cisely state, but it was stated by the individual to whom he related the circumstance, that he entreated him very much to procure a missionary for him; and he added, that if he did not send him a missionary, that the next time he came to see him he would detain him, and make him his missionary.

The natives can scarcely be said to have any religion among them. They have no Priests nor Temples, nor any form of religious worship to oppose Christianity. But they have sorcerers, and rain-makers, and they are believers in witchcraft. The chief difficulties the missionaries have to contend against in their endeavours to bring them over to the truth of the Bible, are-their ignorance, their superstitions, and the plurality of wives which obtains among them. I have never been able to learn that they had any notions of a future state, which they have not derived from the missionaries. The resurrection of the body is a truth as strange to them when first brought to their ears, as it was to the polite Athenians; and they have no idea of any man dying except by the following causes-hunger, the sword, or by witchcraft. Speaking to a Caffer chief one day upon the second coming of Christ, turning suddenly round, he asked-" Where is the promise of his coming?" He at the same time enumerated his ancestors for thirteen generations, naming each of them: and added"Do we not see that since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were ?"

So far as the success of our labours in South Africa is concerned, I shall as much as possible allow the facts to speak for themselves. For the state of the Hottentots before the missions of the London Missionary Society commenced among them, I must refer you to the Transactions of the London Missionary Society, Barrow's Travels, and my "Researches," published when I was lately in England, pleading the cause of the Hottentots.

Till the missions commenced, nothing had been done in South Africa for the improvement of the coloured population; and the shortest and best view that can perhaps be given of the beneficial effects of the missions upon the Hottentots, may be given in the words of a Hottentot belonging to the Missionary Institution of Bethelsdorp, in reply to the question put to him by I. T. Brigge, Esq. and Major Colebrooke-"What have the missionaries done for the Hottentots?" The name of the Hottentot to whom the question was put was Jantjes Spielman; and to the above question his reply was-" What have the missionaries done for the Hottentots? When the missionaries came among us we had no clothing but the filthy sheep skin kaross; now we are clothed in British manufactures. We were without letters; now we can read our Bibles or hear them read to us. We were without any religion; now we worship God in our families. We were without morals; now every man has his own wife. We were given up to licentiousness and drunkenness; now we have among us industry and sobriety. We were without property; now the Hottentots at Bethelsdorp are in possession of fifty wagons and a corresponding number of cattle. We were liable to be shot like wild beasts; and the missionaries stood between us and the bullets of our enemies." Were the same question to be asked the same person or any other Hottentot now, he might greatly enlarge the catalogue. At that period the Hottentots and free people of colour had no protection except at the missionary institutions; and even there, in spite of the efforts of the missionaries, they were subject to the most cruel oppressions from the local authorities of the colony.The condition of the Hottentots in general was much worse than that of the slaves. They were obliged to be in service; the local authorities of the district in which they resided, had their services at their disposal. They were a kind of perquisite of office; they might give them to whom they pleased; under the pretext of providing for their children, they could take them from their parents, and give them away to any one they chose for ten or 15 years. They could not appear in any place at a distance from their master's premises without a pass, and not be liable to be apprehended and punished; and they were liable to all

:

the degrading punishments to which the slaves were subjected, without any of those securities against cruel treatment which the slave has, in the interest his master has in him. From the struggle we have had to sustain, in our attempts to protect the Hottentots from the cruel oppressions to which they were exposed, the Hottentots, and indeed all the people of colour within the colony (the slaves excepted,) are now under the protection of the same laws with the other inhabitants of the colony, whether Dutch or English.

