Potsabelo Workshops.

153

There is only one

shop as master

house by Herr Marensky in person, who, after I had seen my horse stabled, took me into his little study to get a cigar and cup of coffee before accompanying me in a stroll round the workshops, which would be closed on Sunday. We first visited the blacksmiths, where probably the best work in the Transvaal is turned out. European, a German, in the and overseer, and the same applies to the waggonmaking, and general carpenters' shop. All the work is performed by the Kaffirs themselves, many of whom are thoroughly efficient smiths and carpenters. About twenty boys are constantly employed in the shops, and when there is a press of work there are twice that number, who are competent to do the rougher kinds of work. The master smith and master wheelwright have each of them substantial well-built dwelling-houses close to their work, and I expressed my surprise to Herr Marensky at their having had the means at hand to build such excellent houses, for they far surpass the best houses in Middleburg; but he answered me with an English proverb which well expresses the spirit which pervades his whole policy and management: “What is worth doing at all is worth doing well."

We returned to the house to get ready for tea. I was shown to my bedroom, opening out of the little courtyard attached to the back of the house. A snow-white little bed, a carpet of spring-bôk skins sewn together, a ewer and water-jug, were the sole furniture, and on the wall hung a roughly-painted sacred picture. At tea I was introduced to Herr

Marensky's wife and family; and a very kindly welcome they gave me, and took every opportunity of showing me any little attention, besides taking the most lively interest in our plans, which I discussed at tea with the Herr Pastor, as there is no man in the Transvaal who knows better the temper and probable movements of the Kaffirs. I was also anxious, if possible, to obtain a boy from him as a guide, who was acquainted with the district and other tribes we might meet. On learning my wish Herr Marensky at once sent down into the village below for a man who he thought would suit me, and who had very lately returned from the very district we intended making our head-quarters. After tea the pastor took me back again to his sanctum, and after presenting me with another excellent cigar—one of a box lately presented to him by a gentleman he had nursed gratuitously through a long fever-he proceeded to give me some account of the station from its beginning, and which made a great impression upon me at the time, as much from the clear, straightforward matter-of-fact manner, which left not a shadow of a suspicion as to the minute veracity of every word he uttered, as from the indomitable pluck and perseverance that had been characteristic throughout of the missionary and his little band.

Herr Marensky's Narrative.

155

CHAPTER XVIII.

Herr Marensky's early Troubles-The Settlement-PopulationSystem of Conversion-Government-Sunday Attack-Polygamy-Stores-Personal Property.

TWENTY years ago the pastor, first with only one companion, settled down in the territory, and close to the head krall of Secocoeni, and for some months he was in great favour with that chief, until the numbers of those who flocked to him—more, as he is the first to own, to obtain protection and means of making a quiet livelihood, than with any thought or care of becoming Christians-made Secocoeni jealous of the new power. For a couple of years he was exposed to nothing worse than petty annoyances; but at last Secocoeni, growing alarmed at the steady increase of the little colony, ordered him to quit his territory. Herr Marensky, however, managed to conciliate him, and obtained his permission to stay on, the chief perhaps being more influenced by the wishes of many of his principal head men (Indunas), who had received benefits from the medical skill and remedies of the missionary, and whom they regarded as a great medicine-man, than from any goodwill towards the pastor himself. The third year passed peacefully away, and Herr Marensky had now been joined by his wife; but there arose many slight squabbles,

until at last came a climax, in the demand for a fugitive, whom the missionary refused to give up to the messengers from the chief. Next day a large party, led by two Indunas personally unfriendly to Herr Marensky, surrounded the house, and in the most threatening manner demanded not only the fugitive, but also that the missionary should accompany them to the krall. On his refusal they forcibly searched the house and neighbouring kralls for the man, killing many of the harmless inhabitants, but failed to find him they sought, for he was hidden under the bed on which Frau Marensky, in a very delicate state, was lying. As Herr Marensky had gathered from their behaviour that they were not now authorized to kill him, he assumed, a still bolder demeanour, and after soundly rating them for their cruel behaviour, sent a message by them to their chief that he could not leave his wife to visit him. The party then returned to the chief's krall; but just before night the pastor received a message from an Induna whose life he had saved, and whose integrity he could rely on, that his house was to be surrounded, and himself and family slain before morning. Luckily he had a couple of horses at hand, left by a German farmer who was himself only some twenty miles away, across the stream ; so after calling together all the natives, he told them to join him as best they could, beyond the river; and putting Mrs. Marensky on one horse and mounting the other himself, he set out for the ford. Before they had gone many miles the flames announced that the Kaffirs were at their deadly work,

Herr Marensky's Flight.

157

and more than half the inoffensive station boys were butchered before they had time to make good their escape. The horrors of that night are still too vividly before his mind for the pastor to speak lightly of them his wife in a fainting condition, and unable to sit her horse without support, and the yells of the pursuing demons ringing in his ears, before at last the river was reached, and only just in time, for a heavy flood was coming down, and the channel was already swollen and dangerous. Some of his own boys were there before him, and with their assistance his wife was brought over in safety; and that very night, as the stars were giving way to the morning, his eldest child was born; and before his pursuers reached the stream it was a huge cataract, with masses of turbid water bearing down rocks and trees in their furious course, and utterly impassable by man or beast.

For many weeks he and his wife were protected and cared for by his compatriot. Everything had been left behind in his flight, and they were homeless and penniless, but anything but hopeless or repining, and he soon fixed upon the spot where the station now rests for another attempt, and had soon gathered the remnants of his little flock around him at the new home, where they were speedily joined by other fugitives from the surrounding chiefs. Thirteen years ago there was nothing but a barren waste; now he has a fine church-certainly the finest in the Transvaal-600 acres under cultivation, stores, dwelling-houses, workshops, and a huge native village, all built by himself and the Kaffirs. The Society