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 ZULU MISSION. 
 
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 A CONDENSED SKETCH. 
 
 1835 - 1886 . 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 IjJrtntrt Dr tfjc 'sltnertcan 33oart. 
 1886. 
 
CElbiopia shall soon strrtclj out btr ^anbs unto 
 (Sob.— Psalm lxviii, 31. 
 
 PRESS OF STANLEY AND USHER, 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 
THE ZULU MISSION. 
 
 Location. — Confined at present to the Province 
 of Natal, Southeastern Africa, Area, 18,750 square 
 miles. Coast line, 150 miles. Natal is separated 
 from Basutoland and the Orange River Free State, 
 on the west, by the Drackenberg Mountains, 9,000 
 to 10,000 feet high, and from Zululand (wild tribes), 
 on the north, by Tugela River. Durban, the only 
 port, is 1,000 miles from Cape Town. Pietermar¬ 
 itzburg is the capital. The country is undulating, 
 well watered by streams from the Drackenberg 
 Mountains. 
 
 Climate and ' Products. — The climate is de¬ 
 lightful and invigorating. Monthly mean tempera¬ 
 ture varies from 56° to 82°. The coast region is 
 semi-tropical, producing the sugarcane, pineapple, 
 banana, and coffee. Even toward the interior the 
 orange, apple, and peach flourish. Cotton and in¬ 
 digo grow wild. Wool, corn, and sugar are the 
 staple products. The elephant, lion, tiger, and 
 rhinoceros have only recently been driven from 
 Natal, but hippopotami, monkeys, baboons, and 
 crocodiles are to be seen, while antelopes of various 
 
4 
 
 kinds abound, with many poisonous serpents. In 
 1878 the revenue of Natal amounted to $1,846,915 ; 
 its imports to $5,837,010 ; its exports to $3,449,085. 
 
 Population. — About 405,000 (English, Dutch, 
 and Germans, 25,000; Zulus, 360,000; Asiatic 
 Coolies, 20,000). The Zulus are a branch of the 
 Bantu or Kafir race, distinct from the Hottentot, 
 but of kin to all the other tribes south of the Congo. 
 They differ from the negroes proper, though in 
 color and hair like them. They are usually tall 
 and well formed, many of them showing fine mus¬ 
 cular development. 
 
 History of Natal. — Discovered in 1497 by 
 Vasco da Gama, on Christmas (Natal) Day: hence 
 its name. In 1823 an English lieutenant landed 
 where Durban now is, and found a few people, the 
 region having been desolated by Chaka, the great 
 Zulu warrior, who had turned all his subjects into 
 soldiers, and conquered the country from the Ama- 
 pondo country to the Limpopo. Some of Chaka’s 
 generals carried his method of warfare to the Zam¬ 
 besi and northward. In 1828 Chaka was assassina¬ 
 ted and succeeded by his brother Dingaan, also a 
 fierce warrior. Dutch Boers, who had begun to come 
 across the mountains from Cape Colony in 1834, 
 settled in large numbers in 1838, and after long con¬ 
 flicts defeated and deposed Dingaan in 1840, making 
 Panda, a brother of Chaka and Dingaan, king of 
 
5 
 
 the Zulus. After three years of struggle between 
 the Boers and the English, Natal was proclaimed a 
 British colony in 1843. It has since been under the 
 charge of an English lieutenant-governor. The 
 Zulus who would not submit to this rule retreated to 
 Zululand, north of Tugela River, where Cetywayo 
 reigned until his defeat and capture by the British, 
 in 1879. 
 
 The Zulus: their Homes and Habits.— 
 The kraal , or village, is made up of a series of huts 
 like huge beehives, placed in circles, the cattle-pen 
 being in the centre. The huts are about ten feet in 
 diameter and five feet high. The single hole through 
 which entrance must be made serves for door, win¬ 
 dow, and chimney. Neither tables nor chairs nor 
 beds are to be seen, only a few mats and pots and 
 blankets. The men and women sit and sleep on the 
 ground. The usual clothing of the wild natives 
 consists of a slight covering made of skins worn 
 about the loins. They sometimes ornament them¬ 
 selves with beads and skins and necklaces of lion’s 
 teeth or claws. The women wear an apron or a 
 skin tied about the waist. 
 
