PREVAILING DISEASES IN NATAL.—INCIDENT AT MR. TOM MILNER’S,
REDCLIFFE.—INTERESTING MEDICO-LEGAL CASE.—COFFEE
PLANTING.—MARRIAGE.—REV. D. LINDLEY, D.D.—HIS EARLY WORK.—BISHOP COLENSO
AND THE REV. W. A. ELDER.—OUTBREAK OF THE DIAMOND FEVER.—SAIL FOR INDIA.
The climate of Natal I found extremely healthy, the average death-rate
being only 16 per 1000 among the white population, while among the
natives, judging from all inquiries, I do not think it amounted to half
that number, though this is more or less surmise, as unfortunately among
the latter no official returns were kept.
During my practice in Victoria County, extending over six years, I do
not think there were twenty deaths among the white population, and as
for the coolies, the change from India seemed to give them a new lease
of life.
Inflammation of the lungs, bronchitis and other chest complaints were
rare, and when they did occur were seldom fatal, the principal diseases
of importance being dysentery, low malarial fever (bilio-remittent) and
a peculiar form of hœmaturia, due to a parasite named the _Distoma
hæmatobium_, introduced into the system by the drinking of impure water.
I must not forget also to mention that an outbreak of diphtheria took
place before my arrival in 1859, which was the first time this disease
was known in Natal, and also that every now and then a severe form of
chicken-pox broke out among the Kafirs, which more than once gave
occasion for alarm, the malady having been mistaken for small-pox.
Asiatic cholera and hydrophobia have never been known.
Although not dangerous to life, yet as peculiar to this colony, I ought
to mention the Natal sore, a species of inflammatory boil, of a low
congestive nature, with which new arrivals were almost always troubled.
These sores were often produced by the irritating bite of an insect
known under the name of the tick (_ixodes_), of which there are
different species, and also by the bite of the mosquito.
Specimens of the larger species of tick having fastened upon animals in
such places as the ear, mane, etc., where they could not be rubbed off,
become gorged with blood to the size of haricot beans. Those which
attack men are much smaller. Ticks have no wings, no eyes, no mouth,
merely legs, a pair of sharp, delicate lancets, and a pipe or rostrum
covered over externally with small reflexed teeth, which they plunge
into the skin, and then suck away, holding on by their barbs. Dr. Mann,
formerly superintendent of education in Natal, writes: “this much,
however, must be said even for these blind, bloodthirsty insects, their
reality is not so bad as their reputation;” so that again we have an
instance of an enemy of man not being so black as he is painted.
In 1869 I treated many cases of malarial fever in Victoria County, most
of them, however, occurring close to lagoons on the coast, and though I
met with other scattered cases of it in the country, this was the only
outbreak which could be entitled absolutely epidemic.
I recollect in May of that year I had 120 cases among the whites and
coolies on a sugar estate, which was situated on the sea-coast, near the
mouth of the Umgeni River; but the fever was confined to this estate and
Verulam, where I had four cases, the total mortality, to the best of my
recollection, numbering nine.
The cases of dysentery, on the other hand, were often perfectly
intractable, and would sometimes yield to no mode of treatment, and this
was especially the case at the end of summer, when the experience of a
sudden chill would almost certainly induce the disease. Sickness was
most prevalent, if care were not taken, at the change of the seasons,
and when rains of an exceptional character took place, cases both of
fever and dysentery of a severe type were always expected. After the
disastrous flood of August, 1868, these expectations were realized to an
unusual extent. This great flood lasted from August 28th to the 31st,
inclusive, the downfall of rain being greater than the oldest
inhabitants could recollect, 15.60 inches falling in 48 hours, and 17.11
inches during the four days that the storm continued.
I had a very narrow escape at the time, when going to visit the manager
of Fenton Vacy, a sugar estate about four miles from Verulam. This
gentleman had been under my care for some days, suffering from a most
acute attack of dysentery, from which, I regret to say, he eventually
died.
