^^^-^ i S/ V>' LAKE NYASSA. EAST CENTRAL AFRICA. ,» U G AN DA •j % V S A» -A L / Vc'Motnbasa ZANZIBAR Dares Salaam ^JUndi MtuaoiOf rnMasasi He^ma^^^C Deigado * Bn'tfsli SeftlemaUs and Ml^sfojiary Stations in Nfjassri'land are underlined. lU THE TITLE-DEEDS NYASSA-LAND. BY REV. HOEACE WALLER, F.R.G.S. LONDON: PEINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 1887. PRINTED BY WILIJAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFUKU STltUET AND CHAUING CROSS INTRODUCTION. From some cause or other a very bright candle has become hidden under a very dense bushel. Its proper place is amongst the annals of British transactions in Africa — not a very satis- factory chapter it is true ; then there is all the more reason that it should show its separate and individual brightness. Either Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, or Portugal, would give a great deal just now to be able to tell as much as lies on any page of the following record, and yet British apathy has hitherto prevented a ray of the work treated upon from breaking forth. The fact is that, unlike our Continental neighbours, who are excessively busy with Tropical Africa, we in England have been spoilt by a long series of those very explorations which in their case are for the most part beginning. Livingstone, Speke, Grant, Stanley, Cameron, Thomson and a host of others have over-stimulated the appetite; there is too much craving for dashing adventure and too little ability to assimilate plain plodding after- work, such as is set forth here. " I have opened the door," said Livingstone to the Cambridge Under-graduates, " I leave it to you to see that no one closes it after me." Few are aware how that speech clung to the walls where it was uttered. B 2 4 INTRODUCTION. The following pages may spread its echoes wider, and they may perhaps indicate also a proper path amongst some intricate political surroundings. In any case, they will show that no Continent can be so utterly Dark when such a candle — albeit improperly covered up by indifference, is after all really burning brightly. To draw up this historical sketch has been committed to me by the Church of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland, and the Universities Mission to Central Africa, and also by the African Lakes Company (Limited), and Messrs. Buchanan and Co. of Mount Zomba. Circumstances have made me a looker-on from the beginning, at times, more. Upon this vantage-ground I have ventured to store up facts, and I produce them now in the following shape for all concerned — these, by-the-by, are very many when the matter is looked into closely. Horace Waller, F.R.G.S. TWYWELL EeCTORY, NEAR ThEAPSTON, January 21, 1887. THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. When the history of the development of Tropical Africa comes to be written, it will be seen that deeds were more concerned with bringing about the change than words. This seems a truism which one does not stake much upon, Deeds. and yet a necessity has arisen for calling attention to it. The historian will say that it is somewhat singular to find in Gordon, who worked so hard for Africa to the north of the Equator, and in Livingstone, who gave such an impetus to exploration in the south, two of the most silent retiring men that ever troubled the hearts of scientific societies. To them, lecture platforms were impossibilities ; Africa will nevertheless tell of their deeds. Now it is just because a most singular attempt is being made at the present moment to scheme out Africa's problem in a very different way that the necessity is forced upon us for speaking out, in order that a great deal of good work already done may not entirely be overlooked at a very critical time. One can hardly take up a newspaper, much less a new map of Africa, without being astonished at the violence which is being offered to all preconceived notions of meum and tuum in discovery. There is a flourish of Continental trumpets in the air, — and, we may add, of Continental paint-brushes on the pages of the atlas, which is deafening and perplexing. Lines, boundaries, and territories take shape almost with the Words. rapidity of crystallization, and good Justus Perthes lays before 6 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. Mozambique Province. US weekly developments of the ardour for colonization which we might be led to think amusing but for the other and serious side of the matter. "What we do, however, complain of, is the infusion of bitterness which is now and again emptied out of the wrath-vial of one or other of the Continental States which is bent on founding Colonies in Tropical Africa. Take, for instance, the tone of the Kreuz-Zeitwig, which points out the intense selfishness of England in asking for a finger's breadth of land between the Zanzibar Coast and the Victoria Nyanza, where Germany lays a broad hand on the map, and claims all beneath it.* Or if we look to the next column of the same day's Continental news, we find all Lisbon, from King Luis down to one of His Majesty's midshipmen, encouraging Major Pinto to believe that handcufis are some of the Evangelizing necessities of the missionaries in the Shire highlands ! Time will do much for many of us. Germany, from force of circumstances, has to depend upon the experience of a very very few explorers, and alas, with a singular fatality we see even these few thinned down by death to one or two ! It is not an explorer's strongest time when he returns from Africa ; newspapers are exacting : if the nation has not an opinion on the subject one must be formed, and so excitable statements creep in. Unlike ourselves, Germany has had no slavery-suppressing squadron cruising off and on the African coast for so many years and with an expenditure of millions ; unlike ourselves, she has been deprived of that old standing naval school which has produced travellers such as Cameron — such workers as Young ; unlike ourselves, she has no long list of costly experiments in life and treasure on lake and river to turn back to — no inland mission stations, in fact no history of deeds done ; she promises to tell a difi'erent tale in the future. With Portugal it is otherwise. Her convict settlements in the Mozambique province of East Africa have been a constant source of loss and irritation, not only to herself, but to all who have been called upon to pass into