Robert Moffat by David J. Deane

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This description may be supplemented by that of a scene of frequent
occurrence, given in "Robert and Mary Moffat" by their son Mr. John A.
Moffat. He says: "The public services were, of course, in the Sechwana
language. Once a week the missionary families met for an English
devotional meeting. It was also a sort of custom that as the sun went
down there should be a short truce from work every evening. A certain
eminence at the back of the station became, by common consent, the
meeting-place. There the missionary fathers of the hamlet would be
found, each sitting on his accustomed stone. Before them lay the broad
valley, once a reedy morass, now reclaimed and partitioned out into
garden lands; its margin fringed with long water-courses, overhung with
grey willows and the dark green syringa. On the low ground bordering the
valley stood the church, with its attendant mission-houses and schools,
and on the heights were perched the native villages, for the most part
composed of round, conical huts, not unlike corn-stacks at a distance,
with some more ambitious attempts at house-building in the shape of
semi-European cottages. Eastward stretched a grassy plain, bounded by
the horizon, and westward a similar plain, across which about five miles
distant, was a range of low hills. Down to the right, in a bushy dell,
was the little burying-ground, marked by a few trees."

In 1845, Robert Moffat narrowly escaped an accident that would have
involved most serious consequences. He was superintending the erection
of a new corn-mill, and whilst seeing to its being properly started,
incautiously stretched his arm over two cog-wheels. In an instant the
shirt sleeve was caught and drawn in, and with it the arm. Fortunately
the mill was stopped in time, but an ugly wound, six inches in length,
with torn edges, bore witness to the danger escaped. This wound laid him
aside for many weeks, but finally he recovered from the effects of the
accident.

For the next four or five years things pursued an even course at the
Kuruman. In 1846, Mary Moffat started on a journey to visit the
Livingstones at Chonwane. She availed herself of the escort of a native
hunting party, and took her three younger children with her. She passed
through the usual dangers of such a journey, as the following extract
from a letter written to her husband will show:--

"I am very glad of Boey's company.... I should indeed have felt very
solitary with my lone waggon with ignorant people, but he is so
completely at home in this field that one feels quite easy. We do not
stop at nights by the waters, but come to them at mid-day, and then
leave about three or four o'clock. We cannot but be constantly on the
outlook for lions, as we come on their spoor every day, and the people
sometimes hear them roar. Just before outspanning to-day, Boey, being on
horseback looking for water, met with a majestic one, which stood still
and looked at him. He tried to frighten the lion, but he stood his
ground, when Boey thought it was time to send a ball into him, which
broke his leg, by which means he is disabled from paying us a visit."

Early in 1847 a general meeting of those engaged in the Bechwana mission
was held at Lekatlong (near what are now the Diamond Fields). On his way
homewards from this meeting Moffat visited some of the Batlaping
villages along the Kolong River. A striking advance had taken place of
late years, and a severe contest was going on between heathenism and
Christianity. A little company of believers had gathered in each place,
and were ministered to by native teachers, who had spent a few months in
training at Kuruman.

In the same year Mary Moffat left for the Cape to make arrangements for
educating her younger children. As Robert could not leave his work she
journeyed alone, having as attendants four Bechwana men and a maid.
These partings wrung the mother's heart. The time spent on the road was
precious, and although it extended to two months, seemed all too short.
She felt that never again would she have her young children about her.
The son, John, was placed at school in Cape Town for a time, and the two
daughters were sent under the care of a worthy minister to England. Of
the parting with these her darlings Mary Moffat wrote:--"Though my heart
was heaving with anguish I joyfully and thankfully acceded forthwith
(_i.e._, to the offer of the Rev. J. Crombie Brown to take the
children), and set about preparations in good earnest. This was about
the end of January. On the tenth of February they embarked, and after
stopping the night on board I tore myself from my darlings to return to
my desolate lodgings to contemplate my solitary journey, and to go to my
husband and home childless." Of her it may be said, _She left all and
followed Him_!

In 1848 the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes had been finished and
Isaiah begun. In 1849 "Pilgrim's Progress" was added to the Sechwana
literature, and the work of translation steadily progressed. "Line upon
Line" had also been rendered into the native tongue by Mr. Ashton.

