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Page 2
At this early period the whole of what is now designated the Colony, was
inhabited by Hottentots, a people lighter in colour than the Kafirs and
Bechwanas, having pale yellow-brown skins, symmetrical in form when
young, hardy, and having small hands and feet. They have nomadic
tendencies; and, in their uncivilised state, scarcely practise
agriculture. Their system of government is somewhat patriarchal; and
they live in "kraals," or villages, consisting of bee-hive shaped huts,
arranged in circular form. Their ideas of a Deity are extremely faint,
they possess little in the nature of religious ceremonies, but the power
of sorcerers among them is great. According to the locality occupied,
they are known as Hottentots, Namaquas, or Corannas.
As the European colonists increased in numbers, they gradually advanced
northward and eastward, either driving back the natives or subjugating
them as slaves to their service. In 1806 the colony passed into the
hands of the English, and, after a season of conflict, the Hottentots
within the British territory were emancipated. This act of justice took
place on 17th July, 1828.
In the early years of the present century, the natives of South Africa
comprised--besides the Hottentots, who occupied the southern portion of
the country, and were thinly scattered, to the north-west, in Great
Namaqualand--the Kafirs, who dwelt in the south-east, beyond the Fish
River; the Basutos, whose kraals were south of the Orange River; the
Bechwanas and kindred tribes to the north of that river; and far away to
the north-west, beyond Namaqualand, the Damara tribes, of whom but
little was known at that time. Besides these, there were the Bushmen, a
roving people, small in stature, and sunk to the lowest depths of
barbarism, hunted down by the Dutch farmers like wild beasts, who had
their hands turned against every man, and every man's hand turned
against them.
To the Moravians belongs the honour of first seeking to bring the
natives of South Africa under the influences of Christianity. In 1737
George Schmidt, who had been sent forth by the small Moravian church of
Herrnhut, arrived in Cape Colony, and at Genadendal (the Vale of Grace),
then known as Bavian's Kloof (the Glen of Baboons), established a
mission station, where he laboured among the despised and oppressed
Hottentots with much success for seven years. His work excited
considerable opposition and persecution. He gathered a small Christian
community and a school; but the Boers, or Dutch farmers, becoming
jealous of the black population receiving education, he was summoned to
Holland, and not allowed to return.
Fifty years elapsed before the Brethren were able to resume their work;
but in 1792, three humble Christian artisans recommenced labour at
Genadendal. The occupation of the colony by the British Government gave
security to their mission, and it soon grew to be a large settlement,
and a centre of light and civilisation to the surrounding country.
In 1799 the London Missionary Society commenced work in Cape Colony; at
first by four brethren, who were shortly reinforced by Dr. J.P.
Vanderkemp, a native of Holland, a man of rare gifts and dauntless
courage. Successively scholar, cavalry officer, and physician, he was
for some years a sceptic, but being converted through the drowning of
his wife and child, and his own narrow escape from death, he commenced
the earnest study of the Bible and the Eastern languages, and gained
such wonderful proficiency in the latter, that it is stated he had a
fair knowledge of sixteen.
Vanderkemp chose the Kafir tribes for his field of labour, and in 1799
proceeded from Graf Reinet, then the most distant colonial town, and
that nearest to the Kafirs, to the headquarters of that people.
Frequently in danger of his life, among those who considered the murder
of a white man a meritorious deed, he worked and endured great hardship
and privation, that he might make known the truths of the Gospel to the
ignorant around, until the close of the year 1800, when, owing to a
rebellion among the farmers, and the general unsettled state of the
frontier, he was compelled to relinquish his mission.
[Illustration]
Afterwards he laboured among the Hottentots of the colony with rare
self-devotedness, often in great straits and many perils, but with
frequent manifestations of the Divine blessing upon the work carried on.
Finally, the Hottentot mission was transferred to Bethelsdorp, where
steady progress was made. The scholars readily learned to read and
write, and their facility in acquiring religious knowledge was
astonishing, considering the peculiar apathy, stupidity, and aversion to
any exertion, mental or corporeal, which characterised the natives. Dr.
Vanderkemp died in 1811, after breathing out the Christian assurance,
"All is well."
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