iPilifisi'iiis

iru»l3 ihs.

i

/i../5:^^

o

^0^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^^

Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund.

BV 3625 .M25 E42
Elmslie, Walter Angus,	1856
1935.
Among the wild Ngoni

AMONG THE WILD NGONI

BEING SOME CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY

OF THE LIVINGSTONIA MISSION IN

BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA

W. A. ELMSLIE

M.B., CM., F.B.G.S.

Medical Missionary WITH INTRODUCTION BY

THE RIGHT HON. LORD OVERTOUN

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO

Publishers of Evangelical Literature

1899

MY WIFE

A TRUE QELPMEET IN ALL MY WORK

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction ..... 5

CHAP.

I. Political History of the Ngoni . . 13

II. The Country and the People . . 31

III. Native Customs and Beliefs . . 51

IV. The State of the Country and the Begin-

ning OF the Mission Work . . 76

V. My First Visit to Mombera . . 105

VI. Meeting with the Head-men . . 119

VII. Mission Life and Work in the Early Days 138

VIII. The Rain Question . . .158

IX. In Memoriam : William Koyi . . 189

X. In Memoriam : James Sutherland . 209

XI. The Crisis : War, or the Gospel . 222

XII. In Memoriam : Dr Steele . . 253

XIII. Rearrangement of Stations and Growth

OF THE Work . . . . 283

ILLUSTKATIONS

Portrait of Dr and Mrs Elmslie

Frontispiece

Ngoni Warriors ....

LUNYANGWA RiVER, EkWENDENI

A Village Audience

PoKA Huts on Hillsides .

Sub-Chief and Body-guard

Ngoni Headmen, Ekwbndeni

A Village School

A Village School op Adults and Children and HoRA Station Scholars

Nqoniland Staff at Njutu and Hora Mountain

Mr Sutherland, Artisan Missionary

Dr Steele ....

Dr Steele's Grave at Ekwendbni

Mr Stuart and Nqoniland Teachers

Map .....

PAGE

22 28 U 80 96 120 144

170 194 209 253 280 299 At end

INTRODUCTION

THE eyes of the world are on Africa, and the nations of the West are eagerly engaged in exploring and an- nexing land without asking the consent of the inhabitants. Till far on in the century only the fringes of Africa were known, the districts round the Cape up to Natal were early colonised, while the West Coast was specially known as the "White Man's Grave." The north, once the abode of pirates, fell chiefly under French influence, and the wondrous land of Egypt, stretching into the dim past, has been the battlefield of hosts contending for its possession. While the East Coast has languished under Portuguese misrule and neglect, Egypt and the southern regions have steadily advanced under British possession and influence.

The southern portion of what has long been known as the Dark Continent has been to a great extent civilised, and while elements have not been wanting to degrade the native races, much has been done to spread the Gospel and the arts of peace. But during all these years the interior of Africa was an unknown land, sometimes marked in maps as " Desert," but believed to be the abode of horrid cruelty. Explorers from Bruce to Speke, Thomson and Grant, sought to penetrate its secrets, but the malarial climate, the fever swamps and tangled forests, not to speak of wild beasts and savage men, barred the way.

It was David Livingstone, a self-educated Scottish weaver, who, inspired with the passion to discover the secret sources of the Nile, and the mysteries of Central Africa, was raised up by God to carry the Gospel message to those who, for centuries, had sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. This is not the place to recite how, time after time,

7

8 INTRODUCTION

he plunged alone into the dark land, and with a gentleness which won his way, and a dauntless and persevering daring which carried him through many perils, brought to light the secrets of centuries, and blazed a path for civilisation and the Gospel.

But his heart was wrung with the horrors of the dread- ful slave trade which had decimated Africa for ages, and caused the groans and sighs of her sons and daughters to ascend to heaven.

On a May day in 1873, worn out by fatigue and cruel fever, he was found dead by his faithful native boys, kneeling as in prayer at the side of the rude bed in his hut, amid the swamps of Lake Bangweolo.

Among his last written words were, " May Heaven's rich blessing come down on every one — American, English, Turk — who will help to heal this open sore of the world."

Carried by loving hands over a nine months' march, his body was laid in Westminster Abbey in April 1874, and the story of his life and death sent a thrill through Christendom, and purposes were formed for the sending of the Gospel to Central Africa.

Dr James Stewart of Lovedale was the first to move, and the result was the formation of the Livingstonia Mission by the Free Church of Scotland, the Blantyre Mission by the Church of Scotland, the Universities' Mis- sion by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the Tanganyika Mission by the London Missionary Society, while later Moravians, Germans, and others followed.

The sphere chosen by the Livingstonia Mission was the west shore of Lake Nyasa, an inland sea some 400 miles long, discovered by Livingstone and Dr Stewart; and in 1875 the Ilala^ bearing the pioneers of the Mission, Dr Laws and his helpers, steamed into the Lake and took possession for Christ.

The first settlement at Cape Maclear, the south end of

INTRODUCTION 9

the Lake, had to be abandoned because of its unhealthy climate, which cost the lives of several missionaries. Moving to Bandawe, about half way up the West Coast of Lake Nyasa, the pioneers settled there, surveyed the land around, and began its conquest for the Gospel.

The story of the Livingstonia Mission is one of faithful and persevering work in the face of untold difficulties. Unknown langl^ages had to be mastered and reduced to writing. Slavery and barbarism faced the Missionaries at every point. An unknown tropical climate tried them to the uttermost. When one fell at his post another stepped into the breach. Supported by prayer, faith and patience, they laboured on for years, till at last the seed sown in tears took root and sprang up. Now the labourers are filled with praise because God has given them to see fields white to the harvest.

The work has been carried on all these years by men and women, whose names shine as heroes in the Gospel story, on four great lines : —

1. The direct proclamation of the Gospel.

2. Education of young and old.

3. Medical Mission work.

4. Industrial training.

These have all been carried on at each of five stations, which all have many out-stations. In recent years a great central Training Institution has been established at Kon- dowi, to which the best pupils are drafted to be trained as evangelists, teachers, and skilled artisans. There are now some 500 resident and day students, and Dr Laws, who has been the honoured head of the Mission since its be- ginning, is in charge.

The Livingstonia Mission seeks to evangelise a field of about 300 miles long by 100 miles broad. There are now 7 native churches with over 1000 members, 85 schools with 11,000 scholars, and 300 native teachers and preachers.

lo INTRODUCTION

While the whole field is full of the deepest interest, and each tribe has its own character, traditions and peculiarities, one of the tribes is dominant. The Ngoni, of whom the following pages tell, are the warriors of the country, of Zulu race, with splendid physique and qualities, but steeped for centuries in superstition, bloodshed, and cruelty. The fascinating story told by Dr Elmslie of the rise of Chaka's kingdom, of the seas of blood shed by him and his war- riors, accompanied by untold cruelties, and all for lack of the Gospel unsent by sleeping Christendom, should stir the hearts of many to send the message of peace where it has not yet gone.

Dr Elmslie, who with his devoted wife has just sailed for Africa to begin his third term of service, vividly pictures the lofty plateau of Ngoniland, with its native villages and the dark background of vice and cruelty which lies behind the village life, with the horrors of the slave trade which harried peaceful homes, leaving the smoking ruins, while the inmates were massacred, or re- served for a more cruel fate, and how their perils drove the people to live in swamps or inaccessible rocks.

The first advance of the missionaries to Ngoniland was in 1878 in the face of much personal danger. The first inter- views with Mombera and his bloodthirsty chiefs, picture not only the danger of the situation, but the faith, courage, and tact of the men who, taking their lives in their hands, went as ambassadors of Christ to these bloodstained savages.

They were worth winning for Christ, but it was a long story of alternating hope and fear, of patience and trial. The inquisitive questions, the insatiable and insolent greed shown to the missionaries, who were known not only to have brought " The Book," but calico and beads, were most trying.

The story of William Koyi, a Kafir Christian trained at Lovedale, and how, with Christian tact and patience, he disarmed suspicion, and secured for himself and his Euro-

INTRODUCTION ii

peans the friendship of Mombera and his people, has seldom been equalled in the missionary field.

To preach to the people was at first well-nigh impossible, the time of sowing had not yet come, much less the reap- ing; but the influence of his humble Christian life and example in the face of danger and difficulty, won at last the respect and love of the Ngoni tribe. Dr Elmslie touch- ingly tells how William Koyi, the faithful worker, heard on his dying bed that full permission had been given to teach and preach the Gospel, and with " nunc dimittis " on his lips went to his reward in 1886.

For full three years the pioneers laboured, prayed, and watched. The medical aid given helped them to win their way among the people, who wondered why they remained when no one would receive their message.

There came the first tiny blade when three youths came like Nicodemus at night to inquire, but these first-fruits met with bitter opposition, and Dr Elmslie and his faithful helpers were sorely tried by dangers, anxieties, fever, and disappointment. Then came the turning-point when, after a long drought, rain fell in response to the white men's prayers, and a new era began.

Mrs Elmslie's arrival created a fresh interest ; work was begun among the girls, as had been done by Mrs Laws at Bandawe, and after a while, on the people's own proposal, they had a harvest thanksgiving to God.

Dr Elmslie tells the life-story of James Sutherland of Wick, converted in connection with D. L. Moody's mission there, who faithfully laboured with the Doctor amid dangers and difficulties, and who, before his death, showed such en- thusiasm that when, in consequence of murderous threats, plans were made for the missionaries leaving, Sutherland had arranged to become a slave to one of the Ngoni in order to remain as a witness for God among the people.

The story of the exorcising of spirits, of Dr Laws' visit.

12 INTRODUCTION

and the terrible suspense which the missionaries passed through, lead up to the first baptism in 1890. Then Dr Steele began his too brief work, which for five years brightened the band of workers, till his valued life was laid down.

In 1892 the first Ngoni woman was baptised ; two years later Miss Stewart joined the workers, and that year 760 children attended school.

Then the most northern station was opened at Mwenzo by Mr and Mrs Dewar and the Training Institution was started at Kondowi, above Florence Bay.

While Europeans must be pioneers (and God has given the Livingstonia Mission a splendid stafi), the evangelisa- tion of Africa must be done by Africa's sons, and the 500 students in training at the Institution who will soon be the craftsmen, teachers, evangelists, and pastors of British Central Africa.

The Rev. Donald Fraser, who has been nearly a year in Ngoniland, has had the joy of helping the earlier labourers in the reaping of the harvest which now gladdens the hearts of all. At Ekwendeni he joined the Eev. James Henderson and others in a great Communion service when 195 sat at the Lord's Table, in presence of 4000 natives. In two days 198 adults and 89 children were baptised.

The scenes so graphically described in these pages, of warriors who once marched in impis to bloodshed and cruelty, now marching in hundreds to a Gospel gathering, witnessing the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and Baptism with reverent interest ; of the night air vocal with hymns where once the war-cry was heard; of peaceful homes and cultivated land, all tell of the triumph of the Gospel of God, and how, through the labours of Dr Laws, Dr Elmslie and their noble band as well as those who have gone to their rest, the wilderness and the solitary place is glad for them and the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose.

OVERTOUN.

I

CHAPTER I

THE HISTORY OF THE NGONI

N order to understand the present cliaracter of ^ the Ngoni it is necessary to go back to the dawn of the present century and to South Africa, the cradle of these people. The mighty movements of barbarous fanatics in recent tinaes, such as those in the Soudan and elsewhere, sink into insignificance when compared with those that give rise to the presence of the Ngoni in British Central Africa and in German East Africa, not to speak of the Matabele who gave so much trouble to the British, or the other branches of the same race which had to be proceeded against by Portuguese arms.

In a district somewhere on, or near, the Tugela river, which now forms the northern boundary of the colony of Natal, there was born, as the century dawned, a child with a reputed miracu- lous origin but fathered by Senzangakona, chief of the then insignificant Zulu tribe. His mother, fearing for his life, fled with him to the court

14 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

of a neighbouring and more powerful chief, named Dingiswayo, ruling the Amatetwa. Here he was received and cared for until he attained to manhood. Umnandi {i.e. the pleasant one) the mother of Chaka, as the child was named, remained with him. Dingiswayo was at that time the most powerful chief in the district stretching from Natal to Delagoa Bay. He had, in the early part of his life, been compelled to flee into what is now part of Cape Colony, and while exiled is supposed to have come into some knowledge of carrying on war by organised regiments and companies.

Thus through Europeans came the impulse which, as we shall see, was destined to have such awful results in the life and history of in- dividuals and tribes over nearly half the length of Africa. On gaining the chieftainship of his tribe Dingiswayo organised his army in regiments, and otherwise improved its means of carrying desolation over a wide area. Chaka, during his stay with Dingiswayo, had no doubt ample oppor- tunity for studying the art of war and seems to have done so successfully. He even improved on Dingiswayo's methods, and was not satisfied that conquered tribes should be so generously treated as they were by being incorporated as vassals of the paramount chief Chaka saw in this a

THE HISTORY OF THE NGONI 15

source of insecurity and formed the idea of so disorganising or crushing them that they would be incapable of rising against the chief. No doubt it was his education in war and bloodshed that bore its fruits when, as a young man, he ascended the throne of his father by causing the death of his brother, to supplant whom he had returned to the Zulu tribe against the wish of Dingiswayo. As Dingiswayo had opposed his pretensions to rule he had him " removed " soon after.

With this Chaka our history of the Ngoni begins. His brief reign of seven or eight years was a period in which more blood was shed, and greater upheaval among native tribes induced, than in any other country in the world. As a writer says, "War poisoned all enjoyment, cut off all that sustains life, turned thousands of square miles into literally a howling wilderness, shed rivers of blood, annihilated whole com- munities, turned the members of others into cannibals, and caused miseries and sufferings, the full extent of which can never now be known, and which, if ever known, could not be told." These words were written on the death of Chaka in 1828, and although it is estimated that over a million human beings owed their death either directly or indirectly to Chaka, it is not im-

1 6 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

probable that over the region which the wave of war and bloodshed travelled, even more than that number were slain in battle, massacred in their villages, or driven into the wilds to die of starvation.

The last of the chiefs to be conquered by Chaka was Zwide, under whom Zongandaba and other chiefs (formerly independent) ruled over districts and acted as commanders of divisions of his army. In a great battle with Zwide and all his chiefs Chaka was victorious, as the proud Ngoni are careful to state, through the deception of a man named Noluju, who was a political prisoner with Zwide and who desired to '*pay out " Zwide for some wrong done him. This Noluju went to Chaka and arranged that, on the attack being made, he would mislead the army of Zwide. Arranging that Chaka's army should camp by some favourable watering-place, he guided Zwide's force to a barren place and left it there, under pretence of going to spy out Chaka's position. When they were faint from thirst he guided them to where the water was, but Chaka attacked them, killing many and putting the rest to flight. The difierent chiefs who had thus been united under Zwide again sought independence by leaving the country, and the Ngoni who are now in British Central

THE HISTORY OF THE NGONI 17

Africa then began their wanderings, every step of which is marked by blood as we shall see. Of Noluju it is related that, having returned home to get his wives, he set out for another place in which to live. Lying at night in his booth in the forest and evidently congratulating himself on having paid out Zwide for his treat- ment of him, he put his thoughts in song, native- wise, and sang, " He forgets who did the wrong, but he forgets not who was wronged." Zwide's spies, sent to chase him, heard the song and fell on him and killed them all. The life and fate of this unit illustrates the life and fate of many tribes. Noluju's song was a paean and a prophecy, and he himself the subject.

Although the Ngoni lived under Zwide they were not in entire subjection to him,^ and on occasion, as their own tributaries have done since, they rose in rebellion. As illustrating how, even in those dark days, right principle was not with- out a witness, and was found in the heart of a woman, and how the superstitions of the people enter into and influence every act of their life, the following native narrative may be given.

Zwide, who had attacked Zongandaba, was taken prisoner, and on being released after some months was sent home under escort with a gift of many cattle. His pride was wounded by this

B

iS AMONG THE WILD NGONI

insult from one of his vassals, and he determined on revenge. His mother opposed it, but to her he would not give heed. She devised a plan to strike fear into the hearts of the soldiers. In the words of a native, it is stated that " his mother reasoned with him, saying, ' My child, shall the Ngoni perish ? Did they not send you back, giving you many fat cattle with you 1 Is it right to go out to war against them ? ' But Zwide gave no heed to his mother's words, and called together his soldiers. On the day when they were being reviewed, the mother of Zwide, having planned to make the soldiers afraid, went into the cattle-fold (it was not permissible for women to do so) where the soldiers were. Standing in their midst she unloosed her skirt and stood exposed among them. The soldiers seeing her thus wondered greatly, and Zwide also wondered. The soldiers declared that it was an omen, that perhaps an ancestral spirit had prompted her to do thus, and they, being afraid to go out, were disbanded forthwith. So Lowawa, Zwide's mother, prevailed."

On the breaking up of Zwide's combined force, Zongandaba and other petty chiefs led off sections of the tribe in quest of new lands, as they could not retain their old country against the growing power of Chaka. They had been conquered, but

THE HISTORT OF THE NGONJ 19

they liad evidently been impressed by Chaka's methods, and resolved to follow them. No doubt also they appropriated the fame of Chaka and would be looked upon with fear by the weaker tribes they resolved on attacking. They passed through the Swazi country, attacking the people, impressing many to join them and capturing many cattle. Not many of the Swazi tribe lived to settle with the Ngoni west of Nyasa, but the oldest person in the country, probably, is a Swazi woman whose husband was a contemporary of Zongandaba, and afterwards a sub-chief of Mombera's. Having increased their strength and wealth by this attack on the Swazis, the horde then entered Tongaland to the west of Delagoa Bay, and settled for a time on the lower reaches of the Limpopo river. They crossed the Nkomati river near where there is now a station of the Basel Mission. Here a petty chief of Chaka, named Nqaba, with a following came upon them and there was a battle. Nqaba was driven back, but Zongandaba did not feel safe even there from an attack by Chaka. Having added to their force and their wealth by annexing many Tonga and their cattle, they went towards the west and attacked the Karanga tribe. Here, as among the Tonga, they instructed them in their methods of warfare and were gaining in

20 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

power by these additions. After a short resi- dence among the Karanga another move was made towards the north, and they arrived in June 1825 at the Zambezi somewhere between Zumbo and Tette.

Here it may be of interest to turn aside and complete our narrative of the waves of bloodshed set rolling by Chaka, by glancing at the rise of two kingdoms south of the Zambezi, under two chiefs driven out by him about the time that the Ngoni began their wanderings. The first is that of Gazaland, first occupied by Sotshangane who fought with Zongandaba under Zwide against Chaka, and fled at the same time. We may safely infer that his progress northward was marked by blood, and that he and his successor Umzila did not organise their vast kingdom, before then composed of many small tribes, without much more bloodshed. But who can tell what sufi'ering and death resulted ? When Umzila died, his son Gungunhana succeeded, and in the recent open- ing up of Africa he has given as much trouble to the Portuguese as the Matabele have given to the British.

