tribe of people whose 
locality cannot be accurately defined, as they are perpetually 
on the move. Some travellers assert that the Fellatas are 
identical with the Foolas, and that their warlike character and 
general superiority to that soft and effeminate people is owing 
entirely to circumstances. Be this as it may, it is evident that 
the Fellatas on the banks of the Niger have pushed forward in 
aggressive and successful warfare on the less powerful tribes, 
till they now occupy an influential and commanding position in 
many districts where their name was formerly unknown. They 
have carried their conquests as far as Yoruba and Borgoo, and 
established themselves in many important native towns and 
cities, reducing the people everywhere to a state of abject slavery, 
after the example of the despotic Moors in the northern regions 
of the continent. When not actually engaged in war, the 
Fellatas are described by the Landers as " active, intelligent, 
mild, and humane " ; but fighting is evidently their favourite 
occupation, and so high is their opinion of their own prowess, 
that they boldly declare that " they could conquer the whole 
world, if the salt water did not prevent them." 

The next people that claim our attention are the Yorubans. 



Western Africa. 



175 



This numerous and powerful tribe of native Africans inhabit 
an extensive plain, the western border of which is within a 
hundred miles of the coast, and it extends eastward nearly to 
the river Niger. The capital of the country is Eyeo, which 
Clapperton describes as a city fifteen miles in circumference, 
with seven large markets ; but it must be remembered that 
African towns and cities frequently include large tracts of 
provision ground, to enable the inhabitants to endure a long 
siege in time of war ; so that the population is not always in 
proportion to the extent of the place. The king of Yoruba 
inquired of the traveller how many wives the king of England 
possessed, with a view to form a proper estimate of his power 
and greatness ; and when informed that he had only one, his 
sable majesty laughed heartily, declaring that his wives were so 
many in number that, if linked hand in hand, they would 
extend across his kingdom ! The Yorubans, like all the other 
purely negro tribes we have met with, were totally unacquainted 
with letters, or reading and writing in any form, till the mis- 
sionaries appeared among them ; they were, nevertheless, 
remarkably clever in the composition of extemporaneous songs, 
which they recited and sang with great spirit on special occa- 
sions. They pride themselves in not being addicted to the 
horrid bloody customs of the neighbouring nations, in putting 
to death a large number of people in connection with the 
funeral ceremonies of departed kings and chiefs ; but they 
admit that on these solemn occasions it is not unusual for 
several councillors and wives of the deceased voluntarily to 
take poison, that they may accompany the royal personage and 
attend upon him in the invisible world. 

The most numerous, powerful, and warlike people with 
whom we are acquainted in Western Africa, are the Ashantis. 
They may be called a nation rather than a tribe ; for, although 
entirely unacquainted with European civilization when they 
were first brought to our notice, they had attained, by dint of 
their own energy, to a position as to arts, agriculture, com- 
merce, and war, far above the most advanced native tribes on 



176 



Africa : Past and Present. 



this part of the continent. The Ashantis, who, according to the 
estimate of some travellers, amount to 4,000,000 in number, 
occupy an extensive tract of country in the interior regions 
bordering on the coast of Guinea, of not less than 60,000 
square miles, commencing at the river Volta, and extending 
over four degrees of longitude. Being separated from the 
maritime districts of the coast of Guinea by Aguambo, Dinkira, 
and other powerful states, the Ashantis did not come in contact 
with the European settlements till the commencement of the 
present century. About this period the tribes alluded to were 
obliged to give way before the growing power of the Ashanti 
empire, whose mighty host of savage warriors carried all before 
them, till they reached the border of the country of the Fantis, 
the principal tribe of natives on the Gold Coast. The whole 
territory having been laid waste by the invaders, the timid 
Fantis made a stand at Anamabu with 9,000 men ; but these 
were completely vanquished by the king of Ashanti, who came 
against them with an army of 15,000. The Fantis were utterly 
routed, and put to death at the first onset, with the exception 
of a few who sought protection in the British fortress on the 
coast. 

It is not our purpose to enter into details on the subject of 
Ashanti wars in which England has figured, alas ! too promi- 
nently. Suffice it to say that in one of these contests Sir 
Charles Macarthy, the esteemed Governor of Cape Coast 
Castle, lost his life, in 1824, having under-estimated the strength 
of the enemy, and rushed into the heat of the battle, hoping 
to bring it to a speedy conclusion. It was not till the arrival 
of the British embassy at Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti, to 
make pacific arrangements with the king, in 1827, that the real 
character and power of this remarkable people were ascer- 
tained. The narratives published by Bowdich, Dupuis, and 
others, are of fearful interest. These gentlemen were struck 
with the barbaric pomp and splendour of the sable monarch 
and his surroundings. They found his numerous attendants 
profusely laden with ornaments of gold, whilst the most common 



Western Africa. 



177 



articles in daily use were also made of the precious metal. 
They saw the royal executioner with his hatchet on his breast, 
and the fatal blood-stained stool before him, ready, at the sound 
of the death-drum, to do his fearful work ; and they ascertained 
that the king had recently immolated on the grave of his mother 
three hundred victims ! The truth of the appalling statements 
of the British ambassadors to the king of Ashanti has been 
amply corroborated by subsequent witnesses of undoubted 
veracity. Nor were the accounts brought home by Sir Garnet 
Wolseley and his heroic band of British officers and men, who 
captured Kumasi in 1873, during the last Ashanti war, more 
favourable as to the character and habits of this warlike and 
savage people. 

The Fantis, although far inferior in courage and enterprise 
to their neighbours the Ashantis, are nevertheless a numerous 
and important tribe of natives, and are supposed to number 
about 1,000,000. They owe their very existence as a people 
to the influence and protection of the English at Cape Coast 
Castle, which is situated within their territory ; for, had they 
been left to themselves, they would have perished long ago, as 
did many other tribes, who were vanquished by their powerful 
enemies. The country occupied by the Fantis extends along 
the Gold Coast for nearly 200 miles, and reaches inland to the 
river Prah, on the southern frontier of the Ashanti country. 
The land is generally fertile, and in many places well culti- 
vated, the people being industrious and well-disposed. Populous 
towns and thriving villages are to be seen in every direction, 
and the condition of the people is rapidly improving under the 
fostering care of the British Government and the instructions 
of the missionaries. Those of the Fantis who have been partly 
civilized are fine specimens of the African race, and make 
useful servants and mechanics in the colony. 

Immediately bordering on the countries already mentioned, 
we find another powerful and important tribe of native Africans 
— the Dahomans ; and for warlike aggression and ferocious 
cruelty, they may be fairly classed with their still more powerful 

12 



178 



Africa : Past and Present, 



neighbours the Ashantis. The savage character of this people 
was first brought to the notice of Europeans by Mr. Norris, 
who took a journey through the country, and paid a visit to 
Abomi, the capital, for the purpose of promoting the extension 
of trade and commerce, in 1772. This gentleman, as well as 
Mr. Dalzel and others who afterwards visited Abomi, describes 
scenes of cruelty and blood similar to those which were wit- 
nessed by the British ambassadors at Kumasi. Dalzel gives the 
following account of the king's female body-guard: "Within 
the walls of the different royal palaces of Dahomi are immured 
not less than 3000 women ; several hundreds of these are 
trained to the use of arms, under female generals and officers 
appointed by the king. These female warriors are regularly 
exercised, and go through their evolutions with as much 
expertness as male soldiers." The king's palace at Abomi is 
described as surrounded by a substantial clay wall about 
twenty feet high, the top of which is ornamented with human 
skulls, elevated on small wooden stakes at regular distances. 
Access to the interior of the palace is generally denied to 
Europeans; but Mr. Dalzel once visited the king during his 
illness, and was admitted to the royal bed-chamber, a detached 
room surrounded by a low wall, the top of which was orna- 
mented with human jawbones, and the path Avhich led to it 
was paved with human skulls ! Other appalling instances are 
given by the traveller just mentioned, the particulars of which 
are too shocking to be quoted. 

Besides the large and powerful native tribes already men- 
tioned, there are in Western Africa many other separate and 
independent clans, as the Feloops, Egbas, Cromantees, Tim- 
manees, Loossoos, Sarrawoollies, Sulimas, Kurankoes, Krumen, 
and others, a description of which might be interesting if our 
prescribed limits permitted the attempt ; but, so far as we have 
ascertained, there is such a striking resemblance between one 
and another, that we may venture to forego further details in 
this direction, and proceed to the consideration of other matters 
which demand our attention. 



Western Africa. 



179 



Manners and Customs. 

In offering a few remarks on the manners and customs which 
generally prevail among the native inhabitants of Western 
Africa, it may be proper in the first place to advert to the 
question of Civil Govertwieiit. The people are in a barbarous 
condition, it is true, but they are not entirely without rule and 
law of some kind. The whole country being divided into a 
number of petty independent states, the government is almost 
invariably of the most despotic character. The will of the 
king or chief is the law of the tribe ; and woe to those who dare 
to thwart or oppose his sable majesty ! There are, nevertheless, 
in most places forms of law which are sometimes resorted to. 
Not only has each tribe its king or chief, but each town has 
its head-man or alcaide, who is empowered to hear and settle 
cases of minor consequence. Each town has also its bentang, 
or " talking place." This is a large platform of wattled bamboo- 
cane, raised about two feet from the ground, and is generally 
erected under the shade of an umbrageous tree called "the 
palaver tree." Here the men meet together and lounge, espe- 
cially in the evening, to talk over the news of the day. Here 
also the people assemble when cases of dispute or disagreement 
have to be settled. This is the place of judgment, and answers 
the purpose of a court-house in our day, or that of the "gate 
of the city" in eastern countries, as it existed in ancient times. 
The chief or alcaide having taken his seat, attended by his 
councillors, the case is stated in all its particulars, witnesses are 
cited, and evidence is taken in due form. Then the pleadings 
commence, when displays of native eloquence are sometimes 
made which one would hardly expect among such a rude people, 
practised hands being employed on each side to conduct the 
proceedings. 

When all has been said that can be said upon the subject, 
the president gives his dictum, and states in a few words what 
is to be done. If the case at all affects the interests of the 
chief, it may be foreseen how it will terminate 3 or he may 



1 80 Africa : Past and Present. 



prevent its coming to a trial in any form — for, with a word of 
his mouth or a nod of his head, he can inflict the severest 
punishment upon those who have incurred his displeasure, even 
to the taking away of life itself. Indeed, human life is very 
lightly esteemed by the barbarians. " If a black man had 
brought me that message," said the king of Ashanti in a rage 
to the British ambassadors, " I would have had his head cut off 
before me ! " The people are taught to regard the king with 
profound and superstitious reverence; and not only the common 
people, but the subordinate chiefs and caboceers, prostrate 
themselves in the most abject manner before his sable majesty; 
and when permitted to approach him actually crawl into his 
presence upon their hands and knees, throwing dust upon their 
heads in token of their deep humiliation. 

Although we have adverted to courts of law and judicial 
process as practised in some parts of Western Africa, it must 
not be supposed that there exists anything of this kind analogous 
to what we have in England and other civilized countries. It 
is but very rarely that we meet with anything like rational 
investigation for the discovery of guilt, with a view to meet 
the claims of justice. Recourse is more frequently had to 
witchcraft, and to various superstitious rites and ceremonies, 
when parties are suspected of crimes. The sickness of a chief 
often causes the death of many persons. It is generally ascribed 
to magic, and a professed sorcerer is summoned to find out 
the culprit. This is professedly done by the sacrifice of a fowl, 
and the inspection of its internal parts, accompanied by sundry 
incantations. Confession of guilt is sometimes extorted by 
physical torture, and instant death is the punishment awarded. 
The methods of infliction are various. Men are speared, 
beheaded, or have their heads crushed between two stones, 
and women are generally impaled. If a chief is long in 
recovering, or in dying, many victims are thus sacrificed, as 
the " custom " is continued till the crisis arrives. Persons 
suspected of adultery are required to drink poison-water, or 
to walk with bare feet over plates of red-hot iron ; either of 



Western Africa. 



i8i 



which, it is alleged, will prove harmless to the innocent, whilst 
if guilty the parties will be deservedly punished. Minor crimes, 
as petty thefts and other misdemeanours, are generally punished 
by heavy fines imposed on persons possessing property, or the 
loss of personal liberty if the offender happen to be poor. To 
drag a poor fellow into perpetual slavery is the common mode 
of demanding satisfaction for transgression in Western Africa, 
as it affords the most certain method of replenishing the coffers 
of the despot. 

On some occasions, however, the people are allowed to take 
the law into their own hands, and to administer it in a some- 
what ludicrous manner. This is especially the case with regard 
to an institution which we found in existence in several native 
towns on the banks of the Gambia, and which appears to be 
known on various parts of the coast. It is termed Mumbo Jumbo, 
and is called into operation for the purpose of curing domestic 
squabbles and punishing rebellious wives. The negroes who 
are in circumstances to do so, being in the habit of multiplying 
their consorts, are not unacquainted with "family jars"; but 
when a serious breach of the peace has taken place, and the 
master of the house has failed, to put matters right by friendly 
remonstrance, Mumbo Jumbo interposes his authority. This 
is a person unknown, with a hideous mask on his face, a "staff 
in his hand, and robed in a singular grotesque dress made of 
the bark of a tree. When he is seen entering the town in the 
dusk of the evening, and approaching the bentang, where the 
people are assembled for their usual amusements, great is the 
curiosity which is excited as to the parties who may have 
occasioned the visit of the mysterious personage. There are 
many palpitations and heart-searchings among the ladies, whose 
consciences tell them that they have not been remarkably 
amiable and pacific of late in their respective families. At 
length Mumbo Jumbo, with unerring aim, pounces upon the 
unfortunate vixen to be punished for her misconduct. He 
strips her naked, ties her to a post, and severely beats her with 
his rod, till she cries for mercy and promises not to offend 



1 82 Africa: Past and Present. 



again; whilst the bystanders, of both sexes, look on with derisive 
bursts of laughter and shouts of savage joy, forgetting that 
their turn to be punished may soon come. This Mumbo 
Jumbo may be the husband of the lady thus chastised, or it 
may be his friend, whose services have been engaged for the 
occasion. Having executed his offices in perfect disguise, he 
retires in the darkness of the night, takes off his dress, and 
hangs it up in a tree near the town, where it remains suspended 
in terrorein, as a standing warning to unruly wives. Some of 
the African ladies think there ought to be instituted a Mumbo 
Jumbo for naughty husbands, as well as for disobedient wives ! 

The sacred ordinance of marriage, as instituted by the 
Almighty, and as acknowledged in civilized and Christian 
countries, is unknown among the barbarous tribes of Western 
Africa. Both Mohammedans and Pagans are remarkably 
licentious in their conduct, and indulge their sensual passions 
without restraint. And when a so-called matrimonial engage- 
ment is made, it is a curious transaction. The first thought 
that occurs to a young man with such a project in view is— 
Has he the means of paying the price that the parents will 
expect or demand for the young damsel on whom he has fixed 
his eye ? This matter having been settled, and a present of 
the mystic kola nuts made in due form, a bargain is concluded 
with the old people, irrespective of the views and feelings of 
the young lady on the subject, the day of the wedding is fixed, 
friends are invited, and a feast is prepared. When the appointed 
day arrives, and the wedding guests are assembled, about sunset 
the bride is introduced, dressed in a white robe ; and, having 
taken her seat in the centre of the hut, a number of old matrons 
surround her, and give her earnest and serious lectures as to 
her future behaviour as a wife. In the meantime a number of 
young girls, as bridesmaids, enter the hut, singing and dancing, 
and finally conduct the timid bride to the hut appointed for 
her future residence; and the night is spent in feasting, drinking, 
drumming, and dancing, without any legal or religious ceremony 
whatever. 



Western Africa. 



Polygamy is allowed both by Mohammedans and pagans, 
and is generally practised by all the native tribes with which 
we are acquainted. The Koran does indeed impose some 
limitation to the number of a man's wives, and requires that they 
should not exceed four. But in many professedly Mohammedan 
countries the principles of the false prophet have such a slender 
hold on the masses of the people, that this rule is totally dis- 
regarded ; whilst among the pagan tribes no restraint whatever 
is recognized, the only limit to the number of a man's wives 
being his means to purchase them. We have met with instances 
in which native Africans have had ten, twenty, or thirty wives ; 
whilst kings, chiefs, and caboceers are known to number them 
by hundreds and thousands. It is said that the king of Ashanti 
rejoices in the mystic number of three thousand three hundred 
and thirty-three wives ! 

In the present barbarous state of African society, it is 
unnecessary for a husband to calculate the means of supporting 
his wife or wives, for when once procured they are the principal 
means of supporting him and his children. It is the wives 
who cultivate the ground, and do all the heavy work and 
drudgery about the place, in common with the domestic 
slaves, whilst their lazy lords are lounging about in their huts 
at home or at the bentang. The result of this fearful system 
may be readily imagined. According to Major Gray, " poly- 
gamy is a fruitful source of jealousy and distrust ; it contracts 
the parental and filial affections ; it weakens and disjoints the 
ties of kindred, and totally unhinges the frame of society. The 
fathers have many wives, the wives have many children ; 
favouritism, in its most odious forms, sets in ; jealousy is soon 
aroused, and revenge unsheaths the sword which deals forth 
destruction." 

The birth of a child in Western Africa is an event as joyous 
as in most other countries, but it is attended by very different 
circumstances. The little stranger no sooner makes its ap- 
pearance in this cold and cruel world than the matron in 
attendance takes it by the feet, and, hfting it up, gives it a 



184 Africa : Past and Present. 



tremendous shaking — as she says, " to make it stand straight " ! 
Its treatment afterwards is in perfect harmony with this rough 
beginning. As the mother is soon up and going about her 
domestic duties, the Httle thing is placed on a mat or skin on 
the floor of the hut, and left to sprawl about ad libitum, without 
receiving much maternal attention during the day, unless it 
demands it by the strength of its lungs. When the mother 
goes out to work in the field from morning till night, she is 
generally obliged to carry her infant with her ; and she may 
be frequently seen digging the ground with her child tied on 
her back or across her hip, subject to fearful jolting at every 
stroke of the hoe. We have seen the legs of little negro 
children sadly bent, evidently from this coarse method of 
nursing. 

Nor are the circumstances attending the death and funeral 
of a child or other member of a negro family less repulsive. 
We have seen touching manifestations of real or affected sorrow 
on such occasions, so far as loud weeping and howling were 
concerned ; but at the same time the dead has been carried 
to the grave in a most indecent manner, without any kind of 
coffin, at a running pace, amid the firing of muskets and the 
noisy clamour of the people. And when the friends return 
from the funeral they invariably spend the night in drumming, 
dancing, drinking, feasting, and general dissipation. Feasts 
are also held at stated periods afterwards in memory of the 
dead ; and portions of food are taken to the grave and left 
there, under the superstitious notion that the spirits of the 
departed return to partake of it during the night 1 

The houses or huts of the natives are generally of a very rude 
and simple character. Where the bamboo flourishes, as on 
the banks of the Gambia, the Senegal, and in other localities, 
they are made of neat cane wattled work, as are also the fences 
which enclose the yard or compound of each family. In other 
places the dwellings of the people are built of mud, which 
dries rapidly in the sun, and forms a substantial wall. When 
the mud or clay is mixed with straw or dried grass it is called 



Western Africa. 



185 



"swish," and is still more durable. The usual form of the 
African huts is circular, or beehive-shaped ; and being 
thatched with long grass, they appear at a distance like so 
many hayricks in a farmyard. It is not unusual, however, to 
find in some towns, as in Abomi and Kumasi, the dwellings of 
the most opulent natives built of a square shape ; and, whether 
constructed of mud or woodwork, they are in these cases 
substantially built, with neat verandahs or open sitting-rooms 
in front, neatly finished, and sometimes highly ornamented. 
The place for cooking the food is invariably apart from the 
main dwelling, as are also the apartments of the wives and 
slaves ; hence, when a man has a large family, his domestic 
establishment presents the appearance of a small village within 
an enclosure. 

The domestic wants of the negroes, in a climate which 
admits of their spending most of their time out of doors, are 
few and simple; consequently we find their huts not encumbered 
with much furniture. On entering the rude dwelling of an 
African, you may observe on one side of the principal apartment 
a narrow platform of wattled cane-work, raised about half a 
yard from the ground, and covered with mats. This is the 
sleeping place, and answers the purpose of a bedstead. One or 
two iron or earthenware pots, in which they cook their food, 
a few wooden bowls and calabashes, in which it is served up, 
a wooden mortar and pestle, in which they pound the corn in 
making their cus-cus, with a rude lamp, and sometimes a copper 
kettle, complete the list of household utensils required by this 
simple people. 

The mode of living adopted by the negro race is equally 
simple. They only take two meals a day — -the one about ten 
o'clock in the morning, and the other about six in the evening. 
These generally consist, with but little variation, of manioc, 
yams, sweet potatoes, and other similar roots, pounded corn 
(called cus-cus), and boiled rice served up with milk or with soup, 
with the addition occasionally of a small quantity of fish, flesh, 
or fowl, according to their means, taste, or fancy. The whole 



Africa: Past and Present. 



mess, of whatever it may consist, when cooked is poured into 
a large calabash or wooden bowl, which is placed in the centre 
of the hut, and around which the family assemble to eat, — first 
the lords, and then the ladies and the children, for an African 
gentleman, in his heathen state, never eats with his wives or 
little ones. It is a novel sight to a European, this negro meal 
at his own house, especially when the family is large, as they 
make use of their hands only, whether the contents of the bowl 
be solid or liquid, — knives, forks, and spoons being out of the 
question. In the course of our travels in Western Africa we 
never saw bread of any kind baked or used by the natives. 

In personal appeai-a7ice, the natives who have never been 
reduced to a state of slavery are far superior to what many 
would suppose. In some of the tribes we have seen men tall 
and athletic, and women, whether of bronze or jet black com- 
plexion, well formed and fairly handsome, their skins being at 
the same time smooth and shining from their frequent anointing 
with palm oil. The dress of those who do dress is very simple, 
and differs little throughout the country, — fashions and modes, 
as practised by civilized nations, being totally unknown. The 
most common garb of females consists of two oblong cloths of 
native manufacture, called "pangs," one of which is thrown 
loosely round the lower, and the other over the upper part of 
the person, with head-dress of Madras handkerchiefs. The 
men, however, generally wear wide pantaloons, and a loose 
robe reaching down to the feet over their under-garments, 
and a turban or cotton cap on the head. Ladies of rank, 
when in full dress, appear with splendid head-dresses of a 
conical form, resembling the shape of a sugar-loaf ; and are 
frequently laden with ornaments of gold and silver, in the form 
of massive earrings, bracelets, manillas, or heavy metallic rings 
round the wrists and ankles, with a profusion of beads of various 
kinds and colours. Their favourite domestic slaves, who walk 
behind them when they visit, however scanty their clothing, 
are also frequently adorned with ornaments of gold, the whole 
of which, as well as the wearers, belong to their owners. The 



Western Africa. 



187 



use of these ornaments is denied the slaves, as a punishment, 
when they have given offence to their mistresses. All classes 
of natives, except slaves, wear sandals of stained leather, 
beautifully ornamented, instead of shoes. But although we 
have thus described the dress of those who do dress, it must 
not be forgotten that children of both sexes may be everywhere 
seen running about entirely destitute of clothing, and that 
adults, free persons as well as slaves, wear next to nothing 
when pursuing their daily avocations. There has been an 
improvement, however, in this respect of late years, as civiliza- 
tion has advanced, especially in the neighbourhood of European 
settlements and mission stations. 

The people of Western Africa everywhere m.anifest a strong 
passion for trade and conwierce ; and a native has no sooner the 
means at his command, than he engages in some kind of traffic 
with characteristic zeal and earnestness, according to his oppor- 
tunity. This propensity is manifested by all classes, from the king 
to the meanest slave ; and fairs and markets are held periodically 
in various parts of the country, where thousands of people 
attend to interchange property, their trade being generally con- 
ducted on the principle of barter. Money coin is unknown 
among the natives of the interior. That which approaches 
nearest to it as a circulating medium is cowrie shells. These 
are strung together in hundreds in some districts, and then 
they are easily counted ; but in other places they are put into 
bags containing 20,000 each, and have all to be reckoned off 
separately, which is a very tedious process. Some idea of the 
cumbrous and inconvenient character of this shell currency 
may be formed, when it is stated that, so small is the nominal 
value of the cowTie, fifty of them go to a penny, and 12,000 
to a pound sterling. As 100,000 are reckoned a load for a 
camel, twelve camels would be required to carry ;^ioo in 
cowries ; whilst ;^2 in this cumbrous African currency form an 
ample burden for a man to carry on his head. Although 
cowries are the most common kind of currency in Western 
Africa, and will generally serve the purpose of the traveller 



i88 Africa: Past and Present. 



when he can procure them, this is not always the case. In 
some parts of the country, beads, brass-wire, bars of iron, and 
bundles of native cloth are recognized as the smaller species 
of currency, and muskets, slaves, and gold as the larger ; and 
mthout some of these articles nothing that is required can be 
obtained. 

Rude and barbarous as the native Africans are in many 
respects, they have nevertheless made a degree of progress in 
some branches of art and manufacture which is quite surprising, 
considering their slender resources. In almost every part of 
the country the people are in the habit of weaving a coarse but 
strong cotton cloth. It is made in very narrow webs of about 
six or eight inches wide, which are sewn together so as to 
form the oblong cloths or " pangs," already mentioned. The 
cotton used in this fabrication is grown on the spot, and is spun 
into threads for warp and weft with the fingers, without any 
kind of machinery ; whilst the loom for weaving is of the 
simplest construction. The art of dyeing is also generally 
known. Different colours are used to ornament their garments ; 
but the most common is a permanent blue obtained from 
indigo, which is an indigenous plant on the banks of the 
Gambia, and in other places. In earthenware they manufacture 
coarse dishes, pots, and jars, some of which are ornamented 
with curious devices, as are also the calabashes which they 
prepare and use for various domestic purposes. Mats used 
for sitting and sleeping on are also staple articles of native 
manufacture almost everywhere ; whilst the art of tanning and 
working in leather is generally practised : some of the articles 
thus made — as sandals, greegrees, pouches, saddles and bridles, 
etc.- — are sometimes beautifully ornamented. But the best 
specimens of native art which we have seen are those which 
exist in different kinds of metal. Iron, copper, and gold are 
found in various parts of the country. These the natives 
smelt and work up into a variety of articles with wonderful 
ingenuity, with tools of the rudest description. The gold rings, 
chains, and bracelets, which we have seen manufactured in 



Western Africa. 



189 



Western Africa, might, in some instances, have been taken for 
the work of European goldsmiths, so delicate and beautiful 
were both the design and the workmanship. 

Superstitious Notions and Practices. 

On turning our attention to the moral and religious condi- 
tion of the numerous tribes inhabiting Western Africa, a dark 
and gloomy picture presents itself to our view ; for what can 
we expect in a land where the Christian's Bible, and Sabbath, 
and Saviour, are unknown ? Truly " darkness covers the earth 
and gross darkness the people." 

The entire population of Western Africa was no doubt pagan 
at no very remote period ; but in modern times the religion 
of the false prophet has extensively prevailed, having been 
zealously propagated with fire and sword by northern tribes of 
Arab descent. But there is not so much difference between 
the Mohammedanism and the paganism of the negroes as many 
suppose. The distinction is rather nominal than real, so far as 
the moral conduct of the people is concerned. All profess to 
believe in the existence of God, if a confused notion of a higher 
power may be so designated ; but all are entirely ignorant of 
the character and claims of the Divine Being, and exceedingly 
superstitious. This is evident from the eagerness with which 
they resort to their greegrees, saphies, and fetishes, in times of 
difficulty and danger, and the confidence which they place in 
their ability to procure for them every good which they require 
and to defend them against every kind of evil. 

Greegree, or saphie, is the name given by Mohammedans to 
the charms or amulets which they wear upon their persons, or 
suspend in their dwellings, to avert a dreaded evil or to procure 
a desired good. They generally consist of a few sentences 
extracted from the Koran, and written upon slips of paper in 
Arabic by the priest or maraboo, who carries on a profitable 
trade in this branch of his profession — a high price being fre- 
quently paid for one of them. When they are to be worn upon 



IQO Africa; Past and Present. 



the person as ornaments, these scraps of writhig are enclosed 
in small pieces of red cloth or leather, neatly stitched up, and 
stained with various colours, with thongs attached with which 
to suspend them from the neck or bind them to the arms, etc. 
One of these greegrees will be worn to preserve the person from 
being pierced with a spear or musket-ball in battle ; another to 
prevent the wearer drowning by the upsetting of the canoe ; 
whilst a third will be suspended open, as an inscription, in the 
hut or store of the native merchant, to procure prosperity in 
trade, etc. So numerous are the purposes for which these 
foolish charms are used, that we have frequently seen the 
superstitious natives almost covered with them from head to 
foot ; and we have witnessed some affecting instances of the 
implicit confidence which is placed in them on occasions of 
emergency. To show that the Mohammedan negroes are not 
very particular as to the construction of their charms or 
amulets, and to illustrate the superstitious regard which they 
pay to anything belonging to white men, it may be stated that 
on one occasion, on a greegree being cut open, it was found to 
contain nothing more than a square of white man's soap, with 
the mark clear and legible, " Genuine Brown Windsor " ! 

The little incident just mentioned may serve to show the 
intimate relationship which exists between the greegree and the 
fetish, in the confused and ignorant mind of the negro. Whilst 
the greegree of the Mohammedan, when correctly made, con- 
sists of a written charm, as already stated, the fetish of the 
pagan is made of almost anything, consecrated by the priest 
for the purpose ; the stranger the matter employed, the greater 
is the confidence which appears to be placed in it. The most 
common articles used in the construction of fetishes, to be worn 
on the person or hung up in the house or garden, are the heads, 
claws, bills and bones of various kinds of birds, animals, and 
reptiles. These are enclosed in the horns of sheep, deer, or 
other animals, or encased in leather or cloth, and suspended 
by thongs, like the Mussulman's greegree. We have known 
instances in which negroes have obtained a lock of a white 



Western Africa. 



191 



man's hair, or the paring of his finger nails, for the purpose of 
fetish, having a high opinion of their power to preserve them 
from evil. 

In addition to the superstitious confidence which the degraded 
Africans place in these foolish things, they are in the habit of 
noting lucky and unlucky days, and of performing numerous 
silly rites and ceremonies, on going to war or commencing a 
journey, which partake of the nature of witchcraft. When 
questioned on the subject, we have never known them give any 
reason for their strange conduct beyond that which they have 
always at hand, and which they make use of on almost every 
occasion — namely, they do so " because their forefathers did 
so, and they are quite satisfied to tread in their steps." 

Some of the superstitious rites and ceremonies of the negro 
race partake more of the nature of open idolatry than any of 
those which have yet been mentioned. For instance, they pay 
homage to certain lakes, rivers, and mountains, which they 
regard as sacred, believing them to be the special dweUing- 
l)laces of their gods. They also adore various animals and 
reptiles, which they believe to be animated by the spirits of 
their departed ancestors. In some places large serpents are 
kept and fed, in houses set apart for the purpose, by the fetish 
priests. To these ugly creatures sacrifices are presented and 
divine homage is paid by the people at stated periods — a liberal 
present being always brought for the officiating priest on all 
such occasions. At Dix Cove a large crocodile, kept in a pond 
near the fort, constantly received divine honours a few years 
ago. Any person going on shore at that place might have a 
sight of the hideous monster at the expense of a white fowl and 
a bottle of rum. The fetish-man took the fowl and the spirits, 
and proceeding to the pond, made a peculiar whistling noise 
with his mouth, when the crocodile came forth and received 
the white fowl as his share of the offering, whilst the priest 
appropriated the liquor to himself On one occasion, Mr. 
Hutchinson and Captain Levens were exposed to considerable 
peril on paying a visit to this place to witness the novel scene ; 



192 Africa: Past and Present. 



for the fowl having escaped from the fetish-man into the bush 
just as it was being presented, the crocodile made towards them, 
and pressed them so closely that, had not a hapless dog crossed 
their path, of which the monster made his repast, one of them 
would most probably have fallen a victim to his rapacity. 

In common with many other heathen nations, the Africans 
are in the habit of offering sacrifices to their deities, as well as 
of uttering before them foolish and unmeaning prayers. Fowls, 
oxen, sheep, goats, and dogs are slain for this purpose, as the 
deluded natives are strongly impressed with the idea that their 
gods delight in blood. But the most awful circumstance that 
has come under our notice, in connection with African super- 
stitions, is that of the offering of human sacrifices, which prevails 
to an alarming extent, especially in the kingdoms of Ashanti and 
Dahomi. If a king or a nobleman wishes to convey a message 
to a departed friend in the world of spirits, he whispers the 
message in the ears of a slave, and immediately has his head 
struck off ! And at the death of persons of distinction, hundreds 
of hapless human beings are cruelly slaughtered by surviving 
relatives, that their spirits may attend upon those whom they 
wish to honour in the unseen world, and that their bloodthirsty 
deities may be propitiated. On the death of the king of 
Dahomi, a few years ago, 280 of his wives fell victims to the 
sanguinary superstition alluded to; and still larger numbers 
have fallen in Ashanti on similar occasions. 

This dark account of African superstitions may be still further 
confirmed and illustrated by a brief quotation from the testimony 
of a modern missionary. Describing what he witnessed on the 
coast of Guinea, the Rev. A. Bushnell says : " After visiting the 
principal chiefs, I went to see several of their juju^ or 'devil 
houses.' The principal one is a rude thatched edifice, upon 
entering the door of which I saw grinning at me four or five 
hundred human skulls, with which the pillars and walls were 
lined ; and as I crossed the room I walked upon a pavement 
of human skulls. The sight was the most ghastly and horrid I 
have ever seen. As with trepidation I retreated from this habi- 



Western Africa. 



193 



tation of devils, my attention was called to a scaffold eight or 
ten feet high, in the yard near the door, on which were a large 
quantity of human bones, some of which seemed fresh and new. 
Upon inquiry, I learned that these were the bones of enemies 
taken or killed in war, or for witchcraft ; and some of the flesh 
had been eaten, and the blood drunk, in horrid fetish orgies. 
To this temple the sick are brought to sleep, and to have incan- 
tations performed over them. From this charnel-house I went 
to call upon Juju Jack, the 'arch-priest,' or 'chief devil-man.' 
I found him sitting in the porch of his dwelling, with emblems 
of his craft on either side. He conducted me through a room 
in which were skulls and fetishes, and through a dark passage 
into a back apartment, where I was furnished with a chair and 
offered palm wine. He is a fiendish-looking elderly man, and 
seems capable of any work of cruelty and blood." 

To the dark and fearful catalogue of cruel and superstitious prac- 
tices to which the natives of Western Africa are addicted, we must 
add the appalling crime of cannibalism, and we have done. We 
were long since aware that, in the furious triumphs of the battle- 
field, Ashanti warriors and other native soldiers were in the habit 
of drinking the blood and eating the hearts of their vanquished 
enemies, from a superstitious notion that they would by doing 
so imbibe the courage and the warlike spirit of those whom they 
had slain ; but we were not till recently prepared to admit that 
in any part of the vast continent men could be found who 
would deliberately slay and devour each other. But from well- 
authenticated accounts which have recently come to hand, it 
appears to be even so. For fearful illustrations of African 
cannibalism we might refer the reader to the " Travels of Du 
Chaillu," and other publications ; but the most recent and direct 
information on the subject is that lately brought from the Bonny 
river by the mail steamer Arinenimi. A party landing there 
from this vessel declare that, on walking through the town, they 
were horrified to see no less than five human heads, arranged 
in the most systematic order on the grass, with a fire close by 
and a pot ready for cooking. At another spot not far distant 

13 



1 94 Africa : Past and Present. 



lay arms, legs, and other parts of human bodies, an old black 
woman being busily engaged in preparing the ghastly meal ! But 
we must turn away from this sickening sight, acknowledging the 
truth of the Divine declaration, that " the dark places of the 
earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." 

Colonization and Missions. 

Although the soil of Western Africa is in many places very 
fruitful, and the land on the whole abundantly productive, as 
already stated, there is nothing in the climate or circumstances 
of the country to make it a desirable place for European 
colonization or emigration, as compared with Southern Africa, 
Australia, America, and other lands where the climate is com- 
paratively healthy. It is, nevertheless, a fact that at a very 
early period a number of settlements or mercantile establish- 
ments were formed on the coast, some of which have gradually 
expanded into considerable dimensions. These were originally 
called "factories," and were generally connected with the in- 
famous slave-trade. When this appalling traffic in human 
beings had become an extensive and recognized institution, 
private mercantile firms and incorporated trading companies 
built stores and established slave-barracoons at the mouths of 
the principal rivers and other places, where they contrived to 
have everything in readiness when vessels came to bring sup- 
plies of merchandise and to carry off the slaves. At these 
points they generally erected forts, and mounted them with 
guns for the defence of their establishments, knowing that the 
nature of their traffic constantly exposed them to the sudden 
attacks of hostile natives. They also kept an ample supply of 
small arms and ammunition, not merely to barter for slaves, 
but also for the use of the slave-hunting parties which were sent 
forth, from time to time, to capture and bring in the poor 
hapless negroes, when the supply was not sufficient from other 
sources to meet the demands of the market. 

It was not till the slave trade was doomed, and a spirit of 



Western Africa. 



195 



Christian philanthropy was awakened in the breasts of a few 
noble-minded Englishmen, that European and American settle- 
ments were established in Western Africa, in the interests of 
legitimate commerce, and with a view to promote the civiliza- 
tion and moral elevation of the natives. Viewed from this 
standpoint, and as connected with Christian missions, the 
history of the respective settlements which have been formed 
on the western coast of Africa becomes a very interesting 
study, illustrating, as it does, the character of the country and 
the condition of the people. To this branch of the subject we 
now call the attention of the reader, so far as our limited space 
will permit. 

Sierra Leone, 

The first British settlement formed on the western coast of 
Africa, the avowed object of which was the suppression of the 
slave trade, the encouragement of legitimate commerce, and 
the civilization of the natives, was called Sierra Leone, from a 
river of that name, on the southern bank of which the first 
town was built. For hundreds of miles on either hand the 
coast is generally low and swampy ; but here the land rises 
into mountains of considerable altitude, and there is a bold 
peninsula stretching out into the sea which forms an excellent 
shelter for vessels at anchor in the spacious natural harbour 
formed thereby, in the mouth of the river, which is several 
miles wide, and navigable for vessels of moderate burden to a 
considerable distance up the country. These natural advantages 
soon attracted the notice of Europeans visiting the coast ; and as 
early as 1463 the Portuguese established themselves for a time 
at this place. The notorious Sir J. Hawkins, the first English- 
man who embarked in the African slave trade, also landed 
here, and made unsparing use of fire and sword in capturing 
the poor natives to drag them into hopeless bondage. But the 
time came when this locality was to be the scene of a very dif- 
ferent enterprise, and when the long degraded negroes were to 



196 Africa: Past and Present. 



be taught to know that there were white men who felt for them 
as men and brethren. 

On the 2ist of July, 1783, Dr. Smeatham, who had spent 
several years on the coast of Africa, addressed a letter to Dr. 
Knowles, suggesting the idea of a free negro settlement at 
Sierra Leone, for the purpose of checking and putting down 
the slave trade, and of diffusing the principles of Christianity 
among the natives. The same subject seems to have been 
occupying the mind of the benevolent Mr. Sharp at the same 
time ; for on the ist of August of the same year he sketched 
the outline of a plan of such a settlement, which he observed 
in the first paragraph, " will deserve all encouragement, if the 
settlers are absolutely prohibited from holding any kind of 
property in the persons of men as slaves, and selling either 
man, woman, or child." The necessity for such a settlement 
was rendered more urgent in consequence of a large number 
of negro slaves having obtained their freedom by deserting 
from their masters and joining the British in the American 
war; and for whom, as well as for a number of Maroons brought 
from Jamaica, it was necessary to provide a permanent home. 
Some of these had been sent to Nova Scotia, others to the 
Bahamas, and many more had come to England with the 
British army at the close of the war. Those who crowded the 
streets of London were in a most wretched condition of misery 
and starvation. As many as four hundred applied to Mr. 
Sharp and other benevolent gentlemen for relief at one time ; 
and it was found necessary to appoint a committee to devise 
some means of meeting the emergency. 

The number of negro mendicants in and about the metro- 
polis was now so large that they were regarded as a public 
nuisance; and the Government was induced to interfere by 
providing temporary relief for the poor sufferers, and by fur- 
nishing transports to take out as many as were willing to go, 
to form a new settlement on the western coast of Africa. 
Everything being arranged, at length the little fleet sailed, 
under convoy of the Nautilus sloop of war, on the 8th of April, 



Western Africa. 



197 



1787; having on board 400 negroes and 60 Europeans. On 
the arrival of the vessels at Sierra Leone, Captain Thompson, 
who had been placed at the head of the expedition, purchased 
from the paramount native chief of the country a fine tract of 
land about twenty miles square, well watered and in every 
respect suitable for the purpose of a settlement, to which other 
territory was afterwards added. He then fixed upon a beautiful 
eminence on the southern bank of the river or estuary for the 
site of a new township. Three hundred and sixty town lots of 
one acre each were measured off, with regular streets intersect- 
ing each other at right angles; and the lots were drawn for and 
apportioned on the 12th of June. 

But notwithstanding these favourable circumstances, the 
actual commencement of the settlement was extremely in- 
auspicious. The negroes had become thoroughly demoralized 
during their residence in London ; and, if possible, still more so 
on their passage out, — a large quantity of ardent spirits having 
been consumed on board the ships. They, moreover, arrived 
at Sierra Leone at the most sickly season of the year, in a 
spirit of general murmuring and complaint, and the sickness 
and mortality which speedily followed were fearful. When 
the Nautilus left for England, about three months after the 
arrival of the fleet, there remained in the colony only 276 
persons : so that by desertions and deaths the settlers had 
been reduced in this short space of time to little more than 
one-half the original number. In March, 1788, the Rev. Mr. 
Eraser, who had gone out as colonial chaplain, was obliged to 
return home on account of illness, and at the time of his 
departure the number of colonists had been further reduced 
to 130. Apprehensive that the infant settlement might become 
entirely extinct unless speedy help was afforded, Mr. Sharp 
and the friends who acted with him hastened to its 
relief, by sending out the brig Myro, laden with stores, and 
conveying thirty-nine additional settlers, including two medical 
men and other gentlemen of superior intelligence and in- 
fluence. This timely relief encouraged the few surviving 



/ 



1 98 Africa : Past and Present. 

colonists ; but they were soon afterwards doomed to experi- 
ence another sad calamity. A neighbouring native chief, feeling 
aggrieved by the conduct of some of the settlers towards 
him and his people, first gave notice of his intention, and 
then came down with his warriors and burnt the town to 
ashes. 

In the year 1791, another association was formed for the 
management of the new settlement ; by whose efforts a few 
of the dispersed colonists, to the number of sixty-four, were 
again collected, and encouraged to make another attempt 
to form a permanent establishm.ent at Sierra Leone. About 
the same time 1200 of the free negroes, already alluded to, 
were brought over in sixteen vessels from Nova Scotia, at their 
own request, the climate of North America proving unsuitable 
for them; and soon afterwards 100 Europeans arrived from 
England, just in time to put down a party of rebellious 
negroes who threatened the destruction of the settlement. 
With this large reinforcement of settlers, a fresh commence- 
ment was made at colonization, and a new town began rapidly 
to rise on a better site than the former one, which by order 
of the Directors was called Free Town, to indicate the avowed 
object of the settlement as the home of freedom. During 
the following two or three years the colony made rapid ad- 
vancement ; but in 1794, when it had arrived at a pleasing 
state of prosperity, the town was entirely destroyed by a French 
squadron, which attacked it with an overwhelming force. By 
this untoward event a large amount of property was sacrificed, 
and the loss to the Company was estimated at ^,^50,000. 

Disappointed and discouraged by the frequent reverses which 
they had experienced, in 1808 the association which had 
hitherto managed the affairs of Sierra Leone transferred the 
entire settlement to the British Government. From that period 
it has continued to prosper, notwithstanding the difficulties 
with which it has had to contend, arising from the unhealthi- 
ness of the climate and the political enemies by which it has 
been frequently assailed. The slave trade having been pro- 



Western Africa. 



199 



claimed illegal, a number of British ships of war were now 
appointed to cruise on the coast, with a view to intercept the 
vessels employed in carrying off slaves in a clandestine manner, 
and to set the poor captives free. The negroes thus liberated 
were for several years taken to Sierra Leone and provided for 
by Government, till they were able to cultivate the allotments 
of land which were given to them for their own support. The 
population of the colony, which has been constantly increasing, 
now consists chiefly of liberated Africans and their descendants, 
together with the descendants of the Nova Scotian and Maroon 
settlers previously mentioned, and about a hundred Euro- 
peans, most of whom are employed in various offices under 
Government. 

Free Town, the capital of the colony, is beautifully situated 
on the south side of the river or estuary, on a gentle slope at 
the foot of the mountain, about six miles from the point of the 
peninsula, which juts out into the sea, in latitude 8° 30' north 
and longitude 13° 30' west. It presents a charming aspect 
when viewed from the shipping in the harbour ; many of the 
buildings being of a substantial character, and interspersed 
with cocoanut, banana, and other umbrageous trees of the 
freshest green. The Government House, barracks, hospital, 
the signal station with its flagstaff, and the Wesleyan mission- 
house and chapel, are prominent objects in the landscape, in 
consequence of their elevated position in the rear of the town. 
There are also many other towns and villages in different parts 
of the colony, some of which are situated among the mountains 
inland, and others by the seashore, surrounded by the farms 
and gardens of the inhabitants. The principal of these are 
Wilberforce, Wellington, Waterloo, York, Regent, Kissey, Kent, 
Charlotte, Leicester, Gloucester, Bathurst, Grassfield, Hastings, 
and Allen Town. 

In these places the liberated Africans are chiefly located, 
and they may be seen engaged in agricultural, mechanical, 
and other industrial pursuits. Having been dragged away from 
their homes on various parts of the vast continent, they speak 



2O0 Africa : Past and Present. 



a variety of languages or dialects among themselves ; but they 
soon learn a little English, and become, with proper instruction, 
intelligent and useful members of society. The capability of 
the African race of education and advancement in various 
kinds of knowledge has been fully demonstrated at Sierra 
Leone, for we have there clerks, merchants, civil and military 
officers, magistrates, teachers and Christian ministers, who in 
their youth and boyhood were rescued from slavery, and when 
first put to school were as ignorant as can well be imagined. 
Altogether the colony wears a pleasing aspect ; and, notwith- 
standing the difficulties with which it has had to contend, it 
bids fair to fulfil the most sanguine expectations of its friends 
and patrons. The population of Free Town is estimated at 
15,000, and that of the whole colony at 50,000. 

The most pleasing feature in the colony of Sierra Leone is, 
however, its rapid advancement in religion and morals ; and a 
brief summary of the means employed to bring about the 
wonderful change which has taken place in the condition of 
the people in this respect, can scarcely fail to interest the 
reader. The history of missionary enterprise, in this land of 
sickness and death, has been as chequered as that of its civil 
affairs at an early period. Colonial chaplains were appointed 
at different times, from the beginning, to minister to the 
Government functionaries and others ; but owing to frequent 
deaths and absences from illness, the office was often vacant. 
The first effort of a purely missionary character for the benefit 
of Western Africa was made by the Baptist Missionary Society, 
which sent out Messrs. Grigg and Rodway in 1795. On their 
arrival at Sierra Leone it was agreed that Mr. Grigg should 
settle at Porto Logo, a town about forty miles up the river, in the 
Timmanee country ; and Mr. Rodway at Banana Islands, about 
thirty miles to the south of Free Town. But the first-named 
gentleman having misconducted himself, was dismissed from 
the colony by the Governor, and embarked for America, whilst 
the other was obliged to return to England on account of the 
failure of his health ; and the mission was relinquished. 



Western Africa. 



201 



In February, 1796, several mechanics belonging to the 
Wesleyan-Methodist Connexion sailed from London for Sierra 
Leone, with the view of establishing a colony in the Foolah 
country, in order to instruct the natives in the arts of civilized 
life, as well as to make known to them the truths of the Gospel. 
In this undertaking they appear to have been encouraged by 
Dr. Coke, although not authorized by him or the Conference, 
but left to act entirely on their own responsibility. The conse- 
quence was, on reaching Free Town, they disagreed among 
themselves before proceeding to their destination, separated 
from each other, some returning home and others settling in 
the colony, and the enterprise was abandoned. The next 
attempt was made by the Glasgow and London Missionary 
Societies conjointly, who sent out, in September, 1797, Messrs. 
Brunton, Greig, Ferguson, Graham, Russell, and Caffe. 
Scarcely, however, had they met, when a disposition to differ 
from each other was manifested. Before they had even left 
England, violent disputes arose among them on a variety of 
theological points, which resulted in a scene of wrangling, 
bitterness, and malignity, which surpasses description. They 
nevertheless proceeded to Sierra Leone, with the intention of 
settling in the Foolah country ; but, from the unhappy circum- 
stances alluded to, and other hindrances, they never reached 
their destination. They soon became separated and scattered, 
and the enterprise was abandoned. The Glasgow Missionary 
Society afterwards sent out to Sierra Leone Messrs. Henderson 
and Campbell. On their arrival at their destination they opened 
a school, and at first promised well ; but ultimately they both 
proved unfaithful. One of them remained in the country, and 
engaged in the infamous slave trade, and the other returned 
to Scotland and became an infidel ! 

