Full text of "Conquests of the cross : a record of missionary work throughout the world"

BV 2400 .H6 v.l 

Hodder, Edwin, 1837-1904, 

Conquests of the cross 



Conquests of the Cross. 




WILLIAM CAREY AND THE MAP OF THE WORLD. (S« p. 6.) 



0</ 

CONQUESTS 

OF THE CROSS 



A Record of Missionary Work throughout the World. 



EDITED, BY 

■ y 

EDWIN HODDER, 



AUTIIOR OF "TlIK LIFE AND WOUK OF TUK SEVEXTII KARL OF 3HAKTESHURY, ETC. ETC. 



VOL. 1. 



SPECIAL EDITION. 




CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited 

LONDON, PARIS £ MELBOURNE. 

[all eights reserved.] 



PREFACE. 

As the design and scope of the present work are fully sot forth in the Introductory 
Chapter, it is only necessary in this place to gratefully acknowledge the kindness of 
Secretaries and Managers of various Missionary and other Societies, who have rendered 
the most willing and efficient service by placmg at my disposal the reports and 
publications of their respective Societies, and other valuable material. 

I have also largely availed myself of whatever information I could collect from 
writers of all times and countries on the subjects under review, and especially from 
the Biographies of men who have Hved, laboured, and died on this great Harvest Field. 

In the preparation of these pages I have been assisted by gentlemen having special 
knowledge of certain countries, and of the missionary work carried on in them. My 
hearty acknowledgments are due to Dr. Faulds, author of " Nine Years in Nipon," for 
some chapters on " China ; " to the Rev. R. Ethol Welsh, for " Japan ; " and to the 
Rev. James Stuart, Mr. T. F. Ball, Mr. J. A. J. Housden, Mr. E. A. Martin, and others, 
for assistance in various departments of the Work. 

In order to make Conquests of the Cross valuable as a work of reference for 
ministers, teachers, and students, a copious index and classification of the subjects dealt 
with will be found at the end of the work. 

EDWIN HODDER. 

St. Aiihyns, ShoHlands, Kent. 



CONTENTS. 



PAfSE 

INTRODUCTION 1 

I.— EARLY MISSIONS IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER I. 

ZIEGENBALG AND THE FIRST PROTESTANT MISSION. 

Dr. Lutkeiis Originates the First Protestant Mission in India— Early History of Ziegenbalg—Pliitschau— Their Arrival 
in India- -Friendless Condition— Learning the Language— Ziegenbalg Translates the Scriptures— Public Preaching 
—Opposition from the Brahmins— More formidable Opposition from the Danish Governor— Ziegenbalg Arrested — 
Release and Return of Plutsohau to Denmark- The King Sides with the Missionaries— Death of Dr. LBtkens — 
Ziegenbalg's Dlness and Return to Denmark— His Marriage— Sympathy with the Mission in England— Return to 
India, and Death in 1719 10 

CHAPTER n. 

CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH SCHWARTZ AND THE TANJORE MISSION. 

Birth and Parentage of Schwartz— Influence upon him of Francke and Schultze— Ordination, Visit to England, and 
Departure for Tranquebar— Marvellous Gift of Learning Languages— Instances— After Sixteen Years at Tran- 
quebar Schwartz Leaves for Trichinopoly— Meets the Rajah of Tanjore— Appointed Ambassador to Hyder Ali - 
Influence and Power of Schwartz's Character —A Free Passage Everywhere for the Missionary— The Rajah 
Serfojee— Illness and Death— Serfojee's Monument and Epitaph in English upon his Spiritual "Father". . . 50 

II.— IN DANISH NORTH AMERICA. 
CHAPTER III. 

HANS E6UDE AND GREENLAND. 

Hans Egede— A Strange old Chronicle of Early Colonists in Greenland— A Lost People— Egede's Project— Opposition 
from Wife and People— How the Opposition was Overcome — Appeal to the King of Denmark— Long Disappointments 
-At Last Hans Egede Sails for Greenland— No Sign of the Colonists —The Eskimos— Hardships and Difliculties— 
Left Alone -Egede a Poor Teacher — Introduction of Small-pox into Greenland and Terrible Results — The People's 
Hearts Softened by Calamity— Egede Prostrated by the Loss of his Wile— Returns to Denmark— Death in 1758 . 60 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE MORAVIANS IN GREENLAND. 

Origin and Growth of the Moravian Brethren— They Early Commence Mission Work in the West Indies- Stach and 
Boehnisch— Stach and Two Companions Start for Greenland without Funds — Religious Discord between the 
Moravians and Egede — The Breach Healed by Common Service in Calamity— Fresh Arrivals of Moravians— 
Stach, Boehnisch, and John Beck— On the Verge of Starvation—The Work of a Little Child— At last John Beck 
hears Kayarnak ask the Way of Salvation — Character of the First Greenland Convert— A New Era in the Mission 
—The Missionaries Learn from Kayarnak What to Preach— Change in the Greenland Eskimos- Terrible Priva- 
tions-New Settlements— Death of the Apostolic Trio, and their Character— All Greenland now Christian— Green- 
land at the Present Day— Depopulation of the Country 73 

III.— CHRISTIANITY IN SOUTH AFRICA. 
CHAPTER V. 

GEORGE SCHMIDT, THE APOSTLE OF THE HOTTENTOTS. 

Early Trials and Persecutions of Schmidt— The Dutch Colony of Cape Town— Its Political Vicissitudes— Indifference 
of the Dutch to the Welfare of the Natives- Schmidt's Early Preaching— Character and Personal Appearance of 
the Hottentots— Indignation of the Boers at Schmidt's Labours— His Return to Europe, and Death — Second 
Moravian Mission to the Hottentots— Renewed Opposition of the Boers — Final Success of the Mission under 
British Supremacy— Difficulties from Wild Animals— Spread of Moravian Missions in South Africa .... 98 

CHAPTER VI. 

IN KAFFRARIA, GRIQUALAND, AND NAM.iQUALAND. 

Bereavement and Conversion of Dr. Vanderkemp— His Mission to the Kaflirs under the London Missionary Society- 
He also Suffers from the Hostility of the Boers— Obliged to Abandon Katfraria and Labour amongst the Hotten- 
tots-Final Success and Death— The London Missionary Society send out Mr. Campbell— His Tour of Inspection- 
Visits Bethelsdorp— His Journey in the Wllds of Griqualand- The Bushmen— Lattakoo and King Mateebe - 
Trying to Change the Ethiopian's Skin— Commencement of Wesleyan Missions— Mr. and Mrs. Shaw-Teaching 
the Natives the Use of Tools— A Plough equal to Ten Wives— Naniaqualand— The Work at Lily Fountain - 
Murder of Mr. Threlfall and his Companions— Abandonment for the present of Namaqualand 110 



vill CONTENTS. 

IV.— THE GOSPEL IN CHINA. 
CHAPTER VII. 

SCENES IN THE EAELIEK LIFE OF ROBERT MORRISON. p^^j 

Discovery of Christian Scriptures in Chinese — Birth and Parentage of Robert Morrison- -His Education— Appointment 
to the Chinese Mission— Total Ignorance of the Language at that date — Morrison Studies it in London— Curious 
Incident Illustrating the Reverence of the Chinese for Written Words — Voyage to China — Early Hardships and 
Difficulties from the Exclusiveness of the People— Morrison's Narrowness of Judgment arising from Ignorance 
—Tea— Difficulties of the Chinese Language— Curious Customs of the People— Morrison removes to Macao— 
Marriage— Learning the Language a Crime -Important Official Services— The Kotow— Affair of the Topazc, and 
Flagrant Official Murders of British and American Subjects 131 

CHAPTER Vin. 

THE BIBLE IS TRANSLATED AXD CIRCULATED. 

Arrival of Mr. Milne— Canton and its River Life— Translation of the Bible into Chinese Completed— Character of the 
Chinese Language— Difficulties of its Ideographic Character— Impossibility of Writing down exactly what a 
Chinaman says— Poverty of Words and Consequent Difficulty of Tones— Dr. Morrison saves a Chinese from 
Unjust Execution— Arrival of Mr. Bridgman from America— Chinese Secret Societies— Extensive Distribution of 
Books and Tracts, and subsequent Condemnation of it— Reasons for a Different View— Christian Origin of the 
Taiping Rebellion— Death of MUne and Morrison —American Chinese Version of the Scriptures- Mr. Lowrie 
Slain by Pirates 147 

v.— THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 
CHAPTER IX. 

HOW THE MISSIONS BEGAN. 

South Sea Missions First Suggested by the Countess of Huntingdon — London Missionary Society Founded —Purchase 
of the Duff"— A Large ^Mission Colony — Landing and Early Success of the Mission at Tahiti— Hasty and Fickle 
Enthusiasm at Home— Second Voyage of the Duff' and its Disastrous Issue— Misfortunes at Tahiti and Return 
of the greater Number of the Missionaries — Lamentable Cases of Apostasy amongst the Remainder — Success of 
Those who Persevered— Early Life of John Williams— Marriage and Dedication to Missionary Work— Early 
Work at Raiatea— The People Civilised and Reformed— Voyage to Sydney— Rarotonga— Sets to Work to Build a 
Vessel with his own Hands — The Messenger of Peace — Her Trial Trip and its Perils 168 

CHAPTER X. 

THE VOYAGES OF JOHN WILLIAMS. 

Mr and Mrs. Buzaeott arrive at Rarotonga— The Work that had been Done— Williams Starts upon his Voyage- 
How a poor crippled Heathen Learnt the Truth— The Question of " Meats " in the South Seas— The Messenger 
of Peace nearly Lost— .Sixth Escape of Williams from a Watery Grave — Visits Mauke. Mitiaro. and Aitutaki— 
The Work mainly Accomplished by Native Teachers— An old Chief at Savage Island— Makes a Friendly Ar- 
rangement with the Wesleyan Missionaries— The Samoan Islands— Recent Progress There— The Voyage Ends at 
Raiatea— Williams Returns to Rarotonga— A South Sea Hurricane and its Effects- The Messenger of Peace 
Carried Inland by the Storm— Further Voyages to Tahiti and the Samoan Islands— Wilhams's Eeturn to England 
in 1831 —Enthusiasm at Home— Another Mission Ship Purchased— Re-visits the Samoas, Raiatea, Rarotonga— 
liCaves the Samoans for his Last Voyage to the New Hebrides -Erromanga— The Last Tragedy There—Effects 
of the Sad Tidings 183 

VI.— IN THE FAR EAST. 
CHAPTER XL 

TARTART, TIBET, AND MONGOLIA. 

In Search of the Tschecks— The Kalmuc Tartars- Lamaism — Praying- wheels — Expedition of Schill, Loos, and Dehm — 
Circulation of the Scriptures-- Lahoul— The Kyelang Mission Station— Pagell and Heide— In the Laniasseries— 
Hernis— Funeral Ceremonies— Influence of the Lamas— The Kushogs— Leh, the Chief Town of Ladak— Adventures 
of Mr. and Mrs. Redslob— Among the Mongols— Fanaticism— Wonderful Things in Wu T'ai 202 

VII.— MISSIONS IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER xn. 

EARLY LABOURS OF CAREY. 

Boyhood of Carey— His Early Studies— Cobbler and Schoolmaster— Baptist Minister at Moulton—" Expect Great 
Things : attempt Great Things "—Messrs. Grant and Thomas— Carey Sails for India— Studies Bengali— Family 
Troubles— In the Sunderbunds— Translation of the New Testament— Five Years at Mudnabatty— Purchases an 
Indigo Planting Farm- Establishment of the Serampore Mission 229 

CHAPTER XIII. 

CAREY, MARSHMAN, AND WARD. 

Ward, the "Serious Printer "—Marshman's Early Career— Arrival at Serampore— The "Canterbury of Northern 
India"— The Institution of Caste, and how it was dealt with— Krishnu, a Convert— Fort William CoUege— The 
Festival of Juggernaut-Sutteeism and its Prohibition— The Fair of Ganga Saugur— Helps and Hindrances— Poor 
Mrs, Carey -A Disastrous Fire -Cholera and Fever— The Parting of the Three 2J6 



CONTEXTS. ix 



VIII,— WITH THE RED INDIANS. 
CHAPTER XIV. 

JOU.N ELIOT A.ND THE INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 

PACE 

Spanish Supremacy— Sir Huinphrey Gilbert and Sir Richard Grenville— Kcligiou of the Red Indians— Sir Walter 
Raleigli -Little Baddow, in Essex Kliot bails for Boston— Among the Iroquois— Tlie "Praying Indians "—Tlie 
Curse of Drink— Formation of Indian Settlenients— Converts- Martha s Vineyard -Major Gooliin— Whites and 
Reds — Kliot, the Apostle to the Indians ofiG 

CHAPTER XV. 

DAVID BKAINEKD. 

A Scene at Yale College— Early Life of Brainerd— His Melancholy Temperament— The Indians at Kanaumeek— 
Seasons of Depression- Self-denial- At the Forks of the Delaware— Introspection— A Revival at Crossweeksung — 
A School Opened— On the Banks of the Susquehannah— The Coming of the Lord's Chariot 282 

IX.— IN THE WEST INDIES. 
CHAPTER XVI. 

S L A V E K V AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 

Description of the West Indies— Sargasso or Gulf-weed— The Ladies' Sea— The Caribs— A Carib Story— Culture of the 
Sugar-cane— The Labour Market— Horrors of the Slave Trade— Facts concerning Slavery— Character of the 
Slaves— The Jumby Dance 289 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE PLOUGH BREAKS GROUND. 

Columbus. First Mis-ionary to the West Indies— Colonisation and Christianity— John Leonhard Dober and David 
Mtschmann— A Scene at the Coronation of Christian VI.— Adventures of First Missionaries— Frederick Martin 
— ReUgious Movement among the Negroes— Persecution of the Moravians— A Dutch Ecclesiastic- Troubles of 
Frederick Martin- Arrival of Count Zinzendorf in St. Thomas 299 

X .— S U T H AFRICA. 
CHAPTER XVIII. 

ROBERT MOFFAT. 

In Westminster Abbey- Early Life— Spiritual History— Offers Services to London Missionary Society— Mary Smith- 
Sails for Cape Town- A Practical Sermon— Africaner, the Bonaparte of South Africa— Marriage— The Sechuana 
Language-Life at L,attakoo— Perils from the Heathen and from Wild Beasts— The Mantatees— A Tribal War— 
—Translation of Scriptures— S'isits to England— Ad\enture of Miss Moffat— Founding New Missions— Secht'Ie. 
Chief of the Bakwains— Closing Years 310 

CHAPTER XIX. 

DAVID LIVINGSTONE AND THE BECHUAN.AS. 

A Death-bed Precept -The Blantyre Cotton Works— Frugality and Study— Sails for South Africa- Among the Bakwains 
—Methods with the Natives- At Lepelole and Mabotsi- Adventure with a Lion— Married to Mary Moffat— At 
Chonuane— Scchf'le. Chief of the Bakwains- Rain-doctors and Drought— Settles at Kolobeng— Conflicts with the 
Boers— The Bushmen— Discovers Lake N'gami— Sebituane, Chief of the Makololo— Bent on Discovery . . . 329 

X I .— N ORTH AMERICA. 
CHAPTER XX. 

MISSIONARY LIFE AND ADVENTURE IN LABRADOR. 

John Christian Krhardt— Xisbet Bay— Murdered by the Savages— Jens Haven, Carpenter- Set Apart for Work - 
Arrival of the Missionary Ship -Perils in the Sea— Okak— Last Days of Jens Haven— Liebisch and Turner- The 
Eskimo Dog- A Terrible Adventure on the Ice— Saved from the Flood— Hopedale Mission— The Labrador of To-day 316 

CHAPTER XXL 

THE LABRADOR MISSIONARY SHIPS. 

Wonderful Preservation of the Missionary Ships— The Jersey Packet— The Amity— The Good Intent— Protected by 
British Proclamation— Receive Safe-Conduct from France— Letter from Benjamin Franklin— Strange Deliverance 
from Capture of the Resolution— Perils of the Jemima as Related by a Missionary— The Harmony .... 3B3 

XII.-THE GOSPEL IX CHINA. 
CHAPTER XXII. 

MEDICAL MISSIONS. 

Chinese Gratitude— Dr. Hobson and his Works— Chinese Ideas of Anatomy— Dr Peter Parker— Hospitals in China- 
Work in Amoy—Ningpo— Surgical Operations— .Self-mutilation— Leprosy— Mesmerism— Faith-heahng— Opium and 
Tobacco -The Opium Trade 371 

CHAPTER XXni. 

OPENING OK THE COUNTRY. 

Adventures in China— Charles Gutzlaff— Travels in the Interior— Description of China— The Y'ellow River— Dr. Med- 
hurst- Origin of the Opium War— Incidents in the Opium War— Present Position of Opium Question— The Treaty 
Ports -Jlanchuria— Formosa 387 



X CONTEXTS. 

XIII.— THE HAWAIIAN ISLAXDS. 
CHAPTER XXIV. 

IN THE DAYS OF D.IRKXESS. p^j.^. 

Then and Now— The Hawaiian Gods— Volcanoes and Earthquakes— The (Joddess Pele—" House of the Everlasting 
Burnings"-* A High-priest of Pole— System of 7'a^(t— Sorcerers — Cities of Refuge — Captain Cooli — United Hawaii 
— Kamehameha I. and his Son— Destruction of the Idols— Advent of American Missionaries— A New Order of 
Things— British Consuls— Early Converts— A Heroic Deed--The Day-dawn 400 

CHAPTER XXV. 

A FLOOD OF LIGHT. 

A Great Religious Revival— The Rev. Titus Coan— I]t\pres3ive Scenes— French and British Interference- Prevalence 
of Drunkenness— Mr. Laplace— Temporary Cession of Islands to Great Britain— Independence of Islands Pro- 
claimed—Decrease of Population— Bishopric of Honolulu— Schools and Education- Leprosy— Father Daraien— 
Bishop Willis— Hawaii of To-day— Doomed to Decay 123 

XIY.— WITH THE RED INDIANS. 
CHAPTER XXVI. 

DAVID ZEISBERGER. 

Oglethorpe's American Colony— Wesley's Visit to it— Moravian Colonists— Their Objection to Warfare, and Retire- 
ment from the Colony— David Zeisberger- First Indian Church at Shekomeko— Persecution fi-om the White Settlers 
—Indians Expelled from Shekomeko, and Settle at Gnadenhutten, in Pennsylvania-Mission to the Iroquois— 
Increased Jealousy of the Whites— Aggravated by Rivalry between French and Enghsh— Gnadenhutten Destroyed 
by Heathen Indians— Subsequent Settlements of Christian Indians Destroyed by the Wliites— Indians Protected 
by the Quakers— New Settlement at Friedenshutten, on the Susquehannah— Mission to the Ohio District— The 
Converts Migrate to Friedenstadt— A New Gnadenhutten near Lake Erie— Further Moravian Indian Settlements, 
and Success of the Brethren— Settlements Broken Up by the War of 1775, and Brutality of the Wliiles— Brutal 
Murder of the Christians at Sandusky by American Whites— Zeisberger's Last Years and Death . . . .440 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE CIVILIS.VTION OF THE OHEROKEES. 

The Town of Brainerd— Mission of the American Board— Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury- -Action of the LTnited States Govern- 
ment—George Guess— The Language of the Chcrokees— Title to their Land Denied— Broken Pledges— Persecution and 
Arrest of Missionaries— Appeal to the Supreme Court— The Exodus of 1838— Present State of the Cherokees . . Oil 

XV.— IX THE FAR EAST. 
CHAPTER XXVIIL 

PERSI.4, KASHMIR, AND AFGHANISTAN. 

Tlie Brethren Hocker and Rueflfer- A Caravan Journey— Attacked by the Kurds— Hordes of Robbers— A Fruitless 
Expedition —Henry Martyn at Shiraz— Discussions with the Mollahs— The Shah of I'ersia— Death of Mart.vn-The 
Nestorians— Perkins and Grant— The Great Persian Famine— Kashmir— Srinagur— William Elmslie and the 
Medical Mission— A Melancholy Journey— Afghanistan— Peshawur and the Guest House -172 

XVI.— IX THE WEST INDIES. 
CHAPTER XXIX. 

ANTIGIA AND ST. VINCENT. 

Nathaniel Gilbert and John Wesley— Laymen as Preachers— John Baxter. Shipwright— Antigua-Pious Negroes- 
Christmas. 1786— Dr. Coke— Arrival at Antigiia-The Slave Traffic— Exploration of the Islands— St. Vincent— The 
Caribs— Matthew Lumb— Cast into Prison— Polygamy— Wreck of the Mail Boat 494 

CHAPTER XXX. 

JAMAICA AND THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM. 

George Lisle and the First Baptist Mission in Jamaica— Succession of Negro Pastors— Persecution of the Preachers - 
Thomas and \\'illiam Knibb— Knibb's Attitude towards Slavery— Opposition of the Planters- Agitation in P:ngland 
in 1831, and Consequently among the Negroes— Knibb's Indiscretions— Incendiarism— Terrible Retribution by the 
Planters— Knibb Arrested and Threatened with Death— Chapels Burnt Down by the Whites— Attempts to Lynch 
the Missionary -Charged with Rebellion— Knibb and Bnrchell Visit England— Knibb's Success-England iPays 
£20,000,000 for Emancipation— August 1, 1838— Emblems of Slavery Buried in a Grave-Knibb's Death— Dr. Under- 
bill's Letter and the Agitation of 1865-Riot and Rebellion— Put Down with Reckless Barbarity— Judicial Mm-der 
of Gordon— Recent Progress of Jamaica under Englisli (iovernment ■ 509 

XVII.— MLSSIOXS IN INDIA. • 
CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE GOSPEL IN BURMAH. 

Buddhism— Felix Carey— Early Life of Adoniram Judson— "A Decided Infidel"— Ann Hasseltine— Captured by the 
French— A Little Band of Seven— The Phyoungees- The Judsons at Rangoon— Opposition of the Myowoon— First 
Converts— Imprisonment of Judson-Ministries of his Wife— Escape— The Burmese War— The Boardmans— Among 
the Karens— Mis-iion of llie S.I'.G.— Bishop Cotton— Mr. Marks- A Liberal King— Beliefs of the Karens -Bishop 
Titcomb— Successful Work 534 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



i'AtJK 

William Carej' and the Map of the World Ktvntisjnccc 
Godthaab, the First Danish ilission Station in Green- 
land 3 

Mrs. Judson appealing to the Governor .... 9 

Benares 12 

The Temple of Heaven, Pekin 16 

Schmidt attacked by a Leopard 21 

Basutos 2i 

Escape of Rudolph's Companions 29 

Catholic Riot in Mexico 32 

Maori War Expedition stopped by the Missionary . 37 

Removal of Ziegenbalg's Father 41 

Arrest of Ziogenbali? 45 

Ziegenbalg leaving Tranciuebar 49 

. Portrait of Christian Friedrich Schwartz . . . .52 

Bathing-place at Tricliinopoly 53 

Schwartz and Hyder Ali 56 

The First Greenland Colonists 61 

Bergen 65 

Eskimo Huts 68 

Eskimos Hunting Seals 69 

Egede's Minde (Egede's Memory) in \Mnter . . .72 
Map of Moravia and surrounding District . . .74 

Portrait of Count Zinzendorf 76 

Herrnhut 77 

Portrait of Matthew Stach 81 

Meeting of John Beck and Kayarnak .... 84 

Photograph of John Beck's Bible 85 

Kayarnak. (From an Oil Painting in the possession of the 

Morn rian Missionary .Society) 88 

A Snowstorm in Greenland 89 

A Greenland Kajak or "Man-boat" 92 

Missionary Map of Greenland 96 

Modern Greenland Children . .... 97 

Death of Melchior Nitschmann 100 

Hottentots 104 

Schmidt Teaching the Hottentots Agriculture. (Alttred 
from a Pointing belonging to the Moravian, Missioiuiry 

Society) 105 

Cape Town, Lion's Hill, and Table Mountain . . .109 

Portrait of Dr. Vanderkemp 113 

A Scene in Mr. Campbell's Journey 116 

Bosjesmans, or Bushmen 117 

Travelling in Griqualand 121 

Mr. Campbell and King Matcobe 124 

Bushmen lying in Walt for Mr. Threlfall . . . .129 

Portrait of Dr. Morrison 133 

Dr. Morrison Studying the Chinese Language ■ . 137 

A Tea Plant 139 

Macao 141 

Chinese Ceremony of the Kotow 144 

Mouth of the Canton River 145 

Life on the Canton River 148 

Some Chinese Characters, as Printed .... 150 

„ „ ,. as Written .... 151 

Jlorrison Saves an Innocent Chinaman . . . .137 

A Chinese Junk 160 

Xanking . . .165 

Death of Mr. Lowrie 167 

The Z<H# and her Commander 169 

Matavai Bay, Tahiti . 172 

Pomare 173 

Portrait of John Williams 177 

Map of the Society Islands 178 

Building of tlie Mesacnficr of Peace 181 

Map of the South Seas , . , 185 



PAGE 

John Williams's Sixth Escape from Drowning . . 188 

l-'renzy of an old Chief 189 

Heathen Temples in Samoa . . . . ■ , , ' . 192 
Map of the Samoan or Navigator Islands . . . .193 

A Samoan Chief and his Wife 196 

Samoans Fisliing 197 

Deatli of John Williams 201 

Kalmuc Tartars 204 

A Kalnmo saying his Prayers 205 

Kalmuc Prayer Barrel 205 

Ladak Scenery 208 

Women of Leh 209 

Lamas of Tibet 212 

Lamassery at Hernis 213 

The Sacred Words inscribed on a Stone .... 215 
Buddhist Images— Sakyi-Mouni, Erlik Khan (God of 

Fire) 216 

Natives of Tibet— Province of Ladak 217 

View of Castle of Leh 221 

Burials 224 

Prayer-Wheels and Flags 225 

Ceremony in the Great Hall of a Buddhist Lamassery . 228 

Hindoo Fakirs 233 

Portrait of WiUiam Carey 236 

Fort William, Calcutta 237 

An Indian Indigo Factory . . . . ■ . . .240 
Carey and his Pundit Revising the Bengali Translation 241 
Images of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva .... 244 

Dr. Carey's Pulpit, Serampore 218 

Chairs at Serampore 249 

The Car of Jaganatha 253 

Hindoo Cremation 257 

Suttee 260 

College of Serampore 261 

Tomb of Dr. Carey 264 

Landing of the Puritan Fathers at Massachusetts . . 268 
Destruction of the Pequot Settlement . . .272 

Portrait of John Eliot 273 

Medicine-Man 276 

Mayhew at Martha's Vineyard 277 

Red Indian Chiefs 280 

Yale College 282 

An Indian Village 285 

Sargasso, or Gulf-weed 290 

Sugar-cane 292 

A Sugar Plantation 293 

A Slave March in Africa 296 

On Board a Slave Ship 297 

Portrait of Columbus 300 

Discovery of S. Domingo by Columbus . . . .301 

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 305 

Attack by Whites on the Mission Station of Posau- 

enberg 308 

Moffat preaching to a Boer's Family and Servants . 313 

Portrait of Africaner 316 

Moffat's Mission Station in Namaqualand (Bccrsheba) . 317 

Bechuana Rain-doctors 320 

Moffat Institution, Kuruman 321 

Portrait of Robert Moffat 3-24 

Portrait of Mrs. MolTat 3'25 

Mission Station, Kuruman ....... 328 

David Livingstone Studying after his Return from the 

Mill 330 

Livingstone and the Lion 333 

Portrait of Livingstone ... .... J37 

An African .\nimal Trap 340 



xu 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Dutch Boers 341 

Livingstone at the Death-bed of Sebituane . . .341 

Natives of Labrador 348 

Eskimos on the shore of Laljrador 319 

Wreck of a Mission Party 353 

An Eskimo Dog Sledge 356 

Building Snow Huts 360 

Hopedale Mission House, Labrador 361 

The i/armoHy Mission Ship 364 

Watching for the Uurmony, Hopedale Harbour . . 365 

Okak 3B8 

Victoria, Hong-Kong 373 

Street Scene in Canton 376 

Hospital at Tien-tsin erected b.v Dr. Mackenzie . ■ 377 

A Chinese Hand Carriage 380 

Chinese Criminals . . 381 

Opium Smokers 385 

In a Formosan Forest 388 

Gutzlatf' s House at Bangkok 389 

The Desert of Gobi 393 

The Opium Poppy 396 

Natives of Formosa 397 

The Crater of Kilauea during an Eruption . . .401 
The "House of the Everlasting Burnings" . . .401 
Huins of a Temple formerly dedicated to Human 

Sacrifices 405 

Captain Cook. -His Vessels in Kealakakua Bay . .408 

Ivamehameha I. and his Warriors 409 

Natives of Hawaii 413 

Royal Palace, Honolulu 416 

Labaina 417 

Natives of Honolulu 421 

Visit of the King to Hilo 424 

HonoliUu 428 

Portrait of Queen Emma 432 

Portrait of King Kaniehameha V 433 

Hawaiians of To-day 437 

General James Oglethorpe 441 

Old Print of the Town of Savannah 444 

A Swamp in Georgia 415 

Attack on the Moravian Missionaries by the 

Indians 449 



PAGE 

Portrait of Zeisberger .... ... 452 

IJiinksof the Susquehannah 453 

Indian Warfare 457 

An Indian Settlement 460 

The IVIississippi 465 

Preaching to the Indians 468 

A Halt in the Hauran Desert 473 

Terraced Gardens of Shiraz 476 

Portrait of Henry Martyn 477 

Persian Mollah and Women 480 

Family of Xestorians 481 

Srinagur : the Mosque .... ... 481 

Temple of Amritsar 489 

Afghans 492 

Portrait of John Wesley 496 

A Methodist Meeting 497 

Kingston, St. Vincent 501 

Sugar-cane Plantations . . 504 

A Negro Hut in the West Indies 505 

Wreck of the Mail-boat at Antigua, 1S20 . . . .508 
Portrait of the Rev. W. Knibb .... .512 

Kingston, Jamaica 513 

Revolt in Jamaica— Firing on the Negroes . . .517 
House in which Mr. Knibb commenced Operations . 520 

A Jamaica Planter at Home 521 

Funeral of Knibb 524 

HouseatMorant Bay where Gordon was Tried . .529 
Negro Huts, Jamaica .... ... 532 

Burmese Image House 636 

Rangoon 537 

Portrait of A doniram Judson 540 

Buddhist Priest 511 

Mr Judson and Mr. Column before the Emperor at 

Rangoon 544 

Apprehension of Mr. Judson 548 

Mr. Judson in Prison 519 

Mrs. Judson at the Gate of her Husband's Prison . . 550 

Mr. Judson's Grave 553 

View of Mandalay .t57 

Royal Palace. Mandalay 560 

Church at Mandalay built by King Mindone-Min . . (564 
King Theebaw and liis \\'lves 565 



FULL-PAGE PLATES AND MAPS. 



William Carey and the Map of the World Fyontispicee 
Map showing Distribution of Religions 

tliroughout the World . . . t" /(ce i"ijc \ 



Language Map of Africa .... 
Ijist of Mission Stations in Oceania . 

Map of Oceania 

Map of the Languages and Dialects of India 
List of Mission Stations in the West Indies. &c. 



98 
168 
l&S 

2;i0 
230 



Map of the West India Islands and Central 

America to face p<igt 290 

Dr. Moffat (rlmlngmrure Plate) ... .... 310 

David Livingstone (I'lmtogravure I'kite) . ,, ,, 328 

List of Mission Stations in Burma, Siam, &c. „ .. 534 
Map of Burma, Siam, Straits Settlements, and 

British Borneo ,. ,, 534 



THE ^V O R L D 




LtmSim: CassM KCompany. LimitrA. 



F3 Wdlfr.FRGS. 




FSWeU«r,F.B..G.S. 



Conquests of the Cross. 



' The FiisLD IS the World." 




INTRODUCTION. 



(iREAT battle is being fought between light and darkness, truth and 
error, civilisation and barbarism, Christianity and Paganism. Some 
watch it eagerly, but not the multitu<le. There are innumerable, 
homes in this land where comparatively little, and many where no- 
thing is known of the great struggle that has been going on these 
hundred years in almost e\'ery habitable part of the globe ; of the 
heroic li\es, the thrilling adventures, the noble deeds, the martyr- 
deaths of some of the bravest and most devoted men and women 
the world has ever known. 

To tell the story of this mighty contest in plain and uncon- 
ventional language ; to view it in all its relations from an independent 
standpoint, without regard to any sect or party ; to trace the progress 
of this great and ever greater wave upon wave of influence, from 
[lole to pole, and from the rising to the setting sun ; to see the 
>'orkers at their work, and exaurine their methods ; to witness their heroism in the 
midst of countless perils ; to record their triumphs and defeats ; to see cruelty, super- 
stition, and bloodthirsty strife giving place to gentleness, goodness, and peace under 
their ministrations; to behold L)agon after l>ag<)n falling dnwn before the Ark of the 
Lord ; to see plague and disease cast out by sanitation and medical science, and the 
darkness of ignorance die away under the light of education — this, among many other 
things, is the task we have set ourselves. 

It need not be a dull one. If we have but the skill to tell the stoiy well, it is 
one of the most intensely interesting that can be told. We shall pass througli every 
land imder heaven, and track the missionary, the explorer, the health officer, the 
Christian merchant, in African jungles, and beside Indian rivers, among the eternal 
snows of ice-bound (jreenland, and in the coral islands of the Pacific. As we journey 
in imagination, we .shall CDme in contact with every nation, kindred, people, and 
tiingue, and shall pause to inepure into their manners and customs, their habits of 
thought and action, their religious rites and superstitious fears. We shall gather up, 



2 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. ' tiMRODicno.s-. 

as we go, information of all kinds rulating to men and things, to trade and commerce, to- 
nature and art, and to religions which were hoary centuries before the Christian religion 
^^■as tounded. \\'c shall meet with men whose names can never be mentioned without 
reverent admiration — men such as Vanderkemp, Barnabas Shaw, Moti'at, Livingstone, and 
Hannington in Africa; Ziegenbalg, Schwartz, Mart}'n, Carey, Wilson, and Duff in India; 
Morrison, Burns, and Piercy in China; Ellis in Madagascar; Marsden, Williams, Cargill, 
and Calvert in the Isles of the Seas — troops upon troops of brave and noble men, who 
" hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Apart from the personal history and vicissitudes of the men we shall meet, the 
story of the progress of missions is in itself full of interest. 

The missionary work of the Protestant Chiu'cli began, in one form or another, 
with the beginning of Protestantism. Individual enthusiasm tirst asserted itself, and 
then organised efforts followed in natural course, ^^'hen the English colonised xSorth 
America, the early settlers felt it incumbent upon them to set to work at (.)nce, as 
they had opportunity, to spread the Gospel among the Indian tribes around them. In 
the year of the Spanish Armada a " Company " was formed for the diff'usion of 
Christianity among the Red men. To this undertaking Sir AA' alter Raleigh contri- 
buted the sum of £100, " the tirst missionary donatitm," we read, '■ recorded in English 
Protestant annals." Later on, the work of the Company having been steadily con- 
tinued, the subject engaged the attention of the Long Parliament, and on the 27th of 
July, 1649, an Act was passed and a regular Corporation was formed for promoting and 
propagating the Gospel in New England — a much vaster region than the New England 
of more recent times. To assist this mission Oliver Cromwell, then Lord Protector of 
England, issued an order for a collection to be made in all the parishes of England 
and \\'ales, the effect of which was not only to raise a large sum of monej-, but to 
direct attention to the excellent cause. 

In l(39cS "The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge " was founded, and spread 
its work widely over India. In 1701 "The Society for the Propagation of the Gosj^el in 
Foreign Parts " was incorporated by Royal Charter, and undertook to deal with " the plan- 
tations and colonies beyond the seas." It sent forth its hero-band to Newfoundland, 
Canada, the West Coast of Africa, the East Indies, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, 
Borneo, Burmah, Madagascar, Japan, China, and to the utteimost parts of the earth 

But during the eighteenth century, the Protestant Church sank to its lowest level 
and most utterly dead state ; all interest in missionary work languished ; infidelity slew 
its thousands, and indifferentism its tens of thousands. Hume and Gibbon, Voltaire 
and Paine, held the multitude ; the clergy did not. In the Continental churches 
Rationalism i)revailed, while in England Puritanism had become tainted \\ith every 
form of unbelief Nevertheless, here and there the seeds were being sown which 
were to bring forth the rich hai-vest of the Evangelical revival. The peiiod of transi- 
tion between the deadness of the old time and the life of the new, la}' somewhere 
between the ninetieth and the last year of the centurj-. At the beginning of that 
decade, the night was at its very depth of chilliness and utter gloom : before it closed, 
the morning breath had swept over the world 



o 



I.vTBoiJtLnoN.i BEGINNING OF MISSIONS. 3 

Thu (lawn of better things broke when the churches learnt the lesson, written in 
letters of blood, taught by the French Revolution. It startled the most inditi'erent 
out of their indifferentism, and even infidels trembled as they saw the practical outcome 
of their theories. The history of Europe during the first part of the present century 
is one of war in all its desolating horrors, and also in all its glorious achievements 
and victories in the cause of European liberty and national independence. 

But while the storm-clouds were thick upon the Continent, there was in 
Britain the early glow of that bright light which was soon to shine forth in its 
strciigth. The churches Avere awakening from the deep sleep that had fallen upon 
them. A desire for co-operation was beginning to be felt by those who had hitherto 
stood asunder ; the bitter hostility which had existed between certain sections of 
the Church was in some quarters giving j)hice to a desire to unite for great and 
good ends ; the cold and cheerless services of the Church were beginning to yield 
to better influences ; Nonconformists were bemg treated in a more tolerant spirit ; 
and among clergymen , and mmisters of all denominations, as well as among the 
laity throughout the laud, there was a reaction from the indolence, worldliiiess, and 
indifference of the former days. The generation of brave men who had main- 
tained the standard of truth in the latter half of the eighteenth century were 
passing away — John Wesley died in 1791 ; Bishop Home and William Romaine in 
1792 ; John Berridge and Henry ^'enn in 1793 — but another band of brave spirits 
was coming forward to take their places,' and to fight the same battle amid more 
stirring scenes and in a wider and mojj^ conspicuous sphere. 

For the first time since the Reformation, the churches awakened to a sense of theh' 
responsibilit\- to " go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature ; " and 
how deeply the responsibility was felt, and how warm was the enthusiasm with which 
they set to work to repair the evil of former negligence, is shown in their " works 
following." A glance at a few of the great organisations which were instituted at this 
period shows how keen was the activity, and more particularly among the Evangelical 
churches. 

In 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was originated. Three years later the 
London ilissionary Society took its rise. In 1799, the Church ^Missionary Society was 
mstituted ; in the same year the Religious Tract Society came into existence, and 
during the first year of its operations issued 200,000 tracts. The British and Foreign 
Bible Society was founded in 1804 ; — prior to that date there was not in this country 
a single society in existence having as its sole object the dissemination of the Bible 
in all lands. In quick succession other missionaiy societies and beneficent institutions 
for the spread of Christianity followed ; the tone of religious and moral feeling rose with 
regard to them ; and a day of spiritual life and activity was at hand such as had not 
been seen for two hundred years. 

^\'hen the nineteenth century opened, however, there wei-e still only ten mi.s- 
sionar}' societies in existence throughout Christendom, and of these onl}' two had 
entered the mission-field with any degree of vigour — the United Brethren, or Mora- 
vians, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In the 



4 CONQUESTS OF THE CKOSS. (Intooductios. 

year 1800, the only missions of the Protestant Church east of the Cape were in 
India — namely, the Baptist Mission, protected in the Danish settlement of Seram- 
pore, and the mission in Tanjore, in Southern India. Dr. C'laudius Buchanan was 
the onlj' chaplam of the East India Company who had dared to advocate missionary 
enterprise in India. Hindostan was closed by the East India Company against the 
missionaries of the Christian Church. China was sealed against the Gospel. " Africa 
had a few missionaries at the Cape, but the whole land was groaning under horrible 
slavery. Not a single missionary had uttered the words of life in New Zealand, 
Australia, or the islands of the Southern Seas. Except in India, the only occupants 
of the mission-field in that year were the self-denying Moravians, and the Danish 
missionaries who, amid the snow and ice of Greenland, at Godthaab and elsewhere, 
were gathering around them little groups of Eskimo to hear the " sweet story of old." 

Let us now take a cursory survey of some of the lands wo shall pass through, the 
men we shall meet, the scenes we shall witness, and the lessons we may learn. 

In India — vast in area, fertile in natural resources, rich in all the elements of 
material grandeur — there will open up to us a wide and fruitful field of study, and 
we shall trace, in order, the efforts which men of all lands and creeds have made for 
the conversion of the people to the faith of Christ. 

Ziegenbalg, the pious Dutch Evangelist, and Pltitschau, his friend and companion, 
Avere the first Protestant missionaries to India. They started on their adventurous 
enterprise on the 29th of November, 1705, and arrived at Tranquebar on the 9th 
of July, 1706, the vovage taking over seven months; not longer, however, than an 
average passage at that time. Those who bade them adieu in their own country, and 
those who came in contact with them on their arrival, regarded them as visionary 
enthusiasts, with a strong dash of madness in their zeal. They set themselves to learn 
the native language ; and taking their places in a village school, and sitting on the ground 
with the native children, they traced the characters of the Tamil with their fingers 
in the sand. AVith marvellous rapidity they acquired the language, and then, in the 
midst of many adversaries, they engaged in discussions with Pundits, or learned 
natives, established schools, and set up the first machinery of Christianity in the land. 
Then Ziegenbalg entered upon a grand work, and set an example which many after- 
wards followed : he translated the Scriptures into the Tamil language, composed a 
Tamil dictionary of ordinary words, and another of poetical words and phrases. For 
years he laboured on, working almost night and day, luitil at last the indomitable 
will could dictate no more, and the restless energy could carry him no further. One 
day, tired and ill, he asked to be placed in an arm-chair. The end had come ; he had 
worked on earth without cessation ; and that day he entered upon his eternal rest. 

Not less remarkable was the career of Christian Friedrich Schwartz, one of the 
most devoted men that ever lived. He was a German by birth, and when at the 
University of Halle, was advised to learn the Tamil with a view to superintending 
t^he printing of a Bible in that language, which, however, was not carried into efi'ect. 
Then Hermann Francke, a warm supporter of foreign missions, proposed to him that. 



SCHWARTZ. O 

i-re of Tamil, he should go out to India as a missionary. He set 

■ary 21st, 1750), gave himself up to the work entirely, resolved on a 

order that he might not be encumbered with domestic cares, and 

i landing to the day of his death, never ceased to labour in the good 

.oused. 

awartz gave his services to the Danish Mission at Tranquebar, on the 




GODl'HA.VB, THE FIRST DAXI.SU MISSION STATION IN GREENLAND. 



Coromandel Coast, and afterwards to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 
taking up his abode at Triehinopoly. He passed through varied experiences there 
and at Tanjore ; was sent with success as an ambassador to treat with Hyder Ali 
for the continuance of peace, and afterwards, when three years of terrible war 
had desolated the Carnatic, was made the mediator between the contending parties, 
and saved the town of Tanjore. In the midst of singidarly trying circumstances, 
friends and foes looked to him, as the man who could by his Christian integrity 
command the respect and confidence of his fellows. " Let the venerable Father 
Schwartz pass unmolested," was the order of the cruel and vindictive Hyder Ali, 



6 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (Istroduciion. 

"and show him respect and kindness, for he is a holy man, and means no harm to 
my Government." 

At his death, old and well stricken in years, after forty-eight years of labom- in 
India as a missionary, the Prince of Tanjore wept over his coffin, and multitudes 
followed him to his last resting-place, on which the East India Company and the 
Rajah reared exquisite monuments. 

When the saintly Schwartz — who was described by Bishop Heber as " one of 
the most active and fearless, as he was one of the most successful missionaries 
who have appeared since the Apostles " — passed away from Southern India in 
1798, the English Carey had already begun his work for all Northern India in 
Serampore. Was there ever a more improbable storj' than that of William Carey, 
the father of missionary enterprise in India ? Look at him, a poor puny child, 
tainted with scrofula, unable to go into the corn-tields as a '■' scarecrow," because 
the affection of the skin is so painful that he cannot walk in the sunlight without 
suffering excruciating and sleepless agony through the night. 

See him, a little later on, apprentice to a shoemaker at Haekleton, in Northamptonshire. 
He shows no aptitude for his work ; and years afterwards he could never make two 
shoes that were a pair, so that when a gentleman, who kindly wanted to encourage him 
in his business, gave him an order, it was for foiu' pairs of shoes at a time, in the hope 
that out of the eight shoes he might be able to find two that woidd fit ! See him 
again as the teacher of a village school : a group ot rustics is around him, and he is 
giving them a lesson in geography. He is pointing to a map of the world, and, as his 
wand passes from one country to another, the tears gather in his eyes as he says, " These 
are Pagans, and these are Pagans, and these are Pagans," imtil, overwhelmed with the 
thought, he weeps aloud. 

Long afterwards he walks along the quiet lanes, witli eyes bent on the groiuid, 
deep in thought. He has preached his great sermon at Nottingham, dividing it under 
two heads— (1) Expect great things from God, (2) Attempt great things for God — 
and he is revolving in his mind a scheme which in those days seemed almost 
ludicrous because of its gigantic audacity — it was no less than that of going to India — 
that vast land of xmequalled and inexhaustible resources, of countless population, of 
unparalleled superstition, learning, and idolatry — and of overturning one of the oldest 
religions of the world, and winning the people to Christianity ! Eventually, he is 
in the land over which he has yearned, toiling and suffering to carry out his scheme, 
beset with domestic troubles, friendless and penniless in a foreign land, but pressing 
on, mitil he takes a rank in Christian enterprise which entitles him to the name of 
" the (jrreat Apostle of India." 

Prior to the renewal of the Charter of the East India Company in 1813, no 
missionaries were allowed to reside within the British Dominions, and Carey and 
his companions had to take refuge in the Danish Settlements. While they were 
working there, other Christian men, in another sphere, were working hard at home. 
In 1812, William AVilberforce was " busily engaged in reading, thinking, consulting, 
and persuading" on the renewal of the Charter of the East India (Company. He 



Introduction.] JUDSON AXD WILSON. 7 

recognised the enormous importance to the Church of this opportunity to amend the 
existing discreditable state of affiiirs. " I have long been looking forward to the 
period of the renewal of the East India Company's Charter," he wrote to his friend 
Mr. Butterworth, "as to a great era, when I hoped that it would please God to enable 
the friends of Christianity to be the instruments of wiping away what I have 
lonsr thoiiffht, next to the slave trade, the foulest blot on the moral character of 
our countrymen, the suffering of our fellow-subjects — nay, they even stand towards 
us in the closer relation of our tenants — in the East Indies to remain, without any 
effort on our part to enlighten and reform them, under the grossest, the darkest, and 
most depraving system of idolatrous superstition that almost ever existed on earth." 

Throughout the churches the result of the final division in the House of Commons 
on this great cpiestion was awaited with the greatest anxiety. Referring to this, he 
wrote, " I heard afterwards that many good men were praying for us all night." Those 
prayers, and the efforts of Christian politicians, were not in vain. In announcing the 
result to his wife, Wilberforce wi'ote, " Blessed be God ! we carried our question 
triumphantly about three or later this morning." From that time forth India has been 
accessible to the missionaries of every Christian church. 

In 1(S12, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions — the first 
Society in America to send missionaries to any foreign land — bade farewell to a little 
band of men and women as they set sail for India. Among them were the noble 
Adoniram Judson and his equally noble wife, who struggled for years to learn the 
language of the people, and were stricken down meanwhile time after time with fever. 
A marvelliius career was theirs, demanding our reverent admiration. On one occasion 
when Dr. Judson and his friend Dr. Price were victims of Burman cruelty, chained 
together in a loathsome cell, and incapable of moving, with a death-sentence hanging 
over them, Mrs. Judson at great peril forced her way into the presence of the Governor, 
and obtained permission to visit the prisoners and minister to their wants. Eventually 
the English stormed the place where they were detained ; they were sent away privately 
in a boat down the Irrawaddy, and at length reached the Briti.sh camp in safety. This 
was but a passing incident prior to Judson's entering upon his career of daring adventure 
among the Karens, a wandering tribe who occupied the jungles, and lived by hunting 
and fishino', devoid alike of religion and civilisation. 

Little had been done for Western India till 1829, when John Wilson went to it 
sti'aight from Edinburgh University, and took up his abode in Bombay. He first 
mastei-ed the vernacular tongues ; then held meetings with soldiers, and conferences with 
the natives, and proceeded to preach the Gospel in the public streets. His methods 
were different from any that had hitherto been adopted ; he sought to communicate 
Western truth in Oriental dress, and in such form that learned and ignorant might 
alike be benefited. He was the harbinger of a new era in missionary life and work, 
and succeeded in thoroughly arousing an intelligent interest in Christianity. Of the 
magazine he published — the oldest Christian periodical in India — of the great scholastic 
organisations he founded, and of the mighty influence he wielded, we cannot speak 
now. In this place we can but conjure up a vision of him as he stands in the 



8 CONQUESTS OF THE CEOSS. [Introductios. 

crowded bazaar in Bombay, " surrounded by tuvbaned Mahommedans ; Hindoos, with 
prominent caste-marked brows, now drawn together in anxiety to catch liis every word : 
Parsees, with proud bearing; and Jews, sleelc and comphant-looking ; while low-castes 
and outcasts stand huddled on the verge of the crowd." 

A more remarkable career than that of Dr. John Wilson — although in some 
respects identical — was that of the Highland lad of Balnakilty, Alexander Dutf. Early 
in life he made a vow that he would devote his life, as his friend John Urquhart 
had done, to missionary work ; and when the set time had come, he offered his services 
to the Church of Scotknd. But he would not bind himself to any conditions as to 
the method in which he should meet the natives, or what form his instruction to 
them should take ; still less would he bind himself to be the slave of chaplains or 
kirk sessions. He was no cut-and-dried missionary, but a man with a burning en- 
thusiasm, who could not be shackled Avith hard-and-fast rules ; so, after his ordination 
by Dr. Chalmers, the only injunction laid upon him was, not to commence his minis- 
trations in Calcutta — an injunction he violated immediatelj- he saw the country and the 
people. 

Never did a man enter upon a career under more adverse circumstances than 
Alexander Duff. He sailed on the 19th of September, 1829, and, after a series of storms 
and the threatened onslaught of a jiirate ship, his vessel was wrecked off the coast of 
South Africa, and the passengers and crew were landed on a barren island tenanted 
onl}' by penguins. Of the eight hundred volumes he had taken with him, representing 
every department of knowledge, only forty were saved, and of these the only books 
not reduced to pulp were editions of the Bible — a singular circumstance, which 
caused him to determine that " henceforth human learning must be to him a 
means only, not in itself an end." Rescued bj' a bi'ig-of-war, the travellers pursued 
their journey, lint only to fall in with a cyclone in the Hooghly ; their vessel was 
dragged, drifted, and finally tossed by the storm-wave on to the muddy shore of the 
Saugar; where, amid lightning and tempest, they waded waist-deep to a village, and 
took refuge in a heathen temple. 

In the hottest and wettest months of the Bengal year. Duff visited the mission 
stations in and around Calcutta. Day and night he studied the vernacular ; and, amid 
expostulations from his fellow-missionaries, and opposition from the leaders of the 
people, who raised the cry, " Hinduism in danger," he laid the foundation of a sy.stem 
of education which should idtimately embrace " all the l;)ranchos ordinarily taught in 
the higher schools and colleges of Christian Europe, but in inseparable combination 
with the Christian faith and its doctrines, precepts, and evidences, with a view to the 
practical regulation of life and conduct." 

Parallel with Carey's work in Bengal, and the early part of Judson's in Burmah, 
was that of the Scottish Congregationalist, "Morrison, in China, under the protection of 
the East India Company. "We mention Morrison in this place, because he was one 
of six whose names stand out in bold relief as pioneers and founders of a broader 
and grander system of imparting a knowledge of Christian truth. There is a cui-ious 
similarity in certain details of the lives of these six missionaries, Schwartz, Carey, 




MKS. JL'DSON APPEALIXG TO THE GOVERNOR. {See p. 7 ) 



10 . CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IInthui.i. mon. 

Judson, Morrison, Wilson, and Duff. They all rose from humble life. They were 
" of varied nationalities, though five were English-speaking ; of different sections of 
the Church of Christ— Lutheran and Baptist, Independent and Presbyterian; of 
scholarly training and tastes, alike as philologists and theologians ; with a con- 
sumino' zeal that Christ should be revealed to, and in, the six hundred millions of 
Asiatics to whom they gave the Bible in the learned and vernacular tongues, and 
all Western truth in the language of the conqueror. These six men spent each 
some forty years among the natives, passed the old man's limit of seventy years, and 
died rejoicing in their labours, regretful only that they could not go on working for 
such a Master."* 

It will not be alone to missions and missionaries, however, that we shall look for 
the mtroduction of Christianity into India. The influence of such men as John Law- 
rence, for example, to whom was due the appointment of the first Sanitary Commission to 
initiate the work advised b}' the Royal Commission of 1859, before which he gave evidence 
on the importance of Indian sanitary reform, is of the highest importance. Christianity 
and civilisation owe much to him, whom Florence Nightingale describes as " the man 
of truth and of all the manly virtues, the resolute Indian statesman, the saviour of the 
Indian Empire, the defender of India's poor, highest of our day as a leader of men, the 
righter of wrongs — great John Lawrence, who died in harness, working for India till 
three days before his death." 

A very important work has also been done in India by Health Missionaries — men 
who have gone among the people to raise their self-respect, to educate them to know 
and practise the first elements of living a soimd and healthy life ; to indoctrinate them, 
in fact, with something like a new moral sense. In their sphere, the labours of health 
officers in India have been no whit less heroic than those of the preachers of the Gospel. 
They have in times of great famine, for example, gone into plague-stricken districts to 
administer the famine relief and have worked on bravely, sometimes through illness 
ending in death, or in infirmity worse than death. These are the men who have swum 
the rivers on elephants, and on elephants have journeyed through swampy marshes, where 
no carts were possible, and where bridges did not exist ; these are the men who have 
opened up springs in the desert, and prevented famine by irrigation, and who have 
sacrificed ease and life itself, to work hard in jungles and fever-haunted places, that they 
might save hmnan lives. 

Nor shall we confine our inquiries to the dii-ect efforts of any class of men. In 
order to see what progress Christiraiity has made in any country, it is necessary to 
examine every channel through which its blessings have been flowing. 

Parliamentary blue-books are, as a rule, dull and commonplace things, but there 
was a Report presented to Parliament by the Duke of Argyll, when Secretary of 
State for India, which contains some extremely interesting information about mission 
work in India. It states : " The missionaries in India hold the opinion that the winning 
of converts is but a small portion of the beneficial results which have sprung from 
then- labours. No statistics can give a fair view of all that they have done. They 

* Dr. George Smith. 



I.NTRor.1-. n..N-.] PROGRESS IN IXDIA. 11 

consider that their ilistinctivo teaching, now applied to tlae country for many years, lias 
powerfully affected the entire population. The ni(iral tone of their teaching has affected 
multitudes who do not follow them as converts. It has given to the people at large new 
ideas, not only on purely religious questions, but on the nature of evil, the obligations 
of la^\■, the motives by which human conduct shoidd be regulated. Insensibly, a higher 
standard of moral conduct is becoming familiar to the people, especially to the young, 
which has been set before them not merely by public teaching, but by millions of printed 
books and tracts scattered widely throughout the country. 

" They consider that the influence of their religious teaching is assisted and in- 
creased by the example of the better portions of the English community, by the spread 
of English literature and education, by the high standard, tone, and purpose of 
Indian legislation, and by the spirit of freedom, benevolence, and justice which pervades 
the English ride. And they augur well of the future moral progress of the native popu- 
lation- of India from these signs of solid advance already exhibited on every hand, and 
gained within the brief period of two generations." 

It will be impossible for us to trace the history of Christian progress in India 
without coming in contact with a thousand collateral subjects of interest. ^A'e shall 
have to examine that ancient religion, Hinduism, and its great offshoot Buddhism, 
founded by (iuadama, who was born in Oude in the seventh century before Christ. 
Throughout the land we shall find temples and " holy places " ; in one of them sacred 
apes creep and leap and jabber ; in another V^ishnu, black and oily, is sitting in semi- 
darkness on his throne, while white-robed throngs pass before him, and tom-toms resound, 
and torches gleam, and priests chant. Swarms of devotees press into Benares, the holy 
city of Buddha, to worship in its temples, and pass from the sacred city into tlis 
sacred river, in the belief that to die there will enstu-e a happy fate hereafter. Tribes 
— as in the Kohl country — count rats and mice and the larva3 of red ants as delicacies : 
their religion consists, to a large extent, in propitiating evil and vindictive spirits ; 
they believe in witchcraft, and attribute most of their calamities to the prevalence 
of the black art. 

One of the most curious things to be told will be of times, not later than the 
beginning of the present century, when, in the British portion of the Indian Empire, 
missionary enterprise met with the violent opposition of the Government of the coimtry, 
and missionary after missionary had to abandon his efforts, and seek protection in the 
territory of other Powers. In contrast to those times, there is now perfect liberty for 
every kmd of religious and philanthropic labour to be carried on, and free access 
to all parts for missionaries of every denomination ; Christian schools, churches, and 
chapels have been multiplied, colleges have been instituted, thousands have been con- 
verted to Christ, and tens of thousands instructed in Christianity. The cruelties of 
heathenism have been immensely lessened, infanticide prohibited, Sutteeism abolished, 
all Government support withdrawn from idolatrj', the Hindu law of inheritance has 
been altered to protect the native convert, and innumerable beneficent institutions estab- 
lished, in the name of Him whose religion relates as well to " the life that now is as 
to that, which is to come." 



12 



COXQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[iNTRODrcTION. 




Leaving In- 
dia, the oldest 
of our mission-fields 
we turn now to China, ■ i- 
the latest to throw open 
its gates to the entrance 
of the Gospel. We cannot 
pause here to sketch, even 
in broadest outline, the his- 
tory of three of the most remarkable men the East ever produced. But in its proper 
place we must tell the story of Guadama, a native of Oude, and Confucius and Lao-tze, 
natives of China, men who founded svstems which have exercised, and still arc exercisinof. 
a marvellous influence over the majority of the human race. 

Xor can we tarry liei-o to describe the creeds or customs, the traditions or the 
history of this strange country — the Celestial Empire ; although, to whet our appetites 
for fiuther inquiry, we may, in passing, take a peep into the Temple of Heaven at Pekin, 



iNiKouucTiox.l TEMPLE OF IIEAVEX AT I'EKIX. 13 

which .shekel's the most sacred form of worship in the hind. The services arc only 
hekl twice a year, when the Empert)r officially takes part. There arc the iron cauldrons 
with open bars, in wkich he annually burns the sentences of prisoners condemned to 
capital punishment, thus rendering to Heaven an account of his stewardsliip. There 
stands the huge furnace, faced with brilliant green tiles, and approached by a green 
porcelain staircase, \\-here, shortly before sunrise on the 22nd of December, a bullock 
of two years old, and without blemish, is sacriticed as a whole burnt-offering' upon the 
altar. As the fire ascends, the Emperor, alone, kneels upon a tablet bearing the name 
of Heaven. There "he seems to himself and to his Court, to be in the centre of the 
universe, and turning to the north, and assuming the attitude of a subject, he acknow- 
ledges in prayer and by his position that he is inferior to Heaven and to Heaven 
alone." 

A special sacredness and privacy are siqiposed to attach to this Temple of Heaven ; 
and so also, until (piite recent }'ears, did sacredness and privacy attach to the whole 
Celestial Empire. The Chinese would, if they could, have carried their Great Wall 
round tiic whole Empire, and thus have shut out for ever the hated foreigner. They were 
exceedingly jealous of strangers, and it is less than half a century ago that foreigners 
were forbidden to enter China at all ; if the\- did, it was at the I'isk of losing their 
lives. Yet in 1.S07 there went out, under the auspices of the London Missionary 
Society, the Rev. Robert iLjrrison, who had determined, if it were possible, to take up 
his abo<le there, and secure a good translation of the Scriptures into the difficult 
Chinese language. 

On his arrival in the country he adopted the dress and manners of the natives 
with a view to escape their jealousy ; he wore his pigtail, allowed his nails to grow, and 
ate with chopsticks. It was an offence against the laws for any native to teach the 
Chinese language to a, European, and the difficulties Morrison had to encounter 
wer^• sometimes overwhulming. In one place he was in such fear of attracting the 
notice of the inhabitants, that he never walked out, until the continement told 
materially upon his health. Then, under the escort of a couple of Chinese, he would 
steal into the tields at midnight, but always with the painful conviction that if he 
were detected it would be fatal to the object he had in view. For years ho toiled on, 
sometimes in circumstances of extreme difficulty and danger, until his labours were 
crowned with success beyond the most sanguine anticipations of his friends. In Ls]8 
his great work, the translation of the Bible, was completed. 

It is almost impossible to realise the gigantic labour involved in this task, but it 
may help us to do so when we remember that the Chinese have no alphabet ; that 
every written character is a wuvd ; that thousands of different characters arc in 
common use, and that in a dictionary wdiich Dr. ilorrison compiled, there are upwards 
of forty (,ho isand characters. The value of his labour in mastering the most difficult 
language in the world was incalculable, for •when the conquests oi Britain had obtained 
admission for, and secured protection to missionaries, as well as to the merchants 
of all nations, the previous indefatigable labours of Morrison had provided for their 
immetUate use a dictionary (jf the laii'-:'.a.L;-o and a translation of the Bible. 



14 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. LlNTRunrrijos. 

One of the most successful missionaries to China was ^^'ilhum Burns. He was a 
man of singular ability, great earnestness, and remarkable presence of mind ; prompt 
in tliought, speech, and action, in difficult or tr3-ing circumstances. This quality he 
acquired in missionary work in Scotland and in Ireland, and it was invaluable to him 
in Canada and China. 

In Ireland he once attempted to preach in the street, when he was knocked ott' his 
rostrum and sorely hustled by the mob, who tore his clothes from his back. But he con- 
tinued to speak imtil the police, fearing serious consequences might ensue, insisted that 
he should be silent and cross the river in the ferrj^-boat. "If you attempt to go along 
the quay," thev said, " we will not be answerable for jour life." " But I cannot pay 
for the ferry-boat." " It will cost you only a halfpennj-." '• I have not a halfpenny," 
he replied. Hereupon a good-natured policeman gave, him one, and Burns, stepping 
into the boat, held ujj the halfpemiy, and cried to the people on shore : " Sec, my 
friends, I have got a free passage. In like manner you may have a free Cospel, a free 
forgiveness of all your sins, a free passage to the Kingdom of Heaven, without mone}* 
and without price." This was prompt. One day, in Canada, while he was preaching 
he was pelted with stones by the Romanists, when an Irish voice from the outside 
shouted clear over all the din, " The devil's dead ! " A great laugh followed. 
When it hushed, William Bums struck in plamtively, " Ah 1 then you are a poor 
fatherless child." This raised a laugh in his favour, and luider cover of it he was 
enabled to proceed for a while. 

This promjitness of speech was onl}- equalled by his promptness of action. In 
LS4U, when it was proposed to him by the Presbyterian Church of England that he 
should go to China as their missionar}', he was asked when he would be ready to 
start. " To-morrow," he replied, with his characteristic decision. ^^'hen he arrived in 
China, in order that he might be able to penetrate into the interior, he adopted the 
Chinese dress as well as the Chinese mode of life, and it is said that his face 
" wonderfull}- caught the Chinese expression." 

There are stories inniunerable told of ^^'illiam Burns and his doings in the " Land 
of Flowers." When he was revising his translation of the " Pilgrim's Progress," he would 
slip into a quiet corner of a tea-house, sip the tea, and listen eagerly to the conver- 
sation. As soon as he had heard a new colloquial phrase he was content, and would 
^\ithdraw rejoicing. The first greeting that his friends would hear would be, " I have 
got a new phrase," as he repeated it in high glee. 

He sought no rest ; in dry season or rainy season he was afoot " in joimieyings 
oft" and amid risks many. He was robbed and left almost naked over and over 
again. When on the mainland, opposite Hong Kong, " the thieves broke into his 
quarters, and, while he was present, helped themselves to clothes, books, and niouey 
as they pleased, leaving him just enough garments for protection and money to get 
liack to Hong Kong. One fellow took his hone, and being jtuzzled as to its use, 
brought it to Jlr. Burns to learn what it w\'is fit for, and was patiently taught the mode 
of sharpening a razor or knife on it ! " The name of AA'illiam Burns is still held in 
reverence by heathen and Christian ; the stream of influence that he si't flowing 



lNTK"I»l.l.riON.J 



MISSIONS TO CHINA. 15 



Still flows on in the practical work of the Presbyterian Church of England, of which 
there will be muc-h to tell, especially in connection with the Coast Missions in China, 
where, in Formosa, Foo-Chow, Amoy, Swatow, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, a noble band 
of British and American workers are sowing beside all waters — stories of peril from 
dangerous winds and tides, peril from bigotry and fanaticism, encounters with tigers, 
and single-handed conflicts with men of fierce passions in towns and cities wholly given 
to idolatry. 

When the barriers were removed, and access was given to Christian workers in 
China, the Church of England, various American societies, the Baptists, Wesleyan 
Methodists, and others, eagerly pressed in to carry the " Good News." The action of 
the Wesleyan Society in entering the field was brought about mainly by the zeal of 
one person, a young nian named George Piercy, the son of a Yorkshire farmer. He 
was full of fresh religious fervour, and had become possessed with an irresistible 
desire to go as a missionary to the Chinese. To this end he presented himself at the 
Wesleyan ilission-House in Bishopsgate Street to urge his case. The managers were 
not at that time prepared to enter upon so large an undertaking as a mission to 
China, and informed Mr. Piercy accordingly. But he would not take " no " as an 
answer, and declared that if they would not send him, he would go at his own charges, 
and on his arrival work for his living and spend the remainder of his time in preaching 
the Gospel. 

It was in vain that the secretaries endeavoured to dissuade him from his 
purpose, going so far as to say that even if the committee were prepared to entertain 
the idea of a mission in China, it was very doubtful whether their choice would fall 
upon tlie present applicant as their representative. But to all this Mr. Piercy turned 
a deaf ear; it was borne in upon his mind tluit ho had received a "call" from on 
high, and that he would be failing in his duty if he allowed any obstacle to stand in 
his way. So he made his own arrangements, obtained some letters of introduction, 
and set sail for China. Arrived in Canton, he at once put himself into connnunication 
with Dr. Legge, of the London Missionary Society, who, seeing that he was a man of 
the stuff of which true missionaries are made, offered him every encouragement, and 
treated him with brotherly kindness. 

George Piercy was not long before he commenced operations. He went straightway 
to the garrison, gathered togetlier some soldiers, who gladly availed themselves of 
his instructions, and at once commenced, in his more leisure moments, the study of 
the language. Then he prepared himself as a candidate for the Wesleyan Ministry, 
and in due time formally offered himself to the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of 
ISjl. Wisely, his candidature was accepted; two others were appointed to join 
him : the number of applicants rapidly increased ; success attended their labours ; 
and in a short time houses, chapels, and schools were built, and a vigorous organ- 
isation was at work in China. It was an instance, one among hundreds in the 
history of missions, of the quiet, dogged determination of one man who believed 
in himself, and in the exercise of his duty to others, under the guidance of the 
Divine will. 



iNTRODLLT.oN.) JAPAN AND THE JAPAN USE. 17 

While endeavouring to tix our eyes mainly on the progress that Christianity has 
made, we must not tail to point out the various obstacles which have retaixled its 
progress. In China, one of the foulest blots on our intercourse with the people is our 
encouragement of the opium trade. One who has deeply studied the question observes, 
" It is we who bolstered up the trade for the sake of our Indian revenue. Every step 
of our connection with it is discreditable. Begun as a bribe, carried on by smugglers, 
protected by English navies, compelled by English statesmen, forced by the strong upon 
the weak at the point of the bayonet, irritating and demoralising — all the while it has 
been fouling the English name through all the East, and casting dishonour upon the 
higher name of Christian." 

Before passing away from Asia to glance at certain parts of Africa, we must take 
a peep, and only a peep, at Japan. In 1.541), Xavier took his passage in a trading 
ship, and landed in the territory of the Mikado. Si.xty years after he had commenced 
his mission there, according to .Japanese statements, two millions of converts were 
ministered to by more than two Iwndred missionaries, of whom three-fourths were 
Jesuits. The story of the horrible persecutions that followed, in which tifty-seven 
thousand persons were put to death rather than deny the Christian faith, is one of 
the most terrible chapters ever written in history. 

After Xavier's time, some Dutch merchants were allowed to settle on a few square 
yards of islands formed for them near the sluire of a southern port ; but if they went 
on land, they were " hooded like falcons, and caged like wild beasts." Then the land 
became practically sealed to all the Western nations, and, until within a few years ago, 
there stood in all the public places of the " Land of tlie Bising Sun " this terrible 
notice : — 

" So long as the sun shall warm the earth, let no Christian bo so bold as to come 
to Japan ; and let all know that the King of Spain himself, or the Christian's God, or 
the groat God of all, if he violate this command, shall pay for it with his head ! " 

But in 1868 the harbours and the gates of the cities were thrown wide open, and 
that strange land, which has a history stretching back for more than two thousand 
years, has become entirely transformed. English and American teachers and preachers, 
merchants and philanthropists, speculators and adventurers, rushed in through the 
open doors, to find the people panting for Euroj^ean teaching and European knowledge, 
but by no means an.\ious to hear anytbing about the Christian religion. How the 
Mikado, who was once a veiled . mysterj', now drives about Tokio, as the Prince of 
Wales does about London ; how hospitals, i-ailways, telegraphs. Post Office Savings 
Banks, and everything that is abreast of the most modern civilisation, now takes the 
place of the former state of stagnation, will be told in due coiu-se. 

A century ago the interior of Africa was unknown ; the maps then existing 

bore across the heart of the country the words, " Unexplored Regions," and it was 

imagined that the whole interior was one howling wilderness of burning sand, roamed 

over by brown tribes in the north and south, and by black tribes, if human beings 

2 



IS COXQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (Iotkodcctiox. 

were there at all, on either side of the equator and along the west coast. The Nile 
was not explored ; the source of the Niger was a mystery. With the exception ot 
Egypt, and such places as Tangiers, Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, on the north, 
the Portuguese settlements of Loango, Angola, and Benguela, on the west, the Dutch 
Colony in the south, and the slave stations inside the large island of Madagascar 
and south of Zanzibar, little else was known of Africa generally. 

But within the past hundred years that vast impenetrable continent has been the 
peculiar subject of the inquiry and the philanthropy of England, as in earl}- years it wa.'i 
of the civilised world of Greece and Rome. The grand mysterj- of geography — " which 
Sesostris sought to unravel, which Alexander the Great was never weary of discussing- 
which tempted Julius Cajsar to spend nights and days with the Egyptian jjriests, 
striving to acquire from them information they did not possess, which Napoleon left 
unsolved, notwithstanding his passion for scientific as for military conquests, and which, 
in more modern days, baffled the enterprise of j\Iahomed Ali " — that mighty secret of the 
source and course of the Nile, has been disclosed, and the story of its discover}- ha.s 
laid a special hold on the imagination of England. 

From the days of Mungo Park, who sailed for the Niger on the 22nd of ilay, 
1795, to the days of Livingstone and Stanley, there has been a constant succession of 
explorers in Africa, each of whom has brought back glowing descriptions of wondei-ful 
regions, of mighty stretches of forest, a chain of magnificent lakes, falls more sjjlendid 
than Niagara, where, "above the far-resounding thunder of the cataract and the flying- 
comets of snow-white foam, and amidst the steamino- columns of the ever-ascending" 
spray, on the bright rainbows archuig over the cloud, the sinqsle natives had for ages 
seen the glorious emblem of the everlasting Deity — the Unchangeable seated enthroned 
above the changeable." 

But, deep as the interest in the coiuitry has been, the forlorn condition of the 
African races has awakened a far deeper interest and s}'mpathy, and -every form of 
Christian effort has been put forward, and is still being put forward, for its amelioration. 
The slave trade is, by general testimony, the monster-evil, the one prevailing- 
cause of African miser}- and degradation. No other organised evil has ever been so 
full of human suffering, or has drawn after it such a train of vice and corruption. At 
the close of the iliddle Ages slavery, under the jjower of moral forces, had mainl}- dis- 
appeai'ed from Europe ; but two momentous events occurred which overbore the moral 
power working in European society, and let loose a swarm of curses upon the earth 
such as mankind had scarcely ever known. 

One of these events was the first voyaging to a populated and barbarous coast 
where himian beings were a fiimiliar article of traffic ; and the other the discovery 
of a now world, where mines of glittering wealth were open, provided labour could be 
imported to worlc them. For four htmdred years, men and women and children were 
torn from all whom they knew and loved, and were sold on the coast of Africa to 
foreign traders; they were chained below decks — the dead often with the living — dm-ing 
the horrible " middle passage"; and, according to Bancroft, an impartial historian, two 
hundred and fifty thousand out of three and a quarter millions were thrown into the 



I.vTRODucTiox.l THE FIRST HOTTENTOT MISSIONS. 19 

sea ou that fatal passage, while the remainder were consigned to nameless misery in 
the mines, or under the lash in the cane and rice-fields. 

The guilt of this great crime rests on the Christian Church. " In the name of 
the most Holy Trinity," the Spanish Government (Roman Catholic) concluded more 
than ten treaties authorising the sale of five hundred thousand human beings ; in 1562, 
Sir John Hawkins sailed on his diabolical errand of buying slaves in Afi-ica and 
selling them in the West Indies, in a ship which bore the sacred name of Jesus; 
while Elizabeth, the Protestant Queen, rewarded him for his successes in this first 
adventure of Englishmen in that inhuman traftic, by allowing him to wear as his 
crest " a demy Moor in his proper colour, bound with a cord," or, in other words, 
a manacled negro slave ! 

While we must not fail to look at the slave question as one of the most formidable 
hindrances to the progress of Christianity, and to see our bishops and clergy favouring 
it, and our British Parliament supporting it by repeated resolutions and Acts ; while we 
shall even hear so distinguished a man as Lord Eldon saying in Parliament, as recently 
as 1807, that " the slave trade has been sanctioned by Parliament, where sat juris- 
consults the most Avise, theologians the most enlightened, and statesmen the most 
eminent ; " we shall also listen to those voices which here and elsewhere were raised 
in protest, until we come to those glorious times of Clarkson and Wilberforce, of Buxton 
and Macaulay, who resolutely fought against this terrible evil luitil the slave trade was 
abolished, and the slaves of the West Indies were emancipated. 

To show what abolition has done, and to gauge the capacities of some of the 
men whose lives were redeemed, we may single out one or two individual slaves — such, 
for example, as the Rev. Sella Martin, the Rev. J'osiah Henson, Frederick Douglass, 
Bishop Crowther, and others — and tell thrilling stories of escape, pursuit, and capture ; 
of more cruel bondage and closer vigilance until freedom came, when, as men and 
not as slaves, they strove to elevate their race, and chiefly so by giving them the 
comforts and consolations of the Gospel. 

In no part of the world has the j^i'ogress of Protestant Christianity been watched 
with keener interest than in Africa, and in few places (if any) have the offerings made 
to the cause of missions been more wisely expended or more substantially rewarded 
with results. Let us glance at various places here and there in this vast field, and at 
some of the men whose labours will by-and-bye be described in detail. 

George Schmidt, a Moravian, was the first preacher of the Gospel to the Hottentot 
race. He landed at the Cape in 1737, more than eighty j-ears after the foiurdation 
of the Colony, during which time no eftbrt whatever had been made to spread the 
light of the Gospel over the darkness of heathendom — the poor and miserable jjeople 
having been regarded as little better than, and in some respects inferior to, beasts. 
George Schmidt met with great opposition from the Dutch, and from the natives 
at the instigation of the Dutch ; and after a while he thought it prudent to return to 
Europe in order to get a formal grant of privileges. This, however, was refused, and 
the work of preaching the Gospel to the Hottentots was abandoned until 1792, when a 
band of ^loravians set forth, and, singularly enough, pitched upon the very spot at 



20 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [iNiKODocnoN. 

Bavian's Kloof where Schmidt had built his house, and named it " Gnadensthal," or 
Vale of Grace. 

Here they found traces — faint, it is true, but still distinct traces, of the lessons 
Schmidt had taught the people during his residence among them. A succession of 
brave and good men belonging to the United Brethren continued the work ; and 
when, in 1848, Bishop Gray made his primary visitation, he records in his diary 
how he went to the various Moravian Mission Stations. At Genadendal he found 
" there were nearly three thousand souls in the place, and more than six hundred 
children in the schools." And he adds, " Would to God the Church in this colony 
could point to a work of equal imjsortance with this as the result of her own labours 
in the cause of Christ among the heathen." On visiting another station (Shiloh) he 
says, " There is a vast superiority in the Moravian establishments, so far as civilisation 
and improvement are concerned, over all other institutions in the colony." 

One incident, to show the nature of some of the personal adventures of these 
brave men, may be narrated here. The Mission Station at Grunekloof, about forty 
miles fi-om Cape Town, was in a neighbourhood infested by wolves, which entered 
the yards of the people, and made havoc among their cattle. One day, Bonatz and 
Schmitt, two of the Brethren, set out with about thirty Hottentots to hunt and 
destroy the wolves. When about an hour's ride from the settlements, they discovered 
and wounded a wolf, but the animal made its escape among the bushes. They pur- 
sued it for some time, but not being able to trace its hiding-place, the two mis- 
sionaries resolved to return home. 

They had already left the Hottentots a short distance, when the latter cried out 
that they had discovered the wolf in a thicket near at hand. Schmitt immediately 
rode back to their assistance, but Bonatz remained beliind, as he had not his 
gun with him. When they were m the midst of the thicket, the dog started the 
animal. Those within did not see what it was, but tliose without exclaimed it 
was a tiger,* and ran oft', leaving the missionary and one of the Hottentots m 
the middle of the bushes, and perfectly at a loss by what side to make their 
escape, lest they should come directly upon it. They therefore proceeded slowly, 
with their guns pointed, designing to shoot the animal the moment it should make its 
appearance. On a sudden, the tiger sprang upon the Hottentot, pulled him down, and 
began to bite his face. The distance of the place from whence the animal made his 
spring to that on which the Hottentot stood, was full twenty feet, and over bushes 
from six to eight feet high the enraged animal flew like a bird through the air, with 
open jaw and lashing tail, and screaming with the greatest violence. 

Schmitt, who Avas close at hand, prepared to shoot the tiger ; but the motions of the 
Hottentot and of the animal in rolling about, and strugghng together, were so rapid that 
he was afraid to tire, lest he should kill or injure him whom he sought to save. Imme- 
diately, however, the tiger let go the Hottentot, and made a spring at himself His gun 

* People were not so discriminating in those days as now, and there is no doubt that the animal really 
meant must have been a leopard. There are no " tigers," as we now understand the term, in Africa ; but 
the word was formerly used in a more general sense. 




SCHMITT ATTACKED BV A LEOPARD. 



22 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [ixTRnm i-ii„N. 

being of no use at such close quarters, lie threw it down, and, in order to shield his face, 
held up his arm, which the animal instantly seized close to the elbow with his jaws. 
Schmitt, however, was still able with the same hand to lay hold of one of the tiger's 
fore-feet, while with the other paw the animal continued striking his breast and 
tearing his clothes. Happily, both fell in the struggle in such a position that the 
missionary's knee rested on the pit of the tiger's stomach. He, at the same time, 
grasped the animal's throat with his ' right hand, and kept him down with all his 
might. His face now lay directly over the tiger, whose open mouth, from the pressure 
of the windpipe, sent forth the most hideous, hoarse, convulsive cries ; while his starting 
eyes seemed, like live coals, to flash with fire. As his strength was fast failing, Schmitt 
called to his companions to come to his assistance ; while, on the other hand, the rage 
and agony of the tiger supplied it with extraordinary energy. On hearing his cries, 
tlie Hottentots ran to his assistance, and one of them snatching up the loaded gun 
which lay on the ground, shot the tiger through the heart.* 

Although for a long time seriously ill from his wounds, Schmitt, to the astonish- 
ment of his friends, at length completely recovered. An incident of this kind, common 
enough in those early days, and among such adventurous men as the Moravians, carried 
with it a lesson of great moral value. When the tiger had thrown down the E 'ttentot, 
Schmitt might easily have made his escape as his companions had done, but he had 
the heroism to remain, and not allow the poor man to lose his life without at least 
an effort to save him. 

The first missionary to the Kaffirs was Dr. John Theodore A'anderkemp, an 
eccentric but very zealous man, who was sent out in 1798 by the London jMissionary 
Society. It was a hazardous undertaking ; the Kaffirs were then but little known, and 
the country was in an extremely unsettled state. Yanderkemp was not successful in 
establishing a mission, although he sowed good seed in the land, and prepared the way 
for future labourers. 

In LS08, Cape Town became British territory. When the troops landed, in the 
midst of a violent cannonade, there was present a young man on his way to take up 
missionary work in India — the Rev. Henry Martyn, who was with the British fleet. In 
liis journal he describes the landing of the troops and the horrors he witnessed on thr 
field of battle, and he adds, "At length I lay down on the border of a clump (>( 
flushes, with the battle-field in view, and there lifted up my soul to God. Jlay the 
remembrance of this day ever excite me to pray and labour more for the propagation 
of the Gospel of Peace ! The blue mountains to the eastward were a cheering contrast 
to what was immediately before me, for there I conceived my beloved and honoiu-ed 
fellow-servants,t companions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, to lie passing 
the days of their pilgrimage, far from the world, imparting the blessed Gospel to 
benighted souls. May I receive grace to be a follower of their faith and patience ! " 

After that period, missionaries of all societies came into the country, and spread 
themselves over it in every direction. We shall see John Campbell, a man consti- 
tutionally timid, yet, as a travelling companion said of him, " whether encountering 

* Moravian Ppriodical Accounts. f The Moravian missionaries. 



IsiKuDicTioN] MISSIONS IX AFRICA. 23 

lions in the path, nine of which once stood in the line of his caravan in a single 
day, or crossing swollen rivers on crazy crafts, with some of the company holding on 
to the tails of oxen, or negotiating with blood-stained chiefs, or panting over burning 
sands, enduring intensest thirst, his joyousness drove all shadows away." After Camp- 
bell come Threlfall, Links, and Jagger, who penetrated into the Damara country, where 
no missionary had heretofore gone, setting their faces like flints despite the opposition 
of friends and the warnings of enemies. All were ruthlessly murdered, through the 
treachery of their guide. After their decease a dociunent was found, given to a chief 
through whose territory they had to pass. It ran thus : — 

" We, William Threlfall, Jacob Links, and Joannes Jagger, do by this writing make 
it known that if \vg never return from the Fish River, or the nations and tribes to 
the north of it, no unpleasant reflection ought to be cast on the chief and tribe 
called the Bondle Zwaarts, because they have permitted us to pass through their 
coimtry into the dangers before us, from which they say we shall never escape with 
our lives. They have faithfully warned us, but being disposed to proceed in what we 
nil think our duty to God and our fellow-men, should we never return, we acquit 
them from all guilt in our misfortune." The spirit j^ro'^pfiiiK ^'^^'^^^ document was 
every whit as heroic as that of St. Paul, who said, " I am ready not to be bound only, 
but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." 

Following these were Barnabas Shaw and his noble wife, travelling to Namaqualand 
in a waggon, in which they slept for months together ; and ^^'illiam Shaw, on the 
Eastenr frontier, who, at the time of a Kafiir rising, was about to yield to the en- 
treaties of his friends and turn back, when his wife said, " If these people are so bad 
<is to be guilty of these atrocities, there is all the more need that we should go forward 
and teach them better." 

Among the men who troop before us in this review is good Pastor Harms, of Her- 
mannsburg, sending out in the Candace simple, homely Christian peasants to dwell 
iimong naked savages, and open up new fields of industry, while at the same time 
they should exhibit the beauty of home life and the influence of Christianity on 
character and conduct — a wondrous mission, oi-ganised by a plain country clergyman 
labouring among secluded country people, yet influencing with a strange and a new 
power the Natal Kaffirs, the Zulus, the Bamangwatows, the Bechuanas, the Basutos, 
and other tribes. 

Here, too, we shall meet with Allen Gardiner, Robert Moffat, and David Living- 
stone, in whose lives the romance of South African missions centres. These, and 
others, will bring us into contact with many curious customs and habits of native 
tribes, and with many hairbreadth escapes and adventures, as we trace the progress 
oi young churches ci-adled in the midst of tribal wars and conflicts, and see men go 
lorward single-handed into perilous places, wdiere to meet a body of natives was as 
perikius as to visit the lion in his lair. It will be interesting to tell of peoples — such 
as the Bechuana tribes — among whom there was no vestige of religion, who had no 
idols, no altars, no symbols or signs of any form of worship, to whom, therefoi'e, the 
missionaries could at first make no appeal, and for years laboured on without being 



■24 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [Introduction. 

able to impress upon tliem a religious idea, or arouse a religious sentiment. Meanwhile, 
however, civilising processes were going on. Personal habits and social usages were 
reformed, the smearmg of their bodies with grease gave place to cleanliness ; the 
scramble for food on the floor of their hovels was succeeded by orderly meals in decent 




feshion, imtil, in course of time, they desired to know the j^rinciples which governed the 
lives ot the people who brought to them these changes and improvements in their 
habits. 

In Kaffirland we shall mingle with witch-doctors, and perchance witness one of 
those horrible scenes which haunt the imagination — a witch dance. A mighty chief 
wishes to " eat up " an enemy, or a man who has acquired wealth. He feigns sickness. 



INTBODUCTION.I MADAGASCAR AND WEST AFRICA. 25 

and calLs tlie witch-dactor to his aid. Into his ear the poison is poured. A witch 
dance is appointed ; the whole kraal is present. The dancers dance in a circle round 
the doctor, who stands naked in their midst. Suddenly he is " moved," he pretends to 
be under occult intiuenco, and bj- magic power singles out the man who has brought 
calamity to the great chief. At once the victim is seized and hurried away. Should he, 
in his dread of death, confess to the crime (of which he is innocent), it is probal.)le that 
lie may escape with the loss of his property ; but should he not confess, there will await 
him cruel torture with red-hot stones, or worse still, he may be pegged down over a 
nest of black ants, and left there until he confesses or is stung to death. 

In South-eastern Africa, customs horrible in the extreme were once indulged in 
almost universally by Hottentots and Bosjesmen (or Bushmen), which have since been 
abohshed, such as that of wrapping up young children in sheepskins and burymg 
them alive in the case of the mother's death, and of exposing aged parents, who 
were past work, to be devoured by wild beasts or to perish with hunger. One day 
Dr. Moffat found a poor old creature so exposed. She had been there for four days ; 
her children had left her to die. " And why did they leave you i " he asked. 
Spreading out her hands she said, " I am old, you see, and I am no longer able to 
serve them. When they kill game I am too feeble to help in carrying home the flesh ; 
I am not able to gather wood to make a tire ; and I cannc.it carry their children on my 
back as I used to do." He wondered that she had escaped the lions, whose traces he 
had just before seen near the spot. " She took hold of the skin of her left arm with 
her Hngers," he says, " and raising it uj), as one would do a piece of loose linen, she 
said, ' I hear the lions, but there is nothing here for tliem to eat ; I have no flesh 
for them to scent.' " 

Turn now to iladagascar, the great island off the South-eastern Coast. In the early 
part of the present centurj', not a ray of Christian light had penetrated the darkness of 
heathendom there, until in ISLS two Welshmen went to the island, one of whom was 
cut down with fever, while the wives and children of both fell victims to the same 
disease. The survivor, howevei-, \\-ith wonderful Christian heroism, remained at his post, 
gained the friendship of the king, and paved the way for the advent of other labourers. 
After the death of the king, darkness again fell over the land ; the missionaries were 
expelled, and persecutions of the most terrible kind befell those who had given in their 
adherence to the Chi'istian faith. Many were the confessors, and striking was their 
testimony. Calmly and heroically they were burnt at the stake, or hurled over the 
great precipice of Ampamarinana. For more than a quarter of a centiny the reign of 
terror lasted ; but, on the death of the cruel queen under whose rule the persecutions 
were carried on, the banished missionaries were recalled, and the subsequent history of 
- the progress of Christianity in Madagascar is a history of triumph. 

On the West Coast of Africa, an unhealthy and unpromising region, the missionary 
pioneering work was undertaken by Germany. Here (as in India by the Society for the 
Propagation of Christian Knowledge) the Church Missionary Soeiet}', with plenty of 



26 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [lNTi;nDicno.N-. 

money but a scarcity of men, maintained a band of Lutheran missionaries, and the 
names of Renner, Hartwig, Nylander, and many others, stand out conspicuously on the 
bead-roll of fame. On the Pongas rivers, among the Soo-Soos, these noble fellows 
worked ; but when, in 1S07, the British slave-trade ceased, the liberated slaves flocked 
to Sierra Leone, and that unhealthy region became the centre of missionary operations. 
The heroism of those who fell martyrs to the pestilential climate is almost unexampled 
in history. 

The Yoruban country, 1,300 miles to the eastward of Sierra Leone, and for genera- 
tions the spoil of neighbouring tyrants — Kings of Dahomey and ]\Iahommedan 
Fellatahs — yields quite a harvest of painfully interesting stories, none more so than that 
of the formation of a little society by a small company of Yorubans, who, Inmted from 
place to jilace, took refuge in a cave. This they outgrew, and then they built villages 
and formed them into a colony, which they named Abbeokuta. 

One of the most marvellous and thrilling narratives in connection with the mission to 
Abbeokuta is that of Mr. Crowther, who in his infancy was a slave-child, was kidnapped 
by a Moslem gang, and afterwards by some Portuguese, was rescued' by a British 
man-of-war, was trained and educated as a Christian, and eventually became Bishop of 
the Niger — the tii-st black man who had ever been consecrated to ejjiscopal office in the 
Church of England. The marvels of his story do not end here. When he was on a 
missionary tour in the land where he was once a slave, he met with his mother and 
sisters, for whom he obtained redemption from their slavery and admission into the 
Christian Church. 

If we turn to the north — to Egypt, and "the regions round about" that have 
from the earliest ages been associated with it — we shall find in the land of the 
Pharaohs written up, in English and Arabic characters, in the city of Cairo, the words 
" British Mission Schools." An English lady. Miss Whately, in the face of opposition 
and of Muslim bigotry, founded this flourishing institution, and by patient continuance 
in her good work carried it on to success — the first British attempt to bring the 
Gospel to the Muslims, and to educate, and thus civilise and Christianise their children. 

The labours of American and English missionaries to spread again the (jtospel in 
the land where it was first preached, will bring us in contact with Druses and Maronites, 
with fanatical Mahommedans and fanatical Christians ; and will introduce us to struggles 
between missionaries and ecclesiastical digniitaries, to terrible massacres in the Lebanon 
and at Damascus, to cruel ti-eacheries and duplicities, and also to scenes of wonderful 
pathos in connection with the heroism of the persecuted Christians. 

It is, perhaps, not invidious to say that the culminating point of interest in 
African civilisation will be in tracing the extraordinary career of David ]>ivingstone, 
and the noble band of men who followed in his footsteps in Central Africa. In 
Livingstone we have the exact type of man we shall single out as much as 
possible to illustrate the purpose we have in view in these pages. He was a man 
thirsting for knowledge, loving adventure, intensely earnest in bearing the blessings 
of civilisation to the most oppressed and down-trodden of the sons of men — a man full 
of hope, ever looking on the brightest side of things with a broad, refreshing sjnipath}-; 



IsTBODicTiox.] NORTH AMERICA. 27 

a man abhorring every kind of cruelty, and especially slavery, with which he 
grappled as with the coils of a deadly serpent, and which recognised in him in turn 
its most formidable foe. He went among the poor degraded Africans deteruiined to 
see the best in them, and to make the best of them. " My practice," he said, " has 
always been to apply the remedy with all possible earnestness, but never to allow my 
own mmd to dwell on the dark shades of sin's characters. I have never been able 
to draw pictures of guilt as if that could awaken Christian sympathy. The evil is there. 
But all ai'ound in this fair creation are traces of beauty, and to tiu'n from those to 
ponder on deeds of sin cannot promote a healthy state." He did not patronise the 
blacks ; he loved them, and recognised the common elements of humanity in them, 
shared alike by Christian and heathen. He felt, every year with growing intensity, that 
the real work required among heathen peoples was not so much the professional services 
of recognised missionaries, as the evangelisation that could be effected by the Christian 
trader, colonist, traveller, or legislator. He had little sympathy with sectarianism, and 
it would be well for the cause of Christian progress in non-Christian lands if a large 
majority of the evangelists could say, as he said, " I never as a missionary felt myself 
to be either Presbyterian, Episcopalian, or Independent, or called upon in any way to 
love one denomination less than another." 

Those were noble woi'ds uttered by Dean Stanley on the Sunday after the great 
Christian traveller was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. In summing up his life- 
work, he said : — ■" Such deeds as these are the Alpine summits and passes of life ; these 
are the safety-valves even of our insular eccentricities. And when we consider the 
ends for which his life was given — the advancement of knowledge to the uttermost 
parts of the earth, the redemption of a whole continent and race of mankind from the 
curse of barbarism and heathenism, and from the curse of the wickedness of civilised 
man more hateful than any savagery or idolatry — then from his grave there arises, 
i.ot only to us as individuals, but to our whole nation (I will even say to all the 
nations of the civilised world), the last prophetic words which, in the fulness of his 
vigoiu', he addressed to that English university which paid special honour to his 
labour : ' I know that in a few years I shall be cut off in that country which is now 
open ; do not let it be shut again. I go back to Africa to make an open path for 
commerce and Christianitj?. Do you carry out the work that I have begun. I leave 
it for you.' He leaves it to you, statesmen and merchants, explorers and missionaries," 
continued the Dean, " to work out the wise fulfilment of these designs. He leaves 
it to you, adventurous spirits of the rising generation, to spend your energies in enter- 
prises as noble as his — not less noble because they were useful ; not less chivalrous 
and courageous because they were undertaken for the glory of God and the good of 
man.' 

Now, for a moment, let us glance here and there at one or two of the places on 
the vast continent of America, where by-and-bye we may find some of our most in- 
teresting material. It is difficult to know what incidents to select in our cursory 
review. But we turn in thought to John Eliot, the apostle of the Indians, although 



28 CONQUESTS Of THE CROSS. [Iotkuduciion. 

it was so far back as the year 1631 that, on the comparatively barren shores of New- 
England, he j^hmged into the dark forests in which the American Indians dwelt, to 
carry to them the message of the Gospel It took him twelve years to master their 
language, but with untiring energy he applied himself to his task, and succeeded in 
completing a translation of the Scriptures into their tongue. It was not as a preacher 
only, but as a social leader and civiliser, that his great influence was felt, and his 
Cinoi'mous capacity to conquer difficulties a,nd carry on his organisations throughout a 
period of lifty years, under the most trying circumstances, is a marvellous record of 
Christian zeal and untirins' enthusiasm. 

Fifty years later, young David Brainerd, uj^on whom the mantle of John Eliot 
had fallen, buried himself in the wilderness — a solitary white man among wild tribes 
whose most coveted trophies were the scalps ot' their victims. We shall see him now 
in a log hut gathering the ignorant Red-men around him, now wandering through the 
forests and sleeping in the open air by a pine-wood tire, kindled not only to keep off 
the damp, but to scare away the wolves that prowl around his bed ; then up and away, 
to tell in some wigwam the story of the Cross, or to seek to arrest the progress of some 
savage with words of prayer. A wild, brave, wonderful life was David Erainerd's, and 
fatigue, exposure, and consuming zeal soon wore it out. He died of consumjDtion at 
the age of twenty-nme, but not before six other men were ready to take up the work 
as soon as he laid it down. It was the perusal of the " Life of David Brainerd " that 
decided Henry Martyn to devote himself to missionary work in India. 

Nowhere in the world has change worked such magic Wonders as in the regions 
where Eliot and Brainerd laboured. Now, bj^ various agencies, they are brought under 
the influence of the Gospel, and where the wild Red Indian once hunted through path- 
less forests there are populous towns and cities, with every kmd of representative of 
the one Catholic Church. 

Some intei'esting chapters will be found in the description of the labours of the 
Danish Lutherans, early in the last century, in the icy regions of Greenland, at the 
very time that they were braving the opposition of the old East India Company in 
Hindustan. There is the story of Hans Egede going out, "not knowing whither he 
went," begging his way from house to house in Bergen, bearing the sneers and taunts 
of relatives and friends as well as of strangers and foes, but intent upon finding the 
"lost Colonists" of whom he had read in an ancient parchment, until at last he succeeded 
in reaching Greenland, and mastermg the language and gathering the people around 
him. Here he was joined by three of the Moravian Brethren — Stach, Boehnisch, and 
Beck — untutored but noble-hearted men, who, on hearing of Egede's perils and dis- 
appointments, determined to go out, begging their way if necessarj', to lend him succour 
and help him to carry on his work. 

From Greenland, in process of time, the iloravians extended their operations to the 
coast of Labrador. In 1819 a boat's crew of shipwrecked sailors drifted for eight 
hundred miles through snow and ice, and were at length washed ashore. Worn out 
and exhausted as they were, they dreaded the approach of the Eskimos, as they came 
towards them, more than they had dreaded the death that seemed day by day to have 



iN'I-KODlH-riON,] 



HARDSHIPS IN GREEXLAXU. 



29 




ESCAPE OF RUDOLPH'S COMPANIONS. {See p. 30.) 



been awaiting them. But instead of violence and death, they found kindness and care: 
they were carried by the natives to the mission-house of the Moravians, and found that 
practical Christianity was known and jiractised among them. 

The narratives of some of the missionaries in these ice-bound reg-ions are stranoer 
than fiction. Take, for example, and almost at random, the case of Christian Rudolph 
and his wife, who, after twenty-six years of missionary labour in Greenland, bade fare- 
well in 1804 to the scene of their successful efforts, and embarked on board a vessel 
bound for Copenhagen. For three weeks after going on board, the ice in the harbour 
prevented the captain from setting sail, but at length he got into the open, and steered 



30 COXQUESTS OF THE GROSS. [Intromctiun. 

towards Nunarsoak, which was said to be free from ice. He had not been out for more 
than three days, however, when a storm from the south-west overtook them, and drove 
the ship into the veiy midst of fields and mountains of ice. It soon became clear that 
destruction would be inevitable : no ship could live in such a sea, no shij^ could resist 
those frozen masses which threatened to crush her to pieces. Soon there was a crash 
, — planks were started, the water was pouring in, and there was a rush for the boats. 
One party after another succeeded in reaching a Vast field of ice, and amongst them 
Rudolph and his wife, who had been the last to leave the ship. Then the\' tried to 
reach the shore, but there were too many for the boat, and they steered towards the 
nearest island, a mere rugged mass of naked rock. As they were trying to land the 
provisions they had taken from the wreck, a violent wind carried the boat away, with 
eight of the crew on board, and dashed it to pieces among the rocks. 

The siu-vivors foinid themselves in the horrible position of being on uninhabited 
land, cut off, apparently, from all succour, without food or covering, and in the midst 
of a terrific storm of blindmg rain and sleet. For two days the captaui and most 
of his crew remained upon the island. There was nothing but certain death before 
them if they continued there : there was, however, the chance of being saved if they 
could leap from block of ice to block of ice across the sea which divided them from 
the shore. They resolved to make the attempt ; but Rudolph and his wife, and 
one other, had no strength left for such an effort ; they could only beg that if the 
captain or any of his crew should reach a place of habitation alive, the}' would seek 
to have succour sent to them. 

Day after day passed, and no help came ; they had nothing whatever to support 
them but water, which they drank from holes m the rock. Hope began to die, and, a.s 
the days passed by, their fear that the captain and his men had peiished in their 
hazardous attempt, settled down into a conviction The end did not seem far off; the}- 
were exhausted with cold and hunger and watching, but they waited patiently the will 
of God, and passed the lonely hours in singing those h}inns which they had loved to 
teach the Greenlanders. 

At length eight days had passed, and on the evening of the ninth day, as 
Rudolph's wife rose up to take one last look round the horizon, she saw a sight which 
thrilled her with joy. Coming towards the island, and evidently in search of them, were 
two Greenlanders in their kajaks, or skin canoes. Almost too feeble to stand, she and 
her husband crawled to the top of the rock, and waved to their deliverers, and the 
signal was recognised. All that day the Greenlanders had been in search of them, 
but were on the point of giving them u]j as dead. They brought with them the 
intelligence that the captain and all the crew, save one, had reached the shore in 
safety, but were greatly enfeebled by the perils they had imdcrgone. Two days after- 
wards, when Rudolph and his wife were on their way to Lichtenau, the Moravian 
missionary settlement, they were met by a boat sent out by the missionaries to convey 
their bodies for interment, all hope of their being found alive havmg been abandoned.. 
For a year they tarried with the brethren at Lichtenau, and then, a favourable opportu- 
nity occumng, they set sail again for Copenhagen, where they arrived in safety. 



IxTHoun T.C.N I MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 31 

In roaming over the vast missionary tiekls of America, let us look in at a 
Methodist camp-meeting, held in 1801, and see a man "gettmg religion," as the phrase 
went. Fdlliiw his movements, as he fords rivers waist-deep, or floats across them ou 
I'olling logs, or tears his way through backwoods and wildernesses, to carry the Gospel 
to any audience, from a single hearer to ten thousand. That man was Peter Cartwright, 
the earnest, if fanatical, backwoods jijreacher, the large-souled, humorous, and self- 
denying apostle of the prairies. A wonderful man was Peter Cartwright ! His 
" parish " ranged over the States of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, and obliged him, 
in order to overtake his circuit, to cross the Ohio sixteen times in the course of the 
yeai-, while almost every one of the perilous wilderness-journeys he took introduced him 
to incidents of thrillino- adventure. 

If, in the course of our narrative, an amusing anecdote comes in our way, and illus- 
trates the subject in hand, we shall' not hesitate to use it, for humour has a distinct 
province in the world, and is often a valuable au.xiliary to Christianity. If we visit, say 
the south-western portion of the United States, we must come mto contact with the 
negroes, and it woidd be losing an opportunity if we did not tarry to examine their 
religious organisations, and to cull a few specimens of negi'o preaching — very crude, ver}- 
original, and verj- emotional. Wo might, for example, learn a lesson of earnestness from 
that preacher who, taking his text from the words " Redeeming the time because the 
days are evil," gave this as his preamble: "My beloved bredren, if I had de whole 
earth for my meetin'-house, all de children of Adam for my congregation, de heaven 
for my pulpit, and eternity for my Sunday mornin', de text I have chosen for dis 
mornin's reflection would be de one I would select on dat occasion." 

Mexico presents a striking picture of a people, only a quarter of a century ago, 
freeing themselves from the religious tyranny of their Roman Catholic rulers, and 
obtaining a constitution legalising equality of religions. Then there poured into the 
country, from the British and Foreign Bible Society, many thousands of Spanish Bibles, 
and later on an Ameiican pastor, Henry Riley, settled in the city. Men banded themselves 
together to take the brave pastor's life ; but this only inspired larger efforts. Multitudes 
flocked to the Reformed Churches which he planted, and the influence spread, until 
fifty congregations gathered in the neighbouring towns and villages. Again the slumber- 
ing spirit of persecution broke out against the Protestants. On a certain Sunday, as 
one of these congregations was engaged in worship, the doors were burst open, a 
furious mob rushed in, and over twenty people were ruthlessly slaughtered, while the 
cries of the widows and orphans of these Christian martyrs were answered by the joyous 
peals of bells from the Roman Catholic churches. But, despite persecution, the brave 
Henry Riley laboured on till he became Bishop of the Yale of ilexico, at the head of 
a church which numbered its thousands of members. 

In British Guiana we shall note, among other things, the strange superstitions of 
the people : their good and evil deities haunting them everywhere, in forest and in glade, 
on mountain height or river-worn rock, " flitting in the gloom, creeping in the dark, 
howling in the wind"; their senseless traditions; their hauntino' fear of jroblins and witch- 
craft, and their horror of the great Peaiman, whose judgments are hurled at the offending. 



32 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[Introduction. 




OATllnLlC RIOT l.\ MK.XlCd (yO 111). 

In the extreme south of America, in Tierra del Fuoyo, aniony the ratagonians, 
there awaits us the pitiful story of the dauntless Allen lianliner, who, hopin,<r against 
hope, looked for supplies to be sent to him, but died, with all his companions, of starva- 
tion. When a search party reached the inhospitable shore, they found his remains, 
and, hard by, a rock on which there was painted a hand pointing to an inscription, 
" r.s,\L.\i Ixii. 5 — 8. Jly soul, wait thou onlj' upon God, for my expectation is from 
Him." 

But in America there will be nothing of greater interest than to trace the progress 
of the vast mission carried on by Americans within their own territory, and to see 
how ample has been the pi'ovision in every town that has been planned, for Christian 
worship and Christian education ; to watch their missionaries moving from State to 
State attending to their own people, and to the Red Indians, as well as to the negroes 
and the Chinese. And we shall not tail to call attention to the fact, that vast as 
are their home claims, they have carried forward with amazing energy and success, 
missions to the heathen and to non-Christian peoples in many parts of the world, 
notably in the Sandwich Islands, India, Japan, Constantinople, and Syria. 



We must not linger on the threshold of our subject, and yet we cannot close 



IsTRoDucTioN] THE SOUTH SEAS. 



33 



this ti-ayuiuutary survey without glancing at the Isles of the Seas— a comprehensive 
term, which gives us scope to turn our eyes to the north, south, east, and west ot both 
hemispheres. Let us, hi imagmation, mingle with the (■rowtl on a hot da}- in August, 
I79(j, and see a vessel clearing out of the Fort of London. As she unfurls her flag 
('■ three doves argent, on a purple Held, bearing olive-branches in their bills ") the 
voices of a hundred men on deck sing lustily the hymn: 

"Jesus, at Thy command, 
We launch into the deep." 

It is the good ship Duf, the first ship ever fitted out for the express purpose of 
carrymg the messengers of the Gospel- to heathen lands. She is Liound for Otaheite, 
or, as it is now called, Tahiti, the chief of the Society Islands. There are thirty mis- 
sionaries on board ; but the man of all others who engages our attention is the skipper, 
one Captain James Wilson, whose career is more full of exciting episodes than even 
that of another famous seaman of a different sort, Thomas Cochrane, tenth Earl of 
Dundonald. It will do us good to look into the honest face of Captam Wilson, and 
heair his hearty words of Christian fervour, and to recall some of the strange incidents 
of his life — how he fouo-ht at Bunker's Hill and Long Island in the American War; 
how, when supplies were cut off from the Britisl^, troops who were hennned in by 
Hyder All's host, he sped in through the Heet with his vessel and saved the army from 
starvation ; how he was captured by the French, made prisoner at Cuddalore, and 
escaped by jumping from the fort; how he fell upon a bank instead of into the river, 
but, injured though he was, succeeded in crossing four rivers, when, to his dismay, 
ho fell in with some of Hyder Ali's men, who stripped him naked, jiinioned him, and 
with a rope dragged him back to Cuddalore ; how for twenty months he was sub- 
jected to cruel tortures, under which one hundred and twenty-two out of his one 
hundred and fifty-thi'ee fellow-prisoners perished ; and how at last Sir Eyre Coote 
brought Hyder Ali to terms, and the prisoners were set free. A brave man, in good 
truth, is this Captain James Wilson, commander of the Dii^tf! Although the expedi- 
tion, as far as the missionaries were concerned, di<l not realise the expectations that 
had been formed of it, still the publicity given to the undertaking was of incalculable 
value, as it excited a strong interest m the subject of foreign missions generall}'. 

Wonderful have been the triumphs of the Gospel in the Isles of the Seas, and we 
must learn about John Williams in the islands of Rarotonga ; the American Mission in 
the Sandwich Islands ; Calvert in Fiji ; Gill in New Guinea ; Marsden among the Maoris 
in New Zealand. But we cannot here even enumerate the places, nmch less particu- 
larise the societies or individuals, under whose guidance the people who sat in darkness 
have been brought to see the great light. 

Only two groups of islands will we single out for mcntinn in this place — the 
West Indies and New Zealand. The beginning of missions b}- the Moravians — the 
great pioneers of missionar}' enterprise in the Protestant Church — was on this wise. 
When Leonhard Dober, a potter, heard the tragical story of ^\'est India slavery, 
as told by a negro slave named Anthony, in the retinue of a nobleman in the- 
3 



34 C0XQUE8TS OF THE CROSS. Untrouixtiox. 

Danish tJourt, he applied to the Moravian congregation and begged to be .sent out as a 
missionary to the West Indies (St. Thomas). " I determined," he wrote, " if only one 
brother woidd go with me, I would give myself up to be a .slave, and would say to the 
slaves as much of the Saviour as I knew myself. I leave it in the hands of the 
congregation, and have no other reason for t'oing than that there are soids in the 
island that cannot believe because they have not heard." 

His request was granted, after a year's delay, and David Nitschinan, a carpenter, 
was appointed as his companion. With nine shillmgs each in their pursis. these two 
men set out on foot from Herrnhiu. and walked the long road of six hundred 
miles by \Vernigerode, Brunswick, and Hamburg, to Copenhagen, where, by dint of 
persevering entreaty, they obtained lieip to procure berths as working-men in a Dutch 
ship, as the West India Company would not give them a passage on any terms. 

That was the beginning of missionary work among the negroes in the A\'est Indies. 
Its early years were full of suffering, })ersecution, and martyr-deaths. Cruel laws were 
passed, prohibiting the slaves from attending meetings, and the fiercest opposition and 
persecution were brought to bear on the missionaries. " We were never a day secure of 
our life," said Count Zinzendorf, when describing his visit there ; " they would have 
killed us if they had got the opportunity." Armed mobs broke in upon then- 
iissemblies, buiiit their houses, and to)tiu-ed the .slaves in the presence of the mis- 
sionaries through sheer wantonness. Still they persevered, living nmong the negroes, 
and suti'ering from the pestilential climate. In the course oi eleven years thirty-tive 
were stricken to death by illness. " And yet," said Spangenburg, " had I asked, ' Who 
will go into the haunt of the plague ! ' from twenty to thirty woidd at once have said, 
' We are ready ! " 

From that time forth they laboured on, joined in cour.se of time by one society 
and another, until in l.So4, after the Emancipation Act came into force, almost eveiy 
denomination was represented in the islands, and a thousand beneficent organisations 
were introduced and successfully worked. 