The other great power for evil springing up at this time was Umziligazi, who fled from the tyranny of Chaka and settled in the north of the Transvaal. His name inspired terror through

THE HISTORT OF THE NGONI 21

a vast region, as he completely subjugated or destroyed every tribe from whose opposition he had anything to dread. Eeaders of " Robert and Mary Mofiat" will remember that this is " the scourge of the Bechuanas," " the Napoleon of South Africa," to whom Dr Moffat went first in 1829. Afterwards, when he had removed further north, Dr Moffat travelled 700 miles to see him and seek his salvation. Umziligazi formed a strong attachment to Dr Moffat, which was continued for thirty-nine years, until he died in 1868. The accounts given by Dr MofiJat of these visits should be read by every one, but I cannot help quoting from his biography by his son, referred to above. It describes Dr Moffat's farewell to the great chief in 1860, when the veteran laid down his work at Inyati where the Mission had been planted. " On Sunday morn- ing, the 17th June, he walked up to the chief's kraal, for the purpose of speaking to Umziligazi and his people for the last time on the great themes of life, death, and eternity. As we followed him along the narrow path, from our camp to the town about a mile distant, winding through fields and around patches of uncleared primeval forest, no step was more elastic and no frame more upright than his. In spite of un- ceasing toil and tropical heats and miasmatic

22 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

exhalations, in spite of cares and disappointments, his wonderful energy seemed unabated. The old chief was as usual in his large court-yard, and gave kindly greeting. They were a strange con- trast as they sat side by side — the Matabele tyrant and his friend the messenger of peace. The word of command was given ; the warriors filed in and arranged themselves in a great semi- circle, sitting on the ground, the women crept as near as they could, behind huts and other points of concealment, and all listened in breath- less silence to the last words of ' Moshete.' He himself knew that they were his last words, and that his work in Matabeleland was now given over to younger hands. It was a solemn service, and closed the long series of such, in which the friend of Umziligazi had striven to pierce the dense darkness of soul which covered him and his people. On the morrow there was the last leave- taking, and Mofifat started for his distant home."

Lobengula succeeded his father Umziligazi ; the progress and end of his evil reign are fresh in the mind of everyone.

As soon as the Ngoni had crossed the Zambezi it is said they were in the country of the Senga. These are not the Senga now living on the Loangwa further north, of whom more hereafter. Their languages are quite distinct. The Senga

THE HISTORY OF THE NGONI 23

tribe being an easy prey to the Ngoni (who must now have been very numerous, composed of the original stock, and the Swazi, Tonga, and Karanga additions by the way) at once sub- mitted and were incorporated. They rested in this district, eating up the food of the country and initiating the Senga into the use of their weapons of war, the shield and spear.

Leaving the country of the Senga, consider- ably increased by the addition of that people, they journeyed north, evidently along the water- shed of the Loangwa river, until they came into the district named Matshulu which was inhabited by Tumbuka, who went under the name of Amamatshulu. The Tumbuka tribe had evidently covered a wide area, but as they lived in small villages of two or three huts they may not have been so very numerous. The Tumbuka are a very industrious agricultural people, and having been unable to resist the Ngoni horde they submitted, and laboured to supply the needs of their conquerors. The Ngoni are said to have lived for a comparatively long period in the Matshulu district, and here began a condition of things in Zongandaba's following which may have delayed their northward progress for three or ten years, as it is variously estimated by natives. It was at any rate a " killing time,"

24 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

which has impressed itself on the minds of the people to this day. Zongandaba had no doubt conceived that he could best conserve the in- terests and combine the influence of those he had conquered and incorporated, by appointing certain of each tribe as his advisers. He had a council composed of Tonga principally, and his original followers began to be jealous of them, and of Zongandaba's evident love for them. The Tumbuka, adepts at witchcraft practices, they impressed into their service. Charges of witch- craft were brought against the leading members of the Tonga tribe, and by the aid of the Tum- buka doctors and their incantations, Zongandaba was incited repeatedly to organize an army and destroy a whole village at a time. None in the village were spared, and during their stay in Matshulu nearly all the Tonga were massacred in this way. To this day to say "People were killed at Matshulu " is to emphasise a large number as quoted. It was evident that dis- content and thirst for power had appeared to disorganize the hitherto united band, and it is said that, after this, Zongandaba became very despotic and approached to having the character of Chaka. Such a heterogeneous collection of men would doubtless produce a despotic ruler. Only one or two Tonga who had left their own

THE HISTORY OF THE NGONI 25

country were spared to the end of the Ngoni wanderings, but some of their children are still living.

Having again taken their road northward they came to the district they name Mapupo, inhabited by the Sukuma. The district lies near the south end of Tanganyika and is now on the maps as the Fipa district. Here Zongandaba died, after which tlie tribe suffered several dis- ruptions. While in this district, and combined, they carried war northward on the east of Tan- ganyika ; eastward as far as the Nkonde tribes at the north end of Lake Nyasa, and south-east- ward to the Henga, then living in the mountain- ous country near the Rukuru river, a few days' journey from their present location, which was the country of the Tumbuka originally.

At the disruption the chief sections were : 1. That under Ntabeni which went northward on the west side of Tanganyika, where in 1879 they were heard of by the late Mr Stewart. 2. Ntutu led another section northward on the east side of Tanganyika ; of these Stanley in his " Through the Dark Continent" says, "No traveller has yet become acquainted with a wilder race in Equa- torial Africa than that of the Mafitte (Maviti) or Watuta. They are the only true African Bedawi ; and surely some African Ishmael must

26 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

have fathered them, for their hands are against every man, and every man's hand appears to be raised against them. . . . The Watuta became separated from the Mafitte (Maviti or Ngoni) by an advance in search of plunder and cattle." They carried war and bloodshed over a vast extent of country, as may be seen by a glance at a map of Central Africa. Considering that they were only a sub-section of the Ngoni, the following graphic description of their expedi- tion will indicate the tremendous wave which Chaka set rolling over twenty-six degrees of latitude. Mr Stanley continues : ** The separa- tion {i.e. of the section referred to above as led by Ntutu) occurred some thirty years ago (1840). On their incursion they encountered the Warori who possessed countless herds of cattle. They fought with them for two months at one place, and three months at another ; and at last, perceiving that the Warori were too strong for them — many of them having been killed in the war, and a large number of them (now known as the Wahehe, and settled near Ugogo) having been cut off from the main body, — the Watuta skirted Urori, and advanced north- west through Ukonongo and Kawendi to Ujiji. It is in the memory of the oldest Arab residents at Ujiji how the Watuta suddenly appeared and

THE HISTORT OF THE NGONI 27

drove them and the Wajiji to take refuge upon Bangwe Island.

" Not glutted with conquest by their triumph at Ujiji, they attacked Urundi ; but here they met different foes altogether from the negroes of the south. They next invaded Uhha, but the races which occupy the intra-lake regions had competent and worthy champions in the Wahha. Baffled at Uhha and Urundi, they fought their devastating path across Uvinza and entered Unyamwezi, penetrated Uzumbwa, Utambara, Urangwa, Uyofu, and so through Uzinja to the Victoria Nyanza, where they rested some years after their daring exploit. They ultimately re- turned and settled in Ugomba, between Uhha and Unyamwezi. They are called by the Nyam- wezi Ngoni."

3. The third section is that over which Mombera was appointed chief. Mtwaro should have been chief, but he resigned in favour of Mombera, as being of a quiet disposition ; he felt the burden of ruling such a jealous, discontented people as they had become would be too great for him. Under Mombera there were his brothers Mtwaro, Mperembe, Mpezeni and Maurau. This section moved eastward to a place called Tshidhlodhlo, the locality only being known now as somewhere about the north end of Nyasa. Here a great

28 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

battle was fought, and the Gwangwara, over- coming the others under Mombera, drove them back in a southerly direction. The Gwangwara, in settling on the east side of Lake Nyasa, form the outmost ripple of the wave on that side, and they have carried fire and sword southward into Yaoland, and as far as Masasi, the station of the Universities' Mission. Those under Mombera at this point suffered a disruption. Mperembe and Mpezeni broke off. Mperembe returned to at- tack the Bemba to the south of Tanganyika, and Mpezeni went south and settled where he now is, west of the southern extremity of Lake Nyasa. Chiwere, a head man, went off with a following, and settled west of Kotakota. Mombera's division first settled in Henga (the lower reaches of the Rukuru river), and subjugated the Henga section of the Tumbuka tribe, ultimately entering the Tumbuka country proper, on the south-west of Choma mountain. Being joined again by Mperembe, they have continued to occupy the valleys of the Lunyangwa, Kasitu and Rukuru. They defeated and began to govern the Tumbuka and Tonga on their arriving there, and have only a few years ago given up their predatory habits.

What might not have happened had the dawn of this century witnessed the enthusiasm of the Christian Church in the cause of foreign missions

THE HISTORY OF THE NGONI 29

which is a feature of its close ! What achieve- ments for Christ there might have been ! Here we stand at the Zambezi and look back at the reigns of Dingiswayo, Chaka and Zwide, and see the rise and fall of kingdoms ; rivers of blood shed; a million or more massacred, con- demned to cannibalism, or to death by starva- tion ; fathers slaying their children, and children their fathers; and God's fair earth made worse than hell — all for want of the Gospel. We see before us a horde of barbarians, their faces set to the north, who, over hundreds and hundreds of miles, are to spread death and desolation ere the Gospel comes to them to make them new men. Had the Gospel been brought to Dingiswayo's kraal then, what a different history of South and Central Africa could have been written ! There was then a more open door to these regions than there has been in these later days, according to the history of missions in Zululand, Matabeleland, Gazaland, the Upper Zambezi, Nyasaland, and away round Nyasa by the country dominated by the Gwangwara, who are Ngoni, down through Yaoland, for all were affected by the convulsions induced in Chaka's time. We read of Dingiswayo in the beginning of this century opening a trade with the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay, giving liberal rewards to his people for inventive or imitative

30 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

genius displayed in the production of things with which he might trade with the Portuguese, and having a karosse manufactory, in which a hundred men were employed. These were days of peace and industry such as have not been found any- where else on the arrival of missionaries in those regions. Again, in the days of Chaka, over whom one or two Europeans (Messrs Fynn, Farewell, and Isaacs) seem to have had great influence, gained by fair dealing and medical skill, one of them wrote : " On one occasion, as I have before related, when we communicated to him our opinions on the existence of God, who made the world, and of a future state, and told them that by a knowledge of letters all our confidence of being immortal beings had arisen, he expressed surprise, and wished much that the doctors or missionaries would come to him, and teach him to acquire this knowledge. The greatest state of ignorance on this sublime subject pervaded him. But I have ever been impressed forcibly from the desire he manifested to have among his people missionaries whom, he said, he would protect and reward, that he might have been brought to some sense of reason on this important point, so neces- sary for the promoting of civilization." But the Church of Christ was at the time iornorant of her

o

duty, and was not impressed by the opportunity of extending her Lord's kingdom.

CHAPTER II

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRY

THE physical features of Ngoniland may be denoted in a few words. Situated about 4000 feet above the sea-level it has little or nothing to suggest its being in the tropics, save the daily course of the sun and the periodic rains. There are no broad sluggish rivers whose muddy banks are covered with mangrove thicket, above which rise giant trees and stately palms such as are usually associated with pictures of tropical scenery. Leaving Lake Nyasa at an altitude of 1500 feet we have to cross the broken mountain ranges, rising in some cases to 7000 feet, which form the eastern boundary of Ngoni- land. From the heights we behold hundreds of square miles of open undulating country, whose low wooded hills run north and south for most part, the broad valleys being traversed by streams which become roaring torrents during the brief rainy season, but at other times are small and easily forded. Looking over the

32 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

country at our feet, we are struck by its treeless- ness, save on the crowns of the low hills. Here and there we find single large trees and, at intervals, dark green patches which look like fields of green corn, but which are in reality patches of bush composed of fresh shoots from the roots of trees cut down, which features denote dry unfruitful soil not worth tilling. It is evident that, at one time, the whole country was covered by dense forests of large trees, which have been ruthlessly cut down for fire-wood, or, as is more frequently the case, to be burned on the ground as manure for new gardens. The intervening ground, if viewed in the dry season, appears as bare, whitish, or yellowish-red soil, as the extensive gardens are then empty and the grass burned up. It is not easy to pick out the villages as the colour of the dried thatch accords with that of the bare ground and renders them not readily visible. The most conspicuous feature of the district is the innumerable ant- hills scattered over the plains. Seen from a distance they resemble stacks of hay in a field. They are the product of the white ant, the most destructive pest we have, a full account oi which is given in a most interesting way in Prof. Drummond's " Tropical Africa." The ant-hills in Ngoniland are larger than any to be seen

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRT 33

elsewhere. They are not the turret-shaped variety to be seen in the low countries, but arc huge mounds in many instances 50 feet in cir- cumference at the base and 20 feet in height. The clay composing these mounds is very suitable for brick-making, and from even one ant-hill a whole Mission station could be built.

The villages are situated near the streams or fountains. The native has no idea of bringing water to his town save by the usual beast of burden — woman, and so the presence of water decides where the village is to be built. He can drive his cattle far enough to pasture, or go miles and cultivate his garden, but water which is needed every day has to be carried, and the women who have to do that have some voice in the choice of a site for a town. The low hills form natural divisions between chiefs' and sub- chiefs' districts,, and consequently, while Ngoni- land is perhaps 100 miles long by 60-80 broad, the villages are mainly in groups around the large town of the chief or sub-chief, and are easily overtaken by district schools and evan- gelistic agencies.

The towns and villages are not permanent locations. Every three or four years the inmates find it necessary to make new homes, and a fresh start in life as regards domiciliary comforts.

34 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

The wliite ant attacks the wood and grass of tlie hut ; the bugs, tampans and jiggers, disturb the peace of the inmate ; and the accumulations of filth around the village make life unbearable even to the native ; he is forced to seek a new home.

Removing a village to a new site was one of the great events in the history of the people. It marked a division in his calendar and became a point by which he could locate events. It was one of the occasions when he had to be religious, and so the removal was inaugurated by certain religious rites. The cattle are the sustenance and the bond of the family, the village, and the tribe. The care of the cattle in the new town was first seen to. The size of the fold having been decided upon, and marked ofi" by making a circle, it was built of trees and shrubs, at first of a temporary nature, because by tradition it had to be begun after sunrise, finished, and the cattle folded before sunset, on the same day. When the cattle were driven in, the religious ceremonies conducted by the divining doctor were further developed, by selecting a certain beast as a sacrifice to the village ancestral spirit. This beast would ultimately be killed for the spirit, and eaten by the people when the village was occupied. Although many religious rites of the

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRY 35

people appear to us grotesque and unreal, yet a close examination of them proves the existence of their belief in a Providence, a Judge, and an Almighty King, but we cannot stop to unfold the matter here. The huts of the people are built in circles around the cattle-fold. Like everything the native makes they are circular, and he points to the sun, moon, and horizon as a reason why they should be so. A few sticks set in the ground and plastered inside, with a wattled roof covered with grass, constitutes the native hut. He does not use it as a shelter from the sun but from cold, and its circular form reflects heat and renders it comfortable in the cold nights which are experienced on the hills.

The size of the hut depends upon the position of the master; it is from 10 to 20 feet in diameter, but the walls are not more than from 4 to 8 feet in height. The roof comes down nearly to the ground, and so a cool verandah is formed, under which the inmates can enjoy their siesta, or congregate on wet days to in- dulge in their favourite pastime — gossip — or perform their toilet, the women requiring a long time, owing to their manner of dressing the hair. The huts are single-roomed of course, the inner part being the storehouse for seed, corn, pots, and

36 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

other utensils required in the daily round. The fire is made in a circular depression in the middle of the floor, and the cooking-pot is set on three stones above the fire, which is always of wood. The smoke finds an exit by the door or through the roof, and the rafters are covered by soot which protects them from the attacks of white ants. One can tell the direction of the prevailing wind, by the colour of the outside thatch being browned by smoke on the leeward side. In days by-gone the floors of the huts of the better classes were like polished ebony. Clay was beaten hard and smooth while drying, and after being polished by rubbing with smooth stones, the floor was smeared with ox-bloo.d and polished again. In ordinary cases the floors and open space in front of the hut were smeared with fresh cow-dung subsequently scraped ofi" by hand ; this left a clean and cool floor free from dust in which fleas could breed. The brick floors of many Mission houses are regularly treated in the same way, and it is found to be a good plan for preserving the floors intact. In the days when every Ngoni was a warrior, it was the work of the women to build and repair the huts, as well as cultivate the gardens, but now the men share the work, and all that the women do is to collect grass for thatch, plaster the walls, and make the floors.

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRY 37

But before the huts are built — as the village is always built in autumn — the grain-stores have to be erected for the crops to be reaped. They are made by plaiting reeds into huge baskets 5 or 6 feet high and as many in diameter, which are placed on platforms a foot or more from the ground. Sometimes they too are plastered, but only on the outside, and when the mealies or millet stored in them have been well dried, a grass roof is put on prior to the rains. These grain-stores are built between the huts and the cattle-fold. The huts are arranged in groups walled off from each other by reed fences, so that each man with his wives' huts, and those of his slaves, if he has any, has a distinct locality in the village. The huts of the headman or chief and his seraglio and slaves, are situated always at the opposite side from the cattle-fold gate, from which a broad road leads to the watering or pasture. The space at the kraal gate is the public room of the village where anyone may go, and where we usually have our services, but inside the cattle- fold all indahas (cases) are talked, and the village dances take place.

Such is the description of a native village. Around the huts the smooth beaten ground is swept every day, and when once inside the village, one's sensitiveness is not offended, but

38 AMONG THE WILD NGONJ

the serious matter is the approach. Good for the natives is it that their bodies cannot always endure the incessant attack of certain insects inhabiting the huts, and that they are compelled every three or four years to build a new village and burn everything connected with the old one. There is not the slightest attempt at sanitary arrangements. The ashes from the fires, the refuse of maize, the sweepings of the village, and filth of all kinds find their place just round the village behind the outer row of huts. The state of filth around is indescribable. After a year or two the tampan, one of the greatest and most prevalent pests of Africa, multiplies in the huts, and so at length, more from that than because of the general collapse of the village, the natives have to make a new one. The tampan is a thousand times more annoying than the bug of which also there is usually a good supply. It is larger when full grown than a sheep-tick, of a dirty-grey colour, and so tough as not to be easily killed by crushing. The sight of them, even before one has experienced their bite, is most repulsive. They are not to be seen during the day as they enter the cracks in the roughly- plastered huts, or hide in the roof, but no sooner has one lain down, than they come out and feed off" him. Their bite is very irritating, and has

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRY

39

the reputation of producing fever, dysentery, and other troubles. The effect of the bite appears to be dependent on the physical condition of the individual at the time of the attack. I have been bitten when there have been no effects per- ceptible except the discomfort locally. At other times a night or two in a native hut has almost completely laid me down — the feeling of malaise and tendency to sickness were very pronounced. The tampan seems to be common all over Africa, and a species from Egypt is named Argas savignyi, with which those in Central Africa are closely allied. The sleeping-place of native servants on the stations cannot be kept free from them. The boys bring them from the villages in their clothes, but ordinary care prevents their entrance into the missionary's rooms. Indeed from that and other commoner organisms, when- ever I returned home from a tour on which I had to reside in native huts, I was put in quarantine as a precaution.