It was not till the commencement of the present century, 
when the Church and Wesleyan Missionary Societies undertook 
the work of evangelization in Western Africa, that the cause 
took a permanent and progressive form. The following is an 
epitome of the incidents connected with the commencement 



202 



Africa: Past and Present. 



and course of the labours of these two honoured institutions in 
Sierra Leone and adjacent places : — 

The Church Missionary Society fixed upon Western Africa 
as its first field of foreign labour. It was in 1804 that it sent 
out to Sierra Leone Mr. Renner, a German, and Mr. Hartwig, 
a Russian, to instruct the people in a knowledge of Divine 
things. In 1806 Messrs. Nylander, But?cher, and Prasse- — all 
of whom had been trained at the Berlin Missionary Seminary 
and ordained according to the rites of the Lutheran Church — 
embarked at Liverpool to strengthen the mission ; but several 
months elapsed before they reached Sierra Leone, the vessel in 
which they first sailed having been stranded on the coast of 
Ireland, and the second on board of which they went having 
been long detained both at Falmouth and Madeira. The colony 
being at that time unprovided with a regular chaplain, some of 
the brethren undertook to discharge his duties in Free Town, 
whilst the rest went to the Rio Pongas, a river which lies about a 
hundred miles to the north of the colony, to form a settlement 
among the Susoos inhabiting its banks. Here they were joined 
by other missionaries and teachers who were sent out from time 
to time, several of whom soon fell victims to the climate. This 
country was occupied by the agents of the Church Missionary 
Society for twelve years, with very slender results, scarcely a 
convert having been won to the faith of the Gospel. At length 
the mission was considered to be working so unsatisfactorily 
that the Rev. E. Bickersteth was sent out by the committee to 
visit and inspect the stations, and to report on their condition * 
and the prospects of the work. 

Mr. Bickersteth landed at Sierra Leone on the 7th of March, 
18 1 6, having called at Goree on his way ; and proceeded at 
once to visit the respective stations on the Rio Pongas, Bashia, 
Canoffee, Kapparoo, and other places, as well as the various 
towns and villages of the colony. The devoted clergyman 
spent four months on the coast, and was much pleased with 
what he saw of the country and the people. He rejoiced over 
the progress made in the instruction of the rising generation in 



Western Africa. 



203 



the mission schools, but lamented the neglect of preaching, the 
lack of adult converts, the want of unity among the Society's 
agents, and the scarcity of English missionaries. The following 
sentences extracted from the report which he presented to the 
committee on his return home will indicate his sentiments on 
the subject last mentioned : — " Much as we are indebted to cur 
German brethren, their labours are our disgrace, their Christian 
courage and self-denial our reproach, and in an English colony 
they cannot, from their almost necessary ignorance of our 
language and habits, be so acceptable as Englishmen. O that 
some self-denying and devoted clergymen, who love the Lord 
Jesus Christ better than their own lives, would at once give up 
all for Him, and come out to labour here !" 

Notwithstanding this touching appeal, the stations of the 
Church Missionary Society on the western coast of Africa 
continued to be manned chiefly by German missionaries and 
teachers, till, in the process of time, native agents were raised 
up and trained in the mission schools and the Fourah Bay 
College to take a part in the good work, into whose hands it 
ultimately passed almost entirely. This desirable result was 
largely aided by a blessed revival of religion which was expe- 
rienced in Regent's Town, Gloucester, and other places ; the 
missionaries having been withdrawn from the Rio Pongas, and 
employed chiefly in the colony, among the liberated Africans, 
after Mr. Bickersteth's visit. 

From year to year the work in which the agents of the 
Church Missionary Society were engaged in Sierra Leone pro- 
gressed in a most delightful manner, till the Committee at home 
felt warranted in placing the establishment on a new and inde- 
pendent footing, that their funds might be relieved for other 
pilrposes. A European bishop having been appointed, and 
provision made for his maintenance, and an adequate number 
of native clergymen having been trained up and ordained for 
the respective stations, it was proposed to devolve the work 
entirely on the native pastorate, with the bishop at their head, 
and to solicit aid towards its support from the funds of the 



204 Africa : Past and Present. 



colony. This was accordingly done, and for a long time a 
grant of ;;^5oo a year was made to the so-called Church of 
England in Sierra Leone, whilst all other denominations were 
left to support their own ministers as best they could. As 
might have been expected, this arrangement worked very badly, 
the majority of professing Christians in Sierra Leone feeling 
aggrieved that they should be taxed for the support of a Church 
to which they did not belong, and from which they derived no 
benefit whatever. After much agitation and heart-burning on 
the subject, the Governor and Council were obliged to discon- 
tinue a grant from the colonial chest to a Church which had 
never been established by law, and which had no grounds of 
claim for such a favour above other churches of the colony ; 
and henceforth religious equality was conceded to all denomi- 
nations, without respect to creed or condition. At the present 
time the Episcopal Church in Sierra Leone numbers one 
bishop, twenty-five ministers (fourteen of whom are natives), 
4225 communicants, 3515 scholars in the mission schools, and 
10,000 attendants on public worship. 

An outline of the proceedings of the Wesleyan Missionary 
Society in this part of the wide field may be compressed into a 
few sentences. Among the negroes who were conveyed from 
Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone, in 1791, there were several who 
had become partially enlightened and otherwise benefited by 
attending the services of the Methodist ministers in America. 
Some of these having made repeated applications to Dr. Coke 
for preachers of their own denomination to be sent from 
England, in the year 181 1 the Society responded to their 
request by the appointment of the Rev. G. Warren as their 
first missionary to Western Africa. Mr. Warren, accompanied 
by three English schoolmasters, landed in Free Town on the 
1 2th of November, and they entered upon their work in the true 
missionary spirit. They found about a hundred of the Nova 
Scotia settlers who called themselves " Methodists." These 
simple-minded people had built a rude chapel, in which they 
were in the habit of meeting together to worship God from 



Western Africa. 



205 



Sabbath to Sabbath, a few of the most intelligent men among 
them conducting the services and instructing the rest according 
to the best of their ability. They received the missionary from 
England with the liveliest demonstrations of gratitude and joy ; 
and to them, as well as to the poor afflicted liberated Africans, 
who were from time to time rescued from bondage by British 
cruisers and brought to Sierra Leone, his earnest ministrations 
were greatly blessed. 

The missionary career of Mr. Warren, so auspiciously com- 
menced, was but of short duration, however. He was smitten 
down with fever, and finished his course on the 1 2th of July, 
181 2, about eight months after his arrival, — being the first of a 
large number of Wesleyan missionaries who have fallen a sacri- 
fice to the climate of Western Africa since the commencement 
of the work. After the station had remained vacant for some 
time, other devoted missionaries were sent out to Sierra Leone, 
who counted not their lives dear unto them if they could only 
be made instrumental in winning souls for Christ. No sooner 
did the intelligence arrive in England that missionaries and 
their wives had fallen in the holy strife, than others nobly volun- 
teered their services, and went forth in the spirit of self sacrifice 
— in many instances to share the same fate. This has been 
going on for more than half a century ; and although the 
mortality among the agents of the Society is appalling to 
contemplate, the social, moral, and spiritual results of the 
mission are grand and glorious beyond description. Congre- 
gations have been gathered, places of worship erected, native 
churches organised, and Christian schools established, not only 
in Free Town, but in most of the towns and villages in the 
colony. High schools have, moreover, been established for 
the training of native teachers and preachers, and to give a 
superior education to both males and females. The advance- 
ment of the people, most of whom have been rescued from 
slavery, in religious knowledge, general intelligence, moral 
conduct, and, indeed, in everything which goes to constitute 
genuine Christian civilization, is literally astonishing. And, 



2o6 Africa : Pad and Present. 



what is better still, multitudes of sinners have been savingly 
converted to God, some of whom have passed away safely to 
the better country, and others are still exemplifying the beauty 
of religion by a holy walk and conversation. In the Sierra 
Leone district the Wesleyan Missionary Society numbers 35 
chapels, 12 missionaries (9 of whom are native ministers), 
5646 church members, 4340 scholars in the mission schools, 
and 15,000 attendants on public worship. 

In addition to the Church and Wesleyan Missionary Societies, 
who have taken the lead in the work of religious instruction in 
Sierra Leone, other agencies have been advantageously em- 
ployed. Missionaries belonging to what are called the Metho- 
dist Free Churches and the New Connexion have been at work 
for several years in Free Town. There is also a congregation 
of professing Christians who claim to belong to Lady Hunting- 
don's connexion, and some other minor bodies of religionists, 
who have, according to their respective modes of action, 
displayed considerable zeal and earnestness for the promotion 
of Christianity as they hold it. Whatever opinions may exist 
as to the undesirableness of such a diversity of religious 
denominations in a small community like that of Sierra Leone, 
every true friend of missions will rejoice to see earnest efforts 
made by anybody and everybody to stem the tide of ungodli- 
ness, and to promulgate the Gospel in a place where Moham- 
medanism and paganism still prevail to an alarming extent. 

The Gambia. 

Although the navigation of the river Gambia had been left 
for many years almost entirely to the English, it was not till 
after the restoration of Senegal and Goree to the French, in 
1816, that a permanent British settlement was formed on this 
part of the western coast of Africa, for the suppression of the 
slave trade and the encouragement of legitimate commerce. 
The place selected for this purpose was an island called St. 
Mary, four miles long and one broad, situated about ten miles 
from the mouth of the river, and separated from the mainland 



Western Africa. 



207 



towards the south by a narrow creek called the " Oyster Creek." 
The island is generally low and swampy, but it was considered 
the most eligible place for a settlement, from its commanding 
position, and the excellent anchorage which the river affords at 
this point for vessels of almost any burden. Its proximity to 
the sea, and the facility which it afforded for inland navigation, 
also recommended the locality as a suitable centre of commerce 
and civilization on this portion of the great continent. 

The foundation of the settlement was laid and the principal 
buildings were erected by a few energetic merchants and others 
who had previously resided on the island of Goree, but who 
came to St. Mary's with their servants and merchandise when 
the British took possession of the Gambia. The principal 
town is Bathurst, which stands on the northern side of the 
island, facing the main branch of the river, in latitude 13° north 
and longitude 17° west. It contains a number of excellent 
dwelling-houses, and a few public buildings of respectable 
appearance, among which may be noted the Government 
House, the Wesleyan chapel and mission-house, the barracks, 
the hospital, the prison, and a few others. The town is laid 
out with wide streets at right angles ; and the one which runs 
parallel with the river contains a number of elegant and sub- 
stantial stone buildings occupied by the principal merchants, 
with verandahs in front, which not only afford a delightful 
prospect and a grateful shade from the heat of the sun, but 
which also give to the place a beautiful appearance when viewed 
from the shipping in the harbour. The back part of the town 
is occupied chiefly with native huts, formed of wattled bamboo 
cane, thatched with long grass, and neatly plastered and white- 
washed with lime made from shells gathered along the sea- 
shore. Soldiers' Town, Melville Town, Goderich Town, Jollar 
Town, and Moka Town, are mere villages in different parts of 
the island, occupied by the classes of people indicated by some 
of their names. 

The river Gambia itself is a magnificent stream, navigable 
for vessels of considerable burden to a distance of about 400 



2o8 



Africa : Past and Present. 



miles, and possesses various features of interest, as stated in a 
previous section. It is studded with numerous islands, on one 
of which, called Macarthy in honour of an esteemed governor, 
a small British settlement was formed at an early period ; and 
several of the merchants of St. Mary's have branch establish- 
ments there, at which they carry on a considerable trade. The 
inhabitants of this part of Africa, on both sides of the river, are 
chiefly Mandingoes and Jalloffs, most of whom are Moham- 
medans, with a few pagans here and there. A large number 
of Liberated Africans, as they are technically called, have, 
however, been brought to the Gambia from time to time, 
and located on St. Mary's and Macarthy's islands and in the 
neighbouring districts, as thousands before had been taken to 
Sierra Leone. These are poor negro slaves of different nations 
and tribes who have been rescued from bondage, and landed 
from slave ships taken by British cruisers while in the act of 
pursuing their unlawful trafific. These poor outcasts have risen 
to a pleasing state of civilization and general intelligence, since 
they were taken under the fostering care of the British Govern- 
ment and favoured with the religious tuition of the missionaries. 

No provision had been made for the moral and religious 
instruction of the colonists, or the native tribes of this part of 
Africa, when the Wesleyan Missionary Society commenced its 
labours, in the year 1821. The first missionary sent out was 
the Rev. John Morgan, who arrived at St. Mary's on the 8th 
of February. He was soon afterwards joined by the Rev. John 
Baker from Sierra Leone, when these two devoted servants of 
God began to look about for the most eligible site for a mission 
station. Their object being chiefly to benefit the surrounding 
native tribes, they were anxious, if possible, to establish them- 
selves on the mainland ; and Tendabar, a few miles up the 
river, having been recommended as a suitable place, Mr. 
Morgan went there alone on a visit of inspection, as Mr. Baker 
was suffering from indisposition. The king of that part of the 
country readily granted permission for the missionaries to settle 
on his land, but signified his inability to protect them in case 



Western Africa. 



they should be molested by the people ; so, in consequence of 
this and other difficulties, the idea of settling there was 
relinquished. 

On the partial recovery of Mr. Baker, the missionaries went 
together to visit the king of Combo, on the southern bank of 
the Gambia. Having offered their presents, they were gra- 
ciously received by his sable majesty, who signified his consent 
for the strangers to settle in any part of the country which 
they might select as most suitable for their object. They 
ultimately fixed upon a place called Mandanaree, about eight 
miles from St. Mary's ; and they commenced, soon afterwards, 
to fell the trees and to build a house to live in — which they 
completed in the course of a few weeks, with the help of the 
natives. During these operations, and subsequently, the mis- 
sionaries visited St. Mary's alternatively, once a week, to preach 
to the people, and sometimes they went together. On the 14th 
of June their temporary dwelling-house was so far advanced as 
to admit of their occupying it — which they found a great relief, 
having hitherto lodged with a negro in his rude hut, amid many 
discomforts. Although considerably elevated, the place selected 
for a mission station at Mandanaree was far from healthy ; and 
when the rainy season set in both the missionaries were pros- 
trated with fever, and were obliged to remove to St. Mary's, where 
they could have medical aid. Before the end of the year, 
however, Mr. Baker proceeded to the West Indies by direction 
of the Missionary Committee, his health having become so 
impaired, by his long-continued labours in Western Africa, as 
to render a change absolutely necessary. 

Mr. Morgan had recovered from his first attack of fever, and 
was pursuing his beloved work alone, when he had the pleasure 
of receiving as his colleague the Rev. William Bell, who had 
been sent from England by the Committee to reinforce the 
mission. This devoted young missionary appeared well adapted 
for the enterprise upon which he had entered ; but he was soon 
called away to the " better country." He died of fever at St. 
Mary's on the 15th of March, forty-sbc days after his arrival. 

14 



2IO Africa: Past and Present. 



The vacancy thus made was filled for a time by the Rev. 
George Lane, from Sierra Leone, but his health also failing, he 
was soon obliged to return, and he shortly afterwards finished 
his course. On the 14th of April, 1824, Mr. Morgan was 
relieved by the arrival from England of the Rev. Robert 
and Mrs. Hawkins, who entered upon their work in the true 
missionary spirit. 

By this time it had become evident that the proper place 
for the principal station was St. Mary's, and arrangements 
were forthwith made for the erection of a mission-house and 
place of worship in Bathurst. A considerable number of native 
converts were soon afterwards united in Church fellowship, as 
the result of the faithful preaching of the Gospel ; schools were 
organized for boys and girls, and the machinery of a promising 
mission station was fairly put in motion. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins 
suffered much from sickness during their period of service, but 
they laboured well and successfully, and were spared to return 
home in 1827, the Rev. Samuel and Mrs. Dawson being 
appointed to take their place. Mrs. Dawson was smitten with 
fever and died at Sierra Leone, on her way to the Gambia, 
and her sorrowful and bereaved husband proceeded to his 
station alone. On the i8th of November, 1828, the Rev. 
Richard and Mrs. Marshall arrived at the Gambia from England, 
to relieve Mr. Dawson ; and the school being once more 
favoured with the supervision of a Christian lady, and the 
station with an energetic missionary, the work prospered in a 
very pleasing manner. Mr. Marshall had laboured with accept- 
ance and success for nearly two years, when he fell a sacrifice 
to the climate, and finished his course with joy at Bathurst on 
the 19th of August, 1830. Two days after the funeral of her 
lamented husband, Mrs. Marshall embarked with her infant son 
for England. They arrived at Bristol on the ist of October ; 
and, worn out with mental and bodily suffering, the lonely 
widow sank into the arms of death about forty-eight hours 
after she landed on the shores of her native country, and before 
he had an opportunity of seeing any of her friends. 



Western Africa. 



211 



It was when the Gambia station was thus left without a 
missionary, and the whole country without a Christian teacher 
of any kind, that the present writer and his devoted wife were 
appointed as the successors of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall, who 
had been so mysteriously called to rest from their labours. On 
our arrival at St. Mary's, on the loth of March, 1831, we set 
to work, as best as we could, to recommence the mission 
schools and public services, which had been given up for more 
than six months, and the Divine blessing attended our efforts. 
During the years that we spent at the Gambia we were often 
prostrated by the African fever ; but we were as often raised up 
again, in answer to prayer, and permitted to pursue our beloved 
work. Being the only Christian minister of any denomination 
in the country, I was induced, at the request of the governor, 
to undertake the duties of colonial and military chaplain, in 
addition to those of a missionary to the heathen ; the perform- 
ance of which I found somewhat arduous, but the Lord of the 
harvest graciously sustained me. 

A pleasing measure of success crowned our labours at St. 
Mary's ; and, two or three native preachers having been raised 
up to take a part in the good work, I felt that the time was 
come when some effort should be made to carry the Gospel to 
the regions beyond. With this object in view I made three 
successive journeys into the interior ; and, with much toil 
and exposure, I succeeded in establishing a new station at 
Macarthy's Island, nearly 300 miles up the Gambia,^ — a 
station which from that day to this, a period of nearly half a 
century, has been a centre of light and influence to all around, 
and the spiritual birthplace of many precious souls. 

When the time of our appointed service at the Gambia was 
completed, we were relieved by the arrival from England, in 
1833, of a noble band of missionary labourers. The Rev. 
William and Mrs. Fox were sent to succeed us at St Mary's, 
and the Rev. Thomas and Mrs. Dove were appointed to take 
charge of the new station at Macarthy's Island. These devoted 
brethren and sisters laboured long and successfully in this 



2 12 Africa : Past and Present. 



trying portion of the mission field, and some of them, alas ! 
fell a sacrifice to the deadly climate. They were succeeded 
by others in subsequent years, many of whom shared the same 
fate ; but whilst God buried His workmen, He carried on His 
work. Although the Wesleyan missionaries have had the field 
to themselves, a rich harvest has been already reaped, to the 
honour and glory of God, and the good work is still going on. 
A commodious new chapel and schoolrooms have been built 
at Bathurst, and a high school established for the training of 
native teachers and others ; whilst large congregations meet 
together from time to time to worship God, with a measure of 
attention and devotion truly pleasing. The following are the 
statistics of the Wesleyan Missionary Society in the Gambia 
district : Number of missionaries, 5 ; chapels, 9 ; full and 
accredited church members, 675 ; on trial for membership, 31 ; 
scholars in the mission schools, 475 ; attendants on public 
worship, 2800. 

The Gold Coast. 

The significant name of " The Gold Coast" has been given 
to a maritime country of Guinea, in Western Africa, in conse- 
quence of the quantity of gold-dust brought down from the 
interior by the natives for barter with the European merchants. 
It is about 220 miles in length from west to east, between the 
rivers Ancobar and Volta, and contains several districts with 
the dignified names of kingdoms, inhabited by petty native 
tribes with their respective chiefs or "kings" at their head. 
At several points along the coast European forts have been 
erected and small settlements formed at different periods. 
Those at Dixcove, Annamaboe, Winnebah, and Accra belong 
to the English ; Elmina belonged to the Dutch, but it has 
recently been transferred to us. The Danes also have a small 
fort at Accra. Formerly all these were connected with the 
infamous slave trade, but more recently they have been the 
centres of legitimate commerce, which consists of dye-woods, 
palm oil, ground-nuts, gold-dust, beeswax, ivory, and other 



Weskrn Africa. 



articles of native produce, which are given in exchange for 
European merchandise. 

The principal British fort and settlement on the Gold Coast 
is Cape Coast Castle, which stands upon an elevated point of 
land about twenty feet above the level of the sea, in latitude 
5° 6' north, and longitude i° lo' west, and forms a striking 
object as seen from ships at anchor in the roads. As a fortress 
the castle is an erection of amazing strength and capacity. It 
is not only of sufficient magnitude to afford accommodation to 
the British troops, but it also includes within its massive walls 
the residences of the governor and other public functionaries ; 
and the whole population of the settlement have taken refuge 
in it when the place has been attacked by an invading foe. 
The town is situated behind the castle, and contains a few 
good stone buildings, belonging to European residents and 
respectable native merchants. The rest of the houses are built 
of " swish," a compound of mud and grass, which is durable 
so long as it is protected from the rain by a projecting roof. 
The population is estimated at 5000, and is of that mixed 
character which is so common in all West African settlements. 
The majority of the inhabitants, however, are Fantis, the same 
as those of the neighbouring territory. 

The promontory on which Cape Coast Castle stands was 
originally settled by the Portuguese, but in the course of a few 
years they were dispossessed by the Dutch, who took care to 
strengthen the fortifications as much as possible, to guard 
against a surprise. Notwithstanding these precautions, in 1661 
the place was captured by Admiral Holmes, and it has ever 
since belonged to Great Britain, having been confirmed to us 
by the treaty of Breda. In former times this settlement used 
frequently to be at war with the neighbouring tribes, and it 
was in a sanguinary contest with the Ashantis that Sir Charles 
Macarthy, the governor, lost his life. A better understanding 
had existed for many years, when, in 1873, another rupture 
took place between the British authorities and the king of 
Ashanti. This was speedily settled by the utter routing of the 



'2114 Africa: Past and Present. 



enemy, and the capture of Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti, by 
the British troops under the command of Sir Garnet Wolseley. 
Since that time the Cape Coast settlement has been placed 
upon a better footing, and there is now a fair prospect of success 
in the efforts which are being made to promote the moral and 
social elevation of the people. 

Although the English have been so long dominant on this 
part of the coast, comparatively little was done till a few years 
ago for the evangelization of the natives. As early as 1751 
the Rev. Thomas Thompson, a clergyman of the Church of 
England in connection with the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, was appointed to labour at 
Cape Coast Castle. He continued in the capacity of colonial 
chaplain for four years, but very little impression seems to have 
been made upon the minds of the natives. His health failing, 
he returned to England, and took with him two negro youths 
for education. One of these, named Philip Quaque, was after- 
wards sent to the university of Oxford ; and, being subsequently 
ordained to the sacred office, he was appointed chaplain to 
Cape Coast Castle. This post he continued to occupy for 
more than fifty years ; but it does not appear that he was 
instrumental in turning any of his fellow-countrymen to the 
faith of the Gospel. Nor is this matter of surprise, when it is 
known that on his deathbed he appeared to have quite as much 
confidence in the influence of the Fetish as in the power of 
Christianity. Several English chaplains, who were sent out 
after the death of the Rev. Philip Quaque, successively died 
soon after their arrival in the settlement, and the country was 
left in a fearful state of moral destitution for many years. 

It was not till the year 1834 that the Wesleyan Missionary 
Society commenced its labours on the Gold Coast. The way 
was opened for this enterprise by a particular providence. A 
few native youths had learned to read the Bible in the govern- 
ment school established at that place, and they had become so 
deeply interested in the contents of the sacred volume, that 
they formed themselves into a little society for the more careful 



Westem Africa. 



215 



reading and study of the Holy Scriptures. As their supply of 
the precious book was very limited, they agreed to send to 
England for a number of copies of the New Testament by the 
first opportunity. They made their case known to Captain 
Potter, the master of a merchant ship from Bristol then in port. 
The heart of this noble-minded man was so impressed in their 
favour that, on his return to England, he not only complied 
with their request by procuring for them the necessary supply 
of Testaments, but he also called at the Wesleyan Mission House, 
in London, and generously offered to take out a missionary to 
the Cape Coast free of expense to the Society, engaging at the 
same time to bring him back to England on the same terms, 
if the attempt to introduce the Gospel to the Gold Coast should 
prove a failure. 

The Society gladly availed themselves of this benevolent 
offer, and the Rev. Joseph Dunwell was appointed to commence 
the mission on the Gold Coast. He accordingly sailed with 
Captain Potter towards the close of the year, and landed at 
Cape Coast Castle on the ist of January, 1835. He was re- 
ceived with every mark of kindness by his Excellency Governor 
M'Lean, and with feelings of rapture by the native youths who 
were so anxious to be instructed in the knowledge of the Sacred 
Scriptures. The young missionary opened his commission to 
preach the Gospel in Africa under circumstances peculiarly 
encouraging, and he was soon favoured with a pleasing measure 
of success, not only in Cape Coast Town, where he fixed his 
head-quarters, but in other parts of the settlement which he 
visited to make known to the people the good news of salva- 
tion. His career, thus favourably commenced, was soon ter- 
minated, however. He was cut down by fever on the 24th of 
June, and called to rest from his labours in less than six months 
after his arrival in the country, being the first of a large number 
of devoted missionaries who have fallen a sacrifice to the climate 
on this station. 

Some time after the lamented death of Mr. Dunwell, two 
other missionaries and their wives (the Rev. George O. and 



2i6 Africa: Past and Present. 



Mrs. Wrigley, and the Rev. Peter and Mrs. Harrop) were sent 
out to occupy the vacant station : the party first named arrived 
at Cape Coast on the 15th of September, 1836, and the others 
on the 15th of January, 1837. They laboured with commend- 
able zeal, and with great success, during the short time they 
were permitted to live; but within the short space of fifteen 
months the whole party were numbered with the dead, having, 
like many others, fallen a sacrifice to the climate. Indeed, both 
Mr. and Mrs. Harrop died in three weeks after their arrival ! 
They finished their course, and were called to their reward in 
the following order : Mrs. Harrop on the 5th of February, Mr. 
Harrop and Mrs. Wrigley on the 8th of February, and Mr. 
Wrigley on the 16th of November, 1837. 

Notwithstanding this mysterious and afflictive dispensation of 
Divine Providence, the Society could not think of relinquishing 
this important mission, so long as suitable volunteers presented 
themselves for the arduous and hazardous enterprise ; and it is 
a remarkable fact that, although others fell in rapid succession, 
the station was never left without a missionary for any consider- 
able time. As the good work advanced, under the blessing of 
God, native labourers were raised up, and there was henceforth 
less risk to the health and lives of European missionaries. In 
succeeding years mission stations were established, places of 
worship built, congregations gathered, and Christian churches 
and schools organized, not only in Cape Coast Town, but also 
at Elmina, Commenda, Dix Cove, Apollonia, Anamabu, Domo- 
nasi, Accra, Winnibah, and other places along the coast, and 
in the far distant interior. Indeed, for some time a missionary 
was stationed at Kumasi, the blood-stained capital of Ashanti, 
where a handsome place of worship was erected and divine 
service regularly performed, till the unsettled state of the country 
caused the withdrawal of the agent and the temporary giving up 
of the mission. During the forty-five years that the agents of 
the Wesleyan Missionary Society have been labouring in this 
wide and interesting field, the work has prospered in a most 
delightful manner, notwithstanding the unhealthiness of the 



Western Africa. 



climate and other difificulties. The following are the statistics 
of the Gold Coast district, according to the last report : Number 
of missionaries (most of whom are native ministers), 1 3 ; chapels, 
44; other preaching places, 201; local preachers, 186; church 
members, 7126; scholars in the mission schools, 2862; atten- 
dants on public worship, 31,580. 

The Basle and North German missionary societies have also 
several important stations on the Gold Coast, at Accra, Chris- 
tiansburg, Akropong, and other places. These excellent German 
institutions train and send out as missionaries not only preachers 
of the Gospel and school teachers, but also pious and devoted 
mechanics and agriculturists, to teach the natives the arts of 
civilized life, and to endeavour to raise them to a higher social 
position. In this they have succeeded, in some instances, in a 
very pleasing manner ; and in the industrial schools which have 
been established in connection with their respective stations 
there may now be seen native shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, 
and other craftsmen, busy at work plying their respective avoca- 
tions, and preparing themselves for useful positions in life. 
Some of the missionaries have, moreover, rendered good service 
to literature, and to those who may succeed them in the field, 
by the useful dictionaries, grammars, and vocabularies which 
they have compiled of native languages, and the translations 
which they have made of some portions of Scripture into the 
dialects of the people among whom they labour. During the 
Ashanti war in 1874, Captain Glover bore the following emphatic 
testimony to the piety and general good conduct of the native 
converts who joined the British army from some of the stations 
mentioned above : " Two companies of Christians, one of 
Akropong, and the other of Christiansburg, numbering about 
a hundred each, under two captains, accompanied by Bible- 
readers of the Basle Mission, attended a morning and evening 
service daily, a bell ringing them regularly to prayers. In action 
with the enemy at Adiume, on Christmas Day, they were in 
the advance, and behaved admirably, since which they have 
garrisoned Blappah. Their conduct has been orderly and 



2 1 8 Africa : Past and Present. 



soldier-like, and they have proved themselves the only reliable 
men of the large native force lately assembled on the Volta." 

According to the last reports, the Basle Missionary Society 
have thirty-two missionaries and thirty-seven lay agents at work 
on the Gold Coast, and 960 native converts are united in church 
fellowship. The North German Missionary Society report ten 
missionaries as employed in this part of the field, three of whom 
are natives and nine lay agents, with loi native church members. 
The number of scholars receiving instruction in the mission 
.cchools is not reported ; but these excellent missionary labourers 
no doubt pay due attention to the training of the rising genera- 
tion in a knowledge of the Word of God. 

Lagos. 

One of the most notorious slave depots on the western coast 
of Africa in former times was Lagos, a considerable island in 
the Bight of Benin, in latitude 6° north and longitude 4° west. 
It is situated at the mouth of a river, or, more properly speak- 
ing, a large lagoon, which runs parallel with the sea for several 
miles, and affords water communication with the interior in the 
direction of Badagry, Dahomi, Abbeokuta, and other parts of 
the Yoruba country. A great change has taken place in this 
neighbourhood of late years : the slave trade has been driven 
from this part of the continent; Lagos has become a flourishing 
British settlement, with its resident lieutenant governor and 
staff of officers ; and the amount of imports and exports, which 
are already considerable, is constantly increasing. Since life 
and property became more secure under British rule, the 
natives of different tribes have flocked to the island for the 
sake of legitimate trade and commerce ; a number of respect- 
able houses have been erected by European and native mer- 
chants, and the place now presents a lively and prosperous 
appearance, nothwithstanding the fact that the climate is of the 
same unhealthy character as that which distinguishes most of 
the settlements in Western Africa. 

The population of Lagos and the neighbouring native towns, 



Western Africa. 



219 



both in the Yoruba and Popo countries, is of a similar character 
to that which is found on other parts of the coast. Perhaps it 
became somewhat more mixed several years ago, by the emigra- 
tion from Sierra Leone of a large number of liberated Africans, 
who ventured thus to return to the countries from which they 
had been dragged as poor slaves, when they heard that the 
slave trade was abolished. Some of these emigrants had the 
happiness to find parents, brothers, sisters, or other relatives 
and friends still living, who received them as alive from the 
dead ; whilst others sought in vain for any one who could 
recognize them. There were many touching and affecting 
meetings, and great was the surprise of the natives of Lagos, 
Abbeokuta, and other places in the Yoruba and Popo countries, 
to see the change which had passed upon their friends and 
relatives by the residence of a few years in a free British colony. 
They all appeared decently clothed in European apparel, many 
of them had learned to read and write in the mission schools, 
and a few of them had become the happy partakers of the 
great salvation which they had heard proclaimed in all its 
simplicity and power, in the land of their exile. , 

It was the extensive emigration of civilized liberated Africans 
from Sierra Leone to Lagos, and the neighbouring towns in the 
Yoruba country, that led to the vigorous efforts which are 
now being made by the Church and Wesleyan Missionary 
Societies for the evangelization of the natives of this part of 
Africa. The Christian emigrants who had been connected with 
these organizations in Sierra Leone, on reaching their destina- 
tion, reported to their respective ministers the state in which 
they found the country, and earnestly requested that their 
friends and countrymen might be favoured with the proclama- 
tion of the Gospel which had made them so happy. These 
appeals were cheerfully responded to by the parties concerned, 
and a work was commenced which for prosperity and blessing 
has had few parallels in the history of missions. 

The Church Missionary Society was happy in the selection 
of the Rev. Samuel Crowther, an educated and ordained native 



2 20 Africa: Past and Present. 



minister, as the leader of the enterprise. The history of Mr. 
Crowther is equal in interest to any romance that was ever 
written. Torn away from his native land an(T sold as a slave 
when a mere boy, in 182 1, he was rescued from a slave ship 
by a British cruiser, with many others, and taken to Sierra 
Leone. There he was educated in the mission school ; and, 
discovering superior abilities in connection with early piety, he 
was trained for the Christian ministry, and in due time ordained 
to the sacred office. In 1841 Mr. Crowther accompanied the 
first Niger expedition in its exploration of the mysterious river, 
when he saw what a grand field of missionary labour was open- 
ing up in the interior, to which he resolved to devote his life. 
He was afterwards appointed as a missionary to Abbeokuta, to 
labour among the Sierra Leone emigrants and others; and on 
arriving at the scene of his future labours, he had the gratifica- 
tion of meeting with his aged mother and other relatives, after 
a separation of five-and-twenty years ! 

On the 29th of June, 1864, Mr. Crowther was further pro- 
moted, by being consecrated bishop of the Niger territory and 
superintendent of all the stations in the Yoruba and adjoining 
countries. Making the island of Lagos his head-quarters, Bishop 
Crowther, assisted by a noble band of native missionaries, has 
succeeded in establishing stations, erecting churches, and organi- 
zing Christian schools, not only in Lagos and Abbeokuta, where 
the work was first commenced, but also in various towns and 
villages in the Yoruba and Popo countries, and in several centres 
of population on the banks of the Niger. Finding the difficulty 
of navigating the Niger, and other rivers in his extensive diocese, 
in canoes and similar small craft, he made an effort when on a 
visit to England a few years ago, and succeeded in procuring a 
small steamer, in which he now visits his principal stations with 
the greatest facility. According to the last report, the Church 
Missionary Society numbers in this diocese 14 stations, 24 
missionaries (19 of whom are native ministers), 2081 church 
members, 1494 scholars in the mission schools, and 4721 
attendants on public worship. 



Wesfern Africa. 



221 



The agents of the VVesleyan Missionary Society have been as 
zealous and successful, in a somewhat more limited sphere, as 
those of the Church of England, with whom they have generally 
lived and laboured in harmony and love. Among the emigrants 
from Sierra Leone there were many Wesleyans who preferred 
their own ministers, whilst the domain of heathendom, on every 
hand, was sufficiently extensive and populous to occupy the 
agents of both Societies. At an early period a commodious 
Wesleyan mission-house and chapel were erected at Lagos, where 
the work has progressed in a very satisfactory manner from the 
beginning. A goodly number of native converts have been 
from time to time gathered into the fold of Christ and united 
in church fellowship, some of whom have been called to make 
known the good news of salvation to their fellow-countrymen. 
With a view to provide more effectually for the training of native 
preachers and teachers, as well as to give a better education to 
those who are in a position to need it, a Wesleyan high school 
has recently been erected and opened at Lagos, which promises 
to be a most useful institution. Common day-schools are also 
taught in connection with all the out-stations of the Lagos 
circuit, and the Gospel is preached to the people in two or 
three different languages. At Badagry and Abbeokuta the 
work has been somewhat fluctuating, owing to a want of har- 
mony among the people, and the constant wars and rumours of 
wars which have distracted the country. At Badagry a beau- 
tiful church and mission premises were erected several years 
ago, but the work has since languished for want of labourers. 
At Ibadu and Porto Novo a good beginning has been made, 
and the prospect is encouraging. Ahgwey, Grand Popo, and 
other more distant places, are opening up for the reception of 
the Gospel ; and although Whydah, the principal seaport of 
the kingdom of Dahomi, has been for some time without a 
missionary, in consequence of the warlike attitude of its san- 
guinary monarch, we are not without hope that, ere long, the 
whole country will be permeated with the leaven of Christianity. 
The following are the statistics of the Wesleyan Missionary 



222 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Society for the Lagos and Yoruba district, as gleaned from the 
last report : Number of chapels, 12 ; other preaching places, 20 ; 
missionaries, European and native, 8 ; full and accredited 
church members, 973; on trial for membership, 339; scholars 
in the mission schools, 1558; attendants on public worship, 
3203- 

Liberia. 

An extensive district on the western coast of Africa, between 
Sierra Leone and Cape Coast Castle, received the name of 
Liberia, from the circumstance of its being colonized by 
liberated slaves and free persons of colour from America. 
Under the auspices of a colonization society, organized in 
Baltimore, for the avowed purpose of providing a home in a 
foreign land for the class of persons just mentioned, the first 
party of settlers proceeded to Africa in the year 1822. Cape 
Mesurado, in latitude 6° 18' north, was first purchased from 
the natives, and the plan of a town, afterwards called Monrovia, 
was formed ; and as fresh emigrants arrived, additional tracts 
of country were purchased for their accommodation. In 1836 
a similar settlement was formed at Cape Palmas ; but in 1856 
they were united, and at length the settlement extended along 
the coast a distance of 600 miles — from Grand Cape Mount to 
♦he Gulf of Guinea. The majority of the early settlers were 
men of steady, industrious habits, and decided piety, belonging 
to different Christian denominations ; and they set about the 
cultivation of the ground and the preparation of homes for 
themselves and their families in their adopted country, in a 
manner which augured well for the success of the enterprise. 
Their just, humane, and benevolent policy was, moreover, said 
to have given them astonishing influence over the native tribes, 
and the settlement was commenced under favourable and 
promising circumstances. 

Although thus commenced by emigrants from America, 
Liberia was not an American colony, properly speaking, but 
a small republic or commonwealth, after the model of the 



Western Africa. 



223 



United States, and entirely independent of the parent country 
politically, although receiving important moral and material 
aid from it in different ways, when necessary. Accordingly, 
a constitution and laws were framed for the government 
of the settlement, provision being made for the election of a 
president, members of the house of representatives, and other 
public functionaries. Of course, the difficulties connected 
with the founding of this infant nation were neither few nor 
small, and some errors may have been made at an early period 
of the undertaking ; but notwithstanding every drawback, in 
all fairness it must be said that the enter|)rise succeeded better 
than could have been expected, all things being considered. 
As the number of settlers increased, townships were laid out, 
farms cultivated, towns and villages planned, and buildings 
erected in some of them which were very creditable to a rising 
community. 

The soil of Liberia is reported to be extremely fertile, and 
well adapted to the growth of all kinds of tropical produce. 
Cotton, coffee, indigo, and the sugar-cane thrive well ; and 
rice, Indian corn, Guinea corn, millet, and various kinds of 
fruits and vegetables are cultivated with ease and success. 
Cattle, sheep, goats, swine, fowls and ducks, are said to thrive 
well with little feeding, and to require no other care than to 
keep them from straying. The climate, however, partakes of 
the same sickly character as that of other parts of the coast, 
and during some seasons many have fallen a sacrifice to its 
fatal influence. The emigrants from America of African descent, 
both black and coloured, have to undergo a regular "seasoning," 
the same as the whites ; but they sooner become acclimatized, 
and ere long seem quite at home in their adopted country. 

The character of the population of Liberia has already been 
indicated, so far as the American settlers are concerned, who 
are said to number about 20,000 ; and when it is stated that a 
considerable number of the aborigines from the neighbouring 
friendly tribes have become incorporated with these within the 
boundaries of the settlement, to the number of about 200,000^ 



2 24 Africa: Past and Present. 



a tolerable idea may be formed of the kind of material that the 
Christian people and philanthropists of Europe and the United 
States had to operate upon when they commenced their 
evangelistic work in the new settlement. As already intimated, 
in almost every party of emigrants that went out there were 
some professing Christians, and among them were a few who 
were preachers and teachers, who did their best, during the 
passage and on their arrival at their destination, to instruct 
and benefit others; and as the population increased, more 
direct and systematic efforts were made in this direction 
by the appointment of missionaries entirely devoted to the 
work. 

The first direct and systematic efforts made for the spiritual 
benefit of the inhabitants of Liberia of which we have any 
notice were those of the Basle German Missionary Society, 
who in 1827 sent out three missionaries — namely, Messrs. 
Handt, Sessing and Hegele — to commence the work. They 
had all spent about three years in the missionary institution 
at Basle, and were ordained at Auggen, in the Grand Duchy 
of Baden. They were sent over to spend a few months in 
England previous to their embarkation for Africa, in order to 
improve their acquaintance with the English language. As 
the ship in which they had taken their passage was preparing 
to leave Plymouth, a block fell from the rigging and struck 
Mr. Hegele's head, hurting him so much that he was obliged 
to be taken on shore for surgical aid. In the meantime the 
vessel sailed ; but on his recovery the wounded missionary 
proceeded on his voyage by another ship, and joined his 
brethren in Liberia a few months afterwards. This was the 
first of a series of disasters which befel this mission, involving 
the sickness and death of some of the missionaries. Other 
agents were subsequently sent out by the same Society ; but 
after years of severe affliction and almost fruitless labour, they 
withdrew to the Gold Coast, and the work in Liberia was 
henceforth left entirely to American missionaries of different 
denominations, who were sent out in considerable numbers, and 



Western Africa. 



225 



who have laboured for many years with a pleasing measure of 
success. 

The American Protestant Episcopal Church reports 24 prin- 
cipal stations, occupied by 1 1 clerical and 1 7 lay agents (all men 
of colour), with 453 church members, and 658 scholars in the 
mission schools. The missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church are 28 in number, with 15 lay agents, two only of whom 
are white men. They occupy 31 principal stations, and report 
2065 church members, with 450 scholars in the schools. The 
American Presbyterians number 8 stations, 6 missionaries, 4 
lay agents and 300 church members ; and the American 
Baptists, according to the last report, employ 14 missionaries 
and 16 lay agents — but the other statistics are not given. Much 
zeal and perseverance have been displayed in connection with 
all these Christian agencies, and the result is seen in the 
parsonages, places of worship, colleges and school buildings 
which have been erected in most of the towns and villages in 
the settlement, and in the improved morals of the people, 
which will compare favourably with those of many other 
Christian countries, and which augur well for the future 
prosperity of Liberia, 

Senegal. 

From an early period the French have had several settle- 
ments on the western coast of Africa, the principal of which 
is on the island of St. Louis in the river Senegal, about nine 
miles from its mouth, in latitude 16° north and longitude 16° 
west. It was taken by the English in 1758, and in the time of 
the American war it was recovered by the French, and afterwards 
confirmed to them by treaty. The island itself is small and 
unattractive, and the buildings erected upon it, consisting of a 
fort, government offices, Roman Catholic church, hospital, 
barracks, and a few dwelling-houses and native huts, are not 
remarkable for neatness or elegance. The place is, nevertheless, 
of considerable importance as the centre of an extensive trade 
with the interior, the staple articles of which are gum, ivory, 

15 



2 26 Africa: Past and Present. 



gold, beeswax, ground-nuts and hides, which tlie merchants 
receive for European goods instead of slaves as formerly. 
The soil in the neighbourhood of the colony is light and 
sandy; but in favourable seasons it is cultivated with advantage, 
and various kinds of tropical fruits and vegetables are brought 
to market by the natives and sold at moderate prices. 

The next French settlement worthy of notice as a dependency 
of Senegal is Goree, a romantic little island situated between 
the mouths of the Senegal and the Gambia, in latitude 14° 30' 
north and longitude 17° 20' west, only about a mile distant 
from the mainland, near Cape Verd. It has been successively 
possessed by the Dutch, English, and French ; but it has been 
occupied by the last-named power since 181 6, when the 
English removed to the Gambia. On a sandy point, at the 
foot of a rocky eminence, stands the town, which contains some 
good buildings, including government offices, hospital, and 
Romish church. Towering above the whole may be seen the 
fort of St. Michael, ready to frown upon any assailant who 
may dare to approach. A considerable trade is carried on 
with the natives on the mainland, who are chiefly Jalloffs. 
The articles of native produce which are collected from different 
places in the interior, for barter with the merchants at Goree, 
are of the same kind as those which are brought to St. Louis 
on the Senegal, and the settlements are in many respects similar 
to each other. 

The French also claim a small settlement or trading establish- 
ment called Jelifree, on the northern bank of the river Gambia, 
a few miles above the island of St. Mary ; but it has always 
been a subject of dispute and misunderstanding, the English 
merchants and government authorities at Bathurst maintaining 
that the Gambia, with all its settlements, appendages, and 
privileges, was ceded to the English by the French when 
Goree was given up to the last-named power. A few years 
ago, earnest efforts were made by the French to get the British 
settlements at the Gambia entirely into their possession, in ex- 
change for some other small unimportant setdements which they 



Western Africa. 



227 



claimed nearer Sierra Leone, and the British Government at 
one time seemed disposed to regard the proposal with favour : 
but the opposition on the part of the merchants at the Gambia 
and their friends in England was so strong and persistent, that 
the scheme was at length relinquished. The French have also 
small settlements at Portendick and other places lower down 
the coast, but they seem ambitious to have more. In 1879 
they took summary possession of a trading-place at Matacong, 
near Sierra Leone ; but the English, who had several years 
previously purchased the place from the paramount chief of the 
country, disputed their right, and they were obliged to retire. 

At all the French settlements on the western coast of Africa, 
Roman Catholicism is predominant ; and, led away with the 
gaudy display of the ceremonials of that system of religion, a 
considerable number of the simple-minded natives in some 
places have been induced to embrace it, although they seem to 
understand little or nothing of its dogmas. We are not aware 
that any systematic effort has been made at any of the above- 
named places for the propagation of Protestant Christianity, 
with the exception of the settlement on the Senegal, to which 
we believe two missionaries were sent some time ago by the 
Paris Evangelical Missionary Society ; but with what results we 
have not heard. 

Fernando Po. 

One of the largest and most important islands on the we'stern 
coast of Africa is Fernando Po, and it enjoys many advantages 
from its peculiar position. It is situated in the Gulf of Guinea, 
about seventy miles from the coast of Benin, in latitude 3° 30' 
north and longitude 8° 45' east. It is thirty miles long and 
twenty broad ; and in its general aspect it is rugged and 
mountainous in the extreme, some of the peaks rising to the 
height of 3000 feet above the level of the sea. Fernando Po 
nominally belongs to Spain ; but for a long time it remained 
unoccupied by any European power, vessels of any nation 
putting in there for supplies of wood and water as the masters 



2 28 Africa: Past and Present. 



felt disposed. From its elevation, and other favourable circum- 
stances, it was thought at one time that it would prove a more 
healthy situation than any place on the neighbouring coast, and 
in 1827 a British settlement was formed upon it by an amicable 
arrangement with the Spanish government. The experiment, 
however, in the first instance, resulted in disappointment. Of 
thirty European settlers sent out, nineteen died in the course 
of a few months, and it was found necessary to fill government 
situations as much as possible with intelligent natives from 
Sierra Leone and other settlements on the continent. 

Although there are some fertile valleys between the moun- 
tains, and several promising tracts of land along the shore, the 
ground at P'ernando Po has never yet been extensively cultivated, 
nor its natural resources put to the test. The island has been 
used chiefly as a place of rendezvous for British cruisers and 
mercantile ships trading along the coast. In this way it was 
very useful and convenient to the Niger Expedition in 1841, and 
on various other occasions, when a considerable number of 
English men-of-war were stationed on the coast. When the 
slave trade was driven from this part of the continent, and tlie 
number of British cruisers was reduced, the island of Fernando 
Po became of less importance to England, and the Spanish 
government wishing to occupy the place, it was handed over 
to them according to agreement. It has ever since been a 
Spanish settlement, although the port has been open to vessels 
of all nations as before. 

The principal town of Fernando Po, and the site of the 
settlement, was called Clarence by the English ; but it is 
designated Santa Isabel by the Spanish, and is situated on 
the north side of the island. It is occupied by government 
officials and a few troops from Europe, and by a considerable 
number of natives of various tribes from different parts of the 
neighbouring coast, who have come here to ply their respective 
vocations, and to get a living as best they can. The aborigines 
of the island, called Boobies, are represented as a wild, savage 
race, who occupy villages composed of rude native huts in the 



Western Africa. 



fastnesses of the mountains, and seldom venture into the 
settlement, unless it be to beg rum and tobacco. The native 
population is said to have been increased from time to time 
by renegade slaves and criminals who have fled from the 
mainland and taken refuge in the wild mountains of the island. 

