" If a dog could do as you have done, I should kick it.
cannot speak to you any more to-day."

So once they found all their people busily shelling
peas, which turned out to be stolen. When detected,
some laughed, but some looked ashamed. Chigunda,
the chief, begged them off from punishment, generously
refusing to have the peas. The Bishop therefore paid
the price in cloth, and gave the peas to the goats, warning
them he would send away any one who so offended again.
Another time three of their people robbed a Nj^asa man



THE SHIRE HIGHLANDS



27



of a handsome brass bangle. The Bishop offered them
the sors tertia of the old Winchester rule — a whipping —
which was gratefully accepted by two, while the third
was sent away. However, in two days he returned and
begged for his flogging, which he duly received.

The day's life followed a certain rule at Magomero.
Rising at 6, there was a roll-call of natives at 6.30, which
frightened them at first. The native breakfast was served
in the open air, the boys arranged in circles, school-
feast fashion, each having a literal " handful " of porridge.
At 7, came mattins, and at 8, breakfast of goat's flesh,
yams or sweet potatoes, Indian corn porridge, and
a loaf, when it could be had, and tea or coffee with
goat's milk. All then went to work, the natives having
tasks assigned them when not engaged in their gardens.

Mr. Scudamore drilled the boys, seventy-seven in
number. They had a drum made of the skin of an
elephant's ear, and they were taught to march in step
and go through sundry exercises, ending with a plunge
into a river at the word of command, by which they
certainly learnt " heaven's first law " of order and
obedience. Mr. Rowley undertook the purveying — no
small task, with two hundred to provide for ; and also
took some very elementary classes. Mr. Waller, assisted
at first by Dr. Meller of the Expedition, acted as surgeon,
and had in truth much practice on the terrible wounds of
the slaves. He writes of the natives : —

" They bear pain so well — little fellows submit to the
cautery without wincing. One poor fellow had such a heel
as I never saw. He was struck in it by accident with a fish
spear ; the whole of the tendon is gone, and the bone decaying
beneath. In this state he was driven some thirty miles



28 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITIES' MISSION

by the slavers, and came back forty with us. He never
complains."

The Bishop and his companions took classes for read-
ing and teaching as far as they were able. Dinner
followed at i, with a rest. Then work from 3 to 5 ;
tea at 6, and prayers about 7.30. On Sundays and
Festivals Holy Communion was celebrated, and gradually
they managed to set apart a room as a chapel.

But a church was their great desire, and on October i,
the anniversary of the farewell service at Canterbury,
Bishop Mackenzie solemnly set up the pillar of the hoped-
for church, a good-sized tree, felled by Scudamore,
calling it the " first and comer post of the Church of
St. Paul." That church was never to be built, in spite
of the bright hopes which clustered around its beginning.
All but two or three of those who should have ministered
and worshipped there were removed — how soon ! — to a
" House not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Forty-five years later, not on that exact spot, but in
sight of Mackenzie's grave at Chiromo, was erected
a church in honour of the great Missionary Apostle,
and in remembrance of the first Missionary Bishop.



CHAPTER III

WAR, FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE

Troublous times — The Bishop's last voyage — Bishop Mackenzie dies
— Deaths of other Missionaries — Magomero and Morambala
abandoned.

THE arrival of the first recruits in November caused
great joy to the Mission. These were the Rev. H.
de Wint Burrup, Dr. Dickinson, as medical officer, and
Richard Clark, a tanner and shoemaker. Mrs. Burrup
had been left at Bishop's Court, Cape Town, to follow
later with Miss Mackenzie and Jessie Lennox, a servant
devoted to the Mackenzies. Mr. Burrup arrived
at Chibisa's, where Livingstone was anchored, in a
marvellously short time, having pushed on with four
natives, all the latter part of the way, in a small canoe.
The Bishop, who had come down to see Living-
stone, took him back to Magomero, and some fears
were felt for the others who were behind with no
quinine.

" But," says Mr. Waller, " while chatting away at break-
fast (November 29), we heard two guns fired, and a very few
moments assured us of the coming of Dr. Dickinson and
Clark. I was quickly across the river, when a hearty ' All
right, sir,' from Charles, and the sight of two new faces among

29



30 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITIES' MISSION

a multitude of black men bearing burdens told me all our
hopes and fears for their safety might now be cast to the
winds, and my hurrah joined wth the others that came across
to welcome them.

