ROBERT M O FFAT AT VORTY-THJm i-: ROBERT MOFFAT ONE OF GOD'S GARDENERS By EDWIN W. SMITH LITERARY SU~BRINTENDBNT OP' THE lJ:RITISH AND FOREIGN IlIBLE SOCIETY CHIEF TRANSLATOR OF THrt ILA NB\\' TF.STAMENT AUTHOR OF A Hat<d6011k ef tlu Ila Lang11age Tlte Rtligim ef LMuu• Races, ttc, co~AUTHOR OP' Tire lla.Spealdng Peoples o/ Nortlurn Rfrodesia And there you 'JI see lhe gardeners, the men and 'prt!ntice boys Told off to do as they arc bid and <lo it without noise: For, except when seeds are planted .anrl we shout to scare the bird:s, The Glory of the Garden it abidetb not in words. RUDYARD KIPLING LONDON CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.4 1923 First f11b/isked April 19115 i.'Wadt and Printtd in &'reat Britain l>;- T>"rnb1fll &> Sp1an, Edi,.6u.-1'1· EDITORIAL NOTE THIS volume is the fifth of a uniform series of new missionary biographies, in the production of which a group of unusually able writers are collaborating. The series makes no pretence of adding new facts to those already known. The aim rather is to give to the world of to-day a fresh interpretation and a richer understanding of the life and work of great missionaries. The enterprise is being undertaken by the United Council for Missionary Education, for whom the series is published by the Student Christian Movement. K. M. A. E. C. U.C.M.E. 2 EATON GA.TB S.W.l TO NAMUSA, MY WIFE ANOTHER GARDENER AUTHOR'S PREFACE MY object throughout this volume has been to place Moffat in the historical and ethnological setting of South Africa-a country that has changed so much during the last hundred years that it is difficult for the present generation to realize the conditions under which he worked. For the facts of Moffat's life I have relied chiefly upon his own book, Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa (published in 1842), and the biography by his son,1 the late Rev. J. S. Moffat. Much information has been gathered from the works of the early travellers, some of which are named in footnotes, I would express my gratitude to the London Missionary Society, which gracefully placed its records at my disposal ; and to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society who allow me to use letters which have never before (so far as I am aware) been printed. My best thanks are also due to the Rev. J. Tom Brown, late of Kuruman, who most generously allowed me to read, and make use of, his manuscript on the history and customs of the Bechuana, which I hope will before long be pub· lished. My own experiences as a pioneer missionary in South Central Africa, and a visit I made to Kuruman in 1912, have helped me considerably in appreciating Moffat's work. Perhaps it is inevitable in the case of a man who 1 Referred t.o in footnotes by the initials "J. S. M." II IO Robert Moffat has received such adulation as Moffat has received, that one approaches a study of his life wondering whether it will leave him in exactly the same high position. I have not praised him indiscriminately, but have tried to estimate him and his work dis· passionately. I have not refrained from pointing to what I think were his deficiencies. But I wish to say that from a diligent investigation and an honest effort to see him without his halo, Robert Moffat emerges as a greater man than ever in my mind. EDWIN W. SMITH W.&LTON·ON-TH.UllllS F dJr'uarg 19211 ~ The frontispiece is reproduced from an oleo­ graph which has been generously lent for the purpose by the Rev. Arthur Baldwin, F.R.G.S., a missionary pioneer to the trans-Zambezi tribes. It represents Moffat as he was in the year 1888 when he left for his only furlough in England. On his way from Kuruman to Cape Town he was told that it was unfashionable to appear with a beard ; so one morning he retired behind a bush, and returned to his wagon cleanly shaved-greatly to the astonish· ment of his native attendants. In later years he grew the long beard which photographs have made familiar. CONTENTS P.