CHAPTER XI
PIONEERING IN ZOMBO: PERILS AND PROVIDENCES. 1898-1899
Hitherto the events recorded in this book have been arranged, more or less strictly, in chronological order. At this point I consult my own convenience and that of the reader by slight departure from the order of time, and group together in one chapter the facts concerning the initiation of the work in Kibokolo, Zombo. The story is one of the romances of the Baptist Mission, and an illustration of the manner in which Providence ordains that events, seemingly adverse, shall subserve the progress of the good cause. Upon their first visit to Kibokolo Mr. and Mrs. Lewis endured indescribable insult, were riotously mobbed, threatened with death, and probably only saved from it by calm fearlessness, which inspired their persecutors with a secret awe. On their return journey, Mr. Lewis was enabled to render signal friendly service to certain fellow-townsmen of the people who had driven him and his wife away, and foresaw that good might come of it. A few months later a deputation arrived in San Salvador and begged him to come and settle as a friend among the people who had been thirsty for his blood. With her own pen Mrs. Lewis wrote a journal, extending to sixty pages, of the first pioneering journey, made in June, 1898. Unfortunately that is lost. But happily a vivid account written by Mr. Lewis is available, and I give the story as he wrote it and as it appeared in the pages of the Missionary Herald.
“Many of the friends at home have been already interested in the proposal to establish a Comber Memorial Station in the Zombo country, in memory of that devoted family who have laid down their lives in the service of Christ in Africa. The wonderful story of the labours of the brethren and sisters who bore that noble name, with their whole-hearted devotion to the Congo Mission, is to us who are now on the field much more than a memory—it is an inspiration to go forward in the same work, and fills us with hope for the future, knowing that their labours and ours cannot be in vain in the Lord. How Thomas Comber and the rest of them would rejoice with us to-day were they permitted to gather in the ripened fruit of their early toil in this land; and how they would hail with delight the prospect of carrying forward the banner of the Cross right into the long-neglected country of the Zombos. We have already gathered in some of Christ’s lambs at Makuta, where Thomas Comber was shot at and wounded on that memorable journey when he and John Hartland had to abandon their project of making that their route to the Upper Congo. Now the country is open for us to penetrate much further into that dark region, and we can see God’s finger clearly directing us to go forward and possess the land in the name of the Saviour of the whole world. To us it seems peculiarly fitting that we honour the memory of the beloved name of the Combers by occupying that dark and hitherto wholly neglected district.
“At the request of the Committee, Mrs. Lewis and myself made a journey into the Zombo country in the months of June and July, with a view of ascertaining the suitability or otherwise of the place for a mission station. We were well received in most parts, but in some places we were regarded with much suspicion, and the people were very much afraid of Europeans. Until recently no white man had settled among the Zombos within the Portuguese territory, and now there are only two Portuguese—one a trader and the other a Government official. Even these have settled close on the borders, and they are the only representatives of civilisation at present. There are no missionaries anywhere near Zombo, and the work naturally falls upon our Society. Besides, the Zombo language being to all practical purposes the same as that spoken at San Salvador, we consider it doubly incumbent upon us as a Mission to establish ourselves among these people without any further delay.
“I, therefore, confidently appeal to the many friends at home for their prayerful sympathy and practical support in this new forward movement. Let me say at once that we need £1,000 to build temporary and permanent stations, and that we expect to receive this sum in special gifts to be devoted to the erection of the Comber Memorial Station. We are anxious to complete this work without in any way being a burden to the general fund of the Society. Many friends have already intimated their intention of contributing to this special fund; and we feel sure that there are many more in all parts of the country who will co-operate in this matter, and enable us to raise up a living and lasting memorial to those who lived, laboured, and died for the evangelisation of Africa.
“Zombo is a name given to an extensive tract of country lying to the east of San Salvador and about a hundred miles distant. The name is often applied to a wider area than that occupied by that branch of the Congo family known as Zombos. Zombo proper has an area of over three thousand square miles and is very thickly populated. From native reports we were prepared to see large townships, but we were astonished to find so many people everywhere. Nowhere on the Lower Congo is there anything that can bear comparison with Zombo for population, and without any reservation we can say that this district presents a most promising field for missionary work.