When the natives leave their old village the huts are burned down, except those belonging to deceased persons, which are left to fall to pieces, as the spirits are supposed still to visit them. On the site of an old village for many years they sow maize, and I have seen it 1 2 feet high and growing so closely together as to be scarcely penetrable.

40 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

Let us spend a day in such a village. The native is an early riser. Ere the sun has ap- peared, men and women are out of doors. The cow-herds have gone to milk the cattle before driving them out to the bush, where they browse all day and are brought home at sunset, when they are again milked. The women set off to the river with a big earthen pot on the head, and return with it full of water — such-like exercise giving the native women that grace of carriage which would be the envy of ladies in civilized countries. The native woman can carry twice as much as a man on her head. If the village is dependent on water from a fountain it is "first come best served." I have been march- ing through a fountain country at four o'clock in the morning, and seen women and girls running to the fountains at that hour, in hope of finding sufficient water before the others come. Then the woman has the firewood to gather, the maize to pound in a wooden mortar and grind into flour for the evening meal. She has to find the umhido (green herbs) which, in the absence of meat, is required as a relish with the stiff maize porridge which is the staple diet of man, woman, and child. She has a large part of the day in the dry season in which she may gossip with her neighbours, or lie down and sleep in

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRT 41

the cool verandah of her hut. As evening comes on she has again to visit the river with her water-pot, and cook the food for the men, who eat apart, no woman venturing to eat along with her husband or in the presence of a man. In the rainy season she has hard work indeed, having to work in the gardens in addition to her household duties. The one thing a woman tries to excel in, and gain a reputation for, is the making of beer. Brewing is solely woman's work. She is privileged to preside at the beer- drinking, and usually ends all by becoming in- toxicated. She may not eat with her husband or his friends, but she may get drunk along with them. At other times she has to reverence her husband by not pronouncing his name, unless she swears by it, but at beer-drinkings no rule binds her save that her beer ought to make those who partake of it drunk. These beer-feasts end in quarrels and evil of every kind.

A very bad custom obtains in connection with planting and reaping which produces much drunkenness. The meagre hoeing given to the ground necessitates the cultivation of vast stretches of garden ground, in order to plant the year's supply of food. To get the ground hoed and planted, householders, who have many gardens, invite labourers by carrying large pots

42 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

of strong beer to the garden. There is no lack of willing workers who drink and shout and, in the end, quarrel and fight, sometimes laying each other's heads open with a blow from their hoes. These scenes are utterly degrading and nothing but a heartier desire for honest work by each owner of a garden, and thoroughly cultivat- ing a smaller tract, will put down these scenes. Then when hundreds of baskets of maize and other grain have to be carried home, or the beer crop cut stalk by stalk and gathered, help is again required, and a beer-drinking brings together the workers. Our teachers have set their faces against this vile custom and have instituted a feast — mutton or goat-flesh and porridge — when help is required, and thus a step towards a better state of things has been taken.

The work is done principally by the inferior wives, if a man has more than one. The head- wife, however, is the overseer and, in a poly- gamous household, if her favourites are not for the time being also her husband's favourites, she makes it hot enough for those whom she con- siders to be too attractive to him. There are frequent brawls, but should a man strike a wife or any woman he is branded indelibly as a bad man and may as well go and hang himself. The multitude of his wives do not bring him peace.

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRY 43

The wordy warfare is often sharp and long and, in a measure, he has to guard his words lest a wife be driven away to her father's house, in which case, if the cause was sufficient, she may remain away having as her portion the cattle that were paid for her when she was betrothed. I have seen a man hurrying after a raging wife who was en route for her father's house, and it was anything but a dignified position even for a native to be in. On one occasion a man came to beg cloth from me to settle an indaba he had. On enquiring I was told that one of his wives had been offended at some scolding he gave her and had gone to her former home. She had now repented and was willing to return to her husband, but her father's people would not allow her unless he first paid something for having caused her to run away. I enquired how many wives were left to him and he said he had still five. I advised him to let the run-away one stay where she was, but the great matter for him was that she represented so many head of cattle and he could not lose them as, by having children by her he could give them out in marriage and so get his cattle-fold restocked. There was no room for the sentiment of love. It was purely a mercantile transaction. Here is a native's description of a household squabble : —

44 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

*' This is a story about wives. A man had five wives and they were quarrelling among themselves. One said to another, ' You are all right since our husband loves you only. As for us he does not love us at all.' So they seized each other and fought, one of them being greatly hurt in the quarrel over their husband. The husband said, ' I love you all, my wives.' One replied, saying, 'You just love one of your wives.' Others said, ' What did he take us from our father's house for, seeing he only loves one ? ' There was war very often."

When evening comes the principal meal of the day is eaten. It consists of maize flour made into a very stiff and very partially cooked porridge, which is accompanied by a relish composed of meat with a little salt, green vege- tables or dried herbs. What bread is to us this porridge is to the native. It matters not how- ever freely he eat, for instance, of flesh and vegetables, he will complain of hunger unless he has had his quantity of porridge. At meals the women and girls eat by themselves in one part of the family compound or open space, and the men who are usually to be found in the cattle- fold may have theirs along with the boys there. When the meal is over there is not much labour clearing the table or in the scullery afterwards.

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRr 45

The porridge has been cooked in one huge pot and the portion for the women put into a broad flat dish, with the relish in a small earthenware pot, and that for the men and boys has been served up in the same way. They all sit round and, dipping the fingers in the heap of porridge, take a little which they roll into a ball, dip it m the relish and literally pitch it into the mouth They do not chew it, and hence the manifold digestive disturbances the natives are liable to. The delicacies of civilisation are said to have made men more unhappy and unhealthy than is the simple untutored savage. My experience is that civilised people have not so much sickness as natives. Their splendid ivories are made much of, but, as I have seen a few hundred mouths, the front teeth are usually the only ones

preserved. • • i ;i

When the evening meal is over, if it is the dry season and a moon present, the youths and maidens of the village go to the cattle-fold to the dance, which is a recreation much liked by the natives. The Ngoni, unlike the Tonga and Tumbuka peoples!" have no obscene dances, and on a clear evenino-, when all around is still, it is very en- ioyable^ to listen to their song accompaniment (from a distance). It is then that the glamour of native life is thrown over the casual visitor,

46 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

and perhaps it is excusable that he goes away filled with the idea that the native spends an idyllic life, has no care, and is always happy and free. True, there is apparent peace and joy in the village as the young people, not infrequently joined by many of the mothers with babies on their backs, join in song and dance for an hour or two after sunset. But it is only one phase of native life, which does not, to those who are behind the scenes, cover the unhappiness, the slavish fear of evil spirits, tlie often cruel bonds of heathen customs, and above all the secret immorality, lying, stealing, and often murder, which abound in every native community.

The song is the principal thing — not the dance. The dance is the accompaniment of the song, and not vice versd. Their songs are well-nigh unin- telligible to a stranger, as they consist of short statements relating to some incident in the every- day life or history of the people, and without a knowledge of those incidents one cannot under- stand them. From them, however, one may obtain a very minute record of the people's history. The men, with dancing-sticks in their hands, held erect, form one line, and the women form a line some distance apart from, and opposite to, the men. All sing heartily, and the dance consists in merely striking the ground with the

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRY 47

feet, while the sticks are waved overhead, with certain movements of the body and head carried out in unison, the whole combined forming a not unpleasing, although unrefined exhibition. The song, as heard from a distance, is not without artistic effect as the high-pitched voices of the women, usually very musical, and the deeper voices of the men rise and fall in the evening stillness in musical cadence. In some of the songs there are dialogues, the men and women speaking to each other in rhythmical notes. In these dialogues the music is not unsuited to the subject. In some songs the maidens take up, it may be, a taunt against the young men concern- ing some war exploit, domestic fracas, or play- fully assert that the young men of their village are inferior to those of some other village. To this taunt in song the young men reply in notes suited to their indignation at the charge. Thus the song goes on, while the rhythmic gestures and beating of the ground with the feet add zest to the sub- ject. At certain stages in the song the words are dropped, and the women continue the tune in a low, humming voice, while the movements of the men are continued ; and then, at another stage, the women clap hands in unison, but always in two parts, with a slight interval of time, so that the sound is doubled and accentuated. The dance

48 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

forms a suitable occasion for the youths of the village to show themselves off in front of the young women, whose favour they may be anxious to obtain.

Such is the village dance ; but in the dry season, after the crops have been reaped, there is a kind of competitive dance engaged in between two villages. Without warning, the young people of one village will come to another village, dressed in all their best things. They enter the cattle- fold singing, and begin to dance. Those of the village visited who are within call are quickly summoned to engage the strangers, and they are prepared to begin to dance when the other party stops to rest, the desire being to out-dance the other by holding the field as long as they can, as well as to have the best singing and most perfect movements. Thus they go on, one party after the other, during the whole day, and when the sun has well declined, the strangers return home, singing gaily all the way.

The daily life of the men is soon described. They have usually no work to do. Their day is spent in talking, taking snuff, and drinking beer. They may do a little hoeing in the busy season, and cut the trees where a new garden is being made, but that is about all. The introduction of labour by the Mission has effected a great change,

THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRT 49

as the men who were wont to go out raiding other tribes during the whole of the dry season, are now found eager to obtain work. Some few are found who, of their own free will, devise work, and are always busy since there are trades found among them.

The men's place is the cattle-fold, where they spend their day, and a stranger visiting a village goes to the gate to await the salutations of the people, and to be enquired of as to his business before he is conducted to the house of the party he may have come to see. There is a well- defined etiquette observed throughout the com- munity. It is a great oflfence for one to sit down opposite the door of a hut. A native's house, as well as a Britisher's, is his castle, and no one dare enter uninvited. Neither may one sit down near the house without giving warning by a cough, an exclamation, or by salutation, as eaves- dropping is a crime which is abhorred by the natives.

One of the pretty sights about a native village in the evening is the folding of the cattle. As the sun sinks the cattle begin to turn homeward. The boys who tend them have reeds which they cause to emit a not unmusical sound — the diflfer- ent cattle-herds having differently pitched reeds — by manipulating the open end as they blow

D

50

AMONG THE WILD NGONI

througli, and all sounded together produce a simple, sweet music. The cattle collect together where they have been grazing as the boys blow their reeds, and wend their way home for the evening milking and to rest over night in the open fold. The old Ngoni were wholly a pastoral people, and only in recent years have gone in for agriculture to the extent they now do. Before the cattle plague the herds were numerous and large, but now there are only tens where before there were hundreds. The cessation of war raids also accounts to some extent for the decrease in the number of cattle owned, as cattle- lifting was a constant occupation in the dry season.

CHAPTER III

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS

IT is a mistake to suppose that even among barbarous tribes, such as the Ngoni, all their customs are bad. There were, before Christian teaching began to influence them, many things which were admirable. Those traits of char- acter and customs so readily seen by strangers, the observation of which has so often led travel- lers to believe that the state of the untutored savage was happy, free and good, are neverthe- less found alongside lower ways of living, and a grossly immoral character, which are not only the obstacles to Mission work but its raison d'etre. It is not our purpose, meantime, to state or explain fully the customs of the people, all of which have an interest from the anthropological point of view, but to present a brief sketch of those which stood out as hindrances to the pro- gress of our work, and which, being bad, had to succumb to the influences of the moral and spiritual teaching of the gospel. There are many

52 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

customs so grossly obscene that we cannot enter upon a statement of them. I avail myself of a letter from my colleague, Rev. Donald Fraser, which he recently sent home, describing what he witnessed in an out-lying district of Ngoniland in connection with the initiation customs at the coming of age of young women.

" Leaving these bright scenes behind, I moved on west into Tumbuka country to open up new territory. But scarcely had I turned my back on Hora when I began to feel the awful oppres- sion of dominant heathenism. For a few days I stopped at the head chiefs village, where we have recently opened a school. The chief was holding high days of bacchanalian revelry. He and his brother and many others were very drunk when I arrived, and continued in the same condition till I left. Day after day the sound of drunken song went up from the village. Several times a day they came to visit me and to talk : but their presence was only a pest, for they begged persistently for everything they saw, from my boots to my tent and bed. The poor, young chief has quickly learned all the royal vices — beer-drinking, hemp-smoking, numerous wives, incessant begging. I greatly dread lest we have come too late, but God's grace can transform him yet.

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 53

" When we left Mbalekelwa's we marched for two days towards the west, keeping to the valley of a little river. Along the route, especially during the second day, we passed through an almost unbroken line of Tumbuka villages. At every resting-point the people came to press on us to send them teachers, and frequently ac- companied their requests with presents. When at last we arrived at Chinde's head village, we received a very cordial welcome. Chinde (a son of Mombera) did everything he could to con- vince us of his unbounded pleasure in our visit. For three or four days we stayed there, and were overwhelmed with presents of sheep and goats, and with eager requests for teachers. Leaving this hospitable quarter, we had a long, weary march through a waterless forest, in which we saw the fresh spoor of many buffaloes and other large game, and heard a lion roaring in front. Late in the afternoon we reached Chinombo's and remained for other three days. Here again, we were well received and loaded with presents.

" This whole country to the west is still un- touched. That the people are eager to learn is evident from their urgent requests. That they sadly lack God, and are living in a dreadful degradation, became daily more and more patent. I cannot yet write as an inner observer. Tshi-

54 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

tumbuka, the language spoken there, I am only now beginning to learn. Yet the outer exhibi- tions of vice and drunkenness and superstition were only too painfully evident.

" Often have I heard Dr Elmslie speak of the awful customs of the Tumbuka, but the actual sight of some of these gave a shock and horror that will not leave one. The atmosphere seems charged with vice. It is the only theme that runs through songs, and games, and dances. Here surely is the very seat of Satan.

"It is the gloaming. You hear the ringing laughter of little children who are playing before their mothers. They are such little tots you want to smile with them, and you draw near ; but you quickly turn aside, shivering with horror. These little girls are making a game of obscenity, and their mothers are laughing.

"The moon has risen. The sound of boys and girls singing in chorus, and the clapping of hands, tell of village sport. You turn out to the village square to see the lads and girls at play. They are dancing ; but every act is awful in its shamelessness, and an old grandmother, bent and withered, has entered the circle to incite the boys and girls to more loathsome dancing. You go back to your tent bowed with an awful shame, to hide yourself But from that

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 55

village, and that other, the same choruses are rising, and you know that under the clear moon God is seeing wickedness that cannot be named, and there is no blush in those who practise it.

** Next morning the village is gathered together to see your carriers at worship, and to hear the news of the white stranger. You improve the occasion, and stand, ashamed to speak of what you saw. The same boys and girls are there, the same old grandmothers. But clear eyes look up, and there is no look of shame anywhere. It is hard to speak of such things, but you alone are ashamed that day ; and when you are gone, the same horror is practised under the same clear moon.

" No ; I cannot yet speak of the bitterness of heathenism, only of its horror. True, there were hags there who were only middle-aged women, and there were men bowed, scared, dull-eyed, with furrowed faces. But when these speak or sing or dance, there seems to be no alloy in their merriment. The children are happy as only children can be. They laugh and sing, and show bright eyes and shining teeth all day long. But what of that ? Made in God's image, to be His pure dwelling-place, they have become the dens of foul devils ; made to be sons of God, they have become the devotees of passion.

" I have passed through the valleys of two

56 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

little rivers only, and seen there something of the external life of those who can be the children of God. The horror of it is with me day and night. And on every side it is the same. In hidden valleys where we have never been, in villages quite near to this station, the drum is beating and proclaiming shame under God's face. And we cannot rest. But what are we two among so many ? 0 men and women, who have sisters and mothers and little brothers whose daily presence is for you an echo of the purity of God, why do you leave us a little company, and grudge those gifts that help to tell mothers and daughters and sons that impurity is for hell, and holiness alone for us !

" ' How loDg, 0 Lord ! how long ? '

"I send you this account of a missionary journey. Would that my pen could write the fire that is in my soul ! It is an awful thing to sit looking at sin triumphant, and be unable to do anything to check it. Calls for teachers are coming from every side, but we cannot listen to them at present — our hands are more than fuU."

The letter refers to the custom as it obtained among the Tumbuka and Tonga slaves, and it presents an awful picture of moral degeneracy

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 57

which was all too commonly seen on such occa- sions all over Central Africa. Althous^h the Ngoni practice was less openly obscene yet the occasion was onQ of unspeakable evil, extending over several days, on which both sexes were accorded full licence for every unholy passion.

In like manner in connection with marriages — especially of widows — and the birth of twins ; when armies returned from war and the purifica- tion ceremonies took place, practices which are not meet to be described were unblushiugly engaged in. What in Christian lands is held sacred in heathen lands is too often the common property of young and old, and where public opinion is devoid of the moral sense we cannot look for elevation from within.

One of the greatest social and moral evils among the tribe is polygamy. The evils are seen among all classes, for as the tribe existed by raiding other tribes, all who could bear arms might possess themselves of captive wives. Among the upper classes the rich held the power to secure all the marriageable girls in the tribe, by purchasing them from their parents for so many cattle. The practice of paying cattle was not in all cases wholly bad, but the tendency was to outrage the higher motives and feelings, especially in the women who often were bar-

58 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

gained for by their parents long before they entered their teens. The cattle paid to the father of the bride formed a portion which she could claim and have as a possession, in the event of her being driven away by the cruelty of her husband, and, in the absence of a nobler sentiment, it was in some degree a safeguard of the interests of the wife. But upon no grounds, social or moral, could such a practice be defended. It is inimical to the true morality of marriage, and consequently to the progress of the race. It is no uncommon thing to find grey- headed old men, with half-a-score of wives already, choosing, bidding for, and securing, without the woman's consent, the young girls of the tribe. Disparity of age, emotions and associations, make such unions anything but happy, and nowhere do quarrels and witchcraft practices foment more surely than in a polygamous household. A man's wives are not all located in one village. He may have several villages, and from neglect young wives are subject to many grievances and temptations, so tliat it is no wonder they age in appearance so rapidly. They are often mal- treated by the senior wives, who, jealous of them, bring charges against them, and, in the hour when they should have the joy of ex- pectant motherhood, they are cast aside under

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 59

some foul charge, without human aid or sympa- thetic care. On more than one occasion I have been called by a weeping mother to give aid to her daughter in such circumstances, when, if a fatal issue resulted, she and her family would have been taken into slavery and their possessions confiscated. Only those who spend years among them and are their trusted friends can tell of that and countless other unholy and inhuman things, which result from the custom of polygamy as it exists.

