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 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 BEING SOME CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY 
 
 OF THE LIVINGSTONIA MISSION IN 
 
 BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
 
 BY 
 
 W. A. ELMSLIE 
 
 M.B.jC.M., F.E.G.S. 
 
 Medical Missionary 
 WITH INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. LORD OVERTOUN 
 
 BDlnbursb ant) XonDon 
 
 OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER 
 
 1899
 
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 MY WIFE 
 
 A TRUE HELPMEET 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 
 
 rv. 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 
 
 XL The Crisis ; War, or the Gospel . 222 
 
 XII. In Memoriam : Dr Steele . . 253 
 
 XIII. Eearrangement op Stations and Growth 
 
 OP THE Work .... 283
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Portrait of Dr and Mrs Elmslie 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ngoni Warriors .... 
 
 LUNYANGWA RiVER, EkWENDENI 
 
 A Village Audience 
 
 PoKA Huts on Hillsides . 
 
 Sub-Chief and Body-guard 
 
 Ngoni Headmen, Ekwendeni 
 
 A "Village School 
 
 A Village School of Adults and Children and 
 
 HoRA Station Scholars 
 Ngoniland Staff at Njuyu and Hora Mountain 
 Mr Sutherland, Artisan Missionary 
 Dr Steele .... 
 
 Dr Steele's Grave at Ekwendeni 
 Mr Stuart and Ngoniland Teachers 
 Map ..... 
 
 22 
 28 
 64 
 80 
 96 
 120 
 144 
 
 170 
 194 
 209 
 253 
 280 
 299 
 At end
 
 INTKODUCTION 
 
 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 diflBculties. 
 Unknown languages 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 : — 
 
 \. 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 Grospel 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 n 
 
 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 staff), 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.
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE NGONI 
 
 IN order to understand the present character 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 times, 
 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 
 
 »3
 
 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-
 
 i6 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 goiug 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 dififerent 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
 
 1 8 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 HISTORY OF THE NGONI 19 
 
 they had 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 NGONl 
 
 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 w^hat suffering 
 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 HISTORY OF THE NGONI 21 
 
 a vast region, as he completely subjugated or 
 destroyed every tribe from whose opposition he 
 had anything to dread. Headers of " Kobert 
 and Mary Moffat" 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 Moffat 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 Moflfat 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 Eukuru 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 HISTORY 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 
 Eukuru 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 Eukuru. 
 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 ignorant of her 
 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 
 villaores 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 o± 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 COUNTRY 
 
 33 
 
 elsewhere. They are not the turret-shaped 
 variety to be seen in the low countries, but are 
 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 NGONl 
 
 The white ant attacks the wood and grass of the 
 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. 
 
 Eemoving 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-blood and polished 
 again. In ordinary cases the floors and open 
 space in front of the hut were smeared with 
 fresh cow-dung subsequently scraped off" 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 NGONI 
 
 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 supjDly. 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 
 ofi" him. Their bite is very irritating, and has
 
 THE NATIVES AND THEIR COUNTRT 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 pouud in a wooden mortar and grind 
 into flour for the evening meal. She has to find 
 the nmhido (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 COUNTRT 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 oflfended 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 ^YQ. 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 imless 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 COUNTRY 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 in 
 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 
 presers^ed. 
 
 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 
 evening, when all around is still, it is very en- 
 joyable 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, the 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 eflect 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 indig-nation 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 COUNTRY 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 o^ti 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 offence 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 w^hich 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 differ- 
 ent cattle-herds having differently pitched reeds 
 — by manipulating the open end as they blow 
 
 P
 
 50 
 
 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 through, 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 
 
 51
 
 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, Kev. Donald Eraser, 
 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 im- 
 touched. That the people are eager to learn is 
 evideut 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 
 nev^s 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 ? 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 long, 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 
 comiug from every side, but we cannot listen 
 to them at present — our hands are more than 
 full." 
 
 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. Although the 
 Ngoni practice was less openly obscene yet the 
 occasion was one 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 unblushingly 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 waives 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 that 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 ofi'ending 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 61 
 
 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 aoxiety 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 whicli 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.
 
 NAIIVE 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 mucive. 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 spiiit 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 
 followino' is a correct statement of the relioious 
 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 an 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 affect 
 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. 
 
 Their 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 largest and most attentive meetings 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 OF 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 Livinorstonia 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 
 Ngoni became known. Reference is made here 
 76
 
 THE COUNTRY AND MISSION WORK 77 
 
 to the reports of these expeditions by Drs 
 Stewart and Laws, and the late Mr James 
 Stewart, to the Koyal Geographical Society, and 
 to the Committee of the Free Church of Scotland. 
 One of the earliest references to the power and 
 dominion of the Ngoui, 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 diflferent from what 
 was at first intended. What was urgently wanted 
 was a high and cool position possessing all the 
 other qualificatioDS 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 
 unheal thiness, 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 difierent 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 COUNTRY JND 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 AMONG 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 off 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 women, 
 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 oflf 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 ofi". 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 ofi". 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 effort 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 COUXTRT 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. Aloug 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 aud 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
 
 84 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 
 Qorth end, there are rocky islands. They are 
 huge accumulations of boulders — as if they had 
 gradually grown out of the water by added
 
 THE COUNTRT AND MISSION WORK 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, Tambuka 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 clifi" 250 
 feet high, a section of the Nyika tribe had
 
 THE COUNTRl^ AND MISSION WORK 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 WORK 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 NGONI 
 
 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 diff'erent 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 eflfort 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, Chipatulas 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 
 " Eobert 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 
 w^omen owe their life to Mombera's affection for 
 Dr Laws. Happy, indeed, must he be who was
 
 THE COUNTRT 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 with 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 oflf 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. Eegarding 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 Band awe 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 COUNTRT 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 aU 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 kiUed 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 MT. heard them. 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 COUNT Rr 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 liis 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. When 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 efiect 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 William Koyi. 
 They report great scarcity of food among the 
 Ngoni. . . . William Koyi has not yet seen 
 Mombera, but he has had communication with
 
 THE COUNTRY 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 w^ould 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 the 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- 
 republican 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- 
 shinjiri 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 MO MB ERA 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 I 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 off. But here in Ngoni- 
 land there was one royal residence, one ruler and 
 he in touch by means of the head-men in the 
 different 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 and 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, I 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
 
 MO 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 
 effect 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 having 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 chiefs 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 
 
 n
 
 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 wdfe — the 
 twenty-sixth. When Mr Koyi remonstrated with 
 him and said he thought he would be afraid to 
 increase his troubles in that w^ay, 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 w^ere pleas- 
 ant to see, but toward afternoon when the beer 
 he continually sipped began to act, his civiUty 
 was at an end for the day and he w^as foul- 
 mouthed and quarrelsome. When he was sober
 
 ii6 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 he 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 anything 
 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 
 with many strings to hold in his hand, he be-
 
 FIRST VISIT TO MO MB ERA 117 
 
 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 offence. 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 day 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 enrich 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 chiefs 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,
 
 MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 121 
 
 and at the opposite side was a smaller gate lead- 
 ing from the chiefs quarters, which were fenced 
 off from the houses of the ordinary people. In 
 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 cauo'ht 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 
 
 ^23 
 
 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 efiect of drawing a very 
 sensible speech 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 the 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 
 agreeing to take sides with them against their 
 runaway slaves. Ng'onomo afterwards returned 
 to the war question, and endeavoured to show 
 that their war raids on other people were not a 
 bad thing. He said they were surrounded by 
 people whom he called slaves, and that it wa^ 
 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 
 agree 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 NGONJ 
 
 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 diflferent 
 tribes and become the friends of all. How is that?
 
 MEETING WITH THE HEADMEN 127 
 
 7ou 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, he 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 kind 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 oflfered." One replied 
 by saying, "If 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 129 
 
 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 " somethino^ 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 
 
 enrichiDg 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 amonor 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 w^hen 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 stiflfness 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 ha,d 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 W^ord 
 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 w^ork 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 NGONI 
 
 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 Mombera 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 WORK 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 often 
 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 reaping staore, 
 that we can scarcely be said to be souring. 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 amono- 
 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 which they coveted. To say we 
 were annoyed is to use a mild term for our 
 experience. From morniug 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 vv^ork-
 
 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 villao^e 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 efiect 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 firew^ood 
 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 sufi'erance, there was no healthy senti- 
 ment to w^hich 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 w^ould 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 effectual 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 
 
 debauch, 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 unhallowed 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 Jived, was sent
 
 MISSION LIFE AND WORK 147 
 
 to hold a court. All the villagers were called 
 up, and although Injomaue and Chisevi (who had 
 informed us) denied all knowledge of the affair, 
 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. 
 
 K 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 
 different 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 havinor 
 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 suffering 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 
 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 the 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 appreciate 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 us great kindness, and inform 
 us that Mombera's army was to attack them and
 
 MISSION LIFE AND WORK 155 
 
 US. On several occasions the neighbours set 
 watch at night and made preparations against 
 being attacked. Our friends at Bandawe had 
 anxious times too, on our account. Once the 
 letter-carriers coming up were informed of the 
 expected attack at a village on the outskirts of 
 the tribe, and in fear returned to Bandawe with- 
 out coming near us, and our friends were left in 
 doubt as to our safety. 
 
 It was in the end of 1885 that the first ex- 
 pressed evidence was given that the Gospel was 
 winning its way into any heart. At the close of 
 the boys' meeting on a Sunday evening, Mr Koyi 
 had the joy of hearing from Mawalera, who had 
 been in his employment, that he wanted to pray 
 to God. After he had poured out his heart in 
 broken accents others joined in the exercise, ask- 
 ing that God would teach them to pray, and give 
 them hearts to love and fear Him. 
 
 Notwithstanding this new joy and the strength 
 it brought us, we were soon in deep anxiety on 
 account of the persecution which was levelled at 
 the youths who had begun to confess Christ 
 among their fellows. In Matabeleland no sooner 
 did a native confess Christ than the chief ordered 
 his execution, and at that time we were reading 
 about the burning of converts at Uganda. We 
 told our young friends these things and asked
 
 156 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 them to count the cost. They were not borne 
 up by any unusual emotion, but they expressed 
 themselves prepared to witness for Christ. The 
 occasion was seized by Chisevi, one of the Chipa- 
 tula clan (our neighbours already referred to) as 
 suitable for our overthrow on account of our re- 
 fusal to enrich them. He went secretly to Mom- 
 bera and informed him of what had taken place. 
 Mombera showed his aversion to the informer 
 and his great friendship for us, by receiving the 
 report without a word. Afterwards on a visit to 
 the station he referred to it, and the conduct of 
 the boys was defended by Mr Koyi, and beyond 
 the persecution which the boys met with, no evil 
 resulted as we feared might have been the case at 
 the time. 
 
 The year had seen our hearts bowed down in 
 sorrow by the death of our brother Sutherland, 
 whose life and work are referred to at length in 
 another chapter. We had now at its close the 
 joy of seeing the ingathering of the first-fruits of 
 the work, in which he was for a time associated 
 with Messrs Koyi, Williams, and myself, before 
 another cloud was cast over us by the death of 
 Mr George Eollo, who had just come from Scot- 
 land to begin work at Bandawe. He arrived on 
 Mission duty at Njuyu on December 21st, suffer- 
 ing from fever, which, with one day's inter-
 
 MISSION LIFE AND WORK 157 
 
 mission, cod tinned till the 28tli when he died. 
 As marking the attitude of the people towards 
 us, when Mombera came to know of his illness 
 he requested us to take him away lest he should 
 die in their country, and when he died we were 
 accused of bringiDg him to the station to die, 
 in order to involve them in trouble which they 
 ignorantly feared might come to them on account 
 of the death. They proposed that we should 
 take the body away and bury it at Bandawe, but 
 eventually a grave was opened near the station, 
 and the object-lesson of a Christian burial given 
 to the natives, who gathered together at a dis- 
 tance and looked on.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 
 
 MY journal for 1886 opens with this entry, — 
 " Jan. 3. In bed three days with fever." 
 Notwithstanding the unwearied assistance ren- 
 dered by Messrs Koyi and M^Callum during 
 the strain of nursing Mr Rollo throughout the 
 week of his fatal illness, I was worn out, and I 
 had a sharp attack of fever myself, the usual 
 result of over-anxiety and fatigue. Thus began 
 the year that was destined to be one of sorrow 
 and of joy for those at Njuyu, and of the triumph 
 of the Gospel among the Ngoni. 
 
 About this time the station went by the name 
 of " Ekusinda-nyeriweni," a term which cannot 
 be translated in polite language. The name was 
 given by Mombera, and although it was accepted 
 as a bad one by the people, he did not mean it 
 thus. It arose out of the frequent complaints 
 which people took to him of our supposed evil 
 powers. We were accused of all the family dis- 
 asters ; the non-success in battle; the death of
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 159 
 
 cattle, and the running away of slaves, or what- 
 ever evil came among the people. Mombera, 
 who as may be seen was a believer in us, became 
 so irritated at their numerous charges that he 
 said, " The people are surely comfortable now 
 that they have got a " Ekusinda-nyeriweni." 
 The rebuke was levelled at them and not at us, 
 but the name stuck to us for a long time, until 
 we got a new name from the councillors which 
 will be mentioned further on. 
 
 As we were treated with suspicion it was 
 doubtful what effect our having brought a horse 
 into the country would have. Messrs ]VFCallum 
 and Kollo had come up with a horse which was 
 the first that the natives had ever seen. Before 
 they actually arrived the commotion over this 
 strange animal which they were riding was very 
 great ; and wild and absurd stories as to its ap- 
 pearance and behaviour went round the country. 
 It was said to have only one eye, which when 
 turned on one felled him to the ground ; it was 
 as tall as the highest tree ; its feet crushed 
 houses and people ; its bounding step enabled it 
 to jump over mountains and rivers ; it had a tail 
 which moved continually and smote people to 
 the earth. Such were the wild impressions 
 which this horse made on the ignorant people, 
 who had only heard of it from others as it ap-
 
 i6o AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 proached the villages. Although, when it was 
 seen, the people became intelligently interested 
 in it, we were in difficulties as to pasturing the 
 animal. Complaints were lodged that we allowed 
 it to go near their villages, so that child-bearing- 
 women could not come out, the belief being that 
 the strange animal would lead to the birth of 
 monsters. We were even advised not to allow 
 it to come near the herds of cattle for the same 
 reason. But gradually their fears subsided, and 
 instead of being regarded as an evil thing, the 
 people came long distances to see the wonderful 
 animal. 
 
 Although, as mentioned in the previous chapter, 
 Chisevi's informing the chief about the youths 
 who were coming to us and praying, had not led 
 to an attack upon them as was at one time 
 threatened, the persecution they had to suffer 
 was so great that when they desired to be taught 
 to read they were afraid to come by day, and so 
 they came under cover of night. At first the 
 three sons of Kalengo, a witch-doctor, who was 
 our nearest neighbour, came. Their names were 
 Chitezi, Mawalera and Makara. We spent several 
 hours together every evening, and they made 
 rapid progress in reading and writing. They 
 were also instructed more fully in Christian 
 truth. The devotion of these youths was most
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS i6i 
 
 marked, and as we watched their minds opening 
 under instruction, and their hearts and con- 
 sciences coming under the deepening influence 
 of God's Spirit, we felt stronger and more hopeful 
 in our work which was so liable to be stopped by 
 the superstitious clamourings of the people. But 
 Mombera was no doubt cognisant of all that 
 went on, and it was noticeable that he began to 
 look upon Chitezi as our man. He being the 
 only one of the three who was married could be 
 accorded the place of a man, and so Mombera 
 and we had him as a common messenger on 
 nearly all occasions of communications passing 
 between us. It was a gratification to see the 
 respect which Mombera paid to Chitezi even 
 after he had thus cast in his lot with us. Chi- 
 tezi's father was much respected, and Chitezi 
 himself had but lately been distinguished in 
 several fights and had received some special 
 marks of the chiefs appreciation of his courage 
 and prowess. Yet his turning to us, while 
 against the expressed desire of the council, did 
 not lead to Mombera (who knew all) turning 
 against him or us at that time. Many other 
 things were known which betokened that the 
 mind of the chief as an individual leaned towards 
 our work, however much he spoke in public to 
 the contrary. He had a dual nature, — on the
 
 1 62 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 one hand he was set to curse the work on behalf 
 of his advisers, while for himself, he was, con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, serving God's purposes 
 and helping it on in many ways. On many oc- 
 casions we had to thank God for the presence of 
 even the heathen Mombera on the throne. 
 
 When these youths met for prayer it was very 
 touching to hear them plead for the enlighten- 
 ment of their father the witch-doctor, and for 
 their friends, their chief, and head-men. They 
 had, as youths, understood the worship of the 
 ancestral spirits, and appreciated the position of 
 prayer in the new life. It was a powerful 
 inspiration in this exercise when they appre- 
 hended God as Father, ruling, guiding, and sus- 
 taining the world, and the need and opportunity 
 of coming to Him in calm as well as in storm, 
 in prosperity as well as in adversity ; because in 
 the ancestral worship they did not require to 
 think of the spirits except in case of sickness, 
 famine or drought. It was very interesting to 
 watch the development of their minds under the 
 influence of the truth of Scripture, and how the 
 mind, accustomed to slavery and the relative 
 positions of master and slave, chief and vassal, 
 which the system entailed, naturally assumed 
 the same forms under the spiritual kingdom. 
 While they acknowledged God as Father, under
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 163 
 
 fuller instruction in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 the idea of Him as " Great owner of power," 
 " Owner," " Chief," was what came naturally to 
 them, and by these terms they usually addressed 
 Him. 
 
 It was an unspeakable relief to us when 
 we had actual members of the tribe to consult 
 with on the spiritual phases of our work, who 
 were able to read the meaning of the many dis- 
 quieting things which occurred around us in the 
 behaviour of the people. We felt there was a 
 bond between us not born of earth or earthly 
 power, and in the exercise of prayer we could 
 agree as touching anything we asked of the 
 Father, and even then we could count six, — a 
 European, two Kafirs, and three Ngoni, — as 
 with one heart and mind desiring the coming of 
 Christ's Kingdom. There have been many joy- 
 ous seasons in my experience of the work since, 
 but none have left such an impression on my 
 mind as those of the time we write of. Our 
 anxieties were unceasing ; our position in the 
 tribe insecure ; our eflforts all but fruitless among 
 the great mass of heathen ; our bodies frequently 
 racked by fever and sickness ; we had but occa- 
 sional communications from home ; but after 
 dark the three Ngoni youths came to join with 
 us in prayer for the work. They had staked
 
 1 64 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 their safety and their position in the tribe in 
 accepting Christ. They had their temptations 
 and their fears to relate, and we could hold com- 
 mon converse on the outcome of events, and 
 encourage one another in our trying circum- 
 stances. Hallowed, indeed, were those hours in 
 the stillness of night, and as we knew not w^hat 
 a day would bring forth, but continued in prayer, 
 we are now able to look back and see how prayer 
 was answered, and in that little sanctuary in the 
 dear old house in Njuyu the faith of that little 
 company has brought, by the mercy and over- 
 ruling hand of God, a rich return. 
 
 There is one phase of Mission life and work 
 which is not often written upon, but which ought 
 to be mentioned. At home men and women are 
 called to volunteer for the mission field prepared 
 for sacrifice, and too often the idea of a sacrifice 
 which must be made is the one most prominent 
 at such times. It is a false position in which to 
 put the w^ork. Why not keep before the mind 
 the advantages to one's spiritual life in the work 1 
 I am not the only one who has felt that the Gos- 
 pels and Epistles, as well as the Old Testament 
 Scriptures, have a fresher interest and newer 
 meaning to us when we are teaching the simple 
 minds of the heathen ; and that the exercises of 
 prayer and faith in the circumstances of the new
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 165 
 
 life are more real and refreshing. One learns the 
 simplicity and reality of trust in God when he 
 hears a native, who may only have a few ideas or 
 facts of divine truth, pouring out his heart to 
 God in earnest request, and waiting w^th expec- 
 tancy the answer to his prayer. Does God hear 
 prayer ? Our three lads had learned as much of 
 the truth as enabled them to believe and ask, 
 and one of many special objects prayed for, may 
 be stated as it occurred and confirmed their and 
 our faith in the presence and power of God, and 
 His care of the work. 
 
 The occasion was when the increasing wealth 
 and number of his wives compelled the chief to 
 make choice of an additional royal residence. 
 He had seven or eight royal kraals, and now he 
 was to found another. It must be remembered 
 that all this time the whole tribe, save the three 
 youths whom we w^ere instructing, wxre given to 
 war and raiding other tribes. It w-as the custom 
 in connection with the founding of a new kraal, 
 to call up the army and make a raid on some 
 tribe, setting the young warriors belonging to the 
 village chosen as a royal residence in the fore- 
 front of the battle, in order to test their valour 
 and ability to protect their chief in his new kraal. 
 From what w^e w^ere told we knew such occasions 
 to be times of great excitement in the country,
 
 1 66 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 and the war following a very bloody one. The 
 young bloods had to "wash their spears in blood," 
 and it was their ambition to have an important 
 battle to prove their valour. Our boys were 
 greatly distressed — especially Chitezi, who would 
 have to take his place in the Hoho regiment under 
 the Chipatulas who were our oppressors. The 
 turmoil went on for some days, and we heard 
 that the army was to be despatched to attack the 
 Tonga on the Lake shore around Bandawe. On 
 the day when the royal entrance into the new^ 
 village was to be made, we hoped that some 
 opportunity might be had for Mr Koyi to speak 
 to Mombera to advise him against sending out 
 the army, and we prayed that Mombera might be 
 restrained from ordering war. We heard that 
 Mombera had been debarred from entering his 
 village by the armed youths, who demanded of 
 him an order to go out and "wash their spears 
 in blood," that the chief had refused and was 
 sitting outside determined to occupy the village 
 without giving a pledge to order out the army. 
 The armed escort that accompanied the chief to 
 the new residence were in an excited state, and 
 were threatening to fio^ht the others who were 
 resisting his entrance. As darkness began to fall 
 we could see bodies of men rushing hither and 
 thither among the villages beyond the river, and
 
 THE RAIN ilUESTION AND JTS RESULTS 167 
 
 we feared that it would end in disaster. We de- 
 cided that Chitezi should go over to quietly watch 
 the course of events, he having volunteered to do 
 so, and that we should continue in prayer for the 
 prevention of war. He returned about ten o'clock 
 and reported that after a time of great excitement 
 the chief was ultimately allowed to enter, and the 
 warriors dispersed. We ended our day of prayer 
 by acknowledging in praise the goodness of God. 
 The event made an impression on the miuds 
 of all, and our faithful three had their faith 
 streno^thened. 
 
 If it should seem strange that a band of youths 
 should so oppose their chief, it must be remem- 
 bered that war overruled everything else. An 
 armed party could steal cattle or anything 
 it wanted with impunity, and I have heard 
 Ng'onomo, when dancing, calling Mombera a 
 coward because he did not order the army out. 
 It was an understood thing, and would be done 
 in order to give evidence of a man's readiness to 
 serve his chief at any cost, and it was always 
 accepted in that sense. 
 
 We were never long without some pressing 
 trouble, and sometimes the anxiety was con- 
 tinued through many weeks. The anxious 
 position no doubt frequently induced or accen- 
 tuated the attacks of fever which all the
 
 1 68 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 members suffered from in those days, the 
 attacks being more frequent and severe than 
 those of later years. 
 
 The question of a famine in consequence of 
 drought was agitating the minds of all in the 
 tribe. A few showers fell in the November of 
 the previous year (1885), and the people had 
 planted their maize. It sprang up for a fort- 
 night, and then, as the rains ceased until the 
 18th of January, the corn was burned up and 
 the people began to be greatly excited. The 
 usual period when rain may be expected is 
 from about the end of November to the end of 
 March, so that towards the middle of January, 
 when the early sowing had been fruitless, and 
 day after day the sun beat down from a cloud- 
 less sky and rendered cultivation impossible in 
 the absence of rain, the excitement of the 
 people, with famine staring them in the face, 
 is not to be wondered at. 
 
 However irrational the native may be in his 
 beliefs and practices he understands that there 
 is no effect without a cause. In the worship 
 of the ancestral spirits when they are supposed 
 to cause evil by being displeased, the witch- 
 doctor and the family or community recognise 
 their responsibility, and possibly misconduct, to- 
 wards the spirit of the house or the tribe. Tlie
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 169 
 
 practice of the witch-doctor is a fattening one, 
 as he not only gets his fee but a good piece of 
 the meat he recommends them to sacrifice to the 
 displeased god. When we became '* Ekusinda- 
 njeriweni " we expected that the witch-doctors, 
 as well as the people generally, would hold us to 
 be the cause of the drought. For some weeks 
 we were left ominously alone by most people, 
 and especially by those about the chief, but our 
 faithful three managed to keep us informed of 
 what was passing in their meetings about the 
 cause of the drought. We were indeed blamed, 
 and particularly as I had erected instruments in 
 the garden to control the weather. These (mete- 
 orological instruments) I was known to consult 
 mornino: and evening: and to write in a book 
 what I was doing. At this time, of course, a 
 book was in their eyes nothing but an instru- 
 ment of divination, and as will be seen, they be- 
 lieved that it told us what was in their minds. 
 They spoke about ''The Book," as the Bible 
 was so often referred to by us, and they thought 
 there was only one book. 
 
 We were not very anxious for a time. They 
 were sacrificing cattle to their ancestral spirits — 
 household and tribal — and although there was a 
 general clamour about our being the cause of 
 the drought we were not molested. But as the
 
 I70 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 drought continued and their sacrifices were un- 
 availing, more attention was paid to us and our 
 actions. Some people would stand at the hedge 
 looking into the garden, and discuss the probable 
 action of the meteorological instruments to which 
 they had seen me attending regularly. On one 
 occasion old Maumba, a councillor of the chief, 
 came to talk about the rain not coming and said, 
 "Why do you not give the rain? What does 
 your Book tell you is in our hearts about you 
 just now ? " 
 
 At length a meeting of the doctors was called 
 to ascertain the cause of the drought. Till then 
 I hardly expected that the doctors had a good 
 word to say of us ; but when, in answer to the 
 question whether we caused the rain to stop, 
 they made a united statement that we had noth- 
 ing to do with it, we were greatly surprised and 
 pleased. The doctors were divided in their 
 opinion as to the cause of the drought. One 
 party made the cause out to be the strife be- 
 tween Mombera and Mtwaro his brother, as 
 the spirits were highly displeased therewith. 
 Another party said that the spirits were at war 
 among themselves, and the rain would come 
 when they finished. The third party said it was 
 true that the spirits were displeased, but not on 
 account of Mombera's quarrel with Mtwaro, but
 
 'i 
 
 1 *^ * 

 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS i-ji 
 
 because the tribe had given no heed to the mes- 
 sage which we had brought to them. He in- 
 stanced what seems to be a fact, that one of their 
 fathers, who died while they were at Tanganyika, 
 and who had never seen a white man, told them 
 that in the course of their wanderings they would 
 meet with white men who would be their friends, 
 and to whom they must listen and be friendly. 
 They were thus neglecting the advice given them, 
 and the spirits were angry. It did not, however, 
 occur to them that to obey was better than sacri- 
 fice ; so they renewed their offerings to appease 
 the spirits, and after waiting for a time they were 
 still disappointed. Several talked to us in a 
 quiet, suspicious way, as if insinuating that we 
 had better send rain to save ourselves. At 
 length several councillors and a large number 
 of men came over to us from the chiefs place. 
 They came to ask us to pray to our God to send 
 rain, as their own methods had entirely failed. 
 
