The early years of the nineteenth century bring us to the beginning of the missionary era in South-West Africa, and we now turn to the missionaries who came to evangelise the heathen inhabitants. These men have played no small part in the political life of South Africa, and the dust of the many controversies in which they were concerned ought not to be allowed to obscure the high value and romance of the early missionary enterprise. As pioneers, explorers, geographers, no less than as philanthropists, they have done a great deal for knowledge.
As early as 1802 the London Missionary Society—that stormy petrel of African Missionary Societies—had its agents north of the Orange River. The brothers Christian and Abraham Albrecht were probably the first Europeans to reside in Great Namaqualand; they founded a mission station at Warm Bath (now Warmbad) in 1807. Warm Bath was so named because of the hot springs found there. Another station was established at Bethany in 1814 by J. Henry Schmelen. Robert Moffat, who was destined to leave his name indelibly impressed on African history, took charge of the Warm Bath station in 1818. At this time Titus Africaner, the outlaw Hottentot Chief, was at the height of his career as a marauder and desperado; a cloud of dust in the distance was sufficient to drive the peaceful tribes that lived along the course of the Orange River frantic with terror, since it might herald the approach of the ferocious raider. Africaner came under the benign influence of the missionary, and a complete change of character was effected in him. Acting on a sudden impulse, Moffat took him to Cape Town when on a visit. An immense sensation was created. The people at the Cape could scarcely credit the fact that this man, once the terror of farmers and natives, was a reformed character. Lord Charles Somerset “expressed his pleasure at seeing thus before him one who had formerly been the scourge of the country,” and made him the present of a wagon. Moffat’s stay in Great Namaqualand, though brief, was certainly notable.
The agents of the London Missionary Society were withdrawn from the country by 1821, and the Wesleyans appeared on the scene. With their early efforts is bound up one of the most tragic stories of missionary enterprise. William Threlfall, a young minister from Yorkshire, was seeking an opening for philanthropic labours among the Hottentots in the region of Warm Bath in the year 1825. He lay down to rest upon the ground one night after a long trek; while he slept his Bushman guide drew near with two accomplices, fell upon the defenceless man, and dealt him blow after blow until he lay dead at their feet.[14] William Threlfall is thus the missionary martyr of Namaqualand. In 1834 the only European resident in Great Namaqualand was Edward Cook, who had charge of the Warm Bath station, renamed by Cook Nisbett Bath, in honour of Mr. James Nisbett, a generous supporter of the Mission. He laboured among the Bondelswaarts. Cook was the first white man to take his wife into the wilds of Damaraland. The two people had a most adventurous journey northward to the Windhoek Valley, to Gobabis, and then across to Walvis Bay, and they actually had their young children with them. Lions proved a great source of anxiety to Mrs. Cook. The following extract from Cook’s journal affords an interesting glimpse of the amenities of travel in those days. “During the night we came across a rhinoceros grazing, the snorting of which frightened our servant girl, who was riding an ox. She threw herself off and ran to take shelter in the wagon. The oxen, being accustomed to be chased by wild beasts, took fright at her screaming, and furiously galloped off. Those who had not heard the rhinoceros thought a lion had attacked us, and the greatest terror prevailed until an ox, getting his leg entangled in the harness, fell, and the wagon was stopped.”[15]
Sir James Alexander was the first traveller to explore the country who possessed the scientific attainments essential to extensive and accurate observation. The Scottish knight journeyed slowly through Great Namaqualand and Damaraland in 1836-7, covering, from the time he left Cape Town till his return, a distance of 4,000 miles. It is rather surprising, in view of what we have recorded, to read in more than one “reliable résumé of the history of the country,” that Sir James Alexander “was the first European to explore the unknown land.” Even Francis Galton assumes that Alexander was the pioneer. Doubtless Sir James was proud to emphasise the fact “that up to this day the whole of the western region of southern Africa to the north of the Orange River has hitherto remained a blank on our maps,” but it was hardly the unknown land he imagined it to be. Sir James did a good deal of hunting in the country; he spent some time in the vicinity of Walvis Bay; where the “climate was healthy and good”; he gathered a large number of zoological and other specimens, many of which were unknown to the world of science, and he gleaned much useful information about the social condition of the Bushmen, Namaquas, and Damaras. He was the first white man to secure an exclusive interview with the headman of the Berg Damaras, who told the knight that he had never before looked upon a white man; all his people had run away on hearing that such a fearsome creature was approaching. At Warm Bath Sir James “set up his staff to wait for the thunder rains,” and while there “took the waters,” and thereby “set the natives the example of ablution.”[16]
For a few years after Alexander’s visit, Wesleyan missionaries occupied stations in Damaraland, and the Rev. J. Tindall was the first white man to reside at Gobabis, although the Rev. Edward Cook and his wife had spent three months there in 1840; but these stations were at length handed over to the German missionaries who belonged to the Rhenish Missionary Society. With the entry of these men into the country in the ’forties we note the forging of the first link in the chain of events which had its end in the establishment of a German Protectorate.
Francis Galton made a notable journey through, the country in 1850-2, in company with the Swedish naturalist and trader, Charles J. Andersson. Galton proceeded from Walvis Bay through regions hitherto almost unknown into Ovamboland and arrived at a point within seven days of Lake Ngami. He was much pleased with the fertility of Ovamboland and the quiet, sociable disposition of the Ovambo people. His “Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical Central Africa” affords the fullest description of the land and the people. For many years the career of Charles J. Andersson was identified with Damaraland and the adjacent countries. He was the first European to travel across South-West Africa to Lake Ngami. This feat he accomplished in 1853. He discovered the Okavango River, and as a result of his many hunting and trading expeditions added much to our knowledge of the country. His books of travel are richly instructive and alive with stirring incidents.
The names of travellers and explorers like James Chapman, Thomas Baines, Frederick J. Green, bring us to the ’fifties and ’sixties of the nineteenth century, to what may be termed the closing days of the No Man’s Land era. The consideration of the events which led up to the German occupation we leave to another chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] Theal’s “History of South Africa” (1486-1691), p. 2.
[12] Mendellssau’s “South African Bibliography,” Vol. I., p. 185.