5l8 "GIVE US REST AND PEACE." 



were cut by the cords, and he was quite lame from the 

 blows he had received. 



These villagers supplied us abundantly with ground- 

 nuts, maize, and corn. All expressed great satisfaction 

 on hearing my message, as I directed their attention to 

 Jesus as their Saviour, whose word is " Peace on earth and 

 good will to men." They called out, " We are tired of 

 night ; give us rest and sleep." They of course did not 

 understand the full import of the message, but it was no 

 wonder that they eagerly seized the idea of peace. Their 

 country has been visited by successive scourges during 

 the last half-century, and they are now " a nation 

 scattered and peeled." When Sebituane came, the cattle 

 were innumerable, and yet these, were the remnants only, 

 left by a chief called Pingola, who came from the north- 

 east. He swept across the whole territory inhabited by 

 his cattle-loving countrymen, devouring oxen, cows, and 

 calves, without retaining a single head. He seems to 

 have been actuated by a simple love of conquest, and is an 

 instance of what has occurred two or three times in every 

 century in this country, from time immemorial. A man 

 of more energy or ambition than his fellows rises up and 

 conquers a large territory, but as soon as he dies, the power 

 he built up is gone, and his reign, having been one of 

 terror, is not perpetuated. This, and the want of litera- 

 ture, have prevented the establishment of any great empire 

 in the interior of Africa. Pingola effected his conquests, 

 by carrying numbers of smith's bellows with him. The 

 arrow-heads were heated before shooting into a town, 

 and when a wound was inflicted on either man or beast, 

 great confusion ensued. After Pingola came Sebituane, 

 and after him the Matabele of Mosilikatse ; and these 

 successive inroads have reduced the Batoka to a state, 

 in which they naturally rejoice at the prospect of deliver- 

 ance and peace. 



We spent Sunday the ioth at Monze's village, who is 

 considered the chief of all the Batoka we have seen. He 

 lives near the hill Kisekise, whence we have a view of at 

 least thirty miles of open undulating country, covered 

 with short grass, and having but few trees. These open 

 lawns would in any other land, as well as this, be termed 

 pastoral, but the people have now no cattle, and only a 

 few goats and fowls. They are located all over the country 

 in small villages, and cultivate large gardens. They are 