Samuel ilarsden, in the streets of Sydney, New South A\'ales, was struck with 
the noble bearing of some New Zealand chiefs, and, like Gregory the Creat when he 
.saw the Anglo-Saxon youths, he longed to be able to give them the blessings^ of 
Christianity. Some years passed by. when he received as his guest a notorious Maori 
chief named Hongi, who pledged his word that, if missionaries were sent to New 
Zealand, they should be jirotected. 

On Christmas morning, 1.S14, Samuel Marsden preached in New Zealand to the 
natives, and told them, for the first time, the wonderftil story of the Ci"oss. He chose 
for his text the words, • Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy." For a time 
tliere was no visible efiect as the result <if his eftbrts, or those of the other missionaries 
who followed him, but after a lapse of about a dozen years there was an extraordinary 
religious enthusiasm among the people. Churches and schools were thronged, thousands 
sought for admission into the Church, and great and important changes Avere 
wrought in the habits of the people. So that when Bi.shop Selwpi arrived at his 
new diocese in 1842, he wrote : " We see here a whole nation of pagans converted to 



iNrRODuciioN.] THE SCOPE OF MISSION HISTORY. 35 

the Faith. Where will you find throughout the Christian world more signal manifesta- 
tions of the presence of the Spirit, or more living evidences of the Kingdom of 
Christ r' 

Happily there were many instances in which it could be said with safety that the 
people were " converted," but the glowing words of Bishop Selwyn were not true of the 
vast majority. They ran greedily in the way of European vices ; they commenced and 
continued cruel and bitter wars; they threw down their Bibles to grasp their toma- 
hawks, and cast aside theh civilised costumes to smear their bodies with war-paint ; 
they gave up their professed Christianity, to which they had never been faithful, 
but did not resume their old heathenism, to which they once had been true. 
At least, they did not for a long time resume it. But after the Taraiiaki war of 
ISOO-Gl there grew up and rapidly spread a new religion among the so-called " con- 
verted " Maoris. It was named the Pai-ilarire (an almost, if not altogether, mitranslatable 
term), and was propagated by a body of natives called Hau-Haus. ilaori missionaries 
of this new faith traversed the length and breadth of the land ; they pretended to work 
miracles, to speak with tongues, and to prophesy; they taught a strange compound of 
heathenism and Christianity, and claimed power to retain what they chose of both 
.systems. Success went with them, and on a certain day there might have been 
witnessed the, happily, unprecedented sight of thousands of men being baptised out of 
Christianity back again into heathenism ! 

There are many lessons to be learnt from this singular episode in nussionary history, 
which will be dwelt upon fully hereafter. 

And now, having glanced rapidly at some of the lands we shall traverse, the men 
Ave shall meet, and the scenes we shall witness, it will he well to define, in other 
aspects, the scope of the work we have in hand and the principles it will advocate. 

AVherever we shall find just and equitable laws being framed for the governance 
of the peoples ; freedom oi speech and press ; humanity to children and to aged persons, 
to the stranger, the needy, and even to the brute ; respect for women, for personal 
purity, and the sacredness of marriage ; equality of political and social privileges ; the 
progress of education ; the amelioration of the condition of the oppressed ; regard for 
the interests of the poorest and weakest; efforts to promote peace among the nations; 
the opening up of countries by colonists, explorers, and men of commerce; the intro- 
duction of appliances to lighten labour — in all these practices, principles, and ideals we 
shall see man workinsj for the eood of man, and there we shall trace the product of the 
great law of Love embodied in Christianity, working consciously or unconsciously, but 
working potently. 

In examinmg the causes which have led to the mighty changes that have been 
wrought among the peoples of the world — such as the sudden and unparalleled rapidity 
of communication, by which all the ends of the earth have been brought together, 
and the thoughts that stir one nation soon become the property of all — we shall seek 
to show how, among the varied representatives of the great human family, with their 
manif )ld histories, their unequal degi-ees of culture, their violently contrasted prospects 



36 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [Istrudittiox. 

— some dying out as rapidly as others are increasing — the great need of the "world, and 
the onl}' means of staunching and healmg the deep wounds of human nature, is the 
blessed Gospel of the Grace of God — in its broadest and most comprehensive sense. 

To this end we shall regard all missionaries, travellers, colonists, traders, and others 
who have had at heart " the good of man and the glory of God," as workers in this 
great scheme of moral and spiritual redemption. In many places the real progress of 
Christianity began among the cliildren of tlie countries, in the vernacular schools — 
education undermining and exploding heathenism. 

We do not propose to trace in detail the origin and progress of the various 
missionary societies, but rather to look at the individuals sent out by these societies, 
and examine their characteristics and their work. 

There are almost innumerable instances in which res2:)ect for the personality of 
the individual, whether Christian minister or Christian man, has had an extraordinary 
influence upon men m heathen lands who have had no regard whatever for Chris- 
tianity. For example : At Morley, a mission-station near the Umtata River, in Kaffir- 
land, a missionary was resident who had obtained considerable influence over a heathen 
chief, Faku. One night that chief, at the head of an army of a thousand men 
of his tribe, was on his way to avenge himself on another tribe for stealing the 
cattle of his people. He must needs pass through Morley to reach his destination, but 
he did not wish to alarm the missionary or his jjeoplo. He sent a messenger, therefore, 
in advance to say that, although he was on the war-path, " no mischief shall fall on 
any one at Morley, nor shall any one take aught that you possess ; " and the chief went 
forward, faithful to his word to " the Christian man," but at the same time to avenofe 
himself in bloody, ruthless, and desolating war upon his enemies. 

Not less striking is the story of a good and holy man who, when the Taranaki 
war was raging in New Zealand, stood out in the path of the advancing ilaoris ; and 
despite the fact that their bodies were j^ainted for war, their arrows sharpened for blood, 
and every muscle of each man was quivering with the excitement of approaching battle — 
the attitude of that white-haired man to whose voice they had often listened in hours 
of peace and prayer, turned their pui'pose, and they retreated to their villages awed 
into reason and submission bj- the very sight of the man of God. 

When Schwartz Avas in India, the fort of Tanjore was about to be besieged, and a 
famme was imminent — the people in its neighbourhood refusing to supply it with grain, 
from the fear, grounded on experience, that they never would be paid for what they sent. 
But Schwartz pledged his word for the payment, and abundant sujiplics were forthcoming. 

So with William Burns in China. When a proposal was made to hini by Lord 
Panmure that he should take the office of Chaplain to the British Forces in the 
quarter where he was, with the usual rank and salary of a major in the army, he 
declined, on the groimd that "his connection with the invading army Avould be 
remembered by the Chinese, and prove prejudicial to the higher ministry to which he 
had devoted his life." Consistency like this was felt by men who could not comprehend 
the doctrines of his religion, and it had its effect. His enthusiasm and self-denial were 
exhibited in many other ways, notabl}' in this, that " ho limited his own wants to 



IXTnODL'fTIOX.l 



INDIVIDUAL IXFLUEXCE. 

I* J" nil I ' 



37 




MAiir:l WAK EXPEDITION STOPPED BY THE MISSIOXABT. 



barest necessaries, and gave up all his means for the sake of China, on one occasion 
.sending home a whole year's salary (£250) to send out another missionary." Even the 
"heathen Chinee" was sensitive to the influence of a man whose purity of motive was 
so transparent, and whose actions spoke the words of St. Paul — " I seek not yours, 
but you." 

There will be much to say in the course of this narrative upon individual 
influence resulting from personal consecration. " No one," said Dr. Livingstone, " ever 
gains much influence in Africa without purity and uprightness. The acts of a stranger 
.are keenly scrutinised by both old and young. I have heard women speaking in 



^^ CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [Iotbodfctiox. 

admiration of a white man, because lie was pure and was never guilty of secret 
immorality. Had he been thej' would have known it, and, untutored heathen though 
the}' be, would have despised him everywhere." 

Those were wise words of Lord Lawi-ence, written in a letter to the Timef^ in 1873, 
in which he bore witness to the good being done by missionaries in India. " Apart 
from the higher interests of religion," he said, "it is most important in the interests 
of the Empire, that there should be a special class of men of hoi}- lives and 
disinterested labom-s, livuig amongst the people, and seeking at all times their best 
good." 

Secular knowledge also wield.s an important influence in the missionarj^'s work. 
In North Ceylon there was an aged Brahmin, Yesuvenathan, who had the reputa- 
tion of being the most learned native astronomer. He had given forth his calculations 
as to an approaching eclipse of the moon, in which certain American missionaries 
discovered three important errors, relative to its commeiicement, duration, and extent. 
The}' therefore j^nblicly questioned the astronomer's calculations, to which he unwisely 
adhered. A trusty pandaram was elected as an umpire, and the whole country waited 
for his verdict. It was given against Yesuvenathan and in favour of the missionaries, 
on aU three points, and from that day forth they had a hold upon the people they 
had never before obtained. 

Upon two branches of our subject special stress will be laid. One will be the 
enormous value of the services which have been rendered to missionary work by 
women, and abundant proof will be given that in hardly any other sphere has 
Christianity drawn forth the womanliness of woman, with all her abounding wealth 
of influence, and all the depths of her heroism, more than in the missionary life. 
The other will be the invaluable sei-vices rendered to the progress of Chi-istianity 
and civilisation by medical missions. Perhaps there is no one branch of mission 
work more distinctly Scriptiu-al than that of medical missions. Oiu- Lord never gave 
to any one class of men the commission simply to preach, and to another class 
the commission to heal. The duty of preaching and healing was given to one and 
the same individual, and this also was the work of the Master Himself, who 'was the 
greatest medical missionary. Seeking to minister to the sick by the relief of their 
physical sufferings, the medicine-man comes m contact .with them at times when 
they are most ready, as a rule, to think about the great tniths of religion. He can 
penetrate into places inaccessible to others ; doors are flung open wide to him which 
are closed against others ; words spoken by him carry weight, which from others would 
be disregarded ; and we do not hesitate to say that the man who goes into the 
huts and hovels of the aftlicted poor with a packet of drugs in one hand and a Bible 
in the other, possesses an influence for good which no other being can wield in a like 
degree. 

In prosecuting our task, we shall have to consider some Protestant missions which 
ha\o been failures, and others that have been conducted on wrong principles ; of some 
that have had as their object " pidling down " without any compensating regard for 
" building up ; " of others that have sought simply to proselytise from one form of 



ISTnODUCTIOS 



TRUE RELIGION. 



39 



religion to another, instead of seeking first to draw the miserable and the ignorant 
into the Kingdom of God ; of others that ha\e had as their chief concern the pro^jaga- 
tion of some particular " ism," instead of essential Christian doctrine. 

Finally, wo shall endeavour, in writing of the spiritual history of men, to do so 
in the spirit of charit}'. The term lieathch has been much too freely and indis- 
criminately used. Many have assumed that all non-Christian peoples are necessarily 
heathen, forgetting that in the religion of many of them lie embedded grand, funda- 
mental, and Divine truths. Every phase of the world's religion is entitled to 
respectful consideration, for it is that which has been the onlj- source of comfort and 
light to countless men and women amidst their sufferings and sorrows, their fears, and 
their dim hopes. 

One who has written wisely and well on this subject says : " No form of religion 
which has taken a firm hold upon thousands of human beings can have been wholly 
evil and false. . . . All good must come from God ; and wherever we find men 
seeking and doing that which is good according to the light within them, then we are 
sure that they were enlightened by a spark of true religion, however faint, and how- 
ever much mingled with errors and defects. A\''io can read of such men as Socrates, 
as Confucius, as the gentle Guadama Buddha (who taught forgiveness of injuries as 
a necessary virtue), and not feel that the spirit of God was working in them for good ? 
' In every nation he that feareth Him, and w<;>i-keth righteousness, is accepted with 
Him!'" 

While seekmg, therefore, to love, honoru-, and admire whatever is good and 
generous and true of itself, Avherever we find it, even in such as in all things else 
we think most wrong, we shall never lose sight of this fact, that in the Gospel of Christ 
alone do all the religious instmcts of mankind find their full answer ; that in Him, who 
is the Desire of all Nations, and in Him alone, do the peoples find their longings for a 
divine and human Ideal and Deliverer realised. 




40 



I.— EARLY MISSIONS IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER I. 

ZIEGENBALG AND THE FIRST PROTESTANT MISSION. 

Dr. Liitkeus Origrinates the First Protestant Mission in India — Early History of Ziegenbalg — Pliitsehau — 
Their Arrival in India — Friendless Condition — Learning' the Language — Ziegenbalg Translates the 
Scriptures — Public Preaching — Opposition from the Brahmins — More formidable Opposition from the 
Danish Governor— Ziegenbalg arrested — Release and Return of Pliitsehau to Denmark — The King Sides 
v?ith the Missionaries — Death of Dr. Liitkens — Ziegenbalgs Illness and Retm-n to Denmark — His Marriage 
—Sympathy with the Mission in lingland — Return to India, and Death in ITl'.i. 

T~\R. LiJTKENS, the chaplain of his Most (Christian Majesty Frederick IV. of Denmark, 
-»-^ was a good man about whom little is known, but whose name ought to live in 
everlasting memory, for through his instrumentaUty the Danes had the honour of 
inaugurating the first Protestant Mission to India. It came about on this wise. In 1621, 
Denmark had purchased from the Rajah of Tanjore the comparatively small tract of land 
on which stood the city of Tranquebar and about tifteen densely peopled towns. Pounds, 
shiUmgs, and pence was the " head and front " of their enterprise, and for eighty years 
the Danes were content with buying and selling and getting gain — all save one man, 
and that solitary one was Dr. Liitkens. It seemed to him to be an evil and a cruel thing 
that there shoidd be living under the flag of his country, heathen populations m India- 
in Greenland, and in St. Thomas, and no step be taken to teU to them the story of 
the Gospel. 

Once arrested by this thought, it gave him no peace. He turned to the Church 
of Denmark, but, like all the churches of Ghristcndom, it was in a sound sleep, 
from which no human voice could awaken it. Then he turned to the King, and, with 
all the passion of an awakened conscience, and all the wisdom and skill of a Court 
chaplain, laid before his royal master the claims of his non-Christian subjects. The 
King was a good man at heart ; he listened patiently to the pleader, listened imtil his 
conscience smote him ; and at length he gave, not only his permission, but added his 
earnest entreaty that missionaries might be sent out to India forthwith. There was the 
rub • AVho would go forth on such a dangerous, difflcult, and unheard-of expedition ? 

In the days of old, the voice of the King of Kings came to the ear of a jJvophet, 
saying, " Whom rhall I send, and who wiU go for us ? " — and the prophet answered, 
" Here am I, send me." Dr. Liitkens seemed to hear that same Voice ringing through 
the words of the Kmg of Denmark, and he answered in the same words, " Send me." 
Rut self-denial has not been the prevailing characteristic of monarchs at any time, 
and it was not that of Frederick IV. He could not spare his chaplain ; there were 
troubles m his awn kinsfdom ; he was at war with Charles XII. of Sweden, and Dr. Liitkens 
was his personal friend as well as counsellor. All he could do was to give his chaplain 
(■(irfe blanche to get the best substitutes he coidd find. It was not an easy task ; there 
was no one in Denmark to whom he coidd turn ; and so he ^vrote to Dr. Francke, the 
founder of the celebrated Orphan House of Halle, and Professor in the University. 



I.-Early Missions in India.] EARLY HISTORY OF ZIEGENBALG. 



41 




The hour had 
•come, and the men 
were ready. Two 
students, Bartholo- 
mew Ziegenbalg 
and Henry Phit- 
schaii, men of learn- 
ing and ability, 
were called upon 
by Dr. Francke to 
undertake the en- 
terprise, and, without 
shrinking, they were 
ready to obey the call. Al- 
ready the career of Ziegen- 
balg had been remarkable. 
At the age of six years an 

event occurred in his history which he never forgot, and which was, perhaps, the cauce 
of his occasional seasons of sadness and depression. One day, in the little Saxon town 
of Pullsnitz, where he dwelt, a fire broke out, threatening the row of wooden cottages, 
in one of which lay his dying father. It was not uncommon in those days for a devout 



i 



REMOVAL OF ZIEGENBALO'R FATHER. (ScC p. 42.) 



42 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [I.-Early Missions 

man to keep in his room the coffin for his burial ; this was the case with old Ziegenhalg, 
and, as the fire swept along, the neighbours placed hun in the empty coffin, and carried him 
to the market-place, where durincr the night he died. 

It was a sore grief to the little child, and the memory of that sad scene haimted 
his 3'oung imagination, and made him brood over thoughts of death and heaven and 
helL ^Miile yet a child he lost his mother, to whom he was tenderlj' attached, and 
her dying words, '• Seek in the Bible the great treasure laid up for you," were words 
to ring in his ears. As he gi'ew up, and passed from the village school to one of a 
higher grade in Camentz, and finally to the High School of Gcirlitz, he was still an 
miusual boy, meditative and fond of solitude : so that when, at length, a fellow-student 
spoke to him seriously upon personal reUgion, he found a ready response from the 
heart of Ziegenbalg. The friends became inseparable ; the}- were both lovers of music, 
and together they walked, prayed, and studied the Word of God. The fiiend passed 
out of sight, but his influence remaiiaed. and m the heart of Ziegenbalg there grew 
a great purpose — he would dechcate himself to the preaching of Christ, and seek to 
take his share in overcomins; the sin and evil in the world. 

He studied the Bible, phQosophy, and theology ; made great progi-ess in languages, 
and quahried himself for admission to the University of Halle. This period of his life 
was one of constant struggle against poverty and sickness ; almost everj' hour of every 
day he was in pain, and suft'ering from that malady which is worse than pain — 
depression of spirits. It appeared at times a hopeless task to labour on for a position 
in the Christian Church, the burden of which it was improbable he could ever bear ; 
but, after the one session which constituted his university career, a tutorship was 
ottered him in Merseburg. It seemed to be the answer to his prayers and longings : 
he found himself in a position where he could organise Bible-readings and prayer- 
meetings, and where the youths of the whole district gathered round him for rehgious 
instruction. Just as he was m the midst of congenial work, however, his health broke 
do«-n, and for a long time he lay on the border-land of death in his little cottage- 
home at PuUsnitz, where his sisters dwelt. Eecovcring from his malady, he went from 
place to place teaching and preaching, and occupying all his leisure moments in stud}', 
still cherishing the hope that he might retiu-n to the University. 

In the to^\Ti of Werder, about twenty miles from Berlin, he fiUed a vacant 
jDulpit for two months, and, while he was there, the call came to him to undertake, at 
the request of the King of Denmark, and in company with his old fellow-student 
Pliitschau, missionary work among the heathen. At first the call startled and alamied 
him, but, when he interpreted it into a call from God, he yielded without a moment's 
further hesitation. It had not been stated whither they were to go, and it was not 
until the two friends arrived in Copenhagen that they ascertained then destination was 
Tranquebar. 

Although they were received kindly by the King and Dr. Liitkens, every one else 
regarded them as visionaries and enthusiasts. The clergy sneered at them : the East 
India Company opposed their start : not a soul was there in Denmark to cheer them 
with hope ; thev were young and inexperienced, and missionary work was then a new 



IX l.vD.A.i THE FIRST MISSION AT TRAXQUEBAR. 43 

tiling under the sun ; but, strong in the Lord, though weak in themselves, thej- went 
forward with their enterprise, and on the 29th of November, 1705, embarked for India. 

A voyage to India in those days was a serious undertaking, and it was more than 
seven months before they reached their destination — months full of discomfort, for no 
sooner were they out to sea, than the captain became hostile to them, while the chaplam 
was ingenious in his persecutions. Thus the two young men were thrown almost 
exclusivelv together, and every hour of calm weather was used for study, for worship, 
and for praise. E\un the storms, which were frequent, seemed to contribute to their 
preparation for their work. " The more the stormy and roaring seas broke in upon 
us, the more were the joy and praise of Ciod increased m our mouths, seeing we had 
so mighty a Lord for our Father, whom we dail}- approach, and, as confiding children, 
put up our prayers to Him." 

At length the harbour of Tranquebar was reached, and, when the young missionaries 
saw the natives assemliled on the shore, their hearts beat high, and they longed to be 
amona:st them to commence the great work of their Hves. But there were boats sent 
out for aU the ship's passengers and company except for them, and for days they were 
left on board, until the captain of a small vessel in the harbour took pity upon them and 
rowed them ashrire. 

Every one else Avho hafl travelled in the ship which bore out those messengers of 
God, received some welcome on his arrival, but Ziegenbalg and Plutschau stood on that 
foreign strand friendless and unwelcome. The Governor interviewed them, but refused 
to recognise the credentials given them by the King ; there was no place ready for 
them, nor were arrangements of any kind made for their reception. The residents treated 
them with indifterence or contempt; the natives stared at them in wonder; and when 
their first day on the mission-field closed, they found themselves out in the street 
alone, friendless, and shelterless. 

But (iod had not "left Himself without witness," even in Tranquebar. "\Miile they 
Avere standing thus in the market-square, a young man came up to them, and invited 
them to a shelter in the house of his father-m-law. It was a token for good, and it 
compensated them for the trials they had undergone. 

Some time afterwards, in a little house upon the wall of the town, the two young 
missionaries found settled quarters, and hero they at once set to work to study the 
Tamil language, and put themselves in a position to hold intercoiu-se with the natives. 
On the voyage they had studied Portuguese, and so were able to converse with 
the Europeans in the Danish settlement ; but it offered little attraction to them. 
Bearing the name of Christian, the majority of the Europeans had given themselves 
up wholly to drinking and debaucheiy, to gambling and cruelty, and, hitherto, this 
was all that Western " Christians " had taught the heathen world. Of the Tamil 
language, the vernacidar of Tranquebar, the missionaries knew absolutely nothing, nor 
had they grammar, dictionary, book, or alphabet that could assist them ; but, ready- 
witted as they were, and sustained by a large hope, they succeeded, through the instru- 
mentality of one Modaliapa, who was moved with compassion for their state to induce 
an old dominie to transfer his little school to their house on the wall. Then, sitting 



44 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [I.-Earlv Missions 

cross-legged, and taking their places amongst the Uttle children, Ziegenbalg and Pllitschau 
drew then- A B C upon the sand of the iloor. Later on they fell in with a man named 
Aleppa, who, having acquired a little knowledge of European tongues, was of such 
assistance to Ziegenbalg, that within eight months he was able to speak the Tamil language 
with tolerable Huenej-. 

A day of twenty-four hours seemed all too short for the labours of this devoted 
man. Reading, writing — and writing, moreover, not with pen and ink, but with a 
stylus upon palmyra leaves — he worked on from morning till night, until not only 
could he speak like a native, but he acquired such a mastery of the language that 
he drew up a grannnar and two lexicons, one of prose, containing forty thousand 
words, the other of poetry, contaming seventeen thousand words. Before he had been 
two years in Tranquebar, he commenced the translation of the New Testament, and in 
three years it was tinished, while later on he commenced the translation of the Old 
Testament Scriptures, and composed, in the native language, over thirty books, consisting 
of hyiims, catechisms, manuals, and sermons. 

When the Brahmins saw that the missionaries were in earnest, the spirit of perse- 
cution — old as the world — arose within thein. By false accusation they procured the 
banishment of a man who had assisted Ziegenbalg to a knowledge of the literature of 
the country, and, liu'ing him away from the protection of the Danish flag, branded hun 
as a traitor to the sacred mysteries of Hinduism. They cast him into prison, loaded 
him with chains, and subjected him to indignities, from which he shortly after died — 
not a professed Christian, but a martyr for Christianity. In many other ways petty 
persecution followed the missionaries, but they had become fonnidable foes, for the 
people were with them. They went mto the highways and byways, as well as into 
the public market-places, and outside heathen temples, and preached the Word of Life ; 
they discussed, for hours at a time, questions with the pundits, or learned natives, 
arising out of the discoiu-se ; little children gathered roimd them in the schools, and 
learned to sing the sweet hymns which Ziegenbalg had composed, and which, to this 
day, are sung in Christian assemblies ; and everywhere the influence of their pure and 
unselfish lives, their earnest and sjanpathetic words, won their way to the hearts of the 
people. 

Xor did they confine then- labours to the towns, but, starting off on evangelistic 
journeys, they scattered right and left the good seed of the Kingdom. ^len loved to 
question them, for they answered with kindness and patience ; women loved to listen, 
for their words awakened slumbering hopes, and satisfied the longings of their hearts ; 
little childi'en clustered round them, enthralled by the beauty and tenderness of the 
" sweet story of old." A bright and prosperous future seemed to be opening iqj to the 
missionaries. They had built in a broad street, and in the midst of the heathen, a 
substantial stone chiux-h, to which they gave the name of New Jerusalem, and where 
thousands had assembled at the opening services ; they had established a successful 
school ; they had baptised nine of then- Malabar converts. Everywhere the people 
heard them gladly. 

But a storm was gathering, and fi'om time to time they were made conscious of 



IK India. I 



ARREST OF ZIEGENBALG. 



45 



its imittci'iiigs. One d-ay, dressed in his white robe and tiu'ban and red slippers, 
Zieg'cnbalu' went ont to a town near Madras, where a great heathen festival was being 
held, and tor five days wandered np and down iearlesslj- preaching the Gospel. Tired 
and depressed, he lay down one night to rest in a covered place, but his footsteps had 
been dogged by a Brahmin, who thought he would do his god service by putting the 
missionary to death. A small boy from one of the native schools had, however, watched 




ARREST Ob' ZIEGENBALG. (.Sec ]). 4(1.) 



the priest, and, rushing into the place where the missionary lay, aroused him in time 
to escape the uplifted dagger. 

There was another enemy, more subtle than that priest, who was working for th-e 
destruction of this first Mission to India. The Governor of Tranquebar, Hassius by 
name, felt himself aggrieved by the encroachment of the King of Denmark upon his 
rights. The Governor represented the " Christianity " of the Europeans, to whom the 
purity, self-denial, and goodness of the missionaries were a standing reproach, and, upon 
the pretext that the Mission woidd breed sedition and was antagonistic to native ideas, 
this " Christian " Governor nursed his determination to crush the missionaries and 
stamp out their influence. 

One day, when Ziegenbalg was sitting in his study, his attention was arrested b}' 



46 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. |I— Early llissioxs 

a detaeliincnt of soldiers, with loaded muskets, under the conuuand of a lieutenant, 
standino- before his door. Ere he had time to reahse his position, he found hiniseh, upon 
a frivolous and unwarrantable pretext, under arrest. Although he begged for a moment's 
respite for prayer, he was brutally seized, and hurried, just as he was, in dressing-gown 
and slippers, through the crowded streets, where not a few wlio had listened to his 
teaehino- wept as they witnessed the indignity to which he was sidijeeted, while others 
jeered and taunted the man who had brought strange things to pass in their native city. 

On arrivin*^'' at the fortress, Ziegenbalg was placed in a close and stifling cell, where 
the heat was almost unendurable. Paper, pens, and books were denied to him, and for 
four months he remained a prisoner. The position of the Mission seemed at that time 
in a jDcrilous case. Plutschau was under the ban of the (loveruor ; a guard was placed 
before the mission-house ; the German services came to an end ; and Ziegenbalg, the 
life and soul of the whole undertaking, was at the mercy of an unscrupulous Connnandant. 
But " the end was not yet." Plutschau managed to convey food to his colleague, and one 
of the German guards, touched by his loneliness, snuiggled into his cell a pencil and 
paper. From that moment the prison became a palace to his soul, and, during the 
remaining period of his incarceration, he wrote two bulky volumes, one entitled " The 
Christian Life," and the other " The Christian Teacher." 

While Ziegenbalg was thus employed, Hassius, the (tovernor, was in no very 
happy frame of mind. Day by day the people of the town had demanded the release 
of the prisoner ; natives who had shown no leaning to Christianity had cried " Shame " 
upon him as he passed through the streets ; funds, and other oflers of help to sustain 
the Mission, had j^om^ed in upon Plutschau ; and, in view of these things, and of a 
possible appeal to the King of Denmark, Hassius found himself in great perplexity. 
He had hoped that Ziegenbalg would have pleaded for release, and, perchance, have 
offered to return to Europe ; but, finding him calm and haughty, and still prosecuting 
his work, he caused an intimation to be sent to him that, if he would write to the 
(jovernor, asking to be released, the request would be granted. So, for the sake of 
his congregation, Ziegenbalg wrote, and ended by saying, " I bear to you no ^ ill-Avill, 
but you may see that I do not fear you in the least." 

Great was the rejoicing in Tranquebar on the day when Ziegenbalg once more 
appeared amongst his congregation, Avho wept for joy, and crowded around hun to seize 
his hand. Those four months, however, had been full of peril to the Mission. Plutschau, 
though a good and amiable man, lacked entirely the power which characterised Ziegen- 
balg; many of the little community had been scattered, while some had been cast into 
prison or banished, for expressing sympathy with the Mission, and others were hiding 
from persecution. 

When Ziegenbalg obtained his release, he wrote in his Journal, " I, Thine unworthy 
servant, acknowledge myself bound to love, honour, and serve Thee more and more, to 
walk after Thy Connnandments, to glorify Thy Name, and so, in all hdehty, to use 
Thy gifts among Christian and heathen men as to secure the spread of Thy Kingdom, 
the propagation of Thy Truth, and the salvation of my neighbours, and, for this end, I 
dedicate myseh and all my powers to Thee.'' 



IN iNuiA.l COLLAPSE OF THE OPPOSITION. 47 

The spirit for all this was willing, but the flesh was weak, and Ziegenbalg fell 
seriously ill. On his recovery the position of aflairs seemed hopelessly bad. Three years 
had passed, and no letter had come from Denmark. " It seemed as if not a soul in 
Europe thought upon us, and we were forsaken of all men." The funds had been so 
low that, although the orphanage he had founded was crowded, there was often not a 
groschen in the house for its support. At last news came of supplies. Four thousand 
crowns had been sent out to the Mission from Denmark in two ships. One .shi]) was wrecked, 
but the money was recovered and taken back to Copenhagen ; the other ship reached 
Tranquebar safely, but the boat which was convej^mg to shore the sadly-needed supply 
for the jMission, was manned by drunken sailors, who managed to upset it, and the 
money was all lost. Not long after, however, a fresh supply was received, and at the 
same time three new missionaries, Grlindler, Jordan, and Bovingh, came out to join the 
Mission. It was not in all respects a fortunate circumstance that these men arrived. 
Jordan soon dropped into insignificance ; Bovingh developed so bad a spirit, that he 
ultimately sided with the Governor against the Missioir ; Griindler alone was a true 
work-fellow in -the (.iospel. Their arrival, however, gave an impetus to the work, and 
the operations of the Mission extended in all directions. 

On the other hand, persecutions increased ; every plan was more or less thwarted, 
every obstruction put in their way, and at length the situation had become so intolerable, 
that arrangements were made for Pllitschau to go to Copenhagen, and represent the 
whole position of affairs to the King. Bovingh returned to Europe at the same time on 
the pretext of illness, but really to plead with the King on behalf of (jovcrnor Hassius 
and himself, and to thwart the plans of the missionaries. 

Pliitschau had counted upon the hearty co-operation of Dr. Llitkens, the chaplain 
of the King, and the founder of the ilission— the only man in all Denmark to whom he 
could look as the tried and trusty friend of the cause he had so nuich at heart. But 
only two days before Pllitschau landed, Dr. Llitkens had died, occupying his dying 
hours in prayers for the Mission. News of the persecutions to which Ziegenbalg had 
been subjected had reached Denmark, and at the same time the joyful news of the 
success of his worlv. The last words that were ever read to Llitkens were a royal 
edict ordering £300 a year to be paid out of the revenue in aid of the Mission. 
Tears of joy poured down the cheeks of the old man as he uttered his last words, 
" Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy 
salvation." 

Both emissaries reached the King when in camp with his army. After their 
respective interviews, Bovingh tramped away on foot through the deep mud of a camp 
in rainy weather; Pllitschau was sent back in a royal carriage and with the assurance 
of £300 a year for the Mission from the royal bounty. It was arranged that for the 
future regular reports of the work should be sent to the King, who, with the princes and 
princesses, was earnestly interested in the work, insomuch that the latter kept up a 
correspondence with Ziegenbalg. 

From that time forth the ]\Iission in Trancpiebar entered upon a wider and more 
prosperous career. In Germany, the story of Ziegenbalg's heroism, and his letters, 



48 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. U.-Earlv Missions 

were published, and sold with such raj^idity that edition after edition was demanded. 
A copy of the book fell into the hands of a clergyman in the suite of Prince 
George of Denmark (the husband of our Queen Anne), who translated it into English. 
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts took up the cause, 
and sent a contribution of . £20 ; while the Societ}' for the Promotion of Christian 
Knowledge opened at the same time a special fimd for the Danish Jlission at Tranquebar, 
thus commencing the co-operation of England in the pioneer efforts for the evangelisa- 
tion of India. 

Pllitschau did not return to Tranquebar, but settled down to a quiet country 
charge. Ziegenbalg, meanwhile, was bearing the biuxlen and heat of the day almost 
smgle-handed, still under the tire of persecution, less open but not less trying, ami 
suffering almost constantly in bodily health. His heart was hot within him ; he looked 
out to the fields ripening for harvest ; his schools were flourishing, converts were increasing, 
the New Testament Scriptiu'es, and other books he had written or translated in the 
Tamil tongue, were in circulation ; doors of usefulness in other parts of India were 
opening, and the realisation of the dream of his youth, that the Gospel might be preached 
throughout India, seemed to be coming within the range of possibility. 

But there was borne in upon his heart the consciousness that others nuist enter into 
his labours ; day by day he was fighting against the inroads of disease ; he felt that his 
own days were mmibered, and that the night was coming, when he could no longer 
work. In Tranquebar his hands were tied ; if he could only get to Denmark and see 
the King, and lay before him the whole story of the past and present, and cause him 
to see some streaks of the glory of the vision of the future, then he could die in peace. 

On the day when Ziegenbalg left the harboiu' t)f Traiupiebar, crowds assembled to beg 
his parting blessing. Converts, other natives, and Europeans joined together in a conmion 
grief ; like those good people at Ephesus in the days of St. Paid, they sorrowed most of all 
lest they should see his face no more. It was just ten years since Ziegenbalg had entered 
upon his perilous, and, as many thought, fanatical and visionary work, that he once 
more found himself in Demnark. 

The nations of Europe were absorbed in war, and the King of Denmark was besieging 
Stralsund, taking his share in the great struggle to restrain the towering ambition of 
Charles XII. of Sweden. Ziegenbalg made his way forthwith into the camp, and for 
hours was closeted with the King, who entered warmly and sympatheticallj' into the 
plans that were laid before him — plans that secured the permanent success of the 
Mission. 

Ziegenbalg took heart of grace ; fresh hope brought fresh courage. He visited the 
little Saxon town that gave him birth, and, tarrying awhile in Merseburg, the scene of 
his first labours, he fell in love with one of his old pupils, a woman of sweet disposition 
and Christian heroism, to whom he was shortly after married. Then he went to England, 
where George I., the Prince of '\^'ales, Archbishop Wake of Canterbuiy, and man}' others, 
received him with enthusiasm, and loaded him with evidence of their sympathy and 
aroodwill. But Zieyenbalsr could not linger at ease ; there was work to be done, and the 
time was short. He set sail with his heroic wife, and, after a passage of five months. 



IN iN-niA.] 



DEAIH OF ZIEGENBALG. 



49 



was back again at Tranqucbar, where he was received with a welcome that touched him 
to the heart. Many changes had taken place. Griindler had worked nobly in his 
absence, notwithstanding the fact that he, too, had got married. A paper-mill had come 
into existence, and Christian literature in the Tamil tongue was soon to be in free 
circulation ; Hassius, the Governor, who had so long embittered Ziegenbalg's life, and 
thwarted his labours, had been recalled and disgraced, and in his place, as Governor of 
Ti-anquebar, was a man whose heart delighted itself in missionary work. 




ZIEGENBALO LEAVING TEANQUEBAE. 



It was not all sunshine, however ; the horizon was filling with gathering clouds- 
But Ziegenbalg's work was done. On New Year's Day, 1719, Avith trembling voice and 
shaking hand, he stood up to speak for the last time. A few weeks later, on the last 
Sunday he spent on earth, the native congregation stood around his bed, and he exhorted 
them to be " steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." 

Then came a day when the wearj^ man asked to be placed in an arm-chair, and 
begged that his friends would sing him a favourite hymn, " Jesus meine Zuversicht " 
(" Jesus my Saviour "). As he sat drinking-in the sounds with a smile of heavenly 
satisfaction, and clasping the hand of his faithful wife, God called his spirit home at the 
early age of thirty-six. 



50 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. ' - Eai.lv Missions 

Thus ended the life and labours of the first Protestant missionary in India. When 
Zicgenbalg died, there were four hinidred converts and catechumens who mourned the 
loss of their great-hearted pastor ; and from that day till now the work which he began 
has never ceased growing, (iod buried the workman, but He carried on his work. 

Griindler only survived his leader a few months, and then it seemed that every- 
thing must collapse ; but there followed a succession of earnest men — Schiiltze, Dahl, 
Keistemnacher, Sartorius, Kiernander, Fabricius — through whose instrumentality the 
work spread north, south, east and west. The religious societies of England, Denmark, 
and Prussia, vied with each other in upholding the hands of the labourers. Schiiltze 
completed the translation of the Scriptures begun by Zicgenbalg, and these, together with 
other books of Christian literature, spread from Bombay m one direction to Cejion in 
another, while, under his auspices, a flourishing mission sprang up in Madras. We 
need not tell in detail of the labours of each individual missionar}-, but would rather 
fix our gaze now upon one tigure that towers above all others in the mission-iield of 
Southern India during the last half of the eighteenth century — Christian Friedrich 
Schwartz. 



CHAPTER II. 

CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH SCHWARTZ AND THE TANJORE MISSION. 

Birth and Parentage of Schwartz — Influence upon him of Fraiicke and Schiiltze — Ordination, Visit to England, and 
Departure for Tranquebar — Marvellous Gift of Learning Languag:es —Instances — After Sixteen Years at Tran- 
quebar Schwartz Leaves for Trichiuopoly — Meets the Rajah of Tanjore — Appointed Ambassador to Hyder Ali 
—Influence and Power of Schwartz's Character— A Free Passage Everywhere for the Missionary — The Rajah 
Serfojee — Illness and Death — Serfojee's Monument and Epitaph in English upon His Spiritual '■ Father." 

rpHERE was grief in the comfortable and well-to-flo home of Father Schwartz, of 
-L Sonnenburg, in the electorate of Brandenburg. His wife lay a-dying. By her side 
was a little child who had been born to her in 1726, only a year or two before. At the 
bedside stood her Lutheran pastor and her sorrowing husband ; and it came to pass that 
as her soul was in departing, she gathered up all her remaining strength, and, pointing 
to the babe, said, in the spirit of the words of Hannah, the Old Testament saint, " For this 
dhild I prayed ; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him ; therefore 
also I have lent him to the Lord ; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." 
"Take him," said the dying woman; "I have dedicated him to the Lord; and, if he 
shows any aptitude for the Christian ministry, I charge you to foster it. This is my 
last wish." 

From his earliest years Father Schwartz inured the child to habits of self-denial and 
simplicity ; told him the story of his consecration, and trained him in the principles of 
the Lutheran faith. At the age of eight he was sent to the grammar-school at Sonnenburg, 
svhcre masters of varj'ing terapcraTnent seem to have first excited and then chilled his 



|^• ixoiA.] SCHWARTZ AT TRAXQUEBAR. 51 

religions emotions. He made good use of his time, acquired a fair knowledge of Helirew, 
Greek, and Latin, and, at the age of sixteen, was removed to a higher school at Ctistrin. 
Here he was away from his father's eye and influence, and, left to himself, Avas draum 
into the dissijoations of student life, though happily preserved from open sin. To have 
seen him at this time, no one would have thought that he could ever become what 
eventually he became. But Divinity was shaping his ends, however much he 'might 
rough-hew them. A daughter of one of the syndics took an interest in the lad. It was 
not a romantic love affair, or a sentimental attachment of any kind, but simply the desire 
of an earnest (Jhristian girl to save a young life from frivolity — which is often only another 
word for ruin. Her father had been educated at Halle, Schwartz was preparing for 
that university ; and she wanted to interest him in Dr. Francke, the excellent and 
eminent professor — the man who, it will be remembered, recommended Ziegenbalg and 
Pllitschau for the mission work at Tran(inebar. 

The sj-ndic's daughter lent J'oung Schwartz a history of Francke's famous Orphan 
House, and so interested did he become in the perusal that he determined to iinish his 
studies at Halle. The kind-hearted Francke took him in hand at once, lodged the 
lad at his new Orphan House, gave him a Latin class to teach, and evening devotions 
of the household to superintend. But, more than this, he introduced him to the 
veteran Schliltze, who, after twenty years' labour in India, was at Halle superin- 
tending the printing of the Tamil version of the Bible, which Ziegenbalg and he had 
translated. 

No one could be brought under the influence of Schliltze, and remain unimpressed 
with the fervour of his Christian zeal. Young Schwartz caught the enthusiasm of this 
old hero of the Cross, and before long there was borne in upon his mind the convic- 
tion that for him, too, India was the appointed fleld of service. At length he went 
back to Sonnenburg, laid the matter before his father, and told him what had then 
become the great desire of his heart. The good old man asked for three days to 
consider, and spent those da3-s alone in prayer ; then he tranquilly bade his son " go 
forth with a father's blessing, and win many souls for Christ in the far-ofl' land to 
which God had called him." 

Schwartz completed his course of studies at Halle, gave up to his brothers and sisters 
all his claims on the family property, and then went to Copenhagen to be accredited 
to the Danish Mission at Tranquebar. In company with two other young Germans. 
Poltzenheigen and Hutteman, he was duly ordained, and the three proceeded to England, 
where they were entertained by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and 
preached on Christmas Day in the Chapel Royal. As in some pi-evious cases, a free 
passage was granted to them in an East India Company's ship, and they set sail in 
Januarj', 1750, for Tranquebar, where they arrived in October of the same year. 

Schwartz had a marvellous gift for acquiring languages. During the voyage he 
studied English, and obtained such a mastery over the language that, on his arrival 
m Tranquebar, he was able to pi'each in English to the troops. (There were three English 
regiments in Hindustan at that time, and not a single chaplain to minister to them.) 
Immediately after landing, he commenced to conquer the Taniil tongue, and in foui- 



52 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [1.-Earlv Missions 

months he was able to preach fluently to the natives in their own language. In course 
of time he acquired the Persian language, which gave him access to the courts of 
Mohannucdan princes ; he obtained a complete mastery over Hindustani, and this 
was one of the reasons why he was employed by the British Government for difiicult 
embassies ; he conquered the Indo-Portuguese, in order to do good to the mixed race 
descended from Portuguese and Hindus. Not less remarkable was his success in mastering 



CHKISTIAN FBIEDEICH SCHWARTZ. 



the intricate )nythology of the natives, their habits and customs and modes of thought — 
in .short, everything which could help to thoroughly furnish him for his life-task, he 
took in hand and speedily acconqdished. 

Many changes had taken place in Tranquebai- since Ziegenbalg ministared there. 
Eight missionaries in all were now dwelling at the mission-station, who, besides 
attending to the schools and services, and pri\-ately labourmg with catechumens, used 
to visit, singly or in couples, the neighbouring towns and villages, and by conversation 
with the natives excite their curiosity to hear more of Christianity. The ditticulty in 
arranging for converts (who of course became outcasts from their people) to get a 
living, was a serious hindrance. But a yet more appalling obstacle was the evil lives of 



JN iMMA.I 



CHARACTER OE SCHWARTZ. 



53 



Europeans. " If nothing unholy can enter your heaven, your countrymen can never go 
there/' said the acute observers to whom the missionaries preached purity of life. Still 
the work prospered. The country round became dotted with village congregations, and 
in 1754 Schwartz was made superintendent of all those south of the river Caveri. 

A sino-ularly devoted and unseltish man was Schwartz. He toiled on day by day 
and year by year with the most dogged and persistent energy. Everything he did he 




BATHING PLACE AT TBICHIXOPOLY. 



did thoroughly. He would take as much pains over the preparation of a sermon for the 
natives, as if he had been called upon to preach it before all the cro^vned heads of Europe. 
He had no notion of sparing himself, and from early morning till late at night every 
hoiu' had its apportioned toil. 

In ceaseless labours, not even intermitted Avhen war was ravaging the Camatic, 
sixteen years of the life of Schwartz passed away, and he was forty years old when the 
series of events occurred which made his career one of the most remarkable in the history 
ot missionary enterprise. Sundry encouraging visits had from time to time been paid to 
Tanjore and Trichinopoly, when.'in 1766, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 



54 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [I.-Euslv m.ssio.w 

deteniiined to found a permanent mission at the latter place, and it was decided that the 
right man to go and siqierintend it was CHiristian Schwartz. His personal appearance 
at this time is plainly put before us in a letter written by his attiiched friend ^A'illiam 
Chambers, an exemplary English merchant, who had himself rendered effective service 
to the missionary- cause by translating one of the Gospels into Persian. He says that 
at his first meeting with Schwartz he had been expecting to see a very straitlacod, 
austere person, " but the first sight of him made a complete revolution on this point. His 
garb, indeed, which was jjrettj' well worn, seemed foreign and old-fashioned, but in every 
other respect his appearance was the reverse of all that could be called forbidding or morose. 
Figure to yourself a stout, well-made man, somewhat above the middle size, erect in his 
carriage and address, with a complexion rather dark, though healthy, black curled hair, 
and a manl}-, engaging countenance, expressive of unaft'ected candour, ingenuousness, and 
benevolence, and you will have an idea of what Mr. Schwartz appeared to be at first sight." 
Less than £.50 a year was Schwartz's whole allowance at Trichmopoly ; a small, 
low-roofed room, which he and his bed almost filled, was assigned him b_y the officer 
couimanding the garrison, and here, by the light of the same little brass lamp that had 
been his companion at Halle University, he often studied far uito the night. He lived 
on rice and vegetables, and di'essed in black dimity. He found neither church nor chaplain 
at this important militar}' station, but he was soon able to read the English Church Service 
to the soldiers, and before ver}- long he was preaching to them extempore in their own 
language. A church was built capable of holding 2,000 persons, and the J\Iadras Govern- 
ment granted him a salary of £100 a jear, half of which he devoted to the service of his 
flock. But he took care that the garrison should not interrupt his labours with the 
natives. Ever}- spare moment he was among them — reading, teaching, arguing. Many of 
the Brahmins highl}- appreciated his conversation. So far as argument went, they were 
often convinced of the truth of his assertions, but they shrank from following up their 
conviction by taking any practical step towards becoming Christians. 

Schwartz was often at Tanjore, and in 1769 he was accorded an interview with the 
Rajah Tuljajee, a courteous and cultivated Hindoo prince, with whom he had a long 
conversation. The prince was greatly interested when his visitor expounded to him the 
doctrines of Christianity, and was much impressed by noticing that Schwartz gave thanks 
to his invisible (Jod before partaking of refreshments, ■\^■hen he heard that the missionary 
had left Tanjore, he expressed so much regret, that Schwartz was induced to return, 
and for several days consecutively addressed large crowds of the Rajah's subjects, 
who declared that they Avould all become Christians if their prince would but first set 
them the example. The mind of the Rajah was evidently favourably affected towards 
Christianity, and he woidd probably have taken the decisive step but for the opposition of 
his courtiers and Jlinisters, who had their own reasons for fighting against all change, and 
especially one made in the interests of light and truth. Henceforth, however, Schwartz, 
whom Tuljajee called his " Padre," was free to come and go in Tanjore, and preach and 
teach as he pleased. Those who rejected his teachmgs, reverenced his holy life. " Till 
you came among us," said a young Nabob, " we always thought that Europeans were 
imgodly men who did not know the use of pra3-ers." 



IN India.) SCHWARTZ AND HYDER ALL 55 

Schwartz had a little success among the Mohammedans, but he found them harder to 
reach than Hindus. He went to and fro for a few years between Tanjore and Trichinopoly, 
nursing at each place his little band of catechumens, till Christian Pohle was sent out to 
Trichinopoly, and Schwartz could then give himself up more completely to the work at 
Tanjore. The Rajah still wavered, sometimes " almost persuaded " by the ministrations of 
his " Padre," and again led back by the influence of his Brahmin counsellors, or disgusted 
by the scandals that arose amongst the nominal Christians of the Eurojsean garrison. 

Meanwhile a yet wider sphere of influence was opening up to Schwartz. It became 
needful for the East India Compan}' to send an envoy to the redoubtable Hyder Ali of 
Mysore, to ascertain the real nature of his intentions towards the English, and, on 
account of his perfect acquaintance with the Hindustani language, and various other 
qualifications, Schwartz was looked upon as the most trustworthy and suitable person that 
could be despatched on this delicate errand. In reporting to the Society for Promoting 
Christian Knowledge, he stated that he accepted this nussion as one tending to the 
preservation of peace, and likely to afford fresh opportunities for the spread of the 
Gospel. He was also glad to show his gratitude to the Company for kindnesses received 
at their hands. " But at the same time," he writes, " I resolved to keep my hands 
undefiled from any presents, by which determination the Lord enabled me to abide, so 
that I have not accepted a single farthing save my travelling expenses." 

A six days' journey in a palanquin brought Schwartz, accompanied by Sattianadem 
(one of his catechists) to Caroor, on the frontier of Jlysore. Here they preached in the 
streets whilst waitmg a month for permission to go forward. By admirable roads and 
bridges they then journeyed on to Seringapatam, where thej^ beheld much evidence of 
the tyrannic power, as well as of the wealth and splendour, of Hyder Ali. The interviews 
with the terrible prince took place in a large hall, between the marble columns of which 
were visible the fountains and trees of a pleasant garden. When the missionary was seated 
by Hyder on the rich carpets that covered the floor of the hall, the prince declared 
that he wanted peace, but that the British had broken their engagements, and had 
tried to march troops across his territory without leave. He was very gracious in his 
conversation, but the letter he gave to Schwartz to carry back, recounted various acts 
which he considered aggressive, and was couched in a very threatening tone. For the 
missionary's honour Hyder Ali entertained a great regard. His truth and candour, his 
plain matter-of-fact honesty, and his firm but courteous demeanour, won the respect 
and adnnration of the tyrant 

" Do not send to me," he said on another occasion, " any of your agents, for I do not 
trust their words or treaties; but if you wish me to listen to your proposals, send to 
me the missionary — him I will trust and receive. Send me the Cihristian!" 

The Mission at Tanjore and Trichinopoly received substantial aid from the Madras 
Government, through the persistent refusal of Schwartz to receive any personal recompense. 
Meanwhile, feeling sure that war was imminent, Schwartz laid in a stock of 12,000 
bags of rice in case of emergencies. The summer of 1780 saw Hyder crossing the 
Ghauts with 100,000 soldiers, to plunder and ravage up to the very gates of Madras. 
The scattered English garrisons could not easily be collected, and tlic numbers of the 




SCHWARTZ AND HYDER ALL {See p. 55.) 



L-Eably Missions IN iNDiA.j WAR AND FAMINE IN TANJORE. 5/ 

invaders were so vast, that the several successive defeats by Sir Eyre Coote only tem- 
porarily checked their progress. Tanjoi'e was laid waste, the irrigation destroyed, and 
for three years there was neither sowing of seed nor gathering of crops. Crowded 
into the towns, or beside the roads that led to them, the unhappy peasantry perished 
by thousands of starvation. The people refused to bring in provisions, as they had 
been so often deceived and plundered by the officers. The Rajah was in jjerplexity 
bordering on despair. "We all — you and I," he said to them — "have lost our credit; 
let us try whether the inhabitants will trust Mr. Schwartz." A cm'te blanche was sent 
to the missionary to make what arrangements he could ; and in two days a thousand 
oxen, and eighty thousand measures of rice, were at his disposal for the starving- 
garrison. Schwartz and his catechists laboured mcessantly among the heaps of 
dead, ministering to the wants of those in whom life still lingered. They fed 120 
daily by means of subscriptions from the English. All this time Schwartz held 
three successive services of two hours each every Sunday, one in English, one in 
Tamil, and one in Portuguese. During the famine a hundred converts were added to 
his congregation, but their mental powers were so weakened by exhaustion, that he 
had to teach them very slowly. As a rule, Schwartz never gave any assistance to persons 
under preparation for baptism ; but in this time of cruel hardship, all who needed succour 
received it. 

The missionaries were in no danger all through the war, and the good " Padre," 
especially, was so reverenced that he passed, in his well-known black dimity suit, through 
the enemy's camp, or where he pleased, without molestation or hindrance. In 1782, 
when the population of Tanjore and Trichinopoly consisted mainly of living skeletons, 
Hyder Ali died. Tippoo Sahib succeeded, and for a time continued the war, but Hyder's 
French allies had made peace with England, and in 1784 the tierce Sultan of Mysore 
was induced to make a treaty with the (Company. Schwartz, whose health had begun 
to fail, seized the opportunity to make a journey to Tinnevelly, where Christianity had 
been planted by native converts. But of the Tinnevelly Mission, afterwards the great 
stronghold of Christianity in Southern India, we shall have more to say m a succeeding 
chapter. 

The Rajah Tuljajee, almost ruined by the invasion, and afflicted by incurable 
disease, took to hoarding in his palace all the treasure he could lay hands on, and left 
the government of the country to his tyrannical minister, Baba. This man fleeced the 
people so unmercifully, that they refused to sow their lands without some security that 
the crops should be their own, and, failing this, they left the province in thousands. Tuljajee 
would not dismiss his minister, in spite of remonstrances from Madi'as, so the English 
appointed a committee, of which Schwartz was made a member, to watch over Tanjorean 
afiairs. He consented, and, at his invitation, 7,000 fugitives at once returned, and 
worked night and day on their lands to make up for lost time. 

Over his o^vn flock Schwartz was patriarch and law-giver as well as pastor. 
When cases came before him in which he thought a little " kind severity " would meet 
all that was required, he was wont to say, " Will you go to the royal court, or be 
punished by me?" "0, .Padre, you punish me!" was the invariable reply. "Give 



58 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [I. -Early Missions 

him twenty strokes," tlie Padre would say, and it was done ; but never a delinquent 
spolte a word against him, or entertained a hard thought of him, for they knew he 
was just as ready to help them and sympathise with them as if they had been the 
most exemplary of his flock. 

Soon after Hyder Ali's invasion, the Rajah, who had recently lost by death his 
son, daughter, and grandson, adopted as his heir a child of ten, named Serfojee, the son 
of a relative. He wi.shed Schwartz to accept the sole guardianship of this child, but 
the " Padre," dreading the political cabals that would inevitably arise, persuaded Tul- 
jajee to appoint his brother, Rama Swamc}-, afterwards known as the Ameer Singh. 
In 1787 the Rajah died, a zealous protector, though never a confessor, of Christianity, 
and, through the influence of Schwartz, there was no suttee at his funeral. 

The Ameer Singh complained that his brother was not of sound mind when he 
adopted Serfojee, and he mduced the Companj^ to acknowledge him as Rajah, promising to 
protect the child. The promise was not kept. He kept the lad shut up in semi-darkness, 
and in complete ignorance, and was so implacable towards him and the widows of Tuljajee, 
that Schwartz induced the Government to remove the child and the ladies to Madras. 
Here Serfojee was educated, but, strangely enough, considering his love and reverence 
for Schwartz, he never became a Christian. He led an exemplary life, and when, sub- 
sequently, the Company deposed Ameer Singh, and placed Serfojee on the throne of 
Tanjore, he ruled justly and avcH, promoted education, favoured the C'hristians, and 
liberally relieved his subjects m time of distress. It is supposed that Schwartz was 
hindered by sentiments of honour from attempting to proselytise in this case. He 
knew, of course, that as a Christian Serfojee would have lost his prospect of becoming 
Rajah of Tanjore — so scrupulous was the Compan}- in the avoidance of any appearance 
of tampering with Hindu religion. 

In all the chansjing scenes and circumstances through which Schwartz was called 
to pass, his life was saintly and self-denying in the extreme. His house was scantily 
furnished, and ho shared it with one of the younger missionaries. Their five minutes' 
breakfast was some tea made in a jug, and dry bread broken into it ; broth or curry sufficed 
for the one o'clock dinner, and meal or gruel for the evening repast. Each morning he 
prayed with his native catechists, and sent them to their work amongst the families and 
villages, and at four in the afternoon met them again to receive their reports. Then they 
all Avent together to some public place, and Schwartz expounded the Scriptures or co^^versed 
on religious topics with inquirers. We must not forget that, besides his missionary 
labours, he was still working as a member of the Boai'd which really wielded authority in 
Tanjore in the name of Ameer Singh. Order was re-established in troubled localitiesr 
and all classes joined in praising his administrative skill, his disinterestedi>ess, and his 
honesty. 

Schwartz, as the patriarch of the missionaries was still moving about with joy 
among the churches he had founded, where his own spiritual children were to be counted 
by hundreds, when a complaint in one of his feet, which for years had been more or less 
painful, assumed a dangerous character. For three months he lingered, and, as he neared 
his close he loved to have the children read and sliig to him, while his colleagues, Gericke 



IN- IM.IA.; DEATH OF SCHWARTZ. 59 

and Kohloff, cheered hiin with their ministrations. Almost at the very last Schwartz, in 
a clear voice, joined in the hymn 

" Only to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ," 

and two hours afterwards gently passed away, after nearly half a century devoted to the 
temporal and spiritual well-being of the people of India. He died on February 13th, 179S. 

Not only his converts, but the poor generally, mourned for the good " Padre," and 
all classes seemed to feel his death as a personal loss. Serfojee, in defiance of Hindu 
custom, attended his funeral, and wept bitterly as he laid a gold cloth on the bier ; the 
funeral hynui was drowned in the cries and wailings of the poor. 

Three 3'ears later, Serfojee raised, at his own expense, a marble monument to his 
beloved friend and " father." It was executed by Flaxman, and represented very 
graphically the death of Schwartz. The epitaph carved upon the stone which covers 
the ashes of the missionary was wi-itten by the young prince, and is said to be the 
first instance of Enghsh verse ever written by a Hindu : — 

" Fixm wast thou, humble and wise, 
Honest, pure, free from dis^'uise ; 
Father of orphans, the widow's support, 
Comfort in sorrow of every sort. 
To the benighted, dispenser of light, 
Doing and pointing to that which is right. 
Blessing to princes, to people, to me. 
May I, mj' father, be worthy of thee, 
Wisheth and prayeth thy Sarabojee." 

Five years before Cihristian Friedrich Schwartz, who was '■ by birth a German, bj- 
ordination a Danish clergyman, and by long connection with the C'hristian Knowledge 
Society a labourer for the Church of England," passed away, William Care}', the 
Northampton cobbler, had landed in Calcutta, and the story of his marvellous career 
will form the subject of our next chapter on India. But it is convenient here to turn 
aside for a while from the torrid regions of India to the Arctic circle, in order to 
trace the roiaantic beginning of a mission to Greenland, which was also of Danish 



60 



II.— IN DANISH NORTH AMERICA. 

CHAPTER III. 

HANS EGEDE AND GREENLAND. 

Hans Etrede— A Strange old Chronicle of Earl}- Colonists in Greenland — A Lost People — Egede's Project- 
Opposition from Wife and People — How the Opposition was Overcome — Appeal to the King of Denmark — 
Long Disappointments — At Last Hans Egede sails for Greenland — No Sign of the Colonists — The Eskimos — 
Hardships and Difficulties — Left Alone — Egede a Poor Teacher — Introduction of Small-pox into Greenland, 
and Terrible Results — The People's Hearts Softened by Calamity — Egede Prostrated by the Loss of his 
Wife — Returns to Denmark — Death in 1758. 

TN the Lofoden Islands, separated from the mainland of Norway by narrow straits, 
-^ pierced by long, deep fiords, and siuTounded by rocks and mountains, there nestles 
the little village of Yaagen. In the year 1707, Hans Egede, a young Dane, fiesh from 
the University of Copenhagen, took up his abode m Vaagen as the village pastor. He 
was only twenty-one when he entered upon his new duties, but he soon became popular 
with the simple fisher folk, and entered heartily mto the joys and sorrows of their 
quiet lives. He loved the place, with its wild scenery, its ice and snow, its lofty peaks 
and precipitous rocks ; and he loved the httle church, where, in quaint costumes, the 
villagers would assemble to hear from his lips the AVord of Life. Moreover, he loved 
one of his congregation, and he had not been long in Vaagen before Gertrude Rask 
became his wife. 

Very calm and pleasant was the home-life of Hans Egede. His wife was m full 
sympathy wth him ; ho had gained the affection of the villagers for miles round, and 
there seemed to lie before him nothing but a peaceful and happy future among the 
people to whom he ministered. But, Avhen a few years had passed away, those 
who knew him best observed a change in his manner — a moodiness and a reserve 
altogether unusual to him, as if some burden oppressed his mind. In the long winter 
evenings he would shut himself up in his little study, and pore for hours over certain 
old books and papers that had come into his possession. 

When his fourth son was bom he named him Paul, and, takuig the child m his arms, 
he said, " I give thee this name in honour of the Great Apostle of the Gentiles." 
There was something so solemn in his utterance and so sad in his manner, that his 
wife, who had long watched with anxiety the change that had come over him, begged 
him not to hide from her the cause of his trouble. At first he sought to evade her 
questioning, but at length he told her everything. , 

Three years before, an ancient chronicle had fallen into his hands, and in it he had 
read how, in the tenth century, an Icelander, Erik Rauthi, or Eric the Red-haired, had 
slam a fellow Viking, and for his misdeed had been sentenced by the Thomces, or High 
Court of Justice, to three years' banishment. Erik fitted up a ship, and, with a band 
of followers, set sail northwards to seek out a new land which, tradition said, a fellow- 
countryman had once seen when driven out of his course on a marauding excursion. 



II —In Dasish Xoetq America.] 



ERIK THE RED-HAIRED. 



61 



"W'Ik.'U the period of banishment had ehipsed, Erik returned and announced the discovery 
of a new land, a Green Lund of grassy valleys and pleasant woods, a land far greener 
than his own beloved Iceland — a land where " the rivers were thick with fish and the 
grass dropped butter." 

The news spread lilvc wildfire, and in a short time twenty-five vessels full of colonists 
sailed with Erik to Greenland to found a colony. That was in the year 985. In the 
year 1000, Erik's son, Leife, when on a visit to Norway, at the court of the famous King 
Olaf Tryggveson, was brought under the influence of Christianity, and returned to Green- 
land with a priest, who baptised all the inhabitants, including Erik the Red-haired. Not 




THE FIKST GREENLAND COLONISTS. 



long after this, the Archbishop of Trondhjem consecrated a priest, named Arnold, as first 
Bishop of Greenland. The settlers increased and multiplied, Christianity spread amongst 
them, towns and villages sprang up, a cathedral, churches, and convents were built. 
Historical records gave particulars of seventeen bishops as presiding over the see ; regular 
conununieation was kept up with the mother country, and a letter, preserved in the 
\ atican Ijibrary, relates " that the colonists paid their Peter's pence regularly in walrus 
hides and ivory." In 140{) another bishop was sent out', but whether lie reached his 
destination no one ever knew. 

From that year, all communication with Greenland was broken oft', and the 
fate ot Erik's flourishing colonies remains a secret to this daj'. Whether the ice closed 
round, so that no one could enter or depart ; whether the black pest, which was 



62 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [II.-in Danish 

desolating Europe, found its way there ; whether a hostile fleet destroj'cd the colonies ; 
or whether all these causes combined, there is no history to tell. 

When Hans Egede, the pastor of the hamlet of Vaagen, read these chronicles, his 
heart grew hot and restless. He pictured to himself the poor (jrreenlanders, dwelling 
behind those barriers of ice, cut oti" for three hundred years from civilisation, and sinking 
back into the black night of heathenism. The vision haunted him night and day ; he 
seemed to be constantly hearing their cry, " Come over and help us," and he longed to 
be their deliverer. 

This was the subject which had been preying on his mind, and which hitherto he had 
not breathed to either his wife or to any member of his congregation. There were many 
reasons for his reticence. He was greatly attached to the people among whom he 
ministered, and was successful in his labours ; the duty of providing for his wife and 
growing family was binding upon him ; the difficulties and dangers of the attempt wei'e 
apjiallmg, and he could not satisfy himself that it was the will of God he should 
abandon everything to embark in so perilous an undertaking. Moreover, he felt certain 
that from all quarters he would meet with the most sti'eniunis opposition, and be branded as 
an enthusiast or a madman. More than once he had I'csolved to abandon all thought of 
the matter, but this he found impossible ; and, as a relief to his mind, pendmg the time that 
he should feel constrained to finally decide, he addressed a memorial on the subject to the 
King of Denmark, in the hope that some steps might be taken, even if he were not selected, 
to search for the " lost colonies," and to carry the blessings of Christianity and civilisation 
to the Greenlanders. Copies of the memorial were sent to the Bishops of Bergen and 
Trondhjem, who promised to have the matter brought under the notice of the king. 

When Hans Egede " made a clean breast " to his wife, and told hej of all the dreams 
and hopes and fears which he had hitherto kept secret, and thus explained the cause of 
his moodiness and gloom, she was filled with dismay and horror. To go to Greenland, and 
face innumerable perils, if not certain death, in the vague hope of finding colonies which 
had been abandoned for hundreds of years ; to give up a settled income and a useful 
position, and the certain means of doing good, for merely visionary dreams, seemed to her 
like folly bordering on insanit}'. Not only his wife, but his own and his wile's mother 
entreated him to forego his rash project, which, they urged, would plunge himself and his 
family into ruin. 

Hans was in sore perplexity. He hesitated, irresolute what to do. Constantly there 
rang in his ears the words of his Master, " He that loveth father or mother or wife or child 
more than ife, is not worthy of Me," and he loathed himself for his want of faith and 
courage, ilcanwhile the news spread through the village that ho had a visit to Green- 
land in contemplation, and forthwith a deputation of the most influential ^ men among 
his congregation waited upon him, to say that the whole parish was in grief, and to 
urge him, by many cogent arguments, not to abandon a post to which they were sure 
God had called him, for one of his own seeking. "Wait and see what the ^xill of the 
Lord is," urged a faithful old friend \\ho headed the deputation. " If it is His will. He 
will give you a sign that none of us shall be able to gainsay." 

Hans Egede yielded to these solicitations, and, moreover, made a promise to his wife 



North Amkki, a.] HASS EGEDE IN BERGEN. 63 

that he would take no further step in the matter without consulting her. But there came 
no peace or rest to him in consequence of this decision ; on the contrary, his mmd was 
distracted, his conscience smote him, and, during a whole year, he suffered more mental 
agony than he had thought it possible any one could endure and live. At the end of 
that time, circumstances were at work which produced a complete change in himself 
and in his projects. The tongue of slander had heen heard in the village ; certain cruel 
and untruthful calumnies against the character of the home-life of the pastor had been 
circulated by evilly-disposed persons; old friends and neighbours grew cold and sus- 
picious, and Mrs. Egede declared that she could never again find happiness in Vaagen. 

Then Hans cpiestioned with himself, and asked his wife, whether it might not be that 
this was the sign the Lord was givmg them, to conquer their unwillingness to go to 
Greenland as bearers of His truth to the heathen. He begged her to give herself to 
prayer for guidance, while he also would seek to know what the Lord would have him 
to do. A few days later, his wife came to him, with tears in her eyes, not of sorrow, but of 
joy, and, flinging her arms around his neck, begged him to forgive her for her past selfish- 
ness in seeking to thwart his plans, and expressing her readiness to go, that verj' day if 
need be, to (jireenland. As she hung npon his neck, she repeated those words, so full of 
tenderness, " Where thou goest, I will go ; and where thou dwellest, I will dwell ; and there 
will I be buried. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." 

That day Hans wrote to the Bishop of Bergen and the Bishop of Trondhjem, urging 
them to assist him in his plans, but their replies were unsatisfactory. They stated that the 
disturbed state of the country was a drawback to the enterprise, that the merchants 
showed an imwillingness to take up the matter, and that he must wait patiently until the 
war with Sweden was over, when they would again bring the subject before the King. 

Wearily passed the months, and the prospect of the return of peace seemed further 
off than ever. So, urcred by his wife, Hans determined to resign his livino' at Yaayen, 
and to go to Bergen and prosecute the object of his memorial in person. It was a bitter 
day m the history of the little Norwegian village when Hans Egede bade farewell to 
his flock. All the old coldness had passed away, the slanderous reports had Icen 
disproved and forgotten, and every man and woman and child felt his departure as a 
personal loss. (3n the day when he sailed aAvay from the hamlet he loved so well, and 
where ten of the best years of his life had been spent, the people gathered round him with 
tearful eyes, and wrung his hand, and uttered, Avith choking voices, their words of farewell. 
Had Hans Egede been a superstitious man, he would have regarded as an evil augury the 
intelligence he received on the eve of his departure, namely, that a ship from Bergen had 
recently been wrecked off the Greenland coast, and that the crew, Avho had escaped to land, 
had not only been murdered, but devoured, by the savage natives. This was fresh 
ground for the relatives and friends of Hans to urge him to reconsider the step he 
proposed, and to charge him with being willing to wantonly sacrifice the lives of his 
wife and family to a mania for notoriety. 

But Hans was not to be moved. He had put his hand to the plough, and he would 
not look back. Arrived in Bergen, however, he had more than enough to try the strongest 
faith. Everything seemed against him. ilany people to whom he told the object of his 



64 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [II.-In Dakish 

visit, regarded liim as mad ; others alleged that he was a victim to religious delusion. 
Not a soul seemed inclined to render him any assistance. Some urged him to wait until 
the war with Sweden was concluded, and the fall of Charles XII. at the siege of 
Frederikshald led him to ho2:)e that peace would not be long delayed. To forward his 
plans, he visited Copenhagen, explained his scheme to the College of Missions, and was 
fortunate enough to obtain an audience of the King (Frederick lY.), who took great 
interest in spreading the Gosjjel among the heathen. The result of this visit was, that the 
King sent to the magistrates at Bergen to inquire whether the people of that port would be 
disposed to commence trade-relations with the Greenlanders. The Councillors met, and 
sununoned before them the captains and pilots who had been engaged in the whale-fishery ; 
but their testimony was so unanimous as to the dangers of those seas — of ships being- 
crushed in the ice, of crews starved to death, and of murders by the sa\'ages — that the 
Councillors determined not to take any part in the attempt to open up trade with Greenland. 

Depressed, but not in despair, Hans Egede then set to work to try what his own 
personal influence could do, and, to this end, he visited the Councillors one by one, and 
laid his plans before every man of wealth and position in Bergen, with the result that he at 
length saw his way to start a trading companj' ; but, at the last moment, the largest 
investor, a gentleman from Hamburo', withdrew from his enoaoements, the Crown declined 
to grant the privileges sought by the Company, and the whole scheme collapsed. 

This was but one of many disappointments. For four long years he had to wait, 
and during that wearj- time he left no stone unturned that could further his ends. 
He pleaded as a beggar at the doors of wealthy merchants ; he told the story of Erik 
the Red-haired, and of the " lost colonies," to manj' a wondering, crew, and offered to go 
m any ship that would take him out, but in vain. " Altogether, it is a smgular and 
heroic spectacle, of which that busy Norway port was, for the most part, unconscious. 
There are not many narratives in Missions so touching as the story of those four years, 
through which we see the tigyre of young Egede haunting the streets and quays, till 
everybody gets to know and wonder at him ; till the merchants shun him as a bore, 
and the sailors marvel with a kind of reverence as they see hun gazing wistfully after 
the departing ships, and at the comers men whisper that he has seen strange visions 
of the Lord, and tell how he left his parish and gave up everything to get to Green- 
land ; and how they have watched him go down to the forge with his little son, and 
take the hannner and blow the bellows with the smith, ' for they say a man must 
learn to do for himself in those far countries.' " * 

Throughout these years the courage of his wife never for a moment failed her, 
nor did she waver in her resolution. Many a time, when his heart grew sick by reason 
of hope deferred, she urged him on to renewed efforts, and bravely and cheerfully bore 
her full share of the discomforts and anxieties of that long period of suspense. 

At length, by means of subscriptions raised among pious people throughout the 
country, a ship was purchased to convey them to Greenland ; two other vessels — one for 
the whale-tisher^', and the other for colonists, who had determined to accompany the 

* Quoted in a paper ou •• Greenland ; its Mission.s and its Men," by Dr. Robert Brown. 



North Amlkica.] 



EGEDE SAILS FOR GREENLAND. 



65 



heroic missionary— were freighted, the king's consent to the enterprise was obtained, as 
well as the guarantee of a subscription of £45 a year to the missionary ; and, on the 
3rd of May, 1721 — just thirteen years after he had read for the first time the chronicles 
of Erik the Red-haired, and had determined in his mind to go out in search of the 




lost colonies — Hans Egede, with his wife and family and a band of colonists, sailed out 
of Bergen. Merrily the little fleet of three boats sped on : the Hope, in which Egede and 
his family were, taking the lead. But as they neared the Greenland coast a dense fog 
enveloped them, masses of loose ice encompassed the ship, a leak was sprung, and the 
captain in despair called upon the passengers to prepare for death, as escape was 
impossible. Presently a great storm arose, which threatened the immediate destruction 
of them all. But Providence " rode upon the storm : " the wind not only cleared away 
the fog, but drove back the ice, and, on the 3rd of July, with the loss of one ship, but 
5 



66 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (II.-Ix Danish 

with all lives spared, the voyagers landed at Ball's River, on the west coast of 
Greenland. 

A terrible disappointment awaited Hans Egede. Instead ot the Green Land of grassy- 
valleys and pleasant woods, described by Erik the Red-haired, there was nothing but 
unmitigated wastes of dreariness and desolation, and, instead of being surrounded on his 
arrival by stalwart Norsemen, his long-lost countrymen, he found himself in the midst 
of miserable and savage Eskimos. Without losing heart, however, the travellers set 
to work to build a house of stone and turf on an island now known as Hope Island, 
and were at first assisted by the Eskimos ; but when these reahsed that the voyagers 
intended to settle amongst them, they mtimated by signs that the ice and the snow 
would soon destroy them all, and that it would be wise for them to make good their 
retreat as fast as possible. 

When the thought was borne fuUy into the mind of Hans that the original object 
of his search was in vain ; that the early Christian colonists had indeed died out, or 
had, as tradition said, been murdered by the Greenlanders, a feelmg of uncertainty arose. 
Was he justified in risking the lives of so many by remaming on that inhospitable 
shore ? He took counsel with his wife, and they gave themselves to prayer. Then their 
resolution was taken ; they would settle down among these poor degraded pagan people, 
they would learn their language, and would devote themselves to the task of raising 
them to a higher life. 

That was a task of amazing difiiculty. The people, unable to imagine any motive 
for this invasion of their land, unless it were to avenge the murdered Norsemen, were 
at first very shy of the missionary and his band, and not only fled at their approach, 
but eventually fled from the miserable huts in which they dwelt. In course of time, 
however, this shyness wore away, and Egede availed himself of every opportunity to 
find out what manner of people they were among whom his lot was cast. 

The people themselves were anythmg but prepossessing. Little tawny-coloured men, 
?eldom reaching five feet in height, with broad bodies, wide and beardless faces, ridicu- 
lously small and unintelligent eyes, thick lips, and noses more or less depressed and 
broad at the base, with somewhat distended nostrils ; the women, so smgularl}- like the 
men that at first sight they were only distinguished fi-om them by a top-knot of hair, 
save and except th6 old women, who were easily recognised by their extreme ugliness, 
a total absence of teeth, and a bald place where in girlhood the top-knot used to be. 
The habits of the people were altogether repulsive. They dwelt in miserable huts 
dug in the earth, approached by narrow passages, where the atmosphere was stifling, 
and filth and dirt and every oftensive thing abounded. They seemed to revel in per- 
sonal uncleanliness, their only ablution consisting of moistening the fingers with saliva, 
and rubbing the salt spray from their faces, while the mothers used their tongues, like 
cats, to clean and polish their children ! ' 

As to their religion — which Egede could not of course understand imtil he had 
been some time among them — it was pagan of a very low type, although in their sacred 
rites there was nothing cruel or bloodthirsty. They had no temples, and no idols, but 
they believed in the existence of two great spirits and a kirge number of inferior 



North Ajierica.) ESKIMO LEGENDS. 67 

spirits. Tongarsuk, the great spirit, was supposed to communicate with the people 
through the agency of " Angekoks " (priests or wizards). This great spirit was wont to 
assume many forms — sometimes that of a man, sometimes that of a bear — but, whether 
represented in tangible form or as purely spirit, he was regarded with fear and rever- 
ence. The other great spirit, represented as a female, was supposed to typifj- the 
principle of evil, while the lesser deities presided over all the forces of nature, controlling 
the different elements, acting as guardians of the wild animals, and presiding over hunts. 
Some of these lesser spirits were believed to be vicious ; the spirit of the air, for example, 
was so capricious that the Eskimos were afraid to stir out after dark for fear of 
offending him. 

The " Angekoks " were the interpreters of the wills of these spirits to the people. 
They pi'ofessed, by means of their familiar spirit, to charm away bad luck from the 
hunter, to change the weather, and to heal the sick. They also spread among the 
people certain traditions or beliefs, some of which may be sununarised here : — That 
matter is eternal ; that the sun and moon are brother and sister, who having quarrelled, 
the sun bit off one of his sister's breasts, and the maimed appearance presented by the 
moon is caused hj her turning her wounded side to the earth ; that the Aurora 
BoreaUs is the game of " hockey played by the departed spirits of friends and relatives 
— and so forth. 

It was not long before Hans Egede was brought into contact with the " Angekoks." 
As soon as the natives found that he was determined to settle among them, thej- call^ 
upon the " Angekoks " to destroy him by theii- arts and incantations. They tried, and 
failed, and thereupon, after the manner of conjurers and necromancers generally, they 
made the best of their defeat, declaring that Egede was himself a wizard. 

Matters did not present a very promising appearance. Egede found it extremely 
difficult to acquire the language, and, as he was burning to communicate the truths of 
the Gospel, he employed his son to draw illustrations of Scripture facts, which to the 
extent of his ability he explained, although it must be confessed this mode of teaching 
was soon destined to failure, as it only provoked the merriment of the Eskimos. 

Meanwhile, the colonists had been growing uneasy ; there seemed to be ver}- little 
prospect of trade ; the ship that had been promised with stock of provisions had failed. 
Under these circumstances they resolved to leave the country, and urged Hans to do 
the same. But he was loth to relinquish a position he had laboured so hard to obtain, 
although he was in doubt as to the moral right of remaining alone among the savages, 
and running the risk of losing wife and children by starvation or treacher}'. In his 
dilemma his heroic wife came to the rescue. " Wait a while," she said ; " it may be that 
while we are giving way to doubt and fear, God's providence is working some good plan 
for us. Wait but a week or two and see." To give emphasis to her words, she 
declined to make any arrangements whatever for leaving as the others had done. 

Three weeks passed away ; the colonists mocked at the fanaticism of their leader 
and his wife, and the Eskimos scoffed at them ; but they waited on until it seemed that 
there was nothing before them but retreat or starvation, when one day a sail was seen 
in the horizon, and soon after another. They were the promised vessels, ]aden with 



68 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[11.— In Danish 



ample provisions and necessaries, and, in addition, their captains brought the welcome 
news that tlae Bergen merchantmen were not only detenuined to open up a wider 
trade with Greenland, but that the king had pledged himself to continue his support 
to the Mission. 

We shall not follow in detail the history of the next few years, further than 
to say that Egede made progress with the language, at first by visiting the Green- 
landers in their filthy huts, and afterwards by inducing some of them to take up 




ESKIMO HDTS. 



^- '•■ their abode with him; that 

^^'^ he made several visits into 

the interior, in the course of which he 
came upon some traces of the " lost 
colonies," in the shape of ruined houses 
and farms, and pieces of metal which he believed to be portions of church bells ; 
and that every year the hardships and struggles for life grew more and more 
severe. Never did soil appear more unfruitful than that on which he sought to cast 
the " seed of the Word." It was in vain that he offered a fish-hook for every letter 
in the language a Greenlander would learn : and it seemed in vain to tell them the 
story of the Gospel. For every story of the Bible, they would tell a legend of their 
country ; for every miracle of the Scriptiu'e they would relate a wonder performed, or 
alleged to have been performed, by their "Angekoks;" everything the missionary taught 
they turned into ridicide, in which they were aided and abetted by the wizards. Only 



NOKIH AAlEiUCi.J 



AMONG THE ESKIMOS. 



69 




ESKIMOS HUNTING SEALS. 



one subject ever seemed to make the least impression upon them, and that was the 
doctrine of the immortaUty of the soul, and a heaven without night, without sickness, 
and without separation. 

Although Hans Egede had all the requisite qualifications of a pioneer, in the 
shape of zeal, courage, and devotion, he was not an ideal teacher, and he resorted to 
means which were unworthy of him ; as, for instance, in threatening the natives that 
if they forgot what they had been taught, the king of his country would send ships 



70 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [II.-Ik Danish 

and carry them all away and compel them to learn, or else send soldiers to punish, 
and, if need be, slay them. Threats are poor weapons at the best, and generally turn 
against the user. But Egede did not confine hirasell' to threats — he proceeded to 
blows, and was wont to inflict corporal punishment of a somewhat severe kind upon 
" Angekoks " and the common people alike, when they over-taxed his patience. 

On more than one occasion the colonists were brought to the very verge of star- 
vation. For long periods they lived entirely on seal's-flesh, without bread or meal, and 
many times Egede went on long and perilous voyages in the hope of falling in with 
Dutch whalers, from whom he might obtain temporary assistance. Discouraging 
reports, sometimes greatly exaggerated, travelled from time to time to Bergen ; the 
Greenland trade did not yield the returns that had been anticipated, and, in 1728, 
the Society which had been formed to support the Mission and the colonists was dis- 
solved. This step did not jJi'oduce the effect that was anticipated, for the interest of 
the king (Frederick IV.) revived in both the trade and the Mission. He sent out 
ships and soldiers, artificers and workmen, colonists and missionaries, and ample 
provisions ; but the expedition was not a success. Scarcely had the winter set in 
before sickness broke out among the new-comers ; forty of them died, and the re- 
mainder revolted, and visited poor Hans Egede with theii" maledictions as the author 
of all their misery. 

Still, to be surrounded even by malcontents in that desolate and awful country, in 
a climate so rigorous that " water placed on the fire to boil will sometimes freeze before 
the heat can get the upper hand," was better than to be left to bear its hardships 
alone ; and yet this was the fate that, in the near future, was awaiting Hans Egede. 
Soon after the accession of Christian VI. to the throne of Denmark, his Ministere 
advised that, as there appeared to be little or no chance that the Greenland trade 
would ever be a source of revenue, the colonies established there should be 
abandoned, and the coloiiists ordered to return within a year, unless, at their own risk, 
any of them should wish to remain. In 1731 this order was sent, and at first it seemed 
to Egede that all the labour and anxiety of his life had been in vain. But again his 
faithful wife came, with her strong heroic spirit, to his aid, and bade him not to entertam 
the thought of abandoning his mission, while to her entreaties the Greenlanders added 
theirs, and implored him to stay amongst them. With the exception of eight or ten 
men, who were left to guard the pi'operty of the colonists, which could not be taken 
away at once, the whole of the settlers in Greenland took their departure, and Hans 
Egede, with his wife and family, were left alone in that desolate and dreary land. 

Partly owing to the heroism of this action, partly to a strong appeal for assistance, 
and partly to a revival in the blubber trade, the king relaxed the stringency of his 
order, and at the end of a year sent out further supplies. Hope once more revived. 
But it was short-lived. 

When the colonists left Greenland, they took with them to Denmark a curiosity 
in the shape of an Eskimo boy. In 1733 he was sent back, but had not been long 
in his native country — where he was treated as the " lion " of the season, and welcomed 
in every hut in the place to tell of his travels — than he fell ill ; and the illness proved 



North America.] A TERRIBLE PLAGUE. 71 

to be that horrible scourge of civilisation, suiall-pox, a disease that had never before 
been knowai in Greenland. With wonderful promptitude, Egede, immediately he dis- 
covered the nature of the disease, sent word everywhere to warn the Greenlanders, 
and to urge them to remain in their own huts and to take all possible precautions. 
His advice was disregarded. Already the mischief had begun, and the consequences 
that ensued were most disastrous. Far and wide the disease spread, and the Green- 
landers were panic-stricken as they saw its swift and terrible ravages ; many committmg 
suicide as soon as they were attacked, as, in almost every mstance — so malignant was 
the form of the disease — death rapidly ensued, attended with fearful suffering. 

It was an awful experience for Hans Egede ; but, happily, he had not to bear it 
alone. There had recently airived in Greenland some Moravian missionaries — of 
whom we shall have more to say presently' — and these devoted men threw themselves 
fearlessly into the work of ministering to the sick; while young Paul Egede showed 
that he had inherited not only his father's faith, but also his self-denying heroism. 
The story of that terrible time has been told at length,* and it is one of the most 
appalling in the history of missions. Here, there, and everywhere' the devoted Hans 
and his son were visiting the wretched huts, seeking to solace the agonising hours 
of the dying. In many places they found groups of empty houses with the dead 
lying outside in the snow ; and the houses of the missionaries were turned hito 
hospitals, where all who fled to them were tended with the utmost care. For a whole 
year the plague raged, and it turned the land into a great charnel-house. In the 
immediate neighbourhood of the colony, upwards of two thousand persons perished 
while, for forty leagues north and south, the disease wrought terrible havoc, and traders 
who afterwards visited the country declared that for thirty leagues north of the 
colony every house was empty. 

There was little to mitigate the horror of that year of pestilence, and yet Egede 
was not without some reward. Many of the Greenlanders to whom he had ministered, 
clung to him in the time of their trial, and gave him tokens of their appreciation of 
what he had done for them. One, in particular, who had been wont at other times 
to turn into ridicule everything the missionary said, changed completely in his 
demeanour, and as he lay dying said to him, " You have done for us what our country- 
men would not do. You have fed us when we were starving, you have buried our 
dead, who would otherwise have been left for the dogs and the foxes, and you have 
told us of the true God and of the life to come." 

The strain of this terrible time told materially upon the health and spirits of Hans 
Egede, and he felt he could no longer carry on active work with his old vigour. Moreover, 
he felt it necessary that new colonies should be opened up, and a larger body of workers 
be induced to enter the field. His son Paul, who had studied at the Mission College at 
Copenhagen, had been appointed, with two others, to a station in Disco Bay, where they 
were to found a new colony. But the resources at their disposal were altogether inadequate, 
and Egede determined to return to Norway, and, by exertions in his own country, continue 
to sustain and develop the Missions. To this proposition his wife made no opposition. 
* Crautz's 'History of Greenland." Egede (Hans) " Naohricht der Gronlaudischen Mission." 



72 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



fit.— In Daktsit 



Proofs had been abundant that they had not laboured in vain, and neither of them doubted 
that the good seetl which had been sown would yet yield its harvest. 

But a sore trial awaited him. On the 21st of December, 1735, his wife, who had so 
nobly aided him in all his eftbrts, cheering him when depressed and nerving him when 
his courasre failed, was called to her rest. It was the heaviest blow that could fall on him 
and for some time he seemed stunned by the force of it. His strength gave waj', and for 




egede's minde (egede's memory) in winter. 



some months he was in a state of bodily prostration and great mental suffering. He 
thought that God had forsaken him, and so great was his despondency that he 
states " he hated the Word of God, and dared not face public worship." In August, 
1736, he preached his farewell sermon from the words of Isaiah, "I said, I have 
laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain; yet surely my 
judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God." A few days later, in com- 
pany with his youngest son and two daughters, and bearing with him ^ all that was 
mortal of his beloved wife for interment in her own land, he embarked for Copen- 
hagen, after having laboui'ed in Greenland for fifteen years. 

Soon after his arrival in Copenhagen he had an audience of the king, who, on hearing 
of the state of the Mission in Greenland, acquiesced in Egede's suggestion that a seminaiy 
should be instituted fjr the education of students for the work, and that a knowledge of 
the language should be acquired, in order that they might at once on arrival proceed to 



N..RTH Amerka.i last days OF EGEDE. 73 

their work of instruction. When the seminary was opened, Hans Egede was appointed the 
superintendent, and for some years, until 1747, he continued to hold the ottice, in which he 
rendered important services. But in that year, in consequence of failing strength, he 
retired to the little village of Stubbek-Joping, where the remaining years of his life were 
spent. One day, in November, 1758, he called his children to him, and told them that " in 
the night, one of the blessed dead had seemed to beckon to him ;" then, begging that his 
bod}^ might I'est beside that of his wife in Copenhagen, the old man fell asleep, in the 
sevent3'-third year of his age. 

If the reader should chance to go to Greenland, he will not fail to pay a visit to 
Egede's Minde (" Egede's Memory "), the capital of the trading district of the same name. 
There is not much to see. There is a harbour and jetty, the official residence of the 
Governor and his assistant, storehouses for the produce of the hunt and fishery, a house 
for unmarried white men emplo3-ed in the settlement, and, scattered around, the huts 
of the natives. But this is onl}- one of many settlements, and all the settlements 
throughout Greenland are now Christian, the last professed pagan having died at 
Proven nearly forty years ago. It will be remembered that some Moravians had joined 
Hans Egede in 1733, and that when he left Greenland, his son Paul was carrying on 
missionary work among the natives. How that work spread and prospered under Danes 
and Moravians, until the whole land became Christian, we wiU now narrate. It is 
a stirring sequel to the story of Hans Egede, the Apostle of Greenland, of whom the 
Eskimos speak to-day with gratitude antl reverence, and say, " He was our more than 
father." 



CHAPTER lY. 

THE MORAVIANS IN GREENLAND. 

Origin and Growth of the Moravian Brethren — They Early Commence Mission Work in the West Indies — Staoh 
and Boehnisch— Stacli and Two Companions Start for Greenland without Funds — Relis:ious Discord 
between the Moravians and Egede — The Breach Healed by Common Service in Calamity — Fresh Arrivals 
of Moravians— Stach, Boehnisch, and .T(.)hu Beck — On tlie Verge of Starvation— The Work of a Little 
Child— At last John Beck Hears Kayamak ask the Way of Salvation— Character of the First Greenland 
Convert— A New Era in the Mission— The Missionaries Leam from Kayamak what to Preach— Change 
in the Greenland Eskimos — Terrible Privations— New Settlements — Death of the Apostolic Trio, and 
their Character— All Greenland now Christian— Greenland at the Present Day— Depopulation of the 
Country. 

rpHE Church of the United Brethren, or Unita^ Fratntm (commonly called in this 
-*- country " the Moravian Church," from Moravia, one of its ancient homes), claims to 
have descended from the Sclavonian branch of the Greek or Eastern Church. In the 
ninth century two Greek ecclesiastics, Cp-illus and Methodius, introduced Christianity into 
Moravia and Bohemia, and, soon after, there followed the long and bitter struggle between 
the Eastern and Western Churches. During this period, the infant Church was cradled 
in storms and beset by cruel persecutions, but, in common with the Waldenses of 
France and Italy, the Bohemians and Moravians resisted the power of the Papal See, 
and adhered to the simplicity of their original faith. 



74 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[It.— In Danish 




I H' 
J 

English Miles 
o 5 ip 20 30 40 s o 

l^oi-auian W/ssJo/i Statioii, & Settlements 
underlined t/ius-.- HERRN HUT . Gnadenfp.td 
Places of note in the history of the Ancient 
Church of the brethren shown t/ius.-TU\.ntK 
Boundarij between Austria and German 
Other Boundaries 



iS° 



Walker &■ Boulall 1 



lAP OF MORAVIA AJTD SUEROTJNDING DISTRICT. 



In 1457, sixty years before the Reformation, the Church of the United Brethren was 
commenced in Bohemia out of the remnants of the ancient Bohemian Church. Some 
of the earnest followers of John Huss united together " on Scriptural principles of faith 
and practice," and adopted the name of Unitas Fratrum, or the Unity of the Brethren, 
with " the Bible as their creed, and the Law of Christ as their rule." They soon became 
organised as a Church, and claiming, like all the old Eastern Churches, to have 
practically maintained a succession of bishops from apostolic times, they had their 
episcopal orders, synodal and episcopal government, and a strict discipline. 

Fiery trials and persecutions surrounded them, but the Church stood its ground in 
Bohemia and Moravia, and increased in extent and influence, until it embraced among 
its adherents a large proportion of the population, and many of the noblest families of 
those countries. Subsequently they found themselves unable to bear up agamst their 



North America.] COUNT ZIXZEXDORF AND THE MORAVIAN CHURCH. 75 

persecutors, who beset them on every hand, banishing their ministers, and sending 
their leading men to imprisonment and death. 

A httle band — the remnant of the flock — fled to Poland, with one Amos Comenius, 
a learned and zealous brother, who was consecrated bishop, and set himseli' to the task of 
rebuilding his church. He was so far successful that, on his appeal " to all the Protestant 
prmces of Europe " for help, he obtained the sympathy of England, which was shown 
by the issue of an Order in Council, in 1715, " for the rehef and for the preserving the 
Episcopal Churches in Great Poland and Polish Russia." 

In its original seats, the Church of the United Brethren had become almost extinct. 
But the light which had been kindled, although it had long been burning dimly, never 
died out, and in 1722 a singular "awakening" took place in some villages of Moravia 
among the descendants of members of the Church, who, in secret, still adhered to the 
tenets of their fathers. For conscience sake these " Moravians " emigrated into Saxony, 
where, on the estate of Nicholas Le\vis, the noble and gifted young Count of Zinzendorf, 
they founded a small settlement, and named it Herrnhut (The Watch of the Lord). 
Here they were joined by like-minded persons from the Lutheran and Reformed Churches 
of the Continent, by Count Zinzendorf himself, and many of his friends, and by fresh 
detachments from iloravia. 

" In the course of a few years these settlers formed themselves, under the leadership of 
Zinzendorf, into a distinct religious Society, as a close spiritual brotherhood in the bosom 
of the Protestant National Church. They also gradually adopted the ecclesiastical forms, 
discipline, and orders of the Ancient Church of the United Brethren of Bohemia and 
Moravia, and then, as the Renewed Unitas Fratrum, took up their position as a distinct 
Protestant Church m the midst of the other Reformed Churches, maintaining, however, 
also their character as a select Society (or ecclesiola — a little church) within the outward 
Church, as seen in the National Churches of Christendom. In this sense they have been 
joined by many persons, even clergymen, in other churches, who, whilst belonging to ' the 
Brethren,' at the same time retain their membership and office in their own church." * 

In the course of ten years the little settlement at Herrnhut numbered aliout 600 
souls, and by that time the distinctive work of that Church — the spread of the Gospel 
among the heathen in foreign lands — had commenced. In all the history of Missions 
there is nothing more beautiful, or of more thrilling interest, than the labours of the 
■' ignorant and unlearned men," who, without scrip or purse, and dependent upon their 
o\\Ti labour for their maintenance, started on the most hazardous and difficult journeys ; 
to carry the light of the Gospel into the most inclement regions and the most unpromising 
.spheres. 

The first to go forth were Leonard Dober and David Nitschman, to establish a 
mission among the negi-o slaves in the West Indies ; and in the following year two 
other brethren set out for Greenland. In narrating what befell these latter two, 
and in our further descriptions of the progress of Moravian Missions, we shall continue 

♦■■The Moravians: Who and What are They .' ' (Moravian publication). [We gladly also aoknowledpre 
in this place the kind aid g-enerously rendered by the Moravian Society in London, in placinjf relics, illustrations, 
and documents at our disposal for the preparation of this work. — Ed.] 



76 



COXQUESTS OB' THE CROSS. 



II.— In Danish 



the history of that Church of the United Brethren, whose origin we have now briefly 
sketched. 



It fell upon a day in 1731, that two young men were at work together levelling 
some ground for a cemetery on the Hutberg, in Upper Lusatia, a portion of the estate of 
Count Zinzendorf which he had given to the oppressed Christians of Moravia, to dwell 
upon, and to rear what was soon to become the famous Herrnhut, or \^'atch of the Lord. 
Pausing awhile in their work, they began to talk about Greenland and the self-denying 
labours of Hans Egede and his wife, of whom Count Zinzendorf had given them some 
particulars on his return from Copenhagen four years before. 

Matthew Stach, the younger of the two speakers, was only twenty years of age, and had 

spent his boj-hood in tending cattle, and his youth 
in domestic service. His father was a small farmer, 
and, in course of time, Matthew would have come in 
for the inheritance, which would have sriven him a 
definite place and prospect in life. But, from a 
child, his mind had received religious hnpressions, 
and when the persecutions in Moravia drove the 
Christian confessors to seek an asylum in Lusatia, he 
cast in his lot with his kindred, and determined to 
brave the poverty, hardships, and distress with 
which the emigrants had to struggle. On his arrival 
at Hen-nhut, he performed the most menial offices 
of domestic work in connection with the Orphan 
School, vaiying his employment by spinning wool, 
until at length he took up with the outdoor work 
in which we find him engaged. 

His companion, Frederick Boehnisch, the son 
of a miller, was his senior by one year, and older 
AVhen quite a child, he was wont to go with a 
friend into a quiet corner of his father's garden, where, kneeling down, " with their 
hands stretched out towards Saxony," they would pray that they might be delivered 
from their persecutors, and find their way to the new colony. He was still a boy, only 
just turned tifteen, when the desire to join the emigrants in Saxonj^ became irresistible, 
and, having obtained the consent of his father, he left his home one night in compan}' 
with others like-minded, and, breaking through the cordon of soldiery and watchers 
drawn about the homes of the " heretics," made his way under cover of /the night into 
forest thicknesses, and by circuitous routes, until he succeeded in crossing the frontier, 
and eventually in finding his way to Herrnhut, where, at that time, onl}' two or three 
small houses had been erected. Boehnisch was at first employed in weaving, and then 
as assistant in the school ; but neither of these occupations suited his health, and it was 
no little relief to him when he was relegated to outdoor work, where he was brought 
more in contact with his friend Matthew Stach. 




COUNT ZINZENDORF. 



Still as rewarded his reliofious life. 



North A-mfrk a,] 



THE CONSECRATION OF STACK AND BOEHNISCH. 



77 



As the two friends paused in their work and talked together that day, they dis- 
covered that each had been cherishing a similar thought and wish. They had been 
told that the King of Denmark had determined to withdraw his support from the Mission 
of Egede in Greenland ; each had deplored the probability of so good a work being 
abandoned ; and each had been turning over in his mind whether it would be possible 
for him to go out and assist in the work there, as three of their brethren had gone to 
break up new ground in the West Indies. 

It was a daring desire, but they believed it was God-implanted, and though they 
were ignorant and unlearned men, and rich m nothing but love to God and man, they 




HERRNHUT. 



were resolved to go, "'• 

if only God and the 

consrreo'ation would sanction their doing so. 

Then they withdrew for a little while from 

the bare hill-side where they were levelUng 

the ground for the cemetery, and committed 

their thoughts and plans to God. " As we were both of one mind," says Matthew 

Stach, " and believed that our Saviour would keep His promise, ' If two of you shall 

agree on earth,' &c., therefore we retired to the wood just at hand, kneeled down 

before Him, and asked Him to clear our minds in this important matter, and to lead 

us in the right way. Our hearts were tilled with an uncommon joy, and we omitted not 

to lay our minds before the congregation of Herrnhut in writing, and then waited a 

long time in tranquillity." 

It was two years before their wish was gratified, and during that time Count Zinzendorf 
fully warned them of the dangers and difHculties of the task they proposed, of the 
almost unparalleled hardships which Egede had imdergone, and of the hopelessness 
of success unless they could succeed in learning the language of the Eskimos. Nor did the 
congregation readily accede to their request ; some of the older meTubers shook their 
heads, fearing that the desire might spring from love of adventiu'c and notoriety, or 



78 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [II.-Is Danish 

from the mere love of imitation. And this view was strengthened from the fact that 
the wording of their application somewhat closely resembled that of others who were 
being sent forth on missionary work. 

But the two friends remained perfectly true and steadfast to what they believed to 
be " the calhng of God," and their courage and enthusiasm spread to others. At the 
end of a year after they had first spoken on the subject to Count Zinzendorf, he gave 
them hope that their wish might some day be realised ; but another year was allowed 
to elapse before a mission to Greenland was formally sanctioned. Even then it was 
not as they had hoped and anticipated ; for when the elder of the congregation — 
one Augustin Neisser — announced that some of the brethren would at once go out 
to join Hans Egede, Frederick Boehnisch was absent on a journey to some of the 
brethren at a distance from Herrnhut. In these circumstances, Christian Stach volunteered 
to go with Matthew Stach, his cousin ; and Christian David, the first ordained elder of 
the congregation at Herrnhut, was a^jpointed to accompany the missionaries to Gi'een- 
land, and, after seeing them settled, to return. 

" There was no need of much time or expense for our equipment," says Matthew 
Stach. " The congregation consisted chiefly of poor exiles, who had not much to give 
us, and we ourselves had nothing but the clothes on our backs. Being accustomed 
to make a shift with a little, we did not trouble our heads how we should get to 
Greenland, or how we should live in that country. Some money having come from a 
friend at ^'enice, the day before our dejjarture, we received part of it to pay the expense 
of our journey to Cojjenhagen ; and, as we considered ourselves as richly provided for, 
we would take nothing of any person on the road, believing that He, who had sent a 
supply for our journe}' at the critical moment, would care for everything that was 
necessary for carrymg our purjjose into execution as soon as we should want it. Neither 
could any one give us much information on the subject of our work, or any instruction 
how we should proceed, for the congregation had as yet no experience in the manage- 
ment of missions. It was, therefore, left to ourselves to act in all circumstances as the 
Lord should lead us. In short, we neither knew nor imagined how it would be 
with us." 

They fared better than might have been expected under the circumstances. On their 
arrival in Copenhagen, they were met with discouragement, and were urged, by nearly all 
with whom they conversed, to abandon their wild scheme, and were told terrible stories of 
suffering in Arctic regions, and especially of the fate of a crew that had been ice-bound 
and every member frozen to death, one stiffened corpse having been found " with his hand 
on the log-book, where the date he had last written was grown thirteen jears old." Still, 
they met with some encouragement. They heard that the king had -resolved to send 
further supplies to Hans Egede, and also, what was to them a source of great 
satisfaction, that the Count von Pless, one of the Ministers of State, was much interested in 
Greenland missions, and had induced a merchant to send out a trading-vessel to Disco Bay. 
David Christian lost no time m obtaining an interview with Von Pless, and laying before 
him an account of the enterprise that had brought the Moravians thus far on their journey. 
The Count naturally asked them how, in the event of reaching Greenland, they thought of 



North America. ARRIVAL IN GREENLAND. 79 

supporting themselves, to which they replied, " With the blessing of God, we will work 
with our hands, and cultivate the earth, and we will build a house for ourselves, in order to 
be chargeable to no man." 

" But," said the Count, " your scheme so far is impracticable. There is no soil to 
cultivate, neither is there wood in that country wherewith you can build." 

" Then we will dig a hole in the ground, and live there," they answered. Von Pless 
was greatly charmed with the earnestness and simplicity of the men, and, feeling convinced 
that they were endowed with the first qualifications for the task they proposed to them- 
selves, he warndy espoused their cause, obtained for them an interview with the King, set 
on foot a public subscription, to which he himself gave liberally, to equip them for their 
work, and assisted them in the purchase of materials for building, implements of husbandry, 
and other articles necessary for their new life and labour. 

On the 10th of April, 1733, they sailed from Copenhagen, bearing with them a letter 
written by the king to Hans Egede, warmly commending the new missionaries to him, 
and, at the same time, announcmg his intention to prosecute the evangelisation of Green- 
land with new vigour. After a voyage of six weeks, during which several gales and a 
terrible storm were encountered, the Brethren arrived at Ball's River, where they found 
Hans Egede and his noble wife, by whom they were warmly welcomed. Without loss of 
time, they set to work to build themselves a house, on a spot near the colony of Good 
Hope, and named their settlement New Herrnhut, to show that they were guided by the 
same spirit which ruled among the Brethren in Saxony. 

But when this was done, they seemed to come to a standstill. They could not 
speak a word of Eskimo, and an unhappy difference had arisen between Egede and 
themselves, from no act of theirs, but consequent upon some lettei's which had been 
written to the Danish missionary, warning him against the Moravians as heretical in 
their doctrine.. Egede called upon them to state their views in writing, and this # 
widened the breach, as corresjjondence on disputed subjects too often does. 

Before pi'oceeding to show how the breach was healed, a few passages from one of 
the first letters written home by Matthew Stach may be given. He says : " What we 
sought for in this country we have found — that is, heathens who know not God, who care 
for nothing but catching seals, fish, and reindeer, and for that purpose are always moving 
about, living sometimes on the mainland, sometimes on one island and sometimes on 
another. We wish to tell these people that there is a God, a Saviour, a Holy Spirit; but we 
do not understand their language. We would visit them, but we do not know where thej 
dwell. Their whole manner is so different from ours that we cannot even make them 
understand by signs. Thus, dear brethren, you see our situation in Greenland. It 
is in situations like these that we may say to ourselves, ' Lose thy way, but do not 
lose thy faith.' Yes, the way may be missed by us here, but we every day remember 
this word, ' Keep Thou our minds in peace.' . . . AVhen we write next year, trim 
the torches of your faith, that the heat may warm us amid our ices." 

There is no better remedy for the wounds inflicted in theological controversy than for 
the disputants to stand aside for a while from their debatable ground, and sally forth 
together on some work of merc}'. This is what Hans Egede and the Moravians did, with 



80 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. til -In Danish 

the result that they never again took up against eacli other what has so often proved to 
be " a carnal weapon " — the pen. It was while their controversy was at its height that 
small-pox broke out among the people, and spread with such rapidity, and was of so 
virulent a character, that it threatened to depopulate the whole country.* The poor 
victims, who had never before seen disease in this horrible form, were panic-stricken. 
They quenched their burning thirst with iced water ; in their despair, many of them 
stabbed and drowned themselves ; everywhere there resounded the cries of the dying, 
while the dead lay m the snow outside the huts, awaiting burial. How Hans Egede 
and his heroic wife laboured night and day for the sufferers, we have already told. Om- 
Moravians were not one whit behind them in their self-denying zeal, although, being 
still ignorant of the language, they could not labour with the same effect. 

There was no rivalry now, except who should do most to relieve the others and to 
minister to the dying. For nine months the plague raged, and the whole coimtry around 
New Herrnhut became a desert. Then the Moravians fell ill with a scorbutic disorder 
which utterly prostrated them ; but, happily, they were not all attacked at the same time, 
and were thus able to help one another, while Egede and his wife tended them with 
great care and loving-kindness. 

At this time, Matthew Stach wrote home : " We are now in a school of faith, and our 
way is altogether in darkness. As yet, we see no signs of success among the heathen, nor 
can we perceive a trace of anything good among them. If we look to ourselves, we see 
nothing but misery within and without. We hardly know how to subsist in this country : 
nevertheless, we believe this is for the purifying of our souls, that we may be more 
strengthened for the service of the Lord. Our Lord Jesus wiU help us, as He helps all the 
wretched, and we would only be anxious about pleasing Him." And again : " We find not 
the bodily strength requisite to bear up in this land. Even our power to learn the language 
has fallen away ; nothing but what grace has wrought abides with us : but here we will stay 
till Jesus helps us." 

Help came in unexpected ways, as it usually does. Early in 1735, Matthew Stach had 
the gratification of welcoming his old friend and fellow-labourer Frederick Boehnisch, who, 
in spite of all the discouraging accounts that had been received, had never swerved for a 
moment in his desire to devote his life to the Greenland Mission. Accompanying him (for 
the Moravians, in their missionary work, generally followed the early example, and went 
forth " two and two ") was John Beck, a few years older than Boehnisch and Stach, but full 
of ardour, and capable of any amount of self-sacrifice. It was later in life in his case 
than it had been with his colleagues, that he was brought to religious decision. When it 
became known that he was a follower of Christ, a charge of heresy was brought against 
him, and, for want of any better plea, the charge was based upon the fact, that he no longer 
frequented the ale-house. " This is a strange thing, indeed," he replied. " When I lived as 
a heathen, no man minded ; but now, as soon as I live like a Christian, you bring it against 
mr as a crime." Nevertheless, he was brought to trial ; evidence was adduced that, in 
addition to the first charge, he had been found at prayer-meetings, and had sought to take 
others there too, and he was convicted and thrust into prison. But John Bock was a man 

* See pafre 71. 



North America.] 



NEW MORAVIA^^ ARRIVALS. 



81 



of mettle, and he thought that he could do better than waste the golden hours of his early 
manhood in a cell. He succeeded in getting out of his dungeon ; he scaled the high walls 
of the prison-yard, and jumped, without injury, to the ground. Soon, however, he was 
missed, and bloodhounds were set upon his track ; but he managed to escape his 
pursuers, and reached the colony of Herrnhut, in Lusatia, m safety. 

Scarcely had he told his tale, than he witnessed a scene which took a strong hold 
of his imagination. It was the simple religious service in which Christian David and 




MATTHEW STACU. 



Matthew and Christian Stach were " set apart ' for the Greenland Mission. He greatly 
admired the quiet heroism of those simple men, and longed that he might be some day 
counted worthy to join them. His wish was gratified. Both Stach and David had 
urged that he should be sent, and now the Greenland missionaries had the joy of 
counting him as a fellow-worker with them. Not long afterwards there arrived another 
important addition to the party — the widowed mother and the sisters of Matthew 
Stach — and by-and-bye their joy was full. 

But there were dark days before this came to pass. In 1735, after the death ot 
his wife, Hans Egede, worn out in mind and body, returned to Copenhagen ; Paul 
Egede, his son, went north to superintend the Disco Mission ; Christian David and 
Christian Stach had determined to return home as soon as possible. Thus the three 



82 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [II--1n- Danish 

friend-s were left alone. What they were called upon to endure is as difficult to imagine 
as it is to describe. The natives shunned them and held them in aversion. " If the 
missionaries had not come to their land," they argued, " the Eskimo boy would never 
have gone to Copenhagen, and if he had not gone to Copenhagen they would never 
have had their houses and their land desolated by smaU-pox, therefore the missionaries 
were to blame for the introduction of that scourge." 