Flippant writers on such customs, especially some travellers who had not the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the people, state that polygamy is, in the savage state where there is an absence of higher motives, a safeguard of morality. It is, however, far from being so. Men with several wives, and many of the wives of polygamists, have assignations with members of other families. I have been told by serious old men that such is the state of family life in the villages that any man could raise a case against his neighbour at any time, and that is one reason why friendliness appears so marked among them — each has to bow to the other in fear of offending him and leading to revelations which would rob him of his all.

The belief in witchcraft is the most powerful

6o AMONG THE WILD NGONI

of all the forces at work among the tribes. It is a slavery from which there has been found no release. It pervades and influences every human relationship, and acts as a complete barrier to all advancement wherever it is found to operate. No matter whether it be master or slave, chief or subject, parent or child, he has to bear this yoke which may at any moment crush him. He lives in fear. If he is sick it is not a ques- tion of how he may be cured, but of who has bewitched him ; or if his plans are frustrated what evil spirit has been moved against him. The reason for his apparent laziness is the feai that, if he become possessed of goods, his circum- stances will excite jealousy and bring on him accusations of witchcraft, and death as a result. It is productive of unrest, cruel treatment, and great loss of property and life.

The itshanusi or witch-doctor lives upon the credulity and slavish fear of the people. He is either self-deceived or a base impostor, but his power for evil in a tribe is unlimited. He is reverenced by all classes, and although one may hear whispers of a want of faith in him and his incantations, no one would dare to oppose him in public. Wicked men and chiefs make use of him and his immunity from punishment to " remove " any person who is disliked or whose

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 6i

possessions have rendered him opprobrious to them, and a chief or headman's unjust demands may be bolstered up by an appeal to his easily- bought action. They aid despotic chiefs in governing a discontented people, and from the deep religious feeling which the people have in regard to the presence and power of the ancestral spirits with whom the itshanusi is believed to be in communication, they are ready to acknowledge even that which may be to their hurt.

As to their belief in witchcraft I might refer to what I have observed in the course of my practice of medicine among the people. No sooner is it concluded that a person who is sick has been bewitched, than the friends around talk of it without constraint in the presence of the patient. Sometimes they may carry him about from place to place in the hope of cheating the charmer, but the effect on the patient is very marked. He seems to conclude that he is to die, and he evinces no fear or anxiety in view of death. He assumes an unnatural stolidity, despair, and what might be termed resignation. Although his imminent death is talked of freely before him he has no fear or complaint. He shows no desire to fight for life, but with an inhuman want of hope or desire for recovery he awaits the end. The thought that he is bewitched

62 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

seems to deprive him of all natural clinging to life. Even among the youthful of both sexes there is that want of hope, when once the elder people have declared they have been bewitched.

In connection with charges of witchcraft, the poison ordeal is the final and too often calamitous sequel. Before the light of Christian truth came to them, and has, even where the doctrines are not wholly embraced, done away with this great evil, the number annually killed by drinking the muave cup cannot be estimated. Anything a man possesses, about which there is any mystery, may give rise to a charge of witchcraft. If a man is found walking near a village at night he is charged with evil intentions. If one possesses himself of an owl or other night bird or animal, he is supposed to work evil by means of such, and is charged forthwith. When sickness or death comes into a house or village someone is blamed. The itshanusi is called, and there are not wanting those who in their talk reveal in what direction the thoughts of the people lie, and so he names someone, which decision at once appears reasonable to the people and is accepted. Often the witch-doctor has emissaries secretly em- ployed to find out what he wants, and, acting upon information thus obtained, he appears to the people to be acting upon communications he

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 63

has received supernaturally. Sometimes he does more to influence their imagination and make themselves name someone than by himself doing so directly. I have known several witch-doctors, and have come to regard them as shrewd indivi- duals, certainly more given to thought than the community generally, and who traded on the superstitious fears of the people, who seldom ex- ercised their reason in connection with ordinary occurrences. On many occasions men and women have sought refuge at the Mission station when accused of witchcraft and under sentence of death. On one occasion, during a trial which took place at a village near the station, when the itshanusi was performing his incantations and condemned a man, he broke away from the crowd and ran towards the house. He was followed by a crowd of men and boys clamouring for his life, and being overtaken, was clubbed to death before our eyes ; his body was ignominiously dragged back to the scene of trial, where it was subjected to gross indignities.

On all occasions of administering the poison cup we tried to stop it. Sometimes we were successful and sometimes we were not. Some- times we were able to prevail upon them to substitute dogs or fowls for the human subjects, and then it was possible for us to watch the pro-

64 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

ceedings. These were occasions on which the whole community turned out. The friends of the accused were very few on such occasions, and the people jeered the unhappy wretch and engaged in song and dance while he had to stand alone and prove his innocence by vomiting the poison, or, by death from the poison, confirm the truth of the charge against him. When the poison began to take efi"ect, as seen in the quiver- ing and collapse of the culprit, it was the occa- sion for wild demoniacal behaviour, jeering and cursing the dying man, unawed in the presence of death. Then his body was ignominiously cast into the nearest ravine to be food for the hyenas at night.

Not only was the poison ordeal resorted to in cases of supposed witchcraft, but the Tonga and Tumbuka, with whom and not with the Ngoni the practice originated, were incessantly using it. In nearly every hut a bundle of poison-bark would be found hid away in the roof against the need to use it. Family and other quarrels were finally adjusted by resort to the ordeal. The women were the mainstay of the horrible practice, and most frequently made use of it. Numberless cases were treated at the dispensary, when more sober reflection made them seek an emetic. Sometimes cases were brought by others.

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 65

A husband might come home and find a crowd about his door and learn that his wife had taken muave. He would bring her to me at once. Sometimes the patient has died while being brought, or even at the dispensary door while 1 was making an effort to save her. Frivolous as were the reasons for resorting to such extreme measures when quarrels arose, there were often dire results therefrom, and sometimes one met with a case which appeared ridiculous even to the native mind. A strong young man came to me one day saying he had drunk muave, and desired an emetic. On enquiry I learned that he and his wife had quarrelled during the night in the secrecy of their own hut. Failing to agree after the usual amount of talking char- acteristic of native brawls, they agreed that at sunrise they would drink muave. When the sun rose they proceeded to the ordeal and the cups were duly mixed. The wife, with a cunning not suspected by the pliable husband, who, with a faith in his innocence, was determined to go through with the business, said, " You made the charge, so you shall drink first." He did so, but the wife, hurling an imprecation at him, refused to drink her share, and fled to a village several miles away. The poor man, amid a crowd of natives derisively cheering him, came

E

66 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

and sought relief, which a liberal use of sulphate of zinc and water gave him.

The poison ordeal is an outcome of their belief in the supernatural. It is an appeal to a power outside themselves to judge the case, reveal the right, and punish the wrong-doer. It is part of their religious system and appears to them to be right. The witch-doctor is to them the visible and accessible agent of the ancestral spirits whom they believe in and worship, and from whom they think he derives his powers. If there is a ten- dency to error in what they believe, the witch- doctor by his shrewdness and making bad use of it, pretending to know more than what will ever be revealed to man, favoured the growth of lies, and juggled with the truth of things. The char- acteristics of the witch-doctor are a pretended superior knowledge to discern the affairs of in- dividuals and communities, and ability to hold intercourse with the ancestral spirits. It is not a hereditary craft such as that of other kinds of doctors, e.g. medicine men who have a knowledge of herbs, and blacksmiths who have the secrets of working in iron. The knowledge of medicine and handicraft are considered to be heirlooms. The witch-doctor is supposed to be chosen by the ancestral spirits, by whom they may communi- cate with the world. A man who is chosen

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS O7

presents certain features or symptoms. He be- comes "possessed" and excludes himself from society. He may have a peculiar sickness, char- acterised by lowness of spirits. It may be he is the subject of fits or has peculiar dreams. When he recovers from this and again enters society he is looked upon with awe by the ordinary people. He places himself in the hands of some old witch- doctor who tests his symptoms of "possession," and if found good he is instructed by him in various practices. He is not allowed to graduate, however, until he has discovered some medicine which is potent in some way, and given public proof of his ability to discover things secreted by those assembled to test his powers. There is doubtless a measure of both self-deception and imposture in the matter. The practice of the witch-doctor is closely connected with the wor- ship of the ancestral spirits. Each house has a family spirit to whom they sacrifice, but no one ever sacrifices to the spirit without first waiting upon the itshanusi. He pretends to have found out the reason for worship, and directs the appli- cant how to proceed.

Without asserting that it is complete, the following is a correct statement of the religious beliefs of the natives. Although they do not worship God, it is nevertheless true that they

68 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

have a distinct idea of a supreme Being. The Ngoni call him Umkurumqango, and the Tonga and Tumbuka call him Chiuta. It may be that the natives, from au excess of reverence as much as from negligence, have ceased to offer him direct worship. They affirm that God lives : that it is He who created all things, and who giveth all good things. The government of the world is deputed to the spirits and among these the malevolent spirits alone require to be appeased, while the guardian spirits require to be entreated for protection by means of sacrifices. I once had a long conversation on this subject with a witch- doctor who was a neighbour for some years, and the sum of what he said was, that they believe in God who made them and all things, but they do not know how to worship Him. He is thought of as a great chief and is living, but as He has the ancestral spirits with Him they are His amaduna (headmen). The reason why they pray to the amadhlozi (spirits) is that these, having lived on earth, understand their position and wants, and can manage their case with God. When they are well and have plenty, no worship is required, and in adversity and sickness they pray to them. The sacrifices are offered to ap- pease the spirits when trouble comes, or, as when building a new village, to gain their protection.

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 69

With such ideas native to the mind of these tribes, how is it that the materialistic writers and unbelieving critics of Missions affirm that the high moral and spiritual truths of Christianity cannot be grasped by them ? In beginning mis- sion work among them, one is not met by any- thing in their mental or spiritual life which is an insurmountable barrier in communicating to them spiritual truths. However erroneously at first they may conceive the truths and facts put be- fore them, they have no difficulty in finding a place for them in their thoughts. To talk of spiritual things is not to them an absurdity, much less is it impossible for them to conceive that such things may be. The native lives con- tinually in an atmosphere of spiritual things. Almost all his customs are connected with a belief in a world of spirits. He is, consciously or unconsciously, always under the power and in- fluence of a spiritual world. In preaching, we have not first to prove the existence of God. He never dreams of questioning that. We have in our instruction merely to unfold His character as Creator, Preserver, Governor, and Father of us all. As He is revealed to them they do not ques- tion His sovereignty, but bow to it. While we meet with many obstacles in their life and thought, yet as they are we have in them much that is a

70 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

help — a basis on which we may operate. How- ever dim their spiritual light may be, we have but to unfold truth to them and it is self-evident to their minds. No preparation by civilization is required, as their spiritual instincts find in the truth of God what they are crying out for. The cry is inarticulate and unuttered, save in their unrest and blind gropings after spiritual things.

Regarding the origin of life and death, all natives have the story much the same as found throughout the Bantu tribes, how that in the be- ginning God sent the chameleon to tell men that they would die but again rise. Afterwards He sent the grey lizard to say that they would die, and dying, would not return. The lizard, being a swift runner, came first, and afterwards the chameleon ; but men said, " We accepted the word of the first, and cannot receive yours." The natives hate the chameleon, and put snuff in its mouth to kill it, because they say it de- layed and led to their acceptance of death.

They believe in the presence of disembodied spirits, good and bad, having the power to aff'ect men in this world. Their sacrifices to them, their fear of them, and their assigning sickness and death to their agency, testify to this.

There are different terms applied to spirits, each of which is explanatory. The native thinks

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 71

of the shade or shadow of his departed friend, and denotes the life-principle, and the term is even applied to influence, prestige, importance. They use it in reference to his life, as when they say, " His shadow is still present " ; meaning that though on the point of death, his spirit is still in him. When I began to take photographs, the same word was applied to a man's photograph, and they evinced the greatest fear lest by yield- ing up their spirit to me they should die. I have shown photographs of deceased persons known to them, and they invariably turned away, some even running away in fear. When a native dreams, he believes he has held converse with the shade of his friend. Another term applied to spirits has reference to their supposed habit of wandering about. The hut of a deceased adult is never pulled down. It is never again used by the living, but is left to fall to pieces when the village removes to another locality. They do not think the spirit always lives in the hut, but they think it may return to its former haunts, and so the hut is left standing. Spirits are thought to enter certain snakes, which consequently are never killed. When seen in the vicinity of houses, they are left unmolested ; and if they enter huts, some- times food and beer are laid down for them. Some time after a chief died, some of his children saw

72 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

a snake near his grave close by the hut in which he died. The cry of joy was taken up by all the family, " Our father has come back." There was great rejoicing, and the family went and spent a night at the grave, clearing away the grass and rubbish that had accumulated. They were satis- fied that it was the spirit of their father in the snake.

If a journey of importance is being taken, such as an army going out to war, or a man going on important business, a snake crossing the path in front is considered to be an omen — the spirit giving warning against going on. The army or party interested would not dream of going farther, without consulting the divining-doctor so as to learn the meaning of the omen.

Theis belief in spirits appears on many occa- sions. I have been engaging workers when only a few out of a crowd could be chosen. It was not an uncommon thing to hear from the disap- pointed as they walked away, " I have an evil spirit to-day," meaning that luck went against them, and they were not engaged. A man who has perhaps narrowly escaped from danger ex- claims, " What did they take me for ? " meaning that some inferior spirit had been caring for him, and only barely saved him. Such a definite and operative belief in the presence and power of

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 73

spirits gives rise to their practice of offering sacrifices, which are almost always propitiatory, save when a new village is made. Hence their religious exercises are called forth by sickness, death, or disaster. A man speaks of a sacrifice as offered to make the spirit pliable and obedient to his request, and in sacrifice they offer cattle, or beer and flour.

Although the Tumbuka are a much more de- graded people in morals, they are more religious than the Ngoni, and are freer in their sacrifices. An elephant-hunter, for example, when the beast falls, always cuts out certain parts, and at the foot of a certain tree offers them in sacrifice to his guardian spirit. Their beliefs and worship are essentially those of the Ngoni, except that they have a wider variety of objects. Certain hills are worshipped, also waterfalls, ancient trees, and almost any object which appears unusual, may to them embody the spirit they worship, while certain insects, such as the mantis religiosa are supposed to give residence to an ancestral spirit, are not interfered with under any circum- stances, or even handled. Each house has its own guardian spirit, and the tribe worships the spirit of a dead chief

The natives believe in Hades — the region below, where disembodied spirits dwell. They

74 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

do not speak of it as a sensible locality. Now and again women are found wandering about the country smeared with white clay and fantastically dressed, calling themselves "chiefs of Hades." They are greatly feared as being able to turn themselves into lions, and other ravenous beasts to devour any who may not treat them well. Hence their advent in a village leads the people to give them whatever they ask, that they may go away and leave them undisturbed. There is a medicine in use as a protection from lions, which cunning men sell at a good price. One of the laro-est and most attentive meetinss I had in the open air was when, on a Sunday morning, I came upon a crowd of natives of both sexes and all ages, submitting to be anointed by a deceptive old man with an oily mixture, which was reputed to give protection from the lions at that time infesting the district. At my request he ceased his practice and I preached from the words : " The devil goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." Before the close of the sermon the old man took his departure with his oily mix- ture, leaving me in possession of the crowd.

Much more might be said of the life of the people, but what has been stated will enable the reader to understand the nature of the soil into

NATIVE CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS 75

which the seeds of Christian truth have been cast, and how great have been the results. Frederic Harrison's New Year Address to the Positivist Society ten years ago contained these great swelling words of man's wisdom : — " Mis- sionaries and philanthropists, however noble might be the character and purpose of some few among them, were all really engaged . . . in plundering and enslaving Africa, in crushing, demoralising and degrading African races." I have but faintly touched upon the moral and spiritual, as well as the temporal state of the natives as we found them ; let the reader, when he has gone through the succeeding chapters, say for himself whether the plan of God's redemption of Africa or that of the Positivist Society succeeds best, and take no rest until all Africa receive the light of God's Word.

CHAPTER IV

THE STATE OP THE COUNTRY AND THE BEGIN- NING OF THE MISSION WORK

WHAT has been said in the introduction shows the position of the work in Ngoni- land in relation to the more extended operations of the Livingstonia Mission as a whole. In the history of the Ngoni, as given in the previous chapters, we are brought down to recent times, and have now to hurriedly glance at the state of the country produced by their presence and power in Nyasaland at the advent of the Mission.

Soon after the worK was begun at Cape Maclear, near the south end of Lake Nyasa, it was evident that if the Mission was to be established according to the idea of the pro- moters, a wider and healthier area must be found. To secure that different expeditions were undertaken, and it was in connection with these that the full extent and power of the

Nsoni became known. Reference is made here 76

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION IVORK 77

to the reports of these expeditions by Drs Stewart and Laws, and the late Mr James Stewart, to the Eoyal Geographical Society, and to the Committee of the Free Church of Scotland. One of the earliest references to the power and dominion of the Ngoni, over a wide area, was made by Dr Stewart in the Free Church General Assembly in 1878, when he said, regarding the position of the newly-formed Mission to Nyasa- land, " He had recommended a change of site, and preparations had been made for carefully examining the portion of the country on the western side of the lake. There was a certain responsibility in connection with this recom- mendation to change the site. He was willing to face the responsibility. They had either to make a change or let go the original idea and projection of Livingstonia, and reduce the whole to dwarfish proportions, very different from what was at first intended. What was urgently wanted was a high and cool position possessing all the other qualifications and capabilities of a good site. These he thought might be got on the high lands to the west side of the lake. The warlike Ngoni were in possession of that district. If we could establish friendly relations with them the work would not be difficult."

Thus it was, twenty years ago, that in the

78 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

providence of God, through the contracted area workable from Cape Maclear as a centre, and its unhealthiness, the Mission was led to interest itself in the proud warriors of Ngoniland far away to the north among the high hills on the west side of Lake Nyasa. The reputation for war and cruelty which they had wherever they were known, made the task of finding a new site anything but easy, notwithstanding the hopeful- ness of Dr Stewart's report. The following ac- count of what was found during the expeditions undertaken, and of the origin and progress of the work in Ngoniland, should be read with interest in view of the now enormous field of the Living- stonia Mission, and the wonderful achievements of the Gospel among many different tribes.

