Mabotsa 12 May 1845
My dear Father
We recieved your very welcome letter by
the Bakhatla who went out with Mosi & felt very thankful
5for it for we were very anxious to hear what you
thought after perusing my long epistle on the disagreable
subject. We hope to have an opportunity soon
so I begin to answer what is answerable & let you
know how we get on. Your question about the
10Boerish peace makers is easily settled. The Interior
is not yet pacified. Bube intends it is currently
reported, to remove to a spot not very distant from
this. He sent me word that he intends coming
for the purpose ^ of asking land next week, & the reason
15is, he fears the Matibele will come out during this
winter. Sekhomi has stolen some sheep from
Mosilikatse this year & he killed 23 of his people
last year when they came to ask tribute. All
are now dreading Mosilikatse's resentment. Sechele
20told me he would remove instantly to a fountain
called Kolobeñ in hopes of getting a missionary
if it were not for that same fear - And
last two years ago when the Matibele attacked in
succession the Bamangwato, Bakwain &
25Wanketaze of Sebegoe. the boers heard the news
and fled. They would do so again this year
Sechele went with large presents of ivory
to Hendrick Potkeiter the commandant of the
Boers to entreat their assistance for the recovery
30of his cattle. Instead of pacifying the poor
fellow as he wished they told Mr Bain that the
Caffres had come with tribute to them. Catch
Sechele going back again with his ivory
while Mr Hume lives. Not a single fray
35has been prevented by the Boers & the notion
Mary has been ill but a small bleeding has relieved the most troublesome symptoms & she now does
well. My arm is very much stronger but the splint is still in the same state
that they drove away Mosilikatse I believe now to be
very questionable. the Goolahs were the cause
of his flight & not the paltry attack of Mosega
Ask the people of Sechele how they like the
5Boers & they will tell you that rather than come
near them again they will desert their chief
I began a meeting for the purpose of trying
to interest the people in our meetings in general
& have continued talking on different subjects
10calculated to engage their attention But have not
met the success I expected. Our own people
are the chief attendants and they seem to enjoy
what is told them. The hearts of the Bakhatla
must be changed before anything can be made
15of them, that is the first thing I see, and I
shall attend to it as the everything. My mind
has been taken up with the affair of Edwards
to an extent far exceeding my wishes. I think
of it when I ought to be meditating on better
20things But I hope I may not indulge in
any improper spirit towards him. I have
felt less anxious than I expected I should be
when told I should have a committee held over me
By the way, I may ask, if he will be allowed to
25speak or contradict without my presence, I
concieve as I speak by writing he ought although
there to do the same & then let the bretheren judge
I dont know what he will say after, he could
speak about my shabby treatment when he
30offered to build the house, & no such offer was
ever made
Another affair I wish to mention to you as I
feel rather at a loss how to act in it, if I were not
already involved with Mr E I should see my path clear
0003
But as it is I fear I may act more from an improper
spirit than f[ ]m a wish to prevent the degradation of the
missionary character. Some time last year Mr E told
me that having been at Bube's a brother of the latter offered
5him a large tusk for a musket he had with him, But he (Mr E)
had declined, the same man came here a short time before
Mr E. left for Kuruman & came to me & asked if I should
give him a cow for a large tusk. I replied, no, I am not a
trader. He said yes I know you are not a trader but Edwards
10helped me with a gun & I helped him with a tusk. Mr E.
was that day down on a visit to the Bahurutse & having come
home in the evening the man left on the day following and
I neither asked nor heard any more about it untill the
return of Mr Milligan from Bube's. Mr E's man went
15with Mr M. to Bube's to purchase Karosses, for Mr E. (I suppose
for carpets) and Mr M said to me, "O Mr Edwards has turned
trader now". "His man brought a fine large tusk ^ this is No 2 from the
Bakwains for him". If it were not for our difference
I should ask an explanation from Mr E. and caution
20him against appearing to degrade the missionary character.
He has been purchasing oxen ever since we came here
but he always mentioned his journey to the Colony as
the reason, and of course that journey does require many.