Among the settlers and aborigines of Fernando Po some 
really useful missionary work has been done at different times, 
which deserves a passing notice. The first in the field were 
the agents of the Baptist Missionary Society, who commenced 
a station at Clarence, and laboured for several years among the 
settlers of all classes with very pleasing results, whilst the English 
had possession of the island. But when Fernando Po was 
given over to the Spaniards, Roman Catholicism was proclaimed 
to be the established religion of the settlement ; and the harsh- 
ness and persecution with which the Baptist missionaries were 
treated by the government authorities issued in their removal 
to the continent, and the mission was relinquished. In 1870— 
some improvement having taken place in the policy of the 
Spanish government — the Primitive Methodists were induced 
to commence a mission in Fernando Po, the Rev. Messrs. 
Burnett and Roe being the first missionaries sent out. They 
and their successors laboured for several years very successfully, 
both at the principal station at Santa Isabel and on the out- 
stations which were formed in the interior of the island for the 
benefit of the Boobies. Societies were formed of hopeful 
converts, and of persons from the continent who had received 
good at other mission stations, and all was going on well, 
when in 1879, in consequence of some misunderstanding, the 
missionaries were again banished from the island. An appeal 
was at once made to the home authorities, both EngUsh and 
Spanish, and in the course of a few months the missionaries 
were allowed to return : the result remains to be seen. 

Meanwhile it is pleasant to notice that a good work is being 
carried on by various missionary ' societies on the mainland, 
immediately opposite Fernando Po, in the Bight of Benin, 
among native tribes where no regular European settlements 



2 so Africa : Past and Present. 



exist. The Baptists had a prosperous mission on the banks 
of the Cameroons before they were driven from Fernando Po, 
and since then their work has been considerably extended. 
They now employ eight missionaries, three of whom are native 
Africans, besides two lay agents. They number 113 Church 
members and 70 scholars in the mission schools. These 
figures give but a faint idea of the results of this mission, as a 
large amount of preparatory work has been done in the way of 
translating the Scriptures into the language of the people, and 
in instructing the natives in the arts of civilized life, which can 
scarcely fail to be productive of much good in time to come. 
A new mission has, moreover, been sent out from the Cameroons 
to the distant interior on the banks of the Congo, which promises 
much good to that country. 

The United Presbyterians of Scotland have some important 
stations a little higher up the coast, on the Old Calabar. On 
these seven missionaries are usefully employed, besides forty-one 
lay agents. The number of native converts reported as united 
in church fellowship is 140, and 687 scholars are receiving 
instruction in the mission schools. Amid many difficulties 
this work has been carried on for several years ; and although 
the results are not large, as seen by mortal eyes, the way has 
been prepared, in many respects, for a still wider diffusion of 
the Gospel in the near future. 

The American Presbyterians have also prosperous missions 
lower down the coast, at Corrico and Gaboon, on the equator. 
They report seven missionaries and twenty-four lay agents as 
busily at work on their respective stations. The number of 
native converts united in Church fellowship is 133, and 125 
children are receiving instruction in the mission schools. These 
are but the small beginnings of a work which it is hoped will, 
in time to come, spread itself all along the coast and far away 
into the distant interior. Were men and means available, there 
appears nothing to prevent the universal spread of the Gospel 
in Western Africa, the people being everywhere willing to listen 
to the simple proclamation of Divine truth. 



Western Africa. 



231 



Angola. 

Angola is the name given to an extensive territory on the 
coast of Africa, lying somewhat between the western and 
southern portions of the great continent, but generally classed 
with the former, and reaching from the equator to 15° 
south latitude. This comprehensive term, in geographical 
parlance, is generally understood to comprehend a number of 
Portuguese settlements widely separated from each other, but 
possessing many features in common, known as Angola Proper, 
Congo, Loando, and Benguela. Portuguese writers relate that 
this vast region was originally divided into seventeen provinces ; 
eleven of which, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, became 
subject to the king of Portugal ; also that they found the 
aborigines of the country a wretched cannibal race, preferring 
for food the flesh of man to that of animals, and always sacri- 
ficing human victims at their funerals, — practices to which some 
of the southern tribes are said to be still addicted. 

All the settlements of Angola were in their heyday of pros- 
perity during the reign of the slave trade. Indeed, the life and 
vigour of the Portuguese colonies were maintained by this 
horrid traffic in human beings. Nor did it abate in any 
considerable degree when the slave trade was abolished by 
Great Britain. It was for some time rather increased, being 
concentrated in these southern regions when it was prohibited 
on the northern portions of the coast. It is said that for 
several years no fewer than 40,000 negroes were annually 
shipped from these Portuguese ports alone, chiefly to the Brazils 
and the Spanish West Indies. When the slave trade was at 
length declared to be piracy, and those engaged in it were 
subject to severe punishment, by a solemn compact between 
Great Britain and other European powers, the traffic declined 
somewhat, as it could now only be conducted in a stealthy and 
clandestine manner. As the British cruisers employed on the 
coast for the express purpose of putting down the slave trade 
succeeded in capturing Portuguese and Spanish slavers, and in 



232 



Africa : Past and Present. 



liberating thousands of the poor captives, from time to time, 
a still further check was given to the abominable traffic, till it 
ultimately disappeared almost entirely from the western coast. 
From that time the Portuguese settlements of Angola and 
Benguela have declined very much, legitimate commerce with 
the natives being somewhat limited, and agriculture being but 
little practised. 

The Portuguese settlements of Western Africa present to the 
view of the traveller who happens to visit them the appearance 
of decay and neglect. Lands naturally fertile and productive 
are allowed to remain uncultivated ; buildings originally com- 
modious and handsome are out of repair ; and the inhabitants, 
both European and native, seem destitute of energy, life, and 
spirits. The most respectable towns and settlements are those 
of Loando and Benguela, where there are some good Roman 
Catholic churches and other public buildings, and where there 
is more trade carried on than at most of the other places. 
From the accounts given by the travellers Livingstone, Stanley, 
and Cameron, who passed through some parts of this territory, 
the country is possessed of vast resources, which might be 
turned to good account if the Portuguese colonists possessed 
the requisite energy to promote their development. 

We are not aware that any means are being employed for the 
moral and social elevation of the native tribes of this part of the 
African continent. When the Portuguese first arrived in the 
country to commence their settlements, the Romish priests who 
accompanied them were very zealous, in their way, for the 
interests of their Church, and they not only ministered to their 
fellow-countrymen, the colonists, but laboured also to bring 
over the natives to the profession of Christianity. Having 
gained their good-will by trifling presents, and by gaudy pro- 
cessions, resembling their own heathen ceremonies, they got 
them to consent to become Christians, and baptized them by 
hundreds at a time. We read of as many as 20,000 native 
converts obtained in this way, between the years 1580 and 
1590. Misunderstandings afterwards occurred, which resulted 



Western Africa. 



233 



in the banishment of the priests from most of the stations which 
they had formed in the interior ; and when Captain Tuckey 
visited this country, in the early part of the present century, to 
explore the river Congo, so completely had the effects of these 
early Romish missionary labours been obliterated, that he did 
not find the slightest vestige or recollection of Christianity 
remaining among the natives. 

From what we know of the native tribes inhabiting the 
interior of this portion of the vast continent, we have reason 
to believe there is a fine field for missionary labour among 
them. Nor can we think that the pure Gospel seed of the 
kingdom sown in faith would be allowed to perish, as did 
the chaff in former days ; for Jehovah Himself hath said, 
" As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and 
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it 
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and 
bread to the eater ; so shall My word be that goeth forth 
out of My mouth : it shall not return unto Me void, but it 
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in 
the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah Iv. 10, 11). 



234 



Africa : Past and Present. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SOUTHERN AFRICA. 



General Description — Mountains, Rivers, and Lakes — Soil, Productions, 
and Climate — Native Tribes and Settlers — European Colonization — 
The Cape Colony : Western Province — The Cape Colony : Eastern 
Province — British Kaffraria — The Colony of Natal — The Orange Free 
State — The Transvaal — Zululand — Neighbouring Territories. 



OUTHERN AFRICA may be said to comprise that por- 



wJ/ tion of the great continental peninsula which lies to the 
south of the Tropic of Capricorn. It is bounded on the east 
by the Indian Ocean, on the west by the Atlantic, on the north 
by the imperfectly explored regions of the interior, and on the 
south by the stormy waters of the ocean which wash the 
immediate shores of the Cape of Good Hope. 

In a country of such vast extent, being about two thousand 
miles in length and nearly the same in breadth, we are not 
surprised to find great diversity in scenery, soil, and climate. 
There are some striking features, however, which apply pretty 
generally to the whole of this extensive and interesting portion 
of the globe. Wherever we travel in Southern Africa we behold 
everything on a grand and gigantic scale. There is nothing 
little or insignificant in the topography of this country. Every 
scene in nature corresponds with the magnitude of the con- 
tinent on which it is found. The mountains generally rise to a 
high altitude, and frequently stretch away in apparently intermi- 
nable chains, as far as the eye can reach, till they are lost in the 
dim distance, from which they again emerge to the view of the 




Southern Africa. 



235 



admiring traveller as he pursues his journey. The valleys, the 
rivers, the lakes, and the deserts are equally imposing in their 
magnitude and general aspect. 

Mountains, Rivers, and Lakes. 

The principal mountains of Southern Africa, of which we 
have any definite knowledge, are the Omatako, Khamisberg, 
Sneewkop, Piketberg, Table Mountain, Langberg, Winter- 
berg, Amatola, Stromberg, Cockscomb, Compassberg, and the 
Kolobeng. Some of these elevated peaks belong to mountain 
ranges which run nearly parallel with the coast on both sides 
of the continent ; the principal of which are the Zwartbergen, 
Nieuveld, Dragensberg, Roggeveld, and Quathlamba ranges. 
These are backed by others of still greater altitude, concerning 
which little is known, as they stretch far away into the unex- 
plored interior, and unite to form what is technically called by 
geologists the " backbone " of Africa, or the grand " water- 
shed " from which most of the rivers wind their way to the 
mighty ocean in different directions. 

The chief of these rivers are the Swakop, Orange, Buffel's, 
Olifant's, Berg, and the Zout, which run into the Atlantic ; and 
the Breede, Knysna, Gauritz, Gamtoos, Sunday's, Buffalo, 
Kowie, Great Fish, Keiskamma, Great Kei, Bashee, Umtata, 
Umzimvooboo, Tugela, and the Zambezi, which flow into the 
Indian Ocean. With the exception of the Zambezi and the 
Breede, none of these rivers are available for inland navigation 
to any extent. It is true that vessels may find a safe and com- 
modious harbour in the mouth of the Knysna, in the district 
of George ; but, so far as it is navigable, this may be regarded 
as a lagoon rather than as a river. Important harbour works 
have for several years been in progress at the mouths of the 
Kowie and the Buffalo, on the east coast, which it is hoped 
will enable vessels of moderate draught to proceed some 
distance up the country, as well as to discharge their cargoes 
at convenient wharves. Indeed, the works at the place first 



236 Africa : Past and Present. 



named have been finished for some time, and are found to 
answer their intended purpose ; and those at East London are 
progressing rapidly, under the direction of Sir John Coode. 
The mouths of most of the other rivers of Southern Africa are 
blocked up with immense sand-bars, which stretch from shore 
to shore, and upon which the waves of the sea break with 
fearful violence. Some of them, indeed, are only periodically 
supplied with water of any considerable depth, their beds being 
in many places completely dry during the summer months. But 
after heavy rains in the winter season they frequently swell to 
an alarming extent, and sweep away all before them. Then 
travellers may be seen with their waggons and carts, waiting on 
the banks, day after day, till the waters subside, before they can 
ford the streams, bridges being almost unknown in the interior. 

The only great lakes which have as yet been discovered in 
this part of the world are Lake N'gami, partially explored by 
Mr. Oswell and Dr. Livingstone in 1846; the Lake N'yassa, 
first visited by the last-named enterprising traveller in 1861 ; 
and the Lakes N'yanza and Tanganyika, more recently explored 
and described by Livingstone, Stanley, Cameron, and others. 
Some of these are, in fact, great inland seas, being several 
hundreds of miles in circumference, and studded with numerous 
beautiful islands. Most of these belong more properly to 
Central Africa, and will be further noticed in due course. 
There are many other extensive sheets of water to be seen in 
different parts of the country, especially after heavy rains have 
fallen ; but these generally dry up in the summer season ; and, 
from the saline character of the soil, the ground is frequently 
encrusted with a coat of salt, which the natives collect and 
turn to good account as an article of commerce. 

Soil, Productions, and Climate. 

Extensive tracts of country in various parts of Southern 
Africa frequently present the appearance of sterile wastes. 
This is more especially the case after long periods of drought, 



Southern Africa. 



237 



when everything is burnt brown with the fiery rays of the sun, and 
scarcely a blade of green grass is to be seen for scores of miles. 
The face of nature in the same localities wears a very different 
aspect, however, when refreshing rains have fallen to fertilize 
the earth. Then vegetation is remarkably rapid in its growth, 
notwithstanding the thin and sandy nature of the soil ; and, in 
the course of a few days, the whole landscape is delightful to 
look upon. In the place of dreary wilds we now behold smiUng 
green pastures, studded with beautiful flowers of almost every 
hue, and all creation seems to rejoice in the delightful change. 
This circumstance will account, in part at least, for the various 
and conflicting accounts given by different travellers of the 
soil and scenery of the same countries, who have passed 
through them at opposite seasons of the year. 

There are vast regions of this portion of the continent, 
however, to which the name of desert will strictly apply — the 
face of the whole country presenting the appearance of nothing 
but rugged rocks and plains of shifting sands, and where 
gloomy nature never smiles. In passing across these dreary 
wastes, the way-worn traveller may proceed on his journey 
from day to day without meeting with a drop of water to 
refresh himself or his cattle, and many have perished in the 
wilderness before relief could be obtained. To these barren 
tracts of country the natives have given the name of karroos, 
which signifies "dryness." The most extensive of these is 
the Kalihari, or Great Desert, north of the Orange River, 
extending nearly 1000 miles in length, and more than 300 
in breadth, between Great Namaqualand and the Bechuana 
country. Nearly the whole west coast of Namaqualand, 
from Buffel's River to Walvich Bay, may also be called desert, 
as it consists almost entirely of a succession of dreary sand- 
hills and barren wastes, to a distance of from thirty to forty 
miles from the sea-shore. There are, moreover, several smaller 
tracts of country of a similar description within the boundaries 
of the Cape Colony, which are very thinly inhabited, in con- 
sequence of the sterile character of the ground and the great 



238 Africa: Past and Present. 

scarcity of water. One of these is crossed by tlie main road 
leading from Cape Town to Beauford West, and is called by 
way of distinction " the Karroo." 

In one respect the topography of Southern Africa differs 
materially from that of Western Africa. The latter country is 
remarkable for its extensive and primeval forests, which are 
found skirting the margins of the numerous rivers and crowning 
the tops of the highest mountains ; but in the former we may 
travel for days and weeks in succession without ever seeing a 
tree larger than a gooseberry-bush, unless we meet with a few 
straggling camel-thorns, or willows, scattered along the banks 
of the periodical rivers. There are exceptions, however, to 
this peculiar feature in the general aspect of the country. In 
some parts of Kaffraria, Natal, the district of George, and in 
other localities, forests of considerable extent are to be found, 
which afford an ample supply of timber for building and other 
purposes. 

On viewing the wild, romantic, and generally sterile character 
of the regions mentioned above, the reader must not conclude 
that the whole country is a barren wilderness. With the excep- 
tion of the actual deserts, to which special reference has been 
made, the most unfavourable districts are well adapted for 
grazing and rearing cattle, provided they have a wide range of 
pasture ; and on the south-eastern coast there are many large 
sheep-farms, where tens of thousands of sheep may be seen in a 
thriving condition. In the broad valleys, and on the extensive 
plains between the mountains, the soil is frequently rich and 
fertile, and well adapted for the growth of various kinds of 
grain and other produce. In the neighbourhood of many of 
the colonial towns and villages may be seen fruitful vineyards 
orchards, gardens, and smiling fields of corn, which would bear 
comparison with those of any country in Europe. The greatest 
drawback to the successful prosecution of agricultural labours in 
Southern Africa is the scarcity of water, the irregularity of the 
seasons, the long-continued droughts which freq.uently occur, 
and the natural indolence of the native population, especially 



Southern Africa. 



239 



in the more interior districts of the country. These difficulties, 
it is to be hoped, will be in a measure overcome in the course 
of time, by the adoption of improved methods of irrigation, 
emigration, and other useful expedients which have been found 
so advantageous in other countries. With such improvements 
the capabilities of the soil might be more fully developed, and 
the country at large be made to present stronger claims to the 
attention of those who find it necessary to seek a home for 
themselves and their families in foreign lands. 

Already the natural and mercantile productions of Southern 
Africa are very considerable. The Cape Colony produces corn, 
wool, wine, aloes, dried fruit, hides, horns, skins, and tallow. 
From Namaqualand and other parts of the interior are brought 
large quantities of cattle, copper ore, ivory, ostrich feathers, and 
the skins of various kinds of wild animals, tanned and prepared 
for the market with considerable skill by the natives. And in 
Natal a promising commencement has been made in the culti- 
vation of sugar, coffee, arrowroot, indigo, and hemp. Whilst 
these and other commodities have become staple articles of 
export, butter, brandy, and tobacco are manufactured in large 
(luantities for home consumption. Vegetables and fruit of 
various kinds are found in great abundance at the Cape, where 
ordinary attention is paid to their cultivation, and they might 
be obtained at a cheaper rate everywhere if more care and 
industry were given to them. We have potatoes, cabbages, 
carrots, peas, beans, kanalkoes, and the squash ; also oranges, 
apples, pears, peaches, loquats, pineapples, pomegranates, and 
quinces, with other vegetables and fruits of minor consequence 
in abundance. 

The whole country offers a fine field for the researches of 
the naturalist ; and, although the prescribed limits of this work 
do not admit of a formal discussion of such matters, we may 
briefly note a few particulars. In the department of geology, 
the stupendous rocky mountains of granite and other formations 
demand more attention than they have hitherto received, not- 
withstanding the praiseworthy researches of Mr. Baynes and 



240 Africa : Past and Present. 



others, who have done something in this hne of study. And 
the numerous indications of iron, copper, gold, and other valu- 
able metals which appear in various parts of the country, are 
deserving of fuller investigation. In 1873 extensive diamond 
fields were discovered on the northern frontier of the Cape 
Colony, which caused an immense rush of population to that 
part of the country, and which have been the source of con- 
siderable wealth to many. It has been stated, on good authority, 
that diamonds to the value of at least ;^8, 000,000 have been 
exported during the past seven years. The copper mines of 
Namaqualand have also been steadily worked with advantage to 
the companies engaged for several years past, large quantities of 
rich ore having been shipped to England at different times. 

The botany of the Cape was carefully studied by the late 
Dr. Pappe, who embodied his researches in an interesting work 
entitled " Sylva Capensis," in which the reader may find ample 
information on this department of science. In zoology much 
remains to be done, notwithstanding the explorations and exploits 
of Mr. Gordon Gumming and other celebrated Nimrods of 
modern times. Many of the wild animals, once so numerous in 
the Cape Colony, have been exterminated or driven back before 
the march of civilization. The lion, elephant, camelopard, 
rhinoceros, eland, and other large animals, are found only in 
the remote interior ; but the tiger, wolf, jackal, baboon, and 
other troublesome creatures of smaller size are frequently found 
sufficiently near the homesteads of the settlers to be exceedingly 
annoying. Various kinds of deer, differing in size from the 
gigantic quagga to the delicate little antelope, are frequently 
met with. Ostriches are very common in the distant deserts, 
and they have recently been domesticated and reared on 
colonial farms for the sake of their feathers, which command 
a good price in European markets. The number of domesti- 
cated ostriches in the Gape Colony in 1875 was 22,257, 
and the value of the feathers exported was ;^35o,ooo. Smaller 
birds are to be seen almost everywhere in great variety, 
from the majestic eagle to the beautiful little humming-bird ; 



Southern Africa. 



241 



whilst reptiles and insects abound in varieties almost innu- 
merable. 

The climate of Southern Africa varies considerably in different 
localities, but upon the whole it may be said to be generally 
healthy. In confidently making this statement we would not 
have the reader to conclude that it is a perfect paradise, but 
merely that it is superior to many other semi-tropical countries. 
There are numerous drawbacks to health and comfort even in 
the Cape Colony. The heat of summer is frequently oppressive, 
and the storms of winter are often violent and destructive. 
We have seen half a dozen splendid vessels driven on shore in 
Table Bay, in the course of a few hours, by the violence of the 
gale from the north-west. The south-east winds, which prevail 
in the summer season, have no doubt a beneficial effect, in a 
sanitary point of view ; but they are, nevertheless, a source of 
great inconvenience and discomfort to the inhabitants during 
their continuance. Such is the violence with which they some- 
times blow, that travelling becomes not only difficult but even 
dangerous. Carriages are occasionally upset on the roads, 
communication by boats with the shipping in the bay is inter- 
rupted, and dense clouds of dust are whirled about in every 
direction, the red particles of which find their way into every 
house and into every crevice and corner, to the great annoyance 
of the inmates. 

The commencement of a violent " south-ea«ter "' in the 
neighbourhood of the Cape is accompanied by a singular 
phenomenon. A large white cloud gathers around the top 
of Table Mountain. This is familiarly known by the people 
as the " table-cloth " ; and when it spreads its ample folds 
over the rocky height, every one looks out for the coming 
gale, which never fails to set in from the south-east. This un- 
pleasant wind sometimes continues to blow for a week or ten 
days without intermission ; and during the whole time the white 
cloud may be seen hovering around the summit of the mountain. 

Frost and snow are never known in the immediate vicinity of 
the Cape. It is only on the high lands of the interior that 

16 



242 



Africa : Past and Present. 



the ground occasionally becomes covered with a white carpet 
in July or August, the coldest months of winter ; and even 
then it soon disappears. On the tops of the highest moun- 
tains the snow sometimes remains a little longer ; but there 
also it is soon dissipated by the powerful rays of the sun, 
and the cold is never intense or of long duration. There are, 
however, frequent and sudden changes in the temperature 
of the atmosphere, to which may be attributed the numerous 
ailments of a rheumatic type, which are so prevalent among 
all classes of the people. Cases of pulmonary consumption 
are very rare, and the climate has been found favourable to 
persons of weak chests, when they have availed themselves of 
it before the fatal disease had become actually developed. 

Native Tribes and Settlers. 

Southern Africa is inhabited by people originally belonging 
to various nations and tribes, of different shades of complexion, 
and speaking different languages. Some of these may be re- 
garded as aborigines, properly so called, whilst others have 
come from distant regions, settled in the country, and adopted 
it as their home. 

The real aborigines of the Cape of Good Hope are undoubt- 
edly the deeply degraded race called Hottoitots, whose origin 
and early history are involved in much obscurity. Some 
African travellers and ethnologists have expressed the opinion 
that, from the resemblance of this singular section of the 
human race, in complexion and features, to the Chinese and the 
ancient Egyptians, they must all have had one common origin 
and home; and that the progenitors of the Hottentot race 
must, at a remote period, have come from the valley of the 
Nile, and, by degrees, have travelled the whole length of the 
continent. Be this as it may, there is no doubt but this tribe 
of Africans, like many others, has undergone considerable 
change since the country was first visited by Europeans. 

The Hottentots of the Cape are generally short and slender 



Southern Africa. 



243 



In their persons, of yellowish complexion, with high cheek- 
bones, short foreheads, and woolly hair, thinly growing in short 
knobs, and scarcely covering the head. In disposition they 
are mild and timid ; and, although deeply degraded, they 
are not by any means so stupid as some have represented 
them to be. They possess a tolerable share of native talent, 
but they lack energy to call it into action. They are pro- 
verbially indolent ; and, in their natural state, eating and 
sleeping appear to be the objects of their highest ambition. 
They are, nevertheless, easily trained to any kind of light 
labour and domestic duties. They make excellent shepherds 
and house servants, and are very useful to the farmers, 
amongst whom they chiefly reside. When brought under 
the influence of religion, they are readily impressed with the 
truth ; and we have known many of them who have not only 
spoken the English or Dutch language with tolerable fluency, 
but have learned to read the Scriptures for themselves, to 
pray to God, and to worship in His sanctuary, Avith a 
solemnity and decorum which might put to shame many 
professing Christians of other lands who live in the habitual 
neglect of these sacred duties. A few also from among these 
poor outcasts have been raised to the higher work of teaching 
and of preaching the Gospel to their fellow-countrymen. 

There are now very few real Hottentots remaining in South 
Africa. They have, to a considerable extent, become amalga- 
mated with other native hordes, or with the descendants of the 
original Dutch settlers, and form distinct classes of people yet 
to be noticed. The few who still continue unmixed with other 
tribes are to be found in small detached settlements, far from 
the abodes of civilized men, at the respective mission stations, 
or in the service of the Dutch Boers. Perhaps, properly speak- 
ing, the wandering tribes of Bushmen, found in some parts of 
the interior, are almost the only representatives of the original 
unmixed Hottentot race. These are certainly the most abject 
and miserable specimens of humanity that we ever beheld in 
any country. They are extremely diminutive in stature — some 



244 



Africa : Past and Present. 



of them standing not more than three or four feet high — and 
remarkably thin and haggard in their appearance. They 
wander about in the desert, destitute of clothing, save a piece 
of sheepskin thrown round the waist, with their bows slung 
behind them, and their poisoned arrows stuck in the hair of 
their heads ; and obtain a miserable subsistence from the 
uncertain produce of the chase, roots which they dig up from 
the ground, and the larvae of ants, with an occasional treat of 
locusts and wild honey. Bushmen never cultivate the ground, 
nor do they possess cattle, unless we make an exception in 
some cases where a few goats may be kept by them among 
the rocks in the wilderness. 

The Hottentot language is a strange gibberish, and very 
difficult for a European to learn, unless ha is accustomed to 
hear it spoken from his childhood. Almost all the mono- 
syllables, and the leading syllables in compound words, are 
thrown out of the mouth with a sudden retraction of the 
tongue from the teeth to the palate, and sound not unlike 
the clucking of a hen with her chickens. These strange clicks 
are, nevertheless, arranged according to rule, and must occur at 
the proper place, or the sense of the word is entirely spoiled. 
Difficult as this language is, it has, notwithstanding, been re- 
duced to grammatical form by the missionaries, and portions of 
Scripture have been translated into it ; whilst at the same time 
the Gospel has been preached to the people in their own tongue. 

The Namaquas, who occupy a large tract of country on the 
western coast of South Africa, are evidently a branch of the 
Hottentot family. Having for generations past come in con- 
tact, and to some extent mixed, with other tribes, they now 
appear much superior to the parent race from which they have 
descended. They possess the same complexion, cast of counte- 
nance, and outline of feature ; but are taller, and more indepen- 
dent in their bearing. The Little Namaquas resident within 
the Cape Colony have generally become civilized by the 
labours of the missionaries. They cultivate the ground, possess 
herds of cattle, waggons, and horses ; and in the knowledge of 



Southern Africa. 



245 



letters, and other branches of general information, they have in 
some instances got in advance of their neig|ibours the Dutch 
Boers, who have been sadly neglected in their education. In 
Great Namaqualand, beyond the Orange river, the people are 
less advanced, inasmuch as they have not been favoured with 
the same privileges, and occupy a country so sterile that 
agriculture is almost out of the question. They nevertheless 
own extensive herds of cattle and waggons, with which they 
move about from place to place, as the state of the pastures 
and the seasons require. This interesting people are divided 
into numerous petty tribes, under the leadership of separate 
chiefs or captains, who formerly directed and controlled all 
their movements for the grazing of their cattle, and in the 
hunting expeditions in which they frequently engaged ; but of 
late years their influence has been considerably diminished, 
since they have been taken under British protection, and a 
government official has been appointed to reside among them 
for magisterial and other purposes. 

The Korannas, another branch of the Hottentot family, re- 
semble the Namaquas in the leading features of their character 
and condition, and therefore do not call for a separate descrip- 
tion to any great extent. They formerly lived in small detached 
tribes, under separate petty chiefs, in the same manner as their 
neighbours ; but have now, like them, been brought under 
British control, having an appointed government agent resident 
among them as magistrate, with a salary of ;!^8oo per annum. 
They nevertheless wander about with their flocks and herds 
over an extensive tract of country, lying between Griqualand 
on the east and Namaqualand on the west. It is a very easy 
matter for these people to remove a town or a village, for they 
can take to pieces their spiral-shaped huts, made of sticks and 
mats, in a few minutes, pack them on the backs of their oxen, 
with their other goods and chattels, and march off to their next 
encampment, when the pasturage for their cattle fails. Their 
cultivation is limited almost entirely to the native tobacco plant, 
with sometimes a little maize, or a few pumpkins and melons ; 



246 



Africa : Past and Present. 



and they subsist chiefly upon the milk of their flocks, with an 
occasional feast of animal food taken from the fold or procured 
by the chase. My friend George Thompson, Esq., who travelled 
among the Korannas several years ago, thus describes a party 
with whom he met in the wilderness : " They were miserable- 
looking beings, emaciated and lank, with the withered skin 
hanging in folds on their sides ; while a belt bound tight round 
their bodies indicated that they were suffering, like myself, from 
long privation of food. I attempted to make them understand 
by signs that I was in want of provisions, and would gladly 
purchase some ; but they replied, in a language which could 
not be misunderstood, by shaking their heads and pointing to 
the girdle of famine tied round their stomachs." 

The Griqiias are a mixed race, of Hottentot descent on the 
mothers' side, whilst they claim paternal relationship originally 
with the Dutch Boers. They are a numerous and respectable 
semi-civilized tribe of natives, and occupied an extensive tract 
of counti7 along the northern bank of the Orange river, under 
their own independent chiefs, until their removal farther north, 
by an arrangement with the British Government a few years ago, 
to a region known by the strange appellation of " No-man's- 
land." Under the instructions of the missionaries, the Griquas 
have risen to a pleasing stale of intelligence and prosperity ; 
and they cultivate the ground with considerable care and 
success, many of the leading men among them owning good 
farms and extensive herds and flocks. A similar class of 
people are found in various parts of the colony, dispersed 
among the farmers, and located in the neighbourhood of the 
respective mission stations, known by the uncouth name of 
" Bastards," a separate description of whom is unnecessary. 

In addition to the different tribes of people already mentioned 
as being in some measure of Hottentot descent, we have in the 
colonial towns and villages a number of coloured persons, many 
of whom are truly intelligent and respectable. In their dress 
and manners they imitate to a considerable extent their em- 
ployers, as do also the Griquas and Bastards. They follow 



Southern Africa. 



247 



various branches of trade, and are useful members of society. 
Those who are brought under the influence of rehgion are 
generally very active in the cause of God, and prove useful 
members of the respective branches of the Christian Church 
with which they are identified. 

But the most numerous and powerful race of natives in 
Southern Africa are the Kaffirs, who are divided into various 
tribes under paramount and subordinate chiefs, and who differ 
in many respects from the Hottentots already described. The 
name " Kaffir " is somewhat vague and indefinite in its signifi- 
cation. In the abstract it simply means " infidel," or " unbe- 
liever " ; and in Mohammedan countries it is applied exclusively 
to all who are not Mussulmans, irrespective of complexion or 
nationality. Tn relation to Africa, however, the term has become 
applicable of late years to a race of people inhabiting the south- 
eastern coast of the great continent. 

Very little is known of the origin and early history of this 
people. It is generally admitted, however, that the country 
which they now occupy has not been their home for many 
generations, and that they must have originally come from the 
north. They are much superior, in their personal appearance 
and in their mental qualities, to most of the other African tribes. 
They are thus described by the traveller Barrow, who had much 
intercourse with them : " There is perhaps not any nation under 
heaven that can produce so fine a race of men as the Kaffirs. 
They are tall, stout, muscular, well-made, elegant figures. Their 
countenance is ever indicative of cheerfulness and contentment. 
Their skin, which verges towards black, and their short curly 
hair, are rubbed over with a solution of red ochre, which pro- 
duces an appearance far from disagreeable." The persons of 
the women are not so handsome. Accustomed to field labour 
as well as to domestic drudgery, the females are masculine and 
robust in their appearance, and generally of short stature as 
compared with the men. The colour of their eyes is sparkling 
jet, whilst their teeth are pearly white and remarkably regular. 
Although the Kaffir is generally of similar complexion to the 



248 Africa : Past and Present. 



negro, he has neither the thick lips nor flat nose which distin- 
guish the inhabitants of the higher regions of the continent. 

A carosse, or mantle of tanned skins, is the chief article of 
dress used by both sexes among the Kaffirs. That of the females 
is distinguished by a thong of leather suspended from the 
shoulder, and loaded with ornaments of various kinds. In 
addition to the carosse, the females wear a kind of petticoat 
made of leather, and a small apron fringed with beads. Indeed, 
in common with their sisters of other lands, they are passionately 
fond of ornaments of all kinds, and we have seen them literally 
loaded with beads of various sizes and colours. They also use 
buttons, buckles, iron and copper rings, and other trinkets, for 
the same purpose. The Kaffir chief wears a carosse of tiger or 
leopard skin, a kind of garb which no person of inferior rank 
is allowed to assume. In addition to this mark of royalty he 
carries, or has carried before him by a person appointed for 
the purpose, an elephant's tail, which is equivalent to the royal 
sceptre in more civilised countries. Like most of the other 
natives of Southern Africa, the Kaffirs live in huts formed of 
sticks bent into a spherical shape and covered with rush matting, 
and resembling in appearance, when finislied, huge beehives. 
These are easily taken down and removed when there is occa- 
sion for a kraal to change its locality. 

As they occupy a country with a soil capable of cultivation, 
the Kaffirs pay more attention to agricultural pursuits than 
many other African tribes. Whilst the men and boys are 
engaged in attending to the cattle, the women and girls build 
the huts, cultivate the ground, manufacture earthen pots, and 
construct baskets of the Cyprus grass, in which they keep their 
milk and other commodities. They plant a species of millet 
known as Kaffir corn ; also maize, kidney beans, pumpkins, 
Indian corn, water melons, and a few other simple esculents. 
The native method of preparing the ground for seed by the use 
of a wooden hoe was in former times extremely rude and simple, 
but of late years many improvements have been introduced by 
the missionaries. When they first beheld the plough in opera- 



Southern Africa. 



249 



tion, they gazed at each other with blank astonishment. At length 
an old chief, recovering from his amazement, broke the silence 
by exclaiming with delight — " See how the thing tears up the 
ground with its iron mouth: it is of more value than five wives !" 

The food of the Kaffirs, and their mode of living, are very 
simple. They only take two meals a day, one in the forenoon 
and the other in the evening. These consist chiefly of boiled 
corn and milk, with slight modifications according to circum- 
stances. They seldom eat animal food, except on the occasion 
of great festivals ; then they consume an enormous quantity, 
and abandon themselves to a life of dissipation for several days 
together. Kaffir beer is made with an infusion of millet which 
has undergone a regular process of drying, grinding, boiling, 
and fermentation, somewhat after the plan of preparing malt in 
civilised countries, and is very intoxicating. This was their 
]jrincipal drink at their feasts till they became acquainted with 
the white man's more potent " fire-water," but alas ! now brandy 
is frequently resorted to. Tobacco and snuff are in high repute ; 
the former they smoke out of highly-finished wooden pipes, and 
the latter they convey to their distended nostrils, not with the 
finger and thumb, which they would consider quite vulgar, but 
with small iron or ivory spoons, which they carry stuck in their 
hair for the purpose. 

Those who have been most intimately acquainted with the 
various Kaffir tribes have not discovered among them any traces 
of a religious system, properly so called, either idolatrous or 
otherwise, or any practices deserving of the name of religious 
rites and ceremonies. The nearest approach to it is the habit 
of each person throwing a stone to certain heaps which they 
pass by the wayside when on a journey ; but this appears to be 
done either in memory of the dead, whom they suppose to be 
buried there, or with a superstitious notion of securing safety 
while travelling. Circumcision is universally practised by the 
Kaffirs, but no religious idea appears to be associated with the 
ceremony. They have a vague notion of a Supreme Being, 
whom they call Uhlanga or Utixo, and of a future state of 



250 Africa : Past and Present. 



existence ; but they seem to have no idea of rewards or punish- 
ments. They believe in witchcraft, and the rain-makers and 
witch-doctors drive a very profitable trade among their deluded 
fellow-countrymen. Some of the cruelties practised in connec- 
tion with " smelling out " and punishing the suspected witch are 
awful to contemplate, often resulting in the innocent suffering. 

This brief description of the appearance, manners and cus- 
toms of the Kaffirs, will generally apply to the bold and warlike 
people who bear that name. But it must be remembered that 
they exist in a great variety of tribes, under their respective 
chiefs, scattered over a vast extent of country, although they 
speak the same language in dialects with shades of difference 
one from the other. We have already some knowledge of the 
following tribes — viz., the Amakosa Kaffirs, including the minor 
tribes of Gaika, Slambie, Gonubi, and some others, living in 
British Kaffraria ; Amagaleka, beyond the Great Kei ; Ama- 
tembu, or Tambookies, in Kaffirland proper ; Amaponda, 
between the Bashu and the Umzimculu ; Amabaxa, north and 
east of the latter; Amalunga, in Natal, and on the northern 
border ; Amazulu, or Zulus, east of Natal ; Amazwasi, near 
Delagoa Bay ; Amatibile, south of the Zambesi, under Moseli- 
katse ; Amafengu, or Fingoes, once living in a state of slavery 
among other Kaffir tribes, but freed by the British, and now 
settled on locations provided for them in the Cape Colony. (The 
prefix Atna, in Kaffir, signifies " people " or "tribe.") 

In addition to these, there are other tribes of natives in South 
Africa of kindred character which might come under the general 
head of Kaffirs, but which, nevertheless, have some shades of 
difference, and consequently require a brief separate notice. 
We allude to the tribes which speak the Sechuana language, 
which differs considerably from the Kaffir proper, although it 
may perhaps be traced to the same origin. This class includes 
the Bastitus, north-west of the Maluti mountains ; the Bechuanas, 
north of the Orange river ; and the Batelaps, Bamungwatas, 
Bakweins, Makolola, etc., north and west of the Vaal and Orange 
rivers. The most intelligent and powerful of these tribes in the 



Southern Africa. 



neighbourhood of the Cape Colony is that of the Easutus, who 
prospered greatly under their late paramount chief Moshesh. 
By means of the instructions and fostering care of the mission- 
aries, these people have made considerable progress in the arts 
of civilized life, as well as in religious knowledge ; and the old 
chief himself was a remarkable instance of native talent, 
shrewdness and sagacity, although he never formally embraced 
Christianity. The Basutus have recently been taken under the 
protection of the British Government, and bid fair to show to 
the world what a tribe of Africans can do in the way of self- 
government and progress, when they have proper inducements 
to exert themselves. 

The Damaras a.nd\Ova>npos, to the north of Great Namaqua- 
land, form another branch of this extensive family of South 
African tribes. These people speak a language somewhat 
different to those already mentioned, and yet it is no doubt 
traceable to the same source. 

Many of the native tribes of Southern Africa already mentioned 
are of jet black complexion ; and some of them, as the Damaras 
for instance, whose home is in the far north, possess other 
features which distinguish the negro character, who nevertheless, 
by affinity of language and other peculiarities, seem to claim 
kindred with the Kaffir race. A few individuals from these 
remote regions find their way to the Cape Colony in the service 
of African traders, and never return. But in addition to these 
there are a considerable number of real negroes, the descendants 
of those at the Cape who have been rescued from slavers by 
British men-of-war, whilst cruising chiefly off the eastern coast 
in the Mozambique Channel. These liberated Africans have 
been brought to the colony at different times, and have found 
employment as domestic servants, fishermen, and field labourers, 
in which capacities they have proved very useful to the com- 
munity. They are now found dispersed over various parts of 
the country, and many of them have been brought under 
religious influences, and have become sober and industrious 
citizens. 



252 Africa: Past and Present. 



In several of the towns and villages in the neighbourhood 
of the Cape there is also a numerous class of coloured people 
called Alalays, which deserves a passing notice. Their origin 
is to be traced to an early period of the possession of the 
Cape Colony by the Dutch. The Cape being a convenient 
place of call in voyages between Europe and India, a few 
Dutch settlers arrived there from Batavia as early as 1652, 
bringing their Malay servants with them. Slavery had existed 
for some time previously in Java ; but it is said that most of 
the natives of the east who were thus brought to South Africa 
in the first instance came as free servants, and were treacherously 
registered as slaves on their arrival at the Cape, to their great 
consternation. Be this as it may, there is no doubt but the 
number of Malays was subsequently increased by additional 
importations, at different times and under various circumstances. 
Government documents of the date of 17 10 record the intro- 
duction of convicts from Java and Ceylon ; and a number of 
names are given of persons under the sentence of banishment 
for their offences, some of whom were afterwards pardoned, and 
intermixed with this class of the inhabitants. Again, in 1737 
and in 1749, a number of Malays of distinction were sentenced 
to exile, and brought from Java to the Cape Colony as state 
prisoners, who on being set at liberty mixed with their fellow- 
countrymen as others had done before them. 

From these sources, with the occasional arrival of Malay 
slaves with their Dutch masters from the east, the present race 
of Malays has sprung ; and being all rigid Mohammedans, 
they have clung together, intermarried with each other, and 
now form a distinct class of people, notwithstanding the shades 
of difference in their complexion, social position and national 
origin. A large portion of them were in a state of bondage, in 
common with other black and coloured inhabitants of the Cape 
Colony, till the general emancipation throughout the British 
empire in 1838, when they were all made free. A very few of 
the modern Malays are the children of Java-born parents, the 
greater portion of them having descended from parents born 



Southern Africa. 



253 



in the colony. There are a few families who pride themselves 
on being Malay-Arabian in descent, whilst several more are 
known to be the immediate offspring of female slaves and their 
Dutch masters. 

In personal appearance the Cape Malays differ from any 
other class of the inhabitants. They are generally of middle 
stature, and of slight but sinewy frame ; their eyes are small 
and sparkling ; their hair black and silky ; their features are 
somewhat compressed, but expressive ; whilst the face is 
slightly elongated and oval-shaped. The complexion varies 
from a yellow or light brown to a deep olive. The men cut 
close the hair of the head, but allow the moustache and 
beard to grow, trimming the latter into a peculiar peaked 
form. The head-dress of the Malay man is a small closely- 
tied turban of crimson cloth, sometimes surmounted with a 
broad-brimmed, conical-shaped straw or palm-leaf hat ; his 
other covering consists of a brilliant neck-scarf, a vest of gay 
colours, a long jacket and wide trousers, with high-heeled 
clogs or sandals. Some of the priests, and all who have 
achieved a pilgrimage to Mecca, assume the title of haji, and 
afTect a complete Oriental dress of Cashmere shawls, massy 
turbans, and long flowing robes of printed cotton or silk. 

The Malay women wear their hair in tresses, which are long, 
black, and glossy, brushed back from the temples, and fastened 
behind the head with a large gold or silver bodkin. Their 
dress, which on gala days is of silk or other expensive material 
(but ordinarily of cotton), differs from that of European females 
in having a short body or spencer of a different colour from 
the wide flowing skirt to which it is attached. The Malay 
ladies never wear bonnets, hats, or other covering for the 
head, nor does a vestige of the Eastern custom of veiling remain 
with them. They generally dispense with stockings; but on 
their feet they wear ornamental sandals. In the choice of 
colours and arrangement they often display considerable taste 
and appreciation of effect, their well-chosen and somewhat 
showy attire adding a charm to their personal graces. Their 



254 Africa: Past and Prezent. 



figures are generally good, and their features not devoid of 
comeliness. 

The food of the Malays consists chiefly of fish and rice, but 
occasionally of flesh-meat and different kinds of vegetables. 
Of pork, however, they dare not partake, nor yet of any animal 
which has not been killed by a priest, who in slaughtering 
performs a certain ceremony which is considered of great 
importance by the people. Every butcher in Cape Town is 
obliged to keep a Malay priest in his pay, who comes daily to 
the shambles to attend to this duty, or he would not be able 
to sell any meat to this class of the community. 

As no distinction is made between this and other classes of 
coloured persons when the census is taken, we cannot state the 
exact number of Malays who are now resident in the Cape 
Colony ; but from a careful calculation we estimate them at 
10,000. About 7000 of them are found in Cape Town and 
neighbourhood, and the remainder are scattered abroad in the 
different towns and villages of the Western Province. The 
Malays are industrious and thrifty in their habits ; and many 
of them have acquired a considerable amount of property 
by dint of persevering efforts. They make good mechanics, 
coachmen, grooms, gardeners, and fishermen ; and we have 
generally found them civil and respectful when in our employ. 

Although strict Mohammedans, polygamy is not generally 
practised among the Malays, as they conform to British law 
without difficulty. They moreover abstain from the use of 
wine and spirituous liquors; but are fond of trips of pleasure 
into the country, and it is a pleasant sight on a Monday 
morning to see waggon-loads of men, women and children 
driving off for a holiday. In Cape Town, Clarmont, and some 
other places, Mohammedan mosques have been erected, where 
the people assemble for service at stated periods in considerable 
numbers. The priests who officiate on these occasions are 
generally more or less acquainted with Arabic, and they chant 
their prayers and portions of the Koran in that language with 
considerable fluency. They are very far from being united in 



Southern Africa. 



255 



their views and efforts, however, being divided into no less than 
five different sects, the members of which regard each other 
with feelings of bitter jealousy. With a view to unite and 
further instruct the Mohammedans of Southern Africa in the 
doctrines of Islamism, the Ottoman Government sent out, a 
few years ago, a distinguished Effendi from Constantinople, 
named Abu Beker ; but his mission has hitherto been appa- 
rently fruitless, several of the priests resisting his authority with 
the utmost persistency, even to the extent of actions at law. 

It has often been matter of regret to strangers visiting the 
Cape, to see so little direct effort put forth by Christian minis- 
ters and people for the conversion of the Malays to the faith of 
the Gospel ; but the fact is that far more is being done in this 
way than many are aware of. Distinct and special missions 
have repeatedly been organized for their special benefit ; but 
they have invariably been met with the most determined 
opposition, both by priests and people, till they have been 
ne;essarily relinquished. Several of the missionaries and 
philanthropists of the Cape have come to the conclusion, after 
many years' experience, that the best means of benefiting the 
Malays, and of ultimately winning them over to the faith and 
practice of Christianity, are those which are most private, 
silent, and quiet in their operation, as mission schools, pastoral 
visitation. Christian kindness, incidental conversation, tract 
distribution, and holy living. These means we have known 
to be very beneficial, and we have witnessed some interesting 
conversions from the ranks of the false prophet to the service 
of the Redeemer. 

We now come to notice that portion of the population of 
South Africa which is of fairer complexion, and which may be 
classed under the general designation of European settlers. 
The first class of " pale-faced strangers " who visited the 
country for the purpose of colonization was the Dutch. The 
Portuguese had been there before, but had soon taken their 
departure. About the middle of the sixteenth century the 
Dutch took formal possession of the country, from which period, 



256 Africa : Past and Present. 



notwithstanding the changes which have taken place in the 
form of government, they have been the most numerous class 
of European colonists. They are to be found in almost every 
part of Southern Africa ; but more especially in the Transvaal, 
the Orange Free State, and in the Western Province of the Cape 
Colony, where their language prevails to a considerable extent 
among all classes of the community. 

The favourite occupation of the Dutch settlers is farming ; 
and many of them having obtained grants of extensive tracts 
of land at an early period and at a trifling cost, they have 
become quite wealthy, and live in the midst of plenty after 
their rude fashion. The Dutch " Boers," as the farmers are 
invariably called, are remarkable for their hospitality to stran- 
gers, if they are favourably impressed with their character and 
appearance and the object of their first visit. In order to 
arrive at a right conclusion on these points, they scan the 
traveller with a keen eye as he approaches their dwellings ; 
and, before he has time to alight from his horse or vehicle, 
the patriarch of the family generally proposes to him three 
important questions at one breath, which he is expected to 
answer without equivocation : namely, " Wie ben u ? " " IVaar 
kom u van daan ? " " Waar ga 7i ? " (That is, in plain English, 
"Who are you?" "Where do you come from?" "Where 
are you going?") If the answers to these inquiries are satis- 
factory, the farmer says, ^'■Kom binnen," — that is, " Come in " — 
and from henceforth the traveller is heartily welcome to the 
hospitality of the house during his stay. Besides the Boers 
who reside in the interior, and in the rural districts, there are 
a number of Dutch gentlemen to be found in the towns and 
villages of the Cape Colony, who occupy prominent positions 
as ministers, physicians, lawyers, government officials, and 
merchants; and our happy social intercourse with many of them 
is remembered with pleasure. 

Since the Cape Colony became a permanent appendage to 
the British Crown, at an early period of the present century, 
the number of English settlers has been every year increasing ; 



Soitthern Africa. 



257 



but the largest accession to this class of colonists was made in 
1820, when several thousands arrived in the course of a few 
months, and were located in Albany and other parts of the 
Eastern Province. That large importation of the British 
element, with subsequent emigration on a smaller and more 
gradual scale, has rendered South-Eastern Africa more English 
in its character than any other portion of the great continent. 
In the stores of Port Elizabeth and Graham's Town, and on 
many^of the farms in the rural districts of the eastern frontier, 
the English traveller might almost imagine himself back again 
in his own country ; and of late years the English element in 
Cape Town and its vicinity has rapidly increased, so that every- 
where the English language is now spoken, and our country- 
men are found occupying every possible position in the social 
scale, from the governor of the colony to the humblest artisan. 