The Ngoni at that time dominated a tract of country extending between 9*30° and 12° S. lat. and from the western shore of Lake Nyasa to 31° E. long., comprising an area of 30,000 square miles. In this vast region the principal tribes living were, — on the lake shore, the Tonga, Tumbuka, Henga and Nkonde, while inland were the Chewa, other divisions of the Tumbuka, the Senga, Zingwa, Wiwa, Bisa, Nyamwanga, Wanda and Nyika, and other communities which were scattered remnants of tribes already broken up by their arms. When it is remembered that

THE COUNT Rr AND MISSION WORK 79

every year during the dry season, which extends from April to November, the Ngoni armies were engaged in raiding expeditions, sometimes to the southward against the quiet and industrious Chewa, or down to the lake shore against the Tonga, or northward to the cattle-keeping Nkonde, or westward into the land of fat sheep, ivory and copper wealth, going as far as Bang- weolo, near the site of Livingstone's death-scene, it may be imagined that the condition of these people was anything but happy or secure. I have seen an army, ten thousand strong, issue forth in June and not return till September, laden with spoil in slaves, cattle and ivory, and nearly every man painted with white clay, de- noting that he had killed someone. Around Bandawe, one of the principal stations of the Mission, more blood has been shed than can be related. The Tonga, once enslaved by the Ngoni, but who revolted and fled, were the frequent objects of attack. Ngoni wars, not- withstanding the reputed bravery of the warriors, were not always very straightforward fights, but were always very bloody from the tactics they pursued. The army would lie concealed in the forest at some distance from the lake villages, and when the sun was dipping behind the hills it would rush out and enter a village

8o JATONG THE WILD NGONI

at a time when all were congregated and en- gaged in the open air. It was but a rush through the village, but ten, twenty, or thirty- men, women and children were left lying dead, and perhaps as many women carried ofiF captive.

I was at Bandawe when such an attack was made on a village a few miles from the station. We were seated in the verandah of the Mission house in the calm, cool evening. The boys boarded on the station as Mission pupils were engaged in mirthful games near by. In the villages around, hidden among the banana groves or rich undergrowth, we could hear the thud of the pestle in the wooden mortar as the w^omen, with their babies tied on their backs, were employed preparing the flour for the evening meal. The children were heard in gleeful song and dance, while the hum of voices rose as the men engaged in the gossip of the hour, seated under the village tree smoking their pipes, and the sun sank amid a splendour of colour over the western hills. All betokened peace and happiness. Suddenly a shrill cry was heard in the distance and it was at once taken up by those in the villages, the song and gentle hum of voices giving place to cries of fear and distress. Before many minutes had elapsed hundreds of frantic women carrying their infants, while older

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK 8i

children ran frantically by their side, rushed into the station grounds or ofif to the caverns on the rocky hill near the shore. The men fled for their arms and soon the tumult of battle was heard. An Ngoni army had rushed a village ; the peace and quiet of the evening hour now gave place to the wailing of women and the cries of children, as they re-entered their villages to find perhaps several of their friends killed or carried away captive. On one occasion such an attack was made and several women were carried off". Some men who had guns went in pursuit and traced the route of the Ngoni by the bodies of the dead whom they had slain on the way, finding they were not after all worth carrying ofil Coming up to them at a river where they were encamped, still having in their possession some women, they surprised them by firing their guns. The Ngoni fled, but one woman, about to become a mother whom they could not urge to run, was speared to death before the eyes of her friends who had come to rescue her. I have seen an infant with a great ugly gash in its little body which was made by the spear that passed through the mother as she rushed off" in the efl*ort to escape. The following is also an authentic story of an Ngoni war and butchery told by a European

82 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

who witnessed the sight, and such harrowing tales could be multiplied tenfold.

" On Friday, Nov. 18, a band of Ngoni stealthily surrounded the village of Kayune which lies on the lake shore. They had no dispute with chief or people ; their one motive was to spear men and capture women. There was no moonlight and darkness favoured their approach. Entering the village, which had no stockade and lay half hidden in banana groves, each warrior took up his position at the door of a hut and ordered the inmates to come out. Every man and boy was speared as he rushed out and the women were caught and bound with bark rope. In the morning not a Nkonde man or boy was in the village, while three hundred women and girls were tied and crowded together like so many frightened sheep. The Ngoni feasted all day on the food and beer of the villagers."

The sequel is, if possible, more horrible. A party of traders at Karonga, three hours' journey distant, went out to try and rescue the women when word of the capture was received. The party came up on the Ngoni and fired upon them. They were off their guard and supposed that a large force had come against them, and they began to spear their captives, The writer

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK 83

goes on to say, " Then ensued a horrible scene, — women screaming, women wrestling for life with armed savages, women and girls writhing in blood on the ground." Eventually two hundred women were rescued. The number killed in- cluded twenty-nine men, one hundred women, thirty-two girls, sixteen boys.

No one can estimate the loss of life in peaceful tribes, or measure the anguish and distress, not to mention the incessant state of fear, in which these tribes lived, due to the position and war power of the Ngoni. When Dr Laws and Mr Stewart passed through the country in 1878, in pursuance of their search for a new site for the healthy station already referred to, they every- where met with traces of the Ngoni power and cruel wars. Along the lake shore they found the people compelled to live in swamps amid the stench and death-dealing exhalations, struggling for an independent foothold on mother-earth, in some of which I have had, in carrying on medical and evangelistic work in that district, to be carried from door to door on a native's back as the paths were all under water, or semi-liquid, black, stinking mud. In other places they were to be found crowded together on some neck of land or secure place surrounded by a triple stockade of strong trees. Dr Laws mentions

§4 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

one such, near what is now Bandawe station, where the Chief Marenga (who now lives in happier times in an extensive open village) had a triple stockade round his village, the distance between the stockades being from 30 to 60 yards and the interval filled by growing jungle. At another place it was said, " The people here might be said to be almost driven into the lake by their relentless foes, the Ngoni. The stock- ades ran 30 yards into the lake itself, and the greater number of the huts were actually built on the sandy beach." Even as far north as Karonga's at the north end of Nyasa, they found the dread of the Ngoni pervading the community, and the old chief made a present of a young bull and a tusk of ivory to Dr Stewart to induce him to give him medicine to fight the Ngoni. Along the lake shore, north of Bandawe, the hills dip down with precipitous sides almost into the lake, and the shingly beach was occupied by villages where there was some degree of safety. They managed to barely exist by planting patches of cassava where any soil could be found on the crags above, the people not daring to go far from their homes. In the lake, towards the north end, there are rocky islands. They are huge accumulations of boulders — as if they had gradually grown out of the water by added

THE COUNT RT AND MISSION IVORK 85

masses — on which there was little foothold or place to make even a hut such as the natives usually build. Yet on such islands scores of poor Tonga, Tumbuka and Henga, had their only sure place of abode. Driven off the face of the earth, as might literally be affirmed, they had to rear their families, cradling them in the cracks of the rocks or crannies between the boulders, to prevent their rolling off into the water. The only shelter afforded was by making wattled shades over which a few handfuls of grass were laid to protect them from rain and sun. When they considered it safe they would paddle their canoes to the shore, and snatch a few hours' work in their patches of potatoes or cassava and betake themselves again to their rocky home.

Again, high up on the most inaccessible parts of mountain ranges, the remnants of broken tribes, and even whole tribes, had their dwelling. They had their grain-stores hid away in the darkness of the remnants of the great primeval forest still met with in the ravines on the mountain sides. Their dwellings were in some cases no more than a hole scooped out on the bare steep side of the mountain, and a few sticks pushed into the earth above projecting over the levelled spot, with a little grass over them. The best of them was of the rudest

86 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

description, while all around the ground sloped so sharply that one could not walk without holding on to objects. Their crops were peas which they cultivated on the declivities, by sowing rows among the bracken which they left as supports, and to prevent the soil from being washed away in the rainy season. The ingenuity of such a people in providing them- selves with the bare necessaries of life, could scarcely be admired properly, from the sad feeling at the thought of how they had been hunted and reduced to such a condition. On the ap- proach of enemies they fled into the dark forest and had nature for a guard. Wherever on the mountain slope, at Mount Waller for instance, space whereon to erect a hut could be found it was utilised. Lying on board the steamer in Florence Bay with the vast pile of that mountain before us, the terraced slopes were seen to be crowded with huts, a situation from which no Ngoni army could dislodge them. One of the most remarkable sites for human habitations was found at Manchewe in the neighbourhood of Mount Waller in 1895, when Dr Laws and I were examining the district preparatory to founding the Livingstonia Training Institution. On ledges of rock on the face of a cliff" 250 feet high, a section of the Nyika tribe had

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION IVORK 87

their homes. Over the cliff, 200 yards apart, two rivers poured their waters in a series of waterfalls into the wooded gorge below. The face of the cliff was covered with a profusion of tree ferns, magnificent aloes in bloom, many beautiful ferns and other tropical plants, from among which tall, graceful trees sprang. A full description of such a combination of natural grandeur of rock and tree and waterfall is im- possible. Here we want merely to picture human beings living between earth and sky in small circular huts, in some cases built on ledges of rock not ten feet broad, and in other cases, the houses being actually tied to tree roots which have, in growing, split the rocks, and in some cases dislodged great masses. The over- hanging cliffs and mighty trees above, with the depths below, formed the natural protection to that poor hunted people. Access to the villages was had by scrambling down the fissures in the rock, or by hanging on to tree roots or other projection which would afford help and safety. The clusters of huts were partly hid by the dense undergrowth, and only those guided by the natives could have found the safe ledges along which to pass. Viewed from above one was forcibly reminded of the home of the sea-fowls on the cliffs around our coasts.

88 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

In no case was the rocky ledge on which the houses were built more than twenty feet broad, and it made one shudder to look down on the little children playing around the small huts, with the roaring cataract at one side and a sheer precipice above and below. In time of war, or danger from falling rocks dislodged by the rains, the caverns found near were the hiding-place of these inhabitants of the rock. Their homes were made seemingly in defiance of nature's great law of gravitation, — forced over the edge of the world, so to speak, by the inhumanity of the Ngoni. If the Gospel can do anything at all to better men's lives, there, surely, we found a fit field for it.

Great must have been their surprise when they saw many of their Ngoni enemies standing on the heights above, calling to them that they came on a peaceful errand, and inviting the men up to speak to us. We arrived on a Saturday evening, and having made friendly overtures, we invited them up to our camp next day to join in the worship of God. For the first time in their lives and in that district, the voice of praise and prayer was heard, and these wretched people heard in the Ngoni speech the word of peace and not of war. Surely that day in that place the prophecy was fulfilled : " Let

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK 89

the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains." There came to them that day the dawn of a better life, as we shall see in due course.

While such a state of terror and distress was known to exist over the country lying between Ngoniland and Lake Nyasa, there remained the vast country unexplored, lying to the west and north of Ngoniland, upon which horde upon horde of savage Ngoni waged a relentless war. The same state of terror and distress obtained there, but was known only by the spoils brought back by the armies. Mr John Moir in 1879 made a long journey into that region, and every- where saw evidence of the Ngoni raiding. Later on several Europeans passed through the district, and all met with the same story of Ngoni wrong- doing and domination. Last year a careful survey of the district was made by my colleague, Dr Prentice, to find out suitable localities for new stations, and I heard him relate in a public meeting at home, an incident which may fit- tingly find a place here as bearing upon the past condition of the people all over that region.

In the course of his journey he came upon a considerable community huddled together in poor houses, in the centre of a great swamp, through which he could not find a way. The

90 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

village was also strongly stockaded, and it was evident that they had recently rebuilt it. Find- ing it impossible to enter, he fortunately saw a native who had been at one of our northern Mission stations, and could understand what was said, and the object of the expedition. By him communication was had with the people in the stockaded village, and Dr Prentice and his Ngoni carriers were invited to enter. In conversation with the affrighted natives, the chief said that long ago they were hunted by the Ngoni, but that in recent years they had heard of men coming to them with a book which they had accepted, and had consequently given up war. Recently, however, they had heard that Mombera the chief had died, and on the placing of a new chief they feared that the Ngoni might again break out, so they had taken the precaution of removing their chattels to safe quarters to await the attack which they apprehended. One of the Ngoni carriers thereupon took from his pocket a copy of the Gospel in Ngoni, and declared that now the Ngoni had accepted the book, so that they need no more fear an attack, and he added, " Long ago we came with war to destroy, but to-day we are one with the white teacher, and come to bring you good news of peace and salva- tion." To have witnessed such a scene more

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION fVORK 91

than repaid Dr Prentice's weariness and sickness on his long and trying march.

The only tribe that withstood the Ngoni was the Wemba to the south of Tanganyika, and many and fierce were their contentions. The picture of Ngoni power and incessant raiding is complete when I add that, in Ngoniland, there are representatives of at least sixteen different tribes found among their slaves, their original homes lying in the region from what is now the Colony of Natal on the south, to Tanganyika on the north, Nyasa on the east, and Bangweolo on the west.

Such, then, was the character and such the re- putation of the Ngoni, when the Mission pioneers first met them. In 1878, Dr Laws and the late Mr James Stewart found a probable site for the new station on Mount Kaning'ina on the outskirts of Ngoniland, and between it and the lake. Here for a time the late William Koyi (the Kafir mem- ber of the staff, to whose life and work a special chapter is devoted) and a European were located to observe the nature of the district, and, if possible, to become acquainted with the Ngoni. They managed to form an acquaintance with a Swazi family — the Chipatula family — living not far off, and through them obtained an intro- duction to Mombera, the chief of the Ngoni, and

92 AMONG THE WILD NGONJ

to Mtwaro, his brother and successor. The Chipatula family had been at one time strong in power, and to them belonged most of the Tonga who revolted and fled to the neighbour- hood of Bandawe station, subsequently chosen instead of Kaning'ina. Dr Laws realised the nature and difficulties of the task set him, al- though the suspicions of the Ngoni were aroused and persisted for many years, by the Mission having located itself among the Tonga slaves on the lake shore, and having for a time occupied the outpost at Kaning'ina as if to set a watch upon them. Yet the wisdom of the step, and the caution necessary in every movement, have been fully justified in subsequent years.

William Koyi had been able to find out the Ngoni centre of power, and to be received by Mombera in a friendly manner. Between Dr Laws's first and second visits to Kaning'ina, however, a rising took place among the Tum- buka and Tonga slaves in Ngoniland, which at the time threatened to destroy all hope of access to the Ngoni. They believed that the freedom of man which the Mission expedition, with its retinue of native servants and carriers belonging to different tribes, embodied, had em- boldened their slaves to revolt. Many of the Tonga fled to the lake shore, but the Tumbuka,

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK 93

less successful in their effort to escape, were forced up Hora mountain (where now one of our Ngoniland stations is situated), and starved into surrender. Being allowed to come down to drink at the fountains around the base of that bare, rocky height, the Ngoni fell upon them, and many hundreds were massacred. I have seen the skeletons lying crowded together around the foot of the hill, and also upon it, some being found in caverns and at the foot of precipices where they had been slain.

We need not describe in detail the transactions between the Mission and the isolated workers holding the outpost at Kaning'ina — a situation often fraught with great personal danger through the opposition of the Ngoni and the treachery of the Chipatulas, who all the while pretended great friendship. The fact was, the Chipatulas were diminished in power and influence among the Ngoni, and hoped, by means of friendship with the white men, to regain their power. An ex- ample of their duplicity we find in the statement of the dead chief, Chipatula's brother, when Dr Laws first met him. He was asked about the chief, and his reply was that the chief was dead, and that until he (Chisevi, the speaker) should go out of mourning and be crowned, Mombera, a headman, was ruling, whereas at that time the

94 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

chief over all the country was Mombera, and the Chipatula family were ordinary members of the tribe.

In 1879 Dr Laws first met Mombera. Ever since then Mombera shewed a strong affection for Dr Laws and unbounded confidence in him, and through him as " the father of the white men," in those who followed him and lived under him. The only parallel to this mutual regard which I know is in the case of Moffat and Umziligazi, the confrere of Mombera's father in the far south in the beginning of the century, as recorded in "Kobert and Mary Moffat." Here we have two bloodthirsty, despotic chiefs, far apart but of the same blood, visited by two missionaries of the Cross, and without in the least degree to all ap- pearance accepting any of their teaching, forming a strong attachment to them, and till death main- taining it, and speaking often of it. Living, as I did, with Mombera for six years before he died, I never knew of his having stopped a single war party from attacking the helpless Tonga around Dr Laws's station at Bandawe because of his be- lief in God ; but over and over again, because of his attachment to Dr Laws, he refused to sanction war ; and to-day thousands of Tonga men and women owe their life to Mombera's affection for Dr Laws. Happy, indeed, must he be who was

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK 95

thus used of God in saving the lives of so many people, that they might, as they now do, hear and receive God's Word.

But to proceed with the narrative. On the 24th January 1879 Dr Laws arrived at Mombera's town and pitched his tent. Of his interview with Mombera, he reported : *' We explained to him that the object of our coming into the country was to be friends of all the people, to teach them about God and what He has done for us ; that we also wished to teach children, so that they might be able to read God's Word for themselves. We showed them a Kafir Bible, from which William Koyi read a few verses. We introduced. Mr Moir as one who was ready to trade with them if they desired to do so, and who loved God's Word as we did. We gave Mombera a present of various articles, with which he ex- pressed himself very much satisfied. The head councillor of the village answered for him that they were glad of our visit, and that they were willing to be friends, and thanked us for our present. They expressed their disappointment that we should remain among the Tonga on the Lake shore, or even at Kaning'ina. * Why/ said they, ' do you not come up and live witli us ? Can you milk fish that you remain at the Lake ? Come up and live with us and we will give you

96 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

cattle. We are the rulers ; the Tonga are under us, although they have broken off from us at pre- sent, and run away with our children ; we wish you to make them send back our children. They say they do not like to live with us because we are cruel. We are cruel, but not to our children, only to those against whom we go to fight. Our children we must have back, and we would have gone and fought with the Tonga, and driven them into the Lake, had you not visited us and said war was bad. We have been defeated ; but when we set about fighting, we do not give up our object, though the last Ngoni should be killed. You say there should be peace ; send back our children and there will be lasting peace.'

" We explained to them that our commission was to bring the Gospel to every creature, to the despised Tonga as well as to the Ngoni them- selves ; that we required to have a port on the Lake, so that we might get a supply of provisions, calico, etc., from home, and this we could not have if we were living with them while the Tonga between us and the Lake shore were our enemies ; that we showed our desire to benefit them by not confining ourselves to the Lake shore alone, but establishing a station at Kaning'- ina, near Chipatula, where they could easily learn about us at any time, and have the false

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK 97

reports they heard about us from the Tonga rectified by a visit. Regarding the sending back of their children we explained that we had not come to interfere with their quarrels, but that we were willing to do what we could as peace- makers, and advised that they should have patience and live in peace, as the best way of having their children brought back to them ; and this we considered it to be their duty to do, seeing that the Ngoni had been the original invaders of the country and the disturbers of the peace. They asked that, if a white man could not be left there, one of their own tribe should be sent to them. We told them that in course of time we would endeavour to send a teacher to them also. The chief sent us a small elephant's tusk as a present, and sent a calf to our tent as food. He also sent a small tusk which he said he had intended as a present on our first visit."