 The councillor who spoke made an apology why 
 they had not settled the question of schools. We 
 asked him whether he had come to speak on that 
 question or about the drought. He said it was 
 the drought, so we said he did not need to intro- 
 duce the subject of schools, as that had no con- 
 nection with the drought, although we were glad 
 to see that they still retained their sense that
 
 172 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 they had not treated the question as they ought 
 to have done. We asked them if they came to 
 us because they believed that we had the power 
 of giving or withholding rain, and one of them 
 replied, " We here to-day do not think so, but 
 I cannot say that there are none who think so. 
 We believe it is the spirits." We said, " Why 
 do you come asking us to pray for rain when 
 you do not believe in our God ? " '* Oh," he 
 said, "just to see which is best." We asked if 
 they would give up their own beliefs, and permit 
 us to instruct them in the Word of God if they 
 found that our God answered our prayers; but 
 no one replied. We then for more than an hour 
 preached the Word to them, explaining how their 
 ignorance made them think God was only to be 
 sought when our own efforts failed. We pointed 
 out that they themselves believed that when the 
 spirits caused any calamity or, as they thought, 
 withheld rain, they knew there was a reason for 
 it, and the doctors were called to find out the 
 reason, and in all cases it was in themselves ; 
 and so, before they could expect rain, or what 
 they wanted, they first offered sacrifices to 
 satisfy the spirits ; that we believed it was for 
 something in us that God withheld his blessings, 
 and so it was needful for us to repent ; and that 
 this feeling of the necessity of repentance and of
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 173 
 
 a sacrifice proved that we were all similarly con- 
 stituted, and that for us God had provided the 
 sacrifice in the person of His own Son. It was 
 a splendid opportunity for preaching and we had 
 close attention. 
 
 We sympathised with them, and said we would 
 make special prayer for rain in our meeting next 
 day. They wanted us to go over and pray in the 
 chief s cattle kraal ; but we refused, for the reason 
 that we wanted the people to come to our service 
 on the station, and did not wish the Bible to be 
 over at the chief's on such an occasion, because 
 they attached a superstitious importance to the 
 Book. While we were engaged speaking, a war- 
 party appeared on the road some distance from 
 the house, and engaged in war-dances. We did 
 not take any notice of it, although we knew it 
 was a signal of defiance to us for something ; and, 
 as we afterwards learned, it was held in readiness 
 so that if we had received them as they expected 
 by saying, '^ You have refused our word for these 
 years, why do you come now ? " it would be called 
 up to dance in front of the house, that being the 
 only thing that the Ngoni can do when they are 
 nonplussed. The councillors who were with us 
 were uneasy, very uneasy, when the party came 
 in sight, and no doubt felt relieved that we did 
 not run for our fire-arms, like the neighbouring
 
 174 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 villagers, who were listening in the verandah, and 
 who, on going home, found that their wives and 
 children had lied up the hills behind the station. 
 We were never able to discover their real in- 
 tention in coming with a regiment of armed men. 
 It was only known to the councillors, and Mom- 
 bera afterwards said he did not know either ; but 
 there may have been some idea of doing more 
 than frightening us by it, because we saw another 
 regiment making for Chinyera, where Mr Williams 
 was at the time, and it remained in his vicinity 
 for some time. Apparently some signal was 
 made, and it returned to the chief's kraal soon 
 after the deputation withdrew. Great was the 
 excitement among the Hoho people around the 
 station, and notwithstanding their conduct to- 
 wards us, they now declared that our cause was 
 theirs, and that as they had brought us into 
 the country they would have to die with us, 
 as that had been determined, they said, by the 
 councillors, should we not be able to give rain. 
 That night, as during the evening, armed men 
 had been gathering at the chief's kraal, which 
 was only a mile distant across the valley and in 
 view of the station, so neither we nor the natives 
 near us retired to rest. It was affirmed by all 
 that we were to be attacked, and the natives set 
 watchmen on all the ant-hills between us and the
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 175 
 
 river. We did not so much fear an organised 
 attack, as that some of the young bloods, excited 
 by the war-dancing, might break out and fire the 
 station, in the hope of really inducing war, and 
 so "we made our prayer unto our God, and set a 
 watch against them." 
 
 A touching word was spoken by old Kalengo, 
 the father of our three adherents, who sat till far 
 into the night with us at our house. He was 
 a slave of the Ngoni from the Senga country, 
 and had known the position of a slave in 
 the tribe, till he became a witch-doctor. He 
 feared the wild warriors who were collecting 
 at the chief's place, and said, " Well, I'll go 
 home to my own village now. If we hear the 
 sound of war we will come to your house to die 
 with you. We were nothing at all to anyone till 
 you came among us ; but at your house all are on 
 the same level — we are not slaves." 
 
 There was a large congregation in the church 
 the next day, councillors and others haviug come 
 from headquarters. Mr Koyi conducted the ser- 
 vice, and expounded the ten commandments, as 
 we do at every church-service. I addressed the 
 people, telling them of droughts in South Africa, 
 and such as we have at home sometimes, and the 
 services held by Christians every year to thank 
 God for the harvest. I read Isa. lix. 1-8, and
 
 176 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 connected that passage and Isa. Ixviii. 6 with 
 Malachi iii. 10, from which I spoke, Mr Koyi 
 acting as interpreter. I pointed out what God 
 desired in place of sacrifices, and as they would 
 never think of praying to the spirits without first 
 sacrificing, so we had to learn from God's Word 
 how we are to prepare our hearts to seek Him. 
 A councillor who had killed a man just before 
 then was present, and as I read, **Your hands 
 are defiled with blood," he cried out, *' He is 
 speaking out of his own head ; that is not in 
 the Book." It showed, I think, that his con- 
 science was not dead. So clearly did the Bible 
 describe their thoughts and feelings that they 
 believed that we knew from it all their thoughts. 
 None of the warriors had come to the service, 
 and as they continued dancing at the royal kraal, 
 we determined to watch again at night. About 
 four in the morning slight rain began to fall, and 
 we retired to rest. Next day we had agreed to 
 hold another service to pray for rain, and at noon 
 the people collected, some of the chief's council- 
 lors being again present. At two o'clock, before 
 the meeting had dispersed, heavy rain fell. This 
 was the 18th of January, and seven weeks after 
 the rain in November. The incident made a 
 profound impression upon the minds of the 
 natives, and no doubt indirectly, if not directly,
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND TTS RESULTS 
 
 1 1 
 
 advanced our work. The rain dispersed the 
 assembled warriors, and the people again be- 
 came engaged in planting operations, and quiet 
 ensued for a time. 
 
 A few weeks after, on a Sunday, two coun- 
 cillors came to us with a sheep as a thank-offering 
 for the rain. We refused the gift as we dis- 
 claimed having regulated the rain, and because, 
 as we pointed out, they had sacrificed a score or 
 more cattle to the spirits and received no rain 
 from them, but confessed themselves beaten, 
 while God, who had alone sent rain in answer to 
 prayer, was to be paid by the gift of a sheep. 
 They heard some plain-speaking and preaching 
 and appeared glad when we allowed them to go, 
 taking the sheep with them. The common 
 people, who now began to be bolder in their 
 attendance at the services, felt that we were 
 being slighted too much by the councillors, and 
 such an incident as the offering of the sheep was 
 talked of far and near. It aided greatly in the 
 furtherance of our interests, as all believed that 
 by our prayers we could give or withhold rain, 
 and considered that we should have accorded to 
 us equal rights with the witch-doctors whose 
 incantations had so signally failed. 
 
 The Sabbath meetings now became more firmly 
 established, as the presence of the amaduna at 
 
 M
 
 1 78 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 the meetings held to pray for rain was taken by 
 the common people as a recognition of them, and 
 they were not afraid to come. The effect of the 
 rain-question was to increase the interest of the 
 people in the Book, and we were able greatly to 
 extend our area of evangelistic work, and wher- 
 ever we found the head of a village willing for a 
 service to be held we visited his village regularly 
 and preached. The attitude of the people towards 
 us was more respectful and hearty, so we went 
 on, rejoicing greatly. At the end of February 
 there was a cessation of rain for about a week. 
 Mombera had hanged a man for stealing cattle, 
 and a deputation came to ask if we were offended 
 at this and had stopped the rain. We again had 
 the ear of the amaduna and tried to teach them 
 the Word of God, and upbraided them for having 
 left off attending the services. 
 
 That rainy season was a remarkable one, and 
 the natives still remember and speak of it. Eain 
 fell on one day in November, nine days in 
 January, eleven in February, twenty in March, 
 and four in April, i.e. on forty-five days, and 
 only reached the exceptionally small amount of 
 nineteen inches, yet the best harvest I have seen 
 in Ngoniland followed. The rain fell in gentle 
 showers and suited the character of the country. 
 The natives say that they never had such a con-
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 179 
 
 venient rainy season, as it rained at night and 
 did not prevent their work in the gardens during 
 the day. The natives usually suffered from want 
 of corn in the interval between sowing and reap- 
 ing, as insufficient stores were made to carry 
 them on to the harvest, and at the time of which 
 we write, as the harvest was late there was great 
 hunger. We had an opportunity of showing the 
 Hoho people, who had been very troublesome and 
 unkind to us, that we could warmly interest our- 
 selves in their life and try to help them in time 
 of need. We distributed a considerable quantity 
 of beads among them, to enable them to trade 
 with those who might have food for sale. I am 
 afraid our kindness was not duly appreciated by 
 all. The heads of the villages were called to the 
 house, and beginning with the oldest we gave out 
 the beads. The Chipatulas were consequently 
 placed among the last and were very indignant 
 and rude to us, as they considered we had 
 slighted them in giving to others — and to slaves 
 — before giving to them. The encouragement 
 received from these men a little later on was not 
 very marked. After their beads were used up, 
 and the hunger still continuing, we offered to 
 give them letters to our friends at Bandawe for 
 which they would get loads of flour if they would 
 send down their villagers, but we were told that
 
 i8o AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 we should get the Tonga who usually carry our 
 goods to bring it up, and they would receive it. 
 I do not quote these incidents as illustrative of 
 all the natives, but for many a day it seemed 
 that the people were unable to appreciate a kind 
 act, and took it as an exhibition of our simplicity 
 on which they desired to impose further. 
 
 In June we had to undergo one of our greatest 
 trials when William Koyi was removed by death. 
 Not till then had 1 fully felt the responsibilities 
 of the work, or so great a sense of loneliness and 
 helplessness among the Ngoni. In a brief bio- 
 graphy of our friend I have tried to tell something 
 of our loss by his death, and how I loved him, so 
 that it is unnecessary to say more in this place. 
 
 While we were mourning the death of our 
 comrade, Mr Williams and I were rejoicing that 
 the restrictions on our work were being removed, 
 and our position receiving more general recogni- 
 tion. It was while Mr Koyi was on his death- 
 bed that there was a meeting of the chief, the 
 sub-chiefs (his brothers), and their head-men. 
 For some years there had been a feud between 
 Mombera and his brother Mtwaro at Ekwen- 
 deni, and the permission we had asked to visit 
 the latter had always been refused. As he was 
 heir-apparent it seemed to us advisable to make 
 his acquaintance, and we regretted Mombera's
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND HS RESULTS i8i 
 
 refusal. In the middle of 1886 the action of 
 Mombera in having consulted us in regard to 
 the rain, and seemingly having come under our 
 power, stirred up the hatred of the other sections 
 of the tribe. A desperate attempt was made by 
 the disaffected in the council to overthrow the 
 chieftainship of Mombera and openly follow their 
 own ways. Again our prayers were heard, and 
 after the turmoil of several days, the matter 
 ended by Mombera and Mtwaro becoming re- 
 conciled, notwithstanding the opposition of some 
 who desired the enmity to exist, in order to aid 
 their effort to break up the tribe into sections. 
 The four brothers pledged their friendship, and 
 the kingdom was maintained intact. That and 
 other matters were settled in open council, but 
 the question of our presence and work was taken 
 up in private by the chief, his brothers, and the 
 councillors. This w^as no doubt owinor to the 
 presence of large armed escorts which had come 
 with the sub-chiefs ; in them the war instinct 
 was active, and they were eager for the excite- 
 ment of open discussion. 
 
 What was said and done in private we do not 
 know, but we were informed next day by a depu- 
 tation representing each party in the council, that 
 we must understand that we were free to preach 
 the Gospel, and teach the children in every part
 
 i82 AMONG THE WILD NGONl 
 
 of the country. They expressed the hope that, 
 instead of confining our work to the people 
 around one station, we would open stations in 
 each of the principal divisions of the tribe. We 
 learned afterwards that Mombera was accused of 
 receiving goods from us, and that the principal 
 thought in their minds was, that by having a 
 resident white man at each sub-chiefs village 
 they would also share in the spoil. There was 
 full proof of this eighteen months afterwards, as 
 will be seen further on ; but it was evident also 
 that the growth of popular feeling in our favour 
 was proving an uncomfortable fact in the mind 
 of the chiefs, and they were compelled to open 
 the country to us. I wrote home at the time as 
 follows : — " I can point to no particular incident 
 closely connected with the happy change in the 
 feelings of the people ; but nothing more satis- 
 factory can be said than that the cumulative 
 force of the Christian life and teaching of those 
 resident here has slowly but surely produced its 
 natural effects on their minds. Various incidents, 
 such as the rain question last January, could be 
 cited as distinct stages of advance, but no part of 
 our work has been without its power ; and I be- 
 lieve that the patient waiting of the past years 
 will be amply justified and rewarded in the 
 results of the future.
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 183 
 
 " They do not desire to engage in war, and 
 the only advocate for war at the council meeting 
 was shouted down by the assembled councillors. 
 Since Mr Koyi's death a deputation of councillors 
 came from the chief, on account of a rumour hav- 
 ing been spread that since the country here seems 
 to kill all our fellow- workers we would now leave. 
 The chief sent them to say that we must not 
 leave, but consider our position the same as if 
 their special friend Mr Koyi had lived. To us a 
 few days before Mombera said, ' I understand 
 your work to be such that if deaths do occur it 
 will still go on. God gave us life, and He can 
 take us away when He pleases, and vre cannot 
 say aught.' We assured him that he had spoken 
 rightly, and told him that though we should die 
 there would be others who would carry on the 
 work. Though teaching was proscribed, we have 
 three youths reading the New Testament, and 
 others coming on rapidly. Most of these are 
 also earnestly striving to know God and walk 
 in His ways, and from among these we will find 
 helpers when we formally open school. 
 
 " Our position and prospects are cheering. Mr 
 Williams has agreed to extend his engagement 
 for two years meantime ; but as he must now 
 reside here the station at Chinyera occupied by 
 him will be closed, except on Sundays, when one
 
 1 84 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 of US will walk over and conduct services at one 
 or more villages. A good climate and extensive 
 opportunities for service can be offered here, and 
 I trust the Committee will be able speedily to fill 
 the place of Mr Koyi. We should with another 
 helper be able now to itinerate, which is a method 
 of work which would be greatly appreciated here 
 by the people. To fully equip the station, an 
 ordained missionary should be sent, for w^e have 
 hopes that a native church will be very soon 
 established here." 
 
 Mtwaro had also a personal interest in becom- 
 ing reconciled to Mombera and in professing an 
 interest in us. Some time before he had sent a 
 messenger to me requesting my presence at his 
 kraal in order to treat an affection in his left 
 knee-joint. I sent back the reply that I would 
 gladly come to him if he would first obtain Mom- 
 bera's consent, as I had been refused permission 
 to visit him. He (Mtwaro) had heard of the 
 medical work and desired the benefit of it in 
 his own case. When we were permitted, as I 
 have related, to visit Mtwaro I went to him, but 
 medical treatment was unsatisfactory on account 
 of the superstition of his head-men, who would 
 not allow me to touch or examine the knee-joint. 
 My visit enabled me to know the expectations of 
 the people, and their begging for cloth was most
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 185 
 
 imtating and trying, but was satisfactory in so 
 far that the ice was broken and another door 
 opened for our work. I was, however, not 
 allowed into the village, but had to pitch my 
 tent outside in the bush. In the middle of the 
 night I found myself alone, with the hyenas sniff- 
 ing round the tent at my elbow, as my men had 
 crept away to the warmth of the huts. During 
 the day the people crowded round the tent, and 
 more than one hand could be seen pushed under 
 the canvas at one time to pull out whatever they 
 could grasp. With the exception of Mr John W. 
 Moir who had visited him in 1879, no white man 
 had met Mtwaro before at his kraal. 
 
 We were encouraged when harvest came round 
 by finding among the people, in some of the 
 villages where we conducted services, a desire to 
 have a special meeting to thank God for the crop 
 about to be reaped. They said God had given 
 them the harvest, and they should thank Him 
 for it before they began to reap. Thus for the 
 first time in Ngoniland, on the people s initiative, 
 a heathen custom, — the feast of first-fruits, — was 
 replaced by a service of praise to Almighty God. 
 It was the more encouraging as it came from 
 the villagers among whom the Word had been 
 longest preached, and was in marked contrast 
 to the ignorant talk of those who were not in-
 
 1 86 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 structed. A large and hearty service was held, 
 and then they set about gathering in their crops. 
 
 In August I left for Mandala and returned 
 with my wife in the beginning of October. The 
 reception accorded us on our arrival was very 
 warm, and an explanation was given of the 
 scanty respect shown on some former occasions. 
 The chief said, '' Yesterday you were a boy ; to- 
 day you are a man and can speak." The Ngoni 
 accorded the privileges of manhood, such as 
 transacting of business, to married men, and as 
 long as I was unmarried it was contrary to their 
 habit to have to treat with unmarried persons 
 whom they considered to be boys. It is un- 
 doubtedly the case that the married state has 
 been more helpful to the progress of the work 
 than the unmarried had been. 
 
 We were not long in starting a school when 
 we obtained permission, and from the first we 
 had two natives, who were able to read, to help 
 us in the work. They were two of those who 
 had been taught in the evenings and they proved 
 a great help. After the first fortnight, the whole 
 of the sixty children attending came and de- 
 manded their pay for learning the Book. When 
 they found they were not to be paid, they refused 
 to come, and again the Chipatulas showed their 
 hand in preventing them from coming because
 
 THE RAIN QUESTION AND ITS RESULTS 187 
 
 we also refused to pay them for allowing the 
 children to come. The two native teachers, how- 
 ever, from among those in their village were 
 able to collect twenty-two scholars, and so again 
 the school went on, that being the number in 
 attendance for nearly a year. 
 
 When the school was fairly started, Mombera 
 sent the ominous warning, " You must not culti- 
 vate your garden merely in one place," meaning 
 that the jealousy of the others would be aroused 
 if we did not immediately begin schools in their 
 districts. We explained that on account of dis- 
 tance that could not be accomplished until we 
 were reinforced from home, and went quietly on 
 with our work at Njuyu, making eflPorts to extend 
 our influence in the new districts. Our efforts 
 in the latter direction revealed how much the 
 questions of war and cloth were mixed up with 
 their talk about schools and preaching, and dis- 
 counted their professed acceptance of our work. 
 It was increasingly evident that we could not 
 rely on political changes, or edicts of councils to 
 establish the work among them, and we therefore 
 bore with their ignorant conclusions and temporal 
 expectations, and strove to have the spiritual 
 power in the work which would establish and 
 extend it. As we had been long in getting a 
 commencement made in school work, we deter-
 
 1 88 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 mined that the schools should be evangelistic 
 agencies, and the workers in them only those 
 whose lives were consistent with their profession. 
 The question arose regarding one who was a 
 polygamist, although in other respects consistent, 
 being allowed to teach, and his ojffer of service 
 was declined until he should dissolve his poly- 
 gamous connections. In after years the w^isdom 
 of this step was revealed. 
 
 The year 1886 closed with one school in pro- 
 gress and evangelistic work being carried on at 
 six or seven centres. A new era had begun in 
 Ngoniland.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 IN MEMORIAM : WILLIAM KOYI 
 
 FOR the following particulars of the early life 
 of William Koyi I am indebted to Love- 
 dale: Past and Present, and the account of a 
 humble yet worthy convert from African heath- 
 enism will be read with interest. " William 
 Koyi was born of heathen parents at Thomas 
 River in the year 1846. His mother died a 
 Christian. He left his home during the cattle- 
 killing mania in 1857, and went to seek employ- 
 ment among the Dutch farmers in the Colony, 
 earning half-a-crown a week as a waggon-leader. 
 About this time his father died, and five years 
 later his mother and two sisters. He left his 
 Dutch employer and worked for five years at one 
 of the wool-washing establishments at Uitenhasfe, 
 and was promoted to be overseer. From thence 
 he went to work in the stores of Messrs A. C. 
 Stewart & Co., Port Elizabeth, where he remained 
 for about the same number of years. He had 
 
 never attended school, but now felt the need of 
 
 189
 
 I90 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 education, and therefore set about learning to 
 read Kafir. He had about this time, 1869, been 
 converted, and been admitted a member of the 
 AYesleyan Church at Port Elizabeth. 
 
 "He came to Lovedale in 1871, and his case 
 is one of the most remarkable results of Lovedale 
 work. A stray leaf of ' Isigidi mi Sama-Xosa' 
 which he picked up and read during his dinner 
 hour at Port Elizabeth, was the first cause of his 
 attention being directed to the place. On enquiry 
 he found it was 150 miles distant, and he then 
 resolved to walk to it and seek admission. He 
 had friends at Tshoxa, Eev. Mr Liefeldt's station, 
 and it was from that missionary he brought a 
 note of recommendation. He attended the first, 
 second, and third year's classes ; and during his 
 stay at Lovedale he was active, willing and 
 trustworthy, caring for duty and not for popu- 
 larity among his fellows. 
 
 " He came to regard Lovedale as his home, and 
 to be regarded as a humble but valuable worker 
 who could always be depended on and needed no 
 pushing to his work or pressure to keep at it and 
 do his best, and make himself generally useful. 
 After a time he was appointed assistant-overseer 
 of the work-companies of the native boarders. 
 
 " In 1876 he offered, along with thirteen others, 
 to go to Livingstonia as a native Evangelist ; only
 
 IN MEMORIAM : WILLIAM KOTI 191 
 
 four including himself were chosen. He has 
 steadily continued these nine years, at the work 
 at Lake Nyasa, and shown considerable energy 
 and natural intelligence, and has thus proved to 
 be of great service to the Free Church Mission in 
 Central Africa. 
 
 " He returned to Lovedale for a time to recruit 
 his health, and in 1 8 82 married the second dauorhter 
 of the late Eev. A. Van Eooyen of Blinkwater, 
 Fort Beaufort : she also a little later proceeded 
 to Lake Nyasa, and is now engaged there in the 
 work of the Mission." 
 
 The foregoing account was in type in 1886, in 
 which year William died on the 4th June : and 
 soon after, his stricken widow, herself in bad 
 health, returned to the Colony to her own 
 friends. 
 
 William served the cause at Cape Maclear in 
 its early stage, afterwards removing with the 
 others to Bandawe. In 1877 he accompanied 
 Dr Stewart on his exploratory journey along the 
 west side of Lake Nyasa. In 1878 he accom- 
 panied Dr Laws and Mr James Stewart on their 
 journey of further exploration of the west side of 
 the Lake, and on their meeting with Ngoni on the 
 hills to the north of Bandawe he was invaluable 
 to the party, being able to speak their language 
 so as to be understood. This was the Mission's
 
 [92 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 first contact with the Ngoni, and William was 
 the first to speak the name of God to them. In 
 1879 he accompanied Mr John Moir in his visit 
 to the Ngoni and to the Basenga on the Loangwa, 
 several days' journey west of Ngoniland. Later 
 on in that year he accompanied Mr Stewart on 
 his journey from Ngoniland northward to Karonga, 
 and westward to Lake Tanganyika. If we re- 
 member that Stanley and other African travel- 
 lers have noted how African travel proves a man's 
 character more than any other mode of life — and 
 they refer to Europeans — and think of those long 
 and arduous journeys of William Koyi, during 
 which his character stood the test, no more need 
 be said as to the genuineness of it. Of him, Dr 
 Laws, under whom he laboured for several years, 
 wrote these words : " William has been a true- 
 hearted and earnest worker in our Mission ; and 
 in many a difiicult time in dealing with the tribes 
 among whom Mr Stewart, William and myself, 
 were travelling, his advice and help proved most 
 useful. In 1876 when Dr Stewart of Lovedale 
 was comiug up to join us and be at a native 
 meeting, he called for volunteers to go with him 
 to Nyasa. A number stood up, and last of all 
 William got to his feet, saying that though he 
 had not the education of the others, he had the 
 desire to engage in the Master's service, though
 
 IN MEMORIAM: WILLIAM KOYI 193 
 
 he could only go as a ' hewer of wood and a 
 drawer of water/ Since then he wrote of having 
 half a talent, but being anxious to use it for 
 Christ. This spirit of humility, so alien to the 
 tribe to which he belonged, has been honoured of 
 God, and doubtless many wall yet arise to call 
 him blessed, having first heard from his lips the 
 Word of Life." 
 
 It will illustrate the character of William Koyi 
 if I give a few incidents connected with these. 
 On one occasion, not long after the Mission had 
 settled at Bandawe, report of a large Ngoni war- 
 party, on its way to attack the people around the 
 station, was brought from a village some miles 
 distant. On such occasions the terror-stricken 
 natives, women and children, rushed to the 
 vicinity of the station in hope of protection by 
 the Europeans. Thousands of helpless women 
 and children crouched among the bushes around 
 the station, or crawled into holes among the 
 rocks on the neighbouring hill, or lay on the 
 beach ready to take to the water as a last 
 chance of life. On one occasion, not only were 
 the natives alarmed, but so threatening were 
 the circumstances that the missionaries hastily 
 put together a few things and launched the 
 boat ready for escape to the rocky island some 
 hundreds of yards off. As Dr Laws was on 
 
 N
 
 194 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 the beach superintending operations, he was 
 attracted by a little boy with book and slate 
 in hand near to him. As nothing apparently 
 could be done to save the natives, or the 
 station, Dr Laws said to the boy, "Eun away 
 and save yourself," to which the little fellow, 
 clinging to his only possessions worth saving, 
 replied, '* Where shall I run to, white man?" 
 When the report above referred to reached the 
 station, a consultation was held, and Mr Koyi 
 volunteered to go out and meet the war-party, 
 and endeavour to turn it back from its purpose. 
 He walked on for some hours, and at last met 
 the party at a little stream, where it had made 
 a temporary camp to await a favourable oppor- 
 tunity to attack the village of Matete, some two 
 hours west of Bandawe station. It turned out 
 to be a party belonging to the Chipatula family, 
 before referred to as having been the first to re- 
 ceive kindly the Mission party in 1879. They 
 were, it was stated, not only intending to attack 
 the natives, but also the Mission station, in order 
 to secure the wealth of cloth, beads, and other 
 goods they imagined were in store there. When 
 Mr Koyi met the party, and before he could open 
 his mouth, the young warriors began to engage 
 in war-dancing. On such occasions the slightest 
 indiscretion in speech or movement, which might
 
 Ngoxiland Staff at Njuyu. 
 