A tremendous rain, which at the time I allude to had continued two days,
had caused the rivers along the coast to rise from twenty to thirty
feet, washing away both the cane from the fields and the coffee trees
from the hillsides. In addition, it carved out impassable gullies in the
roads, and choking up the rivers themselves with the carcasses of dead
oxen, broken reeds and trunks of trees, flooded the surrounding lands,
and brought everything to a stand-still. Notwithstanding the terrible
driving storm, I did not like the poor fellow to die all alone, without
a last effort to save him, so mounting one of my best horses, I rode as
far on the way as Mr. Tom Milner’s, one of Natal’s oldest sugar
planters, at Redcliffe, where I had to cross a stream at a drift close
in front of his mill. When I arrived there, the water was running like a
mill-race, but as Fenton Vacy lay on the other side, I determined to
make an attempt to get through. In the _Field_, some time after, I read
a full and accurate account of my adventure, names only being altered,
written by a visitor who was stopping for a few days at Redcliffe, and
as the article contains an accurate description of the class of rain
storms to which Natal is occasionally liable, I shall take the liberty
of reproducing it. The writer says:
“After spending a few pleasant days at the Royal Hotel, D’Urban, I was
told that a trip to Victoria County was the thing every one ought to
do, and that the planters were always glad to receive visitors lately
out from England. Accordingly, having had a horse lent me, I started
on a little tour, intending to visit some of the principal estates.
The chief caution the old hands gave me at D’Urban was, ‘Look out for
the rains, and when they come, don’t attempt crossing any river by
yourself,’ the soundness of which advice I had ample means of testing
before my return.
“The first river on my road was the Umgeni, stretching across which
was an iron bridge, at this time a good forty feet above the stream,
which was running rapidly but smoothly out to sea, distant some half
mile or so. This bridge had been erected at great cost and trouble,
and was pronounced to be strong enough to resist any flood.
“After a day’s hard riding I arrived at a sugar estate in Victoria
County, and received from its owner a pressing invitation to remain a
day or two and look round the place.
“All the week heavy showers had been falling, off and on, yet there
was nothing to indicate alarm to an uninitiated eye. But after dinner,
while we were sitting in the verandah enjoying our pipes and watching
the clouds as they swept past, my host suddenly exclaimed: ‘If this
east wind lasts through the night, we shall have a flood before three
days are over, if not sooner. It was just such a night as this ten
years ago, and very much the same time of year (about the middle of
August), when we had one of the worst floods that have occurred in the
colony. That stream which you crossed to-day, near our mill, rose a
good thirty or forty feet, and you will notice to-morrow that we have
made that allowance in choosing a site for our buildings. I don’t
believe it ever has risen more than this; but if it ever should, it
will carry everything before it.’
“Next morning, Melville, my host, was up before me, pacing the
verandah, and grumbling to himself. On my asking ‘What’s the matter?’
he came out with ‘Don’t you see, or didn’t you hear, that, just after
we turned in last night, one of the most tremendous storms we have had
for years came on? It’s been raining bucketfuls all night! And there’s
that manager of mine, sleeping down close alongside the reservoir and
mill, has never rung the bell yet to muster all hands, when he ought
to have had every man out half an hour ago, looking after the drains
and water courses. If you want to see a flood, you have got here just
in time.’
“The house stood on a hill about three hundred yards from the mill and
the other premises, which consisted of manager’s house, engineer’s
cottage, coolie and Kafir huts. Hurrying down there as fast as
possible, we found all the men quiet enough, although the waters and
river were beginning to show what might happen.
“To supply a water-power mill, which did duty partly as a
cane-crusher, though used chiefly for grinding corn, there was a large
reservoir, close to the manager’s cottage and considerably above the
level of the mill and other buildings. On nearing this we found the
banks overflowing, and the water between it and the mill nearly knee
deep. Even this overflow was enough to frighten us; but we both turned
white when Melville said: ‘If those banks give way, everything must
go—mill, sugar, engine-house, and every one within reach; so look out
that we don’t find ourselves amongst the number.’ The first thing was
to ring the bell and muster all hands. There were about 100 coolies
and 200 Kafirs, headed by the manager, who by this time was up, and
the engineer, the two forming the whole white staff upon the place.
Then there was a little excitement about volunteers to get a rope
across the river, this being a usual precaution of Melville in heavy
weather. Two trees on either side were reserved for this special
purpose, and it was accomplished with great difficulty and not a
moment too soon.