or through them. Aware See Timts, Dec. 15, 1886. THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. t — nay, unkindly reminded that she amongst the Powers is one with whom it might be loss of self-respect to quarrel seriously, she has more than compensated for such natural shortcomings by the enormity of her pretensions : these we repeat are such at the present moment, that further silence will only be mis- understood. The moment has arrived when in the face of all this map- making, this " scramble for Africa," Grreat Britain must have a Great word with her neighbours and place before them in black and i^gay ^'? ^ white — not the intentions of a rosy-coloured future, hut the tale of a hard determined campaign against the harharism of Africa, dating hacJc twenty-eight gear's already. We wish then to gather into a few pages an account of the exertions, missionary and commercial, which have followed as a direct result of Dr. Livingstone's explorations. As for the field of these operations, we beg attention to that portion of the map which lies between the mouth of the Zambesi river and the south end of Lake Tanganyika, say roughly, between Long. 33'^ Position of and 37° E. and Lat. 8° and 19° S. The eye will thus trace the ^y^^^'^'-^^^^- water-way of East Africa, passing from the ocean up the Zambesi river, thence by the Shire river to Lake Nyassa, and so across the isthmus which divides the Lake from the Northern Sea of Tanganyika. For Easting and Westing we need not go far : the work is of an amphibious kind, now dependent on steamers afloat, now gasping in fresh air on the adjacent highlands. Once, and once only, we shall ask for a wider departure from the Lake shore, that is when we come to treat of the Universities Mission occupied with the tribes along the Kovuma river, which reaches the Mozambique channel about 11° S. Lat. In point of time we may remind ourselves that Dr. Living- Livingstone stone finished his first series of travels in 1856. The enthusiasm '^ -^^^'^• caused by his discoveries was not to be denied. As he laid it before his readers he closed the record of his single-handed exploration thus : — " Viewing the success awarded to the opening up of the New country as a development of Divine Providence in relation to the African family, the mind naturally turns to the probable 8 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. influence it may have on Negro slavery. . . . The establish- ment of the necessary agency must be a work of time, and greater clijEficulty will be experienced on the eastern than on the western side of the Continent, because in the one region we have a people who know none but slave-dealers, while on the other we have tribes who have felt the influence of the coast missionaries and of the Grreat Niger Expedition. . . . But on the east there is a river which may become a good pathway to a central population who are friendly to the English ; and if we can conciliate the less amicable people on the river, and introduce commerce, an effectual blow will be struck at the slave trade in that quarter. By linking the Africans there to ourselves in the manner proposed, it is hoped that their elevation will eventually be the result." * It seems an old tale to us, though so new in Germany and Lisbon — the rapt attention to the simple narrative of the traveller — the enthusiasm of a nation and the readiness to follow up the national impulse: Livingstone had the fullest proof that he had not appealed to inattentive countrymen. Zambesi Expedition. 1858. In March, 1858, that is, twenty-eight years ago. Her Majesty's Government placed a well-equipped expedition at Livingstone's disposal, in order that he might continue his work. Let us quote his words concerning it : — Government " The main object of the Zambesi expedition, as our in- Expeditiou. fetructions from Her Majesty's Government explicitly stated, was to extend the knowledge already attained of the geography and mineral and agricultural resources of Eastern and Central Africa — to improve our acquaintance with the inhabitants, and to endeavour to engage them to apply themselves to industrial pursuits and to the cultivation of their lands, with a view to the production of raw material to be exported to England in return for British manufactures; and it was hoped that, by encouraging the natives to occupy themselves in the develop- * 'Livingstone's Missionary Travels in South Africa,' jp. 679-80. THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. 9 ment of the resources of the country, a considerable advance might be made towards the extinction of the slave trade, as they would not be long in discovering that the former would eventually be a more certain source of profit than the latter. The expedition was sent in accordance with the settled policy of the English Government ; and the Earl of Clarendon being then at the head of the Foreign Office, the mission was organized under his immediate care. "When a change of government ensued, we experienced the same generous countenance and sympathy from the Earl of Malmesbury as we had previously received from Lord Clarendon ; and, on the accession of Earl Eussell to the high office he has so long filled, we were always favoured with equally ready attention and the same prompt assistance. Thus the conviction was produced that our work embodied the principles not of any one party, but of the hearts of the statesmen and people of England generally. " Though collections were made, it was always distinctly Objects, understood that however desirable these and our explorations might be. Her Majesty's Government attached more im- portance to the moral influence that might be exerted on the minds of the natives by a well regulated and orderly household of Europeans, setting an example of consistent moral conduct to all who might witness it, treating the people with kindness, and relieving their wants, teaching them to make experiments in agriculture, explaining to them the more simple arts, im- parting to them religious instruction, as far as they are capable of receiving it, and inculcating peace and goodwill to each other." * If on the one hand Her Majesty's Government thus brushed England and to a side the pretensions of Portugal to claim all that tract ' '' of Africa which lies behind the limits of her Eastern sea- board — Cape Delgado and Delagoa Bay even across Africa to the sea on the West Coast, the Church of England was hardly likely to remain unmoved when Livingstone turned to her. Men who remember it speak to this day of the scene in the Senate-house at Cambridge when his appeal was made. * ' The Zambesi and its Tributaries,' p. 9. 