In these circumstances, the relations between the missionaries and the natives were 
necessarily strained ; and there was also another barrier to theu' intercourse which only 
time could overcome. This was the difficulty of language. Although the missionaries 
applied themselves to its study with all earnestness, they seemed to make anything but 
satisfactory progress. As a matter of fact, their education had been of the most limited 
nature ; none of them had ever been instructed in grammar ; the time that Egede was 
mth them was short, and was interrupted by the constant demands of the sick and 
dying, and afterwards by the fatal illness of Mrs. Egede ; and now the natives dechned 
to give them any opportunity to practise conversation. They had, therefore, first to 
learn grammar, and this th^ could only do by mastering the Danish in which it was 
•written, and the Latin definitions iia which it abounded. 

Notwithstanding these difficulties, they applied themselves with amazing dihgence 
to acquire the language, and succeeded as far as words connected with the ordinary affairs 
of life were concerned. But when they sought to translate into this the figurative 
language of Scripture, its peculiar doctrines and its terms relating to experimental 
religion, they found they could not proceed ; the language of the Greenlanders appeared 
to be destitute of words that could in any way express these ideas. It was not for 
some years that they were able to overcome this difficulty ; and, as we shall find, success 
then resulted from the fact that when some of the natives embraced Christianity 
" they found words themselves to express the views and feelings of their hearts." 

Those were weary years of waiting, and never did men persevere more nobly in 
spite of the worst discouragements. When the natives ceased to shun the missionaries, 
they commenced, and sustained for several years, a systematic course of annoj^ance. 
Everything the missionaries said, the natives turned into ridicule ; everything they did, 
was made the subject of grotesque mimicry. They would apparently listen to their 
exhortations, and in the midst pretend to fall asleep ; they would ask for hymns to be 
sung, and then drown them with drums or howling. Nor was this aU. They pelted 
them with stones, besieged their huts and stole their manuscripts, broke their furniture, 
pilfered their food, and even attempted to spoil their boat (the gift of Egede), and drive 
it out to sea, in which case their last chance of subsistence would have gone. Nor 
were these annoyances merely practised for a little time, while -their wrath lasted ; 
they were systematically carried on for five long 3'ears, and were borne by the mis- 
sionaries vfith unexampled patience, although, as Matthew Stach wrote, " My soul is 
often in a flame when they mock my God." 

But there were other troubles they had to bear besides those brought upon them 
by the natives. On more than one occasion they were on the verge of stan'ation. 
Thus, in 173.5, the supplies from Denmark failed, aiad they were reduced to the most 



North America.) PERILOUS ADVENTURES. 83 

terrible straits, a barrel and a half of oatmeal being their onlj- reuuiining provision for 
the ensuing year! Thej^ tried to catch seals and birds for themselves, but with little 
success, for there was a strange scarcity' of tish and birds that year, and, moreover, the 
Greenlanders had damaged their boat so as to make it almost useless. Then they 
sought to buy of the natives, who had plenty, but they either asked exorbitant prices 
or refused to sell to them. Then the}- would row about in their rickety boat, vainly 
searching for food, until at last they were reduced to the necessity of living almost 
entirely on sheU-tish, and raw seaweed, and such otial as the natives disdainfully threw 
to them. It was galling to them to know that the Greenlanders had more than ample 
provision, insomuch that at one meal the Brethren saw eleven seals devoured b}' them ; 
but, although they entreated them to sell, the unfeeling monsters would not part with 
a single morsel. 

One day, when it seemed that certain death was before' them, the three friends 
got out their old boat, which was crusted with ice, and, despite the unsettled state of 
the weather, embarked on a voyage in search of food. As they neared the land they 
were making for, a squall came on, driving them back a couple of leagues, and drenching 
them in the breakers. They succeeded in getting on to an island, and there for four 
days, wet and hungry, they were obliged to remain until the stormy weather abated. 

Again and again they were in the most extreme peril. Once, when they were in 
their boat, they became so exhausted that they could proceed no further, and tarried for 
the night in an uninhabited spot, where they lay down in a hole they had made m the 
snow ; but even then they could not rest, for the drift closed them in, and they had 
to rise fi'om their retreat, and to keep rumimg to save themselves fi-om being fi'ozen. 
At another time they were driven by a contrary wind on to a desolate island, 
where they were forced to tarry for the night ; but the ill wind blew them some good, 
for they chanced to spy an eagle on her nest, and shot her. To secure their prize 
they had to cUmb a steep and dangerous precipice ; but they were so inured to hardships 
and perils that they took but little heed of this additional one. 

At length their trials were greatly mitigated. A Greenlander, livmg forty leagues 
south of New Herrnhut, had somehow heard of the misfortunes of the Brethren, and 
was filled with compassion for them. He journeyed to them from time to time, bearing 
with him as much provision as he could afford to sell, and thus brought relief just 
when their strength was giving way. 

A little later on (that is to say, in May, 1736), a gentleman in Holland, Mr. Le 
Long, anxious to make the experiment of sending stores to the missionaries from his 
own country, instead of via Denmark, despatched an ample stock of provisions, with 
the promise of more if the first arrived safely. His generous contribution, wholly un- 
expected, and arriving at a most critical time, seemed to the Brethren like a special 
mterposition of Divine Providence. They thanked God, and took courage. 

For five long years the missionaries persevered in their efforts to win the Green- 
landers to Christianity and civilisation, but without success. It is diflicult to conceive 
any position more trying than theirs. Not only had they to bear the horrible in- 
clemency of that cruel climate — where the ice would sometimes fiU the stove-pipe to 



84 



CONQUESTS or THE CROSS. 



[II.— In Danish 



the fire, and where the outside of meat would be boiled before the inside could be 
pierced with a knife— but they had to contend against insufficient food, an unsuitable 
dwelling, and a constant and wearying opposition from the natives, as well as the 




MEETING OF JOHN BECK AND KATARNAK. 



knowledge that in Europe, where the story of their trials had been told, they were 
branded as fanatics, or worse. 

There were some mitigations, however, as there always are, even to the hardest 
lot. The first was when the mother of Matthew Stach arrived with her two daughters, 
Rosina and Anna. Very soon the huts of the missionaries, thanks to the aid of the 
women, began to look more home-like; and this increased as the years went on, for 
John Beck married Rosina Stach, and, in course of time, a little daughter was born to 
them. The Greenlanders, who could lind no attraction in the story of the Gospel, took 



NuRTH America.] 



KAYARNAK. 



85 



great interest in watching the honie-hfe of the missionaries ; and when they saw the 
little German child making friends with their oavti children, and heard her Usping their 
language, their former coldness and rudeness of manner began to die away. Later on, 
as the little child grew, she showed great aptitude in learning the hymns which Beck 
and Boehnisch wrote for her in the Greenland tongue, and which she sang with re- 
markable sweetness. Then the Eskimo mothers wanted to hear their own children sing- 
like her ; and so it came to pass that they acquired, and learned to love, the simple 
Crospel hymns she taught them, although as yet there was no religious impression made 
upon their minds. 

But a great and wonderful change was to come to pass, and jDroof abundant was 





PHOTOGRAPHS OF JOHX BECKS BIBLE. 



to be given, that though the missionaries had toiled for five years without seeing any 
direct fruit for their pains, yet their labour had not been in vain. One day in 1738 
as John Beck was sitting in his hut, busy translating the Gospels from his German 
Bible, his attention was arrested by the approach of a band of Greenlanders from 
the south part of the countrj-. With characteristic inquisitiveness, they asked him 
what he was doing, and regarrled it as nothing short of miraculous that woi'ds could 
be ^mtten on paper and made to speak. It was something quite novel for the 
missionary to excite interest of any kind in a Greenlander ; and as these strangers 
were evidently curious to know more, John Beck read to them from his manuscript. 
He read to them some of that " sweet story of old," which has a tenderness that can 
touch every heart. Then, in simple words, he told them of the love of God as manifested 
in the life of His Divine >Son, and finallj' read to them the Gospel narrative of His 
sufferings and death. Then one of them, a man named Kayarnak, stepped up to the 
table, and anxiously looking into the face of Beck, said to him in an earnest manner, 
" How was that ? Tell it me once more, for I too would be saved." 

Those words thrilled John Beck to his very soul. For years he had toiled on in the 



86 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. in.-ls Dasish 

hope that some day he might hear such, but now he could " hardly beheve them 
for joy." " Those words," he ^\Tote. " kmdled my soul into such an ardour, that I gave 
the Greenlanders an account of our Saviour's whole life and death, and of the counsel 
of God for our salvation, while tears ran down my cheeks." When Stach and Boehnisch, 
returning from some work abroad, entered the hut and saw John Beck surromided by 
a group of strangers, who were drinking in his words, with their hands laid on their 
mouths, as was their custom when they heard strange and wonderful things, they were 
tilled with surprise and joy, and joined their companion in telling more fully to the 
natives the way of life. 

The impressions produced that day, were not evanescent. Kayarnak became a 
frequent visitor in the huts of the missionaries, who vn-ote : " When we speak to him, he 
is often so affected that the tears roll down his cheeks. He is, indeed, a very singular 
man. We cannot but wonder at him, when we consider that the Greenlanders in 
general are so extremely stupid, that they can comprehend almost nothing, except 
those things with which they are daily conversant. But this man scarcely hears a 
thing twice before he understands it, and retains it in his memory. He at the same 
time shows an uncommon attachment to us, and a constant desii'e for further instruc- 
tion, a thing we never before observed in an}^ Greenlander." 

Kayarnak and about twenty of his company, remained throughout the winter with 
the missionaries at New Herrnhut, and rendei'ed them ver)'' important service in their 
translation of the Gospels. On the following Easter Day, Kaj^arnak, his wife, and two 
children, were baptised in the presence of a large number of the natives. But with 
the return of spring, these southern Greenlanders, as well as those who lived nearer to 
the colony of New Herrnhut, had to start off on their long excursions in search of 
seals and whales, for " the sea is their corn-iield and the seal-tishery their most plen- 
tiful harvest." The seal is, in fact, the Greenlander's staff of life. " His clothes, his 
food, the walls of his hut, the oil for his lamps, all come to him fi'om the seal, and 
without the skin and the flesh of this one animal he would die of cold or starve of 
hunger." 

The missionaries parted from the new converts with hope and fear. They were 
going into distant parts of the country, among their pagan fellows. If they remained 
firm and faithful to their convictions, they would carry the true light into many dark 
places ; if they fell away into their old habits and beliefs, they would bring contempt 
upon the Great Master and His faithful followers. A year passed, and the missionaries 
were growing anxious, as they had not heard any news of Kayarnak. One day there 
was great rejoicing in the little colony of New Herrnhut, for Frederick Boehnisch had 
taken Anna Stach * to wife, and all the friends were making merry^at the marriage 
feast, when unusual sounds were heard outside the house, and before they could rise 
to ascertain the cause, Kayarnak stood before them, bringing with him his brother and 
his family, to gain whom had been one of the causes of his long absence. 

* Direct descendants of Anna Boehnisch have continued in Mission service without intermission down to the 
present day : a unique instance of members of one family throughout six generations — upwards of 150 years 
— being so engaged. 



SoETH AMERICA] TIMES OF REFEESHIN'G. 87 

From that time t'orth a new era in the history of the Greenland Mission com- 
menced. An earnest spirit of inquiry became manifest among the people, when they 
saw what effects had been produced upon their own coimtrymen, Jind, when they 
heard from their Ups the teaching they had hitherto rejected, they no longer mocked 
and insulted the missionaries. 

There was, however, one sorrow to overshadow their joy. Kayamak had con- 
tracted an illness on his last fishing excursion, from which he never recovered, and at 
the end of a year, during which time he had borne the most consistent testimony to 
the Gospel as " the j^ower of God imto salvation," he entered into his rest. The follow- 
ing entry from the joiu-ual of the missionaries teUs the simple and pathetic story of 
his end : — 

" WhQe we were addressing him, he grew so faint that he could neither hear nor 
see ; but diu-ing a prayer which we offered up, he came to himself, and immediately 
joined us, in the midst of his acute pain, and with such fervour that we were aU 
much amazed, ^^^len his family began to weep he said, ' Do not be grieved for 
me. Have you not heard that believers, when they die, go to oiur Saviour and par- 
take of His eternal joy ? K you are faithful to the end we shall see one another 
again before the throne of the Lamb.' As we were speaking to him of the good- 
ness of the Lord, he breathed his last, having bowed his head upon his hands as if to 
sleep." 

Kayamak not only taught many things to his cotmtr}Tnen ; he taught many 
things to the missionaries. They had, in their earlier ministrations, commenced to 
teach the natives about the Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the Dispersion, and so on; 
henceforth they determined to teach nothing save the simple Gospel Formerly they 
had endeavoiu-ed to con^-ince the Greenlanders by argument, while their conversational 
powers in the language were extremely limited.* They now worked harder than ever- 
seeing that they had full intercoiurse with the natives — to acquire a thorough mastery 
of the language, and verj' soon saw how equivocal some of their earlier teachings must 
have appeared. 

Sticcess followed success. The Greenlanders, who had been wont to stand aloof, 
or to oppose the Mission, now regularly attended the services, eagerly learned the 
h\TQns that were taught them, and never seemed to grow weary of the readings 
from the now completed Harmony of the Gospels which the Brethren had translatei 
Never was there a more marked and satisfactory change than in the demeanoiu- of 
the natives, and the best proof of its reality was shown in its practical effects. Listead 
of treating foreigners with brutality, as formerly, they welcomed them ; they begged 
forgiveness of those whom they had previously ill-treated ; when they went away on 
their fishing excursions they adhered to their profession as when under the ejes of 
the missionaries, and carried with them to their pagan coimtrymen the lessons they 
had themselves received : they broke with the " Angekoks," and refused to hear their 

* When they wished to convey the idea of "the Lamb of God." there were no words in the language 
that they cotUd find to express it save "a yotmg seal." Xo sheep or lambs had ever been seen in 
Greenland. 



88 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[IL— In Danish 



frivolous and ridiculous prophecies, or to tolerate their pretended witchcraft ; in times 
of famine they shared their supplies with their brethren ; they observed the most 

practical of Christian duties, which were 
utterly opposed to all their preconceived 
ideas. For example, they cared for the desti- 
tute and afflicted : the women nursed and 
suckled the infants deprived of their mothers, 
although there was nothing to which the Green- 
land females had so deep-rooted an aversion. 
Above all, thej' showed gratitude, a quality 
which it was hard to find a word in their 
language to express. It is recorded that at an 
early stage of their new life, a Greenlander 
said to his wife, " Hast thou no thought about 
giving our teachers something ? They do so 
much for us. Make each of them a pair of 
shoes." 

Nor was proof wanting that the good seed 
sown by Hans Egede was springing up and 
bearing fruit. Some of the Angekoks who had 
opposed him now relented, and confessed that 
he had spoken words that they could not 
gainsay. One of them came to the mission- 
aries and said, " For me, I might have learnt 
once ; now I am too old to change, but here 
is my son, whom I have brought to j'ou for 
instruction." And in many a lonelj' island 
and desolate region it was found that simple 
passages of the Word of God had been trea- 
sured m the memory of men and women, 
whose hearts were thereby made ready for the 
reception of a fuller knowledge. 

When the news of this great change 
among the people became known to the 
Brethren in Lusatia, and to Hans Egede in 
Denmark, the rejoicing was very great, and 
it took a practical form. Larger and more generous supplies were sent out, and, 
among them, the framework and boards for erecting a church, and material for the 
building of storehouses. In 1747, the fii-st church in Greenland was erected, and there 
were usually not less than throe hundred present at the ordinary services. Storehouses 
were built for keeping dried flesh and fish for times of scarcity ; a school was opened 
for the education of the children ; a sinafinar-class was formed, at which Frederick Boehn- 
isch "astonished the natives" by his accompaniments on the flute, an instrument 




KAYAKNAK. 

(From an Oil Painting in the possession oj the Moravian 
Missionary Society.) 



North AsititicA.) 



THE POWER OF CHRISTIAN CIVILISATION. 



89 



he jjlayed with great skill ; and other iinproverQents were made which exhibited the 
power of Christian civiUsatioii. The very country, which once consisted of only bald 
rocks with streaks of sand, was brought under cultivation, and a neat and fruitful 
garden spread itself around the missionary house and chapel, and dreary wastes 
which had never before produced a blade of grass, were made to justify the name that 
Erik the Red-haired had given to the country — Gree it-land. 




A SNOWSTORM IN GREENLAND. 



Such was the outward appearance. Of the inner progre.'s, the spiritual life of 
the people, one of the Brethren wTote : — " The Lord hath done more for us than we 
knew how to pray for. A stream of life is poured upon the people. They are so 
sensibly aflected, at speaking or singing of the sufi'erings of Jesus, that tears of love 
and joy roll down their cheeks. If they chance to be fi'om four to six leagues ofi' 
almost all come to our meetings on Sunday. When the joyful message is carried to 
one of them that he is to be baptised, he has scarcely patience to await the hajjpy 



90 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IL-In Dakish 

hour.* It is discernible in their countenances, that inwardly a greater change must 
have been wrought than can be conceived by us." 

It must not be supposed that, because this great change had been brought about 
in the spiritual work of the missionaries, they henceforth settled down into a quiet and 
comfortable life. They had to endure as many trials, and to pass through perils as 
great or greater, than any they had hitherto encountered. Although, in a moral sense, 
" the desert was made to blossom as the rose," physically, the desert remained a desert 
still. Cold was as biting, famine was as imminent, storms were as prevalent as ever, 
and the experience of these hardships increased rather than lessened, for the Brethren 
felt it their duty to travel farther atield than heretofore, to carry to those at a distance 
a knowledge of the blessings that had been found at New Herrnhut. Thus we read 
that two of them went forth on one occasion for a distance of not more than six 
leagues, when they were overtaken by a terrific storm, and for eight days were detained 
on an uninhabited island, without any shelter whatever, and with nothing but shell-fish 
and raw seaweed for their food. 

The winters of 1752 and 1753 were the worst that had ever been known in 
Greenland, and they brought famine with them in a terrible form. Not a kajakf 
could stir in the waters ; no birds were to be caught ; to venture abroad was to 
court almost certain death. One poor fellow, anxious to do something to mitigate 
the horror of want, got into his kajak, intendmg to try and hunt, but he was carried 
away by the tempest, and three months afterwards was found half devoured by the 
ravens and foxes. 

A comparatively recent traveller has described the nature of these tempests : — 
" In Greenland," he says, " the storms sometunes become so violent that they carry 
the spray from the water, like dust, into the air. The violence of the tempest is, 
however, not everywhere the same, there being localities jjrotected by mountains, 
which deserve their Greenland appellation, signifying, ' places where there is no Avind ; ' 
but, where there are deep lateral valleys, the storms come quite suddenly. When I 
was, on one occasion, near the entrance of a valley, a storm broke upon us in violent 
whirling blasts, Uke some ferocious beast springing on its ^arey. In such eases, the 
peril is much increased if the boat's crew lose their presence of mind, and particularly 
if their steersman does not understand how to guide the boat ; and it may easily 
happen that a violent gust of wind seizes and overturns the boats, plunging those on 
board into the deep." 

In addition to perils by land and water, perils of famine and cold, there were 
from time to time terrible epidemics that ravaged the countr}-. A peculiarly hard 
winter, or a failure in the seal-fishery, almost always brought famine *in its train, and 
this would be followed by some serious outbreak of disease. Sometimes new diseases 
would be imported, as when the Eskimo boy, on his return from Copenhagen, brought 
small-pox with him, or, as in 1754, when some Dutch ships ran into Ball's River to 
avoid the ice, one of the ships had on board some men suffering from a contagious 

* The Brethren were careful to hold back the people from baptism until they should have given good 
time-proved evidence of their steadfastness. ■)• Skin canoe for one person. 



North America.) NEW ENTERPRISES. 91 

distemper, which spread among the people for at least fourteen leagues round the colony, 
and raged for more than three months. During that time fifty-seven of the Christian 
Greenlanders died; on one day four corpses — two brothers, their nephew, and a 
child — were laid together in the same grave, and scarcely a day passed without a 
funeral. 

But these misfortunes had one good effect ; they strengthened the hold of 
the missionaries upon the natives ; they brought out the practical effects of their 
Christianity ; they fostered i^atience and resignation to the will of God, and their faith 
enabled the poor people to face death — through fear of which, to a singular extent, 
they had been " all their lifetime subject to bondage " — with calmness and tranquillity. 

It was a source of never-ending wonder and delight to the missionaries, to see how 
speedily and effectually the habits and feehngs and sympathies of those, who were a 
short time before but brutish and degraded savages, developed. They followed the 
example of their teachers in tending the sick, in ministering to the afflicted, in rearing 
their children with tenderness and affection, in making their homes more habitable, and 
in striving to fulfil the command, " to do to others as they would that others should do 
to them." A curious and interesting instance of this may be noted here. From time 
to time the Brethren received from the Moravian congregations in Europe, accounts 
of the wonderful work that was beginning among the heathen by means of their mis- 
sions. The Greenlanders rejoiced to hear of their successes, were greatly interested in 
their strange adventures, and sympathised with their losses and discouragements. 
One day they heard an account of the destruction of the Indian settlement at 
Gnadenhuettan, in Pennsylvania, by the savages, of the murder of most of the mission- 
aries, and of the escape of the Christian Indians to the Moravian settlement at Beth- 
lehem, where they were in sore destitution. The intelligence greatly excited them. 
Many were moved to tears, and all were eager to do something for the sufferers. " I 
have a fine reindeer skin which I will give," cried one : " I have a new pair of reindeer 
boots which I will send them," said a second, " And I will send them a seal, that they 
may have something to eat and to bum," said another, whose idea of the world was as 
of one vast Greenland. 

From time to time one or other of the Brethren made a journey to the old country 
to tell of what was being done in Greenland, to hear of the labours of the Brethren 
in other lands, and to get a little rest from their incessant toil. Matthew Stach, whose 
health had suffered from his exhausting labours in Greenland, was resting thus for 
a while in Lusatia, when news came to him that the Brethren he had left behind were 
anxious to establish a second settlement, in response to the earnest wish of Greeiilanders 
in the south. Although greatly needing rest, and lacking that bodily vigour which 
would enable him to bear the fatigue and exposure which embarking in such an under- 
taking would involve, no sooner did Matthew Stach learn that it was the wish and prayer 
of the Christian Greenlanders that he would become the leader in the movement, than 
he made preparations to return, and in May, 1758, accompanied by two other of the 
Brethren as his assistants, he set sail from Europe. Two months later, after visiting his 
old friends at New Hermhut, he sallied forth, with four of the Greenland families, in 



92 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[II. — In Danish 



quest of a site for the new settlement, and, on the anniversary of the day when, a 
quarter of a century before, he had first landed on those shores, he fixed upon a spot, 
and named it Lichtenfels, or Light of the Rock. 

It was no easy work to build a house in Lichtenfels, for, although there was a harbour 
and abundance of fresh water, there was nothing around but bare rock ; all the stones 
required had to be rolled from a distance, every grain of earth had to be carried in bags, 
and the sods collected from afar and brought in a boat ; provisions, too, were scarce, and 
for two years the four families, consisting of thirty-four persons, suffered nuich from 




A GREENLAND KAJAK OR "MAN-BOAT." 



scarcity of food. Nevertheless, they persevered. At the end of two years, nine other 
families joined them ; materials for a church, a dweUing-house, and storehouse were sent 
out from Europe ; other missionaries came out to take part in the work, among them 
two sons of John Beck and one of Frederick Boehnisch— young men who inherited the 
piety and zeal of their fathers— and at the end of four years as much progress had been 
made as in fourteen years at New Herrnhut. As the years went on,-t)ther settlements 
-were established. One, commenced in 1774, in the south of Greenland, about 400 miles 
from Lichtenfels, and within sight of Cape Farewell, was named Lichtenau, and here, in 
the course of a few years, a larger congregation was gathered than in either of the other 
settlements of the Brethren in Greenland. 

We shall not tarry, however, to trace step by step the progress of these missions, 
but simply finish the personal history of the three friends, Matthew Stach, Frederick 



North America.) THE THREE FRIENDS. 93 

Boehniscli, and John Beck, who, for thirty years, were spared to toil together hand to 
hand aiid heart to heart, and to see the fruit of their toil. " We three it was," wrote 
John Beck to Matthew Stach, " who made that solemn vow with one another wholly 
to follow our Lord in this land ; to do all and bear all, as unto Him. He graciously 
accepted our desire to serve Him, and in His unspeakable condescension and mercy has 
crowned our work with blessing. He has kept His promise, though we often withstood 
Him. How many times we besought Him, weeping, to grant us even but one soul out of 
this nation. But He stayed not at one. Those congregations which we have seen grow 
up from the beginning, how far do they exceed all our early prayers, thoughts, and an- 
ticipations !" 

It was only death that separated these heroic men, and Frederick Boehnisch was 
the first to be called to his rest. Three times he had visited Herrnhut, and, on the last 
occasion, had taken part in carrying the remains of Count Zinzendorf to the grave. In 
1761 he returned to his old work in Greenland with love and zeal unabated, although 
his bodily strength was not as it had formerly been. His powers were tried to the 
utmost in 1762, when sickness was prevalent throughout the south of Greenland ; and, 
feeling that the time was short for him to work, he went from island to island minis- 
tering to the sick and preaching the Gospel. One day he slipped upon a rock and fell 
heavily ; that was the beginning of the end. For three weeks he lay ill, but his 
faith and hope grew brighter. " My Saviour often visits me," he said, " and will soon 
fetch me home." A few days later he sang one of the hymns he had often sung 
with his Greenland converts, and then, with the words " Now my Saviour has come 
for me," he " went home," in the twenty-ninth year of his ministry on those inclement 
shores. 

John Beck was spared until 1777. He had never been so strong as Boehniscli and 
Stach, and for eighteen years had suffered from an incurable disease. This prevented 
him from travelling about as his companions had done, but it did not in any way interfere 
with the value of his work, for he left behind him the translation of the New Testament. 
When his last day came, his wife, clinging to the hope that he might yet be spared, 
spoke to him about the future. He turned to her with affection and said, " We have 
been many years together, and five-and-thirty years ago I seemed as near my end as 
now, yet the Lord spared me. But our time, you know, must soon come, and we shall 
meet again with Hhn." Then calling to his side one of the young missionaries, he breathed 
his last while in the very act of giving him a special charge to his flock. 

Matthew Stach lived to the advanced age of seventy-six, and died in 1787. But 
he left Greenland before the death of his brother-in-law John Beck ; not because his love 
had grown cold or his zeal for the good work had diminished, but because he had made 
a singularly unhappy marriage, and it was not for the good of the people that he should 
remain. This was the gi'eat trouble of his life, and he bore it heroically, without relin- 
quishing his missionary work, although he had felt it expedient to change the sphere 
of it. To him the Greenland Mission owed even more than to his companions. It was 
he who, on six different occasions, journeyed to Europe to excite an interest in, and to 
raise funds for, the Mission ; it was he who went far and near along the coast to carry 



94 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [II.-In Danish 

the Gospel to isolated groups of Eskimos-; it was he who first urged upon the Brethren 
in Europe the necessity of a mission to Labrador ; and it was he who, by his indomitable 
spirit, inspired so many others to do noble deeds. The last years of his life were spent 
in the backwoods of America, where, as teacher of a school for boys, he strove to kindle 
a missionary spirit in the young, and where, in age and infirmity and loneliness, he 
exhibited so sweet and chastened a spirit, that all who were round about him bore 
testimony to " the cheerfulness of his communion with his Saviour." 

The story of Hans Egede, and of Boehnisch, Beck, and Stach, is the story of the 
Christianisation of Greenland by the Danes and the Moravians. The work that these 
brave men commenced was never allowed to drop, and is still carried on successfully. 
The trade of Greenland is now entirely in the hands of the Danish Government, and 
trade settlements are established from Cape Farewell up to 73° north latitude. Mission 
stations are scattered at intervals throughout the country, from the southern extremity 
to Upernavik, and there is not now one professed pagan in all Danish Greenland. 
The jMoravians are confined entirely to South Greenland, while the Government 
Lutheran Missions are stationed through the whole extent of the west coast. 

The Moravians, or, as they are universally called by the Danes, " the Herrnhuttians," 
still prosecute their work as a labour of love only, and are content to remain very 
poor, and wholly dependent for their support on private contributions. They are not, 
as a rule, highly educated men, but there is an element of self-denial in their work 
which the Greenlanders greatly admire, and this may be regarded as a compensation. 
There is, however, an austerity in their presentation of Christianity^ and in their religious 
discipline, which the Danes do not approve, and this has been one of the causes which 
have kept the two bodies of missionaries apart. It has been alleged, that insistence 
upon daily religious services has been incompatible with the necessary duties of life, and 
has tended to keep the Greenlanders who are under the care of the Moravians, in 
poorer circumstances than those under the Danes. 

English travellers have from time to time visited these stations, and one of them writes- 
of New Herrnhut as folloAvs : — " We went into the school at New Herrnhut, and found 
about twenty children there, from four to sixteen years old. They read fluently their 
impossible-looking compound words, such as " Kasnerfigssakangitdlmnarnarysok." Fancy 
a row of the poorest-looking children, with bright, happy faces, and sharp, black eyes, 
reading a page or more of such words as these, ahuost without mistake, repeating 
together the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and singing hymns very beau- 
tifully, and you may have some idea of the toils and successes of the worthy people 
who count it their privilege to spend their lives among the Greenlanders." It was a 
special gratification to these visitors to " worship in the little chapel at Lichtenau, and 
see two hundred of the Eskimos sitting around the Loi'd's Table, partaking of the holy 
ordinance." 

The Danish missionaries are, as a matter of fact, beneficed ministers of the Lutheran 
Church, who have received their clerical appointments from the Government according 
to the grade in which they passed their examinations in the University of Copenhagen. 



NoETu America.) THE GREENLAND OF TO-DAY. 95 

It is not, therefore, often that the brightest and most shining hghts of the " Candidates 
in Theology" are sent to Greenland stations, although sometimes there have been men 
of mark among them. Otho Fabricius, for example, the learned author of a grammar 
and dictionary of the Eskimo language, and of the "Fauna Greenlandica," a model 
scientific treatise, was a Greenland missionary, though he died a professor in Copenhagen. 
The term of service is usually ten years, after which, on their return home, suitable 
employment is obtained for them by the Government, unless they elect, as is sometimes 
the case, to remain in Greenland. 

The life of a Greenland missionary, or minister, is still a hard one, although luxurious 
in comparison vnth the lives of the missionaries a century ago. Native services are held 
every week, Danish services occasionally. Some of the parishes are 140 miles long ; the 
visiting times are in the whiter, when the Greenlanders are " at home," in consequence of 
the waters being frozen. The missionary has no carriage, or go-cart of any kind, but, 
instead, a dog and a sledge and a dog-driver. Sometimes he has to put up with great 
mconveniences, as did, for instance, the priest of Julianshaab, in South Greenland, who, 
when the wmd began to blow from the south-west, found his house snowed up in the 
morning, and had to signal from an attic window for a squad of men to dig him out ! 
Ample supplies are, however, sent out every year, from Denmark, of home and colonial 
produce, and there is no abject stint to the table; in every particular, a Greenland 
settlement is vastly superior in comfort and civilisation to what it was in the early 
days of Christian missions. 

At Holsteinberg, one April day, not many years since, a traveller went on shore, as 
the sound of the church bell told that the time for service approached. " The httle chapel, 
with its heaven-pomting turret," he says, "was buried on all sides in snow, the windows and 
doors being the only spots free from it ; a deep pathway, with a four-feet bank of snow on 
either side, formed the approach to this House of God. . . . Groups of Eskimo men and 
women were wallcing quietly thither as I landed, and, when I reached it, it was almost full. 
Taking a seat close to the door, I felt a thriU of pleasure in worshipping God among 
these far-off children who also call Him Father. The minister, with his gown and friU, 
reminded me, by his dress and general appearance, of the pictures of Luther. As the 
organ began to sound, and the rich roU of the young voices swelled up to the rafters 
of the little sanctuary, a sympathetic chord was touched, and more than one English voice 
joined in the song of praise and thanksgiving. The pastor dehvered a short address in 
Eskimo, and, after joining in a psalm, the little congregation dispersed. It did one good 
to hear the melody sung by the women and children, the men's voices giving sohdity 
to the tune with their lower-octave notes. Of course, all sang in unison." 

Suice that was written, great improvements have been made. AU the children in the 
settlements have been taught to sing, and many of them to' play instruments ; so that now, 
m not a few of the places of worship, harmonious singing may be heard, quit© equal to 
that of many an English country church. 

At each settlement in Danish Greenland, there is, in addition to the pastor, a school- 
master, who is employed by Government to give the young Eskimos the rudiments of a 
good general education. The amount of information possessed by these children has 



96 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[II.— In Danish 




MISSIONARY MAP OF GREE.S'LAND. 



iralkerfb-UoutaUic, 



surprised many an English visitor, and not less so, the pertinacity with which the}' put 
questions to draw out information from others. All the children of South Greenland 
can read and write, and have the elements of such an education as is given in ordinary 
English village schools. They are sharp, shrewd, and intelligent, ingenious in the manu- 
facture of their own implements for hunting and fishing ; they take a singular interest in, 
and have a practical and scientific knowledge of, the flora and fauna of their own country ; 
and they excel in tale-telling. In most of the schools, natives are specially instructed 
as teachers and missionaries, and are sent to the outlying hunting and fishing posts of 
the Eskimos, to instruct them in their leisure hours, the salaries of these catechists being 
paid by the Government. 

Such is the startling contrast between the Greenlanders of to-day and the Green- 
landers described in the narratives of the Egedes, Saabye, and C^rantz. There is, 
however, one melancholy aspect of the condition of the modern Greenlanders. In 
1721, when Egede first went amona: them, he estimated that there were not fewer 
than 30,000 people in the country ; in 18G3, when a census was taken, the whole native 



North America.] 



DECREASE OF POPULATIOX. 



97 



population of Danish Greenland was only 9,491, of whom more than one-half were of 
mixed blood ; and since then they have materially decreased. From time to time 
epidemics break out among them, and sweep away vast numbers of the population. 
Thus, in the winter of 1866-7, as the result of an exceptionally cold season, nearly a 
fourth of the people to the north of New Herrnhut died ot hunger and of the 
epidemic that followed in its train. 




MODERN GREENLAND CHILDREN. 



Some years ago an analysis was made of the causes of 4,770 deaths, and the 
following are some of the entries : — 

Lost in their ka.jaks ......... 415 

Died of coughs and influenza 622 

Fell from the cliffs 19 

Drowned in various ways 59 

Died of ccnsumption ......... 230 

It may be that the Greenlander is destined for centuries still to hold his own in 
his desperate fight for life against the forces which surround him ; but he can never 
become anything more than he is, and a series of hard winters might sweep him 
away from the nations of men, and leave his land to its ice and snow and darkness and 
death. 

7 



98 



III— CHRISTIAMTY IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

CHAPTER V. 
GEORGE SCHMIDT, THE APOSTLE OF THE HOTTENTOTS. 

Early Trials and Persecutions of Schmidt — The Dutch Colony of Cape Town — Its Political Vicissitudes — 
Indifference of the Dutch to the Welfare of the Natives— Schmidt's Early Preaching — Character and 
Personal Appearance of the Hottentots — Indijrnation of the Boers at Schmidt's Labours — His Return to 
Europe, and Death — Second Moravian Mission to the Hottentots — Renewed Opposition of the Boers — 
Final Success of the Mission under British Supremacy — Difficulties from Wild Auimals — Spread of 
Moravian Missions in South Africa. 

"TN July, 1737, a solitary man, poor and uneducated, landed in Table Bay. There was 
-*- nothing in his appearance to distinguish him from the commonjjlace immigrants 
who from time to time came out from Holland to join the settlers at the Cape. No 
flourish of trumpets announced his arrival ; no wealthy or influential society stood at 
his back with funds ; no clerical garb marked him as a man set apart for a great 
mission; no deputation came to welcome him. A stranger in a strange land, George 
Schmidt landed in South Africa alone, and almost penniless. Had the motley crowd, 
gathered at the port, been told that he had come there with the fixed purpose of making 
South Africa a conquest of the Cross, there was not a man, woman, or child who 
would not have joined in a shout of derisive laughter, and have treated him forth- 
with as a lunatic. But George Schmidt had heard, as he believed, the voice of God 
speaking to his soul, and bidding him go forth to that distant part of the world to 
preach the Gospel, and he had obeyed the sunnnons. 

It had come about in this manner. In the previous year the earnest and devoted 
Count Zinzendorf, the great leader of the Moravian congregation, paid a visit to Holland, 
and, while there, was brought into contact with Christian men, who spoke to him of 
the importance of sending missionaries to the colonies belonging to the Dutch Govern- 
ment. At that time the Moravians were but a little flock ; their congregation consisted 
for the most part of poor despised exiles, and numbered only about six hundred souls, 
and yet upon them nlone in Christendom — at that time — had fallen the missionary 
spirit, and they had already sent forth pioneers to Greenland, to the West Indies, and to 
the American continent. On his return to Herrnhut, Zinzendorf received a letter from 
two pious gentlemen residing in Amsterdam, again urging the commencement of a 
mission to the Hottentots. The request came as a distinct call to action, and George 
Schmidt was the man selected for the hazardous post. ~ 

Although only twenty-seven years of age, Schmidt had already passed through fiery 
trials and persecutions for the Gospel s sake. He was born at Kunewalde, in Moravia, and 
at the age of sixteen was " awakened," to use the expressive phrase of the Brethren. 
Three years afterwards he went on a journey with Melchior Nitschmann, one of the first 
elders of the congregation, to visit the scattered Brethren, who were at that time suflering 
great persecution. While in Bohemia they were seized and cast into prison, on the charge 



I 



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The Lang^ag'es of A&T.ca 

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pr^ared hy E- G. Savenstem.. to accampQJVy 

Mod&yiLemgiumBs of Africa, 

hy Robert Nefidham Cast. 



20 LoDgititde 10 West O Longitude 



London.^ Casselt & tompatvy . Lvniied . 



III.-Christia>mtv in South Africa.] EARLY SUFFERINGS OF SCHMIDT. 99 

of attempting to make proselytes. The two men were taken to Schildberg, and confined 
in separate cells, their feet being placed in the stocks. Months rolled away, and a bitterly 
cold winter came. No provision was made for heating the damp cells, and Schmidt was 
brought to the point of death. But his persecutors, thinking that he was feigning illness, 
or, as he was unable to take food, was seelcing to starve himself, removed him to another 
cell, warmer but Avithout light. One night, as he lay there slowly recovering, his old 
friend and companion in tribulation, Melchior Nitschmann, was carried into his cell, and 
the irons were removed, as the man was in a dying condition. For four days he 
hngered, and then came a night when Schmidt, supporting hhn in his arms, asked him 
how he felt. 

" I have hold of my Saviour," answered the brave old man. " He does not leave me, 
nor I Him ; " and then the head bowed down upon his breast, and his work on earth 
was done. 

The next episode in Schmidt's imprisonment was being marched in fetters through 
the town to be confronted with his accusers, the emissaries of the Pope, by whom 
sentence of excommunication was passed upon him. For six long years George 
Schmidt was a prisoner in irons, at the end of which time he found favour with an 
officer who, on his own responsibility, granted him release, and in 1734 he returned to 
Herrnhut. But henceforth he could say with St. Paul, " I bear in my body the marks 
of the Lord Jesus," for his long confinement in the stocks during the frozen season 
had done a permanent injury to his feet. 

Within a year Schmidt was again engaged upon the identical work that had cost 
him his freedom ; but eighteen months had barely passed before the letter came from 
Amsterdam urging a mission to South Africa, and Schmidt was the man selected for the 
dangerous and difficult post. Seven days after its receipt he was on his way to Holland, 
and there he remained for a whole year, earning his bread as a day labourer, till a 
passage to the Cape could be. secured. Such had been the history of the man who stood 
alone, that day in 1737, in the port of Table Bay: behind him a life of cruel torture; 
before him unluio^vn difficulties and dangers ; and at the time then present the sneers, 
scorn, and ridicule of almost every one with whom he came into contact in the colony. 

Before proceeding to tell how Schmidt set to work amongst the Hottentots, we 
must briefly record how it had come to pass that the country had been opened up to 
foreigners. We need not tell of the discovery of Southern Africa by Bartholomew Diaz, a 
Portuguese navigator, who flourished towards the end of the fifteenth century ; nor how, 
when he passed the Cape, he proposed to call it the Cape of Storms, a name which King 
John II. of Portugal altered to that of the Cape of Good Hope; nor how Vasco de 
Gama, landing on the coast one Christmas Day a few years later, appropriately named 
the place Xatal ; nor how, in 1620, Shillinge and Fitz-Herbert took possession of the 
Cape in the name of James I. of England. Neither James I. nor John II. of Portugal was, 
however, the real possessor of the country, and it was reserved for the Dutch to become 
the first European settlers in Southern Africa. The event came about, as some would 
say, by accident. In 1648, a vessel belonging to the Dutch East India Company was 
driven ashore at Table Bay, where the crew remained several months waiting to be taken 



100 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



(III.— CHRISTIAHITy 



;jj.i(lli|i|i»i™i|ii|j|W«ii(H((i."i 



^'#,",u 




DEATH OK MELCHIOK NITSCHM^NN. (!iee p. im.) 



off by another ship. On their return to Amsterdam they represented to the Company 
the " services, advantages, and profit " which would arise from a permanent occupation, 
and in 1651 the Company, with the approval of the Dutch Government, despatched three 
vessels under the command of Van Kiebeck. With characteristic caution, he carefully 
reconnoitred the coast before landing, to see that no hostile ship was already in 
possession, and having satisfied himself that there was no cause for apprehension on 
this ground, the anchors were let go, and the crews ventured ashore. No difiiculty was 
made by the natives, who were won over by presents of toys, beads, tobacco, and 
brand}', and an agreement was entered into by which iiossession of a certain amount 



!N South Africa.) ' DUTCH SETTLEMENTS IN AFRICA. 101 

of territory was ceded to the new-comers. But it was an unhappy beginning of the 
intercourse between the Dutch and the Hottentots that the latter were bribed by 
presents of ardent spirits, and that men who were nominally Christian should have 
encouraged thcni to drink intoxicants, which have proved so injurious to the physical 
and moral welfare of the natives of South Africa. 

From the days of Van Riebeck to the occupation of Cape Town by the British in 
1795, the Dutch extended their temtory and their influence in South Africa. Fresh 
immigrants arrived from Holland, many of whom trekked up the country and occupied 
the more fertile districts as farmers ; but only a small portion of the land was cultivated, 
and even at the present time not more than a hundredth pait of the entire colony has 
been brought under the plough. In 16S8, a large number of French Protestants, 
driven from their old homes by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled at the 
Cape, and contributed to the prosperity of the country. For some years the Dutch 
allowed them religious toleration, for there was little difference in the theological 
opinions of the French and Dutch colonists ; but after a time the Dutch East India 
Company shut up the French church, and compelled the congregation to worship in 
the established churches. No theological creed other than that of the rulers was 
allowed to be taught, and no attempt to Christianise the native population would have 
been permitted. With our modern views, we may be inclined to censure this conduct ; 
but we must remember that our own East India Company took the same course in 
India, and threw every obstacle in the way of missionaries anxious to devote them- 
selves to the conversion of the teeming millions in that country. The Dutch 
settlers at the Cape were willing enough to trade with the natives, and usually 
succeeded in getting the best of the bargain, but they cared nothing for their moral 
well-being or their spiritual interests. Here, as in Europe, 

•' The great fault of the Dutch 
Was in giving too little and asking too much." 

George Schmidt was the first Protestant Christian who had made any attempt 
whatever to evangelise the Hottentots. When he went on shore, and saw for the 
first time these " images of God carved in ebony," his heart beat with a wild enthusiasm, 
which was increased when he found that some of those to whom he addressed a passing 
word could already reply to him in Dutch. Assured that in regard to language he 
could approach the natives, it mattered not to him that the people in the inn, where 
he sought a night's lodging, mocked " the parson " who had come to convert the 
Hottentots, or that before him lay perils and persecutions ; he was strong in faith 
and of a good courage. Within ten days he was address'iar the natives at the port in 
Dutch, and a few months only had passed before one of them, named Afriko, who 
could speak that language fluently, and had cast in his lot with the missionary, was 
acting as interpreter to Schmidt, who began to carry the message of the Gospel to the 
natives in the interior. 

A strange and wonderful people were these Hottentots, and at Bavian's Kloof, about 
a hundred and twenty miles from Cape Town, where Schmidt settled, naming the place 



102 COXQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [m.-OaKMiAxiTv 

Gnadenthal (the Vale of Grace), he had ample opportunity of studying their characteristics. 
Sonic of them were employed by the Dutch, and had been found capable of useful 
service, but the inajority were wild, dirty, and degraded. They had scarcely any religious 
behefs, though they followed many sujDerstitious practices, resorted to witchcraft, and 
feared an evil spirit, whom they endeavoured to propitiate by sacrifice. At the time 
of the full moon they observed certain ceremonies — dancing, shouting, and singing in 
the fields for their own diversion. They exposed to the beasts of prey such of their new- 
born children as they did not wish to bring up, but children who were to be allowed to 
hve were smeared all over with cow-dung immediately after birth, and then named by 
their mothers, frequently after favourite animals, as Hacqua (horse), Ghoudie (sheep), 
Guacha (ass), or even Gamman (Hon). Polygamy was common, but the men did not 
look for fortunes or great alliances, so much as for wit, beauty, or an agreeable disposition, 
and thus a poor man's daughter, possessing these qualifications, might become the wife 
of the head man of a kraal, or village, or of the chief of a tribe. 

The Hottentots, and, mdeed, most of the natives of Southern Africa, were great meat- 
eaters. Their cooking was peculiar, not to say disgusting. They cut up the carcases of 
the animals they killed for food into steaks, and the steaks into strips two or three yards 
long, which were laid on a fire of logs and just warmed through. Then each person 
took one of the strips in both hands, and without removing the ashes which adhered 
to it, consumed a yard or two of meat. When hunger was thus appeased, they cleaned (?) 
their hands by rubbing them over their well-greased bodies, and as they wore but little 
clothing, their after-dinner appearance was not prepossessing, and contact with them 
was by no means agreeable. Van Riebeck has described in his journal how a suit of his 
best clothes was entirely spoiled by a party of friendly Hottentots, who insisted upon 
embracing him just after they had dined. 

They were accustomed, before the arrival of the Dutch, to intoxicate themselves 
with a preparation of the dacha-plant, which has the effect of exciting to frenzy and 
then of stupefying those who use it ; they had also another intoxicant made of honey 
and certain roots. But the Dutch gave them brandy, and, having once tasted it, they 
preferred that spirit to then- own preparations, and soon learnt to cUstH it for themselves, 
or, if they could not manage to do this, they endeavoured to obtain it from the Dutch, 
who imfortunately were only too ready to give it in pajinent of wages, or in exchange 
for animals or services rendered. 

The personal appearance of the Hottentots did not atone for their unpleasant habits. 
Angular faces, small eyes, flat noses, high cheek-bones, and pouting hps are not beautiful 
in themselves, and, when combined, do not approach the European idea of comehness. 
Gibbon, after reading a description of them, concluded that they formed an intermediate 
hnk between men and monkeys, and the Dutch too often treated them as if they were 
animals rather than men. But missionary experience has proved that the Hottentots 
can be taught the truths of Christianity, and many of them have bravely endured 
persecution rather than give up their allegiance to the faith they have accepted and 
believed. 

Such were the people among whom Schmidt laboured. Although he was single- 



IN Soi'Tu Africa,) SCHMIDT BAPTISES HOTTENTOTS. 103 

handed, be set diligently to work to make the best of bis circumstances, building a 
bouse and planting a garden with the assistance of some of the natives. At first only 
a few came to him, and these be taught Dutch, as be had given up all hope of being 
able to acquire the Hottentot language. In bis diary be was able to write : " By degrees 
the people came to me in greater numbers, and some left me their children to be 
taught to read Dutch, giving mo a cow or two along with them, to supply them with 
milk. The number who attended the school and meetings varied from thirty to fifty. 
In the latter, Afriko, Kibbodo, and WiUiam bore a pleasing testimony to my doctrine, 
iicknowledging that they were slaves of sin, and needed the .Saviour's blood to free them 
from its power. On my asking WiUiam, on one of these occasions, about the state of his 
mind, he declared — 'Though all my friends should leave our Saviour, I will not, for He 
has the Avords of eternal life. I am not yet what I ought to be, but I will pray to the 
Lord, and abide with Him, till I truly experience the merits of His death withm my 
heart.' " 

Very solitary was Schmidt's hfe in his hut at Bavian's Kloof, but after he had 
been there over a year, his joy was great to receive a visit from David Nitschmann 
and Dr. Eller, two of the Brethren who were on their way to Ceylon, and who tarried 
vfith him for a week or two. They brought with them a letter from Count Zinzendorf, 
in which, among many other kind and inspiring thmgs he wrote to Schmidt, was the 
following : " Preserve, dear brother, the precious treasure which has been committed to 
you. Let our Jesus be your all. Labour to convince the Hottentots that they are 
sinners, and then bring them to His feet to seek for mercy. Oh! could I open my 
whole heart to j'OU, and fill you with my burning desire after these souls — but I know 
that you have it alreadj'." 

A year or two later, the work meantime having gone slowly but steadily forward, 
Schmidt wrote to Mr. Isaac Le Long, of Amsterdam — he who had previously come to the 
rescue of the Greenland pioneer missionaries — " You will see from my diary that I have 
baptised five Hottentots. ... As to my circumstances here, you may represent me as 
one who has four years already been keeping solitary watch for his Lord without being 
relieved, and who has vowed fidelity to Him to the last drop of his blood. He knows 
that I desire naught but Him, and that I coimt not my life dear unto myself I want 
no rest for mj'self so long as my feet will carry me, but gladly leave my resting-place to 
the end of mj' warfare. If I fall in the battle, so be it." 

When it became known that Schmidt was baptising the Hottentots, it produced a 
great sensation, and kindled the wrath of the clergy, who wrote an angry letter to the 
Consistory in Amsterdam regarding bis right to administer the Sacraments. To these 
clerg}- the faithful missionary was a perpetual reproach. They sided with the Boers, who 
did not look upon the mission as likely to advance their own interests, and opj^osed it on 
the pretext that the conversion of the Hottentots Avould be prejudicial to the welfare of 
the colony. They could not understand why any one should take an interest in the 
salvation of natives, of whom they were accustomed to speak as black wares, or black 
beasts, and to treat as mere articles of commerce. Nor did the clei-gy regard them 
in any better light : and while upon one church door there was posted up the notice, 



104 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



tin.— CURISTIANITY 



"Hottentots and dogs are forbidden to enter,"* all looked upon the man, whose one aim 
in life was to preach the Gospel to them, as a visionary and a madman. So persistent 
and bitter was the opposition, that at length Schmidt found it quite impossible to 
continue his work unaided, and resolved to return to Europe for help. In 1744, after six 
years of painful toil, he bade farewell to the scene of his labours, and to the forty-seven 




HOTTENTOTS. 



Hottentots who at that time were under his care, and set sail for Amsterdam. He hoped 
soon to return to the work he loved so well, when negotiations should have cleared the 
way for missionary operations on a larger scale ; but the hope was in vain. The Boers 
made such representations to the Dutch East India Company that, although repeated 
applications were made to the Government in Holland, none of the pietitions availed. 
Schmidt never returned to Africa, and the small flock of converts, after keeping together 
for a time in the hope that their teacher would come back to them, gradually dispersed 
or died. 

Schmidt meanwhile went back to the work he had given up in order to go to 
Africa, and did good service among the " awakened " in Silesia, on the Bohemian and 
Moravian frontiers, and ultimately fiUed various offices at Herrnhut, during the whole of 
which time he continued his humble calling as a daj^-labourer, so that he might not be a 

* Philip'a Researches, I., 58. 



IN SovTH Africa.] 



DEATH OF SCHMIDT. 



105 



burden on the slender funds of the congregation. He lived to the age of seventy-six, 
hut during the latter years of his life, his bodily infirmities, especially the pain and 
weakness in his feet — the consequence of his long imprisonment at Schildberg and 
Spielberg — became more and more burdensome. One day, in 1785, the old man was 
working in his garden, when the hour of prayer, allotted to him as a member of the 




SCHMIDT TEACHING THE HOTTENTUT.S AGRICULTHKE. 
(Altered from a Painting belonging to the Moravian Missionary Society.) 



company of " mtercessors," came round. He left his work, entered the house, and knelt 
in prayer. Who can doubt that his intercessions were for the ignorant, despised 
Hottentots — that light might shine upon their darkness, and that seeds, which he had 
Ro^vn in years gone by, might yet bring forth fruit ? No one, however, knows what those 
prayers were. All we know is that when, some hours after he had left the garden, one of 
the Brethren entered his room, he found him kneeling with his hands clasped in praj^er ; 
but the spirit of the hero-missionary had gone home to God. 

The Moravians made repeated applications to the Company for permission to send 
out more missionaries to South Africa, but for a long period their apphcations were so 
firmly refused that it seemed as if the conversion of the Hottentots must be for ever 
abandoned. In the year 1787, some of the Brethren happened to call at the Cape on 



106 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [III.-Cbkistiasjtv 

their way home from India, and met there an old Hottentot woman, who told them she 
was one of Schmidt's converts, and produced a Bible he had given her in support 
of her assertion. 

At length the Dutch East India Company yielded to the constant solicitations of 
the Moravians, and in Julj^ 1792, three Brethren, named Hendrick Marsveld, Daniel 
Schwinn, and John Kuehnel, were sent to the Cape. Once more Bavian's Kloof became 
the Vale of Grace. Traces of Schmidt's labours were stiU extant ; some of the trees he 
had planted were yet growing, and a piece of the wall he built w<as standing. With 
the assistance of the Hottentots, the Brethren began to put up a house, but the Boers 
mterfered and renewed their old policy of obstruction. The Hottentots had brought 
cattle into the neighbourhood, and it was represented to the authorities at Cape To\\ti 
that the cattle trespassed and damaged the property of the farmers. The authorities 
were on the point of taking action, which would have resulted in the withdrawal of the 
missionaries, when a gentleman who had visited Gnadentlial interposed, and' satisfied 
the Governor that the complaints which had reached him were unfounded, and the 
building was allowed to go on. 

But the Boers still opposed the work, and told the Brethren that they should 
not live in the country and instruct the Hottentots, as it was not right to teach them 
Avhen so many Christian inhabitants of the country were without instruction. The 
missionaries thought it best not to notice these injunctions, and proceeded with their 
work. The Boers then took up arms, and for many weeks an attack appeared imminent. 
At length a message was received from their commander, one Pissain, that the settle- 
ment must be abandoned without delaj^ but that the missionaries might go to Cape 
Town, or to some other part of the country inhabited by the Dutch. There was now 
no alternative but to comply : the missionaries packed u]) their propert}^, and made 
their way sorrowfully to the capital. 

Bavian's Kloof was thus abandoned for the second time, and the Brethren feared 
that once more their mission to the Hottentots would have to be given up. They informed 
the Governor of all that had befallen them, and he was not a little annoyed at the conduct 
of the Boers, but he could not quarrel with Pissain, since his help was sorely needed to 
repel a British force which had recently landed m the colony. Meantime the Brethren 
were directed to return to their station, and soon afterwards the surrender of the colony 
to the British authorities put an end for a time to their troubles. In the following year, 
hoAvever, another attack was threatened, but the British commander promptly interfered, 
and informed the Boers that they would be severely punished if they did not desist. 

Gradually the opposition of the Boers died out, and the mission prospered. The 
settlement at Gnadentlial was often visited by travellers from Cape Town, who testified 
to the great improvement in the character and habits of the Hottentot converts. One 
traveller, who had arri^-ed late on Saturday night and had camped out in the neigh- 
bourhood of the mission-station, was awakened the next day by the singing of a 
morning hymn by a group of neatly dressed Hottentot women — a sight very different 
from anything he had previously seen amongst that people. He conversed with the 
Brethren, whom he described as " the good fathers," and found them meek and humble 



IN South Akkk a.] TROUBLES FROM WILD ANIMALS. 107 

in their deportment, but intelligent and lively in conversation ; zetilous in the cause of 
their mission, yet free from bigotry or fanaticism. Everything about the place was 
neat and simple, including the church. The mill was the best in the colony, and the 
garden was well cultivated. Agreeably to the rules of the Society of which they were 
members, each of them had learned some useful business ; one was skilled in every 
branch of smith's work, the second was a shoemaker, and the third a tailor. They 
had succeeded in bringing together more than six hundi-ed Hottentots, who lived m 
small but comfortable huts, each of which had its garden. These Hottentots 
had learned various handicrafts, many were able to earn good wages as smiths, 
carpenters, or in similar employment; and their services were eagerly sought by the 
Boers, who found that natives under the influence of the missionaries were better 
behaved and more trustworthy than their own Hottentot servants. The Moravians had 
certainly succeeded in overcoming opposition, and when the colony was given up to the 
Dutch in 1802, in accordance with the conditions of the Treaty of Amiens, the 
missions were not interfered with, and the missionaries were allowed to contmue then- 
useful and beneficent labours. The Dutch did not, however, retain permanent possession 
of the territory they had recovered, which was taken a second time, in 1806, by the 
forces of Great Britain, under the command of Sir David Baird, and has belonged to 
this country ever smce. 

Two years after the second British occupation, the Moravians formed another 
settlement at Grueneldoof, about forty miles from Cape Town. Here, too, they 
experienced more of those troubles which ever accompany and beset the missionary. 
The slaves in the neighbourhood rose against their masters, whom they seized and 
imprisoned, and threatened to kill, and it was even alleged that they proposed to march 
upon Cape Town, burn the houses, and put to death all the white inhabitants, but Lord 
Caledon, the Governor, lost no time in putting down the rebellion, and for a while 
peace was restored to the colonists. 

Another difficulty arose from the wUd animals, more numerous here than at 
Gnadenthal. When the Dutch first took possession of the Cape, lions, hyenas, and 
jackals were common in the unmediate neighbourhood of Cape Town itself— then, of 
course, but a small place — and Lion's Hill, which overlooks the city, derives its name 
from the presence of those animals in not very remote times. A curious story, 
illustrating at once the boldness and the timidity of the lion, is told of a trumpeter, 
who havmg drunk himself into a state of stupidity, fell asleep outside the fort at Cape 
Town, and was picked up by a prowling lion and carried off towards the mountain, 
much as a cat would carry away a mouse. The shaking he received had a sobering 
and an awakening effect upon the man, who on coming to his senses realised his 
terrible position. His presence of mind did not desert him in his extremity, and raising 
his trumpet to his lips — for his arms were free — he sounded a loud and thrilling note, 
which so alarmed the lion that he dropped his prey, and made off. The trumpeter was 
more frightened than hurt, and returned as quickly as he could to the fort, resolvmg 
never again to allow himself to be overcome by drink. 

At Grueneldoof the wolves were very numerous, and would boldly enter the enclosed 



108 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IIL-Christianity is South Africa. 

yard of the station, carrying off sheep and other animals, and it was in an attempt to 
destroy the wolves that the missionary Schmitt was attacked by a leopard as has been 
stated in the introduction to this volume.* He was bitten in eight places, and it was 
feared that the violent inflammation arising from the wounds would prove fatal ; but 
medical aid was obtained from Cape Town, and the patient, having been bled, in accord- 
ance with the practice of the time, slowly recovered, and was spared for many years to 
take an active part in the work of the mission. 

Gradually the Moravians established new stations in different parts of the colony, 
conductintif them after the methods which had been so successful at Gnadenthal and 
Gruenekloof. The Government assisted them by making fr-ee grants of land, which 
they soon broke up for cultivation, turning the wilderness into a fruitful field. 
They gave the settlements Scriptural names, and two of the new stations were 
known as ^.'Enon and Elim, but the designations were not quite so appropriate as 
they had hoped. At times the water at /Enon was too abundant, and the floods 
wrought much damage, destroying the crops and drowning the live stock ; then a long 
drought succeeded ; the cattle suffered from want of water, and the gardens and 
fields were burnt up by the continuous sunshme. The missionaries, however, bravely 
and patiently endured these misfortunes, and industriously repaired, as far as possible, 
the damage caused by the flood and the drought. 

They had also to endure inconvenience, and sometimes personal suffering, in the 
numerous petty wars carried on by the British forces against the native tribes ; and a 
further and even heavier trouble arose from the behaviour of many of their converts, 
who frequently relapsed into their old habits, and by drunkenness and immorality 
brought disgrace upon themselves and their teachers. Many of the Hottentots were 
willing enough to be baptised, and eagerly sought to be admitted into the churches 
formed by the missionaries, not for the sake of evangelical truth, but in order to learn 
a trade and to advance their own interests. The Moravians exercised every possible 
care before baptising those who oflered themselves, and used every endeavour to pre- 
vent themselves from being imposed upon, but they were not always successful. Yet, 
in spite of all the difficulties and drawbacks with which they had to contend, their 
work gi-ew and prospered, so that in 1852 — sixty years after Marsveld, Schwinn, and 
Kuehnel arrived at Cape Town — the number of communicants at the six stations was 
1,883, and their congregations exceeded five thousand men, women, and children. 

* See p. 20. 










3 

4 
-1 



o 
3 



110 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IIL-Christiasity 

CHAPTER VI. 

IN KAFFRARIA, GRIQUALAND, AND NAMAQUALAND. 

Berer.vement and Conversion of Dr. Vanderkemp — His Mission to the KaiErs under the London Missionary 
Society — He also Suffers from the Hostility of the Boers — Obliged to Abandon Kaffraria and Labour 
amongst the Hottentots — Final Success and Death — The London Missionary Society send out Mr. Camp- 
bell — His Tour of Inspection — Visits Bethelsdorp — His Journey in the Wilds of Griqualand — The Bush- 
men — Lattakoo and King Mateebe — Trying to Change the Ethiopian's Skin — Commencement of 
Wesleyau Missions — Mr. and Mrs. Shaw — Teaching the Natives the Use of Tools — A Plough equal to 
Ten Wives — Xamaqualand — The Work at Lily Fountain — Murder of Mr. Threlfall and his Companions 
— Abandonment for the present of Xamaqualand. 

ONE day in June, towards the end of the last century, a little boat was sailing on the 
Meuse, near Dort. It was a bright and beautiful afternoon, and sea and sky and 
space were flooded with sunshme. There were three occupants of the boat, a lady and 
gentleman and their child. Gaily sped the fragile craft, and merr}^ was the talk of 
the father and mother, as they drew forth the lisping utterances of their little one. So 
Ught-hearted were they aU, that they did not observe the darkening of the sky, and when 
they did, no thought of danger entered their minds, until at length they were conscious 
of the approach of a waterspout. Suddenly it overtook them ; the boat was upset ; the 
lady and the little child were drowned before the eyes of the man, who struggled with 
almost superhuman energy to save them ; he alone escaped, as by miracle. 

That man was Dr. John Vanderkemp, the first missionary to the Kaffirs. The 
loss of his wife and child made house, home, and life desolate. Hitherto he had not 
kno^vn the consolations of the Gospel ; sceptical opinions from the works of French 
philosophers had been the tasteless fare upon which his soul had fed ; but in his trouble 
he turned to the simple Gospel of Christ, and there he found peace. 

All this happened in the beginning of stirring times. It will be remembered that 
towards the end of the last century, and following upon the Evangelical revival 
brought about by the preaching of Whitfield and Wesley, English men and women 
began to take an active interest in the condition of the heathen world, and to ask 
themselves whether they were not guilty of serious neglect in refraining from an 
endeavour to preach to the peoples who were sitting in darkness the truths they had 
themselves received and believed. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
Foreign Parts had existed nearly a hundred years, but had done little to evangelise the 
heathen. In other countries missionary societies had been established, and their 
example was now followed by England. ^ 

The London Missionary Society was founded in 1795, and in l79cS an address of 
the Society fell into the hands of Dr. Vanderkemp. He determined to become a 
missionary, and placed himself at once in comnumication with the Directors of the 
Society, who forthwith sent him to the Cape of Good Hope. He was in many respects 
a remarkable man. After studying in the Universities of Leydcn and Edinburgh, he 
entered the Dutch army, in which he served as an officer sixteen years, and then left 
the service on account of some personal misunderstanding with the Prince of Orange, 



IN South Africa.) DR. YANDERKEMPS MISSION. Ill 

whose friendship he had at one time enjoyed. He then proceeded to Edinburgh, where 
he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and estabhshed himself as a physician at 
Middlebiirgh in Holland, where he obtained a large practice, employing his leisure in 
literary and scientific studies. Here it was that he lost his wife and child. In 
December, 1798, he sailed to South Africa, accompanied by Mr. Kicherer, a Dutch 
clergyman, and by two Englishmen, Messrs. Edwards and Edmonds, who all intended 
to devote themselves to work amongst the Kaffirs. 

On their arrival at Cape Town they learnt, however, that the Bushmen were 
inquiring for teachers, and Messrs. Kicherer and Edwards accordingly went to them. 
Vanderkemp adhered to his original intention, and having received from General 
Dundas, the Colonial Governor, promises of protection and countenance, set out as 
soon as possible for Kaffirland. The journey was not without risk, for the recent 
occupation of the colony by the British was very unwelcome to the Dutch inhabitants, 
and there was much bitterness of feeling between the Hottentots, (who relied upon 
British protection), and their former masters. The uncertainty as to the continued 
occupation of the colony by the British was also a disturbmg element in colonial life. 
Vanderkemp was asked by some Dutch farmers, settled in the Zuurveld district, to 
instruct the Hottentots there ; but he would not give up his cherished object, and 
proceeded to KafSrland, where, after some negotiations, he obtained leave from Gaika, 
one of the chiefs, to settle in the country. He built a temporary dwelling, planted a 
garden, sowed a httle corn, and commenced to teach such persons as came to him for 
instruction. These were but few, and the mission made no progress. One of the chief 
hindrances to success was the hostility of the Dutch farmers, who made every effort to 
prejudice the Kaffirs against the missionary, and were so far successfid that Vanderkemp 
found it expedient to withdraw, after having been in the country about eighteen months. 

He returned to the Zuurveld, and found that two missionaries, recently arrived 
from England, had begun to instruct the Hottentots and slaves, a work in which they 
were encouraged by the District Commissioner. Vanderkemp joined them, and their 
labours were successful, but this success again brought upon them the hostility of the 
Boers, who objected to slaves and Hottentots being taught in the church, and 
complained that the natives were abetted in attacking the colonists. They took up 
arms, and — on the Commissioner sending to ascertain their demands — they asked that 
the slaves and Hottentots should be excluded from the church, and that it should be 
thoroughly purified, the seats cleaned, and the pavement broken up. The request was 
not unreasonable, if we remember, on the one hand the passion of the Dutch for 
cleanlmess and whitewash, and on the other the filthy habits of the natives ; and the 
Commissioner wisely gave way. But when he was further asked to give up to the 
fanners those Hottentots who had, it was alleged, murdered their relatives, he refused, 
promising only that any natives accused of crime should be tried by ordinary process 
of law. Vanderkemp used his influence to induce the insurgent farmers to accept the 
Commissioner's terms, and after some delay they agreed to do so. 

Although Vanderkemp had been obliged to retire from Kaffirland, he had not given 
up all hope of labouring in that country, and he now made a second attempt to settle 



112 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [III.-Christiakity 

there, but finding tliat, in tlie then existing circumstances, it would be impossible to do 
anything, he once more returned to his former quarters in the Zuurveld, and resumed 
his work. Here he again incurred the hostility of the Boers, who impudently alleged 
that he had gone into Kaliirland to stir up the chief Gaika against them, and they 
proceeded to attack and completely surrounded the village of Graaf-Reynet, in which he 
and other missionaries were living. The Boers tried to shoot Vanderkenip, but he 
happily escaped, and, as soon as some soldiers came to the assistance of the besieged, 
the assailants sullenly retired. 

Shortly after this attempt to take his life, Vanderkemp received from General Dundas 
a communication asking him to take charge of an institution for the Hottentots, to be 
established in such a position as would be most suitable, and on land to be given by 
the Government, and further requesting his views as to the principles on which such an 
institution should be founded. To this communication Vanderkemp sent a carefully 
drawn up replj^ in which, after indicating a situation for the proposed settlement, he 
declared, " That the chief object and aim of the missionaries ought to be to promote 
the knowledge of Christ and the practice of real piety, both by instruction and 
example, among the Hottentots and other heathen." No attempt was to be made to 
counteract the labours of the Moravians or other missionaries ; idleness was to be 
discouraged, and those who joined the proposed institution were to be omialoyed m 
useful work, on the principle of the rule laid down by St. Paul, " If any man will 
not work, neither shall he eat." 

These proposals were accejrted by the Governor ; Botha's Plain, near Algoa Bay, 
was selected as the site of the institution, and the missionaries took possession 
in March, 1802. At first they had some trouble in obtaining water for drinking and 
other domestic purposes, but they sank wells and found an abundant supply. The 
Governor promised to send them provisions for the first year, and it was hoped that 
they would afterwards be able to provide for themselves, but these hopes were doomed 
to be disappointed. The site chosen for the missionaries was, indeed, most unfortu- 
nate, owing to the breaking out of hostilities between the Boers and the native 
population. Governor Dundas wished Vandei'kemp and his colleagiies to retire from 
their post, especially as the proposed institution was obnoxious to the Boers, who 
alleged that the missionaries encouraged the plundering Hottentots, and permitted 
their houses to be a refuge for thieves and murderers. But the missionaries were 
unwilling to give up their settlement, which they continued to hold until the return 
of the Dutch on the conclusion of the Peace of Amiens. 

The Boers cherished the hope that as soon as the new Governor arrived from 
Holland, the English missionaries would be sent out of the colony. On his arrival they 
proposed that all the Hottentots should be reduced to slavery, and failing to obtain 
his assent to this proposition, they suggested that a mission conducted by Englishmen 
and directed from England was likely to be dangerous to the Dutch Government. 
Vanderkemp was able to convince Governor Janssens of the absurdity of this suggestion, 
but, in order to propitiate the Boers, he agreed that the missionaries should com- 
municate with their own society in London through the Dutch society in Amsterdam. 



IN South Africa.] 



DIFFICULTIES WITH THE BOERS. 



113 



The Governor offered a new site for the institution, and this, too, the missionaries 
accepted, though it was obviously selected without regard to the convenience of them- 
selves or the Hottentots. Vanderkemp was asked to name the place, the Governor 
e.xpressiug a hope that he would not give it a name chosen from the Bible. The 
missionary suggested "Jjothelsdorp," and the Governor, whose knowledge of the Old 




DB. VAXtlEBKBMP 



Testament was but limited, accepted the proposal. When he afterwards discovered 
the source from which the name had been taken, he good-humouredly acknowledged 
that he had been fairly outwitted. 

A year or two after Bethelsdorp was founded, a Dutch officer named De Wint paid 
a visit of inspection. \'anderkemp came to meet him, riding in a waggon drawn by four 
oxen, and sitting on a plank laid across it. He woi'e no hat or shirt, but was dressed 
in a threadbare black coat, waistcoat, and breeches, with leather sandals bound to his 
feet after the fashion of the Hottentots. Instead of the usual salutation he offered a 
short prayer, and then entered a house with the Commissary, who reminded him that 
they had known each other thirty-six years before at Leyden, in Holland. The 
Commissar}^ was very favourably impressed by Vanderkemp's i-eligious ardour, self- 
denial, learning and enthusiasm, and made a fovourable report of his inspection to the 
Colonial Governor. 
8 



il-i CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. m.-CuHisTi.«iTv 

Uu more than one occasion Vanderkemp directed the attention of the authorities 
to the treatment experienced by the Hottentots at the hands of the Boers, and inquiries 
were made b}' the local authorities, but nothing was done to remed^^ the evils complained 
of, the Government being either unable or unwilling to interpose. These complaints so 
exasperated the Boers, that one of them actually went to Cape. Town to ask permission 
to shoot the missionary. Of course permission was refused, and the Governor severely 
reprimanded his visitor, enforcing his reprimand by asking with grim humour if he 
had noticed the gallows at the entrance to the town ? Vanderkemp continued to 
protect the Hottentots by every means in his power, though the lioers repeatedly 
complained of his conduct to the Dutch Governors, and, after the British authorities 
liad resumed possession of the colony, to the Governors sent out from England. On 
several occasions he was called to Cape Town to answer the charges brought against 
him, and at one time, fearing he would not be allowed to return to Bethelsdorp, 
he made arrangements for transferring his work to others. But his enemies were not 
permitted to triumph, and he continued at his post, befriending the natives and pro- 
tecting them, as far as lay in his power, until the end of his life. 

On a December morning in the year 1811, after he had conducted family worship, 
he was taken ill and became partly unconscious. A friend inquired of him, " What is 
the state of your mind ? " and he was just able to murmur, " All is well." Again he 
was asked, " Is it light or dark with you ? " " Light," was his reply. It was his last 
word, but the light illuminated for him the dark valley into which he was entermg. 

The death of Dr. Vanderkemp having deprived the London Missionary Society of the 
founder of their missions in South Africa, the Directors decided that it was desirable to 
send out one of their own number " to personally inspect the different settlements, and 
to estabhsh such regulations in concurrence with the missionaries, as might be most con- 
ducive to the conversion of the heathen, keeping in view at the same time the promo- 
tion of their civilisation." John Campbell, minister of Kingsland Chapel, near London — 
whose name has been given to a street opposite the present Kingsland Chapel, and to a 
little town in Griqualand West, not far from the Hart River — was selected for this 
honourable but difficult task, and he lef^ London for the Cape in June, 1812. The 
voyage was prosperous until the vessel was within a day's sail of Cape Town, when 
she encountered heavy gales, and was twice driven far out to sea, but on the 24th of 
October she safely arrived at her destination, and Mr. Campbell was welcomed to South 
Africa b}' two missionaries, Kichei'cr of Graaf-Re\aiet and Bakker of Stpllenbosch, who 
subsequently advised him to defer his intended joinnej' into the interior until the heat 
of summer had somewhat abated. The advice was accepted ; but m the meantime, not 
to be idle, Mr. Campbell obtained from the authorities a formal licence to preach, and 
took part in i-eligious services as he could find opportunity. 

There were in those days about thirty thousand slaves in the colony, and he took 
considerable trouble in inquiring as to the conditions of their servitude and the treat- 
ment they received from their masters. Manj- of them were Mahommedans, and a 
few professed Christianity, but the majority knew little of any religious teaching. Their 



i.nSuitu AiiucA.l MK. CAMPBELL'S TOUR. 115 

lot was, however, easier than that of the slaves in the West Indies and in America ; 
they were for the most part employed as domestic servants, were well fed and clothed, 
and seemed attached to their owners. Churches had been built for them, and occa- 
sionally white men and slaves formed one congregation. Slavery had originally been 
introduced into the colony by the Dutch, and for many years was tolerated by the 
English Government, though any attempt to introduce fresh slaves was sternlj' forbidden. 
and it was totally abolished in 1835. 

It was ilr. Campbell's intention to visit all the missionary stations in the colons- 
connected with his own Society, and to find out suitable places for new settlements. 
With these objects in view he proposed to travel over two thousand miles, and to 
l^enetrate districts which no Eiu-opean had ever visited — no light task for a middle- 
aged minister, long accustomed to the comforts and refinements of an English home. 
Before commencing this long journey, he went out to pay a visit to the Moravian 
settlement at Gruenekloof, where he met Mr. Schmitt, the hero of the encounter witli 
the leopard already narrated, and was introduced to the Hottentot who was with Schmitt 
at the time.* The natives at the station were clean, tidy, and decently dressed ; their 
houses were neatly kept ; they appeared attached to their teachers, and took part in 
religious worship with intelligent interest. 

He also visited the Moravian settlement at Gnadenthal, and was present at a 
watch-night service on New Year's Eve, to which people travelled from long distances. 
These services — which have been adopted by the Methodists and other religious bodies 
— are of Moravian origin, but were more uncommon three-quarters of a centurj" ago 
than in the present day ; and Mr. Campbell appreciated the solemnity of the occasion, 
and the silence in which the large congregation of white and coloured worshippers 
awaited the arrival of the New Year. He was altogether favourably impressed by the 
work the Moravians had accomplished — by the contrast between the Hottentots who had 
been brought under their influence and those who were still in their original condition, 
ignorant of the true God, depraved by vice (too often learnt from the Dutch), dirty, 
neglected, and indolent. The changes he observed at Gruenekloof and Gnadenthal en- 
couraged him to look hopefully to the future, and to go forward on his journey with 
the expectation of being able to carry out the objects he had in view, and to make 
ready the way for the missionaries who were to be sent out to attack the ignorance 
and misery prevalent amongst the native tribes of South Africa. 

In February, 1S13, he started for Bethelsdorp, a journey of five hundred miles, 
the party consisting of himself, four Hottentot men — one of whom, named Cupido, was a 
convert , able and willing to speak to his fellow-countrymen — and two women, also 
Hottentots, to cook and wash. They travelled in two waggons drawn by oxen, with spare 
oxen for use in emergencies, along a route which led through an unsettled and difficult 
country, in which they had to ford the Gauritz and Gamtoors Rivers, and to cross 
several mountam ranges. The journey took four weeks to accomplish, but did not 
present such serious difficulties as Jlr. Campbell experienced in his subsequent travels. 

He was greatly disappointed with the appearance of Bethelsdorp, with its mean 

* See p. 2(1. 



IIG 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[111.— CURlaTlA-NITY 



houses, barren soil, and generally neglected and nntidy condition — a sad contrast to the 
jMoravian settlements he had previously seen. Yet, in spite of appearances, some 
progress had been made, and Bethelsdorp could boast of smiths, carpenters, waggon- 
builders, basket-makers, brickmakers, and even of tobacco-pipe makers and an 
auctioneer, amongst its six hundred Hottentot inhabitants. There were a few Kaffirs 
m the district, but they had not come under the influence of the missionaries ; 
most of them were lawless plunderers of the Dutch farmers, and often added to their 
thievish pi'opensities the crime of murder. There had already been war between these 
people and the English, which had its origin in a quarrel between a Dutch farmer 




A SCENE IX .MK. CAilPBELL'S JOURNEY. {See //. US.) 



and a Kaffir chief, and this unfortunate affair proved to be the beginning of a long 
series of wars with the native tribes of South Africa, in which our forces, though 
ultimately successful, have met with disasters and reverses, and many precious lives 
have been wasted. 

From Bethelsdorp, Campbell visited the Dutch farms in the surrounding district, 
and made the acquaintance of several English officers m command of the Hottentot 
troops stationed at various outposts to prevent Katfir incursions and attacks. Some 
of these outposts were little better than lodges in the wilderness, and the officers were 
very glad to receive a visitor who had so recently arrived from jtheir native land, 
whilst their advice and experience were of great value to him. At Graham's Town, 
now an important place, with seven thousand inhabitants, but then only a small village, 
the officer m command furnished him with introductions to the officers of the military 
stations he would pass on his journey, and made some valuable suggestions as to sites 
for the missionary settlements it was intended to establish. 

Meanwhile, preparations for the long journey were being made at Bethelsdorp, and 
the services of the carpenters, smiths, and waggon-builders were requisitioned for the 
expedition, which was a somewhat formidable business, as Campbell proposed to 



IN South Africa.] 



THE WILD BUSHMAN'S COUNTRY. 



117 



penetrate iiato districts hitherto untrodden by the foot of a white man. At last 
everything was ready, and with iMr. Read, one of the Bethelsdorp missionaries, as a 
companion, and attended by several Hottentots, in addition to Cupido and three others 
who had accompanied him from Cape Town, he set off for Graaf-Rejmet — now a place 




BOSJESMANS OK BUSHMEN'. 



of some importance and the chief town of the district bearing the same name. This 
journey, which occupied eight days, was accomplished without much trouble, and the 
travellers were received by Mr. Kicherer, who had been for some time in charge of the 
mission there, and had gathered together a large congregation. 

The travellers were now to commence the real difficulties of their journey, 
intending to cross what was tlien known as the Wild Bushman's Country, in order to 
reach the Orange River. Many of these Bushmen — who were a nomadic people, 
perhaps even lower in the scale of human beings than the Hottentots — had been 
wantonly killed by the Boers, and the survivors were bitterly hostile to white men, and 



118 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [in.-CHRisijAx.TY 

although Mr. Campbell was bent on a peaceful errand, it was only right to take every 
precaution against a sudden attack. The Bushmen are now dying out, at all events in 
Cape Colony and the adjacent districts ; but early in the present century they occupied, 
or wandered over, a large jjortion of South Africa on the northern boundaries of the colony, 
and beyond these boundaries to the banks of the Orange River, but they were cut off i'rom 
the Atlantic by the Hottentots and from the Indian Ocean by the Kaffirs. Happily 
the travellers, except on one occasion, suffered no inconvenience from the Bushmen, and, 
indeed, found some of them tractable and willing to help ; one young man serving as a 
guide to the caravan for several days, and making himself particularly useful in finding 
water in places where it would probably have escaped the observation of Englishmen 
and Hottentots. 

The want of water for themselves and their cattle was a sore trouble at times, as 
they could carry but a small quantity, which merely sufficed for the consumption of 
the men, so that the oxen suffered seriously. In addition to these troubles, there was 
danger from the attacks of lions and the bites of poisonous snakes ; but, providen- 
tially, none of these anticipated perils befell any of the party, though they killed 
several snakes and saw a large number of lions, which generally were more willing to 
run away than to fight. Indeed, on one occasion, when some of the Hottentots ^\ei'e 
out hunting elands, in order to obtain a supply of meat, and came suddenly u^Jon a 
number of lions bent on the same errand, the men and the lions fled from each other 
simultaneously — elks, lions, and men making off as fast as they could in different 
directions. 

On the evening of the first day after the travellers had crossed the boundaries of 
the colony, some of their escort brought in three young Bushmen, whom they had 
chanced to meet. These men were mild enough, and when it was explained to them 
that the missionaries had come a long distance, and were anxious to send them 
teachers, they appeared glad to hear it. Their father was living in a cave not far 
away, and they were sent off with some provisions for him, and asked to bring him 
to the caravan in the morning. The men kept their word, and reappeared just 
as the missionaries were holding morning service, with the old man and a woman, 
the wife of one of them, who carried a child of ten months on her back. 
They looked on with some surprise, but when the Hottentots prostrated themselves 
on the ground diu'ing prayer they followed the example, and behaved in a very 
devout manner. A looking-glass was produced, and they were astonished to see 
themselves reflected in it, making strange grimaces in order to fully satisfy them- 
selves, and the woman turning her child round as if to make assurance doubly 
sure. She was very dirty, and Mr. Campbell advised her to wash, but she shook her 
head, and the Hottentots explained that the Bushmen thought dirt upon their skin 
kept them warm and comfortable, and only cleaned themselves by Aviping oft' the 
perspiration with jackal tails, which they usually carried for the purpose. The men 
and the woman wore sheejaskins, but the child was quite naked, except that romid 
its little body there were a few strings of berries interspersed with round pieces of 
ostrich egg. 



inSoith AiRi.A.l TRAVELLIXG IX GRIQUALAXD. llS) 

In traversing Bushman's Land a new and unexpected danger presented itself in 
the pits dug by the natives as traps for wild animals, and the waggons had several 
narrow escapes. These pits were about six feet deep, with a strong stake driven into 
the bottom, point upwards, the mouth of the pit being covered with bushes, and the 
bushes strewn over with grass. Much inconvenience was also caused by two trouble- 
some plants — a grass, producing small seeds which adhered to the clothes, and gradually 
worked throligh and irritated the skin ; and a shrub with thorns in the shape of 
tish-hooks, which caught and detained those who came too close, and was known as 
the " stop-a- while " bush. But these were only minor troubles, though an irritation 
of the skin and torn clothes are sources of annoyance. 

After many days the Orange River was reached, and found to be a swift stream 
as broad as the Thames at London Bridge, and quite impassable for waggons. It was 
necessary therefore to follow the southern bank for some days in an easterly direction 
to discover a ford, and two messengers were in the meanwhile sent off' with a letter 
to Mr. Anderson, the missionary at Klaar Water, or Griqua To-wn, in Griqualand AVest, 
on the north of the river, asking him to send additional oxen to help the caravan 
through the river at the first practicable crossing-place. Mr. Anderson came to 
welcome his brethren, who had also secured the assistance of a party of Bushmen under 
a chief who spoke a little Dutch and had at one time lived at Griqua Town, but had 
left in order to marry two wives, polygamy not being allowed at the station. AMth all 
this aid the caravan got safely over, but it was a long and anxious business. The 
luggage was packed as high up in the waggons as possible, in order to keep it dry ; 
additional oxen were then fastened to the waggons, and men on horseback or on oxen 
rode on either side to prevent the draught oxen from turning round ; the loose oxen, 
the sheep, and the goats, brought as supplies of food, were driven over by men 
swimming on pieces of timber called wooden horses ; and the dogs, although very un- 
willing to make the attempt, at last came over by themselves. 

Griqua Town was reached the next day, and the travellers remained for a little 
time at the station, Messrs. Campbell and Read taking part in the service and in a 
celebration of the Lord's Supper ; English, Scotch, Dutch, Hottentots, and (iriquas 
being present. Mr. Campbell preached one day to a Coranna congregation, his sermon 
being translated by Mr. Anderson into Dutch, and by a Dutchman named Cok into 
the Coranna tongue, a long and somewhat tedious process, as it was necessary to 
employ twice as many Coranna as Dutch or English words. The Corannas were a 
branch of the Hottentot family, and at that time chiefly occupied a district on the 
south of the Orange River, and north-east of Bushman's Land. They were said to be 
even more indolent than the Hottentots of the Cape, and their huts were of the most 
primitive description, being constructed of branches of trees covered with rush mats, 
with entrances so small as to be only practicable by crawling on all-fours. \ot, 
degraded and uncivilised as these people were in their wild state, some of them had 
been brought under Christian influences, and Mr. Campbell's sermon was listened to 
attentively. 

Griqua Town then consisted of only a few huts, besides the house of the missionary, 



120 CONQUESTS or THE CROSS. [Ill -Cbristianity in Soi-rn Africa. 

^^l;o had taught the people to grow jDotatoes, pumpkins, cabbages, and other vegetables, 
and had planted a promising vinej'ard near the mission-house. ISIany of the people 
had Dutch Bibles or Testaments, and Mr. Campbell had reason to believe that good work 
was being accoiBplished in the district, made famous in our tune by the discovery of 
diamonds in the Kimberley and other diamond fields in Griqualand West. 

The neighbourhood of Griqua Town was much infested with lions, which the 
people tried to kill in traps ingeniously placed at the springs whither thej^ resorted 
to drink. The sjiring was surrounded by a thick hedge formed of bushes, only a 
narrow entrance being left, and on each side of the entrance a loaded gun was placed 
with a cord fastened to the trigger in such a manner that an animal entering the 
enclosure would discharge the gun and be shot dead. In proceeding from Griqua Town 
to Lattakoo, the lions were bolder than those in Bushman's Land, and came nearer to 
the caravan, but generally made off as quickly as possible, to the relief of the travellers, 
who feared more for their cattle than for themselves. They were now passing through 
a region fairly well supplied with water, and abounding in grass, and the j^'^storal 
country continued until they arrived at their destination, where they hoped to be able 
to arrange for the establishment of a mission amono-st the Bechuanas, who, like the 
Kaffirs, are a branch of the Bantu family, and had not as yet been approached b}- 
Christian missionaries. 

Although Lattakoo was a populous town — if that term ma}' be properly applied to a 
place consisting only of several groups of huts — none of the inhabitants were visible, as 
the travellers approached the outskirts, except two or three boys ; and it was not until 
the caravan reached the entrance of the principal street or lane that anj? grown-uj> 
person appeared. Then a man made signs to the travellers to follow him, and conducted 
them between rows of apparently deserted huts to a large open space or square opposite 
the king's house, where several hundred people had gathered. The waggons moved with 
difficulty through the crowd, and at last were drawn up in the centre of the square, and 
a tent was pitched. The king, Mateebe, was absent, but the uncle and brother of the 
late king received the travellers, and were invited to come, vrith the other principal men 
of the place, to a conference. The invitation was accepted, and Mr. Campbell ex])lained. 
through the mediimi of three interpreters, in the Dutch, Coranna, and Bechuana lan- 
guages, the object of the mission. He said he had come from a remote country where 
the true God, who made all things, was known : that the people of that country' had 
long ago sent some of their brethren to Klaar Water, and other places, to tell the natives 
many things they did not know, and to tr^- to make them better and ha^jpier ; and that, 
having heard, since his arrival in Africa, that the people of Lattakoo were friendly to 
strangers, he had come to ask if they were willing to receive teachers, and, if they were 
wilhng, he promised that teachers should be sent. 

He was answered that, in the king's absence, no promises could be made, but that 
the king- who had gone to hunt iaekals, had been sent for. One of the chiefs re- 
minded the missionaries that he had not yet tasted any of their tobacco, and some was 
at once given him. Next, one of the king's wives, who had come to see for herself what 
was going on, produced some milk, in return for which she too received a present of 




y. 

< 



s 



/5 

13 



122 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IIH.-Ch.ustiaxity 

tobacco. She also asked Mr. Read for some snuff, and, on his telling her ho did not 
take it, replied that he would therefore have more to give away. A\'hilst waiting for 
the return of the king, the missionaries visited the different parts of the town, and 
extended the number of their acquaintances. The children were at tirst very much 
afraid of the white men, though, in time, curiosity got the better of then- fear, and 
they followed the strangers about, asking questions, and laughing when they received 
no answer. 

It happened that an annual festival took place almost immediately after the 
:arrival of Mr. Campbell, and, as it was held in the square in which the caravan 
had encamped, he had ample opportunity of seeing all that went on. There was 
dancing by the women and girls, some of whom prepared themselves for their parts by 
painting themselves with red chalk, or blacklead dust, mixed with grease, and smeared 
by the hand all over their bodies, while others daubed lines of white paint on their faces. 
Thus adorned, and holding long rods in their hands, the}' marched slowly into the square, 
bawling at the tojj of their voices, and pi'eceded by an advance-guard of matrons dancing 
.and screaming. A sham fight between the older and younger women then took place, 
in which the latter were victorious, and marched forward in triumph. Following 
upon this, the people formed a large circle, six or eight deep, and forty j'oung girls, 
from twelve to sixteen years of age, having their bodies whitened with chalk, began to 
dance with measured irregularity, occasionally striking the ground violently with their 
feet. Many of them carried small shields, which they used to ward oft' imaginary arrows. 
When this had lasted a quarter of an hour they retired, and, after a few minutes' 
pause, commenced dancing in the same manner, retiring and returning again, until the 
proceedings had lasted an hour and a half, when the gathering dispersed. This perform- 
ance was continued for several days in the same place, and was subsequently repeated 
in other parts of the town, the missionaries being much relieved when the noise was 
•removed from their immediate neighbourhood. One of the chiefs, indeed, expressed his 
regret that the festival should have taken place during their visit, as he felt that it 
must have caused them considerable annoyance and discomfort. 

The messenger who had been sent to find the king returned without news of him, 
and the missionaries were obliged to submit to further delaj'. Meantime, they went 
about the town and made themselves more fully acquainted with the inhabitants. In 
the house of Salakootoo, the king's imele, they found some paintings by his wife — 
rough frescoes representing camelopards, elephants, lions, tigers, and steinboks in 
white and black — and executed in a better way than could have beeiv expected. Many 
of the inhabitants were skin-dressers, others sewed skins together with a straight awl 
not unUke the awls used by English shoemakers. There were also workers in copper 
and iron, which they made into rings, axes, adzes, knives, spears, and bodkins. Alto- 
gether, the people were more civilised than the Hottentots, Kaffirs, or Bushmen, and 
the place seemed a favourable site for a mission, if only the king's permission could 
be obt .lined. 

At last it was announced that his retin-n was innninent, and, in the evening 
■uf the day on which he arrived in Lattakoo, he came, attended by his brother and 



IX SoiTH Afri. A.l CONFERENCE WITH MATEEBE. 12S 

some of the chief men, to visit the missionaries. (3n entering their tent, he sat 
in silence to receive the presents offered him, and to hear what they had to say. 
He watched eagerly the opening of the parcels, looking slyly to see what was coming 
next, and when nothing more was forthcornmg, he told the missionaries that thej^ 
would have been quite safe even if they had brought no presents, and that as soon 
.a.s he heard of their arrival he returned from his hunting. He was informed that 
there was also some tobacco for him, but he asked that it might not be given 
to him then, lest the people outside should beg it all away. 

Mr. Campbell then explained the object of his coming. He said he had come 
over the water in a wooden house, which the wind blew, in foiu- moons, to Africa, and 
that he wished to know whether teachers might be sent to Lattakoo, and whether the 
king would protect them. Mateebe replied thai the people had no time for learning, 
as they had to attend to the cattle, to sow and reap, and to do many other things, and 
further that they did not wish to give up their customs. Mr. Campbell answered these 
objections by explaining that the teachers would tell the people of the true God, who 
made the heaven and the earth, and all things, of His love to the world, and of the laws 
He had given. Pointing to a Bible on the table, he said that the book contained every- 
thing the missionaries had to make known to him and to his people, and that when the 
missionaries had learned his language they would change all the book contained into that 
language. The king did not think this possible ; and, to convince him that his language 
could be reduced to writing, the visitors read to him the names of his predecessors 
and of his family, which they had previously written down from information thej- had 
obtainecL With this achievement the king seemed pleased, and when he was further 
assin-ed that industry would not be interfered with, that nobody would be compelled to 
listen to those Avho were sent, he said : " Send teachers, and I will be a father to 
them." He then asked about two boys belonging to his people who were kejjt 
captive by the white men, and received an understanding that inquiry should be made 
respecting them. 

Next day Jlr. Campbell called upon the king, bringing with him presents of ean-ings 
for each of the queens. Mateebe asked for a gun, and, on ilr. Campbell saying he 
did not possess one, the king replied that he had seen plenty belonging to the party. 
He was told that these were not the property of the missionaries, but of their escort, 
and would be required on the journey still before them. " Then," replied his Majesty, 
" one of them must give his gun for mine, which is a bad one." The royal familj- 
were at dinner in a yard outside the house, and the king's distinction seemed to 
consist in his having the only spoon, with which he helped himself and his friends, 
putting a portion into each hand as it was held out to him. 

At noon a meeting was held in the square, attended by the king, his chiefs, and 
the missionaries, and the question of sending teachers to Lattakoo was again discussed. 
Several of the chiefs asked questions and started objections. One said that in praj-ing 
he would not see his enemies coming, and another that he would never be able to sing; 
yet, in spite of these objections, some of them came the same evening to a religious 
-service, and appeared pleased and satisfied with what they saw and heard. 




MR. CAMPBELL AND KING MATEEBE. (See p. 123.) 



The missionaiies having so fiir succeeded in carrying out their intentions, the 
caravan moved off in an easterly direction, and then made for Gri4ua Town. A 
fow years later Mr. Campbell again visited the Bechuana country, with Robert Moffat, 
who laboured so long and so successfully among the people, and on the occasion of the 
second journey penetrated much further into the interior. But we must now follow him 
on his long and danigerous route by the banks of the Orange River, through the Bushmen's 
and Coranna country to Little Namaqualand, where he proposed to visit the mission 
station at Bella, and to arrange for further missions into Great Namaqualand and the 
Damara countrj-. The district through which he travelled was in places much infested 
by venomous snakes, especially by cobras, perhaps the most dangerous of all reptiles, 
on account of their unprovoked attacks on men and animals. Fortunately none of the 



IS South Av nit A.] WASHIXG A BLACKAMOOR. 125 

party were bitten, but tliey destroyed tbirty-one serpents of various kinds, in or near 
their encampments, or on the route. In the course of their march, Mr. Campbell tried 
to wash a little boy who had joined the caravan for a time, and was supposed to 
be black from dirt, but soap -and- water were applied in vain, and the experiment was 
given up, with the confession that the skin of an Ethiopian cannot be made white. 
At one place the Bushmen attacked them and drove otf all their cattle, leaving them 
for a day or two in a very awkward strait. But the cattle were recovered, and they 
were able to continue the journey. 

At length the travellers reached Pella, where they were joyfully received by the 
Brethren, and after a brief halt proceeded to Silver Fountain, another mission station, 
under the charge of ilr. Sass, a native of Prussia, whose wife died during their visit, 
after a very brief illness — the saddest incident of the whole journey. Not long before, 
the wife of another missionary had died in the same district, and these mournful 
bereavements darkened the close of an otherwise successful and prosperous undertaking. 

Mr. Campbell was an accurate observer, and kept a daily record of the state of the 
thermometer at sunrise and at noon durmg his journey ; he also noted the number 
of animals killed by the people who accompanied him, the greater part having been 
shot to supply the commissariat. The game-bag included a lion, a wolf, two hyena.'", 
a baboon, and a jaclcal, three buti'aloes, six hippopotami, eight elks, thirty-eight spring- 
boks, nineteen bucks of various kinds, two zebras, fifteen quaggas, two ostriches, and 
twenty-nine wild geese and ducks. Mr. Campbell noticed that while all the natives 
were thin, most of the white men and women were corpulent, and he suggests that 
this was due to their indolent habits, and to the fact that most of the outdoor work 
was done by Hottentots and slaves. Subsequent travellers have confirmed these im- 
pressions, and it would seem that European settlers in Cape Colony are not, as a rule, 
accustomed to exert themselves in the farming and pastoral occupations they often 
conduct with a fair amount of success. The Dutch Boers are proverbially indolent, 
though, as we have found, to oiu- cost, they are quite capable of making vigorous effort", 
when their interests are threatened by Englishmen or natives. 

Before leaving Africa for England Mr. Campbell arranged that Mr. Schenielen, one 
of the missionaries at Pella, should visit Great Namaqualand to ascertain the prac- 
ticability of founding a mission there. He accordingly exjjlored the country as far as 
circumstances permitted, and he found some of the chiefs willing to receive teachers ; 
liut he sometimes travelled for days without seeing a human being, except his o^ra 
servants ; and after proceeding for some hundreds of miles, want of water compelled him 
to return. 

In the course of his homeward journey he heard much of the notorious Hottentot 
chief Africaner, who has been called the " Bonaparte of South Africa." This man had 
at one time suffered some insult or injustice at the hands of the Boers, and he was 
now carrying on a cruel and savage war with the natives living near the mouth of 
the Orange River, stealing their cattle, burning their kraals, and mercilessly destroying 
or enslaving those who fell mto his hands. Many and urgent were the appeals the 
natives addressed to ilr. Schemelen to endeavour to intercede with their terrible foe, 



126 COJfQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [iii.-Christiami^ 

but he was unable to find the dreaded Hottentot, and, as the result of his joiu-ney, 
he felt compelled to give up the idea of carrying the Gospel further into Great Nama- 
qualand at that time. 

About this time the Wesleyan Missionary Society decided to begin work in South 
Africa, and Mr. McKenny was sent out as a pioneer, but the colonial authorities would 
not allow him to preach, and after waiting for some time for instructions from home, 
he was directed to proceed to Ceylon. The Wesleyans were not, however, deterred in 
their desire to evangelise South Aft-ica by the narrow-mmded conduct of the Cape 
Town iirticials, and whilst they were inquiring for a suitable person to undertake the 
work, Barnabas Shaw, a young Yorkshireman, offered himself, and was sent out without 
delay. He and his wife arrived at the Cape in 1815, but he was at first refused leave 
to preach, on the ground that the English and Dutch inhabitants were sufficiently pro- 
vided with ministers, and that the owners of slaves objected to their being instructed. 
Notwithstanding this refusal, Mr. Shaw determined to hire a room and collect a con- 
gregation, and he succeeded in bringing together a few hearers, amongst whom were 
several English soldiers, but the authorities soon compelled hun to give up the work. 

At this critical uK^ment Mr. Schemelen, who happened to be on a visit to Cape 
Town, met Jlr. Shaw, and findin"- him ea"-er to m amono-st the heathen with the messao'e 
of the Gospel, represented to him the needs of the people of Namaqualand, aiid promised 
his help if he would undertake a mission to that country. This was exactly what Mr. Shaw 
desired, and the two missionaries left Cape Town together in September, 1815. After 
they had travelled for foiu' weeks, and had just crossed the Elephant Eiver, the}' met 
a chief of the Little Namaquas and four of his men, who were on their way to Cape 
Town to seek a Christian teacher, and recognising this meeting as a Divine call to labour 
amongst a people who were actually seeking instruction, Mr. Shaw decided upon going 
with the chief and devoting himself to work amongst the people. His companion heartily 
approved i:)f this design, and, bidding Mr. and ilrs. Shaw farewell, continued his journey 
to his own station, which was now at Bethany, just within the border of Great Xama- 
qualand. 

A few days later, Mr. and Mrs. Shaw reached Lily Fountain, at the foot of the Khannis- 
berg, and were gladly received by the people, who had heard of their coming. The 
natives were specially pleased to have an English woman in their midst, though at first 
they were a little in awe of the white frouw, but this feeling soon wore off, and awe 
was succeeded by affectionate regard. On the very day of the arrival of the new-comers 
the chief called together his head men, and all joined in requesting Mr. Shaw to settle 
in their midst, and promised their help in founding the mission. He wished nothing 
better, and, while accepting their invitation, explained fully why he had come, and 
told them something of his intentions as to teaching them about the true God, the 
Father of black men and white men, and the Creator of all things. 

Under these happy auspices, the Lily Fountain Mission was begun, and it has con- 
tinued to the present day, a centre from which other missions have spread into near and 
remote districts, and a source of light, happiness, and civilisation to multitudes of the 



inSului Ah:ka.-| THE LILY FOUXTAIX MISSION. IZ'i 

natives of South Africa. Here, as elsewhere, progress was at first slow, converts were- 
few in number, and energy, patience, and watchfulness were called for; but in time a 
native church was founded, 3'oung and old learnt to read, civilised habits and customs, 
were introduced, and a chapel was built. This, however, was a long and aixluous business, 
for the people, although eager to help, only gave their services spasmodically, and some- 
times left oft' work when it was most important to proceed, thus sorely trying their 
teacher's patience. 

When the building was ready for roofing, it was necessary to fetch the timber 
from some distance, as the trees in the immediate neighbourhood were unsuitable, 
and Mr. Shaw had to show the natives how to hew them with a cross-cut saw. 
With some assistance, he felled a tree to the ground, to the amazement of the lookers- 
on, who took up the work, and, overcoming their natural indolence in their anxiety 
to use the saw, soon got enough rough material, cut it into joists of the proper length, 
and carried them to Lily Fountain. Mr. Shaw also taught the people to plough, and 
the plough astonished them as much as the saw. " See." the men said, " how it tears 
the ground with its iron mouth ; it does as much in one day as ten wives " — digging 
in Namaqualand, when it was done at all, being performed by women. 

The people were interested, too, in the missionary's garden, especially with the salads 
he raised, but they \vondered that he ate uncooked lettuce. They soon learnt to have 
gardens of their own, and to grow many vegetables from seeds he gave them, so that 
in a year or two after his arrival the aspect of the place was entirel}* changed, and 
the wilderness turned into a fruitful field. Nor was the change confined to outward 
appearances; the people improved in manners and behaviour. Men who hithei'to had 
left all the hard work to their wives, now took their share of it, and meantime the 
congregation increased, and many members were added to the church. 

So great, indeed, was the progress, that Mr. Shaw sent to England for more help, 
and Mr. Edwards came out to the Cape, and travelled all the way from Cape Town to 
Lily Foimtain on horseback instead of by ox-waggon. Arrangements were made for 
establishing out-stations in Bushman's Land, on the Underveldt, and at Keid Fountain, 
though the last-named station was soon given up, and Mr. Archbell, the missionary in 
charge of it, set oft' on a journey through Great Namaqualand, with the intention of 
settling in that country should an opening present itself He succeeded in reaching 
Walfisch Bay in Damara Land, but was unable to arrange for a missionary station ; 
and Mr. Shaw, who about the same time went to see his friend Schemelen at Bethany, 
was also obliged to retiu'n, with the conviction that there was no immediate prospect of 
carrying the Gospel into CJreat Namaqualand. 

Six years elapsed — years of steadj' progress at Lily Fountain, and the out-stations 
connected with that place — when a further attempt was made to estafilish a mission 
beyond the Orange Ri\-er by Mr. Threlfall, a young and earnest soldier of the Cross. 
He had originally inten led to go to Madagascar, but was prevented, and settled for a 
time in Katfraria, where he laboured for a year, and then removed to Cape Town. Shortly 
after his arrival there. Captain Owen, of the Royal Nav)-, offered to take him to Delagoa 
Bay, that he might tr)- to work in that district. He accepted the offer, but almost directlj- 



128 . CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IIII.-Chkistiamitv in South Afuila. 

after his arrival was taken so seriously ill, and had to endure so many hardships and 
privations, which in his weak condition was more than he could bear, that he retiu'ned 
to Cape Town in a South Sea whaler. Further trouble awaited him on board ship ; fever 
broke out, and on arriving in Table Bay the vessel was placed in quarantine, and he would 
probably have died, had not a warm-hearted friend gone on board at the risk of his own 
health to nurse and take care of him. He partially recovered his strength, and then 
went to Lily Fountain, in the hope of thoroughly re-establishing his health, and of doing 
more work for his Master. These anticipations were realised ; his strength came back, 
and he was able to take a full share of mission work at the station. During his stay 
there he became acquainted with the previous attempts to evangelise Great Namaqua- 
land, and was moved by pity and compassion for the ignorant wanderers there. He 
saw at Lily Fountain what had been effected for the once degraded inhabitants, and 
was tired by a noble zeal to tiy whether the blessings which had fallen upon the 
people of Little Namaqualand could not be extended to their kinsmen beyond the 
Orange River. Mr. Shaw approved and seconded his design, and two native teachers, 
Jacob Links and Johannes Jager, volunteered to accompany him. 

The three started on their journey in June, 1825, not in a waggon, the usual mode 
of travelling, but each riding on an ox trained to carry a man and a little luggage, a 
modest but, as they trusted, a suthcient equipment. They crossed the Orange River in 
safety, and proceeded slowly for some miles, meeting with many hindrances from want 
of water, and the dithculties of the route, which lay through a barren country inhabited 
by a few wild and often ill-disposed people. At length news came to Lily Fountain 
that they had reached a place known as the Warm Bath. Then for some weeks nothing 
more was heard, until rumours of their murder reached Mr. Shaw. The Landroost at 
Clanwilliam was communicated with, and he lost no time in starting with an armed 
party to find out the truth of the rumours, and, if they were well founded, to bring the 
murderers to justice. It was ascertained that Threlfall and his two compaiiions had been 
treacherously betrayed by a native guide, who brought two other Bushmen to the spot 
where the travellei's were resting for the night, and put them all to death ; * — Links and 
Jager with arrows and stones, and Threlfall, who had been alarmed and tried to hide 
behind a bush, by a blow from a large stone ; the object of the murders being to obtain 
possession of the oxen and luggage. 

The principal criminal was captured, brought to Clanwilliam, tried, and sentenced 
to death, and to warn others of the consequences of such acts, it was ordered that 
the execution should take place as near as possible to the scene of the murder. The 
convict, who had made a fidl confession, was accordingly escorted to Silver Fountain, 
where the sentence was carried out, but in order to reach that spot the road lay 
through Lily Fountain, and the escort and criminal remained there over Sunday. It 
was thought that the peoj^le, and especially the relatives of Links and Jager, might 
attempt to revenge their death, and measures were taken to prevent any outbreak. 
But these were quite unnecessary ; instead of vengeance they were filled with pity ; 
Peter Links, the brother of Jacob, earnestly exhorted the doomed man to repent and 

* See p. 23. 




J 

H 



K 



130 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[III. — Chkistianitv in SurTH Africa. 



seek the mercy of God through Jesus Christ ; and his sister Martha, though unable for 
a while to restrain her emotima, joined in her brother's solemn entreaties. The 
criminal was led to the chapel, where the missionaries and relatives of his victims 
joined in prayer to God to have mercy upon his soul, and on the following morning the 
escort proceeded to the place of execution. 

Thus tragically ended another effort to evangelise Great Namaqualand, but the object 
was not lost sight of, though it was some years before missionaries were sent into the country. 
In 1832, at a meeting held in Cape Town, Mr. Nisbet, an Indian civil servant, offered 
a large sum towards the beginning of a new mission if the Wesleyan Society would find 
a man willing to go. Mr. Cook, who had recently arrived from England, promptly 
volunteered. His offer was accepted, and, accompanied by his wife, he was speedily on 
his way. In due time they established themselves at Warm Bath, and commenced their 
arduous task in the neighbourhood of the scene of Mr. Threlfall's martyrdom, but the 
story of their work in Great Namaqualand must be reserved for another chapter. 




131 



IV.— THE GOSPEL IN CHINA. 

CHAPTER yil. 

SCENES IN THE EARLIER LIFE OF ROBERT MORRISON. 

Discovery of Christian Scriptures in Chinese — Birth and Parentage of Robert Morrison — His Education- 
Appointment to the Chinese Mission — Total Ignorance of the Language at that date — Morrison Studies 
it in London — Curious Incident illustrating the Reverence of the Chinese for Written Words — Voyage 
to China — Early Hardships and Difficulties from the Exclusiveness of the People — Morrison's Narrowness 
of Judgment arising from Ignorance — Tea — Difficulties of the Chinese Language — Curious Cu.stoms of 
the People — Morrison removes to Macao — Marriage — Learning the Language a Crime — Important Official 
Services — The Kotow — Affair of the Tojmzc, and Flagrant Official Murders of British and American 
Subjects. 

SEARCHING, one day in the closing year of the eighteenth century, among the 
manuscripts of the British Museum, a scholarly mmister from Northamptonshire 
unexpectedly came upon a volume written in the strange characters of China. It had 
been brought by Sir Hans Sloane sixty years before from Canton, perhaps as an 
Oriental curiosity, and he had deposited it in the museum, where it seems to have 
attracted no attention. The Rev. W. Moseley, LL.D., who was its discoverer, with the 
assistance of others, found it to contain a Harmony of the Four Gospels, the Acts of 
the Apostles, the Epistles of St. Paul, and a chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, all 
in the then almost unknown language of China. Who the translator was, where and 
when he lived, and what his object was, is still unlalo^\^l. It is not improbable the 
work was done by some patient Bible-loving Roman Catholic missionary, who was 
willing, perhaps for ecclesiastical reasons, to hide his light under a bushel. It was, 
however, soon to be set on a candlestick. 