 
 • ^ '^^'^ 
 
 HoRA Mountain — Scene of Tumbuka Massacre.
 
 IN MEMORIAM: WILLIAM KOTI 195 
 
 be interpreted as defiance, would have led to an 
 immediate attack. There, with only a few friendly 
 boys, William beheld the awe-inspiring war-dance 
 of the Ngoni. They danced in companies and 
 they danced singly, each warrior clad in hideous- 
 looking garb which, with their large war-shields, 
 almost hid their human form, and made them 
 more like war-demons than men as they leaped 
 and brandished their broad - bladed stabbing 
 spears which they fight with. Mr Koyi stood 
 for a time watching them, and utterly unable to 
 decide what he should do, or how to efi"ect the 
 purpose for which he had come out. With secret 
 prayer to God for guidance and success, he sat 
 down on the bank of the stream. Still at a loss to 
 know what to do, he took off one of his boots and 
 stockings and began to wash his feet. That done, 
 he, as leisurely and still puzzled, put on his boot 
 again ; but still the dancing went on, and there 
 was no opportunity to speak even had he known 
 what to say. He then proceeded to wash his 
 other foot, and the warriors sat down. He found 
 the opportunity for speech, and with his native 
 instinct remarked, in an off-hand manner, " Now 
 you are sensible people to rest yourselves on this 
 hot day." This produced a burst of laughter from 
 the warriors. The spell was broken ; the war- 
 like intentions of the party were frustrated, and
 
 196 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 then free and open speech was found. The result 
 was, war was averted and a section of the party 
 was conducted to the Mission station, when it 
 was arranged that Mr Koyi and Albert Nama- 
 lambe, who was at that time at Bandawe, should 
 go back with the party and see Mombera, with a 
 view to a permanent residence among the Ngoni. 
 Thus, in the providence of God, the party that 
 left home bent on war and plunder, returned 
 home as guides and escort of the messengers of 
 the Gospel of peace ; and that incident, which well 
 illustrates the valuable work of our departed col- 
 league, was the prelude to the commencement 
 of work among the Ngoni, the success of which 
 has been phenomenal, as we shall presently see. 
 Mombera once said to me, ''My army, when 
 away from home, are like mad dogs ; they cannot 
 be kept in, but bite small and great the same." 
 And only those who passed through the fire of 
 the pioneering days at Bandawe and in Ngoni- 
 land can measure the service done that day, not 
 only to the thousands around Bandawe, but to- 
 wards the success of the Livingstonia Mission. 
 Years after, on encamping at that village near 
 which the Ngoni army was met, the chief related 
 the story to me, and sent with me for Mr Koyi 
 a bunch of bananas to show that he had not 
 forgotten what he had done for them.
 
 IN MEMORIAM : WILLIAM KOTI 197 
 
 When Mr Koyi accompanied the warriors back 
 to Ngoniland, he and Albert were introduced to 
 Mombera, and resided in a hut in his villao-e. 
 The Ngoni took some time ere a welcome was 
 given ; there was one party favourable to 
 and another against their being allowed to stay. 
 They were exposed to many insults and threats, 
 and for a time their position was most critical. 
 They could not both go to sleep together at 
 night, but took turns in watching on account 
 of the threatening attitude of the people. In all 
 these times Mr Koyi's knowledge of the Kafir 
 language was invaluable ; and Mombera, despite 
 his rough manners and despotic behaviour, was 
 extremely fatherly and fond of children, and 
 formed a remarkable attachment to Albert, who 
 had a very attractive appearance and manner. 
 
 Mr Koyi was known by the native name of 
 Umtusaiii, and from love to him Mombera 
 named one of his sons thus, just as afterwards 
 he named one after Dr Laws as Roharti, 
 Mombera was very kind to Koyi, and although 
 he only made sport of what was told him of 
 the Gospel, he always showed him great respect, 
 and became the butt of his head-men on account 
 of his attachment to him. On the occasion of the 
 last great tribal ceremony of putting crowns on 
 the heads of those who were henceforth to take
 
 198 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 their place as men in the tribe, there was a 
 gathering of several thousands of armed men 
 from the different sections of the tribe at the 
 royal kraal. The crowning ceremony I else- 
 where notice, but here I mention as showing 
 how prominent and open was the hostility to 
 the representatives of the Mission for many a 
 day, a clamour got up that Koyi should be 
 killed. He was present in the cattle-fold, as it 
 was always found advisable to go about without 
 giving evidence of fear, as one of the best methods 
 of disarming their hostility. One of tbe most 
 famous of the Ngoni generals, named Nawambi, 
 led off a great war-dance which Koyi described 
 as making his hair rise up. This valiant's war- 
 cry was " Beka pansi" (submit). His move- 
 ments were terrific to witness, as I once beheld 
 them myself. We were wont to call him Bel- 
 shazzar, for in his war-dance he " lifted up 
 himself against the Lord of Heaven." 
 
 With spear in hand he began by walking with 
 raised proud look round in front of his warriors. 
 Then kicking the dust of the ground over those 
 around, and pointing his spear in seeming in- 
 dignation, said " submit." The assembled thou- 
 sands of warriors, beating their shields with their 
 warclubs, cried " submit." Then he named the 
 surrounding tribes, the hills and mountains,
 
 IN MEMORIAM : WILLIAM KOTI 199 
 
 the sun, moon and stars, his seeming fury 
 waxing stronger and the clouds of dust flying, 
 while at each call the warriors beat their shields 
 and roared "submit." The elements of nature, 
 rain, thunder, lightning, were all called on to 
 submit ; and amid the increasing din of shield- 
 beating and roaring of the warriors, the climax 
 of his dance and his daring blasphemy was 
 reached when, pointing to the sky, he cried, 
 as the foam flew from his mouth, " Wena 
 spezulu ! Beka pansi 1 " no doubt meaning 
 Umkurumqango, the God they spoke of as 
 dwelling above. The tumult was as if all 
 assembled had turned into demons, and no 
 wonder great fear fell on Mr Koyi. Mombera 
 saw his discomfiture, and rising up, went and 
 took him by the hand, and led him to his own 
 place and sat down beside him. It was probably 
 what saved Koyi's life on that occasion, for once 
 a cry of blood goes out in a company of warriors, 
 fired by such dancing as that of Nawambi, they 
 indeed become as mad dogs or worse. Such 
 scenes have for ever passed away, but in those 
 days they always ended in bloodshed. 
 
 William was in perils oft. On the occasion of 
 a visit of Dr and Mrs Laws to Ngoniland, Mrs 
 Laws in a kindly manner put her hand on the 
 head of one of Mombera s children with the
 
 200 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 remark, " Such a fine child." After they had 
 gone the child sickened and died. The cry got 
 abroad that he had been bewitched when the 
 white lady put her hand on his head and re- 
 marked on his appearance — a thing the people 
 refrain from doing, reminding one of the super- 
 stition at home connected with " for-speaking " 
 anyone, especially a child. The matter was 
 threatening enough at the time, and it reveals 
 something of Mombera's character when he 
 secretly informed Koyi, and said that he him- 
 self did not agree with those who said the 
 child had been bewitched. The matter was 
 of great importance, and the council summoned 
 the divining men who fortunately blamed some 
 evil spirit and not Mrs Laws. The council was 
 not satisfied, and more than likely the party op- 
 posed to the Mission conceived the idea of seizing 
 on this as a pretext for driving Koyi out of the 
 country, if not of killing him. Secretly Mombera 
 informed him of all that was 2:oino: on. The coun- 
 cil insisted on having recourse to the Tonga muave 
 ordeal, and so fowls representing the Mission party 
 had the poison administered to them. They all 
 vomited, which had to be taken as evidence of 
 the innocence of the accused. But so deter- 
 mined apparently were the council to obtain a 
 conviction, that they suddenly discovered that
 
 IN ME MORI AM: WILLIAM KOYI 201 
 
 the usual test as to whether the doctor presid- 
 ing was giving true muave or not had not been 
 carried out. Another fowl was therefore taken 
 and received the poison and died. This shows 
 how insecure for a long time was the position of 
 William Koyi and the others. 
 
 These were not the only occasions on which 
 our colleague was placed in trying circumstances 
 which required great wisdom, manliness and de- 
 votion to duty, but all through there was no 
 wavering or weakness shown. He understood 
 his position and the trust which was placed in 
 him, and with characteristic humility and absence 
 of self-seeking, he wxnt through it all, counting it 
 an honour to be a messenger of the Cross to the 
 Ngoni. A European member of the Mission once 
 said to me, " It requires great grace to be humble, 
 when one is called Mfumu (chief) by the people 
 on every hand." If a European with his educa- 
 tion and attainments found himself tempted to 
 be lifted up by the merely respectful greeting 
 of the natives, how much more so might Mr 
 Koyi be expected to feel that temptation, in 
 the position assigned to him in Ngoniland and 
 the respect and affection of chief and people 
 which he gained for himself! Those who have 
 had to deal with natives understand how many 
 a native, otherwise good and trustworthy, loses
 
 202 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 himself entirely when intrusted with a little 
 authority. But Koyi never forgot " the hole 
 of the pit whence he was dug." The charac- 
 ter for steadiness, humility, and devotion to 
 duty, which Dr Stewart gave him, was fully 
 borne out to the very end. In those early days 
 Mr Koyi had to bear the chief burden of those 
 frequent outbursts of Ngoni pride and impa- 
 tience. If he was not there alone and having 
 to meet them by himself, he was, till near his 
 death, required as interpreter and chief speaker. 
 I became aware on several occasions that he 
 hid from others and from me much of the anger, 
 hard words and wicked intentions of the Ngoni. 
 He was, as a native, able to discount what they 
 said, but the kindly nature of the man was shown 
 in his rather suffering obloquy himself than that 
 his white friends should be distressed. This was 
 shown on another occasion. During a time of 
 trouble, when we were being accused of inciting 
 the Tumbuka to revolt, there was great distrust 
 of us manifested. It was a Sabbath morning, 
 and earlier than usual some people were gathered 
 for the service. Some head-men and others fully 
 armed came over from the chiefs villages, as 
 they said, to pray to God. This was very un- 
 usual, and as we knew it was reported that the 
 attendance of the Tumbuka, who were coming
 
 IN ME MORI AM: WILLIAM KOTI 203 
 
 on Sabbath to our service in large numbers, 
 was exciting the jealousy of the Ngoni, the 
 presence of armed men led Mr Koyi to appre- 
 hend trouble that day. To add to his view of 
 the situation, from the hollow below the station, 
 between it and the chiefs residence, we had all 
 morning seen smoke arising from a number of 
 fires. Mr Koyi asked the armed men who came 
 from that direction what it was, and they said 
 some people were roasting cassava there. After 
 observing Mr Koyi's restlessness and troubled 
 face, I asked what was causing it. He then told 
 me that he feared trouble at the service, and pro- 
 posed that I should remain in the house and not 
 go to the service that day. I said that could not 
 be, and we went to the service together, and 
 Mr Koyi preached. Everything passed quietly 
 except that in the middle of the address a lead- 
 ing man got up from his place and gathering 
 up his spears said, "We have heard enough of 
 that. Give us cloth. That is what we want," 
 and walked out alone. The others seemed 
 ashamed at his conduct. At the close of the 
 service William came into my room, and with 
 a half-ashamed look on his face said, "Did I 
 not give my knee a great knock to-day ? " This 
 was his parabolic way of saying that he had been 
 frightened at his own creation. He explained it
 
 204 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 by relating how a Kafir, tired while on a journey, 
 had lain down to rest and fallen asleep with one 
 of his knees flexed. On half awaking he saw the 
 knee as if another were over him ready to slay 
 him. Eeaching out for his knobkerrie he dealt 
 a blow on the supposed murderer, only to find 
 it was himself he had hurt. This, I think, was 
 the only occasion on which Mr Koyi showed that 
 his fears were near unmanning him, and to Afri- 
 cans the matter is plain when I say he had been 
 suffering for some time from feverish attacks. 
 It appeared, however, as we afterwards learned, 
 that the head-men had indeed come to hear w^hat 
 was said at our services. 
 
 Although little has been said of it above, 
 Mr Koyi was a devoted evangelist, and so far 
 as liberty to carry on such work was given, he 
 was eager to embrace every opportunity of tell- 
 ing of the love of Christ. He preached by his 
 life, and to a great extent, and with an effect 
 we shall never know, his personal talks with 
 the people were powerful means of keeping our 
 real work before them. He was a diligent 
 student of the Word of God, and with much 
 of the warmth of Christian feeling, he was a 
 happy Christian. He had persevered so as to 
 acquire a fair use of the English tongue and 
 literature. A common Kafir — a Mission Kafir —
 
 IN MEMO RUM: WILLIAM KOTI 205 
 
 to be sneered at by men not possessing a tithe 
 of his manliness or good character, he was one 
 with whom it was a privilege to associate. I 
 acknowledge with pleasure, I received un- 
 measured help from him; to his achievements 
 in those early days the after-success of the 
 work was in a large measure due. He died 
 before he saw the fruit of his labours among 
 the Ngoni. He lived in the assurance that 
 the day would come soon when the work would 
 be allowed to go on unhindered by the council, 
 and he had a large idea of the importance of 
 gaining the Ngoni, so that in his letters to 
 Lovedale he showed himself as he was on that 
 subject. 
 
 He could take a comprehensive view of the 
 aims and work of the Mission — looking be- 
 yond the immediate future to a degree which 
 was most remarkable for a native, and which 
 exceeded that of some of his white brethren. 
 He strongly urged upon his fellow-countrymen 
 in the colony the importance and character of 
 the work, and the call to them to give them- 
 selves to it. Writing home in 1883 he says, " It 
 will be a great day when the native Christians 
 of South Africa will willingly undertake the 
 work here, and give up their lives to come and 
 teach their countrymen at Lake Nyasa. I wish
 
 2o6 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 I had a better education; I would give myself 
 wholly to my countrymen here. Here is work 
 for Christ standing still. You (native Christians) 
 have received much, and have also received 
 education. I do not say you do not work with 
 that education where you are. But can you 
 not even spare two to come and teach these 
 people who are dying in darkness? What am 
 I to think, and what encouragement will my 
 soul receive if no attempts are made by you to 
 second my poor eflforts ? My great wish is that 
 there was a white and also a native missionary 
 here, and then the work would progress. I think 
 there should be more coming to help in this 
 great work." That "great wish" was the con- 
 viction of Dr Laws also, and my being sent 
 out in 1884 was the response to it by friends 
 in Scotland. 
 
 And his death ? How died the faithful soldier 
 of the Cross? As he had lived, strong in faith 
 and in the assurance of acceptance with God 
 through the merits of Jesus Christ. The sickness 
 of which he died ran a rapid course. Having to 
 go to Bandawe, I left him convalescent from an 
 attack of malarial fever. I had been away only 
 a few days when his condition became serious, 
 and he expressed a desire to have me with him, 
 so I hastened back to find to my dismay that a
 
 IN ME MORI AM: WILLIAM KOYI 
 
 207 
 
 dangerous affection of the heart had supervened. 
 He rallied for a time, and though still confined to 
 bed, he was full of hope that he was to be raised 
 up again for his work. One day towards the end 
 a large deputation came from the chief. As they 
 were seen ascending to the station we were anxious 
 as to what its object might be, having only too 
 good reason from past experience to be anxious. 
 Great was Mr Koyi's regret that he could not take 
 his wonted place when the deputation arrived. 
 It was the happiest day of my life — they had 
 come to say that we had now full permission to 
 teach the children and to go about the country. 
 No sooner had the deputation withdrawn than I 
 hastened to the sick chamber to give the good 
 news. As I entered, William, who was sitting 
 propped up in bed on account of his laboured 
 breathing, said eagerly, " What is it ? Can you 
 believe it ? " I said, " We have now full liberty 
 to carry on all our work, and to open schools." 
 Clasping his hands and taking up the words of 
 the aged Simeon as he beheld the Saviour, with a 
 never-to-be-forgotten gleam of joy lighting up his 
 wasted countenance, he said, "Lord, now lettest 
 Thou Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes 
 have seen Thy salvation." He was overcome, 
 and lay for a time as if dead. 
 
 The words he uttered were his prayer, and
 
 2o8 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 it was answered two days later, when in peace, 
 and with a brief farewell to his wife and myself, 
 he was taken to the higher service of the sanctu- 
 ary above. The words he uttered were also his 
 thanksgiving and his resignation. During the 
 interval till his death, quite contrary to his 
 former hopefulness of recovery, he was assured 
 he was to die. He once said he would like 
 to be raised up to see the work in progress, 
 but he knew it was to be otherwise, and he 
 said it was best. So died William Koyi, 
 having been a humble and faithful follower of 
 the Saviour, a trophy from heathenism, and the 
 pioneer of the Gospel in Ngoniland. It was 
 meet that, his work done, his dust should rest 
 where he had fought the battle, becoming the 
 title-deed to *' Ngoniland for Christ." His was 
 the second mission grave opened there.
 
 Mr SUTHERLAND, Artisan Missionary.
 
 CHAPTEE X 
 
 IN MEMORIAxM : JAMES SUTHERLAND 
 
 ALTHOUGH less closely connected with the 
 work in Ngoniland than William Koyi, it 
 is fitting that the name and work of James 
 Sutherland should be had in remembrance also, 
 for he was the first European missionary to reside 
 among the Ngoni, having been sent to be with 
 Mr Koyi in 1882, and along with him had to bear 
 the trials of those early days. 
 
 I write not merely as a fellow- worker but as a 
 close friend, and having had much to do with his 
 choice of foreign mission service. Born in Wick 
 in 1856, he was converted, when a youth of 
 eighteen, about the time of Moody's visit to 
 Scotland in 1874, and became a Sabbath School 
 teacher, and '* Monthly Visitor" tract distributor 
 in his native town. 
 
 In 1876 I went to Wick as missionary to the 
 fisher population. I gathered around me a band 
 of young men, young in years like myself, and 
 young in the Christian life. They became my best 
 
 ^°9
 
 iio AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 helpers, and along with me took part in open- 
 air and in-door meetings. We formed a class 
 for the study of the Bible, Christian Evidences, 
 Butler's "Analogy," and such-like subjects, as 
 well as for reading in the English classics. The 
 friendship then formed lasted to the end. As 
 I then looked forward to foreign mission work 
 myself, the subject of missions was well discussed, 
 and it turned out that I, who had fostered the 
 desire in his mind, was beaten in the race to 
 Livingstonia by four years. 
 
 Following his father's trade — that of a shoe- 
 maker — he was a great reader and worked steadily 
 to improve his education with mind bent on 
 higher spheres. He was particularly drawn to 
 scientific studies, and gaining a bursary he entered 
 Edinburgh University along with one of his com- 
 panions (a member of my class), who, like him, 
 had been fighting his own way in the world. It 
 is characteristic of their thirst for knowledge 
 under diflaculties, that, both being shorthand 
 writers, they each took a diflferent class outside 
 the line of their special studies, and by inter- 
 changing their note-books had practically the 
 benefit of both classes for one fee each. After 
 two Sessions at Edinburgh, in 1880 a man who 
 understood agriculture was wanted for Living- 
 stonia. The advertisement was eagerly read by
 
 IN MEMORIAM : JAMES SUTHERLAND 211 
 
 the two students, and as agriculture was one of 
 the subjects they had been studying, each deter- 
 mined, unknown to the other, to apply. A late 
 member of the Mission, studying medicine along 
 with me, was deputed to see the candidates, and 
 by the same mail I received letters from them 
 both asking for a recommendation. James 
 Sutherland was chosen, and the other went to 
 India to a commercial life, but was no less a 
 missionary. Both died within a few months of 
 each other. 
 
 Leaving home in the middle of 1880 he was 
 for some time engaged in the work of the Mission 
 at Bandawe under Dr Laws. He had been 
 appointed to fill the post of agriculturist, rendered 
 vacant by the death of his predecessor when on 
 the point of leaving for home at the end of his 
 engagement. But while nominally agriculturist, 
 he was, like all the others on the staff, everything 
 by turns, as was rendered necessary by the con- 
 ditions of work in the beginning which was being 
 made at Bandawe. He was engaged in the erec- 
 tion of manse and school ; in the laying out of 
 the station and garden ; in testing the capabilities 
 of the soil at and around Bandawe for the 
 development of agricultural work ; and at times 
 had to take his turn at school and meeting. 
 
 He saw Bandawe founded, and it was there he
 
 212 AMONG THE WILD NGONJ 
 
 was permitted to do most evangelistic work for 
 which he was eminently suited. His close con- 
 tact with the people every day while in charge 
 of out-door labour enabled him speedily to master 
 the Tonga language. He gained the affection 
 of the poor down-trodden Tonga people by his 
 happy disposition, and sowed much seed of the 
 Word, which has no doubt helped towards the 
 success of the work there since. Whatever his 
 hand found to do was done with all his might. 
 His sympathies were broad, and with the various 
 phases of mission life and experience he was in 
 harmony, keeping ever before him the great end 
 for which he was sent out. He felt the troubles 
 and anxieties consequent on the Ngoni raids long 
 ere he was sent to be among that people. On one 
 occasion he was lying helpless in fever when an 
 Ngoni army was reported to be marching on the 
 station. The sudden change from the quiet of 
 the neighbourhood to the tumult and cries of the 
 frightened natives, and the hasty preparations 
 for jBight of the Mission party, was a great strain 
 on Sutherland in his weak state, and in a single 
 night his hair began to turn grey. But he never 
 regretted having given himself to the work, and 
 it would be difficult to picture the harmony, 
 happiness, and at times the mirth of the three 
 youths who lived in " Bachelors' Hall " as they
 
 IN ME MO RUM: JAMES SUTHERLAND 213 
 
 named their house. In those days the conditions 
 of health were not very good, and long periods 
 passed without a mail or news from the outer 
 world, but he and the others lived and laboured 
 as if all depended on their exertions. 
 
 When, in 1882, he was sent to Ngoniland as 
 co-worker with Mr Koyi, he set himself to learn 
 the language of the people, but by means of 
 Tonga he was at once at work among those 
 slaves of the Ngoni who spoke that language. 
 There, as at Bandawe, his influence was chiefly 
 among the common people, and many in bond- 
 age to the Ngoni had a new feeling aroused by 
 his kindly words and the telling of the story of 
 Christ's love. He spent much of his time in the 
 neighbouring villages, and gathered under his 
 influence a number of young men, many of 
 whom have since become members of the Church, 
 and some are now respectable members of society, 
 who were, before he took them up, wild reckless 
 youths bent on following the ways of the Ngoni. 
 At Njuyu he erected the brick dwelling-house. 
 It was no light matter to begin such an under- 
 taking, where, with the exception of brick-mould 
 and trowel, everything else requisite had to be 
 got by the labour of natives. The natives had 
 probably never before seen a brick, much less 
 moulded one. They knew to set a few sticks in
 
 214 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 the ground in a circle and tie over them a few 
 wattles and some grass, which served them as a 
 house. Besides, the people had no inclination 
 for work, they lived, not by the sweat of their 
 brow, but by stealing the things of others. With 
 such a set of helpers Mr Sutherland had to start 
 to build a house of several rooms, which, accord- 
 ing to the frequently expressed view of the 
 natives, when finished, was a village under one 
 roof The clay had to be dug and puddled, then, 
 by means of moulds made of disused provision 
 cases, shaped into bricks and laid down in the 
 shade to dry. For a long time it was extremely 
 irritating work to spend a whole forenoon in 
 teaching two or three to mould bricks, or others 
 to lay them down flat in rows in the shade, and 
 find when the bell rang for mid-day rest the whole 
 squad of workers demand their pay, saying they 
 had now worked a great deal and needed to rest 
 for a time. How could a hundred and twenty 
 thousand bricks be made at that rate? But 
 Sutherland struggled on, and erected a noble 
 house. Although only of sun-dried bricks, which 
 are easily dug into by white ants, it stands to- 
 day a monument of taste and thoroughly honest 
 work. 
 
 It is a common experience in many Missions, 
 that some men with special handicrafts engaged
 
 IN MEMORIAM : JAMES SUTHERLAND 215 
 
 to do special work in the mission, develop the 
 idea that mission-work is only preaching and 
 teaching ; they despise their position and mis- 
 judge their influence, and in time throw up 
 the work, or remain and are a source of 
 trouble to their colleagues. Sutherland was not 
 one of those. He made all his work true 
 missionary work by his consecration to the 
 service of Christ. Often did he turn up the 
 pages of his shorthand note-book and read over 
 a sermon preached by Dr Laws on Zech. xiv. 20, 
 *' Holiness to the Lord," treating of the ideal and 
 possible in even the manual labour which might 
 be engaged in for the Mission. '* Let the spirit 
 of every one impress even on the bricks he makes 
 the motto, " Holiness unto the Lord ! ' Such was 
 Sutherland's aim in all his work, and was that 
 which enabled him to live a tranquil life amid 
 many worries. He could have answered the 
 speaker, who, at a meeting of the Anthropolo- 
 gical Institute reproached the missionaries as do- 
 nothings, and called the natives imitative brutes, 
 in the words of Zimmerman, " Did I not put 
 tools into the hands of the natives, and teach 
 them to fell timber, to saw boards, and to make 
 them into doors and window-frames ? Did not 
 I myself dig the clay and make the first hundred 
 bricks, in order that the imitative brutes might
 
 2i6 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 do the same ? Did not I dig the ground and 
 build the foundation walls of brick and mortar, 
 until I could trust these hrictes to proceed by 
 themselves ? Yes ! I have now a house which 
 shelters me, and compared with the sheds of the 
 natives, is more like a palace. You say the 
 African is like the ape, an animal gifted with the 
 power of imitation. Well ! Only his power of 
 imitation goes a little beyond that of the brute." 
 
 Ten years have made a great change on the 
 working habits of the people, and it is even 
 yet not an easy matter or one conducing to 
 equanimity of temper, to have to superintend 
 natives at work, and w^hat it must have cost 
 those who laid the foundations of the present 
 progress may be imagined. Sutherland had a 
 sweet disposition, and w^as the right man in the 
 right place. No one who knew him will forget 
 his quiet behaviour under great provocation, and 
 he had the happy knack of stimulating the native 
 to honest work, not by fear, but by a powerful 
 personal influence. 
 