On a subsequent visit paid to Mombera by Mr Stewart, he refused to see him, being displeased that the Mission should have visited other tribes first. It was evident that the Ngoni desired an exclusive alliance with the Mission, and, as will afterwards be seen, this idea led to frequent trouble, at times great and prolonged. In the end of that year Kaning'ina observing station was given up and Bnndawe founded. Dr Laws

G

98 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

very properly gauged the situation when he wrote in October : " I do not think it would be advisable to continue the station in that district meantime. More good could be done by pushing it forward into the country of the Ngoni."

Two years elapsed before this could be accom- plished, during which time all round Bandawe station Ngoni raiding went on. These raiding parties did not always represent Mombera's army, but were bands of wild youths who were eager to obtain wealth, or wives and slaves, and frequently were led by members of the villages which they attacked, and who to revenge some wrong done by their chief went up to the Ngoni and formed a league with them. Reading through the journals of Bandawe station in those days we continually meet with references to Ngoni raids on the surrounding villages, and the continued unrest of the Tonga, which ren- dered the work of the Mission futile, and created difficulties and dangers in living among them, as they clamoured for Dr Laws and the Mission party to join them in fighting the Ngoni. It was no easy task to live among them and declare inability to help them in righting their wrongs, and to have the nature of the work misjudged, by expecting and demanding temporal good by force of arms.

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK 99

For example, on November 17th, 1881, the following entry occurs : *' Chikoko came to-day asking about the Ngoni and what was to be done. He described them as a wild beast, and said, 'You cannot hold discussion with a wild beast, you must go to him with a gun. The Ngoni are like a snake, we, like a frog. When a frog sees a snake he goes off hop, hop, hop, to save himself. That is how we do, and the people are leaving their villages and coming to the beach all round.' He asked for guns and powder. This Dr Laws at once re- fused to give him, and told him we had no intention of fighting with the Ngoni. We brought the Gospel to the Tonga, and meant to take it to the Ngoni, and if we fought with them it was not likely they would be willing to receive it. ' But,' said Chikoko, ' they will kill you, and destroy your goods.' Let them destroy them if need be — God will protect us."

" Tuesday, Dec. 6. In the morning a report reached us that a party of Ngoni had made a descent on the Matete valley and had killed five men (three by another report), and had made misasa on the east side of the stream. In the forenoon Chikoko, Chimbano, Katonga, Marenga, Mpimbi, Marengasanga, and other chiefs assem- bled, wishing to have a consultation with Dr

lOO AMONG THE WILD NGONI

Laws. Dr L., S., and ]\rC. heard tliem. They said the Ngoni had come down bringing a man who had come from Matete, having made a narrow escape from the hands of the Ngoni who had surprised him and his companions while at work in their gardens. The chiefs asked Dr L. what they should do. Dr L. reminded them that it was not his work to settle their disputes, and that they must consider with themselves what they should do, and do as if there were no English here. But before, Dr L. was willing to go and speak with the Ngoni, would he not go to Matete to-day and see them ? Dr L. replied that that last time when he was ready to go no one knew exactly where the Ngoni were, and to-day he was busy with other work. Dr L. thought it very probable that should he go he might be accompanied by a great many more than he would desire, and that they would be anxious to begin a fight with the Ngoni in which he would be implicated. Chimbano said that they were now hearing God's Word and obeying it : that we had told them war was bad, and that they should not sell people. They did not want to fight but live in peace, and here were the Ngoni coming and killing them, if Dr L. waited till the steamer came with those whom he ex- pected to go on to Mombera's, they would all be

THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK loi

killed, and the white man did not want to live in the wilderness without them. As for the Ngoni, they were too wicked to receive God's Word. All the villages of the Tonga for many miles north and south had been destroyed by the Ngoni, only Chintechi remained — Mankambira and Kang'oma had sold some of their people for guns, and now they were able to repulse the Ngoni, so they had better do the same.

" Dr Laws reminded them that a few months ago Chimbano had gone and made war on Man- kambira when told he was doing wrong, and that such was a strange way of obeying God's Word, and if he chose to sell his people for guns, the mrandu would be between God and him. Dr L. further said, * You want us to go and fight the Ngoni.' Yes, that was the very thing. Well we are not going to do it, we have told you so before, and we tell you so again. W^hen we came here we told you we were not to take part in any of your quarrels and fight for one side or the other. We have orders to this efi"ect from home, and Christ has commanded His Word to be taken to all nations. We went before to Mombera and made friends with him. We do not wish to fight against him, nor against you, but to teach all. The Ngoni have received the Word of God in the south and may do so on the hills here, but it

I02 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

is not likely they will receive us with it if we fight with them here.' There was a good deal more talk to the same effect, but not being able to change our intention they showed their spite by calling off all their people at work on the station, and issuing orders that the first one found working with the English was to have his house burned down. In the afternoon only two or three of the Chewa and Tumbuka tribes were found working. In the evening many people assembled, armed, and marched by moon- light towards Matete. Last night a watch was set and two men were detected in an attempt to open the byre and fled. The watch set again to-night as Tonga movements might be as hurtful as Ngoni ones."

The next approach to Mombera and the Ngoni occurred as described in the following entries in the Bandawe Journal : —

"Tuesday, Jan. 10th, 1882. To-day William Koyi with Albert and Jodi and carriers of goods started for the hills to visit Mombera, going first to the village of the Chipatula family."

"Jan. 25th. Albert returned from the hills to-day, bringing a letter from WHliam Koyi. They report great scarcity of food among the Ngoni. . . . William Koyi has not yet seen Mombera, but he has had communication with

THE COUNTRT AND MISSION WORK 103

Ng'onomo. Many of the people were favourable to us but many were inclined to show hostility."

A temporary peace between the Ngoni and Tonga was at this time established. William Koyi took possession of Ngoniland for Christ, and inaugurated a long period of waiting ere the chief and his headmen permitted the work to be fully carried on. Dr Laws also visited Mombera that year, and again in 1883, but despite earnest entreaties no permission could be got to open schools, and in Chipatula's village alone was preaching allowed. In the end of 1883 the Ngoni broke the peace they had agreed to, and attacked Fuka's village near the Bandawe station, and burned down the Mission school which had been erected there.

Such were the Ngoni and their neighbours at that time. War, bloodshed, famine and death, with untold misery among those spared, was the condition of countless thousands over the region raided by the Ngoni. But a great forward movement had begun in the Livingstonia Mission, by the building of a wattle-and-daub hut near Mombera's head village with the determination to stay until expelled, full of faith that one day the Gospel would win its way among the people and become the bond of unity between bond and free, raider and raided, in Ngoniland, and

I04 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

in the regions beyond. In tlie end of 1882, Dr Laws wrote about it : —

"Aug. 30, 1882. William Koyi is doing a noble work among the Ngoni which no European could have accomplished. The people are jealous and conservative in the extreme, and by no means ready to credit disinterested motives in others. William, by living among them, has already to a great extent disarmed their sus- picions. He is respected by all, and I think enjoys the confidence of Mombera, the head chief General liberty has not yet been accorded to us to preach, but public opinion is rapidly moving in that direction, and it only awaits the decision of one or two of the head men of the tribe to make the length and breadth of the land free to the Gospel. Schools are at present prohibited, but even with regard to this a change is coming over the people so that liberty to teach the children may next be expected. Much hard work will have to be done, but that is nothing, if the tribe can be won for our Lord. The necessary basis of the work is the good-will of the people, and I think this foundation is being surely laid.

CHAPTER V

FIRST VISIT TO MOMBERA

CAPTAIN BURTON says, "It is always a pleasure, after travelling through the semi- repul)lican tribes of Africa, to arrive at the head- quarters of a strong and sanguinary despotism." Only those who have lived in Africa can under- stand how it is so. Journeying inland from Quilimane, I passed the then powerful Mat- shiujiri tribe at war with the Portuguese on the Shire river, and met a detachment of their army under the famous Raposo, a man of great dignity and valour. Further on I passed through the Makololo remnants of Livingstone's caravan, established as the powerful chiefs on the Shire river. These were fine specimens of humanity and raised one's enthusiasm for work in Africa among such noble people. Getting up to the highlands above the Shire, and meeting with the very mixed people, " a people scattered and peeled," it became at once evident that slavery and war had crushed the spirit of the remnants of

io6 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

Yao and Mang'anja peoples living there. Every tenth man one met might be set down as a chief, and the usual results of a few people and many- chiefs were very evident. The life of the people seemed to consist in a talking mirandu. Petty quarrels of petty chiefs were abundant, and those Europeans who had people living on their ground were oppressed by their attempts to settle their quarrels. It was a thankless business, certainly, where the people delight in talking, and can con- veniently keep the questions open over many years and even for generations. For such people one of the greatest blessings which have come to them in recent years is that the British Govern- ment has become their chief and united all.

Further on one was able to find at Mponda's a powerful chief, and from a native point of view a happy and prosperous people. Around Bandawe, again, almost every village had a distinct chief, and as one of these was sure to be trying to be- come paramount, petty quarrels and wars were common. Though all were of one tribe in reality, there was no union among them, even against their common foe, the Ngoni. Had the mission- aries engaged to settle disputes no other work could have been done ; they wisely espoused no one's cause, but remained the friends of all, had access to all, and saved disaster to their

FIRST VISIT TO MOMBERA 107

work. The bane of the district was the multi- tude of petty chiefs, and they were thus an easy prey to the ravages of the Ngoni war parties.

But it was when 1 came into Ngoniland that something like Burton's feelings were experienced. The great expanse of country — hills and valleys and plains — dotted over with numberless villages built without regard to safety from attack, but located where the best gardens and pasturage were to be had, made one realise that here was a people powerful and free, whom to settle among, and win for Christ, was a work worthy a man's life. Elsewhere I saw the people huddled to- gether in small, dirty, stockaded villages, the sites of which were frequently found to be surrounded by marshes in order to give protection with the least amount of work on fortifications, and the people of one village ready to make war on the next village a few yards ofi". But here in Ngoni- land there was one royal residence, one ruler and he in touch by means of the head-men in the difi'erent parts of the tribe, with all the people under him. Standing on the hills on the eastern boundary of Ngoniland, and having pointed out to me the various sections of the tribe all under the one chief, Mombera, I remembered the remark of a member of committee when I was leaving home. He said : " If you have faith and patience

io8 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

to work aDcl win the Ngoni, you are going to the finest field in Livingstonia." The full truth of that remark is only now becoming evident.

But now to my introduction to the chief and his advisers and head-men. No one who has visited Mombera at his home will forget the dis- comfort of the ordeal. I had been duly warned as to his piercing gaze ; his questions as to age, family, and whether married or single ; his criti- cisms of one's personal appearance ; and, what would never be wanting, his barefaced begging for whatever he might fancy at the time. So, to have the ordeal past, I set out with Messrs Koyi and Sutherland to visit Mombera. He was not in his customary place in the cattle kraal, but we found him in the small house where he received visitors and heard cases pleaded when he was either too drunk or disinclined to go to the kraal. The hut was enclosed by a neat reed fence, the space within being smoothly beaten down and scrupulously clean. Here we found several parties, who were no doubt waiting to plead some case before him, and not a few hangers-on looking for the crumbs which might fall to their lot when the beef and beer on which Mombera subsisted were brought in. Having taken a present for him, 1 found that several of his wives were attracted to the place in hope

FIRST VISIT TO MOMBERA 109

of sharing the same with their lord. No sooner had they seated themselves and saluted the stranger, than a loud voice, half angrily, half jokingly, asked them what they wanted, and ordered them to be gone. Mombera, with nearly thirty wives, evidently had not a plethora of de- votion for them. He said, " You have seen the white man with his bundle, and you come here expecting something. I am here every day, but you leave me alone if there are no goods to divide."

When we had been invited to enter the hut, we did so by going down on our knees and crawling in through the doorway, which was only a couple of feet high and about the same in width. As each entered, the royal salute had to be given by raising the voice, and saying, " Bayete." The joker of our party, who was evidently on very familiar terms with Mombera, shouted, "Be quiet," which was not objected to. On entering the hut, it was some time before the eyes became familiar with the semi-darkness, and then what one saw did not betoken much splendour of royalty. The hut was a round, low-roofed erec- tion, with a well-laid and polished floor of clay. In the centre a round depression in the floor con- tained the fire composed of logs of wood. To the right of the doorway, on a reed mat, sat Mombera

no AMONG THE WILD NGONI

himself. Beside him was a huge pot of beer, with a calabash ladle, over which one of his wives pre- sided, and tempered the beer with hot water. A smaller pot, made of grass deftly woven so as to be quite water-tight, was held by Mombera, who took frequent draughts, and sometimes handed it round to the people in his presence. If he did so, or rose from his mat, all shouted, "Bayete." When he received back the pot, or came in and sat down, the company shouted, "Bayete." If one rose to go to another part of the hut, or to leave the royal presence, he shouted, " Bayete."

To describe the royal dress is not a difficult matter. The chief part of Mombera's dress was the numerous beautiful ivory rings which he wore on his arms, and the rings of plaited brass wire on his legs. In his ears he wore the usual heavy knobs of ivory, about an inch and a half in diameter, and his clothing was completed by a few yards of coloured calico, carelessly thrown over his limbs as he sat, consuming his beer or talking over the cases brought to him for judg- ment. When not in state at home, his clothing consisted usually of his leg and arm ornaments.

It was to a new-comer a strange and trying ordeal to have to sit and be stared at by Mombera's one eye visible over the beer-pot; to know that his remarks about one's appearance

FIRST VISIT TO MOMBERA 1 1 1

were causing amusement to all in the hut, and not to be able to speak, or, indeed, to have per- mission to speak ; for until one has been greeted by the chief, he must be silent. It was the custom for the chief to refrain from greeting one for some fifteen minutes after he came into his presence. This was considered the best wel- come to give, and however trying to one's patience, it had to be borne. On one occasion, when my wife and I had gone to visit a head-man by in- vitation, we were kept sitting at the kraal gate for over an hour before he came to greet us, and point out a place whereon to pitch the tent. I knew it was the custom to delay thus, and on speaking about it to our host, he said, " Why should I be in a hurry when you come to stay ? If a man comes to your house, and you instantly say, ' Good-morning,' that would mean, ' We have only hunger here, so I need not delay you. You may go.' "

The Ngoni salutation is " Tikuwona," " we see you," a slight variation from the Zulu which is, " We saw you." When Mombera had greeted us thus, all in the hut were then free to do so too, and one after another did so in a graceful manner, and to each the proper reply was "Yebo," signifying "Yes." Immediately the tongues were loosened and Mombera plied his

112 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

enquiries, and passed his judgment on me. Com- parisons were made between Mr Sutherland and myself, — who was the elder, were we brothers, why had we straight hair of the same colour, when did we come out of the sea? for the natives thought the white men were spirits who had left their proper dwelling in the water to come and trouble the people. When a convenient oppor- tunity could be got, Mr Koyi informed the chief who I was, and that I had come to ask per- mission to stay in the country to teach the people the Word of God, and, being a doctor, that I would attend to all who sought help and medicine.

On this an old toothless man, who may be called the chiefs mouth, repeated Mr Koyi's statement to the chief Then the chief replied and his words were taken up by the " mouth " and repeated to Mr Koyi. They were to the ejBfect that he himself was only the chief and the country did not belong to him but to the people. If his head-men agreed to my staying among them he would be very glad and would not offer any objections. He was thereupon thanked for his words and requested to call together his counsellors so that I might meet them and get their permission to stay. This he promised to do at an early date.

FIRST VISIT TO MOMBERA 113

On his rising to leave the hut all shouted " Bayete," and when he was outside a rush was made by those present for the beer-pot, and a hearty draught was taken. When Mombera entered he accused them of havinsf drunk his beer, but no one of course had touched it — who indeed would dare to touch the chiefs beer, and who of those present had need to steal, when they were already bursting with what he had so freely given % The one predominant feature in native life is the flattery and insincerity of the people. In the chief's presence it reaches a climax.

The present for Mombera consisted of some coloured calico, brass wire, beads, and a few trinkets such as would please children at home. He looked at it and demanded a kind of bead of which we had none. With the most bare- faced impertinence and incivility, he replied saying he would not like to insult the new white man by refusing what he had brought, but as there was nothing to be seen, he would ask me to bring something with me another day. The trinkets, however, took his fancy and he adorned his " crown " with some small lockets and chains, and handed the other things to those who were in the hut.

Leaving the royal presence, not very favour- ably impressed by Mombera and his drinking

H

114 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

and begging, I was conducted to the seraglio where the numerous wives of the chief were lying about sunning themselves, or were engaged making beer or cooking meat for their despotic lord. Each greeted the stranger and begged for cloth, beads, and brass wire. Idleness seemed to be the bane of the women and one can imagine that many quarrels and jealousies would arise, demanding the attention of the queen or head wife, whose sphere it was to rule the harem and regulate the number and position of the wives which were constantly being added to, or put out of the way. Mombera had his favourites; these improved their chance and sometimes inveigled him into a union with some near rela- tive of their own. His wives were distributed among his principal villages, either as properly dowried wives, or as the handmaids of such to do their work, and be ready to entertain their husband and his guests whenever he happened to reside at their village. This custom of having several establishments kept up, is the only valid excuse I could ever get for the practice of poly- gamy. A man would say, " I have gardens and a village at so and so, how can I have only one wife ? Who will cook my food and hoe my gardens there ? "

The lot of many of Mombera s wives, and of

FIRST VISIT TO MOMBERA 1 1 5

many wives of others, was not altogether a happy- one. In one instance a principal wife — the chief wife in fact — was slighted by Mombera for some reason and was discarded altogether, and only on his death could anyone be got to espouse her cause, and to put her in her proper position. In another case a wife residing at a distant village at which he had not lived for several years, was, rightly or wrongly, accused of adultery. The chief, whose neglect of her had been matter of common talk and reprobation in the tribe, sent his executioner and killed her and her children. Immediately after that, he sent a messenger to inform us that he had married another wife — the twenty-sixth. When Mr Koyi remonstrated with him and said he thought he would be afraid to increase his troubles in that way, he laughingly replied, "I do it for peace; this sets them on each other and they leave me alone."