“Superstition and heathenism are rampant everywhere, and the moral and spiritual darkness is simply appalling. We witnessed sights and scenes which are only possible to the most degraded of human beings. They know nothing of God; they have the name of God in their language and upon their lips, but what idea the name conveys to their mind it is difficult to say. An example of this vagueness is seen in the fact that on several occasions they addressed me by that name, and on my remonstrating with them and explaining that we were only men teaching them of God and His love to us all, they insisted upon calling me ‘Son’ of God. Such things are very revolting to one’s feelings, but it shows their utter darkness and ignorance of spiritual things. In Zombo the houses and towns are full of fetishes and charms; we came across many fetishes which even our carriers had never seen before. One thing interested us all, and we found it in many towns. It was a ‘trap to catch the devil.’ It was cleverly arranged—sometimes on the square space where the people meet for palavers, and sometimes in the houses—with cord loops and cane springs, and they had special charms to attract their prey into it. The idea was very commendable, and the trap would be a great blessing to the world at large if it were successful. But they all confessed that the trap had not caught yet! I enclose two photographs, which will serve as samples of carved images, placed by the roadside to guard the entrance into the towns.
“In most of the towns we visited we had a good hearing, as the people were very curious to know what we had come for. We took with us as carriers several of our San Salvador Christians, who were a great help in getting the people together, as well as in speaking. Our headman, Mata, is well versed in native customs, and knows all about the tricks of witch doctors and others, having gone through them all in his early days. He is also a capital speaker, and is sharp at taking up points and meeting objections made. At one town, where the chief begged us to prolong our stay a day longer, so that he might call his friends from other towns to come and hear us, we had one of the most interesting gatherings that I have seen in Africa. The crowd which assembled squatted on the ground in the usual open space, and by the time we were summoned there was a large audience of several hundreds. The men arranged themselves on both sides, leaning on their loaded guns, while the women kept at a distance right in front of us, just near enough to hear, and the carriers and our boys took their position behind my wife and myself. We sang a hymn to begin with, and then I spoke to them as simply as I could of the message which we had come to deliver, and they all listened attentively. When I had done Mata got up and told them how the missionaries had come in their country years ago in order to tell them of God, how many at San Salvador and other places had been brought into the light of the gospel of Christ, and how they were doing all they could to enlighten and help their fellow country people. He retold the old story of the death of Christ and His resurrection. The people were intensely interested, but on hearing of the resurrection some of them began with expressions of dissent, and this led to a lively but good-natured discussion on fetishism and native superstitions.
“They wanted Mata to answer some questions bearing on witchcraft; among other things, they wished to know that if it was a wicked thing to kill people, what were they to do with witches? Killing ‘ndoki’ (witch) was certainly a good thing. Mata denied that there was such a thing as ‘ndoki,’ and graphically told them how the witch doctors deceive them with lies and tricks. He related to them his own personal experiences in early life, and was often interrupted by shouts of laughter and approbation from the audience, and they all saw that the speaker was well up in his subject. Objectors plied him with questions, and he took them one by one, and exposed the utter rottenness of their customs. After much talk and banter, Mata, with his usual boldness, asked if there was a witch doctor present who could tell them all about it, whereupon a grey-bearded old man rose on his feet and said that he was one. Mata asked him to tell what ‘ndoki’ was. He said that for many years he had followed his calling as a witch doctor, but he himself had never seen a ‘witch,’ and in a bold speech he went over what Mata had said, and added emphatically that all he had told them that day was perfectly true. The crowd howled and hooted at the old man, and some became rather angry at this admission of their witch doctor, but the majority of them sided with Mata, and declared that ‘God’s palaver’ was good. I interfered at this point, and order being restored, I tried to impress upon their mind that each man must think for himself in this matter. We had told them the message, and showed them how they may obtain salvation and go to heaven, and that we could do no more than this, but that each man in his heart must decide for himself. Thus our long afternoon meeting came to a close, and the people returned to their homes. We hope and pray that they will retain the thing which they heard that day for the first time in their minds, and realise the truth and blessedness of the gospel message.