[Illustration:
“IN A PARLOUS STATE.”
]
“All that day we never left the precincts of the mill. It took us all
we knew to keep the water under, and to cut drains and cross-drains in
all directions. Several times during the heaviest showers we were
nearly beat, for the water came down, not in streams, but in sheets,
and with such force that it was difficult to stand against it. At one
time some of us were completely knocked off our feet and carried
against the mill wall, where it was nearly waist high. Fortunately
these violent rushes came but seldom, and lasted only a few minutes;
for the buildings, being of light construction, could not have
resisted such a current long, especially as the river itself at these
times rose to within a few feet of the main works. We were thus kept
constantly on the move till about 4 P. M., when the rains moderated
somewhat; and about six o’clock Melville said we might knock off work,
as he considered the premises safe, though the damage done was
considerable, and the place looked as if a party of sappers and miners
had been out under training.
“That night the rain stopped as suddenly as it had come on; and by the
following morning the temporarily made drains and water courses were
nearly dry, and the river much fallen, though still looking
impassable. Whilst we were putting things a little ship-shape—laying
out wet goods to dry, repairing roads and broken-down huts—Melville
suddenly looked up and said: ‘Here is our doctor coming down the hill,
and you may depend he is going to see a poor fellow on the next
estate, who is dying of dysentery, though I don’t know how he intends
getting across the stream.’ The sight of Dr. Hardy, who was a general
favorite, brought everybody down to the banks, where, after a good
deal of shouting and gesticulation across the foaming river, it was
made out that Melville’s surmise was correct, and that the doctor
intended crossing to visit his patient, who was, he feared, dying of
dysentery, which Melville assured me was only too prevalent in the
neighborhood; and, after a considerable amount of talking—the whites
on this side trying to dissuade him from the attempt, as one of the
most extreme danger, we saw him quietly take off his clothes and hand
them to his native outrider, who was kneeling down imploring him in
the most piteous manner not to go; at least so we judged from his
attitude, and learnt afterward that our surmise was correct. Then,
having only a thin cotton shirt on, without a moment’s hesitation he
seized fast hold of the rope, which was trembling and vibrating with
the force of the current, being in the middle quite under water, and
commenced his perilous attempt. So long as the rope was out of the
water he got on fairly; but when he reached the part under water the
struggle for life began, and a desperate one it was, for on getting a
little more than half-way his strength suddenly collapsed, and for a
few seconds he remained quite stationary. Then, suddenly plucking up
his courage and making one more desperate effort, he succeeded in
turning over on his back, getting each arm round the rope, with his
hands clasped over his breast. In this position he remained perfectly
helpless, unable to make another move. We also observed a sudden
change of his countenance take place; this, a few seconds before so
full of daring and confidence was now pale and relaxed, the eyes
closed, and the lips of a livid hue; his legs and body were entirely
at the mercy of the water, the arms alone, happily, continuing rigidly
locked round the rope. It is difficult to describe our feelings as we
stood watching these outward signs of departing strength. Melville
began frantically rushing up and down, offering hundreds of rupees to
any one who would save the doctor, but of the three hundred niggers
not a man moved. It seemed hard indeed to let a man die like this. So,
it appears, thought and felt the manager; for, with an exclamation of
horror, he got on the rope before any one could stop him, and struck
out for the doctor, whom he very quickly reached, when, speaking a few
encouraging words, he so far revived him by voice and gesture as to
get about a yard nearer the shore; but the struggle was so fierce, the
water so merciless, and the doctor so exhausted, that they could do no
more, and the manager also found his strength and nerve fail him. Our
feelings were now doubly intensified; for, instead of one man’s life
trembling in the balance, there were two. For a short time both seemed
lost, as, owing to the additional weight and strain upon the rope,
they were more under water than above, each wave completely covering
them. Suddenly, without a cry or a kick, the manager threw his hands
up, and was in a moment carried like a log yards down the stream. Then
indeed broke out cries and shrieks and yells from men, women, and even
children, of ‘Save the master! Save the master!’ some in English, some
in Hindostanee, and some in Kafir; and poor Melville was speechless.