I shall not feel surprised although I hear that
25Mr E has made overtures to Mr Ashton to supplant me
here. Many things have recently come back to my
recollection which had entirely escaped me, and why
they should have vanished from my mind I cannot
concieve. But now when I put them together I see
30the reason of Mr E. running to a committee, He
wishes to have me out of this altogether & he thinks
Mr Ashton a more likely subject for him to twist
round his finger. When I returned from Mrs Moffat
wrote from Bethelsdorp she ommitted mentioning anything
35about the young bretheren. When I returned, to the
house this was the first piece of news I got, and
Mrs E. having conjectured that there must be some
difference among them. "A very good thing indeed
remarked Mr E. if there is Moffat will not have it all
40 his own way"
0004
and again on a subsequent occasion, I think after your
arrival but I am not sure. Perhaps after my return from
meeting you "I think Ashton is a man of independant mind &
wont be led by the nose by Moffat" and then when
5I returned from seeing Mary, I was asked if I should not
like to live with my father in law. I thought the question
very impudent & simply said "No" & then among a
number of fishing pumping questions put to Mary
such as "You & Mrs Ashton must be very intimate, & if
10Ashton was to remain at the Kuruman, these things had
all vanished from my mind, But in thinking over the
other affair a connecting link I recieved from one
of Mr E's intimate friends. came back with great
vividness, "I advise you said he to be as little dependant
15on Kuruman as possible, we have all been too much so"
Now I may be wrong but my close connection with
Kuruman seems to have had some influence
as well as my "dishonest dishonourable unchristian
& shabby conduct".
The plough is in process of resuscitation and though
Mr E consigned it to "old iron" I feel sanguine it
will soon be of more use than that material. Not
having the instruments for boring or drilling holes for
rivets I have taken the essential portions & let them
25into a log of murutu of this shape the
different portions are firmly screwed to it & tomorrow
we shall put in a new beam of white ash much
thicker than the old but with the old wheel & coulter
irons. Mr Milligan gave me an idea of the shape
30or I should have gone wrong, altogether. I had the
handles in when he came & as I was doing it simply
from my recollection of the shape of a plough I have
the centre of the handles right in the centre of the
plough & not chiefly on the furrow side as it ought
35to be. Will you send the iron which runs from
the handles to the beam, which you shewed me in
the printing office. the one you made is entirely
gone.
We have been favoured with Mr Greig's presence more
than agreable. We escaped from him only once & that
was by getting all ready & starting for Sechele's as soon
as he made his appearance from the other side. He was
5nearly quits with us for he said he would come to meet us
We went round by another way But our gent. very soon
came back to see if we had not arrived. I thought of
going off to Bube but he is determined to accompany us
So I give up that & now think of going Eastward to
10the son of Sebegoe. I could easily be plain with him
& get quit of his very insipid company but for one
consideration Before we had been many days here
he made some remarks which made me believe Mr E
had been reciting to him the burden of his song, for
15instance, "Mr Edwards is a man of a very peculiar
temper" "very difficult to get on with I should think"
"He tells me he did the most of the work of the church
at Kuruman" "at least all the woodwork" To these
remarks I only replied that as Mr Hamilton & Moffat
20were there it is not very likely they would be idle
& avoided saying a word about Edwards. But believing
that Edwards had given as Mrs E. would say "the
other side of my character" I rather submit to be
half eaten up by Mr G. than that he should have
25any thing to say against us. If we could by any
possibility get a secondhand mill untill our own comes
we should get on well whoever comes accross us
We have maize & the large box which contained the
drawers nearly full of wheat. We are inundated with
30pumpkins. I got two sheep for gun mending, thanks
to you, and two karrosses (debt) which I shall send
as soon as I get as payment for the steel. The people
believe that having married your daughter I must know
as much about the business as yourself. the goodness
35of the steel confirms their opinion When putting
on a plate for Sechele last week I soldered it very
well with powdered glass instead of the borax you use
But on hardening again the libi were not warm
enough so I took it to the bellows & the copper
40came all out again. I tried it again with
0006
other copper no fewer than four times & it always
ran any where but where I wanted it. In despair
I put in some white lead. What must I do if