Mr. Moseley (he was not then a Doctor of Laws), not a little pleased with his 
discovery, wrote a memoir about it, which has come to mark an epoch in the history 
of the religious conquest of China. He argued impressively that it was right, and must 
therefore be possible, to give the Chinese the whole of the Bible in their own tongue. 
It was a trumpet-call to duty which soon met with a noble response. This work has long 
since been done, and done splendidly ; but eighty-nine years ago such a scheme as Mr. 
Moseley had the Christian audacity to propose, seemed fully as wild and visionary as 
any of which the world had ever heard. The work had been pointed out very clearly 
as needing to be attempted ; but who was the bold and scholarly man who would risk 
his very life — as we shall see he must do — in the execution of so gigantic a task? 

A pious member of the Kirk of Scotland, born at Dunfermline, a farmer and a 
master maker of lasts and boot-trees, moved southward to Morpeth, where he wooed 
and wed a bonnie lass from the country near there. Soon he rose to be an elder. 
This godly couple had eight children born to them, and of the youngest son, Robert 
Morrison, we have now the story to tell. 

This Morpeth boy was rather slow at school, but seemed to be quite eager to 
learn, and had great powers of memory. In his thirteenth year it was found that he 



132 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (IV.-Tiie Gospel 

could repeat the whole of the 119th Psalm, in the old Scottish metrical version, 
and he had it so tirmly fixed in his brain that no change in the order made any 
difficulty for him. By-and-by he learned his father's trade, and v\'hen the home 
was moved with the business from quiet, dream}^ ilorpeth to the busy, dingy- town 
of Newcastle, we find him very diligent m business, serving the Lord, and studying 
after the racket was over, when sleep would have done him more good. He suffered 
from this time and for most of his daj's from severe headaches, with fits of heavy 
drowsiness, which make his success as a scholar and translator more remarkable. 

Profound sincerity and truthfulness were, from the first, leading features m the 
character of the future China missionary. During the early years of his life m New- 
castle, and from the evil influence of young companions, he fell into loose habits for a 
time, grew profane, and once became intoxicated. But the grace of God was with him 
even in this dark hour, and he was soon overwhelmed with the bitterest remorse, 
followed by sincere repentance, and the joy of a new and higher life beginning to 
break through the dead husk of mere religious formality. He thus records in a manly, 
sincere style his new experience : — " Sin became a burden. It was then that I expe- 
rienced a change of life, and, I trust, a change of heart too. I broke off from my 
former careless companions, and gave myseh' to readmg, to meditation, and to prayer. 
It pleased God to reveal His Son in me, and at that time I experienced much of the 
' kindness of youth, and the love of espousals ; ' and though the flash " (so it is prmted 
in his " Memoirs," but probably he wrote Jliisli ) " of affection wore off, I trust iny love 
to, and knowledge of, the Saviour have increased." 

A " praymg society " met in his father's workshop every Monda}^. Young Eobert 
was regularly in his place on those occasions, and often took part in leading the 
devotions of the pious band. At that time he might often have been seen pacing his 
little garden in Pandon Dean, in silent prayer or deep meditation, or poring over a 
book he had borrowed from some friend or bought with his meagre savings. It is 
interesting to note that in 1799 he had borrowed and read a missionarj^ magazine, 
then published in Edinburgh, and this had some influence in determining his career. 
Even while at his work of last-making he had always the Bible, or a book on some 
useful subject, spread out before him. In this way he got a good grasp of such studies 
as botany, astronomy, and advanced arithmetic. In after daj-s he used to deplore the 
scantiness of books in the missionary's library. Indeed, no branch of the Christian 
army more urgently requires a liberal supj^ly of this kind of ammunition for such 
battle-fields as Chma. 

Jlorrison was a diligent lay worker before he became a missionary. Faithfully he 
followed his Master's command to " visit the sick " while he lived among the poor of 
Newcastle. This work prepared him for eftbrts among the sick Chinese, which came 
quite naturally and spontaneously, and it may with truth be said that out of this germ 
blossomed that glorious product of modern religious zeal, The Medical Mission. 

Soon we find him taking ship for London. He entered Hoxton Academy (now 
Highbury College), breathing hopes and fears. His Latin was not much more than a 
smattering. His Greek was still less. Before the term closed he was one of the 



IN CniKA.) EARLY YEARS OF DR. MORRISON. 133 

brightest classical scholars in the Academy. He remained there till he embarked for 
China as an agent of the London Missionary Society. His " Reflections of a Candidate 
for the Ministerial Office " is a most solemn and touching composition, framed almost 
entirely in the choicest language of Scripture, and very unlike anj'thing which a 
ministerial candidate would now write. His first sermon was preached, with much 
emotion, to tlie inmates of St. Luke's Workhouse. 

His diary is not usually very interesting. It abounds in personal heart-searchings 




DE. MORRISON. 



and aspirations after greater holiness, and m Scripture phrases which are apt to become 
monotonous ; but here and there we find the man's character blossom forth in terse 
utterances. In one place, very early in his diary, he pithily lays it do^vn as an 
axiom, " that it is best never to do but one thing at a time." One's spnpathy for the 
studious lad with his slender means is strongly drawn out when we read, as in an 
entry of June 19th, 1803, "This day I entered with Mr. Laidler to learn Latin. I 
paid ten shillings and sixpence, the entrance money, and am to pay one guinea per 
quarter. I know not what may be the end ; God only knows. It is my desire, if He 
please to spare me in the world, to serve the Gospel of Christ as He shall give oppor- 
tunity. Oh Lord, my God, my whole hope is in Thee, and m Thee alone. Lord, be 



134 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS [IV.-The Gospei. 

merciful to me, a sinner, through Jesus Christ, my Saviour ; and grant Thy blessing 
with this attempt, if it please Thee. Amen." 

When Dr. Livingstone ottered to go to the mission-field, he was nearly sent 
to China. How difterent a life, how divergent an influence on the history of missions 
and of the world might then have been his ' On the other hand, when the Morpeth 
boy, who was to do so much for China, offered his services, he was disposed to 
go to be with Mungo Park in Timbuctoo. It was a good thing for China that 
Morrison was sent there, and specifically " to acquire the Chinese language and translate 
the Sacred Scriptures." When he was thus appointed — and a day of great joy 
tempered with heart-searching it was — few except missionary enthusiasts thought that 
such an undertaking had the remotest prospects of success. Sir George T. Staunton 
was then the only British subject who could, even in a limited sense, be said to know 
Chinese ; and the difficulties of the language were considered almost insuperable. 

The general conclusion now reached by scholars is, that the people who first used 
this tongue migrated from some region lying northwards in Asia, and that they may 
have been related to the Eskimos, certain of the American Indiaia tribes, and to some 
Russian and Turkish peoples. Perhaps, too, tljey were at one far-back time rooted to 
the same stem from which grew those who lived in old European river valleys, after the 
great glacial sheet of ice had melted away, and have left there stone weapons and other 
utensils as silent witnesses of a life similar to that of the early Chinese, but of which 
we know very little. The census returns in China do not yet appear to evoke much 
confidence amongst experts, but it may safely be said that, at the very least, some two 
hundred millions of the " black-haired," as the Celestials often call themselves, speak 
the language Morrison was now to study so earnestly. 

Before leaving his native land, Morrison, like Livmgstone, was anxious to carry 
with him all the practical knowledge he could find time to acquire. He gave some 
attention to medicine, and diligently visited St. Bartholomew's Hospital, with, we 
may suppose, tender sympathy and kind words for its suffering inmates. He also 
walked to the Observatory at Greenwich, daily, where he studied astronomy with 
Hutton. During the walk each way he had generally an open book in his hand. 

So eager was Morrison to begin work on the Chinese language, that he gladly 
availed himself, while in London, of the services of a Chinaman residing there, Yong- 
Sam-Tak, who afterwards joined him in the East. The embr3'0 missionary was soon 
busy at work under his Celestial guide, and diligently copied out the Chinese Harmony 
of the Gospels already mentioned. This was of some service to him afterwards in the 
mission-field, but much of his other studies in the language proved to be of Mttle 
practical value. Indeed, this seems to be the usual experience of those who attempt 
to study a living Oriental language away from the conditions in which it grows up and 
is to be daily exercised. 

While working very hard at these new studies — new not only to him but to 
Englishmen generally — he writes to his father : " The work before me, my dear father, 
is very arduous, but my hope is in the arm of God. If I take the Chinese I am now 
with as a specimen of their disposition, it is a very bad one. He is obstinate, jealous. 



IN China.) CHINESE RETEBENCE FOR WRITING. 135 

and averse to speak of the things of God. He says, ' My country not custom to 
tallcy of God's business.' " Certainly Yong-Sani did not belie his country in this 
statement. It requires a little courage to say so, but it seems as if Morrison's training, 
with, perhaps, some influence from the environment of his age, had left him lacking in 
a certain intelligent and coimopolitan sympathij with the people he was to labour among. 
His zeal and his enthusiasm as a champion of the Cross leave little to be desired ; 
but he sometimes fails to elicit the hidden virtue in a pagan act, or the religious truth 
that lurks beneath some dying superstition. 

This shrewd, thoroughly national Chinaman, one day, while bending over the 
sheaf of tissue " tea-paper " which did duty for a, copy-book, asked his astonished pupil 
if Jesus were a man or a woman ; adding that he had seen a figure of a woman like 
Him in his own country. This must now seem, to any one acquainted with China, a 
very intelligent way of putting his difficulty. There is a semi-Buddhist Spirit of Mercy 
widely represented in Chinese and Japanese sacred art. This being is sometimes 
jiictured as a male, more frequently as a female ; but always beautiful and tender, 
lovable, helpful to the sorrowful and suftering — the very nearest conception in a 
heathen mind to that of the Divine Saviour of mankind. 

Robert Morrison goes on to say : " I cannot determine what he alludes to. He 
says he has often heard that God has no temper, that He is not angry, that God does 
not send evil on man, that if there be a storm, or a famine, it is not God who sends it. 
He says it is foil}* to pray without using the means — that it is man who makes his heart 
good. He seems quite fond of talking of God as the great Governor of the Universe." 

During those London studies a curious incident occurred, more intelligible now, per- 
haps, than it Avas to either Robert Morrison or his biographer. Yong-Sam had one day 
written some characters on a piece, of paper as an exercise, and had given them to his 
pupil to commit to memory. Morrison did so, and then very innocently threw the 
useless scrap to the flames. The Are flared up, and so did Yong-Sam-Tak, as only an 
angry Chinaman can. For three days the learned gentleman sulked, and refused 
to give a single lesson. When the Chinese studies were resumed, a " new departure " 
had to be made, and poor Morrison had now to pamt his hieroglj'phs on a plate of 
tin ; so that in place of burning them he could wipe them out when they had been 
mastered. Morrison was quite shocked to find that his Celestial possessed so very 
touchy a spirit. If the two hundred odd millions who speak his tongue were to be 
carefully examined, however, a very nearly unanimous and perfectly sincere opinion 
would probably be obtained, that Yong-Sam had really shown very superior virtue 
under a trial most severe to a reverent mind. When letters are biu-ned, they 
are supposed to carry their message to the ghostly tenants of the other world. What 
was written we are not told ; but, at all events, Yong-Sam was transgressing the laws 
of his country in teachmg his language to a barbarian, and here was the barbarian 
actually telHng his spirit-ancestors of it ! 

Great indeed is the reverence of the Chinese for prmted or ^vTitten words. It is 
meritorious to pick up scraps of paper from the mud of the streets, and to place them 
reverently in one of the collection boxes which are to be seen at corners of streets. 



136 COXQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IV.-The Gospel 

just as letter-pillars are placed with us. A Bible colporteur was once addressing a 
large audience in a village in the interior of China, and to make himself better heard 
he rather thoughtlessly stood upon a large bale of Bibles. He was somewhat amazed to 
witness a panic of horror seize those simple-minded Pagans at his profanity ; not that 
he had stepped on Christian Bibles specially, but upon any kind of book at all. 

CTreatl)' changed are the circumstances of a voyage to China in these happier 
Jays. Our missionary left Gravesend for New York (at which port he hoped to get a 
vessel going to China) on January 28th, 1807, and arrived on the 20th of April — 
nearly three months ! A good modern liner now crosses in six days. He visited 
Philadelphia, travelling in a clumsy kind of waggon, and sailed for Canton on the 12th 
of IMay, arriving in China on the 8th of September, having been 113 days out. An 
accomplished Anaerican genileman, with whom he stayed while in New York, gives a 
pleasing and truth-like sketch of the man : — " There was nothing of pretence about 
Morrison. An unfriendly critic might have said he was too proud to be vain ; 
a Christian Avould more willingly believe that he was too pious to be proud. Nothing 
could be more plain, simple, and unceremonious than his manners. His fellow- 
. missionaries looked up t(3 him as a father, resorted to his room for prayer, and took 
his advice in all their movements. He exhibited less of the tenderness of the Christian 
than they did ; his piety had the bark on, theirs was still in the green shoot." 

We get one bi-ief but most interesting glimpse of him, in the setting of his harder 
and coarser times, as he leaves the borders of a Christian civilisation to carry the 
torch of Divine Truth into Pagan darkness. After all matters had at last been 
arranged in the New York shipping office, the owner wheeled round from his desk, 
and, with a smile of superior sagacity, said : — " And so, Mr. Morrison, you really expect 
that you will make an impression on the idolatry of the great Chinese Empire ? " 
— '■ No, sir," said Morrison, with greater sternness than he usually showed ; " I expect 
God will." 

When he arrived in China little could be done openly to advance his object, as 
the Chinese were liable to the penalty of death for teaching their language to a foreigner ; 
but he succeeded in getting instruction somehow. We can picture him, a well-built, 
dignitied-looking man, sitting with his Chinese teacher, he hunself clad in white jacket, 
with a broad-brimmed straw hat — for the Indian sola toiiee, or pith helmet, had not 
yet proved its value as a head-protector. He would sit into the " small hours," 
with his dull earthenware lamp protected from the strong hot breeze by an open 
volume of Henry's Commentary, conning over the day's gathering of fresh words and 
phrases, to the mspiring ping-ng-vg of the mosquitoes ; while his Chinese teacher 
on duty (for he worked them in relays when he could), iir a curious nasal sing-song, 
which once heard is never forgotten, would chant over the lessons as they should be 
pronounced. 

Morrison must have gone throuah an enormous amount of work in the earliest 
years of his life in China. Lest he should arrest attention, and so defeat his main 
purjjose, he let his hair and nails grow long, and wore a queue or pig-tail. He ate 
his food with chop-sticks, and walked about clad in a Chinese frock, and with the 



IN China.] 



TRIALS FROM CHINESE INTOLERANCE. 



137 



tliick-soled, peculiar-looking shoes of the coimti'}'. Long before this a Jesuit missionary, 
Le Coaite, had wisely come to a conclusion which Morrison's experience compelled 
him also to adopt. " I am persuaded," said Le Comte, " that, as to a missionary, the 
garment, diet, manner of living, and exterior customs, ought to be subservient to the 




DH. MOHRISON STUDYING THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. 



great design he proposes to himself, to convert the whole world." Morrison at last 
fell into a trying iUness from close confinement, while the continued strain of working 
with a Chinese pen brought on a severe pain in his sides, and he gave up his Chinese 
ways, and returned to " barbarian " usages once more. 

The ways and thoughts of the Chinese were still far from being intelligible to the 
Western mind. We shall come by-and-bye to see what light missionary scholars of a 
later date threw upon the religious opinions of the sages and saints, upon Confucian or 
classic systems, and upon Buddhist and Taoist organisations and cults : how Dr. Eitel, 
of Hong-Kong, expounds the ideas and phrases of Indian teachers which blended with 



13S CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [iV.-TBii Gl.s-pei. 

tlie superstitions of the Chinese ; how Dr. Lcgge translated the books of the old religions 
of China ; how Dr. Edkins visited temples and monasteries, and helped ns to understand 
the meaning and origin of many strange symbols and mysterious acts of worship. 
The writmgs of Professor Max Jliiller, and of Principals Caird and Fairbaim, have 
helped us greatly to follow the growth and embodiment of tlae Pagan religions of the 
East, while " The Light of Asia," and other such writings, have created a wide popular 
sympathy for the struggles after Divine light and truth, which those early religions 
often reveal. But, at the time of which we write, the most liberal minds in Europe 
were not ready to view " Pagan errors " with calmness and sympathy. Hence we need 
not feel surprise when Morrison reports that " the religious rites, etc., of the Chinese, 
are ridiculous and cumbrous ; " or that he saw sixty Chinese priests one evening 
" go through their vesper to the idol Fuh, or Buddha," an expression which reminds 
one of the sole information on the subject in a well-written work by a naval officer, 
who sums up what is to be known of Buddhism in China by saying that its votaries 
" worship a male figure ! " 

Robert Morrison was not, however, by anj^ means a narrow-minded man. Although 
he had become a Baptist when he reached the mission-field, he translated the English 
Prayer-book. We find him making acknowledgments of assistance from Roman Catholic 
Chinamen, with whom he would discuss Bible doctrines through the help of the 
Vulgate ; ,and, conversing about the teaching and character of the great Sage of China, 
he allowed that Confucius " was a wise and good man." It was retorted, however, that 
Confucius was to China what Jesus was to Europe and America. 

In spite of restrictions which were soon to become simply intolerable, he began 
to get many side-glimpses into the life and ways of the people. It was not always, 
we may believe, very encouraging work, and we seem to hear a sigh as he writes: 
" I can cast in but here and there a handful of seed. It is not unlike the clearing 
of land now covered with immense forests. Old and deep-rooted prejudices are to be 
cut down and dug up, many noxious weeds to be burned, to make room for casting m 
the seed." 

He has now a good deal that is of interest to say about Chinese customs and 
ways of viewing life. He tells us that oaths are not regidarly administered in courts 
of justice as with us ; and that amongst other strange ways of giving solemnity to a 
statement, the Chinaman is wont to cut off the head of a fowl, to dash a potter's 
vessel to pieces, or to blow out a candle held in the hand ; so implymg an appeal 
to Heaven that a like fate may befall himself, should he vary in any degree from the 
ttuth. 

He translated, amongst other specimens of " The Popular Literature of the Chinese," 
a ciu'ious tract supposed to be written by an ox of Buddhist and vegetarian proclivities. 
The jjoor animal complains pitifully of its lot, toiling all through life for a cruel and 
thankless master, who sends him at last, in old age, to the shambles ; where, after 
countless sufferings, he is cut up to be eaten of men. It is a powerful appeal to 
Buddhist orthodoxy, which forbids the taking of life, even of the meanest insect, in 
which the soul of one's ancestor may perchance reside. The ox assures his readers, in 



IN China.) 



THE MANY DIALECTS OF CHINA. 



139 



conclusion, that the fate of the beef-eater will be to be born again with the body of 
an ex. By undergoing suftering.s like those he himself has caused, the great sin of 
taking life may possibly at last be cleansed. This tract, says Dr. Morrison, had an im- 
mense circulation aU over China. 

Tea was not quite so generally appreciated then as it is now, but it was even 
then of great interest to European travellers. Morrison mentions that he saw the 
plant for the tirst time on the island of Honan, but he was disappointed with its 
unimposing appearance — " It is not 
larger than a very small gooseberry 
bush." Till recently, and probably still, 
lofty tea trees might be seen growing 
wild in the British station of Darjeel- 
mg, on the Himalaj'as. They were 
brought from China by the English 
when the station was established. It is 
only when the bushes are very small, 
however, that tea of good quality is 
obtained. Sir John F. Davis says, in 
his " China " : — " It is a general rule 
that all tea is fine in proportion to 
the tenderness and immaturity of the 
leaves. In the green-tea districts the 
plants themselves are never allowed to 
reach a large size, but are frequently 
renewed ; while, in the black, both the 
plant and the leaves that form the 

last picking attain their full growth." The tea- plant is very closely allied to the 
Camellia, but the seed is different, having three-lobed capsules which burst vertically 
in the middle when ripe, exposing three round seeds about the size of a black 
currant. Those seeds sometimes occur in the tea of commerce. The tea-plant grew 
indigenously in Upper Assam, and great has been the advantage to British industry 
from this discovery, made m 1834. It grows best on mountain slopes, where vegetable 
mould exists plentifully. 

It had been expected by Mr. Morrison that the Chinese language would prove a 
hard nut to crack, but new difficulties sprang up that had not been foreseen. He 
began to find that the West End, so to say, of Canton, could not understand the 
dialect of its Whitechapel. He declared that he thought this was affectation, but it is 
now quite evident that there are several languages — not to mention the many dialects 
— spoken in China. 

Again he writes, "There is a great diflSculty that now occurs to me. Neither 
the Mandarin tongue nor fine writing is understood by the great bulk of the people. 
The number of poor people is immense ; and the poor must have the Gospel preached 
to and written for them." The Mandarua language is chiefly a kind of high official 




A TEA PLANT. 



140 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IV.-The Gospeux China. 

or parliamentary style used at court and in high circles ; though originally and still the 
vernacular tongue of many of the inhabitants of Northern China, the origin, probably, 
of the ruling dynasty. It contains within itself three distinct forms, several dialects, 
and many local variations. It is now studied a good deal by the missionaries, by 
consular officials, and by merchants. The Bible has been translated into it, and it is said 
'to be much read by a class which would despise a commoner vehicle of thought. Its 
use generally gains respect. 

A story is told which anuisingly illustrates this, on the principle that the exception 
proves the rule. An English consul, one of the shrewdest observers of Chinese manners 
and customs, was riding one day in the suburbs of a northern city. He civilly asked 
the way, of two educated men Avho happened to be passing. No notice whatever was 
taken of the inquiry, further than that one of them stared rudely at him, Avhile the 
other said to his companion, " I think that foreign fellow is speaking Mandarin." Our 
consul, irritated at the studied slight, repeated his question in a slightly peppery tone. 
" Do 3'ou know, I rather think he is speaking Mandarin," said the first speaker to his 
neighbour again. This was felt to be too much, and so the doughty representative of 
Britannia suddenly dealt a bloAv which felled the silent Celestial to the ground like an 
ox. The other, looking sympathisingly on his prostrate neighbour, said : — " Now, did 
not I tell you that he really vxis speaking Jlandarm >. " 

Mr. Morrison had observed, on visiting several temples, certain papers pasted up. 
There was a drought in the district at the time, and those posters were found by him 
to be prayers to the gods or spirits for a copious supply of rain. He noticed also that 
the people, amongst other modes of seeking to know what the fates had decreed of good 
or ill for them, place in a box in the temjDle a few numbered slips of bamboo. They then, 
while kneeling, shake the box, which is held so that a slip may fall out. There are papers, 
numbered to correspond with the slips. On them are written answers, with all the usual 
Delphic vagueness, which are presumed to contain the intentions of the powers above. 

Another cin-ious custom is referred to by Morrison in a passage which gives us a 
peep at the working missionary. " My people discoursed this evening about the paper 
which the Chinese burn with gold and silver leaf on it. The paper, they say, is to 
represent raiment, and the gold and silver leaf, money ; all which, when sent up in flame, 
are caught by the surrounding spirits." He asked them if they thought the spirits had 
need of clothes, or were pleased to have such offerings made. They laughed at this, 
and made the old, old apology for many an absurdity and error; it was the custom of 
the country, which the mandarins (or magistrates), and even the Emperor himself, were 
wont to observe, and how, therefore, could such as they presume to differ from an 
observance sanctioned by so great a body of authority ? This might be bad reasoning, 
they were quite ready to admit, but it was not theirs. This observance had not even 
come down to them with the authority of Confucius, but was part of an old and 
widely spread system of sorcery which had come through the priests of Buddha. 
Morrison adds, in relating some of those discussions with every-day Chinamen: "The 
professed esteem of my people for Confucius is unbounded. In reading with me the 
Four Books " (to which we shall afterwards more particularly refer) " they seem quite 



142 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (IV.-The Gospf.l 

enraptured. . . . There is not in them, they say, one jot or tittle that is erroneous. . . . 
There is in the reasoning of the philosopher, they attirm, a depth which requires the 
utmost sagacity to fathom, and a fulness that demands a loag paraphrase to unfold." 

While Morrison was strenuously wrestling with the problems of Paganism, and 
devoting himself throughout all to the better mastery of the language, he lived m two 
small rooms, along with three Chinese lads whom he tried to teach. They seem to 
have been most unpromising specimens of the race, and indeed, it was not then 
possible to get respectable Chinamen as servants. One of them in a most rufiianly way 
attacked him when alone, tore his coat, and so abused him that he had to shout for 
assistance. Sadly he came to the not unnatural conclusion, as we find in his diary, 
" That which is most desirable is impracticable, namel}', to Hve with Chinese, have their 
society at all times, hear their conversation, adopt their dress ; in short, in everything 
that is not of a moral or religious nature, to become a Chinese." At this time his 
exclusion from Chinese society was extreme, and his sermons were generally addressed 
to one individual, or, at most, to two or three ! 

Near the mouth of the Canton river, and some eighty odd miles fi'om the British 
island of Hong-Kong, there lies, on a somewhat horse-shoe-shaped promontory, with a 
bay of great loveliness forming its inner curve, the old Portuguese settlement of Macao. 
It was, till recently, held on a peculiar temu-e from the Chinese, but actual sovereignty 
has been conceded to the King of Portugal. The Chinese now form the majority of 
the population ; but the town, with its citadel and ruined cathedral, is like a fossil bit 
of old Europe, embedded in modern China. There Cardinal Touriijon perished in prison 
through his foes the Jesuits, and there the great poet of Portugal, Camoens, died in 
exile. His tomb is in the centre of a spacious garden, gloomy on the hottest day with 
the umbrageous shade of rich sub-tropical vegetation — a quiet place to dream in, 
forgetful of the whirling world of to-daj'. It was there that Morrison was now to enter 
upon another stage of his career, fuller of incident than any he had }'et experienced. 

Even there Chinese opposition became acute and dangerous. The people were 
growing more and more suspicious as to the motives of this strange man, who had not 
come to make money in the ordinary way. Thej' became really hostile, and his life 
was in daily danger. " My crime," he tersely says, '' is wishing to learn the language." 
He tells us also, that even the Chinese officials there were disposed to be troublesome to 
foreigners generally, and were even in the habit of suddenly entering into their houses 
without any previous intimation of their approach. His case was especially difficult, for 
without abundant native intercourse it was almost impossible to get to the proper 
sources of information. He writes again : " This shrewd and discerning people are 
absurd and unreasonable enough to consider it criminal for foreigners to know their 
language, or possess their books." He was afraid to venture out at all ; but the close 
confinement with so much hard study in a sub-tropical climate began to tell severely on 
his health, and probably left its effects. At last he succeeded with two Chinese friends 
in getting a breath of air on quiet moonlight nights. 

Morrison had next to suffer from a certain suspicion, rising even to hostility, on 



IN China.) CHINESE INSOLENCE AND INTOLERANCE. 143 

the part of his own countiynien ; but, on the other hand, helpful friends were dis- 
covered, and, best of all, he had at length a partner to share his joys and soften his 
sorrows. It is characteristic of him, that while going to be married, he notes analogies 
in Chinese processions met on the way with their idols, incense, and music, to those in 
which the Portuguese Roman Catholics indulged. His wife, however, returned home in 
bad health in 1818, and he went sadly back to bachelor's hall. " I have the same 
dish," we rind him saying, " week after w^eek — Irish stew and dried roots — which I eat 
with Chinese chop-sticks." 

About this time two stirring events happened. Morrison's scholarship and study of 
Chinese customs played an. important part in the diplomatic questions that arose from 
those incidents. The first is still spoken of as the " question of the kotow," and the 
other is remembered as the " affair of the Topaze." 

The Dutch, in their dealings with the Chinese, used meekly to submit to every 
national insult and degradation, so long as thereby they might suck any advantage. 
Lord Amherst was sent from England in 1816 to arrange a commercial treaty, with the 
direct sanction and cognisance of the Emperor. When the embassy reached the port 
of Tien-tsin, which is not far from Pekin, a banquet was offered to him; and the re- 
presentative of that empire on which the sun never sets, was also offered instructions 
and an opportunity of acquiring practicallj' the art of prostrating oneself — the kotow, 
in short — before a yellow screen. This was in order to have the ceremony itself 
work smoothly before the august wielder of the " vermilion pencil." Sir John Davis, 
quoting Van Braam, tells how the Dutch representatives had once beat their heads 
nine times against the ground before the throne, and were at last rewarded by some 
viands from the Imperial table — principally sheep's trotters, Avhich had already been 
gnaAved clean of meat, on a dirty plate. " This disgusting mess," exclaims the indignant 
Dutchman, " appeared rather destined to feed a dog, than to form the repast of a 
human creature." 

Such a diplomatic blunder was not to be repeated by the English representative, 
who returned unhumbled. But the discussion became a very hot and a very learned 
one ; and Dr. ilorrison's well-known and unique qualifications almost necessarily caused 
him to be consulted, leading ultimately to his formal appointment as the official in- 
terpreter of the East India Company. His defence of the English Minister's view was 
certainly learned, exhaustive, and convincing. 

His general conclusion may be here given : — " Waiving the question whether it be 
proper for one human being to use such strong expressions of submission to another or not, 
when any (even the strongest) of these forms are reciprocal, they do not interfere with 
the idea of equalit}^, or of mutual independence. If they are not reciprocally performed, 
the last of the forms expresses in the strongest manner the submission and homage of 
one person or state to another : and in this light the Tartar family now on the throne 
of China consider the san-kwei kew-koiv, thrice kneelino- and nine times beatinj^r the 
head against the ground. Those nations of Europe who consider themselves tributary 
and yielding homage to China should perform the Tartar ceremony ; those who do not 
consider themselves so, should not perform the ceremony." 



144 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[IV.— T'lE Gospel 



The affair of the Topaze was an altogether different kind of business, and involves! 
what was, from at least an English standpoint, a judicial murder, under circumstances 
most exasperating to every foreigner in China. Around the mouth of the Canton 
River there are numerous creeks almost enclosed by bare treeless mountains. There 
are also many islands with narrow chaimels between. These have been the natural 
homes for centuries of very daring gangs of pirates. Since Lord Andierst"s refusal to 




CniXESE CEEEMOXV OF THE KOTOW. 

Tcotow, or do homage, there had been a long interval of tranquillity. But in 1820 and 
1821 some disturbances took place of grave consequence to the intercourse of 
foreigners with China. On the loth of December, 1821, an English frigate, the 
Topaze, sent a small party on shore for water on one of the islands referred to, named 
Lintin.' They intended to scrub their clothes also. The sailors were unarmed, and 
were under the charge of an officer, and it is just possible that the simple-minded 
villagers looked upon them as pirates. At all events they beat a gong loudly, and 
m a" trice the whole frantic population, armed with great clubs, bamboos with knives 
attached to their ends, stones, and all kinds of farm implements, nished upon the small 
British party. \Miat could a few unarmed men do ? They fled to their ship, the officer 
in command on board firing upon their pursuers, killing one Chinaman and wounding 
five others, one of whom afterwards died. Of the British party fourteen were wounded. 



IN China.] 



THE AFFAIR OF THE TOPAZK. 



145 




MOUTH OP THE CAUTON BIVEE. 



The affair caused intense excitement, and as the Chinese then had a lofty sense 
of their military superiority (which was modified in after days) every resident felt that 
a crisis was coming. It was said on the Chinese side that the seamen had been 
digging up their potatoes, and had even run off with two jars of good spirits. This 
latter accusation was very unlikely to be true, for the British sailor of those days 
would probably not run far with a jar of spirits. The real origin of the riot became a 
question of first importance. 

The " Hong " merchants — that is, Chinese wholesale merchants, who were a kind of 
medium of contact with the Government — thought it would be reasonable to give up a man 
to be " fairly tried." What tliis meant soon appeared. Dr. Morrison, fulfilling the duties 
of the important official position which he now held, has Avritten a most elaborate, clear, 
and deeply interesting account of the affair. One man — the engineer of the steamer — 
was given up for "fair trial." Next morning the Hong merchants reported in pigeon 
English that " all hab setty." It ivas aU " settled " in a way : the man was strangled. 
10 



146 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IV. -the Gospel in China.) 

This was, unfortunately, not the first occasion of a similar kind. A little before 
this an Italian, on board the American ship Emily, had seen a Chinese bumboat- 
woman wrongfully selling spirits to the crew. He struck her on the forehead with a 
little jar. In struggling to escape, her thole-pin broke, and, perhaps stunned, she fell 
overboard and was drowned. Her death was clearly unintentional. Francis Terranova, 
the Italian, was also surrendered to the Chinese for " fair trial," his American protectors 
putting him in irons and letting him fight his own battle. He, too, was at once 
strangled, after a bogus trial, in which, as Dr. Morrison explains, every Chinese 
formality was ignored. 

The Doctor's narrative is very pathetic. After explainmg that in China strangling 
is the least disgraceful form of capital punishment, because it leaves the body complete 
and unmutilated — a fact deemed to be of importance when the other world is reached 
— he mentions that the implement used is an upright cross, on the transverse beam of 
which the arms are stretched and fastened. He tells the story of the poor man's 
execution as follows : " Francis at three was raised, and advised to take breakfast, as he 
might not get food all the day ; he smiled, and said it was too early ; but being urged. 
he finally ate. He was conveyed past the cross on which he was to suffer death ; and 
being a Roman Catholic he made the signs which are usual with the Christians of 
that persuasion on passing a cross. He was then hurried through a gi-eat hall in 
presence of the governor, and carried back to meet his unexpected fate. It is said 
that several hundred troops surrounded the place ; and not till the executioners put 
their hands upon him did he suspect their intention. He then wrestled, and made 
appeals to Heaven, and to his heart, and called as if for assistance from his own 
people : but he was abandoned [Dr. Morrison's italics] and helpless, and the wrenched 
cord, round his neck, soon made his eyeballs start from their sockets." 

It seems to be clear from the details given by Dr. Morrison, who had much to 
do with both sides during this critical period, that in the American's case all 
" Europeans " or white men were excluded from the trial. The minds of the judges 
were made up, as in the Englishman's case, and at daybreak he was strangled. There 
was evidently need, at that time, of something like the Consular jurisdiction by which 
each European and American nationality is, by treaty, empowered to deal with its own 
citizens residing in the land. This principle logically led to other conditions of foreign 
residence in China, which had much effect upon missionary effort. 



147 
CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BIBLE IS TRANSLATED AND CIRCULATED. 

Arrival of Mr. Milne — Canton and its River Life — Translation of the Bible into Chinese Completed — Character of 
the Chinese Language — Difficulties of its Ideographic Character — Impossibility of writing: down exactly 
what a Chinaman says — Poverty of Words and consequent Difficulty of Tones — Dr. Morrison saves a. 
Chinese from unjust Execution — Arrival of Mr. Bridgman from America — Chinese Secret Societies — 
Extensive Distribution of Books and Tracts and subsequent Condemnation of it^Reasons for a different 
View — Christian Origin of the Taiping Rebellion — Death of Milne and Morrison — American Chinese 
Version of the Scriptures— Mr. Lowrie slain by Pirates. 

"FT does not appear that relirjlous opposition was really at the bottom of the series 
-*- of ingenious obstacles that Morrison and the early missionaries in China had to 
encounter. Rather it seemed that the Chinese authorities and merchants feared 
that the foreign powers, certainly including England, meant aggression of some 
kind, or perhaps commercial monopoly. It was now, however, found to be possible 
to get some little progress made in translating the Word of God, and in iixmg 
terms to be used in giving certainty to the main teachings of Christianity. This 
latter, indeed, proved to be a very serious undertaking, nor is it yet quite satisfactorily 
accomplished. 

We have already seen that a Chinese translation of the Acts of the Apostles, and 
of the Epistles of St. Paul, had been discovered in the British Museum. These 
Morrison had copied out in London, and brought with him to China. He now care- 
fully revised, and, with his better knowledge, greatly amended them, for they had been 
but roughly done. He went on then without a pause to translate the four Gosjjels, the 
remaining Epistles, and the Book of Revelation. 

A colleague was appointed to join him in his solitary struggle. Mr. Milne, a scholarly 
man, who was sent from the London Missionary Society, first (in 1813) came to that quiet 
bit of old Portugal, Macao, which then held the place that its great Briti.sh rival, Hong- 
Kong, now holds as the key to the commerce of Canton. In Macao religious intoler- 
ance was rampant, for it was then, and for long before that time, a stronghold of Jesuit 
intrigue. This new Protestant missionary might, if he would, go to preach in pagan 
Canton ; but he might not remain to study in the good Catholic town of Macao. So, 
being driven from Macao by command of the Governor (with a Roman ecclesiastic or 
two to do the secret wire-pulling, we may be sure), to Canton he went, for it was now 
possible to live there. 

Canton is a densely massed chaos of houses, containing not less, probabl}-, than 
a million and a half of inhabitants. It lies at the apex of a low delta, intersected 
with many lagoons and shallow channels, the delta of the Pearl River — the Chu-kiang, 
or iis Britishers love to call it, the River of Canton. The city is about cightj'-five 
miles from Hong-Kong, and the passage is now daily made in a largo American type 
of " side-wheeler," in about eight hours. The land around the city is a great, verdant, 
uneven plain, formed of good alluvial soil and cultivated like a garden, in which grov 



148 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[IV.— The Gospel 



rice and tobacco, the mulberr}' plant on wliich the sillvwonn feeds, fruits of all kmds, 
and vegetables of the best quality. 

Canton and its busy river are remarkable for their enormous floating population, 
taking the exjDression quite literally. Those poor people, who are a distinct race, or 
nearly so, are said to have been the victuus of "coercion" of a very vigorous kind, 




LIFE ON CANTON EIVER. 



exercised long ago. They live perma- 
nently in boats ; ai'e born, married, and 
die there. Many of their vessels are commodious and fairly comfortable, and the 
hygienic arrangements are eminently simj^le. They are usually shaped like an agg halved 
lengthwise, and are called by foreign residents " egg-house boats." Many of the river- 
people live, for the time, on great pine-rafts, which are made to be floated Aoym the 
river from the well-wooded heights from which it takes its rise. They are carried dovra. 
stream by the current, being guided by the dexterous use of long, stout bamboo poles, 
Avhich bend rather than break. Huts, like those on the Mississippi rafts, are built 
on board, and you may see tawny " water-babies " merrily' toddlmg about the rude 



IN CHINA.] NATUEE OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. 149 

deck, or racing from end to end of its sinuous length, without much consciousness 
of risking life or limb. Captaia Laplace, a French naval officer, wondering at the 
general propriety and orderliness of these poor boat people, observes: — "The Chinese 
are very much our superiors in true civilisation — in that which frees the majority of 
men from the brutahty and ignorance which, among many European nations, place the 
lowest classes of society on a level with the most savage beasts." 

Mr. Milne was not long in making himself master of what was then known of the 
Chinese tongue. So Morrison and he, dividing the work which had now to be done on the 
Old Testament between them, set to their task in real earnest, and before many years 
had passed, the translation mto intelligible and fairly accurate Chinese had actually been 
published and circulated in China. The once "impossible" had been honestly accom- 
plished. The difficulties of the Chinese language had at last been conquered, and against 
tremendous odds, by these valiant soldiers of the Cross. 

Since then the missionaries in China, such as Williams, Chalmers, Meadows, and 
many others, have done much to make, what is stiU the most difficult language in the 
world, capable of being read and spoken by foreigners. And here a few paragrajDhs may 
jjerhaps prove serviceable to the better understanding of these difficulties, and of the 
task which had to be coped with, before the Bible could be translated into Chinese. 

The Chinese language has some striking ^peculiarities, which cannot be more 
than touched upon here. As written or printed, its characters are understood at sight 
by educated persons all over China, and in its neighbouring countries, Corea and Japan. 
It has thus, m the far East, now a function similar to that which Latin exercised 
in European countries during the Middle Ages, and, like Latin, may be pronoimced 
in various ways without the sense being affected. Written Chinese is thus a social 
link between tribes and nations whose spoken words are mutually unintelligible. But 
it is far different with the spoken language, which is widely different in different dis- 
tricts, to a degree far beyond the usual variations in the pronunciation of Latin. 
And this arises from the fact that the Latin is an alphabet language, whose characters 
express sounds; while the Chinese has no alphabet, its characters expressing chiefly 
idea^ or things, whose vocal utterance may vary to a great extent. These characters 
are written in perpendicular columns, beginning at the tojj; and the columns are read 
from the right to the left-hand side. 

The usual illustration of this (and it is the best available) is to take a number 
expressed in Arabic numerals, as understood and spoken throughout Europe. Let us 
suppose the number is 92. These characters express an actual number, and are read 
correctly as to the idea to be conveyed, throughout all Europe. But they are j^^o- 
nounced as follows, even in languages known to be very closely allied: — 

English. — Nitiety-two ; 

French. — Kahtr-rahnfj-dooze (quatre-riiigt-dmne); 
German. — Zrci-oont-noyntzig (zwci-uml-neunzig); 
Italian. — Xornnta-dooay (noranta-dnc); 

and it can be readily understood that the words as spoken by one nation are quite 
unintelhgible to the other. 



150 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IV.-The Gospf.l 

Still further, a fidure of a horse would be understood everywhere ; and if the 
recognised word for a horse were such a picture of it, in all European nations, the 
picture would gradually become simplified, and have a sort of conventional form, which 
would be read everywhere, though the speech might utterly diti'er. 



^^.^M* one, or unity two ■ ten (Compare Roman X.] 

Hn nn 

theBun,*day j 1 the moon.t month I I I 1 

r r 

yk man or IV I 1 i rice-flcld h 111 

I I an enclosure. I r^ I 



brightness. 



a farmer. 



a prisoner. 

{Enclosure, with a man inside.) 



mouth 



~"^^ t^ Jt ^ sincerity, ^f M^m 

, -^ I n . /I ~~1 (a man slami y -l ^ * I I comfort. 

a—- a word ^nce ytr:^' ing by Ins /IV U (riceheside 

/\ \ I fj word.) / 1 W ■ thenwuth.) 

j^-. rjjr^s JL-" T""X 



God, heaven, 

(like Hercules?) 



Sthe eye trf to look. 

* ' ' ■* {the eye, on legs.) 



* f'J Old form. t Jll 



to enquire, asli. 
(a moittb at a door.) 



Old form. 



SOME CHINESE CHARACTEHS, AS PRINTED. 



It is believed by many that Chinese writing was originally all pictorial, or 
what is called " ideographic." This is disputed ; but it is at least clear that many 
of the oldest and commonest characters were of this nature. Let us give here 
a table of a few common Chinese words. Tlie pictorial character can be clearly 
seen in .such words as that for a field, the older symbols for sun and moon, 
a gate, the mouth, etc. The symbol for a man consists of two strokes for his 



IN China.] 



CHARACTER OF CHINESE WRITING. 



151 



legs, which origmally had exactly the spirit of the Japanese trousers so well known, 
and may be compared with Carlyle's " forked radish ; " but the two strokes have 
become moditied m position. Put the man and the field together, and you have 
the written word for farmer. Other combinations of elementary words will bo 




THE SAME CHARACTERS, AS WRITTEX.* 



readily traced in the table, and the ideographic character of some of them is clearly 
distinffuishable. 

As a rule these compounds convey, as will be seen, much more abstract ideas, and 
form a second class of Chinese words. They are very interesting, as showing the 

* These characters are not given as what would be called "copper-plate hand," but are photographed as 
actually transcribed by a native of China residing in London. 



152 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IV.-The Gospel 

prevailing ideas of the people when such words were formed. A very frequently occurring 
character represents a tuft of grass. If a complicated " hieroglyph " contains that 
element set prominently in its structure, depend on it the word has something to 
do with " plants," and it must be sought for in the dictionary where similar words 
are grouped. Another stands to represent water, and the word of which it forms 
part is likely to contain some idea related to moisture, or fluidity. One useful 
sign represents the sun, another the moon. Used in a certain way, the one stands 
for " day " and the other for " month." Place them together (as m the table), and 
you have " brightness," or " light." To represent the east, or sunrise, the sun is 
shown behind a tree ; noon is set forth by the sun placed above a tree ; sunset, by 
the sun sinking beneath a tree. A forest may be denoted by three trees ; a mountain 
is set forth by strokes meant to denote three peaks. A woman, in Chinese, is a robed 
figure ; a wife, is the figure of a woman by whose side is placed a broom, showing that, 
accordmg to Chinese ideas, one of a wife's chief duties was to use the broom. In 
Japan " a clattering noise " has been sometimes very ungaUantly denoted by a con- 
cise group of three such robed figures standing together. These robed figures have, 
however, like the legs of the man, become very conventional in representation. In fact, 
many of the signs are so contracted by a kind of artistic shorthand, that their 
pictorial origin can hardly now be recognised. A rice field was mdicated by a kind 
of bird's-eye plan of one, which is but httle altered in the modern form. The sun 
was set forth in old times by a dot within a circle representing the firmament. The 
moon was a crescent with a dash between its bounding lines. We can only, just trace 
now the way in which a few of these old figures have become transformed, but a care- 
ful study of older forms of wiiting the characters than those which now prevail, 
sometimes reveals the development from an original pictorial form, that would not 
readily have occurred to one who was only familiar with the character as it is 
written to-day. 

Another of the Chinese characters is a simple horizontal stroke. It stands for 
" one," or " unity," like our Roman I. " Two " is represented by two such strokes. 
Strokes are so placed as to convey the ideas of " above," " below," " within," and so 
on. This too, is quite simple and easily understood, and represents another com- 
ponent of Chinese written words ; but still it is idea which is convej^ed, and not 
sound. 

Yet it would be a mistake to suppose that Chinese writing, as a whole, affords no 
guide to the pronunciation. As intelligence developed and culture ripened in the 
Celestial land, the necessity for fresh terms, and new characters to express them, became 
the mother of a great improvement in the language. A Eoman or Arabic numeral, of 
itself, gives the European no hint as to how it should be sounded ; but throughout 
some two-thirds of the copious vocabulary of modern Chinese — and there are about 
twenty-five thousand word-characters in common use — there is set, alongside the ordmary 
hieroglyph, a phonetic character, as Western scholars term it, which serves as an aid 
to the pronunciation. This subordinate character also often lends a finer shade of 
meaning to the broad significance of its companion, and thus exercises a function not 



IN China.] DIFFICULTIES OF THE LANGUAGE. 153 

unlike that of the second, or specific term, in the nomenclature of natural history, as 
when we say or write, Rosa canina, or dog-rose. 

Such are some of the characteristics and difficulties of this wonderful language. 
It has beauties and advantages of its own, no doubt. Dr. Morrison tells us that 
" Chinese iine-writing darts upon the mind with a vivid flash, a force, and a beauty, 
of which alphabetic language is incapable." It conveys ideas directly to a great extent. 
A Japanese student who has never spoken to a Chinaman, can read the pages of 
a Chinese author with profit and dehght. If he were to travel in China, he could 
get along by writmg down his daily wants by means of the so-called "hieroglyphs" 
with which Chinese tea-chests have made Western eyes familiar. Indeed, on account 
of dialectic differences. Chinamen from difterent provinces cannot always converse 
intelhgibly with each other, and so resort to mimic luriting with invisible ink on 
the pahns of the hand. The eye follows the tracing, and the picture-symbol speaka 
for itself A Japanese, or a Corean, can thus work his way through China by means 
of the characters, although his pronunciation differs entirely. 

But a consequent and very peculiar characteristic of Chinese, is, that you cannot 
write down exactly in his own language what a Chinaman says. In a court of justice, 
the most scrupulous clerk must translate into symbols — of which there may be many 
suitable ones to choose from — what a witness utters, before it can be officially recorded. 
In a conference, or presbytery, a resolution may have to be written out and shown 
round to the members, before they are able to vote mteUigently on it. There are no 
characters at all to represent some current words which are of daily use in the 
colloquial language. And some 6,000 or 7,000 of the symbols must be learned, before 
anyone can read an ordinary book or business document. 

So much for the written language. As for the spoken tongue, the great differences 
of dialect have already been several times alluded to. Hosts of workers have been 
busily engaged with these dialects, and such variations as they reveal must have been 
going on for many centuries. In more recent times, " tones," not unlike those used by 
English teachers of elocution, have been added to the earlier elements of the language. 
This seems to have taken place as the primitive men fi-om the north came into com- 
munion, and blended with, the races lying towards Burmah and Siam. Hence arises 
another great difficulty which the foreigner meets in grajjpling with this wonderfid 
tongue. Many words being of only one syllable, the same syllable may mean many 
quite different thmgs, unless a certain distinctiveness of tone can be given to each. 
It is the poor Frenchman's difficulty as to the many senses of the English word 
" box," only on a larger scale. Let us give an actual example. The late Professor Ko 
Kun-hua, of Harvard University, wrote and sent to Dr. Wells Williams the following 
melodious lines, which may here serve to illustrate the necessity of using tones to 
distinguish Chinese words of similar sound. It is perfectly good Chinese verse: — 

'■ Phirj jring ping fxo txn. 
Pi)i;i txo tso ping ping. 
Tsn tsn ping ping tso. 
Ping ping tso tso ping.'' 



154 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IV. The Gospel 

The author hhnself turned the lines into EngHsh, thus : — 

'• In the light of the spring sun far over the sea, 
The City Imperial shines in my view ; 
But fairer and dearer than this is to me 
Are the clouds and the water of your land to you. 
The teacher's red curtain once used by Ma Yung, 
At Yale and at Harvard for us has been hung ; 
And thanks to the hole which your learning has drilled 
In the wall of your language, with light I am filled." * 

It will be seen how two syllables only, in the Chinese original, are made by 
differences in tone and pronunciation to express all the complicated ideas rendered in 
the translation. The allusion in the last two lines is to a famous poor scholar of 
antiquity who, unable to afford artificial light for himself, bored a hole through the 
wall so that he might enjoy the benefit of his neighbour's lamp. Ma Yung was an 
ancient professor who sat before a red curtain when teaching his students. 

Anuising mistakes happen through the difficulty foreigners have, at first, in catching 
the " tones " properly. Miss Fielde, in her attractive series of sketches of life in China, 
called " Pagoda Shadows," tells of a foreign housekeeper who sent her cook to buy 
tree strawberries, and was surprised to see him return bringing a sheep's tail ! 
Another comical experience she mentions, which " happened in North China to a 
young missionary lady, eager to be spiritually useful to the people, who began, after 
a few months' study of the language, to teach a class of boys in a Sunday-school. 
She was telling the boys about King David, and referred to his having once slain a 
lion. She found that the boys were not impressed as she expected by this evidence of 
David's courage, and was a little surprised after the class was dismissed, by overhearing 
one of the boys saying to another, ' I do not see that David was so very brave in 
killing that creature ; I myself have killed a great many of them.' On careful re- 
consideration of what she had said, she discovered that sliai meant a lion, but slidi, as 
she had said it, meant a louse ! " You perhaps ask for a bow and your servant brings 
you a saddle. You refer solenmly to a corpse, and your Chinese friend stares, 
thinking you are speaking about a spoon. " Taw" says Miss Fielde, writing of the 
Swatow dialect (which, in common with all the southern, has eight tones, the northern 
dialects only having four), " is a luiife, a cluster, a pocket, or the floor, according to 
the tone in which it is uttered." 

Another distinction is often made by combining two words to help out the 
meaning ; as we might say, the sky-sun, not the child-son, or as John Leech's cockney 
barber distinguishes the 'air of the 'ead from the hair of the haimosphcre. English 
examples of this method are, school-master, ship-master, and so forth. Up to the very 
last, it has been found difficult to find a word that shall express in a satisfactory 
manner the idea of God ; and this for the reason, that it is concrete ideas which 
have to be used as components, whilst our vocal numefi, though including ideas (of, 
however, a more abstract form), leave room also for that indefiniteness which best 

* "Life and Letters of S.W.Williams, LL.D.," by his son, F.W.Williams. (G.P.Putnam's Sons, 1889.) 



IN China 1 A TOUCHING INCIDENT. 155 

suits the majesty and Infinity of the Divine nature* But sufficient has now been said 
to give some idea of the difficulties which had to bo encountered with the language 
itself, in the earlier staares of Chinese missions. 

Di-. Morrison, in acting as interpreter for the East India Company, had many oppor- 
tunities of doing kind and Christ-like services, not only to his own countrymen, but 
also, as their confidence was gained, to Chinamen, and to the merchants, shippers, and 
seamen domg business under other flags. A touching incident occurred in 1828, which 
justly caused it to be said of Morrison that he " was destined on this occasion to 
experience a very gratifying reward for his pains in acquiring the language." f 

A French ship which had been battered about greatly off the coasts of Cochin 
China, and had become, in consequence, quite disabled, one day put into Touron Bay. 
There her disheartened owners were oiily too glad to sell the hulk, for what it would 
bring. Having done so, and with a collection of rather costly goods which formed 
part of the unfortunate vessel's cargo, they took passage with an evil-smelling, motley 
crowd of Chinese, in a largo passenger junk boimd for the old Portuguese town of 
J.Iacao. The unfortunate French captain, blind to the serious risks he ran, was satisfied 
with the formal watch which was usual on such occasions. But there was on board 
one loyal old Chinaman, who tried by various signs to draw his attention to the 
menacing looks and eager whisperings which were ever going on among the rough- 
looking lot that lay closely huddled on the by no means too spacious deck. Just as 
the ship drew in towards the landmark indicating the opening of the peculiar 
sinuous passage that leads to the harbour of Macao — which lies amongst an intricate 
system of creeks and islands, to this present day infested with daring and troublesome 
bands of pirates — the more respectable of the Chinese on board made for the landing- 
boats with suspicious alacrity. 

No thought of treachery seemed yet to dawn upon the Frenchmen, and as night 
drew on they all went off quietly to sleep, thinking doubtless that the risk of robbers 
was now over. But when the cold pale light of morning dawned upon the noiseless 
deck of that junk, it was all red with the blood of the poor Frenchmen. In the quiet 
o-f the early morning the Chinese crew had arisen stealthily, and with knife and 
hatchet made short work of the slumbering foreigners. The captain fought gallantly 
for his life, and had laid several Chinamen dead at his feet before he himself fell, the 
last to succinnb. Only one man escaped to tell the frightful tale, which, of course 
created the utmost horror and consternation in the small foreign community. 

This poor seaman's escape was little short of a miracle. Armed with a stout 
crowbar of some kind, he, though badly cut about the head and bleeding freely, kept 
his cowardly pig-tailed assailants at bay for a while. At last, seeing that further resist- 
ance was altogether useless, he leaped into the sea. His enemies no doubt supposed 
that he would inevitably be drowned ; but, being an expert swimmer, he succeeded in 

* We shall have a further opportunity of stating the main points in the great " Term question," which 
is so important to the missionaries in China. 

t The chief particulars of the incident here narrated are given by M. Laplace, a French naval officer, already 
quoted, who was in Chinese waters during that stirring period. Some additional details are drawn from the 
narrative of Sir J. F. Davis, Her Majesty's Minister in China. 



loG CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IIV.-The Gosprl 

getting into a friendly boat, and was landed at Macao, sick, exhausted, and badly 
■\vounded. There kindly help and skill were rendered by the Jesuits, and on communi- 
cating with the Mandarins, who all hate pirates and piracy, they were soon at work 
hunting the sea-robbers. The evidence agamst them was certainly clear enough, for 
the more respectable Chinamen on board, hitherto afraid of revenge if they informed, 
came forward and gave testimony. The assassins were speedily caught, put into iron 
cages, and sent up to Canton to be tried — and condemned. 

Now the Emperor himself had commanded that the trial and punishment were to 
be conducted before the Europeans living there, as proof of good faith, and Morrison 
had to be present m his official capacity as mterpreter. While standing in court he 
heard repeated cries and pitiful protestations of innocence from one trembling mmate 
of an iron cage — an old man. Morrison bent his ear to him, and understandmg, as few 
foreigners then did, the meaning of this old boatman's patois, he heard him call for 
the Frenchman, whose life he had really tried to save. The missionary promptly went 
up to the stern-eyed Mandarins on the bench and told them the old man's story, recalling 
with great tact the noble truth embedded from olden times in Chmese law, that it is 
better to let even the guilty escape than to punish the innocent. 

The judges agreed that the old man should be confronted with the sailor. This 
was at once done, and a scene followed as pathetic and beautiful as any that romancers 
have imagined. The two men embraced, shedding tears the while, and the whole 
audience was melted with sympathy. The judges, officials of high culture m China, 
were glad to set the old man free. Only one person in that tragic assembly, wo 
may be sure, could be hapjaier than he, and that one was Robert Morrison. The rest 
of the prisoners were at once, and in the presence of the court, beheaded, except the 
leader of the pirate gang. He was slowly and elaborately tortured to death iir the 
Chinese manner, before the horror-sick Europeans who had to bear witness of the 
execution. 

The most merciful form of capital punishment in the code of China is strangu- 
lation. It involves no loss of members to be perpetuated in the other world. Not so 
with the next form, decapitation, reserved for worse oft'enders, who must reappear in 
Hades as headless ghosts ; till, by long eras of suffering and remorse, the evil-doer has 
purged the sins of his mundane career. The third and most terrible form of 
execution is called Ling-chy, " the disgraceful and lingering death." In this form, 
reserved for the gravest offences Itnown to Chinamen, the victim is said to be 
sliced almost to pieces by a series of cuts, made in a fixed order so as to leave all 
vital parts intact, that the suffering may be continued as long as possible. 

Dr. Morrison, together with Mr. Olyphant, a good Christian merchant in China, 
had urged the American Board to send out a missionary. The latter-named gentleman 
offered, very generously, to pay all the missionary's expenses outward, and to furnish 
him with a home for one year. A representative of the Board, therefore, went to their 
college at Andover without delay, to look for a suitable man. From a quiet farm-house in 
Massachusetts had come a young student of deeply religious feeling, whose ancestors were 



IN Cbina.1 



ARRIVAL OF MR. BRIDGMAN. 



157 




MORRISON SAVES AN INNOCENT CHINAMAN. 



of that genuine old Puritan stock which laid the foundation of America's greatness. 
Elijah Coleman Bridgman (born in 1801) was not slow to respond to the clear-toned 
call to the East, and was off to China, amid much work and worr}', in three weeks from 
the date of his first summons to the mission-field. After a voyage of four months ho 
landed safely in Canton in the year 1830. Here Morrison received the young American 
with open arms, helped him with much kindly counsel, and gave him some footing 
amongst the people, who were still suspicious of most foreigners, even to hostility. As 
a missionary, indeed, no foreigner was yet formally tolerated by the Mandarins, and 
there was shown not a little actual enmity, which seemingly awaited but a favourable 
occasion to display itself in semi-legal villainy. Eridgman's life was quiet and un- 
eventful, but not without influence on China, as we shall see by-and-bye. 

When the New Testament was ready for circulation, Milne, who was soon followed 
by others, made extensive journeys among the Chinese scattered about the South Seas 
in the vicinity of the Malayan peninsula, visiting Bataria, the island of Java — to whose 



158 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IIV.-The Gosi-ri. 

Emperor he had the honour to be presented — and Madura, whose Sultan mvited him 
to spend a night in his palace. 

At Malacca a college was founded by Milne, the genuine precursor of those in India 
with which Dr. Duffs name will be for ever associated. To this institution, which was 
expected to aid the spread of Christian culture and truth over south-eastern Asia, 
Morrison, out of his earnings as interpreter, generously gave a subscription of £1,500. 
The college at Malacca does not, however, seem to have met with very brilliant success. 
The conditions which proved so favourable in India could hardly be said to exist in 
Southern China or its vicinity. Numerous schools of a less pretentious character were 
opened for the Chinese, Malay, and Indian children, and preaching was now vigorously 
and openly carried on wherever audiences could be obtained. 

Wandering about in this way, seeking to get amongst the Chinese (for China 
herself was not yet open in any true sense), who formed little close communities in the 
various neighbouring ports where any business was to be done or money to be made, 
Milne began to observe that the Chinese colonists or emigrants were often secretly 
banded together, not always for strictly legal or moral objects. Indeed, he saw that they 
thus formed many a wild scheme to rob and thwart the local authorities. Chinese 
society has often, in disturbed times, been perfectly honeycombed with secret guilds, 
which have sometimes tried to accomplish, by organising bloody rebellions, the political 
changes our working men's clubs seek to achieve by peacefid means. 

Dr. Milne made a close study of one of the largest of the secret bands, called 
the Triad Society, and in 1823 he published some observations on the subject. Out- 
wardly it was a kind of mutual aid society, but, besides certain laudable aims, it sought 
to identify its members with bold schemes of rebellion, robbery, and revenge. Their 
motto was — 

"The blessingrs mutually share, 
The woes reciprocally bear." 

In Chinese systems of thought there are always three phases or departments of 
the Universe — Heaven, Earth, Man. This, then, is the august "triad" from which the 
rebel guild borrowed its sanctimonious title. The force of the title is the prophetic 
hint it conveys to the initiated, that when these great influences combine, the reigning 
dynasty of the Manchus or Tartars (which commenced to rule China in a.d. 1G44) must 
totter and fall. At the beginning of the century this conspiracy spread like wild-lire 
under another name, and it had nearly succeeded in its bold design, but in 1803 it was 
almost, though not quite, crushed out of existence by measures of great severity. It re- 
vived, however, and still goes on with kaleidoscopic changes of form. The new " brother " 
used to be initiated at the dead of night by passing under a bridge of swoi'ds, one 
member reading the form of oath to him, he duly responding to each article, and 
sealing his testimony by cutting oft' a cock's head, as an assurance that a similar fate 
will befall him if faithless. Many of the ceremonial details remind one of Western 
freemasonry. 

It is pretty certain that much of the jealous dread of Christianity on the part of 



IN- CeiNA.1 CIRCULATION OF TRACTS IN CHINA. 159 

Chinese officialdom, arose from a fear of such secret guilds working injury to established 
law and order. 

After some exploratory work on that seemingly bottomless quagmire — the lan- 
guage — through which Morrison had placed in various directions not a few solid 
stepping-stones, Bridgman began, at the suggestion of his English predecessor, to 
conduct a magazine, which was destined to attain its object very clearly, and became 
in reality, as well as in name, " The Chinese Repository." He remained its editor for 
about twenty years, showing remarkable tact and ability, and giving a great stimulus 
to studies pertaining to China. This work is now rather rare and valuable ; but we 
understand that some portion of it has been republished. It is a perfect mine 
of information upon every subject connected with the Far East. Bridgman was 
succeeded as editor by Dr. Wells Williams, another able and scholarly American, 
author of one of the very best books on China, " The Middle Kingdom." But we 
must tell of the great work Dr. AVilliams did for China later on. 

The Chinese as a people have always been fond of reading, and, although the 
common people have little leisure for real study, a very large proportion of the men 
can read and enjoy a simple tract or story. The Buddhist priests, long ago, provided 
the poj^ulace with little booklets, giving some conception of the life and aims of the 
great Indian whose system they profess to teach and follow ; and many collections 
of pious and moral tales exist, of which copies are sold for a mere trifle. 

The Christian missionaries now began to utilise the opportunities which free acccfs 
to the boat population, and to the emigrants from China into the neighbouring 
countries and the Straits Settlements, afibrded them for circulating tracts and Bibles. 
The labourers were now becoming more numerous. Dr. Gutzlafi', a Prussian bv 
birth, sent out by the Netherlands Mission Society, and Dr. Jledhurst, with ^lessrs. 
Tomlin and Stevens, made long journeys along the coast, and circulated in this 
way perhajjs about seven and a half millions of booklets and tracts. They used to go 
on board the junks, and there they would find, strangely gi'ouped, natives from every 
province in China, traders from Malacca, Singapore, and Penang, Jews and Mahomme- 
dans, Portuguese and Parsees, and crowds of Malays from the Straits. Whatever 
judgment has since been passed on this work, the workers were inspired by an ardent 
conviction that they were doing the right thing at the time, and that this mode of 
reaching the Chinese heart and soul was the best then available in the state of the 
country. 

It is true that subsequent writers have expressed a very different judgment in most 
unhesitating terms. Dr. Brown, the generally calm and judicious historian of Missions, 
says with some degree of severity, "Extensive as was the distribution of books, little 
or nothing was ever kno-svn- of spiritual good being effected by them, nor are there 
any traces of their having had any bearing or influence as regards the spread of the 
Gosjiel in China, or in any of the other countries to which they were carried. They 
were distributed not only much too freely, but much too indiscriminately." This could 
hardly have been the case if the books and tracts were in themselves good and 
instructive. The sailors could sometimes not read them. That, at least, has been said, 



160 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



IIV.— The Gospel 



;ind it is quite probable in itself; but, on the other hand, it was admitted hj' one of 
the severest critics of this " indiscriminate distribution " that " in no junk did we find 
the crew so ignorant that none could read." That the works were imperfect in 
substance and style may be freely conceded. 

What, however, was the result of all this enormous expenditure of time, energy, 
and money ? Dr. Wells Williams, writing in 1838, said very candidly : — " Hitherto 




A CHINESE JUNK. 



we have had no proof that the thousands of books thrown among this people 
have excited one mind to inquire concerning them, have induced one soul to 
find a teacher among the foreigners in China, or have been the means of converting 
one individual." This may seem to be very conclusive testimony, as coming from one 
of the leading missionaries engaged in the work. Williams went on to express his 
disappointment at the result, on which he liases his disapproval of the means. He 
says : — " I have seen books on board the jimks which were received at Bankok or 
Batavia ; but I have never had a question asked concerning their meaning, have 
never heard an objection started, nor a request made to have a doubt solved, 
though the sight of the books I had brought was the occasion of their shou'i)ig 
nie the bookfi they had received." (The italics are oui's.) 

Is there not, however, something in this one fact, that they hud retained the 



IN Cfl.xA.] THE WORK OF LIAXGA-FAH. 161 

boolc!>, and knew about them a little, if not much ? Again, when the English captured 
the town of Tinghai m 1840, a copy of one of the Gospels in Chinese was found on 
board the junk which carried the admiral's flag. It had not only been read, but had 
marginal notes upon it. 

It must be remembered that at this tune there was no permission to visit or 
missionise the interior, and the work was at first sternly restricted to the coast and 
river population. This was almost the only way by which the seed could then be sown. 
Twelve or thirteen years afterwards, from among that same population, there burst 
forth the wildest rebellion of recent times that China had witnessed — the rise of the 
Tai-p'ings, which will be referred to more particularly presently. But here we simply 
note that this movement was a Pagan version of Christianity, the exact origin of 
which is still obscure. It sought to abolish idolatry and promote the worship of one 
true God. Every Englishman in China knows that this movement would probably have 
been fatal to the ruling dj-nasty of China, but for the genius and vigour displayed by 
"Chmese Gordon," who crushed it ere it attained dimensions, as it threatened to do, 
with which no army could have successfully coped. It is quite certain that those 
scattered leaflets aroused Chinese sailors and peasants to think for the first time, how- 
ever crude and erroneous their thoughts might have been. 

Constant and grinding work at the language told upon the health of Dr. Morrison, 
so that he was, though with heartfelt regret, compelled to plan a return to England 
for a tune. But with whom could he venture to entrust the dehcate attairs of so younw 
a mission, m circumstances so momentous as the times presented ? A Chinese Christian 
named Liang A-fah, no doubt after much prayer and thought, had been set apart as 
an evangelist. To huu was confided the management of aftairs : and amidst the severest 
troubles and persecution, which occurred several j-ears afterwards, he proved himself to 
be in every w.ay worthy of the gi-eat confidence placed in him by his spiritual father, 
Dr. Morrison. 

Liang A-fah, amongst other proofs of Christian zeal and activity, wrote a Chinese 
tract called " Good ^^'ords to Admonish the Age." It does not appear that admonition 
was exactly what the age was cravmg for just then, and the fact came into prominence 
very distinctly and verj' disagreeably in this wa}-. 

Xearlj' ever}' kind of official emmence and political success in China is based on 
edvA^atluii, as a first step, and as tested by a grand Imperial sj-stem of exami- 
nations towards the taking of degrees. Indeed, the system is not unlike that piu-sued 
by the London Universit}'. The examinations are open practicall}' to all who wish to 
present themselves, nor do the students require to have been resident at any particular 
school or university. They may have been entirely self-taught, for aught that is asked 
on this point. Now it happened that m the j-ear 1833 not less than 24,000 of these 
students — j'oung lads, most of them, fi-om various parts of the countr}- — had come to 
Canton to be tested by examination in the usual way. Good Liang A-fah, zealous to 
utihse such a glorious opportunity of addressing what might justl}- be deemed the 
cream of the peojjle, men of intelligence and culture, who would, many of them, 
soon occup}- the highest positions of honour and responsibility the State could 
11 



162 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (IV.-The Guspel 

confer, circulated amongst them some 2,500 copies of his innocent little " Good Words," 
which, alas ! nearly proved very costly to him. 

Just about the time that Lord Napier was appointed British Consul in China — 
with Dr. Morrison, by the way, as Secretary and Interpreter at a salary of £1,300 — a 
bitter and violent popular outcry was raised, as had once or twice been done before, 
against " traitorous " Chinamen lending assistance to the foreigners in learning the 
language. A senseless proclamation was therefore issued by the ilandarins against 
those who get up the " evil and obscene books of the outside barbarians," or, as wc 
shoiild perhaps say, unorthodox books. It referred pretty plainly to certain evil-doers 
who pretended to " admonish the age," and as Lord Najjier (with Jlorrison's 
official help, no doubt) had issued an appeal to the Chinese, it spoke of the help that 
it was thought natives must have necessarily rendered, as traitorous. (Jrders were 
given to search for the offenders, and poor Liang A-fah and his press assistants were 
naturally suspected. Dr. Wells Williams thus relates what took place : — " Two of the 
latter were seized, one of whom was beaten with forty blows upon his face for refusing 
to divulge ; the other made a full disclosiu-e, and the police next day repaired to his 
shop and seized three printers, with four hundred volmnes and blocks ; the men were 
subsequently released by paying about eight hundred dollars." A quantity of type used 
for printing the Chinese Bible, of which Dr. Morrison had presented His Majesty 
George IV. with a co]5y when in England, and many iine cut blocks, were destroyed. 
The boys' school was quite broken up, and Liang A-fah sought safety in flight to 
Macao, relentlessly pursued by the Chinese police. He ultimately found a safe retreat at 
Singapore, where, rmder ■ British rule and protection, he could work to his' heart's content 
among his Chinese countrymen, who resided there, as they do still, in great numbers. 

The police succeeded in capturing three of A-fah's relatives at his native village, 
and in accordance with national laws or customs, they were promptly dealt with, and 
his house closed up with official stamp and seal. Bridgman thought that if A-fah had 
fallen into official hands, he would have paid the penalty with his life. The poor 
Chinese sufferer for his faith afterwards wrote : " I call to mind that all who preach 
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus must suffer persecution ; and though I cannot equal 
the patience of Paul or Job, I desire to imitate the aiicient saints, and keep my 
heart in peace." 

But what came of the leaflets that Liang A-fiih had scattered amongst the students? 
One of them, at least, if it could now be obtained, would he well worthy of preserva- 
tion in a Chinese national museum, as an historical monument interesting to all time. 
I'or it was handed by A-fah to a young man named Hung-seu-tseuen, as he entered 
the Hall of Examination. This young man read it over carefully ; tossed it aside as 
heretical and vm-Chinese ; re-read and re-read it, and still its message seemed to ring 
in his poor pagan ears as a new and living word of truth for him and for his anxious 
and distracted age. The rest is not very clear, but it is thought that he v^^ent and 
talked over the matter with one or two of the missionaries, without being much 
noticed ; and it is believed that he got from one of them a copy of the Old and New 
Testaments in Chinese. 



IN China.] THE GREAT CHINESE REBELLIOX. 163 

Tlie P!ible, apart from all theories of its Divine inspiration, is itself an inspiring 
book. To an inquiring, restless, pagan mind it is full of fresh and high ideals of life ; 
so this young man, dissatisfied with all the hard conventionahsm around him, felt, 
amidst gross ignorance of all that we deem the true spirit of Christ, that ho would now 
like to become a Christian. He made open profession of his new faith, but bitter 
persecution at once arose, so that he jomed some like himself who were just emerging 
from the profound darkness of heathenism, without — alas ! for the shortsightedness of 
the Government — the control and counsel of living and experienced guides. These few 
poor men were attacked, and cruelly driven away from their homes. Their democratic 
Lilood arose (and Chinese blood is very democratic), so that they offered resistance to 
the authorities, and at last they became emboldened, by the recklessness of perhaps 
desjjair (for their cause did not seem at first at all likely to become popular), and 
attacked with great vigour the Imperialist troops sent to subdue them. They shattered 
them ; they even succeeded in capturing a little city, and seized a quantity of arms 
and aumumition. Others, with no flavour of Christianity, ralHed to this strange 
parody of the standard of Jesus, and the new and wild movement was soon recognised 
as a somewhat hopeful-looking Cave of AduUam for the hordes of lawless and disaffected 
who swarm all over the southern parts of the Empire. 

China was soon in a blaze. A large, powerful, and very courageous rebel army 
was organised, and the final desgin came to be the overthrow of the reigning 
Manchu or Tartar dynasty, and the re-establishment of some branch, probably, of the 
old genuine Chinese dynasties. The rebels swept rapidly and with irresistible force over 
the country, fighting fierce battles and laying whole provinces desolate. When Chung- 
chow was captured by the rebels, close upon six or seven thousand were slain in the 
conflict, or succumbed to disease. The central provinces were desolated as if some 
great plague had rapidly swept over them, " perhaps the greatest scourge to which 
the race has becir exposed for many centuries." Many cities were laid low and almost 
depopulated, their smoky ruins reeking with blood, and the richly cultivated fields, 
which had made the land like one vast sniilmg garden, were rendered desolate and 
barren. 

Before the reigning dynasty of Manchus became the masters of China, there was 
for two himdred and seventy-six years the Chinese dynasty of the Mings (a.d. 1370 [?] — 
1650), The word means brightness or light, a very good catch-cry for the rising party 
to adopt. This dynasty was begun by the rise from obscurity of a youth, who, half-starved, 
took refuge in a Buddhist monastery, became the soldier of Fortune, and found her a 
very good mistress. The last emperor, in despair, stabbed his own daughter and hung 
himself It was during the sway of this line that the Jesuits received so nmch favour 
in China. Astronomy was studied with nnich ardour. Then, too, was published that 
miracle of industry, the great Chinese Encyclopedia, in some twenty-two thousand 
volumes, with a convenient little index of some three thousand pages. 

The rebels made the old Ming capital of Nanking — whence navhrih cloth gets its 
name — tlieir capital, capturing it in 1853. It lies not very far from the mouth of the 
Yang-tse-Kiang, and was noted for its beautiful and costly Porcelain Tower. The 



164 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IV. -The Gospel 

Strange edifice was never completed, but from an account given by L>r. Charles Taylor, 
an American missionary, some conception may be formed of this most remarkable 
tower. Its actual height was two hundred and sixty-one feet, and it was all faced 
with tine porcelain clay, the tiles, which showed fully on each of its nine completed 
stories (thirteen was the number in the design) throwing a greenish hue over the 
whole edifice. The tiles and bricks, by no means of one uniform colour, were highly 
glazed, and the whole was bedight with gay lanterns and bells, some hundred and fifty 
of each. '\\'ithin was a spiral staircase ; the woodwork was strong, curiously carved, 
and so richly painted, that when the sun lighted up this singular structure it had a 
most bewitching and lovely appearance. The rebels blew it up, and carried oft' the 
tiles lest it should, in some mysterious way, prove an obstacle to their designs. 

At last this rebel stronghold fell. Let Mr. J. Thomson, F.R.G.S., tell the story of the 
events that followed * : — " The three days and nights following the fall of the city were 
spent in massacring the inhabitants, and then all who bore the fatal brand of the long- 
haired rebel were summarily destroj-ed. The city moat around the walls flowed with 
blood, and was heaped with the ghastly relics of the slaughter. Ten years after this 
dreadful episode, Nanking was still in ruins ; acres upon acres of streets, once busy 
and teeming with thousands of industrious citizens, stretched out within the walls, 
like miles of grass mounds, hushed, desolate, and overgrown with rank weeds. Here 
and there, faint as if still subdued by dark memories, the hum of reawakening life 
might be heard, mingled with the fitful sound of labourers and builders at their task 
of reconstruction. Outside the walls the deserted plains, where Httle else but reeds and 
grass were to be seen, testified how completely the region had been depopulated." 

But the final history of the great Taiping rebellion — and how it was crushed by 
our " Colonel " Gordon, acting for the Imperial Government of China — belongs to a 
much later period than that we are now interested in. It is enough to know that the 
American shipper's sneer to ilorrison had been answered : the great mass of China hml 
been impressed b}- the Bible. 

Dr. Milne was not long spared to labour in China. Dr. ]\Iorrison followed him 
twelve years afterwards, but not till, with incredible labour, he had completed his great 
Dictionary of C!hinese, in six quarto volimies. It was for a long period the standard 
authority, though later scholarship has advanced bej'ond what was possible for a p)ioneer 
like Morrison. It has been said that the true monument of these two men " is the 
Chinese Bible and the Chinese College." 

Morrison died in 1834, and in the same year Lord Napier, the English ambassador, 
succumbed to the same unhealthy season, which had been marked by heavy rainfall 
and long-continued inundations. Sir John V. Davis mourned " the severe loss 
experienced in the recent death of I>r. ilorrisun, the Chinese Secretary, more particu- 
larly versed in the language than any European." He had been richly endowed by 
nature with gifts of memoiy and intellect, while culture had been nobly and persistently 
applied to their development. He often manifested the caution which, perhaps, had 

* We take the account from "The Land and the People of China," published by the Society for 
PromotinfT Christian Knowledge. 



IN China.] 



CHARACTER AJS'D WORK OF MORRISON. 



165 



come to him from his Scottish ancestry. Indeed, the extension of English influence and 
missionary progress in China were greatly aided by the Arm and cautious steering of 
Morrison. 

It was said of Morrison that he possessed "talents rather of the solid than of the 




NANKING. 



showy kind ; fitted more for continuous labour than for sudden bursts of genius," and 
no much higher compliment could have been paid to him. It is questionable if this 
great and good man made personally many converts to Christianity. No one did more, 
however, to advance the cause of missions in China, and to give them dignity and 
importance even in the eyes of the most worldly merchants and statesmen. His warm 
friend Mr. Bridgman preached his funeral sermon from the text, "Let me die the death 
of the righteous." 

Mr. Bridgman, who was now engaged on a great work of 730 pages, the " Chinese 
Chrestomathy," received the degree of D.I). He afterwards became secretary and chap- 
lain of the American Legation. Dr. Bridgman then entered very heartily mto the 



166 ('i)N(,)rh;sTs ov ■I'liK ('1U)8S. ii\- nu: lio^fUL 

revision of llic ('l\iiu^si> llilili'. I>oi(_'n'iito.s wore uppoiiitcil, bul lln' Ainoricaiis and 
KuLflisli cunld no longer fonipK^loly sis^iro as to (ho nsvnie to lie nsrd lor (lie Deity. 
Tlu" discnssion on this poinl, iho ditlirnlly of wliicli lias liocn ali-caih nimllonrd, willi 
l\w nature of it, and li\e reasons for il, was vei'y keen ai\(l protrarled, and still echoes 
llirongli (,'liina : proliaMy, in<leed, as \\e have already saiil, an enlin>ly nnohjeetionahlo 
term eonid scarcely he I'onnd. At all e\enls, henceforward dill'ei'cnt versions have hoon 
ado|iicil. Tiic i>elogal.os' version is held hy n\a,u_y En<;-lish missionaries lo >/]\t'. the 
best, resnlls ol' scholarship); but lliere is ureat ditVerence of opinion as lo ihe style, 
wliieh is llowiui;- and I ilcnir;/. in llie ('i\inese sense, ralher than literal, il is written 
in ihe slylc called Wiiili. llie " boiik-lan,ynau;e " used all o\er China, as l.alin was in 
i'luropc. and is. Iil<e hatin, a dead or unspoken lani^'UiiLj'e, so llial llie lessons are not. 
directly read from il in Chinese churches. 

A very sad evcnl was assooiatcd with the meet ins;' of llii' dclej;'ates in iMiT. Many 
nionlhs wi're to be spent on the revision, and Mr. howrii'. an American missionary, 
whose slalion was Nin^'po, had intended to remain until the work was accomplished, 
lint an urgent messacc on(> day came lo him from the station, rci|iiirinn' liis jiresence 
at once. Lit lie did he oi- his friends foresee how traj;'ically this jounic\ wonlil end. Mr. 
l-owrie, who was a yonu!;' man of a kindly disposition and of much jiromise. \-ery promjUly 
responded to this snddeir call, aiul. aloui;- with two native attendants, tool; passage in 
a eanalboal Id a little Chinese port near tlu' month ol' the Shaiin'hai riv(M'. There they 
got on board a l;u'j;'e jia.s.seuger juuU, bound direct I'oi- their mission slalion, Nini;|)o. 

\\ lial lillic \\ind thii'c was, was against them, and llie\ were lloatiuL; very laxily along 
through (he yellow-tinged waters oil' the month of tlie \ ang-tse-kiang. They might ha\o 
made some leu or twelve miles only, when a large tluve-masted juid;, swiftly propelled 
by eight great oars, a]ij)eared ou the hoi-i/on, and at this the bn/./ing sing-song of tlie 
Chinese passinigers became Imslu-d. Tlu' cralt was mmh in ;i])pearaiicc like those that 
jilied abotit lh(> little port they had just left lieiund llieni. As il continued to bear 
steadilv and ra)iidl\' down upon lliein, llie eoniiiany on board Mr. howrie's vessel, who 
were alert to every seemingly insigniticaiil maiucini-e. were .seized with sudden ji.iuic, 
and with loud, anxious eries urged (he captain to change his eonr.se, and go back 
tow.inls Ihe place the}' had sailed from. With such a wind, probably nothing eould be 
done. Mr. l,owiie tried to restor<> eontidenee, an(1, waving a little (Lag upon wliicli were 
tlie stars and slrijics of Amerii'a, li<> stood up and waited to stH' what the pirates, as 
thoy seemed to bt>. would do. Th<> straug(> junk last drew near. aiul. as il approached. 
th(> pirat(>s kept liring on the deftMic(>less passengers. At last, twent)' cruel-looking 
villains leaped on board, and began to hunt out from their hi(iing-]>laeos tlie palliib 
t(>rror-slricken t'hinamcu. who had no idea of resisting such an attack as this. Those 
bandits of Ihe sea, armed with swords and spears, or old-fashioned inatchKtcks and the 
like, then rushed about the deck beating, thrusting with their spears, slashing and 
sliooting wlioi'ver looke(1 as if disposed to objoct. The remaiuder ol tlu^ pa.ssengers and 
crew tlie\ strip|icd naked. 

Poor Mr. Lowrie, seeing the utter nselessness of resist.anee, handed the blood- 
stained villains the kej' of his trunk, which they were trying to smash open. This 



iMi'i;m;i!, ov mi;, i.owimIv 



1(17 



well :iiui'(l civilily .scriiHMl 111 liiiAii a |)n('il\iii;; I'llcrl (•\cii mi siirli linilcs ns llii'S(i. 
Tlicv Icl'l even his walrli iiiiil his |i(H'k(i| iiKiiicv iinliMii hrd. Siis|iici(iiis, howtnci', lliai 
somclliiMH' nii-jlil ronic ii|> aL;aiiisl ihciii alliTwai-ds, I he piralcs s(>iiiii('il l.u cnnriir 
llUl'rii'illv. 'l"\vo 111' ihcii' iiiiinhiT wrrc tulil oil' lur sniiii- |iiir|iii;,i', 'These liicii al. (iiice 
caiiic U|i III Ml', l,i>\vi-|r, sci/.cil him, ami iiiadr a wild and si reiiiKiUS elVurl, In llirow 
Ihiii mi'i'l'iiai'd, lie I'csislcid liii'in slrminh, and aiiollirr man had Id rdiiic lo ihi'ir 
h('l|). 111 aiidlhrr mumriil iM r. Lowric was ,sl,ni,L;xline' luiiid ihr hiiiiL;r\- hillnws ol' llir 
^'l'llll\v■ Sea, ('ill' of lliosi' who ('sra|ir(l Iclls Ihal "llr s\\am ahiMil, loi' siiiiie l-imi\ 
1111(1 was srrii 111 liini si'\(>raJ limes in I he waler. as if he weiild slriiL;'L;le (.<i\vanl I he 
hiial. : hill as mie ol iJie [liraies slmid w illi a Inn;; |iiile in Ins hand i'ead\ In sirike him 
slinilld he niipniach il, he L;a\<^ il|i IIh^ allein|il. and. llie wa\e:, niimiii;; liin'h, he seoii 
sank 111 rise ii<i mure," The pirales I, hen rendered I hi' shi|i helpless, luid loll, il. |,ii 
di'ifl rudderless mi I he waters wilh ils shivcriiie mid naked eiiiii|iali}', TllOHO jjfnt. I.i) 
I.'IimI siimi'iiiiw, and so eseapeil wilh I heir lives miU. 











lll'IA'I'll Ol' Mil, l.llWIllll. 



168 



v.— THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

HOW THE MISSIONS BEGAX. 

South-Sea Missions first suggested by the Countess of Huntingdon— London Missionary Society Founded— 
Purchase of the DiifF — A lary-e Mission Colony — Landing- and early Success of the Mission at Tahiti — 
Hasty and fickle Enthusiasm at Home — Second Voyage of the Diifi' and its disastrous Issue^Misfortunes 
at Tahiti, and Return of the greater Number of the Missionaries — Lamentable Cases of Aposta.sy amonyst 
the Kemainder — Success of those who Persevered — Early Life of John Williams — Marriage and Dedication 
to Missionary Work — Early Work at Raiatea — The People Civilised and Reformed — Voyage to Sydnej' — 
Rarotonga— Sets to Work to build a Vessel with his own Hands — The Mi-sseiujcr nf I'luce — Her Trial Trip 
and its Perils. 

OELINA, Countess of Huntingdon, lay dying. She had borne her part in the great 
'^ revival under Wesley and ^^'hitetield — the latter of whom she had appointed 
her chaplam ; and had founded a sect which is known as " Lady Huntingdon's Con- 
nection." Sixty-four of her chapels were then in existence (1791), and to-day there 
are still, according to recent religious statistics, thirty-four chajjels belonging to that 
connection in England and Wales. 

Not long before she died, the Countess had been reading an account of Captain 
Cook's voyages, in which that intrepid sailor told of the numberless groups of little 
islands lying in the Southern Seas, guarded by rings of coral, bedecked with gorgeous 
vegetation, and smiling throughout the year beneath a summer sun. Li her dying- 
hours the heart of the Countess went out to the poor heathen in those glorious isles, 
ignoi-ant of God, morality,' or civilisation, and sunk in every form of barbarity, 
superstition, and vice ; and she entreated that missionaries might be sent over to help 
them, to which end she herself subscribed liberally. 

Four years later the London Missionary Society was established, and it was re- 
solved by the founders and directors — evangelical Christians connected with the Church 
of England, various sections of the Presbyterians, and the Congregational body — that 
the first effort of the Society should be to send missionaries to the South Seas. A 
subscription was set on foot, and the sum of ten thousand pounds was collected, with 
part of which a ship called the Duff was purchased. On the 10th of August, 1796, 
the banks of the Thames were lined with eager crowds as the Duff'- — the tirst ship 
that had ever been fitted out for the express purpose of conveying the messengers 
of the Gospel to heathen lands — set sail on her voyage to Otaheite (Tahiti). It was 
not, perhaps, that the thousands who congregated on and beside the Thames that da}', 
took any overwhelming interest in the missionary enterprise ; but the subject of the 
South Sea and its islands was then one of the most interesting- of the times. The 
narratives of Captain Cook had been read everywhere ; and the islands, many of which 
he had named, had fallen into the hands of European swindlers who had infamously 
traded upon human cupidity, until the great " South Sea Bubble " had been blown and 
had burst. 



OCEANIA. 



MISSION STATIONS iiu.U 
woi-kiug at each. 



rliiK'd on the Mail, alphabetically an-aiigeil to show the various Societies 
Tlio abbreviatious used are explained by the following list : — 



CM 


S. 


S.l'. 


G. 


Mel. 




L. M 


S. 


Free 


Ch.Seot. 



Morav. 
Herm. . 
Paris Evang. 

Hhenish 

Utrecht 

Neth. Miss. Soc. 



Church jMis.sionary Society. 

Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel. 

Melancsian Mission. 

London Missionary Society. 

Free Church of Scotland Foreign 
Mission. 

Missions of the United Brethren, or 
Moravians. 

Hermannshux-g Evangelical Lutheran 
Missionary Society. 

Paris Society for Evangelical Mis- 
sions. 

Ehenish Missionary Society. 

Utrecht Mission Union. 

Netherlands Missionary Society. 



Neth. Miss. Un. . Netherlands Missionary Union. 
Neth. Chris. Kef. Netherlands Cluistian Iteformed 

Ch. Church Mission. 

Mennonite Un. . Mennonite Union for the ProiJaga- 

tion of the Gospel. 
ErmelooCh.Miss. Ermeloo Chm-ch Missions. 
Java Comite . Java Comite, Home and Foreign 

Missions. 
Aust. Presh. . Missions of Australasian Presbyterian 

Churches. 
Aust. Wes. . Missions of Australasian Wesleyan 

Churclies. 
Can. Presb. . Canadian Presbyterian Church 

Foreign Missions. 
Am. B. F. M. . American Board of Foreign Missions.* 
Hawaiian . . Hawaiian Evangelical Association.* 



* These two Soeietie.^ work iti concert in Micronesia, 
N.B. — In Sumatra, Java, Borneo, &c., it has been found impossible, owing to the scale of the Map, to indicate 
more than a few of the Mission Stations. In such iustauces, however, the number of Stations occupied by the 
various Missionary Societies is given in the foUowing list instead. Separate Maps of British Borneo and New 
Zealand (North Island) will be found elsewhere. 



AlTUTAKI 


Cook Islands 


L. M. S. 


COLONIA 


Australia . 


Herm. 


Almahera, See Gilolo. 




COOK IS. . 





L. M. S. 


Andai . 


New Guinea 


Utrecht. 








Annatom 


New Hebrides . 


Free Ch. Scot. 


DOREI . 


New Guinea 


Utrecht. 


[Ant'lti/inii] 






Drummond . 


Gilbert Islands 


Am. B. F. M. 


API 


»» » 


Aust. Presb. 


(Taputeouea) 






Apia . 


Gilbert Islands . 


Am. B. F. M. 


Ebenezer . 


Australia . 


Morav. 


Arhno . 


Marshall Islands 


., 


Ebon. See Boston 






AllEOWS.MITH 


»t ,» 


,, 


Efat^. See Vati. 






[llajitro) 






ELLICE IS. 





L. M. S. 


Adu 


» ,1 


,, 


Erromanqo . 


New Hebrides . 


Can. Presb., Aust. 


Aurora 


New Hebrides . 


Mel. 






Presb. 


AUSTRALIA . 


— 


Herm., Morav. 


Erronam . 




Free Ch. Scot. 


AUSTRAL IS. . 


— 


L. M. S. 


(FtUuna) 






Banjarmasin 


Borneo 


Ehenish. 


FIJI ISLANDS . 




S.P.G.,Aust.Wes 


Banks Is. 


New Hebrides . 


Mel. 






(10 stations). 


Batavia 


Java . 


Neth. Miss. Soc., 


Florida Is. 


Salomon Is. 


Mel. 






Neth. Chris. Ref. 


FRIENDLY IS., 


— 


Aust. Wes. 






Ch.,JavaComite. 


or Tonga. 






Batu Is. 


Sumatra . 


Dutch Luth. 


Futuna. See Erronam. 




Boeroe, Island of. 





Utrecht. 








Bogadjim 


New Guinea 


Rhenish. 


GILBERT IS. . 


— 


L.M.S.,Am.B.F.M 


BoNHAM Is. . 


Marshall Islands 


Am. B. F. M. 


Gilolo, Island of. 


— 


Utrecht (2 sta- 


{Jttluit) 






(Almahera) 




tions). 


BORNEO, British 


— 


S. P.G. (see sepa- 


Hapai Is. 


Friendly Is. 


Aust. Wes. 






rate Map). 


Hermannsburg . 


Australia . 


Hei-m. 


„ Dutch 


— 


Rhemsh(5 sta/iuiis). 


(Kilalpaiiiii)iti) 






Boston 


Marshall Islands 


Am. B. F. M. 


Hervey Is. . 


Cook Is. . 


L. M. S. 


[Ebon) 






HiLO . 

Hogolu 


Sandwich Is. 
Caroline Is. 


Am. B. F. M. 


CAROLINE IS. . 


— 


„ 


(link) 






CELEBES . 


— 


Neth. Miss. Un. 


Honolulu . 


Sandwich Is. 


Am.B.F.M.,S.P.G. 


Q 




(2 stiiliom). 


Huahine 


Society Is. . 


L. M. a 



Jail-it. .Sir Bonliam Is. 




Pabano 


Sumatra . 


Rheiii.sh. 


JAVA . 


— 


Neth.Miss.Soc.(10 


Papiete 


Tahiti 


Paris Evan^'. 






itatioiis), Neth. 


Pentecost. Sic Whitsun Is. 








Miss. Un. (4 sta- 


PiXGELAP 


Caroline Is. 


Am. B. F. M. 






tions) , Neth. 


PON'APE 


,, ,, 


„ 






Chris.Eef.Ch.(2 


Port Moresby 


New Guinea 


L. M. S. 






stations), Erme- 


Pulo Nias {Sias) . 


Sumatra . 


Rhenish (3 ata. 






loo Ch. Miss. (.5 






tions). 






stations), Men- 


Eaiatea 


Society Is. . 


Paris Evang. 






nonite Un.( 1 sta- 


Ramahyuck . 


Australia . 


Morav. 






tion), Java Co- 


Raeotonoa . 


Cook Is. . 


L. M, S. 






mite (2 stations). 


Rhoon . 


New Guinea 


Utrecht. 








ROTUJIAH 


Fiji Is. 


Aust. Wes. 


Kandavu 


Fiji Is. 


Aust. Wes. 


RuK. See Hoyolu. 






Kekepunu . 


New Guinea 


L. M. S. 








KiLALPANiNNA. Sec Herm.iiuisbursf. 




SALOMON IS. . 


— 


Mel. 


KUCHING 


Boraeo 


S. P. G. 


SAMOA . 


— 


L.M.S.,Aust.Wes. 


{Sara wale) 

KUDAT . 






S.\N Christoval . 


Salomon Is. 


Mel. 




)) 


Sandakan . 


Borneo 


S. P. G. 


KrsAiE. See Ualan. 




Sandalw<jod Is. . 


— 


Neth. Chris. Ret 
Ch. 


IiAKEMKA 


Fiji Is. . 


Aust. Wea. 


SANDWICH IS. 


— 


S.P. G.,Am.B.F. 


Lepers Is. . 


NewHetridr; . 


Mel. 






M., Hawaiian. 


Levuka 


Fiji Is. . 


S.P. G. 


Santa Cruz . 


Santa Cruz Is. 


Mel. 


LiFtJ . 


Loyalty Is. 


L.M.S. 


Santa Maria 


Banks Is. . 


)» 


LOYALTY i.- . 


— 


M 


Sarawak. See Kuching. 




LUASAP 


Caroline Is. 


Am. B. F. M. 


Savage Is. See Nine. 










Savaii . 


Samoa 


L.M.S.,Aust.Wcs. 


Maiana 


Gilbert Is. . 


» 


Savou, Island of . 





Neth. Miss. Un. 


Majuro. See Arrowsmith. 




SlBOGA . 


Sumatra . 


Rhenish. 


Malayta 


Salomon Is. 


Mel. 


SOCIETY IS. . 


— 


L. M. S., Paris 


{Matanta) 










Evang. 


Mallicoll". 


New Hebrides . 


Aust. Presb. 


SUMATRA. 


. — 


Rhenish (14 sta- 


Manoaia 


Cook Is. . 


L. M. S. 






tions), Java Co- 


Manua 


Samoa 


L. M. S. 






mite (1 station). 


Maraki 


Gilbert Is. . 


Am. B. F. M. 






MennoniteMiss. 


Marie . 


Loyalty Is. 


L. M. S. 






(I station). 


MARSHAL!, I.S. 


— 


Am. B. F. M. 


Suva . 


Fiji Is. 


S. P. G. 


Maui . 


Sandwich Is. 


S. P. G. 








Mendawei . 


Borneo 


Rhenish. 


Tahiti {Otaheite). 


Society Is. . 


Paris Evang. 


MiLLI . 


Marshall Is. 


Am. B. F. JI. 


T.VNNA . 


New Hebrides 


Free Ch. Scot., 


MORTLOCK I.-i. 


Caroline Is. 


JJ 






Aust. Presb. 


MOTA . 


Banks Is. . 


Mel. 


Taputeouea. See 


Drummond. 




MUKBAY l8. . 


New Guinea 


L. M. S. 


Tarawa 
Taritaki 


Gilbert Is. . 


Am. B. P. M. 


NEW BRITAIN 


— 


Aust. Wes. (3 sta- 
tions). 


ToKELAU. See Union Group. 
TONGA. See FriencUy Is. 




NEW GUINEA . 


— 


Rhenish, L.M. S., 


TONGATABH . 


Friendly Is. 


Aust. Wes. 






Utrecht, S.P.6. 


TONGOA 


New Hebrides . 


Can. Presb., Aust. 


NEW HEBKIDES 


— 


FrceCh.Scot.Can. 






Presb. 






Presh., Aust. 


Torres Is. . 


Banks Is. . 


Mel. 






Presb. {united 


TUTUILA 


Samoa 


L. M. S. 


NEW ZEALAND 




mission, 18 sta- 
tions), Mel. 
C. M. S., Herm., 


Ualan {Kusaie) . 
Upolu. See Opoli 


Caroline Is. 


Am. B. F. M. 


[Missions to Maorit 


) 


Aust. Wes. {See 


Ulawa 

UNION GROUP, 


Salomon Is. 


Mel. 
L. SI. S. 


NiA.s. See Pulo Ni 


as. 


separate Map). 


or Tokelau. 






NlUE . 


Friendly Is. 


L. M. S. 


Vanua Lava 


Banks Is. . 


Mel. 


(Sarage Is.) 






Vati (Efate) 
Vavau Is. . 


New Hebrides 


Can. Presb. 


NONOUTI 


Gilbert Is. . 


Am. B. F. M. 


Friendly Is. 


Aust. .Wea. 


NORFOLK IS. . 


— 


S. P. G., Mel. 














Whitsun Is. 


New Hebrides 


Mel. 


OroLU . 


Samoa 


L. M. S., Aust. 


{Pentecost) 






(Upolu) 




Wes. 








Otaiieite. See Tahiti. 




Ysabel 


Salomon Is. 


. •' 



140 



\Sinud 

San d-«r i"clE 



Island 






vau-^^ 



^ G>ofci77a Hawaii or 



^ 



. JohntUm. ar Comr-eJhM 



20 



rtio 






OuxatTnas (StJ 



N 



q P A T R 



tLcenix: 



■5bAu>' 



[Tniou Group'5r/ 



Mar 






Z^zroioe 



, ftnWijn' I'Tur^aretraf 







10 



Samoa ^^ o r .va*»aii 
vigatprs Isl 



L 






XutiaLt ' 



To 



naa or 



; . lavau. I' 
J* r i e n d-lv 

BEE ^^ 



Pahna-»ton, 






Society 



''^'»"-s^T 



■JftiJfiirig 



Isl' 



AiJaMaia, 



Taaiti 



.Bew^^e 



fa/tiu^iH Jfi&tfx? 



•SEE 

iTlfirJ 









r r e n c Ji I . 1 JfuicutavaJte. L^ 



Gloucester ■Armrara~ I TUreia ^ ~ 



20 



Isl? 



Cook 

Sarat ofuj' 

— mrr^ 



Tropic of Capricorn 



IT 



H 



BaymBti 



Jtiu' 
I S 



Mitnijai 



Auj 



aj 



Tuff JEB^™"".^ 




30 



O 



^ 



2\r 



separate Map ^r Sta/zoTts 
^orth, lslanjd,yNeiv Zealand.. 



OCEANIA 



Submartn^ TeU^ropK Imcv Uuja S Zcr Sub TeL- 



160 



ISO 




For nairu9 of Mimonary Societia wn-king at placet uruUrlined on Iht Map, let nparate Litt. 



v.— The South Sea Islanes.] 



THE FIRST MISSIONARY SHIP. 



109 



The Duff was under the command of as good a Christian, and as good a sailor, 
as ever trod a quarter-deck — Captain James Wilson, an outline of whose marvellous 
career we have given in our intr(5ductory chapter* — while his nephew, Mr. William 

Wilson, a very able man, who subsequently 
published an interesting account of the 
voyages of the missionary ship, acted as 
his chief officer. The missionaries were 
thirty in number, with six women and 
three children ; antbi a miscellaneous com- 
pany they were. Four were ordained 
ministers, one a surgeon, and the rest were 




THE DVFF AMD HER COIIMANDEH. 



of the artisan class — carpenters, weavers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and butchers. But 
all seem to have been inspired with one idea, namely, to carry out the message of 
the Gospel, and at the same time to introduce a form of Christian colonisation, such as 
the United Brethren or Moravians had, as we have seen, been doing elsewhere. 

The Buff was detained at Spithead for a month waiting for a convoy ; and again 

* See p. 33. 



170 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [V.-The Soith Sea 

at Cape Yerdc Islands and Rio de Janeiro for provisions ; but after a six months' 
Yoyage she came to anchor in j\hita-\-ai Ba}', off the coast of Tahiti, the chief of the 
Society Islands. Great was the joy of the natives, not so much because missionaries 
had come amongst them, as that the arrival of a ship meant beads and hatchets, 
lookmg-glasses, gay-coloured cloths, and other things in which barbarous peoples delight. 
The chiefs and people came fearlessly on board, and when the missionaries were preparing 
to land, a ci'owd of natives ran along the beach, and dashing into the sea, drew the 
boats through the surf, and carried the strangers ashore on their shoulders. 

Captain Wilson lost no time in informing the king, Pomare, through an interpreter,* 
of the object the missionaries had in view, which was, to be of use to his people in 
teaching them good and useful things, and, above all, the knowledge of the true God ; 
and that all they required in return was a grant of land on which they might erect 
their houses. This Pomare readily granted, and a dwelling which had been put up 
by Captain Bligh of the Bounty, when collecting bread-fruit, was given them for their 
use in the meantime. Soon after this the first missionary sei-vice was held on the 
shore, which the king, with his chiefs, attended. 

" At ten o'clock," says Mr. William Wilson, " we called the natives together imder 
the cover of some shady trees near our house, and a long form being placed, Pomare 
was requested to seat himself upon it with the brethren, the rest of the natives 
standing or sittms; in a circle round us. Mr. CoA^er then addressed them from the 
words of St. John, ' For God so loved the world,' etc., the Swede interpreting sentence 
by sentence as he spoke. The Otahcitians were silent and solemnl}'' attentive. After 
service, Pomare took brother Cover by the hand and pronounced the word of approba- 
tion, ' My tj-, my ty.' Bemg |isked if he understood what was said, he replied, ' There 
were no such things before in Otaheite, and the}' were not to be learned at once; 
but that he would wait the coming of God.' Desirinsr to know if he might attend 
ao'ain, he was told ' Yes.' " 

Other services soon followed, at one of which the brother-in-law of the king said 
he was willing to thi'ow away his gods and worship the " English God," which proved 
that he had not been a good heathen and would probabl}' make a very indiflbrent 
Christian. After the meetmg, Manne-Manne, the aged high-priest, a Demas in heart, 
observed — " ^lissionaries give plenty of the AVord of God, but not man}- axes, laiives, 
or scissors." Times without number this wretched old heathen had officiated at human 
sacrifices, and other horrible rites, all of which he professed himself willing to abandon 
— for a consideration ! Half the people in the congregation had been guilty of in- 
fanticide, and there was among them a society', called the Arreoies, a\1io were under 
compact to murder every new-born infant. 

It was resolved to leave eighteen missionaries in Tahiti, and to plant the others 

elsewhere. While the good ship Dujf is on its way to the Friendly Islands, therefore, 

let us tarry a moment with those who remained, and sec how they fared with the 

Tahitians. 

* Two shipwrecked Swedes were found, naturalised, among the natives. They spoke English fairly well, 
and the native language fluently. 



isuNDs.] FIRST MISSION STATION IN TAHITI. 171 

The buikiiug of the mission station and the " introduction of the art;i and 
sciences" filled the native mind with wonder and delight. Two of the missionaries 
were blacksmiths, and, -when they had set up their forge, the natives would stand 
round as long as ever it was at work, and watch — 

" the Ijurning sparks that fly 
Like chaff from a threshing floor." 

When, however, the red-hot iron was placed in water, causing it to hiss and splutter, 
they fled in dismay, and it was long before they could persuade themselves that they 
were not in liad company when the missionaries performed this "rite." Pomare fell 
in love with the bellows, and, like man}' another child, wanted to know what was 
inside that could produce such extraordinary effects. After watching for the first time 
the whole operation of one of the missionary smiths at the forge, he took him, grimy 
as he was, in his arms, and " rubbed noses ' with him — that act in the Southern Heas 
being equivalent to kissing. 

Slowly the buildings of the mission station rose ; daily the missionaries held senices 
with the natives ; good works of one kind and another were being carried on, and 
everything gave promise of success, until events arose which we will narrate hereafter. 
Meanwhile the Duff proceeded to the Friendly Islands, where, at Tongatabu, one 
of the chief of the group, she landed ten of the remaining missionaries, who were 
received cordially by the natives, and where, by a singidar coincidence, they again found 
two deserters, an Englishman and an Irishman, who were able to act as interpreters. 
Then the Duff' again sped onwards, and reached the Marquesas group, where the 
remaining two missionaries were to be landed ; but one of them turned chicken-hearted, and 
declined to remain ; while the other, Mr. Crook, a young man of twenty-two, greatly to the 
regret of Captain Wilson and of all concerned, was left alone on the island. After 
this the Duff' returned to Tahiti, where Captain Wilson was rejoiced to find the 
missionaries quietly establishing themselves, and apparently' enjoymg the confidence of 
chiefs and people. 

When the Duff] at the expiration of two years, returned safely to England, great 
was the rejoicing among the members of the London Missionary Society. A day of 
thanksgivmg was appointed, and very high-flown and sanguine speeches and sermons 
were delivered. So great was the enthusiasm — partly kindled by the glo^ving but 
mistaken rhetoric of Dr. Haweis, Eector of Akhnnkle m Northamptonshire, a very 
active worker in this cause — that within three months, preparations were made for 
the Duff to start again for the South Seas, multitudes being eager to go as 
missionaries. 

In December, 1798, she sailed once more, this time under the command of one 
Captam Robsou, with twenty-nine missionaries on board, Mr. William AVUson still 
retaining the post of chief officer. At first the voyage was pleasant and prosperous ; 
but when off" Rio Janeiro, the ship was captured by the Boncqjmie, a French privateer 
of twenty-two guns and two hundred men. The Duff' was boarded by the Frenchmen, 
and all the men were ordered to go at once on board the Bonaparte. Great was the 



172 



COXQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



|V.— Thu South Si-a 



consternation, and especially of tlie married brethren, who had to leave their wives 
and children in the hands of lawless sailors. For some time the missionaries did 
not know whether they would be detained indefinitely as prisoners of Avar, or 
whether their liberty would be given back to them on their arrival in port. The 
commander of the French privateer, Captain Carbonelle, when he discovered that he 
had captured a missionary ship, and learned the natiu'c of the undertaking in which 
his prisoners were engaged, greatly regretted what he liad done, and declared that 




MATAVAI BAT, TAHITI. 



had he known who they were, and the cause in which they were embarked, he would 
gladly have given live hundred pounds out of his own pocket rather than have molested 
them. 

Within a fortnight two other prizes fell in his way, and he was obliged to alter 
his original plan of a three months' cruise, and sailed forthwith to Monte Video. 
Here the Bvf had already arrived, and great was the joy of the missionaries in being 
again united to their wives and children. 

The Duff was sold at ilonte Video, and never again took part in missionary 
enterprise. The voyagers, through the influence of Captain Carbonelle, were not 
contined as prisoners of war durmg their stay in South America. Their position 
however, after atime, was anything but agreeable, as, later on, the Spanish Viceroy 



EARLY DIFFICULTIES IX TAHITI. 



17:} 



issued an order to make tlieiii all prisoners unless they left the country within a 
week. Had it not been for the kindness of Captain Carbonelle, this order would have 
been enforced ; but, at much trouble and expense, he procured for them a passage in 
a small brig, bound for Rio Janeiro. The voyage lasted twice as long as thej' had 
expected, the vessel was very small, and crowded to excess, but the missionaries kept 
up heart of grace mitil they had the prospect of speedily entering the harbour of 
Rio Janeiro. Then all their hoiies were dashed to the groimd, for a \ar"e friyate of 




forty guns bore down upon them, and they were captured a second time. Here many 
strange adventures and pri^-ations awaited them, and a painful and wearisome time 
elapsed before they anived in Lisbon, where, however, they were set at liberty, and soon 
afterwards returned to England, having spent ten months on their fruitless and painful 
journeyings. 

^\'hile all this had been going on, terrible disasters hafl befallen the mission in 
the South Sea Islands. Scarcely had Captain Wilson lost sight of Tahiti on his 
return journey, than the natives, covetous of the property of the Europeans, formed a 
design to seize it. It was a matter which, it woidd appear, a little tact and concilia- 
tion might have remedied. This, however, was Avanting, and some of the missionaries 
were exposed to outrage, several of them being robbed of all their clothes, and dragged 
naked to the river, where it was doubtless the intention of the natives to drown them ; 



174 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (V. -Tun South Sea 

but the missionaries escaped from their persecutors, and returned to the station, where 
a meeting was called to discuss the situation. As a matter of fact, all that they had 
suffered was the loss of a few unimportant articles ; most of the things which had 
been stolen havmg been already restored, and friendly overtures having been I'enewed. 
Nevertheless, faint-hearted and dispirited, eleven of the missionaries, with four women 
and four children, came to the hasty determination to leave Tahiti in the Nautilus ^ 
a vessel which was lying in Matavai Bay, ready to sail for Port Jackson. Forthwith 
they went on board, thus abandoning not only the island of Tahiti, but missionary 
enterprise altogether. 

