jjfijlNARY HE Ml IS 01f AFRICA XH.MORRISOI THE MISSIONARY HEROES OF AFRICA J. 11. MORRISON, M.A. THE MISSIONARY HEROES OF AFRICA BY J. H. MORRISON, M.A. Author of "Streams in the Desert," "On the Trail of the Pioneers," etc .••:•:. 5 ?••:.: . NEW ^«r YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY BV 55-03 COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY THE MISSIONARY HEROES OF AFRICA, t PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CA- TO THE UNNAMED HEROES WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES FOR THE REDEMPTION OF AFRICA 50IS U PREFACE It is no easy task to determine what names should stand in the front rank of the Missionary Heroes of Africa. In making his selection the present writer has at least the consolation of believing that while many, doubtless, would desire some honored name to be added, few would wish any name on the list to be displaced. The following sketches are offered in the hope that, brief and imperfect as they are, they may serve to communicate some spark of that divine fire which burns in all heroic lives, and nowhere clearer than in the lives of Christlike and Apostolic men. In the hope, also, that they may aid the imagination in form- ing some picture of the marvelously varied and roman- tic scenery of the African mission field. CONTENTS PAGI CHAPTER I : THE DARK CONTINENT BE- FORE THE DAWN i: MOHAMMEDAN AFRICA . II : PAGAN AFRICA 16 1 1 1 : THE HAND OF EUROPE . 22 IV : THE COMING OF THE MISSIONARY 25 CHAPTER II: ROBERT MOFFAT, MIS- SIONARY PIONEER . „ 28 i: A SCOTS GARDENER . 28 ii: the infant colony 31 hi: taming a freebooter . 33 iv : the romance of kuruman 37 v: the matabele . 41 vi i moffat and livingstone 44 vii : farewell to kuruman 49 viii : a missionary to the last 5i CHAPTER III: DAVID LIVINGSTONE MISSIONARY EXPLORER . 54 II BLANTYRE MILL . 54 Ii: THE VALLEY OF MABOTSA 56 Hi: THE ROAD TO THE NORTH 59 IV ! CROSSING THE CONTINENT 64 VI DISCOURAGED AND LIONISED 72 ix x CONTENTS CHAPTER III [Continued] PAGI VI : FIVE YEARS ON THE ZAMBESI ... 74 VII : THE SLAVE TRADE 78 VIII I SEVEN YEARS OF WANDERING ... 79 IX : STANLEY ..,...,. 83 X: THE LONG LAST MILE ...... 86 xi : home 87 CHAPTER IV: JOHN MACKENZIE, MIS- SIONARY STATESMAN .... m m 90 . i: . THE ELGIN .. APPRENTICE . '» m ... m 90 III THE RESOLVED MAN ., m ,„ 92 III! FOLLOWING UP LIVINGSTONE .... 94 IV : THE MAKOLOLO DISASTER .... 95 v: in khama's country 99 vi : when black meets white . 106 vii : the battle for bechuanaland . i08 viii : "among god's little ones, content" 112 CHAPTER V: STEWART OF LOVEDALE 117 1 : a son of the disruption . 117 ii : with livingstone on the zambesi 119 iii! the builder of lovedale . 123 iv : the spirit of the fingoes 128 v: the birth of livingstonia 130 vi : the triumph of lovedale 132 vii : the founding of kikuyu . 137 138 IX GOD IS NOT DEAD 141 CONTKNTS TAG* CHAPTER VI: LAWS OF LIVINGSTONIA 142 i: lir.NRY DRUMMOND'S HERO . 142 II : DEDICATED FROM BIRTH . 143 Ill : IT THE ZAMBESI TO LAKE NYASA 145 IV : THE BEACON AT CAPE MACLEAR 147 V! OVER THE GRAVES OF THE FALLEN VI I TOIL AND TRIAL AT BANDAWE . 153 VII : A MARVELOUS TRANSFORMATION 158 VIII : THE CROWNING YEARS . 163 IX : THE LEGACIES OF WAR 168 CHAPTER VII : MACKAY OF UGANDA 171 i: STANLEY S LETTER 171 ii : A MISSIONARY ENGINEER 172 in: poor moses . 175 rv: into the lion's mouth 176 v: for the soul of a king 179 ?i: "great news" 182 vii : a royal funeral 184 vin : MWANGA, THE PERSECUTOR 186 ix : ICO x: THE BEST MISSIONARY SINCE LIVING- STONE" 193 CHAPTER VIII: GRENFELL OF THE CONGO 197 I : FROM CORNWALL TO THE CAMEROONS . I97 II *. THE GIANT CONGO 202 hi : pioneering in the Peace .... 204 xii CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII [Continued] TACM IV : THE BELGIAN OCTOPUS 209 V : SORROWS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE . 212 VI : THE JOY OF HARVEST ...... 215 vii : "the death of Tata finished" . 218 CHAPTER IX: COILLARD OF THE ZAM- . BESI ; 219 I : . A SON OF THE HUGUENOTS ... ... 219 II : LIFE IN BASUTOLAND 221 Hi: WAR AND EXILE . 223 rv: revival 224 v: "with such an escort we can go anywhere" 226 vi : among the barotsi 232 Vii: AFRICAN ROYALTY ...... 234 viii : "that delicious rain" 236 IX : THE WEDGE OF THE GOSPEL .... 237 x: rest 241 CHAPTER X: MARY SLESSOR OF CALA- BAR 243 i: AN EXTRAORDINARY FACTORY LASSIE . 243 Ii: IN DARK CALABAR 247 iii : "blessed with an efik mouth" . 25o iv : settled among savages .... 253 v: essential justice 258 vi : the church of christ in okoyong 20o vii : the pioneer of the enyong creek . 