 He was much respected by Mombera, and his 
 happy manner made him attractive to many of 
 the Ngoni. His life at Njuyu was too circum- 
 scribed for his ardent spirits. When building 
 work was over, and as no schools were permitted, 
 while it was unsafe to move to a distance from
 
 IN MEMORIAM: JAMES SUTHERLAND 217 
 
 the station, he felt the hardship of not having his 
 hands full of work. Added to this there were 
 the frequent rumours of war, and excitement 
 over the ill-concealed bad intentions of the 
 Ngoni towards the Mission, and what was a 
 daily annoyance almost past endurance — the 
 begging of the people, from the chief and his 
 wife downwards. It was not the polite request 
 by one in need, but the insolent demand, and a 
 volley of abuse if the request was not granted. 
 One could scarcely name a thing that was not 
 coveted and demanded. From early morning all 
 through the day till near sunset there were 
 people begging. There was no privacy, for they 
 forced themselves into the house, there being 
 only reed doors at first. On one occasion, in 
 order to let a sick member have privacy and 
 quiet, his bed had to be set behind the door to 
 block the entrance. Mombera was often im- 
 pudent and unbecoming in his behaviour, and 
 so all the people were encouraged in the same 
 manner of treating the mission-party when their 
 demands were not satisfied. There was one good 
 quality in the Ngoni character. If the mission- 
 aries were absent there was no attempt to enter 
 the house. Their own laws were severe on that 
 point, and death was the penalty for house-enter- 
 ing — it could not be called house-breaking, where
 
 2i8 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 the only lock to a native door is a cross stick 
 outside, to which the door is fastened by a string. 
 Acting on the knowledge of this, when Mom- 
 bera and his retinue, or a bevy of his wives — an 
 impudent, drunken set of beings — were seen as- 
 cending from the river to the station, Sutherland 
 and Koyi would hastily pocket some food, and 
 putting up the reed doors, slip out at the back 
 and scramble up Njuyu hill, behind which, in 
 peace with a good book, they looked down on the 
 begging visitors finding their journey in vain. 
 Time was nothing to them, and they could as 
 comfortably smoke, snuff, and talk gossip on the 
 mission-house verandah as at home, and some- 
 times they remained a whole forenoon. It was 
 an experience which could not have been avoided. 
 The people were eager to get cloth and beads, 
 but as for desiring the Gospel there was no evi- 
 dence they did so, but much to show they were 
 utterly opposed to it. In such circumstances it 
 required tact and consecration to do as much 
 Christian work as was done. While the pros- 
 pect was of the most unpromising nature, 
 Sutherland never lost hope or faith, and it was 
 a solace in his many worries and unsuccessful 
 efforts to reach the people, to gather the few 
 house-boys round him every day and teach them 
 to read the Word of God for themselves. In the
 
 IN MEMORIAM: JAMES SUTHERLAND 219 
 
 early stage of such a mission, what people at 
 home imagine is mission work may have but a 
 small place. The foundation builders have as 
 arduous a task, and of them is required as great 
 faith and earnest work, though all they do will 
 be hid by the superstructure raised by those who 
 come after them, as those who, like myself and 
 others, have been able, on what they achieved, 
 to go forth to sow and to reap — to do such work 
 as some are pleased to count as alone mission 
 work. 
 
 The circumstances under which Koyi and 
 Sutherland laboured were such that very little 
 opportunity was given for, and little dependence 
 could be placed on, oral teaching. Many a 
 young, vigorous missionary, fresh from home, 
 full of his own perceptions of the truth and his 
 new duty, goes from village to village '' bearing 
 witness," and returns home feeling he has ful- 
 filled his mission. But real missionary work in 
 the early stage of a mission to such a grossly 
 sensual, barbarously cruel people as the Ngoni, 
 or their even more degraded slaves, the Tumbuka, 
 more frequently consists in a consistent, loving 
 life, than in sermons or addresses however 
 eloquent. Such work is harder than preach- 
 ing, and such work was well done by the de- 
 parted brethren.
 
 220 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 Like his fellow-worker, Mr Koyi, he was called 
 to the higher service above ere the fruit of his 
 toils in Ngoniland was gathered, but to-day, as I 
 scan the faces of those who sit at the Table of 
 the Lord in the church at Njuyu, I see one and 
 another who recall Sutherland to my mind, and 
 I can trace their spiritual history and meet him 
 in his dealings with them far back in 1885. The 
 w^orker may fall but the work goes on. So deter- 
 mined was he to cling to Ngoniland and live a 
 missionary's life, if he were not permitted to do a 
 missionary's work, that in 1885 when trouble for 
 us was abroad, and it seemed as if we would 
 indeed be driven from the country, Mr Suther- 
 land was prepared to become a slave to them in 
 order to be allowed to remain. He even went 
 and chose his owner — an old and much respected 
 Swazi woman, the widow of Chipatula. 
 
 He packed up his goods, and on August 10th 
 left for Bandawe. On September 29th, 1885, he 
 died of haematuric fever within a week or two of 
 the expiry of his first five years' service. When 
 the news of his death reached Njuyu, the natives 
 came in large numbers to express their sorrow, 
 for Sutherlandiy as they called him, had won 
 their afi"ection. Mombera also sent messengers 
 to speak his sorrow. As this was the first death 
 of a mission member he had known, he sent also
 
 IN MEMORIAM : JAMES SUTHERLAND 
 
 111 
 
 to ask if we believed people died by witchcraft, 
 and if we thought our friend had been killed by 
 the Tonga at Bandawe, he would set the matter 
 right for ns by sending down a war-party. It 
 gave us an opportunity of speaking plainly to 
 Mombera on the lesson for them of the life of 
 Sutherland, and thus in his death as well as in 
 his life he preached to the people.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE CRISIS : WAK, OR THE GOSPEL 
 
 THE year 1887 opened bright for us. We had 
 a little school of twenty-two scholars and 
 a class of young men too old to attend school, but 
 who were anxious to learn the Word of God. It 
 was now that the results of the past years of con- 
 tact witli the people could be estimated, when any 
 who wished might come to us for instruction. For 
 six years there had been nothing seen of what 
 critics of mission work would term results, and 
 yet we were now gladdened by observing that 
 behind the apparent indifference of the people, 
 and their merely worldly interests in clinging to 
 us when we had work to offer them, the influence 
 of the daily life of the staff had produced a marked 
 effect. Although evangelistic work had been for- 
 bidden, the hundreds of workers who were engaged 
 with us in brick-making, house-building, and road- 
 making, formed an audience to which we minis- 
 tered. Now when they were at liberty to come 
 to our classes they did so, and, apparently quite
 
 THE CRISIS: WAR, OR THE GOSPEL 223 
 
 suddenly, there arose a band of young men who 
 were ready to stand by us. There was at least 
 a mind open to what we taught, and their belief 
 in some of their own customs was considerably 
 shaken. 
 
 The youths who began to speak of our work 
 as worthy the attention of the people, excited a 
 violent storm of persecution. It was made plain 
 to us that the edict of the chiefs, however favour- 
 able to our work, could not, and did not, change 
 the natural mind of the population. It began to 
 be a fight between the Gospel and the word of 
 the witch-doctor, and the enmity of the natural 
 and unrenewed heart of man. But to us it was 
 full of encouragement, as it showed that these 
 youths were not acting one thing in our presence, 
 and another thing when among their countrymen. 
 The leading boys in the prayer-meeting were sons 
 of a wdtch-doctor who lived near the station. He 
 also had come under the influence of Mr Koyi, 
 and we were gratified by a step which he took in 
 the beginning of the year. His village was the 
 nearest to the station, and almost every day 
 people came to consult him. The still morn- 
 ings resounded with the responses of the appli- 
 cants as they followed the doctor in ''smelling- 
 out " the case, and at times with the sound of his 
 drums and the accompanying plaintive songs as
 
 224 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 some demon was being exorcised. When he began 
 to perceive the nature of our work, and witnessed 
 the effect of it on his boys, he moved his " con- 
 sulting-room " to one of his other villages, about 
 seven miles away among the neighbouring hills, 
 in order, either to be away from the light which 
 revealed his darkness, or out of respect to us. I 
 believe it was from the latter, because about this 
 time he discontinued taking with him, for the 
 performance of his incantations in the country, 
 his children who were attending our school and 
 classes. In connection with these functions 
 he required the beating of a series of drums 
 of different pitch, and his sons and daughters 
 were accustomed to do the work, but now he 
 chose others and set them free. Wherever 
 this man went he had a good word to say 
 on our behalf, and his faith in us was further 
 shown by his sending his wives and children 
 to the station to be treated when sick. Yet 
 although he attended our services and encour- 
 aged his children to cling to us, he continued 
 to practice his profession, and his case shows 
 how difficult it is for a native advanced in 
 years to give up his long-established beliefs 
 and follow a new course. 
 
 In marked contrast to that, and showing how 
 important work among the young is, the case of
 
 THE CRISIS: WJR, OR THE GOSPEL ii^ 
 
 one of his sons may be stated. He was supposed 
 to Lave become possessed of an evil spirit 
 (chirombo), and his father arranged for a dance 
 to exorcise it. The son gave a passive obedience 
 to the arrangements made by the father. I was 
 staying at a village a few miles from where the 
 dance was to take place. On a Sunday morning 
 a woman, who is now an active Christian worker, 
 came to me to ask some blue cloth in which to 
 clothe the subject of the dance, it being supposed 
 that this chirombo was in quest of that variety 
 of calico. I of course refused, and a few hours 
 later I received a note from the young man 
 Chitezi, as his name was, requesting me to send 
 him my Zulu Bible, as, while he had to submit 
 to his father, he desired to show that he did not 
 believe in what was going on. In the evening I 
 went to see him and found his father, painted 
 with red clay, in the midst of his divining instru- 
 ments, and in a circle around him and his son, 
 who sat reading the Bible, the drummers and 
 dancers perfoimed. It was a strange sight. 
 Such dances and performances were common 
 enough in the country, but never before where 
 the subject of them sat reading the Word of God. 
 Parental anxiety was no doubt shown, and on the 
 son's part filial obedience. The one was not able 
 to exercise implicit faith in God and the Gospel, 
 
 p
 
 2 26 AMONG THE WILD NGONl 
 
 and hence fell back on that which gave his mind 
 rest ; and the other was not strong enough to 
 declare a separation from the superstitions in 
 which he had been brought up. 
 
 Not long after this, however, Chitezi did un- 
 mistakably confess his faith before men, in deny- 
 ing and opposing the pretensions of an old 
 woman, who, as a " chief of hades " [fumu wa 
 pansi) practised her deceptions upon the com- 
 munity. Such individuals travelled through the 
 country, dressed grotesquely and painted with 
 white clay. They were credited with the power of 
 turning themselves into ravenous beasts, such as 
 lions and leopards, and of devouring any who 
 might incur their anger, or whom they might be 
 hired by anyone to destroy. It was also believed 
 that the spirit of some dead chief was located in 
 them. In consequence of this reputation, when 
 they turned up in a village in the evening, the 
 people were so frightened that they endeavoured 
 by gifts of cloth, beads and food to gain their 
 good-will and so be left unharmed. Chitezi, on 
 one occasion, turned on one of these deceivers and 
 challenged her to turn herself into a lion. In- 
 stantly the whole community turned on him and 
 affirmed that he was mad, and that his action 
 would enrage the " chief of hades " and bring 
 trouble upon them all. He challenged her to
 
 THE CRISIS : WAR, OR THE GOSPEL 227 
 
 appear next evening at sun-set as a lion and he 
 would fight her. She accepted the challenge. 
 Chitezi, who, during the day was not quite at 
 ease, armed himself with spears and sat on the 
 village ant-hill to await the issue. Of course no 
 lion came, but among the villagers the force of the 
 incident was minimised by the woman's having 
 gone away, leaving a message that out of respect 
 to his father she refrained from hurting a child of 
 Kalengo's. At the same time the matter was 
 talked over and good was done by it. Only 
 enlightenment of mind can remove the terrible 
 fear which possesses them of what may happen if 
 certain things are not done. It is not easy for 
 them to give up their faith in their own practices. 
 They are part of their life, and hence we find 
 many instances where a patient being treated by 
 us is at the same time undergoing their own 
 treatment. In other cases, which at first almost 
 comprised the whole of our medical work, it is 
 only when their own doctors fail that we are 
 called in. A medical missionary's most important 
 work, or the ultimate end of it, is not merely to 
 cure the patient. What his purely medical work 
 greatly aids in accomplishing is the correction of 
 error, physical, mental, and moral, and so he is 
 compensated for the frequently unsatisfactory 
 medical results of his efibrts in many cases. The
 
 228 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 people cannot be laughed out of their (to us) 
 absurd positions and beliefs. Their emancipation 
 is a progressive work towards which all our work 
 tends. In the Highlands of Scotland, and in the 
 lowlands as well, I have met with instances of a 
 blind obedience to superstitious usages, as firm and 
 as absurd as may be met with in Central Africa. 
 When on this subject I may relate an incident 
 which led to my having great freedom from 
 molestation by those possessed of evil spirits. 
 Some individuals went, or were led, about the 
 country by their friends, supposed to be "pos- 
 sessed." At one time they affirmed the spirit 
 could be exorcised by red cloth, and at other 
 times by beads. They were usually well laden 
 with such, but still the chiromho kept possession, 
 and many overtures were made to me to help the 
 cure by gifts. One day a strong, one-eyed man, 
 named Luguta, whom I well knew as a bad char- 
 acter, was brought to the station. He fell down, 
 and writhed and roared until the perspiration 
 flowed from every pore, and the foam fell from 
 his mouth. It was certainly a hideous sight, and 
 well calculated to move anyone to pity if it had 
 been free from deception. There was a band of 
 young women with him, clapping their hands, 
 which, they said, helped to quiet the spirit. 
 They pleaded with me to give him something
 
 THE CRISIS: IV JR, OR THE GOSPEL 229 
 
 and let him go. I spoke to Luguta, but got 
 no reply. My offer to give him medicine was 
 rejected by the girls at first. They said the 
 spirit wanted beads ; but I obtained their con- 
 sent, and went inside for my strong ammonia, 
 which I applied to Luguta's nostrils. It put an 
 end to his deception, and he ran off, not desiring 
 a second inhalation. I said to the girls, " If you 
 hear of any more evil spirits bring them to me, 
 as I have medicine which they cannot stand." 
 
 Four years before this a wattle-and-daub school 
 had been built in the hope and belief that ere 
 long teaching would be permitted. This large, 
 empty house was often the occasion of ridicule 
 by the chief and headmen, who proposed that 
 we should keep our cattle in it. When they 
 were told that we had built it as the school in 
 which their children were to be taught, they 
 asked how long we would wait — till their 
 beards had grown grey? We were told that 
 the white ants would destroy it many long 
 years before it should be required. We said 
 quietly, " In that house your children shall be 
 taught while they are yet children." These 
 words were repeated on many occasions, when 
 there seemed no likelihood of their being re- 
 alised ; but yet it came to pass, although, as 
 we had said we would do, we had to keep it
 
 230 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 propped with trees inside and outside. We 
 had triumphed and were glad, yet it was with 
 a feeling of regret that one morning we saw 
 the house collapse, and we were left in the 
 middle of the rainy season with no house in 
 which to conduct school. The verandah of 
 the dwelling-house, however, served the pur- 
 pose, and for nearly a year we met there. 
 
 We set to work to build a brick school. I 
 found, however, that when I was engaged in 
 school-work the workers in the brick-field did 
 nothing at all. Instead of turning out twelve 
 hundred bricks a day, we got only four hundred. 
 I determined to give out the work in contract to 
 one of the best men who could read, at so much 
 per thousand bricks. He was overseer under me 
 before, but was as dishonest at work as the others. 
 I pointed out to him how he could work to his 
 own advantage, and that if several workers could 
 be got to work steadily, all the others would 
 follow. He put his wives among the workers 
 at the different jobs, and by what means we 
 need not inquire he got them to lead the others. 
 The work went on. He had more than double 
 his former pay, and we had bricks at two-thirds 
 the former cost. This was, I think, the first 
 native contract for work in Livingstonia, and I 
 was freed from attendance at the brick-field, and
 
 THE CRISIS: WAR. OR THE GOSPEL 
 
 3' 
 
 could devote myself to other work. When the 
 brick-making was resumed after the events to be 
 narrated in this chapter, a contract was not given. 
 I pointed out to Chitezi that he and the others 
 had now given proof of what they could do when 
 working faithfully, and that as he was learning 
 the Gospel he would understand what he should 
 do in all his work. I showed how his former 
 work, which yielded us bricks at a cheaper rate 
 than before, was still too dear for the Mission, 
 and that he would merely be paid as overseer ; 
 but if at the end of the season he worked satis- 
 factorily, and relieved me as before, he would re- 
 ceive a bonus. This arrangement he understood 
 to be equal to the ordinary standard of payment 
 all over among the whites. Although it was con- 
 siderably less than he had received under contract, 
 yet to his credit be it told, his work was satisfactory, 
 and he received his bonus. He has continued ever 
 since as a worker in connection with the Mission, 
 although polygamy and occasional instances of 
 drunkenness barred his way into the Church. 
 
 For the first half of the year the work in all de- 
 partments went on smoothly, and we had an ever- 
 widening circle of adherents. The children made 
 fair progress in school, and the station and village 
 services were attended by people from near and far. 
 Mrs Elmslie had got a fair start made among the
 
 232 
 
 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 girls by taking some into the house for training, and 
 by class- work in the school, and a special sewing- 
 class to which about twenty children came. 
 
 The only thing which arose to mar our happi- 
 ness in the great change resulting from getting 
 liberty to carry on the work, was the murder of 
 six of our Tonga carriers on the road to Bandawe, 
 by a band of Ngoni under Nawambi, one of the 
 most notoriously cruel and indomitable warriors 
 in the country. The late Mr M'Intyre, teacher 
 at Bandawe, had come up to recruit after illness, 
 and the Tonga who carried him and his loads to 
 Njuyu were on their way home when they were 
 set upon by the Ngoni in the forest. We were 
 accustomed in those days to long intervals in our 
 communications with our friends outside, as we 
 were dependent mainly on Tonga to act as bearers 
 of letters, so it was about six weeks after the 
 event before we knew there was truth in the 
 rumour that we heard in Ngoniland. We tried 
 to get Ngoni to go with letters to ascertain the 
 cause of the long silence of our friends, and our 
 fears were increased when all refused to go down 
 to Bandawe. At last two slaves, who had for- 
 merly lived at the Lake, and to whom as we 
 shall see we afterwards owed very much, agreed 
 to go. On their return we found that six inno- 
 cent, industrious Tonga had been killed, and our
 
 THE CRISIS: WAR, OR THE GOSPEL 233 
 
 carriers saw their skeletons lying near the path. 
 When we tried to get Mombera the chief to take 
 up the case he declined, not being anxious to try 
 such a warrior as Nawambi for the offence. We 
 even failed to get from him a condemnation of 
 the attack, or any pronouncement which would 
 tend to secure for us and our carriers a reason- 
 able measure of protection. Nothing was said 
 against us or our work, and we tried to live 
 down the clamouring for war which the incident 
 had markedly stimulated. We had our school 
 and other work going on as before, but our faith 
 in Mombera's former protestations of friendship 
 was considerably shaken, and we observed that 
 the attitude of the leaders of regiments, and many 
 others, was less friendly to us than before. 
 
 We were well inured to trouble and anxiety, 
 but the continuance of anxious days and the 
 approach of a gathering storm told upon both 
 my wife and myself, and we had a succession of 
 attacks of fever which no treatment seemed to 
 abate. Kemoval to another district in Ngoni- 
 land, although to live amid the discomforts of a 
 native hut, quickly restored us both. This was 
 the first occasion on which I proved the truth of 
 Livingstone's advice, to move a patient to a dififer- 
 ent part when in a low state from which nothing 
 seems able to rally him. Often, afterwards, good
 
 2 34 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 resulted from a change even from one house to 
 another, or from one room to another in the same 
 house. The natives have their own explanation 
 of such a thing. They often carry a moribund 
 patient to another village, or out into the bush, 
 with the idea of cheating the evil spirit attacking 
 him. The patient recovers, and they consider 
 that they evaded the spirit. They always have 
 a reason for everything they do, and in this con- 
 nection I might mention that my wife when 
 almost gone on one occasion, being exhausted 
 through a severe illness, was saved by being fed 
 with raw beef juice. The natives knew that she 
 was apparently dying, and were tenderly sympa- 
 thetic. When I had a bullock killed they knew it 
 was for her, and the rumour went round that despite 
 all my preaching I did exactly as they did, and 
 sacrificed a beast to our ancestral spirit, and my 
 wife recovered. Such things gave opportunities of 
 meeting their difficulties and of leading them out 
 into the light. Medical work was slow and unsatis- 
 factory for a long time, just because it professed 
 to be natural and not supernatural. Had we pre- 
 tended to superhuman wisdom we should have 
 had a much larger following in less time. 
 
 The explanation of the attack on the Tonga 
 carriers and the altered disposition of Mombera 
 and the Ngoni, before referred to, came out in
 
 THE CRISIS: WAR, OR THE GOSPEL 235 
 
 the middle of the year in connection with a visit 
 which Dr Laws paid to us in July. This was the 
 first occasion after his return from furlough on 
 which he had visited Ngoniland since 1883. He 
 was put by the Ngoni in loco parentis to the 
 whole Mission, and hence arose many of our diffi- 
 culties, although to that, I doubt not, we also 
 owed some degree of safety. At the time of his 
 last visit to Mombera Dr Laws was requested to 
 bring back with him bulls to improve the stock, 
 woolly sheep, cloth, beads, brass wire, and even dogs, 
 without giving him means to do so. During the 
 years that elapsed till his return, his expected 
 visit was often the subject of conversation among 
 the people, but it was always in connection with 
 the wealth that he was expected to bring to them. 
 When Dr Laws visited Ngoniland in July he 
 gave a handsome present to Mombera and to the 
 Chipatula family, yet he was received with but 
 scant courtesy by Mombera and his headmen. 
 It was evident that they were dissatisfied, and 
 when reference was made to the slaughter of our 
 carriers a few months before, Mombera and others 
 made defiant charges against the Tonga, and no 
 satisfaction could be obtained. Mombera would 
 not listen to any serious talk, and all reference to 
 our work was ridiculed. Dr Laws remained a 
 week with us, but Mombera, contrary to his cus-
 
 236 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 torn, paid no return visit, but sent begging mes- 
 sengers daily to the station. It was evident to 
 us that there was a storm brewing, but we could 
 not understand it. About a fortnight after Dr 
 Laws's visit rumours of discontent were afloat, to 
 which we paid no attention, until Mombera him- 
 self spoke to us on the subject. From various 
 conversations with the chief, we became aware 
 that the agitation had not arisen in the part of 
 the tribe among which we had lived and laboured, 
 but in the districts of the brothers of Mombera, 
 which had never been overtaken, and over which 
 our presence and work had consequently exercised 
 no influence. We had no doubt of this, and the 
 reason for Mombera's action was that he was 
 being harassed by his brothers, and blamed for 
 keeping to himself all the missionaries and the 
 wealth that they imagined we bestowed. We 
 were told by Mombera that Dr Laws would re- 
 quire to come back and settle the questions which 
 were agitating the minds of the Ngoni. These 
 were : 1. Their Tonga wives and children who 
 ran away some years before had not returned as 
 was expected when the Mission began work ; and 
 as there was no expectation of their doing so, 
 they had decided that if we could not bring them 
 back without war, they would fetch them from 
 Bandawe for themselves by war. 2. Having as
 
 THE CRISIS: JVJR, OR THE GOSPEL 237 
 
 a tribe given up war since we settled among 
 them, and having as a consequence become poor, 
 they wished to know how we were to enrich 
 them, as they expected us to do if they gave up 
 war. 3. That all the members of the Mission 
 were to leave Bandawe and come to Ngoniland, 
 so that instead of there being only one station 
 the whole country might be occupied. 
 
 The questions were formidable enough, and it 
 now became apparent to us that we would have 
 to deal with the clamourings of Momberas 
 brothers who were chiefs of large districts. We 
 were thrown into great anxiety, as there seemed 
 to be no way out of the difficulty. The first 
 question had always been a source of trouble to 
 us, and as the years went on their jealousy of 
 the Tonga increased, because they considered 
 them as more favoured by having the head 
 station among them, and imagined that they 
 received unlimited supplies of cloth and beads. 
 The second was likewise present always, but its 
 prominence was waning, as our w^ork had greatly 
 turned it out of the minds of Mombera and his 
 own retainers, but to have to begin to fight the 
 other chiefs on this ground filled us with great 
 fear for the safety of our work even among 
 Mombera s people. The third question showed 
 that it was not missionaries but calico-distributors
 
 238 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 that Mombera s brothers desired. The reason of 
 their desire to have all the missionaries in Ngoni- 
 land was, that they might retain us and yet have 
 freedom to wage war on the surrounding tribes. 
 
 The situation was at least clear to us, and we 
 could set about making our arrangements. As 
 the continuance of the work at Bandawe de- 
 pended on the attitude of the Ngoni towards the 
 Tonga, we in Ngoniland had to act in concert 
 with the brethren there. Our dilemma was this : 
 Ngoniland could be held by agreeing to Ngoni 
 demands, but that involved casting away the 
 Tonga and leaving them to the inhuman attacks 
 of the Ngoni. They had helped in opening up 
 Ngoniland — some of them even losing their lives 
 in our service — therefore on no account could we 
 think of that. But if Ngoniland could not be 
 held, neither could Bandawe, and the Tonga and 
 we together would suflfer. Yet to accept the 
 Ngoni proposals would have been to take sides 
 with them against the Tonga, and not for a 
 moment did we think of doing so. 
 
 I wrote and urged Dr Laws to come up and 
 meet the Ngoni with George Williams (the Kafir 
 Missionary) and myself At this time we suf- 
 fered under a heavy family affliction, and my 
 wife was lying helpless in bed. Around us were 
 the Ngoni in a very unsettled state, engaging in
 
 THE CRISIS: WAR, OR THE GOSPEL 239 
 
 war-dances every day. Below the house near 
 the river the armies of Mtwaro and Maurau, 
 Mombera's brothers, were encamped, bent on 
 some expedition, the nature of which was hid 
 from us. To complicate matters, the road to 
 Bandawe was closed, and carriers could not be 
 got to go down. It was a time of terrible sus- 
 pense, and although not of personal danger we 
 believed, the fear that our work among the Ngoni 
 and at Bandawe might be ruined, filled our minds 
 with uncertainty and distress. It seemed the 
 darkest hour of our life among the Ngoni, and 
 our neighbours were afraid to be on intimate 
 terms with us. 
 
 When letters passed between us Dr Laws and 
 I decided that as there did not seem to be much 
 prospect of a peaceable settlement, we should 
 endeavour to prepare at both places for being 
 driven out. Our situation in Ngoniland was 
 anything but pleasant or easy. Our letter- 
 carriers were the two slaves before referred to, 
 and in their journeys to and from the Lake they 
 left the usual paths and travelled in the bush. 
 They were trusty fellows and were the only ones 
 in whom we could confide. They received their 
 letters or loads at night and started off, getting 
 weU into the bush before daylight. 
 