10 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. Universities The Universities Mission to Central Africa was the im- Mission, 18G0. j^g^^^te result. Bishop Mackenzie went to the high ground above the Shire river in 1860, taking with him a staff of clergy, artizans, and agriculturists, so as to act up to a plan which had been sketched out by Livingstone, and which embraced the attempt to civilize as well as Christianize the tribes. But we must revert to the Zambesi expedition first. The deeds done were worthy of the effort made by England. The Zambesi's capacities for navigation, as well as its im- possibilities, were scientifically probed. A new and direct communication between the sea and the river was discovered by Dr. Livingstone, and for the first time a steam-vessel passed Deeds done through the Zambesi delta. The river Shire was unknown to ment°Expedi- *^® Portuguese, except in its lower reaches and near to the tion- Zambesi, but Dr. Livingstone, with his brother, and the present Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G., traced it to the cataracts at Ma Titti, and then proceeding on foot, after many adventures, brought to light Lake Shirwa. This was not all, for they next dis- covered the magnificent inland sea called Lake Nyassa, and proved that it emptied its waters into the Shire river. That the six years spent in the rivers of East Africa were amongst the most trying of Livingstone's life, no one can doubt who witnessed the desperate attempts which he and those with him made to carry out the objects of the expe- dition. Several of his men died of tropical fever; others were invalided home; and, greatest loss of all, his wife suc- cumbed to the climate, having joined him but three weeks previously. It would be folly to pretend that the Portuguese and Living- stone got on well together, for the latter exposed not only their utter ignorance of the country, but the decimating system of slave-trade and kidnapping which was pursued under their auspices. Portuguese He took the servant of the Governor of Tette red-handed at the head of a large slave gang ; he tracked the strings of captives not only to the sea where they were exported, but to the very innermost recesses of Africa also, whither many were traded away to distant tribes for ivory ; and what is much to the THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. 11 point, he succeeded in establisiiing'in the comprehension of the natives the fact that there were not only white men who bought and sold their wives and children, but that there were others of a totally different nature. When we read that the Portu- guese are now about to try and invade the land of this new comprehension by military expeditions, we are interested to see how they will yet lay their account with the detestation which forthwith took possession of the native mind regarding them. It goes without saying that the members of the expedition acted up to their high scientific reputations. Not only were positions laid down, but the Lake region of Central Africa in all its most interesting features was delineated, whether by the geographer, the zoologist, the geologist, or the botanist. The sum spent by Her Majesty's Government was a very large one, but work was never done more thoroughly ; and we can easily understand that the object of such exertions was not merely to spend the English tax-payers' money or to portray the beauties of the country for the group of expatriated Portuguese, who hung about the settlement of Quillimane. Yet there have been many moments since that day when it has appeared as if there would be nothing else to show 1 Without getting at the exact figures, we have it on good authority that the Zambesi expe- dition cost some £30,000 from first to last, exclusive of the Cost of Zam- outlay in building the steamship " Pioneer," which was borne ^^^^ Expedi- on the Admiralty books. Dr. Livingstone employed a small steamer during part of this period named the " Ma Kobert," which foundered in the Zambesi, and the " Lady Nyassa," costing about £3000, was fitted out entirely at his own expense ; but we shall speak of her again presently. Such a venture in lives and money ought to be kept in remembrance. The Univeksities Mission. Having thus briefly touched upon the Zambesi expedition, which carried the British flag into these waters from 1859 to 1864, we will proceed to consider the early days of the Uni- versities Mission to Central Africa, because as an enterprise it comes next in order of events. 12 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. We repeat that it was intended to act entirely as an adjunct Slave pre- to Livingstone's work. The slave-hunting preserves of East sLrvea. Africa were assigned to it as a sphere, and the Church seemed to have put her finger on the very blackest spot amongst the desolate places of the earth when she conceived the necessity for sending a mission there. We know that the idea met with immense favour at both Oxford and Cambridge. Bishop Wilberforce threw his whole strength into the move- ment, and money was speedily raised. Truth to tell, the men were not so quickly recruited. However, a very efficient start was made, and few corners were left in England and Scotland in which Bishop Mackenzie had not made an appeal for a helping hand. Great was Livingstone's chagrin to find that between his leaving the country to visit England and his return at the head , Consul of the Zambesi expedition, the Portuguese slave-dealers of Tette meets'Bishop ^^^ been busy. He had previously selected a spot with many Mackenzie, natural advantages, and hither he brought Bishop Mackenzie in August 1861. The whole country had changed for the worse. They met gang after gang of unfortunate slaves being led away to the Portuguese settlements. Villages were burning in all directions. The land was left uncultivated, famine naturally followed, and the disaster was accompanied by a total failure of rain. Three-fourths of the hill population went down under this dreadful infliction, and the ranks of the new comers were thinned in the same proportion. Bishop Mackenzie, the Eev. H. Scudamore, the Eev. H. de W. Burrup, and Dr. Dickinson died, and other members of the mission party were invalided. But during this harassing period, and in spite of every disadvantage, the mission station — whether at Magomero or Chibisa's, was a place of refuge for all comers. Numbers of slaves were released by the hands of Livingstone, and the members of the mission stafi" acting in concert with him. A community of several hundreds of these poor creatures lived in safety with Bishop Mackenzie, and at last gathered strength to form themselves into a little Colony on the Shire. ThcMakololo. Livingstone's old servants, the Makololo, had already found that the training which they had undergone far away in their THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. 