" ' For these and all His other mercies, but especially
for this mercy, God's holy Name be praised,' cried the
Bishop."

For thus began that stream of successors, which,
though sometimes a slender stream indeed, has, in God's
good providence, never ceased to flow from our land
for the watering of our Master's heritage among the
heathen.

Warfare, meantime, had not ceased. The Yao and
Nyasa races were ever fighting for space to live
in, and for slaves, and once the slavers attacked Mr.
Procter and Mr. Scudamore, and nearly killed them, as
they were peacefully trying to open a path from Magomero
to where the Ruo joins the Shire.

War brought famine in its train. With the enemy
in their land, many people had neglected to plant and
sow. They were now running short of pro\dsions, and
in a short expedition made by the Bishop and Mr. Scuda-
more to punish the village which had attacked their
friends, they foimd starving people. Starvation was
beginning to bring on fever, to which all the Mission party
fell victims in their turn ; on January 3, 1862, the Bishop
and Mr. Burrup started on their last journey. They
went to meet, as they hoped, the Pioneer, with the ladies
of the party, and the stores which were badly needed,
the rendezvous being Malo, at the confluence of the Shire,
and its eastern tributary, the Ruo, now the bound ar^'^ of
the Nyasaland Protectorate.








j^"^' ^^m



THE MURCHISON CATARACTS.



J^ .




HOUSE BOA I.



THE RIVER SHIRE



WAR, FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE 31

What followed must be given chiefly in the Bishop's
own words : —

" January 3, 1862. — This is the first time I have written
in the name of this year. May it be to us and to you a year
of greater grace and blessing than the last, and so may we
abound more and more unto the coming of our Lord and
Saviour. How curious sapng this to you, and probably the
year will be far gone before you read it ! But you are
sa5dng the same things, and God hears the prayers of both,
and will shower down on each the showers of His blessing in
answer to the distant prayer, just as the rain rises from the
distant ocean, and falls on the thirsty ground where He has
appointed it. . . .

" January 8, — On Thursday, January 2, I got to Mago-
mero. . . . We started next day. We have estabhshed the
custom of having a few prayers at our church before start-
ing, and after the return of any of our party on a journey.
So we had prayers for those that remained and for those who
were going, and we set off. It rained heavily, and we had
hard work to get the Makololo into motion ; from that time
till this morning we have had almost incessant rain. . . . We
have seen the sun to-day, and this is a very beautiful place :
a village perched on the top of a cliff overlooldng the stream,
which is now swollen much, and commanding a view of the
valley of the Shir^, or at least its lowest level, extending
four or five miles to the eastern hills. The valley itself, in a
freer sense, stretches many a mile behind us to the west, —
fine fertile land, studded with shrubs and trees, and apparently
fit for any cultivation. I suppose, however, it is not so healthy
as the higher lands.

" The men of this village are old friends most of them,
and all looks bright. I have been having many a laugh with
them already. Thus it is that God gives us bright spots in
our hves at the darkest, and how often bright tracts stretching
over much of it !



32 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITIES' MISSION

" January 9. — I read Burrup this morning the Keble for
xxvth Sunday after Trinity. I do so admire the last verses. ^

" Monday, January 13. — Our suspense is at an end. We
got here, the Ruo mouth, on Saturday, to learn that Living-
stone had passed down not many days before. This, though
. . . involving our staying here a good while, seemed
good news to me, inasmuch as we have not detained him by
arriving ten days after the time. We had, on the whole, a
prosperous journey down. The chief at Chibisa's undertook
to send us down to a chief, Turuma, where we should be likely
to get a larger boat. . . . Accordingly on Thursday we
set off at three, and got to Turuma's in half an hour. It was
delicious, the floating down that broad, green banked river.
The uncertainty as to the length of the voyage gave it a
dreaminess, like some parts of Southey's Thalaha. But,
like Thalaha, our difficulties were not at an end. Turuma
refused to see us, and declined to hire his boat to us. . , .
Just then two of the Makololo, Zomba and Siseho, joined us,
having walked down the bank. These (with Charlie) under-
took to go down with us. So off we started, wondering
at the way God was leading us. . . . Next morning



' ' The promise of the morrow

Is glorious on that eve,
Dear as the holy sorrow

When good men cease to live ;
When, brightening ere it die away,

Mounts up their altar flame,
Still tending with intenser ray

Toward heaven whence first it came.