 It was evident to us that in our possible ex-
 
 240 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 pulsion from Ngoniland we should be unable to 
 take anything with us, so we set about the saving 
 of the most valuable of the Mission property. It 
 is fortunate that on such occasions a missionary's 
 own possessions do not usually stand very much 
 in the way, and I had only my microscope and 
 books to be a great care at the time. We could 
 not send away many things, so our first care was 
 to get the valuable surgical instruments sent ofi". 
 AVe could only send small parcels as our carriers 
 had rough ground to traverse, without paths. 
 Over £100 worth of instruments were quietly 
 despatched, and then my microscope followed. 
 Everything else had to be disposed of otherwise 
 or left in the house. My books I put in tin- 
 lined boxes and buried in the ground. Other 
 things were treated in the same way. The well- 
 stocked dispensary presented a difficulty. I could 
 not close it or have the shelves emptied lest sus- 
 picion should be aroused. I chose several spots 
 in the garden and in one of the stores, and buried 
 the medicines. It was the height of the dry 
 season and the ground was hard as stone. I 
 went out for several nights about one o'clock, and 
 by means of an auger bored the ground under 
 cover of darkness and scooped it out with my 
 hands, not daring to use any tool lest the sound 
 should attract any one who might be out of 
 doors. We could not trust even our house boys.
 
 THE CRISIS: WJR, OR THE GOSPEL 241 
 
 All tlie while that this was going on, my wife 
 was lying weak and helpless in bed, no doubt 
 greatly hindered in her convalescence by the 
 anxieties of the hour. For several hours every 
 night I dug up the earth and made pits in which 
 to bury the medicines, anon running in to pass a 
 few minutes with my wife in her weakness. It 
 was easy work secreting the stoppered bottles. I 
 knew the labels would be destroyed by white 
 ants, so to preserve the names of the drugs in 
 the several bottles, I scratched a number on each 
 bottle and carefully noted it in a book. For 
 corked bottles, jars, etc., which could not be 
 buried, I adopted the plan of putting them into 
 an empty flour-tin, and soldering it up. In this 
 way nearly all the drugs were preserved against 
 the worst which we feared, and a plan of the 
 station was made, and the spots where the things 
 were hid, carefully marked. A copy was sent to 
 Bandawe and to one of the other stations, and I 
 pocketed one to carry with me. In digging in 
 the store I had to lift a brick floor. I could only 
 work at this when the servants were out of the 
 house, and they had a high time of play for some 
 days, as they were granted an unusual amount 
 of leave. The earth taken out had to be carried 
 away at night. There was a sense of relief when 
 so much of the Mission property was made secure,
 
 242 
 
 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 although at the time the air was filled with the 
 sound of war-dances, and armed parties were 
 collecting at the chiefs village for review. 
 
 It was an occasion requiring great prudence, 
 and we had to act in Ngoniland, not only because 
 of our own position, but to give Dr Laws time 
 to arrange matters at Bandawe. Dr Laws was 
 aware that there would probably be trouble with 
 the Tonga. He found that, as on former occa- 
 sions, they demanded the assistance of the white 
 men in meeting the Ngoni, and some even pro- 
 posed that they should accompany them in a 
 Tonga invasion of Ngoniland. In the middle of 
 September Dr Laws gathered the Tonga together, 
 and put before them the whole situation, as it 
 came out in the questions the Ngoni proposed 
 for discussion. They declined to give up the 
 women and children whom the Ngoni claimed, 
 as the Ngoni had stolen them in the first instance. 
 By the Lake steamer which had brought rein- 
 forcements for the Mission, some goods were sent 
 away from Bandawe, and also native women and 
 children belonging to Cape Maclear. The Ngoni 
 were clamouring for Dr Laws, and we had to put 
 off fixing a date for the meeting until he could 
 see his way to leave his fellow -members safe at 
 Bandawe. We had to try and arrange so that 
 the flight of the Bandawe stafi* should be possible
 
 THE CRISIS: IVAR, OR THE GOSPEL 243 
 
 in the event of war, leaving us on the hills, with 
 Dr Laws and the faithful Tono^a he was to brinof 
 with him, free to act according to circumstances. 
 All seemed to go well for a time. We had 
 managed to get the more valuable Mission 
 property away to Bandawe, and Dr Laws had 
 sent that and also much of the Bandawe goods 
 away to Cape Maclear, and the steamer had 
 returned to stand by and take away the rest 
 of the staff if need be. But just as Dr Laws 
 saw all this arranged and was ready to come 
 to Ngoniland, his difficulties at Bandawe were 
 suddenly and greatly increased, and we had 
 again to postpone the date of meeting. The 
 Tonga had become suspicious of the movements 
 made at Bandawe, and prevented the embarking 
 of passengers or goods on the steamer. The 
 roads were watched day and night lest an at- 
 tempt should be made by any one to go away, 
 as they feared that if once the white men left 
 Bandawe they would be destroyed by the Ngoni. 
 It was therefore impossible for Dr Laws to come 
 up before the end of October, and even then he 
 had the anxiety of knowing that the fickle Tonga 
 were surrounding the station, and that not one 
 but all at Bandawe and in Ngoniland were now 
 forced to await on the spot whatever the issue 
 might be. We knew from the first that we in
 
 244 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 Ngoniland had to wait, but it was not expected 
 that the Tonga would rise as they did and thwart 
 the best efforts of Dr Laws who, with us, was 
 enduring all the trouble on their account. As he 
 wrote to me at the time, " The matter comes to 
 this, we must do our best to stick to both stations 
 if it is possible for you up there to do so with 
 safety. If you must leave, then some other point 
 than Bandawe must be the point aimed at on our 
 return, for to come here would be simply to be 
 fixed in a trap with the rest of us. To-night I 
 feel that here I have sought to do everything 
 that prudence might suggest for the safety of 
 lives and property. Now we are hemmed in, 
 and we can only await to see what may be the 
 next indications of God's providence, trusting 
 our Heavenly Father to guide us to do what is 
 right, just and true, and altogether according to 
 His holy will." For a month longer the suspense 
 had to be endured, and the letters which we were 
 at times able to send each other are full of what 
 was in our minds, and what was so prominent a 
 subject in our prayers. Each letter was closed, 
 not knowing what might transpire before another 
 could be sent, and gave indications of what was 
 to be done should the Ngoni rise up. We had 
 to hide from the Ngoni the cause of Dr Laws' 
 delay in coming up. Had they known of the
 
 THE CRISIS: IVJR, OR THE GOSPEL 245 
 
 action of the Tonga at Bandawe they would have 
 gone down with war. We had to trust our two 
 faithful slave-carriers not to reveal what they saw 
 and heard at Bandawe, and throughout it all 
 they were faithful to the trust. At this time 
 the Ngoni army went out, and conflicting rumours 
 of its destination only added to our anxiety. It 
 went, however, to attack some Arabs and Bemba 
 towards the North-West. 
 
 At length, on the 27th October 1887, the great 
 meeting of the chief Mombera and his headmen 
 with us was convened. We met at eight o'clock 
 in the morning, and did not end the indaba until 
 four in the afternoon, and thus sat in the open 
 cattle-fold under a hot tropical sun for eight 
 hours, the discomfort to Dr Laws being very 
 great as he was suffering from fever and had to 
 go to bed for two days when he returned to the 
 station. When the indaba began we were asked 
 to state what we had to say, but we refused to 
 begin, saying that they had called us and we 
 would hear them. Mombera thereupon said that 
 all the missionaries must come and live with 
 them, and leave them free to attack their former 
 slaves, the Tonga. We reasoned with them about 
 the necessity of having a station at the Port of 
 Bandawe in order even to carry on the work 
 among the Ngoni on the hills. They conceded
 
 246 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 the point, but when it came to the question of 
 fighting the Tonga, we had to spend hours of 
 talk ere we got the concession that no war should 
 be carried to the neighbourhood of our station at 
 Bandawe. The embassy from Mtwaro was not 
 agreeable to any cessation of war, and at length 
 declared that they at their end of the country 
 never saw us or received anything from us, and 
 they were determined not to submit to stay at 
 home while we went up and down to the Lake. 
 Our road, they said, did not lead past them and 
 there were no crumbs for them. We seized upon 
 this remark and offered to open a station in 
 Mtwaro's district, which satisfied them. We 
 could have told them that we had tried for years 
 to enter their region but were hindered by 
 Mombera ; we refrained in the circumstances. 
 
 The only man that day who could not be won 
 over was Mombera, but as it was a tribal matter 
 the decision of the councillors was binding on 
 him and the matter ended. The story is soon 
 told, but as the day went on the demands of 
 the Ngoni w^ere crushing to our hopes of peace, 
 and we had even begun between ourselves to 
 formulate a plan for saving Ngoniland and 
 Bandawe by Dr Laws himself exchanging stations 
 with me for a time. As Dr Laws wrote at the 
 time, he ** well knew the worth of their request to
 
 THE CRISIS: WJR, OR THE GOSPEL 247 
 
 have him, that it was simply inspired by the 
 desire to squeeze as much calico, etc. out of us as 
 possible." But from the quarter whence came 
 the heaviest assault that day — Mtwaro — the 
 solution came also, when his ambassador desired 
 to have a station in their district. With light 
 hearts we went home and soon messengers were 
 speeding through the forest, over hill and 
 mountain-torrent, bearing the glad news to our 
 friends who had meanwhile been left in un- 
 certainty at Bandawe, and hearty were our 
 praises that night at worship with the natives. 
 The Tonga who had come up with Dr Laws had 
 been confined to the station, but now they freely 
 and joyfully mixed with our Ngoni neighbours. 
 Peace had been declared and at no time since has 
 it been broken. On one occasion years after, when 
 some wild youths went on a marauding expedition 
 to the neighbourhood of Bandawe, Mombera, the 
 chief, called them up. He said, "You are not 
 chief. I am chief. You went to Bandawe with 
 war. Cut their legs," and they were thereupon 
 hamstrung. **You killed Tonga. Cut their 
 wrists," and the tendons were divided, and the 
 miserable wretches crawled away to hide and die. 
 We had also received an invitation to visit 
 Mtwaro, between whom and the chief Mombera, 
 his brother, there was a feud at that time. Each
 
 248 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 blamed the other, as was referred to in a former 
 chapter, and while under Mombera we were not 
 permitted to visit Mtwaro. When, a few days 
 after the indaha, Mahaluli, Mtwaro's ambassador, 
 visited us, we desired him to settle with the chief 
 that we be permitted to accept the invitation. 
 He did so, and we lost no time in going to 
 Mtwaro. Our way was plainer than on a 
 former occasion, when we went to treat a 
 child of Mtwaro's, who was sick. We received 
 a hearty welcome, and when the boy who had 
 been sick was brought out and proudly shown 
 as now in good health through the white man's 
 medicine, it was evident that the effects of the 
 medical work were wider than in the good re- 
 covery of the lad. Some days were spent at 
 Mtwaro's, and a frank invitation to remain 
 among them was addressed to us. They had 
 heard of the medical work, and they wanted a 
 medical man. They had heard that we were 
 rich, and would give them much cloth. When 
 we spoke about our work, they were not sure 
 if they should give their children to be taught. 
 The old fear that they would be bewitched by 
 our words, and would not engage in war, was 
 expressed. They had heard of the Book, and 
 what it had done, but they thought we our- 
 selves should ** practise the Book," and give
 
 THE CRISIS: WAR, OR THE GOSPEL 249 
 
 rain and good crops and success in battle, but 
 leave the children alone. We were prepared 
 to hear such things, and illustrated how they 
 should think otherwise. We had with us 
 Njuju boys, who could read and write, and 
 we astonished them by showing what could be 
 done by means of writing. A boy was sent 
 out, and then the chief dictated certain words, 
 which I wrote down, and the boy on being re- 
 called read them. I was then sent out, and 
 things were hidden, and I was requested to 
 say what they were and by whom secreted, 
 which I did as the boy had written them 
 down. But it appeared to them as if it were 
 only the magic of their witch - doctors, and 
 they thought that it would be unsafe to let 
 all the children into the secret. When we 
 came to talk about God and His Word some 
 of the old men left, being afraid ; but before 
 the visit ended we were permitted to conduct 
 a service, and in the singing they were specially 
 interested. We were offered a site for a house 
 and garden, and requested to come and build. 
 
 Another visit of importance was thereafter 
 paid to Ng'onomo, the Prime Minister of 
 Mombera. He was a very old friend, but was 
 the leader of a large army, and frequently out 
 raiding. He invited myself and my wife to
 
 250 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 "come one day, stay two days, and leave on 
 the fourth day." We were received in a friendly 
 manner, and as a Sunday intervened we held a 
 service. He did not attend, but ordered his 
 people to do so, and we had a large gathering 
 near our tent. It was the first Christian service 
 ever held in the district, and, for uproarious be- 
 haviour of the audience, was never surpassed any- 
 where. They roared with laughter when we and 
 our Njuyu men closed our eyes in prayer. Some 
 men who had been at an Njuyu service under- 
 stood our object, and tried to quiet the people. 
 That was not easily done, and they fell to curs- 
 ing and swearing while the prayer went on. An 
 address followed, which was listened to with some 
 attention. The chief, Mombera, arrived while we 
 were there with a large retinue, to pay Ng onomo 
 a visit. Cattle were killed, and large quantities 
 of beer were brought in from other villages. The 
 Sunday was spent in riot, and the only quiet we 
 could get was by going out to the bush and spend- 
 ing some of our time there. We were close to the 
 Hora Mountain, and the ground was strewn with 
 human skeletons — the remains of the poor Tum- 
 buka who were slaughtered some years before by 
 the Ngoni. The arrival of the chief, and the de- 
 bauchery which ensued, prevented all serious talk 
 with Ng'onomo, and we were glad w^hen we could 
 leave the place and return home.
 
 THE CRISIS: WAR, OR THE GOSPEL 251 
 
 When we again settled down at Njuyu the 
 work, which had all been interrupted, was re- 
 sumed, and the school and services at Chinyera, 
 five miles distant, were begun again by Mr 
 Williams. We also set about transferring our 
 medicines from their place in the garden to 
 the dispensary shelves, and under cover of 
 darkness that was done. They were uninjured 
 by being buried, and we restored the labels. 
 Books sufi'ered, and certain other things buried 
 in insecurely -closed boxes ; but we were too 
 overjoyed at the safety of the work to be 
 pained by our losses. In a short time all was 
 as before, and we had our hands full. 
 
 The rainy season of 1887-8 passed without 
 trouble to us, and during the next two years 
 we greatly extended our work of preaching and 
 healing as we were free to move about almost 
 everywhere. We were unable, for want of a 
 man, to open the station at Mtwaro's till near 
 the end of 1889, when Mr and Mrs M^Callum, 
 from Bandawe, began work there, and conserved 
 the results of our frequent visits and operations 
 there in the interval, proving earnest workers in 
 a field where many difficulties were present. Our 
 attempt to gain access to a large district under 
 another brother of Mombera, named Mperembe, 
 proved futile, as we were repulsed on several
 
 252 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 occasions because we would not pay our way 
 by presents of cloth and other goods. 
 
 For a few months in 1889 I had the assistance 
 of a European at Njuyu, and school- work flour- 
 ished. On his retiring, Mr Charles Stuart, who 
 had newly arrived to reinforce the staff, was 
 located at Njuyu, and had to take up the whole 
 work. As in the end of January 1890, I had to 
 go to Bandawe to relieve Dr Laws who was ill, 
 and thereafter in May to start for home on fur- 
 lough, which was considerably overdue. Ere 
 leaving, however, I was privileged to see the 
 accessions to our staff; the baptism of our 
 first converts, Mawalera and Makara, two of 
 those who came by night to be taught in the 
 dark days of our history ; the extension of 
 the work to Chinyera and Ekwendeni, and 
 the institution of five schools. A beginning 
 had been made, and the long, weary years 
 of waiting crowned with liberty to go about 
 and "heal the sick, . . . and say unto them, 
 The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." 
 Our fallen wattle-and-daub school was replaced 
 by a brick building, which in a few months 
 proved too small to accommodate the scholars, 
 and was replaced by a large, brick school, 
 which in its turn had to be enlarged.
 
 ,...r 
 
 1^ 
 
 Dr STEELE.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 FROM 1890 to 1895 the work in Ngoniland 
 was superintended by Dr Steele, who was 
 appointed to relieve me on my departure on 
 furlough. His arrival, as the previous chapter 
 indicates, was at a time when a distinct stage 
 in the work had been passed and a new era 
 begun. The formal consent of the chief and 
 most of his head-men had been obtained, and 
 advantage of the opportunities offered had been 
 taken. The nature of our work had become 
 more apparent, and it had begun to bear dis- 
 tinct fruit. Death had come and claimed 
 two who fought bravely in the early battles. 
 George Williams had resigned and returned to 
 the Colony, and two additional white men had 
 been initiated in the work, so that with increased 
 and more earnest attendance at school and service 
 in three distinct districts, with a roll of two Church 
 members, the position of the work on his arrival 
 was full of rich promise. It is a long story to 
 
 853
 
 254 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 confine to the limits of a single chapter, but the 
 tale of the work during those years may fittingly 
 enough be associated with the name of our dear 
 departed fellow-worker, whose death took place 
 at Ekwendeni on June 26th, 1895, when he 
 was on the point of going home for his first 
 furlough. 
 
 Dr Steele was the youngest of seven children, 
 and when only two years old was deprived of 
 both father and mother within the space of three 
 months. The eldest was only seventeen, and she 
 and the older of the brothers determined that, 
 however dark were their prospects, they would 
 endeavour to keep the family together, and take 
 upon themselves the care and support of the 
 younger members. At the age of eight he 
 entered the Buchanan Institution in Glasgow 
 where he remained until he was thirteen, 
 receiving a good elementary education there 
 which proved a sound foundation on which, 
 by his own ardent efi'orts, he ultimately pro- 
 ceeded to academic distinction in Glasgow 
 University. On leaving school he entered a 
 drapery establishment, where for some years 
 he remained and carried out his work with 
 his naturally exact and painstaking fidelity. 
 At this time his brother Eichard (next in age 
 to Mary the eldest) had commenced business
 
 IN MEMORIAM : REV. GEORGE STEELE 255 
 
 in the boot and shoe line, and Tom, another 
 brother, assisted him. Tom, however, deter- 
 mined to study for the ministry. During 
 Mr Moody's first visit to Glasgow, he was one 
 of the hundred young men who offered them- 
 selves for service in the Lord's cause, and for 
 whom arrangements were made for special 
 evening classes to enable them to carry out 
 their intentions. Tom eventually passed into 
 the University, giving up his situation with 
 his brother, and George left his work in the 
 drapery establishment to take Tom's place. 
 The boot and shoe business supplied but a 
 very moderate income, on which the family 
 depended, but indomitable perseverance and a 
 strong family affection kept them together. 
 Tom at length passed through the University 
 and the Divinity Hall, and is now a licensed 
 minister in the Colonial field. 
 
 When George was twenty years of age his 
 future became a matter of concern to him. He 
 had given himself to the Lord in heart, and now 
 he desired to give his life to His service. His 
 brother Eichard encouraged and helped him, and 
 so he began to prepare for entering College with 
 a view to become a medical missionary. He at- 
 tended evening classes for four years, and con- 
 tinued to work under his brother in the shop.
 
 256 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 His progress at evening school was good, because 
 he studied faithfully, and took from the hours 
 for sleep what time his attention to business 
 deprived him of. At length he entered the 
 University, and it was only then that the 
 strain of the financial struggle began. His 
 brother Eichard had given up his business and 
 had followed Tom to Australia, and now George 
 was thrown entirely on his own resources. It is 
 an oft-told tale of hard work, high ideals and 
 aspirations, overcoming in great trials. But by 
 rigid economy practised in all details of his 
 life, without meanness or disregard for the 
 position he occupied, and for which he had to 
 commend himself by habit and personal ap- 
 pearance, and above all with an implicit faith 
 in God, he passed through the medical curri- 
 culum and graduated, the possessor of the 
 coveted degrees in Medicine and Surgery. The 
 same story might be told of many in our 
 Scottish Colleges, and the case of Livingstone 
 was no doubt a stimulus to him who was to 
 be one of his direct successors in the great work 
 of the emancipation of Africa and its ingathering 
 to Christ. 
 
 AVhen Dr Steele was attending Glasgow Uni- 
 versity he was one of a band of noble young men 
 who have, like him, entered the field as medical
 
 IN ME MO RUM: REV. GEORGE STEELE 257 
 
 missionaries. It is something to know a man's 
 friends, especially his College companions, and 
 I need only refer to Rev. Drs Mowat, Sandilands, 
 Macphail and Revie, all in the India Mission 
 field. Before entering on the record of Dr 
 Steele's work in Livingstonia, I have pleasure 
 in giving the tribute of Dr Macphail to the 
 memory of his companion and friend. 
 
 " It was my privilege, from 1884 to 1889, to 
 have the late George Steele as a class-fellow at- 
 tending the medical classes at Glasgow University, 
 and it is a pleasure to have an opportunity of 
 adding my tribute to his worth. In the year 
 1884 the religious movement among students, 
 identified with the name of Professor Henry 
 Drummond, spread from Edinburgh to Glasgow, 
 and was the means not only of leading many of 
 the students to devote themselves to the service 
 of Christ, but also of bringing those who had 
 already given themselves to it into closer fellow- 
 ship with each other. It was at this time that 
 George Steele became intimately known to me ; 
 it was the beginning of a friendship which we 
 maintained in after years by correspondence 
 when he was in Central Africa and I in India, 
 and which was only brought to a close by his 
 lamented death. He threw himself heart and 
 soul into this movement, willingly lent his aid
 
 258 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 to the work, and also joined a small society, 
 which consisted of students who had dedicated 
 themselves to foreign mission work. He was a 
 very diligent, hard-working student ; and like 
 so many others in our Scottish Universities, had 
 to maintain an incessant struggle with adverse 
 circumstances while pursuing his studies. But 
 this did not prevent him either from retaining 
 through it all a very happy-hearted, cheerful 
 disposition, or from taking a large share in 
 the work of our Christian societies. For a 
 season he was President of our Foreign Mission 
 Students' Union — afterwards amalgamated with 
 the Volunteer Union — and many of us remember 
 with pleasure the papers he contributed to our 
 meetings. Towards the end of his College 
 course he was appointed assistant at the South- 
 side Medical Mission, and soon earned the grati- 
 tude and affection of the poor people to whom he 
 ministered his kindness and skill. At the same 
 time the thoroughness of his class-work was 
 indicated by the fact that he won the medal 
 in session 1887-8 in the Junior Division of 
 Professor M'Call Anderson's class of clinical 
 medicine — an honour which brought almost as 
 much gratification to all of us who knew him 
 as to himself. It was some recognition of the 
 conscientious, painstaking spirit which charac-
 
 IN MEMORIAM: REV. GEORGE STEELE 259 
 
 terised him in all he did, and was all the more 
 creditable to him because he was one of those who 
 worked not for academic distinction but to qualify 
 himself for the service of Christ and humanity. 
 
 "We spent a short holiday together in Arran 
 before I sailed for India in 1889, and in the days 
 of recreation one learned to love and admire him 
 as much as in the hours of labour. His nature 
 was singularly bright and buoyant, and his keen 
 interest in botauy and natural history added 
 greatly to his enjoyment of country life. 
 
 "Like most of those who have been led to serve 
 the Master in the foreign field, he was deeply in- 
 terested in the work of Christ at home. He was 
 always a loyal son of the Free Church of Scot- 
 land, and was warmly attached to Free St James' 
 Church in Glasgow, a congregation which showed 
 their appreciation of him by contributing largely 
 to his surgical equipment when he left for Living- 
 stonia. Of his work in Africa he often wTote to 
 me in terms which showed how much he loved it. 
 His brief sketch of camp life among the Ngoni 
 I read with very great interest. 
 
 " It was with very real sorrow that I heard 
 of his death. Neither time nor distance had 
 lessened our friendship, or my regard for one 
 whose memory I shall always cherish as one 
 of my most treasured possessions."
 
 26o AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 My first meeting with Dr Steele was on board 
 the Courland in June 1890, in the Quilimane 
 river. His appointment to Livingstonia had 
 been made known six months before, but cir- 
 cumstances had rendered my departure neces- 
 sary before he arrived. When the steamer 
 arrived I went on board, and found him with 
 Messrs James and George Aitken for Living- 
 stonia, and six young men for the African Lakes' 
 Company. All were full of life and hope, and 
 yet only two of the party were spared in health 
 to return at the end of five years. Such is the sad 
 side of life in tropical Africa ! I spent several 
 days with Dr Steele, and saw him away in the 
 boat for his first and last journey up the Kwakwa 
 river. He entered Africa full of buoyant hope, 
 and during those few days, from the questions he 
 put and the views he expressed, I was greatly 
 impressed with his suitability for the work among 
 the Ngoni to which he was appointed. 
 
 His introduction to African life was of an un- 
 usual description. He was at Quilimane at the 
 time of the iVnglo-Portuguese difficulties over 
 the opening of the Zambezi and Shire rivers, and 
 the passage up the latter was made at one point 
 through a shower of bullets from the Portuguese 
 guns at the Kuo. The late Joseph Thomson, the 
 African traveller, was with them on the steamer,
 
 IN MEMORIAM: REV. GEORGE STEELE 261 
 
 and his experience and ability got tliem safely 
 beyond these opposing Portuguese. Dr Steele's 
 letters, written on the passage out and during 
 the inland journey, are full of beautifully simple 
 and graphic descriptions of all that he saw and 
 passed through, but running through all is the 
 index of his thoughts of the work he was to take 
 up, and of the moral and spiritual condition of 
 the tribes he passed through. Nothing escaped 
 his notice, and all being so new, he wrote fully 
 and in an interesting manner on subjects poli- 
 tical, scientific and spiritual. Reading through 
 the pile of his letters before me, one is struck by 
 the self-eflfacement shown, and his surprise at 
 certain things which disproved his preconceived 
 notions of men and things as they are in Africa, 
 but yet the openness of mind with which he 
 listened to those whose wisdom and experience 
 fitted them to be his helpers. Ardour, humility, 
 hopefulness of disposition, and consecration to 
 God shone out in his life from the very be- 
 ginning. 
 
 Dr Steele reached Bandawe in the end of July 
 and settled at Njuyu in the beginning of August. 
 From the time I left in January to relieve Dr 
 Laws at Bandawe, until his arrival, the station 
 at Njuyu was held by Mr Stuart, and that of 
 Ekwendeni by Mr and Mrs M^'Callum. These
 
 262 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 lonely workers, fifteen miles apart, among a 
 troublesome people, were new to the district. 
 Mr Stuart had but a few months' African service, 
 while Mr M°Callum had come from his former 
 work at Bandawe. At Njuyu especially the lot 
 of Mr Stuart was not an easy one. Surrounded 
 by the discontented Chipatulas, whose ambitious 
 desire for power and wealth through the aid they 
 expected from the white men at the beginning of 
 the Mission had not been realised, he was sub- 
 jected to many indignities as they took advan- 
 tage of his novitiate. At Ekwendeni Mr and 
 Mrs M^Callum were in the throes of instructing 
 the lazy Ngoni in manual labour and in educa- 
 tion, and had in that new district to meet and 
 overcome the begging habits, proud arrogance, 
 and dark superstition of the people. Only 
 those who have had experience in the beginning 
 of such work can know what it means. The 
 arrival of Dr Steele cheered the solitary and 
 hard-pressed workers. 
 