13 own land fitted them to be rulers whenever they chose ; these settled down also on the Shire, and the combination has solidified into a power of first magnitude as African Powers go. Thousands of the distracted hill-men have become their subjects. Peace and quietness has prevailed during twenty-two years, and, if the Makololo men and their people come to try con- clusions with the Portuguese, any one who has watched events since 1860 can pretty well forecast the inevitable result : it is a tradition, a creed, a determination amongst these men that the Portuguese shall never advance up the Shire. For Livingstone a sudden determination of our Government was more than mortifying. So satisfied was he that the great water-way into East Africa was capable of better things than the slave-trade, that he had previously prepared to follow up the results of the expedition, when its term of service would naturally come to an end. For this purpose he caused a steamer to be constructed at his own cost in Glasgow. She was to navigate Lake Nyassa, and for convenience was taken to Africa in sections with a view to transference across the unnavigable portion of the Shire. Partly from the recall of Expedition the expedition, and also from the weight and size of the com- ^i^^^'i'^'^w"- partments of the " Lady Nyassa," the object had to be abandoned. Livingstone had come very near to the bottom of his private resources in this venture, but he had the vexation of selling his ship for what she would fetch at Bombay. Thenceforth, though continuing to be the traveller and explorer in the same regions, his expenditure was necessarily limited to pence, where pounds fortified the steps and adventures of that younger and more fortunate school of explorers whom he had called into existence ! It was then in 1864 that Livingstone broke up his expedition in obedience to orders received from the Foreign Office. Hastily making a long journey on foot to the westward of Lake Nyassa (before the river Shire rose sufficiently to enable his vessel to reach the sea), he learnt from the natives that a large lake, hitherto unheard of, lay about ten days ofi". Not, however, till 1866, when he left England for the last time, did he set himself to discover Lake Bangweolo. 14 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. It was also in the beginning of 1864 that Bishop Tozer, who had succeeded Mackenzie, determined to withdraw the mission to Zanzibar. It was not forgotten that its title accredited it to the " tribes bordering on Lake Nyassa and the river Shire," but so great had been the stress put upon the staff, so seriously was the country disturbed, and, moreover, the withdrawal of the Zambesi expedition was such an unlooked-for blow, that the arrangement was considered prudent — reculer pour Mission also qnieux sauter. Time could be well employed at Zanzibar : the languages spoken by the Nyassa tribes had to be reduced, the Bible translated, released slaves should be taught, others would become mechanics, and so forth — this was the Zanzibar pro- gramme for the interval, and admirably and energetically was it carried out, more particularly by Bishop Steere. "We have a break here of two years, during which Nyassa- land was not visited by any European. Livingstone Livingstone came to England, and as soon as he had pub- lished an account of his work in ' The Zambesi and its Tribu- taries,' he sailed for Africa. Once more we find him British Consul commissioned to the tribes and chiefs of the interior. The task he had set himself was to trace the waters of the Nile from a point much further south than any yet contemplated. Livingstone struck for Lake Nyassa once more in 1866, crossed the Kovuma, visited the powerful chiefs M'tarika and Mataka, traced the Lujenda river for some distance, and hit the Lake at Chitesi's village. Unable to reach the other side, he passed to the south of Nyassa, crossed the Shire near the point where it emerges from the Lake, and then, making a journey nearly due north, he reached the southern extremity of Lake Tanganyika. It will take us too far afield if we yield to the temptation, and track his steps hither and thither during those adventurous years, and far away from his old haunts — now of opinion that he is on the banks of the Congo, and again as often believing that these southern waters must feed the Nile. It was reserved for Mr. Stanley finally to confirm the first impression after his celebrated relief of the now failing traveller. Livingstone ultimately died at Ilala, some few days' journey from Lake Nyassa. THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. 15 But we must go back to the point where we see him stand- ing northward with his frightened following of Indians and Johannamen in 1866, after rounding Lake Nyassa. It was at some spot (not easy to find accurately) that wholesale desertion took place. Moosa, a Johannaman, together with his comrades, Reported deserted him in terror of the Angoni, and made his way back ^^^ ^^' to Zanzibar, with a false tale of murder and disaster. It will not do to pass over the clever and excellent piece of work done by Livingstone's old lieutenant, Mr. E, D. Young, E.N., with only a word of commendation. An expedition was fitted out by Her Majesty's Government, inquiry, which had for its object the clearing up of Moosa's story, and right well and swiftly was it done from first to last. Once more then we see Mr. Young wending his way up the Mr. Young, Zambesi and Shire in the summer of 1867. Profiting by ■^•^■' ^^^^• previous errors, he now had with him a boat composed of a number