" Say not it dies, that glory,

'Tis caught unquenched on high ;
Those saint-like brows so hoary

Shall wear it in the sky.
No smile is like the smile of death.

When, all good musings past
Rise wafted with the parting breath.

The sweetest thought the last."



IV AR, FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE 33

we set off early. Burnip was far from well. ... At night
we drew to the shore. By this time the mosquitoes were
very troublesome. One of the men said, ' We are going on.'
It was better, they thought, to work by moonlight than
to be eaten up by insects. After half an hour we found
ourselves stranded on the flooded bank. . . .

" In a few minutes Zomba, the bowman, gave the signal
for a start, and off we were again in silence. This time we
were sooner in coming to grief. A sudden turn, which our
bowman did not see in time, landed us again on a point where
the stream parted in two ; the two men in the stern jumped
out, up to their middle ; I followed immediately, Burrup
after me. But in vain ; the canoe continued to fill, and we
began to pull out our things . . . till we could get the
canoe raised and baled out. Then the things were put in
again, all soaking, and we wet up to our middles. . . . We
were thankful our losses had been no worse, though it was
not till next day we remembered that all our medicine was
gone, and our spare powder. Fortunately the night was far
from cold, or we might have taken harm ; as it is, Burrup
is none the better for it. I think I have escaped any ill
consequences. . . .

" In the meantime we have been led to a very nice village.
A benign, oldish chief, Chikanza, with a large population,
occupying, I should think, about a hundred huts, willing that
we should remain here. ... I have my hopes that our
being here in this way may be intended to prepare the village
for being one of the stations to be worked by our Mission
steamer (the University boat), for which I hope to write by
this mail.

" So matters stand at present. Burrup is very low, and
we have no medicine. Quinine, which we ought to be taking
every day, there is none. But He who brought us here can
take care of us without human means. If we should be down
at once, Charlie will take care of us. The texts in Greek
which we have learned day by day lately have been



34



HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITIES* MISSION



Romans ii. 29 ; iii. 21-23 ; vi. 23 ; vii. 24, 25 ; viii. 38, 39 ;
X. 13-15. . . . Good-bye for the present."

Such was his farewell to earth, and had he known
that it was such, he could not have chosen more touching
texts than the last two, — one of quiet confidence for him-
self, the other of hope for the Mission. 1 One more letter,
dated on the i6th, speaks of his plans of a Mission steamer,
such as now plies on Lake Nyasa among a kindred race.




THE HUT IN WHICH BISHOP MACKENZIE DIED

We know little of the last fortnight. The Bishop
soon fell ill, for want of the lost quinine. Mr. Burrup
was too ill then tb help him much, and far too weak
afterwards to give much account of the Bishop's last
days. He was mostly unconscious, or else speaking
wandering words of being safe at Magomero with his
sisters, for whom his loving heart had so longed. The



1 " For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor princi-
palities,'' etc. ; and, " How beautiful are the feet," etc.



WAR, FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE 35

last words he is known to have spoken were to tell
the faithful Makololo that " Jesus was coming to fetch
him away." For the last week he was quite un-
conscious, and in this state, on the morning of
January 31, Mr. Burrup had the grief of carrying the
dying Bishop out to die in another hut, which was of
less importance to the chief Chikanza. The natives
believe the spirit haunts the place where it leaves the
body, and shut up a hut after a death. The Bishop's
spirit passed awaj^ at 5 p.m., and the same night, weak
as he was, Mr. Burrup (aided by the Makololo) was
compelled to bury him.

A grave was dug on the left bank of the Shire, under
a large acacia tree, and in the darkness of night Mr.
Burrup said as much as he could recollect of the Burial
Service. And thus was laid to rest the first English
missionary Bishop of modern times, and the first Bishop
of the Universities' Mission, after just one year's work
in the country which he believed God had given him for
an heritage. The possession of a burying place was all
he was to have ; yet that burying place has surely been
the lode-star of mission effort. That apparently lost
battle, fought by the brave little advanced piquet, has
stirred up more " to follow in their train " than any
other story of mission life.

