This article was written by Sir Robert Clarkson Tredgold[1] and was published within the Occupation of Matabeleland: A Souvenir in November 1933 marking its fortieth anniversary. This article skips the preamble that describes the Portuguese peripheral presence in present-day Mashonaland during the 16-17^th Century[2] and the arrival of the Matabele (amaNdebele) in the 1830’s.[3]

                    Sir Robert Tredgold

The London Missionary Society (LMS) launches two expeditions into the interior of Southern Africa

David Livingstone in 1849 began a long series of explorations with Murray and Oswell. They discovered Lake Ngami in central present-day Botswana and in 1855 Livingstone first saw the Victoria Falls. We don't need to follow Livingstone on his arduous journeys, but his reports led to the London Missionary Society deciding to send Missionaries to the Makololo (present-day Barotseland) and to the Matabele. The first expedition to the Makololo was a complete disaster with most of the party dying from malaria. Of the whole party of men, women and children who reached Linyati, only Reverend Price and two of the Helmore children returned. The mission was accordingly abandoned and Price later did valuable work in Bechuanaland.

The proposal to send missionaries to Matabeleland required careful consideration. Robert Moffat, based at Kuruman felt that it needed investigation and preparation as it was not known exactly where the Matabele were. So in 1857, aged 62 years old, he went in search of them on a journey that involved 700 miles by ox-wagon through uncharted territory. The Matabele were found on the Bembesi river near Inyati. At first Mzilikazi, their King would only consent to Missionaries coming if Robert Moffat came himself. Moffat pointed out this was impossible as he was old and in charge of Kuruman which would claim all his remaining years. But he said his son, John Smith Moffitt, was ready. Would he be acceptable? Mzilikazi agreed.

The first party was made-up of the Reverends William Sykes, Thomas Morgan Thomas and John Smith Moffat. All were young men and married. In 1858 the LMS party reached Cape Town where they were met by Robert Moffat and on the 20 August their 1,400 mile journey began. On the way up Mrs Sykes died, the first great sacrifice in this remarkable adventure. They rested for a time in Kuruman and finally reached Matabeleland on the 28 October 1859, fourteen months after arriving at Cape Town.

The wagons are drawn by human oxen

Some of the incidents on their journey are of interest. Robert Moffat accompanied the party to introduce them to the King. He knew that lung sickness was prevalent among the cattle of northern Bechuanaland and so when he arrived at Old Figtree to avoid contaminating the Matabele herds he sent all his drought oxen back. Then announced his arrival by messenger and asked Mzilikazi for oxen to draw the heavy wagons onwards. Oxen were sent, one team had had some training, but lacked practise and the rest were a wild mob. The attempted in-spanning resulted in nothing but broken yokes and gear. The only solution was to have several regiments of Amajaka (young warriors) ordered to inspan themselves and draw the wagons the last sixty miles.

If the scene was wild enough with the oxen, it was almost terrifying now. Naked hordes of Matabele warriors were urged on by their indunas, yelling and screaming in their endeavours to pull the wagons over the last remaining distance. The procession advanced passing at the back of present-day Bulawayo through what is now Brickfields and across the Umgusa river until finally the royal kraal was reached.

There it was pointed out to Mzilikazi that the rainy season was approaching and homes must be built and gardens prepared and so he allotted a site for settlement at Inyati. But with a lack of knowledge of malaria, the houses were built almost in the swamp of a valley that had good supplies of water. Attacks of fever incapacitated the Missionaries, but they persisted in their work, until a better site was found. Until recently the foundations of the initial houses still existed and also a few trees that were planted.[4]

The First Mail arrives

The isolation at Inyati must have been almost unendurable. For example, mail received at Kuruman on the 14 July only arrived by mail runner at Inyati on 9 November 1859. The missionaries had been away on duty and on returning saw the mail runners silhouetted against the setting sun. The men seized the newspapers, the women the letters. John Moffatt described the scene. As soon as the cattle were kraaled, he lit a candle and read the first newspaper. The Indian Mutiny was the major topic dealt with in the newspapers. The candle burnt down, Moffat lit another. That soon appeared to be giving a dull light, he snuffed and trimmed it, but it was still no better until he realised the rising sun was the cause of its inefficient light. He had read throughout the night!

A curious incident concerning the mail

Another occasion also concerned the mail arriving from Kuruman. The custom was that the whole batch of letters was sewn up in canvas and sealed in a package with black sealing wax, but the black wax had run out, so red wax was used. The runners were stopped at Manjana’s (other reports say Makobi’s) kraal, the outpost to the South of Matabeleland. The red wax caused consternation amongst the Matabele (red was considered evil) The mail runners took fright, gave evasive answers as to why they were there and were killed.