I make the same mistake again? the old files
5you gave me I case hardened & find they supply the
place of the fine large coarse teethed one you gave
& which I got spoiled by lending to Paulus. If you
have any others from Mr Hamilton's burned house
which you dont care about I shall feel thankful
10for one or two either to harden or make taps
of. My small plate has been spoiled by some
one. the thread is nearly gone, I have made taps
of those holes which will make them and
will take the liberty of sending out two of the
15smaller ones for the screw from your plate
and then I shall try & finish a plate which
I have already forged. The small screws I
need are those inside a lock, particularly that
which goes through the pan. I have got the
20chief & a few of his principal men to try
their hands at the anvil and this although
they believed they should die if they did. One of
the hereditary smiths came and taught us
how to make native axes. I did not know
25to fold in & weld a thin bit before I saw him
do it. I took one of the antient smiths
with us to Sechele's to shew me where his forefather
found the tsipi & men. there are many mines
and the smoke of the fires is still adhering to the
30roofs but they dont go in far. the veins reach
the surface & are about 2 inches in diameter only
The man asserted while in the first recess or mine that the
rock above contained the ore. It is nearly identical
with the Kuruman Trap. I doubted but as he
35repeated his assertions with great confidence
I thought perhaps it was the ore of tin. As
I have nearly forgotten its appearance But when
0007
we came out I noticed a piece of the pretty green
copper ore in a vein of about ½ an inch diameter
& pointed it out to him He said yes it is so after it is
subjected to the fire. These were copper mines
5The tin I believe is found nearer to this place but in
the same direction Mr Evans found a piece of the ore
much richer than any I have seen although I have
been on the look out for it every time I have been
in that country. The hill where I think it must
10lie in is called Tsipcane or as Batlapi would say
Tsicane.
Sechele you will have heard lately put a man
to death for witchcraft. We of course had a great
deal of conversation on the subject & on that of
15revenge. Before the former subject was introduced
He asked me if an individual acted justly, fairly
avoided fighting treated both his own people and
[ ]trangers kindly, killed witches & prayed to God
would he ^ be saved - this question made me see
20he thought he had committed a meritorious action
in killing the man. The above affair became
mixed up with another which you will perhaps
[ ]lso hear about. One of his people who formerly
killed an uncle of Sechele fled on hearing that
25the witch had been killed & came here, being afraid
that he might be the next. When he arrived here
he told the people that Sechele wished to kill him on
account of his cattle &c. The man's father brought
all his son's sheep &c. to Sechele after the latter had
30fled & divided them among the principal people. Sechele
took one only & eat it & told the others not to slaughter
any of them untill he had tried to recover the man
the man was sent for & returned and is now
alive & well. Mr Edwards believing the man's
35testimony against Sechele sends him "a severe
reprimand" as he expressed it to Mr Greig for a
deed which he did not do. Mr E. does not
like Sechele because Sechele is rather friendly with me
0008
when leaving in order to visit Sechele last time the chief
here said to me, "Yes you can go to visit Sechele, you
dont know him Edwards knows him & he says when
I took the Doctor to the Bakwain country I let him see what
5Sechele was but he does not see now" If I liked I could
get plenty of evidence of "going to natives" for expressions
are let drop perpetually which convince me that the
rogue was suspicious because he knew his own deeds
I believe ^ he thinks I have mentioned to you all the nonsense
10he talked about you & everybody else at times, and that
you have told me all he wrote about me, but in [ ]
case it was simply impossible for it has all gone
from my memory. If I shall be worried by the
reiteration of his little childish tricks & talk as Mr
15Hume was it will be ^ a great hindrance to me in my
work.
I have written Mr Arundel about my watch. But
I believe I mentioned this last time. I am sorry the wood
split up so. I spoiled a pair of shoes after the ash
20but could not succeed. I was at the same time warned
by Mr E. All the good ones have been cut down
by the Bakhatla. I know however of good ones at
a little distance Could you spare another bottle
of linseed oil for the [ ]
25 begging af[ ]
1845 if possible the [ ]ast were rather
old. We want more for winter
We wrote by Mr Edwards, & hope you
recieved all safe. Will you
30purchase for me some pencils
from Mrs Greig. We shall be
obliged by some cows from Mr Hume
as soon as possible. Going over
Revd R. Moffat
35 Kuruman