But while all was peaceful and in a measure prosperous at the Kuruman,
clouds were gathering to the eastward, which were destined eventually to
throw a dark shadow over the whole Bechwana Mission. The encroachments
of the Boers upon the natives led to much bloodshed, and to the
dispersion of several native tribes, with the consequent abandonment of
mission-work among them. One of the early sufferers was Moselekatse,
who, having been attacked in 1837, had retired to a place far away to
the north-east, and for some years nothing was heard of him, except by
vague rumour; indeed his very existence was a matter of doubt.

Livingstone had settled with Sechele at Kolobeng, which place he used
simply as a base of operations for visiting the eastern tribes, and
prosecuting missionary work among them. Much good was done, and the
Scriptures in Sechwana, as far as issued, were circulated among the
people. But the Boers advanced, the natives were dispossessed of their
lands, and missionaries were expelled from their regions. Finding that
all hope of carrying on the work in this neighbourhood was over,
Livingstone turned his eyes northward, and commenced that series of
explorations which absorbed the remainder of his life. Sechele retired
to a mountain fastness, named Lithubaruba, away to the north-west.

As time passed onward, Robert Moffat felt more than ever the importance
of completing the work he had undertaken--the translation of the entire
Bible into Sechwana. Every minute that could be devoted to the task was
eagerly embraced, his labours often extending far into the night.
Numerous interruptions made the work more difficult. "Many, many are the
times I have sat down and got my thoughts somewhat in order," he writes,
"with pen in hand to write a verse, the correct rendering of which I had
just arrived at, after wading through other translations and lexicons,
when one enters my study with some complaint he has to make, or counsel
to ask, or medical advice and medicine to boot, a tooth to be extracted,
a subscription to the auxiliary to be measured or counted; or one calls
to say he is going to the Colony, and wishes something like a passport;
anon strangers from other towns, and visitors from the interior arrive,
who all seem to claim a right to my attentions."

This incessant application was making inroads upon his health, and the
strong powerful frame and iron constitution of the Scotch missionary
began to show signs that could not be neglected. A peculiar affection of
the head troubled him--a constant roaring noise like the falling of a
cataract, and a buzzing as of a boiling up of waters. It never ceased
day and night, and he lost much sleep in consequence of it. His only
relief seemed to be in study and preaching, when the malady was not
noticed; but immediately these occupations were over it was found to be
there, and reasserted itself in full force.

In 1851 the rebellion of the Kat River Hottentots occurred, which, for a
long time, brought obloquy upon the missionaries of South Africa and the
Mission cause.

In 1852 Mr. Hamilton was gathered to his rest, after having been the
faithful coadjutor of Robert Moffat, and a missionary at the Kuruman for
thirty-four years; the next year tidings reached Mary Moffat that her
beloved father had ended his pilgrimage at the ripe age of ninety years.

A short time previous a letter had been received from the Directors of
the London Missionary Society, urging Robert Moffat to take sick leave
and visit the Cape, or to return to England, but, as rest and change
were absolutely essential, Moffat determined to find the needed
relaxation in visiting his old native friend, Moselekatse. He was also
in doubt as to the fate of his son-in-law, Livingstone, who had started
long before for the tribes on the Zambesi.

Carrying supplies for that missionary, in hope of being able to succour
him, in May, 1854, Moffat once again bade his faithful partner farewell,
and started for a journey to a comparatively unknown country, seven or
eight hundred miles away. The son of Mr. Edwards, the missionary who for
some time had laboured with Moffat at Kuruman, and a young man named
James Chapman accompanied him, for purposes of trade. After journeying
for several days through a desert country, they reached Sechele's
mountain fastness. Moffat found that chief in great difficulties, but
still holding to the faith into which he had been baptised by
Livingstone. One hundred and twenty more miles of desert travelling
brought the party to Shoshong, the residence of another chief and his
tribe. Thence after groping their way for eighteen days in a region new
to them, without guides, they reached a village containing some natives
who were subject to the Matabele king.