 His first visit to Mombera was much a dread 
 to him, as every account he had received of how 
 new-comers were treated had made him shrink 
 for some weeks from facing the ordeal. Then 
 Mombera was in one of his bad moods and the 
 reception was not very cordial. When the sub- 
 ject of the school, which he had said before he
 
 IN MEMO RUM: REV. GEORGE STEELE 263 
 
 desired at his head village, was mentioned, Mom- 
 bera would not sanction it. His first visit to 
 Mtwaro at Ekwendeni w^as more cordial and 
 pleasant, and Dr Steele's ofifer of help in the 
 treatment of his diseased joint drew Mtwaro 
 very near to him, and compensated for the rude- 
 ness of Mombera — a rudeness which few who 
 saw him often do not understand. 
 
 As they had been some months without a 
 doctor, the arrival of Dr Steele was hailed with 
 delight by the people. Medical work attaches a 
 people more quickly than any other. While 
 they could not understand much of what was 
 taught, and often did not realise that it applied 
 to them at all, all who received help in distress, 
 and relief from pain and disease understood that, 
 and counted the Mission-doctor their friend. 
 Very soon however Dr Steele realised that what 
 they desired most was wealth, and their begging 
 habits were a continual annoyance to him in his 
 work. Here is a graphic picture of a common 
 occurrence in the course of a visit to the villages 
 in carrying on medical mission work. He says, 
 " The first place I stopped at was Zigodo's village. 
 This man is Mtwaro 's head councillor. To excite 
 my pity he appeared quite naked, but two yards 
 of cloth sent him away rejoicing. My next place 
 of call was Sunduswayo's where I dressed his
 
 264 AMONG THE WILD NGONl 
 
 mother's ulcer. He told me I was to come again 
 soon and bring him cloth. I next called at 
 Hloj ana's. In conversation with him about a 
 pain in his shoulder I asked if I might bring 
 more medicine for it. He replied that I was 
 to stop with him next time I passed and give 
 him a piece of cloth. Few head-men are above 
 begging."^ 
 
 Eeflecting on his work and surroundings as he 
 wrote to a friend, he drew a vivid picture of the 
 condition of the people. "Up here, shut off 
 from the rest of the world by the eternal hills, 
 they have little or no notion of what is going on 
 in the great universe outside. The white men 
 come from somewhere, but where, they cannot 
 tell. How to bring home to the natives the 
 Gospel we have come to teach is the problem 
 requiring much earnest thought, and above all, 
 heavenly guidance. Their very simplicity of 
 mind makes it difficult, but this condition of 
 mind has combined with it the vices of men, 
 so that while intellectually they are children, 
 morally they are men, for one sees among them 
 all the vices of human nature, — pride, avarice, 
 greed, meanness, dishonesty, falsehood, &c. De- 
 spite these, however, they are not destitute of 
 good parts." 
 
 Dr Steele was not long among the Ngoni until
 
 IN MEMORUM: REV, GEORGE STEELE 265 
 
 he discovered, as others had done, that they have 
 a standard of manhood all their own. Until a 
 man married and owned cattle he was considered 
 to be but a child and had no interest in tribal 
 afiairs. This made the position of the unmarried 
 on the staff very liable to be slighted, and shut 
 doors of usefulness against them. Dr Steele was 
 considered, like Mr Stuart, to be a mere boy and 
 not to be admitted to serious conclave along with 
 men. He recounts that "one day while Mr 
 Stuart was engaged building the school a proud 
 Ngoni addressed him as a child, contemptuously. 
 * Yes,' he replied, ' I am a child as you suppose, 
 but can your children build houses like these 1 ' 
 The man called him no more a child but was 
 very respectful, and it seemed to dawn on his 
 mind that manhood did not consist in the pos- 
 session of wives and cattle but in knowledge and 
 wisdom." 
 
 As I can testify, the arrogance of the Ngoni 
 was at times hard to endure, but an incident 
 such as the following served to sweeten life in 
 his case as it had done in my own. Dr Steele 
 writes, "About four weeks ago I was called to 
 one of the chief's villages to a complicated labour 
 case. All went well. The gratitude of the people 
 seemed very sincere. The women came round 
 me on their knees, slowly clapping their hands
 
 266 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 and saying in a tone of great relief, ' my father/ 
 a term of great respect. One woman rolled her- 
 self on the ground at my feet, but I could stand 
 this no longer, and told her to rise up. I told 
 them all sitting round that God sent me to heal 
 the sick and tell them about Him. I then 
 doctored some twenty eye-cases and returned 
 home." When it is mentioned that such women 
 as needed assistance in maternity were accused 
 of foul crimes and usually consigned to the bush 
 to die, and their friends taken as slaves by the 
 husband, the gratitude of the women will be 
 known to have been sincere. No branch of 
 medical science has been more fruitful of life- 
 saving and of good to the helpless than that, and 
 all medical missionaries have found it so. The 
 glimpse we get of medical mission work in Dr 
 Steele's hands explains the attachment of the 
 people to him. 
 
 A time of great anxiety came upon Dr Steele 
 and his co-workers, Mr and Mrs M^Callum, at 
 Ekwendeni, when Mtwaro the chief, who was 
 under treatment, died. He suffered from chronic 
 disease of the knee joint, which I had been called 
 on to treat a year before. It was evident even 
 then that nothing but amputation could be of use 
 in saving his life, but as he did not submit, pallia- 
 tive treatment was adopted. When Dr Steele
 
 IN MEMORIAM: REV. GEORGE STEELE 267 
 
 arrived he was warned of the case, and advised 
 not to adopt any active treatment until he be- 
 came known to the people and had their con- 
 fidence, for, on account of their superstition, any 
 untoward result would be blamed against the 
 doctor, so the people, and not the patient only, 
 had to be considered. They could not realise the 
 seriousness of the case or understand the treat- 
 ment adopted, and might be incited by the 
 native doctors to rise against him, and so the 
 work be hindered. Dr Steele's treatment was 
 only palliative, and as it turned out, a rapid 
 extension of the inflammation caused death in 
 a few weeks. During those weeks, when the 
 illness of the chief made the people very ex- 
 cited, the cry went forth that the white man's 
 medicine had killed the chief. Various divining 
 doctors were called, the poison ordeal was gone 
 through with dogs and fowls, but again and 
 again the verdict was in favour of the doctor. 
 The people were, however, very excited, and in 
 the event of death it seemed as if trouble would 
 come to the Mission party. Mr and Mrs M^Callum 
 were there alone, except when Dr Steele was with 
 them in connection with the case, and the occasion 
 was one of anxiety such as they only, who have 
 witnessed a superstitious people driven frantic by 
 some event, can understand. Mtwaro died, but
 
 268 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 while he was conscious he declared his confidence 
 in the white men, and sought to quiet the people. 
 For a time all work was stopped in the district, 
 but the people quietened down and the work was 
 resumed again, the deceased chief's widows and 
 children coming freely to the services and school 
 on the station. In those days the medical 
 man had to contend with superstition, and 
 with the combination of divining and medi- 
 cine men who witnessed the progress of the 
 work and emancipation of the people from 
 their clutches, and were therefore too often 
 opposed to the Mission. 
 
 In the middle of 1891, Mr Stuart, the teacher 
 who was with Dr Steele at Njuyu, was transferred 
 to fill the breach caused by the invaliding of Rev. 
 Dr Henry at Livlezi station among the southern 
 Ngoni. In Dr Steele's letters at that time, he 
 writes joyfully of the extension of the preaching 
 work into new districts ; of his three schools and 
 twenty teachers, and of the services and Bible 
 classes. At the close of his first year he wrote 
 thus : "In the course of another week I will 
 have come to the end of my first year. It has 
 been full of many new experiences, and I must 
 say has appeared long. I am beginning now 
 more vividly to realise that this is now my home 
 than ever I did before. The reason is that until
 
 IN MEMORIAM : REV. GEORGE STEELE 269 
 
 one gets a hold of the language you feel estranged, 
 but when you begin to understand them better 
 and speak their language, the feeling of separa- 
 tion begins to pass off, and one feels, as it were, 
 one with them." These words evidence how 
 truly he was ripening for the succeeding four 
 years of full, patient and productive service, ere 
 he was called to the service above. 
 
 When Mr Stuart left for Livlezi, his place at 
 Njuyu was taken by Mr Scott who had just joined 
 the Mission. In consequence of the change, Dr 
 Steele had all the work of the station laid on him 
 for a time. He had the hours of every day well 
 filled up by medical, evangelistic and educational 
 work, and had also, as so many of all classes in 
 Livingstonia have had to do, to lend a hand in 
 the brick-field, and at house and school building. 
 The work was in full swing when an event 
 happened, which a few years before would have 
 probably been fraught with disaster to the work. 
 Mombera, the chief of Ngoniland, died suddenly. 
 The death and burial are described so graphically 
 by Dr Steele that his account of it may be given 
 here as affording a picture of African customs in 
 such circumstances. 
 
 "Mombera died somewhat suddenly. I saw 
 him the Sabbath before, when at his village con- 
 ducting a service. He has been chief of this
 
 270 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 section of the Ngoni for many years, and his 
 death has therefore caused a great sensation 
 throughout the country. Poor Mombera ! If 
 he had been iuclined to know the Gospel, he 
 has had good opportunity for years, but he 
 never showed any interest in it, and died as 
 he had lived — a heathen. 
 
 "The people came from all parts to take part 
 in the mourning ceremonies. He died in Em- 
 pikisweni and his body was carried to his own 
 village, Engaraweni, where he was buried. We 
 left the station early in the morning and arrived 
 at the village about noon. On nearing the 
 village, many people were seen coming in com- 
 panies to mourn. The men all carried shields 
 and spears, and some had also guns. As is the 
 custom, the people had removed all their orna- 
 ments, and some had bands of grass tied round 
 their heads. When we entered the village, the 
 men who were with me stood together, and 
 raising their shields over their heads, began to 
 utter a wdld continuous cry, ' Baba be ! Baba 
 be!' i.e, ^ My father! My father!' The cry 
 was taken up by each new company and con- 
 tinued for a time when they retired to make 
 room for others. After this we went to the 
 public place — the cattle - fold — which was 
 crowded with men. There we waited till dark.
 
 IN MEMORIAM : REV, GEORGE STEELE 271 
 
 The continual wail and all our surroundings 
 produced a strange eflfect on us. 
 
 " When they had consulted as to the grave 
 they set to work to dig it. At this stage a 
 sister of the late chief appeared at the grave 
 and began to mourn. Suddenly Mperembe, 
 another Ngoni chief and brother of the 
 deceased, sprang up and began to mourn. He 
 placed his hands clasped behind his head and 
 advanced with a dancing motion to the grave. 
 All the men in the cattle-fold did the same. 
 This went on till nightfall when the work of 
 digging the grave was suspended. 
 
 " Next day about ten o'clock the grave was 
 dug and preparations were made for the inter- 
 ment. All the morning, however, the late 
 chiefs wives were engaging in a ceremonial. 
 Some of them carried the chiefs shields in 
 front of them and approached the grave mourn- 
 ing loudly and retiring again. All the old 
 women took a prominent place in the cere- 
 monies. Before the burial the cattle-fold was 
 cleared of all except married men. Just before 
 the corpse was brought in, the chiefs wives 
 formed a strange procession. They crawled up 
 to the grave on their hands and knees in single 
 file, mourned for a short time, and then retired. 
 They were all dressed in skins and had their
 
 2 72 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 heads covered with cloth and great bunches of 
 feathers. 
 
 " Some men now left to bring in the corpse. 
 They went towards the hut with their hands 
 clasped behind their heads and wailing loudly. 
 They returned bearing the corpse, which was 
 followed by a large number of women carrying 
 things belonging to the late chief to be put into 
 the grave with him. The men stood in circles 
 round the grave with their shields high above their 
 heads and wailing piteously. This continued for 
 a quarter of an hour, and then they gave place 
 to the numerous companies of young men who at 
 this point came in to mourn. Company after 
 company filed in, and for a long time this went 
 on. After the body was placed in the grave 
 the chiefs pipes, pillows, etc., were put into the 
 grave. One grave was completely filled and 
 another had to be dug into which the remainder 
 of the chiefs personal belongings were put." 
 
 The furlough of Mr M'Callum in 1892 and my 
 return to be at Bandawe necessitated further 
 changes in the staff. Mr Stuart relieved Mr 
 M^Callum at Ekwendeni ; and in view of future 
 developments of the work, Dr Steele, accom- 
 panied by the late Dr Henry, made an extended 
 journey round the country so as to find out in 
 what direction our developments should be made.
 
 IN ME MO RUM: REV. GEORGE STEELE 273 
 
 The work at the various stations was now fully 
 organised in open-air and school- services, day- 
 schools, and Bible-classes for men and women, 
 and its effects were seen in the changed habits 
 of many around the stations. At Njuyu under 
 Mr Scott a great advance had been made in 
 school-work, and singing had been greatly im- 
 proved by the introduction of a harmonium. 
 The elderly women's class, begun by Mrs 
 Elmslie years before, was being better attended, 
 and the time spent in it was bearing good 
 fruit — the women not only being eager to be 
 taught the Word more systematically, but 
 evincing a willingness to be taught to read 
 and write. At Ekwendeni, not only had the 
 principal people of the district been reached, 
 but a mighty advance had been made through 
 Mr M^Callum's school, in that master and 
 slave had been brought together on the same 
 level, and the first natives on the staff there 
 belonged to both classes. 
 
 In 1892 Dr Steele had the joy of baptising the 
 first Ngoni woman, who was the fruit of the 
 adult women's class referred to, and eight men. 
 The church roll now numbered eleven adults and 
 four children. Two years before, the first con- 
 verts were baptised. But still there was much 
 ungodliness around the stations, and gross dark-
 
 274 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 ness. The dry season brought together great 
 companies of people to drink beer, and then, 
 as Dr Steele wrote, war was a subject much 
 talked of, and several bands of reckless young 
 men went out, among whom were some who 
 were attending school and Bible class. He 
 wrote at this time, "But some people from 
 whom I expected better things are still remain- 
 ing very superstitious, and are inclined to say 
 hard things about us, and to treat badly those 
 who believe our message. Lately one of our 
 people was at one of the late chiefs villages 
 some four miles from here. He was maltreated 
 because he affirmed that the dead would rise 
 again. One man got so exasperated that he 
 rose and left the hut. They still harbour silly 
 notions about us, such as that I killed Mombera, 
 the chief. They call me an Umtakati, i.e. a 
 witch, a villain who can harm people by be- 
 witching them. Many of the people are still 
 inclined for war, and this along with their 
 superstition and ignorance makes them disin- 
 clined to receive our message, and they become 
 jealous and envious of those who have believed 
 and are perhaj)s getting in advance of them. 
 Some speak well of us and of our work, and 
 others cast reflections on them for doing so, 
 and out of jealousy and spite they defame us.
 
 IN MEMORIAM : REV. GEORGE STEELE 275 
 
 For example, the second wife of the late chief, 
 of whom I had good hope, has disappointed me, 
 and because the third wdfe has been bravely- 
 defending us the second has brought a charge 
 against her of having killed the chief. We 
 must have patience and live these things 
 down." 
 
 In 1893 Mr and Mrs M^'Callum returned from 
 Scotland, and Dr Steele was enabled to open a 
 new station at Hora by locating them there. 
 This is the district of Mzukuzuku, a famous 
 general in the old Ngoni army, and the one 
 where the great massacre of Tumbuka took 
 place about 1880. For the second time Mr 
 and Mrs M^Callum had to begin the arduous 
 task of introducing the Gospel to a new region, 
 and although each successive year saw the 
 whole tribe more amenable to the Gospel, the 
 work was trying enough. As we now witness 
 at this date, the pioneering both at Ekwendeni 
 and at Hora was successfully accomplished, and 
 the developments now visible are in great mea- 
 sure due to the work of these two missionaries 
 at the commencement. As recorder of the his- 
 tory of the work it is my duty and pleasure 
 to state that. 
 
 There Avere now three stations manned by 
 Europeans. Comfortable brick houses were
 
 2 76 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 erected at each, and, as the country is healthier 
 than other parts of Livingstonia, the work was 
 vigorously pushed forward. In 1894 the num- 
 ber of schools had increased to nine ; special in- 
 struction was beiug given to over thirty native 
 teachers who were all under indenture for five 
 years. The Bible classes increased in number 
 and attendance, and the village services were 
 being conducted by Christian natives as well as 
 by Europeans. While this new district at Hora 
 had been opened to the work, an attempt which 
 was made to get into that of Mperembe, a brother 
 of the late chief, failed as it did on a former 
 occasion. But Dr Steele and his colleagues had 
 learned that persistency of effort in districts 
 open, and frequent calls upon outside parties, 
 would eventually win the way for the Gospel, 
 and the whole history of the work showed that 
 great patience was necessary. No district could 
 be taken by a rush, and so what was gained was 
 held by patient and persistent efibrt. 
 
 Here is a picture of a day's work. " You 
 will rejoice to know that the new bell is now 
 erected and doing duty. I don't spare it. Since 
 it was erected I have commenced a morning 
 service. It is rung at sunrise and we all turn 
 into school, i.e. Mr Scott and myself and our 
 eight boys, teachers, workers, and the general
 
 IN MEMORIAM : REV. GEORGE STEELE 277 
 
 public. First a hymn is sung ; then I tell the 
 day of the month and the text for the day which 
 all repeat after me several times. Selected 
 portions of Scripture are then read and all join 
 in the Lord's Prayer, after which each goes to 
 his work. Again at half-past seven the bell 
 is runof for the school and our breakfast. School 
 commences at eight, and this junior school is 
 conducted entirely by natives under Mr Scott's 
 superintendence. The junior school is over at 
 half-past nine, and the senior school for the 
 teachers which, till twelve o'clock, Mr Scott 
 and I conduct, begins. We rest till two, and 
 on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, I have my 
 women's school from two till four ; on Wednes- 
 day and Friday the catechumens, and at five 
 o'clock all public work is over for the day. On 
 Wednesday evenings there is a prayer meeting." 
 The same order practically obtained at Hora 
 and Ekwendeni, special attention being paid to 
 teaching the teachers, not only for school-work 
 but with a view to qualify them also to become 
 evangelists, such work being put into their hands 
 whenever their consistency of character and 
 attainments made that advisable. In the be- 
 ginning of 1894 there were 760 children at- 
 tending the schools in the three districts. 
 In 1894, as the staff had been reinforced by the
 
 278 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 arrival of the Eev. Messrs Dewar and MacAlpine, 
 and the settlement of the latter at Bandawe, I 
 was free to return to my former field in Ngoni- 
 land. My place, as indicated, had been ably 
 filled by Dr Steele, who was in charge of the 
 whole district. At my request he continued to 
 occupy my former station and to act as mission- 
 ary-in-charge of the district until, a year thence, 
 he should leave for home. I settled at Ekwen- 
 deni where the first temporary house built by 
 Mr M^Callum had been replaced by a substantial 
 brick building erected by Messrs Stuart and 
 Murray, and relieved Mr Stuart who left on 
 furlough after five years splendid service. We 
 were then in still closer contact through our 
 work in Ngoniland, and had frequent intercourse 
 together. He again had the joy of receiving- 
 seven more adults into the Church by baptism at 
 Njuyu. It was the station where the work had 
 been carried on for the longest period, and the 
 fresh baptisms were an occasion of interest far 
 beyond, and reacted on the other stations, so that 
 early in 1895 we find the Church roll increased 
 to 59 by further baptisms at Njuyu and Ekwen- 
 deni, while at Hora, the youngest of our stations, 
 several had already made a profession of faith 
 and been admitted as catechumens. 
 
 On my settlement at Ekwendeni we originated
 
 IN MEMORIAM : REV. GEORGE STEELE 279 
 
 quarterly conferences of the workers, meeting at 
 the different stations in rotation. These were 
 occasions not only of great good to the members, 
 but the plans of work, reports of progress, and 
 discussion of difficulties, engaging our meetings, 
 bound us very closely together, and strengthened 
 our united efforts among the heathen. By hav- 
 ing with us Christian natives, the Church members 
 in the different districts were brought into closer 
 contact, and the work made to appear one, and 
 the Church one. The last year of Dr Steele's 
 service was very full of work, and the prospects 
 all round were very bright. A new development 
 had taken place in the end of 1894 by the arrival 
 of Miss Stewart, the first missionary for the 
 women, and she began work at Ekwendeni. At 
 Njuyu the special work of my wife when there 
 had been in part continued by Mr Stuart and Dr 
 Steele. At Ekwendeni and then at Hora Mrs 
 M^Callum's work had made progress among the 
 women, and produced good results ; and now at 
 Ekwendeni my wife's efforts were supplemented 
 by Miss Stewart, and she struck out among the 
 wives of catechumens and converts who were not 
 reached by the ordinary schools. Thus the work 
 was going on when the last months of Dr Steele's 
 all too brief service had come. 
 
 In April he left to attend a Council meeting at
 
 28o AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 the newly-opened Livingstonia Training Institu- 
 tion. He had food with him for five days, but 
 as it was the rainy season and as his guides led 
 him by a new and untried path over rugged 
 mountains, they were detained, and the journey 
 lasted nine days. He arrived at the Institution 
 in an exhausted state, and we believe that in this 
 way his strength was undermined, and when the 
 last fever came he was unable to cast oflf its 
 efiects. 
 
 He returned to Njuyu, and as his furlough was 
 due, prepared to leave for home. His last three 
 Sabbaths were spent at the three stations, when 
 he baptised forty-one adults and several children, 
 the results of his own and his colleagues work. 
 He had sent off" his boxes to the Lake and was to 
 follow them himself in a day or two, but fever 
 struck him down, and in ^yq days, through utter 
 exhaustion, he fell asleep, at the age of 34, on 
 26th June 1895. His funeral was attended by 
 the whole of the Ekwendeni population, as well 
 as many who had come from Njuyu and Hora. 
 At the open grave a service was conducted. 
 Amid the great sorrow of his colleagues — four of 
 whom were present — and the great gathering of 
 natives, his remains were committed to the dust 
 among the shady trees within sound of the music 
 of the Lunyanga river. There was widespread
 
 - *?*=** ^'jlir**^ 

 
 IN MEMORIAM: REV. GEORGE STEELE 281 
 
 gloom in Ngoniland. I here append the tribute 
 I wrote in our half-yearly report at the time of 
 his death, and thus close an all too imperfect 
 record of a noble life and a noble work. 
 
 '' No one was more beloved in our Livingstonia 
 circle. His cheery, hopeful nature surrounded one 
 with an atmosphere of attraction to him, and the 
 deep springs of his disposition were easily touched 
 by distress, whether among whites or blacks. 
 
 " His five years' work in Ngoniland forms an 
 interesting chapter in the history of the Mission. 
 He arrived just as the cloud which long hung 
 over the work was dissipated, and the country 
 thrown open to the Gospel, and the first fruits 
 had been gathered. Speedily gaining a know- 
 ledge of the speech and habits of the people, he 
 set to work, and by close attention to schools, 
 which were called for by the desire for in- 
 struction, he saw the agency greatly extended 
 and made eminently successful as a nursery for 
 the Church. 
 
 "As an ordained missionary he gave himself 
 heartily to the work of strengthening and in- 
 structing the Church members, and of gathering 
 in the fruits of former sowing. As an evangelist 
 he was never happier than when preaching the 
 old Gospel, and going from village to village 
 with the good news. His medical work he
 
 282 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 always looked upon as a valuable means of 
 bringing the people to God, and so, while main- 
 taining a healthy professional interest in his 
 " cases," he worked for the main end in all he 
 did, and gave his best to the work. He was 
 welcomed everywhere, and there are few corners 
 in Ngoniland where his voice has not been heard 
 preaching the Gospel, and his gentle hand laid 
 on the suffering to give health and peace. 
 
 " Besides having acquired the Ngoni language 
 he had made considerable additions to om- 
 knowledge of the Tumbuka tongue by compiling 
 a dictionary. 
 
 " Preparing to visit Australia and Scotland, but 
 taken to the Father s House ! We cannot under- 
 stand it ! But still, as when four of his colleagues 
 stood by the bedside and witnessed his triumph, 
 we preserve the feelings which filled our souls 
 and give God thanks for what He enabled him 
 to be and to do in the work in Ngoniland."
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 RE-ARRAXGEMENT OF STATIONS AND GROWTH OF 
 THE WORK 
 
 ON the death of Dr Steele several changes 
 which had been contemplated for some 
 time, were carried out in the arrangement of our 
 agencies in Ngoniland. We were under the 
 necessity of meeting a reduction of the European 
 staff. From the first we had proceeded upon 
 the plan of making use of the natives themselves 
 as far as their character and attainments would 
 allow, and had placed several of the schools in 
 villages around the chief stations under them. 
 We thus prepared the way for increasing the 
 responsibilities of such agents. Hitherto they 
 had been under almost daily supervision of a 
 European, but now we ventured upon placing 
 districts instead of schools under their charge 
 and withdrawing the Europeans. The experiment 
 was tried with our best teacher- evangelists, and, 
 as the sequel will show, Avas attended with success 
 
 in all departments of work, while, as the outcome 
 
 383
 
 284 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 of it, we were able even to add to the number of 
 our schools. 
 
 The Training Institution, under Dr Laws and 
 Mr James Henderson, was opened to receive 
 pupils in the end of 1895. We at once selected 
 some from the districts under natives and sent 
 them there for training, leaving only those who 
 could be satisfactorily attended to by the native 
 teachers, and who were required in the work 
 of the district. Without the opening of the 
 Institution it would have been impossible for us 
 to have carried on our stations without the usual 
 complement of Europeans. 
 
 Miss Stewart, who had come out as first female 
 teacher for the Institution, and had been tem- 
 porarily located at Ekwendeni for a year, was 
 at that time withdrawn to the Institution. She 
 successfully superintended the girls' schools 
 during her residence. On leaving for her new 
 work several of the more advanced girls went 
 with her to complete their training ; others 
 who were not chosen to go to the Institution 
 wept bitterly when Miss Stewart left. The work 
 among the women at Ekwendeni was again left 
 in my wife's hands. The requirements of the 
 younger girls were partly met in the junior and 
 senior schools, and the older women and girls 
 who could not attend school were taken up by
 
 RE- ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 285 
 
 her, as also the school girls for sewing. She also 
 gave additional instruction to those women who 
 were coming forward as candidates for baptism. 
 At Hora station similar work was making good 
 progress under Mrs M^Callum who had large 
 classes composed of women of all the social grades. 
 