“A little lower down the stream was a wide open space, which was
called the drift, and through which the main road passed when the
water was low. A general rush now took place there, as the only
possible chance of picking up the floating body was at this spot. Two
or three Kafirs of the Basuto tribe waded boldly half-way into this
boiling torrent, joined hands, and the outside one, by a dextrous leap
at the right moment, caught the upraised arm of the drowning man
within a few feet of a mass of rocks and boulders, which must have
caused instant death, and, amidst the cheers and shouts of all, landed
him safe. Meanwhile, the doctor still continued clinging with a
death-like grasp to the rope, it being in fact difficult to judge if
life remained at all. But now, whether the example set by the manager
stimulated others, or whether perhaps they felt some little shame,
several men, headed by the engineer (who could not swim a stroke),
succeeded in reaching him, and by dint of united efforts they brought
him to land, also alive, but considerably more like drowned than the
other. Both men, with the help of brandy and water, lots of rubbing,
and the other usual remedies, after a time recovered; and in about two
hours’ time Dr. H. felt able, accompanied by Melville, to go on his
road to Lime Hill, which they reached only in time to find his patient
rapidly sinking, and to receive his few last words, for he died that
same evening before they left the house.”
On arriving home next morning, I found a vivid account of my adventure
had reached the village. My faithful attendant in those days was a young
native, both of whose arms I had amputated owing to an accident in a
sugar-mill. This lad, seeing me struggling in the torrent, ran away in
affright, making sure I should be drowned, and told my wife and every
one he met what he had seen; consequently, on my return I received
hearty congratulations from all sides on my lucky escape.
Years after, on the diamond fields, many a diamond this honest boy
brought me when superintending my native servants, the loss of his arms
having apparently sharpened his discerning faculties. Poor fellow, at
last he gave way to that insidious enemy of the native, “Cape smoke,”[1]
which, to our eternal disgrace, is sowing destruction and misery
broadcast among them. One morning he had suddenly disappeared, never to
return, but whether murdered or not I never could find out.
While I held the government appointment in Verulam, many curious cases,
from a medico-legal point of view, came under my notice. The story of
Kongota, the Kafir witch doctor, I have told in another chapter, but I
will here relate a case which nearly terminated tragically to all
parties concerned, and which occurred on the very same estate that I
have just mentioned.
One fine moonlight night (if I remember rightly, in July, 1869) word was
hurriedly brought to the magistracy that a most shocking murder had been
committed and another attempted on the Fenton Vacy sugar estate. As
district surgeon I rode out at once, and on my arrival found all the
coolies in a terrible state of agitation, gathered in a crowd round a
small syringa tree, to which they had securely bound one of their fellow
laborers, who was pointed out to me as the chief actor in the tragedy
which had just been enacted. In a hut close by was the body of the
murdered man, his brains protruding from gashes in his skull, and in a
house adjoining the cause of all could be seen in the person of a young
and pretty coolie girl, with both her ears chopped off, moaning most
pitifully.
As no investigation could be made that night, everything was left in the
charge of the police until the morning, when I again, with the
magistrate, visited the plantation. At the edge of a stream close by I
was shown the spot where the man’s body had been found, and a large cane
knife, with which the murderous deed had been done, was produced, having
been fished up by the coolies from the bed of a rivulet some thirty
yards distant.
The theory set up was the following: The man whom I had seen tied to the
tree the night before was known to be madly in love with the murdered
man’s wife, who, however, rejected all his advances; and he, it was
supposed, out of revenge, had murdered her husband, and then attempted
to murder her—a theory which seemed feasible enough. On going to the
dead man’s house to see his body again before burial, I found all
arranged most neatly, the body cold and stiff was laid out in white
clothing; and as the deceased had been a Roman Catholic during life, a
large cross of wild flowers was laid on his breast.
On looking at the gashes on the skull, of which there were six, through
which, as I have already said, the brains were oozing, I was at once
struck with the fact that they were all parallel, and this at once
raised a doubt in my mind that perchance after all no murder had been
committed, as it would have been impossible for these wounds not to have
crossed one another, if only in a small degree. I ordered the man to be
undressed, his burial robes to be removed, and examined him more
minutely, when I fancied I detected a faint murmur over his heart.