of sheets of " mild " steel — the first of its kind. His reception by the Makololo and riverine tribes was enthusiastic beyond description. The cry that the English had come again rang through the land. People flocked to the Shire's bank in thousands, and to make a long story — which is told in ' The Search for Livingstone ' — a short one, the large boat was taken to pieces, carried on the heads of willing men for seventy miles, reconstructed, and launched on the higher waters without the loss of a screw or a nut ! The point we wish to make is this : — the absence of those who formerly led the Makololo (as Livingstone had for thousands of miles), and the want of men to take a beneficent interest in Native de- their lives, had told its own tale and created a want ; perhaps ""o^^st^tio"- in no part of the world was the reappearance of the Union Jack ever more vehemently cheered. Mr. Young found the graves of his former friends and associates religiously kept decent and clear of weeds, and everywhere there was a beseeching outcry for the permanent residence of the " Ingresi " (English) amongst their " children." Mr. Young brought back to England evidence to show the utter falsity of the Johannamen's story. Letters from Living- stone himself — written far ahead of the scene of his reported 16 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. Livingstone's mui'dcr, followed quickly after. The most notable thing under ■ lament. j^-g jj^nd was a heart-broken expression of his sorrow that Nyassa-land. must be left as it was before he ever knew of the people's wrongs and described them to us. No wonder if such words rankled in the hearts of some ! Free Chuech of Scotland. And so we come to the second great chapter of Shire history — the interlude of Mr. Young's praiseworthy adventure breaking up the otherwise blank pages between 1864 and 1875. "Whilst the Universities Mission party was established at Kev. Dr. Chibisa's on the river Shire, in 1862-4, the Kev. James Stewart Stewart came to reside there for some months as a commissioner from the Free Church of Scotland. His object in visiting Africa was to examine the country first with a view to missionary work, and no one could possibly have carried out this measure of precaution with greater shrewdness or wisdom. The state of the whole country was such at the time, that one cannot wonder if his advice was to await a turn in the tide of events. Meanwhile Mr. Stewart had laid his plans for the future. So impressed was he personally with the necessity for a missionary arming himself with something over and beyond mere linguistic dexterity, that he entered the schools of medicine in Edinburgh, and took his M.D. degree after the usual five years' course of hospital-study. Renewed We have now in 1874 a scheme fathered by Dr. James 1874^"° ^ Stewart to renew missionary work on the Shire and Lake Nyassa. He himself had meanwhile become the head of the great Missionary College of Lovedale in South Africa, and it was seen that too much depended upon him to render it likely that be could personally develop work so far ofi". But he had the ear of all in Scotland when he besought them earnestly, and by his own intimate personal acquaintance with Livingstone and his aspirations, to raise up to him a worthy memorial. THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. 17 The tragic death, the wonderfal perseverance of his followers and the arrival of Livingstone's body in England had touched every one deeply; but there existed the fact that, as if by prophetic coincidence the great missionary traveller's lieart remained behind, hurled separately, between the Lakes Nyassa and Bangweolo. Facts, and not sentiment, must be our stand-by in these pages ; we may be excused, however, if we crave a licence here for a pause, in what may after all savour too much of wearisome epitome. In England's earlier days, when men did more perhaps according to their lights and means than they do now for their Faith, the Crusaders fell like leaves, both by sword and disease, far away from their homes. But homes they had still, and it was the duty of followers and friends to convey away the hearts of the fallen, and to enshrine them in the walls and An Africaa pillars of the churches in which they had first known that Faith bifi!j!^i » in which they died. These " heart-burials " are amongst the most interesting of our national reminders. Livingstone, too, had his home, but it was now the land of which we treat, the land which gathered in his wife to her rest. " This is the sort of grave I should prefer," he said, as in depths of the African forest he came across a little rounded mound, " to lie in the still still forest . . . but I have nothing to do but wait till He who is over all decides where I have to lay me down and die ; poor Mary lies on Shupanga brae." * Respecting this mound he says in his Journals that a path led to it, and there was evidence that, now and again, feet stole along it to come and lay offerings on the grave. Somewhere at Ilala there is a " little rounded mound " like this. The afflicted men raised it over the heart of their master when they embalmed his body as best they could for their long journey to the coast ; still entombed in the very heart of Africa is the heart of David Livingstone. Dr. Stewart and those who thought with him felt it was high time that some footsteps should be bent towards it ; they * ' Livin,2:st(mc's Last Journals,' vol. i. pp. 307-8. 18 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. all knew what gifts and tokens of affection bept befitted the occasion, for in his life lie loved nothing so much as to see the attempt made to raise up reverence for Christ's name in the land of his adoption. Thus the movement sprung into life. But here we will quote from the pages of Mr. Young's United Scotch narrative entitled ' The Mission to Nyassa ' (p. 10).