MISSIONS. 



579 



AFRICA. 

 Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



Missions, of establishing a branch of the Chinese mission in that 

 ^"Y"'' country, as they found themselves greatly restricted in 

 their labours at Macao. Kere he was joined by other 

 missionaries, and an extensive establishment was form- 

 ed by their united exertions. They instituted schools 

 for Chinese, Malay, and Malabar children ; they print- 

 ed various works in the Chinese and Malay languages : 

 they forwarded them in great numbers to the different 

 settlements in the archipelago where the Chinese re- 

 sided, to Siam, Cochin-China, and even to China itself: 

 and they are now erecting a college for the cultivation 

 of Chinese and European literature. 



In 1792, the Moravians, or United Brethren, sent mis- 

 sionaries among the Hottentots in the neighbourhood of 

 fa e Ca ^ o f Good Hope. Here they at first met with vi- 

 olent opposition from many of the colonists : the grossest 

 calumnies were circulated with respect to their designs, 

 and a conspiracy was even formed against their life. The 

 sufcess.however, with which their exertions were crown, 

 ed, amply recompensed them for all the difficulties and 

 trials which they encountered during the first years of 

 their residence in that country. They have now two 

 flourishing settlements, the one about 120, the other W 

 miles from Cape Town ; and they lately began a third 

 near the borders of Caffraria. Since the commence- 

 ment of the mission, they have baptized about two 

 thousand of the Hottentots, a large proportion of whom, 

 we have reason to suppose, are an ornament to their 

 Christian profession. Besides christianizing so large a 

 number of these wretched outcasts of society, they have 

 been singularly successful in improving their external 

 condition, and in promoting civilization among them. 

 Bavians Kloof, the first settlement which they esta- 

 blished in this country, lies in a valley surrounded by 

 high mountains, watered by the river Sonderend and 

 several smaller streams. When the missionaries first 

 settled at this place it was a perfect wilderness, yet such 

 re the improvements they have made upon it, that it 

 now looks like kind of paradise. Some of the Hot- 

 tentots' houses consist of four apartments, which are 

 white-washed, and look remarkably neat and clean ; 

 others are still mean and dirty. To every house is at- 

 tached a garden, surrounded with bright green quince 

 hedges, and full of peach and other fruit trees, the 

 bloom of which perfumes the air with its delicious fra- 

 grance. Their grow this so rapid and promising, that, 

 in the cultivation of his garden, many a Hottentot has 

 lost his national character of idleness and sloth, and ac- 

 quired a relish for an active industrious life. The 

 whole settlement is about a mile in length, and a quar- 

 ter of a mile in breadth. The gardens are so numerous 

 and so beautiful, that the whole looks like a city in the 

 midst of a wood. " But in order," says Dr. Lichten- 

 tein, in his Travels through Southern Africa, " to 

 form a just estimate of these excellent men, their man* 

 ner of conducting themselves to the Hottentots must 

 be seen : the mildness, yet dignity with which they 

 instruct them, and the effect which has already l>een 

 produced in improving the condition of their uncivili- 

 zed brethren, is truly admirable. It is the more aston- 

 ishing, since all has been accomplished by persuasion 

 and exhortation : no violence or even harshness has 

 ever been employed." It has been often stated as a 

 circumstance highly honourable to the Moravian mis. 

 sionaries, that in their missions among barbarous tribes, 

 they endeavour to civilize thn before they attempt to 

 christianize them ; but nothing could possibly be more 



contrary to fact. With them Christian instruction is Missions, 

 from the very first the primary object, and is consi- S ~"V""' 

 dered as the grand engine of civilization. Both, in 

 fact, are carried on at the same time, and have mutual- 

 ly a powerful influence in promoting each other, a plan 

 unquestionably much more rational than that which is 

 commonly attributed to them, and for which they have 

 obtained so much credit. In 1819, the new settlement 

 which the Brethren had formed near the borders of 

 Caffraria, was entirely destroyed by the Caffres in the 

 course of their late eruptions into the colony : several 

 of the Hottentots were murdered, and upwards of 600 

 head of cattle belonging to them and the missionaries 

 carried away ; but since the restoration of peace, the 

 Brethren have again returned to that part of the 

 country. 



In 1798, Dr. Vanderkemp, a Dutch physician of con- 

 siderable eminence, and three other young men, were 

 sent by the London Missionary Society to South Afri- 

 ca. In that country this Society has now no fewer 

 than twelve settlements, some of them within the colo- 

 ny of the Cape of Good Hope, others beyond its boun- 

 daries. At these different place*, many thousands of 

 heathen of various nations have enjoyed the benefit of 

 Christian instruction ; and upwards of fifteen hundred 

 have been admitted by baptism into the bosom of the 

 church. Dr. Vanderkemp, and others of the mission- 

 aries, have been censured for neglecting to promote ci- 

 vilization among the people under their care ; but 

 though there appears to have been some foundation for 

 the charge, they were by no means so negligent in this 

 respect as their enemies alleged. As the Hottentots 

 were extremely indolent, it was early a maxim with 

 them to teach them the necessity of industry, by al- 

 lowing them to feel the sorrows of want, and to give 

 them nothing but what they earned by their own la- 

 bour, except such as, through age or sickness, were un- 

 able to work. The beneficial effects of this system was 

 evident in the improved habits of the people, and in 

 the vast increase of their wealth. They not only pos- 

 sess large herds of cattle, sheep, and goats ; but, where 

 it is practicable, have cultivated considerable tracts of 

 land, and planted excellent gardens. Of late years, the 

 missionaries, in consequence of the accusations which 

 were brought against them, have paid more particular 

 attention to the civilization of the people under their 

 care ; and, though they have many obstacles to en- 

 counter, yet in some of the stations the progress of im- 

 provement has been uncommonly rapid. 



In 1804, the Church Missionary Society sent mis- Susoocoun- 

 sionaries to Sierra Leone, with the view of introducing "7- 

 Christianity among the neighbouring Susoos. From 

 several of the chiefs they met with the kindest recep- 

 tion, and the greatest encouragement ; but to others, 

 their proposal of teaching them " good things" seemed 

 very unaccountable, and even almost ridiculous. What 

 they had hitherto known of white men, prepared them 

 to view with surprise and suspicion any desire of Chris- 

 tians to settle among them with a benerelent design. 

 The object to which the missionaries principally direct- 

 ed their attention, was the education of the young, a 

 measure which they pursued on an extensive scale, and 

 with considerable success. But while they prosecuted 

 their labours with disinterestedness and zeal, they had 

 to struggle with difficulties of no ordinary kind, most 

 of them arising out of the iniquitous traffic in slaves. It 

 may appear to us a very extraordinary circuuvUnce 