 All menial work, such as digging, carrying burdens, 
 and cutting wood, is done by the women. The 
 men hunt and fight and take care of their cattle. 
 The wealth of the Zulu consists of his cattle and 
 his wives.. .He exchanges from ten to twenty cows 
 
6 
 
 for a wife, and sells his own daughters for cattle. 
 His wives, of whom he has as many as he can 
 afford, are simply slaves. 
 
 Religion of Zulus. — Their superstitions hardly 
 deserve the name of a religion. Their ideas are 
 extremely low and debased. Their chief faith is in 
 witchcraft, in goblins to be feared and appeased, 
 and in ancestral spirits to be worshiped. They use 
 charms and exorcisms ; the witch-doctor, who is sup¬ 
 posed to discern evil spirits, has terrible power. 
 The rain-doctor, who claims to bring showers, is 
 also a noted character among the Zulus. 
 
 The Mission of the American Board — the 
 first among the Zulus — was begun in 1S35. The 
 people were savage, without sign of civilization; 
 their language unwritten and unknown. Two ex¬ 
 peditions were organized, each consisting of three 
 missionaries and their wives. Messrs. Lindley, 
 Venable, and Dr. Wilson went in wagons to 
 Mosilikatzi’s people in the interior, 1,000 miles 
 from Cape Town and some 400 miles westward of 
 Natal. Messrs. Grout, Champion, and Dr. Adams 
 established what was then called the maritime, mis¬ 
 sion in Natal. The wars of Mosilikatzi were so 
 fierce, and the disturbances so many, that the first- 
 named party broke up their station at Mosika, and 
 after a journey of 1,300 miles in ox-wagons, going 
 around the Drackenberg Mountains, joined their 
 
7 
 
 brethren at Natal in 1837. Dingaan, the chief of 
 the Zulus, received the missionaries, and schools 
 were opened and a printing-press set up. The 
 conflict between Dingaan and the Dutch Boers 
 interfered so seriously with Christian efforts that 
 several missionaries withdrew from the country. 
 After Dingaan’s overthrow, Panda, his successor, 
 favored for a time missionary efforts, but subse¬ 
 quently, becoming suspicious, he slew many who 
 seemed inclined to lead a Christian life. This was 
 in 1842, and up to that time two congregations had 
 been gathered, one of 250, the other of 500, with 
 two schools, each having 50 pupils. The disasters 
 had been so many, and the unsettled state of the 
 country offered apparently so little encouragement, 
 that instructions were forwarded to close up the mis¬ 
 sion. But before the letters reached Natal brighter 
 prospects were witnessed. Natal had become a 
 British colony. The missionaries wished to re¬ 
 main, and the plan was changed. Instead of dis¬ 
 continuing the mission, it was reenforced. By 1849 
 nine new missionaries, with their wives, had sailed 
 for Natal. A year later six churches had been 
 formed, with 78 members, and eight schools had 185 
 pupils. The missionaries at that date dwelt much 
 upon the moral degradation of the people. In 1859 
 there were 7 churches, with a membership of 186. 
 In 1869, 11 churches, with 448 members, the Sab¬ 
 bath congregations amounting to 1,456. At the 
 
8 
 
 dose of the last decade (1879-80) there were 15 
 churches, with 610 members; 64 native teachers 
 and helpers, besides 2 native pastors. The present 
 missionary force from America consists of 10 or¬ 
 dained missionaries and 16 females. A theological 
 school at Adams has at present 17 students, and a 
 training school at the same place has 46. Two 
 boarding schools for girls, one at Lindley and the 
 other at Umzumbi, have an aggregate attendance of 
 88 pupils. There are in all the schools of the 
 Board 1,700 pupils under instruction, from which 
 number it is believed will come Christian preachers 
 and teachers not only for Natal, but for the regions 
 northward and toward the interior where the Zulu 
 language is understood. The 9 stations now occu¬ 
 pied, with the most of the 11 out-stations, are with¬ 
 in 25 miles of the coast. In 1879 a plan was 
 formed for the enlargement of the mission in the 
 direction of Umzila’s country, about 500 miles north 
 of Natal, where the Zulu language is spoken. Mr. 
 Pinkerton had started for that region, but, detained 
 by unpropitious circumstances, fell a victim to fever 
 in November, 1880. After Mr. Pinkerton’s death, 
 Mr. Richards visited Umzila at his kraal, but the 
 way did not open for the establishment of a mission 
 there. In 1883 a beginning was made by Mr. Wil¬ 
 cox at Inhambane some 550 miles north of Durban, 
 and a new mission, the East Central African Mis¬ 
 sion, was established in this region. 
 