262 viii: "the happiest woman in all the world" 265 THE MISSIONARY HEROES OF AFRICA ^7J <2C2* Cf EGYPT DESERT OF SAHARA ' .jVIAP.OF AFRJC4 i i , S v l 'Showing tW n-.i- su !i;u y stations where these heroes of African ^missions labored. • . I THE MISSIONARY HEROES OF AFRICA CHAPTER I THE DARK CONTINENT BEFORE THE DAWN All Gaul, as Caesar says, is divided into three parts. All Africa may be divided into two. These are the Northern and the Southern halves of the continent, which are found to differ widely both in history and in religion. I: Mohammedan Africa From the earliest times North Africa played a conspicuous part in the ancient world which centred round the Mediterranean. The names of Egypt and Carthage are a sufficient reminder to us of that. Accordingly it was among the first countries to be evangelised, and in the early Christian centuries the vigorous Churches of North Africa produced men like Augustine and Tertullian, Clement and Origen. Of these ancient churches only a wretched remnant survives in Abyssinia. In the seventh century the tide of Islam, which flowed north over the churches of Asia, flowed also 15 16 '..THE.MIS-SiOtNARY HEROES OF AFRICA w^stw^rd/and swept "away the Christianity of North Africa. '-Since "then "the Mohammedan faith has more than maintained its ground in Africa. It has grad- ually spread southward, down the east coast to Zan- zibar, across the Sudan to the Niger and the Gulf of Guinea, until to-day it dominates half the continent. No doubt it is fitted to give to savage tribes a certain moral and religious uplift, but its cast iron system blocks all farther progress and makes its converts less accessible to the Gospel than before. In Mohammedan Africa Christian missions have made little progress to speak of, and our concern is therefore with pagan Africa which forms the central and southern half of the continent. It must not be forgotten, however, that Islam is still a living and missionary force, and part of the urgency of African evangelisation lies in this, that if the advance of the Cross be delayed the Crescent may take possession of the whole field. II: Pagan Africa In the 15th century bold voyagers had begun to venture down the west coast, and before the close of the century they had rounded the Cape of Good Hope. From this time forward an increasing volume of trade was carried on with Africa, and settlements were planted along the coasts, west, south and east. Noth- ing, however, was known as yet of the interior, which remained a blank on the map till the 19th century. It was vaguely conceived as a vast and inhospitable desert. Only through the travels of David Living- stone and other explorers were its natural features, its THE DARK CONTINENT BEFORE DAWN 17 lakes and river systems, made known to the world. It was then discovered that the interior of Africa con- sists of a vast, undulating plateau, having a climate very different from that of the low, swampy coast- land, much of it very fertile, much of it suitable for European colonisation. Pagan Africa is mainly inhibited by two races of coloured people, the Negroes and the Bantus. Besides these another race may be mentioned, though numeri- cally insignificant, namely the Hottentots and Bushmen. These lived in the neighbourhood of Cape Town and the districts to the north, consequently they figure somewhat prominently in early colonial and missionary history. Probably they are a remnant of the aboriginal inhabitants of Africa who have been driven south by the incoming of stronger tribes. The Bushmen are almost if not quite extinct. They were pigmies with light coloured skin, and in their habits pure nomads. Wondering continually about, trapping game, carry- ing off cattle, and shooting man and beast with their poisoned arrows, they were regarded by colonists and natives alike, as vermin to be exterminated. Their kins- men, the Hottentots, were more settled in their habits, and have gradually become intermingled with other tribes. It is undoubtedly from the Bushmen and Hot- tentot language that certain of the southern Bantu tribes have borrowed those curious little explosives in speech, common known as "Kafir clicks." Of the two great races, the Negroes inhabit the north of Central Africa from the Sahara to nearly the Equator, and from the Nile valley westward to the Gulf of Guinea and the regions of the Niger. To 18 THE MISSIONARY HEROES OF AFRICA this race belong such numerous and powerful peoples as the Sudanese, the Hausas, etc. The Bantu race, greatest of all the African peoples, occupies practically the whole of South Africa up to the Equator and five degrees beyond it. It includes among its tribes all the names most familiar in South African history— Kafir, Zulu, Matabele, Basuto, Bechuana. North of the Zambesi it embraces all the peoples from Barotsi- land to Uganda.