* "Let it Churches. ^^gj. -^^ stated to their credit that no sooner had the form been determined on which the effort should take, than the Reformed Presbyterian, the Established, and the United Presbyterian Churches of Scotland desired to join hands with the Free Church in accomplishing it ; and the suggestion made in such good fellowship was heartily reciprocated." Here then we see Mr. E. D. Young for the third time on his way to the Zambesi, leading a body of missionaries to represent the above Churches : associated with them were several laymen and artizans. They sailed on the 21st May, 1875, and took with them one of the first of Mr. Yarrow's steamers, constructed of steel and in easily borne sections ; the " Ilala " is still plying busily on Lake Nyassa. Space will not allow of our fully expanding the most interesting history of the Scotch missions on the Shire Highlands and the Lake. Native en- Again the natives received Mr. Young with the utmost en- isTs'*^"' thusiasm, and readily enabled him to convey the steamer piece by piece to her destination. It is worth while, however, transcribing a paragraph or two from Mr. Young's tale. " On the 12th Sept. we had the satisfaction of making a start by dispatching 250 men with their loads, and on the 13th, fifty more. Here we came to a standstill for want of hands, and as two more days passed without any desired result in answer to messages and all sorts of appeals to the Makololo, I went down in one of the boats to Chibisa's village on the 16th. The heat now became most oppressive, close on 100° in the shade, a temperature almost intolerable where there is much evaporation going on. The engineers and carpenters found it very trying * Published l)y Julni "Murray, 1877. THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. 19 on their marcli to the head of the cataracts, whither we thought it best for them to start, in order that they might make pre- parations for the reconstruction of the steamer. Eeturning to head-quarters, I was consoled, after the tedious delay, by seeing three stalwart Makololo march in with 300 men. When I state that some of these had come distances of forty miles to under- take this service, bringing their food with them, it will give some idea of the belief that the English are worth working for. My comrades little knew what a long chapter of suspicions, mistrust, timidity, and other impediments, had been cleared away for them years before their advent, or of the weary weary waitings and cajolings it used to take in the early days to get half-a-dozen men together to carry a few burdens ! I could write a chapter on this gradual growth of trust, and the way in which Lasting it has fructified a hundredfold since the days of Livingstone, ® ^^ ^" and the "Pioneer," and Mackenzie and his men; but I am sure the trust system will still be more acceptable to my readers even here, and we shall the quicker get over the falls if we take it for granted. " At dawn on the 19th we were ready to start, thus bringing up the rear with 100 porters and such goods as we more especially wished to retain till the last. Before leaving, I paid a visit to the grave of my old friend, Mr. Thornton, and saw that here, as in other cases, the emblem of that faith in which he lived and died was in its proper place to tell its own tale to the natives when the time comes for them to understand its meaning more fully. Before we began our march, I passed the word to the enormous crowd that was assembled to keep silence, whilst through an interpreter I spoke a few words to them. Uncover- ing our heads, I explained to them, that hitherto all had gone well with us ever since we left our country to come among them, and that we were about to return our thanks to the Great God, who had thus vouchsafed His blessing to our undertaking : I said that it was for their good we came, and for their good we hoped to be established among them to teach them concerning God, and to show them the advantages of peace and industry, whilst banishing the slave-trade which had so long oppressed them. I finished by asking them to remain c 2 20 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND, The real Question. Fresh ex- plorations, 1S75-8. perfectly still whilst we besought our God to prosper us in that which had yet to be done, because it was full of trials and immense difficulties. " Our prayer finished, we began our march. Eight hundred of these men worked and worked desperately for us, free as air to come or go as they pleased, over a road which furnished at almost every yard an excuse for an accident or a hiding-place for thief or deserter ; but yet at the end of sixty miles we had everything delivered up to us unmolested, untampered with, and unhurt, and every man merry and content with his well- earned wages." * Where — we would ask, can such a story be told, or such results shown ? Here we have the direct outcome of the " Pioneer's " days, and of the period when the Universities Mission stood at the outpost of the poor Manganja tribe. Is it possible that these things are to be trampled out of remembrance in this " scramble for Africa ? " Is the slate to be washed so that " Congo Treaties," " Delimitation Commissions," " Zones," and " Protectorates " may be scribbled over it by very schoolboy hands ; and is not Great Britain entitled to put in a reminder here, when we think of the veteran explorers we have mentioned ? We are even now but half-way through the deeds which should emphasize that reminder. Let us take up the thread of the record. Was this united movement of the Scotch Churches justified or not ? For our purpose we will sever the Churches for a moment, and beginning with the Free Church of Scotland, hear what it has done since the "Ilala " was launched on Nyassa. In December 1875, under Mr. E. D. Young, the first voyage round Nyassa showed that instead of being 150 miles, as was supposed, it is really 350 miles long, and varies in breadth from 16 to 60 miles. In 1877, besides previous shorter voyages, the Lake was again circumnavigated, and a journey along part of its western shore was made by Dr. Stewart and Dr. Laws. In 1878 a journey of more than 700 miles was ( • Missiou to Nyassa,' ii]!. THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND, 21 carried out by Dr. Laws and Mr. J. Stewart, C.E., along the southern and western sides of the Lake and the hill country- bey ond. In 1879 Mr. John Moir travelled westward to the country of Kambombo, and then accompanied Mr. J. Stewart while completing his examination of the western side of the Lake. Subsequently Mr. J, Stewart crossed from the north end of Nyassa to the south end of Tanganyika, arriving there the day after Mr. Joseph Thomson of the Koyal Geographical Society. In 1882 Mr. J. Stewart completed his survey of Lake Nyassa, which was published in the Proceedings of the Eoyal Geographical Society for