Seven of the missionaries remained, under the protection of Pomare, who continued 
to befiiend them, and it seemed as though a new career of prosperity would open out 
to them ; but no great length of time elapsed before one of their number united him- 
self to a native woman, and, separating from his brethren, " he learned the way of the 
heathen." Not many months later he was found dead; nuirdered, it is believed, by the 
woman, with whom he had lived only on unhappy terms. 

Sad as is the story of this man, that of another is even more distressing; he not 
only fell into immorality, but openly renounced Christianity. Happily he left the island, 
and nothing was heard of him for many years, when one day he appeared in India, 
and presented himself to Mr. Marshman, the noble labourer in the Serampore Mission, 
who became interested in his welfare. The renegade missionary lay on a sick-bed 
at Calcutta, where Mr. Marshman visited him, but without any notion as to who he 
was. During his siclaiess the truths which he once had believed, again came back 
with force to him, and one day, on his recovery, he called upon ilr. Marshman, and, 
after telling him his history, exclaimed, " You now behold an apostate missionary ; I am 
he who left his brethren in Tahiti nine years ago ; it is not possible you can look on 
me without despising me ! " Marshman and Carey, with much sympathy and kindness, 
sought to fan into a flame the sparks of the old faith, and the man expressed a desire 
to go back to Tahiti. That desire, however, was not realised. He sailed on a vo^'age 
elsewhere, and was never heard of more, the supposition being that the vessel had 
foundered at sea, and that all on board had perished. 

It will be a relief to turn from such melancholy episodes, to those men who re- 
mained loyal to their trust, and, amid many adverse circumstances, were seeking to bear 
up the standard of the Cross in the Southern Seas, although they also had a chequered 
history, ilr. Crook, who had been left alone on the Marquesas Island, struggled on 
for a time, labouring under cveiy disadvantage. One day a ship visited the island, and, 
while he was on board, a violent storm arose. The ship slipped her cable, and stood 
out to sea. He was put on shore on another island. There he bravely toiled without 
one glint of success to encourage him, until, when a passing vessel presented the 
opportunity of returning to England, he left in order that he might represent the con- 
dition of the Marquesas, and return with reinforcements. Ultimately he returned to 
Tahiti, where he laboui'ed manfully for many years. 

From time to time missionaries were sent to the South Sea Islands, and much 
good work was done. Many barbarous practices were abolished, many of the idols were 



Islands.) E.IRLY HISTORY OF JOHX WILLIAMS. 175 

overthrown, and hero and there interesting evidence was given that those who had 
been in darkness now saw the hght. 

In 1811 an event occurred which aUered the aspect of aflairs in the Tahitian ^lission. 
Poniare II. pnbhcly renounced the religion of his ancestors, and embraced the Gospel, 
and his example produced a powerful influence. In a short time it was found that the 
praying places were fuU, not in Tahiti only, but in the neighbouring islands ; and it 
was estimated that some five or six hundred persons, including the princijial chiefs, 
had renounced idolatry. This gave rise to a hostile feeling on the part of those who 
clung, imder the guidance of their priests, to the old system, and a plot was organised, 
by which it was arranged that they were to attack all the professors of the new religion, 
and slay them without mercy. The secret of the plot was, however, divulged to one of 
the converts, who warned the brethren in time, and the threatened slaughter was 
averted. 

Troublous times ensued, and a state of warfare prevailed between the heathen 
party and the Christians, insomuch that when the latter attended pubhc worship, it 
was necessary to go armed. Out of this apparent evil good came ; the crisis being brought 
about by a battle in which Pomare was the victor. Instead of carrying his victory 
to persecution, he treated the vanquished with great moderation — would not allow any 
injury to befall the helpless women or children, and, contrary to the common jJractico, 
caused the bodies of the slain to be decently interred. So signal was the triumph, 
that the heathen party becanie convinced that it was of no use to trust longer to their 
wooden gods ; they therefore resolved to embrace the now religion ; idolatry was com- 
pletely abolished, both in Tahiti and Eimeo, and Pomare II. was, by universal consent, 
estabhshed in the govemjiient of the whole of Tahiti and its dependencies. 

This brings us to an interesting period in the history of the South Sea Mission. 
Hitherto no striking character had stood forth from among his fellows to stamp his 
individuality upon the work \vhi('h had been going forward by patient effort through 
the past years. But now there was to enter the field one whoso name will be memorable 
as long as the world lasts — John Williams, the Martyr of Erromanga. 

In the City Road, London, there might have been seen, in the year 1814, an active 
young follow of eighteen, working at a forge with shirt-sleeves timied up, and all the 
energy of his nature concentrated on the work he had in hand. He was an apprentice 
of one Mr. Tonkin, an ironmonger, and although his indentures exempted him from the 
more laborious part of the business, it was his choice to work at the forge, or to sally 
forth with a basket of tools on his back to execute repairs. Of a lively disposition, he 
had many f.iends, some of whom were undesirable companions, and their influence 
threatened to produce a baneful ett'ect upon his character. One Sunday night in 1814, 
he had engaged to go with a party of these kin'dred spirits, to pass away the hours in 
the idle and frivolous amusements of a tea-garden. Just as he was about to enter, 
Mrs. Tonkin, a good and religious woman, who was interested in the well-being of the 
young apprentice, came up to him, and begged him to accompany her to the Moortields 
Tabernacle hard by. The youth, somewhat reluctantly no doubt, consented, but as long 



176 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [V.-The Socth Sea 

as he lived, he looked back to that hour with joy and gratitude. The Rev. Timothy 
East, of Birmingham, was the preacher, and he delivered so deeiily impressive a sermon 
that the whole being of J'oung John Williams was stirred. From that night forth he 
renounced the habits of his past life, united himself to the religious connnunity 
assembling at the Tabernacle, assisted in the formation of a young men's mutual 
improvement society, and becaino an active Sunday-school teacher. 

While he was occupied with these things, and giving proof of the great change 
that had come over his life, he heard of the movement going on in the South Seas. 
His huagination was tired by the accounts given him by Mr. AA'ilkes, the j^astor of the 
church, of the progress of the Gospel there, and this interest increased until, in his 
twentieth year, John Williams offered his services to the London Missionary Societ)'. 
Good Mr. Tonkin could ill afford to part with so useful an apprentice, but he freely 
gave his young assistant opportunity and means to prosecute his studies (which 
had been wofully neglected), and cancelled his indentures ; while the Society gladly 
accepted him for the South Sea Islands, from whence an urgeiit call for labourers 
had come. 

It was the practice of many of the Societies to recommend marriage to their 
missionaries, and John Williams was by no means loath to accept the reconnnendation, 
for he had won the heart of Mary Channer, a fellow-worshipper at the Tabernacle, and 
she proved to be the greatest blessing any missionary can have — a brave, helpful, and 
loving wife. Soon after they were married a meeting was held, and John Williams 
was publicly dedicated to his great woi'k. Nine men, of whom he was the youngest, 
were sent forth from that meeting into the vast harvest-tield of heathendom. Four 
went to PoljTiesia and five to South Africa, amongst the latter being Eobert Moffat, 
the hero of Bechuanaland, and the father-in-law of Livingstone. 

The incidents of that night ever remained fresh in the memory of John Williams. 
John Angell James of Birmingham was there, and Jlr. Wilkes, under whose faithful 
ministry Williams had derived so much benefit. Good Dr. Waugh was also there, 
and, moved by the sight of the boyish young servant of the Cross, addressed him in 
these words : " Go, my dear 3'Oung brother ; and if your tongue cleave to the roof of 
your mouth, let it be with telling jjoor sinners the love of Jesus Christ ; and if your 
arms drop from their shoulders, let it 1)0 with knocking at men's hearts to gain ad- 
mittance for Him there." 

On the IGth of November, 1817, ilr. and Mrs. John Williams, in company with 
several other missionaries, sailed for Sydney, where they were welcomed by the Rev. 
Samuel Marsden — of whom we shall have more to say hereafter — and about twelve 
months from leaving England they arrived at Eimeo, one of the Society Islands. 

Notwithstanding the fact that Williams lacked the advantages of education, he 
possessed natural abilities, which stood him in even better stead. He was a man who 
thought for himself and had endless enterprise and originality ; robust in body and in 
mind, he was "a quick-witted man, ready to adapt himself to any circumstances, and 
make the best of them ; a hearty, good-natured, and sympathetic man, who made 
friends wherever he went; and a man so firm, honest, and true, that people, civilised 



Islands.] 



WILLIAMS VISITS RAIATEA. 



177 



or savage, believed in him whether they agreed with him or not. In short, John 
Williams possessed just those qualifications which are required in a pioneer mis- 
sionary." 

During his stay in Eimeo, he studied the Tahitian language diligently, and soon 
became familiar with it. Ho made all the ironwork for a small ship, to enable 
Pomare to open up trading relations with New South Wales ; he took his part m 
the meetmgs m the chapel, where, to his surprise, he found eight hundred worshippers 




JOHN WILLIAMS. 



wont to assemble ; and he shared also in the duties of his home-life, when Mrs. 
Williams was rejoicing over her lirstborn. 

Eut Eimeo was not to be the scene of the great labours of John Williams. 
Tamatoa, the king of Raiatea, had heard of the arrival of the fresh batch of mission- 
aries, and came over to beg that some of them might be sent to his island, the second 
largest, and most beautiful, of the Society grouj). It was, moreover, the centre of the 
idolatrous system of the islands, and contained " the archives of their religious legends, 
the temple and altar of Oro, the Mars and Moloch of the South Seas," while its 
principal chiefs received divine honours, as well as civil allegiance and tribute, from 
the neighbouring isles. 

An interesting man was this Tamatoa, and withal eager for a fuller knowledge of 
Christianity. Two years before the arrival of Williams in Eimeo, the Rev. Mr. Wilson, 
12 



178 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[V.— The Souj-h Sea 



a missionary, in company with King Pomare and nineteen of his subjects, was driven 
by stress of weather to Raiatea, where the Gospel was prochximed with so much faith- 
fulness that the hjart of Tamatoa was touched, and when the voyagers had gone, he 
built a place of worship, where he gathered together some of his people, and rehearsed 
with them all that they could remember of Mr. Wilson's teaching. 

Williams gladly accepted such a call to Raiatea, and in company with Mr. 
Threlkeld, soon commenced his work there, the other missionaries who had gone out 
with them taking up positions in the neighbouring islands. A most cordial welcome 
was given to Mr. Wilhams by the Raiateans, who made a great feast, at which they 
presented him with live pigs for himself, five for his wife, and live for the baby, as well 



0'. mairu 
..■or Ma. 




Tabal-'or Mutu Itl 



Raiatea or Ulietea 



Huaheine or Vahine 



MAP 

OF THE 

SOCIETY ISLANDS. 



SCALE OF Miles 
. 10 20 30 40 50 




Elmeo or Moorea 



Tapamanuf 



Tetiaroa^* 




OR otaheiteU^"*^^ 



T^aiarapu 
Penia 



T!/i>o Ehhi-ij CV.it, 



as large crates of yams, bananas, and cocoa-nuts! The people at once expressed their 
willingness to " become Christians," flocked to hear the missionaries preach, and gave 
up Sunday as a day of rest. 

But these things were not what our missionary was seeking. He found that the 
people were inveterate idlers, and that any excuse for wasting time was acceptable to 
them ; their moral tone was exceedingly low, and in their habits they were debased 
and vicious, while ignorance reigned supreme. He had no sympathy with that Itind 
of work which has, unhappil}', been done in many heathen lands, of resting con- 
tent with a formal and perfunctory acceptance of Christianity by the rite of baptism, 
or by any oral profession of being " converted." He auned at bringing out not only 
morality, but purity, from the lives which had hitherto been sunk in degradation ; he 
sought to cultivate their minds, in order that they might be prepared to receive the 
truths of Christianity ; and he desired to interest them, first in the cleanliness of their 
persons, and the sanitary arrangements of their own dwellings, rather than in church 
, or chapel building. 



isu^-Ds-l SUCCESS IN RAIATEA. 179 

Being an essentially practical man and an excellent workman, and feeling also 
that ho must first overcome their inveterate idleness, without which it would be 
impossible for him to succeed in his plans concerning them, he began to teach them 
by example. He constructed for himself a pleasant eight-roomed house, with sash- 
windows, Venetian blinds, and verandah ; he laid out and planted a beautiful garden, 
and he furnished his house with polished furniture, all the work of his own hands. 
Soon the natives wished to learn to dig and to build, and they were further encouraged 
in this, as the king set about building a house for himself like the missionary's. In a 
crude sort of way science and art became popular ; one by one the old mud hovels 
were abandoned, and within two years of the landing of John Williams in Raiatea, 
there stood a well-built chapel and schools in the midst of pleasant gardens and 
healthy cottages. The natives showed their appreciation of the comforts of civil- 
ised life by adapting the materials of their own clothing into garments similar to 
those worn by the missionaries ; and as time went on they furnished their houses 
with such elegancies as chairs and tables, sofas and bedsteads, carpets and window- 
hangings. 

Side by side with these improvements in their outward condition, there grew up a 
new order of things in their moral world ; the school was well attended, and the instruction 
enjoyed ; three times on Sunday large congregations assembled tor public worship ; ui 
almost every home there was private prayer; and a proof that all this was not mere 
sentiment was furnished in the fact, that the old life of the people became a thmg of 
the past. Cannibalism and infanticide no longer existed. At their own request a meeting 
was convened for the purpose of establishing legal marriage, and a complete code of laws 
based on the Ten Commandments was adopted by the vote of the people, who also 
organised an efficient executive government. Perhaps there was nothing which showed 
the genuineness of the change that had been effected among them, more than the unso- 
licited expression of their desire to establish a missionary society, to extend to the other 
islands the blessings which they had themselves received. 

Among the many benefits which Williams conferred upon these people was the 
instruction he gave them in boat-building, and in the cultivation and preparation of 
tobacco and the sugar-cane for the markets ; thus laying the foundation of future 
commercial prosperity. 

When all these things were in good working order, and the Raiateans were in 
a fair way to help themselves, Williams felt that he must no longer tarry among them, 
but with the help of God nuist organise the same kind of eftbrts elsewhere. This met 
with great opposition, but a serious illness assisted him in carrying out his plan. It 
became necessary for him to go to Sydney for the sake of medical advice, and also to 
find a market for the produce of the Society Islands. There was, besides, one motive 
stronger than anj' other, which induced him to disregard the entreaties of the Raiateans 
to stay amongst them. He had conceived the idea, that if he could secure a small vessel 
to be engaged permanently in the service of the South Sea Missions, it would greatly 
facilitate the possibility of visitmg the various islands, to plant the seeds of civilisation 
and Christianity, and to watcJr the seeds already planted. Accordingly he visited 



180 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [V.-The South Sea 

Sydney, where he caused parts of the Holy Scriptures, catechisms, and spelling- 
books to be printed, and where he purchased a small schooner of about ninety tons 
burden, called the Endeavour. On his way to New South "Wales he landed two 
native teachers at Aitutaki, one of the Hervey Islands ; but we cannot tarry to tell 
the story of their year of apparently fruitless toil, or how, at the expiration of that 
time, a change came over the u-Iiole of the inhabitants of the island, who burnt their 
idols so that not one remained, and set up instead a large and handsome place 
for Cliristian worship. We would rather, in this place, follow the personal history of 
John Williams. 

For a long time he had cherished the idea of finding out the island of Rarotonga, 
then only known by the report of a few natives on other islands. At last a day came 
when he was able to set sail on his voyage of discovery ; he failed, however, in his 
first attempt, but, after visiting Mangaia and other islands, he at last discovered 
the desired island, the finest and most populous of the Hervey group. Williams 
did not remain here long on his first visit, but left a native teacher and promised 
to return. 

From this time forward fresh plans and purposes and incessant work occupied 
his attention, and he was planning an expedition to the Navigators' and other islands, 
when he received a disappointment which, to any man less energetic than he, would have 
been fatal to further enterprise. The London Jli.ssionary Society, under whose auspices 
he laboured, disapproved of the purchase of the schooner ; certain jealous merchants had 
procured, through the Governor of New South Wales, the enactment of fiscal regulations 
at about the same time, which rendered the idea of opening up trade hopeless ; and the 
result was that he had to send the Endeavour back to Sydney, to be sold together with 
her cargo. Meanwhile, he returned to labour among the Raiateans, and undertook the 
task of removing their settlement to the opposite side of the island, to protect them 
fi'om prevailuig storms. 

A few years later an opportunity occurred for Mr. AVilliams, with his wife and 
child, to again visit Rarotonga, where he settled for some tune, conquered the 
difiiculties of the language, reduced it into a uTitten form and grammatical system, 
and instituted reforms similar to those established in Raiatea. When at length 
he wished to return, he had to wait for many months in the hope of finding an 
opportunity of doing so, but no vessel appeared, and with that undaunted energy 
which characterised his whole career, he set to work to build a ship for himself. 
\\Tien it is remembered that he had but the most limited knowledge of naval archi- 
tecture, that he could obtain no assistance save that which could be given him by the 
natives, and that the tools at his disposal were few, it is impossible to exaggerate his 
perseverance in this difficult undertaking. One or two illustrations may be given in 
his own words : — 

" My first step was to make a pair of smith's bellows, for it is well known that 
little can be done towards the building of a ship without a forge. We had but four 
goats on the island, and one of these was giving a little milk, which was too valuable 
to be dispensed with ; so that three only were killed, and with their skins as a 



Islands.] 



WILLIAMS BUILDS A VESSEL. 



ISl 



substitute for leather, I succeeded, after three or four days' labour, in maKmg a pair 
of smith's bellows. These, howevei", did not answer very well ; indeed, I found bellows- 
making to be a more difScult task than I had imagined, for I could not get the 
upper box to till properly, in addition to which my bellows drew in the lire. I 
examined publications upon mechanical arts, dictionaries, and encyclopa?dias, but not 
one book in our possession gave directions sufficiently explicit for the construction of 
so common an article." 

Fortunately he had an old English bellows with him, which he took to pieces — 




BUILDING OF THE Ml>-^l \( FR (IF PF K E 



not to look for the wind, but to ascertain the reason why his bellows did not blow 
well. It turned out that, instead of making the pipe communicate with the upper 
chamber, he had inserted it into the under one as well, by which the wind escaped 
and the flame was drawn in. 

At last the bellows were completed, but the rats, which swarmed in Rarotonga, 
congregated during the night in great numbers, and devoured every j^article of the 
goat^' skin, so that when he entered the work-shop on the following mornmg ho found 
nothing left but the bare boards ! Nothing daunted, he proceeded to construct a 
blowing machine in which no leather was required. 

One of the most interesting chapters in Williams's "Narrative of Missionary 



182 COXQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [V.-The Soltd Sea 

Enterprises in the South Sea Islands" is that in which he gives the details of the 
building of his ship : — 

" As wo had no saw," he says, " wo split the trees in half with wedges, and then 
the natives adzed them down with small hatchets which they tied to a crooked piece 
of wood as a handle, and used as a substitute for an adze. When we wanted a bent 
or twisted plank, having no apparatus for steaming it, we bent a piece of bamboo to 
the shape required, sent into the woods for a crooked tree, and, by splitting this in 
half, obtained two planks suited to our purpose. Having but little iron, we bored large 
auger-holes through the timbers, and also through the outer and inner plank of the 
vessel, and drove in wooden pins termed trenails, by which the whole fabric was held 
firmly together. As a substitute for oakum, we used what little cocoa-nut husk wo 
could obtain, and supplied the deficiency with dried banana stumps, native cloth, or 
other substances which would answer the purpose. For ropes we obtained the bark 
of the Jiibiscus, constructed a rope machine, and prepared excellent cordage from that 
article. For sails we used the mats on which the natives sleep, and quilted them that 
they might be strong enough to resist the wind. After making a turning-lathe, we 
foimd that the aito, or iron-wood, answered remarkably well for the sheaves of blocks. 
By these means the whole was completed in fifteen weeks, when we launched a vessel 
about sixty feet in length, and eighteen feet in breadth, and called her The Messenger 
of Peace, which she has proved to be on many occasions. The hanging of the rudder 
occasioned me some difficulty, for, having no iron sufficiently large for pintles, we 
made them from a piece of a pick-axe, a cooper's adze, and a large hoe. They 
answered exceedingly well ; but, being doubtful of this, I prepared a substitute for a 
rudder in case any part of it should give way." - 

AYhen all was ready Mr. Williams determined to make a trial trip to Aitutaki, a 
distance of a hundred and seventy miles, before venturing upon a voyage to Tahiti, 
distant some seven or eight hundred miles. Eaising his wooden and stone anchors, 
and hoisting his mat sails, he put to sea, accompanied only by the King, Makea (who 
had never been away from his island), and some of the natives. They had not 
proceeded above six miles from the shore when the natives inadvertently let go the 
foresail, and, as the wind was strong, the foremast was broken. As they neared land, 
they filled a cask with stones, which, in addition to the wooden anchor, they hoped 
might hold the vessel outside the reef ; " and if not," says the gallant sailor, " I resolved 
on the desperate alternative of running upon it, by which the vessel would, in all 
probability, have been dashed to pieces ; but this was preferable to being driven from 
the island with a scanty supply of provisions, and the ship in a crippled state, in a 
track where there was not an island within a thousand miles." 

Happily the harbour (Aitutaki) was reached in safety, the damages were repaired, 
and, after a stay of ten days, during which he devoted much time to the spiritual welfare 
of the people, he set sail on his return voyage to Rarotonga, taking with him a good 
cargo of pigs, cocoa-nuts, and cats. The latter proved to be of the utmost value to the 
inhabitants, for the whole island was overrun with rats. Hitherto the missionaries had 
never sat down to a meal without having one or two people to keep the rats off the 



Islands.] MR. AXD MRS. BUZACOTT. 183 

table ; ^vho^ lineoling in prayer, rats would run over their legs, and Mr. Williams records 
the fact that one morning, on hearing the servant scream while making the bed, he ran 
into the room and found that four of these intruders, in search of a snug place, had 
crept imder his pillow. Mr. and Mrs. Pitman, the latest missionary arrivals in Rarotonga, 
neglected to secure their trunks, which were covered with skin, against depredation, and 
the rats served them as they had served John Williams's bellows ; while Mrs. Pitman, having 
omitted to place her shoes over-night in a place of safety, sought for them in vain. 

Soon after the return of Mr. Williams from Aitutaki, Mr. and Mrs. Buzacott, of 
whom we shall have more to say by-and-bye, arrived in Rarotonga. Mr. Buzacott had 
been a whitesmith, and among his stores was a supply of iron, which was a godsend 
to John AVilliams, who was enabled to strengthen his ship before sailing upon those 
memorable missionary voyages which will form the subject of our next chapter. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE VOYAGES OF JOHN WILLIAMS. 



Mr. and Mrs. Buzacott arrive at Rarotonga — The Work that had been Done — Williams starts upon his 
Voyage — How a poor crippled Heathen learnt the Truth — The Question of " Meats '' in the South Seas 
— The Mi:if!i'iigi'r of Peace nearly Lost — Sixth Escape of Williams from a Watery Grave — Visits Mauke, 
Mitiaro, and Aitutaki — The Work mainly Accomplished by Native Teachers — An old Chief at Savage 
Island — JIakes a Friendly Arrangement with the Wesleyan Missionaries — The Samoan Islands— Recent 
Progress There — The Voyage Ends at Raiatea — Williams returns to Rarotonga — A South Sea Hurricane 
and its Effects — The Jlrxxcnijcr of Peace Carried Inland by the Storm — Further Voyages to Tahiti and 
the Samoan Islands — Williams's Return to England in 1S.S4 — Enthusiasm at Home — Another Mission 
Ship Purchased — Re-visits the Samoas, Raiatea, Rarotonga — Leaves the Samoans for his Last Voyage to 
the New Hebrides— Erromanga— The Last Tragedy There — Effects of the sad Tidings. 

TT7HILE John Williams was at Rarotonga, fitting out his little ship, the Messenger 
of Peace, for her voyages among the islands of the South Seas, he was, as 
already mentioned, cheered by the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Buzacott, who were to occupy 
the station he was about to leave, ilr. Buzacott had commenced life as a whitesmith 
in the little town of South Molton, in Devonshire. At an early age he received 
religious impressions, and devoted himself to Sunday-school and home-missionary work ; 
and eventually entered the Hoxton Academy. One day he heard Richard Knill pleading 
for missions, and pointing to the place where Buzacott sat, he drew a bow at a 
venture, exclaiming, " There is a young man in that gallery who is now saying, ' Lo ! 
here am I, send me ! ' " It made a deep impression, but it was not until his thiixl year 
at college that another sermon drove home the impression so deeply, that he offered his 
services to the London j\Iissionary Societj', and, after two j^ears of theological study, set 
sail imder their auspices for the South Seas. 

After a miserable voyage of five months, he reached Tahiti, where he remained 
another five months, waiting for an opportunity to reach Rarotonga. The voyage, which 
should have taken only a week, Avas prolonged to four, but a reward awaited him as 



184 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [V.-The Sonrn Sea Islands. 

one fine morning the beautiful island burst upon his view. Range upon range of 
mountains towered above each other, forming to the eye a gigantic ladder or series of 
terraces, while the lowlands revealed cultivated spots amid stately trees and forests ; 
hills and mountains were covered with dense wood, of varied growth and colour ; mountain 
torrents, cascades, and miniature waterfalls breathed a grateful coolness as they leapt 
through hills and groves, amid luxuriant vegetation, growing to the very water's 
edo-e. Framing the foreground of this exquisite picture was a reef of white coral 
girdling the entire island, and protecting the soil from the conquest of the rolliiag Pacific. 

Four years before Mr. Buzacott landed, the people were notorious cannibals ; now 
they were but semi-savages — hideous, indeed, in appearance, with their long hair and 
tattooed faces, but a people among whom a wonderful work had been going on during 
those few years. The first teachers that John Williams had introduced barely escaped 
with their lives, and, dauntless as he was, he would probably have abandoned the mission 
as hopeless had it not been for Papeiha, a native Christian, who sprang up, and leaping 
into the sea, cried, " Whether the savages spare me or kill me, I will land among 
them ; Jehovah is my shield, I am in His hand." AVhen this man landed (with only 
some portions of the Tahitian Bible wrapped in a handkerchief for his luggage), he 
found himself amongst the wildest of savage tribes, surrounded by warriors who seldom 
appeared without human flesh suspended from the shoulder, as a badge of honour ; 
others had tattoo marks upon their throats, indicating that they were devoted to lives of 
vengeance ; whQe all the women of the island were guilty of infanticide, and the common 
worship of the whole population consisted in the offering of human sacrifices to pro- 
pitiate the gods, and in licentious rites more horrible than were ever kno^vn elsewhere. 

It was in the midst of these people that John Williams had made himself a home ; 
and when ilr. and Mrs. Buzacott landed, they found him surrounded by a wondering 
crowd, who watched the building of his missionary ship with curiosity and delight. 
They found that idols were abolished, rough chapels and school-houses were erected, in 
which larQ-e cons;regrations assembled, and that children and adults crowded to the 
schools to be taught. The next day after his landing Mr. Buzacott, who, like Williams, 
was an excellent mechanic, put on his apron, turned up his sleeves, and began to 
work at the for»e. He had brought a stock of iron materials with him, and these 
were employed in strengthening the vessel, which, at the end of a month, was again ready 
to be launched. On the evening when the Messevger of Peace hoisted her mat sails, 
several thousands of natives accompanied Mr. WiUiams to the beach, and as the boat 
left the shore, they sang with one voice a song they had composed to express their 
sorrow at the separation, the refrain of which was : — 

'■ Kia ora e Tama ma 
I te aerenga i te moana e ! " * 

It is impossible to exaggerate the pluck of John Williams in venturing on the long 
voyages he had in contemplation, in such a vessel as the home-made Messenger of Peace. 

* " Blessinii on you, beloved friends ; 

Blessing on you in journeying on the deep ! 



186 COXQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IV.-The Soiin Sfa 

It was very insufficiently fastened with iron, was caulked with bark, and covered partly 
with lime and partly with gum from the bread-fruit tree, instead of pitch ; and from 
these causes and the circumstances under which she was constructed, it did not seem 
possible that she could stand the buffetings of a storm. 

The appearance of the vessel, it need hardly be said, was singular, and AVilliams 
noted in his " Narrative " that when, after her vo^^age of 800 miles, she arrived off 
Tahiti, " the crews of the ships at anchor, and the friends on shore, observed literally ' a 
strange sail ' at sea. Some took us for South American patriots, others for pirates, and 
others could not tell what to make of us. As soon as we entered the harbour, the 
officers of the vessels lying there, and our friends on shore, hastened on board to see 
the prodigy, and expressed not a little astonishment at every jDart of the ship, but 
especially at the rudder-irons." 

After a few days spent at Tahiti, Williams sailed to his old quarters at Eaiatea, 
from which he had been 'absent for a twelvemonth, and there between two and three 
thousand persons assembled to meet him. Great were the rejoicings of the Raiateans 
when they heard of the progress of the Gospel in Rarotonga. 

Among the many interesting things that Williams told them, was the story of a poor 
cripple, who one day walked upon his knees into the centre of the pathway Mr. Williams 
was about to cross, and shouted, " AA'^elcome, servant of God, Avho brought light into 
this dark island ! " Williams entered into conversation with the man, and foimd that 
he had a remarkable knowledge of Christian truth, and inquired how it was that he 
came into possession of it. " From you, to be sure," answered the man — " who brought 
us the news of salvation but yourself ? " Williams rejjlied, " True, but I do not 
remember to have ever seen you before ; how did you obtain your knowledge ? " 
" Why," said the man, " as the people return from the sei-vices, I take my seat by the 
wayside, and beg a bit of the Word of them as they pass by; one gives me one 
piece, another another piece, and I collect theiTi together in my heart, and by thinking 
over what I thus obtain, and praying to God to make me know, I understand a little 
about His Word." 

On the 24th of Maj^, 1830, Williams embarked upon the greatest missionary 
enterprise he had yet undertaken. In company with seven teachers, who, like himself, 
were leaving wife, children, and dear ones behind, for a voyage of altogether uncertain 
length, but full of certain dangers, and with the possibility that they might all fall 
victims to the ferocity of the heathen, he bade farewell, and shaped his course to tlie 
Hervey group, and in four or five days reached Slangaia, where the whole character 
of the place had been altered through the instrumentality of native teachers. On 
the slope of a hill stood a large chapel, surrounded by the neat white cottages ot 
the native Christians, and backed by groves of banana-trees. About eight hundred 
persons assembled in a public meeting, at which Williams addressed them from the 
words, " This is a faithful saying, and worthy," etc. Preaching, however, was not so 
much his object as to ascertain the difficulties of the teachers, and how to meet them. 
He found at this place, for example, that much annoyance had been experienced from 
the heathen, who, in contempt of the Christians, performed their barbaric dances 



Ist.ANDs.1 PERILS AND ESCAPES AT ATIU. 187 

and games close to the llission chapel. This, combined with the threats of the 
heathen to burn the houses of the Christians, murder their teachers, "and make 
use of their skulls as drinking-cups," had led to a disastrous conflict, in which 
the Christians had been victorious, but had not shown that spirit of kindness and 
mercy to the vanquished which had acted so beneficially under similar circumstances 
elsewhere. 

Like St. Paul on his missionary tours, John Williams had to give advice to the 
infant churches on many topics, and among them was the question of "meats." Rats 
overran the island, and rat-eatinof was common, the natives declaring that the food 
was " sweet and good," while a proverb describing anything particularly delicious was, 
that it was " as sweet as a rat." As there was nothing morally evil in rat-eating, 
Mr. Williams could only recommend them to take great care of the jjigs and goats 
which he had brought, and which would soon yield them a supply of better food. 
Another question was the employment of females m severe manual labour. In this 
case Williams successfully pleaded for their emancipation, and the " ladies " of Mangaia 
prepared a sumptuous feast to celebrate their liberation from what had hitherto been 
slavery pure and simple. 

On visiting Mangaia a few years later, Williams found that the heathen 
were agaiin at war with the Christians ; and he then determined to visit every 
heathen settlement in the island, with the result that peace was restored, and 
the "league" which had been entered into by them, to scatter the Christians, was 
abandoned. 

At Atiu he found the native teachers in the difficult position of not knowing 
what to teach. " You," they said, " resemble springs, from which knowledge is always 
bubbling up ; but we find it difficult to prepare for the services of the Sabbath," and 
he was requested to write out heads of discourses for them — a request with which he 
readily complied, for he could compose a sermon, turn a lathe, or handle a plane with 
equal facility. 

Williams met with several adventures at Atiu, one nearly involving the loss of 
his ship, and the other nearly terminating his life and labours. On the day after his 
arrival, a heavy gale of wind arose, and there being no anchorage, his little vessel was 
driven out of siirht of land, and, as there was no one on board who understood 
navigation, ho never expected to see her again. Books, papers, charts, clothes — all the 
stock-in-trade, in fact, of the missionary — were on board the little ship, and day after 
day he watched and waited with increasing anxiety for her return, but nothing was 
descried on the surrounding horizon. Morning and evening he met with the Christians of 
the island, and prayed to (xod for direction in these perplexing circumstances ; and, 
believing in the motto " Work is prayer," he spent his time in making arrangements 
for the erection of a school-house. Just as he had commenced, a report was brought 
to him that a speck had been seen on the horizon ; the night, however, was drawing 
in, and nothing could then he seen, but long before daylight John Williams was on 
the shore, and at sunrise had the inexpressible joy of seeing his long-lost vessel. 
The crew had been in great perplexity and alarin^ the gale having carried them out 



188 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[V.— Toe South Sea 



of sight of land ; but, after tossing about for many days, a strong wind in the opposite 
direction had driven them back again to their desired haven. 

On a later visit to this island, Williams was returning to his ship when a billow 
rolled in and capsized them; the boat and crew were thrown upon the reef, but 
Williams fell towards the sea, and was carried by the recoil of the wave to a 
considerable distance from the shore, where he was twirled about in a whirlpool, and sank 
to a great depth. Being so long under water, he thought he should never rise again, 




.lOHX WILLIAMS' SIXTH ESCAPE FROM DEOWNING. 



but at length he reached the surface, and swam towards the reef; then another 
fearful wave was ready to burst upon him, and he would surely have perished had 
not two natives sprung to his assistance, and they, being almost as much at home in 
the water as on the land, succeeded in effecting his deliverance. This was the sixth 
time (up to that period) that he had been rescued from a watery grave. 

After visiting the two small islands of Mauke and Mitiaro, he sailed back to 
Karotonga, where he found Mr. Buzacott m deep distress, a dreadful and deadly 
disease having raged among the peojDle, sweeping them away as with a deluge. The 
disease, like so many others that have wrought devastation among native tribes, was 
brought to the island by a European vessel, which had shortly before arrived there. 
As the disease was still raging, and the almost universal reply that IMr. Williams 



CHANGES UNDER THE GOSPEL. 



189 




FRENZY OP AN OLD CHIEF. (See p WO.) 



received to any inquiry ho made after any one lie knew was, " He is dead," or " He is 
stricken," he deemed it prudent not to tarry ; and although it cost him much self- 
denial, ho determined not to enter any habitation on the island, lest he should be 
the means of conveying the disease to the new and populous groups of islands he 
was about to visit. 

He therefore proceeded to Aitutaki, where he rendered important services in examining 
the school children, solving difficulties of the native teachers, and in supplying infor- 
mation and advice upon subjects civil, judicial, and religious. He found that marvellous 
changes had taken place here, and nothing gave him greater satisfaction than to 
meet a class of about thirty old women — some lame, others blind, and all tottering on 
the brink of the grave. One or two of them could read, having learned after they were 
upwards of sixty years of age ; all of them could repeat a catechism which contained the 
leading principles of Christianity ; and several, although they had lived so many years 
in heathenism, gave evidence of a preparation for the change they must soon experience. 



190 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (V.-The South Sea 

When it is remembered that, only a few years before, old people were treated with the 
greatest cruelty, and were put to death as soon as they became burdensome, it spoke 
well for the Christianity of the converts that these women were receiving so much 
kindness and attention. 

Not less remarkable was the fact that when "\^'illiams explained to the peojilc, one 
evening, the manner in which English Christians raised money to send the Gospel to 
heathen countries, they expressed deep regret that they had no means " for making the 
Word of God to grow." Mr. AVilliams pointed out that the pigs he had brought 
to the island had so multiplied that they had now an abundance of them, and 
suggested that some might be sold to the captain of a ship then lying oft" the shore. 
The hint was taken, and a sum of one hundred and three pounds Avas realised. This 
was the first money they had ever possessed, and every farthing of it Avas dedicated to 
the cause of Christ ! 

Most remarkable of all in relation to the changes produced at Aitutaki, Atiu, 
Mangaia, and Mauke, was the fact that no European missionary had ever resided on 
either of the islands, and that the whole of the good work was wrought by native 
teachers. 

Mr. Williams, accompanied by Mr. Barff and eight native teachers, then sailed towards 
the Navigators' Islands ; but, in order to gain information about the inhabitants, they steered 
first to Savage Island and Tongatabu. The former of these presented an appearance 
worthy of its name — the shore bemg iron-bound, the rocks perpendicular, and the island 
itself destitute of all beauty. Coming to a sandy beach, and perceiving natives on 
the shore, a white flag, the signal for friendly intercourse, was waved to them ; and when 
a similar flag was waved in return, a boat was lowered. IJut on approaching the shore, 
it was found that the natives were arranged in hostile array, each having three or four 
spears, a sling, and a belt full of large stones. It was a custom of Mi'. Williams in his 
flrst intercourse with savages, only to send on shore people of their own nation and colour, 
as this at once disarmed suspicion, and opened an easy way of communication. The 
natives on the shore accepted the overture, and presented the customary utii or peace- 
oft'ering ; this over, they launched some of their canoes, and came towards the vessel. 
One old chieftain was induced to come on board. " His appearance," says John Williams, 
" was truly terrific. He was about sixty years of age, his person tall, his cheek-bones 
raised and prominent, and his countenance most forbidding; his body Avas smeared with 
charcoal, liis hair and beard Avere both long and grey, and the latter, plaited and twisted 
together, hung from his mouth like so many rats' tails. He Avore no clothing except 
a narroAV slip of cloth aroimd his loins for the purpose of passing a spear through, or 
any other article he might Avish to carry. On reaching the deck the old man Avas most 
frantic in his gesticulations, leapuig about from place to place, and using the most 
vociferous exclamations at everything he saAV. All attempts at conversation Avith him 
Avere entirely useless, as Ave could not persuade him to stand still, even for a single 
second. Our natives attempted to clothe him, by fastening around his person a piece 
of native cloth ; but, tearing it otf in a rage, he thrcAv it upon deck, and, stamping upon it, 
exclaimed, 'Am I a Avomau that I should be encumbered Avith that stuft"?' He then 



lBLAKDs.1 WILLIAMS VISITS THE SAMOA ISLANDS. IM 

proceeded to give us a spccinien of a war-dance, which he commenced by poising and 
quivering his spear, running to and fro, leaping and vociferating as though inspired by the 
spirit of wildness. Then he distorted his features most horribly by extending his mouth, 
gnashing his teeth, and forcing his eyes almost out of their sockets. At length he 
concluded this exhibition by thrusting the whole of his long grey beard into his 
mouth, and gnawing it with the most savage vengeance. During the whole of the 
performance he kept up a loud and hideous howl." 

The old chief was retained as hostage while the native missionaries went ashore, 
but was released upon their return. Several attempts were made to come to an imder- 
standing with the iidiabitants of this island ; but extreme caution had to be used, as it 
was stated that only a few months previously they had seized a boat belonging to a 
vessel which had touched there, and had murdered all the crew. The teachers from 
Aitutaki, with their wives, who had come for the purpose of settling among these islanders, 
were so much discouraged and alarmed that they begged they might be taken on to 
the Navigators' Islands, or to any other station. This was acceded to, and in order to 
prepare the Avay for future usefulness, one or two of the young men from the Savage 
Island were induced to accompany Mr. Williams to the Society Islands, in order that 
they might be taught, and, on their return to their native island, excite among their fellows 
an interest in things relating to their spiritual good. 

Leaving Savage Island, a direct course was steered for Tongatabu, the chief of 
the Friendly Islands (distant about 350 miles), where they were received by Messrs. 
Turner and Cross, who, with their excellent wives, were woi'king for the Wesleyan 
Missionary Committee. Here an important negotiation took jalace. It had been the 
intention of ilr. Williams to go to the Fiji Islands and New Hebrides before visiting 
the Navigators' ; but now, in conference Avith the Wesleyan brethren, he ascertained 
that it was their wish, as the Fiji Islands were so near to Tongatabu, and politically 
connected with it, that the field should be left open to them ; wliile the Navigators' 
Group, on the ground of the affinity of language and other circumstances, should be 
assigned to the London Missionary Society — an arrangement Avhich was adopted, 
and reflected honour upon both parties. Had the spirit animating these men been 
more prevalent in the Christian Church, and had the different religious denominations 
determined only to seek positions unoccupied by their fellow-Christians, Christianity 
would have made a thousandfold more progress in heathen lands than it has 
done. 

While Mr. Williams was tarrying at Tongatabu a man named Fanea came to him, 
stating that he was a chief of the Navigators' Islands, and that ho was related to the 
most influential families there ; that he had been eleven years absent from his home, 
and was anxiously desirous to return. He was in every way friendly disposed towards 
the mission, and promised to use all his influence to induce his countrjTnen to accord 
a welcome to the missionary party. This seemed like a providential circumstance, and, 
when a fortnight had passed, the Measemjer of Peace bore away, with Fanea among 
the company on board. After visiting the Ilapai Group, the Messenger of Peace bent 
her course direct to the Navigators', or Samoan Islands. 



192 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[V.— The South Sea 



This group consists of eight larger and smaller islands, the jarincipal of which are 
Tutuila, Upolu, and Savaii. It was to the latter, the largest, that John Williams came, 
and he arrived at exactly the riglit moment of time, for Tamafainga, a most cruel 
and bloodthirsty chief, who would have been opposed to any designs for the improve- 
ment of his people, had been put to death only ten days before. 

The services of Fanea were invaluable, and when the chiefs, with whom he had 




HEATHEN TEMPLES IN SAMOA. 



influence, were told of the changes that had taken place in Tahiti, Rarotonga, Tongatabu, 
and other places, they showed not only a willingness, but an anxiet}-, to share the same 
blessings — a sentiment in which Malietoa, the principal chieftain, joined. A visit of 
state was paid by AVilliams and Barff to this interesting chief, and negotiations were 
entered into that four native teachers should be left, and that if at the end of a 
twelvemonth he had fulfilled all his part of the contract, they would arrange for an 
English missionary to settle among them. 

It may be said in this place, that the promises on both sides were abundantly 
fulfilled. In 1832 Mr. Williams, on again visiting Samoa, found that marvellous 
progress had been made, and this was confirmed by Mr. Bai-ff and Mr. Buzacott, who 



Islands.] 



RECENT PROGRESS IN SAMOA. 



193 



visited Samoa in the following year. From that time forth a worthy succession of 
missionaries have carried on the work so auspiciously commenced, several of whom 
t^n^ao-ed in the translation of the Scriptures into Samoan. Recently a third and revised 
edition of the Samoan Bible has been printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society ; and 
valuable Biblical, educational, and other books have been prepared by the missionaries. 
Perhaps, however, the most important missionary work which has been established in 
Samoa, is a training-school for native teachers, which still keeps up its well-earned repu- 
tation, while the students who have been educated in it are now spread widely over the 
Pacific, engaged in Christian work. 

Leaving the Samoan group, Mr. Williams steered for Savage Island, for the purpose 



1 

MAP 

SAMOAN °0R NAVIGATOR 1? 



SAVAM r. I ,,,"""" 




SCALE OF MILES. 

O 10 so 30 40 SO 60 70 




MANUA I? 



%} 



of landing the two young men he had taken with him from that place, but provisions 
and water having run short in consequence of being becalmed, the intention had to be 
abandoned, and the j'oung men were conveyed to Raiatea. Thus ended one of the 
most extraordinary series of voyages ever undertaken. 

Events at Raiatea had not, in the meantime, been in every respect satisfactory. 
Tamatoa, once the terror of his subjects, the murderer of his people, a despotic tyrant 
and a most bio-oted idolater, but afterwards the constant friend of the mission and the 
promoter of every civil and religious improvement, died, and his death became the occasion 
for the opponents of the new religion to make most unreasonable demands upon the 
party of progress. Wilhams was in a dilemma ; he did not see his way to adjust the 
tlifferences that had arisen, ifrs. Williams was expecting her confinement, and having 
lost six children in Raiatea, hoped, by a change of place and scene, to be spared the 
distress of consigning a seventh to a premature grave ; the vessel also required consider- 
able repairs, and Mr. Williams was under engagement to take part with the brethren 
Pitman and Buzacott in translating the New Testament mto the Rarotongan dialect. 
13 



1 94 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (V.-Tbe Sovth Se.^ 

In all these circuiiistances he determined to set sail to Rarotonga, and arrived there at 
the end of September, 1831. 

One incident, or rather a series of incidents, relating to the visit must be recorded 
here. In December of that year Mr. Wilhanis was staying at the station of Mr. Pitman, 
when one morning he received a note from ilr. Buzacott, saying that a very heavy sea 
was rolhng into the harbour, and, if it increased, the vessel would probably sustain 
severe injiuy. Mr. Williams hurried to Avarua, and employed a number of natives to 
carry stones and raise a kmd of breakwater roimd the vessel ; all the timber and ship's 
stores were removed to what was supposed to be a place of safety, and every precaution 
was taken to guard his ship and property from the threatened stomi. He then returned 
to Mr. Pitman's for the services of the Sabbath, when, as night was coming on, he 
received information that the sea had risen to an alarming height, that the vessel had 
been thumping on the stones, and that the roof that covered her was blown down and 
washed away. It was impossible to proceed that night to Avai'ua, but on the following 
morning Mr. Williams set forth. 

" In order to avoid walking knee-deep in water nearly all the way," he says, in his 
narrative, " and to escajje the falling limbs of trees, which were being torn with violence 
ft-om their trunks, I attempted to take the seaside path ; but the wind and rain were so 
furious that I found it impossible to make any progress. I was therefore obliged to 
take the inland road, and by watching my opportunity, and running between the fallen 
trees, I escaped without injury. When about half-way, I was met by some of my own 
workmen, who were coming to inform me of the fearful devastation going on at the 
settlement. ' The sea,' they said, ' had risen to a great height, and had swept away 
the storehouse and all its contents ; the vessel was driven in against the bank, upon 
which she was lifted Avith every wave, and fell off again Avhen it receded ! ' After a 
trying walk, thorough^ drenched, cold, and exhausted, I reached the settlement, which 
presented a scene of fearful desolation, the very sight of which fiUed me with dismay. 
I supposed, indeed, that much damage had been done, but I little expected to behold 
the beautiful settlement, with its luxuriant groves, its broad pathways, and neat white 
cottages, one mass of ruins, among which scarcely a house or tree was standing. The 
poor women were running about with their children, wildly looking for a place of 
safety ; and the men were dragging their little property from beneath the ruins of their 
prostrate houses. The screams of the former and the shouts of the latter, together 
with the roaring sea, the pelting rain, the howluig wind, the falling trees, and the 
infui-iated appearance of the atmosjihere. presented a spectacle the most sublime and 
terrible, which made us stand, and tremble, and adore. On reaching the chapel I was 
rejoiced to see it standing ; but as we were passing, a resistless gust biu-st in the east 
end, and proved the premonitory signal of its destruction. The new school-house was 
lying in ruins by its side. Mr. Buzacott's excellent dwelling, which stood upon a stone 
foundation, was rent and unroofed, the inmates had fled, and the few natives who 
could attend were busily employed in removing the goods to a place of safety. 
Shortly after my arrival, a heavy sea burst in with devastating vengeance, and tore 
away the foundation of the chapel, which fell with a frightful crash. The same mighty 



IsLA.NDs.] A HURRICANE IN RAROTONGA. 195 

wave rolled on iii its destructive course till it dashed against Mr. Buzacott's house, 
already mutilated with the storm, and laid it prostrate with the ground. The chiefs 
wife came and conducted Jlrs. Buzacott to her habitation, which was then standing ; but 
shortly after they had reached it, the sea began to dash against it, and the wind tore 
oft' the roof, so that our poor fugitive sister and her three little children were obliged 
to take refuge in the mountains. Accompanied by two or three faithful females, among 
whom was the chiefs wife, they waded nearly a mile through water, which in some 
places was several feet deep. On reaching the side of the hill, where they expected a 
temporary shelter, thej^ had the severe mortitication of finding that a huge tree had 
fallen upon and crushed it. Again they pursued their watery way in search of a covert 
from the storm, and at length reached a hut, which was crowded with women and 
children who had taken refuge in it. They were, however, gladly welcomed, and every 
possible assistance was rendered to alleviate their distress. Mr. Buzacott and myself 
had retired to a small house belonging to his servants, which we had endeavoured to 
secure with ropes, and into which all our books and property had been conveyed. One 
wave, however, dashed against it ; we therefore sent oft' a box or two of books and 
clothes to the mountains, and waited with trembling anxiety to know what would 
become of us. The rain Avas .still descending in deluging torrents ; the angry lightning 
was darting its fiery streams among the dense black clouds which shrouded us in their 
gloom ; the thunder, deep and loud, rolled and pealed through the heavens ; and the 
whole island trembled to its very centre as the infuriated billows burst upon its shores. 
The crisis had arrived ; this was the hour of our greatest anxiety ; but ' man's extremity 
is God's opportunity ; ' and never was the sentiment expressed in this beautiful sentence 
more signally illustrated than at this moment ; for the wind shifted suddenly a few 
points to the west, which was the signal to the sea to cease its ravages and retire within 
its wonted limits ; the storm was hushed ; the lowering clouds began to disperse, and the 
sun, as a prisoner bursting forth from his dark dungeon, smiled upon us from above, 
and told us that ' God had not forgotten to be gracious.' AVe now ventured to creep 
out of our hiding-places, and were appalled at beholding the fearful desolation that was 
spread aroimd us. As soon as possible, I sent a messenger to obtain some information 
respecting my poor vessel, expecting that she had been shivered into a thousand pieces ; 
but, to our astonishment, he returned with the intelligence that, although the bank, the 
school-house, and the vessel wei'e all washed away together, the latter had been carried over 
a swamp, and lodged amongst a grove of large chestnut-t)-ees several hundred yards inland, 
and yet appeared to have sustained no injury whatever 1 As soon as practicable, I 
went myself, and was trul)^ gratified at finding that the report was correct, and that 
the trees had stopped her wild progress, otherwise she would have been driven several 
hundred yards farther, and have sunk in a bog." 

While ilr. "Williams was in the midst of these scenes at Avarua, Mrs. Williams 
was passing through even greater difficulties at Ngatangiia, Mr. Pitman's station. 
She had narrowly escaped a horrible death ; the roof of the house in which she was 
living was seen to Avrithe under the pressure of the tempest, and scai'cely had she 
made her escape before the end of the dwelling burst in and fell upon the very spot 



196 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[V.— The South Sea 



where two minutes before she had been lying. Soon after this her seventh child was 
born, but the shock sustained by Mrs. Williams on the day of the hurricane had 
already caused its death. 

On repairing to Avarua to inspect the Messenger of Peace, it was found that, 
although she had worked herself into a hole about four feet deep, she had sus- 
tained no injury whatever ! Great difficulty, however, presented itself when an 
attempt was made to drag her from the hole over several hundred yards of 





A SAMOAN CHIEF AUD HIS WIFE. 



swamp, without any engineering appliances. Many hands, however, supplied the place 
of machinery ; about two thousand persons assisted in the work, and she once more 
floated on the sea ! 

We cannot tarry to record in detail the further voyages of John Williams. He 
sailed to Tahiti, and afterwards paid a second visit to the Samoan Group, where he 
made exploration among islands which had been omitted in his previous vo3'age, and 
paid pastoral visits in many places where he had been instrumental in planting the 
seeds of truth. On the return journey he was awakened one night by the mate calling 
to him, " You must get up at once, sir ; the ship has sprung a leak, is half-full of water, 
and is sinking fast." To his consternation he found four feet of water in the hold, 
and every one on board was put to work, as the alternative was to pumjJ or to sink. 
For several days this was continued without intermission, and although search was 
made for the leak, it could not be found. At lensfth the island of Vavau was reached, and 



Islands.] 



WILLIAMS VISITS ENGLAND. 



197 



with the assistance of the captain of an EngHsh whaler, it was found that the cause 
of the danger was a large auger-hole in the keel, into which the bolt had never been 
driven, but which had been filled in with mud and stones in the hurricane at Rarotonga, 
and these had kept the vessel six months from leaking; during which time she had 
sailed several thousand miles ! 

For some time Mr. Williams had contemplated a visit to England, in order that ho 
might bring the state of the South Sea Islands more immediately under the notice of 
the public ; and, after completing the Rarotongan version of the New Testament, and 
putting things in order in various islands, he took passage in a homeward-bound 
whaler, and reached London in June, 1834. It was no time of rest for him, who had 




SAMOANS PISHING. 



been engaged for eighteen years in unceasing labour. His fame was in all the 
Churches ; the interest of his adventures rendered him an object of attraction at the 
numerous missionary meetings in which he took part ; from all parts of the kingdom 
invitations came for him to speak ; and as he felt that to carry out the important 
interests he had at heart it was necessary that he should be backed by the sympathy 
and wealth of the people of England, he preached, spoke, and lectured everywhere, 
and continued this arduous toil for four years. Among the many things occupying 
his mind at this period were plans for a theological college at Rarotonga for the 
education of native missionaries, and for a school at Tahiti, which should offer superior 
education to the sons of chiefs, and be a normal school for training native school- 
masters ; he superintended the publication of the Rarotongan New Testament, and 
Avi-ote and j^i^blished his " Narrative of Missionary Enterprises," a book which excited 
intense interest, and brought the author into contact with all sorts and conditions 
of men. 



39S CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [V. -The South Sea 

At length the time arrived when he felt he must return to his work in the 
Souah Seas, and having demonstrated the advantage it would be to Christianity and to 
Commerce, to have a proper missionary ship, a subscription was set on foot, to which 
the Common Council of London voted a sum of £500 ; and further sums flowed in 
until £4,000 had been subscribed, with which the Camden was purchased, repaired, and 
fitted out. On the 11th of April, 1838, she sailed from Gravesend, with Mr. and Mrs. 
Williams, their son John, who had found himself an English wife, and with sixteen 
other missionaries, who were to be left at difl'erent stations, to break up fresh ground, 
and to be visited, from time to time, by the Camdev. 

After a short stay at the Cape of Good Hope, and another at Sydney, the 
Camden made for the Samoas, where WiUiams found that out of a population of 
60,000, nearly 50,000 were luider instruction. It was a great joy to him to be once 
more in his old haunts, to find that at Eaiatea the heart of the people had not 
waxed cold, and that at Karotonga civihsation and Christianity had made gigantic 
strides. After this he made his head-quarters at Samoa, until such time as he could 
carry out his long-cherished design of visiting islands far oft' ua the west, where, 
as yet, nothing had been done for the instruction of the savages. His great ambition 
was to visit the New Hebrides, in order that he might estabhsh a link which should 
lead perhaps to reaching the Papuan race in New Guinea. At length the fitting time 
came, and preparations were made for the voyage. 

Just before he set sail on this adventurous cruise, he gathered the Samoans 
together, and preached a sermon from the text, " Sorrowing most of all for the words 
he spake, that they should see his face no more." John Williams was not a man of the 
kmd to be aftected by any omen or other superstition ; but when he saw his congre- 
gation weeping as bitterly as the Ephesians wept at the departure of St. Paul, and 
heard their entreaties that he would not visit Erromanga, from whence a report had 
come of ghastly doings by the cannibal inhabitants — entreaties in which ilrs. Williams, 
who had a foreboding terror of the visit, joined — it was enough to shake the 
purpose of any man. But he was not to be moved ; he saw, in his mind's eye, 
island after island welcoming the Gospel, and the New Hebrides becoming a centre 
of light and influence, as Tahiti, Rarotonga, Samoa, and other islands had become. 
The Camden set sail, and bore away to the New Hebrides. All on board were full of 
hope and thankfulness, and Williams talked without sense of fear or misgiving to his 
friend, Mr. Cunningham, the British Yice-Consul for the South Sea Islands, and Mr. 
Harris, who was intendmg to become a missionary to the Marquesas. 

At the end of a week they touched at Rotuma, and landed two teachers ; then 
on again to Tanna, where three teachers were left, and then on again towards 
Erromanga, where, on the 20th of November, 1839, the vessel entered DiUon's Bay. 
Soon a canoe with three men paddled up to the Camden, fi'om which a boat was 
lowered, and Mr. Williams, with Captain Morgan, Messrs. Harris and Cunningham, 
and four sailors, seated themselves. Conversation was tried with the three natives, 
but not a word of the language could be understood, it being one of the Melanesian 
dialects. 



Islands.! THE TRAGEDY AT ERROMANGA. 199 

Tlie boat was pulled into a creek, and beads, with a small looking-glass, were 
thi'own to the natives on shore, who appeared to be very shy. When, however, 
signs were made asking for water, they immediately procured it, whereupon the 
missionary party waded ashore. The natives ran away, but when Mr. Williams sat 
dowm, some of them ventured nearer, and at last brought some cocoa-nuts, opened, 
for him to drink. When he offered them his hand, they would not take it, but 
shrank away, and there is reason to believe that this fear was caused by the recollec- 
tion of barbarities perpetrated on their countrjmien by the crew of a vessel that had 
previously visited the island. 

With the view of winning their confidence, Williams called to the captain to send 
him some cloth out of the boat, and this he divided among the people. Somewhat 
incautiousl}^ it may be, Mr. Harris walked forward into the bush, and Williams, who 
was surrounded by a group of boys, to whom he was repeating the Samoan numerals in 
the hope that they might recognise the names of the figures, followed in his track. Mr. 
Cunningham, who did not like the looks and manners of the savages, expressed his 
distrust to Williams, but his remark was apparently not heard. 

Only a few minutes passed when Cunningham, stooping to pick up a shell, was startled 
by a horrible yell, and, to his distress, saw Mr. Harris rushing along, pursued by a native. 
Cunningham Hod for his life, and called on Williams to do the same. It was a moment 
of great terror. Harris lay on the shore, beaten down by natives who were armed with 
clubs ; Cunningham had fled to the boat, the whereabouts of which he knew, but which was 
out of sight of Williams, who made straight for the sea, intending, probably, to swim 
off and let the boat pick him up. Williams was a stout, heavy man, and immediately 
he started to run a native rushed furiously after him. The beach was steep and 
stony, and just as he reached the water he fell. He was now hopelessly in the power 
of his pursuer, who dealt him several blows on his head and arms. Twice Williams 
dashed his head under water to avoid the club with which the savage who stood over him 
was ready to strike the instant he rose ; then a crowd of savages came up yelling, and beat 
him over the head, while a whole handful of arrows were stuck into his body. Cunning- 
ham, meanwhile, had reached the boat in safety, and, with Captain Morgan, used frantic 
exertions to come to the assistance of Williams. It was too late, however ; before they 
had got half the distance of the eighty yards that separated them, his dead body was being 
dragged by the savages along the beach, and they " could see the rippling water red with 
the blood of the noblest man that had ever gone to those far-off Isles of the South Sea, 
laden with blessings for the ignorant and outcast." 

As soon as possible the Ca'mden was brought up, and it was proposed to land under 
cover of the guns, and rescue the body ; but the natives had dragged it in the mean- 
time into the bush. 

When the appalling news became known among the islands, there was the most 
intense excitement, which spread univei-sally, and called forth expressions of esteem and 
regret, such as had never before been expressed for any missionary. The Camden at once 
steered for Sydney, from whence a vessel of war was immediately despatched to Erromanga 
to endeavour to recover the remains. Only the skull and bones were left (the rest having 



200 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[V. — The South Sea ISLAxns, 



been devoured by the cannibals), and these were conveyed to Samoa, where Mrs. Wilhams 
received them, standing cahn in her sorrow, but surrounded by nuiltitudes of frantic 
mourners. 

" Aue Kriamu ' aue Viriamu ! our father, our fatlier ! " cried the waiHng- masses in 
their wild, poetic grief; " he has turned his face from us ! we shall never see him more ! he 
that brought us the good word of salvation is gone ! Oh, cruel heathen ! they Icnew 
not what they did ' How great a man they have destroyed ! " 

At Apia, in the island of Upolu, beside the chapel he had built, the remains of 
John Williams were interred. The officers and crew of the man-of-war, his sorrowing- 
family, friends, missionaries, native teachers, and nudtitudes of the islanders stood around 
that grave. In a sense, all Christendom stood there too ; for John AVilliams had Avon the 
love and admiration of all men, irrespective of name or creed. 

His work did not end with his life, nor was it even checked by his untimely end. 
Fresh labourers pressed into the field, and carried on the work, until, even upon the very 
island on which he fell, the truths of Christianity were received with gladness. 





DEATH OF JOHN WILLIAMS. 



202 



VI. — IX THE FAR EAST. 

CHAPTER XL 
TAKTART, TIBET, AXD MONGOLIA. 

In Search of the Tschecks — The Kalmuc Tartars — Lamaism — Praying-wheels — Expedition of Schill. Loos, 
and Dehm — Circulation of the Scriptures — Lahoul — The Kyelangr Mission Station — Pagell and Heide— 
In the Lamasseries — Hemis — Funeral Ceremonies — Influence of the Lamas — The Kusho^'s — Leh, the 
Chief Town of Ladak — Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Redslob — Among the Mongols — Fanaticism — 
Wonderful Things in Wu Tai. 

FOR more than a hundred and fifty years the Moravian Brethren have aspired to 
spread the Gosjjel in Central Asia, and have made effort after effort to pene- 
trate those vast and long mysterious regions from various directions. Count Zinzendorf 
himself felt a warm interest in these lands, and one of his h}'mns alludes to the 
Mongol and the Persian hearing the Gospel message. 

Vast hordes of Kalmuc Tartars roamed at will from Chinese Tartary to the 
banks of the ^'olga with their herds of camels, horses, black cattle, and sheep. It was 
resolved to send missionaries to these wandering tribes, and Russia presented the 
ea.siest route for getting at them. But the authorities at St. Petei-sburg in 1735 
forbade the missionarj' who arrived there from Herrnhut to go any further, and a 
renewed efi'ort by Hirschel and Krind in 174'2 only led to their confinement for 
several years in a Russian prison. 

Some other abortive attempts to penetrate Asia from the Russian provinces took place 
also ; but in 1764, the Empress Catheiine II. having become aware of the real value 
of the Moravians as colonisers and subjects, issued an edict permitting them to settle 
in Russia, and to enjoy complete liberty of conscience. A number of the Brethren at 
once proceeded to the banks of the Volga, and selected a site for a colony twenty-four 
miles below Czaritzin. They were soon hard at work erecting the buildings they required, 
cultivating the land, and working at their various trades. In a few j-ears the flourishing 
little to^\'n of Sarepta had come into being. As a colony it was a complete success, but 
its highest value to its pious founders consisted in the facilities it aftbrded as a Christian 
outpost on the frontiers of Asia, in close proximity to the hordes of heathen Tartars 
who roamed the adjacent steppes. And, moreover, it stood beside the road from 
St. Petersburg to Persia, and the realms beyond ; — thus, without Ica^Tng their ovra 
territory, the Brethren found opportunity to preach to Armenians, Georgians, Pei-sians, 
Tartars, and Hindoos. 

Before they came to the Volga banks, the Brethren had heard rumours of a remnant 
of Christian people amongst the defiles of the Caucasus. One day a Georgian merchant 
assured them that these people — the Tschecks — were really in existence. It Avas said 
that they had been driven eastward centuries before from Europe, but that they still 



vi.-iN THK kak kast.i in search ov the tschecks. 203 

jealously guanlod tlK'ir (.liiist.iaii faith, as wuU as their languiigo anil their ancient customs. 
It was acknowledged, Iiowcvlt, that they had lost the abilit}' to read their sacred books, 
which were kept locked up m spacious churches no longer used for religious services. 
But they looked forward to a time when public worship should be re-established, and the 
books of their forefathers once more read. The Moravians were easrer to discover this 
people, who they believed must be the descendants of their fellow-countrymen, exiled 
on account of their religion in the tifteenth century. 

A first attempt on the part of two Brothers to find the Tschecks was frustrated by 
the near approach of a hostile army of 40,000 Kabardine Tartars, who were addicted 
to selling all prisoners into slavery. The explorers got back safely to Sarepta, and in 
1782 another Gospel expedition was despatched to Mount Caucasus. Gottfried Grabsch 
(a medical missionary) and George Griihl undertook the perilous journey. They 
reached Berega, where the bigoted Mahonunodans would scarcely let them lodge a 
single night, and then, with diiticulty, found their way to the Prince, Uzmei Khan. 
He heard their story, but could not credit it as a sufficient motive for their journey. 
He had heard of tlu; celebrity of (irabsch as a healer, and asked him if he was the 
doctor who could cure a man in a short time when his body was ripped up. He 
consented at length to let them go forward to Kubascha, where tlie people they were 
in search of were supposed to be located. 

It was by a toilsome road — often with a mountain wall rising on one side of 
them, and a precipitous ravine yawning on the other — that they reached Kubascha, 
with its five hundred houses clustering in a narrow valley, hcnuned in by lofty barren 
mountains. Great was their disap[)ointment, on entering this supposed Christian town, 
to hear the voices of the Mollahs from the muiarets. They had a conference with 
the inhabitants, who stated that their remote ancestors had been Christians, but they 
thanked God that they had now been Mahonnnedans for three hundred years. In the 
town there were some ruins of churches, with inscriptions upon them in characters 
that no one could read. The people were friendly, but were evidently confirmed 
Moslems, and, grievously disapj)ointed, our missionaries foimd their way back to Sarepta. 

The relatitms of the Brethren with the Kalmne Tartars were a little more pro- 
mising. Soon after the establishment of the colony, a large horde settled in the neigh- 
bourhood. Their habits and manners made them at first somewhat troublesome, but, by 
the uniform kindness of the Moravians, they were won to confidence and i'riendship. 
They seemed to take great pleasure ui witnessing Divine service, lint the skill of the 
doctor attached to the mission made the most im[)ression on them. Amongst those 
who occasionally came to the colony was a pi-incess with her retinue, but this lady 
and her party were so rarely sober that very little satisfactory communication could be 
had with them. A prince who was a frequent visitor became specially attached to two of 
the Brethren, and invited them to join his tribe in their wanderings over the (Jreat 
Steppe. He offered them his protection, and i'acilities for learning the Tartar language. 

The two Brothers joyfully accepted this opening for service, but it was a novel 
experience. They had to reconcile themselves to Tartar manners and Tartar diet. 
Thcii- companions, the Kalmucs, were strongly built men of middle stature, with 



204 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



IVl. — In the 



prominent cheek-bones, short chhis, turned-up noses, and scrubby hair. Then- habitations 
were conical felt tents, which were set out in long lines like streets. They were 
inveterate gamblers, very much given to drink, and not particularly cleanly. Their 
religion was a degraded form of Buddhism, or, rather, Lamaism, as they acknowledged 
spiritual allegiance to the Dalai Lama (or Ta lei Lama) at Lhassa. Theh- Gellongs, or 
priests, taught them that all heavenly happmess was to be found in the mystic words, 
"Om Mani Padmi Hum." The repetition of these words almost sufficed for the entu-e 




kalmuc tartars. 



religious exercises of the Kalmucs, and even this simple observance is considerably 
expedited by means of a barrel containing copies of the prayer. A handle is turned, 
revolutions count as utterances, and so 20,000 or more repetitions are easily 
accomplished in a day. The words are said simply to mean, "Oh, the precious lotus. 
Amen." But to the initiated they shadow forth an infinity of mj'stic meaning. Our 
missionaries found the Kalmucs able to read and write. The leaves of their books were 
similar to palm leaves, and it was noticeable that all their sti^ndard works had Indian 
as well as Tibetan and Mongolian titles. 

The two Brothers were kindly treated during their long migrations with their 
wandering hosts. They acquired a good knowledge of the Tartar lan.guage and customs, 
but could find no willingness to receive the Gospel message. The Brethren at Sarepta 



Fjk East.1 



AJVrONG THE KALMUC TARTARS. 



205 




also paid numerous visits to various localities, and had a great deal of friendly inter- 
course with Tartar tribes.' But, after years of ettbrt, their only converts were a poor 
blind Kalmuc girl, and four Kirghesian childi'en rescued from slavery. 

In 1815, a Gospel expedition was undertaken by Brothers Schill, Loos, 
and Dehm to the Chaschut hordes of Kalmucs, and this effort was cer- 
tainly more productive of visible results. Five years of patient labour 
enabled them very materially to undermine the influence of the Gellongs, and 
to rescue a few souls from the darkness of heathenism. Strange were the 
superstitions that flourished among the wandering Kalmucs. One terrible 
winter the temperature fell to 25 degrees below zero, causing much suffering. 
In one of the tents an old woman lay dying, and very naturally com- 
plained much of the extreme cold. When she died, her body was cut in 
pieces and burned in order to appease the angry spirits, and inasmuch as 
milder weather followed, the Tartars felt that they had done the right thing. 
The Buddhism of this tribe was exceedingly mixed, for a Tartar 
declared to the missionaries, " We have so many gods, that we are at a loss 
to know whom to address." Some of the Gellongs began to see that 
their hold on the people was loosening. One of them, after being applied 
to to And a lost horse (which was one 
of their most frequent duties), candidly 
confessed to Schill that he often found 
that his books did not tell him right, 
and that in very many cases his pre- 
dictions did not come true. 

The head of the tribe was Prince Serbedshab, who 
was laid up for a time by a fall from his 
horse. After his recovery the missionaries 
were asked to dine with him, and he told 
them that he had diminished the number 
of the Gellongs by one-half, but that he 
found the remainder totally unable to live 
up to their own rules. Schill and his com- 
panions thought this prince would strengthen 
and protect them in their work, and their 
hearts were also rejoiced to see a consider- 
able awakening amongst the j^eople, who 
eagerly read the portions of Scripture, and tracts, which the missionaries had trans- 
lated. But these tokens of success roused the animosity of their opponents. Prince 
Serbedshab became embittered against them, and determined to prevent the further 
Christianisation of his tribe. The lives of those few who regularly attended the mis- 
sionar}' services were made miserable by harshness and injustice, and at length the 
Brethren resolved to remove the little company, with all their belongings, on to the 
Society's land near Sarepta. 



KALMUC PRAYER 
BARREL. 




A KALMUC SATING HIS PRAYERS. 



206 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [VI.-In the 

It was evening when the little hand drew near to its appointed resting-place on 
an island in the Volga. A few were on board a boat in which they were bringing 
various goods up the river. On the high bank walked Brother Schill with the rest of 
the men, then came three camels with the skin tents and the women, and a few carts 
mth the furniture and smaller children. The elder children were in the rear, driving 
forward the cattle, sheep, and goat-s. Not one of the Kalmucs had as yet been baptised, 
but amongst them were men in whom wild passions and savage superstitions had given 
place to the meek humility and peaceableness of the Christian. During the next day 
or two their island encampment was visited by the whole congregation of Sarepta. One 
of the first settlers of the colony was Brother Steinman, now eighty-three years of age. 
He had never ceased to pray daily for the conversion of the Kalmucs, and on hearing 
of the arrival he seized his staff and was helped to the camp. "Now lettest Thou Thy 
servant depart in peace ! " he joyfully exclaimed, upon hearing the converts sing of 
salvation through the Saviour. He went home, and two days afterwards he gently 
passed away. 

But the poor exiles had not yet got to the end of their troubles. They were 
constantly assailed with abuse and threats, and occasionally they were severely assaulted 
by Tartars roaming the neighbourhood. On one occasion. Prince Djamba of the Derbet 
horde suddenly appeared in the camp, and seized two of his subjects, Ziirum and 
another. He administered a severe cudgelling on the spot, and then carried them 
off. Although he afterwards lent them camels to return to the camp and fetch 
away their property, he threatened them with severe punishment if they dared to 
bring back with them a single letter of the Gospel. On another occasion a band of 
Kalmucs, led by a Gellong, nished into the settlement and whipped the converts most 
unmercifull}^ Ziirtim was dragged with a rope by a horseman across the steppe and 
severely lacerated. Others were badly wounded, and many of the cattle were driven 
away. Ziiriim, who got back to Sarepta covered with wounds and sores, showed Chris- 
tian fortitude under much cruel treatment. 

It was evident that the Brethren could not afford efficient protection to these 
poor people, and the attitude of the Government was such that no other course seemed 
practicable, than to take the converts down to Czaritzin, and let them be baptised into 
the Greek Church. 

A year or two afterwards. Brothers Schill and Hiibner were circulating the Scriptures 
among the Kalmucs at the expense of the Russian Bible Socict3^ But they were 
expressly forbidden to make any comment, so that the eftbrt showed no practical result. 
Seeing, therefore, that they were prevented from exercising the usual methods of 
evangelisation — by oral mstruction, baptism, and the forming of congregations ; ■ and 
seeing, moreover, that they were commanded to hand over to the Greek Priests all 
persons inclining to be Christians, the Moravian Brethren did not think it worth 
while thus to waste their strength, and accordingly their missionary eflorts on behalf 
of the Tartars of the Asiatic border were relinquished. But the concern of Count 
Zmzendorf for the conversion of the Mongols still seemed to rest upon the Moravian 
Church, and in 1848 Giitzlaff urged the Society at Herrnhut to make a renewed attempt 



Far East.) LAMAISM. 207 

to cn,ny the Gospel to the roving hordes of Central Asia. From the thirty volunteers 
who at once offered to go out, two lay brothers, Pagell and Heide, were selected for the 
service. Russia, on being applied to, at once interdicted any advance through her 
territory, and accordingly the missionaries proceeded to India, and waited near the 
Himalayan border for the opportunity to push forward into Chinese Tibet and 
Mongolia. But up to the present time the Chinese Government has jjrevented the 
fultilment of this project, and the mission has been almost exclusively limited to Little 
Tibet, part of which (Lahoul and Spitti) is under British supremacy, and part (Ladak) 
under the rule of the Rajah of Cashiuere. 

Five years had been spent in preparation for the work, in acquiring the Mongol 
tongue, and some knowledge of medicine, when in 1853 the two Brothers reached 
Kliotghur, where they sav/ for the first time the lamas in their red vestments, and 
people Avalking about with their praying-mills in their hands. They pushed forward 
through desolate mountain passes, sometimes over tracts of snow that took hours to 
cross, and over heights 12,000 feet above the sea-level, where the glorious prospect was 
bounded by yet loftier mountains towering far above them. They reached Leh (the 
capital of Ladak province, of which we shall have more to say presently), but could go 
no farther, and after many vexatious delays and hindrances found it needful to retreat 
to Lahoul Province, where, at Kj'elang, near the frontier, the mission station was founded. 
At this mountain station, 10,000 feet above the sea-level, and entirely cut off' from 
civilisation by snow for months together, several devoted Moravian Christians have 
laboured. In 1857, the year of the mutiny, came Brother H. Jaschke (a descendant of 
George Jaschke, one of the patriarchs of Moravianism), acknowledged by Professor 
Max Mtiller to be the best Tibetan scholar in Europe. 

In Lahoul, Lamaism, curiously amalgamated with the Hindoo .system of caste, is 
the religion of the people. The lamas for the most part work in their houses or in 
the Holds like other people, and only retire to the monastery in winter, to study and 
to lay up a stocl: of merit. They practically rule the land. They profess to discover 
^ springs, to produce rain, to drive away demons, and to trace thieves. They mostly 
have some rote knowledge of diseases and ciu'es, so that if a man has made up 
his mind as to what complaint he has, the lamas can treat him according to 
their rules. 

Kyelang has seen long years of patient effort with hut little evident result. With 
services at the mission-house and chapel, with visits to the people, with long preaching 
tours, and with their schools, these earnest workers have done what they could. There 
was no difficulty about getting people to listen with interest to their teaching. They 
were delighted at hearing things they could understand, and would come even when 
the lamas were holding solemn readings m their own houses. For Lamaism requires 
plenty of readers at its services, but hearers are not necessary, and if present are not 
expected to understand. Every respectable person has solemn readings in his house at 
certain periods of the year, and so long as he provides properly for the refreshment 
of the lamas, he is quite at liberty to go where he pleases whilst the services are in 
progress. 



208 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[VI.— In the 



A good deal of time and energy were given to itinerant preacliiug. The missionaries 
soon found tliat to open a Bible and read by the wayside was of no use. Everybody 
thought they were simply performing a work of merit on their own account, and had 
no idea that listeners were desired. The only way was to go to a village and collect 
as many as possible on a flat house-top, and then talk to them. These flat roofs are 
the regular meeting-places ; there the people rest and enjoy the warm sunshine, and 
there they hold their drinking or musical parties. Sometimes on reaching a village 
not a soul could be seen — the whole population was on the house-tops. The only 




LADAK SCENEKT. 



thing to be done was to mount to one of the roofs by the notched tree-trunk with 
which most of the houses are provided as an outside staircase. There was always a 
kindly reception, and people soon came flocking from other roofs to hear the 
missionaries talk. Their own lamas called the people beasts, who could not expect to 
unrJersfand religion ; the lamas could understand it, and knew Buddhism to be per- 
fection ; but the people had simply to pay, and do as they were told. So the people 
were interested in the Gospel as something new and entertaining, but could not be 
roused to any anxiety as to their future state. On one occasion the head man of a 
village collected all the inhabitants on the roof of a large house, and after the dis- 
course they escorted Brother Pagell with two drunnners and a fifer for a considerable 
distance on his way. 

Visits were often paid to the lamasseries, whose inmates politely received the mission- 
aries, and frequently conducted them into the large dukang, or place of assembly. Here were 



Far East.] 



IN THE LAMASSERIES. 



the images, and a hundred or more thic]- v.l , ^^^ 

l^-'mng. Hows of low seats for the lannsedthT'""'":^ '^^^^ ' lamp perpetually 
-^ -.s Buddha, .th a s.H m - 1^ ^ ^ rS.^ ^ t^^^ ^7 1 




WOJIEX OP LEH. 



to the l.a,„as in tie presence of their Uok "•■" "'° "^'"l"' l™*'""' 



210 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [VI.-In- the 

The lamas professed a great deal, and were exceedingl}- anxious to pile up 
" merit," so that after death they might reappear as men and not in lower forms of 
animal life, and in the course of ages attain to NiiTana. They Avere not grateful for 
any favours or benefits, but accepted them simply as proofs of their own accumulated 
merit. All through Lahoul and Ladak, and more especially in Chinese Tibet, the 
lamas of A-arious grades floiu-ish upon the tribute of the priest-ridden people. Every 
tscho (or nobleman) keeps his lama (or private chaplaiii), and it is often doubtful which 
of the two is really master. The head of this gi'eat ecclesiastical system, and so far as 
Tibet is concerned, the actual ruler of the country, is the Ta-lei-lama at Lhassa. 
Crowds of lamas and pilgrims, threading their rosaries and muttering prayers, for ever 
throng the two avenues of trees that lead from Lhassa to the great cluster of temples 
at Potala. Of these the loftiest is surmounted by a dome of gold, from which the 
Grand Lama can look over all the plam covered with crowds of his adorers. He is 
recognised as a never-dying Buddha, and when the event takes place which would 
be death in other cases, his followers select, by a process of divination, a little child 
into whom he is supposed to have passed. When he has freed humanity from all its 
sorrows he will attain Nirvana and be absorbed into God. The government is really 
carried on by the A'arious functionaiies of his court, so that the duties of the 
Grand Lama are easily learned, consisting as they do, for the most part, simplj' of 
sitting cross-legged in the temple, and extending the hand in the attitude of 
benediction. The vast piles of buildings all around are tilled with the court 
and attendants of the ever-livin"- one. There are several Grand Lamas in connection 
with Central-Asian Buddhism, but he of Potala is the grandest and most reverenced 
of them all. 

To return to Lahoul. Brothers Heide and Pagell found that though the lamas 
were too often glaringly remiss in the due carrymg-out of the perfect moi-alit}' and 
righteousness they aimed at, yet they were very particular about the killing of animals, 
and even insects. They liked to live well, however, and when they were compelled to 
slaughter an animal themselves, a number of them woidd do it together, so that 
the sin might be divided amongst them, and thus each individual's share in the 
guilt be minimised. On one occasion a mendicant was met with who had left 
house and lands, and had been a wandering bears-ar for years, on account of his 
remorse for having killed over a thousand animals. One elderly man was in sore 
distress about the difficulty of avoiding sin, more particulai'ly because he found it 
was scarcely possible to take a step without destroying insects. A lama who was 
sadly troubled internally, made it a religious duty to take food at certain frequent 
intervals in order that the parasites within him might not be disappointed of their 
rearidar meals. 

O 

One day Brother Heide met a man who wept bitterly, because he feared that the 
continuous illness from which he suffered was sent upon him for the evil done in 
some previous state. Heide told him it was not so, but that God, by means of atHic- 
tions, might be drawing him to Himself He talked and read to the poor man, and 
gave him some books. " I shall put these with my other books, and burn offerings 



Far East] THE LAMAS.SERY AT HERNIS. 211 

before them," was his remark. It is very customary to treat books with superstitious 
reverence. All such observances are supposed to increase a man's stock of merit, by 
the development of which he rises, life after life, in the spiritual scale. 

But Lamaism is not utterly without some notion of substitutionary atonement for 
sin. A lama told the missionaries that once a year, at Lhassa, the lamas get one of 
the poorest men in the city, and dress him in goatskin, with the hair outside. They 
then drive him down to the river, and there solemnly lay upon him the sins of the 
whole people. He must then go out into the wilderness and live for some weeks in 
absolute solitude. His food is regularly sent to him, and upon his return he receives a 
gi-eat number of presents. But the ignominy and disgrace of the position is so keenly 
felt, that every one tries to avoid being selected for the service. 

In the summer of 1861, during a journe}' into Ladak, Heide visited the large and 
affluent lamasseiy at Hernis. It accommodates a hundred lamas, so that it is, after all, 
small in comparison with the vast lamasseries in Chinese Tibet, where it is not im- 
common to find a thousand or more inmates in one establishment. The building, 
surrounded by poplars and well-kept grounds, is romantically situated in a mountainous 
ravine. Brother Heide was hospitably regaled with tea and dried apricots, and was 
then listened to with the usual polite inditierence as he preached Jesus in the large 
hall where the great image of Buddha sat enthroned. This lamassery is very rich in 
land, horses, and cattle. The land is in various parts of the province, and the 
occupiers pay a rent in produce. But of late years the Rajah of Cashmere has laid 
a heavy tax on all the Buddhist ecclesiastical property in L;idak province, so that the 
different establishments are not so rich as was once the case. At Hemis the lamas 
were provided with everything they required except clothing. They had all their 
meals in common, in the room where the sacred lamp burned perpetually before 
the images and books. Every meal was preceded by readings from the sacred books, 
and prayers. The discipline was very strict. At the door of the room there was a 
copy of the rules, and beside them was a thick stick with brass ends, which 
was vigorously applied by the superior of the establishment when the rules were not 
observed. 

Some of the lamas were well instructed and aWe men, and Brother Heide found it 
by no means easy to argue with them. But as a rule they were sunk in formalism and 
indifference. At one lamassery he saw books that he had given placed with their own 
sacred books beside the votive lamp dedicated to Buddha. Strange questions were 
often put to him in these places. He was asked whether it was a fact that the Queen 
of England never dies, but that she rises each morning with renovated youth ! One 
wise lama settled the question of her great power, by declaring that she was an 
incarnation of Raldran Hlamo. 

In their preaching tours Heide and Pagell often came across the protracted cere- 
monies connected with funerals. On these occasions the lamas are very prominent, 
and there is often a great concourse of people, so that the Brethren thought the 
opportunity might be taken to preach the Gospel to the crowds thus brought together. 
But it was soon evident that at these times both clergy and laity were so demoralised 



212 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[VI.-lN THE Far East. 



by the free distribution of meal dun.plings and chang (or native beer), that few seemed 
dLosed to Hsten to Gospel teaching. The order of bm-ial is pretty much as follows :- 
If the deceased is only a' httle child, the body is placed in an urn or bowl and covered 
with plenty of salt, and stowed away in a niche of the wall of the cowshed ^ 
universally forms the lower story of a Tibetan house. The corpses of adults wlnle 
!till warn' are bent as much as possible into the shape of a baU. If tney have become 




LAIIAS OF TIBET. 



cold and stiff, they are pulled and beaten with hammers to get them mto tjis desu d 
!hape and ae seLrely fastened with cords. By this means :t is supposed that t 
de eld will be prevented from rising up and troubling the mmates of the house Th 
bodrthus tied ul is carried forth, and the head lama of the place ^^<^^f^ 
be done with it' Somethnes it is burnt, sometunes thrown froni ^1- -cks mt d 
river sonretimes covered up with stones. Accompanied by music, the littei-beaicis 
r; it s place of destination. Then for a whole week a lama sits upon t^lie house- 

top and prays' or pours out water. On the seventh day there is a grand gahermg 

Lrtho to the beating of a drum perform long readings ^<^^ ^^[:^^ 
of the departed By dividing up the leaves of a book amongst them, and each readm. 




2; 

w 

K 

Eh 

H 

►J 



214 COXQCESTS OF THE CROSS. [VI.-In thk 

his portion at the same time, they get through a bulky vohune very quickly. Then a 
bell is rr.ng, and all the inhabitants rush together to eat and drink at the expense of 
the family. 

If the family is wcd-to-do, and the deceased nnieh respected, it is not uncommon 
to hold an annual festival in his memory for some time after his death. Brother 
Redslob came upon a scene of this character, where the people were sitting in long 
rows in a field, and the lamas in a group by themselves. All were partaking of 
Tibetan tea and oilcake, but as time wore on the scene became a mere drinkino- orgie, 
in which tiie lamas distanced all competitors as regards the consumption of chang. 
But the laity were not far behind their spiritual guides m this respect, for drunken- 
ness was a conspicuous feature of social life in Tibet. There was one village of 
which the missionaries were told that it would be necessary to visit it as soon as 
the inhabitants got up in the morning, as that would be the only time to tind any- 
body sober. 

The ascendancy of the lamas in all the affairs of Tibetan life, was constantly being 
forced upon the notice of the missionaries. This was of course especially evident in 
connection with religious festivals. Sometimes, away on the mountain side, a great throng 
of people would be met with, keeping up a medley of religious services and revelry for 
two or three days together. Sometimes they came upon a village given up to music, 
dancing and feasting, whilst lamas in red silk, and Buddhist nuns in coarse yellow 
cloth, begged from door to door. Brother Pagell tells of arguing with two lamas, on 
one of these occasions, on a crowded house-top. The din was so loud and so incessant, 
that they had to shout to make' each other hear. The same brother passed through 
Rasang, where thousands of persons were gathered to a festival. Priests and people 
were alike giving themselves up to feasting and revelry, but devotions were going on all 
the same. The huge prayer-mill, measiu-ing eight feet in length by tive in diameter, 
containing many thousand copies of the sacred words, " Om Jlani Padmi Hum," 
was being perpetually turned by two men, and thus an almost incredible nimiber of 
■devotional exercises Avere duly accomplished. 

These sacred words, which have been before alluded to, and the mere repetition 
of which either vocally, graphically, or mechanically, is of such avail in the develop- 
ment of " merit," are to be seen and heard everywhere through all the jirovinces of 
Tibet. They are inscribed upon walls and rocks, njwn the fringes of garments and 
the ornaments of houses. People murmur them habitually when they have nothing 
else to occupy their minds. Rich Buddhists get merit credited to their spiritual 
account by paying wandering lamas to sp)end all their time in writing the holy 
syllables wherever they can find an empty space to display them. 

Harvest must not begin without the intervention of the red-frocked gentry. They 
group themselves upon the hills near the villages, and blow trumpets as a tribute of 
thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth. Then, at the ringing of a bell, offerings are 
brought to them of the first-fniits of the cornfields, after which the needful operations 
may be proceeded Avith. The new year is an occasion for a festival of a pecuHar 
character. At midnight the young folks march out into the fields beating diiuns and 



Far East.] 



LABOURS OF BROTHER PAGELL. 



215 



waving torches. Then for three days everybod}- keeps in-doors, spending the time in 
eating and drinking. But all must be done in silence, for it is held that any noise 
will disturb the spirits, of whom the Tibetan is mortally afraid. 

After ten years of patient eftbrt, with Kyelang as a centre, and with scarcely 
any visible residt, a second station was established at Poo, at an altitude of nearly ten 
thousand feet, close to the frontiers of Chinese Tibet, Brother Pagell took the direction 
here, and at both places the school-work and preaching tours, and the distribution of 
Christian literature went forward. In the schools they were oliliged to employ native 
teachers who were, to some extent, under Christian influence, and were willing to use 
Christian books, but did not profess to be 
Christians. The Sisters taught the girls 
knitting, and were very pleased when they 
had got so far as to induce them to wash 
their hands before beginning. 

The first baptisms at Kyelang took 
place in October, 1865, when Sodnom Slob- 
kyas and his son Goldau were received 
into the Church, under the respective names 
of Nicodemus and Samuel. A few others 
soon followed, but all were refugees from 
Ladak province, who had fled from the 
tyranny of the Rajah's ofiicials. In less 
than two years the mind of poor Nicodemus 
was imhinged by horror for his former 
sins, and, much to the grief and distress of 
the missionaries, he hanged himself. 

At Poo, Brother Pagell erected a chapel, 
which the people named Tschonagra (" the 

place where religion is taught"). Lamaism makes no provision for the public teaching 
of religion. In this chapel a congregation was slowly gathered, and a few converts 
received baptism ; hero also was solemnised the first Christian wedding in Tibet, when 
Jonathan and Hannah (two converts who had received these names) were joined in 
holy matrimony. A wedding without a wild riot to follow it, was something unitpie 
in that locality. Pagell was very careful that the wedded pair should walk out of 
chapel together as man and wife. This also was contrary to the usages of Tibet, 
where man and wife are never seen out together. In a tent gaily decorated with 
flowers was held the wedding festival of tea and rice, and roast kid and sausages, 
and a limited quantity of chang. Over the pouring out of the chang Pagell 
himself presided, in order to guard against anything like excess. 

From Poo, Brother Pagell had two or three times tried in vain to penetrate 
the adjacent province of Tso-tso, in Chinese Tibet. Tso-tso is an extensive 
mountain-girt valley, containing about a dozen scattered villages. A fearful visitation 
.of small-pox so terrified the inhaljitants, that they sent in haste for Pagell to give 




THE SACRED WOEDS INSCRIBED ON A .STONE. 



21G 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



iVI- In the 



them the benefit of his medical skill ; and, only too glad to relieve su'tfering, and 
possibly at the same time secure an opening for Gospel teaching, the missionary 
went at once. He was received with cordiality and honour, and waited for with 
horses and attendants in jjlaces where even a cup of cold water was denied him 
on a previous visit. He went to every village in the ^-alley, and vaccinated every- 
body who had not yet taken the complaint, from the Ijabies up to the grey-haired 
patriarchs. Many houses were silent — the late occupants all dead. Numbers had 
crawled away to die in caverns and other lonely places. "Wherever possible, Pagell 
ministered to the sick and dying, and everywhere proclaimed the Gosj^el message, and 
ofave away his books and tracts. He wont round the villaoi'es aofain, and found that 
his vaccination had taken properly in every case, and thus b}- his prompt measures he 








SAKYI-MOUXI. 



ERLIK KUkV (god OF FIRE). 



BUDDHIST IMAGES. 



had saved the province from becoming a veritable valley of death. The people were 
overflowing with gratitude, and profuse in their promises to let him pass through at 
any time and to carry his baggage. They also collected a sum of money for him, 
which, however, he refused to accept. 

Several lamas were amongst those operated upon, and, as usual, they accepted 
whatever Avas doiie for them as the just reward of their own personal merit. There 
were not wanting signs that these priests were getting a little jealous of Brother 
Pagell's growing influence, and especially was this the case when one of their number 
showed a tendency to side with the missionaries. He even dared to stand up alone 
and argue on behalf of what he saw to be true in Christianity, when they were 
assembled m the great hall before the image of Buddha, That man died suddenly, 
under very suspicious circumstances. The lamas gave out that he had fallen off the 
roof when into.xicatcd, but there is reason to fear that his career was pu.rposely cut 
short. About the same time a lama of high rank was sent into the district, to stir 
up the inmates of the monasteries to renewed z«il and watchfulness, and a number of 



Fab East.] 



GZALZAN THE CONVERT. 



217 



young" lamas were set to work, industriously carving- and painting, as it was felt that 
what the district really needed was more images as an effectual safeguard against 
the spread of new doctrines. 

Of the Uttlc group of converts that were gathered at Poo, perhaps one of the 




NATIVES OF TIBET — PROVINCE OF L.iDAK. 



most interesting was the young lama Gzalzan, an nnpetuous youth, whose zeal and 
earnestness rejoiced the hearts of the missionaries, although his impulsive nature some- 
times led him astray, and causerl the Brethren nmch sorrow. He was the son of a 
Tiljetan ilinister of State, and had been trained up in a monastery at Lhassa, tenanted 
by 3,000 lamas. The assembly hall, in which they met before the sacred images, was 
supported by 120 columns. Gzalzan was not the man to do an3-thing by halves, and 



218 COXQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IVI.-In the 

had steadfastly tried to find in Buddhism all that it could do for hiui. In his earlier 
exercises he had once made the complete circuit of the monastery buildmgs upon his 
hands and knees, a task of penance which it took him three days to accomplish 
After learnmg what the monastery could teach kini, he went on pilgrimage for four 
years, carrying with him a skull for a drinking-cup, and a flute made from the bones 
of a fakir found on the bank of a river. This unique musical instrument Avas held 
to be of maiTcllous power for calling up the spirits of the dead. In the summer of 
1871, Gzalzan came to the mission, became convinced of the truth of Christianity, 
and, after several months' probation, was received into the Church, and employed as a 
teacher. He wanted very much to go to Lhassa, and there openly preach the Gospel, 
declaring that he should rejoice if the sacrifice of his life should open the way for 
the conversion of his nation to the Christian faith. But it was no doubt felt that 
a premature advance might imperil the future prospects of the mission. So Gzalzan 
was induced to stay and work at Poo, though the missionaries could not but feel 
concerned at his statements that there was much mourning for sm among the 
Mongols. He proved a very useful teacher, but on one occasion an outburst of passion 
led hmi into grievous sin. He left the place, and after some solitary wandering he 
went to the nnssion station at Kyelang, where he j^rofessed great penitence, and was 
most exemplary in his conduct whilst labouring earnestly as a heljjcr in the work 
carried on there. 

Early in 1873, Mr. and Mrs. Redslob came out to Kyelang. They found it 
surrounded by a very inditferent poiJidation, but the little company of converted 
refugees from Ladak pro\ince formed a A'ery pleasing spectacle. The neat and cleanly 
appearance of the women was most striking ; their hair arrayed in thirty plaits (in 
native fashion) contrasted favourabl}' with that of chance attenders who happened to 
drop in, and who, being accustomed to unplait their hair only at monthly or longer 
intervals, showed heads that were unmentionably dirty. The men, too, exhibited the 
civilising effects of Christianit\-, although one or two little mistakes were apparent. For 
instance, ilatthew had had a waistcoat given him, and was wearing it as an appropriate 
addition outside his long cloak. At the Communion, the men were dressed entirely in 
white, while the women wore white shawls over their dark robes. In kneeling, each com- 
municant, in Oriental fashion, prostrated the head to the ground. The homes of these 
people were very different from those of their neighbours. Of course, the chimneyless 
hearth covered the roof with smoke, that wandered away from the aperture pi'ovided for 
it. But the house generally, and the cooking utensils, were clean ; and on some of 
the walls were pictures cut from the Illustrated London Neivs, or other periodicals, 
obtained fit'om the missionaries. 

Lahoid, as has been said, is under British supremacy, but it is a remote province, 
and in winter is practically cut off from the rest of the world, so that the Tibetan 
nobleman who acts as the representative of the British Government is under very little 
restraint, and worries the poor people with the most shameful extortions in the 
name of the Kasr-i-Hind. The severe winters have been very trying to the Tibetan 
missionaries. At times, when on a preaching toiu-, they have had to wait for da3"s for a 



Fab East.) THE KUSHOGS. 219 

mountain pass to get sufficiently clear of snow for them to go forward. In one terrible 
winter the snow in the neighbouring passes lay seven feet deep ; many flocks of sheep 
were destroj-ed, and sixty workmen returning home together all lost theh- lives in a 
vast snow-drift. 

Amongst the strange characters with ivhoni the missionary sometimes came in 
contact, were the Kushogs. A Kushog is one who professes to have been a man 
in his last previous state of existence, the idea being that his merit was so great, 
that he was permitted to be a man again, instead of gomg into one of the lower 
animals. Kushogs are crechted with mu'acidous powers. One came to Poo, and 
it was given out that he could guarantee people long life, and ensure them against 
being hurt by evil spirits. Young and old flocked to him in crowds ; he read 
his books, told his beads, and sprinkled holy water about, and then sold the 
deluded people pills and amulets, for internal and external application respectively. 
When he left the district he had nearly 200 rupees (about £10), which he had 
extracted from the scanty stores of the villagers, as well as sheep and goats, and 
a quantity of butter. 

Another Kushog came to a place when an epidemic of measles was raging. 
The lamas grouped themselves about the holy man, and a poor girl who was suffering 
badly fi-om the disease. A complicated religious ceremony, the object of which was 
to conjure the evil spirit out of the girl into the body of the Kushog, where it 
could do no harm, was then performed. The Kushog meanwhile worked himself up 
into a state of frantic delirium, and then kicked the sjirl in the neck, and told her 
she would be well now and no one else in the village would take the complaint. But 
the shameless impostor's prediction did not come true, and in less than two days the 
girl was dead. As Pagell treated several cases during the progress of this epidemic, and 
every one of his patients recovered, the lamas were indignant at seeing one of their 
holiest men, who bore about with him the merit of two well-spent lives, thus worsted 
by the Christian teacher. 

Notwithstanding the esteem and regard which the Poo missionaries had won 
for themselves among the inhabitants of the border valleys, and the flattering recep- 
tion accorded to Pagell at the time of the small-pox visitation, Chinese Tibet stiU 
remained barred against them. They had ofttimes looked with longing eyes from 
the adjacent mountain pass into the forbidden land. For thirty years Brother 
Pagell had patiently laboured and anxiously waited. He had heard with hopeful- 
ness of the strivings of national hfe in Tibet, when the populace at Lhassa rose in 
revolt agamst their ecclesiastical tyrants. But China had put forth her strong hand 
to the helj) of the lamas, and had crushed out the popular movement with horrible 
cruelties. 

In the heart of the mountain barrier that girdles the realm of the Ta-lei- 
Lama, Pagell was still faithfully guardmg the farthest outpost of Christian enterprise, 
when he died suddenly, on January 2nd, 1883. His devoted wife attended the inter- 
ment, but being taken ill ahnost directly afterwards, the Christian children of the 
settlement wei-e at her own request brought to her, when almost her last words were 



220 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [VI.-In the 

to bid them a most aft'octionate farewell, and then she, too, on January 9th, passed 
quietly away. Brother and Sister Weber came out to take charge of this mission a 
few months afterwards. 

Meanwhile, at the Kyelang mission sonie changes had taken place. The Tibetan 
Bible was issued in a complete form in 18.S2, and it was being pushed into districts 
where the missionaries themselves could not penetrate. But the people round the 
mission station were strangely apathetic and indifferent, and the little congregation of 
refugees from Ladak proviiice was melting away. There had been changes in the atfairs 
of Cashmere, and several of the people had in consecpience felt at liberty to retiu-n to 
their homes. It was resolved to take advantage of these altered circumstances, and 
push forward to Leh, where accordingly Brother Heide planted a mission station, and 
several of the converts, who had returned from Kyelang, gathered to the services. 
Their Christianity was more tried here than at the secluded mountain station ; there, 
in Lahoul, caste was rampant, and they were hedged in from much temptation, but 
here, in Ladak, caste was unknown. They were as welcome as anyone else at the 
constant festivals and masquerades, and were frequent spectators of gross, super- 
stitious, and direct demon-worship. 

Beside the river Indus, as it flows across a broad open valley, 11,000 feet above 
the level of the sea, and surroimded by lofty mountains, stands Leh, the chief 
to^vn of Ladak. Above the town towers the huge dilapidated castle, the palace of its 
ancient rulers there, looking down upon the long wide bazaars and a mass of irregular, 
intricate streets. Leh is an im})iirtant meeting-place for caravans from the North 
and South ; Mongols and Hindoos mingle in its streets, and busily carry on a verj'' varied 
trade. 

To take charge of this important mission station, Mr. and Mrs. Redslob were sent 
out in the summer of 1885. It was a long and arduous journey for a lady to imder- 
take ; the rugged mountain paths were always difficult, and occasionally really dangerous ; 
sometimes the party were clambering upward for hoiu-s, and then again s-crambling 
down steep declivities with yawning jJi'ecipices close at hand. The night encampment 
was often crowded on some narrow space, and the few hours of rest on a hard 
couch in a little tent were disturbed by the chatter of the coolies round their tire, 
and the restless movements of the baggage animals. Raging torrents had to be crossed 
by swinging-bridges a hundred feet or more above the foaming waters. About four 
feet wide were these bridges, with no handrail on either side, and they swayed up 
and down at each movement. One old bridge of birch-tree twigs had been in use 
two years longer than the appointed time for renewing it, and it had become so 
stretched that the only way of crossing it was to creep carefully down to the centre 
and then as carefull)- climb up the other half There were some trying moments 
before the whole company and the baggage were got safely across ; first the little baby 
a month old was taken over in a basket by one of the men ; then the baby's 
sister, eight years old, was brought over by another man, and finally Mrs. Redslob, 
hound on the back of a strong man, was carried across. Both mother and daughter 
showed trustful courage in a remarkable degree during these trying experiences, 



Far East.] 



A PERILOUS JOURNEY. 



221 



although the httle girl, on reaching the opposite bank, would often fall upon her knees 
and pray silently till her father and mother were by her side. 

But the bridges were far from being the only trouble. Once Mrs. Redslob's horse 
stood suddenly still : an avalanche had swept away the path in front, so that a false step 
on the steep declivity meant destruction. She managed to slide down from the 
animal's back, and singly they were able to move across the dangerous piece. At 
another place they met upon a narrow path a Kushog with a train of followers. He 




VIEW OF THE CASTLE OF LEH. 



was a Kushog of special eminence, and he carried a great yellow umbrella lined with 
red. The coolies knelt down in profound veneration, but Mrs. Redslob's horse seemed 
to forget all reverence, in terror at the apparition, and shied dangerousl}^ Mr. Redslob 
shouted to the saint to shut up his umbrella. The holy man was not accustomed 
to be talked to in that style ; but, overcome by the missionary's imposing stature and 
commanding accents, he did as he was told. 

Through mountain passes 18,000 feet above the sea-level, across broad snow-fields 
and glaciers, and in one place across a natural arch of snow — on and on, by ridge and 
glen, the party pushed forward into the Indus valley, and saw at length the old castle 
ramparts frowning above the goal of their pilgrimage. A house was soon procured. 
A church and school have since been built, a medical mission established, and 



222 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (Vl.-ix the 

the usual work of Bible distribution, and preaching tours, have been carried on ; and 
although the three churches of Kyelang, Poo, and Leh, only number about fifty 
converts, yet the indirect result of the Tibetan missions it would be impossible to 
estimate. There are not wanting reasons for hoping that a much larger area may 
become opened to the missionaries — an area which has already been penetrated by 
Tibetan Bibles and other religious literature. A considerable band of earnest students 
are zealously preparing themselves for pushing forward, as soon as the obstacles that 
now bar the way are removed. 

Attempts have also been made to bring Christianity to the Mongol race in the 
extreme east of the regions occujiied b)' them. On the bank of the Selenga, near 
Selenginsk, there is a stone wall enclosing a small pyramid and some graves. Near 
the Ona river there are (or were till recently) two or three gravestones in a field. 
Both these sites were, half a century ago, in close proximity to the log mission-houses, 
where earnest work was being done under the auspices of the London Missionary 
Society. From 1819 to 1841, the Rev. E. Stallybrass and the Rev. W. Swan, and two or 
three coadjutors, were labouring amongst the Buriats, a degraded Mongol tribe dwelling 
on Russian territory near the frontier of China. The missionaries avoided all inter- 
course with the Russians, and made their home amongst the poor heathen whom 
they came to serve. The Russian officials and colonists laughed at the mission, and, 
though not by any means over-cleanly in their own habits, thought the English 
missionaries must be insufferably dirty persons to be able to put up with Euriat 
surroundings. 

But, heedless of ridicule, the missionaries worked on, teaching, preaching, trans- 
lating, and, so far as they were able, ministering to bodily ailments. Some of them 
died in these wilds — twice Mr. Stallybrass was left a widower. The records of this 
mission are very scanty ; its history has never been written in a complete form. The 
converts were few in number, but they Avere exemplary and steadfast, and one of them 
obtained the crown of martyrdom. Bardu, a youth of seventeen, drew down upon 
himself the anger of the lamas by his progress at the mission-school, and his avowed 
inclination to be a Christian. It was in the winter of 1S34-5 that one of the lamas 
cruelly beat the poor lad about the head. He was unwell from that time, and severe 
headaches were followed by fever, under which he gradually sank. Under the treat- 
ment of a native doctor, he g-ot worse, and some invsterious heathen rites were 
about to be tried as a last resource when the boy begged to be taken to the 
mission-house. His relatives were glad to be relieved of the care of him. " He is. 
yours, body and soul," his uncle exclaimed, as he left him in charge of the mission- 
aries. They did their best for him, without avail ; but in the midst of severe 
sufferings his soul was at rest in Jesus, and he gently passed away. It was a 
touching scene when Tikshi, another converted Buriat, read 1 Corinthians xv. beside the 
open grave. 

The missionaries were very hopeful about their work, when it was suddenly put a 
stop to, in 1841, by the Emperor Nicholas, who said they might stay if they would not teach. 



Far East.] A3I0NG THE MONGOL TARTARS. 223 

religion. They saw it was best to retire, and their twenty converts, the visible result 
of rather more than twenty years of diligent toil, were received into the Greek Church, 
of which (when inquiries were subsequently made) it was found they had remained 
worthy members. But the missionaries had accomplished more than this. They had 
translated the Bible into the ilono-ol tongue, a work of incalculable value, serviceable 
throughout Mongolia, and also amongst the Mongols of China. As Mr. Gilmour 
tells us,* now and again m out-of-the-way places in Mongolia, the traveller hears 
that some one has a foreign book, and a Testament is produced that owes its origin 
to the self-denying labours of Stallybrass and Swan. It uuist not be omitted, 
moreover, to mention that another incidental result followed the suppression of the 
mission — the Greek Church itself positively set on foot some mission-work among the 
Buriats. 

In 18G9 it was resolved by the London Missionary Societj' to resume Gospel 
labours among the Mongol Tartars of the far East, and to start from the Christian 
missions of Northern China. The Rev. James Gilmour was accordingly ordained for 
this service in Augustine Church, Edinburgh, in February, 1870, and was speedily on 
his way to Pekin. His first work was amongst the Mongols who abounded in the 
city and neighbourhood. Many Avho received great benefit at the mission hospital 
carried the fame of the institution into ]\Iongolia, so that as soon as Mr. Gilmour 
began to arrange for missionary tours, he found that in many places he was not 
received as a stranger. His very interesting work, entitled " Among the Mongols," gives 
a large amount of information on the manners and customs of the inhabitants of 
these regions. 

At Pekin ilr. Gilmour has met representatives of all the Mongol tribes that ac- 
knowledge Chinese authority ; but year by j^ear he has spent the summer months 
in " travelling with natives through the desert, .sharing with them the hospitalitj' of the 
wayside tent, taking his turn in the night-watch against thieves, resting in the compara- 
tive comfort of the portable cloth travelling tent, or dwelling as a lodger in the more 
permanent abodes of trellis-work." 

Mr. Gilmour found his medicines highly appreciated. Bodily ailments are verj- 
prevalent among the degenerate descendants of the warrior hordes that followed 
Genghis Khan. But imfortunately manj- of these ailments are chronic and incurable, 
and the non-success of the missionary in curing them rather discredited hun with 
his patients. The means found by Jlr. Gilmour to be most efficacious for getting 
at the people are thus described in the graphic volume to which allusion has just 
been made : — 

" When a missionary travelling in ilongolia reaches a cluster of tents, a hale is 
called, the tenis are set up, the goods imloaded, a fire of the quick argol is started, and 
soon master and men abandon themselves to tea-drinking. Meantime natives of the 
place have gathered round. Sometimes thej' are very friendly and assist in setting up 
the tents. Sometimes they stand by counting their beads and looking on, but almost 
always they are ready and willing to join in the tea-drinking. Some of them are 

* " Among the Mongols," by the Rev. James Gilmour. 



224 



co>-qi:ests of the cross. 



[YL— In' the 



attracted by tlie medicine .'hich they have heard by report going before is dispensed 
^XLe are drawn merely by idle curiosity, some few come in the hope of gettmg 




BUBIATS. 



a Mongol book. For the most part they are a little distant at first. Tea even fails to 
h : completely their reserve, and it is not till a case of Scnpture p.ture. gaudyu h 
colours is produced, that old and young tind then- tongi;e and crowd aiound, all eje 
and ear. 1 selection of the pictures gives a good opportunity for statu.g the man. 



Fau East.) 



MOXGOL FAXATICISil. 



22i> 







PRAYER-WHEELS AND FLAG. 
{The Kheeh are tniiied by a rlinidiig styeam.) 



doctrines of Christianity, and in the case of the picture, the eye assisting the ear, even 

people of small intellectual abihty often apprehend clearly the teaching and remember 

it distinctly." 

From pictures it is an easy step to tracts and books. The Mongol is not slow to 

take in an intelligent idea of Christianity as a system, and usually declares it to be very 

crood — in fact, it is the same as Buddhism. If well read in his own scriiitures, he can 

quote doctrine for doctruie, and „ • ..r-,;- 

' . •' <^ '~^^ ■ 

miracle for miracle ; but when ^ •■■''■^■d§'i4E3t-5Jr>"'''-^- 

driven to close quarters he is 
obliged to confess that Buddh- 
ism does not produce practical 
holiness, even in its very tem- 
ples and religious retreats. Still 
Buddhism is so excellent that 
he wants nothing else, and he 
ridicules the idea of his sacred 
books, of which a complete 
collection coidd only be carried 
by a long string of camels, be- 
ing upset- by the little volume 
that is put into his hand. Tlie 
Buddhist enthusiasm of the 
Mongols is intense, and solitary converts would scarcely be allowed to exist among 
them. Arguments will not meet the case, but the exhibition of Christianity by faith- 
ful witnesses as a life-giving power will doubtless in dite time achieve new conquests 
of the Cross, even amongst these bicfoted wanderers of the Mongolian deserts. 