A report of the incident was made to Mzilikazi, that John Moffat wrote down, stating that two strangers (the mail runners) tried to come into the country and were carrying an object marked with red blood smears they  thought were intended to bewitch the Matabele. The mail runners could not account for their presence, so they were killed and the object they carried thrown away. Moffat then intervened and said, “Chief, that must be the mail we were expecting!” The King then said to those making the report, “You hear this? Where is the thing you threw away?” They replied, “Well, we didn't like to touch it, so we called an old bushman[5] and made him take it away.” Mzilikazi said, “Go and find him. If you do not, you will be treated as you treated those strangers.”

Finally the messengers returned and reported they had found the old Bushman and said to him, “What did you do with that blood smeared thing we gave you?” He replied, “Well, you see, I was afraid of it myself, so I stuck it in the fork of a mopane tree.” The messengers said, “Find it or we shall die.” Fortunately the old man’s memory came to the rescue and the package was found where he had put it and was taken to Mzilikazi. After its strange journey and months of being abandoned in the wilderness the letters were found to still be intact. A happy ending to a curious episode.

Domestic servants

The Moffat’s asked if they could have servants as their children were beginning to arrive. Mzilikazi sent along a native boy and a girl of about seven or eight year’s old. They were more  of a care than an assistance and when this was pointed out, Mzilikazi said, “if you don't want them, they will just be knocked on the head.” So the two were kept and named Adam and Eve. Eve grew up to be an excellent servant and Adam stayed on to a ripe old age becoming a most respected member of the Inyati community.

Life of the Missionaries

Mrs Thomas, the wife of Rev Thomas Morgan Thomas and one of their children died in 1863. She was very young and of a gentle nature. She rests in the quiet graveyard at Inyati Mission. Rev Sykes married again. At least six children were born to the Missionaries before 1865 but the rigours of life, the isolation, the lack of medical assistance and their dependence on native food proved too much for some of them. John Moffat and his wife left in 1865 to carry on working in Bechuanaland. Reverend Thomas Morgan Thomas fell out with the Missionaries and the LMS and moved to Shiloh Mission. Rev Sykes stayed on at Inyati for the rest of his life. His daughter married Rev Carnegie. The establishment of Hope Fountain Mission meant some of the Missionaries moved away from Inyati. Those who took up the Missionary burden over the years included Rev Elliott, Thompson, Charles Helm, David Carnegie and Bowen Rees.

Lack of converts

No Matabele converted to Christianity until 1893. Both Mzilikazi and Lobengula were totally against any of their people converting. There were inquirers, but any who showed too keen an interest in the teaching of the new faith were quietly killed – sometimes with a brother being ordered to kill the victim.  

The Missionaries lead the way for others

The path opened up by the Missionaries was immediately followed by traders and hunters. One of them, with less consideration for the country than Robert Moffat, brought in his own oxen and a few weeks later lung sickness raged throughout Matabeleland. The Missionaries switched to inoculating local cattle, treating over 60,000 of them.

Those that followed included F.C. Selous,[6] Sam Edwards,[7] Thomas Baines,[8] Francis, George Wood[9] and the Hartley’s. Henry Hartley[10] after whom Hartley Hills were named on the Umfuli (Mupfure) river found and reported gold. Sir John Swinburne[11] obtained a concession from Lobengula and Sam Edwards obtained the Tati concession that ran from 1880.

Gradually Matabeleland began attracting international attention. The Transvaal sent up Grobler as their Consul to see what powers he could get and in 1887 he produced a treaty between Lobengula and the Transvaal, although its authenticity has long been questioned.[12]

Even the Germans began to show an interest in Zambesia (the area between the Zambesi and the Limpopo rivers) and the surrounding territories. In 1887 John Smith Moffat was appointed Resident Commissioner of Bechuanaland and his first official act was to negotiate the Moffat treaty with Lobengula. It stated that the British and Matabele enjoyed peace and respect for each other and that Lobengula would not enter into any negotiations with other powers without the knowledge of the British Government.  

Rudd Concession

Continuing interest in Mashonaland and Matabeleland persuaded Cecil Rhodes that he needed to obtain a concession. Following the granting of a royal charter to the British South Africa Company he sent up C.D. Rudd, Rochfort Maguire and F. Thompson to obtain a concession that gave the company the right to search for and extract all metals and minerals within Mashonaland and that was obtained the following year.[13]

Reference

Occupation of Matabeleland: A Souvenir