December 1883, as papers and maps by himself and other members of the staff had been in 1879 and 1880. These explorations have shown the existence of iron mines in several places, of coal at three places, of the reported existence of copper at another ; and that round the Lake, and in the territory lying immediately to the west, we have at least fifteen different tribes speaking as many different languages, besides dialects of these languages ; that instead of being a desert country inhabited only by wild beasts, as all Central Africa was not long ago supposed to be, on the shores of Nyassa we have many villages or towns with inhabitants varying from 200 to 10,000 in number, while in the pastoral districts in the highlands to the west, the population is much denser than it is in many of the corre- sponding districts of South Africa. So far the land was indeed searched out by worthy spies. Before we consider the actual work of Evangelizing the natives by word of mouth, let us see what this mission has done by way of practising what is preached concerning " good- will towards men." We still refer to its published records. The Medical Department of the Mission was one of the first Medical Mis- to enable the people, by its care for the sick and suffering, to comprehend the nature and effects of Christian teaching. The effects of chloroform on patients undergoing operations were to them especially marvellous, and many have come more than fifty miles to be treated or to have operations performed. The increasing confidence of the natives in the medical missionary is shown by the fact that in 1882 there were 3300 attendances 22 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. registered at Bandawe; in 1883 the numbers rose to about 10.00(1 medical 7000 ; while in 1884 they exceeded 10,OuO. The marauding Angoni, who often haughtily disdain to listen to the Gospel message or obey its command, can respect and trust as a friend the medical missionary ; and hence a doctor has been appointed to each of the Angoni districts. Schools have been gathering-places of native children, both at the first settlement, at Livingstonia, at Bandawe, and amongst the ever-fighting Angoni people : a prodigious number of scholars have passed in and out. Details of thirteen publications in the native tongues lie before us, including translations of the Gospels, hymns, dic- tionaries, and primers. For whom are such exertions made? We hear of the dark corners of the earth, of " people scattered and peeled," and so Slavers' p: ice- forth — let US glance down the price-current of slaves on Lake Nyassa in 1880, and it may serve to impress on our minds that Livingstone was not unreasonable when he implored us to interest ourselves in this unfortunate land. We will say that a yard of calico is worth M. in England, we see then the value of : — rtttciidaiiccd ill ISSi. Schoola. Tiaiibliitioiis. A strong young man is A young unman led school j^iii A young mother and for her child with her, extra An elderly man or woman . A toothless old man . 40 yar ds of calico 5G , 3G , ^ , 4 , 2 Since these prices were quoted last year we regret to say that the slave-trade has increased enormously, owing to a perplexing state of things, which makes it the opportunity of every scoundrel along the sea-board to imbrue his hands in it. Be it remembered that all these deeds are clone in hehind the Portu- guese sea-hoard, where, till within the last eighteen months, no Portuguese had ever ventured to set a foot — and then only m the person of a single individual traveller : we allude to Senhor Cardoso, of whom we shall make further mention. In twelve years the Free Church has expended £45,000. and THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND, 23 her annual expenses come now to £4000. She has at present Free Church on the Nyassa staff: — . money /"^ 1 Ordaiueil missiouary. 3 Ordained medical men (1 more is about to join them). In men. 1 Medical man. 3 Married ladies (3 more arc to join them). 2 PiVani2;elists — Africans. 4 Local catechists — Africans. 4 Scottish teachers. 2 Scottish artizaus— livangelists. 20 During the twelve years of the mission's career ten members Deaths, of the staff have died. Scotland has sent thither in that time to this particular mission forty-three representatives, of whom five are ladies, and Africa has supplied five from her own tribes. In passing, we mention that Her British Majesty's Govern- Consul Elton ment granted leave to Captain Elton, our Consul at Mozambique, ^^^^^ ^' to visit Nyassa-land in 1877 "for the purpose of exploring and reporting upon that centre of modern slaving operations." He was much assisted in these investigations by Dr. James Stewart, who at that time was on an ofiicial visit to the Lake, and took him to various points of importance in the " Hala." Nor must we forget to mention another most important work done by this truly great missionary, Dr. Stewart. Ascertaining that during all their predatory wanderings, and in spite of drafting into their horde young men and boys from a dozen different tribes, the Angoni have kept up the Kafir tongue — the language of their fathers — he laid his plans accordingly. Dr. Stewart has trained young men in his College at Lovedale Kafir Missiou- from amongst the neighbouring Kafirs, and some of these have ^"^^• done the finest missionary work on the hills to the west of the Lake that it is possible to point to. Some day we may have the record of William Koyi's single-minded and devoted life written for us. Few more noble fellows have lived and died at their posts, content to do honestly and thoroughly the work given him to do and to leave the rest to God. Such is the impression of one who never read a letter of his without being humbled in the presence of his worth. 24 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND, The Church of Scotland. The Church of Scotland stopped short of the Lake, and began operations in 1875 at a very healthy spot on the Shire hills, say half-way between the two former stations of the Universities Mission, Chibisa's and Magomero. Mr. Henry Henderson acted as pioneer, and his previous experience in the tropics gave him an eye for healthy sites Blan.') Cxovernment." (SeeSenhor Corcleiro's Correspondence. 