Mr. Gilmour, in the course of his long wanderings, saw abundant proofs of the 
sway which Buddhism has obtained over the Mongolian mind. The ilongols are most 
assuredly after their manner a very religious people ; if you meet one on the road, he 
is almost sure to be saying his prayers and counting his beads, and in the majority of 
cases is on his way to some famous shrine where he will perform prostrations inmunerable 
before the idols. In the Mongol quarters of the C'hinese frontior towns, the shops for 
the sale of images and pictures do a roaring trade. In crossing the Mongolian plains, 
the most prominent objects on the horizon are often the gorgeous temples, resplendent 
from afar with gold and brilliant colours, monuments of costly splendour in the midst 
of a scattered and poverty - stricken people. Flagstafifs with fluttering prayers rise 
conspicuously from every encampment, and the family altar with its images holds the 
place of honour in every tent. Before each meal the pious Mongol oft'crs a portion of 
his food to the gods, and pictures or charms, inscribed with prayers, hang from his neck 
beneath his garments. Over all the land, upon every hill-top, arc cairns surmounted 
by prayer-flags, and every stone upon those ever-growing cairns was placed there by some 
passer-by who stopped to pray. 

The ilongol's whole life is coloured by his religion ; in taking a journey; or in 
15 



226 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [VI.-Ixthe 

any matter of importance, he makes no decision as to time or place without consulting 
his teacher — the special lama whom he has chosen as his .spiritual director, and for 
whom his reverence almost amoimts to adoration. The advice may be bitterly disap- 
pointing, but it is submissively accepted and obeyed. 

Laraaistic Buddhism declares that there is an immortal soul in every living thing, 
and therefore it is sin to deprive anything of life. E^-en if unavoidable, it is still sin, 
and must be balanced by a corresponding amount of merit. The immortal soul, by 
its superabundance, or lack, of merit, rises to divine purity, or sinks to the lowest depths 
of animal life. It is, then, man's great duty to accumulate merit by ceaseless prayers, 
by pilgrimages, by offerings and beneficent actions. Indiscriminate charity flourishes in 
Mongolia as an aid to holiness ; half the male population are lamas, and most of 
these are mean and sordid beggars who seem to exist for the purpose of giving their 
fellow-countrymen opportunities for perpetual benevolence. Humanity to animals is 
one commendable result of the Buddhist creed ; the very birds on the Mongolian plains 
seem to feel that here man is not their enemy. The Mongol, seeing birds in cages for 
sale at the gates of Pekin and other Northern Chinese towns, generally spends a little 
money in setting two or three at libert}-. The Chinese merchant, " child-like and bland," 
takes good care that his Mongol neighbours shall have abundant opportunity for making 
merit in this manner. 

Though Buddhism presents some creditable features, and, to the profound student, 
offers a vast amount of philosophic doctrine and speculation, yet, at least for the 
Mongolian, it provides no intelligible worship. " Om Mani Padmi Hum " moved by hand 
power, by the wind, or by a roasting-jack, serves all purposes, and the common people 
undoubtedly worship the actual stone or wooden image before which they bow. The 
lamas of the highest grade are mere impostors. They show here and there a "living 
Buddha," dwelling in a gorgeous temple — some poor child who has been carefully 
coached to pretend to remember the experiences of his predecessor, and who is quietly 
poisoned oft' if he gets refractory. The lamas are proverbially innnoral, and their 
temples are the centres of the worst wickedness in the country. 

Especially is this the case as regards Urga, the home of a " Supreme Lama," and 
the religious capital of Mongolia. j\Ir. Gilmour visited it, and saw a Chinese trading- 
town on one side, and a Mongol settlement Avith numerous temples on the other. 
The temples from a distance wore an air of lofty grandeur, but seemed less imposing 
when seen close at hand. In the temples, and at every street corner, there were 
praying machines, so that any passer-by could stop and give a few turns for the good 
of his soul In front of the temples crowds were prostrating themselves or performing 
the ceremony of " falling worship," which consists in measuring the circumference of 
the group of temples with the human body. The worshipper falls down, and, with a 
stone in his hand, marks the ground beside his forehead ; he then puts his feet to 
the mark and falls again. The process is repeated continuously till the desired circuit 
is effected. They acknowledge that this sort of worship is very exhausting, and wears 
the clothes out considerably, but they justify its performance on the ground that 
masmuch as the body has joined with the mind in sinning, it ought to share in its 



Fak East.] 



WOJfDERFUL THINGS IN WU T'AI. 227 



religious exercises. The market-place of Urga is full of worn-out beggars from all parts 
of the country, who have come here to die. 

Jlore famous even than the religious capital, as a place of Mongol pilgrimage, is 
\Vu T'ai Shan, within the Chinese border. To and from this most sacred spot on 
earth to the Jlongol Buddhist, pilgrims are perpetually Hocking. They say that when 
the world perishes in universal ruin, Wu T'ai will still survive and flourish. One 
happy life is secured by every visit ; some come annually, so these have a good deal 
to look forward to. About thirty temples can be seen in one view, crowning a group 
of hills cultivated in terraces. Around rise the encircling mountains — dense forests 
to the south, broad stretches of snow to the north. The temples gleaming in the 
sunlight, the winding strings of camels laden with offerings, the groups of pilgrims 
performing their adorations, combine with the romantic scenery to make up a marvellous 
picture. 

There are wonderful things in Wu T'ai. The image over yonder gateway has a 
mark on its brow from which they say you can draw out a hair three thousand miles 
in length. Three times a week the body of that image is one blaze of light. They say 
it is spontaneous, but the lamas know how it is done. There are some very erudite lamas 
to be found in the adjacent temple — spending their lives over the sacred books, Avhich 
they carefully copy. There is great merit secured by copying one of the books in 
black, but still more by copying it in red, but to make a copy all in gold characters 
is of incalculable advantage to the writer's soul. 

Another shrine stands upon a mound adorned with three hundred praying-wheels 
pro bono ■publico. Within the shrine itself is a truly wonderful invention. An innnense 
wheel, sixty feet in height, is tilled with shrines, images, books, and prayers. By using 
an arrangement of handspikes in the cellar two or three people can manage to turn the 
huge cylinder, and are forthwith credited with having visited all the shrines, worshipped 
all the images, read all the books, and recited all the prayers contained in it. This 
luiiquc application of machinery to spiritual needs is rather hard to turn, but it is 
considered to fully repay the exertion required, and is in great request. 

A very steep path and a hundred steps lead up to a ridge, where, in a street of 
houses crowded with lamas and pilgrims, stands the temple of temples, the Pu' Sa 
T'ing. Here dwells a Supreme Lama, who sent a polite message to Mr. Oilmour, but 
could not sec him, inasmuch as the lama was very busy preparing for a festival. From 
Wu T'ai, lama missions, not for the purpose of teaching religion, but with the object of 
collecting money, are sent throughout ilongolia. When those who have subscribed 
liberally visit Wu T'ai, they are hailed as old acquaintances. Many of the well-to-do 
Mongols, when weary of life's worries, or suffering from some incurable disease, sur- 
render all their property to the lamas, and spend the remainder of their days amongst 
the holy shrines of Wu T'ai. 

But it is time to leave the Mongol portion of our story. Of the triumphs of Chris- 
tianity amongst them there is as yet little to record. Still, the leavening influence 
is going forward, and the faith and patience of those who are so diligently working in 
that far-off' region will, in due season, reap its reward. 



229 



VII. — MISSIONS IN INDIA. 

CHAPTER XII. 

EARLY LABOURS OF CARET. 



Boyhood of Carey— His Early Studies— Cobbler and Schoolmaster— Baptist Minister at Moulton—" Expect 
Great Things ; attempt Great Things "—Messrs. Grant and Thomas— Carey Sails for India— Studies 
Bengali— Family Troubles— In the Sunderbunds— Translation of the New Testament— Five Years at 
Mudnabatty— Purchases an Indigo Planting Farm— Establishment of the Serampore Mission. 

ON a cottage wall in the little village of Pauler's Pury, eleven miles from Northampton, 
an inscription marks the site where formerly stood the house in which William 
Carey was born in 17G1. 

About as unlikely as any one in the land to do deeds that should make his birth- 
place famous, was the weakly mfant, with scrofulous tendencies, cradled in that two- 
storied cottage on the edge of AVhittlebury Forest. The first-bom of five children, ho 
seems to have become the especial favourite of a devout grandmother, a woman of a 
more delicate and refined type than was to be found among the majority of her class. 
Her husband was the parish clerk and village schoolmaster, and William Carey's father 
succeeded to the same position when the child was six years old. The successive 
appointment of grandfather and father to these oflnces, even in a country village in the 
eighteenth century, seems to betoken some degree of mental capacity in the Carey 
family. The child, at any rate, gave early evidence of possessing an active mind. Tlic 
listening mother from time to time heard him adding up numbers in his sleep ; he 
learned all that could be acquired in his father's school, and taught himself much more 
from such books as he could lay his hands upon. 

When the family removed to the schoolhouse — which was young Carey's home till 
he was fourteen — he had a room of his own, and here he kept birds, beetles, and insects, 
watching their growth and changes with the keenest interest. His rambles in the fields 
and woods Avere shared by a sister, who tells us how carefully he used to observe 
the hedges as lie passed along, and how quick he was to notice any new plant or 
insect. 

Although book-loving and studious, the boy Carey had his seasons of activity and 
fun. He was often the leader in village games, and proved his indomitable energy by 
climbing, after repeated failures, to the top of a lofty tree which his comrades had 
given up as impracticable. " Whatever young Carey begins, he finishes," was the verdict 
of his associates. He made his father's garden, adjoining the schoolhouse, the best 
cottage garden for miles round. In this plot there stood an old wych-elm — the boy's 
chosen retreat when the reading fit was on hhn. Here his companions would sometimes 
find him, and refuse to go aAvay unless he would first preach to them, whereupon, 
from his elm-tree pulpit, the lad would hold forth to ' the mtense satisfaction of his 
rustic audience. 

Science, history, voyages — these were the themes most fascinating to young Carey. 



230 CONQUESTS O.F THE CROSS. [VII.-iIissio.ns 

For the present, religious books disgusted him ; though Bunyan's immortal dream seems, 
as in the case of most young readers, to have left a strong impression. But amidst his 
reading and botanising, and so forth, there soon arose the urgent question, How is this 
youth to be put in the way of getting a living ? They sent him out into the fields to 
scare birds, with a prospect that he might develop into an agricultural labourer. But 
a troublesome skin-disease became unendurable when subjected to prolonged outdoor 
exposure, and so, at the age of fourteen, they apprenticed him to a shoemalcer at 
Hackleton. 

A self-satisfied young Pharisee was Carey at this period of his career ; proud of his 
connection with the Church, and yet addicted, according to his own accoimt, to " lying 
and swearing and other vices." He still thirsted for knowledge. He saw in an old 
commentary belonging to his master, a nimiber of Greek words, and was seized with a 
burning desire to penetrate their mystery. He copied these words as well as he coidd, 
and took them to an acquaintance in his native village — an ex-medical student who 
had blasted his career by dissij^ation, and was now getting a living at the loom. This 
man — Tom Jones by name — was Carey's first Greek tutor. Latin the youth had been 
teaching himself from an old grammar and vocabulary for some time past. 

Through the death of his master, Carey was transferred to another shoemakei", 
Mr. Old, Avhose pastor was Thomas Scott, the commentator. Scott used to visit at 
the house, and became strongly interested in the " sensible-looking lad in his 
working apron," who listened so intently and asked such pertinent questions. "That 
youth will prove no ordinary character," remarked the good man on more than one 
occasion. 

Through the ministrations of Mr. Scott, joined to the example and influence of a 
fellow-servant, Carey became a decided Christian. At nineteen we find him preaching, 
and a few months afterwards he accepted a ministerial engagement at East Barton, 
where, as well as in his own village, he laboured for three years and a half Carey- 
was not twenty when Mr. Old died. Then the business was without a head, with an 
unmarried sister dependent upon it, and Carey seems to have thought that to take 
over the business and stock, and to marry the sister, was the simplest way of ananging 
matters. This programme was accordingly carried out. Poor Carey 1 Poor j\Iiss Old ! 
One scarcely knows which to pity most, the " called and chosen " evangelist, whose 
heroic exertions were to be clogged for twenty-five j'ears to come, or the illiterate girl, 
who thought they were going to get a quiet living out of the shoe business which her 
father had industriously built n\). 

But Carey was not the man to keep up a business ; he was not so much as a good 
workman. His cottage garden, even, succeeded better than his shojx So the young 
couple found it hard to make a living, and it was only kind aid from relatives or friends 
that more than once rescued them from actual destitution. Care}- tramped the countr}' 
round, hawking his goods ; he bore up against toil and privation, and endui'ed long 
spells of fever and ague, till it seemed as if the end must be near. But amidst all 
trials he kc})t up his studies, and his diligent preparation for his pastoral duties. 

At length there came a gleam of light across his pathway. He was in his twenty- 



ft ^ ^>T^ N '--i-.. ♦■/ K 




I" " I Dravithaii- 

I I Kolarian. Brahiii. Mon- 

I I Tilieto-Buraiaii. 

I I lOiasi. 



I 1 Ta,, 

I I Mongolian. 

[~ I Tnrki. 



SanSraJlf 



LANi PASES m& ©IJA\LE&TS 

of 

INBIA 



O as SO loo JSO 



ScaI^-1 18,000,000. 



En^liaK MiXes 



Longitude East 30 of Greenwich 



T,ondt7n. , Cassell iX* Company, Linittt'^ . 



■N India.) CAREY'S CAREER IS SHAPED. 231 

fifth j'ear when, in 1786, he was appointed to the Baptist Chapel in ]\Ioulton, at a 
salary of £16 a year. He also set up as a schoolmaster, but in this vocation he was a 
decided failure. "When I kept school" (he afterwards said), "it was the boys who kept 
me ! " But the school episode was an important factor in the shaping of his career. 
The geography lessons impressed him with the vastness of the regions where heathenism 
still prevailed. He sought for more information about these countries, and, as he read 
and mused, " the fire burned " in his soul, and he longed to stir up Christians to do 
something for the cause of Christ in those lands of darkness. Meanwhile he had to fall 
hack upon his shoemaking to eke out a living. Every other Saturday saw him trudging 
ten miles to Northampton with a wallet of shoes on his shoulders, and then trudging 
back with a fresh supply of leather. He got rid of his goods to a Government contractor, 
and there is reason to believe that the poor fellows were to be pitied who had to wear 
them. Carey never had much faith in his own handiwork. In after years, at the table 
of Lord Hastings, a general asked, " Was not Dr. Carey once a shoemaker ? " — " No, 
sir," said Dr. Carey, who had overheard the question, " No, sir, only a cobbler." 

When living at Moulton, Carey had the happiness to form friendships with the father 
of Robert Hall, with the Rev. Andrew Fuller, and other ministers whose genial com- 
panionship elevated and encouraged him. The great idea that had risen in his soul 
was kept full in view, and, at a meeting of ministers at Northampton, he ventured to 
suggest as the topic of discussion, " The duty of Christians to attempt the spread of the 
Gospel among heathen nations." — " Young man 1 " cried the president, springing to his 
feet, " sit down ; when God pleases to convert the heathen. He will do it without your 
aid or mine." Even his s^iiipathetic friend Mr. Fidler was startled, and could only 
reflect, " If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be ? " 

Thus hindered from speaking his mind, Carey wrote a pamphlet — he and his family 
being at the time almost starving ; no animal food, and the bread supply very limited. 
The pamphlet was an epitome of the then extraordinary knowledge Carey had collected 
on the subject of the heathen. To write it under his existing circumstances was, indeed, 
a proof of his enthusiasm and energy. 

Carey was transferred to Leicester in 1789, where his outward circumstances improved 
to some extent, and he enlarged the circle of his friends. AU admired his zeal and 
earnestness, but shrank from the responsibility of imiting in his plans. They helped 
him, however, in 1791, to publish his pamphlet, written three years before. In May of 
the following year he preached, at the meeting of ministers at Nottingham, the sermon that 
was long remembered as having laid the foundation of the Baptist Missionary Society. 
The burden of his discourse was, " Expect great things : attempt great things." The 
effect of this sermon was electric ; but in the after discussion the ministers were for 
separating without any practical result. In an agony of distress Carey seized Fuller's 
hand and indignantly remonstrated, and a resolution was put on the books that a Society 
sliould be established for propagating the Gospel among the heathen. At the first 
meeting, in October, the Society was fonned, the first Committee being : — Andrew Fuller, 
Secretary; Reynold Hogge, Treasurer ; John Ryland, John Sutcliffe, William Carey. The 
next consideration was the " sinews of war," and the twelve ministers present (not one 



232 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. mi.-MissmNs 

of them, it should be remembered, worth £100 a year) subscribed £13 2s. 6d. Then 
William Carey forthwith offered to go out to any country the society might select. 
The infant society presently received £70 from the church at Birmingham, and other 
donations quickly followed, but the London ministers seemed to have looked on the whole 
aflair as an obscure provincial movement, and for a time took no part in what was 
destined to become one of the grandest enterprises ever undertaken by any denommation 
of Christians. 

We have now reached the point at which Carey stands eager to be sent out 
anywhere to preach the Gospel to the heathen ; a young society is willing to send 
him, and it remains to show how India came to be manifested as the God-appomted 
field of service. 

Of the pioneer mission-work in Southern India the story has been told in a 
previous chapter. In the Northern Provinces, Christian England had taken Brahma, 
Vishnu, and Siva, and all their kith and kin, under her kindly patronage. 
Near the mouth of the Ganges, amid swamp and jungle, the English had, in IGOG, 
built Fort William to protect their factories against the Nabob of Bengal. Fort AMlliam 
developed into modern Calcutta, and the victory of Clive at Plassy, in 1756, brought the 
rich provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa completely under the sway of the East India 
Company. There were further accessions of territory, and a vast increase of wealth 
and power, and yet the eighteenth centur\' was hastening towards its close without any 
combined effort being made in these, the richest provinces of the Indian Empire, to modify 
one foul or brutal feature of the idolatrous superstitions that prevailed in the land, or to 
show the conquered people one glimpse of a higher life. The Fakir swung upon the hooks 
that pierced his flesh, the sick and aged were left to die in the mud of the sacred river, the 
widow flung herself upon the burning pj-re beside her husband's corpse, devotees sought 
death beneath the rolling wheels of Jaganuatha's car, deeds of unspeakable foulness 
were perpetrated as sacred rites in the shrines of the gods, and yet English rulers 
forbade all tampering with native opinions and native usages. England's guns were 
fired and England's drums beaten by way of salutation to abominable idols, and a 
Christian Government lent its authority and sanction to orgies of shameless and brutal 
depravity. 

True it is that Kiernander — a German Lutheran Missionarj^, labouring under the auspices 
of the Christian Knowledge Society — cordially encouraged by Colonel Clive, had come from 
Southern India to labour for a while among the Portuguese Roman Catholics, many of 
whom were received into the Protestant communion ; but nothing was done for the 
natives. For a quarter of a century after the battle of Plassy, Englishmen in Bengal 
were too busy in amassing riches to care about the spiritual needs of the conquered 
race. Amidst general corruption and scepticism, Mr. Charles Grant was, about the year 
1783, conspicuous among the Company's servants as an exemplary Christian. He was the 
centre of a little band who met for mutual help and encouragement. A surgeon iir the 
Company's service, Mr. John Thomas, a man of ardent zeal and piety, who felt that some- 
thing ought to be done for the millions of heathen India, advertised in 1783 for a Christian 
who Avould "assist in promoting a knowledge of Jesus (Jhrist in and around Bengal," 



IN India.] 



GRANT AND THOMAS. 



23S 



and Mr. Grant and his friends placed him at Goamalty, near Malda, where he trans- 
hxtcd part of the New Testament mto BengaH, and for three years worked successfully 
among the natives. But, though spiritually minded and zealous, Mr. Thomas was an 




HINDOO FAKIRS. 



nnpracticable pei^son to deal with. He was mystical and extravagant, irascible and 
bigoted, and he speculated so imprudently, and became so involved in debts and liabilities, 
that Jlr. Grant was compelled to break off all connection with him. 

Of Mr. Grant's further efforts, and of the elaborate plan which he drew up in 178G 
for a " Mission to Bengal," little need be said, inasmuch as nothing came of them. 



234 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IVJI.-Missions 

The Governor-General, Lord Comwallis, " had no faith in such schemes, and thought that 
they niu3t prove ineti'ectual." Mr. Grant, by correspondence, and, on his return to England, 
by personal etlbrt, sought to enlist the presiding authorities of Church and State in 
favour of his project. But at that date all new movements were looked upon with 
distrust, the leaders of Evangelical thought were timid, the prelates of the English Church 
made excuses ; even Wilberforce had the plan twice moditied, till its missionary spirit 
was almost filtered out of it. King George III. thought it important and desirable, but 
hesitated to countenance it, " chiefly in consequence of the alarming progress of the French 
Revolution, and the proneness of the times to movements subversive of the existing 
order of things ! " 

Both Pitt and Dundas had given some encouragement to the scheme ; but they 
introduced an India Bill in 1793, renewing the powers of the East India Company, without 
the expected provisions for the moral and spiritual improvement of India. "Wilber- 
force, however, mduced the House of Conniions to adopt a resolution which led to 
a clause bemg placed m the India Bill arranging for the encouragement of schools 
and missions. But now the " Court of Directors " and " Court of Proprietors," and 
all the wealthy Anglo-Indians — the men of whom it was said that " they had lett 
their consciences and their religion behind them at the Cape when they went out, and 
neglected to call for them on their way home " — rose in fierce revolt against Wilberforce 
and the " fanatics." They put forth a manifesto from Leadenhall Street, declaring that 
the age was too enlightened for proselytism, that missionaries in India would destroy- the 
Company's interests, that conversions to any large extent would be disastrous, and they 
"thanked God" it was impracticable. They denounced the project as "wild, extravagant, 
expensive, and unjustifiable," and exerted such pressure on the House, that the proposed 
clause was omitted from the India Bill. Ministers were prevailed upon by the clamourc 
of the India House to .shelve Wilberforce and the Christian party ; the bishops were 
equally time-serving with the Government ; and for twenty years the spread of knowledge 
and religion in India was placed at the mercy of the Court of Directors. It was at this 
moment that a Nonconformist sect seized the opportunity which the National Cliurch 
had flung away. " Many years ago," said Mr. Grant, thirty years afterwards, " I had 
formed the desigii of a mission to Bengal, and used my humble etibrts to promote 
the design. Providence resei'\'ed that honour to the Baptists." 

In spite of his rupture with ilr. Grant, Mr. Thomas was still bent upon working as a 
missionar}^ He was a Baptist, and, upon his return to England, he found that among his 
own persuasion there had sprung up a little society having for its object " to convey the 
message of salvation to some part of the heathen world." To this society ilr. Thomas so 
fervidly pictured the needs of India, that it was agreed to send him out as their 
missionarv in Bengal, accompanied by the man who was the life and soul of their owna. 
association, William Carey. 

Carey and Thomas, dissimilar as they were in many respects, were as one man in their 
fervent enthusiasm for the missionary cause. At their first meeting they embraced each 
other, and wept tears of joy at the expected realisation of their earnest desires. But there 
were still great obstacles to be overcome before the missionaries could reach their field 



iNlKDiA] CARKY SAILS FOR INDIA. 235 

of service. Mrs. Carey, utterly incapable of sympathising with her husband's aspirations, 
was appalled at the prospect, and positively I'cfused to go. Then Carey resolved to 
take with him his eldest son, and, when the mission was established, retuni for his 
wife and the other members of his family. It was not till March, 1793, that the needed 
fimds were raised by importiuiate begging from the wealthier members of the Baptist 
commimity. On March 20th the Rev. Andrew Fuller, who had done most of the hard 
work in getting the money by personal solicitation, preached at the valedictory services. 
His concluding words were, " Go, then, my dear brethren, stimulated by those prospects. 
We shall meet again. Each, I trust, will be addressed by our Great Redeemer, ' Come, 
ye blessed of my Father : these were hungry and ye fed them ; athirst, and ye gave 
them drink ; in prison, and ye visited them ; enter into the joy of your Lord.' " 

The next difficulty was how to get to India. No English vessels, except those of 
the Company, might go there, and every j^assenger had to receive a personal permission 
from the India House. Inquiry showed that any application to the Court of Directors 
would be treated with contempt, and Jlr. Grant refused to use his influence if Mr. Thomas 
was sent out, but would have done what he could for Carey alone. There seemed 
nothing else to be done but to try and smuggle the missionaries into India ; and the 
captain of the vessel in which Mr. Thomas had made two voyages as surgeon, agreed to 
take them without the required licence. They joined the ship off' the Isle of Wight, 
when the captain received an anonymous letter, stating that the fact of his taking on 
board unlicensed persons was about to come before the Court of Directors. Feeling 
his professional interests in jeopardy, the missionaries were immediately put on shore, 
bag and baggage. Carey wrote at once to Fidler, " Our plans are frustrated for the 
present ; but, however mysterious the dealings of Providence, I have no doubt they ai"e 
tlirected by an infinitely wise God." With a heavy heart he watched the fleet sail awaj'. 

They returned to London, where Thomas so vigorously exerted himself to find a 
way of getting to India, that they succeeded in arranging for a passage in a Danish 
East Indiaman, which was dally expected to anchor in the Downs on its way to India. 
But the charges were heavy, and more funds were needful. Mrs. Carey, also, who had 
already tired of her widowhood, now agreed to accompany her husband if her sister 
might also be allowed to go. Within twenty-four hours of her consent, Carey had 
sold his little property, and the family were on their way to London. The passage- 
money would now amount to £600, and when the Society had borrowed all it could on 
its guarantee, the sum in hand was still insufficient. By arranging that Mr. Thomas and 
Miss Old shoidd rank as assistants and dine at the steward's table, a passage was 
secured, and on June 13th, 1793, just about the time that the godless India Bill, with 
the sanction of the majoritj' of the bishops, was passing the House of Lords, the party 
embarked on the Cron Princessa Maria. For one day the arrangement made was 
kept to, and then the captain put them all on an equal footing at his own table. 

Carey worked hard at Bengali, under the tuition of Mr. Thomas, during the long 
voyage, which terminated on November 11th. They landed at Calcutta, hired a 
house, and proceeded to realise fimds by the sale of the goods which they had been 
advised to bring with them in lieu of cash. Thomas, who was understood to know 



236 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [YIl.-Jlissio.xs 

the Calcutta market, was entrusted with the disposal of the goods, but he soon exhibited 
his unthrifty and extravagant ways. The money went as fast as it came in. Carey 
removed to a cheaper house at Bandel, further uj) the river, where stands the oldest 
Christian building in Bengal, a Roman Catholic church, built very early in the seventeenth 
century. Here he met the venerable Kiemander, then in his eighty-fourth jear, and a 




WILLIAM CAKEY. 



pensioner of the Danish Government. It was a memorable interview, when the young 
evangelist, panting for work, thus came into communion with a veteran who had come 
out from Franeke's " School of the Prophets " at Halle when Schliltze was the moving 
spirit of the Indian missions, and Avho had witnessed the whole career of Schwartz. From 
what has been shown in this and the preceding chapter, the reader will have no 
difficulty in tracing a true apostolic succession fi'om Ziegenbalg to "William Carey. 



IN India.] 



OX THE BKIXK OF DESPAIR. 



237 



But Carey soon saw that Lanclel, with its European society, was not the place for 
getting at the natives. He went with Thomas to Niiddea, where they spent a few days 
arguing with the learned Brahmins who thronged that famous place of learning. They 
were invited to stay, and were somewhat inclined to do so, " as it is the bulwark of 
Hinduism," says Carey, " which, if once carried, all the country must be laid open to 
us." However, circumstances obliged them to return to Calcutta, where Thomas found 




FORT WILLIAM, CALCUTTA. 



some of his bonds awaiting him, forwarded by his London creditors. He was advised 
to resume his medical profession as a means of partially satisfying them. 

The means brought from England were now almost exhausted, and Carey and his 
family were soon reduced to great distress. Thomas borrowed money at exorbitant interest, 
and set up as a doctor in comparative luxurj'. Carey and his family (seven in number) 
were crowded into a small, ill-ventilated house, generously lent them by a rich native. 
Never before in his whole life, long and arduous as had been the struggle, had Carey been 
brought by severe distress so near to the brink of despair. Friendless and often penniless, 
in a foreign land, and with a large family to be cared for, his condition was indeed pitiable 
in the extreme. Life in that wretched hovel was made still more miserable by the cease- 
less upbraidings of the two women ; and to crown all, the wife and two children were for 
a time laid up with severe illness. It was a miracle of providence and grace that Carey 



238 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IVIi.-jiissions 

was enabled to pass through such accumulated trials, and yet maintain his earnest devo- 
tion to the craise for which he came out to India. He still studied Bengali, translated 
portions of the Scriptures, and preached in the streets when he could get a chance. 

At length some one offered him an old bungalow in the Sunderbimds. This is a vast 
region at the moiith of the Ganges, in some jDarts covered with tiger-haunted jungles, in 
others a network of mud islands swarming with alligators. Innumerable creeks and 
streams intersect the nuiddy swa'mps, over which foul malaria ceaselessly broods. Yet 
there are tracts which, in ancient Jays, were cultivated and dotted with villages, and the 
land is fertile enough to repay careful eip.bankment and culture. Carey got a little money 
from Thomas, and started with his family for this delightful region. February, 1794, saw 
the boatload of the Careys, with their small assortment of worldly goods, floating down 
the river from Calcutta. Their provisions were well-nigh exhausted, when the}' saw on the 
bank a European with a gun in his hand. This was Mr. Short, who was sviperintending 
the Company's saltworks. He was an unbeliever, and had no sympathy with Carey's 
missionary ideas, but, as a fellow-countryman, he most hospitably invited the family to lodge 
at his place for six months while a suitable dwelling-place was being prepared for them. 
The offer was gratefidly accepted, and on an adjacent clearing at Hasnabad, Carey began 
erecting his huts. " Wild dogs, deer, and fowl," he says in a letter to Mr. Fuller, " are to 
be procured by the gun, and must supply us with a considerable portion of our food. 
I find an inconvenience in having so much of my time taken up in procuring provisions 
and cultivating my little farm. But, when my house is built, I shall have more leisure 
than at present, and have daily opportunities of conversing with the natives and ^uv- 
suino- the work of the mission." 

These were hopeful words, but Carey's letters written at this period show that 
he passed through some very trying experiences. He felt deeply the absence of human 
friendship and sympathy. The prevailing infidelity of the Europeans disheartened him ; 
the stupid superstition of the rural natives seemed impenetrable. Every Eiu'opean he 
conversed with discoiu'aged him, and told him that the conversion of Hindoos was im- 
possible. But he comforted himself by remembering that the Divine Power, without 
which no Eurojjean could be converted, could certainly convert an Indian. 

" My soul," he writes in one of his letters to Eiu'ope at this time, " my soul longcth 
and fainteth for (lod, for the living Cod, to see His glorj' and His beauty as I have 
seen them in the sanctuary. When I left England, my hopes of the conversion of the 
heathen were very strong ; but amidst so many obstacles they woidd utterly die, unless 
upheld by God. I have met with many things calculated to upset them since I left 
my dear charge at Leicester. Since that time I have had InuTying up and down, a 
live months' imprisonment with camal men on board the ship, five more spent in learning 
the language, my moonshee not understanding English sufficiently to interpret my 
preaching, my colleague separated from mc, long delays experienced respecting my 
settlement, few opportimities for social worship, no woods to retire to (like Brainerd), 
for fear of tigers (no fewer than twenty men in the department of Dajdiotta, where I 
am, have been carried away from the salt-works this season) ; in short, no earthly 
thing to depend on. Well, I have God ; and His word is sure. Though the superstitions 



IN India.) .^N LABOURS ABUXDAXT.' 239 

of the Hindoos were a niillioii times more deeply rooted, and the example of Europeans 
a million times worse than they are ; if I were deserted by all, and j^ersecuted by all, 
yet my hope, fixed on that sm-e word, will rise sut)erior to all obstructions, and trimnph 
over all trials. God's cause ivUl triumph, and I shall come out of all trials as gold 
purified in the tire." 

But the Careys were not to stay long in the tiger-haunted Sunderbunds. Mr. Thomas 
had, with some difficidty, renewed his former acquaintance with a Mr. Udney (one of 
the Charles Grant circle). Mr. Udney was in a superior jiosition in the Company's 
service — a pious and able man, through whose kindness ilr. Thomas was appointed 
to the charge of an indigo factory at Malda, and, in turn, used his influence to pro- 
cure for Carey a similar appointment at Mudnabatty. Carey was delighted with the 
prospect of maintenance for his family and extended usefulness for himself Ho 
wrote rejoicingly to the Conmiittee in England, stating that though he should not 
require from them the means of subsistence, " it would always be his joy and glory to 
stand in the same relation to the society as if he required its assistance, but he requested 
that the smn which might be considered his salary should be devoted to the priirtmg 
of the Bengali translation of the New Testament." 

The Committee, which, as Carey's biograjjher remarks, " had been enlarged without 
being improved," so little understood the man with whom they were dealing, that some 
of them actually addressed to him a letter of " serious and affectionate caution lest he 
should allow the spirit of the missionary to be swallowed up in the pursuits of the 
merchant." Carey could not but feel hurt at this ungenerous remonstrance, but he 
meekly replied : " I can only say that, after my family's obtaining a bare subsistence, 
my whole income, and, in some months, more, goes for the purpose of the Gospel, in 
supporting persons to assist in the translation of the Bible, in writing out copies of 
it, and in teaching school. I am indeed poor, and shall always be so imtil the Bible 
is published in Bengali and Hindustani, and the people want no further instruction." 

Iir June, 1794, Mr. Carey arrived with his family at Mudnabatty (thirty miles 
distant from the Company's station at Malda, where Mr. Thomas was located), and at 
once took up his duties at the factor3'. It was a secluded spot ; and here, free from 
harassing cares and anxieties, he spent five years of his life in diligent preparation for 
the more important services of the future. More than a quarter of his salary (£20 a 
month) was spent on the mission. He saw that the improvement of agriculture was a 
matter of vast importance, and he procured all sorts of seeds and implements from 
England. " It will be a lasting advantage to the country," he writes to Fuller, " and I 
shall have an opportimity of doing this for what I may now call my own country." In 
all his plans he kept befoie him the spread of the Gospel. He daily assembled the 
sen'ants and factory labourers (not far short of a hundred individuals) for Christian 
worship, and as time and opportunity afforded, preached in the neighbouring villages. 
He set up a free school for native children, but the parents were too poor to avail 
themselves fully of its advantages. It even became needful to pay the children for their 
time to induce the parents to let them remain. 

Carey thus describes his itinerant labours : — ' I have a district of about twenty 



240 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[VII.— Missions 



miles square, where I am continually going from place to place to pulilisli the Gospel, 
and in this space there are about two hundred villages. My manner of travelling is 
with two small boats, one of which serves me to lodge in, the other for cooking my 
victuals. All my furniture, as well as my food, I carry with me from place to place, 
namely, a chair, a table, a bed, and a lamp. I walk from village to village, but repair 




AS INDIAN INDIGO FACTOKV. 



to my boat for lodging and victuals. There are several rivers in this quarter of the 
country, which renders it very convenient for travelling." 

All this zealous work produced no visible results in the way of open profession 
of Christianity. A few individuals, of whom great hopes were entertained, never got 
beyond the condition of " interested inquirers." Year after year, friends in England only 
heard of ceaseless efforts, but no converts. It was still the time of seed-sowing ; tlie 
time of ingathering had not yet come. Carey and his colleague had to learn the full 
strength of the difficulties attending the conversion of Hindoos to the Christian faith. 

Carey's principal work during this long exorcise of faith and patience, was the 



IN India.] 



A "SERIOUS PRINTER" WANTED. 



241 



translation of the New Testament into Bengali. When the work was completed, he went 
to the proprietors of the three or four printing-presses in Calcutta, and found that they, 




CARET AND HIS PUNDIT REVISING THE BENGALI TRANSLATION. 



like other Europeans in India, were "making haste to be rich," and wanted £4,400 for 
10,000 copies on native paper, exclusive of binding. Carey therefore proposed to the 
Society to send him out a set of Bengali punches from the well-luio^ni type-foundmg 
firm of Caslon, London ; also a printing-press and a supply of paper, and, if possible, 
a "serious printer," if one could be found willing to travel 14,000 miles to accept an 
16 



242 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IVll.-Missioxs 

engagement. About this time, however, a press was on sale in Calcutta, and a friend of the 
mission bought it and presented it to Carey. It is still shovm m the Serampore College 
as the press at which the first sheet of the Bible was printed in Northern India. When 
the press was put together, and erected in Carey's house at Mudnabatty, the natives 
from far and near flocked to see it; they heard the missionary's glowing account of 
what it could accomplish, and, tilled with awe and reverence, they pronounced it to be 
a European idol. 

To the mission at Mudnabatty, m 1790, came Mr. Fountain, an " unenergetic, 
little-minded man," who added no real strength to the cause. He managed to reach 
the mission-tield by being rated as a servant on one of the Company's ships, and thus 
entered the country unnoticed. Carey was very anxious for more helpers in the work, 
but it seemed almost impossible to break through the barriers which the Indian Govern- 
ment had set up against interlopers. The British Parliament, in 1783, had been induced 
to decree that any subjects of His Majesty who should be found without lawful licence 
in the East Indies, should be hable to line and imprisonment as guilty of high crime 
and misdemeanour. It is only right to say that the East India Company seem to 
have used these extraordinary powers very moderately. Their o^vn Court of Directors 
decreased the penalty to simple deportation, and, in ten years, only enforced it in two 
instances — in both cases for political agitation. 

Sir John Shore, the Governor-General, issued an order in 1795 that every unlicensed 
European in the country should, under ample securities, enter into covenants with the 
Company. It was an arbitrary act, but to Carey it was overruled for good, for it gave 
him a recognised and established position in the country. He found securities, and was 
duly registered as an mdigo planter. He wrote to Mr. Fuller : — " Whether the Company 
wiU, or will not, molest us, must be left to His care, without whose permission a sparrow 
does not fall to the ground ; but, that no human means for our safety may be wanting, 
I have entered into covenants with the Company, and am permitted to live in the 
country, and with boldness engage in my line of business, and pursue any line of conduct 
I choose. The missionaries who come out may be returned as my own or Mr. Thomas's 
assistants." 

In an over-earnest effort to get something accomplished, Carey proposed that 
seven or eight families should be helped to come out and form a settlement near 
Malda on the Moravian system. Men and women were all to be mission workers, and 
to have aU things in common. They were to live in little straw houses under the 
government of two stewards, who were to superintend the meals, worship, mental cul- 
ture, and mission work of the community. He thought the whole thing could be 
accomplished at a cost of five pounds a month, if they took their meals together. It 
was, as Mr. Marshman points out,* the dream of a fervid and over-excited mind. The 
straw huts and mud floors would have sent half the community into their graves 
in six months, and the whole settlement would have broken up in dire distress in 
less than a twelvemonth. Mr. Fuller, however, took very kindly to this scheme, and 

* " Life of Carey," by J. C. Marshman. 



IN IsciA.] CAREY AS AN INDIGO PLANTER. 243 

was sanguine of its success. He strongly urged Mr. Carey to wait upon Lord Morning- 
ton (subsequently Lord Wellesley) — who, in 179(S, had been appointed Governor-General 
of India — in order to get his missionary vocation definitely acknowledged, and the 
mission established on a permanent footing, by means of a legal settlement. Carey 
acknowledged to having smiled as he read the suggestion for an interview with the 
Governor-General — a suggestion which seemed only natural and perfectly feasible to his 
friend far away in Northamptonshire. His reply to Mr. Fuller shows clearly the 
anomalous status of a missionary in Bengal at the close of last centiny : — " You must," 
he wrote, " drop all your English ideas and acquire Indian ones. There can be no legal 
settlement here, in the English sense of the word. The law prohibiting the settlement 
of Europeans was passed by Parliament, and can be reversed only by the same 
authority. Every European is obliged to report himself and his occupation once a 
year to the magistrate, and if I were to return myself as a missionary, I certainly 
should not be allowed to remain in the country. You must not, however, suppose that 
we are obliged to conceal ourselves or our work. We preach before magistrates and 
judges, and, were I in the company of Lord Mornington, I would not hesitate to avow 
myself a missionary, though I would not officially return myself as such." 

Carey had been labouring in Mudnabatty for five years, with very little visible 
fruit of his labour, although doubtless the permeating influence of his work was 
preparing the way for future successes, when circumstances occurred which at first 
seemed unpropitious, but, under Providence, led to his transfer to another sphere of 
service, where, with congenial and enterprising co-workers, he could develop more 
freely his plans for the promotion of the Gospel. The indigo factories of Malda and 
Mudnabatty did not turn out paying concerns, and were consequently given up. Carey 
accordingly reported to his Committee in England, that he was now expecting to be 
quite without independent means. 

Over the tone and temper of this Committee a great change for the better had 
come during the five years that they had watched the course of their faithful 
missionar}-. They paid him all the arrears of the salary he had declined to receive, 
and left to his discretion the mode of arranging for the future maintenance of the 
mission. Carey at once purchased, for £300, a small indigo-planting farm, near Kidder- 
pore. He was hopeful that the profits of the farm would support the mission, and 
forthwith began to build straw huts for the associates whom he knew that his English 
friends were about to send out to him. His biographer surmises, that if the mission 
had had to depend on Carey's success as an indigo planter, it would have been extinct 
in a twelvemonth. 

Another special source of anxiety at this moment was the appointment of a 
Brahminised European to a high official position in the Malda district. This individual 
was about to take proceedings against Carey in consequence of a letter that had 
appeared in the Baptist Missionary Society's Report, and he would no doubt have 
eff'ectuallj' prevented Carey from doing anything but attend to his indigo planting, or 
would possibly have found means to expel him from the countiy, had not the course 
of events delivered him from all these embarrassments ; so that the first year of the 



244 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



fVll.— Missions 



present centiuy saw the establishment of the Serampore Mission, for ever associated 
with the names of Carey, Marshman, and Ward. But the story of that mission we must 
reserve for another chapter. 

It may be well in this place to remind the reader, that it is absolutely necessary to 
bear in mind what the term India really means. There is an essential difference between 
it and the names of most other countries that might be mentioned. It may indeed be 
taken as analogous to our word Christendom, inasmuch as it signifies the regions in 
which the Hindoo religion is prevalent. Of course, by the logic of accomplished facts, 




IMAGES OF BRAHMA, VISHNU, AND SIVA. 



it has come to mean the dominions of the Empress Victoria. Uut these dominions 
include many distinct nations, speaking different languages, and having local customs 
and observances that have strongly modified their religious beliefs and mjthological 
systems. The Hinduism of Benares is very different from that of Madras ; divinities 
held in high honour in one locality, may be totally unlaiown in another. 

In Bengal (best known to Englishmen) there are Brahministic sects of devotees 
who never touch any animal food ; but a Brahmin of Upper India may dine publicly on 
j)ork, or any other flesh but beef, without scandal. These are but samples of divei'sities 
that exist throughout the Empire, and in point of fact the Bengali, the Hindustani, the 
Marathi, or the Tamilian, are as much men of different nations as are English, French, 
or Italians. Hence, then, arise some of the obstacles that stand in the way of the 
evangelisation of India. The work has to be adapted to various distinct races, and 
carried forward in a great number of different languages and dialects, for all of which 
the needful religious literature must be supplied. 

Three great religious systems are primarily encountered in India, but the constant 



IN India.] CASTE. 245 

incorporation of local deities and local superstitions has resulted in an endless variety 
of religious beliefs and observances. In various parts of the land and in varying pro- 
portions are found fifty millions of Mohammedans. The believers in Buddha number 
from four to five millions. But the great bulk of the people of India still profess the 
ancient religion brought over the North-Western frontier by the Hindoo invaders in the 
dim twilight of histor}', long before the venturous barks of Phoenician traders had found 
their way to the shores of Britain. These invaders worshipped Brahma the Supreme, in 
his threefold manifestation of Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the 
Destroyer ; whereas Hinduism now boasts that the number of the gods is 333 millions. 
They brought with them also their beautiful Sanscrit language and their holy Yedas, the 
primitive sacred books, upon whose tenets succeeding ages grafted so much that was 
loathsome and corrupt. To this debased Hinduism came Gautama (the Buddha or 
Enlightened One), teaching a purer philosophy as a ciu-e for all the ills of life. 

Meanwhile Hinduism had developed the terrible institution of " caste," which has 
tyrannised over the Indian mind for nearly three thousand years, but of which the 
more ancient Vedas know nothing. Seeing that the system of caste has been one 
of the most formidable obstacles to the practical reception of Christianity by those 
who have found themselves compelled to give an intellectual assent to the truth of 
its teachings, a word of explanation seems needful with regard to it. In the 
foremost rank of social life in India are the sacerdotal caste, or Brahmins, who are 
said to have sprung from the head of Brahma. Next come the Kshatriya, or 
warrior caste, who claim to have sprung from the arm or shoulder of the deity. The 
Vaisya, or productive caste, emanated from his breast, whilst the Sudras, or servile classes, 
whose lot in life it is to serve all the others, had their origm in his foot. These four 
principal castes have become subdivided into a great number. But m principle the 
ordinance remains unchangeable, and the poor Sudra, who suffers so much by the 
institution, is as zealous in its defence as the proudest Brahmin. To lose caste is to 
become a social outcast, and it is easily lost in ways too numerous to mention here. 
Suffice it to sa3^ that the Hindoo cannot receive baptism, or partake of the Lord's Supper, 
or even worship side by side with others in a Christian church, without sundering all the 
ties that link him to his family and his friends. And this, too, amongst a people who 
hold all such ties in especial reverence and regard. 



■2iQ 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CAREY, MARSHMAN, AND WARD. 

Ward, the "Serious Printer" — Marshman's Early Career — Arrival at Serampore — The " Canterbury of Northern 
India " — The Institution of Caste, and how it was dealt with — Krishnu, a Convert — Fort William 
College — The Festival of Juggernaut — Sutteeism and its Pi-ohibition — The Fair of Ganga Saugur — 
Helps and Hindrances — Poor Mrs. Carey — A Disastrous Fire — Cholera and Fever — The Parting of 
the Three. 

IN tlie suiiiiiier of 1799, the American ship Criterion was saUiiig do^vii the British 
Channel on its way to India. Amongst the passengers who watched from its deck the 
receding shores of England, were four men gomg out to the help of Carey, on that 
Kidderpore indigo farm which was intended to be the centre of missionary effort in 
Bengal, and where Carey was already building straw huts in anticipation of their arrival. 
Of the four, the two younger were very soon to be laid to rest in the Calcutta Cemetery ; 
their companions were Joshua Marshman and William Ward, destined, in conjunction 
with Carey, to make the name of Serampore for ever famous in the story of the 
Conquests of the Cross. 

Ward, a strong man in the prime of hfe, was the "serious jirmter" for whom 
Carey had been longing. Nearly thirty years before, in Derby town, a pious mother 
had led him into sympathy with whatsoever things were " lovety and of good report." 
As schoolboy, compositor, proof-reader, the time passed on till he came of age, having 
in the meantime devoted all his spare momeiits to earnest study. A well-stored nimd, 
a ready command of language, and a lively fancy, fitted him for the position which was 
now offered him, as editor of the Derby Mercury. It was the era of the French 
Revolution, and Ward, like many other young and ardent souls, was thrilled with 
enthusiasm for the cause of fi-eedom and progress ; and an interview with good 
Thomas Clarkson brought the young editor into cordial alliance with the men who 
were carrying on the long crusade against negro slaver}^. His next post was that 
of editor of the Hull Advertiser, and whilst at Hull in 179G he was baptised. It 
was impossible for Ward to belong to the Church, or any other cause, without working 
on its behalf Accordingly, every Sunday saw him going out to one of the neigh- 
bouring villages with a three-legged stool, upon which he would stand and preach the 
Gospel. A benevolent Christian, seeing in this man the making of a successful 
evangelist, offered to place him at Erwood Hall under Dr. Fawcett, the tutor of John 
Foster the essayist. 

Ward saw that in giving up his life to the winning of souls for Christ, he would 
be helping to realise all his fervent aspirations for the good of humanity. He confesses 
that it was painful to his own tastes and feelmgs to leave his pleasant lodgings by 
the Humber, his congenial labours with the pen, his appreciative circle of friends, and his 
calm leisure for books or society. But it was made clear to his mind that he must go 
to Erwood Hall, '• to enter on a new Une of life ; ... to live perhaps on thirty pounds 



VII.-MissiONs IX India.) JOSHUA MARSH MAN. 247 

a year ; to warn men niglit and day with tears ; to tremble lest I myself should prove 
a castaway." 

Ward and Carey had met when the latter was visiting Derby, just previous to his 
departure for India. " We shall want a man of your calling to prmt the Scriptures, 
if the mission proves successful," was one of Carey's remarks on that occasion. Ward 
had been studymg a year at Erwood, when there came to the college a member of 
the Baptist Mission Committee looking out for recruits. Then, hke a trumpet-call, 
the words of Carey came back to the mmd of Ward. He offered himself for the 
Bengal Mission field, and was gladly accepted. 

Ward's companion uj^on the deck of the Criterion, Joshua Marshman, was about 
the same age. He was the son of a Wiltshire cloth-weaver, the descendant of one 
of Croniwell's Ironsides ; his mother could trace back her pedigree to Huguenot refugees. 
At Westbury-Leigh village school, young Marshman was taught to read and nothing 
more, neither writing nor ciphermg being taught anywhere in that district. The lad's 
active mind found reading its only solace, and he read everything that came in his 
way. He read the Bible and the old Puritan Divines on his father's solitary bookshelf, 
he read whatever lay on the bookstall in the fair as long as the stall-keeper would 
put up with it ; and then he took to borrowing, and thought nothmg of a twelve- 
mile walk to get hold of a fresh book. Before he was fifteen he had read five 
hundred volumes of a very miscellaneous character. 

He had acquired considerable local fame for his knowledge and for his marvellous 
memory, when he was tempted to go to London by the offer of a situation in a 
bookseller's shop in Holborn. But he soon found that trudging about with heavy parcels 
of books did not further his acquaintance with their contents. In less than six months 
he was back at the loom in his native village, and again readmg everything he could 
lay hands on. He grew up towards manhood, a steady, God-fearing youth, but his 
narrow-minded church associates were suspicious of bo much " head-knowledge." They 
kept him year after year on probation, and he finallj' left Westbury-Leigh without 
having been baptised. 

In 1791, he married Hannah Shepherd, his true helpmeet for six-and-forty years, 
and whose sainted memor}' is still revered in India. He had been married three years 
when he was appointed master of the school belonging to the Baptist Church at 
Broadmead, Bristol. He now found himself amongst a cultivated circle who could 
appreciate his intellectual gifts, and he was at once admitted into Church membership 
and baptised. Five years of success as a schoolmaster passed by, and ceaseless study 
made him familiar with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac. Meanwhile, the reports of 
Carey's work in Bengal came into his hands from time to time, and it gradually became 
clear to him that he too must go forth to work in the Master's service in that distant 
land. He offered himself to the Baptist Mission Committee, but even to these worthy 
people his " human learning " was at first a stumbling-bloclv. The difficulty was, how- 
ever, got over, and in less than tliree weeks Marshman and his companions were sailing 
down the English Channel on their way to India. 

A long, tedious voyage of four months and a half, only relieved by devoting a few 



248 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



IVII. — Missions 



hours daily to the instruction of the sailors, brought the party to Calcutta. Without 
landing there, they proceeded at once in boats to the Danish settlement of Serampore, 
where they could acknowledge themselves Christian missionaries, and wait an oppor- 
tunity to join Carey on his new indigo farm at Kidderpore. 

It was on a cool Sunday morniag in October, that the missionaries landed under 
the shadow of the high bank of Serampore, and beheld around them a bright-hued 
scene of teeming life. Numbers of people were bathing in the waters of the sacred 
river, or reverently standing in the stream to pour forth their libations, and repeat 
their prayers to Mahadeva. Fishermen were plj'ing their calling, groups of talking 




DR. CARET'S PULPIT, SERAMPORE. 



and laughmg women with their waterpots and babies clustered about the bank, and 
ferry-boats crowded to the danger-pomt, passed to and fro. Nor was the scene by 
any means a silent one ; the myriad voices of the multitude mingled with the chatter- 
ing of the paroquets, ceaselessly flashing their brilliant plumage on the sight as they 
darted in and out of the tall tree-tops that rose above the shadows into the bright 
morning sunshine. Marshman was the first to spring to land, and there, kneeling down 
upon the strand, consecrated for ages to the worship of India's strange gods and god- 
desses, he poured forth his thanksgiving to Almighty God for having brought them in 
safety to the Indian shore. 

As soon as the authorities at Calcutta heard of this fresh importation of mis- 
sionaries into the country, they were exceedingly anxious to ship them back forthwith 
to England ; but, of course, so Ions' as Marshman and his friends remained under 
Danish protection, they could not be interfered with by the Bengal Government. From 
Carey there came disheartening news ; he had been refused leave for his friends to 
join him, and also made aware that he himself was only tolerated in Bengal on 



IN India.] 



THE CANTERBURY OF NORTHERN INDIA. 



249 



suft'erance, and that any complaint of his proceedings would probably result in his de- 
portation. At Serampore, on the other hand, the Danish Government, faithful to 
its honourable traditions, protected and encouraged the missionaries in their labours. 
Here they might work their printing-press to their hearts' content, and preach and 
teach freely in the midst of a dense population, till circumstances should favour the 
extension of their work into the adjacent provinces. Armed with a Danish passport. 
Ward went to Carey on his Kidderpore farm to talk the matter over. "Blessed be 
God, he is a yoimg mtin yet ! " was his first exclamation as he came in sight of 
the faithful pioneer. The result of the conference was that Carey submitted to the 




Mrs. Marsliiiian's. 

Dr. Marshman's. 



Mr. Ward's. 
Dr. Carey's. 



CHAIRS AT SERAMPOKE. 



inevitable, packed up his printing-press and all his worldly goods, and, on the 10th 
of January, 1800, in company with his four sons and his poor wife (ncfw insane) , joined 
his brethren at Serampore. 

Sixteen miles north of Calcutta, on the right bank of the Hooghly, stands this 
picturesque tow^l, that has not been inaptly called the Canterbury of Northern India. 
Many a pilgrim from Europe or America visits with reverent interest the white-walled 
church, the cemetei-y where Carey and some of his co-workers found a resting-place, 
the old pagoda in which Henry Martyn prayed and studied amidst strange symbols 
of idolatry, and the mission-house and grounds, linked with a thousand memories of 
consecrated talents and self-denying devotedness. Here the missionaries lived their 
simple lives, laboured ceaselessly in all good works, and gave nearly £80,000 for their 
Master's service. Close by is the noble Botanical Garden, that was a special hobby of 
Carey's. Potatoes, which are fast becoming a favourite food with the natives, were 
never seen in India till they were planted here. To cultivate this garden, and collect 



250 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [VII.-Missions 

in it the rarest treasures of the tropical flora, was the chief delight of Carey's leisure 
hours. " Ah ! Brother Marshman," he said, not long before his death, " I was just 
thinking that when I die you will let the cows come into my garden." A promise 
was given, and a small endowment created, so that three gardeners constantly keep 
the garden as Carey would have liked it to remain. In many ways the Serampore 
missionaries Uved to benefit India, as the public library, the charity hospital, and other 
institutions founded by them, still testify. 

From the mission-house a tine avenue of tropical trees, known as " Carey's Walk," 
leads past the chapel in which Carey's pulpit of teak and canvas still remains — 
past the printing-office which created a literature for Bengal, and sent out the Bible 
(or portions of it) in thirty-nine Eastern languages — past the mission paper-mills 
(n,ow a jute factory), to which came the first steam-engine ever seen in India — and on 
to the College, founded by Marshman and Carey, in many respects the noblest edifice 
in India, and the parent of all similar institutions in the land. In the library are 
displayed specimens of all the Bibles and books translated by the missionaries, the 
three chairs they habitually used, and the crutches that supported Dr. Carey for a 
time after an accident. 

Another curiosity in this library is the housekeeping-book, which shows how frugally 
the six families lived together ua the one large house, which was taken on Carey's 
arrival at Serampore. They arranged for public worship in their largest room, and 
for preaching in the streets, and at once set to work earnestly with their printing- 
press. Mr. Ward set up the tjqjes, and on the 18th of March, called Carey to put his 
hand to the press and himself work off" the first sheet of the BengaU New Testament. 

Two hundred pounds a year was all that the missionaries could hope to receive 
from England, for their own support and for all expenses. But ample funds were 
soon forthcoming from the very successful boarding-school established by Mr. and Mrs. 
Marshman for European children, afterwards supplemented by one for natives. Plenty 
of people were thirsting for knowledge, eager to learn English, and ready to pay well 
for instruction, but Christianity was another thing altogether. The missionaries went 
about and sang Bengali hymns at > the corners of streets, and then preached to the 
crowd that collected round them. Inquirers were welcomed at the mission-house, 
and daily conversation with these took up a good deal of time. But Kam-basoo, 
Avho had been a friend and helper of Mr. Thomas for years past, was a type of 
many who came — great admirers of the beauty and reasonableness of Christianity, 
and ready to do almost anything for it except receive it. The horrible institution 
of caste stood in the way. " All the ties," wrote Mr. Marshman, " that twine about 
the heart of a father, a husband, a child, or a neighbour, must be torn and broken 
before a man can give himself up to Christ." The accomplished Eam-basoo wrote 
a tract on the absurdities of Hinduism, and another on the doctrines of Christianity, 
and yet declined to become a Christian. 

One day Mr. Thomas, who had accepted an engagement to superintend some sugar 
factories at Beerbhoom, came to Serampore, bringing with him a workman named 
Fukier, who had made up his mind to become a Christian. The missionaries listened 



IN I.VMA.1 FIRST CONVERTS. 251 

to the man's simple story of his rehgious convictions, and decided to receive him as 
a Christian brother. " We all stood up," says Mr. Ward, " and sang with new 
feeling, ' Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.' Each of us shook Fukier by the 
hand. The rest, your imagination must supply." Before finally severmg his old ties, 
the new convert — the tirst-fruit of the seven years' labour of Carey and Thomas — 
went to pay a parting visit to his friends. He was never heard of again ! Whether 
renegade or martyr it was impossible to say. 

Meanwhile, a carpenter named Krishna, who had been favourably interested in 
the Gospel, had the misfortune to dislocate his arm. Ho was brought to the mission- 
house, and the limb was set by Mr. Thomas, who then earnestly talked to him about 
salvation by Jesus Christ. The poor man saw his own condition, and cried, " Save me, 
Sahib, save me !" In a few days' time he was able to declare his " dependence on 
Christ and submission to Him in all things," which was the only creed then required 
from new converts in Serampore. The native servants at the mission-house were 
struck with horror and amazement when, on December 22nd, 1800, they saw Krishnu 
openly renouncing caste by sitting down to a meal with the missionaries. That 
same evening Krishnu, with his wife and sister, and another native, made open 
profession of their faith in Christ. It was too nuicli for the susceptible brain of 
Mr. Thomas. He had been in despair about Fukier, and was now frantic with joy 
over Krishnu. It became needful to put him under restramt. 

Soon the news of what had taken place spread through the town. Krishnu 
and his family were dragged by an infuriated mob before the chief magistrate, who 
promptly sent all parties about their business. Then another mob, headed by a young 
man to whom Krishnu's daughter had been betrothed, again brought the family before 
the magistrate. The Governor then intervened, and heard the case himself The young 
man declared his steadfast adherence to the Hindoo religion, but nevertheless demanded 
his promised bride. The girl openly avowed her resolve to become a Christian with 
her father. " Then," said the Governor, " I cannot possibly deliver up a Christian woman 
to a heathen man." And thus the right of the natives to break off Hindoo ties and 
become Christians if they pleased, was established in Serampore. 

On the following Sunday there was an impressive scene, when Krishnu and Carey's 
son Felix were baptised in the sacred river. The missionaries were careful to explain 
that they only used it as an ordinary stream, and attributed no special virtue to its 
waters. The party set out, with the mad cries of ilrs. Carey in one room, and of Mr. 
Thomas in another, ringing in their ears. A motley crowd of Europeans, Hindoos, 
and ilahommodaus gathered about the broad flight of stone stairs that led down into the 
water, and all were hushed to silence as they watched the celebration of the solemn 
ordinance. The Governor could not refrain from tears. A short time afterwai'ds 
Marshman wrote : " We have now six baptised Hindoos, whom we esteem more precious 
than an equal number of gems. We need great prudence in our intercourse with them. 
We are obliged to strengthen, to encourage, to coimteract, to advise, to disapprove, to 
teach, and yet to do all so as to endear the Saviour to them, and to retain a place in 
their warmest afi'ections." 



252 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [VII.-Missions 

Poor Mr. Thomas — the first medical missionary in India — passed away in October, 
1801. His mental health had been restored by a month in a Calcutta Asylum, and he 
had gone to sujjerintend an indigo factory at Dinagepore. Here he died of fever and 
ague. So perished the first Protestant missionary who preached to the people of 
Bengal in their own tongue. Fervent and zealous, and wonderfully gifted with the 
power of impressing the Hindoo mind, and yet at the same time unstable and eccentric, 
always in ecstasy or else in despair, for fifteen years he had done what he could. Grant, 
Fountain^ and Brunsden were already laid to rest in the Serampore Cemetery, so that 
the whole weight of the mission now rested upon the shoulders of the giant three, 
Carey, Marshman, and Ward. 

Early in 1801, after nine months' hard work on the part of Ward, Carey had the 
supreme delight of seeing the Bengali New Testament issued in a complete form. The 
first bound copy was laid upon the communion-table, and the missionaries, with their 
families and the converts, held a solemn service of thanksgiving. About this time the 
Governor-General, Lord Wellesley, wanted some one to teach Bengali to candidates for 
the Civil Service, in his newly founded Fort William College. There was no one at hand 
so competent to take this post as William Carey, the Northamptonshii'e shoemaker, who 
had made such a muddle of school-keeping a few years before. Only on condition that 
his status as a missionary should be acknowledged, he accepted the appointment, at a 
salary of 500 rupees a month, which was subsequently doubled. He devoted it all to the 
service of the Gospel. By means of this income, added to the profits of the schools, the 
printing-press, and the paper-mill, the missionaries were able in the course of years to 
spend thousands of pounds on various important works. They repaired and enlarged 
their premises, constantly repaired the bank which prevented the river from swallowing 
up their whole establishment, defrayed for years the expenses of numerous mission 
stations in various localities, printed innumerable books and tracts, erected the college 
buildings, supplied a library of four thousand volumes, and subscribed to native schools 
and other institutions. Up to 1826 they had spent from their own earnings no less 
than £58,613. It was well for the mission that it had so early achieved independence, 
and that one of its founders was officially connected with the Bengal Government, for 
in 1801 Serampore passed into the hands of the British. For eighteen months it was 
occupied by soldiers of the Company, but the work of the mission was not interfered 
with. At prudent intervalsj preaching excursions were made into neighbouring pro- 
vinces, and Testaments and tracts were freely distributed. 

Petumber Singh, one of the Kayust or Writer caste, who rank next to the Brah- 
mins, read one of the tracts, and was so interested that he journej'cd thirty miles to 
Serampore to hear more about this new doctrine. He was not, like many others, content 
to admire ; when he saw that he must give himself up to Christ, he renounced caste, 
and was baptised into the Church. Two other Kayusts and a Brahmin soon followed 
his example. And now the Hindoos of rank and influence, who had jeered at the 
conversion of mere workmen, became alarmed, and tried to make trouble for the 
missionaries. But the storm, like many others, blew over, and the devoted labourers 
still pressed forward with their work. 



IS India. 1 



BRITISH TOLERATION OF IDOLATRY. 



25.3 



The homage paid bj' Christian rulers to Hindoo usages was a great stumbling-block. 
' Last week," writes Mr. \\\xrd on one occasion, '■ a deputation from Government went 




THE CAR OF JAGANATHA- 



in procession to Kalee Ghaut— the most opulent and popular shrme in the metropolis 
—and presented 5,000 rupees to the idol in the name of the Company, for the success 
which had attended the British arms." But the English rulers of Bengal would have 
to far greater lengths had they been permitted. They proposed to increase their 



ofone 



254 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS [Vll.-Missioss 

revenue by managing the affairs of the great shrine of Jaganatha, at Puri, with 
its vast estabhshment of priests and courtesans. But this was too much even for 
the Court of Directors in Leadenhall Street, who refused to sanction the proposal. 
Serampore was, and still is, one of the places to which pilgrims resort from far 
and near to the annual festival of the well-known deity. The " Car of Juggernaut," 
crushing human victims beneath its ponderous wheels, has long been one of the 
most familiar incidents of missionary story. The Rath Jatra, or Car Festival, is now 
a time of reckless jollity, unattended by loss of life, except the occasional accidents 
likely to occur when a huge three-storied fabric is urged along crowded streets. 
But Carey and his companions saw the festivals, when devotees came in their 
thousands in the assured belief that to see Jaganatha would cleanse their souls 
from sin. In that repulsive block of wood, with a head too large for its body, 
and eyes too large for its head, the people saw the representative of Yishnu, 
the Lord of the World. With a deafening noise of gongs and tom-toms, and the 
chanting of Vedic hymns by the Brahmins, the idol passed on, whilst the jDopulace 
shouted their adoration. The scene that might have disheartened men of weaker 
faith, only served to quicken the zeal and enthusiasm of the mission band at Seram- 
pore. 

Their first practical victory over the time-honoured but cruel customs of heathenism 
was won as early as 1802, by the abolition of the sacrifice of children and others at the 
great annual festival of Ganga Saugar. Carey's friend Udnejr was then on the Supreme 
Council, and, through his influence, Carey was ordered to investigate the subject. He 
lost no time in conferring with the learned Pundits, deeply versed in Hindoo law, with 
whom he was in constant communication at Fort William College. They were imanim- 
ous in the opinion that the custom was not imperative. Carey reported to this effect, 
and pleaded so urgently for the abolition of the practice that a prohibitory law was 
passed. The Hindoos accepted it without a murmur. 

The little church grew by slow degrees. It numbered thirteen communicants and 
eight inquirers at the end of 1802, at which time the Gospel methods of the mis- 
sionaries are thus simply described : — " When the sun is going down, one of us, taking 
some tracts in his hand, goes out to some part of Serampore or its neighbourhood, 
talks to the people, or distributes the papers; another does the same in another direc- 
tion, while a third goes one evening to the Bengali school-house, and another evening 
to Krishnu's little meeting-house. After this, our Hindoo friends come every evening 
to our house. In our family worship, the chapter in the Old Testament, after being 
read in English, is translated off-hand and read in Bengali. When proceeding to a 
distance, we travel, eat, and sleep in a boat; and, going from place to place, we 
preach and distribute tracts." 

Whilst anxious to avoid all needless interference with native habits and customs, 
the missionaries determined that no vestige of caste should pollute the Church that 
was growing up under their care. In Southern India, caste had been tolerated even 
at the communion-table, but when the Brahmin, Krishnu-Prisad, partook for the first 
time of the Lord's Supper, it was arranged for him to receive the cup next after the 



IN iNDiA.j SUTTEE. 255 

Sudi'ii, Krishnu. Another blow at caste was struck when the Brahmin just named 
actually married the carpenter's daughter. After a simple marriage service in Bengali, 
prepared by Carey for the occasion, there was a happy wedding-feast under a tree in 
front of Krishnu's house. 

A very few days after Carey and his colleagues had rejoiced with this Christian 
bridal party, three Hindoo widows were burnt beside their dead husband, not far from 
the mission-house. Often were the hearts of the missionaries tilled with sorrow, as they 
saw the smoke of these dreadful saci-ifices going up towards the bright Indian sky. 
Never could Carey forget his first sight of widow-burning. He had just got out of his 
boat one day, when he saw a great crowd of people, and in the midst of them there 
was a pile of wood with a dead body laid upon it. Close by stood the woman who was 
about to sacrifice herself In vain did Carey reason with the bystanders and try to 
make them see that they were participating in a, murder. They told him it was a 
voluntary deed of holiness, and if he did not like to see it he could go away. The 
widow herself turned a deaf ear to his remonstrances. Six times she walked round the 
pile, scattering sweetmeats amongst the crowd. She then mounted to the summit, and, 
after dancing a short time, lay down and placed her arms round the neck of the 
corpse. Dry leaves and fuel were spread about and over the pair, a quantity of 
melted butter was poured on the heap, and two bamboos were tightly fastened down 
crosswise. Then the pile was lit, and if in those last moments the woman repented 
of her awful purpose, no one could know it, for the bamboos repressed every .struggle, 
and the shouting of the spectators drowned every cry. 

On the occurrence of the first death among the converts, when Goluk passed 
away in the full hope of the Gospel, it became needful to establish precedents for 
Christian burial. The wretched Portuguese " pobrees," who bore the coffins at European 
funerals in Calcutta, were despised by everybody. On the other hand, it was 
defilement to a Hindoo to touch the dead body of a person of inferior caste. The 
matter was clearly explained to the little Church, and at the appointed time, 
Marshman and Felix Carey, with Bhyrub, a Brahmin of purest blood, and Peeroo, 
a baptised Mahommedan, walked along the street bearing upon their shoulders the 
muslin-draped coffin of the poor Sudra. Singing a Christian hymn in Bengali, and 
followed by an astonished multitude, they carried the body to the new burial-ground 
they had just purchased. As is well known, the native custom is not to bury the 
dead, but to cremate them in the " Burning Ghats " beside the river amidst horrible 
scenes and indescribable smells. 

As they went about amongst the people, the missionaries found that there was a 
great deal of scepticism flourishing, even in the very strongholds of superstition. They 
came upon whole communities in different places, who avowed amongst themselves 
contempt for the gods, for the Brahmins, and for the whole system of caste, but who 
yet, for social reasons, considered it expedient to live in outward conformity to the 
religion of the country. Many of this class came gladly to talk with Carey and his 
associates. They would listen with interest, and express approval of the Gospel, but 
when its personal claims were pressed on them, they became either indifferent or 



256 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IVII.-Missions 

violently ojiposed to it, except when it came home to their hearts with the convicting 
power of the Holy Spirit. 

Still the Gospel made progress, and the BrahmLas became irritated, and did what 
they could to hinder. Sometimes they got the people to shout and laugh, and make 
a disturbance during preaching. The converts showed remarkable patience and 
meekness under the insolence and abuse which they had daily to suffer as they passed 
along the streets. More than once they were severely beaten, and pelted with tilth. 
One convert was dragged from his home by the chief Bengalee in the village, and 
tied for several hours to the pillar of an idol temple, whilst almost smothered with the 
dirt and cow-dung that had been thrown at him. In all their business relations, the 
converts were made to feel that they were outcasts — to obtain ground to build on, or a 
house to rent, was, for any of them, a matter of the greatest difficulty. But Carey and 
his friends were cheered at seeing the work growing in spite of all hindrances. The 
little band of converts increased, and the leavening influence of the mission, by means 
of itinerant preaching and the distribution of tracts, spread far and wide. 

It will not be needful to recount in detail the history of the Serampore Mission 
as regards its frequent troubles with the authorities. The Government policy with 
reference to the work changed from time to time, as the friends or enemies of the 
cause gained an ascendancy in the direction of affairs. Then, too, there were occasional 
differences with the Home Society, which could not possibly realise the actual circum- 
stances of the mission. We must, however, as far as possible, coniine our attention to the 
sceries and incidents that more immediately illustrate the main purposes of our work. 

In January, 1804, Felix Carey (now acknowledged as one of the missionaries) and 
]Mr. John Chamberlain, recently arrived from England, went with several native helpers 
to the great annual fair of Ganga Saugar, held on an island at the mouth of the Hooghly. 
On arriving they found the shore covered with an immense number of boats of all 
kinds. Many of these had brought merchants and hawkers anxious to make profit 
out of the occasion, but a vast number of persons had come to receive blessings from 
the Goddess Ganga. Of these, many had been journeying for four or five months, to 
bathe at the right time and place in the sacred stream. Conspicuous everywhere were 
disgusting-looking creatures, with hair and beard of an enormous length, devotees of 
special sanctity. Close by the shore an immense and populous city had sprung up in a 
few days. In the long lanes of tents and booths were displayed all the productions of 
the East — coarse native cloth, costly muslin from Dacca, shawls from Kashmir — side 
by side with hardware from Birmingham or Sheffield. Crowds of people were bathing 
in the river, or worshi2:)ping Ganga with ceremonious prostrations, and laying their 
offerings of flowers and fruits at the river's brink for the goddess to take to herself 
with the returning tide. Formerly it had been common for many worshippers to 
sacrifice themselves, or their children, to the .shai'ks and alligators that abound in the 
vicinity, but the recent Engli.sh law forbidding it, and enforced by the presence of fifty 
Sepoys, was obeyed, and the three days of mingled adoration, business, and pleasure, 
participated in by 100,000 persons, passed over without the sacrifice of a single victim. 
When the vast assembly dispersed, innumerable baskets filled with the holy mud were 



IN India. 1 



BATHING IN THE GANGES. 



257 



carried away on men's shoulders to remote distances. But while thus serving Ganga, 
they were also luiknowingly spreading a knowledge of the true God, for they carried 
with them copies of the New Testament, which the missionaries had been freely dis- 
tributing, into towns and villages hundreds of miles away, where the glad news of the 
Gospel had never before penetrated. 




HINDOO CREMATION. 



" Bathing in the Ganges," says the Ramayana, " will destroy all sins past, present, and 
future." But the Ganges is 1,500 miles long, so it may well be asked, Why all this 
crowding to Saugar Island, near its mouth ? It was on this island, as the old legend 
declares, that the holy saint Kapila turned into a heap of ashes some princes who dis 
turbed his meditation. Hoping to restore them to life, the king their father resigned his 
throne and gave himself up to religious duties. His son, grandson, and great-gTandson, 

17 



25S CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. Ivil.-Missioxs 

carried on the work of expiation, which could only be perfectea when Ganga should 
condescend to come down from the snow-clad Himalayas that formed the buttresses of 
heaven, and revivify the royal ashes with her divine touch. Furious at being 
disturbed by these long-persistent entreaties, Ganga first jumped on the head of her 
husband Si\-a. But the coils of his hair held her fast till she had cooled down, and 
then she set out on her long journey. No sooner had she touched the ashes, than the 
princes sprang to life, and were carried in chariots of gold to heaven. And so it is still 
the correct thing for Hindoos to visit Saugar Island, if possible, during three commemora- 
tion-days in January. The more intelligent enjoy it as a pleasure trip, but to the 
larger number it is still a cleansing from all sin through Ganga's healing touch. 

The departure of Lord Wellesley from Calcutta in 1S05, and the death of the 
friendly Danish governor of Serampore in the same year, were severely felt by the 
mission. Excuses were soon found for hindering its work. A thatched chapel had been 
built in the Bow bazaar at Calcutta, and not only the missionaries, but also Eammohun^ 
a converted Brahmin, preached there. There was great excitement and some indignation 
in consequence — the preachers were followed bj' crowds, and denoimced as they passed 
along the streets. At this juncture, Messrs. Chater and Robinson came out to join the 
mission, but only just escaped being shipped straight back to England. Chater and 
Felix C!arey afterwards founded the mission in Burmah, of which we shall tell the story 
in another chapter. Very cramped in their efforts for some time were Carey and his 
fellow-workers, especially when news came of the Vellore mutiny. Persuaded by 
emissaries from Tippoo's dethroned famity, that the introduction of a new military turban 
strongly resembling a European hat, was a sign that Christianity was about to be 
forced upon them, the garrison of Vellore rose in the dead of night and murdered 
their colonel and over a hundred English officers and privates. Four hundred of the 
mutineers were massacred in return, and, ignoring the ill-judged turban regulation and 
the perfidy of Tippoo's sons, the authorities attributed all the trouble to the presence 
of missionaries in the country. Peremptory orders were sent to Carey and his colleagues 
to desist at once from all efforts outside Serampore — a harsh edict which was only by 
slow degrees relaxed and modifiefl. 

Meanwhile the eyes of the Christian world were turned towards Serampore as the 
Gospel citadel of Northern India. To the translating, printmg, teaching, preaching, 
there was no cessation. Carey went to and fro between the mission-house and his 
professorial chair at Fort William. When the C^ollege was reconstructed, his 
salary was doubled ("Very good for the mission," he quietly remarked). The degree of 
Doctor of Divinity came to him unasked, as a tribute of esteem from an American 
University. 

As soon as it seemed safe to do so, the missionaries resumed their evangelising 
journeys into the adjacent provinces, and year by year gathered a few converts into the 
fold. The position which this little Christian garrison came to occupy in the mission- 
field is thus graphically described by Miss Yonge : " Every missionary to the East Indies, 
whether belonging to their own society or not, was certain to visit and hold counsel 
■with thorn, as the vctei-ans of the Christian army in India, and the men most 



IN l>DiA.J PROHIBITION OF SUTTEE. 259 

experienced in the cliaraeter ami langnage of the natives ; they were the prime leaders 
and authorities in all that concerned the various vernacular translations of the 
•Scriptures, and their example was as a trumpet-call to others to follow them in their 
labours ; while all the time the simplicity, humility, self-denial, and activity of the men 
themselves remained inispoiled." 

The eftect of their grand example upon the Christian Churches of England and 
America was indeed conspicuous. To careless indifference about the claims of the 
heathen, succeeded a very prevalent sympathy with the cause. Missionary societies 
and missionary reports became j)rominent features of religious life, and many a young 
apostle gave himself up to the Master's service, through hearing of the self-sacrificing 
labours of Carey, Marshman, and Ward. 

There was one monstrous development of heathenism, for the overthrow of 
which the Seramjiore missi(.)naries wei'e unremitting in their efforts for many years. 
This was the Iwrrible institution of Suttee — the self-innnolation of women upon the 
burning piles that were cunsuming the bodies of their deceased husbands. The burden 
that rested upon Carey'.s soul after beholding one of the scenes, as already narrated, 
was through long years fully shared by his brethren. But our countrymen in India 
for the most part regarded these awful rites with indifference, or, in many cases, 
even with admiring interest, as picturesque and romantic customs which the " mild 
Huidoo " should be left to regulate in his own fashion. C^arey called upon the Govern- 
ment to prohibit Suttee as a crime. He and his fellow-laboiu'ers set to work to call 
attention to the fearful prevalence of widow-burning. By sending agents from village 
to village the}- obtained evidence proving that, within thirty miles of Calcutta, viore 
than three huvilrc.il ivUlons hud been burned alive xvithin a period of six months. 

The next thing to do was to set the Pundits at the College to work on the 
.Shastras, and these learned gentlemen reported that Suttee was nowhere enjoined as 
a duty, but simply encouragerl as a virtuous sacrifice. All this information was duly 
laid before the (io^•ernmont in 1804, and the missionaries earnestly entreated that a 
law might be passed totally forbidding the practice referred i©. They asserted their 
firm conviction that such a law, once proclaimed, would be as quietly accepted as had 
been the edict forbidding lumiaii sacrifices at Ganga Saugar. But unworthy counsels 
prevailed, and foi- a (|iiartor of a century the missionaries tried in vain to save the 
women of India from this fiery death. During that prolonged delay, at least 70,000 
more victims per'inhcj in thr flames. When public feeling in England was I'oused 
against the inhuman custom, the Court of Directors pleaded that it was needful to 
wait for its gradual extinction to be brought about by civilising influences. But in 
1828 Lord William Bentinck went to Calcutta as Governor-General, with the fixed 
resolve that Suttee should cease as soon as possible. The necessary steps were speedily 
taken, and before the end of 1829, a law was passed making Sutt«e illegal, and 
rendering those who attempted to take part in it punishable in the criminal courts. 

A copy of the Act in English was sent to Dr. Carey by the Government, to be 
translated into Bengali, in order that it might be published in both languages on the 
same day. It reached him on Sunday morning, just as he was going to his pulpit. 



260 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



IVIl. — Missions 



" No pulpit for me to-day ! " he joyfully exclaimed ; and some one else was soon found 
to minister to the needs of the congregation, while Carey sat down with his Pundit 
to translate the Act, with the knowledge that every day's delay meant the sacrifice 
of six or eight more lives. Through the Sabbath hours (never more truly kept holy) 
Carey and his helper worked on until the evening, and then the Bengali version was 
ready for transmission to the Government. It was speedily promulgated, and native 
society was electrified at the promptness and uncompromising decision of the new law. 




A number of Hindoos, and even of Europeans, petitioned the Government to repeal 
the measure, pleading that self-immolation was a sacred duty, and a high privilege. 
They denounced the Act as a violation of England's compact with India that there 
should be no interference with Hindoo rites and customs. But Lord William Bentinck 
was firm, and the malcontents appealed to the Privy Council in England, where they 
induced Dr. Lushington to prostitute his talents to their infamous cause. But the appeal 
was dismissed, and this great deed of humanity, so long delayed, at last received the 
stamp of Imperial authority. 

After twelve weary years of alternating melancholy and madness, jjoor j\lrs. Carey 
died in 1S07. As the wife of a shoemaker who knew his business, and could stick to 
it, she might have lived long and happily. But all that she got through her husband's 



LK IXDIA.] 



DESTRUCTION OF THE PEINTINU OFFICE. 



261 



glorious as^jii'ations, which she was utterly incapable of understanding, was starvation, 
ridicule, exile, disease, and death. Her husband watched over her till the close with 
tenderest care. His second wife was a pious and cultured gentlewoman, who for thirteen 
years enhanced his joys, sympathised in his anxieties, and aided him in all good 
works. He subsequently married a widow, who was the aii'ectionate companion of 
his declining years. 

It was a sad blow to the mission when, in March, 1812, the printing office wa? 




COLLEGE OP SERAMPORE. 



burned down, and the result of years of toil destroyed in a few hours. It had never 
been so fully stocked as at that time. Twelve hundred reams of paper just received 
from England, a quantity of English type, and fourteen complete Eastern founts, all 
perished. The fire-engine was as yet unknown in India, and for hours the fire seemed 
to mock at the puny efforts that were made to extinguish it, till, at midnight the 
missionaries and their helpers could only stand back and watch the steady column 
of flame that only died away when all was consumed. Besides valuable manuscripts, 
the pecuniary loss to the mission was at least £7,000. Yet, even as they gazed on 
the rums, " a feeling of solemn serenity," says Dr. Marshman, " seemed to pervade 
find strengthen every heart." 

Dr. Carey was at Calcutta, and was at first speechless when the dismal tidings 



262 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (VII.-Missioxs 



were brought to him next morning by Dr. Mar.shinan. But, \vith d.amtle.ss energy, 
the worli of restoration was' promptly carried forward. 5Ir. Ward, searching amongst 
the wreckage, found the punches and matrices uninjured ; an adjacent empty build- 
ing was fitted up as an office ; the Pundits were set to ^vork tran.slating ; the type- 
casters worked night and day by relays, and in thirty days two versions were again 
in the press. In six weeks three more founts were comiilete, and it was not long- 
before the press was in full operation. 

The money loss was soon made up. Mr. Thomasson, of Calcutta, a warm and 
generous friend of the mission, raised £800 in a day or two after the tire, for pressing- 
needs. When the news reached England, the entire amount was raised in sixty days. 
Printed slips from the new types were marked, " Feathers of the Phonix," and widel}- 
circulated. The tire, and the way in which the disaster was overcome, raised the Seram- 
pore Mission to a height of celebrity which it had never before attained. There 
were still trials in store for it — the opposition of enemies and the misunderstandings 
of friends — but these matters it would be tedious to detail. SutHce it to say, that 
through all the mission lived on and prospered, and the variety and extent of it.s 
labours became augmented as years passed. A few mcidents of a personal character 
only remain to be briefly touched upon. 

In 1821, who should come on a visit to the mission but Serfojee, the pupil of 
Schwartz, actually journeying from his southern home on pilgrimage to Benares ! With 
all his advantages and enlightenment, he was still only an admirer of Christianit}'. 
He was very much interested in the work done by the missionaries, but thought 
it best to ensure his own spiritual safety by continuing his pilgrimage to the 
sacred city. 

The next year was a disastrous one in Bengal. First the cholera, and then a 
very fatal form of fever, were fearfully prevalent. Hindoo superstition busied itself 
in all sorts of ceremonies and services, to propitiate the Goddess of Destruction. 
One of the victims of the pestilence was Krishnu-Pal, the first convert, who had proved 
his sincerity by twenty years of consistent Christian life. In 1828, the cholera snapped 
the chain which for three-and-twenty years had bound Carey and ilarshman and Ward 
in a sacred comnumion of life and works ; the " serious printer " was taken from the 
scene of his unceasing labours. One day he was writing in the office, but was too ill 
to finish the letter he had begun, and before the next afternoon he was a corpse. 
Dr. ilarshman was afflicted with temporary deafness ; he could onl\- watch his dying 
comrade, but could not hear a word. The death of Ward — an amiable Christian who 
never made an enemy, a fluent preacher in Bengali, and possessing a greater know- 
ledge of native habits and customs than either of his colleagues ; and, withal, a clear- 
headed, practical man of business — was a severe blow to the mission. " I never did 
anything, I never published a page, without consulting him," wiites Dr. Marshman ; 
and both he and Carey were much depressed. 

In the same year Dr. Carey was brought to the gates of death by an accident 
to the hip-joint, through a stumble when landing from a boat. For six months he 
walked with the crutches which are on view in the Serampore ^luseum. A\"hile he was still 



IX IxDiAj DEATH OF CAREY. 263 

a prisaner through his accident, the country beside the Hocghly was flooded by the 
bursting of a rain-swollen mountain torrent through its banks. Dr. Carey's botanic 
garden was submerged, and the result of years of care and patient labour was swept 
away in a single night. The streets of Serampore were five feet deep in water. The 
river bank gave way, and the waters were soon rolUng past, within ten feet of Carey's 
bedroom. He removed to the College, and in a few days saw his house totally disappear 
into the river. The Hindoos declared that the missionaries were now feeling the 
vengeance of Ganga, with whose worship and sacrifices they had interfered ; and old 
men pointed out that the first piece of the river-bank to give way, was the very spot 
where the first convert had been baptised. 

Dr. i[arshnian visited England in 1826, and tried to do battle witli the adverse 
influences that were hindering the work of the mission. He liad delightful interviews 
with John Foster, Robert Hall, Hannah Jlore, and other leaders of religious thought, 
but the brightest portion of his sojourn in his native land was his flying visit to 
Wiltshire. AYith ecstasy, he saw once more the Old White Horse carved on the sloping- 
down near his birthplace ; he mingled in the meetnig-house with companions of his boy- 
hood, and was delighted to hear them address him in the old familiar way as " Joshua." 
We need not detail the hard terms which Di-. Marshman was compelled to accept on 
behalf of the mission from the parent society, but he returned to Serampore " looking 
fifteen years older," and, side by side, he and Carey laboiu-ed on for seven years longer, 
abundantly blessed in their work, but chastened with many trials. 

The end was, however, approaching. In 1833 and 1834, Dr. Marshman was at tunes 
prostrated with nervous depression and melancholy. He recovered in time to soothe 
the dying hours of Carey, who, worn out with forty years of incessant labour in the 
clmiate of Bengal, passed to the eternal rest. Apart from these abundant niis-sionary 
labours, his life had been one of constant anxiety and toil, while his early domestic 
trials had left their indelible mark. Carey was revising the Bengali translation of 
the Scriptures, and worked hard at the proof-sheets when scarcely able to sit at the 
desk. But he had ever longed that he might not live to be useless, and that as 
soon as he was unable to work, he might be taken. There were, however, several 
months of patient waiting on the bed of death, during which time Bishop AVilson of 
Calcutta, and the Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, were frequent visitors. No 
.shadj of anxiety disturbed his peaceful close, and on June 9th, 1834, he gently breathed 
his last. 

Within twenty-four hours the body was carried forth from the principal's house 
beside the college, and along the streets between long lines of Hindoo and Muslim poor, 
who knew that they had lost their best earthly friend. The cofiin was followed by 
the native Christians, and by representatives of the highest dignitaries in Church and 
State, up the right bank of the Hooghly to the Cemetery. From Barrackpore, on the 
other side of the river, the procession was watched by Lady Bentinck, one of Carey's 
most devoted friends. The Danish Governor attended the funeral, and above the town 
the flag of Denmark hunif half-mast hisfh. 

A tall domed square block now marks the resting-place of Carey and most of 



264 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. Ivil.-Missioxs 

his fainil}'. The' iasciiption oa his tomb, in accordance with his own explicit instruc- 
tions was simply — 

WILLIAM CAREY, 
Born August 17, 17B1 ; Died June 0, 1834. 

" A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, 
On Thy kind arms I fall." 

For three years longer Dr. Marshman survived — grieving for the loss of his friends, 




TOMB OF DE. CARET. 



threatened at intervals with the return of mental debility, and worried with financial 
difficulties. But though as he wrote, "everythinsr was tinged with the black hue of 
melancholy," he struggled on bravely to the last. In 1S3G he was failing rapidly, when 
a family calamity gave a great shock to his system and hastened his departure. A 
member of the congregation, Lieutenant Havelock, afterwards known to fame as Sir Henry 
Havelock, had married Dr. Marshman's dauafhter. Mrs. Havelock was residinsf at 
Landour during her husband's absence, and one night was roused from sleep to find 
the bungalow in flames. Clasping her babe to her bosom, she tried to rush through the 
encirclinw fire, but stumbled and fell faintin? on the verandah. A faithful native 



'" l^DiA.i THE LAST OF THE TRIO. "265 

.servant threw hi.s blanket round her, antl carried her to a neighbouring hut, but the 
poor baby was burnt to deatli. Lieutenant Havelock hurried from the camp to his 
<lesolate home, and found his wife apparently dying. He wrote to Dr. Marshman, to pre- 
pare him for the fatal news, and then, through some interruption of the mails, the good 
(jld man heard no more of his daughter for three days. They were three days of 
agonising suspense, during which Dr. Marshman did nothing but walk about the 
house, now and then talking incoherently, and watching incessantly for the postman. 
Then came the joyful news that his daughter was recovering, but the sudden ecstasy 
<!Ould not atone for those three days of suftering. He seldom smiled again ; his 
bodily frame grew weaker, his spirits were depressed, and the terribly hot season of 
1837, when the thermometer in his chamber was above blood-heat at four in the 
afternoon, brought the end rapidly nearer. But in all his weakness and depression 
liis spirit was fervent, hopeful, loving to the last. Less than a week before his death 
lie was conveyed to the chapel, where he gave out the favourite hymn of the three 
great men whose story we have been relating — a hymn long known as " the chant 
of the Serampore Missionaries " — 

■' Oh Lord our God, arise ! 

The cause of truth maintain, 
And wide o'er all the peopled world 
Extend her blessed reign." 

A few days afterwards he peacefully breathed his last, without sigh or gi-oan, just 
as the negotiations were being completed in London for the reunion of the Serampore 
Mission with the General Baptist ^lission, from which it sprang. 

They buried Dr. Marshman near his colleagues, and above his grave there is a 
covered tomb whei'e the visitor may rest from the heat of the sun, and enjoy the 
hallowed associations of the spot. The domed tomb of Ward is not far off. 



266 



YIII— WITH THE RED INDIANS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

JOHN ELIOT AND THE INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. 

Spanish Supremacy — Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Richard Grenvillt — Religion of the Red Indians — Sir Walter 
Raleigh — Little Baddow, in Essex — Eliot sails for Boston — Among the Iroquois — The " Praying Indians " — 
The Curse of Drink — Formation of Indian Settlements — Converts — JIartha's Vineyard — Major Gookiu — 
Whites and Reds — Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians. 

TN the early part of the sixteenth century, our ancestors, long impatient of the 
-L eneroachincnts of the Church of Rome on their rights and personal freedom, were 
preparing themselves for the events of 1534, when the Church of England was formalh" 
severed from the ])arent Church. The cause of Protestantism being then in their hands, 
they found themselves continualh' in antagonism with the great Catholic power of Spain : 
and the history of the hundred years succeeding the discovery of America, is a record 
of the two powers wrestling with each other in every tpiarter of the globe for the 
mastery, the one laying deep the foundations of her future influence and greatness, the 
other just entering upon the downward career which was to bring her low in the e3'es 
of tiie world. Every new colonisation of territory by the British, was looked upon as 
a blow to Spanish supremacy, and as a place providentially saved for ever from the 
errors of the Church of Rome. When the Church of England emerged from the ordeal 
of the JIarian persecution, and once more held n[) her head as the Church of the land, 
she innnediately connncnced, with an energy not unlike that of the adventurous English- 
men who had already crossed the ocean, to add the unknown lands in the far west 
to the dominions of the Cross. 

The "carriage of God's Word into those very mighty and vast countrys" wa.s 
stated as the express object of the expedition under Sir Hiunphrc)' Oilbert in 15S3. Two 
years afterwards Sir Richard (irenvillc followed, accompanied by the zealous Thomas 
Hariot, whose eftbrts on behalf of the spiritual welfare of the Indians were indefatigable. 
In his own account of his labours — the first public record of missionary eftbrts — 
he speaks of the sense of inferiority felt by the natives when viewing the guns, clocks, 
and instruments of the settlers, and he adds: — 

" Many times, and in every towne where I came, according as I was able, I made 
declaration of the contents of the Bible: that therein was set foorth the true onely God 
and his mightie works ; that therein was contained the true doctrine of saluation through 
Christ; with many ]i:n'ticularitics of miricles and chiefc points of religion, as I was able 
then to utter and thought tit for the time." 

This teaching was necessary, since, as with other native races, the Bible itselt 
instead of its contents, was in danger of being' worshipjted. Nevertheless, Hariot 
mentions that a great chief, when "so grievously sick that he was like to die," 
.sent for some of the Christians, having lost laitb in his own native priests, and 



Vlll.-Wmi THE Red Indians.) THE TYPICAL RED INDIAN. 267 

besought thuiii to intercede tor his hie ; or, it' deiith awaited him, that he might be 
with God in Paradise. 

The typical Red Indian is famihar to all as of a vindictive, war-loving disposition ; 
wreaking vengeance on his captives by the exercise of the greatest cruelties man could 
devise. Tortiu'e was, indeed, looked upon as an art, and he who excelled in devising 
fresh modes of inflicting it might gain thereby the applause am respect of his fellows. 
In the constant wars between the Indians and the United States, otiicers were in the 
habit of carrying with them pocket-revolvers, which they might use as a last resort 
whereby to escape the treatment awaiting them if captured b}' their enemies.* When 
first made known to Europeans, the Indians were scattered throughout North America 
in seven distinct groups of tribes, each consisting of several sub-tribes, whilst between 
certain of them perpetual warfare existed. Amongst some of the southern tribes, 
civilisation seemed to be faintly dawning, and men were commencing to lead a more 
settled mode of life ; in other tribes, nothing existed to curb the pursuit of the 
pleasiu-es of the hour, and a roving, hunting life precluded all thought of ]irovisioii 
for the morrow. 

Their religious belief was of very little importance to them. Beyond a recognition 
of " the Great Spirit," and a belief in spirits generally, the exercise of religion occupied 
but a small place in their thoughts. Their priests were the well-known " medicine-men," 
whose power and influence over the aboriginal Indians the missionaries liave alwa}s 
found it a difficult task to destroy. 

With all their hostility to European civilisation, there was much which seemed to 
raise the Red Indians out of the ordinary groove of mei'e savages. The intelligence 
of their countenances, and the seriousness of their demeanour when engaged in follow- 
ing up a war-trail or in holding a council, betokened the possession of capabilities 
which might accomplish much if trained in a useful direction; while the solemnity which 
accompanied the smoking of the pipe of peace, and the sacredness of the compact sealed 
thereby, was second only to the i-cspcct paid to the white flag of truce in modt'rn times. 

The Red Indians are thought to be descended from a white or yellow race, which 
emigrated from China and Japan, and mixed with the native race of America. A 
Choctaw tradition states that, a long time ago, the ancestors of the Red Men removed 
from beyond the great river and the mountains of snow, occupj'iiig many years on the 
journe}-. They were led by a great medicine-man, who carried a red pole, which he 
placed in the groimd every night. In the morning it was found leaning towards the 
east. They followed its direction until it was found upright, and there the Great Spirit 
directed them to live. 

It was to this interesting race that British pioneer missionaries commenced, early 
in the seventeenth century, to carry the tidings of the Gospel. Stimulated by discoveries 
made along the coast of the present United States, companies were inaugurated for the 
colonisation of the lands as they were made known. In this way, settlements in Maine 
and Virginia were among the earliest to be formed. Sir Walter Raleigh's enthusiasm 

* Dodge's " Hunting,' Grounds." 



268 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[VIII.— With the 



in the cause of Protestantism was shown by his bequest of one hundred pounds sterling 
to the work of Christianising the natives of the latter colony, the first missionary legacy 
which the English Church has on record. Among the ordinances for the government of 
these settlements was one which required that the " Word and Service of God " should 
be " preached, planted, and used, not only in the 
.said colonies, but also among the savasfes borderins' 
on them, according to the rites and doctrines of 
the Church of England." 

It did not take the Indians very long to see 
that little help was to be expected from the 




LANDING OF THE PURITAN FATHEKS AT MASSACHUSETTS. 



majority of the Colonists. They had come rather to help themselves. Pushing more and 
more inland, they encroached on the hunting grounds of the natives, who resented 
the continual interference with their ancient rights, until at last violence was used, 
and the arbitrament of war decided between "Wliite and Red. The cupidity of the 
settlers, and the vmdictiveness of the Red Men, proved serious drawbacks to the 
propagation of Christianity amongst the aborigines. 

There were not wanting, however, men who still remembered the duty which they 
owed to those they were displacing. In the south the Virginian Company were at 
some pains to spread the Gospel ; while in Maine, short-lived though the original 
Colony was, the clergymen who accompanied the planters did somethmg towards the 



Ued iNPiANs.j ELIOT SAILS FOR BOSTON "209 

accomplishment of the same object. In 1G20, the Puritan Fathers landed at 
Massachusetts, and proceeded to take up the task which, though successful in the 
south, had come to be neglected in the sister colony in the north. In Virginia, affairs 
had prospered, and the missionaries of the English Church wei'e anxious for the estab- 
lishment of an Indian school and college. To this end, a "King's Letter" was issued by 
James I., authorising collections to be made in all the parishes throughout England, "as 
well for ye enlarging of our Dominions, as for the propagation of ye Gospell amongst 
Infidels, wherein there is good progrcsse made, and hope of further increase." Large 
sums of money were collected in 1(319, 1G20, and 1621, some thousands of acres of land 
were set apart for the use of the proposed school, and the college was reared. A zealous 
clergyman was placed at its head, and great results seemed likely to accrue. But the 
Indians were already growing jealous of the English settlements, and the fair prospect 
which was opening out before them was darkened by the massacre of nearlj' three 
hundred and fifty whites at the instigation of a chief named Opechancanough, who in 
order to carry out his treacherous designs had expressed a desire for Christian teaching. 

War immediately followed ; the settlers vowed extermination to the Indians, the 
efforts of the clergymen were neutralised, and the discouragement caused by this 
unfortunate affair retarded for some years missionary efforts among the Indians. 

Meanwhile, events were happening at the village of Little Baddow, in Essex, which 
were to exercise an important influence on the Indians. In the quiet household of Mr. 
John Hooker, the master of the Grammar School, there was great excitement and con- 
sternation. Mr. Hooker's careful attention had always been devoted to the religious 
framing of his pupils ; and his young assistant, John Eliot, had received the deepest 
religious impressions from his teaching. But Hooker had fallen under the ban of the 
bishop of his diocese. Being a strict Puritan, and looking with horror on many of 
the rites and practices of the English Church, he had found himself unable to fulfil 
the tests put to him by the bishop, and had in consequence been refused a licence 
to act any longer as schoolmaster. Deprived of his means of livelihood, ruin stared 
him in the face. Misfortune fell not less heavily on his assistant, young Eliot, who 
had steadily looked forward to the time when he could take holy office upon himself 
But, as an unordained person, he was absolutely prohibited by law from preaching in 
public, and with that resolution which marked him through all the vicissitudes of a 
long life, he decided, when twenty-seven years of age, to seek in the New World that 
freedom of action and of conscience which he sought in vain in the Old. 

Accordingly, he sailed in November, 1631, in the good ship Lyon, bound for 
Boston, accompanied by a party of sixty emigrants. On his arrival, he had not long 
to wait for an engagement, being sought after by the I'epresentatives of a congregation 
at Roxbury, near Boston, whose pastor had gone to England with the intention of 
finally settling his affairs. 

Eliot seems to have made a very favourable impression on those to whom he bad 
been called to preach ; and when their pastor returned, they earnestly requested Eliot to 
remain as assistant minister. This, however, he refused, as he was but the forerunner 
of a party of Englishmen who were about to form a new settlement. 



270 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IVIII.-With the 

In less than a year his flock arrived, and preparations were made for the new 
settlement. Mr. Eliot then took up the pastorate, having been ordained after the 
Presbyterian custom. 

It was while ensrasred in ministerinsr, with a free, unfettered conscience, to his 
fellow-colonists, that his heart tirst warmed with s3Tnpathy towards the poor red- 
skins, whose wigwams were to be seen scattered around. He had probably no intention 
of becoming a missionary pioneer when tirst he parted from his mother country; but 
lie no sooner saw the miserable condition in which the Indians lived, the vasfueness of 
their religious belief, and the degraded social condition of the women as the slaves 
of their husbands, than he conceived a plan by which they might be collected 
into settlements of their own, and taught to abandon their roving life ; by this means 
he hoped that he might be able to minister to their spiritual needs, as well as to 
bring prominently before them the advantages to be derived from habits of Christian 
civilisation. But before he could put these humanitarian views into practice, he had 
to master the native language, and during fifteen years of patient labour amongst 
his people at Roxbury, he devoted much time to this object. 

In the meantime, the relations between the settlers and the natives were imder- 
going rapid change. At lirst received with open arms bj' the Indians, the English 
had been content rather to remain on sutferance than to entertain any future schemes 
of acquiring territory. Used to j^nvation from the first, thej- were free to act in 
accordance with the dictates of conscience in religious matters, and this was considered 
sufficient recompense for the hardships and difficulties which had to be encountered in 
their new homes. But there were some, and their numbers soon increased to a large 
majorit}', who, jDossessing but a nominal Christianit}', pursued their object of self- 
aggrandisement at the expense of the natives, and were not slow to take advantage, by 
might or right, of any opportunity which offered itself. 

To such as these we may safely ascribe the cause of the disturbances which took 
place on the frontiei-s during the five years following Mr. Eliot's arrival. The surround- 
ing countr}' was peopled by a tribe known as the Pequots, a branch of the Iroquois 
nation. Murders had been conmlitted by some of them, but a treaty had been entered 
into on condition of their delivering up the murderers. In spite of this, the commission 
of cruelties continued, until at last the colonists, assisted by the friendl}- Mohicans and 
Narragansets, drove the Pequots from the territorj' ; and by the slaughter of man}' 
hundreds of them in 1637, in what is known as the " Great Swamp Fight," secured for 
themselves a period of thirty-eight years of comparative peace. During this time, much 
progress was made in the Colon)-, and Mr. Eliot was enabled to carrj- on with great 
success his truly Christian projects for the religious and temporal welfare of the Red 
Indians. 

Having, liy the aid of a native, learned " this exotick language," and with much 
patience and .skill constructed a grammar of the same, he commenced, in 1646, 
that great work among the aborigines which is indelibly associated with his name. 
The difficulties to be overcome in the acquisition of the native language may be 
recognised when it is leamt that the word " loves," translated into Iroquois, becomes 



Ued Indians. THE 'PRAYING INDIANS." 271 

nooivonKintarnouiikanrinonudi, and kreraniogkodomdtootuiniuootiteaoiuiatiunnoitdsh cor- 
responds to our word " question." * 

On October 28th, 1646, Eliot convoked a meeting of Indians who were interested 
in the habits and religion of the whites, at a place not far distant from his own house. 
He and the friends who accompanied him were met by a man named \\'aban, or the 
Wind, and conducted to a large wigwam, where the well-disposed chiefs of the tribe 
had assembled. To these he discoursed for an hour and a quarter with astonishing 
energy, on the text, " Can these dry bones live ? " Eliot pi-ayed that the four winds of 
heaven might give life to the dry bones of Indian religion, and breathe into it the 
breath of life. 

After a conference of about three hours, Eliot returned home highly pleased with 
the success of his first visit to the natives. Having been invited to repeat it, he 
did so many times, with good effect. He now applied to the Court of Massachu- 
setts for a grant of land, in order that the " Praying Indians " might settle there and 
live together, and enjoy civilised life. This was granted, and a number of them shortly 
after met and drew up laws for their future government. The town was called 
" Noonatomen," or " Rejoicing," and Mr. Eliot taught them how to surround it with a 
ditch and to build a stone wall, supplying them as best he coidd with the necessar}' 
tools. He said, with much force, " I feel it absolutelj^ necessarj' to carry on civility with 
religion," a principle which now, perhaps, scarcely needs enunciating, but the truth of 
which, we may be sure, was not then so apparent. 

Want of means was the great obstacle to carrying out to the full his ideas of the 
great possibilities which lay before the Indian race. Almost entirely dependent on 
his own resources, it was with a spirit of deep gratitude that he occasionally received 
the collections made at Christian chur'ches, or a donation from some one of his many 
admirers. Hearing of the success of the Indians at Noonatomen, their countrymen in 
the neighbourhood of Concord sent a i-equest to Mr. Eliot that he would come and 
preach to them. They then begged from the Government the grant of a piece of land, 
and proceeded to build themselves a town. Their Sachems, or chiefs, and other principal 
men, then met, and drew up certain laws which were to be observed in the new 
town. 

Nowhere have the evils of drunkenness been more pronounced than amongst this 
savage though somewhat noble race. " Fire-water " was unknown to theui until they 
were brought into contact with civilised nations. Christian knowledge was never y-et 
propagated amongst the heathen without its preachers having first to contend with 
the terrible results brought about by the knowledge of the use and abuse of intoxi- 
cating liquors. The inferior broken-down Indian, who begged and roamed in and about 
the white men's settlements and towns, was but the wreck of the "magnificentl}' grave, 
imperturliably patient savage, the slave of his word, and hospitable to the most scru- 
pulous extent."! The irreparable harm done by the introduction of rum had been early 
recognised b}' the chiefs themselves, and in drawing up rules for guidance in the new 

* Dr. Mather's " History of New England.'-" 
t C. M. Yon"'e's " Pioneers and Founders." 




a, 

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kyiiiiiiiiilii;iiiiiiiiiliiilii'l[iiiiliiliiiiiliiiii|iiiiiHiiMii' 



VIII.— With thk Ri;ij Indians.] 



INDIAN SETTLEMENTS. 



273 



settlement, heavy fines were placed upon drunkenness. The Government of Massachu- 
.sctts had i(reatly restricted the sale of spirits to the Indians, but " some ill-disposed 
people, for filthy lucre's sake, did sell unto them secretly, though the Indians will 
rarely discover these evil merchants ; they do rather suffer whippin.!.^ or fine than 
tell;"* and Mr. Eliot says, "These scandalous evils greatly blemish and intercept 
their entertainment of the Gospel, through the policy of Satan, who counter-worketh 
Christ that way, with not a little uncomfortable success." 




.lOllN KIAOT. 



The pleasing results brought about by the collection of the Indians into settle- 
ments, and the approliation with which they regarded it, were attested by the fact 
that Mr. Eliot, in the next few years, had occasion to a.ssist with his counsel in the 
building of .several new Indian towns. 

In 1G49, the needs of the Indians, and the duties of the colonists towards 
them, were brought under the notice f)f the English House of Commons, which found 
time to pass an ordinance for the erection of a Corporation for the FropagoJion of the 
Goxjid in Nevj England, and ordered a collection to be made for it throughout 
f>igland and Wales. Although supported by letters from the Universities of Oxford 
and Cambridge, however, uiid by exhortations from the pulpits to the peopl'' to 



* Brown's ■• History of ChriKtian MisKions.' 



18 



274" CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IVIII.-Wjih the 

contribute liberally to the collection, it was thought to be merely a device for getting 
funds for Government at a time when money was scarce, and very little interest was 
folt in the Indians. A sufficient sum was, however, collected to purchase lands worth 
£500 or £600 a year, and with this the Society was enabled to assist Mr. Eliot in 
his projected settlement by building him an Indian college, and paying salaries to 
both himself and his preachers, as well as by buying tools for use in the different 
trades which he had taught the Indians. 

In 1651 Mr. Eliot laid the foundations of the new town of Natick, on the banks 
of Charles River, whither the inhabitants from Noonatomen removed and assisted in 
the building of the houses. Two streets were built, one on either side of the river ; 
these were connected by a bridge, constructed entirely by the Indians. In the midst 
was a circular fort, palisaded with trees, and a large English house, the upper part 
being used as a storehouse, with an apartment for Mr. Eliot's use when on a visit 
to the place. The site was secured to the Indians by deed, and Mr. Eliot in- 
structed them in the art of self-government, giving them what he thought to 
be a truly Scriptural code, such as he hoped to see established at home under the 
Commonwealth. 

He divided the Indians into hundreds and into tens, causing them to elect rulers 
for each division, on a plan similar to that employed in Great Britain in the early days 
of the Saxon kings. He then bound them by a solemn covenant to serve the Lord, 
and on the 24th of September, 1651, ratified it by a fast-day service. Public confession 
and humiliation occupied a great part of the time, after which the chiefs and people 
bound themselves to the covenant. The " blessed day," as Mr. Eliot called it, then 
ended with a collection for the poor and needy. 

Shortly after, the town was visited by Governor Endicott, who was struck by the 
civihsed appearance the place presented. He said, " I account this one of the best 
journeys I have made for many years." 