 The most important change was made in the 
 staffing of Njuyu station. It had always been 
 worked by two Europeans, and being the oldest 
 station, and the arena of all the old battles, the 
 work there was known to have taken firm root, 
 and was expected to prove a suitable sphere for 
 our experiment. Mr Stuart, after returning 
 from Scotland, was resident there for a few 
 months, and when Mr Scott, the teacher at 
 Ekwendeni, left the service of the Mission to 
 pursue his studies in Scotland, he was withdrawn 
 to Ekwendeni. Mawalera Tembo was installed 
 at Njuyu to carry on the work of that district. 
 
 Mawalera Tembo has been a faithful worker 
 for many years. He was one of those who came 
 to our house at Njuyu under cover of night to 
 be taught, when we were in the early struggles 
 of the work, as has been already referred to. 
 He and his brother Makara were the first to be 
 baptised in 1890. His father was a witch-doctor, 
 and Mawalera in early years had to attend him 
 in the ceremonies of his practice, and become
 
 286 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 "art and part," consciously or unconsciously, 
 in a practice of deceit. He is possessed of an 
 acute mind, and has always been observant and 
 thoughtful. He is well versed in native lore, 
 and when a little boy herding the goats in the 
 Lunyangwa valley witnessed the advent of Dr 
 Laws and Mr Stuart, and the slaughter of 
 natives conducted about that time by the 
 Chipatulas. He carries a peculiarly happy 
 countenance, and his merry laugh makes him 
 a favourite with all classes. From the first his 
 profession of Christianity has been frank and 
 powerful. Those who know him understand 
 how, in private discussion with the heathen, and 
 by personal testimony always given humbly and 
 with respect for his seniors, his influence has been 
 wide and permanently good. 
 
 Elangeni station has always been under a 
 native. Mawalera s brother, Makara, was placed 
 there by Dr Steele a year before he died. It 
 also was an experiment and justified itself. The 
 chief of the district, Maurau, is a brother of the 
 late Mombera, and when the school was opened 
 in his village Makara was sent there temporarily. 
 So great, however, was his influence, that Maurau 
 requested that Makara should be sent to reside 
 there permanently. Ground was given for house 
 and gardens for the teacher, and Makara re-
 
 RE- ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 287 
 
 moved his family and took up his residence 
 under Maurau, where he has conducted a most 
 successful educational work, and where his teach- 
 ing of the Word has been blessed to the conver- 
 sion of many. He was the means of breaking 
 the war-spirit in that district, and one of the first 
 converts was the eldest son of the chief, who 
 before was a notoriously passionate and cruel 
 man, and ruled his slaves with an iron hand. 
 His first act was to give his slaves their freedom, 
 and to pay them for the work they did on his 
 house and in his gardens. Nawambi, the 
 ferocious war-dancer who is referred to in the 
 chapter on William Koyi, became a new man, 
 although not a Christian, under Makara's in- 
 fluence, and a school has been carried on in his 
 district also by Makara. 
 
 Hora station, as has been stated in a former 
 chapter, was opened by Mr and Mrs M^Callum, 
 and on their being transferred to Mwenzo station, 
 the work there was also placed in the hands of a 
 native teacher-evangelist who had been with Mr 
 M^Callum both at Ekwendeni and Hora. Thus, 
 within a short space, we had given up two 
 European workers in Ngoniland and developed 
 native agency in the manner shown. This we 
 look upon as a real advance, proviog both the 
 permanence of the work among the natives.
 
 288 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 and the possibility of speedily evangelising the 
 country by means of native agents. Africa 
 must be evangelised by the African, and al- 
 though our native helpers are only moderately 
 equipped, their work and influence serve to show 
 that more fully trained agents obtained through 
 the Training Institution, we may hope for greater 
 results than we now see. 
 
 In former days the Ngoni were the troublers 
 of their mission stations, and it is worth noticing 
 in connection with the transfer of Mr M^Callum 
 to Mwenzo, how the Ngoni in their new character 
 as peaceful worshippers of God were able to 
 render assistance to a far - distant mission. 
 Mwenzo station has lately been begun by Eev. 
 Alexander Dewar. Houses had to be erected 
 and the station laid out, but the natives of the 
 district were not eager to help in such work, 
 even although the presence of the Mission was 
 to be for their protection and benefit. They 
 belong to the Nyamwanga tribe which was 
 formerly harassed by the Ngoni, many members 
 of the tribe having been carried captive to 
 Ngoniland. The advent of Mr and Mrs M^'Callum 
 with a band of loyal Ngoni, some of whom were 
 Church members and catechumens, was most 
 opportune. The Ngoni were known to the 
 Mwenzo people only as cruel warriors, constantly
 
 RE'ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 289 
 
 raiding their neighbours, but now they saw them 
 in their midst with the implements of peaceful 
 labour in their hands, and the Word of God in 
 their hearts, and on their tongues. They aided 
 in the work which the Mwenzo people declined 
 to do, and at the same time by life and word, 
 proclaimed the reason of the change in their 
 manner of life. The eflfect of this has been very 
 great and a valuable object-lesson in that new 
 district, saving years of toil before the people 
 could understand fully the meaning or fruits of 
 the Gospel. Mr M^Callum continued his teach- 
 ing, and had the joy of seeing several of those 
 who had gone with him admitted into the visible 
 church by baptism, some time after he settled 
 there. Thus the trial of having, for the third 
 time, to relinquish an organized station and 
 submit to the hardships and difficulties of pioneer 
 work, was in some measure rewarded. 
 
 For several months in 1896 we were in con- 
 siderable anxiety in connection with a threatened 
 collision between the British Commissioner and 
 the Ngoni. As recorded, Mombera, the paramount 
 chief, had died, and for some years the tribe was 
 ruled in sections by the head-men or sub- chiefs. 
 The old desire of Ng'onomo to increase his power 
 and attain to the chieftainship was revived. In 
 his district, and that of Mperembe, we had made 
 
 T
 
 290 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 frequent efforts to be allowed to begin work but 
 without success. We were hopeful that in all 
 the other districts the influence of the Gospel 
 was such that war was for ever at an end, and 
 now our hopes were to be tested by months of 
 turmoil and excitement. The Mission had been 
 the only outside influence acting in Ngoniland, 
 and no Government agent had visited the Ngoni 
 ofiicially since the British Consul saw Mombera 
 in 1885 when friendly greetings were exchanged. 
 Over all the surrounding tribes in the Protector- 
 ate, the Government had exercised its jurisdiction, 
 and as Mperembe and Ng onomo had not given 
 up war and raiding, they spread the report that 
 the Ngoni were being left alone because the 
 Government was not strong enough to meddle 
 with them. In this way they strove to revive 
 the old war-spirit throughout the country, and 
 of course our work, and especially our native 
 helpers, came in for adverse criticism. The 
 Evangelists in charge of districts had much to 
 bear, but the Christians rallied to their support, 
 and by calm and judicious behaviour they 
 quieted many a turmoil and saved their work. 
 
 When the country was in that state, an event 
 occurred which threatened the peace with the 
 British Administration and gave us much trouble. 
 The district of Kasungu, lying to the south of
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 291 
 
 Ngoniland, had been the scene of a conflict be- 
 tween the Commissioner's forces and the natives 
 there. Chibisa, the chief, made his escape when 
 his town was taken, and came to Ng'onomo as 
 a refugee. As soon as we knew it we tried to 
 persuade Ng'onomo to drive him away, lest 
 trouble should come upon himself. Chibisa 
 pretended to have a considerable army at his 
 command, and tried to incite Ng'onomo and 
 Mperembe to join him in an attack upon the 
 British at Kasungu, where the latter had estab- 
 lished a fort. Mr Swann, the Government agent 
 at Kotakota, instead of pursuing Chibisa with 
 an armed force, very judiciously sent policemen 
 with a letter to us requesting Ng'onomo to hand 
 over Chibisa to them. Ng'onomo refused. Mr 
 Swann's intimate knowledge of African natives 
 made him alive to the danger from the native 
 police, who have too often overridden their 
 commissions and become breakers rather than 
 guardians of the peace, and the delicate business 
 he had in hand with such a man as Ng'onomo. 
 He had no desire to induce a rupture with 
 Ng'onomo, and wrote : " The police have orders 
 to obey the missionaries, and to come back if 
 the chiefs allow Chibisa to escape or refuse to 
 arrest him. They are in no case to do anything 
 but visit the chiefs, take the man from them,
 
 292 AMONG THE WILD NGONl 
 
 and return." Chibisa subsequently, in alarm, 
 fled to Mpezeni, another Ngoni chief (mentioned 
 in the first chapter), living nine or ten days' 
 distant to the south-west. As Mr Swann's letter 
 was addressed to the Ngoni chiefs and required 
 their answer, we convened meetings in different 
 districts to discuss the situation. We pointed 
 out to them that unless they made their position 
 clear, they might all be involved in trouble with 
 the Commissioner. All, save Mperembe, from 
 the first denounced Ng'onomo for receiving 
 Chibisa, and frequently requested us to head 
 a war-party to go and compel him to deliver 
 him up. The result of our meetings was, that 
 the chiefs wrote to the Commissioner saying 
 that since Mombera died there had been no 
 paramount chief, and each had been simply 
 ruling his own district as before, and could not 
 be held responsible for Ng'onomo's conduct, as 
 he was not under either of them, and they did 
 not sympathise with his action, but desired to 
 live in peace with the British. Even Mperembe 
 began to see the inadvisability of continuing in 
 the compact with Ng'onomo, and he also sent 
 a letter to the Commissioner. 
 
 After Chibisa's flight messengers came from 
 Mpezeni calling the Ngoni to rise with him 
 and Chibisa against the British. Ng'onomo was
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 293 
 
 the only chief who could be found to favour 
 the exploit. Many old men had been eager to 
 accept the invitation, but at the meetings held 
 to discuss the matter, the young men, and those 
 who had been the flower of the armies, rose as 
 one man against the proposal to engage in war. 
 Several hundreds were assembled, some carrying 
 arms, but the result of the meeting was the 
 entire defeat of the advocates of war. The 
 young men spoke calmly and forcibly, with 
 every respect shown to their seniors, but they 
 were firm in their position. The young chief 
 of Elangeni and his cousin from Ekwendeni 
 recalled how the Gospel had come to them, 
 and how the chiefs and head-men had for long 
 hindered the work, until in this matter they as 
 a tribe were left far behind other tribes. The 
 age of war, they declared, must now be con- 
 sidered as dead. They said they had no desire 
 to point the finger of scorn at their seniors, but 
 they had apprehended a more excellent way and 
 were to stand firm in it, and refuse to take the 
 spear again. It was thus demonstrated to the 
 old men that their voice was no longer a power 
 in the tribe. As we witnessed their discomfiture, 
 we remembered the time when some of the 
 notables there had declared that if we got liberty 
 to preach and teach in the tribe, we would steal
 
 294 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 the hearts of their people. The result they had 
 feared they now witnessed. Years before this 
 occurred, another similar incident was witnessed 
 at Ekwendeni by Mr Stuart. On a Sunday a 
 gathering of men was convened in the chiefs 
 village to plan a raid on a neighbouring tribe. 
 When the hour for service came very few people 
 turned out. The teachers went to the village and 
 rang the bell. All the young men who had been 
 summoned to hear the plans for war, rose up and 
 left in a body to attend the service. The old 
 men were left alone, and the war proposals fell to 
 the ground in consequence. 
 
 When the excitement of the foregoing events 
 died away, there was an increase of interest in 
 our work. The teachers who had been persecuted 
 were reinstated in public favour, and except for 
 Ng'onomo we were on friendly terms with all 
 sections of the tribe, as we now had had more 
 cordial communications with Mperembe. The 
 popularity of our work increased, and the services 
 were more largely attended, while schools were de- 
 sired in places where we had none. The Chris- 
 tian community was consolidated by means of the 
 trial, and their influence deepened and extended. 
 
 In April 1896 Sir Harry Johnston, the Com- 
 missioner for British Central Africa, wrote to us 
 as follows : " You will observe that in the new
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 295 
 
 Eegulations extending the Hut Tax to all parts 
 of the Protectorate, I have exempted only one 
 district, viz., that portion of the West Nyasa 
 District which is occupied by the Northern Ngoni. 
 My reasons for doing so are these : — Hitherto 
 the Ngoni chiefs have shown themselves capable 
 of managing the affairs of their own country 
 without compelling the interference of the Ad- 
 ministration of the Protectorate. They have 
 maintained a friendly attitude towards the 
 English and have allowed us to travel and 
 settle unhindered in and through their country. 
 As long, therefore, as the Northern Ngoni 
 continue this line of conduct and give us no 
 cause for interference in their internal affairs, 
 so long, I trust, they may remain exempt from 
 taxation as they will put us to no expense." 
 The Ngoni remain to this day the only tribe 
 not under the direct jurisdiction of the British 
 Government. They are, however, no less helpful 
 than others in the great task of the redemp- 
 tion of Africa, which is now so successfully 
 guided by the Administration of the Pro- 
 tectorate as the temporal head. Apart from 
 labour given at mission stations, many hundreds 
 of men go every year to the coffee plantations of 
 the Shire Highlands, and to the trading corpora- 
 tions at work in various parts of the country,
 
 296 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 where they prove steady and successful labourers, 
 without whom, and others, the commercial in- 
 terests could not prosper. But let us not forget 
 that all has come about through the preaching 
 of the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 How deeply the Christian element has become 
 fixed in the tribe was shown at the placing of a 
 paramount chief in room of the late Mombera in 
 1897. When the Ngoni found themselves face 
 to face with the British Administration, and 
 realised the need for a chief, they proceeded to 
 elect one. To this ceremony all sections of the 
 tribe came. Mperembe, because he himself de- 
 sired the chieftainship, had delayed the event, 
 but he now took an active part in furthering the 
 appointment of Mbalekelwa the eldest son of 
 Mombera. He sent for Mawalera Tembo at 
 Njuyu, and desired him to remain throughout 
 the ceremony, as they did not wish to do any- 
 thing wrong. It might be said that our teacher- 
 evangelist was the most important individual 
 there, as he was consulted on every point. He 
 turned the occasion to good account by con- 
 ducting religious worship, and subsequently 
 addressing the assembly on the foundation of 
 good citizenship and good government, charging 
 the chief to rule his people by the Word of God, 
 and for ever sheath the sword of his fathers.
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 297 
 
 But the occasion was not to pass without an 
 attempt being made by Ng'onomo to raise the 
 war spirit. By violent speeches and war-dances 
 he called them to observe the customary duty in 
 placing a new chief, viz., to send out an army 
 " to wash their spears in blood." Mawalera and 
 the other teachers were assaulted with oppro- 
 brious names. They stood their ground and 
 were supported by most of those assembled, and 
 eventually the ceremonies ended quietly and 
 happily. Mperembe, in the dim light of his new 
 thoughts of the Gospel, offered a sacrifice to Mom- 
 bera's spirit, praying him to remember the mission- 
 aries when they taught God's Word to the people ! 
 It was a time of great rejoicing, and one of the 
 first acts of the chief was to signalize his acces- 
 sion to the throne by requesting that schools be 
 established in his villages, and he himself desired 
 to become a pupil of the teacher who was sent. 
 At the same time a sub-chief in the Ekwendeni 
 district had to be appointed in room of the late 
 Mtwaro, who died some years before Mombera 
 his brother. The reason for delay in this case 
 was the confirmed objection to the son of 
 Mtwaro, as he was a teacher in the Mission 
 and a Church member. But God, who worked 
 in all that was taking place, gave us the joy 
 of seeing the people, of their own free will,
 
 298 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 choose and appoint Amon Jere, not only a 
 Church member and teacher, but an ordained 
 elder in the Church, to be his father's successor. 
 At the same time Yohane Jere, the elder brother 
 of Amon, was elected to the important office of 
 *' Father or adviser of the chiefs," so that while 
 we never interfered with their tribal affairs, or put 
 forward any of our pupils to positions of honour, 
 our work was recognised in these important events. 
 Just before our departure on furlough in 
 1887, we welcomed as colleague the Kev. 
 Donald Fraser, widely known in connection with 
 the Student Volunteer Missionary Movement. 
 His introduction to the work was at a time 
 when it was at the height of the flood. The 
 schools had been successful, the teacher- evangel- 
 ists had been active in diffusing scriptural 
 knowledge, and we had come to a reaping time. 
 At Ekwendeni, where the Europeans were 
 located, thirteen men, seven women, and nine 
 children, were baptized on one Sabbath, while 
 many more were admitted to the catechumen s 
 class. On another Sabbath Mr Fraser went 
 with me to Hora station, where five men, one 
 woman, and four children were baptised, and 
 about forty admitted as catechumens. But the 
 blessing was not confined to stations where 
 Europeans were working, for at Njuyu and
 
 
 < 
 
 
 ll^; 
 
 9 
 
 
 ' ^y J
 
 RE' ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 299 
 
 Elangeni, as at Hora, where our native assistants 
 were located, there was a season of rejoicing as an 
 abundant harvest was reaped on two other Sab- 
 baths. I quote the account given by Mr Stuart 
 who accompanied Mr Fraser to those places. 
 
 "On a recent Saturday we left Ekwendeni 
 and spent the Sabbath at Elangeni. Ten young 
 men, who had been examined at Ekwendeni and 
 given satisfactory evidence of their faith, were 
 admitted. As it was the first service of the kind 
 ever held in the district, a great crowd of people 
 turned out to witness this, to them, strange cere- 
 mony. The young son of their chief was among 
 those baptized. 
 
 "In the afternoon we had a quiet little gather- 
 ing, when sixteen of us sat down at the Lord's 
 Table. Makara took part in this service, giving a 
 very efi'ective address on the love of God in send- 
 ing the good news of the Gospel to the Ngoni. 
 
 '* The following Sunday we spent at Njuyu. 
 For a long time past a quiet work of grace has 
 been going on here, the extent of it only now 
 becoming apparent. We arrived on Friday after- 
 noon. We saw as many as we could that night, 
 and on Saturday we were in a state of siege 
 nearly all day. Fifty-one persons altogether 
 were examined, and out of these forty-four — 
 twenty-two men and twenty-two women — were
 
 300 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 held by the Church as fit for baptism. Most 
 of these have been for years connected with the 
 Mission. Some of them received their first in- 
 struction in school; some are the wives of 
 teachers, and have been taught by their hus- 
 bands. One old widow is the mother of a 
 teacher. Another woman is the mother of one 
 of the late Dr Steele's personal boys, a boy 
 who is now being educated at the Livingstonia 
 Institution. The father, in this case, is still 
 a heathen. One young man, a rescued slave, 
 was long ago the servant of the late Mr James 
 Sutherland. Some are husbands of heathen 
 wives, and others wives of heathen husbands,- 
 and in not a few cases both the husband and 
 wife were admitted. Some of them in their 
 answers to the questions put to them showed 
 a wonderful knowledge of divine things. 
 Others again were, according to our ideas of 
 knowledge, very ignorant ; but they all knew 
 that Jesus Christ died to save them, and are 
 trusting in Him to break the power of sin in 
 their hearts. Mawalera, whom they all look 
 upon as their spiritual guide, had seen them all 
 previously, they having come to him of their 
 own accord, and he was therefore able to give 
 us information about them. We, of course, 
 could only see to their knowledge, and had to
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 301 
 
 depend largely on the Church as to whether or 
 not their lives were consistent with their pro- 
 fession. They are so closely associated together 
 in their village life that every native knows the 
 kind of life his neighbour leads, and one or two 
 whom we thought right, as far as knowledge 
 went, were rejected by the Church on account 
 of their inconsistent lives. Polygamy and beer- 
 drinking are the two great evils. The former 
 and drunkenness have always excluded from 
 membership, but total abstinence was not always 
 a sine qua non. Now, however, the Church at 
 Njuyu, having realised the dangers of example, 
 has resolved to eschew the beer entirely. Coming 
 thus from themselves, it is far better than if it 
 had come from us. Keformation and not revolu- 
 tion will make them intelligent Christians. 
 
 *' The Sabbath was a great day, and will long 
 be remembered in the history of the Church at 
 Njuyu. In the forenoon we had the baptismal 
 service, and also the ordination of four elders, 
 the first to be set apart at Njuyu for the office 
 — Mawalera, Makara, and two others having 
 been chosen by the Church. The choice shows 
 the sound sense of the members. 
 
 "During the afternoon we observed the Com- 
 munion, when about eighty of us partook of the 
 Lord's Supper. The service was most impres-
 
 302 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 sive ; simple, perhaps, there being an absence of 
 fine surroundings and priestly garments, and the 
 people, most of them, rude and ignorant. The 
 worshippers, at least, were devout and earnest. 
 At this service Mawalera delivered a most im- 
 pressive address, when one woman could not 
 help interjecting a remark by way of emphasis. 
 The brotherliness existing between the Church 
 members and the heartiness manifested at all the 
 services were marked. Mawelera has an important 
 work before him in teaching these converts, but 
 we have confidence in him. ' The Lord hath done 
 great things for us ; whereof we are glad.' " 
 
 Thus on four successive Sabbaths in Ngoniland, 
 eighty adults were admitted to the membership 
 of the Church, while several hundreds on profes- 
 sion of their faith were enrolled as catechumens. 
 
 Under Mr Fraser and Mr Stuart with their 
 native helpers, the work has been greatly ex- 
 tended and blessed since then. They have 
 recently had the satisfaction of seeing the last 
 of the doors in Ngoniland opened to the work 
 of the Mission. That arch-enemy of peace, 
 Ng'onomo, has signified his change by receiv- 
 ing teachers, and Mperembe too has not only 
 received teachers, but has become a liberal 
 supporter of the work by gifts of stock at 
 the monthly collections. Owing to the spread-
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 303 
 
 ing out of the villages and removals to new 
 ground, the number of the schools has been 
 increased, so that sometimes as many as four 
 thousand scholars are under instruction, and 
 now school fees are being charged. Ten years 
 before, our first school with twenty-two scholars 
 was opened. Although that may for a time 
 diminish the attendance, the wisdom of the 
 step will be seen. The minimum of attain- 
 ment with which we are satisfied in the case 
 of most of those attending, is that they leave 
 the school able to read the Word of God for 
 themselves, and possessing a copy of it. While 
 thousands of copies of school books have been 
 bought by the people, there is a widespread 
 desire to possess the Scriptures. Hundreds of 
 Zulu Bibles, Testaments and single gospels, 
 hymn-books and catechisms, have been sold, 
 amounting to a large sum. The people who 
 were wont to steal rather than work to acquire 
 anything, now give a month's labour for a 
 copy of the Bible, or a fortnight's for a copy 
 of the New Testament. Men with the marks 
 of old battles on their bodies, may be seen 
 earnestly labouring at what once was con- 
 sidered ignoble work, in order to own a copy 
 of the precious Word of God. 
 
 The liberality of the Christians is remarkable.
 
 304 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 There is little trading with outsiders in Ngoni- 
 land, and their means of acquiring wealth, with 
 wages at a penny a day, are small, yet the value 
 of several pounds is frequently given as a church- 
 door collection. Besides this the people are under- 
 taking the support of schools for their children, 
 and altogether it is seen to be true as Mr Fraser 
 wrote some months ago, " The work here has 
 entered on a new chapter." In another letter 
 he says on this point, "The monthly collections 
 are moving on apace. Mr Stuart and I have 
 turned into grain and iron merchants, and our 
 back-yards are huge poultry establishments. 
 Mr Stuart takes fowls for books, and about 
 120 fowls were received last week alone. The 
 Sunday collections are a rare sight. No less 
 than 150 carriers brought in the offerings from 
 the out-stations. My house and verandah are 
 packed with the produce, and the baskets, and 
 the hoes, and the beads which the people gave. 
 Two bulls, a cow, and two goats which were 
 contributed were bought up at once. Every 
 month sees a visible increase in the liberality 
 of the people. Then as to books. I fancy 
 that at this station alone quite 1000 volumes 
 have been sold in the last eight months." 
 
 At the Communion Service held at Ekwendeni 
 in May 1898, to which the following accounts
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 305 
 
 refer, the ojffering of the people for the service of 
 God was as follows : — 
 
 Money, £1, 8s. Ofd. 2 Goats. 
 
 11 Knives. 105 lbs. Beans. 
 
 14 earthenware pots. 97 lbs. Flour. 
 
 16 Baskets. 233 lbs. Maize. 
 
 1 Mat. 34 lbs. Potatoes. 
 Q7 Fowls. 62 lbs. Pumpkins. 
 
 2 Sheep. 3 lbs. 6 oz. Beads. 
 The total value, not including European 
 
 contributions, was £3, 3s. 5Jd. 
 
 An intelligent young man of the tribe of 
 Tonga, describing the services to a companion, 
 said he stood at Ekwendeni and saw band after 
 band coming over the distant ridges, and steadily 
 marching towards the Mission station, where they 
 were gladly received by the Christians, and taken 
 away to the villages to be entertained. The vil- 
 lages were crowded with guests, men in some, 
 women in others, and there seemed room for 
 no more. Still, however, other bands appeared 
 on the horizon, and as they arrived, the warmth 
 of Christian feeling made elastic the possibilities 
 of hospitality. " As I saw this," he said, " I 
 marvelled." " Then the services, where, with 
 an elder or other leading Christian, small com- 
 panies gathered by themselves for prayer, and 
 many were melted to tears — as I saw these I 
 
 u
 
 ^o6 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 greatly marvelled." *'Tlien at the baptismal 
 service, as I saw those who were to be baptised 
 coming forward one by one, and receiving the 
 rite until Mr Fraser's arm grew tired, and he 
 sat down, and Mr Henderson continued in his 
 place ; as I saw men with scars of spears and 
 clubs and bullets on them ; and as I saw 
 Impangela, the widow of Chipatula, baptized, 
 I marvelled exceedingly. I said in my heart, 
 * Can these be the Ngoni submitting to God, 
 the Ngoni who used to murder us, the Ngoni 
 who killed the Henga, the Bisa, and other 
 tribes ? ' And then at the Lord's Table, to see 
 these people sitting there in the still quiet of 
 God's presence, my heart was full of wonder at 
 the great things God had done." 
 
 The Kev. James Henderson, of the Training 
 Institution, has, on request, furnished the fol- 
 lowing account of the Communion Season at 
 Ekwendeni : — 
 
 " I was travelling up the Lake shore on my 
 way back to Livingstonia after conducting the 
 Sacramental Services at Bandawe, when I got a 
 letter from Mr Donald Fraser, asking me to turn 
 aside and go up to Ekwendeni to assist him with 
 the Sacraments there. I had left Livingstonia 
 for the work at Bandawe on the day when the 
 schools were closed, and now there was little more
 
 RE'ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 307 
 
 than a fortnight remaining of the vacation, and 
 the work for the new session was all to be pre- 
 pared. With the heat and the rain, the fever, 
 the trudging through the loose sand, the constant 
 moving from place to place, and especially after 
 the excitement and strain of the last great week 
 at Bandawe, I was as tired as could be, and my 
 inclination was to pass on and choose the first 
 deserted bay for a camp, where, for a few days, 
 I might cease to be a missionary or any other 
 sort of thinking animal. But Saturday afternoon 
 found us striking inland across the mountains 
 for Ekwendeni, and spending Sunday among the 
 Tumbuka people on the uplands. I reached the 
 station on Monday evening. I can never be too 
 thankful that I did not miss seeing, and that I 
 was privileged to take some small part in, this 
 remarkable sacramental gathering. 
 