Giving further instructions, I returned again in the evening, and found
the man actually alive and muttering to himself. To make a long story
short, he made a most extraordinary recovery. In a few days he was able
to give a lucid account of the whole affair—how, jealous of his wife, he
seized her when grinding chilies, and chopped off her ears; then he
described how he ran to the river’s brink, sat on the stone where he was
found, and made a desperate attempt, with both hands, cleaver-fashion,
to hack his skull to pieces with the cane knife which had been
recovered, and which he had spasmodically thrown away. This fully
accounted for the parallel longitudinal gashes, which had led me to
doubt that a murder had been committed.
My fortunate observation virtually saved two lives, as the funeral
procession standing outside his house was merely waiting my sanction for
the burial of the body; when in due course of law, on the strength of
the circumstantial evidence alone, the unfortunate but innocent admirer
of the wife of the would-be suicide would have paid the extreme penalty
of the law for his rash infatuation.
My readers may imagine the joy of the suspected murderer when I told
him, whilst awaiting in the Verulam jail an examination into his case,
the above facts proving his innocence. This, I may say, he had
throughout persistently and consistently maintained. The all-important
question for him of homicide or suicide was thus luckily and happily
answered.
After practicing for some months in the division I applied for a
confirmation of the acting appointment, which Gen. Sir J. J. Bisset gave
me in April, 1866.
I now felt more secure of my position in the county, and as a result
decided, in conjunction with a clerical friend, to commence a coffee
plantation near Verulam. This progressed very satisfactorily for two
seasons, when my partner, wishing again to join the ministry, from which
for a time he had retired, we sold off, in order to dissolve our
partnership, the estate we had bought, and on which we had already made
extensive clearings and planted thirty acres of coffee. This did not
deter me from another attempt at coffee planting, which I was again
doomed to forsake before the trees got into bearing, as on my return,
after my trip to India in 1871, I determined to go to the diamond
fields, where I had already, as I mention later, sent a party to dig for
me. I do not wish to dwell on matters which are not of public interest,
yet I cannot help mentioning, _en passant_, that to an accident I owe
the honor of becoming the son-in-law of one “whose name is still held in
high respect in Natal, among British colonists, Boers and Zulus, and who
belongs indeed to the very first rank of South African missionaries.”[2]
Making a professional visit to the Inanda Mission Station (American) I
met my “fate,” and in April, 1867, I married Dr. Lindley’s fifth
daughter.
During the interim which elapsed from my first visit to the Inanda and
my marriage, I had ample opportunity to observe the interest which Dr.
Lindley took in the welfare, both temporal and spiritual, of the
natives, and the unceasing efforts that he made for their advancement.
The early work of the American missionaries reads like a novel. I will
here give a short _resumé_ of their mission to the interior more than
fifty years ago, and the cause of its collapse at that time. The reason
of my introducing this sketch is the general unacquaintance of colonists
with the first steps of these noble men, these honored pioneers of
Christianity.
[Illustration:
FALLS OF THE UMZINYATI, NEAR INANDA, NATAL
]
On Dec. 3d, 1834, the _Burlington_ left Boston with a party consisting
of six missionaries and their wives, of which the late Dr. Lindley, my
father-in-law, was one, and arrived safely in Capetown on Feb. 5th,
1835, when three of their number, including Dr. Lindley, started almost
at once for the interior. Seven weeks’ wagon traveling brought them to
Griquatown, where they rested five months, arriving at Kuruman early in
1836. Here Dr. Lindley formed the acquaintance of the late Dr. Moffat,
and received much advice from him as to his future course of action.
Leaving Dr. Wilson behind with the ladies he went forward in company
with Mr. Venables to Mosega, in Klein Mariko, the headquarters of
Mosilikatze, chief of the Matabélé tribe, styled by Moffat the Napoleon
of the desert, whose permission to advance had already been obtained.
This position, about two hours from Zeerust, in the Transvaal Republic,
was the place upon which they had fixed to build a station and commence
their good work, a French mission having some short time before been
expelled from the same locality by Mosilikatze.
[Illustration:
INANDA: THE MISSIONARY STATION OF REV. D. LINDLEY.
