Another condition in Africa which favors the early promulgation of the last message of salvation throughout the Dark Continent is the rapidity with which news is carried from one nation to another. While they do not have the ordinary telegraph and mail systems of civilization, yet there are means of communication between villages and nations by which news is carried with almost marvelous speed. Fleet messengers travel through the country and convey intelligence by word of mouth, and, as the time of the native is not occupied and pressed by the multiplicity of cares and passing events which congest modern civilization, they leave ample time at their disposal for full consideration and lengthy discussion of every new thing. In fact, as the wives and children of the men perform almost all of the labor necessary for the maintenance of the family, the fathers have but little to do save to hold extended conversations with their neighbors. One difficulty experienced in securing the attention of those who live within the limits of civilization to the matter of their own salvation, is the constant whirl of excitement, and the manifold attractions incident to modern civilization. The native of Africa, who lives in the simplicity of the “kraal” life, has none of these to distract his mind or to rivet his attention when the messenger of the Gospel arrives at his village.
It has been fully demonstrated that the truth concerning the Seventh-day Sabbath, travels with marvelous rapidity among the native tribes of Africa. The reason for this is two-fold. First, when God has a message to go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, He provides means for its transit from place to place; and, secondly, the natives, who have been taught by the example and precept of the missionaries that the first day of the week is to be observed as the Sabbath, are surprised to learn that the Bible teaches that the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah. Believing that
What The Bible Teaches Must Be True,
for they are not inclined to question the teachings of the sacred Book as do their white brethren, and learning that at least some Bible Christians observe the Seventh-day Sabbath, they are concerned to learn the truth of the matter. As no Bible authority can be given which proves the first day of the week a rest day to supplant the Sabbath of Jehovah, it is not easy for the missionaries to satisfy their minds on this point, without teaching them to observe the true Sabbath. The truth, as it is in Jesus, will be so fully implanted in the hearts of many of the inhabitants of “darkest Africa” that they will be found among God’s commandment-keeping people at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Devils' Peak, Cape Town, South Africa.
Certain restrictions are laid upon the Africans by the various colonial governments under which they live. Laws are in force which forbid the manufacture of “Kafir beer,” and the sale of intoxicating drinks to the natives; also which deny them the privilege of possessing firearms, assegais, or other implements of war. All natives who are employed in the cities of Natal are required to purchase license tags for the privilege, and these they must be able to produce at the demand of any policeman, or be compelled to go to jail. The reason for some of these restrictions is that there is a degree of fear on the part of the European population in South Africa that, if the natives are educated, permitted the use of guns and other weapons of war, and allowed to congregate at pleasure in the cities, there would be much crime and frequent dangerous uprisings, as, numerically, they are many times as strong as are the whites. In fact, it is freely stated by government officials that the only thing which prevents a general uprising of all of the native tribes of South Africa is the lack of organization and unanimity of action. These elements of weakness among the natives, safeguard the lives of the white population, while they also prove that, altho some twenty-five missionary societies have been operating in South Africa for scores of years, yet only a small per cent of the natives are converted. There is small ground for hope that the millennium will dawn in Africa prior to the close of probation for all the human family.
A False Charge.
One thing that makes the lot of the missionary in Africa more trying than it elsewhere would be, is the general charge, made by the non-Christian whites, that the missionaries are responsible for the moral corruption of the natives. Certain it is that, like the aborigines of New Zealand, there is, at present, greater degradation among the natives of South Africa than before the dawn of civilization upon the land, and, while in rare, isolated instances, so-called missionaries may have responsibility for having assisted in the production of this sorrowful condition, yet, on the whole, the charge is false. The true explanation of the situation is, without doubt, found in the fact that, with the discovery and pioneer occupation of every new country,
A Class of Adventurers
precede the advent of the missionary and civilization, and, throwing off all restraint, have been Satan’s instruments for the moral pollution of the natives. This is evidently Satan’s method of counteracting the work of the messengers of the Gospel. How like Satan, to charge the servants of the Lord with the crime of his own agents. The writer could cite instances where so-called respectable men left homes and families in Europe, and, going to the frontier of Africa, while trading with the natives to secure their goods, to be exchanged for gold, selected one or more native wives, and, without the marriage ceremony, lived with them for years; then, leaving wives and half-caste children behind, returned to their white families, who were kept in ignorance of the shameful course of the husband and father.
There is a strange enmity between African tribes, which makes the members of one nation despise those of another, and which sometimes causes difficulty at the mission schools, and perplexity to the missionaries. Some missionaries are inclined to the opinion that only the members of one-tribe can be successfully and harmoniously taught at the same school.
Aside from the differences in language the natives distinguish each other as to tribal relations by ear marks, each tribe having its own peculiar mark.
The Eating Habits of the Natives
may be worthy of notice. The staple food with all of them is mush, or, more properly, porridge, called by the Kafirs, paap. Cornmeal porridge is mealie paap. The ground serves as a place to cook the food over an open fire, and also as seats and table when the meal is prepared. The porridge is made as stiff as possible, and, when cooked, the whole family, each with a stick instead of fork, spoon, or knife, eat out of the common kettle in which the food is prepared. It is expected that all strangers present will help themselves without invitation; and whoever does not satisfy his hunger has only himself to blame.13
While the common diet of the natives is composed of grains and fruit, when it can be secured, they are all passionately fond of meat, and it matters not whether the carcass be freshly slaughtered, or whether decomposition be far advanced; whether the animal was a victim of disease or of the knife; it is all one to the “raw” native. In the absence of “clean” animals, monkeys and baboons are eaten with relish, altho the men are rather ashamed of this near approach to cannibalism, and attribute the eating of such food to the boys. They will set almost innumerable deadfalls to catch even the smallest animals (as they are denied the use of weapons) with which they might secure larger game.
During a conversation, through an interpreter, with an old native chief in Matabeleland, the writer asked if he could remember when large game, as elephants, lions, buffaloes, rhinoceros, etc., were plentiful in his country. His face lighted with joy and his whole being seemed animated as he related the experiences of his early life in catching these denizens of the forest and jungle, and the great feasts which followed a “big catch.” When an animal falls into the hands of a family of natives, and is to be used for food, certain peculiar rules are understood and observed as to the division of the carcass. The men have their particular portions, of which the women and children are forbidden to partake. The parts of the animal that are supposed to produce the best brawn and muscle, and which they consider are best calculated to form the diet of, and develop warriors, is assigned to the men, while the women and children must take what is left.
In addition to the corruption of the natives by ungodly men, heretofore mentioned, the example set before them by many enlightened (?) Europeans is shameful. It is not an uncommon occurrence to see a drunken white man held in a jinrikisha by a friend, and, to escape the police and a night in prison, the Zulu who draws the vehicle is directed to the abode of the man under the influence of liquor. Perhaps, after all, one need not go to the native Africans to ferret out and bring to light the depths of degradation.