Mombera had a dual character. He was at his best in the early part of the day, before he became intoxicated, and so by sun-rise people with cases to be judged went to see him. Then his affability and generous behaviour were pleas- ant to see, but toward afternoon when the beer he continually sipped began to act, his civility was at an end for the day and he was foul- mouthed and quarrelsome. When he was sober

ii6 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

be delighted to play with his children, and mani- fested a very pleasing interest in them and their mothers, but when drunk he drove them from his presence with obscene curses. He had a great interest in old people, of whom he had always a number living in huts within the seraglio. He treated them with respect and provided for them from his own table. If he was shown any thing- new and strange he would generally have it shown to the old people, and while they knelt before him in due respect, one could notice with pleasure their trustful attitude and how he would heartily respond to any observation of wonder they might express. On one occasion he sent for my wife's sewing-machine that the old people in his village, who were unable to walk over to the station, might see it at work before they died. He said they would have to report to the ances- tral spirits how many new and wonderful things had now become known to the people. When I went to exhibit its working, from some cause or other it could not be got to sew at all. In vain I tried to put it right, and Mombera, who had sat looking on with unusual patience for some time, unceremoniously rose and walked away, saying, " You need not try. You told your wife where you were going." As a polygamist ruler witli many strings to hold in his hand, he be-

FIRST VISIT TO MOMBERA 1 1 7

lieved that success is impossible if the wives are taken into confidence, and he supposed the same of us.

I have been a witness of some of the sweetest of life's incidents in the behaviour of Mombera to children and old people, just as at other times he has exhibited some of the darkest phases of heathen corruptness. But he was neither cruel nor bloodthirsty as many chiefs of the Zulu tribes have been. He discountenanced the poison ordeal which was adopted from the Tonga slaves, believ- ing rather in their own trial by boiling water, which at most only maimed the person and did not destroy life as the muave did. He was con- sidered to be " too soft " by the more degraded and fiery dispositions, and had no delight in con- demning to death. Only two instances of the death-penalty being inflicted by Mombera came under my own observation, during all the years 1 lived under him. In one case he caused a man to be put to death for cattle-stealing, after having before pardoned him for the same ofi"ence. He hanged him from a tree near our house as a warning to those who about that time were steal- ing from us, and the body hung for three days before the white ants ate the rope and let the hyenas get it. The other case was where a mem- ber of the royal family killed a slave, who had

ii8 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

run away from him and put himself under the protection of another master. Mombera by his action was esteemed more highly by the slaves, and he knew what would conciliate those who were the great majority of the tribe.

But despotic rule is often the only kind suit- able among uncivilised people. Until the people are governed by higher principles than those common among " nature - peoples," a despotic ruler is a divine institution required to keep in check greater evils. I have been told by thought- ful old men that under Zongandaba, the father of Mombera, the Ngoni were purer, more truthful and more honest. Fornication, adultery, steal- ing and witchcraft were punished by death, whereas, under Mombera, capital punishment rarely followed these offences. The custom of the Tonga and Tumbuka of settling such cases by payments of goods had been adopted, and immorality had increased, while the respect shown by children to their parents and seniors had decreased.

CHAPTER VI

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN

A WEEK after our visit to Mombera a mes- senger arrived to say, that next clay we were requested to come and repeat our words to the head-men of the tribe. We had heard various rumours in the interval, which had caused us no little anxiety as to what would be the re- sult of the meeting. It was said that I had come with many loads of calico, beads, brass wire, and all the many things the Ngoni desire, and at the meeting I was to enricli the people and make them great. Great was the excitement of the people over this piece of news. How such an idea came to them takes us back to the first meeting of Dr Laws with them, when the subject of war was referred to. Dr Laws had said that by obeying "the Book" and giving up war and plunder, they would become richer and greater than they were. The spiritual sense in which the statement was made was not perceived by the Ngoni, and from that day many were the theories

120 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

expressed of how "the Book" was to bring riches and greatness to them. The native lives only for the present and could not be expected to see the force of such a statement, but it served to emphasise the special work we, unlike trading Arabs who were the only foreigners they had seen, had come to do. We were "the people of the Book " and not for trade. The Book was talked of, near and far, and became a source of wonder and enquiry, so that even from the start, while no systematic mission work was allowed, not a day passed on which some information was not given and seed sown, which, as we now view our work, has borne good fruit. It was no un- common occurrence to see a group of strangers from a distance, at the house with the request to be shown the Book, — they had heard of it and wished to see it.

On the morning of the great council of ama- duna we were in the chief's cattle kraal at eight o'clock, and the whole day till three o'clock in the afternoon was occupied in talking. The cattle-fold is the centre of every Ngoni village. At the royal kraal, where we met, it was a circular space about eighty yards in diameter fenced with young trees. Around it in ever widening circles the huts of the people were built. The gate was at the side nearest the river,

u

V

r ^^-^

)r^^<^

i

1

S'

i.'.:«*

* /

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 121

and at the opposite side was a smaller gate lead- ing from the chief's quarters, which were fenced off from the houses of the ordinary people. Tn the centre of the cattle-fold there was one of the huge ant-hills which are so numerous throughout Ngoniland,

Soon after our arrival, troops of warriors fully armed marched in and took up their situations in the enclosure. There were eventually several hundreds present, but perfect order and quiet were observed. When all the warriors had assembled, the chief councillor, Ng'onomo, and the others came in. There were eleven present that day. Accompanying the councillors was a large number of men of inferior rank but possess- ing certain powers in the tribe. The councillors seated themselves in a semi-circle near to us. After the usual delay each saluted the Mission party, and then Mr Koyi rose to open the busi- ness. They were told I had come desiring to stay among them, and to teach them the Word of God, and to heal the sick. Several of the councillors spoke, and all were very warm in their expressions of welcome and readiness to give permission to my staying. All went smoothly until Ng'onomo got to his feet. He began by performing a war-dance, which, being accompanied by the war-shouts of the warriors

122 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

present, and as I could not understand its mean- ing, discomfited me not a little. I was reassured when I caught the broad smile on Sutherland's face as he looked at me.

All the nice bits of native politeness and flattery- had been said, and Ng'onomo, bent on the one question of war and conquest, desired to give the meeting a more practical turn. He finished his war-dance, and after recapitulating the speeches of the others, he plainly said that they were not to give up war ; that they were accustomed from their infancy to take the things of others and could not see any reason why they should change their habits. He said, "The foundation of the kingdom is the spear and shield. God has given you the Book and cloth, and has given to us the shield and spear, and each must live in his own way." To emphasise this utterance, he again danced. We had adopted the plan of replying to anything said when the speaker sat down. Mr Koyi replied, saying that the Book was given to all mankind, and that as we were all the children of God it teaches us that we ought to live in peace with each other. Here I may say that there is no word in Ngoni for "peace." They now use an imported term, — their own expression which comes nearest the idea being " to visit one another."

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN

123

No new question was raised at that time, but two crucial matters with the Ngoni in those days were brought up. They had been brought up when Dr Laws met the council, and for many a day constituted posers for us. One was the flight of the Tonga to Bandawe, and the other was their desire to have the exclusive right to the presence of the white men in the country. Mr James Stewart in 1879 visited Mombera, and wrote thus : — " The next day, Saturday, we reached Mombera ; but when I enquired for the chief, I was told he was ' not at home.' It was soon evident that he was either designedly absent, or that he simply denied himself. We saw only inferior head-men, who expressed dissatisfaction that we had not come to settle among them, and that they did not understand why we should visit other chiefs before doing so. I have no doubt that they were sincere in their desire to make friend- ship with us ; but an exclusive alliance would only suit them. We heard that they were tired of waiting for us, and intended now to take their own way, which, I fear, means war before long. They have lost both power and prestige within the last two years, and may now be resolving to regain both. I heard later that there are two parties in their council. Mombera and Chipatula and their head-men are desirous of peace and to

124 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

invite us still to come among them, while Mtwaro and Mperembe wish to keep us at a distance, and to recover their power by force of arms."

Ng'onomo asked what I was to do to bring back their former slaves, the Tonga, who had revolted and carried aw^ay some of their wives and children, their war-songs, and their war-dances. So long, he said, as we would not restore these, so long must they war to bring them and all other surrounding tribes into subjection, and if I would not in a peaceful way bring back the Tonga people, they would do so by war or drive them into the Lake. It required not a little caution to answer this statement, so as to still the excitement of the crowd of people present by whom such words were applauded. I directed Mr Koyi to say that no doubt they had many questions in which they were deeply interested, but as I had only just come among them, it was scarcely fair to demand of me a means of settling them before I had become acquainted with them and had learned their language.

My remarks had the effect of drawing a very sensible speecli from an old councillor. He said I was only now like a child, unable to speak or walk, and as they did not call upon their children to go out to seek strayed cattle, or give judgments

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 125

in the affairs of the tribe, so they should not call on me to settle their great matters while I yet could not speak or walk. That statement turned the discussion into more favourable lines, and al- though the other question of leaving tlie Tonga and Bandawe and settling among the Ngoni ex- clusively was brought up, we were able to satisfy the people without exciting their jealousies, or ao-reeino- to take sides with them ao;ainst their runaway slaves. Ng onomo afterwards returned to the war question, and endeavoured to show that their war raids on other people wore not a bad thing. He said they were surrounded by people whom he called slaves, and that it was' not their desire to kill them, but they endeav- oured merely to chase them into the mountains, and when their food and flocks were secured, to say to them, " Come down now and let us all live together." It was conquest and not murder they pursued, as they could not bear the idea that any people should point the finger at them, and say, "X" (a click, expressive of contempt). He made an original proposal which was not less impossible for me to carry out. If we would atjree to countenance one more raid on the people at the north end who were rich in cattle, and would pray to our God that they might be successful, they would, on their

126 AMONG THE WILD NGONl

return, give us part of the spoil in cattle and wives, and would proclaim that the Book was to be accepted by the whole tribe. Here there was no place for parrying, and the reply was given emphatically enough that we were not the framers of the words in the Book, but merely the teachers charged to tell all men the words which were God's and binding on us as well as on them, and that when God said, "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not kill," we had no power to change the command, and could not in any way countenance their wars. Then Ng'onomo asked if we would shut the Book and not pray against them if they went out. I said I had come to teach these words and could not but do so.

An interesting statement was made by one old man. He had evidently watched the life and character of Koyi and Sutherland, and con- sidered its bearing on the practical things of daily life. He began by saying they were glad I was a doctor, and hoped I had medicine to make Mombera live long. He went on to speak of other medicine which he thought we possessed of which they had no knowledge. He said, " We see you white people are not afraid to go about all over the country, and you settle among different tribes and become the friends of all. How is that?

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 127

You have medicine (natives think everything is done by medicine as charms) for quieting people's hearts so that they do not kill you. We cannot do so. We are not even at peace among ourselves. We speak fair words to each other, but that is not how we feel. We have also noticed that your servants are ' biddable,' and when ordered to do anything at once do it. It is not so with ours. We tell a slave to do a thing, and he says, * Yes, master, I have heard ' ; but he does not do it unless he chooses. We hope you will give us medicine to make our slaves obedient, and to quiet our enemies." A better opportunity there could not have been for giving them a little plain instruction, and for putting in a word for schools which had been proscribed since the Mission began. Koyi, whose speech was as clear and pointed as theirs, made good use of his oppor- tunity. He told them we had no medicine in their sense, but the words of the Book were stronger than medicine when taken to heart. He quoted the golden rule, and said, " That's the medicine for quieting enemies everywhere, and was that which made all tribes the friends of the white men." Then as to making servants obedient, li.e said the Book had words for both servants and masters. It told servants to be obedient and honour their masters ; and masters

128 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

to be kiDcl to and patient with their servants, and give them their due in all things. He added that our servants were obedient and happy be- cause they were being taught the Word of God, and because they were not our slaves, but were paid their wages regularly. He advised them to try it among theirs, and it would have the same happy results. Then he attacked once more the stubbornness of the people in refusing to allow schools. He said in doing so they were refusing the medicine which they were crying out for. As a native only could, he ridiculed them, and by happy and forcible illustrations made them hesitate in the position they held in refusing to allow schools. He said, " You are like a sick man in distress, who sees others being cured and cries for the same medicine, but refuses it when offered." One replied by saying, " H we give you our children to teach, your words will steal their hearts ; they will grow up cowards, and refuse to fight for us when we are old ; and knowing more than we do, they will despise us." That was met by saying that the Book had a command for children which they must allow to be good, viz., "Honour thy father and thy mother." They would not be taught anything wrong, for all men are taught to fear God and honour

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 1 29

the King. The school question was not dis- cussed further ; but no doubt some good was done, and the solution hastened by what had passed, although it was, as we shall see, two years after this ere liberty was given to open schools.

One other point it was necessary to refer to, as only the district immediately under Mombera was open to the Mission, so I requested leave to go about the country, as my desire was to help all. The districts of Mtwaro, Mperembe, and Maurau, brothers of the chief, were closed to us, not more by the hostility of these sub-chiefs, than by the jealousy of Mombera and his ad- visers, who desired to have the white men all to themselves, no doubt in view of the riches which were expected to come through them.

I was advised to stay with the others, as all were not favourable to our presence in the country; and while we would be guarded if in their midst, they could not tell what might happen if we went beyond Mombera's own district into that of any of his brothers. This was not satisfactory, and as it was probably from jealousy, we pushed for liberty to go about. It was denied by the councillors, who repeated their reasons.

It was, however, clear in all that was said, that the real object of our presence among them was

I

I30 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

made manifest. However mistaken their ideas were as to the teaching of the Book, we were understood to be men with a message to be re- ceived, and they were honest enough to say they did not want it. No advance on previous liberties was made, but our position as neither wishing to bear rule over them nor to work for their over- throw, but to teach the Word of God, was made plain once more.

Then came the not very agreeable business of presenting the gift which we had taken for the councillors. There was considerable excite- ment visible generally, as each was presented with twelve yards of red cloth, a kind much valued by the head-men. As each had his por- tion presented to him there was an ominous silence for a time, and then a burst of derisive laughter. Some turned it over on the ground as if afraid to handle it. Some got up and measured it. One man took his and flung it among the crowd of warriors. One came over and said he did not want cloth. One only had the grace to thank me. They were reminded that we could not attempt to enrich them with goods, but had merely, according to their custom, brought " something in our hand " as a visible token of the friendship our hearts desired. One replied saying they saw we were not bent on

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 131

enriching them, but it was good to remember that they had great hunger for various kinds of cloth and beads, and another day perhaps they would receive more. If I had come among them expecting the grace and politeness of civilization, instead of their proud indifference and sovereign contempt for the offering of friendship, my feel- ings would have suffered more than they did, but I was heartily glad when they rose up to go, and that the wild rumours of their expecta- tions which we had heard for some days, found no more pronounced substantiation than their contemptuous treatment of what I thought was a sufficient gift for the purpose in view. The armed warriors, who appeared to have come as the bodyguard of the head-men, quietly filed out of the kraal and we were left alone.

Mombera was not present, and the councillors went to his hut to report to him the matters which had been talked over. Mr Koyi was called, and it seems the chief had enquired the reason why war dancing had been engaged in. He was angry at Ng'onomo and told him that the object of the gathering was not to discuss tribal matters with me, but to hear what I had to say. After a little the rest of us were called into the chiefs hut, where Ng'onomo and some of the other councillors were being regaled with

132 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

beef and beer. The stiffness and formalities of the kraal meeting were absent, and no dis- appointment was visible. Mombera delivered a long speech bidding me welcome among them, and expressing joy that I was skilled in medicine. He himself was often sick, he said, and doubtless I had noticed that there were few old men pre- sent that day, the reason being that they were all dead, and if I could give them long life it would be good. He did not say how many never reached old age because they were killed in battle. If there were any doubts as to the full security of our position in the tribe, they were accentuated when Mombera repeated the warning of the councillors, that I should settle along with the others and not go into other dis- tricts. No doubt there was some desire to have exclusive possession of the white men, but it was noteworthy that although word had been sent to all the sub-chiefs to come to the palaver none had come, and none of their head-men were present.

With too great eagerness, perhaps, I pressed for permission to visit his brother, Mtwaro, at Ekwendeni, saying my desire was to become acquainted with all in the tribe and be of use to all. He and Mtwaro were not on friendly terms at that time, but as Mtwaro was heir- apparent it seemed advisable for the permanence

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 133

of our work, in the event of Mombera's death, to become known to Mtwaro and his head-men. Not since 1879, when Mr John Moir visited Mtwaro and had opened the way for others by- friendly dealings with him, had anyone com- municated with that sub-chief, and he had only once visited the Mission station. His armies were known to be out towards the Lake very frequently, and we all thought an attempt should be made to gain Mtwaro's influence as Mombera's had been gained.

After my statement had been interpreted to Mombera and he had consulted with some of those in the hut, he gave permission to visit Mtwaro and was thanked. He seemed to think that that would soften my heart, and so he plied his begging and his demands for cloth, beads, brass wire, big guns, little guns, gunpowder, dogs, bulls to improve his breed of cattle, needles, thread, and, above all, an iron box, with lock and key, in which to keep his valu- ables, which he said his wives and his councillors were in the habit of stealing. He said he would come over to see me when I could give him these things. It was hard to take all in good part and be at ease under his gaze over the beer-pot, and gracefully excuse our non-compliance with his overwhelming demands. Nothing but a desire

134 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

to be a means of blessing to such a chief and tribe, would prove an inducement to live the life and experience which may be said to have begun that day. Forgetting the things not agreeable to flesh and blood, we soon after took our de- parture, feeling that some advance had been made in the work which we had come to take part in.

It was one advantage having to deal with a council rather than a single individual, and be continually subject to his capricious mind. As the Ngoni had a settled council who were not without dignity and caution in their deliberations, it was evident they had reciprocated our words as far as they could, as, not being over-anxious to allow us all we asked, they were prepared to make good all they allowed. The occasion was very similar to that on which Augustine came to Ethelbert as the first papal missionary to Britain. When he sent word on landing that '* he had come with the best of all messages, and that if he would accept it he would ensure for himself an everlasting kingdom," Ethelbert would not commit himself, but answered with caution. When at last a meeting was convened, and Augustine *' had preached to him the Word of life," as Bede says, Ethelbert replied, ** Fair words and promises are these ; but seeing they are new and doubtful, I cannot give in to them,

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 135

and give up what I and all the English race have so long observed." But unlike Augustine, who was accorded the privilege of bringing any one of the people over to the new faith, we were told that the chief and council would first have to be taught, and if they considered our message safe, they would give us full liberty to teach the people. It may here be noted how different has been the introduction of the Mission to all the other peoples in Livingstonia. In all the other districts the missionaries were hailed as the friends and protectors of the people. All were subject to stronger tribes, by whom they were constantly harried, or were trying to maintain an indepen- dent existence surrounded by their enemies; hence they gladly welcomed the missionary, hoping that his presence would prove their safety from their enemies. In no single case did they welcome him on account of his mes- sage ; and the trouble in those early days was that he was pestered for medicine, guns and powder to kill their enemies. The Missions in those districts had the preparatory work to do in making the people understand the reason for their presence, just as we had of another kind in Ngoniland. Through the faithful testimony of Messrs Koyi and Sutherland, the Ngoni had by the time of my arrival come to understand clearly what our message really was. They needed not

136 AMONG THE WILD NGONJ

our protection from their enemies, as they were masters of the country for many miles around ; and, indeed, their pride would not have allowed them to think that in any way a white man or two could be of any profit to them. They knew our teaching would strike at their sins of un- cleanness, lying, war, murder and stealing, and they were, unlike the so-called deceitful, vaccil- lating African, at least honest in their treatment of our words. There was great good in having got their ear so far ; and even distinct refusal was far better than ready compliance, to be as readily retracted when occasion arose. It is far better to have to deal with an opposing council of head-men with power than with a chief him- self, even although he agrees at the time.