In spite of the success which attended Mr. Eliot's endeavours, he was very careful 
to admit to Church fellowship only those who had given decided evidence of their 
Christianity. In 1652 he gathered his fellow-ministers together and requested them to 
examine his converts, and to judge of their sincerity. Each man spoke for himself and 
confessed his sins, no doubt in the figurative, roundabout manner common 'to Indians 
when discoursing in public. Consequently, Mr. Eliot felt himself constrained to own 
that their " enlargement of spirit " did make " the work longsome." The confessions 
were taken down in writing, and afterwards printed and published as the " Tears of 
Repentance." The book was dedicated to Oliver Cromwell, and was sent to England 
to be considered by the Society. 

Even after such decided proofs of their sincerity, some years elapsed before Mr. 
Eliot deemed himself justified in admitting them to full C-hristian communion. A 
further meeting of the ministers of neighbouring churches took place for the purpose 
of examining the Indians, when several of them, having at length passed satisfactorily 
through this ordeal, were baptised and admitted to the Lord's Supper. This took place 
in 1660, nine years after the building of the settlement. Great strictness was, however. 



Red iNDiAss.j HIACOOMES, THE FIRST CONVERT. 275 

Still exercised, so that, after ten years of its incorporation, it consisted of only between 
forty and fifty members. 

The enormous task which Eliot had undertaken in givmg the Indians the Bible in 
their own language was now approaching completion. In 1661, the New Testament 
was issued from the press at Cambridge, in New England, and was followed in 1663 
by the Old Testament, One copy of this literary masterpiece is still treasured in Yale 
College, while the tribes for whom it was designed have been long since scattered, their 
lands occupied by the white men, and their language lost for ever. 

Eliot also published an Indian Grammar, and at the close of it added the memor- 
able words, " Prayers and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything." He 
also translated works by Baxter, and his friend Shepard — primers, catechisms, and other 
useful works which occupied his time when not engaged amongst his own con- 
gregation. 

Following the example of Mr. Eliot in Massachusetts, some ministers and others 
in the colony of New Plymouth engaged in the same noble undertaking amongst the 
native Indians. Mr. Bourne, of Sandwich, procured for them a grant of land at 
Mashpee, about fifty miles from Boston, and entailed the property to the Indians in 
perpetuity. 

Mr. Eliot visited the settlement in 1666, and attended a large meeting, held in order 
that a number of Indians might publicly confess their faith in Christ. This visit was 
a source of extreme gratification to him, the Indians shortly afterwards being formed 
into a church, with Mr. Bourne as pastor. 

Another important congregation of Indians was that at Martha's Vineyard. A 
Mr. Tliomas Mayhew had obtained a grant of this and the neighbouring island of 
Nantucket aiad Elizabeth. Keenly alive to the destitution and Avant of the native 
Indians, whose land he and his countrymen were dispossessing, he encouraged his son 
to settle among them, and afterwards to become the pastor of the congregation which 
they formed. It was here that Mr. Eliot's idea of educating natives for the ministry 
first achieved success. Johen Hiacoomes, who was the first Indian convert, was placed 
at the head of the congregation, after having given pleasing proof of both his courage 
and devotion. 

In 1649 a great meeting of Indians was held, attended by those who professed 
Christianity and those who were still heathens. Hiacoomes was present, ever ready and 
anxious to raise his voice on behalf of his God and Saviour. The authority of the 
"Powaws," or medicine-men, was debated, many asserting that their power to harm their 
enemies was undeniable. The question was asked, " Who does not fear the Powaws ? 
There is no man who does not fear them." 

\Vlien Hiacoomes heard this he rose to make reply. All eyes in the assembly were 
fixed upon him. Then came the words boldly from the lips of this Indian Christian — 
" Though they may hurt such as fear them, yet I trust in the Great God of Heaven 
and earth, and therefore all the Powaws in the world can do me no harm : I fear 
them not." Astonished by his bold words, many expected that immediate judg- 
ment would overtake him, but he remained unhurt, thereby proving to all present 



276 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[VIII.— With the 



the impotence of those he had defied. Before the end of the meeting, many came 
to him and besought him to teach them concerning his God ; and at the close 
no fewer than twenty-two of the Indians had resolved to embrace the Christian 
religion. Many others refused any longer to be in subjection to the medicine-men, 
and were only too glad to be relieved of their fear for them. 

The power which these men professed to have was not wholly disbelieved in by 
many of the whites. Some firmly believed that they were in league with the devil. 

During the wars with the Indians, the dogs 
which guarded the settlements " would make a 
sad yelling if in the night the}' scented the 
approaches of them." They " therefore sacrificed 
a dog to the devil, after which no English dog 
would bark at an Indian for divers months 
ensuing." This was what many of the whites 
believed ! 

On the whole, Mr. Eliot was not very suc- 
cessful in his attempts to rear a native ministry'. 
Two 3'oung Indians, Caleb and Joel, were sent 
to Harvard College, Cambridge. The latter was 
returning on a visit to his friends, when his 
vessel was wrecked on the island of Nantucket, 
and the whole of the ship's company drowned. 
Caleb, on the other hand, succeeded in taking 
his degree, but was unable long to bear the 
discipline and restraints of college life. He died 
shortly after, another example of those who, 
suddenly brought from a wild savage life into 
habits of civilisation, were unable to bear the riolent change. His constitution gave 
Avay under the confined and artificial life he was called upon to lead. 

An Indian college established at Cambridge also failed, and Eliot was compelled 
to fall back on his own efforts, and to add to his work the task of lecturins' to 
native students, and giving them the necessary education. In these designs he 
received great assistance from a magistrate. Major Gookin, who had been appointed 
by the Court of Massachusetts to hold a court of judicature in conjunction with 
the Christian chiefs. It was provided, amongst other things, that the Indians should 
give a tenth part of their produce towards the maintenance of their ministers. 

Although still retaining charge of the church at Roxbury, Eliot was in the habit 
of going on a missionar}' excursion about once every fortnight, travelling to the various 
settlements in Massachusetts, and preachmg on the way to those who were willing to 
hear. The hardships which travellers have to undergo in an unsettled country he 
encountered at every step. In writing to his friend, Mr. Winslow, he says : — " I have 
not been dry, night nor day, from the third day of the week to the sixth, but have 
travelled from place to place in that condition ; and at night I pull oft' my boots. 




MLOIClNL-ilAX. 



■REn INBIANS.I 



HARDSHIPS OF TRAVELLERS. 



277 




AYHEW AT MARTHA'S VISEYARD. 



™^-rs^«t:;:t2i;=t^~t^.X- 



278 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [VIII.-With tbe 

me. I have considered the exhortation of Paul to his son Timothy, ' Endure hardness 
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ,' with many other such like meditations." 

Sometimes, when travelling alone, he came upon a band of Indians who absolutely 
refused to listen to him, and, mdeed, threatened his life if he persisted in preaching 
the Gospel amongst them. The Sachems, jealous of their authority over the people, 
and the Powaws of the gain which their arts brought them, forbade the people to 
listen, and, indeed, told Eliot it was impertinent for him to come and interfere in 
matters of their religion. His reply was always the same — that his mission must be 
fulfilled, and that he must go on with his work. 

At one time, a friend incautiously gave him the name of the " Indian Evangelist." 
This he protested against with great earnestness. He said : "I do beseech you to 
suppress all such things if ever 3'ou should have occasion of doing the like. Let us 
speak and do and carry all things with humility. It is the Lord who hath done what 
is done ; and it is becoming to lift up Christ, and ourselves to lie low." 

He was at great pains to win the afiections of the Indians when on his journeys. 
The work of conversion amongst them was difficult, not only because of their language, 
but also because of their poverty and barbarous mode of life. Instead of receiving- 
food and lodging from those to whom he ministered, it was necessary always to take 
with him his own provisions. " I never go unto them empty," he says, " but carry 
somewhat to distribute among them ; and when they come to my house, I am not 
willing they shoidd go away without some refreshment. Neither do I take any 
gratuity ft-om them unrewarded ; and indeed they do account, that the}' have nothing 
worth the giving unto me ; only once, when I was up in the countrj', a poor creature 
came to me, as I was about to take horse, and shaking me by the hand, with the 
other thrust something into my hand. I looked what it was, and found it to be a 
pennyworth of wampum upon a straw's end. I, seeing so much hearty affection in so 
small a thing, kindly accepted it, only inviting him to my house, that I might show 
my love to him." * 

In 1674, the year in which Mr, Eliot had reached the zenith of his success, there 
were fourteen towns inhabited by Christian Indians, seven of which were of old standing, 
while seven were known as the "New Towns." The number of Indians receivinsr 
Christian instruction was estimated at the same time to amount to about eleven 
hundred. He saw around him a new generation growing up, having the advantage of 
Christian supervision ; and the ill-feeling which had existed forty years' before between 
the Indians and the whites had, to his great satisfaction, been reduced to a minimum. 

A cloud, however, now arose upon the horizon, which was destined to grow and 
cover the field of these noble missionarj^ endeavours, and to create havoc amongst 
the congregations of praying Indians. A Sachem of great ability and cunning, called 
Philip by the English, had succeeded to the chieftaincy of the Wampanong.s, who 
inhabited the country around Plymouth. It soon became apj^arent that he was 
endeavouring to imite the various tribes in an alliance against the white men. 

• Winslow's '• Progress of the Gospel," quoted in Brown's •• History of Christian Missions." 



Red Indians.) COLONISTS AND INDIANS. 279 

111 1G75, he declared war against the English, and a reign of terror soon set 
in amongst the settlers throughout the country. Farmhouses were attacked in the 
dead of night, and the Indians swooped down upon defenceless villages, slaying and 
scalping, and sometimes carrying their prisoners away to be killed by being roasted 
over a slow tire. 

A party of fifteen women and children had taken refuge in the farmhouse of a 
man named Tozer, at Newich-Wannock. The militia were called out, and many home- 
steads left unprotected. A body of Indians attacked the place, but were bravely kept 
outside the house by a girl of eighteen, who saw the enemy approaching. Having 
shut the door, she set her back against it, thus giving time for the others to escape 
by another door. These • hurried to a building close by, which was better secured, but 
thej' were not a moment too soon. The Indians soon made short work of the door 
with their hatchets, and after knocking the girl down, believing her to bo dead, turned 
in pursuit of the rest. These had in the meantime made good their escape, with the 
exception of two little children, who fell victims to the Indians. 

Many houses were destroyed by Indian raids upon them, plantations were laid 
waste, and the alarm which the colonists felt soon begot the most bitter feelings 
of rage and revenge. Unfortunately, a few of the Christian Indians from the new 
praying-towns sided with Philip, although a large majority either took no part at all 
in the war, or joined the colonists, to whom they rendered good service. But the 
whites at first refused to acknowledge any distinction between Indian and Indiaa 
All were alike their enemy ; and all in common were objects of their hatred. The 
Government, indeed, regarded the Christian Indians as true and faithful servants, and 
did all they coUld to protect them from the vengeance of the settlers ; but Major 
Gookin declared that when some of them were employed to negotiate with the 
hostile Indians, they had been, by the ill-treatment which they had received from the 
whites, " in a manner constrained to fall off to the enemy." 

In August, 1675, a party of praying Indians was arrested and sent to Boston to 
be tried for soane murders which had caused great alarm at Lancaster. The magistrates 
received satisfactory assurance of their innocence, but had great difficulty in protecting 
them from the violence of the mob, who longed to be revenged on all Indians who 
came within their grasp, whether Christian or otherwise. The town of Natick, on 
which Mr. Eliot had laboured so abundantly, was looked upon with great suspicion 
by those who wished the Indians no good. The Government, fearing that the place 
was scarcely safe from attacks by the whites, and that its continued existence was 
likely to lead to bloodshed, ordered Captain Prentiss to repair thither and remove the 
inhabitants to a spot which had been selected for them on Deer Island. The orders 
were enforced by a party of horsemen, and Eliot, now seventy-one years old, had to 
endure the pain of seemg the town which he had founded with so great promise of 
future results, and after so many years of prayerful meditation, rumed, and its homes 
broken up. It was a heartrending time for him. He lived to see the labours of his 
lifetime swept away by the relentless passions of his countrymen, at a time when he 
might reasonably have hoped to hand over the continuation of his work to another. 



282 




YALE COLLEGE. 



CHAPTER XV. 



DAVID BRAINERD. 



A Scene at Yale College — Early Life of Brainerd — His Melancholy Temperament — The Indians at Kanaumeek — 
Seasons of Depression — Self-denial — At the Forks of the Delaware — Introspection — A Revival at Cross- 
weeksung — A School Opened — On the Banks of the Susquehannah — The Coming of the Lord's Chariot. 

~V7"ALE COLLEGE was one day in a state of intense agitation. One of the students 



X 



being trained for the ministry had been found guilty of the crime of insub- 



ordination, and sentence of expulsion was passed upon him for refusing to offer an 
apology for the offence he had committed. 

In common with many of his fellows, he had felt the influence of the revival 
under Wesley and Whitfield, and was in a state of indiscreet enthusiasm. In the 
heat of a discussion he had said that one of his tutors " had no more grace than 
this chair I am leaning upon." The remark, overheard b}' a chattering student, was 
reported to the authorities, and the culprit was called upon to make jmblic confession, 
and to withdraw the disrespectful expression. This he firmly declined to do, and the 
authorities felt it incumbent on them to exercise their power and expel the unfortunate 
but obstinate student. 

The subject of their stern discipline was David Brainerd. He was born in 1718, 
at Haddam, in Connecticut, New England ; his father, who was descended from 
one of the Pilgrim Fathers, being at the time one of the Council for the Colon}'. 
David was brought up in the rigid doctrines of Calvinism, and, as a child, was 



viii.-w,TH THE Red i.nt>iass.] early history of brainerd. 283 

wont to withdraw himself from his fellows in order to engage in meditation in the 
solitude of the woods. Losing his father when only nine years of age, and his mother 
a few years afterwards, his young mind was deeply impressed with the necessity of 
preparation for death, and his constant pra3'er, when a youth, was that God would open 
a way for him to devote himself wholly to the Christian ministry. He was brought up 
on his brothers' farm, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his twenty- 
first year. Then, having made considerable progress in learning during his spare 
moments, he entirely relinquished his farm work and devoted himself to stud^-. 

He went first to live with Mr. Fiske, the pastor at Haddam, in whom he found a 
friend congenial to his tastes, and was advised by him to withdraw from the com- 
pany of those not similarly minded with himself, and to spend more time in private 
meditation. Brainerd was naturally of a melancholy temjjerament, consequent, to a great 
extent, on his feeble and delicate health, and the strivings of his heart after holiness 
and the sense of his own imworthiness weighed upon him with extraordinary power. 
No sooner did he seem, for a moment, to have attamed assurance of salvation, than he was 
at once checked, and inwardly chastising himself for his presumption. The struggle 
between the two parts of his nature resulted in a state of deep physical depression, 
which, with alternating periods of spiritual joy, wore his frail body out and brought him 
to an early grave. 

In the year 1739, he became a student at Yale College. During his close 
application to study his health broke down, his lungs became affected, and he was 
sent home to die. He, however, providentially recovered and returned to the college, 
when the unfortunate event occiu-red to which we have referred, and which caused 
him many a bitter hour afterwards. 

It was, mdeed, a serious affair for a man of his ambition and enthusiasm, and a 
number of ministers, including Mr. John Wesley, petitioned for his restoration. This 
was refused, and when, some time afterwards, he sent a most humble acknowledgment 
of his offences to the authorities, they still denied him forgiveness. Brainerd remained 
undaimted, and applied himself earnestly to the purpose of his life. His interest had 
been excited in the condition of the Red Indians, and, in the spii'it of religious enthu- 
siasm which Whitfield had brought mto the Christian Church, Brainerd determined to 
go forth to labour among the heathen. 

He was licensed in 1742, and at once commenced his labours among the Indians 
at a place called Kent. He had scarcely any acquamtance with the Indian language ; 
but, in spite of this important drawback, the people were much impressed by the 
earnestness of his preaching, and perhaps were not wholly ignorant of what he was 
sapng to them, since their journeys amongst the settlements of the Avhite men would 
cause them to become acquainted to a slight extent with the English language. He 
remained, however, but a very short time among these people. The Commissioners 
of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge had heard of his 
enthusiasm for missionary work, and were desirous of engaging him. Having made 
successful overtures to him, he was sent under their direction to a place called 
Kanaumeek, between Stockbridge and Albany. 



284 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [Vni. -With the 

He was in an extremely bad state of health at this time. He would often become 
so weak as scarcely to be able to stand, and the pain from which he continually 
suffered showed that he already possessed the seeds of a terrible lung-disease. In 
this state he arrived at Kanaumeek, riding and wading through swamps, forcing his 
way through the luxurious vegetation of the forests, and toiling over the rocky 
mountains which surrounded his future halting-place. 

His lodging was in the hut of a Scotch family recently arrived from the Highlands, 
but their coarse fare and straw beds wei'e ill suited for one of his frail constitution. 
Perhaps, had he regarded his health, the hospital and its comforts, rather than a 
draughty hut and a straw bed, would have been a more congenial place for him. But 
of his health he had no thought. Regarding his frail body as but the temporary 
resting-place of a weary soul, his writmgs show the longing he felt that he might 
take leave of his mortal home, and pass away to the Better Land. 

The family with whom he lodged spoke only Gaelic, whilst the master of the 
house had but a poor acquaintance with English. Brainerd loved solitude, and until 
he was able to build himself a log hut, was compelled to look on at many a 
scandalous scene enacted by the colonists, protesting vehemently against the evil habits 
of the white men who came at times to the settlement, and were a far greater 
stumbling-block to the propagation of the Gospel than any arguments the Indian 
priests could bring. " You whites," an old chief said, " bring us your vices and diseases 
to the extermination of our tribes, and your fire-water to the degradation of our young 
braves. We had no disease, no drunkenness, before j^ou came : how do you expect us 
to believe in your religion ? " 

After he had been a few months at Kanaumeek, he wrote : — " My soul is, and has 
been for a long time, in a piteous condition, wading through a series of sorrows of 
various kinds. I have been so crushed down sometimes with a sense of my meanness 
and infinite unworthiness, that I have been ashamed that any, even the meanest of 
my fellow-creatures, should so much as spend a thought about me ; and have wished 
sometimes when I travelled among the thick brakes, to drop as one of them into 
everlasting oblivion." 

He soon decided to leave his place of lodging, nearly two miles from the wigwams, 
and trust himself wholly among the Indians. In this way he would be able to preach 
to them both morning and evening, at which times previously he had been engaged 
in riding to or from his own abode, and when, indeed, they would be more free to 
attend to him. 

At last he found himself alone with his beloved Indians, far away from all con- 
tamination by the whites. He was wholly dependent on himself for his means of 
sustenance. He would not enter into a wigwam and partake of even the poor fare 
which sufficed for the Indians' meal ; but, like Eliot, compelled himself to provide for 
his wants; and we can well imagine the straits into which he was driven in his efforts 
to supply himself with food. He was forced to go ten or fifteen miles for all his 
bread, and when he laid any quantity by for the future, it would get sour or mouldy 
before he ate it. Sometimes he complained that for days together he had none at all. 



Red Indians.] 



SELF-DENIAL. 



285 



not being- able to send any one for it, nor able to catch liis own horse in order to go 
himself. Once, when in a dilemma such as this, he made some cakes out of Indian 
meal he had by him, and fried them, and then "blessed God as much for my present 
circumstances as if I had been a king." 

His life among the Indians was a terribly hard one, yet, when entering upon his 
Avork, he had sold all his personal effects and devoted the proceeds towards the 




AN INDIAN VILLAGE. 



maintenance of a pupil at the college ; and now, by depriving himself of almost the 
necessities of life, he was able to save a considerable sum to be devoted to charitable 
purposes. 

Brainerd was not very successful in his attempts to convert the Indians at Kan- 
aumeek, and for a long time, whether there or elsewhere, no remarkable I'esults 
followed from his preaching. He had no fixed plan, as Eliot had, of forming the 
Indians into settlements ; for a long time he had not even a school for the children 
around him, and was at a great disadvantage in being dependent on an interpreter for 
the faithful reproductioai of his sentiments. 

Although he had no satisfactory evidence of the conversion of anj- of the Indians 



2S6 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. Ivill.-Wmi the 

at Kananmeek, drunkenness greatly decreased, idolatrous sacritices were entirely abolished, 
and other improvements took place. 

Brainerd had been in the habit from time to time of riding to Stockbridge, a 
distance of twenty miles, in order to learn the Indian language from the Rev. Mr. 
Sergeant, the missionary at that post. This was always a fatiguing journey to him, 
and was indeed an affliction to one in his condition. 

The place, too, where he was settled, was near to the frontier, and in the days of 
the war between the English and French in America, when the natives took sides 
against each other, and perpetrated their horrible cruelties in the name of civilisation, 
the occupants of outlying settlements were advised to take safety in flight. Under 
Brainerd's direction, most of his flock removed to Stockbridge, and placed themselves 
under the care of Mr. Sergeant, whilst he himself was left free to pursue his labours 
in another quarter. 

He arranged with the Society under whose auspices he was working, that he should 
proceed southward to the province of Pennsylvania, and labour among the Indians 
near the Forks of the Delaware. The thought of the journey through the lonely 
forest in the feeble, almost dying state in which he was, nearly unmanned him ; but, 
taking heart, he bore up bravely until he reached his destination. 

Of his untiring diligence and zeal, ample proof remains in the diary he left, wherein 
he was in the habit of writing at length his thoughts and meditations. One day, 
soon after his arrival at the Forks of the Delaware, he says : — " I was greatly oppressed 
with guilt and shame this morning from a sense of my inward vileness and pollution. 
About nine o'clock, I withdrew to the woods for pi-ayer, but had not much comfort. 
.... Towards night, my burden respecting my work among the Indians began to 
increase much, and was aggravated by hearing sundry things that looked very dis- 
couraging — in particular, that they intended to meet together the next day for an 
idolatrous feast and dance. Then I began to be in anguish. I thought I must in con- 
science go and endeavour to break them up, and knew not how to attempt such a thing. 
However, I withdrew for prayer, hoping for strength from above. And in prayer, I 
was exceedingly enlarged : my soul was as much drawn out as I ahnost ever remember 
it to have been in my life. I was in such anguish, and pleaded with so much earnestness 
and importunity, that when I rose from my knees I felt extremely weak and over- 
come ; I could scarcely walk straight ; my joints were loosed ; the sweat ran down 
my face and body, and nature seemed as if it would dissolve. So far as I could 
judge, I was wholly free from selfish ends in my fervent supplications for the poor 
Indians. I knew they were met together to worship devils, and not (iod, and this 
made me cry earnestly that God would now appear and help me in my attempts 
to break up this idolatrous meeting." Unknown as he was to them, he was yet 
successful in prevailing upon them to abandon their dance, and to listen to him. 

Brainerd about this time extended his labours to some outlying Indians, and 
had to travel through an unmapped and almost an unknown country. Many hard- 
ships were undergone on this journey, but were very similar to those which befell him 
whenever he travelled between the Delaware and the Sust|uehannah — the principal 



R™ Indians.] A REVIVAL AT CROSSWEEKSUNG 287 

scenes of his labour for the next two or three years, where much of his preaching 
must have been thrown away, since the good seed he was continually scattering was not 
carefully tended, and his visits were too transient to be entirely successful. Yet at one 
place Brainerd had the intense joy of witnessing a most remarkable religious awakening 
which attended a visit of his. The cloud was at length showing a silver Hning ; the 
darkness at last was fleeing before the rising sun. 

He had returned from a most disheartening visit to the Susquehannah, and was 
ready to sink into the depths of despair. But having heard of a body of Indians 
at a place called Crossweeksung, in New Jersey, about eighty miles eastward from where 
he had been enoaored among the Delaware Indians, he decided to visit them. He 
found some few families scattered about at a considerable distance from each other, 
and was obliged to preach his tirst sermon to a congregation of only four women and 
some children. This small beginning was, however, soon to expand into a remarkable 
work of orace amonsj the Indians. Those who first heard Brainerd hastened to inform 
their neighbours of his arrival, travelling from ten to fifteen miles for this purpose. 
The company soon increased to forty-tive or lifty persons, and Bramerd preached 
earnestly to them, meeting with no opposition and hearing of no objection. He attri- 
buted this favourable disposition on the part of the Indians to the fact that one or 
two of them had attended his meetinsis at the Forks of the Delaware, and although 
he had there met with such discouragement and want of success, he now had the 
satisfaction of knowing that his preachmg had not been thrown away, but had been 
the means whereby the hearts of the people at Crossweeksung had been prepared for 
the reception of the Gospel. Those who had previously heard him had been attempting 
to show their fellows the evils of idolatry, and at last Bramerd met with that success 
for which he so earnestly laboured. After spending a fortnight at Crossweeksung, he 
returned to the Delaware, and experienced great pleasure shortly after in baptising 
his interpreter into the Church, together with his wife. 

Brainerd's good reception at Crossweeksung was fully sustained on his second visit. 
Scarcely had he been in the settlement two or three days, before every one was 
making the inquiry, " What shall we do to be saved ? " Many were brought under 
deep concern for their souls, and obtained assurance of the love which was borne for 
them by their Redeemer. Each sermon which Brainerd preached seemed to be product- 
ive of increasingly satisfactory results. Many more were awakened, and such as he 
deemed fit were baptised into the C'burch of Christ. 

In February, 1746, Brainerd found himself compelled to open a school for children. 
About thirty entered it, and made surprising progress, several being able, in five 
months, to read the New Testament. In consequence of some of his flock being in debt 
to the colonists, it was decided to form an Indian settlement at Cranberry, about fifteen 
mUes distant, and away from temptation by contact with the whites. Brainerd succeeded 
in paying off the debts of his Indians ; the little body of Christians removed from Cross- 
weeksung, and in twelve montlis the settlement presented a most flourishing appearance. 
Brainerd was now much exercised on questions of duty. His body longed for rest and 
quietness, and the thoughts of settling down peacefully among the congregation he had 



288 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[Vlll.— With the Red Indiaks. 



formed, and wliicli <he loved so well, had great fascinations for him. The idea of it, 
however, only occurred to him to be banished from his mind, and henceforth he decided 
that he must struggle for the extension of Christ's Kingdom to the very end. 

He determined to cast the seeds of religion once more along the banks of the 
hitherto barren Susquehannah, and in September, 1746, set out for that part of the 
country. He started, knowing that his state was critical. The hardships he had under- 
gone had broken his constitution, and he was well aware that his incurable disease must 
soon prove fatal. Often he was obliged to sleep in the woods, where he suft'ered from 
cold sweats and spitting of blood, and was so feeble at times that he felt ready to fall 
from his horse Depression of spirits naturally followed, and caused him to give vent 
to the most humiliating reflections upon himself After an absence of about a month, 
he returned without having met with any further success. He became so ill, and yet 
so unwilling to give up his beloved work, that he preached to his hearers from his 
bed, and administered the Lord's Supper in the same position. 

Having been recommended to take as much exercise as possible, he started on a 
journey to Boston, but was again cut down by illness, and compelled to spend the 
winter at Northampton as the guest of President Jonathan Edwards. In the spring he 
reached Boston, more dead than alive ; but the popularity he met with there, and the 
manner in which his advice was sought by ministers when any missionary scheme was 
on foot, was more than he could bear. He left the city after a short stay, and again 
visited Northampton. The journey was however, too much for him. 'He was soon 
entirely confined to his bed, anxiously " awaitmg the coming of the Lord's chariot," 
until nature at last succumbed to the ravages of disease, and David Brainei'd, in an 
unusual moment of freedom from pain, entered upon the i-eward which awaited him. 

John Eliot was in his fort3'-second year when he commenced his missionary 
labours. David Brainerd was yet in his thirtieth year when his earthly task was 
completed, and he was called away to his lasting home. 




289 

IX.— IN THE WEST INDIES. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE TRADE. 

Desoripfciou of the West Indies— Sargasso or Gulf-weed— The Ladies' Sea — The Caribs— A Carib Story — Culture of 
the Suffar-cane — The Labour Market— Horrors of the Slave Trade — Facts couceruing Slavery — Character of 
the Slaves — The Jumby Dance. 

BEFORE proceeding to tell the stirring- story of the first mission to the ^^'est 
Indies, we must try to present to our readers some pictures of the scene and 
setting of the chief incidents we have to relate, and of that horrible slave trade, 
with which even Britons had at one time so much to do. Strange and terrible indeed 
was the method by which the ebon children of Ham became transported from their 
homes in Central Africa to the luxuriant isles of the bine Caribbean, for good or ill. 
There, however, they were, and thither the Christian Church had to go to help them 
in their bondage. 

Mr. Froude has said : " If ever the naval exploits of this country are done into 
an epic poem — and, since the ' Iliad,' there has been no subject better fitted for such 
treatment, or better deserving it — the West Indies will be the scene of the most 
brilliant cantos." The name of the Caribbean Sea thrills the hearts of Englishmen — 
even of many who have vague ideas of its geographical position. 

When Columbus set out to seek by a westward route the golden rivers and 
coral strands of India, he thought that Asia extended much farther east than 
it rCcdly does. But for this blunder the great man who " made geography " was 
not to be blamed, for the " degree " was then reckoned at much below its real 
value by those supposed to be specially versed in such matters. This error necessarily 
involved an utterly false conception of the size of our globe ; for the number 
of degrees which encircle it being absolutely fixed (a degree being simply the 360th 
part of the circumference of the circle, whatever be the size of it), the girth of the globe 
itself was very naturally concluded to be much less than it is in reality. Thus 
it came to pass that the lovely tropical islands in the C'aribbean Sea, towards which 
we are now to turn our gaze, were named by the great explorer, and will always 
continue to be called, " the West Indies," Columbus thinking that this was simply 
the place where extremes met; that those isles of the tvest to us were really the 
eastern limits of that India which had been reached by IMarco Polo and others from 
the opposite direction. The size of India was known ; and if the measured miles 
stretched round the globe at the rate of so many degrees per hundred miles, the 
Eastern Indies really would have been somewhere about where Columbus did find 
the Western. 

As the storm-tossed mariner draws in from the " roaring forties " towards the great 

bight of the Atlantic, in which the West Indies are grouped like two crescentic strings 

of pearls, he finds himself in a calmer and warmer sea, thickly covered, as with a carpet, 

by one of the strangest productions that ever Nature turned out of her wondrous 

19 



290 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[IX.— Is THE 



workshop — the Sargasso, or Gulf-weed. Though quite rootless and self-propagating, 
it is not an ordinary seaweed in appearance, even to an eye untrained to observe Nature 
closely. To Columbus and his companions it appeared " like small pine-branches, 
laden with a fruit similar to pistachio-nuts." It has been surmised that it may be a 
changed production of the vanished continent, Atalanta, of which the Romans had old 
traditions, a surmise which may possibly have no more root than has this strange weed 
itself. This great yellowish-green expanse, so like a vast prairie, contains within itself a 
strange little world of i:)arasitic life peculiar to the Gulf-weed. We are told that it 
deceived, by its solid look, the sailors of Columbus' expedition, who did not understand 
it, and feared that they were in danger of being driven on to sunken reefs. It drifts 

into the anrde of almost nrotion- 
less water between the wreat north- 
eastward current of the Gulf 
Stream, to which Encrland owes so 
much, and the equatorial current 
constantly streaming westward. 

Just opposite this sea-prairie, 
the map of the western hemi- 
sphere looks, to a dull and un- 
poetic miijd, as if two great bites 
had been made into the eastern 
side of America, so separating north 
and south, and leaving that nar- 
row — and, to Europe, very costly 
— strip of land, the Isthmus of 
Panama (for another year or two, 
at least) to connect the two great continents. And, just as if to mark out the 
boundary which existed before our imaginary bites had been so greedily taken, there 
is a crescent-like outline, made up of large and small islands and many mere islets 
— the West Indian islands, the fascinating story of whose conquest by the warriors 
of the Cross we must, in its leading features, relate. 

The white, sandy bottom, sti-ewn with strange shells and fretted with beautiful 
submarine forests of white coral and ruddy gorgonia, shines through the calm, limpid 
water from depths really amazing. Its freedom from storms has gained for the Carib- 
bean, from the gallant seamen of Spain, the flattering title of the " Ladies' Sea." It 
often glows with a deep hue of sapphire rarely seen elsewhere. The slow, stately roll 
of great, blue, glossy Avaves from afar, breaking in snow on its island shores, which 
are fringed, perhaps, with a belt of stately cocoa-palms, is a sight to move the most 
unimpressionable mind. 

Before entering on details as to the migrations of the missionaries, a few points 
of interest may help to make the general history clearer. There are five great islands, 
all of them somewhat mountainous, well watered, and richly wooded — Cuba, the 
'" Pearl of the Antilles," Hayti, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and Trinidad, together with some 




SAKG.\SSO, OR GULF-WEED. 



WEST INDIA ISLANDS AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 

MISSION STATIONS underlined ou the Map, alphabetically arranged to show the various Societies 
working at each. The abbreviations used are explained by the following list : — 



•S.P.G. 

•Col. & Cont. 
Wes. . 
W.I.Wes. . 

fBapt. . 

Un. Presb. . 

Morav. 



Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. 

Colonial and Continental Church Society. 

Wesleyau Methodist Missionary Society. 

Wesleyau Iilethodist West Indian Con- 
ference. 

Baptist and Jamaica Baptist Jlissionary 
Societies. 

United Presbyterian (Scotland) Church 
Mission. 

Moravian Missionary Society. 



Un. Meth. . United Methodist Free Churches Mission- 
ary Society. 
Can. Presb. . Canadian Presbyterian Church Mis.sions. 
Am. Prot. American Protestant Episcopal Church 

Epis. Missionary Society. 

Am. Bible . Auierican Bible Society. 
Am. Piesb. . Missions of American Presbyterian 

Churches. 
AfricanMeth. African Methodist Episcopal Church 

Epis. (America) Slissionary Society. 



* The Stations occupied by these two Societies, though included in, form only a small part of, the work of the 
Church of England in the West Indies, which is divided into six dioceses, viz.: — GtriANA (see South America). Antigita 
(including Nevis, .St. Christopher, Barbuda, Montserrat, Anguilla, Virgin Islands, St. Bartholomew, St. Thomas, 
Tortola, ticc), with forty-two churches and other places of worship. Baebadoes and WrNDWARD Islands (in- 
cluding Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago, and St. Lucia), with ninety churches. Jamaica, with ninety- 
seven churches and forty-four chapels in Jamaica, four clergy in British Honduras, and one missionary in Colon and 
Panama. Nassatj (including the Bahamas, Turk and Caicos Islands), vrith eighty-seven mission stations and 
chm-ches. Trinidad, with seventeen clergy and four catechists. 

f The Ba;itist Missions in the "West Indies will probably shortly be handed over to the Jamaica Baptist 
Missionary Society. 



Abaco, Gkeat . Bahamiis 

„ Little . „ 

Ackli.v Island . ,, 

ALLiGATon Pond Jamaica 

Anduos Island. Bahamas 
Angvilla . 
Antigua . 



Wes., Bapt. 



. Capt. 
. Un. Presb. 
. Bapt. 
AVindward Isles S. P. G., W. I. AVes. 
S.P. G.,W.LWes., 
Morav. 



BAHAMAS . — ■Wes.,S.P.G.,Bapt., 

Col. & Cont. 

. Bapt. 

AVindward Isles AA'. I. Wes., Morav. 

„ „ S. P. G. 

Brit. Honduras. AA'es., Bapt. 

Bahamas . . Wes., S. P. G. 

Mosquito Coast. Morav. 



Bahama, Great Bahamas 

Babbadoes 

Barbuda . 



Belize 

Bemini Isles . 
Beth.ixy . 
Blewfields 

Caicos, Grand . 

„ E.iST 

Cap Haitien . 
Caracas . 
Car.it,-. 
Cat Island 
Cayes 

Catm.in, Grand 
„ Little 
„ Brac . 

ClENFUEGO 

Colon 
Corosal . 



Bahamas . 



Bapt. 



Haiti . . W. I. AA'es., Bapt. 

A'enezuela . Am. Bible. 

Mosquito Coast. Morav. 

Bahamas . . Bapt. 

Haiti . . W. I. A\'es., Am. 

Plot. Epis. 

Greater Antilles Biipt. 



Cuba . . 
Panama . . S.P.G. 
Brit. Hondui-as. Wes. 



COSTA RICA. 
Crooked Isle . 
CUBA . 

Dominica 

Eleuthera 

ErURATA . 

E.KUMA, Great . 

Falmolth 
Fortune Isl.\nd 

Gonaives . 

Grand Turk . 
Green Island . 
Grenada . 
Greytown. Set 

Gr.iTEMALA 



Bahamiis . 



Bapt. 



— Bapt., .\m. Bible. 

Windward Isles W. I. AVes. 

Bahamas . . Wes., S.P.G., Bapt., 

Col. tfc Cont. 
Mosquito Coast. Morav. 
Bahamas . . S. P. G., Bapt. 



Jamaica . 
Bahamas . 

Haiti 



Un. Presb. 
Bapt. 



. W. I. AVes., Am. 
Prot. Epis. 
Turk Island . Bapt,, AA'. I. AVes. 
Jamaica . . Un. Presb. 
Windw.ard Isles S. P. G., W. I. A^'es. 
San Juan de Norte. 
Guatemala . Am. Presb., Wes. 



HAITI . 

Harbour Is- Bahamas . 


Am. Prot. Epis., W. 
I. Wes., Afi-ican 
Meth.Epi3.,Bapt. 
. Wes. 


LAND. 

HONDURAS . — 
„ „ Brit. — 


Wes., Bapt. 


Inagua . . Bahamas . 


. S.P.G., Bapt. 


Jacmel . . Haiti 


. Bapt. 



JAMAICA. {See also foot-note *). 



Jeremie 



. Haiti 



Kingston . Jamaica . 

KuKALATA . Mosquito Coast. 

Leogane . . Haiti 

Livingston . Guatemala 

Long Island . Bahamas . 

LucEA . . Jamaica , 



Magdala . . Mosquito Coast. 

Mariguana . Bahamas . 

Miberalais . Haiti 

Monte Cristi . San Domingo . 

MoNTEGo Bay . Jamaica . 

Montserrat . Windward Isles 

MOSQUITO — 

COAST. 

Mullin's River Brit. Honduras. Wes. 



Col. & Cont., TJn. | 
Presh.,Bapt.,IIn. | 
Meth., Morav., 
Wes. 

W. I. Wes., Am. 
Prot. Epis. 

Un. Fresh., Col. & 

Cont. 
Morav. 

Am. Prot. Epis. 

Wes. 

S. P. G., Bapt. 

TJn. Presb. 

Morav. 

Bapt. 

Am. Prot, Epis. 

W. I. Wes., Bapt. 

Un. Presh. 

S.P. G., W. LWes. 

Morav. 



Nassau 
Nevis 



Bahamas 



Bapt., Col. & Cont. 



. Windward Isles S. P. G., W. I. Wes. 



New Provi- Bahamas . 

DENCE. 

NICARAGUA — 



Wes., Bapt, Col. & 

Cont. 
Morav., Bapt. 



Orange Walk . Brit. Honduras, Wes. 



PANAMA . — 

Panama, Town of — 

Ponce . . Puerto Rico 
Port au Prince Haiti 

Port de Paix . „ 

Porto Cortes . Honduras 
{Porto Caballos) 

Port of Spain . Trinidad . 

Port Maria . Jamaica 
Puerto Limon . Costa Rica 
„ Plata . San Domingo 
„ Rico, Island of — 



S. P. G., W. I. Wes. 
W. I Wes. 
Col. & Cont. 
W. I. Wes,, Am. 
Prot.Epis.jBapt. 
Bapt. 
Wes. 

Bapt., W. I. Wes., 

Un. Presb. 
Un. Presb. 
Bapt. 

Bapt., W. I. Wes. 
Col. & Cont. 



Ragged Island Bahamas . . Bapt. 
Rama . . Blosquito Coast. Morav. 



Ru.ATAN, Island Honduras 
Rum Cay . . Bahamas . 



St. Anne's B.ay 

St. Bartholo- 
mew. 

St. Christo- 
pher's {St, 
Kitts). 

St. Eustatius . 

St. John . 

St. Kitts. 

St. Lucia 



Jamaica . 
Windward Isles 



. Virgin Isles 
See St. Christopher's. 
. Windward Isles 



St. BIarc 
St. Martin's 
St. Thomas 
St. Vincent 
Samana . 
SAN DOMINGO 



Haiti 

Windward Isles 
Virgin Isles 
Windward Isles 
San Domingo . 



San Fernando Trinidad 



San Juan de 

N0KTE(G'5'<'f/- 

toxrn). 
San Pedro SuLA 
San Salvador 

( TVa t ling' s 

Island) . 
Santa Crux 
Seal Caves 

Tobago . 



Tortola . . Vii-gin Isles 
TRINIDAD . — 



Turk Island . Bahamas . 



Nicaragua 



Honduras 
Bahamas . 



Virgin Isles 
Bahamas . 



Wes,, Bapt. 

Bapt. 

Un. Meth. 

S. P. G., W. I. Wes. 

S. P. G., W. I. Wes., 

Morav. 

W, I, Wes. 

Morav. 

W. I. Wes., Can. 

Presb. 
Bapt. 

W. I. Wes. 
S. P. 6., Morav. 
S. P. G., W. I. Wes. 
W. L Wes. 
W. LWes., Bapt„Af- 

rican Meth. Epis. 
Bapt., W. I. Wes., 

Un. Presb., Can. 

Presb. 
Bapt. 

Wes. 

S. P. G., Bapt. 



Morav. 
Bapt. 



Windward Isles S. P. 6„ W. L Wes., 

Morav. 
S. P. G., W.LWes. 
Bapt., W. L Wes., 

Un. Presb., Can. 

Presb. 
S. P. G., Bapt., W. 

I. Wes. 



Utila, Island of Honduras . 

VIRGIN IS- — 

LANDS. 

Watling's Is- 
land. See San Salvador. 



Wes. 

Morav,, S. P. G., W. 
I. Wes. 



* Owing to the scale of the map it has not been rossible to mark more than a few of the stations in Jamaica ; but the follow- 
ing statement will give some idea of the religious work being cariieil on in ibe island :— The Colonial and Continental Chnrcb 
Society have seven missionaries; the United Presbyterian Church have thirty-one missionaries; the United Mefiodist Free 
Churches have nine missionaries ; and the Moravian Missionary Society have fourteen stations. In addition to these outside agencies 
thpre is a Jamaica Baptist Union, with its own Missionary Society, and the island comprises four out of the eleven districts of the 
■West Indian Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. It is also a Diocese of the Anglican Church in the West Indies («« 
note on previous page). 



West Indies] THE CARIES. 291 

forty uiinor ones, and an almost countless host of islets or mere reefs of no great 
importance. The total present population may roughly be estimated at about lour 
and a half millions, the British possessions containing a little more than one million 
souls. 

When the early explorers from Europe tirst became acquainted with those out- 
wardly attractive islands, they were tenanted, in ihe southern portions at least, by a 
dark, tall, and rather strongly built race, described collectively as Caribs, or Indians. 
After the fierce Spanish conquerors took possession of the northernmost islets, the 
aboriginal Arrawaaks, who were probably of the same stock as the Caribs, were soon 
cruelly swept away from their island homes, leaving hardly any vestiges behind, though 
of the once warlike Caribs there are still small but interesting remnants who cling to 
the coast of Trinidad, and to the tangled forests on the damp, hot delta of the great 
Orinoco on the mainland, and neighbouring regions. They live chiefly on fish of their 
own catching. It is said that many of them retain a strange primitive habit of building 
their houses, nest-like, on the branches of tall trees in dense parts of the forest, where 
they feel themselves to be safe from the periodical floods to which the Orinoco is 
exposed from sudden rainfill. 

A remnant of the Caribs remained in savage independence on the island of St. 
Tincent (which was almost the last to be colonised by the invaders from Europe) 
.after their brethren had elsewhei-e succumbed to Spanish cruelty and oppression. They 
probably found congenial residences amidst its leafy trees, while fish were good 
.and plentiful enough to furnish them with a living not difficult to earn. At last they 
began to blend with a shipwrecked crew of sable voyagers from Africa — possibly 
■escaped slaves — and so there came to be on that island a mixed race called the Black 
•Caribs, as distinct from the aborigrinal, or Red Caribs. 

Columbus and the meir of his time called these people Indians, but also Calibs or 
Caribs, and we, strangely enough, find this word also in our Shakespeare's island savage, 
Caliban, in the play of The Tempest. It is also quite clear that our word " cannibal " 
came from the same original. For example, one of the earliest occasions when the word 
came into use was in the English translation of Decade's " New World " (a.d. 1555), in 
which the sentence occurs : — '^ The wylde and myscheuous people called Canibales or 
Caribes, which were accustomed to eat mannes flesshe." It need not surprise us to be 
told that the native word Carihe, by which those now almost forgotten savages 
described themselves, meant " brave, daring." The Spaniards found in the native name 
a convenient rosenablance to their own word for a dog, and so these poor savages got 
ii very ill name indeed, which still clings to them firmly. 

There are two sides to most questions, and fairness requires that we should quote 
•" an o'e-r-true tale," told on the authority of a missionary, of a comely and kind- 
hearted Carib girl, Yarico, who, a long time ago, sold her heart to an Englishman named 
Inkle. It was that critical time for the dark races when planters were finding that 
great fortunes could easily be made out of human sweat and toil. The negroes Avere 
not yet being brought in sufficient numbers from Africa to meet the growing demand, 
and sudden raids were made by those who feared neither God nor man, in order 



292 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[IX.— IX THE 



to capture and enslave the free men of the woods. One da}', however, a band of 
European man-hunters was surprised to meet a stout resistance, for theii" cruel object 
was now known. At a sudden signal, the woods became alive with the dark, menacing 
visages of the Carib wamors they had expected to make into easy merchandise. A 
warlike race by nature and breeding, they had now, if they never had before, a 
righteous cause. They fought fiercely in their own primitive way, and the white men 
at last turned and fled — those of thfem, at least, that were left aUve — to the tangled, 
fiever-breeding recesses of those tropical woods. 

There luklc, utterty exhausted, and fearing a violent death at any moment, was 

found by Yarico, who, pitying the now hotly 
driven and famishing slave-hunter, gently min- 
istered to him, suppl}-ing, at the greatest risk 
to her own life, the food he needed. But 
one daj" a far-off sail shone out on the sap- 
phire plain of the Caribbean. It drew nearer, 
and the Ens'lishman could at last, if he 
would, escape from his foes. "With unselfish 
joy beaming in her jet eyes, dimphng her 
swarthy cheeks, and cui'ving with winning 
smiles her ruddy lips, she rushed to tell the 
wasted white man the good news of his safety. 
She walked to the shore supporting him, but 
as the poor girl saw him step from the crisp 
beach to the boat that was to sever them, 
her breaking heart beat with wild yearning 
after the life she had saved. She pleaded in 
her Carib native tongue, and more eloquently 
with sobs and tears, to be allowed to go 
vfith him wherever he went. The English- 
man at last haughtily jielded assent to her 
prayer. After a short and pleasant voj-age 
they landed safely at Barbadoes, and — this is not a mere fairy talc — he nobly 
rewarded his poor pagan deliverer bj' selling her as a slave to one of the sugar- 
planters ! 

Space will not permit us to glance at the physical features of these islands, or 
at then- wonderful vegetable and animal life ; but there is one vegetable production 
of which we must say a few words in this chapter. It is a very handsome kind of 
grass, growing to the height of ten or twelve feet, and jaelding a juice from which 
a white crj-stalline substance is obtained, dear to all British 3-outh of a certain age. 
Tliis is the sitgar-cane. ^Mio could have predicted that this lordly looking grass would 
one day lead to African slaver}-, with all its yet imtold horrors ? Every one who has 
been stifled in a hot, breezeless cane-brake may have some conception of the demands 
made by hard labour there on the poor human frame. The aboriginal Caribs could 




SUGAE-CAXiJ. 



VTemt Indies.] 



CA>-E CULTURE. 



293 



not endure it long, and Europeans succumb to the heat very readily indeed. Yet in 
itself the sugar-cane is strikingly beautiful in form and colour, and gently swaying 
motion. Well might Kingsley go into raptures over it : — " A noble grass it is, with 
its stems as thick as one's wrist, tillering out below in bold curves over the well- 
hoed dark soil, and its broad bright leaves fallmg and folding above in curves as bold 
as those of the stems : handsome enough thus, but handsomer still, I am told. 




A SUGAR PL.VXTATION. 



when the ' arrow,' as the flower is called, s^ireads over the cane-piece a purple haze, 
which flickers in long shining waves before the breeze." 

It is sad that we must now for ever associate this lovely masterpiece of Nature's 
kindly chemistry with the most brutal and demoralising phases of civilised man's 
history ; for out of the conditions of cane-culture grew the slave trade of the West 
Indies and the Southern States of America. 

It has been noted that, although the islands of the Caribbean are so near to each 
other, the conditions of hfe and labour vary greatly, and the labour-wants of one island 
or colony are not so readily met by migration from those near them as might have 
been expected. Labour must be imported from a distance. Hence, early in the 



294 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [ix.-ls the 

nineteenth century, througliout all the British possessions, slavery was a recognised 
institution. When slavery on British territory was abolished, sugar continued to be 
produced by forced labour on the other islands, and for a time there was a competi- 
tion which meant mere loss to the British planter. With the abolition of the Corn 
LaAvs, the " protection " of the British sugar industry seemed to many statesmen an 
anomal}', and when it ceased, disaster came upon the free sugar-growing industry, and 
enslaved about 1,000,000 additional negroes. It was clear that more work could be got 
out of slaves than free negroes were willing to yield, and so the foreign slaveholders, 
with fresh supplies from Africa, were able to sell their sugar more cheaply than the 
British planter could do. It is hoped that now, witli free labour, machinery, and 
education, a new life is rising up in the West Indies ; but the scar of slavery is deeply 
marked in the history of our colonies. As Montgomery Martin has eloquently said : — 
" Slaverj', both Indian and negro, that blighting upas, has been the curse of the West 
Indies ; it has accompanied the white colonist, whether Spanish, French, or British, in 
his progress, tainting like a plague every incipient association, and blasting the efforts 
of man, however originally well disposed, by its demon-like influence over the natural 
virtues with which his Creator has endowed him, Icavmg all cold and dark and 
desolate within." 

It is impossible, by the clumsy apparatus of art or literature, to picture vividly 
enough the agony of those poor Africans, rudely snatched from their native homes. 
The atrocious trade in "black ivory" is probably, thank God, now drawing near its 
end, though still some 30,000 or more human beings are yearly exported as saleable 
goods from the east coast of Africa alone. But it is far from easy for us nowadays 
to realise the agony of feeling, the strenuous eloquence, the practical zeal in agitation 
required by the Clarksons and the Wilberforces in the early part of our century, in 
order to arouse languid interest into a genuine Christian sympathy for the wretched 
Ethiopian victims of British and American lust for gold. 

Dr. Livingstone used to say that about one only out of every five souls in a slave 
gang leaving the interior, reached the coast alive 1 Try to conceive what such a state- 
ment means. Think of the inconceivably bitter sufferings, the nameless horrors of that 
toilsome, hopeless journey through tangled, thorny forest, steamy swamp, and scorch- 
ing desert; day after day tortured with the pangs of hunger, parched with thirst, 
and galled with undressed sores from the friction of the heav}' wooden " gorees," or 
slave collars, to which two slaves wei-e attached by means of riveted bolts. Try 
to imagine the final settled looks of dull despair, unlit by a gleam of humour or a 
ray of hope ; or the callous, brute-like subjection from which the nobleness of man- 
hood has fled, roused onlj- into agony or anger by the fier}', sudden sting of the 
slaver's lash. 

" Let me assure you," said Sir Bartle Frcre — and no one could speak with better 
authority — "let me assure j^ou that what you have heard of the horrors of the 
slave trade is in no way exaggerated. We have seen so much of the horrors which 
were going on, that we can have no doubt that what you read in books, which ai-e so 
often spoken of as containing exaggerations, is exaggerated in no respect. The evil is 



West Ixdiks.] HORRORS OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 295 

raucu greater than anything yon can conceive. Among the poor class of Africans 
there is nothing Hke security from fathers and mothers being put to death in order 
that their children may be captured." 

When the wretched slave arrived at the coast, his troubles were only beginnmg. 
It is almost a comfort to think that human nature is so constituted, that it has the 
capacity to endure consciously only a certain clegree of misery, and thus, as we have 
seen, only one in five might be expected to survive the first stage of the terrible 
joiu'noy. What, then, became of the survivors ? We are told how each woebegone 
ebon image of its ilaker was jjlaced on deck of the crazy craft which was to convey 
him to the plantations, set on his haunches, thighs to breast, chin to knees, and 
placed row against row, slioulder to shoulder, with no possibility of change of position, 
"a solid phalanx of human flesh," with no awning to protect them from the tropical 
sun. At night, they were cooped below in a foul and fetid black hole. The pitiable 
wretches could not straighten themselves for weeks after release from the voyage, and 
myriads of them died on the way, and were cast to the sharks. 

Perhaps the most impressive statements on the subject are to be found in -the 
unromantic pages of a Blue Book. In February, 1878, a Select Committee of the House 
of Commons was appointed " to inquire into the present condition and prospects of 
the sugar and coffee planting interest in the East and West Indies, and Mauritius." 
Amongst the subjects carefully inquired into and reported on was that of the slave 
trade across the Atlantic. One of the witnesses who was examined was stated by Sir 
J. Pakington to have seen more naval service upon the coast of Afi-ica, and to have 
captured more slave ships, than any other officer in the service. The examination of 
this gallant gentleman, Captain Marston, was likely to afford some solid facts, worth 
more than volumes of sermons, about the horrors of slavery. Let us give this most 
reliable and cool-headed witness our attention for a sentence or two. 

When asked to give the Committee any information he might possess as to the 
mode in which the slaves are usually packed in the " slavers " — as the vessels used 
in this traffic were called — he answered : — " They are packed as closely as salt fish ; 
they are doubled up and stowed as closely as they can be in the night, when they are 
obliged to go below." He stated that the men were generally put in irons, but that 
this depended on the part of the coast they were taken from. 

Great difficulty is often felt in understanding how such ti'emendous overcrowding 
could be held compatible with even the self-interest of the traders. That point was 
solved by Captain ilarston, and his answer shows that they had some kind of Dar- 
winian method of serving their ends. The witness was asked : — " The ordinary practice 
is, is it not, that where a slave-trader calculates upon carrying 300 slaves to the 
other shore, he embarks 500 ? Answer — " Yes ; that is for the purpose of putting 
them to the test. It is impossible for the most practised eye to tell a healthy from 
an unhealthy slave ; but the trader reckons that, during the first forty-eight hours, 
they will be sufficiently weeded to leave a prime cargo. As the slave sickens during 
the first forty-eight hours, they leave him on deck, and give him nothing to eat, but 
let him die, and then throw him overboard." 




X 
o 

< 
IS 

> 
< 

►J 

CO 



IX.— In tui; West Indies.] 



CHARACTER OF THE SLAVES. 



29'! 



Captain Marston being again asked as to the tonnage of the vessels used to 
embark a cargo of, say, 500 slaves, replied that from his experience he could mention 
one case m which 427 negro slaves were ^^^icked on board a vessel of only forty-nine 
tons. 

It was among the negroes under the actual conditions of slavery in the West 
Indies, that the work of the early missionaries began. It does not appear that the 
planters were usually guilty of cruelty out of mere wantonness. The negro, Lf not 
much worse thaii the average unit of humanity, is certainly not any better ; and the. 
barest justice demands that we should admit that, only premising slavery as a permis- 




OX HOARD A SLAVE SHIP. 



sible institution, severity might probably sometunes be judicious and necessary. On the 
other hand, the supposed duties of such a despotic position have naturally a brutalising 
effect, and there can be no possible doubt that the cruelties inflicted were sometimes 
most savage and imcallcd-for. In the lowest aspect of it, kindness and mercy must 
have been economical, but many of the overseers were unable to feel and sec the 
truth of even this selfish reason for gentleness, m cases where personal offence had 
been given. 

It is too often forgotten, on the other hand, that the slaves as a class were not 
able — how, indeed, could they be ? — to rise to the sublime patience inculcated by the 
apostle. We may quote with advantage the testimony of Mr. Rowe, a Baptist mis- 
sionary who anived in Jamaica in 1814. Writing of the negroes, ho says : — " Their 
passions and affections not being under the control of reason or religion, sometimes 



298 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. lix.- In the 

break out with frightful violence; rage, revenge, giief, and jealousy have often been 
productive of horrible catastrophes." 

As it is our object to give a perfectly fair and impartial view of a subject which 
has led to much violent and bitter controversy, let a planter from Cornwall, Jamaica, 
as quoted by the Quarterly Review, say a word on the other side of the question. 
This gentleman, speaking from a daily experience of the negro character, says : — " To 
do the negroes mere justice, I must say that I could not have wished to find a more 
tractable set of people on almost every occasion. Some lazy and obstinate persons, of 
course, there must inevitably be in so great a number, but in general I found them 
excellently disposed. ... I am certain there cannot be more tractable or better 
disposed persons, take them for all in all, than my negroes of Cornwall." 

We shall have directly to tell more fully of the life of the slaves in their 
" tracks," and of the battle which was so bravely fought to win their freedom from the 
chains of spiritual darkness long imposed upon them ; for the planters feared to give 
the negroes that Gospel which seeks to bring all men into one great brotherhood. It 
is hardly now to be credited, but it is the truth nevertheless, that British planters, 
professedly Christian men, would not allow the teaching of Jesus to be brought before 
their slaves, lest it should make them rebellious and impatient. But even mider Chris- 
tian teaching, race-qualities are not easily effaced. Hence the semi-civilised and 
Christian free man of our day in the West Indies reveals strange streaks of the old 
African life his ancestors led, with its grim superstitions, in the recesses of the Dark 
Continent. A professedly competent Review writer says ; — " We reject, as undesei-ving 
of serious remark, the vague gossip of some writers about the prevalence of Obeah, 
the revival of heathen practices, and the like." Let a Creole's strange story of the 
Jumby Dance, as told to Kingsley, and related at greater length in his charming " At 
Last," give the repl^'. 

The Creole, who was anxious to see for once this most mysterious and uncanny 
secret solemnitj^ of the negroes, told Kingsley how he and his companion had to tear 
their way through the tangled brushwood to a miserable building on the river's bank, 
where some thirty African men and women were gathered, squatting on their haunches 
in the usual orthodox way. " They were very scantily dressed, and with necklaces of 
beads, sharks' teeth, or dried frogs, hung round their necks." After some prelimin- 
aries, an almost naked negro, tall and of muscular development, with his body painted 
as a skeleton, suddenly dashed open a door and strode forth into the centre of the 
dusky gathering. 

" As long as I live," continues the narrator, " I shall never forget that scene. I'he 
hut was lighted by some eight or ten candles or lamps, and in the centre, dimly 
visible, was a Fetish, somewhat of the ajjpearance of a man^ but with the head of a 
cock. Everything that the coarsest fancy could invent had been done to make this 
image horrible ; and yet it appeared to be the object of special adoration to the 
devotees assembled." 

The " skeleton " now began to chant, to the melodious accompaniment of the tom- 
tom, a monotonous African song, quickening the measure and the words while the 



West Indies.) CHRISTOPHER COLtTMBUS. 299 

drums beat ever fiister and faster. Suddenly a woman sprans^ into the arena and 
spun round and round the repulsive image in a rhythmic whirl. " Quicker still went 
the drum. And now the whole of the woman's body seemed electritiod by it, and, as 
if catching the infection, a man now joined her in the mad dance. Couple after 
couple entered the arena, and a true sorcerer's sabbath began ; while light after light 
was extinguished, till at last but one remained, by whose dim ray I could just perceive 
the faint outlines of the remaining persons." At this crisis, one of the visitors thought- 
lessly gave some trivial offence, when the music suddenly ceased. The " skeleton " 
seized the offender's naked foot between his finger and thumb, and, as Avas supposed, 
inserted a poisoned finger-nail into the skin. At all events, the victim at once fell 
writhing to the ground, and died in agony some two hours afterwards. 

Depend upon it, the Christian Church undertook as real a work when she sought 
first to deliver the African mind in the West Indies from the thraldom of Satan, as 
when she afterwards sought to free their bodies from the fetters with which man had 
cruelly tortured them. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
THE PLOUGH BREAKS GROUND. 



Columbus, First Missionary to the West Indies— Colonisation and Christianity — John Leonhard Dober and David 
Nitsohmann — A Scene at the Coronation of Christian VI. — Adventures of First Missionaries — Frederick 
Martin— Religious Movement among the Negroes — Persecution of the Moravians — A Dutch Ecclesiastic 
— Trouljles of Frederick Martin — Arrival of Count Zinzendorf in St. Thomas. 

rj^HE first Christian nrissionary to the AVest Indies was no other than Christopher 
-*- Columbus. It is quite true that when he sought to reach, by sailing westward, the 
golden realms of Kublai Khan, he hoped to profit in a worldly way by reaching them. 
He missed his mark ; but it seems to be pretty certain that his grand object in 
getting gold was perhaps the holiest one by which a mediaeval mind could be swayed. 
He sought, almost in the spirit of the purest and best of the old Crusaders, to 
rebuild the tomb where it was thought the lacerated body of the Christ had for a little 
while been laid ; and the truth — as Roman Catholics then devoutly held it — was to be 
taught to the dusky barbarians scattered amidst the fair far-otf lands that lay hid in a 
golden haze beyond the seas — lands where there were "rivers rolling down golden 
sand, mountains shining with priceless gems, forests fragrant with rich spices." 

" I do not," says a very candid historian of those times, Faria y Sousa, " imagine 
that I shall persuade the world that our intent was only to be preachers ; but, on 
the other hand, the world must not fancy that our intent was merely to be traders." 

Columbus sent to Spam a few Cannibal Islanders to learn Spanish. They were 
to become interpreters on returning to then- own people, and were to be ■ the means of 
propagating the C!atholic faith among them, so that their souls might be saved by 



300 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[IX.— In the 



baptism ; for the great explorer, in the simphcity of his soul, seeing the poor people 
had no creed, thought they might very easily be made Christians. The necessary 
articles which had to be supplied to the colonists from Spam, were to be paid for by 
the sale of the islanders who might be captured, and who were, of course, to be sold 
into slavery for their souls' good. 

This pretty little scheme, however, did not meet with the most cordial approval, 
even fi-om such good Catholics as were Ferdinand and Isabella; and the royal pair 
gave Columbus a gentle but significant snubbing on this particular point in his 
programme. 

There was evidently no thought of harshness or cruelty in the mind of Columbus 

whUo making such a proposal. Indeed, he had 
received no little kmdness personally from the 
poor Caribs, who helped him once when ship- 
wrecked. He had told his royal patrons of this, 
and his little picture of a race that seems 
doomed soon to vanish from the scene is most 
interesting. " They are," he says, " a loving, un- 
covetous people, so docile in all things that I 
assure your highnesses I believe in all the world 
there is not a better people, or a better country ; 
they love their neighbours as themselves, and 
they have the sweetest and gentlest way of talk- 
ing in the world, and always with a smile." The 
nine " Indian " natives he brought with him to 
Spain were duly baptised, and one of them dying 
soon afterwards, was piously said to have there- 
fore been the first of his race to gain admission 
into Paradise. 

In connection with this strange mingling 
of colonising with Christianising, it is worthy -of note that our own James I. declares 
in a proclamation which was made in the year 1662, that what specially led him to 
seek the development of the plantations in the New World, was a strong desire to 
spread the blessings of the Gospel. The unfortunate Charles I. also, m a charter 
bestowed upon the new colony of Massachusetts, lays down directions in order that 
the English colonists there " may be so religiously, peaceably, and civilly governed as 
their good life and orderly conversation may win and incite the Natives of the country 
to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind, and 
the Christian faith, which, in our Koyal intention and the Adventurers' free profes- 
sion, is the principal end of the Plantation." 

■When we come to listen to the debates which rung around slavery in our colonics for 
years before it fell, we shall feel familiar with this old thread of pietism, which ran through 
the web of commercial speculation in those days, and which formed a too ready justi- 
fication for every wrong done to races too weak to help themselves. But we must 



^ *^ 




COLUMBUS. 



WESTf Indies.] 



BEGINNING OF MISSIONS IN THE WEST INDIES. 



;iOi 



now pass on to the main object of this chapter, which is to bring before our readers 
the struggles and trials of the pioneers of genuine mission work in the West Indies. 

Ten years had elapsed since the early followers of Count Zinzendorf had gathered 
together in the little hamlet called Herrnhut, to form a community of brethren. Then 
two hiunble workmen — John Leonhard Dober, a potter, and David Nitschniann, a 
carpenter, and, like Zinzendorf, an Elder amongst the United Brethren or Moravians 
at Herrnhut — had their hearts touched by the tidings of Hans Egede, and what he 
had done for the poor Greenlanders, and 
awoke to the fact that there were other 
realms for brave Christian men to enter 
and conquer for the Lord. 

The way in which they came to know 
and think about the need of the West 
Indian slaves for Christian faith and hope 
was this : — .\t Copenhagen, in the year 
1731, there were great doings. It was the 
time of the coronation of Christian the 
Sixth, and everybody was in the city to 
see the stir, and to be seen. Our Saxon 
Count, too, was there, for he had an old 
friendship for the Danish royal family, 
and was esteemed at court. With him ' 
was the humble and earnest Elder from 
Herrnhut, feeling, we may be sure, very 
little at homo in the gay throng of 
courtiers and sightseers. 

Amid the crowd of gaping retainers 
and onlookers was at least one black 
face, full of interest at the unwonted 
spectacle ; and this led the good Count 
and the country Elder to make inquiries 
about the strange-looking visitor. Soon 
they found that this man Anthonj', who 
was in attendance on a Danish nobleman, 

had been a slave on a West Indian plantation, and had a dark sister still in bondage 
in the isle of St. Thomas. Anthony had much to tell that was quite new to them — 
both of the sufferings and of the sins that hung like a dark cloud, without any silver 
lining, over the lovely palm-fringed islands in the Caribbean Sea. He told them how 
he had sat alone on the sea-shore at St. Thomas, praying that Heaven would con- 
descend to give him a message. He promised great and immediate success to any 
mission that might be sent to the poor slaves. Indeed, all through, he prophesied 
smooth things, which were never quite fulfilled. 

Now it had come by this time to be a serious question (as we have seen in a 




ji ■III— i^ii^ai»»— »^— i^Bwi 

THE DISCOVERY OF ST. DOMINGO BY COLUMBUS. 
(^Facsimile of an Eiigraviiifj made in 14113, in the Bibliothcque de Milan.) 



302 CONQUESTS OF THE CEOSS. [IX.-In thb 

previous chapter) whether the mission of the Danes to the people of Greenland might 
not have to be abandoned. How, then, would it be for them to till the gap by taking 
up the cause of the dark, down-trodden slaves in the West Indies, which till now no 
Church had cared for I 

Full of this great project, the Count opened his heart to the little congregation at 
Herrnhut on his return thither, the negro Anthony followmg with many useful facts, 
and a good deal which was not useful and not actual. It was thus that Leonhard Dober 
came to jiass a restless night, with the heavy burden of the long-forgotten negroes on 
his soul. At last, on opening the Book, he happened on the strange parting words 
of Moses to the chosen people, recorded in Deuteronomy xxxii. 47 : — " For it is no vain 
thing for you ; because it is your life." And so he deemed that the Lord had spoken 
His will to him in these words. 

Anthony did warn those Avho thought of going out, that the way would be found hard 
and full of thorns. He told them, however, and probably he quite meant what he said, 
that the slaves would welcome the message of the Gospel in great numbers ; but that the 
messenger himself, to be effective as a missionary, must needs become a slave. This 
arose, he explained, from the fact that the poor toilers in those tropical plantations 
were always kept hard at work, and could only be instructed by one working at their 
side in the fields. 

Surely a great height of Christian heroism was reached when free-born Europeans 
were prompt to express their willmgness to make this great sacrifice of liberty ! 
Dober, soberly and sensibly viewing the whole facts of the case, so far as he could 
get at them in his rural home, wrote that he had determined — if only one 
Brother would go with him — that he would give himself up to be a slave, and 
would tell to the slaves as much of the Saviour as he himself knew. " I leave it," 
he adds, "in the hands of the congregation, and have no other reason for going 
than that there are souls in the islands that cannot believe because they have not 
heard." 

Lots had in the end to be cast, in order to luiow clearly from the Lord, as the 
Moravian Brethren believe, whether Dober was to go or to staj-. A number of written 
slips of paper were thrown into a receptacle, and the candidate drew for himself the 
sentence which was to seal his destiny. The words were drawn, " Let the lad go, for 
the Lord is with him." So Nitsehmann, who, it was intended, was soon to return to his 
wife and children — as he safely did — and Dober, who was to remain in tlie field, were 
sent out by this little Moravian congregation at Herrnhut on the 18th of August, 
1732, as the first missionaries to the West Indies. 

AVhen we read such a decision, reached in such a manner, we feel how just was 
the remark of Cecil : '■ The Moravians have very nearly hit on Christianity. They 
appear to have found out what sort of a thing it is ; its quietness, meekness, patience, 
spirituality, heavenliness, and order." 

Count Zinzendorf went along with the two Brethren a part of the way. He gave 
each of them a ducat, worth abijut half a sovereign ; the Church gave each of them 
three dollars ; the Countess of Stolberg, who sympathised more deeply with their 



WiiST Indies.) ADVEXTURES OF FIRST MISSIONAUIES. 303 

purpose tlian any one else, gave them some cheering counsel ; and one of the royal 
family — the Princess Charlotte — gave them a Dutch Bible. 

The voyage across the Atlantic took nine weeks, and as they travelled as poor 
working men, their comforts were few and grudgingly bestowed, and the sailors were not 
at all friendly. Nitschmann earned the captain's good graces, however, by his skill as a 
cabinet-maker.* On arriving, they found, by means of a letter of introduction from 
Copenhagen, a friendly planter with whom they stayed for a brief time, beginning 
work amongst the negroes on the plantations the very daj' after their arrival, which 
happened to be Sunday. 

To carry the Gospel to the slaves may have seemed an easy task to accomplish, 
when once they should have gained a footing on the plantatiofts, but they found the 
negroes did not welcome them at all warmly, and doubted even the sincerity of their 
motives. Sundays and Saturdays were the only days of the week in which they could 
jarry on conversation with the slaves on the plantations to any purpose, and spiritual 
rest and blessedness were not the things most of them desired during their few hours 
of leisure. 

Nitschmann found his skilled labour as a carpenter in good demand among his 
new neighbours, and he got on very well ; but, according to the original plan, he had 
soon to return to Europe. Poor Dober, naturally perhaps, did not find his making of 
pottery so popular, and there were difficulties in regard to the material he had to use ; so 
he took for a time to fishing, but with no better success. Depressed and discouraged 
beyond measure, he sank at last into a low fever, and was faithfully nursed through 
it by his companion till his time came to return to Herrnhut. Dober was then 
advised, all round, to give up his wild mission to the slaves in the West Indies as 
a bad business, and to get back to Europe as well and as quickly as he could. 
These sneers and doubts his laith was able to answer, and he still cluncf with 
hopeful devotion to his forlorn post, writing to his far-off friends at Herrnhut that 
he was free from suffering, though not from anxiety, and imploring their prayers that 
the good Lord might comfort, guide and sustain him in the great work he hoped yet 
to do for the poor bondsmen of the West Indian plantations. With aching heart he 
listened to the creaking of the cordage and the heaving of the anchor as the ship, 
which carried Nitschmann back to his dear old home, slowly cleft its way through the 
sapphire bay. 

Faith and hope do not always in these days bring plentiful manna direct from the 
skies, and so poor Dober, with heavy heart and chilling fears, returned to his fishing- 
tackle, but with no better luck than before. It was clear that this would never do, 
so he took a situation of a humble kind in the mansion of the Governor. He was, in 
fact, made steward of the household, and just because His E.Kcellency deemed him to 
be a truly pious man. Dober agreed to take the post on condition that, after the day's 
business was over, he shoidd bo allowed to tfive relisrious teaching to the nec'roes on 
the estate. With beautiful candour he tells us that : " The sailors, who till now had 
ridiculed me, were perfectly astonished, and counted me very fortunate ; but I found 
myself far from comfortable, though I had improved my outward condition. For some 



304 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IX. -In the 

time I sat at the Governor's table, and had everything, as the world says, which heart 
could desire ; but I was ashamed to see myself so raised above my former ideas of 
slavery, and this new manner of living was so oppressive to me that I was often 
quite wretched. I could only comfort myself with the assurance that the Lord 
had placed me in this situation ; for I had solemnly promised Him not to seek 
employment from any one, but to give myself up implicitly to the direction of His 
providence." 

Finding, therefoi'e, his position out of harmony with his original intention in coming 
to the land, he resigned. Then we find him for a little while trying to gain even 
scanty bread and water as a watchman. Finally, guided by the Hand that had always 
led him, he became arf overseer on a cotton plantation. He had from this time regular 
opportunities, and full liberty to preach to and to teach the slaves, which he did with 
all tenderness and sympathy, born of such bitter experiences. He carried on this work 
faithfully for two years. A brother of the negro Anthony, whom he had met at the 
coronation, Anthony's sister, her negro husband, and another negro, regularly came to 
learn more of Christ. That was all the visible result of so much labour and sorrow, 
when Dober, who had been appointed to the office of presiding Elder at Herrnhut, 
was recalled to his old home and its new duties there. 

Dober did not, however, leave the country till those who were to take up the 
broken threads of his unfinished web had arrived in the field. A new and broader 
spirit had now breathed upon the growing band at Herrnhut, and the Moravians 
were henceforth to be known to the Church and to the world for their great missionary 
work in many lands. 

In 1734, a rather sickly lad, whose heart burned with a great enthusiasm- 
Frederick Martin — offered to go out to St. Thomas, the island on whose white shoi-e 
negro Anthony had been wont to kneel and pray for some heavenly radiance to light 
up his gloom. Very soon Martin, along with T. W. Grothaus, and an apparently rather 
vain tailor, named John A. Bonike, came to work at St. Thomas, and came also, as the 
Americans say, to stay. 

The little band of four believers that Dober had gathered round him was still 
unbroken, and each had remained loyal to the faith. Martin, who was a man of remark- 
able vigour and energy, infused some of his own vitality into every agency of the mission. 
He visited plantation after plantation, and island after island, telling the poor slaves 
the story of the Saviour of men, to whom every soul was precious, and kindling a 
new ho23e and dignity within the dusky bosoms of those crushed toilers, whom no 
one had seemed to think of as anything but machines. He held meetings in his own 
narrow dwelling and elsewhere, while the number of hearers went on increasing till 
" there came a veritable hunger for the Word of God." There was, indeed, a genuine 
and large religious movement among the negroes, who might be heard praying aloud 
by the waysides during the night. But just at this crisis, so full of hope for the 
mission, Bonike and Martin somehow fell out, and very bitter was the disjjute; while 
Martin was also stricken with a sore fever, due, no doubt, to climatic influences acting 
on an overstrained and naturally fragile frame. 



West Indiiis/ 



FREDERICK MARTIN. 



305 



One of the results of such a fever, when long-continued in a tropical climate, is 
great lack of blood-supply to the brain, which betrays itself strikingly just when general 
recovery is setting in. Martin's memory accordingly came to fail him, and he would 
forget the doings even of the day before. When some of the little Christian company 
he had brought together were dismayed at finding this, he would say, " Children, do not 
be alarmed: 1 am stronger; the Lord has given me strength for His work." 

As he began to get his powers back, the people came in crowds too great for his 
narrow dwelling to contain, and then they taught the truth to others, and so the work 
spread through the plantations like leaven. A negro church of St. Thomas was 




CHARLOTTE AMALIE. ST. THOMAS. 

founded, and a plantation was bought, in which to form a little Christian colony or 
settlement. 

We are told that in his intercourse with the negroes, Martin by his simplicity and 
graciousness of manner won their affections in a wonderful way. "He used to shake 
hands with them, sit down beside them, and converse with them as if they had been his 
friends and his equals. ... He divided his own scanty supplies with such of them as 
Avere poor and needy. The cripple, the lame, and other miserable creatures who crawled 
to liis door, found in him a friend and benefactor." All this had a profound and 
lasting efi'ect upon the susceptible hearts of the negroes, who are of a strongly emotional 
nature, as their later history in the West Indies has strikingly shown. 
20 



300 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [IX.-Ix the 

All this had been very encouraging to the hearts of the workers; but now there 
began to be heard ominous mutterings among the planters and other slave-holders, which 
were soon to burst forth into a violent storm of animosity and persecution. Many of 
them forbade their slaves to go to the meetings, and if they disobeyed, as some had 
dared to do, they were savagely beaten or flogged till the blood streamed dowa their 
quivering backs. Many Christian negresses who were slaves, were subjected to special 
persecutions from their brutal owners, the recital of which makes one blush to think 
of our human nature, no means being left untried to entice or compel them into sm. 
Attempts were made also to crush the work of the Moravians by Government influence, 
and even to suppress it by legal authority. 

Bonike and the others could no longer work in harmony, and one now wonders how 
far this zealous tailor, who had from the first been expected to provide by his handicraft 
for the wants of his delicate brother, was altogether wisely or kindly used. However 
that may be, Bonike went his own way henceforth as a missionary, and gathered around 
himself a little body of believers, who acknowledged him as their earthly guide and 
teacher. Such schismatic operations as his were deemed, however, gave much oflence 
to the United Brethren, and poor Bonike was denounced on all hands, without any stint 
of terms of reprobation. Possibly he may have been wrong ; but a tragic event was soon 
to end the sad quarrel, in a way which seems to have left no manner of doubt in the 
minds of the good men who opposed him, that Heaven had taken up their quarrel 
and had solemnly settled it in favour of their own view. 

One day Bonike had called on his missionary brethren at Tappus, where their 
chief station was. They had talked long and warmly over the affairs of the mission, but 
could not see eye to eye, and Bonike evidently formed an unjdelding minority of one. 
Possibly his conscience would not allow him simply to bow, for peace' sake, to the 
dictation of those he considered as his equals. They Anally pressed him to humble 
himself before the Almighty, and to confess the error of his ways. The poor man seems 
to have felt that this was begging the questions at issue between them, and stress was 
afterwards laid on the tact that he solemnly appealed to God to be the Judge between 
them. He then mounted his horse and rode off rapidl}', in company with a negro lad 
who had come with him. He had not gone far, however, when the Brethren were 
startled by the loud, piercing crash of a tropical thunderbolt close at hand. In a 
minute or two the black boy came running in to say that his master was dead. Alas ! 
it was indeed true. He had been struck by the lightning, staggered for a second or 
two, and then fell lifeless to the groimd. His pale corpse was soon brought in, and we 
may try to picture the awed hush which stole over that still flushed group, as they 
gazed on the marble lineaments of the man they had argued with so warmly a few 
minutes before. They sorrowfully laid him in the quiet gi-ave, there to rest till the 
gi'eat and only just Judge shall try those on whom the tower of Siloam fell, with 
countless others whom the world has unjustly condenmed. 

A most extraordinary scries of persecutions soon afterwards arose against Martin 
personally, and against the whole of the Moldavians as a class. Their position in Eiu'ope, 
as an object of popular prejudice, was then not unlike that of the early Weslcyans in 



West Ind.es.) AN ECCLESIASTICAL QUESTION. 307 

England, or the Salvation Army in our own day, and this strong feehng of antipathy had 
now travelled westward to the Caribbean Sea. It sometimes took strange forms of ex- 
pressing itself Martin had in some Hernnhutian or ecclesiastical sense been ordained by 
a writing from Nitschmann. No official wonld nowadays care to meddle with a question 
so clearly internal as this one was. However, a Dutch reformed minister, Borm Znnme by 
name, felt moved to raise this delicate question, but not necessarily, as one writer assmnes, 
for the piu'pose of bringing Martin's work to an abrupt end. The objection was raised 
in the name of the Consistory, and there was no question at all as to the religious 
liberty of the United Brethren in the islands. That was clear and quite undisputed. 
In consequence of this move the Governor was led to prohibit Martin from acting as 
a minister, and to this decision Martin, protesting indignantly, declined to yield. He 
and another, Freundlich, further refusing, on religious principle, to take oath while 
offering evidence in a criminal court, were fined far beyond their present or probable 
■means, and were forthwith haled to prison, singing hynms on the way, which negroes, 
working in the fields, joined in from afar. 

The criminal case arose thus : — Timothy Fredler, one of the missionaries, left his 
;station at St. Croix, and began quietly to make a littjp money for himself at St. Thomas. 
This was felt to be a threat scandal, and it led Martin and the ncOTo converts to 
withdraw their fellowship i'roni him. Just after this, a plantation inspector, on the 
estate of the Lord Chamberlain, found, or alleged that he had found, in Fredler's trunk, 
certain valuable articles that had been the property of his lordship. Fredler was 
therefore charged with the theft, and was detained in prison for trial. It had thus 
■come to pass that three of the early missionaries were at one time in prison, one of 
them, it would seem, fahebj charged with theft (for he was ultimately acquitted), and 
the two others for religiously declining to take oath, and not finding the means to pay 
the outrageous fines imposed on them for their ofi'ence. For although they expressed 
their perfect readiness to give their testimony on affirmation, they were fined and fined 
again, the penalty being increased each time. 

While the sickly Martin was thus joining away in prison, the old vexed question 
of the validity of his ordination was revived by his Dutch reverence Borm, in a most 
bitter and revengeful spirit, and probably few things more extraordinary ever happened 
in a Christian country, than what now took place at the instigation of this valiant 
minister of the Gospel. 

Martin, in virtue of his ordination, had married a missionary, named Freundlich, 
to one Rebecca, a good Christian woman, just a little too dark in her complexion 
to make everything quite comfortable in such a state of society as the West Indies 
then presented. Borm, good man, insisted that thej^ should be re-mairied, or rather 
'pruperly married, l)y himself but this coarse demand was not acceded to. Then followed 
a trial and decision the most revolting conceivable to enlightened Christian feeling. 
According to Danish law — based on Jewish legislative principles — a jnan and woman living 
together Avithout marriage were subject to severe and deterrent penalties. Here, then, was 
a case, all ready to hand, which might yield this narrow-souled Dutch ecclesiastic a 
diabolical revenge on his Moravian rivals. Thus, without waitmg for the legal opinion of 



308 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[IX. — In the 



the Home authorities, which had been duly invoked, poor friendless Freundlich was 
sentenced to pay an impossible fine of one hundred rix-dollars, and to be imprisoned 
during the whole term of his natural life. That might perhaps have seemed to be 
enough even to satiate a thirst for vengeance on an unoffending rival, but worse was 
to follow. It was further judicially determined that poor olive-sldnned Rebecca, from 
whose bosom her husband had been so foully torn away, was now to be sold into 
slaverjr, and the price of her Christian flesh and blood was to be given — Charity, 
what deeds are done in thy name! — to aid the funds of the ho><pltal ! 




ATTACK BY WHITES ON THE MISSION STATION OK POSAUKENBERG. 



So anxious was this worthy pastor, Borm, to advance the kingdom of righteous- 
ness, that he next insisted on the Mortivian negro converts coming befoi-e himself 
for examination, as their instruction in Christian doctrine by the Moravians had, he 
thought, been so defective as to be really worse than none at all, which was what 
he had afforded them. 

Just at this terrible crisis in the history of the Moravian missions to the slaves in 
the West Indies, good Count Zinzendorf, all unwitting of the state of affairs, arrived 
on the island of St. Thomas, a veritable dext.s ex, maehivd. Martin, who, as we have 
seen, was from the first a delicate man, had got out of prison on bail, seriousty injured 
in health. Zinzendorf, making vigorous efforts on their behalf, got Freundlich and his 



West Indies.] THE HARVEST FIELD. 309 

beloved Rebecca out of gaol for a few days, and finally succeeded in obtaining fuU free- 
dom for them both. Fredler, too, who had been accused of theft, was not only freed 
from imprisonment, but from even the suspicion of the crime with which he had been 
charged. He remained a true and loyal friend to the Brethren till the day of his death, 
and left a legacy to their missions. 

On the day before the Count was to return to Europe, a great gathering of the 
negro converts took place at Tappus, to wish him farewell and a good voyage. Some of 
the white people, armed with swords and staves, who had been petitioning the Governor 
to put a complete stop to all this teaching and preaching, attacked this peaceful 
assembly with great violence. They afterwards rushed to the missionary plantation at 
Posaunenberg, which the Brethren had purchased, and where they had a dwelling- 
place. Arriving there, they at once proceeded to smash the dishes and furniture 
making an utter wreck of the property, beating such negroes as they found remaining 
on the estate, wounding some of them severely, and putting the rest to flight. 
This kind of outrage was repeated on several occasions, the " whites " breaking up 
the meetings with dra^v'n swords. " One of the Brethren received a wound in the 
shoulder, and some cuts through his coat. His wife was stabbed in the breast through 
her handkerchief. The wife of another of the missionaries was wounded in the shoulder, 
and a woman, who had a child in her arms, was cut in the head." One of the planters 
rode his horse through the rooms with brutal threats. 

But, after all, the tide was now turning, and the authorities began to give their 
countenance and support against these ruffians. Martin's eager, busy life, whose activities 
had no pause, was, however, to end. In 1750 the fever again broke him down, and he 
died fuU of peace and hope. They laid him to rest by the little negro church at St. 
Thomas, as he had requested. A cairn of stones was reared over the lowly grave by the 
loving hands of the converts, " and still, as they visit the place, they reverently uncover 
their heads." Just before his death the Governor pointed out the plantation, used 
by the Moravians as a nursery for their " Mustard Seed," which had now come 
to yield a great spiritual harvest, and he said, " That is our security now in this island. 
By that influence we are enabled to sleep soundly." Was there ever a clearer testimony 
to the value of missions ? 

It had been slow and uphill work, but " In flfty years after the mission was founded," 
says Flemmg Stevenson, " nearly twelve thousand had been baptised ; fifty years later 
the number had risen to over thirty-one thousand ; and during these one hundred 
years death had been so busy, that it took more than three hundred missionaries to 
sow the seed." 



310 

X. — SOUTH AFRICA. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

ROBERT MOFFAT. 

In Westminster Abbey — Earl}- Life— Spiritual History — Offers Services to London Missionary Society — Mary 
Smith — Sails for Cape To«ti — A Practical Sermon — Africaner, The Bonaparte of South Africa — Marriage 
— The Sechuana Language — Life at Lattakoo — Perils from the Heathen and from Wild Beasts — The 
Mantatees — A Tribal War — Translation of Scriptures — Visits to England — Adventure of Miss Moffat — 
Founding Xew Missions — Sechele, Chief of the Bakwains — Closing Years. 

OX the evening of St. Andrew's Day, in the year 1873, a remarkable service was held 
in the nave of Westminster Abbey, one of a series established m connection with the 
Day of Intercession for Jlissions b}- the then Dean, Dr. Stanlej-. On two previous occa- 
sions the address had been given b}^ an eminent layman, and a well-known minister of 
the Church of Scotland, but in 1873 the speaker was a Nonconformist who had spent 
fifty years as a missionary in South Africa. As he took his place at the reading-desk, 
every face was turned to the tall upright form, keen countenance, and bright eye, ap- 
parently undimmed by the weight of nearly eighty years, of the venerable man, who 
spoke so sunply and yet so eloquently of his wonderful experience in heathen lands. 
The dimly lighted nave was filled with men and women differing widely in theological 
opinions, but all moved by the desire of hearing Robert Moffat plead the cause he 
loved so well, in the noblest of English churches. The occasion was unique. Never 
before, and never since, has the voice of an English Nonconformist minister been heard 
in Westminster Abbey. 

Robert Moffat was the son of humble but Cod-fearing parents, and was born on the 
shortest day of the year 1795, at Ormiston, in East Lothian, where a tall granite column 
has been erected to his memory. He received a verj- modest education, and his first 
school-book was the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, to which the alphabet was prefixed, so 
that as soon as he had learnt his letters he at once plunged into the first question, 
" What is the chief end of man ? " His passion for travelling was developed at a very 
early age, for when he was only eleven he ran away to sea and made several coasting 
voyages ; but, to the great joy of his parents, he soon got disgusted with a seafaring Hfe, 
and returned to school for two years. On leaving school he was ajjprenticed to a 
nursery gardener at Polmont, where he had to put up with many hardships, often 
rising as early as four o'clock in the bitter cold of a winter's morning, and never 
having more food than was absolutely necessary ; yet, in spite of these disadvantages, 
finding time to attend an evening class, and to learn mensuration and a little Latin, 
diversifying his meagre leisure by working at a blacksmith's anvil and playing the violin. 
When his apprenticeship was ended, he obtained a situation for a twelvemonth in the 
gardens of the Earl of Moray, at Donibristlc, near Aberdour, and at the conclusion of 
his engagement he became under-gardener to Mr. Leigh, of High Leigh, in the county 
of Chester, and at no orreat distam e from Manchester. 




D?- MOFFAT 



■':Um^a/MZfU!^^^/y^^-^'^'^^'^~ 



X.-Sui'TH AiRiLA.1 EARLY SPIRITUAL HISTORY. ;3il 

At High Leigh he was more comfortably circumstanced. The head-gardener, finding 
him well up to the work, left much of it to him, and Mrs. Leigh took an interest in the 
young man, and encouraged him to study in his spare time, lending him books and 
advising him as to his reading. Here, too, he became acquainted with a pious Methodist 
family, who took him with them to some of their meetings, where he was much 
impressed by the earnest appeals of those who spoke. He had always been a diligent 
reader of the New Testament, and on leaving home his poor mother had entreated him 
never to forget God's Word ; but it was not imtil he heard the Methodist preachers that 
the Bible became to him anything more than an ordinary book, and even then he 
confesses that he tried for a long time to stifle his convictions. Nor was his own 
unwillingness the sole obstacle. His mistress disliked the Methodists, and as soon as 
she laaew of his attendance at their meetings ceased to befriend him ; and his father, 
who, as a Galvinist, distrusted the theology of his new friends, urged him by letter to 
be cautious how he followed their teachings. Thus for a long time a severe struggle 
continued ; but in the end the great change came, and Moffat, influenced by the Spirit 
of God, became a sincere and an avowed C'hristian. 

At this crisis in his life, a mere accident, as men would say, attracted him to Mr. 
Roby, an Independent minister of some repute in Manchester, who took a great interest 
in the training of young men for the Christian ministry, and who subsequently founded 
the Lancashire Independent College. As Moft'at was walking one fine summer evening 
into Warrington to do some shopping, he noticed a placard announcing a missionary 
meeting to be held in Manchester under the chairmanship of the Rev. William Roby. 
The date was already passed, but Moffat had never seen a missionary placard before, and 
it so fascinated him that when he had done his errand he returned to it and read it 
over and over again, recalling as he did so the stories of the Moravians in Greenland 
and Labrador, which his mother had told him when he sat as a boy at her side. 
The seed then sown had not died, but now sprang up to bear much fruit in the 
years to come. Ho could not, and would not if he could, get the thought of missions 
out of his head, and with the thought he always associated the name of Roby. He 
resolved at least to hear him, and when he found an opportunity he was much impressed 
by the looks and manner of the preacher, but had no idea of making his acquaintance 
or of seeking his assistance and advice. Another accidental circumstance, however, in- 
duced Moffat to take this step. The conversation at the house where he was staying 
turning upon the preacher, a lady observed that Mr. Roby took much interest in 
young men, and sometimes sent them out as missionaries, a remark that fell upon the 
attentive ears of Moffiit, who pondered over it in prayer during the night, and when 
morning came was finnly resolved to call upon the preacher and ask to bo sent out to 
the heathen. Doubts indeed suggested themselves ; he had, he knew, few qualifications 
for the work ; his educational advantages were small ; he was bashful and timid, and, 
he feared, presumptuous ; and these doubts and fears accompanied him to Mr. Roby's 
door, where for a time he feared to knock, and once turned back in diflSdence and 
despair. But courage returned to him ; he knocked and was admitted. Mr. Roby 
soon appeared, and listened patiently and kindly to aU his visitor had to teU of his 



312 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [X.-South Africa. 

desire to go to the heathen and Libour for Christ ; and, after putting many questions, 
agreed to write to the directors of the London Missionary .Society asking whether 
they could accept Moffat's offer. Weeks passed slowly enough, and the young gardener 
began to think he was quite forgotten, until his suspense was ended by the receipt of a 
letter from Mr. Roby asking him to come to Manchester, so that he might be placed in 
a situation there, and have the opportvmity of further intercourse, and of an examination 
into his fitness for the work he desired to undertake. 

Moffat had no hesitation about leaving Leigh and accepting the proposal, but he had 
some difficulty in obtaining a situation. Mr. Roby, however, exerted himself, and found 
a place for him with Mr. Smith, a nurseryman at Dukintield, where he remained a 
year, dihgently working at the business and devoting all his spare time to study and 
preparation for his future career. 

At last, in the summer of 1816, the long-expected and welcome news arrived that 
his offer was accepted. He gave up his situation, and for a few weeks applied himself 
closely to his studies, and then paid a hurried visit to Scotland to say good-bye to 
his father and mother, whom he never thought to meet again. He returned once 
more to Manchester to take farewell of Mr. Roby and of Mary Smith, his master's 
daughter, whose heart he had won, though her parents objected to her accompanying 
hun to the mission-field. But the young lovers did not give up the hope of overcoming 
their objections in time, and MofiCat went to London full of zeal and eager to begin his 
work. His interview with the directors of the Missionary Society, a much dreaded 
ordeal, was in every respect satisfactory, and on the 30th of September he was 
ordained at Surrey Chapel, with John Williams, the martyr of Erromanga, and seven 
other young men who were going out as missionaries, four to the South Seas, and four 
to Africa. 

Moffat sailed for the Cape on the 18th of the following month, and reached Cape 
Town, where he received a hearty welcome from Mr. Thorn, the minister of the Dutch 
Reformed Church, on the 13th of January, 1817. His intended destination was Namaqua- 
land, but the colonial authorities refused to allow him to proceed thither, alleging that, 
as many servants and slaves had run away from their masters and taken refuge at 
the mission stations in Criqualand, it was altogether undesirable to found other stations, 
which might be used for a similar purpose. No argument or entreaty could turn the 
Governor, and it became necessary to send home for further directions. But Jloffat 
was not idle during the tedious interval, and he utilised the time in learning Dutch, 
going to Stellenbosch for the purpose of isolating himself from his English friends, 
and lodging with a Dutch farmer, who, unlike most of his fellows, wo,s a man of deep 
piety and an ardent supporter of missions. He soon acquired tlie language, and was 
able to use it in conducting religious services at Stellenbosch and in the surrounding 
district. Meantime, Mr. Thorn continued to apply to the Governor to withdraw his 
opposition to the intended mission to Namaqualand, and though for a considerable 
time without result, at length his persevering efforts were successful. JMoffat was 
then recalled to Cape Town, and, accompanied by another missionary for part of the 
•way, set off on his long journey. 




MOFFAT PKEACHIXG TO A BOEIfS FAMILY AND SERVANTS. 



SIJ' CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [X.-So<!th Akiuca. 

As the two men travelled through the colon}^ most of the farmers with whomi 
they rested at night, or on Sunday, shook their heads, and indulged in gloomy fore- 
bodings on hearing of their desire to evangelise Namaqualand ; and one motherly dame 
even shed tears when young Moffat told her where he proposed to go, because she 
felt sure he was rushing into danger, and probably into death. The farmers were 
generally hospitable enough to the travellers, and once, after SHp]^)er, Moftat was asked 
to conduct family worship. The big Bible was produced, and the family seated them- 
selves round the room. " But where arc the servants ? " asked Moffat. " Do you mean 
the Hottentots ? " was the reply. " Let me go to the mountains and call the baboons ;. 
or, stop, boys ! call in the dogs ! " The request for the servants was not repeated, and 
a psalm having been sung, the missionary read from St. Luke's Gospel the story of 
the Syrophffinician woman, laying an emjihasis on the words, " Truth, Lord, but even 
the dogs eat of the crun^bs which fall from the children's table." The words went 
home, and the farmer stopped the reading and called in the servants, many of whom 
had never before been inside the house. The worship ended, and the Hottentots 
having withdrawn, he turned to Moffat, and said, " My friend, you tbok a hard 
hanuuer, and you have broken a hard head." 

Moffat's destination was Africaner's kraal, where he relieved another missionary, 
Mr. Ebner, who had unfortunately quarrelled with a brother of the chief, and had 
accejjted an invitation from another chief named Bondelzwarts to go and teach his 
people. Moffixt Was thus single-handed, and found himself in a lonely position, with 
no friend or brother with whom he could consult, in a barren and misemble country, 
without corn or bread, and without means of communicating with the colony. The 
outlook was dismal enough ; but he found a friend, where he had least expected, in 
the person of Africaner himself 

This man had long been the terror of the country, and had obtained the name 
of the " Bonaparte of South Africa." He was originally a Hottentot in the service of 
a Dutch farmer at Tulbach, not \evy far from Cape Town, and was generally employed 
in tending cattle, though sometimes he and his sons were sent on commandoes, or 
plundering expeditions, which were frequently organised by the Boers against the 
defenceless natives of the interior. In this way Africaner and his sons learnt to rob 
and murder, and it is hardly a matter for surprise that, having been provoked by their 
employer, they shot him and his wife to revenge their real or supposed injuries. They 
then fled across the Orange River, and settled in Great Namaqualand, far enough from 
the boundaries of the colony to ensure their own safety, but near enough to strike at 
many of the unprotected farms belonging to the Boers. Nor was their hostility directed 
only against the whites. For many 3rears, like Ishmael of old, the hand of Afri- 
caner was against every man. In all directions, he and his followers plundered the 
country, carried off the cattle, and mercilesslj' destroyed the Boers, Hottentots, or 
Namaquas who opposed them. Tlie colonial authorities offered a large reward for the 
capture of this wild and fierce chief, but nobody was bold enough to make the 
attempt. Missionaries had visited him, and he suffered them to remain ; but they had 
been obliged to withdra\v in despair of effecting any good, and Mr. Ebner was but 



X.-SoLTH AraRA.l AFRICANER, THE BOXAPAKTE OF SOUTH AFRICA. 315 

f"oIli>\ving- the example of his predecessors in leaving Africaner and betaking himself to 
another part of the country. 

Wonderful to relate, Africaner was soon attracted to Moffat, and became an altered 
character. He listened eagerly to his teaching, and one day, after hearing him for a 
time, broke ott' with the exclamation, " I have had enough ; I feel as if my head was 
too small, and as if it -would burst with these great subjects." When the missionary 
fell sick, he attended him with great care, and supplied him with the best food to be 
obtained, and with cows to give him milk, and during the whole of their intercourse 
there was never the slightest difficulty or misunderstanding between theih. So great, 
indeed, was Moffat's inttuonce, that when he found it necessary to go to Cape Town, 
he succeeded in persuading Africaner to go with him. 

This was a great triumph. The offer of a reward for the chief's capture had never 
been withdrawn, yet he ventured to go to the authorities who had made the offer, in 
implicit reliance on the protection of a young missionary. Many strange incidents 
occurred during the journey. At one place, where Moffat had stayed on his way to 
Namaqualand, the farmer came to meet, but did not recognise, his former guest, and on 
being reminded who he was, exclaimed " Moffat ' No, it must be his ghost, for I have 
heard of his murder by Africaner, and I know a man who was shown his bones." 
Convinced at length of the fact that he was talking to the livmg Moffat, a still 
greater surprise awaited him when he was told that Africaner himself was an altogether 
changed character, and was actually close at hand. " If what you say is true," the farmer 
replied, " I should like to see him, though he killed my uncle." This statement was 
somewhat disconcerting, but ti'usting his host's sincerity, Moffat introduced his com- 
panion : and the farmer, after asking him some questions, could not but exclaim : " 
God, what a miracle of Thy power ! what cannot Thy gi-ace do ? " 

The arrival of Africaner at Cape Town created no little astonishment, and brought 
home to the authorities in a very practical and striking way, the civilising effect of 
Christian missions. Here was a man formerly guilty of great crimes, whom they had 
vainly tried to capture, trusting himself amongst them as the companion of a. 
missionary, whose teaching and influence had wrought so wonderful a change. The 
Governor sent for the chief, and, as a result of the interview between the representative 
of the King of England and the outlaw, the amount of the reward was actually spent 
in presents for himself and his people. He returned in safety to his kraal, but he had 
decided to move into the Bechuana country, where his friend and teacher was about 
to take up his abode, it having been found impossible to maintain the Namaqualand 
mission. 

Moffat had, it will be remembered, been engaged whilst at Dukinfield to Mary 
Smith, his employer's daughter, but as her parents objected to her marriage he had been 
obliged to come out alone, and to trust that in time she would l)e able to join him. 
Three years elapsed, and then Mr. and Mrs. Smith, feeling it would be wrong to with- 
hold their consent any longer, parted Avith their beloved child, who was married to 
Robert Moffat in St. George's Church, Cape Town, at Christinas, 1819, and was for fifty 
years his devoted wife and helper 



316 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[X.— South Africa. 



Early in the following year they started for Bechuanaland, accompanied by John 
Campbell, of Kingsland, who was paying his second missionary visit to South Africa. 
The travellers, in their slow and lumbering ox-waggons, were seven weeks in getting to the 

Orange River, a journey which can now 
~^^^^^^^ ^-M..^^ be accomplished by railway in two days, 

and, having crossed the river without 
difficulty, soon arrived at Lattakoo. Mary 
Moffiit was delighted with the first view 
of her new home, the landscape re- 
minded her of the scenery of England, 
and the trees were liner than any she 
had seen elsewhere in Africa, but with a 
thought of her old home, she confessed 
that no African forest was in her eyes 
so beautiful as the little wood above 
the nursery at Dukintield. llateebe, the 
king, welcomed the new-comers, and they 
were introduced to the chiefs and other 
principal people, but they could not at 
once settle down to their work, as the 
necessary permission had not been re- 
ceived from the Colonial Governor. They 
therefore returned for a time to Griqua 
Town, where they met Africaner, who had 
conveyed Moffat's property, consisting of 
cattle, sheep, a little furniture, and a 
few books, in safety from Namaqualand. 
The old chief having thus faithfully ful- 
filled his promise, started to fetch his 
own property, in order to carry out his 
intention of settling near his beloved 
teacher ; but he never came back, and 
died at his old kraal a few months after- 
_ ,- , . .v wards. 

j^^^^j;^ ■''"-" ' _^^,-^=r^"i-". The Moffats were detained at Griqua 

Town much longer than they liked, and 
AFRic.^xEE. during their stay their eldest child, Mary, 

afterwards the wife of David Livingstone, 
was born. Their patience was in time rewarded by the receipt of the Governor's per- 
mission to proceed to Lattakoo, where Mr. Hamilton had been living for some years 
without making much headway, as he had not been able to acquire the Bechuana or 
Sechuana language, and could not therefore comnumicate directly with the people. 
Many of the Hottentots who had been brought from Bethelsdorf as servants and 




X South Africa.] 



LEARNING THE SECHUANA LANGUAGE. 



317 



interpreters, turned out very badly, and brought disgrace upon the Christian pro- 
fession, and this also was a sei'ious liindrance to the success of tlie mission. Un- 
qualified interpreters had always proved a difficulty in missionary work, and though 
some of their blunders were amusing — as, for instance, when a traveller asked the name 
of the place through which he was passing, and was told " Ua reay," which really 
means " What do you say ? " — other errors were more serious, as when a preacher told his 
congregation that " The salvation of the soul is a great and importtmt subject," the 
interpreter translated it. " The salvation of the soul is a great and important sack." 




MOFFAT'S MISSION STATION IN NAMAQUALAND (BEERSHEBA). 



Moffat quickly perceived that to make progress he must acquire the Sechuana 
language, and as soon as he had settled his family at Lattakoo, he went away by himself 
to a village where no Dutch or English was spoken, and thus obtained his object 
quicldy and effectually. He was now able to address the people in their own tongue, 
and he made use of every practicable opportunity of explaining why he had come to 
them ; but it took a long, long time to make any impression. If, in return for some 
service, a native received a present, he would perhaps attend worship once or twice by 
way of showing his gratitude, and if Moftiit had been able and willing to bribe 
the people, no doubt he would soon have got a congregation. Nothing, however, was 
farther frona his thoughts, and he could only wait patiently for better days. 

The Bechuanas, indeed, did not want the tiospel, and were unwilling to abandon 



31S CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [X -South Africa. 

the customs and superstitions which they had inherited from their ancestors. They 
were without any notion of a Supreme Bemg, and had no idols, temples, altars, or 
other signs of worship, so that no appeal could be made to them respecting God or 
immortality, or to any other religious ideas which most men possess in some rudiment- 
ary form or other. They had little or no sense of honour, and were crafty and cunning, 
though not ill-natured. In their wars, which were generally undertaken for the purpose 
of carrying off cattle, they were often guilty of cruel and ferocious practices, especially 
towards the Bushmen, who were in most respects their inferiors, but it is said that 
they were more humane than the kindred tribes of the Zulus and Kaffirs. 

Amongst the Bechuanas, as so often happens in uncivilised peoples, and especially 
where polygamy prevails, much of the hardest work was done by the women. The 
men, of course, went to the wars and on hunting expeditions ; but at home, in times 
of peace, they watched the cattle, milked the cows, dressed the skins of animals and 
made them into mantles ■ whilst, the women worked in the fields, brought home 
wood for the fires, built the houses, and did all the heavy work. They were merely 
drudges, and as an indolent husband took additional wives, he had more toilers to 
labour for him, and was the less likely to sympathise with teachers who told him 
that it was contrary to the spirit of true religion that a man should have more than 
one wife. 

In Moffat's early struggles at Lattakoo, patience was not the only virtue he was 
required to exercise. When he had been living there little more than a year, a period 
of drought set in, and the country suffered terribly for want of water. As usual, the 
rain-makers, or rain-doctors, were sent for. The rain-doctors were looked up to with 
great respect, and their strange and sometimes disgusting practices were believed to be 
efficacious in bringing down the rain. One of their devices was to burn charcoal made 
from the bodies of bats, the livers of jackals, and parts of lions, baboons, and snakes ; and 
another to pound a poisonous bulb, boiling part of it in water and giving the decoction 
to a sheep, who soon died in convulsions, the other part being burnt, and producing 
an unpleasant smoke. These devices were tried at Lattakoo without result, and the 
rain-doctors then declared that the prayers of the missionaries, and the ringing of 
their chapel bell, kej3t away the clouds ; therefore it was decided that the missionaries 
must quit the place, and one of the chiefs, accompanied by twelve armed warriors, came 
to them with peremptory orders to leave. Moffat was unmoved by their threaten- 
ing behaviour, and firmly refused to go. " We are not willing to leave you," he said. 
" You may shed my blood, and burn the houses, but I know you will not touch 
my wife and children, and you will surely spare my venerable friend," pointing, 
as he spoke, to Mr. Hamilton. " As for myself," he continued, " I have decided not 
to leave the country ; but, if you will, put me to death, and when you have killed 
me my companions ^^■\\\ know they must depart." This bold language had its natural 
effect ; the chief retired in awe, and the missionaries were allowed to remain in 
peace. 

Having escaped this peril from the heathen, Moftat was soon afterwards exposed 
to perils from wild beasts. On one of his journeys to a neighbouring village, as he 



X -Koi.Tu Africa.] PERILS AND TRIVATIOXS. 319 

•Wiis wimdering in scanli of food, he shot at an antelope, and on going to secure it 
came upon a panther crouched in a tree, and preparing to spring upon hiui. His double- 
barrelled gun had been loaded with ball and small shot, but the ball had been fired 
at the antelope, and as the small shot would only have infuriated the panther, he slowly 
retired backwards, keeping his eyes steadily fixed on the beast. Suddenly he trod on 
a cobra lying in the grass, and felt it twisting itself round his legs, which were only 
protected by thin trousers. A moment's delay woidd have been fatal, for the venom- 
ous serpent was preparing to strike, when a well-du'ected charge of small shot killed 
it, and Jloffat dragged it after him to his companion, who said that had it bitten him 
death must have been instantaneous. 

On another journey he came upon a party of Bushmen whose movements excited 
his curiosity. He found that one of the women had died, and they were digging a 
grave. When this was done he discovered, to his horror, that they intended not only 
to bury the dead woman, but her two living children, and no persuasion on his part 
would induce them to desist from this dreadful purpose, luiless he would take charge 
of the orphans. Concluding that only in this way would they be spared, he agreed 
to become their guardian, and brought them to Lattakoo, where for many years 
they formed part of his household, one of them afterwards becoming a nurse-girl to 
his elder children. 

The first years of Moffat's labours in Bechuanaland were full of discouragement, and 
the prospects of the mission appeared to become worse and worse. The people robbed 
the houses and gardens of the missionaries with impunity, for the chief was too weak 
or too timid to interfere. Sheep were stolen from the fold at night, and cattle were 
driven off, sometimes only for mischief, and left to become the prey of wild beasts. B}^ 
an expenditure of great labour the missionaries had dug a small canal some miles in 
length to supply their garden with water, but the work was hardly completed before 
the people diverted the whole of the sti'eam into their own gardens, and deprived the 
missionaries of the fruit of their toil. For some months Hamilton and Moffat were 
obliged to watch in turn all night to save the vegetables in their gardens, and Avhen 
they were absent from their houses at worship, the people would carry off their saws, 
knives, and other tools. Almost every day something was lost, and ilottat has left 
it upon record thac the only gains were " those of resignation and peace, the results of 
praj-er, patience, and fixith in the unchangeable purposes of God." 

Another and a heavier trial was the conduct of the Hottentots, who had come from 
the institutions at Bethelsdorp and other places in the colony to help the missionaries 
in building, gardening, and similar work. These men wei'e nominally Christians, but 
they were too weak to resist the temptations to which they were exposed amongst a 
heathen and corrupt people ; and their behaviour was a source of shame to the mission- 
aries, and a hindrance to the progress of the Gospel, of which they .showed themsehes 
such unworthy repi'esentatives. 

The dirty habits of the Bechuanas were a minor annoj'ance. Their custom of 
smearmg their bodies with grease and red ochre made intercourse with them very 
unpleasant, and their slight clothing was often exceedingly filthy. Cleanliness was 



320 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[X.— South Africa. 



unknown, and the}' were only .imused at the missionaries putting their arms, legs, and 
feet into bags, and fastening their clothes with buttons, mstead of suspending ornaments 
from the neck or hair of the head. 