There are also at the Cape, as in most of the colonies of the 
British empire, a considerable number of Scotch and Irish 
settlers located in different parts of the country, who are 
noted for their industrious and thrifty habits. The largest 
number of either of these classes of colonists which has ever 
arrived at one time was the Scottish party of British settlers, 
who came out in 1820, under the leadership of Mr. Pringle, 
the celebrated South African poet. These settled at a place 
called Glen Lyden ; and although their descendants became 
scattered in after years, they and their enterprising countrymen 
who have emigrated at different times form an important element 
in the European community in the Cape Colony. 

In addition to the various classes already mentioned, we 
have in South Africa a considerable number of French and 
Germans, and other persons belonging to different continental 
nations, a particular description of whom is not necessary. At 
an early period of the history of the Cape Colony, on the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a number of French 
Protestant refugees emigrated to South Africa, that they might 
enjoy the blessing of religious liberty, of which they had been 
deprived in their own country. These were located by the 

1-7 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Dutch government in a fertile valley called Fj-ansche Hoek, or 
" French Corner," a spot which we have visited with pleasure, 
and which is rendered increasingly interesting by one of the 
beautiful sonnets of the poet Pringle. These early French 
settlers devoted themselves to the cultivation of the vine, 
for which the soil and climate were found congenial. Their 
descendants have to a considerable extent become amalgamated 
with the Dutch portion of the population ; but the French 
element of society has been replenished from time to time by 
more recent arrivals from Europe. 

At the close of the Crimean war, when the German legions 
were disbanded, a large number of the soldiers accepted an 
offer which was made to them of a free passage to South 
Africa, and grants of land on the eastern frontier of the Cape 
Colony, to be held on condition of certain military service to 
be rendered, when necessary, for the defence of the country. 
Although the settlement of these Germans does not appear to 
have answered its intended purpose, the people soon becoming 
scattered, it nevertheless added largely to this particular class 
of the European population, and furnished a number of in- 
dustrious artisans, at a time when they were much required. 

The character, extent, and comparative progress of the 
population in the British colonies in Southern Africa, with the 
gradual increase in the quantity of stock and wheat produced, 
may be seen at once from the following table, embodying the 
returns of the last census : — 



PROGRESS OF POPULATION, ETC., IN BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. 



Date. 


Whites. 


Natives. 


Sheep. 


Cattle. 


Bushels of 
Wheat 


1710 


2,CX30 


3,000 


130,000 


20,000 


60,000 


1769 


10,000 


10,000 


245,000 


38,000 


525,000 


1798 


22,000 


40,000 


1,500,000 


251,000 


600,000 


1820 


47,000 


63,000 


2,300,000 


320,000 


620,000 


1846 


70,000 


108,000 


4,500,000 


470,000 


650,000 


1865 


197,000 


470,000 


9,800,000 


670,000 


1,400,000 


1875 


300,000 


I,3DO,O0O 


11,000,000 


1,100.000 


1,800,000 



Souihern Africa. 



259 



In studying these statistics, it must be remembered that, 
from time to time, the colonial boundaries were extended, — 
a circumstance which will account for the rapid increase in 
number of the natives enumerated as compared with the white 
population. 

European Colonization. 

The history of European colonization in various parts of the 
world presents to our view many pages stained with crime, 
treachery, and blood ; and over their mournful records the 
genuine philanthropist may well shed tears of sorrow. When 
a country is but sparsely populated, and tens of thousands 
of acres of land are seen lying waste, which are never likely to 
be occupied by the thinly-scattered inhabitants ; and when the 
natives are known to be indolent in their habits, and averse to 
agriculture, it is not surprising that more energetic and indus- 
trious races of men, who are too much crowded in their own 
country, should form schemes of emigration with a view to 
subdue, possess, and bring the land under profitable cultiva- 
tion. And if this were done in the spirit of justice, truth, and 
Christian kindness to the aborigines, no one need complain ; 
but, alas for our fellow-countrymen ! this has not always been 
the case. 

The colonization of South Africa forms no exception, in our 
opinion, to the general lack of humane and charitable treatment 
of the native tribes by European settlers, over which we have 
so frequently had occasion to mourn. And yet we are free to 
admit that we have no sympathy with those who would condemn 
all the colonists as equally guilty of cruelty to the natives. We 
have met with many noble exceptions, and can call to mind 
with pleasure delightful instances of genuine Christian kindness 
towards the dark aborigines. 

A correct idea of the past and present state of Southern 
Africa, and of the circumstances under which some portions of 
it have been colonized by Europeans, together with what has 
been done to civilize and evangelize the native races, \vill best 



26o Africa: Past and Present, 



appear from a succinct account of the respective colonies, 
l)rovinces, districts, settlements, and missions, into which the 
country has been divided, and on which our countrymen have 
operated for weal or for woe for many years past. 

In taking a " bird's-eye view " of this interesting portion of 
the British empire, we must look at the Cape Colony, British 
Kaffraria, the Colony of Natal, the Orange Free State, the 
Transvaal and neighbouring territories, including Basutuland, 
Griqualand, Bechuanaland, Kaffirland, Zululand, Bushmanland, 
Namaqualand, Damaraland, Ovampoland, and the regions be- 
yond. After the sketches we have given of the people them- 
selves, our account of the countries they occupy, and the means 
which have been employed to promote their improvement, 
must necessarily be brief and fragmentary. 

The Cape Colony — Western Province. 

The great promontory of Southern Africa was discovered by 
the Portuguese navigator, Bartholomew Diaz, in the year 1493 ; 
who, in consequence of the boisterous weather which he 
experienced when approaching it, called it Cava Tormentoso, or 
"The Cape of Storms but Emanuel, king of Portugal, on the 
return of Diaz, changed its name to that of" The Cape of Good 
Hope," from the hope he entertained of finding a passage beyond 
it to India. In this he was not disappointed, for Vasco Gama, 
having doubled this cape in 1497, proceeded to India, and 
landed at Calicut in the month of May the following year. 
The Cape of Good Hope was not colonized by the Portuguese, 
however, but by the Dutch, who landed and formed a settle- 
ment there in 1650. For many years the colony was very 
circumscribed in its area, extending only to the foot of Table 
Mountain and to Salt River, scarcely a mile from the fort or 
castle which they built on the shores of Table Bay, when they 
laid the foundation of Cape Town, the present capital of Cape 
Colony. 

The country beyond these narrow limits was inhabited by the 



Southern Africa. 



native Hottentots, who viewed with jealousy and distrust the 
arrival of the " pale-faced strangers " ; and many touching 
stories are told of the early adventures of both parties. It is 
said that soon after the first Portuguese ship that visited the 
Cape anchored in Table Bay, near Robin Island, a number of 
sailors went on shore, when a disturbance with the natives was 
occasioned by the following little incident : — One of the sailors 
having a pair of bright buckles on his shoes, which attracted 
the attention of the savages, and he being unwilling to part 
with them, some misunderstanding arose, which ended in the 
massacre of seventy-five persons. Some time afterwards a 
party of Portuguese landed at the Cape again ; and knowing 
that the natives were fond of bright and glittering articles of 
metal, they took with them a bright cannon as a present, as 
they said, to the paramount chief To the cannon, which was 
loaded with musket balls, some long ropes were attached, that 
the Hottentots might drag it away to their place of residence 
behind Table Mountain. Not aware that this shining object was 
an engine of destruction, they readily took hold of the ropes, 
and when on a line with its open mouth, a person previously 
appointed for the purpose put the match to the priming, when 
an explosion instantly took place, and the bullets killed most 
of the simple natives in front of the cannon. Those who 
escaped death fled to the mountains to await an opportunity 
for revenge. 

In the year 1652, the Dutch East India Company took 
formal possession of the Cape, the first governor being the 
humane and pious Jan Van Riebeek, who appears to have 
commenced every enterprise upon which he entered in the 
name of God, and with the offering up of prayer for the Divine 
blessing. After a successful career of ten years he died, and 
was succeeded by others, who failed to tread in his steps. 
Had every government official and every European colonist 
arriving at the Cape of Good Hope been like Van Riebeek, 
the history of the colony would have been more creditable 
than it really is. During the century and a half that the 



262 



Africa : Past and Pixsent. 



Cape Colony remained in the hands of the Dutch it advanced 
considerably in population and material prosperity, and divine 
worship was regularly maintained for the benefit of the settlers, 
but scarcely anything was done for the spiritual enlightenment 
of the natives. 

In the year 1795 the Cape of Good Hope was captured by 
the English, under Sir James Craig ; and in the month of 
May, 1797, Lord Macartney arrived there to take charge of the 
government. In 1802 the colony was restored to the Dutch 
by the peace of Amiens ; but on the breaking out of war again 
it was retaken by the British in 1806, under Sir David Baird, 
since which period it has remained in our possession. For 
many years the Cape of Good Hope was what is technically 
called a Crown Colony, the government being administered by 
a governor appointed by Imperial authority, assisted by a 
Council Board, the members of which were either government 
officers or gentlemen selected by the governor himself for the 
honourable position. But in 1856 the colony had so far 
advanced in general intelligence, that it was considered ripe 
for representative institutions and self-government ; and a con- 
stitution was accordingly granted by the British Crown and 
Parliament, providing for a Legislative Council and House of 
Assembly somewhat after the plan of the Upper and Lower 
Houses of Parliament in England ; only at the Cape the 
members of both houses are elected by the colonists on the 
principle of a moderate and liberal franchise. A few years 
afterwards complete responsible government was established 
in the Cape Colony, ministers of state for different departments 
being appointed, and liable to be in or out of office in the usual 
way, according to circumstances, the governor still holding his 
office by imperial authority, as representative of the king or 
queen of England. 

Under British rule the Cape Colony has gradually but 
rapidly advanced in every department, and its commercial and 
mercantile interests have prospered in a very remarkable 
manner. The population has greatly increased by means of 



Southern Africa. 



265 



emigration and otherwise ; towns and villages have sprung up 
in every direction ; railways have been built ; harbour improve- 
ments have been promoted ; cultivation has been extended, 
and every branch of trade, commerce, and industry has 
progressed from year to year to a very encouraging extent, 
notwithstanding the occasional drawbacks which have been 
experienced from periodical droughts, native wars, and other 
untoward events. The colony as a whole now assumes a very 
prosperous and promising aspect, and will compare favourably 
with any other appendage of the British Crown. This will 
more fully appear by a brief description and a cursory topo- 
graphical survey of its extensive area, including the Eastern and 
Western Provinces, and the districts into which they are divided 
for electoral, judicial, and fiscal purposes, with their respective 
towns and villages. 

On approaching the Cape of Good Hope from Europe, 
the first thing that strikes the eye is the dim outline of Table 
Mountain, which rears its lofty head to the height of 3,582 
feet above the level of the sea ; with the minor elevations of 
the Devil's Peak, the Lion's Head, the Lion's Rump, and 
Green Point in the distance. On entering Table Bay, Cape 
Town is distinctly seen, with its whitewashed houses glittering 
in the sunlight, and stretching along the shore to the distance 
of a mile or more, with vessels of various kinds anchored before 
it, and the almost perpendicular granite front of the mountain 
rising behind. This was formerly regarded as a very insecure 
port for ships to visit, and during the winter months, when 
heavy gales set in with fearful violence from the open sea, we 
have known scores of vessels driven on shore and completely 
wrecked ; but since the construction of splendid docks, and 
the erection of an extensive breakwater of solid masonry, it is 
found to be a desirable harbour of refuge, and a place where 
repairs to shipping of all kinds can be speedily and efficiently 
executed. In the centre of Table Bay, at a distance of eight 
miles from the shore, is seen Robin Island, on which are 
located hospitals and asylums for lepers, lunatics, and the 



264 



Africa : Past and Present. 



chronic sick, with other institutions which are thought to be 
best away from the mainland. 

Cape Town, the capital of the Western Province, and the 
metropolis of the colony, is a large and handsome city, with a 
population of about 35,000. The streets are laid out at right 
angles, and many of the houses are of a substantial and elegant 
character. Some of the stores, or shops, and warehouses, with 
their splendid plate-glass windows and highly-ornamented 
fronts, would be no discredit to any city in Europe. The 
principal public buildings are the Government House, the 
Houses of Parliament, the Public Library, the Commercial 
Exchange, the Custom House, Somerset Hospital, two Epis- 
copal churches, two Wesleyan churches, two Dutch Reformed 
churches, one Lutheran church, one Roman Catholic church, 
one Congregational church, one Baptist church, two Moham- 
medan mosques, and a Jewish synagogue. The city being 
lighted with gas, and cabs and omnibuses plying in every 
direction, with now and then the shrill sound of the railway 
whistle and the loud snorting of the iron horse, as the trains 
leave for the country, one might fancy one's self in a first-class 
English town, if it were not for the flat-roofed houses, the 
lumberly ox-waggons, and the variety of complexions and 
costumes which meet the eye in every direction and tend to 
give to the place a foreign aspect. 

On leaving the city, and crossing the dreary sandy Cape 
Flats, which terminate at False Bay and separate Table Moun- 
tain with its surroundings from the interior districts, we come 
to the more fertile regions of Tigerberg and Koeberg, cele- 
brated for their corn farms, all included in the Cape division 
of the colony, with the village of D'Urban for their centre. 
But the towns and villages in the immediate neighbourhood of 
the capital demand a brief description. 

Mowbray is a pleasant village four miles from Cape Town. 
It consists of a number of detached cottages and respectable 
mansions, which are situated on each side of the public road, 
at considerable and irregular intervals, and separated from each 



Southern Africa. 



265 



other in some instances by fields, gardens, and vineyards. 
Rondeboscli may be regarded as a continuation of Mowbray, 
and consists of dwelling-houses of a similar description to those 
already mentioned. They are occupied chiefly by Cape Town 
merchants and government officials, who are glad to escape 
from the heat and dust of the city to this agreeable locality 
when they have finished the business of the day. They can now 
go to and return from their respective offices by rail, which is 
found to be a great convenience. These villages are favoured 
with two Episcopal churches, one Dutch Reformed church, one 
Roman Catholic church, and one Wesleyan church, with a small 
native Wesleyan chapel and several schools. 

Proceeding along a tolerably good road, each side of which 
is lined with shady oak and fir trees, with here and there a 
beautiful mansion embowered in verdant foliage, we come to 
the rural but straggling village of Claremont, about six miles 
from Cape Town, in which there are several pleasant dwelling- 
houses and labourers' cottages, together with an Episcopal 
church, a Wesleyan chapel, and a Mohammedan mosque. 

Wynberg'va situated about eight miles from the capital, partly 
behind the spur of Table Mountain, and beyond the scattered 
hamlet of Newlands. It is a beautiful village, resembling in many 
respects those already described, and celebrated as a healthy and 
agreeable place of resort for Indian and other visitors, whose 
constitutions have been impaired by a lengthened residence in 
tropical climates. Many merchants and government officers 
also reside here, the railway affording every facility of travelling 
to and fro for those whose daily duties call them to the city. 

After leaving Winberg, the road soon becomes more dreary. 
On the right we have a range of rugged mountains, at the foot 
of which are situated a few scattered farms, and on the left a 
vast sandy plain, on which may be seen occasional patches of 
cultivation, with here and there a poor labourer's cottage. To 
the right we notice Constantia, a small district studded with 
smiling vineyards and celebrated for the quality of its wine. 
After travelling a distance of about fifteen miles from Cape 



266 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Town, we reach the seashore at the head of False Bay, on the 
opposite side of the peninsula. Along this rugged shore, beyond 
Muzenberg, with the waves dashing up against the rocks, the 
road leads to Simon's Town, which may be seen in the distance, 
through Kalk Bay, a straggling marine village which has of 
late years become a fashionable little watering-place. 

Simon's Toivn is a lively, bustling little place, situated in an 
amphitheatre of rugged mountains, with very little land avail- 
able for cultivation in its immediate vicinity, about twenty-two 
miles from Cape Town. It contains some good buildings, 
the principal of which are the admiral's mansion, the military 
barracks, the Episcopal church, the Dutch Reformed church, 
and the Wesleyan church, the last of which occupies a promi- 
nent position on an elevated point of land in the upper part of 
the town, and, with its neat little spire pointing to heaven, may 
be seen from afar, being a useful landmark for vessels entering 
the bay. Simon's Town derives its chief importance from its 
military and naval establishments, including the government 
dockyards, and from its sheltered bay, which affords a secure 
harbour for shipping in all weathers. 

Stellenbosch is an ancient and important agricultural town, 
twenty-six miles from the capital, by road or rail, with a popu- 
lation of 4000, chiefly Dutch. It is pleasantly situated on the 
northern bank of Eerst river, at the head of a beautiful and fertile 
valley. The streets are straight, and intersect each other at 
right angles. Most of the houses are built after the old Dutch 
style of architecture, with highly-ornamented gables and thatched 
roofs ; they are, nevertheless, substantial and respectable in 
their appearance. A stream of pure water runs along each side 
of the principal streets, which are also lined with rows of oak 
trees that afford a refreshing shade in the summer season and 
add much to the beauty of the place. The principal public 
buildings of Stellenbosch are the Dutch Reformed church and 
college, the Episcopal church, the Wesleyan church, and the 
chapel and schools of the Rhenish Mission. 

Somersd{ West) is situated in the electoral division of Stellen- 



Southern Africa. 



267 



bosch, at a distance of about thirty miles from Cape Town, on 
the high road to the eastern frontier. It is an interesting rural 
village, consisting of a few respectable dwelling-houses and a 
large number of labourers' cottages connected with the Wesleyan 
Missionary Institution. The Dutch Reformed church and the 
Wesleyan church are the only public buildings of any note in 
the neighbourhood. A number of labourers and fishermen 
reside at the villages of Sir Lowrfs Pass and the Strand, and 
the place last named is resorted to by the Dutch farmers and 
their families, at certain seasons of the year, for the purpose of 
sea-bathing. The population of these scattered villages and 
the surrounding farms may amount to about 3000. 

Swellendam is an ancient inland town, founded in 1745, on 
the high road to the Eastern Province, and about 140 miles 
from Cape Town. It gives its name to an electoral division, 
and is a place of considerable importance, being central to a 
large number of farms occupied chiefly by Dutch Boers. It 
has a Dutch Reformed church for the masses of the people, a 
small Episcopal church for the few English residents, and a 
large public school for the youth of all classes. In this electoral 
division are situated also the comparatively new village of 
Robertson, so called in honour of an eminent Dutch Reformed 
minister of that name, 100 miles from Cape Town ; and 
Riversdale, a village or hamlet 202 miles from the capital. 
These are important rural centres of population for a large tract 
of country lying between the Breade and Gauritz rivers, in 
which are situated numerous farms producing corn, wine, and 
wool in large quantities. In the same region are found also 
the smaller villages of Montague, Ifeidelberg, and Ladysniith, 
and a mission station called Zoar. At most of these places 
Dutch Reformed churches have been erected, and small Epis- 
copal churches have been built also in localities where a few 
English residents are found, whilst at Robertson a substantial 
Wesleyan church has been provided for the coloured population 
and others who have been brought under religious instruction 
by the missionaries. 



268 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Caledon is an interesting and romantic village, noted for its 
mineral springs, the waters of which are said to be beneficial 
in cases of rheumatism and ofher ailments. It gives its name 
to an electoral division of the Western Province of the Cape 
Colony, and is situated at a distance of eighty miles from the 
capital. Bredasdorp is a little village in the same neighbour- 
hood behind the first range of mountains ; and in the same 
division, in a beautiful valley north of the Zonder-Einde river, 
at a place called Genadendal (" the vale of grace "), is situated a 
large and prosperous mission station of the Moravian Society, 
the first that was formed in South Africa. 

Worcester is an inland town of considerable importance, about 
eighty miles from the capital of the colony, from which it is 
approached through a stupendous mountain pass called Bain's 
Kloof, in honour of the enterprising engineer who constructed 
the original road. This place is the centre of an extensive and 
populous district comprised in the electoral division of Worcester, 
including the rural villages of Tulbagh and Ceris, and the Rhenish 
mission stations of Saran and Steiiithal. 

The Paarl, at a distance from Cape Town of thirty-eight 
miles, is a scattered district or hamlet, rather than a village, 
and together with Wellington, an interesting village at the foot 
of Bain's Kloof, about seven miles further on, comprises a rich 
and fruitful district of the Western Province. The whole of 
this region is exquisitely beautiful. The dwelling-houses stand 
at a distance from each other, the intervals being occupied with 
gardens and vineyards, which give to the neighbourhood a 
charming appearance. The value and importance of this part 
of the colony has been enhanced of late years by the extension 
through its centre of the Cape Town and Stellenbosch Railway, 
giving increased facilities of communication, and affording to 
the farmers the means of sending their produce to the market 
with comparatively little trouble or expense. The same privilege 
will soon be afforded to several other places still more distant, 
as the extension of the railroad is rapidly advancing towards the 
Diamond Fields. 



Southern Africa. 



269 



Mahnshury is a pleasant village, about forty miles from Cape 
Town, on the direct road to Namaqualand, and gives its name 
to an electoral division of the colony, comprising a large agri- 
cultural district, including Zvvartland and Saldanha Bay, and 
the villages of Picketberg, Hopefield, and Darling. 

Clattwilltatn is the most extensive electoral division in the 
Western Province of the Cape Colony, as it embraces the whole 
region of Little Namaqualand as far as the Orange River, in- 
cluding Calvinia and Spriiigbokfojitein, where important copper 
mines are worked, together with the missionary institutions of 
Ebenezer, Khainiesberg, Kojiitnagaas, Kokfontein, Richterfeld, and 
Wupperthal. The village of Clanwilliam is situated in a romantic 
valley in the Cedar mountains, at a distance of 150 miles from 
Cape Town, and is the residence of the civil commissioner, 
whose jurisdiction extends over the whole of this vast region, 
comprising a scattered population of various nationalities, com- 
plexions, and languages, — English, Dutch, Bastards, and Nama- 
quas, including a small tribe or two of the original Hottentots 
or Bushmen, recognising their own native chief or leader, and 
wandering about with their scanty flock along the banks of the 
Orange River. 

George is also an extensive electoral division, including the 
scattered village known by the same name, 290 miles from Cape 
Town, together with Oudtshoorn, Aliwal [South), Blanes, Belvi- 
dere, Melville, Newhaven, and the Knystia. This vast region 
consists of a number of fertile valleys lying between the sea- 
coast on the eastern side of the continent, and the mountain 
range known as the Great Zwartebergen. In some places the 
country is densely wooded with valuable timber, whilst in others 
it abounds with excellent pasture lands and farms, on which are 
cultivated corn, wine, and other produce on an extensive scale. 
In this district there are some curious caves, at a place called 
Congo, which many persons travel far to see. There is also a 
remarkable long, narrow pass, known as Langekloof, through 
which the hard road has been constructed which leads to the 
eastern frontier. This part of the colony is more highly favoured 



270 Africa : Past and Present. 



than some others in having communication by sea through the 
small but valuable ports of Mossel Bay, Plattinberg Bay, and 
the Knysna. 

Beaufort is a considerable village 330 miles from Cape Town, 
which, together with Victoria ( West), Prince Albert, Fraserberg, 
and some other scattered villages and hamlets, forms another 
extensive electoral division, stretching far away towards the 
Eastern Province, and separated from Clanwilliam and Worcester 
by the Hartebeest and Dvvyka rivers. This vast region presents 
several distinct zones or belts of country from south to north, 
some of which are well adapted for agricultural purposes, and 
others for sheep-farming and grazing cattle. There is a Dutch 
Reformed church in the Nieuweld, and in some other places 
the Dutch farmers are favoured with opportunities of receiving 
religious instruction from their own ministers ; but the scattered 
English settlers are only indifferently provided for. There are in 
this district two Rhenish Mission stations, called Amandelbooin 
sinA. Schietfontein, intended for the special benefit of the coloured 
people ; but there is a loud call for much more to be done for 
the spiritual welfare of all classes of the community. 

Before we proceed in our general survey of the remaining 
portion of the Cape Colony, it may be as well to glance at the 
means which have been employed to promote the moral and 
religious welfare of the inhabitants of the Western Province, the 
two sections of the country being in many respects so dissimilar 
from each other. There is no Established Church at the Cape 
of Good Hope, religious equality being acknowledged and en- 
joyed to a certain extent by all denominations of Christians. 
A few years ago certain favoured churches were subsidised by 
large annual grants from government funds ; but this is altered 
now, and when the claims of a few reverend incumbents for life 
have been met, all denominations will literally stand upon the 
same level, and have to support their own religious institutions 
by their own voluntary contributions. 

The Dutch Reformed Church being that of the original 
colonists, it is the strongest religious denomination in the 



Southern Africa. 



271 



Western Province, and it is numerously represented in most 
of the towns and villages throughout the country. We have 
met with many able, earnest, and devoted Christians, both 
among the ministers and laymen of this Church, with whom 
we have enjoyed religious fellowship. At the same time the 
fact must not be concealed, that formerly it was regarded as the 
Church of the white settlers rather than as that of the coloured 
people and of the community generally. It was not till the 
advent of the agents of missionary societies that the Dutch 
Church awoke to the necessity of doing something for the 
religious instruction of the coloured classes. Of late years, 
however, both Dutch ministers and members have nobly re- 
deemed their character, and in connection with many of their 
churches a large amount of real missionary work is done. 

Similar remarks would apply to the English or Episcopal 
Church, as it has existed at the Cape of Good Hope. As the 
Church most patronized and favoured by government ofificials 
after the colony passed into the hands of the English, it was in 
former times the Church of the aristocracy, whilst the poor 
slaves and free people of colour were totally neglected. But of 
late years, especially since the appointment of the late devoted 
Bishop Gray, and the introduction of the episcopal element, it 
has been very different. A missionary spirit has recently per- 
vaded every part of the work ; and whilst we mourn over the 
exclusivism and the ritualistic tendencies which manifest them- 
selves in many places, we cannot but admire the earnestness 
and zeal with which Church work is almost ev-erywhere prose- 
cuted in the Western Province of the Cape Colony. The 
progress made in the erection of churches and school buildings 
in the respective towns and villages, and the appointment of 
ministers and teachers to labour among all classes, with the aid 
of funds from home, has been truly praiseworthy, notwithstanding 
the drawbacks to which we have alluded. 

The Lutherans, the Presbyterians, and the Baptists, have 
each a church and congregation in Cape Town, as have also 
the " South African Missionary Society," a small organization 



2 72 Africa : Past and Present, 



formed in 1799 ; but we are not aware that these denominations 
have established themselves as religious communities in any 
other part of the province, or that they have made any attempts 
to propagate the Gospel among the masses of the people. 

It is to the missionary societies of Europe that the Western 
Province of the Cape Colony is chiefly indebted, in common 
with other parts of Southern Africa, for Evangelical labours 
among all classes. The Moravians had the honour of being 
first in the field, the Rev. George Schmidt, their first missionary, 
having gone out to the Cape as early as 1737; and notwith- 
standing many interruptions and hindrances, their earnest, 
humble, and unassuming labours have been made a blessing 
to the poor Hottentots and other native tribes among whom 
their missions have been established. Their first station was 
Genadendal, about 100 miles from Cape Town; and a large 
pear tree is still shown, said to have been planted by the 
honoured missionary just mentioned. Institutions were after- 
wards established at Groenkloof, Hautkloof, Elim, and other 
places, which continue in active operation to the present day. 
A Moravian missionary has also been employed at Robin Island 
for many years, under the auspices of Government, in ministering 
to the lepers and other poor sufferers located there. 

The Evangelical French Missionary Society has stations at 
Wellington and Waggonmakers' Valley ; but the principal field 
of labour occupied by this useful association is in the interior. 
The Berlin Missionary Society has also a station at Zoar in 
the Riversdale district ; but most of its agents are located in 
Kaffraria and Natal. The Rhenish Missionary Society occupies 
important stations at Stellenbosch, Worcester, Tulbagh, Sarepta, 
Steinthal, Savon, Wupperthal, Amendelboom, Schietfontein, 
and Ebenezer, in the vicinity of the Cape ; and also at Kamaggas, 
Richerfield, Bethany, Nisbett Bath, Scheppansdorp, Reoboth, 
Rode Valk, Wesley Vale, Barmen, and other places in Namaqua- 
land. Some of these stations beyond the Orange river were 
established and worked for several years by the Wesleyans, but 
were eventually transferred to the German missionaries, who 



Southern Africa. 



273 



appeared better able to attend to them, having fewer claims 
upon their attention in other places. 

The London Missionary Society commenced its labours in 
South Africa in 1799, and has made its influence to be felt for 
good in various parts of the country. In addition to the vast 
fields of labour which it has so long and so usefully cultivated 
in other parts of the colony and in the distant interior, the 
following stations are occupied by its agents in the Western 
Province — viz.. Cape Town, Paarl, Zuurbraak, George, Pacels- 
dorp, Dysselsdorp, Oudtshoorn, Avontuur, and Matjes Drift. 
In these and other places the coloured people, for whose benefit 
the agents of this useful association chiefly labour, have derived 
much good from their zealous efforts. 

The Wesleyan Missionary Society commenced its labours at 
the Cape of Good Hope in 1814 by the appointment to Cape 
Town of the Rev. John M'Kenny. But, strange to say, such 
was the jealousy of the government authorities at that early 
period, that the missionary was not allowed to preach, although 
he produced credentials of the most satisfactory character. 
After teaching school, and trying to do good in a private way 
to the utmost of his power for a few months, Mr. M'Kenny 
was transferred to Ceylon, and the undertaking was relinquished. 
In 1815 the Rev. Barnabas Shaw was appointed to the Cape, 
the directors of the Society being unwilling to give up the idea 
of taking their part in the evangelization of Southern Africa. 
The same difficulties were at first placed in the way of Mr. 
Shaw as those which had hindered the labours of his prede- 
cessor, but he was not thus to be prevented from executing his 
Divine commission. Having failed to obtain the Governor's 
permission to exercise his ministry, he took the matter into his 
own hands, and began to preach without it. This apparent 
irregularity was overlooked, however, for the time, and perhaps 
the devoted missionary might have continued his labours among 
the British soldiers and settlers, to whom his attention was first 
directed ; but he felt he was called to preach the Gospel to 
the heathen, and the hindrances in the way of his gaining access 

18 



274 



Africa : Past and Present. 



to the slaves and coloured free people of Cape Town were so 
numerous that he embraced an opportunity which presented 
itself, and set out for Namaqualand. 

After travelling for several days towards the distant interior, 
Mr. Shaw providentially met the chief of the Little Namaquas 
and a number of his people on their way to the Cape to seek 
a missionary. Recognizing the hand of God in this striking 
incident, he readily consented to accompany this party of 
Africans to their mountain home at Khamiesberg, and proceeded 
at once to plant the first Wesleyan mission station in South Africa, 
which he called Lily Fountain. The history of that institution, 
and of the efforts which were made to raise a tribe of natives 
from the degradation in which they were sunk, as recorded by 
the missionary himself in his own touching and simple language, 
is equal in interest to any romance that was ever written. And 
the results, as the present writer himself saw them more than 
half a century after the commencement of the work, were of a 
most gratifying character. 

A few years later the way was opened for the establishment 
of mission stations in Capo Town and neighbourhood, and the 
foundation was laid, broad and deep, of that work which has 
since assumed such gigantic proportions. In the course of 
time commodious churches and mission premises were erected, 
congregations collected, and schools organized, not only at 
Khamiesberg, and in the capital of the colony, but also at 
Mowbray, Rondebosch, Newlands, Claremont, Winberg, Diep 
River, Simon's Town, Elsjie's River, Somerset West, Strand, 
Terrington Grove, Robertson, Lady Gray, Stellenbosch, Raithby, 
and other places. There are now in connection with the 
respective Wesleyan mission stations in the Western Province 
of the Cape Colony, ii missionaries, 35 places of worship, 
1502 church members, 3661 scholars in the mission schools, 
and 9708 attendants on public worship. 

The Wesleyan Missionary Society differs from some other 
similar institutions, in that it seeks to promote the spiritual 
welfare of British colonists, soldiers, and sailors, as well as that 



Southern Africa. 



275 



of the heathen ; and in South Africa the labours of its pious 
and devoted agents have been made a blessing to all classes 
of the community. Some of the jilaces of worship are noble 
buildings, the new Wesleyan church in Cape Town being the 
finest ecclesiastical structure in the colony. 

The Cape Colony — Eastern Province; 

The remarkable prosperity whic!i the Eastern Province of 
the Cape Colony has experienced in modern times may be in 
a great measure attributed to the predominance of the English 
element in its population, resulting from the arrival there of 
about 4000 British settlers in 1820, under the auspices of the 
Imperial Government. In common with all those who seek 
for themselves and their families a home in distant lands, the 
emigrants alluded to had to endure many hardships and priva- 
tions during the early years of their African experience ; but, 
having by patient industry and indomitable perseverance over- 
come every difficulty, they generally succeeded well, and their 
descendants are in many instances now reaping the fruits of 
their parents' toil. This large importation of British subjects 
into a country which had been but sparsely colonized by the 
Dutch, or left entirely to the scattered Hottentots and Kaffirs, 
has given an English aspect to society in this section of Africa 
which is not to be found in any other part of the continent. 
This, together with other phases of colonial life, will more 
clearly appear from a brief description of the principal divisions, 
towns, and villages of the Province. 

Port Elizabeth, in Algoa Bay, is the principal port of South- 
Eastern Africa, and that through which most of the goods 
imported pass, on their way to the respective colonial towns 
and villages for which they are destined, as well as to the more 
distant interior. Here also the wool and other produce of the 
country is shipped for Europe. There are as yet no proper 
harbour works to facilitate the landing and shipping of goods ; 
but everything has to be conveyed to and from the vessels by 
surf-boats, worked by the hardy Fingoes, a tribe of Kafirs well 



276 



Africa : Past and Present. 



adapted for the purpose. This part of the coast being frequently 
stormy, and the surf beating upon the shore often violent, 
casualties to shipping are somewhat common, and we have 
known many sad wrecks take place close to the port. There 
is also a dangerous rocky point called Cape Recife, on which 
a lighthouse has been erected, about eight miles south of the 
harbour. 

Nothing could present a more cheerless and desolate 
appearance than Port Elizabeth, when the British settlers 
landed there in 1820, the town being then a mere fishing 
village, consisting of a few wretched huts scattered along a 
bleak and sandy shore. Nor does the country in the neighbour- 
iiood improve much when we climb the heights from the 
narrow piece of level land along the beach, on which the best 
of the houses stand, and proceed inland — the scene presented 
to the view being little better than a series of sand-hills. The 
town itself has improved very much of late years, and it now 
presents a respectable ■ appearance from the shipping in the 
harbour. It contains many good substantial buildings, as 
dwelling-houses, stores, and warehouses; also a fort, hospital, 
and commodious Episcopal, Congregational, and Wesleyan 
churches. Port Elizabeth is 500 miles (rom Cape Town, and 
eighty-five from Graham's Town, and contains a population of 
13,000, including the European residents and the natives who 
are drawn to the place in considerable numbers for the sake of 
employment. This town gives its name to an electoral division 
of the Eastern Province, including the villages of IValmer and 
Korsten, the former of which is six miles west, and the latter 
four miles east of the port. 

Uitenhage, situated about twenty miles inland from Port 
Elizabeth, on the Zwarkop river, is a beautiful town, containing 
many pleasant residences, which generally stand in their own 
grounds, surrounded with gardens, orchards, and vineyards. 
The soil here is more fertile and the scenery more attractive 
than in the coast districts. It is a place of considerable trade 
and commerce ; and there is a large wool-washing establishment 



Southern Africa. • 



277 



in the neighbourhood, at which many hands are employed. 
Alexandria, Hmnanedorp, Darlington, Colchester, and Jansen- 
ville are pleasant and interesting villages situated in different 
parts of the electoral division of Uitenhage, which is generally 
of a rural, pastoral, and agricultural character. The town itself 
is well supplied with places of worship belonging to the Dutch 
Reformed Church, the Episcopalians, the Congregationalists, 
and the Wesleyans. In this district there are also several 
important mission stations, named respectively Enon, Hankey, 
Clarkson, Bethelsdorp, and Krinsfontein — the first belonging to 
the Moravians, and the rest to the London Missionary Society. 

Graham's Town is regarded as the capital of the Eastern 
Province ; and from a very small beginning it has become a 
city of considerable magnitude and importance. The population 
has decreased somewhat of late years, however, in consequence 
of numerous removals having taken place to new and rising 
towns in various parts of the country. According to the last 
census it amounted to 6912. It is situated in a pleasant 
valley, about 600 miles from Cape Town, thirty from the 
nearest point of the sea-coast, where a small harbour has recently 
been formed at the mouth of the Kowie river, and eighty-five 
from Port Elizabeth. The journey from the principal port to 
the city, as made formerly, over rough roads and high hills, 
across rocky ravines and deep rivers, was a formidable affair ; 
but a railway has already been opened a part of the distance, 
and will soon be completed. Graham's Town is well laid out 
with wide streets, and contains many good dwelling-houses, 
stores, warehouses, and public buildings, including military 
barracks, and churches belonging to the Episcopalians, the 
Congregationalists, the Wesleyans, and the Baptists. It is the 
centre of an extensive trade with various parts of the interior 
and the ox-waggons and other conveyances which are constantly 
coming in from the neighbouring colonial towns and villages 
give it the appearance of considerable commercial activity. 

Batlmrst is a pleasant little country town that gives its name 
to a district which, together with Graham's Town, the villages 



278 Africa: Past and Present. 



of Salem, Farmer, Field, Riebuk, Port Frances, and other places, 
is now included in the electoral division of Albany. The coast 
region of this division, called Lower Albany, and formerly 
known as the Zuurveld, is suitable for agricultural purposes ; 
but the highland district, or Upper Albany, is better adapted 
for sheep farming, which is the principal occupation of the 
settlers in these parts. 

Graaff-Reinett is an ancient and flourishing inland town, rather 
more than 150 miles from Graham's Town, and about the same 
distance from Port Elizabeth. From its position and importance 
it may be regarded as the capital of the midland districts of the 
Eastern Province. The streets are laid out at right angles, and 
planted with rows of orange and other trees, and watered with 
gently rippling streams led out from the Sunday's river — an 
arrangement which is cooling and refreshing, especially in the 
sultry months of summer. The town stands in an extensive 
basin or hollow, surrounded by a distant range of mountains, 
known as the Sneeuwbergen, and is indeed "beautiful for 
situation." It contains some good buildings, and is well 
supplied with banks, churches, and schools, Dutch, Episcopal, 
and Wesleyan. Graaff-Reinett gives its name to an important 
electoral division which includes the villages of Murraysburg, 
Richmond, and Aberdeen. This is pre-eminently a pastoral 
region, and is celebrated for its extensive and excellent sheep 
farms. Compassberg, rising to the height of 9000 feet above 
the level of the sea, and said to be the highest mountain in 
the Cape Colony, is situated in this division, and the top of it 
is frequently covered with snow. 

Somerset {East) lies east of Graaff-Reinett and north of 
Uitenhage, and is distant from Graham's Town about eighty 
miles. The village consists of a number of detached and 
scattered dwelling-houses, with a Dutch Reformed church and 
a Wesleyan chapel, and the usual offices for the use of the 
civil commissioner and the resident magistrate. It is situated 
in a beautiful country at the foot of the Boshbergen, on the 
Little Fish river. It gives its name to an extensive electoral 



Souihern Africa. 



279 



division, celebrated for its grazing farms and sheep-walks. In 
the mountain valleys agriculture is also carried on to a 
considerable extent. This division includes the thriving little 
village of Bedford, on the opposite side of the Fish river, and 
the settlements of Gknlyden, Glenpringle, and other pleasant 
localities in the valleys on the south face of the Great 
Winterberg range, where the Scotch emigrants, led by the 
poet Pringle, established themselves in 1820. The division 
of Somerset has an area of 8000 square miles, with a 
population of about 5000 whites and 7000 coloured persons, 
who appear to be fairly prosperous in their respective avoca- 
tions. 

Fort Beaufort is a town of considerable importance, forty-six 
miles from Graham's Town, on the left bank of the Kat river, 
where extensive military buildings and other works have been 
erected, with a view to the defence of the eastern frontier of 
the colony in the event of Kaffir wars, which, alas ! have been 
so frequent since the white man entered the country. The 
electoral division of the colony to which Fort Beaufort gives 
its name is generally mountainous and well wooded. It 
nevertheless contains several fertile and well-watered valleys. 
The settlement of Stockenstrom, in the Kat river valley, is 
specially favoured in this respect ; and the coloured people of 
Hottentot descent, and others located there, have prospered 
greatly under the fostering care of the British Government and 
the instructions of the missionaries. The important Wesleyan 
Training Institution of Heald Town is situated in this division, 
and it has been made a great blessing to the surrounding 
country. The population of the district is said to be about 
3000 whites and 8000 persons of colour, scattered over an area 
of 1200 square miles. 

Cradock is a small but interesting town, which stands in the 
centre of an elevated basin on a branch of the Great Fish 
river, 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and surrounded 
with lofty mountains, which in the winter season are frequently 
covered with snow. The wild region which forms this electoral 



2 So Africa: Past and Present. 

division of the Eastern Province is pre-eminently a pastoral 
country, and over its extensive plains, dotted with isolated 
hills, large herds of springboks, gnus, and other wild game are 
frequently seen to roam. The Twutafel and Thubusbergen, in 
this district, are remarkable isolated mountains, which when 
once seen can never be forgotten. Cradock is 115 miles from 
Graham's Town, and 550 from the Cape. 

Colesberg is an advanced post on the far distant northern 
frontier of the Cape Colony, the town which gives its name to 
the division, being situated only twelve miles south of the 
Orange River. The entire district is wild, dry, and barren in 
the extreme ; but since the formation of dams to preserve the 
water after the rains, sheep farming has been carried on with 
considerable success, and the country has become famous for 
the excellent quality of its wool. The other towns and vil- 
lages included in this division are Hanove?; Hope Town, and 
MiddUburg. The soil in the neighbourhood of the place last 
named is more fertile than in the uplands, and admits of culti- 
vation with favourable results. Colesberg is 245 miles from 
Graham's Town and 540 from the Cape. The entire division 
comprises an area of 20,000 square miles, with a population of 
about 12,000, one-haif of whom are coloured persons. That 
rare antelope the gemsbok is still occasionally seen on the 
southern bank of the Orange river. 

Albert is the name given to an extensive electoral division of 
the Eastern Province, — in honour of the late highly esteemed 
Prince Consort, — the chief towns and villages of which are 
Burghersdorp, Dordrech, and Aliwal {North), on the Orange 
river. The only other place of consequence in this district 
is the large native reserve of Wittebergen, on which several 
thousand Fingoes have been located by the Government, and 
among whom the agents of the Wesleyan Missionary Society 
labour with encouraging results. Albert comprises an area of 
8000 square miles, with a population of about 16,000, one- 
third of whom only are whites. The territory is drained by 
several rivers of short and rapid course, locally called spruits, 



Southern Africa. 



281 



which rise in the mountains and fall into the Orange river. 
The land generally lies high, with a cold climate in winter, and 
is better adapted for grazing purposes than for agricultural 
pursuits. 

Victoria is a remote and newly-formed electoral division, 
lying between the Great Fish, the Keiskamma, and the Churnie 
rivers, and is so called in honour of the Queen of England ; and 
the capital of the country has received the name of Queen's 
Towfi. It is a highly fertile and well-watered region, and since 
its separation from Kaffraria by Sir George Cathcart in 1853, it 
has rapidly filled up with European settlers, to whom special 
advantages were offered, with a view to the defence of the 
colony against the inroads of the warlike Kaffirs. The other 
towns and villages in this division are Alice, Peddie, Hamburg, 
Wooldridge, and WHtlesea. Some of these are important 
military posts, at which strong fortifications have been erected ; 
and they are all mission stations, at which earnest efforts are 
being made to instruct the natives who have congregated 
around them. A large number of Germans, to whom grants 
of land were made after the Crimean war, were located in some 
of the villages ; but they have since become much scattered. 
The population of the entire district is estimated at 14,000, 
three-fourths of whom are natives. 

The last district to be noticed in our brief and hasty survey 
of the respective divisions of the Eastern Province of the Cape 
Colony, is that now known as the Diamotid Fields. It is 
situated on the north-eastern frontier, along the southern bank 
of the Orange river ; and the land being comparatively barren, 
it was of little note till a few years ago, when diamonds were 
accidentally found in the gravelly soil. This important event 
soon caused a rush of people of various complexions and 
nationalities to the spot, and diamond digging has been carried 
on from that day to this, with various degrees of success ; one 
man finding a diamond which he sold for ^20,000, and others 
being perfectly destitute. Towns and villages have risen up as 
if by magic, the principal of which are Kimberly and De Toifs 



282 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Fan, where ministers and magistrates reside and attend to their 
respective vocations, whilst the busy multitudes around them 
are anxiously engaged in search of the shining treasure. 

We must now proceed to give a brief account of the means 
which have been employed by different Christian communities 
to provide religious instruction and the means of grace to the 
various classes of colonists and natives in the Eastern Province, 
residing at the places which have just passed under review. 
And although the character of the population may vary some- 
what, our story of evangelical effort for their benefit will neces- 
sarily resemble in its main features that which we have given 
in relation to the Western Province. 

In the eastern districts of the Cape Colony, as already inti- 
mated, the English element prevails to a considerable extent ; but 
there are, notwithstanding, a vast number of Dutch farmers 
and settlers resident in different parts of the country. For the 
spiritual benefit of these the Dutch Reformed Church has 
made arrangements for holding religious services in the respec- 
tive towns and villages, where they are found in sufficient 
numbers to form congregations, that they may worship God 
according to their own forms and in their own language. 
These services are sometimes held in court-houses, school- 
buildings, and private dwellings ; but of late years commodious 
churches have been erected in various places, and more 
attention has been paid to the coloured people than formerly. 

The Episcopal Church of England was almost unknown in 
the Eastern Province in former times ; but of late years it has 
been very different. Aided by large pecuniary grants from the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in England, and 
from the colonial chest at the Cape, the Bishop of Graham's 
Town has been able to build small churches and plant clergy- 
men in most of the principal towns and villages in the respective 
districts which we have mentioned ; and, although the congre- 
gations are in many places small and feeble, the work has been 
prosecuted with commendable zeal and diligence. Nor have the 
heathen been forgotten by this section of the Christian Church. 



Southern Africa. 



283 



Since the capital of the Eastern Province became a cathedral 
city, missionaries have been appointed to labour among the 
natives in the regions beyond. Our pleasure in calling to mind 
this fact would have been greater had the agents of the Propa- 
gation Society employed themselves in teaching and in preaching 
to the heathen the simple Gospel of Christ ; but instead of this, 
in too many instances, they manifested their adhesion to full- 
blown ritualism, built little mimic churches of wattle-and-daub, 
and marched to and from them, arrayed in gorgeous priestly 
costume, to "show the people Christianity," as they said, rather 
than to teach it to them. At this the natives at first stared with 
blank astonishment ; but at length a few became fascinated, 
and it is to be feared that the cause of Christ has been thus 
hindered among the heathen in some places. 

It is to the evangelical missionary societies that the Eastern 
as well as the Western Province of the Cape Colony are mainly 
indebted for the means of religious instruction, and their zealous 
and devoted agents have laboured for many years in various 
parts of the country with commendable diligence and most 
pleasing results. Prosperous stations of the Moravian, Berlin, 
Rhenish, French Evangelical, Presbyterian, London, and Wes- 
leyan Missionary Societies have been established in various 
places, both within and beyond the colonial boundary, and no 
traveller can pass through the country, with his eyes open, 
without being impressed with the utility and importance of the 
labours of these noble institutions. The two societies last 
mentioned have, however, been most extensively engaged in 
evangelistic work in this part of the vast continent, and it is 
matter of regret that our limited space will not admit of a more 
minute account of their operations. 

As early as 1799 the eccentric but zealous and devoted Dr. 
Vanderkemp was in the field as a pioneer missionary in the 
service of the London Society, and in after years he was followed 
by a host of pious and laborious men, who laid the foundation 
of a great and good work, the results of which will only be fully 
known in the last great day. For many years the eminent and 



2 84 Africa : Pad and Presefit. 

good Dr. Phillips was the general superintendent of the London 
Society's missions in South Africa, and his name is still remem- 
bered with love and gratitude by some of the aged converted 
Hottentots and others, in whose interests he laboured so long 
and so faithfully. He and his brethren, in their zeal for the 
welfare of the aboriginal races, sometimes found themselves in 
collision with the government authorities on social and political 
questions; but whatever views might be formed by different 
persons on the respective merits of the questions at issue, there 
could be but one opinion as to the motives and sincerity of 
the missionaries in their efforts to promote the temporal and 
spiritual well-being of the people among whom they laboured. 