The missionary institutions belonging to the London Missionary Society within the colony are,-Caledon Institution, Pacaltsdorp, Hankey, Bethelsdorp and Theopolis. And what has been said of the change effected upon the Hottentots at Bethelsdorp, is applicable to all of them. Besides the missionary institutions, we have missionaries for the white people and people of colour at the following towns-Paarl, Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Graham's Town, and Graaf Reinet. To the above enumeration we may add the new territory called the Kat River. But of this interesting settlement, and of the success of our labours among the people, I shall have occasion to speak more fully, when I come to speak of the importance of a Native Agency. To our missionary stations within the colony we must also add Komaggas and Steinkopff, on the western coast of Africa, near the mouth of the Orange or Great River. Of these two stations I shall have occasion to speak when I come to notice the principle on which missionary stations should be selected. Our missionary stations in Caffraria, on the eastern side of the colony, are Macoma's Kraal and Buffalo River. On the N. and N. E. side of the colony they are-the Bushman station on the Caledon River, Philippolis, Campbell, Griqua Town, and Kuruman, or Lattakoo. The Griqua mission includes Philippolis, Campbell, and Griqua Town.

Our missions among the Griquas present at this moment a scene of very deep interest. When Mr. Anderson began his mission among that people, they were in as bad a state as the Hottentots when Dr. Vanderkemp began his labours among them. He wandered about with them five years before he saw any fruit of his labours, or could prevail upon them to lay aside their wandering habits, and locate themselves in the country where they are now settled. Their history is a very interesting one, and full of instruction to missionaries and missionary societies: but I cannot do more than notice a single feature or two of it at present. This people may be about 4000 in number: they are governed by the chiefs of Campbell, of Philippolis, and of Griqua Town: they are situated on the northern bank of the Great River; their territory extends about 250 or 300 miles in length by 140 miles in breadth; and they have under their protection and subject to them 5000 Korannas, 1000 Bushmen, and perhaps 25,000 Bechuanas. The Korannas fear them, and acknowledge their superiority; and the Bushmen and Bechuanas look to them for protection. The greater part of the Bechuanas who are living under their protection, are the Bechuanas who were plundered of their cattle by those people to whom I have already adverted, as having been excited to these deeds of mischief by the colonial traders and others, who have been in the habit of furnishing them with brandy, &c. in exchange for their stolen cattle.

At the Missionary station at Philippolis these people (the Griquas) have 35,000 sheep, 3,000 head of oxen, and 500 horses. On the last two Sabbaths I spent at that station, a place of worship that contains nearly 500 people was very well filled; the people were as well dressed as any country congregation I have seen within the colony; and there were 32 family wagons at the church doors. Andreas Waterboer, the chief of Griqua Town, is a very superior man; he is truly pious and very active; and the cause is in a very flourishing state at that station. Ever since the Griqua mission commenced, the Griquas have been the bulwark of the colony on the northern and north-eastern frontier: and they have saved the colonial government the expense of at least 500 soldiers;

they would have been obliged to employ them to protect that part of the colony, but for the Griquas. All the sensible part of the Boers acknowledge that they could not enjoy a sound night's sleep if it were not for the Griquas, who they consider as placed between them and danger. On my late journey I was empowered by the Griquas to solicit that their country should be taken within the colony. They have rendered the greatest services to the colony; they are at this moment of the greatest importance to the colony, as the peace and order of that part of the frontier is dependent upon them. They are willing to pay taxes like the other colonists, and to be subject to the laws of the colony as they are, on the ground that their lands are secured to them. And yet I am sorry to say that the colonial government declines the proposal. There are many here that would rather destroy the people and take their country, than see them under colonial laws, and their country forming a part of the colony. It is not long since a petition signed by 1800 Boers was sent to the colonial government, requesting the government to put them in possession of the Griqua country about Philippolis. The Griqua country has as good a right to be considered a Christian country as the colony of the Cape of Good Hope; and we see here by the labours of our missionaries a new country brought within the pale of Christianity. In the success of the gospel and the efficacy of our schools among the Griquas, we see what we owe to Christianity; and how the gospel spread in past ages over the nations of Europe. The Griquas at the commencement of our missions among them were as ignorant and defenceless as the Korannas, the Bushmen, and the Bechuanas around them, and under their protection, and such is the condition to which this handful of people have been raised by the elevating influence of Christian doctrine and Christian education, that while the people under their protection are perhaps five times their own number, their strength and courage and discipline is an occasion of jealousy with the colonists, while they are at the same time its defence along a frontier about 300 miles in extent.