 " The meetings were to begin in the week after 
 I arrived. Mr Fraser had decided to have things 
 very much on the general lines they used to fol- 
 low at a Communion Season in the Scottish 
 Highlands. The examination of catechumens 
 seeking to go forward to baptism was finished, 
 and it was known how unprecedentedly large 
 was the number to be admitted. It was felt on 
 all hands that this w^ould be a great opportunity 
 for reaching the hearts of those that had hitherto
 
 3o8 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 held aloof. For some time the native Christians 
 had been assembling daily for prayer, and now 
 they were looking forward to a time of great 
 spiritual awakening and quickening. The mis- 
 sionaries were expecting more than that. It 
 would be a gathering of the whole Christian 
 Church of the tribe, and the missionaries trusted 
 that the Church as a body might be led to make 
 a further forward step in spiritual experience. 
 They looked away to the untouched regions 
 beyond, and they were praying for an outpour- 
 ing of the Spirit that there might be fuller 
 consecration to the Lord, and new devotion 
 and enthusiasm for His service. 
 
 " Of course there was no building at all 
 adequate for the expected congregations. A 
 temporarary open-air church had to be set up. 
 That is not difficult in Africa. Posts, split 
 branches, and the strong, tall grass, provided a 
 screened enclosure — protection from the wind is 
 what is required — and some bricks and a few 
 planks make all that is needed for a platform. 
 Seats can be dispensed with on such occasions. 
 They are ornamental rather than necessary. 
 
 " On Monday the people began to assemble. 
 The first - comers were from Mperembe's, the 
 raiding chief who had only very lately received 
 teachers. They had brought a contribution in
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 309 
 
 the shape of a sheep and a goat from the chief 
 himself, and their appearance was a picture of 
 Mperembe's attitude to the Mission. They were 
 evidently intended to make up by numbers what 
 they lacked in age and status, and were altogether 
 a non-committal deputation, raw and rustic, and 
 a good deal * out of it ' when the other peoples 
 gathered. By Tuesday evening the footpaths 
 were full. Whole families were coming, the 
 mothers and daughters carrying cooking-pots 
 on their heads and bags of flour, the men with 
 strings of maize cobs on their shoulders and other 
 produce of their gardens for the ' collection,' 
 and often a tired child on their backs. Most of 
 them were dressed in snowy white calico. They 
 travelled silently ; and the people in the heathen 
 villages by the way climbed up the ant-hills to 
 look at them, and called, so they told us, ' What 
 has happened ? What impi is after you ? ' Past 
 the old houses of the first Ekwendeni station, 
 across the rising gTOund, we could see them com- 
 ing in a long straggling Indian file, which changed 
 into solid masses as they crossed the river and 
 came up the Mission road. It was then that I 
 realised the nature of the work that was being 
 done among the tribe. The swinging pace could 
 not be mistaken, even before the individuals could 
 be seen. It was the fighting men, the men in
 
 3IO AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 the prime of their strength that the Gospel had 
 laid hold of. A fitter-looking set of men and 
 women it would be hard to find anywhere. What 
 a promise they are of the speedy coming of the 
 Kingdom of Christ in that land. All Wednesday 
 forenoon they streamed in, people that had come 
 from far, and slept one or two nights on the way. 
 
 " The enclosure was intended to hold somewhat 
 over a thousand, but it was soon evident that an 
 extension of it had to be made. The ' hospitality 
 committee,' the directors of which were the two 
 local chiefs, Yohane and Amon, had their re- 
 sources taxed to the utmost. Every hut in the 
 neighbouring villages was taken over by them, 
 and when these were filled they made use of the 
 cattle kraals. There was no trouble made about it. 
 I heard that when Yohane was asked first how 
 many people he could accommodate, he thought 
 he might manage with a hundred, but when the 
 need arose he himself arranged for over a thousand. 
 
 " On Wednesday at mid-day the first meeting 
 was held. Well on to 3000 people were present. 
 They had taken their places many of them long 
 before the hour, and when we went down they 
 were singing a hymn. Exuberance of spirits is 
 the characteristic of this Church, and the singing 
 is something always to be remembered, but the 
 meeting had not gone far on before it became
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 3 1 1 
 
 clear that it was not the familiar mood of the 
 people that had to be dealt with. They were so 
 bent on hearing that they altogether forgot their 
 correct listening manners, somewhat ostentatious 
 in attention, and sat up, looking straight at the 
 speaker. They had evidently made up their 
 minds that they were to learn something. The 
 solemnity of the consciousness of the presence 
 of the Lord seemed to creep over the whole 
 assembly. I confess that as I sat and listened, 
 while Mr Fraser and Mr Stuart addressed the 
 people, touching them and swaying them with 
 their words, something like fear came over me, 
 and I doubted whereunto this would grow. 
 "Would excitement seize the people, and could 
 it be controlled ? That day I prayed far more 
 that no evil might befall the gathering than that 
 good might come. But my fear was foolish. 
 The thing was of the Lord. It was in His hands. 
 " Most of the addresses were intended for the 
 believers, and dealt much with heart-sinfulness. 
 The touch-stone of self-examination proposed was 
 conscious daily communion with the living Christ. 
 The addresses were pointedly practical, calling 
 for definite acts of self-surrender to the Lord. 
 Men and women were entreated to deal with 
 their Saviour about the things which they found 
 standing between Him and them. The person
 
 312 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 and work of the Holy Spirit were brought 
 prominently forward. 
 
 " The opening day, as might be expected, was 
 one of perplexity. The Christians had thought, 
 perhaps, that the meetings were intended almost 
 wholly for those outside, and they found that it 
 was themselves that were addressed. Their self- 
 examination brought with it sorrow and humilia- 
 tion. The meetings after that took a new tone. 
 There was more stillness and less self- certainty. 
 The Christians were seeking God again, and 
 striving with the chains of self and the world. 
 
 " One night the teachers asked Mr Fraser and 
 myself to meet with them in the house where 
 they were staying to explain to them difficulties, 
 mostly with reference to the work of the Spirit, 
 which were troubliug them. Mr Fraser had been 
 with them alone the previous night. We sat 
 on the ground along the walls, dim fires burn- 
 ing on the floor down the middle of the long 
 building. There was no formal teaching or 
 speaking. In the semi-darkness the men talked 
 with the utmost frankness ; and there was a 
 time of confession and prayer. Several of the 
 older men gave signs of having been brought 
 very near to God. Coming outside we found 
 the air full of hymns. A tropical moon was 
 full in the sky, and in the villages all around 
 the people were met out of doors singing, and as
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 313 
 
 the soft breeze rose and fell the words were borne 
 to our ears. The Evening Prayers were long over ; 
 but the hearts of the people were too full for rest. 
 " In the middle of Friday night an incident 
 occurred which might have been attended with 
 evil consequences among a people naturally 
 superstitious. A little child, brought by its 
 parents to be baptised, they themselves also 
 being at the same time admitted into the 
 Church, was taken ill ; the journey had been 
 too much for it. They came with it to us for 
 treatment, when it was far too late, and as we 
 were looking at it, it died. It was a heavy 
 trial to them. I think it was their only child. 
 They were away from home and none of the 
 usual customs of honouring the dead could be 
 observed. But they took the situation bravely. 
 They made no noisy lamentation. All night 
 they sat alone beside the little body in one of 
 the Mission rooms, and, when the morning 
 Prayer Meeting was over, with a company of 
 friends they carried it forth to burial. It was 
 laid in the little plot where the remains of 
 Dr Steele lie at rest. And the great congre- 
 gation looked down the slope, and many of 
 them wondered for they were seeing a Christian 
 burial for the first time. We were singing a 
 hymn. There was no wild weeping and wail- 
 ing. And from the side of the grave were
 
 314 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 borne to them the triumphant words in which 
 the Christian proclaims his faith in the resur- 
 rection, ' Death is swallowed up in victory. 
 death where is thy sting? grave where 
 is thy victory ? . . . Thanks be to God which 
 giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ.' God made death even to work for our 
 good. It was a lesson without which the other 
 teaching would have hardly been complete. 
 
 "The second service of Saturday was the 
 meeting in which most interest centred. The 
 congregation, which had been growing larger 
 every day, was now almost at its greatest. 
 Every corner of the enclosure was filled. In 
 the centre sat the men and women to be bap- 
 tised. The native elders arranged them accord- 
 ing to their districts. They were in all 195 
 adults. Again I was struck with their appear- 
 ance. They were the pick of the people in the 
 prime of life. Such a sight was never before 
 seen among us, and rarely in the whole history 
 of the spread of our Faith. Oftener than once 
 the head that was bowed before us, as they 
 came forward to receive the rite, was scarred 
 with an old wound ; for several of those bap- 
 tised had taken part in the very last raid of 
 this section of their tribe. It was a wonderful 
 day of ingathering that we were privileged to 
 see, and we were but lately come into the field.
 
 RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS 315 
 
 Some of the early sowers could only hear tell 
 of it, and others — Koyi, Sutherland and Steele 
 — were with their God. The day was of the 
 Lord. We were as onlookers upon His doings. 
 It was natural that He should do great thin 0-3. 
 *'The celebration of the Lord's Supper was 
 held upon the Sabbath forenoon, when the congre- 
 gation amounted to nearly 4000. The enclosure 
 was packed to its utmost capacity. On a laro-e 
 ant-hill outside a crowd of curious sight-seers 
 assembled, grey-bearded old men, Zulu ndunas 
 with the ring of hair crowns, and skin -clad 
 heathen from the remoter villages, and around 
 the fence stood hundreds of miserable -lookiu cr 
 Tumbuka women, craning red-ochred heads over 
 the grass to watch the proceedings. The addresses 
 were calls to action. If the Lord had done any- 
 thing for His people in the course of the meetings 
 they were now to let it appear in the vows w^hich 
 they renewed before Him. Seated in rows in 
 front and on each side of the platform the Church 
 members formed a large body, but the greater mass 
 of the people was still beyond the separatino- 
 space. What was true of this assembly was 
 true, on a greater scale of disproportion, of the 
 land. The Gospel had as yet come only to the 
 few, and the few must bear it to the many. The 
 King was present at His feast, and He was enter- 
 ing into the full possession of many subjects. In
 
 3i6 AMONG THE WILD NGONI 
 
 His presence anxiety was giving way to peace. 
 In His keeping the future could be faced with 
 joy. Never was such a collection taken in the 
 land before. A heap of Indian corn nearly breast 
 high all but blocked the side entrances. They 
 had given of all kinds of their possessions, 
 money, beads, rings, bracelets, knives, hoes, axes, 
 pots, baskets, mats, pumpkins, millet, beans, 
 potatoes, fowls, sheep, goats, and cattle. 
 
 " In the afternoon the children were brought for 
 baptism, 89 in all, thus making a total of 284 
 souls received at the one time into the Church. 
 
 " The feast was now over ; the time for work 
 had come. At dawn the next morning we met 
 for the last time to give thanks. By mid-day 
 we were scattered along every outward path, 
 and some knew that they were not, and might 
 never more, be alone, for they had learned to 
 walk in conscious fellowship with the Comforter, 
 the Holy Spirit." 
 
 "It is the Lord's doing and is wondrous in 
 our eyes. 
 
 ''Amen : Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and 
 thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, 
 be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."
 
 INDEX 
 
 Adultery, 115. 
 
 Africa and the Africans, 288. 
 
 Agriculture, il, 211. 
 
 Aitken, J. & G., 260. 
 
 Albert Namalambe, 102, 196. 
 
 Amadhlozi, 68. 
 
 Amaduna, 120. 
 
 Amadum, 68. 
 
 Amatetwa. H. 
 
 Ammoma, 229. 
 
 Amon Jere, 298. 
 
 Ancestor worship, 162. 
 
 Anthills, 32. 
 
 Anthropological Institute, 215. 
 
 Augustine, 134. 
 
 Bandawe, 80, 98, 193, 211, 245. 
 
 Bangweolo Lake, 79. 
 
 Bantu Tribes, 70. 
 
 Baptismal Service, 306. 
 
 Basel Mission, 19. 
 
 Bechuanas, 21. 
 
 Bede, 124. 
 
 Beer, 41, 110, 144, 301. 
 
 Begging by Natives, 138, 217. 
 
 Bible, The, 119, 176, 225, 303. 
 
 Bisa, 78. 
 
 Books sold, 304. 
 
 British Central Africa, 16, 290. 
 
 Government, 106. 
 
 Buchanan Institution, 254. 
 Burial of a Chief, 269. 
 
 of a Missionary, 280. 
 
 of a Child, 313. 
 
 Burton, R., 104. 
 
 Cassava, 84. 
 
 Cattle, 49. 
 
 Cave-dweUers, 85. 
 
 Chaka, 14, 19. 
 
 Chameleon, 70. 
 
 Chewa, 78. 
 
 Chibisa, 291. 
 
 Chikoko, 99. 
 
 Children, 150, 200, 313. 
 
 Chinde, Mombera's son, 53. 
 
 Chinombos, 53. 
 
 Chintechi, 101. 
 
 Chinyera, 174, 251. 
 
 Chipatula, 91, 142. 
 
 Chirombo, 226. 
 
 Chisevi, 93, 141. 
 
 Chitezi, 160. 
 
 Chiuta, 68. 
 
 Chiwere, 28. 
 
 Church of the Ngoni, 307. 
 
 CoflFee, 295. 
 
 Communion service, 301, 304, 306. 
 
 Consecration, 220, 311. 
 
 Contracts for work, 230. 
 
 Converts, the first, 163. 
 
 Crowning warriors, 197. 
 
 Dancing, 45, 195. 
 
 Dead, the, 71. 
 
 Dewar, A., 278, 288. 
 
 Dingiswayo, 14, 29. 
 
 Edinburgh University, 210. 
 
 Ekwendeni, 132, 261, 293. 
 
 Elangeni, 286, 293. 
 
 Elmslie, Mrs, 231, 273, 279. 
 
 Ethelbert, 124. 
 
 Famine, 168. 
 
 Farewell, missionary, 30. 
 
 Fever, 167, 212. 
 
 Fipa, 25. 
 
 Florence Bay, 86. 
 
 Eraser, Donald, 52, 298. 
 
 Free Church of Scotland, 77. 
 
 Fuka, 103. 
 
 Fynn, missionary, 30. 
 
 Gazaland, 20. 
 
 Glasgow University, 254. 
 
 Medical Mission, 258. 
 
 Free St James's Church, 259. 
 
 Gungunhana, 20. 
 Gwangwara, 28. 
 Hades, 73, 226. 
 Harrison, F., 75. 
 Harvest, 178, 185. 
 Health of Africans, 45. 
 Henderson, James, 284, 306. 
 Henga, 78. 
 Henry, Dr, 268. 
 Highlands, Scottish, 228. 
 Hoho, 148. 
 
 Holiness to the Lord, 215. 
 Hora, 52, 93, 275. 
 Horses, 159. 
 Impangela, 306. 
 Indabas, 37. 
 
 Industrial work, 214, 230. 
 Injomane, 141, 145. 
 Insects, 38. 
 
 Worship, 73. 
 
 Isaacs, missionary, 30. 
 
 Itshanusi, 60. 
 
 Johnston, Sir H., 294. 
 
 Kafir Bible, 95. 
 
 Kaningina, Mount, 91. 
 
 Karanga tribe, 19. 
 
 Karonga port, 82, 192. 
 
 Kasungu, 290. 
 
 Kayune, 82. 
 
 Kotakota, 28. 
 
 Koyi, William, 91, 102, 112, 180, 188. 
 
 Kraals, 120, 165. 
 
 Kwakwa rivei% 260. 
 
 Laws, Dr, 77, 83. 92,118,192,211,235,242. 
 
 3^7
 
 3i8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Laws, Mrs, 199. 
 
 Liberality of converts, 304, 309. 
 
 Lions, 74. 
 
 Livingstone, David, 79, 233, 256. 
 
 Livingstonia Mission, 76, 103, 135. 
 
 Training Institution, 86, 280. 
 
 Livlezi, 268. 
 
 Loangwa, 23. 
 
 Lobengula, 22. 
 
 Lovedale, 188. 
 
 Lowawa, 18. 
 
 MacAlpine, a. G., 278. 
 
 Mackay, A. M., 138. 
 
 Maclear, Cape, 76. 
 
 Macphail, Dr, 257. 
 
 M'CaUum, P.,MrandMrs,158,266,279. 
 
 M'lntyre, missionary, 232. 
 
 Makara, 252, 301. 
 
 Makololo, 105. 
 
 Manchewe, 86. 
 
 Mandala, 156. 
 
 Mang'anja, 106. 
 
 Mankambera, lOL 
 
 Marenga, 84. 
 
 Marriage, 186, 265. 
 
 Matabele, 13, 22. 
 
 Matshulu, 24. 
 
 Maviti, 25. 
 
 Mawalera, first convert, 155, 160, 252, 
 
 301. 
 Mbaiekelwa, 296. 
 Medical Mission Work, 61, 83, 127, 
 
 150, 184, 234, 240, 248. 
 Men in Central Africa, 48. 
 Meteorology, 169. 
 Mfumu, 201. 
 
 Missionary's three gifts, 137. 
 Mission houses, 36, 214. 
 Missions, Christian, 28, 147, 301. 
 
 Critics of, 69, 222. 
 
 Life, 164, 186, 219, 247, 250, 264, 277, 
 
 306. 
 Moffat, Dr, 11, 94. 
 Moir, John, 89, 133, 185. 
 Mombera, 19, 27, 93, 108, 269. 
 Moody the Evangelist, 210, 255. 
 Mperembe, 28, 296. 
 Mpereni, 28, 292. 
 Mponda, 106. 
 Mtwaro, 27, 247, 297. 
 Muave, 62. 
 Murray, W., 278. 
 Mwenzo, 287. 
 Natal, 13. 
 Nature-peoples, 118. 
 Nawambi, 198, 287. 
 Ngoni, 13, 23, 26, 79, 82, 196, 212, 238, 
 
 295. 
 
 Village Life, 33. 
 
 Religious beliefs, 35. 
 
 First convert woman, 273. 
 
 Ngoniland, 31, 77, 107. 
 
 for Christ, 103, 316. 
 
 Ng'onomo, 121, 249, 302. 
 Njuyu, 140, 164, 213, 2G2. 
 
 Nkonde, 79. 
 
 Noluju, 16. 
 
 Nqaba, 19. 
 
 Nyarawanga, 78, 288. 
 
 Nyasa Lake, 31, 76. 
 
 Nyika, 78, 86. 
 
 Obscene customs, 57. 
 
 Obstetrics, 266. 
 
 Ordeals, 62, 117, 200. 
 
 Photography, 71. 
 
 Poison ordeal, 62. 
 
 Polygamy, 42, 57, 114. 
 
 Port Elizabeth, 188. 
 
 Portuguese, 13, 29, 260. 
 
 Positivists, 75. 
 
 Prayer, 126, 164. 
 
 Preaching, 69, 74, 311. 
 
 Prentice, Dr, 89. 
 
 Presents, 130, 138. 
 
 Qthlimane, 104, 260. 
 
 Rain, 168, 173, 177. 
 
 Religious Nature, 66. 
 
 Robarti, 197. 
 
 Rollo, George, 156. 
 
 Royal Geographical Society, 77. 
 
 Riikuru, 25. 
 
 Sacrifices, 73. 
 
 Schools, 186, 207, 229, 277, 297, 303. 
 
 Scottish Colleges, 256. 
 
 Highlands, 307. 
 
 Scott, G., 269. 
 
 Senga, 22. 
 
 Senzangakona, 13. 
 
 Sewing Machine, 116. 
 
 Shire Highlands, 295. 
 
 Singing of Natives, 310. 
 
 Slavery, 92, 175. 
 
 Snake- worship, 71. 
 
 Songs, 46, 311. 
 
 Soudan, 13. 
 
 Spirit- worship, 67, 70. 
 
 Stanley, H., 25. 
 
 Stealing, 143. 
 
 Steele, George, 253. 
 
 Stewart, James C. E., 25, 77, 123, 192. 
 
 Rev. Dr J., 77, 191. 
 
 Miss, 279, 284. 
 
 Stuart, Charles, 252, 299. 
 
 Student Volunteers, 258, 298. 
 
 Sutherland, Jas., 108, 112, 156, 209, 220. 
 
 Swann, Mr, 291. 
 
 Swazi, 19, 91. 
 
 Tampan Insect, 38. 
 
 Tanganyika, 25, 91, 19. 
 
 Tette, 20. 
 
 Thomson, Joseph, 260. 
 
 Tongaland, 19, 56, 78. 
 
 Tonga people, 124, 238. 
 
 Traditions, 171. 
 
 Tugela, 13. 
 
 Tumbuka, 23, 52, 78, 202, 282. 
 
 Uganda, 138. 
 
 Uitenhage, 188. 
 
 Ujiji, 26. 
 
 Umkurumqango, 68, 199.
 
 INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 Umtusani, 197. 
 Umzila, 20. 
 Umziligazi, 20, 94. 
 Victoria Nyanza, 27. 
 Village, African, 33, 80. 
 Waller, Mount, 86. 
 Wanda, 78. 
 War-dances, 195-198. 
 Wars of the Tribes, 79. 
 Wemba, 91. 
 
 Witchcraft, 59, 153, 160, 223. 
 Williams, George, 15^ 253. 
 
 Wiwa, 78. — *^ 
 
 Woman, 40, 42, 64, 273, 284. 
 Yao, 106. 
 Yohane Jere, 298. 
 Zambezi, 29. 
 Zimmerman, 215. 
 Zingwa, 78. 
 
 Zongandaba, 16, 24, 118. 
 Zulu tribe, 13, 117. 
 
 Bible, 303. 
 
 Zumbo, 20. 
 Zwide, 16. 
 
 THE LIVINGSTONIA MISSION. 
 
 MISSIONARIES FROM SCOTLAND. 
 (There are 300 Native Christian Teachers and Students.) 
 
 LIVINGSTONIA TRAINING 
 INSTITUTION. 
 
 Rev. Robert Laws, D.D., M.D. 
 
 (Aber.), F.R.G.S., and Mrs Laws. 
 Rev. James Henderson, M.A.(Ed.) 
 Miss L. A. Stewart, Teacher. 
 Miss M. Jackson, Nurse. 
 Miss M. M'Callum, Nurse and 
 
 Teacher. 
 Mr W. Murray, Carpenter. 
 Mr W. Thomson, Printer, and Mrs 
 
 Thomson. 
 Mr W. D. MacGregor, Carpenter, 
 
 and Mrs MacGregor. 
 Mr M. Moffat, Agriculturist. 
 Mr W. J. Henderson, Artisan 
 
 Evangelist. 
 
 KARONGA. 
 
 Mr Robert Scott, M.B., Ch.M. 
 
 (Glas.) 
 Dr J. M. Henderson, Teacher. 
 
 NGONILAND-EKWENDENI. 
 
 DrW.A.ELMSLiE,M.B.,C.M.(Aber.), 
 
 F.R.G.S., and Mrs Elmslie. 
 Rev. Donald Eraser. 
 Mr Chas. Stuart, Teacher. 
 
 BANDAWE. 
 
 Rev. A. G. MacAlpine, and Mrs 
 
 MacAlpine. 
 Dr Geo. Prentice, L.R.C.P. & S. 
 
 (Edin.) 
 Mr R. D. MacMinn, Teacher. 
 
 MWENZO. 
 
 Rev. Alex. Dewar, F.R.G.S., and 
 
 Mrs Dewar. 
 Mr Peter McCallum, Artisan 
 
 Evangelist, and Mrs McCallum.
 
 320 
 
 THE LIVINGSTONIA MISSION 
 
 COMMITTEE. (Meeting in Glasgow.} 
 
 From Foreign Missions Committee. 
 
 Right Hon. LORD OVERTOUN, 7 W. George St., Glasgow, Convener. 
 
 ROBERT M'CLURE, ESQ., 145 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, Secretary. 
 
 Rev, Alex. Alexander, M.A., 
 Dundee. 
 
 Mr W. L, Brown, B.L., Glasgow. 
 
 Colonel T. Cadell, Y.C.,Edinburgh. 
 
 Sir John Cowan, Bart., Beeslack. 
 
 Rev. J. Fairley Daly, B.D., Glas- 
 gow. 
 
 Mr Walter Duncan, Glasgow. 
 
 Mr W. Ferguson, LL.D., Kin- 
 mundy. 
 
 Rev. R. Forgan, B.D., Rothesay. 
 
 Sir William Henderson, LL.D., 
 Aberdeen. 
 
 Rev. T. B. KiLPATRiCK, B.D., 
 Aberdeen. 
 
 Rev. Prof. Lindsay, D.D., F.R.S.E., 
 Glasgow. 
 
 From Glasgow. 
 
 Dr Loudon, Hamilton. 
 
 Mr D. MacLean, Glasgow. 
 
 Rev. Alex. Miller, B.D., Buckie. 
 
 Dr John Moir, Edinburgh. 
 
 Rev. Prof. Robertson, D.D., 
 
 Aberdeen. 
 Mr Joseph C.Robertson, Glasgow. 
 Mr Joseph Russell, Port-Glasgow. 
 Rev. R. J. Sandeman, D.D., 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 Dr George Smith, C.LK.F.R.G.S., 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 Rev. A. SouTAR, M.A., Thurso. 
 Rev. J. Stalker, D.D., Glasgow. 
 Mr John Stephen, Glasgow. 
 Ordained Missionaries on furlough. 
 
 Mr Gilbert Beith, Glasgow. 
 Mr Thomas Binnie, Glasgow. 
 Mr Robert Brodie, Glasgow. 
 Mr Hugh Brown, Glasgow. 
 Rev. James Brown,M.A., Glasgow. 
 Mr James Campbell, Tullichewan. 
 Rev. Joseph Corbett, D.D., 
 
 Glasgow. 
 Mr Hugh Davidson, Lanark. 
 Rev. R. Hill, M.A., Renfrew. 
 Rev. R. Howie, M.A., Govan. 
 Mr Charles C. Duncan, Dundee. 
 Mr Andrew Hutcheson, Perth. 
 Mr T. R. Johnstone, Glasgow. 
 Mr Robert M'Clure, Secretary, 
 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Rev. A. R. MacEwen, D.D., 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Rev. James Miller, Bridge-of- 
 Allan. 
 
 Mr Stodart J. Mitchell, Aber- 
 deen. 
 
 Mr Fred. L. M. Moir, Glasgow. 
 
 Rev. G. Reith, D.D., Glasgow. 
 
 Mr A. Ellison Ross, S.S.C 
 Treasurer, Edinburgh. 
 
 Mr A. SOMERVILLE, B.Sc, F.L.S., 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Mr James Stevenson, F.R.G.S., 
 Largs. 
 
 Mr James Thin, Edinburgh. 
 
 Rev. James Wells, D.D., Glasgow. 
 
 GreneraZ Treasurer. 
 
 ALEXANDER ELLISON ROSS, Esq., 
 
 Free Church Offices, Edinburgh.

 
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