Mr. Burrup at once returned with the sorrowful news
to Magomero, and in three weeks' time he too had suc-
cumbed, and was buried at Magomero. He might have
been saved had his friends been able to give him the
nourishing food and stimulant he needed, but which he
unmurmuringly went without.

Meantime, Captain Wilson, of H.M.S. Gorgon, brought



36 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITIES' MISSION

Miss Mackenzie and Mrs. Burrup as far as Chibisa's,
before they heard the sad news, which the natives at
Malo had concealed in fear of being held responsible.
Since their dear ones now needed them no more, it was
decided that they should at once return with Captain
Wilson to the Cape, Miss Mackenzie being too ill with
fever to realize all that had befallen them. But though
she was not to do the work so sorely needed for the native
women, Anne Mackenzie went home from the grave of
her brother to work for missions as faithfully in England
as others were doing in Africa. Not only as the founder
of the Mackenzie Memorial Mission in Zululand, but as
the " Providence " of many another Mission, for whose
needs she collected, and with whose workers she kept up
a cheering correspondence — the name of Anne Mackenzie
was a household word for fifteen more years.

Captain Wilson set up a simple cross, to mark the
Bishop's grave, of materials at hand — the upright being
a thick reed or pole, five feet high, with a bit of board
nailed across, and the staves of a barrel heaped up round
the base.

The Bishop had left a memorandum at Magomero
providing that the senior priest, or faiUng a priest, the
senior deacon, or, failing him, the senior layman, should
take temporary charge of the Mission ; and thus Mr.
Procter became head of a singularly united band of
fellow- workers. The Bishop also ordered several books
to be sent home to his family ; among these his Conse-
cration Bible, in which each of his consecrators had, at
his request, written a text. This Bible, with the watch
which stopped at the fatal immersion in the river, are
now in the museum in the crypt of St. Augustine's



WAR, FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE 37

College at Canterbury, that sacred spot whence the
Mission had set forth.

Three sore evils had now fallen on the Shire High-
lands : war, for the Yao were steadily moving on with
the certain advance of a strong nation ; famine, the
result of drought and of war, for not only did the wretched
natives try to live on the unripe corn and fruits, but by
various misunderstandings the necessary stores failed
to reach them ; and, as a sure consequence, pestilence
was slaying its thousands. The Mission therefore decided
to leave Magomero and the grave of Mr. Burrup, and,
taking with them (of the released slaves) all the children,
and such of the grown people as wished to come, they
marched, in April, to Chibisa's. Here, finding that Dr.
Livingstone's Makololo followers — who for some fault
had been dismissed by him with only guns in their hands —
had established themselves and grown rich by marauding,
the workers separated themselves, and built a village
on the opposite bank, only fifty feet above the
stream.

Here a small rough church of reeds was erected,
with a gable end and a little porch. Two boxes, one on
the other, covered with red velvet, formed the altar.
The floor was laid with reed mats, and the seats were
their store boxes. Clark, the shoemaker, writes : —

" It being my province to superintend our men in their
work, the honour fell on me of building the first place
devoted to the worship of God in this part of Africa.
My prayer is, that this may not be the last by many built
in this land for the same great object, but I hope they may
be more worthy of being styled churches than the present.
The structure was begun and finished in five days. I must



38 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITIES' MISSION

tell you that we have no church bell, and that the substitute
for one is a native drum."

These words should be remembered now that many
churches, all better than Clark's poor effort, are already
dedicated in Central Africa ; and still more should they
be remembered, when in the future far more splendid
buildings may take the place of these ; for surely none
will be more worthy than the church where these devoted
men worshipped God in their day of sore trial :

" Nor here the faithful eye can fail

The brightening view to catch,
That opened from that structure frail

Of wicker work and thatch.
For dear is e'en the first rude art

That Holy Faith inspires :
The whole is augured from the part,

Achievements from desires."

Good work was done here among their reduced
number — about fifty of their people having died from
famine and disease. But the neighbourhood of the
marauding Makololo, who were identified with the English,
caused difficulties. These people were afterwards sternly
rebuked by Livingstone, and have since grown into a
great tribe, very friendly to the English.

Before the end of the year, the people of the land
were living on roots. From this time the mission records
are a heart-rending accomit of endeavours to supply even
their own people with sufficient food. " Wild-looking
men, worn almost to skeletons, and with cords tied round
their waists to lessen the pangs of hunger, roamed about,
grubbing up roots, until, unable to go on any longer,
they sank down and died." Before January half the
inhabitants of the Shire Valley had died of starvation.