&.GI AUTHOR'S PREFACE • 9-10 TABLE OF DATES 12-18 (JJLU'. I. EARLY LIFE • 15 II. SOUTH AFRICA A CENTURY AGO 26 III. THE BusHMEN AND HoTTENTOTs 44 IV. A SEVERE TEST 57 v. BUILDERS IN HOPE 79 VI. THE BECHUANA 96 VII. WARS AND RUMOURS OF wARS 115 VIII. KURUMAN 180 IX. JOURNEYINGS O:Fr 150 x. THE TRANSLATOR 168 XI. KuRUMAN AGAIN 186 XII. A TROUBLOUS TIME 199 XIII. THE CROWNING ACT 218 XIV. PIONEERING AT SIXTY-FIVE 281 XV. THE FINAL YEARS 240 MAP--SoUTB AFRICA IN RoBERT Mo:nAT's DAY 252-8 INDEX 254 11 TABLE OF DATES 1488 B&rtholomeu Diaz lands at Angre. Pequena (Luderit11 :&y) 1648 Temporary sojourn of the Dutch at the Cape 1652 Van Riebeek builds a fort at Table Bay 1760 The Orange River discovered 1795 Birth of Robert Moffat and Mary Smith 1798 The London Missionary Society's work begins in South Africa 1801 The Bechuana visited by Truter and Somerville 1805 Dr Lichtenstein's travels among the Bechuana 1810 Emergence of Che.ka, Chief of the Zulus 1812 William Burchell visits the Bechuane. 1813 The Rev. J. Campbell's first visit to the Bechuane. 1814 Cape Colony finally ceded to the British by the Dutoh 1816 First Miesion established among the Bechua.na. 1817 Robert Moffat arrives in BQIJ,f;h Afriea 1819 Moffat goes to Cape Town with. Afrk,aner. H'8 marriage to Mary Smith 1820 The Moffat8 arrive at Lattakoo 1823 Conflict witk the Mantati 1824 The Moffat& viait Gape Town. Tile m'81tion rtmotltd to Kuruman 1827 Moffat i~olates him8elf lo learn the language 1829 Awakening of the Batlhapi. Moffat'a jirat viait to Um11iligazi 1830 Moffat !Mitll Gape Town. G011pe1, of St Lu'/u printed 1886 Moffat'a aecond vi8it to U1114iligazi 1837 Tho Boors attack Umsiligazi 12 Table of Dates 13 1839 Tiie MoffahJ vi11it E111Jland 1840 Piie Se.chuana New TMtament publi8hed David Livingstone sails for South Africa 1843 Tiie Mo/fats return to Cape Tow11 The Griqua place their country under British protection 18"'8 Orange Free State placed under British sovereignty. Battle of Boomplaa.t.s 18"'9 David Livingstone and Oswell discover Lake Ngami 1852 Independence of Transvaal acknowledged by Britain ISM Moflat'a third viait to U1118iligazi Orange Free State becomes an independent republic 1857 Moffat completea ki8 trattslation of the Bible and villit8 U1118iligazi for the fourth time 1859 Expeditions to Zambezi and M atebeleland. :llfoff at vi,qifs Um8iligazi again 1867 First discovery of diamonds in South Africa. 1870 The Moffa/8 leave South Africa. Death of Mrs ~Moffat 1883 Death of Robert Moffat CHAPTER I EARLY LIFE Asked him no more, but took him as he found him, Filled him with valour, slung him with a sword, Had him go on until the tribes around him Mingled his name with naming of the Lord. F. W. H. MYERS, Saint Paul. I IN the autumn of 1878 a little, quaint, old-fashioned woman, clad in short gown and mutch, stood with a tall patriarch before the tailor's shop of the village of Carronshore in Scotland. They entered and found the tailor seated cross-legged on his board and absorbed in his work. With great eagerness the little woman addressed him: "Andrew, man, here's Moffat come to see you, the great missionary from Africa." The tailor was eminently Scottish­ and cautious. Without lifting his eyes or ceasing to ply his needle he replied : " Aye, aye, maybe he is, maybe he isna. There are plenty of folks ganging about the country noo-a-days passin' themsel's aff as great men, and they are just a wheen impostors." The little woman was hurt by the tailor's incredulity. " 0 man 1" she cried, " are you no believin' me, and I've kenned him mysel' a' my days l " Andrew looked up at last and said oracularly to the stranger : "Are you aware, sir, that if you were really the person you represent yourself to be, you would be u Robert Moffat the father-in-law of Livingstone, the African ex· plorer ? " " So I am," replied the venerable old gentleman with the flowing white beard. It was indeed Robert .Moffat, home finally after nearly a lifetime of missionary service in Africa-Robert Moffat, translator of the Bible, newly-capped Doctor of Divinity at Edinburgh-now visiting the village whence, sixty-three years before, he had gone to serve his apprenticeship as a gardener. It is of him, and of the pleasant Garden of God which he planted in a remote African wilderness, that these pages are to tell : of him and of his wife, Mary. II Of Robe1t Moffat's forefathers nothing seems to be known. He came of the class that has no history. Of his father not much is recorded ; of his mother but little beyond the fact that she came of a family distinguished for its piety, and was her­ self one of those godly Scotswomen who, through their sons, have left so deep a mark upon the world. They had five sons and two daughters. Robert was born at Ormiston in East Lothian, on 2lst December 1795. Two years later the family removed to Portsoy, near Banff, where the father had been appointed to a post in the custom-house.