AFRICANA.
A. KING AND CO., PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY.
AFRICANA;
OR,
THE HEART OF HEATHEN AFRICA.
BY THE
REV. DUFF MACDONALD, M.A., B.D.,
LATE OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSION, BLANTYRE, EAST CENTRAL AFRICA.
VOL. II.—MISSION LIFE.
“Your vain conversation delivered by tradition from your fathers.”
LONDON: SIMPKIN MARSHALL & CO.
EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES & CO.
ABERDEEN: A. BROWN & CO.
1882.
[_All rights reserved._]
TO
H. H. M.
THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED
IN REMEMBRANCE OF
THE GREATEST TRIALS PATIENTLY ENDURED
FOR THE GOOD OF AFRICA.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.—EARLIER ATTEMPTS TO CHRISTIANISE CENTRAL AFRICA.
Portuguese Discoveries. Early Missionaries—Santos, Carli,
Merolla. Exploration. Communication between the East Coast and
the West, 1-9
CHAPTER II.—THE UNIVERSITIES’ MISSION TO CENTRAL AFRICA.
Livingstone and Slave Caravans. Battle with the Yao. The
Missionaries pledge themselves. Native Treachery. Death of
Bishop Mackenzie. Departure from Magomero. The Mission Policy
condemned. The Field abandoned, 10-17
CHAPTER III.—SCOTCH MISSIONS.
The Scottish Churches. Missions at Livingstonia and Blantyre.
Relation between the Missions. Threatened War. Part taken by
the Europeans, 18-25
CHAPTER IV.—CONTACT WITH SLAVERY.
The English Name. Slave Refugees. A Free Native Village. Asylum
for the Slave. Civil Jurisdiction. Punishments, 26-37
CHAPTER V.—PIONEER WORK.
Difficulties. Industrial Work. Religious Work Colonial
Work. Efforts made to find a Clergyman. Unfair Position of
Missionaries, 38-48
CHAPTER VI.—QUILIMANE TO BLANTYRE.
Traces of early Missions. Detention at Quilimane. Journey to
Mazaro. The Zambeze. The Chiri. Hippopotami, Lions, Elephants.
The Native Kings, 49-72
CHAPTER VII.—THE MISSION STATION.
The Houses. Fever. Artisans. Visitors. Neighbours.
Interpreters. School, 73-93
CHAPTER VIII.—FIRST HALF.
Translating and Teaching. Visiting. Diary. Native Funeral. A
Murder. The Blantyre Colony. Native Law. Insecurity, 94-114
CHAPTER IX.—SECOND HALF.
New Year’s Day. Sewing Class. Housekeeping. School Work. Native
Wars, 115-130
CHAPTER X.—SECOND HALF—_Continued_.
Pilfering. The Station set on Fire. Expedition to Mlanje.
The Native Language. Scarcity. Trading Company. Field for
Emigration, 131-147
CHAPTER XI.—THIRD HALF.
Founding Zomba Mission. Lake Chirwa. Attack on the Mission
Carriers. A Slave Raid. Anxiety, 148-177
CHAPTER XII.—FOURTH HALF.
Improvements. Increase of Pupils. Boarders. Negro Laziness.
Preaching. Slavery, touching cases. Missionary Methods. Amateur
Physicians. At Cherasulo and Zomba, 178-212
CHAPTER XIII.—FIFTH HALF.
Hermit Life. War. Mission Difficulties. Kidnapping. A Scare.
Wild Animals. Amusements. Visit to Zomba. Young Elephants.
Strange Refugees, 213-232
CHAPTER XIV.—SIXTH HALF.
Native Headmen. Translating. Imprisonments. A Slaving Chief.
Sheep Stealing. Hopeful Pupils. Evangelical Work. The Colony
again, 233-261
CHAPTER XV.—SEVENTH HALF.
Start for Scotland. “I wish to go with you.” The Magololo.
Sabbath on the River. War in Front. Suspense. Discomforts. A
Native Crew. Magololo Harem. Anyasa Carriers, 262-287
CHAPTER XVI.—CONCLUSION.