For some days Moffat and his companions were not allowed to advance. The
Induna in charge of the outpost was afraid of a mistake, but at last a
message came that they were to proceed, and finally they drew near to
the royal abode. The chief was filled with joy at meeting his old friend
"Moshete." An account of the interview is described in Moffat's journal,
from which we extract the following:--"On turning round, there he
sat--how changed! The vigorous, active, and nimble chief of the
Matabele, now aged, sitting on a skin, lame in his feet, unable to walk,
or even to stand. I entered, he grasped my hand, gave one earnest look,
and drew his mantle over his face. It would have been an awful sight for
his people to see the hero of a hundred fights wipe from his eyes the
falling tears. He spoke not, except to pronounce my name, Moshete,
again and again. He looked at me again, his hand still holding mine, and
he again covered his face. My heart yearned with compassion for his
soul. Drawing a little nearer to the outside, so as to be within sight
of Mokumbate, his venerable counsellor, he poured out his joy to him."

The old chief was suffering with dropsy, but under Moffat's medical care
he recovered, and was soon able to walk about again. The advice which
had been given to him by his missionary friend during their previous
intercourse, had not been wholly lost, the officers who attended him, as
well as those of lower grades, stating that the rigour of his government
had since that time been greatly modified.

Moffat stayed with Moselekatse nearly three months. After much
persuasion, permission was given him to preach the Gospel to the
Matabele people, a privilege hitherto always denied. On the 24th of
September, 1854, these people received, for the first time, instruction
in the subjects of creation, providence, death, redemption, and
immortality.

It was Moffat's purpose to journey forward beyond the Matabele to the
Makololo tribe, to leave supplies at their town of Linyanti, so that
Livingstone might obtain them if he returned safely from St. Paul de
Loanda, on the west coast. Moselekatse would not accede to the idea of
him going alone, and finally the king himself determined to accompany
him. The Makololo and Matabele were, however, like many other of the
native tribes, hostile to each other. With the bags, boxes, &c., on the
heads of some of the men best acquainted with the country, the party set
out, but after travelling to the farthest outpost of the Marabele, the
king declared it was impossible for the waggons to proceed. At Moffat's
earnest request, he sent forward a party of his men with the supplies,
which in due course reached the Makololo, who placed them on an island,
built a roof over them, and there they were found in safety by
Livingstone when he returned some months afterwards from the west coast.

Towards the end of October, Moffat bade farewell to the Matabele king.
Moselekatse pressed him to prolong his stay, pleading that he had not
seen enough of him, and that he had not yet shown him sufficient
kindness. "Kindness!" replied Moffat, "you have overwhelmed me with
kindness, and I shall now return with a heart overflowing with thanks."
Leaving the monarch a supply of suitable medicines to keep his system in
tolerable order, and admonishing him to give up beer drinking, and to
receive any Christian teacher who might come as he had received him, the
missionary took his departure. The long return journey was accomplished
without any remarkable event, and in due course Moffat reached his home
again in safety.

By this journey his health was much improved, his intercourse and
friendship with the people of the interior were cemented and extended,
and he looked forward with hopeful assurance to the early advancement of
Christianity to those distant regions.

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CHAPTER IX.

THE SECHWANA BIBLE.

The great task was at length accomplished; the work of nearly thirty
years brought to a close. The Word of God in the language of the
Bechwana people, in all its glorious completeness and power, was now in
their hands.

To Robert Moffat the labour had been of a herculean character. He had
spared himself no labour or drudgery which its prosecution involved. To
accomplish it he had left his home and lived a semi-savage life for
nearly three months, that he might perfect himself in the language.
Without any special training for the important undertaking, and under
the greatest disadvantages, he had not only acquired the language, but
reduced it to its elements, and then presented it in a synthetic and
grammatical form. Beyond that his earnest desire had been to render the
whole Bible into the native tongue.

As age increased, the importance of finishing the work became more and
more apparent, till even a minute spent in anything but purely
mission-work, or his translation duties, seemed as wasted time. Writing
when the end was near, he said: "When I take up a newspaper, it is only
to glance at it with a feeling like that of committing sacrilege. I have
sometimes been arrested with something interesting, and have read it
with ten or more strokes in the minute added to my pulse, from the
anxiety caused by the conviction that I am spending precious time apart
from its paramount object, while I feel perfectly composed over anything
which I am satisfied has a direct bearing on the true object of the
missionary."