The Wesleyan Missionary Society commenced its labours in 
the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony in 1820, simulta- 
neously with the arrival of the large body of British settlers 
already mentioned. Indeed, the pioneer missionary, the Rev. 
William Shaw, went out in the same ship with a party of 
Wesleyan emigrants, to whom he ministered during the passage, 
and for some time after their arrival in Africa, as their chaplain, 
according to an arrangement with the government authorities. 
The work was thus commenced among the settlers, whose 
spiritual interests have ever been carefully attended to by the 
agents of the Society, whilst at the same time they have embraced 
every opportunity of proclaiming the good news of salvation to 
the native Hottentots and Kaffirs, and others, both within and 
beyond the colonial boundary, without respect to language, 
condition, or colour. In the course of time, as the work 
expanded, additional missionaries were sent out, new stations 
formed, congregations gathered, churches organised, chapels 
erected, and schools established in various parts of the country, 
on a scale and with a rapidity truly astonishing, so that the 
results of sixty years' labours may be contemplated with gratitude 
and joy. Some of the educational establishments are of a 
superior order. The Heald Town Wesleyan Training Institu- 
tion, like that at Love Dale, belonging to the Free Church of 
Scotland, is worthy of the highest commendation. 



Southern Africa. 



285 



The temporal and spiritual benefits resulting from the labours 
of the Wesleyan Missionary Society to the people of different 
tribes and languages in the Eastern Province of the Cape 
Colony cannot be tabulated ; but some idea may be formed of 
their magnitude and importance from the following brief state- 
ment. In the Graham's Town district alone, which consists 
chiefly of colonial circuits with a few native stations, there are 
39 missionaries, native and European ; 80 places of worship, 
5709 church members, 5568 scholars in the mission schools, 
and 23,011 adherents, or attendants on divine service. 

British Kaffraria. 

Although that portion of Southern Africa so long known as 
British Kaffraria was, a few years ago, annexed to the Cape 
Colony, and placed under the same form of government, it 
possesses so many features peculiar to itself, that it seems to 
call for a brief and separate notice. It comprehends the country 
lying between the Keiskamma and Great Kei rivers, and com- 
prises an area of about 4000 square miles. It is the region 
from whence issued, until finally subjected to British rule, 
those hordes of Kaffir marauders who devastated the frontier 
of the Cape Colony in the various wars which occurred from 
1806 to 1853, actuated by the love of plunder, or excited to 
fanaticism by false prophets, acting as the tools of ambitious 
and designing chiefs. In the interests of peace it was ultimately 
found necessary to proclaim this region British territory, and 
to place it under British martial law, to be administered under 
the direction of the Governor of the Cape Colony, acting as 
Her Majesty's High Commissioner. 

This arrangement was first made after the war of 1835-6, by 
Sir Benjamin D'Urban ; but, the measure being disapproved 
of by the home government, the country was before long 
restored to the Kaffirs under certain restrictions ; but, after the 
war of 1846-7, it was again formed into a British province, by 
Sir Harry Smith, who was then the governor and commander- 



286 Africa : Past and Present. 



in-chief of the Cape Colony. At the same time King WillianCs 
Town, on the Buffalo river, became the capital or principal 
town of the district, and the military head-quarters, a number 
of public buildings being erected and fortifications established 
for the defence of the province in the event of future outbreaks. 
The principal of these are Forts Hare, Cox, Glamorgan, Pato, 
Grey, Murray, Izeli, and Keiskamma Hoek, at points which 
are rapidly becoming prosperous and populous villages. East 
London, at the mouth of the Buffalo river, is the port of British 
Kaffraria, and important harbour works have recently been 
completed for the accommodation of the shipping. 

The bulk of the inhabitants of this extensive territory are of 
the Kaffir race called Amakosa, including the Gaika, 'Tslambi, 
Amagonubie, and a few smaller tribes. The vacant portions 
of the country have been rapidly filling up of late years, how- 
ever, by the settlement of Europeans on lands granted to them 
by the Government on favourable terms, with the understanding 
that they will take their part in the military defence of the 
colony. In the towns and villages are also found a number of 
Germans. This class of settlers was originally located in a 
chain of military villages along the left bank of the Buffalo 
river, extending from East London to the east point of the 
Amatola mountains, where they had lands allotted to them on 
certain conditions in consideration of the services rendered by 
the German Legion to which they belonged in the Crimean 
war ; but they have become much scattered, not taking well to 
agricultural pursuits. 

The physical aspect of British Kaffraria is similar to that of 
Lower Albany, having a coast region, intersected by deep- 
wooded valleys, through which flow periodical rivers, bounded 
at a distance of about forty miles from the sea-coast by a lofty 
mountain range. It is generally a pastoral country, but in 
many places well adapted for agricultural pursuits, and pre- 
senting much attractive scenery, and well-wooded ranges of 
hills. Water is more plentiful here than in many other parts 
of the continent, springs and fountains in many places making 



Southern Africa. 



287 



compensation for the uncertainty of the rivers, some of which 
cease to flow in the dry season. 

The towns and villages of British Kaffraria are well supplied 
with churches and schools. Most of the religious denomina- 
tions at work in the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony are 
at work here also. The Church, London, Scottish, and Wesleyan 
Missionary Societies have important and flourishing stations at 
St. John's, Landillis Kraal, Keiskamma Hoek, Umhala's Kraal, 
Peetton, Knapp's Hope, Lovedale, Mount Coke, and other 
places. We have not the means of ascertaining the statistics of 
the other institutions ; but the Wesleyan Missionary Society 
reports as follows in connection with the Queen's Town district, 
which consists chiefly of stations among the various tribes of 
Kaffirs: missionaries, native and European, 17; chapels, 44; 
other preaching places, 263 ; church members, 4065 ; scholars 
in the mission schools, 4559 ; attendants on public worship, 
20,950. 

The Colony of Natal, 

The region now forming the colony of Natal is situated on 
the south-eastern coast of Africa, about 1000 miles from the 
Cape of Good Hope. It derived its name from the circumstance 
of its having been discovered by the Portuguese on Christmas- 
day, 1498; but for a long time it seems to have remained 
unnoticed by Europeans. At length, about the year 1822, it 
was visited by several white traders, who found the country in 
possession of the Zulus, under the sanguinary chief Tshaka. 
This distinguished barbarian was killed and succeeded by his 
brother Dingaan in 1838; but the latter having treacherously 
massacred a large party of emigrants who had made their way 
to his kraal over the mountains from the Cape Colony, he was 
attacked and finally destroyed by the Dutch Boers, who entered 
the country soon afterwards in strong force to avenge the death 
of their fellow-colonists. The Dutch, after several sanguinary 
conflicts, having for the time being gained the ascendency over 
the savage natives, set up Panda, the brother of Dingaan, as 



288 Africa: Past and Present. 



the nominal paramount chief in his place, and proclaimed 
themselves as lords and masters of the land. 

In order that the reader may have a correct idea of the 
circumstances which led the Dutch Boers thus to attempt a 
settlement in Natal, and to justify in some measure the action 
taken by the British Government afterwards, it is necessary 
here to give a few words of explanation. The said Dutch 
Boers had previously been British subjects in the Cape Colony; 
and taking umbrage at the Act of the Imperial Parliament 
providing for the emancipation of the slaves in 1834, and 
being otherwise dissatisfied with British rule, they sold their 
farms, and left the colony in large numbers, declaring their 
intention to proceed to the distant interior and establish 
themselves as a republic, independent of British control. 
Some of them settled in different places to the westward, 
beyond the boundary of the Cape Colony ; and others pressed 
on to Natal, which they regarded as an eligible locality for a 
permanent settlement. It was a party of the emigrants last 
mentioned — at the head of whom was a Dutch Boer named 
Retief — who fell a sacrifice to the treachery of the sanguinary 
Dingaan, and whose massacre was so signally avenged by their 
surviving friends. But previous to this event a considerable 
number of English adventurers had settled at Port Natal, and 
it was hoped that they would unite with the Dutch emigrants 
in the formation of a colony, and the establishment of some 
form of civil government ; but as they had formerly disagreed 
amongst themselves, so they now differed with the Dutch 
farmers, and the country was in a state of complete anarchy 
and confusion, when the British Government resolved to put 
an end to the strife, and prevent the still worse consequences 
that were likely to follow, by interposing their authority. 

The leaders of the Dutch emigrants to Natal were in the 
first place informed by despatches from the Governor of the 
Cape Colony that, being British subjects, they would not be 
allowed to relinquish their allegiance, and set up an independent 
government in the land of their adoption ; and that as British 



Southern Africa. 



289 



authority would soon be proclaimed in Natal, they must be 
prepared to submit to British rule. To this the Boers demurred; 
and amicable means having failed to bring about a reconciliation, 
Captain Smith was appointed military commander in Natal, and 
directed to proceed thither overland with a detachment of 
200 men of the 27th Regiment and two field pieces, and to 
take possession of the country in the name of the Queen of 
England. This small force was quite inadequate for the 
purpose contemplated ; but both ofificers and men nobly 
discharged their duty, by acting according to their instructions 
to the utmost of their power. After a tedious and fatiguing 
march, they reached Natal on the 12th May, 1842; and, 
meeting with no resistance at first, they quietly hauled down 
the republican flag which they found flying at the Point, and 
hoisted the Union Jack in its place. They then fortified their 
encampment as best they could, and called upon the Dutch 
Boers, who were in considerable force at a short distance, to 
submit peaceably to British authority. This they refused to 
do; and seeing the contemptibly small force of English 
soldiers sent to subdue them, they resolved upon resistance. 
Several severe scrimmages followed, in which the British force, 
being largely outnumbered and so poorly equipped, suffered 
great loss. Consequently Captain Smith resolved to act on 
the defensive till he could obtain reinforcements, and he 
immediately despatched a messenger overland to the Cape 
Colony to report the position of his small detachment. 

After enduring a terrible siege in their laager, or temporary 
fortification, for a month, most of the time having to live upon 
a scanty supply of biscuit and horse-flesh, on the night of 
the 4th of June Captain Smith and his heroic little band were 
gladdened by hearing the discharge of heavy guns in the offing, 
feeling assured that assistance was at hand. Soon afterwards 
Her Majesty's ships Southampton and Conch entered the bay 
with reinforcements, which were safely landed under the 
protection of a powerful discharge of bomb-shells from the 
larger vessel. This arrival completely overawed the rebellious 

19 



2 go Africa: Past and Present. 

Dutch Boers, who offered no further resistance, but fled with 
all possible speed at the approach of the British troops. Natal 
was proclaimed a British colony on the 12th of May, 1843; 
efficient officers were appointed to carry on the government ; 
emigration began to flow to its shores; and from that time to 
this the settlement has prospered, notwithstanding the numerous 
difficulties with which it has had to contend. 

The colony of Natal is bounded on the south by the 
Umzimculu river, which separates it from Kafifirland ; on the 
west by a range of high and almost impassable mountains 
called the Quathlamba or Drakensbergen, which divide it from 
Basutuland and the Orange Free State ; on the north by the 
Tugela and the Umsungati or Buffel's rivers, which separate 
it from Zululand ; and on the east by the Indian Ocean. It 
has an area of about 25,000 square miles. The proximity of 
the high mountain ranges just mentioned, and their various 
ramifications, gives a general character of irregularity and 
roughness to the surface of the whole country. The great 
basin of the Tugela river includes nearly one-half of the whole 
colony, and forms an elevated plateau, considerably higher 
than the coast region. Besides the rivers already mentioned, 
the Umgani and the Umvoti are considerable streams. They 
are none of them navigable, however, being very irregular in 
their flow, and having several majestic waterfalls, some of 
which are 280 feet high. 

The soil of Natal is generally fertile, and with careful 
cultivation it produces sugar, coffee, indigo, arrowroot, pine- 
apples, and many other tropical productions in the coast 
region ; whilst in the uplands the diff'erent vegetables, fruits, 
and cereals common in Europe are grown to a considerable 
extent. There is also found almost everywhere good pasture 
land, excellent timber, and a fair supply of water. The climate, 
as may be inferred from the productions mentioned, is almost 
tropical ; yet it is considered on the whole very healthy. 
Fevers and other epidemics are almost unknown, except in a 
few marshy spots near the coast. Thunderstoirris are frequent 



Southern Africa. 



291 



in summer, and often extremely violent, causing at times serious 
loss of life. In winter the peaks of the neighbouring mountains, 
which rise to the height of 8000 feet, are frequently covered 
with snow for three or four months; but on the coast the range 
of the thermometer throughout the year is from 53° to 90'^. 
The summer is the rainy season. 

The only seaport of the colony is the spacious, and nearly 
land-locked, basin of Port Natal; the entrance of which is, 
however, impeded by a bar of shifting sand, on which the 
depth of water varies from nine to fifteen feet. If this could 
be effectually and permanently removed, the harbour would be 
one of surpassing excellency ; but as it now is, vessels of light* 
draught only can enter, large ships being obliged to anchor 
outside and land their cargoes in boats, at considerable incon- 
venience. As seen from the ocean, Port Natal presents to the 
view nothing but bold headlands, till the narrow entrance to the 
harbour is approached by the inward-bound vessel. The town 
of D' Urban stands on the margin of the bay, and has gradually 
risen to be a place of considerable magnitude and importance. 
The capital of the colony and the seat of government is Pieter- 
maritzburg, which is situated in a lovely valley about fifty-two 
miles inland from the port. The other principal towns and 
villages are Verulam, Richmond, Fine Town, York, Harrisniith, 
Ladysmith, Weenen, Edendale, Indaleni, jManda, and Umhlali. 

The general character of the population of Natal, originally, 
has been already indicated ; and it only remains to say that it 
has been gradually increasing from year to year by the arrival 
of British emigrants, the influx of native refugees fleeing from 
the tyranny of the savage Zulu king, and the importation of 
thousands of Indian coolies as labourers on the sugar and 
coffee estates. According to the most careful estimate, it may 
now be stated to consist of 30,000 Europeans, 200,000 Zulus 
and other Kaffirs, and 20,000 Indian coolies. 

The large number of natives resident in Natal has been 
represented by some writers as being exclusively Zulu refugees, 
who have fled from the tyranny of their savage and despotic 



292 Africa: Past ana Present. 



chieftains ; but the fact is, that whilst this is the case with 
some, the majority of them originally belonged to tribes which 
occupied lands now included in the colony of Natal, long 
before the advent of the pale-faced strangers, who were con- 
quered by the cruel Zulu king Tshaka, and driven as captives 
into Zululand, whence they have escaped from time to time 
and returned to the country of their fathers. This circumstance 
gives them a claim to consideration and to land for their support 
in the home of their ancestors, which they would scarcely have 
had as mere refugees. Yet the colonial authorities have been 
very tardy in rendering bare justice to the tens of thousands 
of natives whom they recognise as British subjects under 
their control ; and the plans adopted for their settlement and 
government have been open to serious objection, as being alike 
injurious to them and the colonists. They have been located 
on the poorest lands, set apart for the purpose, at such distances 
from the towns and villages of the settlers that the difficulty of 
obtaining native labour has been considerably enhanced; whilst 
they have been congregated in dense masses far too large to 
be efficiently governed or instructed, as many as 30,000 being 
settled in one location. In the opinion of many experienced 
colonists it would have been much better to settle the natives 
on a larger number of smaller locations, at convenient distances 
from the principal centres of European population, that they 
might gradually come under civilizing influences, and each 
section of the community might have been thus made mutually 
beneficial to each other. Nor can we omit to point out the 
glaring inconsistency which we have witnessed of attempting to 
govern the natives of Natal through the medium of their own 
heathen chiefs, and sanguinary laws, which permit witchcraft, 
polygamy, and numerous bloody and barbarous customs, instead 
of governing them by British law as British subjects in an English 
colony. But our limited space does not admit of our going 
into further detail on this painful subject. 

The population of Natal, of every grade, has been indebted 
for religious instruction and Christian education chiefly to the 



Southern Africa. 



293 



missionary societies of Europe and America, the same as the 
other colonies and territories of Southern Africa. The Epis- 
copal Church of England has been somewhat unfortunate in 
the part which it has attempted to take in the work. As early 
as 1838 a missionary, a catechist, and a medical man were sent 
to Natal by the Church Missionary Society ; and an earnest 
effort was also made soon afterwards to evangelise the natives, 
under the same auspices, by the zealous but eccentric Captain 
Allen Gardiner ; but war breaking out, and other untoward 
events occurring, both undertakings failed, and the work was 
entirely relinquished. In 1853 Natal was constituted a diocese, 
and Dr. Colenso was consecrated the first bishop ; but, accord- 
ing to his own confession, instead of converting the natives to 
Christianity, the bishop was himself converted to a certain 
species of infidelity by a Zulu Kaffir, and proceeded at once, 
by his writings and teachings, to propagate his sceptical views, 
encouraging polygamy and other heathenish practices among 
the people of his charge, and striving to discredit the Divine 
authority of the Sacred Scriptures which he had vowed to 
uphold. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel secured 
the appointment of another bishop ; but Dr. Colenso was 
determined not to be superseded, and the colony of Natal has 
for several years exhibited the melancholy spectacle of two 
rival bishops, and a scene of wrangling and litigation painful to 
contemplate. There have, nevertheless, been some zealous and 
devoted clergymen at work ; and, under the patronage of the 
Government, and with the aid of large grants of money from 
home, churches have been built and congregations gathered m 
several of the towns and villages of the colony, for the benefit 
of the settlers who profess to belong to the Church of England ; 
and, in a few places, something has been done for the religious 
instruction of the natives also. 

The Dutch Reformed Church and the Scotch Presbyterians 
have ministers and churches in Pietermaritzburg, and a few 
small congregations in other places. The Free Church of 
Scotland have also made a beginning, and the Independents 



2 94 Africa: Past a7id Present. 



have a flourishing cause in D'Urban ; but the American, 
German, and EngUsh missionaries have done most for the 
spiritual benefit of both colonists and natives of Natal. The 
American Board of Foreign Missions sent out missionaries to 
this part of the wide field at an early period, some of whom were 
men of superior learning and intelligence. They have laboured 
chiefly among the natives on their respective locations, and 
their labours have proved very beneficial, although the number 
of actual converts is not large. The number of missionaries 
now at work is thirteen, with twenty-eight native assistants. 
They occupy seven principal stations and twenty-one other 
preaching places. The number of church members is 524, 
and 1090 scholars are taught in twenty-three mission schools. 
The number of attendants on public worship is said to be 
1469. The American missionaries in Natal have by their 
literary ability and persevering efforts rendered good service to 
the cause of God by the part they have taken in the translation 
of the Scriptures, and by their earnest remonstrances with 
Bishop Colenso in their published pamphlets on his pet theory 
of polygamy and other foolish crotchets, which they regarded 
as damaging to the cause of Christianity in the field of mis- 
sionary labour which they occupy. 

The missionaries of the Berlin Society labouring in Natal are 
seven in number. They occupy six stations, and report 599 
natives as attending public worship, 470 of whom are church 
members, and 150 scholars in the mission schools. The Her- 
mannsburg Missionary Society employ eighteen missionaries 
on fourteen stations, in various parts of the country. . Some of 
these, however, are farmers and artisans, sent out to teach the 
natives the arts of civilized life as well as to instruct them in 
religious and general knowledge. Three hundred and fifty 
natives are reported as church members, and sixty-two as 
scholars in the mission schools. The Swedish and the Nor- 
wegian Missionary Societies have each made a beginning in 
Natal, the former reporting one missionary and four lay agents, 
and the latter two missionaries and thirty-seven church members- 



Southern Africa. 



295 



The Wesleyan Missionary Society commenced its labours in 
Natal simultaneously with the commencement of the settlement, 
the Rev. Mr. Archbell, the first missionarj', marching overland 
with the British troops in 1842, when they went to take posses- 
sion of the country, and ministering to them as well as to the 
natives at every opportunity. As emigration set in, additional 
missionaries were sent out for the express purpose of ministering 
to the spiritually destitute settlers, as well as of evangelizing the 
degraded Kaffirs. To care for the spiritual interests of their 
fellow-countrymen in foreign lands, as well as for those of the 
aborigines, has ever been the policy of this Society, as already 
mentioned. Hence places of worship have been erected, 
churches organized, and schools established in most of the 
towns and villages of Natal, as well as on many of the native 
locations. Amid numerous difficulties, the important work of 
diffusing a knowledge of Divine truth among all classes has 
been prosecuted by the Wesleyan missionaries with commend- 
able diligence and perseverance from year to year, and a pleasing 
measure of success has been the result. A considerable number 
of genuine converts to the faith and hope of the Gospel have been 
gathered into the fold of Christ, both from among the European 
settlers and the natives, some of whom have been called in their 
turn to make known the good news of salvation to their fellow- 
countrymen. The following are the statistics of the Wesleyan 
Missionary Society in the Natal district, according to the last 
report: — Number of missionaries, 22; chapels, 59; other 
preaching places, 324; full and accredited church members, 
2317; on trial for membership, 429; scholars in the mission 
schools, 1488; attendants on public worship, 23,715. 



The Orange Free State. 

When such a large number of the Dutch Boers resident in 
the Cape Colony became dissatisfied with the British Govern- 
ment on the emancipation of their slaves in 1834. as already 
mentioned, they treked or emigrated northward in different 



296 Africa: Past and Present. 



directions. Whilst some pressed forward and crossed the lofty 
Drakensbergen into the Natal territory, as stated in the last 
section, others settled down along the watercourses of the vast 
plains lying between the Orange and Vaal rivers. This country 
being beyond the colonial boundary, tolerably well watered, 
with extensive pasturage for sheep and horned cattle, and with 
here and there a tract of land capable of cultivation, it was 
quite adapted to the tastes and requirements of the Dutch 
farmers. Hence the number of settlers rapidly increased, and 
they proceeded to frame laws for self-government, entirely 
repudiating any control or interference on the part of the 
authorities of the Cape Colony. At length the attitude of 
these Boers, in thus proclaiming their independence of the 
British crown, and their harsh treatment of the neighbouring 
native tribes, attracted the notice of the government authorities; 
and in 1848, after some opposition, and one or two conflicts with 
our troops, the territory was annexed to the British empire by 
his Excellency Sir H. Smith, under the title of the " Orange 
River Sovereignty." For about six years it continued as an 
appendage to the crown of England, under the government of 
the Queen's representative at the Cape of Good Hope, as 
" Special Commissioner" for the purpose. In 1854, however, 
the clamours of the Dutch Boers for independence and self- 
government became so loud and persistent, that the sovereignty 
was very unwisely, as we think, given up to them, when Sir 
G. Clark was sent out as Her Majesty's Special Commissioner 
formally to hand over the country to the settlers. Earnest 
protests were sent home by the Cape colonists against this 
impolitic measure, but they were disregarded, and the arrange- 
ment was left to take its course. 

When left to themselves according to their wishes, the Dutch 
residents in the territory formerly known as the Sovereignty 
proceeded to frame a constitution for the government of their 
little commonwealth, which they designated the " Orange Free 
State." This embraced a president, freely elected by the land- 
drost and heemraden in the several districts into which the 



Southern Afiica. 



297 



country was divided, whilst the volksraad exercised legislative 
functions ; other arrangements were made after the style of 
what they had seen in Holland. Although the authorities of 
the Free State have kept in tolerable harmony with the Govern- 
ment of the Cape Colony, and with the British settlers generally, 
the new system can scarcely be said to have worked well ; and 
many persons who feel deeply interested in the welfare of the 
country are of opinion that a well-devised and comprehensive 
system of federal government, embracing the whole of Southern 
Africa under British rule, would be the best for all parties. 
The Boers in the Free State have frequently come into unplea- 
sant collision with the neighbouring native tribes, especially 
the Basutus, when both parties have appealed to arms, and the 
British Government has been called in to arbitrate between 
them. Hitherto success has attended their efforts, but it might 
any time be otherwise. Such imhappy incidents are always 
liable to disturb the peace of the whole country, and jeopardize 
the interests of all classes; hence the necessity of great prudence 
and discretion on the part of the governing powers, and of a 
wise, uniform, and strong government for the whole land. 

Although the country is nominally Dutch, many Englishmen 
and other Europeans have been led by various circumstances 
to settle in the Free State as ministers, medical men, farmers, 
merchants, tradesmen, or mechanics, and a stimulus has thus 
been given to industry and enterprise, which might otherwise 
have been wanting ; so that, on the whole, fair progress has 
been made in agricultural, mercantile, and other pursuits. The 
country has gradually filled up with thrifty farmers and other 
adventurous settlers ; and towns and villages, of different degrees 
of magnitude and importance, have arisen in various localities. 
The principal of these are Bloemfontein, the capital, situated 
150 miles north-west ofColesberg, on a tributary of the Modder 
river ; Siniihfield, about 35 miles north of Aliwal (North), near 
the Caledon river ; Fauresmiih, on the Griqua boundary ; and 
Winburg and Harrismilh, on the high road from Natal to the 
Cape Colony, which passes through the Free State. Crotistadt 



2q8 Africa: Past and Present. 



and BosJiof Tixt villages but recently formed ; they may, never- 
theless, become important places in process of time. 

■According to recent returns, the population of the Orange 
Free State consisted of about 14,000 whites, Dutch, English, 
and other Europeans, and 7000 coloured persons, of different 
tribes, but chiefly half-castes, exclusive of wild Bushmen, and 
migratory Bechuanas, Korannas, and others, perpetually on the 
move. The religious instruction of these people is fairly pro- 
vided for by the different agencies now at work among them. 
The Dutch Reformed Church of course take the lead, and 
they have erected places of worship, appointed ministers, and 
gathered congregations in all the towns and villages, and in 
some of the rural districts. The Episcopalians, aided by the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, have, for several 
years past, had three or four missionary clergymen at work in 
the Free State, and a bishop has been recently appointed to 
superintend their labours, although their congregations and 
adherents are necessarily few and feeble, from the sparseness 
of English-speaking inhabitants. The Berlin Missionary Society 
have three stations and four missionaries, aided by three lay 
assistants, at work in the Free State ; but their operations are 
as yet in their infancy. 

The Wesleyan Missionary Society commenced its labours 
among the natives in that part of Southern Africa now embraced 
in the Orange Free State, and in the neighbouring territories, 
long before either Dutch or English settlers entered the country. 
And when the changes took place to which we have referred, 
and the " pale-faces " made their appearance, they were ready 
to minister to them as well as to the natives, as they had oppor- 
tunity, according to their wont. The Gospel is preached in 
three or four 'different languages by the Wesleyan missionaries 
stationed in the Free State and neighbouring territories. Con- 
verts from among the English and Dutch settlers, as well as 
from among the wandering tribes of Bechuanas, Baralongs, 
and Korannas, have been gathered into the fold of Christ, and 
united in church fellowship ; and chapels have been erected in 



Southern Africa. 



=99 



several of the towns and villages, and in other centres of popu- 
lation. The Society has been induced to appoint ministers to 
some of these places by the liberal offers of the Free State 
Government to make financial grants towards meeting the 
additional expenses which would be incurred by such an ar- 
rangement, and the results have been satisfactory to all parties. 
The Bloemfontein Wesleyan district comprises all the stations 
situated in the Free State, as well as several beyond its boundary, 
both in the neighbouring Diamond Fields and in the regions 
beyond. The statistics of this section of the work, according 
to the last report, are as follows : Number of chapels, 34 ; 
other preaching places, 115; full and accredited church 
members, 3707 ; on trial for membership, 857 ; scholars in the 
mission schools, 3189 ; attendants on public worship, 13,678. 

The Transvaal. 

The extensive territory in Southern Africa known of late 
years as the Transvaal includes all the country north of the 
Vaal river, and both slopes of the Magaliesberg or Cashan 
mountains, which form the watershed line between the Orange 
river and the Limpopo river systems. Although its limits are 
not by any means well defined, they may be said to lie between 
latitude 22° to 27° south, and longitude 27° to 31° east, and to 
embrace an area of probably not less than 70,000 square miles. 
The southern face of the lofty range of mountains alluded to, 
presents to the view extensive undulating plains, generally well 
watered, and abounding with game. To the north, descending 
into the basin of the Limpopo, many high parallel chains of 
hills are met with, having numerous narrow " ports " or openings, 
through which flow many streams, which farther to the north- 
west unite to form the Ouri or Limpopo rivers. These streams 
are generally available for irrigation, and extensive forests cover 
a considerable portion of the territory. 

It was into this country that a large number of Dutch farmers 
"treked" or emigrated in 1838, when the British Government 



300 



Africa : Past and Present. 



took possession of the country between the Orange and Vaal 
rivers, known as the Sovereignty, as well as of Port Natal. 
Perhaps the Boers would not have found it more easy to shake 
off their allegiance to the British Crown, and to estabUsh their 
independence in this instance, than they had done in their 
previous attempts, had not the English Government changed 
their policy, and given up the Sovereignty to their fellow-country- 
men, as mentioned in a previous section. The establishment 
of the Orange Free State, with the permission of Great Britain, 
prepared the way for the peaceable formation of the Transvaal 
Republic in the territory just described. A form of government 
was organised for the Transvaal similar to that which had been 
adopted in the Free State, and after numerous difficulties had 
been encountered, a very fair commencement was made with 
the new enterprise. Tracts of land in the most favourable 
localities were measured off and given out as farms, dwelling- 
houses were erected, gardens laid out, and in process of time 
towns and villages sprung up in various directions. The popu- 
lation was at first very sparse and widely scattered, but it was 
increased every year by the influx of emigrants. Among the 
new comers were several English adventurers from Natal and 
the Cape Colony, whose presence gave a tone to society that it 
would not otherwise have had ; and there were other circum- 
stances which seemed to augur well for the future of the infant 
Republic, till events took an unfavourable turn, and seriously 
militated against its prosperity. 

Unhappily for them, as well as for others, the Dutch Boers, 
in the land of their adoption, cherished the same antipathy 
towards the native tribes that they had manifested before they 
left the Cape Colony, when they took umbrage at the EngHsh 
for emancipating the slaves. From the earliest period they had 
been in the habit of regarding the sable sons and daughters of 
Ham as under the curse of God, and as in fact a different race 
of beings to themselves, and they treated them accordingly. 
It has been said that over the doors of some of their places of 
worship in the old colony, there was written the inscription, — 



Southern Africa. 



301 



" No dogs or Hottentots allowed to enter this church ! " and in 
the course of our travels we have witnessed some painful instances 
of the degradation in which the natives were held by the stolid 
and ignorant Dutch farmers. In "the Transvaal, far away from 
the influence and notice of the civilized world, they indulged 
the propensities alluded to without restraint ; and the hapless 
aborigines whom they took as domestic servants and reduced 
to abject slavery, and the wandering tribes of natives with whom 
they came in contact, they treated with the utmost rigour. The 
parties last named, however, were not disposed in their wild 
freedom quietly to submit to the cruelty and insults of the 
white savages who had entered their country, taken away their 
lands, and commenced to shoot them down like wild beasts. 
They consequently retaliated as best they could, and perpetual 
wars between the natives and the Boers was the result for many 
years. 

At length the affairs of the Transvaal Republic, and their 
relation to the neighbouring native tribes, arrived at such a 
pass that they could be endured no longer. The colonial 
authorities at the Cape, and in Natal, clearly saw that unless 
something was done to prevent it, the whole of Southern Africa 
would be involved in a war of races, as the result of the cease- 
less conflicts between the Boers and the natives. The serious 
complications of the situation were laid before the home govern- 
ment, and Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the respected Secretary 
for Native Affairs in Natal, visited England in 1878, when it was 
resolved to take possession of the Transvaal, and proclaim the 
whole countr)' to be henceforth under British rule. This bold 
act of policy, in the interests of peace and humanity, was carried 
out with a measure of courage, promptitude, and discretion truly 
admirable. Sir Theophilus being appointed Her Majesty's 
Special Commissioner for the annexation of the Transvaal to 
the British Crown, proceeded to the scene of action, and with 
a small detachment of English soldiers in his train, and his 
printed proclamation and his commission in his pocket, stood 
up in the market-square of Potcliejstroom, the capital of the 



302 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Transvaal Republic, and declared the whole territory to be 
annexed to the British Empire, and subject henceforth to 
English law ; and the country was thus taken possession of 
without firing a shot, and without the occurrence of any act of 
violence whatever. 

Of course the leading Boers and officials of the defunct 
Republic stormed, protested, and remonstrated ; but all this 
went for nothing, as a large majority of the population, both 
Dutch and English, were disgusted with the state of things as 
they had seen them for several years past, and hailed with joy 
the advent of British rule, and the prospect of permanent peace 
which the happy change of government presented to their view. 
Nor was this remarkable event less welcome to the neigh- 
bouring native tribes who had been such severe sufferers under 
the former administration, for the British name is everywhere 
revered in Africa as that of a nation whose influence will always 
be on the side of liberty, humanity, and peace. 

Whatever view may be taken of the annexation of the Trans- 
vaal to the British Empire by politicians of different creeds, 
from a Christian standpoint it appears a measure fraught with 
good to the teeming millions of Central Africa, if Christian 
England does her duty by entering the openings thus presented 
for the introduction of the Gospel to the regions beyond. When 
we look at the character and extent of the country thus placed 
under British rule, and the facilities which are thereby afforded 
for the prosecution of evangelistic work, we cannot but recog- 
nise the hand of Divine Providence in the events which have 
recently transpired. 

The principal towns and villages in the Transvaal are 
Potchefsiroom, the seat of government, on the Mooi river, 
about twenty miles north of the Vaal ; Rustenberg, a few miles 
north of the Magliesbergen ; Zoutpansberg, the most remote 
European village in South Africa, about sixty miles south of 
the Limpopo, and 1260 miles north-east of Cape Town. Ley- 
denberg, Origstadt, Pretorious, and a few other villages are places 
of less importance, but they will soon develope themselves 



Southern Africa. 



303 



under the new regime. Ministers of the Dutch Reformed 
Church have been appointed to some of these places ; and the 
Wesleyan, Berlin, and Hermannsberg Missionary Societies 
have for several years past had agents stationed in the Trans- 
vaal ; but there is now a loud call for much more to be 
done. 

ZULULAND. 

The immense tract of country situated to the north of Natal 
known as Zululand is separated from the colony by the Tugela 
river, and stretches away along the eastern coast almost as far as 
Delagoa Bay. It is bounded on the east by the Indian Ocean, 
and on the west by a continuation of the Drakensbergen and 
the extensive region of the Transvaal. In its physical features 
and general aspect the country differs little from other parts of 
south-eastern Africa. The surface of the land is in many 
places extremely broken, wild and rugged, with here and there 
mountainous districts and patches of forest interspersed. There 
are, nevertlieless, in various directions extensive grassy uplands 
well adapted for the grazing of cattle, with intervals of rich 
valleys and plains, which yield good harvests of Indian and 
Kaffir corn with comparatively little labour. The rivers are 
not large or numerous, nor are they navigable to any con- 
siderable distance. They are, in fact, most of them mere 
periodical streams, rolling down their contents in torrents after 
the rains, and nearly empty during the dry seasons. Wild and 
rugged as the country may appear at first sight to the European 
visitor, it is well adapted for the sustenance of the numerous 
and powerful people by whom it is inhabited. 

The history of this country and of its savage and warlike 
people since they came under the notice of Europeans has 
been romantic and tragic in the extreme, as may be readily 
imagined by the incidental mention made of them in previous 
pages ; and their true character has been more fully revealed 
in the recent fearful war, which has desolated so many happy 
homes. Apparently to serve the purpose of party politics, many 
well-meaning persons in England have severely condemned the 



304 



Africa : Past and Present. 



men and the measures by which they allege that hostilities were 
precipitated. In their ignorance of the real facts of the case, 
they would have had, by the adoption of mild and pacific 
measures, the bloodthirsty heathen Zulu king kept in authority 
and power, to the continued injury of his people, and the per- 
petual danger of the neighbouring colonists. It only requires 
a slight acquaintance with the real character and the ante- 
cedents of the notorious Cetewayo to convince any one of the 
impossibility of peace and security whilst he continued to 
exercise his savage, cruel, and sanguinary rule in Zululand. 

In taking a retrospective glancp at the career of this remark- 
able personage, we may observe that it was not without a 
struggle that he ascended the throne of his ancestors ; nor 
would he ever have attained to that eminence if he had not 
been aided by the English. Cetewayo was not the oldest son 
of Panda, and on the death of the father there was a fearful 
contest for the crown of the fallen monarch. War was at once 
declared between the two sons and their respective adherents. 
In the interests of peace and good government the neighbour- 
ing colony of Natal declared in favour of Cetewayo, believing 
him to be the most likely of the two to become the ruler of the 
Zulu people. This brought the struggle to an end, and the 
elected prince was formally crowned by Sir Theophilus Shep- 
stone in the name of Queen Victoria, Cetewayo solemnly 
promising to reform the government of Zululand by discoun- 
tenancing witchcraft, war, and bloodshed, etc., and by admitting 
traders and teachers into the country to promote the general 
welfare of the people. 

The imposing ceremony of the coronation was scarcely over, 
however, and the government officers and English visitors 
returned to Natal, when the wily Cetewayo laughed in his 
sleeve, and commenced a course of conduct directly opposite 
to that which he had promised. Under the plea of watching 
and checking the Dutch Boers of the Transvaal, of whom he 
was exceedingly jealous, and with whom he had some serious 
misunderstandings on matters relating to lands and boundary 



Southern Africa. 



305 



lines, he began at once to reorganize and strengthen his stand- 
ing army. He told his subordinate chiefs and principal warriors 
that they would soon have to fight with white men ; that they 
must arm themselves with rifles, and practise the use of shorter 
assagais, so as to use them in hand-to-hand fighting, instead of 
throwing them as formerly ; and that they must improve their 
drill after the manner of Europeans. At the same time orders 
were issued for the enrolment in the army of all Zulu youths 
of sixteen years of age and upwards, whilst messengers were 
sent in every direction, both among the British colonists and 
the Portuguese of Delagoa Bay, to purchase firearms and 
ammunition. Hundreds of Zulus went off to work at the 
diamond fields and on the railroads in the Cape Colony, for 
the express purpose of purchasing rifles with their earnings ; 
and they no sooner possessed the coveted weapon than they 
returned home, to present themselves before the despotic 
Cetewayo to receive his commendation for what they had 
done. On a careful calculation, it is believed that upwards of 
15,000 rifles, with a corresponding amount of ammunition, were 
thus brought into Zululand in the course of a year or two, from 
the time that Cetewayo commenced his rule. 

Nor did the Zulu king discourage the practice of witchcraft, 
polygamy, cold-blooded murder, and other heathen rites, as 
he had promised to do. He rather encouraged them, and the 
mere mention of some of his own acts of cruelty and blood- 
shedding, by decapitating, spearing, and otherwise putting to 
death his unoffending subjects, notwithstanding the remon- 
strances of the British Government, might well horrify the 
reader. On one occasion when Cetewayo had cruelly put to 
death a whole regiment of young girls, numbering about 500, 
because they refused, at his bidding, to accept as husbands a 
regiment of old men, worn out in military service, Sir Henry 
Bulwer, the Governor of Natal, sent an earnest but friendly 
remonstrance. But how was it received ? His sable majesty 
said to the messenger, " Tell the white man that he rules in 
Natal, and I rule here. I do not tell him how he should 

20 



3o6 



Africa : Past and Present. 



govern, and he must not tell me how I am to govern. What 
have I done ? I have not begun to kill yet ; I shall begin 
soon ; but this is nothing." 

Cetewayo was, moreover, so impulsive, passionate, capricious, 
and unreliable, that no dependence could be placed upon his 
word or professions of friendship. At one time he encouraged 
missionaries to settle in Zululand, at another time he dismissed 
them unceremoniously from the country. When a few Zulu 
converts to the faith of the Gospel had been gathered into the 
fold of Christ, and the king's permission was asked for their 
baptism, he positively refused, declaring that none of his people 
should become Christians, because the white man's religion 
made men's hearts soft and tender like those of women, and 
unfitted them for fighting, which was their proper business. 

At length matters came to a crisis. For seven years Cetewayo 
was believed to have been more or less concerned, in an under- 
handed manner, with every disturbance which had taken place 
among the surrounding native tribes ; and he was supposed to 
have instigated by hostile messages the Galeka and other Kaffirs 
to rebel against the British Government in 1877, whilst at the 
same time he was in communication with the chief Sekukuni 
and his people, encouraging them in their hostility to the Dutch 
Boers in the Transvaal. In 1878 he had increased his standing 
army to about 50,000, one-half of his warriors being armed 
with rifles, and the other with assagais and shields. This grand 
preparation was made ostensibly to attack the Dutch Boers, in 
consequence of their having claimed land which he alleged 
belonged to him, but in reality to be ready for any deed of 
daring and of blood. Just at this time the news was brought 
to Cetewayo of the proclamation of British rule in the Transvaal, 
when he expressed his bitter disappointment, and roared like 
a lion robbed of his prey. He immediately ordered the mes- 
senger to be put to death ; but his principal chiefs interposed 
to save the man's Hfe. "Tell Somtseu" (the Zulu name for 
Sir T. Shepstone), exclaimed the enraged monarch, " that it is 
well he sent when he did, for if he had been a week later I 



Southern Africa. 



307 



should have made a clean sweep of the land from the Drakens- 
berg to the Buffalo." 

Shortly after this, in the month of October, Sir T. Shepstone 
went to the border to meet, by appointment, the Indunas of 
Cetewayo to discuss the question of the long-disputed boundary 
line between Zululand and the Transvaal, which it was desirable 
to have settled. To this meeting the Zulus, contrary to their 
practice in such cases, came armed; and before the conference 
fairly commenced a shot was fired which passed within a few 
inches of Sir T. Shepstone's head ! This was said to have been 
an accident ; but the spirit and bearing of the Zulu warriors 
was. the very contrary of pacific. Sir Theophilus offered them 
the boundary which has since been fixed by Sir Bartle Frere, 
but they indignantly rejected it, and laid claim to the whole 
country now included in the Utrecht division, and half of the 
Wakerstroom and Lydenburg divisions, to which they had no 
just claim whatever. 

The meeting just mentioned broke up without any satisfactory 
arrangement ; and Cetewayo and his host of savage warriors, 
disappointed in their intended attack on the Dutch Boers, 
seemed determined to fight. Both Natal and the Transvaal 
were threatened ; and Sir Bartle Frere, Her Majesty's High 
Commissioner, who was already in Natal, thought the time was 
come when some understanding should be arrived at with the 
Zulu king. He therefore sent to Cetewayo requiring the per- 
formance of the promises which he made on the various points 
already mentioned, when he was placed in power by the inter- 
vention of the British Government. No proper attention being 
paid to these demands, nor to the ultimatum by which they 
were followed, war was declared, the appalling particulars of 
which will be fresh in the reader's memory. 

The first sad event, which occurred on the 22nd January, 
1879, when a column of British troops was completely sur- 
rounded and almost entirely annihilated at Insandula by a vastly 
superior force of savage Zulu warriors, will never be forgotten 
by those most immediately concerned. On that mournful 



3o8 



Africa : Past and Present, 



occasion 850 British and colonial troops, officers and men, fell 
dead on the field of battle, besides a number of native auxiliaries, 
making the total loss to our arms not less than 1000. Indeed, 
very few escaped the general carnage to tell the sad story ; and 
when the news reached Natal, the Cape Colony, and England, 
many households were filled with lamentation, mourning, and 
woe. Preparations were now made for the vigorous prosecution 
of the war, for there was a deep and widespread conviction 
that there would be no peace or security for the British posses- 
sions in South Africa unless the notorious Cetewayo and his 
savage host of Zulu warriors were thoroughly subdued. Troops 
were accordingly sent from England, as well as from various 
parts of Natal and the Cape Colony, and the British army was 
soon in a position to advance. 

The sad disaster just mentioned was followed by an engage- 
ment on the 29th March, when a signal victory was obtained 
over the Zulus by British troops under the command of General 
Lord Chelmsford, at the Kambula camp, when on their way to 
relieve Colonel Pearson, who, with his brave company of 1300 
men, had been hemmed in by the enemy at Etshowe for more 
than a month. A brief account of this engagement, as given 
by the Rev. T. Woolmer, a Wesleyan chaplain, who nobly 
accompanied the troops to minister to the sick and wounded, 
may serve to throw some light on the character of this fearful 
contest : — " On Saturday morning early, we could see dense 
masses of Zulus in the distance steadily approaching. They 
came nearer and nearer, and every man in the camp became 
aware that it was their intention to attack. I was on the left 
side of the waggon laager, where the hospital was, and watched 
there for a long time expecting a rush. At twenty minutes to two, 
the first shot was fired by horsemen sent out to skirmish ; the 
Zulus rushed upon them with great determination, and they 
returned to the laager. The guns then began to play upon the 
enemy with terrible effect. The Zulus fought bravely, coming 
on in skirmishing order, and taking advantage of any cover 
they could get. There was a ledge of rocks not far from the 



Soiitheryi Africa. 



309 



fort, from which shelter they kept up a heavy fire upon the 
laager. The bullets flew thick over us while we were attending 
to the wounded, and at one corner of the fort, seven of our 
men were shot dead. The leader of the Zulus here, who was 
a hundred yards ahead of his men, was the handsomest native 
I have ever seen, of a light yellow colour, — the aristocratic 
colour, I believe, in Zululand. He must be a chief, I should 
think, of high rank. At last, about 4.30 p.m., the Zulus 
began to retire on all sides. Then our cavalry, both English 
and native, commenced the pursuit. They were cheered as 
they filed out of the fort. They chased the enemy for seven 
or eight miles. I should think that altogether more than 3000 
Zulus were killed. The soldiers have been busy to-day burying 
them. I have been over the battle-field, and the sight is 
dreadful. For miles along the road guns have been picked 
up which had belonged to the ill-fated 24th who fell at Insan- 
dula," etc. 

Before the news of this important victory reached England, 
Sir Garnet Wolseley had been appointed to the supreme civil 
and military command in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal. 
Some time elapsed before he reached South Africa to relieve 
Sir Bartle Frere and Lord Chelmsford respectively, and when 
he landed in Natal he found that the British army, which had 
been largely increased by arrivals from England, was marching 
upon Ulundi, Cetewayo's great war kraal or capital of his king- 
dom. Just before Lord Chelmsford and his army reached that 
place, whilst encamped in a favourable position, they were 
surrounded by the combined host of Zulu warriors, led on by 
the king himself. An action immediately took place, and after 
a fierce fight of an hour or two the enemy was completely 
routed and fled in every direction, hotly pursued by the British 
and Colonial cavalry. About 800 Zulus were left dead on the 
field, whilst the British loss was comparatively small. The 
next day Ulundi, the king's great place, was reduced to ashes, 
as were all the other kraals in the vicinity, and the victory was 
complete. 



310 Africa: Past and Present. 



Sir Garnet Wolseley hastened up the country to finish the 
work so auspiciously begun, and Lord Chelmsford being re- 
lieved of his command, returned to England, as did also 
several other officers and a considerable portion of the British 
army, the Zulu war being considered virtually at an end. 
Cetewayo was still at large, however, having fled with a few 
of his followers ; and as there appeared to be no prospect of 
peace whilst this was the case, notwithstanding the submission 
of many of his influential but subordinate chiefs and people, 
detachments were sent in pursuit of the fugitive king. At 
length, on the 28th of August, he was captured, to the joy of 
all who knew his ferocious character and sanguinary career. 
There was something rather romantic in the circumstances 
attending this important event. Lord Gifford having received 
information that Cetewayo was Ijnng utterly prostrate in a kraal 
situated in the north-west of the Ngomo forest, with a follow- 
ing too weak to offer any serious resistance, sent for Major 
Martin, who came with his dragoons and surrounded the king's 
hiding place. Cetewayo and his followers surrendered at once, 
but on their march to the head-quarters at Ulundi they gave 
their captors some trouble, eleven of the king's attendants 
attempting to make their escape, six of whom succeeded in 
getting away, the remainder being shot down, the king himself 
frequently becoming restive and refused to go any further ; 
but he was urged forward, and after resting for a short time, 
first at Ulundi and then at Maritzburg, he was put on board 
a ship bound for the Cape and safely lodged in the castle at 
Cape Town on Monday, the 15th of September, 1879. 

The Zulu war being now ended, several English regiments 
returned home, and the survivors belonging to various volunteer 
corps, who had gladly pressed forward to the front in defence 
of their country, were relieved from further service. The parties 
last named were generally received by their friends and fellow- 
countrymen at their respective locations with the liveliest 
demonstrations of gratitude and joy. This was especially the 
case with regard to a detachment of native cavalry, about sixty 



Southern Africa. 



311 



in number, who went forth from the Wesleyan Mission Station 
at Edendale, at the commencement of the war, and who ser\-ed 
faithfully and efficiently through the entire campaign, including 
the great battles of Insandula, Zlobane, Kambula, and Ulundi, 
and returned to their homes with the loss of only three or four 
of their number. Their friends gave them a grand reception at 
a public tea-meeting in the schoolroom, which was splendidly 
decorated for the occasion. Several beautiful pieces were sung 
by the native choir, and impressive speeches were delivered by 
the volunteers themselves, giving their experience in the field 
of battle, and stating how they trusted in God and kept up their 
meetings for prayer and praise in all their encampments. 