Work resumed. Return of Pupils. Slavery. Second Departure.
Game. Adventure with Hippopotamus. Matekenya’s people.
Morumbala. Mazaro. Civil Jurisdiction again! The Slave Trade.
Quilimane. Slaves in the land of their Captivity. Mission at
Zanzibar. Missionary Prospects in the Interior, 288-315
APPENDIX.—NATIVE TALES. 316-371
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOL. II.
PAGE
Magomero Mission, 10
Women of Mazaro, 61
Cutting up Hippopotamus for food, 64
The Blantyre Mission, 75
Native Female, 89
Mode of carrying in the hand, 121
The “Manse,” Blantyre, 178
The Basket Makers, Blantyre, 185
Anyasa Village on the Chiri, 271
A dangerous Hippopotamus, 290
Hippopotami at Home, 293
Night Halt on the River Bank, 296
The Kwagwa, 300
CHAPTER I.
EARLIER ATTEMPTS TO CHRISTIANISE CENTRAL AFRICA.
The Ancients were not so ignorant about Africa as is often supposed.
Ever since that old Phenician fleet went down the Red Sea and appeared,
three years afterwards, in the Mediterranean, people knew that it
was possible to sail round the Continent. It is said that the great
Portuguese explorers derived an impulse from old maps which described
Southern Africa as bounded by sea, but in any case the Portuguese are
justly celebrated for their African discoveries, for all the knowledge
on this subject that came from antiquity was in their days as faint as a
half-forgotten dream.
No sooner had the Portuguese discovered places like the “Empire of
Monomotopa” than they wanted to open them up. They sent their colonies
and their armies; and the Church of Rome soon had missionaries among the
native tribes.
At Sofala the new settlers asked permission to build a ‘warehouse,’ but
built really a fortification. The native king becoming aware of this,
tried to surprise and massacre them, but he failed, and they eventually
became masters of the country.
Joano Dos Santos tells us in his history of Eastern Ethiopia how he
left Portugal for Eastern Africa in 1586. His book contains several
notes on the inhabitants. He questioned them about their belief in God,
and inclines to think that at some period in the past they had been
acquainted with ‘true religion’. He mentions in confirmation of this that
they kept certain festivals with a strictness that might put Christians
to shame. He found that they used ‘disagreeable herbs’ for an ordeal, and
thinks it is possible that the Deity may interpose for the punishment of
the guilty and the acquittal of the innocent. He expresses the view that
the ordeal is founded on the Bible. The natives were fond of showing him
their hunting powers and presenting him with what they caught.
In his book, which is more a history of the country than of mission work,
he takes note of the barbarous customs of the people; he speaks of their
beer-drinkings, which on special occasions would last for a week, during
which no one knew his companion. He mentions a tribe near Tete where men,
women, and children were kept in pens, and killed and eaten in succession
by their barbarous imprisoners. Sometimes the natives would overpower
the settlements of the Portuguese, who were then treated in the most
horrifying manner.
The monks that were in the country served more as chaplains to the
Portuguese armies than as missionaries to the heathen. The Portuguese
were endeavouring to introduce some kind of order among the native
tribes, and to develop the resources of the country especially in gold
and silver mines. Hence the Portuguese soldiers appeared in this quarter
following the crucifix and the arms of Portugal. A successful chief on
the other side would don the ‘clerical dress’ of some monk that he had
slain, and appear at the head of his clan with the chalice in one hand
and a spear in the other. But in course of time the country became more
settled, and the missionaries had numerous stations.
On the west coast the Portuguese missionaries seem to have laboured with
great zeal. Father Carli (1666) has recorded his experiences of African
life both in health and sickness, and many of his statements give a good
idea of inconveniences to be met with in Africa even at the present day.
He says, “My bed was against a wall which might well be called a nest
of rats—they were so many and so large that they troubled me very much,
running over me and biting my toes, which kept me from sleep. I caused
my bed to be put in the middle of the room, but to no purpose, for those
cursed creatures knew where to find me. I caused mats to be laid all
about my bed for my blacks to lie on and defend me, not only against
the rats, but any other wild creatures that might come. This precaution
stood me in no stead, for there was no night but the rats disturbed me.”
