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Page 3
While Dr. Vanderkemp bent his steps towards Kafirland, three other
missionaries, by name Kitcherer, Kramer, and Edwards, proceeded to the
Zak River, between four hundred and five hundred miles north-east of
Cape Town. Here a mission was established to the Bushmen, which,
although unsuccessful in its original intention, became the finger-post
to the Namaquas, Corannas, Griquas, and Bechwanas, for by means of that
mission these tribes and their condition became known to the Christian
world. After moving from their original location to the Orange River, at
the invitation of a Griqua chief, Berend Berend by name, the mission was
carried on among the Corannas, Namaquas, and Bastards (mixed races),
finally removing in 1804 to Griqua Town, where it developed into the
Griqua Mission, under Messrs. Anderson and Kramer, and became a powerful
influence for good; continuing in existence for many years.
Mr. Anderson thus describes the condition of the Griquas when he first
settled in their midst, and for some time afterwards:--
"They were without the smallest marks of civilisation. If I except one
woman, they had not one thread of European clothing among them; and
their wretched appearance and habits were such as might have excited in
our minds an aversion to them, had we not been actuated by principles
which led us to pity them, and served to strengthen us in pursuing the
object of our missionary work; they were, in many instances, little
above the brutes. It is a fact that we were present with them at the
hazard of our lives. When we went among them they lived in the habit of
plundering one another; and they saw no moral evil in this, nor in any
of their actions. Violent deaths were common. Their usual manner of
living was truly disgusting, and they were void of shame."
By missionary effort these unpromising materials yielded such fruit,
that, in 1809, the congregation at Griqua Town consisted of 800 persons,
who resided at or near the station during the whole or the greater part
of the year. Besides their stated congregations the missionaries were
surrounded by numerous hordes of Corannas and Bushmen, among whom they
laboured. The land was brought under cultivation, and fields waving with
corn and barley met the eye where all had been desolation and
barrenness. In 1810 a threatened attack from a marauding horde of Kafirs
was averted in answer to prayer. Mr. Janz, the only missionary then on
the place, with the people, set apart a day for special supplication;
they sent a pacific message and present to the Kafirs, who immediately
retired. In place of war there was peace, and the blessings of
civilisation followed the preaching of the Gospel.
A mission had also been commenced by the London Missionary Society in
Great Namaqualand, north of the Orange River, on the western coast of
Africa; a country of which the following description was given by an
individual who had spent many years there: "Sir, you will find plenty of
sand and stones, a thinly scattered population, always suffering from
want of water, on plains and hills roasted like a burnt leaf, under the
scorching rays of a cloudless sun."
The missionaries, after a journey of great difficulty and suffering,
reached the land of the Namaquas, and halted for a time at a place which
they named "Silent Hope," and then at "Happy Deliverance;" finally they
settled at a spot, about one hundred miles westward of Africaner's
kraal, called Warm Bath. Here, for a time, their prospects continued
cheering. They were instant in season and out of season to advance the
temporal and spiritual interests of the natives; though labouring in a
debilitating climate; and in want of the common necessaries of life.
Their congregation was increased by the desperado Jager, afterwards
Christian Africaner, a Hottentot outlaw, who, with part of his people,
occasionally attended to the instructions of the missionaries; and they
visited the kraal of this robber chieftain in return. It was here that
he first heard the Gospel, and, referring afterwards to his condition at
this time, he said that he saw "men as trees walking."
Terrible trials soon came upon these devoted missionaries. Abraham
Albrecht, one of their number died, and Africaner, becoming enraged,
threatened an attack upon the station. The situation of the missionaries
and their wives was most distressing. Among a feeble and timid people,
with scarcely any means of defence, a bare country around, no mountain,
glen, or cave in which they could take refuge, under a burning sun and
on a glowing plain, distant two hundred miles from the abodes of
civilised men, between which and them lay the dreary wilderness and the
Orange River; such was their position, with the human lion in his lair,
ready to rouse himself up to deeds of rapine and blood.
For a whole month they were in constant terror, hourly expecting the
threatened attack. Their souls revolted at the idea of abandoning the
people, who were suffering from want, to become a prey to a man from
whom they could expect no quarter. On one occasion they dug a square
hole in the ground, about six feet deep, that in case of an attack they
might escape the musket balls. In this they remained for the space of a
week, having the tilt sail of a waggon thrown over the mouth of the pit
to keep off the burning rays of an almost vertical sun. Eventually they
withdrew northward to the base of the Karas mountains, but finding it
impossible to settle, retired to the Colony.
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