WAR, FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE 39

The missionaries undertook long journeys to get food,
and their own sufferings were great.
Mr. Scudamore fell ill.

" He was admirably fitted for his work," writes Bishop
Harvey Goodwin, of Carlisle, "cheerful, unselfish, well-judging,
and appears to have been specially dear to Bishop Mackenzie,
and in many respects not unlike him. No doubt the fever
took hold on a constitution injured by unsuitable food. He
became delirious, and on New Year's Day he passed away,
murmuring, ' There remaineth a rest.' "

Mr. Rowley writes : —

" The Southern Cross was shining brightly over the hut
in which he lay, and though my heart was sorrowful, I thought
of the Cross of Calvary and was comforted."

Another grave was dug by the Shire, and the natives
mourned for their friend. He had mastered the language
sooner than any of the party.

Early in 1863, soon after a cheering visit from Mr.
Thornton, the geologist, the Cape men, Charles, William,
and Job, returned to Cape Town. They were not now
needed as interpreters, and it was thought advisable that
they should go back to South Africa.

Alas ! another of the Mission band was to be taken.
Brave and hard-working Dr. Dickinson, to whom almost
every member of the Mission owed his life, succumbed
in March. Mr, Procter prayed with him, and he followed
every word, saying, almost with his latest breath, "Lord
Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner." He was laid beside
Mr. Scudamore.

" They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in
their death they were not divided."



40 HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITIES' MISSION

Immediately after this, Dr. Livingstone and Dr.
Kirk paid them a visit, and saved the Ufe of Clark, the
church builder, who, however, had to go back to England,
but only to return to the Cape Colony, where he was
ordained in 1875.

The Mission party now wrote word to the Metropolitan
that if help and fresh stores, especially of animal food,
did not reach them by June 15, they should feel compelled
to abandon the country. By that time, however, things
looked brighter ; the native com had grown, peace was
restored, and, better than all, the new Bishop, Dr. Tozer,
was on his way, with three clergy and three artisans.
Before the end of June he arrived, and after much con-
sultation, decided on removing the Mission to Mount
Morambala, sending Mr. Procter, who had quite broken
down, at once to England. Mr. Rowley was also obliged,
by fever, to return with him. Dr. Livingstone still
clung to his behef in the Shir6 Highlands, and no doubt
he was so far right, as that Morambala could never
become a base of operations.

But when the time came for Mr. Waller to leave the
Shir6, he could not bring himself to abandon the people
who had trusted to the Mission. To take them all to
Morambala was impossible. So he did a brave and wise
thing. He sent to the dreaded Yao chief, Kapene, who
now possessed all the highlands, and said, " Come down
and speak to us." Kap6ne came, with his fifty mighty
men well armed. Mr. Waller told him why they had
interfered with his people, and explained how terribly
the slave trade hurt all the African races. Then he asked
Kapene to protect the people left behind by the Mission,
and who ^vished to become his villagers. Kapene said



WAR, FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE 41

they should be as his own children, and that as long as
he could protect himself he would protect them. And
he kept his word.

Finally Mr. Waller, on his sole responsibility (for
Bishop Tozer could not undertake it), brought down the
few helpless people and orphans who had none to care
for them to the foot of Morambala, and at length brought
about twenty boys and one girl to Cape Town, placing
the boys in the famiUes of Mr. Lightfoot's coloured
congregation, who adopted them with that great and
unselfish generosity which is one feature of the African
character.

The girl was Daoma, the Uttle one whom Bishop
Mackenzie had carried on his shoulder. She was
received by Miss Arthur, at St. George's Orphanage,
and was baptized in the cathedral by the name Anne
Rebecca. Never was a good deed better rewarded.
Anne Daoma grew up a dear, good, gentle girl. Some
years later, when Miss Arthur opened a day school
for the very poor children around her, Anne was at
once made infant schoolmistress. When Miss Arthur
fell into ill-health, and had a difficulty in getting
English helpers, she wrote warmly of Anne as one of
her best assistants. Aime is now mistress, and lives at
the Orphanage, the only home she can remember.

" If only one soul were won for Christ, our labour
would be amply repaid." How often we hear such words