But the work was now accomplished, the last sheet had been passed for
press, the last verse of the Old Testament completed, and now his mind,
which had been for so many years strained under the weighty
responsibility of translating the Word of God, was free. Of his feelings
on this occasion he made mention in a speech delivered some years later
at Port Elizabeth, on the occasion of his final departure from South
Africa. We quote from the Chronicle of the London Missionary Society for
August, 1870.

"At last," he said, referring to the commencement of the undertaking, "I
came to the resolution that if no one else would do it, I would
undertake it myself. I entered heartily upon the work. For many years I
had no leisure, every spare moment being devoted to translating, and was
a stranger even in my own family. There was labour every day, for back,
for hands, for head. This was especially the case during the time Mr.
Edwards was there; our condition was almost one of slavery. Still the
work advanced, and at last I had the satisfaction of completing the New
Testament. Of this 6000 copies were printed by the Home Society.

"When Dr. Livingstone came, he urged me to begin at once with the Old
Testament. That was a most stupendous work. Before commencing it I
passed many sleepless nights. It was the wish of all that I should
undertake it. I did so, and went on with the work from time to time, as
I had leisure, daily and nightly. I stuck to it till I had got as far as
the end of Kings, when I became completely done up. The Directors were
afraid that I was killing myself. I was advised to go home, to leave the
work, but I decided otherwise. I determined to look up Moselekatse, and
went off with a son of brother Edwards. By the time I had found
Moselekatse, I had got all right again. I came back and resumed my work,
and continued it till its completion. I cannot describe to you the
feelings of that time--of the writing of the last verse. I could hardly
believe that I was in the world, so difficult was it for me to realise
the fact that my labour of years was completed. Whether it was from
weakness or overstrained mental exertion, I cannot tell; but a feeling
came over me that I would die, and I felt perfectly resigned. To
overcome this I went back again to my manuscript still to be printed,
read it over, and re-examined it, till at length I got back again to my
right mind. This was the most remarkable time of my life, a period I
shall never forget. My feelings found vent by my falling upon my knees
and thanking God for His grace and goodness in giving me strength to
accomplish my task. My work was thus accomplished, and now I see the
Word of God read by thousands of Bechwanas in their native tongue."

An incident related in his speech at the Bible Society's Annual Meeting
upon the occasion of his first visit to England in 1839, shows the
importance to the natives of having the Bible in their own tongue.
Speaking of his translation of the Gospel of Luke, he alluded to the
state of the unconverted heathen, and the contrast manifested by the
Christian converts. When the heathen saw the converts reading the Book
which had produced this change, they inquired if they (the converts)
talked to it. "No," answered they, "it talks to us; for it is the Word
of God." "What then," replied the strangers, "does it _speak_?" "Yes,"
said the Christians, "it speaks to the heart!" This explanation was
true, and was often illustrated in fact; for among those to whom the
same Book was read by others, it became proverbial to say that the
readers were "turning their hearts inside out!"

[Illustration: DR. LIVINGSTONE.]

In 1854 Mary Moffat paid another visit to the Colony, and was in
consequence away from home when Robert returned from his journey to
Moselekatse. Tidings reached him about that time of the death of his
mother, the one who first instilled into his breast an enthusiasm for
the missionary calling. She died as she had lived, a godly, consistent
woman, and was called to the heavenly city at the age of eighty-four.

In 1856 Dr. Livingstone, after his unparalleled walk from Loanda, on the
west coast, to Quillimane, on the east--from the shores of the Atlantic
to those of the Indian Ocean--visited England. His visit, and the
description he gave of the country and natives, rekindled missionary
enthusiasm, a special interest being taken in the Matabele and Makololo
tribes. The London Missionary Society resolved to establish missions
among them. As the locality where the Makololo dwelt was in the midst of
a marshy network of rivers, it was considered as a necessary condition
of commencing the proposed missionary work that they should remove to a
spot on the north bank of the Zambesi, opposite to where the Matabele
dwelt on the south bank. The two tribes were, however, hostile to each
other; and, to overcome this hostility, it was determined to
simultaneously establish missions among both tribes. With this object in
mind the Directors wrote to Robert Moffat, proposing that he should go
for a twelvemonth to the Matabele, taking two younger men with him, and
plant a mission among this people.