]
The district was well chosen, and the spot where they settled, still
called Zenderling’s Post (Missionaries’ Post), was situated in a
charming, well-watered valley, embosomed in the hills in the district of
Marico, near Magaliesberg, in latitude 25°, 27′, longitude 27°, 47′.
Here, on June 15th, 1836, they commenced their labors, which, however,
were soon to be brought to a tragic end. Mosilikatze did not approve of
the teaching of the missionaries, which reflected to a certain extent on
his own actions, forbade his people to listen to them, and himself left
Mosega. Still these devoted men and women prayed and hoped that more
favorable opportunities would arise; for, to add to their misfortunes at
the time, a fever, obstinate and distressing, laid low many of their
families—caused partly by the climate, and partly by the damp floors of
the mud houses, which they had hastily built. Yet neither the distrust
or suspicion entertained by Mosilikatze, or the ravages and deaths
caused by the fever, drove them from the work to which they had devoted
themselves.
I must now go back a few months, and ask my readers to study the
previous state of affairs. During the winter of 1836, the Dutch in the
Cape Colony, disgusted by the treatment, which, in their opinion, they
were subjected to, and tired of British rule, determined to seek for
“pastures new,” and consequently they made preparations all over the
eastern and midland districts to emigrate. Some left for Natal, some
trekked northward and crossed over the Vaal River, when Mosilikatze,
becoming jealous of his rights, which had not been consulted, with his
Matabélé warriors nearly annihilated several small parties of Boers,
killing altogether twenty white men and twenty-six natives, taking away
their horses, cattle and sheep. This, as may be imagined, roused a
feeling of revenge, and as soon as possible a force large enough to
punish Mosilikatze was got together, consisting of 107 farmers, and
nearly the same number of Griquas and Korannas.
This organized reprisal left Thaba Nchu on Jan. 3d, 1837, and passing
through a country almost depopulated, where scarcely a single man was to
be seen, came to Mosega on Jan. 17th. All unexpected and unseen, at the
very earliest dawn, the Boers fell upon the inhabitants of that most
beautiful valley, and so sudden and so secret was the attack that the
missionaries were taken as much by surprise as the natives, not knowing
anything until they heard the whistle of the bullets flying around. “The
Matabélé soldiers grasped their spears and shields and rushed forward,
but volleys of slugs from the long elephant guns of the farmers drove
them back in confusion. The commanding officer of these natives was
away, and there was no one of sufficient authority to restore order. The
warriors took to flight, and were hunted by the farmers until the sun
was high overhead, when it was computed that at least 450 must have been
slain,”[3] shot down on that bloody morn ere the sun could reach the
meridian. Such a cold-blooded massacre, so one-sided an affair was it,
that not a single man, either European or native, on the Boer side was
touched. My wife’s mother has often pictured to me how, lying in bed,
where for nine weeks she had been prostrated by rheumatic fever, her
room was one morning suddenly filled by swarms of wounded, bleeding,
helpless women and children, imploring her assistance and trying to
escape from the inhuman butchery outside, but to no effect, as they were
remorselessly shot down even at her bedside; in fact, “the outhouse in
which their servants slept was literally shot to pieces.”[4] The Boers
having set fire to about fifteen villages in the valley, then thought it
advisable to retire with about 7,000 head of cattle they had found (!)
and as Mary Moffat, writing to her father at the time, said: “Pillaged
the (missionaries’) house before their eyes, and when they left, the
Boers were still in the house, packing up all their horses could carry.”
On leaving they urged, even used threats to force, the missionaries to
leave with them, which they did, “submitting to whatever the Boers
wished;” for removed far from civilization, shocked with the bloody
sight just enacted, afraid of their own lives, and convinced that for
years the introduction of Christianity had been _postponed_, they
thought it the best thing to do. In after years (1859) the fact of the
American Mission leaving Mosega with the conquerors, instead of
remaining with the conquered, was often used by the Matabélé as an
argument against allowing missionaries to again build in the country, as
they were certain it would only be a matter of time before other white
men would come, and their land would be taken away from them.