The testimony given by the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, 
who was present at the meeting alluded to, is worthy of per- 
manent record. The following is a condensed report of his 
Excellency's speech on the occasion : — " He said he had plea- 
sure in taking part in the reception given to the gallant men 
of Edendale who had just returned after many months' absence 
in the field. He desired to say how sensible he was of the 
manner in which Edendale had sent its sons to the war, and of 
the good service they had done. They had had to leave their 
homes and their families and their friends and their peaceful 
occupations. They had had to do this in order to take part 
in the war, and to exchange the pleasant ways of peace for 
service in the field, with all its discomforts and dangers. They 
had done their duty, and had done it well. Their conduct had 
been without reproach, and had been marked by courage and 
other good qualities, which had always distinguished the men 
of Edendale, and made them a most useful auxiliary force. 
He thanked them in the name of the Queen for their adrhirable 
conduct, which had won the good opinion of all, and gained 
for Edendale the credit attaching to noble acts and good 
conduct. He thanked the men of Edendale for what they had 
done, and he thanked their missionary, the Rev. Mr. Allsopp, 
also. Their faithful services and good conduct reflected the 
highest value of his labours, and were the very best testimony 



312 



Africa : Past and Present. 



that could be had to the success of the Edendale Wesleyan 
Mission." 

At the close of the Zulu war Sir Garnet Wolseley addressed 
himself to the duty of settling the country in the most praise- 
worthy manner. He assembled the principal native chiefs at 
Ulundi, and explained to them the manner in which Zululand 
would be divided into thirteen districts, with a chief of equal 
authority to govern each, and a British Resident stationed in 
their midst to see that everything was done properly. The 
plans of His Excellency appear to be conceived in wisdom and 
kindly feelings towards the natives, and it remains to be seen 
how they will work. Every friend of humanity and Christian 
missions must pray for their success. 

Previous to the war the Propagation Society of the Church 
of England and the Hermannsburg and Norwegian Missionary 
Societies had established stations in Zululand, and attempted 
the evangelization of the natives, but with very slender results, 
owing to the numerous difficulties with which they had to 
contend. On the breaking out of hostilities all the missionaries 
and teachers had to leave the country. They will now have 
the opportunity of returning and recommencing their work 
under more favourable auspices. It is to be hoped that the 
number of labourers will be greatly increased, and that the 
blessing of God will attend their efforts in a land which it is 
hoped will now be fully thrown open to the benign influences 
of the Gospel. 

Neighbouring Territories. 

Having passed under review the various colonies and 
settlerhents in Southern Africa in which separate governments 
have been established, including Zululand, now in a state of 
transition, it may be well in conclusion to take a brief survey 
of a few neighbouring territories, with their diversified popula- 
tions, some of which have been already taken under the 
protection of the British, and others of which may in time to 
come be more intimately connected with our Government. 



Southern Africa. 



Let us now take a glance at Kaffirland. According to the 
present arrangement of South African geography, a marked 
distinction is made between British Kaffraria, recently incorpo- 
rated with the Cape Colony, and Kaffirland proper. Formerly 
the general name of Kaffirland was given to the whole south- 
eastern coast of the great continent beyond the boundary of 
the Cape Colony ; but since the assumption of British rule 
over that part of the country just named, and the establishment 
of the colony of Natal, which separates it from Zululand on 
the north, the term is now generally applied to the territory 
lying between the two, which is still occupied by independent 
Kaffir tribes, with the Indian Ocean on the south-east, and the 
Quathlamba mountains in the rear, which separate it from 
Basutuland on the west. 

Kaffirland in general presents to the view of the traveller an 
undulating, and in some places broken, rugged, and mountainous 
country. The principal rivers are the Umtata, Bashee, Tsomo, 
and Umzimculu and its tributaries, none of which, however, 
are navigable. A number of other periodical streams wind 
their way from the mountains to the ocean after the rainy 
season ; and as they work out for themselves deep ravines, 
they are sometimes difficult to cross with a heavily-laden 
ox-waggon, and give to the surface of the country a rugged, 
broken aspect. There are between them, however, large tracts 
of land well adapted for the pasturage of cattle and the growth 
of Kaffir and Indian corn, on which the natives chiefly subsist. 

The tribes of Kaffirs inhabiting this region are the Tambookus, 
Amagalekas, Amapondas, Amabaxas, and a few others of minor 
consequence, numbering in all about 100,000. They are all 
deeply degraded pagans ; and the most important personage in 
the community, next to the ruling chief, is the witch doctor 
and rain-maker, and whenever he appears with his trappings 
and medicines he produces quite a sensation. Among these 
people the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, and the Wesleyans, 
have established a number of mission stations, and their agents 
have laboured for many years with very encouraging results, 



314 Ajrua : Past and Preseyit. 

thousands of native converts having been united in Church 
fellowship, and learned to read the Word of God for them- 
selves, whilst a few have been called to preach the Gospel to 
their fellow-countrymen. 

Basutuland is the name now given to a comparatively small 
territory, bounded on the west and north by the Orange Free 
State, and on the south-east by an immense double chain of 
lofty mountains, here called the Maluti, which separates it from 
Kaffirland and Natal. The country is generally of a pastoral 
character, but contains many tracts of good land capable of 
cultivation. It is densely populated by the remnants of various 
Bechuana, Koranna, and other tribes, known under the general 
name of Basutus. During the devastating wars of the sanguinary 
and marauding chiefs Tshaka, Dingaan, and Moselekatze, these 
broken remnants of scattered tribes took refuge in the mountain 
fastnesses of the country now known as Basutuland ; and 
about the year 1825 began to rally round Moshesh, a native 
chief of great energy and force of character. The Basutus, as 
governed by their able chief Moshesh, soon became respected, 
and even feared, by the neighbouring tribes, as well as by the 
settlers of the Orange Free State. In 1858 the Free State, 
however, went to war with the Basutus on the subject of land 
claims and boundary lines ; and old Moshesh having died, and 
his sons being less able and influential in governing the tribe, 
the British Government, after having been called in to mediate 
between the contending parties, ultimately took the Basutus, 
at their own request, under their protection, and the country 
they inhabit may now be regarded as virtually a portion of the 
British Empire. 

No people in South Africa have benefited more by missionary 
labour than the Basutus. The agents of the French Evangelical 
Missionary Society have taken the lead in the work. For many 
years past they have had flourishing stations at Beersheba, 
Thaba Moriah, Hebron, Bethesda, and other places ; and their 
efforts have been very successful in converting the heathen, 
and in diffusing among the people general knowledge calculated 



Southeryi Africa. 



315 



to promote their civilization and social elevation. The Wesleyan 
missionaries have also established important and prosperous 
stations at Umpekani, Umperani, and Thaba Unchu, near the 
boundary of the Free State. Thaba Bossi is a remarkable 
fortified village, situated on the summit of a flat-topped 
mountain height, near the sources of the Little Caledon river, 
and it was long the favourite residence of the famous chief 
Moshesh. Under the fostering care of the British Government 
and the instruction of the missionaries, the Basutus bid fair to 
do well both for this world and that which is to come. 

The country long known as Gkiqualand is situated beyond 
the Orange river, and around its junction with the Vaal; thus 
interposing between the Cape Colony on the one side and the 
Free State on the other. The Griquas are a mixed race, of 
which there are several clans vulgarly called " Bastards," being 
the descendants of Dutch Boers and their Hottentot slaves. 
They are a tall, athletic, good-looking race, of light-olive 
complexion, somewhat indolent and careless with regard to 
the future, but generally good-natured and hospitable. They 
are fond of hunting and exploring, and occasionally predatory 
in their habits. They speak a debased patois of the Dutch 
language, as do most of the coloured inhabitants of South 
Africa. About the year 1833 the Griquas began to collect and 
settle in the country which has since borne their name, and to 
rally round a leader or chief named Adam Kok, who displayed 
considerable tact and skill in governing the people who 
acknowledged his chieftainship. Some time afterwards a part 
of the clan separated themselves from the rest, and gathered 
round a man named Waterboer, who became their captain or 
chief. Both of these chiefs for many years received annual 
gratuities or grants from the Colonial Government, on condition 
of their loyalty and good conduct. They and their people 
were ultimately removed by an arrangement with the govern- 
ment authorities to a region known as " No-man's-land " ; and 
of late years they have become somewhat scattered. In all 
their location they are generally now regarded as British 



316 



Africa : Past aiid Present. 



subjects, and they have gradually advanced to a pleasing state 
of civilization and general knowledge. 

Like the Basutus, the Griquas are largely indebted to the 
missionaries for the respectable position to which they have 
attained among the native tribes of South Africa. The honoured 
instruments in their moral and social elevation have chiefly 
been the agents of the London Missionary Society, who have 
laboured among them for many years with remarkable energy, 
zeal, and success. The Wesleyan Missionary Society have also 
some prosperous stations iij s 
where no other agencies ar^ a' 
labours have so far been encfiju 

Bechuanaland is the na; 
country lying^tw&MiGriqual 
on the eastf and the gn 

stretching/away as far as lylke N'gimi on the south 



e of the Griqua settlements, 
work, and the results of their 
■ging. 

giveri to an extensive tract of 
d oj^lthe south, the Transvaal 
desert on the west, and 



I 



continued droughts, 
is nevertheless occui 



land is fer from fertile, liaj/le to. Ion 
water iyconsequently oftenr scarce^ 

by sevaral wandering tribes, with Isligfit difference of charidter 
and diilect, but known to Europeans/ under the general na me 
of Becliuanas, who subsist chiefly am tlieir flocks_a»<rH^i ds, 
with wHu;h they trave/ extensively t«(|mi(J^^asnire. j The /fvi^' 
and mosrvecent infopnation we hav^of mis Qountcy ancrpeop, 
has been communicrated by Dr. l4olikb,iin inttllig/ent Bohemian 
gentleman, vl^, ori returnmg^om his last journey of explora- 
tion into the mreilur, <!IeTivered an interesting lecture on his 
travels and di^overies at Graham's Town in the month of May, 
1879. In this lecture he spoke of "six Bechuana empires" as 
forming the eastern boundary of the Kalahari desert. These 
tribes of Bechuanas, he said, were known as Batlapins, Bara- 
longs, Banguaketse, Bakwenas, Bamangwatos, and the Bamang- 
watos of Lake N'gami. The tribes of Bushmen inhabiting 
these regions, — a more manly race of natives than the Bush- 
men of the Cape Colony, — he described as subjugated by the 
Bechuanas, and as employed by them as slaves and huntsmen. 
Some of the above-named tribes of Bechuanas, especially the 



[est J 



Southern Africa. 



317 



Batlapins and the Baralongs, have for several years past been 
favoured with the means of religious instruction by the agents 
of the London and Wesleyan Missionary Societies. It was 
among these people that the celebrated Dr. Moffat achieved 
his greatest successes, and it was into their language that he 
succeeded in translating the Sacred Scriptures. And it was 
from a station among them that Dr. Livingstone started on his 
first adventurous journey of discovery. Hundreds and perhaps 
thousands of these people have been to a considerable extent 
civilized, evangelized, united in church fellowship, and many 
have been taught to read the Word of God for themselves. 

BusHMANLAND is the general designation applied to an exten. 
sive, wild, and uninhabited tract of country on the south of the 
Orange river. This was no doubt at one time the principal 
home of the Hottentots, or real aborigines of the country, when 
they were driven back from the neighbourhood of the Cape by 
the original settlers, and who are now known as wild Bush- 
men. When travelling through this region, we have occasionally 
met with an individual or a family of this degraded class of our 
fellow-men ; but the main body of them have had to remove 
still farther away from the colony of the settlers, by whom they 
were in former times cruelly treated. They are now to be found 
in the greatest numbers on the borders of the Kalahari desert, 
where they are in little danger of being pursued and shot down 
by white men as formerly. The Bushmanland of the Cape 
Colony is now used chiefly as a place of pasturage by the 
Dutch Boers, when the grazing land on their own farms fails 
from drought, or from being overstocked. Hence we have 
seen them encamped in some of the most favourable localities, 
lazily watching their flocks and herds, as they quietly browsed 
on the long grass, which is plentiful there at certain seasons of 
the year. 

Namaqualand is the next territory that calls for our notice. 
Little Namaqualand lies south of the Orange river, and has for 
many years past been part and parcel of the Cape Colony. The 
most favourable portions of the country are occupied by Dutch 



3i8 Africa: Past and Present. 



farmers, and in less fertile districts are located a considerable 
number of natives, among whom the Wesleyan and German 
missionaries have established several important and promising 
stations. There also are situated the richest copper mines of 
South Africa, to which a considerable number of Cornish emi- 
grants and others have been attracted, and for whose benefit 
both Episcopalian and Wesleyan ministers have been sent to 
labour. 

The extensive region known as Great Namaqualand is situated 
to the north of the Orange river, and stretches away for hundreds 
of miles along the western coast of Southern Africa as far as 
Walvisch Bay, and extends inland to the Bechuana country. 
It cannot be less than 450 miles in length and 230 in breadth, 
and it embraces an area of 100,000 square miles, with a thinly 
scattered population of about 40,000 souls. The land is generally 
sandy, dry, and barren in the extreme, cultivation being almost 
unknown in many parts. The seacoast of this sterile region for 
many miles inland consists of a succession of shifting sandhills, 
and travelling is very difficult. And yet several petty tribes of 
natives, known as Namaqua Hottentots, and approaching more 
nearly in their character to the real aborigines of the country 
than any others we have met with, manage to obtain a precarious 
living under the direction of their respective chiefs. This they 
do by means of their flocks and herds, with which they wander 
about from place to place, as they find most convenient, erecting 
their temporary mat huts, and remaining longest where water 
and grass are most plentiful. 

Under circumstances of peculiar trial and privation, the mis- 
sionaries of the Wesleyan and Rhenish Societies have laboured 
among these people with commendable zeal and diligence, and 
with a pleasing measure of success, for many years. The present 
writer, when visiting the stations, has held some of the most 
delightful religious meetings he ever attended in any country 
with the converted natives of this wild region, and has observed 
with pleasure the arrangements made by the missionaries for 
sending native teachers with each party to accompany them in 



Southern Africa. 



319 



their wanderings, and to carry on school operations in their 
respective encampments, whilst they themselves itinerated 
among them as opportunities would permit. A few years ago 
the Wesleyan stations in Great Namaqualand were, by a mutual 
arrangement, transferred to the German missionaries, who have 
now the entire field to themselves. The stations they occupy 
are Nisbett Bath, Bethany, Bethesda, and a few others. The 
whole of Great Namaqualand has recently been taken under the 
protection of the British Government, and a resident magistrate 
appointed ; an arrangement which it is hoped will result in much 
good. 

Damaraland lies to the north of Great Namaqualand, and 
extends along the coast of the Atlantic as far as the Cuanene 
river, in latitude 1 7° south. So far as it has been explored, the 
country appears to bear a striking resemblance to that which 
has been already described, with this exception — that the land 
is found to be somewhat less sterile and better supplied with 
wood and water the farther we proceed northward. The 
Damaras are of darker complexion than the Namaquas, with 
broad features, woolly hair, and more of the negro character 
than their neighbours, although their language is similar in its 
principal elements. The Namaquas, under Jonker Africaner, 
Amaral, and other petty chiefs, in pressing northward in quest 
of better pasture lands for their herds and flocks, have trenched 
somewhat on the rights of the Damaras, with whom they have 
occasionally waged war on a small scale. The Wesleyan and 
German missionaries have laboured earnestly for the benefit of 
both peoples, but hitherto with slender results. The whole of 
the stations, including Wesleyville, Concordiaville, Elephants' 
Fountain, and some others, are now under the care of the 
Germans, and it is hoped that greater success may ultimately 
attend their labours. 

The last country which we have to notice as belonging to 
Southern Africa is Ovampoland, which is situated still farther 
north, and appears to form a connecting hnk between the terri- 
tories mentioned above and the regions of Loando and Benguela, 



320 Africa: Past and Present. 



occupied by the Portuguese, on the western coast of the great 
continent. The natives of Ovampoland are almost entirely 
negro in their features, complexion, and general characteristics, 
although in their occupation, manners, customs, and language, 
they resemble their neighbours the Damaras. The German 
missionaries have recently extended their labours to this distant 
region, although the country is as yet but very imperfectly 
known. As geographical explorations, mercantile speculations, 
and missionary enterprise progress in Southern Africa, the regions 
beyond will no doubt be ultimately opened up to commerce 
and Christianity, and wonderful changes will be witnessed during 
the next half-century. 



321 



CHAPTER VII. 



EASTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA. 



General Outline— Rivers and Harbours — Native Tribes and Settlers — Arab 
and Portuguese Colonization — Delagoa Bay — Quilimane — Mozam- 
bique — Zanzibar — Aden — Christian Missions — Makololo Mission — 
Universities' Mission — Livingstonia Mission at Lake N'yassa — London 
Society's Mission at Lake Tanganyika — Church Society's Mission at 
Lake N'yanza — Conclusion. 

A LTHOUGH difficult to define with precision, that portion 



jTjl of the great continent generally designated Eastern 
Africa may be said to include the immense tract of territory 
which lies between the colony of Natal and Zululand on the 
south, Abyssinia and the Gulf of Aden on the north, the Indian 
Ocean on the east, and the partially explored regions of Central 
Africa on the west. A reference to the map will show that, 
from Cape St. Lucia, near Delagoa Bay in the south, to the Straits 
of Bab-el-Mandeb on the north, this vast country embraces a 
length of coast measuring nearly 3000 miles, diversified by 
numerous harbours, bays, and islands, many of which are but 
imperfectly known to Europeans. It may be considered as 
extending inland about 500 or 600 miles from the sea ; but on 
the interior side its boundaries are undefined ; and throughout 
its length and breadth its character and contents are but little 
known to strangers at a distance, — the Portuguese and Arabs, 
who have possessed themselves of the leading maritime stations, 
sedulously preventing people of other nations from settling in 
the country. 

From the little we know of the geography and general aspect 
of Eastern Africa, it appears to possess some grand and inter- 




21 



322 



Africa : Past and Present. 



esting natural features, and many large tracts of fertile land, 
capable of yielding the most valuable productions when brought 
under careful cultivation. Those parts nearest to the coast 
consist in many places of spacious plains of alluvial soil, with 
occasional forests of valuable timber. Behind these plains are 
found large tracts of undulating country, affording splendid 
pasture lands for countless herds of cattle and wild beasts, which 
roam over them at pleasure. In the distance these rise into 
mountain ranges of considerable altitude, some of which run 
parallel with the coast for scores of miles, whilst others stretch 
far away into the still unexplored regions of the interior, forming 
the backbone and watershed of the mighty continent, and the 
sources of the numerous rivers which wind their way to the 
ocean in various directions. 

Rivers and Harbours. 

Eastern Africa is not destitute of rivers and harbours ; but, 
so far as they have been explored or surveyed, they do not 
generally appear to correspond with the magnitude of the vast 
continent on which they are found. Perhaps an exception 
should be made with regard to the Zambezi, which is undoubt- 
edly the largest and most important river in Eastern Africa. 
Little was known of the magnitude and course of this river 
till a few years ago, when the enterprising Dr. Livingstone 
struck its upper branches in travelling across the continent, and 
discovered the famous falls, to which he gave the name of 
''Victoria," in honour of the Queen of England. The l0\ver 
part of the Zambezi is navigable at certain seasons of the year 
as far as the Portuguese settlement of Sena ; but its upper 
portions have never yet been fully explored. 

We are chiefly indebted to Captain Owen of the Royal Navy 
for the little knowledge we possess of the harbours, bays, and 
the lower portions of the principal rivers of Eastern Africa. In 
1823 he was commissioned by the British Government to under- 
take a regular and scientific survey of this distant portion of the 
coast line of the vast continent. He accordingly sailed round 



Easfani and Central Africa. 323 

the Cape of Good Hope in H.M.S. Leven, with every appliance 
necessary for the purpose. At an early period of the voyage a 
party connected with the expedition — consisting of Lieutenant 
Brown, Mr. Forbes, and Mr. Kilpatrick, assistant-surgeon, with 
two black servants — was sent to explore the lower regions of 
the Zambezi. After proceeding eight miles they emerged from 
the mangrove swamps, and sailed amid groves of cocoa-nut 
and orange trees, with the most delightful scenery on every 
side. They had only advanced to the distance of about forty 
miles from the sea, however, when they became involved in 
clusters of small islands, the channels between which were so 
shallow that they were obliged to land, drag forward the boat 
for some distance, and re-embark when the river became more 
open. At Chapongo they found a Portuguese station, com- 
manded by a lady named Donna Pascoa d'Almeyda, who had 
no troops except a few negroes, who submitted implicitly to 
her authority. She lived, however, in great pomp, and gave 
the strangers a cordial welcome. In ascending the river a little 
higher they saw a country tolerably well cultivated, but some- 
what tame and uninteresting, till, on approaching Sena, they 
beheld the bold and picturesque outline of the mountains of 
Yemale. Before they reached the settlement, however, they 
had the affliction to lose Mr. Forbes, a young man of great 
promise, who fell a victim to the climate. 

At Sena the voyagers met with a cold reception from the 
commandant and other officials, and the priests sought only to 
obtain money from them. This treatment aggravated their 
exhaustion of body and mind, and gave them great anxiety, 
under which Mr. Brown, after having nearly lost his faculties, 
finally sunk. Kilpatrick then became reckless and desponding ; 
and, seeking relief in the free use of spirituous liquors, soon 
shared the fate of his two companions, and like them found a 
grave in African soil. There remained of the unfortunate 
exploring party only the two negro servants, from whom some 
of the Portuguese settlers endeavoured to extract the little 
money they had ; but they steadily resisted ; and, having with 



324 Africa: Past and Present. 

difficulty effected their escape, after many perils, they reached 
Quilimane, where they found Captain Owen's ship at anchor, 
and related to him and his surviving officers their mournful 
story. 

The Zambezi enters the Indian Ocean by several embouchures, 
the principal of which are the Cuma, Kongoni, and Quilimane. 
These present the appearance of separate rivers of considerable 
magnitude ; but they have never yet been fully explored. The 
unfortunate issue of Captain Owen's first attempt at river navi- 
gation deterred him from further efforts of the same kind. It 
was not till a comparatively recent period that anything more 
was done in this direction, and then it was with very partial 
success. Dr. Livingstone succeeded in navigating his little 
steamer the Ma-Robert up the main branch of the Zambezi as 
far as Sena ; but when he attempted to ascend the estuary 
known as the Quilimane, he soon found his progress impeded 
by immense masses of reeds, weeds, and other obstructions, 
and was obliged to descend without penetrating any distance 
into the interior or effecting a junction with the main stream 
as he had anticipated. It has since been ascertained that a 
canal about four miles in length might be cut, which would 
obviate most of the difficulties hitherto experienced. 

The other rivers of Eastern Africa are comparatively insig- 
nificant, or entirely unknown to modern geography. Near 
Quilo several large estuaries enter the sea, of the upper course 
of which little or nothing is known. The same may be said of 
the Rufigi, Kingani, Adi, Dana, Webi-juo, Rovuma, and other 
inconsiderable streams ; the one last named, however, seems to 
rank next in importance to the Zambezi, and was ascended by 
Dr. Livingstone to a distance of 120 miles. And yet it is not 
improbable that further exploration may bring to light rivers of 
greater magnitude and importance than we are aware of, in this 
little-known portion of the African continent. 

The extensive coast line of Eastern Africa is indented with 
numerous bays and harbours, some of which might be greatly 
improved by the application of scientific engineering so as to 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



325 



be made safe and commodious ports for shipping, if the advance- 
ment of civilization and commerce were to call for such accom- 
modation, which it is hoped some day will be the case. The 
principal of these are Delagoa Bay, Sofala Bay, Pomba Bay, 
Quilimane, Mozambique, Mombasa, Quiloa, Port Durnford, 
and others in the vicinity of Aden. Some of these may be 
further noticed in connection with the settlements to which 
they respectively belong. 

Native Tribes and Settlers. 

Eastern and Central Africa are inhabited by a great variety 
of peoples speaking different languages, and differing consider- 
ably in their manners, customs, and general character. They 
may, however, be divided into three classes or groups, a few 
observations concerning each of which may help to throw some 
light upon the kind of material that Christian philanthropists 
will have to deal with in their efforts to benefit and elevate this 
portion of the great continent. 

The aborigines or native tribes, properly so called, belong to 
various branches of the African race. Those who inhabit the 
lowlands bordering on the sea-coast differ little in their appear- 
ance and natural wildness from the Kaffir tribes already noticed, 
although their languages vary considerably. But those who 
dwell in the more distant interior, and in the mountainous 
regions, partake more of the real negro type, as it is met with 
in its full development still farther north. Scarcely anything 
is known of these people, however, beyond what can be gathered 
from the incidental observations of the few travellers who have 
passed through their respective countries, and thus come in 
occasional and temporary contact with them. So far as we 
know, they are all pagans, and deeply involved in ignorance, 
superstition, and sin ; little or nothing having as yet been done 
to raise them from the moral degradation and wretchedness in 
which they are sunk. The following tribes have been named 
as prominent and important people ; but we have yet to learn 
their probable extent and chief characteristics : the Bratucahs, 



326 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Tembians, Kingani, Wayyamizi, Wajiji, Wasagara, Wazaramo, 
^^"agogo, Balonda, Makololo, Dinkas, Bongos, Wanikas, and 
the Gallas. The people last named are perhaps the best known 
of any, from the interest taken in them by the missionary 
travellers, Dr. Krapf and Mr. Rebmann. They seem to have 
come originally from Abyssinia, and to have been gradually 
pressing onward towards the eastern coast, where they are now 
found in considerable numbers. 

In various parts of Central and Eastern Africa there are also 
to be found interspersed among the native population a vast 
number of wandering Arabs and half-castes of Arab descent, 
universally known as Moors. These are the principal travelling 
merchants and slave-dealers of this part of the great continent. 
In some places they have formed permanent settlements as 
centres or head-quarters for their traffic ; but the majority of 
them are constantly on the move, travelling immense distances 
in large companies or caravans. The Moors are rigid Moham- 
medans, and so zealous are they in the interests of their religion 
that, by the usual weapons of fire and sword, they have propa- 
gated the dogmas of the false prophet somewhat extensively 
among the negro tribes which' have come under their influence. 

To the above must be added, as forming part of the popula- 
tion of this section of Africa, the Portuguese settlers, who are 
found chiefly resident in the towns and villages of the coast 
districts, and on the banks of the lower portions of the principal 
rivers. Comparatively few of those who bear the name of 
Portuguese are of purely European descent, however, the original 
settlers having by degrees mixed, to a considerable extent, with 
the more intelligent natives in the neighbourhood of their 
respective locations, and the result is a progeny of half-castes of 
a dark copper colour. These people profess to adhere to the 
religion of their paternal ancestors, and are consequently bigoted 
Roman Catholics. Their Catholicism is of a very degraded 
type, however; and in their mental capacity and moral conduct 
they stand little, if any, above the level of the degraded heathen 
around them. 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



Arab and Portuguese Colonization. 

We have no means of ascertaining when, or under what 
circumstances, parties of Arabs first left their own arid shores, 
crossed the Red Sea, and estabUshed themselves on the conti- 
nent of Africa. But at a very early period they appear to have 
formed settlements at several points nearest to Arabia, and 
gradually to have spread themselves round the eastern coast, 
as well as into the interior regions. Those who found their 
way into Central Africa became more or less mixed with the 
native tribes, and their descendants are the numerous class of 
Moors already mentioned, who are now met with in almost 
every part of the continent. To a considerable extent they 
have continued from generation to generation to indulge their 
wandering habits ; hence their widespread dispersion, and the 
fact that, with the exception of a few places on the eastern 
coast, but few permanent settlements have been formed by 
them. They are the chief merchants of the country, and by 
their example and influence they have diffused a taste for trade 
and commerce among all classes of the native population. 
They are fond of horses, on which they generally ride, whilst 
they make use of camels and negro slaves as beasts of burden ; 
for it is a mournful fact that whenever they become dominant 
they reduce the poor negroes to a state of vassalage, and of late 
years they have been the most active agents in the accursed 
slave trade. It is this circumstance, in connection with their 
inveterate Mohammedanism, which forbids our regarding the 
history and proceedings of the Arabs in Eastern and Central 
Africa with anything like feelings of complacency. 

The Portuguese found their way to the eastern coast of Africa 
at a later period ; and in the early part of the sixteenth cen- 
tury they formed their first settlement, which they used as a 
convenient place of call for their ships when sailing to and from 
the East Indies. In their first attempts at colonization they 
had only the rude and simple-minded natives to contend with ; 
but, on extending their conquests northwards, they came in 



328 Africa: Past and Present. 



contact with the more intelligent and powerful Arabs, whom they 
found firmly established at some places which they were anxious 
to possess. Hence arose repeated wars on a small scale, and 
perpetual contests, which resulted in the concentration of the 
chief power of the Arabs at Zanzibar and other places in the 
north, and the establishment by the Portuguese of the colonies 
of Delagoa Bay and Mozambique, with their dependent settle- 
ments in the south, as they are found at the present day. 

Whilst the maritime power of the Portuguese continued in 
its zenith, and a lucrative trade was carried on with India, their 
settlements on the eastern coast of Africa continued to prosper. 
And even for some time afterwards, in the heyday of the 
negro slavery trade, into which the colonists rushed with 
intense avidity, they carried on an extensive traffic. But when 
both of these sources of wealth failed, their establishments 
dwindled into the miserable poverty-stricken condition in which 
they are now found ; for it is a notorious fact that the Portu- 
guese, in their attempts at colonization, have never addressed 
themselves to agricultural pursuits, and the elevation of the 
aborigines, after the manner of some other European nations. 
This observation on the gradual decline of the wealth and 
power of the Portuguese will apply in some respects to the 
Arabs also, for it is recorded that Captain Owen, in the 
course of his survey of the eastern coast of Africa, " was every- 
where struck with the remains of former wealth and civilization, 
strongly contrasting with its present poverty and barbarism." 

A brief account of the principal settlements on the eastern 
coast of Africa may tend to confirm and illustrate the statement 
just made, whilst at the same time it may throw some light 
upon the present state of society, both colonial and native, in 
this interesting part of the world. 

Delagoa Bay. 

About three hundred miles to the north of the British colony 
of Natal, there is a considerable indenture in the Indian Ocean 
known as Delagoa Bay, which forms a convenient harbour of 



Eastern and Central Africa. 329 



refuge for shipping on this stormy coast. Into this spacious 
bay three rivers flow, one of which is known as the English 
river, from the circumstance of the British Government having 
several years ago secured a right to it and the adjacent terri- 
tory by a treaty with the paramount native chief of that part 
of the coast, although they never formed a settlement upon 
it, the land in the neighbourhood being exceedingly low, 
swampy, and unhealthy. Near the mouth of one of the other 
rivers the Portuguese established themselves at an early period; 
but, from the causes already mentioned, the settlement has 
declined much of late years, and now presents a miserable and 
abject appearance to strangers on board the ships which occa- 
sionally put in there. The governor or commandant in charge 
of the place, with his few military and other subordinate officials, 
are sadly underpaid for their services, and supplement their 
slender stipends by carrying on a little trade with the natives 
and the ships which occasionally call for supplies as they have 
opportunity. Whilst the slave trade was permitted, the Portu- 
guese colonists of Delagoa Bay, in common with those of other 
places, had abundant opportunities of making money ; but all 
that is changed now, and it is difficult to understand what can 
be their object in keeping up an establishment on this part of 
the coast, seeing they make no attempt to civilize the neigh- 
bouring native tribes, or to promote the interests of agriculture. 

Adjacent to Delagoa Bay is the populous native kingdom of 
Temby, the inhabitants of which attracted the notice of the 
humane and philanthropic Captain Owen when he called there 
occasionally during his survey of the neighbouring coast. 
Feeling an anxious desire to benefit this people, he mentioned 
their case to the Superintendent of Wesleyan Missions at 
the Cape of Good Hope, and generously offered to convey a 
missionary to Delagoa Bay free of cost, if one could be spared. 
The Society felt disposed to try the experiment of attempting 
to establish a mission there. The offer was gladly accepted, 
and the duty devolved upon the Rev. William Threlfall, a 
■zealous young missionary recently arrived from England. Mr. 



330 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Threlfall embarked on board the Leven, in Simon's Bay, on 
the 2istjune, 1823, and reached his destination on the 22nd 
of the following month. Next day, the young missionary was 
introduced to the king or paramount chief of the country, 
named Mayette, who received him most cordially ; and it was 
arranged that he should take up his residence at a village called 
Slengelly, on the bank of the river, that being considered the 
most healthy locality in the neighbourhood. 

It is painful to be obliged to report that a mission com- 
menced with such pure motives, and in a truly self-sacrificing 
spirit, should have proved a failure ; but such was in truth the 
case — not in consequence of any mismanagement on the part 
of the young missionary, but entirely owing to the unhealthiness 
of the climate, and the inadequacy of means available for the 
successful prosecution of the enterprise. Mr. Threlfall spent 
about six months at Delagoa Bay, endeavouring to learn the 
native language, instructing the people as best he could, and 
collecting information concerning the country and its inhabi- 
tants. He penetrated to a considerable distance inland, and 
everywhere met with the kindest treatment from the natives. 
But his resources were quite inadequate for the undertaking ; 
and, living in a native hut, without proper attendance, and 
destitute of the most ordinary comforts, as the rainy season 
approached he was seized with illness, and entirely laid aside 
from his work. Being reduced to a helpless state of suffering, 
in the absence of Captain Owen, who had left the bay some 
time before, he received some assistance from other com- 
manders who happened to call at the port ; and, when all other 
help failed, he managed to reach the Portuguese settlement, 
whei;e the governor and other officials showed him much kindness. 

At length the ship Nereid, a South Sea whaler, put into Algoa 
Bay for water, the captain of which offered Mr. Threlfall a 
passage to the Cape, which he gladly accepted. But during 
the voyage, which was long and stormy, a malignant fever 
broke out in the ship, of which several of the seamen died. 
Hence, on her arrival in Table Bay, she was put in quarantine, 



Eastern and Central Africa. 331 



and it was not till two or three weeks afterwards that the poor 
stricken missionary was landed in Cape Town, reduced to a 
mere skeleton, and scarcely able to walk. The sequel of Mr. 
Threlfall's brief career is appalling to relate. On the recovery 
of his health he went to labour in Namaqualand, on the western 
coast of South Africa, and, on attempting to carry the good 
news of salvation to the regions beyond, he and two native 
teachers who accompanied him were cruelly murdered by a 
band of marauding Bushmen for the sake of the few articles 
which they had with them to barter for food as they travelled 
along. 

QUILIMANE. 

Passing Sofala Bay in voyaging up the coast of south-eastern 
Africa, the next place of consequence which we come to is 
Quilimane, a Portuguese settlement about twelve miles from 
the mouth of a river of that name, which has already been 
mentioned as one of the debouchures of the Zambezi. This, 
in common with other Portuguese settlements in Eastern Africa, 
had declined in population, influence, and importance, when 
a few years ago it received a fresh impetus from the visits and 
explorations of Dr. Livingstone and others in the valley of the 
Zambezi, as well as from the settlement there of two or three 
European merchants. The most recent information we have 
of the appearance and condition of this place is derived from a 
communication from the Rev. Dr. Stewart of the Free Church 
Mission. He landed there on the 8th August, 1876, on his 
way to the interior, and the following is an extract from his 
letter written soon afterwards : — 

" Quilimane appeared to me greatly improved since my visit here in 1863. 
The streets, which are sandy, are kept fairly free from grass. On the sides 
of some of them an acacia, with very long heavy pods, fifteen or eighteen 
inches long, has been planted in lines, and affords an agreeable though not 
very dense shade. Cocoa-nut palms still abound, and give a marked ap- 
pearance to the place. They are found growing in some of the streets.— in 
groves in various parts of the town. The trees seem to take care o^ them- 
selves, and yield their fruit, when healthy, three times a year. The produce 
of each tree is worth rather more than four shillings., and a thousand trees 



332 



Africa : Past and Present. 



are thus worth annually ^200. The fruit is surpri-iingly cheap. The 
houses seem to me more numerous and in better order. A new 
custom-house has been built ; the old one was blown out of existence 
some three or four years ago by an explosion of gunpowder, caused by 
lightning striking the house during a thunderstorm at night. This did 
considerable damage, even though all the houses stand apart. There are 
two French commercial houses in Quilimane, whose chief business is in 
ground-nuts, sesamum, cocoa-nuts, wax^ and ivory. They represent 
houses in Marseilles. There is even now, as one of the signs of marked 
progress, a house which may be called the Quilimane Hotel — at least it is 
an hotel when there are guests. There is no doubt but a great deal more 
could be made of the place. For the present the single broken or missing 
link between Quilimane and the world outside is the want of a small steam 
launch to communicate with the mail steamer in all states of wind less than 
a gale : either this, or pilots with more activity or courage. There is at 
present only one, and the mail steamers have frequently passed without any 
communication with the shore. The town contains about 200 Europeans, 
and from 3000 to 4000 natives." 

Although the Portuguese have thus established themselves 
at Quilimane at the mouth of the Zambezi, they have not 
utilized that majestic river for the purposes of trade and com- 
merce to the extent which might have been expected. During 
the two centuries which have elapsed since they first made 
their appearance on this part of the African continent, they 
have made little impression upon the country or the native 
tribes for good. At an early period they formed the two small 
settlements of Sena and Tete, a considerable distance up the 
river ; but for many years the population of these places seem 
to have been dependent for their subsistence chiefly on the 
profits derived from the slave trade. Since that has been 
interrupted, if not extinguished, these in common with other 
Portuguese settlements in Eastern Africa have declined in 
magnitude and importance, the colonists having everywhere 
displayed a remarkable lack of energy and taste for agriculture 
and commercial pursuits. 

Mozambique. 

The principal settlement of the Portuguese on the eastern 
coast of Africa is called Mozambique. The town is situated 



Eastern and Central Africa. 333 



on a small island about three miles long and two broad, and 
not more than two miles from the mainland ; but many of the 
principal inhabitants have their houses on the continent, at the 
extremity of the peninsula of Coboccira. The settlement gives 
its name to the channel which separates this portion of Africa 
from the large island of Madagascar, and it has been the scene 
of many a contest between British cruisers and piratical slave 
vessels. In former times, when the maritime power of Portugal 
was at its zenith, this was a place of great importance, but of 
late years it has greatly declined, in common with other settle- 
ments which were dependent upon India, or which subsisted 
chiefly upon the profits they derived from their connection with 
the slave trade. 

Mozambique is described by geographers of the last century 
as a handsome city with a strong fort or castle, a good garrison, 
and well-stored magazine. Its hospital, churches, and convents 
are moreover spoken of as large and elegant buildings. But 
travellers and mariners who occasionally visit the place now, 
generally describe it as wearing a dilapidated and melancholy 
appearance. It is still, however, the place where the Governor- 
General of all the Portuguese possessions in Eastern Africa 
resides, and if the colonists were to turn their attention to the 
development of the resources of the country, it might again 
rise to a state of prosperity and importance. It is possessed of 
a splendid harbour, which in itself is a great advantage on a 
coast where storms are frequent, and where ships often find the 
want of a place of refuge. 

Zanzibar. 

The large and fertile island of Zanzibar, in latitude 6° south 
and longitude 41° east, has for many years past been the 
principal settlement of the Arabs in Eastern Africa. It is 
situated between the islands of Pemba and Monffa, about 
twenty miles from that part of the continent known as the 
coast of Zanguebar. The town, which contains a number of 
good houses, including several mosques and minarets, is built 



334 Africa: Past and Present. 

on the west side of the island ; and the population is estimated 
at 30,000. The soil is generally rich and productive ; and 
most of the vegetables, fruits, and plants common in the tropics 
flourish with ordinary care and culture. The settlement is, 
however, more dependent upon trade and commerce than 
upon agriculture for its comparative prosperity. The inhabit- 
ants, with the exception of a few foreigners, who have been 
permitted to settle on the island, are rigid Mohammedans, 
and are generally intolerant to persons of any other religious 
profession. 

When the slave trade was driven from the western coast of 
Africa, by the influence of Christian missions and the vigilance 
of British cruisers, it found its way to the eastern section of the 
great continent, and flourished for some time in a manner never 
known before. Zanzibar, which had previously been the general 
slave depot or head-quarters of the horrid traffic in these parts, 
rapidly rose to a position of great wealth and influence ; and 
the slave market there was an institution which attracted the 
notice and excited the disgust and indignation of strangers of 
almost every creed and country. Nothing could be more 
revolting than to see intending purchasers examining the teeth 
of the poor creatures, and otherwise testing their physical 
qualities, as they would those of horses or other brute beasts 
offered for sale by auction. Tens of thousands of negro slaves 
were known to pass through this depot annually on their way 
to Egypt and various parts of Turkey ; and the British Govern- 
ment, having previously taken a deep and lively interest in this 
question, felt bound to adopt prompt and energetic measures 
for the suppression of the horrid traffic. Ships of war were 
accordingly sent to cruise on the eastern coast, with a view to 
capture any slave-dhows they might meet with; and a British 
consul was appointed to reside at Zanzibar, with instructions to 
use his best influence with the sultan to secure, if possible, the 
suppression of the slave trade, and to report to his Government 
from time to time the course of events. 

Before long several slave-dhows were taken and condemned, 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



335 



and the slaves liberated ; and the sultan was induced to pro- 
hibit the importation and sale of slaves at Zanzibar. Instead 
of putting an end to the traffic, however, these measures only 
diverted its course. It was soon found that the slaves brought 
down to the coast from the neighbourhood of N'yassa, and the 
other lake-districts in the interior, were taken along the shores 
to Pemba that they might avoid Zanzibar, which was now 
closed against them. The next step was to induce the sultan 
to extend the prohibition of the trade in human beings to all 
the places along the coast which were in any way under his 
authority. Through the persistent and judicious influence of 
Dr. Kirk, the consul, and the wise diplomacy of Sir Bartle 
Frere, Her Majesty's Special Commissioner, who was sent out 
for the purpose, this desirable object was accomplished, appro- 
priate proclamations being issued in April 1876, setting forth 
the commands of the sultan and the determination of the 
British Government. These measures were greatly promoted 
by the startling revelations of Dr. Livingstone, Mr. Stanley, and 
others, with reference to what they had witnessed of the horrors 
of the slave trade in the interior ; and the result has been the 
':;radual suppression of the infamous traffic to a considerable 
xtent in the sultan's dominions, as it can only now be carried 
on by a system of smuggling which incurs much risk, being 
carefully watched by the authorities. 

Whilst Zanzibar may have made some sacrifices by the loss 
of the slave trade and the honourable manner in which the 
sultan has carried out the provisions of the treaty he en- 
tered into with the British Government for the suppression 
of the infamous traffic, it has gained much more in the appre- 
ciation and confidence which it has won from the civilized 
nations of Europe and America, the result of which will no 
doubt be a large increase of legitimate trade and commerce. 
The place is already used to a considerable extent as a starting 
point for travellers and missionaries setting out for the in- 
terior; and as a depot for supplies of various kinds which are 
required from time to time. As Central Africa becomes more 



336 



Africa : Past and Present. 



and more opened up for the introduction of civilization, com- 
merce, and Christianity, Zanzibar will increase in importance ; 
and when its deluded Mussulman inhabitants are brought 
under the benign influence of the Gospel, they may take an 
honourable part, along with those of other settlers on the 
eastern coast, in spreading the light of Divine truth into the 
interior of the vast continent, with relation to which they 
occupy such a commanding position. Already there are agencies 
and influences at work on the island of Zanzibar of a very 
hopeful and promising character, and, with the blessing of 
God, the results may exceed our most sanguine expectations. 

Aden, 

The extensive coast-line between Zanzibar and the Gulf of 
Aden is dotted with numerous small settlements or trading 
stations occupied chiefly by Arabs, and more or less dependent 
on Zanzibar. As these in time past have also been largely 
dependent upon the slave trade, the inhabitants will no doubt 
feel the consequences of the prohibition ; but it is hoped that 
they will now be induced to turn their attention more to legiti- 
mate commerce and agricultural pursuits, that the resources of 
their splendid country may be more fully developed. 

The town of Aden itself stands upon a rocky barren point of 
land which was ceded to the East India Company in 1839, 
as a station for British steamers to take in coals and other 
supplies on their voyages to and from India and Australia. 
Since the opening of the Suez Canal it has been extensively 
used for this purpose. With the exception of a few steam- 
packet company's officials and British merchants and other 
settlers, the population of Aden, which is estimated at 40,000, 
is similar in many respects to that which we find at Zanzibar. 
A large number of the lower class of Arabs are employed about 
the wharves and coaling depots, whilst a few of the more intelli- 
gent members of the community are occupied in mercantile 
pursuits and in the performance of various duties connected 
with the shipping, which has largely increased of late years. 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



337 



The land in the immediate vicinity of the town is rocky and 
barren in the extreme, and nothing is done in the way of 
agriculture beyond the cultivation of a few gardens in the 
most favoured spots, for the production of vegetables, which are 
greatly in demand on the arrival of ships in the port. 

Some spacious and substantial buildings have been erected 
of late years at Aden, for various purposes connected with the 
shipping; and when a steam-packet arrives from England or 
from India, a busy scene is presented to the view. The vessel 
has no sooner rounded Steamer Point than a score of small 
boats put off from the shore with their various commodities of 
fruit, vegetables, and curiosities for sale ; and the ship is 
scarcely at anchor before she is completely surrounded by the 
noisy and clamorous Arabs in their frail barks, each of whom 
holds up something to view to attract the notice of the sailors 
and passengers. This goes on during the whole of the time 
that ships are in the port ; but the most curious thing to be 
seen at Aden is the diving of the little Arab boys. The little 
copper- coloured urchins leave the boats and swim round the 
ship begging for money ; and when a sixpenny or threepenny 
piece is thrown overboard by one of the passengers it is quickly 
followed in its descent in the water by the little divers, the 
most expert of whom generally succeeds in seizing it before it 
reaches the bottom of the sea, when he quickly emerges to the 
surface and holds it up in triumph, amid the noisy tumult of 
' his companions, who clamour for a repetition of the experi- 
ment, each hoping to gain a prize in his turn. 

We have often thought that the native genius and shrewd- 
ness here displayed might be turned to good account if these 
Arab boys were properly instructed in Christian schools, and 
trained for higher and nobler pursuits ; but, so far as we know, 
little or nothing has been done as yet for the social and moral 
benefit of these poor outcasts. It is earnestly to be hoped that 
they will not be allowed to remain much longer in their present 
neglected state. A mission might be easily established at a 
place with which we have so much intercourse. 

22 



338 Africa: Past and Present. 



Christian Missions. 

Soon after his return from his successful mission to Zanzibar, 
Sir Bartle Frere published a small volume entitled " Eastern 
Africa as a Field of Missionary Labour." In this interesting 
book we have a concise account of what has already been done 
by the evangelical agencies at work in that part of the world, 
a statement of the facilities which are afforded for Christian 
effort, and a powerful appeal on behalf of those in whose welfare 
the philanthropic author had become so deeply interested. 
From this and other sources of information we glean a few 
facts which may prove acceptable to the reader. 

It is stated that, starting from a point on the Red Sea opposite 
the town of Aden, Eastern Africa embraces the districts of the 
Somalis and Galla tribes on the north, the Wanika and Zambezi 
countries with the kingdom of Zanzibar in the centre, and the 
Portuguese settlements and neighbouring territories in the south. 
The population consists of four or five millions of negroes, 
about the same number of Somalis, and eight or nine millions 
of Gallas, together with a considerable number of Barrians, 
and others of Indian origin, seventy or eighty thousand Arabs, 
and a few Portuguese, Americans, and Europeans of different 
nations. Various languages are spoken in this extensive region, 
but there is less opposition to the entrance of the Gospel than 
in some other parts of Africa. No dominant superstition stands 
in the way of its reception. There is little idolatry or fetish 
worship, such as is found on the western coast, and there are 
few barbarous or unnatural rites practised by the natives. 
Among the Mohammedan population the influence of their 
own creed is on the decline. 

Among these people the following missionary agencies are 
employed : — The Roman Catholics have two stations, one at 
Aden as the base of operations for Shoa and Abyssinia, where 
a few children of liberated Africans are instructed ; and another 
at Zanzibar, where they have extensive premises, large schools, 
and a seminary for training native clergy. The Protestant 
churches of Europe have three missions in the same region : 



Eastern a7td Central Africa. 339 



one founded in 1844 by the Church Missionary Society at 
Mombasa; a second commenced in i860 under Bishop Mac- 
kenzie by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham, 
commonly called the Universities' Mission, which has its centre 
at Zanzibar ; and a third established by the United Methodist 
Free Churches at Ribe, north of Mombasa. In addition to 
these important missions have been organized for the benefit 
of the native tribes in the far distant interior of Central Africa, 
the history of which will demand a passing notice. 

In the meantime we may offer a few observations on the 
Protestant missions which have been planted on the islands 
and coast-line of Eastern Africa. The first in the field was 
Dr. Krapff, a zealous and devoted German who went there in 
the service of the Church Missionary Society. The enterprising 
Doctor had previously laboured for several years in the province 
of Shoa, and when the Abyssinian government prohibited his 
longer residence there he removed to Mombasa, where he laid 
the foundation of a new station under promising circumstances. 
The head-quarters of the mission were afterwards removed to 
Kisulidini, a place some thirty miles higher up the estuary, as 
being a more healthy locality. When the way appeared to open 
up for usefulness among the Gallas and other important tribes, 
Dr. Krapff was joined by four additional devoted labourers, 
who were sent out by the Society to aid him in his work, and 
the mission had every promise of success. But alas ! sickness 
and death soon thinned the ranks and disappointed many 
hopes. One only of the missionary band, Mr. Rebmann, had 
strength to hold out against the climate. He remained at his 
solitary post of duty several years after the Doctor had been 
obliged to embark for Europe; but in 1856 he was driven by 
the hostile incursions of savage native tribes to take refuge in 
the island of Mombasa, and for two years the mission on the 
mainland seemed to be at an end. Mr. Rebmann resolved not 
to lose sight of its ruins, however, and employed his waiting 
time in preparing a translation of the Holy Scriptures into the 
language of the people among whom he laboured. 



