Kuruman to Kolobeng
N the 20th of November, 1840, Livingstone was ordained () a missionary, and on December 8th he embarked for Algoa Bay. During the voyage his chief friend was the captain of the ship, who was very obliging, giving him all the information respecting the use of the quadrant in his power, and frequently sitting up till midnight for the purpose of taking lunar observations with him. Thus another qualification was acquired for Livingstone’s peculiar life-work. His first letter to the directors of the London Missionary Society displayed his characteristic honesty, saying that he had spent most of his time at sea in the study of theology, and that he was deeply grieved to say that he knew of no spiritual good having been done in the case of any one on board the ship.
After reaching Algoa Bay, Livingstone proceeded at once to Kuruman, in the Bechuana country, where he arrived in July, 1841. This was the most northerly station of the society in South Africa, being 700 miles north of Cape Town, and was the usual residence of Mr. Moffat, who was still absent in England. Livingstone’s instructions were to remain there until Mr. Moffat’s return, and turn his attention to the formation of a new station farther north. While awaiting more specific instructions he began to entertain the idea of going to Abyssinia. A Christian missionary was evidently needed there, for the country had none, but if he should go he felt that probably he should never return. We hear no more of the project, but writing of this to a, friend, he uses these almost prophetic words: “Whatever way my life may be spent as best to promote the glory of our gracious God, I feel anxious todoit.... Dy life maybe spent as profitably as a pioneer as in any other way.”
After a short time spent in Kuruman, ne went to a spot where he secluded himself from all European society for about six months, in order to obtain a knowledge of the native tongue. Livingstone gained by this ordeal an insight into the habits, ways of thinking, laws and language of the Bakwains, which proved of incalculable advantage in his intercourse with them ever after.
Livingstone’s life in Africa resolves itself into four distinct periods. First, that of ordinary mission work, upon which he was now entering; second, that of the first great journey under the auspices of the London Missionary Society; third, that of the exploration of the Zambesi at the head of a government expedition; fourth, the journeys under the general direction of the Royal Geographical Society.
Soon after his arrival at Kuruman, Livingstone became convinced that there was not enough population at that point to justify a concentration of missionary labor there, and that efforts should be made speedily to reach the teeming multitudes in the interior. He also believed in making the utmost possible use of native agency in order to cultivate so wide a field. A journey of 700 miles, taken with a brother missionary, tended strongly to confirm these views, and led to the selection of a station 250 miles north of Kuruman, which was not, however, entered upon until 1843.
Before Livingstone had been a year in the country his power over the Africans was manifest. His fearless manner, his genial address, and his genuine kindness of heart, united to form a spell which rarely failed. His medical knowledge helped him greatly; but for permanent influence all would have been in vain, had he not uniformly observed the rules of good manners, justice, and good feeling.
Just a year after his arrival he writes to his father: “The work of God goes on here notwithstanding all our infirmities. Souls are gathered in continually, and sometimes from among those you would never have expected to see turning to the Lord. Twenty-four were added to the church last month, and there are several inquirers.”
Already Livingstone could preach in one dialect, and was learning another. Tis heart was full of the missionary spirit, but the activity of his mind enabled him at the same time to give attention to other matters. He had the rare faculty of directing his mind at the full stretch of its power to one great object, and yet, apparently without effort, giving minute attention to minor matters, all bearing, however, on the same great end. In his missionary journeys he made the acquaintance of the two great foes of the explorer in Africa, fever and the venomous tsetse fly. Fever he considered the greatest barrier to the evangelization of the country, while the tsetse fly was the greatest enemy of beasts of burden, frequently destroying every ox in ateam. Its sting, however, was comparatively harmless to men, or exploration would have been entirely out of the question.
In 1843 Livingstone visited Sechele, chief of the Bakwains, afterward one of his greatest friends. Sechele had been enraged at him for not visiting him when he had been in the vicinity the year before, and had threatened him with mischief. But when the missionary arrived his only child was ill, and also the child of one of his principalmen. Under Livingstone’s treatment both were restored to health, and Sechele was thoroughly conciliated.
LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE. us)
It was not until his return to Kuruman from this journey, in June, 1843, that Livingstone at last found, to his great satisfaction, a letter from the directors authorizing the formation of a settlement in the regions beyond. He lost no time in opening a station at Mabotsa, a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains.
There was one drawback to the new locality; it was infested with lions. Here it was that the encounter with the lion occurred which came so near ending Livingstone’s career. With characteristic modesty, writing to his father of this serious encounter, he says, after expressing his gratitude for God’s mercy in sparing his life, “Do not mention this to any one. I do not like to be talked about.” Yielding, however, to the solicitations of friends, Livingstone goes somewhat into details in his Missionary Travels.
He says that the people were much troubled by lions, which attacked their cattle even in open day. Knowing that if one in a troop of lions is killed the rest leave that part of the country, he encouraged the natives to endeavor to destroy one of the marauders. He succeeded in shooting a lion himself, but before he could load again the beast had sprung upon him. “The lion caught me by the shoulder and we both came to the ground together. Growling horribly, he shook me as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first gripe of the cat.... It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe; they see the operation, but do not feel the knife. This placidity is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivora, and if so, is a merciful provision of the Creator for lessening the pain of death.” Mebalwe, one of the natives, endeavored to shoot the lion, which immediately left Livingstone to attack him, biting him in the thigh. Another man now attempted to spear the savage beast, which turned from Mebalwe to the new foe, when the bullets he had received took effect and he fell dead. Besides crunching the bones into splinters, eleven of his teeth had penetrated the upper part of Livingstone’s left arm, which, being imperfectly set, was maimed for life.