Mrs. Lindley was forced from her bed, and with a child in her lap rode
for twenty-three hours on horseback without stopping. Mr. Grout, in his
work on Zululand, says: “To their fear of being followed by a host of
exasperated savages, to the unceasing cry of cattle, and to all the
tumult of irregular, excited soldiery, add the want of proper food,
especially for the sick; the absence of a road, save such as the open
field affords; the want of a bridge or a boat on the now swollen
streams; the want of a dry suit for the women and children, who had to
be floated across the Orange River on a bundle of reeds, keeping only
head and shoulders above water; then, forthwith out of the river, add a
night of Egyptian darkness, through all the hours of which no sleep can
be had, save that which comes in spite of torrents of rain, thunder and
lightning, and all the noise of the motley group by which they are
surrounded—and you have some idea of what fell to the lot of the
missionaries, Lindley, Venables, Wilson and their families, on the
journey.”
In coming down to the coast, not knowing the passes of the Drakensberg,
they made a circuit around by Grahamstown of something like 1,500 miles,
and reached Natal at the end of July.[5] This account may read as
fiction in the present day, but it is notwithstanding a “romance in real
life;” what the early missionaries suffered and endured to propagate the
truths of divine religion among the heathen in former days, we can now
with difficulty conceive. Dr. Lindley, on his return from Mosega,
founded a mission station at Ifumi, at the south side of D’Urban, but
owing to the rupture between Durgaan, the Zulu king, and the Boers,
together with the murder of Retief and party, on February 6th, 1838, who
had gone to ask the Zulu king’s permission to settle on the south side
of the Tugela, the American missionaries considered it prudent to leave
Natal for a time. Dr. Lindley, however, remained behind, but after the
burning of his station at Ifumi, and after experiencing many dangers, he
escaped on board the _Comet_, a little schooner, lying in the D’Urban
harbor, and after first visiting Delagoa Bay, landed at Port Elizabeth
on June 22d, 1838. Here he remained twelve months, until peace was
restored by the complete overthrow of Durgaan, when he returned to
Natal, and commenced, with the approval of his Board, to labor among the
Dutch; and was the first to take over the pastoral care of the emigrant
farmers.
The Rev. John McCarter says: “As pastor he labored amongst the emigrants
for seven years (1840–1847) having as parish all Natal, together with
the surrounding territories and the Transvaal Republic. Thousands of
children were christened by him; his headquarters were Pietermaritzburg,
Winburg, and Potchefstroom. It was thus that in 1843 the congregations
of Winburg and Pietermaritzburg were amalgamated. Dr. Lindley himself
mentioned to the writer, that at all times and places his words were
listened to with the greatest concern, and the particular tenderness
with which after his departure the memory of Lindley was continually
held in these regions by those who knew him, witness what great good his
labors brought about.”[6] In 1847 Dr. Lindley resumed his connection
with the American Board, beginning his work again among the Zulus at the
Inanda. In that year he was appointed with Dr. Adams, by the Colonial
authorities, on a commission to see justice done to the natives, the
instructions given to them being “that there should not be in the eye of
the law any distinction or disqualification whatever, founded on mere
distinction of color, origin, language or creed, but that the protection
of the law, in letter and in substance, shall be extended impartially to
all alike.”
Carrying out these principles Dr. Lindley worked zealously at the Inanda
for twelve years, until he visited America in 1859. Returning in 1863,
he again resumed the duties to which he had devoted so much of his life
and energy. His success at Inanda was great and marked, and after
working another decade, he returned to America in 1873, and resting from
his labors, died in 1880.
Let me ask my readers to turn to another section of the Christian world,
in which a not altogether unimportant part was played in the little
church at Verulam. It will be remembered that I had taken up my abode
with the Rev. W. A. Elder, the Church of England clergyman, and as it
was at this time that the excitement over Bishop Colenso and his
“heresies” was at its height, I was in the centre of a very hot-bed of
opposition to him, the worthy vicar being most submissively orthodox.
After Bishop Colenso had published his work on the Pentateuch, which
horrified the orthodox and excluded the bishop from almost all the
church pulpits in England, he returned to the colony in November, 1865,
and visited Verulam. The Rev. W. A. Elder thought fit, sincerely
believing he was discharging a religious duty, to oppose his bishop
conducting service in the church on one of his visitation tours, and
this resulted in a scene, which took place on Sunday morning, Sept.