340 Africa : Past and Present. 



At length the desire of the lonely missionary was gratified 
by a cordial invitation to return to Kisulidini, and the hearty 
welcome which he received on going there proved that God 
had further work for His servant to do among a people who 
had so long been deprived of the privilege of hearing the 
Gospel. For years Mr. Rebmann laboured single-handed in 
this dark and desolate spot, and managed to keep alive the 
spark of light which Dr. Krapff and his associates had been 
the means of kindling. After long and patient waiting, relief 
came. The deep interest called forth by Dr. Livingstone's 
last despatches and death stirred up the Church at home to 
fresh efforts on behalf of the African race, and a much-needed 
reinforcement was sent out to strengthen the mission on the 
eastern coast, including Mr. Price and Jacob Wainwright, 
Dr. Livingstone's faithful negro servant. When they arrived 
at Kisulidini they found Mr. Rebmann aged, feeble, and almost 
blind, but still the centre of a little band of native converts at 
the old mission premises. The afflicted missionary soon after- 
wards embarked for England, with the hope of obtaining some 
relief in reference to his sight by a surgical operation on his 
eyes, and the work was carried on by his successors. 

Meanwhile, about the year 1863, when the Church of England 
mission in Eastern Africa was in the neglected state already 
mentioned, the Missionary Society of the United Methodist Free 
Churches was induced to undertake a mission to that part of the 
world. The ministers selected for this service were the Revs. 
Messrs. New and Wakefield. On reaching their destination, they 
fixed their head-quarters at a place called Ribe, about eighteen 
miles north of Mombasa, and entered on their work in the true 
missionary spirit. For several years these devoted servants of 
God were engaged in preparatory work, erecting buildings, 
cultivating garden grounds, exploring the country, learning the 
native language, preparing translations, teaching school, and 
preaching the Gospel as they had opportunity. The difficulties 
with which they had to contend were numerous, and the pro- 
gress of the work was necessarily slow. According to the last 



Eastern and Central Africa. 341 



report, about forty or fifty native converts had' been gathered 
into the fold of Christ, and a few scholars were receiving 
instruction in the mission school, and the mission was gradu- 
ally winning the confidence of the neighbouring tribes. The 
unhealthy charactej of the climate here, as on the western 
coast, is the greatest hindrance to the progress of the work. 
A few years ago the Rev. C. New fell a sacrifice to its fatal 
influence, and more recently still Mrs. Wakefield sickened 
and died, and the mission stands in great need of reinforce- 
ment. 

The mission work of the Church of England in Eastern 
Africa received a large accession of strength in 1864, when 
Bishop Tozer was sent forth at the head of a new organization 
called the Central Africa or Universities' Mission, intended to 
succeed in some way a previous enterprise with a similar name, 
the melancholy history of which we shall have to notice farther 
on. Instead of proceeding at once into the interior, as was at 
first intended, the Bishop fixed his head-quarters at Zanzibar, 
where commodious mission premises were erected or fitted up, 
a printing-press established, schools opened, and grounds laid 
out for the training of native youths in habits of industry. A 
second station was subsequently formed at Magila on the 
mainland, to which was given the name of Frere Town, in 
honour of the philanthropic Governor of the Cape Colony. 
At the place last named a number of liberated slaves have been 
received for training, the more intelligent of whom have been 
placed under special instructions with the hope of their being 
ultimately employed as native teachers and preachers. Some 
progress has also been made in the work of translating school 
books into the Swahili language by Dr. Steer, the superintendent 
of the mission ; but all that has yet been done is quite of a 
preparatory character, 

Makololo Mission. 

We must now call the attention of the reader to the successive 
efforts which have been made to promote the social and spiritual 



342 Africa: Past and Present, 



welfare of the native tribes inhabiting the distant regions of 
, Central Africa, since that portion of the great continent was 
in a measure laid open. It will be remembered that Dr. 
Livingstone, the eminent African traveller and explorer, was 
originally a Christian missionary ; and although his published 
narratives do not contain so much of the missionary element 
as some of his friends anticipated, there can be no doubt but 
wherever he went he felt a deep interest in the moral and 
spiritual welfare of the people with whom he came in contact. 
Hence his untiring efforts for the suppression of the slave trade, 
and the encouragement he gave to the introduction of legitimate 
commerce and Christianity into the heathen countries which 
he explored. 

On his return to England, after his great journey across the 
continent of Africa in 1856, the good Doctor urged the London 
Missionary Society, in whose service he had previously been 
engaged, to establish a mission on the banks of the Zambezi, 
with a tribe of natives known as the Makololo, with the view 
of reaching other tribes in the interior through them. A mission 
was organized accordingly, which was to start from the Cape 
of Good Hope direct for the interior, whilst the Doctor himself 
went round by the eastern coast, purposing to meet the 
missionaries in the valley of the Zambezi, and to introduce 
them to the chiefs with whom he was personally acquainted. 
The missionaries selected for this service were the Revs. 
Messrs. Helmore and Price, the first of whom was a middle- 
aged minister, with a wife and family, and had laboured in 
South Africa for several years previously, whilst Mr. Price 
was a young man, recently married, and was entering upon 
mission work for the first time. They both appeared eminently 
fitted for the arduous and hazardous work to which they were 
designated, and the present writer had much pleasant inter- 
course with them and their families during their sojourn in 
Cape Town, making preparations for their long and weary 
journey. On the 29th of August, 1858, I had the pleasure of 
hearing Mr. Helmore preach at Mowbray, near Cape Town, 



Eastern and Central Africa. 343 



soon after which he and his party left for the interior, and we 
saw them no more. 

The incidents of the journey, as well as the issue of this 
mission, were the most afflictive and distressing. The season 
was unusually dry; and the mission waggons had scarcely 
passed the boundary of the Cape Colony when water and 
grass for the oxen became exceedingly scarce, and their progress 
was consequently slow and dreary. As they advanced farther 
into the interior the difificulties alluded to increased, and several 
of the oxen being fairly "knocked up," fell down one after 
another and died. Their places were supplied with difficulty 
by cattle purchased from the natives, and the missionaries 
pushed on with a degree of courage and perseverance worthy 
of the highest commendation. But when they came to cross 
the outskirts of the Kalahari desert, as Dr. Livingstone and 
Mr. Oswell had done a few years before, their sufferings 
reached their climax, and they had a narrow escape from 
perishing in the wilderness. Mrs. Helmore, the wife of the 
senior missionary, who had previously had considerable 
experience in mission work and African travelling, gives the 
following touching account of their trying position at this 
time, in a letter addressed to her sister in England : — 

"We are expecting rain this month, and are longing for it as those only- 
can long who have travelled through a dreary and parched wilderness where 
no water is. Our poor oxen were at one time four and at another five days 
without drinking. We also suffered much ourselves from thirst, being 
obliged to economize the little water we had in our vessels, not knowing 
when we should get more. Tuesday, the 6th inst., was one of the most 
trying days I ever passed. About sunrise the poor oxen, which had been 
dragging the heavy waggons through the sands during the night, stopping 
now and then to draw breath, gave signs of giving up altogether. My 
husband now resolved to remain behind with one waggon and a single 
man, while I and the children and the rest of the people went forward with 
all the oxen, thinking that we should certainly reach water before night. We 
had had a very scanty supply the day before ; the men had not tasted drink 
since breakfast till late in the evening. We divided a bottleful among four 
of them. There now remained only five bottles of water. I gave my 
husband three, and reserved two for the children, expecting that we should 



344 Africa : Past and Present. 



get water first. It was a sorrowful parting, for we were all faint from 
thirst, and of course eating was out of the question. After dragging on for 
four hours, the heat obliged us to stop. 

"The poor children continually asked for water. I put them off as long 
as I could, and when they could be denied no longer, doled the precious 
fluid out a spoonful at once to each of them. Poor Selina and Harry cried 
bitterly. Willie bore up manfully ; but his sunken eyes showed how much 
he suffered. As for Lizzie, she did not utter a single word of complaint, 
nor even ask for water, but lay all day upon the ground perfectly quiet, 
her lips quite parched and blackened. At sunset we made another attempt, 
and got on about five miles. The people proposed going on with the 
oxen in search of water, promising to return with a supply to the waggon, 
but I urged their resting a little, and then making another attempt, that 
we might if possible get near enough to walk to it. They yielded, tied 
up the oxen to prevent their wandering, and lay down to sleep, having 
tasted neither food nor drink all day. None of us could eat. I gave the 
children a little dried fruit, slightly acid, in the middle of the day, but 
thirst took away all desire to eat. 

"The water being long since gone, as a last resource just before dark I 
divided among the children half a teaspoonful of wine and water, which I 
had reserved in case I should feel faint. They were revived by it, and said, 
' How nice it was ! ' though it scarcely allayed their thirst. Harry at length 
cried himself to sleep, and the rest were dozing feverishly. It was a 
beautiful moonlight night, but the air was hot and sultry. I sat in front of 
the waggon unable to sleep, hoping that water might arrive before the 
children awoke on another day. About half-past ten I saw some persons 
approaching. They proved to be two Bakalahari natives, bringing a tin 
canteen half full of water, and a note from Mrs. Price, saying that, having 
heard of the trouble we were in from the man we had sent forw-ard, and 
being themselves not very far from water, they had sent us all they had. 
The sound of water soon roused the children, who had tried in vain to 
sleep ; and I shall not soon forget the rush they made to get a drink. I 
gave each of the children and men a cupful, and then drank myself. It 
was the first liquid that had passed my lips for twenty-four hours, and I 
had eaten nothing. The Bakalahari passed on, saying that although they 
had brought me water they had none themselves. They were merely passing 
travellers ; I almost thought they were angels sent from heaven. All now 
slept comfortably except myself; my mind had been too much excited 
for sleep, and I could do nothing but praise the Lord for His merciful 
interposition on our behalf." 

In the course of the following day the sufferers were supplied 
with a more ample stock of water by their friends Mr. and Mrs. 



Eastern and Central Africa. 345 



Price, the junior missionary and his wife, who were in advance 
of them, and had providentially met with a small fountain. 
The first supply was brought in a calabash on the head of a 
native servant girl, who had walked with her precious burden 
four hours. Then came a pack-ox with two kegs of water, 
and at length the whole mission party reached the fountain, 
Mr. Helmore, who had been left behind in the desert, having 
joined them, and they all united in praising God for their 
merciful deliverance when thus exposed to "perils in the 
wilderness." 

It is painful to have to record that a mission commenced 
with the purest motives, and thus far prosecuted with the 
noblest Christian courage under circumstances of extreme 
difficulty, should have ended in disaster. But such, alas ! 
was in fact the case. As the missionaries with their families 
and waggons descended into the valley of the Zambezi, 
they had an ample supply of grass and water ; but they soon 
found themselves in a low swampy unhealthy country. And 
when they reached their destination in the Makololo country, 
they did not meet with the cordial reception from the chief 
and his people which they expected. Dr. Livingstone, who 
was engaged in exploring the lower branches of the majestic 
river, was moreover unable to meet them, as he intended. 
They naturally became discouraged \ and before they got any- 
thing done of consequence in the way of teaching the people, 
the chief still withholding his consent to their movements, the 
country fever broke out among them with fearful violence. 
Willie, Lizzie, Selina, and Harry, Mr. Helmore's four .lovely 
children, who had suffered so much from thirst in the desert, 
were smitten down one after another, and in each case the 
fever proved fatal. Their remains were scarcely committed to 
the ground when the bereaved parents were attacked with the 
same fever, which in the course of a few days ran its fatal 
round, and the remains of Mr. and Mrs. Helmore were laid 
by the side of those of their dear children. " They were 
lovely in life, and in death they were not divided." 



346 Africa : Past and Present. 

The Makololo mission having thus failed through circum- 
stances beyond human control, Mr. and Mrs. Price began to 
think of retracing their steps to the Cape Colony, and at 
length, with heavy hearts, they yoked the oxen to the waggons 
and turned their faces towards the abodes of civilized men. 
But their troubles were not yet ended. They had not pro- 
ceeded far before Mrs. Price also sickened and died, and the 
bereaved missionary had to perform the mournful duty of com- 
mitting the remains of his beloved wife to their lonely resting 
place in the desert. What must have been the feelings of 
the man of God, the only survivor of the ill-fated mission, as 
he pursued his lonely and dreary journey, after committing 
to the silent grave his beloved colleague together with his wife 
and their four children, and last of all his own dear partner, 
his most valued earthly treasure ! Verily the ways of God 
are a great deep which we cannot fathom ; but " what we 
know not now we shall know hereafter." 

Universities' Mission. 

The benevolent and large-hearted Dr. Livingstone, in his 
anxiety to introduce the blessings of the Gospel and Christian 
civilization into Central Africa, was not satisfied with en- 
deavouring to interest the London Missionary Society in the 
subject. Believing that the field was large enough for all, and 
that the call for Christian effort was imperative, he made an 
appeal to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, urging 
them to unite their contributions, talents, and energies in the 
good work. In this he was successful, and meetings were held 
at both places to consider the subject. These were afterwards 
joined by the learned institutions of Durham and Dublin, 
and the " Universities' Mission " was ere long organized. The 
history of this Association, as traced by the pen of the Rev. H. 
Rowley, one of the surviving members of the mission, in a 
volume which consists chiefly of a journal of events reduced 
to the narrative form, is truly affecting and admonitory. 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



347 



The object of the mission was in the first place to establish a 
Christian settlement on the highlands about 300 miles from the 
south-eastern coast of Africa, as the most likely locality, in 
Dr. Livingstone's opinion, to prove healthy and eligible, and then 
to push forward by degrees to the heart of Central Africa. It 
was proposed to reach this region by the navigation of the 
Zambezi and the Shire, in the vicinity of which it was situated. 
A staff of six clergymen, headed by a bishop, and accompanied 
by a doctor, a carpenter, and other artificers, were selected for 
the service ; public support was sought and secured in large 
measure ; distinguished patronage was accorded to the enter- 
prise, and Charles F. Mackenzie, then Archdeacon of Natal, 
was appointed the first Bishop of Central Africa. 

The necessary preparations having been made for the com- 
mencement of the work, a farewell service was held in the 
Canterbury Cathedral on the 20th October, i860, and a few 
days later the Bishop-elect, with five others, sailed from 
Plymouth, arrangements having been made for the rest of the 
party to follow in another vessel. All the members of the 
mission met in due course at Cape Town, and after the Bishop 
had been duly consecrated, they embarked on board one of 
Her Majesty's ships, and arrived in safety at Johannah and the 
mouth of the Zambezi in the month of February, 1861, with an 
ample supply of stores for twelve months. 

Here they met with Dr. Livingstone, on the faith of whose 
representations they had come. He in the meantime had 
found unexpected difficulties in transporting goods up the 
Zambezi. The country being in the hands of the slave- 
dealing Portuguese and Arabs, who were jealous of the 
presence of the English, every possible obstacle was thrown 
in the way of their enterprise. With a view to obviate these. 
Dr. Livingstone resolved to explore the Rovuma, a river about 
450 miles to the north, which might, he hoped, prove a safer 
and more desirable route to the highland region to which the 
mission party was bound. The exploration was accordingly 
attempted; but the result was entire disappointment. The 



348 Africa: Past and Present. 



river proved navigable only a short distance from its mouth, 
and in vain efforts to ascend two months were lost, the vessel 
constantly running aground on the banks of sand and mud 
which everywhere impeded their progress. And worse than 
this, both the explorers and their friends left behind at Johanna 
became sadly invalided by the malaria fevers with which they 
were attacked, and which are so common in the low and 
swampy districts at the mouths of the rivers in this climate. 
And when they did start to ascend the Zambezi and the Shire 
they were obliged, from the want of transport accommodation, 
to leave one-half of their stores behind. 

After two months of difficult navigation of the Zambezi and 
the Shire, the Bishop and his party reached the point whence 
they were to commence their ascent to the highlands. Dr. 
Livingstone accompanied them on their upward march, and 
in the course of their journey they encountered a band of 
slavers with forty-eight slaves. These the Doctor attacked, very 
unwisely as we think, and forcibly released the captives and dis- 
persed the captors. Again and again this was done at the expense 
of a little battle, in which blood was sometimes shed. Whether 
the subsequent conduct of the missionaries was influenced by 
this example or not we cannot say ; but they should have remem- 
bered that Dr. Livingstone was not a professed missionary 
at this time, and that it might not be right for them to do in 
every respect as he did. 

At length a site was selected for a mission station. It was 
named Magomero, and was a village of the Manganji tribe, 
near the border of the neighbouring tribe of Ajawas. Both 
had been guilty of enslaving their captives and selling them to 
the Portuguese, two yards of calico being the ordinary price of 
a man or woman. The missionaries were no sooner settled 
among them and Dr. Livingstone gone, than the Manganji, 
seeing that they had guns, began to entreat their aid in resisting 
the warlike inroads of their neighbours. Strange to say, 
though he felt that missionaries ought not to be warriors, the 
Bishop consented to the use of rifle and gun on behalf of the 



Eastern and Central Africa. 349 



Manganji, provided they would promise that they would never 
have anything more to do with slavery ; to release all the 
captives they might take ; to punish any of their number who 
in future should sell their fellow-creatures, and to give notice 
of any Portuguese slaving expedition which might appear in the 
country. 

The Manganji agreed, of course, to all this, and the Bishop, 
apparently forgetting for the moment the peaceful character of 
his mission, actually led his little band of Europeans forth to 
war against a tribe of Africans who had never done them any 
harm ! The account of the battle, as given by Mr. Rowley, 
one of their number, reads strangely as an episode in juissionary 
life. ■ " A wild fear had seized the Ajawa ; they were in full 
retreat .... the air was black with smoke, for the fire had 
spread over the plain. Such a sight I had never seen before, 
and trust I may never see the like again. It was only by 
remembering the atrocious conduct of the Ajawa, which for the 
time being had placed them almost beyond the pale of pity, 
that I could keep myself from being soul-sick at the scene 
before me." However, an attempt to fulfil, after a fashion, the 
Master's great commission, was associated with this z^;nnissionary 
expedition. A dying Manganji child was among the rescued 
captives, concerning whom the narrator writes as follows : " Life 
■was evidently fast ebbing away. Seeing this the Bishop decided 
upon baptizing him, and this poor child, under the name of 
Charles Henry, was numbered among the children of God, and 
in two hours afterwards his spirit fled to that dear Lord who 
had redeemed it. This was a blessed conclusion to the work 
of the day (!), and when at last I lay down to rest, my heart 
was so full I could only find relief in tears. The burial service 
was read over this poor babe next day, and then we left it in 
sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection to eternal life." 
Later on two or three other children were similarly baptized, 
but the Bishop did not think fit to baptize those who seemed 
likely to live. " No one more than the Bishop realized the 
necessity of baptismal grace, but his previous experience among 



o50 Africa: Past and Present. 

the Zulus led him to shrink from possibly exposing regenerate 
children to the danger of being left among the heathen with 
none to care for their souls ! " 

A semi-civilized village rose by degrees at Magomero, and 
a temporary church building was erected, in which the liturgy 
was read with due solemnity for the members of the mission ; but 
there seems to have been no preaching to the natives. " We felt 
it better," says Mr. Rowley, " to wait till we could speak the 
language freely ourselves than to give instructions through the 
medium of an illiterate interpreter, who still clung to many of 
his old heathen superstitions." The liberated slaves were fed 
and clothed, and the children taught ; but no Gospel preaching 
was attempted. Barter, building, warlike expeditions, and 
journeys in search of fresh supplies of food, seem to have taken 
up all the time of the Bishop and his missionaries. At length 
three new men from England, — one of whom was a clergyman, 
— joined the mission ; but the difficulties and privations of all 
its members seemed to increase with the lapse of time. All 
suffered more or less from fever in going up and down the 
river. Dr. Livingstone, who was now on the coast, moreover 
found he could not send up the supplies as regularly as he had 
hoped, and food began to be very scarce. Two of the mission 
party on a journey in search of a land route, if possible, for 
the transport of supplies, were attacked by hostile natives and 
their bearers made prisoners. The Bishop and some of his 
clergy started for the rescue, and sacked the enemy's village 
and burned it to ashes ! These repeated raids did not diminish, 
but rather tended to increase, the difficulties which surrounded 
the mission. At length matters came to a mournful crisis. 

The supplies becoming continually shorter, the Bishop and 
one of his clergy started down the river to a spot where they 
hoped stores had been sent for them. But the exposure of a 
most trying journey, disappointment at not finding the boats 
and supplies they expected, detention on an unhealthy island, 
and depression arising from the increasing difficulties of his 
position, proved too much for the bright, genial, and kind- 



Eastern and Central Africa. 351 



hearted Bishop Mackenzie. He was attacked by malignant 
fever, for which he had no remedies on the spot, and sank 
under it, after five days' illness, during which he was generally 
unconscious. He was a man possessed of great capacity and 
many excellences, notwithstanding his acknowledged mistakes, 
and his death was a great loss to the mission. Very touching 
is the account given of the Bishop's lonely funeral. His only 
European companion on this his last journey was the Rev. H. 
De Wint Burrup, and he was himself down with fever at the 
same time, and too ill to witness the closing scene. The Mako- 
lolo cleared a spot in the bush and dug the grave, in which the 
remains of the Bishop were laid late in the evening. " It was 
too dark for the sorrowing Burrop to read the burial service, 
but he said all he could remember ; and there on the banks of 
the Shire, away from all but the heathen to whom he devoted 
his life, in sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection, rests 
what was the soul's tabernacle of Charles Frederick Mackenzie, 
the first bishop of the Central African Mission." 

Mr. Burrop's strength just held out till he had returned to 
tell the sorrowful tale to the fever and famine-stricken party at 
Magomero. There he also sank into the grave. Miss Mackenzie 
and Mrs. Burrop came shortly afterwards to join their relatives, 
but hearing these sad tidings on their way up the river, they 
returned, smitten with fever as well as with grief It was now 
resolved by the survivors of the mission party, as the wars and 
fighting still continued, and the difficulties of transport were so 
great, to abandon Magomero and try to establish a settlement 
lower down the river. They settled for a time at the village of 
a chief called Chisiba ; but troubles followed here also, and no 
direct mission work was done, and the subsequent history of 
the mission was a history of wars, and treaties, and journeys, 
and bargains, and fevers, and deaths. The Rev. C. H. Scuda- 
more died in January 1863, and Dr. Dickenson and a young 
man named Thornton soon afterwards. They were buried by 
Dr. Livingstone, who happened to come up the river at the 
time. Several of the survivors were now so completely inva- 



352 



Africa : Past and Present. 



lided that they returned to England; the rest resolved on 
resuming their former position on the hills ; but Bishop Tozer, 
who had been appointed as Bishop Mackenzie's successor, 
decided on removing much nearer to the coast ; and after a 
trial of a few months longer, it was resolved to leave that part 
of Africa altogether, and to attempt to reach the interior from 
some other point. Zanzibar was the place ultimately selected ; 
and, to use Dr. Livingstone's expression, " the mission dege- 
nerated into a mere chaplaincy to the Zanzibar consulate." 

LiviNGSTONiA Mission at Lake N'yassa. 

The unhappy failure of the Makololo and Universities' Mis- 
sions did not deter the friends of Africa from making further 
attempts to introduce the blessings of civilization and Chris- 
tianity to the interior regions of the dark continent. There 
prevailed in many minds sanguine hopes that localities might 
be found more healthy and better adapted for centres of mis- 
sionary operations than any that had hitherto been tried ; and 
that, with due care not to interfere unnecessarily with the secular 
affairs of the people, and by abstaining entirely from taking part 
in warlike contests, even for the suppression of the slave trade, 
success might yet be realized. This was the case especially 
with the friends of missions in Scotland, who were the next to 
take action in the matter. The intelligence of the death of Dr. 
Livingstone, their heroic and philanthropic fellow-countryman, 
produced a powerful impression on the country at large, and a 
few warm-hearted Christian ministers and gentlemen conceived 
the noble idea of following up the conquests which he had won, 
and of erecting to his memory a monument in the form of a 
missionary settlement in Central Africa, which would be more 
enduring and more beneficial in its results than either the tablet 
in Westminster Abbey or the statue erected in his native land. 

After mature deliberation it was resolved to make an effort 
to raise the sum of ^10,000 as a fund with which to commence 
the enterprise. For this purpose large and enthusiastic meet- 



Easiern and Central Africa. 



353 



ings were held in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and other places, in 
the early part of the year 1875, at which some noble sentiments 
were expressed, and resolutions passed, pledging the Presby- 
terians of Scotland, both of the Established and Free Churches, 
to do their utmost to promote the interests of the philanthropic 
scheme just mentioned. Contributions flowed in apace, two 
gentlemen each giving the noble sum of ^1000, another ^500, 
and many more according to their ability ; so that the com- 
mittee that was formed soon found itself in a position to proceed 
to business. 

The following extracts from the statement and appeal issued 
by the committee will more fully explain the plan and object of 
the enterprise : " The rivw Shire is a tributary of the Zambezi, 
connecting it with Lake N'yassa. The proposed place for the 
station contemplated is in the neighbourhood of Cape Maclear, 
at the southern end of the lake. This lake from the Upper 
Shire to its northern extremity reaches 200 miles, with a breadth 
of from eighteen to fifteen miles. It abounds with fine harbours, 
is stored with great varieties of delicious fish, and is surrounded 
on all sides by fertile territory, rising towards mountainous 
regions, all abundantly watered with numerous streams flowing 
into the lake, and clothed with vegetation of the most splendid 
luxuriance. The lake was discovered by Dr. Livingstone, who 
explored it in 1861, and again went down its eastern side and 
round the south end in 1866, on his way to the 'Fountains of 
the Nile.' After the death of Bishop Mackenzie and the 
breaking up of his mission in the unhealthy regions of the 
Lower Shire, the great traveller, profiting by his experience, 
and ever anxious that missions should be placed among the 
inland tribes, often spoke of this country as the most healthy 
and suitable for such a settlement, and lamented in no measured 
terms the determination which kept the Bishop's successor on 
the coast. Mr. Young, echoing Dr. Livingstone's eulogies of 
the Lake N'yassa region, and his disappointment that no mission 
had entered into it, says : ' Here, if anywhere, I believe a 
healthy and flourishing settlement might be established.' " 

23 



354 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Adverting to other questions, the circular says : " The com- 
mittee are advised that the mission should be of an industrial 
as well as of an evangelical nature. In forming a Christian 
settlement it will be necessary to teach the natives some of our 
industries, such as gardening, ploughing, and joiner-work. The 
land is rich in all vegetable products ; and, in addition to the 
exuberance of the tropics, is capable of producing, on the 
higher grounds, the grain and the fruits of temperate regions ; 
so that a mission once established would be able to live almost 
entirely on the produce of the country. The whole region of 
the Shire is fitted for the cultivation of cotton, which grows 
wild, and is of fine quality. The abundant resources of the 
country are at present totally neglected, in consequence of the 
slave trade, the horrors of which it is impossible fully to set 
forth, and which nothing but the Gospel and Christian civili- 
zation can remedy. It is computed that 19,000 slaves are 
annually carried across Lake N'yassa on their way to the coast. 
But all this must come to an end. The memorial which 
Dr. Livingstone implores at our hands is the gift of Christ's 
messengers to the African people. ' He being dead, yet 
speaketh.' Let us promptly respond to the call." 

At length, the necessary preparations ha\ang been made, and 
suitable agents engaged to commence the new mission, about the 
middle of the year they embarked for the Cape of Good Hope. 
The expedition consisted of Mr. E. D. Young, of the Royal Navy, 
who had previously been with Dr. Livingstone in Africa ; Rev- 
Dr. Robert Laws; Mr. Henry Henderson; Mr. George Johnson, 
carpenter; Mr. John Macfadyen and Mr. Allan Simpson, 
engineers and smiths ; Mr. Alexander Riddel, agriculturalist, 
and Mr. William Baker, able seaman. They were furnished 
with an ample supply of stores of every description, including 
seeds, tools, articles for barter, and a small iron steamer in 
sections, to be put together and launched on the river or lake 
when they reached their destination. 

Having called at Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, the expe- 
dition arrived at the mouth of the Zambezi on the 23rd July, 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



355 



1875, when they commenced at once to put together the Uttle 
steamer, and to make other preparations for ascending the river. 
Writing on the 8th August, among other things Dr. Laws says : 
"Saturday and Monday were employed in putting up a shed 
to keep off the sun's rays while working at the Ilala. On 
Monday evening her keel was laid, and on Tuesday, the week 
following, she was successfully launched on the Zambezi. Next 
day she was brought alongside the Harah, and the boilers were 
put in their places. On Saturday the masts were in, and steam 
up; everything highly satisfactory. To-morrow we intend to 
start up the river." 

On ascending the Lower Shire to the rapids, the little steamer 
Ilala had to be unscrewed, taken to pieces, and conveyed in 
sections, in common with ordinary stores and baggage, on the 
heads and shoulders of native carriers, a distance of about 
sixty miles before it could be put together and launched again 
on the Upper Shire, which is immediately connected with Lake 
N'yassa. This herculean task was accomplished with amazing 
despatch and success, without the occurrence of any serious 
casualty ; and on the 24th October Mr. Young wrote as follows : 
" I have the honour to report, for the information of the 
committee, that the steamer Ilala was successfully launched 
on the Upper Shire on the 6th instant, and started for N'yassa 
on the 8th, which was reached on the 12th. The steamer is 
quite a success — sails well, and steams seven knots an hour 
with one boiler. Our party are all well and in good spirits. 
Before entering Lake N'yassa, I called upon the powerful chief 
Moponda, and informed him of the object of our mission. He 
appeared very pleased, and at once gave us permission to settle 
on any part of his land. He is the owner of the whole of the 
Cape Maclear peninsula. We took a running survey of the 
whole of the coast with very fine weather ; and although there 
are many delightful spots fit for a settlement, none offer sufficient 
protection to the steamer except a beautiful bay at Cape Maclear, 
where we have decided to settle for the present." 

About the same time Dr. Laws wrote as follows : " Another 



356 Africa: Past and Present. 



stage of our journey has been reached, and, for the time being, 
I suppose, I may say that Livingstonia is begun, though at 
present a piece of canvas stretched between two trees, forming 
a sort of tent, is all that stands for the future city of that name. 
I am glad to say that only one more of our party has had fever 
— Baker, our seaman. And since the recovery of the others, 
good health has been the order of the day. On our way up we 
passed through some of the grandest scenery I ever beheld on 
the banks of the Upper Shire. Hills towering some of them two 
or three thousand feet above the plain, while the river wound 
its way through a level valley. There are no natives close here, 
but soon we shall have as many as we like, as they will gather 
around us. I suppose I shall have to learn two languages here, 
as both Manganja and Ajawa are spoken within the range of 
our steamer; but I should like to know more of the coast and 
its people before I say which is the most important." 

The next communication was from Mr. Young, who, writing 
under date of "Livingstonia, Lake N'yassa, February i8th, 
1876," says: "Since our arrival here, where we have settled 
near Cape Maclear, nothing has happened to mar the progress 
of the mission. We have made enemies of no one, and friends 
of all. I am thankful to say that we succeeded in getting safely 
housed before the rains began, and that the whole of the party 
are in good health. Some have had slight attacks of fever, but 
they soon got over it. After our goods were stored here, and 
we were housed, and everything was in perfect safety, I took 
four of our party in December, and went round the lake, to let 
the people know of our arrival, and to see what the country and 
the natives were like. We found that our arrival was known 
far and wide, and that the Arabs were so terrified that no slaves 
had been conveyed across for a whole month. We found the 
lake much larger than Dr. Livingstone thought, having a coast- 
line of not less than 800 miles, with many delightful, fertile, and 
populous districts, etc." 

In the course of the year Mr. Young was relieved of his 
command by the arrival of the Rev. Dr. Stewart of the Love- 



Eastern and Central Africa. 357 



dale Free Church Institution, Kaffraria. The Doctor, who had 
had large missionary experience in South Africa for many years. 
Had taken a deep interest in Livingstonia from the beginning, 
having attended the meetings that were held in Scotland, and 
aided the enterprise with his counsel from time to time. On 
the 20th October, 1876, he wrote from Lake N'yassa as 
follows : " You will be glad to see from this that we have 
safely reached the end of our long journey. We arrived here 
on Saturday last in the small steamer Ilala, which brought us 
up from the Cataracts. All our party, with two exceptions, are 
very well, and the two are recovering rapidly from slight attacks 
of fever. Livingstonia at present consists of a line of wattle 
and daub houses, with strong inside posts, some twelve or 
thirteen in number (exclusive of outhouses, workshops, and 
other such erections), forming one side of a square 220 paces 
long. The beauty of the position is beyond all question. 
Before us we have all day a blue, sparkling sea, with a water 
horizon to the north, and lofty hills on the mainland, in the 
west, at a distance of about twenty miles. The vast superiority 
of the climate here, as compared with that of the river valleys 
below, is most striking. Missionary operations are as yet on 
a small scale, but they are begun, and both preaching and 
school teaching are in operation," etc. 

Dr. Stewart was accompanied by Messrs. Cotterill and 
Thelwall, and two or three native teachers from Lovedale to 
reinforce the mission, all of whom entered heartily into the work. 
In 1877 Mr. Young returned to England, bringing very favourable 
accounts of the state and prospects of Livingstonia ; and sub- 
sequent intelligence to hand has been equally encouraging. 
Let the friends of missions everywhere aid this noble enter- 
prise with their prayers, sympathy, and support ; and, with God's 
blessing, it is sure to prosper. 

London Society's Mission at Lake Tanganyika. 

Almost simultaneously with the praiseworthy efforts made 
by the Presbyterians in Scotland to found the Livingstonia 



358 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Mission at Lake N'yassa, the London Missionary Society was 
making arrangements to establish a similar mission at Lake 
Tanganyika, another great inland sea, discovered and partly 
explored by Dr. Livingstone and other eminent travellers. 
This noble project had its origin in the generous offer of Mr. 
Robert Arthington, of Leeds, to contribute ;^5ooo towards 
the expenses which it would involve. Ujiji, a large native 
town and Arab settlement, formerly a noted centre of the slave 
trade, where Dr. Livingstone remained for a long time when 
he was bereft of the means of proceeding on his journey, is 
situated about 540 geographical miles west of Zanzibar, but the 
travelling distance is nearly 700 miles. The main difficulties 
in the way of establishing a mission at this place consisted of 
its distance from the coast, the absence of roads or navigable 
rivers to facilitate travelling and transport of stores, and the 
general ruggedness of the country that intervened, to say 
nothing of the dangers incident to passing through extensive 
regions inhabited by various warlike and savage native tribes. 
But as these difficulties had been overcome by two or three 
enterprising travellers, and were found to decrease in magni- 
tude with every journey that was taken into the interior, the 
directors of the Society entertain the hope that they may all 
be successfully encountered. 

In a statement drawn up, respecting the proposed mission, by 
Dr. Mullens, the esteemed Foreign Secretary, we find, among 
other important particulars, the following interesting items of 
information : " Ujiji, the place proposed for the head-quarters 
of the new mission, is situated on the east shore of the Lake 
Tanganyika. It is a large town in the district of Ukaranga 
(though no traveller gives the number of houses), is the centre 
of a great trade, and has a daily market. Large canoes are 
made in the neighbourhood, and thus the entire shores of 
this vast sheet of water are rendered easily accessible. Lake 
Tanganyika is 300 miles in length by twenty in width, and 
its extensive shore-line affords opportunity of easy access 
to a multitude of people. The importance of one or more 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



359 



strong mission stations on such a noble inland sea cannot be 
over-rated. " The important document from which these sen- 
tences in reference to the site of the new mission are extracted, 
gives a clear and business like statement of the whole case, and 
dwells at length on the climate, the diseases most prevalent in 
the country, the precautions which are necessary to be observed, 
and the advantages to be derived from the powerful influence 
of the sultan of Zanzibar, who was known to be friendly to such 
undertakings for the benefit of Central Africa. 

When the question had been carefully considered in all its 
bearings by the directors of the Society, it was solemnly re- 
solved in the name and strength of the Lord to enter upon the 
great and important work to which they believed they were 
called by the unmistakable leadings of Divine Providence. 
The necessary outfit and stores having been provided, and 
other preparations made for the important enterprise, the first 
company of missionaries was sent forth in the early part of the 
year 1877, followed by the fervent prayers and best wishes of 
thousands of the friends of missions in this and other countries. 
This party consisted of the Rev. Messrs. Price, Thompson, 
Clarke, Dodgshun, Hore, and Huntley. The three brethren 
first named had been successfully engaged in mission work 
before, and had therefore the benefit of previous experience : 
the rest were new hands \ but Mr. Hore had the advantage of 
having studied medicine, which was regarded as a matter of 
importance to the whole mission. They were all men of acknow- 
ledged piety, energy, courage, and apparent good health, and 
were considered in every respect well adapted for the arduous 
undertaking. 

Having arrived in safety at Zanzibar, Mr. Thompson, the 
leader of the expedition, and the rest of the brethren set 
themselves to work to make the necessary preparations for 
the inland journey, by engaging experienced native attendants, 
putting up their siores and luggage in convenient packages, 
laying in a stock of provisions, and attending to other prelimi- 
naries. The following sketch of the tract of country to be 



3 6o Africa : Past and Present. 



traversed between the eastern coast of Africa and Lake Tan- 
ganyika, as given in Dr. Mullens' statement already alluded to, 
will throw some light upon the difficulties to be encountered: 
" The district between Ujiji and the coast at Bagamoyo con- 
tains nine degrees of longitude, 30° to 39"; and the journey 
across it is divided very nearly into three stages of three degrees 
each. The first stage brings the traveller to Ugogo; the second 
to Unyanyembe ; and the third to the Tanganyika shore. The 
first stage offers the greatest difficulties, the last two are com- 
paratively easy. The first stage is divided into two nearly 
equal sections. In the earlier the traveller crosses the level 
tropical plain between the sea and the roots of the hills ; a few 
streams, patches of forest, and swamps, are his only trouble. 
At the little fortress of Simbamwemmi he has risen 1000 feet. 
Then he begins to cross a line of ridges, each higher than the 
last, until he reaches the upper plateau, which remains at a 
height of 3500 feet. The hilly region is 100 miles wide; 
and he has to cross three valleys, each with its swamps and 
river, of which the Makata swamp is truly formidable. It 
is impassable in the rainy season, and should be passed early 
in May or June. Having ascended the Mukondokwa Pass, 
and reached the upper plateau, the travelling becomes more 
easy. The caravan traverses vast rolling plains, with quaint 
knolls covered with wood ; with here and there forest, and 
here and there long reaches of depopulated country; and at 
the end of 200 miles from the summit it will reach Unyan- 
yembe. With ordinary loads a caravan of limited size may 
reach this station from the coast in seventy-five days. The 
remainder of the route is of the same character." 

In the course of his remarks on kindred subjects. Dr. 
Mullens says : " The means of transit are extremely limited. 
As the entire route is a mere track, wheel-carriages have never 
yet been employed in the district. As the tsetse-fly is found in 
the lower jungles, much risk is run in the employment of oxen, 
horses, donkeys, or mules. Mr. Stanley, however, took both 
horses and donkeys with him, and, though he lost two horses 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



361 



on his first journey, he says he would take them again. Some 
of his donkeys went with him through everything. The chief 
means of carriage is the ordinary pagdzi, or porters of the 
country. These men are hired singly or in gangs. They carry 
from sixty to seventy pounds weight each. The bearers are 
formed into companies under a responsible chief, and are 
accompanied by soldiers, who guard the property both by day 
and night. An interpreter is needed with the English traveller, 
who can speak Arabic to the Arab traders, and Kisuahili 
to the people generally. Oh for a broad road ! oh for the 
African waggon of the Cape Colony, with its huge wheels, its 
first-floor bedroom, its 4000 pounds weight of goods, and its 
long team of oxen under Hottentot charge ! Shall we venture 
to try it ? " 

The question whether the ox-waggon should be tried for this 
novel journey was answered in the afifirmative, and arrange- 
ments were made accordingly. With what success the sequel 
will show. Everything being ready for a start, the mission 
party left Zanzibar for the interior in the month of August ; 
and they had not proceeded far inland before they found that 
waggon-travelling here was very different to that of the Cape 
and Kafifirland. Even under the experienced guidance of Mr. 
Price, the progress through the swamps, and thickly-matted 
brushwood, and patches of forest, was slow and dreary in the 
extreme, both hatchet and spade being in frequent requisition 
to clear the way. The consequence was they were unable to 
complete the journey in a single season ; and at the end 01 
the first year they settled down for a temporary rest among the 
hills of Usagara, 160 miles from the sea-coast. Their resting- 
place was Kirasa, a village on the south side of the river 
Wami ; and here they built a little settlement of five houses, 
stored the greater part of their baggage and goods, and enjoyed 
a pleasant and refreshing rest in the pure fresh air. 

In planning their further advance at the commencement ot 
1878, they found that, owing to the undoubted presence of the 
fatal tsetse-fly in the districts they would have to traverse, it 



362 



Africa : Past and Pyesent. 



would be useless to attempt to take the waggons onward, and 
arrangements were made for the conveyance of themselves and 
their stores by the usual bands of native porters, already 
described. Messrs. Price and Clarke having returned with 
the waggons to the coast, Messrs. Thompson, Hore, and 
Huntley, with 240 bearers, prepared to proceed farther in- 
land towards Tanganyika, whilst Mr. Dodgshun returned to 
Zanzibar with a native trader named Broyon, who had engaged 
to transport the remainder of the goods — some 13,000 lbs. — 
from the coast to Ujiji. On the 29th of May, the party for 
the interior broke up their encampment at Kirasa, and pro- 
ceeded westward as far as Mpwapwa, a place where the 
Church Missionary Society had already planted a station. At 
the outset of their new journey they were short-handed, and 
found great trouble in adjusting the loads of goods they were 
taking with them. The arrival of additional bearers from 
Zanzibar solved their difficulties for the present; and on Wed- 
nesday, June 1 2th, they started from Mpwapwa with 240 men. 

Writing to the directors of the Society at home in reference 
to the commencement of the new journey, Mr. Hore says : 
" We have now actually entered upon Central Africa. We 
have made our arrangements as follows : Mr. Thompson is to 
manage all the hongo payments, or any other business with the 
chiefs, and the never-ending medical duties. To myself has 
been apportioned the charge of the caravan generally, the care 
of the men both as to their food and work, and all the arrange- 
ment of transport. Mr. Huntley has charge of our own com- 
missariat, and assists in anything which would otherwise require 
my presence in two places at once. I feel very glad that Mr. 
Dodgshun will be with the large part of our stores left with 
Broyon. The present start looks more like getting to the lake 
than any we have yet had." 

By the rupture of a blood-vessel soon after leaving Kirasa, 
Mr. Thompson was greatly prostrated ; but through the kind 
attention of Dr. Baxter, of the Church Missionary Society, he 
gradually recovered his strength. Travelling, however, soon 



Easicrn and Central Africa. 363 



fatigued him, and it was consequently necessary for a time that 
he should be carried. This was, in fact, " the beginning of 
the end," although no one thought so at the time. Without 
encountering much difficulty, the party arrived early in July at 
Mukondoku, the last town of Ugogo, and a few days later they 
reached Koi Kirondah. On this place Mr. Hore makes the 
following remarks : "This is the best-built town I have seen in 
this country. All the houses are half as high again as any others 
we have met with, and there is a great deal of good workmanship 
displayed in their erection. Comfortable doors and verandahs, 
plastered walls, and many other household comforts, are to be 
seen on every hand. There are also other signs of the superiority 
of these native Africans. Here we squat on little stools or clean 
mats, and talk with these people, who are on the whole a very 
respectable lot of men." 

Leaving Koi Kirondah, the travellers had before them a week's 
journey through a tract of country entirely without inhabitants. 
Having, however, made due preparation, this was speedily and 
prosperously accomplished, and on the 20th of July they reached 
the capital of Uyui, where they met with kind attention from 
the head man of the place. Seven days later they arrived at 
Urambo, the town of the powerful chief Mirambo, concerning 
whom Mr. Thompson says : " Mirambo received us most kindly, 
and treated us very handsomely whilst we remained there. He 
certainly did his best to show himself friendly to us. He wished 
us to remain a month with him, but when I told him we must 
push on, and get to the end of our journey so as to get our houses 
built before the rains, he was willing to let us go, but expressed 
a hope that I would come back soon and remain with him a 
month. The chief promised us men to go with us to show us 
the road. He said his men could go to Ujiji in five days, but 
it will take our caravan much longer." 

Being anxious to reach their destination, the mission party 
left Urambo on the 5th of August, Mirambo accompanying them 
to their first camping-place, and thence they made rapid progress 
towards the lake. Before daybreak on the 23rd they were all 



364 



Africa : Past and Present. 



ready to proceed, for Ujiji was near at hand. In the course of 
the day they entered the town in regular marching order, with 
the Union Jack and other flags floating in the breeze, of which 
Mr. Hore gives a graphic description, but our limited space 
prevents our quoting it. They encamped for the night in the 
gardens of Bwana Musa, and all felt thankful that they had 
reached their destination in safety after such a long and weary 
journey. 

On the 25th, two days after their arrival, Mr. Thompson wrote 
as follows : " Through God's blessing we have performed one 
of the quickest and most prosperous journeys which have ever 
been made to Ujiji. We were just seventy-five days from 
Mpwapwa. We have lost none of our goods, and we have had 
few of those troubles which other travellers seem to have had. 
I cannot tell you how pleased we are to get here. I came on 
in front on Friday to look for a good camping-place, and we 
found a most healthy-looking site for our station close on 
Kigoma Bay. It is near the highest hill about here, but there 
is no good running stream near it ; and if we wish to make a 
garden to grow wheat, we shall have to make it at some distance 
from the station. We intend to move to this place to-morrow, 
and pitch our camp there, until we try further to get a place as 
healthy with a running stream close to it. The place I speak 
of is about three miles from Ujiji, and can be seen from it." 

It is melancholy to have to record that this extract is taken 
from the last letter received by the directors from Mr. Thompson. 
On the 13th of September, about a month after it was written, 
he was seized by what appeared to be an apoplexy, and remained 
in a state of coma for more than forty-eight hours. Watched 
over and nursed with much care and tenderness by the brethren 
with him, he occasionally showed signs of returning conscious- 
ness and clearness of intellect. The hopes that were thus raised 
were soon to be disappointed, however ; for, according to Mr. 
Hore's account of the sad event, " the poor sufferer gradually 
relapsed, and quietly went home to Jesus on Sunday afternoon, 
September 22nd. So has our Heavenly Father seen fit thus 



Easter7i and Central Africa. 365 

early to take to Himself one of our number, and one that had 
often been thought to be one of the strongest among us. His 
will be done. We buried his mortal remains on the hill at 
Kigoma, about three miles north-west of Ujiji — (on Monday 
evening the 23rd of September) — a spot which I had previously 
visited with Mr. Thompson, and the situation of which he was 
pleased with. He was followed to the grave by all our men, 
who also knelt reverently round the grave, while in simple 
service we committed the body to the ground, ' in sure and 
certain hope of a glorious resurrection to eternal life.' " 

The leader of the mission being thus removed, the two 
remaining brethren at Ujiji were left in painful solitude and 
anxiety in a strange land ; Mr. Dodgshun, who had gone to 
Zanzibar to bring up the remaining stores, having been detained 
on the journey much longer than was expected. Indeed, this 
brother did not arrive at Ujiji till the early part of the following 
year, having met with dangers, difficulties, and detentions such 
as are seldom experienced even in that country. For many 
months the directors of the Society were kept in a state of the 
most anxious suspense from receiving no intelligence of the 
movements of Mr. Dodgshun, and but very vague and unsatis- 
factory accounts from Tanganyika. 

Under these circumstances the directors were led to consider 
how they could best reinforce the mission, and save it from 
collapsing altogether. They found some relief in the noble 
offer of two students to give themselves to the work, and to 
go out and join the Central African Mission without delay. 
They were still at a loss, however, for an experienced missionary 
to take the lead in the enterprise ; those already on the spot, 
and those recently appointed, being all inexperienced and com- 
paratively young men. They looked round in every direction, 
and communicated with some that seemed most likely for 
such service, but all in vain. 

Whilst thus perplexed, the directors received an offer cf 
service from a quarter they little expected. The Rev. Dr. 
Mullens, the esteemed Foreign Secretary of the Society, who 



366 



Africa : Past and Present. 



had served the cause so long and so ably in India, Madagascar, 
and England, generously offered in the emergency to go out 
to Zanzibar, and if necessary to Tanganyika, to accompany the 
young missionaries just appointed, to regulate and superintend 
the affairs of the mission till it should become thoroughly 
established, and to render any service in his power to a cause 
so dear to his heart. At first the directors felt very unwilling 
to accept Dr. Mullens' noble offer, not knowing how to spare 
him from head-quarters, and being apprehensive as to the 
effect that such an undertaking might have upon his health 
or life. But the Doctor being very firm and persistent in his 
offer, the directors at length reluctantly acquiesced. 