'Journal of the Manchester Greographical Society,' vol. ii., Nos. 4, 5, 6, page 206.) Were there not a very serious side to such an indication as Serioud iudi- this, we could well afford to keep silence ; but a great deal meets the eye of any one who has been accustomed to fix it upon Portuguese presumption. We regret to say that of late years there has been much encouragement afforded to its growth. In a word, Portugal is not the only country which is under Portugal this singular and phenomenal spell. Such European Powers as have not a portion of Africa already, are intent on extraordinary claims to territory which, in the majority of cases, will interfere with few interests. It is naturally the time to burnish up old pretensions, and Portugal can hardly sit still before a pile of new maps traversed in all directions by " delimitation " lines and " zones." But in the present instance the Nyassa and Shire district should be carefully placed on one side for considerations which require altogether different treatment. To trace a line with a paint-brush all over lands where a white man's foot has hardly fallen, if indeed it has fallen at all, is one thing; to suddenly proclaim that it is by courtesy that all these labours which we have detailed have been allowed, is a totally different matter. However, our object in sketching out this historical narrative British action IS not to furnish a prelude tor a further examination of Portugal's pretensions : this task must be undertaken when fitting occasion shall offer. At the same time it must not be disguised that it is most desirable that the opportunity should be sought for, u-Wiout a moment's delay, and of the proper authorities. The long prevailing embarrassment and apprehension which Perplexing •LT- I,- xi,-Ji.- J-- ^ e uucertaintv. has been hanging over the industries and missionary work oi these regions should be forthwith removed, and the subject — once raised above its present level, will then attract to itself an importance which it has not hitherto acquired. Another stage will succeed to the mere conference and map- making era. 36 THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. Literature of Nyassa-luucl. Germany, France, Belgium, and, we hope, Portugal -will actively and generously set about developing the vast spaces they have inscribed their names upon : then to whom, may we ask, will they turn to seek for previous experience of the navigation of lakes, the foundation of missions, and the pro- duction of coffee, sugar, india-rubber, &c., by free labour in Tropical Africa ? A far more matured experience is available for them here than in any other inland portion of Central Africa. We cannot refrain from fortifying this statement by enumerating the several works which treat upon Nyassa-land. They are : — ' Livingstone's Missionary Travels in South Africa ' (John Murray, 1857). * The Zambesi and its Tributaries ' (John Murray, 1866). * Livingstone's Last Journals ' (John Murray, 1874). * Memoir of Bishop Mackenzie ' (Deighton & Bell, 1864). ' The Search after Livingstone ' (Letts & Co., 1868). ' Nyassa' (John Murray, 1877). ' Lakes and Mountains of Africa ' (John Murray, 1879). ' Personal Life of Livingstone ' (John Murray, 1880). ' Twenty Years in Central Africa' (Wells, Gardner & Co.). ' Story of the Universities Mission to Africa' (Saunders & Otley). ' The Shire Highlands ' (Blackwood, 1885). ' To the Central African Lakes ' (Sampson Low). ' Africana ' (Simpkin, Mai-shall & Co.). ' Towards the Mountains of the Moon ' (Blackwood). Portuguese iatvutioua. To the above may be added a vast number of pamphlets and papers in the proceedings of the various scientific societies of England and Scotland, and in different missionary magazines, some of them monthly publications. Such a literature as this should alone assure any in whom doubts may arise that Nyassa- land is pre-eminently one in which England ought to be left undisturbed to work out that which has been so heroically and worthily begun. We commend this record to the consideration of those whom it concerns, and we do so without hesitation when we learn from very reliable sources that Portugal is probably about to ascend the Shire and annex the Nyassa country. The moment has arrived when, in the face of this unique history, she must be called upon to show a better title to the land than our own. THE TITLE-DEEDS TO NYASSA-LAND. 37 In a few introductory words it was assumed that such work as the above ought to be set on its own candlestick — to take, in fact, its proper place in British estimation, with Government protection and the determined support of the people in these Isles assured to it. Without this, the candle will be rudely snuffed out ; then, when it is too late, there will be a storm of indignation. England has spent millions on millions in abolishing her England's own slave-trade in this century ; she still shows that she ^^{g'*^^*^"* repents over those dark times, and to this day brings forth meet fruits in trying to suppress the traffic by a fleet of cruisers. In passing, we may add that Germany, France, and Portugal leave her to do this alone. But this slave-trade is fed on these fields ; all authorities from Livingstone to Gordon show that Nyassa-land is the great preserve to the south, whilst to the north the evil clusters round the spot whither Stanley goes to-day. All are equally of opinion that to attempt to an- nihilate the traffic on the high seas is absurd ; it can only be done by withering the roots inland. But from another standpoint we can claim consideration. Manchester already has a market capable of easy and rapid Commerce extension in Nyassa-land. There is too much talk about the est^^l^li^lied. opportunities which our Consuls miss, of German pushing and American 'cuteness. It will be better if we put our backs to the door-post, and insist that inasmuch as it has taken nearly thirty years to force open this door into savagedom, without demur or protest on the part of Portugal, it is not going to be closed now. By everything that is British it cannot be, and by all the interests present and to come, which are British — it must not be. Portugal has neither means, men, nor mercan- tile power to develop these regions, and we shall show her, by allowing us to act, we can bring an addition to her revenue, which already is the only single thing she can point to with satisfaction in East Africa. Horace Waller. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited, STAMKOKU SIUKKI AM' CIIAHIXG CROSS.