30th, 1866, not easily to be effaced from the memory of those who beheld
it. As had always been the case when the bishop made his periodical
visitations, the church was crowded, but even the earliest arrivals that
morning found the rector waiting in the chancel, which in this simple
building was merely a space railed off from the body of the church by a
low wooden balustrade. Just before the usual time for the commencement
of the service the bishop came in, walked up the middle aisle, advanced
toward the chancel, and was about to enter, when Mr. Elder confronted
him. Standing directly in the way, he read a protest against the bishop
taking any part in the service, giving his reasons at considerable
length. The bishop, who had a very commanding presence, stood while the
document was being read with unmoved dignity. When it was finished, he
made no reply, and did not show any consciousness of having even heard
it. He made no sign of assent or dissent, his looks betrayed no emotion,
but opening the gate of the rude screen he passed inside. For a moment
Mr. Elder seemed as if he would stand where he was to block the bishop’s
passage, but happily he made no attempt by physical force to prevent his
entering, and he sat down again at his own side of the Holy Table.
A few minutes of anxious suspense on the part of the congregation
followed, but as the incumbent made no signs of commencing the service,
the bishop rose from a little covered wooden box on which he had been
sitting, and with his well-toned voice in musical rythm, unshaken by
anger or agitation, read out the text that precedes the Exhortation:
“When the wicked man turneth away from the wickedness that he hath
committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his
soul alive.” Mr. Elder then at once left the church, and the bishop
conducted the beautiful offices of Morning Prayer according to the rules
of the Church of England, and delivered a most impressive and beautiful
sermon.
It was not until some years after this occurrence that Bishop Colenso’s
legal position was satisfactorily defined. Some little time after this,
I was chosen one of the church-wardens, and on Mr. Elder’s leaving the
country for England, previous to the bishop appointing another incumbent
in his place, I read, in my official capacity, the church prayers to the
congregation every Sunday morning. In addition to this rather novel
experience, the government, about this time, during the absence of Dr.
Blaine on leave, appointed me acting resident magistrate; so I acquired,
during my residence in Natal, a varied experience which has since stood
me in good stead. Everything went on swimmingly for the first few years,
fine seasons, auspicious rains, plentiful crops, good prices, money
plentiful, we had races, balls, concerts, sports, a fine regiment of
mounted volunteers, all wealthy planters; in fact the Victoria County
planter was renowned through the colony for his geniality and
open-handed hospitality. Unfortunately, however, at last a wave of
depression flowed over Natal, the planting interest came almost to its
last gasp through bad seasons and the usurious rates of interest which
the planters had to pay for advances against their crops. This, of
course, affected me more or less seriously, as no more coolies were
introduced, the sugar planters not being able to bear the expense, and
those in the colony at the time by degrees becoming free, and thus
relieved from compulsory taxation for medical attendance, my income
diminished in proportion.
Just at this time (the end of 1870) the discovery of diamonds in
Griqualand West, on the banks of the Vaal River, began to excite
attention, and digging parties to search for these precious stones were
formed both in the Cape Colony and Natal. We quiet folks in Verulam
caught the fever, which was very contagious, as a proof of which one
morning after breakfast I had no difficulty in organizing a company to
proceed to the Vaal River, of which Mr. G. I. Lee, afterward chairman of
the diggers’ committee, Kimberley mining board, and a member of many
scientific societies, consented to take charge. At the same time I sent
off a party on my own account, consisting of three white men and twelve
Zulus with wagon, oxen, tools and provisions for six months’
consumption, intending in a few months to take a trip and see the dry
diggings myself; but my anticipations of visiting Griqualand West and
the Vaal were unexpectedly deferred for a year, as, in connection with
the Natal government, I took the first ship-load of return coolies back
to India. Many a pleasant day-dream this venture gave me during my long
voyage of the immense fortune awaiting my return, and many a night, too,
did I dream of Sindbad the Sailor, his second voyage and walk through
the valley studded with diamonds. How these dreams were rudely broken, I
will tell in another chapter, but before doing so, will devote a few
pages to a description of Zulu customs and the scenery of the colony.
[Illustration:
SCENE IN NATAL—FAMILY GROUP OF ZULUS.
]
[Illustration]