Arrangements were forthwith made for this new departure 
in the history of the London Society's Mission to Central 
Africa. The necessary preparations having been completed, 
on Wednesday, April 9th, 1879, a valedictory service was held 
at the Mission House in London, to take leave of Dr. Mullens, 
and the Rev. W. Griffith, and Mr. Southon, a medical mis- 
sionary. At this meeting, which was very well attended, the 
venerable Dr. Moffat gave an address full of affection and 
appropriate counsel to the young brethren. They sailed for 
Zanzibar on the i8th April, and Dr. Mullens embarked at 
Southampton on the 24th, with the object of joining Messrs. 
Griffith and Southon at Aden, to proceed with them on to 
Zanzibar. This important reinforcement of the Tanganyika 
Mission went forth, and was followed by the prayers of thousands 
of Christian people of different denominations, for all felt that 
the most momentous questions were involved in it. 

The directors of the London Missionary Society had par- 
ticularly urged that Dr. Mullens should not go farther than 
Zanzibar, unless the necessities of the case should absolutely 
require him to do so, as the cause would be materially served 
by his assisting the young missionaries in their preparations, 
and seeing them fairly on their journey fqr the interior. But 
for some reason not fully explained, the Doctor resolved to 
go right through to Tanganyika, and he set out for Ujiji with 



Eastern and Cenlral Afiica. 



367 



his young brethren accordingly. It is indeed melancholy to 
have to add that he did not live to reach the end of the 
journey, his Heavenly Father, in His infinite wisdom, seeing 
fit to call him to His eternal rest before he had travelled half 
the distance. The sad story will be best related, as far as 
possible, in the language of Mr. Southon, the medical missionary, 
who was with him to the last. The following narrative is 
condensed from Mr. Southon's letter to the directors, dated 
Mpwapwa, July i6th, iSyg, as published in the Nonconformist : — 

"From the time of arriving at Zanzibar, Dr. Mullens took an active part 
in everything that was being done in the way of preparation for the journey. 
After we were once started from Induni, we had no trouble with the men, 
though the loads of some of them were above the standard weight, i.e., 
sixty-five pounds. Dr. Mullens found a serious obstacle to his progress in 
the long rank grass which grows in great abundance in all the valleys and 
low-lying lands. He was carried in an iron chair. Eight men were 
appointed as his personal bearers. The chair was slung between two bam- 
boo poles, and four men then carried it on their shoulders. As the men 
were two abreast, they had to walk on either side of the path instead of on 
it, as all the paths are only wide enough for one person to walk in at a 
time. Dr. Mullens' men were therefore obliged to walk in the thick grass ; 
hence their slow progress. At Mkange we halted a day to readjust loads, 
and to alter Dr. Mullens' chair. I contrived to insert a pole between the 
other two, that the men might carry and still be able to keep the centre of 
the path. 

" Everything now worked smoothly and harmoniously ; the men did their 
work willingly and cheerfully, and although the poor doctor was generally 
tired out, and a little late in getting into camp, a cup of cocoa or tea and a 
little rest sufficed to restore him to his wonted health and spirits. He 
hardly ever complained of anything except the long grass. Generally 
speaking, Dr. Mullens did not find the hardships of camp life so bad as he 
anticipated. He was never weary of watching the men at their work, and 
was ever expressing his thankfulness that we had such a good set of men. 
He would even lend a hand to help them to place the loads upon their 
heads, and many a time a man was heard saying, ' Bavana Kubwa, ujoo ' 
(Great Master, come here), when his friendly aid was desired. His know- 
ledge of Kisuahili was not great, but he made himself understood fairly 
well, and when he made blunders which the men laughed at, he joined 
heartily with them. 

" It was at Kitange, on Saturday, July 5th, 150 miles fromSandani, that 
Dr. Mullens caught a severe cold, after having ascended a high hill for 



368 



Africa : Past and Present. 



the purpose of taking observations. Being much exhausted when he came 
down, I was hoping that he would propose our staying there over the 
Sabbath, instead of going forward on that day as we had intended ; but 
the arrival of Dr. Baxter, of the Church Missionary Society, from 
Mpwapwa, who was on his way to the coast, and a good breakfast, led 
him to attempt the journey to Rubeho, six miles. Dr. Baxter also went 
with us to spend the Sunday. On arriving there. Dr. Mullens was much 
exhausted, and ate but little dinner, though he continued to converse as 
usual. I feared malarious fever ; and as Dr. Baxter was invited by 
Dr. Mullens to share his tent, I asked him kindly to watch over him, ami 
if he noticed any untoward appearance to report it to me. All Sunday he 
remained in bed ; and though he had fever he ' doctored ' himself, and said 
he should be all right on the morrow. Next morning, at 5 a.m., he was 
decidedly worse, but later he was better, and got up. Towards evening an 
obstinate fit ,of vomiting set in, after which he called Dr. Baxter and myself, 
and placed his case in our hands. We did our best for him, but decided 
that it would be better to move the camp next day, as it was cold at 
Rubeho. 

" On the following morning, Tuesday, the 8th, he was better, and able to 
walk a little ; he was, however, carried all the way to Chacombe, eight 
miles further on our journey. He arrived very much exhausted, but rallied 
after a cup of arrowroot had been given him. He. however, incautiously 
drank largely of very cold water, which brought on the vomiting again. 
Various remedies were tried, and at last he obtained relief and got some 
sleep. During the night he sent for me, asking me to advise him respecting 
a troublesome bowel complaint, from which he had suffered for many years. 
After a time his trouble was met, and he dozed off to sleep. Next day, 
Wednesday, the 9th, he was decidedly worse, and suffered a great deal of 
pain. Dr. Baxter and I never left him for any appreciable time after this. 
Inflammation of the bowels had set in, and he sank into a state of delirium, 
and died quite from exhaustion at 5.20 a.m., on Thursday, July loth, 1879. 
When we realized that no human aid could save him, we sank upon our 
knees by the bedside, and with streaming eyes commended him to the care 
of the all-wise Father who was about to receive him ; and even as we 
prayed he departed for the ' better country.' After more prayer for Divine 
guidance, we carefully wrapped the body in sheeting, and then in blankets, 
and lifted it into a hammock. After packing up everything we started for 
Mpwapwa, twenty-nine miles distant. This place we reached on the 
following morning, having made two very quick marches. 

" With true brotherly sympathy and regard. Dr. Baxter and Mr. Last made 
all arrangements for the burial ; but there being no boards about the place 
suitable for a coffin, we were in straits as to what to do. At last Dr. Baxter 
suggested that we should take the sides of one of the London Missionary 



Eastern and Central Africa. 369 



Society's carts which were left here by Mr. Thom])son. This was quickly 
done, and a very good coffin made from them Ijy Mr. Last himself. This, 
covered with white calico and lined with the same material, received the 
corpse, and then it lay all night in the tent awaiting burial on the morrow. 
A pleasant spot on the side of a hill overlooking the plain beneath had been 
selected for a burying- place. Here a grave was dug in the hard ground, 
and, with a kind forethought which did him great credit, Mr. Last had cut 
a path to the place from the main road. On the morning of Saturday, the 
1 2th July, a very mournful procession started from Mr. Last's house for 
the burial-ground of the Church Missionary Society's mission at Mpwapwa. 
Slowly and silently the procession wended its way down into deep gorges 
and up the sides of rugged ravines and then along a level road. Not a 
sound was heard save an occasional whisper, and the steady tramp, tramp of 
the men who carried the precious burden. Just before arriving at the grave 
the solemn words of Holy Scripture sounded in the stillness, ' The days of 
our years are threescore years and ten,' etc. After placing the coffin near 
the grave, and anon lowering it into it, Mr. Griffith offered prayer, and 
then read the ordinary service. I then closed the service with a short 
prayer. Another look at the coffin, and the remains of the dear departed 
one are left in peace. When we turned from the grave we fully realized 
our loss ; but the Almighty's arms are around us, and we are comforted. 
We intend to raise a stone structure over the grave to mark the place where 
we have deposited the body of Dr. Joseph Mullens, to await the glorious 
rising on the resurrection morn." 

At the close of the funeral solemnities the survivors of 
the expedition, Messrs. Southon and Griffith, with their native 
attendants, pursued their sorrowful journey towards the newly- 
formed mission station at Lake Tanganyika, and the friends of 
the enterprise sincerely hope and pray that, notwithstanding 
the bereavements which it has experienced, it will yet prove 
successful. Those who are still spared to prosecute the im- 
portant work are men of undoubted piety and courage ; but 
what is now most required is some one of matured judgment 
and experience in mission work to take the lead and manage- 
ment of affairs, both temporal and spiritual. In these days of 
general enlightenment, and professed missionary zeal, an enter- 
prise like this will surely not lack suitable men or means to 
push it forward ; and, with the blessing of God, it can scarcely 
fail of success. 



24 



370 



Africa : Past and Present. 



Church Mission at Lake N'yanza. 

The partial opening up of Central Africa by the explorations 
of Livingstone, Grant, Burton, Speke, Baker, Stanley, Cameron, 
and others, prepared the way, not only for the establishment of 
missions at Lake N'yassa by the Scottish Societies, and at Lake 
Tanganyika by the London Society, as already mentioned, but 
also for the planting of a similar station at Lake N'yanza by 
the Church Society, of which we now proceed to give a brief 
account. 

In the course of their travels, Mr. Stanley and some of 
the other adventurers mentioned above, came in contact with 
Mtesa, king of Uganda, and Rumanik, king of Karagud, two 
powerful native potentates, whose extensive dominions were 
situated in the neighbourhood of Lake Victoria N'yanza. Both 
of these sable rulers were represented as being friendly to the 
English, and willing to encourage the introduction of commerce 
and Christianity into their respective countries. That part of 
the interior being situated far away to the north, and sufficiently 
distant from the places occupied by other religious commu- 
nities, soon attracted the attention of the Church Missionary 
Society, and in the spring of 1876 Mr. Hutchinson published a 
book entitled " The Victoria N'yanza, a Field of Missionary 
Enterprise." In this interesting little volume the author collects 
and collates the testimonies of the respective travellers who 
had passed through that part of the continent ; and, although 
the impressions conveyed with respect to the far-famed monarchs 
mentioned above are less favourable than those given by 
Mr. Stanley, much valuable information is communicated ; and, 
everything considered, the region of N'yanza was regarded as 
the most eligible place for the commencement of operations. 

The most suitable agents available for the enterprise having 
been engaged, and the necessary preparations made, the 
mission party, consisting of four Europeans and a number of 
African porters and artizans, left Mpwapwa for N'yanza in 
the month of October 1876. It will be remembered that the 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



371 



place first named is a station of the Church Missionary Society, 
situated about 230 miles inland from the coast, opposite 
Zanzibar. After a weary and adventurous journey they arrived 
at Kagei, on the southern shore of Victoria N'yanza, about the 
beginning of April 1877. They first directed their attention 
to the pitching of their tents, and the erection of temporary 
buildings for their immediate accommodation ; and then they 
set to work to put together the mission boat, which they called 
the Daisy, the sections of which they had taken from the 
coast. In these engagements they succeeded fairly well, not- 
withstanding some damage which the materials for fitting out 
the boat had sustained in the transit. On the 15th of June 
the boat was finished, and made use of to remove the mission 
party to Ukerewe, a large island on the lake, not far distant, the 
king of which had sought their acquaintance, and had favourably 
impressed them with his comparative intelligence and friendly 
demeanour. Meanwhile the mission had suffered a serious 
loss in the removal by death of Dr. John Smith, a medical 
missionary of great promise, who was somewhat suddenly cut 
down and called to rest from his labours at this early stage in 
his career. 

Two or three days after the mission party had settled at 
Ukerewe, two letters were received from King Mtesa, written 
in English by a negro boy, whom Mr. Stanley had left with 
him, urging the missionaries to come to him with all possible 
speed. Lieutenant Smith and Mr. Wilson at once set sail, and 
reached Rubaga, the capital of Uganda, on Saturday evening, 
the 30th of June. Resting on the Lord's Day, with Mtesa's 
full consent, they had their public reception on the following 
Monday. Mtesa proved himself to be a monarch of much 
intelligence, and capable of graceful courtesy. When the name 
of Jesus was read to him in the letter from the Society, a 
salute was fired in testimony of joy, the whole assembly 
repeatedly bowing their heads. He also called Lieutenant 
Smith's attention to his flag, a many-coloured ensign, which he 
said he had hoisted in token of his believing in Christ. At a 



372 



Africa : Past and Present. 



subsequent interview, when no Arabs and Mohammedans 
were present, he asked whether the missionaries had brought 
him the Book, meaning the Bible. On the 30th of July 
Lieutenant Smith returned to Ukerewe, leaving Mr. Wilson in 
Uganda. Up to that time Mtesa was most friendly, showing 
an apparently earnest desire to know more of Christianity, and 
being also anxious to learn English. 

The fact must not be withheld, however, that a subsequent 
letter from Mr. Wilson describes the sable monarch as being 
somewhat disappointed at not receiving more secular advantages 
from the Mission ; but the relations between the two were still 
amiable, and hopes were entertained of ultimate success. In 
a private letter to a friend, dated November 29th, 1877, Mr. 
Wilson wrote as follows : " In the mission work there are both 
discouragements and encouragements, as one might expect. 
The services at the palace on Sunday mornings have been 
regularly held, and are fairly well attended ; and it is a great 
thing in so young a mission, and before one knows the language, 
to be able to give some, at any rate, the opportunity of 
hearing regularly the Word of God, and of receiving some 
instruction in the truths of our holy religion. The people are, 
as a rule, very attentive, and seem to take an interest in what 
is read and spoken to them, especially on our Lord's parables. 
I make the services more like classes in a Sunday-school than 
a regular service, as I find it keeps their attention better, and 
gives them more opportunities for asking questions, and so 
letting me see how far they understand or not. I begin by 
reading a chapter from the Old Testament. I read four or five 
verses at a time, and explain and comment on them, answering 
any questions that may be asked ; then a chapter from the New 
Testament is read in the same manner ; a short address follows, 
and I conclude with a few prayers from the Prayer-Book, the 
people all kneeling and joining in the Amens. The questions 
that are asked are often decidedly intelligent, and I must say 
I have often had to teach far more inattentive and unappre- 
ciative classes in England." 



Eastern and Central Africa. 373 



Speaking of the people generally, Mr. Wilson says: "The 
Waganda are a promising people in an educational point of 
view, if one can get them to come for instruction, which I do 
not think will be very difficult. They are a sharp, quick-witted 
race, much more so than any negroes I have yet come across. 
They are very skilful in working in metals, iron, copper, and 
brass ; and I have never seen anything to equal their basket- 
making. They are also very clever in imitating things of 
European manufacture, as far as their imperfect tools permit, 
and in this respect they certainly deserve to be regarded as the 
Chinese of Africa." 

In the month of October following, Lieut. Smith, acting on 
the instructions of the Missionary Committee in London, pro- 
ceeded to make a regular survey of the rivers and creeks at the 
southern end of the lake, of which he sent home a journal of 
much value and interest. This accomplished, he proceeded 
to Ukerewe, the head-quarters of the mission. 

The sad events which followed are appalling to contemplate 
or to record. From the most reliable information that we have 
been able to glean, it would seem that a quarrel had arisen 
between Lukongeh, the chief of the island, and Songoro, a 
resident Arab merchant. When Lieut. Smith returned to 
Ukerewe, the dispute had grown warm, and Songoro begged 
that his wives and children might be sent away in the Daisy. 
This was done, leaving Smith and O'Neill on the island with 
only six men belonging to the mission. Almost immediately 
afterwards, in the first week in December, Songoro and his men 
being attacked by Lukongeh with a large force, the former fled 
to the mission station for protection. Lieut. Smith refusing to 
give up the refugee, the little mission party were immediately 
attacked by Lukongeh, and were all killed, with the exception 
of a native carpenter, who was taken prisoner, and after eight 
days released. 

On the return of the Daisy to Ukerewe, the native carpenter, 
who was in charge of her at the time, finding what had happened, 
took off two men of Songoro's party who had escaped, and 



374 Africa: Past ajid Present, 



who swam out to him, and they returned at once to Kagei. 
After making an unsuccessful attempt to recover the bodies of 
the murdered missionaries, he sailed for Uganda, and took the 
sad news to Mr. Wilson and Mtesa. At Mtesa's request, Mr. 
Wilson accompanied some Uganda men in the Daisy to Kagei. 
After seeing to the safety of the mission stores, he proceeded 
towards Unyanyembe for the purpose of procuring cloth, which 
in Central Africa is equivalent to money. Being thus bereaved 
of his colleagues, Mr. Wilson intended to remain at this place 
till the arrival of the reinforcement from the east coast, which 
it was understood had been sent out some time before. 

On New Year's Day, 1879, intelligence was received in 
England that Mr. Mackay, a gentleman sent out with the 
original party, 'but who had been detained on the coast by the 
failure of his health, had reached his destination in safety, and 
had joined Mr. Wilson at Kagei, at the southern end of the 
lake, in the beginning of August, when they made arrangements 
for proceeding to Uganda in the Daisy, with as little delay as 
possible. In the meantime Mr. Mackay paid a visit to the 
chief Lukongeh, by whose men Smith and O'Neill were mur- 
dered at Ukerewe. Lukongeh assured Mr. Mackay that he 
never intended to kill the white men, and that when he heard 
they were dead (the attack by his men on the Arab trader 
having taken place some miles from his palace) he was very 
sorry, and said " his country was now ruined for ever." The 
chief further expressed a desire that white men should still 
come and teach his people ; but when Mr. Mackay asked him, 
as a proof of his sincerity and good-will, to hand over Lieut. 
Smith's pocket-book, and the guns and revolvers belonging to 
both him and O'Neill, which were known to be in his possession, 
he refused to do so. Mr. Mackay consequently left Ukerewe, 
assuring Lukongeh that the delivery of these things was the 
indispensable condition of future visits to the islands by the 
missionaries. 

Soon after his arrival at the scene of his future labours, Mr. 
Mackay wrote a long and interesting account of his proceedings, 



Eastern and Central Africa. 375 



a few sentences from which will show the spirit of the man, and 
the manner in which he prosecuted his varied duties : " The 
people of Kagei are a large and important tribe. I like them 
very much. They are all friendly with me, and I am a friend 
to all. When they see the turning-lathe at work, or find me 
melting the fat of an ox and turning out beautiful candles, 
their wonder knows no bounds. Then I teach this and that 
more intelligent fellow the use of various things, and try to 
impress upon all a truth I find them very slow to believe — 
that they themselves can easily learn to know everything that 
white men know. I tell them that we were once naked savages 
like themselves, and carried bows, arrows, and spears ; but 
when God began to teach us we became civilized. Round 
comes Sunday, when tools are dropped, and the reason asked, 
' Why ? ' I open my Bible and tell them it is God's book, and 
that He commanded the day of rest. Many know a little of 
Suahili, which is, in fact, closely allied to their own language ; 
and in that tongue I find many an opportunity to teach them 
the simplest truths of revealed religion, especially how God 
has come down among men. This great mystery of godliness 
is the astounding story to them ; and many I find eager to 
learn to read, that they may know the book which I say God 
wrote for men." 

When, in the month of March 1879, the mournful intelligence 
reached England of the violent death of Lieut. Smith and Mr. 
O'Neill, leaving the Rev. C. T. Wilson alone in Central Africa, 
the Committee of the Church Missionary Society immediately 
made arrangements to send out two parties to reinforce the 
mission, which had been so sorely bereaved. The first consisted 
of the Rev. G. Hall, Mr. C. W. Pearson, Mr. R. W. Felkin, 
surgeon, and Mr. J. W, Hall ; and the second consisted of 
Messrs. Stokes and Copplestone. The first-named party were 
to proceed to their destination by way of Egypt and the Nile ; 
and they left England on the 8th February, and reached 
Suakim, a port about half-way down the Red Sea, on the coast 
of Nubia, on the 9th June. While there, an attack of heat- 



37^ Africa: Past and Present. 



apoplexy compelled Mr. Hall to return home ; but the other 
three brethren started on June 25th on camels, to cross the 
desert, and strike the Nile at Berber, with the view of ascending 
the upper portion of the great ri\-er to Uganda. The second 
party proceeded to their appointed sphere of labour in Central 
Africa by way of Zanzibar and the eastern coast, along the 
usual route. It is a lamentable fact that Mr. Penrose, a zealous 
industrial agent of the mission, who was following them at the 
head of a smaller caravan, fell in with a band of robbers, by 
whom he was murdered. 

On the 19th August, 1879, after long suspense, the secretaries 
of the Society received copious communications from the 
brethren of the mission at Victoria N'yanza, conveying among 
other things the pleasing intelligence that both parties sent out 
to reinforce the mission had safely reached their destination, 
after a long and weary journey in each case. The brethren at 
the lake had received letters and papers from England through 
Dr. Emin Effendi, one of Colonel Gordon's officers, and were 
greatly cheered. There was also intelligence of the wreck of 
the mission boat, Daisy, on the lake, with Messrs. Wilson and 
Mackay on board ; but happily no lives were lost. The little 
vessel was afterwards beached and repaired, and continued to 
do good service for the mission. In the meantime King Mtesa 
had sent canoes to convey Messrs. Stokes and Copplestone to 
Uganda, and pleasing hopes were entertained of the ultimate 
success of the mission. In concluding their most recent 
announcement the Missionary Committee say : " If it has 
pleased God to spare all their lives, there are now seven 
missionaries at Uganda, the exact number first sent forth ; but 
only two are of the original party. Let our prayer be, 'O 
Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee; be Thou 
their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of 
trouble' (Isa. xxxiii. 2)." Every true friend of Missions will 
devoutly pray that the blessing of God may rest upon this noble 
enterprise. 



Eastern and Central Africa. 



377 



Conclusion. 

Whilst the preceding pages were passing through the press, 
intelligence was received from Central Africa of a painfully 
interesting character. The following extract from the Academy 
will place the matter in the clearest light : — " We regret to hear 
that the Church Missionary Society have received discouraging 
news of the condition of affairs at their N'yanza mission. 
Hostile influences are believed to have been at work, and the 
attitude of King Mtesa has been for some time not over friendly. 
In May last a rumour reached the king that the Egyptians 
were advancing their posts further towards his country, and he 
appears to have accused the missionaries of complicity in the 
matter. While utterly denying the charge, they offered to send 
two of their number with his messengers to Colonel Gordon ; 
and accordingly Mr. Felkin started for Egypt, in advance, on 
May 17th, to prepare the way for the party who were to follow 
in company with the Rev. C. T. Wilson. Mr. Felkin has 
written home from Fatiko, in Egyptian territory, forwarding a 
letter from Mr. Wilson, dated June 26th, from which it appears 
that he and four chiefs were on their way north, but still in 
Uganda. Messrs. Stokes and Copplestone had been permitted 
by Mtesa to go to the south side of the lake, on condition that 
they sent up the mission stores left there. The position of the 
three missionaries left at Mtesa's court is certainly not an 
enviable one, and the whole affair shows the danger of placing 
implicit confidence in the professions of a savage chief. T4^e 
London Missionary Society are also experiencing considerable 
anxiety at the continued absence of intelligence from their 
Tanganyika expedition. They have accordingly asked Dr. Laws 
of Livingstonia to despatch trustworthy messengers to Ujiji, to 
inquire into the state of the mission and to bring letters back." 
It is earnestly to be hoped that the next intelligence will be 
more favourable. 

Having thus passed under review the various matters relating 
to Africa as a country, — its peoples, colonies, and missions, — it 



378 Africa: Past and Piesent. 



only remains, in conclusion, briefly to express our opinion 
as to what this interesting and important quarter of the globe 
most urgently requires to promote its highest and best interests. 
We regard with unqualified favour the efforts which have been 
made to open up the interior to commerce and Christianity, 
and we honour the men who have gone forth to explore the 
inner regions of the "dark continent" with such indomitable 
zeal and perseverance ; but unless these herculean labours be 
followed up by the efforts of genuine Christian philanthropists 
with still higher aims, they will prove of little avail. What 
Africa wants above everything else is the " glorious Gospel of 
the blessed God." This would carry in its train every other 
needful blessing, and elevate the most degraded native tribes 
to the condition of men and brethren. 

Let the Christian Churches of Great Britain, Ireland, and 
America rise to the importance of the occasion, and "come 
up to the help of the Lord against the mighty." There is 
room enough in this vast and populous continent for the 
evangelistic efforts of all; and whether we regard the past 
history of the down-trodden and suffering people, or their 
present degraded state, we must admit that there is a loud 
and imperative call. We mourn over the prevalence of tribal 
wars, slavery, superstition, and crime in many places ; but let 
us not forget that we have the remedy in our own hands. 
The introduction of pure and unadulterated Christianity to 
every region and to every tribe, the erection of places of 
worship, the establishment of schools and institutions for the 
training of native teachers and preachers, and the faithful 
proclamation of the Gospel, would soon put an end to war, 
slavery, and sin of every kind, if the truth were received in 
meekness and in love, as we have seen in some highly-favoured 
places. Nor shall we be innocent if we neglect the grand 
opportunity which is presented to us of going up at once in 
faith and prayer to possess the land for Him whose right it is 
to reign. The Divine command is, " Go ye into all the 

WORLD AND PREACH THE GoSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE." 



INDEX. 



AbbEOKUTA, 220 

Aberdeen, 278 

Abolition of slavery, 1 19 

Abomi, 178 

Abyssinia, 134 

Accra, 54 

Adams, a sailor, 38 

Aden, 336 

Africa, Central, 326 

,, Eastern, 321 

,, Northern, 127 

,, Southern, 234 

,, Western, 150 
African Company, 16 
Air in the Desert, 77 
Albany, 278 
Albert, steamer, 74 
Albert, village of, 280 
Albuquerque. Governor, 110 
Alburka, steamer, 74 
Alcaide, 179 
Alexandria, 277 
Algiers, 144 
Alice, village of, 281 
Aliwal, North, 280 

,, South, 269 
Allsopp, Rev. Mr., 311 
Amelia, tender, 74 
Amendelboom, 270 
American missions, 294 
Amidi Fatu, 35 
Anamaboe, 212 
Anderson, Mr., 31, 33, 34 
Angola, 90, 231 

Animals of Western Africa, 170 
Antonio Gonzales, log 
Arab colonization, 327 
Arab travellers, 3 
Arthington, Mr. Robert, 358 
Arts and manufactures, 188 



Ascension, island of, 75 
Ashanti, 102 
Ashantis, 175 
Atlas mountain, 72 
Attah, 65 

Austrian mission, 85 

Badagry, 54 
Bagamoyo, 360 
Baker, Admiral, 63 
Baker, Frederick, 95 
Baker, Mr. William, 354 
Baker, Rev. John, 208 
Baker, Sir Samuel, 84, 85 
Bambarra, 29, 38 
Bambouk, 25 
Bangala, 90 
Bangassi, 33 
Banks, Sir Joseph, 23 
Baptist Miss. Society, 200 
Barbary States, 138 
Barca, 139 
Barotse, 89 

Barraconda, falls of, 13, 17 
Barrow, the traveller, 147 
Barth, Dr., 77 

Basle Miss. Society, 217, 224 

Basutuland, 314 

Bathurst, Gambia, 207, 227 

Baxter, Dr., 368 

Baxter, Richard, 120 

Baynes, Mr., 239 

Beaufort, 270 

Beaufoy, Mr., 23 

Bedford, 279 

Beer, Kaffir, 249 

Bell, Rev. William, 209 

Belvidere, 269 

Benezet, Anthony, 119 , 

Benin, gulf of, 37 



Index. 



Benown, 27 
Bentang, 183 
Benume, river, 78 
Berber, 376 . 
Berlin Miss. Society, 202, 294 
Bickerstetli, Rev. E., 202 
Biddumas, 77, 78 
Bimba, 69 

Birds of W. Africa, 170 

Birtli of a child in W. Africa, 183 

Bishop of Llandaff, 23 

Blanes. 269 

Bloemfontein, 297 

Blumenbach, Professor, 37 

Bohoo, 57 

Boo-Kalloom, 45, 47 

Boolibani, 43 

Bornou, 46, 78 

Botany of W. Africa, 240 

Boshof, 298 

Boussa, 35, 50, 55 

Boy, King, 61 

Brass River, 61 

Brass Town, 61 

Bredesdorp, 268 

Briggs, Dr., 64, 66 

British African Association, 23 

Brown, Mr., 323 

Bucker Sano, 14 

Burnett, Rev. Messrs. Roe and, 229 

Burrop, Rev. Mr., 351 

Burton, Major, 81, 82 

Bushmen, 243 

Butscher, Mr., 202 

Bu.xton, Sir Fowel, 123 

Caillie, M., 51 
Cairo, 84 

Calabar, 37, 68, 230 
Caledon, 268 
Calvenia, 269 

Cameron, Lieutenant, 94, 99 
Cameroon, river, 230 
Campbell, Captain, 42 
Cannibalism, 193 
Cape Bojador, 6, 39 
Cape Coast, 210 
Cape Coast Castle, 213 
Cape Colony, 260, 275 
Cape Town, 264. 354 
Carnarvon, ship, 63 



Carthage, 142 
Cassanga, 90 
Ceries, village, 268 
Cetewayo, King, 304 
Chachombe, 368 
Chandos, Duke of, 16 
Chelmsford, Lord, 308 
Chiwyu, 95 
Chobe, river, 88 
Chouma, 94 

Church Missionary Society, 370 

Circumcision, 249 

Civil government, 179 

Clanwilliam, 269 

Clapperton, Capt., 45, 48, 49 

Clarmont, 265 

Clarkson, Mr., 120 

Climate, W. and S. Africa, 156, 241 

Colbert, 18 

Colesberg, 280 

Colchester, 277 

Columbine, ship, 64 

Combo, king of, 209 

Commerce, ship, 39 

Conch, ship, 289 

Congo, river, 9, 41, 99, 100, 230 

Constantine, 265 

Coode, Sir John, 236 

Coolies in Natal, 291 

Copplestone, Mr., 375 

CotereL, Mr., 357 

Cranch, Mr., 42 

Crescent, transport, 31 

Crocodiles worshipped, 191 

Cronstadt, 298 

Crowther, Bishop. 220 ^ 
Cultivation, W. Africa, 167 
Currency, 187 

Dagboh, 68 
Dahomi, I02 
Dahomans, 177 
Daisy, steamer, 371 
Damaras, 251 
Damaraland,3l9 
Davison, Mr., 72 
Dawson, Rev. S., 210 
Delagoa Bay, 328 
Delaporte, M., 52 
Denham, Major, 45, 47 
Deserts, 237 



Index. 



381 



Diamond fields, 240, 2S1 
Dickenson, Dr., 351 
Dickson, Mr., 31 
Diego Cam, 8 
Dingan, King, 287 
Diniz Fernandez, 7 
Dockard, surgeon, 43 
Dodgshun, Rev. Mr., 359.362 
Dolphin, steamer, 75 
Dordrich, 280 

Dove, Rev. T. and Mrs., 2ii 
Dress in W. Africa, 186 
Du Chaillu, travels of, 193 
Dunwell, Rev. Joseph, 215 
Dupuis, M., 39 
D' Urban, 291 

Dutch Reformed Church, 270, 282 
Dutch settlers, 255 

East London, 286 
Ebenezer, 272 
Eboe, 60, 64, 65, 75 
Edendale, 291, 311 
Ederesa, 68 

Effendi, Dr. Emin, 376 
Egga, 68 
Egypt, 128, 375 
Elmina, 8, 1 1 

Emancipation of slaves, 122 

Embomma, 99 

English discoveries, 1 1 

English settlers, 256 

Episcopal Church, 271, 282, 293 

European settlers, 255 

Eyeo, 49, 54 

Falaba, 43 

Falconbridge, Dr., 1 15 

Faleme. 25 

Fantis, 177 

Farmerfield, 278 

Fattaconda, 26 

Fattatenda, 25 

Faursmith, 297 

Felkin, Mr. R. W., 375, 377 

Fellatas, 174 

Female warriors, 178 

Ferbanna, 25 

Fernando Po, 67, 70. 227 

Fezzan, 36, 141 



Fever, progress of, 160 

,, treatment of, 161 

,, yellow, 161 
Fingoes, 250, 280* 
Fishes in \V. Africa, 169 
Foolas, pastoral, 172 
Forbes, Mr., 323 
Forests in S. Africa, 238 
Fort Beaufort, 279 
Fox, Rev. W. and Mrs., 211 
Frazer, Rev. Mr., 197 
Frazerburg, 279 
French discoveries, 169 
French Missionary Society, 272, 314 
French refugees, 257 
Frere, Sir Bartle, 307, 335 
Frere Town, 199 
Funda, 66, 67 
Funerals in W. Africa, 184 

Gallam, 21, 22, 43 
Gallas, 79 
Gal way, Mr., 42 
Gambia, 11, 71, 155, 206 

Genadendal, 268 

Geology of South Africa, 239 

George, 269 

German Missionary Society, 217 

German settlers, 257 

Ghat, 77 

Ghiorel, 21, 28 

Gibraltar, 72 

Gifford, Lord, 310 

Glasgow Missionary Society, 201 

Glenlyden, 279 

Glenpringle, 279 

Glover, Captain, 217 

Godwin, Rev. Morgan, 1 19 

Gold of West Africa, 161 

Gold Coast, 8, 212 

Gondokoro, 85 

Gordon, Colonel, 376, 377 

Goree, island of, 32, 216 

Govinia, falls of, 22 * 

Graafif Reinett, 278 

Graham's Town, 277 

Granaries in West Africa, 168 

Gray, Captain, 43 

Gregrees and saphias, 19, 189 

Griffith, Rev. W., 366, 369 

Griqualand, 315 



382 



hidex. 



Griquas, 246 

Gum arabic, 22, 166 

Hall, Mr. J. W., 375 

Hall, Rev. G., 375 

Hamburgh, 281 

Hanover, 280 

Harriet, transport, 74 

Harris, Captain, 64 

Harrismith, 291, 292 

Harrop, Rev. P. and Mrs., 216 

Hartvvig, 202 

Hawkins, Sir J., 195 

Hawkins, Rev. R. and Mrs., 210 

Heald Town, 279 

Heat in West Africa, 158 

Hector Nunez, 12 

Ueidelbergh, 267 

Helmore, Rev. Mr. and family, 242 
Henderson, Mr. Henry, 354 
Hermannberg Miss. Society, 294 
Herodotus and Strabo, 2 
Hippopotami, 13 
Holub, Dr., 316 
Houghton, Major, 25 
Hopefield, 277 
Hope Town, 280 
Horace, 3 
Hore, 359, 362 
Horneman, Frederic, 35 
Hottentots, 242, 261 
Houses in West Africa, 184 
Houssa, 47 
Houtson, 48 
Humandorp, 277 
Huntley, Mr., 359 
Hutchinson, Mr., 370 
Hyammah, 70 

Ibn Batuta, 4 
Iddah, 70, 75 
Ilala, steamer, 355 
Indaline, 291 
Induni, 367 
Insandula, 307 
Irish emigrants, 257 
Isaaco, 34 
Ituru, 95 
Ivory, 166 

Jagga country, 80 



Jalloffs, 171 
Jallonk, forest of, 30 
Jannequin, 19 
Jansenville, 277 
Jelifree, 226 
Jenne, 34 
Joag, 27 

Jobson, Captain, 13 

John and Emanuel of Portugal, 6 

Johnson, Mr., 354 

Joliba, 29 

Juju Jack, 193 

Kaarta, 27 
Kabinda, 99 
Kadira mountain, 80 
Kaffirs, 247 
Kaiifirland, 313 
Kafifraria, British, 285 
Kagea, 371, 375 
Kagehyi, 97 
Kahayde, ao 
Kakundy, 42 

Kalahari desert, 81, 87, 243 

Kalk bay, 266 

Kanem, 46 

Kano, 47, 50, 73, 102 

Karagwah, 83 

Karague, 370 

Kazeah Town, 80 

Kassan, 13 

Kasson, 27 

Kasye, river, 90 

Kenia, Mount, 81 

Khamesberg, 269 

Khedive of Egypt, 85 

Kiama, 50, 55 

Kilimanjaro, Mount, 80 

Kilpatrick, 323 

Kimberley, 281 

Kingani, river, 8 1 

Kingoma, 364 

King William's Town, 286 

Kirasa. 361 

Kirk, Dr., 335 

Kisuahali, 367 

Kitanga, 367 

Knysna, 269 

Koi Korondah, 363 

Kokfontein, 269 

Kolobeng, 86, 87, 89 



Index. 



383 



Kommaguas, 269 
Kong mountains, 6$ 
Koran, 20, 102 
Korannas, 245 
Kouka, 46 
Krapf, Dr., 79, 339 
Kuka, 77 
Kummer, Mr.. 42 
Kumman, 86 

Lady Alice, steamer, 95, 96 

Ladysmith, 267, 291 

Laidley, Dr., 25, 26 

Laing, Major, 43, 50 

Lake, Captain, 62 

Laird, Mr. McGregor, 63, 66 

Lancelot, navigator, 7 

Lane, Rev. George, 210 

Lander, R. and J., 24,49,50,54, 70 

Lari, 46 

Last, Mr., 368 

Laws, Rev. Dr. R., 354 

Ledyard, Mr., 23 

Leeambye, river, 89 

Leeba, river, 89 

Leo, the traveller, 5 

Leven, ship, 323, 329 

Leydenberg, 302 

Liberated Africans, 199 

Liberia, 222 

Lily Fountain, 274 

Linyanti, 89 

Livingstone, Dr., 86, 242, 246 

Livingstonia Mission, 352, 356 

Loanda, 90 

Lobale, plains of, 90 

London Miss. Society, 283, 373 

Lotombroa, river, 90 

Loubies, 173 

Louis XIV., 18 

Lovedale institution, 284 

Lualaba, river, 100 

Lucas, Mr.. 24 

Lukongeh, Chief, 373 

Lutherns, 271 

Lyon, Lieutenant, 44 

Maberia, lake, 22 
Mabia, river, 88 
Mackay, Mr., 374 
Mackenzie, Bishop, 347 



Maclear, cape, 353 

Macpherson s History, iii 

Madagascar, 333 

Madagore, 73 

Magomero, 93, 348 

Makata, swamp of, 360 

Makololo mission, 341 

Makololos, 87, 88, 90, 92 

Makonda, 89 

Malays. 252 

Malemba, 41 

Malmsbury, 269 

Manda, 291 

Mandanaree, 209 

Mandingoes, 171, 208 

Maniakora, 33 

Manners and customs, 1 79 

Mansong. 28 

Marambo, 363 

Ma-Robert, steamer, 324 

Maroons, 196 

Marraboo, 20, 33 

Marriage in W. Africa, 182 

Marshall, Rev. R. and Mrs,, 210 

Martin, Major, 310 

Mayetti, 330 

McKenny, Rev. John, 279 
Melons, water, 87 
Melville, 269 
MesuraJo, cape, 222 
Middle passage, 113 
Middlesburg, 278 
Milimo, 94 

Minerals in W. Africa, 166 
Missions, Christian, 338 
Mofifat, Dr., 86, 366 
Mogadore, 38 
Mombassa, 79 
Monrovia, 222 
Montague, 267 
Moors, 29, 38, 173 
Moponda, Chief, 355 
Mpwapwa, 368, 369 
Moravian missions, 272 
Morgan, Rev. John, 208 
Morocco, 37, 72, 147 
Morrison, Dr., 48, 49 
Mountains of S. Africa, 235 
Mourzouk, 36, 44 
Mowbray, 264 
Mozambique, 332 



384 



Index. 



Mtesa, King, 96, 97, 370 
Mukondokwa pass, 360, 362 
Mullens, Dr., 358, 367 
Muller, Rev. Mr., 76 
Mumbo-Jumbo, 181 
Munki, Sultan, 44 
Murie, Dr., 87 
Murray, Mr., 87 
Murraysburg, 278 
Muta N'zage, lake, 98 
Myro, ship, 197 

Namaqualand, 317 
Namaquas, 244 
Napoleon, channel, 96 
Natal, 287 

Native tribes, 171, 242 
Nautilus, war sloop, 196 
Negroes, 186, 251 
Nereid, ship, 330 
New, Rev. C., 340 
Newhaven, 269 
Nicholls, Mr., 37 
Niger river, 4, 29, 41, 58, 154 
Niger, exploration of the, 73, 228 
Nile, 84, 375 
N'gami, lake, 87 
Noiwegian Miss. Society, 294 
Nubia, 132 
Nun, river, 61, 64 
Nunez, Rio, 42 
N'yanza, lake, 82, 83. 95, 370 
N'yassa, lake, 92, 353 
Nyffe, 37 

Nylander, Mr., 202 

Obie, King, 60 
Obohbe, 68 

Oldfield, Dr., 64, 67, 70 
O'Neil, Mr., 373 
Orange Free State, 295 
Origistad, 302 
Osiman, 69 
Ostrich farming, 240 
Oswell, Mr., 87, 343 
Oudney, Dr., 45, 48 
Oudtshoorn, 269 
Ovampaland, 319 
Ovampos, 251 
Overweg, Mr., 77 
Owen, Captain, 322, 329 



Paarl, 26S 
Palaver tree, 1 79 
Palm oil, 165 
Panda, chief, 287 
Panietta, 42 

Paris Missionary Society, 227 

Park, Mungo. 26 

Pascoe, the negro, 54 

Pearce, Captain, 48, 49 

Pearson, Mr. C. W., 375 

Peddie, 281 

Peddie, Major, 42 

Penrose, Mr., 376 

Petherick, consul, 85 

Phillips, Rev. Dr., 284 

Picketberg, 269 

Pietermaritzburg, 291 

Pisina, Gambia, 25, 30 

Pocock, Edward and Frank, 95, 99 

Polygamy, 183 

Port Elizabeth, 275, 354 

Port Francis, 278 

Portendick, 227 

Porteus, Bishop, 120 

Portuguese colonisation, 327 

Portuguese discoveries, 5 

Potatoes, sweet, 196 

Potchefstroom, 301 

Potter, Captain, 215 

Prasse, Mr., 202 

Presbyterians, 271 

Prester, John, a myth, 7 

Pretorious, 302 

Price, Rev. Mr., 342, 362, 359 
Primitive Methodists, 229 
Prince Albert, 270 

Quango, river, 90 
Quaque, Philip, 214 
Queen's Town, 281 
Quilimane, 331 
Quorra, steamer, 64, 65 

Rabba, 69 
Rabbi-Mpia, 79 
Ramsay, James, 120 
Rawdon, Lord, 23 
Rebbinan, Mr., 80, 339 
Rebeek, Governor, 201 
Renner, Mr., 102 
Rhenish Miss. Society, 272 



Index. 



385 



Richardson, Mr., 77 
Richmond, 278, 291 
Richterfeld, 269 
Riddle, Mr. A., 354 
Riley, Mr. James, 39 
Rio Janeiro, 63 
Rio Pongob. 201 
Ripon falls, 96 
Ritchie, Mr., 44 
Riversdale, 267 
Rivers of S. Africa, 235 
Robertson, 267 
Roentgen, 37 
Rondebosch, 265 
Rovuma, river, 324, 347 
Rowley, Rev. H., 346 
Rubeho, 368 
Rumanik, 369 
Rustenberg, 302 
Ruy de Sousa, 10 

Sackatoo, 23 
Sacrifices, human, 192 
Salem. 278 
Sanagoma, 78 
Sandani, 367 
Sangenier, 22 
Sansan, 47 
Sansanding, 34, 35 
Santa Isabel, 228 
Saron, 368 
Satado, 32 
Say, 79 

Schietfontein, 270 
Scotch emigrants, 257 
Schon, Rev. Mr., 76 
Scudamore, Rev. Mr.. 351 
Sebituane, chief, 87, 88 
Secheke, 88 
Sechele, chief, 87, 89 
Sego, 29 

Sekkeletu, chief, 91 
Senegal, river, 16 
Senna, 91, 323 
Sharp, Mr., 121, 196 
Shary, river, 78 
Shaw, Rev. B., 273 
Shaw, Rev. W., 284 
Shepston, Sir T., 301 
Shimeyn, river, 94 
Shire, river, 92, 355 



Shirwa, lake, 92 
Sibbs, Captain, 16 
Side Hamet, 39 
Sierra Leone, 195 
Sieur Brue, 20 
Simbanwemmi, 360 
.Simbing, 25 
Simon's 'I'own, 266 
Simpson, 354 
Sir Lowry's pass, 267 
Siwah, 36 

Slavery, prevalence of. loi 

,, sources of, 103 
Slaves, method of procuring. 112 

,, treatment of, 107 

,, uses of, 105 

,, in exile, 1 16 

,, emancipation of, 122 
Slave trade, loi, 108 
Slengelly, village of, 330 
Smith, Dr. John, 371 
Smith, Lieutenant, 371 
Smith, Captain, 289 
Smith, Mr., 42 
Smitham, Dr., 196 
Smithfield, 289 
Somerset (West), 266 
Songora, 373 
Soudan, steamer, 74, 75 
Southampton, steamer, 281 
South African Miss. Society, 272 
Springbokfontein, 269 
Stanley, Mr., 23, 34, 370 
Stewart, Mr. , 23 
Stewart, Rev. Dr., 356 
Stockenstrom, 279 
Stokkis, Mr., 375 
Stokoe, Lieutenant, 43 
St. Domingo, no 
St. Mary's, Gambia, 71, 207 
St. Joseph, island of, 22 
St. Louis, island of, 19 
Steinthal, 268 
Stellenbosch, 266 
Superstitions, 189 
Susi, 94 
Symyati, 88 

Tanganyika, lake, 82, 93, 98^ 358 
Tangier, 72 
Tarwick tribes, 78 



25 



386 



Index. 



Tchadda, river, 57, 6$. 66, 68 
Tchad, lake, 46, 77, 78 
Tenda, king of, 14 
Tendabar, 208 
Tete, 91 
Teucolars, 173 
Thesswall, Mr., 329 
Thomas, ship, 62 
Thompson, Captain, 12, 197 
Thompson, George, Esq., 246 
Thompson, Rev. T., 214 
Thompson, Rev. Mr., 359, 364 
Threlfall, Rev. W., 329 
Timbuctu, 5, 21, 39, 51, 73, 78 
Traghan, 46 
Transvaal, 290 
TripoH, 37, 140 
Tshaka, king, 287 
Tsetse fly, 88 
Tubiri, 82 

Tuckey, Captain, 41 
Tudor, Mr., 42 
Tulbagh, 268 
Tunis, 142 

Uganda, 83, 96, 98, 370, 376 

Ugogo, 81, 360 

Ujiji, 82, 93, 98, 258, 364 

Ukambani, 80 

Ukaranga, 358 

Ukerewe, 371 

Ulundi, 309 

Ungoro, 83 

Umhala, 291 

Ummesogeir, 36 

Universities' Mission, 346 

Unyamweze, 81 

Unyanyemba, 360, 374 

Urambo, 363 

Uruawva, 82 

Usagora, 81, 361 

Usavara, 97 

Utenhage. 276 

Uyni, 363 

Vanderkemp, Dr., 283 
Vermuyden, 15 
Verulam, 291 
Victoria. 281 
Victoria, West. 270 
Victoria falls, 91 



Victoria Nile, 270 
Vogel, Dr., 79 

Waganda, 372 

Wainwright, Jacob, 94 

Wakefield, Rev. Mr., 340 

Wamie, river, 360 

Wamrima tribes, 80 

Wanyeturu, 96 
I Warren, Rev. G., 204 
J Warrington, Mr., 40 
I Wassanah, 40 

Waube, 78 

Wawa, 55 

Wedinoon, 38, 73 

Wellington, 268 

Wesley, John, 120 

Wesleyan Missionary Society, 201, 
204, 273 

Western Africa, 124 

Whitefield, George, 120 

IVilberforce, steamer, 74, 75 

Wilberforce, Mr., 121 

William Harris, ship, 63 

Willshire, Mr., 40, 73 

Wilson, Rev. Mr., 371, 374 

Winberg, 297 

Witchcraft, i8o 

Wittebergen, 280 

Wittlesea, 281 

Woknan tribes, 80 

Wood, Joseph, 120 

Woodie, 46 

Woolli, 25 

Woolman, John, 139 
Woolmer, Rev. T. , 306 
Wolseley, Sir Garnet, 309 
Worcester, 268 

Wrigley, Rev. G. and Mrs., 216 
Wupperthal, 269 
Wynberg, 265 

Ximenes, Cardinal, 119 

Yarns, 169 
Yani, 26 
Yaour, 35 
Yellala, 41 
Yimmaha, 66 
Yoruba, 49, 56 
Yorubans, 174 



Index. 



York, 291 
Young, Mr., 357 
Youni, 54, 56 

Zaire, 9, 50 

Zambezi, river, 88, 93, 324 
Zambezi expedition, 91, 93 
Zanzibar, 91, 333 



Zegzeg, 50 
Zoar. 267 

Zoology of W. Africa, 240 
Zouga, river, 87 
Zoutpansberg, 302 
Zululand, 303 
Zungomero,8l 



Finis. 



Printed by Hazell, Watson, and Viney, London and Aylesbury. 