This statement will show you that we are not to estimate the success of the labours of our missionaries by the numbers that are received into Christian fellowship at our missionary stations. The principles upon which our missionaries go, in their admission of converts from among the heathen to the Lord's Table, exclude a large proportion from that ordinance that would be received under another system. There are not perhaps 150 Griquas who are admitted to the Lord's Supper; and yet the whole of the people bearing that designation, to the amount of 4000, have renounced polygamy, bear the Christian name, and discover an acquaintance with Christianity, and have generally speaking an outward conduct not less worthy of the Gospel of Christ than any portion of an English or Scotch peasantry of the same extent, in any of the most favoured parts of Scotland or England with which I am acquainted.

Whatever may be said in favour of strictness in the admission of members to the Lord's Table in England or America, has with us a double weight. The heathen have scarcely any other method to enable them to judge of the nature of genuine religion, if the criterion which arises from the Christian character in those we receive as fellow Christians from among themselves, is taken from them. This is a standard they can appreciate and feel, if they are incapable of understanding or feeling any thing else that may be said to them on the subject.

The great body of the Bechuanas in the Griqua country we have not yet been able to do much for: but something is doing for them at Griqua Town. About 16 of them have lately made a credible profession of the truth, and have been received into the church at that station.

The Kuruman, or Lattakoo, is the only mission we have in what is properly speaking the Bechuana country. Mr. Moffat and his fellow labourers had to wait long for any appearance of fruit: but the Lord has been pleased of late

B

to bless their labours, and a church consisting of about 24 members has been recently formed. The Kuruman is about 40 miles south of what is called Old Lattakoo, and about 8 or 9 miles from New Lattakoo, the place to which Mateebe removed for greater security from the invasion of the Mantatees. It was chosen on account of a fine stream of water, which the missionaries have by great labour turned to account, by employing it for the purpose of irrigating the valley through which it flows. By going to reside in this valley, the missionaries separated themselves in a measure from the great body of the tribe among whom they were labouring: but it was expected that the people would all follow them, and take up their residence beside them, when the advantages of the situation should be seen. Owing to various causes, this expecta. tion has not been fully realized: but I consider the missionaries justified in what they did in this affair. Perhaps it might have been better, if like Anderson with the Griquas, they had remained with the chiefs and the body of the people, till the power of religion had been felt as it was among the Griquas, before they had decided on the commencement of the plan on which they acted.

In accordance with your wishes I shall now attempt to give you a brief view of the Bechuana country, and of the country in general beyond the Colony, and the Griqua country; that you may be able to judge how far it may present to you an inviting field for your missionaries to assist us in cultivating.

When Mr. Campbell visited Lattakoo and the country beyond it, he found the country, as far as he travelled, inhabited by 8 or 9 separate tribes bearing the general designation of Bechuanas. For any particulars as to the state of the Bechuanas at that period, I must refer you to Mr. Campbell's journals, including both tours. Till 1823 those tribes, speaking the same language and having the same customs, appear to have been possessors of the country they then inhabited, from a period so remote that they had no tradition among them of any other people having possessed the country before them. They had never had the Christian volume to expand their minds; and any knowledge they had of Divine things or of science was indigenous. The state of civilization among them accorded with the advantages and disadvantages of their situation, and had arrived at that pitch, beyond which it was impossible perhaps in their circumstances (supposing them to have remained shut out from the rest of the world as they then were) to carry it. On the south they had the Bushman country, the Korannas and the Great River, and the Griquas, between them and the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. On the West between them and the coast by the great Calagary desert. On their northern boundary lies a great lake which they describe as unknown as to its extent, and having waves like the sea. And on the south and south-east lie the Zoolahs, a people we shall soon have occasion to notice more particularly. To strangers this people were always remarked as kind and hospitable; the reception our missionaries have received from them gives a favourable view of their character: and the French Missionaries, Lemue, Rolland, and Pelissier, who lately went to settle among the Baharutsi, a tribe of Bechuanas who resided about 15 days journey south-east of Lattakoo, spoke of the prospect of their mission in very flattering terms. Respecting the vices and virtues of this people I cannot at present say much; but with the vices common to people in their circumstances they had many good points, which I cannot now dwell upon, in their general character. Like other nations or tribes in Africa they had their wars among themselves; but their wars appear to have been carried on with very little bloodshed. In their battles they never came to close quarters; and in stealing cattle from each other, they depended more upon their dexterity in thieving than upon their courage in open conflict. In 1823 the country of this people was invaded by a nation, who to the number of perhaps 80,000, was precipitated upon them en masse, and who bore down every thing before them, and moved onward till they were met by the Griquas be