This letter reached him just as he had completed the translation and
printing of the Old Testament; and, notwithstanding that he was then
sixty-two years of age, and had already been forty-one years hard at
work for the Society, he determined to go. He felt, however, that it was
necessary for him to start at once, and prepare the minds of Moselekatse
and his people for the coming among them of missionaries. Thus it came
about that once again Robert Moffat quitted Kuruman, and started forward
for the long and trying journey, through the African desert, to visit
his old friend, and obtain his consent to the settlement of missionaries
among his people.

Visiting the chief Sechele on the way, he pursued his course until he at
length reached the headquarters of Moselekatse. The king was not very
enthusiastic about receiving missionaries for himself and his people. He
was somewhat suspicious; and his former experience with the American
missionaries at Mosega had been rather unfortunate, the Boers having
attacked the Matabele, and, after pillaging the mission station, carried
the missionaries away with them. However, he would receive the
new-comers,--but his friend Moshete must come also. "I love you," said
he, "you are my father. These new men I do not know them. All men are
not alike."

This African monarch had sufficient knowledge to know that, if the
doctrines of the Bible prevailed among his tribe, his claims to divine
honour would for ever cease. His warriors used to pay him homage as
follows: "O Pezoolu, the king of kings, king of the heavens, who would
not fear before the son of Machobane (his father's name), mighty in
battle?" and with other similar marks of adulation. He also had a shrewd
suspicion that the opening of the country for white men to come and
settle, would mean, eventually, the downfall of the power of himself and
his people? but in his friend Ramary, or Moshete, he had implicit
confidence.

As an instance of the power which Moffat had obtained over this despotic
chief of a fierce African tribe, it may be related that he prevailed
upon Moselekatse to grant deliverance to the heir to the chieftainship
of the Bamangwato, a large tribe living at Shoshong, to the north-east
of Sechele's people. It was after a long conversation that the thing was
settled. Macheng, the heir, who had been detained captive for sixteen
years, was called, and Moselekatse addressing him said: "Macheng, man of
Moffat, go with your father. We have arranged respecting you. Moffat
will take you back to Sechele. That is my wish as well as his, that you
should be in the first instance restored to the chief from whom you were
taken in war. When captured you were a child; I have reared you to be a
man."

The effect of this deliverance on the neighbouring tribes was very
great. It occurred while Moffat was with Moselekatse, arranging for the
settlement of the new missionaries. When he and his charge arrived at
Sechele's town, on his way home, he was met by Sechele and the other
chiefs of his tribe, who marched on in front, and led them to a kind of
natural amphitheatre, where at least ten thousand of the people, in all
their equipments of war, were assembled. Sechele commanded silence, and
introduced the business of the meeting. Speaker followed speaker, in
enthusiastic language giving expression to the joy they felt at seeing
the chief of the Bamangwato return from captivity. In the course of his
speech one said as follows:--

"Ye tribes, ye children of the ancients, this day is a day of marvel....
Now I begin to perceive that those who preach are verily true. If Moffat
were not of God, he would not have espoused the cause of Sechele, in
receiving his words, and delivering Macheng from the dwelling-place of
the beasts of prey, to which we Bechwanas dared not approach. There are
those who contend that there is nothing in religion. Let such to-day
throw away their unbelief. If Moffat were not such a man, he would not
have done what he has done, in bringing him who was lost--him who was
dead--from the strong bondage of the mighty. Moselekatse is a lion; he
conquered nations, he robbed the strong ones, he bereaved mothers, he
took away the son of Kheri. We talk of love. What is love? We hear of
the love of God. Is it not through the love of God that Macheng is among
us to-day? A stranger, one of a nation--who of you knows its distance
from us?--he makes himself one of us, enters the lion's abode, and
brings out to us our own blood."

On reaching home, from his visit to the Matabele, Moffat found that the
Livingstones were starting for the Zambesi, and were to call at the Cape
on their way; also that a large party of new missionaries had been
appointed to commence the new interior missions. The Moffats at once
started for the Cape, and there met Dr. and Mrs. Livingstone and their
companions. Once more the mother and daughter embraced each other, and
as the latter had suffered much on the voyage, it was arranged that she
should accompany the missionary party, and travel overland to the
Zambesi.

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