9 
 
 The Jubilee of the Zulu Mission was celebrated at 
 the close of 1885, and a new memorial building for 
 the use of the Amanzimtote Seminary was dedicated. 
 The first fifty years of the mission closed amid the 
 rejoicings of both missionaries and natives over a 
 gracious outpouring of the Spirit, with tokens of a 
 great advance in all directions. 
 
 General Results. — Natal may properly be 
 called civilized, though there are sections where the 
 old heathenism, with its accompanying degradation, 
 may still be seen. But wherever the gospel has been 
 preached the manner of life among the people has 
 greatly changed. Houses have taken the place of 
 kraals. Polygamy is frowned upon. The people 
 wear decent clothing. The Zulus have found a 
 Yankee plow to be “worth more than six wives.” 
 Education of the natives throughout Natal has been 
 entirely under the direction of missionaries chiefly 
 of the American Board and of the English Wesleyan 
 Society, though government grants amounting to 
 nearly $10,000 a year have been received in aid of 
 the work. The translation of the Scriptures into 
 Zulu was completed in 1883. Many of the converts’ 
 are models of Christian character. (See notice of 
 Rev. James Dub6, Missionary Herald, June, 1879, 
 page 240; also Missionary Herald, December, 1867, 
 page 395. For a graphic account of the contrast 
 between the heathen and the Christian Zulus, see 
 Missionary Herald, April, 1865, page 118.) 
 
IO 
 
 Other Missions in Natal. — The English Wes¬ 
 leyan Mission, begun in 1841, combines work for 
 Europeans and natives ; only three or four of its 
 missionaries give exclusive attention to the native 
 population. The Free Church of Scotland occu¬ 
 pies three stations. Before the late Zulu war the 
 Norwegian Mission had 7 stations in Zululand, with 
 one in Natal. The Berlin Mission, begun in 1847, 
 at latest reports had 5 stations in this province con¬ 
 nected with its flourishing mission in the Transvaal. 
 
 The Hermannsburg Society has had a mission 
 among the Zulus which has been largely industrial 
 in its character. The missions of the Church of 
 England in Natal are conducted by the Society for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel, with a bishop resi¬ 
 dent at Pietermaritzburg. The oldest of its stations 
 was occupied in 1856. The Roman Catholics have 
 of late established themselves at Durban and are 
 attempting some work among the heathen. 
 
 Authorities. — Grout’s Zululand ; Carlyle’s 
 South African Mission Fields; Among the Zulus 
 and Amatongas, by Leslie; Natal, by Henry 
 Brooks ; Africa, by Keith Johnston ; Bartlett’s His¬ 
 torical Sketch of the Missions of the American 
 Board in Africa; Umsila's Kingdom, a Field for 
 Christian Missions; also a valuable Sketch of the 
 Zulu Mission, by Rev. William Ireland, now out of 
 print. 
 
For latest and most i?iteresting information from 
 the Zulu and other Missions be sure and read regu¬ 
 larly The Missionary Herald and Life and 
 Light, published monthly, the former at $1.00, the 
 latter at 60 cents, per year, postpaid. The Mis¬ 
 sion Quarterly for Young People, designed 
 for Sabbath-schools and Mission Circles, is offered 
 at the low price of $4.00 per annum for fifty 
 copies to one address, postpaid. Address Charles 
 Hutchins, No. 1 Somerset Street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Do 7 iations for treasury of the American Board 
 should be sent to Langdon S. Ward, i Somerset 
 Street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 This leaflet, with others, can be obtained , on ap¬ 
 plication to C. N. Chapin, Room 14, Congregational 
 House, 1 Somerset Street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Missionary Rooms, Boston, 
 June, 1886. 
 
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