longing to our missionary station, by whom they were repelled and driven back. When this people first made their appearance in the Bechuana country, it was unknown from whence they proceeded: but we have since then become acquainted with their history, and we have found that they proceeded, not from the north, as was then supposed, but from the south and southeast; and that when they came into the Bechuana country they were retreating before Dingaan, a powerful Zoolah Chief, who exercises his authority over the eastern coast of Africa from Port Natal to De la Goa Bay.

The people called Zoolahs are subject to two powerful chiefs, Dingaan and Mosalekatsi. Chaka, the late brother of Dingaan, appears to have extended his authority over all the other chiefs of that people.-But on the death of Mosalekatsi's father, the young man by the advice of his counsellors threw off all allegiance to Chaka: and so far as I have been able to obtain information, the territory of Mosalekatsi appears to extend from behind De la Goa Bay, to the 23d or 22d degree of latitude, immediately behind the Portuguese territory in that quarter. The Zoolahs are originally from the same stock with the Bechuanas; they speak the same language, and have many of the same customs; but they resemble their brethren the Caffers on the eastern frontier of the colony more than the tribes farther in the interior. Like the Caffers they go naked, and they are the most warlike and courageous people we have heard of in Africa in modern times. Mosalekatsi was visited by Mr. Moffat and Mr. Pellissier, and both speak of him as an extraordinary man. To an address the most mild and winning he unites great capacity for war, great ambition, and like many other ambitious conquerors, he shows none of that weakness which allows any feelings of compassion to come between him and the attainment of his object. His mode of government is as peculiar as any other feature in his character. His ambition is to be a great king, he has 32 African kings or chiefs under him. When he subdues a nation or tribe, he takes full possession of the country, and divides it among his warriors. The old people he generally destroys; the young he preserves for future service; the boys are sent to his cattle posts or military camps to be trained up for war: the girls he disposes of in a similar manner, to be kept as rewards to his young soldiers. Every acre of land, every head of cattle, and every man, woman, and child in the country are the property of the king. The young women go perfectly naked till they are given in marriage, no one can have a wife till the king is pleased to give him one; before marriage no intercourse is allowed between the sexes; to attempt the chastity of a young woman is to incur the penalty of death, and to be accused is to be found guilty. The young men are allowed to see the young women, but that is all; and when they are exhibited to them before they go out to battle, they are reminded that those are the rewards that Mosalekatsi confers upon the brave. No young man can have a wife from the king till he has distinguished himself in battle; and when he receives a wife from the hand of the king, he has cattle and land allowed him with her as her dowry. Every subsequent display of courage in battle is rewarded with an additional wife, and an addition of cattle. With some little variation the same practice is said to obtain among the Zoolahs under Dingaan. Whether the Zoolahs have improved upon the Mahomedan paradise, or whether Mahomed borrowed his idea on that subject from the ancestors of the Zoolahs, it may be difficult to determine, but the Zoolah chiefs, particularly Mosalekatsi, exhibit the system in greater perfection than it was in the mind or the power of Mahomed to show its workings. The false prophet promised his followers their paradise beyond the grave, but Mosalekatsi holds it up to them as a reward which they are to enjoy in the present life. To the most powerful motive that any tyrant could place before the human mind in the embruted state of human nature as it is found without religion, Mosalekatsi adds another, as terrible by its restraining, as the