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Along the Zambesi

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jan 12, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 2.

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Along the Zambesi

By J. R. Campbell

AFTER spending a little more than two years and three months up-country in mission work,—more than half the time in northwest Rhodesia,—Pastor W. H. Anderson kindly gave me a holiday.
In order to make the journey as profitable as possible, it was decided that I should make a part of it on foot, and locate out-station sites in a district not yet entered, and then take the train at Wankies for the south.
September 20, with three of the mission boys as carriers, I set off through the hills east of the mission for the Zambesi River. The country is extremely rough, many of the hills almost reaching the distinction of mountains. The natives in this region live along the rivers in the narrow valleys. The villages are small, and with few exceptions, scattered. The natives living in the scattered, mountainous districts usually live thus to avoid paying taxes. I found two very good sites for out-stations before reaching the Zambesi.
After traveling a little more than one hundred miles, I stood upon the banks of the mighty Zambesi, just about three hundred miles below the point where David Livingstone first stood. For the first fifty miles along the river I found the hills extending almost into the river, leaving a very small margin for farming. Consequently, the villages are not numerous, but the people must have an opportunity of hearing the world-wide message in this generation. They will not go to find it, so we must take it to them. I pegged two sites in this district.
The next eighty miles along the river is densely populated, making it difficult to find locations near the water. Native villages and gardens greet the eye on every hand. Almost every inch of available land is taken, and if the Lord had not answered my prayers, and plainly directed me where to find a good location, I should have been baffled many times. But with his help, I was enabled to peg out five more good sites along the Zambesi.
The people are anxious for schools. The young men asked, “Are you coming back soon?” and will you open school next year? Come as soon as you can, and we will all come to school.”
Surely this is a time to work. The black man is thirsty for something he has not,—he knows not what,—and we should be on hand to draw for him living waters from the fountain of life. Other denominations are pressing down the Zambesi, one mission station having been opened there within the past four months. There is no time like the present to work for the emancipation of the black man from the slavery of sin.
Wild game throughout this region is very plentiful. Every morning and evening the snorting and bellowing of the hippopotamuses may be heard almost anywhere along the river. Every garden owner along the bank has a hut built upon poles about twelve feet above the ground, and here the women sit all night long, shouting and drumming to keep these great beasts out of their gardens. Elephants, buffaloes, and especially rhinoceroses, are very numerous in some localities, but difficult to see in the almost impenetrable bush.
How I did long to take a plunge in the cool waters of the Zambesi on those hot days; but one look at the sand-bars was sufficient to decide me as to the advisability of such an act. There great crocodiles lay, their mouths open, basking in the sun, or at sight of me slipped noiselessly into the water. The natives have built a fence of poles in the form of a semicircle extending out into the water from the bank, for the protection of cattle and sheep that come to drink; also for the natives who wish to drink or bathe.
October 8, I boarded the train at Wankies, about sixty miles south of the Zambesi River. I met my wife and daughter at De Aar, looking well and strong, for which I feel very thankful to our Heavenly Father. We are enjoying our stay in Grahamstown. J. R. CAMPBELL.