These troubles continued for six years, but at the expiration of that long and try- 
ing time, Mottat was able to render a signal service to the people amongst whom- 
his lot was east. In the year 1S28 he undertook a long journey, with the two-fold 




BECHUANA RAIN-DOOTOES. 



object of visiting another Bechuana tribe, living two hundred miles from Lattakoo, and 
of ascertaining the truth of a nimoured invasion of the ilantatees, who had been ex- 
pelled from their own country in the district now known as the Transvaal by the 
Matabele, a warlike and powerful Kaffir tribe, with whom Moffat was in future years to 
have much intercourse. It was feared that the Mantatees would attack Lattakoo, and 
drive the inhabitants westward to the foodless and waterless wastes of the Kalahari 
desert ; and if the design were successful, it seemed probable the missionaries would be 
destroyed, and that Griqualand and even Cape Colony would not be safe. Moffat soon 



X. — South Africa.] 



A TRIBAL WAR. 



321 



learnt that the rumours were only too true, and he hastened back to Lattakoo in 
terrible luiicertainty whether the enemy mig-ht not be there before him. Happily he 
was in time to "ive warninsr of their comin"-; but, from all he had heard, he iudtjed 
that the Bechuanas unaided would be no match for the invaders, and he proposed to 
go himself to Griqua Town, in order to consult Mr. Melville, the English Resident, and 
to obtain,, if possible, the help of Waterboer, the Griqua chief. His proposals were 
gladly accepted, and in a few days he returned, accompanied by the Resident, with a 
force of a hundred men under the command of the chief. They did not arrive a 
moment too soon, for the invaders were within forty miles of the place, and it was 
decided to go out immediately and meet them. 




wr .-^^^^^r ^w^"^ ^^f^^ i^T' 






-%,-^^'^T 
i?-.~ ....-.^i/^^'"' 



MUFFAT INSTITUTION, KURHJIAN. 



Moffat accompanied the little armj', not to fight, but, if possible, to negotiate with 
the invaders, and to restrain the ferocity of the Griquas and the Bechuanas. On 
the second day after leaving Lattakoo, they came in sight of tlte Mantatees, who 
were not a little alarmed at the moimted Griquas, and captured a woman, who 
was kindly treated and sent back to her own people with an offer of peace. No 
notice was taken of this offer, and a second attempt at negotiation on the following 
morning was also unsuccessful. The Mantatees soon began to advance, and at Moffat's 
request the Griquas and Bechuanas retired slowly and deliberately, to give, if it were 
possible, an opportimity of coming to terms. So nuich Fabian strategy did not please 
the less patient Waterboer, who shot one of the foe, and commanded his men to keep 
up a steady fire, which wrought deadly havoc, yet did not stop the attack. For three 
hoiu's the battle continued, in the course of which the Bechuanas made an un.success- 
ful charge, and at last the ilantatees, no longer able to withstand the fire of the 
21 



322 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. ' |X.-South Africa. 

Griquas, took to flight, burning their camp as they passed through it. The Bechuanas 
then began to fall upon and kill the women and children, in spite of the endeavours 
of Moftat and the Commissioner to stop the murderous work. Both the Englishmen 
rode over the field of battle, exposing themselves to the danger of being speared by 
the wounded Mantatees, and the missionary narrowly escaped death. He was galloping 
as fast as his horse could go along a narrow way between some rocks and a body of 
the wounded enemy, when suddenly one of them jumped up, spear in hand, and would 
no doubt have killed him, had not one of the Griquas seen the danger, and, by a 
well-aimed shot, brought down the JIantatee. The bullet whizzed close to Moffat's 
ear, but it saved him from a terrible death. 

Wo may think it not a little strange that a messenger of the Gospel of peace 
should have been thus occupied in actual warfare, but we must remember that he was 
not a combatant, and that the Mantatees v/ere the invaders, threatening to destroy 
the Bechuanas, who had done them no wrong. Though Moffat was unable entirely 
to prevent the killing of women and children, he did succeed in saving many of them, 
who were thrown upon his hands to be j^rovided for and taken cai-e of His energy 
had saved the Bechuanas from almost certain destruction; and although it was feared 
the Mantatees might renew hostilities, they never again attacked the country, but made 
their way to Basutoland and the Transvaal, where their descendants are to be found to 
this day. ' , 

This crisis had a remarkable effect upon the fortunes of the mission. So long as 
there was any reason to fear a return of the invaders, Mrs. Moffat and the children 
were sent to Griqua Town, out of the way of danger, but Moffat remained at his post, 
and was gratefully recognised as the friend and deliverer of the Bechuanas. His 
influence increased, and when he proposed to remove to Kuruman, as a more advan- 
tageous spot for the work of the mission, many of the people migrated with him, and 
helped to build a chapel, and houses for himself and Hamilton. The buildings were 
not completed for some time, but they were substantial, and after an existence of sixty 
years, are still in good condition, serving the purposes for which they were originally 
erected. 

When the chapel was finished, the hearts of the missionaries were greatly eneour- 
•aged by the intei-est the people took in the services, and by other signs of a spiritual 
awakening. The seed so patiently sown, and so long apparently unfruitful, now began 
to spring up and bear fruit ; old heathen practices were being abandoned, and many 
wished to be baptised. Of those who presented themselves for baptism, six only were 
accepted, after a careful examination, as Church members, and were admitted to the 
ordinances of the Christian Church. Three years before, Mary Moffat had written to 
some of her friends in England asking them to send out a set of vessels for the 
■celebration of the Lord's Supper; and, by a singular coincidence, the box containing 
them arrived just in time for the first native commimion. It was a joyful and happy 
service, the first of a long scries at which Moffat presided and welcomed to the 
Church a succession of converts from heathen darkness and degradation. 

For some j-ears Moffat had been working at a translation of parts of the New 



X.-SoDTB AFRICA.) THE SECHUAXA NEW TESTAMENT. 323 

Testaineiit into the Sochuana language, beginning with the Gospel of St. Luke. The 
task was not an easy one, and could only be carried on at such times as could be 
spared from his other nuiltifarious duties. Having httle or no knowledge of the 
original Greek, he made use of the English and Dutch versions to ascertain the pre- 
cise form of the text, and when this had been satisfactorily established, he turned 
it into Sechuana. But it was an exceedingly difKcult matter to tind satisfactory 
equivalents in that language for many words and phrases. He was thoroughly 
conversant with what was almost his adopted tongue, but the people had no . ideas 
bej'ond the requirements of their ordinary uncivilised life, and it was only by hard 
labour, supported by his indomitable Scotch energy, that the many obstacles were 
ovei'come. 

As soon as the Gospel of St. Luke and some other parts of the New Testament 
were finished, he took his precious manuscript to Cape Town to get it printed, but he 
could Mnd no printer to undertake the work. In this emergency he applied to the 
Colonial Secretary for leave to have the printing done at the Government press, and 
though the authorities v.'ere willing to help as far as they could, they were not able to 
do all that was wanted. They told Moffat he was welcome to use the type and the 
press, but they could not lend liim printers, and he therefore determined to try to set 
up the typo and print the sheets with the assistance of a colleague. They induced one 
of the printers to give them some instruction, and, applying themselves diligently to their 
new occupation, succeeded in printing off the sheets, and then learnt to bind them 
into little books, which Moffat took back with him to Kuruman. A year or two later 
a, printing-press was sent out from England, and when it had been set up, the natives 
were greatly astonished to see how their teacher picked up and arranged the type, and 
produced sheets covered with print. 

After retiu'ning from the Cape, Moffat continued his translation, and in time com- 
pleted the New Testament, but as he did not possess suflSeient material to print it at 
Kuruman, he started with Mrs. Moffat for Cape Town, in the hope this time of finding 
a printer. Once more, however, he was disappointed, and after much consultation with 
friends, he determined to take his manuscript to England, and endeavour to obtain 
the help of the Bible Society in the publication of the New Testament in the Sechuana 
language. 

There are many persons now living who can recall the extraordinary impression 
created by Moffat's visit to England in 1S40, an impression increased by the arrival 
of the news of the martyrdom of John Williams, who had been ordained with him 
twenty-four years before. When he attended the annual meeting of the London Mis- 
sionary Society, the crowd was so great that it overflowed Exeter Hall ; and after he 
liad spoken there, he was obliged to repeat his address in a smaller room, where an 
audience had been patiently waiting for some hours. People in London, in the pro- 
vinces, and in his native Scotland, were most anxious to hear him, and though meetings 
were a sad hindrance to the supervision of the printing of the New Testament, he attended 
as many as he could. The Bible Society agreed to help, but wished him to add the 
Psalms to the New Testament, and he readily acquiesced in the proposal, though he 



324 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



(X.— Soi'TU Africa. 



would not con.sent to suspend tlie printing of the New Testament luitil tlie Psalms 
were ready ; and was able to send out five hundred complete Testaments by David 
Li^•ingstone, who went out as a missionaiy at the end of the year 1840. 

When the Psalms were finished, a further demand was made for translations of 
parts of the Old Testament, to enable some members of the Society of Friends to send 
out an edition of six thousand copies of selected portions of the Bible to the Bechuanas. 
Again he cheerfully complied with this further demand ujDon his time ; and. while in 




ROIiEKT MOTFAT. 



England he also wrote his well-known " Labours and Scenes in South Africa," which 
quickly became popular, and still holds its place in our voluminous missionaiy literature. 
His aged father and mother lived to welcome their now famous and honoiu'cd 
son, and Mrs. iloflat's father was also spared to receive her at her old home. But 
these near and dear relatives had once more to give them up, for the missionar}- and 
his wife were both anxious to return to their self-denying labours ; and in January, 1843, 
they left England to resume and continue their work for the long jieriod of twenty- 
seven years. Owing to a variety of causes, they did not reach Kuruman until the 
following December, when they were received with many manifestations of joy at their 
return. Livingstone rode out a hundred and tifty miles to meet them, and to tell of 



X.— Sdi'Tii Africa.] 



MAEY MOFFAT AND DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 



.•i25 



the preparations tor their welcome. ^lany came shorter distances, and when they all 
entered Kurunian, such a procession had never been seen there before. 

During Jloffat's prolonged absence, reinforcements had arrived at Kuruman, and he 
was now enabled to arrange for an extension of missionary work to tribes hitherto 
unvisited. From the time of his return, down to the day of his quitting the station 
for over, he was, in fact, the Bishop of the South African missionaries. In matters of 
Church government, he was as sturdy an Independent as ever drew breath, and in his 




MRS. MOFFAT. 



earlier days he had somewhat chafed at tlie nominal superintendence of Dr. Philip of 
Cape Town. His great experience, his natural abilities, his energy, and his willingness 
to help his brethren, natui-ally placed him m a position where all were anxious to 
avail themselves of his suggestions and advice. 

His family were now growing up, and his daughter ilary, who at one time had 
taken charge of the infant school at Kuruman, had married David Livingstone, and 
was living with him at Chowane, among the Bakwains. The Livingstones were chiefly 
dependent upon Kuruman for their supplies, and Mary often travelled the two hundred 
miles between the two places without the escort of her husband and father, relying 
solely upon the protection of the native drivers. Her sister was equally courageous, 



326 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [X.-South Afbica. 

and once, -as she was returning from a visit to Cliowane, met Avitli an adventure which, 
but for her coohiess, miglit have had serious results. 

The party, consisting of Miss Motiat, a native maid-servant, and three boys as 
drivers, oh coming to a halt one night, discovered that some of their property had 
been dropped by the way, and two of the boys were sent back to recover it. The 
oxen had been unyolced, and Miss Moffat was sitting by the camp fire, when she saw 
the oxen galloping past her, pursued by a lion, Avhich soon brought one of them to the 
ground, and began to devour it. She at once got into the waggon, and was followed 
by the girl and boy, and there they had to stay all night without means of defence, 
— for the only gun had been taken by the two boys — listening to the lion crunching 
the bones of the ox. As morning da^vned, the beast gave a contented roar, as if he 
had enjoyed his large meal, and made off; but as soon as it was light, and Miss Moffat 
ventured to peep out, she saw that another lion had come, and she was compelled to 
remain in the waggon until he too had departed. At last she was able to get out of 
her prison, but the oxen were nowhere to be seen, and the two boys had not re- 
turned. The only thing to be done was to go back to their last halting-place for help ; 
as they went they met the two boys, who had spent the night in a tree for feau of 
the wild beasts. After walking many miles they obtained assistance, recovered the 
oxen, and were able to resume their interrupted journey. 

Moffat still devoted all his spare time to the translation of the Bible, but this work 
so seriously atiocted his health, that many of his friends urged him to pay another visit 
to England in order to recruit his strength. But though he did not wish to take so long 
a hohday, he felt that change of occupation and of scene would be the most effectual 
remedy ; he therefore decided upon visiting Scchele, the chief of the Bakwains, and Mosili- 
katse, the chief of the Matabele, whose territories lay between Kuruman and the Zambesi. 
Sechele had embraced Christianity during Livingstone's residence amongst his peoj^le, 
many of whom had followed their chiefs example, and Moftat was very anxious to 
ascertain whether they were still faithful to the truth, for their teacher had now left them, 
and was pursuing his journey across Africa. Sechele was glad to receive his visitor, 
but matters were not altogether satisfactory, for though the chief still clung to Chris- 
tianity, and was in the habit of conducting religious worship for his people, there was 
so much temporismg with old and heathen customs that Moffat felt constrained to 
forbid him from preaching, promising, however, to send a native teacher as soon as he 
returned to Kuruman. He then proceeded across a hundred and twenty miles of 
desert to Shoshong, the residence of Sekhowmi, chief of the Bamangwato tribe, hoping 
to find guides to conduct him to Matabeleland, but Sekhowmi refused to render any 
help, and forbade his people to accompany Moffat. Nothing daunted, he determined 
to go on with his own men, and with much diflieulty reached Mosilikatse's countrj^ 
where he remained three months. The old chief was suffering from dropsy, and Moffat 
prescribed for him with considerable success ; he was also able to arrange for sending 
on supplies to Livingstone, who was known to be in the valley of the Zambesi, and 
some months later, when returning from St. Paul do Loando, on the west coast, the 
traveller found them awaiting him. To send this relief had been one of the objects of 



X.-SouTii Afkica.] founding new MISSIONS. 327 

Moffat's long journey, and now that he had accomplished it, as far as it lay in his 
power, he once more set his face homewards. But he did not leave the Matabele 
without again earnestly speaking to them as to their eternal welfare ; and supposing 
it to be improbable that he would ever see Mosilikatse again, it was with great sadness 
of heart that he took his farewell. 

He reached Kuruman in safety, but his wife was away at the Cape, and without 
her the place was desolate ; and news of the death of his mother, at the ripe age of 
eighty-four, which came to him in his solitude, did not tend to raise his spirits. The 
long journey had, however, restored him to health, in spite of its dangers and priva- 
tions, and he was able to i-esume and finish the translation of the Old Testament, 
which had been seventeen years in hand. The entire Eible was now published in the 
Sechuana tongue, and Moffat's identical text is still the means of conveying to the 
tribes of South Afi-ica the living Word of God. 

In the course of a year or two the arrival of further missionaries from England 
enabled him to make an attempt to establish a missionary station amongst the Matabele, 
and once more to visit Mosilikatse. In his journey he found that Sechele had already 
detained the services of Mi*. Schroeder, who had come out to Africa under the auspices 
of Pastor Harms, of Hermannsburg, and generously offered to withdraw if Moffat would 
supply his place. The case presented some difficulties, and many men would have 
resented what looked like an intrusion, especially as the German, strangely enough, 
had been sent to Sechele through the intervention of the Dutch Boers of the Trans- 
vaal, usually so hostile to missions. Moffat, however, quickly saw that it would be 
unwise to interfere, and as Schroeder was a man after his own heart, persuaded him 
to remain, and the mission was transferred to the Germans. 

Mosilikatse was glad enough to receive his old friend, whom he had never expected 
to see again, but he was not very willing to allow the missionaries who accompanied 
him to settle amongst the people. Former attempts to found a mission had failed, 
and the chief did not like the idea of white men taking up their abode in his country, 
unless Moffat would stay himself This was out of the question, and much patience and 
persuasion had to be used before the chief would give way, but in the end his objec- 
tions were overcome, and the new field was occupied by the missionaries. Mosilikatse 
proved a steady friend, and his son followed in his steps, yet the mission has never 
been a great success. It is still maintained, and has doubtless borne so:ne fruit, 
though the harvest has not been very apparent. 

The closing years of Moffat's labours in South Africa were marked by much 
family trouble. Mary Livingstone died at Shupanga on the Zambesi in 1862, and her 
brother Robert died at Natal in the same year. Four years later a son-in-law, Jean 
Fredoux, of the Paris Evangelical Society, was killed at Morokweng, on the borders of 
Kalahari desert, and his widow and children were a material addition to the many 
anxieties of the now aged missionary and his wife, upon whom the labour of more 
than fifty years in South Africa was beginning to tell. The directors of the London 
Missionary Society urged him to give up, but he did not like the thought of deserting 
his beloved Kuruman. In 1871, however, the decisive step was taken ; the last 



328 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[X.— South Africa. 



sermon was 25reached in the cliapel liLs own hands had helped to build, and on 
Friday, the 25th of March, Robert and Mary Motfat quitted Kuruman for ever. 

Two of their children were left in South Africa to carry on the work. Bessie 
Moffat, who had married, in 1861, Roger Price, for a short time missionary at Shoshong, 
afterwards amongst the Bakwena of Sechele, and now in charge of the Theological 
Institution at Kuruman ; and John Moffat, who was settled by his father at Myate, 
where he was sustamed as a missionary out of Livingstone's private resources, and con- 
tinued to enjoy the hereditary friendship of Mosilikatse. It is to Mr. John Moffat's 




MISSION STATION, KURUMAN. 



pen that we owe the " Lives of Robert and JIary Moffat," the story of the abundant 
labours of his honoured parents. 

Mrs. Moffat did not long survive her return to England, but her husband was 
spared for nearly thirteen years to advocate on the platform and in the pulpit the 
claims of South Africa. Many honours were conferred upon him. The University of 
Edinburgh made him a Doctor of Divinity ; the Lord Mayor of London gave him a 
banquet at the Mansion House, which was attended by men eminent in Church and State. 
Money was raised to found at Km-uman a missionary institution which bears his name, 
and on two occasions he had an interview with the Queen. The end of his long and useful 
life came in August, 18S3, and when devout men had carried him to his burial, the 
leading English newspaper declared that " His name will be remembered while the 
South African Church endures, and his example will remain with us as a stimulus to 
others, and as an abiding proof of what a Christian missionary can be and can do." 




DAVID LIVINGSTONE 



329 

GKAPTER XIX. 

DAVID LIVIN'GSTOXE AND THE BECIIUANAS. 

A Death-bed Precept— The Blantyre Cotton Works — Frugality and Study — Sails for South Africa — Among the 
Bakwains — Methods with the Natives — At Lepelole and Mabotsa — Adventure with a Lion — Married to 
Mary Moffat — At Chonuane — Seohele, Chief of the Bakwains — Rain-doctors and Drought — Settles at 
Kolobeng — Conflicts with the Boers — The Bushmen — Discovers Lake N'gami — Sebituane, Chief of the 
Makololo — Bent on Discovery. 

TN Ulva, an island on the west coast of Mull, in Argyleshire, an old farmer lay on 
-*- his death-bed with his children gathered around him. " I have searched carefully 
through all the traditions of our family," said the dying man, " and I never could dis- 
cover that there was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If, therefore, any of you 
should take to dishonest ways, it will not be because it was in our blood. I leave 
this precept with you — Be honest." 

Honesty does not consist in keeping one's hand out of another man's pocket. It 
is lionoiir. It involves ftiithfulness to all just claims as between man and man ; it 
implies faithfulness to convictions of right, and duty towards God. It was in this 
sense that David Livmgstone, the grandson of the Ulva farmer, came to regard 
that death-bed utterance. 

When he was a boy of ten, he wended his way from his humble cottage home to 
the Blantyre Cotton Works on the Clyde, a little above Glasgow, to be entered as a 
" piecer." It was a humble occupation, with hard work and poor pay ; his hours of 
labour being from six in the morning until eight at night. But Davie, as he was called, 
plodded on, and at the end of his first week's work, had saved enough to enable him 
to purchase Ruddiman's " Rudiments of Latin." Every night, as the clock struck 
eight, he scampered off to a night-school, where he studied till ten, and then after 
supper, in his cottage home, he would amuse himself by reading scientific works, or 
books of travel, often until long after midnight. In the factory it was his habit to place 
a book on a part of the spinning-jenny while he worked, and, as he passed to and fro, 
he would catch sentence after sentence, and carrying them in his memory, was thus 
enabled to continue the studies he loved so ardently. ^A'hen, at the age of nineteen, he 
attained to the dignity of a cotton-spinner, his wages were sufficiently high to enable 
him, by careful living, to take steps towards canying out a wish that had been in his 
mind from an early age, which was that he might prepare himself for some day going 
as a medical missionary to China. He had no one in the world to aid him in 
his determination to attend medical, divinity, and other classes in the Glasgow 
University, but, strong in his own resolution, he saved enough, by working hard in the 
sununer, to support himself in Glasgow, and attend the classes during the winter 
months. 

The outbreak of the Opium War compelled him to abandon his cherished scheme 
of proceeding to China, but about that time the religious world was deeply interested 
in Dr. Moffat's work in South Africa, and Livingstone offered his services for that 



330 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[X.— South Africa. 




DAVID LIVING8T0KE STUDYING AFTER HIS KETUBN FROM THE MILL. 



country. In course of time he presented himself to the London Missionary Society, 
" which sends neither episcopacy, nor presbyterianism, nor independency, but simply the 
Gospel of Christ to the heathen ;" his services were accepted, and he was sent on probation 
to the Society's training college at Chipping Ongar, in Essex, where he worked with a 
hearty goodwill, and distinguished himself not only in the acquisition of languages, 
but in the hard manual labour which formed part of a missionary's education in that 
colleyre. 



X.-SouTH Africa.] LIVINaSTONE'S METHODS. 331 

In 1840 he sailed for South Africa, and, after a short stay at Capeto^vn, proceeded, 
in accordance with his instructions, to Kuruman, a mission station in the country of 
the Bechuanas, about seven hundred miles distant, under the care of Dr. Moffat, with 
whom he had been brought into contact in Enghind. 

Here he found that the good worlc which had been done, greatly exceeded his 
expectation. " Everything I witnessed," he wrote to his parents, " surpassed my hopes, and 
if this one station is a fair sample of the whole, the statements of the missionaries 
with regard to their work are far within the mark." 

He only stayed at Kiu-uman for a few months, to familiarise himself with the 
language, manners, and customs of the Bechuana people, and then proceeded, m 
company with another missionary, on a journey about seven hundred miles to the 
North, with a view to the establishment of a station among the Bakwains, a tribe, or 
section, of the great Bechuana nation. They are a harmless, inoffensive people, differing 
essentially from the Zulu Kaffirs and some other of the South Africans. At one time they 
may have been animal-worshippers, like the ancient Egyptians, for they are divided mto 
tribes such as the Bakatla, which means " they of the monkey ;" the Bakuena, " they of the 
alligator;" the Battapi, "they of the fish." Each tribe has a special dread of the animal 
after which it is named, and they abstain from eating it. 

Litingstone apparently accomplished very little by this journey. He selected a spot 
for a mission, and promised the natives that he would return. That was all. But that 
journey of 700 miles, when he looked at it upon the map, was, he saw, but a speck 
on the vast heathen continent, and it caused him to ponder the overwhelming question 
how the whole continent was to be evangelised. There seemed to him to be only one 
way, and that was to follow the precedent given in the South Sea Island Missions, 
and organise a native agency. But, before that could be done effectually, much more 
must be known of the country, and this idea of opening up the hitherto unkno\vn 
regions dawned upon hun at this early stage of his career. In a letter to a friend he 
said, "Whatever way my life may be spent so as best to promote the glory of our 
gracious God, I feel anxious to do it. . . . My life may he s-pent as profitably as a 
pioneer as in any other way." 

For some time he laboured on at Kuruman, and then, in fulfilment of his 
promise, made a second journey to the natives in the interior. Many strange experi- 
ences marked this journey. Livingstone found that he possessed the power of exercising 
a remarkable influence over both chiefs and people "with whom he came in contact. 
He disabused the mind of one chief of a faith in the rain-maker, by proving that he 
too " could make rain ; " not, however, by enchantment, as they did, but by leading out 
their river for irrigation ; and forthwith he set to work to construct a canal, assisted by 
the natives, " the first instance in which Bechuanas have been got to work without 
wages." Conciliatory but firm, he determined to deal with the natives on a plan not 
hitherto adopted by the majority of missionaries. " I make my presence with any of 
them a fiivour," he wrote ; " and when they show any impudence, I threaten to 
leave them, and if they don't amend, I put my threat into execution. By a bold free 
course among them, I have had not the least difficulty in managing the most fierce." 



332 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [X.-Soutu Afrk a. 

It grieved him to find how horrible was the ignorance of even the most civiUsed 
tribes. The Bagmanwantos, for instance, had not the vaguest idea of a God, often 
ajjplying the name to their chief or to any one possessing superiority. Livingstone was 
shocked when he was addressed as the Deity, although it furnished him with a text 
from which to tell them of '■ the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent." 
One of the friendly chiefs of this tribe asked Livingstone to give him some medicine 
to change his heart. Among the Bakaas he preached for the first time in the 
Bechuana tongue without notes, and referring to this he Avi'ote, " I had more than 
ordinary j'leasure m telling these murderers of the precious blood which cleanseth 
from all sins. I bless God that He has conferred on one so worthless, the distin- 
guished privilege and honour of being the first messenger of mercy that ever trod 
these regions." 

During his second journey into the Bechuana country, he settled six months at 
a place called Lepelole, after a cavern of that name, and with his characteristic 
pluck and determination, isolated himself from every European, so that he might 
obtain an accurate and mdependent luiowledgc of the language and people. Before 
he returned he made a long journey, prmcipally on foot, to the north, and pene- 
trated within ten days' march of Lake N 'garni — the lake which he discovered in 
1849. 

In 1843 Livingstone received a letter from the directors of the London Missionary 
Society, authorising him to form a settlement in the regions beyond. In reply to the 
Secretary, he wrote of the inexpressible delight with which he " hailed the decision 
of the directors, that we go forward to the dark interior. May the Lord enable me to 
consecrate my whole being to the glorious work ! " 

We have said that Livmgstone put out at interest the legacy of his dying 
grandfather — " Be honest." He would not trifle with his convictions of duty, and 
he did what none but an honest and fearless man could do ; he wrote firmly but 
frankly to the directors, and told them his views. It was, as Dr. Blaikie says, 
" like impugning their whole policy, and arraigning their wisdom." * He pointed out 
the need of native agency as the only means of effectually carrying the Gospel 
throughout Africa, and he exposed the folly of huddling a number of missionaries 
together in the immediate vicinity of Cape Colony, instead of distributing them 
throughout the land. 

The site of the new missionary station that Livingstone had selected was at 
Mabotsa (or a " marriage feast "), among the Bakhatla tribe, a people of whom he 
wrote : " Nothmg can exceed the grovelling earthliness of their minds ; they seem to 
have fallen as low in the scale of existence as humiin nature can." It was a lovely 
spot, however, in a vaUey surrounded by an amphitheatre of mountains, and eligible as 
a centx'e for operations into the interior. But there was a great drawback to the 
place — it was infested with lions, and it was here, in the early part of his career, that 
Livingstone met with one of the most extraordinary adventures ever recorded. 

» "Personal Life of Livingstone," by W. G. Blaikie, D.D.. LL.D. 




"'■''«- "f 



334 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IX.-South Africa. 

The Bakhatlas, in their superstitious ignorance, attributed the arrival of lions 
among them to the spell of witchcraft exercised by another tribe ; and therefore, when 
they made an attack upon the animals, they did it in a fearful and half-hearted way, 
with the result that the fierce brutes increased in boldness, leaping into the cattle-pens 
at night, and sometimes venturing to attack the herds by day. Had the people 
succeeded in killing one of the lions, the others woidd, in accordance with their well- 
known habit, have quitted the neighbourhood ; and it was to inspire them with courage 
to accomplish this, that Livingstone went out with the people on one of their hunting 
expeditions. 

It was not long before they traced the lions to a small wooded hill, which the 
hunters proceeded to encircle, at first loosely, but gradually closing in, thus becommg 
a more compact body as they advanced, and beating the underwood, with the object of 
driving the prey to a position where the shooters could see and fire at them. Livingstone 
was accompanied by Mebalwe, a native schoolmaster, who, seeing one of the lions 
sitting on a piece of rock within the ring, tired and missed ! The lion, infuriated, 
bounded away, and broke the circle before the timid natives had made an attempt to 
spear him. There were, however, still two other lions within the circle, which was 
speedily re-formed, but in such a clumsy fashion, that no one could fire without hitting 
some of the men on the opposite side. They were not left long in doubt what to do 
next, for the lions settled the question by dashing through the circle with a bound 
and a roar, scattering the natives in all dii'ections. 

AVhither the angry brutes had gone, no one knew, but as the hunters were return- 
ing towards the village they saw one of them standing ur a savage attitude on a jjiece 
of rock at the foot of a hill they were about to pass. The lion was not more than 
thirty yards from Livingstone, who, raising his gun, fired both barrels into a little 
bush, behind which the animal had crept. 

There was a joyful cry from the natives, " He is shot ! He is shot ! " But the 
cry was premature. Just as the people were about to rush in, Livingstone perceived 
that the tail of the lion was raised in anger, and warned them to desist. He was 
in the act of reloading his gun, when a shout of terror was raised. " Starting, and 
looking half round," says Livingstone, " I saw the lion just in the act of springing 
upon me. I was upon a little height. He caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we 
both came down to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, 
he shook me as a terrier does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that 
which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of a cat. It caused a sort 
of dreaminess, in which there was' no sense of pain, nor feeling of terror, though quite 
conscious of all that was happening. It was like what patients, partially under the 
influence of chloroform, describe, wlio see all the operation, but feel not the knife. 
This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake anni- 
hilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This 
peculiar state is probably produced in aU animals killed by the carnivora ; and, if so, 
is a merciful provision made by wu- benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death. 
Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of 



X.-SouTH AtiucA.. A LIOX STORY. 3:35 

my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe, who was trying to shoot him at a 
distance of ten or fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed tire in both barrels ; the 
hon immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man, whose 
hip I had cured before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear 
the lion while he was biting ^lebalwe ; he left Mebalwe and caught this man by the 
shoulder, but at that moment the bidlets he had received began to take effect, and 
he fell down dead. . . . Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven 
teeth-wounds in my arm." 

Livingstone had on a tartan jacket, which wiped, as he believed, the vii'us from 
the lion's teeth, and so preserved him from much after-suffering, which others, who 
had not this protection, experienced. But his broken and sphntered bones were 
very imperfectly attended to, as he had to act as his own surgeon, and it was 
a long time before his wounds healed. " For thirty years afterwards," remarked Sir 
Bartle Frere in his obituary notice of Livingstone, read to the Royal Geographical 
Society, " all his labours and adventures, entailing such exertion and fatigue, were 
undertaken with a limb so maimed that it was pamful for him to raise a fov/ling- 
piece, or, in fact, to place the left arm in any position above the level of the 
shoulder." 

Livingstone always had a singularly modest way of recounting his adventures, and 
shrank from telling any sensational stories. But for the imjjortunity of his friends, 
he tells us that he meant to keep this lion story in store " to tell to his children in 
his dotage." When on a visit to England, he was constantly pressed for details of his 
narrow escape, but he had nothing more to relate, except on one occasion, when a group 
of sympathetic friends questioned him as to what he was thinking of when in the lion's 
grasp, and he answered quietly, " I was thinking, Avith a feeling of disinterested curiosity, 
which part of me the lion would eat first " ! 

Li 1844 Livingstone was married at Kuruinan to Mary Moffat, the eldest daughter 
of Robert Moffat, the eminent and honoured missionary. She had been born in the 
country, was thoroughly imbued with the missionary spirit, and gifted with those 
peculiar talents which could win the sympathy and affection of heathen people. From 
the day that Livingstone took hei- to his home in Mabotsa, to the day when he buried 
her beneath the baobab-tree on the banks of the Zambesi, she was in every respect a 
loving wife, and a faithful helpmeet in the difficult and extraordinary work that fell 
to his lot. 

There was now before him the happy prospect of real missionary work ; his wife 
was busy with her infant-school, while he was engaged in visiting the sick, preaching 
and teaching, varying this with encounters with the rain-makers, and in elaborating the 
details of a scheme on which his heart was set — the establishment of a training 
seminary for native agents. His scheme did not meet with favour, and for the present 
he determined to abandon it, but, meanwhile, to seek every opportunity of settling native 
teachers in eligible places. It is surely not presumption to trace in this the hand of 
Providence. " Had his wishes been gratified," says his biographer, " he might have spent 
his life training native agents, and doing undoubtedly a noble work, but he would not 



o 



336 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [X.-Hcvth Ai-nrcA. 

have traversed Africa ; he would not have given its death-blo\y to African slavery ; he 
would not have closed the open sore of the world, nor rolled away the great obstacle 
to the evangelisation of the continent." 

Circumstances, not of his own seeking, arose, which made it desirable for Living- 
stone to leave Mabotsa, and in 1846 ho removed to Chonuane, about forty miles to the 
north-east, where dwelt Sechele, the chief of a numerous tribe of the Bakwains. He was 
a man of great intelligence for his class, and could boast that his grandfather was the 
first to tell his people of the existence of a race of white men. He was an attentive 
hearer when Livingstone preached his first sermon in Chonuane. At its close he asked 
if he might be permitted to put a few questions to the speaker, and on receiving an 
answer in the affirmative, inquired if Livingstone's ancestors knew of God and of a 
future judgment. On being told that they did, and on some of the main points of 
the sermon being leiterated, especially the prediction of a final judgment, Sechele 
exclaimed, " You startle me ; these words make all my bones to shake ; I have no 
more strength in me. But my forefathers were living at the same time that yours 
were, and how is it that they did not send them word about these terrible things 
sooner ? They all passed away into darkness without knowing whither they were 
going ! " 

Sechele applied himself diligently to learning ; acquired a knowledge of the alpha- 
bet on the first day of the missionary's residence at Chonuane, and in course of time 
was able to read the Bible. . Isaiah was his favourite book, and he would astonish Living- 
stone with his quaint remarks, such as, " He was a fine man, Isaiah ; ho knew how 
to speak ! " He was extremely anxious that his subjects should become converts, and 
offered to assist the missionary by callino- his head men too-ether, and makintf them 
help him, by means of whips made of rhinoceros hide, to beat them into a state of 
belief! 

Poor Sechele had nmeh to unlearn ; he had been the chief rain-doctor of the 
tribe ; he had been addicted to witchcraft, and had been fearfully reckless of human 
life ; but, little by little. Christian influence told upon him ; he put away his superfluous 
wives, set an excellent example to his people, was zealous in instituting family prayer, 
and in process of time was baptised on a confession of his faith, together with his 
children. A great multitude came to the ceremony, and were much surprised to find 
that only water was used in the holy rite — they had thought the converts would have 
been made to drink dead men's brains! The example of Sechele was not followed by 
his people. Old men wept to see their father, as they called him, liewitched liy the 
white man, who had made a .slave of him ; his divorced wives became enemies to 
the new religion, and very few beyond the family of Sechele continued to attend 
the church and school. 

It was soon found that Chonuane was not a good place for a mission station ; 
the want of rain was fatal to it. It gave a handle to the rain-doctors, who said, 
" What is the good of your preaching and praying if it brings no rain ? Other tribes, 
who do not pray, get rain in abundance, and it is ])lain that our charms have as 
much power as your prayers!" Moreover, Sechele had been a rain-doctor, and at that 



X.— liuUTH AfUK.A.J 



DROUGHT. 



387 



time water was abundant ; now there was a drought, and the natives attributed it to 
the influence of Livingstone. 

For months the people were starving for want of food and water, and Livingstone 
pointed out to Sechele that the only way to alleviate the suffering, was to remove the 
people to some place where water v/as plentiful. An exodus was decided up(in. and a 
locaUty was chosen on the banks of the Kolobeng, whither the whole tribe repaired. 




DAVID LIVINGSTONE. 



The labour involved m all this moving about from place to place is alnio"t 
incredible, and nearly the whole of it fell to the share of Livingstone. He had 
already built a house, church, and school at Mabotsa, and the same at Chonuane; now 
he had to repeat these operations at Kolobeng, and in addition, to organise important 
irrigation works, to prevent the recurrence of the mischief which had rendered theii 
former station uninhabitable. Sechele undertook to erect the school — a work in which 
he was assisted by two hundred of hLs people, who also helped in the construction 
of dams and other " public works." By-and-bye everything was in working order, 
and in his "Travels and Researches in South Africa" Livingstone has given a very 
graphic picture of an ordinary day's work : — 
22 



338 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [X.-South Africa. 

" After family worship and breakfast between sis and seven, we kept school — men, 
women, and children being all invited. This lasted till eleven o'clock. The missionary's 
wife then betook herself to her domestic affairs, and the missionary engaged in some 
manual labour, as that of a smith, carpenter, or gardener. If he did jobs for the 
people, they worked for him in turn, and exchanged their unsldlled labour for his 
skilled. Dimier and an hour's rest succeeded, when the wife attended her infant-school, 
which the young liked amazmgly, and generally mustered a hunch'ed strong ; or she 
varied it with sewing-classes for the girls, which were equally well relished. After sim- 
set, the husband went into the town to converse, either on general subjects or on 
religion. We had a public service on three nights in the week, and on another, 
instruction in secular subjects, aided by pictures and specimens. In addition to 
these duties, we prescribed for the sick, and furnished food for the poor. The 
smallest acts of fi'iendship, even an obliging word and civil look, are, as St. Xavier 
thought, no despicable part of the missionary armour. Nor ought the good opinion of 
the most abject to be neglected, when pohteness may secure it. Their good word, in 
the aggregate, forms a reputation which procures favour for the Gospel Show kindness 
to the reckless opponents of Christianity on the bed of sicloiess, and the}' never can 
become your personal enemies. Here, if anjnvhere, love begets love." 

Although the passage we have quoted gives a graphic account of a day's work, it 
does not by any means give an exhaustive one. Almost everything they required for 
themselves, or for their work, had to be manufactured, and Livingstone was the Jack-of- 
all-trades to do it. He made the bricks to build the house, in moulds formed of planlvs 
sawn from trees which fell to his own axe. All the material for rooting, doors, 
windows and lintels, he had to select and adapt for use;. he had to design and lay out 
the gardens and to supermtend every fresh stage in the irrigation works ; while by 
turns he was blacksmith, carpenter, and mason. Even such matters as what to eat 
and to drink came under his care, for the com received from Kuruman had to be ground 
at home, and baked in an extempore oven, constructed in an ant-hill, or in a covered 
frying-pan ; the butter was made in a jar which did duty for a churn ; candles Avere 
made in moulds from the fat of animals he had kiUed in the chase ; soap was made 
from the ashes of a native plant, or ordinary wood ashes — in short, almost all that 
made the house home-like was literally the "labour of his hands." But, with all this 
detail work, he did not neglect the higher aims of life ; he put to use his scientific tastes 
by taking observations, collecting and classifying specunens ; he corresponded volu- 
minously with friends in England, principally on questions affecting the welfare of 
Africa ; he studied and prepared a grammar of the Sechuana language : above all, he 
spared neither time nor labour to advance the spiritual well-being of the tribe amongst 
whom his lot was cast. He yearned over those poor ignorant souls, and never wearied 
in preaching and talking to them, his favourite themes being the love of Christ and 
the Fatherhood of God — the simple, glad tidings of salvation. Nor was he neglectful of 
their bodies ; on the contrary, he was willing to lay down his life, Lf need be, as the 
following incident, quoted by Dr. Blaikie on the authority of Dr. Moffat, will show : — 

" In going through a wood, a party of hunters were startled bj- the appea*-ance of 



X.-SoFTH ArBicA.) CONFLICTS WITH THE BOERS. 339 

a black rhinoceros " — one of the most dangerous of the wild beasts of South Africa. 
"The furious beast dashed at the waggon, and drove his horn into the bowels of the 
driver, inflicting a frightful wound. A messenger was despatched in the greatest haste 
for Dr. Livingstone, whose house was eight or ten miles distant. The messenger in 
his eagerness ran the whole way. Livingstone's friends were horror-struck at the idea 
of his riding through that wood at night, exposed to the rhinoceros and other deadly 
beasts. ' No, no ! you must not think of it, Livingstone,' said they ; ' it is certain death.' 
Livmgstone believed it was a Christian duty to try to save the poor fellow's life, and 
he resolved to go, happen what might. Mounting his horse, he rode to the scene of 
the accident. The man had died, and the waggon had left, so that there was nothing 
for Livingstone but to return, and run the risk of the forest anew, without even the 
hope that he niight bo useful in saving life." 

Kolobeng was not to be the permanent scene of Livingstone's labours. Already 
influences were at work to make him cast his eyes towards another and a wider 
sphere. In the first place, there was a continuance of drought, which caused a great 
deal of suffering among the Bakwains, in which Mr. and Mrs. Livingstone shared ; the 
domestic animals died of hunger and thirst, for the pastures were burnt up ; the 
country had to be scoured for miles around by the women and children to find 
bulbous plants to sustain life, while the men employed themselves in hunting wild 
animals which came in search of water. Sometimes a herd of antelopes, zebras, and 
quaggas would come into the neighbourhood, when they .vere surrounded and driven 
into a V-shaped enclosure, with a deep pit dug at the end, into which they would fall, 
and then be despatched with spears. But, in addition to the drought, there was 
ever-increasing trouble with the neighbouring Boers. At first these were welcomed by 
the Bechuanas, because they had conquered and driven away a Kaflir chief who had 
cruelly oppressed them ; but they soon found that the Boers compelled them to per- 
form the hardest labour without any reward, and were keeping from them a knowledge 
of the real mercantile value of the products of the country, which they obtained in 
exchange for articles of trifling cost. 

These Boers looked with no favourable eye on Livingstone, whom they were 
powerless to frighten or coerce ; they were enraged at his eftbrts to enlighten and 
civilise the Bechuanas, as, with the increase of knowledge, the hope of their gains would 
go ; and the teaching that all men were equal in the sight of God, and that the dark 
races had equal rights with the white men, was hateful to those whose success depended 
upon keeping the Africans as their slaves. 

When they heard a rumour that Livingstone was contemplating a journey across 
the Kalahari desert, into regions they were specially anxious to keep closed, their malice 
was stirred ; but finding that threats could not intimidate him, they spread reports that 
he had with him large supplies of firearms, and that he was assisting the Bakwains to 
make war against their neighbours • The five muskets in his possession, they magnified 
into Ave hundred, a cooking-pan became a cannon, and the possession of a sextant 
proved his immediate connection with the British Government, from whom, it was said, 
the five hundred muskets had come ! 



340 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



IX.— SorxB Afeii-'a. 




ANIMAL TRAP. (See p. 339). 
(After Livingstone.^ 



After .several vain attempts to frighten Livingstone, they sent a threatening letter 
to Sedliele, commanding him to surrender to the Dutch, acknowledge hiuaself their 
vassal, and stop English traders from proceeding into the interior. To this Sechele, 
notwithstanding the risk he ran in quarrelling with them, sent this noble reply : — 

, " I am an independent chief, placed here by God, not you. Other tribes you have 
conquered, but not me. The English are my friends ; I get everythmg I wish from 

, them. I cannot hinder them fi-om going where they like." The threatened attack did 
not take place then ; it could not while Livingstone was upon the scene ; but later 



X.— South Africa.] 



THE BUSHMEN TRIBj- 



341 



on, when he was away across the desert, the storm burst disastrously. Meanwhile Living- 
stone had determined to attempt a journey to the north, into a region where no white 
man had ever yet gone, to ascertam whether Lake N'gami, of which he had heard when 
he was at the Cape, Avas really in existence. On the 1st of June, 1849, he set out, 
accompanied by Colonel Steele and Mr. Oswell, the latter an old and valued friend, with 
ii train consisting of eighty oxen, twenty horses, and as many men. Sechele could not 
go with them, but he gave up two of his best men to Livingstone, to be, as he 
.said, " his arms to serve him." A long and wearisome journey lay before them, at first 
through a flat sandy country, with here and 
there open forest, bush and grass ; then through 
a tracliless waste of desert bounded only by 
the horizon. Day after day, as they toded 
along, Livingstone and his friends headed the 
procession, eager to trace any sign of water to 
slake their burning thirst, from which both 
man and beast were constantly suffering ; keen 
to bring down with their guns the startled 
animals upon whose desolate domain they had 
intruded ; curious to note all the strange and 
wonderful things that met their gaze, as they 
wandered where hitherto no white man's foot 
had ever trodden. 

The beasts and the birds were not the 
only inhabitants of the desert ; they came upon 
tribes of Bushmen who live in holes in the 
rock, or in rude structures formed of such 
grass and vegetable fibres as come to hand, and 
subsist upon the carcasses, often putrid, of the 

animals which die or are slain in the chase, or on roots, insects, or anything 
that can be found. They are the most degraded of all the African tribes, uttering 
uncouth sounds which can scarcely be called a language, and living lives that are 
little better than bestial. Yet even amongst these strange wild ^^eopls Livingstone 
was at home, and knew how to manage them. It was their custom to hide any 
water they possessed, or which they knew existed in any hidden quarter, to preserve it 
from any wandermg band who might take it by force. Livingstone's method of con- 
ciliating them and gaining their good opinion, was by sitting down quietly, and talking 
to them in a friendly way, until the precious fluid, which no amount of threatening or 
domineering could have brought forth, was produced. Livingstone was not a man to 
take without giving, and we cannot doubt that to those poor children of the desert he 
told, in language which the Spirit of God might interpret to their hearts, of that 
Water of Life of which if a man drink he shall not thirst again. 

Slowly and painfully the journey was pursued. At times the coiu'age of the party 
almost died within them as they staggered on wearily, dreamily, almost mechanically, 




DUTCH BOERS. 



342 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [X.-South Afkua. 

under a scorching sun, in a glaring light, without a blade of green to relieve the 
aching eyes, or a drop of water to cool the burning tongue. At length they passed 
the north-eastern border of the desert, and the face of the country assumed a different 
appearance ; patches of verdure became frequent and extensive ; old river-courses 
exhibited signs of moisture, and at last they stood under the shade of a group of 
gi-aceful palmyra trees. Then Mr. Oswell threw his hat up into the air " and shouted 
a huzza which made the Bakwains think him mad." He saw a broad sheet of water, 
only a short distance off, glistening and flashing in the beams of the setting sun ! 
Soon, alas ! the vision faded ! It was but a mirage caused by a large salt-pan tract 
gleaming in the sunlight. Lake N'gami, the long-looked-for goal, was more than three 
hundred miles away. 

Not long after this, they came upon a large and beautiful river, and the peoj^le 
of a village on its banks told them that it was the Zouga, and that it came from 
the great lake ! These people, who called themselves Bayeiye, that is, " men," are a 
race totally distmct from the Bechuanas, by some of whom they are looked upon 
with scorn, and called Bakoba, or slaves, because they will not iight. 

One of the principal objects of Livingstone's journey was to visit Sebituaue, the 
famous chief of the Makololo, who was known to Sechele, and was extremely anxious 
to be visited by the white man. He had given orders to the tribes on the banks of 
the river to assist the travellers in every way, and this the Bayeiye were perfectly 
willing to do. On mquiring of them whence came a large river which flows into the 
Zouga from the north, they replied that " it came from a country full of rivers, so 
many that no one can tell their number ! " 

From that moment Livingstone's lot in life may be said to have been fixed. This 
was a confirmation of reports he had heard from travelled Bakwains ; it convinced 
him that Central Africa was not " a vast howling wilderness," and he concluded that 
the unknown continent was a land well watered and wooded, teeming with hfe, and 
traversed by watery highways along which, eventually, Christianity and commerce, 
and the arts of peace, might be conveyed to regions never yet visited by civilised 
man. 

On the 1st of August, 1849, two months after leaving Kolobeng, Livingstone and 
his companions stood on the shore of Lake N'gami — a sheet of water so vast that the 
further shore could not be seen, and which, according to the report of the natives, 
was a three-days' journey (about a hundred miles) to go round. In order to accompUsh 
the remaining part of his object in tlie journey, and pay his visit to Sebituane, it was 
necessary that Livingstone should cross the Zouga, but the local chief, Lechulatebe, 
refused to allow him to do so, fearing that his object might be to carry muskets 
to Sebituane, and thus make him a dangerous neighbour ; and reluctantl}' therefore the 
j>arty retraced their steps to Kolobeng. 

It had been a fruitful journey ; the Royal Geographical Society recognised it by 
awarding Livingstone a royal premium of twenty-five guineas for the discovery of 
Lake N'gami ; but the real reward lay in the hopes it had inspired in the heart 
of the brave traveller. In a letter to the secretary of the London Missionary 



x.-souTii akrica.) sebituane, chief of the makololo. 343 

Society, after telling him that the fact of the Zouga being connected with lai'ge 
rivers coming from the north awakened emotions in his mmd which made the dis- 
cover}' of the lake dwindle out of sight, and inspired for the benighted inhabitants the 
enthusiasm of hope, he added, " I do not wish to convey hopes of speedily effecting any 
great work through my own instrumentality, but I hope to be permitted to work, so 
long as I live, beyond other men's line of things, and plant the seed of the Gospel 
where others have not planted ; though every excursion for that purpose will involve 
separation from my family for periods of four or live months. Kolobeng will then be 
supplied by native teachers during these times of absence ; and when we have given 
the Bakwains a fair trial it will probably be advisable for all to move forward." 

Little did he think, when he wrote those words, how long and painful were to be 
the separations from family and friends, or how the whole of his life was to be spent 
in " moving forward ! " 

In the following year (1850) Livmgstone made his second journey to Lake N'gami, 
this time accompanied by Mrs. Livingstone and her three children, the chief Sechele, 
and Mebalwe the native teacher. But again the missionary was unsuccessful in his 
attempt to reach Sebituane ; for, although he had succeeded in overcoming the scruples 
«f the obnoxious local chief, Lechulatebe, Mrs. Livingstone and the children, as well as 
several of the attendants, were smitten down by fever, and as soon as arrangements 
could be made, they turned their faces homeward, convinced that the neighbourhood 
of the lake was uninhabitable by Europeans. 

Nothing daunted, Livingstone set forth again the next year, accompanied, as 
before, by his wife and family. It was a journey beset by teri'ible difficulties ; their 
guide lost his way, and finally forsook them ; they suffered fearfully from thirst, and 
expected to see their children die before their eyes ; the tsetse fly, whose bite is fatal 
to cattle and horses, attacked them, and forty of their oxen died. Nevertheless, the 
party arrived safely in the Makololo country, and at last Livingstone stood before the 
great chief he had so long desired to see. 

Sebituane was a tall, wiry man, about forty-tive years of age, with a frank and 
open manner, unlike other African chiefs. A mighty man of valour was Sebituane ; he 
was a warrior, and always led his men into battle ; he was so fleet of foot that no 
enemy who fled from him could escape ; he held his possessions, not by right of 
birth, but by the strength of his arm. He had been an adventurer from his youth, 
and though Bakwains and other of the Bechuanas had threatened to " eat him up," 
he still held his own. There was, however, another side to his character. In peace, 
he was benevolent and kind, hospitable to strangers, and so affable in his manners 
that he secured, not only the attachment of his own people, but that of the tribes he 
had conquered. His great ambition was to be brought in contact with white men, and 
long before he saw Livingstone he had determined on opening up a highway for trade 
with the west coast. He seemed to be the one man of all men in Afi'ica who could 
assist in the projects which were dimly shaping themselves in the brain of the mis- 
sionary pioneer. But it was not to be. The two men met only to see each other, and 
to part for ever. 



344 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[X,— South Ai'RlCA. 



Right loyally Sebituane greeted the traveller, and was greatly touched by the con- 
lideiice Livingstone reposed in hitn by bringing his wile and children, and even offering 
to leave them as hostages for his good faith while he went back to Kolobeng to bring 
his household effects, with a view to settlement in Makololo. Sebituane, in his tuiii, 
offered to take them to see his country, and help them to select a suitable site, 
promising also to replace the cattle that "had perished in the journeys hitherto from 
the bite of the tsetse fly. 

A feeling of brotherhood sprang up at once between these two men, and great 




LIVINGSTONE AT THE DEATH-BED OP SEBITUANE. 



possibilities were opening up before the mind's eye of Livingstone, when Sebituane was seized 
with an alarming attack of inflammation of the lungs — the second serious attack within 
two years. On a Sunday afternoon the missionary took his little boy Robert with him to 
see the dyuag chief "Come near," he said, "and see if I am any longer a man. I am 
(lone ! " Seeing the rapid progress the disease had made, Livingstone assented to what 
ho had said, but spoke to him of a hope after death. " Death ! " said the doctors, who 
pretended to be confident in the power of their enchantments, "why do you speak of 
death ? — Sebituane cannot die ! Speak not of death to him." Livingstone felt that it 
was of no use to persist ; if he continued to speak about death, the impression would 
go forth that he wished him to die ; if he attempted to temporarily arrest the malady. 



X.-boiTH Africa.) ' AN ATTACK BY THE BOERS. 345 

he would probably be accused of causing his death if he did not effect a cure, and 
this was beyond hope. After sitting with him for some time, and commending him to 
the mercy of God, Livingstone rose to depart, when the dying chieftain, who had been 
greatly pleased with little Robert Livingstone, called a servant, and said faintly, even 
while the film of death was overspreading his eyes, " Take Robert to Manuku (one of 
his wives) and tell her to give him some milk." These simple words of kindness to 
the missionary's child were the last the great chief ever spoke. 

" I never felt so much grieved by the loss of a black man," wrote Livingstone, 
"and it was impossible not to follow him in thought into the world of which he had 
just heard before he was called away, and to realise somewhat of the feelings of those 
who pray for the dead. The deep, dark question of what is to become of such as 
he must, however, be left where we find it, believing that assuredly the Judge of all 
the world will do right." 

Soon after his return to Kolobeng, Livingstone had to face the future of his life. 
Before him was the call of the Master, " If any man love father or mother or wife or 
children more than Me, he is not worthy of Me ! " In the Makololo country, the 
iniquitous slave traffic, to check which was one of the master ideas of his life, was 
just commencing. But he dared not take his family to settle in that unhealthy 
country, and in the midst of the uncertain conditions consequent upon the death of 
Sebituane. Nor could he leave them at Kolobeng. The Boers were still in deadly 
opposition to the Bakwains, and the storm which had been so long threatening broke 
a little later on, while Livingstone was on one of his journeys. Fovn- hundred armed 
Boers attacked Sechele's town, slaughtered a considerable number of adults, and carried 
away captive over two hundred children. The Bakwains defended themselves bravely 
till midnight, when they fled, under cover of the darkness, to the mountains. In the 
struggle, they had slain eight of the Boers — the first occasion on which the Bechuanas 
had ever killed any of the settlers. This these maliciously attributed to the teaching 
of Livingstone, and proceeded to make a raid upon his house, which they plundered, 
<lestroying his stock of medicine (often used by him for their healing), and car]ying 
off his furniture and clothing, together with large quantities of stores. Worst of all, 
they tore and scattered to the winds his books and diaries, leaving nothing but a 
wreckage of worthless paper. 

Therefore, as he could not find a safe or a healthy district for a station as a 
centre of civilisation, and a home for his family, and as he felt that the time had 
come when he must " go forward " and penetrate further into the country, he placed 
those nearest and dearest to him in life in a homeward-bound ship at Cape Town, 
and then plunged into the wilderness, and was lost to the world as completely, for a 
long time, " as if he had been swallowed up by the waves, or had gone down quick 
into the irrave." 



340 



XL— NORTH AMERICA. 

CHAPTER XX. 

MISSIONARY LIFE AND ADVENTURE IN LABRADOR. 

John Christian Erhardt — Nisbet Bay — Murdered by the Savages — Jens Haven, Carpenter — Set Apart for Work 
— Arrival of the Missionary Ship — Perils in the Sea — Okak — Last Days of Jens Haven — Liebisch and 
Turner — The Eskimo Dog — A Terrible Adventure on the loe — Saved from the Flood — Hopedale Mission — 

The Labrador of To-day. 

« 

"TTTE have told the story of missionary life and adventure in the neighbourhood 
» ' of " Greenland's icy mountains ;" let us now turn to a land if possible still 
more severely cold, inhospitable, and sterile — Labrador, or " the land which cannot be 
built upon," whose inhabitants were notorious for treachery, cruelty, and blood-thirsti- 
ness — a land with a temperature in winter of fifty degrees below fi'eezing, and with a 
savage coast fringed with islands of bare rock. 

In the year 1741, John Christian Erhardt, a sailor on board a Dutch vessel, 
landed at the Island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, where he was brought under 
the influence of Frederick Martm, who was labouring with much success among the 
negroes. From listening to the words of Martin when addi-essing the slaves on a 
plantation, Erhardt became a Christian man. Eight years later he went on a voyage 
to Greenland, and while there, he heard of the heathen people who lived in a wild and 
barbarous state on the opposite side of Davis Strait. Filled with compassion for 
them, he pleaded, on his return to Europe, with the authorities of the Moravian Church, 
that they would organise a mission to Labrador. There were many difficulties in the 
way, and even Count Zinzendorf, generally the first to encourage any fresh missionary 
effort, looked coldly on the scheme. But Erhardt was not to be daunted, and, as the 
resxdt of his perseverance, Matthew Stach* was sent for, to give his advice, which wr.s 
in favour of the expedition. Some London merchants volunteered to fit out a vessel, 
and on the I7th of May, 1752, Erhardt, and four others of the Brethren, set sail in 
the good ship Hope, bound for Labrador ! 

Soon after anchoring, some Eskimos came towards them in their kayaks, and 
uttered fierce cries at the sight of the strangers, but Erhardt, who on his visit to 
Greenland had picked up some knowledge of the language, answered them in Green- 
landic, which so far appeased them thatthey accepted an invitation to come on board the 
Hope. In a sheltered bay, which they named Nisbet Harbour in honour of one of the 
merchants who had come to their aid in equipping the vessel, the missionaries landed, 
and erected the wooden hut they had brought with them, calling the spot, in which 
they trusted a settlement would be formed, Hopedale. Here four of the missionaries 
remamed, while Erhardt went forward up the coast with the captain and crew, 
hoping to meet with more of the Eskimos, and, by trading with them, to secure a 

home cargo for the ship. 

* See page SI. 



XI. North Amerila.i JENS HAVEN, CARPENTER. 347 

One day they saw a considerable number of natives, and Erhardt, with the 
captain and live of the crew, went ashore in a boat full of articles for barter. The 
natives seemed friendly, and appeared, to the anxious eyes of those who watched them 
from the ship, to be begging the travellers to accompany them mto the interior. 
Night came, and the travellers did not return to the ship ; days of painful watching 
and waiting passed, and still there was no sign. Then the Hope weighed anchor, and 
sailed back to Nisbet Harbour, bearing the distressing news that Erhardt and the 
brave men who went with him had been treacherously dealt with and murdered by 
the savages. From that day to this no word was ever heard of them again. 

"Cast do^\^l, but not in despair," the four Hopedale missionaries had to take the 
place of the sailors who had been put to death, to work the ship home, but they 
left their house standing, in case the missing ones should return — a faint hope, which 
was never realised. 

The truth of the old saymg that the " blood of the martyrs is the seed of the 
Church," has been verified over and over again m the history of the Moravian mis- 
sions. A carpenter, Jens Haven, a member of the Moravian Church, when he heard the 
tidings of the death of the brave sailor Erhardt, resolved to take up his work. It 
was no resolve made in a moment of mere enthusiasm, but a deep-rooted conviction 
that he was called of God to that special work. Forthwith he collected every book 
he could find relating directly or indirectly to Labrador, and made himself acquainted 
with the difficult language. It was a disappointment to him, however, when in 17G4 
he received a call to Greenland ; nevertheless, he went cheerfully and readily, but not 
until he had told Count Zinzendorf that the thought was borne into his mind that 
Labrador was to be the scene of his future labours. Two years were spent by him in 
Greenland, where he assisted in establishing the station of Lichtenfels,* the second 
mission station of the Brethren in that country. 

On his return to Europe he proposed to engage himself as a ship's carpenter or 
sailor on board one of the Hudson's Bay Company's vessels, in order to reach 
Labrador; and to Labrador he went. From an interesting memoir, chiefly written by 
hunself, we can look into the heart of this noble and simple-minded man : " The 4th 
of September, 1764," he writes, " was the day for which I had so long waited." For 
on that day a party of Eskimos was seen by him upon the rocky shore. Haven, to 
their astonisliment, hailed them in Greenlandic, and with loud shouts they bade him 
welcome and invited him to come ashore. The sailors, remembering the fate of Erhardt 
and his party, determined not to risk their lives ; Haven, however, was only too eager 
to go among them, but before doing so he knelt upon the deck and prayed : " I will 
go to them in Thy name, Lord ; if they kill me, my work on earth is done ; if they 
spare me, I will believe firmly it is Thy will they should hear and receive the Gospel." 
The natives were friendly, listened with interest to what the missionary said to them, 
and sang in his honour a song, the refrain of which was " Our friend is come." Then, 
m true heathen fashion, thej' began a dance, accompanying it with horrible noises, 

* See p. 92. 



348 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



IXI.— XORTn AXEBICA' 



which, however, were instantly stopped when Haven began to sing to them a Moravian 
hyinn in the Greenlandic tongue. 

HLs stay in Labrador was short, as the ships crew were anxious to return to Europe ; 
but in the following year a second voyage was made, when Jens was accompanied by 
three other Brethren, John Hill, Andrew Schloetzer, and Christian La^vTence Drachart ; 
the latter of whom had been for many years in Greenland. On landing at Chateau 
Bay, some three hundred natives came to greet the new-comers, and several of the 
Eskimos recognised and wannly welcomed Jens Haven. The Brethren mixed freely 
with tbe natives, who listened with apparent interest to a discourse from Drachart, 







, 




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Kv^' .^HHHL. 




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NATIVES OK LABHAIJliI!. 



in which he told them what tlic Gospel was doing in Greenland. They replied, "Then 
we will do as the Greenlanders have done; we believe all you say." On one occasion, 
a violent storm prevented the missionaries from returning to their ship, and they ac- 
cepted the hospitality of one of the leading Angekoks: the first Europeans who had 
slept in the tents of the heathen of Labrador. 

Again the missionaries were obliged to return after a short visit, and it was not 
until 17G9 that the Moravian Church was able to obtain from the Engli.sh Government 
a grant of land for missionary purjjoses on a part of the Labrador coast not owned 
by tlie Hudson's J3ay Company. In that year George III. made a grant of 100,000 
square acres in Eskimo Bay. 

In May, 1771, at the little Moravian Chapel in Fetter Lane, Haven, Drachart, and 
seven others were set apart for penruincnt work in Labrador; and after a tedious voyage, 
in which they encountered many perils, they anived in Chateau Bay, wliere the natives 
received them with great joy. Soon a site was fixed ujion, to which they gave the 
name of .Xain, imd (lining the building of their station they received tlic cordial 



XI.— North Amekica.) 



ESKIMO GRATITUDE. 



349 



co-operation of the Eskimos, whose confidence in them increased daily. There was 
plenty of work to do, and in building their houses and collecting stores for the winter, 
there was much to interest the people, who were also taught to assist in boat-building, 
the manufacture of household utensils, and other useful worL One or two famihes soon 
pitched their tents near the station, and every day the natives assembled to hear fi"om 
the lips of the missionaries the Word of God. 

When the winter came on, the Eskunos took down theu" tents, and dispereed much 
ui the same way as the Greenlandei-s had done in the days of Hans Egede; but Haven 



^ 




ESKIMOS OS THE SHORE OF LABRADOK. 



and Drachart followed them up through deep snow and intense cold to their winter 
huts, accepting such hospitality as they could get. It was not long before they found 
that their labour was not in vain. Referring to the adroitness with which the)-, like 
the Greenlanders, could turn serious things into ridicule, Drachart ^vTote:— "I pray to 
mj' Lord — ' Bless my feeble words ; Thou hast in Greenland made dark minds under- 
stand, and cold hearts warm ; do so here also, that I l>e not put to shame, for the 
work is Thine.' " Not long after, one of the Eskimos, speaking for over a hundred who 
were settled in one place, said, " We thank our brothers that thev have come to us. 
We love the Brethren, we wish to go on hearing about Jesus, we wish to renounce our 
heathen customs. We, and our wives and children, talk in our tents about the Lord 
Jesus : we know that we arc sinners, but we believe in His mercv. " 



350 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. (XI.-North Amebioa. 

To the missionaries, every year brought its own trials. In consequence of the 
ditficulties and inconvenience inseparable from any effort to counnunicate with Labrador 
by way of Newfoundland, the " Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel " 
had procured a vessel which was to maintain direct and regular intercourse with that 
coast. There was much anxiety with regard to the arrival of the vessel, and during 
the first year the missionarie- v/ere reduced to great extremities, the ship not arriving 
until the beginning of winter. Only two small pieces of meat were left, and until fresh 
supplies arrived there was nothing but suffering and privation for them. " Had j'ou 
seen the joy which reigned among us," wrote one of the missionaries, " when we heard 
that the ship had arrived, you certainly would never forget it. We had given up all 
hope of her this season, and had devoted ourselves to extreme poverty ; but yet we 
cannot say that a dejected spirit prevailed among us. We had resolved to surrender 
ourselves up to all circumstances, trusting that He who had sent us hither, who has 
counted the hairs of our head, and without whose permission none of them can fall 
,to the ground, would preserve us." When the captain of the ship saw the improved 
condition of the people, he exclaimed, " They do not look like the same old robbers and 
murderers — they have become good sheep already ! " 

Jens Haven made several important explorations along the coast, and eveiywhere 
the Eskimos, including the Angekoks, seemed to fall under the power of his influence. 
Far and wide along the coast his name and fame had spread, and it was not long 
before it was thought desirable to form a second station. In August, 1774, Haven, 
with three other of the Brethren — Brasen, Lister, and Lehman — set out in a small sloop 
to select a suitable spot. Perhaps there were few men in the world less superstitious 
than the practical Jens Haven, but he had a fear or presentiment of evil in the journey ; 
at the same time he could not doubt that it was the will of God he should go forward. 
His fears were justified by the event ; a terrible disaster befell the party, which may 
best be told in his own words : — 

" It had snowed the whole night, and was very cold. A brisk gale sprang up from 
the north-east, which inspired us with the hope that we should soon reach Naia 
September 14th, towards four p.m., we all at once found our.selves m shoal-water, which 
surprised us exceedingly, as we were in the usual channel between Nain and Navon, 
and more than a league from the nearest island. We tacked about immediately. 
Scarcely had we done this, when the vessel struck on a rocky bottom, which, as we 
afterwards learned, is dry at springtide. The boat was lowered innnediately in order 
to take the soundings round the ship, and as we found deep water at the prow, we 
proposed casting an anchor forwarrls. There was too much sea, however, to allow us 
to row out with it ; we therefore let down a small anchor to steady the boat during 
this operation. But no sooner was the large anchor on board the boat, than the sails 
got loose, and drove it before the wind ; so that it took the men half an hour's hard 
rowing to get back to the sloop, and reach the rope which we threw out to them. 
After the anchor was cast, we endeavoured to wear the ship off, but finding that the 
anchor drove, and that we had now only four feet of water, we were obliged to desist 
till the tide should turn, and commended ourselves meanwhile to the mercy of 



XI.-NOBTF America.] PERILS IN THE SEA. 351 

God. We had, however, but slender hope that the ship would hold out so long, as 
the waves broke over us incessantly, and we expected every moment to see it go 
to pieces. 

" We secured the boat, as well as we could, by means of three strong ropes two 
inches thick, and, in full resignation to the Lord's will, determined to stay in the 
sloop till morning, if possible. The wind roared furiously ; every wave washed over us, 
and the foaming of the deep was rendered yet more terrible by the thick darkness of 
the night. Towards ten o'clock the ship began to roll most violently, and to drive 
upon the cliffs in such a manner that everything on board was turned upside down, 
and we could not but fear that the timbers would soon part. Shortly after ten o'clock 
the rudder was carried away by a huge wave, which broke over the whole vessel and 
covered us as with a winding-sheet. Our two sailors entreated us to take to the boat 
if we wished to save our lives. We represented to them the danger of braving so 
rough a sea in so small a boat, and that, supposing it could outlive that, it must 
inevitably perish in the breakers on the coast, which we could not avoid in the dark- 
ness. We begged them to stay by the ship as long as possible ; perhaps we might 
maintain the post till daybreak, and, at all events, should it come to the worst, we 
had the boat to fly to. They appeared to give in to our arguments, but we were 
obliged to watch their motions lest they should slip off" with the boat. We waited in 
stillness to see what our dear Lord should appoint for us. 

"By two o'clock in the morning of the 15th, the sloop had shipped so much water 
that the chests on which we sat began to float, and we were obliged to leave the 
cabin and go on to the upper deck, where a fearful scene presented itself. The middle 
deck was entirely under water, and the waves were rolling mountains high. All were 
now convinced that it was time to leave the vessel. But here we were met by a new 
difficulty. The sea was so rough that, had we brought the boat alongside, it would 
inevitably have been stove in. We therefore drew it astern, and, climbing one by one 
down the anchor shaft, jumped into it, and through the mercy of God we all, nine 
in number, succeeded in reaching it. 

" We now found that we had taken this step only just in time, for two of the 
three ropes by which the boat was moored had already given way, and the third held 
only b}- one strand, the othei's having parted, so that we should very soon have lost 
the boat. Our first business was to fiale out the water, which the boat had shipped 
in no small quantity. Oars being useless in such a sea, we let the boat run before 
the wmd, which it did with incredible celerity. We attempted in vam to get under 
the lee of different islands, as the breakers drove us off from the coast whenever we 
approached it. At length we thought we saw a prospect of finding harbourage between 
two islands, but we were again interrupted by rocks and breakers. The boat tilled 
with water, which kept us constantly at work, and as there appeared to be no other 
resource left, we resolved in God's name to run the boat on shore, which was 
about twenty yards distant, but begirt with cliif's, on which the waves were dashing 
furiously. 

" We darted rapidly through thein, when the boat struck on a sunken rock with 



352 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS, XI. -north America. 

such violence that we were all thrown from our seats, and the boat instantly filled 
with water. The captain, John Hill, and the two sailors, threw themselves into the 
sea and swam to land, which they gained in safety, and from whence they reached 
out an oar to assist the rest in landing. Brother Lister was the first who neared 
the shore, but he was driven back inti:) the sea by the violence of the waves. On 
approaching the rocks a second time, he found a small ledge, by which he held on 
till the oar was extended to him by his companions on the strand. I had been 
thrown out of the boat by the first shock, and resigned myself to the Lord's gracious 
hands to do with me what He pleased. After swallowing a large quantity of water, 
I was hurled back into the boat, and as it drifted to the shore I succeeded in grasp- 
mg the friendly oar. At the same time, the Eskimo pilot clung to my legs, and thus 
we were both drawn up the rocks together. Brother Brasen thrice gained the rocks, and 
twice caught hold of the oar, but he was so exhausted, and encimibered besides by his 
heavy garments, that he could make no effort to save himself, and tinally sank. Brother 
Lehman was heard exclaiming, as the boat struck, ' Dear Saviour, I commend my 
spirit into Thy hands ! ' We all thought that he had got on shore, but it pleased the 
Lord thus to take him to Himself 

" The rest of us who had reached dry land were rescued for the present from a 
watery grave, but we found ourselves upon a bare rock, half dead with cold, in so dark a 
night that we could not see a hand before us, without shelter, without food, without 
boat ; in short, without the smallest gleam of hope that we should ever leave this fear- 
ful spot alive. We knew that no Eskimos were likely to come this way, as they had 
all resolved to winter to the south of Nain. The cold was intense, so that we were 
obliged to keep ourselves warm by constant motion. When morning came, we sought 
for our boat, but in vain ; a few fragments of it, which had been washed on shore, 
was all that we could find, and we concluded that it had gone to pieces. We also 
met with a few blankets, some broken biscuits, and other articles, which we collected 
very carefully. 

" At low water, we discovered the bodies of our two brethren lying close together 
on the strand, but they were quite dead. They were safe from all trouble, and had 
brethren surviving to bury their remains, while we had no other prospect than to pine 
away with hunger, and then leave our bodies to be entombed by birds and beasts of prey. 
About seven o'clock in the morning we had the joy to see, first the prow and then 
the stern of our boat emerging from the water. But our joy was damped on dragging 
it to land, for the planks were torn off' from both sides of the keel, and the few ribs 
left were in splinters. Happily, however, the prow, stern, and keel were yet entire. 

" We now set ourselves to repair the boat, impracticable as it seemed with such a 
lack of materials for the purpose. Yet we contrived to lash the blankets over the 
open spaces, sewing to them, in addition, all the seal-skins we could muster from 
our upper and nether garments, including even our boots. We spent three days in 
these miserable repairs, and on the 18th launched our boat for Nain, which, by the 
help of an Eskimo part}- that we met not far from the settlement, we succeeded in 
reaching the same evening," 



XI.— NORTU AMVRIfA.l 



LAST DAYS OF JENS HAVEN. 



3.53 



At Okak, about 150 miles to the north of Nain, Jens Haven at length succeeded 
in tbundino- the second Moravian station, and, six years afterwards, a third station was 
established on a spot about 150 miles to the south of Nain, which they named Hopedale. 
When this latter station was established, Jens Haven, who was now an old man, 
felt that his strength for further enterprise had gone. In 1784 he returned to Europe, 
and for six years laboured amongst his own people. " His conversation," says his bio- 
grapher, " was proritable even to persons of rank, who never failed to call upon him 




WRECK OP THE MISSION PARTY. 



when they visited Herrnhut ; and none who came hither with a view to profit for 
their souls neglected to converse with him, for what he said proceeded from the 
experience of a heart living in constant communion with God, and rejoicing in His 
salvation." For the last six years of his life he was totally blind, but he bore the 
affliction with cheerfulness and resignation. At length, in 1796, he died, in the seventy- 
second year of his age. After his decease, a slip of paper was found, bearing in his 
handwriting these words : " I wish the following to be added to the narrative of my 
life : — On such a day, Jens Haven, a poor sinner who, in his own judgment, deserved 
eternal condemnation, fell happily asleep, relying upon the death and merits of Jesus." 
Drachart, his faithful friend and zealous fellow-labourer, died at Nain six years after 
Jens Haven left that place for Europe. 
23 



354. CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [XI.-Nohth America. 

Meanwhile, the success of the mission to Labrador had been demonstrated, but we 
need not here pause to trace, step by step, its progress ; let us rather turn to some 
of the perilous incidents in the lives of some of the missionaries in their journe}dngs 
upon that dangerous coast. 

In 1782 a very remarkable deliverance was experienced by two of the Brethren, 
Samuel Liebisch, the first general superintendent of the Moravian Missions in Labrador, 
and William Turner. 

Liebisch was required by the duties of his office to leave Nain on a visit to Okak, 
distant, as we have said, about a hundred and fifty English miles, and Turner was 
appointed to accompany him. Early in the morning of the 11th of March, in remarkably 
clear weather, the stars shining with uncommon brilliancy, the two set off from Nain, 
driven in their sledge by a Christian Eskimo baptised in the name of Mark, and 
accompanied b}^ another sledge containing two men, one woman, and a child. 

These sledges are drawn by dogs, and the services of these animals are indispensable 
to the Eskimos. The Eskimo dog is not unlike our shepherd's dog in its general 
aspect, but is more muscular and has a broader chest, omng, in a great measure, to 
the hard work to which it is trained. The ears are pointed, the muzzle is long, and 
the animals are not unlike wolves : like them, they never bark, but howl disagreeably. An 
ordinary well-grown dog will be somewhat smaller than a Newfoundland dog, and broad 
like a mastiff. The coat consists of long hair, and in the winter it is further protected 
by a soft downy under-covering, which does not appear during the warm weather. 

A traveller has described their education thus : " When about two months old, eight 
or ten puppies are harnessed to a sledge with two experienced runners, and by means 
of frequent and cruel beatings, and angry repetitions of their names, they are taught 
their duty, but not without much hard labour on the driver's part, and great patience. 
Personal experience has taught me some of the peculiar difficulties of managing a 
puppy-dog team. Each dog is harnessed to a separate line ; and these, being eight 
abreast, fully endowed with all, and more than all, the playfuhiess of young animals 
in this country, the effect may be pictured when, all jumping on each other in most 
admired confusion, the lines become entangled, and are only set right after many 
efforts. This process has to be repeated again and again, as the gambols or quarrels 
of the young dogs render it necessary. The whip, too, would puzzle a London cabby, 
and is not easy for a novice to use — with a lash from twenty to twenty-four feet long, 
attached to a handle one foot long, it requires no small amount of dexterity to avoid 
wounding your own person in an attempt to make an example of one of your pupils. 
When trained, however, they are guided only b}- a touch of the whip to the near or 
off leader, and over smooth ice, with a light load, can be made to sfo seven or eisfht 
miles per hour." 

Dogs are kept by the Eskimos in smaller or larger packs or teams, in pro- 
portion to the affluence of the master. They quietly submit to be harnessed for their 
work, and are treated with but little mercy by their owners, who make them do hard 
duty for the small quantity of food they allow them. This consists chiefly of offal, 
old skins, entrails, such parts of whale-flesh as are imfit for other use, and rotten 



XL-NoETB America.] A TERRIBLE ADVENTURE ON THE ICE. 355 

whale-tins. If they are not provided with this kind of dog's meat, they are left to go 
and seek dead tish or niusseLs upon the beach. When piiiched with hunger, they will 
swallow almost anything, and on a journey it is necessary to secure the harness 
within the snow-house overnight, lest, by devouring it, they should render it impossible 
to proceed in the morning. When the travellers arrive at their night quarters, and 
the dogs arc unharnessed, they are left to burrow m the snow where they please, 
and in the morning are sure to come at their driver's call, when they receive some 
food. Their strength and speed, even with a hungry stomach, are astonishing. In 
fastening them to the sledge, care is taken not to let them go abreast. They are 
tied by separate thongs of unequal lengths, to a horizontal bar in the front part 
of the sledge ; an old knowing one leads the way, running ten or twenty paces ahead, 
directed by the driver's whip — the other dogs follow like a Hock of sheep. If one of 
them receives a lash, he generally bites his neighbour, and the bite goes I'ound. 

When Liebiseh and Turner got into their sledge on that bright March morning, 
they hojjed to reach Ukak m the course of two or three days. The track over the 
frozen sea was in splendid condition, and they spun along easily at the rate of six or 
seven miles an hour. When they had passed the islands in the Bay of Nain, they 
kept at a considerable distance from the coast, both to gain the smoothest part of the 
ice, and to weather the high rocky promontory of Kiglapeit. At about eight o'clock, 
they met a sledge with Eskimos turning in from the sea. After the customary 
salutations, the stransrers alighted, and in the course of conversation threw out some 
hints that it might be well for them to return. As, however, the missionaries saw 
no cause of alarm, and suspected that the Eskimos merely wished to enjoy the com- 
pany of the travellers a little longer, they proceeded on their journey. After some 
time, their own Eskimo hinted that there was a ground-swell under the ice. It was 
then scarcely perceptible except on lying down and applying the ear close to the ice, 
when a hollow, disagreeable, grating and roaring noise was heard, as if ascending 
from the abyss. The weather remained clear except towards the east, where a bank 
of light clouds appeared, interspersed with some dark streaks. But the wind being 
strong from the north-west, nothing was less expected than a sudden change of 
weather. 

The sun had now reached its height, and there was as yet little or no alteration 
in the appearance of the sky. But the motion of the sea under the ice had grown 
more perceptible, so as rather to alarm the travellers, who began to think it prudent 
to keep closer to the shore, The ice also had cracks and large fissures in many places, 
some of which were one or two feet wide ; but as these are not uncommon even in 
its best state, and the dogs easily leap over them, the sledge following without 
danger, they are only terrible to those who are unaccustomed to them. 

As soon as the sun declined towards the west, the wind increased and rose to a 
storm, the bank of clouds from the east began to ascend, and the dark streaks put 
themselves in motion against the wind. The snow was violently driven about by 
partial whirlwinds, both on the ice and from oft' the peaks of the high mountains, 



k.. 



WnvT 





Q 



o 






I'fclill-''" ' ■' 



ll''IWW';MWMW\Wt 



XI.-NOETH America.] A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE. 'S57 

and tilled the air. At tiie same time, the ground-swell had increased so much that 
its ett'ect upon the ice became verj- extraordinary and alarming. The sledges, instead 
of gliding along smoothly upon an even surface, sometimes ran with violence after the 
dogs, and shortly after seemed with difficulty to ascend the rising hill ; for the elasticity 
of so vast a body of ice, of many leagues square, supported by a troubled sea, though 
in some places three or four yards in thickness, would in some degree occasion an 
undulatory motion not unlike that of a sheet of paper accommodating itself to the 
surface of a rippling stream. Noises were now distinctly heard in many directions, 
like the report of cannon, owing to the bvu'sting of the ice at a distance. 

In alarm the Eskimos drove with all haste towards the shore, intending to take 
up their night quarters on the south side of the Nivak. But, as it plainly appeareil 
that the ice would break and disperse in the open sea, Mark, the driver, advised to 
push forward to the north of the Nivak, from whence he hoped the track to Okak 
might still remain entire. To this proposal the company agreed ; but when the sledges 
approached the coast, the prospect before them was truly terrific. The ice, having broken 
loose from the rocks, was forced up and down, gi'inding and breaking into a thousand 
pieces against the precipices with a tremendous noise, which, added to the raging of 
the wind, and the snow driving about in the air, deprived the travellers almost of the 
power of hearing or seeing anything distinctly. 

To make for land was now the only hope left, but it was with the utmost difficvdty 
the frightened dogs could be urged forward, as the whole body of ice sank frequently 
below the surface of the rocks and then rose above it. The only moment when it 
would be possible to land would be when the ice gained the level of the coast, and to seize 
upon that exact moment was an extremely nice and hazardous undertaking. Never- 
theless it succeeded — both sledges gained the shore in safety and were drawn up the 
beach, although not without great difficult}'. 

No sooner had the travellers reached the land — and before there had been time for 
them to reflect on their providential deliverance — than that part of the ice from which 
they had just made good their escape burst asunder, and the water, forcing itself fi'om 
below, covered and precipitated it into the sea. In a moment, as if by a given signal, 
the whole mass of ice, extending for several miles along the coast and as far as the 
eye could reach, began to break and to be overwhelmed bj' the waves. 

The sight was one of awful grandeur. Immense tields of ice, rising suddenly out of 
the water, struck against each other and then plunged into the deep with indescribable 
violence, while the noise was like the discharge of numberless batteries of heavy guns. 
Tire darkness of the nie-ht, the roarinaf of the wind and the waves, the dashins; of the 
go"eat masses of ice against the rocks, made up a scene which tilled the travellers with 
sensations of awe and terror, so as almost to deprive them of the power of utterance. 
They stood overwhelmed with astonishment at their almost miraculous escape, and when 
at length their tongues found words of thank.sgiving, even the pagan Eskimos joined 
them in expressions of gratitude to God for deliverance. 

Night was coming on, and the Eskimos set to work to build a snow-house at a 
short distance from the beach, into which the whole party crept, thankful for any 



358 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [XI.-Nobth America. 

shelter. They ate their supper, sang a hymn, and then lay down to rest. In an incredibly 
short time the Eskimos were all sound asleep, but not so Liebisch and Tinner. The 
excitement of the past few hours, the noise of the sea dashing against the rocks, and 
the roar of the wind, kept them awake, and their sleeplessness was the means of saving 
the whole party from destruction. 

It was nine o'clock at night when they entered the snow house. At two in the 
morning, Liebisch felt some drops of water falling from the roof, and one drop having 
touched his lips he discovered that it was salt water. Anxious not to disturb his 
companions unnecessarily, he lay still for a little while, when, just as he was about to 
give the alarm, a tremendous wave broke close to the house, discharging a quantity of 
water into it, and shortly afterwards a second wave followed, which carried away the 
slab of snow placed as a door before the entrance. 

All were now effectually aroused, and in a moment were struggling to make their 
escape. With a huge knife one of the Eskimos cut a passage through the side of the 
house, and each person taking some of the baggage, a hasty retreat was beaten to an 
eminence hard by. Scarcely had they reached it, when an enormous wave broke upon 
the beach and carried away every vestige of the house which had so recently sheltered 
them. 

Although hardly able to stand against the wind and sleet, the Eskimos succeeded 
before morning in cutting a hole in the snow for a temporary shelter, and when daylight 
came they built another snow house. But it would be impossible to remam there long, 
as their stock of provisions was nearly exhausted. Only two courses lay open to them : 
either to attempt to cross the wild unfrequented mountain Kiglapeit, or to wait until a 
new ice track on the sea should be found. 

They determined to abide by the latter course, and anxiously they scanned the sky 
and sea. The weather cleared, the temperature grew milder, not a vestige of ice was 
to be seen upon the sea. Their provisions were exhausted, and they were reduced to 
the extremity of eating an old sack made of fish-skin, and a worn-out skin that had 
been used as a kind of cushion in the sledges. 

At last the sea began to freeze, and, happily for them, it froze rapidly. On the 
sixth day since they had landed on that inhospitable shore, the sledges were brought 
out, and the party of Eskimos determined to pursue their journey to Okak ; but 
Liebisch and Turner, who were worn out with hunger and exposure, resolved to return 
with their driver, Mark, to Nain. 

There was great grief in that settlement, for the Eskimos who had met the 
missionaries on their outward journey, had found out the families of Liebisch and Turner, 
and had told them that they had perished in the breaking-up of the ice — so certain 
did they feel that it was impossible they could escape. 

When, therefore, at midnight, there was heard the howling of dogs, the crack of 
the whip, and the cry of familiar voices, great was the joy of the whole settlement to 
welcome back the missionaries who had been mourned as dead. 

At the close of the year 1800, there were at the three stations a hundred and ten 



XI. NURTH AMERICA.] HEBRON. 359 

baptised converts, and two hundred and twenty-twu persons in the care of the mis- 
sionaries. One of the latter, Brother Reimann, started off one day from Nain to shoot 
ptarmigans. It was a bitterly cold day, which ended m a severe snow-storm. As night 
came on, the Brethren became anxious about his safety, and a search party, consisting 
of the whole of the Brethren and many Eskimos, was organised, carrymg with them 
their muskets in order to attract the attention of the wanderer. But that night they 
were unsuccessful ; next day they tracked his footsteps in the snow, and then lost them on 
the ice. For nine days they continued their search, but Reimann never was found, 
and it was supposed that, blinded by the beating snow, he had lost his way, and getting 
on thin ice, had broken through and been drowned. 

At one time in the history of the Labrador mission, nnich evil was wrought by a 
man named Tuglavina, who, having professed Christianity, turned back to his old ways, 
and unhappily succeeded in introducing a spirit of discontent and defiance among his 
countrymen. For a time, levity and indifference took the place of the earnest desire 
for instruction. This was a sorrow which the brave-hearted missionaries, who counted 
not their lives dear imto themselves, and whom no personal sufferings could discourage, 
found it almost impossible to bear. But by faith and patience they continued their 
work, and in the early years of the new century, there came a time of refreshing from 
the presence of the Lord. Converts were added to them almost daily. The unfaithfulness 
of those who for a time had departed from the faith, was repented of with tears, and 
even Tuglavina, the instrument of all the mischief, turned from his evil ways, and died, 
as far as they could judge, in the Christian faith. 

Prosperity continued, and in April, 1830, a fourth station was established about 
sixty miles to the north of Okak, which they called Hebron. Both here and at the 
other stations, great attention was given to the education of the young, and although 
it was only for about six months of each year that (children could attend the schools, 
many, of even four or five years of age, were able to read fluently and write well. In 
course of time, a harmony of the four Gospels, the history of our Lord's Passion, a 
hymn-book, and other smaller works, were printed. Steadily the progress continued, not- 
withstanding the fact that here, as in Greenland, the people became attacked by European 
diseases, especially measles, whilst severe winters often brought them to the borders of 
starvation. 

One incident, illustrating the change that Christianity has produced on the savage 
nature of the Eskimos, may be given here. In the year 1849, the crew of a ship 
belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company which had been lost on the ice, came to 
Okak. " Taking refuge in two boats, they rounded C'ape Chudleigh, and made their 
way southwards along the coast of Labrador. One of the two was lost, with all on 
board. The other, containing the nine survivors, in a most deplorable condition from 
the effects of cold and hunger, was driven by the wind among the islands near 
Okak. Here they were soon seen by Eskimos in their kayaks, and they prepared for 
the cruel death which, from heathen natives, they had every reason to expect. To 
their great astonishment, they were welcomed with kindly warmth, and the offer of 
aid to bring them ashore, where tliey were again surprised to find the women singing 



360 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[XL— North America. 



hymns at their work, and readily ottering them whatever food was at their disposal. 
Unable to walk, they were carried to the mission-house, where they received every 
attention, the missionaries performing several surgical operations on severely frost-bitten 
limbs. The men, who were worn away to skeletons on their long journey of 800 miles 
by boat, wept tears of joy at their unexpected deliverance, and thankfully availed 
themselves of the opportunity to return to England with the Harmovy." * 

Two new stations, Zoar and Ramah, were formed in 1865 and 1871 respectively, 
and during the past few years a new and important sphere of labour has been opened 
up, the centre of which is Hopedale.. In the latter place an English-speaking mis- 
sionary is located, whose special 
duty it is to care for the spiri- 
tual needs of the once-dreaded 
" Southlanders." 

We cannot better conclude 
this sketch of the Moravian mis- 
sionary work in Labrador than 
by quoting a few extracts from 
a letter written by Sister Asboe, 
who took up her residence at 
Hopedale in the summer of 
1887: — 

" j\Iy first sight of Labrador 
!¥ was not reassuring ; it looked 
so lonely. But as soon as we 
landed at Hopedale I changed 
my mind. Indeed, I was quite 
pleased with the place. There is 
a long wooden pier, the shore 
end of which is quite close to 
the mission-house ; only a few rocks and grass intervene. The premises are sur- 
rounded by wooden palisades to keep the dogs out. From the large green gate, a 
path leads straight up to the front door. This is approached by steps, and has a 
pretty porch. The tlower-beds contain beautiful and fragrant stocks, geranuims, pansies, 
and roses. 

"Behind the dwelling-house, and not far ofi', is the store. A covered pas- 
sage affords access to the church, which is very nice and clean. Of course there 
is no pulpit, only, in (ierman Moravian fashion, a table covered with a green 
cloth. On either side of this is a raised platform, where the missionaries and their 
wives sit. 

" AuguM Sth. — Yesterday was my first Sunday in Labrador. At nine o'clock the 
church bell rang for the first service, and then, as they invariably do, all the dogs 
began yelling and howling as fast and as loud as they could. They sometimes keep 

* •' History of the Mission of the Church of the United Brethren in Labrador." 




BUILDING SNOW HUTS. 



i.X.— NoitTU AMER^■A.I 



THE LABRADOR OF TO-DAY. 



861 



up this dismal noise in the night, too. The laine o'clock service consists of the readino- 
of the Litany, of course in Eskimo. The sermon follows at ten. It was curious to sit 
there and not understand a word of what was said. At three o'clock there was an 
English service for the settlers and the fishermen, when the church was crowded. I 
went to that, but not to the succeeding meeting, which was again in the Eskimo 
language. 

" The other da}' we visited some of the Eskimos in their houses. I was surprised 
to find their rooms so nice and clean, and so fairly furnished, too, with chairs, tables, 
cupboards, and even pictures on the walls. Nor are the people themselves half so 




HOPBDALE MISSION HOUSE, LABRADOR. 



bad-looking as I had imagined. They have jet-black hair. They are simple, if not 
rather childish. They laugh whenever we meet them, not that they are making fun 
of us, but to show their friendliness. 

"Augnd 9fh.~l am really pleased with Hopedale ; I never expected it to be so 
nice. True, I do not yet know what the winter is like; but all in our missionary 
household seem to be very happy, and they say they do not find the winter months 
long or wearisome. On the contrary, I am told it is rather a busy time. 

"Sunday, 14^/y.— To-day we are celebrating the memorial-day of the 13th of 
August. This morning I was awakened by the brass band playing chorales outside our 
house, and weU they played too. Another surprise in the line of Eskimo musical 
ability awaited me in the morning service. Six natives were seated by the organ 
accompanying the singing on their violins. There was a choir, too, and they rendered 
a difiicult anthem splendidly. 



362 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. IXI.-Noeth America. 

" This morning the mail steamer arrived, bringing me dear letters from home. 
Now I must close this, and post it, that the steamer may take it to Newfoundland." 

When we think of Labrador as it was when Erhardt was cruelly murdered by 
the savage heathen, and Labrador as it is to-day, we may say, " This is the Lord's 
doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." In 1849, the labours of the Moravians who 
initiated Christian work in that country, were supplemented , by other workers, and at the 
present day the western portion of the coast, on the northern side of the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, is included in the diocese of Quebec ; while, from Blanc Savlon and onwards, 
the Bishop of Newfoundland is supposed to be responsible. Many estimable men under 
the auspices of the Church of England have done excellent work in these regions, among 
them the Rev, A. Giftbrd, who shared his room and his table with a fisherman at Fortvan ; 
the Rev. G. Hutchinson, who left a pleasant parish on the slopes of the Malvern HiUs to 
take up a twelve years' residence in this cold, dreary, and inliospitable clime ; the Rev. 
R. Wainwright, who, with his wife and family, were content to take up their abode in 
a half-tinished barn, with the seams so open " that as the inmates lay in bed they 
could see the people outside through the chinks in the timbers," until, when the 
winter came, beds, chairs, and tables were covered with ice, and the dexterous clergy- 
man had to turn his hand to carpentering to keep out the weather. These, and 
others, worked with right good will in preaching the Gospel, setting bones, teaching 
children, " in journeyings oft " through snow and ice and fog, travelling long and 
dangerous journeys in sledges, feeding on the meanest fare, cut off from all the 
elegancies and refinements of life, yet content, and rejoicing that Christ was preached 
to those who " sat in darkness and in the shadow of death." 

At the present day, Labrador, " the land which cannot be built upon," and 
upon whose coast the mariner once dreaded to land for fear of the treacherous and 
bloodthirsty savages, is, to all intents and purposes, a Christian country — a signal 
example of the Conquests of the Cross. 



I 



363 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE LABRADOR MISSIONARY SHIPS. 



Wonderful Preservation of the Missionary Ships— The Jersey Packet — The Amity — The Good Intent — 
Protected by British Proclamation — Receive Safe-Conduct from France — Letter from Benjamin 
Franklin — Strange Deliverance from Capture of the Resolution — Perils of the Jemima as Related by a 
Missionary — The Harmony. 

IN 1840 the celebrated Cunard Company was founded, and, from that year to the 
present, their splendid ships have traversed the stormy Atlantic with unfailing 
regularity and at high speed, and yet it is the proud boast of the Company that during 
the whole of that long period they have never lost a life or a letter. That is in 
itself a truly wonderful record, but that of the Labrador missionary ships is even 
more marvellous. A few brief particulars of the more remarkable deliverances 
from imminent peril which they have experienced from the year 1770 to the present 
time will form a fitting supplement to the account which we have given of the 
mission itself. 

The immunity from loss during a hundi'ed and twenty years, while annually 
encountering peculiar perils incident to the navigation of the North Atlantic, and 
traversing the dangerous ice-bound coast of Labrador, has been a source of wonder 
to many, and of adoring gratitude to the Moravians, who have traced in the fact the 
Divine protection and the special providence of God. Long ago. Lord Admiral Gambler 
stated that he considered the preservation of the Labrador ships as the most 
remarkable occurrence in maritime history that had come to his knowledge ; and it is 
a most significant fact that underwriters at Lloyd's insure the Labrador ships at a 
premi-um considerably less than that which is charged for vessels bound to other 
portions of British North America, including the Territories of the Hudson's Ba}- 
Company.* 

When it was decided that direct and regular intercourse with Labrador should 
supersede the method hitherto employed of reaching that coast by way of Newfound- 
land, the " Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel " procured a vessel — 
a small sloop of eighty tons burden, called the Jersey Packet. Her fitting out 
was entrusted to " The Ship's Company " — Brethren who undertook the management of 
the ship and of the barter traffic with the Eskimos, it being a principle with the 
■ Moravians that the talents of their members, whether they consisted in handling ropes, 
building houses, trading, or preaching the Gospel, should all be pressed into the service 
of their common Lord. 

A proclamation in favour of the undertaking was issued by Commodore Byron, 
(grandfather of Lord Byron the poet), in which evidence is given of the desire of the 
Britrsh Government to promote the establishment of the mission in Labrador, and 

* ■' Brief Account of the Missionary Ships employed in the Service of the Mission on the Coast of Labrador." 
(Moravian publication.) 



364 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS, 



[XI.— North America. 



one clause of it ran as follows : — " And whereas His Majesty did at the same time order 
that the Governor or Commander-in-Chief of Newfoundland for the time beinar, do 
give them all reasonable assistance and support in forming the said settlement, and in 
His Majesty's name to warn all persons from molesting or disturbing the said settlers ; 
and whereas certain persons who are members of the said Society for the Furthei-ance 
of the Gospel have purchased the Jermy Packet (Francis Mugford, Commander), burthen 
80 tons, square sterned, plantation built, in order to go this year to the coast of 
Labrador to converse with the Eskimos, and trj- to bring them to a peaceable 
temper, and to look out for such parts, on or near Eskimo Bay, as may best suit for 
the purpose of establishing a mission of the Unitas Fi'atrum, and, to that end, have 




:i\ ■ J 



THE HARMONY. 



engaged some missionaries to go on board the said Jersey PacLrf, for the laudable 
purposes aforesaid." Then followed the certificate calling upon all officers, civil and 
militarj-, " to afford the said Brethren all friendly assistance for the success of their pious 
undertaking, calculated for the benefit of mankind in general, and for the kingdom of 
Great Britain in particular." 

After the Jersey Packet came the Amity, which sailed regularly from 1773 to 1776, 
when her place was taken by the Good Intent. This vessel, on her second return 
voyage, was captured by a French privateer, but was happily re-captured by a British 
cruiser before she could reach a French port, and, although the captain and crew were 
carried into Dunkirk, together with the letters and iournals of the missionaries, all got 
safely back to London. Good sprang out of this appai'ent evil, as a safe-conduct was 
granted to the ship of the Societj- by the King of France, and by the American Minister 
at the court of Versailles — the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Franklin — empowering her to pass 
unmolested by the cruisers of both nations on her voyage to and from the coast of 
Labrador. The letter of Benjamin Franklin " to all captains and commanders of vessels 
of war. Privateers, Letters of Marque, belonging to the United States of America," is so 



XI. — XOKTU AMEIilf 



LETTER FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



365 



interesting a document, and bear.s such testimony to the good work of the Moravians, 
that we insert it here : — 

•■Gentlembx.— The religious Society commonly called the Moravian Brethren, having established a Mission 
on the coast of Labrador, for the conversion of the savages there to the Christian religion, which has alread\' 
had good effects in turnin^r them from their ancient practices of surprising, plundering, and murdering such 
white people, Americans and Europeans, for the purposes of trade or fishery happening to come on that 




WATCHING FOR THE HAIt,VoyY, HOPEDALE HARBOUR. 



coast, and persuading them to lead a new life of honest industry, and to treat strangers with humanity and 
kindness : 

■' And it being necessary for the support of this useful Mission, that a small vessel should go there every 
year, to furnish supplies and necessaries for the Missionaries and their converts, which vessel, for the present 
year, is a sloop of about 70 tons, called ' T/it- (ftind Iiitnit.' whereof is master, Capta,in Francis Mugford : 

" This is to request you, that, if the said vessel should happen to fall into your hands, you would not 
suffer her to be plundered, or hindered in her voyage, but on the contrary, would afford her any assistance 
she may stand in need of : wherein I am confident your conduct will be approved of by the Congress 
and your owners. 

■'Given at Passy, this 11th day of April, 1779. ■■ Ben.j. Franklin, 

" Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States at the Court of France." 



366 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS [XI.-N,.u™ America. 

In 1777, the first of the ships, bearing the name of The Harmony, was brought into 
the service, and her first six voyages were singularly prosperous ; the seventh, however, 
was the longest recorded in the annals of the Society. On her return journey the weather 
was remarkably boisterous, and the ship was on several occasions in great danger; 
but was preserved throughout the severe storms without harm to either ship or 
company'. 

One of the most remarkable deliverances of the missionary ships from hostile attacks 
occurred to the Resolution in 1803. She left London on the 7th of June, and, as was 
usual in times of war, proceeded with the Hudson's Bay convoy to the Orkneys, from 
whence she made the best of her way to Labrador ; but was three weeks detained by 
the ice on the coast before she could reach Okak. After visiting the three settlements 
and transacting the usual business, Captain Fraser hastened back to the Orkneys, to 
meet the convoy taking home the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, which during the 
whole of the previous year he had not failed to effect. But this time the convoy sailed 
without him, and there was, in consequence, great fear among the Brethren for the safety 
of the ship, more especially as a succession of violeiat storms in the northern seas had 
proved the destruction of many vessels. In course of time, however, the fears of the 
Brethren were turned into praise by the receipt of a letter from Captain Fraser, the 
commander of the missing vessel, in which he told them as strange a story of jieril 
and deliverance as had ever been heard. Briefly, it was as follows: — 

On the 10th of October ho left Hopedale, and in sixteen days was within about 
three days' sail of the Orkneys, when strong easterly gales di'ove him back, and kept 
him three weeks. But those storms proved the means of his deliverance from the 
enemy. He was chased by a French frigate, brought-to, and forced to keep her com- 
pany. Then a storm arose, and the sea ran so high that it was impossible for the 
frigate to get out a boat to board the Resolution. This continued, and the second night 
being extremely dark and boisterous. Captain Fraser clapped on all sail and escaped. 
Next morning the frigate was not to be seen, and the peril seemed over-past ; but two 
days later. Captain Fraser had the mortification to meet her again, and to be chased 
and brought-to a second time. Singularly enough, the exact details of the previous 
captm-e were repeated, with the exception, that when the brave captain escaped the 
second time, he saw no moi-e of the enemy. 

As much interest centres in the Jemima as in any vessel of the Society, and the 
story of her escapes and deliverances is as thrilling as any ever told in maritime 
annals. On one occasion (1811), when sailing from Nain to Okak, the cold was so 
intense, although it was only September, that the running rigging could not work 
through the blocks, and the sails, once set, could not be furled — in fact, were so stiff 
from the frost as to be quite immanageable. The wind, however, was so favourable, 
that nothing more was required than to steer the vessel. 

In 1816, the vessel was for six days in hourly danger of being crashed to pieces 
by the ice-drift, and it was not until after a conflict with the frozen element lasting 
for forty-nine days, that she reached Okak in safety. On the return journey, being 
unable to see a ship's length ahead, and being within half a mile of a dangerous reef, 



Xl.-NoKTii AiiiiiucA.! A DANGEROUS VOYAGE. 367 

the captain was obliged to press on sail to clear it, which he did but just accomplish. 
Later on in the same voyage, she was struck by a sea " that twisted her in such 
a manner, that the very seams on her larboard side opened, and the water gushed into 
the cabin and the mate's berth, as from a pump." 

In the following year the voyage was also memorable, and the graphic description 
of it given in the journal of Brother Ivmock, from which we make the following ex- 
tracts, furnishes a lively and correct account of the dangers which are more or less 
attendant on arctic navigation : — 

" Between the 4th and 5th of July (1817) we heard and saw many ice-birds. This 
bird is about the size of a starlmg, black, with white and yellow spots, and is met 
with about 200 English miles from the Labrador coixst. ^^'hen the sailors hear it, they 
know that they are not far from the ice. It flies about a ship chiefly in the night, and 
is known by its singular voice, which resembles a loud laugh. 

" 7th. — The morning was cold and rainy. In all directions, drift-ice was to be seen. 
In the afternoon it cleared up a little, and we entered an opening in the ice looking 
like a bay. The continual rustling and roaring of the ice reminded us of the noise 
made by the carriages in the streets of London when one is standing in the golden 
gallery of St. Paul's Cathedral. . . Having in vain exerted ourselves to penetrate 
through the ice, we returned at night into the open sea. 

" 14th. — Land was discovered ahead. It was the coast of Labrador, sixty or seventy 
miles south of Hopedale. We were close to the ice, and as a small opening presented 
itself, the captain ventured to push in, hoping, if he could penetrate, to find open 
water between the ice and the coast. For some time we got nearer to the land, but 
were obliged at night to fasten the ship with two grapnels to a large field. This 
was elevated between five and six feet above the water's edge, and between fifty and 
sixty feet in thickness below it. It might be 300 feet in diameter, flat at the top, 
and as smooth as a meadow covered with snow. . . We were all well pleased Avith 
our place of refuge, and lay here three whole days : but I cannot say that I felt 
easy, though I hid my anxiety from the party. I feared that a gale of wind might 
overtake us in this situation, and carr}' fields longer than that in which we lay, when 
the most dreadful consequences might ensue. And the sequel proved that I was not 
much mistaken. 

" 18th. — The weather was clear, and the wind in our favour ; we therefore took up 
our grapnel, got clear of our floating haven, and again endeavovired to penetrate 
through some small openings. . . In the afternoon we had penetrated to the open 
water between the ice and the land, but we durst not venture nearer, as the sea is 
here full of sunken rocks, and the captain knew of no harbour on this part of the 
coast. Having found another large piece of ice convenient for the purpose, we fastened 
the ship to it. 

"In the night between the 19th and 20th we were driven back by a strong 
current to nearlj' the same situation we had left on the I7th, only somewhat nearer 
the coast. On the 20th, towards evening, the sky lowered, and it grew very dark. 
The air also felt so oppressive that we all went to bed, and every one of us was troubled 



368 



CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. 



[XI.— North America. 



with uneasy dreams. At midnight we heard a great noise on deck. We hastened thithei 
to know the cause, and found the ship driving fast towards a huge ice-mountain, on 
which we expected every moment to suffer shipwreck The sailors exerted themselves 
to the utmost, but it was by God's merciful providence alone that we were saved. 
The night was exceedingly cold, with rain, and the poor people suffered much. We 
were now driven to and fro at the mercy of the ice till one in the morning, when 
we succeeded in fastening the ship again to a large field. But all this was only the 




-S> 









"i^^Ejajv 9R?^ •im'M0^'^'^S&. 




prelude to greater terrors. . . The wind changed to north-east and north, increasing 
gradually till it turned into a furious storm. Top-masts were lowered, and everything 
was done to ease the ship. We now saw an immense ice-mountain at a distance, towards 
which we were driving without the power of turning aside. Between six and seven we 
were again roused by a great outcry on deck. We ran up, and saw our ship, with the 
field to which we were fast, with great swiftness approaching towards the mountain ; 
nor did there appear the smallest hope of escaping being crushed to atoms between it 
and the field. However, by veering out as much cable as we could, the ship got to 
such a distance that the mountain passed through between us and the field. We all 
cried fervently to the Lord for speedy help in this most perilous situation, for if we 
had but touched the momtain we must have been instantly destroyed. One of our 
cables was broken, and we lost a grapnel ; the ship also sustamed some damage. But 



Xl.-.NoUTH America.] AMONG ICEBERGS. ;3G!) 

wc were now left to the mere}' of the storm and current, both of which were violent ; 
and exposed Ukewise to the large fields of ice which floated all around us, being from 
ten to twenty feet in thickness. The following night was dreadfully dark, the heavens 
covered with the blackest clouds driven by a furious wind ; the ice roared and howled 
as it moved along, and the fields driving and dashing against each other were truly 
terrible. A fender was made of a large beam, suspended by ropes to the ship's sides, 
to secure her in some measure from the ice ; but the ropes were soon cut by its shai-p 
edges, and we lost the fender. Repeated attempts were now made to make the shiji 
fast to some large field, and the second mate, a clever young man full of spirit and 
willingness, swung himself several times off, and upon such fields as approached u.s, 
endeavouring to fix a grapnel to them, but in vain, and we even lost another grapnel 
on this occasion. The storm, indeed, dispersed the ice, and made openings in several 
places, but our situation was thereby rendered only still more alarming, for when the 
ship got into open water her motion became more rapid by the power of the wind, 
and, consequentlj', the blows she received fi-om the ice more violent. AVhenever, there- 
fore, we perceived a field of ice through the gloom, towards which we were hurried, 
nothing appeared more probable than that the violence of the shock would determine 
dur fate, and be attendc'd with innnediate destruction to the vessel. Sucli shocks were 
repeated every four or five minutes, and sometimes oftener, and the longer she remained 
exposed to the wind the more violently she ran against the sharp edges and spits of 
the ice, not having any power to avoid them. After every shock, we tried the pumps 
to find whether we had sprung a leak, but the Lord kept His hand on us, and pre- 
served us in a manner almost miraculous. In this awful situation we offered up 
fervent prayers to Him who alone is able to save, and besought Him that, if it were 
His divine will that we should end our lives among the ice. He woidd soon take us 
home to Himself, not let us die a miserable death from cold and hung'er, floatin? about 
in this boisterous ocean. 

" It is impossible to describe all the horrors of this eventful night, in which we 
expected every ice-field to be fraught with death. We were full ten hours in this 
dreadful situation, till about six in the morning, when we were driven into open water, 
not far from the coast. We could hardly believe that we had got clear of the ice ; 
all seemed as a dream. We now ventured to carry some sail with a view to bear up 
agamst the wind. The ship had become leaky, and we were obliged to keep the 
pumps agoing, with only about ten minutes' rest at a time. Both the sailors and wo 
were thereby so much exhausted, that whenever any one sat down he immediate^ 
fell asleep. . . . 

" Next day the wind turned in oin- favour, and carried us swiftly forward towards 
the Hopedale shore. Every one on board was again in full expectation of soon reaching 
the end of our voyage, and ready to forget all former troubles. But, alas ! arriving at the 
same spot from which we had been driven yesterday, we found our way anew blocked up 
with a vast quantity of ice. The wind also drove us irresistibly towards it. AA'e were 
now in a great dilemma. If we went between the islands, where the sea is full of 
sunken rocks, we were in danger of striking upon one of them and being instantly 
24 



370 CONQUESTS OF THE CROSS. [XI.-North America. 

lost ; again, if we ventured into the ice, it was doubtful whether the ship would bear 
any more such shocks as she had received " 

The former course was adopted, as, in the event of shipwreck, there might be some 
possibiHty of escaping to shore. But it did not bring them to their desired haven ; 
for three iveeks longer they were driven about, en