In his distress he applied to the Great Duke. “I took the freedom,” he
says, “to acquaint the Great Duke with the trouble I had from the rats,
and the stink of my blacks who had always some wild and disagreeable
smell.” The Duke promised him an infallible cure, and sent him forthwith
a tame monkey which lay at the foot of his bed. When the rats appeared
the little monkey blew hard at them, two or three times, which made them
run away, and its scent of musk corrected ‘the ill smell’ of the blacks.
“The little monkey,” he adds, “kept my head and beard clean and combed,
better than any of the blacks would have done; and to say the truth, it
is easier to teach those monkeys than the blacks.”
There is perhaps a note of bitterness and disappointment in the last
remark, but those that can understand the poor writer’s condition at the
time will readily forgive it. For many weeks he had been watching by the
death-bed of his companion, and afterwards was prostrated by extreme
sickness himself. He had no one with him but the blacks, “who stole
what they could and brought him when they thought of it, a porringer of
broth”. One night his bed was attacked by a swarm of ants, and he had
to be carried outside. Alarms of fire annoyed the poor invalid in the
same way. Yet he was not forgetful of his commission from the Church in
the way that he understood it. “Every day,” he says, “I baptised ten or
twelve children; and not being able to sit up alone in my bed, was held
up by two blacks, another holding the book, and another the basin.” The
instruction given at baptism was by no means elaborate, even when the
sacrament was administered to adults. Though but a short time in the
country he had baptised an almost incredible number of natives. He says,
as he looks back on the ‘great fatigues’ of his travels, that he would
think his days well spent “if but one of 2700 children and youths he
baptized obtained salvation through his ministry”. The good man, I have
no doubt, had some misgivings as to whether the mere rite of baptism had
permanently benefitted all that had received it. His stay in the country
though brief would be long enough to raise doubts in his mind on that
point. He does not speak hopefully of all the baptized. If he had been
able to stay with them and teach them directly in their own tongue, this
criticism would be much modified. Still the efforts of these missionaries
would not be lost. They tried to do God’s work, and no one can have a
higher motive. If there be anything in their methods that we now think
inexpedient, let us learn the proper lesson, and let us remember the
courage and zeal they manifested amidst their trials. Moreover, he does
speak of a school where natives were taught the Portuguese language and
received instruction in religion. Some of them, “though blacks,” showed
considerable genius. The people, he tells us, did not trouble about
laying up great stores of provisions; they scarce cared in the morning
whether they should have anything at night. When they accompanied the
Father on any of his journeys, sometimes he had nothing to give them
because he had nothing for himself. Then they would take a piece of wood
for a mattock and cut up the ground, and eat certain little white balls
they found near the roots of the grass. He says, “I could not for the
life of me swallow one of them, yet after such a wretched meal they would
skip, dance, and laugh as if they had been at a feast”.
Merolla (1682) is one of the earliest to give a detailed account of
mission work in Central Africa. He and his companions found themselves
greatly opposed by wizards, who were often seized and sent to the
Portuguese Governor who condemned them to death. As the native law itself
possessed similar provisions, the people supported the missionaries in
this measure and assisted in bringing wizards to justice. One of the laws
introduced was that after a person was absolved by the missionary, he was
freed from the consequences of any civil crime. “If God has pardoned, how
can man pretend to find guilty?” They had established the Confessional,
and many of them, like Luther, would try to make it a means of correcting
the faults and informing the minds of their people.