It is generally known that it was by the false joint in the broken arm that Livingstone’s body was identified when brought back to England by his faithful followers; but it is not as well known that Mebalwe, who saved his life, was one of the native teachers that he himself had trained, and that it was a Christian lady in Scotland who contributed the money for this catechist’s support. Little did she think that her gift of twelve pounds would indirectly be the means of preserving the life of Africa’s greatest benefactor for the wonderful work of the next thirty years! Mebalwe was still alive in 1881, a useful man, an able preacher, and one who had done much to bring his people to Christ.
The next year saw Livingstone established in the new stone house of which he was both architect and builder, and happy in the companionship of his young bride, Mary Moffat, the eldest daughter of the missionary through whose influence he had come to Africa. From 1840 to 1845 he was employed in preparatory labors, and associated with other missionaries both at Kuruman and Mabotsa; but it is melancholy to read that from this first home and station of his own he was driven by the jealousy of a colleague, who was vexed at the attention attracted in England by Livingstone’s missionary letters. But Dr. Livingstone’s noble spirit rose to the occasion. Although feeling keenly the injustice done him, rather than have any scandal before the heathen he LIFE OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE. a7
would begin anew the toil of house and school building, and gathering the people about him.
On leaving Mabotsa Livingstone transferred his services to the Bakwains, whose chief, Sechele, and his people, had expressed a strong desire to have a missionary reside among them. The new station of Chonuane, forty miles from Mabotsa, was chosen, but their residence here was of short duration. The want of rain was fatal to agriculture, and almost equally so to the mission. Dr. Livingstone had showed the chief that the only feasible way of watering the gardens was to select a site near some never-failing river, make a canal, and irrigate the adjacent lands. His wonderful influence over the tribe is apparent in the fact that the very morning after he had told them of his intention to move to Kolobeng, they were all preparing to go with him. There, besides making a canal, building huts, and making gardens, they soon set about the erection of a school-house. This work, employing about 200 of his people, was undertaken by Sechele. “I desire,” he said, “to build a house for God, the defender of my town, and that you be at no expense for it whatever.” At Kolobeng Livingstone built his third house, where for the next five years he had his last home on earth.
In his first book what he calls “a sketch of African house-keeping,” is given as follows:
“The entire absence of shops obliged us to make everything we needed from the raw materials. If you want bricks to build a house you must proceed to the field, cut down a tree, and saw it into planks to make the brick-moulds. The people cannot assist you much; for, though willing to labor for wages, the Bakwains have a curious inability to make things square. As with all Bechuanas, their own dwellings are round. I erected three large houses at different times, and every brick and stick had to be put square by my own hand. A house of decent dimensions, costing an immense amount of manual labor, is necessary to secure the respect of the natives.
“ Bread is often baked in an extempore oven, constructed by scooping out a large hole in an ant-hill, and using a slab of stone for a door. Another plan is to make a good fire on the ground, and when it is thoroughly heated to place the dough in a short-handled frying-pan, or simply on the hot ashes. A metal pot is then put over it, and a small fire is kindled on the top.
““- We made our own candles, and soap was procured from the ashes of the plant salsola, or else from wood ashes, which in Africa contain so little alkaline matter that the boiling of successive lyes has to be continued for a month or six weeks before the fat is saponified.
“We rose early, because, however hot the day, the evening, night and morning at Kolobeng were deliciously refreshing. After family worship and breakfast between six and seven, we kept school, men, women, and children being all invited. This lasted till eleven o’clock. The missionary’s wife then betook herself to her domestic affairs, and the missionary engaged in some manual labor, as that of a smith, carpenter or gardener. Dinner and an hour’s rest succeeded, when the wife attended her infant school, which the young liked amazingly and generally mustered a hundred strong; or she varied it with sewing-classes for the girls, which was equally well relished. After sunset the husband went into the town to converse, either on general subjects or on religion. We had a public service on three nights of the week, and on another instruction on secular subjects aided by pictures and specimens. In addition to these duties we prescribed for the sick, and furnished food to the poor. The smallest acts of friendship, even an obliging word and civil look, are, as St. Xavier thought, no despicable part of the missionary’s armor. Nor ought the good opinion of the most abject to be neglected when politeness may secure it. Their good word in the aggregate forms a reputation which procures favor for the gospel. Show kindness to the reckless opponents of Christianity on the bed of sickness, and they can never become your personal enemies. Here, if anywhere, love begets love.”
Again he writes: “A native smith taught me to weld iron, and having acquired some further information in this art as well as in carpentering and gardening from Mr. Moffat, I was becoming handy at most mechanical employments in addition to medicine and preaching. My wife could make candles, soap, and clothes; and thus we had nearly attained to the indispensable accomplishments of a missionary family in Central Africa—the husband to bea jack-of-all trades without doors, andthe wife a maid-of-all-work within.”
We can well realize that with the utmost frugality it was sometimes difficult to “make both ends meet,” when we learn that until 1853 all the extra expenses of travelling, though for the wider diffusion of the gospel, were defrayed from his own meagre salary of £100 per annum. This salary would have enabled a missionary to live with tolerable comfort in the interior of South Africa provided he had a garden producing corn and vegetables, but otherwise the allowance was barely sufficient for the poorest fare and plainest apparel. Now the cost of missionary travels, the liberal gifts which had to be made to chiefs, the wants of an increasing family, (he had now four children, three boys and a girl,) added to the ordinary expenses of living, rendered the closest economy necessary, and of course they had many privations and trials. Yet theirs was truly a happy life notwithstanding. In reviewing this part of his career in Africa, Livingstone only regrets that he did not devote more time to playing with his children; but our only wonder is that he could have found time to accomplish all that he did. It is not strange that, as he says, he was generally so exhausted by the mental and manual labor of the day, that in the evening there was no-fun left in him.