If before leaving home I received one bit of advice more often than any other from Dr Laws, who had experience, along with Mr James Stewart and Mr Koyi, of the dangerous and trying work of gaining an opening among the Ngoni, it was that I should proceed gently and push nothing beyond what was a wise point. On such occa- sions as the meeting referred to, the judgment and caution of Mr Koyi were invaluable, and he was of opinion that we should not endanger our position with Mom]3era at that stage, while not sure that we would be received by Mtwaro. We sent a reply that we had no desire to act con-

MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 137

trary to the chief's wishes in the matter, and that until he could send someone to introduce us to his brother, we would refrain from going. It must be remembered that we were merely in the country on sufferance at that time. We did not even own the site of our house, and were not by any means assured of a permanent residence among them, so that we would not have been acting wisely had we been more anxious to as- sert our independence, than to improve the, as yet, slight hold we had on Mombera and his councillors. There are three special qualifica- tions necessary in every missionary, viz., grace, gumption, and go. Prayer and the exercise of it will ensure the first ; where one may get the second, I know not, but the want of it is ac- countable for more failures in the foreign field than anything else ; and the third, although in- valuable, can only be right as the outcome of the former. To spend years among the Ngoni and be denied many liberties may, indeed, be an undignified position for a free-born Briton ; but mere questions of dignity ought not to trouble the slaves of Christ in the work to which they have been called. Little by little, as we shall see, our position was improved among the Ngoni, and the years of apparent unfruitfulness were necessary preparation for the intelligent accept- ance of the Gospel.

CHAPTER VII

MISSION LIFE AND WOEK IN THE DARK DAYS

ABOUT the time when I was beginning to realise how actual mission work differed from the romantic ideas of it too commonly entertained at home, and overcharged with which many enter the field, a notable mis- sionary— A. M. Mackay — far away in Uganda was writing these words : — " Current ideas at home as to mission work are, I fear, very different ; but I have not heard of any part of Africa, east or west, where the native bear- ing to the Missions is different from what it is in this neighbourhood. It is a system of beggary from beginning to end, and too ofteu of suspicion, and more or less hostility too. Only when these first adverse stages are passed can we expect to do any real good. Disarming suspicion and securing friendship are a slow process, but an absolutely necessary one. They are most wearisome and trying to the faith and

temper of those engaged in the task, while they 138

MISSION LIFE AND WORK 139

yield no returns to show in mission reports ; yet on their success depends the future of our work. Hereabout we are so far from the reapiiig stage, that we can scarcely be said to be sowing. We are merely clearing the ground, and cutting down the natural growth of suspicion and jealousy, and clearing out the hard stones of ignorance and superstition. Only after the ground is thus in some measure prepared and broken up, can we cast in the seed with hope of a harvest in God's good time,"

These are words of truth and soberness, as every real worker can testify from his own experience. At this time, being unable to move about among the villages with any degree of freedom, we were often compelled to pass the time on the station, and were assailed by overbearing and impudent men and women, clamouring for whatever they saw with us whicli they coveted. To say we were annoyed is to use a mild term for our experience. From morning till night the house was beset by natives begging. They allowed us no privacy, and our rooms were darkened by a crowd pressing round the windows and flatten- ing their noses against the panes. If one ventured out his steps were dogged by a clamouring mob. Any attempt to divert their attention from beg- ging by showing pictures, explaining the work-

I40 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

ing of apparatus, or manufacture of articles, was treated with indifference. Time was of no value to them, and so for many a long day the vicinity of our house was the meeting-place of all who sought diversion through watching the white man, or begging for the clothes off his back. Men who could have been well clothed appeared in rags, which they took pains to show. Others would come in a nude state, hoping to appeal to us thereby. When they wanted cloth and beads they complained of hunger, which they indicated by drawing themselves in and simulating an empty stomach. If one offered them food they disdainfully rejected it, and explained that their hunger was for calico. Their importunity and arrogance were at times almost maddening, and sometimes the only relief got was by shutting up the house and going away to spend a few hours on Njuyu mountain and leaving them alone. We could not reason them out of their begging habits. They could not entertain our view of the disgraceful and undignified habit. They would say in flattering terms, "We are praising you by begging. Do men beg from people who are poor and mean ? "

But while the annoyance was great, their un- reasonableness and selfishness made it well-nigh impossible to bring any sort of benefit within

MISSION LIFE AND WORK 141

their reach. When we began to make bricks for housebuilding, and were thereby able to put some cloth in circulation among them, the work was repeatedly stopped by some head-man or com- bination of natives, who desired that they only should have the benefit of it. The very people who had been the friends of the Mission at first became our enemies, and did all in their power to compel us to submit to their demands to supply them with whatever they wanted. They had given up the spear and had been coming to our Sunday service, but as we would not enrich them with earthly possessions they turned against us, and reviled us for having cheated them, as they were now poorer than when they followed their own ways. Three brothers, Chisevi, Injomane and Baruke, the heads of the neighbouring villages, became openly hostile and threatened to go to Bandawe with war, because we would not pay them for being at peace with us. Injo- mane— the murderer of his own mother, cruel and treacherous — set out and attacked a village near Bandawe. On his return the war-party made a demonstration at the station, by engaging in war- dances, and speaking against the Mission and the " news." The effect of these war-parties going out was that we were left without mails and supplies at times, as the Tonga at Bandawe, on

142 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

whom we had to depend for carriers, were afraid to venture on the road.

From the native point of view, those members of the Chipatula clan who had befriended the Mission, and had been the means of our gaining an entrance to the country, were right in attri- buting their position to their friendship for us. They were the sons of a once powerful chief who had lost his kingdom. They hoped that through the Mission they might regain their former posi- tion. They had heard and accepted Dr Laws's statement, that by serving God they would attain to greater riches than by using the spear. They did not apprehend the spiritual aspect of the case and gave expression to the only need they felt. Their expectations had been disappointed and they had, in befriending the Mission, become to a certain extent outcasts from the Ngoni who were all along opposed to the settlement of the Mission. They had not learned to work and now that their spears brought them nothing, they were indeed poorer in all that they valued. It was often a trying situation to meet their attacks and to quiet their feelings, and in it all we saw how not the words of man but the Divine Spirit, can reveal to men their spiritual state and make plain to them the Word of Life. It was pecu- liarly hard on William Koyi, when alone among

MISSION LIFE AND WORK 143

them, to hear the Gospel accused in this way, and with a better intention than judgment he made presents to them to keep them quiet. He was discovering that it was an unsafe kind of peace which was thus produced, and when I arrived the whole question was discussed. We resolved that such a practice must be stopped.

As time went on matters did not improve. When our determination not to pay anyone for coming to hear the Word preached, or to give presents in answer to the demand of those who came to beg, became evident to them, they used other methods in trying to coerce us. Our cattle were stolen from the herds when feeding, or from the fold at night, and we were never able to detect the thief. Trees brought in for firewood or housebuilding disappeared ; clothing hung out to dry was stolen, and our fields and gardens cleared of produce. As we were living among them on sufferance, there was no healthy senti- ment to which we could appeal when wrong was done to us. If we could not detain the thief in the very act there was no case. During the rainy season we frequently suffered from cattle- stealing. On a night when rain was falling heavily, the fold would be entered and the best beast taken out and driven far away before morning, the heavy rain obliterating all trace of

144 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

the route taken. The time of service or prayer- meeting was chosen for entering the corn-field and garden, and stripping them of our food supply. It would have been very easy at any time to produce a rupture between us and the natives by a want of forbearance on our part, and yet there were circumstances at times, in which it was impossible not to defend our pro- perty though not by force of arms. On their part they made war demonstrations on the slightest occasion. The cattle-herd may have allowed our cattle to stray into a native's garden, and he and his friends would come to the station armed and perform a war-dance as a preliminary to opening the case. Nothing was so efi'ectual in overpowering them on such occasions as quietly to allow them to dance till they were satisfied, and then calmly say " Good morning." When the season for beer-feasts came round we had to live through much that was exceedingly trying to flesh and blood, and could only be endured for the Lord's sake. The beer, which was brewed from a kind of millet, was considered "ripe" after so many hours' fermen- tation, and in order to annoy us it was frequently made so as to mature on Sabbath. Then early in the morning the guns would be fired or a horn blown to inaugurate what would be a day's

MISSION LIFE AND WORK 145

debaucli, and the people congregated for the orgie. As the hours wore on and the drunken natives began to dance and sing, the sacred day was filled by unhallow^ed sounds, while towards evening what had begun as friendly song and repartee, ended often in fighting and bloodshed. Our quiet was not only broken by these sounds from the villages, but sometimes a band of drunken youths, or men and women, would come to the service or to our door and assail us with foul song and epithet, or engage men- acingly in war-dances.

In July 1885 an attempt was made by Injo- mane (before mentioned) to frighten us into resiling from our position on the question of presents, and the issue of which considerably strengthened our hands. A party of Tonga had come up from Bandawe with letters and goods. When they had gone a few miles on their re- turn journey, Injomane and a party of his young- men attacked them. They were robbed of all their clothing and their weapons, and some of them wounded. Chisevi, a brother of Injomane, came to the station and informed us of the threatened attack, hinting that while he had a good heart to us himself, he had, for the sake of his position, to appear at times as our enemy, and that we would no doubt see how he esteemed

K

146 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

us and reward him for informing us. Before we had time to act for the protection of our Tonga carriers, one of them who had escaped without wound returned to give us information. The others, wounded and robbed, escaped into the bush, not daring to come back through the vil- lages in a nude state. We considered that the case should be taken to the chief, in order that we might see of what value were the words of the chief and councillors in protecting us. Mr Koyi and I thereupon went to Mombera and made complaint, pointing out that protection to us must mean also protection to any in our service. Mombera, with his natural shrewdness, asked us why those who had brought us into the country had now turned against us. We said that they were harassing us because we would not satisfy their demands for cloth and beads. He was very angry and called the Chipatulas "rats," saying that it was only our presence that preserved them from the attack of his army. He desired to send an army over to punish them, but we proposed that he should send a coun- cillor to make an investigation and call the people together to inform them that we must be protected.

Ng'onomo, his prime minister, being the coun- cillor for the district in which we lived, was sent

MISSION LIFE AND WORK

•47

to hold a court. All the villagers were called up, and although Injomane and Chisevi (who had informed us) denied all knowledge of the aflfair, after a whole day's talk, Ng'onomo decided that Injomane had done wrong and that the cloth and spears should be returned. We were asked if the punishment was full enough, and we had oppor- tunity of expressing our regret that the people in whose interests we had come should not admit us to their friendship, and permit us to carry on our work for their good. After warning the people against annoying us, Ng'onomo declared the indaha at an end. An ox was killed, and the judge, prosecutor, and defendants all feasted to- gether in amity. The Chipatulas had feared other treatment, as they had sent away all their herds and goods, so that they had another exhibi- tion of our forbearance and desire to do them good.

If we had been asked by carping critics at this time, " What are the results of your work ? " we could not have pointed to a single convert, al- though the Mission had been already three years in the district. To all appearance it was a fail- ure. From the chief and the councillors we had stolid indifference, and direct veto against educat- ing the children, or moving about to preach the Gospel ; and from many of our near neighbours

148 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

we were receiving marks of base ingratitude and opposition. But was no work being done and no good being accomplished ? Of stated work there was not much. We were denied access to every village save two outside the area of Hoho, as the district in which we lived was called. On the station we were meeting daily with men and women, and youths and maidens, who were em- ployed in housebuilding. To these we had opportunity of speaking about spiritual things. There were the boys in the house as servants who were collected for worship and oral instruc- tion every day. A few young men outside began to take an interest in these services and attended. From them grew a stated service on the Sabbath, to which by and by others came, and although open preaching of the Word had been proscribed, we gradually came out more boldly and our ser- vice was tolerated, and in turn became an object of interest to others abroad. Only a few of the women came, and the men were fully armed.

The service was often very uproarious. The dogs snarled and fought with each other, and when this took place the " backers " of the diflferent dogs whistled and encouraged them. Often audible remarks followed the reading of passages or parts of the address. Sometimes a man would get up and declare that it was all

MISSION LIFE AND WORK 149

lies, and demand cloth as they had heard enough of the Gospel. Some came out of curiosity ; others came having the impression that we gave cloth to all who attended ; and sometimes spies were sent by the chief's councillors to see and report what was done. This was known to us for some time, but we did not think any evil would come of it, until the rumour got abroad that we were inciting the slaves to revolt against their masters. Mr Koyi had the burden of anxiety for he heard all that was being said, and was always either the preacher or interpreter, as I had not then acquired the language. The rumour arose from the Tumbuka slaves having begun to attend the meetings, and afterwards discussing the teaching of the ten commandments in the villages. Their masters began to be sus- picious, and for a time we feared that our service would be stopped. " The common people heard us gladly," and were realising that in the Gospel there were hopes unfolded for them which found a response in their hearts. We were called to account by the councillors, but were able to satisfy them as to what was said and done, pro- testing that we had no desire to interfere in their tribal relationships or to upset the authority of the chief.

As young men we were used in exercising an

150 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

influence on the young men very particularly, and gradually gathered round us a band of half a dozen, who began to speak in defence of our work. They even met together for prayer and singing of hymns, and were in consequence marked out for persecution. They were called " bricks," in derision, as they worked with us and favoured us. They were often set upon by others, and had many a hard day, while yet but imperfectly taught in the Word. But it was the beginning of fruit, and came to brighten our labours. To show how the changed behaviour of those lads led them into trouble, the following instance is given. The child of one of them was ill. Although the grandfather was a native doctor, the father called me to at- tend his boy. He was suff'ering from croup. It being the custom for the father not to appear in the presence of his mother-in-law, he could not enter the hut where she was. After treating the child I went away, but on my next visit I could not find my patient. It had been carried out into a maize field. I saw the poor thing strug- gling for breath, and soon after it died. The " smelling-out " doctor was called to discover the

o

cause of death. He decided that the spirits were angry, and wanted to punish the father for for- saking the beliefs of the old people and listening to our preaching. He had also been neglecting

MISSION LIFE AND WORK 151

to offer sacrifices to tlie ancestral spirits. So strong is their faith in their doctors that all this was believed, and our young disciple had to suffer persecution.

While the direct evangelistic work was circum- scribed, there was practically no limit to the medical work which I carried on in the district ruled by Mombera. At first people came in crowds. Those who were sick expected to be healed immediately, and those who were not sick expected medicine to keep them well. Many cases of a very trivial nature were treated, but there was a value in the work apart from the relief given to the individual. For instance, if a slave were sick and unable to work, no care was taken of him. Such were sought out, and often a master had a useful servant restored to his service. He put a value on this, and was favourably impressed with this part of our work. It was easy to get a hearing from such as he on the other aspects of our work afterwards. A poor woman, left to die as an evil-doer if she failed in her " hour of nature's sorrow," when saved, to- gether with her infant, by treatment of the proper kind, would thenceforth be well disposed towards us and our work. A wife represented so many cattle, and her husband would ap23reciate the benefit of our work and be our friend. Little

152 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

children, relieved from pain and sickness, under- stood the practical nature of the work, and would always respond to our words. In such ways, up and down the country, the work was quietly and surely influencing the people, and while there was yet nothing to tabulate for reports, the future harvest was being insured.

Many things compelled the people to talk of us and our work, and it was plain that while there was no sign of liberty being given to teach the children and preach throughout the tribe, the feeling among the people that we were not being sufficiently trusted was gaining ground. We took advantage of any opportunity to renew our ap- plication to be allowed to open schools. Some- times that led to their discussing the question, and at other times it led to threats to withdraw all permission to preach. We began to be more respected, as those who had received benefit were bold to declare it, but we did not seem to have made any impression on the chief and councillors. They continued to declare that they would never receive the Word of God, while the common people said that until the heads of the tribe did so they could not. The reason why the head-men would not countenance our work was no doubt because they knew that the result of it would be to overthrow their power over the

MISSION LIFE AND WORK

153

slaves, and to crush the war spirit in their chil- dren ; also, because they were in the hands of the witch-doctors, whom they trusted to the utmost as the only channel of communication with the ancestral spirits. Those witch-doctors were against us as they saw their craft to be in danger.

One of the greatest effects of the medical mis- sion work was that, by it, the empiricism of the native doctors was overthrown, and the common people, ignorant and superstitious, were rescued from the bondage of their shrewd but deceitful incantations. Native doctors fail in diagnosis more than in power to heal. Yet in the pre- sence of the majority of diseases they are help- less, and in that case they fall back on the professed will of the spirits that the patient is to die.

Towards the end of this year (1885), having received encouragement from a sister of the chief who was head of a village called Chinyera, about five miles from the station, we built a round hut there and Mr Williams went to live in it. When this came to the chiefs ears he sent for us, and asked if the country had been given over to us that we had begun to occupy it. We referred him to his sister who had invited us, and we heard no more of it although it led to increased bitterness among the councillors. We had thus

154 AMONG THE WILD NGONI

actually, without formal liberty, opened our first sub-station and widened the area of our influence. Mr Williams conducted a small service in his hut, and Mr Koyi remained with me at Njuyu doing the same work. But during all those months we were the subject of continual discussion among the people. Sometimes a councillor would spend half a day on the station speaking on things in general and evidently having some errand which he was unwilling to reveal. In going away he would ask, " How long are you going to stay among us seeing we are refusing your message ? " What to make of us or what to do with us, was evidently a problem which they could not solve. They were no doubt irritated by hearing of the prosperity of their former slaves, the Tonga, under the Mission at Bandawe. We were con- sidered to be standing in the way of their com- pelling their return to bondage, and over and over again disquieting news of what they were saying and plotting reached us. It was a com- mon occurrence for a section of the army to be called up for review and to get secret orders. Not only our own position, but the position of our brethren at Bandawe gave us anxiety on such occasions. Sometimes the Chipatulas would suddenly show <