They also had their troubles with slavery. A Cardinal wrote them ‘in
the name of the sacred college complaining that the pernicious and
abominable abuse of selling slaves was still continued among them,
and asked them to use their power to remedy the said abuse’. They
had little hope of checking the evil, because there was no trade in
the country except ‘in slaves and ivory’; but they met together and
petitioned the authorities ‘that heretics at least should be excluded
from this merchandise more especially the English who made it their
chief business to buy slaves here,’ and whose slaves were in danger of
having the good principles instilled into them perverted by contact with
Protestants! The authorities granted their petition, but opposed its
operation. This brought the missionaries into serious collision with
their governors, whom, however, they promptly excommunicated. When the
struggle was over, the Governors wished to be restored to the church,
and the penance prescribed for them is instructive, as showing how the
Missionaries studied, and tried to remodel, the whole social life of
their people. ‘The penance I imposed upon the Count was that he by his
authority should oblige 300 of those that lived in unlawful wedlock to
marry.’ The restored Count did even more, he ‘brought over 400 to the
holy state of matrimony’. On the whole the Missionaries seem to have
introduced greater purity into those regions. They could also do much to
prevent wars and bloodshed. They had great influence with native rulers.
Occasionally kings and their subjects came expressing a desire to be
received into the Church in a body, but, alas, their motives were not
above suspicion—before submitting to baptism, these converts insisted on
making stipulations about ‘trade and commerce’; these stipulations the
Missionaries assented to and tried to fulfil. On occasions of baptism, it
was usual to bring presents to the Mission, and nothing can better show
the discouragements that surrounded these men than the fact that on such
occasions they were often presented with poisoned food. Merolla mentions
seven Missionaries that were thus poisoned, and he himself had a narrow
escape. They carried silver chalices, censers, &c., which were, in some
instances, an inducement to take away their lives. They set themselves
vigorously to oppose all ‘idolatry’—under which head they classed the
native charms. They were not without apprehension of the power of
sorcerers. Merolla mentions that an old witch lay down on the ground
beside him, and began to scrape a hole in it. ‘At the sight of this,’
he says, ‘I immediately ordered my interpreter to begone, being more
concerned for him than myself, for as a priest that had always trusted in
God, I doubted not but to render her charms ineffectual as to myself.’
But he does not seem to have been quite at ease, and tried afterwards to
avoid her. He explains that when they dig a hole thus in the ground they
have the intention of bewitching a person to death. In estimating the
native character, he says, ‘The Negroes are both a malicious and a subtle
people, and I likewise must allow that they spend the most of their time
in circumventing and deceiving, yet I cannot allow that because they
are a stubborn soil they must be left uncultivated’. To say that they
are always obstinate and perverse, and man-eaters is not to be made an
objection against them, because our Saviour says, ‘Those that are well do
not stand in need of a physician’. He contends that they really embrace
Christianity.
The above quoted Missionaries, it will be perceived, all belonged to the
Church of Rome, which was earliest at work in this quarter of Africa.
Their experiences are valuable to this day, as showing the nature of the
difficulties to be met, and suggesting also that Missionaries should
study more and more closely the ideal of Mission Life contained in the
Acts of the Apostles. While admitting that these men spent much of their
time in instructing their converts, I still think that their work in the
district of the Zambeze would have been more permanent if they had set
themselves to teach these natives to read and to form an intelligent
judgment on the message that was brought them. But printing presses were
not easily procured in those days, and the Missionaries did ‘what they
could’.
Before the time of Livingstone, the people of England knew little or
nothing of Central Africa. But the Portuguese were fairly familiar with
it. They had explorers as well as missionaries. Foremost among their
explorers was Dr. Lacerda, who set out from the neighbourhood of Tete in
July, 1798, and encountered quite his own share of the difficulties of
African travel. His carriers left him in scores, and he was tortured by
the fear that they would all desert “in a body”. He had little confidence
in the tribes that he was to pass through; and his heart sank within
him on finding that the natives with him hardly knew how to use their
muskets. After a march of about three months, he died at Kazembe’s.
Father Pinto kept a diary of the return journey, from which it appears
that the party suffered much from sickness and enemies. They had to
fight their way through the Awisa, and even after they were out of Awisa
territory, every little chief contrived either to rob them or make them
give up their goods as ‘presents’. They were so dispirited that the least
threat made them yield. Tete was so far civilised by this time, that
Pinto had a repugnance to appear on daylight except in ‘decent clerical
attire’. In 1806, Baptista performed the journey across Africa between
Angola and Tete, and soon after, a decree was issued from the Palace of
Rio de Janeiro ordering the formation of a company of pedestrians to be
employed in the communication between the East coast and the West.